The Changing Concept of Self and Identity in Aging Working Women from Shelter Homes: Case Studies on Rebuilding of Interpersonal Relationships

Violence against women has been the subject of study in many countries and in different cultures. The fact that women enjoy a secondary position in many societies is proved through different studies, in spite of the changes in the laws of the countries. How differently a woman is treated at home and work front too is a known subject of research. There are numerous women out there who have been forced into the work force without any option left for them to decide otherwise. May be they don’t enjoy the recognition they deserve and the only motivating force for them is the preservation of their individual dignity. There is no certainty about their future yet they are successful in many ways. Here are three women who have dared to raise a voice against the injustice done to them and have ended up in shelter homes for having a mind which thinks differently than the imposed social norms and customs set by the society and have used their voice to get help to preserve their dignity. From uncertainty about life and hopelessness to gaining confidence, having a strong resiliency to hoping for a better future for the future generation, they have seen it all and have extraordinary inspiring life stories to share with the ordinary women

Metal carbonyl complexes and porphyrin macrocyles: photochemistry and potential therapeutic applications

Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to the concepts and methods used throughout this thesis. This chapter highlights how main group and transition metal carbonyl complexes have potential therapeutic applications. The latter part of this chapter focuses on photodynamic therapy specifically using porphyrins. This is followed by an overview on the time resolved infrared (TRIR) spectroscopy. Also discussed are the excited states, energy transfer and applications of time-resolved infrared spectroscopy. Chapter 2 contains with a short literature review on the dipyrrins and metal coordinated dipyrrin compounds. It describes the luminescence and photophysical properties of various transition metal based dipyrrin complexes reported in literature. This chapter describes the synthesis and characterisation of novel dipyromethenes and their corresponding coordination to form tetra and tri carbonyl complexes of Re metal. Further in this chapter these complexes were accessed for their ability to act as CO releasing molecules (CORMs) using the myoglobin assay procedure both photochemically and thermally. Also presented are the results of time resolved infrared spectroscopy experiments, which show the existence of excited states based on intra-ligand charge transfer within the dipyrrin moiety

Nanotechnology: a revolution in targeted drug delivery

Targeted drug delivery is a method of delivering medication in a unique way so that the concentration of the drug at the target site is optimized, burden of the drug to other tissues is reduced and toxicity minimized. There are various novel approaches to deliver drugs to the target sites in the form of nanocapsules, nanocrystals, nanoemulsions, dendrimers, polymeric micelles, nanotubes and monoclonal antibodies. They have the advantages of improved bioavailability, facilitated transport of drugs across difficult barriers to reach the target tissues for a specific action and providing protection to protect the drug against degradation. A number of anticancer drugs like Doxorubicin, Paclitaxel and 5-Fluorouracil have been formulated using nanoparticles. These innovative techniques have helped to overcome the limitations like resistance in the target cells and difficulty in movement across the barriers which are seen in the conventional drug delivery system. Apart from being a therapeutic tool, it also has brought revolution in early diagnosis of diseases and gene transfer. The surge of nanotechnology is now being translated into commercialized products. The future is exciting, and the promises are limitless as the application of nanotechnology in medicine will provide remarkable opportunities and newer perspectives for novel and effective treatment in various diseases.

ASSESSMENT OF RISK FACTORS OF DIABETES MELLITUS IN THE URBAN FIELD PRACTICE AREA OF A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF SOUTHERN ODISHA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objective: Diabetes is a chronic state of hyperglycemia which results in complications involving organs such as eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart, and blood vessels. Identifying the risk factors at an early stage can help in reducing the complications and co-morbidities of the disease. Hence, the study is carried out to assess the socio-demographic profile and associated risk factors of adult patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study carried out in the urban field practice area of M.K.C.G Medical College for a period of 2 years. Multistage simple random sampling was used to select 160 known diabetic cases. Data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire and anthropometric measurements were taken. Data were analyzed in SPSS version 17 and appropriate statistical tests were used. Results: The mean age of study participants was 53.94. About 41.88% and 21.25% were current tobacco and alcohol users, respectively. Inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption, mixed type diet, obesity in the form of increased body mass index, and waist hip ratio and sedentary life style were found to be the predisposing factors of the disease. Conclusion: Early identification of at risk individuals and appropriate intervention to increase physical activity, bring about changes in dietary habits, maintenance of correct body weight could help to prevent or delay the onset of the disease to a great extent

New physics implications of VBF searches exemplified through the Georgi-Machacek model

LHC searches for nonstandard scalars in vector boson fusion (VBF) production processes can be particularly efficient in probing scalars belonging to triplet or higher multiplet representations of the Standard Model $SU(2)_L$ gauge group. They can be especially relevant for models where the additional scalars do not have any tree-level couplings to the Standard Model fermions, rendering VBF as their primary production mode at the LHC. In this work, we employ the latest LHC data from VBF resonance searches to constrain the properties of nonstandard scalars, taking the Georgi-Machacek model as a prototypical example. We take into account the theoretical constraints on the potential from unitarity and boundedness-from-below as well as indirect constraints coming from the signal strength measurements of the 125 GeV Higgs boson at the LHC. To facilitate the phenomenological analysis we advocate a convenient reparametrization of the trilinear couplings in the scalar potential. We derive simple correlations among the model parameters corresponding to the decoupling limit of the model. We explicitly demonstrate how a combination of theoretical and phenomenological constraints can push the GM model towards the decoupling limit. Our analysis suggests that the VBF searches can provide key insights into the composition of the electroweak vacuum expectation value.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Awareness of palliative care among general nursing and midwifery nurses in nursing institutes of Assam by palliative care quiz for nursing tool

Background: Amidst the increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases and an aging populace, the demand for palliative care (PC) is escalating. Nurses, as primary caregivers in healthcare, play a pivotal role in providing PC. Assessing their current knowledge levels is crucial for devising targeted strategies to address deficiencies and enhance the quality of palliative care delivery. Methods: A survey-based study was done in 10 nursing institute across Assam which were selected randomly after obtaining ethical committee clearance from the institute. A total of 239 participants filled the questionnaires. The questionnaire contained 2 parts; sociodemographic characteristics and palliative care quiz for nursing (PCQN) which is a validated questionnaire consisting of 20 items that measures nurses’ knowledge of palliative care. The responses to the statements in the PCQN will be: true, false, and I don’t know. A correct answer was scored 1 while an incorrect or I don’t know was scored 0, giving a maximum score of 20. A score equal to or less than ≤10 on PCQN was considered inadequate knowledge while a score >10 was considered adequate knowledge. Results: 55% participants had adequate knowledge about palliative care and the mean PCQN score was 12.59±5.8. P value was found to be significant which means those with prior knowledge of palliative care had good score. Conclusions: This study underscores a positive shift in palliative care awareness among nursing students, attributed to curriculum integration. However, targeted improvements are needed, especially in psychosocial and spiritual aspects, to enhance patient care and attitudes

Survey of Credit Rating Methodologies of Mutual Funds: Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s

Credit rating literature attracted attention of academics since the subprime crisis 2008. In the wake of the crisis hundred billion dollars’ worth securities that were awarded AAA rating by the world’s leading credit rating agencies downgraded to junk. So is the survey on credit rating methodology. This work intends to survey the methodologies Moody’s and S&P follow in assessing the performance of equity funds and debt funds. The authors conclude that in these rating methodologies of S&P and Moody’s the link between equity fund and debt fund, i.e. how downgrade of debt fund can lead to downgrade of equity fund is not captured. Secondly Moody’s shakes off or manages the risk of loss of goodwill in the wake of failure of short term debt fund rating in the case of certain systemic factors like suspending or discouraging withdrawals and redemptions, by prescribing automatic downgrade to junk

Survey of Credit Rating Methodologies of Mutual Funds: Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s

Credit rating literature attracted attention of academics since the subprime crisis 2008. In the wake of the crisis hundred billion dollars’ worth securities that were awarded AAA rating by the world’s leading credit rating agencies downgraded to junk. So is the survey on credit rating methodology. This work intends to survey the methodologies Moody’s and S&P follow in assessing the performance of equity funds and debt funds. The authors conclude that in these rating methodologies of S&P and Moody’s the link between equity fund and debt fund, i.e. how downgrade of debt fund can lead to downgrade of equity fund is not captured. Secondly Moody’s shakes off or manages the risk of loss of goodwill in the wake of failure of short term debt fund rating in the case of certain systemic factors like suspending or discouraging withdrawals and redemptions, by prescribing automatic downgrade to junk