A Glimpse of Humanity and Inhumanity in the Films Pariyerum Perumal and Kanni Maadam

Cinema is an extensive platform for visualizing ideologies through entertainment and discussing issues artistically. Cinema plays a main role in human life like literature, painting, poetry, folk songs, etc. It is a tool to explore emotions created by filmmakers and stimulate them in the audience which is correspondingly a reflection of the society that speaks about massive issues like politics, history, relationships, adventure, etc. Over time cinema started to portray social injustices, especially by shedding light on marginalized communities. Cinemas mostly characterized Dalits as inferior neglecting their hardships but consequently started to represent their protest for identification and social equality. Contemporary young filmmakers in India are filling the space to speak caste politics honestly. This paper analyzes social inequality through select Tamil films, Pariyerum Perumal and Kanni Maadam, which articulated an extraordinary message by trying to picture the humanity and inhumanities displayed in the caste-practiced society. Humanity is one of the central elements that distinguish living from non-living. Exhibiting humanity in recent times is directly proportional to the necessities of the individual. In such a situation, an individual or community showing humanity to those who displayed inhumanity towards them is astounding. The select films explore the same by emphasizing how humanity displayed at the unexpected and undeserved moment can alter a person’s ego and change society virtuously. The paper also puts forth suggestions on how the marginalized can be uplifted and empowered by the theory of egalitarianism

An epidemiological study on anemia among institutionalized people with intellectual and/or motor disability with special reference to its frequency, severity and predictors

BACKGROUND: To examine the type, frequency, severity, and predictors of anemia and its relationship with co-morbid conditions among institutionalized people with intellectual and/or motor disability. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study at a public facility for people with intellectual and/or motor disability in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. Health checkup data obtained in 2001 from 477 people with intellectual disability (male: 286, average age 40.6 ± 12.3; female: 191, average age 45.1 ± 11.6) were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The prevalence of anemia among male participants was higher than in female participants for each disability category (intellectual disability, 41.1%, 4.2%; cerebral palsy, 37.5%, 4.8%; Down's syndrome, 15.0%, 0%; severe motor and intellectual disabilities, 61.9%, 16.7%). Most participants with anemia (93.8 – 100%) showed a normocytic normochromic anemia pattern. Multivariate analysis revealed that factors related to an increase in frequency included sex (male), low body mass index (BMI), use of anticonvulsants or major tranquilizers, and a high zinc sulfate turbidity test (ZTT) value. No clinically diagnosed co-morbid condition was found to be related to the presence of anemia. CONCLUSION: A high frequency of mild normocytic normochromic anemia in institutionalized people with intellectual and/or motor disability was observed, particularly among males. Medications and chronic inflammation may increase the risk of anemia

Dapsone induced cholangitis as a part of dapsone syndrome: a case report

BACKGROUND: Dapsone can rarely cause a hypersensitivity reaction called dapsone syndrome, consisting of fever, hepatitis, exfoliative dermatitis, lymphadenopathy and hemolytic anemia. Dapsone syndrome is a manifestation of the DRESS (drug rash with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms) syndrome which is a serious condition that has been reported in association with various drugs. Cholangitis in dapsone syndrome has not been reported so far in the world literature. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a patient who presented with fever, exfoliative dermatitis, jaundice and anemia within three weeks of starting of dapsone therapy. These features are typical of dapsone syndrome, which is due to dapsone hypersensitivity and is potentially fatal. Unlike previous reports of hepatitic or cholestatic injury in dapsone syndrome we report here a case that had cholangitic liver injury. It responded to corticosteroids. CONCLUSION: We conclude that cholangitis, though unusual, can also form a part of dapsone syndrome. Physicians should be aware of this unusual picture of potentially fatal dapsone syndrome

Diverse Clonal Fates Emerge Upon Drug Treatment of Homogeneous Cancer Cells

Even among genetically identical cancer cells, resistance to therapy frequently emerges from a small subset of those cells1-7. Molecular differences in rare individual cells in the initial population enable certain cells to become resistant to therapy7-9; however, comparatively little is known about the variability in the resistance outcomes. Here we develop and apply FateMap, a framework that combines DNA barcoding with single-cell RNA sequencing, to reveal the fates of hundreds of thousands of clones exposed to anti-cancer therapies. We show that resistant clones emerging from single-cell-derived cancer cells adopt molecularly, morphologically and functionally distinct resistant types. These resistant types are largely predetermined by molecular differences between cells before drug addition and not by extrinsic factors. Changes in the dose and type of drug can switch the resistant type of an initial cell, resulting in the generation and elimination of certain resistant types. Samples from patients show evidence for the existence of these resistant types in a clinical context. We observed diversity in resistant types across several single-cell-derived cancer cell lines and cell types treated with a variety of drugs. The diversity of resistant types as a result of the variability in intrinsic cell states may be a generic feature of responses to external cues

Diversity of Tanaidacea (Crustacea: Peracarida) in the World's Oceans – How Far Have We Come?

Tanaidaceans are small peracarid crustaceans which occur in all marine habitats, over the full range of depths, and rarely into fresh waters. Yet they have no obligate dispersive phase in their life-cycle. Populations are thus inevitably isolated, and allopatric speciation and high regional diversity are inevitable; cosmopolitan distributions are considered to be unlikely or non-existent. Options for passive dispersion are discussed. Tanaidaceans appear to have first evolved in shallow waters, the region of greatest diversification of the Apseudomorpha and some tanaidomorph families, while in deeper waters the apseudomorphs have subsequently evolved two or three distinct phyletic lines. The Neotanaidomorpha has evolved separately and diversified globally in deep waters, and the Tanaidomorpha has undergone the greatest evolution, diversification and adaptation, to the point where some of the deep-water taxa are recolonizing shallow waters. Analysis of their geographic distribution shows some level of regional isolation, but suffers from inclusion of polyphyletic taxa and a general lack of data, particularly for deep waters. It is concluded that the diversity of the tanaidomorphs in deeper waters and in certain ocean regions remains to be discovered; that the smaller taxa are largely understudied; and that numerous cryptic species remain to be distinguished. Thus the number of species currently recognized is likely to be an order of magnitude too low, and globally the Tanaidacea potentially rival the Amphipoda and Isopoda in diversity

Unraveling the Mechanism of a LOV Domain Optogenetic Sensor:A Glutamine Lever Induces Unfolding of the Jα Helix

Light-activated protein domains provide a convenient, modular, and genetically encodable sensor for optogenetics and optobiology. Although these domains have now been deployed in numerous systems, the precise mechanism of photoactivation and the accompanying structural dynamics that modulate output domain activity remain to be fully elucidated. In the C-terminal light-oxygen-voltage (LOV) domain of plant phototropins (LOV2), blue light activation leads to formation of an adduct between a conserved Cys residue and the embedded FMN chromophore, rotation of a conserved Gln (Q513), and unfolding of a helix (Jα-helix) which is coupled to the output domain. In the present work, we focus on the allosteric pathways leading to Jα helix unfolding in Avena sativa LOV2 (AsLOV2) using an interdisciplinary approach involving molecular dynamics simulations extending to 7 μs, time-resolved infrared spectroscopy, solution NMR spectroscopy, and in-cell optogenetic experiments. In the dark state, the side chain of N414 is hydrogen bonded to the backbone N-H of Q513. The simulations predict a lever-like motion of Q513 after Cys adduct formation resulting in a loss of the interaction between the side chain of N414 and the backbone C═O of Q513, and formation of a transient hydrogen bond between the Q513 and N414 side chains. The central role of N414 in signal transduction was evaluated by site-directed mutagenesis supporting a direct link between Jα helix unfolding dynamics and the cellular function of the Zdk2-AsLOV2 optogenetic construct. Through this multifaceted approach, we show that Q513 and N414 are critical mediators of protein structural dynamics, linking the ultrafast (sub-ps) excitation of the FMN chromophore to the microsecond conformational changes that result in photoreceptor activation and biological function