University and College Profiles available on Indian Research Information Network System (IRINS): A Comparative Study

Indian Research Information Network System (IRINS) is a research information management system that provides details of publications and citations by researchers in academic and research institutes in India. It is an undisputed fact that the productivity of researchers is not uniform within and beyond institutions. A quantitative study was formulated to compare the productivity of researchers within and between categories of central university, state university, deemed university, private university, and college. The coefficient of variation (C.V.) and coefficient of range (C.R.) was measured to know about dispersions among data of publications, patents, Scopus citations, and Crossref citations. It was found that central universities and state universities have a higher number of publications and citations whereas colleges have less number of the same. Private universities have less number of publications, however better than colleges in case of citations. Deemed universities have the highest dispersion within the group. It is suggested to increase subscriptions of quality resources in the colleges and private universities and upgrade library services to enhance the quality and quantity of publications by researchers there

A study of toxicity and differential gene expression in murine liver following exposure to anti-malarial drugs: amodiaquine and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine

BACKGROUND: Amodiaquine (AQ) along with sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) offers effective and cheaper treatment against chloroquine-resistant falciparum malaria in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Considering the previous history of hepatitis, agranulocytosis and neutrocytopenia associated with AQ monotherapy, it becomes imperative to study the toxicity of co-administration of AQ and SP. In this study, toxicity and resulting global differential gene expression was analyzed following exposure to these drugs in experimental Swiss mice. METHODS: The conventional markers of toxicity in serum, oxidative stress parameters in tissue homogenates, histology of liver and alterations in global transcriptomic expression were evaluated to study the toxic effects of AQ and SP in isolation and in combination. RESULTS: The combination therapy of AQ and SP results in more pronounced hepatotoxicity as revealed by elevated level of serum ALT, AST with respect to their individual drug exposure regimen. Furthermore, alterations in the activity of major antioxidant enzymes (glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase), indicating the development of oxidative stress, was more significant in AQ+SP combination therapy. cDNA microarray results too showed considerably more perturbed gene expression following combination therapy of AQ and SP as compared to their individual drug treatment. Moreover, a set of genes were identified whose expression pattern can be further investigated for identifying a good biomarker for potential anti-malarial hepatotoxicity. CONCLUSION: These observations clearly indicate AQ+SP combination therapy is hepatotoxic in experimental Swiss mice. Microarray results provide a considerable number of potential biomarkers of anti-malarial drug toxicity. These findings hence will be useful for future drug toxicity studies, albeit implications of this study in clinical conditions need to be monitored with cautions

Status of automation in special libraries and information centers of Gwalior: a survey

Paper has been published in Proceedings of the National Conference on Information Management in Digital Libraries held on 2-4 August, 2006, organized by central library, IIT Kharagpur.The study presents the status of automation in special libraries and information centers of Gwalior District in Madhya Pradesh. Aims at understanding and analyzing the various problems faced by the authorities and the staff during the process of automation. The methodology adopted for the present study is survey using a structured questionnaire. The lack of staff, hesitancy and lack of attitude towards automation and unsatisfactory library software problems are the major hindrances to speedy automation. However, 50% of special libraries opting for automation show that the libraries have a mind to adapt to the new changes and the other libraries will follow the suit.Central Librar

DECENTRALIZED PLANNING IN AN INDIAN STATE: AN EXPLORATORY EXERCISE

In India, the idea of decentralized planning gained momentum after the country became independent in 1947 but its rudimentary practice was not completely unknown before 1947. In post-independent India a number of government committees and commissions had recommended for introduction of decentralized planning at different points of time. The most remarkable event in this regard were twin Constitutional amendments which clarified the role of local bodies and institutionalized participation of the people which signaled what is often called a paradigmatic change. The amendments gave decentralized planning constitutional sanction and sanctity, and provided a model of planning for the whole country. In this paper, an attempt has been made to capture the different phases in the evolution of the decentralized planning processes in India as a backdrop and to assess and analyze the experiences of introduction of decentralized planning in one state of the Union of Indian states called West Bengal. It is one of the states where the exercise was done through active participation of people sought to be achieved through institutional structures created in the villages. This paper tries to make use of the available secondary data to arrive at some of the major conclusions and to justify the contentions made. Reference has also been made to some limited field work which was done through village survey. The authors have also highlighted some of the key emerging issues which call for further research. It also seeks to explores what could be the probable lessons  the developing countries in general, and India, in particular. 

Outcome of treatment of Gartland type lll supracondylar humerus fractures in children by closed reduction and percutaneous pinning vs. open reduction and internal fixation by K-wires

Background: Extension fractures are more common than flexion fractures, and were classified into three subgroups by Gartland: type I, with no displacement; type II, with moderate displacement and intact posterior cortex and type III, with complete displacement. According to many authors, the ideal treatment for type 3 supracondylar humerus fractures is closed reduction and percutaneous pinning. Methods: This study was conducted in the department of orthopaedics, Rajendra institute of medical sciences, Ranchi during the period from December 2020 to December 2022. Both male and female patients were included in the study. Implant used are K wires of various diameter ranging from 1.5 to 2 mm. Results: The results with CRPCP are better than ORIF method as far as range of motion of elbow is concerned. Baumann angle were also comparable in both the groups. Conclusions: In our study, in the ORIF group, the ROM of the elbow treated improved with time. There was improvement in the range of motion at the 6-months follow-up as compared to the 3-months follow-up.

Development of Adaptive Threshold and Data Smoothening Algorithm for GPR Imaging

There are many approaches available to separate the background and foreground in image processing applications. Currently, researchers are focusing on wavelet De-noising, curvelet threshold, Edge Histogram Descriptor threshold, Otsu thresholding, recursive thresholding and adaptive progressive thresholding. In fixed and predictable background conditions, above techniques separate background and foreground efficiently. In a common scenario, background reference is blind due to soil surface moisture content and its non-linearity. There are many methodologies proposed from time to time by researchers to solve this blind reference background separation. But challenges still now remain, because there are two major problems in ground penetrating radar imaging such as targets like ground enhances the false alarm and non-metallic target detection, where the threshold decision is a critical task. In this paper, a novel real time blind adaptive threshold algorithm is proposed for ground penetrating radar image processing. The blind threshold was decided to use normal random variable variance and image data variance. Further, the image was smoothened by random variance ratio to image data variance. Experimental results showed satisfactory results for the background separation and smoothening the targeted image data with the proposed algorithm

Outcome of treatment of intra-articular distal end radius fractures by volar locking plate versus bridging external fixator augmented by single K-wire through radial styloid

Background: Distal radius fractures are common injuries occurring more frequently than any other fracture, and remain one of the most frequent skeletal injuries treated by orthopaedic or trauma surgeons. They are considered the most common fracture of the upper extremity. The use of percutaneous pin fixation, external fixation devices that permit distraction and palmar translation, low-profile internal fixation plates and implants, arthroscopically assisted reduction, and grafting techniques including bone-graft substitutes all have contributed to improving fracture stability and outcome. Methods: This is a prospective study consisting of 30 patients, who were treated with volar locking plate or K-wire augmented external fixation for intra-articular commented distal radius fractures (AO type C) at Rajendra institute of medical sciences between November 2020 and January 2023. The 15 patients were treated with open reduction using the volar approach and locking plate were used while 15 patients were treated with closed reduction under fluoroscopy, distraction with the external fixator (Joshi type external fixator) along with K-wire fixation for additional stability used. Result: The ORIF with plating group showed better functional outcomes in Green and O'Brien compared to ex fix group. The radiographic results in the ORIF group were more favorable than in the EF group. Conclusions: We found that both ORIF with plating and external fixation represent treatment choices for distal radius fractures. ORIF had better functional and radiological outcomes according to Green and O'Brien and Sarmiento scoring systems when compared to external fixation. ORIF had less incidence of complications compared with external fixation

A Halotolerant Bacterium Bacillus licheniformis HSW-16 Augments Induced Systemic Tolerance to Salt Stress in Wheat Plant (Triticum aestivum)

Certain plant growth promoting bacteria can protect associated plants from harmful effects of salinity. We report the isolation and characterization of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase bacterium Bacillus licheniformis HSW-16 capable of ameliorating salt (NaCl) stress in wheat plants. The bacterium was isolated from water of Sambhar salt lake, Rajasthan, India. The presence of ACC deaminase activity was confirmed by enzyme assay and analysis of AcdS gene, a structural gene for ACC deaminase. Inoculation of B. licheniformis HSW-16 protected wheat plants from growth inhibition caused by NaCl and increased plant growth (6-38%) in terms of root length, shoot length, fresh weight, and dry weight. Ionic analysis of plant samples showed that the bacterial inoculation decreased accumulation of Na+ content (51%), and increased K+ (68%), and Ca2+ content (32%) in plants at different concentration of NaCl. It suggested that bacterial inoculation protected plants from the effect of NaCl by decreasing level of Na+ in plants. Production of exopolysaccharide by the B. licheniformis HSW-16 can also protect from Na+ by binding this ion. Moreover, application of test isolate resulted in an increase in certain osmolytes such as total soluble sugar, total protein content and a decrease in malondialdehyde content, illustrating their role in the protection of plants. The ability of B. licheniformis HSW-16 to colonize plant root surface was examined by staining the bacterium with acridine orange followed by fluorescence microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based DNA fingerprinting analysis. These results suggested that B. licheniformis HSW-16 could be used as a bioinoculant to improve the productivity of plants growing under salt stress