Mehjoor: The Poet of Kashmir

Mehjoor is one of the most prominent pioneers of Modern Kashmiri poetry. He initiated his poetic career in 1912 by writing in Persian and Urdu, but the circumstances and forceful patriotic movement turned Mahjoor’s attention to write in Kashmiri. He realized that his artistic desires would come only if he produce a literary work in his own mother tongue. The remarkable part played by Mehjoor in bringing a result was to make Kashmiri poetic medium more natural. He expanded the boundaries of Kashmiri poetry by including in it the themes of nature, common life and patriotism. He was a poet of great beauty who summoned the nature and people of Kashmir in his poems

Kashmiri Literature from 14th to 16th Century

The Kashmir Literature was firstly inaugurated by two great personalities of spirituality “Lal Ded” and Shaikh-Ul- Aalam. No doubt there are some literary works in Kashmiri before these two poets, but the poetry of Lal Ded and Shik-Ul-Aalam considered as earliest literary work in Kashmiri. Before them “Shati Kant” writes “Mahnie Prakash” in twelfth century is a work of 94 Vakhs followed by Sanskrit translation. Shiti Kant followed the philosophy of Trika Shivism and used Sanskrit as a medium of expression

Comparative cephalometric study of Class II division 1 malocclusion between Lithuanian and Jordanian females

SUMMARY The Class II malocclusions have a strong hereditary component as etiologic factor, both in families and in ethnic and racial groups. The purpose of this study to compare skeletal and dentoalveolar morphology in Class II division I malocclusion of Lithuanian and Jordanian females. The sample consisted of 60 standardized lateral cephalograms (30 Jordanian -30 Lithuanian). The mean age of the subjects was 14.8±1.11 years. Criteria for cephalometric comparison were 5 linear and 10 angular cephalometric variables. Repeating landmark identification tested reproducibility of the measurements. Unpaired t-test was performed to assess the difference of malocclusion between both groups. Results considered to be statistically significant when p£0.05. Results showed that Lithuanian females had reduced vertical skeletal relationship in their Class II division 1 malocclusion, while Jordanian females characterized by increased vertical relationship. Dentoalveolar measurements showed a significant proclination of the mandibular incisors in Jordanian females compared with Lithuanians

Oxidative Stress in Human Pathology and Aging: Molecular Mechanisms and Perspectives

Reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) are generated through various endogenous and exogenous processes; however, they are neutralized by enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. An imbalance between the generation and neutralization of oxidants results in the progression to oxidative stress (OS), which in turn gives rise to various diseases, disorders and aging. The characteristics of aging include the progressive loss of function in tissues and organs. The theory of aging explains that age-related functional losses are due to accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), their subsequent damages and tissue deformities. Moreover, the diseases and disorders caused by OS include cardiovascular diseases [CVDs], chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. OS, induced by ROS, is neutralized by different enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants and prevents cells, tissues and organs from damage. However, prolonged OS decreases the content of antioxidant status of cells by reducing the activities of reductants and antioxidative enzymes and gives rise to different pathological conditions. Therefore, the aim of the present review is to discuss the mechanism of ROS-induced OS signaling and their age-associated complications mediated through their toxic manifestations in order to devise effective preventive and curative natural therapeutic remedies

Implementing a Sleep Health Education and Sleep Disorders Screening Program in Fire Departments: A Comparison of Methodology

Objective: The objective of this study is to compare three methods of administering a sleep health program (SHP) in fire departments. Methods: An SHP, comprising sleep health education and screening for common sleep disorders, was implemented in eight fire departments using three approaches: expert-led, train-the-trainer, and online. Participation rates, knowledge assessments, surveys, and focus group interviews were analyzed to assess the reach and effectiveness of the methodologies. Results: The Expert-led SHP had the highest participation rate, greatest improvement in knowledge scores, and prompted more firefighters to seek clinical sleep disorder evaluations (41%) than the other approaches (20 to 25%). Forty-two percent of focus group participants reported changing their sleep behaviors. Conclusion: All approaches yielded reasonable participation rates, but expert-led programs had the greatest reach and effectiveness in educating and screening firefighters for sleep disorders

Direct inference and control of genetic population structure from RNA sequencing data

RNAseq data can be used to infer genetic variants, yet its use for estimating genetic population structure remains underexplored. Here, we construct a freely available computational tool (RGStraP) to estimate RNAseq-based genetic principal components (RG-PCs) and assess whether RG-PCs can be used to control for population structure in gene expression analyses. Using whole blood samples from understudied Nepalese populations and the Geuvadis study, we show that RG-PCs had comparable results to paired array-based genotypes, with high genotype concordance and high correlations of genetic principal components, capturing subpopulations within the dataset. In differential gene expression analysis, we found that inclusion of RG-PCs as covariates reduced test statistic inflation. Our paper demonstrates that genetic population structure can be directly inferred and controlled for using RNAseq data, thus facilitating improved retrospective and future analyses of transcriptomic data

Direct inference and control of genetic population structure from RNA sequencing data

RNAseq data can be used to infer genetic variants, yet its use for estimating genetic population structure remains underexplored. Here, we construct a freely available computational tool (RGStraP) to estimate RNAseq-based genetic principal components (RG-PCs) and assess whether RG-PCs can be used to control for population structure in gene expression analyses. Using whole blood samples from understudied Nepalese populations and the Geuvadis study, we show that RG-PCs had comparable results to paired array-based genotypes, with high genotype concordance and high correlations of genetic principal components, capturing subpopulations within the dataset. In differential gene expression analysis, we found that inclusion of RG-PCs as covariates reduced test statistic inflation. Our paper demonstrates that genetic population structure can be directly inferred and controlled for using RNAseq data, thus facilitating improved retrospective and future analyses of transcriptomic data

Evaluation of sleep strategies between night shifts in actual shift workers

Objectives: The aim of this observational study was to examine sleep obtained between consecutive night shifts from shift workers in their natural environment. The goal was to identify the various sleep strategies and the timing, duration, regularity, and quality of sleep associated with the strategies. Methods: Participants (N = 33, 23 women, aged 40 ± 15 years) reported their sleep information in daily diaries over 2 weeks while working at least one series of consecutive night shifts. Sleep timing, duration, quality, and regularity were calculated for each sleep episode between consecutive night shifts. Results: Based on the reported sleep behavior, shift workers were categorized as either morning, delayed, split- or mixed sleepers. We found significant differences between the groups in timing of sleep, feeling refreshed, and regularity of sleep between consecutive night shifts, whereas duration and subjective soundness of sleep did not show significant differences. Conclusions: In this sample, four sleep strategies were observed between consecutive night shifts in actual shift workers. These observations may help design future interventions to improve sleep that are individualized to the worker.</p