The influence of steps on the dissociation of NO on Pt surfaces: Temperature-programmed desorption studies of NO adsorption on Pt{211}

Temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) has been used to investigate the adsorption of NO on Pt{211} at 300 K and 120 K. Results show that NO dissociation occurs readily on Pt{211}, as evidenced by the observation of N-2 and N2O in the TPD spectrum. Following adsorption at 120 K three NO TPD peaks at 338, 416, and 503 K are observed, in agreement with previous observations. In combination with data acquired in a recent reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy and density functional theory investigation of NO/Pt{211}, these peaks are assigned to the desorption of NO from an O-NO complex, the recombinative desorption of N and O atoms, and to desorption of a step-bridged NO species, respectively. These assignments are in disagreement with previous work, where the high-temperature NO peak was assigned to the desorption of step bound NO and the two low-temperature peaks were assigned to the desorption of NO from terrace sites. TPD spectra recorded following adsorption at 300 K, with a heating rate of 1 K s(-1), show similar features to those recorded following 120 K adsorption. This is also in disagreement with previous observations, where only two NO TPD peaks were observed following adsorption at room temperature. This disagreement can be accounted for by the different heating rates used in the two experiments. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics

The Absolute of Advaita and the Spirit of Hegel: Situating Vedānta on the Horizons of British Idealisms

$\textit{Purpose}$ A significant volume of philosophical literature produced by Indian academic philosophers in the first half of the twentieth century can be placed under the rubric of ‘Śaṁkara and X’, where X is Hegel, or a German or a British philosopher who had commented on, elaborated or critiqued the Hegelian system. We will explore in this essay the philosophical significance of Hegel-influenced systems as an intellectual conduit for these Indo-European conceptual encounters, and highlight how for some Indian philosophers the British variations on Hegelian systems were both a point of entry into debates over ‘idealism’ and ‘realism’ in contemporary European philosophy and an occasion for defending Advaita against the charge of propounding a doctrine of world illusionism. $\textit{Methodology}$ Our study of the philosophical enquiries of A.C. Mukerji, P.T. Raju, and S.N.L. Shrivastava indicates that they developed distinctive styles of engaging with Hegelian idealisms as they reconfigured certain aspects of the classical Advaita of Śaṁkara through contemporary vocabulary. $\textit{Result and Conclusion}$ These appropriations of Hegelian idioms can be placed under three overlapping styles: (a) Mukerji was partly involved in locating Advaita in an intermediate conceptual space between, on the one hand, Kantian agnosticism and, on the other hand, Hegelian absolutism; (b) Raju and Shrivastava presented Advaitic thought as the fulfilment of certain insights of Hegel and F.H. Bradley; and (c) the interrogations of Hegel’s ‘idealism’ provided several Indian academic philosophers with a hermeneutic opportunity to revisit the vexed question of whether the ‘idealism’ of Śaṁkara reduces the phenomenal world, structured by $\textit{māyā}$, to a bundle of ideas

Alu-miRNA interactions modulate transcript isoform diversity in stress response and reveal signatures of positive selection

Primate-specific Alus harbor different regulatory features, including miRNA targets. In this study, we provide evidence for miRNA-mediated modulation of transcript isoform levels during heat-shock response through exaptation of Alu-miRNA sites in mature mRNA. We performed genome-wide expression profiling coupled with functional validation of miRNA target sites within exonized Alus, and analyzed conservation of these targets across primates. We observed that two miRNAs (miR-15a-3p and miR-302d-3p) elevated in stress response, target RAD1, GTSE1, NR2C1, FKBP9 and UBE2I exclusively within Alu. These genes map onto the p53 regulatory network. Ectopic overexpression of miR-15a-3p downregulates GTSE1 and RAD1 at the protein level and enhances cell survival. This Alu-mediated fine-tuning seems to be unique to humans as evident from the absence of orthologous sites in other primate lineages. We further analyzed signatures of selection on Alu-miRNA targets in the genome, using 1000 Genomes Phase-I data. We found that 198 out of 3177 Alu-exonized genes exhibit signatures of selection within Alu-miRNA sites, with 60 of them containing SNPs supported by multiple evidences (global-FST > 0.3, pair-wise-FST > 0.5, Fay-Wu's H  2.0, high ΔDAF) and implicated in p53 network. We propose that by affecting multiple genes, Alu-miRNA interactions have the potential to facilitate population-level adaptations in response to environmental challenges

Polyphosphoinositides suppress the adhesion of Haemophilus influenzae to pharyngeal cells

BACKGROUND: One of the primary causes of otitis media (OM), an inflammation of the middle ear, is the bacterium Haemophilus influenzae (HI). OM often occurs to young children, and is mostly treated with antibiotics. Due to concerns over bacterial resistance toward antibiotics, reliable prophylactic treatments such as administrating anti-adhesion agents are now viewed as viable alternatives. RESULTS: The present study tested the feasibilty of using phosphoinositides as anti-adhesion agents against HI cells. Cells of non-typeable HI were radiolabeled with (111- )indium-oxine, pre-incubated with various individual phosphoinositides for 15 minutes at 37°C, and incubated with a monolayer of human pharynx carcinoma (DT 562) cells for 20 minutes at 37°C. The result showed that at 0.1 mg/mL dipalmitoylphosphatidylinositol-3,4-diphosphate (PI-3,4-PP) had the highest anti-adhesion activity, followed by phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI-3-P) and phosphatidylinositol-4-phosphate (PI-4-P). The anti-adhesion activity of PI-3,4-PP was dose-dependent ranging from 0.006 to 0.1 mg/mL. In addition, results from an in vivo study demonstrated that pre-incubation of HI cells with PI-3,4-PP at 1 mg/mL suppressed the growth of HI in nasopharynx of neonatal rats. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that PI-3-P and PI-4-P and more so PI-3,4-PP may serve as prophylactic agents against HI adhesion and colonization

Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources

YesThis study was conducted to conceptualise advertising value and consumer attitudes towards advertisements. The research was developed to reveal the effect of the source of advertisements on credibility perception through the theoretical framework of Ducoffe's (1995) advertising value model. The research objective is to identify source derogation in terms of credibility to create advertising value and a positive attitude towards advertisements launched through the Facebook social network. In this regard, the study used three distinct sources to generate and introduce product promotional messages: an associative reference group, an aspirational reference group and marketers themselves. This research revealed significant differences in developing advertisement value and forming a favourable attitude towards advertisements when the product-related message was developed by these three distinct groups, who have different source derogations

Choline esterase in cobra venom

This article does not have an abstract

IGVBrowser–a genomic variation resource from diverse Indian populations

The Indian Genome Variation Consortium (IGVC) project, an initiative of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, has been the first large-scale comprehensive study of the Indian population. One of the major aims of the project is to study and catalog the variations in nearly thousand candidate genes related to diseases and drug response for predictive marker discovery, founder identification and also to address questions related to ethnic diversity, migrations, extent and relatedness with other world population. The Phase I of the project aimed at providing a set of reference populations that would represent the entire genetic spectrum of India in terms of language, ethnicity and geography and Phase II in providing variation data on candidate genes and genome wide neutral markers on these reference set of populations. We report here development of the IGVBrowser that provides allele and genotype frequency data generated in the IGVC project. The database harbors 4229 SNPs from more than 900 candidate genes in contrasting Indian populations. Analysis shows that most of the markers are from genic regions. Further, a large fraction of genes are implicated in cardiovascular, metabolic, cancer and immune system-related diseases. Thus, the IGVC data provide a basal level variation data in Indian population to study genetic diseases and pharmacology. Additionally, it also houses data on ∼50 000 (Affy 50 K array) genome wide neutral markers in these reference populations. In IGVBrowser one can analyze and compare genomic variations in Indian population with those reported in HapMap along with annotation information from various primary data sources

Whole genome expression and biochemical correlates of extreme constitutional types defined in Ayurveda

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Ayurveda is an ancient system of personalized medicine documented and practiced in India since 1500 B.C. According to this system an individual's basic constitution to a large extent determines predisposition and prognosis to diseases as well as therapy and life-style regime. Ayurveda describes seven broad constitution types (<it>Prakriti</it>s) each with a varying degree of predisposition to different diseases. Amongst these, three most contrasting types, <it>Vata</it>, <it>Pitta</it>, <it>Kapha</it>, are the most vulnerable to diseases. In the realm of modern predictive medicine, efforts are being directed towards capturing disease phenotypes with greater precision for successful identification of markers for prospective disease conditions. In this study, we explore whether the different constitution types as described in Ayurveda has molecular correlates.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal individuals of the three most contrasting constitutional types were identified following phenotyping criteria described in Ayurveda in Indian population of Indo-European origin. The peripheral blood samples of these individuals were analysed for genome wide expression levels, biochemical and hematological parameters. Gene Ontology (GO) and pathway based analysis was carried out on differentially expressed genes to explore if there were significant enrichments of functional categories among <it>Prakriti </it>types.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Individuals from the three most contrasting constitutional types exhibit striking differences with respect to biochemical and hematological parameters and at genome wide expression levels. Biochemical profiles like liver function tests, lipid profiles, and hematological parameters like haemoglobin exhibited differences between <it>Prakriti </it>types. Functional categories of genes showing differential expression among <it>Prakriti </it>types were significantly enriched in core biological processes like transport, regulation of cyclin dependent protein kinase activity, immune response and regulation of blood coagulation. A significant enrichment of housekeeping, disease related and hub genes were observed in these extreme constitution types.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Ayurveda based method of phenotypic classification of extreme constitutional types allows us to uncover genes that may contribute to system level differences in normal individuals which could lead to differential disease predisposition. This is a first attempt towards unraveling the clinical phenotyping principle of a traditional system of medicine in terms of modern biology. An integration of Ayurveda with genomics holds potential and promise for future predictive medicine.</p