Fishery Oceanographic Conditions off the Coast of Maharashtra

The major fishery resouices of Maharashtra being constituted by the primary and secondary carnivores such as Bombay duck, prawns, croakers, pomfrets, ribbon fish, catfish etc., it should be possible to realise nearly twice the present fish catch from the sea off Maharashtra. The fishery of Maharashtra, as elsewhere in the world is influenced by abiotic oceanographic factors suchas temperature, salinity, currents, monsoons, storms, light, dissolved oxygen content, inorganic nutrients like phosphates, nitrates, silicates and biotic factors like phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthos. The waters of Maharashtra are fertile and support high plankton production. The primary productivity of EEZ off Maharashtra amounts to about 60 million tonnes of carbon. The present exploitation of fish from this area is around 0.36 million tonnes only i.e. out of every 167 units of phytoplankton, only one unit is being harvested as fish

Estimation and Determinants of Chronic Poverty in India : An Alternative Approach

The paper conceptualizes chronic poverty by using the spaces of income and nutrition and estimates its incidence among states and social groups. It also aims to improve our understanding of the determinant of chronic poverty by considering economic, demographic and social factors. It attempts to answer the following questions : How important a determinant of chronic poverty is household income? What factors inhibit escape from chronic poverty? How different are the other poor from chronic poor? The analysis uses the unit level NSS and NFHS data.Chrinic Poverty, India

Estimation and determinants of chronic poverty in India: An Alternative approach

The paper conceptualizes chronic poverty by using the spaces of income and nutrition and estimates its incidence among states and social groups. It also aims to improve our understanding of the determinant of chronic poverty by considering economic, demographic and social factors. It attempts to answer the following questions: How important a determinant of chronic poverty is household income? What factors inhibit escape from chronic poverty? How different are the other poor from chronic poor? The analysis uses the unit level NSS and NFHS data.

Sustainability of Environmental Programs: A Green IT Perspective

Sustainable development programs always form an important component of strategic initiatives in modern day organizations. However, very few firms successfully implement these programs and continue the same in the long run. This article examines the sustainability of environmental programs in organizations from “program sustainability” point of view. It makes use of Resource based view and Institution theory to find out the parameters that contribute to sustainability of environmental initiatives. Green IT initiatives were chosen as ‘environmental programs’ for understanding the problem of program sustainability. These initiatives typically have low implementation levels and face the criticism of failing to continue in the long run and hence were chosen for this study

Role of TRPV6 in Mitigating Alcohol-Induced Disruption of Tight Junctions, Barrier Function, and Hepatic Injury

Background: Persistent alcohol consumption is widely recognized as a precursor to alcoholic liver disease. However, the intriguing observation persists that only a minority, approximately 20%, of individuals with alcohol use disorder succumb to this liver ailment. The factors contributing to this variability remain elusive. Studies indicate that individuals with alcoholic liver disease exhibit endotoxemia, with endotoxins primarily originating from colonic microflora. Moreover, these patients manifest disruptions in epithelial tight junctions, leading to compromised barrier function in the gastrointestinal tract. In this context, the transient receptor vanilloid receptor 6 (TRPV6) emerges as a crucial regulator of calcium absorption and transport, particularly in epithelial cells within the gastrointestinal tract. Research strongly suggests that suppressing the TRPV6 channel in Caco-2 cells can alleviate alcohol-induced disruption of tight junctions and barrier function. Methods, Results, and Conclusions: A scientific study subjected adult wild-type and Trpv6-/- mice to chronic alcohol feeding. Barrier function was assessed through in vivo measurement of inulin permeability, while tight junctions (TJ) and adherens junctions (AJ) integrity were evaluated using immunofluorescence microscopy. Systemic responses were analysed by assessing endotoxemia, systemic inflammation, and liver damage. Our findings highlight that alcohol induces the redistribution of tight junctions and adherens junctions, closely associated with the presence of TRPV6. Crucially, experiments with murine models reveal that the absence of TRPV6 mitigates alcohol-induced disruption of tight junctions, adherens junctions, gut barrier integrity, endotoxin absorption, and subsequent liver damage. Additionally, enteroids and colonoids generated from mice demonstrate that alcohol and its metabolite, acetaldehyde, increase the permeability of these organoids. Interestingly, organoids derived from TRPV6 knockout animals exhibit resistance to heightened permeability. Collectively, these findings suggest a pivotal role for the TRPV6 channel in mediating alcohol-induced damage to the gastrointestinal tract and liver. Our research provides valuable insights into potential mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced liver disease and emphasizes the significance of TRPV6 as a promising target for further exploration and potential therapeutic interventions

Unusually heavy catches of ribbon fish close to the shore at Visakhapatnam

Very heavy catches of ribbonfish were observed quite close to the shore at Visakhapatnam for a very short duration. Observations were made on this fishery and certain important biological aspects Ribbonfish do not generally come very close to the shore. As such they are vei7 rarely caught in the shore-seines. They are normally caught in boatseines operating 3-4 km away from the shore and in trawl nets. It is possible that the ribbon fish shoal after spawning hit the shore chasing their food consisting of Stolephorus sp, Leiognathus sp. Etc. Which might have been moving closer to the Shore to avoid the cold upwelled water

IS ACQUISITION OF METHICILLIN-RESISTANT STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS - AN OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS IN INDIA?

  Objective: The incidence of community-acquired and hospital-acquired Staphylococcus aureus infections has been rising with increasing emergence of drug-resistant strains called methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). The main objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of carriage rate of MRSA among the interns of tertiary care teaching hospital in Mangalore.Methods: A total of 150 interns were participated, thereby swabs from both anterior nares were collected and processed for S. aureus. The isolated strains of S. aureus were screened for methicillin susceptibility by modified Kirby–Bauer method using cefoxitin (30 μg) disc. Further, antibiotic susceptibility testing for all isolates of S. aureus was also done against selected appropriate antibiotics. Vancomycin susceptibility testing for MRSA was done by E test.Results: The number of strains of S. aureus isolated from our 150 participants was 71 with a percentage rate of 47.3. Of the 71 isolates of S. aureus, one (1.4%) was MRSA. The overall MRSA carriage rate was 0.66%. The S. aureus and MRSA carriage rates recorded in this study were at par and significantly lower, respectively, when compared with other reported studies. It was observed that risk factors such as the use of antibiotics in the past 6 months and smoking were found to be statistically significant in nasal carriage status of S. aureus (<0.05). The only one isolate of MRSA was found to be sensitive to vancomycin, linezolid, and teicoplanin.Conclusion: It was concluded that the acquisition of S. aureus and MRSA would not be an occupational hazard for medical students of developing countries like India

Road traffic accidents attending casualty in a tertiary care hospital : a 03 year study from South Western India

Background: Road Traffic Accident (RTA) is any vehicular accident occurring on the roadway i.e. originating on, terminating on, or involving a vehicle partially on the roadway. Road traffic accidents are a human tragedy which has an immeasurable impact on the families affected. The WHO estimates that over 1.2 million people pass away every year on the world’s roads, and between 20 and 50 million fall victims to non-fatal injuries.  The incidence of RTA remains poorly measured in India.Methods: The present study is conducted at casualty department of a tertiary care hospital in South Western India among victims of road traffic accident. This cross sectional study was conducted to elucidate the role of various factors involved in road traffic accidents and to study demographic profile and injury pattern among RTA victims. All the reported RTA cases from 1st January 2016 to 31st December 2018 were included in the study.Results: A total of 875 cases of RTA were studied. There were 83.77%(n=733) male and 16.23%(n=142) female accident victims. Most of the patients were aged between 21 and 30 years. Monsoons witnessed 46.63%(n=408) cases. Most cases occurred between 6 and 12pm (54.4%, n=476). Commonest injury was a simple injury (72.91%, n=638), dangerous injuries (27.09% percent, n=237) and dead was (7.43%, n=65). The highest number of accidents took place in the month of June (19.09%, n=167) and on Sundays (22.17%). Among the motorized vehicles, two-wheeler drivers were more (76.91%, n=673) involved in accidents. In this study 17.60% (n=154) were under influence of alcohol while driving.Conclusions: This study shows there are multiple factors associated with road traffic accidents. Most of the factors responsible for RTA and its fatal consequences are preventable. India, as a signatory to the Brasilia declaration, intends to reduce road accidents and traffic fatalities by 50% by 2022. A comprehensive multipronged approach can mitigate most of them

An improved method for the synthesis of cyclopropyl ketoesters

A simple and versatile method for the synthesis of cyclopropyl ketoesters starting from chalcones and ethyl cyanoacetate in benzene using sodium powder as base is described

The effect of rural-to-urban migration on renal function in an Indian population: cross-sectional data from the Hyderabad arm of the Indian Migration Study.

BACKGROUND: Urban migration is associated with an increased risk of hypertension, obesity and diabetes in Indian migrants. This study assessed the relationship between internal migration and renal function in the Hyderabad arm of the Indian Migration Study. METHODS: We assessed 841 subjects; urban non-migrants (n = 158), urban migrants (n = 424) and rural non-migrants (n = 259). Muscle mass was ascertained from DXA scanning. We derived urban life years for urban migrants and rural non-migrants. Multivariable linear regression was used to examine the association between tertiles of urban life years and 4-variable MDRD eGFR using Stata 11. RESULTS: Mean eGFR was lower in urban non-migrants and urban migrants compared to rural non-migrants. The prevalence of CKD 3-5 was higher in the rural non-migrant population (5.0%) than in the urban non-migrant populations (2.5%) due to a negatively skewed distribution of eGFR in rural non-migrants. As urban life years increased, eGFR declined (p = 0.008) though there was no obvious dose response effect. After adjustment for muscle mass, the association was attenuated and the trend was consistent with chance (p = 0.08). Further adjustment for vascular risk factors weakened the association to a small degree (p = 0.11). CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of reduced eGFR in rural areas requires further research. Urbanization was associated with reduced eGFR. This association appears mostly to be due to higher muscle mass with a small contribution from adverse vascular disease risk factors