Scouting and Education

“The greatest contribution to education in the 20th century was made not by an educationist, but by a soldier who founded the scout movement”, says George Benard Shaw. The scout movement was started by Lord Baden Powell of Gillwell in 1907. Scouting is not only a training but a supplement to education. And it itself is an education, since it has the similar forms and process of education such as aim, objectives, curriculum, teaching-learning methods and so on. But generally, education means the school and collegiate education, which aims at mental, moral and physical development of the youngmen (boys) and women (girls). We teach systematically, sincerely and scientifically; but with all that, we find education in the doldrums. We hardly find the positive results of teaching or training of mind and character. More so, we find education that makes the boys good and useful citizens

Willingness of employers to support disability management in the workplace from SOCSO’s perspective

In the current competitive edge, many healthy workers who become disable due to injuries, accidents, chronic illness or birth defect has been continued to be the poorest, less educated and least hired which was contributed by several barriers that stop them from participating in the labour market. The common barrier is the employer’s perception toward hiring the disable people in their workplace and this is the biggest constraint for the disable people to mingle in the workgroups in the society. This survey based research study was conducted basically to analyse the influence characteristics of employers in employing disable people in their workplace and for this purpose, the study was mainly targeted number of employers from Klang valley, Malaysia. Precisely, the connection between gender and total employees in an organization was identified by analysing the total number of employees in the organization, familiarity with disability workers and prior work experience with disability people together with elements of understanding and beliefs towards disability was explored. Results from this study indicate that employers’ attitudes are generally positive and the common barriers also have been identified. Overall familiarity with disability, size of organizations and gender can be predictable characters in determining the employer’s attitude in employing people with disabilities. This study also indicates that employers are willing to support disability management in the workplace. Furthermore, constraints in conducting this study together with future recommendations for other researchers are provided in this stud

Heterologous expression of xylanase gene from bacillus sp. in e. coli bl21 (DE3)

Xylanase gene of 642 bp with molecular weight 23kDa which was isolated from indigenous Bacillus sp. The isolated xylanase gene from indigenous Bacillus sp. was cloned into pET expression vector to obtain a high level expression of this recombinant family 11 xylanase in expression host E.coli BL21 (DE3). This attempt to clone the gene was initiated with the extraction of xylanase gene previously isolated from pGEM®-T easy cloning vector. The cloning vector was digested with restriction endonuclease and the xylanase insert was cloned into pET41(a) and transformed into E.coli BL21(DE3) via heat shock transformation. The expression was attempted to be observed through formation of halos in congo red staining method. Qualitative xylanase screening showed no detectable xylanase activity. This was predicted to be due to reasons like improper framing (frameshift) of cloned xylanase gene to LacZ promoter or incapability of E.coli BL21(DE3) to grow optimally in M9 minimal media with corn cob xylan source. It is highly recommended to get the full sequence of recombinant pET41(a)-Xyn to confirm the position of ligation of xylanase gene. The minimal media should also be altered in salt composition for optimized growth of E.coli BL21 (DE3)

Amoebic forms of Blastocystis spp. -evidence for a pathogenic role

Background: Blastocystis spp. are one of the most prevalent parasites isolated from patients suffering from diarrhea, flatulence, constipation and vomiting. It�s pathogenicity and pathophysiology remains controversial to date. Protease activity and amoebic forms have been reported previously in symptomatic isolates but there has been no conclusive evidence provided to correlate the protease activity and any specific life cycle stage of the parasite thus far. Methods: Symptomatic isolates with amoebic form were tested for protease activity and compared with symptomatic and asymptomatic isolates without amoebic form for 10 days culture period. Results: The present study demonstrates an elevated protease activity in cultures having a higher percentage of amoebic forms seen in symptomatic isolates. The growth curve demonstrated a significantly (p < 0.05) higher average number of parasite counts in asymptomatic compared to symptomatic isolates. Symptomatic isolates showed amoebic forms with percentages ranging from 5 to 17. Elevated protease activity was demonstrated in isolates that had higher percentages of amoebic forms with intense bands at higher molecular weight proteases (60 � 100 kDa). As days of culture proceeded, the protease quantification also showed a steady increase. Conclusion: This study elucidates a correlation between protease activity and percentage of amoebic forms. The finding implies that these forms could play a role in exacerbation of intestinal symptoms during Blastocystis spp. infection

ASSESSMENT OF SOLID WASTE GENERATION AND ITS MANAGEMENT IN SELECTED SCHOOL CAMPUSES IN PUDUCHERRY REGION, INDIA

Among all the significant contributors of municipal solid waste, schools have been chosen for the study since the solid waste generation rate and its corresponding composition has not been reported or has been underestimated in the schools of Puducherry region. Hence, the present paper is an attempt to fill up this gap in our knowledge. The existing waste management system in selected schools was disorganized and inadequate to meet the specific waste management objectives as specified in Municipal Solid Waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2000, India. The study found that in the school, average per capita waste generation rate was 0.092 (±0.025) kg/capita/day varying from a high of 0.117 (±0.021) kg/capita/day in higher secondary schools to a low of 0.059 (±0.020) kg/capita/day in primary schools. The mean composition of school waste is made up of 39% food waste; 33% paper; 11% silt, soil and mud (combined); 8% plastic; 2% wood, glass, metal and textile (combine); 2% clinical and sanitary wastes; 1% E-waste; 4% other wastes. Approximately, 70 - 80% of generated solid waste is openly dumped or burnt in the campus, 10 - 15% is collected by municipal authorities and the remaining 6 - 8% is recovered through informal recycling and composting facilities. Based on the findings, recommendations to develop efficient waste prevention and management practices were suggested. Establishing “waste avoidance, handling and recovery” policies and programs for food, paper, plastic and soil wastes could significantly influence the success of sustainable solid waste management system at the school level

Short Communication - Current status of Blastocystis in cockroaches

There are few reports on Blastocystis spp. infections in invertebrate hosts namely, cockroaches. Due to their close proximity to humans especially to their dwellings prompted this study as these organisms could possibly play a role in human transmission. A total of 151 cockroaches consisted predominantly of nymph and adult stages were captured from several types of dwellings in the state of Perak and Selangor, Malaysia. Approximately half (40.4%) of the cockroach intestinal contents screened were positive and were found associated to two main factors, host-stage and types of dwellings. The granular and vacuolated forms were the most common cell form found in the in vitro cultures and were morphologically similar to B. hominis. However, the surface coat observed was thick with an electron lucent area observed in the central vacuole. The isolates grew in room temperature but optimal growth was observed at a 24ºC similar to the reptilian Blastocystis with a high number of cells were recovered. Using the DNA barcoding method, two isolates were identified as ST3 (allele 56), one isolate was consider as the new subtype with close relation to allele 11

Systemic Inflammation and Microbial Translocation Are Characteristic Features of SARS-CoV-2-Related Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children

BACKGROUND: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) is a rare manifestation of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection in children that can result in increased morbidity and mortality. The inflammatory underpinnings of MIS-C have not been examined in detail. METHODS: We examined the plasma levels of acute phase proteins and microbial translocation markers in children with MIS-C, children with acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection, SARS-CoV-2-seropositive children, and controls. RESULTS: MIS-C children exhibited significantly higher levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), alpha2 macroglobulin (α2M), serum amyloid P (SAP), lipopolysaccharide (LPS), sCD14, and LPS binding protein (LBP) and significantly lower levels of haptoglobin (Hp) in comparison with seropositive, control, and/or COVID-19 children. In addition, COVID-19 children exhibited significantly higher levels of most of the above markers in comparison with seropositive and control children. Principal component analysis using a set of these markers could clearly discriminate MIS-C and COVID-19 from seropositive and control children. MIS-C children requiring pediatric intensive care unit admission and COVID-19 children with severe disease had higher levels of CRP, SAP, and/or sCD14 at admission. CONCLUSIONS: Our study describes the role of systemic inflammation and microbial translocation markers in children with MIS-C and COVID-19 and therefore helps in advancing our understanding of the pathogenesis of different presentations of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children

Emission estimates and inventories of non-methane volatile organic compounds from anthropogenic burning sources in India

Comprehensive, spatially disaggregated emission inventories are required for many developing regions to evaluate the relative impacts of different sources and to develop mitigation strategies which can lead to effective emission controls. This study developed a 1 km2 non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emission model for the combustion of fuel wood, cow dung cake, municipal solid waste (MSW), charcoal, coal and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in India from 1993 to 2016. Inputs were selected from a range of detailed fuel consumption surveys and recent emission factors measured during comprehensive studies of local burning sources. For the census year of 2011, we estimated around 13 (5–47) Tg of NMVOCs were emitted from biomass and MSW combustion in India. Around 54% of these emissions were from residential solid biofuel combustion, 23% from open burning of MSW, 23% from crop residue burning on fields an