India’s Law School Legal Aid Clinics: The Gaps Between Aspiration and Practice

The law schools legal aid activities conducted through its clinics has come a long way in India especially since its inception in the early 1970’s. Its evolution has been gradual, intermittent and varied. Although The Bar Council of India (BCI) has mandated, establishing legal aid clinics as a pre-requisite for granting the necessary permissions before law schools start functioning, there are limited ideas of its purpose and objectives. An inherent lack of understanding its importance in terms of teaching, learning and research, the legal aid practices are largely left to the discretion of the individual law schools and interpretations of the individual faculty members. Combined with ideas heavily borrowed from the law schools in the US and individual experiences of the faculty members, legal aid practices in India are diversified. In the backdrop of this, the author intends to explore and map the aspiration of legal aid through an analysis of the key policy documents of legal education since India’s independence through an ontological framework. The ontology maps the aspirations of the legal aid clinics that was intended through these documents. Additionally, a case study of two important institutions have been taken as the case in point in order to verify whether the practices match such aspirations. Thereby, putting forth arguments that are critical for understanding the gaps between the aspiration and the state of reality. Key words: Legal aid Clinics, Law schools, Clinical, Legal education, Social justic

Selection of culture medium and conditions for the production of selenium enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Selenium (Se) yeast is a recognized source of organic food-form of Se and it plays a vital role in animal and human nutrition. The organic Se supplementation in the form of yeast has been shown to have beneficial effects on growth, immune status and reproduction in many animal species, thereby improving the productivity and economical benefits in livestock production. Subsequently, strategies to supplement animal feeds with Se yeast have led to the development of industrial production of Se yeast. The aim of the present study was to improve the yeast biomass production measured as dry cell weight (DCW) and Se enrichment of yeast cells through optimization of the culture conditions and culture media. The culture conditions were optimized by the shake flask experiments. Maximum cell density (2.93 g/LDCW) was observed at pH 5 to 5.5, at 30 °C (2.88 g/L DCW). Significantly higher DCW was recorded when glucose was used as the carbon source (3.09 g/L DCW). The media optimization study carried out in fermentors with five different media (defined medium–A, defined medium-B, synthetic medium, rich medium and industrial medium) showed that the synthetic medium yielded maximum yeast biomass (12.8 g/LDCW) followed by rich medium (11.7 g/L DCW) and defined medium B (10.5 g/LDCW). The Se accumulation was also significantly higher in synthetic medium (2718.3 ppm), followed by industrial medium (2457.7 ppm) and defined medium-B (2251.3 ppm). The methylene blue reduction time (MBRT) was very high ( >15 m) in synthetic medium indicating the highest accumulation of organically bound Se, and MBRT was moderate for defined medium-A and industrial medium ( <10 m).Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, synthetic medium, carbon source, selenium enrichment, methylene blue reduction time (MBRT)African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(20), pp. 2972-297

Role of insulin sensitising agents in altering PSA level in PCOS

Background: Ovarian androgen production can be promoted by insulin resistance which leads to reproductive abnormalities in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). A wide variety of female tissues can synthesize and secrete Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). Androgens may take part a significant role in PSA secretion in PCOS. As insulin resistance stimulates androgen production, the baseline value of PSA may decline by insulin sensitising agents in PCOS. Present study is an attempt to measure the function of PSA as a marker of androgen excess in PCOS and to assess the role of insulin sensitising agent metformin in altering PSA level in PCOS.Methods: The study was undertaken to assess the insulin resistance, testosterone and PSA level in 45 women diagnosed as PCOS and 45 healthy controls. Alteration of insulin resistance, serum testosterone and PSA levels by metformin was also analysed.Results: A significant increase in testosterone, PSA level and insulin resistance was observed in PCOS cases when compared with control (p<0.001). When metformin was given for 4 months, improvement in insulin resistance and testosterone level was found in cases, but PSA values observed no change. Correlation was not found linking insulin resistance with PSA level prior to and after therapy.Conclusions: Serum PSA level could be detected in high significant concentration in PCOS women. Various researches explain that insulin resistance and BMI may perhaps control serum PSA level, but our result demonstrate no effect of insulin sensitising agent on serum PSA value

Prediction of fruit rot disease incidence in Arecanut based on weather parameters

Received: July 19th, 2022 ; Accepted: October 20th, 2022 ; Published: November 22nd, 2022 ; Correspondence: [email protected] occurrence of pests and diseases in arecanut crops has always been an important factor affecting the total production of arecanut. Arecanut is always dependent on environmental factors during its growth. Thus monitoring and early prediction of the occurrence of the disease would be very helpful for prevention and therefore more crop production. Here, we propose artificial intelligence-based deep learning models for fruit rot disease prediction. Historical data on fruit rot incidence in representative areas of arecanut production in Udupi along with historical weather data are the parameters used to develop region-specific models for the Udupi district. The fruit rot disease incidence score value is predicted using recurrent neural network variants (i.e., Vanilla LSTM, Vanilla GRU, stacked LSTM, and Bidirectional LSTM) for the first time. The predictive performance of the proposed models is evaluated by mean square error (MSE) along with the 5-fold cross-validation technique. Further, compared to other deep learning and machine learning models, the Vanilla LSTM model gives 1.5 MSE, while the Vanilla GRU model gives 1.3 MSE making it the best prediction model for arecanut fruit rot disease

Surveillance of bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and MRSA associated with acute suppurative otitis media (ASOM)

Background: Otitis media particularly with suppuration is a critical disease-causing perforation of the tympanic membrane associated with changes of the mucoperiosteum of the middle ear cleft. This surveillance includes isolation and antibiotic profiles of causative bacteria from ear discharges of patients in 3years attending outpatients of a hospital.Methods: Bacterial strains were grown in suitable media and were subjected to antibiotic profiling by the Kirby-Bauer’s method with most antibiotics of the day.Results: In total there were 1164 colonies with 1043 bacterial and 121 fungal isolates from 1230 ear discharge samples. Among 371 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates, tobramycin 30 µg/disk had the highest susceptibility rate as 93.2%, followed by ceftazidime 30µg/disk 91.5% and amikacin 10µg/disk 64.4%. From 359 Staphylococcus isolates, there were 236 coagulase negative Staphylococcus (CONS) + methicillin sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and 123 methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Staphylococcus including MRSA isolates were most susceptibility to cloxacillin 15µg/disk 95.2%, followed by erythromycin 15µg/disk 83.3% and gentamicin 30µg/disk 78.5%. Of 1164, 49 patients presented post aural abscess, 12 patients had intracranial complications, 9 patients had facial palsy and 3 patients had labyrinthitis.Conclusions: Isolated bacteria, P. aeruginosa and MRSA were multidrug resistant. P. aeruginosa was most common followed by S. aureus. More than 90% P. aeruginosa and 90% S. aureus isolates were sensitive to tobramycin 30 µg/disk and cloxacillin 30 µg/disk, respectively. Therefore, these two antibiotics may be included in the formulary regimen to overcome bacterial infections involved in ASOM

Structural insights into the role of the Smoothened cysteine-rich domain in Hedgehog signalling.

Smoothened (Smo) is a member of the Frizzled (FzD) class of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), and functions as the key transducer in the Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway. Smo has an extracellular cysteine-rich domain (CRD), indispensable for its function and downstream Hh signalling. Despite its essential role, the functional contribution of the CRD to Smo signalling has not been clearly elucidated. However, given that the FzD CRD binds to the endogenous Wnt ligand, it has been proposed that the Smo CRD may bind its own endogenous ligand. Here we present the NMR solution structure of the Drosophila Smo CRD, and describe interactions between the glucocorticoid budesonide (Bud) and the Smo CRDs from both Drosophila and human. Our results highlight a function of the Smo CRD, demonstrating its role in binding to small-molecule modulators

Atypical presentation of placenta percreta post-partum-a conservative surgical approach

We report our experience with an atypical presentation of placenta percreta, presenting as a mass-like bulge in the uterine fundus. A hemodynamically stable young lady status-post preterm delivery at 26 weeks was referred to our center on the third post-partum day after multiple failed attempts at removal of a retained placenta. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed an atypical fibroid with part of an adherent placenta. Uterine artery embolization was done prophylactically. After a failure at removal under USG guidance, a diagnostic laparoscopy revealed an 8x6 cm highly vascular mass in the fundus extending to the right cornua with intact serosa, possibly placenta percreta. The procedure converted to laparotomy and the mass removed. Histopathology confirmed a placenta percreta. However, the neonate admitted at the referring hospital expired on day 14 due to sepsis. Post-partum adherent placenta in the fundal region on MRI can mimic an atypical fibroid

Distinct repeat motifs at the C-terminal region of CagA of Helicobacter pylori strains isolated from diseased patients and asymptomatic individuals in West Bengal, India

Background: Infection with Helicobacter pylori strains that express CagA is associated with gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric adenocarcinoma. The biological function of CagA depends on tyrosine phosphorylation by a cellular kinase. The phosphate acceptor tyrosine moiety is present within the EPIYA motif at the C-terminal region of the protein. This region is highly polymorphic due to variations in the number of EPIYA motifs and the polymorphism found in spacer regions among EPIYA motifs. The aim of this study was to analyze the polymorphism at the C-terminal end of CagA and to evaluate its association with the clinical status of the host in West Bengal, India. Results: Seventy-seven H. pylori strains isolated from patients with various clinical statuses were used to characterize the C-ternimal polymorphic region of CagA. Our analysis showed that there is no correlation between the previously described CagA types and various disease outcomes in Indian context. Further analyses of different CagA structures revealed that the repeat units in the spacer sequences within the EPIYA motifs are actually more discrete than the previously proposed models of CagA variants. Conclusion: Our analyses suggest that EPIYA motifs as well as the spacer sequence units are present as distinct insertions and deletions, which possibly have arisen from extensive recombination events. Moreover, we have identified several new CagA types, which could not be typed by the existing systems and therefore, we have proposed a new typing system. We hypothesize that a cagA gene encoding higher number EPIYA motifs may perhaps have arisen from cagA genes that encode lesser EPIYA motifs by acquisition of DNA segments through recombination events

Microgravity induces proteomics changes involved in endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial protection

On Earth, biological systems have evolved in response to environmental stressors, interactions dictated by physical forces that include gravity. The absence of gravity is an extreme stressor and the impact of its absence on biological systems is ill-defined. Astronauts who have spent extended time under conditions of minimal gravity (microgravity) experience an array of biological alterations, including perturbations in cardiovascular function. We hypothesized that physiological perturbations in cardiac function in microgravity may be a consequence of alterations in molecular and organellar dynamics within the cellular milieu of cardiomyocytes. We used a combination of mass spectrometry-based approaches to compare the relative abundance and turnover rates of 848 and 196 proteins, respectively, in rat neonatal cardiomyocytes exposed to simulated microgravity or normal gravity. Gene functional enrichment analysis of these data suggested that the protein content and function of the mitochondria, ribosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum were differentially modulated in microgravity. We confirmed experimentally that in microgravity protein synthesis was decreased while apoptosis, cell viability, and protein degradation were largely unaffected. These data support our conclusion that in microgravity cardiomyocytes attempt to maintain mitochondrial homeostasis at the expense of protein synthesis. The overall response to this stress may culminate in cardiac muscle atrophy