Problems of Political Development in Bangladesh

After World War II the revival of the spirit of nationalism led to the emergence of many new states. Freed from the colonial domination, the new states were keenly interested in developing their societies as fast as possible. Many problems stand in the way of development. These problems are the problems of stability, unity, integration and socioeconomic problems. This study is concerned about the problems of political development in Bangladesh, which came into existence in 1971, as a result of the problems of of national integration in Pakistan. This study identifies some problems which stand in the way of political development in Bangladesh. These problems are: (1) the problems of integration, (2) the problems of unity and stability, (3) the lack of well-organized political parties, (4) the problems of bureaucracy, and (5) socio-economic problems. After the creation of Bangladesh it was assumed that there would be no problem of integration in Bangladesh. But an analysis of the political situations will show that problems of integration still remain, though in different character, such as the lack of integration between the elites and the mass, the lack of integrative ideology, the separatist tendency in the tribal people, etc. Absence of stability is creating problems in the effective undertaking of any developmental plan. The chief causes of instability are: factionalism, frustration of the people, threat of India, loss of charisma, etc. Too many political parties with too many ideologies stand in the way of creating a stable government. The parties do not have any organizational basis, and are based on the personality of the leader. The parties are not effective in aggregating the peoples\u27 demands and grievances. The lack of balance in the role of the bureaucracy is also a problem. On the one hand, if the bureaucrats are given more power, they hinder the growth of political institutions. On the other hand, if they are given less power, they play an inactive role hindering the execution of policies. Bangladesh suffers from both the problems of bureaucracy. The most pre-dominant problems which hamper political development in Bangladesh are socio-economic problems. The population problem, food problem, and unemployment create mass frustrations causing instability and disunity within the country. The attachment to the traditional values hinders the way of change. This study analyzes in detail all these problems and how they stand in the way of political development

Chick PTPσ regulates the targeting of retinal axons within the optic tectum

Chick PTP (cPTP), also known as CRYP, is a receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatase found on axons and growth cones. Putative ligands for cPTP are distributed within basement membranes and on glial end feet of the retina, optic nerve, and optic tectum, suggesting that cPTP signaling is occurring along the whole retinotectal pathway. We have shown previously that cPTP plays a role in supporting the retinal phase of axon outgrowth. Here we have now addressed the role of cPTP within retinal axons as they undergo growth and topographic targeting in the optic tectum. With the use of retroviruses, a secretable cPTP ectodomain was ectopically expressed in ovo in the developing chick optic tectum, with the aim of directly disrupting the function of endogenous cPTP. In ovo, the secreted ectodomains accumulated at tectal sites in which cPTP ligands are also specifically found, suggesting that they are binding to these endogenous ligands. Anterograde labeling of retinal axons entering these optic tecta revealed abnormal axonal phenotypes. These included the premature stalling and arborization of fibers,excessive pretectal arbor formation, and diffuse termination zones. Most of the defects were rostral of the predicted termination zone, indicating that cPTP function is necessary for sustaining the growth of retinal axons over the optic tectum and for directing axons to their correct sites of termination. This demonstrates that regulation of cPTP signaling in retinal axons is required for their topographic mapping, the first evidence of this function for a receptor-like protein tyrosine phosphatase in the retinotectal projection

Analysis of Preparatory Courses for the Practical Component of the PLAB Exam for International Medical Graduates in the UK

Background: Medical workforce shortages are a major threat to the future of the UK National Health Service (NHS) and countless other healthcare systems globally. Reliance on international medical graduates is likely to continue and may increase, although these doctors face many educational and professional challenges. The Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board (PLAB) test, delivered by the General Medical Council (GMC), is the “gateway” exam that doctors must pass through in order to practice in the UK. Despite the central importance of this exam, no official or accredited training courses are provided or approved by the GMC. Methods: This study used online and social media searches to identify and categorise preparatory courses available for the practical (clinical) component of the PLAB assessment. Results: A total of 13 courses were identified, delivered predominantly in the cities of Manchester and London, ranging from 1 to 28 days in duration and from £ 24.99 to £ 649.99 in cost. Most courses were organised by previous PLAB candidates and websites focussed on testimonials from previous participants rather than educational credentials or professional clinical experience of teachers running the courses. Courses were all provided by private education companies, and none were delivered by universities or National Health Service organisations. Discussion: A variety of preparatory services and courses exist for the PLAB assessment, although the public information about them is variable and limited. Further research is required to examine the quality of these courses and the potential for alternative avenues of training for international medical graduates preparing to practice in the UK

Effects of micronutrients on bulb growth, yield and quality of local and high yielding onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars in Bangladesh

Micronutrients have important functions on onion production. An experiment was conducted at the Landscape section and Laboratory of the Department of Horticulture, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from October, 2017 to March, 2018 to investigate the effects of micronutrients on bulb growth, yield and quality of local and high yielding (HY) onion cultivars in Bangladesh. The experiment comprised three onion cultivars viz., Taherpuri (local), BARI Piaz 1 (HY) and BARI Piaz 4 (HY), and five micronutrients viz., Control (no micronutrient), Boron (B) @ 0.2 g/plot, Zinc (Zn) @ 0.5 g/plot, Copper (Cu) @ 0.2 g/plot and B+Zn+Cu @ (0.2+0.5+0.2 g/plot). The two-factor experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with three replications. Results revealed that onion cultivars and micronutrients had significant influence on the parameters studied. BARI Piaz 4 along with the application of B+Zn+Cu @ 0.2+0.5+0.2 g/plot produced the highest bulb size, increased plant height, number of leaves, fresh weight of bulb, per cent dry matter content of bulbs and bulb yield compared to other onion cultivars and micronutrient treatments. The highest bulb yield (16.07 t/ha) was recorded in B+Zn+Cu, while the lowest bulb yield (8.92 t/ha) was found from control. Highest gross yield of onion (20.67 t/ha) was recorded from BARI Piaz 4 with B+Zn+Cu @ 0.2+0.5+0.2 g/plot. Therefore, it can be concluded that combined treatment of BARI Piaz 4 and B+Zn+Cu @ @ 0.2+0.5+0.2 g/plot was found to be better in respect of bulb growth and yield, and Taherpuri for quality of onion

Temporal and spatial expression of Arabidopsis gene homologs control daylength adaptation and bulb formation in onion (Allium cepa L.)

Genetic studies aimed at onion improvement have been limited because of high heterozygosity, a very large genome size with a high level of repetitive DNA and a biennial life cycle. Onion bulb initiation is daylength-dependent, which places a significant barrier to adapting new varieties for growth at different latitudes. Compared to the photoperiodic regulation of flowering, relatively little is known about genetic regulation of the bulbing process. This study aims to identify the role of gene sequences involved in daylength-regulated bulb formation and tissue specific expression of onion. A comprehensive set of developmental and spatial quantitative mRNA expression experiments were carried out to investigate expression of onion FLOWERING LOCUS T (AcFT), LEAFY (AcLFY) and GIBBERELLIN-3 OXIDASE (GA3ox1) during the bulbing response. Bulbing ratios were used to measure the response of onion plants under long day (LD) and short day (SD) conditions. AcFT1 was expressed in LD, which induces bulb formation, while AcFT4 was expressed in SD, which inhibits bulb formation. AcFT5 and AcFT6 were expressed in LD and might also be involved in bulb formation itself. All AcFT, AcLFY and GA3ox1 genes showed distinctive patterns of tissue specific expression in onion, with AcFT genes found primarily in the sites of perception in the leaf and LFY in the basal tissues, the site of response. The results are consistent with AcFT1 expression being the signal for LD-induced bulb initiation and AcFT4, being involved in suppressing bulbing in SD

Craniocerebral missile injuries in civilian Kashmir – India

Background The missile injuries of the cranium and brain in the modern era have shifted from soldiers to the civilians and from the battle grounds to the populated zones due to increase in the terrorist and military strikes. The management of the victims depends on the resuscitation at the site of injury and the distance and transportation to the tertiary care centre. This article presents the details of the missile injuries to the brain, the third-world problems and the management. Material and methods A retrospective analysis of 3794 craniocerebral missile injuries, managed by the Department of Neurosurgery at Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS) Kashmir, India, over a period of more than 21 years from September 1988 to September 2009. Patients were triaged in emergency CT-room, resuscitated and operated. Statistical software programme SPSS 11.5 was used to derive the numerical significance. Results Revealed an overall mortality of 87.69% (3327 out of 3794). Most of the deaths 79.14% (2633 out of 3327) occurred within 30 minutes of the patient’s arrival to the hospital and only 694 patients lived beyond one hour of arrival. Conclusion Presently the quantum of outcome i.e, survival and good recovery in craniocerebral missile injuries appears a meager heap compared to the huge amount of death and disability. And the situation will continue to be so unless tertiary care hospitals are set up within and around the armed and conflict zones, war torn areas and battle fields, rather than risking transportation, time of resuscitation, intervention and the results.Key words: Craniocerebral, Kashmir, Missile Injuries, Outcome

Genetic regulation of daylength adaptation and bulb formation in onion (Allium cepa L.).

Genetic studies aimed at onion improvement have been limited because of outcrossing, high heterozygosity and a very large genome size with a high level of repetitive DNA. Onion bulb initiation is photoperiod-dependent, which places a significant barrier to adapting new varieties for growth at different latitudes. In comparison to photoperiodic regulation of flowering, relatively little is known about genetic regulation of the bulbing process. This project aims to test the hypothesis that the genetic regulation of bulb formation in response to daylength is analogous to the daylength regulation of flowering and to identify genes involved in daylength adaptation in onion. A comprehensive set of developmental, diurnal and spatial mRNA and quantitative expression experiments were carried out to investigate the bulbing response. Bulbing ratios were used to measure the bulbing response of onion plants and the reversibility of the bulbing process under long day (LD) and short day (SD) conditions. RNA-Seq analysis provided a large number of differentially expressed transcripts in onion in response to daylength. Five FT and three COL genes were identified in onion including two novel COL sequences. AcFT1 was expressed in LD, which might induce bulb formation, while AcFT4 was expressed in SD, which might inhibit bulb formation. AcFT5 and AcFT6 were expressed in LD and might also be involved in bulb formation itself. FKF1, GI and COL2 showed good diurnal expression patterns consistent with photoperiod sensing and regulation of FT1. All FT genes exhibited different diurnal expression patterns peaking at different times of the day. FKF1, COL2, COL3, FT1, FT4, LFY and GA3ox1 genes showed distinctive patterns of tissue specific expression in onion. FT genes did not show any variation in expression that would account for the difference in critical daylength between the LD and SD varieties of onio

Low energy K-meson-nucleon scattering and elastic scattering and the elastic scattering of pions by alpha-particles

The first part of the Thesis (Parts 1 and 2) describes a theoretical investigation on the S-wave K-nucleon scattering. Although the K-meson-nucleon interaction has received considerable theoretical study, the details of the mechanism remain obscure. In an interaction like this where absorptive processes are known to be quite strong, the requirements of unitarity imply a close relationship between the various channels in the reaction. It is therefore important in any consideration of K-meson-nucleon scattering to take into account virtual processes involving pions and hyperons. This investigation studies the possible importance of one particular virtual process namely scattering via the elementary virtual production of pairs. This is achieved by using a reduced Hamiltonian for which the processes [diagram] are allowed and the only Feynman diagram for K + N elastic scattering is that shown in the figure below [diagram]. The state vector contains terms in the configurations (K + N) , (N + N + ?) and (? + ?) and the problem can be solved exactly to obtain the S-matrix for the reactions [diagram]. Another version of the model in which ? ? B + B (where B is a baryon) is also allowed is investigated but clearly higher configurations can now occur and the model is not exactly soluble. Apart from its application to K + N scattering, the model is of interest in itself as it contains three open channels and an application of Tamm-Dancoff approximation leads to a system of coupled singular integral equations which have to be solved numerically. This was done on the electronic computer of the Glasgow University and both the models were studied for various combinations of coupling constants in the theory. Because a reduced model Hamiltonian has been used, the coupling constants are not directly comparable with those employed in calculations using the full Hamiltonian. However it has been found that for reasonable values of the coupling constants, a substantial fraction of the observed cross-sections can be obtained with this process. The model also correctly predicts the sign of the real part of the scattering amplitude for certain values of the coupling constants. The conclusion from this investigation is therefore that in S-states, pair production by K-mesons and pions must be taken into account in a future relativistic theory. The second part (Part 3) of the thesis describes a calculation on the elastic scattering of pions by alpha-particles. The interaction of pions with alpha particles has not been investigated theoretically so far and in the present study, a variational method which has been found quite successful in the pion-deuteron scattering has been applied to this problem. This method takes into account effects of multiple scattering quite simply and is an improvement over pure impulse approximation. The results of the calculations show that multiple scattering corrections are small and agreement with experimental results without such corrections is reasonably good

Structure and function of the thermostable L-asparaginase from Thermococcus kodakarensis.

L-Asparaginases catalyse the hydrolysis of asparagine to aspartic acid and ammonia. In addition, L-asparaginase is involved in the biosynthesis of amino acids such as lysine, methionine and threonine. These enzymes have been used as chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and other haematopoietic malignancies since the tumour cells cannot synthesize sufficient L-asparagine and are thus killed by deprivation of this amino acid. L-Asparaginases are also used in the food industry and have potential in the development of biosensors, for example for asparagine levels in leukaemia. The thermostable type I L-asparaginase from Thermococcus kodakarensis (TkA) is composed of 328 amino acids and forms homodimers in solution, with the highest catalytic activity being observed at pH 9.5 and 85°C. It has a Km value of 5.5 mM for L-asparagine, with no glutaminase activity being observed. The crystal structure of TkA has been determined at 2.18 Å resolution, confirming the presence of two α/β domains connected by a short linker region. The N-terminal domain contains a highly flexible β-hairpin which adopts `open' and `closed' conformations in different subunits of the solved TkA structure. In previously solved L-asparaginase structures this β-hairpin was only visible when in the `closed' conformation, whilst it is characterized with good electron density in all of the subunits of the TkA structure. A phosphate anion resides at the active site, which is formed by residues from both of the neighbouring monomers in the dimer. The high thermostability of TkA is attributed to the high arginine and salt-bridge content when compared with related mesophilic enzymes