Socioeconomic conditions of traditional fishermen of Vitava village in Thane district

Maharashtra stands third in fish production in India, with an estimated annual landings of 3.32 lakhs tonnes (1986-87). About 45% of the fishermen are directly involved in fishing. Mechanisation has boosted fish production resulting in gainful employment and higher incomes to fishermen. However, traditional fishermen along Thane creek and who entirely depend on fishing for their livelihood are comparatively poor due to their dependence on subsistence fishing and reduction of fish stock due to pollution of the creek. Conservation of the resources, proper monitoring of pollution and financial assistance and guidance will help the fishermen improve their living conditions

Need-based Information Service in BARC

The organisation pattern of the Library and Information Services of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre suitable for rendering effective need-based information service is explained. The method followed for assessing the information needs of the scientists is described, The various custom-buil t documentation services offered to meet the specific requirementc of the clientele are given indetail. It has been suggested that plans formulated should be periodically reviewed and necessary modifications be done with a view to get the best out of the system concerned

Thesaurus - an ideal tool for vocabulary control in post-coordinate systems : INIS Thesaurus - a case study

The complex conceptual relationships contained in multi-dimensional documents present the problem of inconsistency in subject analysis and vocabulary control for efficient retrieval is stressed. The development of Thesaurus, an important contribution for effective vocabulary control in mechanised IR systems which is among the many developmental efforts in this direction, is highlighted. The development, structure and design of INIS Thesaurus is given in detail. Adaptability of the INIS thesaurus to a computer-based information handling system is examine

Neonatal exposure to 17β-estradiol down-regulates the expression of synaptogenesis related genes in selected brain regions of adult female rats

Aims Administration of estradiol or compounds with estrogenic activity to newborn female rats results in irreversible masculinization as well as defeminization in the brain and the animals exhibit altered reproductive behavior as adults. The cellular and molecular mechanism involved in inducing the irreversible changes is largely unknown. In the present study, we have monitored the changes in the expression of selected synaptogenesis related genes in the sexually dimorphic brain regions such as POA, hypothalamus and pituitary following 17β-estradiol administration to neonatal female rats. Main methods Female Wistar rats which were administered 17β-estradiol on day 2 and 3 after birth were sacrificed 120 days later and the expression levels of genes implicated in synaptogenesis were monitored by semi-quantitative reverse transcription PCR. Since estradiol induced up-regulation of COX-2 in POA is a marker for estradiol induced masculinization as well as defeminization, in the present study only animals in which the increase in expression of COX-2 gene was observed in POA were included in the study. Key findings Down-regulation of genes such as NMDA-2B, NETRIN-1, BDNF, MT-5 MMP and TNF-α was observed in the pre-optic area of neonatally E2 treated female rat brain but not in hypothalamus and pituitary compared to the vehicle- treated controls as assessed by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Significance Our results suggest a possibility that down-regulation of genes associated with synaptogenesis in POA, may be resulting in disruption of the cyclical regulation of hormone secretion by pituitary the consequence of which could be infertility and altered reproductive behavior

Influence of Demagnetization Effect on Giant Magneto Impedance of soft Ferromagnetic Metal

The large change in electromagnetic impedance in ferromagnetic state of soft magnetic metals in presence of biasing magnetic field is associated with change in screening of electromagnetic field. The screening depends on the permeability of the metal. Apart from dependence on intrinsic properties of metal the permeability depends on size of the sample. It is observed that the decrease in MI in amorphous ferromagnetic ribbon of Fe40Ni40B20 alloy is large for long sample whereas corresponding change is small for short one with same biasing field. As intrinsic magnetic properties and bias field are same and the demagnetization factor increases with reduction of length of the sample the reduction of MI effect is associated with demagnetization field.Comment: 14 pages,4 figure