Heteronormativity and Social Stigma: A Hijra Life Story

Transgender people are those who have a gender identity or gender expression that is at variance from their perceived sex Being transgender is autonomous of sexual orientation The degree to which the individual feels real authentic and at ease with their outward manifestation and acknowledge their actual identity has been called transgender congruence Most transgender people are prejudiced in their place of work and denied access to public spaces and healthcare In many places they do not even get any legal remedy against prejudice and intolerance This paper is an attempt to deconstruct heteronormative default paradigms on sexuality and sexual orientation It also looks into the practice and consequence of how this reign of heteronormativity hijacks and distorts the life of transgender people in India A Revathi s life narrative The Truth about Me A Hijra Life Story is a good case in point This narrative evidently illustrates the ways in which a typical heteronormative prescriptive as well as patriarchal society enforces restrictions on the sartorial vocational and economic proclivities of a set of people called hijras It is a painful account of distress and disappointment but the goal is not to solicit commiseration or favours from society or administration on the contrary to carve out a little space for this particular group in the gender firmament thereby informing the world that they too want to lead a lif

Incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia and its risk factors

Hospitals are intended to heal the sick; but they are also sources of infection. Ironically, the advances in medicine are partly responsible for the fact that today; hospital infections are the leading cause of death worldwide. Newer technology and latest surgical and medical diagnostic methods and treatment procedures have increased the number of invasive techniques leading to higher chances of nosocomial infection. Pneumonia is the leading cause of death due to nosocomial infections. Intubation & mechanical ventilation greatly increases the risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). In developing country like India, such hospital-acquired infections have a significant impact on patient’s morbidity, mortality, hospital stay and on financial concerns of the patient, hospital and community. The present investigation was aimed to determine the incidence of ventilator associated pneumonia in the neurosurgery intensive care unit of a tertiary care centre and to determine the risk factors of ventilator associated pneumonia. A total of 30 samples belonging to the age group of 15 to 75 years who where on mechanical ventilator for more than 48 hours in the neurosurgery intensive care unit of a tertiary care centre were selected using convenience sampling. The incidence of VAP was estimated to be 30%. The risk factors identified for the development of VAP was found to be combined head and cervical spine injury (P=0.001), associated injuries (P=0.035), additional surgeries (P=0.025), nasogastric feeding (P=0.001), intake of immuno suppressive drugs (P=0.004), pre operative antibiotics (p=0.000) and duration of mechanical ventilation >5 days (P=0.000). The mortality among patients with VAP was found to be higher than patients without VAP (88.9% than non VAP patients)

Translational groups as generators of gauge transformations

We examine the gauge generating nature of the translational subgroup of Wigner's little group for the case of massless tensor gauge theories and show that the gauge transformations generated by the translational group is only a subset of the complete set of gauge transformations. We also show that, just like the case of topologically massive gauge theories, translational groups act as generators of gauge transformations in gauge theories obtained by extending massive gauge noninvariant theories by a Stuckelberg mechanism. The representations of the translational groups that generate gauge transformations in such Stuckelberg extended theories can be obtained by the method of dimensional descent. We illustrate these with the examples of Stuckelberg extended first class versions of Proca, Einstein-Pauli-Fierz and massive Kalb-Ramond theories in 3+1 dimensions. A detailed analysis of the partial gauge generation in massive and massless 2nd rank symmetric gauge theories is provided. The gauge transformations generated by translational group in 2-form gauge theories are shown to explicitly manifest the reducibility of gauge transformations in these theories.Comment: Latex, 20 pages, no figures, Version to appear in Physical Review

Polarization Vectors, Doublet Structure and Wigner's Little Group in Planar Field Theory

We establish the equivalence of the Maxwell-Chern-Simons-Proca model to a doublet of Maxwell-Chern-Simons models at the level of polarization vectors of the basic fields using both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms. The analysis reveals a U(1) invariance of the polarization vectors in the momentum space. Its implications are discussed. We also study the role of Wigner's little group as a generator of gauge transformations in three space-time dimensions.Comment: LaTex, 30 pages, no figure

DRUG UTILIZATION EVALUATION OF BENZODIAZEPINES IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: To assess the rationale use of benzodiazepines among various departments in a multi-speciality hospital. Methods: A prospective study was conducted with a sample size of 200 for a period of six months. Data was collected from patients based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Naranjo Adverse Drug Reaction Probability Scale and Drug Interaction Probability Scale (DIPS) were used as a study tool to measure the causality of adverse drug reactions and drug interactions. Based on the dosage of various benzodiazepines DDD was calculated and compared with WHO Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification Defined Daily Dose (DDD). Results: BZD’s were mostly prescribed in males (74.5%) and married patients (86.5%) were more exposed to benzodiazepines compared to others. Lorazepam (70.1%) was found to be the most commonly used drug, mainly prescribed for sedation, followed by anxiety. DDD was calculated and majority of patients had DDD in accordance with WHO standard. Based on cost analysis, Clobazam was found to be the high cost and Lorazepam being the low-cost drug. The results of drug utilization evaluation of benzodiazepines study were compiled and reported to the respected department physician and their feedback was collected. Conclusion: The study showed a rational utilization of benzodiazepines and the negative outcomes of BZDs can be reduced by providing drug-related information to the prescribers and consumers

Sestrin2 is a leucine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway

Leucine is a proteogenic amino acid that also regulates many aspects of mammalian physiology, in large part by activating the mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1) protein kinase, a master growth controller. Amino acids signal to mTORC1 through the Rag guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases). Several factors regulate the Rags, including GATOR1, aGTPase-activating protein; GATOR2, a positive regulator of unknown function; and Sestrin2, a GATOR2-interacting protein that inhibits mTORC1 signaling. We find that leucine, but not arginine, disrupts the Sestrin2-GATOR2 interaction by binding to Sestrin2 with a dissociation constant of 20 micromolar, which is the leucine concentration that half-maximally activates mTORC1. The leucine-binding capacity of Sestrin2 is required for leucine to activate mTORC1 in cells. These results indicate that Sestrin2 is a leucine sensor for the mTORC1 pathway.United States. National Institutes of Health (R01CA103866)United States. National Institutes of Health (AI47389)United States. Department of Defense (W81XWH-07-0448)United States. National Institutes of Health (T32 GM007753)United States. National Institutes of Health (F30 CA189333)United States. National Institutes of Health (F31 CA180271

Rotations associated with Lorentz boosts

It is possible to associate two angles with two successive non-collinear Lorentz boosts. If one boost is applied after the initial boost, the result is the final boost preceded by a rotation called the Wigner rotation. The other rotation is associated with Wigner's O(3)-like little group. These two angles are shown to be different. However, it is shown that the sum of these two rotation angles is equal to the angle between the initial and final boosts. This relation is studied for both low-speed and high-speed limits. Furthermore, it is noted that the two-by-two matrices which are under the responsibility of other branches of physics can be interpreted in terms of the transformations of the Lorentz group, or vice versa. Classical ray optics is mentioned as a case in point.Comment: LaTeX, 16 Pages, 4 epsfigure

LncRNA VEAL2 regulates PRKCB2 to modulate endothelial permeability in diabetic retinopathy

Long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are emerging as key regulators of endothelial cell function. Here, we investigated the role of a novel vascular endothelial‐associated lncRNA (VEAL2) in regulating endothelial permeability. Precise editing of veal2 loci in zebrafish (veal2 (gib005Δ8/+)) induced cranial hemorrhage. In vitro and in vivo studies revealed that veal2 competes with diacylglycerol for interaction with protein kinase C beta‐b (Prkcbb) and regulates its kinase activity. Using PRKCB2 as bait, we identified functional ortholog of veal2 in humans from HUVECs and named it as VEAL2. Overexpression and knockdown of VEAL2 affected tubulogenesis and permeability in HUVECs. VEAL2 was differentially expressed in choroid tissue in eye and blood from patients with diabetic retinopathy, a disease where PRKCB2 is known to be hyperactivated. Further, VEAL2 could rescue the effects of PRKCB2‐mediated turnover of endothelial junctional proteins thus reducing hyperpermeability in hyperglycemic HUVEC model of diabetic retinopathy. Based on evidence from zebrafish and hyperglycemic HUVEC models and diabetic retinopathy patients, we report a hitherto unknown VEAL2 lncRNA‐mediated regulation of PRKCB2, for modulating junctional dynamics and maintenance of endothelial permeability

Chromosomal-level assembly of the Asian Seabass genome using long sequence reads and multi-layered scaffolding

We report here the ~670 Mb genome assembly of the Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer), a tropical marine teleost. We used long-read sequencing augmented by transcriptomics, optical and genetic mapping along with shared synteny from closely related fish species to derive a chromosome-level assembly with a contig N50 size over 1 Mb and scaffold N50 size over 25 Mb that span ~90% of the genome. The population structure of L. calcarifer species complex was analyzed by re-sequencing 61 individuals representing various regions across the species' native range. SNP analyses identified high levels of genetic diversity and confirmed earlier indications of a population stratification comprising three clades with signs of admixture apparent in the South-East Asian population. The quality of the Asian seabass genome assembly far exceeds that of any other fish species, and will serve as a new standard for fish genomics

Characterization of monoolein-based lipoplexes using fluorescence spectroscopy

Lipoplexes are commonly used as delivery systems in vitro and in vivo, the role of a neutral lipid as helper being of extreme importance in these systems. Cationic liposomes composed of dioctadecyldimethylammonium bromide (DODAB) with monoolein (MO) as a helper, at different molar ratios (1:2; 1:1 and 1:0.5) were prepared, and subsequently titrated to DNA. The structural and physicochemical properties of the lipid/DNA complexes were assessed by Ethidium Bromide (EtBr) exclusion, 90º Static Light Scattering (90º SLS) assays and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET). In EtBr exclusion assays, the steady-state fluorescence spectra of EtBr were decomposed into the sum of two lognormal emissions, emanating from two different environments – H2O and DNA, and the effect of charge ratio (+/-) was observed. 90º SLS assays gave an important contribution, detecting size variations in systems with different MO fractions on the lipoplexes. In FRET assays, 2-(3-(diphenylhexatrienyl)propanoyl)-1-hexadecanoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPH-HPC) was used as donor and EtBr as acceptor. The DNA component previously calculated by EtBr exclusion, was used to determine the energy transfer efficiency, as an indirect measurement of the lipoplexes structural and physicochemical properties. Our results demonstrate that the inclusion of monoolein in the cationic liposomes formulation significantly modifies the rate of DNA complexation, being DODAB:MO (1:1) the system with higher DNA condensation efficiency.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT