Introduction to the Special Issue: Transnational Feminisms: Contexts, Collaborations, Contestations--Toward a Liveable Planet

The prime goal of feminism is to raise consciousness and bring about transformation for a gender-equitable world. The movement has continuously been broadening its perspective and undergoing transitions, producing ‘cartographies of knowledge and power’ (Alexander and Mohanty 2015). As the creation of feminist epistemology and knowledge exchange is key to this process, The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM) has taken the initiative to organize the World Conference on Women Studies (WCWS) every year. The 7th WCWS was organized amidst the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic that took place online from the 20th to 22nd of May 2021. The theme of the conference—“Transnational Feminisms: Contexts, Collaborations, Contestations: Toward a Liveable Planet”—draws from postcolonial feminist theories and transnational feminist practice that is involved in activist movements across the globe that work together to comprehend the role of gender, race, class, sexuality, and the state in critiquing and resisting patriarchal structures and capitalist powers. Transnational feminists focus on the diverse experiences of women who live within, between, and at the margins of nation-states around the globe; they rise above the boundaries and speak to a wider intersecting force impacting gendered relationships and experiences. According to Margaret A. McLaren (2017), transnational feminism results in ‘decolonizing feminism’ and Sylvanna M. Falcón (2016) calls it a ‘Paradigm for Decolonizing the Practice of Research.

AYURVEDIC APPROACH FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF KAMALA W.S.R. TO HEPATOCELLULAR JAUNDICE - A CASE STUDY

Most of the people have become used to spicy fast food day by day. This has taken human being far away from the nature. Nowadays alcohol consumption is also increasing day by day. Ayurvedic texts has mentioned hepatocellular jaundice as Kamala. Ancient Acharyas has also mentioned “kamali tu virechanama” as Chikitsa Sutra for Kamala. Patient was treated with an integrated approach of Ayurvedic treatment including Virechana Karma (purgation) and Shaman Chikitsa. Due to frequently intake of Pittakara Aahara (spicy and hot food), it leads to vitiation of Pitta Dosha and Virechana (purgation) is the first line of treatment for Pittadushti. Due to Ushna, Laghu, Rruksha Guna, and having Tikta -Katu Rasa of Patola, Amrita, Kutaki (ingredients of internal medication) enhances digestive capacity by hepato-protective action and Pittasaraka guna. Ayurvedic line of management i.e. Virechana therapy and Shamana Chikitsa are successful in Kamala by removing toxic waste from the body, and by correction of Agni (digestive fire). In our ancient classics, single drug along with compound drug have been mentioned in Kamala. These drugs have Kamalahara properties. These Ayurvedic formulations relieve the symptom of Daurbalya (weakness), Kshudha mandya (Appetite loss), Pitamutrata (yellow discolouration of urine), Hrullasa (nausea) and Udarshoola. Also these drugs reduce bile in blood circulation and normalize the other blood parameter. Here a case report of a 50 Years male was having Kamala (hepatocellular jaundice) who was treated with some Ayurvedic herbs and Virechana like Panchakarma and get effectively result with Ayurvedic management

Investigation of Solar Flare Classification to Identify Optimal Performance

When an intense brightness for a small amount of time is seen in the sun, then we can say that a solar flare emerged. As solar flares are made up of high energy photons and particles, thus causing the production of high electric fields and currents and therefore results in the disruption in space-borne or ground-based technological system. It also becomes a challenging task to extract its important features for prediction. Convolutional Neural Networks have gain a significant amount of popularity in the classification and localization tasks. This paper has given stress on the classification of the solar flares emerged on different years by stacking different convolutional layers followed by max pooling layers. From the reference of Alexnet, the pooling layer employed in this paper is the overlapping pooling. Also two different activation functions that are ELU and CReLU have been used to investigate how many number of convolutional layers with a particular activation function provides with the best results on this dataset as the size of the dataset in this domain is always small. The proposed investigation can be further used in a novel solar prediction systems

COMPARATIVE PHYSICOCHEMICAL, PHYTOCHEMICAL AND HIGH PERFORMANCE THIN LAYER CHROMATOGRAPHY EVALUATION OF HEART WOOD AND SMALL BRANCHES OF AQUILARIA AGALLOCHA ROXB.

Aquilaria agallocha Roxb. commonly called as Agaru is a medicinal plant. Heartwood of this tree is widely used in Ayurveda for various diseases. Removal of heart wood from trunk of this tree may make this plant weak and susceptible to damage due to which availability of this plant may be difficult in near future. Present study outlines the concept of plant part substitution. Heart wood and small branches of A. agallocha are compared on the basis of physicochemical analysis, phytochemical analysis, total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to evaluate the possibilities of using small branches instead of heart wood. Physicochemical parameters of heartwood and small branches and phytochemical analysis of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extract of both heart wood and small branches were carried out using standard methods. Total phenolics and total flavonoids were estimated spectrophotometrically using Folin-ciocalteu assayand aluminum chloride assaymethods, respectively. CAMAG HPTLC system equipped with semi-automatic applicator was used for HPTLC of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts of stem bark and small braches using suitable mobile phases. Results of phytochemical analysis and HPTLC of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts showed many similarities whichsuggest that small branches may have nearly similar active potency like heart wood and may be used as a substitute of heart wood after comparison and confirmation of same for pharmacological activities

Evaluation for substitution of stem bark with small branches of Myrica esculenta for medicinal use – A comparative phytochemical study

AbstractBackgroundOver exploitation of many traditional medicinal plants like Myrica esculenta has become a threat and in the near future, many medicinal plants may be unavailable for use of industry.ObjectivePresent study outlines the concept of plant part substitution. Stem bark and small branches of M. esculenta are compared on the basis of physicochemical analysis, phytochemical analysis, total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to evaluate the possibilities of using small branches in place of stem bark.Material and methodsPhysicochemical parameters and preliminary phytochemical screening were carried out using standard methods. Total phenolic and total flavonoid contents were estimated spectrophotometrically using Folin-Ciocalteu and aluminum chloride method, respectively. CAMAG HPTLC system equipped with semi-automatic applicator was used for HPTLC profiling. n-Hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts of stem bark and small branches were developed in suitable mobile phase using standard procedures and visualized in UV 254 and 366 nm and in white light after derivatization within anisaldehyde-sulphuric acid reagent.ResultsPhytochemical analysis and HPTLC profile of different extracts showed the presence of almost similar phytochemicals in both stem bark and small branches.ConclusionSimilarities in phytochemical analysis and HPTLC profile of various extracts suggests that small branches may be used in place of stem bark. The study provides the base for further study to use small branches as a substitute of stem bark of M. esculenta

SUBSTITUTION OF ROOTS WITH SMALL BRANCHES OF RAUWOLFIA SERPENTINA FOR THERAPEUTIC USES - A PHYTOCHEMICAL APPROACH

Rauwolfia serpentina commonly called Sarpagandha is a medicinal plant widely used in Ayurveda. As per the Ayurvedic literature, roots of this plant are used in cardiac disorder, cancer, mental illness and psychiatric disorder. To collect roots for medicinal purpose whole plant is uprooted on a mass scale from their natural habitat which is leading to depletion of resources, due to which plant may be difficult in near future for use in traditional systems of medicine. Present study was carried out to assess possibilities of using small branches of R. serpentina in place of its roots which will help in conservation of this plant and availability of raw material for therapeutic purposes. Roots and small branches of R. serpentina are compared on the basis of physicochemical analysis, phytochemical analysis, total phenolic contents, total flavonoid contents and high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) to evaluate the possibilities of using small branches in place of its roots. Results of phytochemical analysis and HPTLC of n-hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts showed many similarities whichsuggest that small branches may have nearly similar active constituents like roots and may be used as a substitute of roots after comparison and confirmation of same for pharmacological activities

ADVERSE IMPACT OF LOCKDOWN ON INDIAN SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL BEHAVIOUR-A REVIEW

Due to high infectivity and death rates, the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) disease has caused worldwide social and psychologicalimpact by causing mass hysteria, economic burden, and feelings of aloneness during illness and financial losses. Studies have identified“coronaphobia” as a byproduct of the pandemic, where people have an extreme terror of contracting the virus. Mass fear of COVID-19 hascreated an overabundance of psychiatric manifestations across almost all strata of society. In this review, the psycho-social impacts ofCOVID-19 have been studied. As a data source Pubmed and Google Scholar are searched with the following key terms- “COVID-19 andsocial impact,” “SARS-CoV2 and social effects,” “social impact of current Pandemic,” “Psychological impact of COVID-19,” “Psycho-socialeffects and Coronavirus.” Many current published data and news were extracted that provide significant data. Our study revealed thatnationwide lockdowns and forced quarantine to fight against COVID-19 had produced acute panic, anxiety, obsessive behaviors, domesticabuse, hoarding, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and food insecurity, including marked impairment in daily lifefunctioning. The psycho-social aspects of older people, their caregivers, psychiatric patients and marginalized communities are badlyaffected in different ways and need special attention. From the present work, it can be concluded that there is an urgent need to find outeffective ways to treat people and bring them out of fear and stress. As these symptoms are seen in large population sizes, we also need tostudy the long-term effects of these adverse effects on the mass level

Contemporary and Ancient Review of Mosquitoes - A Review

Indian system of medicine plays an important part in health care system all over India. There are numerous allusions to mosquitoes in Indian writings from the Vedic era. The Atharvaveda makes special reference of mosquito shape, habitat, many varieties, behaviour, and even their presence throughout the year. The 67 different forms of Keet and their genesis were documented by Acharya Susruta in Kalpasthana, while Keet Visha describes five different types of Mashak in which Parvatiya Mashak is the most hazardous to people. There is also Mashak description In Charaka Samhita of chapter Visha Chikitsa. Numerous mosquito species have been identified in contemporary science. Mosquitoes are the most important group of blood sucking insects causing nuisance diseases to humans and other animals.  It follows that our ancestors' seers or philosophers were already aware of this

Nanoinformatics - A newly introduced tool for research

431-439Research in the field of nanotechnology has witnessed rapid increase in the synthesis of Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs). This has even led to development of new discipline of Nanotoxicology. Advances in the field of Nanotoxicology further led to development of new domain-nanoinformatics. This new domain of nanoinformatics provides a computational perspective to biology and nanotechnology addressing multi level integration. Nanoinformatics not only helps in predicting nanoparticle structure, composition and behaviour but also covers raw data management, analysis of data derived from biomedical applications and simulation of nanoparticle interactions with biological systems. In addition, it accelerates nano-related research and applications into clinical practice. There are various computational models developed to study the key steps in nano-medicine like drug encapsulation and release, nanoparticle targeting, delivery and uptake and nanoparticle effects on cells and tissues. These prospects have opened up a large domain enabling possibilities of nanomedicine and frontiers for clinical practice and biomedical research in a cost-effective manner along with various applications including studies in clinical trials, toxicity assays, drug delivery systems. This review highlights new approaches for Engineered nanoparticles (ENP) risk assessment and regulation

Environmental nanotechnological applications for Sustainable agriculture

Agriculture and society are intertwined. Agriculture is necessary for human survival and social sustainability in India. Eco-friendly agriculture practices nurture ecosystems to solve current societal issues. Indian ecosystems are marred by pollution, imbalance, climate changes, food crisis, various diseases, and mal-nourishment continue as a major concern. The traditional environmental remedial strategies appear relatively ineffective in the ever expanding use of pollutants that pervade the water, air and soil environment. Nanotechnology provides an efficient, environmentally friendly and cost-effective solutions to the global sustainability challenges that society is facing. Nanotechnology utilizes nanomaterials that have remarkable physical and chemical features to make smart functional materials for developing sustainable technologies. Nanotechnology seems to be very promising in sustainable environment development, sustainable agriculture, renewable and economically energy alternative through use of nanomaterials for detection, prevention, and removing pollutants. The development of nanotechnology in India has huge potential to address the challenges like providing drinking water, healthcare, nano-based industry and sustainable agriculture. This review highlights the recent nanotechnology applications to meet the global challenges in providing clean energy technology, water purification, and greenhouse gases management. In addition, effort has been made to analyse the opportunities and limitations in engineered nanomaterials safety, solid waste management, reducing pollution of air water and soil