Health Related Behaviour and Perceived Health in Unemployed People

This project explores the relationships between perceptions of unemployment, reported health behaviour and subjective health status for a period of up to one year following job loss

Transvaginal sonographic evaluation of cervical length in the second trimester as a risk factor for preterm delivery

Background: Preterm delivery continues to be a significant obstetric problem in view of prematurity complications that an immature new born develops. Cervical length is considered to be one of the important predictors of the risk of preterm delivery. There are only a few studies evaluating cervical length as risk factor for preterm delivery in the Indian population. The present study is undertaken to estimate the risk of preterm delivery in women with cervical length 2.5 cm (n=101). The cervical length of 2.5cm. The history of previous preterm delivery was found to be statistically significant (p value=<0.001) for preterm labour in future pregnancies. The relative risk for preterm delivery in patients with previous history of preterm labour was 3 times when compared to patients with previous term delivery. Patients with history of UTI (urinary tract infection) had 2.3 times risk for preterm delivery and relative risk for preterm delivery in patient with vaginitis was 6.8 times. The cervical length of <2.5 cm and vaginitis are independent risk factor for preterm delivery.Conclusions: Short cervix (cervical length <2.5 cm) at 18-24 weeks of gestation is a risk factor for preterm delivery. A cervical length <2.5 cm has a relative risk of 3 for preterm delivery. Previous history of preterm birth has 3 times increased risk of preterm delivery in future pregnancies. History of urinary tract infection and vaginitis also increases risk of preterm delivery. The cervical length at 18-24 weeks, history of vaginitis and UTI were found to be independent risk factors for preterm delivery

Mammals in Late Neolithic Orkney (with reference to mammal bone recovered from Links of Noltland, Westray)

Excavation of thirty skulls, twenty-eight cattle and two sheep from the foundation course of a Late Neolithic structure at Links of Noltland (LON), Structure 9, is the starting point for this thesis, which investigates the economic and socio-cultural relationships of cattle and other mammals on Orkney communities between 3000 and 2500 BC. The LON settlement was located on a machair plain in Westray, the most N-W island within the Orkney archipelago (HY 428 493). Male and female cattle skulls were inter-mixed within the LON foundation course so a “bull cult” is not represented. The sequence from living skulls to skulls “animating the building is (i) breed/acquire (ii) nurture (iii) cull/butcher (iv) consume (v) transform to object (vi) curate (vii) deposit. A skull deposit infilling an internal passageway from another LON, Structure 18, is compared and contrasted with the Structure 9 foundation deposit. Special treatment of cattle skulls from a wide range of European and Near-East sites is also reviewed to emphasise the widespread use of this symbol during the Neolithic period. Orkney was separated from mainland Scotland prior to the establishment of the LON settlement so consideration is given to modes of arrival for mammals and their impact on this depauperate archipelago. Cattle and sheep dominated the domestic mammal remains examined, pig and dog were rare and goat and horse absent. The most abundant non-domestic mammals were red deer and Orkney voles, but otters and sea mammals were also present in low numbers. Genetic studies indicate that one cattle skull carried genetic material from aurochs, wild cattle. To date there is sparse evidence of interbreeding between wild aurochs and Neolithic domesticated cattle in Europe and none in Britain. The alterative explanation that aurochs were already present on Orkney during the Neolithic is explored. Articulated red deer deposits from LON were also examined. Although previous publications explored the possibility that these deposits are “ritual” other possible explanations for these deposits are outlined. No parallels were noted between the cattle skull and articulated red deer deposits, but the importance of antler for practical and symbolic use in Neolithic Orkney may be under-estimated. Stature of cattle remained relatively stable during the Mid to Late Neolithic in Orkney but underwent diminution by the Iron Age. A similar, but less marked reduction was also noted for sheep, but red deer already had small stature compared with early Holocene mainland Scotland red deer. The thesis concludes that cattle, sheep and red deer were of fundamental importance to the Neolithic society of Orkney, providing surplus food, tools and possibly traction, to support an increasingly sophisticated Neolithic society undertaking construction of complex structures and monuments. In addition, cattle fulfilled an important role in their cultural and spiritual life

A Revisit to COVID-19 Challenges and Responses: A Case Study of Kerala

Kerala, a state with high development indices distinguished with its Kerala Model of Development (UN, 1975), is also affected by recent Pandemic COVID'19 as other states and nations worldwide.&nbsp; The existing socio-economic analysis of the State reveals that the land reforms, promotion of education, and early introduction of participatory governance through Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have contributed to the State's socio-economic and political advancement. These factors played a significant role in the fight against the pandemic. This study is an attempt to answer what are the future economic and health challenges as the State, Kerala Model of Development, is faced with COVID'19? The specific objectives further guide this— to study the economic challenges ahead of the State as the tertiary sector is faced with challenges to contribute to the economy and attempted to study the possible ways to address health issues in the State. The researchers conducted an in-depth interview among 10 social scientists and economists of Kerala using purposive sampling to obtain primary data, which has been supported by secondary resources. The researchers did a thematic analysis of the primary data collected, further corroborated by secondary data. The study reveals that the State's current scenario during the pandemic, the grass-root empowerment in all spheres of life clubbed with administrative guidance, resulted in well-equipped public health care service delivery. The fall in the tertiary sector's income has decisively affected the State's economy, especially in agriculture, health, IT, tourism, labour, and foreign remittance. The State's economic and social equilibrium will face challenges in addressing issues in the post-COVID era. Even though the State suffered some increased Covid-19 cases recently, after expatriates' return, the dimensions mentioned above assisted the State in its fight against COVID'19. To address the challenges to the Kerala Model of Development, especially the post-COVID-19 requirements of the State demands interrogation, introspection, and integration of the current policies that majorly depend on the tertiary sector and initiate policies, plans, and programmes to strike a balance between all sectors, especially providing impetus to the primary sector so that a failure in one sector can be compensated by the other

Effect of live yeast culture supplementation on fibrolytic and saccharolytic bacterial populations in the feces of horses fed a high-fiber or high-starch diet

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of live yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) supplementation on the populations of specific cellulolytic (Fibrobacter succinogenes and Ruminococcus flavefaciens) and saccharolytic (Streptococcus equinus and Streptococcus bovis) bacteria in the feces of horses fed high-starch and high-fiber diets. Four horses were each fed diets consisting of high fiber with no yeast (HF), high fiber with yeast (HFY), high starch with no yeast (HS), and high starch with yeast (HSY) in a 4 × 4 Latin-square design study. Fresh fecal samples were collected on the last 3 days of each 31-day experimental period and were then assessed, using semiquantitative real-time PCR, for total bacterial load and levels of target bacterial species, relative to the total bacterial load. The most abundant of the target species was F. succinogenes, and the HSY diet resulted in a significant (P = .045) reduction in relative levels of this bacterium. No significant effect (P = .224) of diet was observed in relation to abundance of R. flavefaciens. Results show that diet did not have a significant (P = .068) effect on relative quantities of S. equinus, although there appeared to be a trend for increased levels of this bacterium during feeding of high-starch diets. Numbers of S. bovis were higher (P &lt; .001) when horses were fed HS and HSY diets than when fed the HF and HFY diets. Significant variation in levels of S. equinus (P = .024) and S. bovis (P = .049) was observed between individual horses

Solvation effects, structural, vibrational analysis, chemical reactivity, nanocages, ELF, LOL, docking and MD simulation on Sitagliptin

Sitagliptin is a medication used to manage type-2 diabetes. The present study investigates the experimental and theoretical results of Sitagliptin (SG). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to determine optimized parameters at the B3LYP functional /6-31++G(d,p) basis set. In addition Time-dependent DFT is used to compute excited states of SG and SG-Ag6 and predict UV spectra. The electronic properties of silver nano cages containing SG have exhibited a notable enhancement. Natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was also used to determine charge transfer within the molecule and stabilization energy. Electronic properties such as molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), frontier molecular orbital (FMO) analysis of SG and SG-Ag6 were investigated. The chemical significance of SG has been discussed using electron localization function (ELF) and local orbital locator functions (LOL) with contour images. Sitagliptin appears to have promise as a treatment for the chosen inhibitors, according to the docking binding affinities and the formation of a significant amount of hydrogen bonds. The molecular dynamics simulations were also performed using Gromacs 5.1.3 and discussed

Conformational Change in the Chromatin Remodelling Protein MENT

Chromatin condensation to heterochromatin is a mechanism essential for widespread suppression of gene transcription, and the means by which a chromatin-associated protein, MENT, induces a terminally differentiated state in cells. MENT, a protease inhibitor of the serpin superfamily, is able to undergo conformational change in order to effect enzyme inhibition. Here, we sought to investigate whether conformational change in MENT is ‘fine-tuned’ in the presence of a bound ligand in an analogous manner to other serpins, such as antithrombin where such movements are reflected by a change in intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. Using this technique, MENT was found to undergo structural shifts in the presence of DNA packaged into nucleosomes, but not naked DNA. The contribution of the four Trp residues of MENT to the fluorescence change was mapped using deconvolution analysis of variants containing single Trp to Phe mutations. The analysis indicated that the overall emission spectra is dominated by a helix-H tryptophan, but this residue did not dominate the conformational change in the presence of chromatin, suggesting that other Trp residues contained in the A-sheet and RCL regions contribute to the conformational change. Mutagenesis revealed that the conformational change requires the presence of the DNA-binding ‘M-loop’ and D-helix of MENT, but is independent of the protease specificity determining ‘reactive centre loop’. The D-helix mutant of MENT, which is unable to condense chromatin, does not undergo a conformational change, despite being able to bind chromatin, indicating that the conformational change may contribute to chromatin condensation by the serpin