Influence of caste system on self-esteem and school performance

Abstract Education is important especially for a fast developing country like India, while, social stratification adversely affect Indian education. This social stratification in India poses a sensitive context for education, so it needs a particular consideration. In my dissertation I explored the influence of Indian social stratification on school performance and self-esteem, which resulted in three publications. The first publication is a theoretical review (Thaiparambil, Waldmeier and Kunnel John, 2017 –in press), which deals with the social stratification in India. The consequences of the Indian caste system still creates severe impediments for education in India, though the Government of India provides reservations quotas to handle the stratifications still it remains ineffective, further more it diminishes the quality of the education. Therefore, my study proposes a merit- and income-based reservation quota to overcome the psychological consequences, which should be sided by actions to foster social connections and the sense of belongings. The second study was focused on the influence of Governmental class and the self-esteem on school performance in India. It was a multisite longitudinal study. Indian education system is strongly influenced by Indian society and its diversity of caste, economic status, gender relation and cultural characteristics. Although the Indian constitution of 1950 eradicated the caste system, inequalities based on caste by birth remains as a stumbling block to national development as it denies education for marginalized groups (MHRD-Ministry of Human Resources Department of India, 2008). The result shows that in overall there is no significant relationship between self-esteem and school performance, but the governmental class significantly influences school performance. Third study deals with the Big Five and NEO FFI 3 personality traits and their relation to school performance. For the development of a nation education is important, as for India education is much more important, since it is leaping into a developed nation. Personality traits are one of the factors that influence academic performance, so reliable and valid as well as economic assessments of these psychological constructs are needed. Thus, the aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of Big Five and NEO FFI-3 Personality questionnaire on Indian adolescents. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis shows low internal consistency for BFI and NEO FFI-3. These publications contribute a developing research in the field of education in India. It identifies the prevailing issues that influence education system in India such as the quality of education, socio-economic factors and social-stratifications/caste. And points out education as the remedy to weed out social-evil from Indian society. And in order to achieve this, the study recommends income and merit based reservation system and actions to encourage social connections to overcome psychological consequences of social-stratification and thus to cultivate caste/class-insensitive education

Migration for ‘work and play’: hierarchies of privilege among Youth Mobility Scheme participants in London

This thesis is the first academic study of participants on the UK Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS), which replaced the earlier Working Holidaymaker Scheme in 2008. It foregrounds the sociologically informed framework of ‘lifestyle migration’ to understand YMS participants as migrants. In doing so, the thesis contends that binaries between tourism/migration, and tourism/work have oversimplified contemporary practices of youth mobility, and not addressed the ways in which they are increasingly regulated through state immigration regimes. Thus, the thesis begins by examining the policies regulating youth entry for ‘work and play’, tracing their historical context, silences and ‘dividing practices’. The thesis then draws on interviews with 29 men and women on YMS visas in 2014-2015, living and working in London, from seven of the eight countries eligible for the Scheme. Participant observation and social media analysis complement these interviews and policy analysis, comprising innovative multiple methods that address the ‘mobile field’. The retrospective motivations of young people participating in the scheme are analysed, together with their working lives and opportunities for leisure. The overall contention is that hierarchies of privilege shape the motivations, access, and experiences of YMS participants, constituted through gender, ‘race’/ethnicity, social class and nationality, with particularly marked fissures between those from Old Commonwealth countries and those from East Asian countries. In pursuit of this thesis four distinctive claims are made. First, the construction of ‘mobile subjects’ on YMS corresponds to ‘dividing practices’ and silences in the policy, funnelling ‘desirable’ and ‘non-risk’ participants to the UK and favouring those from the Old Commonwealth. Second, participants’ motivations to pursue YMS are influenced both by their national mobility imaginings, shaped alongside different historic-colonial links with Britain, and by personal reasons both practical and strategic. Third, participants’ experiences of labour market participation are both surprisingly diverse and polarised according to privileges stemming from nationality, gender, ‘race’, ethnicity, first language and historic mobilities to the UK. Finally, these differential sources of privilege contour the participants’ practices of ‘play’/leisure, resulting in largely ethnocentric and insular experiences that contradict the common scholarly association of youth mobility with cosmopolitanism

Raffinose Family Oligosaccharides: Friend or Foe for Human and Plant Health?

Raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFOs) are widespread across the plant kingdom, and their concentrations are related to the environment, genotype, and harvest time. RFOs are known to carry out many functions in plants and humans. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of RFOs, including their beneficial and anti-nutritional properties. RFOs are considered anti-nutritional factors since they cause flatulence in humans and animals. Flatulence is the single most important factor that deters consumption and utilization of legumes in human and animal diets. In plants, RFOs have been reported to impart tolerance to heat, drought, cold, salinity, and disease resistance besides regulating seed germination, vigor, and longevity. In humans, RFOs have beneficial effects in the large intestine and have shown prebiotic potential by promoting the growth of beneficial bacteria reducing pathogens and putrefactive bacteria present in the colon. In addition to their prebiotic potential, RFOs have many other biological functions in humans and animals, such as anti-allergic, anti-obesity, anti-diabetic, prevention of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and cryoprotection. The wide-ranging applications of RFOs make them useful in food, feed, cosmetics, health, pharmaceuticals, and plant stress tolerance; therefore, we review the composition and diversity of RFOs, describe the metabolism and genetics of RFOs, evaluate their role in plant and human health, with a primary focus in grain legumes

Pharmacological levels of withaferin A (Withania somnifera) trigger clinically relevant anticancer effects specific to triple negative breast cancer cells

Withaferin A (WA) isolated from Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha) has recently become an attractive phytochemical under investigation in various preclinical studies for treatment of different cancer types. In the present study, a comparative pathway-based transcriptome analysis was applied in epithelial-like MCF-7 and triple negative mesenchymal MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells exposed to different concentrations of WA which can be detected systemically in in vivo experiments. Whereas WA treatment demonstrated attenuation of multiple cancer hallmarks, the withanolide analogue Withanone (WN) did not exert any of the described effects at comparable concentrations. Pathway enrichment analysis revealed that WA targets specific cancer processes related to cell death, cell cycle and proliferation, which could be functionally validated by flow cytometry and real-time cell proliferation assays. WA also strongly decreased MDA-MB-231 invasion as determined by single-cell collagen invasion assay. This was further supported by decreased gene expression of extracellular matrix-degrading proteases (uPA, PLAT, ADAM8), cell adhesion molecules (integrins, laminins), pro-inflammatory mediators of the metastasis-promoting tumor microenvironment (TNFSF12, IL6, ANGPTL2, CSF1R) and concomitant increased expression of the validated breast cancer metastasis suppressor gene (BRMS1). In line with the transcriptional changes, nanomolar concentrations of WA significantly decreased protein levels and corresponding activity of uPA in MDA-MB-231 cell supernatant, further supporting its anti-metastatic properties. Finally, hierarchical clustering analysis of 84 chromatin writer-reader-eraser enzymes revealed that WA treatment of invasive mesenchymal MDA-MB-231 cells reprogrammed their transcription levels more similarly towards the pattern observed in non-invasive MCF-7 cells. In conclusion, taking into account that sub-cytotoxic concentrations of WA target multiple metastatic effectors in therapy-resistant triple negative breast cancer, WA-based therapeutic strategies targeting the uPA pathway hold promise for further (pre)clinical development to defeat aggressive metastatic breast cancer

Evasion of anti-growth signaling: a key step in tumorigenesis and potential target for treatment and prophylaxis by natural compounds

The evasion of anti-growth signaling is an important characteristic of cancer cells. In order to continue to proliferate, cancer cells must somehow uncouple themselves from the many signals that exist to slow down cell growth. Here, we define the anti-growth signaling process, and review several important pathways involved in growth signaling: p53, phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), retinoblastoma protein (Rb), Hippo, growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), AT-rich interactive domain 1A (ARID1A), Notch, insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and Krüppel-like factor 5 (KLF5) pathways. Aberrations in these processes in cancer cells involve mutations and thus the suppression of genes that prevent growth, as well as mutation and activation of genes involved in driving cell growth. Using these pathways as examples, we prioritize molecular targets that might be leveraged to promote anti-growth signaling in cancer cells. Interestingly, naturally-occurring phytochemicals found in human diets (either singly or as mixtures) may promote anti-growth signaling, and do so without the potentially adverse effects associated with synthetic chemicals. We review examples of naturally-occurring phytochemicals that may be applied to prevent cancer by antagonizing growth signaling, and propose one phytochemical for each pathway. These are: epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) for the Rb pathway, luteolin for p53, curcumin for PTEN, porphyrins for Hippo, genistein for GDF15, resveratrol for ARID1A, withaferin A for Notch and diguelin for the IGF1-receptor pathway. The coordination of anti-growth signaling and natural compound studies will provide insight into the future application of these compounds in the clinical setting

Deregulation of TDP-43 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis triggers nuclear factor κB–mediated pathogenic pathways

TDP-43 interacts with and coactivates NF-κB p65 in the spinal cord of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients, and an NF-κB inhibitor suppresses ALS disease symptoms and neuromuscular junction denervation in an ALS mouse model

Endoplasmic spreading requires coalescence of vimentin intermediate filaments at force-bearing adhesions

10.1091/mbc.E12-05-0377Molecular Biology of the Cell24121-30MBCE

Withaferin A Alters Intermediate Filament Organization, Cell Shape and Behavior

Withaferin A (WFA) is a steroidal lactone present in Withania somnifera which has been shown in vitro to bind to the intermediate filament protein, vimentin. Based upon its affinity for vimentin, it has been proposed that WFA can be used as an anti-tumor agent to target metastatic cells which up-regulate vimentin expression. We show that WFA treatment of human fibroblasts rapidly reorganizes vimentin intermediate filaments (VIF) into a perinuclear aggregate. This reorganization is dose dependent and is accompanied by a change in cell shape, decreased motility and an increase in vimentin phosphorylation at serine-38. Furthermore, vimentin lacking cysteine-328, the proposed WFA binding site, remains sensitive to WFA demonstrating that this site is not required for its cellular effects. Using analytical ultracentrifugation, viscometry, electron microscopy and sedimentation assays we show that WFA has no effect on VIF assembly in vitro. Furthermore, WFA is not specific for vimentin as it disrupts the cellular organization and induces perinuclear aggregates of several other IF networks comprised of peripherin, neurofilament-triplet protein, and keratin. In cells co-expressing keratin IF and VIF, the former are significantly less sensitive to WFA with respect to inducing perinuclear aggregates. The organization of microtubules and actin/microfilaments is also affected by WFA. Microtubules become wavier and sparser and the number of stress fibers appears to increase. Following 24 hrs of exposure to doses of WFA that alter VIF organization and motility, cells undergo apoptosis. Lower doses of the drug do not kill cells but cause them to senesce. In light of our findings that WFA affects multiple IF systems, which are expressed in many tissues of the body, caution is warranted in its use as an anti-cancer agent, since it may have debilitating organism-wide effects