A comparative study of the search and retrieval features of OAI harvesting services

Several OAI service providers (Harvesters) are coming up providing cross-search services by harvesting metadata from OAI compliant repositories. OAI facilitates quick discovery of content and free exchange of information among repositories through Service Providers (Harvesters). In order to achieve interoperability in their operations, Service Providers need to incorporate a generalized set of search and browse features in their search interface. Few parameters are drawn to compare the search and retrieval features of harvesters and arrived at a useful checklist for Service Providers to achieve homogeneity and standardization while designing their search interfac

Phytochemical and antibacterial analysis of two morpho-types of Solanum melongena var. insanum (L.) Prain. an ayrvedic herb

The Solanaceae, one of the largest family in angiosperms have high commercial value. The genus Solanum in Solanaceae is a complex one. Many species in Solanum does not contain a well-defined species boundaries. Many of them with taxonomical controversies. The present study was about such a Solanum species – Solanum melongena var. insanum. There were two morpho-types which are botanically known as S. melongena var. insanum. In Ayurveda both of them were treated as separate plants – as „Cheruvazhuthina‟ and „Punyahachunda‟. „Cheruvazhuthina‟ was extensively used in Ayurveda but „Punyahachunda‟ was not. Roots of „Punyahachunda‟ was used instead in the unavailability of roots of „Cheruvazhuthina‟. So this study was aimed to analyse the pharmacognostic properties of both morpho-types. The therapeutic value was assayed by antibacterial activity of roots of both plants. For convenience the two plants viz., „Cheruvazhuthina‟ and „Punyahachunda‟ were denoted as morpho-type 1 and morpho-type 2 respectively. Phytochemical profiling revealed significant differences in certain components. Hence the samples were subjected for FT-IR analyses and the spectra showed high pattern of similarity as well as differences in both the morpho-types investigated. Phytochemical profile was prepared for both the morpho-types which were further fractionated by chromatography. The fractionated components were subjected for bioassay against the growth inhibition of E. coli. The bioassay results revealed that the therapeutic potency of morpho-type 1 was more significant and hence I recommend the use of morphote type 1. However a detailed phytochemical as well as molecular profiling is warranted to confirm the recently obtained results

Ideals as generalized prime ideal factorization of submodules

For a submodule $N$ of an $R$-module $M$, a unique product of prime ideals in $R$ is assigned, which is called the generalized prime ideal factorization of $N$ in $M$, and denoted as ${\mathcal{P}}_M(N)$. But for a product of prime ideals ${{{\mathfrak{p}}_1} \cdots {{\mathfrak{p}}_{n}}}$ in $R$ and an $R$-module $M$, there may not exist a submodule $N$ in $M$ with ${\mathcal{P}}_{M}(N) = {{{\mathfrak{p}}_1} \cdots {{\mathfrak{p}}_{n}}}$. In this article, for an arbitrary product of prime ideals ${{{\mathfrak{p}}_1} \cdots {{\mathfrak{p}}_{n}}}$ and a module $M$, we find conditions for the existence of submodules in $M$ having ${{{\mathfrak{p}}_1} \cdots {{\mathfrak{p}}_{n}}}$ as their generalized prime ideal factorization

Natural Drugs in DNA Repair

Natural products have been used in medicine right from the ancient civilisation. Natural products are used in many types of diseases, together with chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Many products are used against cancer. Many diseases are genetically derived. The drugs which have the capacity to act at genome level gains significant importance in any disease scenario. The genetic information essential for the identity and function of eukaryotic cells exist in DNA and during the lifetime of the cell DNA can be repeatedly damaged due to different factors. The stability and the fidelity of the replication process are meant to be the most remarkable features of the genetic material. The stability can be affected at any time. Compound which can enhance the DNA repair are applicable in many disease condition. Our study was focussed on the DNA repair enhancing property of a glucan from the macro fungi Ganoderma lucidum. Comet assay and chromosomal aberrations in mouse bone marrow were used as end points of study. Glucan was found to have DNA repair enhancing property in human lymphocytes

English as a second language (ESL) writing instructions and the effects on primary students: a multiple case study

English as a second language (ESL) writing instruction is a challenging task for teachers. Writing lessons need to be prepared adequately by deciding on the right approach to be employed as the instructional methods influence students’ learning greatly. This study investigates the preferred teaching practices (between the product and process approach) of 10 pre-service teachers’ in teaching writing and the effects on students’ written texts. The data were collected from observations, semi-structured interviews and students’ written texts. The data from the observation checklists were analyzed using Rasch Measurement Model which validated the study with a high value of alpha Cronbach (0.81). Thematic and textual analyses were conducted on participants’ views and the students’ written text respectively. The findings revealed that product approach was the preferred practice. Consequently, the students’ prepared very identical pattern of written work based on the participants’ input. The students were able to prepare the written work with linguistic accuracy but did not show attempt to write more creatively. Thus, this study recommends teachers to integrate process approach strategies into their writing instructions to guide students to write more profoundly in future

Effect of provision of an integrated neonatal survival kit and early cognitive stimulation package by community health workers on developmental outcomes of infants in Kwale County, Kenya: study protocol for a cluster randomized trial

Background: Each year, more than 200 million children under the age of 5 years, almost all in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), fail to achieve their developmental potential. Risk factors for compromised development often coexist and include inadequate cognitive stimulation, poverty, nutritional deficiencies, infection and complications of being born low birthweight and/or premature. Moreover, many of these risk factors are closely associated with newborn morbidity and mortality. As compromised development has significant implications on human capital, inexpensive and scalable interventions are urgently needed to promote neurodevelopment and reduce risk factors for impaired development. Method/Design: This cluster randomized trial aims at evaluating the impact of volunteer community health workers delivering either an integrated neonatal survival kit, an early stimulation package, or a combination of both interventions, to pregnant women during their third trimester of pregnancy, compared to the current standard of care in Kwale County, Kenya. The neonatal survival kit comprises a clean delivery kit (sterile blade, cord clamp, clean plastic sheet, surgical gloves and hand soap), sunflower oil emollient, chlorhexidine, ThermoSpotTM, Mylar infant sleeve, and a reusable instant heater. Community health workers are also equipped with a portable hand-held electric scale. The early cognitive stimulation package focuses on enhancing caregiver practices by teaching caregivers three key messages that comprise combining a gentle touch with making eye contact and talking to children, responsive feeding and caregiving, and singing. The primary outcome measure is child development at 12 months of age assessed with the Protocol for Child Monitoring (Infant and Toddler version). The main secondary outcome is newborn mortality. Discussion: This study will provide evidence on effectiveness of delivering an innovative neonatal survival kit and/or early stimulation package to pregnant women in Kwale County, Kenya. Study findings will help inform policy on the most appropriate interventions for promoting healthy brain development and reduction of newborn morbidity and mortality in Kenya and other similar settings. Trial registration: ClinicalTrial.gov NCT02208960 (August 1, 2014

Thermodynamic characterization of RNA triloops

ABSTRACT: Relatively few thermodynamic parameters are available for RNA triloops. Therefore, 24 stemloop sequences containing naturally occurring triloops were optically melted, and the thermodynamic parameters ΔH°, ΔS°, ΔG°3 7 , and T M for each stem-loop were determined. These new experimental values, on average, are 0.5 kcal/mol different from the values predicted for these triloops using the model proposed by Mathews et al. [Mathews, D. H., Disney, M. D., Childs, J. L., Schroeder, S. J., Zuker, M., and Turner, D. H. (2004) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S. A. 101, 7287-7292]. The data for the 24 triloops reported here were then combined with the data for five triloops that were published previously. A new model was derived to predict the free energy contribution of previously unmeasured triloops. The average absolute difference between the measured values and the values predicted using this proposed model is 0.3 kcal/mol. These new experimental data and updated predictive model allow for more accurate calculations of the free energy of RNA stemloops containing triloops and, furthermore, should allow for improved prediction of secondary structure from sequence. RNA stem-loops containing three nucleotides in the loop, triloops, are common secondary structure motifs found in naturally occurring RNA. For example, bacterial 16S rRNAs strongly favor tetraloops; however, the UUU triloop is the most common replacement (1). In the 16S-like rRNA variable regions, triloops account for 7% of the loops in bacteria and 16% of the loops in eukaryotes (2). Triloops are also found in large subunit rRNAs (3, 4), 5S rRNAs (5), signal recognition particles (6), RNase P RNAs (7), and group I introns (8, 9). More specifically, triloops are found in Brome mosaic virus (þ) strand RNA (10), human rhinovirus isotype 14 (11), iron responsive element RNA (12), and an RNA aptamer for bacteriophage MS2 coat protein (13), to name a few. Although relatively unstable due to the strain in the loop, triloops may be an important structural feature due to the accessibility of the loop nucleotides for recognition by proteins, other nucleic acids, or small molecules. It has been shown that triloops play a role in various biological processes, including virus replication The current model used by secondary structure prediction algorithms to predict the thermodynamic contribution of RNA triloops to stem-loop stability is sequence independent; all triloops contribute 5.4 kcal/mol to stem-loop stability, with the exception of 5 0 CCC3 0 which contributes 6.9 kcal/mol (21). In addition, there are two unstable triloop sequences (5 0 CAACG3 0 and 5 0 GUUAC3 0 ) for which this predictive model is not used; instead, the ΔG°3 7,loop values (6.8 and 6.9 kcal/mol, respectively) for these two triloops are provided in a lookup table (21). An interesting study by the Bevilacqua laboratory (19) used a combinatorial approach and temperature gradient gel electrophoresis to identify stable and unstable RNA triloops. It was discovered that sequence preferences for exceptionally stable triloops included a U-rich loop and C-G as the closing base pair. Although they used 10 mM NaCl during their melting experiments, they suggested that the rules for predicting triloop stability at 1 M NaCl should be modified; however, this has yet to be done. Here, we report the thermodynamic parameters for 24 previously unmeasured RNA triloops in 1 M NaCl and propose a new algorithm for predicting the contribution of triloops to stem-loop stability, which includes two bonuses for stabilizing sequence features. MATERIALS AND METHODS Compiling and Searching a Database for RNA Triloops. The initial aim of this project was to identify the most frequently occurring RNA triloops in nature and to thermodynamically characterize these hairpin triloop sequences. Therefore, a database of 1349 RNA secondary structures containing 123 small subunit rRNAs (22), 223 large subunit rRNAs (3, 4), 309 5S rRNAs (5), 484 tRNAs (23), 91 signal recognition particles (6), 16 RNase P RNAs (7), 100 group I introns (8, 9), and 3 group II introns (24) was compiled. This database was searched for triloops, and the number of occurrences for each type of triloop was tabulated. In this work, G-U pairs are considered to be canonical base pairs. Design of Sequences for Optical Melting Studies. Since most thermodynamic parameters for RNA secondary structure motifs are reported for RNA solutions containing 1 M NaCl, the melting buffer used in this work also contained 1 M NaCl. A major limitation of a thermodynamic analysis of RNA hairpins using this high salt concentration is the possible bimolecular