Radionuclides of 238U, 232Th and 40K in beach sand of southern regions in Tamilnadu State, India (Post-Tsunami)

The natural radioactivity content of 238U, 232Th and 40K in beach sand of southern regions of Tamilnadu, India have been analyzed using gamma-ray spectroscopy. From the spectral analysis, the average radioactivity content of 238U, 232Th and 40K in beach sand samples are 8.77 ± 3.77, 76.48 ± 4.74 and 202.87 ± 26.72 Bq.kg-1, respectively. Univariate statistics has been applied successfully to assess the distribution of radionuclides and it shows that the decay series radionuclides such as 238U and 232Th are non-existence of normal distribution in the sands; however non-decay series radionuclide of 40K is distributed uniformly. Radiological parameters such as absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent, annual gonadal dose equivalent, radium equivalent, hazard index, gamma index, activity utilization index, alpha index and excess lifetime cancer risk have been calculated to know the complete radiological status of the coastal sands. The results of the present study indicate that the natural radioactivity content in the beach sands do not pose any radiation effect to the members of public in the southern region of Tamilnadu coast

The role of microRNAs in newborn brain development and hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy.

Neonates can develop hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE) due to lack of blood supply or oxygen, resulting in a major cause of death and disability among term newborns. However, current definitive treatment of therapeutic hypothermia, will only benefit one out of nine babies. Furthermore, the mechanisms of HIE and therapeutic hypothermia are not fully understood. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs) have become of interest to many researchers due to their important role in post-transcriptional control and deep evolutionary history. Despite this, role of miRNAs in newborns with HIE remains largely unknown due to limited research in this field. Therefore, this review aims to understand the role of miRNAs in normal brain development and HIE pathophysiology with reliance on extrapolated data from other diseases, ages and species due to current limited data. This will provide us with an overview of how miRNAs in normal brain development changes after HIE. Furthermore, it will indicate how miRNAs are affected specifically or globally by the various pathophysiological events. In addition, we discuss about how drugs and commercially available agents can specifically target certain miRNAs as a mechanism of action and potential safety issue with off-target effects. Improving our understanding of the role of miRNAs on the cellular response after HIE would enhance the success of effective diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of newborns with HIE