Building the Infrastructure to Reach and Care for the Poor: Trends, Obstacles and Strategies to overcome them

Infrastructure forms a critical part of health service delivery in any country. Availability, Accessibility, Affordability, Equity, Efficiency and Quality of MNH services highly depend on the distribution, functionality and quality of infrastructure. Most developing countries have invested substantially in developing health infrastructure in rural areas which provides a base for extending MNH services to the poor. Still, there is clear evidence that in many countries there are gaps and inadequacies in health infrastructure. The functionality and utilization of health infrastructure has been sub-optimal or poor due to a variety of reasons. This paper reviews available literature and assesses the coverage and gaps in infrastructure for MNH. It also identifies critical issues in management of infrastructure and analysis their causes and impact on services delivery to the poor. The paper also reviews impacts of reforms on infrastructure and provides some recommendations for improvement of infrastructure management so as to ensure better services to the poor.

Endocrine Autoimmunity in Association with Female Infertility

Infertility is the inability to conceive after a year of regular unprotected sexual intercourse, affecting 10-15% of couples. Advanced age, obesity, and certain medications can hinder fertility. Endocrine autoimmunity is increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to female infertility, often complicating various gynecological conditions. Autoimmune issues involving the hypothalamus, pituitary gland, thyroid, adrenal glands, and ovaries can impact fertility. A multidisciplinary approach is essential for diagnosing infertility, with a crucial focus on identifying potential endocrine disorders. Here we discuss how to identify endocrine autoimmune patients with ovulatory dysfunction. Women must be advised about limiting factors to be avoided, to protect their fertility. A comprehensive understanding of the underlying mechanisms, coupled with appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, is crucial for effectively managing this complex condition and helping women achieve their reproductive goals

Production of bioplastic using Jackfruit perianth

Overuse of plastics around the world has made them one of the key environmental concerns today. Disposal of plastic waste in landfills has serious environmental impacts due to its non-biodegradable nature. Agricultural waste, particularly plant materials containing starch gains attraction for its role in the production of alternative biodegradable materials with good tensile strength and other mechanical properties. The present work focuses on production of biodegradable bioplastic using perianth of Jackfruit [Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. (Moraceae)], which otherwise goes as agro waste. Certain plasticizers are also used to improve the raw materials properties and it was subjected to various tests, to study its mechanical and chemical properties. The sample was characterized using Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and tensile strength was also checked. It was subjected to various resistance tests such as water resistance, alcohol resistance, flammability, alkali and acid resistance and it was confirmed that the bioplastic produced from Jack fruit perianth is a good option to normal plastics

Coconut-growing soils of Kerala: 1. Characteristics and classification

Coconut plantations are the major land use systems in Kerala state. The tropical hot humid climate and soils of the state are considered suitable for the palm, with the exception of highlands occurring 600 m above MSL. However, the productivity of coconut is abysmally low in the state with an average productivity of around 40 nuts per year per palm. To find out whether the highly weathered and leached low activity clay soils developed in tropical hot humid climate is responsible for the low yield, an assessment of soil qualities in the coconut-growing soils of the state was made. Six distinct regions of coconut cultivation in the state were identified and delineated based on the variability of agro-climate and soils, viz., Central and Eastern Palakkad, Northern Kerala, Central Kerala, Southern Kerala, Onattukara sandy plains and coastal sandy plains. Soil profiles were studied at representative sites in each region. Investigated morphological features and sampled horizon-wise for the analysis of physical and chemical properties of the soil. Coconut-growing soils of Kerala state are in general deep and well drained, clayey or sandy having good structure permitting rapid transmission of water. The soils of Palakkad, Southern Kerala and Coastal Sandy Plains have near neutral reaction whereas the extensive areas of laterite soils of Northern and Central Kerala and sandy soils of Onattukara were strongly acid and had high levels of KCl extractable aluminium. The acid soils also analysed for low levels of basic cations, potassium, calcium and magnesium. Soils from all regions except Palakkad have low CEC. Surface and sub-soils base status were extremely low for soils of Northern and Central Kerala and Onattukara sandy plain. The soils of Central and Eastern Palakkad were classified as Typic Haplustalfs, Northern Kerala as Plinthic Humults, Central Kerala as Typic Plinthustults, Southern Kerala as Rhodic Kandiustults and the soils of sandy plains as Ustipsamments, according to soil taxonomy

Report on egg mass of Hound needle fish Tylosurus crocodilus

During an oceanographic cruise of ICAR-CMFRI on board FV Silver Pompano on November 2021, a bunch of pale-yellow spherical egg consisting of about thousand numbers connected by strong filaments on the chorion were obtained while undertaking experimental trawling in off Kochi region at 20-meter depth (Fig 1). After taking photographs and enumeration of the egg bunch, a small sub sample was taken for further analysis and the remaining eggs were released back into the sea immediately. The collected egg samples were preserved in 95% ethanol and brought to lab for further analysis. Preserved eggs were observed and photographed in the lab by Nikon SMZ 25 stereo zoom microscope

Discovery of biphenylacetamide-derived inhibitors of BACE1 using de novo structure-based molecular design

β-Secretase (BACE1), the enzyme responsible for the first and rate-limiting step in the production of amyloid-β peptides, is an attractive target for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. In this study, we report the application of the de novo fragment-based molecular design program SPROUT to the discovery of a series of nonpeptide BACE1 inhibitors based upon a biphenylacetamide scaffold. The binding affinity of molecules based upon this designed molecular scaffold was increased from an initial BACE1 IC50 of 323 μM to 27 μM following the synthesis of a library of optimized ligands whose structures were refined using the recently developed SPROUT-HitOpt software. Although a number of inhibitors were found to exhibit cellular toxicity, one compound in the series was found to have useful BACE1 inhibitory activity in a cellular assay with minimal cellular toxicity. This work demonstrates the power of an in silico fragment-based molecular design approach in the discovery of novel BACE1 inhibitors

Cell type-specific over-expression of chromosome 21 genes in fibroblasts and fetal hearts with trisomy 21

BACKGROUND: Down syndrome (DS) is caused by trisomy 21 (+21), but the aberrations in gene expression resulting from this chromosomal aneuploidy are not yet completely understood. METHODS: We used oligonucleotide microarrays to survey mRNA expression in early- and late-passage control and +21 fibroblasts and mid-gestation fetal hearts. We supplemented this analysis with northern blotting, western blotting, real-time RT-PCR, and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: We found chromosome 21 genes consistently over-represented among the genes over-expressed in the +21 samples. However, these sets of over-expressed genes differed across the three cell/tissue types. The chromosome 21 gene MX1 was strongly over-expressed (mean 16-fold) in senescent +21 fibroblasts, a result verified by northern and western blotting. MX1 is an interferon target gene, and its mRNA was induced by interferons present in +21 fibroblast conditioned medium, suggesting an autocrine loop for its over-expression. By immunohistochemistry the p78(MX1 )protein was induced in lesional tissue of alopecia areata, an autoimmune disorder associated with DS. We found strong over-expression of the purine biosynthesis gene GART (mean 3-fold) in fetal hearts with +21 and verified this result by northern blotting and real-time RT-PCR. CONCLUSION: Different subsets of chromosome 21 genes are over-expressed in different cell types with +21, and for some genes this over-expression is non-linear (>1.5X). Hyperactive interferon signaling is a candidate pathway for cell senescence and autoimmune disorders in DS, and abnormal purine metabolism should be investigated for a potential role in cardiac defects