J. S. Verma

Sriram Panchu’s article “A Tribute to J S Verma” (EPW, 11 May 2013) was informative and illuminated the imprint of the late Jagadish Sharan Verma on the Indian judicial system and public life

Methane selective oxidation on metal oxide catalysts at low temperatures with O₂ using an NO/NO₂ oxygen atom shuttle

Methane oxidation using O2 over transition metal oxides often requires severe conditions ( >500 °C) to achieve detectable conversion. In this study, NO was used to transfer oxygen atoms from O2, through the facile gas-phase formation of NO2 at moderate conditions (0.1 MPa and 300–400 °C), to oxidize methane over silica-supported transition metal oxides (VOx, CrOx, MnOx, NbOx, MoOx, and WOx). In situ infrared spectroscopy measurements indicated that the reaction likely proceeded by the formation of surface monodentate nitrate intermediates. These nitrate species were formed by the interaction between adsorbed NO2 and the supported metal oxides. During the reaction, the oxides of vanadium, molybdenum, and tungsten formed formaldehyde and CO2, whereas the oxides of chromium, manganese, and niobium produced only CO2. These results are consistent with the known hydrocarbon oxidation chemistry of the metal oxides. Contact time measurements on VOx/SiO2 indicated that formaldehyde was a primary product and CO2 was the final product; conversely, analogous measurements on MnOx/SiO2 showed that CO2 was the sole product. The formaldehyde production rate on VOx/SiO2, MoOx/SiO2, and WOx/SiO2, based on surface sites measured by high temperature oxygen chemisorption, compared favorably to oxygenate production rates for stronger oxidants (N2O and H2O2) reported in the literature

Assessment of Maximum Bite Force in Oral Submucous Fibrosis Patients: A Preliminary Study

Objective: To determine the maximum bite force (MBF) in oral submucous fibrosis (OSMF) patients and to compare them with that of healthy subjects. Material and Methods: Twenty patients who were clinically confirmed, as OSMF and 20 healthy controls matched for age, gender, and number of intact functional teeth were included in this study. For each subject, age, gender, weight, height and body mass index (BMI) were recorded. The MBF registration was carried out by the two evaluators, who were previously calibrated. Bite force was measured in the first molar region using a force transducer occlusal force meter for each subject seated at the upright position, with Frankfort's plane nearly parallel to the floor, and no head support. The Student’s independent t-test was used to determine the statistical significance in relation to mean height, weight, BMI and the presence of number of intact teeth and MBF between the healthy subjects and OSMF individuals. A comparison of grades of OSMF with all variables was carried out by one-way ANOVA test. Results: No significant difference was found in mean age, mean height, weight, BMI and the presence of the number of intact teeth between healthy individuals and OSMF patients. The mean MBF in healthy subjects was 628.23 ± 24.39 N and 635.47 ± 31.22 N in OSMF patients. Even though the healthy subjects reported a higher MBF than OSMF patients did, the difference was statistically non-significant. With regards to sides, no significant difference was observed in mean MBF in healthy subjects and OSMF patients on the right (p=0.7818) and left side (p=0.6154). Conclusion: The healthy subjects reported higher MBF values than OSMF patients did and the difference was statistically non-significant

Genetic cataloguing of Octopus species from coastal waters of Kerala using molecular markers

Octopuses are one of the commercially important fishery resource form the Indian coast and there is a targeted fishery for octopus in many fish landing centres in Kerala. There are lot of taxonomic ambiguities within the octopus species and the accurate identification of species is of prior importance in conserving such vulnerable species. With a view to identify and genetically catalogue the octopus species of Kerala coast, specimens were collected from different landing centres of the region. Molecular characterization was done with partial sequence information of mitochondrial gene Cytochrome C oxidase-I (COI) gene. Total 17 specimens of 7 species were collected from 4 locations and COI sequences were generated (650 bp). 7 species included viz, three ocellate octopus, belonging to the genus Amphioctopus; (Amphioctopus neglectus. A. marginatus and A. rex), two from genus Cistopus: (Cistopus Indicus and C. taiwanicus), one each from Octopus vulgaris and Callistoctopus macropus. Both genus of Cistopus and Amphioctopus showed the intra and inter specific distance ranging from 0.0-1.0 % and 7.0-21.0 %, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood approach revealed that all the genera of the family Octopodidae are monophyletic

Assessment of dimorphic growth of the cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis (Cephalopoda: Sepiidae) using cuttlebone markings from the south-eastern Arabian Sea

The pharaoh cuttlefish Sepia pharaonis Ehrenberg, 1831, is one of the most important species exploited along the Eastern Arabian Sea. A study on the relationships between dorsal mantle length (DML) and number of cuttlebone septa (or chambers) and between total body weight and number of cuttlebone septa were carried out in S. pharaonis collected from the south-eastern Arabian Sea. The cuttlefish samples were collected from Cochin Fisheries Harbour (133 males and 67 females). Dorsal mantle length-at-chamber count and weight-at-chamber count were statistically higher in males than in females. The available literature suggests that females of S. pharaonis are heavier than males while males are found to attain greater ultimate lengths throughout the lifecycle. Literature also suggests that the rate of cuttlebone septum formation is the same in both sexes of Sepia species, however in the present study, S. pharaonis males have slightly higher growth rates than females (Fig. 1 & 2). The study indicates that there is considerable scope to use cuttlebone chamber counts as a means of determining actual age of cuttlefishe

Role of voluntary teacher forums (VTFs) in continuous teacher professional development in India: experiences from Rajasthan, Karnataka and Puducherry

The quality of education depends largely upon the teacher. Hence building teacher capacity through continuous professional development of teachers is critical to the quality of education. Systems and programs for continuous professional development for school teachers in the formal educational system in India are inadequate and often illconceived. Apart from other lacunae, they often do not recognize the professional identity and agency of the teacher. Voluntary Teacher Forums (VTFs) that are facilitated by Azim Premji Foundation in different locations of India, as part of an integrated and multimodal approach to continuous professional development, try to address this central issue. This study shows that VTFs are evolving as very useful platforms for collaboration and peer learning amongst teachers in various locations. It shows that given an environment that allows for easy access to meaningful opportunities, teachers will commit their time, talents and resources to their own professional development. The study further recognizes however, that the real issue is to understand how such forums can be made to happen in different locations in a context as complex as the Indian public education system. While this study highlights certain crucial dimensions of the VTFs – including what happens within these forums and the efforts that go behind it – these continue to be subjects for our future research works

Contributions of the international plant science community to the fight against infectious diseases in humans-part 2: Affordable drugs in edible plants for endemic and re-emerging diseases.

The fight against infectious diseases often focuses on epidemics and pandemics, which demand urgent resources and command attention from the health authorities and media. However, the vast majority of deaths caused by infectious diseases occur in endemic zones, particularly in developing countries, placing a disproportionate burden on underfunded health systems and often requiring international interventions. The provision of vaccines and other biologics is hampered not only by the high cost and limited scalability of traditional manufacturing platforms based on microbial and animal cells, but also by challenges caused by distribution and storage, particularly in regions without a complete cold chain. In this review article, we consider the potential of molecular farming to address the challenges of endemic and re-emerging diseases, focusing on edible plants for the development of oral drugs. Key recent developments in this field include successful clinical trials based on orally delivered dried leaves of Artemisia annua against malarial parasite strains resistant to artemisinin combination therapy, the ability to produce clinical-grade protein drugs in leaves to treat infectious diseases and the long-term storage of protein drugs in dried leaves at ambient temperatures. Recent FDA approval of the first orally delivered protein drug encapsulated in plant cells to treat peanut allergy has opened the door for the development of affordable oral drugs that can be manufactured and distributed in remote areas without cold storage infrastructure and that eliminate the need for expensive purification steps and sterile delivery by injection

Contributions of the international plant science community to the fight against human infectious diseases - part 1: epidemic and pandemic diseases.

Infectious diseases, also known as transmissible or communicable diseases, are caused by pathogens or parasites that spread in communities by direct contact with infected individuals or contaminated materials, through droplets and aerosols, or via vectors such as insects. Such diseases cause ~17% of all human deaths and their management and control places an immense burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Traditional approaches for the prevention and control of infectious diseases include vaccination programmes, hygiene measures and drugs that suppress the pathogen, treat the disease symptoms or attenuate aggressive reactions of the host immune system. The provision of vaccines and biologic drugs such as antibodies is hampered by the high cost and limited scalability of traditional manufacturing platforms based on microbial and animal cells, particularly in developing countries where infectious diseases are prevalent and poorly controlled. Molecular farming, which uses plants for protein expression, is a promising strategy to address the drawbacks of current manufacturing platforms. In this review article, we consider the potential of molecular farming to address healthcare demands for the most prevalent and important epidemic and pandemic diseases, focussing on recent outbreaks of high-mortality coronavirus infections and diseases that disproportionately affect the developing world

J. S. Verma

Sriram Panchu’s article “A Tribute to J S Verma” (EPW, 11 May 2013) was informative and illuminated the imprint of the late Jagadish Sharan Verma on the Indian judicial system and public life