Inducible Protective Processes in Animal Systems .5. Clastogenic Adaptation Triggered by Low-Dose of Methyl Methanesulfonate (Mms) in Poecilocerus-Pictus

The monofunctional alkylating agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS) was used to study the induction of inducible protective processes (clastogenic adaptation) in meiotic cells of the grasshopper, Poecilocerus pictus. After a low (conditioning) dose of 0.012 M and challenging with a high (challenging) dose of 0.048 M MMS after 2 h time-lag, the incidence of chromosomal anomalies in metaphase I, II and anaphase I and II stages was found to be significantly less (P < 0.05) compared to that of the additive effect of both the conditioning and the challenging doses. The data suggest that the low dose of MMS rendered the meiotic cells more resistant to the clastogenic effects of a subsequent high dose of MMS employed. These results lend further support to the earlier report from the same laboratory where a low dose of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) was found to render protection against a high dose of the same clastogen in meiotic cells of P. pictus. Furthermore, it is clear from the results that conditioning by the methylating (MMS) agent in cells is less effective in comparison with that of the ethylating (EMS) agent

Lauderdale Paradox in COVID-19 Pandemic Times- A Study on Kerala

Karl Marx explains the Lauderdale paradox as a contradiction between public wealth and private profit and how the latter increases as the former diminishes. The present paper argues that COVID-19 pandemic has been strengthening the Lauderdale Paradox in the healthcare sector, for example in the state of Kerala in India. Kerala, the most literate state and more advanced than most other states of the country, in terms of social development indicators, experienced progress in the public health system in an impressive way, till the 1980’s and declined thereafter. Higher levels of literacy and public healthcare services are possible because of government expenditure. With improvements in literacy, standards of living and awareness, consumers of healthcare services start demanding more and better quality of the same. However, public healthcare systems do not develop enough. Private players, especially large private hospitals enter and expand their share in the space created in the healthcare sector. This is an instance of unfolding of the Lauderdale paradox in the healthcare sector. The present study explains the increasing domination of private hospitals in the healthcare sector development in Kerala, against the backdrop of the Marxian theory. Health is treated like a commodity and offered for sale with mainly profit motive. This trend is strengthened during the pandemic times. A few suggestions for further research in this exciting area of study are given at the end of the paper. Keywords: Lauderdale Paradox, Healthcare sector, Private hospitals

ANALYSIS OF COURTSHIP BEHAVIOR AS A PARAMETER OF TOXICITY OF ETHYL METHANESULFONATE (EMS) IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

An anti-cancerous drug and a monofunctional alkylating agent, Ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), was tested for its toxic effects by using courtship behavioral elements as the parameter in Drosophila melanogaster. EMS concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 15mM were employed by larval feeding technique to analyze the effect. When the different combinations of crosses were performed, the results have revealed that there were no qualitative differences between the control and treated groups. However, quantitatively, it has shown that male courtship elements such as orientation, tapping, wing vibration and licking were significantly prolonged compared to controls. Similar results were observed in case of female rejection behavior elements namely: ignoring, extruding and decamping. On par with this, even the courtship latency and copulation latency were significantly increased and contrary to these, copulation duration was significantly decreased, thus suggesting that the treated males were less vigor; treated females were less receptive on one hand and on the other lower reproductive fitness. Drastic effects of EMS on mating behavior prove that this can be utilized as a parameter for assessing the toxic effects of chemicals

Effect of Methyl Parathion on Survival and Development of Tadpoles of Indian Cricket Frog Fejervarya Limnocharis

Amphibian populations are declining due to various causes including pesticide contamination in natural habitat. We evaluated effect of Methyl Parathion (MPT) an organophosphate pesticide on survival and development of common paddy field frog Fejervarya limnocharis in a laboratory condition. Effect of 0 µg MPT/L, 500 µg MPT/L, 1000 µg MPT/L, 1500 µg MPT/L, 2000 µg MPT/L and 3000 µg MPT/L was studied using static toxicity test for a duration of 28 days. MPT reduced the survival of tadpole. The mortality increased with the increased concentration of pesticide. The development decreased with increased MPT concentrations. At higher concentrations, MPT induced slow development and tadpoles failed to metamorphose. It is assumed that slow development could affect the larval life and amphibian population in agro-ecosystem

Essential Role of Correlations in Governing Charge Transport in Disordered Organic Materials

The transport of photoinjected charges in disordered organic films is often interpreted using a formula based on a Gaussian disorder model (GDM) that neglects spatial correlations due to charge-dipole interactions, even though such correlations have recently been shown to explain the universal electric field dependence observed in these systems. Based on extensive computer simulations of a 3D disorder model that includes such correlations, we present a new formula for analyzing experiments that accurately describes transport in these materials

Validation of body fat measurement by skinfolds and two bioelectric impedance methods with DEXA - the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study [CURES-3]

Background and Objective: Although Asian Indians have been shown to have increased body fat compared to Europeans, there have been very few studies in Asian Indians validating the various methods available for body fat measurement. The aim of this study was to test the validity of body fat measured by two commercial impedance analyzers (leg-to-leg and hand-held) as well as by skinfolds with Dual Energy Xray Absorptiometry (DEXA) as the reference method in a population based study in southern India. Methods: Body fat percentage (BF%) was measured in 162 South Indian urban men (n=76) and women (n=86) randomly selected from the "Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study" (CURES), an ongoing population based study of a representative population of Chennai. The mean age of the subjects was 45.1 &#177; 9.0 years and the body mass index ranged from 16.4 - 34.4 kg/m2. Percentage body fat was measured using DEXA, segmental impedance (leg-to-leg: BF%IMP-LEG; and hand-held BF%IMP-HAND) using the manufacturer's software and skinfolds using the prediction equation from the literature (BF%SKFD). Results: Body fat (%) determined by the leg-to-leg method (BF%IMP-LEG 35.10 &#177; 7.26) and the skinfolds (BF%SKFD 35.77 &#177; 6.06) did not differ significantly from the reference method DEXA (BF%DEXA 35.82 &#177; 8.33), but the hand-held impedance method (BF%IMP-HAND 31.38 &#177;6.24) showed significant difference (p &lt; 0.001). The bias for estimation of body fat (%) for the bioimpedance leg-to-leg, hand-held and skinfolds were 0.73 &#177; 5.70, 4.45 &#177; 4.83 and 0.06 &#177; 5.86 respectively. All the three methods showed a fairly good correlation with DEXA (BF%IMP-LEG : r = 0.741, p&lt;0.001; BF%IMP-HAND : r = 0.817, p&lt; 0.001; BF%SKFD : r = 0.710, p&lt; 0.001). Conclusion: The study shows that in urban south Indians, measurement of body fat by the leg-to-leg impedance and the skinfold method have better agreement (lower bias) with DEXA than the hand-held impedance. However, all three methods (skinfolds, the leg-to-leg bioelectric impedance and hand-held impedance) show a fairly good correlation with DEXA

Vascular Burden Predicts Gait, Mood, and Executive Function Disturbances in Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: Results from the Gait and Brain Study

International audienc

The Parallel Dynamic Complexity of the Abelian Cayley Group Membership Problem

Let $G$ be a finite group given as input by its multiplication table. For a subset $S$ of $G$ and an element $g\in G$ the Cayley Group Membership Problem (denoted CGM) is to check if $g$ belongs to the subgroup generated by $S$. While this problem is easily seen to be in polynomial time, pinpointing its parallel complexity has been of research interest over the years. In this paper we further explore the parallel complexity of the abelian CGM problem, with focus on the dynamic setting: the generating set $S$ changes with insertions and deletions and the goal is to maintain a data structure that supports efficient membership queries to the subgroup $\angle{S}$. We obtain the following results: 1. We first consider the more general problem of Monoid Membership. When $G$ is a commutative monoid we give a deterministic dynamic algorithm constant time parallel algorithm for membership testing that supports $O(1)$ insertions and deletions in each step. 2. Building on the previous result we show that there is a dynamic randomized constant-time parallel algorithm for abelian CGM that supports polylogarithmically many insertions/deletions to $S$ in each step. 3. If the number of insertions/deletions is at most $O(\log n/\log\log n)$ then we obtain a deterministic dynamic constant-time parallel algorithm for the problem. 4. We obtain analogous results for the dynamic abelian Group Isomorphism

Adaptive response to low dose of EMS or MMS in human peripheral blood lymphocytes

Human peripheral blood lymphocytes stimulated in vitro for 6 hr were exposed to a low (conditioning) dose of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS; 1.5 x 10(-4) M) or methyl methanesulfonate (MMS; 1.5 x 10(-5) M). After 6 hr, the cells were treated with a high (challenging) concentration of the same agent (1.5 x 10(-3) M EMS or 1.5 x 10(-4) M MMS). The cells that received both conditioning and challenging doses became less sensitive to the induction of sister chromatid exchanges (SCEs) than those which did not receive the pretreatment with EMS or MMS. They responded with lower frequencies of SCEs. This suggests that conditioning dose of EMS or MMS has offered the lymphocytes to have decreased SCEs. This led to the realization that pre-exposure of lymphocytes to low dose can cause the induction of repair activity. This is a clear indication of the existence of adaptive response induced by alkylating agents whether it is ethylating or methylating in human lymphocytes in vitro