Characterizing the Role of Syntaxin 1A in the Heart

The SNARE protein, STX1A, is expressed in various tissues. However, the role of STX1A in the heart remains unclear. Using a cardiac-specific STX1A knockout mouse model, this thesis explores the potential role of STX1A in excitation-contraction coupling. Echocardiography showed STX1A KO mice underwent transient systolic dysfunction persisting for 3 weeks. Ejection fraction and fractional shortening decreased in STX1A KO mice which returned to control levels by the 3rd week. No changes were observed in the control groups. Hypertrophy in STX1A KO hearts was not observed. Invasive hemodynamics revealed no change in LV or aortic pressures. Rate of pressure generation and relaxation were reduced in STX1A KO hearts at 0 weeks. Echocardiography also showed significant delay between the R-wave and onset of contraction in STX1A KO mice when compared to control mice. The observations of this study are indicative of STX1As role in the maintenance of normal excitation-contraction coupling in cardiomyocytes

What is truth?

I defend the correspondence theory of truth, according to which a statement’s truth consists in a relation of correspondence with extralinguistic fact. There are well-known objections to this view, which I consider and rebut, and also important rival accounts, principal among which are so-called deflationist theories and epistemic theories. Epistemic theories relate the concept of truth to our state of knowledge, but fail, I argue, to respect the crucial distinction between a criterion of truth and the meaning of truth: the view that one cannot do semantics, or metaphysics, without addressing epistemic issues is rejected by this work. Against epistemic theories, I illustrate how truth is independent of epistemic considerations. Deflationism is the more popular of the rival accounts and has gained considerable momentum over the past two decades. It is therefore dealt with in greater detail by this work. Deflationist theories exploit the paradigmatic ‘“Snow is white” is true iff snow is white’ biconditional to argue for an insubstantialist account, according to which truth is conservative with respect to non-semantical facts. On this view, truth’s raison d’être is merely to perform the useful expressive function of generalising over possibly infinite sets of assertions. Against deflationist theories, I claim that the work done by Jeffrey Ketland and Stewart Shapiro conclusively demonstrates how truth is informationally additive over non-semantic facts, while deflationism itself is also an excessively impoverishing theory, inadequate to the tasks it purports to accomplish. This work also defends the thesis that Alfred Tarski’s well-known theory of truth is an authentic correspondence theory. To say this is to say that the clauses of a Tarskian truth-definition can be interpreted in terms of a relation of correspondence that holds between true sentences and the states of affairs they describe. I provide a precise account of what the correspondence in question consists in, claiming that true sentences are homomorphic images of facts, i.e. a true sentence represents, in a form-preserving manner, the truth-making facts in it. This gives precise expression to Wittgenstein’s thesis that true sentences picture the world

A Comparative Study of the Grounds for Divorce in Hindu Law and English Law.

Chapter I is an introduction of the subject. Chapter II deals with the nature of Hindu marriage and investigates the question whether divorce as such was recognised by the dharmasastra. Chapter III gives a brief outline of the history of divorce in England. Chapter IV interprets the terms 'adultery' and 'living in adultery' against the social background of Hindu and English society. It also considers the question of evidence and the standard of proof. Chapter V discusses the concept of desertion and its ingredients by reference to case law. It explains the defence of 'just cause' including what amounts to a 'grave and weighty' matter for the purpose of desertion and its relation to cruelty. Chapter VI defines 'cruelty'; how the concept of cruelty has changed from time to time; the effect of insanity in relation to cruelty and the protection of the aggrieved spouse. The effect of offences committed by the guilty spouse against third parties. Chapter VII deals with insanity as a ground for divorce and the test to be applied in such a case. The difference between the Hindu and English statutes regarding insanity. Chapter VIII investigates the circumstances leading to presumption of death and dissolution of marriage including the burden of proof in such a case. Chapter IX defines grounds for divorce available only to the wife. Chapter X deals with grounds for divorce peculiar to Hindu law. These include renunciation of the world, conversion to another religion, suffering from leprosy and venereal disease, second marriage of the husband (where the second marriage took place before the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955) as a ground for divorce available to a Hindu wife. Divorce on the grounds of failure to comply with a decree for restitution of conjugal rights and non-resumption of cohabitation for a period of two years or upwards after a decree of judicial separation has been passed, has also been considered

Off-Grid Energy Technologies used in Rural Areas of India

Energy scenario in India is changing with a greater pace. Growth rate of villages has increased, likewise their energy demand. With the awareness of the decreasing natural resources, non conventional energy resources are gaining lots of interest in sparsely separated areas. The rural areas of India are having the huge scarcity of energy because of limited energy resources and Grid connectivity is not feasible due to economic factors and geographical situations. So we require to establish the off grid system for the benefit of the mass. Off-grid System’s commissioning and operation done as indigenous unit, and free from grid related problems like frequency and voltage regulations and they provides flexible operation because their emphasis is on extraction of energy and conversion into useful work. This paper discusses the potential use of off-grid energy technologies as an alternative for grid extension. Off-grid Energy systems provide the solutions to the basic energy needs in the rural areas of India. These indigenously build plants are not connected to any electrical utility and can be connected with the micro grid for the better reliable operation. Due to small size their demand and load management would be easy. Off-grid system utilizes the solar thermal radiation, wind energy, geothermal energy, tidal wave, Biomass etc. There is numerous numbers of applications where we can use this energy and decrease the dependence on conventional grid

Molecular and biochemical characterization of urease and survival of Yersinia enterocolitica biovar 1A in acidic pH in vitro

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Yersinia enterocolitica</it>, an important food- and water-borne enteric pathogen is represented by six biovars <it>viz</it>. 1A, 1B, 2, 3, 4 and 5. Despite the lack of recognized virulence determinants, some biovar 1A strains have been reported to produce disease symptoms resembling that produced by known pathogenic biovars (1B, 2-5). It is therefore imperative to identify determinants that might contribute to the pathogenicity of <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>biovar 1A strains. <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>invariably produces urease and the role of this enzyme in the virulence of biovar 1B and biovar 4 strains has been reported recently. The objective of this work was to study genetic organization of the urease (<it>ure</it>) gene complex of <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>biovar 1A, biochemical characterization of the urease, and the survival of these strains under acidic conditions <it>in vitro</it>.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The <it>ure </it>gene complex (<it>ureABCEFGD</it>) of <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>biovar 1A included three structural and four accessory genes, which were contiguous and was flanked by a urea transport (<it>yut</it>) gene on the 3' side. Differences were identified in <it>ure </it>gene complex of biovar 1A strain compared to biovar 1B and 4 strains. This included a smaller <it>ureB </it>gene and larger intergenic regions between the structural genes. The crude urease preparation exhibited optimal pH and temperature of 5.5 and 65°C respectively, and Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a K_mof 1.7 ± 0.4 mM urea and V_maxof 7.29 ± 0.42 μmol of ammonia released/min/mg protein. The urease activity was dependent on growth temperature and growth phase of <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>biovar 1A, and the presence of nickel in the medium. The molecular mass of the enzyme was > 545 kDa and an isoelectric point of 5.2. The number of viable <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>biovar 1A decreased significantly when incubated at pH 2.5 for 2 h. However, no such decrease was observed at this pH in the presence of urea.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The <it>ure </it>gene cluster of biovar 1A strains though similar to biovar 1B and 4 strains, exhibited important differences. The study also showed the ability of biovar 1A strains of <it>Y. enterocolitica </it>to survive at highly acidic pH <it>in vitro </it>in the presence of urea.</p