Standardization for Drying, Bleaching and Dyeing Processes in Dried Flowers

An experiment was conducted at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, during 2009-2010 to standardize processing techniques for dried flower production. Foliage of silver oak (Grevillea robusta), thuja (Thuja orientalis) and camellia (Camellia reticulata) was best preserved by glycerinization; leaves were soft and pliable, with lowest moisture and highest overall acceptability. In the case of fully-opened flowers in button-type chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum grandiflorum), gerbera (Gerbera jamesonii) and plumeria (Plumeria alba), a combination of sand and silica gel, and microwave-oven embedded method was found to be suitable for drying, with high overall acceptability. Dried pods of jacaranda (Jacaranda mimosifolia) and castanospermum (Castanospermum australe) were fully bleached by soaking overnight in 10% sodium hydroxide and subsequent treatment with 2% sodium hydroxide + 2.5% sodium silicate + 35% hydrogen peroxide. Bleached pods were given dye treatments where acrylic dyes showed good dyeing consistency, light fastness, wash fastness and rubbing fastness

Humanism in Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable

Untouchable is one of the sociological novel published in1935. In ‘Untouchable’ he gives message of Humanism. His novels embrace human experiences and convey a sense of life and character like a coloured glass.Anand’s humanism has been the inspiration and the driving force behind the writing of the novels. In the novel he express the basic idea of his variety of humanism. Untouchable is the most important element of Anand humanism. He views casteism as a social crime against humanity because it has evil effects on human mind. The tradition of untouchability on the basis of the caste-system retracts the idea of progress. In the novel Bakha suffer so many indignities and humiliations in a single day merely because he is a sweeper. He is insulted abused and finally slapped for touching a high caste Hindu. In Untouchable Anand who as a humanist does not believe in God, hell and heaven rejecting the doctrine of karma and karmaphala. Mokhya or the act of justice as trite and bogas, no longer fits for the awaking of masses. The element of fate of karma is presented in his novel but only to be rejected and savagely criticism. The theme of man?s inhumanity to man is the most important stream of thought in the novel. This has been depicted in the form of caste hatred or untouchability

Prevalence of panic and agoraphobia in post COVID-19 patients

Background: COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine of people who were tested positive made more cautious and anxious when being out in public. This study concentrates on the prevalence of panic and agoraphobia using panic and agoraphobia scale. Methods: Survey research study of 121 subjects using web-based data collection (Google form). Results: The result were obtained using panic and agoraphobia scale. Statistical analysis did not show considerable panic attack and agoraphobia in people who were tested positive for COVID-19. Conclusions: The study population did not show considerable panic attack and agoraphobia after being quarantined or hospitalised during 1st, 2nd and 3rd wave of COVID-19.

Study of breast lesions in cytology and its histopathological correlation

Background: Breast cancer is commonly diagnosed malignancy in females and is leading cause of death. Malignant lesions mostly occur after menopause. Fine needle aspiration cytology is minimally invasive technique, used in triple test and produces speedy results. It can able to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions of breast lump. Our study aims to categorize the breast lesion and to correlate FNAC with histopathological studies. Methods: This retrospective study was done in department of pathology from July 2021 to May 2023.107 cases were undergone FNAC and slides were examined and lesions were categorized. Tissue biopsies were obtained, processed and histological sections were made and examined. The FNAC findings were correlated and analyzed with histological findings. Results: Right breast lesions (55%) were more in our study than left breast lesions (42%). Totally 77 cases were diagnosed as benign lesions by FNAC of which 37 cases were biopsied and histological diagnosis of all cases shown as benign category. 6 cases were diagnosed as proliferative breast disease with atypia of which only one case was received for biopsy and diagnosed as atypical ductal hyperplasia. 12 cases were diagnosed as malignancy and 6 biopsies were received with 5 cases were diagnosed as malignant lesions. Sensitivity and Specificity of FNAC in breast lesions were 100% and 97.43% respectively. Conclusions: FNAC is rapid and valuable tool with high sensitivity, specificity and low false positivity. It is useful in preoperative evaluation and avoids unnecessary surgical intervention

Greener One-pot Synthesis of Chromeno Oxazin and Oxazin Quinoline Derivatives and their Antibacterial Activity

An efficient green method for the synthesis of oxazino quinoline-2-amine derivatives, oxazino quinoline derivatives and chromeno oxazin-5-one derivatives have been synthesized through cyclization of aromatic aldehyde, ammonium acetate, substituted amides and 8-hydroxy-quinoline or 4-hydroxy coumarin by one-pot condensation method is described. The synthesized compounds are characterized by FT-IR, 1H NMR and MASS spectral techniques and are screened further for biological activities against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis using cup plate method and disc diffusion method

Direct Nitrate Reductase Assay versus Microscopic Observation Drug Susceptibility Test for Rapid Detection of MDR-TB in Uganda

The most common method for detection of drug resistant (DR) TB in resource-limited settings (RLSs) is indirect susceptibility testing on Lowenstein-Jensen medium (LJ) which is very time consuming with results available only after 2–3 months. Effective therapy of DR TB is therefore markedly delayed and patients can transmit resistant strains. Rapid and accurate tests suitable for RLSs in the diagnosis of DR TB are thus highly needed. In this study we compared two direct techniques - Nitrate Reductase Assay (NRA) and Microscopic Observation Drug Susceptibility (MODS) for rapid detection of MDR-TB in a high burden RLS. The sensitivity, specificity, and proportion of interpretable results were studied. Smear positive sputum was collected from 245 consecutive re-treatment TB patients attending a TB clinic in Kampala, Uganda. Samples were processed at the national reference laboratory and tested for susceptibility to rifampicin and isoniazid with direct NRA, direct MODS and the indirect LJ proportion method as reference. A total of 229 specimens were confirmed as M. tuberculosis, of these interpretable results were obtained in 217 (95%) with either the NRA or MODS. Sensitivity, specificity and kappa agreement for MDR-TB diagnosis was 97%, 98% and 0.93 with the NRA; and 87%, 95% and 0.78 with the MODS, respectively. The median time to results was 10, 7 and 64 days with NRA, MODS and the reference technique, respectively. The cost of laboratory supplies per sample was low, around 5 USD, for the rapid tests. The direct NRA and MODS offered rapid detection of resistance almost eight weeks earlier than with the reference method. In the study settings, the direct NRA was highly sensitive and specific. We consider it to have a strong potential for timely detection of MDR-TB in RLS

Immunogenicity of Reduced-Dose Monovalent Type 2 Oral Poliovirus Vaccine in Mocuba, Mozambique

Funding Information: This work was supported by Rotary International, through a grant from the World Health Organization (grant 2019/889177-2). Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2020.Background. The monovalent type 2 oral poliovirus vaccine (mOPV2) stockpile is low. One potential strategy to stretch the existing mOPV2 supply is to administer a reduced dose: 1 drop instead of 2. Methods. We conducted a randomized, controlled, open-label, noninferiority trial (10% margin) to compared immunogenicity after administration of 1 versus 2 drops of mOPV2. We enrolled 9–22-month-old infants from Mocuba district of Mozambique. Poliovirus neutralizing antibodies were measured in serum samples collected before and 1 month after mOPV2 administration. Immune response was defined as seroconversion from seronegative (<1:8) at baseline to seropositive (≥1:8) after vaccination or boosting titers by ≥4-fold for those with titers between 1:8 and 1:362 at baseline. The trial was registered at anzctr.org.au (no. ACTRN12619000184178p). Results. We enrolled 378 children, and 262 (69%) completed per-protocol requirements. The immune response of mOPV2 was 53.6% (95% confidence interval, 44.9%–62.1%) and 60.6% (52.2%–68.4%) in 1-drop and 2-drop recipients, respectively. The noninferiority margin of the 10% was not reached (difference, 7.0%; 95% confidence interval, −5.0% to 19.0%). Conclusion. A small loss of immunogenicity of reduced mOPV2 was observed. Although the noninferiority target was not achieved, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization recommended the 1-drop strategy as a dose-sparing measure if mOPV2 supplies deteriorate further.publishersversionpublishe

Evidence-based national vaccine policy

India has over a century old tradition of development and production of vaccines. The Government rightly adopted self-sufficiency in vaccine production and self-reliance in vaccine technology as its policy objectives in 1986. However, in the absence of a full-fledged vaccine policy, there have been concerns related to demand and supply, manufacture vs. import, role of public and private sectors, choice of vaccines, new and combination vaccines, universal vs. selective vaccination, routine immunization vs. special drives, cost-benefit aspects, regulatory issues, logistics etc. The need for a comprehensive and evidence based vaccine policy that enables informed decisions on all these aspects from the public health point of view brought together doctors, scientists, policy analysts, lawyers and civil society representatives to formulate this policy paper for the consideration of the Government. This paper evolved out of the first ever ICMR-NISTADS national brainstorming workshop on vaccine policy held during 4-5 June, 2009 in New Delhi, and subsequent discussions over email for several weeks, before being adopted unanimously in the present form

Phenotypic and Functional Characterization of Human Mammary Stem/Progenitor Cells in Long Term Culture

Background: Cancer stem cells exhibit close resemblance to normal stem cells in phenotype as well as function. Hence, studying normal stem cell behavior is important in understanding cancer pathogenesis. It has recently been shown that human breast stem cells can be enriched in suspension cultures as mammospheres. However, little is known about the behavior of these cells in long-term cultures. Since extensive self-renewal potential is the hallmark of stem cells, we undertook a detailed phenotypic and functional characterization of human mammospheres over long-term passages. Methodology: Single cell suspensions derived from human breast `organoids' were seeded in ultra low attachment plates in serum free media. Resulting primary mammospheres after a week (termed T1 mammospheres) were subjected to passaging every 7th day leading to the generation of T2, T3, and T4 mammospheres. Principal Findings: We show that primary mammospheres contain a distinct side-population (SP) that displays a CD24(low)/CD44(low) phenotype, but fails to generate mammospheres. Instead, the mammosphere-initiating potential rests within the CD44(high)/CD24(low) cells, in keeping with the phenotype of breast cancer-initiating cells. In serial sphere formation assays we find that even though primary (T1) mammospheres show telomerase activity and fourth passage T4 spheres contain label-retaining cells, they fail to initiate new mammospheres beyond T5. With increasing passages, mammospheres showed an increase in smaller sized spheres, reduction in proliferation potential and sphere forming efficiency, and increased differentiation towards the myoepithelial lineage. Significantly, staining for senescence-associated beta-galactosidase activity revealed a dramatic increase in the number of senescent cells with passage, which might in part explain the inability to continuously generate mammospheres in culture. Conclusions: Thus, the self-renewal potential of human breast stem cells is exhausted within five in vitro passages of mammospheres, suggesting the need for further improvisation in culture conditions for their long-term maintenance