2003-2004 Survey of International Law in the Second : Alien Tort Claims Act and Subject Matter Jurisdiction

In Presbyterian Church of Sudan v. Talisman Energy, the District Court for the Southern District of New York held that there was subject matter jurisdiction under the Alien Tort Claims Act [hereinafter ATCA], and that the Court could assert personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation under New York law. The Court treated Talisman Energy [hereinafter Talisman], a Canadian corporation, as a state actor for ATCA purposes and further found that Talisman\u27s acts constituted jus cogens violations. This Court\u27s ruling reaffirmed Second Circuit and international treaty precedent, which holds that corporations may be held liable for }us cogens violations under the ATCA. However, the District Court\u27s ruling expanded the Court\u27s subject matter jurisdiction under the ATCA. First, the Court reaffirmed that a corporation engaging in genocide need not act under color of state law in order to be subject to jus cogens violations under the ATCA. Secondly, the Court determined that even if a corporation were not acting directly under color of state law, demonstration of a substantial degree of cooperation between a corporation and a state is sufficient to treat the corporation as a state actor under the ATCA

Secretions of Human Salivary Gland

The salivary glands play an important role in our body by the virtue of its ability to secrete saliva. Saliva has a role to play in maintaining the health of the oral cavity and for carrying out physiological functions like mastication, taste perception, speech etc. It also acts as a mirror to the systemic status of an individual owing to its ability to act as a diagnostic fluid for detecting a number of conditions and diseases. Saliva is a potential noninvasive diagnostic fluid for detection of a number of biomarkers of disease and health. Advancement in diagnostic methods has helped in identifying biomarkers of disease in saliva. In order to understand and diagnose pathological changes, a thorough understanding of the salivary gland anatomy, physiology and regulation of its secretion is warranted. This chapter aims to provide the basic understanding of the secretions of saliva

Material force approach for tire durability analysis

by Param Punj SinghM.Tech

Pattern of adverse drug reactions reported at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Punjab

Background: This study was undertaken to characterize the pattern of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) reported through spontaneous reporting system at ADR reporting unit in a tertiary care teaching hospital (Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Amritsar).Methods: A prospective, observational study was conducted over one year between 1st July, 2013 and 30th June, 2014. The ADRs reported were from patients attending outpatient department (OPD) and in-patient department (IPD) of this hospital. Evaluation of the data was done for various parameters which included patient demographics, drug and ADR characteristics and outcome of the ADRs. Causality and severity assessment was done by WHO-UMC system and modified Hartwig and Siegel criteria.Results: A total of 202 ADRs which were reported over one year were evaluated. Overall ADRs were more common in females than in males (60.2% vs. 39.8%). Majority of the ADRs were reported from psychiatry department (50%). Most ADRs occurred due to antidepressant drugs (55.1%). Majority of the ADRs involved the central nervous system (25.24%). Upon causality and severity assessment, majority of the reports were rated as probable (57.42%) and mild (57.92%). None of the ADRs were severe or fatal.Conclusions: In conclusion, majority of the ADRs were reported by psychiatry department and occurred due to antidepressant drugs. Most of the ADRs were mild. This data reveals the need for regular spontaneous reporting by healthcare professionals of all specialties. This data also reveals the opportunities for interventions and policy initiatives to ensure safer use of drugs in future

Diagnosis and Treatment Plan for Gingival Diseases and Conditions

The prevalence of gingival and periodontal disease is manifold and has not been highlighted much due to its asymptomatic and milder symptoms. It is usually given its due importance when the gingival disease progresses to advanced periodontal disease, displays symptoms of dull pain and tooth mobility, and is associated with pus discharge. The starting point of periodontal disease is usually gingival disease which is a reversible condition. It is therefore necessary to diagnose gingival diseases at an early stage to prevent its progression to irreversible periodontal disease. The diagnosis of gingival disease becomes cumbersome due to its similarity in the presentation of signs and symptoms. Gingival diseases can occur due to microbial attack from the plaque biofilm which is usually bacterial in nature. There are other viral, fungal, and immune-mediated mechanisms which can result in gingival diseases. Some systemic conditions also influence the gingiva which allows for diagnosing systemic diseases and treating these conditions appropriately. It is said that oral cavity is the mirror of the body, and in that sense the gingiva is the biggest surface where any changes or manifestations could be observed

Plasmonic antennas and zero mode waveguides to enhance single molecule fluorescence detection and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy towards physiological concentrations

Single-molecule approaches to biology offer a powerful new vision to elucidate the mechanisms that underpin the functioning of living cells. However, conventional optical single molecule spectroscopy techniques such as F\"orster fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) or fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) are limited by diffraction to the nanomolar concentration range, far below the physiological micromolar concentration range where most biological reaction occur. To breach the diffraction limit, zero mode waveguides and plasmonic antennas exploit the surface plasmon resonances to confine and enhance light down to the nanometre scale. The ability of plasmonics to achieve extreme light concentration unlocks an enormous potential to enhance fluorescence detection, FRET and FCS. Single molecule spectroscopy techniques greatly benefit from zero mode waveguides and plasmonic antennas to enter a new dimension of molecular concentration reaching physiological conditions. The application of nano-optics to biological problems with FRET and FCS is an emerging and exciting field, and is promising to reveal new insights on biological functions and dynamics.Comment: WIREs Nanomed Nanobiotechnol 201

Curvelet transform and Hybrid Bacterial Foraging Optimization for image denoising

Eliminating noise from the original image is still a challenging task for researchers. Several algorithms have been proposed and each of them has its own assumptions, advantages & limitations. The paper proposes the noise reduction method for the medical images by using Hybrid BFO i.e the fusion of BFO (Bacteria foraging optimization) and the technique of contourlet transform and the results are compared with the older technique of image denoising using curvelet transform. BFO algorithm is an artificial intelligence nature-inspired optimization algorithm technique which is based on mimicking the foraging behavior of E.coli bacteria and it is now applied to the field of imagingdenosin

Assessment of knowledge and reporting of adverse drug reaction in resident doctors in a teaching hospital in North India

Background: This study was done to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of residents towards pharmacovigilance in a teaching hospital in North India.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among residents of Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital, Pathankot (CMC&H). A questionnaire containing 17 questions was distributed to 80 residents of CMC&H, Pathankot. This study was conducted over a period of 3 months from July to September, 2017.Results: 64 out of the 80 residents (80%) responded to questionnaire. Among the respondents, 6% did not know the term adverse drug reaction (ADR) and almost 18% did not witness any ADR during clinical practice. Among those who witnessed ADRs nearly 25% could not ascertain the type of ADR. Those who ascertained ADRs claimed that upto 60% suspected ADRs required short hospitalisation. 6% residents did not consider ADRs avoidable and almost 25% residents did not consider ADRs predictable. 37% residents did not report the ADRs to anyone and nearly 43% did not know whom to report the ADRs. More than 18% claimed that they were not taught about PV in undergraduate curricular practical training teaching. Up to 31% residents claimed that nobody ever discussed with them about ADR reporting during internship.Conclusions: According to this study, residents lack adequate knowledge and practice of reporting ADRs. This study suggests a greater need to create awareness amongst them to promote reporting of ADRs. This study also suggests that incorporation of Pharmacovigilance in medical curriculum will strengthen pharmacovigilance activity

Characterization of Azo Dye Reduction in Enterococcus Faecalis

Majority of the dyes used in the paper, textile, food and pharmaceutical industries are azo dyes. Intestinal bacteria play an important role in the reduction of these dyes. Azoreductase, produced by intestinal microbiota, cleave the azo bond (N=N) in these dyes to produce colorless compounds, some of which are carcinogenic. Enterococcus faecalis , an intestinal bacterium is known to reduce a variety of azo dyes. The current study focuses on the physiological effects of three azo dyes, Methyl Red, Tartrazine and Direct Blue 15 on E. faecalis as well as the biochemical purification and characterization of a native azoreductase from this organism. Domain homology was also used as a criterion to identify and classify azoreductases. Findings and Conclusions: The results indicate that azo dyes are reduced at the highest rate under anaerobic conditions in actively dividing cells. Majority of the water-soluble azo dyes, Tartrazine and Direct Blue 15 were reduced externally but Methyl Red was reduced to an equal extent in the cytoplasmic fraction as well. NAD(P)H can serve as an electron donor for dye reduction. Most of the azoreductases contain either an FMN_red or flavodoxin_2 domain as defined by the Pfam database. These domains can serve as an additional criterion for identifying and classifying azoreductases. The enzyme activity of the native azoreductase (AzoA) from E. faecalis is a 100-fold more active than the heterologously expressed enzyme in E. coli . AzoA can utilize NAD(P)H as electron donors for Methyl Red reduction, although it has a greater affinity for NADH over NADPH.Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biolog

Path Delay Test Through Memory Arrays

Memory arrays cannot be as easily tested as other storage elements in a chip. Most of the flip-flops (FFs) in a chip can be replaced by scan cells in scan-based design. However, the bits in memory arrays cannot be replaced by scan cells, due to the area cost and the timing-critical nature of many of the paths into and out of memories. Thus, bits in a memory array can be considered non-scan storage elements. Test methods such as memory built-in self-test (MBIST), functional test, and macro test are used to test memory arrays. However, these tests aren’t sufficient to test the paths through the memory arrays. During structural (scan) test generation, memory arrays are treated as “black boxes” or memory arrays are bypassed to a known value. Black boxes decrease coverage loss while bypassing increases chip area and delay. Path delay test through memory arrays is proposed using pseudo functional test (PFT) with K Longest Paths Per Gate (KLPG). In this technique, any longest path that is captured into a non-scan cell (including a memory cell) is propagated to a scan cell. The propagation of the captured value from non-scan cell to scan cell occurs during low-speed clock cycles. In this work, we assume that only one extra coda cycle is sufficient to propagate the captured value to a scan cell. This is true if the output of the memory feeds combinational logic that in turn feeds scan cells. When we want to launch a transition from a memory output, different values are written into different address locations and the address is toggled between the locations. The ATPG writes the different values into the memory cells during the preamble cycles. In the case of launching a transition out of a non-scan cell, the cell must be written with an initial value during the preamble cycles, and the next value set on the non-scan cell input. Thus, it is possible to capture and launch transitions into and from memory and non-scan cells and thus test the path delay of the longest paths into and out of memory and non-scan cells