ASPECTS OF EMOTIONAL PROSODY IN MALAYALAM AND HINDI

Emotional prosody is considered as the ability to express emotions. Intonation is one parameter of prosody that gives information on the production aspects of emotions. The aim was to study the intonation patterns in two languages, Malayalam and Hindi, from two different language groups in India and also to document if there are differences in the patterns produced across gender groups. Eight native speakers of Malayalam and Hindi, in the age range of 18-40 years were considered for the study (two males and two females for each of the languages). Simple sentences with five basic emotions were used as the stimuli and the samples were recorded in Motor Speech Profile software (MSP) of Computerized Speech Lab 4150. The patterns were plotted using the PHH model. Acoustic data were subjected to statistical analysis, using Mann Whitney U Test (SPSS Version 16).The results of this study reveal that across the five emotions, the terminal intonation pattern has a falling contour, except for the emotion of anger in females, which has a raising contour. This was observed in both the languages. On subjective observation, there were instances of differences in the patterns across the genders, but these were not statistically significant

Organisational synergies, dissonance and spinoffs

Spinoff firms are a distinct class of new entrants across industries. The causes for their emergence have been widely investigated in the literature. However, the role of team environments has received little attention. On the one hand, talented individuals may find it necessary to team up with others to utilise complementary knowledge and generate synergies. On the other hand, some types of team production environments may exhibit dissonance and motivate individuals to leave them. This study introduces environments of synergy and dissonance utilising team production functions and utilises them to analyse how team environments vary in their propensity to generate spinoffs. We show that the teams exhibiting synergy are not likely to spawn spinoffs but a new idea from a team member gets implemented only if it is of exceptional quality. The concepts of synergy and dissonance can also be utilised to analyse other phenomena such as mergers and alliances

APX001 Is Effective in the Treatment of Murine Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) due to Aspergillus fumigatus is a serious fungal infection in the immunosuppressed patient population. Despite the introduction of new antifungal agents, mortality rates remain high, and new treatments are needed. The novel antifungal APX001A targets the conserved Gwt1 enzyme required for the localization of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored mannoproteins in fungi. We evaluated the in vitro activity of APX001A against A. fumigatus and the in vivo activity of its prodrug APX001 in an immunosuppressed mouse model of IPA. APX001A inhibited the growth of A. fumigatus with a minimum effective concentration of 0.03 μg/ml. The use of 50 mg/kg 1-aminobenzotriazole (ABT), a suicide inhibitor of cytochrome P450 enzymes, enhanced APX001A exposures (area under the time-concentration curve [AUC]) 16- to 18-fold and enhanced serum half-life from ∼1 to 9 h, more closely mimicking human pharmacokinetics. We evaluated the efficacy of APX001 (with ABT) in treating murine IPA compared to posaconazole treatment. Treatment of mice with 78 mg/kg once daily (QD), 78 mg/kg twice daily, or 104 mg/kg QD APX001 significantly enhanced the median survival time and prolonged day 21 postinfection overall survival compared to the placebo. Furthermore, administration of APX001 resulted in a significant reduction in lung fungal burden (4.2 to 7.6 log10 conidial equivalents/g of tissue) versus the untreated control and resolved the infection, as judged by histopathological examination. The observed survival and tissue clearance were comparable to a clinically relevant posaconazole dose. These results warrant the continued development of APX001 as a broad-spectrum, first-in-class treatment of invasive fungal infections

A comparative study to see the effectiveness of Pap smear, visual inspection with 3-5% acetic acid and its confirmation by cervical biopsy

Background: Cancer of the cervix is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among women worldwide. The present study was undertaken to compare the effectiveness of Pap smear and visual inspection with 3-5% acetic acid (VIA) in screening carcinoma cervix followed by its confirmation by cervical biopsy.Methods: A total of 100 patients with abnormal looking cervices or symptomatic patients having age beyond 30 years, attending the obstetrics and gynaecology OPD at Naval Hospital Powai, Mumbai from 31st December 2015 to 31st December 2017 were selected for the study. Pap smear and VIA was done on consecutive days. In positive cases cervical biopsy were done to confirm the result.Results: The sensitivity of VIA was 100% but at the same time specificity was 41% there will be unnecessary investigation and biopsy in false positive cases. The sensitivity of cytology was 75% and specificity was 97%. Not a single case was missed by Pap smear only one case of severe dysplasia on cytology had squamous cell carcinoma on HPE which was done after 90 days because of delay in patients follow up.Conclusions: Both the Pap smears and VIA is very effective screening tool for cervical cancer and histopathological examination remains the mainstay. But VIA is very cost effective and easy procedure, though it gives false positive reports but is not going to miss any case, rather leads to over diagnosis of the cases with cervicitis and hence treatment starts early and thus the progress of disease can be slowed down or even stopped

Problems and Prospects of Silk Industry in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is an underdeveloped and agro-based country. Silk industry is one of the important sectors of our national economy. It has a long and glorious past history but the growth and market share is not satisfactory of this industry to the national and global context. Thus it is an urgent need to mark the existing problem and future expectations of silk industry in Bangladesh. In our study we find out some problems of silk industry in Bangladesh like old technology, poor advertising, limited showroom, shortage of raw materials, inadequate capital, insufficient governmental facilities etc. We also find out some prospects of this industry like growth of sales and market share, low cost of labor, increasing demand, good geographical location, employment opportunity etc. So, it is essential to make effective plan and proper execution of that plan to get back the glorious position of our silk industry as well as to help the economical development of our country. Keywords: Silk, Mulberry, Industry Growth, Market Share, Technology, Quality Control

Recognition process of jamming signals superimposed on GSM-R radiocommunications

This paper explores an approach trying to recognize the presence of electromagnetic attacks on an equipment. Wireless communications are widely used in railway traffic management systems. Such systems are probably susceptible to be disturbed by malicious actions involving jammers. The general objective of this work is to develop a specific method enabling to detect and to recognize these types of interfering signals. This method could be used to involve adequate reactions in order to reduce the impact on the railway network. This paper focuses on the recognition method. It is based on accurate statistical models of signals generated by jammers. This work is carried out in the framework of the European project “SECRET” for SECurity of Railways against Electromagnetic aTtacks

Association of feeding practices and immunization with nutritional status of infants in jasra block of Allahabad district

Objective: The objective was to find the association of feeding practices and immunization with nutritional status of infants in JasraBlock of Allahabad district. Materials and Methods: A cohort study was conducted in a rural community among infants born duringthe period of November 2011 to April 2012. Information, Education and Counselling was given to their mothers starting from last3 months of pregnancy and continued till the newborns completed 1-year of age. Then feeding practices, immunization, and nutritionalstatus (in terms of weight for age) was assessed. Results: About 56.25% infants were exclusively breastfed and 53.75% infants weretimely started on complementary feeding. 87.5% infants were fully immunized and the rest 12.5% were partially immunized. Growthof more than half of the infants, i.e., 47 (60%) followed a normal growth curve and weight of 33 (40%) infants was below 2 standarddeviation. There was no significant difference between the mean weight at birth (i.e., 2.56 kg for infants with adequate feeding andimmunization practices and 2.51 kg for infants with inadequate immunization and feeding practices). On the other hand, difference inthe mean weight among two groups at 3, 6, and 9 months was statistically significant. Conclusion: Feeding practices and immunizationhave an association with nutritional status of infants in terms of better weight for age

Phenotypic consequences of somatic mutations in the ataxia-telangiectasia mutated gene in non-small cell lung cancer

Mutations in the Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene are frequently found in human cancers, including non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Loss of ATM function confers sensitivity to ionising radiation (IR) and topoisomerase inhibitors and may thus define a subset of cancer patients that could get increased benefit from these therapies. In this study, we evaluated the phenotypic consequences of ATM missense changes reported in seven NSCLC cell lines with regard to radiosensitivity and functionality of ATM signalling. Our data demonstrate that only 2/7 NSCLC cell lines (H1395 and H23) harbouring ATM missense mutations show a functional impairment of ATM signalling following IR-exposure. In these two cell lines, the missense mutations caused a significant reduction in ATM protein levels, impairment of ATM signalling and marked radiosensitivity. Of note, only cell lines with homozygous mutations in the ATM gene showed significant impairment of ATM function. Based on these observations, we developed an immunohistochemistry-based assay to identify patients with loss or reduction of ATM protein expression in a clinical setting. In a set of 137 NSCLC and 154 colorectal cancer specimens we identified tumoral loss of ATM protein expression in 9.5% and 3.9% of cases, respectively, demonstrating the potential utility of this method

Bulbar and speech motor assessment in ALS: Challenges and future directions

Bulbar motor deterioration due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) leads to the eventual impairment of speech and swallowing functions. Despite these devastating consequences, no standardized diagnostic procedure for assessing bulbar dysfunction in ALS exists and adequate objective markers of bulbar deterioration have not been identifi ed. In this paper, we consider objective measures of speech motor function, which show promise for forming the basis of a comprehensive, quantitative bulbar motor assessment in ALS. These measures are based on the assessment of four speech subsystems: respiratory, phonatory, articulatory, and resonatory. The goal of this research is to design a non-invasive, comprehensive bulbar motor assessment instrument intended for early detection, monitoring of disease progression, and clinical trial application. Preliminary data from an ongoing study of bulbar motor decline are presented, which demonstrate the potential clinical effi cacy of the speech subsystem approach

Bulbar and speech motor assessment in ALS: Challenges and future directions

Bulbar motor deterioration due to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) leads to the eventual impairment of speech and swallowing functions. Despite these devastating consequences, no standardized diagnostic procedure for assessing bulbar dysfunction in ALS exists and adequate objective markers of bulbar deterioration have not been identifi ed. In this paper, we consider objective measures of speech motor function, which show promise for forming the basis of a comprehensive, quantitative bulbar motor assessment in ALS. These measures are based on the assessment of four speech subsystems: respiratory, phonatory, articulatory, and resonatory. The goal of this research is to design a non-invasive, comprehensive bulbar motor assessment instrument intended for early detection, monitoring of disease progression, and clinical trial application. Preliminary data from an ongoing study of bulbar motor decline are presented, which demonstrate the potential clinical effi cacy of the speech subsystem approach