Human Responsibility and the Environment: A Hindu Perspective

The World Commission on Environment and Development acknowledged that to reconcile human affairs with natural laws \u27our cultural and spiritual heritages can reinforce our economic interests and survival imperatives\u27. But until very recently, the role of our cultural and spiritual heritages in environmental protection and sustainable development was ignored by international bodies, national governments, policy planners, and even environmentalists. Many fear that bringing religion into the environmental movement will threaten objectivity, scientific investigation, professionalism, or democratic values. But none of these need be displaced in order to include the spiritual dimension in environmental protection. That dimension, if introduced in the process of environmental policy planning, administration, education, and law, could help create a self-consciously moral society which would put conservation and respect for God\u27s creation first, and relegate individualism, materialism, and our modern desire to dominate nature in a subordinate place. Thus my plea for a definite role of religion in conservation and environmental protection

Correlation between the Surface Energetics of Reinforcement and Mechanical Properties of Carbon/Carbon Composites

Surface energetics of reinforcement is one of the most important properties in case of adhesion of reinforcement in composites . For this study, PAN fibres were stabilized isothermally with three different timings (viz. 0, 1, 2 h) and eventually prepared fibres having different surface energetics were evaluated by DCA 322. Composites were made by using these stabilized fibres (designated as OP, 1 P, and 2P) with coal tar pitch as matrix precursor using match mould die technique. Green composites were carbonized upto 1000°C, then impregnated and heat treated to 1500, 2000 and 2600°C. Green composites as well as heat treated composites were studied for their mechanical properties . Microstructure as well as interfacial studies were carried out using optical microscope. Optical microscopic examination of composite samples show that Ill treated fibres offer much better adhesion with matrix precursor and the matrix also exhibits an obvious increase in the anisotropic domain size in case of 2P composites . Density of stabilized fibres and also of green composites has been found to increase with stabilization time. Flexural strength of green composites prepared with 0 and 2h treated fibres decreases ( 123 MPa to 60 MPa). However, as a result of better bonding between fibre and matrix , in case of IP composites , strength is always high except in green stage . An attempt has been made to correlate the surface energetics of fibre with mechanical properties as well as matrix microstructure of carbon /carbon composites

Field of a Radiation Distributuion

General relativistic spherically symmetric matter field with a vanishing stress energy scalar is analyzed. Procedure for generating exact solutions of the field equations for such matter distributions is given. It is further pointed out that all such type I spherically symmetric fields with distinct eignvalues in the radial two space can be treated as a mixture of isotropic and directed radiations. Various classes of exact solutions are given. Junction conditions for such a matter field to the possible exterior solutions are also discussed.Comment: Latex file, 13 pages, no figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Potency of Nasya Karma

Nasya is a procedure wherein medicaments are instilled into nasal cavity to expel doshas pertaining to Uthamanga. Nasya is one of the least expensive Shodhana Therapy of Panchakarma.  Nasya is very important procedure to cure Urdhva Jatrugata, Sensual and also many Physical Disorders. Nasya purifies these organs and removes vitiated doshas through the nasal openings. Keywords: Nasya, Shiroroga, Dosha, Shringataka Marma, Urdhvajatrugata roga, Navana Nasya, Avapidana Nasya, Dhmapana or Pradhamana Nasya, Dhuma Nasya and Pratimarsha Nasya

Variations in visceral leishmaniasis burden, mortality and the pathway to care within Bihar, India

BACKGROUND: Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been targeted by the WHO for elimination as a public health problem (< 1 case/10,000 people/year) in the Indian sub-continent (ISC) by 2020. Bihar State in India, which accounts for the majority of cases in the ISC, remains a major target for this elimination effort. However, there is considerable spatial, temporal and sub-population variation in occurrence of the disease and the pathway to care, which is largely unexplored and a threat to achieving the target. METHODS: Data from 6081 suspected VL patients who reported being clinically diagnosed during 2012-2013 across eight districts in Bihar were analysed. Graphical comparisons and Chi-square tests were used to determine differences in the burden of identified cases by season, district, age and sex. Log-linear regression models were fitted to onset (of symptoms)-to-diagnosis and onset-to-treatment waiting times to estimate their associations with age, sex, district and various socio-economic factors (SEFs). Logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with mortality. RESULTS: Comparisons of VL caseloads suggested an annual cycle peaking in January-March. A 17-fold variation in the burden of identified cases across districts and under-representation of young children (0-5 years) relative to age-specific populations in Bihar were observed. Women accounted for a significantly lower proportion of the reported cases than men (41 vs 59%, P < 0.0001). Age, district of residence, house wall materials, caste, treatment cost, travelling for diagnosis and the number of treatments for symptoms before diagnosis were identified as correlates of waiting times. Mortality was associated with age, district of residence, onset-to-treatment waiting time, treatment duration, cattle ownership and cost of diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution of VL in Bihar is highly heterogeneous, and reported caseloads and associated mortality vary significantly across different districts, posing different challenges to the elimination campaign. Socio-economic factors are important correlates of these differences, suggesting that elimination will require tailoring to population and sub-population circumstances

Targeting the vasopressin type-2 receptor for renal cell carcinoma therapy.

Arginine vasopressin (AVP) and its type-2 receptor (V2R) play an essential role in the regulation of salt and water homeostasis by the kidneys. V2R activation also stimulates proliferation of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cell lines in vitro. The current studies investigated V2R expression and activity in human RCC tumors, and its role in RCC tumor growth. Examination of the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) database, and analysis of human RCC tumor tissue microarrays, cDNA arrays and tumor biopsy samples demonstrated V2R expression and activity in clear cell RCC (ccRCC). In vitro, V2R antagonists OPC31260 and Tolvaptan, or V2R gene silencing reduced wound closure and cell viability of 786-O and Caki-1 human ccRCC cell lines. Similarly in mouse xenograft models, Tolvaptan and OPC31260 decreased RCC tumor growth by reducing cell proliferation and angiogenesis, while increasing apoptosis. In contrast, the V2R agonist dDAVP significantly increased tumor growth. High intracellular cAMP levels and ERK1/2 activation were observed in human ccRCC tumors. In mouse tumors and Caki-1 cells, V2R agonists reduced cAMP and ERK1/2 activation, while dDAVP treatment had the reverse effect. V2R gene silencing in Caki-1 cells also reduced cAMP and ERK1/2 activation. These results provide novel evidence for a pathogenic role of V2R signaling in ccRCC, and suggest that inhibitors of the AVP-V2R pathway, including the FDA-approved drug Tolvaptan, could be utilized as novel ccRCC therapeutics

Rethinking Ductility -- A Study Into the Size-Affected Fracture of Polymers

Ductility quantifies a material's capacity for plastic deformation, and it is a key property for preventing fracture driven failure in engineering parts. While some brittle materials exhibit improved ductility at small scales, the processes underlying this phenomenon are not well understood. This work establishes a mechanism for the origin of ductility via an investigation of size-affected fracture processes and polymer degree of conversion (DC) in two-photon lithography (TPL) fabricated materials. Microscale single edge notch bend ($\mu$SENB) specimens were written with widths from 8 to 26 $\mu$m and with different laser powers and post-write thermal annealing to control the DC between 17\% and 80\%. We find that shifting from low to high DC predictably causes a $\sim$3x and $\sim$4x increase in strength and bending stiffness, respectively, but that there is a corresponding $\sim$6x decrease in fracture energy from 180 $J/m^2$ to 30 $J/m^2$. Notably, this reduced fracture energy is accompanied by a ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) in the failure behavior. Using finite element analysis, we demonstrate that the DBT occurs when the fracture yielding zone size ($r_p$) approaches the sample width, corresponding with a known fracture size-affected transition from flaw-based to strength-based failure. This finding provides a crucial insight that ductility is a size-induced property that occurs when features are reduced below a characteristic fracture length scale and that strength, stiffness, and toughness alone are insufficient predictors of ductility.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Effect of water depth, seedling age, and day length on elongation induced by short-duration flooding treatment in rice

Experiments conducted on seedling age and different water depths revealed that short-duration, 7-day flooding of 3 week- old seedling was effective in assessing elongation potential in deepwater rice varieties. Water depths of 90-100 cm were sufficient to express elongating ability and 3-week-old seedlings gave better contrast between elongating modern varieties and non-elongating modern varieties. Maximum internode length was under short-day-length conditions while shortest internodes were obtained in the long day treatment. Internode elongation may be due only to the signal effect of day length or the shading effect on assimilation. Further experiments should be conducted to confirm these findings