Cho. Dharman's Sool novel from the point of view of social anthropology

As a result of the development of the human mind, there are many forms of literature that have emerged. These reflect the change in the development of language from time to time. The novel is one of these forms of reflection. All the anthropological aspects of people's lives are expressed in the novels. In order to learn about the people, there are more sociological elements of novel literature that record the folk life than the classical literature. On that basis, after Ki.Ra. & Poomani, the life philosophies of the people of karisal region, and the novel 'Sool', which records a great deal in terms of the devendrakula Vellalar race known as Pallar, examines and explains the sociocultural and anthropological aspects recorded in them

STEROID-INDUCED ANAPHYLAXIS

  To report a severe adverse drug reaction (ADR) due to administration of injection hydrocortisone sodium succinate and to explore the possibility of an association between injection hydrocortisone and the severe ADR. After getting ethics approval from the institution, ADR form and patient's clinical record from the Department of Cardiology, in a Private Medical College was received. In that, it was recorded as a 75-year-old male patient, a case of unstable angina with troponin T - positive, was posted for coronary angiogram developed a severe reaction to intravenous (IV) hydrocortisone 100 mg stat, given to prevent allergy to contrast dye used in the procedure. 5 minutes after drug administration, he developed sudden itching all over the body, hypotension blood pressure: 60 mmHg and swelling of lips. No other drugs had been given at that time. The patient was already on aspirin 150 mg, clopidogrel 75 mg, and atorvastatin 80 mg, and enoxaparin 40 mg. The procedure was abandoned, and the patient was given injection pheniramine maleate 45.5 mg IV, injection dopamine 10 mcg/kg/min IV. He symptomatically improved within 6 hrs. Causality analysis using the WHO scale categorizes it as probable, as anaphylaxis occurred immediately after administration of hydrocortisone, no other drugs were given at that time, and rechallenge was not done. Very few cases of various steroid-induced anaphylaxis have been reported worldwide. This one among the rare ADR report may be due to the steroid or the excipients in the preparation. Skin prick test or in vitro (radioallergosorbent test assay) test can be done immediately to confirm the causative allergen in this case and would also help in identifying specific agents that will be tolerated in the future treatment

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers for assessing genetic diversity among the parental lines of hybrid rice (Oryza sativa L.)

The present scientific study was carried out at Tamil Nadu Rice Research Institute, Aduthurai with the objective of studying the genetic divergence among 51 restorer and five maintainer lines in terms of grain quality and fertility restorer genes (Rf3, Rf4 and Rf7) using 55 primers of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Among them, 37 SSR markers were found to be polymorphic and the number of amplified fragments ranged from one to five. The highest polymorphic information content (PIC) value (more than 0.60) was observed for eight primers viz., AB 443, RM 3, RM 29, RM 226, RM 228, RM 304, RM 1812 and RM 3873 and average PIC value was 0.444. Cluster analysis using NTSYS generated dendrogram divided all the 56 parental lines into two distinct groups viz., maintainer line (Group I) and restorer line (Group II) at 76% coefficient of similarity. Maintainer line group consisted of five genotypes (COMS 23B, COMS 24B, COMS 25B, CRMS 31B and CRMS 32B) and restorer line group had 51 genotypes. Further, at 80% similarity, all fifty one restorer lines were again grouped into nine clusters. With higher polymorphism revealed by SSR markers, parental lines having the similar genetic background from pedigree information were grouped into different clusters. The combination of pedigree analysis and SSR markers could be a more reliable method to study the diversity and grouping of parental lines of hybrid rice. Hybridization between diverse restorer and CMS groups identified from this study would be expected to yield hybrid combinations with premium grain quality and good fertility restoration.Keywords: Simple sequence repeat (SSR), maintainer and restorer genetic diversity, grain quality, fertility restorationAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(33), pp. 5105-5116

Precise Null Pointer Analysis Through Global Value Numbering

Precise analysis of pointer information plays an important role in many static analysis techniques and tools today. The precision, however, must be balanced against the scalability of the analysis. This paper focusses on improving the precision of standard context and flow insensitive alias analysis algorithms at a low scalability cost. In particular, we present a semantics-preserving program transformation that drastically improves the precision of existing analyses when deciding if a pointer can alias NULL. Our program transformation is based on Global Value Numbering, a scheme inspired from compiler optimizations literature. It allows even a flow-insensitive analysis to make use of branch conditions such as checking if a pointer is NULL and gain precision. We perform experiments on real-world code to measure the overhead in performing the transformation and the improvement in the precision of the analysis. We show that the precision improves from 86.56% to 98.05%, while the overhead is insignificant.Comment: 17 pages, 1 section in Appendi

Development Of Hybrid Renewable Energy Based Electrical Power Generation System

Due to the global warming and other effects on Earth, the world is moving towards utilizing renewable energy. Malaysia is situated near to the equator where the ambient temperature remains uniformly high throughout the year, between 27 and 33°C, with an average daily solar radiation of 4500 kWh per square meter and an average daily sunshine duration of about 6-7 hours. Most locations have a relative humidity of 80- 88%, rising to nearly 90% in the highland areas

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of antibody response in childhood tuberculosis against antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Purpose: Serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in children, using available crude antigens, has been difficult. The tests lack sufficient sensitivity and/or specificity. In this study, western blot analysis of M. tuberculosis H37Rv culture filtrate antigen (CFA) was carried out, to identify diagnostically useful antigens. In addition, the CFA was also used in enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), to measure antibodies of multiple isotypes. Methods: Specific IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies were estimated in the sera from 26 clinically/ bacteriologically diagnosed cases of childhood tuberculosis (CTB) and 61 normal children (CNHS), using culture filtrate antigen. Western blot analysis with culture filtrate antigen was carried out to qualitatively compare the antibody profile among the CTB, with childhood normal controls and adult TB. Results: IgG positivity was only 7.6% with culture filtrate antigen in the CTB group, while 3.2% among the controls were also positive. However, the results of IgA and IgM isotypes were better. By combination of all the three isotypes an increased sensitivity of 57.7% with a specificity of 93.5%, was obtained. Immunoblot analysis revealed marked difference among antibodies in the region of 16, 19, 38 and 45kDa between CTB and CNHS. Conclusions: Our findings point to a limited sensitivity of 57.7% in ELISA with culture filtrate antigen. However, antibodies around 16, 19,38 and 45kDa region may be useful in differentiating the CTB patients from CNHS by immunoblot assay

Reachability for dynamic parametric processes

In a dynamic parametric process every subprocess may spawn arbitrarily many, identical child processes, that may communicate either over global variables, or over local variables that are shared with their parent. We show that reachability for dynamic parametric processes is decidable under mild assumptions. These assumptions are e.g. met if individual processes are realized by pushdown systems, or even higher-order pushdown systems. We also provide algorithms for subclasses of pushdown dynamic parametric processes, with complexity ranging between NP and DEXPTIME.Comment: 31 page

A new record of a rare species Masturus lanceolatus (Point-tail sunfish) from Chennai coastal waters, India

297-301A single individual point tailed sunfish Masturus lanceolatus was landed at Kasimedu fishing harbour, Chennai coast by gill netter, for the first time. In the present study, morphometrics and meristic measurements of the sunfish were made, which was found to be 120 cm long and weighed approximately 44 kg. The specimen has been compared with earlier reports

Large scale exploitation of sea horse (Hippocampus kuda) along the Palk Bay coast of Tamil Nadu

The specific fishing of sea horse Hippocampus kuda commenced in June 1992 and continues actively along the Palk Bay coast of Tamil Nadu. The diving is carried out by chank and holothurian skin divers

Clinical Profile Risk Factors and Outcome of HIV Infected Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

INTRODUCTION: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Tuberculosis (TB) are leading causes of infectious diseases related morbidity and mortality. While one-third of the global population is infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), 33 million individuals are estimated to be living with HIV globally (Global HIV report UNAIDS 2008). Approximately 13-15 million HIV infected individuals are estimated to have HIV-TB co-infection (Global TB report WHO 2008). Currently India is estimated to have 2.5 million HIV infected individuals and it also harbours the largest number of TB cases in the world (Global TB report 2008). Active TB is the commonest opportunistic infection amongst HIV infected patients and is the leading cause of death amongst these patients. TB is one of the most virulent opportunistic infections and it appears early in the course of the HIV infection than other opportunistic infections. As it is one of the first opportunistic infection to appear in HIV-infected people, TB may be one of the earlier signs of HIV infection. HIV specifically eliminates macrophages and CD4 cells that provide immunity against TB thereby fuels the spread of TB. People with latent TB are increasingly becoming infected with HIV and many more develop active TB because HIV weakens their immune system. People who are co-infected with both HIV and latent TB have greater risk for developing active TB disease and becoming infectious compared to people not infected with HIV. TB in HIV patients has different clinical presentation, hence it can be a diagnostic challenge. TB progresses faster in HIV-infected people. In early stage the presentations of TB in TBHIV co-infection is the same as HIV-negative but in late stages extrapulmonary and disseminated forms are more common. The treatment outcome is different and chances of relapse and resistance are also high. TB in HIV is more likely to be fatal if undiagnosed or left untreated. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: 1. To study the clinical profile of pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV positive patients. 2. To analyse the risk factors and outcome of HIV/TB coinfection in North Chennai suburban population. METHODOLOGY: Place: Chest clinic and Department of Medicine, Government Stanley Hospital. Design: Observational study. Period: October 2007 to October 2009. Sample Size: 21. Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age > 12years, 2. Patients who are HIV seropositive with features of pulmonary tuberculosis like fever,cough, loss of appetite and weakness. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patients who show features of Extrapulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS: Persons who found to become seropositive for HIV at Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre were referred to Chest clinic to screen for the presence of tuberculosis. A detailed history of present, past, personal and family was elicited from these patients. They were subjected to general and systemwise examination with careful search for markers of tuberculosis and HIV. Basic investigations like Hemogram, Urine routine, Renal and Liver function tests were done. Mantoux test, Sputum examination for Acid Fast Bacilli and Chest Xray were carried out according to there symptoms. CD4+ lymphocyte count was measured. RESULTS: Out of the 83 confirmed cases of HIV infection, 21 persons found to be suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. These 21 persons formed the study population. The prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis infection in HIV seropositive individuals was 21 out of 83 i.e. 25.3%. The mean age group in Males : 38.6 years, The mean age group in Females : 39 years. Out of the 21 persons with both pulmonary tuberculosis and HIV, 17 (80.10%) were males and 4 (19.04%) were females. The average BMI for men : 18.9. The average BMI for women : 18.3. The average monthly income is around Rs.4500/-. Out of 21(78%) persons, 6 (22%) persons showed positive results in sputum for Acid-Fast bacillus examination. Out of 21 HIV/TB coinfected persons, 7 showed mantoux reading >5mm. The percentage of mantoux positivity in this context is 33.3%. CONCLUSION: 1. Pulmonary tuberculosis is more commonly seen in HIV infected individuals. 2. Pulmonary tuberculosis is most commonly seen in third and fourth decade. 3. Males are commonly affected that females. 4. Body mass Index of around 18 is more prone to have pulmonary tuberculosis. 5. Drivers, skilled labourers and low income group were commonly affected. 6. The most common symptoms observed were fever, cough and loss of weight. 7. There is increased incidence of mantoux anergy, sputum negativity, atypical chest xray findings were noted in HIV positive individuals especially in the lower CD4+ count. 8. The risk of acquiring pulmonary tuberculosis is greater in HIV positive person than the general population. 9. The risk of drug resistant tuberculosis is increased in HIV/TB coinfection. 10. Prompt diagnosis and timely administration of ATT and ART therapy results in effective cure of pulmonary TB in HIV positive individuals. Unless properly managed, the negative synergy between TB and HIV threatens to become a major public health problem in future. Fortunately effective interventions are available for both; however integration of these interventions in clinical care and programs is critical. The emergence of MDR/XDR-TB is an ominous sign, control of which needs a refocus on hitherto neglected infection control practices apart of ensuring proper use of ATT. Improvements in both ATT and ART drugs is needed to shorten the duration of TB treatment, with no drug-drug interactions, and very minimal toxicities so that treatment for both diseases can be optimized