Humanism and the Downtrodden in Mulk Raj Anand’s Untouchable

Literature often embarks on the essential task of imitating life in its various forms. The novelists of the early twentieth century delved in capturing the reality of the society they lived in so as to bring about a change in the already dynamic India during its freedom struggle. The province of Mulk Raj Anand is in his depiction of the society he lives in “as it is”, through a humanist perspective. He seeks to draw on the situation of the subaltern so as to make them aware of the importance of their rights and so that they can learn to live in the hostility they are brought up in, and rise above it.  This paper will provide a glimpse into the depiction of such atrocities through the chief protagonist of the novel, Bakha. The plight of the downtrodden has been vividly explored by Mulk Raj Anand in an objective yet sensitive manner bring out the depth of his vision

Investigating physiological effects of weight loss on male fertility

Infertility is an emotionally devastating condition for a couple. It is defined as the inability to conceive following 1 year of regular unprotected intercourse. Infertility affects 15% of couples with nearly 50% of cases due to poor sperm quality in the male partner. i.e. ‘male factor infertility’. There are currently no approved pharmacological therapies to directly stimulate spermatogenesis; anti-oestrogens and aromatase inhibitors have limited effectiveness for the treatment of oligospermia and their usage is not supported by current clinical guidelines. Consequently, the only therapeutic option for male factor infertility is assisted reproductive technologies (ART), such as intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) which although effective are resource limiting and unaffordable for many couples worldwide. Therefore, there exists an important and unmet need to develop practical and cost-effective therapies for male factor infertility. Over the last 50 years, whilst sperm quality has declined, obesity has doubled in prevalence. Evidence suggests an association between obesity and male infertility, which makes weight loss a plausible answer to this rising endemic problem. Currently, bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for obesity leading to major weight loss. However, effects on semen parameters are controversial, with some studies suggesting that the acute starvation-like state induced by bariatric surgery paradoxically reduces sperm function. Recent observational reports have suggested that milder dietary weight loss is associated with improved semen quality and DNA fragmentation index (DFI) in men with obesity and infertility. Low energy diet (LED) is a safe, well-tolerated and established method of achieving modest weight loss which could therefore provide a novel, non-pharmacological therapy for men with obesity-related male factor infertility. However to date, there are currently no prospective randomised controlled studies investigating whether weight loss via LED can improve sperm quality in obese men. Additionally, it is unclear what level of weight loss would be ideal to optimise sperm quality in obese men. This thesis outlines the first ever three randomised controlled studies investigating the physiological effects of weight loss by LED on sperm quality in obese fertile (study 1 and 2) and infertile men (study 3) respectively. I hypothesized that some, but not all, degrees of weight loss would significantly improve sperm concentration in men with obesity, with a potential threshold of weight loss in men leading to improvements 3 in sperm quality. I have measured novel molecular markers, such as seminal reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DFI, associated with male infertility in obese men undergoing weight loss. Collectively, these results will extend our understanding of the physiological effects of weight loss on sperm quality in obese men. This could potentially lead to larger studies determining the effect of weight loss on live birth rates in couples affected by obesity-related male infertility.Open Acces

USING ICT IN SECONDARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHING – WHAT STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SAY?

Over the last decade and a half, classrooms have become swamped with a range of electronic devices. Technology will continue to be more efficient, more versatile and indeed more abundant in schools and in classrooms. This study explores the views of students and teachers on the effectiveness of ICT in science teaching in terms of (i) levels of enjoyment derived by students, and (ii) usefulness of ICTs to teachers for their teaching. A questionnaire was used to elicit the views of students and teachers in respect of a range of ICT-based classroom activities. Qualitative and quantitative data collected through the questionnaires from 12 teachers and 100 students involved in science teaching and learning at a selected secondary school in Trinidad were analyzed. The results show that students enjoy ICT interventions in their lessons and teachers rank it high in many respects but, both students and teachers agree that ICT loses its appeal when its use is arbitrary and ill-planned.    Article visualizations

Using ICT-based Instructional Technologies to Teach Science: Perspectives from Teachers in Trinidad and Tobago.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how science teachers in Trinidad and Tobago use ICT-based instructional technologies in classroom science teaching. The participants were 30 secondary school science teachers who completed their Postgraduate Diploma in Education within the last 2 years from the University of the West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago. The teachers were asked to prepare lesson plans which demonstrate their use of instructional technologies to teach science topics within their term’s schemes of work. They were subsequently asked to explain their reasons for using the selected instructional technologies. The findings revealed that PowerPoint was the most widely used ICT-based instructional technology in the lesson plans analyzed. Animations and hands-on practical activities were the least used ICT-based instructional technologies. Virtual labs, computer-aided simulations and smartboards, were other ICT-based instructional technologies used by a few teachers. Textbooks and whiteboards were the non-ICT-based instructional technologies teachers used

Platelet count and MPV in women with PIH in their third trimester

Background: One of the most common and potential life-threatening complications of pregnancy is pregnancy induced hypertension. Though platelet count during pregnancy is within the normal non-pregnant reference values, there is a tendency for the platelet count to fall in late pregnancy. The frequency and intensity of maternal thrombocytopenia varies and is dependent on the intensity and severity of PIH.Methods: This prospective study was conducted in the Department of obstetrics and gynecology in Jhalawar medical college from January 2018 to April 2018.Total 120 pregnant women during third trimester (32-40 weeks) aged 18 to 35 years were selected. Among them 63 were preeclamptic patients and 63 were healthy normotensive control. Subjects and healthy pregnant women (control) visiting the Obstetrics and Gynecology department of Jhalawar Medical College were registered in the study and followed during their pregnancy. Both, subjects and control participants were subject to platelet count manually and MPV was determined by an automated analyser (sysmex XN-1000™) performed using standard methods on.Results: The mean platelet count of the subject group (131.4937±62.05999 lakh/mm3) was significantly lower than that of the control group (324.9683±230.78764 lakh/mm3). This shows that there is thrombocytopenia found in patients with P.I.H in their third trimester. On the other hand, the p value of “mean platelet volume” in patients with preeclampsia was (p0.142), regular monitoring of platelet counts in women with Pregnancy Induced Hypertension must be subject of the management protocols.Conclusions: In present study we observed that the number of thrombocytopenic subjects was higher in cases of preeclampsia as compared to the control group. These extrapolations indicate that there might be some important mechanism which interferes with platelets life span thus reducing the number of functional platelets in circulation. The platelet count has an association at prediction of increasing grade of PIH. There is an inverse relationship between the severity of PIH and platelet count. The depleted platelet counts are concluded to be consistently associated with clinical groups of severe preeclampsia and the risk of consumptive coagulopathy