MMed cohort supervision: A path out of the swamp?

The authors present the case for collaborative cohort supervision (CCM), including both master’s students and novice supervisors, as a possible way to rapidly increase the number of supervisors needed to address the recent implementation of a compulsory research component to specialist registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa. Different models of CCM are discussed and possible pitfalls highlighted

Hybrid Composite Laminates from ESOA-BisGMA Blend and 2-Hydroxyethyl Acrylate (HEA) Treated Jute Fiber

The development of an inter-cross-linked polymer network of thermoset-thermoset blends have been extensively studied due to their enhanced mechanical properties. Among various polymer blends, modifications of vinyl ester resin (VER) i.e. styrene cross-linkable Bisphenol-A glycidyldimethacrylate (BisGMA) with epoxidized soybean oil acrylate (ESOA) combinations are an attractive route to promote the performance of the thermoset matrix and to overcome the inferior properties of both the components. The primary goal of this research is to develop hybrid composite laminates from ESOA-BisGMA blend (50:50 wt%) using both untreated and 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) treated jute fiber as reinforcement and then to characterize thereof. The mechanical properties like tensile strength, bending strength bending E.modulus, dynamic mechanical analysis, corrosion and ageing studies have been investigated. The results suggested improved properties of the hybrid systems with the incorporation of ESOA-BisGMA blend as the composite matrix. Moreover, HEA treatment of jute fiber enhanced the composite properties further, which interestingly, outperformed the parent ESOA-BisGMA blend and untreated jute-ESOA/BisGMA blend based composite. In this investigation 5 ply of jute fabric has been reinforced into ESOA-BisGMA blend matrix, so that at a low cost thin sheets can be produced. This may be used as an alternate material to wood, which has not been carried out elsewhere

IN VITRO ANTIOXIDANT PROPERTY OF FRACTIONS OF ANNONA RETICULATA (L) LEAVE

Objective: The present study has been carried out to evaluate the antioxidant property of different fractions prepared from hydro-alcoholic extract of Annona reticulata L. leave. Effort also has been made to estimate the flavonoid and phenolics content of the fractions.Method: The antioxidant activity has been studied in vitro by using Nitric oxide-scavenging assay, Free radical scavenging activity in DPPH assay and Iron chelating activity assay.Results: In Nitric oxide-scavenging assay the IC50 values for Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 476.43 µg/mL, 328.09 µg/mL and 329.61 µg/mL respectively. In DPPH assay the IC50 values for Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 87.50 µg/mL, 161.06 µg/mL and 90.36 µg/mLrespectively. The IC50 values of the Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction in Iron chelating assay are 210.86 µg/mL, 462.38 µg/mL and 586.14 µg/mL respectively. The flavonoid content of Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 8.73, 7.45 and 8.62 respectively expressed as mg/g of Catechol. Similarly the phenol content of Ethylacetate fraction, methanol fraction and residue/aqueous fraction are 8.43, 7.25 and 6.23 respectively expressed as mg/g of Catechol.Conclusion: The results suggest that all the tested fractions are having antioxidant property, but the ethhylacetate fraction is having significantly higher flavonoid and phenol content. Due to presence of higher flavonoid and phenol content in ethylacetate fraction, it may be considered as the fraction with better pharmacological property in comparison to other tested fractions.Â

Traditional clay pottery of Odisha, India

325-332Pottery making is an important event of past. It has marked the beginning of the revolution in Neolithic period in human society. It all started with mud that indicates the emergence of civilization leading to development of culture. Pottery was introduced from different civilizations and was accepted, developed, changed and adapted. Few of the traditional communities in the world still maintain this tradition as their occupation. The present paper discusses the pottery making process and related activities in rural areas of Bhadrak district of Odisha, India. The field survey was conducted during the year 2015-2017 to access the present status of this unique clay-based craft as well as the condition of the artisans involved in this craft making. The information on pottery technique was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires, complemented by free interviews and informal conversations with 79 artisans. The result revealed that making artifacts from clay is exclusively the hand work of rural Kumbhara community. Most of these artisans are marginal farmers while making such craft is their primary occupation. They collect the raw material, i.e., clay from the nearby field, river bed or shallow land, process it and make varieties of attractive craft items for traditional domestic use as well as in socio-religious rituals. The existing conditions of this folk craft as well as the artisans were analysed. Some remedial measures are suggested to save this endangered craft from oblivion

Traditional clay pottery of Odisha, India

325-332Pottery making is an important event of past. It has marked the beginning of the revolution in Neolithic period in human society. It all started with mud that indicates the emergence of civilization leading to development of culture. Pottery was introduced from different civilizations and was accepted, developed, changed and adapted. Few of the traditional communities in the world still maintain this tradition as their occupation. The present paper discusses the pottery making process and related activities in rural areas of Bhadrak district of Odisha, India. The field survey was conducted during the year 2015-2017 to access the present status of this unique clay-based craft as well as the condition of the artisans involved in this craft making. The information on pottery technique was obtained through semi-structured questionnaires, complemented by free interviews and informal conversations with 79 artisans. The result revealed that making artifacts from clay is exclusively the hand work of rural Kumbhara community. Most of these artisans are marginal farmers while making such craft is their primary occupation. They collect the raw material, i.e., clay from the nearby field, river bed or shallow land, process it and make varieties of attractive craft items for traditional domestic use as well as in socio-religious rituals. The existing conditions of this folk craft as well as the artisans were analysed. Some remedial measures are suggested to save this endangered craft from oblivion

Structure-function mapping of a heptameric module in the nuclear pore complex.

The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is a multiprotein assembly that serves as the sole mediator of nucleocytoplasmic exchange in eukaryotic cells. In this paper, we use an integrative approach to determine the structure of an essential component of the yeast NPC, the ~600-kD heptameric Nup84 complex, to a precision of ~1.5 nm. The configuration of the subunit structures was determined by satisfaction of spatial restraints derived from a diverse set of negative-stain electron microscopy and protein domain-mapping data. Phenotypic data were mapped onto the complex, allowing us to identify regions that stabilize the NPC's interaction with the nuclear envelope membrane and connect the complex to the rest of the NPC. Our data allow us to suggest how the Nup84 complex is assembled into the NPC and propose a scenario for the evolution of the Nup84 complex through a series of gene duplication and loss events. This work demonstrates that integrative approaches based on low-resolution data of sufficient quality can generate functionally informative structures at intermediate resolution

Efficiency, selectivity and robustness of the nuclear pore complex transport

All materials enter or exit the cell nucleus through nuclear pore complexes (NPCs), efficient transport devices that combine high selectivity and throughput. A central feature of this transport is the binding of cargo-carrying soluble transport factors to flexible, unstructured proteinaceous filaments called FG-nups that line the NPC. We have modeled the dynamics of transport factors and their interaction with the flexible FG-nups as diffusion in an effective potential, using both analytical theory and computer simulations. We show that specific binding of transport factors to the FG-nups facilitates transport and provides the mechanism of selectivity. We show that the high selectivity of transport can be accounted for by competition for both binding sites and space inside the NPC, which selects for transport factors over other macromolecules that interact only non-specifically with the NPC. We also show that transport is relatively insensitive to changes in the number and distribution of FG-nups in the NPC, due mainly to their flexibility; this accounts for recent experiments where up to half of the total mass of the NPC has been deleted, without abolishing the transport. Notably, we demonstrate that previously established physical and structural properties of the NPC can account for observed features of nucleocytoplasmic transport. Finally, our results suggest strategies for creation of artificial nano-molecular sorting devices.Comment: 38 pages, six figure