Preliminary study on circulating serum levels of tumor necrosis factor—Alpha in patients of tuberculosis

Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of several non-infectious and infectious diseases including tuberculosis. In a prospective longitudinal study, TNF-α level in blood was estimated by sandwich ELISA using anti human TNF-α antibody, in 22 patients with active pleuro-pulmonary and lymphnode tuberculosis before and after chemotherapy and 8 healthy controls. Six patients and six controls had detectable levels (> 5 pg/ml) of TNF-α in blood. The mean TNF-α levels in controls and cases before and after treatment were 182.4pg/ml, 896.7 pg/ml and 678.7pg/ml pg/ml respectively. Though not statistically significant, there was a trend towards younger age, shorter duration of symptoms, presence of fever and anorexia, and high ESR, in patient with high serum TNF-α levels.     

The (amorphous) anatomy of an invention: the case of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

The priority dispute between Raymond Damadian and Paul Lauterbur over the 'invention' of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has attracted the attention of social and natural scientists for more than 30 years. In this paper, I have used this priority dispute to analyze the complex socio-epistemic processes through which a claim for an invention is made and strengthened. I argue that a tension exists because techno-scientific practices are embedded within a particular disciplinary regime of authorship: even though techno-scientific practices occur through distributed cognition and are contingent upon particular socio-epistemic contexts, a claim for an invention requires assigning authorship to a particular person, company, or institution in order to clearly define the origin and the novelty of that particular techno-scientific event. Nevertheless, the outcomes of socio-epistemic practices for making and strengthening priority claims are shifting, open-ended, and contingent upon particular socio-epistemic contexts.     

Optimal location and controller design of STATCOM for power system stability improvement using PSO

The optimal location of a static synchronous compensator (STATCOM) and its coordinated design with power system stabilizers (PSSs) for power system stability improvement are presented in this paper. First, the location of STATCOM to improve transient stability is formulated as an optimization problem and particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to search for its optimal location. Then, coordinated design problem of STATCOM-based controller with multiple PSS is formulated as an optimization problem and optimal controller parameters are obtained using PSO. A two-area test system is used to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach for determining the optimal location and controller parameters for power system stability improvement. The nonlinear simulation results show that optimally located STATCOM improves the transient stability and coordinated design of STATCOM-based controller and PSSs improve greatly the system damping. Finally, the coordinated design problem is extended to a four-machine two-area system and the results show that the inter-area and local modes of oscillations are well damped with the proposed PSO-optimized controllers.     

The city as extracurricular space: re‐instituting urban pedagogy in South Asia

Abstract

This paper addresses the pedagogic and disciplinary challenges posed by the effort to understand urban spatial practices and institutional histories in Bombay/Mumbai, and other postcolonial South Asian cities. Many cities in the region, such as Chandigarh and Dhaka were designed as iconic of the abstract space of the nation‐state. The dominance of the nationalist spatial imagination in the understandings of public space, citizenship, and the metropolitan environment – combined with the functionalist perception of architecture and spatial practice – have resulted in an urban pedagogy that regards the city only as a technological or physical artefact. Architectural education and urban pedagogy is therefore unable to address the diversity of social‐spatial formations in the city, and its political regime of predatory development, tactical negotiation, and blurry urbanism. To better understand this new regime, we require a collaborative urbanism that treats the city as an extra‐curricular space by which we can reconstruct existing institutional frameworks. Drawing on the work of CRIT (Collective Research Initiatives Trust), Mumbai, this papers explores the post‐industrial landscapes of the Mumbai Mill and Port Lands as a case study in two extracurricular research projects, which grew into urban design and community planning interventions in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, where urban spaces became the arena for re‐imagining the relations between knowledge production, institutional boundaries, and civic activism on which nationalism has imposed a long estrangement.     

Status of Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphism and 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D Deficiency with Essential Hypertension

Essential hypertension (EH) is a multifactorial and complex disease with high rate of incidence and associated co-morbidities. Previous studies do not provide unanimous results for the risk of hypertension and association with Fok I genotype frequency and serum vitamin D levels. Hence, this study was undertaken to determine the status of Fok I vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene polymorphism along with vitamin D levels and blood pressure in patients with EH. Four hundred (200 controls and 200 cases of essential hypertension) participants from general Indian population were enrolled in this study. Peripheral blood samples were collected for genotyping Fok I-VDR gene polymorphism using PCR–RFLP method whereas 25-OH vitamin D levels in serum were quantified using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Significantly reduced 25-OH vitamin D levels were observed in patients with EH (24.04 ± 8.62 vs 50.46 ± 15.46) compared to control subjects (p = 0.0001). Homozygous recessive genotype ‘ff’ frequency was increased by 8.06 fold (CI: 3.71–17.47, p = 0.0001) in patients with EH compared to dominant ‘FF’ genotype frequency. In conclusion, recessive ‘ff’ genotype frequency correlates with reduced serum vitamin D levels and results in significantly increased systolic and diastolic blood pressures leading to predisposition of EH.     

Recent insights on biochemical and molecular basis for developing antihaemostatic agents: A review

The normal coagulation process is initiated by disruption and exposure of the subendothelial components of blood vessels. Platelets adhere to subendothelium-bound von Willebrand factor via glycoprotein (GP) Ib complex. This initial interaction per se and the release of platelet agonists transduce signals that leads to the rise in intracellular Ca2+ which induces shape change, prostaglandin synthesis, release of granular contents and conformational changes in platelet Gp IIb-IIIa. Gp IIb-IIIa in activated platelets binds fibrinogen and other adhesive proteins and mediates platelet cohesion the primary haemostatic plug. Furthermore, the activated platelets due to aggregation, result in the formation of fibrin (secondary hemostasis). Normally the haemostatic process plays a delicate balance between keeping the blood in the fluid state to maintain flow and rapidly forming an occluding plug following vessel injury. Thrombosis occurs because of alteration in this delicate balance. Arterial thrombosis occurs in the setting of previous vessel wall injury mostly because of atherosclerosis, while venous thrombosis occurs in areas of stasis. The recent advances in understanding of the haemostatic process have led to a better understanding of the mechanism of action of many antithrombotic drugs and identification of new targets for drug development. The molecular target of the ticlopidine has been identified. Large numbers of IIb-IIIa inhibitors have been developed. The mechanism of action of heparin has been defined at the molecular level. As a result, a synthetic pentasaccharide, based on antithrombin-binding domain of heparin, has been developed and tested successfully in clinical trials. New generation direct thrombin inhibitors are being developed. Factor Xa has a critical position at the convergence of intrinsic and extrinsic pathway. The clinical tolerability and the efficacy of low molecular weight heparins has established that inhibition of further thrombin generation, by blocking factor Xa alone can be an effective way of preventing thrombus growth without inactivating thrombin. A large number of specific factor Xa inhibitors are under development. Some of these are in preliminary clinical trials and appear to be promising. Future clinical trials will determine whether these new drugs will provide better risk-benefit ratio in treatment of thrombotic disorders. Similarly role of thrombolytics has been clearly established in many diseases including coronary artery disease.     

DNA repair systems

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar to honour their accomplishments in the field of DNA repair. Ever since the discovery of DNA structure and their importance in the storage of genetic information, questions about their stability became pertinent. A molecule which is crucial for the development and propagation of an organism must be closely monitored so that the genetic information is not corrupted. Thanks to the pioneering research work of Lindahl, Sancar, Modrich and their colleagues, we now have an holistic awareness of how DNA damage occurs and how the damage is rectified in bacteria as well as in higher organisms including human beings. A comprehensive understanding of DNA repair has proven crucial in the fight against cancer and other debilitating diseases.     

Perspectives of ‘STEM education and policies’ for the development of a skilled workforce in Australia and India

ABSTRACT

In an increasingly competitive world, it has been proved that invention, development, and profusion of new technologies through science and technology are the fundamental source of economic progress. Australia, which is one of the world leaders in education and India, which has the capacity to produce the highest number of young skilled manpower to lead the world, both understand the current situation and have signalled their commitment to restoring the national strategy for STEM education. The proposed study focuses on a comparative understanding of the interplay of inclusive policies, government’s initiatives, knowledge gap from the literature and potential future challenges that Australia and India could face in STEM education at the school level. The question we asked is: what are the important inferences and best practices in STEM education that can be mutually beneficial to broaden the Strategic Partnership? It is identified that the governments of both the countries are determined to utilise the young population to train them as skilled workforce in order to meet the future demand of industries. Australia’s constructivist approach to education and the well-defined system of vocational training outperform India, which is still following the traditional approach. However, Australia has failed to engage students adequately in STEM and needs to revisit the efficacy of the current education model, while India needs to espouse the well-defined Australian framework, which could help to enhance quality infrastructure, curriculum, constructivist teaching and transparent policy implementation. In addition, both the nations must work hard to attract bright students in the teaching profession in order to promote a conducive environment for scientific learning.     

Steven Vogel (1940–2015)

Steven Vogel was a pinoneer in applying principles of mechanics to diverse living systems. This article first provides a brief overview of his career. It then reviews the concepts of Péclet number and Reynolds number which are helpful in appreciating the Classics article by Vogel reproduced in this issue.