Circadian variation of human circulating cholesterol components on vegetarian and omnivorous diets in healthy Indians

Circadian periodicity of human circulating total (T), high-density lipoprotein (HDL) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL + VLDL; briefly LDL) cholesterol (C) was studied in 30 clinically healthy, diurnally active, norturnally resting young volunteers divided into two groups of 15 each (10 men; 5 women) taking vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets. A marked circadian variation in T-C, HDL-C and LDL-C was recorded in all volunteers irrespective of the diety habits. However, total mean values and the acrophase differed between the two groups. Lower MESOR of studied variables for the vegetarians and higher MESOR for the omnivores in both the sexes exhibited endogeneous rhythmic changes as well as lower values of cholesterol components in vegetarians as compared to omnivores. Fasting unmasks a presumably endogeneous change around a lower MESOR with a smaller circadian amplitude both of HDL and LDL cholecterol metabolism. The recognition that the human circulating cholesterol components oscillate physiologically, in the peripheral blood with a shift of acrophase according to a circadian rhtyhm in two dietry schedules may prove to be of significance in the clinical interpretation of the laboratory result under tropical conditions.     

Alteration in some antioxidant enzymes in cardiac tissue upon monosodium glutamate [MSG] administration to adult male mice

4mg and 8mg monosodium glutamate per gram body weight was administered subcutaneously for 6 consecutive days to normal adult male mice and its effect was seen on 31^st day after the last injection on some antioxidant enzymes in heart. A significant dose dependent increase in lipid peroxidation and xanthine oxidase level was observed, whereas the activity of free radical scavenging enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase was decreased in both monosodium glutamate treated groups (Group-2 and Group-3). So, the present work suggested that monosodium glutamate at dose level of 4mg/g body weight and above induced oxidative stress in the cardiac tissue by changing the activity of free radical initiating enzyme such as xanthine oxidase and scavenging enzymes like superoxide dismutase and catalase.     

How to Teach and to Ensure a Good,Sound Religious Education through a Multi‐faith Approach at the Primary School Level

If Religious Education is to have an effective place in education and is not objectionable to younger pupils, there would appear to be a case for laying a foundation of knowledge, while the attitude to the subject is favourable and learning is thus easier to achieve. Then pupils are more likely to be in a well‐informed position to discuss religion at the top of the school, than if teaching has already begun at an age when, although they were intellectually ready and able to undertake open debate, prejudice had already closed teenagers’ eyes to the whole matter (Attfield, 1974)

The school should be a community within which children should learn to live the ‘good life’... By example at first hand children can learn to love and care for others, to be generous, kind and courageous. Good experiences in personal relationships in early life will make a most important contribution to an understanding of spiritual and moral values when children are older. (The Plowden Report, 1967, Vol. 1, p. 206, para. 568)     

Cartographies of scholarship: Stephen Heimans talks to Parlo Singh about teaching,research, and the intellectual terrain of feminist scholarship with/after Bernstein

ABSTRACT

Parlo Singh is a leading contemporary sociologist of education and world-renowned “Bernstein” scholar. In this interview with Stephen Heimans, Parlo discusses important aspects of her teaching and research journey. She highlights the interconnections between these and discusses her relationship with Basil Bernstein’s oeuvre and the work she has undertaken both that builds on and is separate from it.     

Performance of mentally retarded children on a hierarchically sequenced introductory mathematics curriculum∗

Sixteen severely and moderately retarded children were given diagnostic tests to assess their understanding of number concepts. One group of eight children (experimental) were then given training on a hierarchically sequenced introductory mathematics curriculum and the other group of eight children (control) were given training on the same objectives but through traditional techniques. Results at the end of 12 months showed that the experimental group mastered an average of 32 objectives while the control group averaged 15.5 These results suggest that hierarchically sequenced mathematics curriculum may provide an effective approach to the teaching of number concepts to the severely and moderately retarded.

     

Pedagogical issues in distance education

Head of the Distance Education Division, Central Institute of Educational Technology, National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi. Previous founder director of the Open School of India. Member of numerous committees and commissions at national level, in particular, the National Task Force on Broadcasting for Education (1980/81) and the Commission for Teachers — I Task Force (1983/84). Author or co-author of five books, including Open School India,and numerous articles.     

Techniques in X-ray astronomy

X-ray astronomy has benefited enormously with the deployment of imaging X-ray telescopes in space, leading to a veritable revolution. Such telescopes require distortion free focusing of X-rays and the use of position sensitive X-ray detectors. In this article I shall describe the importance of X-ray imaging, the optical principles behind the creation of images and the instruments based on these principles. The various techniques used to fabricate such X-ray telescopes are described briefly. The many types of detectors used in X-ray astronomy will be described in the second part of this article in a subsequent issue ofResonance. Kulinder Pal Singh is in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. His primary fields of research are X-ray studies of hot plasmas in stars, supernova remnants, galaxies, intergalactic medium in clusters of galaxies, active galactic nuclei, cataclysmic variables and X-ray binaries. He is leading the development of a soft X-ray imaging telescope for the ASTROSAT mission to be launched by India in 2007–2008.     

Bilingual Infants Demonstrate Advantages in Learning Words in a Third Language

Prior research suggests that bilingualism may endow infants with greater phonological flexibility. This study investigated whether this flexibility facilitates word learning in additional languages (n = 96). Experiment 1 compared 18‐ to 20‐month‐old monolingual (English) and bilingual (English/Mandarin) infants on their ability to learn words distinguished by click consonants from a Southern African language, Ndebele. English–Mandarin bilingual infants were sensitive to Ndebele click contrasts, but monolingual English infants were not. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we investigated whether enhanced bilingual sensitivity extended to analogous nonlinguistic labels: hand claps and finger snaps. Although discriminated by infants, neither group distinguished words labeled by hand claps and finger snaps. Results suggest that bilingual infants' sustained openness to non native contrast may facilitate the uptake of words in distant languages.     

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.     

Effect of feeding Carica papaya (Papita) fruits on blood lipid profile of albino rabbits

Effect of feeding ripe and unripe papaya fruit pulps were investigated on blood lipid profile of normal male adult albino rabbits by giving them pulps separately at the dose of 15 and 30g per day along with standard diet over a period of six weeks. As compared to controls both fruit pulps resulted in highly significant (p<0.001) and consistent lowering of serum cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglycerides and elevation in phospholipids and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels at 1,3 and 6 weeks of fruit pulp feeding indicating a dose dependent effect. Observations clearly support medicinal value ofC. Papaya in the management of atherosclerosis, fatty liver, ischaemic changes and consequential myocardial infarction.