The sacred lotus

The lotus is very much a part of Indian cultural traditions. Its importance has long been recognized and it has been grown for use as food, medicine and also for cultural and religious activities. Significantly, the longevity of the lotus seed is phenomenal, with viable seeds dated as being 1300 years old. Seed germination of the lotus is very rare in Nature; however, farmers’ knowledge and experience may show how lotus seeds can be germinated.     

Study of oxidative stress in obsessive compulsive disorder in response to treatment with Fluoxetine

Oxidative stress has been found to play important role in several neuropsychiatric diseases including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A longitudinal case control study was conducted to evaluate the oxidative stress in 30 newly diagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder patients and same number of control patients. Serum thiobarbituric acid reacting substances, plasma ascorbate were assessed to evaluate oxidative stress and Yale Brown obsessive compulsive scale for disease severity before and after treatment with Fluoxetine at the average dosage of 40 mg/day. Improvement in Yale Brown obsessive compulsive scale score by about 43% after 12 weeks treatment was associated with significantly decreased thiobarbituric acid reacting substances and increased plasma ascorbate values (p < 0.05). The newly diagnosed obsessive compulsive disorder patients had higher serum thiobarbituric acid reacting substances as well as a lower plasma ascorbate levels than the control population. Thus, the present study suggested a significant role of oxidative stress in obsessive compulsive disorder and showed that a successful treatment with Fluoxetine not only improves the clinical scenario but also reduces the oxidative stress that may further improve the prognosis of the disease.     

Plasma MDA and antioxidant vitamins in diabetic retinopathy

Hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia in diabetes mellitus induce increased lipid peroxidation and peroxyl radical formation, an important mechanism in genesis of microangiopathy. We took up a study on oxidative stress, measured by plasma MDA and antioxidant vitamin status in type − 2 DM patients with and without retinopathy and compared them with a control non-diabetic group. Lipid peroxidation marker MDA was significantly elevated (p < 0.001) in both the diabetic groups whereas, serum vitamin E and vitamin C registered a significant fall (p<0.001) as compared to controls. Our correlation study revealed a significant positive association between plasma MDA with both fasting and 2hr post prandial plasma glucose (r=0.81, p < 0.001, r=0.92, p <0.001) suggesting the role of hyperglycemia in free radical production. Plasma MDA also depicted significant positive relation (p< 0.001) with all lipid parameters except serum HDLc pointing the role of dyslipidemia towards lipid peroxidation. Plasma MDA level was also found to be negatively correlated with both the vitamins (p<0.001, p<0.001) in the study group explaining their protective consumption in the oxidative process prevailing in diabetic retinopathy.     

From policy to guidelines: metamorphosis of lifelong learning in India

In this era of globalisation, the present perception of lifelong learning (LLL) in the Indian policy domain has been going through major changes in an attempt to make it nationally realistic yet globally viable. In this process, all facets of the concept of LLL are constantly metamorphosing, and this in many ways outperforms the older perception of LLL in India. The main objective of the paper is to gain a better insight into this metamorphosis in three consecutive stages; from recommendations, to policies and finally to guidelines. It uses Peter Jarvis’s theoretical framework to analyse the tensions in reshaping the dimensions of LLL in a certain context, yet gives flexibility for new analytical inputs. Based on the analysis, it is possible to generalise two major perspectives of LLL in Indian policies; a competitive and skill-oriented one, which is more global in nature. The other possesses a traditional nature and addresses basic educational needs. The process of metamorphosis is going through a major transition phase while facing resistance from several levels. This encourages further research on the complexities of LLL at different levels and contexts to gain better insights.     

Exploring the immediate and short-term effects of peer advice and cognitive authority on Web search behavior

An individual's Web search behavior can be influenced by a number of factors, including features and functions of a search engine as well as search education. In contrast to the long-lasting attention to the algorithm and interface dimensions of search, there is a lack of research concerned with the potential effects of user education on search behavior. To address this gap, we ran a three-session field-lab-combined study to examine the effects of user education from two distinct sources – peer advice and cognitive authority (operationalized as video-based student's advice and expert's advice respectively) – on Web search behavior in two different search task scenarios (i.e., factual specific and factual amorphous tasks). We also tested if these behavioral effects persist for a short period of time when the explicit search tips are removed. Using 185 task session data generated by 31 participants in two field and one lab sessions, this study demonstrates that: (1) both peer advice and cognitive authority are effective in stimulating immediate behavioral changes in Web search; (2) the immediate behavioral impact of search advice is broader in factual amorphous task than in factual specific task; (3) framing search tips as the advice from cognitive authority is more likely to generate continuing, short-term effects on Web search behaviors. This research has implications for the design of task-aware user education as well as the study of users’ interactions with IR systems in general.     

Identification of a Rare Hemoglobin Variant HbJ-Rajappen [alpha90 (FG2) Lys?→?Thr] Using Mass Spectrometry

Hemoglobin J-Rajappen (alpha)90 Lys → Thr is an alpha chain variant found in heterozygous state and presents normal hematological blood picture. Due to the ambiguity in results obtained while analyzing by HPLC and alkaline gel electrophoresis, we report this rare case of HbJ-Rajappen using non denaturing gel electrophoresis and matrix assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry. Though HbJ-Rajappen has earlier been reported using different techniques, this is the first report being validated using mass spectrometry technique.     

Polymorphic Variation in Double Strand Break Repair Gene in Indian Population: A Comparative Approach with Worldwide Ethnic Group Variations

DNA repair capacity is essential in maintaining cellular functions and homeostasis. Identification of genetic polymorphisms responsible for reduced DNA repair capacity may allow better cancer prevention. Double strand break repair pathway plays critical roles in maintaining genome stability. Present study was conducted to determine distribution of XRCC3 Exon 7 (C18067T, rs861539) and XRCC7 Intron 8 (G6721T, rs7003908) gene polymorphisms in North Indian population and compare with different populations globally. The genotype assays were performed in 224 normal healthy individuals of similar ethnicity using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). Allelic frequencies of wild type were 79% (C) in XRCC3 Exon 7 C > T and 57% (G) in XRCC7 Intron 8 (G > T) 57% (G) observed. On the other hand, the variant allele frequency were 21% (T) in XRCC3 Exon 7 C > T and 43% (T) in XRCC7 Intron 8 G > T respectively. Major differences from other ethnic populations were observed. Our results suggest that frequency in these DNA repair genes exhibit distinctive pattern in India that could be attributed to ethnicity variation. This could assist in high-risk screening of humans exposed to environmental carcinogens and cancer predisposition in different ethnic groups.     

Effect of Copper on <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Cysteine/<Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">l</Emphasis>-Cystine Influx in Normal Human Erythrocytes and Erythrocytes of Wilson’s Disease

Wilson’s disease is a disease of abnormal copper metabolism in which free serum copper level is raised. The objective of the study was to determine, whether in Wilson disease, l-cysteine/l-cystine influx into RBC was decreased or not and the specific amino acid transporter affected by copper in normal human RBC. For l-cysteine/l-cystine influx, ten untreated cases, ten treated cases and ten age and sex matched healthy controls were recruited. To study the effect of copper on l-cysteine/l-cystine influx in RBC, 15 healthy subjects were selected. RBC GSH and l-cysteine/l-cystine influx were estimated by Beautler’s and Yildiz’s method respectively. In untreated cases, l-cysteine/l-cystine influx and erythrocyte GSH level were decreased showing that elevated level of free copper in serum or media decreased l-cysteine/l-cystine influx in human RBC. Copper treatment inhibited L amino acid transporter in normal RBC specifically.     

A novel design method for optimal IIR system identification using opposition based harmony search algorithm

In this paper a population based evolutionary optimization methodology called Opposition based Harmony Search Algorithm (OHS) is applied for the optimization of system coefficients of adaptive infinite impulse response (IIR) system identification problem. The original Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is chosen as the parent one and opposition based approach is applied to it with an intention to exhibit accelerated near global convergence profile. During the initialization, for choosing the randomly generated population/solution opposite solutions are also considered and the fitter one is selected as apriori guess for having faster convergence profile. Each solution in Harmony Memory (HM) is generated on the basis of memory consideration rule, a pitch adjustment rule and a re-initialization process which gives the optimum result corresponding to the least error fitness in multidimensional search space. Incorporation of different control parameters in basic HS algorithm results in balancing of exploration and exploitation of search space. The proposed OHS based system identification approach has alleviated from inherent drawbacks of premature convergence and stagnation, unlike Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Differential Evolution (DE). The simulation results obtained for some well known benchmark examples justify the efficacy of the proposed OHS based system identification approach over GA, PSO and DE in terms of convergence speed, identifying the system plant coefficients and mean square error (MSE) fitness values produced for both same order and reduced order models of adaptive IIR filters.     

Characterization of a Double Heterozygote HbE/β+ Thalassemia IVS 1-1 [G>T] in a Juvenile Diabetic

The present case report describes the molecular and proteomic based study of Hb variant HbE associated with β⁺ thalassemia IVS 1-1 G>T, in a juvenile diabetic patient. Given the ethnic origin and mobility of the variant hemoglobin at alkaline pH, HbE would be suspected. But hematologically and clinically abnormality being detected, HPLC and Electrophoresis not being able to characterize due to retention time and band being in region of HbA2, respectively, further characterization of hemoglobinopathy was made using MALDI and IVS 1-1 G>T being validated by reverse dot blot hybridization. Capillary electrophoresis was also employed in order to separate HbE and HbA2 bands. This case report being first of its kind, wherein a HbE/β⁺ thalassemia has been characterized using multiple techniques.