Dynamics of inter-district developmental disparities in Haryana

The present study deals with the development disparities in districts of Haryana according to their level of development. The study utilized data over three points of time, viz. 1991-92, 2001-02, and 2011-12. Assessment of development in agricultural, industrial, infrastructural and socio-economic sectors has been studied using composite indices based on forty indicators. Out of the forty indicators, 19 were directly concerned with agricultural development, 4, 8 and 9 respectively reflected the progress of development in industrial, infrastructural, and socio-economic sectors. Sector-wise indices were combined to obtain weighted index for the overall development. The study indicated wide disparities in level of development among districts of Haryana in all the periods of study.The district of Mahendragarh lagged behind in almost all the sectors considered for this study. The districts of Faridabad and Gurgaon lagged behind in agriculture while the district of Karnal excelled in agriculture in all the three periods. The districts of Ambala, Faridabad and Gurgaon ranked first in overall development in 1991-92, 2001-02 and 2011-12, respectively, whereas Mahendragarh ranked last in 1991-92 and 2001-02 and the newly formed district Mewat in 2011-12. Spearman’s rank correlation was used to study relationships among sectoral developments. Kruskal Wallis test indicated significant changes in development level of industry and infrastructure sectors over the periods 1991-92, 2001-02 and 2011-12

Resultant-based methods for plane curves intersection problems

http://www.springeronline.com/3-540-28966-6We present an algorithm for solving polynomial equations, which uses generalized eigenvalues and eigenvectors of resultant matrices. We give special attention to the case of two bivariate polynomials and the Sylvester or Bezout resultant constructions. We propose a new method to treat multiple roots, detail its numerical aspects and describe experiments on tangential problems, which show the efficiency of the approach. An industrial application of the method is presented at the end of the paper. It consists in recovering cylinders from a large cloud of points and requires intensive resolution of polynomial equations

Changes in nutrient intake during the menstrual cycle of overweight women with premenstrual syndrome

This study presents the nutrient data collected from women who were being screened for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) for entry into an intervention study. Screening was by the Steiner self-rated questionnaire. One hundred and forty-four overweight women completed the screening process and eighty-eight met the criteria for PMS. All women kept 4 d diet diaries pre- and postmenstrually over two menstrual cycles. The mean energy and macronutrient intakes were compared between the pre- and postmenstrual phases. Energy and macronutrient intake was also calculated according to food categories. Goldberg's cut-off limit for the ratio of energy intake to estimated basal metabolic rate was used to exclude data that was incompatible with predicted energy requirements. The diet diaries were also used to determine the mean number of meals or snacks eaten pre- and postmenstrually. Nutrient analysis of the diet diaries of the women with PMS showed a significant increase (P<0.001) in total energy and all macronutrients premenstrually when compared to nutrient intake postmenstrually. Women who did not meet the criteria for PMS showed a significant increase in energy and fat intake (P<0.05) but not in the other macronutrients. When adjusted for energy, data collected from women with PMS showed a premenstrual significant increase in fat, carbohydrate (P<0.05) and simple sugars (P<0.001). There was a significant decrease (P<0.001) in protein premenstrually. Women not meeting the PMS criteria showed no significant difference between pre- and postmenstrual intakes when adjusted for energy. Analysis according to food categories in women with PMS showed a significantly greater intake premenstrually of energy and all macronutrients for cereals, cakes and desserts and high-sugar foods (P<0.001). In women with PMS there was a significantly greater number of ‘episodes of eating’ premenstrually (P<0.001). This study provides further evidence, to support the very limited number of earlier studies, that there is a group of women with PMS who increase their nutrient intake during the premenstrual phase. This could potentially be a contributing factor for some women experiencing difficulties adhering to suggested dietary modification and should be considered when counselling premenopausal women.Giordana B. Cross, John Marley, Helen Miles and Kristyn Willso

Synthesis and Characterization of Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles using Sol-Gel Method

Hydroxyapatite (HAp) is a unique material having high adsorption capacity of heavy metals, high ion exchange capacity, high biological compatibility, low water solubility, high stability under reducing and oxidizing conditions, availability and low cost. Hydroxyapatite nanoparticles have been synthesized by Sol-gel method using Calcium nitrate tetrahydrate [Ca(NO3)2•4H2O] and Phosphorus pentaoxide (P2O5) as starting reactants. The addition of Phosphorus pentaoxide to Calcium nitrate tetrahydrate was carried out slowly with simultaneous stirring. After addition, solution was aged for 10 minutes for maturation. The precipitate was dried at 80 °C overnight and further heat treated at 550 °C for 2 hours. The dried and calcined particles were characterized by X-ray diffractometry, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy and Thermo gravimetric analysis. The particle size and morphology were studied using transmission electron microscopy. TEM examination of the treated powders displayed particles of polygon morphology with dimensions 20-50 nm in length. The FT-IR spectra for sample confirmed the formation of hydroxyapatite

Neuroinflammation, Mast Cells, and Glia: Dangerous Liaisons

The perspective of neuroinflammation as an epiphenomenon following neuron damage is being replaced by the awareness of glia and their importance in neural functions and disorders. Systemic inflammation generates signals that communicate with the brain and leads to changes in metabolism and behavior, with microglia assuming a pro-inflammatory phenotype. Identification of potential peripheral-to-central cellular links is thus a critical step in designing effective therapeutics. Mast cells may fulfill such a role. These resident immune cells are found close to and within peripheral nerves and in brain parenchyma/meninges, where they exercise a key role in orchestrating the inflammatory process from initiation through chronic activation. Mast cells and glia engage in crosstalk that contributes to accelerate disease progression; such interactions become exaggerated with aging and increased cell sensitivity to stress. Emerging evidence for oligodendrocytes, independent of myelin and support of axonal integrity, points to their having strong immune functions, innate immune receptor expression, and production/response to chemokines and cytokines that modulate immune responses in the central nervous system while engaging in crosstalk with microglia and astrocytes. In this review, we summarize the findings related to our understanding of the biology and cellular signaling mechanisms of neuroinflammation, with emphasis on mast cell-glia interactions

Regulation of inflammation in Japanese encephalitis

Uncontrolled inflammatory response of the central nervous system is a hallmark of severe Japanese encephalitis (JE). Although inflammation is necessary to mount an efficient immune response against virus infections, exacerbated inflammatory response is often detrimental. In this context, cells of the monocytic lineage appear to be important forces driving JE pathogenesis

Microfold (M) cells: important immunosurveillance posts in the intestinal epithelium

The transcytosis of antigens across the gut epithelium by microfold cells (M cells) is important for the induction of efficient immune responses to some mucosal antigens in Peyer’s patches. Recently, substantial progress has been made in our understanding of the factors that influence the development and function of M cells. This review highlights these important advances, with particular emphasis on: the host genes which control the functional maturation of M cells; how this knowledge has led to the rapid advance in our understanding of M-cell biology in the steady-state and during aging; molecules expressed on M cells which appear to be used as “immunosurveillance” receptors to sample pathogenic microorganisms in the gut; how certain pathogens appear to exploit M cells to infect the host; and finally how this knowledge has been used to specifically target antigens to M cells to attempt to improve the efficacy of mucosal vaccines

Serodiagnosis of Echinococcus spp. Infection: Explorative Selection of Diagnostic Antigens by Peptide Microarray

Crude or purified, somatic or metabolic extracts of native antigens are routinely used for the serodiagnosis of human helminthic infections. These antigens are often cross-reactive, i.e., recognized by sera from patients infected with heterologous helminth species. To overcome limitations in antigen production, test sensitivity and specificity, chemically synthesized peptides offer a pure and standardized alternative, provided they yield acceptable operative characteristics. Ongoing genome and proteome work create new resources for the identification of antigens. Making use of the growing amount of genomic and proteomic data available in public databases, we tested a bioinformatic procedure for the selection of potentially antigenic peptides from a collection of protein sequences including conceptually translated nucleotide sequence data of Echinococcus multilocularis and E. granulosus (Plathyhelminthes, Cestoda). The in silico selection was combined with high-throughput screening of peptides on microarray and systematic validation of reactive candidates in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Our study proved the applicability of this approach for selection of peptide antigens with good diagnostic characteristics. Our results suggested the pooling of several peptides to reach a high level of sensitivity required for reliable immunodiagnosis