An Analysis of the Special Safeguard Mechanisms in the Doha Round of Negotiations - A Proposed Price-trigger-based Safeguard Mechanism

In the Doha Round of negotiations on agriculture it has been decided that all developing and least developed Member countries of the WTO will have access to a Special Safeguard Mechanism (SSM). This means that developing countries will now have the option to temporarily impose higher tariff rates on the import of an agricultural product if there is either a surge in its import volumes or a sharp dip in its import prices. However, the exact mechanisms of the implementation of SSMs have not been spelt out. It is also not clear what legal provisions the Member countries will have to follow to use this safeguard mechanism. This paper takes a detailed look at the SSM and analyzes its usefulness for developing countries. It also explores how the concept of a special agricultural safeguard has evolved in the present round of negotiations and what are the country positions on SSMs in the Doha Round. The paper then proposes a price-trigger-based SSM instrument which is consistent with the goals spelt out in the Doha Development Agenda and satisfies most of the desired features of a safeguard instrument.WTO, agriculture, Volatility, Special safeguards, Tariff rates

Evaluation of Anti-Thrombotic Activity of Clerodendrum Colebrookianum Walp in Albino Wistar Rats

It has been widely held that Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp was used by ancient herbalists to treat blood stagnation and inflammation. Several physiological functions have been associated with the leaves of Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp. But their antiplatelet and antithrombotic effects are a complete mystery. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of chloroform and hydroalcoholic extracts (CBC & CBH) of Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp leaves on platelet activity, coagulation, and thromboembolism. In an in vivo study of carrageenan-induced rat tail thrombosis, C.B.C.E. and C.B.H.E. significantly reduced thrombosis. C.B.C.E. & C.H.E. also reduced swelling and redness in the tails of rats. The antithrombotic action of the thrombosis management and its consequences in the present experimental investigation may be accounted for by the presence of flavonoids, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, glycosides, and sterols in the extract of chloroform and hydro-alcoholic (40%) solvents. Drabkin\u27s tail bleeding experiment in rats also showed that C.B.C.E and C.B.H.E given orally provided protection. Contrasting the standard treated groups and the normal groups, the cyanmethhemoglobin method\u27s estimates of haemoglobin level at different time intervals raises encouraging thoughts of superior anti-platelet and anticoagulant activity. Flavonoids, phenolic compounds, alkaloids, glycosides, and sterols may be responsible for the antithrombotic actions of chloroform and hydro-alcoholic extracts of C.B.C.E and C.H.E. This research suggests that CBC and CBH have therapeutic and preventive potential for cardiovascular illnesses associated with platelet hyperactivit

NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF BREAST CANCER PATIENTS ATTENDING THE CHEMOTHERAPY

The present study was carried out “Nutritional status of breast cancer patients attending the chemotherapy” with the objectives to assess the nutrient intake, anthropometric and clinical assessment of the breast cancer patients. A cross section survey which was conducted on a sample of 184 patients. The anthropometric measurements (Height, Weight and BMI) and Dietary intake (24 hours dietary recall method) was recorded and calculated using food composition table compared with RDA (ICMR, 2010). The result shows that 100 per cent patients were having lump nodes and swelling, 65 per cent experiencing change in shape, 11.95 per cent difference in nipple, 61.95 per cent unusual discharge, 57.04 per cent rashes on their skin and 18.47 per cent pain in breast .It was found that the mean daily intakes of protein, fiber, calcium, iron and vitamins were more and energy, carbohydrate and fat were less than ICMR, RDA value of normal woman. BMI of the respondents was observed before chemotherapy which indicated 1.08 per cent underweight, 34.81 per cent normal weight, 31.0 per cent overweight, 15.23 per cent grade I obese, 16.30 per cent grade II obese and 1.63 per cent grade III obese whereas after chemotherapy, 12.5 per cent underweight, 17.93 per cent normal weight, 36.99 per cent overweight, 15.23 per cent Grade I obese and 17.4 per cent Grade II obese were recorded.&nbsp

Multiple myeloma: the disease and its treatment

Multiple myeloma represents a malignant proliferation of plasma cells derived from a single clone. The tumor, its products and the host response to it result in a number of organ dysfunctions and symptoms of bone pain, fracture, anemia, hypercalcemia, susceptibility to infection, neurologic symptoms, clotting abnormalities and manifestations of hyperviscosity. The cause of myeloma remains unexplained but it is associated with few occupations, inflammatory conditions, autoimmune illnesses, viral infections and genetic heterogeneity. Direct interaction between multiple myeloma cells and bone marrow cells activates pleiotropic signalling pathways that mediate growth, survival, migration of multiple myeloma cells and also resistance to chemotherapy. Although myeloma remains incurable, but the use of novel drugs like thalidomide, lenalidomide and bortezomib have resulted in a paradigm change in the therapy of myeloma. Their inclusion in current multiple myeloma treatment regimens have extended median overall survival especially in younger patient population. Recent advances in the molecular genetics have provided opportunities to design highly specific inhibitors of signal transduction pathways that may enhance the efficacy of standard chemotherapy drugs by reducing or altering the pathways associated with cell survival. Despite therapeutic advances, multiple myeloma ultimately relapses and remains an incurable disease. Current research goals are to further increase our knowledge, to identify additional targeted therapies, and to reduce adverse effects and improve response rate. This review focuses on recent clinical advancement in ant myeloma strategies with additional discussion dedicated to emerging drugs that may prove beneficial to patients with this disease

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation in an Interactive Engineering Game

In this paper, we study intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation in players playing an electrical engineering gaming environment. We used UNTANGLED, a highly interactive game to conduct this study. This game is developed to solve complex mapping problem from electrical engineering using human intuitions. Our goal is to find whether there are differences in the ways anonymous players solved electrical engineering puzzles in an electronic gaming environment when motivated to play competitively, as compared to self-regulated play. For our experiments, we used puzzles from four games from UNTANGLED. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was calculated on participants’ scores, type of plays, number of plays, and time spent playing, as both self-regulated and competitive players. We also examined difference between the type of moves used by the competitive and self-regulated players. Our results support the theory of motivation as being internally embedded in learners. The results also demonstrate that a self-regulated learner does not require motivation to improve one’s performance

Role of Endophytes in Apple Replant Disease

Apple replant disease (ARD) is a major problem in all the apple-growing areas of the world. It is a complex problem. The exact cause of the problem is unknown, but soil biotic factors play a major role. The repeated cultivation of same crop on same land and exhaustion of nutrients of soil, persistence of soil-borne pathogens and changes in the pH of soil. Symptoms include stunting of tree growth with short internodes, small and light green rosette leaves, development of few lateral or feeder roots, underdeveloped root systems, decayed and discolored roots, poor establishment and severe disease results in the death of young trees and, sometimes, whole orchards. The endophytes provide direct benefits to host plants as they live in close proximity. Once they enter inside the host tissue they get easily established as they feel no competition with other microorganisms. Endophytes have the capacity to produce different secondary metabolites, which saves the host plants from biotic and abiotic stresses the host plants become resistant to both biotic and abiotic stresses. An interesting facet of the interaction between endophytes and their hosts is the capacity of many microorganisms to improve the plant’s resistance by providing several bioactive metabolites. Therefore, the exploitation of soil microbial endophytes for the management of ARD is an important strategy

A note on comonotonicity and positivity of the control components of decoupled quadratic FBSDE

In this small note we are concerned with the solution of Forward-Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (FBSDE) with drivers that grow quadratically in the control component (quadratic growth FBSDE or qgFBSDE). The main theorem is a comparison result that allows comparing componentwise the signs of the control processes of two different qgFBSDE. As a byproduct one obtains conditions that allow establishing the positivity of the control process.Comment: accepted for publicatio

The pattern of dermatological disorders among patients attending the Dermatology outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital in Kolkata

Introduction The pattern of the dermatological disease varies from country to country and even between geographical areas within a country. This present study aims to elucidate the dermatological patterns observed in a tertiary care hospital setting in West Bengal, India, while concurrently examining the sociodemographic characteristics of the patient population. Materials and methods: This descriptive observational study with cross sectional design, was conducted among 214 patients, in the Dermatology outpatient department NRSMCH, Kolkata, between 01/02/24-28/02/24. The patients were selected based on a systematic random sampling method. The dermatologists on duty on the day of data collection identified the diagnosis.  A predesigned pretested schedule was used for recording the variables. All collected data were entered into Microsoft Excel, cleaned, checked for consistency and analyzed using SPSS (version 20).                  Results: Most patients were male (57.9%), Hindu (59.3%), having education upto primary level (37.4%) and belonging to SES class IV (37.4%). Self-reported co-morbidities were present in 27.6% of the patients.  Almost one fifth (18.7%) of the patients had similar disease among family members during the same time. The study population could be almost equally divided between infective (49.5%) and non-infective cases (50.5%). The most common diagnosis overall was tinea (23.8%). Tinea was also the commonest infectious/ parasitic disease in the study population, followed by Scabies (12.6%). Among non-infectious diseases, the commonest was dermatitis (seborrheic, atopic and unspecified) seen in 13.1% of the patients, followed by acne vulgaris (8.9%) and pigmentation disorders (including vitiligo/ melasma/ post inflammatory tatoo pigmentation) (5.1%).Higher proportion of patients in the infectious group were in the age group 35-44 years (41.9%), than the non-infectious group where the highest proportion of patients were in the 15–34-year age group (52.4%). Significantly higher proportion of patients with infectious disease had a family member suffering from similar diseases at the same time (26.7% vs 11%, p=0.003).  Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight the fact that along with medical treatment, health education is also necessary to curb the spread of dermatological diseases. Preventive and curative health services like awareness regarding hygiene, achieve a considerable reduction in the prevalence of skin disorders

Event-shape engineering for inclusive spectra and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV

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