Resistance Against Assimilation: The Irony of the Melting Pot

The video on the large, flat-screen T.V. plays and shows a small, brown baby lying helpless in the arms of her mother, concealed in a thick and colorful shawl. Sneeze after sneeze seems to come from the newborn, as the room fills with the strong scent of smoke, the result of a glowing fire set in the middle of the room. The small bell rings and rings until there is ringing in everyone’s ears, the sounds vibrating their skull and very being. The chanting seems to fill the small apartment, and everyone wonders in the back of their minds when the neighbors will come up and give a noise complaint. [excerpt

A systematic review of population health interventions and Scheduled Tribes in India

Abstract Background Despite India's recent economic growth, health and human development indicators of Scheduled Tribes (ST) or Adivasi (India's indigenous populations) lag behind national averages. The aim of this review was to identify the public health interventions or components of these interventions that are effective in reducing morbidity or mortality rates and reducing risks of ill health among ST populations in India, in order to inform policy and to identify important research gaps. Methods We systematically searched and assessed peer-reviewed literature on evaluations or intervention studies of a population health intervention undertaken with an ST population or in a tribal area, with a population health outcome(s), and involving primary data collection. Results The evidence compiled in this review revealed three issues that promote effective public health interventions with STs: (1) to develop and implement interventions that are low-cost, give rapid results and can be easily administered, (2): a multi-pronged approach, and (3): involve ST populations in the intervention. Conclusion While there is a growing body of knowledge on the health needs of STs, there is a paucity of data on how we can address these needs. We provide suggestions on how to undertake future population health intervention research with ST populations and offer priority research avenues that will help to address our knowledge gap in this area.</p

Multifunctional superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for combined chemotherapy and hyperthermia cancer treatment

Superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) nanoparticles have the potential for use as a multimodal cancer therapy agent due to their ability to carry anticancer drugs and generate localized heat when exposed to an alternating magnetic field, resulting in combined chemotherapy and hyperthermia. To explore this potential, we synthesized SPIOs with a phospholipid-polyethylene glycol (PEG) coating, and loaded Doxorubicin (DOX) with a 30.8% w/w loading capacity when the PEG length is optimized. We found that DOX-loaded SPIOs exhibited a sustained DOX release over 72 hours where the release kinetics could be altered by the PEG length. In contrast, the heating efficiency of the SPIOs showed minimal change with the PEG length. With a core size of 14 nm, the SPIOs could generate sufficient heat to raise the local temperature to 43 °C, sufficient to trigger apoptosis in cancer cells. Further, we found that DOX-loaded SPIOs resulted in cell death comparable to free DOX, and that the combined effect of DOX and SPIO-induced hyperthermia enhanced cancer cell death in vitro. This study demonstrates the potential of using phospholipid-PEG coated SPIOs for chemotherapy–hyperthermia combinatorial cancer treatment with increased efficacy

Streaming Graph Challenge: Stochastic Block Partition

An important objective for analyzing real-world graphs is to achieve scalable performance on large, streaming graphs. A challenging and relevant example is the graph partition problem. As a combinatorial problem, graph partition is NP-hard, but existing relaxation methods provide reasonable approximate solutions that can be scaled for large graphs. Competitive benchmarks and challenges have proven to be an effective means to advance state-of-the-art performance and foster community collaboration. This paper describes a graph partition challenge with a baseline partition algorithm of sub-quadratic complexity. The algorithm employs rigorous Bayesian inferential methods based on a statistical model that captures characteristics of the real-world graphs. This strong foundation enables the algorithm to address limitations of well-known graph partition approaches such as modularity maximization. This paper describes various aspects of the challenge including: (1) the data sets and streaming graph generator, (2) the baseline partition algorithm with pseudocode, (3) an argument for the correctness of parallelizing the Bayesian inference, (4) different parallel computation strategies such as node-based parallelism and matrix-based parallelism, (5) evaluation metrics for partition correctness and computational requirements, (6) preliminary timing of a Python-based demonstration code and the open source C++ code, and (7) considerations for partitioning the graph in streaming fashion. Data sets and source code for the algorithm as well as metrics, with detailed documentation are available at GraphChallenge.org.Comment: To be published in 2017 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Conference (HPEC

Seismic vulnerability assessment: Methodological elements and applications to the case of Romania

This paper is intended to present some studies undertaken in order to develop a seismic vulnerability estimation system to fit the needs of development of earthquake scenarios and of development of an integrated disaster risk management system for Romania. Methodological aspects are dealt with, in connection with the criteria of categorization of buildings, with the definition of parameters used for characterizing vulnerability, with the setting up of an inventory of buildings and with the calibration of parameters characterizing vulnerability. Action was initiated along the coordinates referred to in connection with the methodological aspects mentioned above. The approach was made, as far as possible, specific to the conditions of Romania. Some data on results obtained to date are presented.seismic vulnerability, vulnerability estimation, earthquake scenarios, categorization of buildings, inventory of buildings, expected earthquake impact

Population Genetic Structure of Endemic and Endangered Yellow Catfish, Horabagrus brachysoma, Using Allozyme Markers

The allozyme variation and population genetic structure of Horabagrus brachysoma in three natural populations from the southern part of theWestern Ghats region, India, were investigated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Variations at 14 loci from 14 enzyme systems were analyzed. The allozyme analysis revealed a high level of genetic variation in this species, with an average of observed alleles per locus of 2.357 and observed heterozygosity of 0.178. The positive value of the fixation index (FIS = 0.507) implied a significant deficiency of heterozygosity at the population level. The highly significant probability (P<0.0001) for the overall loci suggested that the three sample sets were not part of the same gene pool

“Health divide” between indigenous and non-indigenous populations in Kerala, India: Population based study

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to investigate the magnitude and nature of health inequalities between indigenous (Scheduled Tribes) and non-indigenous populations, as well as between different indigenous groups, in a rural district of Kerala State, India. METHODS: A health survey was carried out in a rural community (N = 1660 men and women, 18–96 years). Age- and sex-standardised prevalence of underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m(2)), anaemia, goitre, suspected tuberculosis and hypertension was compared across forward castes, other backward classes and tribal populations. Multi-level weighted logistic regression models were used to estimate the predicted prevalence of morbidity for each age and social group. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition was used to further explore the health gap between tribes and non-tribes, and between subgroups of tribes. RESULTS: Social stratification remains a strong determinant of health in the progressive social policy environment of Kerala. The tribal groups are bearing a higher burden of underweight (46.1 vs. 24.3%), anaemia (9.9 vs. 3.5%) and goitre (8.5 vs. 3.6%) compared to non-tribes, but have similar levels of tuberculosis (21.4 vs. 20.4%) and hypertension (23.5 vs. 20.1%). Significant health inequalities also exist within tribal populations; the Paniya have higher levels of underweight (54.8 vs. 40.7%) and anaemia (17.2 vs. 5.7%) than other Scheduled Tribes. The social gradient in health is evident in each age group, with the exception of hypertension. The predicted prevalence of underweight is 31 and 13 percentage points higher for Paniya and other Scheduled Tribe members, respectively, compared to Forward Caste members 18–30 y (27.1%). Higher hypertension is only evident among Paniya adults 18–30 y (10 percentage points higher than Forward Caste adults of the same age group (5.4%)). The decomposition analysis shows that poverty and other determinants of health only explain 51% and 42% of the health gap between tribes and non-tribes for underweight and goitre, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Policies and programmes designed to benefit the Scheduled Tribes need to promote their well-being in general but also target the specific needs of the most vulnerable indigenous groups. There is a need to enhance the capacity of the disadvantaged to equally take advantage of health opportunities

Identification of female specific protein in seabass, Lates calcarifer (Bloch)

Electrophoretic serum protein profile of female Lates calcarifer reveals appearance of female specific protein during gonadotropic dependent stages of ovarian growth. The protein is conspicuously absent in the serum of maturing males. The protein stains positively for carbohydrate, lipids and calcium indicating it to be vitellogenin. The vitellogenin band first appears in fish with maturing ovaries (stage 3) and stain intense and sharp till stage 4. At stage 5 (ripe) the band appears diffused. The protein is lacking in the serum profile of immature (stage 1), resting preparatory (stage 2) and spent (stage 6) as well as in maturing male fish. The correlative pattern of vitellogenin band with ovarian maturation stages provides evidence of single spawning in L. calcarifer