An exploratory study of women prisoners’ attitudes towards their self-harm and the use of medical skin camouflage

Self-harm is a growing problem in UK prisons with women self-harming more than men. Self-harm can leave permanent scarring. Research on scarring suggests that living with scars can lead to psychological difficulties; however, there is little research on the specific effects of self-harm scars. Medical skin camouflage (MSC) can be used to cover numerous skin conditions. The use of MSC for women in prison with self-harm scars has not been examined previously. A focus group involving 10 women prisoners aimed to (1) explore feelings about self-harm scars, (2) examine effects that scars have on life in prison and (3) examine thoughts on using MSC in prison. This group formed part of a larger project designed to test the feasibility and acceptability of MSC for women who self-harm in prison. A topic guide was created with two service user researchers with experience of self-harm in prison. The results have been divided into three themes: (1) feelings about self-harm scars, (2) covering self-harm scars and (3) attitudes towards MSC. Our findings indicate that women in prison tend to feel embarrassed and self-conscious about their scars, and the presence of scars affects their relationships within prison. The women were enthusiastic about MSC, suggesting that it has the potential to affect women’s well-being and ability to engage with others

A Specific and Rapid Neural Signature for Parental Instinct

Darwin originally pointed out that there is something about infants which prompts adults to respond to and care for them, in order to increase individual fitness, i.e. reproductive success, via increased survivorship of one's own offspring. Lorenz proposed that it is the specific structure of the infant face that serves to elicit these parental responses, but the biological basis for this remains elusive. Here, we investigated whether adults show specific brain responses to unfamiliar infant faces compared to adult faces, where the infant and adult faces had been carefully matched across the two groups for emotional valence and arousal, as well as size and luminosity. The faces also matched closely in terms of attractiveness. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in adults, we found that highly specific brain activity occurred within a seventh of a second in response to unfamiliar infant faces but not to adult faces. This activity occurred in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC), an area implicated in reward behaviour, suggesting for the first time a neural basis for this vital evolutionary process. We found a peak in activity first in mOFC and then in the right fusiform face area (FFA). In mOFC the first significant peak (p<0.001) in differences in power between infant and adult faces was found at around 130 ms in the 10–15 Hz band. These early differences were not found in the FFA. In contrast, differences in power were found later, at around 165 ms, in a different band (20–25 Hz) in the right FFA, suggesting a feedback effect from mOFC. These findings provide evidence in humans of a potential brain basis for the “innate releasing mechanisms” described by Lorenz for affection and nurturing of young infants. This has potentially important clinical applications in relation to postnatal depression, and could provide opportunities for early identification of families at risk

<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-weight: bold" lang="EN-US">Preparation, Evaluation and Storage of Preserve Made from <i>Amla </i>Cultivars Grown in Kandi Area of Punjab State </span>

461-465Studies on fruit characteristics, physico-chemical analysis of fresh pulp and storage quality of preserve were carried out on Amla varieties grown in Kandi area, viz, Chakaiya, Francis and Kanchan. The data helped rank these varieties for preferance as: Francies> Chakaiya > Kanchan, as fruits of Francis variety were characterized with highest fruit mass of 40.65 g. shape index of 0.84, seed:pulp ratio of 1.16.6, TSS (10°Brix), pectin (0.54 per cent), protein (0.73 per cent) and overall sensory score. Fruits of Chakaiya variety were placed next due to its overall sensory performance, shape index of 0.83, seed: pulp ratio of 1.16 and protein (0.71 per cent), with high levels of tannins (1.09 per cent). Fruits of Kanchan variety were characterized by high level of ascorbic acid (540 mg/100 g). Ascorbic acid suffered the highest losses during processing (75 per cent) and upon storage (40 to 43 per cent). Reducing sugars, TSS and pH increased during six month storage of preserve at ambient temperature (12-38°C) while acidity declined. The tannins decreased from 8.0 to 10.3 per cent. Varieties and storage period showed significant effects on sensory scores (p < 0.05). All the three varieties were suitable for preserve making

New Nanoaggregates of Crosslinked Laccase for Reactive Red Bioremediation

Environmental concerns have led to an increased interest in developing green technologies for bioremediation of wastewater pollutants. In view of this, laccases have emerged as attractive green catalysts due to their applicability in oxidizing broad range of substrates. In the present work laccase was extracted from Coriolus versicolor (MTCC 138) and stabilized by formation of new crosslinked laccase nanoaggregates (CLNAs) using two different crosslinkers-N,N-methylenebisacrylamide (N, N-MBAAm) and ethyleneglycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA). Evaluation of laccase activity profile of the free as well as the well characterized CLNAs was carried out, and these were used in reactive red (RR) bioremediation. The CLNAs showed enriched catalytic activity at different temperatures and pH than the free laccase, good reusability when studied up to six cycles, and thermal and storage stability. CLNAs exhibited good bioremediation ability, which was enhanced in the presence of 1-hydroxybenzo triazole (HBT), a laccase mediator.</jats:p

Nanoparticles of oxidized-cellulose synthesized by green method

Site specific drug delivery is the foremost requisite for chemotherapy to avoid the associated side effects. For this, stimuli-responsiveness of the drug delivery device is of great interest to selectively release the loaded drug to the tumor cells. Herein, the oxidized cellulose nanoparticles (OCNPs) were synthesized by oxidation of cellulose with 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO) and sodium periodate followed by sonication. Doxorubicin (Dox), as model anticancer drug, was loaded on the synthesized OCNPs via pH-responsive linkages between functional groups of Dox and OCNPs. Its release behaviour was studied in medium of different pH values. Dox release was maximum at pH 5.0 and pH 6.8 i.e., endosomal and extracellular pH, respectively in tumor tissue, and minimum at physiological pH 7.4 of normal tissues. Various mathematical models were applied to elucidate the release mechanism of the Dox from the loaded OCNPs. Dox release followed non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. The results suggest that these pH-responsive OCNPs are effective and promising Dox-delivery carriers for cancer treatment and capable of reducing side-effects of this anticancer drug to the normal cells. Keywords: Green synthesis, Oxidized-cellulose nanoparticles, Site specific drug delivery, Non-Fickian diffusio