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Tropical filamentous marine cyanobacteria have emerged as a viable source of novel bioactive natural products for drug discovery and development. In the present study, aplysiatoxin (1), debromoaplysiatoxin (2) and anhydrodebromoaplysiatoxin (3), as well as two new analogues, 3-methoxyaplysiatoxin (4) and 3-methoxydebromoaplysiatoxin (5), are reported for the first time from the marine cyanobacterium Trichodesmium erythraeum. The identification of the bloom-forming cyanobacterial strain was confirmed based on phylogenetic analysis of its 16S rRNA sequences. Structural determination of the new analogues was achieved by extensive NMR spectroscopic analysis and comparison with NMR spectral data of known compounds. In addition, the antiviral activities of these marine toxins were assessed using Chikungunya virus (CHIKV)-infected cells. Post-treatment experiments using the debrominated analogues, namely compounds 2, 3 and 5, displayed dose-dependent inhibition of CHIKV when tested at concentrations ranging from 0.1 µM to 10.0 µM. Furthermore, debromoaplysiatoxin (2) and 3-methoxydebromoaplysiatoxin (5) exhibited significant anti-CHIKV activities with EC50 values of 1.3 μM and 2.7 μM, respectively, and selectivity indices of 10.9 and 9.2, respectively.

Aim: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the state anxiety (the present state of mind), trait anxiety (general anxiety), as well as perceived stress in women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment at three stages: T1 (on the day of start of stimulation), T2 (on the day of embryo transfer), and T3 (10 days after embryo transfer). The data at T3 level were collected telephonically. Methodology: The present study was carried out on 137 women undergoing IVF intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle at four different clinics of four cities from October to April 2016. State-trait anxiety inventory (Spielberger) and perceived stress scale (Okun, et al.) were used as the tools. Statistical Analysis: The analysis was done at two levels; descriptive and inferential (analysis of variance [ANOVA], Student's t-test, Levene's test) using SPSS v16. Results: The state anxiety was higher at all the three levels than trait anxiety. The overt anxiety was highest at T3 level (mean = 45.77) followed by T1 level (mean = 44.23) and T2 level (mean = 43.04). Perceived stress was elevated at T1 level (mean = 17.93) followed by T3 level (mean = 17.28) and T2 level (mean = 16.72). The results of ANOVA showed a significant difference in anxiety among all the three levels (P = 0.036), but no significant difference was found for perceived stress (P = 0.169). t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between state and trait anxiety at T1, T2, and T3 levels (P = 0.01, P = 0.21, P = 0.00, respectively). A significant difference was only seen between the T1 and T2 levels in perceived stress (P = 0.052). In state anxiety, a significant difference was observed only between T2 and T3 levels (P = 0.23). Conclusion: It was observed that anxiety and stress are present in women throughout the treatment. The waiting period (T3) is the most anxious for them and their level of state anxiety is higher compared to their trait anxiety. Perceived stress is observed to be more on the day of start of stimulation followed by the waiting period.

A descriptive study was undertaken to assess the effectiveness of Structured Teaching Programme on blood donation among the college going students of selected colleges of Ludhiana, Punjab. A quasi experimental study with single group pretest-posttest design was conducted on a total of 50 college going students. Structured Teaching Programme on blood donation was developed. Based on Structured Teaching Programme, a Self Structured Questionnaire was prepared to assess the pretest-posttest knowledge scores of study subjects regarding blood donation. Descriptive and inferential statistical tests were used for data analysis. Findings of the study revealed that the mean posttest knowledge scores (23.78) of subjects regarding blood donation were significantly (p 0.05) association between the posttest knowledge scores of the subjects on blood donation and their birth order in the family, habitat, type of family and monthly family income. Hence, administration of Structured Teaching Programme on blood donation was very effective on college going students.

Highlights • There is an urgent need for antivirals against Chikungunya virus (CHIKV), a medically significant virus. • Novel compounds with viral targets offer a new direction for anti-CHIKV research. • More research into CHIKV biology is required to identify new viral targets., Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) has re-emerged as a significant public health threat since the 2005 chikungunya fever epidemic in La Réunion. Driven by the medical importance of this virus, as well as the lack of approved antivirals, research into the field of CHIKV antivirals has recently intensified. Potential therapeutics that have been reported to show anti-CHIKV activity in vitro range from known broad-spectrum antivirals like chloroquine to novel strategies involving RNA silencing technology. Although most of the earlier efforts focused on compounds that target host components, some recent studies have reported viral targets such as nonstructural proteins. This article examines the reported in vitro and in vivo efficacies, as well as the therapeutic potential of these antiviral compounds.

PurposeThis study was designed to study the variations in different geometrical and dosimetric parameters.Materials and methodsIn this study, two groups comprises 21 and 28 patients, who were treated with 9·5 Gy × 2 Fx and 7·5 Gy × 3 Fx, respectively, using microselectron high-dose rate (HDR) remote control unit. All patients were analysed using orthogonal radiographs to evaluate variations in different parameters.ResultsVariations in different parameters are more in Group II patients than in Group I patients, which show that the variation in geometrical and dosimetrical parameters increases with increasing HDR number of fractions.ConclusionIn the reporting of an outcome of multiple fractionation of HDR treatments resultant dosimetric parameters must be evaluated and must be used for clinical interpretation.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted virus that has reemerged as a significant public health threat in the last decade. Since the 2005-2006 chikungunya fever epidemic in the Indian Ocean island of La Réunion, millions of people in more than 40 countries have been infected. Despite this, there is currently no antiviral treatment for chikungunya infection. In this study, an immunofluorescence-based screening platform was developed to identify potential inhibitors of CHIKV infection. A primary screen was performed using a highly purified natural product compound library, and 44 compounds exhibiting ≥70% inhibition of CHIKV infection were identified as positive hits. Among these, four were selected for dose-dependent inhibition assays to confirm their anti-CHIKV activity. Harringtonine, a cephalotaxine alkaloid, displayed potent inhibition of CHIKV infection (50% effective concentration [EC 50 ] = 0.24 μM) with minimal cytotoxicity and was selected for elucidation of its antiviral mechanism. Time-of-addition studies, cotreatment assays, and direct transfection of viral genomic RNA indicated that harringtonine inhibited an early stage of the CHIKV replication cycle which occurred after viral entry into cells. In addition, quantitative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) and Western blot analyses indicated that harringtonine affects CHIKV RNA production as well as viral protein expression. Treatment of harringtonine against Sindbis virus, a related alphavirus, suggested that harringtonine could inhibit other alphaviruses. This study suggests for the first time that harringtonine exerts its antiviral effects by inhibiting CHIKV viral protein synthesis.

The plaque assay is an essential method for quantification of infectious virus titer. Cells infected with virus particles are overlaid with a viscous substrate. A suitable incubation period results in the formation of plaques, which can be fixed and stained for visualization. Here, we describe a method for measuring Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) titers via virus plaque assays.

The plaque assay is an essential method for quantification of infectious virus titer. Cells infected with virus particles are overlaid with a viscous substrate. A suitable incubation period results in the formation of plaques, which can be fixed and stained for visualization. Here, we describe a method for measuring Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) titers via virus plaque assays.

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) represents a spectrum of mesenchymal tumors, encompassing tumors previously termed hemangiopericytoma, as having intermediate biological potential. Though they can occur at any site, lower distal extremity is a rare site and recurrence in it is extremely rare. Behavior of SFT is unpredictable. Histomorphology and clinical follow-up have poor correlation. The most important single indicator of clinical outcome is complete excision of the tumor at the time of primary presentation. Tumors with positive margins require close follow-up for several years owing to the potential for late local recurrence.

Iqrar is a form of bayyinah or evidence which could be tendered during trial at the syariah court. The syariah evidential principles renders it relevant and admissible with varying effect. Iqrar sorih or confession, once admitted by court, would become binding against the accused. In such a scenario, the court may convict the accused based on such confession without any need for further proof. On the other hand, the court may also admit an admission or iqrar kinayah but it could never convict the accused based on such admission alone. In other words, based on admissibility of such admission, a court could only convict the accused should such admission is further corroborated and strengthened by other evidence. This article however observes that the strength of a confession very mush depends on voluntariness of the maker of the confession. There is also some confusion among syariah practitioners as regards to the difference between both forms of iqrar. The conducted research is pure legal and qualitative in nature. Data and materials on iqrar confession and admission are collected via library research method. These data and materials are then analysed using critical and content methodologies.. This article analyses the relevancy and admissibility of iqrar confession and admission in the eyes of syariah evidential principles. It then strives at identifying problems relating to its admissibility and interpretation. This article eventually offers some ideas on ways of avoiding future misinterpretation of iqrar while simultaneously looking into some ideas on how to improve its application.

The present study was attempted to make an insight into the immediate memory span for digits among the school children aged (10-12 years) and its relation with different socio-economic variables. A sample of 204 school going children was selected purposively from Hisar city in Haryana. They were tested individually for memory span with the help of PGI Memory scale and other aspects were studied with the help of a pre-structured interview schedule. The results showed that overall mean span of memory were 6. 04 in 10-11years and 6. 06 in 11-12 years. This shows that immediate memory span increases gradually and slowly with age. On studying the association of memory span and various socio-economic variables, it has been found that Age, sex, family type and type of school were not related significantly to memory span. Whereas, income, caste, education, occupation of father and school environment showed a statistically significant relationship.

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a re-emerging mosquito-borne alphavirus that has recently engendered large epidemics around the world. There is no specific antiviral for treatment of patients infected with CHIKV and development of compounds with significant anti-CHIKV activity that can be further developed to a practical therapy is urgently required. Andrographolide is derived from Andrographis paniculata, a herb traditionally used to treat a number of conditions including infections. This study sought to determine the potential of andrographolide as an inhibitor of CHIKV infection. Andrographolide showed good inhibition of CHIKV infection and reduced virus production by approximately 3log10 with a 50% effective concentration (EC50) of 77 μM without cytotoxicity. Time-of-addition and RNA transfection studies showed that andrographolide affected CHIKV replication and the activity of andrographolide was shown to be cell type independent. This study suggests that andrographolide has the potential to be developed further as an anti-CHIKV therapeutic agent.

The take up by SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) of work based training in many areas of the UK is patchy, in spite of, in many case, well established benefits that can accrue from its adoption. A study based in the West Midlands has been investigating the training needs of local SMEs, and the mechanisms of delivery, which would facilitate the ease of adoption by the target group. This paper presents the results from a pilot study and considers the implications resulting from the analysis. Twelve companies took part, and training needs analyses completed for 66 employees.

Background The optimal treatment of early syphilis (primary, secondary and early latent) in HIV-infected patients remains controversial. The Center for Diseases Control STD Treatment Guidelines recommended 1 dose of benzathine penicillin G (BPG) regardless of HIV infection. However, many providers modify the treatment for early syphilis. Methods We performed a retrospective chart review of all cases of early syphilis with positive serologic test results in HIV-infected patients from May 2006 to May 2011 in 2 large, urban HIV clinics. Early syphilis includes primary, secondary, and early latent syphilis. Serological failure was defined as a lack of 4-fold decrease in rapid plasma reagent (RPR) titers 9 to 12 months after syphilis treatment. Patients whose RPR titers decreased after treatment and subsequently increased 4-fold at 9 to 12 months were excluded from the analysis of serological response because of possibility as “reinfection”. Baseline characteristics were tested as predictive factors of serological failure using a univariate and multivariate logistic regression model, respectively. Results Of 560 patients with confirmed cases of early syphilis, 51 (9.0%) experienced serological failure. Multivariate logistic regression modeling demonstrated that the predictive factors associated with serological failure after early syphilis treatment were baseline RPR titer ≤ 1:16 (OR 3.91 [95% CI, 2.04-7.47]), a previous history of syphilis (OR 3.12 [95% CI, 1.55-6.26]), and a CD4 T-cell count below 350 cells/ml (OR 2.41 [95% CI, 1.27-4.56]). Of note, type of syphilis treatment (1 dose versus 3 doses of BPG) did not appear to affect the proportion of serological failure (4% versus 10%, P = 0.29), however the power of this study to detect small differences was limited. Conclusions HIV-infected patients with baseline RPR titer ≤1:16, syphilis history, and/or a CD4 T-cell count 1 dose of BPG and decreased frequency of serological failure, supporting the current recommendation that one dose of BPG is adequate treatment for early syphilis in HIV-infected patients.

Occurrence of pneumothorax in silicosis is rare and when it occurs, pneumothorax is usually unilateral. We report here a patient with accelerated silicosis who presented with bilateral spontaneous pneumothoraces occurring simultaneously. The rarity of its clinical presentation in the form of bilateral simultaneous spontaneous pneumothorax combined with the typical clinical and radiological features of accelerated silicosis with tuberculosis make us to report this case.

This study was designed to increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the link between childhood maltreatment and suicidality in adulthood using the theoretical framework of Hope Theory (Snyder, 1991). Two hundred university students between the ages of 18 and 60 took part in the study. One hundred participants were pre-selected for having suicidal behaviour histories and 100 participants were pre-selected for having no previous suicidal behaviours. In total, 34 males and 166 females participated in groups of five to ten. The following measures were administered to all participants in the same order: Hope Scale (HS; Snyder et al.,1991); Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS; Beck & Steer, 1988), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ: Bernstein & Fink, 1998); Suicide Behaviours Questionnaire (SBQ-14; Linehan, 1996); and the Linehan Reasons for Living Inventory (LRFL; Linehan, Goodstein, Neilsen, & Chiles, 1983). The results revealed strong correlations between hope, suicidal behaviours, child maltreatment, reasons for living, and hopelessness. Participants with either a history of childhood maltreatment or a history of suicidal behaviours had lower hope, lower pathways thinking and lower agency than did participants without histories of either childhood maltreatment or suicidality. Although the interaction between hope and overall child maltreatment did not explain suicidal behaviours, suicidal behaviour was significantly affected by the interaction between emotional abuse and hope. Furthermore, hope partially mediated the relationship between childhood maltreatment and adult suicidal behaviours. In conclusion, this study shows that hope plays an important role in the relation between childhood maltreatment and suicidal action. The findings support the notion that the development of hope can serve as a protective factor against suicidal behaviour in early adulthood.

This article examines C. R. Snyder's (1994, 2000a) theory of hope and its application for understanding suicide. Strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the suicide literature are outlined, and A. T. Beck's theory of hopelessness is compared with Snyder's hope theory. Hope theory constructs are used to examine the relationship of suicide to hope/hopelessness, goals, pathways thinking, and agency thinking. This critical review is intended to broaden our theoretical understanding of suicide and is meant to form the basis for future empirical investigation of suicide-related behavior using the framework of hope theory. Implications for suicide prevention programs and approaches to treating suicidal individuals are outlined.

The Web-based learning environment (WBLE) has the capability to incorporate many modalities (text, graphics, audio and video) and their combinations into one single medium for instructional purposes. However, when each modality combination is used, information is extracted differently through the information pathways by the learners, resulting in varying levels of memory storage. This article reports on the comparative analysis between the three different types of modality combinations (text + graphics, text+ graphics + audio, text+ graphics +video) in the WBLE in terms of the instructional outcomes as perceived by the students. The Post Hoc Test for multiple comparisons revealed that the hierarchical modality combination with text + graphics + audio exhibited the highest mean score followed by the text + graphics combination. The text + graphics + video combination exhibited the lowest mean score. The effect of information degradation from the excessive rates of transmission through multi-channel communication is highlighted and discussed.

Reversal theory posits that individuals reverse between being in a telic state (serious-minded) and a paratelic state (playful). Individuals can also be dominant in one of the two states, and thus telic and paratelic dominance was investigated in the present study. One hundred and forty-two undergraduate students volunteered to participate in the study. All participants were exposed to failure feedback on an initial test, and then half were informed it was possible to change their score on the subsequent test while the other half were told that due to high correlations between the two tests, it was typically impossible to improve their scores on the second test. Although strong effects of perceived control were not observed and the hypotheses were not confirmed, additional analyses revealed that telic and paratelic dominance influenced mood, telic and paratelic state and coping styles. Overall, telic dominant individuals expressed more negative mood, were more likely to be in a telic state, and engaged in more emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping, while paratelic dominant individuals expressed more positive mood, were more likely to be in a paratelic state, and engaged in more problem-focused coping. Although most of the results are supported by reversal theory, the findings for coping styles appear to contradict the literature. A plausible explanation is provided for the inconsistent results observed with coping styles.Dept. of Psychology. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2002 .G74. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 41-04, page: 1216. Adviser: Kathryn Lafreniere. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2002.

"Culture is the soul of the organization that holds it together and gives it life force" (Henry Mintzberg) Culture is the personality of an organization. Therefore, culture governs much of how people think, act, interact with each other, and do their work. In organizations, the prevailing culture acts as a catalyst in revolutionizing the emotional competence and motivational levels among employees. It is extremely powerful in determining the present and future success and the direction of any organization. An HRD Audit is like an annual health check-up, it plays a vital role in instilling a sense of confidence in the management of HR functions of an organization. In terms of T.V.Rao "HRD audit is a comprehensive evaluation of the existing human resource development strategies, structure, systems, styles and skills in accordance with both short-term and long-term business plans of the organization. This evaluation helps the organization to have a clear understanding of the lacunae and than align the HR processes with Business goals" The article highlights the basic elements of HRD culture. It focuses on the importance of audit of HRD culture, and and then attempts to throw some light on methods of improvements expected when organizations take initiative in Auditing HRD Culture.