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Introduction Classically IgA in the gut prevents the invasion of microorganisms to systemic organs through the process of neutralization and immune exclusion. Interestingly, recent reports suggest that IgA might help in biofilm formation and promote bacterial growth inside the intestine. Methods In this study, we used flow cytometry, ELISA and chemical models of colitis to test whether the quality and quantity of IgA can select for bacterial persistence in the gut. Results We found that members of Proteobacteria such as γ-Proteobacteria and SFB are preferentially coated by IgA in WT mice. In partial absence of either T-dependent or T-independent IgA responses, there are no significant differences in the frequency of bacteria coated with IgA in mice. However, in, Rag-/- mice that lack all antibodies, had a severe reduction in Proteobacteria and were resistant to DSS induced colitis, suggesting that secretory IgA might be essential for differential retention of these taxa in the mouse gut. Rag-/- littermates in the F2 generation generated from (B6 x Rag-/-) F1 mice acquired the underrepresented bacteria taxa such as γ-Proteobacteria through vertical transmission of flora and died soon after weaning possibly due to the acquired flora. Additionally, continued exposure of Rag-/- mice to B6 flora by cohousing mice led to the acquisition of γ-Proteobacteria and to mortality. Conclusion Together, our results indicate that host survival in the complete absence of an IgA response necessitates the exclusion of certain bacterial taxa from the gut microbiome.

A series of exchanges with ChatGPT on the theme of violence is presented. As an AI language model, ChatGPT is unable to endorse any form of violence but can serve to conceptualise it. Hypothetical scenarios which resonate with contemporary concerns are considered. Apart from correcting some of SG's typos, nothing has been changed. None of ChatGPT’s responses were regenerated. SG has inserted some subheadings for ease of reading. There are two sides to this exercise: (a) to test the capacities of this language model, and (b) to consider the tenor of the concepts in question.

Yes, that's correct! The paper proposes a solution that utilizes blockchain and AI technologies to ensure the secure and transparent distribution of medical drugs across the supply chain. The system employs smart contracts and a Rasa chatbot integrated into a Flutter app to enable ordering and traceability of medicines. Additionally, the system includes a blockchain-based credit evaluation mechanism to enhance the trustworthiness of the supply chain participants. The smart contracts are deployed on a local blockchain provided by Ganache, and the DApp is connected to the blockchain using Web3.js and Truffle framework. The system also includes trade chain and information chain platforms to construct an overall framework of the supply chain system. Platform interaction rules are formulated to standardize the system information exchange format and ensure the stability and efficiency of system interaction. Smart contracts are a type of digital contract that is designed to automatically execute predefined actions when certain conditions are met. In the context of supply chain systems, smart contracts can be used to facilitate and manage transactions between different parties, as well as to ensure the accuracy and integrity of supply chain information. By using smart contracts, supply chain stakeholders can improve the efficiency of their interactions, reduce transaction costs, and enhance the security and reliability of their data. The experimental results show that the proposed system is feasible and comparatively more secure than existing systems. While the system realizes the basic functions of the supply chain, it also promotes the sharing of information between participants and improves its efficiency. Summary of the text: The text discusses the application of blockchain in supply chain management, specifically for product traceability, and mentions the use of smart contracts to automate processes. The problem of drug counterfeiting is highlighted as a particular area where blockchain can provide benefits. The integration of artificial intelligence and Rasa is also briefly mentioned. The text concludes by emphasizing the need for further research and development in the practical applications and architectures of blockchain in supply chain management.

Focusing on the aftermath of the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the resulting austerity policies, the Occupy movement slogan ‘We are the 99%’ and the catchphrases ‘the 99%’ and ‘the 1%’ are analysed. Unlike catchphrases/words examined in earlier chapters, which were mainly introduced top-down, these exemplify a bottom-up movement, appearing as banners of protest. These also offer an opportunity to pause on the popular conception of statistical signifiers, which both draws upon and is at odds with the practice of statistics. There are two sections. The first concentrates on the use of these statistical figures as metaphors for political mobilization. The means through which they were disseminated during the Occupy protests are outlined, as are the debates for and against the protests woven around them. The second section summarizes the statistical researches from which these catchphrases derived. Those concerned the measurement of income inequality in terms of fractiles. It is argued that while those researches sharpened the understanding of inequality and served to raise popular awareness of the issue, the erstwhile strong association between inequality and poverty was loosened—to some degree, the social condition of poverty was defocused. The pros and cons of such measurements for political mobilization are considered.

Though everyday usage of the word ‘normal’ is now habitual and its meaning is taken as common sense, it has a relatively recent provenance (late eighteenth century in English) and emerged squarely from specialist and professional areas—in particular, from statistical and biomedical disciplines. In fact, both in its various specialist connotations and, relatedly, in popular discourses, the concept of the ‘normal’ has a critical place in modern knowledge construction and dissemination. This chapter considers what habituation to the catchphrase ‘new normal’ in so many contexts means for the concept of the ‘normal’ itself. It is possible that continuous usage of the catchphrase, even if unthinkingly, could implicitly shift the ground of what is commonly understood as ‘normal’. This argument is woven through well-defined conceptualizations of the ‘normal’ with various consonant and contradistinctive terms in specific contexts (with reference to the work of Georges Canguilhem, Michel Foucault, Lennard Davis, Michael Warner, Julian Carter, Sarah Igo, Anna Creadick, and Peter Cryle and Elizabeth Stevens). From a different direction, the implications of ‘new normal’ in relation to formulations of ‘normal science’ and ‘post-normal science’ are also picked up.

Here the theoretical principles which have underpinned this study are set out. A distinctive approach to contemporary history is outlined and a theory of political catchphrases proposed. Three arguments are presented. The first considers what ‘contemporary’ means in contemporary history. Several conceptions of contemporaneity in historicizing are considered. Departing from them, it is suggested that contemporary history is mainly characterized by being engaged from within a prevailing idiom; catchphrases are a particular facet of prevailing and shifting idiomaticity. The second argument concerns the meaning of the ‘political’ in political catchphrases. In this instance, the argument is pursued by examining various dictionaries of political expressions and terms. The erasure of the distinction between political and commercial appears as a noteworthy feature of the present. The third argument elaborates on the catchiness of catchphrases by unpacking how ‘keywords’ work. Here keywords are understood as a device for organizing and searching texts.

The differences between political and commercial catchphrases are described. A pragmatic approach to engaging with contemporary history is proposed, and some of the challenges of historicizing the present are noted. These are discussed to the degree needed at this initial stage to proceed towards the case studies in subsequent chapters, with further elaboration deferred to the final chapter. The design of the study as a whole is outlined. The sequence of chapters covering cases studies is explained, and some of the cross-connections are highlighted. The case studies, it is observed, may be read independently of each other but would be more profitably read in relation to each other and as developing a continuous argument.

This chapter begins by considering examples of sentences in which the phrase ‘new normal’ was used amidst the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. It then looks back and tracks the career of the catchphrase from US Vice President Dick Cheney’s reference to a ‘new normalcy’ of security arrangements following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the USA. In relation to 9/11, the ‘new normal’ also indicated a traumatized environment and a pressured legal field where rule-of-law tenets seemed to be undermined. The different nuances of the catchphrase in business and investment circles, first with the 2002 dot-com crash and then more widely with the 2007–2008 financial crisis and subsequent austerity measures are outlined. The wider purchase of the catchphrase from 2010 onwards is described. Notably, it appeared as a slogan for Chinese economic policy from 2014. Other significant contexts of usage were for flexible-working drives, growing concern about climate change, and exacerbating income inequality.

This chapter discusses two policy catchwords which caught on around 2010 and have found renewed currency in 2020. ‘Austerity’ became a catchword in UK political discourse in 2010, when Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s government introduced wide-ranging cuts in public spending following the 2007–2008 financial crisis. It was initially reminiscent of post-World War II ‘austerity’ and was immediately received as such. Shortly after that, however, the term moved out of policy circles and was principally used by opponents of austerity policies. This passage of the catchword is traced here with a particular focus on the period 2008–2010. A following section is devoted to ‘resilience’. Emerging from 1980s’ ecological economics, ‘resilience’, alongside ‘sustainability’, also became a policy catchword around 2010, especially within legislative and management circles. It suggested a desirable and measurable quality of institutions and organizations, which could help rationalize investments and financial management. In this chapter, the rationales fronted by the catchword are examined with particular reference to the policies of a key cultural institution in the UK, the Arts Council, for the period 2010–2017.

A historical account of the period 2001–2020 is presented by focusing on the shifting connotations of certain political catchphrases and words. These allow for a linked-up narrative covering areas such as politics and policy, business and investing, austerity and inequality, identity, climate change, crowd protests, flexible working, and online education. Key junctures are 9/11, the 2002 dot-com crash and the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the Occupy movements of 2011–2012, China’s economic policy from 2014 onwards, and the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Half the book is devoted to the unusually pervasive usage of the catchphrase ‘new normal’. Chapters are also given to ‘we are the 99%’ and the catchwords ‘austerity’ and ‘resilience’. Case studies of these catchphrases and words occupy much of the book. The final chapter makes conceptual inferences and proposes both a theory of political catchphrases and a distinctive approach to contemporary history. The source materials are predominantly from the UK and USA, but refer, naturally, to issues of global moment. The book would be of particular interest to students and researchers in politics and policy studies, contemporary social history, cultural studies and sociology, discourse analysis, and media studies. While following an academic format, it is written in an accessible style and would appeal to all who are alive to the momentous developments that are unfolding at present.

On the eve of the COVID-19 outbreak, early in 2020, the catchphrase ‘new normal’ was being used with reference to freak weather events and anti-government protests in numerous countries. With the outbreak, it became predominantly attached to the lockdowns and restrictions that followed. This chapter argues that while the ‘new normal’ seemed to become denotative of the COVID-19 social condition itself, its prior resonances were not replaced—they seemed to accrue into the present, at times making the catchphrase opaque. That is to say, users often felt that the catchphrase was being overused, had become a cliché, or acquired an ironic ring. Nevertheless, it continued to be ever more intensively used. In tracing usage of the catchphrase in 2020, the chapter finds echoes of 9/11 amidst pandemic measures, and considers the imperative turn towards working from home and particularly online education, the effect of the pandemic on the impoverished and minorities, anxiety in business and investment circles, and speculation on the ‘next normal’. Increasing polarized political confrontations are described at the end, with particular attention to the global protests following the murder of George Floyd and then the US presidential elections. Amidst these a ‘return to normal’ (‘build back better’) as well as opposition to the pre-pandemic ‘new normal’ were variously mooted.

Grapefruit peel essential oil exhibited antioxidant and antibacterial activities attributed to their phenolic and flavonoid compounds. In this study, nanoemulsion of grapefruit peel essential oil and carrageenan was investigated for their antioxidant properties. The oil in water (o/w) emulsion was formulated with 0.5% and 1.0% (w/v) grapefruit peel essential oil and carrageenan. Carrageenan was utilised as an encapsulating agent to decrease volatility of essential oil and increase its stability. The resulting nanoemulsion was characterised using transmission electron microscopes (TEM), ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectrophotometry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Nanoemulsion formulated with 0.5% grapefruit peel essential oil exhibited strong radical scavenging 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) effects showing the highest half maximal effective concentration value (EC50) at 83.4 ± 1.4 mg l−1 and revealed the highest total phenolic content (80.1 ± 11.8 mg GAE/g) in comparison with 1.0% grapefruit peel essential oil-nanoemulsion and free grapefruit peel essential oil (2.0% w/v). The cytotoxicity of nanoemulsion prepared from grapefruit peel essential oil against HeLa cells also exhibited higher than 90% of cell viability, which was not affected by the formulation of nanoemulsion. The incorporation of grapefruit peel essential oil into nanoemulsion improved its stability while retaining its bioactivity and non-toxicity.

Biobeds are an important tool to check point source of pesticide contamination and treat on-farm generated pesticide waste. The present study reports retention and degradation of azoxystrobin and i...

Despite the availability of effective medication, blood pressure control rates are low, particularly in low‐ and middle‐income countries. Adherence to medication and follow‐up visits are important factors in blood pressure control. This study assessed the effectiveness of reminder telephone calls on follow‐up visits and blood pressure control among hypertensive patients as part of the Mumbai Hypertension Project. This project was initiated by PATH with the support from Resolve to Save Lives from January 2019 to February 2020. The study included hypertensive patients attending 164 private practices in Mumbai, India; practitioners screened all adults visiting their clinic during the project period. Among 13 184 hypertensive patients registered, the mean age was 53 years (SD = 12.38) and 52% were female. Among the 11 544 patients that provided phone numbers and gave consent for follow‐up calls, 9528 responded to phone calls at least once and 5250 patients followed up at least once. Of the 5250 patients, 82% visited the clinic for follow‐up visit within one month after receiving the phone call. The blood pressure control rate among those who answered phone calls and who did not answer phone calls increased from 23.6% to 48.8% (P

The two-year B.Ed. programme has three components, i.e. theory, practicum and internship. Sessional work and internship programme in teacher education are of great significance because they ensure the preparation of prospective teachers in a professional manner. The study dealt with the perceptions, experiences and challenges of the pupil teachers during their internship and sessional work. The sample for the study was chosen from the college where the author was working and consisted of 80 student-teachers selected through random sampling. Data was collected using an openended questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that studentteachers viewed the internship programme as a real opportunity to refine and improve their teaching skills in an actual school setting. Student-teachers were also of the view that the concerned supervisor played an important role in enhancing their teaching skills. The results of the interviews showed that hands-on experiences and longer duration of field experience helped the students in understanding the classroom teaching process in a better manner. The challenges perceived by student-teachers were mainly in the area of classroom management, long distance of practice school from home, a large number of lesson plans, conducting constructivist approach-based lessons at the school level, administration, scoring and interpretation of psychological tests, data collection for action research, preparing presentations for sessional work, etc. Some measures were also suggested by student- teachers for making the internship programme and sessional work more fruitful.

A tricyclazole selective chitosan/Fe3O4 magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer (MMIP) was synthesized using non-covalent binding polymerization involving methacrylic acid (MAA) as functional monomer, divinylbenzene (DVB-80) as crosslinker, 2,2'-azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator, acetonitrile/toluene (75:25, v/v) as porogenic solvent and tricyclazole as template. Surface morphology and magnetic characterization of the prepared imprinted and non-imprinted polymers were done using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and vibrating sample magnetometry, respectively. The adsorption kinetic data fitted best in pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption equilibrium was achieved in 30 min and the maximum binding capacity was 4579.9 µg/g. The Freundlich isotherm model was found suitable for explaining the binding isotherm data (R2 > 0.99). Negative values of thermodynamic parameters ∆G (Gibb’s free energy), ∆H (enthalpy), and ∆S (entropy) revealed exothermic and spontaneous nature of adsorption processes. It also revealed decreased randomness at the solid–liquid interface during sorption. The scatchard plot analysis suggested heterogeneity of binding sites on MMIPs. The molecular recognition selectivity of MMIPs towards tricyclazole was much higher, as compared to its structural analogues, tebuconazole (α = 28.58) and hexaconazole (α = 37.16). The MMIPs were successfully applied to separate and enrich tricyclazole from fortified samples of rice and water, with a recovery percentage of 89.4% and 90.9%, respectively. These reusable imprinted polymers possessing high selectivity and specificity can be utilized as an adsorbent for solid-phase extraction in sample preparation for tricyclazole residue analysis in complex environmental matrices.

Background and Objectives: Infant and young child nutrition is extremely important as it is required for good health throughout the life. The purpose of the study was to assess the current infant feeding practices in children between the age group of 6 months –2 years, to find the reason for inappropriate complementary feeding practices and to assess the knowledge of mothers regarding complementary feeding. Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted in Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (AIMSR), Bathinda. Data was collected by interviewing 300 mothers on a pre-designed, semi-structured proforma with specific questionnaire. Results: Among 300 children studied, 78% of children were exclusively breastfed, 11.3% of children were mixed fed and 10.7% were top fed. In our study, 65.3 % mothers had adequate milk, so they introduced complementary feed at later age; 16.7% mothers were unaware about the weaning schedule; In 13.3% cases, child refused to eat; Poverty in 3.3% cases; traditional belief in 0.7% and inability to digest feed in 0.7% cases were the reason for late introduction of complementary feed. Conclusion: From data collected in our study, its important that regular counselling of mothers, their family members or friends is done regarding feeding practices, proper hygiene, what to do and what not to do during complementary feeding period. This counselling can be done during antenatal visits, during hospital stay and postnatal visits. This will help in managing knowledge gaps still persisting among society regarding feeding practices.

This paper explores the emergence of and policies and practices underpinning ‘social enterprise’ in Britain: that is, the concept that businesses could provide social services and benefits while returning profits to those who have invested in them. This paper argues that, in Britain, the concept was massaged into existence and adopted as a business and policy model at a particular historical juncture, in the later 1990s and early 2000s. The process involved a careful interweaving of linguistic maneuvers with financial calculations both at the level of specific businesses and at that of political regimes. This process is traced here with reference to a specific organization, the Big Issue, and a particular policy regime, introduced by the New Labour government between 1997 and 2005. For the former, the transition from business activity focused on the Big Issue magazine to brokering activities for the “social enterprise” sector generally is tracked. The New Labour government’s concurrent focus on “social exclusion” and rearticulation of terms denoting sectors providing public services are traced. Thus, light is thrown on the relationship between the strategic terminology deployed at the ground-level of business operations and the top-down level of governmental policy and welfare restructuring in this period.

A rapid and efficient loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method was developed for the detection of Fusarium graminearum, predominant Fusarium spp. for causing head blight of wheat in many wheat growing countries including India. The four LAMP primers were designed from partial sequence of Fusarium graminearum chromosome 1, complete genome (accession No. HG970332.2 using region (GenBank Accession No. AY937106.1), unique to F. graminearum. The reaction temperature and ratio of outer/inner primers and optimal Mg2 + concentration for reaction efficiency were standardized. Colorimetric detection of LAMP assay showed the presence of blue colour in F. graminearum, while violet color was observed in negative reaction after adding hydroxyl napthol blue (HNB) dye. Likewise, adding 0.6 mg of ethidium bromide/ml to LAMP products showed full brightness only in positive reactions. Further, a ladder like banding pattern confirms the positive reactions on agarose gel electrophoresis whereas no patterns were observed in negative reactions. Upon amplification in the LAMP assay, only three samples out of eight tested positive by showing blue color and fluorescent signal. The assay has been optimized for speed, sensitivity, and specificity and it can detect less than 100 fg of target DNA template per reaction within 60 min. This could detect latent infection in both wheat inflorescence and seeds. Our results indicated that LAMP offers an excellent method to detect F. graminearum and it can be used as a point of care device for seed quarantine of F. graminearum and providing authentic information for disease management.