23 research outputs found
And: Reflections on the Conjunction of Literature and Philosophy
No full textThis article takes the conjunction “and” as the starting point for a reflection on the relationship between literature and philosophy. It posits that these discourses might be distinguished in terms of their orientation towards questions of truth and reference, and their hospitality to figuration. The article highlights the need for modes of reading that allow us to work with the metaphor of truth, through a brief discussion of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s approach to riddles. Finally, it examines Barbara Cassin’s notion of “philosophizing in languages,” and invites discussion on the possibility of such a practice in the context of India’s current academic landscape
Locating the other: a geocriticaldeliberation On tolkien’s middle-earth
No full textThis study highlights a salient feature of the setting in J. R. R. Tolkien’s legendarium, the secondary world of Middle-earth: its colonial set-up - a fact, the reader is as much conscious of as the characters are ignorant. Location of Self and Other in the races of Middle-earth, identification of the chief tropes of Self and Other of primary world in those belonging to Middle-earth, and tracing the existence of Othering in the fabric of this initiator of Epic Fantasy are the purposes of this study. This paper has used Geocriticism and its tenet of spatiality as the tool for textual analysis of Middle-earth, as shown and explained chiefly in Lord of the Rings. Events and narratives of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion have also been taken into consideration.
This paper brings to light, establishment of Men of West as the Self of Middle-earth by the author, while races of Elves, Hobbits and Orcs serve as the Othered reciprocal to the colonial reality of their world. Several aspects, including comparative geographical and topographical settings, physical and mental delineation of characters belonging to different races, as well as the turns of the plot itself in these works have analyzed in this study. Findings of this paper reveal a perpetuation of colonial and imperialist thought- through the presence and formation of Middle-earth, along with justifications of righteousness of this set up- by the contentment of the characters at their predicamen
Impact of Fuzzy Logic in Object-Oriented Database Through Blockchain
No full textIn this article, we show that applying fuzzy reasoning to an object-arranged data set produces noticeably better results than applying it to a social data set by applying it to both social and object-situated data sets. A Relational Data Base Management System (RDBMS) product structure offers a practical and efficient way to locate, store, and retrieve accurate data included inside a data collection. In any case, clients typically have to make vague, ambiguous, or fanciful requests. Our work allows clients the freedom to utilise FRDB to examine the database in everyday language, enabling us to provide a range of solutions that would benefit clients in a variety of ways. Given that the degree of attributes in a fuzzy knowledge base goes from 0 to 1, the term "fuzzy" was coined. This is due to the base's fictitious formalization's reliance on fuzzy reasoning. In order to lessen the fuzziness of the fuzzy social data set as a result of the abundance of uncertainty and vulnerabilities in clinical medical services information, a fuzzy article located information base is designed here for the Health-Care space. In order to validate the presentation and sufficiency of the fuzzy logic on both data sets, certain fuzzy questions are thus posed of the fuzzy social data set and the fuzzy item-situated information base.
TGF-beta1 mediated expression and accumulation of collagen IV by bronchial airway epithelium in asthmatics and smokers: an in silico experiment
No full textThe author has granted permission for their work to be available to the general public.Fibrosis is a common complication of asthma and other peribronchiolar lung diseases leading to death of many individuals in the United States. Much traditional bench work research has been done to detect and cure asthma. However, to narrow the attempts made in order to develop more effective therapies for fibrosis of the basement membrane, several computational methods have been employed. We employ an in silico computational approach for simulating an in situ environment and analyzing the effect of a range of TGF-β1concentrations on the proliferation of collagen IV levels in the extracellular matrix (ECM) and collagen IV gene expression levels. Three studies were performed using the Transcriptome to Reactome (TTR(TM)) deterministic modeling method: 1) asthma vs. healthy control; 2) smoker vs. healthy control and 3) one week placebo vs. fluticasone. The primary datasets were the bronchial airway epithelial transcriptome samples of 118 human subjects, accessed from NCBI GEO GSE4302 profile. A software, COmplex PAthway SImulator (COPASI ®), and TGF-β1 Signaling Reactome model were used to perform biosimulations and generate secondary data sets for each of these transcriptome samples by subjecting them to 15 different concentrations of TGF-β1 in silico. Half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values were determined to assess sensitivity differences. Endogenous pathophysiological and maximum dose response values for each individual transcriptome sample were derived from the dose response curves and were subjected to statistical analysis. There was a significant difference in levels of collagen IV species and gene expression fluxes of asthmatics at baseline versus healthy controls and at 10pg/ml concentration of TGF-β1. Also, the means of maximum responses of smokers versus healthy controls showed statistically significant differences for collagen IV levels (p<0.001) and gene expression fluxes (p<0.05). However, the hypotheses that increase in TGF-β1 signaling: 1) leads to increase in collagen IV production in asthmatics vs. healthy controls; 2) smokers vs. healthy controls and; 3) corticosteroid drug fluticasone normalizes the expression levels of collagen IV at the transcription level and as extra cellular matrix protein concentration were refuted. This study showed no sensitivity differences to TGF-β1 concentrations when EC50 and maximum response levels were analyzed for collagen IV levels and gene expression values. No changes in levels of collagen IV in fluticasone vs. placebo controls was seen due to short duration (1 week) of fluticasone drug exposure; this result is consistent with numerous clinical reports in human patients. Therefore, we conclude that the TTR(TM) method reliably reproduces in vivo observations and reveals novel details that would be impossible to perform in situ in humans. Further, the TTR(TM) biosimulation method can be a powerful tool to perform fully empirical in silico experiments.Integrative Biolog
Mental Health System in the Most Populated State of India: Bounce from the Base of National Mental Health Survey 2015–2016
No full textBackground:
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, was part of The National Mental Health Survey 2015–2016. The survey evaluated mental health resources and treatment gaps while estimating the prevalence of mental health problems. This article assesses changes in mental health resources in the state over 7 years postsurvey.
Methods:
Surveyed in 2015–2016 in 12 Indian states, including Uttar Pradesh, the State Mental Health System Assessment used WHO instruments to evaluate the state’s mental health system across 10 domains on a Likert scale.
Results:
In 2015, there were only 0.15 psychiatrists available per 100,000 people in Uttar Pradesh. However, this increased to 0.46 by 2023. Medical colleges offering MBBS and postgraduate courses in Psychiatry have doubled and tripled, respectively. The coverage of districts under mental health programs has increased from 19% to 100% in Uttar Pradesh, though psychiatrists were not present in all the districts under these programs.
Conclusion:
The development of the resources for mental health in the past 7 years is substantial in Uttar Pradesh, though it still falls short of the recommended standards. Another assessment of the mental health treatment gap will give better insight into strategizing mental healthcare in Uttar Pradesh
Wound healing activity of aqueous extract of Crotalaria verrucosa in Wistar albino rats
No full textAbstractObjectiveTo evaluate the wound healing effect of aqueous extract of Crotalaria verrucosa (C. verrucosa) in rats.MethodsThree wound models including incision, excision and dead space wounds were used in this study. The parameters studied were breaking strength in incision models, granulation tissue dry weight, breaking strength and hydroxyproline content in dead space wounds, percentage of wound contraction and period of epithelialization in excision wound model.ResultsTwo doses of the extract with and without dexamethasone showed significant increases in mean hydroxyproline, total protein content and dry weight of granulation tissue but it was higher with dose 800 mg/kg comparing with the control. The dexamethasone treated group showed a significant (P<0.001) reduction in the wound breaking strength when compared to control group in incision type of wound model. Coadministration of C. verrucosa with dexamethasone significantly (P<0.001) increased the breaking strength compared to the dexamethasone treated only group. In excision wound model, the percentage of the wound contraction was significantly (P<0.01) increased by two doses of test extract on all the days except the lower dose which exhibited only on 12 th, 16 th days of drug treatment and it also reversed the dexamethasone suppressed wound contraction. It significantly (P <0.001) reduced the time required for epithelialization and reversed the epithelialization delaying effect of dexamethasone (P<0.001).ConclusionsC. verrucosa was found to possess significant wound healing property. This was evident by decrease in the period of epithelialization, increase in the rate of wound contraction, skin breaking strength, and granulation tissue dry weight content. Hence C. verrucosa could be a good wound healing agent
