Values Among the Poor in India: Cultural, Social, and Economic PerspectivesAbstractThe present research article draws on multi-disciplinary research within sociology, anthropology and development studies to investigate the cultural, social and economic values of the poorest in India.The paper examines how these values are influenced by enduring traditions, social hierarchies and structural economic conditions to give shape to the moral values, goals and aspirations of poor communities. The research focuses on the intersections of collective ethics, religious world views, caste-based social inequality and gendered obligations to explore the understandings of resilience and aspiration by poor communities in sites of economic and social deprivation. The research continues to examine how these values are being reshaped by India's rapid urbanisation and the policy changes that are creating new capitalistic contexts. The paper ultimately offers understanding of the agency and adaptive strategies of the poor through a culturally embedded, values-sensitive approach to shaping poverty alleviation policies and to reimagine the moral economies and social imaginaries of the poor. IntroductionIndia, which contains one of the largest sections of the world’s poor, represents a contradictory environment of economic ambition and persistent deprivation. Though commonly lacking access to the basic resources of food, education, and healthcare, the most disadvantaged of India's citizens carry distinctive cultural, social, and moral regimes of values that govern their everyday lives. These regimes aren't just signs of economic distress; they act as adaptive structures that make suffering meaningful, solidarity useful, and ambition resilient.My hope is to offer a thoughtful and thorough examination of the regimes of values and belief systems that develop among the poor of India, and specifically how they shape ideas of connection, work, education, faith, and mobility. This paper categorically rejects solipsistic or deficit perspectives of poverty and instead is built around an interpretive approach that positions poverty as a condition of morality and sociality, constructed as much as imposed by cultural embedding in context, as economic exclusion. The paper will reflect on the effects of caste, gender, and participant communities and indicate, in human and economic terms, radical disruptions or subtle continuities that signify the moral economies of the poor and its impact on their lives. Literature ReviewA large body of literature has revealed the complexities of poverty in India, spanning from macroeconomic examinations of structural inequality to ethnographic representations of daily survival. Amartya Sen's influential conception of "capability deprivation," (1999) which reframed poverty as the absence of real freedoms, including the capability to live a life that one has reason to value, has been developed by Martha Nussbaum (2000) for its potential to highlight ways that gendered experiences can be interwoven with poverty to create disparate capabilities and vulnerabilities.Barbara Harriss-White (2002) adds to this point by offering a focus on the political economy of poverty and demonstrating how informal economies and social networks initiate their own logics of valuation, frequently at odds with formal state development. Meanwhile, Sukhadeo Thorat and Surinder S. Jodhka (2015) offer incisive critiques of the caste system as a foundational axis of exclusion while also shaping the self-understanding of morality for oppressed groups. Collectively, these authors, [and others], underscore the inadequacy of simplified depictions of the poor as passive victims and emphasized agency, cultural significance, and the ethical reflexivity embedded in lives experiencing poverty.Newer research on urban poor communities, especially in growing and changing slums, offers a different tension that complexities the field at this moment: how economic vulnerability is engaged with migratory dislocation, broken familial ties and inequitable access to civic infrastructures. The current article builds on this expanding base of work by collating cultural, economic and social fabrics of poverty into a single framework of interpretation. Family and CollectivismWithin the socio-moral realm of poor India, the family is not just an economic cell, it is the primary realization of identity, responsibility and resilience. Collectivism, as expressed through the values of interdependence, mutual obligation and collective sacrifice, is a fundamental value, especially in rural and semi-urban contexts where extended familial structures persist. In these situations, the extended family is not an atavistic remnant of an earlier time, but forms a contemporary form of social protection that supplements the lack of formal welfare provision.The economic imperative guarantees familial loyalty as families come to operate as mutual aid organizations in the face of the precarity of employment, limited state developmental assistance, and rising healthcare expenses. Cultural scripts support (and argue for) interdependence – eldercare, duty to siblings, obligations of marriage; all of which have normative significance, however, urbanization and internal migration appear to be simultaneously fracturing and reproducing these ethical forms of family or kinship. The sheer volume of households in urban slums are nuclear families and while the ideology of familial obligation persists, its material basis is increasingly tenuous with displaced spatial relationships, declining employment opportunities and increasing economic variability. Work Ethic and Aspirations for Upward MobilityFor India's poor, work's place is often both material survival and moral justification. Labor is considered not just a means of saving for subsistence, but a site through which one performs dignity, hard work, and social value. Among agricultural laborers, street vendors, domestic workers, and other informal workers, a work ethic is integral to socially valued notions of identity and self-worth.While valuing work and work ethic is culturally affirming, the poor also understand the limits of labor as a means to upward mobility. As education becomes a more prominent vehicle for upward mobility, younger individuals from poor families are increasingly recognizing the limits of labor alone. This shift has caused the poor to rethink their household priorities and invest a growing portion of their limited income towards their children's education. Such investments are aspirational as they represent investments in the future, but poor families are often forced to compromise their education goals because of the many inequalities embedded within the education system, such as, poor infrastructure, caste, and education inequities that simultaneously enforce the system as they reinforce already existing structures.While everyone wants upward mobility, few have shown it is equitable for the 86% of India's rural poor. Existence in a time and space of aspiration and constraint generates expectations that set up hope and frustration. This co-existence engenders intricate emotional experiences that consist of struggle, ambition, persistence, and resignation. Religion and SpiritualityReligious belief and ritual participation in the lives of the poor in India are critical in their moral and affective lives. They are not just secondary to material needs; religion provides the interpretative lens through which suffering becomes lived experience, and ethical frameworks that people follow to circumvent the uncertainties of being human. Religion provides comfort and hope during difficult times and, for a large number of believers, a metaphysical grammar of justice and revenge, to the extent that it often complements or supplants formal judicial mechanisms.The main religions that are found in India are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and tribal faiths. Different forms of these religions exist, but there is a heavy emphasis on devotional forms of worship and practice that carry the traditions of humility, forbearance and redemptive suffering. Festivals, pilgrimages and communal worship service not only provide spiritual food, but they also maintain social cohesion. Attending religious ceremonies-without regard to real material hardship-is an act of faith that is often placed above financial concerns. This is often understood within a moral economy acknowledging that contested sacred acts and events are rarely distinguished as separate from social life.Religious traditions are also often seen as informal welfare organizations, capable of providing food, shelter, educational support, and emotional support. Religious life is institutionally both a means of transcendence and a source of material management that is linked to some of the poorer members' strategies for survival. Caste and Social HierarchiesCaste continues to be an all-pervasive structuring principle of Indian society and has major implications for the values of the poor. For Dalits, Adivasis and other historically oppressed social groups, caste daily operation affects not just privilege and access to resources but also a moral concept of dignity, justice and personhood. It is important to remember that some people standout those in prominent positions like Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Longchamp, India's most successful statesman Post 1947 one of the last 'visibly unmarked people' valued. Many other poor will see their long histories of exclusion as just being unfortunate while others have been marginally or in opposition, as in solidarity with better things ie like pride and empowerment (pride and empowerment are loaded words). The legacy of B.R. Ambedkar is huge in this context, people clearly see as a major historical actor. His radical rethinking of the end of caste and equality of human beings still has aura to this day particularly in the collective self-respect and political activism by the poor. Becoming a citizen is about self respect and a rights based claim for land and livelihood and that dignity is non negotiable and justice should be immediate, as well as a general obligation to recognize and oppose structural injustice. Resistance is seen as a value the same way that the second half of the above sentence is speech act not only moral refusal but the foundation for a life of dignity.However, there are caste hierarchies that are also operating among the poor community where they also play an important role in the reproduction of the poor Sub caste, regional identity and ritual status on the basis of these different categories of identity perpetrates exclusion from within. Thus, the sub-alter is not a singular value system nor solidarity of the poor, which would sidestep the multi-layered histories of there sub-self. Gender and Household DynamicsAcross poor families in India, gender is a primary axis around which values are shaped, contested and acted out. While in poor communities women often represent dual expectations—financial contribution or production one of the household (child rearing)-the intersection of their experiences builds a unique value shaped by sacrifice, endurance, and negotiating strategies which are necessarily shaped by patriarchy.Women serve as moral heads of the household, directing how food gets consumed, whether school fees will be paid, if children will have healthcare and whether there will be emotional care in the home. Poor women make these decisions in a context of scarcity which scholars have described as "moral economies of survival." Poor women, even with marginalization, have a considerable amount of informal power, especially when it comes to the welfare of children, which it frequently stronger and more forward thinking than men involved in the household.Despite the power women embody, there are limits to this role. Social norms, religion, and general economic dependence act as constraints too. Early marriage, the payment of dowry, domestic violence, and limited reproductive rights remain real threats. The values of poor women encompass part resistance to injustice and exploitation and part accommodation to the structural constraints on their choices.　ConclusionThe value systems of the poor in India are a rich and often undervalued landscape of cultural, moral and social meaning. This research hasn't reduced poverty to a material condition, but has engaged with the relational and interpretative modes by which individuals and communities made sense of deprivation, asserted dignity, and pursued wellbeing in situations of constraint. Thinking through the domains of family, work, education, religion, caste, and gender meant engaging in and recognising the emergence of observing patterns across these domains. One pattern, common to each domain, are values associated with collectivism, resilience, spiritual dedication, and aspirational striving. However, we cannot treat these values as static. Rather, they are the emergent product of situationsual complexity shaped by broader societal and economic changes including, migration, urbanisation, and policy restructuring. Sociality reveals the agency of the poor to exercise their resources to negotiate their social worlds—not as a passive endurance of hardship, but as the active practice of constructing ethical frameworks for maintaining life. These insights suggest to policy-makers and developmental practitioners the need to develop value-sensitive approaches to poverty reduction. If development interventions ignore the cultural logic of poor communities, they risk failing both ethically and practically. The most effective social policy will be inclusive of empathetic, participatory frameworks that place a primary emphasis on understanding and operating from the lived values of communities within which it intervenes. Moreover, only through fully integrated strategies will India be able to fight the enduring structural inequalities that impact the lived realities of its poorest citizens.　References・Harriss-White, B. (2002). India Working: Essays on Society and Economy. Cambridge University Press. ・Jodhka, S. S. (2015). Caste in Contemporary India. Routledge. ・Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2019). Report on Education and Poverty in India. Government of India. ・Nussbaum, M. C. (2000). Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge University Press. ・Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press.

The Situation of Lower Castes in Contemporary India: Social, Economic, and Political ChallengesAbstractWhile the Constitution and affirmative action support the efforts of lower-caste communities in India, these marginalized communities—especially Dalits, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes—face much adversity regarding education and employment attempts, socioeconomic status, and politics in equity representation. This paper examines these discoveries about the lower-caste communities' situation in India today through socioeconomic concerns; discrimination, constitutional protections/failures, and government agencies that decrease these efforts and social movements for caste equity. In the end, this paper supports expected conclusions of continued caste inequity based on social forces that empower some groups while subjugating others. Opportunities for change as solutions become clear for a more inclusive society.IntroductionCaste has prevailed since the dawn of Indian civilization and culture, relegating lower-caste groups—specifically, Dalits (previously known as "untouchables")—at the lowest possible position in the caste hierarchy. When the Constitution of India was established in 1950, prohibiting untouchability practices and promoting equality rights among Indian citizens irrespective of religion or race, it would seem that the problem was solved. However, it is not. Caste discrimination is a longstanding component of Indian society, evidenced by millions of lower-caste citizens who remain poor, socially isolated, lacking reputable educational and occupational opportunities. Therefore, this research intends to assess the equity of lower-caste contemporary efforts with insights from socioeconomic conditions and discrimination as efforts of governmental agencies reduce such efforts while attempting to provide affirmative action for equity. Social movements for caste equity history will assist in determining their success in creating change. Ultimately, this research aims to present findings that will create a clearer understanding of efforts that render lower-caste individuals unable to progress to sustainable development.Literature ReviewThere is much research relative to caste as a socio-political entity. For example, B.R. Ambedkar (1944) was one of the first scholars of the caste system to acknowledge it as an oppressive form of control. From there, scholars like Nussbaum (2007) determined that caste inequity intersects with gender and socioeconomic class; Shah (2006) determined policies foster caste inequities and Jodhka (2015) determined states with policies that did not benefit caste inequity in the last generation. Thus, since the Constitution was signed almost 70 years ago, many policy efforts exist for affirmative action; however, the current articles of scholarship review show that institutional discrimination creates the need for such actions. Even more urban areas, which would presume to render less caste inequity due to advancements, possess some form of caste inequity since the historical rural context keeps certain farmers in subordination to create hierarchical politics and social structures while others can elevate their caste opportunities relative to new advancements in cities; thus, there is a caste inequity urban/rural divide.Economic and Educational BarriersCaste communities, particularly Dalits and Scheduled Castes (SCs), are disproportionately represented in the economically disadvantaged percentage of the population within India. The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO, 2017–2018) revealed that lower castes have a higher percentage of poverty, unemployment, and underemployment compared to upper-caste families. In rural areas, where occupational mobility is nearly impossible, lower-caste families are relegated to menial positions or occupational legacies with little anticipated growth. Simultaneously, access to requisite educational attainment—the means of social mobility—is unavailable to many. With governmental outputs inclusive of the Right to Education (RTE) Act of 2009, many still have educational barriers due to stigma within public schools, increasing the dropout rate for Dalits and Adivasi families. In 2019, the Ministry of Human Resource Development revealed that institutional challenges—bullying, caste discrimination, and inaccessibility—significantly impair educational achievements for lower-caste demographics.Caste-Based Violence and Social ExclusionCaste-based violence constitutes one of India's greatest human rights failings. Insufficient social developments indicate that particularly in rural areas where caste hierarchies are rigidly followed, lower castes often become victims of such operations—violence, public shaming, and social exclusion abound. For instance, in 2016, when four Dalit men staked a cow, they were beaten by a mob—and the police took no notice. Such deeply rooted operations indicate that even within law enforcement systems, compliance with the caste hierarchy is pervasive. Thus exists the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Yet its enforcement is situationally dependent upon local police efficiency regarding interest in hearing cases from lower-caste communities. When caste bias empowers local police or judicial systems to favor those of the higher caste, more often than not, the accused go free and are empowered to continue cyclical initiatives that fuel violence and disempowerment within lower-caste communities. Social exclusion also manifests in non-allowance from public resources or places of worship in rural Indian heartlands.Affirmative Action and Political RepresentationAffirmative action programs called "reservations" have aided educated and employed lower castes. Reservation policies have increased access to achievements at universities and government positions/government-backed employment for employed Dalit populations in executive-level positions or bureaucracy (teaching). Reservation policies ensure assembly and police force representation. However, these implementations exist in a vacuum as not all lower castes have equal opportunities simply because others found success. While reservations worked for some of the lower-caste population to join other castes, this policy served deeper economic systems that did not readjust historically rooted caste discrimination frameworks about social inequality. Over the past decade, upper-caste communities have protested such reservations due to their presumed advantages over meritocracy; therefore, a 2019 reservation of 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS)—now a new group of poor upper-caste Indians—is meant to appease growing unrest among upper castes who feel denied meritorious opportunities due to quotas. Politically, representation has been added through interest groups advocating for similar voters over power struggles—with criminal activity on both ends—for example, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Yet while political consciousness has soared among lower-caste communities, political engagement based on caste continues to divide as opposed to unify efforts for caste equality.Urban vs. Rural Caste DistinctionsCaste distinctions have been lessened through urbanization, at least in part; lower caste members have access to opportunities for socioeconomic growth and mobility, with the private sector being the most likely place. Yet, this does not mean that caste discrimination does not exist; it exists in housing and employment opportunities, and social accommodations and public offerings. Yet in rural India, however, caste distinctly and constantly dictates employment and social engagement. Lower caste members find themselves relegated to painful jobs (manual scavenging, subsistence farming), ensuring that stigmas remain for generations attached to the same work because intergenerational poverty keeps such stigma alive. Even with the government's intention to create developmental schemes for rural Indians, caste disadvantage is too structurally persistent and integrated to change without drastic reform.ConclusionThe condition of lower castes in modern India is a tenuous blend of positive integration and historical inequity. The government has stepped in with affirmative action programs and protections that have created a better life for many; however, the structure of how India sees caste and how it impacts socio-economically still exists—many lower castes are operating with no new access in more rural areas. For India's successful caste equity evolution, India must continue to invest in enforcement of non-discrimination laws, accessibility to quality education needs to be increased exponentially, and socioeconomic enterprises that go beyond normative caste-based fields should be implemented. In addition, awareness campaigns for social inclusion and education should also be prioritized. Only through due diligence can India become the egalitarian society it hopes to be.Reference-Ambedkar, B.R. (1944). Annihilation of Caste . Bombay: Bheem Patrika Publications.-Jodhka, S.S. (2015). Caste in Contemporary India . Routledge.-Nussbaum, M. C. (2007). The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future . Harvard University Press.-Shah, G. (2006). Caste and Democratic Politics in India . Permanent Black.-National Sample Survey Office. (2017). Employment and Unemployment Situation Among Social Groups in India . Government of India.

Dietary Upper Gastrointestinal Stricture Caused by MushroomsYuto Shiozaki, MD1,2, Takuya Otsuki, MD, PhD1,2, Kosuke Ishizuka, MD, PhD, FHGM3,4, Yuichi Kato, MD1,2, Kenya Ie, MD, PhD, MPH1,2, Chiaki Okuse, MD, PhD1,21Department of General Internal Medicine, St. Marianna University School of Medicine, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan2Department of General Internal Medicine, Kawasaki Municipal Tama Hospital, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan3Department of General Medicine, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan4Department of General Medicine, Yokohama City University Medical Center, Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan

COVID-19 Related Pneumonia with Concurrent Dengue Fever in a Middle-Aged Patient a case reportEmmanuel Edwar Siddig1, Jean Claude Semuto Ngabonziza2,3, Claude Mambo Muvunyi4, Ayman Ahmed 4,51 Faculty of Medical Laboratory Sciences, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan.2 Department of Clinical Biology, University of Rwanda, Kigali P.O. Box 3900, Rwanda3 Research, Innovation and Data Science Division, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Kigali P.O. Box 7162, Rwanda4 Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Kigali, Rwanda.5 Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum 11111, Sudan.Correspondence: Ayman Ahmed, Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, Khartoum 11111, SudanEmail: ayman.ame.ahmed@gmail.com

Polymerase chain reaction is the most common laboratory method used in diagnosis of infectious diseases. It still requires cold-chain transportation and storage of reaction components, adequate instrumentation, as well as a skilled specialist during the preparation of reaction mixes. This study was focused on the evaluation of pre-prepared freeze-dried PCR mixes for virus detection in ready-to-use form. PCR mixes with glycerol-free DNA polymerase, cryoprotectants as trehalose, dextran or mannitol and other PCR components were lyophilized and stored at room temperature for several months. Our study revealed that 10% trehalose, 5% dextran and their combination, stabilized PCR mixes for the detection of porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) and hepatitis E virus (HEV) for 3 months. The freeze-dried PCR mixes detected those viruses in concentrated and 10 to 100-fold diluted clinical samples. The lyophilized PCR mixes containing commercially available glycerol-free DNA polymerase stabilized with sugar cryoprotectants were suitable for the preparation of diagnostic PCR kits.

Oats ( Avena sativa L) is a temperate cereal and important healthy cereal cultivated for food and feed. Therefore understanding drought resposes in oats will have a significant impact on oat production under harsh climatic conditions. In particular, drought during anthesis (flowering) will affect grain filling, quality and yield. Here we characterised metabolite responses of two Mediterranean oat ( Avena sativa L.) cultivars Flega and Patones during drought stress at anthesis. In the more drought tolerant Patones, the developing grains from the top (older) and bottom (younger) spikelets of primary panicle were found to be larger in size in response to drought, suggesting accelerated grain development. Flega showed a more rapid transition to flowering and grain development under drought. Metabolomes of source (sheath, flag leaf, rachis) and sink (developing grains) tissues from Patones showed differential accumulation in fatty acids levels, including α-linolenic acid, sugars and amino acids with drought. Flega showed enhanced energy metabolism in both source and sink tissues. Lower levels of glutathione in source tissues and the accumulation of ophthalmic acid in the grains of Flega were indicators of oxidative stress. From our study, we observed two metabolite regulation in these two cultivars during drought at anthesis. In one, α-linolenic acid-linked events could accelerate grain filling whilst in other oxidative stress could influence traits such as flowering time. Overall this work provide first insight into the metabolite wide regulation in source and sink tissues during anthesis oats under drought stress.

Cognitive dysfunctions in medulloblastoma survivors are common and multifactorial. Craniospinal radiation therapy, surgery-related injuries, and chemotherapy cytotoxicity are the major contributors. Given the long-lasting effects, neurocognitive outcomes should be adequately assessed and a key focus in clinical trials. This methodological review merges data about the mechanisms through which medulloblastoma and its treatment affect cognition and points out how the domains of cognition have been evaluated in observational studies and clinical trial protocols. The main objectives are to sensibilize neuro-oncologists on the theoretical foundations of cognition and its evaluation, emphasizing the importance and feasibility of integrating neurocognitive assessments into clinical trials and practice.

BACKGROUND: Neonatal sepsis is a major global health problem with high morbidity and mortality. Despite ongoing advances in maternal and neonatal care, due to antibiotic resistance, culture-negative cases, and non-specific symptoms, the accurate diagnosis of neonatal sepsis remains challenging. METHODS: In this diagnostic test accuracy study conducted from April 2020 to September 2022, we investigated the diagnostic values of complete blood count parameters and C-reactive protein for neonatal sepsis among 277 newborns admitted to 17 Shahrivar hospital. Some characteristics (including gender and age of neonates, age of mothers, gestational age, neonatal weight, birth weight, Apgar score and the mode of delivery) were considered for the study as possible risk factors of neonatal sepsis. Also, we reviewed related studies from different countries and compared their results with the current study for a more comprehensive conclusion. All analyses were performed using SPSS software and statistical significance was defined as P<0.05. RESULTS: Our study revealed that RDW was significantly higher in probable (16.59±1.92) and proven septic groups (16.43±1.67) than non-septic group (13.37±1.19) (P=0.001). Among other CBC parameters, lower WBC value in proven sepsis group was borderline significant (P=0.05), while ANC and platelet count showed no statistically significant difference among cases and controls (P=0.273 and P=0.467, respectively). In addition, positive qualitative plasma CRP had significant relationship with the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis (P<0.001). Among considered demographic characteristics of the neonates, significant intergroup differences were detected regarding neonatal age (P<0.001), gestational age (P=0.008) and mean quantitative maternal age (P=0.037) for neonatal sepsis. At an optimal cutoff level of 14.1%, RDW had a sensitivity of 91.98% and a specificity of 82.22% for identifying neonates with probable and proven sepsis in this study. CONCLUSIONS: Available and cost-effective biomarkers, such as elevated RDW level (as the most efficient CBC parameter) and positive CRP can play an important role in the timely diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.

The diagnosis and prognosis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are closely related to cytogenetic and molecular biological abnormalities in patients. t (X; 21) (p11; q22), as a novel rare recurrent genetic abnormality, has previously been reported in adult AML patients; it is predominant in males, is advanced in age, and is associated with shorter survival. Here, we report a female pediatric AML patient who carried translocations of Xp11 and 21q22 bands. The translocation was not isolated but incorporated trisomy 8. By second-generation sequencing, the translocation was also accompanied by a relatively rare myeloid-related gene, CBL gene mutation. The patient responded well to conventional intensive chemotherapy and achieved remission during the first induction, but remission was maintained for only 9 months, and the patient subsequently died due to leukemia relapse. To our knowledge, this is the first report of t(X; 21) (p11; q22) in pediatric AML patients, which may be associated with a poor prognosis, underscoring the need for additional treatment options to improve outcomes.

Ransomware continues to pose a significant and evolving threat to organizations, exploiting vulnerabilities in network security to encrypt sensitive data and demand ransom. A novel approach is introduced in this research through the Pattern-Entropy Segmentation Analysis (PESA) framework, which enhances detection capabilities through real-time entropy analysis of network traffic, offering a more granular and timely identification of ransomware. Unlike traditional signature or behavior-based methods, PESA identifies early-stage anomalies caused by ransomware encryption processes through entropy fluctuations, ensuring rapid detection before critical damage occurs. The framework is evaluated in a controlled network simulation environment, demonstrating its ability to maintain high detection accuracy across multiple ransomware strains, with minimal false positives and rapid response times. Furthermore, the system shows resilience against obfuscation techniques, making it a robust solution for real-world cybersecurity applications. The findings underscore the practical impact of entropy-based detection in strengthening network defenses and mitigating the damage caused by ransomware attacks.

Fire is a key driver of the structure of plant communities. Fuel traits are important determinants of fire behavior in tropical savannas and, thus, of the effects of fire. However, whether these traits are predictable and how they are influenced by biotic and abiotic drivers remain to be rigorously evaluated. We tested the hypothesis that fuel traits are mutually correlated and change in response to abiotic factors and fire history. We sampled 31 plots in Serra da Canastra National Park (Brazil) distributed in five soil classes and measured the following fuel traits: fuel loads, height, continuity, bulk density, and bed flammability. We determined soil clay content, fire history, climate, canopy cover and elevation. We also obtained data on future fire frequency. To test for correlations among fuel traits, we used Pearson correlation tests and a principal component analysis. For the effect of abiotic factors on the traits and principal component axes, and for the effect of fuel traits on future fire regime, we used generalized linear models. We found two leading axis of fuel trait variability. The first was positively correlated to fuel height, continuity, loads, bed flammability, and grass cover, and was predicted positively by time since last fire. The second axis was positively correlated to fuel bulk density and continuity, shrub and litter cover, negatively to fuel bed flammability, and was predicted by canopy cover and soil clay content (positive associations). Grass fuel loads were the best predictor of future fire frequency and were negatively correlated to canopy cover and positively to time since last fire. Our results suggest that fuel traits change predictably in space and time, that canopy cover and time since last fire are the main factors controlling community flammability, and that grass fuel cover is a key predictor of fire frequency in savannas.

The Enduring Reality of Caste in Contemporary India: Persistence, Structural Challenges, and Legal Responses Abstract Although equality is guaranteed in the Constitution, the caste system persists in 21st century India as a deep-seated social structure that determines access to opportunity and justice. This paper provides a rigorous academic analysis of the persistence of caste-based hierarchies in India today, combining analysis of the legal opportunities and constraints, sociopolitical mobilizations, and material realities. Anchored in empirical data, recent scholarship, and legal examination, the work demonstrates the manifold ways in which caste continues to hinder social mobility and extend structural violence. It also rigorously examines the successes, failures, and necessary limits of government affirmative action and structures of privilege while arguing for a more robust system of transformative change based on social justice and institutional power. Introduction The caste system is one of the oldest and most complicated systems of social stratification throughout the world. Although it was formally prohibited by the Constitution of India in 1950, the cultural embeddedness of caste and its manifestations in institutions is inescapable. The Constitution abolished untouchability through Article 17, and many statutes prohibit caste discrimination; however, the reality on the ground presents a different reality altogether. Caste still mediates access to education, opportunities to earn an income, and political representation. The enduring character of caste as a social determinant of life chances reveals a surprising contradiction: a legal abolition of caste which persists informally in society.This paper aims to interrogate the structural persistence of caste in India by exploring its contemporary expressions and the efficacy of state-based interventions. The paper will examine how caste-based exclusion functions in a modernizing society, and how affirmative action and legal instruments assist in improving the social determinants of caste. Literature Review Recent decades have witnessed a paradigmatic shift in scholarly discussions surrounding caste. Previous generations of classic sociological theorists, including Louis Dumont (1970), viewed caste through a functionalist lens, identifying its religious-significant aspect as an intrinsic aspect of Hindu cosmology and thus, a snapshot of hierarchy. Recent and contemporary scholars increasingly critique the essentialist conception of caste in favour of understanding caste as a historically contingent and socio-economically re-invented phenomenon that is now located within India's modernity.Dipankar Gupta (2004) argues that caste is not a static institution but rather has been recalibrated through processes of democratization and capitalism, and therefore, as well as being a system of social division, caste has also now become a mobilizing identity in each of these political and economic fields. Ghanshyam Shah (2006) takes this analysis further, discussing the contradictions implicit in state policy which has resulted in ambivalence in terms of the consequences of affirmative action—caste being simultaneously undermined while also rehabilitated (caste categories reified).Equally important are the original contributions provided by B.R. Ambedkar. His scathing critique, Annihilation of Caste (1944), seeks to not only analyse the religious and sociological aspects of caste, but to advance the violent need for radical change, beyond mere legal change, to instil structural justice and moral constitution, not as simply a legal concept, but the need to annihilate caste consciousness before democracy can be meaningful in post-colonial India.Other more nuanced interdisciplinary identities of caste have also emerged from debates about caste as critical to neoliberal reforms, digital capitalism and urban/rural divides which suggest caste remains a durable form of exclusion notwithstanding economic liberalization and, thus, exacerbated by new forms of inequality as a means of access which includes daily consciousness confronting caste now in comparison too the hurdles that still also remain regarding housing, education and labour in the global economy. Caste and Social Mobility The association between caste and social mobility remains gravely asymmetric, even with the prevalence of welfare programs and affirmative actions. Both the Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and Scheduled Tribes remain disproportionately disadvantaged in educational achievements, upward mobility in employment, and land holding.Data available from the National Sample Survey Office (2017-2018) clearly demonstrates that unemployment is unquestionably higher with SCs and STs, especially in organized sector job opportunities. Even the structure of the educational institution adds to the asymmetry. Most elite universities and technical schools have failed to enroll Dalits, and the vast majority of the Dalit population is concentrated in extremely poorly resourced public schools for upward mobility.The act of manual scavenging can still be identified within the social paradigm—they are prohibited by the law, but they are constantly practiced and prevalent social activity. A report published by the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis in 2020 states that there are humble hundreds of deaths each year due to the act of cleaning sewers by hand, removing dirt, debris, and faecal odours that are designated and typically reserved for individuals from Dalit backgrounds. Seeing the continued existence of occupation-based caste-derived work is a solid example of prohibition in law not being enough without providing social and economic rehabilitation. While there is a desire at the social embedded point of caste to seek employment, social and spatial segregation is still alive and too prevalent in India. In the case of rural India, Dalits can still be found to be settled and residing in restricted hamlets and deliberately restricted from accessing water ways; limited from temples and even limited access on social norms as being people in public domains. Accessing water sources and temples has clearly reduced levels of social capital required of upward mobility, instead helping entrench their circumstances of marginalisation further. Caste-Based Violence and Structural Impunity Violence based on caste is one of the most brutal manifestations of social stratification in India, taking many forms, sometimes referred to as abuses, including caste-inflected speech, economic boycotts and all the way to systemic rape, lynching and mass atrocities. There are laws, like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, that theoreticiallly criminalized caste violence, but across India, the systemic under-enforcement of such laws is basically permanent.The 2016 incident in Una where four Dalit men were brutally beaten with iron pipes because they were found skinning a cow, revealed both the long-standing prejudices against Dalits, but also the selective moralizing of dominant-caste ideologies. The cow, as a ritual object of upper-caste Hinduism, is (and has long been) a tool of policing Dalit labour and a symbol of symbolic domination.Government reports generated by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show increasing crimes against Scheduled Castes. In 2020 alone, over 50,000 crimes were reported against Scheduled Castes with a conviction rate of approximately 28 percent – a rate that is terribly different from the national figures for other crime. The terrible rate of which convictions occur demonstrates not only the issue of procedure in the legal system but the social prejudice retained by both police and judicial institutions.Inevitably, in a process often determined by politics and by a social dynamic of power, impunity has been granted to caste-based violence, especially in rural caste contexts when dominant castes both embody and execute de jure power. Victims face barriers at every point of the reporting process – from filing FIRs (First Information Reports) to finding lawyers, witness protection, etc. – reifying a lack of reporting and the hyped-up imagination of caste violence as incidental or appearing as local or singular (not structural). Affirmative Action and Its Discontents The affirmative action system in India—commonly called the reservation system—was originally designed to redress historical disadvantages through legally-mandated quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in education, public jobs and political representation.. While the reservation system has undoubtedly created paths of formal opportunity for an expansive Dalit middle class, there has been large opposition to it from critics of substance and process.Reservations have created pathways of onward mobility for hundreds of thousands of people, particularly in pan-Indian public university and civil service jobs. However, the promise of reservation has only been seized by a thin slice within the geography of each beneficiary group and this has generated tensions, first from "creamy layer" exclusion and second in the invedibly politicized space that the politics of OBC reservation generates.Simultaneously, the emergence of a systematic backlash of meritocracy that tacitly privileges caste; that elite upper-caste dalehetoueaviont has always hold is fair policy for reservations as they pose a tremendous threat to institutional quality and thus undermines and delegitimises both the process and purpose of affirmative action as a whole. The allocation of an additional 10% quota in 2019 for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) individuals among the upper castes greatly shifted the frame of new sustenance, although the legal strength of EWS was sustained by the Supreme Court of India, it raises profound constitutional questions about whether it is simply sufficient for measures against structural and social exclusion to respond to social deprivation of limited applicability.Another significant criticism of the reservations system is its inability as a welfare state to tackle caste inequalities outside the formal institutions of the state. Nearly 90% of labour is employed by the private sector, which the affirmative action system does not touch upon. Moreover, reservations on the whole are not able to inhibit the exploitation present in informal sectors where the large bulk of Dalit labourers work without structural enablement pathways and little possibility of social mobility. Caste and Electoral Politics Caste continues to be an important factor in political behavior in India. When organizing electoral coalitions, choosing candidates for parties, and setting vote bank strategies, political mobilization often uses caste as its demographic identity. Political mobilization has advantaged a number of marginalized groups, but it has also cemented caste identity as political capital.Caste-based political parties have emerged, such as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, which advances the idea that caste has transformed from a socially-ascribed categorical identity to a form of political mobilization. The BSP's leader, Mayawati, countered upper castes by empowering Dalit identity within the context of electoral politics.The use of caste identities in electoral politics has created fragmentation within marginalized communities. Political parties organize their votes by using sub-castes for a regional advantage, making inherent split allegiances with marginalized groups and eroding broader anti-caste-coalition solidarities. In addition, symbolic representation, such as appointing Dalit political leaders to ceremonial positions, is not directly correlated to expanding policy options for the majority of Dalits.The use of caste identities in the political space presents a double-edged sword. It allows marginalized groups access into the political space, but it can also inhibit their multiplicity of identities, interests, and motivations away from structural reform. Conclusion The continued existence of caste in present-day India highlights the limits of legal reform against enduring social hierarchies. The Indian Constitution provides a normative framework for equality; nonetheless, caste in formal and informal structures persists across education, labor markets, law, and political life. Despite the constitutional and political space for caste abolition, which would appear to fundamentally restructure Indian society, caste has persisted as a form of stratification, revealing a social reality where formal abolition did not result in social transformation.Caste violence and caste-based labor exploitation, as well as caste segregation in housing, demonstrate how caste as a lived experience persists. Affirmative action has provided limited impact on caste exclusion in the form of policy access to some individuals, but for the majority structurally excluded from opportunities, it has not been impactful. Political mobilization has produced many new opportunities for representation and access to political processes, but it has primarily conducted to increased identity-based polarizing effects, and subsequent inertia in policy outcomes.If India wants to substantively move toward a 'casteless' society, it needs to envision deeper reform efforts addressing distributive justice to caste, but also cultural and epistemic inequalities. These recommendations include:o Strengthened anti-discrimination powers with an independent monitoring body and a community-based grievance redressal process;o Affirmative action subject to the private sector along with some transparency around caste data;o Pedagogical strategies at the school or university level to dismantle caste and the development of a critical caste consciousness;o Land and labour reforms that reduce caste-linked economic dependencies, especially in rural India;o Protection for whistleblowers and victims, and legal backing for victims of caste-based violence and safeguarding protections for witnesses.Ultimately, a casteless society will require more than legal mechanisms, but a cultural and moral revolution. As B.R. Ambedkar argued, to annihilate caste means to annihilate caste consciousness, and policy alternatives will not achieve this goal without continued ethical, political, and educational commitment. References ・Ambedkar, B. R. (1944). Annihilation of Caste. Bombay: Bheem Patrika Publications. ・Dumont, L. (1970). Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste System and Its Implications. University of Chicago Press. ・Gupta, D. (2004). Caste in Question: Identity or Hierarchy? SAGE Publications. ・Shah, G. (2006). Caste and Democratic Politics in India. Permanent Black. ・National Sample Survey Office. (2017). Employment and Unemployment Situation Among Social Groups in India. Government of India. ・National Crime Records Bureau. (2020). Crime in India. Ministry of Home Affairs. ・National Commission for Safai Karamcharis. (2020). Annual Report. Government of India. ・Supreme Court of India. (2022). Judgment on EWS Reservation. Civil Writ Petition No. 55 of 2019.

In-situ fatigue crack propagation experiment was conducted on laser cladding with coaxial powder feeding (LCPF) K477 under various stress ratios and temperatures. Multiple crack initiation sites were observed by using in-situ scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The fatigue short crack growth rate was measured, and the impacts of temperature and stress ratio on this growth rate were analyzed. Based on these experiments, the experimental data were expanded, and three ensemble learning algorithms, i.e. random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) and light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM) were employed to establish a fatigue short crack growth rate model controlled by multiple parameters. It is indicated that the RF model performs the best, achieving a coefficient of determination ( R 2) of up to 0.88. The fatigue life predicted by the machine learning (ML) method agrees well with the experimental one.

Rapid resolution of eosinophilic esophagitis with dupilumab treatmentArsal Khan1,*, Isabel O’Connell1,*, Wayne G. Shreffler1, Joel A. Frielander2,Qian Yuan1,#1. Food Allergy Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 021142. EvoEndo Inc. 12649 E. Caley Avenue, Suite 116, Centennial, CO 80111*These authors contributed equally#Corresponding authorCorresponding author:Qian Yuan, MD, PhDFood Allergy Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical SchoolBoston, MA, 02114, USAPhone: 617-726-8706FAX: 617-724-7011Email: qyuan@mgh.harvard.eduTo the Editor,Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) is a chronic inflammatory condition of the esophagus, triggered in most patients by dietary allergens (1). It affects both children and adults with a bimodal appearance in onset of symptoms between 5-10 years of age in children and 20-30 years in adults. It has, however, also been diagnosed in children younger than 5 years old. The disease burden of EoE has had a negative impact on many patients’ quality of life (QoL) (2).EoE requires a clinical pathological diagnosis and the presence of both clinical symptoms and abnormal tissue eosinophilia as noted by ≥15 eosinophils per high power field (hpf) in the esophageal mucosa (1). For diagnosis and monitoring of disease activity, repeated esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with biopsies under sedation is the standard of care but can be limiting (1).Dupilumab is a recently FDA-approved treatment for patients with EoE who are greater than 1 year of age and over 10 kg. It is a monoclonal antibody targeting the IL-4Rα chain, suppressing IL-4 and IL-13 signaling (3). Clinical trials in adults (4) and in children with EoE (5) have demonstrated its great efficacy in controlling both EoE symptoms and esophageal tissue inflammation. The efficacy of dupilumab on esophageal eosinophilia is assessed from the mucosal biopsies obtained during sedated EGD. Althougth the injection treatment is well tolerated (4,5), pain/discomfort at the injection site is the most common complaints by patients, more so with pediatric patients because of the age and mental maturity and it has a negative impact on continuation of the treatment. Based on current clinical guidelines from the clinical trials (4,5), every patient has to receive the injection treatment either weekly or biweekly for 12 weeks until the first post-treatment EGD to assess the efficacy of the treatment.With the intention to study the time course of mucosal response to dupilumab treatment in EoE, we are conducting a clinical study at the Massachusetts General Hospital, approved by the hospital’s Institutional Review Board (#2023P002300). In this study, we use a sedation-free transnasal endoscopic (TNE) approach and utilize the EvoEndo Model LE ultra-slim gastroscope (EvoEndo, Inc, Centennial, Colorado) to perform transnasal esophagoscopies with biopsies (TN-Eso). Written informed consent was obtained from all participating patients and their parent as reqired by the study protocol.TN-Eso with Virtual Reality (VR) distraction and dissociation is a novel endoscopic technique that does not require general anesthesia or any sedation (6,7). It has been shown to be safe and well-tolerated in children and adults, and it allows pediatric and adult gastroenterologists to more frequently monitor the EoE disease activity without sedation or anesthesia. TN-Eso also offers the opportunity to systemically study the kinetics of tissue eosinophilia in EoE when initiating dupilumab treatment or other treatments. For the very first time, it allows us to obtain adequate tissue biopsy specimens under direct visualization at much shorter intervals. It does this without sacrificing patient safety or cost concerns associated with the use of repetitive sedation (6,7).Here, we present the novel and important results of the first 3 cases in this study treated with duplimab. In all cases, dupilumab treatment was 300 mg weekly subcutaneous injections. Following baseline standard EGD with biopsy, each patient underwent 2 TN-Eso after initiating dupilumab treatment at 3-4 weeks and 6-8 weeks (Fig. 1). All 3 patients reported clinical symptom improvement after 2 weeks of treatment, and complete resolution of symptoms after 3-4 weeks of treatment. Tissue eosinophilia of EoE was assessed by board-certified pathologists using standard H&E staining of the esophageal biopsies and reported as eosinophils/high power field (eos/HPF) (Table 1). Marked improvement of tissue eosinophilia (< 5 eos/HPF) was observed in all 3 patients with the first TNE at 3-4 weeks, and persistent with the second endoscopy at 7-8 weeks post initiating dupilumab treatment (Table 1).We here report the first series of cases demonstrating rapid resolution of clinical symptoms and tissue eosinophilia of EoE within 3-4 weeks after starting therapy dupilumab. Based on the published clinical trials of dupilumab in EoE (4,5), clinicians perform a conventional sedated EGD with general anesthesia three months (12 weeks) after initiating the treatment, to assess efficacy and response. With the availability of sedation-free TNE, we were able to evaluate the efficacy of dupilumab on EoE in much shorter time intervals. This data indicates the rapid effect of dupilumab on clinical symptoms and esophageal eosinophilia in EoE patients and the possibility of evaluating clinical response sooner than the usually performed, this will avoid unnecessary treatment in non-responsive patients to reduce cost associated with the therapy and more importantly and more revalently in pediatric patients to reduce the discomfort associated with the injections with fewer treatments before the efficacy is assessed. Therefore, this not only helps to guide clinical decision making on treatment, but may also decrease the cost of care and facilitate faster improvement of patients’ QoL. Large scale prospective study is needed to further validate our findings.References:Muir A, and Falk GW. Eosinophilic esophagitis: a review. JAMA 2021;326(13):1310-1318.Mukkada V, Falk GW, Eichinger CS, King D, Todorova L, Shaheen NJ. Health-related quality of life and costs associated with eosinophilic esophagitis: a systematic review. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2018;16(4):495-503.e8.Harb H, and Chatila T. Mechanisms of dupilumab. Cli Exp Allergy 2020;50(1):5-14.Dellon ES, Rothenberg ME, Collins MH, et al. N Eng J Med 2022;387(25):2317-2330.Chehade M, Dellon ES, Spergel JM, et al. N Eng J Med 2024;390(24):2239-2251.Friedlander JA, DeBoer EM, Soden JS, et al. Unsedated transnasal esophagoscopy for monitoring therapy in pediatric eosinophilic esophagitis. Gastrointest Endosc. 2016;83(2):299-306 e1.Nguyen, Nathalie, William J. Lavery, Kelley E. Capocelli, Clinton Smith, Emily M. DeBoer, Robin Deterding, Jeremy D. Prager, et al. 2019. “Transnasal Endoscopy in Unsedated Children With Eosinophilic Esophagitis Using Virtual Reality Video Goggles.” Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology: The Official Clinical Practice Journal of the American Gastroenterological Association 17 (12): 2455–62.

Hairy Cell Leukemia (HCL) is a rare disorder characterized by splenomegaly, pancytopenia and proliferation with ‘hairy’ lymphocytes. Treatment is based on purine analogs and anti-CD20 antibodies, often resulting in significant adverse effects. This study analyzed 20 patients treated between 2009 and 2023, focusing on clinical characteristics, treatment response, complications and survival outcomes. Cladribine treatment achieved complete response in 77.8% of patients. The 5-year OS and PFS were 100% and 91.7%, respectively. Infections, pathogens such as herpes viruses and mycobacteria, were major complications, impacting 38% of patients. Severe skin reactions were noted in patients treated with cladribine. The study highlights cladribine’s effectiveness in inducing remission in HCL patients, pointing out the significant risk of infections and other adverse effects. Introducing targeted treatments like BRAF inhibitors provides promising alternatives, especially for resistant patients or those intolerant to purine analogs. Future strategies should focus on integrating targeted therapies to reduce treatment-related morbidity.

Aim: Drug-induced esophageal ulcers are primarily associated with orally administered drugs, although recent studies have suggested an association with parenterally administered drugs, particularly immune checkpoint inhibitors. However, such cases have not been comprehensively analyzed. Identifying potential associations between various drugs and esophageal ulcers using spontaneous adverse event reporting database is beneficial in reducing drug-induced esophageal ulcers. Methods: We conducted a disproportionality analysis using data from the Japanese Adverse Drug Event Report (JADER) database data from April, 2004 to December, 2023. Signals for esophageal ulcers were detected using the reporting odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. Weibull distribution analysis was performed to determine the time to adverse event onset for drugs showing signals for esophageal ulcers. We analyzed both orally and parenterally administered drugs separately. Results: Signals for esophageal ulcers were detected with 15 orally administered drugs and seven parenterally administered anticancer drugs, including an immune checkpoint inhibitor (pembrolizumab). Weibull distribution analysis revealed that doxycycline and dabigatran etexilate induced the early onset of esophageal ulcers with median onset times of 8 and 12.5 days, respectively. Conclusion: Our comprehensive investigation using the JADER database revealed that the onset of esophageal ulcers was associated not only for orally administered drugs but also for parenteral administered anticancer drugs, including pembrolizumab. Specifically, doxycycline and dabigatran etexilate may induce the early onset of esophageal ulcers. Overall, our findings highlight the need for early interventions with signal-detecting drugs to prevent and manage esophageal ulcers.

Rationale: Aerodyne Tunable Infrared Laser Differential Absorption Spectrometer (TILDAS) allows for the measurement of carbonate-clumped (∆ 638) and stable oxygen isotope ratios (δ 628) without the mass interference of 17O, and understanding acid fractionation factors during phosphoric acid digestion is essential for inter-laboratory data comparison. Here, we present δ 628 and ∆ 638 ratios in CO 2 generated during phosphoric acid digestion of a reference carbonate at different temperatures. Methods: Carrara Marble (MAR-J1) calcite is digested with ⁓104% phosphoric acid using a) Break Seal method is a modified version of a McCrea-type reaction vessel where complete equilibration is achieved between product CO 2 and H 2O generated from the digestion and b) Individual Acid Bath (IAB) where the samples are digested with fresh aliquot of acid each time and the product CO 2 and H 2O simultaneously frozen in a U-trap connected to the reaction chamber by liquid N 2. Results: The regression equations for acid fractionation of δ 628 are: a) Break Seal Method: 1000 ln α (dig. temp- 25℃) = (0.532 ± 0.030) × 10 6/T 2 + (-6.185 ± 0.308) ; R 2 = 0.98. b) IAB: 1000 ln α (dig. temp- 25℃) = (0.359 ± 0.027) × 10 6/T 2 + (-4.114 ± 0.247) ; R 2 = 0.97. The regression equations for acid fractionation of ∆ 638 are: a) Break Seal Method: 1000 ln α (dig. temp - 25℃) = (0.0189 ± 0.0017) × 10 6/T 2 + (-0.2151 ± 0.0174) ; R 2 = 0.95. b) IAB: 1000 ln α (dig. temp - 25℃) = (0.0529 ± 0.0041) × 10 6/T 2 + (-0.6072 ± 0.0356) ; R 2=0.97. Conclusion: The shallow slope of the IAB method for δ 628 and the steeper slope for ∆ 638 indicate minimal resetting of the isotope composition of product CO 2 due to re-equilibration or interaction with free H 2O molecules. This observation enables inter-laboratory comparisons of δ 628 and ∆ 638 in calcite.

Background SCN5A is the most common susceptibility gene in patients with Brugada syndrome (BrS); however, the interpretation and management of benign or variants of unknown clinical significance (VUS) in SCN5A remains a challenge despite the availability of genetic testing. Objective This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the SCN5A variants and clinical symptoms of BrS patients. Methods We resequenced the SCN5A gene in 239 patients diagnosed with BrS at Hiroshima University Hospital and analyzed the association between the SCN5A variants and clinical features, 12-lead electrocardiography (ECG) parameters, or signal-averaged ECG. Results Overall, 84 SCN5A variants were identified: 55 benign, 7 pathogenic, and 22 VUS . No significant difference in the incidence of previous cardiac events was observed between patients with and without SCA5A benign variants. The female proportion was higher in BrS patients with SCN5A VUS or pathogenic variants. Moreover, the symptomatic proportion was higher in BrS patients with SCN5A VUS or pathogenic variants. Multivariate analyses revealed that the presence of SCN5A VUS or pathogenic variants, longer r-J interval in lead V1, and the presence of fragmented QRS were independently associated with the cardiac events in BrS patients and that positive late potentials, longer LAS40, and lower RMS40 were significantly associated with symptomatic BrS in patients carrying SCN5A VUS. Conclusions The SCN5A VUS or pathogenic variants were found to be independent risk factors for the cardiac events in the BrS patients. In BrS patients with SCN5A VUS, the signal-averaged ECG was the key to risk stratification for cardiac events.

Human Rights Consciousness in India During the 2000s: Structural Constraints, Civil Movements, and Legal Transformation AbstractThis paper examines the development of human rights consciousness among regaining in the fast-changing context of increasing economic liberalization, technological expansion with the advent of the digital media, and global connectedness in the 2000s. In particular, it examined how emerging civil society activities, judicial intervention and landmark legislation altered social consciousness. However, it also explored how structural enclaves of caste, class, gender and institutional inertia limited this consciousness, and created a contradictory situation in which increased visibility of human rights violations occurred alongside limited structural remedy. Moving from person to person, it developed the theoretical work of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum with the experiences of transformation released by the Right to Information Act and the Khairlanji massacre to argue relevance of deliberate change in human rights consciousness was much improved in the 2000s but did not result in structural change. Finally, the presented conclusion argued that ongoing presence of legal reform and education must be combined with culture refinement to create a rights conscious society in India. IntroductionThe first decade of the twenty-first century was a pivotal point in the postcolonial trajectory of India. Economic liberalization, initiated during the early 1990s, escalated dramatically in the first 10 years of the new millennium resulting in extraordinary economic growth and India's changing position in global economic circuits. Also notable was the concurrent rise of civil liberties discourse, reflecting an increasingly confident civil society, an ever-expanding media-ballot, and some major judicial interventions. Notwithstanding such apparent democratization of consciousness, it would be mistaken to suggest that the realization of human rights improved uniformly across the nation.While urban middle classes became increasingly familiar with the language of rights and entitlements, historically marginalized communities like Dalits, Adivasis, and those in extreme poverty were still outside the parameters of meaningful enpowerment. Barriers to education, legal access, and structural power still limited the real effects of progressive legislation. It is therefore the aim of this paper to consider the relationships between this escalation in human rights awareness and entrenched structural restrictions and to posit that India's democratic promise of the 2000s was ultimately undermined by entrenched social, economic, and cultural hierarchies. Literature ReviewResearch on human rights in India has largely focused on sectoral themes emphasizing gender justice, caste discrimination, or curtailment of civil liberties due to state violence. Sen’s influential book, The Argumentative Indian (2005), argues that a rights-based society develops through public reasoning and civic engagement. His normative framework is premised on participatory governance and education, as both are necessary to realize justice. Nussbaum’s (2007) Capabilities Approach advances Sen’s work, incorporating notions of gender and caste into a comprehensive theory of human development. According to her, the goal of realizing dignity and agency for historically thwarted groups, especially Dalit women, must become part of any serious human rights agenda. These theoretical models have been used with increasing regularity within Indian contexts, especially as transnational attention to systemic inequality has grown.Empirical contributions also demonstrate tensions between rights discourse and institutional failures. For example, Nagaraj's (2009) work describes how digital media and international NGOs, along with grassroots actors, worked collectively to raise awareness of human rights violations. Local evocations such as Singh's (1996) account of the Mumbai police imply persistent institutional inadequacies regarding accessing justice for marginalized communities. Altogether these works suggest a complex situation in which awareness of rights far exceeds institutional capacities to deliver human rights. The Role of Civil Society and Social MovementsDuring the turn of the millennia, civil society actors emerged and began to operate within a rights-focused framework. These included both institutional formal actors such as NGOs, and a range of decentralised grassroots movements and associations, all of which demanded dignity and equality, claimed state accountability, and challenged the state itself. The Right to Information (RTI) movement exemplified this heightened rights-consciousness, with the RTI Act being enacted in 2005. The RTI Act remapped the citizen-state relationship by creating a legal demand for citizens to request information from public authorities. It improved transparency and accountability and aligned with a social model of participatory governance.Organisations dedicated to women's rights mobilised against patriarchal structures that unquestioningly and systematically deemed violence present within the home, harassment in the workplace, and exclusion dictated by gender as justified. The passing of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act (2005) was significant in that it provided legal guidelines to address abuse within the private or personal sphere, a space that had previously been neglected within legal frameworks.At the same moment, caste-based movements were being mobilised by Dalit activists who invoked constitutional guarantees and international human rights to interrogate and disrupt systemic caste-based social hierarchies, while also claiming their entitlements as citizens. Drawing on the emancipatory vision of B.R. Ambedkar, caste-based movements rejected caste violence and exclusion. These movements were propelled by the Khairlanji massacre of a Dalit family in 2006 and a national mobilization against caste injustice began to take shape. The caste justice movement demonstrated the capacity of grassroots actors to transform legal norms into politicised demands.While these movements made some advances, they largely faced resistance from established dominant caste/class interests, state institutions, and social movements within civil society that sought less than radical or substantive reform. Nevertheless, these movements laid significant groundwork for rethinking a human rights discourse in an inclusive form within public spaces in India. Media and Human Rights AwarenessThe media landscape in India underwent a sea change in the 2000s, widely considered a watershed moment, with the liberalization of the broadcast sector, the proliferation of private news channels, and widespread access to the internet all shifting the landscape of public discourse. Issues related to human rights violations which were local or hushed, gained national and international visibility for the first time.Media mentions of the 2002 Gujarat riots, the Nithari child killings of 2005, and the systematic abuses of bonded laborers all led to new levels of public discourse about structural violence. By the end of that decade, while still quite nascent, new social media platforms started to provide a way for marginalized voices to bypass traditional gatekeepers and directly articulate grievances.However, the media, in its relation to these developments were not always liberatory. Market led practices routinely prioritized sensationalism over structural analysis. In this way, the suffering of rural workers, displaced tribal populations, and informal sector laborers was reduced to disorganized and misunderstood stories. In favouring high profile urban cases, the media also reproduced the very hierarchies and inequalities it sought to reveal.Even more problematically, media framing of incidents was often moralistic, and victim driven rather than through a lens of systemic analysis. Thus the transformative possibilities of media discourse had already been limited before it could even take root through the isolating of incidents, rather than a thorough and rich engagement around patterns of violence and abuse. Even with these limitations, media institutions operated in enabling or disabling capacities, to different degrees, the construction of public consciousness and state response. Legal and Educational DevelopmentsIn addition, this decade was also marked by significant judicial and education reforms that also shaped the boundaries of human rights awareness. The Right to Education (RTE) Act, which received royal assent in 2009 was probably the most ambitious piece of legislation to date. The Act was supposed to implement Article 21A of the Constitution and access to free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of 6-14 years. It was considered a normative shift towards a recognition of education as not just an objective of state policy, but as a justiciable right of citizens engaged in democratic citizenship, amongst many new legislations and legal discussions around education justice.The implementation of the RTE Act revealed the deep-rooted realities of structural inequities. Rural schools languished when it came to teacher recruitment, teacher absenteeism and inadequate infrastructure. Economically marginalized populations including Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims, encountered systemic barriers in accessing equality of educational opportunities too. While it was a legal milestone, the RTE Act did not redress the intersectional exclusions that would have created more transformational change.Judicial activism has also important roles to play. The judicial response from the Supreme Court and High Courts on custodial violence, rights of the environment, affirmative action and many more important and radical decisions were evidenced. Though, reaffirmation of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in 2015, technically beyond this decade of review, showed continued reinforcement of legislation against caste-based violence.These developments show the paradox of legalism in the Indian context. Courts remain a site for progressive interpretation but also with disappointing outcomes for marginalized communities. The entire legal system, riddled with delays, bureaucratic inertia and corruption often undermines its own emancipatory potential. This disconnect between legal norms and peoples' lived experiences is arguably one of the main barriers to human rights awareness. Human Rights Awareness: Barriers and ChallengesIn spite of significant advancements in rights discourse, the realization of human rights itself in India in the 2000s continued to be severely restricted by structural inequalities. Economic disparities were an overarching constraint, as disparities in wealth concentration and income inequality only served to worsen differential access to legal recourse, education, health care, and political representation.Cultural hierarchies espoused by caste and gender produced exclusionary practices that were held by the public for many generations as normative and unproblematic. Modesty, sexual endogamy, the strata of caste-based jobs operative only at the local level, sexually constrained roles of women in society involved silent regulation of behavior and subsequently undermined any intention of genuinely reformist policies.The Indian legal system itself posed major hurdles to justice. Police corruption, judicial delays, costs of litigation, and opacity in undergoing judicial procedures undermined the attempts of marginalized individuals to seek redress. As such, the abstract potentiality afforded by constitutional rights often collided with the lived experience of legal disenfranchisement, and because state institutions were either absent and/or complicit with local abuses, the notion of human rights has either been absent or unattainable.This complex entanglement of structural, cultural, institutional demands draw attention to the distinction between the information afforded by rights awareness and the will to realize one’s rights. While awareness was expanding in the 2000s regarding human rights, it likely developed along the lines that the paradox of India’s development has more visibility and less accessibility. Rights awareness will not change the structural, cultural, and institutional conditions that impede rights realization. To shift from legal exclusion and disenfranchisement would be dependent on developing synergies in its economic policies, educational capacity, and institutional redressal for human rights violation. ConclusionThe 2000s in India constitute an important but ambivalent moment in the unfolding of human rights awareness. On the one hand, civil society activism, media proliferation, and activist-oriented changes in statutory law opened up discursive spaces for rights to be articulated, claimed, and contested. Movements that claimed the rights of women, Dalits, and economically marginalized people illustrated the ways in which issues of justice and dignity could galvanize public consciousness. The formal articulations of an education right as a justiciable right, as well as the institutionalization of the mechanisms like the RTI Act introduced a normative base for transparency and empowerment.On the other hand, developments were occurring against the persistent backdrop of structural violence and cultural exclusion. The continued existence of socioeconomic exclusion, caste oppression, and gender oppression, reduced the democratizing potential of the legal and institutional reform. The consistently inaccessible nature of the justice system often rendered rights into rhetorical abstraction, rather than referring to lived experiences.Thus, the accomplishments of the 2000s require consideration not as an end but a beginning, or more accurately, only the foundational phase of a sequence requiring further consolidation. For human rights awareness to develop into genuine human rights realization, India must work towards systemic changes beyond gestures to address the structural causes of inequality. This includes: equitable access to quality education; decentralizing legal aid, accountability in law enforcement, continuous engagement with culture to undermine internalized ranking and hierarchy.The goal is to be able to move beyond being a society which merely speaks of rights towards one which embodies rights, with the ultimate realization of the promises of liberty, dignity, and equality for all embedded in the Constitution. References・Amnesty International. (2009). India’s right to education and the challenges of implementation. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/asa20/012/2009/en/ ・Human Rights Watch. (2006). India: Caste discrimination in the Khairlanji murders. https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/11/15/india-caste-discrimination-khairlanji-murders ・Nagaraj, V. (2009). Media, public opinion, and human rights in India. The Hindu. https://www.thehindu.com ・Nussbaum, M. C. (2007). Women and human development: The capabilities approach. Cambridge University Press. ・Sen, A. (2005). The argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian history, culture and identity. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ・Singh, S. (1996). Failures in law enforcement: A case study of Mumbai police stations. Journal of Indian Legal Studies, 18(3), 45–62.

This study aimed to analyze the relation between eating disorder-like behavior and depressive symptomatology. Moreover, we also assessed the relation between body image and depressive symptomatology. A sample of 362 participants (85.9 % female, Mage = 25.62, SD = 9.41) was involved in this study. They completed scales measuring eating disorder-like behaviors, body satisfaction, and depressive symptomatology. The results showed a positive predictive role of restrained and emotional eating on depressive symptomatology and a negative predictive role of body satisfaction on depressive symptomatology. As a conclusion, the results sustain the relationships between eating disorder-like behaviors, body image and depressive symptomatology and may have clinical implications in therapeutic interventions.

Introduction: As current evidence regarding the protective role of coenzyme Q10 on atrial fibrillation is inconclusive, we undertook a meta-analysis to investigate the impact of coenzyme Q10 on the prevention of postoperative atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery. Methods: A comprehensive search of the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases was conducted to identify relevant randomized controlled trials. The search encompassed the period from the inception of the databases to April 1st, 2024, without language restrictions. Meta-analysis was carried out with Review Manager 5.3. The risk ratio (RR) was employed to assess the effect. Results: Five randomized controlled trials with 216 patients were finally included. It was shown that perioperative use of coenzyme Q10 significantly reduced the incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation compared with the control group (RR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.33-0.90; P=0.02; I 2=0%). Conclusion: Coenzyme Q10 might be a prophylactic treatment for postoperative atrial fibrillation following cardiac surgery.

Objective: This project seeks to identify the top 30 drugs most commonly associated With gastrointestinal haemorrhage in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS), as well as their respective reporting odds ratios (RORs). Methods: We extracted case identifiers, adverse events, and attributed medications for entries in the FAERS database from the first quarter of 2004 to the second quarter of 2024. Entries were split into datasets based on whether or they contained the word “gastrointestinal haemorrhage.” The medications most commonly associated with gastrointestinal haemorrhage were then identified.We employed signal detection methodologies to ascertain whether these drugs elicited significant signals, including reporting odds ratio(ROR),time-to-onset (TTO). Results: We extracted 53,769,390 entries, of which 307,607 contain the word “gastrointestinal haemorrhage.” The 30 most frequently appearing medications were then ranked by ROR values with associated 95% confidence intervals. The three medications with the greatest association with headaches were Rivaroxaban (ROR 29.33, 95% CI 28.98– 29.67), Dabigatran (ROR 22.12, 95% CI 21.74– 22.5), and Aspirin (ROR 20.99, 95% CI 20.64– 21.36). Anticoagulants and Antiplatelet, Antirheumatic and immunomodulatory were most commonly associated with gastrointestinal haemorrhage.A TTO analysis was conducted for the 30 drugs that generated risk signals, revealing that all drugs exhibited an early failure type. The median TTO for Ibuprofen was 11 days, the shortest of all the drugs, while the median TTO for Ambrisentan was 379 days, the longest of all the drugs. Conclusion: Our study offers a potential list of the medication classes commonly as-sociated with iatrogenic gastrointestinal haemorrhage

Systemic Human Rights Violations in Contemporary India: A Critical Examination of Communal Violence, Legislative Discrimination, and Caste-Based Oppression AbstractThis article provides a critical review of some of the most extreme violations of human rights in India over the last twenty years, with attention to three cases that emerge as exemplars: the 2002 Gujarat riots, the 2019 Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and accompanying protests, and the sustained systemic violence inflicted against Dalits. These major incidents of violence are not distinct events but part of broader socio-political and legal order that is enabled and sustained by systemic violence and systemic discrimination. By tracing the history, religion and law of these incidents of violence, the articles evaluates how collusive state inaction and the rise of populist ethno-nationalism are converted into a broader acceptance of caste based violence which erodes the constitutional commitments made by an independent India. The article aims to argue for a transformative mode of accountability, legal reform and civics necessary for the substantive realization of human dignity in a diverse democracy.

Objective: CD39 is crucial for the function of lymphocyte subsets, including CD4-positive T cells and Tregs. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the quantities of Tregs, CD4-positive T cells, and CD39 expression on these cells with SLE disease activity. Methods: Peripheral blood from 108 SLE patients was analyzed. Patients were divided into SLE active and remission groups based on disease activity. The percentages and absolute counts of CD4-positive T cells and Tregs, along with CD39 expression, were measured by flow cytometry. Correlations between these markers and disease activity were evaluated, and the potential of CD39 as a biomarker was assessed. Results: The SLE active group had higher percentages and numbers of CD4-positive T cells compared to the remission group, while Treg levels were lower. CD39 expression was significantly higher in both Tregs and CD4-positive T cells in the active group. CD39 expression on Tregs correlated positively with their percentage and number, while CD39 expression on CD4-positive T cells showed a negative correlation with their percentage and number. ROC analysis indicated that CD39 could be a useful biomarker for SLE disease activity. Conclusion: CD39 on CD4-positive T cells exhibits immune suppressive functions similar to Tregs. CD4+CD39+ T cells represent a subset with immunosuppressive capabilities, potentially serving as a more effective marker for distinguishing SLE disease activity.