A Situational Assessment of Children Living with HIV and AIDS in Bangalore

Christy Abraham Research Institute of Asian Women Sookmyung Women' 2005 Asian Women Vol.21 No.-

In its efforts to combat the HIV and AIDS epidemic in India, the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in line with Government's efforts has developed an integrated work plan on combating the disease. NACO and the State AIDS Control Societies' primary activity targeting children has been prevention of mother-to-child transmission, which involves administering a short course of antiretroviral drugs to mother and newborn that greatly reduces the risk of HIV transmission during pregnancy and child birth. The most vulnerable group of the population, the HIV positive children and children who are now orphans due to the death of one or both of their parents from AIDS, have received little attention both in terms of practical programs and in sector plans. This is much so because the number of AIDS orphans in the country is not known let alone their living conditions and their needs as other children. This paper assesses the situation of 100 children who are living with HIV and AIDS and who are now orphans due to the death of one or both of their parents from AIDS and the concerns and challeges of positive mothers in Bangalore, India. While 63 children live with their families 36 positive children live in one of the Positive Children's Homes in Bangalore. Out of the 64 positive children, 30 children are paternal orphans, three children are maternal orphans, and nine children are double orphans. Thirteen children are living with their positive parents and the double orphans live with their extended families. The information was gathered in individual therapy sessions, group discussions, and family support sessions with positive children and widows. Out of the 36 Positive Children in the institution, 26 are double orphans and 10 children are either maternal orphans or paternal orphans. The paper also gives an insight on how a Family Support Network, MILANA in Bangalore, India, is addressing and coping with the varied issues and problems faced by orphans and their families. The assessment suggests the need to map out the children orphaned by AIDS, so as to get reliable data on the total number of children orphaned by AIDS, and to frame policies for children orphaned by AIDS, taking into consideration not only the educational, health, and nutritional aspects but also the psycho social and economic aspects.

Stabilization of Bacillus subtilis Lipase A by increasing the residual packing

Abraham1, Tajo,Pil Pack1, Seung,Je Yoo, Young Taylor Francis 2005 Biocatalysis and biotransformation Vol.23 No.3

<P>Introduction of well-packed residues to the interior of a protein structure could be considered as a stabilization strategy since the reduction of buried cavities might stabilize protein structure. In this study, the less-packed residues with no water-contact were selected as target sites for increasing residual packing. When Lipase A from Bacillus subtilis (179 amino acids) was used as a model system, 43 less-packed residues were initially considered by analyzing their residual packing value and residual exposure ratio. Among the 43 residues, small amino acids such as GLY and ALA were chosen as target sites. Packing increases of ALA to VAL and GLY to ALA were estimated, by molecular modeling, to give 0.5368∼⃒0.7433  kcal mol −1 stabilization. Mutants of Lipase A such as A38V, A75V, G80A, A105V A146V, and G172A were obtained via protein engineering. Thermostability assays revealed that A38V, G80A and G172V were the most stable mutants. This procedure for selecting the target residues for improved thermostability of Lipase A could be applied for improving the thermostability of other proteins and enzymes.</P>

Role of colour and volatile in foraging behaviour of honeybee Apis cerana on Jacquemontia pentanthos

Anitha Annamma Abraham,Abraham Verghese,Subramanyam Muthangi 한국응용곤충학회 2018 Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology Vol.21 No.4

Floral visual and olfactory cues guide the insect visitors to the source of reward. This work addresses one such interaction between honeybee Apis cerana and a garden climber Jacquemontia pentanthos. Field studies have indicated that A. cerana showed preference to J. pentanthos over the other flowering plants during its visits for foraging. The objectives of the work is to understand the role of colour and scent in the attraction of Apis cerana to the host plant. Bioassays performed emphasized the involvement of colour and volatiles for the visits of A. cerana. Petals show high reflectance to ultraviolet light with ultraviolet absorbing regions in the centre which serve as a nectar guide. Gas chromatography linked electroanntenogram detector (GC-EAD) showed antennal response to the floral volatile of J. pentanthos identified as sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene. Behavioural studies have shown similar preference to β- caryophyllene as that of α-humulene. Our studies suggest an interplay of colour and volatiles cues for A. cerana visitation to Jacquemontia flowers and these findings are further supported by behavioural studies on.

Serotype Distribution and Virulence Profile of Salmonella enterica Serovars Isolated from Food Animals and Humans in Lagos Nigeria

Abraham, Ajayi,Stella, Smith,Ibidunni, Bode-Sojobi,Coulibaly, Kalpy Julien,Funbi, Jolaiya Tolulope,Isaac, Adeleye Adeyemi The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnol 2019 한국미생물·생명공학회지 Vol.47 No.2

Distribution of Salmonella enterica serovars and their associated virulence determinants is wide-spread among food animals, which are continuously implicated in periodic salmonellosis outbreaks globally. The aim of this study was to determine and evaluate the diversity of five Salmonella serovar virulence genes (invA, pefA, cdtB, spvC and iroN) isolated from food animals and humans. Using standard microbiological techniques, Salmonella spp. were isolated from the feces of humans and three major food animals. Virulence determinants of the isolates were assayed using PCR. Clonal relatedness of the dominant serovar was determined via pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using the restriction enzyme, Xbal. Seventy one Salmonella spp. were isolated and serotyped into 44 serovars. Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS; 68) accounted for majority (95.8%) of the Salmonella serovars. Isolates from chicken (34) accounted for 47.9% of all isolates, out of which S. Budapest (14) was predominant (34.8%). However, the dominant S. Budapest serovars showed no genetic relatedness. The invA gene located on SPI-1 was detected in all isolates. Furthermore, 94% of the isolates from sheep harbored the spvC genes. The iroN gene was present in 50%, 100%, 88%, and 91% of isolates from human, chicken, sheep, and cattle, respectively. The pefA gene was detected in 18 isolates from chicken and a single isolate from sheep. Notably, having diverse Salmonella serovars containing plasmid encoded virulence genes circulating the food chain is of public health significance; hence, surveillance is required.

Evaluation of Pavement Subgrade Long-term Equilibrium Moisture with Suction Potential

Abraham Bae,Shelley M. Stoffels 대한토목학회 2019 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.23 No.1

The objective of this study was to find the relationship between soil suction potential and moisture change from the Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) to the long-term equilibrium moisture. The sixty-five Seasonal Monitoring Program (SMP) sites in the Long Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) program were employed. Suction potential was evaluated using the Soil Water Characteristic Curve (SWCC) characterized. Moisture change wetting and drying from OMC was identified. Maximum wetting moistures are 15.3 and 19.9 percent from OMC and maximum drying moistures are -10.3 and -15.4 percent from OMC for flexible and rigid pavements, respectively. Once reaching equilibrium, the moisture variations were mostly less than 1 percent in terms of gravimetric moisture. OMC has a significant correlation to the percentage passing at 0.02 mm sieve size. As suction potential increased, subgrade became more wetted. The characteristic was more noticeable in rigid than flexible pavements. Groundwater table and precipitation were found not to be dominant factors in causing long-term moisture changes.

Analysis on the Effect of Spectral Index Images on Improvement of Classification Accuracy of Landsat-8 OLI Image

Abraham T. Magpantay,Rossana T. Adao,Joferson L. Bombasi,Ace C. Lagman,Elisa V. Malasaga,예철수 대한원격탐사학회 2019 大韓遠隔探査學會誌 Vol.35 No.4

In this paper, we analyze the effect of the representative spectral indices, normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI) and normalized difference built-up index (NDBI) on classification accuracies of Landsat-8 OLI image. After creating these spectral index images, we propose five methods to select the spectral index images as classification features together with Landsat-8 OLI bands from 1 to 7. From the experiments we observed that when the spectral index image of NDVI or NDWI is used as one of the classification features together with the Landsat-8 OLI bands from 1 to 7, we can obtain higher overall accuracy and kappa coefficient than the method using only Landsat-8 OLI 7 bands. In contrast, the classification method, which selected only NDBI as classification feature together with Landsat-8 OLI 7 bands did not show the improvement in classification accuracies.

Microgrid Control Using Consensus Based Algorithm: Brief Review

Abraham D. Arefaynie(아브라함 디. 아레파니),Chul-Hwan Kim(김철환) 대한전기학회 2020 대한전기학회 학술대회 논문집 Vol.2020 No.7

Pavement Roughness Index Impact for Specific Wavebands and Causative Factors

Abraham Bae,Shelley M. Stoffels 대한토목학회 2017 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.21 No.5

This study quantified roughness for individual wavebands in the long wavelength range in pavement longitudinal profiles. Particularly, the roughness was related with quantified plausible factors associated with those wavebands. Root Mean Square (RMS) roughness defined under the Power Spectral Density (PSD) profile in the frequency domain was used as a quantified index that can reflect detailed roughness information for a specific waveband. A method to interpret the quantified roughness in terms of the International Roughness Index (IRI) was also developed. It was demonstrated that the RMS roughness evaluated in individual wavebands under the PSD function can be technically interpreted in terms of IRI. Thus, the interpreted IRI could be directly explained by the quantified plausible factors. It was concluded that the demonstrated method can contribute to improved roughness prediction models the Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) with smoothness characteristics in detailed wavelengths underpinnings in future generations of pavement design models.

Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Heterodera schachtii and the Newly Recorded Cyst Nematode, H. trifolii Associated with Chinese Cabbage in Korea

Abraham Okki Mwamula,고형래,김영준,김영호,이재국,이동운 한국식물병리학회 2018 Plant Pathology Journal Vol.34 No.4

The sugar beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii is a well known pathogen on Chinese cabbage in the highland fields of Korea. However, a race of cyst forming nematode with close morphological resemblance to H. trifolii was recently isolated from the same Chinese cabbage fields. Morphological species differentiation between the two cyst nematodes is challenging, with only minor differences between them. Thus, this study described the newly intercepted H. trifolii population, and reviewed morphological and molecular characteristics conceivably essential in differentiating the two nematode species. A comparison of morphometric measurements of both infective juveniles and vulval cones of cysts showed significant differences between the two cyst nematodes. When total RNA and genomic DNA were extracted from a mixed field population, COI genes and ITS regions were clearly amplified with primers of the two Heterodera species, suggesting that Heterodera population collected from the Chinese cabbage field consisted of a mixture of two species. COI and ITS of H. trifolii were predominantly amplified from nucleotides prepared from H. trifolii monoxenic population whereas those of H. schachtii were strongly detected in H. schachtii monoxenic cultures. Thus, this study confirms the coexistence of the two species in some Chinese cabbage fields; and the presence of H. trifolii in Korea is reported here for the first time.

Laboratory Assessment of Impact of Copper and Lead on Solidified/Stabilized Material

Abraham C. F Chiu,Raphael Akesseh,Gifty Amokwaw 대한토목학회 2018 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.22 No.10

This study focused on the impact of copper and lead concentration on the permeability of solidified/stabilized soil and assessed the leachability of heavy metals after stabilization. An artificial soil material was prepared using kaolin, sand, and silts in the ratio of 2:1:1. Samples were spiked with copper and lead in the form of Cu(NO3)·3H2O and Pb(NO3)2 and stabilized with cement content of 100 kg/m3 and 300 kg/m³. The samples were cured for 7 and 28 days. With the use of triaxial cell apparatus, permeability was measured after each curing period. The sample spiked with copper and lead showed an increase in permeability at the end of 28 days of curing in comparison with samples without heavy metals. Microstructure analysis also showed that copper had a greater impact on the pore size distribution in comparison to lead. Batch leaching test results also showed that under neutral conditions, both lead and copper were stable for the cement contents applied for treatment. Under acidic leaching conditions, more copper leached compared to lead. Amount of binder content was also an important factor in the solidification/stabilization process. Geochemical modeling of the pore solution using Visual Minteq showed that both copper and lead dominantly existed as hydroxide species, which facilitated adsorption. Precipitation of some of their solids was also important for immobilization.