Therapeutic efficacy of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), which is commonly used to treat falciparum malaria, was assessed in isolates of Plasmodium falciparum (Welch, 1897) and Plasmodium vivax (Grassi et Feletti, 1890) of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, North India and Taif, Saudi Arabia during 2011-2012. Both the species showed mutations in dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) enzyme as they have common biochemical drug targets. Mutation rate for pfdhfr was higher compared to pvdhfr because the drug was mainly given to treat falciparum malaria. Since both the species coexist, P. vivax was also exposed to SP due to faulty species diagnosis or medication without specific diagnosis. Low level of mutations against SP in P. falciparum of Saudi isolates indicates that the SP combination is still effective for the treatment of falciparum malaria. Since SP is used as first-line of treatment because of high level of resistance against chloroquine (CQ), it may result in spread of higher level of mutations resulting in drug resistance and treatment failure in near future. Therefore, to avoid further higher mutations in the parasite, use of better treatment regimens such as artesunate combination therapy must be introduced against SP combination.
The paper considers mainly the issue of nationalist radicalism and Hindu extremism in India. Inthe independent India, the close connection between politics and religion became a detonating mixture thathas been one of the main reasons for the escalation of some conflicts in that country. In spite of some legislativechanges, inter alia, the 42th constitutional amendment, the Indian state didn’t create mechanisms of separationbetween politics and religion. Moreover, the process has become impossible due to the weakening of theIndian National Congress religious radicals taking the power. The authors illustrate a necessity to split politicsand religion and a danger of the religion politicization with examples of inter-communal violence in differentstates of India. There are some parallels between India and the modern Russia, and negative experiences ofIndia could be useful for Russia who also clashes with challenges of nationalism, extremism and terrorism.
A new nematode species, Pseudocapillaria indica sp. п., is described from the intestine of the freshwater fish Channa gachua (Hamilton) from Kerala, India. It resembles P. tomentosa (Dujardin, 1843), differing from it mainly in the structure of the proximal end of spicule, the shape and structure of the stichocytes and in having smaller eggs (size 0.036-0.048 x 0.023-0.027 mm) which have a different type of superficial structure. Pseudocapillaria indica is the first capillariid species described from freshwater fishes of India and from the whole Oriental Region.
The nematode, Camallanus xenentodoni Khan et Yaseen, 1969 recovered from the intestine of the fish, Xenentodon cancila (Ham.) from West Bengal, India was studied by light microscopy. Larval development of this nematode was also studied under laboratory conditions. Two cyclopoid copcpods, Mesocyclops crassus and M. leuckarti maintained at temperatures 28-31.5“C were infected with first-stage larvae from gravid females. In the haemocoelic cavity of the copepod the larvae moulted twice to attain third, infective stage and a phase of growth, development and morphometric changes occurred between the two moults. Detailed descriptions of the adult worms and the three larval stages are given. Data obtained from the morphological and metrical studies of the present adult worms are compared with those available on C. xenentodoni and another related species C. cancelai Gupta et Verma, 1978, which is considered as synonym of C. xenentodoni.
A new genus, Ritacestus, is proposed to accommodate Ritacestus ritaii (Verma, 1926) comb. n. (syn. Proteocephalus ritaii), a parasite of the catfish Rita rita (Hamilton) in India. The new genus, which is placed in the Gangesiinae, is characterized by (i) a small, subspherical scolex formed by four large lobes separated from one another by longitudinal grooves, with a large, widely oval to pyriform rostellum-like apical organ, larger than suckers and possessing an apical hemispherical depression; (ii) paramuscular and cortical position of some vitelline follicles (most follicles are situated medullary); (iii) ventral and dorsal bands of vitelline follicles usually uninterrupted ventral to terminal genitalia and reaching to the posterior margin of proglottides; (iv) the vagina always anterior to the cirrus-sac; (v) a large size of the body (length up to 51 cm); and (vi) development of the uterus of type 2. In its morphology, especially shape of the scolex and apical organ, and paramuscular and cortical position of some vitelline follicles, Ritacestus resembles Postgangesia Akhmerov, 1969, but differs in the presence of a genital atrium (both genital pores of Postgangesia are separate), the anterior position of the vagina (almost always posterior in the latter genus), position of vitelline follicles in cross sections (dorsal and ventral bands in Ritacestus versus only a lateral band in the latter genus), and dorsal excretory canals indistinguishable in mature and gravid proglottides of R. ritaii (well developed in Postgangesia spp.). The type and only species of the genus, R. ritaii, is redescribed on the basis of new material from the type host from the Ganges River basin in India and its neotype is designated.
The seasonal changes of the nematode Camallanus anabantis Pearse, 1933, in the climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) from the freshwater swamps near Kalyani town, West Bengal, India were studied during the period from February 1988 to August 1989. The nematode exhibited a one-year cycle. Larvated females occurred in the fishes from October to February at a water temperature of 12“-29 °C. New infection of fishes occurred from February to May and occasionally in September. The fourth-stage larvae, the males, and the young females (without eggs), although irregularly, were found present throughout the year. Egg-laden females occurred in the fishes in August, October to February, and March.
The essay focuses on reproductive tourism and estrangement not only from our products and people who produce what we consume but also from our emotions and our intimate lives. Concretely, the author focuses on experience of commercial surrogates in India – poor women in whom a couple’s embryo is implanted and who carry that baby to term for domestic or foreign clients. Drawing on interviews, the author analyses the world’s largest womb rental service and how – out of financial need – the surrogate manages her emotional ties to her own body.
That early Buddhists were acquainted with the Homeric Hymns is vehemently suspected. That Homer’s epics were used by them has not been suspected. Buddhists of perhaps the third to fourth centuries clearly used two episodes, the Pyre of Patroclus and Odysseus’ Bow. Adaptations and variations lead to a suspicion that the stories, admired by Buddhist authors, were worked over more than once. That the Greek text of the original epics was used at that relatively late period has not been established.