Arunachal directive for returnees

Centre’s advisory to NE states on returnees during lockdown

A simple random sampling provides each individual comprising the population the same probability of inclusion in the sample. Such a sampling technique has been adopted in some European countries

Returnees find no place; run from one quarantine centre to another

Returnees by train to be quarantined

The javelin thrower isconfident of regaining fitness in two weeks once training restarts

The Congress has demanded that the State government bring back stranded Gulf labour free of cost, not just on humanitarian grounds but also due to ₹1,

Actor Rajshri Deshpande reaches out to the needy via a crowdfunding platform

The quarantine centres for Keralites returning from abroad and other States have accommodated 347 people in Thrissur district. They were sent to the c

A division bench of the Kerala High Court will hold a special sitting on Sunday to consider issues pertaining to the transport of Keralites from acros

A 23-year-old man who returned from Abu Dhabi on a repatriation flight, has tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The district now has two positive recorded

Stranded workers say they don’t want to wait in shelters till they get a train or be quarantined once they get home

Darrin’s death is not the last word on his life. His love for pastors—and his concern for their mental health and thriving—can be part of our response today.

Darrin Patrick has died.

Darrin is probably best known for planting The Journey Church in St. Louis in 2002, eventually growing to six locations. He was a husband, father, speaker, and author.

Darrin and his spiritual mentor Greg Surratt led the Pastor's Collective podcast and he was serving as a teaching pastor at Seacoast Church.

But, most importantly, Darrin was married to Amie and they have four children.

Darrin’s Journey and Focus

Darrin was very open about his journey—and specifically asked me to help share his story a little over a year ago. His story of leaving the Journey is painful and messy, but he wanted people to know about it.

He wanted people to learn from his pain.

Darrin died from a “self-inflicted gunshot wound.” I know that has caused some people to want more details—to use language that is more precise and to provide added details. And, as you can tell from the statement, the situation is confusing. Seacoast Church shared, ““Darrin was target shooting with a friend at the time of his death. An official cause of death has not been released but it appears to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. No foul play is suspected.”

Thus, it is important to let families communicate the way they are comfortable. Families grieve in complex ways—and right now, they owe nothing to the rest of us. We just owe them our prayers.

The family is grieving and I am respecting their grief and their communication choices.

And, from there, I am going to take Darrin’s admonition from a year ago and fast forward it until now—hoping that even this moment might be a catalyst for pastors to get help that Darrin always wanted them to get.

Darrin and I talked recently and his last ...

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Revenue Minister R. B. Udayakumar said that people must consume kabasura kudineer on an empty stomach everyday to boost their immunity. He said this

Today, there is very little doubt that chemistry owes as much to crystallography as crystallography does to chemistry. This mutual synergy defines modern chemical crystallography.

Interview: Michael Stephenson, British Geological Survey head of science & technology  The Engineer

Geoenergy Observatory to go ahead in Cheshire  The Engineer

Protein-engineering methods have been exploited to produce a surrogate system for the extracellular neurotransmitter-binding site of a heteromeric human ligand-gated ion channel, the glycine receptor. This approach circumvents two major issues: the inherent experimental difficulties in working with a membrane-bound ion channel and the complication that a heteromeric assembly is necessary to create a key, physiologically relevant binding site. Residues that form the orthosteric site in a highly stable ortholog, acetylcholine-binding protein, were selected for substitution. Recombinant proteins were prepared and characterized in stepwise fashion exploiting a range of biophysical techniques, including X-ray crystallography, married to the use of selected chemical probes. The decision making and development of the surrogate, which is termed a glycine-binding protein, are described, and comparisons are provided with wild-type and homomeric systems that establish features of molecular recognition in the binding site and the confidence that the system is suited for use in early-stage drug discovery targeting a heteromeric α/β glycine receptor.

Co-crystallization is a phenomenon widely employed to enhance the physio-chemical and biological properties of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). Exemestane, or 6-methyl­ideneandrosta-1,4-diene-3,17-dione, is an anabolic steroid used as an irreversible steroidal aromatase inhibitor, which is in clinical use to treat breast cancer. The present study deals with the synthesis of co-crystals of exemestane with thio­urea by liquid-assisted grinding. The purity and homogeneity of the exemestane–thio­urea (1:1) co-crystal were confirmed by single-crystal X-ray diffraction followed by thermal stability analysis on the basis of differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. Detailed geometric analysis of the co-crystal demonstrated that a 1:1 co-crystal stoichiometry is sustained by N—H⋯O hydrogen bonding between the amine (NH2) groups of thio­urea and the carbonyl group of exemestane. The synthesized co-crystal exhibited potent urease inhibition activity in vitro (IC50 = 3.86 ± 0.31 µg ml−1) compared with the API (exemestane), which was found to be inactive, and the co-former (thio­urea) (IC50 = 21.0 ± 1.25 µg ml−1), which is also an established tested standard for urease inhibition assays in vitro. The promising results of the present study highlight the significance of co-crystallization as a crystal engineering tool to improve the efficacy of pharmaceutical ingredients. Furthermore, the role of various hydrogen bonds in the crystal stability is successfully analysed quantitatively using Hirshfeld surface analysis.

Immunoglobulin E (IgE) plays a central role in the allergic response, in which cross-linking of allergen by Fc∊RI-bound IgE triggers mast cell and basophil degranulation and the release of inflammatory mediators. The high-affinity interaction between IgE and Fc∊RI is a long-standing target for therapeutic intervention in allergic disease. Omalizumab is a clinically approved anti-IgE monoclonal antibody that binds to free IgE, also with high affinity, preventing its interaction with Fc∊RI. All attempts to crystallize the pre-formed complex between the omalizumab Fab and the Fc region of IgE (IgE-Fc), to understand the structural basis for its mechanism of action, surprisingly failed. Instead, the Fab alone selectively crystallized in different crystal forms, but their structures revealed intermolecular Fab/Fab interactions that were clearly strong enough to disrupt the Fab/IgE-Fc complexes. Some of these interactions were common to other Fab crystal structures. Mutations were therefore designed to disrupt two recurring packing interactions observed in the omalizumab Fab crystal structures without interfering with the ability of the omalizumab Fab to recognize IgE-Fc; this led to the successful crystallization and subsequent structure determination of the Fab/IgE-Fc complex. The mutagenesis strategy adopted to achieve this result is applicable to other intractable Fab/antigen complexes or systems in which Fabs are used as crystallization chaperones.

A recent survey of the bottom-dwelling animals of the Chesapeake has revealed that communities of even these relatively hardy organisms are under stress. Many regions of the bay are becoming inhospitable to bottom-dwelling animals because of a lack of oxygen—a condition known as “hypoxia.”

The post Bottom-dwelling creatures in the Chesapeake Bay need more oxygen, study finds. appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For more than three decades JoGayle Howard dedicated her life and work to reproducing endangered species.

The post JoGayle Howard, National Zoological Park pioneer in reproductive biology, dies appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute are recommending that Panama adopt revised traffic patterns and slower speeds for vessels crossing the Gulf of Panama to reduce the risk of collisions between ships and whales.

The post Ships need to slow down for whales in Gulf of Panama, scientists advise appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

March is Women’s History Month and to honor it Smithsonianscience.com presents six images of women scientists selected from the Smithsonian Institution Archvies’s Flicker photoset Women […]

The post Six pioneering female scientists you’ve probably never heard of… appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.