Transparent scientific reporting is imperative during the pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed not only the lack of preparation to combat the deadly disease, but also the nature of response by governments worldwide. This article analyses how some governments suppress science reporting in the Asia Pacific region during the pandemic. It also highlights how the political interference in science undermines liability and openness leading to the lack of freedom to express facts honestly.

How the Coronavirus Lockdown Impacts the Impoverished in India.

In response to the coronavirus pandemic, several countries have imposed curfews, quarantines, and lockdowns to restrict the spread of the infection among people. India had initiated a nationwide lockdown to combat the pandemic starting from the last week of March until the end of May 2020. But, the lockdown had continued subsequently in several red zones across parts of the country for few months.

Social implications of fission in wild Formosan macaques at Mount Longevity, Taiwan.

Group fission in non-human primates has long been proposed to result from interactions between ecological and social factors. Several studies have documented possible causes for group fission, but its proximate causes and ultimate adaptive values are not yet fully understood. We have examined the existing hypotheses on fission from long-term demographic data of Formosan macaques inhabiting the lowland rainforest at Mt Longevity, Taiwan.

Harvesting river water through small dams promote positive environmental impact.

While deliberations relating to negative consequences of large dams on the environment continue to dominate world attention, positive benefits provided by small dams, also known as check dams, go unobserved. Besides, little is known about the potential of check dams in mitigating global warming impacts due to less data availability. Small dams are usually commissioned to private contractors who do not have clear mandate from their employers to post their work online for public scrutiny.

Non-Maternal Infant Handling in Wild Formosan Macaques of Mount Longevity, Taiwan.

In this paper, we present quantitative data on how the social network and sex of infants influence allomothering behaviour among wild Formosan macaques, Macaca cyclopis. Using long-term field data collected from the Mount Longevity study site in Kaohsiung (Taiwan), we have tested relevant hypotheses incorporating data on age, rank and reproductive state of infant handlers, and the relationship between handlers and infants. The results support 2 major hypotheses, i.

Drug Metabolizing Enzymes in Type II Diabetes and their Pharmacogenetics During Therapy of Anti-Diabetes Drugs.

The type 2 diabetes or T2D mellitus has turn into an epidemic throughout the globe in recent years. Various forms of treatment modalities have been available for patients with T2D with some major classes of approved drugs that include Sulfonylureas, Meglitinides, Biguanides, Thiazolidinedione, Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors, GLP-1 analogs, DPP-4 Inhibitors, and SGLT2 inhibitors. This review focuses on the drug metabolizing enzymes (DME), gene polymorphisms, and inter-individual variability in therapeutics including adverse reaction effects involving Phase-I DME and Phase-II in general.

Can the chemotherapeutic agents perform anticancer activity through miRNA expression regulation? Proposing a new hypothesis [corrected].

In the recent advancement of cancer therapy, mortality of the immortal cancer cells begins to decline, and it shows great promise for the chemotherapy regimen supported by targeted therapy. In this post-genomic era boosted by the discovery of microRNA (miRNA), it has been understood that miRNA regulates gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. On the other hand, some studies have also indicated that miRNA expression level has changed during the treatment of chemotherapy.

Living on the Societal Edge: India's Transgender Realities.

The transgendered people have played an important role in ancient Indian culture over millennia. They were portrayed in famous Hindu religious scriptures such as Ramayana and Mahabharata. They were given imperative roles in the royal courtyards of Mughal emperors.

Understanding the molecular dynamics of type-2 diabetes drug target DPP-4 and its interaction with Sitagliptin and inhibitor Diprotin-A.

The occurrence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) accounts for 90-95 % of all diabetes. Intestine hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) has an antidiabetic role that enhances insulin secretion and pancreatic β-cell proliferation. GLP-1 is degraded by the enzyme dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) rapidly.

Network analysis of transcription factors for nuclear reprogramming into induced pluripotent stem cell using bioinformatics.

Objective: Research related to induce pluripotent stem (iPS) cell generation has increased rapidly in recent years. Six transcription factors, namely OCT4, SOX2, C-MYC, KLF4, NANOG, and LIN28 have been widely used for iPS cell generation. As there is a lack of data on intra- and inter-networking among these six different transcription factors, the objective of this study is to analyze the intra- and inter-networks between them using bioinformatics.

Compression as a universal principle of animal behavior.

A key aim in biology and psychology is to identify fundamental principles underpinning the behavior of animals, including humans. Analyses of human language and the behavior of a range of non-human animal species have provided evidence for a common pattern underlying diverse behavioral phenomena: Words follow Zipf's law of brevity (the tendency of more frequently used words to be shorter), and conformity to this general pattern has been seen in the behavior of a number of other animals. It has been argued that the presence of this law is a sign of efficient coding in the information theoretic sense.

Can computational biology improve the phylogenetic analysis of insulin?

Using computational biology, we have depicted the insulin phylogenetics. We have also analyzed the sequence alignment and sequence logos formation for both the insulin chain A and B for three groups namely, the mammalian group, vertebrates group and fish group. We have also analyzed cladograms of insulin for the mammalian group.

Exploring the evolutionary relationship of insulin receptor substrate family using computational biology.

Insulin receptor substrate (IRS) harbors proteins such as IRS1, IRS2, IRS3, IRS4, IRS5 and IRS6. These key proteins act as vital downstream regulators in the insulin signaling pathway. However, little is known about the evolutionary relationship among the IRS family members.

Landscape mapping of functional proteins in insulin signal transduction and insulin resistance: a network-based protein-protein interaction analysis.

The type 2 diabetes has increased rapidly in recent years throughout the world. The insulin signal transduction mechanism gets disrupted sometimes and it's known as insulin-resistance. It is one of the primary causes associated with type-2 diabetes.

Efficiency of coding in macaque vocal communication.

A key characteristic of human language efficiency is that more frequently used words tend to be shorter in length-the 'law of brevity'. To date, no test of this relationship between frequency of use and length has been carried out on non-human animal vocal communication. We show here that the vocal repertoire of the Formosan macaque (Macaca cyclopis) conforms to the pattern predicted by the law of brevity, with an inverse relationship found between call duration and rate of utterance.

Interactions between visitors and Formosan macaques (Macaca cyclopis) at Shou-Shan Nature Park, Taiwan.

Ecotourism involving feeding wildlife has raised public attention and is a controversial issue, especially concerning nonhuman primates. Between July 2002 and April 2005, the behavior of monkeys and tourists was collected through scan samplings, focal samplings and behavior samplings at the Shou-Shan Nature Park located in Taiwan's second largest city--Kaohsiung. In addition, the number of tourists and monkeys was counted in different hours and places within the park.

Threat of heavy metal pollution in halophytic and mangrove plants of Tamil Nadu, India.

Mangrove and halophytic plants occur along the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu, south India and these plants have been used in traditional medicine for centuries. Heavy metals are known to pose a potential threat to terrestrial and aquatic biota. However, little is known on the toxic levels of heavy metals found in mangrove and halophytic plants that are used in traditional medicine in India.