Search

Modern constitutions often contain 'emergency' provisions which confer upon the executive, the right to assume unfettered authority free of checks and balances, to respond to extra-constitutional crisis situations. Constitutional theorists, relying on the debate between Hans Kelsen and Carl Schmitt in the context of the Staatgerichtshof's decision in Prussia contra Reich, have laid out two contrasting normative visions of these emergency powers. While some envisage emergencies as existing outside the constitutional order, to be resolved by sovereign dictators exercising constituent power, others argue that emergency provisions ought to be understood as within the constitutional structure. Recently, these emergency powers were used by the central government in India to abrogate the constitutionally mandated autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir, thereby enacting a permanent constitutional change in response to a temporary extra-constitutional situation. Using these changes in Kashmir as an exemplar, this paper examines the normative position of such emergency provisions in Indian constitutionalism. By analyzing the Indian and Jammu and Kashmir constituent assembly debates, Kelsenian and Schmittian visions and comparatively considering the development of emergency jurisprudence in India and Pakistan, this paper argues that the Indian constitution has sought to constrain the exercise of such provisions through the courts by prescribing a democratic 'constitutional morality'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Ovarian and breast cancers are highly prevalent in the population of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). However, case–control association studies on breast and ovarian cancers are lacking in this population. Moreover, no case–control study is available on variant rs10937405 of TP63 in breast and ovarian cancers. Thus, we designed to replicate the cancer susceptible variant rs10937405 of TP63 in ovarian and breast cancers in the population of J&K because the TP63 gene act as a tumor suppressor gene and was previously associated with various cancers. Materials and Methods: This case–control association study conducted at the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, includes 150 breast, 150 ovarian cancer cases, and 210 healthy controls (age and sex‑matched). Variant rs10937405 of the TP63 gene was determined by the TaqMan assay. Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium for the variant was assessed using the Chi‑square test. The allele and genotype‑specific risks were estimated by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: In this study, variant rs10937405 of TP63 gene did not show any risk with ovarian and breast cancer with (P‑value = 0.70) having OR 0.94, (0.69–1.28 at 95% CI) and (P‑value = 0.16) having OR 0.80, (0.59–1.10). Discussion: Our results indicate that the variant rs10937405 of the TP63 gene did not impart any risk of breast and ovarian cancer in the population of J&K. Our results indicate that a larger sample size is needed for further statistical validation. As the study was for a particular variant, it warrants the analysis of other variants of this gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Colorectal cancer (CRC), which includes the development of cancer from the colon or rectum, is one of the highly prevalent cancers in the populations of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in India. However, case-control genetic association studies on CRC are lacking in this population. Various genome-wide association studies have previously shown that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the AT-rich interaction domain 5B (ARID5B) gene located on chromosome 10q21.2 contribute substantially to the development of colorectal cancer. The association between ARID5B and CRC risk in north Indian population groups is still unknown. To understand the role of ARID5B SNPs in CRC in the population of J&K, we designed a case-control study to investigate the association of the cancer susceptibility variant rs10740055 of ARID5B with CRC in the population of J&K. The study included 180 cases and 390 healthy controls. Genotyping of the rs10740055 variant was performed by RT-PCR using the TaqMan assay technique. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium of the variant was assessed using the chi-squared test. The allele- and genotype-specific risks were estimated by odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The rs10740055 variant showed a higher risk for colorectal cancer with an OR of 3.35 (1.99-5.65 at 95% CI) and P = 0.000005 corrected for age, gender, ethnicity, BMI, alcohol intake and smoking. Our results indicate that the A allele of rs10740055 imparts risk to the population and also that a larger sample size is needed for further statistical validation. The association of other variants in other ARID family genes should also be tested as their role cannot be ruled out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leukemia is a heterogeneous disorder, characterized by elevated proliferation of white blood cells. In this study, we explored the association of 17 genetic variants with leukemia patients in the Jammu and Kashmir region of north India. The variants were genotyped by using a high‐throughput Agena MassARRAY platform in 758 individuals (166 cases and 592 controls). Of the 17 single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) studied, five SNPs were showing significant association with the high risk of leukemia in the north Indian population, which includes rs10069690 of telomere reverse transcriptase (TERT) with OR = 0.34 (95% CI, 0.20–0.58; p =.0008), rs2972392 (​​​PSCA) with OR 1.86 (95% CI, 1.04–3.81; p =.035), rs4986764 (BRIP1) with OR 1.34 (95% CI, 1.00–1.80; p =.04), rs6990097 (TNKS) with OR 1.81 (95% CI, 1.2–2.6; p =.001) and rs12190287 (TCF21) with OR 2.87 (95% CI, 1.72–4.7; p =.0001) by allelic association using Plink and analyzed by SPSS. This is the first study to explore these variants with leukemia in the studied population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: In this study, we evaluated the association of rs6964823 of the Ikaros Family Zinc Finger 1 (IKZF1) gene with the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) within the population of Jammu and Kashmir (J and K).Materials and Methods: The variant rs6964823 of the IKZF1 gene was genotyped using the TaqMan allele discrimination assay for 578 individuals (182 CRC cases and 396 healthy controls). The association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms with the disease was evaluated using logistic regression.Results: It was observed that the variant rs6964823 (IKZF1) showed a significant association with an adjusted allelic odds ratio (OR) of 1.74 (1.34-2.27) at 95% confidence interval (CI), P ≤ 0.05. The dominant model (AA + AG vs. GG) was also applied, where the adjusted OR was 3.096 (2.011-4.76) at 95% CI, P > 0.05.Conclusions: It was found that the variant rs6964823 of the IKZF1 gene is associated with a higher risk of CRC within the population of J and K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: MassARRAY (Agena Bioscience™) combines competitive PCR with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) analysis that gives highly accurate, sensitive, and high-throughput methods for the quantitative analysis of variation of gene expression in multiple samples. SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) have a very high potential of discovering disease-gene relationships. SNP-genotyping through MassARRAY is not only a cost-effective genotyping method but also provides a platform to validate variants observed through a high-throughput Next-generation sequencing (NGS).Methods: In the present study, we have incorporated the use of matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight, mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) as a tool for differentiating genotypes based on the mass of variant. We have performed multiplex PCR and genotyped 12 SNPs in 758 samples (166 cases and 592 controls). The 12 studied SNPs were chosen with a rationale for their association with multiple cancers in literature.Results: This is the first study to explore these SNPs with esophageal cancer within the J&K population. Out of 12 SNPs, two SNPs rs12190287 of TCF21 and rs10046 of CYP19A1 were significantly associated with esophageal cancer with Odds Ratio (OR) 1.412 (1.09-1.8 at 95% CI, p = 0.008) and 1.54 (1.21-2.072 at 95% CI, p = 0.0007) within the population of Jammu and Kashmir.Conclusion: We explored 12 SNPs that were found to be associated with multiple cancers in literature with esophageal cancer within the population of J&K. This is the first study to find the relation of these SNPs with ESCC within the studied population. This study explores the relation of genetic and environmental factors with the ESCC susceptibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the association of newly identified genetic variants G>A (rs2285947) of the DNAH11 gene and G>A (rs2494938) of the LRFN2 gene with ovarian and breast cancers in women belonging to Jammu and Kashmir state, where the prevalence of ovarian and breast cancers is remarkably high in the population.Methods: A candidate gene prospective case-control association study design was adopted, in which 354 cases (219 cases of ovarian cancer and 135 cases of breast cancer) were histopathologically confirmed and 330 healthy controls matched for age and ethnicity were recruited. The details of cases and controls were also recorded in a predesigned pro forma after their written informed consent. Both variants were genotyped by TaqMan allele discrimination assay using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the corrected odds ratio (OR), confidence interval (CI), and level of significance (P value) for potential confounding factors.Results: The rs2285947 variant of DNAH11 was found to be significantly associated with both ovarian and breast cancers with adjusted ORs of 1.7 (95% CI 1.2-2.4; P=0.004) and 1.70 (95% CI 1.13-2.54; P=0.0009), respectively. However, no significant association of variant rs2494938 of LRFN2 was observed with ovarian cancer (estimated OR 0.9, 95% CI 0.6-1.4; P=0.919) or breast cancer (estimated OR 1.27, 95% CI 0.8-1.9; P=0.216).Conclusions: The collected data proposed that the variant rs2285947 of DNAH11 gene is a potential risk factor for ovarian and breast cancers in the studied population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: 8-Oxo-7, 8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) is a potent DNA damage marker that leads to cellular oxidative stress. It is a DNA-repair enzyme that participates in "8-oxodG" DNA adducts removal. Previous studies show weak associations of rs1052133 (hOGG1) in breast cancer patients of Northern India. We performed this study to explore the variant rs1052133 (hOGG1) with breast in the population of Jammu and Kashmir (J and K).Method: A polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism -based single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypic study was carried out in peripheral blood samples of 165 breast cancer patients and 200 healthy controls, using specific primers. Sanger sequencing verified the results.Results: hOGG1-Ser326Cys polymorphism occurred frequently in cases as compared with controls. Data were evaluated by SPSS V.13 software, following Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (P = 0.002 at OR 2.57; 95% CI [1.68-3.93]), which showed that the SNP rs1052133 had a significant association with increased risk of breast cancer.Conclusion: Overall, the results of this analysis show that the hOGG1-Ser326Cys polymorphism may be associated with an increased risk for breast cancer in the J and K population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A walnut survey was conducted in the non-accessible areas of Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir to examine degree of diversity and to identify promising genotypes. • Three genotypes, including JWSG-43, JWSP-06, and JWSD-59, were found best after invoking selection criteria. • Among these three walnut selections JWSP-06 which is hereafter named as Parbat was released as variety by the SKUAST-Jammu in year 2022. • The DUS characterization revealed Parbat is high yielding, late maturing, anthracnose resistant and produces nuts of high yield and good quality. • The comparative study also found Parbat superior to other local walnut selections. • The molecular genotyping found Parabat genetically diverse from Hamdan, Sulaiman and Bhushan. • The single WSSR-8 marker can be efficiently utilized for variety identification and authorization. • This study opened the door to breed the quality walnut cultivar by crossing Parbat with Hamdan and Sulaiman In the present study, we compared our previously identified elite walnut selection JWSP06 (Parbat) with other walnut selections from the region. Based on DUS (distinctiveness, uniformity, and stability) characterization, Parbat is high yielding late maturing selection with superior quality nut and kernel traits. This selection is also resistant to walnut anthracnose. Recently the Parbat was notified as an elite walnut selection by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir. DNA profiling authenticate that "Parbat" is distinct from regional walnut selections such as Hamdan, Sulaiman, and Bhushan. The comparative study revealed that the quality and yield capacity of the Parbat are higher than those of local walnut selections. Regardless of the walnut selection, the marker WSSR-8 efficiently separates all genotypes. Breeding walnuts through conventional methods require genetically distinct parents. Our comparative study has identified Parbat as distinct from regional selections. This study has opened a door to breed quality walnut cultivars by crossing Parbat with Sulaiman and Hamdan. Being located at different geographic areas, the walnut selections need to be planted side by side for an effective hybridization-based breeding program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Breast Cancer (BC) is associated with inherited gene mutations. High throughput genotyping of BC samples has led to the identification and characterization of biomarkers for the diagnosis of BC. The most common genetic variants studied are SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) that determine susceptibility to an array of diseases thus serving as a potential tool for identifying the underlying causes of breast carcinogenesis.Methods: SNP genotyping employing the Agena MassARRAY offers a robust, sensitive, cost-effective method to assess multiple SNPs and samples simultaneously. In this present study, we analyzed 15 SNPs of 14 genes in 550 samples (150 cases and 400 controls). We identified four SNPs of genes TCF21, SLC19A1, DCC, and ERCC1 showing significant association with BC in the population under study.Results: The SNPs were rs12190287 (TCF21) having OR 1.713 (1.08-2.716 at 95% CI) p-value 0.022 (dominant), rs1051266 (SLC19A1) having OR 3.461 (2.136-5.609 at 95% CI) p-value 0.000000466 (dominant), rs2229080 (DCC) having OR 0.6867 (0.5123-0.9205 at 95% CI) p-value 0.0116 (allelic) and rs2298881 (ERCC1) having OR 0.669 (0.46-0.973 at 95% CI), p-value 0.035 (additive) respectively. The in-silico analysis was further used to fortify the above findings.Conclusion: It is further anticipated that the variants should be evaluated in other population groups that may aid in understanding the genetic complexity and bridge the missing heritability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cosmic ray neutrons are produced by the interaction of primary cosmic rays with the air molecules present in the atmosphere. At the ground level, these secondary neutrons are one of the important contributors of natural cosmic ray radiation background dose. With two major peaks around 1 MeV and 100 MeV, the neutron energies can extend up to 10 GeV. At the ground level, considerable presence of thermal neutrons can also be observed due to collisions and moderation of fast neutrons with the soil and other surrounding materials. A study on the evaluation of cosmic ray neutron spectra, and the resulting ambient dose equivalents was carried out at High Altitude Research Laboratory, Gulmarg, India (altitude 2650 m, N34.0484°, E74.3805°) considering the enhanced contribution of cosmic ray background in the region. Extended energy Bonner Sphere Spectrometer (BSS) was used for the continuous measurement of cosmic ray neutrons during the period of October 2018 to June 2019. Neutron spectra and ambient dose equivalents were unfolded from the BSS counts with the Monte Carlo generated response matrix and the FRUIT unfolding code. Along with Bonner sphere spectrometer, Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (TEPC) was also used for a limited period for independent measurement of cosmic ray dose equivalents and Linear Energy Transfer (LET) distribution. For comparison, neutron spectra and dose equivalent rates were also calculated using Monte Carlo code FLUKA and EXPACS software program. The ambient dose equivalent rates were found to vary in the range of 24–34 nSv. h−1 during the entire observation period of 9 months. No considerable seasonal variations were observed during the course of the study. Dose equivalent rates, estimated by the TEPC were slightly higher than the neutron dose equivalent rates measured by BSS. Experimentally measured values match reasonably well with theoretically simulated results. • Neutron spectra of cosmic rays. • Ambient dose equivalent H*(10). • Microdosimetric spectra. • Response matrix calculation using Monte Carlo code. • Unfolding of neutron spectra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]