107 research outputs found
Indian Literature and the World. Multilingualism, Translation and the Public Sphere
No full textIndian Literature and the World is a collection of critical essays featuring up-to-date scholarship on the most vibrant yet under-studied aspects of Indian writing today. Multilingualism, current debates on postcolonial versus world literature, the impact of translation on an “Indian” literary canon, and Indian authors’ engagement with the public sphere all shape the orientation of our volume. The essays cover political activism and the North-East Tribal novel; the role of work in the contemporary Indian fictional imaginary; history as felt and reconceived by the acclaimed Hindi author Krishna Sobti; Bombay fictions; the Dalit autobiography in translation and its problematic international success; development, ecocriticism and activist literature; casteism and access to literacy in the South; gender and diaspora as dominant themes in writing from and about the subcontinent. Troubling Eurocentric genre distinctions and the split between citizen and subject, we wish to approach Indian literature from the perspective of its constant interactions between private and public narratives, thereby proposing a method of reading Indian texts that goes beyond their habitual postcolonial identifications as “national allegories”
Neelam Saxena Chandra: A Literary Luminary Bridging Languages and Genres
No full textNeelam Saxena Chandra, a prolific bilingual author, discusses her journey in poetry, literary influences, and creative process. She reflects on poetry as a medium for emotional expression and social change, sharing insights into her works, inspirations, and thoughts on gender sensitization and evolving poetic forms in contemporary literature
Neelam Sidhar Wright’s Bollywood and Postmodernism: Popular Indian Cinema in the 21st Century
No full textIndian cinema has never been able to fit completely in the West, mainly due to its particular style, with songs, and dances and the unusual length of its feature films, often making them unbearable for the average Western cinemagoer. These conditions have not done anything but reinforce Indian culture’s marginalisation and disregard, which in turn nurtures India’s otherness and subalternity. The situation is even more noticeable in the academic field, in the opinion of the author, independent academic researcher and filmmaker Neelam Sidhar Wright
Depression and its socio-demographic correlates among urban slum dwellers of North India: A cross-sectional study
No full textBackground: Depression is a common mental health disorder that is characterized by loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration, insomnia or hypersomnia, and occasionally suicidal thoughts. Apart from biological factors, sociocultural factors also play a key role in development of depression Objectives: To determine the prevalence of depression in the study population and to study various socio-demographic correlates of depression in the study population. Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was carried out in an urban slum area of Rohtak city during 2016-2017. A total of 600 study participants were selected and interviewed by using PHQ-9 depression scale. The collected data were entered in MS Excel spread sheet and analysed using SPSS software version 20.0. Results: Mean age of the study participants was 37.91 ± 11.75 years. Almost all (97.5 %) study subjects were Hindu. Majority (52 %) belonged to General category. Overall prevalence of depression was found to be 16.2%. The distribution for factors like gender, marital status, education, occupation, socioeconomic status, type of family, living arrangement, smoking habit and death of close relatives were found to be statistically significant with depression (P<0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that female gender, divorce/separation, illiteracy, unemployment, lower socioeconomic class nuclear family living alone, smoking habit, presence of chronic morbidity and death of close relative in past one year, as independent predictors of depression. Conclusions: The prevalence of depression among adults in an urban slum of north India was found to be 16.2%. Our findings indicate that depression in urban slum is significantly associated with determinants such as gender marital status, education, occupation, SE class, family type, smoking, living arrangement, death of close relative, chronic morbidities like neurological disorders, diabetes and hypertension
Interocular symmetry of retinal nerve fiber layer and optic nerve head parameters measured by Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography in a normal pediatric population
No full textPurpose: To determine interocular differences in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and optic nerve head (ONH) parameters in a pediatric population using Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT). Methods: Seventy normal Indian children aged 5–17 years presenting to the Pediatric Clinic were included in this observational cross-sectional study. All subjects underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination and an evaluation of the RNFL and ONH by Cirrus HD-OCT. Differences between the right and left eyes were calculated and values were compared by means of a paired t-test. Subjects were also divided into two groups based on age (under or over 10 years of age). Interocular differences in RNFL and ONH parameters together with sex and age variations for these differences were determined. Results: The mean age of studied pediatric population was 11.83 ± 3.3 years (range 5–17). Average RNFL thickness was 94.46 ± 8.7 μm (± SD) (range 77–111). Differences in the average RNFL between right and left eyes were not statistically significant (P = 0.060). Superior quadrant RNFL was thicker in the left eye and temporal quadrant was thicker in the right eye. Among ONH parameters, there were no statistically significant differences in any parameters, except vertical cup-disc (CD) ratio which was significant (P = 0.007). The 2.5%–97.5% limits of asymmetry were 9 μm for average RNFL, 0.14 for average CD ratio, and 0.22 for vertical CD ratio. Mean interocular RNFL thickness differences in superior, superior nasal, and temporal superior quadrants were 10.61 (P < 0.001), 12.57 (P < 0.001), and 4.46 (P = 0.002) μm, respectively. Interocular nerve fiber layer thickness differences were not significantly correlated with sex, while only significant differences with age were observed in 12 clock hour sector analysis, mainly in nasal inferior and inferior quadrant. Conclusions: We report the degree of interocular symmetry of RNFL and ONH parameters measured by Cirrus HD-OCT in a healthy pediatric population. The normal interocular RNFL asymmetry should not exceed 9 μm and vertical CD ratio beyond 0.22 should be considered for further investigations. The physiologic asymmetry provided by this study may assist in identifying changes in RNFL thickness and ONH parameters in pediatric glaucoma and ONH disorders
Unilateral acquired Brown′s syndrome in systemic scleroderma: An unusual cause for diplopia
No full textBrown′s syndrome can be congenital or acquired with multiple causes. It has been described as a ocular complication in various rheumatic and nonrheumatic diseases. We describe a case of 27-year-old female patient with 5 years old history of systemic scleroderma who developed vertical diplopia, a left head tilt, and restriction of left eye on elevation in adduction. The patient responded to systemic steroids with resolution of diplopia
Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in normal Indian pediatric population measured with optical coherence tomography
No full textPurpose: To measure the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in normal Indian pediatric population. Subjects and Methods: 120 normal Indian children ages 5-17 years presenting to the Pediatric Clinic were included in this observational cross-sectional study. RNFL thickness was measured with stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT). Children with strabismus or amblyopia, with neurological, metabolic, vascular, or other disorders and those with abnormal optic discs were excluded. One eye of each subject was randomly selected for statistical analysis. The effect of age, refraction and gender on RNFL thickness was investigated statistically. Result: OCT measurements were obtained in 120 of 130 (92.3%) subjects. Mean age was 10.8 ± 3.24 years (range 5-17). Average RNFL thickness was (± SD) 106.11 ± 9.5 μm (range 82.26-146.25). The RNFL was thickest inferiorly (134.10 ± 16.16 μm) and superiorly (133.44 ± 15.50 μm), thinner nasally (84.26 ± 16.43 μm), and thinnest temporally (70.72 ± 14.80 μm). In univariate regression analysis, age had no statistical significant effect on RNFL thickness (P = 0.7249) and refraction had a significant effect on RNFL thickness (P = 0.0008). Conclusion: OCT can be used to measure RNFL thickness in children. Refraction had an effect on RNFL thickness. In normal children, variation in RNFL thickness is large. The normative data provided by this study may assist in identifying changes in RNFL thickness in Indian children
Design and implementation of bi-directional 4 × 10 Gb/s WDM-TDM PON with upstream remodulation
No full textNon-Pressurized Topical Spray of Diclofenac Diethylamine
No full textThe objective of research work was an attempt to develop non-pressurized topical spray formulation to improve diclofenac diethylaminepermeationthrough lipoidal membrane obstruction. A prototype formulation and thirty formulations were prepared (using different concentration of permeation enhancer, cooling, buffering, film forming agent, plasticizer and lecithin), their characterization and optimization was done (FTIR spectroscopy, drugrelease, skin-irritation, kinetics study performed by construct the plot of zero order/first order/Higuchi/KorsmeyerPeppas). A screw neck HDPE bottle procured with metered spray (200mcl) pump and actuator was selected as a dispensing system. The result demonstrated drug release of optimized formulation (F30) was found to be 93.3%3.1gcm -2 andits i n vitro study revealed significant plus immediate topical drug permeation. According ton>value of F30 showed super case (II) transport, erosion release mechanism, moreover no skin-irritation score
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