Practices of Praise and Social Constructions of Identity: The Bards of North-West India

Il s'agit dans cet article d'une analyse de rites de louanges célébrés par les bardes traditionnels des anciens rois Rajput au Kacch. Après l'abolition de la royauté Rajput de nouveaux rituels commémoratifs en rapport avec les pratiques de louanges sont apparues, dans lesquels on retrouve la réalité vécue de la caste Ch¯ara.n contemporaine. Alors que la louange était une pratique importante consacrant le rôle du roi Rajput, dans le Kacch post-indépendant, un déplacement significatif en ce qui concerne l'objet des louanges s'est produit. Ce n'est plus sur le roi que la louange se concentre mais sur la déesse incarnée par des femmes Ch¯ara.n. La description d'un rituel célébré pour une déesse Ch¯ara.n vivante, vénérée également comme réformatrice sociale, dessine des processus qui redéfinissent la caste dans le cadre de l'Inde postcoloniale.This paper presents an analysis of performances of praise practiced by traditional bards of former Rajput kings in Kacch. After the abolition of Rajput kingship, new commemorative rituals have come into being that depend on practices of praise whereby the lived reality of the contemporary Ch¯ara.n caste is produced. While praise was an important practice legitimating the role of the Rajput king, in post-independent Kacch a noticeable shift has taken place in regard to the object of praise. It is no longer the king upon whom praise is centred but the goddess embodied in Ch¯ara.n women. The description of a ritual performed for a living Goddess of the Ch¯ara.n who is venerated at the same time as a social reformer delineates processes of re-defining cast in postcolonial Indian settings.Este artículo ofrece un análisis de las representaciones de alabanza o elogio practicadas por los bardos tradicionales de los antíguos reyes Rajput en Kacch. Tras la abolición de la monarquía Rajput han surjido nuevos rituales conmemorativos, que dependen de prácticas de elogio, las cuales a su vez producen la realidad vivida por la casta Ch¯ara.n contemporánea. Si bien el elogio fué una importante práctica que legitimaba el rol del rey Rajput, en el Kacch post-independiente ha tenido lugar un notorio cambio con repecto al objeto de alabanza, que ya no se centra en el rey, sino en la deidad personificada por la mujer Ch¯ara.n. La descripción de un ritual representado para una diosa viviente de los Ch¯ara.n, que al mismo tiempo es venerada como reformadora social, delinea procesos de redefinición de castas en las circunstancias dadas en la India postcolonial

Absence of SPARC results in increased cardiac rupture and dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction

The matricellular protein SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine, also known as osteonectin) mediates cell–matrix interactions during wound healing and regulates the production and/or assembly of the extracellular matrix (ECM). This study investigated whether SPARC functions in infarct healing and ECM maturation after myocardial infarction (MI). In comparison with wild-type (WT) mice, animals with a targeted inactivation of SPARC exhibited a fourfold increase in mortality that resulted from an increased incidence of cardiac rupture and failure after MI. SPARC-null infarcts had a disorganized granulation tissue and immature collagenous ECM. In contrast, adenoviral overexpression of SPARC in WT mice improved the collagen maturation and prevented cardiac dilatation and dysfunction after MI. In cardiac fibroblasts in vitro, reduction of SPARC by short hairpin RNA attenuated transforming growth factor β (TGF)–mediated increase of Smad2 phosphorylation, whereas addition of recombinant SPARC increased Smad2 phosphorylation concordant with increased Smad2 phosphorylation in SPARC-treated mice. Importantly, infusion of TGF-β rescued cardiac rupture in SPARC-null mice but did not significantly alter infarct healing in WT mice. These findings indicate that local production of SPARC is essential for maintenance of the integrity of cardiac ECM after MI. The protective effects of SPARC emphasize the potential therapeutic applications of this protein to prevent cardiac dilatation and dysfunction after MI

Impact of Diabetes on Postinfarction Heart Failure and Left Ventricular Remodeling

Diabetes mellitus, the metabolic syndrome, and the underlying insulin resistance are increasingly associated with diastolic dysfunction and reduced stress tolerance. The poor prognosis associated with heart failure in patients with diabetes after myocardial infarction is likely attributable to many factors, important among which is the metabolic impact from insulin resistance and hyperglycemia on the regulation of microvascular perfusion and energy generation in the cardiac myocyte. This review summarizes epidemiologic, pathophysiologic, diagnostic, and therapeutic data related to diabetes and heart failure in acute myocardial infarction and discusses novel perceptions and strategies that hold promise for the future and deserve further investigation

Kulturen des Entscheidens

Der Band thematisiert Entscheiden als eine soziale Praxis, die keineswegs selbstverständlich sondern in hohem Maße voraussetzungsvoll ist und die mit unterschiedlichen Zumutungen einhergeht. Entscheiden nimmt je nach sozialen Umständen ganz unterschiedliche Formen an und unterliegt demnach dem historischen Wandel. Die Beiträge des Bandes gehen anhand ausgewählter Fallbeispiele, die vom mittelalterlichen Europa bis hin zum gegenwärtigen Indien reichen, unterschiedlichen Aspekten von Kulturen des Entscheidens nach. Sie nehmen Narrative und Praktiken des Entscheidens ebenso in den Blick wie den Einsatz von Ressourcen in Prozessen des Entscheidens und diskutieren Ansätze, Entscheiden in einer geistes- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Perspektive zu analysieren. Der Band zeigt so die vielfältigen Möglichkeiten auf, wie Entscheiden untersucht werden kann, wenn dieses als eine historisch wandelbare soziale Praxis und als kulturell diverses Phänomen begriffen wird

Measuring the health-related Sustainable Development Goals in 188 countries : a baseline analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background In September, 2015, the UN General Assembly established the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs specify 17 universal goals, 169 targets, and 230 indicators leading up to 2030. We provide an analysis of 33 health-related SDG indicators based on the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 (GBD 2015). Methods We applied statistical methods to systematically compiled data to estimate the performance of 33 health-related SDG indicators for 188 countries from 1990 to 2015. We rescaled each indicator on a scale from 0 (worst observed value between 1990 and 2015) to 100 (best observed). Indices representing all 33 health-related SDG indicators (health-related SDG index), health-related SDG indicators included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG index), and health-related indicators not included in the MDGs (non-MDG index) were computed as the geometric mean of the rescaled indicators by SDG target. We used spline regressions to examine the relations between the Socio-demographic Index (SDI, a summary measure based on average income per person, educational attainment, and total fertility rate) and each of the health-related SDG indicators and indices. Findings In 2015, the median health-related SDG index was 59.3 (95% uncertainty interval 56.8-61.8) and varied widely by country, ranging from 85.5 (84.2-86.5) in Iceland to 20.4 (15.4-24.9) in Central African Republic. SDI was a good predictor of the health-related SDG index (r(2) = 0.88) and the MDG index (r(2) = 0.2), whereas the non-MDG index had a weaker relation with SDI (r(2) = 0.79). Between 2000 and 2015, the health-related SDG index improved by a median of 7.9 (IQR 5.0-10.4), and gains on the MDG index (a median change of 10.0 [6.7-13.1]) exceeded that of the non-MDG index (a median change of 5.5 [2.1-8.9]). Since 2000, pronounced progress occurred for indicators such as met need with modern contraception, under-5 mortality, and neonatal mortality, as well as the indicator for universal health coverage tracer interventions. Moderate improvements were found for indicators such as HIV and tuberculosis incidence, minimal changes for hepatitis B incidence took place, and childhood overweight considerably worsened. Interpretation GBD provides an independent, comparable avenue for monitoring progress towards the health-related SDGs. Our analysis not only highlights the importance of income, education, and fertility as drivers of health improvement but also emphasises that investments in these areas alone will not be sufficient. Although considerable progress on the health-related MDG indicators has been made, these gains will need to be sustained and, in many cases, accelerated to achieve the ambitious SDG targets. The minimal improvement in or worsening of health-related indicators beyond the MDGs highlight the need for additional resources to effectively address the expanded scope of the health-related SDGs.Peer reviewe