‘If I Was King Of India I Would Get All The Horns Out Of Cars’: A Qualitative Study of Sound In Delhi

In this paper we present an experimental sonic space, the mobile noise abatement pod (mNAP), constructed and used over a two-week period in Delhi, India, in December 2014. The interdisciplinary project, involving a composer, designer, carpenter, development scholar, filmmaker, graphic designer and sociologist, aimed to investigate how noise, including honking as one of the most prevalent sounds in Indian cities, is perceived. The fieldwork reveals noise as a complex contextual, spatial and personal experience that is as much about habit as it is about identity and class, intimately related to economic inequality and inherently connected to social justice. This text suggests that attempts to reduce levels of noise need to take into account its meaning and position – by whom and how narratives of noise reduction are constructed and reproduced

Distribution of IgG subclasses in antimonial unresponsive Indian kala-azar patients

Sodium antimony gluconate (SAG) is the mainstay of treatment for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or kala-azar. In view of the increasing incidence of refractoriness to SAG in India, we compared the levels of parasite-specific IgG and IgG subclasses in 20 longitudinally followed up kala-azar patients. In both SAG-responsive (n = 10) and unresponsive patients (n = 10), the levels of total IgG, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 were increased, the rank order being IgG1 > IgG2 > IgG3 = IgG4. Following treatment, a significant decrease in total IgG and the four subclasses occurred in the SAG-responsive group, whereas in the SAG-unresponsive group these levels were unchanged or slightly increased. Therefore, monitoring of IgG1 and IgG2 levels in Indian kala-azar patients is a good serologic alternative to monitoring the disease status

An overview of Indian research in schizophrenia

The Indian Journal of Psychiatry published three articles in its first issue way back in 1958. Since then, it has steadily published more than 200 papers on one or the other aspect of schizophrenia. From rudimentary research methodology and descriptive approach, schizophrenia research, as published in the Journal, seems to have come of age with more and more sophisticated research designs and methodologies. Our ardent researchers have made significant contributions in the understanding of this riddle called schizophrenia. Notable contributions have been made in the field of epidemiology, course and outcomes and phenomenology of this disorder. However, research in psycho-social rehabilitation of schizophrenia and related areas is sparse and sporadic. The need to conduct research that impacts health policies and planning of services for this disorder is evident and our researchers would do well to provide impetus in these areas