"Feeling" others' painful actions: the sensorimotor integration of pain and action information.

Sensorimotor regions of the brain have been implicated in simulation processes such as action understanding and empathy, but their functional role in these processes remains unspecified. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate that postcentral sensorimotor cortex integrates action and object information to derive the sensory outcomes of observed hand-object interactions. When subjects viewed others' hands grasping or withdrawing from objects that were either painful or nonpainful, distinct sensorimotor subregions emerged as showing preferential responses to different aspects of the stimuli: object information (noxious vs. innocuous), action information (grasps vs. withdrawals), and painful action outcomes (painful grasps vs. all other conditions). Activation in the latter region correlated with subjects' ratings of how painful each object would be to touch and their previous experience with the object. Viewing others' painful grasps also biased behavioral responses to actual tactile stimulation, a novel effect not seen for auditory control stimuli. Somatosensory cortices, including primary somatosensory areas 1/3b and 2 and parietal area PF, may therefore subserve somatomotor simulation processes by integrating action and object information to anticipate the sensory consequences of observed hand-object interactions

India

The article provides a snapshot of Indian banking and explores certain contextual issues

Assessing student perceptions of the Pharm.D. degree at a private tertiary medical university in India

Background: Pharmacy education in India has expanded to include the Doctorate of Pharmacy degree (Pharm.D.). With clinical practice in early development, job opportunities in India are limited. Graduates often consider pharmacy opportunities abroad. Aims: This study compares Indian students’ career aspirations related to the Pharm.D. degree before and after beginning their programmes. Methods: A 5-point Likert scale paper survey with open ended questions was distributed to all Pharm.D. students (Year 1- 6) at a medical university in India. Results: With a response rate of 83% (144/173), over half of the students’ primary goal was to pursue careers abroad post-graduation (54.2% before, 51.4% after). Data from the last three graduating classes indicated that 28.3% travelled abroad for future studies while 62.3% secured positions in India. Conclusions: Opportunities abroad remain challenging for Indian trained Pharm.D.s’; graduates may consider the expanding clinical opportunities in India

Agricultural growth and structural changes in the Punjab economy: an input-output analysis

Agriculture Economic aspects India Punjab., Punjab (India) Economic conditions., Input-output analysis India Punjab.,

India: the next superpower?: corruption in India

The momentum of last year’s hunger strike by the anti-corruption campaigner Kisan ‘Anna’ Hazare currently sees India’s parliament wrestling with the formation of a national corruption ombudsman. Hazare’s campaign rests upon the proposition that the democratic ideals with which the Indian state was formed in 1947 are all too often subverted by the self-interest of public servants. Hazare’s supporters argue that this process has two primary effects. First, corruption allows wealthier citizens to access resources and preferential state treatment to which they are not entitled. Second, corruption constitutes a drain on the coffers of many ordinary Indians, in the form of demands for bribes by state functionaries, without which their services cannot necessarily be procured

Flooding in the Kashmir Valley: Macroeconomic Effects of a Natural Disaster in India

This paper presents India’s economic growth by comparing it to that of the United States. In addition, this paper analyzes current events in India under a macroeconomic lens as it provides the macroeconomic impacts of said events. More specifically, this paper focuses on the ways in which unexpected severe flooding have impacted Northern India in the short-, medium-, and long-run. Analyses conclude with policy recommendations based on the goals of India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Rehabilitation of hearing impaired children in India – An update

The prevalence of deafness in India is fairly significant. It is the second most common cause of disability. Approximately 63 million people (6.3%) in India suffer from significant auditory loss.1 Rehabilitation of hearing impaired children in India remains a challenging task. Early detection and intervention are the mainstay of this initiative. This article does not purport to detail the clinical aspects and surgical management of hearing handicapped children.We discuss here the resources and options available in India for the education of deaf children and the role of the Government bodies in rehabilitation. Awareness abouteducation and rehabilitation of hearing handicapped is low among the general public and even among the medical fraternity.