South Indian Carnatic singing and Irish Sean-nós - an ethnographic, musical and linguisticcomparison

Despite sharing some interesting linguistic and possible cultural connections from a very distant past, South Indian and Irish musical cultures have emerged from highly distinct contexts and influences. Drawing on doctoral field research within the respective traditions as practiced in Australia as well as experience as a student and performer, this paper presents a comparison of Carnatic and Sean-nós singing from the perspectives of anthropology, ethnomusicology and linguistics and outlines some significant areas of connection and contrast. This analysis of two diasporic traditions in an antipodean settler context represents an innovative departure, by focusing not on the heartlands of these musical traditions, but on their existence in an urban, transnational context, dominated by an Anglo-Australian majority. Such a comparison reveals differing perspectives on both traditions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pioglitazone, a PPARγ agonist rescues depression associated with obesity using chronic unpredictable mild stress model in experimental mice

AbstractPioglitazone, a peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) agonist belonging to thiazolidinedione class, is mainly used in diabetes mellitus. Obese subjects are twice likely to become depressed than non-obese individuals. The biological mechanisms linking depression with obesity still remain poorly understood and there is immense need for better therapeutic intervention against such co-morbid disorders. The present study investigates the effect of pioglitazone on the chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS) induced depression in obese mice by using behavioral tests and biochemical estimations. Mice were fed with high fat diet (HFD) for 14 weeks and were further subjected to different stress procedures for 28 days to induce depressive behavior. Animals were administered orally with pioglitazone (30 mg/kg p.o.)/escitalopram (10 mg/kg p.o.)/vehicle (10 ml/kg p.o.) daily from day 15–28. Various behavioral paradigms such as sucrose preference test, forced swim test (FST), tail suspension test (TST) and elevated plus maze (EPM) were performed. Biochemical estimations including plasma glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and total proteins were performed. The data obtained from behavioral assays and biochemical assessments indicated that obese animals exhibited severe depressive-like behavior compared to non-obese animals. Furthermore, obese animals subjected to CUMS worsen the depressive behavior compared to obese control animals. Repetitive treatment with pioglitazone reversed the CUMS induced behavioral and biochemical alterations in HFD fed obese mice which atleast in part may be mediated through improving altered plasma glucose. The study suggests that pioglitazone needs further attention with respect to molecular mechanisms that could provide a better therapeutic strategy against depression associated with obesity

Musicolinguistic artistry of niraval in Carnatic vocal music

Niraval is a form of virtuosic musicolinguistic improvisation in Carnatic music whereby a line within a song is repeated in various melodic and rhythmic manifestations within the rāgam (melodic framework) and tāḷam (beat cycle). For a Carnatic singer, niraval makes different aesthetic demands than other forms of non-textual improvisation within the tradition. To convey artful, sincere renditions of the same lyrical text, the singer-musician must imaginatively devise interesting repetitions which attend to both melodic and rhythmic elements and the lyric text. Combining melodic and rhythmic skill and verbal artistry in a range of South Indian languages as well as Sanskrit, Carnatic singers display extraordinary communicative and artistic competence and captivate their audiences. This paper analyses the musical and linguistic elements of a single niraval performance in Sydney’s Carnatic music community. It is hoped that such research will contribute to a greater understanding of the interplay of language and music in sung performanceANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, School of Language Studies; ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, School of Culture, History and Languag

Long-term outcome and prognosis of patients with emergent periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (ePLEDs)

AbstractPurposeEmergent EEG (eEEG) is an EEG performed on a non-elective basis upon request from a clinician for a seemingly emergency indication. Little is known about the long-term prognosis of patients with emergent periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges (ePLEDs).MethodsWe analyzed the EEG and clinical records of patients with ePLEDs from January 2002 to December 2008.ResultsOut of 1948 eEEGs, 79 (4%) patients had ePLEDs. Sixty-three patients had ePLEDs and 16 had eBiPLEDs (emergent bilateral periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges). The etiology of ePLEDs was CNS infection and inflammation (35.4%), stroke (32.9%), and metabolic encephalopathy (11.4%). Of the surviving 52 (65.8%) patients with ePLEDs, 34 (65.4%) had persistent seizures during a mean follow-up of 28 months (range 12–72 months). Seizure as the initial presentation was more commonly seen in children as compared to adults (64% versus 31%, p=0.005). CNS infection and inflammation were also seen more frequently in the pediatric age group (50% versus 27%, p=0.04). At follow-up, patients with eBiPLEDs had more seizures than patients with ePLEDs (87.5% versus 61.3%).ConclusionePLEDs is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, the etiology of ePLEDs and brain dysfunction will influence the long-term outcome. This information is invaluable for prognostication and underscores the importance of rigorous management of patients with ePLEDs

Documenting modern Sri Lanka Portuguese

Sri Lanka Portuguese (SLP) is a Portuguese-lexified creole formed during Sri Lanka’s Portuguese colonial period, which lasted from the early 16th century to the mid-17th century. The language withstood several political changes and became an important medium of communication for a portion of the island’s population, but reached the late 20th century much reduced in its distribution and vitality, having essentially contracted to the Portuguese Burgher community of Eastern Sri Lanka. In the 1970s and 1980s, the language was the object of considerable research and documentation efforts, which were, however, curtailed by the Sri Lankan civil war. This chapter reports on the activities, challenges, and results of a recent documentation project developed in the post-war period and designed to create an appropriate and diverse record of modern SLP. The project is characterised by a highly multidisciplinary approach that combines linguistics and ethnomusicology, a strong focus on video recordings and open-access dissemination of materials through an online digital platform (Endangered Languages Archive), archival prospection to collect diachronic sources, a sociolinguistic component aimed at determining ethnolinguistic vitality with a view to delineating revitalisation strategies, and a strongly collaborative nature. This chapter describes the principal outputs of the documentation project, which, in addition to a digital corpus of transcribed and annotated materials representing modern manifestations of SLP and the oral/musical traditions of the Burghers, also include the findings of the sociolinguistic survey, an orthographic proposal for the language, as well as the copies and transcriptions of hard-to-obtain historical sources on SLP (grammars, dictionaries, biblical translations, liturgical texts, collections of songs).Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (MDP0357) / Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (IF/01009/2012

Solvent effects on lasing characteristics for Rh B laser dye.

We demonstrate pulsed, photopumped multimode laser emission in the visible spectral range from rhodamine B dye dissolved in various solvents. The laser emission is characterized by a well-defined, low threshold pump power at which the emission spectral intensity dramatically increases and collapsed into several dominant laser modes with reduced mode spacing and spectral width. The modes were found to originate from the subcavities formed by the plane-parallel walls of the cuvette containing the gain medium. The cavity lasing spectral structure and the numbers of longitudinal modes were easily controlled by changing the solvents. A shift in the emission spectra has been also observed by changing the solvents will allow a limited range of tuning of laser emission wavelength. We also determined the gain coefficient and stimulated emission cross-section for the Rh B dye dissolved liquid laser system. A detailed discussion of the solvent effect in the lasing characteristics of Rh B in different solution is explained along with the computational data

Global, regional, and national sex-specific burden and control of the HIV epidemic, 1990–2019, for 204 countries and territories: the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019

Background: The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Understanding the current state of the HIV epidemic and its change over time is essential to this effort. This study assesses the current sex-specific HIV burden in 204 countries and territories and measures progress in the control of the epidemic. Methods: To estimate age-specific and sex-specific trends in 48 of 204 countries, we extended the Estimation and Projection Package Age-Sex Model to also implement the spectrum paediatric model. We used this model in cases where age and sex specific HIV-seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care-clinic sentinel surveillance data were available. For the remaining 156 of 204 locations, we developed a cohort-incidence bias adjustment to derive incidence as a function of cause-of-death data from vital registration systems. The incidence was input to a custom Spectrum model. To assess progress, we measured the percentage change in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 (threshold >75% decline), the ratio of incident cases to number of people living with HIV (incidence-to-prevalence ratio threshold <0·03), and the ratio of incident cases to deaths (incidence-to-mortality ratio threshold <1·0). Findings: In 2019, there were 36·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 35·1–38·9) people living with HIV worldwide. There were 0·84 males (95% UI 0·78–0·91) per female living with HIV in 2019, 0·99 male infections (0·91–1·10) for every female infection, and 1·02 male deaths (0·95–1·10) per female death. Global progress in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 was driven by sub-Saharan Africa (with a 28·52% decrease in incident cases, 95% UI 19·58–35·43, and a 39·66% decrease in deaths, 36·49–42·36). Elsewhere, the incidence remained stable or increased, whereas deaths generally decreased. In 2019, the global incidence-to-prevalence ratio was 0·05 (95% UI 0·05–0·06) and the global incidence-to-mortality ratio was 1·94 (1·76–2·12). No regions met suggested thresholds for progress. Interpretation: Sub-Saharan Africa had both the highest HIV burden and the greatest progress between 1990 and 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths in males and females approached parity in 2019, although there remained more females with HIV than males with HIV. Globally, the HIV epidemic is far from the UNAIDS benchmarks on progress metrics. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging of the NIH

Global, regional, and national sex-specific burden and control of the HIV epidemic, 1990-2019, for 204 countries and territories: the Global Burden of Diseases Study 2019

Background: The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to end HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Understanding the current state of the HIV epidemic and its change over time is essential to this effort. This study assesses the current sex-specific HIV burden in 204 countries and territories and measures progress in the control of the epidemic. Methods: To estimate age-specific and sex-specific trends in 48 of 204 countries, we extended the Estimation and Projection Package Age-Sex Model to also implement the spectrum paediatric model. We used this model in cases where age and sex specific HIV-seroprevalence surveys and antenatal care-clinic sentinel surveillance data were available. For the remaining 156 of 204 locations, we developed a cohort-incidence bias adjustment to derive incidence as a function of cause-of-death data from vital registration systems. The incidence was input to a custom Spectrum model. To assess progress, we measured the percentage change in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 (threshold >75% decline), the ratio of incident cases to number of people living with HIV (incidence-to-prevalence ratio threshold <0·03), and the ratio of incident cases to deaths (incidence-to-mortality ratio threshold <1·0). Findings: In 2019, there were 36·8 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 35·1–38·9) people living with HIV worldwide. There were 0·84 males (95% UI 0·78–0·91) per female living with HIV in 2019, 0·99 male infections (0·91–1·10) for every female infection, and 1·02 male deaths (0·95–1·10) per female death. Global progress in incident cases and deaths between 2010 and 2019 was driven by sub-Saharan Africa (with a 28·52% decrease in incident cases, 95% UI 19·58–35·43, and a 39·66% decrease in deaths, 36·49–42·36). Elsewhere, the incidence remained stable or increased, whereas deaths generally decreased. In 2019, the global incidence-to-prevalence ratio was 0·05 (95% UI 0·05–0·06) and the global incidence-to-mortality ratio was 1·94 (1·76–2·12). No regions met suggested thresholds for progress. Interpretation: Sub-Saharan Africa had both the highest HIV burden and the greatest progress between 1990 and 2019. The number of incident cases and deaths in males and females approached parity in 2019, although there remained more females with HIV than males with HIV. Globally, the HIV epidemic is far from the UNAIDS benchmarks on progress metrics. Funding: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Institute on Aging of the NIH

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe