Images of Chinese American women on Screen: Femme Fatale and Chinese Swordswoman as the Oriental drug for Western viewers

Representation in the U.S. film industry since the early twentieth century has invariably presented Asian women as sexualized and vampish. The figure of the Asian American femme fatale signifies a particular deathly seduction. She attracts with her soft, unthreatening and servile femininity while concealing her hard, dangerous, and domineering nature. Early images, particularly the performances of Anna May Wong, continue to this day to haunt the production and reception of Asian women on screens, such as in the star-making roles of Nancy Kwan in the 1960s and Lucy Liu in the present. If Asian/ American women’s subjection is fundamentally dependent on sex, creating the parameters for Asian women’s presences in popular film and in history, racialized sexuality on screen must then be sites where bondage of representation is itself re-imagined, recast and criticized at the very moment of performance… This gender imbalance not only sustains the construction of Asian American women as more desirable candidates to be assimilated when paired with White men but also reinforces the “ownership” of White American males over the bodies and spirits of Asian/American women by negating the potential physical and sexual threat imposed by Asian/American men

Changing Dynamics of Constitutionalism: South Asia's Tryst with Constitution

The prevailing view of the constitutional framework in South Asia is seen as secondary and subsidiary to developed constitutional systems worldwide. Meanwhile, South Asian countries have merely re-produced the constitutional framework of developed nations. The emergence and development of South Asian constitutionalism present a range of perspectives and methodological approaches that contribute to comparative constitutional law scholarship in South Asia. The overt attention toward the Western notion of liberalism has often led to an incomplete and unclear approach to South Asian constitutionalism. The paper aimed to explore the elements of South Asian constitutionalism alongside underlying socio-economic and political discourse surrounding its contemporary understanding. It also analyzed the role of courts in affirming and transforming South Asian constitutionalism. Instead of reviving interest in South Asia and Third World Approach to International Law, this paper showed that it is only practical and pragmatic to study constitutionalism with specific reference to the modern discourse of democracy, judicial review, separation of power, and human rights enshrined in their respective constitutions. In terms of its emergence from the colonial history and other prevalent forms of distinct cultural, social, and political practices, South Asia presented a heterogeneous experience in the light of recognition and enforcement of socio-economic rights and transformations and deviations from its past experiences. KEYWORDS: Comparative Constitutional Law, Constitutionalism, South Asia

Inhibition studies of carbamoyl phosphate synthetase from Escherichia coli

Carbamoyl phosphate synthetase (CPS) catalyzes the formation of carbamoyl phosphate (CP) from MgATP, bicarbonate, and glutamine. It has three active sites, one present on the small subunit and the two phosphorylation sites present on the large subunit. These two nucleotide binding sites are homologous. Six compounds were designed to mimic the reactive intermediate species carboxy phosphate, and product cabamoyl phosphate. The apparent Ki values calculated estimated the inhibitory strengths of these compounds. These plots were also utilized in identifying the linear inhibitors, nonlinear inhibitors and partial inhibitors. Inhibition patterns were obtained with these compounds using various assay formats. Partial inhibition displayed by phosphono formate for the full biosynthetic reaction can be utilized in support of the sequential mechanism for CPS

Management of an unexpected laparoscopic complication in a low-resource setting

Objective of this study is to describe the management of a rare and unexpected complication due to the breakage of a surgical blade tip during vaginal coring in a case of total laparoscopic hysterectomy in a low-resource setting. In this case report we are describing an unexpected complication which arose when a No. 11 surgical blade tip broke and got displaced during vaginal coring in a case of total laparoscopic hysterectomy with bilateral salpingectomy. When it was not possible to locate the blade tip in the abdominopelvic cavity, its location was triangulated using thorough manual examination followed by live imaging, and the blade tip was retrieved without damage to surrounding structures. The details of the loss and retrieval of the blade tip emphasize the need for a systematic approach to instrument upkeep, personnel training, and judicious use of available imaging in low-resource settings to manage unexpected and rare complications quickly and effectively during laparoscopic surgeries

Drug compliance in children with epilepsy: Cross-sectional study, New Delhi

Background: For individuals with epilepsy, adherence to medication is crucial in preventing or minimizing seizures and their cumulative impact on everyday life. Compliance studies in adult patients are many, but few in children with epilepsy. Objective: This study tries to find the prevalence of noncompliance in children with epilepsy and causes leading to it. Method: The study was conducted in a tertiary care super specialty children hospital of New Delhi. Children, age 1-12 years, who were already diagnosed cases of epilepsy and were all on drug therapy for at least 3 months were included in the study. After obtaining clearance from the hospital’s Ethical Committee, a total of 100 parents of epileptic children were interviewed as per the prepared questionnaire. Results: Out of 100 children (63 males, 37 females) with epilepsy, 71% were compliant. Most of the noncompliant parents (82.7%) felt that there is the harmful effect of long-term anti-epileptic drugs. They believed in stopping medications on their own once signs and symptoms disappear and did not like to give medication to their child in public place. No significant association of noncompliance could be seen with etiology of epilepsy, monotherapy versus polytherapy, and duration of disease, mother’s age and parental education (p>0.05). Conclusion: Compliance in this study group of children with epilepsy was 71%. Further improvement of health and well-being of children with epilepsy can be attempted by education of parents, distribution of written instructions in the form of pamphlets, counseling, group discussions, and exchange of personal experience. Public awareness drive should help in reducing the associated taboos

Varied clinical presentations of scar endometriosis: case reports

Endometriosis is the second most prevalent benign gynaecological condition, in reproductive age women, defined as the presence of functioning endometrial tissue outside uterine cavity. Scar endometriosis is a rare entity with an incidence of 0.3-1% among reproductive age women following obstetric and gynaecologic surgeries. Complaints of pain, tender mass, cyclical association with menstrual cycle is almost pathognomonic. Here we present two case reports of scar endometriosis recently encountered at our institute – caesarean scar endometriosis and episiotomy scar endometriosis. The quoted episiotomy scar endometriosis incidence is about 0.06 - 0.07% while that of caesarean scar endometriosis is 0.03-0.4%

Successful removal of 34 fibroids in uterus-preserving myomectomy: a case report

When uterine preservation is of the essence, myomectomy is the preferred standard of surgical care for removal of myomas, the commonest tumors of the female genital tract. This case report describes the evaluation and treatment of a 42-year-old female with a multi-fibroid uterus, who desired uterine preservation in order to conceive. Diagnostic hystero-laparoscopy with myomectomy resulted in the removal of 34 leiomyomas of varying sizes from different locations within the uterus. Our case study is of particular importance as it emphasizes that effective removal of even a large number of multiple fibroids is attainable in rural, low-resource settings by strict adherence to the established myomectomy protocol and the achievement of as bloodless an operative field as possible using various available techniques

Menstruating umbilicus: secondary subcutaneous umbilical endometriosis: a rare case report

This paper described a rare case of secondary umbilical endometriosis in a young nulliparous female and its effective diagnosis and treatment. A 29-year-old unmarried female presented with complaints of bleeding during menses from an umbilical nodule that had developed at the port insertion site of a previous diagnostic hystero-laparoscopy. Ultrasound and Doppler examinations confirmed the presence of a hypoechoic mass in the umbilicus with no associated blood vessels. Deep surgical excision of the nodule with a rim of macroscopic normal skin of 0.5 cm all around was performed under local anesthesia and the umbilicus was reconstructed. This case reinforced the concept that umbilical endometriosis should be considered in the list of differential diagnoses of umbilical disorders, even in young nulliparous women with no typical symptoms of pelvic endometriosis. Additionally, it emphasized the importance of early diagnosis of UE in order to avoid extensive abdominal wall surgery

Conciliatory and Non-Conciliatory Responses to Cyber Incivility

This paper examined a) non-conciliatory responses – revenge and avoidance, and b) conciliatory response – reconciliation to cyber incivility. Based on a survey of 192 employees, results showed that (dis)satisfaction with supervisor mediated the relationship between supervisor’s cyber incivility and victim’s responses. Individual responses to cyber incivility were moderated by a) victim’s personality through (dis)satisfaction with supervisor. The victim’s dark personality traits (Machiavellianism) and cyber incivility jointly produced conditional indirect effects on the victim’s responses. Machiavellianism produced a positive indirect effect on revenge and a negative indirect effect on reconciliation. Overall, findings suggested that the victim’s personality had a conditional indirect effect on the victim’s response to cyber incivility through (dis)satisfaction with supervisor