"The fruits of independence": Satyajit Ray, Indian nationhood and the spectre of empire

Challenging the longstanding consensus that Satyajit Ray's work is largely free of ideological concerns and notable only for its humanistic richness, this article shows with reference to representations of British colonialism and Indian nationhood that Ray's films and stories are marked deeply and consistently by a distinctively Bengali variety of liberalism. Drawn from an ongoing biographical project, it commences with an overview of the nationalist milieu in which Ray grew up and emphasizes the preoccupation with colonialism and nationalism that marked his earliest unfilmed scripts. It then shows with case studies of Kanchanjangha (1962), Charulata (1964), First Class Kamra (First-Class Compartment, 1981), Pratidwandi (The Adversary, 1970), Shatranj ke Khilari (The Chess Players, 1977), Agantuk (The Stranger, 1991) and Robertsoner Ruby (Robertson's Ruby, 1992) how Ray's mature work continued to combine a strongly anti-colonial viewpoint with a shifting perspective on Indian nationhood and an unequivocal commitment to cultural cosmopolitanism. Analysing how Ray articulated his ideological positions through the quintessentially liberal device of complexly staged debates that were apparently free, but in fact closed by the scenarist/director on ideologically specific notes, this article concludes that Ray's reputation as an all-forgiving, ‘everybody-has-his-reasons’ humanist is based on simplistic or even tendentious readings of his work

Interaction of bovine serum albumin and albumin-gold nanoconjugates with l-aspartic acid: a spectroscopic approach

The interaction of an essential transport protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) and albumin-gold nanoconjugates (BSA-GNPs) with amino acid l-aspartic (ASP) are investigated by steady state and time resolved spectroscopic techniques. In both the cases, static fluorescence quenching is observed indicating that a ground state complex is formed between the donor BSA/BSA-GNP with the acceptor ASP. High values of quenching constant suggest that energy transfer also occurred from BSA and BSA-GNPs to ASP. Distance between the fluorophore in the protein and the amino acid (ASP) is evaluated. Binding constants and the number of binding sites were determined in both the cases. The observed thermodynamic parameters suggest that the key interacting forces involved in both cases are hydrophobic interactions. Circular dichroism (CD) spectrum of BSA molecule suffers marginal change in the presence of ASP both in its pure as well as bio-nanoconjugate forms. As no structural deformation is occurred, the biological activity along with the activity of immune response of protein and the biocompatibility of protein-nanoconjugate remain as such

Nature of interactions of tryptophan with zinc oxide nanoparticles and l-aspartic acid: a spectroscopic approach

The interaction between an essential amino acid l-tryptophan (TRP) with semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and amino acid l-aspartic acid (ASP) is investigated by steady state and time resolved spectroscopic techniques. In both the cases static mode of fluorescence quenching occurs indicating the formation of ground-state complex. Binding constants and the number of binding sites were determined for both the complexes. The observed thermodynamic parameters suggest that the key interacting forces involved are van der Waals interaction and hydrogen bonding in case of TRP and ZnO nanoparticles whereas hydrophobic interaction is responsible in formations of TRP-ASP complex

Detailed spectroscopic investigations to reveal the nature of interaction of anionic porphyrin with calf thymus DNA

The interaction between anionic form of meso-tetrakis(4-carboxyphenyl) porphyrin (TCPP) and calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid (CT DNA) is investigated by measuring UV-vis absorption, steady-state fluorescence, steady-state fluorescence anisotropy, time-resolved fluorescence, resonance light scattering (RLS), FT-IR and circular dichroism (CD) spectra along with the help of atomic force microscopy (AFM) under Tris-Borate-EDTA (TBE) buffer solution of pH 8.3. The static mode of fluorescence quenching of porphyrin by calf thymus deoxyribonucleic acid indicates the formation of a ground-state complex. The formation of ground-state complex is a spontaneous molecular interaction procedure in which outside groove binding through hydrogen bond or van der Waals force plays a major role. For biomedical application this investigation is very important as here TCPP, i.e. the anionic porphyrin does not bring any changes in the original structure of the CT DNA to selectively cleaving the nucleic acid to destroy the cancer or tumor cells whereas cationic porphyrin makes change in the protein structure significantly during the same process

Development of a nanocomposite system by combining an organic dyad 1-(4-chloro-phenyl)- 3-(4-methoxy-naphthalen-1-yl)-propenone with semiconductor TiO2 nanoparticles

Steady state and time resolved spectroscopic measurements on an organic dyad, 1-(4-chloro-phenyl)-3-(4-methoxy-naphthalen-1-yl)-propenone, where the donor 1-methoxynaphthalene is connected with the acceptor p-chloroacetophenone by an unsaturated olefinic bond, in presence of TiO2 nanoparticles were made at the ambient temperature. Time resolved fluorescence measurements reveal that the rate parameters associated with charge separation, k cs, within the dyad increases whereas charge recombination rate reduces when the surrounding medium is changed from chloroform to TiO 2 nanoparticles. The observed results indicate that the dyad being combined with TiO2 nanoparticles may form organic-inorganic nanocomposite systems useful for developing light energy conversion devices

Inhibition of gastric mucosal prostaglandin synthetase activity by mercaptomethylimidazole, an inducer of gastric acid secretion-plausible involvement of endogenous H<SUB>2</SUB>O<SUB>2</SUB>

We have reported earlier that mercaptomethylimidazole (MMI), an antithyroid drug of thionamide group, induces gastric acid secretion at least partially through the liberation of histamine, sensitive to cimetidine. Now, we show that the drug has a significant inhibitory effect on the cyclooxygenase and peroxidase activity of the prostaglandin (PG) synthetase of the gastric mucosal microsomal preparation. The effect can also be mimicked by low concentrations of H2O2. While studying the possible intracellular effect of MMI on acid secretion, a cell fraction (F3) enriched in parietal cell was isolated by controlled digestion of the mucosa with protease. This cell fraction is activated by MMI as measured by increased O2 consumption. The activation is sensitive to omeprazole, a proton-pump inhibitor, indicating that the activation is due to increased acid secretion by MMI. MMI was also found to directly inhibit the peroxidase activity of the F3 cell fraction and may thus increase the intracellular level of H2O2. The cyclooxygenase activity of the PG synthetase of the F3 cell fraction is also inhibited by MMI and the effect can be reproduced by low concentrations of H2O2. Both MMI and H2O2 can also inhibit the peroxidase activity of the PG synthetase. We suggest that in addition to the activation of the parietal cell by MMI possibly through endogenous H2O2, MMI induces acid secretion in vivo by inactivating the PG synthetase thereby inhibiting the biosynthesis of PG and removing its inhibitory influence on acid secretion so that the histamine released by MMI can stimulate acid secretion with maximum efficiency

Attempts to recognize the two different isomers of a photoswitchable dyad, 1-(4-bromo-phenyl)-3-(2-methoxy-naphthalen-1-yl)-propenone, by using TiO2 nanoparticles

Steady state, time-resolved spectroscopic measurements and theoretical computations on a photoswitchable organic dyad, 1-(4-bromo-phenyl)-3-(2-methoxy-naphthalen-1-yl)-propenone demonstrate the formations of the two different isomers in the excited singlet state though NMR study reveals the presence of only one isomer in the ground state. The present Letter describes how by combining with semiconductor TiO2 nanoparticles the presence of two different isomers of the photoswitchable dyad could be recognized in the form of various yields

Análisis de datos reconocidos investigando la endemicidad de la malaria de una población tribal mezclada de Bihar, India

A section of the mixed tribal population of the Singhbhum district, Bihar, India, is declared malaria epidemic zone. The tribal population of several generations is known to be suffering from malaria. A survey based on cross-sectional data analysis, was conducted on the mixed tribal population for one month. The purpose of this study was to investigate the health status using collected blood samples. The main focus is on the comparative roles of the defense mechanism and vitality factor of the human system in context to the malarial infection. By gradual elimination of the blood parameters by statistical analysis, the vitalityparameters probing malarial endemicity are assessed with a view to predicting the epidemic. The main findings from this survey are (i) of the selected twenty two parameters of blood, albumin, total cholesterol, total protein, β-Globulin, γ-Globulin, Inmuno globulin G seem to have some predictive capacity with respect to the malarial endemicity of the tribal people and (ii) Categorical variables like blood group and sex are comparatively less important for prediction of malaria.Peer Reviewe