"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

Between Commerce and Empire: David Hume, Colonial Slavery, and Commercial Incivility

Eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought has recently been reclaimed as a robust, albeit short-lived, cosmopolitan critique of European imperialism. This essay complicates this interpretation through a study of David Hume’s reflections on commerce, empire and slavery. I argue that while Hume condemned the colonial system of monopoly, war and conquest, his strictures against empire did not extend to colonial slavery in the Atlantic. This was because colonial slavery represented a manifestly uncivil institution when judged by enlightened metropolitan sensibilities, yet also a decisively commercial institution pivotal to the eighteenth-century global economy. Confronted by the paradoxical ‘commercial incivility’ of modern slavery, Hume opted for disavowing the link between slavery and commerce, and confined his criticism of slavery to its ancient, feudal and Asiatic incarnations. I contend that Hume’s disavowal of the commercial barbarism of the Atlantic economy is part of a broader ideological effort to separate the idea of commerce from its imperial origins and posit it as the liberal antithesis of empire. The implications of analysis, I conclude, go beyond the eighteenth-century debates over commerce and empire, and more generally pertain to the contradictory entwinement of liberalism and capitalism

Climate Change and Technology Transfer: Tying the Knot through Human Rights

27-34Mindless exploitation of nature has caused immense damage to human environment. Human activity through technological interventions has contributed to global warming. The incremental rise of temperature has not only threatened the life of individual but also questioned the role of technology in bringing the development. Climate change has thrown a challenge on the scientists/inventors to commit to environment-friendly technology. Realizing the potential damage from climate change, the government world-over, primarily from the developed economy, started investing upon climate friendly technology. Clean energy technology is made subject to a variety of intellectual property protections. Consequently, the exclusive usage of the technology remained with the developed economy leaving behind three-fourth of humanity to deal with the challenges of climate change on their own. Nature knows no boundaries, thus, the effort to mitigate adverse impact upon should not be mortgaged to rich and resourceful. The obligation to employ environment friendly technologies should be made non-negotiable and to be made available from North to South. However, the rigour regime to protect intellectual property brings in challenge for developing nations to import and deploy the green technology for development activities. Comity of Nations has accepted the fact of global warming, natural as well as anthropogenic. The United Nations Convention on Framework Convention on Climate Change bears the testimony of the commitment of the international community to combat the “change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” Proponents of IP present a facilitative IP regime as a condition precedent to innovate and develop new clean energy technologies. Whereas opponents of IP finds, the exclusion rights to patent holders as a bottleneck to access the technology. Climate change poses significant threat to the rights to life, adequate food, water, health, adequate housing, and self-determination, while also highlighting the particular impacts on highly vulnerable groups such as women, children, and indigenous peoples (OHCHR, 2009). The issue of access to the technology to contain greenhouse emissions should be seen through the prism of human rights in order to obligate state to address climate change crisis

Diagnosis and staging of small bowel tumours

Small bowel neoplasms comprise only 1% of gastrointestinal neoplasms. Despite their rarity, it is important to diagnose small bowel tumours early to maximize patient survival

Upper gastrointestinal tumours: diagnosis and staging

Upper GI tumours have a dismal prognosis. Only early diagnosis and accurate staging can optimize patient management

Pathways of abdominal tumour spread: the role of the subperitoneal space

The subperitoneal space is a large, unifying, anatomically continuous potential space that connects the peritoneal cavity with the retroperitoneum. This space is formed by the subserosal areolar tissue that lines the inner surfaces of the peritoneum and the musculature of the abdomen and pelvis. It contains the branches of the vascular, lymphatic, and nervous systems that supply the viscera. The subperitoneal space extends into the peritoneal cavity and is invested between the layers of the mesenteries and ligaments that support and interconnect the abdominal and pelvic organs. As such, it provides one large continuous space in which infectious, neoplastic, inflammatory, and hemorrhagic disease may spread in many directions

Inhibition of cornifins and up-regulation of protease inhibitors in cervicovaginal lavage imparts resistance to heterosexual HIV transmission

HIV-exposed seronegative individuals (HESNs) are persons who remain seronegative despite repeated exposure to HIV, suggesting an in vivo resistance mechanism to HIV. Elucidation of endogenous factors responsible for this phenomenon may aid in the development of new classes of microbicides and therapeutics. The genital mucosal secretions of both men and women are known to contain a spectrum of antimicrobials and immune mediators that may contribute to resistance against HIV-1. Existence of HIV serodiscordant couples is a testimony to mucosal factors in the genital tract that prevent sexual transmission of the virus. We attempted to map such mucosal factors in female genital secretions of the serodiscordant couples in comparison with HIV infected and healthy participants using quantitative proteomics. The cervico vaginal lavage (CVL) samples were collected from three groups of study participants (HIV infected, n=30; Un-infected Controls, n=10; Serodiscordant, n=24). Abundant proteins, albumin and globulins were removed from the pooled samples using multiple affinity removal spin cartridge (Agilent) to enhance the sensitivity of iTRAQ proteomics analysis. Initial analysis identified a total of 135 proteins and associated 497 peptide matches. Serodiscordant females showed significantly down regulated levels of Cornifin A, B and C, Neutrophil gelatinase, myeloperoxidase and eosinophil peroxidase. Cornifins are cross-linked envelope protein of keratinocytes and are upregulated during inflammation. Downregulation of oxidative stress inducing enzymes and cornifins suggests immune-quiescence in serodiscordant females. CVL of these women showed significantly upregulated levels of Mucin 5B, S100A7, Alpha-2-macroglobulin, Cystatin A (protease inhibitor), Lacto-transferrin, SLPI (anti-leukoproteinase inhibitor) and SERPIN G1 (protease inhibitor).  Significantly elevated levels of Cystatin B and Elafin in the CVL of serodiscordant females were confirmed by ELISA. These results suggest that HIV resistance against the sexual transmission of HIV is the result of immune-quiescence contributed by two complementary mechanisms: downregulation of immune activators and upregulation of their inhibitors