Trauma expressed pathologically: Unpacking the use of tuberculosis as a metaphor in Ritwik Ghatak’s Meghe Dhaka Tara

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-48
Author(s):  
Neha Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Pathological Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Popular Imagination

In this article, I unravel the use of tuberculosis as a metaphor in Ritwik Ghatak's Meghe Dhaka Tara (The Cloud-Capped Star), and locate it within the indices of loss Ghatak uses in the film to designate the tragic and brutal partition of the Bengal Presidency in 1947. Nita’s illness – which was both her tragedy and salvation – had to be a careful selection; it had to be semiotically proximate to the other meanings and metaphors imputed to Nita. To establish the salience of the use of tuberculosis, I underscore the link between the perception of tuberculosis and the ‘being’ of the protagonist (Nita) it sublimates. I further demonstrate that tuberculosis is the most apt disease, because the metaphors that the disease has been imbued with assimilate into the larger symbolic register that Ghatak uses in the film. I posit that Nita – ‘also’, and perhaps more acutely – suffers from the imperatives of tuberculosis – the characteristics associated with the disease in the popular imagination – rather than the mere pathological condition caused by the pathogen, mycobacterium tuberculosis.

scholarly journals Relationship between rifampin MICs for and rpoB mutations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Japan.

1996 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1053-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
H Ohno ◽  
H Koga ◽  
S Kohno ◽  
T Tashiro ◽  
K Hara
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Point Mutation ◽  
Rpob Gene ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clinical Isolates ◽  
Sequencing Analysis ◽  
The Relationship

We analyzed the relationship between rifampin MICs and rpoB mutations of 40 clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A point mutation in either codon 516, 526, or 531 was found in 13 strains requiring MICs of > or = 64 micrograms/ml, while 21 strains requiring MICs of < or = 1 microgram/ml showed no alteration in these codons. However, 3 of these 21 strains contained a point mutation in either codon 515 or 533. Of the other six strains requiring MICs between 2 and 32 micrograms/ml, three contained a point mutation in codon 516 or 526, while no alteration was detected in the other three. Our results indicate that the sequencing analysis of a 69-bp fragment in the rpoB gene is useful in predicting rifampin-resistant phenotypes.

scholarly journals Characterization of the Two Mycobacterium tuberculosis recA Promoters

2003 ◽  
Vol 185 (20) ◽  
pp. 6005-6015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishna K. Gopaul ◽  
Patricia C. Brooks ◽  
Jean-François Prost ◽  
Elaine O. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Escherichia Coli ◽  
Dna Damage ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Promoter Activity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Expression Level ◽  
Promoter Elements ◽  
Kinetics Of

ABSTRACT The recA gene of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is unusual in that it is expressed from two promoters, one of which, P1, is DNA damage inducible independently of LexA and RecA, while the other, P2, is regulated by LexA in the classical way (E. O. Davis, B. Springer, K. K. Gopaul, K. G. Papavinasasundaram, P. Sander, and E. C. Böttger, Mol. Microbiol. 46:791-800, 2002). In this study we characterized these two promoters in more detail. Firstly, we localized the promoter elements for each of the promoters, and in so doing we identified a mutation in each promoter which eliminates promoter activity. Interestingly, a motif with similarity to Escherichia coli σ70 −35 elements but located much closer to the −10 element is important for optimal expression of P1, whereas the sequence at the −35 location is not. Secondly, we found that the sequences flanking the promoters can have a profound effect on the expression level directed by each of the promoters. Finally, we examined the contribution of each of the promoters to recA expression and compared their kinetics of induction following DNA damage.

scholarly journals An unusual association between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Aspergillus fumigatus

2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Agarwal ◽  
N. Singh ◽  
A.N. Aggarwal
Keyword(s):  
Cystic Fibrosis ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Lung Diseases ◽  
Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Volume Loss ◽  
Computed Tomographic ◽  
Unusual Association ◽  
Computed Tomographic Scan

Allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA) is rarely described outside the setting of asthma or cystic fibrosis. The occurrence of ABPA in other structural lung diseases included scars of old healed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is also unknown. In this case, we report a 62- year old lady treated for PTB 40 years ago who presented with increasing dyspnea on exertion, cough with expectoration of blackish brown mucus plugs and wheezing. High-resolution computed tomographic scan of the thorax showed parenchymal fibrosis and volume loss in left upper lobe while central bronchiectasis, mosaic attenuation, centrilobular nodules with a tree-in-bud pattern were observed in the other lobes. Investigations revealed a diagnosis of ABPA. The patient was treated with prednisolone and showed a significant response. We review the current literature on this unusual association of previous and cured TB with ABPA, and also discuss the hypothesis of this possible relationship.

A Tale of Two Kings: Alfred the Great and Æthelred the Unready

1986 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 195-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Keynes
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
The Other ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
The West ◽  
Apparent Contrast ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Alfred The Great ◽  
The People ◽  
The Status ◽  
Personal Qualities

IN the gallery of Anglo-Saxon kings, there are two whose characters are fixed in the popular imagination by their familiar epithets: Alfred the Great and ÆEthelred the Unready. Of course both epithets are products of the posthumous development of the kings' reputations (in opposite directions), not expressions of genuinely contemporary attitudes to the kings themselves: respective personalities. In the case of Alfred, it was the king’s own resourcefulness, courage and determination that brought the West Saxons through the Viking invasions, for it was these qualities, complemented by his concern for the well–being of his subjects, that inspired and maintained the people’s loyalty towards the king and generated their support for his cause. Whereas in the case of jEthelred, it was the king’s incompetence, weakness and vacillation that brought the kingdom to ruin, for it was these failings, exacerbated by his displays of cruelty and spite, that alienated the people and made them abandon his cause. Few historians, perhaps, would subscribe to such a view expressed as bluntly as that, and more, I suspect, would consider such comparisons to be futile and probably misconceived in the first place. I would maintain, however, that something is to be gained from the exercise of comparing the two kings in fairly broad terms: by juxtaposing discussions of the status of the main narrative accounts of each king’s reign we can more easily appreciate how their utterly different reputations arose, and see, moreover, that in certain respects the apparent contrast between them might actually be deceptive; by comparing the predicament in which each king was placed we can better understand how one managed to extricate himself from trouble while the other succumbed; and overall we can more readily judge how much, or how little, can be attributed to personal qualities or failings on the part of the kings themselves.

The Other Critical Convoy Battles of 1943

2019 ◽  
pp. 225-251
Author(s):  
G. H. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Coastal Shipping ◽  
Strategic Value ◽  
Battle Of The Atlantic ◽  
Second World

Since 1945, the U-boat campaign has dominated the attention of scholars of the Battle of the Atlantic, and in the popular imagination 1943 remains the year in which the U-boat campaign turned decisively against Germany. That interpretation has been increasingly challenged by historians. However, many historians have completely overlooked a set of convoy battles in late 1943 that did mark a decisive turning point in the war at sea. Those battles were not fought in the Atlantic, but along the English coast from September to December. They marked the eclipse of the German Schnellboot as a serious threat to British coastal shipping, just at the point where the build-up to D-Day meant that the coastal convoys had an added strategic value in terms of the outcome of the Second World War. This chapter by G.H. Bennett examines why the German campaign against Britain's coastal convoys collapsed in 1943, and challenges an existing historiography which has failed to identify the coastal campaign as an integral part of the Battle of the Atlantic.

scholarly journals Different Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Cause Various Spectrums of Disease in the Rabbit Model of Tuberculosis

2003 ◽  
Vol 71 (10) ◽  
pp. 6004-6011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yukari C. Manabe ◽  
Arthur M. Dannenberg ◽  
Sandeep K. Tyagi ◽  
Christine L. Hatem ◽  
Mark Yoder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Mycobacterium Bovis ◽  
Rabbit Model ◽  
The Other ◽  
Animal Host ◽  
Cavitary Disease ◽  
Visible Lesion ◽  
Different Strains ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACT The rabbit model of tuberculosis has been used historically to differentiate between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis based on their relative virulence in this animal host. M. tuberculosis infection in market rabbits is cleared over time, whereas infection with M. bovis results in chronic, progressive, cavitary disease leading to death. Because of the innate resistance of commercial rabbits to M. tuberculosis, 320 to 1,890 log-phase, actively growing inhaled bacilli were required to form one grossly visible pulmonary tubercle at 5 weeks. The range of inhaled doses required to make one tubercle allows us to determine the relative pathogenicities of different strains. Fewer inhaled organisms of the M. tuberculosis Erdman strain were required than of M. tuberculosis H37Rv to produce a visible lesion at 5 weeks. Furthermore, with the Erdman strain, only 7 of 15 rabbits had healed lesions at 16 to 18 weeks; among the other animals, two had chronic, progressive cavitary disease, a phenotype usually seen only with M. bovis infection. Genotypic investigation of the Erdman strain with an H37Rv-based microarray identified gene differences in the RD6 region. Southern blot and PCR structural genetic analysis showed significant differences between M. tuberculosis strains in this region. Correlation of the relative pathogenicity, including disease severity, in the rabbit model with the strain genotype may help identify stage-specific M. tuberculosis genes important in human disease.

scholarly journals A Fragment of21ORFs Around the Direct Repeat (DR) Region ofMycobacterium tuberculosisis Absent From the Other Sequenced Mycobacterial Genomes: Implications for the Evolution of the DR Region

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karina Caimi ◽  
Angel Cataldi
Keyword(s):  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Unknown Function ◽  
Repetitive Sequences ◽  
Direct Repeat ◽  
Singular Locus ◽  
The Other ◽  
Marker Genes ◽  
Complex Species ◽  
Conserved Genes ◽  
Complex Genome

The direct repeat (DR) region is a singular locus of theMycobacterium tuberculosiscomplex genome. This region consists of 36 bp repetitive sequences separated by non-repetitive unique spacer sequences. Around this region there are several genes coding for proteins of unknown function. To determine whether theM. smegmatis, M. avium, M. marinumandM. lepraegenomes contain sequences and ORFs similar to those of the DR locus of theM. tuberculosiscomplex, we analysed the corresponding regions in these species. As a first step, some conserved genes that flank the DR genes [Rv2785c (rpsO), Rv2786c (ribF), Rv2790c (ltp1 ), Rv2793c (truB), Rv2800, Rv2825, Rv2828, Rv2831 (echA16 ), Rv2838 (rbfA)andRv2845 (proS )] were used as markers to locate the corresponding orthologues inM. smegmatis, M. avium, M. marinumandM. leprae in silico. Most of theseM. tuberculosismarker genes have highly similar orthologues located in the same order and orientation in the other mycobacteria. In contrast, no orthologues were found for ORFsRv2801–Rv2824, suggesting that these genes are unique toM. tuberculosiswithin the genusMycobacterium.We observed that inM. smegmatisandM. avium, Rv2800andRv2825are adjacent. This observation was experimentally confirmed by PCR. In conclusion, as the DR locus and the ORFs around it are absent inM. smegmatisandM. aviumand, as it is possible that these species are older thanM. tuberculosis, we postulated that the DR locus was acquired by theM. tuberculosiscomplex species or by an ancestor bacterium.

scholarly journals A Revision of the Coccidia Parasitic in Man

Parasitology ◽  
1919 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 147-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford Dobell
Keyword(s):  
Small Intestine ◽  
Geographical Distribution ◽  
Human Liver ◽  
Near East ◽  
Pathological Condition ◽  
Distinct Species ◽  
Good Evidence ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Form ◽  
First Time

From a study of the organisms themselves, so far as this has been possible, and from an analysis of all accessible records relating to them, I conclude that there are four distinct species of coccidia which may parasitize man. These are: (1) Isospora hominis Rivolta, 1878 (emend.), discovered by Kjellberg in 1860. and recently investigated by Wenyon; (2) Eimeria wenyoni n.sp., a form discovered in 1915 by Wenyon; (3) Eimeria oxyspora n.sp., another new form, here described for the first time; (4) an undetermined species of Eimeria (?) which was discovered by Gubler in 1858. This last inhabits the human liver, whilst the three others probably live in the small intestine. Probably some seventy cases of infection with the Isospora have now been seen, mostly in persons who have been in the Near East; but the other parasites appear to be extremely rare, and little is known concerning their probable geographical distribution.All these parasites are probably peculiar to man. There is no evidence that any of them is or can be parasitic in any other host. The prevailing belief that the coccidia of man are identical with those of rabbits, cats, or dogs, is therefore unfounded. Furthermore, there is as yet no good evidence to show that man may harbour any species of coccidia other than the four just enumerated. All these forms, however, require fuller investigation. They are here briefly and incompletely described from the data at present available.There is at present no proof that the coccidia of man—with the probable exception of the species occurring in the liver—can produce a clinically recognizable pathological condition of “coccidiosis”: and as yet no method of treatment which will eradicate an infection with any species has been discovered.

scholarly journals Mycobacterium tuberculosis CDC1551 Is Resistant to Reactive Nitrogen and Oxygen Intermediates In Vitro

2002 ◽  
Vol 70 (7) ◽  
pp. 3965-3968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcia A. Firmani ◽  
Lee W. Riley
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Peroxide ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
The Other ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen ◽  
Reactive Oxygen Intermediates ◽  
Oxygen Intermediates ◽  
Large Outbreak ◽  
Biological Phenotype ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen Intermediates

ABSTRACT Resistance to reactive oxygen intermediates and reactive nitrogen intermediates in vitro of a clinical isolate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (CDC1551) that caused a large outbreak of tuberculosis was compared to that of M. tuberculosis strains CB3.3, H37Rv, H37Ra, Erdman, RJ2E, C.C. 13, and C.C. 22 as well as M. bovis strains Ravenel and BCG. CDC1551 and CB3.3 were significantly more resistant to both hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and acidified sodium nitrite than were the other strains tested. This biological phenotype may serve as an in vitro marker for clinical strains of M. tuberculosis likely to cause a large outbreak of tuberculosis.

scholarly journals Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser Syndrome: Embryology, Genetics and Clinical and Surgical Treatment

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfonsa Pizzo ◽  
Antonio Simone Laganà ◽  
Emanuele Sturlese ◽  
Giovanni Retto ◽  
Annalisa Retto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surgical Treatment ◽  
Renal Agenesis ◽  
Pathological Condition ◽  
The Other ◽  
Primary Amenorrhea ◽  
Mrkh Syndrome ◽  
Inhibiting Factor ◽  
Male Phenotype ◽  
Congenital Aplasia ◽  
Mullerian Ducts

Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome is a pathological condition characterized by primary amenorrhea and infertility and by congenital aplasia of the uterus and of the upper vagina. The development of secondary sexual characters is normal as well as that the karyotype (46,XX). Etiologically, this syndrome may be caused by the lack of development of the Müllerian ducts between the fifth and the sixth weeks of gestation. To explain this condition, it has been suggested that in patients with MRKH syndrome, there is a very strong hyperincretion of Müllerian-inhibiting factor (MIF), which would provoke the lack of development of the Müllerian ducts from primitive structures (as what normally occurs in male phenotype). These alterations are commonly associated with renal agenesis or ectopia. Specific mutations of several genes such as WT1, PAX2, HOXA7-HOXA13, PBX1, and WNT4 involved in the earliest stages of embryonic development could play a key role in the etiopathogenesis of this syndrome. Besides, it seems that the other two genes, TCF2 (HNF1B) and LHX1, are involved in the determinism of this pathology. Currently, the most widely nonsurgical used techniques include the “Frank’s dilators method,” while the surgical ones most commonly used are those developed by McIndoe, Williams, Vecchietti, Davydov, and Baldwin.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document