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"Mukherjee, Souvik"
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Videogames and postcolonialism : empire plays back
This book focuses on the almost entirely neglected treatment of empire and colonialism in videogames. From its inception in the nineties, Game Studies has kept away from these issues despite the early popularity of videogame franchises such as Civilization and Age of Empire. This book examines the complex ways in which some videogames construct conceptions of spatiality, political systems, ethics and society that are often deeply imbued with colonialism. Moving beyond questions pertaining to European and American gaming cultures, this book addresses issues that relate to a global audience – including, especially, the millions who play videogames in the formerly colonised countries, seeking to make a timely intervention by creating a larger awareness of global cultural issues in videogame research. Addressing a major gap in Game Studies research, this book will connect to discourses of post-colonial theory at large and thereby, provide another entry-point for this new medium of digital communication into larger Humanities discourses.
eBook
Videogames and post-colonialism : empire plays back
This book focuses on the almost entirely neglected treatment of empire and colonialism in videogames. From its inception in the nineties, Game Studies has kept away from these issues despite the early popularity of videogame franchises such as Civilization and Age of Empire. This book examines the complex ways in which some videogames construct conceptions of spatiality, political systems, ethics and society that are often deeply imbued with colonialism. Moving beyond questions pertaining to European and American gaming cultures, this book addresses issues that relate to a global audience? including, especially, the millions who play videogames in the formerly colonised countries, seeking to make a timely intervention by creating a larger awareness of global cultural issues in videogame research. Addressing a major gap in Game Studies research, this book will connect to discourses of post-colonial theory at large and thereby, provide another entry-point for this new medium of digital communication into larger Humanities discourses.
Book
Sebum and Hydration Levels in Specific Regions of Human Face Significantly Predict the Nature and Diversity of Facial Skin Microbiome
The skin microbiome varies across individuals. The causes of these variations are inadequately understood. We tested the hypothesis that inter-individual variation in facial skin microbiome can be significantly explained by variation in sebum and hydration levels in specific facial regions of humans. We measured sebum and hydration from forehead and cheek regions of healthy female volunteers (n = 30). Metagenomic DNA from skin swabs were sequenced for V3-V5 regions of 16S rRNA gene. Altogether, 34 phyla were identified; predominantly Actinobacteria (66.3%), Firmicutes (17.7%), Proteobacteria (13.1%) and Bacteroidetes (1.4%). About 1000 genera were identified; predominantly
Propionibacterium
(58.6%),
Staphylococcus
(8.6%),
Streptococcus
(4.0%),
Corynebacterium
(3.6%) and
Paracoccus
(3.3%). A subset (n = 24) of individuals were sampled two months later. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that cheek sebum level was the most significant predictor of microbiome composition and diversity followed by forehead hydration level; forehead sebum and cheek hydration levels were not. With increase in cheek sebum, the prevalence of Actinobacteria (
p
=
0.001
)/
Propionibacterium (p
=
0.002
) increased, whereas microbiome diversity decreased (Shannon Index,
p
= 0.032); this was opposite for other phyla/genera. These trends were reversed for forehead hydration levels. Therefore, the nature and diversity of facial skin microbiome is jointly determined by site-specific lipid and water levels in the
stratum corneum
.
Journal Article
Ocular conjunctival microbiome profiling in dry eye disease: A case control pilot study
Purpose:
Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) or dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease that results in discomfort, visual disturbance, and tear film instability with potential damage to the ocular surface. A pilot study was undertaken to determine if there were any major substantial differences in the ocular microbiome in DED patients versus healthy controls.
Methods:
The bacterial communities residing in the conjunctiva of patients with DED (n = 4) and healthy controls (n = 4) were assessed by 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing of the V4-V5 region.
Results:
The phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were most dominant and accounted for 97% and 94.5% of all bacterial sequences in patients and controls, respectively. At the genus level, 27 bacterial genera were found with more than two-fold difference between patients and controls. Four of these - Acinetobacter, Corynebacterium, Lactobacillus, and Pseudomonas spp. - dominated the ocular microbiome of all subjects, but were proportionately lower in DED (16.5%) compared to controls (37.7%). Several bacterial genera were found to be unique in DED (34) and controls (24).
Conclusion:
This pilot study is an attempt to profile the ocular microbiome in patients with DED that demonstrated a higher concentration of microbial DNA compared to controls, with Firmicutes phyla dominating the bacterial population in patients with DED.
Journal Article
Is “Contribution to the Host States Development” An Essential Criterion to Define Investment Under International Investment Law?: A Search Through the Lens of Arbitral Awards
International Investment Arbitration proceedings often deliver its Award in two parts: (i) Jurisdiction and (ii) Merit. One of the most debated and controversial elements in the Jurisdictional Proceedings have been the definition of ‘Investment’. The controversy was particularly fuelled by the Salini Test, which demanded an additional economic interpretation of the term investment, including four criteria. This research paper focuses on testing the criteria “contribution to the host State’s development” within the definition of investment. The test was applied frequently in following arbitral awards, with only a few attempting to analyse the criterion. Number of Tribunals accepted the test on its face, even though the concept had not attained the stature of Jurisprudence Constante. Seldom had the Tribunals attempted to analyse it through the prism of economic literature and feasibility of incorporating such an element within the scope of the definition of investment. In this paper, the authors would examine the significance and rationale used by the several investment arbitral Tribunals while accepting or rejecting the concept of economic development within the ambit of the definition of investment. Finally, discuss the relevance of the criterion.
Journal Article
Nasal MRSA carriage is a risk factor for development of antibiotic resistance in diabetic foot ulcers and is significantly higher than diabetic and non-diabetic individuals without foot ulcer
Background
Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) is a major complication of diabetes often impacted by polymicrobial infection in the wound site. Diabetic patients are immunocompromised in nature and hence vulnerable to infection once the skin barrier is breached. Microbiological culture-based methods show that
Staphylococcus aureus
(SA) is the most frequently isolated bacteria from the DFU wounds. SA and its most clinically important antibiotic resistant variant methicillin-resistant
S. aureus
(MRSA) are commonly found in the nasal vestibule and colonization of SA as well as MRSA in any wound site can aggravate the condition. We hypothesize that the presence of nasal MRSA carriage can serve as a potential risk factor contributing to the emergence of antibiotic resistance in diabetic foot ulcer wounds.
Methods
In the present study, we have compared the carriage of SA and MRSA in nasal cavity and foot skin among DFU patients (D+F+,
n
= 50), diabetic patients without any ulcer (D+F-,
n
= 50), and healthy controls (D-F-,
n
= 40) by using bacterial culture and PCR based methods. The D+F+, D+F- and D-F-individuals were further categorized based on the presence or absence of MRSA and clinical parameters were compared between MRSA+ ve and MRSA-ve individuals in each of the three groups mentioned above.
Results
Our results show that, (a) nasal MRSA carriage is significantly higher (
p
< 0.05) in D+F+ group than the D+F- and D-F- and significantly associated with wound MRSA carriage in D+ F+ individuals (O.R. = 4.09; 95% C.I. = 1.12–15.05) and (b) the HbA1C level is significantly higher (
p
< 0.02) in wound MRSA positive, compared to MRSA negative D+F+ patients. Interestingly more than half of the MRSA (64%) isolated from DFU wound were identified to be multidrug resistant.
Conclusion
These findings strongly suggest that nasal MRSA carriage can act as a risk factor for development of antibiotic resistance in diabetic foot ulcers and it is therefore important to screen nasal and wound sites of these patients regularly. We have also developed a rapid multiplex PCR assay to detect MRSA from clinical isolates or microbial DNA isolated from clinical samples in the hospital settings.
Journal Article
Glutathione S-transferasesP1 AA (105Ile) allele increases oral cancer risk, interacts strongly with c-Jun Kinase and weakly detoxifies areca-nut metabolites
The Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) protects cellular DNA against oxidative damage. The role of GSTP1 polymorphism (A313G; Ile105Val) as a susceptibility factor in oral cancer was evaluated in a hospital-based case-control study in North-East India, because the habit of chewing raw areca-nut (RAN) with/without tobacco is common in this region. Genetic polymorphism was investigated by genotyping 445 cases and 444 controls. Individuals with the GSTP1 AA-genotype showed association with the oral cancer (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 2.4–4.2, p = 0.0002). Even after adjusting for age, sex and habit the AA-genotype is found to be significantly associated with oral cancer (OR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.7–3.2, p = 0.0001). A protein-protein docking analysis demonstrated that in the GG-genotype the binding geometry between c-Jun Kinase and GSTP1 was disrupted. It was validated by immunohistochemistry in human samples, showing lower c-Jun-phosphorylation and down-regulation of pro-apoptotic genes in normal oral epithelial cells with the AA-genotype.
In silico
docking revealed that AA-genotype weakly detoxifies the RAN/tobacco metabolites. In addition, experiments revealed a higher level of 8-Oxo-2′-deoxyguanosine induction in tumor samples with the AA-genotype. Thus, habit of using RAN/tobacco and GSTP1 AA-genotype together play a significant role in predisposition to oral cancer risk by showing higher DNA-lesions and lower c-Jun phosphorylation that may inhibit apoptosis.
Journal Article
Dysbiotic Lesional Microbiome With Filaggrin Missense Variants Associate With Atopic Dermatitis in India
Atopic Dermatitis (AD) has been associated with the loss of function (LoF) mutations in Filaggrin (
) gene and increase in relative abundance of specific microbes in the lesional skin, predominantly in Caucasians. Our study aims to determine, in Indian AD patients, (a) the prevalence of
LoF and missense mutations, and (b) the nature and extent of dysbiosis and altered microbial pathways with and without mutations in
. AD patients (
= 34) and healthy controls (
= 54) were recruited from India in this study and shotgun sequencing was carried out in a subset of samples with adequate microbiome DNA concentration. Host DNA from the same subset of samples was subjected to
coding region sequencing and host-microbiome association was estimated.
The prevalence of
LoFs that are associated with AD globally were significantly lesser in our cases and controls (8.6%, 0%) than those reported in Europeans (27%, 2.6%).
was present only on AD skin [abundance in Pediatric AD: 32.86%; Adult AD: 22.17%], but not on healthy skin on which
(Adult controls: 16.43%, Adult AD: 0.20%;
= 0.002),
s (Adult controls:10.84%, Adult AD: 0.90%;
= 0.02), and
(Adult controls: 8.89%, Adult AD: 0.005%;
= 0.001) were significantly more abundant. Microbial pathways mostly associated with skin barrier permeability, ammonia production and inflammation (Arginine and Proline metabolism, Histidine Metabolism and
infection) were significantly enriched on AD skin metagenome. These pathways are also reported to impair antimicrobial peptide activity. Among AD patients with missense single nucleotide polymorphisms harboring \"potentially damaging\" alleles in
gene, damaging allele dosage was significantly (
< 0.02) positively correlated with relative abundance of phylum_Proteobacteria up to order_
and negatively correlated with phylum_
up to species_
.
Our study has provided evidence that host DNA profile is significantly associated with microbiome composition in the development of AD. Species and strain level analysis showed that the microbial pathways enriched in AD cases were mostly found in MRSA strains. These evidences can be harnessed to control AD by modulating the microbiome using a personalized strategy. Our findings on the association of
genotypes with the microbiome dysbiosis may pave the way for a personalized strategy to provide a more effective control of AD.
Journal Article
Cellular interplay to 3D in vitro microphysiological disease model: cell patterning microbiota–gut–brain axis
The microbiota–gut–brain axis (MGBA) has emerged as a key prospect in the bidirectional communication between two major organ systems: the brain and the gut. Homeostasis between the two organ systems allows the body to function without disease, whereas dysbiosis has long-standing evidence of etiopathological conditions. The most common communication paths are the microbial release of metabolites, soluble neurotransmitters, and immune cells. However, each pathway is intertwined with a complex one. With the emergence of in vitro models and the popularity of three-dimensional (3D) cultures and Transwells, engineering has become easier for the scientific understanding of neurodegenerative diseases. This paper briefly retraces the possible communication pathways between the gut microbiome and the brain. It further elaborates on three major diseases: autism spectrum disorder, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease, which are prevalent in children and the elderly. These diseases also decrease patients’ quality of life. Hence, understanding them more deeply with respect to current advances in in vitro modeling is crucial for understanding the diseases. Remodeling of MGBA in the laboratory uses many molecular technologies and biomaterial advances. Spheroids and organoids provide a more realistic picture of the cell and tissue structure than monolayers. Combining them with the Transwell system offers the advantage of compartmentalizing the two systems (apical and basal) while allowing physical and chemical cues between them. Cutting-edge technologies, such as bioprinting and microfluidic chips, might be the future of in vitro modeling, as they provide dynamicity.
Graphic abstract
Journal Article