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Introduction: The Occupational Self-Assessment-Short Form (OSA-SF) is a client-centered instrument designed to assess goal setting and intervention planning for adults with a client-centered approach. This study aimed to assess the psychometric properties of the Bengali-translated Occupational Self-Assessment-Short Form (BOSA-SF), which could enable occupational therapists to evaluate the occupational competence and value of Bengali adults. Method: A total of 170 adult participants participated in the study after the translation phase. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis. Results: Among the 12 items, 11 on the competence scale and all 12 on the value scale were unidimensional and demonstrated local independence. The 11 competence items and 12 value items were fitted to the Rasch model, demonstrating good validity and reliability. Conclusion: The 11-item BOSA-SF demonstrates to be a valid and reliable tool for use in client-centered goal setting and intervention planning for Bengali adults. Nonetheless, further research is warranted to conduct more comprehensive analyses that thoroughly assess the functions of the BOSA-SF in various contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Connected speech analysis has been effectively utilized for the diagnosis and disease monitoring of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Existing research has been conducted mostly in monolingual English speakers with a noticeable lack of evidence from bilinguals and non-English speakers, particularly in non-European languages. Using a case study approach, we characterized connected speech profiles of two Bengali–English bilingual speakers with AD to determine the universal features of language impairments in both languages, identify language-specific differences between the languages, and explore language impairment characteristics of the participants with AD in relation to their bilingual language experience. Method: Participants included two Bengali–English bilingual speakers with AD and a group of age-, gender-, education-, and language-matched neurologically healthy controls. Connected speech samples were collected in first language (L1; Bengali) and second language (L2; English) using a novel storytelling task (i.e., Frog, Where Are You?). These samples were analyzed using an augmented quantitative production analysis and correct information unit analyses for productivity, fluency, syntactic and morphosyntactic features, and lexical and semantic characteristics. Results: Irrespective of the language, AD impacted speech productivity (speech rate and fluency) and semantic characteristics in both languages. Unique language-specific differences were noted on syntactic measures (reduced sentence length in Bengali), lexical distribution (fewer pronouns and absence of reduplication in Bengali), and inflectional properties (no difficulties with noun or verb inflections in Bengali). Among the two participants with AD, the individual who showed lower proficiency and usage in L2 (English) demonstrated reduced syntactic complexity and morphosyntactic richness in English. Conclusions: Evidence from these case studies suggests that language impairment features in AD are not universal across languages, particularly in comparison to impairments typically associated with language breakdowns in English. This study underscores the importance of establishing connected speech profiles in AD for non–English-speaking populations, especially for structurally different languages. This would in turn lead to the development of language-specific markers that can facilitate early detection of language deterioration and aid in improving diagnosis of AD in individuals belonging to underserved linguistically diverse populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the historical neglect and invisibility of Bengali Muslims in Bengal's cultural space dominated by Brahmanical narratives, tracing their marginalized status from the colonial period. Topics include the impact of colonial history, religious complexities, and the exclusion of English-educated middle-class Bengali Muslims in the public sphere, reflecting in their cultural production and representation.

Background: Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) has been used to assess working efficiency of an individual. The self-reporting MEQ is available in English language, and its applicability to Indian scenario is limited to educated/ English proficient individuals only. Since, majority in India still depend on the regional languages for communication, it is difficult to make live translation of the questionnaire while administration and results may also vary due to tester's language proficiency. The present study focused on adapting MEQ in Bengali language. Method: The English version of Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) was a self-assessment questionnaire consisting of 19 questions to measure whether a person's peak alertness was in the morning, evening or in between. The translation of the questionnaire was done using forward-backward-translation method by six experts in Bengali language, and was content validated by thirty native Bengali speakers. The speakers were asked to rate the questions on a 5-point rating scale with 1 being very familiar and 5 being not at all familiar. All the questions rated as 1 or 2 were considered for the Bengali version of MEQ, while those rated as 3 or above were reframed and revalidated. Result: The Bengali version of the MEQ has good reliability (Cronbach's alpha 0.74). Item analysis revealed it as a good consistent scale for estimating the circadian type of the participants. Participants were classified into 5 Circadian types based on the cut-off scores. Majority of participants are intermediate type, followed by Morningness. Conclusion: The application of MEQ will help in management of tinnitus [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces a changing geo-politics brought about by the forces of Western colonisation. It maps the intellectual pathways two Bengalis – Raja Rammohun Roy and Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar – chalked out in their negotiations with real and mythical spaces of the East and the West. The fashioning of their own self-identities then becomes a part of this process. The evolution of Roy's analytical frame, and Vidyasagar's literary frame for examining and romancing the West is laid out, after the historical context is explained. Roy's reflexive engagement with the Occident was to travel and see for himself this land of fantasy (which remained an elite practice and which Roy sets in motion). Ishwarchandra's literary frame of translation formed a deep pool of imagination within indigenous minds – an internalised geographical space which did not need a validity check – therefore representing a deeper colonial penetration of the Bengali/Indian imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the Bengali film "Saptapadi" directed by Ajoy Kar. It examines the portrayal of interactions among Indians, British, and Anglo-Indians in public spaces, where racial dynamics are visually represented. It illustrates the film's engagement with public spaces creates a moral discourse on love and family in the context of a modern city.

The article explores the story of the Bengali rock band Moheener Ghoraguli, focusing on its inception in the 1970s and its resurgence in the 1990s. It states that the band's early attempt to combine Western rock music with Bengali culture faced a lack of audience acceptance, leading to their disbandment. It examines the reasons for their popularity resurgence, considering the audience's evolving musical taste and also delves into the concept of nostalgia in the context of the band's revival.

Suchitra Bhattacharya (1950-2015) was a wellknown fiction writer in Bengali language in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Her works reflect the problems and pains, happiness and sorrows, sentiments and beliefs of urban middle-class women. This essay endeavours to portray the issues women face in their day to day lives in the urban middle class setting of Bengali society of late 20th and early 21st centuries as captured by Suchitra Bhattacharya in her fictions. The paper ends with the author's own critique of relevant issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies on intimate partner violence (IPV) against women in Bangladesh rarely focused on the effectiveness of primary prevention strategies like legal remedies. There is also a lack of studies on the issues among the ethnic minority communities in the country. This study examines the awareness of laws on IPV (such as recognizing the abusive acts and knowing the sanctions) among the ethnic Garo and Santal and mainstream Bengali communities in rural Bangladesh. The study randomly included 1929 married women and men from 24 villages. It appeared that the respondents were not adequately aware of the relevant legal provisions. There were also gender and ethnic differences in the issues. On average, the respondents maintained a low score on recognizing abusive acts. The awareness was further lower among the women compared to the men. In addition, multivariate analysis indicated that the Bengali women had relatively a better understanding of the issues than the Garo and Santal women. However, the Garo men showed poorer awareness of recognizing the abusive acts than the Bengali and Santal men. On the other hand, the respondents also maintained a very insufficient knowledge of the sanctions against such abusive acts, whereas women also showed a lower awareness compared to their male counterparts. Data further revealed that the Santal women had a more inadequate understanding of the issues than the Bengali and Garo women. However, the Garo men had more awareness of the sanctions than the Bengali and Santal men. The study reveals that people are unfamiliar with the laws governing IPV. It shows that understanding legal issues is another field of gender and ethnic inequality in the country. We suggest that there should be intervention to make aware the citizen, mainly women of all ethnicities, to ensure the efficacy of the laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of the widows in Bengal and their contributions to the Bengali household has been well documented by researchers till date. The widows were confined mostly to the andarmahal and they were forced to follow a rigorous vegetarian diet with frequent fasting rituals. The prescribed diet was supposed to 'cool their ardour' and thus help maintain their chastity (Ranjan 2001, p. 4089). However, creative people as they were, their spirit could not be contained within the confines of the binding norms meant to oppress them. The Bengali kitchen has traditionally been an area where women of the household reign supreme. But, after these women were widowed, their powers over the kitchen were also curtailed. The widows are thereby made to face a gap due to the lack of kitchen duties, something they have done forever, and by taking away the right to eat the non-vegetarian dishes as well in the name of normative practices and widow's rites. These concepts posit an ontological dilemma that occurs in widows' lives. They, in turn, started creating magic with whatever vegetarian elements they are still entitled to and thus prepare enjoyable dishes that have indelibly contributed to Bengali cuisine. This paper shall trace the origins as well as display the contrapuntal nature of the vegetarian dishes which act as a locus of resistance for these widows during the colonial period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Nurture Early for Optimal Nutrition (NEON) study is a multiphase project that aims to optimize feeding, care and dental hygiene practices in South Asian children <2 years in East London, United Kingdom. The multiphase project uses a participatory learning and action (PLA) approach facilitated by a multilingual community facilitator. In this paper, we elaborate on the process and results of the Intervention Development Phase in the context of the wider NEON programme. Methods: Qualitative community‐based participatory intervention codevelopment and adaptation. Setting: Community centres in East London and online (Zoom) meetings and workshops. Participants: In total, 32 participants registered to participate in the Intervention Development Phase. Four Intervention Development workshops were held, attended by 25, 17, 20 and 20 participants, respectively. Results: Collaboratively, a culturally sensitive NEON intervention package was developed consisting of (1) PLA group facilitator manual, (2) picture cards detailing recommended and nonrecommended feeding, care and dental hygiene practices with facilitators/barriers to uptake as well as solutions to address these, (3) healthy infant cultural recipes, (4) participatory Community Asset Maps and (5) list of resources and services supporting infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices. Conclusion: The Intervention Development Phase of the NEON programme demonstrates the value of a collaborative approach between researchers, community facilitators and the target population when developing public health interventions. We recommend that interventions to promote infant feeding, care and dental hygiene practices should be codeveloped with communities. Recognizing and taking into account both social and cultural norms may be of particular value for infants from ethnically diverse communities to develop interventions that are both effective in and accepted by these communities. Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement: Considerable efforts were placed on Patient/Participant and Public Involvement and Engagement. Five community facilitators were identified, each of which represented one ethnic/language group: (i) Bangladeshi/Bengali and Sylheti, (ii) Pakistani/Urdu, (iii) Indian/Gujrati, (iv) Indian/Punjabi and (v) Sri Lankan/Tamil. The community facilitators were engaged in every step of the study, from the initial drafting of the protocol and study design to the Intervention Development and refinement of the NEON toolkit, as well as the publication and dissemination of the study findings. More specifically, their role in the Intervention Development Phase of the NEON programme was to: 1.Support the development of the study protocol, information sheets and ethics application.2.Ensure any documents intended for community members are clear, appropriate and sensitively worded.3.Develop strategies to troubleshoot any logistical challenges of project delivery, for example, recruitment shortfalls.4.Contribute to the writing of academic papers, in particular reviewing and revising drafts.5.Develop plain language summaries and assist in dissemination activities, for example, updates on relevant websites.6.Contribute to the development of the NEON intervention toolkit and recruitment of the community members.7.Attend and contribute to Intervention Development workshops, ensuring the participant's voices were the focus of the discussion and workshop outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the failure of early twentieth-century novelistic, autobiographical and periodical literature to acknowledge or celebrate the novelty and social significance of the commercialisation of Bengali food reflected the deeply rooted caste and class prejudices underlying the dietary choices and literary styles of the Bengali bhadralok (educated middle class). As late as the 1970s, eminent Bengali littérateurs lamented the non-availability of ready-to-eat Bengali food, notwithstanding the fact that a chain of new public eateries called Pice hotels had been serving home-style Bengali food since the 1920s. The gastronomic revolution ushered in by these eateries was more or less ignored in contemporary print literature, with the notable exception of Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay's celebrated novel, Adarsha Hindu Hotel, written in 1940. The failure of Bengali writers to acknowledge the pioneering role of Pice hotels in offering a socially inclusive dining experience in Bengal contrasted with their effusive celebration of the new culinary experiments that created a cosmopolitan eating culture of public dining in the colonial city of Calcutta at the turn of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diasporic Durga Puja festivals in contemporary Britain have emerged as focal points in the religious lives of Hindu Bengalis. However, the public health measures introduced because of the COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to host in-person indoor Durga Puja festivals in Britain in the autumn of 2020. In response, many UK-based Durga Puja organisers staged small-scale ritual worship of the goddess in private, and then livestreamed it to their members through social media. Based on participant observation of these festival livestreams and remote interviews with Durga Puja organisers from across Britain, in this article I demonstrate that far from being a rupture, these blended Durga Puja festivals mark a development in existing templates of mediatisation of religious practices and are part of the wider continuum of adaptations that characterise diasporic lived religion. I also reflect on how internal hierarchies within the diaspora played out vis-à-vis blended Pujas amidst the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this paper was to present the results of our study of the utility of bone mineral density (BMD) measurements at various segments of distal forearm in predicting central‐site osteoporosis and deteriorated trabecular microarchitecture. Methods: This was a cross‐sectional study and BMD at the femoral neck, lumbar spine, and distal forearm were assessed using the dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanner and bone microarchitecture at lumbar spine by trabecular bone score (TBS). The utility of forearm BMD in predicting osteoporosis as well as the deteriorated TBS was assessed by a receiver operating characteristic analysis. Results: A total of 352 postmenopausal women with mean (SD) age of 60.7 (6.8) years were included. The odds of having osteoporosis at femoral neck [odds ratio (OR) = 14.1, 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.8–25.2] and lumbar spine (OR = 7.5, 95% CI: 4.6–12.1) was highest with the mid‐distal radius. A derived T‐score cut off ≤ −1.6, −1.9, and −1.7 at any segment of the forearm was elucidated to predict osteoporosis at the central‐site, femoral neck, and lumbar spine, respectively, with sensitivity of 80%–88% and specificity of 60%–70%. The T‐scores at all three forearm segments ≤ −1.2 showed fair performance in predicting degraded trabecular microarchitecture. The T‐scores thus derived were further validated in cohort of 360 Bengali postmenopausal women. Conclusion: BMD assessment at the forearm may be utilized in prediction of trabecular microarchitecture and central site osteoporosis at the femoral neck and lumbar spine in postmenopausal women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2019, India made the unprecedented move of listing 1.9 million people in its northeast state of Assam as illegal migrants from Bangladesh in a new National Register of Citizens before passing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which overtly discriminates against the country's Muslim minority. Drawing from ethnographic fieldwork, this paper investigates the reality of precarious citizenship under India's increasingly anti-migrant regime, particularly for Bengali-speaking Muslims. Going beyond the predominant notion that illegal migrants acquire documentary citizenship through fraudulent means after crossing the porous border between India and Bangladesh, this essay reveals a reverse scenario: those living with citizenship rights and in a regular social world are subjected to the gradual process of detection, detention and 'deportability' in India. This paper employs the concept of precarious citizenship to unravel this complex and oscillating world of legality and illegality, citizenship and noncitizenship, and the predicaments of life as a Bengali-speaking Muslim in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bengali Dalit literature has been published for over a century but is yet to be appreciated by a larger mainstream readership. In this essay, I examine how the 'absence' of Bengali Dalit literature was constructed by several social, political and ideological factors that together obscured the cultural history of Bengali Dalits. Using literary texts—primarily autobiographies—written by Bengali Dalit authors as an entry point, this essay analyses the explicit and implicit mechanisms of Brahmanical oppression that have prevented Bengali Dalit writers from consolidating their distinct identity. Set against the critical debate regarding the subaltern's (in)ability to speak and/or be heard, this essay records Bengali Dalit literature's triumph over casteist endeavours to relegate it to the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on a key figure of Shakespearean performance in pre- and post-independence India: the Bengali stage and film actor, director, playwright, and theater activist Utpal Dutt (1929–1993). I trace Dutt's impact from his tours in the aftermath of independence with the Shakespeareana Company and his re-playing of Shakespeare in the Bengali Jatra tradition, through Rituparno Ghosh's 2007 The Last Lear. This focus on Dutt's influence is set against the backdrop of the politics of performing-adapting Shakespeare in Indian English accents, considering the accentual dialogized heteroglossia of Shakespearean performance in India after independence from British rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article attempts to question and counter the long-held Eurocentric perspective which claims that interest in children and their activities in Bengali-speaking society was predominantly engendered by contact with the West during the colonial era, particularly from the early nineteenth century. Using Maṅgala-kāvya poems, composed between the early fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as a valuable repository of folkloric ideas, this article analyses how Bengali folk tradition exalted both children and their play long before the establishment of colonial rule. It argues that the folk poets of Maṅgala-kāvyas did not simply celebrate play as an innocent exercise of children, but showed a strong inclination to divide the world of childhood play in accordance with the gender- and caste-based arrangements of traditional Bengali society. Their depictions of play thus reflect both notions of idealized childhood and dominant values about gender and caste—a folkloric enterprise that served as an effective vehicle of cultural transmission in pre-colonial Bengal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the bhadralok in the nineteenth century, typified by 'genteel' qualities and Western education, reflected changes in the nature of Bengali identity and subjectivity. The colonial experience resulted in an anxiety among elite Bengalis to define a social class for themselves that would delineate their gentility and shape a new code of 'acceptability'. The 'Babu' came to be associated with this new class of Bengalis eager to adopt Western manners and learning who formed the greater part of the white-collar workers required in the cosmopolitan enclave of Calcutta. They were satirised, particularly in colonial discourse, for their imitation of English manners, attire and language. This article explores the shifting markers of gentility and the satiric representation of the Bengali Babu (and his Bibi) in the British satirical magazine, Punch, and its contemporary vernacular counterparts in colonial Bengal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physician-patient communication behavior (PPCB) is the primary process by which medical decision-making occurs and health outcome depends. Physician-patient communication differences may partly from the ethnic disparities. To examine this problem, this study aims to explore whether physician-patient communication differs by ethnicity during primary care medical consultations. Methods: The study was conducted among the Bengali and ethnic minority patients (N = 850) who visited a physician for medical consultations. Data were collected using a structured post-consultation questionnaire. T-test was conducted to compare the communication between the Bengali and ethnic minority patients. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with favorable communication behavior from the physicians. Results: Bengali patients received more supportive communication behaviors from the Bengali doctors than that of ethnic minority patients including physicians' cheerful greetings, encouraging patients to express health problems and asking questions, listening carefully, responding to questions and concerns, explaining to patients about medical examination procedures, medication, probable side effects, discussing treatment options, involved the patients in decisions, and spending adequate time. Results of linear regression showed that respondents' level of education, internet use, knowledge about the health issue, having a pre-organized plan about the content of medical consultation, information seeking about the health problem, visiting female doctors, and a quiet ambience of the doctor's room are significantly associated with a better PPCB score for the Bengali patients. In contrast, age, being the resident of an urban area, perception of affecting a minor health problem, having a pre-organized plan about the content of medical consultation, patients' involvement in physicians' decision-making about the treatment, and talking time resulted in better physician-patient communication for the ethnic minority patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that reducing disparity in the socio-economic status of the ethnic minority groups through development programs and educating healthcare providers on how to use patient-centered communication skills to engage with their patients is one solution to improve equity in the delivery of healthcare and ensure than patients are receiving high-quality treatment, no matter their race or ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social cognition deficits are common in clinical populations but there is a dearth of standardized social cognition assessment tools in India. Theory of mind (ToM) is an important aspect of social cognition which is often assessed with the revised reading the mind in eyes test (RMET-R). However, we do not have a statistically validated version of the test for the Indian population. Aim: This study aims to assess the acceptability, reliability, and validity of the Bengali version of the RMET-R. Materials and Methods: We administered the RMET-R to 23 patients with chronic schizophrenia (SCZ), 22 patients with bipolar disorder, and 104 healthy controls (HCs) to evaluate the reliability and validity of the instrument in the Indian (Bengali) population. Results: We obtained moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.6) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.64, P < 0.001). Positive correlations were found between RMET-R and Wechsler picture arrangement (r = 0.60, P < 0.001), picture completion (r = 0.54, P < 0.001), and comprehension subtests (r = 0.48, P < 0.001). Patients with SCZ (M = 49.7, standard deviation [SD] = 16.5) scored significantly lower than HCs (M = 68.9, SD = 13.8) (P = 0.008; Cohen's d = 1.3) on the RMET-R. Thus this tool could discriminate patients who are reported to have Theory of Mind deficits from healthy controls. Conclusion: The Bengali version of the RMET-R is a reliable and valid tool for assessing first-order ToM insofar as the original RMET-R measures this construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the meanings of money in the lives of two very different people from Kolkata. Mr Mukharji, a 60 year-old Bengali man, was a branch manager of a state bank who devoted his life to Tantrik Yoga. Mr. Kathotia, a Marwari man, was a wholesale paper dealer, with an interest in stamp and coin collecting. After first developing a theoretical framework on the sociology of money, the authors go on to describe their encounters with these two people, their different ethnic belongings, their social and working lives and what matters to them in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses contemporary Indian novelist Kunal Basu's novel Kalkatta (2015), and seeks to understand the dynamic interrelation between city space and human beings in Calcutta in particular and in India in general. It explores the marginalisation and concomitant exclusion of non-Bengali people in the city under the ethnic domination of Bengali people and culture. A psychogeographical reading of the text suggests that the non-Bengali as well as the have-nots or urban poor in Calcutta suffer from discrimination due to an unequal distribution of resources. The setting of Basu's novel is Calcutta's Zakaria Street where cars fail to enter, young boys are trapped into gangs, girls fear slipping into prostitution, and mothers' dreams fade into harsh reality. Through investigating the lives of the marginalised in Zakaria Street as depicted in Kalkatta, this article critiques the corollary adverse impacts of unbridled urbanisation, whimsical capitalism, and the hierarchical power structure on the city's non-Bengali community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Studies from the different ethnic regions of the world have reported variable results on association of APOE gene polymorphism in stroke. Aim: The aim of this study is to find out the possible association of APOE polymorphism in stroke patients in ethnic Bengali population. Settings and Design: A prospective case–control study was undertaken in the Department of Neurology, Burdwan Medical College, Burdwan, West Bengal, India, over a period of 3 years. Methods: We collected 10 ml venous blood samples from 148 clinically and radiologically diagnosed acute stroke patients (80 of ischemic stroke and 68 of intracerebral hemorrhage) and consecutive 108 ethnic age- and sex-matched controls, in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid vials after informed written consent. Genomic DNA was prepared at S.N. Pradhan Centre of Neurosciences, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India. Exotic single-nucleotide polymorphisms (rs429358, rs 7412) were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism for genotype of APOE. Results: The frequencies of different APOE allele among 80 ischemic stroke patients were 5.6% (n = 9) for E2, 75.68% (n = 121) for E3, and 18.7% (n = 30) for E4. The E3 allele is significantly over-represented (P = 0.004) in controls compared to the patients (88% in controls vs 75.6% ischemic stroke patients and 80% hemorrhagic patients). A significantly high frequency of APOE4 allele was observed in ischemic (18.7%) and hemorrhagic patients (11%) compared to controls (8%). The E4 allele plays a major risk for developing ischemic stroke [odds ratio (OR) = 2.744; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.43–5.10] and E3 plays a protective role for hemorrhagic stroke (OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.29–0.96), while E4 allele plays a nonsignificant (P = 0.31) increase in trend in hemorrhage stroke (OR = 1.4). Conclusions: There is significant association of APOE gene polymorphism in stroke patients of ethnic Bengali population. The E4 allele increases significant risk for development of ischemic strokes, and it also plays nonsignificant increase in trend in hemorrhagic strokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper by no means presumes to provide a comprehensive analysis of the genesis and ramifications of Bengali travel consciousness either in thematic or chronological terms. It only seeks to highlight certain key aspects of Bengali 'secular travel' culture as it germinated in the colonial period. The term Bengali specifically implies the world of Hindu bhadralok and bhadramahila from where emerged the earliest writers of 'secular' travel accounts. This is of particular interest because travel, apart from pilgrimage, had no sanction within the traditional Brahamanical orthodoxy. The same cannot be said of the Islamic paedia, which was favourably inclined towards travel. Yet in the colonial period Bengali Muslims did not, in general, produce travel narratives of the 'secular modern' variety. One outstanding exception will be considered in this article. Travel among Bengalis took different forms. While there grew a tradition of travel within the country and producing books on them from the early eighteenth century, books on journeys to Europe and different eastern countries received the attention of publishers towards the end of nineteenth and early twentieth century. All these narratives are replete with binaries, such as we/they, home/ world and similar other usual tropes of articulation of 'Self' and the 'Other'. The essay will end with a brief discussion of Deshe Bideshe (account of Kabul from 1927 to early 1929) by Syed Mujtaba Ali, which was quite exceptional in terms of both content and mode of 'telling'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's travel writing in Bengal proliferated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century through the popular form of serialized publications in journals such as Bharati (1877), Dasi (1892), Prabasi (1901), among others. However, to perceive this rich output of travel literature as a single, homogenous genre would be fallacious. Travel writing in this time undergoes several generic modifications as it journeys through the turn of the century. Through my paper I would like to trace these shifts within Bengali women's travel narrative using the stretch of aryavarta as the anchoring landscape. From Prasannamae Debi in 1888 to Nanibala Ghosh in 1933, these travellers from Bengal travel to the north and north-west regions of India, mapping the same landscape but within diverse narrative frameworks, and in so doing, dramatically (and one could argue deliberately) alter the land they wish to represent. Their subjective position as women writers further inform and complicate their work, as do the contemporary political framework of the time they respectively inhabit. What the reader is left with can conservatively be termed travel writing, but can equally and with ease inhabit the roles of memoir, political writing, ethnographical study, among others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The pattern of post-stroke aphasia in speakers of Bengali language has not previously been reported in the literature. Furthermore, the inter-relationship between age, gender, and level of education and aphasia typology has remained unsettled thus far. Aims: To investigate the incidence and type of aphasia in first-ever acute stroke patients who were speakers of Bengali language. Methods & Procedures: Bengali version of Western Aphasia Battery was used for language assessment in our study participants. Lesion localization was done by using magnetic resonance imaging(3T) for ischemic stroke (if not contraindicated) and computed tomography for hemorrhagic stroke. Among 515 screened cases of first-ever acute stroke, 208 presented with aphasia. Language assessment was done between 7 and 14 days in all study participants. Outcomes & Results: The incidence of post-stroke aphasia in our sample was found at 40.39%. Types of aphasia were – Broca's (38.5%) followed by global (27.9%); Wernicke's (12.5%); transcortical motor (9.6%); anomic (4.3%); transcortical sensory (3.8%); isolation (1.9%); and conduction (1.4%). Mean number of years of formal education was significantly higher in fluent aphasia group in comparison with non-fluent group (10.51 years versus 7.01 years, p = 0.003). In logistic regression analysis, location of lesion (posterior perisylvian) (p = 0.007, OR = 5.406, 95% CI, 1.602–18.240) and education (p = 0.044, OR = 1.097, 95% CI, 1.003–1.199) were two independent predictors favoring fluent aphasia. Conclusions: Aphasia among post-stroke Bengali patients is quite frequent. The commonest type of aphasia in our sample was Broca's aphasia. Bengali-speaking people with higher education were more likely to present fluent aphasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Names are a part of every culture. Not only are they of enormous importance to the giver and the receiver, but also act as signs. In recent times, the personal names of the Hindu-Bengali community of Kolkata have witnessed noticeable change. The contemporary personal names reflect Kolkata's transition from a traditional city of pre-colonial era to a contemporary post-modern place. Many of the personal names also give information about the influence of mass media in eroding the boundaries between the ethnic and the globalized cosmopolitan identity. Using a postmodern theoretical analysis of the data collected from four schools of Kolkata, this paper analyses the media-influenced hyperreal scenario within which patterns of names are going through constant mutation. The findings of this research provide insights into the connection of the hyperreal stage and the contemporary nomenclature system where the personal name acts as a floating signifier without any definite signified. Names will then reflect a psychosocial desire and the multiplicities and complexities involved therein which is different from the comparatively stable naming pattern of earlier times. The findings of this paper also put forth the contestation between ethnicity and cosmopolitanism as portrayed in the changing naming pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study attempts to analyse the permissible syllable structures and the aspiration and voicing of word-initial and word-final segments in the syllable structure of Bangla. A corpus study leads to a detailed analysis of Bangla syllable structure restrictions, relative to the three traditional strata of the Bangla lexicon, namely, Native Bangla (NB, Tadbhava), Sanskrit borrowings (SB, Tatsama and Ardha-Tatsama), and other borrowings (OB, Deshi and Bideshi), following Ito and Mester's work on the Japanese lexicon. Complex codas are allowed only in OB. Complex onsets are ruled out in NB while they have the maximal form s+C+liquid in SB and OB. There is no onset maximisation: Medial clusters in all strata avoid complex onsets if a consonant can be syllabified into the preceding coda (Vp.lV rather than V.plV). Aspiration is banned from the coda in NB but not generally in SB and OB, where restrictions that are more complex obtain. Obstruent voicing contrasts are present in onset and coda, but voicing agreement is enforced in obstruent clusters. Analyses of these restrictions are presented in Optimality Theory: the different strata of the lexicon may have different phonologies, i. e. different constraint ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A dedicated home birth team was established at a large teaching hospital in a deprived inner London borough. Aim: To increase the home birth rate in Tower Hamlets and offer continuity of carer to women opting for home birth. Methods: Data were collected on all 90 women receiving care by the team. Data, including demographics, care episodes and maternal and neonatal outcomes, were recorded and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2010. Findings: With a dedicated home birth team, the home birth rate in Tower Hamlets increased by 68% compared to the previous year, while still remaining a small proportion of all births in the borough. The overall transfer rate was 32.6%, in line with national figures. Outcomes for both mothers and babies were very good, with 89% of women who started their labour at home achieving a normal vaginal birth. Feedback was exceptionally positive, with 100% of women who provided feedback recommending the service. The women being referred and choosing homebirth were not demographically representative of the population of the borough. Conclusions: The provision of a dedicated homebirth team in Tower Hamlets has been a positive addition to the area's existing maternity services. More needs to be done to improve the visibility of the team in order to secure more referrals and increase the homebirth rate, especially among the Bengali and other ethnic minority populations, to enable equitable access to homebirth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We describe differences in linear growth as measured by height-for-age z-score (HAZ) between children from Bengali and tribal populations in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh and examine factors associated with HAZ in both groups. Design: We used nutritional surveillance data collected in Bangladesh from 2003 to 2006 to analyze HAZ among 12,006 children aged 6–23 months and conducted multivariate linear regression and Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to quantify the relative contribution of independent variables to differences in HAZ between Bengali and tribal children. Results: Mean HAZ was stable for Bengali children (−1.88 in 2003 to −1.90 in 2006) but improved for tribal children (−1.87 in 2003 to −1.68 in 2006). The difference between groups was significant across the study period (p = 0.008). Among Bengali children, HAZ was positively associated with father's schooling (β = 0.221; 95% CI: 0.079–0.363). Among tribal children, HAZ was positively associated with consumption of animal source foods (β = 0.073; 95% CI: 0.051–0.096) and goat ownership (β = 0.240; 95% CI: 0.025–0.454). Results of a likelihood ratio test indicated that distance to a health center was inversely associated with HAZ among tribal children (p < 0.001). Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition demonstrated a difference in pooled coefficients between groups (p = 0.004), explained primarily by differences in coefficients for paternal education (p = 0.001) and village-level prevalence of open defecation (p = 0.004). Conclusions: Different responses among Bengali and tribal children to village-level open defecation are an explanatory factor for the difference in HAZ between Bengali and tribal populations. Open defecation may also act a proxy for unmeasured factors such as household environmental conditions and food hygiene. Abbreviations: Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT); height-for-age z-scores (HAZ); Nutrition Surveillance Project (NSP); World Health Organization (WHO) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay traces the problem of world literature in key writings by the Egyptian scientist and littérateur Aḥmad Zakī Abū Shādī. Abū Shādī's early nod to world literature (1908–1909) intimates the challenge of making literary particularity heard in the homogenizing harmonies of a world dominated by English. That problem persists in his account of a 1926 meeting with the Bengali polymath Rabindranath Tagore and in an essay of 1928 inspired by that meeting: one of the first manifestos of al-adab al-ʿālamī (world literature) in Arabic, predating the 1936 appearance of al-adab al-muqāran (comparative literature). While Abū Shādī lauds Tagore's refusal to compare literatures East and West and insistence on the spiritual unity of all literatures, his struggles to articulate a world in which harmony is not an alibi for hierarchy suggest that neither comparative literature nor its would-be leveler – world literature – can shed the haunting specter of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jhumpa Lahiri is one of the most prominent contemporary authors of Indian origin writing in English. Her short stories and novels raise many important issues, such as the quest for self, the investigation of diasporic identities, the exploration of the everyday tensions and cultural conflicts of Bengali expatriates to the United States. Writing in the interstices of borders between languages, because of her multifaceted Bengali-American background, Lahiri's recent linguistic migration to the Italian language brings to the fore the link between language and self through literature. This article surveys the main manifestations of writing as self-quest in Lahiri's Italian production. To do so, it addresses the category of "self- begetting fiction" (Kellman 1976; 1980) as instrumental in foregrounding a shift towards a more abstract and yet autobiographic style. On the one hand, I argue that Lahiri's Italian writing assumes the shape of a "fragile shelter", despite her exposure to linguistic limitations. On the other, I argue that these limitations are still envisaged as a reparative strategy, evocative of Ricœur's narrative identity. In Lahiri's hands, the fiction of self-begetting becomes one of self-definition and rebirth, a Heideggerian invitation to 'dwelling in language' which eventually prevails over the aesthetics of dislocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become a theoretical truism that diaspora encompasses both mobility and settlement, change and continuity, roots and routes. Nevertheless, sociological accounts of diaspora identities have been largely focused on diaspora identities as part of a process of placemaking and claims-staking in the place of arrival. Such accounts have largely downplayed questions of origin, continuity and connection, and of the role of history and structure in shaping diasporic cultures 'on the ground'. Focusing on the annual Boishakhi Mela in East London, this article explores some of the tensions and ambiguities of diaspora spaces and cultural practices. It empirically examines the encounter between 'authentic' and 'commodified' cultures and the contested faultlines around gender, generation and religion that are played out in this public spectacle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses issues related to the economic and political condition of Bangladesh as of April 2019. Topics mentioned include the struggle by the Bengali and Muslim population of the Bengal Delta to survive and thrive, the chances of citizens of dying in a natural disaster or suffering from starvation, and progress toward gender parity in key education and employment indicators.

The paper investigates the status of Bangla adjectives in terms of its attributes or properties. Cross-linguistically adjectives show different morphological patterns as well as certain syntactic distribution. In Bangla, the word class adjective possesses several semantic types with idiosyncratic morphological structures; and it has attributive and/or predicative use. Many study concentrate on the morphological and syntactic classification of adjectives. But few of them highlight the classification from the semantic point of view. In the current paper I will present the framework of semantic categorization as proposed by Broekhuis (2013) and apply it in case of existing semantic types of adjectives in Bangla. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study aims to develop standardized videos of four basic emotional expressions - happy, sad, anger, fear. For this purpose, initially four expressions of two professional actors (one male and one female) were obtained. A pilot study was conducted on 21 participants, (mean age- 22.6 years; range 18- 27 years) both male and female University students, to select appropriateness of expressed emotions. In the next step the six professional actors (3 male and 3 female) were selected. Based on the performance evaluated through Automatic Facial Expression Recognition Software finally four videos from 2 male actors and four from 2 female actors for each of the four basic expressions were selected. These final sets of videos were rated by 1022 individuals, -male (mean age 25.46, SD 11.11) and -female (mean age 21.9, SD 8.55) participated in the study from different parts of Kolkata covering a large range of developmental age. Participants were instructed to identify and name the expressed emotion as well as rate the intensity of expressed emotion in a five point scale. The mean of the intensity of expression was compared with the computer generated judgment score. Videos for final set were selected on the basis of two criteria a) difference between human generated and computer generated score below 1.5. b) Percentage of recognition above 90%. This study is an attempt to develop a standardized test based on Bengali population in context to present society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the pan-Asianist predilections and anti-nationalist of Bengali writer Rabindranath Tagore and the transformation of Bengali towards a vernacular literature in China. Topics include the vernacular comparativism observed by Tagore during his visit in the country in 1924, his story about literature and language, and the categories he used in his 1917 essay.