Fighting Against Heavy Odds: An Indian Perspective on Sports History

Abstract

It is difficult to ascertain whether the history of sport has crossed its adolescence in India or not. To establish its credibility as a viable academic discipline has proved something of a struggle for those Indian scholars engaged in its research in the past. In the light of my experiences of doing research and editing a journal on sports, and teaching the history of sport at the postgraduate level over the past two decades, I intend to argue that the challenges confronting sports history could be overcome only if the teaching of sports history in the Social Sciences goes hand in hand with serious research and publication.     

Crowns and crypts

Crowns and crypts constitute a very interesting and important class of complexing ligands. Besides many metal complexes, these ligands made possible the formation of a variety of unusual species among which ‘alkalides’ and ‘electrides’ require special mention. The crowns and crypts are widely studied due to their increasing use in various improbable chemical and physical processes. Further interest in these ligands lies in their use as biochemical models. A brief discussion on the crowns and crypts is presented here.     

Can India’s “literate” read?

This paper takes a close look at India’s literacy rate by exploring whether the officially “literate” can read and at what level. In a large sample, aged 7+, drawn from four Hindi-speaking states, two methods were used to measure literacy. One was the standard Census Method (CM) which relies on self-reporting and the other was a Reading Method (RM) which required the same individuals to actually read a simple text at grade 2 level. The findings revealed a substantial difference between the reading literacy rates obtained by CM and RM. CM over-reported RM by 16%. The overestimation was higher for males. Decoding skills were found to erode in most cases after completion of primary schooling, assuming no further education. A minimum grade 8–9 education was required for decoding skills to not deteriorate after schooling.     

PAI-1 Study in Thalassemia Major Patients Receiving Multiple Blood Transfusion

Thalassemia is a congenital hemolytic disease which is treated by repeated blood transfusion. Chronic iron overload is currently considered to be the primary cause of mortality in β-thalassemia, mainly due to the induction of left-sided cardiac failure. Iron overload results from a number of mechanisms associated with the disease itself. In addition to chronic iron overload thalassemic patients are more prone for procoagulant status which in turn lead to clinical thrombotic events. The hypercoagulable state in thalassemia is due to multiple elements, a combination of which is often the drive behind a clinical thromboembolic events. PAI-1 study was done in thalassemia major patients receiving multiple blood transfusion as a marker for procoagulant status. Total of 30 thalassemic patients on repeated blood transfusion was included in the study and total of 30 healthy age and sex matched controls were included in the study. It was also found that there was significant differences between cases and controls. The mean level of PAI 1 in controls was 3047 ± 414 pg/ml, the value in cases was 3683 ± 358 pg/ml. The level was significantly increased (p < 0.05) in the cases compared to controls. PAI-1 levels were also compared with the total number of blood transfusion which correlates well.     

Antioxidant activity of ethanol extract of rhizome ofPicrorhiza kurroa on indomethacin induced gastric ulcer during healing

Oral administration of ethanol extract of the rhizome ofPirorhiza kurroa at a dose of 20mg/kg body weight, for 10 consecutive days, was found to enhance the rate of healing on Indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in rats, compared to the ulcerated group without treatment. The level of peroxidised lipid, in terms of thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS), in gastric tissue, was increased in ulcerated rats which was restored to near normalcy on treatment with ethanol extract. The specific activity ofin vivo antioxidant enzymes, viz SOD and catalase and total tissue sulfhydryl (thiol) group, which were markedly decreased in ulcerated group, were found to be significantly elevated (p<0.05), on treatment with the above extract, at the specified dose, compared to the indomethacin—induced ulcerated group without any supporting treatment. The present study thus suggests that the ethanol extract of rhizome ofPicrorhiza kurroa, at the dose of 20mg/kg body weight, accelerated the healing of stomach wall of indomethacin induced gastric ulcerated rats by anin vivo free radical scavenging action.