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A museum in the shape of a human face
It will give an overview of speech and hearing, and problems affecting communication
A museum in the shape of a human face is coming up at the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH) here.
Reckoned to be one of a kind, the museum has been proposed at a cost of ₹5.21 crore to spread awareness on vocal and auditory functions, besides pathological/ dysfunctional conditions, and preventive measures.
AIISH Director Dr. S.R. Savitri told The Hindu that the institute has got the status of Centre of Excellence (COE) from the Union government; and the museum will give an overview of speech and hearing, and the problems affecting communication.
It is also planned to introduce a section on the contribution of ancient India in the field of phonetics, linguistics etc., a note from the institute said.
The basement of the museum representing the neck of a human being will have three floors each with a mezzanine. The floor, walls, and ceiling will have interactive display systems.
The museum has been planned in such a way that visitors feel as if they are entering through the brain and coming out of the lungs, larynx and the oral tract, experiencing how speech is produced, and language is encoded and decoded.
Likewise, visitors will get the feeling of entering the ear system and getting into various parts of the human ear to reach the brain, in order to learn how one listens and understands. The floor of the museum will be fitted with sensors which will lead to the central nervous system through various cranial nerves. When one touches the sensor of a particular nerve end, the sensor will glow showing the path leading to the end of the nerve, the institute’s note said.
The ceiling will have an audio-visual display showing the functions of brain. There will also be posters or large screen projections that are colourful and informative, according to the institute.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Shankar Bennur / Mysuru – July 20th, 2018
Mridangist B.K. Chandramouli no more
His last rites are on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Harishchandraghat. Chandramouli is survived by his wife Jayanthi, son and daughter B.C. Harini.
Senior mridangist of Carnatic tradition B.K. Chandramouli, 70, died on Friday at his residence in Rajajinagar in Bengaluru.
He was suffering from liver cancer for the last few months, said his son and mridangist B.C. Manjunath.
Referred to as the “Hero of Laya” in Karnataka, a host of young percussionists trained by him recollected the master strokes the vidwan wielded. He was one of the rare left-handed mridangists whose diversity of tone and texture stood out even during larger tala-vadhya ensembles.
He was a child prodigy and his mother Rajamma Keshavamurthy initiated him into music as a toddler. By eight, Chandramouli had started to accompany well-known musicians. Even before his graduation he had his pakkavadhya for most of the leading musicians of the 1960s and 70s, including R.K. Sriantan and T.V. Shankaranarayanan. He was, for long, associated with the forming of the Karnataka Ganakala Parishath.
“My father was trained under veterans like Gopal Rao, Palghat Raghu and Ayyamani Iyer,” says Mr. Manjunath. “He always told me that even when his gurus came to know of his dominant left-hand, the three teachers never tried changing this. He moulded into his own style.”
He was one of the rare percussionists and Konakkol (verbal percussion) artists who had accompanied four different generations of artistes.
Chandramouli nephew and llautist Amith Nadig said that Chandramouli had not just travelled widely, but had trained nearly 500 percussionists. “His lec-dems were veritable classes that both the music lovers and the uninitiated looked forward to,” says Mr. Amith. He said that Chandramouli was a pioneer in Konakkol vocabulary and had researched into the 400-year-old art.
The mridanga vidwan was also known for his organisational capabilities especially as he was associated with the Tyagaraja Gana Sabha and the Malleswaram Sangeeta Sabha.
His last rites are on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Harishchandraghat. Chandramouli is survived by his wife Jayanthi, son and daughter B.C. Harini.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Entertainment> Music / by Ranjani Govind / Bengaluru – July 20th, 2018
IISc researchers find cholesterol helps bacterial toxins kill cells
Cholesterol stablises and binds the toxin protein to the cell membrane
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have found that cholesterol present in cell membrane plays a crucial role in stabilising and binding together the pore-forming toxin cytolysin A. The pore-forming toxins form the largest class of bacterial proteins causing virulence that kills human cells. The cytolysin A toxin is secreted by E. coli, Shigella and Salmonella.
The toxin secreted by E. coli bacteria is water-soluble and binds to the cell membrane. The binding of the water-soluble toxin to the cell membrane does not depend on cholesterol present in the membrane surface. In fact, the binding drops in cholesterol-containing membranes. “Binding is only a part of the pore forming process and cholesterol has no role to play,” says Dr. Rahul Roy from the Department of Chemical Engineering at IISc who led the team.
Toxin movements
Once the toxin gets bound to the cell membrane, it does not stay in one place. Instead, it keeps moving around the cell membrane surface. Using a powerful microscope that allows them to look at single molecules tagged with a fluorescent tag, the researchers could actually see the toxin proteins moving around.
Unlike the usually observed Brownian movement, these proteins tend to move around fast and then slow down before picking up speed and moving fast again. This happens even when no cholesterol is present. The structure capable of puncturing the cell membrane is supposed to slow down the protein movement. So this suggested that the structure of the bound protein is similar to the water-soluble protein and different from the structure that pierces the cell membrane.
Cholesterol interaction
In the presence of cholesterol, the protein stops moving quickly. “Using molecular dynamic simulations, we found cholesterol interacting with the protein just as we suspected. The interaction was with the region on the protein that is responsible for forming the pore,” says Dr. Roy.
Binding to cholesterol per se does not stop the motion of the protein. But on binding to cholesterol, the structure of the protein undergoes a change resulting in slowing down of the motion.
The change in the speed of motion happens even in the absence of cholesterol due to the change in structure of the protein. But in the absence of cholesterol, the protein is unable to maintain the structure required for pore formation.
“The structure of the toxin is stabilised in the presence of cholesterol and that is essential for pore formation,” says Pradeep Sathyanarayana from the Centre for BioSystems Science and Engineering at IISc and first author of a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “This is a clever strategy by the bacteria to use the toxin to specifically target only human/animal cells while the bacteria themselves are protected from the toxicity since cholesterol is absent in bacterial membranes.”
To be able to rupture the cell membrane, the proteins bound to cholesterol have to come together to form a ring-like structure comprising 12 molecules. The coming together of the molecules to form the ring-like structure is also enhanced in the presence of cholesterol.
“Computer simulations showed that when two pore-forming protein molecules come together there is a small pocket where the cholesterol goes and interacts with the proteins. So cholesterol provides additional support to hold the two molecules together,” says Dr. Roy.
Studies by other groups have shown that cancer cells in mice can be reduced dramatically by using cytolysin A toxin.
“Based on our study, we can work on making the toxin target only the cancer cells. We can also use cholesterol-like molecules to prevent the toxin protein from changing its structure thereby prevent cell destruction,” says Dr. Roy.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Science / by R. Prasad / July 21st, 2018
Sagar basks in Wimbledon glory
Is the first-ever Indian and Asian to officiate as chair umpire
Mysuru’s Sagar S. Kashyap, an AITA official, became the first-ever Indian and Asian to officiate as a chair umpire in Wimbledon — during the junior boys’ singles final between C. Tseng of Chinese Taipei and Great Britain’s J. Draper.
While checking his mails on Saturday, Sagar found a special one from the Chief of Umpires’ Office of Wimbledon. It said that he would be the chair umpire for the junior boys’ final on Sunday.
After dealing with the excitement, Sagar was lucky enough to get some sleep and then embark on probably the most important match of his career, yet. And this will remain in his memory forever.
Sagar, 31, did his Engineering from Vidya Vikas Engineering College, Mysuru, and played the game at the Mysore Tennis Club and Nagaraj’s Tennis Centre. He is a qualified ITF Badge referee and has officiated in all the Grand Slams.
In 2015, Abhishek Mukherjee and Sagar were the line umpires for the men’s final between Novak Djokovich and Roger Federer.
This was the first time that India had two officials during any final at the Wimbledon.
He is only the third and also the youngest Indian to be selected for a Wimbledon final.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Tennis / by C.K. Muralidharan / Mysuru – July 17th, 2018