A critical analysis of newspaper accounts of violence against doctors in India.

This paper presents a critical analysis of newspaper articles (N = 60) published in a leading vernacular newspaper about violence against doctors in India. Adopting a theoretical perspective that considers 'news as a cultural practice,' a qualitative content analysis was conducted to examine how the phenomenon is framed and presented in the news, i.e., what is problematized, what causal links are drawn or hinted at, what moral stance is taken or alluded to, and what solutions are proffered and why, to arrive at a nuanced understanding of various aspects of this social phenomenon. Three overlapping key themes emerged from the analysis, namely the narrative of victimization, the changing doctor-patient relationship, and the crisis facing the 'noble profession' of medicine. It reveals how the media shapes public opinion and attitudes towards the state of the medical profession while in turn, reflecting existing opinions, attitudes, and cultural values; the analysis also reveals missing perspectives such as the voices of the patients and the public. We highlight how the findings are not merely the dominant ways in which the rise in incidents of violence against doctors is reported and is understood in society, but how media might have shaped the popular discourse around the issue and why. We reflect on what the reportage says about the state of the medical profession and its standing in society in India.

Biophysical interactions of polyamidoamine dendrimer coordinated Fe3O4 nanoparticles with insulin.

Advanced delivery systems, such as nano/micro carriers have not been studied significantly for their molecular interactions with serum proteins and other biologically relevant macromolecules. Here, we investigated the effect of surface chemistry of iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles on molecular interactions with human insulin by fluorescence, XRD and FTIR spectroscopy. Nanoparticles of Fe3O4 were chemically modified as Fe3O4-glutathione (GSH) and Fe3O4-GSH-polyamidoamine generation 4 (PAMAM G4) dendrimer. Our results demonstrate that, Fe3O4 and its conjugates such as Fe3O4-GSH, Fe3O4-GSH-G4 quenched insulin fluorescence, indicating strong interactions between insulin protein molecule and Fe3O4. The fluorescence quenching constants Ksv were obtained as 0.0367 x 10(3), 0.0303 x 10(3) and 0.0131 x 10(3) M and the binding constant K were found to be 27.095, 8.404 and 6.026 mM for Fe3O4, Fe3O4-GSH and Fe3O4-GSH-PAMAM G4, respectively. Both the Ksv and K (binding constant) values revealed that the interaction of Fe3O4 with insulin to be stronger over to dendrimer conjugates. In addition, the FTIR spectra suggested that the presence of nanoparticles results in secondary structure alteration in the insulin conformation. The study implies the critical evaluation of new delivery systems in establishing the biocompatibility, especially when delivered by systemic route.