Aphasia type and aging in Hindi-speaking stroke patients

In this study, the clinical profile of Hindi-speaking stroke patients with aphasia from northern India has been investigated. We examined the interactional effect between age and gender with aphasia type in 97 Hindi-speaking right-handed individuals, the majority of them with a confirmed diagnosis of a cerebrovascular accident. The subjects included in the study ranged from 3 weeks to two years post-onset with a diagnosis of a common classical aphasia (Broca's, Wernicke's, anomic, global, conduction, and transcortical) types involving both males and females. Also examined was the interaction between literacy and aphasia type since the subjects had varied exposures to education (total illiteracy to professional/university education). While the data reported here about Hindi-speaking aphasics are relatively in agreement with the age-aphasia type patterns discussed in western countries, nonetheless some differences were also observed. The mean age of Indian patients with aphasia was significantly lower. Also, in addition to some gender and literacy related differences, an outstanding difference was that many clinical symptoms that are known to co-occur with aphasia were not readily reported by subjects with stroke.     

Non-violence as a Shifting Signifier on the Tibetan Plateau

In nomadic areas, Tibetans are wearing a new amulet, called an ‘amulet for peace’, depicting a globe with a dove flying above it. The dove carries a bodhi leaf in its mouth and a gold peace sign in its claws, combining Buddhist and global symbols for peace. However, the amulet is not being marshalled for Gandhian-style non-violent resistance nor world peace for that matter, but rather for something more local. This local cause is a campaign to end fighting over the grasslands, a sustained social problem in nomadic areas of eastern Tibet. The amulet for peace is a recent innovation, launched in 2012 as part of an ethical reform movement spearheaded by Larung Buddhist Academy, the largest monastic institution on the Tibetan plateau. This article discusses the latest developments in this emerging movement and, specifically, the significance of the amulet for peace and the discourses in which it is embedded.