Understanding the Persistence of Caste: A Commentary on Cotterill, Sidanius, Bhardwaj and Kumar (2014)

We contextualise Cotterill, Sidanius, Bhardwaj, and Kumar’s (2014) paper within a broader literature on caste and collective mobilisation. Cotterill and colleagues’ paper represents a fresh and timely attempt to make sense of the persistence of caste from the perspective of Social Dominance Theory. Cotterill and colleagues, however, do not examine caste differences in the endorsement of karma, and take behavioural asymmetry among lower castes for granted. Cotterill and colleagues also adhere to a Varna model of the caste system that arguably is simplistic and benefits the upper castes of Indian society. We caution that emphasising behavioural asymmetry and endorsing the Varna model might further stigmatise lower castes, especially Dalits, and feed into a conformity bias already predominant in caste-related psychological research. We argue that the conceptualisation and operationalisation of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation and legitimising myths in the Indian context needs to take into account the particular meaning and functions of these constructs in specific intergroup contexts, and for identity positions salient within these contexts. We contend that any examination aimed at better understanding the nature of social hierarchy and oppression within the caste system and Indian society in general remains inconclusive without including a focus on the construction and contestation of social categories and social identities

Proteomic Analysis of the Human Anterior Pituitary Gland.

Final publication is available from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers https://doi.org/10.1089/omi.2018.0160The pituitary function is regulated by a complex system involving the hypothalamus and biological networks within the pituitary. Although the hormones secreted from the pituitary have been well studied, comprehensive analyses of the pituitary proteome are limited. Pituitary proteomics is a field of postgenomic research that is crucial to understand human health and pituitary diseases. In this context, we report here a systematic proteomic profiling of human anterior pituitary gland (adenohypophysis) using high-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry. A total of 2164 proteins were identified in this study, of which 105 proteins were identified for the first time compared with high-throughput proteomic-based studies from human pituitary glands. In addition, we identified 480 proteins with secretory potential and 187 N-terminally acetylated proteins. These are the first region-specific data that could serve as a vital resource for further investigations on the physiological role of the human anterior pituitary glands and the proteins secreted by them. We anticipate that the identification of previously unknown proteins in the present study will accelerate biomedical research to decipher their role in functioning of the human anterior pituitary gland and associated human diseases.The study was supported by a research grant “DBT Programme Support on Neuroproteomics of Neurological Disorders” to IOB and NIMHANS by DBT, Government of India (BT/01/COE/08/05).This publication was partly supported by a subaward from The Johns Hopkins University, with funds provided from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) (Grant Number: 1RO1NS055628-01A2).J.A. is a recipient of Senior Research Fellowships from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. A.T. is a recipient of Senior Research Fellowship from Yenepoya (deemed to be University). V.M. is a recipient of Junior Research Fellowship from Yenepoya (deemed to be University)