Infosys soln to help access remote healthcare

Infosys Technologies on Wednesday announced that it has deployed a patient management tool for a health information technology initiative to improve healthcare access for rural and underserved patients.

The company collaborated with the University of New Mexico (UNM) to improve patient outcomes by designing and implementing a web application that facilitates real-time flow and access of interoperable clinical data among participating health providers, as part of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes).

The project’s web-based patient management tool has an intuitive web interface that efficiently and securely integrates patient data in real-time from all participating health providers, leveraging Infosys’ healthcare integration and collaboration solution.

Besides managing patients based on a more accurate exchange of data, this tool is expected to enhance case-based educational experiences by facilitating more informed care-management decision making and continuous training of rural physicians.

The clinician-centric tool also delivers a platform for physicians to stay connected with patients throughout the treatment, ensuring better prognosis and improved patient compliance.

“Project ECHO has proven that technology can help overcome traditional barriers to adequate healthcare treatment, such as distance, income and lack of specialised medical professionals for underserved communities with no access to treatment,” UNM Health Sciences Centre’s Department of Medicine Project Director and Executive Vice Chairman Sanjeev Arora said.

The web-enabled software will allow Project ECHO to expand to multiple chronic diseases and health conditions such as HIV, cardiac conditions, mental health disorders, diabetes, autism and substance-abuse disorders.

In addition, since the system is delivered via a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, it reduces potential technology barriers that previously existed in rural health clinics. It enables retrieval, sharing and use of data captured across disparate healthcare IT systems.

Cuddling Premature Babies may Help Ease Their Pain

A new research shows that cuddling up against their mother's bare skin can help babies born as early as 28 weeks recover more quickly from painful medical procedures.


According to the Canadian study, very premature babies benefit from skin to skin contact with their parents.

Writing in the journal BMC Pediatrics, the McGill University team said it might aid the recovery process.

This study is the first to look at extremely premature babies, born between 28 and 31 weeks.

It was previously thought by some experts that such young babies were not developed enough to benefit from human touch.

A common test used in neonatal units is the "heel prick" blood test, which produces a sample, which can be used to check blood sugar levels.

This is inevitably painful for the baby, and in some cases, it can take minutes for this distress to recede - which could be a problem for a baby whose health is in the balance.

In the study, researchers carried out the test on some babies who were being actively cuddled, skin-to-skin, measuring facial expressions, heart rate and blood oxygen levels to assess the amount of pain suffered.

Pain scores after 90 seconds for the cuddled babies were much lower than for those who were not cuddled. Half the cuddled babies did not show any facial expression of pain when undergoing a heel prick test.
Lead researcher Celeste Johnston said that the shorter recovery time could help maintain the baby's health.


"The pain response in very preterm neonates appears to be reduced by skin-to-skin maternal contact," BBC quoted her, as saying.

Professor Linda Franck, from the Institute of Child Health in London, said that parents were often not encouraged to have skin-to-skin contact with their premature babies in UK neonatal units, despite growing evidence that it could help.

She said: "Neonatal units can be very intimidating places, and parents often do not know the best way to get involved. Parents want to do the right thing, but the message is difficult to get out there. This study suggests that, even for the very youngest premature babies, skin to skin contact can reduce the stress response."

Source-ANI
THK/L

Rs 18.45 Cr action plan for Pamba river

The Pamba river in Kerala will be made pollution free by setting up sewage treatment plant, waste collection and disposal system system and improving sanitation facilities around it. The Ministry of Environment and Forests in India has sanctioned a Rs 18.45 crore Pamba River Action Plan for the purpose.

The amount has been sanctioned under the National River Conservation Plan on 70:30 cost sharing bases between the central government and the Kerala Government, where the centre’s share will be Rs 12.92 crore and the state’s will be Rs 5.53 crore.

Under the project, 12 components of works have been approved, which has been intertwined with the Sabrimala Master Plan.

Accordingly, three million litres per day (MLD) sewage treatment plant at Sabrimala and one sewage treatment plant of 1.5 MLD capacity at Pamba will be established at a cost of Rs 360 lakh.

The third component includes sewage collection tank pumping system and sewer lines in Sabrimala and Pamba at the cost of Rs 194.3 lakh, the Ministry said.

There is also a proposal to construct 300 latrines at Pamba and 400 latrines along with 100 bathrooms at Sabrimala at the cost of Rs 230 lakh.

The state government would also establish solid waste collection and disposal arrangements in Sabrimala and Pamba at a cost of Rs 250 lakh.

The important segment to abate pollution, segregation of existing drains and construction of new drains, will be carried out at both the places at the cost of Rs 126.95 lakh. In another segment, mobile latrines will be constructed at Sabrimala and Pamba, the Ministry informed.

Besides building interception barriers of sewage across Kakka thodu and Urakkuzhi Theertham in Pamba at a cost of Rs 25 lakh, the state government will construct storage weirs and allied works for flushing the pollutants one each in Pamba and Kakki rivers and storage shed for generator near weir at a cost Rs 86.25 lakh.

In order to prevent pollution of Njunajar river entering the bathing ghat at Pamba, the state government will construct weir downstream of bathing ghat at Arattukadavu at a cost of Rs 18 lakh.

Furthermore, apart from spending Rs 20 lakh to create public awareness, new bathing ghats will be erected at the cost of Rs 35 lakh, the Ministry said.

The Pamba river in Kerala will be made pollution free by setting up sewage treatment plant, waste collection and disposal system system and improving

New Internet users or mobile devices will not be able to access the Internet as Internet address shortage was ticking and if current trends continue, addresses will run out by 2011.

Nearly 85 per cent of all available Internet addresses are already in use by May 2008, a new report by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.

The report suggested that governments and business must work together more effectively and urgently to meet the growing demand for Internet addresses and secure the future of the Internet economy.

It also suggested to implement the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), which will provide an almost unlimited number of addresses and help drive the rollout of broadband, Internet-connected mobile phones and sensor networks and new Internet services.

The report said that governments and business should raise awareness of the need to start preparing now for the move to from today’s Internet Protocol version 4 to IPv6.

They should also explain to Internet service providers and information and technology (IT) professionals that the move is a commercial and social opportunity, not a financial burden.

The report revealed that service providers have to date been reluctant to invest because customer demand for IPv6 is low.

Governments could play a role as a large user of Internet services by stimulating demand for IPv6 through their own procurement policies and through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in IPv6 research and development, the report added.

The OECD report also considered the alternative to a widespread adoption of IPv6 whereby some regions adopt it and others merely adapt IPv4 as a short-term solution.

This, it warns, would impact the economic opportunities offered by the Internet with severe consequences in terms of stifled creativity and deployment of new services.

“Some countries have taken a lead in deploying IPv6 networks,” the report said, adding that the Japanese telecommunications firm NTT, for example, uses IPv6 to connect thousands of earthquake sensors via a computer system that sends automatic alerts to television programmes and turns traffic lights red.

The report further stated that the US government has set June 2008 as the deadline by which the Internet network of every government agency must be compatible with IPv6, while the European Commission is also funding research projects and looking at ways to speed up deployment.

Korea has committed to converting Internet equipment in public institutions to IPv6 by 2010 and to installing IPv6 equipment in every newly built communications network, the report added.

The OECD report said the Chinese government has begun rolling out an IPv6 network, called China Next Generation Internet, and will use the 2008 Olympics in Beijing to test mobile devices and intelligent transport and security systems running on IPv6.

India to invest Rs 2 lakh Cr in Railways

The Government of India has decided to invest Rs 2 lakh crore for the modernisation, capacity increase and completion of new projects of Indian Railways during the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

Stating this at a meeting with students and faculty members of International Business School, INSEAD in Singapore, India’s Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav said that Indian Railways have decided to invite public private partnership (PPP) in the non-core sector for setting up of logistic parks, wagon investment schemes and wagon leasing schemes.

Besides inviting PPP in setting up of more than 7,000 agricultural outlets throughout the country, the Minister said that Indian Railways would encourage the introduction of PPP model for setting up of new factories for production of wagons, coaches and locomotives.

Yadav said that Indian Railways was going to upgrade 26 major railways stations across the country as world class stations including railways stations in four metropolitan cities.

“There will be separate departure and arrival facilities for passenger to decongest existing crowds at station complex besides other modernised passenger amenities like world class waiting and rest-rooms, multi-level parking and malls,” he added.

The Minister further said that Indian Railways has earned a surplus of Rs 25,000 crore during the year 2007-08.

He said that after taking new initiatives in the freight sector, Indian Railways have carried 238 million tonnes of additional freight and earned more than Rs 14,000 crore additional freight revenue.

In view of the increasing demand for freight and to reduce the congestion on existing railway lines, the Indian Railways have decided to construct Dedicated Freight Corridors, the Minister informed.

“In the first phase, the western corridor from Delhi to Mumbai and eastern corridor from Ludhiana to Kolkata will be constructed and in the second phase, Dedicated Freight Corridor will be constructed to link other parts of the country,” he added.

India ranks 29th in world competitiveness

The large emerging economies are performing well with China at 17th position followed by India at 29th, Brazil at 43rd and Russia at 47th position, says IMD’s World Competitiveness Year Book 2008.

Larger markets like China, India and Russia have come into the picture and they are providing new dimensions to world competitiveness.

These countries are growing very quickly, for example the growth rate is 11 per cent in China and eight per cent in India and Russia, respectively. And this has a pull effect on smaller economy.

India at 29th position is still struggling with problems of infrastructure. Russia at 47th position has big revenues from oil and gas but has problems related to economic diversification and transparency of business legislation and Brazil at 43rd position is clicking for the first time.

China has moved from 15th position to 17th despite showing a growth of above 11 per cent.

“It is due to extreme growth leading to overheating of economy reflected in terms of inflation as cost of raw materials, cost of consumer goods and increasing cost of food in the country,” IMD’s World Competitiveness Centre Director Stéphane Garelli said.

Secondly, he said that China is consolidating its performance as it has introduced last year a number of legislations like legislation on taxation and legislation of financing the pension fund.

“This consolidation has a cost and is very important for the country’s future. But somehow this is a bumpy road to growth,” Garelli added.

He further said that smaller nations like Hong Kong, Switzerland, Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Denmark have benefited a lot due to globalisation of economy.

The 20th anniversary issue of the Year Book lists the US at number one position followed by Singapore. Singapore is closing the gap (score of 99.3) with the US and it is predicted that the US would fall from its leadership position as it is in a similar position to that of Japan in 90s.

“The past crisis in Japan bears some resemblance with the present turmoil in the US and it is undergoing all sorts of crisis—stock exchange, real estate and credit crunch,” Garelli said.

When the competitiveness started 20 years ago, Japan was at number one position whereas US was at number three but the scenario has changed and the US is still at number one position whereas Japan is at number 22.

The competitiveness index does not only look at economic growth but also looking at managing the path to prosperity. And prosperity is economic growth plus other things, including quality of life and quality of environment.

The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook is a comprehensive report on the competitiveness of nations and is calculated by combining four factors—economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure through 330 criteria.

Uttarakhand SWAN swings NIC way

Reversal of policy from Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to the National Informatics Centre (NIC) has pushed Uttarakhand to the fringe in implementation of state wide area network (SWAN) project.

According to the latest Status Report released by the Department of Information Technology (DIT) in India, Uttarakhand has slide down from middle of the inverted pyramid to the bottom owing to the decision of the state government for a reversal of policy.

The decision to shift from PPP mode to NIC is said to be an outcome of the delays in granting approval to the bidding done last year by the concerned agency.

Speaking to iGovernment, the state IT Development Agency Director Arindam Tomar said, “We had done bidding in May 2007 and had sent for approval to the state government. There was a delay in getting the approval and in the mean time the validity of the bid expired in September 2007. So, now we have finalised the NIC model for Uttarakhand SWAN.”

With this decision Uttarakhand has joined Lakshadweep and Andhra Pradesh where, the SWAN policy is under proposal-review stage.

With only 10 months left for the project to be operational, uncertainty looms large over completion of the project in Uttarakhand by March 2009, the deadline set for it.

Before this shift, the Uttarakhand government was in the process of evaluating the financial bid for PPP model and the expected deadline for completion was scheduled in January 2009.

Speaking about SWAN project, the Uttarakhand SIO DR Shukla said, “The completion of the project will depend on the implementation scope of SWAN—horizontal, vertical and others. Once the scope is finalised and the order placed, the complete process will take one year for completion.”

J&K police stations to be paperless

Stage now looks set for turning the police stations across Jammu and Kahmir paperless. The National Informatics Centre (NIC) in Jammu and Kashmir has formalised the process with a five-day training programme for police officials of the state recently.

The programme is a part of rolling out Common Integrated Police Application (CIPA) in the state, which seeks significant reduction in manual records and register maintenance at police stations.

With the implementation of CIPA in police stations, duplicate and inconsistent record keeping would be eliminated, maintenance of details of criminals could be facilitated and can also keep track of the status of cases.

Inaugurating the training programme, the Director of the state police academy Naveen Aggarwal said it was a challenge to make police stations paperless and to make the data available on a click of the mouse.

The objective of the application is to introduce element of transparency in the working of police, faster response to public, generate various reports and to roll out open source software tools at police stations.

IAEA helps reduce X-ray usage

In an effort to reduce the usage of X-rays in developing countries due to repeated exposures to radiation for clear image quality, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has come up with a quality assurance programmes at hospitals and clinics.

According to a survey conducted by IAEA Division of Radiation, Waste and Transport Safety, patients in developing countries often need to have X-ray examinations repeated so that doctors have the image quality they need for useful medical diagnosis.

IAEA Radiation Safety Specialist Madan Rehani emphasised that poor image quality constitutes a major source of unnecessary radiation to patients in developing countries and usage of X-rays is increasing in these nations.

However, he added that vital information about both the quality of X-ray images and patient doses is grossly lacking at many hospitals where the IAEA has helped launch quality assurance programmes.

The survey was done in phases from August 2005 to December 2006 at hospitals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia.

Project counterparts in these countries worked through IAEA-supported regional technical cooperation projects that aim to help countries implement quality assurance programmes for radiographic examinations, in line with international radiation safety standards.

The survey found that more than half (53 per cent) of all X-ray images evaluated through the project were of poor quality affecting diagnostic information.

Rehani said that one consequence is that patients then are given repeat examinations, which means exposing them to X-rays again, as well as entailing extra costs.

According to a paper just published in the June edition of the American Journal of Roentgenology, Rehani and colleagues reported that considerable benefits were seen regionally after introduction of QA programmes.

The quality of X-ray images improved up to 16 per cent in Africa, 13 per cent in Asia and 22 per cent in Eastern Europe. At the same time, patient dose reductions ranging from 1.4 per cent to 85 per cent were achieved overall.

The IAEA-supported projects could help change the picture at more hospitals in developing countries by changing the approach to quality assurance in radiography.

“We’re documenting that the evaluation of image quality and patient dose goes hand in hand with safe and effective medical radiography,” Rehani said.

The project on strengthening radiological protection of patients is designed to help countries apply the international basic safety standards for the protection against ionizing radiation and for the safety of radiation sources (BSS), developed by the IAEA, World Health Organisation and other partners.

Despite the finding that repeat X-ray examinations were often needed, patient doses in the 12 countries surveyed were in line with international diagnostic reference levels and similar to doses recorded in developed countries.

Altogether 34 countries agreed to participate in the IAEA survey. The findings come from a survey involving thousands of patients in 45 hospitals and 12 countries of Africa, Asia and Eastern Europe.

India plans 4 more ultra mega power projects

The Ministry of Power in India has decided to set up four more additional ultra mega power projects one each in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.

Disclosing this at the Interactive Session on Power Scenario by 2012 organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industries (Assocham), the Union Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said that the Ministry would receive quantities for additional allocation of gas for power plants that have become idle for want of gas.

Shinde, however, further disclosed that in totality, the government has approved nearly nine ultra mega power projects of which three are under execution and only a few days ago, it received a new request from Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu for ultra mega power projects to meet the power shortages.

“So in totality, there would be 13 ultra mega power projects that will come during the 11th plan period as against 9 already approved,” the Minister said.

He added the approval process for ultra mega power projects would be effected shortly to ensure that the shortage of nearly 30,000 MW of power being experienced currently at different places is addressed.

“In view of shortages of power equipment, the Union Power Ministry recently placed orders to various equipment manufacturers for putting up power projects of capacities totalling 73,000 MW,” Shinde said.

In addition to the target of 78,750 MW for 11th five year plan for capacity addition, nearly 11,000 MW of capacities would be added through captive power plants by the end of the plan, the Minister said.

Himachal to set up new police academy

The Government of Himachal Pradesh has decided to set up the Himachal Pradesh Institute of Police Studies (HPIPS) at Sakoh in Dharamshala to enhance the professional skills of the state police personnel.

Revealing this, the state Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal that this new police academy would be equipped with necessary infrastructure to cater to the needs of modern police training facilities.

In addition to this, the existing Police Training College at Daroh near Palampur in district Kangra would continue to impart all round training to the state police personnel, private security agencies and organisations engaged in similar services.

The Minister said that the new institution would be developed on the analogy of Himachal Pradesh Institute of Public Administration and linked with Daroh and Jangalberi police campuses.

The police training college at Daroh was known all over the country as best training centre for police personnel while the HPIPS would focus its training programme based upon the sophisticated and modern police training requirements.

Dhumal said that 121 posts of different categories would be created to manage the new training institute which included six senior officers and 115 posts of junior officers which would look after the training requirements of the institute.

The state government will make efforts to upgrade the training skills of the state police personnel besides training them in computer operations, motor driving, traffic management and internal security and acquaint them with the distress and disaster management skills.

The Chief Minister said that the police force would be trained to meet emergencies due to natural calamities so that best effort made to deliver relief and rehabilitation in the affected areas.

Besides equipping all the police stations with best communication network, the modern office equipments were also being provided to bring efficiency in the functioning.

World No Tobacco Day - 2008

World No Tobacco Day - 2008
(31st May 2008)

May 31, 2008

‘Ban marketing and advertisements of tobacco products for a tobacco-free-youth’

‘Tobacco-free-youth’ is a befitting theme for the anti-tobacco initiatives of World No Tobacco Day as thefirst puff of tobacco taken during youth, most often continues till the last breath, The Day, seeks to continuethe fight against tobacco products, by attacking the root of the problem – To STOP advertisements and publicity of tobacco products and to focus on youth as the starting point of the fight against tobacco.

Tobacco industries cough up billions of dollars on marketing and advertising of tobacco products. There is conclusive evidence of the grave impact of advertising on young impressionable minds, which leads them to try out the vice. Once they are hooked, it is an addiction capable of consuming their lives.

The objectives for this year seek to benefit an estimated 1.8 billion young people worldwide, between the 10-24 years age bracket. The bulk of tobacco users, according to research, are initiated into the habit in their teenage years. Translating it into numbers, it is an estimated 5500 youths roped into the vortex every single day.

Discerning youth of today, who are not information- challenged, must also read between the lines of beautifully- crafted marketing strategies, advertisements and promotional campaigns of tobacco products.

Poison in a Puff

• Welcome to the world of nicotine, known for its addictive tendencies; chances of addiction are greater in the young.

• Giving the heady feeling are 4000 potentially toxic chemicals found in cigarette smoke, that get sucked into the system with a single puff.

• Tobacco lowers immunity by disabling neutrophils, white blood cells. This increases the chances of falling prey to a host of infections.

• The function of heart and lungs are on a downslide following tobacco use.

• Prepare to face the fourteen- fold risk of dying due to cancer and a double risk of a heart attack. Smoking accounts for 90% of lung cancer cases.

In a nutshell, it is an invitation to a ‘sickening’ world

Beedis make Baddies

India produces the largest amount of tobacco in the world, at a staggering 700 million Kilograms annually.

A new report has also suggested that nearly 100 million people from the poor and illiterate class smoke hand rolled cigarettes, called ‘beedis’. More than 200,000 tuberculosis deaths are caused due to beedi smoking.

According to Health Secretary Naresh Dayal, nearly 85% of the beedi in the world is produced in India with 290,000 beedi making units. “Beedi is the most widely used form of tobacco. Beedi smokers with tuberculosis are at three times higher risk of death compared to TB patients who are non-smokers,” Dayal said.

The people working in beedi factories also suffer serious health issues.

Beedis and chewed tobacco form a sizable portion of the tobacco use in India, with cigarettes taking 20% of the market. Beedis are known to promote smoking among children between 8-10 years, especially from the tribal areas.

Nearly 24 lakh people are battling cancer in India attributed to the effect of tobacco, according a WHO estimate.

Impact of Advertising on Youth

A study conducted in India by researchers from The University of Texas School of Public Health has blamed advertising and marketing of tobacco products for the increase in the consumption of tobacco among children, even as early as 11 yrs.

Cheryl Perry, Ph.D., professor and regional dean of The University of Texas School of Public Health and Team leader of the study said, “As India becomes more westernized, more teens will use tobacco.”

Seconding this opinion, Melissa Stigler, Ph.D., assistant professor at the UT School of Public Health and study co-author, said, “The current study is the first in India to demonstrate a strong, dose-response relationship between exposure and receptivity to tobacco advertising and promotions and tobacco use among Indian youth. These associations clearly suggest a need to strengthen policy and program-based interventions to reduce tobacco use among youth in India.”

According to Stigler, following a ban on tobacco advertising in India in 2004, tobacco companies found new ways to publicize. Sponsorship of events by tobacco product companies began. Not only that, lifestyle malls began to house mobile smoking lounges, providing cool comfort to the smokers, thus abetting an unhealthy trend. Youth were also seen sporting ‘T’ shirts with logo of tobacco companies.

Clear the Air

A new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has warned the loss of one million people by 2010 due to smoking. To buck this looming threat, it is imperative to give out the right message to impressionable minds.

We need to discourage publicity and advertisement of tobacco products. Education and awareness of risks is key to keeping out tobacco; awareness campaigns in schools and colleges will help clear the air.

With the powerful influence of media and films, actors have a powerful role to play with their larger- than- life image. Usage of tobacco products, especially cigarette smoking, is associated with style, which children and youth find captivating. Such impressions wreck havoc, for it is said that 52 per cent of children take to smoking, in an effort to ape celebrities.

Today, many bollywood film actors have become brand ambassadors for anti-smoking initiatives.

Governments and policy makers must enforce a ban on advertisements for tobacco products. Surrogate advertising must be shunned with vehemence. Taxes on tobacco must be increased, all of which can give the right environment for the citizens of tomorrow.

Source-Medindia
SAVITHA/L

WHO for total ban on tobbaco

The World Health Organisation on Friday urged governments to protect the world’s 1.8 billion young people by imposing a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

The WHO’s call to action comes on the eve of ‘World No Tobacco Day’, May 31.

This year’s campaign will focus on the multi-billion dollar efforts of tobacco companies to attract young people to its addictive products through sophisticated marketing.

Recent studies proved that the more young people are exposed to tobacco advertising, the more likely they are to start smoking. Despite this, only five per cent of the world’s population is covered by comprehensive bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

Tobacco companies, meanwhile, continue targeting young people by falsely associating use of tobacco products with qualities such as glamour, energy and sex appeal.

“In order to survive, tobacco companies create a complex ‘tobacco marketing net’ that ensnares millions of young people worldwide, with potentially devastating health consequences,” WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said.

The Director-General added a ban on all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship was a powerful tool we can use to protect the world’s youth.

Tobacco companies market their products wherever youth can be easily accessed—in the movies, on the Internet, in fashion magazines and at music and sports venues, the WHO said in a statement.

In a WHO study of 13 to 15-year-olds in schools worldwide, more than 55 per cent of students reported seeing advertisements for cigarettes on billboards in the previous month, while 20 per cent owned an item with logo of a cigarette brand on it.

The tobacco companies most aggressively target the developing world, home to more than 80 per cent of the world’s youth, WHO said.

“Comprehensive advertising bans do work, reducing tobacco consumption by up to 16 per cent in countries that have already taken this legislative step,” WHO’s Tobacco Free Initiative Director Douglas Bettcher said.

Stating that when one form of advertising is banned, the tobacco industry simply shifts its vast resources to another channel, Bettcher urge governments to impose a complete ban to break the tobacco marketing net.

India to get first fishing harbour

India’s diversified infrastructure development company ‘MARG’, laid the foundation stone for the country’s first fishing harbour at Rajakamangalam Thurai in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.

The project, to be built on Public Private Partnership (PPP) model at Rajakamangalam Thurai at a cost of Rs 45 crore in 40 acres of land, would benefit over 40,000 people who reside in and around Kanyakumari.

Speaking on the occasion, MARG Chairman and Managing Director GRK Reddy said that this project will act as an agent of change which will help in addressing various issues like food scarcity, employment generation and overall strengthening of the social standards of the people through PPPs.

The fishing harbour, expected to be fully operational by October 2010, will generate direct employment for about 8,000 people.

Besides having state-of-the-art facilities of international standard for bringing multi fold advantages to the people in Rajakamangalam Thurai village, its landing wharf will have mooring facility for 300 boats.

The advanced facilities offered in the harbour include water front facilities for safe landing, berthing to various category of fishing craft, boat building and repair yards, ice plant and cold storage facilities for processing and preservation of fish.

These facilities are aimed towards engaging the best practices to harvest the unexploited fishery potential to the level of maximum sustainable yield.

Addressing the ceremony, the state Fisheries Department Minister KPP Samy said that this project is aimed towards bringing in inclusive growth to Rajakamangalam Thurai village and surrounding areas.

Manual scavenging to end soon: Sonia

The century old manual scavenging system would soon be abolished in the country, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) President Sonia Gandhi announced on Thursday.

sonia-gandhi_sulabh-meeting.jpgWhile talking to a group of liberated women scavengers from Alwar (Rajasthan) the UPA Chairperson, said that she will discuss the issue with the Prime Minister to end the inhuman practice.

The UPA President expressed great satisfaction over the efforts of the liberated scavengers who not only left the traditional practice of manual scavenging, but also started social initiative to motivate their colleagues.

She also appreciated the contribution of Sulabh and its founder Bindeshwar Pathak for sanitation movement in the country.

The 28 liberated women scavengers, who called on Sonia Gandhi will catwalk the ramp with top models of the world at United Nations in July this year.

It may be noted here that with an aim to showcase the path breaking contributions of liberated scavengers in the context of social reform, Sulabh International has planned to take them to walk the ramp at one of the United Nations General Assembly Halls on July 2, this year before dignitaries from 150 countries.

A book containing success story of the liberated women titled “Princes of Alwar” would also be released.

ADB project to expand rural India telephony

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is financing a project in India that will help expand mobile phone coverage, predominantly in rural areas, by installing 17,100 additional telecommunications towers.

Under the project, ADB will provide a loan of up to US $150 million to GTL Infrastructure, which is currently implementing Phase I of its rollout plan to set up 6,600 towers throughout the country. The ADB-funded project is Phase II of GTL’s tower rollout plan.

The additional towers will be leased to various mobile operators on a shared basis. Installation is expected to be predominantly in rural and semi-rural areas and the project is expected to be completed by March 2011.

“We believe that the project will enable mobile operators to accelerate coverage into remote and sparsely populated areas, leading to rural development and pro-poor economic growth,” ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department Investment Specialist Shantanu Chakraborty said.

Despite the recent growth in the Indian telecommunication sector, the country continues to suffer from a critical lack of communication infrastructure in its rural areas.

Of around six lakh villages in the country, about seven per cent do not even have landline phone connections. The coverage in rural India remains very poor with only about half the towns and one sixth of the villages covered so far, the ADB stated.

ADB informed that the Government of India has established a goal of 500 million telephone subscribers by December 2010.

ESIC dispensary in Okhla industrial area soon

Over 80,000 residents of the Okhla Industrial Area and nearby residential colonies will soon get an Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Dispensary.

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment (Independent Charge) Oscar Fernandes laid the foundation stone of the new building. It will cost Rs 4.86 crore and will have four floors with a covered area of around 1,600 sq m.

Speaking on the occasion, Fernandes said that ESIC was in the process of equipping itself with all the modern facilities and was committed to provide the best of medical services available in the country.

The Minister said that ESIC is also working on an ambitious plan to prepare its own medico and para-medico personnel with the help of existing ESIC hospitals.

“To cater the long felt need of the workers and their families residing in this industrial belt, this dispensary would go a long way in fulfilling the health care related needs of the people,” Labour and Employment Secretary Sudha Pillai said.

The ESI Scheme implemented in Delhi in 1952, has now over 7.7 lakh insured workers covered under ESIC and the number of beneficiaries including insured persons in Delhi is 24.35 lakh, the Ministry said.

HP offers soln to check hackers’ attack

HP has announced major updates to its application security software as well as a new software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering to help businesses minimise the risk of security breaches due to hacker attacks and safeguard against theft of client’s information.

The new release of HP Application Security Centre helps organisations discover, fix and prevent security vulnerabilities in their web applications, besides helping bridge the gaps that exist among development, quality assurance, operations and security teams within an IT organisation.

This lifecycle approach helps companies comply with government and industry regulations and the European Union Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications.

“The HP Application Security Centre provides a comprehensive capability for testing, remediation and prevention throughout our development lifecycle,” Fair Isaac Corporation Chief Information Officer and VP Christopher Rence said.

According to the Web Application Security Consortium, an international group of application security experts and industry practitioners, more than 40 per cent of web hacking incidents are aimed at stealing personal information.

Such personal records are easily traded on the Internet, which makes them the easiest virtual commodity to exchange for money, HP said in a statement.

« Noreen Naqvi is DD’s adhoc DG Himachal mulls new industrial policy » NHRC notice to Gujarat, MP on silicosis deaths

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked Chief Secretaries of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh to submit their comments within four weeks on reported death of the labourers employed in quartz units in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh from silicosis disease.

Taking suo-motu cognizance of a report published in an English daily about labourers succumbing to deadly silicosis disease in the two states, the NHRC issued the notice.

According to the press report, the family members (wife, elder brother and two sisters) of one Kailash a resident of a village in Kukshi block of Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh had died of silicosis.

The report further alleged that hundreds of other Bhil tribals of Jhabua and Dhar districts of MP had been suffering from the disease and awaiting their death.

According to a survey conducted in 2007 by a group of doctors in 21 villages of Jhabua, 158 people died of silicosis while 266 others were suffering from the disease.

The report also alleged that the tribals were taken to work at quartz crushing units of Gujarat as unregistered daily wagers, where they got infected with the fatal disease.

Saarc knowledge centre takes off in India

The ambitious proposal of setting up a common university for eight Saarc countries has taken off with the dedication of land for the institute by India’s External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee here on Monday.

Speaking at the dedication ceremony in Maidan Garhi, Mukherjee announced that the South Asian University (SAU) would hold its first academic session in 2010.

The main campus in New Delhi will be hosting nearly 5,000 students and an international faculty. It will also have campuses in all other seven South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) countries—Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan.

“The university will help realise the dream of thousands of young men and women who will gather here, not only for high quality education, but also in a spirit of fraternity and friendship,” Mukherjee said.

It may be recalled that the proposal for setting up such a university was mooted by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the 13th Saarc Summit in Dhaka in December 2005.

The External Affairs Minister stressed that Saarc has moved towards it relatively quickly as an inter-governmental agreement on it was signed only at the 14th Saarc summit held in New Delhi last year.

Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Member PK Chaddha has been entrusted with the responsibility to oversee the university’s construction, land acquisition and drawing up its charter, byelaws, business plan, governance structure and course curricula.

Chadha will hold the post of CEO of the Saarc university for two years until the university becomes functional in 2010 when a Vice-Chancellor would be appointed.

The project is being executed by the ministry of external affairs in consultation with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the Department of Education of the Human Resource Development Ministry.

The Government of India has offered to bear the entire cost of setting up the university which is expected to be a non-profit Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

Once fully operational, the SAU would witness free flow of students as well as faculty from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives. The university will offer both undergraduate as well as post graduate courses.

Metallised Plastic Pouches in Delhi Must Be Banned, Says Panel

Multi-layered and metallised pouches used for packing namkeen, shampoo, biscuits, gutkha and pan masala in Delhi must be banned, a Government panel has revealed.


Officials of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Delhi Pollution Control Board (DPCB) and retired judge R C Chopra have submitted a report to the Delhi High Court which is hearing a case related to the plastic menace in the city.

The panel has acknowledged that "multi-layered and metalized pouches used for gutkha and pan masala are not recyclable due to their composition and as such they remain as solid waste, causing serious damage to the environment."

It has also suggested a complete ban on coloured bags containing metallic additives, as they are injurious to health as well as the environment.

Referring to the Plastic Manufacture, Sale and Usage Rules, 1999 as amended in 2003, the panel said, "It (Act) prohibits the use of recycled plastic bags for storing, carrying, dispensing and packaging foodstuff. Coloured recycled bags contain some metallic additives which have harmful affects as they leach and contaminate soil as well as sub-soil water."

"Encouraging usage of virgin plastic/biodegradable bags may also help," it added.

Apparently suggesting that plastic bags cannot be done away with, CPCB chairperson J M Mauskar, DPCC chairman J K Dadoo and Justice RC Chopra has also listed limitations of implementing its suggestions which are "not only expensive but harmful to environment as well."
For instance, heavy and wet articles cannot be carried in a paper bag. So complete dependence on this alternative is not viable.


"Paper production also involves greenhouse gas emissions and consumes abundant water as well as energy in the manufacturing process," the panel observed.

Using paper bags will need more production of paper, resulting in cutting more trees for manufacturing paper, thereby disturbing the ecological balance, the panel said.

The ban will ensure a curb on the non-degradable multi-layered plastics that has caused choking of sewers resulting in overflowing of sewage on the roads.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

Lakshadweep plans U-SWAN

The Lakshadweep Administration is planning to launch U-SWAN (universal state wide area network), connecting all the 200 government offices located across 10 inhabitated islands in the union territory.

lksatelite.jpgAll the nine islands—Agatti, Bitra, Chetlat, Amini, Kadmat, Kiltan, Andrott, Kalpeni and Minicoy—will be connected to Kavaratti through 2Mbps VSAT link. Kavaratti, the capital of union territory will be connected seperately with the mainland Kochi through 8 Mbps link.

In order to complete the project in time, the Lakshadweep government has opted for time bound bandwidth availability from BSNL to make U-SWAN operational before March 2009.

The Union Territory has opted for NIC model for network design, network implementation, installation and commissioning for the project.

Once the U-SWAN is implemented, the operational requirements will be taken care by Lakshadweep IT society for five years under the guidance of NIC.

The union territory is also planning a state data centre in Kavaratti with 2 TB storage capacities.

In terms of applications, the union territory is planning for e-learning, extension of e-permits to all islands, extension of e-personnel and e-payroll to all departments, online management of recruitment system, e-certificate and enhancement of performance level of existing applications.

Rajasthan to ‘smartly’ empower the poor

The Government of Rajasthan has given a Rs 150 crore contract to Bartronics India for implementing the Bhamashah Financial Empowerment Scheme.

biometricsimg.jpgUnder the scheme, the government would provide Rs 1,500 per month each to about 50 lakh below poverty line (BPL) families through biometrically identifiable smart cards, thereby providing them with relief through a financial inclusion process.

Biometric cards will be used in similar projects like Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

Speaking to iGovernment, Bartronics Managing Director Sudhir Rao said, “We have also participated for similar projects in Orissa, West Bengal and southern states and we have a good chance of winning these projects.”

Rao said that the company will either provide the card or implement the project. He added that the biometric card will help in making the disbursals reach the target BPL member, which was not the case earlier.

“The biometric card used in these applications is either 4K or 8K and captures biometric information and personal data,” Bartronics MD said.

The project is one in a series of financial inclusion initiatives announced by the Finance Ministry.

Kalam for hi-tech border management

Former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam has called for developing an Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) to provide situational awareness and facilitate real-time action by security forces deployed on the country’s borders.

Speaking at the Rustamji Memorial Lecture organised by the Border Security Force (BSF) on Monday, Kalam said that this is achieved by combining deployment of a variety of networked sensors along the border.

He further added that the sensors can be based on motion detection, vibration; infrared-based camera and satellite based sensors - all positioned at various strategic points along the border.

“Motion detection sensors are essentially of the Radar variety operating through Doppler Effect. Buried vibration sensors operate through detecting seismic signals. Infrared as well as daylight cameras come with certain degree of smartness to detect and thereafter flag only changes, thereby saving huge memory space if these images are to be stored,” the Former President said.

He said that BSF can enhance their operational preparedness based on national core competence by utilising the recently launched CARTOSAT-2A satellite, which provides scene-specific spot imageries, with high spatial resolution of better than one meter.

Kalam said that this satellite can also revisit place of interest once every four days, providing information on changes in movement of suspected vehicles and groups of people, unusual construction activities and intrusions.

“Such high-tech and intelligent systems will help BSF to plan and execute in time, difficult and complex missions with precision and low casualty rate,” he said, adding that the final element of IBMS is the ability to transmit intelligence to field commanders on real-time for taking appropriate action.

The Former President said that another element of IBMS is the process capability achieved through computing assets, powerful application software with large data base.

This coupled with high-bandwidth connectivity to the sensor; provide the needed platform for near real time processing of information received from the sensor, he added.

Kalam said that software such as link analysis tools help provide linkages of current events picked up by the sensor with historical events stored in the computer to generate actionable intelligence.

In order to enhance effectiveness of border security, he further suggested the modernisation of BSF with sensors, weapons and platforms with the capability to neutralise the target identified by IBMS and also the creation of a quick reaction mobile force that could be deployed instantly in the area of conflict with necessary sensors and weaponry.

The Former President said that NCET will facilitate working together of the intelligence and security machinery both at the state and the central level to achieve the desired objectives.

He further said that it will be an alert and dynamic movement which would prevent hotels and homes being used as a shelter by terrorists and extremists.

Moreover, Kalam also called for the introduction of National ID Cards and implement the National e-Governance GRID for all government to government, government to citizens, business to business and business to citizen transactions in a time bound manner.

Shark Survivors Asked to Pay for Rescue

Two tourists who drifted in shark-infested waters off Australia for 19 hours when a diving trip went wrong have been asked to help pay for their rescue after selling their story, reports said Monday.


Briton Richard Neely, 38, and his American partner Allyson Dalton, 40, were diving on the Great Barrier Reef last Friday when they became separated from their charter boat.

They were rescued the following morning after a plane taking part in an intensive air-sea search operation spotted them floating several miles (kilometres) from where they were last seen.

Australian media reported that the couple sold their survival story to Britain's Sunday Mirror, with one newspaper saying they had been paid about a million dollars.

The reports prompted suggestions that they should pay for their rescue, which involved seven helicopters, three other aircraft and six boats.

Queensland state Premier Anna Bligh, whose territory includes the Great Barrier Reef, backed the idea.

"If they are going to profit from their story I don't think a contribution back would go astray," Bligh told reporters. "It would be a very welcome gesture."

Celebrity agent Max Markson, who has taken on the couple as clients, said their insurance would cover the cost of the rescue but they would also be prepared to make a donation.

"They are covered by insurance so it will cover the cost of the rescue and they will be happy to make any donation necessary," Markson told the Sydney Morning Herald website.

The experienced divers said they had surfaced too far from the boat for those aboard to see them above the waves or hear their cries for help.



Source-Eurekalert
SPH

India launches e-Gazette

The Ministry of Urban Development in India has developed an e-Gazette to maintain Gazette notifications date-wise, month-wise, part-wise and subject-wise belonging to the central government and the Government of NCT of Delhi.

The effort operationalise-gazetting intends to reduce the time lag as well as to facilitate easy accessibility for the bona fide users all over the country without having to undergo tedious travel.

It will also help many users for various other purposes like research, court cases and settlement of legal documents. The Ministry added that the printed version will continue to remain in vogue while e-Gazette will have its own usefulness.

As part of the modern state of art e-Governance concept, uploading of Gazette notification in the especially created e-gazette website, has become an imperative to facilitate bona fide users to obtain them immediately on its uploading on payment of the prescribed price of that notification.

The Ministry said that the revenue earnings of the government through sale of gazette notifications are around Rs 5 crore per annum and added that the e-Gazette is expected to bring in some more dividends.

Method to Decompose Plastic in Just Three Months

Decomposition of plastic or rather the time taken for it is a major environmental headache. However the process has been accomplished in just under three months by a 16-year-old Waterloo Collegiate Institute student.


Daniel Burd, as part of a science fair project, figured out bacteria that break down the polymers in plastic bags - compounds that can last for over 1,000 years - in about three months.

For his revolutionary discovery, Burd mixed landfill dirt with yeast and tap water, then added ground plastic and let it stew.

He found that the plastic indeed decomposed more quickly than it would in nature, reports Wired News.

After experimenting with different temperatures and configurations, Burd isolated the microbial munchers. One came from the bacterial genus Pseudomonas, and the other from the genus Sphingomonas.

Burd says that the process of polyethylene degradation developed in this project can be used on an industrial scale for biodegradation of plastic bags.

According to him, all that's needed is a fermenter, a growth medium and plastic, and the bacteria themselves provide most of the energy by producing heat as they eat.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

Web Users Growing More 'Ruthless and Selfish': Study

A new research studying web habits has revealed that web users turn more ruthless and selfish when they go online.


According to the annual report into web habits, by usability guru Jakob Nielsen, people are becoming much less patient when they go online.

Rather than dawdling on websites many users want simply to reach a site quickly, complete a task and leave.

Moreover, many people ignore efforts to make them linger and are suspicious of promotions designed to hold their attention.

Nielsen said that success rates measuring whether people achieve what they set out to do online are now about 75 percent.

In 1999, this figure stood at 60 percent. He said there were two reasons for the increase.

"The designs have become better but also users have become accustomed to that interactive environment," BBC quoted Nielsen, as saying.

Nielsen said that now, when people go online they know what they want and how to do it, which makes them very resistant to highlighted promotions or other editorial choices that try to distract them.

"Web users have always been ruthless and now are even more so. People want sites to get to the point, they have very little patience," he said.

"I do not think sites appreciate that yet. They still feel that their site is interesting and special and people will be happy about what they are throwing at them," he added.

Source-ANI
THK/L

UK Plans New Rules to Curb Smoking Among Youth

British Health Secretary Alan Johnson has revealed new plans in the UK, designed to curb smoking among young people.


He said that cigarettes will be banned from public display in shops, and vending machines scrapped under the new scheme.

He revealed that the proposals also seek to outlaw packets of 10 cigarettes, and that they are to be published by him later this week.

Johnson said that a consultation paper included plans to force cigarettes to be kept "under the counter" out of public view.

He also praised the Scottish government for banning cigarettes on display north of the border.

"I think they're right to do that and we're considering that as well," the Independent quoted him as saying.

Johnson also hinted that the Government was contemplating further needful actions to curb the consumption of tobacco products, after the ban on smoking in public places that was introduced last summer.

"Younger people are more influence by advertising. Two hundred thousand kids under 16 start smoking every year and their chances of a premature death from smoking are three times higher than if they had started smoking in their twenties," he said.

Johnson appreciated the fact that other European countries had enjoyed "startling results" by banning vending machines, where there was no control over the age of the purchaser.

As regards the 10-pack being in the firing line, he said: "I started smoking very young and you could get 10 Woodbines and you could get threepenny singles. Well they have taken threepenny singles away but whether you should still be able to buy 10 cigarettes or whether you should insist you can only buy 20 is an issue we need to look very closely at."

Pro-smoking groups accused the Government of forcing people to act "in a government-approved way", while retailers attacked the plans saying they would cost them thousands of pounds.

Anti-smoking groups, however, welcomed the move.

Source-ANI
THK/L

Dogs Pick Up Smell of Death in China Quake Rubble

Rifka bounded into the rubble of the Hanwang Town People's Hospital panting and barking. She had picked up the scent of death.


Rifka, a Belgian shepherd, was one of four dogs from Netherlands-based Signi Search Dogs hunting for the body of Qing Hong, an X-ray technician.

More than 23,000 people are still missing after the massive earthquake in southwestern China's Sihuan province two weeks ago.

After being guided by local residents in this devastated town, Saad Attia and his two colleagues from Signi believed Qing Hong was one of them.

There was nothing left of Hanwang's hospital except a dangerous mound of orange-brown bricks, twisted metal, broken wood and soggy medical texts. Some of the debris was more than three metres (10 feet) high.

With her bark, Rifka had signalled that a body might lie underneath but the searchers wanted confirmation.

"We're going to check it again with another dog," said Attia.

The job went to Finder, a three-year-old on her first overseas mission.

A nail punctured her lower left leg earlier in the quake zone but after several stitches and a dose of painkillers, Finder was still on the job, with a bandage above her paw.

The dog slid down what might have been a slab of wall, then climbed back over the debris.

She gave the tell-tale bark and got her reward, a green tennis ball.

"I think the person is there," said handler Esther van Neerbus, 37, moving closer to the ragged edge of what was a stairwell.
"Our job here is finished," Attia said.


But another awaited them in the drizzle at the foot of misty mountains.

"I think we have a lot of work to do today," said Attia, 44, a moustachioed man who fled Saddam Hussein's Iraq 27 years ago. "It will be only dead bodies, I think. There are no survivors."

In six days of searching, they had not found anyone alive.

Van Neerbus said the team may have identified about 50 corpses but did not know for certain since they were usually not present for the long process of digging.

The veterinarian said she founded Signi 17 years ago because she wanted to do something to help people using the animals she loves.

The dogs, trained to find both the living and the dead, have worked in disasters around the world.

The team explained that dogs' noses are far more sensitive than those of humans.

Attia took time off his job in a metal factory to travel to the quake zone in Sichuan province to work with Signi. "This is my holiday," he quipped.

But Attia's light touch accompanied a recognition that this is serious work, partly because it helps ease the families' uncertainty.

"Then you know for sure that he is gone," Attia said. "And second, I think most important is to prevent disease. It's already a disaster but if you leave it... you've got a serious problem for the public health."

Attia recalled the tears of a woman whose husband the dogs located a day earlier. Discoveries like that validate their mission, he said, but the job takes an emotional toll.

"I can cry just like a child. And I don't care," he said.

A backhoe slowly rattled past on its way to the spot where Qing, the hospital worker, was believed buried.

"They are going to dig," Attia said before the searchers walked to their next assignment, the dogs straining at their leashes.

They approached a six-storey apartment building that had collapsed, leaving a tangled landscape of mattresses, clothes, broken household appliances, bricks, scraps of door frames, and structural beams.

Liu Daibin, 43, told the searchers that seven or eight of his relatives could be somewhere in this mess.

The dogs took turns poking their heads into the rubble. Their frequent barking signalled several locations which the handlers marked using torn pieces of red cloth.

"It could be five bodies. It could be 10. It could be more," Attia said.

Source-AFP
SPH

Earth Watch: Burying CO2 to Fight Global Warming

The method to capture carbon dioxide and bury it under the ground to prevent global warming is gaining momentum and may soon be put into practice.


According to a report in Discovery News, the process, known as carbon capture and storage (CCS), has already been given the green signal by the US Department of Energy (DOE), with a funding of 126 million dollars for two large-scale carbon storage projects in California and the Midwest.

The DOE had previously announced 253.7 million dollars in funding for four others.

"The announcement of these two projects, making a total of six, each with a minimum of a million tons of CO2 injected underground, is a massive step forward," said Julio Friedmann of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California.

Companies have been injecting CO2 into the ground already, including in efforts to help force the last bits of oil out of oilfields, but the scale does not match what is needed to store CO2 from coal-fired plants.

"The next tier of questions include ones that really require a large, sustained injection," said Friedmann.

"These projects will help researchers understand how the Earth's crust deforms as large volumes of CO2 are pumped underground, and which sites are the best for storing CO2," he added.

Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is drafting regulations to address how sites for CO2 burial should be selected, managed and monitored and to address questions of who pays if something goes wrong.

"Having the regulations established is going to be helpful in moving the technology forward," said Sarah Forbes of the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C.

To Friedmann and Forbes, advancing the use of CCS is critical for addressing climate change.

"You have a new coal plant in China and India being built every single day," said Forbes. "The climate change problem is so big, and you can't address it without addressing coal," he added.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

"Life After People" Says Mother Nature Will Act Quickly Once Mankind is Wiped Out

A new TV documentary 'Life After People' has said that Mother Nature will quickly rehabilitate Earth once the human race is destroyed.


Most experts agree that humans will one day become extinct.

If Earth's life so far of four and a half billion years were represented by 24 hours, man's time on the planet would take up just 30 seconds, the experts say.

"It's no great stretch to imagine humans disappearing from the earth. Every generation has its tales of re the first generation whose deliberate actions may cause its own doom," The Sun quoted astrophysicist David Brin, as saying.

Now experts have come together to predict a future without humans - and the result is the sobering documentary.

Within just 48 hours, most power plants would automatically shut down without humans to keep feeding them fuel, and even wind turbines would seize up eventually with nobody to maintain them.

Food would rot on supermarket shelves, while pets, which couldn't escape from their homes, would slowly starve to death.

Ray Coppinger, a biologist from Hampshire College in Massachusetts, says: "The instant the humans have gone, there won't be any food for the dogs to live off. They can't open cans, they can't open the refrigerator.

"Very few of the 400million dogs in the world are suited to surviving life without humans."

Triggered by lightning strikes, wildfires would spread unchecked. Charred timbers would then release nutrients into the soil, providing the next wave of plant life with the nitrogen it needs to grow and thrive.
Cosmetic use is being looked at during the review, she said.


"Provincial legislation would ultimately be the preferred course of action, because if you ban the use of the products in municipalities that's only one piece of the puzzle," Boychuk said. "You need provincial jurisdiction to ban the sale of them at retail locations. If you've got a ban in place but people are still allowed to walk into a (store) to buy them, then it's not really that effective."

Ontario has introduced legislation banning the use and sale of cosmetic pesticides, and Quebec has enacted similar laws, she said. There are efforts in B.C. Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia to get similar legislation in place, she said, writes Hanneke Brooymans, The Edmonton Journal.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Canadian Cancer Society for Ban on Cosmetic Pesticides

The Canadian Cancer Society has joined the call for ban on cosmetic pesticides in view of their possible links with cancer.


Cosmetic pesticides are those used to control dandelions and other weeds in lawns and on sports fields.

In a survey in the Alberta region, it was found that 87 per cent of the 790 polled say they would support community bylaws restricting the use of cosmetic pesticides, said Lorie Boychuk, the society's public issues analyst.

Edmonton Councillor Don Iveson, whose portfolio covers environment issues, said he was hearing from many people who would like to see such a ban. "I think we need some kind of strategy to reduce their use, and I know the city's done quite a bit on that front." He said he didn't know whether a ban was feasible, but felt education about the issue was important.

Boychuk said the science linking pesticides with cancer kept getting stronger. "The evidence is definitely suggestive and growing. It's not 100-per-cent conclusive, but we feel there's enough existing at this point in time to invoke the precautionary principle."

Alberta Environment says it is Health Canada's role to determine which pesticides are safe, after which the province manages their use.

The department is conducting a mandatory review of provincial pesticide regulations, which began two years ago and should be finished this summer, said Alberta Environment spokeswoman Cara Van Marck. The regulations govern sales, handling, use, disposal and storage of all pesticides used for agricultural and cosmetic purposes.
Cosmetic use is being looked at during the review, she said.


"Provincial legislation would ultimately be the preferred course of action, because if you ban the use of the products in municipalities that's only one piece of the puzzle," Boychuk said. "You need provincial jurisdiction to ban the sale of them at retail locations. If you've got a ban in place but people are still allowed to walk into a (store) to buy them, then it's not really that effective."

Ontario has introduced legislation banning the use and sale of cosmetic pesticides, and Quebec has enacted similar laws, she said. There are efforts in B.C. Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia to get similar legislation in place, she said, writes Hanneke Brooymans, The Edmonton Journal.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Indian Hospital Chain Introduces Online Testing of Nursing Skills

The Wockhardt Hospitals Group, a leading Indian chain, has introduced an online testing of nursing skills.


The Wockhardt Nursing Skill Test (NST), launched in association with Careersindia, would seek to measure the basic domain knowledge of prospective nurses seeking employment with the group.

Under the NST, any nurse seeking employment at Wockhardt Hospitals across the country can go to the nearest designated Web Centre log on to http://www.careersindia.com/nursing and answer 70 multiple choice questions in 47 minutes on topics like Basic Nursing Skills, Medical Surgical Nursing, Child Health Nursing, Mental Health Nursing, Midwifery and spoken language evaluation.

On completion of the test, candidates are provided immediate access to their 'Individual Assessment Report'. This report is designed to provide candidates with module-wise percentile scores. The percentile scores reflect the candidate's basic knowledge and performance in the test with respect to the required areas. Based on the scores, candidates will either enter the next round of the interview process or be dropped. A photograph of every candidate taking the test is taken by the web centre and attached to the report which ensures the security and authority of the process.

"With our rapid expansion across the country, we are currently recruiting more than 200 nurses each month out of the 2,000 candidates that are screened by our HR team. The NST process will ensure that nurses do not have to travel across geographical locations to go through the interview process which will now start only after the NST clears the candidates for the next round," said Vishal Bali, CEO & MD, Wockhardt Hospitals Group.


Developed in association with Careersindia, a company which has made a mark in the area of online workforce assessments in industry, the NST has been compiled by experts in nursing, doctors and language professionals and validated by practitioners from the Wockhardt Hospitals Group. Across the country, Wockhardt Hospitals have tied up with more than 3,000 web centers where the test can be taken by the candidates.


"The NST test score will now be the foundation of our nurse recruitment process. Currently, our team spends 40 minutes with each candidate to assess their basic skills through a physical interview process and many candidates are dropped for lack of basic knowledge. Through this process we will not only be able to screen the number of candidates across the country, but it also helps candidates save their time and expense of traveling to states, where we have our hospitals" said Kumar Krishnaswamy, Group Head - HR, Wockhardt Hospitals Group.

Careersindia has taken the lead in the past to successfully design, develop and deploy online assessments for individual's abilities and behavioural competence for various verticals such as ITES, financial services, insurance, retail and manufacturing sectors, reports Express Healthcare.

“We believe that NST, which has been developed after several months of research, will mark the beginning of a new era in talent assessment and evaluation for healthcare industry. Having successfully assessed thousands of candidates in various industry segments, we are confident that our expertise in online testing, which is integrated into NST will provide immense benefits to the hiring process of the nurses in the country. We have no doubt that the Wockhardt NST will become an industry benchmark for recruitment of nurses in other hospitals across the country," said R Kannan, Managing Director, Careersindia.

More than 30,000 nurses graduate from various nursing colleges and schools across India each year and seek employment at hospitals all over the country.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

UK Hospitals Flooded With Cocaine Overdose Cases

The number of drug users in Britain being admitted to hospital with cocaine overdoses is four times higher than what it was eight years ago, new figures reveal.


Official Government data showed that an average of more than two people a day are admitted to accident and emergency units for 'cocaine-induced health emergencies.'

Compared to 740 users who needed treatment in 2007, just 161 people were admitted to hospital in England for cocaine-related emergencies in 1999.

Most of patients in 2007 were men with an average age of 29 years, according to the magazine Druglink.

In comparison, heroin overdoses and cannabis poisonings both fell in the same period.

The figures reveal the scale and impact of cocaine's growing popularity and come after a series of high-profile cases involving the drug.

Recent drugs crime surveys have also reported growing use of cocaine among the urban middle classes.

A study showed that one in three young men attending A and E at a London hospital with suspected heart attacks were cocaine users.

Antonio Maria Costa, the executive director of the UN's drug control and crime prevention office, has described Amy Winehouse, the pop singer, as 'the poster girl for drug abuse'.

He added that 'one song, one picture, one quote that makes cocaine look cool can undo millions of pounds worth of anti-drug education and prevention'.

The UN's International Narcotics Control Board report linked 'celebrity endorsement of drug related lifestyles' to the boom in European cocaine consumption and the emergence of the devastation it is now causing in Africa as new drug-smuggling routes open up.
According to Home Office figures, the use of the drug has more than doubled among 16 to 24-year-olds since the start of the decade, and Britain remains one of the countries with the highest level of cocaine abuse, along with Spain and Italy.


The UN report also partly accused the police and courts of making matters worse by not treating celebrities strictly and failing to make an example of them.

Supermodel Kate Moss escaped prosecution following the publication of photographs of her allegedly snorting cocaine.

Source-ANI
SPH

Netherlands to enable online marriage

Dutch citizens will no longer be required to report to the city hall in person for marriages, births, deaths and registered partnerships. The Government of Netherlands is planning to launch an electronic registry to enable them report these details online.

It would be done by combining information already electronically available such as the personal and address registries and digitalising paper processes—most civil registries, report ePractice.

With the online registry, expected to be up and running before 2010, the citizens need not have to produce documents that are real print-outs of the information to civil servants, as they will have ready access to these details online.

Meanwhile, the government has launched a website to enable citizens interact with local and international politicians.

An initiative of the Dutch ‘New Voting’, the new website aims to make politics more transparent, reports ePractice.

The Dutch Ministry for Internal Affairs said that the foundation hopes to build a collective political memory by keeping a record of the transactions that take place on the website.

Users can track down political representatives on municipal, provincial or national level by typing in questions and zip codes.

The website even gives access to the email addresses of members of European Parliament, which gives an easy access to the citizens for sending email directly to the politician they wish to speak with.

Slovakia to implement e-Parliament

The Government of Slovakia has introduced ‘Electronic Parliament’, which will provide the facility to submit all bills electronically and reduce use of paper in the National Council.

The new initiative, which is the brainchild of the Slovak National Council Chairman Pavol Paška, will be in place by the September session of the National Council, reports ePractice.

After the implementation of the new system, the National Council will be provided with materials in electronic form, with only 10 to 15 paper printouts produced.

The government is expecting savings up to 90 per cent with the new system coming into force and further informed that the agenda for sittings of the council will also be sent out electronically.

The new system will save the present process of delivering a bill to the Parliament in 250 printouts and would also save the numbers of paper printed for joint reports and amendments to the bills.

Chronic diseases in India on rise

Changing lifestyles and stressed workplace environment has given rise to many chronic diseases in India. It will cost the country US $237 billion by 2015, says a joint report by World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Economic Forum.

The report revealed that countries like Brazil, China, Russia and India currently lose more than 20 million productive life-years annually to chronic disease, and that number is expected to grow by 65 per cent by 2030.

According to the report, which was released at the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday, chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and respiratory disease, are responsible for more than 60 per cent of global deaths and is projected to account for 47 million deaths annually in the next 25 years.

The report on workplace wellness, ‘Preventing Non-communicable Diseases in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity’, highlighted the need to tackle the causes of chronic diseases in the workplace.

Calling for workplace health programmes to be promoted and implemented globally, the report said that the economic consequences—driven by productivity reductions and increases in costs caused by these non-communicable diseases among workforces—are dramatic.

These programmes are not only cost effective, but they also reduce healthcare costs, improve productivity, retain human capital and build a sustainable business.

Not restricted to developed nations or older populations, the problem is growing fastest in low- and middle-income countries, and almost half of those who die from chronic diseases are in their productive years, the report said.

UN award for Nagaland

Nagaland has won the prestigious United Nations’ Public Service Award for bolstering community participation in basic services like school, hospitals, water supply and tourism.

The idea was conceptualised and implemented by the then Chief Secretary of the Nagaland RS Pandey during 2002-04. The introduction of the programme led to a marked enhancement in the delivery system in the rural zones.

Instead of privatising the basic services in the state, the Chief Secretary opted for communitising them in view of the high community spirits of the Naga people.

Pandey who is currently the secretary in the Steel Ministry will receive the award at a function on June 23 in New York. Nagaland happens to be the only winner in the Asia Pacific zone.

This particular UN award is among the 12 awards chosen internationally in varied sphere of public services.

Nokia’s GSM soln for Railways

Nokia Siemens Networks has implemented India’s first GSM Railways (GSM-R) communications solution under the Mobile Train Radio Communication (MTRC) project for North Central Railways to replace the present signalling process.

Under this project, the company supplied an end-to-end GSM-R radio solution, including switching, base stations and controllers, cab radios and hand held devices.

The single streamlined digital radio system carries direct signalling and operational information between a moving train driver, guard and train controller on ground enabling higher speeds, and greater traffic density with improved safety, security and reliability.

The Railway@Vantage Intelligent Network (IN) software allows the train controller and the driver and guard to contact each other even without knowing mobile numbers or location of the locomotive.

In order to ensure network efficiency and stability, the company will also provide a broad range of services including network design, installation and commissioning, project management, training, operations and maintenance, network integration and as well as management of the network for one year.

“GSM-R is the basis on which the future signalling and communication needs of Indian Railways will be built,” Nokia Siemens Networks’ Sub-region India Head Michael Kuehner said.

The solution has currently been deployed on a 270 km stretch between Mathura and Jhansi under North central railways.

“Indian Railways has chalked out a well-planned strategy to remove bottlenecks and augment capacity to match the requirement,” Railway Board Chairman KC Jena said

He further appreciated that effort of Nokia Siemens Networks to speedily ramp up software and hardware requirements suggested by the Railways.

In India, the company is currently implementing GRM-R solution for the Northern Railway, North Frontier Railway and East Central Railway.

India mum on German offer to dig black money

India’s black money has shifted its chest. From all favourite Swiss banks it has now been getting stored in the banks in Liechtenstein, a small country near Germany.

Interestingly, despite Germany’s offer in February this year to provide free of cost information on all such accounts, India has so far not shown any interest in procuring the details of the accounts of its people with the bank.

It is said that the German intelligence agency, BND, has details of more than 700 clients of the LTG Bank and German prosecutors are using this information to target hundreds of suspected tax evaders.

Expressing concern over the Government of India’s attitude in seeking the information, Transparency International (TI) India said that it was suspected that this money belonged to the rich and powerful politicians, industrialists and stock brokers.

Liechtenstein, like many other countries including Switzerland, St Kitts, Antigua and Bahamas, is considered a heaven for moneyed people to hide their ill gotten wealth.

According to reports, the Indian Ministry of Finance and PMO have, however, not shown much interest in finding out about those who have their lockers in the secret banks of Liechtenstein which prides itself of their banking system, TI India said.

Reacting sharply to the report by one of the newspapers, TI India Chairman Admiral (retd.) R H Tahiliani said, “There should be complete transparency and accountability about this money and it is for the government to find this out and inform people.”

Urging the Government of India to take all necessary steps to seek the data that the German Government had offered,the Indian chapter of TI warned that such secretive and non transparent tax havens can pose problems of terrorism since no one knows how these would be used.

“It’s a global threat and can be used any which way to harm the peace and harmony globally,” it added.

Meanwhile reports sugest that USA, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Italy, UK, Ireland and other nations have already expressed their interest in procuring the details of the accounts of its people with the bank.

Now, cell phones to transmit medical images

: People living in remote places away from the modern medical centres across the world can soon avail sophisticated radiological diagnoses and treatment. A Hebrew University researcher has made it possible by developing a new process to transmit medical images via cellular phones.

Jointly patented and owned by the Hebrew University’s technology transfer company Yissum and by the University of California at Berkeley, the system provides an independent Data Acquisition Device (DAD) at a remote patient site where users have no image display capabilities.

The device is then connected via cellular phone technology to a hardware control multi-server unit at a central site with an advanced image reconstruction capabilities, with the processed data then returned to the DAD site.

The DAD can be made with off-the-shelf parts that somebody with basic technical training can operate.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around three-quarters of the world’s population has no access to ultrasounds, X-rays, magnetic resonance images and other medical imaging technology used for a wide range of applications.

Stressing on the key economic benefits of this new method, the researchers further said that by simplifying the apparatus at the patient site, they have been able to reduces the cost of medical imaging devices in general. Besides, it also removes the need for advanced imaging training of the personnel at the patient site.

The researchers of the university chose electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to demonstrate the feasibility of using cell phones in medical imaging.

EIT is based upon the principle that diseased tissue transmits electrical currents differently from healthy tissue. The difference in resistance from electrical currents is translated into an image, which can be transmitted via cell phone technology.

Utilising commercially available parts, the research team built a simple data acquisition device for the experiment. The device had 32 stainless steel electrodes—half to inject the electrical current and the other half to measure the voltage—connected to a gel-filled container that simulated breast tissue with a tumor.

A total of 225 voltage measurements were taken and uploaded to a cell phone, which was hooked up to the device with a USB cable.

The cell phone was then used to dial into a powerful central computer that contained software to process the packet of raw data that was transmitted. An image was then reconstructed and sent back to the cell phone for viewing.

The researchers verified that the simulated tumor was clearly visible in the image, demonstrating the proof-of-principle that this system is feasible.

“Imaging is considered one of the most important achievements in modern medicine. Diagnosis and treatment of an estimated 20 per cent of diseases would benefit from medical imaging, yet this advancement has been out of reach for millions of people in the world because the equipment is too costly to maintain,” said Prof Boris Rubinsky, one of the inventors of the new technology.

Rubinsky is head of the Research Center for Research in Bioengineering in the Service of Humanity and Society at the Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is also a professor of bioengineering and mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

The present day conventional medical imaging systems, including data acquisition hardware with software processing hardware and imaging display, are not only expensive they also require sensitive handling and maintenance and extensive user training.

“Even when such equipment does exist in developing countries, it is often not in use because it is too sophisticated or in disrepair or because the health personnel are not trained to use it,” he said.

Google Health on, medicare up tone

People can now put their health information in one central place and will have an easy access to them online. Google has launched ‘Google Health’ for this purpose and is absolutely free.

To use the new facility, the user will need a Google username and password. It will keep the doctor up-to-date and will help in stopping a person to fill out the same paperwork every time he sees a new doctor.

“Google Health will help in avoiding the same lab tests done over and over again because your doctor cannot get copies of your latest results,” the company stated.

With the new facility, one can manage his health information—not his health insurance plan or employer. Besides, information can be accessed from anywhere, at any time.

Moreover, Google claims that the new system is safe and secure, as it will store the information securely and privately and never sell the data of the user.

“You can enter your health conditions, medications, allergies, and lab results into your Google Health profile and you can name the profile anything you want,” Google said.

The new facility will also offer the user to even create multiple profiles for family members or others and help them in importing medical records from hospitals and pharmacies.

“Choose from a list of Google Health partners to see if your hospital or pharmacy can send copies of your medical records or prescriptions to your Google Health profile,” the search engine said.

It will guide users to find helpful resources and learn about health issues, besides helping in search for doctors and hospitals and connect to online health services.

Romania to expand e-Gov portal

The Government of Romania is planning to expand its e-Government portal by the end of 2009 to give access to all European citizens to information on services in the country.

Quoting Romanian Secretary of State Zoltán Somodi, ePractice has reported that the country is soon looking at establishing a ‘unique electronic contact point’ that would be managed by its Agency for Information Society Services.

This unique contact point will ensure that government procedures and other formalities can be carried out remotely and electronically, Somodi said.

Being aligned with the European guidelines stated in the Services Directive, the new service is also expected to ease the administrative burden on EU citizens and enterprises, and will positively impact the national and European services market.

The site, being developed by the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, would also seve as an an access point to all services and information on central and local administration institutions.

Besides, it will promote transparency and cost-effectiveness, check red-tapism, ensure wider access to all public services and information, and fight e-fraud, the report stated.

100mn broadband connections by 2012: Raja

India wants to leapfrog from the present four million broadband connections to 100 million broadband connections by 2012.

“My digital vision for India, by 2012, would be to see about 500 million of its population connected to Internet and more than l00 million broadband connections, and 100 million broadband enabled devices,” the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A Raja said while participating in a seminar in Malaysia recently.

The information infrastructure should also be made affordable as India’s PC penetration is less than 25 per 1,000 against global average of 165 per 1,000, he said.

In terms of household PC penetration, leading nations have household PC penetration of more than 80 per 1,000 and India should focus on achieving at least 20-25 per 1,000 in the next few years.

Speaking about increasing broadband penetration Raja said, “The best way to achieve broadband will be through wireless and by 2010 mobile broadband is likely to overtake fixed broadband.”

In India, mobile is fast becoming the preferred tool or default device for Internet access. Presently, the number of Internet users accessing through mobile is four times that of Internet users accessing through fixed line.

According to industry statistics half of the mobile handsets sold in India every month are Internet enabled, with Internet enabled handset available for as low as US $50.

Focus is also on multi-lingual content and multi-lingual software and there is a need for the government to drive a focused set of initiatives with the private sector to enable content development and proliferation.

Plans are also to provide free content and bandwidth to schools and educational institutions at subsidized rates.

India Post takes franking online

India Post on Wednesday introduced a new generation of digitally operated franking system that would enable users to remotely transfer and authenticate fund at the click of the button.

According to sources at the Department of Post (DoP), the system involves setting up of remote resetting centres by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for electronically receiving fund deposit instructions from the State Bank of India (SBI).

The franking machine users will deposit funds through cash, cheque, draft or Internet banking in any branch of the SBI across the country, which would then pass on the details to the India Post server. The India Post servr would then authenticate the transactions and pass the necessary instructions to the OEM’s remote servers.

The users will have to simply connect their machines to the OEM’s server through a telephone line and download the required funds from their accounts maintained at the remote servers. The complete transaction will take between 60-90 seconds, the DoP spokesperson said.

Announcing the launch of the service, DoP Secretary IMG Khan informed that the department has presently given a go ahead to two models of remotely managed franking systems (RMFS)—digi frank plus—one each from Neopost and Piney Bowse.

Unlike the older machines fitted with impact printing of franks, these new franking machines use digitally controlled inkjet printing technology and print a clear, clean and dynamically bar-coded secure frank that may even be used to offer track and trace by the India Post, Khan said.

He further said that RMFS would bring in lot of ease in use as the franking machines based on this system would not be required to be physically carried to the post office for crediting.

“The network that India Post is setting up with the help of the franking machine manufacturers will enable the new technology franking machine user to remotely credit his machine through dial up or any other network while sitting in his office,” Khan added.

July 9-11, Asia Pacific Corporate Social Responsibility Conference

July 9-11, Asia Pacific Corporate Social Responsibility Conference

Asia Pacific Corporate Social Responsibility Conference

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is becoming a bigger priority to organizations in Asia Pacific. While CSR is not a new concept or practice, it's initiatives in the region is still comparatively young. However, it's now recognized as one of the best ways to enhance a company's position and value and many companies are now increasing their CSR initiatives.

Today's CSR priorities are determined through ethical reasoning rather than governmental or legal requirements. CSR can also be used as a strong risk management tool against shareholder and consumer dissatisfaction. It's now clearly entwined in many multinational organizations' strategic planning process. In fact, 54% of today's business school requires a course in CSR which is a significant jump against 2001's 34%.

Salvo's Asia Pacific Corporate Social Responsibility is specifically designed to meet CSR professional demands to better their initiatives, strengthen their commitments and balance their investments. This event will address project selection, resource allocations, and impact measurements. We have gathered the best CSR practitioners and experts to help you adopt world class CSR initiatives.

Featuring expert opinions and case studies presentations from world class organizations:
. University of Technology Sydney, Australia
. Boeing International, UAE
. Coca-Cola, India
. Malaysian Airlines, Malaysia
. New Britain Plantation Services, Singapore
. ST Microelectronics, Singapore
. Standard Chartered, Singapore
. Timberland, Singapore
. Toyota, Australia
. University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Hear cutting edge presentations on:

.Promoting innovation via CSR endorsements and initiatives
.Understanding how companies can contribute to CSR through their core competencies
.Tackling stakeholder engagement - What will differentiate voluntary and regulatory initiatives?
.What is multi-stakeholder initiatives and how can companies get involved in it?
.Are CSR awards becoming the main driver for CSR initiatives?
.Supply Chain Management and CSR - How far exactly does the ripple effect go?
.Adopting socially responsible investments practices for bigger impact sustainable developments
.What can companies do to ensure sustainability?
.Identifying future trends and challenges of CSR initiatives within the region
and more....

Date: 9-11 July 2008

Location: Hilton Singapore Hotel

Interested to participate
Request the brochure: www.apac-csr.salvoglobal.com//enquiry.php
For priority booking, please quote priority code VHK429

Official Endorsers:
Japan For Sustainability - www.japanfs.org/
Australian Green Development Forum - www.agdf.org.au/
CSR Middle East Org - www.csrmiddleeast.org/

Official Media Partners:
AccountAbility - www.accountability21.net/
China Newswire - www.chinanewswire.com/
China CSR - www.chinacsr.com/
China Dialogue - www.chinadialogue.net/
CSR China - www.csrchina.net/
CSR News - www.csr-news.net/
Ethics World - www.ethicsworld.org/
Karmayog - www.karmayog.org

Best regards,
Vivian Ho
Salvo Global
Tel: +65 6297 8545
DID: +65 6305 1363
Fax: +65 6336 1716
Email: vivian@salvoglobal.com
www.salvoglobal.com

Researched & Organised By Salvo Global, Corporate Communications Series

23rd International Autumn Trade Fair 2008

23rd International Autumn Trade Fair 2008
The Window to Consumer Goods Market

International Autumn Trade Fair (IATF) is the one and only trade exhibition in the MENA region which offers a comprehensive opportunity platform for global consumer goods industry.

Over the last 22 years, IATF has emerged as an acknowledged vantage point for the global consumer goods players keen to expand their foot prints in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) market. The fair also provides a key opportunity and a stepping stone to new companies to enter the regional market.

The success of IATF was amply reflected in last year’s exhibition which attracted over 800 exhibitors from across the world. In its last year’s edition, IATF attracted around 13,000 visitors from across the region, which is a testimony to the attractive proposition the show offers to global consumer goods companies.

IATF 2008 offers a great opportunity for consumer goods companies ranging from cosmetics to diary products to assess the potential and tap the MENA market.


The largest annual showing of Hong Kong consumer products in the Middle East returns to Dubai for the fifth time, from December 15-18, 2008 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC).

Style Hong Kong in Dubai will showcase innovative products from more than 250 Hong Kong companies ranging from electronics, household appliances and giftware to the latest hotel supplies and hot, new construction materials.

Style Hong Kong in Dubai will be held concurrently with the 23rd International Autumn Trade Fair (IATF), the largest trade fair of its kind in the Middle East.



EXHIBIT PROFILE



1. Arts, Antiques and Handicrafts
2. Artificial Flowers
3. Automobiles and Auto Parts
4. Bags (Travel,school,formal, casual, etc.)
5. Building materials, carpets and wall carvings
6. Chemical and Allied Products
7. Cosmetics, Perfumes and Beauty Aids
8. Crystal wares & Chandeliers
9. Dairy Products and Euipment
10. Detergent & Household chemicals
11. Electronics & Electricals
12. Fashionwear & Accessories
13. Fresh,Frozen & Canned foods
14. Furniture (Office & Home)
15. Gifts & Novelties



16. Glassware & Porcelain
17. Hardware & DIY
18. Houseware & Kitchenware
19. Household & Domestic Appliances
20. Imitation & Fashion Jewellery
21. Leather & Leather Products
22. Lights,Lamps & Fixtures
23. Office Equipment
24. Pictures, Painting & Graphic Arts
25. Plastic Household Products
26. Promotional Giveaways & Plaques
27. Sanitaryware & Accessories
28. Sports and Leisure Goods
29. Textiles & Readymade Garments
30. Toys, Games & Stationery
31. Watches & Clocks, etc..etc.etc….it’s a wide variety!!!





EVENT DETAILS

Name of the Event: 23ND INTERNATIONAL AUTUMN TRADE FAIR 2008
Dates: 15 – 18 DECEMBER 2008
Venue: DUBAI INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION CENTRE, DUBAI, UAE
Admission Policy: TRADE VISITORS ONLY
Timings: 10:30 AM to 6:30 PM Daily






PARTICIPATION CHARGES
Option 1

Option 2
Space Only
(Minimum 36 sqm)
INDOOR: US $ 305/- PER SQUARE METER

Shell Scheme Package
(minimum 9 sqm)
INDOOR: US $ 325/- PER SQUARE METER

Poland launches e-communication

The Government of Poland has launched a new e-communication system—Sekap—to facilitate internal communication between the different administrative offices of the region and to provide improved e-services to citizens and businesses.

The new system, officially launched on April 25 this year in Silesia, will provide e-services of all regional administrative offices and would centralised all requests, reports ePractice.

Sekap, which is available to three million citizens and 7 000 civil servants and is open for use by other regional governments if they so wish, will help in reducing the operational cost and improve services in the region.

So far, the new platform has provided services relating to online registration, identity cards and business activity like certificates, decisions and permits.

Besides allowing users to set up a personal email box to manage their communications with the administration and to follow the progress of their files, the site allows users to submit applications using a special electronic form.

Supported by the European Union through the Regional Development Fund, the new system will include basic elements such as a system for the circulation of documents, a public services platform, a system for the automatic verification of electronic signatures, a platform for electronic forms, an on-line payments system and a security system.

Eating Smaller Meals No Use in Curbing Weight

A new study has found that eating smaller meals is of no help in losing weight.


Dieticians put theory to practice when they asked 179 obese Australians to eat smaller meals more often.

The volunteers were split into two groups. One group ate three times a day, while the other added in three extra snack to speed up fat-burning by boosting metabolism.

Their finding - it didn't help the participants lose weight.

"There seems to be little benefit to changing how often or how regularly you eat if you're trying to lose weight," The Australian quoted lead researcher Michelle Palmer, a dietician at the University of Newcastle, as saying.

"We found it's not when you eat that matters, but what and how much you eat.

"Many people find it hard enough to stick to a healthy eating plan to lose weight, let alone worrying about any suggested benefits of snacking or not snacking," she said.

Tim Crowe, a nutrition specialist at Deakin University in Melbourne, said that instead of the "faddish dieting trend", people should focus on how much and what they're eating.

"It's rubbish. In fact, there's some research to suggest playing around with when you eat may actually cause you to put weight on. It's best if they focus on how much they're eating and of course what they're eating," he said.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

Microsoft, OLPC to deliver affordable computing

Microsoft and One Laptop per Child (OLPC) on Thursday announced an agreement that will make the Microsoft Windows operating system available on OLPC’s low-cost XO laptops for the world’s poorest children.

The availability of Windows, in addition to Linux, on the XO laptop will allow customers to have an expanded choice of operating environments that best fit their requirements.

The intention is to create a version of the XO laptop that provides the ability to host both Windows and Linux operating systems, giving users the ability to run either on the XO laptop, Microsoft said.

This initiative will opens the door for students and educators to access the benefits of existing Windows-based educational software and tools, as well as a broad ecosystem that provides extensive relevant and local educational content, the company stated.

It further said that, through this agreement, trials of the XO running Windows are planned to begin as soon as June in key emerging markets.

“By supporting a wide variety of affordable computing solutions for education that includes OLPC’s XO laptop, we aim to make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable for students everywhere,” Microsoft Chief Research and Strategy Officer Craig Mundie said.

OLPC Founder and Chairman Nicholas Negroponte said that the announcement, coupled with future plans for a dual boot version of the XO laptop, enhances the OLPC’s ability to transform education by bringing connectivity and constructionist learning to the poorest children throughout the world.

Save the Children CIO Edward Granger-Happ said that the benefits of Microsoft’s technology platforms for all programme areas offered in conjunction with OLPC’s XO laptop create enormous potential for children and teachers to learn, grow and contribute to their communities.

The adaptation of standard Windows for the XO laptop means that hundreds of thousands of third-party applications and devices available for Windows will now be compatible with the XO laptop, extending the power and advantages of the full Windows ecosystem to XO laptop users, Microsoft said.

France: From e-passport to b-passport

The Government of France has announced that it will do away with its electronic passports and gradually replace with biometric passports containing a digital photo and the fingerprints of their holders.

According to ePractice report, a government decree stated that in future, when the passport application is handed on to the administration, the digital photograph and the prints of eight fingers of the requester will be collected.

It further stated that the fingerprints of children under six years old will not be required for the biometric passports.

Furthermore, the government said that in exceptional cases and evidence-based emergency, passports without any electronic components can be delivered for one year.

The government informed that the dates for the implementation of the new system in metropolitan France, French overseas departments and territories and for the citizens living abroad have not been determined due to regulatory issues.

Rajasthan to e-record ancient coins

Soon scholars and researchers will be able to use digital records of ancient coins. The Government of Rajasthan is planning to digitise and prepare e-catalogues for the existing ancient coins for Archaeology and Museum Department in Jaipur.

The state government has decided this because of the challenges faced in preserving these coins for longer period with various expensive and repetitive conservation methods like chemical treatment to keep the objects in good condition.

Besides creating, capturing, managing, delivering and archiving large volume of coins and contents, the system will enable these to manage unstructured contents. It will handle scanned coins, electronic data output with equal efficiency and ease.

The new system will automate paper shuffle and effectively route information to appropriate persons while being flexible enough to handle exceptions to the rules, the state government said.

It will also save time and money by reducing photocopying, hand delivery and repetitive dragging and dropping. The e-catalogue will put documents in the reach of citizens when they need them through a single knowledge repository.

This initiative would help the state government not only to archive old and legacy coins into appropriate category but also to build an online digital library and repository which enable quick retrieval of information whenever and wherever required.

Once the documentation of the coins has been completed, the images of coins with their technical details can be kept on CD, DVD or computer hard disk and the department can make the requested coin data available for study and research to students without any difficulty.

This will not only address the problem of accessibility, it will also mean that the security of the coins is not compromised as the strong room and double lock need not be opened every time a student or scholar needs to see the coin.

Besides it will also free the department’s additional personnel, who are required to be present for opening the double lock, for other work.

The second advantage of documentation is that if, in a few years time, the state government wants to make the entire or part coin database available online, the documented data can be easily used for that and be uploaded.

Thirdly, the documented data can be used for bringing out catalogues and publications by the department.

The documentation will be a big safeguard of the coin heritage as it will act as a deterrent against loss and theft due to misuse of authority or any other reason.

Besides the documentation will be a very handy administrative tool in matters of taking up or relinquishing charge by curators or even periodic audits.

India to set up 1,500 more ITIs

With a view to harness skill potential across the country 1,500 more Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 50,000 Skills Development Centres will be set up under the proposed ‘Skills Development Mission’of the Government of India.

Addressing the Skills World 2008’ summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Aspire, Ministry of Labour and Employment’s Employment and Training Director General Sharda Prasad added that the Ministry has embarked on setting up Sectoral Councils as part of the government’s Skills Development Policy.

The government wants to play the role of a facilitator in this field, Prasad said, inviting the industry to join hands with it to create a road map for solving this problem.

He said that skills development and unemployment is a core concern not just in India but worldwide and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) are the key to realising India’s vast potential in this area and achieving socially equitable and inclusive growth.

“From a global perspective India is doing better than it thinks its doing in the field of HR, but it needs to build on it for HR today is problem of scale,” Wharton HR Director Peter Cappelli said while speaking at the summit.

He further added that while education providers need to gear up to provide the needed skillsets, the employers need to invest more in training and right hiring.

Fortis Healthcare CEO and MD Shivinder Mohan Singh said that India is on a scorching economic rise for the past few years and the only bottleneck can be not having enough people to do what India needs to do.

Stressing that India’s young population is its demographic dividend and should not allow it to become a demographic divide, Singh said that skills development is a concern not just of industry and GDP but of society, governance and growth.

“Only 39.5 per cent of graduates in India are employable and the challenge is to bridge the HR gap by providing skills training to the other 60 per cent,” Aspire Founder and CEO Amit Bhatia said while launching its India Skills Report Card 2008 at the summit.

The Aspire CEO suggested that India needs to apply supply chain principles to achieve the talent of demand targets and achieve a more equitable social and economic model, besides setting up of Special Education Zones to meet the growing demand.

Meanwhile, the government has given its approval for setting up of coordinated mechanisms encompassing different public and private initiatives with the statement of Vision, Mandate and scope of activities.

The coordinated action would aim at creating a pool of skilled personnel in appropriate numbers with adequate skills in line with the employment requirements across the entire economy.

Waitlist e-tickets available now

Now a passenger will not have to stand in long queues to book a waitlist ticket. In a customer friendly initiative, the Ministry of Railways in India has started the waitlist e-ticketing service through Internet from May 10 this year for all trains.

The Ministry informed that the facility is available on the e-ticketing website of Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC).

After chart preparation, the waitlisted e-ticket may become fully confirmed, or partially confirmed and partially RAC, or partially RAC and partially waitlisted, or remain fully waitlisted, the Ministry said.

In the first three cases, the names of the passengers will appear on the reservation chart and they will be allowed to travel as per the reservation rules, whereas fully waitlisted passengers will not be allowed to board the train as their names will not be included in the chart.

The Ministry further stated that the refunds of fully waitlisted e-tickets after chart preparation will be credited to user or agents’ accounts automatically. The customers need not have to apply for cancellation and refund, as their tickets will be cancelled online by Railways.

Rs 3,796 Cr REC loan for TN power project

Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) in India has sanctioned a term loan of Rs 3,796 crore to NTPC Tamil Nadu Power Company for mega power project in the state.

The project will be commissioned in the Eleventh plan and is likely to add 1,000 MW thermal generation capacity to the state. Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect confirming REC commitment to the project was signed recently in Chennai.

REC has entered into an MoU with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) to provide project finance support of the order of Rs 16,000 crore for the TNEB’s proposed 3,000 MW generation capacity addition and related transmission and distribution network development schemes to be implemented during the Eleventh plan period.

The project, coming up at Kuruvimedu village in Ennore near Chennai, when commissioned will be the first 500 MW thermal unit in the state and is expected to be commissioned in 2010-11, the Ministry of Power said.

The entire work of the plant is awarded to Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), the Ministry added.

Medicos use mobiles of dead to inform their relatives

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Medicos_use_mobiles_of_dead_to_inform_their_relatives_/articleshow/3037480.cms

JAIPUR: It was a peculiar situation for doctors at the Sawai Mansingh hospital -- using the mobile phones of the dead to communicate the unfortunate news to their kins.

According to hospital sources, of nearly 20 bodies that were brought to the hospital, the mobile phones on three dead bodies started ringing.

The doctors, who had declared them brought dead, had to give this unfortunate news to their relatives on the mobiles phones being carried by the victims.

CIC summons IIT professor to explain cut-off formula

From http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/CIC_summons_IIT_professor_to_explain_cut-off_formula/articleshow/3020003.cms

It is a testing challenge to the fairness of what is considered one of the most competitive examinations in the world, IIT-JEE. The chief organiser of the 2006 examination, Prof V K Tewari of IIT Kharagpur, is due to appear on Thursday before the Central Information Commission to account for his failure to explain the basis on which he had arrived at subject-wise cut-off marks.

Tewari has been summoned to show cause why, as "the custodian of the information," he should not be penalized as neither of the versions he gave of the statistical formula tallied with the cut-off marks that had been applied to filter out candidates in the 2006 IIT-JEE.

In response to an RTI application, the information officer of IIT Kharagpur first said that the cut-off formula was "mean minus standard deviation" for all the candidates who had appeared in the examination.

But when the figures that emerged from this formula turned out to be at variance with the cut-off marks that had actually been announced, IIT changed its response and said that the performance of only those who obtained at least one mark in each of the subjects had been taken into account. As it happened, even the second version of the formula did not yield the official cut-off marks, which were 37 in mathematics, 48 in physics and 55 in chemistry.

Worse, because of the vast and unexplained variation in the cut off marks, the less meritorious qualified even within the general category candidates at the expense of those who performed better.

IIT Kharagpur was hard pressed to justify the anomalies that came to light: For instance, a candidate who scored an aggregate of 250 marks failed to qualify simply because he got 52 in chemistry (three less than the cut-off marks in that subject) while another qualified with an aggregate of just 156 marks simply because he happened to get 55 in chemistry.

The summons for Thursday's hearing followed the Calcutta HC's rejection of Tewari's plea to stop CIC from proceeding against him. Information commissioner O P Kejariwal has served a penalty notice on him despite his contention that he has already complied with CIC direction "in letter and spirit" to disclose the cut-off procedure for the 2006 examination.

Since the 2006 examination was the first IIT-JEE to be held after RTI came into force, IIT Kharagpur's inability to come up with a plausible explanation for the cutoff marks of that year cast a shadow on a much-touted system that had been in existence for over four decades.

This prompted the seven IITs to adopt such a liberal approach that for the 2007 examination the subject cut-off marks, as reported first in The Times of India , plunged to single-digit figures (1,4 and 3), making a mockery of their purpose of ensuring that selected candidates displayed a certain minimum level of knowledge in every subject.

In the new procedure, the cut-off marks are pegged to the best marks obtained by the bottom 20% of the candidates in each subject.

(manoj.mitta@timesgroup.com)

Doctor “attacked” in Tirunelveli

The district treasurer of Doctors’ Association for Social Equality, K. Shunmugaraja, sustained serious cut injury on the head on Monday when a land mafia allegedly attacked him with the sickle and clubs.

Sources close to the victim and his family said a group of people from Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai were making repeated attempts to forcibly grab doctor’s land at Keezha Veeraraghavapuram opposite Government College of Engineering here “for a throwaway price.”

When the physician, working as the medical officer of Ukkirankottai Primary Health Centre, refused to relent, he was attacked by an armed gang when he had gone to see the land on Monday morning.

Grievous cut injury

With grievous cut injury on the head that required 12 sutures and multiple internal injuries, he has been admitted to a private hospital here.

His condition is said to be stable.

The Central Committee Member of the Communist Party of India, R. Nallakannu, who visited the doctor on Monday evening, told reporters that grabbing of prime properties by land mafia by creating forged documents was on the rise in the State and people were being threatened by gangs to sell their lands for the prices fixed by them.

“This trend should be checked immediately,” the leader urged the Government.

Passenger Death Forces Train Quarantine in Canada

Officials said that a train was quarantined in Canada on Friday after one of the passenger's died from a mystery illness.


But the emergency was soon deflated after laboratory tests found no evidence of infectious disease.

Police and ambulances rushed to the scene in the early morning in the hamlet of Foleyet, a tiny community of less than 300 in northern Ontario, some 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of Toronto, to tend to those with flu-like symptoms and find out what was causing a "mystery" illness.

"At nine o'clock this morning, we were notified of an ongoing emergency health situation that was occurring on a Via passenger train which ... was heading to the Toronto area," said Ontario Provincial Police Constable Marc Depatie.

The Via Rail train traveling from Vancouver to Toronto was immediately quarantined, he said.

A woman in her 60s was found dead and six people were ill with flu-like symptoms when the trans-Canada train with 260 passengers and 30 crew made its regular morning stop in Foleyet.

One person was taken by helicopter to an area hospital and was in "stable condition," said Emergency Medical Services regional director Steve Trinier.

Meanwhile, medical personnel tried to determine if there was an infection or communicable disease at play, or whether the sudden sickness was due to toxic environmental exposure, or even food poisoning, he said.

Health Minister Tony Clement also directed federal officials to liaise with provincial, regional and local authorities "both in Foleyet and at all points along the route the train traveled," he said in a statement.


By mid-afternoon, however, officials began to downplay the emergency after tests indicated no presence of an infectious disease and said the train would likely get underway later in the day.


"It has been determined that the deceased did most likely not have an infectious disease," Ontario medical officer David Williams told a press conference.

A passenger who was airlifted to hospital also "does not have an infectious disease," he said.

And five passengers who were isolated on the train were found to have had only "minor" symptoms.

What caused the one passenger's death "is unknown at this time," Williams added. But "it has been determined that the evacuation of surrounding communities is not necessary."

One passenger who sat in the same coach as the deceased woman reported shortness of breath, but doctors determined that it was likely "an exacerbation of an underlying medical condition," Williams said.

Of the five who "felt unwell before they got on the train," one of them had seen a doctor in western Canada before the trip and was diagnosed with a viral or sinus infection that was treated with antibiotics, he said.

Earlier, Michael Gardam, director of the University Health Network's infection prevention and control, had predicted the quarantine was just a "precautionary measure."

He pointed out that panic and fear in 2003 overwhelmed Ontario's capital Toronto, also the nation's largest city and economic hub, after some 400 cases of the often deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) were reported.

Related emergency healthcare costs, lost tourism revenues and other economic fallout in Toronto topped one billion dollars.

"The reality is you have to take these things seriously, even though usually they turn out to not be anything particularly serious," Gardam said.

Police said the dead woman had boarded the train in Jasper, Alberta. They are now investigating possible foul play, Constable Depatie told AFP.

Source-AFP
RAS/L

Novel Way to Fight Cancer

Researches in the US have identified a new way to fight cancer.


Using gene therapy, plastic surgeons delivered cancer-fighting proteins through skin flaps (a mass of healthy tissue) placed on cancerous tumours on rats and found a 79 percent reduction in tumour volume.

While this new delivery technique, which is yet to be tested in humans, did not cause toxicity in the body of rats, administering the same anti-tumour agent intravenously in humans has previously been shown to cause liver damage.

"This new technique may allow us to reprogram skin flaps, using gene therapy, to provide a blueprint for anti-tumour agents like Interleukin-12 to be produced in the tumour to kill cancer, while avoiding adverse side effects," said Geoffrey Gurtner, MD, American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) Member and study senior author.

"In this study we took skin flaps in animal models and delivered IL-12 directly to the tumour area with tremendous success. Since skin flaps are used thousands of times each year in cancer patients, this may potentially open up an entirely new area in plastic surgery and bring the specialty, once again, to the centre of medicine," he added.

Gene therapy has been heralded as a new tool to restrain or prevent tumour growth and recurrence in humans.

However, its use has been limited because of serious side effects and the difficulty in concentrating anti-tumour agents at the site of the cancer.
In the new study, skin flaps taken from rats were injected with the gene for IL-12 into the flaps' blood supply. The flaps were then placed onto cancerous tumours on the rats.


Researchers found a 79 percent reduction in tumour volume for animals treated with IL-12 as compared to control animals.

According to the study, the treatment allowed individual cells within the flap to become encoded with IL-12 and function as 'miniature factories' producing the IL-12 protein at very high levels in the tumour site.

Besides this, the serious side effects previously documented with systemic use of IL-12 were not found in the treated rats. The liver, lung and spleen remained normal throughout the study.

Researchers also found that the delivery technique through free flaps did not cause liver toxicity, whereas using IL-12 intravenously in humans has been shown to cause liver damage.

"This could be a major advance for the delivery of a therapeutic agent to diseased parts of the body. I can see this therapy being used for breast cancer, head and neck cancers, central nervous system malignancies, and somewhere down the line hemophilia, diabetes and infections," said Dr. Gurtner.

The study is published in the May issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of ASPS.

Source-ANI
SAV/L

Govt Hospital in Southern India (Stanley to Start Stem Cell Laboratory

A southern Indian government hospital is to set up a stem cell research laboratory to treat liver diseases. This is expected to benefit the poor.


The Stanley Medical College in Chennai, capital of the southern Indian state of Chennai, is setting up the laboratory at a cost of Rs.15 crore.

“Stem cell research is growing by leaps and bounds, and government hospitals too should take the plunge,” said Dr R Surendran, head of the department of surgical gastroenterology.

The hospital will develop a therapy for end-stage liver diseases, for which the only option now is liver transplant. “We would have a liver transplant centre by December, but the problem with liver transplant is that the donor is also put to a certain amount of risk. One out of 200 donors die,” Dr.Surendran noted.

The hospital, he said, will not apply stem cells on patients until they are convinced with the animal trials. “We will have to see if we could isolate stem cells from adult cells first,” said Rosy Vennila, professor of microbiology.

The hospital, which handles more than 13,000 deliveries and abortions per year, will use cord blood and placenta as the main source of stem cells for the research. Besides these, a small portion of healthy liver tissues dissected along with the diseased liver during surgeries can also be sources of stem cells, writes Pushpa Narayan in Times of India.
Unlike the cells drawn from the embryo, not all cells in the cord blood or adult tissues are stem cells. “They have to be isolated from other cells,” she said. After screening the blood and tissues for diseases like hepatitis, HIV and rubella, the search for stem cells begins. The stem cells would be isolated and later developed in a cultured medium. After sorting the right stem cell, it is injected into animals for preliminary tests.


“It’s essential to check if we have the right stem cells because studies have shown that some cells can even cause cancers. But there has been success too. In October 2006, scientists in England created the first ever artificial liver cells using umbilical cord blood stem cells. We are sure we can do the same here,” she said.

Given that stem cell treatments are extremely expensive, the new effort would be a welcome initiative in a country where proper healthcare is still the privilege of a minority, it is pointed out.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Spice Up Your Virtual Sex Life With Motion-capture Suits

No matter how beautiful the sex animations are on the virtual playground, they can't compete with the movement of your own body. But soon you will be able to slip into motion-capture suits to capture those uniquely natural moves and engage your entire body in online sexual adventures, rather than limping along with keyboard and mouse.


Kevin Alderman, who's already infamous for the sex animations his company Strokerz Toyz creates for Second Life, is developing a wireless, consumer-level motion-capture suit that's expected to hit shelves in 2009.

"Right now only a dozen or so sites on the web offer downloadable mocap files," Wired News quoted him, as saying.

"You have to wait until some studio becomes benevolent enough to make the animations you want, or you have to engage them for your specific needs," he added.

Personal motion-capture suits will enable residents to contribute sex animations to the world of their choice, and to develop scenarios tailored to their own deepest desires, especially if they team up with others who also have the suits.

Source-ANI
SPH

A Cure for HIV Through Computer Games

Game designers have spent countless years of collective brainpower to rescuing princesses or protecting the planet against alien invasions but now researchers at the University of Washington are trying to use those skills to make medical discoveries, perhaps even finding a cure for HIV.


They have developed a new game, named Foldit, a three-dimensional Tetris, which is the latest incarnation of a project, called Rosetta@home that uses spare computer time, via a screensaver, to work out how proteins fold.

Proteins are the building blocks of life inside cells; they are first made as long chains of molecules and work properly only after they have folded into their final shape.

However, understanding the rules of protein folding remains one of biology's central problems.

"We're hopefully going to change the way science is done, and who it's done by. Our ultimate goal is to have ordinary people play the game and eventually be candidates for winning the Nobel Prize," said Zoran Popovic, a UW associate professor of computer science and engineering.

Foldit is the first protein-folding project that asks volunteers for something other than unused processor cycles on their computers or Playstation machines.

The game also differs from recent human-computer interactive games that use humans' ability to recognize images or interpret text.

Instead, Foldit capitalizes on people's natural 3-D problem-solving skills.

Eventually, the researchers hope to advance science by discovering protein-folding prodigies who have natural abilities to see proteins in 3-D.
"Some people are just able to look at the game and in less than two minutes, get to the top score. They can't even explain what they're doing, but somehow they're able to do it," said Popovic.


Further, the researchers hope to present a medical nemesis, such as HIV or malaria, and challenge players to devise a protein with just the right shape to lock into the virus and deactivate it.

The game was developed by doctoral student Seth Cooper and postdoctoral researcher Adrien Treuille, both in computer science and engineering, working with Popovic; David Baker, a UW professor of biochemistry and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; and David Salesin, a UW professor of computer science and engineering.

Professional game designers provided advice during the game's creation.

The project was at the Games for Health meeting in Baltimore.

Source-ANI
SPH

Vital Cancer Gene Discovered by Indian Scientist

A gene that causes cancer has been discovered by a research team that was headed by an Indian scientist.


Cancer biologist Shrikant Anant and colleagues at the OU Cancer Institute have found that the gene RBM3 can cause cells to become cancerous and cause cancer cells to die.

The gene and its protein, both called RBM3, are vital for cell division in normal cells. In cancers, low oxygen levels in the tumours cause the amount of this protein to go up dramatically. This causes cancer cells to divide uncontrollably, leading to increased tumour formation.

Researchers used new powerful technology to genetically "silence" the protein and reduce the level of RBM3 in cancerous cells. The approach stopped cancer from growing and led to cell death. The new technique has been tested successfully on several types of cancers - breast, pancreas, colon, lung, ovarian and prostate.

"We are excited about this discovery because most cancers are thought to come from mutations in genes, and our studies, for the first time, have shown that too much of this type of protein actually causes normal cells to turn into cancer cells," Nature quoted Anant, Ph.D., a cancer biologist at the OU Cancer Institute and principal investigator on the project, as saying.

Anant said they found RBM3 protein in every stage of many cancers, and the amount of protein increased as the cancer grew. The protein helped the cancer grow faster, avoid cell death and was part of the process that formed new blood vessels to feed the tumour. This process, called angiogenesis, is essential for tumour growth and suggests that targeting RBM3 may be an extremely powerful tool against many and perhaps all solid tumours," he said.


The next step for Anant, Dr. Courtney Houchen and their research team at the OU Health Sciences Center is to develop agents that block the protein function in a variety of cancers.

Anant said that his team expects to start clinical trials at OU in about five years.

The study appears in Nature's cancer journal Oncogene.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

A Mail Forward - Jesus Saves !!!!

Our God reigns in deed and in truth.*

A Muslim man in Egypt killed his wife because she was reading the Bible and then buried her with their infant baby and 8-year old daughter. The girls were buried alive! He then reported to the police that an uncle killed the kids. 15 days later, another family member died. When they went to bury him, they found the 2 little girls under the sand - ALIVE !

The country is outraged over the incident, and the man will be executed. The older girl was asked how she had survived. 'A man wearing shiny white clothes, with bleeding wounds in his hands, came every day to feed us. He woke up my mom so she could nurse my sister,' she said. She was interviewed on Egyptian national TV, by availed Muslim woman news anchor. She said on public TV, 'This was none other than Jesus, because nobody else does things like this!'

Muslims believe Isa (Jesus) would do this, but the wounds mean He really was crucified, and it's clear also that He is alive! But, it's also clear that the child could not make up a story like this, and there is no way these children could have survived without a true miracle.

Muslim leaders are going to have a hard time to figure out what to do with this, and the popularity of the Passion movie doesn't help! With Egypt at the centre of the media and education in the Middle East , you can be sure this story will spread.

Jesus Christ is still turning the world upside down! Please let this story be shared. The Lord says, 'I will bless the person who puts his trust in me. 'Jeremiah 17

Please forward this to all on your list

Govt sop to TN for new industries

In a bid to boost industrial investment in developing southern distrits of Tamil Nadu, the Government of India has relaxed norms providing special incentives for industrial investment of over Rs 50 crore as against the earlier limit of Rs 250 crore.

Welcoming the government’s initiative, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in Tamil Nadu State Council said that this renewed focus towards the industrial development of southern districts would ensure balanced regional development across the state.

CII Tamil Nadu State Council Chairman Manikam Ramaswami said that the southern districts contribute over 20 per cent of state gross domestic product (SGDP) and has the potential to lead Tamil Nadu to the forefront on industrial development.

The CII SPEED (Southern Prosperity through Enhanced Economic Development) initiative had put the spotlight on promoting and empowering the southern districts of the state for both industry and government.

The state government offer to give incentives to investors setting up industrial projects in southern districts based on a lower limit will help to create balanced growth, CII said.

“Similarly the focus on lesser known districts around Chennai will ensure equitable growth and reduce concentration of industrial activities around specific industrial centres,” Ramaswami said.

He further added that the move to prioritise employment in such new ventures to local people is a welcome step in this direction.

CII strongly believes that the government’s move to develop industrial parks in Tuticorin and Thirumangalam will open new windows of opportunities to both local and multinational companies looking at the state as a preferred investment destination.

The government announcement to deepen the draught in Tuticorin Port to enable entry of larger cargo carriers is timely as this will help more mother vessels to call on our ports, CII stated.

It further said that this will ensure elimination of cargo getting transhipped at Colombo and would result in saving time and money for the exporters in southern Tamil Nadu, especially the textiles and granite exporters.

UN to help postal sector go ‘green’

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) have signed an agreement to slash the carbon dioxide emissions caused by the postal sector.

Under the agreement, both the agencies will work together to calculate the quantity of greenhouse gas emissions created by postal services around the globe, including a survey of buildings and an assessment of the mileage covered and fuel consumed by vehicles.

Once emissions have been calculated, UNEP will help the UPU develop a method to quantify the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the postal sector.

Together the two agencies plan to offer a range of solutions to postal operators in the UPU’s 191 member states, focusing on ways to cut greenhouse gases.

The UPU said that 6.6 lakh postal establishments use some 2.5 lakh motorcycles, over six lakh cars, vans and trucks, as well as hundreds of aircraft, to deliver mail to the four corners of the world. In addition, tonnes of paper are used for daily communications.

The agency further said that the sector therefore has a significant role to play in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

“By joining our forces we are bringing the issue of sustainability to one of the major global networks, the postal service, which not only has a massive responsibility to connect the world but also has a significant footprint,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said.

The UPU is a member of the UN’s Environment Management Group, and has formed a global network of correspondents within the postal operators of its member countries to help raise awareness, within the worldwide postal sector, of the importance of adopting green policies and sharing best practices.

Many posts today recognise the impact of their activities on the environment, and have adopted environmental policies accordingly, the UNEP said.

Some of them have acquired non-polluting vehicles and use eco-friendly materials, actively participate in recycling programmes, or have adopted green purchasing policies, the agency added.

Govt failure caused Bird Flu in Tripura: PETA

Recent outbreak of Bird Flu in Tripura was a result of failure of the state government in maintaining basic standards of cleanliness on poultry farms.

In a recent report the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (PETA) said there was a deadly link between farm filth and Bird Flu.

Leading health experts—including those at the United Nations—have also blamed filthy conditions in poultry farms for the spread of the deadly H5N1 strain of Bird Flu, PETA claimed.

“The PETA had warned the Tripura government of an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 virus last year. A video footage of crowded and filthy chicken and egg farm houses was also sent to the Tripura government to solidify its findings,” PETA campaign coordinator Nikunj Sharma said.

In 2005, approximately two billion chickens were slaughtered in India. Chickens are crammed by the tens of thousands into dark, filthy sheds, where the ammonia from the birds’ accumulated waste actually burns their eyes.

Because of the filthy and cramped conditions that chickens raised for meat and eggs are forced to endure, disease is rampant. The Environmental Defence Fund also explains, “Antibiotics are routinely fed to healthy livestock and poultry to make them gain weight faster and to compensate for unsanitary living conditions.”

Indian health officials confirmed a Bird Flu outbreak among poultry in the north-eastern state of Manipur last year.

According to the World Health Organisation, out of the 342 registered cases of the H5N1 strain of bird flu, 211 people have died in 13 countries.

Factory farms provide the perfect environment for the virus to strike. Because of the intense confinement of the animals, the deadly virus could spread like wildfire.

Humans handling infected birds are prone to this disease, and experts fear that the virus will eventually mutate into a form that is transmissible from human to human, setting off a catastrophic worldwide pandemic. Five people have been found to have Bird Flu symptoms in India.

In its report, PETA suggests that the welfare standards recommended by the UK’s Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) should be used as the basic guidelines for the treatment of chickens in the poultry industry.

“The government cannot wash their hands of this by blaming the Bangladesh government for the outbreak of bird flu when conditions in their own poultry farms are conducive to the outbreak of the same deadly virus. Had the government been proactive in taking appropriate measures, the pandemic could have been averted,” the PETA Campaigns Coordinator added.

India plans to merge land record schemes

The Department of Land Resources in India has proposed that its land records computerisation project be merged with its other initiative of updating the records for strengthening of the revenue administration in the country.

Stating this at a Parliamentary Consultative Committee Meeting of his Ministry, the Union Minister for Rural Development Dr Raghuvansh Prasad Singh informed that a proposal has been made to merge the two schemes of Computerisation of the Land Records (CLR) and Strengthening of Revenue Administration and Updating of Land Records (SRA&ULR).

“This will benefit the citizens in a big way as the new structure will ensure that they get all land records and related documents from a single source, thereby saving the time and effort involved,” Singh said adding that the PPP mode of service delivery will further reduce citizens’ interface with government and, hence, “the associated problems.”

Stressing on the need for upkeep of land records for a comprehensive development of the rural areas, Singh said that the initiative will consider district as a unit, where all activities of the programme will converge.

However, it will be the responsibility of the states and union territories (UTs) to prepare and submit perspective plans indicating time frames for covering all the districts.

The Minister said that access of the records will be in real time enabling the department to provide up to date data, besides guaranteeing significant reduction in fraud, dispute and litigation.

The proposed step is also aimed at helping the department improve planning of management schemes, land use planning like tracking of cultivation status and timely intervention in situations like food crisis, land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation of the displaced population.

Besides, it will also help in distribution of ceiling surplus, Bhoodan, or waste-lands to the SC and ST and other beneficiaries, besides bringing in better accountability and transparency in the system and for disaster management, the Minister said.

Stressing on the the need for a proper system of land resource management Singh said that with 9.17 crore ownership holdings in India having five to six parcels per holding, computerisation of existing records and scanning of existing survey maps was a critical component of the development plan.

India has nearly 14 crore land owners and 43 crore records spread over 6.4 lakh villages of 4,882 tehsils and taluks in 1,252 sub-divisions and 602 districts of the country.

Boy Killed by Inmates at Juvenile Home in South Indian City

An observation home meant to reform child offenders is proving to be a horror home for innocent children, filled with instances of physical torture, sexual assault and now the killing of a 14-year old boy by fellow inmates yesterday.


Mubarak Ali was murderously assaulted by fellow inmates at the juvenile home in Coimbatore, a city in Southern India, barely two days after he was taken into the home.

The boy had run away from his uncle’s house in Erisarampatti village near Pollachi last Friday. Police picked him up on “suspicion” when he was moving aimlessly in the busy Gandhipuram area. The child welfare committee that handed him over to the observation home had in fact, unwittingly signed his death warrant.

On Tuesday, Mubarak was allegedly beaten up by a group of ten boys who are said to hold criminal records of grave offences.

The boy suffered multiple injuries but fearing a fresh assault, suffered silently for an agonizing four hours till he vomited uncontrollably during the lunch hour.

He told his teacher Latha that he had been beaten and a civil surgeon attached to the home was notified immediately. When his condition was seriously deteriorating, Mubarak was admitted with severe ”chest contusions” to the Coimbatore general hospital at 6 pm on Tuesday. He was declared dead on Wednesday morning. An inquiry has been instituted into the killing.

Mubarak Ali’s mother, Hainisa Begum was seen wailing over her son’s body, “What offence did my son do? Why did they kill him?”
The boy’s father Musthafa who works in a bakery in Tirupur said he had left his son at his brother’s house at Erisarampatti, over 50 km from Coimbatore. The father said that he hit his son because he was mischievous and hence the boy ran away from his uncle’s house.


The 90-year-old observation home, located on a 30-cent land has around 46 boys below 18 years, many of them convicted for criminal offences.

The home was started in 1921 by an NGO, Discharged Prisoners’ Aid Society and is supervised by the district collector.

The home that has seen boys frequently escaping from the premises is guarded by a watchman and lacks adequate fencing.

“This home has always been a problem with boys escaping from the premises quite often,” said the assistant commissioner of police, D.Chandra Senan.

Though it is run by an NGO, inmates say that the home is actually controlled by “five big boys” with criminal records like murder, burglary and theft. The five boys are locked up in separate rooms at nights but inmates say they do come into the dormitory at nights and that the sole non-formal educator and an elderly administrative officer “look away” helplessly when the five boys bully the other children.

An official of the reform home said that they had repeatedly urged the Juvenile Welfare Board to shift the “five big boys” to the Vellore observation home, adding that Mubarak would not have died had the boys been shifted.

A preliminary study of observation homes in Patna, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Lucknow, Ranchi and Bangalore conducted by the National Commission of Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has observed that “poor sanitation, over-crowded rooms and lack of productive work” are furthering crime and juvenile delinquency.

Experts conducting the study observed, “Sub-standard food, poor sanitation, no water, no productive activity for children and worst of all, no segregation between children in conflict with law and those in need of care and protection were common problems in the homes we visited.”

Source-Medindia
THK/L

Medical Immigration Plans Pose Risk to Patients: BMA

Government attempts to restrict career opportunities for overseas doctors in the UK could threaten patient services, the BMA says.


Last week the House of Lords ruled against government guidance restricting training opportunities for doctors on the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HSMP). Under the new points-based immigration system, overseas doctors who already have HSMP status will be able to compete for training posts with their UK colleagues.

However, the Department of Health is still consulting on other proposals to manage medical migration, including charging overseas doctors for their postgraduate training.

The BMA’s response to the consultation calls for long-term workforce planning rather than “knee-jerk reactions”. It says that “removing the pool of International Medical Graduates from the UK altogether will destabilise rotas” and warns that this would “ultimately place patients at risk”.

Dr Terry John, Chairman of the BMA’s International Committee, says:

“International medical staff are keeping services running. Three in ten junior doctors are now working on an understaffed rota – partly a result of the fact that many of our overseas colleagues have already grown disillusioned and left the NHS.

“We agree that in the long-term the UK should be able to produce and sustain its own medical workforce. However, knee-jerk solutions are likely to have a negative impact on services. There is an urgent need to improve workforce planning so we can be realistic about the chances of training and working in this country.”
From August 2009, the number of hours junior doctors can spend in hospital will fall from 56 a week to 48 as a result of the European Working Time Directive. The BMA response says this heightens the risks posed by a smaller pool of overseas doctors: “In the long-term the BMA is concerned that the introduction of the guidance would have significant repercussions on workforce capacity.”


While the BMA welcomes a debate on numbers of doctors coming to the UK in future, it has consistently argued for the rights of those already working in the NHS, pointing out that they arrived in the legitimate expectation of competing for training opportunities.



Source-BMA
SRM

Breast Cancer Tumours Grows Faster in Younger Women Than Older Ones

A new approach to estimate tumour growth, developed by scientists at the Department of Etiological Research, Cancer Registry of Norway, has indicated that the growth of breast cancer tumours is faster in younger women as compared to older women.


This new model, developed by Harald Weedon-Fekjær of the Department of Etiological Research, Cancer Registry of Norway and colleagues, can also determine the proportion of breast cancers which are detected at screening (screen test sensitivity).

In addition, it also provides a new approach to simultaneously estimating the growth rate of breast cancer and the ability of mammography screening to detect tumours.

The results of the study have demonstrated that tumour growth rates vary considerably among patients, with generally slower growth rates with increasing age at diagnosis.

While earlier studies of tumour growth rates in people have were based mainly on small and selected samples, the new approach deals with a very large population of breast cancer patients included in the Norwegian Breast Cancer Screening Program.

The new model was applied to cancer incidence and tumour measurement data from 395,188 women aged between 50 and 69 years old.

It was found that tumour growth varies considerably between subjects. About one in twenty tumours double in size in just over a month from 10 to 20mm, while similar numbers took more than six years to grow to this size. They estimated the mean time for a tumour to double in size from 10 to 20 mm in diameter is 1.7 years.
"There are enormous implications for the sensitivity of breast cancer screening programs. We found that mammography screen test sensitivity (STS) increases sharply with increased tumour size, as one might expect. Detection rates are just 26 percent for a 5 mm tumour but increase to 91 percent once a tumour is 10 mm in size" explained Weedon-Fekjær.


The details of the study are published in BioMed Central's open access journal, Breast Cancer Research.

Source-ANI
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Role of a Key Protein in Fighting Meningitis Found

A new study by researchers at University of Leicester has found that a blood protein plays a key role in fighting meningitis.


The study also reveals that the same protein, Properdin can also harm internal organs under certain circumstances.

Lack of the protein in the human body has previously been linked to susceptibility to meningitis.

"I have a broad interest in immune mechanisms of health and disease, though recently, I have focused on a particular component of the first line immune defence, a protein called Properdin," said Dr Cordula Stover, of the Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation at the University of Leicester.

"Properdin deficiency in families, though rare, predisposes people to develop meningococcal meningitis, usually with poor outcome of the infection.

"I hypothesized that the importance of Properdin extends beyond this particular infectious disease, and that indeed it is an important player in health generally, and that its importance becomes apparent in conditions involving both acute and chronic states of inflammation," said Stover.

Now two of Dr Stover's papers, published in the Journal of Immunology, demonstrate that Properdin plays a significant role in the survival of conditions relating to surgical perforation of the gut and activation of the immune system by wall components of bacteria.

In conditions relating to multi-organ dysfunction, a complication which can occur in response to severe sepsis, Properdin however aggravates organ damage.

Dr Stover added: "So far, the system Properdin is a part of - the so-called complement system - is classified as a first line, innate, acutely effective immune activation mechanism.
"My work shows that the activity of Properdin extends beyond the acute phase and, importantly, that Properdin is stepping onto the stage as an important player in different inflammatory conditions.


"As the worldwide burden of chronic inflammatory disease increases, it is of practical relevance to understand the contribution of this immune protein."

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Debate on Whether Patients Be Allowed to Buy the Treatment They Want

Last weeks ruling about the Alzheimer’s drug Aricept, is one of numerous decisions not to fund some treatments under the National Health Service (NHS) that have been vigorously disputed. But should patients be allowed to purchase such treatments privately rather than go without?


Two experts debate the issue on BMJ.com today.

The supplementing of NHS care with private treatment is already widespread and the practice will become more common as the finite budget of the NHS becomes less able to cover all the medical care that people want or require, says James Gubb director of the health unit at Civitas, an independent social policy think tank.

The real issue is that these “top-ups” have been ad hoc, exclusive, unnecessarily expensive, and completely at odds with the purpose of the NHS—that there should be equal access to health care based on equal need—he writes.

The answer, says Gubb, is to create an equitable framework for top-up fees affordable to all, rather than just the wealthy and articulate.

He believes that paying for the cost of a drug as a top-up would allow many more patients to benefit from a drug treatment than if they had to pay for the entire course themselves, and would protect the idea of universal health care for which the NHS stands.

Gubb calls for an insurance type of contract similar to those of many European systems. For example, in the Netherlands, people buy supplementary insurance for health care such as cosmetic surgery and more comprehensive dentistry. This has led to reduced costs, better quality health care, and fees that are affordable to the majority. In fact, 93% of the Dutch population have some form of supplementary insurance, he says.
But Karen Bloor from the University of York, believes that assessing effectiveness against cost is the best way to determine what treatments finite amounts of NHS money should fund. The inevitable rationing of treatments is only acceptable if it is objective, fair, and applies to all, she argues.


Allowing patients to pay top-up fees will greatly reduce the fairness of health care rationing, she writes. NHS patients with exactly the same condition would receive one treatment if they could afford to pay for it, and another if they cannot.

In addition she warns, when the cost of treatment is not paid by the NHS, a strong single purchaser, but by individuals or their insurers, there would be little pressure to keep the prices charged by drug companies down.

So what is the solution?

She believes that if new treatments are judged to have some level of effectiveness, but are not cost effective, drug companies should face incentives to reduce prices so that they become cost effective for use in all NHS patients, rather than just some. “Instead of allowing companies to market limited products to desperate patients, it may be better to link the price of drugs with their value” she says.

“The NHS should be maintained and improved to provide care for all patients, regardless of ability to pay”, she concludes.

Source-BMJ
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Vocal-Cord Cancer may Be Treated by Laser

A novel laser treatment to get rid of early-stage vocal cord cancer has been developed by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).


The treatment, which has now been used in more than 25 patients, effectively restores patients' voices without radiotherapy or traditional surgery, which can permanently damage vocal quality.

"We had previously adapted lasers that target blood vessels to treat precancerous vocal-cord dysplasia and a variety of benign vascular lesions. We have now applied that experience to treat vocal-cord cancer, which is diagnosed in several thousand American patients each year," said Steven Zeitels, MD, director of the MGH Voice Center.

Zeitels' team began applying pulsed lasers to the treatment of early vocal-cord cancer more than five years ago. After successfully treating the first eight patients with the pulsed-dye laser, Zeitels' group switched to the more precise pulsed Potassium-Titanyl-Phosphate (KTP) laser, which is even less likely to damage delicate vocal-cord tissue.

The use of specific wavelengths of laser light to target blood vessels was originally applied to the removal of vascular skin lesions like port-wine stains by Rox Anderson, MD, now director of the MGH Wellman Center of Photomedicine. In a close collaboration with Anderson, Zeitels previously developed application of these angiolytic lasers to benign and precancerous vocal-cord lesions.

Zeitels reported that the first 22 patients receiving pulsed laser treatment for vocal-cord cancer are cancer-free up to 5 years after treatment, without removal of vocal-cord tissue or loss of voice quality. Some have required second or third laser treatments to remove residual disease, but another benefit of the therapy is that it does not rule out future therapeutic options.
Zeitels notes that this treatment has become a standard management approach at MGH and should soon spread to other institutions in the US and abroad. He estimates that 90 percent of patients with early vocal-cord cancer would be candidates for pulsed-KTP laser treatment.


"Currently the optimal angiolytic laser for vocal-cord problems, the pulsed-KTP laser is a critical innovation in the instrumentation arsenal of the laryngeal surgeon," he said.

"It has greatly enhanced the precision by which we can perform many procedures for chronic laryngeal diseases, both in the operating room, accompanied by the surgical microscope, and in the office," he added.

The new option for patients was reported on May 1 at the annual meeting of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association, and the data will soon be published as a supplement to the Annals of Otology, Rhinology, and Laryngology.

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Proteins That Play Major Role in Melanoma Development Identified

Two proteins have been found to play a major role in the development of a mole into a deadly melanoma by Penn State scientists.


The researchers have also demonstrated that therapeutic targeting of these proteins is necessary for drugs to effectively treat this deadly form of cancer.

"We have shown that when two proteins - (V600E)B-Raf and Akt3 - communicate with one another in a mole, they cooperate leading to the development of melanoma," said Gavin Robertson, lead author and associate professor of pharmacology, pathology and dermatology, and director of the Foreman Foundation Melanoma Therapeutics Program at the Penn State College of Medicine Cancer Institute.

"We have also shown that effective therapies for melanoma need to target both these proteins, which essentially eliminates the tumors," he added.

Melanoma is the most deadly form of skin cancer because it metastasizes or moves around the body so quickly.

In recent years, researchers have zeroed in on two key genes - B-Raf and Akt3 - that cause this deadly cancer, and which could be important targets in the treatment of melanoma.

B-Raf is the most mutated gene in melanoma. The mutant protein, (V600E)B-Raf, produced by this gene is important in helping mole cells survive and grow but it is unable to form melanomas on its own.

In the latest study, the research team has found that a second protein - produced by Akt3 - regulates the activity of the mutated B-Raf, which aids the development of melanoma.
"What we have found is a second event that is necessary for melanomas to develop," added Robertson.


While comparing proteins within normal moles and human melanoma cells, the Penn State researchers noticed that the two proteins were communicating with one another only among melanoma cells but not among normal cells.

When the Akt3 protein was put into cells in conjunction with the mutant B-Raf gene, they were better able to form melanomas compared to cells just containing the mutant B-Raf gene.

"This tells us that you can have a mole but it cannot turn into melanoma without the presence of the Akt3 protein," explained Robertson.

While it is still unclear what brings the B-Raf and Akt3 proteins together, the Penn State researchers say they now have a better understanding of how these two proteins interact to cause melanoma.

The initial mutation of the B-Raf gene helps to create moles, but high levels of B-Raf activity due to the mutation prevents the cells from becoming a melanoma. It is only when the Akt3 protein is present in those cells and communicates with B-Raf that it lower its activity, thereby creating favorable conditions within the mole for cells to multiply, and allow them to turn into a melanoma.

Robertson said the discovery could pave the way for newer and more effective treatments for melanoma.

The study is published in the journal Cancer Research.

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Mathematical Formula 'simplifies' Diagnosis of Sleep Problems

A scientist from University of Queensland has developed a mathematical formula that may simplify future diagnosis of sleep problems.


Philip Terrill, a PhD student has created a formula that measures varying breathing patterns of infants, which indicate different sleep states such as active or quiet sleep. He hopes that the same would successfully work for adults.

For the study, Terrill had placed a band around the child's chest that recorded breathing rates. He then analysed using the new formula based on the maths of chaos theory and has been successfully tested on 30 children so far.

The present sleep monitoring method involves an overnight stay in a hospital sleep lab with specialised equipment needing regular attention of a nurse, doctor or sleep technician.

Terrill said that his formula would form the basis of an automated sleep monitoring system that was cheaper and easier to use than current methods.

"In the future, diagnosing a sleep problem may be as simple as putting on a breathing monitor during a night's sleep at home, in your own bed," he said.

"This would mean that those children with sleep problems could be quickly diagnosed and treated appropriately," he added.

Minor infant sleeping problems can result in daytime sleepiness and inattention with prolonged problems causing behavioural and learning difficulties.

Source-ANI
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Study Finds That Maternal Weight Gain Greatly Impacts Foetal Growth

While pregnancy and weight gain go hand in hand, a report by an Indian-origin researcher has cautioned that too much or too less than the recommended amount of weight gain during pregnancy might prove risky not only for the mother but the baby as well.


The new report by Meera Viswanathan, Ph.D., a senior research analyst at the RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence-based Practice Center, is based on a systematic review of 150 studies, between January 1990 and October 2007, examining the short- and long-term effects of maternal weight gain on pregnancy, mothers, fetuses, and children.

The report indicated that there is a strong link between high maternal weight gain and increased foetal growth and infant birth weight, which can create complications during labor if a baby is too big, and can lead to long term health effects for the child.

Besides, high maternal weight gain is also associated with caesarean delivery and weight retention by mothers after childbirth.

Also, the findings of the review confirmed that gaining too little weight during pregnancy can be a problem. Low maternal weight gain is linked to poor foetal growth, lower birth weight, and the chance of a baby being born prematurely.

The report came as a result of the trend that more and more pregnant women in America were overweight and obese, and there were an increasing number of women who gained much more weight in pregnancy than suggested by the Institute of Medicine's 1990 recommendations for maternal weight gain. Also, health officials were worried about an increase in pregnancy complications such as diabetes and caesarean delivery.
In fact, The Institute of Medicine is also reviewing its pregnancy weight guidelines to see if they need to be revised.


"Unfortunately, the existing body of research on maternal weight gain is inadequate to permit a more comprehensive assessment. Most beneficial would be an analysis that considers the risks and potential benefits of various maternal weight-gain scenarios to all women - irrespective of age, race or ethnicity, or their body mass index before they became pregnant. But such an analysis is not possible at this time," said Viswanathan.

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Vitamin D may Help to Extend Life in Chronic Kidney Patients

A new study has revealed that treatment with activated vitamin D can cut death risk among patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), by one-fourth.


Many patients with advanced CKD take the drug calcitriol, an oral form of activated vitamin D, to treat elevated levels of parathyroid hormone.

The study involved 1 418 patients with stage 3 to 4 CKD, which means moderately to severely reduced kidney function.

All patients also had high parathyroid hormone level (hyperparathyroidism) that may contribute to weakening of the bones in CKD.

The team identified one group of patients who were being treated with calcitriol to lower their parathyroid hormone levels and another group who were not receiving calcitriol. During a two-year follow-up period, mortality rates were compared for patients who were and were not taking calcitriol.

"Although activated vitamin D is known to influence many biological processes, previous clinical knowledge is limited to its effect on parathyroid hormone levels," said Dr. Bryan Kestenbaum of the University of Washington in Seattle, study authors.

The findings revealed that the patients taking calcitriol has lowered their death risk by 26 percent. They were also less likely to develop end-stage renal disease, requiring dialysis to replace lost kidney function.

"Recently, there has been an increased focus on the effects of vitamin D beyond those on bone health," said Kestenbaum

"Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and inflammation," he added.
However, the new study showed that treatment with oral activated vitamin D may improve survival in patients with CKD who do not yet require dialysis.


"Randomized clinical trials are needed to test the hypothesis that vitamin D therapy can improve cardiovascular health and survival in CKD," he said.

"Future studies should also examine the role of non-activated vitamin D, which is less expensive and less toxic," he added.

The study appears in August Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

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Genetic Glitch in Mitochondria Linked to AMD Risk

The presence of a genetic variation in the DNA of mitochondria may increase a person's risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a new study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre has revealed.


The researchers focused their study on a particular variation in the mitochondrial genome associated with the disease that occurs in about 10 percent of Caucasians, referred to as mitochondrial haplogroup T.

"Most people don't realize that we have two genomes. We have the nuclear genome - the "human genome" - that makes the cover of all the magazines, and then we also have this tiny genome in mitochondria in every cell," said lead author Dr Jeff Canter, M.P.H., an investigator in the Centre for Human Genetics Research.

"We suspect that this variant will be one of a small group of important genetic variations that underlie AMD. By knowing this, we have a better chance of predicting accurately who will get the disease," he added.

AMD is a condition that affects sharp central vision necessary for everyday activities like reading, driving, watching television, and identifying faces.

A team led by Jonathan Haines, Ph.D and director of the Center for Human Genetics Research had identified a variant in the Complement Factor H (CFH) gene as accounting for up to 43 percent of AMD. Variations in ApoE2 and a gene called LOC387715 on chromosome 10 have also been linked to the disease. They also demonstrated an interaction between the chromosome 10 gene and smoking in raising AMD risk.


The present study including Canter, Haines and Paul Sternberg, also examined variation in these nuclear genes in 280 cases and 280 age-matched controls, and demonstrated that the mitochondrial genome variation was independent of the known nuclear factors.


"We're at the stage where we can use genetic information to predict who is likely to develop AMD well before they actually develop it. Now we can conduct trials of preventive treatments - something's that never been possible before," said Haines.

Sternberg, G.W. Hale Professor and Chairman of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute is currently also leading a trial to test preventive measures in AMD.

"By identifying genetic changes associated with the mitochondria, our results lend additional confirmatory evidence for the role of oxidative stress in AMD. This supports study of interventions that attempt to bolster our antioxidant defenses," said Sternberg.

The study appears in the journal PLoS ONE.

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Opinions Differ on Cancer Risks in Hair-dyeing

A new study finds that using hair dye more than nine times a year increases the risk of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (a form of cancer of the blood cells) by 60 per cent. But opinions differ on whether dyeing is that dangerous.


The study had also found that women who regularly used dyes before the Eighties were at even greater risk because older products contained toxic ingredients not found in today's hair products.

Women who used dark hair dyes were 50 per cent more likely to develop another type of blood cancer - follicular lymphoma. (Colours such as black, brown and red are thought to be more risky because it takes more chemicals to make the darker shades).

The research also suggests the risk of developing another type of cancer is increased by dark colours.

If non-permanent dark dyes are used the risk increases to 70 per cent, according to the study reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

The research was carried out by an international team of scientists, led by Dr Yawei Zhang of Yale School of Public Health in the U.S.

But hair dye manufacturers insist their products are among the most thoroughly tested on sale. And there is no consensus on the issue.

Hair colouring is hugely popular. In the UK, more than 60 per cent of women and around ten per cent of men colour their hair at some point in their lifetime - either at home or in a salon - according to the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association, Daily Mail reports.
Most people dye their hair between six and eight times a year.


Permanent hair dyes - which don't wash out but leave you with 'regrowth' marks - account for around 80 per cent of the market.

The remaining 20 per cent of the market includes non-permanent dyes, such as tints and wash-out colour.

Unlike permanent dyes, which penetrate the hair shaft, non-permanent ones just coat the hair and gradually fade away.

Recently, there were concerns that the widespread use of hair dye - and its consequent presence in the water supply - had increased the risk of bladder cancer in the general population.

In a four-year study funded by the EU, scientists at Queen's University in Belfast discovered last year that dangerous elements in the dyes aren't effectively neutralised by water treatment plants - meaning everyone is effectively at risk.

And earlier this year, the World Health Organisation said some evidence suggested there was an increased risk of bladder cancer in hairdressers and barbers - because they work with these chemicals all the time.

But the study concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to prove long-term use of hair dyes increased customers' risk of developing cancer.

It is thought the bladder is at risk because the body excretes the chemicals through urine, explains Dr Chris Flower, director general of the Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association.

"When you colour your hair, around 90 per cent of the dye sticks to your head," he says. "It's inevitable that some of the dye will be absorbed by the skin. "These compounds are then broken down in the body and passed out through the urine." So should we be worried?

Shamim Khan, a consultant urologist at The London Clinic, says the evidence connecting hair dye and cancer is still inconclusive.

"We can't say there's no risk at all, but the evidence to support the link is still wishy-washy,' he adds. "It's not like the link between smoking and cancer which we know exists. "Incidentally, smoking is also the main cause of bladder cancer.

"Some studies have shown there are chemicals [in hair dye] that could induce cell changes - and thus predispose someone to develop cancer - but this would have to be over a long period of time and there are no clear trends."

Khan also points out that men are four times more likely to develop bladder cancer than women - despite the fact they use hair dye much less.

Women who regularly dye their hair "shouldn't panic about getting lymphoma", confirms Henry Scowcroft, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK.

"Although this study did find a link between some types of hair dye and some types of lymphoma, the increase in risk was very small, and mainly applied to permanent hair dyes available before 1980.

"Furthermore, two years ago the EU Commission banned 22 different hair dye substances which didn't meet its safety standards"

John Frimage, a fellow of the Institute of Trichology, adds that modern hair dyes do not carry the risks of their earlier counterparts.

"When hair dyes were first used years ago, they tended to be progressive - they kept working on your scalp the longer you left them on. They were also harder to wash off, so, often, the chemicals would be left on the scalp and carried on reacting before being absorbed by the body.

"But modern hair dyes don't do this - they stop working after a set time, say 45 minutes.”

Source-Medindia
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Folic Acid and B Vitamins Have No Beneficial Effects on the Heart

Long-term supplementation of folic acid and vitamin B do not confer any protection on women as fas as heart disease and stroke are concerned, a new study has found.


Randomised, controlled trials by Christine M. Albert, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues, showed that women at high-risk of cardiovascular disease who took a daily supplement of folic acid and vitamin B6 and B12 for seven years did not have an overall reduced rate of cardiovascular events, despite a significant lowering of homocysteine levels.

"Homocysteine [an amino acid produced by the body] levels have been directly associated with cardiovascular risk in observational studies; and daily supplementation with folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, or a combination have been shown to reduce homocysteine levels to varying degrees in intervention studies," the authors said.

bservational data suggest cardiovascular benefits from B-vitamin supplementation may be greater among women, yet women have been underrepresented in published randomized trials.

"Given the paucity of data on women and the known influences of estrogen on homocysteine levels, adequately powered randomized trials of homocysteine lowering in women are still needed," the authors said.

The researchers tested whether a combination of folic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12 would reduce total cardiovascular events among women at high risk for the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) over 7 years of follow-up.

Within an ongoing randomized trial of antioxidant vitamins, 5,442 women who were U.S. health professionals age 42 years or older, with either a history of CVD or three or more coronary risk factors, were enrolled in a randomized trial to receive a combination pill containing folic acid (2.5 mg), vitamin B6 (50 mg), and vitamin B12 (1 mg) or a matching placebo.
During the 7.3 years of follow-up, 796 participants (14.6 percent) experienced a confirmed CVD event included in the primary end point (heart attack, stroke, coronary revascularization, or CVD death), with some individuals experiencing more than one event.


There was no difference in the cumulative incidence of the primary combined end point in the active vs. placebo treatment groups at any time during study follow-up. A total of 406 women (14.9 percent) in the active treatment group and 390 (14.3 percent) in the placebo group experienced at least one cardiovascular event included in the primary end point.

When analyzed separately, there were no significant differences for each of the components of the primary outcome including heart attack, stroke, and CVD death, between the active treatment and placebo groups. Also, the risk of death from any cause was similar between the active and placebo treatment groups.

The researchers also found that the average plasma homocysteine level was 18.5 percent lower in the active group than that observed in the placebo group.

"Our results are consistent with prior randomized trials performed primarily among men with established vascular disease and do not support the use of folic acid and B vitamin supplements as preventive interventions for CVD in these high-risk fortified populations," the authors said.

The study appears in the May 7 issue of JAMA.

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Appropriate Treatment can Prevent Risk of HIV Transmission from Mother to Child

The authors found that under 10% of pregnant women with HIV in these countries had access to the drugs.


As a result, they calculated, about 1,800 babies were born with HIV each day because their mothers did not get the drugs they need.

Lead researcher Claire Townsend said that for women with access to drugs, the findings were "greatly encouraging".

She said: "They demonstrate that if women are tested for HIV early enough in pregnancy for ART to be initiated, the risk of infection to their baby is very low indeed.

"This emphasizes the importance of achieving and maintaining a high uptake of antenatal HIV testing on a national scale."

Lisa Power, of the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "With the right treatment and relevant support, the vast majority of women living with HIV can have healthy uninfected children.

"This is why testing for HIV in pregnancy is so important and why treatment for pregnant women living with HIV in the UK should always be free, whatever their immigration status."

Source-Medindia
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Appropriate Treatment can Prevent Risk of HIV Transmission from Mother to Child

Appropriate treatment can prevent risk of HIV transmission from mother to child, a UK study shows.


Data on 5,151 HIV pregnancies in the UK and Ireland between 2000 and 2006 found an infant infection rate of just 1.2% where preventative steps were taken.

In the mid-1990s, before effective drug therapy became available, the infant infection rate was over 20%.

University College London led the Aids Online study, BBC reports.

The researchers said it was the first time such low rates of infection had been observed at a population level.

Most HIV positive women in the UK now take a combination of antiretroviral therapy (ART) drugs during pregnancy.

A caesarean section delivery reduces the risk of infection to the child - but the latest study showed that in many cases the drugs are so effective that a normal delivery is possible.

Transmission rates for women on ART for at least the last 14 days of pregnancy were 0.8% - regardless of the type of delivery.

The researchers said the key to success was that most women in the UK and Ireland now accepted antenatal testing for HIV.

The introduction of routine screening saw the estimated proportion of infected women diagnosed before delivery rise from about 70% in 200 to about 95% in 2005.

However, a 2006 report from the World Health Organization found that access to ART drugs is severely limited in developing countries.
The authors found that under 10% of pregnant women with HIV in these countries had access to the drugs.


As a result, they calculated, about 1,800 babies were born with HIV each day because their mothers did not get the drugs they need.

Lead researcher Claire Townsend said that for women with access to drugs, the findings were "greatly encouraging".

She said: "They demonstrate that if women are tested for HIV early enough in pregnancy for ART to be initiated, the risk of infection to their baby is very low indeed.

"This emphasizes the importance of achieving and maintaining a high uptake of antenatal HIV testing on a national scale."

Lisa Power, of the HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said: "With the right treatment and relevant support, the vast majority of women living with HIV can have healthy uninfected children.

"This is why testing for HIV in pregnancy is so important and why treatment for pregnant women living with HIV in the UK should always be free, whatever their immigration status."

Source-Medindia
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Steroids of No Use for Kids With Bacterial Meningitis

Corticosteroids given to children who are suffering from bacterial meningitis do not provide any benefit as far as survival or reduced hospital stays are concerned, a study led by an Indian-origin researchers has said.


Meningitis is an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, known collectively as the meninges.

Meningitis may develop in response to a number of causes, most prominently bacteria, viruses and other infectious agents, but also physical injury, cancer, or certain drugs.

This finding stands in contrast to previous studies in hospitalized adults, for which corticosteroids dramatically reduced mortality.

"Because of the demonstrated benefits of these drugs in adults, physicians have increasingly been using corticosteroids in children with bacterial meningitis," said study leader Samir S. Shah, M.D., an infectious diseases specialist from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

"This study reminds us again that children are not just small adults. We need to consider whether the problems associated with corticosteroid use, such as gastrointestinal bleeding, outweigh any potential benefits," he added.

In the study, the research team analyzed medical records of 2,780 children with bacterial meningitis at 27 U.S. pediatric hospitals from 2001 to 2006.

The median age of the children was nine months. Approximately 9 percent, or 248, of the children studied received corticosteroids, with steroid use doubling during the study period, from under 6 percent of children in 2001 to 12 percent in 2006.
There was no significant difference in mortality nor in time to hospital discharge, between children who received corticosteroids and those who did not.


Overall, unadjusted mortality rates were 6 percent among children receiving corticosteroids, versus 4 percent among those not receiving them. There also was no significant difference in those outcomes between those receiving and not receiving corticosteroids in the subsets of children with meningitis caused by pneumococcal bacteria or by meningococcal bacteria.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

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Suicide Victims Who Suffered Child Abuse Have Gene Changes in Brains

Suicide victims who battled child abuse had clear genetic changes in their brains, a study by McGill University scientists has found.


During the study, researchers discovered what they say are key differences between the brains of ordinary people, and of those who took their own lives after suffering child abuse.

They found that the genetic sequence wasn't significantly different in the suicide and non-suicide brains, but there were differences in their epigenetic marking - a chemical coating influenced by environmental factors.

Researchers found that all of the 13 suicide victims in the study had experienced abuse as children.

"It's possible the changes in epigenetic markers were caused by the exposure to childhood abuse, although in humans it's difficult to establish causality between early childhood and epigenetic markers, in the way we have established this in animal subjects," said Moshe Szyf, a professor in McGill's Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

"The big remaining questions are whether scientists could detect similar changes in blood DNA - which could lead to diagnostic tests - and whether we could design interventions to erase these differences in epigenetic markings," he added.

Szyf and his colleagues built on their world-renowned epigenetics work to uncover differences in the DNA in the brains of a group of male suicide victims from Quebec.

Epigenetics is the study of changes in the function of genes that don't involve changes in the sequences of DNA.
That sequence is inherited and remains fixed throughout life and is identical in every part of the body.


However, during gestation, the DNA acquired a chemical coating called methylation.

This is somewhat sensitive to one's environment, especially in childhood.

The epigenetic marks punctuate the DNA and program it to activate the appropriate genes at the right time and parts of the body.

The researchers focused on a set of genes that code for rRNA, a basic component of the machinery that creates protein, which in turn are critical for learning, memory and the building new connections in the brain; it can affect decision-making and other behaviour.

Researchers found that rRNA can be regulated epigenetically.

The brain samples in the latest study came from the Quebec Suicide Brain Bank, administered by Dr. Turecki of the Douglas Mental Health University Institute.

According to researchers, the study carried out on brain tissue can help develop intervention and prevention programs to help people suffering mental distress and who are at risk of committing suicide.

The study is set to be published in the May 6, 2008 edition of the online journal PLoS ONE.

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Scientists Identify Immune System Pathway to Fight Allergy, Asthma

Indian scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified genetic components of dendritic cells that play a crucial role in asthma and allergy-related immune response malfunction.


The researchers say that targeting these elements could give rise to more effective drugs to treat allergic disorders and asthma.

Dendritic cells are fundamental to immune response as they recognize, capture and introduce threatening organisms to T lymphocytes¯other immune cells that secrete potent proteins called cytokines that surround and destroy the invaders.

However, the Pittsburgh team's study goes further to shed light on a pathway that allergens use to act directly on dendritic cells to propel differentiation into the T lymphocytes that fight back.

"We now have identified a molecule, c-Kit, that is central to the process of allergic response," Nature quoted Anuradha Ray, Ph.D., co-corresponding author and professor of medicine and immunology in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, as saying.

"We show that genes encoding for c-Kit and the cytokine interleukin 6 (IL-6) are significantly activated when allergens are present, but c-Kit is the very first molecule that gets triggered," she added.

Interactions between viruses and bacteria and molecular steps that initiate the immune defense have remained largely unknown. Using cells cultured from c-Kit mutant mice, Dr. Ray, her husband and co-corresponding author Prabir Ray, Ph.D., and their colleagues studied molecular reactions to assaults by cholera toxin and a standard allergen, house dust mites.
In addition to c-Kit and IL-6, they found effects on stem cell factor and Jagged-2 immune system molecules that are parts of the activation process.


"We have known the T-cell side of the story for many years, and we know that dendritic cells are important, but what we did not know was how the dendritic cell does what it does," said Dr. Prabir Ray.

"Therapy directed against c-Kit specifically on dendritic cells using compounds coupled to c-Kit inhibitors such as Gleevec, a drug that is already FDA-approved and used in cancer treatment, may alleviate allergic diseases and, potentially, inflammatory bowel disease," he added.

The Pittsburgh team incubated dendritic cells with cholera toxin and house dust mite allergens, finding that both substances induced significant secretion of c-Kit and IL-6, initial steps in a cascade resulting in the activation of T helper cells.

"Dual upregulation of c-Kit and stem cell factor has been noted in some cancers, such as small cell lung cancer. IL-6 has been associated with cancers such as multiple myeloma," said Dr. Anuradha Ray.

"Collectively, similar approaches to inhibit c-Kit, in addition to Gleevec or other inhibiting compounds could alleviate multiple cancers," she added.

The study is reported in the May edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

Source-ANI
SRM

India to spend Rs 3k Cr to check school dropouts

In its bid to encourage students to continue their education beyond class eight, the Government of India on Friday approved a Rs 3,004-crore scholarship scheme for meritorious students of economically weaker sections.

The National means-cum-merit-Scholarship, to be implemented during the 11th Five Year Plan, would grant Rs 6,000 per annum scholarship to over one lakh students at the beginning of their class ninth session, till class 12.

According to the plan chalked out by the country’s Ministry Human Resource Development (MHRD), over one lakh students would be awarded the Rs 6,000 per annum scholarship at the beginning of their class ninth session, till class 12.

The scholarship, which is limited to those studying in government, local body and government aided schools, would be given to students from the economically weaker sections whose overall parental income is not more that Rs 1.5 lakh.

Students would be selected through a state level examination for the class eight students that the government plans to conducted along with the first stage selection test of the National Talent Search Examination conducted under the NCERT.

To fund this scheme a corpus would be set up with the State bank of India during the current fiscal. While the government plans to invest Rs 750 crore during 2008-09, it would further pump in the matching amount to the fund every year for the next three years.

According to MHRD, the yield from the fund would be used for the scholarship scheme.

e-Gov, a way of life: Selvaraj

e-Governance now does not mean the application of advanced information and communication technology (ICT) to improve governance. Rather, it should now be considered as a philosophy and way of life, the Administrator of Union Territory Lakshadweep BV Selvaraj opined.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop on e-governance here on Friday, Selvraj said e-Governance has cut across the various disciplines and it was seamless.

The workshop being organised under the aegis of the Lakhsadweep administration will discuss modalities about ‘empowering citizens through ICT’ besides other issues.

Administrator lakshadweep inaugurating session of two-day workshop on e-governance

Speaking at the inaugural session, the Indian Institute of Public Administration Executive Council Member RR Dhanpall stressed upon the need for a ‘sensible and scientific’ approach to implement e-Governance.

Speaking on the occasion, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) Senior Technical Director Durga Das Dutta said that all the e-Government projects should be sustainable.

The concluding day of the workshop on May 10 will have four sessions in which major achievements of the Lakshadweep administration in application of e-Governance in various sectors including ports, power and others will be highlighted.

UNIX OS servers: Most reliable platform

UNIX-based servers, which represent about 10 per cent of the installed base of server operating systems, achieved the highest reliability ratings among mainstream operating servers in the Yankee Group’s 2008 Server Operating System Reliability Survey.

IBM’s AIX UNIX led all server operating systems for reliability with just over 30 minutes of per server annual downtime, while Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems also got high scores.

The Linux distributions Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Novell SuSE Linux notched the biggest reliability improvements in the latest survey, with each decreased per server per annum downtime by an average of 75 per cent.

The customised version of SuSE Linux experienced 65 minutes of downtime per server, per year, roughly 13 minutes more for each server than its chief competitor RHEL in a custom configuration, the survey added.

Linux market leader Red Hat scored similarly rosy results, with per server downtime decreased by 75 per cent for the standard off-the-shelf distribution to 1.45 hours for each server annually, down from just over 7.1 hours.

The reliability survey further revealed that custom implementations of RHEL delivered even greater reliability—a scant 52 minutes of per server, per year of unplanned downtime.

The biggest and most unwelcome surprise in the survey was that Windows Server 2003 downtime increased by 25 per cent to nearly nine hours of per server, per year downtime compared to the results it achieved in Yankee Group’s 2006 reliability survey.

The report said that the Windows Server’s decreased reliability is attributed to a series of security alerts Microsoft issued in the summer and fall time frame.

It gave network administrators the opportunity to take their Windows Server 2003 machines offline for significantly longer periods of time to apply remedial patches.

Debian, which last year posted the highest number of outage minutes, saw significant improvement in the latest survey, with experiencing just over five hours of annual downtime, a 41 per cent decrease from the downtime figure it posted in the earlier survey.

Ubuntu, which appears in Yankee Group’s survey for the first time this year, has proven highly reliable, with 1.1 hour of per server, per annum downtime.

The Group’s survey indicated that, in the past two years, all of the major server operating system platforms have achieved a much higher degree of reliability than they experienced in the prior decade.

In general, none of the major server operating systems are today beset by the long list of bugs that plagued their predecessors back in the 1980s and 1990s.

Additionally, there is far less disparity now, in the number and severity of unplanned server outages, the survey revealed.

Google’s security to remote net users

Good news for remote web surfers. Google has announced a web security product that makes it easy and affordable for companies of all sizes to provide Internet security to users in any location.

The new solution—Google Web Security—for enterprise provides real-time malware protection and uniform resource locator (URL) filtering with policy enforcement and reporting.

It also comes with an additional feature that extends the same protections to users working remotely on laptops in hotels, cafes and even guest networks.

“Companies can now extend that protection to more of their users’ Internet activities, whether they are surfing the web at the office or the airport,” Google’s Product Management Director Scott Petry said.

The security solution allows companies to secure their networks from web-based malware; enforce Internet use policies at the user, workgroup or company level; and receive comprehensive reporting on all web activities.

Using the new solution, companies have the option of adding protection for off-network users as employees working outside the office are most vulnerable.

Since the product is delivered as a service, the remote workers get the protection wherever they are, without signing into the corporate network.

The new product is Powered by Postini with technology from ScanSafe, and accessible from the same administration console used for Google Apps security and compliance messaging services.

Greece plans new telemedicine centres

The Government of Greece is planning to install telemedicine devices in rural and municipal medical centres of the country to provide valuable consulting services to upgrade the health services.

In a telemedicine programme organised by the Intermunicipal Health Services Network (IHSN), the Minister of Health Avramopoulos laid special emphasis on the importance of providing prevention services and pre-hospital healthcare at municipal level.

“Thanks to structures that already operate within the framework of the local authorities’ bodies,” he added.

The telemedicine programme, which was attended by more 20 remote municipalities in the country, was presented within the framework of the 4th Annual Panellenic Conference of the IHSN and the Local Authorities Social Solidarity Network held on April 11-12 at the Municipality of Argyroupoli, reports ePractice.

Avramopoulos also referred to new structures which are formed and have acquired the necessary operational institutional framework of the Ministry’s Bill on Primary Healthcare.

He further informed that the framework, already been implemented in collaboration with the municipal authorities, is an extensive plan of upgrading older hospital buildings for housing urban type medical centres, healthcare institutes and municipal services.

Private sponsoring should also be considered as a possible way to fund actions and initiatives on prevention and the promotion of public health when abiding to specific principles and rules.

Govt urged to notify Indian Boiler Act

In view of the rising demands for boiler, there was an urgent need to notify the Indian Boiler Act, Amendment 2007 and reconstitute Central Boiler Board.

Stating this at the National seminar on Boilers and Pressure Vessels organized by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Secretary of the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises in India SN Dash said there is a need to create additional capacity for manufacturing and inspection as India is poised to grow at the current pace and rising demand for boilers.

He added that the amendments of Boiler Act will help build additional capacity for both manufacturing and inspection.

The Secretary further emphasised the importance of urgent assimilation of latest super critical technology in India as well as standardisation of boiler rating and certification for growth of the industry.

Supporting the Ministry’s proposal, Jindal Steel and Power Vice Chairman Naveen Jindal said that there is need to use the best and most efficient technology.

“The highlight of the act will be allowing third party inspections thus lessening the burden on the inspectors and speeding the process,” he said, adding that the periodicity of inspection would be determined by actual condition of the boilers.

Jindal suggested that the periodicity for inspection could be based on manufacturers’ recommendations as followed by other industries.

Addressing the CII seminar, MD, Thermax Managing Director MS Unnikrishnan said that that energy consumption in India will grow by 10-12 per cent if its GDP grows between eight per cent and 10 per cent.

Emphasising the need to grow per capita consumption in India to the level of other developed countries without harming the environment, he added that the focus should be on using efficient technology to conserve energy as well preserve the environment.

Unnikrishnan further added that with respect to manufacturing of boilers, India would need to follow a hybrid approach that of incubating indigenously (building) as well as adopting from outside.

He said the Indian boiler industry is estimated to be about Rs 35,000 crore by 2020 and would employ around 2.5 lakh people, and emphasised the need to focus on R&D and develop high technology and ultra critical technology to build stronger India.

BHEL Executive Director RN Misra said that secure energy supply was vital for the economic growth of the country thus enhancing the need for an efficient energy system.

He further added that India’s growth has led to a spurt in the demand for boilers offering both a challenge and an opportunity to the industry.

European doctors taking e-health route

With e-health applications playing a growing role in a doctor’s practices in Europe, about 80 per cent of European Union (EU) general practitioners increasingly store and send patients’ data like lab reports electronically.

According to a pan-European survey on electronic services in healthcare by European Commission, 87 per cent of European doctors use a computer, of which 48 per cent have a broadband connection.

In using such eHealth applications, doctors and medical services have already improved healthcare throughout the region, as it leads to more efficient administration and shorter waiting times for patients, reports ePractice.

The survey, however, observed significant country differences as regards the availability and use of information and communication technology (ICT).

In addition, the survey suggested the further development of certain areas such as tele-monitoring, electronic prescriptions and cross-border medical services.

The commission is planning to make recommendations on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record systems.

Besides, it is also planning to launch, in several countries, a project on cross-border eHealth services for patients travelling within the EU.

The survey found that lack of training and technical support as major barriers posing for doctors not using ICT.

In order to spread eHealth, the doctors under the survey asked for more ICT in medical education, increased training and better electronic networking among healthcare practitioners, who are willing to share clinical information.

Panel resents delay in pharma policy

The Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers in India has expressed serious concern over inordinate delay in finalising the Pharmaceutical Policy. The committee has urged the Ministry to counter the lobby working against the policy.

The committee members said that poor people suffering under high inflation are unable to purchase basic medicines and the early passage of the policy and its implementation will bring the much needed relief to the poor.

The new Pharmaceutical Policy listed 354 drugs prepared by the Ministry of Health, which are considered as essential drugs, to be brought under the price control regime.

Members of the Consultative Committee also urged the government to increase production at the public sector undertakings under its control which can soften prices in the market.

Responding to the members, the Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan said that the government has already revived Hindustan Antibiotics, Hindustan Insecticide, BCPL and HOCL, while revival of IDPL was under the active consideration.

On the Petroleum, Chemicals and Petro Chemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) policy, the Minister said that the new policy will give fillip to investment in the sector and would expand employment opportunity.

The new policy provisioned world class infrastructure over an area of about 250 sq km in each investment region where the external linkages like airport, rail connectivity and national highways will be provided by the central government while the internal linkages will be the responsibility of the state government.

Processing zone will cover the 40 per cent area in each investment region, the minister said.

Paswan said that, under the new policy, land acquisition has to be done by the developer and added that the existing habitations will not be disturbed.

He said that so far six proposals have been received—one each from Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, West Bengal, Karnataka, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.

The members of the committee suggested flexibility on the requirement of 250 sq km considering the peculiarities of the local conditions.

Nasscom survey selects 50 future IT hubs in India

Atleast 50 cities, apart from the existing top seven metros, in India can be developed as future hubs for IT and BPO operations, a comprehensive joint survey report of Nasscom and AT Kearney said.

The report sketches details of opportunities available in these cities for attracting investment from this sector with a deeper objective of showcasing a roadmap to achieve uniform economic development in India.

Releasing the findings of the report on Wednesday titled “Roadmap ‘Location Roadmap For IT-BPO Growth: Assessment of 50 Leading Cities”, the Nasscom Chairman Ganesh Natrajan said this report would serve as a planning input for state governments, educational institutions, policy makers and local industry bodies when they look at means to attract investment into their regions.

He further said that the Indian IT-BPO sector has been a frontrunner of economic development in select cities, providing employment to a large number of people and improving the overall quality of life and amenities like education and healthcare in these cities.

“We now see the time as being right to spread this development to a new set of locations, provided the requirements of the Industry can be met,” the Nasscom Chairman said.

Speaking about the rationale of the report, the Nasscom President Som Mittal said that the development of only a few select set of cities has put severe pressure on the infrastructure and costs besides increase in migration of resources.

He further said that this report will provide useful information on relative attractiveness to companies who are looking to enter or expand.

Mittal said that the dispersion of IT centres will lead to balanced economic development and reduce economic disparity.

“Apart from partly balancing the pressure on the top tier locations, this would also add significantly to the stability of employees and reduce migration to large urban areas,” he added.

Commenting on the methodology and findings of the study, Saurine Doshi of AT Kearney said that the objective of doing this study was to assess the potential of key 50 locations in India as hubs for IT and BPO operations.

“In addition to the defined information on the locations, the report also provides insights based on discussions with key stakeholders on factors that determine ‘location choices’ for both companies seeking to outsource as well as companies offering IT-BPO services,” he said.

Doshi further added that the insights from this report will serve as key reference point for everyone who plays a role in planning, development and leverage of a location.

The study was conducted by collecting and analysing data from 50 locations on over 100 metrics broken down in to key parameters like knowledge pool and skill-set availability, Infrastructure, social and living environment, business environment, government support and operating cost.

Apart from secondary research, a key aspect of the study was significant primary interactions with companies, educational institutions, government authorities and others in each of the 50 locations.

Illiteracy also plagues Europe: UNESCO

Contrary to the commonly held assumption that only minority groups are affected by illiteracy in Europe, a recent UN report said low levels of literacy touch the mainstream population in the region also, as nine million adults in Central and Eastern Europe can neither read nor write.

According to the 2008 Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report released by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), although the literacy rate in Europe is high—more than 96 per cent—serious disparities persist.

The report further revealed that too many adults in Europe still fail to acquire even basic skills, with enormous effects on their individual lives and on their countries’ economic and social well-being.

And there are varying degrees of literacy. It cannot be narrowly defined as a single skill that enables people to deal with all types of text, the report said.

The report further stated that literacy involves being able to locate, evaluate and effectively use information in multiple manners, including graphic, computer and mathematical competence.

Moreover, the unemployment rate in countries such as Germany and Slovenia is twice as high among people with poor literacy skills than among those with average or high skills, according to the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS 2000) conducted in 20 developed states.

Improved literacy is one of the keys to develop knowledge societies and boost economic competitiveness, UNESCO said.

Meanwhile, UNESCO will organise a conference at Baku in Azerbaijan on May 14 to 16 to discuss the literacy and adult education challenges specific to Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. to be attended by high-level decision makers and experts from 30 countries

The expanded concept of literacy in today’s world will be examined in the Baku Conference, besides assessing the literacy challenges and achievements in the sub-regions, the organisation said.

The conference will also focus on topics like evaluation of literacy levels, pedagogical approaches for promoting quality basic learning and responses to new demands through legislative and institutional arrangements.

Himachal to computerise land records by FY ’09

Land records of all the villages in Himachal Pradesh would be computerised during the current financial year. It will facilitate the landholders to access their ownership details.

Disclosing this, state Revenue Minister Thakur Gulab Singh said that computerisation of land records has also gained much significance in view of developmental activities and to avoid multiplicity of litigations, which the people have to face.

He said that a separate meeting would be held with Divisional Commissioners, Settlement Officers and Director Land Records to review the progress made in implementation of various schemes including revenue housing schemes.

Singh further said that Revenue Department was the nodal department in respect of providing relief and rehabilitation in the wake of natural calamities and disasters.

Hormone Ghrelin Responsible for Making Food Look Appealing When Hungry

Researchers from the McGill University in Montreal, Canada have revealed that a hormone called ghrelin seems to play a vital role in making food seem more appealing when people are really hungry.


The study found through brain scans that volunteers had a bigger effect of desire when they were shown pictures of food after an injection of the hormone. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers assessed the brain's response to food and non-food images in 12 volunteers who were given ghrelin and 8 others who did not receive the hormone.

"When you go to the supermarket hungry, every food looks better. Your brain assigns a cost versus benefit to every food item. Now, we've found that it is ghrelin that acts on the brain to make food more appealing," said lead researcher Dr Alain Dagher, from McGill University.

The brain scans showed that ghrelin was responsible for increasing activity in the reward centers of the brain.

"Food pictures become even more salient - people actually see them better. It influences not only visual processing, but also memory. People remembered the food pictures better when ghrelin was high," said Dr Dagher.

The details of the study appear in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Source-Medindia
RAS/L

EU Food Safety Body may Review Its Clearance of Baby Bottle Chemical

The EU food safety watchdog EFSA said Tuesday it may review its clearance of bisphenol A for use in the manufacture of plastic baby bottles after Canada moved to ban the substance.


"EFSA is aware of the studies on bisphenol published in the United States and Canada," spokeswoman Anne-Laure Gassin told AFP. "The agency will examine whether it should review its opinion on this product, which dates from January 2007."

The European Food Safety Authority, headquartered in Parma, northern Italy, will reach a decision soon, she said.

The Canadian government announced last month that it was seeking public comment on whether to ban baby bottles made using bisphenol, considered "potentially harmful."

It would become the first country to ban the chemical compound.

A US government report last month also found that bisphenol A could endanger reproductive health and the nervous system.

EFSA said in its January 2007 risk assessment that a daily intake of 0.05 milligrammes of bisphenol A per kilogramme of body weight was tolerable, and that this amount was much greater than that ingested by infants in an average day.

Source-AFP
SRM

Sell Cannabis Legally Aussie Doctor Says

A prominent Sydney doctor has come out in support of proposal to sell cannabis in post offices legally. The packets would however have a health warning on them.


Alex Wodak, director of the alcohol and drug service at St Vincent's Hospital, said that Australia needed to learn from the tobacco industry and the US prohibition in coming to terms with his belief that cannabis would replace cigarettes in consumption levels over the next 10 years.

"The general principal is that it's not sustainable that we continue to give criminals and corrupt police a monopoly to sell a drug that is soon going to be consumed by more people than tobacco," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him, as saying.

"I don't want to see that [industry] fall into the hands of tobacco companies or rapacious businessmen. I'd like to see it fall into the hands of the failed businesspeople Australia seems so good at producing or the Australia Post that seems so successful in driving away customers," he added.

Wodak, who made the proposal for taxed and legalised cannabis at the Mardi Grass festival in Nimbin, said that he would be pleased to express his opinion to the Federal Government.

"In general terms, among senior doctors, professors, deans, college presidents, I can tell you, from having done a straw poll, there's very strong support for ending the distribution of cannabis by a monopoly of criminals and corrupt police," he said.

"[But] among rank and file doctors, they probably have opinions that represent the opinions of the general community," he added.

He reckons his proposal could decrease cannabis consumption, based on comparisons between consumption in Amsterdam and San Francisco.
He picked up Australia Post for distribution since it could be regulated and had branches spread across the country.


"What I'm talking about is not pro-cannabis, but it's not anti-cannabis. It's about reducing cannabis harm and one of those harms is police corruption," he said.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

Why Face Symmetry is Sexy?

Your face is not only an important source of social information, but its attractiveness is one property that is quickly noticed. Now, in a new research, scientists have highlighted why symmetry and sexual dimorphism - how masculine or feminine a face is - are key variables that determine how attractive a face is.


In the study - published in the May 7 issue of the journal PLoS ONE - Anthony Little of the University of Stirling and colleagues show that measurements of symmetry and sexual dimorphism from faces are related in humans, both in Europeans and African hunter-gatherers, and in a non-human primate.

In all samples, symmetric males had more masculine facial proportions and symmetric females had more feminine facial proportions.

No one disputes that symmetrical faces, such as that of Kate Moss, are more attractive.

But why? One idea is that the trait is an advert of genetic quality or fertility.

An alternative view is that preferences for a symmetrical face arose from cultural factors and say nothing about health, fecundity and other biological factors.

Faces certainly have the potential to be advertisements of mate 'quality' and one way to examine this idea is to look at interrelationships between proposed adverts of quality.

The findings therefore support the claim that sexual dimorphism and symmetry in faces are signals advertising quality by providing evidence that there must be a biological mechanism linking the two traits during development.

For example, individuals resistant to disease may be able to grow both symmetric and sexually dimorphic. Such work also suggests that faces may advertise quality across different human populations and even across different primate species.

Source-ANI
SPH

No BRCA Mutations Means High Risk for Breast Cancer Recurrence

A new study has suggested that women who are at a high risk for breast cancer have a greater chance of recurrence if they do not have BRCA 1 and 2 mutations.


The finding also raises questions about the use of sentinel node biopsy with prophylactic mastectomies in high-risk women.

The increased risk of developing breast cancer is already understood for women with the disease who test positive for a BRCA1 or 2 mutation.

Many of these women opt to have their breast surgically removed (prophylactic mastectomy) to cut their risk of developing breast cancer or developing a second breast cancer. The role of sentinel node biopsy remains controversial in this group.

"We know more about counselling women regarding prophylactic mastectomy if they have a BRCA mutation," said lead author Shawna C. Willey, MD, FACS, a member of the Breast Cancer Program at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center at Georgetown University Hospital.

"In high-risk women who have cancer but don’t have a known mutation, we generally advise that the risk of developing a second cancer in the same or opposite breast is lower than it is for women who test positive for a mutation. This latest analysis has us re-thinking our approach," Willey added.

The study recruited women in a familial cancer registry at Lombardi who were enrolled between 1998 and 2007. The registry participants had at least a 10 percent probability of carrying a BRCA1/2 mutation based on personal or family history of cancer.

The cohort for the study involved 119 women. 74 women had a BRCA mutation (group 1) and 45 did not test positive for the mutation (group 2).
In-group 2, women already had known malignancies and had preoperative genetic testing.


All the women opted to have a mastectomy to remove their affected breast (group 2) or surgery to remove both breasts (both groups). They all had both breasts removed, but in Group 2 they all had a unilateral prophylactic mastectomy.

"We examined the rate of occult malignancies in both these groups of women in the prophylactic mastectomy specimens. What we found was interesting. There was a higher than expected presence of disease in the women who did not test positive for a BRCA mutation,” Willey said.

"The higher rate of occult cancers in group 2 may be because they all had contralateral known malignancies, but thi