WHO removes India from polio endemic nations' list

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has removed India from the list of countries with active endemic wild poliovirus transmission.

In written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury said Polio free is certified for WHO regions by the Regional Certification Commission and not for individual country.

The South-East Asia Regional Commission for Polio Eradication (SEA-RCCPE) has examined the data of 31 states/Union Territories of India and has accepted the report of the Indian National Certification Committee for Polio Eradication and has concluded that the wild polio virus is not circulating in these states.

Each region can consider certification only when all countries in the area demonstrate the absence of wild poliovirus transmission for at least three consecutive years in the presence of certification standard surveillance.

In addition, all facilities holding wild poliovirus infectious and potentially infectious materials must have implemented bio-containment measures for laboratory containment of wild poliovirus.

A task force for laboratory containment of wild polioviruses has been constituted. The first phase of laboratory containment started by surveying laboratory to identify laboratory with wild poliovirus, infectious materials or potential wild poliovirus infectious materials and encourage them for destruction of all unneeded materials.

All States/UTs have been communicated about the successful interruption of wild poliovirus transmission in India and the possible certification in 2014 and requested for political and administrative support required for completion of laboratory containment activities in their respective States.

Support of WHOs National Polio Surveillance Project (NPSP) is also being obtained to survey all laboratories in their database and provide information of the Laboratories to the Task Force.

An inventory of laboratories/Institutes of Department of Bio Technology (DBT) / Department of Science and Technology (DST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Indian Institutes of Technology (IITS)/ National Institute of Information Technology (NIITs), databases of bio-medical laboratories in Department of Health Research (DHR), bio-tech laboratories in Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) database has been prepared for information on storage of potentially infectious material. 

Bandra acid attack: Treating doctor explains how stem cell therapy will give her vision back

Preeti Rathi came to Mumbai to join duty as a nurse in the Naval Hospital — INHS Ashwini. Sadly, her dreams were shattered when she suffered an acid attack at Bandra station as she got off her train. She sustained severe burns to her face, neck, chest and arms and was critical for a few days after admission. Doctors treated her for her injuries but she had lost vision in her right eye. While she subsequently regained consciousness and could communicate only with written notes, she pleaded with the doctors to help restore her vision. 

A few years ago this request would have been impossible, but thanks to the latest advances in stem cell therapy it’s now a very feasible possibility. We talked to ophthalmologist Dr Yasmin Bhagat who has treated a number of acid attack victims and helped them regain vision using this procedure. Excerpts from the exclusive interview where she explains the procedure: 

At the offset, Dr Bhagat said that the media reports that she was planning to take stem cells from Rathi’sparent’s eyes were erroneous. She said that even though the acid had badly damaged Rathi’s right eye’s cornea, her left eye was still functioning well and that she would use stem cells from that eye.

Pavitra: Why did you decide to use cells from her left eye and not her parents’ eyes to start the treatment?

Dr Yasmin Bhagat: When we perform such a procedure, there are some risks involved. When we use the patient’s own cells we avoid the possibility of any complications that may arise from the rejection of the patch by the body. Even though the cells would be from her parents, there are chances that her body may reject it, therefore it is better to use her own stem cells.

Pavitra: How will this procedure work?

Dr Yasmin Bhagat: Within the eye there is a structure called the Limbus. The Limbus is a narrow zone between the cornea and bulbar conjunctiva, it is responsible for the renewal and repair of the cornea. Burns to this area causes the malfunctioning of the limbus leading to limbal stem-cell deficiency. When the limbus is damaged or malfunctions, instead of helping repair the cornea, it causes the formation of scar tissue, which leads to blurred vision and in extreme cases — blindness. In the case of Preeti, her left eye is completely normal, so we will take limbus cells from her left eye and culture them in a lab. By culture I mean we will grow the cells  to multiply them. We will then place a 2×2 mm patch of these cultured  stem cells on the damaged area of the eye, which will help the right eye repair itself.

Pavitra: How long will this procedure take?

Dr Yasmin Bhagat: Well, Preeti has to fully recover from her other injuries for us to start the procedure. The harvest and culture of the limbus stem cells alone, will take approximately 15 days after which we can place it on the right eye. Thereafter the recovery time usually depends on the patient’s all-round health. This is a complex procedure and it is necessary to be extremely careful while performing it.

Lastly, while Preeti recuperates in the hospital, she has received immense support from people all over the country.

Mount Sharp formed on Mars due to wind, not water: Scientists

WASHINGTON, MAY 7:  

A 5.6-km high Martian mound that scientists suspect preserves evidence of a massive lake might actually have formed as a result of the Red Planet’s famously dusty atmosphere, according to a new analysis.

The research, if correct, could dilute expectations that the mound holds evidence of a large body of water, which would have important implications for understanding Mars’ past habitability.

Researchers based at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology suggest that the mound, known as Mount Sharp, most likely emerged as strong winds carried dust and sand into the 154-km-wide crater in which the mound sits.

They reported in the journal Geology that air likely rises out of the massive Gale Crater when the Martian surface warms during the day, then sweeps back down its steep walls at night.

Though strong along the Gale Crater walls, these “slope winds” would have died down at the crater’s centre where the fine dust in the air settled and accumulated to eventually form Mount Sharp.

This dynamic counters the prevailing theory that Mount Sharp formed from layers of lakebed silt – and could mean that the mound contains less evidence of a past, Earth-like Martian climate that most scientists currently expect.

Evidence that Gale Crater once contained a lake in part determined the landing site for the NASA Mars rover Curiosity.

The rover touched down near Mount Sharp in August with the purpose of uncovering evidence of a habitable environment, and in December Curiosity found traces of clay, water molecules and organic compounds.

Determining the origin of these elements and how they relate to Mount Sharp will be a focus for Curiosity in the coming months.

But the mound itself was likely never under water, though a body of water could have existed in the moat around the base of Mount Sharp, said study co-author Kevin Lewis, a Princeton associate research scholar in geosciences and a participating scientist on the Curiosity rover mission, Mars Science Laboratory.

The quest to determine whether Mars could have at one time supported life might be better directed elsewhere, he said.

“Our work doesn’t preclude the existence of lakes in Gale Crater, but suggests that the bulk of the material in Mount Sharp was deposited largely by the wind,” said Lewis.

Even if Mount Sharp were born of wind, it and similar mounds likely overflow with a valuable geological – if not biological – history of Mars that can help unravel the climate history of Mars and guide future missions, Lewis said.

Eating dark chocolate can keep you calm: study

Here is a solution to keep your temper in check - bite into a piece of dark chocolate!
Polyphenols in dark chocolate increase calmness and contentedness, a new study has found.
Polyphenols are found naturally in plants and are a basic component of the human diet. These compounds have been shown to reduce oxidative stress which is associated with many diseases. They may also have beneficial psychological effects, scientists believe.

"Anecdotally, chocolate is often linked to mood enhancement," said lead author of the study, Matthew Pase, from Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.
"This clinical trial is perhaps the first to scientifically demonstrate the positive effects of cocoa polyphenols on mood," Pase said.

Seventy-two healthy men and women aged 40-65 years took part in the randomised study to receive a dark chocolate drink mix standardised to contain either 500 mg of cocoa polyphenols, 250 mg of cocoa polyphenols or 0 mg of cocoa polyphenols.

The drink mixes were given to participants in identical packaging so that both the investigators and participants were unaware of which treatment they were receiving.
Participants drank their assigned drink once a day for 30 days.
After 30 days, those who drank the high dose concentration of cocoa polyphenols reported greater calmness and contentedness than those who drank either of the other drink mixes.

The researchers did not find any evidence that cocoa polyphenols significantly improved cognitive performance.
Additionally, only those who consumed the highest amount of polyphenols (500 mg per day) reported any significant positive effects. Participants who consumed a moderate amount (250 mg per day) reported no significant effects.
The study was published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology.

Potential treatment for influenza discovered

A novel experimental drug has shown promise in treating influenza, preventing lung injury and death from the virus in preclinical studies, researchers claim.
Scientists found that a drug called Eritoran can protect mice from death after they have been infected with a lethal dose of influenza virus.The potential value of this drug as single therapy or in combination with antivirals is further supported by previous research that found that it is safe for use in humans.

Previous scientific studies have revealed that acute lung injury caused by the influenza virus is the result of an immune reaction mediated by a protein called Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).
Senior author Stefanie Vogel, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Medicine at the University of Maryland, and colleagues previously demonstrated that mice that lack the ability to signal through TLR4 are highly refractory to influenza-induced lethality.

In their new study, they extend these findings by showing that Eritoran - a synthetic inhibitor of TLR4, originally developed for treatment of sepsis - improved clinical symptoms and prevented death when administered up to six days after infection with the influenza virus.
Existing antiviral medications must be administered within two days of infection to be optimally effective. Annual influenza epidemics are estimated to result in three to five million cases of severe illness and 250,000 to 500,000 deaths yearly worldwide, researchers said.

The virus is continually evolving and new variants give rise to seasonal outbreaks. Increasing resistance to existing antiviral therapies and the short time-frame in which these agents are effective highlight the critical need for new treatments, such as Eritoran, they said.

"Currently, vaccines and antiviral medications are the two main approaches to preventing influenza. Problems associated vaccine development may limit efficacy and/or vaccine availability," said Vogel. "Our research seems to show that Eritoran could provide doctors with a new tool in their flu-fighting toolbox, as well as several more days to treat the sickest of patients successfully," said researchers.

Now, oil for the joints to help soothe joint pain

The most common form of joint disease and a leading cause of disability in the elderly, osteoarthritis (OA) affects about 200 million people worldwide.

A new joint lubricant could bring longer lasting relief to millions of osteoarthritis sufferers, say researchers who developed it.

The new synthetic polymer supplements synovial fluid, the natural lubricant in joints, and works better than comparable treatments currently available.

According to Boston University Professor of Biomedical Engineering Mark W. Grinstaff, who led the team, the best fluid supplement now available offers temporary symptom relief but provides inadequate lubrication to prevent further degradation of the cartilage surfaces that cushion the joint.

To achieve both objectives, Grinstaff, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School orthopedic surgeon Brian Snyder and a team of Boston University chemistry and engineering students, fellows and clinicians have advanced the first synthetic synovial fluid.

The most common form of joint disease and a leading cause of disability in the elderly, osteoarthritis (OA) affects about 200 million people worldwide.

Characterized by pain and swelling, the disease emerges in hand, hip, knee and other commonly used joints where degradation of cartilage and synovial fluid results in bone-on-bone abrasion. Treatments range from anti-inflammatory drugs to total joint replacement.

While there`s no cure for OA, one treatment—injection of a polymer to supplement synovial fluid in the joint—promises to relieve symptoms and slow the disease`s progression by reducing wear on cartilage surfaces.

“From our studies, we know our biopolymer is a superior lubricant in the joint, much better than the leading synovial fluid supplement, and similar to healthy synovial fluid,” said Grinstaff.

“When we used this new polymer, the friction between the two cartilage surfaces was lower, resulting in less wear and surface-to-surface interaction. It`s like oil for the joints,” he asserted.

Originally produced last year for another study, the new polymer mimics some of the properties of natural polysaccharides, large compounds that link repetitive sequences of sugar molecules in a chainlike pattern.

“You put it between your fingers, and it`s slippery,” Grinstaff observed.

Another advantage of the biopolymer is its large molecular weight or size, which prevents it from seeping out of the joint, enabling longer lasting cartilage protection. Unlike the leading synovial fluid supplement, which lasts one or two days, the new polymer remains in the joint for more than two weeks.

They describe the unique polymer and its performance in Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Hornbill conservator Aparajita Datta gets Whitley Award

NEW DELHI: Conservator Aparajita Datta has won the Whitley Award, also called "Green Oscar", for her work to save threatened hornbills in the forests of Arunachal Pradesh. 

Datta is one of eight grassroots conservation leaders awarded a share of prize funding worth £295,000 by the Whitley Fund for Nature. 
Datta leads a programme to conserve hornbills in the Eastern Himalaya at the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF), an NGO set up in 1996 to promote science-based wildlife conservation in India. 

"Focussing on hornbills as a conservation flagship species, she is seeking to improve the status of the bird's populations outside protected areas by establishing models of community-based conservation," the Whitley Fund said. 

"Datta is spreading knowledge of the needs of hornbills and their importance, as seed dispersers, in the maintenance of healthy forest ecosystems. Key to her approach is raising awareness of the threats to the bird's survival, and creating a wider rural and urban constituency for conservation through a participatory community outreach programme that gets people involved," said the fund. 

Datta has been monitoring 60 hornbill nests in Arunachal Pradesh. 

Datta will use the prize money to conduct surveys in Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland to figure out the status of hornbills. This will help to create an ideal model to conserve hornbills outside protected areas. 

Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, presented the award at a ceremony at the Royal Geographical Society in London Thursday. 

Coalgate row continues to haunt law minister

NEW DELHI, May 3, 2013:

Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar appears to have slid deeper into a crisis following the comments of Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran that Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Ranjit Sinha should not have shared the report on coal scam probe with the politician.
Kumar is already under fire from both the Opposition parties as well as the Supreme Court, which is hearing the Coalgate sam case, for his role in vetting the CBI report on coal block allocations, despite the court’s earlier ruling. The SC will take up the case on May 8. The CBI is set to file a fresh affidavit in the case on May 6.

The minister’s fate is likely to be known on May 8, as the Union Government and Congress, to which Kumar belongs, would keenly be watching what the apex court has to say on his controversial actions. Congress has given indications that it would not support the minister if the SC came down on him.

Speaking to TV channels, Parasaran, however, managed to put the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in the clear over the vetting of the report. The CBI Director had submitted to the court that the report was shown to the minister and to a joint secretary in the PMO.

According to him, the PM was not aware of the meetings between the CBI Director and the Law Minister, and that the PMO was not aware as to how much was shared with the Law Minister. Nor was PM aware of the role played by the joint secretary from the PMO, he said.

Too Much Sleep May Up Colon Cancer Risk

Long sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer, especially among people who snore and are overweight, researchers reported.

In analysis of two long-running prospective observational cohorts, people who reported sleeping at least 9 hours a night were more likely to develop the disease than those who slept an average of 7 hours, according to Xuehong Zhang, MD, ScD, of Harvard Medical School, and colleagues.

But the association was restricted to people who either snored regularly or were overweight, Zhang and colleagues reported in the May issue of Sleep.

There has been little study of potential links between sleep and cancer incidence, although there is some evidence that hypoxemia might play a role, the researchers noted.

The study "adds to the very limited literature regarding the relationship between sleep duration and/or sleep quality and colorectal cancer risk," Zhang said in a statement.

And the "novel observation" that regular snorers who sleep for long periods appear to have an increased risk "raises the possibility that sleep apnea and its attendant intermittent hypoxemia may contribute to cancer risk," Zhang said.

The findings are based on analysis of colorectal cancer incidence among 30,121 men ages 41 to 79 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, and 76,368 women ages 40 to 73 in the Nurses' Health Study.

In both studies, participants were asked about sleep duration and snoring in 1986 and 1987. In addition, the long-running studies collect data on demographics, lifestyle, and disease.

Over 22 years of follow-up, Zhang and colleagues reported, there were 1,973 incident colorectal cancer cases, including 709 among men and 1,264 among women.

Compared with people who slept 7 hours nightly on average, those who slept 9 or more appeared to be more likely to develop colorectal cancer: For men, the hazard ratio was 1.35 (95% CI 1.00 to 1.82), while for women it was 1.11 (95% CI 0.85 to 1.44).

But when the analysis was stratified by snoring or body mass index greater than 25, the association became stronger, Zhang and colleagues reported. Specifically:

• In long-sleeping men who snored, the hazard ratio for colorectal cancer was 1.80 (95% CI 1.14 to 2.84)
• In long-sleeping women who snored, the hazard ratio was 2.32 (95% CI 1.24 to 4.36)
• In overweight men, the hazard ratio was 1.52 (95% CI 1.04 to 2.21)
• In overweight women, the hazard ratio was 1.37 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.94)

Short sleep duration (≤ 5 h) was not associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in the entire sample or in subgroups stratified by snoring or BMI.

Taken together, the findings suggest that longer sleep duration is linked with an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer among people who were overweight or snored regularly.

But the data remain "sparse," Zhang and colleagues concluded, so more research is needed to pin down the association and any possible mechanism.

They cautioned that the analysis has several limitations, including the self-reported nature of the data about snoring and sleep duration. In addition, unmeasured confounding is possible, and the study population was mainly of European extraction, which may limit the applicability of the findings.

Solar-powered NASA rover 'Grover' to explore Greenland's ice -

         NASA is sending a six feet-tall solar-powered rover prototype designed for ice exploration on highest part of Greenland's massive ice sheet.The space agency's newest scientific rover is set for testing from May 3 through June 8 in the highest part of Greenland, NASA said.

           The robot known as GROVER, which stands for both Greenland Rover and Goddard Remotely Operated Vehicle for Exploration and Research, will roam the frigid landscape collecting measurements to help scientists better understand changes in the massive ice sheet.
This autonomous, solar-powered robot carries a ground-penetrating radar to study how snow accumulates, adding layer upon layer to the ice sheet over time.

            Greenland's surface layer vaulted into the news in summer 2012 when higher than normal temperatures caused surface melting across about 97 percent of the ice sheet, NASA said.
Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, expect GROVER to detect the layer of the ice sheet that formed in the aftermath of that extreme melt event.

Research with polar rovers costs less than aircraft or satellites, the usual platforms.
"Robots like GROVER will give us a new tool for glaciology studies," said Lora Koenig, a glaciologist at Goddard and science adviser on the project.

GROVER will be joined on the ice sheet in June by another robot, named Cool Robot, developed at Dartmouth College, Hanover. This rover can tow a variety of instrument packages to conduct glaciological and atmospheric sampling studies.

The tank-like GROVER prototype stands six feet tall, including its solar panels. It weighs about 363kg and traverses the ice on two re-purposed snowmobile tracks.

The robot is powered entirely by solar energy, so it can operate in pristine polar environments without adding to air pollution. The panels are mounted in an inverted V, allowing them to collect energy from the Sun and sunlight reflected off the ice sheet.

A ground-penetrating radar powered by two rechargeable batteries rests on the back of the rover. The radar sends radio wave pulses into the ice sheet, and the waves bounce off buried features, informing researchers about the characteristics of the snow and ice layers.

From a research station operated by the National Science Foundation called Summit Camp, a spot where the ice sheet is about 3.2 km thick, GROVER will crawl at an average speed of 2 kilometres per hour.
Because the Sun never dips below the horizon during the Arctic summer, GROVER can work at any time during the day and should be able to work longer.

Public stem cell bank receives Rs 9 crore grant

CHENNAI: The state government announced a grant of Rs 9 crore to Chennai's public cord blood bank on Tuesday.

The fund will be issued over three years to Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre to help the bank host a collection of 3,000 cord blood donations from the state, Jeevan co-founder Dr P Srinivasan said in a statement.

At present, the bank has an inventory of 700 cord blood units. Public stem cell banks store stem cells drawn from cord blood donated by women during child birth, and sell them to patients for a price.

Stem cell transplant is the only hope for patients with blood disorders, cancers and thalassemia. But, only two of the more than 1,000 patients who requested for stem cells from the public bank have got treatment in the past four years.

In order to get a transplant, the human leucocyte antigen (HLA) of the donor and the recipient should match. However, the chances of an Indian finding a match is less than 10 per cent as the country lacks an inventory. Even if a match is found, the patient has to pay around Rs 20 lakh to import the blood type.

But with the help of the grant, Jeevan stem cells will be available for free to patients from the state, according to Dr Srinivasan.

"This is a long awaited major boost to public cord blood banking in India. I am hopeful that other states will find some funding in the 12th plan allocation for health care and promote cord blood banking in their states," he said.

This grant is expected to encourage other states to join in creating a large national inventory, which will help more Indians find a match and a hope for cure, said Dr Srinivasan.

The public cord blood bank was set up in 2008 by Jeevan Blood Bank and Research Centre. Jeevan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with IIT Madras in March for research and development in stem cell biology.

Secondhand smoke harms girls more than boys

When exposed to secondhand smoke at home, teenage girls tend to have lower levels of the "good" form of cholesterol that reduces heartdisease risk, according to a recent study . 

High-density lipoproteins (HDL) pick up excess cholesterol in the blood stream and take it to the liver where it can be broken down. Unlike low-density lipoproteins that can create a waxy build-up that blocks blood vessels, HDL cholesterol can play a key role in combatting heart disease risk. 

"In our study, we found 17-year-old girls raised in households where passive smoking occurred were more likely to experience declines in HDL cholesterol levels," said the study's lead author, Chi Le-Ha, MD, of the University of Western Australia. 

"Secondhand smoke did not have the same impact on teenage boys of the same age, which suggests passive smoking exposure may be more harmful to girls. Considering cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women in the western world, this is a serious concern," the researcher added. 

Researchers studied a longitudinal birth cohort of 1,057 adolescents who were born between 1989 and 1992 in Perth, Australia. The study gathered information about smoking in the household beginning at 18 weeks gestation and leading up to when the children turned 17. During that time, 48 per cent of the participants were exposed to secondhand smoke at home. Blood tests were performed to measure the teenagers'' cholesterol levels. 

"The findings indicate childhood passive smoke exposure may be a more significant cardiovascular risk factor for women than men," Le-Ha said. 

The study has been accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).

Bug-eye camera offers a new view of the world

PARIS: Taking their cue from Nature, engineers have built a camera using stretchable electronics that scans the world like a fly's compound eye -- with a wide field of view and no distortion, they said Wednesday. 

The digital device, which has a multitude of tiny, pliable lenses like those found in ant, beetle, and lobster eyes, also allows for a near-infinite depth of field and high motion sensitivity, the team wrote in the journal Nature. 

"We've figured out ways to make cameras that incorporate all of the essential design features of eyes found in the insect world," study co-author John Rogers of the University of Illinois' engineering department told AFP. 

"The result is a new type of camera that offers exceptionally wide-angle fields of view (nearly 180 degrees) with zero aberrations and uniform illumination intensity." 

Most classical cameras mimic the working of the animal eye: light reflected off an object passes through the lens which bends and focuses the light onto the retina at the back of the organ, where nerve cells convert it into electric impulses sent to the brain, which produces an image. 

These single-lens systems have a limited field of view, but insects and other species with eyes composed of multiple units called ommatidia enjoy panoramic vision. 

"Nature has developed and refined these concepts over the course of billions of years of evolution," said Rogers. 

Conventional single, wide-angle camera lenses, like fisheye lenses, distort images on the periphery because of a mismatch between the light entering through a bent lens surface only to be captured on a flat detector. 

Most electronics used in detectors are made of a brittle silicon which cannot be bent. 

For their camera, the team created stretchable electronics to build a detector that can be curved into the same hemispherical shape as the lens -- eliminating distortion. 

The camera, about 1.5 centimetres (0.6 inches) in diameter, has 180 miniature lenses, each with its own detector -- similar to the number found in fire ant and bark beetle eyes. 

Dragonflies have about 28,000 lenses and worker ants about 100. 

The electronics and lenses are both flat when manufactured -- allowing them to be made with existing methods. 

"This is the key to our technology," co-author Jianliang Xiao, electrical engineering assistant professor at the University of Colorado in Boulder, said in a statement. 

"We can fabricate an electronic system that is compatible with current technology. Then we can scale it up." 

The technology could be useful in surveillance cameras or endoscope imaging, said Rogers.

But commercialisation is some way off, as a useful camera would likely need millions of lens-detector combination units -- requiring much investment into manufacturing capacity. 

Row over Indian origin family using S African military air base

ohannesburg: The landing of a private aircraft full of guests for an Indian wedding - billed as South African wedding of the century - on a restricted Air Force base has raised eyebrows here with the ruling African National Congress demanding explanation from the military. 

An aircraft, chartered by the prominent Gupta family - which has close ties to President Jacob Zuma - landed at the Waterkloof Air Base yesterday. 

Local radio reported that the Guptas' wedding guests were flown to the base and escorted from there by blue-light vehicles to Sun City, in North West. 

The billionaire family, which owns The New Age newspaper and Sahara Computers, is expected to celebrate the wedding of Vega Gupta, 23, to Indian-born Aaskash Jahajgarhia at Sun City between May 1-4. 

The family says permission to land at Waterkloof was obtained through the Indian High Commission, while a SANDF spokesperson said that he was not aware of permission being given to any private airplane to land at the base, state-owned broadcaster SABC said in a report. 

Leading union confederation Cosatu and the ruling ANC said they were demanding answers from the South African National Defence Force over the alleged misuse of government resources. 

"It is an absolute insult to the people of South Africa that private individuals can use a public facility for their social activities and that state officials should escort them," Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven said in a statement. 

He said Cosatu was seeking an urgent investigation into who authorised the airfield's use for a purely private function, warning of the possible risk to national security, and said those responsible should be disciplined. 

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) insists that it was not aware of any permission granted for the Gupta family to use Waterkloof. 

"As far as I know, no permission has been granted to a private citizen to use the base. It is a military base and a national key point used by government and its guests," spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said. 

The lack of explanation from the SANDF has drawn the ire of the ANC, which said it had waited patiently for an explanation on how these private individuals managed to land aircraft at Waterkloof.

In a statement, Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said that Waterkloof, as one of the national key points, is declared as such "on the basis of being so important that its loss, damage, disruption or immobilisation may prejudice the Republic". 

"... Safeguarding of their sanctity is integral to the protection and upholding of the safety and sovereignty of the Republic. 

"The African National Congress, driven by the concern for the safety and sovereignty of South Africa, shall never allow a situation where our ports of entry and National Key Points are penetrated with impunity"," media reports quoted him as saying.