Daily Newscap

Taking aspirin weekly or even monthly could help ward off tumours of the head and neck, researchers say Study showed a 'significant' reduction in risk among 55 to 74-year-olds taking regular dose Popping an aspirin just once a month could cut people's chances of developing cancer by almost a quarter, new research suggests. According to scientists at Queen's University in Belfast, a weekly or even monthly dose of the over-the-counter painkiller could help people avoid developing tumours. Their investigation indicated that a regular dose of aspirin could reduce people's risk of getting head and neck cancer by 22 per cent. Aspirin: A monthly dose of aspirin could help people cut their chances of developing cancer, research suggests Academics noted a 'significant' reduction in the risk of head and neck cancer among 55 to 74-year-olds regularly taking aspirin. A regular dose of aspirin in middle age is already recognised as helpi...

As it has become more efficient and less expensive to analyze the DNA in normal cells, it has also gotten a whole lot easier to analyze the mutated DNA in tumors — a project scientists hope will help explain why cancer behaves as it does and what new strategies  oncologists  might use to stop its growth. Writing in a  special section of the journal Science  (available for free with registration) on Thursday, researchers distilled much of what they’ve learned from tumor sequencing so far. In  this review article , Johns Hopkins cancer geneticist Kenneth Kinzler and colleagues looked at the results of more than 100 cancer genome sequencing projects to compile a list of just a few general principles about the disease. To paraphrase a few: While many cancer cells display large numbers of mutations, most cancers are caused by just a few alternations in DNA, which develop over the course of 20 to 30 years.   Every tumor is genetically unique, but the cell...

Analysis of images of a particular part of the brain could help predict whether a criminal would reoffend or not, says a new study. The study conducted by the Mind Research Network (MRN) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, shows that neuro-imaging data can predict the likelihood of whether a criminal will reoffend after release from prison or not. The paper, which is to be published in the  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , studied impulsive and anti-social behaviour and focused on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that deals with regulating behaviour and impulsivity. The study demonstrated that inmates with relatively low anterior cingulate activity were twice as likely to reoffend than inmates with high brain activity in this region, reports Science Daily. “These findings have incredibly significant ramifications for the future of how our society deals with criminal justice and offenders,” said senior author Kent A. Kiehl, who is the d...

Rohtak (Haryana), March 30 (IANS) A senior surgeon of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here was suspened following allegations that he was taking bribes from patients, PGIMS officials said here Saturday. PGIMS authorities suspended R.K. Karwasara, senior professor and head of surgery department, with immediate effect. PGIMS director Chand Singh Dhull told IANS: “The (suspension) order has been issued by the institute vice chancellor after taking a serious note of complaints against Karwasara. The investigation committee has been asked to submit its report at the earliest.” The PGIMS authorities took action against Karwasara after the death of a patient Wednesday night. Infuriated by his death, the patient’s kin created ruckus at PGIMS and accused the doctors and nurses of negligence. Later, one of the family members lodged a complaint with the PGIMS authorities accusing Karwasara of taking a bribe of Rs.50,000 in three installments for carrying out c...

The chemical responsible for the minty flavour in gum makes healthy food unappealing People who chew gum eat fewer meals - but not less calories - because they chose unhealthy foods It may well give you minty-fresh breath, but chewing gum could also cause weight gain, new research suggests.  Scientists have discovered that people who chew gum eat more high calorie sweet foods. This is because the chemical responsible for the minty flavour of gum makes savoury foods, especially fruit and vegetables, taste unpleasant. Co-author of the study, Christine Swoboda, a doctoral candidate in nutrition at Ohio State University, told  LiveScience :  ‘The chemical change is the same reason why when you brush your teeth and then drink orange juice, it tastes bad. Scientists have discovered that people who chew gum eat more high-calorie, sweet foods ‘We were also interested in seeing whether this helps with weight loss.’ To carry out the study, Ms Swoboda and her co...

   Beijing, March 30 (PL) One thousand 700 students in China were confirmed as HIV positive in 2012, representing an increase of 24.5 per cent in that sector of the population, as reported today by official sources. According to Yu Jinglin, an official of the newly created National Commission of Health and Family Planning, the number of young students infected with HIV is increasing and among the thousand 700 new cases, 64.8 percent is attributed to homosexual contact. In 2012 87 percent of all cases of HIV-AIDS was sexually transmitted, he said. In China, where the first AIDS patient was discovered in 1985, there are seven thousand students with HIV

NEW DELHI: Having recently observed the phenomenon of  coral  spawning at the Lakshwadeep islands, a group of marine biologists will be spending all of Wednesday, a full moon day, monitoring the phenomenon. Spawning corals are supposed to be more active and synchronous on full moon nights. When observed during the day, this reproductive activity generates a spectacular effect of multiple colours on the surface of the sea. The biologists, among them, Subburaman S, claims that this is the first time that such a phenomenon has been scientifically observed on the west coast of India. Corals, marine animals found on reefs, reproduce by releasing gametes (eggs and sperm) into the water. Scientists who have closely observed the phenomenon say it looks like snowflakes rising from bottom to top. On the surface of the sea, where the gametes fuse to form larvae, the water can turn from pink, purple, green and even brown. The spawning, a phenomenon that has generated interest in rookie e...

Washington: Astronomers from the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP) and Lowell Observatory have used NASA's Swift satellite to check out comet C/2012 S1 (ISON), which may become one of the most dazzling in decades when it goes around the sun later this year.  Using images acquired over the last two months from Swift's Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT), the team has made initial estimates of the comet's water and dust production and used them to infer the size of its icy nucleus.  "Comet ISON has the potential to be among the brightest comets of the last 50 years, which gives us a rare opportunity to observe its changes in great detail and over an extended period," Lead Investigator Dennis Bodewits, an astronomer at UMCP said.  Comet ISON is now approaching the inner solar system.  Discovered last year, the comet remains unusually active for its distance from the sun.  If current trends continue, ISON could rank as one of the brightest comets in d...

What has BYOD wrought? Tablets will, for the first time, out-ship desktop PCs this year, according to a new report from IDC. The research firm is forecasting that by the end of 2013, desktop PC shipments will dip 4.3 percent. Tablet shipments will rise to 190 million units, thanks to an astonishing annual growth rate of 48.7 percent. That's enough to make tablets a much more common sight than desktop and tower computers, with emerging markets leading the charge, according to IDC research analyst Megha Saini. "In emerging markets, consumer spending typically starts with mobile phones and, in many cases, moves to tablets before PCs. The pressure on the PC market is significantly increasing and we can see longer replacement cycles coming into effect very soon and that, too, will put downward pressure on PC sales," she stated in press remarks. These factors will make emerging markets hard for tablet manufacturers to ignore. By 2017, "tablet unit shipme...

SYDNEY: Microblogging platform Tumblr has confirmed its entire service had been taken offline earlier  this morning , but all network issues have been resolved.   The latest outage is just the most recent of a series of embarrassing setbacks for the company, which began last December, news.com.au reports.  A Tumblr spokesperson told internet news site TheNextWeb that they were experiencing networking issues and are working quickly to remedy the situation.  Tumblr recently boasted it had passed 100 million blogs, with a total of 44.6 billion postings.  The microblogging site however did not give further explanation for the outage.

Environmental factors contribute to 30% of Africa's disease burden and hinder the continent's development Experts work to remove toxic waste at a contaminated site near Akuedo village, Ivory Coast. Photograph: Legnan Koula/EPA In 2006, a ship chartered by Dutch-based commodities trader  Trafigura illegally unloaded 500 tonnes of toxic waste in the ports of Abidjan , the largest city in Ivory Coast. Local contractors then dumped the contents in town. More than 30,000 people are thought to have suffered illness as a result of the contamination. In the oil-rich deltas of nearby Nigeria , some village water wells are tainted with benzene, a carcinogen, at levels 900 times above World Health Organisation limits. The multifaceted connection between environmental and human health is the subject of a report,  the African Environment Outlook-3 , released last month by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep). It concludes that these linkages "deserve priority co...

Bridges environmental data gap between and within developing and developed countries Abu Dhabi: The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) last week reaffirmed their partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep). Facilitated by the Abu Dhabi Global Environmental Data Initiative (AGEDI), the partnership aims at continuing to bridge the environmental data gap between and within developing and developed countries. EAD and Unep share a common interest in improving access to timely and credible environmental data and information by those who need it. The two-year cooperation agreement that was signed by Achim Steiner, executive director at Unep, and Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Secretary General at EAD, provides AGEDI with the opportunity to build on the commitments set out in the United Nations Conference of Sustainable Development (UNCSD) Rio+20 outcomes for a more sustainable future. “Through this partnership we will collectively address the challenges of gr...

HYDERABAD:  Soon, chronic diabetes patients in the city might take to surgery to beat their fluctuating blood sugar levels. Speaking about this at a conference held on Friday, medical practitioners said that the procedure known as " Ileal interposition with sleeve gastrectomy " would not just help in effectively controlling  type 2 diabetes  but will also eliminate the need for medication to treat the ailment. While the procedure, doctors said is not new; it has failed to pick up in the city. Dr Surendra Ugale of Kirloskar Hospital, Basheerbagh, who first performed this surgery in 2008 claimed to have reversed Type 2 diabetes in 225 patients (of the 250 he operated on) in India and Istanbul. "Very few patients had a recurrence of their diabetes at some point," he said, adding that the surgery costs Rs 4 lakh. A case in point is Meena, a Type 2 diabetic, who was under severe stress till last year as medicines failed to control her blood sugar levels. An episode of  ...

WASHINGTON, MAR 28:   Women in India are more likely to get prenatal care when pregnant with male babies, according to a ground-breaking study that has implications for girls’ health and survival in patriarchal societies. The study by Leah Lakdawala of Michigan State University and Prashant Bharadwaj of the University of California, San Diego, suggests sex discrimination begins in the womb in male-dominated societies such as India. “It paints a pretty dire picture of what’s happening,” said Lakdawala, MSU Assistant Professor of Economics. In India, while it is illegal for a doctor to reveal the sex of an unborn baby or for a woman to have an abortion based on the baby’s sex, both practises are common, Lakdawala said. However, knowing the sex of the baby through an ultra-sound also can lead to discrimination for those pregnancies that go full-term, she said in a statement. In studying the national health-survey data of more than 30,000 Indians, the researchers fo...

New Delhi: Auto maker Hyundai Motors is planning a compact SUV and an MPV for the Indian market in the near future. The move is likely to bring the automaker in the SUV/crossover market which will soon witness the inclusion of the Ford Ecosport in June/July. With the entry into the niche market, Hyundai will go up against the dominant player, the Renault Duster. The announcement comes at the heels of the Korean automaker’s decision to launch a car which will be placed between the successful i10 and i20 series. Also, the MPV will be unveiled after the launch of the compact SUV. The MPV will likely face competition from Maruti Suzuki Ertiga and Mahindra’s compact SUV, the Quanto. Some reports also state that Hyundai is investing in a flexible engine plant with a 300,000 capacity, which will allow the car maker to stop importing diesel engines. Meanwhile, the car that is supposed to be positioned between i20 and i10 is pegged to be the next iteration of the i10.

BETUL, MAR 30:   The police has registered a report against 16 people for being part of a tribal panchayat which punished a girl recently, for allegedly eloping, by cutting off her hair in public. The tribal panchayat at Chikhlar village situated about five kilometres away from Betul district headquarters also punished the girl’s uncle for allegedly eloping with her, by making him run around with a garland of shoes and a grinding stone tied to his chest. Though the girl aged about 18 pleaded that her uncle had kidnapped her from the village market, the tribal panchayat allegedly did not listen to her pleas and insulted her. The villagers vociferously have protested against the police action yesterday before the Superintendent of Police (SP) office here, demanding that the report be withdrawn. They also justified the action of their panchayat as it was their “tradition”. Terming the panchayat’s decision as illegal, the police said that a case has been registered an...

CHENNAI, MARCH 30:   India can generate higher economic growth on its own steam despite the global economic slowdown, according to Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. “I am basically bullish on the medium term,” Singh said, addressing a meeting organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday. He pointed out that for five years up to the global financial crisis of 2008, India’s economy had grown at over 9 per cent despite corruption, political issues, and bureaucracy, which are now being blamed for slow growth. These can be resolved in the long term and are ‘not a precondition to high growth,’ he said. UNDUE DEBATE There has been undue public debate on the slow 5 per cent growth, even if it was lower than expected. But India’s growth has to be seen in the light of China’s 7.5 per cent — earlier when India grew at 9 per cent, China had grown at 11 per cent and the gap has not widened — and Brazil’s and South Afric...

Closure orders from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board not new for company Tuticorin-based Sterlite Copper, which took its roots in the black cotton soil on the sprawling SIPCOT premises exactly two decades ago, has been once again placed in a situation not unfamiliar to it after it received closure orders from the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board on Saturday. The recent emission of sulphur dioxide that spread across several parts of Tuticorin a few days ago from an “unknown source” has become the reason for the latest irritation to the copper major. The closure notice from the official machinery shows that the revenue and the TNPCB officials, who inspected the plant premises in SIPCOT complex to ascertain the public’s charge that the Sterlite Copper was the source that caused the spreading of the poisonous gas are apparently convinced. Against this backdrop, the TNPCB has ordered its closure, and power connection to the Rs. 4,000-crore plant that manufactures copper ano...

Across North Korea, soldiers are gearing up for battle and shrouding their jeeps and vans with camouflage netting. Newly painted signboards and posters call for "death to the U.S. imperialists" and urge the people to fight with "arms, not words." But even as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is issuing midnight battle cries to his generals to ready their rockets, he and his million-man army know full well that a successful missile strike on U.S. targets would be suicide for the outnumbered, out-powered North Korean regime. Despite the hastening drumbeat of warfare, none of the key players in the region wants or expects another Korean War — not even the North Koreans. But by seemingly bringing the region to the very brink of conflict with threats and provocations, Pyongyang is aiming to draw attention to the tenuousness of the armistice designed to maintain peace on the Korean Peninsula, a truce North Korea recently announced it would no longer honor as it war...