Daily Newscap

Researchers at hospitals in London and Glasgow plan to use an engineered virus to smuggle DNA into the heart in the first ever clinical trial of "gene therapy" for heart failure. Our goal is to fight back against heart failure by targeting and reversing some of the critical molecular changes arising in the heart when it fails. Alex Lyon, cardiologist The technique, which has been 20 years in development, could help the 750,000 people in the UK living with heart failure. The condition results from damage to the heart left over from a heart attack or side-effects of powerful chemotherapy drugs. After the heart is starved of oxygen, cells die and the remaining heart cells become fatigued. "Once heart failure starts, it progresses into a vicious cycle where the pumping becomes weaker and weaker, as each heart cell simply cannot respond to the increased demand." said Alex Lyon, a cardiologist at the Royal Brompton hospital in London who is leading the trial in...

After nearly four years mapping the "hidden universe," the largest infrared telescope ever launched into space has reached the end of its life, European Space Agency officials say. The $1.4 billion Herschel Space Observatory has exhausted the vital supply of liquid helium coolant that allowed it make the most sensitive and detailed observations of the cosmos in infrared light, ESA officials announced Monday (April 29). The infrared space telescope's official end was recorded by a ground station in Australia, which recorded an increase in temperature for all of the spacecraft's instruments during the telescope's daily communications session. It began its mission in May 2009. [ Amazing Photos from the Herschel Space Telescope ]

Researchers have recreated the whiff of Earth 1.9 million years ago - and found our ancient planet smelt of rotten eggs.  Tiny 1,900 million-year-old fossils from rocks around Lake Superior, Canada, give the first ever snapshot of organisms eating each other and suggest what the ancient Earth would have smelled like, researchers said.  The fossils capture ancient microbes in the act of feasting on a cyanobacterium-like fossil called Gunflintia - with the perforated sheaths of Gunflintia being the discarded leftovers of this early meal. A team, led by Dr David Wacey of the University of Western Australia and Bergen University, Norway, and Professor Martin Brasier of Oxford University, found the fossil evidence for how this type of feeding on organic matter - called 'heterotrophy' - was taking place. They also show that the ancient microbes appeared to prefer to snack on Gunflintia as a 'tasty morsel' in preference to another bacterium.  "What we call 'heterotro...

A few simple changes to diet and lifestyle can protect you against a string of killer diseases and add years to your life, a landmark study has shown . Following seven golden rules not only cut the risk of dying from  cancer  by 20 per cent, it also slashed risks of lung  disease  by half and  heart attacks  by 44 per cent, the study of nearly 380,000 people by scientists at Imperial College London found. The researchers noted that those who stick closely to the rules, which also govern exercise and alcohol consumption, will cut their risk of dying from any of the major circulatory or  respiratory  diseases, including  stroke  and angina, by at least 34 per cent. The rules were drawn up six years ago by the World Cancer Research Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research, the  Daily Express reported. Now, by studying patients across nine European countries, the British scientists have shown that they help people live...

Over 600 Chinese have applied to join an ambitious Dutch aerospace project that plans to send humans on a one-way trip to Mars for permanent settlement. The Dutch project, while triggering enthusiasm to explore outer space, is also under fire with the trip being viewed by some as a suicide mission, with applicants being shipped to a planet that is uninhabitable by humans. The project, Mars One, is being launched by a Dutch non-profit organization, and is scheduled to take four humans to the Red Planet in 2023. In the first three days after it was launched this week, over 20,000 people from all over the world submitted their applications online, with more than 600 coming from China, state-run China Daily reported. Bas Lansdorp, co-founder of Mars One told the media in Shanghai that he is confident of turning the dream into reality, and plans to attract more than five lakh applicants. The Chinese enthusiasm to travel to Mars is building up as China, which has a well funded s...

GUWAHATI: At least two people were killed and ten others injured when police opened fire at a mob which had turned violent following the recovery of a dead body in lower Assam'sGoalpara district, some 120 km away from Guwahati on Monday.   On Monday morning after police found the body of Taher Ali (46), a cowherd who was missing since Sunday at Mailapathar area near Rakshashini forest  of the district, locals turned out in large number and started protesting against the police for having failed to protect the commoner's life.  The mob turned violent and attacked the police with sticks and stones injuring seven policemen and district administration officials.  According to Syamal Prasad Saikia, SP Goalpara, the mob attacked the police team and even tried to burn one man who was riding a motorcycle in the area. Saikia said police had no option but to open fire at the mob to disperse them. Two protestors were killed in the firing.  The man who suffered burn i...

In human plasma alone, researchers have identified some 600 different types relevant to our health. Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health are studying fats, or lipids, to learn more about normal and abnormal biology in the body. When you have your cholesterol checked, the doctor typically gives you levels of three fats found in the blood: LDL, HDL and triglycerides. In human plasma alone, researchers have identified some 600 different types relevant to our health. Many lipids are associated with diseases--diabetes, stroke, cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, to name a few. But our bodies also need a certain amount of fat to function, and we can't make it from scratch. Triglycerides, cholesterol and other essential fatty acids--the scientific term for fats the body can't make on its own--store energy, insulate us and protect our vital organs. They act as messengers, helping proteins do their jobs. They also start chemical reactions...

World War 2, also known as the Second World War, was a war fought from 1939 to 1945 in Europe and, during much of the 1930s and 1940s, in Asia. The war in Europe began in earnest on September 1, 1939 with the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, and concluded on September 2, 1945, with the official surrender of the last Axis nation, Japan. However, in Asia the war began earlier with Japanese interventions in China, and in Europe, the war ended earlier with the unconditional surrender of Germany on May 8, 1945. The conflict spilled over into Africa, included a handful of incidents in the Americas, and a series of major naval battles. It was the largest armed conflict in history, spanning the entire world and involving more countries than any other war, as well as introducing powerful new weapons, culminating in the first use of nuclear weapons. However, despite the name, not all countries of the world were involved; some through neutrality (such as the Eire - though Eire suppl...

New Delhi, April 28 (IANS) Thirty-three new drugs were granted approval by the health ministry without clinical trials on Indian patients between January 2008 and October 2010, a parliamentary panel has found. It a report tabled in parliament last week, the panel headed by parliament member Brajesh Pathak said: "This is yet another instance where the ministry, inspite of appreciating the serious problem the continued marketing of these 33 drugs may pose to Indian patients, has chosen to take no action to resolve it". The panel criticised the union health ministry for its "inaction" on certain alleged irregularities in clinical trials of drugs before their introduction in the country. It also charged the officials involved in granting approval to these drugs with violation of law and "an intention to save the guilty". "The committee is shocked to note this dilly-dallying by the ministry on the matter, which could be affecting lives of lakhs ...

A man with a Guinness World Record for travelling the farthest distance on a zip wire attached to a tuft of his hair died while performing the stunt across the Teesta at Sevoke near Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district on Sunday.  Sailendra Nath Roy (48) was trying to cross the river suspended from a 600 feet zip cable at a height of 70 feet near the Coronation Bridge. A large number of people had gathered to watch the act.   After covering about 40 per cent of the distance, Mr. Roy could not progress further. Amidst cheers and screams of hundreds of onlookers, he desperately tried to move forward, hanging from the cable and using his hand to inch ahead. Suddenly, there was no movement, and after about 45 minutes, he was brought down.  Mr. Roy was rushed to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead. He had suffered a massive heart attack.  “Mr. Roy was a home guard with the Siliguri Metropolitan Police. He was a professional stunt man an...

The constitution outlined by the Nehru report was for Indian enjoying dominion status within the British Commonwealth. Some of the important elements of the report– Unlike the eventual  Government of India Act 1935   it contained a Bill of Rights. All power of government and all authority - legislative, executive and judicial - are derived from the people and the same shall be exercised through organizations established by, or under, and in accord with, this Constitution. There shall be no state religion; men and women shall have equal rights as citizens. There should be federal form of government with residuary powers vested in the center.(Some scholars, such as Moore 1988 considered the Nehru Report proposal as essentially unitary rather than federal.); It included a description of the machinery of government including a proposal for the creation of a Supreme Court and a suggestion that the provinces should be linguistically determined. It did not provide for separate ele...

Muhammad Ali Jinnah after having left the Muslim League once again assumed the leadership of the Muslim community in India. The Muslim League under his leadership welcomed the Congress decision to boycot the Simon Commission. But in 1928 the Muslim politics took altogether a different turn when Muhammad Ali Jinnah refused to accept the Nehru Report in an All parties' Conference. Jinnah rejected the Nehru Report as he considered non-acceptance of his proposal by the Conference an insult to the entire Muslim community of the country. But the fact was that Jinnah's proposals were outvoted in the conference. The Muslim League, then under the leadership of Jinnah, thereupon raised the famous 'Fourteen points' embodying the minimum demands of the Muslim community in India. The 'Fourteen Points'': In a meeting of the Muslim League held in 1929 in Delhi Jinnah repudiating the Nehru Report emphasized the need of a vigorous movement for the protection o...

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary panel on health and family welfare has reprimanded the government for failing to initiate action against doctors and officials, who it said 'colluded' with the pharma industry to approve new drugs in violation of the law.  It specially took note of specific cases, where approvals were granted for additional use for existing drugs without mandatory clinical trials being conducted.  The panel has asked the health ministry to forward the names of 'erring doctors' to the Medical Council of India  and medical colleges and hospitals in the next seven days for appropriate action.  The panel headed by Member of Parliament  Brajesh Pathak  has cited instances of drugs-placenta extract gel and Letrozole -which were given a green signal for new usage in violation of the  Drugs and Cosmetics Act .  "..in a clear case of extreme collusion and breach...an official of  CDSCO  (Drug Controller general of India's office) throu...

Market regulator Sebi may get greater powers to check money-pooling frauds by various entities across the country, as the government is considering a major overhaul of regulations governing such schemes. The proposed critical amendments to the securities laws, would also involve the capital markets regulator getting direct powers for attachment of properties, search and seizure of assets and powers to seek information from any entity in relation to its probes against erring persons and entities. The amendments could be made to a host of regulations, including the Sebi Act, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act and the Depositories Act, a senior official said. As a result, Sebi could be given powers for overall regulation and oversight of all kinds of money-pooling activities and the definition of Collective Investment Schemes would be expanded to include all kinds of activities involving collection of Rs 100 crore or more public money, he added. While CIS operations already ...

Exercising at the time of having a flu shot may increase the success of vaccination, according to a new study. The study from the University of Sydney found exercise is the key to successful vaccination. Being physically active has been found to improve immunity in general, but specifically doing some exercise immediately before or after a vaccination can boost vaccine response in particular, said Dr Kate Edwards from the Faculty of Health Science's Exercise and Sport Science unit. In a paper, published in journal Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics and co-authored by Professor Robert Booy, Edwards advised that a bout of exercise can bring about profound changes in the immune system, such as increasing circulating cell numbers, with specific increases in certain subsets, and the release of immune messenger proteins by working muscle cells themselves. With vaccine success rates around 50 to 70 per cent, a large number of those vaccinated are receiving minimal benefit, w...

In a reprieve for Sunil Bharti Mittal, CMD of Bharti Airtel Limited, and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia, the Supreme Court on Friday ordered the 2G trial court to adjourn for seven weeks hearing in the case linked to allocation of additional 2G spectrum in 2002. Admitting the petitions by Mittal and Ruia against the summoning orders by the trial court, a bench led by Chief Justice Altamas Kabir also issued formal notices to the CBI seeking explanation on how the summons against the corporate honchos were sustainable even though the agency's chargesheet did not name them as accused. While the CBI's chargesheet had not named Mittal and Ruia, the duo along with former managing director of Hutchison Max (now Vodafone) Asim Ghosh were summoned by the trial court, saying there were enough material to proceed against them. Calling them as "minds" and "alter egos" of the companies, the 2G court had noted that at the relevant time, they used to chair board m...

The crops developed during the Green Revolution were high yield varieties - meaning they were domesticated plants bred specifically to respond to fertilizers and produce an increased amount of grain per acre planted. The terms often used with these plants that make them successful are harvest index, photosynthate allocation, and insensitivity to day length. The harvest index refers to the above ground weight of the plant. During the Green Revolution, plants that had the largest seeds were selected to create the most production possible. After selectively breeding these plants, they evolved to all have the characteristic of larger seeds. These larger seeds then created more grain yield and a heavier above ground weight. This larger above ground weight then led to an increased photosynthate allocation. By maximizing the seed or food portion of the plant, it was able to use photosynthesis more efficiently because the energy produced during this process went directly to the f...

The term Green Revolution refers to the renovation of agricultural practices beginning in Mexico in the 1940s. Because of its success in producing more agricultural products there, Green Revolution technologies spread worldwide in the 1950s and 1960s, significantly increasing the amount of calories produced per acre of agriculture. History and Development of the Green Revolution The beginnings of the Green Revolution are often attributed to Norman Borlaug, an American scientist interested in agriculture. In the 1940s, he began conducting research in Mexico and developed new disease resistance high-yield varieties of wheat. By combining Borlaug's wheat varieties with new mechanized agricultural technologies, Mexico was able to produce more wheat than was needed by its own citizens, leading to its becoming an exporter of wheat by the 1960s. Prior to the use of these varieties, the country was importing almost half of its wheat supply. Due to the success of the Green Revolut...

COP 9 invited Parties to double their efforts to implement the CEPA Programme of Work, in doing so it invited Parties to provide human and financial resources to the Executive Secretary for the implementation of the CEPA work programme; ( Decision IX/32 ) Parties were invited to create partnerships to transmit CEPA products to regions without internet access. The decision also stressed the importance for Parties to integrate CEPA into their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs); The decision on CEPA also included reference to the need to support CEPA activities related towards Access and Benefit –sharing; In addition to Decision  IX/32 , a second CEPA decision was adopted at COP 9 on the  International Year of Biodiversity  (IYB) ( decision IX/33 ). The COP encouraged all Parties to create National Committees, including representatives of indigenous and local communities, to celebrate the Year and invited all international organizations to mark ...