Yearly Archives: 2018

Cyclone Sagar to Hit Today: Kochi, Mangalore, Goa, Mumbai to witness heavy rains

Posted on by
Reply

Indian Met Department has issued an alert to Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, Maharasthra and the Lakshadweep over the cyclone ‘Sagar’, which is building up over the Arabian Sea.

Tropical Cyclone Sagar, formerly known as 01A, captured NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite appeared more organized and has been strengthening since May 17. On Friday, May 18 the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument aboard NASA-NOAA’s Suomi NPP satellite captured a true-color image of Tropical Cyclone Sagar that showed the center of circulation in the Gulf of Aden, and the northern and southern quadrants of the storm affecting Yemen and Somalia, respectively.

Cyclone Sagar or 01A quickly formed in the northern Indian Ocean and strengthened into a tropical storm on May 16 at 6:05 p.m. EDT as shown in the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite.

The infrared image indicated a small portion of thunderstorms around the center at minus 80 degrees Celsius, indicating very strong storms with a potential for heavy rainfall. It had maximum sustained winds near 46 miles per hour (40 knots), located near 13.0 degrees north latitude and 48.6 degrees east longitude. That’s approximately 229 nautical miles east of Aden, Yemen.

On Friday, at 4 a.m. EDT (1:30 pm IST) Tropical Cyclone Sagar was centered near 11.6 degrees north latitude and 45.9 degrees east longitude, approximately 89 nautical miles southeast of Aden, Yemen. Maximum sustained winds had increased to 69 mph (50 knots/111 kph). Sagar was moving to the west-southwest at 6.9 mph (6 knots/11.1 kph).

Sagar is likely to threaten Yemen, Somalia and Djibouti with waves as high as 17 feet, before hitting the Indian west coast. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center said that Sagar will move southwest through the Gulf of Aden and make a heavy landfall in northwestern Somalia.

 

Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued an advisory that said: “It is likely to move west-southwestwards and weaken gradually after 12 hours and cross Somalia coast around noon of 19th May 2018, said IMD in a statement.

“Fishermen are advised not to venture into Gulf of Aden and adjoining areas of west-central and south-west Arabian sea. Hoist signal DW-II at all the ports of south and north Gujarat” said the advisory issued by the Met Department. However, Gujarat is not likely to be hit as Sagar weakens by the time it reaches the Kutch coast.

Strong winds reaching upto 75-85 kmph and 95 kmph covering the Gulf of Aden and adjoining south-western Arabian Sea area are very likely duting the next 12 hours. It may then gradually decrease ato 65-75 kmph during the next 12 hours.”

Eat healthy diet to keep hearing aid away

Posted on by
Reply

Hearing loss, which affects nearly 48 million Americans, can be mitigated with healthy diet, said a new study by researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who examined the relation between three different diets and risk of developing hearing loss.

The researchers studied the Alternate Mediterranean diet (AMED), Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010) in 70,966 women in the Nurses’ Health Study II. These participants have been followed for 22 years to come up with the contention that eating a healthy diet is associated with a lower risk of acquired hearing loss in women.

“Interestingly, we observed that those following an overall healthy diet had a lower risk of moderate or worse hearing loss,” said Sharon Curhan, epidemiologist in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at BWH, and lead author of the study. “Eating well contributes to overall good health, and it may also be helpful in reducing the risk of hearing loss.”

In this longitudinal study, researchers collected detailed information on dietary intake every four years and found that women whose diet resembled the AMED or DASH dietary patterns had an approximately 30 percent lower risk of hearing loss.

The findings in a sub-cohort of over 33,000 women reveal that the magnitude of the reduced risk may be greater than 30 percent, and it may also pertain to the AHEI-2010.

The AMED diet includes extra virgin olive oil, grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish and moderate intake of alcohol. The DASH diet includes fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy, and low in sodium. The AHEI-2010 diet has common components with AMED and DASH.

The study has been published in the Journal of Nutrition on May 11. Researchers said further study is required as the present study was based on self-report. It requires to be studied in additional populations, it said.

What’s healthy diet for Ear?

Essentially, minerals are key to hearing health, followed by potassium, folic acid and magnesium. Minerals are available in plants that absorb them from the earth and animals which graze on plants and eating the meat, we consume these minerals. However, there are few minerals which are crucial for hearing health.

Potassium comes next as it regulates fluid in the inner ear, which translates the noises we hear into electrical impulses the brain interprets as sound. It erodes with age causing old age hearing loss.

Eating vegetables such as potatoes, spinach, lima beans, tomatoes, raisins, apricots, bananas, melons, oranges, yogurt and milk contibute to potassium supply to the body.

Folic Acid helps to metabolize homocysteine, an inflammatory compound that reduces circulation and controlling it helps the hair cells of the inner ear healthy and working properly. It is available in folate-rich foods such as organ meat, spinach, broccoli and asparagus.

Magnesium protects the delicate hair cells in the inner ear from loud noise and lack of adequate magnesium deprives blood vessels from oxygen, as found in a study by the University of Michigan Kresge Hearing Research Institute. It is found in yogurt.

In addition, zinc is considered essential to keep the ear free from cold-related infections, which in turn protects it from tinnitus or pesky ear.

Diplomatic Dinner? Israeli dinner Dessert in a Shoe Shocks Japan PM Abe

Posted on by
Reply

Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have made a faux paux of sort when his renowned and creative chef served visiting Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with desert dishes in a shoe on last week May 2. Shocked Japanese revealed it a week later.

Japanese, like any Asian culture, do not bring shoes inside the home, let alone on the dining table. even inside the Japanese home, shoes are forbidden and only leather covering cloth shoes are preferred.

Unthinkable for Japan PM Shinzo Abe and his wife Akie, the creative chef Segev Moshe, riding high on his latest triumph when he served US President Donald Trump and his host a desert in the shape of a double-headed Trump and Netanyahu, presumed that it was funny but leaving the diplomatic circles in a shock.

The media, which was criticised by Netanyahu for not covering the Japanese PM’s visit last week, has retorted giving the faux pax more due to cover the event.

A Japanese diplomat, not named by the paper Yediot Aharonot, was quoted to have said,“There’s no culture in the world in which you put shoes on the table. What was the distinguished chef thinking? If it was humor, we don’t think it is funny; we were offended on behalf of our prime minister.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the menu was not its decision but said, “We have the utmost respect for the Japanese prime minister.”

Undaunted, Segev has posted the shoe-filled dessert on his Instagram account, with a message: “Chocolate selection from the world by #SegevArt / A metal shoe by @tomdixonstudio”. essentially the chef tried to defend the serving saying the shoe was a sculpture by international artist Tom Dixon, whose works are displayed in major museums around the world.

He said for the first time, it was displayed in Israel at a meal and the vessel is a piece of art made of cast metal in the shape of a shoe; it is not a real shoe.

"You don’t need to know any culture to know that serving shoes at a dinner is WRONG!” said another tweet in a reply.

However, the shocking episode has given enough coverage to the visit by Japan PM and Netanyahu must be feeling happy about it.

Sauna bath daily reduces risk of heart disease by 61%, says study

Posted on by
Reply

Frequent sauna bathing is good as it reduces the risk of stroke, said a new international study.

The study followed people taking a sauna for 15 years and found the frequent goers benefit more from it. Those taking saunda 4-7 times a week were 61% less likely to suffer a stroke than those taking a sauna once a week, said the study published in the journal Neurology.

A team of scientists from the Universities of Eastern Finland, Bristol, Leicester, Atlanta, Cambridge and Innsbruck, based on the population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) study on 1,628 men and women aged 53 to 74 years living in the eastern part of Finland, found the most accurate results.

Based on their frequency of taking traditional Finnish sauna baths with relative humidity of 10-20%, the study participants were divided into three groups: those taking a sauna once a week, those taking a sauna 2-3 times a week, and those taking a sauna 4-7 times a week.

The more frequently saunas were taken, the lower was the risk of stroke. Compared to people taking one sauna session per week, the risk was decreased by 14% among those with 2-3 sessions and 61% among those with 4-7 sessions.

The association persisted even when taking into account conventional stroke risk factors, such as age, sex, diabetes, body mass index, blood lipids, alcohol consumption, physical activity and socio-economic status. The strength of association was similar in men and women.

A previous study conducted in Finland, surveyed 1,621 middle-aged men, who had normal blood pressure. During the observation for 25 years, 251 of them developed hypertension. Men who go for a single sauna session per week are 46 percent more likely to develop hypertension than the ones who visit the sauna at least four times a week, said Jari Laukkanen, a professor of medicine at the University of Eastern Finland and the lead author of the study.

The sauna’s warmth improves blood flow by increasing the flexibility of the blood vessels. A typical Finnish sauna can help in relaxation, thereby moderating blood pressure. Additionally, the act of excessive sweating acts as a natural diuretic: a long-trusted drug to cure hypertension.

Another study on the benefits of sauna, conducted by Minna L. Hannuksela and Samer Ellahham, states that regular visits to the sauna cause cardiovascular and hormonal changes that may provide relief to patients with asthma and chronic bronchitis, besides soothening skin conditions like dermatitis and psoriasis.

Adnan Sami not alone, many Indians do face humiliation abroad

Posted on by
Reply

When Bollywood singer Adnan Sami landed in Kuwaiti airport on Sunday, he was in for a shock to see how the officials of Kuwaiti immigration treat Indians.

Enraged, Adnan Sami tweeted about the episode:"Kuwaiti airport immigration mistreated my staff for no reason and called them ‘Indian Dogs’! When you were contacted you did nothing!! How dare d Kuwaitis behave like this with arrogance?!"

Soon Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took cognizance of the tweet and asked him to call her immediately, which he did. The issue is likely to be taken up on Monday with the Kuwaiti officials through diplomatic channels.

But this is not the first time Indians face humiliation abroad. From Shah Rukh Khan to Abdul Kalam faced similar ill-treatment when they visited the United States, for example. It was a humiliation waiting for many whenever they go abroad. For decades, it remained unreported as individual cases.

Though apologies and diplomatic regrets follow the episode, it leaves a deep scar in the minds of Indians and many of them display lack of self-confidence in global forums. Indian students and Indian theatre groups or cinema personalities are the major targets of such ill-treatment.

Sushma Swaraj has set an example of quick response to any plea from any Indian who faces difficulty abroad. No foreign minister in the past, including Atal Behari Vajpayee, can boast of this confidence-boosting gesture from a minister. India should go beyond this. It is not feasible for the minister to respond every time on Twitter as lakhs of Indians will be travelling around the globe soon.

For decades, Europeans, Americans, Japanese or Arabs have subjugated Indians to ill-treatment or bullying at the entry point of their countries and it is time the modalities should be worked out and all the visiting foreign dignitaries are informed about the problems being faced by Indians in their countries. Unless the minister finds a long term solution, the issue remains a short-term issue forever.

Rare Tapanuli Orangutan to be extinct soon, thanks to China’s mega dam

Posted on by
Reply

A Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Credit: Maxime Aliaga

The rare Tapanuli Orangutan, discovered last year in Sumatra, Indonesia, and one of the rarest animals on the planet could become an extinct species soon unless urgent action is invoked to reign in on a mega dam in China, said a team of global scientists.

Besides the usual deforestation, the researchers have pointed out that the Batang Toru project being constructed by Chinese state-owned corporation Sinohydro as the major threat to the survival of the rare orangutan.

“This is just the seventh species of Great Ape ever discovered, and it could go extinct right before our eyes,” said Prof. Jatna Supriatna from the University of Indonesia. Echoing similar view, William Laurance from James Cook University in Australia, co-author of the study said, “In 40 years of research, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything this dramatic.”

A baby Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Credit: Maxime Aliaga

Currently, fewer than 800 of the apes are surviving facing assault from mega-projects, deforestation, road building, and poaching, explained Sean Sloan, lead author of the article in Current Biology. “Their entire remaining habitat is unbelievably small, less than a tenth the size of Sydney, Australia,” said Sloan.

The authors are vehemently zeroing in on the culprit — the planned $1.6 billion Batang Toru mega dam that would go into construction phase soon, relegating the available forest cover for the Tapanuli orangutan, driving them to extinction.

“If it proceeds, the dam will flood crucial parts of the ape’s habitat, while chopping up its remaining habitat with new roads and powerlines,” said Supriatna.

Since the rare ape survives only in areas with virtually no roads, the project will stifle their livelihood, said researchers. “This is a critical test for China and Indonesia. They say they want sustainable development–but words are cheap,” said Laurance. “This could be ecological Armageddon for one of our closest living relatives,” he quickly added.

A Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. Credit: Maxime Aliaga

What IUCN says?

The newly described Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) exists in an isolated area in around 1100 km2 of forests in the Central, North and South districts of Tapanuli, in the province of North Sumatra.

Until recently, it was thought that only two species of orangutan existed; the Bornean (Pongo pygmaeus) and Sumatran (Pongo abelii). Orangutans are found only in Indonesia and Malaysia and are listed as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

“It is rather amazing that this population of orangutans differs so much from the orangutans in the north of Sumatra and that even today, after many decades of intensive research on Great Apes, a new species of this primate family can still be discovered” stated Dr. Ian Singleton, Director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme (SOCP), who has worked on improving protection of the Tapanuli orangutans and their habitat since 2005.

The Tapanuli orangutan was initially found by scientists in 1997, but was not confirmed as a separate species until 2017. To reach that conclusion, researchers needed to closely examine the genetic, morphological and behavioural traits which differed from the other two known orangutan species.

“Despite only just now being described, with less than 800 left, the Tapanuli orangutan is already the most endangered great ape species in the world” stated Matthew Nowak, co-author of the recently published ‘Population Habitat Viability Analysis for Orangutans’ and Director of Research at the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme. ”

The Red List status of this new orangutan is currently being assessed, but conservation concerns for the species are high. This is due to a small population, slow reproduction levels, concerns over local habitat destruction, and killing.

Researchers involved in the definition of this new species included experts from the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Primate Specialist Group (including Ian Singleton, Matthew Nowak and Serge Wich).

Sunday May 6: Solar Storm to cause Mobile, TV, Tech Blackout on Earth?

Posted on by
11

US space agency NASA has informed that a solar storm brewing on Sun is flaring up splitting huge sun storms which may reach earth on Sunday, May 6. It said a coronal hole or sun spot has opened up releasing huge swarm of cosmic rays which may take 8 minutes to reach earth.

The space weather watching unit of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the solar tsunami can create an aurora or polar lights when it hits earth. Astronomers have estimated that three such solar storms are likely to reach earth on May 6, to be precise, the Indian Ocean and India is very much within the target area.

The storm classified as G-1 or ‘minor’ is the biggest since 2004 and it could trigger sparks and melt soil on Moon, while its impact on Earth is still not comprehended by astronomers but similar storms had apparently given birth to origin of life on earth.

A section of scientists warned that the solar storms on Sunday could be severe enough to disrupt communications, satellite-based GPS, flaring up magnetic field around electricity power stations or transmitters. A partial tech blackout is likely to disrupt the Internet-based communications, they added.

Effects on Earth?

Since the severity has been classified as low by NOAA, it may cause voltage fluctuations in electricity supply or even cause power failures for now. However, the US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has issued a storm alert on Sunday and Monday stating that the solar storm could cause a “high stream of activity” that is characteristic to any G1-class storm. The gigantic coronal hole in the sun’s surface was captured today by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), said SWPC.

“G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm watches have been issued for 06 and 07 May 2018 due to the anticipated effects of a negative polarity coronal hole high speed stream… Aurora may be visible at high latitudes, that is, northern tier of the US such as northern Michigan and Maine,” said SWPC in a statement.

Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists woke up to the situation to claim that these disruptions are due to the effect of an approaching Nibiru planet which is lurking in the vicinity of our solar system. David Meade, its proponent, has repeated that the next seven years will witness tribulation with many more calamities. NASA has denied these claims as Internet Hoax, though.

50-Year-Cycle?

 

Researchers have long announced that a storm is likely to come and the most intense solar flare may reach earth in maximum fifty years. It is not sure whether the Sunday storm was the one or not.

Mausumi Dikpati of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), who’s been working on these storms for decades, predicted that the next solar storm will be a stronger one. “The next sunspot cycle will be 30% to 50% stronger than the previous one,” she said a few years ago. It can produce a burst of solar activity second only to the historic Solar Max of 1958.

Earlier, such intense solar storms had been observed in 1805 and 1958 but with no mobiles and magnetic power lines, the disruption was not detectable as clearly as it would today when auroras and cell technology will showcase the real impact.

According to solar physicist David Hathaway of the National Space Science and Technology Center (NSSTC), a typical sunspot exists for just a few weeks. When it decays, it leaves behind a ‘corpse’ of weak magnetic fields.

Whether the big Doomsday is Sunday or not will be known sooner. For now, a storm is coming and how big will it be remains a major question.

NASA Mars Mission Successful, Marco Cubesats separate, InSight Rover landing soon

Posted on by
Reply

NASA launched its next Mars mission with a stationary lander InSight and for the first time carrying a payload of two CubeSats.

InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), the first mission to explore Mars’ deep interior, was launched at 7:05 a.m. EDT on May 5, 2018, from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a ULA Atlas V rocket.

The main purpose of the mission is to probe shape of the rocky planets of the inner solar system more than four billion years ago.

If the mission is successful, the technology will provide NASA the ability to quickly transmit status information about the main spacecraft after it lands on Mars, where its two landers — Opportunity and Curiosity rovers have been examining the Red Planet’s surface.

The twin communications-relay CubeSats, built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, are demos of Mars Cube One (MarCO) technology, developed by university students, but launched only into Earth orbit, not deep space in the past.

The basic CubeSat unit is a box roughly 4 inches (10 centimeters) square. Larger CubeSats are multiples of that unit. MarCO’s design is a six-unit CubeSat – about the size of a briefcase — with a stowed size of about 14.4 inches (36.6 centimeters) by 9.5 inches (24.3 centimeters) by 4.6 inches (11.8 centimeters).

“MarCO-A and B are our first and second interplanetary CubeSats designed to monitor InSight for a short period around landing, if the MarCO pair makes it to Mars,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary science division. “However, these CubeSat missions are not needed for InSight’s mission success. They are a demonstration of potential future capability. The MarCO pair will carry their own communications and navigation experiments as they fly independently to the Red Planet.”

During InSight’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) operations, the lander will transmit information in the UHF radio band to NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) flying overhead. MRO will forward EDL information to Earth using a radio frequency in the X band, but cannot simultaneously receive information over one band while transmitting on another. Confirmation of a successful landing could take one hour to reach Earth.

MarCO’s softball-size radio provides both UHF (receive only) and X-band (receive and transmit) functions capable of immediately relaying information received over UHF.

The two CubeSats will separate from the Atlas V booster after launch and travel along their own trajectories to the Red Planet. MarCO’s first challenges are to deploy two radio antennas and two solar panels.

The high-gain, X-band antenna is a flat panel engineered to direct radio waves the way a parabolic dish antenna does. MarCO will be navigated to Mars independently of the InSight spacecraft, with its own course adjustments on the way.

If the MarCO mission succeeds, it entails many such “bring-your-own” communications relay option for use by future Mars missions. This technology demonstration could lead to many other applications to explore and study our solar system.

 

Temperature swings to hit southern hemisphere, including India hardest

Posted on by
Reply

Temperature fluctuations that are amplified by climate change will hit India and other countries hardest, said a new research.

It found that every additional degree of global warming triggers increase in temperature by up to 15% in southern Africa and Amazonia, and up to 10% in the Sahel, India and South East Asia.

Meanwhile, countries outside the tropics – many of which are richer countries that have contributed most to climate change – should see a decrease in temperature variability.

The researchers, from the universities of Exeter, Wageningen and Montpellier, discovered this “unfair pattern” as they addressed the difficult problem of predicting how weather extremes such as heat waves and cold snaps might change in a future climate.

“The countries that have contributed least to climate change, and have the least economic potential to cope with the impacts are facing the largest increases in temperature variability,” said lead author Dr Sebastian Bathiany, of Wageningen University.

Co-author Professor Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter, added: “The countries affected by this dual challenge of poverty and increasing temperature variability already share half of the world’s population, and population growth rates are particularly large in these countries.”

“These increases are bad news for tropical societies and ecosystems that are not adapted to fluctuations outside of the typical range.”

Relative change in standard deviation of monthly temperature anomalies until the end of the 21st century versus per capita GDP in different countries. The red line marks zero change in temperature variability. The blue line marks half of the current world population. Credit: Sebastian Bathiany, Wageningen University

The study also reveals that most of the increased temperature fluctuations in the tropics are associated with droughts – an extra threat to food and water supplies.

For their investigation, the team analysed 37 different climate models that have been used for the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Although climate variability has been studied extensively by climate scientists, the fact that climate variability is going to change has received little attention in fields investigating the impacts of climate change.

Substance in Chinese medicine can cause cardiac deaths: Study

Posted on by
Reply
IMAGE: Medicinal plants used in traditional Chinese medicine have rarely been scientifically examined. They may contain highly active substances with side effects, such as Evodia. [Credit: University of Basel]

A medicinal plant frequently used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) by name Evodia rutaecarpa contains substances that can cause cardiac arrhythmia, say researchers from the Universities of Basel, Vienna and Utrecht.

Extracts of the plant Evodia rutaecarpa are used for a variety of symptoms, such as headaches, nausea and vomiting as well as menstrual complaints and ulcers in the mouth.

Not scientifically explored, researchers led by Professor Matthias Hamburger from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Basel ventured into scientifically examining the effect of Evodia extracts in collaboration with pharmacologists and toxicologists from the University of Vienna.

To their surprise, they found that the natural substances dehydroevodiamine (DHE) and hortiamine isolated from the plant in Basel turned out to be very potent inhibitors of potassium channels in the heart muscle.

If these channels are blocked, the excitation processes in the heart muscle change, which can trigger severe heart rhythm disturbances – so-called Torsade de pointes (TdP) – and ventricular fibrillation and lead to sudden cardiac death.

Effect confirmed in animal models

The development of severe TdP arrhythmias following the administration of DHE was confirmed by researchers at the University of Utrecht in ECG studies on dogs, a model that is also used to test drug safety in the industry.

Further investigations showed that the two natural substances cause oscillations in the heart muscle cells even in very low concentrations, which can cause cardiac arrhythmia. For instance, these substances can get into a tea made from Evodia fruits.

For drugs that may potentially trigger cardiac arrhythmias, it is typically required that a cardiac examination using ECG is carried out before medication. This is especially true for heart disease patients for their risk to be assessed. To date, no clinical studies have been conducted to investigate the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias after taking Evodia preparations.

Re-evaluate security

Studies at the University of Basel have also shown that the DHE content of Evodia fruits is considerable. Hamburger currently investigates the extent to which these substances find their way into tea preparations. “If DHE and hortiamine are detected, the safety of Evodia products has to be re-evaluated,” says Hamburger. TCM medicinal plants often reach the Indian and Asian or European markets relatively uncontrolled, and they can also be purchased on the internet.

The authors of the study, therefore, call for increased vigilance regarding possible toxic effects of Evodia preparations. “The popularization of medicinal plants from other cultures entails risks. These plants can contain highly active substances with side effects, as in the case of Evodia. A closer examination of such risks is therefore indispensable to protect the population,” says Hamburger.

National Film Award 2018: Winners say ‘No’ to Smriti Irani, insist on receiving from President

Posted on by
Reply

The annual national film awards have met with boycott call and aversion among the film fraternity when the function itinerari revealed that about 60 winners out of all, will be honoured by the ministers, instead of the President of India Ram Nath Kovind. The new rule does not allow the President to spare more than one hour for any awards ceremony.

Over 60 winners of the National Film Awards have declared that they will boycott the ceremony on Thursday evening when they were told that President Ram Nath Kovind would be presenting only 11 awards. This is a clear departure from tradition when earlier presidents were there throughout the ceremony to present the awards to movie persons, despite their age or gender.

The new tradition was made evident when dress rehearsal for the 65th National Film Awards was held just a day before the ceremony on Wednesday with the focus on Sridevi family members Boney Kapoor, Jhanvi and Khushi being geared up for the show.

The event was planned for all the other or less priority winners to receive the awards from Minister of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Smriti Irani, Minister of State, I&B Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, and the I&B ministry’s secretary Narendra Kumar Sinha. The President was supposed to arrive much later and hand over prestigious 11 awards, and then will have a photo-op with all the winners in groups of 45.

Earlier, the minister of I&B had told the winners that there will be less time for speeches and all the winners will be accommodated to receive the award from the President. When the news was out, several winners dashed out a protest letter to the Directorate of Film Festivals saying that they would be not be attending the ceremony, which has been changed at the last minute.

The signatories include noted singer KJ Yesudas, named this year’s best playback singer, Bengali filmmaker Kaushik Ganguly, best supporting actor winner Fahadh Faasil.

Till last year, when Pranab Mukherjee was President, all awards have been handed out personally. "In all the award ceremonies he has attended, he gives away major awards and takes photographs with all awardees. That has been the standard practice, which has been conveyed to the organisers well in advance," said the President’s press secretary Ashok Malik.

The winners of the 65th National Film Awards were selected last month by a jury headed by director Shekhar Kapur with screenwriter Imtiaz Hussain, lyricist Mehboob, South Indian actress Gautami Tadimalla, Kannada director P Sheshadri, Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury, Ranjit Das, Rajesh Mapuskar, Tripurari Sharma and Rumi Jaffrey.

Mallya Dose? India approves MoU with UK on return of Illegal Migrants

Posted on by
Reply

Indian Cabinet has approved an MoU last month with the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on the return of illegal migrants, in view of businessman and former MP Vijay Mallya’s escape from the tax dragon in the country.

The MoU will facilitate that the Visa Free Agreement for holders of Diplomatic passports as well as liberalization of UK Visa Regime for those who are travelling to the UK legally, after conclusion of the MoU.

It will ensure the return of persons who have no lawful basis to be in the territory of the other Party after verification of nationality to its satisfaction.

It will help in streamlining the procedure of return of nationals who are caught to be staying illegally, belonging to the other party in a specified time-frame.

The MoU may not facilitate the return of Mallya for now but certainly paves the way for it in the near future.

[category, DIPLOMACY]

Video of vendor in train toilet with tea, coffee cans goes viral; Contractor fined

Posted on by
Reply

A video was doing rounds in social media in the past one week showing a vendor coming out of train toilet with tea and coffee cans, which raised apprehension that he is mixing water in the cans inside the toilet. The Railway ministry said it has identified the vendor and action has been taken.

See video

“The incident has occurred in Train No. 12759 Chennai Central – Hyderabad Charminar Express at Secunderabad Railway Station in the month of December 2017. An Inquiry has been held to identify the wrong doers and initiate appropriate action," it said.

The Train Side Vending contractor for the section between Secunderabad and Kazipet has been identified as P. Siva Prasad, with whom the identified vendor in the video was employed, said the statement. A penalty of Rs. 1,00,000/- (Rupees One Lakh) has been levied on the licensee, through IRCTC, the contracting agency, it added.

A show cause note has also been issued to M/s P Siva Prasad, Licensee, Train Side Vending as to why his contract for train vending, Section-4, SC-KZJ, SC-NDKD-GNT section, should not be terminated, seeking an explanation within 15 days from the issue of Show Cause Notice that was sent on May 2, 2018.

Two other persons seen in the video are unauthorized hawkers, said the ministry in its clarification and added that the Commercial Department of South Central Railway has been carrying on extensive drives against unauthorized hawking at Secunderabad Railway Station. It said two such unauthorized hawkers involved in the video have been removed.

"A strict vigil is continuously being kept at various level to ensure that no such incidents recur,” said the ministry.

Xiaomi Mi 7 photo leaked on Weibo, Sports 8GB RAM, finger scanner, snapdragon 845

Posted on by
Reply

Xiaomi Mi 7 is all set for a grand release with in-display fingerprint scanner, Snapdragon 845 chipset among other features and a Chinese website has leaked the picture with the possible date of its release.

The Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi, who is going to IPO in Hong Kong exchange currently, was supposed to have announced its flagship Mi 7 at the Mobile World Congress 2018 held from February 26 to March 1 but it has disappointed fans with no announcement on Mi 7.

Now the reports have surfaced in China and elsewhere that Xiaomi might announce the Mi 6 successor this month itself, perhaps once the IPO funding is done with the exchange.

But a Weibo post on the Chinese technology giant has revealed the release date of the Mi 7 will be May 23, 2018. The website has also published a photo of the device with the Mi logo on it.

Since, it is more than year since its predecessor Mi6 was released, the news cannot be brushed aside as another fake news. Xiaomi never shied away from releasing at least one new version of all the brands it sells in the market.

According to Weibo post, the Xiaomi Mi 7 will feature an in-display fingerprint scanner and notch up top. It could be sporting either a 5.65-inch or a 5.8-inch bezel-less AMOLED display with 2,560×1,440 pixels screen resolution against 5.15-inch (1080 x 1920 pixels) display seen in the Mi 6.

Under the hood, the flagship is likely to have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, a 6GB/8GB RAM, a 128GB/256GB internal storage, a dual 19MP+19MP main camera, and a 4,480mAh battery.


​

Frequent sauna bathing brings down stroke risk, says study

Posted on by
Reply

Frequent sauna bathing can bring down the risk of stroke, said a new international study, based on a 15-year follow-up on people taking a sauna 4-7 times a week.

the study found that they were 61% less likely to suffer a stroke than those taking a sauna once a week. This is the first such large-scale study and the findings have been published in the journal Neurology.

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, with a cascading effect on the economy with huge medical bills and payouts. The reduced risk associated with sauna bathing was found by a team of scientists from the Universities of Eastern Finland, Bristol, Leicester, Atlanta, Cambridge and Innsbruck.

The findings are based on the population-based Kuopio Ischaemic Heart Disease Risk Factor (KIHD) study. The study involved 1,628 men and women aged 53 to 74 years living in the eastern part of Finland, whose frequency to traditional Finnish sauna baths with a relative humidity of 10-20%.

The participants were divided into three groups: those taking a sauna once a week, those taking a sauna 2-3 times a week, and those taking a sauna 4-7 times a week.

The more frequently saunas were taken, the lower was the risk of stroke, the results showed. Compared to people taking it once a week, the risk considerably decreased by 14% among those with 2-3 sessions and 61% among those with 4-7 sessions.

The association persisted even when taking into account conventional stroke risk factors, such as age, sex, diabetes, body mass index, blood lipids, alcohol consumption, physical activity and socio-economic status, with no gender bias.

Previous results from the KIHD study at the University of Eastern Finland have shown that frequent sauna bathing reduces the risk of cardiovascular mortality. The association of sauna bathing with reduced stroke may include a reduction in blood pressure, stimulation of immune system, a positive impact on the autonomic nervous system, and an improved cardiovascular function.

In another recent experiment, the same team had shown that sauna bathing has acute effects on the stiffness of the arterial wall, hence influencing blood pressure and cardiac function parameters.

Sri Reddy row: Telugu Film Industry promises CASH committees, Helplines, Toilets and more

Posted on by
Reply

Amid an ugly #MeToo movement when actress Sri Reddy bared her body in the public, the shocked Telugu film industry (TFI) has come up with a series of steps to ensure women’s safety.

In a statement, the Telugu Film industry said that it has decided collectively to deal with the matter with utmost urgency and in a wholistic manner. Despite several means to air one’s grievances, the statement said a few people have chosen “alternative platforms” to air their grievances that has caused concern.

Hence, the TFI said it has collectively decided to take a few short term and long term measures.

To begin with the Telugu film industry has decided to set up a Panel against sexual harassment. It comprises 50 percent non-industry members to give it a greater transparency and integrity. These members include doctors, members from NGOs, psychologists, educationists, ex-government officials among others. Currently, a legal framework of the the guidelines for this panel are being prepared by a team of legal experts, said the statement.

The industry bodies have given guidelines to producers council, MAA, and TFDA about the measures to be taken to enhance women safety, including setting up of CASH committees as per Vishakha guidelines, providing minimum toilet facilities and decent changing rooms to junior artists, character artists doing auditions only in in-camera facilities and in the presence of at least one other woman present, avoid using profane language in any form of communication.

The defensive Telugu Film Industry said it is in the process of conducting various meetings with women groups within the industry to be able to understand in greater depth their specific issues following which more concrete policies can be framed.

Interestingly, the panel against sexual harassment will have a direct hotline with women teams to take up swift measures. Besides, the helplines via email, phone, SMS have been set up so women can easily approach the panel with complaints, said the statement without giving further details about any hotline.

It said licenses will be issued soon to model coordinators so that the candidates are properly vetted and made accountable. It assured counselling for new actors who are wishing to enter the Telugu Film Industry.

UFOs floating in shape over Shrewsbury, claims ex-army officer

Posted on by
2

An ex-army officer has claimed that he has captured a streak of UFOs floating over Shrewsbury, in Pontesbury Hill and the witness assured the viewers that it was not a military aircraft.

"Having served in the forces for over 30 years, I can bet my pension they are not known to the military. They moved slowly around the back of Pontesbury Hill and out towards Eastridge Woods," he said, reports Shropshire Star.

He said the unidentified flying objects did not make any sound and they moved in a controlled manner in the skies of Shrewsbury moving towards Stiperstones. They are certainly not the Chinese lanterns released during the festive season to float around in the sky along with the wind, he said.

“Did anyone else see these as I’m told that Shropshire is a hotspot for UFO sightings?" asked the witness, whose name has not been revealed.

The UFO sightings has increasingly been making it to the newsrooms and many former space scientists and astronauts have joined the row either claiming to have seen UFOs or denying the phenomenon as a hoax.

In addition, the time travellers have been hitting the Youtube or social media claiming that they had visited a particular year in the future and recollecting their experience. But none of them reveal their name or face or even their voice.

Since readership for anything UFO or time-travel is high, even major news outlets have repeatedly published such news. NASA, however, remains stuck to it stand that they are Internet Hoax.

But UFO buffs around the world claim that the governments are aware of alien existence and they even collaborate with them.

Tobacco firm Philip Morris admits nicotine addiction exists

Posted on by
Reply

After decades denying the role of nicotine dependence in smoking addiction, tobacco company Philip Morris has finally admitted that nicotine is the main driver of smoking behavior in 2000, though it said their internal understanding of smoking addiction was more complex.

The company defended saying they simultaneously promoted nicotine reduction products alongside advertising and policy campaigns to promote smoking behavior, according to a new study published this week in PLOS Medicine.

The research, by Jesse Elias, Yogi Hendlin, and Pamela Ling of the University of California, San Francisco, analyzed previously secret documents made available as a result of litigation against the tobacco industry to explore the company’s understanding of addiction before and after publicly admitting nicotine’s addictiveness.

The researchers found that Philip Morris continued studying addiction through the 2000s to develop successful and potentially safer nicotine products, and that from the mid-1990s to at least 2006, its internal models of addiction branded them on psychological, social, and environmental factors than nicotine in driving cigarette use.

Elias and his colleagues argue that Philip Morris’s outward support for nicotine’s role in driving smoking allowed the company to divert from social and environmental interventions to promotion of potentially reduced but harmful products.

The researchers note that the industry documents archive may have been missed some key studies though they emphasize that reducing smoking prevalence requires policies that address all factors driving smoking addiction such as advertising restrictions, plain packaging, tobacco taxes, and widespread smoke-free ban.

The authors say: “As PM’s internal research indicates, positive health outcomes are more likely to be achieved by complementing NRT and behavioral counseling with ever-stronger society-level interventions addressing the psychological, social, and environmental components of addiction.”

Stephen Hawking’s final theory on Big Bang published, What it says?

Posted on by
Reply

Professor Stephen Hawking’s final theory on the origin of the universe, predicting the universe is finite and far simpler than many current theories on it, has been published on Wednesday, April 2, 2018 in the Journal of High Energy Physics.

The theory, worked in collaboration with Professor Thomas Hertog from KU Leuven, was submitted for publication before Hawking’s death earlier this year.

Modern theories of the big bang predict that our local universe came into existence due to inflation within a tiny fraction of a second after the big bang itself, and the universe expanded at an exponential rate. “The usual theory of eternal inflation predicts that globally our universe is like an infinite fractal, with a mosaic of different pocket universes, separated by an inflating ocean,” said Hawking in an interview last year.

In their new paper, Hawking and Hertog say this account of eternal inflation is wrong. “It assumes an existing background universe that evolves according to Einstein’s theory of general relativity and treats the quantum effects as small fluctuations around this,” said Hertog. “However, the dynamics of eternal inflation wipes out the separation between classical and quantum physics. As a consequence, Einstein’s theory breaks down in eternal inflation.”

On his part, Hawking said, “We predict that our universe, on the largest scales, is reasonably smooth and globally finite. So it is not a fractal structure.”

The theory of eternal inflation that Hawking and Hertog put forward is based on string theory concept of holography, which postulates that the universe is a large and complex hologram: physical reality in certain 3D spaces can be mathematically reduced to 2D projections on a surface.

Hawking’s earlier ‘no boundary theory’ predicted that if you go back in time to the beginning of the universe, the universe shrinks and closes off like a sphere, but this new theory represents a different interpretation. “Now we’re saying that there is a boundary in our past,” said Hertog.

 

Hertog now plans to study the implications of the new theory on smaller scales within the reach of our space telescopes. He believes that primordial gravitational waves – ripples in space time – generated at the exit from eternal inflation constitute the most promising “smoking gun” to test the model.

The expansion of our universe since the beginning means such gravitational waves would have very long wavelengths, outside the range of the current LIGO detectors, which can be heard by the planned European space-based gravitational wave observatory, LISA.