IPL 2012- Mumbai looked the part in last two editions

Mumbai Indians took an unusually long time to hit the ground running and make its presence felt in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Right from the day the Forbes-listed multi-billionaire Mukesh Ambani decided to shell out $111.9 million for 10 years to own the Mumbai-city team in the league in January 2008, the men in blue with flashy golden stripes depicting the iconic Bandra-Worli Sea Link dithered and withered before finding their feet in the intense, dynamic and merry-making world of Twenty20 cricket.

Hopes of a blockbuster start from Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya dissipated straightaway with the champion Indian laid low by a nagging hamstring and missing out the first seven matches.

The right-left combination exploded into action as soon as Tendulkar made a delayed debut in the league, but the damage had already been done with the costliest team losing four straight matches before winning half a dozen on the trot.

Moreover the acting captain Harbhajan Singh was involved in a physical assault with S.Sreesanth after the MI versus Kings XI Punjab match at Mohali and was banned after he had played the third match.

The IPL season 2 in South Africa turned out to be ordinary and forgettable for Tendulkar's team. The Sri Lankan left-hander, Jayasuriya, bought at $975,000, made only 221 in 12 matches as against an impressive 514 from 14 matches in the inaugural season.

Jayasuriya played 30 matches in three seasons, figured in 15 winning matches and struck big blows in ten matches with Tendulkar (five times 50 plus partnerships and five times between 30 and 40), but the franchisee's belief that these two would be enough to influence a Twenty20 match did not take place.

In the second auction at Goa in 2009, MI's think tank decided to make a big-buy in South African Jean Paul Duminy for $950,000.

But it was before season 3, when the IPL returned to India that the Mumbai franchise hit the headlines again winning West Indian all-rounder Kieron Pollard at $750,000, but reports said that the MI paid over $2 million when the silent tie-break rule was applied with three more franchises having entered the fray.

More changes

Meanwhile MI made a few more changes; it brought in Shaun Pollock as mentor and also engaged Jonty Rhodes from the second season.

Tendulkar was as usual a big draw; he made 618 runs in 15 matches in the third season and 553 in the fourth, but the spotlight also turned on the Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga, Pollard and Harbhajan, who together accounted for 45 wickets (in 2010) and 52 wickets (in 2011).

As a further step to sustain its showing in the IPL, MI has made strategic selections for season 5. It was relying heavily on Harbhajan to man the spin department; this year it will have left-arm spinners Pragyan Ojha and South African Robin Petersen.

Besides MI has two young spinners in leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal and 17-year-old left-arm unorthodox Kuldeep Yadav.

MI has also selected Dinesh Karthik to make sure that Ambati Rayudu is deployed on the outfield. It did not waste time to pick South African Richard Levi, who scored the fastest Twenty20 century (100 off 45 balls and 117 not out off 51 balls) against New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton in February.

MI is happy that Pollard would join the team at Chennai for the IPL 5 season. “He has played some great cricket over the last season, especially against Australia in recent times.

“He has been striking the ball very well. He needs to be really confident because of the time he comes in to bat.

“One is asking a lot from a guy who's walking in the 16th or 17th over and expect him to hit the ball out of the ground from ball No. 1.

“We need him to finish games and certainly he's strong at the bottom of the innings. But a player in that position needs to be very confident. Hopefully that's what he is going to bring into the MI team after his success against Australia,'' said Rhodes.

After a dismal campaign in the first two seasons, MI has looked the part in the next two. It has made some shrewd selections for the fifth by picking Herschelle Gibbs, Mitchell Johnson, Clint McKay, Rudra Pratap Singh, Rahul Shukla, Levi and Peterson.

It has a large support staff including Mike Horn, the South African-born explorer who spent valuable time with the ICC World Cup winning Indian team exactly a year ago with his motivational speeches.

But all said and done, MI will look upon Tendulkar (1723 runs) and Malinga (61 wickets) to blast runs and the wickets. MI has so far played 59 IPL matches, won 33 and lost 26.

Mumbai Indians won the Champions League T20 last year without Tendulkar.

The squad: Sachin Tendulkar (captain), Herschelle Gibbs, Rohit Sharma, Richard Levi, Tirumalasetti Suman, Sujit Nayak, Apoorv Wankhade, Aiden Blizzard, Jaydev Shah, Rahul Shukla, Suryakumar Yadav, Amitoze Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Lasith Malinga, Munaf Patel, Clint McKay, Rudra Pratap Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Robin Peterson, Pragyan Ojha, Pawan Suyal, Abu Nechim, Dhawal Kulkarni, Yuzvendra Chahal, James Franklin, Thisara Perera, Kieron Pollard, Davy Jacobs, Dinesh Karthik, Ambati Rayudu, Sushant Marathe, Aditya Tare and Kuldeep Yadav.

Devotees in Mumbai make beeline for temples on Ram Navami

Devotees in the city spent most of Ram Navami fasting, reciting prayers and visiting Ram temples. Ram Navami is celebrated across India to mark the birth of Lord Ram, son of King Dashrath. According to mythology, he is also the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

As a representation of his birth, idols of Ram as a baby were placed in swings at prominent temples. At the Ram mandir in Wadala, priests recited prayers, and as soon as the clock struck the auspicious hour of 12.10 pm, they chanted slogans and carried out the ritual of placing the little idol in a swing which they pushed back and forth.


Devotees soon took over from them, lining up in serpentine queues to swing the idol. “I come here on every Ram Navami. Until I visit the temple and seek his darshan, I do not even eat food,” said Nutan Dinesh Godambe, 54-year-old resident of Matunga.


She added, “I did some puja at home too before coming here.”


“I cannot fast due to health issues, so will be having only vegetarian food today that is offered in prasad,” said Das, 59-year-old resident of Dadar Hindu Colony.


Sandeep Udva, a 30-year-old from Virar, times his arrival at the temple every year in such a way that he is on the premises at the time of Ram’s birth. “This year however, I missed a train so was a little late. But I have seen the lord and taken his darshan anyway,” he said.


“We first start with his aarti. All day kirtans are held, the Ram Charitramanas is read out, and in the evening there is a special prayer offered,” said Uday Zaoba, managing trustee of Zaoba Ram Mandir at Thakurdwar, also known as Gora Ram Mandir.


At the Wadala Ram Mandir, a Rath Yatra was taken out along with a palanquin, in which a Ram idol was placed.

MU Re-exam 2012 -University of Mumbai orders re-examination

Third-year BCom (TY BCom) students, rejig your post-examination holiday plans. The University of MumbThe University’s decision to conduct re-examination for MHRM paper follows the findings of a three-member inquiry committee which confirmed the leakage of question paper a day prior to the actual examination scheduled for March 28.

A University spokesperson made an announcement about holding the re-exam for MHRM paper, after the three-member committee — headed by Dean of Commerce department at the University Dr Madhu Nair — submitted its report to the Vice-Chancellor Rajan Welukar.

The committee also held discussions with the Controller of Examination and VC about the circumstances leading to the leakage of the MHRM question paper had leaked from BNN College at Bhiwandi in Thane on March 27.

The inquiry committee held BNN College responsible for the leakage. Three college officials have been suspended while action against more is expected.

The leakage of the question paper was more of an accident than a deliberate, because 514 students appearing for the Business Economics on March 27 were mistakenly handed question paper s of MHRM, a subject for which the examination was scheduled to be held on the following day.

Minutes later, the invigilators and BNN College management realised that it had issued wrong papers and swiftly retrieved them.

Under pressure from the Yuv Sena and other quarters, the VC had set up a three-member inquiry committee which submitted that answer papers of as many as 514 students could not be sent for valuation as they overwritten the subject code numbers on the answer sheets — a faux pas that would not stand the test of computerised validation from the students and gave them correct question papers — of Business Economics subject.

By then, invigilators had already instructed the students to write the wrong subject’s code number and some apparently memorised the questions in the MHRM question papers.

After handing the “correct” Business Economics question papers, the invigilators asked the students to strike off the incorrect code written and write down the code of the subject they were writing the exam for.

Though the exam passed off, one of the students revealed to a regional television channel after the examination about the mix-up that had happened.

Hours before the exam for MHRM paper on March 28, scores of students across Mumbai received SMSes listing the important questions that will figure in the actual examination. The Aditya Thackeray-led Yuv Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena, made an issue of the mix-up and raised it before Maharashtra Governor and Chancellor of the Universities in the State. The Sena delegation also demanded the removal of V-C Welukar.ai has rescheduled the marketing and human resources management (MHRM) paper for April 11, which was distributed at an examination centre a day before the scheduled date.

A three-member probe committee, headed by Dr TP Madhu Nair, dean of faculty of commerce, submitted its report on the leak to vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Welukar on Sunday morning. Dr Nair confirmed the news. “The MHRM paper was distributed by mistake a day before at the BNN College, Bhiwandi. Seventeen of 21 blocks, comprising 30 students each, received the paper.”

Since affiliated colleges are scattered across five districts, the university sends papers to examination centres twice a week, and that’s how the BNN College ended up with the MHRM paper a day earlier.

Up until Sunday, university officials had refused to admit that the paper had been leaked out prior to the day of the examination on March 28.

Over 85,500 students, many of whom have already headed off on their vacation after the last paper on March 30, will have to sit the examination again. Several TY BCom students complained that they were being “punished” for a college’s mistake.

The university committee was probing the claims of a student who on March 30 appeared in a news channel and claimed that candidates who were waiting for their business economics paper inside the examination hall at BNN College on March 27 were instead given the MHRM paper. Questions from the paper then began doing rounds through SMS across the city. To save face, Welukar and BNN College authorities repeatedly denied the leak till Sunday.

Mumbai University TY BCom re-exam on April 11

Third-year BCom (TY BCom) students, rejig your post-examination holiday plans. The University of Mumbai has rescheduled the marketing and human resources management (MHRM) paper for April 11, which was distributed at an examination centre a day before the scheduled date.


A three-member probe committee, headed by Dr TP Madhu Nair, dean of faculty of commerce, submitted its report on the leak to vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Welukar on Sunday morning. Dr Nair confirmed the news. “The MHRM paper was distributed by mistake a day before at the BNN College, Bhiwandi. Seventeen of 21 blocks, comprising 30 students each, received the paper.”


Since affiliated colleges are scattered across five districts, the university sends papers to examination centres twice a week, and that’s how the BNN College ended up with the MHRM paper a day earlier.


Up until Sunday, university officials had refused to admit that the paper had been leaked out prior to the day of the examination on March 28.


Over 85,500 students, many of whom have already headed off on their vacation after the last paper on March 30, will have to sit the examination again. Several TY BCom students complained that they were being “punished” for a college’s mistake.


The university committee was probing the claims of a student who on March 30 appeared in a news channel and claimed that candidates who were waiting for their business economics paper inside the examination hall at BNN College on March 27 were instead given the MHRM paper. Questions from the paper then began doing rounds through SMS across the city. To save face, Welukar and BNN College authorities repeatedly denied the leak till Sunday.

MU 2012- Mumbai University admits paper leak & calls for CID probe, re-exam on April 11

MUMBAI: Mumbai University finally acknowledged that this year's TYBCom Marketing and Human Resource Management (MHRM) paper had indeed leaked. And the university's Board of Examinations, which convened early on Sunday, agreed that though a re-exam would inconvenience students, it nevertheless would have to be held in all fairness. So on April 11, TYBCom students will have to relive the exam stress all over again. 


The University of Mumbai has asked the management of BNN College, Bhiwandi, to suspend three officials involved in 'leaking' the paper. It also recommended imposing a Rs 1-lakh fine on the college. The university plans to seek a CID inquiry to investigate if there was a deliberate attempt to malign its image. The university will also file a complaint against the college under Prevention of Malpractices (University, Board and other Specified Examinations) Act 1982 against persons responsible for the leak and another complaint with the cyber crime cell to investigate messages circulated about the MHRM paper and later for other papers. 


The decision was taken at a marathon meeting of the Board of Examinations (BoE) after the three-member committee comprising principals of three commerce colleges - Madhu Nair (convenor), T A Shiware and S T Gadade - visited the Bhiwandi college on Saturday and submitted their report. The university denied the leak since March 28, despite SMSes clearly indicating it. The inquiry gathered steam only after a student, whose centre was at BNN College, approached a news channel. 


College officials had refuted the student's claim that the paper leaked from their centre when the wrong paper was distributed. All 31 people interviewed denied the incident. But when the committee reached the examination house to check if answer sheets held any evidence, they found the proof in black-and-white on 510 answer papers. The sheets had the code of the MHRM paper (code: 2070) which was struck out when the correct paper (code: 1176) was later distributed. The committee found the MHRM paper was distributed in 17 out of 21 exam blocks of BNN College. "Some answer sheets of Business Economics have the code of the MHRM paper. The new optical mark reader system, which makes it mandatory for students to give the paper code, enabled us to detect the officials' lie," said a committee member. 


"Another proof was the tampered date on the MHRM's question paper bundle, signed by the chief conductor. The chief conductor is expected to sign the bundle before opening. The date on the MHRM paper bundle, opened on March 27, was fiddled to make it March 28," said the report. 


In an official statement, the university denied involvement in the incident. "Paper setters went through SMSes and claimed not all questions were leaked. So the varsity's claim about the leak was appropriate at that time," said an official. Action Recommended By University 


Action recommended by university: 


Re-examination of commerce paper III (MHRM) be conducted on April 11 


University plans to register police complaint against those responsible for the leak 


Chief conductor D S Bhangre, senior supervisor R N Deshpande and Prof Jadhav, responsible for goof-up, must be suspended Inquiry committee must submit a report to the varsity within six weeks 


Varsity to file complaint with the cyber crime cell to investigate incorrect SMS circulated on March 27-29 


Varsity will seek CID inquiry to probe if there was deliberate attempt to malign its image 


BNN College must initiate action against 17 junior supervisors for withholding facts from inquiry committee 


Committee of three observers must oversee exams at BNN College from April 2 


Since inconvenience caused to university and students, the university's management council must consider imposing a fine of Rs 1 lakh on the college 


The college will be debarred as an exam centre from October 2012 to March 2015

IPL 5 - Pune Warriors unveil new stadium for IPL 5

 ICC president Sharad Pawar on Sunday inaugurated the international cricket stadium built by the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) at Gahunje, near Pune, which will host the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches this season.
The Rs 300 crore stadium, with a capacity of 45,000, is named as "Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium" and will be the home ground for the Pune Warriors India team in the IPL.


Pawar hailed the role of MCA and its president Ajay Shirke in shaping the stadium, which he said, was "one of the best he had seen in the country". He said that the new stadium could be considered as a venue of international matches to be played at Pune by ICC with the BCCI proposal to that effect.
Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who was present, unveiled a statue of legendary cricketer D B Deodhar at the stadium. Those present on the occasion included Subrata Roy, chairman of the Sahara India group, which has contributed towards the construction of the stadium.

Pune Warriors sign Michael Clarke as replacement of Yuvraj for IPL 5

The anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of the Pune police arrested a police inspector (crime) Balasaheb Surve of Hinjewadi police station for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs40,000 for not getting extending the police custody of a suspect, Kalyani Deshpande, who was arrested under the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act (PITA), on Saturday.


A complaint in this regard was lodged by Deshpande’s relative, Jatin Chawada with the ACB, Pune on Saturday.


According to the anti-corruption bureau, Surve is a police inspector (crime) at Hinjewadi police station for the last eight months. On January 31, Deshpande was booked in the PITA case and Surve was investigating the case.


On Saturday, Surve and his team arrested Deshpande and she was then produced before the court.


The court remanded her in two days police custody. 
Deputy superintendent of police, SB Nike-Patil of Pune, ACB told DNA, “On Saturday, Deshpande’s relative approached us and lodged a complaint against Surve. Chawada said Surve demanded Rs40,000 for not getting extended the police custody of Deshpande.”


On Sunday morning, the ACB team led by superintendent of police Sarag Avhad led a trap near Bavdhan police chowki.


Nike-Patil said, “On Sunday morning, Chawada went to the Bavdhan police chowki with the money. Surve asked him to hand over the cash to his middleman, one Rajesh Marwadi Kumbhar. Later, we arrested Surve while accepting the cash,” he added.


Last week, the anti-corruption bureau arrested police sub inspector Jagannath Bhausaheb Shewale (33) of Yerawada police station for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs25,000 to hush up a police chapter case

House rents in Pune to burn a hole in your pocket

From now on, a newbie, who walks into the city from his native place to pursue higher studies or a career, will have to shell out more for house rents.


A study conducted by 99acres.com, a well-known property portal, has revealed that the city has witnessed escalation in house rents this year.


The phenomenon was witnessed in areas where the ‘immigrant’ population prefers to rent a house.


According to the study, a comparison of rental values of 3BHK apartments in Pune shows that upmarket localities like Kalyaninagar have witnessed 16% appreciation in rentals in 2012, which is much higher as compared to last year.


Areas like Camp and Senapati Bapat Road also witnessed an 11% increase in rentals in comparison to 2011.


While Aundh and Koregaon Park saw a 9% increase in rental values during this period, Kothrud and Shivajinagar maintained the rental values.


Explaining the rise in rents, business head of 99acres.com, Vineet Singh said, “As far as rental trends for 2012 are concerned, the market will continue to see an upward movement. The Indian economy is growing at a moderate pace and hiring activity is picking up, and people are either relocating or moving to better homes. This in turn will affect the rental values of properties. .”


When asked, broker Hemant Sawant, who operates in Kalyaninagar and Koregaon Park said that the rents have gone up considerably since last year.


“Rise in rents has just been an effect of inflation. Besides, the city greets a large number of techies and students every year. Hence, the rise in rent is expected,” he said.


However, this rise has not gone down well with students and techies. “Till last year, we used to pay a rent of Rs12,000. But with the rise, we now have to pay Rs14,000,” said Aditya Saroj, a techie.

Pune Strykers Bridgestone World Series Hockey- Strykers shoot out Comets, enter final

Pune Strykers, inspired by Mario Almada, clawed its way back from a 1-4 deficit to draw level in full-time and then goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh excelled in the penalty shoot-out to guide his team home 7-6 against Chandigarh Comets at the Bridgestone World Series Hockey semifinals on Sunday.

The custodian pulled off three audacious saves to deny Ramandeep Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and captain Rehan Butt. Both sides were tied 4-4 at regulation-time.

The first quarter was action-packed, producing three goals. Golden Stick contender Gurjinder dragged in the first in regal style for Chandigarh five minutes after start.

Almada dived at the goalline a minute later to tap home the equaliser after a Birender Lakra backhander slipped through the defence.

Strykers' celebrations were cut short by Ramandeep's field goal, an opportunistic slide at the right post to guide the ball onto the boards as both sides trooped out at the break.

GREEN CARD

In the second quarter, Gurjinder was sent out with a green card for a nasty tackle. The green shirts could not cash in on numerical advantage till the half-time.

Sher Singh created two goals as Chandigarh spurted ahead 4-1 with a sudden burst. The right winger set up the third with a smooth trap and turn, sending defenders the other way. Ajitesh Roy slotted in the rebound rolling back into play off the post.

Brilliant field goal

Then, Sher linked up with captain Butt for a brilliant field goal. The Pakistan striker found space near the post to deflect in a cross from the right off his stick — minimal effort for maximum effect.

Chandigarh defence was caught unawares in the third quarter. Tyrone Pereira reduced the deficit for Strykers with a fierce smash onto the boards off a rebound.

Down 2-4 and needing to do something special for a comeback, Pune came out determined in the fourth quarter.

Bikash Toppo raised the excitement levels with a fierce backhander on the run, the ball looping away from the Chandigarh custodian as the deficit was reduced to 3-4 with the final whistle eight minutes away.

Three penalty corners back-to-back and the eighth of the match kept Pune Strykers' hopes alive. Simranjeet dragged home for 4-4 at the final hooter, extending the semifinal into penalty shoot-out.

The results (semifinals):

Pune Strykers 4 (Mario Almada, Tyron Pereira, Bikash Toppo, Simranjeet Randhawa) drew with Chandigarh Comets 4 (Gurjinder Singh, Ramandeep Singh, Ajitesh Roy, Rehan Butt) at full-time. Pune Strykers won 7-5 via penalty shoot-out.

Sports News Pune - Mumbai- Pune Stryke out Comets to meet Sher-E-Punjab in final

MUMBAI: Pune Strykers have now made it a fine art to escape when the chips are down. Against Chandigarh Comets in the World Series Hockey (WSH) semifinals, they scored three times after being down 1-4, to reach the final via the tie-breaker, which they won 3-2.

It was an amazing turnaround. Pune have now scripted three such comebacks, but Sunday's win over Comets was the most stirring.

The last of Pune's goals came off their eighth penalty corner, when the chips were down and they were trailing Comets 4-3 and the hooter had been sounded, signalling an end to regulation time. Simrandeep Randhawa, who was having a wretched game, turned the fortunes around for his team with his only penalty corner conversion, pushing the game to a
shootout.

In the shootout, Bikash Toppo, Mario Almada and Nikkin Thimmaiah scored Pune, while only Bharat Chikkara and Gurjinder were successful for the Comets.

Sher-E-Punjab devour Lions

In a high-voltage contest, Sher-E-Punjab outplayed Karnataka Lions 4-1 to make the final of the World Series Hockey at the KSHA stadium in Bangalore on Sunday, reports Sunil Subbaiah.

The Lions got off to a flier - grabbing the lead early - but came off second best after Punjab got the equaliser.

The hosts went ahead in the 11th minute through Naveen Kumar, who dived to convert Punjab defender Harpreeth Singh's deflection that came off from Innocent Kullu's cross. Punjab were quick to respond when Aussie import Matthew Hotchkis restored parity in the 19th minute following a penalty corner.

Although the Lions failed to find the target, they did give the Punjab defenders a tough time with repeated forays that had the near-capacity crowd on the edge.

Results: Chandigarhs Comets 4 (Gurjinder Singh 5th, Jasjit Khullar, Ajitesh Roy, Rehan Butt) lost to Pune Strykers 4 (Roshan Minz, Tyrone Pereira, Bikash Toppo, Simrandeep Randhawa); Karnataka Lions: 1 (Naveen Kumar 11) lost to Sher-E-Punjab: 4 (Matthew Hotchkis 19-pc, Karamjit Singh 40, Harpreet Singh 59-pc, Prabhjot Singh 67).

Pune News- Trio kills Pune teenager for Rs50K ransom

That television serials can dangerously impact young minds came to the fore once again on Sunday, when the Pune police arrested three young boys for killing a standard X student in the Dighi Magazine area off Pune-Alandi Road on Sunday.


The trio, apparently inspired by popular detective TV serial, CID, on Saturday afternoon kidnapped the 16-year-old Shubham Shirke, a resident of Adarshnagar area in Dighi, with the aim to earn a quick buck from his jeweller father.


What’s shocking is that of the three boys arrested for Shubham’s murder, two are minors. Apparently, one of them is his classmate. The only adult among the three, who also allegedly masterminded the cold-blooded murder, has been identified as Amit Ramchandra Nair (19), a resident of Apte Colony in Bhosari. As per the police, he belongs to a financially weak family and does odd jobs.


Narrating the murder sequence, senior inspector Motichand Rathod of the Vishrantwadi police, said, “The suspects called up Shubam, asking him to come along with them. At around 2 pm on Saturday, they took him to an isolated spot in Dighi in a hired vehicle. We suspect Shubam had a scuffle with the accused, following which one of them took off his belt and strangulated him. To make sure that he is dead, they slit his throat as well.”


At 5 pm the same day, the kidnappers called up Shubam’s father Mahadev (41) to demand Rs50,000 for “his son’s release”. Initially, they asked Mahadev reach a petrol pump on the Pune-Nashik Road, but he didn’t go.


In the evening, they called him again, this time asking him to come to a hotel at Bhosari. In the meantime, Mahadev called up his friends and reached the spot. At around 8 pm, one of the suspects came on a motorcycle to collect the ransom from Mahadev, who gave him Rs15,000.


Seeing the mud on the number plate of the suspect’s motorcycle, Mahadev’s friend cleaned it to get at the registration number. When Shubam was not released till late in the night, Mahadev approached the police.


The police swung into action and dug up the details of the motorcycle, apart from tracing the phone calls to the Apate Chawl area. They recovered a cutter, a knife, a motorcycle and a car from the possession of the arrested accused.

online fraud 2012 - University of Hyderabad scholar arrested for online fraud

HYDERABAD: A Junior Research Fellow (JRF) scholar of University of Hyderabad (UoH) was arrested for using bank accounts of others in a fraudulent manner to shop online by the Cyberabad police on Thursday. Cyber Crime officials of the Cyberabad police arrested Prabhakar Yadav, a scholar of Plant Sciences, is a native of Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.


"There were a series of complaints from the HCU Campus. Several victims complained that orders to buy electronic goods, cell phones etc were placed without their knowledge and money was debited from their accounts," Cyberabad police commissioner Ch Dwaraka Tirumala Rao said in an official release issued here.During the investigation, police found that all the victims had conducted transactions at SBI ATM on HCU campus. "Prabhakar Yadav used websites of Shoppers Shop, Flipkart, Myntra through CC avenue and Billdesk to place orders. As customers key in their password, he used to stand behind them and note down the ATM card number and PIN number. Using these details, he used to carry out online purchases by providing false address for the location of delivery," police said. Police said the victims included students and Telugu Professor T Rama Krishna.

Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited proposes, L&T disposes

HYDERABAD: Despite having resolved the Miyapur land row, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) authorities might still have to wait for the metro rail project to begin with the project partner L&T insisting on solving the other outstanding issues. As a consequence, the HMRL is likely to miss another self-imposed deadline of April for launching construction work.


The board meeting of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) held on Saturday to chalk out further plan of action after HMRL handed over 104 acres of land in Miyapur for the project, decided to start the works only after complete right of way (ROW) is given to it.According to the concession agreement signed between the state government and L&T, the works had to start on March 3, 2011 with a deadline of five years for commissioning the mass transit service. After missing several self-imposed deadlines, HMRL had said the works would start in March 2012 so that the first train starts plying in the Stage-1 - the 8km stretch between Nagole and Mettuguda in Corridor III - by December 2014. It was pushed back to April, but with uncertainty in store, it is likely to be pushed back further.


"We have achieved a major breakthrough by acquiring the Miyapur land, but there are certain other issues to be addressed. We hope these issues will be resolved at the earliest and L&T starts work without any hurdles," said NVS Reddy, managing director of HMRL, who attended the board meeting. But V B Gadgil, chief executive and managing director of L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) said the board would meet again on April 10 to take stock of the situation before deciding on the appointed date.


HMRL is faced with land disputes in 269 acres of land, earmarked for the project, including 104 acres in Miyapur where a Metro depot for Corridor-I is planned. However, the HMRL authorities said that they had handed over the land to L&T after acquiring it through a fresh notification as per AP High Court's directive. The land was declared 'enemy property' as the original owners were assumed to have migrated to Pakistan and later it became an issue of multi-ownership claims. As it was a major stumbling block for the project, the district collectorate of RR district that was executing the land acquisition for the Metro project had moved the High Court to get its nod for a fresh notification for the process. The HMRL said Rs 193 crore was deposited with the collectorate as a compensation amount and the land was declared free for works.


However, sources in L&T said the company was not enthused by the development. While the mood is somewhat upbeat as the land litigation is resolved, the sources said, the company felt it was imperative that the right of way notification is accompanied by resolution of all outstanding issues. "It's all about safeguarding business interests," said L&T sources.


"At the outset, we may look to be over cautious, but this is how it should be. We rather prefer spending time in preparing the ground than getting stuck in mid-way after the work starts," he added. There are many legal issues to be resolved before handing over the entire ROW to the L&T. While the High Court has stayed works on the stretch between Ameerpet and Jubilee Hills that is a part of Corridor-III between Nagole and Shilparamam, the HMRL is yet to get clearance of South Central Railway for the construction of a metro station planned near Secunderabad railway station that falls in Corridor-II between JBS and Faluknama. The project evoked violent protests in Sultan Bazar area that comes in the same corridor and even preliminary works like soil testing could not be done there. Besides, HMRL authorities are yet to acquire 15.5 acres of land, earmarked for the project in Osmanaia University. Road widening is yet to be done along the stretch of the planned alignment of the project. "In such a situation, it is impractical to expect the works to be started," said an official in L&T. "We don't want any delay in the project, wish the hurdles are cleared at the earliest."

University of B.C. students Rosalind - Students battle pipeline in B.C. premier's backyard

VANCOUVER - University of B.C. students Rosalind Sadowski and Allison Stocks want nothing less than a fundamental change in Canada with a shift away from an economy fuelled by oil.


Their goal is a very personal one: They are fearful of a future of increasing temperatures, droughts and rising oceans.


It's why they were out Saturday morning, collecting a dozen hard-won petition signatures by knocking on doors of well-kept, expensive homes in the UBC Endowment Lands.


They were among 150 university and local high-school students who fanned out in B.C. Premier Christy Clark's Vancouver-Point Grey riding to ask for support on a petition that calls for the premier to oppose the $5.5-billion Northern Gateway oil pipeline.


While First Nations, environmentalists and some communities that protest the pipeline are concerned with the risk and effects of an oil spill, the students argue the oil flowing through the pipeline will produce more carbon emissions than already produced in British Columbia.


UBC professor Kathryn Harrison has estimated the 525,000 barrels of oil per day that would be transported by the Northern Gateway pipeline will release 82.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year when eventually burned, more than the 67 million tonnes of greenhouse gases from all sources within B.C. in 2009.


``It's not that we have a choice about whether we will take action on climate change, it's about how long we are going to delay that action and what negative consequences that is going to have on our generation,'' says Sadowski, a fourth-year student studying environmental policy.


``I tell my parents I'm terrified thinking about what my life is going to be like when I'm their age,'' she said.


``That's not something they want to hear, but that's the kind of message we are trying to bring to people.''


At one doorstep, the students argue climate change has brought on African drought that has displaced millions of people.


But UBC Endowment Lands resident Philip Hill, who does not sign the petition, says these kinds of climate events that cause droughts have happened in the past.


Hill, a retired UBC engineering professor, does not believe that science has proved increased carbon concentrations in the atmosphere will harm the environment.


It's a ``dubious'' claim, says Hill, who nevertheless applauds the students' efforts.


His neighbour Edith Anderson, however, did sign the petition.


Anderson who grew up in Prince Rupert on the northwest B.C. coast, said she is concerned the project will harm the ``pristine'' coastline. ``There's probably going to be problems. That would be sad,'' she says of the pipeline project.


Some environmentalists have argued that carbon emissions from the Alberta oilsands and from the oil that will be produced overseas should be a factor in a federal review.


However, the review is expected to focus on safety issues and the pipeline's economic merit.


Calgary-based Enbridge is adamant the 1,173-kilometre pipeline - meant to open up new markets in China for Canada's oil - can be built and operated safely.


The project will also be an economic boon to Canada, says the company.


While the Alberta and Canadian governments support accessing new markets for oil in Asia, B.C.'s premier, Clark, has not taken a position on the pipeline.


She says she will wait until the environmental review is complete, not expected until late this year or early in 2013.


Organizers of the petition say Clark declined to meet with them.


On Saturday, about half of the people in the UBC endowment land residences said no to signing the petition.


Those results are not too different than results from a recent federal NDP-commissioned poll that showed a slim majority of people support the pipeline.


Vancouver Sun

Education News- Class 12 students may fare better

VELLORE: With Plus Two examinations coming to an end on Friday, there is hope among officials, teachers and students that the district would fare better this year.
District-wise, Vellore presently is at the the 28th position when it comes to Plus Two results. The results are expected to be good this year due to a well-planned preparation strategy implemented by Chief Educational Officer Pon Kumar and sustained efforts put in by the teachers and students with immense support from the education department.
“Soon after taking over, I studied educational issues faced by Vellore and implemented radical and technology intensive measures to help ensure that the teachers were punctual and spent time with students,” said Pon Kumar, who started an educational website for students.

PCS exam 2012 News- Ex-Lucknow university student secures third rank in PCS exam

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission on Saturday declared the results of Provincial Civil Services-2009. Securing the third position is Vishwa Bhushan Mishra. "It's a very special feeling as this was my first attempt in PCS," said Mishra.

He is presently pursuing LLM from Delhi University and did LLB from LU. Vishwa is among 14 candidates who have qualified for the post of SDM. Another candidate, Ram Prakash, who has secured 14th position, is at presently a naib tehsildar in Hathras. Belonging to a very modest family, this was Ram's third attempt in PCS.In his first attempt in 2003, he was selected at a naib tehsildar. Prior to that, he worked as a clerical staff in Public Service Tribunal office. Sharing his joy, he said, "Finally, my efforts have reaped fruits. My father is a farmer and labourer and hence it was very tough for me to hold the finances of my family. The selection has come as a breather to me," said Ram.

Two students from the department of Sociology, Lucknow University have also cleared the PCS. Anvesh and Nikita Dubey, both have been selected as trade tax officers. Nikita was earlier selected as an OBC welfare officer in 2007. tnn

SSLC exam 2012- 33,885 students to appear for SSLC exam

As many as 33,885 students from Dakshina Kannada will appear for SSLC examinations, which will commence from April 2. 

About 31,453 are regular students, 17,486 are boys and 16,399 are girls. 

There are 95 examination centres in the district. This includes 15 each in Bantwal and Puttur blocks, 20 in Mangalore, 25 in Mangalore rural, four in Moodbidri and six in Sullia blocks. 

Those who have enrolled for SSLC examination privately, should come to Mangalore to write examinations. As many as six centres have been opened for the candidates who registered for the examination privately. 

A vigilance squad has been constituted to check malpractice in the district. The squad will be headed by high school head teacher/senior assistant teacher. Students have been advised to be in the examination centre 30 minutes in advance. As many as six valuation centres have been set up in Mangalore. Two vigilance squads have been constituted to look into the valuation process, said DDPI Moses Jayashekar. 

Soureces in DDPI office said High school teachers and education department officials are making all efforts to improve the results. They are working hard to bring back the lost glory of the district which was pushed down to 21st position in the state in 2011 with 78.3 pass per cent from the eighth place in 2010.  

As many as 38 schools had registered below 60 per cent results in the last examination, of which, 24 are government schools and 14 are private schools. Three preparatory examinations were conducted for the students of these schools. 

BEOs have stated that special classes, group studies, subject revisions, stress management trainings, training for teachers and parents were conducted to improve this year’s result. 

Chandra Shekhar Azad University News- 60 CSA students selected for PCS

KANPUR: As many as 60 students of Chandra Shekhar Azad University of Agriculture and Technology (CSA) were successful in the PCS exam-2009 which was conducted by UP Public Service Commission. Interviews of the selected candidates were held in March. The results were declared on Saturday.

CSA spokesperson Naushad Khan said that the 60 selected students will be given the post of agriculture officer. He said that there is an atmosphere of festivity in the hostels. The students were rejoicing and greeting each other.

CSA vice-chancellor GC Tewari said that he was extremely happy over the achievement of the students and he wished them good luck for the years to come.

The selected students belong to different years of post-graduation and some of them were placed with good companies after passing out from the campus.

Bees 'self-medicate' when infected

WASHINGTON: Honey bees "self-medicate" when their colony is infected with a harmful fungus, with the help of antifungal plant resins to ward off the invader, a study reveals.

"The colony is willing to expend the energy and effort of its worker bees to collect these resins," said Michael Simone-Finstrom, postdoctoral researcher in entomology at North Carolina State University, who co-authored the study with Marla Spivak of the University of Minnesota.

"So, clearly this behaviour has evolved because the benefit to the colony exceeds the cost," added Simone-Finstrom, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.

When faced with pathogenic fungi, wild bees line their hives with more propolis - the waxy, yellow substance, a mix of plant resins and wax with antifungal and antibacterial properties, said a university statement.

Domesticated honey bees also use propolis to fill in cracks in their hives. However, researchers found that, when faced with a fungal threat, bees bring in significantly more propolis - 45 percent more, on an average.

The bees also physically removed infected larvae that had been parasitized by the fungus and were being used to create fungal spores.

Researchers know propolis is an effective antifungal agent because they lined some hives with a propolis extract and found that the extract significantly reduced the rate of infection.

TECHNOLOGY Updates -Digital education revelations

As the federal government presses justifications for its $37 billion national broadband network, basic education infrastructure moulders with students turning to Facebook to fill in the gaps.

Such an example of the NBN as an answer in search of a question was offered at Cisco's annual 'Live' gathering in Melbourne last week. Cisco provides data centres to NBN Co, the company building the network.

By next semester, first-stage beneficiaries of the NBN in and around the southern coastal NSW resort town of Kiama will have advanced online education services provided by region TAFEs, first assistant secretary for the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy Keith Besgrove told delegates. He said that once funding issues were sorted – TAFEs can't share students under current arrangements – students would benefit from online delivery of subjects.

"We’re working with universities and local TAFEs on a project called EduONE where we're trying to create a virtual classroom for remote access to TAFE courses," Besgrove said.

"If you’re trying to set up virtual classrooms for TAFEs in some states the funding model won’t encompass sharing students – it will be technically possible for someone in Kiama or one of the other early rollout sites to access EduONE but only Armidale can benefit from the funding (as the model stands).

"(Bureaucratic) systems take some time to catch up to the technological possibilities."

But while the government builds such systems, other students are missing out.

A NSW TAFE is plagued with IT problems that started when it upgraded its student and staff 'Moodle' learning-management intranet. Such IT problems risk Australia's $16.3 billion a year export income in the competitive global race for lucrative international students.

The Moodle muddle

The open-source Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) competes with commercial systems such as Blackboard and is used throughout the world, including by Britain's Open University, to provide course work. But TAFE teachers were perplexed last year when the decision was made to install a later version.

Generally, academic and clerical staff complain of fatigue as IT systems are needlessly, they say, swapped out each year creating teething problems and not just with Moodle but also processes especially related to enrolment.

Moodle is the locus through which online student and teacher interactions is supposed to take place. All coursework, notes, assignments and communications including email should pass through it and it can, in theory, conduct polls and exams.

Frustrated students have resorted to setting up secret Facebook pages to collaborate out of class and, from those who can access Moodle, repost assignments outside the TAFE system for the benefit of classmates.

The institution says it upgraded to a virtualised server for better "performance, access and to allow for additional resources to be provided as required".

"Access to the server and resources has only been impacted by authentication issues," the institution says. "Problems did exist at the beginning of the year as a result of enrolment processing, which delayed the issue of some usernames and passwords to students."

And while some students report no problems, for those still without access it has created problems accessing essential materials.

A three-pronged problem

Moodle's problems are threefold – lack of user-acceptance testing, lack of network and virtualisation provision causing downtime or unacceptably slow response times, and inability to issue passwords and credentials for authentication to services.

The last point dates back to the start of semester when the TAFE's IT department was unable to issue passwords or accounts to all students. Students so frustrated with being unable to gain appropriately authenticated accounts now share passwords to short-circuit the system's flaws, against institution policy. Others gave up and don't access the intranet, preferring Facebook and social media to communicate with each other and their teachers. And even those with appropriate access often can't get on to Moodle because it is down.

A restrictive security posture means teachers delivering online coursework in class – for instance, YouTube videos – may have to reauthenticate their logins every few minutes, interrupting the flow of teaching and wasting class time. The institution says it has to be "particularly vigilant" owing to the crowded nature of its site and conflicts with nearby businesses.

Some students are unable to access Moodle over campus wi-fi even though they can access it at home, and those with wireless credentials can't access the outside internet. Students have resorted to bringing their own 3G dongles, iPad 3Gs, tethering their smartphones or using USB "sneakernet" in class. The institution says it has 300 wireless access points on campus connected to a 10GB redundant backbone for internet access, however in two months of testing several times a week we were unable to make a net connection from an iPhone, laptop or iPad.

Other issues at the TAFE:

- Although TAFE says it is upgrading its laptops, teachers still struggle with ancient Apple Powerbooks;

- Credit card payments for course fees unavailable on enrolment day and had to be entered later by hand;

- Network systems not communicating with each other slowing enrolment.

A straw poll of a class of affected students found that while some were not impacted, others saw the campus' IT systems as inefficient and largely irrelevant to their studies or future success.

A cultural mismatch

TAFE also faces a cultural mismatch. Prominent signs in some classrooms still prohibit the use of mobile phones and teachers instruct students not to touch their phones in class. These restrictions – which may have made sense 10 years ago when mobile phones were distractions used for SMS chatting and voice calling – make no sense in an era when many generation Y rely on their devices for learning. Especially since Facebook has become so prominent in course delivery, although unintentionally.

Victoria University executive director of technology knowledge strategy, Phil County, said he was "surprised" at the restrictions on mobile phones in class but that the other problems could be eased through cloud services run from an outside IT department.

"A lot of those (problems) come out of organisations that are running enterprise infrastructure but don’t have the skills or resources to do it," County said.

"Get the service right at the front, especially now when people will bring their own devices into the organisation."

Although he couldn't comment on the specifics, DBCDE's Besgrove said legacy systems tended to coexist with newer technologies in changeover periods and this could create problems.

"There are a lot of people in the TAFE system looking to embrace new technology," Besgrove said. "We will see a range of applications accepted at different speeds in different institutions but you will see significant improvements across the board as a result of high-speed connectivity but it won’t happen all at once."a

Yuvraj After Treatment Image -Pictures

Yuvraj After Treatment Image -Pictures 

Mallya promises salaries, but KFA staff target his IPL team

Kingfisher chief Vijay Mallya on Monday wrote a letter to the airline's employees promising to resume their salaries this week. "All junior staff will be paid before Easter ie on Wednesday April 4th. All pilots and engineers will be paid on Monday April 9th and Tuesday April 10th," Mallya

told employees.

Mallya's letter comes after the airline's employees urged players of his IPL team, Royal Challengers Bangalore, to stop playing for him. In a related development, Kingfisher pilots, engineers, cabin crew and ground staff are likely to stage a demonstration outside the the airline's office in Mumbai owing to protest against pending salaries.

Kingfisher's bank accounts were frozen by Indian authorities in February due to the non-payment of taxes and it has since been dropped from a global payments and booking system run by the International Air Transport Association.

The bank accounts the airline, which were frozen by Indian tax officials, were unfrozen on Sunday after the airline paid a total of 640 million rupees ($12.6 million) to various tax authorities before March 31, Mallya said.

VELLORE: Class 12 students may fare better

VELLORE: With Plus Two examinations coming to an end on Friday, there is hope among officials, teachers and students that the district would fare better this year.
District-wise, Vellore presently is at the the 28th position when it comes to Plus Two results. The results are expected to be good this year due to a well-planned preparation strategy implemented by Chief Educational Officer Pon Kumar and sustained efforts put in by the teachers and students with immense support from the education department.
“Soon after taking over, I studied educational issues faced by Vellore and implemented radical and technology intensive measures to help ensure that the teachers were punctual and spent time with students,” said Pon Kumar, who started an educational website for students.

LAHORE Students charged Rs20-50 for class 5, 8 results

THOUSANDS of students and their parents on Saturday failed to know about the much awaited result of class 5 and 8 annual examinations 2012 from their schools.

But the result was available at various bookshops of the provincial metropolis which charged Rs 20 to Rs 50 per student, making huge profits, thanks to the negligence of government officials who were responsible for dissemination of information about results at school level.

The Punjab Examination Commission (PEC) had conducted the primary and middle examinations 2012 on a uniform basis across the province and was responsible for providing results to the students.

Interestingly, PEC officials did not even bother to share results in brief or even details of high achievers of both exams with the media officially.

The whole day, students and their parents ran from pillar to post across the province to know about the results 2012. Their miseries multiplied when they failed to get the result on official website of the Punjab Examination Commission. Power outages proved yet another perturbing feature for those who were in search of results online.

The lucky ones who got the results were those who paid for it at bookshops. It led to a “misunderstanding” among the masses that some mafia in connivance with top PEC officials had sold the results. Bookshops in different localities of the provincial metropolis charged from Rs 20 to Rs 50 for the result of one candidate.

Over two million students had appeared for both exams from across the province. This is enough to estimate the amount of money involved in selling results to private parties.

PEC officials claimed the results were handed over to all districts of the province and were available at office of education executive district officers (EDOs). However, in most cases, EDOs also failed to hand over the results to government and private schools owing to which students suffered immensely.

When contacted, PEC Operations Manager Malik Iqbal Ahmad Awan said they had provided results to every district in the form of CD while it was also uploaded on the website.

He said since the website was accessed by thousands of people, so there might be some problem. He, however, said the PEC had not sold the gazette and only provided the result to education EDOs.

Meanwhile, according to unconfirmed reports in primary examination, among boys, Abdullah Mushtaq of the Government Islahi Model Elementary School, Aziz Colony, Saif Park, Lahore, bagged first position with 546/600 marks, Muaaz Shahzad of Thokar Niaz Beg, Lahore, second second position with 536 marks and Muhammad Hasan Khalid Chaudhry of Mughalpura, Lahore, got third position with 535 marks.

Among girls in class-5 examination, Tayyaba Yousaf of Rawalpindi stood first with 546 marks while the second position was shared by three candidates securing 545 marks each. They are Rohab Tariq of the Government Girls High School, Sultan Ahmad Road, Ichhra, Lahore, Wajiha Akram of the Defence Authority Junior Campus, J-Block, Defence, Lahore and Faiza Jaffar of the Divisional Public School, Model Town, Lahore. The third position was secured by Aleena Rafiq of Minhala.

In class-8 examination, among boys, Hamza Anjum of Mughalpura, Lahore, clinched first position with 734 marks out of 800 marks.

Muhammad Azfar Tariq of the Government High School, Samanabad, Lahore, got second position with 723 marks and Hafiz Ahmad Azeem of Mughalpura, Lahore, got third position with 719 marks.

Among girls, Faiqa Aslam of Chungi Amer Sadhu, Lahore, bagged first position with 730 marks, Ukasha Ibrar Rana and Afsheen Asif of the Divisional Public School, Model Town, Lahore, second and third position with 729 and 727 marks, respectively.

Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission - Ex-Lucknow university student secures third rank in PCS exam

LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission on Saturday declared the results of Provincial Civil Services-2009. Securing the third position is Vishwa Bhushan Mishra. "It's a very special feeling as this was my first attempt in PCS," said Mishra.


He is presently pursuing LLM from Delhi University and did LLB from LU. Vishwa is among 14 candidates who have qualified for the post of SDM. Another candidate, Ram Prakash, who has secured 14th position, is at presently a naib tehsildar in Hathras. Belonging to a very modest family, this was Ram's third attempt in PCS.


In his first attempt in 2003, he was selected at a naib tehsildar. Prior to that, he worked as a clerical staff in Public Service Tribunal office. Sharing his joy, he said, "Finally, my efforts have reaped fruits. My father is a farmer and labourer and hence it was very tough for me to hold the finances of my family. The selection has come as a breather to me," said Ram.


Two students from the department of Sociology, Lucknow University have also cleared the PCS. Anvesh and Nikita Dubey, both have been selected as trade tax officers. Nikita was earlier selected as an OBC welfare officer in 2007. tnn

Humans Add Millions of Microbes to the Air Every Hour

Maybe you are sitting alone in your office as you read this.  That is, you think you’re alone. You’re not. About 37 million friends are joining you every hour.That’s the conclusion of new research from Yale University focused on determining how much bacteria we add to a room simply by being in it. Turns out, the number is hard to fathom.


“We live in this microbial soup, and a big ingredient is our own microorganisms,” said Jordan Peccia, associate professor of environmental engineering at Yale and the principal investigator of a study. “Mostly people are re-suspending what’s been deposited before. The floor dust turns out to be the major source of the bacteria that we breathe.”


The researchers measured and analyzed biological particles in a single, ground-floor university classroom over a period of eight days — four days when the room was periodically occupied, and four days when the room was continuously vacant. At all times the windows and doors were kept closed and the HVAC system was operated at normal levels. Researchers sorted the particles by size — what they describe as “the master variable” because size affects the degree to which particles are likely to be filtered from the air or linger and recirculate.


They found that “human occupancy was associated with substantially increased airborne concentrations” of bacteria and fungi of various sizes. Occupancy resulted in particularly large spikes for bigger fungal particles and medium-sized bacterial particles.


Researchers found that about 18 percent of all bacterial emissions in the room — including both fresh and previously deposited bacteria — came from humans, as opposed to plants and other sources. Of the 15 most abundant varieties of bacteria identified in the room studied, four are directly associated with humans, including the most abundant, Propionibacterineae, common on human skin.


Fortunately for us, only 0.1% of the bacteria is infectious to humans. But since we spend most of our time indoors, that smidgen of infection-inducing organisms has full access to our bodies (just in case you needed another reason to spend more time outdoors).


The study was published in the February edition of the online journal, Indoor Air.

Dengue virus turns mosquitoes hungry

Scientists have shown for the first time that infection with dengue virus turns on mosquito genes that makes them hungrier and better feeders, and therefore possibly more likely to spread the disease to humans.

Specifically, the researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that dengue virus infection of the mosquito's salivary gland triggered a response that involved genes of the insect's immune system, feeding behaviour and the mosquito's ability to sense odours.Dengue virus is primarily spread to people by the mosquito Aedes aegypti. Over 2.5 billion people live in areas where dengue fever is endemic. The World Health Organization estimates that there are between 50 million and 100 million dengue infections each year.

"Our study shows that the dengue virus infects mosquito organs, the salivary glands and antennae that are essential for finding and feeding on a human host. This infection induces odorant-binding protein genes, which enable the mosquito to sense odours," George Dimopoulus, senior author of the study, said.

"The virus may, therefore, facilitate the mosquito's host-seeking ability, and could-at least theoretically-increase transmission efficiency, although we don't fully understand the relationships between feeding efficiency and virus transmission.

"In other words, a hungrier mosquito with a better ability to sense food is more likely to spread dengue virus," he said.

For the study, the researchers performed a genome-wide microarray gene expression analysis of dengue-infected mosquitoes.

Infection regulated 147 genes with predicted functions in various processes including virus transmission, immunity, blood-feeding and host-seeking.

Further analysis of infected mosquitoes showed that silencing, or "switching off", two odorant-binding protein genes resulted in an overall reduction in the mosquito's blood-acquisition capacity from a single host by increasing the time it took the for mosquito to probe for a meal.

"We have, for the first time shown, that a human pathogen can modulate feeding-related genes and behaviour of its vector mosquito, and the impact of this on transmission of disease could be significant," Dimopoulos added.

World's first bedside genetic test developed

Toronto, Mar 31: Canadian researchers have developed the world's first genetic test which can be done at the patient's bedside with just a swab from his cheek.
 This revolutionary technology allows doctors to rapidly identify patients with a genetic variant known as CYP2C19. Cardiac stent patients with this variant have chances of reacting poorly to standard anti-platelet therapy with Plavix® (clopidogrel).
 The study demonstrated that tailored drug treatment therapy made possible by the genetic testing successfully protected all of the patients with the at-risk genetic variant from subsequent adverse events, while 30 percent of patients treated with standard therapy did not receive adequate protection, the journal The Lancet reported.
 "For the first time in medicine, nurses were able to perform DNA testing at the patient's bedside. This is a significant step towards the vision of personalized medicine," said Derek So, interventional cardiologist at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI), and principal investigator of the RAPID GENE study.
 It enrolled 200 patients who were being treated with cardiac stenting for an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The test had a sensitivity of 100 percent compared with DNA sequencing, according to an UOHI statement.
 ACS refers to any group of symptoms attributed to blockage of coronary arteries. Its most common symptom is chest pain, often radiating off the left arm or angle of the jaw, pressure-like in character and tied with nausea and sweating. IANS

Diabetes India 2012 - Diabetes drug may help prevent liver cancer

Metformin, a drug that is widely used to treat Type II diabetes, may help to prevent primary liver cancer, a new study has claimed. 


According to researchers at the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center primary liver cancer, or hepatocellular carcinoma, is an often-deadly form of cancer that is on the rise worldwide and is the fastest-growing cause of cancer-related deaths among American men. 


Patients with Type II diabetes have a two- to three-fold increased relative risk of developing primary liver cancer. 


Also at risk are people who are obese, have hepatitis or non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Metformin, which is derived from the French lilac, is used to treat NAFLD as well as diabetes, and currently is being studied in connection with the prevention of a variety of cancers. 


"Our research demonstrated that metformin prevents primary liver cancer in animal models. Mice treated with metformin had significantly smaller and fewer tumors than those who did not receive the medication," Geoffrey D. Girnun, the study's senior author, said. 


"Based on these findings, we believe metformin should be evaluated as a preventive agent in people who are at high risk. Many patients with diabetes already are taking this medication, with few side effects. 


"There have been several retrospective epidemiological studies linking metformin with reduced risk of liver cancer, but our study is the first to formally test whether metformin can protect against carcinogenesis - not just tumor growth and development, but actual tumor formation in the liver," Girnun said. 


Glucose is converted into fatty acids in the liver through a process called lipogenesis. 


This process is increased in people who have diabetes, hepatitis, fatty liver disease as well as cancer. 


According to Girnun, metformin reduces the level of glucose and inhibits this fatty acid synthesis. 


"When you block this process, you prevent the cells from making more building blocks to make more cells. There is also no energy to put the building blocks together, and the cells are not able to proliferate, thereby preventing tumours from developing," he added. 


In the study, the researchers found that mice treated with metformin in their food developed 57 per cent fewer liver tumours than the mice that did not receive the drug; the size of the tumours was reduced by about 37 per cent. The study has been published in Cancer Prevention Research.

Heath & junk food - Why diet experts are worried about Indians and junk food

Diet experts have said Indians are consuming junk foods more often than in the past, and have warned that this poses a major risk to their health.


Deputy Programme Manager at the Food Standards and Safety Authority of India (FSSAI) Savvy Soumya Mishra said that merely criticising international fast food chains for spoiling Indian dietary patterns is not enough.


She said that fast food had reached rural markets in the form of potato chips and soft-drinks and wished remedial measures are taken.


"Potato chips and similar snacks are available even in remote villages, where you may not find a school or a ration shop. These things have more reach. There will be soft-drink bottles in places that may not have even clean drinking water. McDonald's and Pizza Hut may not have reached there, but chips and soft drinks have, what a pity!" Mishra said.


She further stressed on the importance of reducing children's access to trans fat-laden junk food, suggesting a ban on such eatables in schools.


"Imposing a ban is the government's decision, but junk food must be banned in schools because it is difficult to restrain children. You can ban it in school and introduce fruits and fruit juices. There are also many things prepared at home. We grew up eating a lot of other things, traditional food. We did not grow on chips and packaged snacks like Kurkure," added Mishra.


Delhi-based cardiologist Dr KK Aggarwal, said the problem of junk food was not just limited to food items like burgers and pizzas.


He said traditional Indian snacks prepared using vegetable fat were also a big threat.


"We shouldn't get carried away and just ban burgers. Everything that just tastes good is bad for health, because such things will either be made with 'ghee' (clarified butter), which is very unlikely, or with trans fats sourced from vegetables. So, whatever contains trans fats is unhealthy, regardless of whether it is commercial or not," observed Dr Aggarwal.


However, the commoners' reaction towards junk seemed to be mixed.


"Young people these days prefer fast food. But as the report has said, one should avoid that food. As far as traditional recipes are concerned, we should go for that," said Suresh, a resident of the city.


The contrary opinion suggested that junk food was a necessity given the changed nature of people's daily lives, and now came in many variants, some of them healthier than the rest.


"These days, people need their food quick. Many families have both parents working, so burgers and chips are very good alternatives for those who are in a rush. But these things come in many varieties. Now we have potato chips, which are baked. One can eat well, it is also a little costly, but we can't say these things are useless," said Arpit, another resident.


The FSSAI pronounces products free of trans fats if they have less than 0.2 grams of trans fats per serving.


A recent report by the Centre for Science and Environment had accused many brands of labelling their products trans fat-free even though they contained it in large amounts.


Trans fat consumption increases the risk of coronary heart disease, leading to recommendations by health experts that they be consumed only in traces.

Gutka bans In MP- Madhya Pradesh bans tobacco-mixed `gutka`

Bhopal: The first day of the new financial year has seen a ban on the sale of tobacco-mixed gutka in Madhya Pradesh.

Health Minister Narottam Mishra had said in the assembly some days ago that the licenses of seven gutka companies in the state have been cancelled.




And to control the increasing number of mouth cancer patients, the state government has decided to ban tobacco-mixed gutka pouches, he had announced.

A penalty of up to Rs.25,000 would be imposed on anyone selling tobacco-mixed gutka. However, there would be no ban on the sale of plain gutka.