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Rediffmail integrates news feeds from Orkut and Facebook into the mailbox
17.07.2008 04:29
b4uindia.com
Continuing to evolve its offering to meet the changing needs of the users, Rediff.com, India''s leading online portal added yet another first to its flagship product Rediffmail by introducing feeds functionality from popular social media sites likes Orkut and Facebook into the users Rediffmail inbox. With the addition of this feature consumers will now be able to register and receive news feeds from popular social networking sites with out actually having to visit them, helping them to keep up-to-date on the activities of their friends and family on the sites. The objective of introducing feeds into Rediffmail is to help users discover content on social networking platforms which is relevant and useful in an effective and non-intrusive manner. News feeds within the mailbox will help users to find interesting content like photos, videos and music that their friends and family are sharing on the social networking platforms in their mailbox itself. Commenting on the launch of this new feature Venki Nishtala, Chief technology officer of Rediff.com said, “With email transforming into becoming a dashboard of users activities on the internet, introduction of feeds from social networks into Rediffmail is an evolutionary step in the direction to make Rediffmail a more social email application. The new feature will help users to conveniently, and efficiently keep abreast of the activities of their friends and family on various social networking platforms.” In its launch phase Rediffmail will allow users to receive news feeds from Facebook and Orkut and will soon extend it to cover more social networking sites like Linkedin amongst others. User can sign up to receive news feed by simply providing their username and password details and Rediffmail will automatically import news feeds from their chosen social networking sites, helping them to engage with their friends more conveniently. Users can choose to use the service just as a way to see what their friends are up to, or for browsing and reading the stuff their friends share and actively engage them through email by sending comments and messages. How to subscribe to feeds in your inbox: -- Log on to your rediffmail account -- Click on the new tab called feeds in your inbox -- Select the social networking website for which you would like to receive feeds in your inbox -- Enter your username and password and hit go -- That''s it - You will receive the feeds right in that page -- The same process can be repeated to subscribe to feeds from other social networking website. (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
DRDO develops marine gas turbine engine for Indian Navy
17.07.2008 04:29
b4uindia.com
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a 12 MW marine gas turbine for the Indian Navy, which will be used to propel the SNF (Rajput) class of ships. The engine will make India self-reliant in this critical technology of gas turbines for ship propulsion because all the naval ships run on this technology. India has also joined the elite club of marine gas turbine designers like USA, Russia, UK and Ukraine. The Gas Turbine Research Establishment (GTRE), Bangalore, a subsidiary of DRDO, has indigenously developed the turbine by spinning off the Kaveri engine, which is used for propelling the Indian Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas). Using the core of the Kaveri engine, the scientists of GTRE have added low-pressure compressor and turbine as a gas generator and designed a free power turbine to generate shaft power for the maritime application. The Kaveri Marine Gas Turbine (KMGT) as it has been named has been installed on to the Marine Gas Turbine test bed, which is an Indian Navy Facility at Vishakapatnam. The engine has been tested to its potential of 12 MW at ISA SL 35°C condition, which is the requirement of Indian Navy for propelling the SNF (Rajput) class of ships. The Naval Dock Yard is capable of testing the gas turbines upto 25 MW of shaft power through a reduction gearbox and a water brake dynamometer. The involvement of Indian Navy in the development of the engine including their participation during testing has given a tremendous push to the success achieved so far. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Bardhan tries to persuade ''indecisive'' Ajit Singh over July 22 trust vote
17.07.2008 04:29
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CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan met Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh at the latter''s residence in the Capital today in a bid to persuade him to oppose the Indo-US nuclear deal and vote against the UPA Government''s trust vote on July 21-22. Ajit Singh''s party has three members in the Lok Sabha, who might prove crucial during the trust vote, which would see the survival or fall of the Manmohan Singh''s Government. Though, after the meeting the two leaders said that their "minds could not meet", Ajit Singh is expected to support the nuclear deal. "We met today to discuss the Indo-US nuclear deal. While our stand over the deal is clear and known to all, Ajit Singh is yet to take a decision whether to support or oppose the trust vote. I leave it up to him," Bardhan told reporters after the meeting. During the meeting, Bardhan is believed to have explained Left''s stand on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal after they withdrew their support to the UPA Government. The Left parties have already held talks with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS). Congress has already approached the RLD, but Singh said he would take decision not in hurry. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Hunt on for Maoists after yesterday''s attack on Orissa police party
17.07.2008 04:29
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A massive combing operation has been launched following yesterday''s Maoists attack in which at least 24 policemen were killed when a landmine exploded under a security vehicle in Orissa''s Malkangiri District. The search operation to nab the Maoists is being jointly launched by Special operation group units and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Mottu police station area. Additional police forces are being mobilised to strengthen the combing operation in the area. In a related development, Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta has said that the Central Government has decided to set up six jungle warfare and counter-insurgency schools to train security personnel to deal with the Maoists. "In order to encourage the training capabilities in the state, we have decided from the Central Government''s part to set-up six counter-insurgency jungle warfare schools this year. We have asked the states that they should let us know that where can they give land for this purpose," Gupta said. On June 29, 33 cops died when Maoists attacked their boat in Malkangiri district. Sixty-six people including 63 policemen were on the boat, which had sunk into the reservoir after a Maoist attack in. Out of them 28 survived. Also known as Naxalites, they say they are fighting on behalf of the rural poor and landless and want to build a communist state. The government has recently taken a new stance on the Maoist insurgency, pulling the affected states together to coordinate their response. It says it will combine improved policing with socio-economic measures to defuse grievances that fuel the Maoist cause. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Karnataka Budget Session begins today
17.07.2008 04:29
b4uindia.com
The Budget Session of the new Karnataka Assembly will commence here today. State Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, who is also the Finance Minister, will present a fresh state budget. It is indicated that agriculture and farmers welfare will figure prominently in the budget, including the promise to supply free power to the pumpsets of farmers. The 11-day budget session is likely to be a stormy affair for the ruling party as it has to face the 103-member strong Opposition - Congress and Janta Dal (Secular) - which has geared up to attack the government for “engineering defections” and other issues. The Budget Session will conclude on July 31. Earlier, a vote-on-account budget valid for four months (until July 31) was presented in the Lok Sabha during the President’s Rule in the state. (ANI)
India
Social Life
India, Bangladesh foreign secretary-level talks today
17.07.2008 04:29
b4uindia.com
Foreign Secretaries of India and Bangladesh are scheduled to meet here today. The day-long talks will be held between Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his counterpart Mohd Touhid Hossain. Menon is expected to take up the issue of Bangladesh being used by terrorists as a base or route to reach here and carry out anti-India activities. During the previous meeting in Dhaka, the two sides agreed to enhance security cooperation, especially information sharing to combat terrorism, crimes and insurgency in the common interest of peace and security. Besides, they will also discuss about state security, boarder management, water resources, including sharing of common river waters, economic and trade related issues, cooperation in agriculture, science and technology. India will demand transit facility from Bangladesh at the meeting. India has been demanding transit facility to reach its seven north-eastern states, separated by Bangladesh. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Tooth loss could be behind your blues
17.07.2008 04:28
b4uindia.com
Feeling depressed or unable to face people? Well, in that case, check your smile, for tooth loss can be the reason why you’re feeling so gloomy. What’s more, if you think it’s just you whose facing crisis, well think again, for nearly 20 million teeth are extracted each year leaving scores of people to deal with the psychological affects of a less than perfect smile. However, during the Academy of General Dentistry''s (AGD) 56th Annual Meeting & Exhibits in Orlando, Fla., July 16-20, H. Asuman Kiyak, PhD, will address the psychological issues affecting people who must deal with the loss of a tooth, as well as explain how this loss can affect the quality of life. In Dr. Kiyak''s course, "Enhancing the Oral Health and Quality of Life for Partially Edentulous or Fully Edentulous Patients: The Importance of Communication," she will reveal the post traumatic effects a patient endures after the loss of a tooth and will also pinpoint ways a doctor can communicate with a patient to help them cope with and understand their options for restoring their smile. "The major impact of tooth loss is on the appearance and social relations component of quality of life because people cannot change their appearance with missing teeth," says Dr. Kiyak. In fact, recent results from a survey distributed to nearly 20,000 AGD members revealed that more than 86 percent of general dentists reported social embarrassment is one of the greatest problems associated with tooth loss and more than half of these patients avoid social interaction because of it. Yet, Dr. Kiyak noted that there are ways that patients can learn how to cope with the loss of a tooth. Dr. Kiyak encourages patients to weigh their options with the pros and cons for replacement teeth or even endodontic treatment to save a "hopeless" tooth and review videos or still photos of others who have lost teeth and their current teeth status with removable or implant-supported dentures. Read testimonials of others who have undergone single, multiple, total tooth loss and replacement of these teeth with removable or implant-supported dentures, how they have coped with each stage and how they are functioning orally, systemically and psychologically with these dentures, says Dr. Kiyak. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Men and women’s bodies wired for ‘different diet plans’
17.07.2008 04:28
b4uindia.com
Can’t help to understand why your husband’s diet chart is not helping you get rid of those love handles? Well, a group of researchers have the answer for your query: men and women need different diet plans to increase longevity and reproduction. In the first study of its kind, the researchers have shown that gender plays a major role in determining which diet is better suited to promoting longer life or better reproductive success. In the evolutionary "battle of the sexes", traits that benefit males are costly when expressed in females and vice versa. This conflict may have implications for human diet, aging and reproduction, says a team of scientists from UNSW, the University of Sydney and Massey University. "When it comes to choosing the right diet, we need to look more closely to the individual, their sex and their reproductive stage in life," says Associate Professor Rob Brooks, Director of the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre at the University of New South Wales. "It may be, for example, that women in their child-bearing years need a different diet to those who are post-menopausal. "It also underlines the important lesson that what we want to eat or, if you like, what we''re programmed to eat, is not necessarily best for us,” Brooks said. The researchers are conducting long-term studies on Australian black field crickets and have discovered that the lifespan of both males and females is maximized on high-carbohydrate, low-protein diets, they say in the latest issue of Current Biology. But reproductive success differs dramatically between the sexes when the carbohydrate-protein balance is changed: males live longest and have the greatest reproductive success with a diet that favours carbohydrates to protein by eight-to-one, whereas females have greatest success when the ratio is just one-to-one. Given a choice, however, females eat only a small amount more protein than males. The shared ability to sense and choose food dooms both males and females to eat a diet that is a compromise between what is best for each sex. "Male and female crickets maximise their fitness on different diets," says UNSW''s Dr Alexei Maklakov, the study''s lead author. "Despite that, the dietary preferences of the sexes are very similar. Instead of selecting foods in a sex-specific manner, males and females select ''intermediate'' diets that are less than optimal for both sexes,” Maklakov added. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Gene variant in people with African ancestry ups HIV infection risk
17.07.2008 04:28
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An Indian-origin researcher at South Texas Veterans Health Care System and University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio says that a variant of a gene found only in people of African ancestry increases the chances of becoming infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) by 40 per cent. Sunil Ahuja, however, also points out that once people are infected, the same variant seems to protect against the progression of the disease, enabling those carrying the infection to live about two years longer. "It''s well-known that individuals vary in their susceptibility to HIV and that after infection occurs, the disease progresses at variable rates," said Ahuja, whose study has been reported in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, a publication of Cell Press. "The mystery of variable infection and progression was originally thought to be mainly the result of viral characteristics, but in recent years it has become evident that there is a strong host genetic component," he added. According to the researchers, the new discovery is one of few genetic risk factors for HIV found only in people of African descent. They say that in Africa, where about 90 per cent of all people carry the variant, it may be responsible for 11 percent of the HIV burden there. The researchers say that the gene in question encodes a protein found mainly at the surface of red blood cells, called Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC). They say that the DARC variant, found commonly in people of African ancestry, leaves them without this particular red blood cell receptor. They highlight the fact that the so-called ‘DARC-negative’ condition has been well studied because it also confers protection against infection by a malaria parasite known as Plasmodium vivax. The researchers speculate that this DARC gene variant may have risen to such high frequency as protection against some other, more lethal strain of malaria that existed at some time in the past. Robin Weiss of University College London said: "The big message of this paper is that something that protected people against malaria in the past is now leaving them more susceptible to HIV.” Matthew Dolan of the Wilford Hall United States Air Force Medical Center and San Antonio Military Medical Center adde: "After thousands of years of adaptation, this Duffy variant rose to high frequency because it helped protect against malaria. Now, with another global pandemic on the scene, this same variant renders people more susceptible to HIV. It shows the complex interplay between historically important diseases and susceptibility in contemporary times." Previous research had shown that HIV could bind to red blood cells via DARC, and that DARC binds a wide array of inflammatory molecules known as chemokines, including one called CCL5, which is highly effective in suppressing replication of HIV-1. In the latest research, the experts studied cell culture, and found further evidence that HIV binds to DARC on red cells. "We started looking at red cells together with HIV and, sure enough, the virus attached. The DARC molecule on red cells in cell culture then transferred the virus to lymphocytes to get infected," Weiss said. When chemokines were added to the mix, less HIV-1 bound to the red cells, confirming that the virus and chemokines were in competition for the DARC receptor. "Duffy acts somewhat like a sponge. It binds all these chemokine molecules and that binding also extends to HIV, setting up a triumvirate of interactions between DARC, chemokines and virus," Ahuja said. The researchers also discovered that the prevalence of the "DARC-negative" variant in African Americans was greater amongst those with HIV than in those without. While the DARC-negative genotype was associated with an increased risk of acquiring HIV infection, the researchers also observed that people with the variant had a slower disease course. "The parts of a car that get it into gear are separate from those that get it moving once in gear. A similar analogy applies to HIV; the factors that influence its transmission are not necessarily the same as those that influence disease progression," Ahuja said. "The results underscore that genetic variants that influence transmission and disease progression can differ in their frequency among different populations, with possible impacts on the heterogeneity of HIV disease burden--not just at the level of individuals but also populations," the researchers concluded. They may also have implications for evaluating the efficacy of HIV vaccines. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Tobacco industry ‘manipulating cigarette menthol to attract young smokers’
17.07.2008 04:28
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A new study has found that manufacturers are deliberately manipulating menthol content in cigarettes to attract young people. Researchers from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) found that the tobacco industry is intentionally adjusting menthol to create a milder experience for the first time smoker. Menthol covers the harshness and irritation of cigarettes, allowing delivery of an effective dose of nicotine, the addictive chemical in cigarettes. "For decades, the tobacco industry has carefully manipulated menthol content not only to lure youth but also to lock in lifelong adult customers," said Howard Koh, Professor and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice at HSPH and a co-author of the paper. A team of researchers led Jennifer M. Kreslake, a research analysis from the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH analysed the internal tobacco industry documents on menthol product development, and conducted laboratory tests to measure menthol content in U.S. brands, examined market research reports She also drew data from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual nationally representative survey among U.S. residents aged 12 years and older The industry documents revealed that tobacco companies researched how controlling menthol levels could increase brand sales among specific groups. The companies determined that products with higher menthol levels and stronger perceived menthol sensation suited long-term smokers of menthol cigarettes while milder brands with lower menthol levels appealed to younger smokers. According to a 2006 study, 43.8 percent of current smokers aged 12 to 17 years reported that they used menthol cigarettes as did 35.6 percent of current smokers aged 18 to 24 years. By contrast, 30.6 percent of smokers older than 35 years reported menthol use. The authors suggest, "to protect the public health, tobacco products should be federally regulated, and additives such as menthol should be included in that regulation." "This is another example of the cynical behavior of the tobacco industry to hook teens and African Americans to a deadly addiction. This is after the industry told the American public it had changed its marketing practices. The FDA bill provides the vehicle to end the hypocrisy and save the lives of the young and a targeted minority group," said Gregory N. Connolly, Professor of the Practice of Public Health and director of the Tobacco Control Research Program at HSPH. The study appears in the online "First Look" section of the American Journal of Public Health. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
Cancer survival varies widely between countries
17.07.2008 04:28
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A global analysis has shown that cancer survival rate varies widely among different countries The worldwide analysis of 31 countries in 5 continents found that black men and women are less likely to survive cancer than white men and women in the United States. The CONCORD study involved analysis of people suffering from cancers of the breast (women), colon, rectum and prostate. The team found that the USA has the highest 5-year survival rate for prostate cancer. Breast cancer women were 80 pct more likely to survive in North America, Sweden, Japan, Finland and Australia, while the rate dropped to 60pct in Brazil and Slovakia. The survival rates were even bad in Algeria with only 40 pct women surviving this cancer. However, in the USA 84.7 pct women white women survived compared to 70.9 pct black women. For people suffering from colorectal cancer, the five-year survival was higher in North America, Japan, Australia and some western European countries and lower in Algeria, Brazil and in eastern European countries. White patients in the USA were 10pct more likely than black patients to survive colorectal cancer. The five-year survival in prostate cancer patients was higher in the USA with 92 pct than in all other 30 countries. However, the survival rate slightly differed in black and white men. Almost 92pct white patients and 85.8 pct black patients were likely to survive prostate cancer. “The differences in cancer survival between countries and between black and white men and women in the USA are large and consistent across geographic areas,” said Michel P Coleman, Professor of Epidemiology and Vital Statistics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and lead author of the study, “Most of the wide variation in survival is likely to be due to differences in access to diagnostic and treatment services, and factors such as tumour biology, state at diagnosis or compliance with treatment may also be significant,” he added. The study is published online today in Lancet Oncology. (ANI)
India
Health & Beauty
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