The Indian Panorama

Month: October 2016

  • Water vapour plumes spotted on Jupiter’s moon Europa

    Water vapour plumes spotted on Jupiter’s moon Europa

    WASHINGTON (TIP): The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted what may be water vapour plumes erupting off Jupiter’s moon Europa – believed to be one of the most promising places that could harbour alien life in the solar system, Nasa said.

    The observation increases the possibility that missions to Europa may be able to sample Europa’s ocean without having to drill through miles of ice.

    “Europa’s ocean is considered to be one of the most promising places that could potentially harbour life in the solar system,” said Geoff Yoder, from Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate.

    “These plumes, if they do indeed exist, may provide another way to sample Europa’s subsurface,” said Yoder.

    The plumes are estimated to rise about 200 kilometres before raining material back down onto Europa’s surface.

    Europa has a huge global ocean containing twice as much water as Earth’s oceans, but it is protected by a layer of extremely cold and hard ice of unknown thickness.

    The plumes provide a tantalising opportunity to gather samples originating from under the surface without having to land or drill through the ice, Nasa said. The team, led by William Sparks of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in the US, observed these finger-like projections while viewing Europa’s limb as the moon passed in front of Jupiter.

    The original goal of the team’s observing proposal was to determine whether Europa has a thin, extended atmosphere or exosphere.

    Using the same observing method that detects atmospheres around planets orbiting other stars, the team also realised if there was water vapour venting from Europa’s surface, this observation would be an excellent way to see it. Source: PTI

  • Pluto ‘spray-painting’ poles of its big moon Charon

    Pluto ‘spray-painting’ poles of its big moon Charon

    CAPE CANAVERAL (TIP): A new study finds that Pluto is “spray-painting” the red poles of its big moon Charon.

    The paint is actually Pluto’s continually escaping atmosphere. Methane and other gases from Pluto end up coating Charon’s frozen poles, which are so cold and where winters are so long that this buildup remains for decades.

    A chemical transformation, via solar radiation, turns the polar caps a dark red.

    Planetary scientist Will Grundy of Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, bases his findings on observations last year by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.

    The study was reported in the journal Nature on Wednesday, 14 months to the day after New Horizons’ historic flyby of Pluto.

    Grundy, lead author of the paper, called it a new phenomenon for scientists.

    “It’s almost like Pluto is a graffiti artist, spray-painting Charon’s poles with its escaping atmosphere, leaving planet-scale colored spots,” Grundy said in an email. “This sort of thing might not be unusual among double planets, but we never had a close look at such a system until New Horizons flew through the Pluto system last year.”

    He and other scientists- including New Horizons’ principal scientist Alan Stern- were curious as to how such a large surface feature became such a conspicuous color.

    “This study solves one of the greatest mysteries we found on Charon,” Stern, a co-author on the paper, said in a statement. It opens up the possibility that other small bodies in this faraway twilight zone known as the Kuiper Belt may be undergoing the same thing, he noted.

    Pluto’s little moon Nix, for example, has a reddish spot. But it orbits farther from Pluto and is so small that the so-called spray-painting wouldn’t be nearly as efficient, according to the study.

    Meanwhile, a second study finds Pluto is emitting X-rays.

    NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory detected the low-energy rays last year. Until then, the most distant body in the solar system with detected X-ray emission was the ringed Saturn system, according to scientists. The source of Pluto’s X-rays is still a mystery.

  • Google rebrands cloud business, adds more artificial intelligence

    Google rebrands cloud business, adds more artificial intelligence

    MOUNTAIN VIEW (TIP): Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Sept 29 it renamed its business-to-business cloud computing brand and enhanced some enterprise applications using artificial intelligence, the company’s latest gambit to better compete with Amazon.com and Microsoft Corporation in the lucrative cloud business.

    Discussing the rebranded Google Cloud, Diane Greene, senior vice president of Google’s enterprise business, said the company has made good progress courting customers and improving its technology.

    Cloud computing uses remote internet servers to store, manage and process data, and Google offers a range of apps like word processing and email, as well as the ability to host data and offer resources for developers. The new name replaces the Google for Work brand.

    “We are closing the gap incredibly fast” with competitors, Greene, a former CEO of VMware who joined Google last year to ramp up its cloud business, told experts and journalists at an event.

    Analysts say Google trails Amazon and Microsoft in market share but is gaining under Greene. Although the business is not big enough to break out separately in its quarterly earnings statement, Google reported a 33 percent surge in “other revenue” in its most recent quarter, which analysts said was probably due largely to gains in cloud computing. Greene has moved quickly to streamline engineering and appointed new leadership to beef up the company’s cloud business. This has helped improve sales, Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said during the company’s latest earnings call.

    Earlier this month, Google acquired cloud software company Apigee Corp in a deal valued at about $625 million.

    The company on Thursday also announced a partnership with consultant Accenture to develop cloud services for clients in industries such a retail, healthcare and finance. Source: Reuters

  • BLACKBERRY, THE ORIGINAL SMARTPHONE, ENDS PRODUCTION AFTER GREAT RUN

    BLACKBERRY, THE ORIGINAL SMARTPHONE, ENDS PRODUCTION AFTER GREAT RUN

    WATERLOO, ONT (TIP): It’s official. BlackBerry Ltd., the Canadian company that invented the smartphone and addicted legions of road warriors to the “CrackBerry,” has stopped making its iconic handsets, a news report says.

    Finally, conceding defeat in a battle lost long ago to Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., BlackBerry is handing over production of the phones to overseas partners and turning its full attention to the more profitable and growing software business.

    It’s the formalization of a move in the making since CEO John Chen took over nearly three years ago and outsourced some manufacturing to Foxconn Technology Group. Getting the money-losing smartphone business off BlackBerry’s books will also make it easier for the company to consistently hit profitability.

    “This is the completion of their exit,” said Colin Gillis, an analyst at BGC Partners. “Chen is a software CEO historically. He’s getting back to what he knows best: higher margins and recurring revenue.”

    Chen should be able to execute his software strategy as long as he keeps costs in line and maintains cash on the balance sheet, Gillis said.

    BlackBerry, based in Waterloo, Ontario, gained as much as 7.4 percent Wednesday, September 28, its biggest intraday jump since December. The shares were trading up 4 percent to

    C$10.83 at 12:53 p.m. in Toronto.

    Chen will still have to prove that he can continue to expand BlackBerry’s software business in an increasingly competitive space. 2015 File Photo/The Associated Press

    BlackBerry said it struck a licensing agreement with an Indonesian company to make and distribute branded devices. More deals are in the works with Chinese and Indian manufacturers. It will still design smartphone applications and an extra-secure version of Alphabet Inc.’s Android operating system.

    “I think the market has spoken and I’m just listening,” Chen said in a discussion with journalists. “You have to evolve to what your strength is, and our strength is actually in the software and enterprise and security.”

    The new strategy will improve margins and could actually increase the number of BlackBerry-branded phones sold, Chen said, as manufacturers license the name that still holds considerable sway in emerging markets like Indonesia, South Africa and Nigeria.

    “This is the way for me to ensure the BlackBerry brand is still on a device,” Chen said.

    Although BlackBerry’s latest phone, the DTEK50, was already almost completely outsourced, the move is a big symbolic step for a company that once reached a market value of $80 billion. Today, it’s worth about $4.3 billion.

    When the BlackBerry 850 was released in 1999, it married a functional keyboard with email capability and essentially ushered in the modern smartphone era. With a proprietary operating system known for its watertight security, the phones became ubiquitous and extended the workday onto commuter trains and into restaurants and homes.

    They were an instant hit with business executives and heads of state alike. President Barack Obama was fiercely committed to his but finally ditched it earlier this year, reportedly for a Samsung.

    Then, in 2007, enter the iPhone, with its touchscreen interface and app store. People at first said they didn’t want to give up BlackBerry’s keyboard and simplicity. But the lure of apps eventually sent almost all its users to phones running Android or iOS.

    “It was inevitable at this point; they didn’t have the unit volumes to sustain the business profitably,” said Matthew Kanterman, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. “This is doubling down on the efforts to focus on software, which is really what their strength is.”

    BlackBerry shipped only 400,000 phones in its fiscal second quarter, half of what it sold in the same period last year. Apple sold more than 40 million iPhones last quarter.

    BlackBerry said software and services revenue more than doubled in the quarter from a year earlier to $156 million. Still, software revenue was down from the previous quarter’s $266 million, which Chen blamed on patent licensing deals that didn’t carry over into the quarter.

    Adjusted earnings were at break-even, compared with analysts’ estimates for a loss of 5 cents. Revenue in the second quarter was $325 million, falling short of analysts’ projections for $390 million. For the full year, BlackBerry expects a loss of 5 cents or to hit break-even, compared with what it said was a current consensus of a 15-cent loss.

    While investors appear to be relieved that BlackBerry finally threw in the towel on handsets, Chen will still have to prove that he can continue to expand the software business in an increasingly competitive space. So far, he has managed to hit his fiscal 2016 target of pulling in $500 million in annual software-only revenue last March. The next milestone is to grow that by another 30 percent by March 2017.

    Chen also aims to expand the margins of software products to around 75 percent from closer to 60 percent now, he said.

    BlackBerry’s most important software is its device management suite, which helps companies keep track of their employees’ phones and make sure sensitive communication stays within the business. BlackBerry bought one of its key competitors, Good Technology, for $425 million last year, but the market is crowded.

    “This doesn’t change the fact that there are still a lot of competitive threats,” Kanterman said in a phone interview. VMWare, IBM Corp. and Microsoft Corp. all have device management products and are taking market share by bundling them with other business-focused software they sell. In some ways, it doesn’t make sense for BlackBerry to remain a public company.

    Given its shriveled market value, it could be the right price for a private-equity takeover, or it could sell out piecemeal to a bigger company like Dell Technologies’ VMWare or Samsung.

    As BlackBerry reinvents itself, it will have to change how it’s perceived in the market. Investors still largely value BlackBerry as a hardware company, not the software provider it has become, Chen said.

    “As soon as that message is recognized, the stock will move to the right valuation,” he said.

  • SENSEX LOSSES SWELL AS OCT SERIES GETS OFF TO SHAKY START

    SENSEX LOSSES SWELL AS OCT SERIES GETS OFF TO SHAKY START

    MUMBAI (TIP): Extending sharp losses, the Sensex slumped about 108 points to 27,719.81 today as the October derivatives series began on a subdued note mirroring a weak trend in the global market.

    The 30-share Sensex fell 107.72 points, or 0.39%, to 27,717.81. It had plunged 465 points in the previous session after India carried out “surgical strikes” on Wednesday night on terror launch pads across LoC.

    Consumer durables, FMCG, metal and capital goods stocks were trading in the negative zone, down by up to 0.37%.

    The NSE Nifty offered a similar picture, which was down 36.05 points, or 0.41%, at 8,555.20.

    Brokers said continued selling in view of geo-political tension after India went ahead with surgical strikes on terror base across LoC on Wednesday night mainly dampened sentiment.

    The selling came in the face of start of October futures and options series in the derivatives segment, they said.

    What unnerved the market further was muted Asian shares tracking overnight sell-off in New York after worries about the future of German banking giant Deutsche Bank lingered.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.36% while the Japan’s Nikkei shed 1.55% in early session today.

  • Interest rates on small savings schemes cut by 0.1 per cent

    Interest rates on small savings schemes cut by 0.1 per cent

    NEW DELHI: Interest rates on small savings schemes have been reduced marginally by 0.1 per cent for the October-December quarter of 2016-17, leading to lower returns on Public Provident Fund, Kisan Vikas Patra, Sukanya Samriddhi Account, among others.

    The popular Public Provident Fund will fetch interest rate of 8 per cent in the third quarter of the current fiscal as against 8.1 per cent in the previous three-months period.

    Interest rate on Kisan Vikas Patra has been brought down to 7.7 per cent from 7.8 per cent. As a result the KVP will now mature in 112 months instead of 110 months.

    Interest rates for small savings schemes are notified on quarterly basis. Accordingly, the Finance Ministry today notified the rates of interest on various schemes for October-December period of 2016-17.

    The rate of interest for the third quarter for 5-Year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme and 5-Year National Savings Certificate has been reduced to 8.5 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.

  • Mercedes Benz rolls out the Made in India GLC

    Mercedes Benz rolls out the Made in India GLC

    PUNE (TIP):With an intent to shorten the waiting period and continue with its strategy of making high-demand cars in India, Mercedes Benz rolled out the Made in India GLC SUV from the assembly line in Pune on Thursday.

    With the introduction of the ‘Made in India’ GLC, Mercedes-Benz said its local production portfolio now comprises nine products rolling-out from its world-class facility in Chakan, Pune.

    The company manufactured the locally produced GLC is launched in three variants GLC 220 d 4MATIC Style, GLC 220 d 4MATIC Sport and GLC 300 4MATIC Sport.

    “The GLC has already become one of Mercedes-Benz’s highest selling products (worldwide)…. With the localization and availability in petrol and diesel, we are confident that the GLC will become an attractive proposition for our discerning buyers with enhanced value propositions and increased availability,” said Roland Folger, managing director and CEO, Mercedes Benz India.

    The company said that the production uses technologically advanced synchronized conveyor systems, use of latest generation PLC control units for all equipment which provide adaptability with different models on common production lines, thus increasing the flexibility of the production.

     

  • First strategic PSU sale in 12 years okayed

    First strategic PSU sale in 12 years okayed

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Centre has approved a strategic sale in loss-making Bharat Pumps and Compressors Limited. It comes 12 years after a state-run company — Jessop & Company —was last sold through this route.

    The cabinet committee on economic affairs approved “in principle” the strategic sale in the Allahabad-based public sector enterprise, which was set up in 1970.

    Strategic sale refers to transfer of management control and ownership. The Cabinet also approved the closure of Kolkata-based Hindustan Cables Ltd, where pro tan Cables Ltd, where production activity stopped in January 2003. The government will pay voluntary separation package to the employees. Cash infusion for the closure of the company is estimated at Rs. 1,310 crore, according to a government statement. So far, the government has cleared the closure of around half-a-dozen sick PSUs while several more are on the list of companies identified for shutting down as they are difficult to revive.

    Along with this, the government has also revived the process of strategic sale with the last one being undertaken by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003-04 when 72% equity in Jessop & Company was sold to Indo-Wagon Engineering for Rs 18.2 crore.

    Since then successive governments have steered clear from strategic sales for fear of triggering controversy over valuation and political and trade union opposition to such sales.

    The Narendra Modi government has vowed to push through strategic sales and expects to raise Rs 20,500 crore from this route in the current financial. The overall target from disinvestment is estimated at Rs 56,500 crore which is lower than the previous year’s target of Rs 69,500 crore.

    The government had entrusted the Niti Aayog to suggest a roadmap for strategic sale in loss making and other state-run firms. The agency has submitted two reports to the government on the issue. The government is also pursuing strategic sales in some state-run hotels as well. It has decided to shut down 15 loss-making public sector units, of which at least six have now been cleared by the cabinet.

  • BRITISH AIRWAYS, QATAR AIRWAYS SIGN REVENUE-SHARING DEAL

    BRITISH AIRWAYS, QATAR AIRWAYS SIGN REVENUE-SHARING DEAL

    LONDON (TIP): British Airways has signed a revenue-sharing agreement with Qatar Airways, allowing the pair to co-operate on scheduling and pricing, BA’s owner IAG said in a statement on Sept 28.

    State-owned Qatar Airways owns 20 percent of IAG as a result of a stake it has been building since 2015, and the companies had said further commercial agreements between the groups could come as a result of that investment.

    Airlines often use revenue-share deals where they carry each other’s passengers on certain routes, giving customers a greater choice of flights and generating cost and revenue synergies for the carriers.

    IAG already operates such a deal with American Airlines Group on the North Atlantic, for example.

    IAG chief executive Willie Walsh said in a statement that the tie-up followed a deal IAG Cargo had signed with Qatar two years ago.

    “It will also allow us to provide easier journeys with better aligned schedules, more frequencies and improved flight transfers,” Walsh said of the new deal.

  • Germany’s Commerzbank to cut 9,600 jobs by 2020

    Germany’s Commerzbank to cut 9,600 jobs by 2020

    BERLIN (TIP): Germany’s second largest lender Commerzbank said on Thursday it plans to cut 9,600 jobs, nearly a fifth of its workforce, by 2020 and withhold dividends to pay for a 1.1-billion-euro restructuring.

    The Frankfurt-based firm added that the $1.23-billion plan, still to be agreed at a supervisory board meeting on Friday, would see it report a loss in the third quarter as it writes down the value of goodwill and other intangible assets.

    But it forecasts a “slightly positive” bottom line for the whole of 2016.

    Like other German banks, Commerzbank is fighting headwinds from low interest rates in the eurozone, tough regulation, intense competition and the arrival of new digital actors on the market.

    Board members aim to achieve “sustainable profitability” by focusing on private and business banking customers while shrinking investment banking activities, it said in a statement. “Profit volatility and risks from regulatory changes will be reduced and capital freed up for the core business” with the retreat from investment banking, it added.

    To cover the costs of the restructuring, the bank said it would “cease dividend payments for the time being”. Commerzbank reported a profit of 1.1 billion euros in 2015, and paid its first dividend since the 2008 financial crisis at 20 cents per share.

    Shares in the bank lost 1.6 percent to trade at 5.90 euros in afternoon trading in Frankfurt, while the DAX 30 index of leading firms was up by 0.5 percent.

    Commerzbank’s employee roster would shrink by roughly 9,600 –around a fifth of its current level of 51,300 — if the plan is put into action.

    The size of the restructuring shows “how difficult the environment is for banks at the moment,” analyst Michael Seufert at Nord/LB bank told AFP, pointing to Commerzbank’s restrained target of 6 percent return on capital after the changes.

    “All banks are affected by the low interest rate environment” introduced by the European Central Bank in a bid to drive up inflation, he said, noting that European heavyweights Santander and ING are expected to present new strategies of their own in the coming days.

    The ECB has set interest rates at historic lows, offered cheap loans to banks and spent hundreds of billions of euros on government and corporate bonds as it hunts for ways to push up growth and inflation in the 19-nation currency bloc.

  • I AM AWKWARD, DORKY AND SHY, SAYS NARGIS FAKHRI

    I AM AWKWARD, DORKY AND SHY, SAYS NARGIS FAKHRI

    Bold, brazen and outspoken. You could describe actor Nargis Fakhri in these three words. And while, she is known to have a ‘sexy’ image, the actor thinks otherwise.

    Ever since her debut with Rockstar, the hot tag has stayed but Nargis prefers ‘dorky’ over hot. “I don’t feel hot and I don’t think I am hot. I am a very awkward, dorky and shy human on the inside. People who know me always laugh because they say that when God made you, it was a mistake. He made this outer part that is so sexy and the inner one is funny, goofy, shy and they don’t match at all. I don’t like so much attention and pressure on me”, she says.

    A few months back, rumour mills were abuzz with news that Nargis had moved back to New York and that she had no plans to return to Bollywood. She did come back to promote her recently release film Banjo, but she is very clear that she will only be in the country as long as she gets work.

    Setting the record straight she says, “I went home because I was unwell. My home is America. I have travelled the world before, but this is longest I have been in one place. Usually I get very bored and I want to go find another country. I am not bored yet but I miss home. There is no family, no friends, there is nothing here, except for work. My mother lives in New York.”

    “And I have realised that in the five years that I have been here, I haven’t seen her enough. And when you see them, you realise they’re growing old. I take care of her financially and she is very grateful for that. But actually, she wants to see me and spend time with me. If someone hires me, I’d love to work and come back. Whether I leave or stay, it doesn’t matter,” she adds. Source: HT

  • ALIA BHATT OPTS OUT OF ‘GOLMAAL 4’ – Karan Johar & Ajay Devgn’s rift seems to be the Cause

    ALIA BHATT OPTS OUT OF ‘GOLMAAL 4’ – Karan Johar & Ajay Devgn’s rift seems to be the Cause

    Recently there was buzz that Alia Bhatt would star in Rohit Shetty’s upcoming film ‘Golmaal 4’. But the film seems to have landed in trouble once again.

    Reports suggest that Alia Bhatt who was the first choice for Kareena’s role has opted out of the film.

    Buzz is after the Karan Johar-Ajay Devgn hostilities flared up, Alia suddenly became unavailable on the dates.

    Alia has put it across that since she is busy shooting for ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya’ and was to sign another biggie by the end of the year she is falling short of dates.

    The Bhatt girl’s volte-face is an apparent fallout of the ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ – ‘Shivaay’ clash. Karan was all for his protegee working with Rohit Shetty. Infact, the director is to direct a film for KJo’s banner. While there has been talk of Shraddha filling in for Kareena there has been no announcement yet.

  • CINNAMON HELPS TO COOL STOMACH

    CINNAMON HELPS TO COOL STOMACH

    Cinnamon just not enhances taste but significantly contributes in improving health by cooling the body by up to two degrees, according to research.

    The research published in the journal Scientific Reports said that the investigators used pigs for the study and found that cinnamon maintained the integrity of the stomach wall.

    “When pigs feed at room temperature, carbon dioxide (CO2) gas increases in their stomach. Cinnamon in their food reduces this gas by decreasing the secretion of gastric acid and pepsin from the stomach walls, which in turn cools the pigs’ stomachs during digestion,” said Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh, Professor at the RMIT’s School of Engineering.

    The researchers have developed swallowable gas sensor capsules or smart pills which the by-product of digestion and could provide valuable insights into the functioning and health of the gut.

    “Our experiments with pigs and cinnamon show how swallowable gas sensor capsules can help provide new physiological information that will improve our understanding of diet or medicine. They are a highly reliable device for monitoring and diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders,” Kalantar-zadeh added.

    Source: IANS

  • FISH OIL BOOSTS BRAIN FUNCTIONING, IMPROVES MOOD

    FISH OIL BOOSTS BRAIN FUNCTIONING, IMPROVES MOOD

    Fish oil which contains Omega-3 fatty acids helps to boost brain functions and acts as an anti-inflammatory within the body — helping athletes and soldiers manage intense training better, finds a study.

    Low concentration of fish oil in the blood and also lack of physical activity may contribute to the high levels of depressed mood among soldiers returning from combat, the study suggested.

    Fish oil content is especially important for soldiers due to the consistent training and physical regiments performed in and out of combat and risk of traumatic brain injury.

    For the study, published in the journal Military Medicine, researchers worked with 100 soldiers to identify which factors affected the moods of those returning from combat.

    “We looked at how physical activity levels and performance measures were related to mood state and resiliency. What we found was the decrease in physical activity and the concentration of fish oil and Omega-3s in the blood were all associated with resiliency and mood,” said Richard Kreider, Researcher at the Texas A and M University.

    The study originated from research that examined Omega-3 fatty acid levels of soldiers who committed suicide compared to non-suicide control and found lower Omega-3 levels in the blood were associated with increased risk of being in the suicide group.

    According to the researchers, these findings are significant toward addressing some of the issues many soldiers face.

    “The mental health of soldiers is a serious concern and it is exciting to consider that appropriate diet and exercise might have a direct impact on improving resiliency,” said Nicholas Barringer, Researcher at the Texas A and M University.

    In order to properly measure soldiers physically, Kreider and Barringer developed a formula that has the potential to assist in effectively screening soldiers with potential post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) ahead of time.

    The formula measures a number of factors including fitness and psychometric assessments, physical activity and additional analysis.

    “By improving resiliency in service members, we can potentially decrease the risk of mental health issues. Early identification can potentially decrease the risk of negative outcomes for our active service members as well as our separated and retired military veterans,” Barringer added.

  • Cancer cells’ invisibility cloak identified

    Cancer cells’ invisibility cloak identified

    Canadian researchers have discovered how cancer cells become invisible to the body’s immune system which may help in developing immune biomarkers that can potentially stop the disease in its tracks.

    This ‘invisibility’ phase is a crucial step that allows tumours to spread throughout the body — when the spread cannot be traced.

    The new mechanism explains how metastatic tumours — that spread to other parts from its primary site — can outsmart the immune system.

    Reversing this process may help expose these tumours once again to the immune system, the study said. “The immune system is efficient at identifying and halting the emergence and spread of primary tumours but when metastatic tumours appear, the immune system fails to recognise the cancer cells and stop them,” said Professor Wilfred Jefferies from the University of British Columbia, in Canada.

    Cancer cells genetically change and evolve over time. The findings showed that as they evolve, they may lose the ability to create a protein known as interleukein-33, or IL-33.

    When this IL-33 disappears in the tumour, the body’s immune system has no way of recognising the cancer cells and they can begin to spread, or metastasise. The loss of IL-33 occurs in epithelial carcinomas, meaning cancers that begin in tissues that line the surfaces of organs, including prostate, kidney, breast, lung, uterine, cervical, pancreatic, skin and many others.

    The patients with prostate or renal (kidney) cancers whose tumours have lost IL-33, had more rapid recurrence of their cancer over a five-year period.

  • 90% OF WORLD’S PEOPLE BREATHE DIRTY AIR: WHO

    90% OF WORLD’S PEOPLE BREATHE DIRTY AIR: WHO

    Nine out of 10 people in the world are breathing poor quality air, a new report by the World Health Organisation said calling on countries to take action against air pollution which is causing over six million deaths a year globally .With the use of new interactive maps, the UN agency found 92% of the world’s population living in places where air quality levels exceed WHO limits.

    India accounts for 75% of the 8 lakh air-pollution related deaths annually in the South East Asia Region, whereas 90% of the world’s casualties from poor air quality are in low-and middle-income countries, the maps show identifying specific areas where pollution levels are extremely high.

    “Fast action to tackle air pollution can’t come soon enough,” said Maria Neira, the head of the WHO’s department of public health and environment. Asking countries to strengthen measures to control air pollution, Neira said, “Solutions exist with sustainable transport in cities, solid waste management, access to clean household fuels and cook-stoves, as well as renewable energies and industrial emissions reductions.”

    The UN agency’s report said 94% of the pollution-related deaths in lowand middle-income countries are due to non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular diseases, stroke, chronic obstructi ve pulmonary disease, lung cancer. Air pollution also increases the risks for acute respiratory infections.

    Over 6 lakh people die in In dia every year of ailments caused from air pollution such as acute lower respiratory infection, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder, ischemic heart disease and lung cancer.

    The report represents the most detailed outdoor (or ambient) air pollution-related health data, by country , ever reported by WHO. The model is based on data derived from satellite measurements, air transport models and ground station monitors for more than 3000 locations, both rural and urban. It was developed by WHO in collaboration with the University of Bath in UK.

    According to the report, the problem of air pollution is most acute in cities, but air in rural areas is worse than many think and poorer countries have much dirtier air than the developed world, it said.