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Actors & Artists Join Hands To Spread Awareness About Breast Cancer

January 31, 2010 By

A lot has been said and done about breast cancer awareness in the past. However, when a survivor speaks out about her battle with the disease, it makes a huge difference.

Art dealer Tarana Khubchandani fought against the disease and survived the battle. Now, she is going all out to spread awareness about it and also collect funds for treatment of cancer-affected patients through an NGO. Supporting her in this cause are Salman Khan, actor Shatrugan Sinha’s daughter Sonakshi, former beauty queen Diana Hayden, Suniel Shetty and his wife Mana and renowned artists like Akbar Padamsee, SH Raza, Ram Kumar and Paritosh Sen along with businesswoman Rajashree Birla.

Tarana says, “We have organised an art exhibition where works of the artists will be up for sale. The proceeds will go towards spreading awareness about breast cancer and its treatment. Every year we distribute chemotherapy drugs to government cancer hospitals and also identify people whose treatment we would sponsor.”

Sonakshi has posed for a calendar portraying the various roles that a woman plays — daughter, sister, mother, lover, friend etc. She says, “Each woman shares a sense of responsibility towards the other and by involving myself in this cause, I am fulfilling a part of that responsibility.” The calendars will be sold for Rs500 each.

Diana says, “The more awareness we spread, the better it is. The number of breast cancer cases is increasing and people should know how to detect and cure it.”

There are also diaries designed by artists Arzan Khambatta and Seema Kohli. Arzan says, “I wanted 12 sketches for the diary. I drew out the 12 signs of the zodiac. In the beginning of the diary there is information on breast cancer.” Akbar Padamsee says, “Signs of breast cancer can be self-detected and it is curable if detected earlier.”

Rajashree Birla says, “One in every 25 women in urban areas is cancer-afflicted. The rate may increase. It’s time to stop it.” By Riddhi Doshi, DNA India

Filed Under: Education, Health & Fitness Tagged With: ,

Per-Cow Fee Would Hurt Cattlemen, Says Utah Farm Bureau Boss

January 30, 2010 By

The part of Utah’s economy that depends on agriculture would be hobbled if the government increases pressure on greenhouse-gas emissions, a panel warned Utah’s farmers and bankers.

Randy Parker, Utah Farm Bureau president, said a “cow tax” the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing would cost Utah livestock managers $104 million a year. The government would assess a $175-per-cow fee to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

If the rule were in place, Utah ranchers and hog farmers would only have made $92 million in 2007.

“And that was a good year,” Parker said during the 2010 Ag Outlook conference sponsored by the Utah Bankers Association and Utah State University Extension Service.

“If you look at 2008-2009, it is a lot worse.”

Parker was joined by Department of Agriculture Commissioner Leonard Blackham; David Conine , U.S. Department of Agriculture Regional Rural Development Director; and Roberta Wheeler, an officer with the Farm Loan Service.

Parker said climate-change regulations, including the cap-and-trade bill that would limit carbon emissions, hits agriculture particularly hard since farmers work in an energy-intensive industry.

The regulation would drive up costs to produce and buy food, as well as affect the national food supply, Parker warned.

“Do we really want to rely on China, Mexico, India, Brazil and other nations

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to supply our basic needs?” Parker asked.

Conine said there is reason to be skeptical of global-warming claims, but farms cannot dismiss it either.

“If we don’t address [climate change], it will affect agriculture,” Conine said.

Blackham said that farming, and livestock in particular, already help Utah’s environment. Grazing cattle control sagebrush and spur grass growth where they feed, which in turn helps other wildlife.

“If you want to find the best wildlife, look for the livestock,” Blackham said.

Plus, farming is a major part of the Utah economy.

While farming alone only represents 3 percent of the state’s economy, Blackham said the number increases almost five times when related industries  By Donald W. Meyers, The Salt Lake Tribune

Filed Under: Environment Tagged With:

A Romantic Getaway

January 30, 2010 By

Take the stress out of your adventure and enjoy the ride. Once you figure out where you want to go in Germany, plan your trip with daily itineraries. And just in case you’re not bringing your computer with you, you can print everything out for easy access to all your travel plans. Don’t bother going anywhere else for your travel needs; at Hotel Deutschland, you’ll have everything you need, everything you want, and everything you’re looking for.

Moreover, ease into your day, the world is waiting and there’s no need to rush. If a great hotel with a view is what you seek to set the stage for a romantic getaway, you may want to feel the amazing atmosphere at Hotel Munchen and enjoy a freshly prepared breakfast just for you, and when you’re ready to make a move, experience local life and all of its ingredients with unique local packages.

Furthermore, how about strolling into the bohemian nightlife in the former East Berlin which has never been more vibrant, and thousands of restaurants and stores and nightclubs from one end of Germany to the other awaits you, many of them just steps from the Hotel Berlin. So whatever your next move will be, it’s still much better to stay at the above mentioned and experience all the sights, sounds and flavors of this diverse central European country.

Filed Under: Business & Economy Tagged With: ,

House Prices Set For Double-Digit Increase, Nationwide Predicts

January 30, 2010 By

House prices are on course for double-digit growth on an annual basis next month for the first time in three years, Britain’s biggest building society said.

The forecast by Nationwide came as the lender reported a higher than expected 1.2 per cent average price increase in January, taking the rise to 8.6 per cent since the same month last year. Reports due out on Monday are expected to reinforce the view that prices have strengthened and to show that economists have revised their forecasts upwards for this year, based on signs of better mortgage lending.

Martin Gahbauer, chief economist for Nationwide, said: “Unless there is a fall in property values in February, annual house price inflation is likely to move into double-digit territory next month.”

An annual double-digit rise next month would be the first for almost three years — the last time that Britain had year-on-year house price growth above 10 per cent was in May 2007. The average house price is now £163,481, up from a low of £147,746 in February last year but still some way off the October 2007 peak of £186,044, according to Nationwide.

Separate data from the Land Registry, based on all housing transactions in England and Wales and therefore lagging behind Nationwide’s index, which is based on its mortgage lending, showed that in December annual house prices rose for the first time since May 2008. Prices rose by 0.1 per cent over the month — the eighth consecutive monthly increase, according to the official measure. The Land Registry found big regional variations in growth. London had the highest annual change, with a 6.1 per cent rise over 2009, while Wales had the biggest fall, at 2.5 per cent.

Proof of a return to confidence in the capital came yesterday in the form of a return to mega-mansion development. Marcus Cooper, the North London developer, announced that it had gained planning consent for a £100 million home facing Regent’s Park, Central London. Camden council gave consent to build the 50,000 sq ft property, which will have ten bedrooms, vast entertaining spaces, two additional staff houses, a cinema, a gym, a pool, office facilities and a car park.

Marcus Cooper is noted for good timing. It made millions of pounds two years ago from redevelopment of the 40,000 sq ft Witanhurst House in Highgate — London’s second-biggest house after Buckingham Palace — which it bought for £32 million in 2007 and sold in July 2008 for more than £50 million, shortly before the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the property market crash.

The new project is an example of a trend among London property professionals in response to rising prices and soaring demand from foreign investors: the conversion back into residences of grand period homes turned into offices over the past 100 years. Some of the biggest developers in London, including Grosvenor, which owns much of Mayfair, and Covent Garden-based Shaftesbury, have been turning centrally located buildings back into dwellings.

Nationwide said yesterday that the housing market would remain relatively independent of other economic measures, such as unemployment and negative wage growth, but would be more dependent on whether the Bank of England raises interest rates this year.

Mr Gahbauer said: “With negative real earnings growth, the future path of interest rates becomes even more critical for the housing market, particularly with a growing proportion of the mortgage stock now on variable rate deals. The consensus view is that interest rates will remain unchanged until the final quarter of 2010. Inflation trends in 2009, however, are starting to call into question the validity of this view.”

Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “A modest relapse in house prices is likely at some point in 2010 and they may well be essentially flat over the year as a whole.” By Rebecca O’Connor, Francesca Steele – The Times

Filed Under: Business & Economy Tagged With: ,

Networking In Our Homes

January 29, 2010 By

Current progress in technology has made wireless networking in our homes more of a necessity than a convenience. We rely upon wireless connections to our laptops, cell phones, MP3 and DVD players, and even our blasted TVs. To utilize all of the features packed away in these gadgets, and to be connected we need to have Linksys router a device that sends data traffic from one network to another. Thus nearly every home in a residential block will be clogging airspace with perpetual transmissions from innumerable wireless devices.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: ,

Heart Scanner Will Allow Earlier Diagnosis

January 29, 2010 By

An innovative cardiac scanner will dramatically improve the process of diagnosing heart conditions.

The portable magnetometer* is being developed at the University of Leeds, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) playing a key role.

Due to its unprecedented sensitivity to magnetic fluctuations the device will be able to detect a number of conditions, including heart problems in fetuses, earlier than currently available diagnostic techniques such as ultrasound, ECG (electrocardiogram) and existing cardiac magnetometers. It will also be smaller, simpler to operate, able to gather more information and significantly cheaper than other devices currently available.

Another key benefit is that, for the first time, skilled nurses as well as doctors will be able to carry out heart scans, helping to relieve pressure on hospital waiting lists. The device will also function through clothes, cutting the time needed to perform scans and removing the need for patients to undress for an examination. It could also be taken out to a patient’s home, leading to a reduction in the use of hospital facilities.

Large scale magnetometers have been used for some time for things like directional drilling for oil and gas, on spacecraft for planet exploration and to detect archaeological sites and locate other buried or submerged objects. What has prevented them being used for identifying heart conditions is their size and high cost along with the specialist skill needed to operate them. Using them to examine a patient would involve containing the person within a magnetic shield to cut out other electrical interference.

“The new system gets round previous difficulties by putting the actual detector in its own magnetic shield,” said Professor Ben Varcoe who is leading the research team.

“The sensor placed over the area being examined lives outside the shielded area and transmits signals into the detector. The sensor head is made up of a series of coils that cancel out unwanted signals and amplifies the signals that are needed. So the tiny magnetic fields produced by a person’s heart can be transmitted into the heavily shielded environment. What we’ve been able to do is combine existing technology from the areas of atomic physics and medical physics in a completely unique way.”

Like all parts of the body, the heart produces its own distinctive magnetic ‘signature’. The research team has demonstrated that their magnetometer – developed as part of their work in the area of quantum physics – can reveal tiny variations in that signature. Studying these variations can, in turn, reveal the presence of a cardiac condition. The team is now working on miniaturizing the magnetometer for widespread medical use. The device could be ready for use in routine diagnosis in around three years.

“Early detection of heart conditions improves the prospects for successful treatment. This system will also quickly identify people who need immediate treatment,” says Professor Varcoe. “But our device won’t just benefit patients – it will also help ease the strain on healthcare resources and hospital waiting lists.”

The device is expected to be particularly effective at detecting ischaemia, a condition where blood supply to an area of the body becomes inadequate due to a blockage of the blood vessels. It could also shorten surgical procedures for people suffering from arrhythmia – a very common condition where the patient has an irregular heartbeat. Currently, the condition is corrected by surgery which can last several hours. Much of the time is spent trying to identify which heart node needs to be cauterized. Scanning the heart with the new device during the operation would offer a much quicker way of pinpointing the correct node, reducing the length of the whole procedure by 80%.

The team working on the magnetometer has included specialists in electronics, precision measurement and optical fiber technology, as well as physicists. The instrument also has potential to be adapted to detect abnormalities in other organs, such as the brain.

The original research project from which the clinical magnetometer is a spin-off was called ‘Creating Long Chain Entanglement Using a Phase Sensitive Micromaser’; this initiative received EPSRC funding of just over £450,000. An EPSRC-funded graduate student at the University of Leeds, Melody Blackman, is now playing a key role in developing the miniaturized version of the original magnetometer for clinical use.

The breakthrough is all the more remarkable as it came about quite unexpectedly. According to Professor Ben Varcoe, the team behind it was working on a very different area of research. “We were undertaking quantum physics research into Schrödinger’s cat paradox – a paradox first put forward to challenge assumptions made by Einstein in his Special Theory of Relativity,” says Professor Varcoe. “We used laser spectroscopy** as part of this work but noticed that the results contained some noise, which we identified as a very weak magnetic field. So we developed a highly sensitive magnetometer to help us understand this noise source. But when I attended a conference in Australia, it came to my attention that the magnetometer could also contribute to healthcare.”

*A magnetometer is an instrument that measures magnetic fields.

** Spectroscopy is the study of the interaction between radiation and matter. In laser spectroscopy, pulsed lasers are used to excite the molecules contained in the matter, and this enables the interaction to be observed.

Quantum physics is the study of ‘quanta’. As described by what is known as quantum theory, quanta are discrete, indivisible units of energy.

Other spin-offs from EPSRC-funded quantum physics work at the University of Leeds include a new type of cryostat that can cool anything placed in it down to 0.3°C above absolute zero (minus 273°C). This cryostat can be used in many applications, including semi-conductor processing and X-ray spectroscopy. Cheap to run and easy to handle, it eliminates the need to use large vats of expensive, difficult-to-handle coolants (e.g. liquid helium).

The quantum physics work could also lead to the development of a new breed of ultra-powerful quantum computers which work much quicker than conventional computers. They could also prove particularly useful in securely encrypting financial and other sensitive data transmitted between banking institutions, for example. redOrbit

Filed Under: Health & Fitness Tagged With: ,

Yoga: A Cure For All Diseases, Weight Loss

January 28, 2010 By

YOGA IS a way of life that includes ethical precepts, dietary prescriptions, and physical exercise. The term yoga comes from a Sanskrit word which means yoke or union. Traditionally, yoga is a method joining the individual self with the Divine, Universal Spirit, or Cosmic Consciousness. Yoga Exercises improve circulation, stimulate the abdominal organs, and put pressure on the glandular system of the body, which can generally result to better health.

The ultimate goal of yoga is however to help the individual to transcend the self and attain enlightenment. As one practices Yoga, positive effects of Yoga begin to show. The sense of feeling good envelops around the individual. This feeling is so natural and so genuine that it goes entirely in an individual’s life. Yogic exercises recharge the body with cosmic energy, removes negative blocks from the mind and toxins from the body, increases self-awareness, reduces stress and tension in the physical body by activating the parasympathetic nervous system.

Many diseases can also be cured with the help of yoga. It can burns excess fat and helpful in many diseases like bronchitis, diabetes, chronic cold & cough, ailments of back, neck & waist, spondalitis (spine), menstrual disorders, heart disease, body stiffness,  blood pressure, tonsillitis, etc. Doctors also advice their patients for yoga.

Yoga is an effective way to gain and maintain a healthy body. This ancient Indian meditation art is a great way to get rid of extra flab from the body. Yoga helps to “stay regular” by stimulating the digestive system. It improves circulation, thereby reducing acne, the signs of aging, and other skin disorders. Yoga plays a very important role in everyday’s life. It helps one and all to solve their physical and mental problems. Merinews

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