New science institute in city

Asian Institute of Gastroenterology launched its Institute of Basic Sciences and Translational Research in the city on Sunday.

The institute, established at a cost of Rs 20 crore, will take up various research activities mainly on stem cells, liver and pancreatic diseases, intestinal cancer and inflammatory bowel diseases.

The institute has already signed an MOU with the Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), and the National Centre for Cell Sciences, John Hopkins Hospital in USA, for further research on gastrointestinal diseases.

“Our survey has shown that 30 per cent of our people suffer from gastrointestinal diseases. Research in this field is lagging behind mainly because the basic research working is in isolation. To overcome this, we have started this institute,” Mr D. Nageshwar Reddy, the head of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology, said.

Doctors of Asian Institute said they would come up with productive research results soon. The new institute will focus on the prevention of diseases and vaccination.

Lifestyle diseases to beat viral threat

Bacteria, viruses, germs and worms will play a low profile in the next two decades as lifestyle diseases overtake infectious and communicable diseases.

The global burden of disease is fast shifting from infectious diseases to noncommunicable diseases, with chronic conditions such as heart disease and stroke now being the chief causes of death globally, including India. While the World Health Organisation warns that shifting health trends will push lifestyle diseases up the chart, health experts in India point out that the trend has already started in the country with the number of heart diseases and diabetes going up considerably.

According to a WHO report, leading infectious diseases like diarrhoea, HIV, tuberculosis, neonatal infections and malaria will become less important causes of death worldwide over the next 20 years. The WHO has arrived at this projection based on data on 73 health indicators.

Senior interventionist cardiologist Dr DK Barua says the chief causes of death are noncommunicable diseases like heart attack, diabetes and hypertension. “The incidence of non-infectious diseases has gone up considerably. We are on the ascending stage now and 20 years from now, India could over take China in diabetic cases,” he says.

The WHO statistics show risk factors like smoking and alcohol consumption will push the number of non-communicable diseases including maternal mortality, which is currently as high as 450 per lakh live births in India and other developing countries.

King George Hospital superintendent, Dr T Ravi Raju, supports WHO data saying India will become a leading county in terms of number of cases of diabetes and heart and kidney ailments.

The average life span of an Indian was 37 years before Independence and now it has gone up to 65.

Experts say that the change in pattern of diseases is not necessarily due to the change in lifestyle or stress but Indians are genetically more prone to heart diseases than those living in any other developing country.

Nasa images show Mars is very cold

Mars interior is more colder and solid than previously thought, suggests an analysis based on new images sent by a Nasa spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet.

“We found that the rocky surface of Mars is not bending under the load of the north polar ice cap,” said Roger Phillips of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Coloumbia.

“This implies that the planet’s interior is more rigid, and thus colder, than we thought before,” said Phillips, the lead author of the report appearing in the online version of journal Science.

He suggest any liquid water that might exist below the planet’s surface and any possible organisms living in that water, would be located deeper than scientists had suspected.

The discovery was made using the Shallow Radar instrument on Nasa’s Mars reconnaissance orbiter, which has provided detailed pictures to date of the interior layers of ice, sand and dust that make up the north polar cap on Mars. “In our first glimpses inside the polar ice using the radar on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we can see stacks of icy material that trace the history of Mars climate,” said a co-author

Agni-3 test-fired successfully

India on Wednesday successfully test-fired its 3,000-km range surface-to-surface nuclear capable Agni-3 missile for the second time, giving the country a capability to hit targets as far as deep inside China.

The all-solid fuel missile took off from Wheelers Island off Orissa coast at 9.56 am and achieved its full range and accuracy by reaching its pre-designated target in 800 seconds.

“The missile is now ready for induction,” jubilant DRDO scientists told reporters after the missile achieved its target in a copybook style.

With this second successful test-firing, India now joins a select group of nations having intermediate range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) with ranges up to 3,000 km. The missile will give the nation the capability to target cities in China like Beijing and Shanghai.

It was a sort of golden jubilee gift of the DRDO to the nation as the organisa tion is about to launch from Monday celebrations to commemorate 50 years of its existence. The success of Agni-3 paves the way for India to build its truly intercontinental range missiles Agni-4 with a range of 5,000 km in the near future.

A miniaturised submarinelaunched version of the Agni-3 called Agni-3 SL is also being developed and could be test-fired shortly.

Unlike Agni-1 and Agni2, the Agni-3 missile has been designed and optimised to carry lighter 200 KT thermo nuclear payload weapons. The third-stage booster being installed for the future Agni range of missiles will give them capability of hitting targets at longer distances fairly accurately. “The missile reached the pre-designated target in a time of 800 seconds, travelling through a peak height of 350 km with a velocity of more than 4,000 metres a second,” Mr Avinash Chander, director of the Agni Project, told reporters here.

Old rice may cause cancer

Old rice cooks well but it may cause severe health problems, including poisoning, if it is not washed properly. Old rice is infested by a fungus that release aflatoxins — among the most carcinogenic substances known to science.

A study conducted by the citybased Directorate of Rice Research revealed that most of the rice available to consumers is infested by a type of fungus known as Aspergillus. Rice that is over 36 months old is most affected by the fungus.

As part of the study, senior DRR scientists Dr C.S. Reddy and Dr K. Muralidharan collected 900 rice samples of 250 varieties from 20 states across the country. The samples were from areas exposed to rain or flood or of rice stored in bins and from wholesale and retail markets.

The team isolated an aflatoxinproducing mycoflora of the Aspergillus species from the samples.

“Aspergillus contamination was detected in most of the seed samples. A. flavus, A. niger, A.

ochraceus and A. parasiticus were collected from these samples. In general, Aspergillus contamination was higher in seed samples exposed to rain followed by long storage periods,” they pointed out. Around 60 to 84 per cent of the rice samples collected were found to contain Aflatoxin B1. Of the samples collected from different sources, 93 per cent of those exposed to rain tested positive for the cancer-causing toxin. Of the samples stored for more than three years, 77 to 79 per cent contained Aflatoxin B1 as did 75 per cent of the samples collected from consumer markets. Of these, 21 samples recorded 32.8 to 308 ig of Aflatoxin B1 per kilo of rice, which is above the permissible limit.

The DRR team attributed the growth of fungus in rice to the crop being exposed to frequent and heavy rainfall and floods, particularly just before harvest. Often harvested sheaves remain wet and the grain becomes prone to invasion by fungi.

“Invasion by field and storage fungi takes place.

Aflatoxin contamination of agricultural commodities including rice is a serious food safety issue besides being a significant economic concern,” the DRR study warned

LAND AREA OF INDIA - Isro prepares digital map

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has almost completed the digital mapping of the country. "Seventy per cent of the total land area of India has been digitally filmed with high resolution cameras on CARTOSATS 1 and 2, the country's resource satellites. We hope to complete the entire mapping by next year," Dr T K Alex, director, ISRO's Laboratory for Electro Optic System, told this newspaper.

Dr Alex said digital mapping could revolutionise infrastructure development in the country. "It will help us speed up the surveys for road building, and laying of high tension electric and telecommunication lines. Since satellite photographs are of high resolution, planners and engineers can work from their offices," said Dr Alex.

But the major advantage of digital mapping is in the preservation of land records and documents, according to Dr Alex. "Depending on the input we get from village offices and collectorates, it is possible to eliminate discrepancies associated with land dealings. The village level survey numbers and boundaries come in handy for the concerned authorities to detect malpractices in land transactions, if any. But this requires enormous output," said Dr Alex. He said it was possible to digitally map the world.

Ring roads for small and big cities too could be planned with the aid of the digital maps. "The digital images will provide us with the number and size of the buildings and other structures in the area. This is a major help in the planning process. City development is another area where these digital images could play a major role," Dr Alex said.

He disclosed that ISRO would have hyper spectral imagery cameras, which are capable of capturing images with more than 200 colours. "These are helpful in identifying the minerals on the earth's surface," said Dr Alex, an aerospace specialist who was honoured by the Astronomical Society of India for his outstanding contribution to remote sensing.