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Archives for August 2018

Anaemia drug could help recovery after a heart attack

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London Drugs currently undergoing development to treat anaemia — lack of blood — could be repurposed to help prevent people with Type-2 diabetes from developing heart failure, according to a new research.

Researchers found that after a heart attack, a protein called HIF acts to help heart cells survive.

In people with diabetes, fats accumulate within the heart muscle and stop the HIF protein from becoming active. This means that a person is more likely to suffer lasting heart muscle damage, and develop heart failure after a heart attack.

“After a heart attack, people with Type-2 diabetes are more likely to develop heart failure more quickly, but we have not fully understood the reasons why that is the case,” said lead researcher Lisa Heather, research student at the University of Oxford in the UK.

“What we have shown with this research is that the metabolism of people with Type-2 diabetes means they have higher levels of fatty acids in the heart. This prevents signals going to the heart protective protein telling it to ‘kick-in’ after a heart attack,” she added.

In the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the team treated diabetic rats with a drug known to activate the HIF protein, and were able to encourage the heart to recover after a heart attack.

However, these initial results suggest that several drugs known to activate HIF and currently undergoing phase-III clinical trials to treat people with anaemia, could potentially be given to people with diabetes, immediately after a heart attack in the future, the researchers said.

“This research in rats has not only identified the mechanism that could explain why people with Type-2 diabetes have poorer outcomes after a heart attack, but also a practical way this might be prevented,” the researchers explained.

However, further studies will be needed to confirm if the same benefits are seen in humans, they noted.

[IANS]

99.3% of demonetised currency returned to banks: RBI

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Around 99.3 per cent of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were banned overnight in November 2016, have been returned, the Reserve Bank of India said in its annual report released on Wednesday.

Of the Rs 15.41 lakh crore worth Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes in circulation before November 8, 2016, notes worth Rs15.31 lakh crore have been returned.

The “humungous task of processing and verification of specified bank notes (SBNs) was successfully achieved,” the RBI said.

The SBNs received were verified, counted and processed in the sophisticated high speed currency verification and processing system (CVPS) for accuracy and genuineness and then shredded. “The total SBNs returned from circulation is Rs15,310.73 billion,” it said.

Post demonetisation, the RBI spent Rs7,965 crore in 2016-17 on printing new Rs500 and Rs2,000 and other denomination notes, more than double the Rs3,421 crore spent in the previous year.

In 2017-18 (July 2017 to June 2018), it spent another Rs4,912 crore on printing of currency, the report said.

The demonetisation was hailed as a step that would curb black money, corruption and check counterfeit currency, but the RBI said, “Counterfeit notes detected in SBNs decreased by 59.7 and 59.6 per cent in the denominations of Rs500 and Rs1,000, respectively.”

The RBI said, “Compared to the previous year, there was an increase of 35 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs100, while there was a noticeable increase of 154.3 per cent in counterfeit notes detected in the denomination of Rs50.” Counterfeit notes detected in the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes during 2017-18 were 9,892 and 17,929, against 199 and 638 respectively in the previous year, it added.

Delhi band to perform debut album across cities

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Delhi-based music band “Kitchensink” is all set to perform its debut album at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) here on Thursday, as the first stop of their album launch tour.

The album “Harmless Things”, which released in July, features 10 tracks written since the bands’ inception in 2014, and is reflecting of their journey ever since.

The album songs, according to a statement from NCPA, offer lyrical storytelling inspired by psychedelic rock and improvised music.

The five-member band will perform at Bengaluru and Hyderabad, in quick succession of the Mumbai event as part of its album launch tour.

It will conclude with a performance in Delhi on September 21.

The Western music band comprises Smiti Malik, Siddharth Jain, Adhir Ghosh, Amar Pandey, and Ritwik De.

It has performed at the Chandigarh Jazz Festival, The Friends of Music Concert Series, the Giants of Jazz Festival, the Jazz India Circuit Launch, and performance venues like The Piano Man Jazz Club and Depot 48.

[IANS]

Kejriwal demands white paper on demonetization

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday demanded a white paper on demonetization from the central government, saying that people suffered immensely from it.

“People suffered immensely due to demonetization. Many died. Business suffered. People have a right to know – what was achieved through demonetization? The government should come out with a white paper on the same,” Kejriwal said in a tweet.

He attached a tweet which said the RBI’s annual report had stated that 99.3 per cent of all money in circulation came back to the banking system after the note ban.

The central government on November 8, 2016 announced it was taking back all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bank notes.

[IANS]

Former AG Amar Patnaik joins BJD

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Bhubaneswar Former Odisha Accountant General Amar Patnaik joined the ruling Biju Janta Dal (BJD) here on Wednesday.

Patnaik joined the party in the presence of Odisha Chief Minister and BJD President Naveen Patnaik at the Naveen Niwas here.

Soon after, Patnaik was appointed the head of the BJD’s IT cell.

“Amar Patnaik has a very rich experience on working in many states. His joining the BJD will certainly strengthen the party. I welcome him. He will be the head of the IT wing in the BJD,” said the Chief Minister.

“I strongly believe that under the able leadership of Naveen Patnaik, Odisha can turn into a number one state,” Patnaik said.

[IANS]

Shiv Bhakt’ Rahul Gandhi All Set to Undertake Kailash Mansarovar Yatra

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Congress president Rahul Gandhi is likely to undertake the Kailash Mansarover yatra at the end of this month. This is in keeping with his “I am a Shiv bhakt” sentiment. It is considered to be one of the most auspicious yatras by devout Shiv bhakts.

Rahul had first made this announcement at a jan aakrosh rally in April at the Ramlila maidan — a carefully chosen podium to make the announcement. Rahul had then said that he had decided to take this yatra after he narrowly escaped an air mishap while campaigning during Karnataka elections. His flight had gone off radar for a few minutes and the Congress blamed the BJP for not cooperating and understanding the gravity of the situation.

Rahul had then announced that he would take this yatra to thank lord Shiva.

However, MEA sources had said that he had not applied for the yatra as yatris need to be registered as the route goes through China as well. Sources say he is likely to go. Options are given for special permission and private travel agencies too organise these yatras.

Rahul is trying to send a larger message of being a devout Hindu as part of his strategy of soft Hindutva. Through Gujarat and Karnataka elections, Rahul has been seen in temples and at one time was even seen wearing a rudraksh. The party had said Rahul and his family were Janayeu dhaari.

The Congress had assessed after 2014 elections that its minority appeasement had boomeranged on them with disastrous results, hence the course correction.

In 2015 just after the Uttarakhand floods, Rahul had undertaken the Kedarnath yatra on foot to once again flaunt his Hindu credentials.

The Kailash yatra concludes on September 8 and Rahul is expected to leave as early as this week.

Centre weighs options for relief to power sector on NPAs: Official

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The government is considering its options in the wake of the Allahabad High Court’s refusal to entertain the power producers’ petition challenging the RBI deadline for starting bankruptcy proceedings against banks’ NPAs, or bad loan accounts, a senior official said on Tuesday.

A Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular had in February directed the banks to take loan accounts of Rs 2,000 crore and above, which remain unresolved for over 180 days starting from March 1, 2018 to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). The deadline expired on Monday.

The power sector accounts for the major chunk of banks’ non-performing assets (NPAs) and power producers had approached the Allahabad High Court for quashing the RBI circular.

Rejecting the power producers’ plea on Monday, the court asked the Central government to talk to the RBI for providing some relief to the petitioners within 15 days.

“The matter (power producers’ problems) is being discussed and a decision is being made,” Finance Ministry’s Principle Economic Advisor Sanjeev Sanyal told IANS here.

“We will look at all options and take appropriate action,” he added.

Banks had been working overtime to finalise the resolution plans before expiry of the RBI deadline for around 70 large stressed accounts worth over Rs 3.8 lakh crore, and they have another 15 days’ time to decide on taking them to NCLT for bankruptcy proceedings.

Around half of these 70 assets are from the power sector with a total bank exposure of around Rs 1.74 lakh crore.

According to the RBI, the total outstanding loans of scheduled commercial banks to the sector, including renewable energy, stood at Rs 5.65 lakh crore as in March 2018.

A parliamentary panel report has revealed that there are as many as 34 stressed electricity projects with a total capacity of over 40,000 MW.

The power producers had petitioned the government that the RBI norms on resolving the NPA issue were too rigid in view of the serious problems being faced by the industry in terms of coal shortage and huge bill outstandings from state distribution companies.

The Power Ministry had urged the RBI to extend the deadline by six months, but the central bank has rejected the extension request.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy in its report earlier this month noted that the new RBI guidelines on NPAs will only deepen the crisis of the electricity sector.

(IANS)

Rupee Collapses To Lifetime Low

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The Indian rupee collapsed to a lifetime low of 70.52 by plunging 42 paise against the US dollar on strong month-end demand for the American currency amid foreign fund outflows, reported news agency. The Indian currency was hurt by fresh demand for the American currency from importers, mainly oil refiners, following higher crude oil prices. Dollar’s strength against some currencies overseas also weighed on the domestic unit today. On Tuesday, the local currency had bounced back in a tepid fashion from the record closing low, gaining 6 paise to end at 70.10 against the US currency.

Vijayan asks Diaspora to donate for Kerala

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Admitting that the flood damage was much more than what was estimated, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday urged the Kerala Diaspora to contribute a month’s salary for the state’s reconstruction.

Vijayan’s comments came as the total number of people in relief camps, which stood at 14.5 lakh on August 21, came down to 1.97 lakh on Tuesday as thousands returned to their once flooded homes after they were cleaned up.

“The Kerala Diaspora is already coming out in a big way to help us. What we want is a proper system in place to channelise their resources… I call upon all the Diaspora to contribute a month’s salary over a period of 10 months,” he told the media here.

The government’s priority was to source funds for rehabilitation of the hundreds of thousands displaced and badly hit by the worst floods in Kerala in nearly a century, he said.

“The damage that has taken place is much more than we have estimated and hence funds have to come. But given the response, we are confident, our people will rise to the occasion and come to our help.”

Vijayan urged businessmen to think of giving a portion of their earnings to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.

All schools in Kerala will reopen after the Onam holidays on Wednesday barring those in Alappuzha and Ernakulam districts which have been turned into camps to house those forced to flee their submerged homes.

“Strict action will be taken against all those who dispose waste into lakes and rivers during cleaning operations,” added Vijayan.

Tuesday saw a massive cleaning drive led by Finance Minister Thomas Issac and PWD Minister G. Sudhakaran.

“This is perhaps the biggest cleaning drive that has commenced as people have come in huge numbers from various parts of the state to clean up homes in Kuttanadu area,” said Issac.

More than one lakh people in Alappuzha continue to be in relief camps, where the cleaning drive is going on on a massive scale.

On Tuesday, Congress President Rahul Gandhi arrived here and went around relief camps in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta and Ernakulam districts and promised that the Congress would do its best to ease people’s sufferings.

The party has decided to build 1,000 new homes through sponsorship. Gandhi handed over the first few houses in Alappuzha besides thanking the fishermen who played a key role in the rescue operations.

Chief Secretary Tom Jose said discussions would be held on Wednesday with World Bank officials on the impact of the floods.

Forest and Animal Husbandry Minister K. Raju on Tuesday said that all those who lost goats, cows and buffaloes would be compensated ranging from Rs 3,000 and Rs 30,000.

“The National Diary Development Board is also extending its support and it has been decided to provide cattle feed to farmers,” said Raju.

(IANS)

Modi hails sportspersons on National Sports Day

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday hailed the sportspersons on the occasion of the National Sports day and urged people to give priority to sports and fitness related activities.

Modi also paid tributes to Hockey legend Dhyan Chand, whose birth anniversary is commemorated as National Sports Day.

“Greetings to all sports enthusiasts on National Sports Day. Tributes to the phenomenal hockey player, Major Dhyan Chandji on his birth anniversary. I urge people to give priority to sports and fitness related activities, which will contribute towards a healthier India,” Modi said in a series of tweets.

“I salute all those who have represented India in various sporting events. Their hard work and resolve has led to several milestones. This year has been great for our sporting fraternity, with the Indian athletes excelling in various tournaments including Asian Games 2018 and Common Wealth Games,” he said.

(IANS)

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