SC/ST officers promoted on quota basis to be reverted

Updated Wednesday, 01 June 2011 18:06:30 - IST (UTC +5:30)

JAIPUR: Rajasthan High Court has debarred SC/ST officers promoted on quota basis from writing the annual confidential reports of their "subordinates" who are otherwise senior to them.
The High Court took the action in the light of Supreme Court's judgement against promotion on quota basis. All SC/ST officers are likely to be placed back on seniority list as they were before being promoted. All such officers in State Government Service are to be reverted. However State Government is reluctant to implement SC order for political considerations.
The Apex Court passed an order on December 7, 2010 upholding Rajasthan HC order striking down the state government's notifications to grant reservation in promotions and consequential seniority to SC/ST employees and held that benefit of reservation unlawful in promotions to state government SC/ST employees.
It was argued before the single bench of justice M N Bhandari that the February 5, 2010 HC order categorically held that no reservation was permissible in promotions in the state services since the Rajasthan government had failed to fulfill the conditions laid down by the Supreme Court in the M Nagraj Case judgment on the Constitutional provision of reservation in promotions in October 2006.
The HC had also struck down the state government's notifications of December 28, 2002 and April 25, 2008. The state government then filed a special leave petition against the HC order, but SC dismissed the government appeal on December 7, 2010.
The petitioners argued that the reserved category officials who had been promoted before December 7, 2010 in the PWD and other departments were now due to be reverted hence they should be stopped from writing Annual Personal Reports of the officials who are likely to become senior after implementation of SC order.

Green-glowing cats are new tool in AIDS research

Chicago — U.S. scientists have developed a strain of green-glowing cats with cells that resist infection from a virus that causes feline AIDS, a finding that may help prevent the disease in cats and advance AIDS research in people.

The study, published Sunday in the journal Nature Methods, involved inserting monkey genes that block the virus into feline eggs, or oocytes, before they are fertilized.
The scientists also inserted jellyfish genes that make the modified cells glow an eerie green color — making the altered genes easy to spot.
Tests on cells taken from the cats show they are resistant to feline immunodeficiency virus, or FIV, which causes AIDS in cats.
"This provides the unprecedented capability to study the effects of giving AIDS-protection genes into an AIDS-vulnerable animal," Dr. Eric Poeschla of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who led the study, said in a telephone interview.
Poeschla said that besides people, cats and to some extent, chimpanzees, are the only mammals that develop a naturally occurring virus that causes AIDS.
"Cats suffer from this all over the world," he said.

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Just as the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, does in people, FIV works by wiping out infection-fighting T-cells.
FIV infects mostly feral cats, of which there are half billion in the world, Poeschla said. It is transmitted by biting, largely by males defending their territory, but companion cats are affected as well.
In both humans and cats, proteins called restriction factors that normally fight off viral infections are defenseless against HIV and FIV because the viruses evolved potent counter-weapons. But certain monkey versions of these restriction factors are capable of fighting the virus and the team used one such gene from the rhesus monkey.
For the team, which included collaborators in Japan, the trick was to get the monkey gene for the restriction factor — known as TRIMCyp — into cats to block cells from becoming infected with the virus.

Maternal preeclampsia is associated with an increased risk of retinopathy of prematurity;

Ozkan H, Cetinkaya M, Koksal N, Ozmen A, Yildiz M; Journal of Perinatal Medicine (Aug 2011)
To determine the effect of maternal preeclampsia on development and severity of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in preterm infants This prospective study consisted of two groups: the study group, which is composed of preterm infants (≤32 weeks) born to a mother with preeclampsia, and the comparison group, which is composed of preterm infants (≤32 gestational age) born to normotensive mothers. We used the International Classification of Retinopathy of Prematurity Revisited for classifying ROP. The first eye examination was performed at postnatal age of 4 weeks. Results: A total of 385 infants were included in the study. ROP was diagnosed in 109 infants (28%). The incidence of ROP in infants born to preeclamptic mothers (40.5%) was significantly higher compared with those born to normotensive mothers (22.4%) (P<0.05). The number of infants with stage 1, 2, and 3 ROP was significantly higher in infants born to preeclamptic mothers compared with the control group (P<0.05). In multiple logistic regression model, preeclampsia was found to predict ROP (odds ratio 1.78, 95% confidence interval 0.66-1.90). Conclusion: Maternal preeclampsia was found to be associated with increased ROP development risk in premature infants. ROP was also more severe in infants born to pre-eclamptic mothers. The role of maternal preeclampsia in the occurrence and severity of ROP remains to be elucidated.

Surgical repair of spontaneous perineal tears that occur during childbirth versus no intervention

Trauma to the perineum of varying degrees constitutes the most common form of obstetric injury. The perineum is the area between the vagina and rectum which can tear during childbirth. In clinical practice these tears are often sutured. However, small tears may also heal well without surgical interference. If pain is experienced, this can result in decreased mobility and discomfort with passing urine or faeces and may negatively impact on the woman's ability to breast feed and care for her new baby. Our review included two randomised controlled trials (involving 154 women) comparing surgical repair of first-degree (involving only the perineal or vaginal skin) or second-degree tears (also involving muscle) with leaving the wound to heal spontaneously. These trials showed no clear differences in clinical outcomes between the groups. The studies did not find any differences in pain immediately and up to eight weeks postpartum. One of the trials reported no difference in wounds complications, but the other showed differences in wound closure and poor wound approximation in the non-sutured group. There was no information about the effect on long-term outcomes such as sexual discomfort or incontinence. More research is needed to provide a strong evidence-based recommendation for clinical practice.

The Cochrane CollaborationCochrane Reviews

Does Exclusive Breastfeeding Prevent Eczema? It Appears Not

There is no clear evidence showing that exclusive breastfeeding for at least four months reduces the chances of a baby eventually developing eczema, researchers reported in the British Journal of Dermatology. The authors, from King's College London, say that in view of their findings, the UK's breastfeeding guidelines with regards to eczema should be reviewed.

This study was a joint collaboration between researchers from King's College London, the University of Ulm, Germany, and the University of Nottingham, England. They gathered data on 51,119 children aged 8 to 12 years from 21 nations.

The investigators collected data on breastfeeding, when the baby was weaned, and eczema. Parents had to fill in questionnaires. The children were given a skin examination for eczema, as well as a skin prick test to determine whether they had any allergies.

Previous studies had indicated that breastfeeding might protect from eczema. WHO (World Health Organization) and the UK Department of Health recommend six months of exclusive breastfeeding to reduce eczema risk.

However, in keeping with the findings in this present study, the researchers reviewed more recent articles and found no evidence showing that exclusive breastfeeding for four months or more reduced the risk of developing eczema.
original article

Newborn Death Rate Higher In USA Than 40 Other Countries !!!!

The USA is in 41st place worldwide regarding newborn mortality rate, a drop from 29th place in 1990. America's newborn death rate today is equal to that of Croatia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, according to a new report published in PLoS Medicine. The article is a collaboration between WHO (World Health Organization) and Save the Children, which covers all 193 WHO member nations over two decades. Don't believe Read the ORIGINAL ARTICLE .

Thin Children Have More Energy-Burning 'Brown Fat'

THURSDAY, Aug. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Brown fat, also known as "good fat," burns more energy in active, thinner children and may help fight against obesity and diabetes, according to a new study.
Unlike white fat, which stores energy and appears to promote inflammation, brown fat actually burns energy.
These findings could help develop medications as well as drug-free ways to boost brown fat activity in overweight children, according to researchers from the Joslin Diabetes Center and Children's Hospital Boston.
Being able to evaluate brown fat's activity through non-invasive PET imaging "may possibly provide insights into the treatment of childhood obesity," the study's first author, Dr. Laura Drubach, of the Children's Hospital program in nuclear medicine and molecular imaging, said in a Joslin news release.
After conducting PET scans on 172 study participants ranging in age from 5 to 21 years, the researchers detected active brown fat in 44 percent of the children. They pointed out that boys and girls had roughly the same amount.
Children aged 13 to 15 years old had the highest levels of brown fat and brown fat activity. Those with the lowest body mass index (the thinnest teens) showed the most energy-burning activity in their "good fat."
The study authors said the inverse relationship between body mass index and levels of brown fat activity -- and the increase in brown fat activity from childhood into adolescence -- suggests "good fat" may play a significant role in children's metabolism, energy balance and weight regulation.
And contrary to previous studies that showed brown fat in adults was more active in cold weather, the researchers found outdoor temperatures had no effect on brown fat in children.
The researchers concluded that their findings could help develop ways to combat obesity by boosting brown fat activity in children, such as lowering indoor temperatures in homes where obese children live. They noted, however, that more research is needed to explain whether thin children have more brown fat because they are thin or whether having more brown fat makes them thin.
"That's the billion dollar question," concluded the study's senior author, Dr. Aaron Cypess, assistant investigator and staff physician at Joslin. "But we do know that brown fat is a core component of pediatric and likely adult metabolism," he said in the news release.
The study was released online Aug. 12 in advance of publication in an upcoming print issue of The Journal of Pediatrics.
SOURCE: Joslin Diabetes Center, news release, Aug. 11, 2011
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_115536.html