Jan/10/2012

Aung San Suu Kyi to contest by-election in Yangon

Democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi will contest the upcoming by-election in a Yangon neighbourhood that was hard-hit by the 2008 Cyclone Nargis, opposition sources said on Tuesday.

“It’s official. She will contest in Kawhmu Township, Yangon,” National League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win said. Kawhmu is located in the southwestern part of the Yangon region.

The area was among those worst hit by Cyclone Nargis in May, 2008 that claimed 138,000 lives in the Yangon Region and Irrawaddy Delta.

Myanmar will hold a by-election on April 1, to fill 48 parliamentary seats left vacant when cabinet members assumed their ministerial posts in March, 2011.

The Election Commission last week approved the NLD’s application to contest the by-election.

Should she win in the Kawhmu seat, which is deemed likely, Ms. Suu Kyi is expected to become the opposition leader in Parliament, making her eligible for appointment to various government committees, government sources said.

“It is possible that Aung San Suu Kyi may head of one of these committees but it depends on her abilities,” presidential advisor Nay Zin Latt said.

The April 1 by-election will be the first polls Ms. Suu Kyi has participated in.

She was under house arrest during Myanmar’s 1990 general election, which the NLD won by a landslide before they were blocked from assuming power by the former junta.

Myanmar held its next election two decades later on November 7, 2010, bringing to power the pro-military Union Solidarity and Development Party. That election was boycotted by the NLD.

Since coming to power, Myanmar’s new President Thein Sein has taken a conciliatory stance towards Suu Kyi, initiating a dialogue with the Nobel laureate in August last year, and paving the way for her NLD to re-enter Myanmar politics.

10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas off to a vibrant start in Jaipur

The 10th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conclave was kicked off here on Saturday with a colourful unveiling depicting the rich and vibrant Rajasthani culture, followed by half-a-dozen parallel brainstorming sessions convened on subjects such as water management, solar energy, health care, tourism and tapping youth potential.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will formally inaugurate the prestigious annual event with his address at the main venue, B.M. Birla Auditorium, on Sunday. The chief guest, Indian-origin Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad Bissessar, arrived here on Saturday.

The theme of this year's three-day convention is “Global Indian: Inclusive Growth”. Over 10 Union Ministers as well as Chief Ministers of six States are scheduled to address the delegates on different aspects of the country's development process.

Among those taking part in this flagship event will be about 1,500 NRIs and persons of Indian origin from 54 countries are taking part in the flagship event, leading businessmen, industrial magnates, government functionaries and young entrepreneurs.

Ms. Bissessar met acting Rajasthan Governor Shivraj Patil and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot here. Mr. Patil apprised her of the desert State's cultural heritage and the rapid strides being made in the modern scientific and industrial realms.

The Trinidad and Tobago premier asked Mr. Gehlot to consider teaming up for a proposed oil refinery here, while pointing out that oil and natural gas production comprised 40 per cent of the gross domestic product of her country. Ms. Bissessar said her country had 100 years of experience in this sector.

Mr. Gehlot later told reporters that the State government would not expect huge investments from the event's participants, but would like to enhance interaction with the diaspora and seek their suggestions for giving a suitable direction to development: “This [event] would enable NRIs from all walks of life to come and see what is happening in their country.”

The Prime Minister is scheduled to interact with the State Council of Ministers for an hour at Raj Bhavan here after inaugurating the conclave. Mr. Gehlot and his Cabinet colleagues are expected to apprise Dr. Singh of the State government's performance and difficulties over the past three years.

Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi inaugurated the Protector of Emigrants (POE) office at Sitapura on the outskirts of Jaipur. He said the ninth POE office established in the country would render assistance to the large number of people from the State who went abroad for jobs, particularly to the Middle East.. The new office would do away with the need for prospective emigrants to travel to Delhi for emigration clearance, while the registered recruiting agents could file their applications online.

Addressing the seminar on “Solar energy: Investment and R&D”, Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah said the sector could help preserve the global ecological balance. He emphasised the need for increased efficiency and better technology for harnessing the true potential of solar energy. The national diaspora could consider making investments for generating capacity and R&D, Mr. Abdullah said.

Speaking at the seminar on “Health and wellness: Partnering with the diaspora”, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the share of healthcare in GDP should be enhanced from the present 1 per cent to 2.5 per cent. The Centre was considering allowing medical practitioners having post-graduate degrees from the United States, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to practise in India, Mr. Azad said.

President Pratibha Patil will address the closing ceremony of the conclave on Monday and give away awards to the NRIs and PIOs in recognition of their achievements in different fields.

The three-day event has been jointly organised by the Overseas Indian Affairs Ministry, Confederation of Indian Industry and the State government.

Infosys prize conferred on six researchers from 5 science streams

Prize carries cash component of Rs. 50 lakh, a gold medallion and a citation

Six researchers from five science streams were honoured with the Infosys Prize-2011 by the former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, here on Monday.

Eminent personalities, including Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, attended the function.

The prize, into its third year, carries a cash component of Rs. 50 lakh, a gold medallion and a citation. The jury that selected the winners includes renowned academics, including Dr. Sen.

‘RESEARCH CULTURE’

“Research culture in academics and research institutions is the crying need. I feel the prize winners should be deployed in some of the universities in India,” Dr. Kalam said, after giving away the awards.

Outlining the challenges before the country, he said attention should be paid to provision of drinking water, agriculture, access to green energy, healthcare and balancing of greenhouse gases. The country could become a global leader in science only when the spirit of science was inculcated in classrooms, syllabus and teachers. Research in basic science, he said, was vital to facing global competition.

The prize winners are Kalyanmoy Deb, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (engineering and computer science); Imran Siddiqi, scientist, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad (life sciences); Kannan Soundarajan, director, Mathematics Research Centre, Stanford University, U.S. (mathematical sciences); Sriram Ramaswamy, Professor, Centre for Condensed Matter Theory, Indian Institute of Sciences–Bangalore (physical sciences); Raghuram G. Rajan, Charles M. Harper Faculty Fellow at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business (social sciences-economics); and Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president and chief executive of the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi (social sciences-political science and international relations).

Except Dr. Rajan, whose wife Radhika Puri received the award, all other winners were present. He could not attend the function because of his academic engagements.

T.V. Mohandas Pai, president of the Board of Trustees of Infosys Science Foundation, said a new award category in humanities would be introduced from 2012. It would cover philosophy, history, archaeology, linguistics and literary sciences.

Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Ltd. N.R. Narayana Murthy, Executive Co-Chairman Krish Gopalkrishnan, Co-Chairman K.V. Kamat and Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilakeni were present.

‘Herpes virus can reactivate even during antiviral therapy’

For the first time, scientists have found that genital herpes can reactivate even during high dose antiviral therapy, a discovery which they say underlines that new class of treatments are needed to combat this common infection that affects one in five people.

The study by a team from the University of Washington’s Virology Research Clinic in Seattle was based on three trials that involved 113 patients who received antiviral therapy to treat genital herpes, or herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV—2).

The results, published in The Lancet, showed that the virus can reactivate in “breakthrough episodes” even when doses of antiviral therapy are high.

The patients in the trials were given either a standard dose or a high dose of available medications — aciclovir and valaciclovir — to treat their infection.

The results showed that short episodes of subclinical shedding (symptom free) persist with both standard-dose and high-dose aciclovir and valaciclovir.

Although HSV shedding was reduced by 50 per cent with the highest doses of valaciclovir compared with standard dose valaciclovir, the rate of breakthrough shedding episodes did not change — about 16-20 episodes per year.

The researchers, led by Dr Christine Johnston said: “Our finding that high-dose valaciclovir increases the kinetics of viral clearance, but not expansion, supports the hypothesis that these antiviral drugs do not suppress the release of virions into the genital tract.

“That we could not eliminate or even alter the frequency of shedding episodes with high-dose valaciclovir suggests that the maximum benefit of shedding reduction has probably been reached for currently available antiviral drugs.”

Symptoms of HSV-2 infection include ulcers in the skin or mucus membranes of the mouth, lips, or genitals. However, most people with this infection do not have obvious symptoms, but even so, can shed the virus and transmit it to sexual partners. Once someone is infected, HSV-2 is able to hide in the nervous system of the host, enabling it to reactivate periodically in those infected.

During re-activation, the scientists said, the virus in a nerve cell is transported along the nerve to the skin, where new replication and “shedding” occur and cause new sores.

Intensive genital secretion collection shows that HSV shedding episodes are three-times more frequent than was previously realised.

The authors concluded: “Although currently available anti-HSV therapy benefits patients by preventing clinical HSV recurrences, suppressive therapies with greater potency, including antiviral drugs or immunotherapy in the form of therapeutic vaccines, are needed to provide substantial public health benefits, such as prevention of HSV-2 transmission and HIV-1 acquisition and transmission.”

Experts also believe that development of new classes of antiviral drug such as helicase-primase inhibitors is important but such drugs would need good long-term coverage and adherence to successfully prevent shedding and onward transmission of HSV-2.