Can Gold help cure HIV victims?

Can gold particles help in the development of HIV drug? Yes, it can, if a new study is any indication.A new nanoparticle has been developed at the University of Colorado and UNC-Chapel Hill’s microbiology department, according to university newspaper the Technician.

The HIV drug was previously rejected as it contained an ammonium salt which caused inflammation on the skin when injected.

The addition of gold to the drug now prevents "the particle from reacting with the wrong cells in the body".

Christian Melander, assistant professor of chemistry, said: "We’ve known about [gold] for a few thousand years. It is non-toxic and the body completely ignores it."

The drug, called SDC-1721, has so far only been tested in laboratory conditions.

Meanwhile, the use of gold nanoparticles has recently been discovered to help treat tumours, according to medical news website News-Medical.Net.

Research announced by the University of Texas in May found that by first treating tumours with gold nanoparticles, radiation therapy had a much bigger impact on tumours.

Inflation? Blame it on pay commission

Even as the inflation figures touched all time high in seven years, experts suggest while most of it is due to the global trends, some of the problems are the making of the present government."I know about the international market but the Government is also to be blamed for certain lapses," said Biswajit Dhar, Head for WTO Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.

In an interview with Commodity Online, he said, "It could sound too simplistic, but you cannot run away from reality. The government’s speculative comments that it will implement 6th Pay Commission Report for central government employees have largely contributed to the unprecedented spurt in inflation graph".

Dhar argued that these are some facts the text book economists will not endorse but the fact of the matter is on the contrary. "Such speculative factors leave worse impact. The day you announced about Pay Commission, my house maid started raising her salary and so," he remarked.

He said statistics suggests that ever since the announcement was made, the Government has totally lost control on "its mechanism to control inflation". "All measures and warning taken since then despite cooperation from steel, cement and other industries has not helped," he maintained.

Dhar diagnoses that the "political will" is must to handle difficult economic situations. "Someone will have to bell the cat….. these guys (politicians) seemed to have not learned anything from the past," he said adding even in the past politicians of all class have resorted to "populism" vis-à-vis managing country’s economy. He maintained that time has come to take a stand where the priorities of farming community is well defined and safe guarded at one end while at the other end even the consumers should not end up coughing up more.

"Even in Delhi’s wholesale markets like Azadpur and Okhla the prices of essential commodities have not gone up so high. But the scenario is different when it comes to my colony at Chittaranjan Park. That means some one else is making money even as consumers end up paying by the nose," he said.

He said at the government level some steps have been taken. "The APMC Act is one such step, I should say," he observed adding clause like 14 wherein it lays down the rule that, "there will be no compulsion on the growers to sell their produce through existing markets administered by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC). However, agriculturist who does not bring his produce to the market area for sale will not be eligible for election to the APMC," – is pretty good.

Indian kids sleeping less

Indian children are going to bed much later and are getting lesser sleep than their Caucasian counterparts. A largescale study, which compared the sleep patterns of children in Caucasian and Asian countries, found substantial differences in sleep patterns in young children.

Authored by Jodi Mindell, from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and presented at Sleep 2008 — the meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS) in Baltimore (US), the study concluded that Indian children obtained less overall sleep, had later bedtimes and were more likely to share their rooms than their Caucasian counterparts.

Of the children studied, 3,892 were from India, 4,505 from the US, 1,073 from Australia, 1,081 from New Zealand, 501 from Canada, 997 from Malaysia, 1,034 from Philippines, 1,001 from Singapore and 1,049 from Hong Kong. The study also included 800 British children, 1,036 from Korea, 896 from Taiwan, 967 from Indonesia, 872 from Japan and 7,505 from China.

"This study is the first to look at sleep in infants and toddlers cross-culturally and the results are astonishing," said Dr Mindell. "We found vast differences in amounts of sleep and parents’ perceptions of sleep problems across countries. It needs to be investigated if these differences are simply the result of differing cultural practices and what is the impact, if any, of these vast differences," she added. According to Dr Vikram Sarabhai, sleep medicine expert from Max Hospital, Indian children could be getting two hours less sleep than their Caucasian counterparts.

"It’s true that Indian children are getting much lesser sleep. As a result, their growth is suffering. Growth hormones made by the pituitary gland — that is responsible for increasing glucose uptake in muscle, enhancing protein synthesis in the liver and muscle and causing the breakdown of fat — is released primarily during sleep. When sleeping hours are compromised, so is growth," he said.

Dr M S Kanwar, senior consultant of critical care and sleep medicine at Apollo Hospital, added, "One major factor for this is the homework load on children in India. This makes them stay up late. Also, kids in India are much more hooked to late night TV as against those in Europe and US where families go to sleep by 10pm. Which Indian family sleeps at 10pm? Children in India are also taking less interest in outdoor sports."

Experts say parents should follow a consistent bedtime routine. Set aside 20 to 30 minutes to get your child ready to go to sleep each night. Interact with your child at bedtime. Don’t let the TV, computer or video games take your place.

Stocks end volatile session lower

After being rangebound throughout the session, benchmarks ended lower on Friday. High inflation for week ended May 31 and weak European markets subdued investor sentiment. Realty stocks remained under pressure on fears of hike in interest rates.

The Bombay Stock Exchange’s Sensex closed at 15,173 down 76.81 points or 0.50 per cent. It touched a high of 15,337.10 and low of 15135.81.

National Stock Exchange’s Nifty ended at 4516, down 23.35 points or 0.51 per cent. The index touched a high of 4563.35 and low of 4491.35.

BSE Midcap Index ended flat at 6,228.17 while BSE Smallcap Index gained 0.74 per cent to close at 7581.72.

Losers on the index comprised Jaiprakash Associates (down 4.03%), DLF (3.61%), HDFC Bank (3.45%), Cipla (2.63%) and Hindustan Unilever (2.54%).

Ranbaxy Laboratories (up 4.31%), ICICI Bank (3.03%), BHEL (2.79%), TCS (2.16%) and Tata Motors (2.16%) were the index gainers.

Surging food and fuel prices pushed India’s wholesale price index to 8.75 per cent from 8.24 per cent in the previous week.

European stocks were down on inflation concerns. The FTSE 100 was down 0.97 per cent, the DAX 30 dropped 0.73 per cent and the CAC 40 slipped 0.89 per cent.

Market breadth was positive on the BSE with 1439 advances and 1155 declines.

Inflations at 8.75%: Will loan waiver help UPA?

At a time when inflation has touched 8.75 per cent, will this news on farmers’ loan waiver come as a respite for the ruling UPA government. It seems so. According to the latest data, around 4,30,000 farmers, who have availed of loans from the Mumbai-based Central Bank of India, will benefit under the farmers’ loan waiver scheme.

Even though there was criticism of the loan waiver scheme, the figure shows that lakhs of farmers and their families will benefit from the UPA move.

Through the scheme around 4,30,000 farmers are expected to be benefitted and Rs 1,300 crores are to be waived, the bank’s executive director Albert Tauro said at a press briefing in Chennai.

If this is the case of one bank, there will be more farmers who will take the benefit from several cooperative societies and banks.
In Tamil Nadu alone, around 31,647 farmers covering a sum of Rs 71.52 crores will benefit under the waiver scheme, while 6,232 farmers covering a sum of Rs 19 crores will benefit under the Debit Relief scheme.

And, another factor tat may help the government win over the trust of farmers in an election year is that the scheme will be completed by the end of June.

That is fast for a country which is dogged by red-tapism and bureaucratic dilly-dallying.

Several banks have already nominated nodal officers fro the scheme.

On the stipulated 40 per cent of agricultural advance, the Central Bank of India has achieved 48 per cent.

If the scheme wins the trust of farmers, the UPA government will heavily depend on this to win votes in the coming elections.

In fact, it had lost the mileage gained from the scheme due to the rising prices and soaring inflation.

However, if the loan waiver really benefits lakhs of families in its real sense, the inflation setback for the government may be stopped to certain extend.

Inflation hits 7-year high, RBI may move again

Indian inflation raced to its highest in seven years at the end of May and could top 10 percent this month as higher fuel prices feed in, stoking speculation of more central bank tightening after this week’s surprise rate hike.Wholesale price inflation, India’s most widely watched measure, rose 8.75 percent in the 12 months to May 31, well above expectations, data released on Friday showed.

The Reserve Bank of India on Wednesday unexpectedly raised its key lending rate by 25 basis points to 8.0 percent to contain inflation expectations, but left all other rates unchanged.

It was the first hike in the repo rate in more than a year, but with the impact of costlier petrol and diesel yet to be felt, analysts said more could be around the corner.

"The number is a surprise given the fuel price hike is yet to be factored in. We see headline inflation crossing 10 percent next week and remaining around 9.5 percent in June and July," said A. Prasanna, an economist at ICICI Securities in Mumbai.

"With this kind of inflation behaviour, we do not rule out further policy action in the July review."

Indian federal bond yields jumped to their highest in six years after the inflation data, with the benchmark 10-year bond yield rising to 8.42 percent, its highest since May 2002. The stock market shed 0.4 percent on the day.

The inflation data showed a substantial jump from the previous week’s annual rise of 8.24 percent and a forecast of 8.28 percent in a Reuters poll of economists.

The inflation rate is now at its highest since Feb. 10, 2001, when it was 8.77 percent. Continuing a trend of sharp upward revisions, inflation for the week ended April 5 was revised up to 7.71 percent from a provisional 7.14 percent.

A Reuters poll carried out last week on the day fuel prices were raised showed economists expected the increases to lift inflation to a 13-year high of 9.2 percent in the 12 months to June 7, but forecasts are now being revised.

"With the fuel price pass-through we are staring at double-digit inflation. This is crazy," said D.K. Joshi, principal economist at domestic ratings agency Crisil in Mumbai.

India’s inflation rate has more than doubled since late last year, driven higher by rising costs of raw materials and food.

FUELLING PRICE PRESSURES

Last Wednesday, the communist-backed ruling coalition, which faces state and general elections within the next 12 months, ended 10 days of debate over the political consequences and raised state-set petrol and diesel prices by about 10 percent.

The rise was bigger than expected as India joined a growing number of other Asian countries no longer able to afford big subsidies in the face of rising prices.

Energy costs account for 14.2 percent of the inflation index, and the price increases to key fuel inputs will have a cascading impact on overall prices in the economy.

Factory output rebounded in April from its slowest annual growth in six years, showing resilience which analysts said gave the central bank room to follow up on its decision to raise the key lending rate earlier this week.

"We may see more interest rate hikes given the rising inflation and the strong industrial production data," Crisil’s Joshi said.

In three steps in April and May, the RBI raised the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the amount of funds banks have to keep on deposit with it, by 75 basis points to 8.25 percent, its highest level in seven years, to control cash in the system.

Economists said the CRR could be raised further, perhaps in tandem with rate increases.

"Given the RBI’s concern about anchoring inflation expectations, we expect another 25 basis point hike in repo rates during the third quarter of 2008 and another 100 basis points worth of cash reserve ratio hikes during this financial year," said Sonal Varma of Lehman Brothers in Mumbai.

Yahoo, Google announce online ad alliance

Fresh from a failed courtship with Microsoft, Yahoo on Thursday rushed into Google’s arms in the hope an alliance will improve its sagging fortunes and quell a rebellion by stockholders. Yahoo and Google announced a deal to put the Internet search king’s expertise to work pumping money from advertising posted next to Yahoo Internet search results.

Google and Yahoo began discussing an alliance in early February, shortly after Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo, said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. "The most entertaining conversations were those that took place in buildings that Yahoo owns in unknown and unfindable locations," Schmidt said during a conference call with analysts and reporters.

Google co-founder Larry Page and other executives arrived on bicycles for clandestine meetings in covert locations, Schmidt added. Schmidt said it was during the past few weeks that he and Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang had "serious conversations" and teams spent sleepless nights pulling together a deal inked on Thursday.

Google co-founder Serge Brin said it is "very exciting" to be working with Yahoo and its founders David Filo and Yang, whose time as students at Stanford University overlapped that of Brin and Page."We share quite a history and culture," Brin said. "It was David Filo and Jerry Yang that encouraged us to start a company that, in turn, became Google."

Brin said a priority is ensuring that Yahoo remains "a strong independent company."

Yahoo hopes the alliance will appease stockholders angry that board members rejected Microsoft’s bid, which offered an attractive premium on the market value. Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn has been amassing Yahoo shares in a campaign to overthrow the Yahoo board for rejecting a Microsoft takeover.

"This agreement provides a source of funds to both deliver financial value to stockholders from search monetization and to invest in our broader strategy," said Yahoo president Sue Decker said. The deal gives Yahoo "the opportunity to deliver more relevant ads to users and provide advertisers and publishers with better advertising technology to help them succeed," Schmidt said.

"This agreement will preserve the competitive and dynamic online advertising space."

The deal also breaks down the wall between free instant messaging services offered by Yahoo and Google, meaning users of either service will be able to chat online with each other in a way not possible before.

The alliance focuses on text ads posted alongside Yahoo online search results but has the potential to expand to include display advertising. The deal is limited to Yahoo web properties in the United States and Canada, but Google said there is potential to extend it to other parts of the world.

In a move evidently crafted to address anticipated anti-trust concerns, the agreement frees Yahoo to also display paid search results from other third parties and its own Panama ad platform. While searching for a "white knight" to save it from Microsoft’s clutches, Yahoo tested using Google’s AdSense for Search service for two weeks in April.

Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo for 44.6 billion dollars in stock and cash on January 31, but withdrew the offer on May 3, saying Yahoo refused to budge despite the software giant upping its bid to nearly 50 billion dollars.

The test showed that Google’s methods generated more money than Yahoo’s advertising platform.

Microsoft was enraged by the experiment and warned that a Yahoo-Google partnership raises anti-trust concerns because it would cover some 90 percent of online advertising. Microsoft has significantly ramped up its representation with US legislators and will fiercely fight an alliance by the top two players in the Internet search advertising market, according to Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.

"They believe if Yahoo and Google do this, they can let loose the dogs of antitrust war on Google," Enderle said.

Google general counsel Kent Walker said the deal requires no regulatory approval but that the company will discuss it with regulators because it is so "high profile."

Govt had no choice but to increase petrol prices: Sonia

Acknowledging that rising inflation was the "biggest challenge" before the country, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that the Centre had no other choice but to increase petrol prices and it was trying to shield people from additional burden.

Gandhi said that the UPA government was forced to hike fuel prices due to surging global oil rates but it was asking state governments to offer some relief by giving subsidies to cushion the impact.

"We had to increase the prices of petrol due to surging global oil prices. There was no alternative...during the BJP’s time it was 40 dollars a barrel (of oil) but now it is 140 dollars," she said.

"The biggest challenge before the country today is inflation and escalating prices that are a fallout of the steep increase in crude oil prices. The government is facing tremendous pressure in its efforts to shield people from the real impact of the global crude oil price rise," Gandhi said addressing a mammoth Kisan Rally.

Gandhi however sought to defend the oil price hike saying the petrol and diesel prices in the country were still much cheaper than that in our neighbouring countries and other parts of the world.

Gandhi also batted for nuclear energy underlining its importance at this juncture when surging oil prices posed serious problems for the economy.

"Nuclear energy has gained much importance in view of the steep rise in global oil prices," she said.

Touching upon local issues, Gandhi said the UPA government was committed to implementing all the clauses of the Assam Accord. The Accord was signed in 1985 by late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and All Assam Students Union (AASU) which has accused the Centre of failing to implement all clauses of the pact.