Doctor claims breakthrough in race for spinal 'cure'

HONG KONG: A leading researcher into severe spinal cord injuries today said trials for stem-cell therapy showed groundbreaking results in giving immobile patients the ability to walk again.


After progress in a second round of tests using stem cells to regrow nerve fibres, the China Spinal Cord Injury Network (ChinaSCINet) has applied for regulatory approval in China for a third and final phase, which it hopes to start in the autumn.

PM interacts with school children on board train to Kashmir

Banihal: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday undertook a train journey through the 11-km long tunnel under the Pir Panjal mountain ranges along with school children most of whom travelled by rail for the first time.

Singh interacted with students during the 18-km train journey from Banihal to Qazigund which reduces the distance between the two towns by nearly half.

The Banihal-Qazigund rail section includes an 11-km long tunnel, the country's longest, built at a cost of Rs 1,691 crore.

Singh asked one of the girl students seated next to him whether she had travelled by train earlier, to which she replied in the negative.

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi was seated a couple of rows behind the Prime Minister and was seen chatting with the students.

The train travel by Singh and Gandhi was being planned for almost a week and was kept under the wraps for security reasons.

Singh and Gandhi boarded the train after the flagging off ceremony at Banihal this afternoon. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge were also in the train.

The train will start regular operations from Banihal to Baramulla from tomorrow making five trips daily beginning at 7.10 AM from Banihal and 7.35 AM from Baramulla.

PTI 

Goa govt launches scheme to strengthen infra in schools

Panaji: Schools in Goa would now be able to upgrade or set up infrastructure, including for IT services, and even acquire land for the purpose, courtesy a dedicated scheme announced by the state government on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters that the scheme has been approved by the state Cabinet with the financial implication being pegged at Rs 50 crore annually.

"While primary schools will be given Rs 50 lakh each, high schools Rs one crore each and higher secondary schools Rs two crores for the purpose," Parrikar

said.

The chief minister said that 50 per cent of the total allocation would be made in the form of grants and rest as interest-free loan, which can be repaid over next 15 years.

Though nearly 276 schools are eligible for this scheme, only 30 schools would get the benefit for the current academic year, Parrikar said.


"The funds provided for the infrastructure creation can also be used to acquire land and also to install IT services like wi-fi and CCTV," he said.

State-run Education Development Corporation has been named as a nodal agency to implement the scheme, a revised version of the earlier scheme wherein schools were asked to mortgage their properties to avail the benefit.

PTI

Nano car drives into Guinness World Records

BANGALORE: Tata Motors' small car Nano entered the Guinness World Records for driving on a longest journey covering the entire country, the company said on Monday.

"The expedition was accomplished in 10 days (March 21-30) covering 10,218 km in a Tata Nano from Kanyakumari in southern Tamil Nadu to circumnavigate the country and return to Bangalore," Tata Motors president Ranjit Yadav said at an event held here.

The car entered the Guinness World Records, breaking the previous record of 8,046 km.

The car was driven by city-based motoring enthusiast Srikarunya Subrahmanyam and his team.

"Tata Nano has put India on the world motoring map by demonstrating its robustness, reliability and frugal engineering. We will encourage motor expeditions to enable customers experience the brand's value," Yadav said.

India's first Formula One motor racing driver Narain Karthikeyan felicitated Subrahmanyam and the team for the record achievement on the occasion.

Karthikeyan also released a book 'Atop the World' authored by Thomas Chacko, a 63-year-old Kochi-based motoring enthusiast who accomplished a 78-day long national expedition driving in a Nano across the country in July 2012.

"I have seen a new breed of traveller emerge, one who has a streak of adventure and passion for motoring. I have known people who have driven long distances for the fun of it despite the option of taking a flight or a train being always there. This is the spirit that encourages enthusiasts like Srikarunya and Thomas to overcome challenges of driving long distances," Karthikeyan said.

3 cooks saved 100 pilgrims from dying of starvation

INDORE: At a time when some state governments selectively helped and airlifted pilgrims of their state from flood-landslide torn Uttarakhand, three young cooks and sweet makers from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi exemplified unity and integrity in troubled times.

Forming part of an 81-strong group of pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh, including Indore, Rewa and Guna, the three young cooks Virendra Thakur (Sagar), Gal Bahadur Singh (Satna) and Hari Om (Delhi) not only ensured timely succor to their group members, but also prevented 50-100 pilgrims from other states, from being starved to death in the jungles near Mussoorie.

The group coordinated by a tour and travel operator from Indore, after offering prayers at Yamunotri shrine managed to climb down to a place near Mussoorie and erected a camp by themselves between June 17 and June 19.

"The trio started a big kitchen at the camp to ensure timely breakfast, lunch and dinner to the entire group, that had not eaten anything for two days," a member of the group Ravi Chauhan told TOI.

Chauhan, a native of Indore's Veena Nagar locality, who returned home with 23 other Indoreans (forming the group) on Tuesday, recounted that just when the big kitchen was started by the three young cooks, out of the provision which the group took along with it, the group came across 50-100 pilgrims from other states stranded in nearby jungles.

"These pilgrims (including children) hailing from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and UP, besides Chatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh were hungry and thirsty for at least three days and were virtually begging for food and water. Even before we could decide on how to help these pilgrims, the three cooks sprung into action," Chauhan added.

With the consent of the group from Madhya Pradesh, the cooks opened a totally free of cost bhandara for the other pilgrims, serving them timely lunch and dinner.

"Overwhelmed by their spirit, the members of the group even skipped one time food to ensure that our group as well as other pilgrims were served proper lunch and dinner from June 18 to June 20, before the army men came to the rescue of the stranded pilgrims," Chauhan reminisced.

The pilgrims, particularly those from Gujarat, included many wealthy families who had turned into virtual beggars, after having lost their vehicles and valuables in the flood and landslide were ready to got to any extent to save themselves from being starved to death.

Nasa to partner Isro in India's Mars mission

MUMBAI: The US would support India in its much-awaited Rs 450-crore Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) slated for lift off from Sriharikota in October-November 2013.

"Nasa is providing the deep space navigation and tracking support to this mission during the non-visible period of the Indian Deep Space Network," said a US state department announcement.

The decision to cooperate was taken at the fourth meeting of the US-India joint working group on civil space co-operation held in Washington on March 21. But the details of the meeting were made public on Monday through the US-India joint fact sheet. Its release coincided with the Indo-US Strategic dialogue, and the talks between Isro chairman K Radhakrishnan and Nasa administrator Charles Bolden in New Delhi.

Nasa will provide support from its facilities at Goldstone in the US, Madrid in Spain and Canberra in Australia.

The teaming up for the Mars mission assumes significance in the context of Bolden calling for strengthened co-operation in this programme, when he addressed Isro staffers nationwide on Tuesday afternoon from the Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre.

The American state department document also stated that both countries have "agreed to co-operate in potential future missions to the moon and Mars".

Isro officials have not ruled out a second mission to Mars, which they said will have more scientific content. TOI has also learnt that Nasa was keen on participating with Isro in the analysis of data from the Methane Sensor For Mars, which is one of the five instruments on board the present Indian Mars orbiter.

But Isro has not given any firm response so far.

Nasa discovers ten thousandth near-Earth object in space

WASHINGTON: Nasa has discovered the 10,000th near-Earth object (NEO) that could pass close to our planet in the future.

The 10,000th near-Earth object, asteroid 2013 MZ5, was first detected on the night of June 18, 2013, using Pan-Starrs-1 telescope in Hawaii, located on the 3,000-meter summit of the Haleakala crater.

Ninety-eight per cent of all near-Earth objects discovered were first detected by Nasa-supported surveys, the US space agency claimed.

"Finding 10,000 near-Earth objects is a significant milestone," said Lindley Johnson, programme executive for Nasa's near-Earth Object Observations Programme at Nasa Headquarters, Washington.

"But there are at least 10 times that many more to be found before we can be assured we will have found any and all that could impact and do significant harm to the citizens of Earth," Johnson said.

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that can approach the Earth's orbital distance to within about 45 million kilometres.

They range in size from as small as a few feet to as large as 41 kilometres for the largest near-Earth asteroid, 1036 Ganymed.

Asteroid 2013 MZ5 is approximately 300 meters across. Its orbit is well understood and will not approach close enough to Earth to be considered potentially hazardous.

"The first near-Earth object was discovered in 1898," said Don Yeomans, long-time manager of Nasa's near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Of the 10,000 discoveries, roughly 10 per cent are larger than six-tenths of one kilometre in size - roughly the size that could produce global consequences should one impact the Earth.

However, the Nasa's NEOO programme has found that none of these larger NEOs currently pose an impact threat and probably only a few dozen more of these large NEOs remain undiscovered.

The vast majority of NEOs are smaller than one kilometre, with the number of objects of a particular size increasing as their sizes decrease, Nasa said.

A NEO hitting Earth would need to be about 30 meters or larger to cause significant devastation in populated areas. Almost 30 per cent of the 460-foot-sized NEOs have been found, but less than one per cent of the 100-foot-sized NEOs have been detected.