B4U India

Ganguly denies comments appearing in Bengali daily

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:39:00 -0400

With India posting a fighting 313 for eight against Australia at the close of the third day''s play at Bangalore''s Chinnaswamy Stadium, south paw Sourav Ganguly, who contributed a solid 45 to the cause, said on Saturday that he had never made any of the controversial statements being attributed to him by the Bengali daily Aajkal with regard to his omission from the Indian team in 2005-06 and the negative statements against several team mates.

"The reports of an interview from a Bengali daily published in other newspapers are false. I have not given such an interview to anyone. I request you to clarify with me before publishing views from other sources," Ganguly''said in a statement that was read out in the press box by an Indian team official.

Aajkal had earlier quoted him as saying: "I have played badly in only one series (in Sri Lanka). Yet every Tom, Dick and Harry is playing in the team. There are players who haven''t scored in the last three series for India, even for the last one year. There are some who have changed their hairstyle more than they have scored for India."

He was also quoted as saying that being dropped for the Irani Cup prompted him to call it a day and that he was tired of constantly being made the scapegoat in India''s failures.

Dilip Vengsarkar, the former chairman of the selection committee which dropped Ganguly for the recent Irani Cup, said Ganguly will get "more than what he asked for", after the series is over.

"I won''t answer him now as this is not the right time because India are in the middle of a Test series [against Australia] and it might affect the focus of the team," Vengsarkar said.

Sunil Gavaskar said Ganguly should not have made these comments ahead of a crucial Test series. (ANI)

Afghanistan and Hong Kong take a step closer to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:39:00 -0400

Afghanistan and Hong Kong sealed promotion from the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League Division 4 after securing comprehensive victories in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania on Friday.

Going into the final day of the group stage, three sides were in contention for promotion but Italy, knowing it needed victory over Afghanistan to finish in the top two of the table, was the team that had its dreams of playing in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 shattered when it lost by 93 runs.

Hong Kong defeated Jersey by 100 runs to seal second place in the group stages, while Fiji’s dramatic two-run win over Tanzania means that Jersey and Fiji will be relegated to Division 5 on net run-rate, as all three teams were tied on two points.

Now, if Afghanistan and Hong Kong finish in the top two of the six-team Division 3 tournament in Argentina in January, they will join 10 other sides at the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, where four Associate or Affiliate Members will qualify for Asia in 2011.

Afghanistan’s Rais Ahmadzai, who was named man of the match after an excellent 68, was delighted with his side’s promotion to Division 3 and said he was determined to win the final against Hong Kong tomorrow.

“We are very happy. It’s true that there was a little bit of tension amongst the guys last night, but the coach said we should go and play positive cricket,” said Ahmadzai.

“I was just concentrating on reading the wicket when I came into bat and then hitting the bad balls. The boys have done very well with the bowling, batting and fielding.

“We will try our best to win the final – we’ve already beaten Hong Kong in this tournament and we will try our best to do it again.” (ANI)

England must drop keeper Prior if it wants to win Stanford Twenty20: Warne

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:33:00 -0400

Former Australian leg spinner Shane Warne has told England to drop wicketkeeper Matt Prior before he compromises the team’s chances of winning 10-million pounds in next month’s Stanford Twenty20 clash.

The winner-takes-all match was given the green light on Thursday after compromise was reached in the row over sponsorship rights.

All eyes now switch to the players — and, in particular, Prior in the unenviable position of wicketkeeper.

One dropped catch or missed stumping could see each player of his team deprived of 570,000 pounds each.

He told SunSport: “Every team wants a Gilchrist — someone who can bat like one of the best in the world while also keeping wicket well. But a wicketkeeper should be able to keep wicket first and foremost — runs with the bat are a bonus. For me, the wicketkeeping art is being lost.

“When I see Matthew Prior in the team I think ‘Are you serious?’ OK he can slog a few at the top of the order with the bat. But if I’m Steve Harmison or Andrew Flintoff and you get a top batsman to edge one, I’d be holding my breath to see if he catches it. He is that bad,” added Warne.

Warne’s recent visit to London to promote his new book has prompted rumours he may be set to answer an Ashes SOS call next summer.

But any talk of a dramatic turnaround have been scotched by the 39-year-old.

Warne said: “When I retired last year I felt I did it with a bit of class — on my own terms and after a 5-0 whitewash of England.

“But I will never say ‘Never’. If every Australian spinner broke down injured, yes I’d have to assess any offer at the time. It’s all talk and at the moment I have absolutely no interest — I’m really happy with my life right now,” he said. (ANI)

RBI Governor says fundamentals of Indian economy continue to be strong

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:32:00 -0400

Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao has said that the fundamentals of the Indian economy continue to be strong.

The RBI Governor, who is attending the Annual Meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, has said that though the Indian banks have some exposure to the distressed financial instruments, but it is very small compared to the overall size of the business.

“The Indian banking system is sound, well-capitalised and well-regulated,” said Subbarao, adding, “India’s forex and money markets have been functioning in an orderly manner.”

He further said that the RBI has taken action to inject liquidity into the system and is monitoring the situation on a continuous basis, and will take effective and swift action.

On Friday, when Sensex plunged by almost 1,000 points to 10,300, RBI swung into action and announced a one percentage point cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR, proportion of total deposits that banks need to maintain with the central bank).

On Monday, RBI had already cut the CRR by 0.5 percentage point. (ANI)

Buffett moves ahead of Gates to top of Forbes 400 American rich list

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:32:00 -0400

Berkshire Hathaway owner Warren Buffet has overtaken close friend Bill Gates to become the richest individual as per the Forbes 400 Richest Americans list.

Forbes reports that in September, Buffett''s shares of Berkshire Hathaway rose 17 percent, increasing his fortune by eight billion dollars. Gates showed a net loss of 1.5 billion dollars, moving him behind Buffett.

In this, the 27th edition of the list, the assembled net worth of America''s wealthiest rose by 30 billion dollars, only two percent, to 1.57 trillion dollars. (ANI)

YouTube’s ''play back'' tool keeps a check on inane commenters

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:31:00 -0400

In a move to improve the quality of discussion on its pages, YouTube has launched a new feature, called “audio preview,” to humiliate commenters by making them listen to their posts before they submit them.

The ''play back'' feature is mainly aimed at embarrassing inane commenters into rethinking their posts.

The feature first appeared as a joke in a popular web comic some time back, but what looks like, the video-sharing site has taken the suggestion rather seriously, reports the Telegraph.

Whoever posts a comment on a YouTube video will now be able to hear what they have written read back at them, all they need to so is press a button beneath their words.

There has been no official explanation of the tool on the official YouTube blog, where most new features are trailed.

However, YouTube’s comment section has long been known for its notoriety and for hosting some of the most mindless discussions on the Internet.

The website’s comments section is laden with excessive punctuation, poor spelling and swearing.

In fact, the website is home to debates about even the most inconsequential videos, which may result into over the top slanging matches, many with a xenophobic undercurrent.

The comment blocker, which is only available for people using the Firefox browser, has already earned rave reviews from YouTube regulars. (ANI)

Why autistic kids face difficulty in learning new things

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:31:00 -0400

Scientists have found the answer to why children with autism spectrum disorders have trouble in learning new things- because they spend less time looking at a person''s face who''s teaching them different skills.

Researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute used high-technology eye-tracking headgear and software that measures with precision the point at which a child is looking when learning a task.

They also used an actor to demonstrate a task on a computer screen.

"We found that the children with autism focused on the demonstrator''s action and looked at the demonstrator''s face much less often than did typically developing children," said Giacomo Vivanti, a postdoctoral researcher at the M.I.N.D. Institute and the study''s lead author.

He added: "The typically developing children may be looking at the demonstrator''s face to check for information on what to do or how to respond appropriately, information that the children with autism are less inclined to seek. This is an important finding, because children with autism have difficulty learning from others. This might be one key to why that is so.

M.I.N.D. Institute researcher and senior study author Sally J. Rogers, said that imitation plays an important role in how children learn, as well as in how people interact socially.

She added: "This is a trait we see as early as we can diagnose autism, and it''s one of the traits that is present even in mildly impaired adults."

Impaired imitation leads to additional impairments in sharing emotions, pretend play, pragmatic communication and understanding the emotional states of others.

"We now understand more about how this imitation deficit might be working and, after more study, we may actually be able to address it in a way that helps children with autism develop a more natural set of behaviours," said Rogers.

For the study, the researchers compared 18 children between the age group of 8 to 15 with high-functioning autism with a group of 13 typically developing children.

While wearing special eye-tracking headgear, the children were shown video clips that ranged from seven to 19 seconds in length. After viewing each clip, the children performed the demonstrated action.

The study supported previous research that shows that children with autism have difficulty imitating tasks when compared to normally developing children. It also showed that children with autism paid just as much attention to the action being performed as the other children in the study, ruling out previous hypotheses about poor attention to the task.

"This finding is particularly important. Now we can rule out this variable. We know these children are looking at the task," said Rogers.

It was also found that successful performance of a task by children with autism increases with the amount of time they study it but is not correlated with their basic motor skills, ruling out the possibility that it is a lack of motor ability causing the imitation effect.

And finally, the study showed that both groups of children shifted their attention from the action to the demonstrator''s face, but the children with autism did this much less often.

Rogers said that the finding suggests that imitation is not just about repeating an action, but understanding the reason for the action.

"That information is conveyed in our faces," she explained.

Now, researchers are hoping to one day develop studies aimed at determining whether or not face-looking is an important part of the imitation process.

"It could be that if people with autism could be better at reading emotion they might naturally start to imitate their models the way like other people do. If it''s about how people understand the information in a face, then it gives you a target for intervention," said Rogers.

The study will be published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. (ANI)

Sensitive nanowire disease detectors developed

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:30:00 -0400

Scientists at Yale University have created nanowire sensors with simple microprocessor electronics, which are not only sensitive but also specific enough to be used for point-of-care (POC) disease detection, says a new report.

Highly specific antigens like signatures of bacteria, viruses or cancer cells, are used as detectors for activating immune cells.

On activation, T cells produce acid, and generate a tiny current in the nanowire electronics, signalling the presence of a specific antigen. The system can detect as few as 200 activated cells.

Previous studies have reported that the nanowires could detect generalized activation of this small number of T cells.

In the new report, scientists have shown that the nanowires can identify activation from a single specific antigen even when there is substantial background "noise" from a general immune stimulation of other cells.

"Imagine I am the detector in a room where thousands of unrelated people are talking — and I whisper, ''Who knows me?'' I am so sensitive that I can hear even a few people saying, ''I do'' above the crowd noise. In the past, we could detect everyone talking — now we can hear the few above the many,” said senior author Tarek Fahmy, Yale assistant professor of biomedical engineering.

The authors said that such level of sensitivity and specificity is unprecedented in a system that uses no dyes or radioactivity.

Another exciting aspect of this detection system, according to the scientists, is its speed — producing results in seconds — and its compatibility with existing CMOS electronics.

"We simply took direction from Mother Nature and used the exquisitely sensitive and flexible detection of the immune system as the detector, and a basic physiological response of immune cells as the reporter. We coupled that with existing CMOS electronics to make it easily usable," said postdoctoral fellow and lead author, Eric Stern.

The scientists believe that the system has huge potential in POC diagnostic centers in the US and in underdeveloped countries where healthcare facilities and clinics are lacking.

Stern said that it could be as simple as an iPod-like device with changeable cards to detect or diagnose disease. Also, he believes that the system produces no false positives — a necessity for POC testing.

"Instruments this sensitive could also play a role in detection of residual disease after antiviral treatments or chemotherapy. They will help with one of the greatest challenges we face in treatment of disease — knowing if we got rid of all of it," said Fahmy.

The study is published in Nano Letters. (ANI)

Recommended exercise for children may not fight obesity: Experts

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:28:00 -0400

A daily dose of one hour of moderate exercise for children recommended by health experts may not be enough to tackle the rising problem of childhood obesity, suggests a group of researchers.

Conducted by researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth, UK, the EarlyBird study has followed the development of over 200 children in Plymouth born in 1995 and 1996.

At the age of five to eight years, 42 per cent of boys and only 11 per cent of girls were found to meet the government recommended daily exercise level of one hour of moderate exercise.

Also, the researchers found that exercise alone didn’t have any positive effect on weight control over time, although the research team maintained that this does not qualify that exercise has no health benefits for children.

In fact, in comparison with peers who took less exercise, children who met the recommended activity levels fared better for blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides and insulin resistance, which is a recognised precursor to type 2 diabetes later in life.

But, still the researchers believed that improving children''s diets would be likely to have a greater impact on their overall health and weight.

They have claimed that the children’s diets have "changed markedly" over the last two decades,

" We are keen to stress that children should be encouraged to be active, because our study showed that regular exercise improved metabolic health even without improving BMI,” said Dr. Brad Metcalf, researcher in the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the Peninsula Medical School.

The study was conducted on 212 children from 54 schools in Plymouth, with a follow up of four years. Once a year the children were tested by wearing small monitors that recorded their exercise levels.

The amount of physical activity achieved by children each day varied considerably – some only managed 10 minutes of moderate exercise, while others went over 90 minutes.

"The results for girls are in line with past research that shows that young girls do not exercise as much as boys. To some degree any child''s activity level can be affected by biology – some children are more naturally active than others and this might explain why there is such a marked difference between boys and girls. At present it is unclear whether exercise guidelines should be adjusted for this difference, or whether girls should be encouraged to exercise more,” said Metcalf.

The research has been published in the most recent issue of the journal "Archives of Diseases in Childhood." (ANI)

Spongy carbon tubes can revolutionise ''textile electronics''

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 12:27:00 -0400

Chinese and American researchers have discovered a new carbon material that is potentially lighter and stronger than conventional carbon fibres.

Huisheng Peng and his colleagues at Shanghai-based Tongji University have found that a carbon vapour made by heating ethylene and paraffin oil can condense into tubes of pure carbon, tens of micrometers wide and up to several centimetres long.

The researchers say that individual tubes have a tensile strength greater than that of conventional carbon fibres, and that they show ductile behaviour just like metal wires when pulled.

They believe that the spongy carbon tubes could be used for making high-strength fabrics for body armour and engineering, which would be better than Kevlar fibres currently used for super-strong cables and bulletproof jackets.

"This is a new form of carbon that was unexpected to me," Nature magazine quoted Mildred Dresselhaus, a specialist on carbon technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, as saying.

The spongy structure, coupled to the intrinsic lightness of carbon, gives the tubes an extremely low density.

Porous forms of carbon have been made before, but not in this fibrous form. The porous tubes also conduct electricity rather well, and thus can find uses in flexible ''textile electronics''.

The researchers are yet not clear as to how the carbon atoms organize themselves into such complicated structures.

However, they suggest that the spongy walls form first as flat sheets, which then gradually curl up and ultimately meet edge to edge to form cylinders. (ANI)