Hip fat is good, pot bellies are bad

Not all body flab is harmful -- hip fat is good but pot bellies are bad, claims a new study.

Previous studies have revealed that subcutaneous fat is merely the lesser of the two evils. Now, researchers in the United States have concluded that it could actually be positively beneficial.

A team at the Joslin Diabetes Centre in Boston has found that the worst kind is actually the excess fat on the internal organs, which causes a pot belly and is known as visceral fat.

According to them, people with visceral fat are more likely to suffer from heart disease and insulin resistance, which leads to type II diabetes, than those who put on fat under their skin on their hips and thighs.

In their study, the researchers, led by C Ronald Kahn, transplanted subcutaneous fat into the bodies of some mice and visceral fat into others.

They found the laboratory mice that had received subcutaneous fat ended up with lighter, leaner bodies and less insulin resistance than the animals that got visceral fat and, crucially, those that received no fat transplant at all.

"That increased body fat has a favourable effect is something I buy into," the New Scientist quoted John Miles of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as saying.

If subcutaneous fat also has benefits in humans, the results could explain why liposuction, which removes this fat, does not reduce diabetes or other side effects of obesity, according to the researchers.

How subcutaneous fat exerts its positive influence remains a mystery, but Kahn suspects it secretes hormones that speed up metabolism.

MORNING SUN

Fishermen work the waters off the Montrose Beach pier at sunrise

'Gateway of India will be under water by 2100'

The Gateway of India will be wiped off the Mumbai skyline. Bhelpuri at Chowpatty will become the stuff of grandmother's tales. No flights will take off from Chhatrapati Shivaji airport. No couple will canoodle at the Marine Drive promenade and even heirs to the bungalow of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan will not be able to resist being evicted from their home. Ninety-two years from now, all these landmarks of Mumbai will be underwater. That's the apocalypse scenario drawn up in a report titled 'Climate Migrants in South Asia: Estimates and Solutions' that has been commissioned by Greenpeace, a non-government organization. Prepared by climate expert and professor from the humanities department of IIT Chennai, Sudhir Chella Rajan, the report says that a potential increase in temperatures by 4 to 5 degrees due to greenhouse emissions at the current rate would mean a corresponding rise in sea levels of up to five metres by 2100. This, in turn, would imply that approximately 50 million Indians would be rendered homeless and become 'climate migrants'. "The low elevation coastal zone (LECZ), which comprises the coastal region that is less than 10 metres above average sea level, is obviously at direct risk. Even prime commercial properties like the Backbay complex and the Bandra-Kurla complex fall into this category. This means that it's not just the average Koli who will be affected but even Mannat (superstar SRK's Bandra Bandstand bungalow) would be on the wrong side of the coastline once the sea level rises," said Greenpeace activist Shweta Ganesh Kumar. Greenpeace envisages that human migration 92 years hence would be equivalent to 10 times the movement seen during Partition. "This means that even the limited space in your Virar-Churchgate local will be affected," she added. However, Rakesh Kumar from the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) felt the figures in the Greenpeace study seemed exaggerated. "This can create a scare in the minds of the people. According to estimates of the intergovernmental panel of climate change (IPCC), the rise in sea levels by 2011 is estimated at one metre. There will be submersion, but only in the low-lying areas. At most, the foundations of buildings near the shore may be weakened due to saline formation," said Kumar. Greenpeace activists, however, are on a mission to raise awareness about the impending doom. Around 40 Greenpeace activists or 'Blue Busters' sporting symbolic blue raincoats hit the city streets on Sunday. Blue cautionary signs, saying 'Climate Change Zone Ahead' with illustrations of drowning individuals bearing a distinct resemblance to traditional traffic signs, were put up along the Bandra Kurla Complex and other areas. Greenpeace Climate and Energy campaigner Brikesh Singh said, "We want to alert Mumbaikars to the blue future they have in store if steps are not taken to fight global warming. If we don't act now, our city of dreams will be caught up in a never-ending nightmare, and we are the last generation that can prevent this from happening." The 'Blue Alert' signs were part of a Greenpeace campaign launched in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Kochi, Panaji and Puri. "The campaign aims at bringing home the reality of climate change to the common man and empowering people to force their MPs to speak out about the issue of climate change," said Singh. Greenpeace activists will slap token 'eviction-warning' notices on the doors of structures that may be affected. These include the homes of actors Shah Rukh Khan, Rekha and Farhan Akhtar.

Kerala to get road made with PLASTIC

It's a road less travelled. Metalled roads, cobbled streets and dirt paths are now passé with a road in Kerala being constructed now with plastic waste. A research centre in Kerala is paving a small stretch of road with plastic waste as part of its experiment to put to good use the huge amount of plastic garbage generated in the state. Though plastic waste has been used in road construction in neighbouring Tamil Nadu and some other states, the method may not suit Kerala because of different soil and climate conditions. Hence the experiment to develop a method suitable to the condition in the state is necessary, according to researchers working on the project. The Kozhikode centre of the National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (NATPAC) is paving a 400-metre stretch of road in Vatakara municipal town, 40 km from here, with plastic waste as part of its demonstration project. "For one and a half years NATPAC conducted experiments on the use of plastic for constructing roads at our highway engineering lab at Thiruvananthapuram. It was successful. "Now we have to prove it on the field," said N. Vijayakumar, coordinator of NATPAC that functions under the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment. "In Kerala, the soil condition and climate are vastly different from other states. So it is necessary that we conduct a separate study here on roads which have frequent vehicle movement," he said. Tamil Nadu has taken up a pilot project for utilising plastic for road construction. "However, the technology is yet to win approval from bodies like the Indian Roads Congress," said Vijayakumar. "The officials in Kerala are hesitant to experiment," said the NATPAC coordinator, who found it tough to even get a road to experiment with the technology. The use of plastic saves bitumen up to 10 percent in road construction. Around a tonne of shredded plastic is needed to pave one km road with a width of 3.5 metres. The method is to mix plastic with heated granite pieces. The molten plastic covers the granite pieces enhancing its binding property. "Using plastic requires good monitoring. The plastic should be shredded to small pieces and mixed with the aggregate (granite pieces) heated between 160 and 170 degrees Celsius," said Vijayakumar. "The plastic mixed aggregate (granite pieces) have superior binding property. The Central Pollution Control Board has agreed in principle that this technology helps reduce pollution. If adopted this can solve the menace of plastic waste," he added.

Bacteria can fight HIV transmission ????

A beneficial bacteria, widely found in yogurt, might help the scientists to stop or slow down HIV transmission rate, a recent study has revealed. The research, presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Boston this week, was conducted by physicians and scientists of the University of Washington and the University of Rochester Medical Centre to learn more about how the HIV virus survives and spreads from person to person. The Lactobacillus bacteria, commonly found in the vagina of most women, produce hydrogen per-oxide (H2O2) inside the body which hinders spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, responsible for causing AIDS, the researchers found. According to experts, vagina is one of the most common routes for the viruses causing Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs), including AIDS. "The research opens up some doors. These findings are striking, though preliminary, and should be looked at further," Amneris Luque of Strong Memorial Hospital says.

kilihut

A hut at about 13,000 feet on Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Sunday

After making an actioner Zameen and comedy Golmaal, Rohit Shetty is back with a star studded ‘Sunday’, comprising of names like Ajay Devgan, Ayesha Takia, Arshad Warsi and Irrfan Khan in pivotal roles.
A dead body found floating in a lake. Unexplained scratch marks on her neck. Supari killers out to kill her. A taxi driver who yells 'bhoot, bhoot' every time he sees her.
Sehar's (Ayesha Takia) world turns topsy-turvy when she gets a clue about the missing Sunday of her life, which points to a possible violent attack on her. A.C.P Rajvir (Ajay Devgan) takes up the case to sort out the complicated and jumbled up threads of Sehar's life. In the process of solving Sehar's case it comes to light that on Sunday, different people interacted with her and amongst them, one could be the accused.
Then another dead body is found. And the bracelet found near the corpse belongs to Seher. The evidence is mounting and all dingers point ay Seher. And still, Seher does not remember anything. Is Seher really as innocent as she claims to be? A dubbing artiste by day, is she also a serial killer by night? Is her bubbly charm but a mask that hides her darker, menacing self? As Seher desperately fights the fog that clouds her treacherous memory, ACP Rajvir has to fight the fact that the woman he wants to marry may well be a murderer and worse...