Gene responsible for obesity in Indians identified

The gene is present in everyone, but a mutation can cause the person carrying the gene to become obese.

For the first time, Indian researchers have been able to isolate a gene associated with obesity which is specific to the Indian population. This is important, as identifying the genetic determinants of body mass index (BMI) will go a long way in better understanding the biological basis of overweight and obesity.

The aim of a study undertaken by research team led by Dr. Kumarasamy Thangaraj of the Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) was to find a novel locus in Indian population. To do that, they excluded the genes that have already been associated with obesity in other populations. A total of 204 non-smoking subjects free of chronic diseases and belonging to different BMI categories — underweight, normal and overweight and obese — were chosen for the study. The subjects were 20-30 years old.

Nearly one million SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) markers distributed throughout the genome were analysed. “We found one SNP marker (which is within a gene) of THSD7A was significantly associated with obesity. This gene has not been associated with obesity in the Indian population,” said Dr. Thangaraj. The aim of the study was to find a novel locus in the Indian population. The results were published recently in the International Journal of Obesity.

To reconfirm its role, a replication study involving 655 people belonging to different BMI categories — underweight, normal, overweight and obese — was undertaken. “We found highly significant association between the marker and obesity in the replication study,” he said.

THSD7A is a neural N-glycoprotein, which promotes angiogenesis. Angiogenesis, in turn, modulates obesity, adipose metabolism and insulin sensitivity. And now, the authors have been able to find a correlation and this information can be used for drug target, early diagnosis of obesity and treatment. Explaining how the gene is linked to obesity, Dr. Thangaraj said: “The gene is present in everyone. But when there is a mutation to the gene, there is a likelihood that the person carrying the mutated gene will end up being obese.”

However, the gene mutation is not found in all obese people. Similarly, the gene mutation was also found in very small number of underweight people. “That is because obesity is a multigenic condition,” he explained. Despite being a multigenic condition, people carrying the mutation can always take measures to keep obesity at bay, he said. There is a possibility that the SNP marker of THSD7A may be associated with obesity in other South Asian population.

The genetic affinity Indians have with other South Asian population has already been well documented in a 2009 study. In the 2009 study, a particular gene mutation in Indians was found to increase the risk of heart failure in people with cardiomyopathy. And this mutation was found to be a risk factor implicated in South Asian people with cardiomyopathy too.

Keywords: obesity, genetics, THSD7A

the speaking tree - Wonderful Benefits Of Remaining A Servant

Janina Gomes





Why did i have to approach the dusk of my life before i could make this humble prayer “Lord, make me a servant“ ? Having had to survive in a fiercely competitive environment, in which the powerful dominate others, how would such a prayer predispose me to succeed? Yet, looking back now, it seems that the universe supports those who serve others with gladness.In a context where the word `servant' has ugly connotations giving as it were moral permission to treat those who work for us as somehow inferior, there are good intentioned people who serve others selflessly . It is difficult to find those who serve others without any expectation of a reward.Some choose the humblest occupations, looking after the challenged, for example, with love.
Servants of God bring happiness to others. To give a gift to someone who richly deserves it, bringing a smile to his face, empathising with those in grief, sharing the burdens of those who cannot see the end of the road, just talking and listening to those who might have fallen into traps of delusion and degradation ­ all these are acts of good service.
Why do we call them servants? Should we not be putting them on a pedestal and paying them homage because of the noble work they do? Such people do good unconsciously , and not with ulterior motives. They do what they are called to do in a given set of circumstances, without taking any credit for the help they may have rendered others.
This `servant mentality' has changed the way i perceive others, evaluate their worth and give credit due to those who deserve it. I have seen too many fall through sheer human pride and overinflated egos to not be cautious and yet daring at the same time.
I think of enlightened souls like Swami Vivekananda and Ramakrishna, both luminaries who consciously chose a `servant' approach to life.Today , too, there are those who battle against poverty , illiteracy and superstition. There are many noble souls still toiling even if we can not seem to have enough of scams and moral turpitude to distract our attention.
There are many who still consider that they have a mission in life. I for one, have discovered this great truth towards the tail end of my life. And now when i awake, i ask myself, what can i do for someone who is helpless today? Can i bring a little happi ness to someone, can i share my bread?
So, i pray for Divine Grace to be a humble servant with this attitude, we become a link in a wide chain. The helpless become helpers and the helpless in turn get empowered to become uplifters.
The human race has survived because of those who recognised that their contributions are limited and not because others have climbed heights for purely selfish reasons. We tend to place much emphasis on achievements, position and power.The scales could one day tilt against those engaged in selfishness.
So every night, i thank God that he has enabled me to be the `servant' of someone in need. Every chance to do a good turn becomes a turning point in life. Jesus said: “The Son of Man came to serve rather than be served.“ My own humble prayer is that my life, too, be spent in service. “Lord, make me a servant, i pray .“

Some improvements in child malnutrition: data

ight States have reduced the proportion of underweight children.

New official data on nutrition in India’s nine poorest States has shown that while most states have successfully reduced the number of underweight children over the last decade, their record in reducing child stunting has been more mixed. While Bihar and Uttarkhand improved on all indicators, Uttar Pradesh got worse on all.

The Office of the Registrar General of India released the findings of the Clinical, Anthropometric and Bio-chemical (CAB) Survey this week. The survey was conducted in 2014 as a sub-component of the Annual Health Survey, which collects health information from a representative sample of every district in India’s eight Empowered Action Group (EAG) States — Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – and Assam. A one-time survey, the CAB collected district-level data on key anthropometric indicators including child stunting, child wasting and children underweight.

The last time India collected anthropometric data was in 2005-2006, as part of the National Family Health Survey III. While the NFHS III and the CAB were conducted on different samples, both sets of findings are meant to be representative at the State level, officials from both agencies confirmed to The Hindu. A comparison between the NFHS and the CAB shows that eight of the nine States were successful in substantially reducing the proportion of underweight children; Uttar Pradesh was the only State, where the proportion actually rose slightly over the last decade.

The new data comes in the backdrop of the NDA government’s flip-flop over the release of the Rapid Survey of Children (RSOC), a nation-wide sample survey commissioned by the previous government and conducted by Unicef. The RSOC had shown substantial improvements in all child health indicators, but its findings were initially not released by the new government, and later made public after media including The Hindu reported on leaked findings.

The RSOC’s findings on other child anthropometric indicators like child wasting (weight for height more than two standard deviations below the expected) and child stunting (height for age more than two standard deviations below the expected) are far more optimistic than the CAB’s. While the RSOC found improvements in all CAG States on child stunting, the CAB finds that only five States — Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Uttarakhand — improved. On child wasting, only four — Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand — improved. The CAB confirms the RSOC’s finding that while girls were more likely than boys to be underweight in 2005-2006, boys were slightly more likely to be underweight as of 2014.

Keywords: Empowered Action Group States, bio-chemical survey, malnutrition rates, malnutrition in India's poorest States, official data on nutrition

New CAT, new strategies

Three one-hour sections, onscreen calculator… the exam has changed with the times. Some preparation tips.

The IIMs have changed the format and structure of CAT this year. Specifically, there have been four key changes. First, the exam will comprise three sections instead of two sections as seen in CAT 2014. Second, the duration of the exam has been extended to 180 minutes (from 170 minutes last year) with the time split to one hour per section. Third, a basic onscreen calculator will be provided to students. And lastly, a few questions will require answers to be entered directly, instead of the traditional multiple-choice format. These changes are but tweaks that should improve the test-taking experience for students and are not a dramatic overhaul.

“Quantitative Aptitude, Verbal Ability, Data Interpretation and Logical Reasoning tested in a competitive exam that is objective and conducted across the country” This is how one would have described CAT in 1990, 2000 or 2010. This statement remains the same in 2015 as well. The core tenets remain the same; the CAT has merely decided to use a few of the inherent advantages that online testing offers.

The features introduced this year are not new to CAT. From 1990 to 2012, CAT had three or more sections every year. The two-section format was seen only in the last two years. Previously, we have also had fixed time limits for individual sections (in CAT 2013).

CAT is now effectively three one-hour exams and this is a blessing in disguise.

Counter-intuitively, the time allotted per section being fixed is a boon to students. Although the change in format appears to have taken some flexibility away from students, the freedom of allocating time across sections was illusory anyway. Students used to spend a lot of time fretting about section cut-offs and going for a ‘balanced’ score across sections. The only adjustment students will have to make is to think of CAT as three one-hour exams instead of one three-hour exam.

No place to hide

In a traditional two-section format, students had the option of treating Data Interpretation, Logical Reasoning or Reading Comprehension as less important and ‘hiding’ in the other segments. For instance, one could go in hoping to get 14-15 questions correct in Logical Reasoning and completely skip RC. These imaginary luxuries are out. Students need to have more balance in their preparation and cannot afford to have glaring weaknesses.

Computational pressure is off, which is a big relief and a great leveller.

The one unambiguous takeaway here is that the on-screen calculator is a boon. Students no longer need to worry about knowing 45x35 or computing 34.6 per cent of 72 quickly. Computation speed is not really important in the 21st century, and CAT has quietly acknowledged this fact.

Students should resist the temptation to use the online calculator for every single computation. Relying on an external computational tool for all computations dulls numerical intuition, and, so, the online calculator should be prudently used. My suggestion would be to use it for the Data Interpretation section and not really bother with it for the section on Quantitative Aptitude.

CAT has moved with the times and test-takers should follow suit. The test-setters have utilised technology well and picked a format that focuses on knowledge of the fundamentals and de-emphasises computation-speed. Students should make three small adjustments.

Learn from first principles: Ignore shortcuts, speed-math related gimmicks and focus on basics.

Read, read, read: The single-most important factor for excelling in the verbal ability section is reading comfort. Students with a consistent reading habit have a massive advantage in this section. Students should aim to read for at least 90 minutes every day.

Take plenty of ‘mocks’: Students should aim to take at least 20 ‘mock’ CATs in the new format. They should aim to take these tests from different providers so as to be exposed to different question styles.

The writer runs 2IIM, an online CAT Coaching institute, and is an alumnus of IIMB. He scored 100 percentile in CAT in 2011, 2012 and 2014.

Keywords: cracking CAT, CAT tips, how to prepare for CAT, best tips for CAT preparations, CAT Coaching

How India’s population bulge could become a ticking bomb

Today, an estimated average of 68,922 Indian citizens will turn 25. Tomorrow there will another 68,922 newly minted 25 year olds. Ditto the day after tomorrow and the day after that, and so on till 2025.

That number— 68,922 — is an average calculated on a projection of age-wise population data that was sourced from the national census of 2011 and what it means is this: Every  month, 2.1 million people in India will turn 25. Of them, 1.48 million will be in rural India and remaining 0.62 million in urban centres. What it also means is that 10 years from now, in 2025, there will be 690 million Indian citizens below the age of 25.

By then, India’s population is expected to grow to 1.43 billion and under-25s will comprise more than 48%.

Why am I throwing these numbers at you on a Sunday morning? You, I and everyone else already know(s) that even today India is one of the world’s biggest “young” nations with nearly two-thirds of its population below the age of 35 and nearly half below 25.

So what’s the big deal about 2025 when there will be nearly 700 million under-25s?

Quite a bit, really, if you consider how India’s population numbers rarely make their way into political discourse nowadays, at least not in any serious manner.

Read | Census sees jump in tech graduates, but jobs scarce

No Indian political party, whichever part of the spectrum you choose to look at, talks about the country’s population surge and the immense challenges that it poses.

Yet references to India’s “demographic dividend” are plenty, with everyone from marketers, economists and politicians referring to that big bulge of young people as the real edge that India could have over other countries across the world — many of which (with the exception of some in Africa) have populations that are aging.

India’s present population of 1.25 billion (or “125 crore” as Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to phrase it in his Hindi speeches; he made 28 references to it in his Independence Day speech this year) and the estimate that it will outstrip China’s by 2022, and not 2028 as was earlier expected, often become a cue for chest-thumping pride, which, if you really think of it, may be misplaced.

Having a big bulge of people in the age group of 18-55 (or the working age group) can most certainly be a potential advantage — potential because many things have to fall into place before it becomes real. More than seven out of 10 of India’s young people live in rural India, primarily eking their livelihood off unproductive farms with little skill or education to be of use in anything other than manual labour.

Read | 127,42,39,769 and on the increase: India's huge population

Those in urban areas are only slightly better off with their overall quality of education making them inadequate for meaningful employment.

Successive Indian governments, the present incumbent included, have tried to focus on addressing the skill deficit in India’s working age population but with limited success.

The thing is that government schemes to make people job-ready such as Modi’s Skill India are slow burn programmes that take much longer than it takes for the population bulge to grow bigger.

You could accuse me of invoking the ghost of Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus, the 18th century English cleric, who predicted a catastrophe if unchecked population growth (which he said grows geometrically) outstripped the supply of food (which grows arithmetically) but consider the facts.

India’s population growth has actually slowed down (it was 3% in the 1980s; 1.8% in the 1990s; and is now only 1.2%) but on a base as large as India’s, even 1.2% leads to absolute numbers that are staggering.

Malthus predicted that runaway growth of the world’s population without the resources to feed and sustain it would ultimately lead to a catastrophe as a spate of famines, diseases, epidemics and wars would take place.

Now consider this. If India’s population of young people grows to huge numbers — as it will — but meets up with large-scale joblessness and millions of dashed hopes, and that in turn leads to widespread civil unrest, crime and violence, would you call it a catastrophe?

 Sanjoy Narayan is the editor-in-chief of Hindustan Times. He tweets as @sanjoynarayan

the Speaking tree - Seeds and the Sacred

MARY ANN BURRIS





In Native American spirituality, seeds are the circle of life.The Three Sisters of corn, squash and beans were a gift from the Divine Creator, to be cherished and nurtured generation to generation. When we nurture them, they nurture us. It is a circle.In Buddhist teachings, each of us has the same 51 seeds in our soil, in our store of consciousness. These seeds include faith, energy , humility , wisdom, zeal, mindfulness and peacefulness. They also include greed, craving, pride, sloth, gloom and selfishness.
These seeds are in all of us as potentialities. Our mental formations, our characters, are shaped by the seeds that are nurtured in our lives. We can consciously attend to our healthy seeds, those connected to love. We can water our unhealthy seeds, those connected to fear. Our surroundings influence the seeds that are strong in us, but it is our spirit, our consciousness, that shapes our lives, that helps us know that we are One and to live each day in that knowing.
Seeds are connection, fertility. To destroy them is not only to damage ourselves, but to diminish the planet's storehouse. It is to harm those who crawl, who fly , who swim, who run, whose roots are still.What is needed, instead, is to recognise our wild relations, to respect all our relations.
Our surroundings influence the seeds that are strong in us, but it is our spirit, our consciousness, that shapes our lives, that helps us know that we are One and to live each day in that knowing.

Govt Set to Revamp Rural Skill Development Schemes

Ruchika Chitravanshi

New Delhi:





The Narendra Modi led NDA is revamping the skills programmes for rural India, plan ning to provide interest subsidy to make credit cheaper and remove a cap on spending under the Nation al Rural Livelihoods Mission.“We are going to move a cabinet proposal,“ said a rural develop ment ministry official. The cap currently pegged at 25% of total ex penditure, curbs spending on skills initiatives needed in rural India which has a large number of land less labourers. The move comes on the heels of the launch of Skills In dia, a national skills initiative.
Reorientation of some central schemes was also considered nec essary in the wake of recurrent ru ral distress due to the vagaries of nature. Provisional data of the 2011 Socio Economic and Caste Census released in July released in July showed that a third of the 17.91 crore rural households is landless and depends on manual labour for income, highlighting the need to teach skills.
Currently , the Ajeevika Skills Guidelines issued by the rural development ministry in 2013 limits spending under NRLM on skills and placement through schemes such as the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojna at 25% of the total. The ministry also proposes an interest rate subvention scheme for 100 districts for cheaper credit availability to self-help groups.
“Interest rates for self-help groups can be brought down from 10% to 4% if the repayments are timely ,“ said a senior government official, adding that the expenditure department in the finance ministry had already approved the proposal.
The ministry sees the need to increase expenditure in the wake of the success of LIFE (Livelihoods in Full Employment), a programme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which provides training facilities for activities ranging from beauty courses and masonry to horticulture and agriculture. Over 30 lakh workers have enrolled in the programme, opting for skill-sets they want to acquire for a livelihood.