Cholesterol Is Vital To Brain Development

A group of Swedish researchers from medical university Karolinska Institutet, for the first time have confirmed that, a derivative of cholesterol is essential for the formation of brain cells.

The group was conducting an experiment on the neural cells of mice.

According to Professor Ernest Arenas, Karolinska Institutet, this might prove extremely helpful for the scientists on cultivating dopamine-producing cells outside the body.

As per the scientist, when special receptors are activated by the oxidised form of cholesterol, oxysterol, then it accelerates the creation of dopamine-producing neurons.

Embryonic cells if treated with oxidised cholesterol can also produce such dopamine-producing neurons. So such types of cells are vital to several brain functions and processes.

Professor Ernest Arenas also added that, such types of cells die during Parkinson's disease.

The study report said that, the same treatment also reduced the tendency of the stem cells to show much uncontrolled growth in the body.

"Oxysterol contributes to a safer and better cultivation of dopamine-producing cells, which is a great advancement since it increases the possibility of developing new treatments for Parkinson s disease," says Prof. Ernest Arenas.

The researchers are hopeful that, they could treat Parkinson’s patients using the transplanted dopamine- producing cells in place of dead cells. (source: India server)

Eight US troops killed in east Afghan battle

(THE DAWN) KABUL: NATO has suffered its deadliest attack in Afghanistan in more than a year after eight US soldiers were killed in a firefight in the east of the country, the alliance said Sunday.

Tribal militia launched attacks on Saturday from a local mosque and a village in Nuristan province near the border with Pakistan, the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said in a statement.

‘Coalition forces effectively repelled the attack and inflicted heavy enemy casualties, while eight Isaf and two ANSF service members were killed,’ a statement said, referring to Afghan National Security Forces.

No exact details were given on the location of the firefight, which a Taliban spokesman claimed had killed 30 foreign and Afghan troops.

An Isaf spokesman told AFP later: ‘I can confirm that they (the foreign troops) were all American.’

The attack was the deadliest single incident for foreign forces since 10 French troops were killed in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan in August 2008.

Six Italian soldiers were killed in a massive suicide bomb in the capital Kabul last month.

Coalition forces are currently battling to quell a growing insurgency that is spreading across Afghanistan, nearly eight years after the Taliban were ousted from power.

Eastern Afghanistan has seen an escalation in insurgent-related violence recently as Taliban-linked militias spread their footprint beyond regions like Kandahar and Helmand provinces in the south, where they have long held sway.

The intelligence head of Nuristan province, Mohammad Farooq, told AFP that Saturday's attack took place in the province's Kamdesh region, near the lawless border with Pakistan, where al-Qaeda and Taliban sympathisers are based.

Isaf said the militants had fired on the coalition forces in outposts.

The Taliban were virtually wiped out in 2002 but are now on the march.

The London-based International Council on Security and Development think-tank estimates they now have a permanent presence in 80 per cent of the country.

The commander of the more than 100,000 Nato and US forces in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, has described the Afghan security situation as ‘serious’ and reportedly requested up to 40,000 more troops.

The extra forces would be sent mainly to the north and west of the country, where troop numbers are lowest, the US military told AFP on Saturday.

Mariam Abou Zahab, from the Centre for International Studies and Research (Ceri) in Paris, said: ‘The Taliban are in a strong position. They want to show that they are everywhere.’

North and west Afghanistan were calm until the start of this year, but have seen a sharp deterioration in security in recent months, as Taliban insurgents intensified attacks before the August 20 presidential election.

Like in the south and the east, fighting between militants and international forces has now become a daily occurrence.

This year has been the deadliest year for foreign troops since 2001, with 394 deaths, 236 of them American, according to an AFP toll based on a tally by the independent icasualties.org website.

More than 1,430 soldiers have died since the start of US-led operations in 2001.

Political uncertainty has exacerbated the tenuous security situation as no result has yet been declared in the August 20 presidential poll, which was marred by fraud allegations.

Afghanistan's Western-backed President Hamid Karzai, accused of vote-rigging, leads preliminary results with 55 per cent of the vote, while his main rival Abdullah Abdullah has around 28 per cent.
Auditing of suspect ballots from more than 3,000 ballot boxes is due to start Monday, electoral officials have said.

Rescue efforts on as flood toll in Karnataka rises to over 130

Rescue and rehabilitation efforts for the flood-hit in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have acquired an urgency after the death toll from incessant rains crossed to over 130.

The Army, Navy and Air Force have been called out for rescue and relief operations. At the Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bangalore, a around-the-clock flood relief cell has been set up to oversee relief work.

According to IAF sources, four helicopters have been conducting sorties in Karnataka's Bellary and Raichur districts. Six more helicopters are being deployed.

The Madras Engineering Group and Centre (MEGC) of the Indian Army has deployed 32 boats in rain-hit regions.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa has said that Centre has been approached for emergency assistance and particularly described the situation in North Karnataka as grim and serious. He said the state government has released a sum of Rs 100 crore for relief and rescue operations.

According to official sources, over 26,000 houses have collapsed in North Karnataka.

Most of the eleven districts in the region are inundated, as all the rivers are flowing above the danger mark. Road and rail transport services have also been disrupted.

Union Minister of State for Railways K.H. Muniyappa had on Friday sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Defence Minster A.K. Antony in rescue operations in the wake of the unprecedented flood situation. (ANI)

Rio de Janeiro to host 2016 Olympic Games

COPENHAGEN - Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city renowned for its scenic natural settings, gala carnival celebrations, samba and other music, and hotel-lined tourist beaches, was chosen as the host city for the 2016 Olympic Games after an International Olympic Committee vote in Copenhagen on Friday (October 02).

The Brazilian city beat Madrid for the right to host the Summer Games after Chicago and Tokyo were eliminated in earlier rounds.

U.S. September non-farm payrolls fall

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers cut a deeper-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September, fuelling fears the weak labour market could impede the economy's recovery from its worst recession in 70 years.

The 21st straight monthly decline in non-farm payrolls helped to lift the unemployment rate to a 26-year high of 9.8 percent from 9.7 percent in August, according to a Labour Department report.

While the contraction in employment was worse than the 180,000 drop economists surveyed by Reuters had predicted, many believed it did not signal the start of a reversal in the trend towards stabilization of the labour market.

Some analysts even suggested September's reading might have been distorted by a sharp drop in government employment.

"I don't think it argues against a modest recovery in the U.S. economy ... but this is why we are not in a rapid V-shaped recovery. September was the payback month," Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.

U.S. stocks opened lower on the data, but clawed back most of the losses on buying in technology and financial shares. Shares slipped this week as other data pointed to a levelling-off in the nascent U.S. recovery from a recession that began in December 2007.
U.S. Treasury prices rallied initially but then gave up those gains. Bond market investors are wary after a recent rally in U.S. government debt -- considered a safe investment weak economic times -- that has brought the benchmark 10-year note to its lowest yield since May.