Vitamin-D supplements help diabetic women

Women from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka with insulin resistance showed marked improvement after taking vitamin D supplements, says

a study.

Von Hurst, nutrition lecturer at the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Albany, conducted the study for her doctoral thesis.

Insulin resistance is largely symptom-free and sufferers are unaware of their condition. "Once it has fully developed into type-2 diabetes, it can be treated, but not cured," says Von Hurst.

Von Hurst says that while diet and exercise play a major part in the onset of type-2 diabetes, her findings reinforce the importance of vitamin D from the sun and supplements to prevent type-2 diabetes. She also found evidence of vitamin D increasing bone strength in older women.

Initial screening of 235 New Zealand-based women from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka aged 20 and older revealed that 47 percent were insulin deficient and 84 percent were vitamin D deficient.

The 81 recruited for the study were split into two groups for a randomised controlled trial and given a vitamin D supplement or placebo.

As well as an improvement in insulin resistance among those who took vitamin D for six months, Von Hurst says that post-menopausal women in the study also showed a reduced rate of bone breakdown.

Von Hurst undertook the study because South Asian women are known to have a higher predisposition to developing health conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Bajaj Auto to launch 'Baby' Pulsar

Definitely Male. That was the tag line that took the biking nation by storm and unleashed a new breed of motorcycles in India from the Bajaj stable. It was a turn around story for Bajaj to switch from scooters to motorcycles and it was an enthusiast's mind that lead the company to target the performance/leisure bike segment rather than the commuter class.

A brand was born and today the Pulsar name is synonymous with speed, sport and riding thrill. The first Pulsar was a 150cc machine that immediately took on the CBZ from Hero Honda. Bajaj pursued this line of thought and over the years the company has introduced a number of variants on the Pulsar brand which include a 180cc model, 200cc model and the recently launched 220cc, which incidentally is the fastest Indian motorcycle present in the country.

Contrary to pushing up the ladder, Bajaj is now looking at a whole new segment yet again! The company will roll out a 'baby' Pulsar on December 9th, and with D-Day not too far away, the biking community is already buzzing with action wondering just what this new bike is.

As far as the bike is concerned, we too are waiting for the wraps to come off, however what we do know is that this new bike is going to sport a sub 150cc engine, yet retain elements of sportiness, style and performance. Downsizing might be a mantra in the market right now, but I wouldn't write off this bike just because its going to come with a smaller engine for it totally depends on the state of tuning that the bike sports which will eventually determine its performance capabilities. One can expect the design and styling to be spot on with the necessary oomph factor that the Pulsar brand offers. The new bike is also a big step towards democratizing the thrill of performance biking and making it easier for someone to step up onto the leisure biking bandwagon.

On a corporate level, Bajaj is looking at crossing the 1 million bike mark post the launch of this new model.

It's almost December and we won't have to wait much longer to figure out what this new bike packs. Stay tuned

Food inflation rises to 15.58%

NEW DELHI: Food inflation rose to 15.58 per cent for the second week of November from 14.55 per cent in the previous week as potatoes and pulses turned costlier. On an annual basis, potato prices more than doubled, pulses became expensive by over 35 per cent, while onions rose by 27 per cent. Price rise was significant on weekly basis with urad and poultry chicken rising by 15 per cent each, eggs by 8 per cent, moong by 6 per cent, arhar by 5 per cent and fruits & vegetables by 3 per cent. Among the non-food articles, raw silk turned expensive by 3 per cent, while fodder and groundnut seed by 2 per cent each.

Fuel index though remained unchanged at the previous week's level.

Education in the 21st Century

Every child has the right to education. Around 1000 delegates from 120 countries came together at a three-day World Innovation Summit forSummit for

education (WISE) that was organised in Doha, Qatar recently. The aim was to draw a 10-point agenda to create a vision for ‘21st century education’ that ensures education for all.

What essentially emerged at the conference was that though initiatives like ‘Education for All’ — an initiative run by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) — attempt at providing education to children, youth and adults, much remains to be done. In this context, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, chair of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development said, “Considering the challenges involved in achieving the goals of ‘Education for All,’ we need to act decisively and quickly.”

According to Gerhard Schröder, former chancellor of Germany, “We must make use of all available talents, skills and aptitudes.” Schröder added that any country that wants to be successful (economically or culturally), must utilise these resources. Further, Schröder said that there is only one way to ensure that governments continue to put emphasis on education and that is through public pressure.

As far as the education sector is concerned, sustainability, pluralism and innovation are the key words today. With this in mind, the WISE initiative had initiated a competition to attract applications from individuals and organisations across the world working in these areas. Sheetal Mehta from India was one of the winners for her project ‘Nanhi Kali.’ Launched by the K C Mahindra Education Trust (KCMET), its objective is to provide education to the underprivileged girl child in India.

WISE is an initiative taken by Qatar Foundation. Founded in 1995 as a non-profit organsation, it aims to promote education, scientific research and community development

BlackBerry Curve 8520

If you’ve always craved for a low cost BlackBerry then here’s some good news. Since BlackBerry released its Curve 8520, many out there can now easily make this black beauty their own.

This lightweight (only 106 g) smart phone with its glossy finish and touch-sensitive trackpad makes scrolling smooth (mind your fingers, at times it becomes difficult to keep a tab on the navigation keys and the QWERTY keypad) for an easy navigation experience. With a music player capable of playing major formats of audio files, decent sound quality and dedicated music keys, this surely is one helluva music machine. Even though it has a killer combo of style and functionality, its battery back up of 4.5 hrs is quite a disappointment. It comes for Rs 15,990 and works only on an Airtel network.

Sachin slams 43rd Test ton; completes 30,000 runs

Sachin slammed 43rd century in his fight to save the first Test against Sri Lanka in the final day.

After completing 17,000 runs in the 50-over format of the game, the batting maestro achieved another milestone by completing 30,000 runs in his international career during the first Test.

Master Blaster Sachin became the first batsman to complete 30,000 international runs when he scored his 35th run in the second innings against Sri Lanka.

He has so far played 160 Tests, 436 ODIs and a lone Twenty20 scoring 88 international hundreds and 144 fifties in all.

Tendulkar touched the magical 17,000-run mark in One-Day International cricket earlier in this month. Sanath Jayasuriya is second on the list with 13,377 runs followed by Aussie captain Ricky Ponting who has a lot of catching up to do.

Sachin has scored 17178 runs in One-dayers thus far. The Indian batting legend has 45 One-day hundreds and 91 ODI fifties under his belt. The veteran batsman has scored 43 hundreds and 53 half centuries in the Test format of the game.

The diminutive Mumbaikar, who made his ODI debut Pakistan in 1989, is already way ahead of his contemporaries when it comes to accumulating runs.

Ambanis, Mittal in Forbes' list of richest Indians

Mukesh Ambani has emerged the wealthiest person in India with a net worth of $32 billion. London-based Lakshmi N Mittal with $30 billion, Anil Ambani with $17.5 billion, Azim Premji with $14.9 billion, Shashi and Ravi Ruia with $13.6 billion and K P Singh with $13.5 billion make up the top five billionaires on this year's list..

The top 10 richest in India are:

1. Mukesh Ambani $32 billion

2. Lakshmi Mittal $30 billion

3. Anil Ambani $17.5 billion

4. Azim Premji $14.9 billion

5. Shashi & Ravi Ruia $13.6 billion

6. K.P. Singh $13.5 billion

7. Savitri Jindal $12 billion

8. Sunil Mittal $8.2 billion

9. Kumar Birla $7.8 billion

10. Gautam Adani $6.4 billion