Proteins That Control Life Brings Nobel For India

It's a proud moment for India. UK-based Indian origin scientist Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan has won the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for work on proteins that control life .

Short Biography Of Dr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan :

Dr. Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, known to most as "Venki," started out as a theoretical physicist. After graduate school, he designed his own 2-year transition from physics to biology. Then, as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr Peter Moore at Yale University, he worked on a neutron-scattering map of the small ribosomal subunit of E. coli. He has been studying ribosome structure ever since.

In the August 26, 2000 issue of Nature, Dr Ramakrishnan and his coworkers published the structure of the small ribosomal subunit of Thermus thermophilus, a heat-stable bacterium related to one found in the Yellowstone hot springs. With this 5.5 Angstrom-resolution structure, Dr. Ramakrishnan's group identified key portions of the RNA and, using previously determined structures, positioned seven of the subunit's proteins.

Dr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, 58, had his early education in the town of Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, and Baroda, Gujarat, before went to the US. He later moved to US. The Swedish Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Dr Ramakrishnan, who is currently affiliated with the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, for his work on protein-producing ribosomes and its translation of DNA information into life. He shared the prize with Dr Thomas Steitz of Yale University, Connecticut, and Dr Ada Yonath of Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
He credited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the University of Utah for supporting his work and the collegiate atmosphere there that made it all possible.Surly he made a great contribution.

THE RESEARCH:

The practical importance of Dr Ramakrishnan's work arises from ribosomes being present in allliving cells, including those of bacteria. Human and bacterial ribosomes are slightly different,making the ribosome a good target for antibiotic therapy that works by blocking the bacteriums ability to make the proteins it needs to function.Ramakrishnan, Steitz and Yonath demonstrated what the ribosome looks like and how it functions at an atomic level using a visualization method called X-ray crystallography to map the position of each of the hundreds of thousands of atoms that make up the ribosome, according to the MRC.

Dr. Ramakrishnan said:

‘‘I have to say that I am deeply indebted to all of the brilliant associates, students and post docs who worked in my lab as science is a highly collaborative enterprise. The MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the University of Utah supported this work and the collegiate atmosphere there made it all possible. The idea of supporting long term basic research like that at LMB does lead to breakthroughs, the ribosome is already starting to show its medical importance.’’

"There are lots of good scientists in India but I notice the press is hung up about these Western prizes like the Nobel Prize instead of appreciating the excellent work they (scientists) are doing within the context of India. There are lots of good labs in India where they can do excellent work. Well, in 1971 there were only a few places in India - there was not much research and money for research in India at that time."

"I have been to India several times since and these days there are some really fantastic places in India like the Indian Institute of Science and several others...those are very good places and very good scientists," Ramakrishnan, added.

"This year's three Laureates have all generated 3D models that show how different antibiotics bind to the ribosome. These models are now used by scientists in order to develop new antibiotics, directly assisting the saving of lives and decreasing humanity's suffering," the Nobel citation explained.

Scientists say growing knowledge of the ribosome has created targets for a new generation of antibiotics. The instruction manual for the creation of proteins is DNA, but the ribosome is the machine which takes information transcribed onto messenger RNA and turns it into proteins.

Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, Medical Research Council Chief Executive, said:

‘‘We are absolutely delighted that Dr Ramakrishnan’s work has been recognized with the 2009 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Venki’s award is the Medical Research Council’s 29th Nobel Prize and is a reflection of the excellent work that our scientists do. The MRC is committed to long-term support of the difficult areas of basic science as exemplified by Venki’s success. It is only on the back of such discoveries that we can continue to drive translation into benefits for human health.’’

Elaborating, the MRC said Dr Ramakrishnan's basic research on the arrangement of atoms in the ribosome has allowed his team not only to gain detailed knowledge of how it contributes to protein production but also to see directly how antibiotics bind to specific pockets in the ribosome structure. Dr Ramakrishnan will share the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.4 million) Nobel Prize money (1/3rd each), in a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.

This must be the greatest moment for all the Indians who are proud to having such a biggest Personality who discovered a new theory of life origin... This is a small step for science but a giant for Indian glory.


learn more about the secret behind Nobel Prize At HERE

New Currency Requires To Obsecurity Of Financial Market

A paper written ahead of the recent G20 summit by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the Chinese central bank, caused quite a stir. Zhou called for the establishment of a global reserve currency, a step which would firmly tip the balance of economic power in the direction of emerging economies like China and India, but would also bring benefits to poorer nations in the developing world.

The dollars role in international trade should be reduced by establishing a new currency to protect emerging markets from the confidence game of financial speculation, the United Nations
said.

Two very obvious changes have prompted this reaction: First, there is a growing recognition that
the course towards the current crisis was plotted when President Nixon severed the link between the dollar and gold in 1971. Second, the fact that, quite unlike any president before him, not only does Barack Obama believe in a more just and inclusive world, he also seems to recognise that creating such a world requires some levelling of the global economic playing field. The creation of a global reserve currency would be an essential first step in that process.

UN countries should agree on the creation of a global reserve bank to issue the currency and to
monitor the national exchange rates of its members, the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development said on Tuesday in a report.

China, India, Brazil and Russia this year called for a replacement to the dollar as the main reserve currency after the financial crisis sparked by the collapse of the US mortgage market led
to the worst global recession since World War II. China, the world's largest holder of dollar reserves, said a supranational currency such as IMF's special drawing rights, or SDRs, may add
stability.

There's a much better chance of achieving a stable pattern of exchange rates in a multilaterally-agreed framework for exchange-rate management, Heiner Flassbeck, co-author of the report and a UNCTAD director, said. An initiative equivalent to Bretton Woods or the European Monetary System is needed. The 1944 Bretton Woods agreement created the modern global economic system and World Bank and IMF.

While it would be desirable to strengthen SDRs, a unit of account based on a basket of currencies,
it wouldn't be enough to aid emerging markets most in need of liquidity, said Flassbeck, a former
German deputy finance minister who worked in 1997-1998 with then US Deputy Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers to contain the Asian financial crisis.

Emerging-market countries are underrepresented at the IMF, hindering the effectiveness of enhanced SDR allocation. An organization should be created to manage real exchange rates between countries measured by purchasing power and adjusted to inflation differentials and development levels, UN said. The most important lesson of the global crisis is financial markets
don't get prices right, Flassbeck said.

US Jobless Rate Jumps To 9.7 Percent !!

The unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent in August, the highest since June 1983, as employers eliminated a net total of 216,000 jobs.

The level of job cuts is less than July's upwardly revised total of 276,000 and is the lowest in a year. Analysts expected the unemployment rate to rise to 9.5 percent from July's 9.4 percent, and job reductions to total 225,000.

If laid-off workers who have settled for part-time work or have given up looking for new jobs are included, the so-called underemployment rate reached 16.8 percent, the highest on records dating from 1994.

The economy is showing consistent signs of improvement, but probably not enough to stop employers from cutting jobs or to keep the unemployment rate from rising.

The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that the jobless rate increased to 9.5 percent in August, from 9.4 percent in July, as employers cut 225,000 jobs.

The employment report will follow other recent data that shows the economy is pulling out of the worst recession since World War II. A trade group reported Tuesday that the manufacturing sector grew in August for the first time in 19 months, while home sales have increased for several months.

But the economy isn't expected to grow strongly enough this year to persuade companies to ramp up hiring. Most economists expect the unemployment rate to top 10 percent by early next year.

"We have a very long, painful healing process ahead," said Bruce Kasman, chief economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. "The good news is we're starting it, the bad news is we need much faster growth" to bring the employment rate down.

A loss of 225,000 jobs would be the smallest monthly decline since last year, a sign that layoffs are easing. Employers cut 247,000 jobs in July, compared with an average of 691,000 per month in the first quarter.

Still, the job cuts are holding down wages and salaries, while credit remains tight and home prices and stock portfolios have fallen. All those trends are restraining consumer spending, which makes up 70 percent of the U.S. economy, and could weaken the recovery.

Most retailers posted sales declines last month as shoppers limited back-to-school purchases to focus on necessities. Discounters did better than upscale chains, but the results Thursday raised further concern about the upcoming holiday season.

Other economic news on Thursday was mixed. The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group, said the service sector inched closer to growth in August, but still contracted for the 11th straight month.

The ISM's services index, which covers hospitals, retailers, financial services companies and more, rose to 48.4, up from 46.4 in July. Still, readings below 50 indicate the sector is shrinking.

In a separate report, the Labor Department said the number of laid-off workers applying for benefits dipped to 570,000 last week from an upwardly revised 574,000. That was a weaker performance than the drop to 560,000 claims that economists projected.

The number of people receiving jobless benefits totaled 6.23 million, up 92,000 from the previous week, which had been the lowest level since April.

Economists closely watch initial claims, which are considered a gauge of layoffs and an indication of companies' willingness to hire new workers.

First-time claims have trended down in recent months and are below the recession's high of 674,000, reached in the first week in April. But even with the improvement, they are running at levels well above the 325,000 mark considered a sign of a healthy economy.

Federal Reserve policymakers said in minutes from an August meeting, released Wednesday, that they expect the economy to recover in the second half of this year. But labor market conditions are still "poor," the Fed minutes said, and many companies are likely to be "cautious in hiring" even as the economy picks up.

Many economists credit the Obama administration's $787 billion economic stimulus package of tax cuts and spending increases, along with the Cash for Clunkers program, with helping spur the recovery. But they worry about what will happen when the impact of the stimulus efforts fades next year.

Vice President Joe Biden issued an upbeat report card on the economy Thursday, saying that the massive stimulus program had been more effective "than we had hoped."

Still, consumers are not spending enough to boost retailers' bottom lines. Discounter Target Corp. and warehouse club operators Costco Wholesale Corp. and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. said Thursday that sales at established stores dropped.

A 5 percent jump at TJX Cos., which operates discount chains TJMaxx and Marshall's, topped expectations. But upscale retailers, including Saks Inc. and Nordstrom Inc., reported a weak month.

On Wall Street, stock indexes rose. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 64 points, as broader indexes also edged up.

More job cuts were announced this week. Washington-based manufacturer Danaher Corp. said it will lay off about 3,300 of its roughly 50,000 employees, an increase from the 1,700 cuts it announced in the spring. American Airlines said it is cutting 921 flight attendant jobs as it deals with an ongoing downturn in traffic and lower revenue.

Visit 13above For more Information

An Unsettling Time Problems At Adolescence Period

Teenagers who suffer from minor depression are at a higher risk of suffering from mental health
problems in their adult life, says a new study.


Psychiatrists at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute surveyed 750
fourteen to 16-year-old teenagers and then interviewed them as adults, to come up with the
findings.

Researchers found anxiety, severe depression and eating disorders were much more common in those 20 to 30-year-olds who had suffered from minor depression as adolescents, reports The BBC.

The report published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that 8 percent of participants had minor depression as teenagers.By the age of 20 and 30, these people were four times more prone to developing major depression than those who did not face bouts of depression as teens.
According to the research, teens with minor depression had a two-and-a-half times increased risk of agoraphobia, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder and a threefold risk of anorexia or bulimia as adults.The researchers defined minor depression as one which lasted for at least two weeks and had symptoms like feeling low, losing interest in activities, sleeping problems and poor concentration.

Study leader Dr Jeffrey Johnson said more research was needed to see if depression problems in
teenagers were an early phase of major depressive disorder or if minor depression earlier in life
contributed to the development of more serious problems later on.

"Ensuring teachers, social workers and the rest of the children''s workforce have the appropriate skills and knowledge to identify when a child is showing signs of depression will enable young people to get help early before problems escalate to crisis point."
Lucie Russell, Young Minds

EFFECT OF TEEN DEPRESSION :-

The negative effects of teenage depression go far beyond a melancholy mood. Many rebellious and unhealthy behaviors or attitudes in teenagers are actually indications of depression like problems at school,running away,substance abuse,eating disorders,internet addictions self injury,reckless behavior,violence and the most dangerous is suicidal attempts.

YOUR DUTY TO A DEPRESSED TEENAGER :-

If you suspect that a teenager in your life is suffering from depression, take action right away. Depression is very damaging when left untreated, so don’t wait and hope that the symptoms will go away. Even if you’re unsure that depression is the issue, the troublesome behaviors and emotions you’re seeing in your teenager are signs of a problem. Whether or not that problem turns out to be depression, it still needs to be addressed - the sooner the better.

You should try to keep some important points in your mind when you going to talk with a depressed teen; Always try to offer him/her support,gentle but very persistent,validate feelings and most important is don't try to lecturing him/her without listening.

Teens need adult guidance more than ever to understand all the emotional and physical changes they are experiencing. When teens’ moods disrupt their ability to function on a day-to-day basis, it may indicate a serious emotional or mental disorder that needs attention — adolescent depression. Parents or caregivers must take action.

EARLY HELP :-

The researchers defined minor depression as milder than clinical depression but lasting at least two weeks and including symptoms such as feeling down, losing interest in activities, sleeping problems and poor concentration.

Study leader Dr Jeffrey Johnson said more research was needed to see if depression problems in teenagers were an early phase of major depressive disorder or if minor depression earlier in life contributed to the development of more serious problems later on.

Lucie Russell, director of campaigns at Young Minds, said the study highlighted the importance of giving teenagers the right support when problems first arise.

"Ensuring teachers, social workers and the rest of the children's workforce have the appropriate skills and knowledge to identify when a child is showing signs of depression will enable young people to get help early before problems escalate to crisis point."

But she added that access to specialist services was a problem with some parts of the country having year-long waiting lists.

STRATEGIES AND TIPS FOR GOOD MENTAL HEALTH :-

People who are emotionally healthy are in control of their emotions and their behavior. They are able to handle life’s inevitable challenges, build strong relationships, and lead productive, fulfilling lives. When bad things happen, they’re able to bounce back and move on.

Unfortunately, too many people take their mental and emotional health for granted – focusing on it only when they develop problems. But just as it requires effort to build or maintain physical health, so it is with mental and emotional health. The more time and energy you invest in your emotional health, the stronger it will be. The good news is that there are many things you can do to boost your mood, build resilience, and get more enjoyment out of life.

N.B:Share your important comments and thoughts with us to solve this serious problems

Most Miserable Day Of The Week..It's Not Monday !!

Monday was always assumed to be the day we are most miserable, but in a recent market research it turns out that, Wednesday is the worst day of the week...!

That’s the claim of two American mathematicians, who analyzed words used in 2.4 million internet blogs such as Twitter, giving a score out of nine depending on how positive they were.

Christopher Danforth and Peter Dodds, of Vermont University, gave words like free, fun, rainbow and sex an eight plus score, while words such as betray, cruel, hatred and suffocate all scored less than two.

Saturday and Sunday rated predictably well but, most shockingly, Monday came out as the second happiest day of the week, partly because people were still reminiscing about the weekend, the British newspaper Daily Telegraph reported on Sunday.

However by Wednesday, these feelings had subsided. Christopher Danforth said: “People’s daily experience is being reflected somewhat in what they’re saying. And this is more of a story, we think, for Twitter messages, which we’ve just started to pay attention to, about a year ago.

“They think that they are communicating with friends, but since blogs are public we’re just looking over their shoulders. The weekends tend to be fairly happy and Wednesday turned out to be the saddest day in our study.”

The expert added: “What we’re attempting to do is measure collective happiness on a much larger scale, similar to measuring the temperature outside.

“The energy of a few molecules bouncing around doesn’t give a good indication of heat, you need billions or more.”

Increasing Sound Might Cause Ecologycal Imbalance

A recent research has reviled that number of frogs are declining in Australia,scientists are very much confused in search of the reason of it.But after a long discussions and research they all they all concluded to the fact that increasing traffic noises of Australia is the main reason behind it..!!


Traffic noise could be ruining the sex lives of urban frogs by drowning out the seductive croaks of
amorous males, an Australian researcher said.

A well-projected and energetic croak is the male frog's most important asset in the quest to
attract mates to his pond, Melbourne University ecologist Kirsten Parris said.But competition from traffic noise in Melbourne could be a reason why frog numbers have declined in Australia's
second-largest city since her survey of more than 100 ponds began in 2000, she said.

"If there are a number of different males calling, the one that sounds the best often gets the
girl," Parris told The Associated Press. "You have to be pretty clear about your assets if you're a
male frog."


Generally, if he's putting a lot of energy into calling — if he's calling loudly or quickly or for
a long time or all those things combined — it shows he's fit and strong and generally those things
tend to correlate with female choice," she added.Parris found the distance at which a frog suitor
can be heard by a potential mate is slashed by city noise.

"This makes it much harder for frogs to attract mates and this could then mean that their breeding success is reduced," Parris said.

Frog species with low-pitched croaks are most disadvantaged because they are competing against the low-pitched rumble of traffic and machinery such as air conditioners, she said.The southern brown tree frog has adapted by raising the pitch of its croak in areas where there is traffic din, she found.



In the noisiest parts of Melbourne, the frog's usual pitch cannot be heard by other frogs beyond 21 yards (19 meters). At the higher pitch, the croaks carry an additional 16 feet (5 meters).The
popplebonk frog's call can be heard by females from 875 yards (800 meters) without background noise. That range shrinks to only 46 feet (14 meters) near busy roads.

Parris presented her research on Thursday to the 10th International Ecology Congress in the eastern city of Brisbane.Ken Thompson, a University of Sheffield ecologist who edits the British journal, Functional Ecology, described Parris' findings of reduced mating because of traffic noise as "highly plausible."

"There is accumulating evidence that noise in urban habitats is having an effect on the behavior of animals," Thompson said.He said his own university's research found British birds were singing at night because their habitats had become too noisy during the day.

Visit 13above For More Fun

"INVISIBLE" Ancient Bugs Discovered By Hi-Tech X-Ray

This ancient fly, dubbed Trichomyia lengleti, is one of a handful of bugs added to a new online database of "digital fossils." 

Paleontologists from the European Synchrotron Research Facility in France used high-energy x-rays to peer inside 640 pieces of opaque, fossilized amber that date to the Cretaceous period, 145 to 65 million years ago.

The fossils were found in 2008 in from the Charentes region of southwestern France. Until recently, fossils inside opaque amber were invisible to paleontologists. But the new accelerator technology revealed unprecedented views of 350 previously invisible insects, animals, and plantswhich could previously only be studied from fossilized mud imprints.

Using x-rays for paleontology is a new and important technique for seeing inside fossils that you can't cut or break open, said researcher Paul Tafforeau.

"When we are dealing with fossils we have to study them, but we also have to preserve them."

You won't find this cockroach crawling around city apartments--It scurried across the earth around 60 million years ago.

But now x-ray radiation has revealed the prehistoric critter frozen inside a piece of opaque amber. 

The cockroach was added to a new online database of digital fossils, which have become a new area of study in archaeology and taxonomy.

A hundred-million-year-old spider (above) is seen buried inside a tomb of opaque amber.

The digital fossil--a combination of multiple x-rays--was recently added to a new online database compiled by French researchers.

A hundred-million-year-old millipede ancestor encased in amber (pictured) was recently imaged by researchers from the European Synchrotron Research Facility.

Using a high-resolution scan called microtomography, researchers pinpointed finely detailed body parts, such as bristles, tiny legs, and insect wings--and even the hairs on the one-millimeter-long millipede.

In just 48 hours of imaging with a particle accelerator, researchers found more than 350 previously invisible creepy crawlies from Cretaceous-period amber (above right). 

Cracks and imperfections often show up in x-rays of amber (above, top left), posing a challenge to paleontologists who want to see the amber's contents. 

But a research team at the European Synchrotron Research Facility found that soaking amber in water fills in cracks, allowing for much clearer views of the insects (top, bottom left).

This prehistoric wasp-like insect, called Hymenopteran falciformicidae, was recently revealed by new x-ray technology. 

European researchers are investigating innovative ways to visualize these digital fossils, such as 3D physical models and glass blocks with the a print of the specimen inside.

This hundred-million year old isopod crustacean--an aquatic relative of woodlice--was one of more than 350 insect fossils found hiding in chunks of amber.

The critter was added to the European Synchrotron Research Facility's new online database of "digital fossils," which is accessible to the public.

Visit 13above For More Fun