statesman news service
KOLKATA, 19 JUNE: Although huge import of gold is often cited as the basic reason for the recent high level of current account deficit (CAD), deleberations at a panel discussion on ‘Modified Exim Policy 2013’ organised by the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry here today revealed that decline in exports was basically responsible for the widening CAD.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sanjiv Kejriwal, member, Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council, Kolkata explained that decline in exports contributed more to the poor export performance than import of gold.
Mr Suranjan Gupta, additional executive director, Engineering Export Promotion Council said that corruption and lack of infrastructure affected export of engineering exports in recent years. He said that there are 20-25 steps involved in exporting a consignment. It takes about six months to complete all these formalities involving about a 100 signatories. These hassles need to be removed to increase exports, Mr Gupta said.
Dr K Rangarajan, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Kolkata and Mr Mritiunjoy Mohanty, Indian Institute of Management said that the current CAD was unprecedented. Although imports had stabilised to some extent, the present problem was of declining exports.
Dr Rangarajan said that the annual exim policy had only cosmetic changes. Time has come to think of the next policy post-2014.
However, Mr Dipankar Sinha, Director General of Commercial Intelligence and Statics, Kolkata, maintained that import of gold and petroleum goods accounted for 50 per cent of the deficit. This month, nevertheless, import of such items have started to come down, he added.
Mr Tapan Chattopadhyaya, executive director, said though we have reached the terminal year of the exim policy, not much success has been achieved so far.

Coca-cola announces key organisational changes
statesman news service
KOLKATA, 19 JUNE: Making significant changes in its management structure, beverages major Coca Cola today announced elevation of Mr Atul Singh, who is currently president and CEO of the company’s India and Southwest Asia (INSWA) division, to the position of deputy president of its Pacific Group.
In his new role, Mr Atul Singh will have the responsibility over the Greater China & Korea (GC&K) division, in addition to India & Southwest Asia unit, the company said in a Press statement.
"Given the enormous growth opportunities in China, and the uniquely competitive beverage landscape, Mr Singh’s focus will largely be on the Greater China and Korea Business Unit, which also includes Taiwan, Mongolia and Hong Kong & Macau," the company said.
He will continue to report to Mr Ahmet Bozer, president, Coca-Cola International, it added.
In addition to that, Coca-Coal announced another two significant organisational changes in its Pacific Group, which will come into effect from 1 July.
As part of the changes, Mr Venkatesh Kini, currently senior vice-president, operations, India region, will be elevated as deputy business unit president of India and Southwest Asia division.
In his new role, Mr Kini will have oversight for all the business unit’s operations and functional leadership. The entire senior functional leadership of the INSWA business unit will now report to him, and he will continue to report to Mr Atul Singh, the release said.
"Mr Singh has led the INSWA business division comprising key markets such as India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Maldives for nearly eight years. Under his leadership, the India operations has registered 27 consecutive quarters of growth, out of which 19 have been quarters of double-digit growth," the company said.
On elevation of Mr Venkatesh Kini, the company said he is a proven business leader and has served the company for more than 14 years. He has more than two decades of experience in India and the USA in marketing, sales and general management roles.
Further, as part of the upgraded focus on mainland China business, the company said, Mr David Brooks, current president of GC&K division, will assume a new leadership role as chairman of the division.
In this role, Mr Brooks will manage the division’s public affairs, communications and sustainability functions, in addition to continuing to oversee the division’s operations in Korea, Taiwan, Mongolia and Hong Kong & Macau. He will be reporting to Mr Atul Singh, the company said.
There are, however, no changes in the organisation structure at Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, the company-owned bottling operations in India, the statement said.
 

LONDON, 19 JUNE: Rafael Nadal (in photo) was named fifth seed for Wimbledon on Wednesday, leaving his major title rivals to ponder meeting the 2008 and 2010 champion as early as the quarterfinals.
Nadal, the holder of 12 Grand Slam titles, and fresh from his record-breaking eighth French Open triumph in Paris, was seeded behind compatriot David Ferrer who takes the fourth seeding. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Roger Federer take the top three places. Wimbledon uses recent grasscourt performances as well as the world rankings to seed players and Nadal was not promoted after he suffered a stunning second-round defeat to Lukas Rosol at the tournament in 2012. Ferrer, meanwhile, was a quarter-finalist last year, having already claimed the title at the ‘s-Hertogenbosch grasscourt event in the run-up to London. As a consequence, Nadal could face 2011 champion Djokovic, seven-time winner Federer or Murray, bidding to become Britain’s first men’s champion since Fred Perry in 1936, in the last-eight. "I’d sign up to be in the quarter-finals against Rafa if someone offered me that," Murray told the BBC. "You could say if I get through that match, then the semi-final might not be as tough but if you want to win the biggest tournaments you have to beat the best players in the world. "It doesn’t really matter where they are in the draw." In the women’s singles, world number one Serena Williams, the five-time champion, takes top seeding, followed by Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, with Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon winner, named the third seed.Five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams has pulled out of this year’s tournament because of an ongoing lower back injury. Meanwhile, Leander Paes has been seeded fourth along with Radek Stepanek in the men’s doubles competition. Mahesh Bhupathi and Julian Knowle are seeded eighth while the Rohan Bopanna-Edouard Roger-Vasselin duo is 14th. In the women’s doubles category, Sania Mirza has been seeded sixth with Liezel Huber. agencies

press trust of india
Rotterdam, 19 June: India’s hopes of securing a direct berth in next year’s World Cup went up in smoke after they were handed a humiliating 1-5 defeat by Australia in the quarterfinal of the men’s competition of the FIH World League Round 3, here today.
Six top teams ~ three each ~ will qualify directly for the 2014 World Cup to be held in Hague, The Netherlands from the two editions of FIH World League Round 3 — the ongoing event in Rotterdam and then the next one to be held in Malaysia from 29 June to 7 July .
An error-prone India needed a miracle to topple Australia in what was the 100th international fixture between the two sides.
But it was not be as the Kookaburras dished out a
clinical performance to make short work of the Sardar Singh-led side.
The Australians took the stuffing out of India in the first 35 minutes by scoring as many four goals — Glenn Simpson (2nd minute), Matt Gohdes (20th, Russell Ford (22nd) including an own goal by Indian defender Sandeep Singh while their fifth goal was scored by Matthew Swann in the 39th minute.
Chinglensana Singh scored the consolation goal for India in the 21st minute.
Ranked second in the world, the Australians started the match as favourites against the 11th ranked Indians and they played according to their reputation by dominating the share of possession throughout the match.
The Indians played catch-
up hockey in the entire 70
minutes and did not look convincing at all in all departments of the game.
To add to it, India’s perennial problem, a fragile defensive line continued to hurt them badly.
Australia were on the offensive from the onset and it took them just two minutes to break the deadlock when Simpson scored from their first penalty corner after Christopher Ciriello perfectly laid the ball for him. India got a chance to equalise in the 15th minute when they earned a penalty corner but Sandeep Singh cut a sorry figure with the resultant effort.
The Kookaburras looked menacing and utilised the scoring chances that came their way.
Gohdes doubled Australia’s lead in the 20th minute with a field goal from top of the circle.
India, however, pulled one back in the subsequent attack when Chinglensana scored with a fierce hit, courtesy some sloppy defending from the Australians inside the circle.

statesman news service
NEW DELHI, 19 JUNE: The growing bonhomie between the Congress and the JD-U, which was today evidenced by the former’s support to the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s trust vote in the state Assembly, is expected to be witnessed in Parliament in coming days.
Although the All India Congress Committee (AICC) today sought to play down questions about a new political alignment emerging between the Congress and the Nitish-led JD-U, it was evidently a bid to do a balancing act between Mr Kumar and its existing outside ally, the RJD chief Mr Lalu Prasad, an arch rival of the Bihar CM.
Keeping its options open with regard to joining hands with either of the two Bihar stalwarts for the 2014 general elections, the Congress leadership might keep them guessing down to the wire.  At the Centre, however, the ruling Congress would be keenly eyeing the backing of the 20 JD-U MPs in the Lok Sabha and 9 JD-U MPs in the Rajya Sabha on various issues and crucial legislative business in coming sessions.
After the considerable depletion of the Congress-led UPA’s numbers in both Houses following the pullout of the Trinamul Congress and the DMK from the ruling coalition, the JD-U’s exit from the BJP-led NDA is set to create new support options for the Congress in its bid to push through its priority agenda in Parliament.
AICC spokesman P C Chacko was today, however, at pains to claim that the Congress has not struck any “quid pro quo deal” with the JD-U and that the support of  four Congress MLAs to Mr Kumar during his trust vote was a “separate matter” and “not a prelude to a future alliance” between them.
In Patna, Mr Kumar echoed the same line while thanking the Congress for its support, and said not much should be read into it. 
Mr Chacko said the Congress’s backing for Mr Kumar’s trust vote, which he won smoothly, was “unilateral and unconditional”. “We supported the JD-U in Bihar assembly because we do not want the communal BJP to succeed in its bid to pull down a government. It was to ensure the defeat of communal forces,” Mr Chacko said. 
The AICC spokesman said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent description of Mr Kumar as a secular leader was meant for the Bihar CM as an individual and not for any party.
Asked whether the AICC perceived the JD-U as a “secular party”, Mr Chacko shied away from making a comment and remained non-committal.
On a possible alliance with the JD-U, Mr Chacko said: “Our leadership has constituted the A K Antony Committee to discuss the question of our alliances for the next Lok Sabha polls. This process has not been concluded. Finally, based on the Antony panel’s recommendations, our high command will take a decision on our alliance in Bihar and other places.”  At the same time, the AICC declined to call Mr Prasad "communal” for the RJD’s vote against the Kumar government today. “Every political party has a right to take its own decision,” Mr Chacko said. “The RJD is our outside ally. There are no problems between us. But any future alliance will be discussed and decided later.”
 
 

statesman news service
MALDA, 18 JUNE: Prof Bikash Roy was appointed the officiating Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of the University of Gour Banga by the Governor of the state and Chancellor of the Universities. A fax containing the order of Prof Roy&’s ad hoc appointment till the UGB V-C Mr Achintya Biswas, who has been on leave for illness over a month, resumes his office, reached the office of the UGB Registrar.
Prof Biswas has been absent from his office since 28 April.
Acting Registrar Prof SS Bairagya said, “It has been mentioned in the fax received from the secretary to the Chancellor that Prof Biswas&’s leave has been sanctioned from 6 May. Prof Roy would look after the office of the V-C till Prof Biswas rejoins his office.”
Prof Roy said: “My main objective is to work in the interest of the students, teachers, employees and officers of the UGB. Tomorrow I would hold a meeting with the teachers, the officers and all employees of the varsity to seek their suggestions for the development of the UGB.”
He said that the office of the controller of examinations had been verbally directed to adopt measures so that the result of 3rd year final examination of graduation is published by 30 June.
“I have also requested the controller to point out problems, if any, in publishing the results regularly,” the new VC said.

statesman news service
MALDA, 18 JUNE: The District administration today handed over cheques of compensation to the families of those who died after a boat capsized in the Ganga in Manikchak on 14 June. Families of 10 deceased passengers of the boat were altogether paid Rs 20 lakh by the district land and land reforms officer, Mr Sanjib Chaki, at the community hall in Manikchak.
Meanwhile, the District Magistrate (DM) Godala, Mr Kiran Kumar, today held a crucial meeting with the zilla parishad (ZP) officials, Additional District Magistrate (Land Reforms), Block Development Officers (BDOs) and the boating area owners on lease.
Mr Kumar said that it was resolved in the meeting that the government rules and regulations regarding the ferrying of boats on different rivers would be distinctly displayed at the ferry-ghats immediately. The dos and don’ts of running passenger boats would be clearly mentioned in the notice board. “The BDOs would pay surprise visits to those ghats every week to examine if the boats are plying in adherence to the government rules and regulations.
If any violation is found, FIRs would be lodged immediately against the concerned offenders,” Mr Kumar said.
He also said that the particulars of the boatmen, including their address, contact number, photograph would be collected and kept with the administration, for prompt action in case of emergency. The data of boats would also be preserved. The boat-owners would be directed to keep life-jackets compulsorily in the boats.
In addition, training programmes for the boatmen would be organised by the National disaster management and rescue experts, the Malda DM, Mr Kumar, said.
He said that the compensation of Rs 2 lakh was paid to families of 10 victims who died in the boat capsizal.
He informed that Rs 5,000 was paid to each of those families for cremation of the bodies. It may be mentioned that a passenger boat capsized on 14 June at Rustampur ghat of Manikchak. Two bodies were found soon after the accident. Eight more bodies were found the next day. 
The Tourism Minister Krishnendu Choudhury, Manikchak MLA and Social Welfare Minister Sabitri Mitra, DM Mr Kumar, DIG SK Pujari and Malda SP Kalyan Mukherjee were present during the rescue operation.

statesman news service
DARJEELING, 18 JUNE: The Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha today sent a letter to the finance principal secretary and the West Bengal principal secretary to waive the outstanding sales tax dues of more than 20 crore accumulated during the party&’s non-cooperation movement for Gorkhaland.
The general secretary to the party, Mr Roshan Giri, today informed reporters about the letter forwarded regarding the waiver of sales tax.
It can be mentioned here that the state government has already warned all the Hill traders to clear the sales tax within this month by issuing a notice earlier. But the GJMM says not to pay any tax that accumulated during the agitation time.
On the other hand, the Hills residents owe Rs 72 crore  in electricity bills, and telephone bills of Rs 10 crore accumulated during the non-cooperation period between April 2008 and July 2011.

KOLKATA, 18 JUNE: Gold and silver ornaments worth over several lakh have been stolen from a locked flat in Rameshwar Malia Lane in Howrah. The incident took places just a few metres from the official residence of the police commissioner. The burglary came to light this morning after the house owner returned and found the collapsible gates and almirah in the rooms broken. Mr Madan Lal Joshi (56), who lives on the top floor of the six-storey Sharma apartment at Rameshwar Malia Lane, said the house was locked since 30 May as he, along with his wife and daughter, had gone to attend a wedding in Bikaner of Rajasthan. Mr Joshi, claimed 25 grams of gold and silver ornaments and cash worth Rs 3.5 lakh cash stashed in the lockers of the almirah was stolen. He accused the poor lightning system in the building coupled with no security apparatus being the main reason for the theft. “The top three floors are plunged in darkness even during the day providing ample opportunity for burglars to perform the heist,” he said. He, however, added he has been living in the same place since the past 30 years and such incident has never taken place before. Policemen who rushed to the apartment after being informed recovered a screwdriver used to commit the crime. “It seems to be a job of an insider who was aware the family was not in the city. We have got certain clues and the accused will soon be arrested,” said a police officer. sns

Math has entered the bio lab to help fight cancer, says s ananthanarayanan
WHILE genetics and molecular biology have made advances with the mechanism of life processes, scientists still cannot observe and monitor activity at the microscopic and cellular levels. Methods of statistics and analysis of numbers, hence, need to come in for an assessment of how effective an intervention has been.
   Fabrice Le Boeuf, Cory Batenchuk, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Sophie Breton, Dominic Roy, Chantal Lemay, Julie Cox, Hesham Abdelbary, Theresa Falls, Girija Waghray, Harold Atkins, David Stojdl, Jean-Simon Diallo, Mads Kaern and John Bell, a multidisciplinary team at Ontario, Canada, report in the journal, Nature Communications, their analyses and assessment of ways of using viruses to knock out cancer cells in the body.
Cancer cells are those that multiply without regulation. This may be due to failure of the cells’ own control over growth and multiplication or the failure of the body&’s defence mechanisms to destroy such cells. In either case, cancer cells create tumours, invade neighbouring organs, create a blockage or ulcers and spread to other parts of the body. Curative action, apart from surgery to remove tumours, is mainly through agents that destroy cancer cells and leave healthy cells comparatively less affected. While a host of such agents has been identified, a promising line of attack is to deploy viruses that selectively strike at cancer cells.
Viruses are entities, like cells, which have an envelope and are programmed with DNA, but little else, and the programme is only to reproduce. Viruses evolve the structure of the envelope to exactly fit features of the specific target cell exterior so that they are able to enter. Once within the host, they release their reproductive machinery and feed on the hosts’ nutrients, since they have none of their own, to create clones of themselves. The hosts’ own function is thus suspended, which causes disease, but the virus multiplies, sometimes a millionfold, within the cell. The cell wall then collapses and the generations of viruses spread out to enter other cells, and so on.
The body&’s defence against a virus attack is through the immune system, which kicks in when cells under stress release a signal protein called interferon (IFN). This is so called because its first role is to interfere with the replication of viral cells. But its other role is to communicate with other cells to slow down replication so as to impede the growth of the virus and also to convey to active agents in the immune system the features of the virus, for recognition. In this way, the immune system is often able to win the race against the virus. One encounter also leaves the body with the template of the virus, which helps in a faster, and generally effective, response in case of another attack.
A class of viruses known as Oncolytic viruses (OV) comprise those that get blocked by the IFN activity of normal cells but multiply in the usual way in tumour cells. The reason that normal cells can stop viruses is often that the virus is not able to counter the anti-virus response that IFN sets off. In cancer cells, the IFN response is sometimes sluggish, because of changes that cause and result from malignancy. Such cells are great breeding grounds for OVs.  But the extent of this IFN defect in cells is variable and this can reduce the efficacy of treatment with OVs. It is, hence, an objective of research to find ways to suppress IFN signalling in tumour cells without affecting the same function in normal cells.
The Ontario team describes the cycle of infection and protection by a schema shown in the picture. Uninfected cells first get the virus and start creating IFN. As their numbers increase, with the spread of infection, IFN creates an activated population where virus replication is controlled and more IFN is produced. And then there are protected cells, which have overcome the infection, and keep up the defence activity. Viruses that infect cancerous cells will have the benefit of the fast reproducing environment of the malignant cell. But at the same time, the IFN production would suppress replication and it is the balance between the two processes that would decide the efficacy of the virus in putting down the cell.
With the help of this model of the virus action and response, the team simulated the outcome of different IFN evasion strategies that were used by the OVs against three different kinds of cells — normal cells, cancer cells that did not respond to IFN and cancer cells that did. The different results would then guide the best characteristics to find in OVs, either by genetic engineering or by selection of specific OVs.
First, it was taken that the cells differed mainly in how they helped or hindered viruses in replication and in activating IFN. The reaction of these cell types to infection was then quantified, using experimental data of the response after 72 hours of infection. With these figures in place, the model was used to simulate different combinations of the rate of virus replication, IFN-mediated defence response and the destruction of cells.
Constraints in the trials were that the population was a mixture of healthy and cancerous cells and then the uncertainty of values of parameters that had been assumed.
The trials, thus, had to be by thousands of simulations with random insertion of cells with different characteristics, using a technique called Monte Carlo sampling, to make estimates of the outcome of different strategies.
The Monte Carlo method is a statistical technique of estimating trends based on partial data. To estimate the ratio of the area of an irregular figure to that of a circle drawn within the figure, for instance, one method would be to paint the circle and then the whole figure. The quantity of paint used each time would give the ratio we need. But this would be an exact method, with full data.
Another way would be to sprinkle drops of paint randomly on the surface. A count of how many drops fall within the square, as compared to all the drops, would also give us the ratio — but approximately. Obviously, just a few drops may all land in the circle and be misleading. But the result gets very close to the correct answer as we increase the number of drops.
This method of estimation, which is useful in gambling games, was so named by its inventor after the well-known casino in Monaco.
The Ontario group, which included doctors, systems biologists and a physicist, carried out huge numbers of trials using different combinations of virus properties, both known and proposed. First, they tried the model out with a known OV, which blocks IFN production in target cells. The model correctly showed that the virus could eliminate both healthy and cancerous cells.
And also that suppressing the IFN blocking quality would make the virus ineffective against normal cells, but still effective against cells that did not respond to IFN.  The group then tried out chemical manipulation, which increased the blocking action in IFN responsive cancer cells but found that the strategy seemed to affect healthy cells as well.
The third strategy they tried was where the virus was wired to create an IFN blocking decoy just when virus replication was initiated. This linking of the creation of the decoy with replication results in a spiralling feedback which sustains the strategy .The effect of high rate of replication, which happens in cancer cells, is to increase the rate of decoy-blocking of IFN, which would allow the virus to keep replicating and, hence, make more IFN. But as normal cells do not replicate fast, the decoy would not become active and normal cells would be able to survive the OV attack. This last strategy was also tried out in practice, successfully, with cancerous mice.
The study used sophisticated mathematical tools to simulate OV replication dynamics, including the use of differential equations, which is to make computations not of quantities but of how fast those quantities change.
“What is remarkable is how well we could actually predict the experimental outcome based on computational analysis,” says Dr Bell, who, with Dr Mads Kaern, directed the study. “This work creates a useful framework for developing similar types of mathematical models in the fight against cancer.”

The writer can be contacted at
simplescience@gmail.com

Math has entered the bio lab to help fight cancer, says s ananthanarayanan
WHILE genetics and molecular biology have made advances with the mechanism of life processes, scientists still cannot observe and monitor activity at the microscopic and cellular levels. Methods of statistics and analysis of numbers, hence, need to come in for an assessment of how effective an intervention has been.
   Fabrice Le Boeuf, Cory Batenchuk, Markus Vähä-Koskela, Sophie Breton, Dominic Roy, Chantal Lemay, Julie Cox, Hesham Abdelbary, Theresa Falls, Girija Waghray, Harold Atkins, David Stojdl, Jean-Simon Diallo, Mads Kaern and John Bell, a multidisciplinary team at Ontario, Canada, report in the journal, Nature Communications, their analyses and assessment of ways of using viruses to knock out cancer cells in the body.
Cancer cells are those that multiply without regulation. This may be due to failure of the cells’ own control over growth and multiplication or the failure of the body&’s defence mechanisms to destroy such cells. In either case, cancer cells create tumours, invade neighbouring organs, create a blockage or ulcers and spread to other parts of the body. Curative action, apart from surgery to remove tumours, is mainly through agents that destroy cancer cells and leave healthy cells comparatively less affected. While a host of such agents has been identified, a promising line of attack is to deploy viruses that selectively strike at cancer cells.
Viruses are entities, like cells, which have an envelope and are programmed with DNA, but little else, and the programme is only to reproduce. Viruses evolve the structure of the envelope to exactly fit features of the specific target cell exterior so that they are able to enter. Once within the host, they release their reproductive machinery and feed on the hosts’ nutrients, since they have none of their own, to create clones of themselves. The hosts’ own function is thus suspended, which causes disease, but the virus multiplies, sometimes a millionfold, within the cell. The cell wall then collapses and the generations of viruses spread out to enter other cells, and so on.
The body&’s defence against a virus attack is through the immune system, which kicks in when cells under stress release a signal protein called interferon (IFN). This is so called because its first role is to interfere with the replication of viral cells. But its other role is to communicate with other cells to slow down replication so as to impede the growth of the virus and also to convey to active agents in the immune system the features of the virus, for recognition. In this way, the immune system is often able to win the race against the virus. One encounter also leaves the body with the template of the virus, which helps in a faster, and generally effective, response in case of another attack.
A class of viruses known as Oncolytic viruses (OV) comprise those that get blocked by the IFN activity of normal cells but multiply in the usual way in tumour cells. The reason that normal cells can stop viruses is often that the virus is not able to counter the anti-virus response that IFN sets off. In cancer cells, the IFN response is sometimes sluggish, because of changes that cause and result from malignancy. Such cells are great breeding grounds for OVs.  But the extent of this IFN defect in cells is variable and this can reduce the efficacy of treatment with OVs. It is, hence, an objective of research to find ways to suppress IFN signalling in tumour cells without affecting the same function in normal cells.
The Ontario team describes the cycle of infection and protection by a schema shown in the picture. Uninfected cells first get the virus and start creating IFN. As their numbers increase, with the spread of infection, IFN creates an activated population where virus replication is controlled and more IFN is produced. And then there are protected cells, which have overcome the infection, and keep up the defence activity. Viruses that infect cancerous cells will have the benefit of the fast reproducing environment of the malignant cell. But at the same time, the IFN production would suppress replication and it is the balance between the two processes that would decide the efficacy of the virus in putting down the cell.
With the help of this model of the virus action and response, the team simulated the outcome of different IFN evasion strategies that were used by the OVs against three different kinds of cells — normal cells, cancer cells that did not respond to IFN and cancer cells that did. The different results would then guide the best characteristics to find in OVs, either by genetic engineering or by selection of specific OVs.
First, it was taken that the cells differed mainly in how they helped or hindered viruses in replication and in activating IFN. The reaction of these cell types to infection was then quantified, using experimental data of the response after 72 hours of infection. With these figures in place, the model was used to simulate different combinations of the rate of virus replication, IFN-mediated defence response and the destruction of cells.
Constraints in the trials were that the population was a mixture of healthy and cancerous cells and then the uncertainty of values of parameters that had been assumed.
The trials, thus, had to be by thousands of simulations with random insertion of cells with different characteristics, using a technique called Monte Carlo sampling, to make estimates of the outcome of different strategies.
The Monte Carlo method is a statistical technique of estimating trends based on partial data. To estimate the ratio of the area of an irregular figure to that of a circle drawn within the figure, for instance, one method would be to paint the circle and then the whole figure. The quantity of paint used each time would give the ratio we need. But this would be an exact method, with full data.
Another way would be to sprinkle drops of paint randomly on the surface. A count of how many drops fall within the square, as compared to all the drops, would also give us the ratio — but approximately. Obviously, just a few drops may all land in the circle and be misleading. But the result gets very close to the correct answer as we increase the number of drops.
This method of estimation, which is useful in gambling games, was so named by its inventor after the well-known casino in Monaco.
The Ontario group, which included doctors, systems biologists and a physicist, carried out huge numbers of trials using different combinations of virus properties, both known and proposed. First, they tried the model out with a known OV, which blocks IFN production in target cells. The model correctly showed that the virus could eliminate both healthy and cancerous cells.
And also that suppressing the IFN blocking quality would make the virus ineffective against normal cells, but still effective against cells that did not respond to IFN.  The group then tried out chemical manipulation, which increased the blocking action in IFN responsive cancer cells but found that the strategy seemed to affect healthy cells as well.
The third strategy they tried was where the virus was wired to create an IFN blocking decoy just when virus replication was initiated. This linking of the creation of the decoy with replication results in a spiralling feedback which sustains the strategy .The effect of high rate of replication, which happens in cancer cells, is to increase the rate of decoy-blocking of IFN, which would allow the virus to keep replicating and, hence, make more IFN. But as normal cells do not replicate fast, the decoy would not become active and normal cells would be able to survive the OV attack. This last strategy was also tried out in practice, successfully, with cancerous mice.
The study used sophisticated mathematical tools to simulate OV replication dynamics, including the use of differential equations, which is to make computations not of quantities but of how fast those quantities change.
“What is remarkable is how well we could actually predict the experimental outcome based on computational analysis,” says Dr Bell, who, with Dr Mads Kaern, directed the study. “This work creates a useful framework for developing similar types of mathematical models in the fight against cancer.”

The writer can be contacted at
simplescience@gmail.com

DIAMOND HARBOUR, 18 JUNE: Former Trinamul ‘karmadhaksha’ in Magrahat-I panchayat samiti, Mr Moshrafil Mollah, joined the Congress today. Mr Pradip Bhattacharya, the PCC president, welcomed him at Baneswarpur under Usthi police station in South 24-Parganas during a rally where hundreds of TMC supporters joined the Congress, Mr Sujit Patwari, the district congress general secretary said. Mr Mollah is contesting in a Congress ticket in the same panchayat samiti seat from which he won as a TMC candidate, Mr Patwari said. During the rally, Mr Bhattacharya alleged money meant for several projects was sent back because the TMC-led zilla parishad couldn’t utilise the money. Mrs Maya Ghosh, a PCC leader, and Mr Manab Mitra, the district Congress president, were present. sns

press trust of india
BANGALORE, 18 JUNE: In a bizarre political fight, a rival of senior Karnataka Congress leader and MLA Mr D K Shivakumar has alleged that his henchmen had dug a deep trench around his house in Kanakapura constituency, making it difficult for them to move out.
JDS worker Mr G H Prakash, who left the Congress a month before the 5 May Assembly polls, alleged he and his family are victims of a political vendetta by Mr Shivakumar’s supporters.
He said about 300 to 400 of Mr Shivakumar’s supporters came to his house recently, threatened him and later dug up a six-feet by eight-feet trench around the house.
Ramanagaram Superintendent of Police Anupam Agarwal said the Deputy Superintendent of Police has submitted a report on the case after investigating the matter and he has dispatched it to the district Deputy Commissioner.
The report also states that the land belongs to Mr Shivakumar and Mr Prakash had encroached upon it, he said.
“Now Mr Shivakumar wants to build a compound and hence, has dug up the trench around the house,” he said.
Former minister and JDS leader Mr P G R Sindhia alleged that the digging of the trench around Mr Prakash’s house smacked of the political vendetta.
Mr Shivakumar said the land where the trench was dug belonged to him and his family and accused Mr Sindhia of trying to damage his image.

stanley theodore
HYDERABAD, 18 JUNE: The concept was there ever since Internet arrived, but it has now come home. 
A seven-month-old start-up, www.myhomefarm.in, is selling vegetables online in Hyderabad at prices 10 per cent cheaper than those at supermarkets or the government&’s famous Rythu Bazaars.
“My open challenge is to show any place in the twin cities which sells better vegetables,” its founder and CEO Mr Suresh Iyer said.
A customer goes online and chooses a regular or medium basket, enough for a family of four for a week, or builds one&’s basket and gets the delivery on a pre-determined day of the week before 10.30 a.m. Other than credit cards, cash on delivery is also accepted.
Mr Iyer says, “Online booking is a must. We do not accept telephone orders, except from senior citizens. If a customer persists we explain the risk of us forgetting or causing a mismatch with another customer. They do understand.” 
He has other unconventional mantras. “If the service provided to a customer does not yield a profit after satisfying the customer, then there is no sense saying customer is king.” Today a customer got two snake gourds less. 
“It was in short supply or was bad. I messaged that the money would be refunded.” 
He grows vegetables with six farmers on a 20 acre farm at Vantimamidi, 33 kilometres away. Harvesting is done before sunset and moved to his warehouse in Secunderabad. The office kills any notion of e-commerce. Two tables, with two worn out computers, are surrounded by plastic chairs. They separate an almirah and a pedestal fan. Two vans outside deliver vegetables packed in plastic nets in modular baskets across Hyderabad.
Mr Iyer, 50, an electrical engineer from Osmania University was an advertising professional before joining a software company. During his visit to Texas ranches in 2011 he realised his passion for farming. “I returned home and resigned my job which was paying me Rs 1.5 lakh a month. Everyone called me a fool.”
He won’t say that he is proving them wrong, yet. “I have to reach the magic number of 600 customers from today&’s 300 to break even. The subsequent plan is multi-city franchises and 10,000 customers.” 
Why vegetables and not groceries or anything else? “Selling vegetables does not attract taxes,” he grins.
“The real challenge is to keep afloat for the next 6-12 months and we will be there. Actually it has to click, as I don’t have any other option,” he says with measured confidence.  "He knows it&’s vital as he has invested Rs 27 lakh and has a turnover of Rs 6.2 lakh.”
Have supermarkets felt his impact? “No. Many are not even aware. I just deal with a small miniscule part of the market.” He will sell one tonne a day when with 1,000 customers when government data states Hyderabad&’s daily vegetable tonnage is 800 tonnes worth Rs 2 crore.
“When I started I had 100 customers and I thought I will touch 600 in no time as I have plenty of friends. But only six friends are using my service. The others are net-savvy, but have not booked a vegetable basket even once. This was a shocker. It rankles me even now.” “The other thing is customers are not referring customers. They are happy, book week after week and don’t have complaints. They willingly put their testimonials with their pictures on my website, but don’t refer anyone. Incomprehensible!” he exclaimed.

alok kumar
NEW DELHI, 18 JUNE: The blow hot, blow cold relationship between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party struck a conciliatory note today with the latter saying it would welcome any move by the former to go to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections under the stewardship of Mr Rahul Gandhi.
The minister of state for agriculture and food processing and senior NCP leader, Mr Tariq Anwar, told The Statesman the NCP will abide by any decision to project the Congress vice president as the party’s face to lead the 2014 parliamentary polls as well as to project him as the prime ministerial candidate of UPA-III. "The NCP has a considered view on this issue that the Congress being the largest constituent of the UPA has every right to choose its prime ministerial candidate for the next elections,” Mr Anwar said. If the Congress decides about Rahul, the NCP will have no objections, he said. The NCP leader also confirmed that his party will contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in alliance with Congress at least in three states, Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat. In other states, he said the party is looking for alliances with other like-minded parties.
Welcoming the  decision of the JD-U to quit the NDA over the BJP’s decision to elevate Mr Narendra Modi, Mr Anwar said his party will have no inhibitions in joining hands with Mr Nitish Kumar in Bihar now. Denying differences with the Congress on any issue, Mr Anwar, who is also the NCP general secretary, said: “Now a coordination committee has been put in place which meets on regular  basis and it is functioning to our satisfaction. Whatever differences we have on issues we iron out through discussions.” Mr Anwar, however, clarified that his party is against the Centre’s intended move to push through the Food Security Bill via an ordinance. “The NCP is opposed to such an important legislation being brought into effect  by simply promulgating an ordinance. What is the hurry to adopt the ordinance route,” he asked. Asked about Mr Sharad Pawar’s chances of becoming Prime Minister, the NCP leader said as a UPA constituent the right to select the PM goes to the Congress, but in the event of the Congress failing to form a government and the choice of other like-minded political outfits falling on Mr Pawar, "he (Pawar) will not shirk from the responsibilities to lead the country”.
 Mr Anwar said Mr Pawar has all the attributes to become a Prime Minister but the numerical strength of his party would not permit it. “However, if other secular political outfits want him, he will not run away,” he added.

WASHINGTON, 18 JUNE: Spelling out his goal of a stable, non-sectarian and representative government in Syria, President Barack Obama today said the USA is ramping up support for both political and military opposition to the Assad regime.
“In terms of what my goals are, the goals are a stable, non-sectarian, representative Syrian government that is addressing the needs of its people through political processes and peaceful processes,” Mr Obama said.
“We’re not taking sides in a religious war between Shia and Sunni,” he said. “Really, what we’re trying to do is take sides against extremists of all sorts and in favour of people who are in favour of moderation, tolerance, representative government, and over the long-term, stability and prosperity for the people of Syria,” he said in an interview to PBS channel.  Noting that the USA has been helping the Syrian opposition along with its international partners, he said this includes the military opposition as well. “We’ve been assisting not only the political opposition but also the military opposition. So, there’s a counter-weight that can potentially lead to political negotiations ~ with the evidence of chemical weapons, what we’ve said is we’re going to ramp up that assistance,” Mr Obama said.
“And my hope continues to be, however, that we resolve this through some sort of political transition,” he said. pti

agence france-presse
BELO HORIZONTE, 18 JUNE: Nnamdi Oduamadi claimed a hat-trick as Nigeria shook off the jet lag to thrash minnows Tahiti 6-1 in their opening Confederations Cup game in Belo Horizonte on Monday.
The African champions only arrived in Brazil 36 hours before the game after a row over bonus payments, but they could even afford some wasteful finishing as they leapfrogged world champions Spain to the top of Group B.
It was a predictably chastening experience for Tahiti, ranked 138th in the world, but they were nonetheless able to celebrate when Jonathan Tehau headed in their first ever goal at a high-profile international event.
Tehau’s goal, early in the second half, trimmed Nigeria’s lead to 3-1 after a deflected Uwa Echiejile shot and a pair of goals from Oduamadi had put Nigeria in command.
However, the south Pacific islanders’ hopes of a famous comeback were dashed as Tehau put through his own goal before Oduamadi and Echiejile added further goals to give Stephen Keshi’s men a spring in their step ahead of Thursday’s crucial showdown with Uruguay.
A sparse crowd of just 20,187 made their way to the newly renovated Estadio Mineirao but they were vocal in their support of Tahiti, who registered the game’s first shot on target through Vincent Simon.
Fortune deserted the underdogs moments later, however.
After the ball bounced off referee Joel Aguilar, Echiejile launched a speculative shot that deflected off Tehau and captain Nicolas Vallar and ricocheted past Tahiti goalkeeper Xavier Samin. Oduamadi added two more, neatly side-stepping a pair of challenges and sweeping home in the 10th minute, before tapping in his second when Samin spilled a low cross from Ahmed Musa.
Nigeria made heavy work of putting the game to bed though, with Musa miskicking in front of an open goal before Anthony Ujah and Sunday Mba both allowed Samin to save when clean through on goal.
Tahiti had already seen their one professional player, Marama Vahirua, drive a shot narrowly over, and they threatened to make things interesting as Steevy Chong Hue headed wide from a Ricky Aitamai cross.
Musa miscued again from 12 yards early in the second half, before the goal that Tahiti had been threatening arrived in the 54th minute.
The honour fell to Tehau, who headed in a deep corner kick from Vahirua at the back post and then led his ecstatic team-mates in a canoe-paddling celebration.
The goal also sparked jubilation on the bench, coach Eddy Etatea leaping from the dug-out with his fists in the air.
But Tehau’s day took a turn for the worse in the 68th minute when he inadvertently toed the ball into his own goal to restore Nigeria’s three-goal advantage.
Oduamadi tucked in a cross from substitute Brown Ideye to complete his hat-trick in the 76th minute, with Echiejile adding a sixth shortly after as Tahiti’s reserves of resistance finally ran dry.