Disabled girl booked for stone pelting

Monday, 31 December 2012

Islamabad, Dec 31 : Police detained 17- year old disabled girl for her alleged involvement in stone pelting during the 2010 summer unrest.

She was booked under attempt to murder and other serious offences. However, she was released after court granted interim bail to her.

Police detained, Zahida Akhtar daughter of Ghulam Ahmad Dar of Batengoo area here in held Kashmir. “ Zahida was summoned by the police to the Saddar Police Station, Islamabad on the pretext that they had to seek some information regarding the bullet injury she received in 2010 but was later detained by them,” said the family members.

They said that her brother who accompanied her to the police station was told by the cops there that she has a case of stone pelting pending against her and would be released only after getting bail.

They said that Zahida had received a bullet injury in her leg when the forces fired upon the funeral procession of Maroof Ahmad Nath during the 2010 summer agitation.

The body of Maroof Nath was fished out from the river Jehlum days after he had drowned in it while being chased away by the forces.  The forces had fired on the funeral procession of the deceased at two different places resulting into the killing of Bilal Ahmad Najar and Noor-ul-Amin Dagga while others including Zahida received bullet injuries. Pertinently, a case stands registered against the two deceased persons as well as the injured in this connection. “Zahida has been also been booked under same charges as those of deceased and other persons who were injured on that day,” sources said.

Police said that Zahida was involved `in stone pelting during the 2010 summer unrest.

“Zahida was involved in stone pelting during the 2010 summer unrest and was booked under various charges including attempt to murder,” a police official told Greater Kashmir.

He said that a case FIR no 355/2010 US 307, 148, 149, 188, 336, 427 RPC and ¾ Prevention of Public Property Act stands registered against the girl.

However, the family members contest the police claim saying that she was implicated on frivolous grounds.

“My daughter has never been involved in stone pelting and on the day she received bullet injury she had gone to her relatives house in Islamabad when the funeral procession was fired upon,” said Zahida’s mother.

She said that since then Zahida is on medication and cannot walk without any support. “My daughter cannot spend a single moment without me. I don’t know how she has would have spent the whole night in the Police Station, where there are only male inmates,” said Mukhtee.

She alleged the policemen did not even allow them to provide her medicines and blanket.

“Though her sister was allowed to accompany her only after we pleaded to the cops but I am worried about her and could not sleep the whole night,” said Mukhtee.

The family lives in abject poverty in a small muddy house.
“My husband and me are both aged and ailing. Our sons who live separately toil hard to support us as well as their own families,” said she.

Zahida’s brother Adil Dar said: “I don’t know what my ailing sister has done that she has suddenly become threat to the state.”
He said that his sister is only 17 and was in 7th standard when she received the bullet injury.

“Zahida could not pursue her studies further as she was rendered handicapped due to the bullet injury and was forced to leave her studies midway,” said Adil.

“If mourning the death of your loved ones killed in forces firing is a crime then the government should punish all the Kashmiris,” said Adil.

He said that it is a matter of shame that even our sisters are being booked on “false charges.”

Meanwhile reports said that Zahida was released after her family members managed to get interim bail.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Anantang, RK Jalla when contacted said, “The girl had a case of stone pelting of 2010 registered against her and was hence arrested.”

He said the girl was released on bail. Asked about the age of the girl the SSP said that she was 25.

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How bacteria fight fluoride in toothpaste and in nature

Islamabad, Dec 31 : Yale researchers have uncovered the molecular tricks used by bacteria to fight the effects of fluoride, which is commonly used in toothpaste and mouthwash to combat tooth decay.

In the journal Science Express, the researchers report that sections of RNA messages called riboswitches -- which control the expression of genes -- detect the build-up of fluoride and activate the defenses of bacteria, including those that contribute to tooth decay.

"These riboswitches are detectors made specifically to see fluoride," said Ronald Breaker, the Henry Ford II Professor and chair of the Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and senior author of the study.

Fluoride in over-the-counter and prescription toothpastes is widely credited with the large reduction in dental cavities seen since these products were made available beginning in the 1950s. This effect is largely caused by fluoride bonding to the enamel of our teeth, which hardens them against the acids produced by bacteria in our mouths. However, it has been known for many decades that fluoride at high concentrations also is toxic to bacteria, causing some researchers to propose that this antibacterial activity also may help prevent cavities.

The riboswitches work to counteract fluoride's effect on bacteria. "If fluoride builds up to toxic levels in the cell, a fluoride riboswitch grabs the fluoride and then turns on genes that can overcome its effects," said Breaker.

Since both fluoride and some RNA sensor molecules are negatively charged, they should not be able to bind, he notes.

"We were stunned when we uncovered fluoride-sensing riboswitches" said Breaker. "Scientists would argue that RNA is the worst molecule to use as a sensor for fluoride, and yet we have found more than 2000 of these strange RNAs in many organisms."

By tracking fluoride riboswitches in numerous species, the research team concluded that these RNAs are ancient -- meaning many organisms have had to overcome toxic levels of fluoride throughout their history. Organisms from at least two branches of the tree of life are using fluoride riboswitches, and the proteins used to combat fluoride toxicity are present in many species from all three branches.

"Cells have had to contend with fluoride toxicity for billions of years, and so they have evolved precise sensors and defense mechanisms to do battle with this ion," said Breaker, who is also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Now that these sensors and defense mechanisms are known, Breaker said, it may be possible to manipulate these mechanisms and make fluoride even more toxic to bacteria. Fluoride riboswitches and proteins common in bacteria are lacking in humans, and so these fluoride defense systems could be targeted by drugs. For example, the Yale team discovered protein channels that flush fluoride out of cells. Blocking these channels with another molecule would cause fluoride to accumulate in bacteria, making it more effective as a cavity fighter.

Fluoride is the 13th most common element in Earth's crust, and it is naturally present in high concentrations throughout the United States and elsewhere. Its use in toothpaste and its addition to city water supplies across the United States sparked a controversy 60 years ago, and the dispute continues to this day. In the United Kingdom, and in other European Union countries, fluoride is used to a much lesser extent due to fierce public opposition.

The new findings from Yale only reveal how microbes overcome fluoride toxicity. The means by which humans contend with high fluoride levels remains unknown, Breaker notes. He adds that the use of fluoride has had clear benefits for dental health and that these new findings do not indicate that fluoride is unsafe as currently used.

Other Yale authors of the paper include: Jenny L. Baker, Narasimhan Sudarsan, Zasha Weinberg and Adam Roth.

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What makes anesthetics work

Islamabad, Dec 31 : Physicians use inhalation anesthetics in a way that is incredibly safe for patients, but very little is known about the intricacies of how these drugs actually work in children and adults.

Now, researchers have uncovered what cells respond to anesthesia in an organism known as the C. elegans, according to a new study from the Seattle Children's Research Institute. C. elegans is a transparent roundworm used often in research.

"Our findings tell us what cells and channels are important in making the anesthetic work," said lead author Phil Morgan, MD, researcher at Seattle Children's Research Institute and University of Washington professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine. "The scientific community has attempted to uncover the secrets of how anesthetics work since the 1860s, and we now have at least part of the answer." Margaret Sedensky, MD, Seattle Children's Research Institute and a UW professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine, and Vinod Singaram, graduate student, Case Western Reserve University, are co-lead authors of the study.

The team studied the roundworm after inserting a pigment or protein typically found in the retina of a human eye -- called a retinal-dependent rhodopsin channel -- into its cells. The proteins in cell membranes act as channels to help movement. Researchers then used a blue light, activating channels in the roundworm that allowed the immediate reversal of anesthetics, and resulting in the roundworm waking up and seemingly swimming off the slide.

The team's findings won't immediately translate into a discovery that would be available for humans, cautioned Dr. Morgan, who has been working in this field for some 25 years. "But it tells us what function we have to treat to try to do so," he said.

"We believe that there is a class of potassium channels in humans that are crucial in this process of how anesthetics work and that they are perhaps the ones that are sensitive to potential anesthesia reversal. There are drugs for blocking these channels and with these same drugs, maybe we can eventually reverse anesthesia." Potassium channels are found in all living organisms and in most cell types, and they control a wide variety of cell functions.

Anesthesia medications are used in both children and adults, but many are used more often in kids. Dr. Morgan and his colleagues plan to replicate the study in other animal models, starting with a mouse.

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Multiple sclerosis linked to different area of brain

Islamabad, Dec 31 : Radiology researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have found evidence that multiple sclerosis affects an area of the brain that controls cognitive, sensory and motor functioning apart from the disabling damage caused by the disease's visible lesions.

The thalamus of the brain was selected as the benchmark for the study conducted by faculty at the UTHealth Medical School. Lead researchers include Khader M. Hasan, Ph.D., associate professor, and Ponnada A. Narayana, Ph.D., professor and director of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging; and Jerry S. Wolinsky, M.D., the Bartels Family and Opal C. Rankin Professor in the Department of Neurology.

Results of the research were published in The Journal of Neuroscience.

"The thalamus is a central area that relates to the rest of the brain and acts as the 'post office,' " said Hasan, first author of the paper. "It also is an area that has the least amount of damage from lesions in the brain but we see volume loss, so it appears other brain damage related to the disease is also occurring."

Researchers have known that the thalamus loses volume in size with typical aging, which accelerates after age 70. The UTHealth multidisciplinary team's purpose was to assess if there was more volume loss in patients with multiple sclerosis, which could explain the dementia-related decline associated with the disease.

"Multiple sclerosis patients have cognitive deficits and the thalamus plays an important role in cognitive function. The lesions we can see but there is subclinical activity in multiple sclerosis where you can't see the changes," said senior author Narayana. "There are neurodegenerative changes even when the brain looks normal and we saw this damage early in the disease process."

For the study, researchers used precise imaging by the powerful 3 Tessla MRI scanner to compare the brains of 109 patients with the disease to 255 healthy subjects. The patients were recruited through the Multiple Sclerosis Research Group at UTHealth, directed by Wolinsky, and the healthy controls through the Department of Pediatrics' Children's Learning Institute.

Adjusting for age-related changes in the thalamus, the patients with multiple sclerosis had less thalamic volume than the controls. The amount of thalamic loss also appeared to be related to the severity of disability.
"This is looking at multiple sclerosis in a different way," Hasan said. "The thalami are losing cellular content and we can use this as a marker of what's going on. If we can find a way to detect the disease earlier in a more vulnerable population, we could begin treatment sooner."

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