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INDIAN SCIENTISTS UNLOCK HIBISCUS'DIABETES-BUSTING POTENTIAL

ACTOR SRIDEVI

Actress Parineeti Chopra Actress Nargis Fakhri Actress Bipasha Basu Actress Raveena Tandon (IANS)

LEXUS NX F SPORT

EVELYN SHARMA KARISHMA TANNA SUCHETA SHARMA DIANA PENTY (IANS)MALAIKA ARORA

BY SAHANA GHOSH

Kolkata, (IANS) Scientists from India's nor theast and West Bengalhave unlocked the potential of natural chemicals derived from a par-ticular Hibiscus species, known for its cottony colour-changing blos-soms and medicinal properties, that could generate a new and bettertherapeutic agent for diabetes, a disease that afflicts around 62 mil-lion Indians.Researchers at Assam's Tezpur University and West Bengal's Visva-Bharati University zeroed in on a phytochemical (plant-derived com-pound) from the leaves of Sthalpadma or land-lotus (scientificallyknown as Hibiscus mutabilis and commonly called Confederate rose)that restores insulin sensitivity of cells and thereby helps lower bloodsugar levels in diabetic rats.Dubbed as a silent killer by exper ts worldwide, diabetes mellitus(Type 2 diabetes or T2D), or simply diabetes, is one of the four majornon-communicable diseases in India, the other three being cardio-vascular disease, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Diabetes exists in two forms, Type-1 and Type-2."In Type 1 diabetes, insulin, the hormone responsible for breakingdown glucose in the body for utilization, is not produced in sufficientquantities whereas in the Type 2, insulin is sufficient but not active."We found that ferulic acid (FRL), belonging to the polyphenols, ex-tracted from leaves of the plant, has the potential to be a better thera-peutic agent for diabetes," Samir Bhattacharya, emeritus professor,School of Life Sciences (Zoology Depar tment) at Visva-Bharati inShantiniketan, told IANS over the phone.The findings were published in Biochemical and Biophysical ResearchCommunications journal Aug 26. It states: "FRL could influence inimprovement of glucose (sugar) level in diabetic rats within 15 dayswhen orally administered for eight days."The screening was par t of the Depar tment of Biotechnology'sTwinnings Research and Development project that fosters collabora-tion with scientists from the nor theastern states of India and nationalinstitutions from other par ts of the country.

Major dynamic performance enhancements and unique styling cuesdistinguish the Lexus NX F SPORT editions. These include an evenbolder new grille adding to the already aggressive face of the NX. NXF SPORT has its own high per formance spor ts wheels, a clearlydifferentiated cabin, special sport seats designed to hug the occupantsduring high-performance driving, and an adaptive variable suspension sys-tem which allows it to perform even better.F SPORT grille and exteriorAn L-mesh grille on Lexus performance models integrates with a metalliccoated lower bumper moulding to set the NX F SPORT apart. The largespindle aperture is graded from bottom to top to express the outline of thedistinctive F SPORT motif.A Lexus-first sports wheel offers a 225/60/18 10-spoke alloy that combinesblack paint on the lateral edges with a luminous machine-brushed finish.F SPORT exclusive colour and interiorInside, the NX F SPORT features unique instrumentation, an F SPORT steer-ing wheel, special seats, pedals, gear shift and an F SPORT-exclusive inte-rior colour of Dark Rose.Injection-moulded quilted seats hug the occupants and are finished in exclu-sive F SPORT colours. Instruments are specially designed to enable sportsdrivers to better pick their shift points, drawing on designed developed for theLFA supercar and IS F SPORT vehicles.Perforated non-slip aluminium pedals and driver's foot brace provide practi-cal assistance to sports driving.The steering wheel leather is perforated to provide even greater feel duringperformance driving, while the brushed metallic gear shift lever and the scuffplate ornamentation beneath the door are exclusive to F SPORT.Even sharper handlingAdaptive Variable Suspension is available exclusively on NX F SPORT mod-els. AVS results in more precise steering feel and response, increasing thecommunication with the driver and providing improved steering feed-back.The switchable damping system is improved upon previous genera-tions. In NX F SPORT, the damping force has been increased from itsprevious 9 stages to 30 stages. Suspension response time has in-creased by a factor of four - from 80 milliseconds to 20 milliseconds.AVS can be switched between Normal and Spor ts S+ mode to pro-vide choice between optimum ride comfort and prioritizing handlingstability.

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Craving for chocolate?Head for Chocolicious festivalNew Delhi (IANS): If you are a fan of chocolates, check out theChocolicious festival. The three-day fest, which opened hereFriday, offers the best of chocolate brands.L'Opéra, one of the first authentic French pastry and bakeryenterprises in India, is par ticipating in the fest which is beingorganised at Select City Walk in Saket.And for the first time in the capital, L'Opéra has created an awe-inspiring chocolate structure as a reproduction of the Paris Op-era House, one of the world's ar tistic and cultural landmarks."Although one won't hear any music from inside this OperaHouse, the visual harmony of the design is elegant and pleas-ing" said Laurent Samandari, founder and managing director ofL'Opéra, in a statement."And not only for the eyes; a limited selection of delightful choco-late products will be available for tasting and L'Opéra's new signa-ture, chocolate-covered eggless biscuits, will be for sale at ourstand" he said and added: "Just as the Opera House embodiesseamless coherence in its design, so does L'Opéra represent aflawless mix of professionalism, authenticity and quality."

CONTD. FROM PAGE 25G-Monitor and boost meterNX F SPORT introduces a Lexus-first "G-Monitor" in its full-colourMulti-Information Display.In the NX F SPORT, the G-ball moves in accordance with the vehicle'slateral and longitudinal forces. The MID displays the peak force ineach direction. Display bars indicate the steering angle, throttle openingangle, and hydraulic brake pressure.In the turbocharged NX 200t F SPORT, the MID provides a Lexus-firstturbo-boost meter with the colour band changing in the high boostpressure range. There are also analogue displays for oil temperatureand oil pressure.

LEXUS NX F SPORT

Wardrobe Solutions for a Modern LifestylePLANET: AUTUMN/WINTER 2014

Planet, an Elegant British Brands owned by Jacques Ver t Group, andthe choice for modern, on-trend workwear, unveils its new collectionfor Autumn/Winter 2014. Modern cuts and new silhouettes, stylishcontemporary prints and bold pops of colour will give your wardrobea fashionable finish this season.From winter coats and luxury merino knits to elegant tailored shift

dresses and stand-out separates, the new collection is perfect forthat sophisticated look at work right through to a dinner date or anevening at the theatre. The aim of Planet is to make wardrobe buildingeasy with a beautiful selection of ‘buy now - wear now’ work andevent wear styles for professional women.Amanda Lester, Planet Brand Director, said: “This season we wantedto introduce vibrant hues with a stylist twist, so we’ve gone for yel-lows, reds and cobalt blues on definitive pieces such as pencil skir tsand shift dresses. Refining the workplace look, we’ve added blockingand geometric patterns for a contemporary and stylish look.”

CONTD. FROM PAGE 25Found across India, leaves and flowers of the shrubby Hibiscusmutabilis are used to treat swellings and skin infections.The samples - Hibiscus leaves - were collected from the scenicnor theast region.Alak Kumar Buragohain, professor, Depar tment of MolecularBiology and Biotechnology, Tezpur University, explained that thecompound, a type of polyphenol, removes a block in the insulinsignalling pathway and enables it to per form its normal functionof clearing glucose (blood sugar) from the bloodstream."In diabetes, insulin sensitivity is retarded. The isolatedcompound can restore sensitivity and, therefore, cells cansense presence of insulin," Buragohain, at present the vicechancellor of Dibrugarh University in Assam, told IANS over thephone.A staggering 347 million people worldwide have diabetes, withWHO projecting that it will be the seventh leading cause ofdeath in 2030.

INDIAN SCIENTISTS UNLOCK HIBISCUS'DIABETES-BUSTING POTENTIAL

Bhattacharya said identification of possible drug therapytargets in the body's insulin utilisation pathway, as well asmolecules (inhibitors) that can hinder insulin from losing itssensitivity, is of vital impor tance in designing drugs.Incidentally, the current finding forms a crucial link to a 2012study led by Bhattacharya that unravelled the puzzle of how aprotein secreted by the liver into the bloodstream (Fetuin-A)hampers insulin activity."Probably, there isn't any known inhibitor of Fetuin-A, aprotein associated with insulin insensitivity. By blockingFetuin-A, ferulic acid restores sensitivity of cells towardsinsulin and lowers blood sugar level," said Bhattacharya, alsoa National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) senior scientist.Other researchers of the study are Bhaskarjyoti Gogoi andSuman Dasgupta from Tezpur University and Priyajit Chatterjeeand Sandip Mukherjee from Visva-Bharati.According to Buragohain, the next step would be to purify thechemicals and assess their toxicity to the body.


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Ontario - Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.8% in the secondquarter, following a 0.2% increase in the first quarter. This was the largestquarterly gain since the third quarter of 2011. On a monthly basis, realGDP by industry increased 0.3% in June.The quarterly growth was a result of increased economic activity in allsectors of the economy except non-profit institutions serving households.Final domestic demand was up 0.7% after a flat first quarter. The in-crease was mainly due to higher household final consumption expendi-ture.Household final consumption expenditure was up 0.9%, as a result ofincreased outlays on goods (+1.2%) and services (+0.7%).Business gross fixed capital formation increased 0.8% following twoconsecutive quar terly declines. Investment in residential structures(+2.9%) contributed the most to the overall gain. Ownership transfercosts were up 9.0% after declining in the previous two quarters.Businesses accumulated $7.0 billion in inventories, down from $14.5billion in the first quarter. Retail trade reduced its inventories of non-durable goods by $2.8 billion.Exports of goods and services increased 4.2% following a 0.2% declinein the previous quarter. Exports of goods rose 4.4%. Imports of goods andservices increased 2.7%.The output of service industries grew 0.8% in the second quarter. Therewere notable increases in both wholesale and retail trade. Increaseswere also recorded in transportation and warehousing services, at of-fices of real estate agents and brokers, in professional services, accom-modation and food services as well as in finance and insurance ser-vices. The output of goods-producing industries rose 0.6% in the secondquarter. There were notable increases in mining and oil and gas extrac-tion, manufacturing and construction. Declines were recorded in utilitiesand the agriculture and forestry sector. Expressed at an annualized rate,real GDP expanded 3.1% in the second quarter. By comparison, realGDPin the United States rose 4.2%.Household spending continues to increaseHousehold final consumption expenditure rose 0.9% in the second quar-ter, the strongest quarterly gain since the second quarter of 2013.Consumers increased spending on goods by 1.2%, led by gains in du-rable goods (+3.5%), while spending on services was 0.7% higher.Transport purchases of goods and services (+2.0%), which contributedabout one-third of the growth in household final consumption, were boostedby an increase in purchases of vehicles (+4.2%).Outlays on furnishings, household equipment and other goods and ser-vices (+3.1%), food, beverage and accommodation services (+1.9%)as well as clothing and footwear (+2.9%) also contributed to the growthin household spending.Housing demand upBusiness investment in residential structures increased 2.9%, as owner-ship transfer costs, an indicator of resale activity, rose 9.0%. Both hadrecorded declines in the previous two quarters.Outlays on renovations (+2.3%) and new housing construction (+0.8%)were also higher.Increased business investment in plant and equipment

Business investment in non-residential structures as well as machineryand equipment combined grew 0.2% in the second quarter, following a0.8% decline in the first quarter.Business investment in non-residential structures (+0.1%) edged up,after declining in the previous two quarters.Investment in machinery and equipment grew 0.4%, as outlays on me-dium and heavy trucks, buses and other motor vehicles increased 5.4%.Conversely, investment in industrial machinery and equipment was down2.4%.Investment in intellectual property products downBusiness outlays on intellectual property products fell 2.8% in the secondquarter, following a similar decline in the previous quarter.Investment in mineral exploration and evaluation decreased 11.3% afterfalling 14.5% in the previous quarter. Investment in research and devel-opment (-0.7%) and software (-0.3%) was also down.Deceleration in business inventory accumulationBusinesses added $7.0 billion in inventories in the second quarter, com-pared with $14.5 billion in the first quarter.Retail trade reduced inventories by $784 million, following an accumula-tion of $2.5 billion in the previous quar ter. Retail inventories of non-durable goods were $2.8 billion lower.Wholesalers accumulated $7.4 billion in inventories, following a $9.8billion accumulation in the previous quarter. Manufacturers reduced theirinventories by $709 million, after adding $2.5 billion to their stocks in thefirst quarter. Farm inventory accumulation (+$210 million) was slightlyless than in the previous quarter and significantly lower than in 2013.Exports increaseExports of goods and services were up 4.2% in the second quarter, afteredging down 0.2% in the first quarter. This was the largest increase sincethe third quarter of 2011.Exports of goods rose 4.4%, with passenger cars and light trucks (+13.0%),farm and fishing products (+13.9%) as well as forestry products andbuilding and packaging materials (+8.7%) contributing the most to theincrease.Imports upImports of goods and services increased 2.7% in the second quarter,following a 1.4% decrease in the first quarter. This was the largest in-crease since the second quarter of 2010.Imports of goods advanced 2.8%. Motor vehicles and parts (+8.4%),consumer goods (+3.8%) as well as basic and industrial chemical,plastic and rubber products (+7.9%) contributed the most to the increase.Imports of energy products were down 7.4% while imports of metal oresand concentrates fell 12.5%.Imports of services grew by 2.1% after falling by 1.1% in the first quarter.Economy-wide income grows at a slower paceNominal GDP grew 1.0% in the second quarter, after increasing 1.6% inthe first quarter.Compensation of employees, which includes wages and salaries as wellas the employers' social contributions, rose 0.7%, following a 1.2% in-crease in the first quarter. Wages and salaries were up 1.2% in goods-producing industries and 0.9% higher in service-producing industries.

The net operating surplus of corporations rose 1.5%, following a 5.9%gain during the first quarter. Non-financial corporations' net operatingsurplus rose 2.3%, the fourth consecutive quarterly increase. However,the net operating surplus of financial corporations fell 4.9%.Household saving rate lowerThe household saving rate decreased from 5.0% in the first quarter to3.9% in the second quarter, as household final consumption expenditures(in current dollars) increased at a faster pace than household disposableincome.The household debt service ratio, defined as household mortgage andnon-mortgage interest paid divided by disposable income, was 6.94%,down from 6.97% in the first quarter and below the average rate of 7.11%recorded in 2013.The national saving rate in the second quarter was 4.6%, down from 4.7%in the first quarter. Higher corporate savings were mainly offset by lowersavings of households.Terms of trade weakenA weakening in Canada's terms of trade, resulting from lower prices forexports relative to imports, tempered the growth in real gross domesticincome to 0.3% in the second quarter.Export prices declined 1.2% while import prices were 0.3% higher. Theoverall price of goods and services produced in Canada rose 0.2%, afteradvancing 1.4% in the first quarter.The price of final domestic demand rose 0.5%, after increasing 1.0% inthe first quarter.Gross domestic product by industry, June 2014Real gross domestic product grew 0.3% in June, a sixth consecutivemonthly increase.The output of goods-producing industries increased 0.5% in June, mainlyas a result of increases in mining and oil and gas extraction as well asconstruction. Utilities also advanced. In contrast, the agriculture and for-estry sector and manufacturing declined.The output of service industries rose 0.3% in June. Notable increaseswere recorded in wholesale and retail trade, the finance and insurancesector, and transportation and warehousing services. There were de-clines in accommodation and food services and, to a lesser extent, thearts and entertainment sector. The public sector (education, health andpublic administration combined) was unchanged in June.Mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction expanded 1.8% in June, afterrising 0.5% in May. Mining and quarrying (excluding oil and gas extrac-tion) rose 4.7%, mainly as a result of an increase in copper, nickel, leadand zinc mining following maintenance activities in May. Potash miningand, to a lesser extent, iron ore mining, were also up. Oil and gas extrac-tion advanced 1.3% as a result of higher oil production. Support activitiesfor mining and oil and gas extraction declined 0.2% in June.Wholesale trade grew 1.0% in June, a third consecutive monthly increase.Notable gains were recorded in the wholesaling of building materials andsupplies as well as machinery, equipment and supplies. Miscellaneouswholesaling (which includes the wholesaling of agricultural supplies)also advanced. Retail trade rose 0.5%, mainly as a result of increasedactivity at food and beverage stores and, to a lesser extent, at generalmerchandise stores (which include department stores). Constructionincreased 0.9%, largely as a result of gains in residential building andrepair construction. The output of real estate agents and brokers edgeddown 0.1% in June, following a 7.2% increase in May. The finance andinsurance sector increased 0.6% in June, after edging down 0.1% in May.Growth in banking and in financial investment services more than offseta decline in insurance services. Source: Statistics Canada

Canadian gross domestic product (GDP)rose 0.8% in the second quarter



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