Chennai, June 15 (IANS) Chief Minister M.K. Stalin will inaugurate Katpadi’s first full-fledged government taluk…

New York, June 15 (IANS) In a world increasingly obsessed with external forms of wellness, a profound initiative is set to remind us of yoga’s inner essence in the US, as cities globally prepare to celebrate the International Day of Yoga (IDY) on June 21.‘The Spirit of Yoga’, a special International Day of Yoga celebration, is being co-hosted by the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual Organization at the serene Global Harmony House in Great Neck on Long Island on June 22, the organisers said in a statement on Sunday.While most Yoga Day celebrations revolve around physical postures and public demonstrations of flexibility, ‘The Spirit of Yoga’ programme seeks to reclaim yoga’s soul, rekindling its spiritual roots.The event will witness a lineup of dignitaries, spiritual leaders and practitioners who bring wisdom, inspiration, and the lived experience of yogic values to about 250 seekers in the hall, and many more attending virtually.Binaya Srikanta Pradhan, Consul General of India in New York, will be the Chief Guest who will speak on India’s gift of yoga to the world, in the presence of BK Mohini Didi, the revered Chief Administrative Head of the Brahma Kumaris international organization.Set in the tranquil atmosphere of Global Harmony House, a spiritual sanctuary and the regional headquarters of the Brahma Kumaris for the Americas and the Caribbean, this gathering is designed to be an immersive, contemplative, and celebratory experience.“In today’s commercialised wellness world, yoga is often reduced to fitness,” said Gayatri Naraine, the NGO representative of the Brahma Kumaris at the UN. “But the true spirit of yoga is about connecting to our highest self, to the Supreme, through spiritual awareness.”“We are focusing on yoga as a way of being – anchored in awareness, self-realisation, and harmony,” said Parveen Chopra, Founding Editor of ALotusInTheMud.com and co-moderator of the event. “Yoga, as in Patanjali’s 8-limbed path, finds its fulfillment in dhyan, asanas are just a part and accessory.”—IANSna/

Seoul, June 15 (IANS) South Korea’s food and drink prices ranked the second highest among…

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Increasing emotional dysfunctions and poor coping skills may be behind the rising trend in cases of women committing or fostering the murder of their husbands, said mental health experts on Saturday. There is a rise in cases of intimate partner violence, especially those involving the female partner. From a planned honeymoon killing in Meghalaya to a dismembered body found sealed in a cement drum in Meerut, the wave of husband murders has sparked a fierce debate on the mental status of the women committing these ghastly murders.“These crimes are not to be viewed as aggressor being men or women rather these are to be viewed as human tragedies resulting from emotional dysfunctions, unhealthy coping skills and impaired cognitions and judgement,” Dr Shiv Prasad, Professor, and Head, Dept of Psychiatry at Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, told IANS.From Bengaluru techie Atul Subhash committing suicide last December and blaming his wife in a 1.5-hour-long video posted online to the recent case of Raja Raghuvanshi, who was murdered by his wife during their honeymoon trip in Meghalaya — the cases have attracted huge public attention. These have also triggered misogynistic backlash and are posing a threat to the idea of gender equality.“It becomes important to address here that these events are not acts by empowered women but by a woman suffering from immense psychological dysfunction. These two concepts can’t be compared, and narrating empowered women as dangerous and emotionally unstable on one end jeopardises the long fight of gender equality, but on the other hand, it ignores the real underlying cause — psychological dysfunctions,” the psychiatrist said.He added that these cases reflect the social and psychological shift with women being exposed to various economic, social, emotional, and even existential stressors. There is often a tug-of-war between partners for competence and power.“These adverse events of violence result when personal vulnerabilities in the form of unresolved/untreated past trauma, personality traits like fear of abandonment, emotional dysregulation, reduced emotional tolerance, unrealistic expectations collide with factors like the feeling of betrayal or rejection, overwhelming family dynamics/responsibilities and perception of not living the ideal hypothesised life,” Prasad said.With the changing landscape of the country, the concept of relationships is also changing, said experts.“From joint family to nuclear family system, the thought process is also changing from we to me, which means initially we used to think about we, that is the society as large, but now it’s about me, that is I, me, and myself. So, there is a sense of selfishness and entitlement that I should get whatever I need,” Dr Rajiv Mehta, Vice Chairperson of Psychiatry, from a leading hospital in the national capital, told IANS.He noted that the patience level of couples is decreasing, and added to that is a strong belief that we are clever enough and we are powerful enough that we can evade the law.The experts noted that the crimes also highlight the fragility of modern relationships, which are over-influenced by digital glamourisation, look hyperconnected but deep down lack emotional connectivity, and are based on unrealistic expectations that usually don’t fit in the deep-rooted cultural and family dynamics, leading to instability in relationships.“Nowadays, relationships are based on individualism rather than interdependence, reflections of a deficit in understanding the basic concept that relationship/marriage doesn’t just work with partners being the only role players rather it demands fitting in the complex family dynamics,” Prasad said.–IANSrvt/uk

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) A team of researchers from Singapore has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI)-based method that makes tracking cancer easier and faster-using blood tests.The method called “Fragle”, developed by a team from the A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS), requires only a small blood sample, and analyses the size of DNA fragments in the blood to reveal distinct patterns that differentiate cancer DNA from healthy DNA. This can help doctors track cancer treatment responses more accurately and frequently.”Just as scientists tracked Covid-19 outbreaks by detecting viral particles in wastewater, Fragle analyses DNA fragments in blood to monitor cancer treatment response and detect relapse early,” said lead author Dr. Anders Skanderup, Senior Principal Scientist at A*STAR GIS Laboratory of Computational Cancer Genomics.Existing methods for measuring cancer DNA in the blood, also known as circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA), often require complex and expensive DNA sequencing to screen for common cancer mutations. However, because cancer mutations vary between patients, test results can be inconsistent, making it difficult for doctors to track cancer treatment response with blood tests effectively.On the other hand, Fragle uses AI to analyse the size of DNA fragments in the blood.Cancer DNA tends to exhibit different size patterns compared to healthy DNA, and the Fragle AI-model can identify these differences using very small amounts of DNA. As a result, the method allows for faster and more affordable cancer tracking, said the researchers in the paper, published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.It has also demonstrated high reliability, delivering accurate results across blood samples from hundreds of cancer patients and distinct cancer types. In addition, the method is versatile and compatible with most DNA profiling techniques commonly used in hospitals or offered by commercial providers.In an ongoing study of more than 100 clinical trial patients, the GIS-NCCS team is using Fragle to monitor ctDNA levels every two months during treatment, with the aim of catching signs of relapse before they appear on routine scans.The team is also studying whether early changes in ctDNA can identify which patients are likely to have a favourable or poor response to the therapy. The goal of the study is to assess the value of incorporating ctDNA tests in routine monitoring of cancer patients during treatment.–IANSrvt/

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Australian researchers have launched a pioneering clinical trial that aims to combat aggressive cancers previously deemed untreatable.The trial led by a team from the Australian National University (ANU) focussed on malignancies driven by the elusive MYC protein — a protein implicated in 70 per cent of human cancers –, Xinhua news agency reported.The success of the trial could redefine treatment paradigms for aggressive malignancies globally, offering a template for tackling other molecularly complex diseases, said the team.The study will test an experimental drug, PMR-116, designed to disrupt cancer growth mechanisms in patients with prostate, breast, ovarian, and blood cancers, or MYC-driven tumours.The MYC protein is a key regulator of cell growth. It is often implicated in cancer, contributing to tumour development.Led by the ANU and Canberra Health Services the trial adopts an innovative “basket” approach, grouping participants based on molecular biomarkers rather than cancer type.This method streamlines research by targeting MYC through its downstream effects, meaning it blocks the processes MYC triggers in the cell rather than trying to block MYC itself, according to the study.PMR-116, developed by ANU researchers and biotech firm Pimera Therapeutics, inhibits ribosomal biogenesis, a cellular process exploited by MYC-driven tumours.“MYC is one of the most notorious cancer-causing genes, and tumours driven by MYC overexpression are often among the most aggressive and difficult to treat,” said hematologist and ANU professor Mark Polizzotto, who will lead the clinical trial.”MYC has long been considered ‘undruggable,’ but early results of PMR-116 show promise in changing that perception,” he added.The trial will enroll patients at major hospitals in Canberra, Melbourne, and Sydney starting in late 2025, prioritising those whose cancers resist standard therapies, said the research team.ANU professor Ross Hannan, co-developer of PMR-116, highlighted that this approach represents a new direction in precision oncology, focusing on cancer’s molecular drivers instead of its location, potentially speeding up treatments for many patients worldwide.–IANSrvt/

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Alcohol-related liver disease deaths are increasing rapidly among women and young adults, according to new research.Researchers from the Universities Havard, Stanford, and Southern California (USC) attributed the rise to higher drinking during the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to increasing health problems like obesity and high blood pressure.”The pandemic itself came under control, but the disparities that came with it continued and lingered,” said Dr. Nasim Maleki, a psychiatry professor at Harvard Medical School.The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, based on death certificates from across the US showed that between 2018 and 2022, deaths from alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) rose nearly 9 per cent a year. Between 2006 and 2018, ALD deaths stood at 3.5 per cent per year.While men still had the highest number of deaths — 17 per 100,000 people — women’s death rates grew faster.In 2022, eight of every 100,000 women died from ALD, up from three per 100,000 over the study period. Women’s death rates rose by about 4.3 per cent each year, nearly twice the rate of men.One reason women may be affected more is because of how the body processes alcohol.Biologically, women are less able to break down alcohol than men. That means even a little drinking can have a bigger impact on their organs over time, the researchers explained.Further, young adults between ages 25 and 44 were found to have the biggest yearly increase in deaths from alcohol-associated hepatitis between 1999 and 2022.”Alcohol-related cirrhosis takes time to develop. So we may not see the true extent of the consequences until five, probably 10, years from now, which is very concerning,” said Dr. Robert Wong, a liver specialist at Stanford University.Recent research showed a spike in the number of annual alcohol deaths due to cancer.Data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2025 conference revealed that alcohol-related cancer deaths doubled — to 23,207 by 2021 from 11,896 in 1990.–IANSrvt/

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) The act of donating blood is simple, safe, and can make a huge impact on the needy ones, said Union Health Minister JP Nadda on World Blood Donor Day on Saturday.World Blood Donor Day, celebrated on 14 June every year, serves to raise awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products and to thank voluntary unpaid blood donors for their life-saving gifts of blood.Nadda urged people to fight myths and misinformation related to blood donation and to donate blood.“World Blood Donor Day brings us together to raise awareness about the importance of donating blood. It saves millions of lives worldwide by supporting those who need it most. Yet, many people hesitate due to misinformation and fear,” Nadda said, in a post on social media platform X.“Let’s use this day to break the myths and encourage more people to donate. This year’s theme, ‘Give Blood, Give Hope: Together We Save Lives,’ reminds us that blood donation is simple, safe, and can make a huge impact,” he added.The Union Minister urged people to “unite for this social cause and be part of something truly life-changing”.“On this #WorldBloodDonorDay, let’s salute the selfless heroes whose noble act gives others a second chance at life. One donation can make all the difference. Donate blood, be the reason someone lives,” added Pralhad Joshi, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, on X.The Health Ministry also encouraged people to come out and donate blood.In a post on X, the ministry explained that people between the age of 18 and 65 years old, weighing at least 45 kg and having a haemoglobin level above 12.5 g/dL can safely donate bloodWorld Blood Donor Day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of Karl Landsteiner, who discovered the ABO blood group system. It was first organised in 2004, by the World Health Organization (WHO).–IANSrvt/

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) Indian Medical Association, Gujarat State Branch on Saturday urged Tata Sons to extend financial support to medical students at the BJ Medical College who were injured and killed in the Air India flight AI -171 crash near Ahmedabad airport.Several students from the college had been present at the site during the incident which has shaken the country and claimed about 274 lives including those onboard and on-ground.Following the crash, the Tata group, which owns Air India, announced a compensation of Rs 1 crore each for the families of those who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash.In a letter addressed to N Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, the IMA appreciated Air India’s announcement of compensation and requested the company for generous and urgent support for the affected medical students and doctors as well.”We humbly request you to consider extending financial assistance and necessary support to the medical students present at the crash site who were injured or lost their lives in this unfortunate event,” the letter read.“These individuals were not only victims but also future pillars of our healthcare system, and their well-being and families deserve similar care and support. Accordingly, we earnestly request you to declare immediately similar help to the medical students injured or who had lost their life,” it added.Earlier, two doctors filed a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to the Central government to provide adequate compensation to the affected medical students.The plea, filed on Friday by Dr. Saurav Kumar and Dr. Dhruv Chauhan, has urged the SC to direct the Central government to immediately announce and disburse interim compensation of Rs 50 lakh for the families of all deceased victims, including resident doctors from the BJ Medical College who were among those killed.The petition also sought directions for the Central Government to provide rehabilitation support, including employment opportunities for eligible family members of the deceased persons and for a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash with necessary steps to prevent similar incidents in the future.–IANSrvt/

New Delhi, June 14 (IANS) The National Consumer Helpline, where people can register complaints and seek resolutions in an efficient and effective manner, has received 5.41 lakh complaints in 2025, said Nidhi Khare, Secretary of the Department of Consumer Affairs.Addressing a regional workshop on consumer protection in Chennai, Khare said that 23 per cent of complaints are from the southern states, which reflects a strong regional engagement of the consumer portal.Of the “28.54 lakh cases filed nationally, only 5.62 lakh are pending, with southern states accounting for just 13.34 per cent,” Khare said.Lauding the performance by southern states, she noted that Karnataka and Kerala Commissions disposed of more cases than filed, and several District Commissions achieved 100 per cent+ disposal rates over three consecutive years.In addition, over 11,900 cases were heard via Virtual Courts, Khare said.The workshop organised by the Department of Consumer Affairs aimed to reaffirm its commitment to strengthening consumer grievance redressal mechanisms and promoting institutional efficiency.Khare emphasised that the digital age requires adaptive legal and digital mechanisms and underlined the significance of initiatives like the Right to Repair Portal, e-Jagriti, and strengthening of National Consumer Helpline.Further, Khare also highlighted the regulatory steps undertaken Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) to curb dark patterns, fake reviews, and misleading ads.She called for continued innovation, collaboratio, and inclusive access to world-class grievance redressal, especially through mediation and virtual hearings.Meanwhile, Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi, President of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), highlighted the evolving scope of the Consumer Protection Act and the increasing shift of litigation from traditional courts to consumer commissions.He provided valuable guidance to District Consumer Commissions, urging them to adopt a more digital-friendly and tech-enabled approach to enhance efficiency and accessibility in consumer dispute resolution.“Building digital infrastructure and leveraging technology is important to meet the demands of a rapidly changing environment,” Sahi said. He also called for proactive engagement with administrative bodies to ensure effective enforcement of Commission orders and advised timely coordination in cases requiring expert opinions.The workshop featured several sessions which focussed on strengthening consumer grievance redressal across key sectors.These also addressed digital innovation through e-Jagriti, real estate and insurance grievance mechanisms, and medical negligence redressal, with active participation from judicial leaders, state officials, and legal experts.–IANSrvt/