Too much of anything is bad - this goes for vitamins also!

Who would have thought the sunshine vitamin would have such a dark side to it? But doctors say over consumption of vitamins - especially vitamin D - can tip them from tonic to toxic.

"I've come across many people who eat healthy and have no need to supplement their diets with pills. Yet, they insist on taking vitamin, omega-3 fatty acids, iron and folic acid supplements," says endocrinologist Dr Jayashree Gopal, senior consultant at Apollo Hospitals.

She adds that while some vitamins like B1, B2, B6 and C are water-soluble, which means people are naturally protected against an overdose, vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble (meaning stored in fat and released slowly) and so an overdose can be toxic, causing anything from renal failure to intracranial hypertension, or even death, as in the recent case of a 10-year-old boy from New Delhi.

Dr R Bharath of the Arka Centre for Hormonal Health says studies have shown Vitamin E too, though sometimes prescribed for leg cramps, may not be good for the heart when taken in high doses.

The safe upper limit of vitamin D consumption, say doctors, is around 1000-2000 International units (IU) per day, but even that can be taken only after consultation. Only in cases of serious deficiencies, patients are prescribed doses of 60,000 IU or even 6 lakh IU.

"A dose of 60,000 IU is recommended only once a week or month until the deficiency is overcome, a 6 lakh IU injection is recommended once in six months. But people feel energetic almost as soon as they have a 6 lakh IU shot so they take it every day to feel better," says Dr Gopal. In fact, the 10-year-old boy who died of vitamin D overdose was reportedly on a continuous dose of 6 lakh IU of vitamin D against the prescribed limit of 1,000.

What people sometimes don't realise, says nutritionist Shiny Chandran, is that in medical terms, Vitamin D is considered more a hormone than a vitamin. "It's the only vitamin with a dual role, and that's why one needs to be careful about dosage," she says.

"As a nutritionist I never give my clients long-term dosages of vitamin D but ask them to consult a physician," she says, adding that many clients get their dosage recommendations from fitness trainers, which is unsafe.

Dr Gopal says she had two cases of acute renal failure in adults recently because of over-consumption of vitamin D pills. "Unfortunately, there is no antidote for a vitamin D overdose. The body just has to flush out the excess vitamin D on its own, and it can sometimes take up to six months," she adds.

One of the biggest concerns, says Dr Bharath, is that though vitamin D level tests are expensive, pills or injections are cheaper and can be bought over the counter. "So people keep dosing themselves without ever finding out if they have a deficiency," he says, adding that vitamins are best in their natural form - in fruits, vegetables, meats and sunshine -rather than as supplements. So the next time you reach for a pill, learn your ABCDs first.

Meet the Delhi Girl 'Tina Dabi': Top Scorer in Toughest Exam of the Country

BENGALURU: “Napoleon said that without opportunity ability can’t be cultivated. Dalit girl topped IAS & this could not have been possible 40-50 yrs back,” tweeted Udit Raj, Member of Parliament, North-West Delhi. There is a reason for this recall. It seems 22-year-old Tina Dabi loves to fight with challenges. She not only cracked the toughest competitive examinations of India but also bagged the first rank in her very first attempt. Tina has now opted for Haryana Cadre. Despite its economic progress, Tina believes that the state offers challenges like “patriarchal mindset and gender inequality” and that is a very big paradox she would like to deal with.

“What is actually holding Haryana back is its patriarchal mindset and the gender inequality, which is a subject very close to my heart, since I am a woman from a progressive family and have also studied in a college that lays great emphasis on gender equality, so that is something I want to change about the state,” Tina told The Indian Express.

Graduated from Lady Shri Ram College in 2014, Tina’s success can be a source of inspiration for scores of students from underprivileged castes and communities. Outstanding academic achievement is nothing new for Tina and her family. “Tina is just like her parents. Tina’s mother was also a topper of Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT), Bhopal. We are happy that she made not only us but the whole country proud,” Piyush Kamble, Tina’s Maternal Uncle told Hindustan Times.

In an interview with India Today, Tina shared her secret behind the success, "My secret formula is my mother. She has guided me since Class 11 and groomed me for the service. She has given me all possible guidance and support throughout the time." Tina’s mother Himali Dabi is a former Indian Engineering Service (IES) officer, who took voluntary retirement and her father Mr. Jaswant Dabi works in the Department of Telecom.

Athar Aamir Ul Shafi Khan, who hails from Anantnag in Kashmir stood second, followed by Jasmeet Singh Sandhu. It was the second attempt of Athar Aamir. In his first attempt in 2014, he had got a position in Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS).

Subramanian Swamy draws fire for ‘Rajan, go back!’ attack

NEW DELHI, MAY 12:  

Newly-nominated Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s attack on Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan has created a firestorm. While the Congress urged the BJP to stop attacking Constitutional authorities, banking industry experts and economists feel the RBI Governor is doing “exceedingly well” in the current scenario.

Addressing reporters here on Thursday, Swamy blamed Rajan’s actions for the collapse of industry and rise of unemployment in the economy. “The sooner he is sent back to Chicago, the better it would be,” the veteran MP said.

Earlier, he accused the RBI Governor of doing a bad job. “I don’t want to speak much about him. He has hiked interest rates in the garb of controlling inflation, which has damaged the country,” he said.

Bankers differ

V Kannan, former Chairman and Managing Director of Vijaya Bank, said there was absolutely no case for Rajan to be relieved of his duties.

He pointed out that the RBI Governor had performed exceedingly well in three critical areas — containing inflation (a mandate given to the Central Bank Governor), ensuring orderly change in the foreign exchange market, and bringing credibility to the Indian banking system (through a clean-up of balance sheets).

“Now the confidence of the Indian banking system is back and Rajan’s performance has been excellent,” Kannan added.

The RBI Governor has ensured that headline inflation has come down from a level of over 9 per cent when he began his tenure in 2013, to around 5 per cent now.

He has been cutting the repo rate (the rate at which the RBI lends to banks) although it has not been purely in line with the expectations of the Centre and the BJP.

Congress spokesperson, MP and IIM Professor Rajeev Gowda flayed Swamy for “tarnishing” a world-renowned economist. “The BJP has no respect for institutions. We reject his comments against the RBI Governor with all the contempt that it deserves. If the BJP is taking shelter behind such loose cannons, it reflects the poor state of affairs in that party and in the government,” he added.

Rajan has also been facing similar criticism from high-ranking BJP functionaries and ministers for his remark that the Indian economy was similar to a “one-eyed king leading the blind”, when asked to comment on it being a bright spot in a struggling world economy.

Google Deploys its free Wi-Fi services at 5 more Railway Stations

BANGALORE, KA: In keeping with its commitment of providing high-speed internet services across the country, all-encompassing internet giants Google recently announced deployment of its free high-speed public Wi-Fi services at Guwahati, Jaipur, Patna, Ujjain, and Allahabad railway stations.

Current Railway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu is formally due to inaugurate the services at these railway stations.

Google has been successful in deploying these services over the widespread fibre network of RailTel which provides various internet services like RailWire. Together with these launches, the services are now available across 15 major stations spread through the country.

After receiving widespread positive responses to its services in Mumbai Central, Google aims to expand its project to major suburban Mumbai stations under RailTel’s jurisdiction.

Google aims to deploy its services in Bandra Terminus, Thane, Dadar, Churchgate, Panvel, Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, Thane, Kalyan, Borivali and Kurla, amongst a few other locations.

"We're witnessing amazing usage of the Wi-Fi service across the stations and over 2.5 lakhs users are utilizing the service every week, indicative of more than 2x growth in less than a month," said Gulzar Azad, Google India Head of Access Programs.

Google is driving positively towards fulfilling its promise of delivering high-speed Wi-Fi networks in collaboration with the Indian Railways and RailTel that 10 million Indians will have access to by the end of the year. Google hopes to spread its deployment across 400 stations in time throughout the country.

The Railtel-Google free high-speed public Wi-Fi service is being currently deployed at Bhubaneshwar, Mumbai Central, Ranchi, Pune, Vijayawada, Bhopal, Raipur, Ernakulum Junction, Kacheguda, Vishakhapatnam, Patna, Jaipur, Ujjain, Guwahati, and Allahabad.

IVF baby at age 72 is unethical, say doctors

Benga luru: Haryana couple Daljinder Kaur, 72, and her husband Mohinder Singh Gill, 79, may be celebrating their bundle of joy in the dusk of their lives, but IVF experts and gynaecologists in Bengaluru are frowning on the process, terming it completely unethical.

According to the rulebook of the Indian Council of Medical Registry (ICMR), the combined age of a couple aspiring for a child through in vitro fertilization should not exceed 100 years. "The Gill couple has a combined age of 150 years, and it is impossible they could have had the baby through their own gametes, as the mother experienced menopause 20 years ago. There is no chance she could produce her own eggs. A man's sperm at the age of 78-79 cannot be of fertile quality. This sends the wrong message to society, that anyone can give birth to a child at any age. We condemn such a practice," says Dr Bina Vasan, past president of the Indian Society of Assisted Reproduction (ISAR), Karnataka chapter.

After 46 years of marriage, the Haryana couple had almost given up hope of ever having a child. Media reports mention the couple had the child through their own eggs and sperms. The infant was delivered on April 19, 2016.

Doctors point out that it sets unrealistic expectations among couples yearning for kids. "It perhaps makes a great headline, but we are living in the real world. Counselling is a must for couples who aspire for IVF. As a mother grows older, there are chances that she passes on comorbidity to the baby as well. We need to consider the welfare of the unborn child. A mother in her 70s can face cardiac and bone-related problems that can affect the baby. While working in the UK, we had a case where a 55-year-old grandmother delivered a child to help her daughter as a surrogate mother. The daughter's eggs were used but injected in the mother's uterus," says Dr Manisha Singh, HoD, reproductive medicine and andrology.

She currently has a 47-year-old patient who married late, and is in the first trimester of her pregnancy. "A woman can still have a baby in her late 40s," she adds.

Dr Devika Gunasheela, infertility specialist and managing director of Gunasheela Hospital, says she would not have taken up the Gill case. "As doctors, we should think about the child as well. In this case, parental interaction with the child becomes very difficult because of their age. As a mother, what is her moral obligation to the child?" she questions.

According to Dr Kamini Rao, founder and medical director of Milann, and pioneer in the field of assisted reproduction, it's mere societal pressure which drove the senior citizen to become a mother. "It's a holistic statement to say God will look after the baby. We should not bring orphans into this world. How is it possible to get her own fertile eggs at the age of 72? We, the members of ISAR India, have been discussing this on our WhatsApp group to condemn such unrealistic, unethical practices," said Dr Rao.

Activists, social media users claim to prove PM Modi’s BA, MA degrees are fake

The BJP president, Amit Shah, and the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, on Monday released what they called PM Narendra Modi’s academic degrees in public domain.

However, no sooner had they claimed to have finally produced the much talked about degrees of PM Modi, the Aam Aadmi Party held an emergency press conference rubbishing the BJP’s claims.

AAP’s Ashutosh pointed out the alleged anomalies in PM’s marsheets and degree certificates while questioning the ‘wrong’ name of Modi on the documents.

While Modi supporters took to twitter launching a hashtag #KejriwalSaySorry, the prime minister’s detractors sharpened their attack with a counter hashtag #PMFarziDegree.

Amidst these war of words, activists and users also highlighted more ‘glaring anomalies’ bringing the authenticity of PM Modi’s degrees under scrutiny yet again.

Roshan Shah, an Ahmedabad RTI activist, pointed out how the two certificates of Modi’s MA degrees may have been an outcome of  a ‘bad photoshop exercise.’

He said, ” The MA degree published by Times of India last week did not have a water mark imprint of Gujarat University. But the one released by Shah and Jaitley carries that imprint very prominently. What a pathetic photoshop job.”

User Murugesh Ramiah said that the marks reportedly scored by Modi in his BA exams did not tally.

He wrote, “Amit Shah and Arun Jaitley released PM Modi’s B. A. and M.A. marksheet and degrees from University of Delhi but they forgot to recheck his marks in hurry.

Part 1 — says there are four subjects with marks 23+23+67+23 which adds up to 137….not as 165 as claimed…..how can the computer software make such an adding mistake

Part 2 is 42+39+41+43 = 163 …now the computer software has worked correctly.  Part 3 is 31+38+51+39 = 159…now the computer software works fine.  So the photoshop did not work properly….period….. Looks this is a much better fake…..better luck next time.”

The latest anomalies are in addition to the one already highlighted by activists last week.

Last week jantakareporter.com had reported how both the signatories on Modi’s MA degree were booked and arrested respectively for frauds worth crores of rupees in Gujarat University.

Gilead's $1,000 pill gets patent in India

Mumbai: In what could be a major setback to access to treatment in high-burden countries, the Indian Patent Office on Monday granted a patent to Gilead Pharmasset on Sovaldi (sofosbuvir), its blockbuster drug for hepatitis C, for which the company charges $1,000 per pill in the US.

Several patient groups - Sankalp Rehabilitation Trust, I-MAK and Delhi Network of Positive People - and generic companies (Optimus, BDR Pharma and India Cares) had opposed US-based Gilead's application to obtain a patent in the country, arguing that sofosbuvir was "old science," not novel and did not meet the standard needed for patenting in India.

In India, the price of the treatment will not increase due to enough competition in the market, experts say, but domestic pharma companies - those planning to export the key raw material (API) or planning to launch the drug here - will be hit.

Gilead has already entered into licensing deals with Indian companies, so generic versions of the drug are available for as little as $335 per 12-week treatment. However, the order will block a sustainable supply of key raw materials (APIs) for producing the drug in countries like Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan, affecting supply of affordable drugs particularly in those countries.

"It will also impact those domestic companies which were planning to enter the market independently to supply not just patients in India but also high-burden middle income countries that were not covered by the voluntary license," Leena Menghaney, lawyer and manager of MSF's Access Campaign in India, told TOI.

The entry of generic versions would have led to a reduction in prices in the future.

Gilead's sofosbuvir (sovaldi) is one of the most exorbitantly priced medicines at $1,000 per pill ($84,000 for a 12-week treatment) in the US, and has charged similarly high prices across developed countries.

Dismissing all pre-grant oppositions, the Patent Controller said in his order: "I find claimed compounds are novel, inventive and patentable under Patents Act. Accordingly, the instant application is allowed to proceed for grant with finally amended claims 1 to 8 as filed on 29th April, 2016 by the applicant."

When contacted, senior counsel Prathiba M Singh representing Gilead said the order shows that section 3 (d) does not act as a bar for grant of patents, provided proper efficacy data is submitted.

Says Loon Gangte, Delhi Network of Positive People, who was opposing the patent: "This decision proves that there is no sovereignty in the Indian patent system anymore. These are very scary times for the patient communities globally who rely on affordable generic medicines coming from India. "