Chandigarh, February 8
A one-day Indo-US symposium on “Stem cells identification and characterisation: role of molecular markers” was held at Panjab University today.

The symposium embarked upon the various technological aspects involving recognition and classification of the functional markers used in stem cell research. A number of outstanding experts from India, the USA and Singapore highlighted their findings and expertise at the symposium.

The deliberations divulged diverse aspects, including challenges and intricacies involved in stem cell therapy, ranging from identification, characterisation of stem cells to their applications in combating diseases like cardiovascular, neuro-degenerative and cancerous disorders.

Inaugurating the symposium, Dr K.K. Talwar, Director, PGI, delved on immense potential of stem cells in the cure of various pathological states, especially heart ailments. However, he cautioned against the indiscriminate and unethical use of stem cells.

Earlier, in his welcome address, Professor R.C. Sobti, Vice-Chancellor, Panjab University, deliberated upon the need to invigorate research in the area of stem cell in collaboration with other institutes in vicinity like PGIMER.

Professor Awatar Krishan from the University of Miami, Florida, USA, the International adviser of the symposium, was the guest of honour. He encouraged the young scientists to take up the dedicated research in this area for the welfare of the mankind.

Chandigarh, February 8
An interactive session on ‘Healthy Literature for Healthy Society’ was conducted by Contemporary Readers and Writers Society of India at Dev Samaj College of Education, Sector 36. Some of the eminent guests on the occasion were Dr I D Singh, secretary-general of Readers and Writers Society of India, Mr Tara Singh Alam, writer, poet and speaker; Dr Iqbal Singh Dhillon, Director, Youth Welfare, and Dr J.S.Dhiman from the Department of Agricultural Science, PAU, Ludhiana.

Chandigarh, February 8
The latest advancements in health care have virtually taken over the problem of infertility that is affecting almost 10 to 15 per cent of the married couples. The outlook has brightened with the advent of assisted reproduction techniques (ART) which are highly successful in treating both male and female infertility. With the latest techniques, almost 80 to 90 per cent of couples have got rid of the problem, claimed experts.

The experts claimed that the constant ongoing research, innovations and standardisation in techniques have remarkably improved the success rates but it still needs more advancements. The facts were highlighted at an ART workshop held at the Jindal IVF and Sant Memorial Nursing Home, Sector 20-D, here today.

A live workshop on the ART techniques was organised to provide an opportunity for the young doctors to observe and discuss the techniques with the experienced faculty.

Nearly 500 faculty members and delegates are attending the conference jointly organised by the Department of Obstetrics and Gyanaecology, PGI, Jindal IVF and Sant Memorial Nursing Home. About 15 international delegates from the USA, Ukraine, Iran, Australia, Greece, Croatia, France and Israel will participate.

Chandigarh, February 8
Tuberculosis being a common infection among persons suffering from HIV/AIDS, nearly 40 per cent of the HIV patients develop tuberculosis in the course of the disease, claimed Mr K.B.S. Sidhu, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, who is also Project Director of the Punjab State AIDS Control Society.

Mr Sidhu was addressing a training programme of the Integrated Counselling and Treatment Centre for doctors here last evening. The training programme was jointly organised by the society and the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme Division, Punjab Health Department.

He asked the doctors and counsellors to be sincere and factually correct while sending reports. Besides officials of the society, Dr P.K. Bansal, state Tuberculosis Officer, Punjab Health Department, also spoke.

Chandigarh, February 8
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has approved two multi-disciplinary programmes-Masters in Health Facility Planning and Designing and Masters in Healthcare Engineering and Management--in three educational institutions in the city and on the periphery. The PGI will be the nodal institute for the courses.

The programmes will be introduced in College of Architecture, Chandigarh, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, and PHFI, Mohali. Besides this, the programme would also be introduced in two other Delhi-based institutions, including AIIMS.

Official spokesperson for the PGI said that final approval to the project was sanctioned by a high-powered committee notified by DGHS of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare yesterday. The committee has also recommended starting of Health Engineering Polytechnic and an ITI in every state.

A report in this connection would be presented to Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, shortly.

Meanwhile, two gold medals have also been instituted in the name of late Dr P.N. Chhuttani for best thesis in medical architecture and late Dr P L Verma for best thesis in the healthcare engineering.

Health experts are of the view that the programmes would help in certified healthcare manpower export and medical tourism. Healthcare engineers are important adjunct of hospital administrations and inter-disciplinary approach will help patient care, hospital environs and quality of life of patients.

The spokesperson said the committee had strongly recommended that these courses (both full time and Distance Education) be started in 2007.

Mohali, February 8
Arushi Pawar of Ranjit House secured the first position in the finals of 1,500-m race under-13 girls’ category on the fourth day of the 28th Annual Athletic Meet of Yadavindra Public School at the school grounds here today.

Jaskiran Nain of Tagore House and Vrinda Talwar of Ranjit House got the second and third positions, respectively.

The results:

Broad jump (u-16 boys’ final): Gurpreet Sandhu (Aitchison House) 1, Shakti Shah (Tagore House) 2, Shiva Shah (Tagore House) 3.

Broad Jump (u-14 boys’ final): Kabir Dhillon (Nalagarh House) 1, Ravinder Lather (Aitchison House) 2, Rajdeep S. Kohli (Ranjit House) 3.

800 m (u-11 girls’ final): Simrata Grewal (Aitchison House) 1, Harleen Kaur Deol (Patiala House) 2, Arsh Baidwan (Tagore House) 3.

100 m (u-12 boys’ final): Sikander Sharda (Aitchison House) 1, Mridul Singh (Patiala House) 2, Gurinder Singh (Tagore House) 3.

High jump (u-12 boys’ final): Mehnazpreet S. Chahal ((Patiala House) 1, Manbir Singh Virk (Patiala House) 2, Arshdeep Singh (Ranjit House) 3.

1,500 m (u-16 boys’ final): Ankit Saini (Nalagarh House) 1, Shiva Shah (Tagore House) 2, Jobanjeet (Aitchison House) 3.

100 m (u-13 girls’ final): Mannat Dhaliwal (Nalagarh House) 1, Jaskiran Nain (Tagore House) 2, Harshini Madan (Ranjit House) 3.

100 m (u-10 boys’ final): Adesh Pratap Singh (Aitchison House) 1, Arshdeep Singh (Tagore House) 2, Ikrabdeep Singh (Patiala House) 3.

400 m (u-16 boys’ final): Shakti Shah (Tagore House) 1, Sobanjeet (Aitchison House) 2, Gurpreet Sandhu (Aitchison House) 3.

200 m (above-16 boys’ final): Hansol Jeong (Patiala House) 1, Yuvraj Singh (Patiala House) 2, Abhinav Siag (Tagore House) 3.

400 m (u-14 boys’ final): Kabir Dhillon (Nalagarh House) 1, Jagnoor Dip (Patiala House) 2, Manmeet (Aitchison House) 3.

400 m (u-13 girls’ final): Jaskiran Nain (Tagore House) 1, Gurleen Kaur (Patiala House) 2, Harshini Madan (Ranjit House) 3.

Broad jump (above-16 boys’ final): Yuvraj Singh (Patiala House) 1, Shivam Gumber (Patiala House) 2, Jigarjeet (Ranjeet House) 3.

400 m (u-10 boys’ final): Thupstan Nurboo (Nalagarh House) 1, Ikrabdeep Singh (Patiala House) 2, Tanvir Singh (Aitchison House) 3.

1,500 m (u-13 girls’ final): Arushi Pawar (Ranjit House) 1, Jaskiran Nain (Tagore House) 2, Vrinda Talwar (Ranjit House).

500 m (u-12 boys’ final): Siddarth Yaddapudi (Tagore House) 1, Darpan Galhotra (Tagore House) 2, Vishesh Galhotra (Tagore House) 3.

400 m (above-15 girls’ final): Jairoop Riar (Patiala House) 1, Tarini Chawla (Patiala House) 2, Divya Gurnay (Tagore House) 3.

200 m (u-15 girls’ final): Harkiran Nain (Tagore House) 1, Steffy Arora (Nalagarh House) 2, Eshleen Kaur Sodhi (Patiala House) 3.

800 m (u-16 boys’ final): Shakti Shah (Tagore House) 1, Ankit Saini (Nalagarh House) 2, Shiva Shah (Tagore House) 3.

High jump (u-10 boys’ final): Ikrabdeep Singh (Patiala House) 1, Youngpreet Sandhu (Ranjit House) 2, Jigbir S. Chawal (Tagore House) 3.

Shot put (u-14 boys’ final): Ravinder Lather (Aitchison House) 1, Rajdeep S. Kohli (Ranjit House) 2, Noorvir Aulakh (Nalagarh House) 3.

4 X 100 m (u-10 boys’ final): Nalagarh House 1, Tagore House 2, Patiala House 3.

100 m (u-11 girls’ final): Jaslin Kaur (Aitchison House) 1, Apoorva Tyagi (Tagore House) 2, Amandeep Benipal (Aitchison House) 3.

4 X 100 m (u-13 girls’ final): Patiala House 1, Ranjit House 2, Tagore House 3.

4 X 100 m (u-12 boys’ final): Patiala House 1, Aitchison House 2, Tagore House 3.

4 X 100 m (u-14 boys’ final): Aitchison House 1, Ranjit House 2, Patiala House 3.

4 X 100 m (above-16 boys’ final): Patiala House 1, Nalagarh House 2, Ranjit House 3.

200 m (above-15 girls’ final): Jairoop Riar (Patiala House) 1, Tarinia Chawla (Patiala House) 2, Nasreen (Ranjit House) 3.

4 X 100 m (u-16 boys’ final): Aitchison House 1, Tagore House 2, Nalagarh House 3.

Mohali, February 8
aranvir of class IX was adjudged the best sports person of the school while Ranjit House was declared the best House of the session on the sports day of Shivalik Public School held at the school here today.

The ceremony started with guard of honour in which the chief guest, Mr D.S.Bedi, Director Principal of the school, took the salute followed by an impressive march past and oath-taking ceremony.

Chandigarh, February 8
The local Sri Guru Gobind Singh College, Sector 26, lost to LLR Government College, Dhudike (Moga) by 7 points (34-41) in the Panjab University Inter-College Kabaddi (PS) Men’s Tournament being played at PU grounds here today.

In another match, GHG Khalsa College, Gurusar Sadhar defeated GNN College, Doraha (43-35) by 8 points while in the third match, Sri Ram College, Dalla (Ludhiana) beat GGDSD College, Hariana (Hoshiarpur) by 20 points. The final score was 44-20. 

Chandigarh, February 8
The Chandigarh Chess Association is organising a prize money chess tournament (open) from February 16 to 18 at St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Sector 44, here.Entries will close on February 15. Those interested can contact Mr Naveen Bansal at 9417148610. — TNS

Chandigarh, February 8
The sub-group of experts constituted to suggest modalities for setting up the Urban Art Commission for the city, will meet tomorrow to discuss the outcome of the special meeting of the Administrator’s Advisory Council held on January 31 last.

In the agenda circulated among the members of the sub-group, reference has been made to the views expressed by the Council’s members that the proposed commission should be headed by the UT Administrator and he should select its members.

It has been indicated that the members of the Advisory Council were in favour of a local body headed by the Administrator. The members were not in favour of the commission having its set-up in Delhi.

The jurisdiction of the commission should include Punjab and Haryana, which fall in the periphery of Chandigarh. The recommendations of the sub-group would be placed in the next meeting of the Advisory Council. Then the suggestions of the council would be forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs.

To be enacted by an Act of the Parliament, the commission will have the competence to reject or modify any plans of any local body which impinge upon urban aesthetics. Plans of private buildings would also be under the scanner. 

Chandigarh, February 8
Acting on the directions of the Central Government, the Chandigarh Administration will impose a ceiling on the stocking of wheat grains and pulses by traders across the city. However, no control order is being imposed on paddy.

While exercising the powers delegated under the Essential Commodities Act, the Administration has decided to impose limit on stocking of food items. The ceiling on wheat grain and pulses has been fixed at 25 quintals and 10 quintals, respectively.

After seeking legal opinion, the orders would soon be issued, said the Director, Food and Supplies, Mr R.K.Rao.

In August 2006 the Central Government in a communication had asked the Secretary, Food and Supplies, Chandigarh Administration, to enforce the orders. A reminder was again sent in November 2006.

Meanwhile, a survey carried out by the Food and Supplies Department has revealed that since April 2006 the prices of wheat grain had jumped by around 40 per cent and those of pulses went abnormally up by around 80 per cent in local markets.

Opposing the order, the traders said with just two months for fresh arrivals to arrive, the ban would be of little use. “ Instead of imposing the ban, the Administration should seek the city’s stock from the Food Corporation of India (FCI),” said Mr B.K. Sood, owner of a flour mill at the Sector 26 grain market.

Enquiries reveal that since April 2006, the price of wheat grains had increase from Rs 750 per quintal to around Rs 1,110 per quintal in November 2006. The prices dipped to around Rs 1,000 per quintal in the past two months.

A senior official revealed that the issue of control order was also discussed at the Price Monitoring Committee meeting. 

Chandigarh, February 8
The Chandigarh Education Department is gearing up to ensure better hygienic conditions in all government and government-aided schools in the days to come.

It will now be mandatory for children seeking admission to government schools to possess immunisation certificates. This decision was taken at a meeting of principals and heads of various local government schools, held at Government Model Senior Secondary School, Sector 16, here yesterday. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mr Ashwani Kumar, DPI (Schools), Chandigarh.

The step has been taken by the department following the Health Department’s decision to provide hygienic environment to children with special focus on children coming from slums and colonies.

In the wake of closure of schools in residential complexes, the DPI (S) instructed the principals to accommodate more students of their respective areas. He also asked them not to demand any affidavit as regards date of birth of the child at the time of admission.

The Education Department also plans to introduce smart learning concept by establishing computer labs in all government schools from the next session. All classes from Class 1 onwards would be equipped with computer facility and the students would be provided free computer education.

Government senior secondary schools would be given 40 computers in all, while high schools and middle schools would get 20 and 10 computers, respectively.

The DPI (S) emphasised on better results in the government schools. For the purpose, besides providing high-tech learning facilities to the students, around 140 JBT teachers would be deputed at various government schools in the city.

In yet another important decision, the DPI(S) stressed on the safety of the students, especially those coming to school on scooters or motorcycles. He instructed all principals to depute teachers of their respective schools to ensure that the students wore proper headgear and possessed valid driving licences.