India's First Same-Sex Couple Surrogacy Success Story

For the e-story, please go to http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=4d5e0c82-f576-4574-8e86-808de3e03980&&Headline=Gay+pair+has+twins+by+surrogate+mom

Men With Deep Voices Are More Fertile

Apparently, what attracts women more than a great physique or an attractive face could well be a deep voice, say researchers from Canada and the USA. Men with deep voices are also much more likely to have more children than men who do not have deep voices, the researchers say. You can read about this study in the journal Biology Letters. The scientists said a man's deep voice is a bit like a peacock's tail - it has no survival value, but attracts the female of the species. Testosterone masculinizes the voice at puberty.

Coren Apicella and team interviewed 52 women and 49 men from the Hadza tribe, Tanzania. They were aged from 18-55. There is no birth control in this very large tribe. The researchers chose the Hadza tribe because their lifestyles reflect those of humans thousands of years ago. They are hunter-gatherers. The females gather berries and search for wild plants. The males collect honey and hunt animals. Even though the Hadza are monogamous, extra-marital sex is common. During the interviews, which took place in Swahili, Apicella recorded the voices of the men and women. On studying the recording later they found that the deep voiced men had fathered more children than the non-deep voiced men. The man with the deepest voice had ten surviving children, while the one with the highest pitched voice had three. Apicella suggested that perhaps the males with the lower pitched voices had higher testosterone levels, which attracted them more to females or made them more attractive to them. It is also possible, Apicella added, that men with higher testosterone levels start reproducing earlier in life - they could also be better hunters (a better hunter would bring more food, allowing their wives to have shorter inter-birth intervals).

There was not much Apicella and team could glean from the interviews with the women. It is possible, said the team, that if vocal dimorphism evolved partly due to mate selection, that in the past men and women had more similar voices.

Before the whining drowns it out, listen to the new India

Good Morning India:) Rise and Shine. Usually on Sundays I dedicate this Blogpost to humor, but today I want you readers to imbibe every word of this fantabulous article by Arun Shourie. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did! Cheers & have a rocking Sunday!

"Twenty to twenty-five years ago, even 10 years ago, few of us had heard of Information Technology. Today, exports from this industry are worth $10 billion - that is, over Rs 45,000 crore a year. That figure is 20 per cent of our total exports. In spite of the fact that each of the markets to which we supply IT software and solutions has been in the trough of recession for years, IT exports have grown by 26 per cent this year. Infosys had not even been born 25 years ago. Wipro was a company selling vegetable oil. Indeed, other than the ''Tata'' in Tata Consultancy Services, there is scarcely a name in the IT industry that
was known then.
And guess what the average age is in the industry? Just 26 and a half! These 26/27-year-olds have changed the world's perception of India. It's not just a country of snake-charmers, it's a country against which protectionist walls have to be erected. Of course, we can also charm snakes.
And not just, to pluck a phrase of Malcolm Muggeridge, snakes in snakes' clothing!
And these 26-year-olds are changing India's perception also of itself: that India can; that, therefore, we should face the world with confidence. That is the situation in activity after activity. We lament the fact that, while we are ahead in software, we have lost out to China in IT hardware. That is true - as of the moment. We shooed away firms like Motorola when they approached us in the early 1990s for facilities to set up manufacturing operations in India. China welcomed them, it wooed them, it created every conceivable facility for hardware firms from Japan, of course, but also from Taiwan, a country at which 400 of its
missiles are aimed. It has thereby leapt ahead.
But the game is hardly over. That world-class hardware can be produced in India is evident. How many of us would have heard of Moser-Baer? Located in unprepossessing Noida, it is the world's third largest optical media manufacturer, and the lowest-cost producer of CD-Recorders. Its exports are close to Rs 1,000 crore. The firm sells data-storage products to seven of the world's top 10 CD-R producers. And it produces them so efficiently that, to shield themselves, European competitors had to file an anti-dumping case to stop and penalise its exports to Europe. Moser-Baer fought on its own.
And won. A firm most of us have not heard of. A firm that is manufacturing products at the cutting edge of technology. A firm exporting Rs 1,000 crore of products that require the utmost precision and technological sophistication. A firm that European firms fear. And equally important - the very international fora that our ideologues shout are instruments of exploitation hold against European firms, and in favour of this Indian firm. There is more. Moser-Baer has acquired Capco Luxembourg, a firm that owns 49 per cent of a Netherlands-based CD-R distributor. And it has set up Glyphics Media Inc. in the United States-for markets in North and South America. And here we are being made to shiver at the thought that foreign firms are about to swallow us!
Heard of Tandon Electronics? Its exports of electronic hardware are close to Rs 4,000 crore!
At a moment's notice, my friends Amit Mitra of FICCI and Tarun Das of CII send me particulars of firm after firm, in sector after sector, that has broken new ground. A sample: Fifteen of the world's major automobile manufacturers are now
obtaining components from Indian firms. Just last year, exports of auto-components were $375 million. This year they are close to $1.5 billion. Estimates indicate they will reach $15 billion within six to seven years. Hero Honda is now the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world-with an output of 17 lakh motorcycles a year. One lakh Indica cars of the Tatas are to be marketed in Europe by Rover, one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious auto-manufacturers under its - that is, Rover's - brand name.
Bharat Forge has the world's largest single-location forging facility - of 1.2 lakh tonnes per annum. Its client list includes Toyota, Honda, Volvo, Cummins, Daimler Chrysler. It has been chosen as a supplier of small forging parts for Toyota's global transmission parts' sourcing hub in Bangalore.
Asian Paints has production facilities in 22 countries spread across five continents. It has recently acquired Berger International, which gives it access to 11 countries, and SCIB Chemical SAE in Egypt. Asian Paints is the market leader in 11 of the 22 countries in which it is present, including India.
Hindustan Inks has the world's largest single stream, fully integrated ink plant, of 1 lakh tonnes per annum capacity, at Vapi,
Gujarat. It has a manufacturing plant and a 100 per cent subsidiary in the US. It has another 100 per cent subsidiary in Austria.
For two years running, General Motors has awarded Sundaram Clayton its 'Best Supplier Award'; the volumes it sources out of India are growing every year. Ford has presented the 'Gold World Excellence Award' to Cooper Tyres.
Essel Propack is the world's largest laminated tube manufacturer. It has a manufacturing presence in 11 countries including China, a global manufacturing share of 25 per cent, and caters to all of P&G's laminated tube requirements in the US, and 40 per cent of Unilever's.
Aston Martin, one of the world's most expensive car brands, has contracted prototyping its latest luxury sports car to an India-based designer. This would be the cheapest car to roll out of Aston Martin's stable.
Maruti has been the preferred supplier of small cars under the Suzuki brand for Europe. Suzuki has now decided to make India its manufacturing, export and research hub outside Japan.
Hyundai Motors India is about to become the parent Hyundai Motors Corporation's global small car hub. In 2003, HMC sourced 25,000 Santros from HMI's plant in India. By 2010 HMI is targeted to supply half a million cars to HMC. It was only in 1999 that HMI got its first outsourcing contract and already, in 2003, 20 per cent of its sales were what it supplied as
an outsourcing hub. It is exporting cars to Indonesia, Algeria, Morocco, Columbia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Ford India got its first outsourcing contract in 2000. Within 3 years outsourcing accounted for 35 per cent of its sales. Ford India supplies to Mexico, Brazil and China. The parent Ford is sourcing close to $40 million worth of components from India, and plans to increase these in the coming years. Ford India is already the sole manufacturing and supply base for Ikon
cars and components. These are being exported to Mexico, China and Africa.
Toyota Kirloskar Motors chose India over competitive destinations like Philippines and China for setting up a new project to source transmissions as this option proved more economical.
Europe's leading tractor maker, Renault, has chosen International Tractors (ITL) as its sole global sourcing hub for 40 to 85 horsepower tractors.
Tyco Electronics India bagged its first outsourcing contract in 1998-99. So successful has it been that components and products others have contracted from it already account for 50 per cent of its total sales. It supplies to the parent, Tyco Europe.
TISCO is today the lowest cost producer of hot-rolled steel in the world.
TVS Motor Company has been awarded the coveted Deming Prize for Total Quality Management. Many of the largest of organisations, even American ones-like GE-have not managed that recognition yet!
India's pharmaceutical industry has come to be feared as much as its infotech industry. It is already worth $ 6.5 billion and it has been growing at 8-10 per cent a year. It's the fourth largest pharmaceutical industry in terms of volumes and 13th in value. Its exports have crossed $2 billion, and have increased by 30 per cent in the past five years. India is among the top five manufacturers of bulk drugs. Even more telling is another figure. We are always being frightened, ''Multinational drug companies are about to takeover.'' In 1971 the share of these MNCs in the Indian market was 75 per cent. Today it's 35
per cent!
There's another feature we should bear in mind: India's strengths are becoming evident across the technology spectrum: We are among the three countries in the world that have built supercomputers on their own, the US and Japan being the other two: two months ago, the fourth generation PARAM super-computer was inaugurated in Bangalore. We are among six countries in the world that launch satellites. We launch some of our own satellites of course; we have launched
satellites for others too, among them such countries as Germany and Belgium. We have the largest set of remote sensing satellites. Our INSAT system is also among the world's largest domestic satellite communication systems.
At the other end: India is one of the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing centres. CLSA estimates nine of every 10 stones sold in the world pass through India.
Trade of Indian medicinal plants has crossed Rs 4,000 crore. Here is proof positive that liberalisation has indeed worked. ''By
opening the economy before giving it a chance to become competitive, we have thrown our industry to the wolves,'' it used to be said. Quite the contrary. The success in exports, in fields such as IT in which competition is fierce, in which technological change is fast as lightning, success in auto-components, in pharmaceuticals shows that our industry has fought back, it has become competitive.
Remember all that shouting about Chinese batteries a year ago? ''Markets are closing down, thousands are being thrown out of their meagre businesses, factory after factory has shut down.'' That was the shouting just a few months ago. Where are those batteries from China? Yes, trade with China has grown-by 104% in the past year. But according to figures of the Chinese
Government, in the first five months of 2003, India has amassed a surplus in its trade with China, a surplus of close to half a billion dollars.
And China is just an instance. Exports as a whole, and in the face of an unrelenting recession in the West, have grown by 19 per cent in the year. In a word, what committees upon committees with their piles of recommendations would not have achieved, being actually exposed to actual competition has. Our foreign exchange reserves are at an all-time high-$82 billion. We have announced that we will not be taking aid from a string of countries. We are giving aid to 10 or 11 countries. We are pre-paying our debt. We have just ''loaned'' $300 million to the IMF! How distant the days when we used to wait anxiously for the announcement about what the Aid India Club meeting in Paris had decided to give us.
But there is the other side-equally telling. Why is it that so few among us know even the elementary facts about these successes? Why is it that so much of public, specifically political, discourse, when it is not whining is just wailing?"

Go on my brothers - Chak De India!!!!!!!!!

Traditional Cryopreservation

Not Tonight Dear, I Have A Headache

Contrary to the popular cliché, "Not tonight, I have a headache," new research suggests that not all headache sufferers avoid sexual activity. In fact, migraine sufferers reported higher levels of sexual desire than those with other types of headaches, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and colleagues. "Our study suggests that sexual desire and migraine headaches may be influenced by the same brain chemical," said Timothy Houle, Ph.D., lead author and research assistant professor of anesthesiology. "The results support the idea that migraine, as a syndrome, is associated with other common phenomena. Understanding of this link will help us to better understand the nature of migraine and perhaps lead to improved treatment." The objective of the study was to examine the relationship between migraine headache and self-reported sexual desire. There is evidence of a complex relationship between sexual activity and headache. Both sexual desire and migraine headache have been linked to levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that also plays a role in depression. An excess of serotonin may be associated with decreased libido, and migraine sufferers are reported to have low system levels of the brain chemical. Serotonin has also been found to play a role in migraine attacks.
"Considering the circumstantial evidence linking both migraine and sexual desire to serotonin, we wanted to explore whether the two phenomena are actually related," said Houle. The researchers hypothesized that abnormalities in the serotonin systems of migraine sufferers may influence their sexual desire. Because high levels of serotonin are associated with low sexual desire, and migraine sufferers have low levels of the chemical, it was predicted that they would report higher levels of sex drive. The study involved 68 participants who reported having at least 10 headaches a year. Their mean age was 24 years. Participants underwent interviews to diagnose their headache type -- either migraine or tension -- and filled out a 14-item questionnaire to measure sexual desire. Males reported levels of sexual desire that were 24 percent higher than females. Migraine sufferers reported levels of sexual desire that were 20 percent higher than those suffering from tension headaches. Females with migraines had levels of sexual desire similar to males who had tension headaches. "The study demonstrated that migraine patients in general may experience higher levels of sexual desire than others," said Houle. "They appeared to be aware of this, rating their sex drive as being higher than others their age and gender." He said the results suggest that a serotonin link may be implicated in both migraine headaches and sexual desire. "This opens the door to consider other phenomena that have a similar neurochemical basis," he said. For example, there is an increased prevalence of depression in people with migraine, which is also theorized to be modulated by serotonin.
Houle said future research should focus on whether a cluster of migraine characteristics or symptoms can serve as markers of an altered serotonin system. Although the current study was not able to address whether the link may apply to middle-age or older adults with migraines, Houle said the finding appears to be quite general and is likely to be found in older patients as well.

Menstrual Blood Banking

Dear Readers,
This piece below is fascinating. We are yet not convinced about cord-blood banking and oocyte banking & here comes the new consumerist banking movement from the mother of all consumerist countries - the USA! I read this on the web & this is one of those must-share articles for our loyal blogeurists:)
Happy Reading!

"As a consumerist society, we are fast becoming familiar with the idea that for a price, we can bank our stem cells in case they are needed in the future to potentially fight disease, grow replacement body parts and help develop clinical therapeutic options. First came the commercial cord blood industry, offering 'a biological insurance for the future' and 'a once in a
lifetime opportunity' to 'freeze a spare immune system'. Whilst cord blood stem cells have undoubtedly shown great promise in the treatment of certain blood disorders, the chances of ever using your own stored cells remains low and other treatment options, speculative. Regardless, the race was on to find alternative sources of stem cells in order to capitalise on the modern
day phenomenon of individuals with disposable income.
In 2006, American-based BioEden Inc. offered parents the chance to preserve cells from the pulp of their baby's milk teeth, which they claimed contained a source of adult stem cells. Earlier this year saw the launch of a service to store embryonic (ES) stem cells from excess IVF embryos by Californian storage facility, StemLifeLine. All three enterprises, however, met with strong criticism from medical experts, academics and the popular press alike, claiming that the persuasive advertising is exploitative and such ventures simply prey on the vulnerable. But such critics could not stem the flow of stem cell storage 'supply and demand'.
This week, another US firm jumped on the bandwagon. Cryo-cell International Inc. launched its proprietary cryopreservation service, C'elle, which offers women the unique opportunity to bank stem cells from their menstrual blood. Researchers have discovered that menstrual blood contains markers similar to those found in bone marrow and peripheral blood, but have the advantage of being able to differentiate more quickly and into a greater variety of cells. Preliminary research findings were presented at the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics symposia on 21 October 2007 and proclaimed that menstrual stem cells have the potential to become neural, cardiac, bone, cartilage and fat cells. Moreover, it is claimed by
C'elle that these cells may be used for possible future medical regenerative and rejuvenation procedures.The C'elle website is particularly impressive. It shares remarkable similarities to the advertising techniques deployed by the cosmetic
industry, particularly those of leading brands such as L'Oreal. In the same way that beauty clinics offer customised beauty routines using a range of products, C'elle speaks of the storage of cells for 'customised therapies in the future'. With accompanying video footage, music and models, women are urged to bank now 'as these precious resources from menstrual fluid will certainly not last forever'. Nor apparently will their looks. In spite of the fact that menstrual cells have yet to be used outside of pre-clinical trials, and have been criticised by Peter Braude, Professor of London's King's College and Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital as being all 'hypothesis and hype', C'elle claims that stored cells may one day be used in cosmeceutical applications, such as anti-aging therapies. In the age of an image conscious society, it is little wonder that the use of such language has been declared as nothing short of preying on people's insecurities. Indeed, not only is their collection kit described as 'discreet' but also it's 'attractive'. Time is of the essence and these cells, say C'elle, should be saved before its too late - after all, 'it is indisputable that with each day your body ages and you will inevitably be older next month than you are today'.
On reflection, if someone has the spare cash to spend on the storage of body tissue 'just in case' it is needed in the future, is that really any different from other kinds of optional insurance policies? Of course, a conventional form of insurance has a monetary return, whereas the payout in the case of biological cryopreservation is a vial full of stem cells that may or may not be of any use to the recipient, particularly as at present, there is no evidence that menstrual stem cells will be viable in a clinical setting. Hardly a good return on your investment. But if you are affluent enough to take that risk, then there is every reason to be offered the choice, even though it is admitted that 'realistically, it may take several years for these menstrual stem cells to be developed into potential widely-available commercial therapies'. That said, then why, realistically, should women bother? The problem is that such a commercially driven service is founded upon too many vagaries and speculation to constitute a real choice - and to be economical with the truth is to offer no choice at all.
But with the media hysteria that has surrounded menstrual blood banking this week, it must be remembered that such a service option has yet to reach the UK. It may, however, be prudent to note that whilst the Human Tissue Authority has yet to be approached by a UK firm regarding a similar proposal, it was in the US that cord blood banking first emerged - a concept
that took just over five years to be offered here. One can only wonder how long it will be before the flow of what C'elle terms 'the monthly miracle' reaches our shores."
- Karen Devine, Kent Law School, University of Kent

New Source For Stem Cells

A method for persuading human eggs to start dividing as though they have been fertilised could provide a less controversial source of embryonic stem (ES) cells, say UK researchers. The scientists, based at the University of Wales in Cardiff, also say that the technique might help improve the success rate for couples undergoing intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) treatment. The researchers, who published their findings in the journal Reproduction, have discovered that human eggs injected with a substance called phospholipase C-zeta (PLC-zeta) will start dividing. PLC-zeta is a protein produced by sperm, discovered by the Cardiff team two years ago, New Scientist magazine reports. The injected eggs will grow for about 4-5 days, until they reach the 50-100 cell blastocyst stage of development. Because they only contain genes from the mother, such 'parthenogenetic embryos' could never develop further, but they could still be used as a potential source of ES cells.

Many scientists believe that ES cells hold great promise in the treatment of a wide range of diseases, since they can grow into any type of body tissue. However, human ES cell research is controversial, since it involves the destruction of embryos. Several groups are trying to find ways of growing ES cells without using embryos, either by creating parthenogenetic 'embryos', or using other approaches. US scientist William Hurlbut, who opposes embryo research, said it should be possible to create cloned human embryos that are incapable of growing a placenta. Since 'embryos' created using this 'altered nuclear transfer' technique would not be able to develop into a foetus, Hurlbut believes it could provide a way for American scientists to create new human ES cells with government funding. The use of federal funds for stem cell research involving the destruction of embryos has been prohibited by Bush since 9 August 2001.

The leader of the latest study, Karl Swann, hopes that his team will be the first to obtain ES cells from human parthenogenetic blastocysts. However, some pro-life groups might still object to this research. 'I'd be happier if it was beyond all reasonable doubt that it could not become a human life', said Josephine Quintavalle of Comment on Reproductive Ethics (Core). She added that women must not be exploited to provide eggs for this purpose.PLC-zeta could also help couples undergoing ICSI, a fertility treatment in which a single sperm is injected into an egg in the laboratory. Embryos produced in this way do not always start dividing and growing, possibly because the sperm has defective PLC-zeta. Adding some of this substance could overcome this problem, say the scientists.