Thirty nine of the 44 patients who had already undergone the mandatory 6-month follow-up did not require amputation 

Last option: Despite the success of the current trial, stem cell treatment should be the last option . — Photo: Special Arrangement
R. PRASAD
The results of a clinical trial to save volunteers’ leg from amputation by […]

MASEEH RAHMAN
India has decided to push ahead with an ambitious plan to generate clean electricity through the power of the sun - and, after a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, it wants rich nations to pay the bill.
Although the country has virtually no solar power today, the plan is to generate […]

From gorillas?: The HIV virus strain appears to be closely related to a strain recently discovered in wild gorillas. — photo: AFP
A new strain of the virus that causes AIDS has been discovered in a woman from the African nation of Cameroon.
It differs from the three known strains of human immunodeficiency virus and appears to […]

Starting with a worst-case scenario of lead contamination of soil, a scientist at Mie University in Japan has demonstrated the use of poultry waste amendment in combination with plant growth to immobilize soil Pb and restore degraded vegetation in shooting range sites.
Remediation of Pb-contaminated soils in a shooting range is generally very difficult the site […]

Dictionary service Wordnik presents usage examples 
 J. Murali
 NetSpeak takes yet another look at a few tools that facilitate the teaching/learning/training process. Collaborative learning is a significant component of the pedagogic process. It is common knowledge that Net is an excellent place to carry out collaborative tasks. In fact, this column has introduced a host of […]

T. Ramachandran
KOCHI: An international peer reviewed biannual journal focusing exclusively on free and open source software law has been launched recently. It is managed by an editorial committee made up of members of the European Legal Network.
The network was founded by Free Software Foundation Europe to forge a community of legal experts in free and […]

Stem cells may get infected or contract some unknown diseases if amniotic membrane is used 
 
Limbal stem cells from the healthy eye were expanded on the polymer scaffold and transplanted to the damaged eye. — Photo: Special arrangement
R. PRASAD
Using stem cells present in the limbus region of eye to restore vision in people […]

 
Asafoetida is used in cooking and as a natural medicine. — photo: R. Ragu
One of the more expressive sayings in Tamil is the phrase “Perungaayam vaitha paandam”, or the box that once had the spice asafoetida in it.
The spice is gone but just the smell lingers. This pithy phrase, which describes what was once […]

Researchers from the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) at Hiroshima reported this year in Circulation journal, the official publication of the Japanese Circulation Society, a new finding, that men with Brugada-like electrocardiogram (ECG) have higher risk of prostate cancer. (Brugada syndrome is an inherited heart disease that causes the ventricles or bottom chambers of the […]

UNLOCKING E-GOVERNMENT POTENTIAL — Concepts, Cases and Practical Insights: Subhash Bhatnagar; Sage Publications India Pvt. Ltd., B1/I-1, Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area, Mathura Road, New Delhi-110044. Rs. 450.
SHYAM RANGANATHAN
E-governance, broadly, is the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in governance mechanisms. It is widely perceived as essential for efficient governance. But, beyond the obvious necessity […]