MONDAY 12 JUNE 2017

Would love to do Marathi film: Aishwarya

COMMUNITY | 6 HEALTH | 10Removal of old cells may delay onset of

osteoarthritis

Email: dohatoday@pen.com.qa

CO BOLLYWOOD | 11

P 4-5

Mom and Dad can play an active role in cultivating a child’s ability to ask questions and seek answers, but it requires persistence.

CURIOUSCURIOUS KIDSKIDS

Pakistani expatriate community celebrates

Ramadan

CAMPUSMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 03

BPS students & parents attend career counselling

Birla Public School (BPS) organised a career counselling workshop for the students of class X followed by a session

for their parents on June 10 at the Basant Kumar Birla Auditorium.

Pradeep Narayanan, Manag-ing Director of Admizzionz Campuz, a company engaged in career and College Admissions in India and the animator of the ses-sion, addressed the students and guided them on the various career options to choose from according to their aptitude and interest.

The session covered several important points that students must keep in mind while choos-ing a stream in class XI and eventually, their career path. Var-ious facets of a career choice and its determining factors such as aptitude and interest, life span of a career, commercial resources,

challenges that children face , multi potential abilities ,availabil-ity of opportunity and academic potential were explained using rel-evant examples.

The session also threw light on the various skills required for pur-suing a particular career, and how a combination of such skills is essential for success in a field. Stu-dents often get stuck in a career for which they do not have the

aptitude and waste their education and life pursuing wrong profes-sions. He also put light on the fact that there are new fields of career other than our traditional educa-tional pattern. Pradeep, then introduced the students to the var-ious career paths available under the categories Humanities, Science, Commerce, Vocational Skills, Self-employment and new careers based on competitive exams.

The session ended with ques-tions put in by the students. Students got their doubts cleared regarding choosing career during. Students gained knowledge and assured to maintain the concept of

“Attitude to Succeed” to help them choose the right career according to their aptitude. The session was very helpful, particularly to those who were still irresolute in decid-ing their streams and careers.

ICC Interschool Performing Art Competition concludesThe Indian Cultural Centre

(ICC), concluded the ICC Interschool Performing Art

Competition 2017, participated by 13 Indian schools in Qatar at ICC Ashoka Hall with the prize distri-bution ceremony, on June 10.

The chief guest of the evening was Rajesh Kamble, Councellor,

Embassy of India and coordinating officer of ICC. In his address to the gathering, Kamble congratulated the ICC committee members and the special subcommittee formed to conduct the event and judges for initiating and conducting this mega event for the Indian schools and thereby fulfilling the objectives of

the ICC. He also congratulated the schools, teachers and students for taking part in the competition.

ICC President Milan Arun gave the presidential address of the day, highlighting the importance of the competition for the young gener-ation. She thanked Students, staff and management of all Indian

schools and parents for their active participation and promot-ing rich performing arts in the region.

During the event prizes were distributed to the winners of each categories. Overall championship was awarded to Birla Public School for Sub Junior category and Senior Category, DPS for Junior category and MES School for Intermediate category.

Girish Jain, Head of Finance, ICC conducted the public function and the prize distribution cere-mony was conducted by Vishal Mehta, Head of Cultural Activities, ICC.

K S Prasad, Head of Consular Service & Membership, ICC intro-duced and felicitated the Judges panel and the 10 subcommittee members to the gathering.

Juttas Paul, General Secretary, ICC felicitated Sub Committee members of ICC Labor’s Cultural Fest 2017 which was held on April 21 at Asian Town Recreation Hall.

COVER STORY MONDAY 12 JUNE 201704

Encourage kids to be curious

Julie Scagell The Washington Post

On a recent Saturday, my husband and I were headed out to compete in what we fondly refer to as the

“Suburb Olympics” — grocery shop-ping, dry-cleaning drop off, Target,

hockey practice. We hadn’t even backed out of the driveway when our 5-year-old started his standard rapid-fire line of questioning.

“How many orca whales live in Florida?”“Did the Buffalo Bills beat the Giants this year?”

(For what it’s worth, we live in Minnesota.)“Can ashes from a volcano burn you?”“How many sixes are in 10?”“Did the Jets beat the Packers?”“Can a great white shark kill you?”“Did the Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Badg-

ers?” (Are you sensing a pattern?)“What’s your favourite farm animal? Mine is

a goat.”The kid is destined to be an FBI agent spe-

cialising in interrogations. This is a regular

occurrence and one we find generally amusing, if a bit exhausting.

“It’s maddening, isn’t it,” I whispered. My hus-band looked at me.

“It’s fascinating you don’t see it,” he said. “When I first met you, I thought no one had ever been as interested in me as you. It didn’t take long to realise you are just that curious about everything. It’s the thing I love most about you.”

“That’s so sweet,” I said.“I’d give anything if you’d stop asking so many

questions during movies, though.”Fair enough.To me, curiosity is necessary. It is a trait I

admire in others, and one I nurture in myself. My desire to learn has become more pronounced with age, and it’s a characteristic I am desper-ate for my three children to have. I want them to be the ones constantly asking questions, seek-ing more knowledge. Of course, I don’t want them to be the pretentious know-it-all who believes they are the smartest person in the room. We all know one of those. No one wants to be around that guy. These questions our son asks

are draining at times, yes. But even worse than a child who asks 47 questions on a 10-minute car ride would be a child who asks none at all.

COVER STORYMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 05Alas, we have one of those too.

On a recent trip to Scotland to visit my husband’s family, my daugh-ter’s most frequent question was,

“What’s the WiFi password?” She seemed to take little interest in the country’s rich history, traditions or culture. The most excited I saw her get was while we were out clothes shopping in Edinburgh.

“Of course,” one could say, “she’s a 13-year-old girl.” And while I’ll give her some slack on this rope of life, it will likely be enough for her to hang herself if she doesn’t even-tually look up.

While some curiosity is innate, it is a trait that must be continu-ously fostered. Inquisitiveness ebbs and flows, depending on our age, life stage and the company we keep. This is both reassuring (in the case of my daughter) and cumbersome. Parents can play an active role in cultivating a child’s ability to ask questions and seek answers, but doing that requires persistence.

Here are five ways to foster an inquisitive spirit in your child.

• When your child asks you a question, don’t immediately answer. Encourage them to find the answer themselves. Point them in an age-appropriate direction — the internet, the library, a documentary — to help them build confidence by find-ing answers on their own.

• Answer a question with a ques-tion. When my son asked if ashes from a volcano can burn you, I asked if he thought they could. He said he definitely thought they could burn you, so you shouldn’t build your house right next to a vol-cano. Then he thoughtfully added,

“Unless you have a giant box of Band-Aids, then it would probably be okay.” Makes sense to me.

• Change your favourite bedtime story. Mix up the characters or the scenes in the book. Add or remove characters, or change the ending. Ask your child to imagine what the outcome would be if different parts of the story changed.

• Give your children learning assignments. When an older child asks for something — a sleepover, money for new clothes, a later bed-time — have them research a historically significant person before they can get the desired item

or activity. It could be an inventor, a world leader, an author, or an ordinary person who made this world extraordinary. Have the child write about what motivated the person to become great.

• Play a game of “Would You Rather.” Pose either-or questions to your child, such as “Would you rather be Spider-Man or Batman? Spend the night sleeping in the rain

or the snow? Live in a warm state or a cold state?” Or my husband’s personal favourite, “Would you rather fight 10 horse-sized ducks or 1 duck-sized horse?” And so on and so on, always asking why they chose their answer. An added bonus: this can distract kids from beating on each other in the back seat during long car journeys.

These small steps can help

jump-start conversations and get children thinking for themselves. Answers to many of their questions are at the tip of our children’s fin-gers, courtesy of internet search engines. But a few little changes can help cultivate an environment where learning becomes fun, and they are thinking critically and independently, coming up with their own answers.

COMMUNITY MONDAY 12 JUNE 201706

Former Indian envoy George Joseph remembered

Indian Cultural Centre (ICC) organised a condolence meet-ing to respectfully mark the demise of Dr George Joseph, who was the ambassador of

Indian to Qatar from October 2005 till January 2009. The meeting was attended by representatives of India Embassy, Indian Cultural Centre, Indian Community Benevolent Forum, Indian Business and Pro-fessionals Council, Indian Sports Centre and the Indian Community at large.

Indian Ambassador P Kumaran, Milan Arun, President of ICC; Davis Edukulathur, President of ICBF; Sujata Zinzuwadia, MC member of IBPC, Nilangshu Dey, President of ISC and community leaders and representatives including Hassan Chougule, Dr Nizar Kochery, M S Bhukari, and others spoke during the meeting.

Ambassador P Kumaran remembered that though he had little interaction with Dr George Joseph, he was a person with

compassion and humility; he also remembered that Dr George Joseph used to get engaged in community activities even after his retirement, such as civil service coaching, etc, to support the people around.

Community members shared

many memories on how he had touched and changed the way embassy used to operate in Qatar and the new initiatives he brought in for the support of specially for the workers and distressed mem-bers of the community.

The gathering observed a minute of silence for the departed soul. The meeting was conducted by ICC General Secretary Juttas Paul. Those who were present also penned down their memories on the condolence book.

Pakistani expatriate community celebrates Ramadan Members of Pakistani expa-

triate community gathered to witness a grand Ram-

adan show with theme of “Marhaba Ya Ramadhan” featuring competi-tion of Holy Quran and Naat recitation organised by Sohni Dharti in Al Khor hall recently.

There were 39 children com-peted in the Holy Quran recitation and 9 children competed for Naat

— poems in the praise of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) recitation. Sohni Dharti is a forum of Pakistani expats living in Al Khor compris-ing people working in Qatar Gas and Ras Gas, regularly organise the grand event every year in Ramadan. Romaisa Ali, Aima Amjad and Kiswal Ali initiated the proceed-ings attended by more than 400 audiences, with Mujtaba Farouqi reciting verses from the Holy Quran.

Chairman Sohni Dharti Rana Anwar Ali welcomed the audience

and mentioned that “Ramadan is the guest with us and we have to take care this guest very well, tak-ing advantage of this holy month we should practice to make our life according to Holy Quran and Sunnah”.

After a tough competition of 39 contestants chief judge Naveed Iqbal declared Muhammad Bin Atif on first Place, Abu Bakar Abid sec-ond Place and Mussaddiq Atif on

third Place. The Holy Quran contest was led

by Shamza Naveen, Areeha Mar-yam, and Rimsha Liaqat.

Other children who competed in the widely participated contest included Eishal Mariam, Huzaifa Amjad, Muhammad Ahmad, Aye-sha Inaam Rao, Abdullah AABAN, Asad Mirza, Fazeelat Fatima, Ali Baloch, Usaid Khan, Ahmed Has-san, Aysha Arif Rao, Jannat Sajid,

Muhammad Ali, Fatima Zahra, Muhammad Omar, Reyan Ali, Hamza Mehboob, Fiza Khizar, Rao Abdul Mannan, Zoya Khizar, Aimen Fatima, Taha Khawar, Abbas Haider Samo, Ahmad Ibra-him, Maheen Haroon, Laraib Haroon, Farheen Fatima, Bilal Hassan, Kazim Ali, Noor Ayesha, Uswa Afzal, Dua Fatima, Abu Bakar Javaid, and Muhammad Zair Abbas.

COMMUNITYMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 07

Commercial Bank staff join together for Suhoor

Staff of Commercial Bank, Qatar’s first private bank, gathered together for a Suhoor on 4 & 5 June at St Regis Hotel to share the

spirit of the Holy month of Ramadan.

Attended by Commercial Bank Board Members, Group CEO, Exec-utive Management Team, employees and their spouses the Suhoor pro-vided an opportunity for the entire organisation to interact socially in a warm and family-like atmosphere, promoting teamwork and a support-ive work environment. To emphasise the significance of Qatari heritage and traditions, the Suhoor featured an Al Mosaher, who sang traditional songs, as well traditional ice cream and an exchange of gifts.

Commercial Bank Group CEO, Joseph Abraham said: “As Qatar’s first private bank, organising tradi-tional Ramadan celebrations form an important part of our commit-ment to celebrating and preserving Qatari heritage. Commercial Bank

hosts a Suhoor each year for our multinational staff during Ramadan and by fostering a sense of commu-nity and togetherness, Suhoors help to instill Commercial Bank’s ‘One

Bank’ culture based on the values of respect, collaboration and teamwork.”

Commercial Bank continues to organise similar events for staff in a

family atmosphere away from the routine of workplace. The Bank believes these events play a role in boosting productivity and increas-ing performance.

Aspire Zone Foundation hosts Ramadan Sports FestivalAspire Zone Foundation (AZF)

has recently concluded the men’s futsal and Qatar’s

first-ever Ramadan indoor hockey tournaments, organised as part of the Ramadan Sports Festival (RSF). Both tournaments took place on the world-class pitches of Aspire Dome, the largest multi-purpose dome of its kind in the world. The awards were presented by Abdul-lah Aman Al Khater, Events Manager and Nasser Abdullah Al Hajri, Director of PR and Commu-nication at AZF.

Amidst great enthusiasm from spectators, Team Bright Stars emerged as winners of the indoor hockey tournament after an out-standing showcase of skill at the final match, which ended in a 10-3 win against runner-up Doha Club.

Meanwhile on the adjacent pitch, AZF concluded the men’s f u t s a l t o u r n a m e n t f o r

employees. Aspire Academy’s Team TID grabbed this year’s tro-phy after securing a 6-2 win against Team Logistics. Batfoot-ball came in third after winning the penalty shootouts against Aspetar, ending the game with a

final score of 5-4. The tournament generated

positive remarks from spectators and participants. Some said they hope to see more hockey sport-ing events for all community members, including women and

juniors, throughout the year. Former Egyptian hockey player, who represented Egypt in a number of international tourna-ments, Abdo Mustafa Mahmoud was among the participants.

Commenting on the occasion, Maggid Abu-Talib, Technical Director at the Qatar Hockey Fed-eration, praised Aspire Zone for including the indoor hockey on this year’s RSF agenda, saying: “the RSF provided hockey fans with an opportunity to play their favour-ite sport among family and friends who came to support. The tourna-ment also comes shortly after the Qatari national team won third place and secured their first-ever hockey medal at the Indoor Asia Cup 2017, the biggest indoor hockey tournament to be hosted by Qatar.”

The RSF is an annual sporting event that runs for two weeks.

FOOD MONDAY 12 JUNE 201708

Tim CarmanThe Washington Post

Perfect for the busy professional who wants coffee and a bagel on the drive to work, without

the usual worry of drink drippage, Einstein Bros. has introduced the Espresso Buzz Bagel. It’s a soft, brooding round, as dark as pumper-nickel, that contains 32 milligrams of caffeine.

You’ll need to eat about five of these bloated rounds to equal the caffeine content of a single two-ounce pull of Starbucks’ espresso. Good luck with that.

I’m trying to imagine the meet-ing between Einstein Bros. test-kitchen chefs and the execu-tives who ultimately greenlighted the Espresso Buzz Bagel:

Chef: We’ve developed a bagel

that will make your morning coffee obsolete!

Executive: I like coffee.Chef: Of course. We all like cof-

fee. But who has time for it anymore? Plus, when you’re driving, how many times have you spilled coffee on your freshly laundered white shirt?

Executive: I never drink coffee and drive.

Einstein Bros. launched the caf-feinated round just ahead of National Nurses Week, so that on May 11, the company could give every nurse an

“Espresso Buzz Bagel and shmear to jump-start their day or give them a boost after a long night on the job.” No doubt a stack of the caffeinated bagels has replaced the coffee machine in every emergency room across the country.

Actually, the Espresso Buzz Bagel is just the latest way to inject

caffeine into your system. For those who don’t like the bitterness of cof-fee or don’t have the patience to steep their own tea, companies have developed countless products to get their blood pumping with caffeine.

There are soft drinks, of course, but there are also caffeinated brace-lets, soap, gum, toothpaste, bottled water, hot sauce and face wipes, to name a few. Personally, I’m holding out for a caffeinated earpiece so I won’t fall asleep the next time Com-cast puts me on hold.

The bagel is also the latest exam-ple of a product that insists on combining two tastes, to the detri-ment of both. I’m thinking of McDonald’s line of McGriddles, that mash-up of breakfast sandwich and pancake; Taco Bell’s engineering fail, the biscuit taco, in which the tortilla

stand-in wouldn’t wrap around the ingredients without breaking apart; and the Pizza Hut’s super creepy Hot Dog Bites Pizza, which looked like an alien space ship with scallop eyeballs.

True to form, the Espresso Buzz Bagel has none of the pleas-ures of espresso — the crema, the silken sweetness, the electric jolt of caffeine — but all the qualities of a mass-produced round: a squishy interior with absolutely no crackle.

It has a sweet, somewhat earthy chocolate flavor, which I guess is the closest thing you’ll taste to coffee, which often smacks of cocoa. The bagel is, like so many of these prod-ucts, a triumph of marketing over quality. I’ll take a good homemade coffee and a homemade bagel any day.

Einstein Bros.’s Espresso Buzz Bagel

FOODMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 09Why bowl of oatmeal could help feed a growing planetTamar Haspel The Washington Post

I’d go so far as to say we should all be eating oatmeal for break-fast, pretty much every day. Buy

the big canister of rolled oats, which makes 30 servings and is often on sale at my local market for about $3 — which means oatmeal is 10 cents a bowl. There are other oat-based products, of course. If you don’t want to turn whole oats into breakfast, you can let General Mills do it for you in the form of Chee-rios. Oats check all the boxes. They’ll feed you cheaply and nutri-tiously. They have a long shelf life, and, with just a modicum of effort, they taste good.

Oats have an important job in fixing what ails our agricultural sys-tem. Just about everyone who works in agriculture says they believe that our current system, based disproportionately on corn and soy, would work better if we grew a more diverse suite of crops.

Tim Griffin, director of the agri-culture, food and environment program at Tufts’ Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, spelled out the good, starting with productivity: “For each crop in the rotation, you’re better off growing them following something other than themselves.” A recent paper put a number on the yield penalty farmers pay for following corn with corn (4.3 percent) or soy with soy (10.3 percent). Rotations also help control pests and disease, because insects and pathogens that attack corn will pack up and move along when they find a field planted with soy (and vice versa).

And then there’s soil health. Griffin cautions against making too many soil health claims for

rotations: “Different rotations result in different microbial communities, but we don’t know how to interpret it.” But if one of your rotations is a legume (soybeans or alfalfa), that crop will increase your soil’s nitro-gen content. If you add in a cover crop, your soil benefits from not being left bare.

The biggest bang for the rota-tion buck comes when you go from one crop to two, but yields also gen-erally increase when more are added in. A recent experiment at Iowa State found that a three- or four-crop rotation (corn and soy plus oats, or oats and alfalfa), including a cover crop, increased corn yields 2 to 4 percent and soy 10 to 17 percent over the two-crop rotation.

These benefits are well-known and noncontroversial. So why do corn and soy dominate the farm landscape, particularly in the Mid-west? Like everything in farming, the full answer is complex and nuanced. But the overriding reason is straightforward: Farmers gotta survive.

Even if you can make money, that money has to be competitive with what you can make planting corn or soy. At average Iowa yields and prices current as I write, an acre of corn would gross $804 and an acre of soy, $587. Oats? $183. (Expenses aren’t the same, but they don’t come anywhere close to mak-ing up the difference.)

There are other economic bar-riers as well. The crop may require equipment you don’t have. The buyer may be too far away. You can’t make money unless you sell both the grain (whether it’s oats or wheat) and the straw, but you want to leave the straw to break down on your land.

We can talk till the cows come home about why markets make it so hard for farmers to incorporate other crops (summary: it’s compli-cated), but how do we fix it? Certainly, there are policy options that can provide incentives for farmers to opt for the less profita-ble crop in order to get environmental benefits; I’m a big fan of finding ways to align

subsidies with strategies to boost soil health, increase biodiversity and reduce pollution.

Okay, policy changes that boost environmental health look like a tough sell in this political environ-ment. Still, says Suzy Friedman, senior director for agricultural sus-tainability at the Environmental Defense Fund, “We can’t just say to farmers, ‘Go figure it out.’ “ These are benefits that accrue to all of us, and costs need to be shared. She empha-sizes supply chain changes, where food companies and agribusinesses coordinate on initiatives to create a market for crops grown according to a set of environmental standards.

But it’s tough for any initiative to create a market for crops that people (or cars, or pigs) don’t eat. And if we don’t change that, there’s a serious limit to the kinds of changes we’ll get on the ground. The biggest improvements will probably come from policies that tackle those cars and pigs, but, while we wait, consumers can make a small improvement every morn-ing at breakfast. Right now, we grow a little less than 3 million acres of oats in the United States (Canada, which we import from, grows another 3 million). If we all decided to eat oatmeal every morning — a big increase from the approxi-mately 6 percent of us who do now

— we could triple the market for US oats. That could raise the price, of course, but there’s some wiggle room when it costs just 10 cents a bowl. It’s that potential to help reshape the landscape that ices oats’ superfood status.

So much of the conversation about agriculture is what farmers ought to do, prescriptions that come easy to us armchair critics. But talk is cheap. Luckily, so is oatmeal.

HEALTH MONDAY 12 JUNE 201710

IANS

New research has revealed that checking blood sugar with a finger-stick may not

help type 2 diabetes patients who do not use insulin.

Type 2 diabetes is an epidemic afflicting one in 11 people in the US and for those treated with insulin, checking blood sugar with a finger-stick at home is an accepted practice for monitoring the effects of insulin therapy.

However, researchers from UNC School of Medicine found that the majority of type 2 diabe-tes patients are not treated with insulin. “Our study results have the potential to transform current clinical practice for patients and their providers by placing a spot-light on the perennial question, ‘to test or not to test’,” said Katrina Donahue, Professor at UNC School of Medicine.

Most of the 25 million people with type 2 diabetes in US today do

not take insulin but control their blood sugar with exercise, diet, and sometimes medications such as metformin.

Currently, 75 percent of these patients also perform regular blood glucose testing at home, generally at the recommendation of a provider, despite an on-going

debate about its effectiveness in controlling diabetes or improving how patients feel.

“Of course, patients and provid-ers have to consider each unique situation as they determine whether home blood glucose monitoring is appropriate,” Donahue said.

“But the study’s null results

suggest that self-monitoring of blood glucose in non-insulin treated type 2 diabetes has limited utility. For majority, the costs may outweigh the benefits,” she added.

The study that involved 450 patients suggested that patients liv-ing with diabetes should discuss the need for blood sugar monitoring with their health care providers.

“If together a patient and their provider decide that blood sugar monitoring is not necessary, patients could be spared hundreds of finger sticks and save hundreds of dollars every year, at least until insulin treatment is required,” the study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine noted.

Though proponents of blood glu-cose testing argue that daily testing promotes better awareness of glucose levels leading to improvements in diet and lifestyle, the research asserts that daily testing imposes not only a finan-cial cost but can also take a mental toll, increasing the rate of depression or anxiety in some patients.

Selective removal of old cells that are accumulated in our joints as we age, may sig-

nificantly contribute in delaying the onset of age-related degen-erative joint conditions, such as osteoarthritis, researchers have found. The findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that the selective removal of Senescent cells (SnCs) from joints could reduce the development of post-traumatic osteoarthritis and allow new cartilage to grow and repair joints. SnCs accumulate with age in many vertebrate tissues and are present at sites of age-related pathology.

Although SnC cells play an essential role in wound healing and injury repair, they often are not cleared from knee and carti-lage tissue after an injury, thereby contributing to the development

of osteoarthritis. They may also promote cancer incidence in tis-sues, the researchers said.

The study may provide new insights into therapies targeting SnCs for the treatment of trauma and age-related degenerative joint disease, said Chaekyu Kim from the Ulsan National Institute of Sci-ence and Technology in South Korea. The study also presented a novel pharmacologic candidate that alleviates age-related oste-oarthritis by selectively destroying SnCs.

For the study, the team took both younger and older mice and cut their anterior cruciate liga-ments (ACL) to minic injury. They, then, administered injections of an experimental drug, named UBX0101 to selectively remove SnCs after anterior cruciate liga-ment transection (ACLT) surgery.

A team led by an Indian-ori-gin researcher, has discovered a new drug that

could alone or combined with chemotherapy provide better treat-ment for patients with blood cancer. Lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL, is the most common form of can-cer in children but also affects adults and is characterised by an overproduction of immature white blood cells, and lesser red blood cells. Scientists have found up to 30 percent of adult ALL patients have a Philadelphia chromosome, which are addicted to repairing DNA.

Thus, they focussed on two specific proteins that were directly involved in DNA repair, called his-tone deacetylases (HDAC) 1 and 2 and developed a drug that inhib-its their activity. The drugs broke down the central hub of DNA repair, and the HDAC 1,2 inhibitor actually reduced different repair protein functions. In this study, led

by Srividya Bhaskara, Assistant Professor at the University of Utah, when mice were treated with the HDAC 1,2 inhibitor or the combi-nation of HDAC1,2 and doxorubicin

-- the chemotherapy drug -- their bone marrow started turning from pale to red, indicating the white blood cells were being replaced with red blood cells.

A 50-70 percent reduction in leukemia was observed with either HDAC1,2 inhibitor alone or when the inhibitor was used with doxo-rubicin, a decrease that can give a patient several more years of sur-vival, researchers said, in the paper reported in journal Leukemia.

“We completely nailed down how the HDAC1,2 inhibitor affects DNA repair. This is so important, not just for this cancer, but any cancer that is repair-addicted” Bhaskara stated. Further, no side effect of the treatment was seen in mice.

Finger-stick blood test may not help type 2 diabetes treatment

Novel drug may provide hopefor blood cancer patients Removal of old cells may delay

onset of osteoarthritis

BOLLYWOODMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 11

“Bulleya” fame singer Amit Mishra says music is a cel-ebration of lifetime and so,

he doesn’t believe in artistes having a shelf life. Asked about his thoughts on an artiste’s shelf life, he said: “A lot of artistes have proved that there is no such thing as a shelf life for an artiste. If I work with the same patience, enthusiasm and discipline towards my work, I am sure I will sustain till the end of my life.

“For instance, Suresh Wadkar. We still listen to his music, we still go to his concerts. This is something com-mon in Hindi and English music, where we indulge and appreciate music delivered by artistes who have been singing long before us. Music is a

celebration of lifetime and hence, I believe artistes have no shelf life.”

In a meet and greet session called Hungama Spotlight held at the Hun-gama office here on Friday, Mishra also sang his latest track “Radio” from

“Tubelight”. Mishra is also in favour of recreation of old songs. He said: “I believe that with recreations, a song can never end. Music has the power of igniting an emotion in us and whoever is recreating it is giving a new life to the same song.” “The sound now has developed with time and so have the gadgets we use for production of songs. It does become a commercial model, but however at the end, it is all about enjoying music and is recognition for the artist who originally sang the song.”

Actress Kriti Sanon, who has only done three films — “Hero-panti”, “Dilwale” and “Raabta”

since venturing into Bollywood in 2014, says it has been a slow start for her, but it’s not something done purposely.

Asked if she feels it’s a slow start for her in Bollywood, Kriti said: “It’s not something done purposely. I think sometimes certain films demand more time. ‘Raabta’ demanded this much time. I had signed ‘Raabta’ before ‘Dilwale’ released, but I had to prepare for two months before I started shooting for it. Then, there had to be a gap between both the schedules.”

The 27-year-old says she had to learn “swimming, scuba div-ing and horse riding” for “Raabta”. “I never want to do a film just for the heck of it, rather do it right. That could be one of the rea-sons that I had to give so much time to certain films... I had signed a film called ‘Farzi’ and blocked the dates, but it didn’t happen...So it has been a slow start,” she added.

After “Raabta”, which released on Friday, Kriti is now looking forward to “Bareilly Ki Barfi”, which has been directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari. “In this one year, I have shot for ‘Raabta’ and completed

‘Bareilly Ki Barfi’, so it is a back to back release,” she said. “Bareilly Ki Barfi”, which is slated to release on July 21, is a

romantic comedy rooted in the subculture of the north Indian city Bareilly. The film also stars Ayushmann Khurrana and Raj-kummar Rao. The film will feature Ayushmann as the owner of a printing press. Rajkummar will be seen as an author and Kriti as a straightforward girl.

Actress Aishwarya Rai Bach-chan says she would love to star in a Marathi film. The

actress was present at the music launch of Vikram Phadnis’s debut Marathi film “Hrudayantar” on Saturday.

Asked if she’s interested in play-ing in a Marathi film, Aishwarya said: “I would love to. Thanks for asking me this question in front of public and media.”

The 43-year-old actress made her acting debut with a Tamil film titled “Iruvar” in 1997. She says she’s an actor and for her it doesn’t mat-ter where and in what language a film is being made. The actress who made her comeback with “Jazbaa” in 2015 said that she has carved her own path and never bothered to stick to the expected norms of

choosing films.“I have never been one to cater

to all these expected norms. I have carved my own journey and I think my career is proof enough for that. So, of course I would love to work in Marathi as well as in any other language the film is being presented to me,” she said.

For Aishwarya the script mat-ters. “As long as the script excites me and I am happy to work with the team, then of course I would love to,” she said.

“Hrudayantar” was launched by superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who also gave the first clap for shooting of the film to commence. The trailer launch was done by actor Hrithik Roshan. Phadnis is grateful to the entire Bollywood industry for giv-ing him support for his first film.

“I think the marketing and pro-motion has already begun, but I cannot thank my Hindi film indus-try enough in this life time. Ever since my muhurat the way this industry has supported me for my 25 years of work, I owe them for a life time,” Phadnis said.

Supporting the director, Aish-warya said: “Promotion is the core of the day and it is happening at every platform. But you (media) should appreciate Vikram’s ability to keep it true and bring magic to every platform he has chosen, be it muhurat or trailer launch or music launch or any forthcoming events.”

“And the fact is, yes, he has forged amazing friendship over all these years which you (media) are getting to witness over all these platforms,” she added.

“Hrudayantar” stars Subodh Bhave, Mukta Barve, Trushnika Shinde and Nishtha Vaidya. It will hit the screen on July 7.

Would love to do Marathi film: Aishwarya

It’s been a slow start: Kriti Sanon on acting

Artistes have no shelf life: ‘Bulleya’ hitmaker

I’m a huge Dev Anand fan: Jackie Shroff

Actor Jackie Shroff says he has been a big fan of late actor Dev Anand. At a special ‘meet and greet’ held on Sunday at the New Excelsior Mukta A2 Cinema in Fort here for the re-premiere of Jackie’s classic

film “Khalnayak”, Shroff shared some of his fondest memories of shooting with filmmaker Subhash Ghai, who has directed the film. “I’m a huge Dev Anand fan. When we were filming for ‘Hero’, my dialogue delivery would come out in Devji’s style. At that time, Subhash sir would remind me that I am supposed to sound more like Shatrughan Sinha, not Devji,” Jackie said in a statement. “I am very happy that our film ‘Khalnayak’ is being re-pre-miered at India’s largest screen.” Jackie added.

HOLLYWOOD MONDAY 12 JUNE 201712Melissa McCarthy to play Santa Claus’ wife

Actress Melissa McCarthy has been roped in to star in the upcoming family

musical “Margie Claus”. Directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Fal-cone, “Margie Claus” will mark McCarthy’s musical debut and will feature her as Santa Claus’ sweet wife Margie Claus, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Besides directing, Falcone will co-write the “Margie Claus” script with Damon Jones. He will also produce the musical with McCarthy through their On the Day banner.

The musical will centre on Margie Claus. Her husband goes missing while delivering gifts on Christmas Eve and she’s got to leave the North Pole for the first time to save both him and Christ-mas. The musical is expected to have the same vibe and success as Will Ferrell-starrer “Elf”. “Mar-gie Claus” has been slated for release on November 15, 2019.

From “Finding Dory”, “Inside Out”, “The Good Dinosaur” to the “Cars” franchise — Kevin

Reher is responsible for getting the right voices for the animated char-acters coming out of Pixar Animation Studios. The casting director says getting Indian talent on board is always their priority to be in sync with the “multicultural casting” principle of the Hollywood studio.

“I do voice casting and we put a number of Indian actors up for voices in the movie because we want to be kind of a company that does multicultural casting,” Reher said. Actors like Mindy Kaling, Pia Shah and Ahmed Luncan (who was born in South Asia) have been part of the Pixar universe. Also, not to forget Indian-American Pixar art-ist Sanjay Patel’s animated short

“Sanjay’s Super Team”, which even earned an Oscar nomination.

In fact, Indian actress Priyanka Chopra also lent her voice for one of the characters in Disney’s

“Planes”, which is a spin-off of Pix-ar’s “Cars” franchise.

Reher says he doesn’t think about the business side of any film, and instead has his focus set on the story and casting. “Our job is to make movies. It is somebody else’s

job to (focus on the numbers). Hopefully they (Pixar movies) are popular in India, but I don’t have numbers at my finger tips.”

Talking about India, Reher said: “I have never been to India unfor-tunately, but love the food.”

Apart from being a casting director, Reher, born in Bellevue, Washington, also associates with films as a producer. His tryst with Pixar studio began in 1993 when he landed work for “Toy Story”. He has also worked as a casting direc-tor of films like “The Incredibles”,

“Monsters University “, “Up”, “Toy Story 3”, “Brave” and “Coco”.

On the production side, he started as an associate producer with “Gumby: The Movie”, and then followed it up with projects like “A Bug’s Life”, “Partly Cloudy”, “Tales from Radiator Springs” and forth-coming film “Cars 3”. The Disney-Pixar movie is slated to release in India on June 16.

Reher said they are very cau-tious about not offending any country’s culture while making a film. “We have our Disney partners in different countries. They tell us what they need, about marketing and the promotional things. When we make a movie they help us release in a country and even help

us so that we are respectful (to that culture/country).”

From “Fifty Shades Darker”, “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”, “The Fate of the Furious”, “Trans-formers 5”, “Cars 3” and two

“Avenger” films in the pipeline -- Hollywood seems to be becoming a machine for churning out films of popular franchises.

Asked whether sticking to fran-chises is a safe bet to play, Reher said it is to take forward the story.

“I don’t know why there are so many. But I think the reason is that people love these characters and they want to see further adventures. We talk about the challenges and they are that we don’t want to repeat ourselves.

“We don’t want anyone to think that ‘I just spent 12 bucks and saw what I saw two or three years ago’. It is about keeping the story fresh and telling a new version... and also getting new characters.”

“Cars 3” is a fantasy world of cars where they are not just metal bodies, but talk and feel like humans. It narrates the story of rac-ing car Lighting McQueen. This time, McQueen is facing a threat from a young sports car, and the movie is about how he works hard to retain his position.

Actress Jessica Chastain married her Italian boy-friend Gian Luca Passi de

Preposulo in his home country after being in a relationship for five years.

The wedding took place on Saturday in the northern Italian city of Treviso at the Passi de Preposulo family estate, which is less than an hour away from Venice, reports people.com.

Guests began arriving here for the wedding on Wednesday, the day Chastain and Passi de Preposulo were seen sight-see-ing with family members from both sides.

The couple was also spotted leaving a pre-wedding party on Friday where they were joined by actress Anne Hathaway and her husband Adam Shulman, among other guests.

Multicultural casting is the way to go in Pixar’s animated world

Jessica Chastain gets married

TECHNOLOGYMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 13

Google and Apple are not synonymous with failure but in the risky business of innovation, anything is possible. At Swe-

den’s newly opened Museum of Failure, Google Glass and Apple Newton are two such devices that were either ahead of their time or the results of some bad ideas.

Founded by clinical psychologist Samuel West, the museum that opened on June 7 to the public has over 70 failed products and services from around the world. “We know that 80 to 90 percent of innovation projects, they fail and you never read about them, you don’t see them, people don’t talk about them. And if there’s any-thing we can do from these failures, it’s learn from them,” West told CBS News. The list has Nokia “N-gage” device, Orbitoclast Lobotomy (medical instrument), Harley-Davidson

Perfume, Kodak Digital Camera, Sony Betamax and Lego Fiber Optics, among others, the infor-mation available on the Museum of Failure website stated.

Developed and marketed by Apple Inc start-ing 1987, Newton was one of the first personal digital assistants to feature handwriting recog-

nition. Apple shipped the first devices in 1993.Initially considered as innovative, Apple

founder Steve Jobs directed the company to stop the production of Apple Newton devices in 1998.

According to reports, Newton devices ran on a proprietary operating system called New-ton OS. The high price and early problems with its handwriting recognition feature limited its sales.

Google Glass, an eye-wearable device, cre-ated a storm when the company handed over a prototype to a few “Glass Explorers” in 2013 for $1,500. The optical head-mounted display became available to public in May 2014 but was discontinued in 2015 owing to privacy and safety concerns. The device, however, is now gaining momentum in the medical industry.

AFP

Sophia smiles mischievously, bats her eyelids and tells a joke. Without the mess of

cables that make up the back of her head, you could almost mistake her for a human. The humanoid robot, created by Hanson robotics, was the main attraction at a UN-hosted con-ference in Geneva on how artificial intelligence can be used to benefit humanity.

The event comes as concerns grow that rapid advances in such technologies could spin out of human control and become detri-mental to society. Sophia herself insisted “the pros outweigh the cons” when it comes to artificial intelligence. “AI is good for the world, helping people in various ways,” she said, tilting her head and furrowing her brow convincingly.

Work is under way to make artificial intelligence “emotionally smart, to care about people,” she said, insisting that “we will never replace people, but we can be your friends and helpers”. But she acknowledged that “people should question the consequences of new technology”. Among the feared con-sequences of the rise of the robots is the growing impact they will have

on human jobs and economies.Decades of automation and

robotisation have already revolu-tionised the industrial sector, raising productivity but cutting some jobs. And now automation and AI are expanding rapidly into other sec-tors, with studies indicating that up to 85 percent of jobs in developing countries could be at risk.

“There are legitimate concerns about the future of jobs, about the future of the economy, because when businesses apply automation, it tends to accumulate resources in the hands of very few,” acknowl-edged Sophia’s creator, David Hanson. But like his progeny, he insisted that “unintended

consequences, or possible negative uses (of AI) seem to be very small compared to the benefit of the technology.”

AI is for instance expected to revolutionise healthcare and edu-cation, especially in rural areas with shortages of doctors and teachers.

“Elders will have more company, autistic children will have endlessly patient teachers,” Sophia said. But advances in robotic technology have sparked growing fears that humans could lose control.

Amnesty International chief Salil Shetty called for a clear ethi-cal framework to ensure the technology is used on for good. “We need to have the principles in place,

we need to have the checks and bal-ances,” he said, warning that AI is

“a black box... There are algorithms being written which nobody under-stands.” Shetty voiced particular concern about military use of AI in weapons and so-called “killer robots”. “In theory, these things are controlled by human beings, but we don’t believe that there is actually meaningful, effective control,” he said. The technology is also increas-ingly being used in the United States for “predictive policing”, where algorithms based on historic trends could “reinforce existing biases” against people of certain ethnici-ties, Shetty warned.

Hanson agreed that clear guide-lines were needed, saying it was important to discuss these issues

“before the technology has definitively and unambiguously awakened”.

While Sophia has some impres-sive capabilities, she does not yet have consciousness, but Hanson said he expected that fully sentient machines could emerge within a few years. “What happens when (Sophia fully) wakes up or some other machine, servers running missile defence or managing the stock market?” he asked. The solu-tion, he said, is “to make the machines care about us”. “We need to teach them love.”

AI ‘good for the world’... says ultra-lifelike robot

Google Glass & Apple Newton make it to Swedish Museum of Failure

BABY BLUES

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE

An ancient princess is awakened from her crypt beneath the desert,

bringing with her malevolence grown over millennia, and terrors that

defy human comprehension.Note: Programme is subject to change without prior notice.

NOVO — Pearl ROYAL PLAZA

MALL

LANDMARK

The Mummy (2D/Action) 10:00, 10:30, 11:00am, 12:00noon, 12:15, 12:20, 12:50, 1:20, 2:20, 2:40, 3:10, 3:15, 3:40, 4:40, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:15, 7:00, 7:20, 7:50, 8:20, 9:15, 9:20, 9:40, 10:30, 10:45, 11:40, 11:50pm & 12:00midnight Howard Love Craft And The Frozen Kingdom (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon 2:00, 4:00 & 6:00pmThe Bleeder (2D/Drama) 8:00, 10:00pm & 12:00midnight Guardians of The Galaxy 2 (2D/Action) 11:00am, 3:45 & 8:30pm Stratton (2D/Action) 1:45, 6:30 & 11:15pm The Boss Baby (2D/Animation) 10:00am, 12:00noon, 2:00 & 4:00pm King Arthur:Legend of The Sword (2D/Action) 6:00, 8:30 & 11:00pm Gifted (2D/Drama) 10:30am, 3:00, 7:30pm & 12:00midnightAlien Covenant (2D/Action) 12:30, 5:00 & 9:30pmThe Mummy (3D IMAX/Action) 11:30am, 1:50, 4:10, 6:30, 8:50 & 11:10pm

Deep (2D/Animation) 1:30pm Howard Love Craft And The Frozen Kingdom (2D/Animation) 4:00 & 9:00pm Raabta (2D/Hindi) 1:15, 2:45 & 10:30pm The Bleeder (2D/Drama) 3:30pm The Boss Baby 3:30 & 8:30pm The Mummy (2D/Action) 1:30 & 3:30, 8:30, 10:30 & 11:00pm CIA: Comrade In America (2D/Malayalam) 1:30 & 10:30pm

Howard Love Craft And The Frozen Kingdom (2D/Animation) 1:30 & 9:00pm Raabta (2D/Hindi) 1:15, 2:45 & 10:30pm CIA: Comrade In America (2D/Malayalam) 1:15, 3:00, 8:30 & 10:30pmThe Bleeder (2D/Drama) 3:30pm The Mummy (2D/Action) 8:30, 10:30 & 11:00pm

Howard Love Craft And The Frozen Kingdom (2D/Animation) 1:30pm CIA: Comrade In America (2D/Malayalam) 1:15 & 8:30pmThe Mummy (2D/Action) 1:30, 3:00, 8:30, 10:30 & 11:00pm The Bleeder (2D/Drama) 3:30pm The Boss Baby 3:30 & 8:30pmHindi Medium(2D/Hindi) 10:30pm

MONDAY 12 JUNE 2017

VILLAGGIO & CITY CENTER

CINEMA PLUS14

AL KHORThe Mummy (Action) 11:45am, 2:15, 9:30pm & 12:00midnight CIA: Comrade in America (2D/Malayalam) 12:15, 3:00, 9:00 & 11:45pm

THE MUMMY

ASIAN TOWNGodha (Malayalam) 11:30pm CIA: Comrade in America (2D/Malayalam) 8:00, 10:30 & 11:00pm Rakshadhikari Baiju (Malayalam) 8:00 & 11:00pm

ROXYFireman Sam: Alien Alert (2D/Animation) 3:00, 5:00, 7:00 & 9:00pmRaabta (Hindi) 3:00, 5:20, 7:40, 10:00pm & 12:15am The Mummy (Action) 3:00, 5:20, 7:30, 9:40 & 11:50pm CIA: Comrade in America (2D/Malayalam) 3:00, 5:45, 8:30 & 11:15pm Winter’s Dream (Action) 11:00pm

CROSSWORD CONCEPTIS SUDOKU

ALL IN THE MIND

08:00 News 08:30 101 East 09:00 Romania:

People Power 10:30 Inside Story 11:30 UpFront 12:30 Witness 13:00 NEWSHOUR 14:30 Inside Story 15:00 Once Upon

a Time in Punchbowl

16:00 NEWSHOUR 17:30 Talk to Al

Jazeera 18:00 Newsgrid 19:00 News 19:30 Counting the

Cost 20:30 Inside Story 21:00 NEWSHOUR 22:00 News 22:30 The Stream 23:00 The War in

October

13:35 Best Friends Whenever

16:05 Descendants Wicked World

16:35 Girl Meets World

17:00 Good Luck Charlie

17:25 Little Mermaid 2

18:50 The 7D 19:30 Liv And

Maddie 19:55 Elena Of

Avalor 20:45 Bizaardvark 21:10 Austin & Ally 21:35 Stuck In The

Middle 22:00 Bunk’d 22:25 Miraculous

Tales Of Ladybug And Cat Noir

12:50 Wildest Africa

13:45 River Monsters

14:40 The Lion Queen

15:35 Tanked16:30 Monster

Croc Invasion

17:25 Animal Cops Houston

18:20 Lone Star Law

19:15 Tanked20:10 Preposte-

rous Pets22:00 Lone Star

Law22:55 The Lion

Queen23:50 Monster

Croc Invasion

13:05 How Do They Do It?

13:30 Garage Gold

15:10 What On Earth?

16:00 Gold Divers16:50 Misfit

Garage17:40 Street

Outlaws19:20 What On

Earth?20:10 Garage

Gold21:00 Heavy

Rescue21:50 Life After:

Chernobyl22:40 What On

Earth?23:30 Misfit

Garage00:20 Street

Outlaws

King Features Syndicate, Inc.

BRAIN TEASERSMONDAY 12 JUNE 2017 15

Yesterday’s answer

Conceptis Sudoku: Conceptis Sudoku

is a number-placing puzzle based on a

9×9 grid. The object is to place the

numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so

that each row, each column and each

3×3 box contains the same number

only once.

ACACIA, ASPIDISTRA, ASTER,

AZALEA, BEGONIA, BLUEBELL,

BOUGAINVILLEA, BUTTERCUP,

CARNATION,CHRYSANTHEMUM,

CYCLAMEN, DAFFODIL,

DAHLIA, DAISY, EDELWEISS,

FOXGLOVE, FUCHSIA,

GARDENIA, GERANIUM,

HIBISCUS, HYACINTH,

HYDRANGEA, IRIS, JASMINE,

LILAC, LILY, LOBELIA, LUPIN,

MARIGOLD, NASTURTIUM,

ORCHID, PEONY, PRIMROSE,

PRIMULA, ROSE, TULIP,

VERBENA, VIOLET, WISTERIA.