The Rotunda Ramblings

Digital Tattoo Interface Turns Your Skin Into A Display

2009-12-16T01:44:00.000+05:30

There are implants which are purely aesthetic, and then there's the Digital Tattoo Interface concept. It's a blood-powered electronic interface which is embedded under skin to mimic a tattoo, display videos, or act as a phone or computer.

As great as it seems, this concept is seriously creepy because it powers itself by converting the glucose and oxygen found in blood into electricity. Though somehow getting your blood sucked by a gadget is worth it for the endless potential applications. I'd probably just end up using it to tweet, but what would you do first with your implant?

That's a Bad Cough, Let's Examine Your Genome

2009-12-15T01:35:00.000+05:30

In 2003, we mapped the human genome, the 20,000-ish genes we all share. It cost $3 billion. Today, you can literally spit in a cup, place the saliva in the mail and get a peek at your own.

Services like 23andMe (proponents of the above-mentioned "spit parties") and Navigenics both examine specific snippets of your genome for known severe genetic conditions like diabetes, bipolar disorder and certain types of cancers (as well as goofier stuff like freckling and "food preference").

Meanwhile, a boutique genome mapping company named Knome maps not just snippets of DNA but your entire genome, using a blood sample. When it's ready, they sit you down with a doctor to explain their findings.

This thoroughness comes at a cost, of course. Knome's service will run you the price of a Porsche, while their competitors bill up to only a thousand dollars, often less. And while we can technically map the entire genome, we certainly can't understand everything we see.

Ari Kiirikki, a VP at Knome we met at TEDMED, decodes the future of genomics in this brief Q&A:

Where's genomics now?

The first human genome, completed in 2003, took 13 years and nearly $3 billion to decode. Today, we can sequence and interpret an entire human genome in a matter of weeks for less than $70,000 (our current price is $68,000). New software and other analytical tools have put decades of accumulated scientific research at our fingertips, enabling us to analyze an individual's DNA in order to identify risk for thousands of diseases and other inherited traits and conditions.

What will we be doing in 5 years?

Within 5 years, the cost of sequencing an entire human genome is expected to plummet below $1,000, which will dramatically increase the demand for genetic sequence interpretation. The resulting increase in raw data will enable scientists to make new and important discoveries linking our DNA to health and disease, thereby further increasing the clinical utility of DNA analysis. This will enable us to finally deliver on the promise of personalized medicine by allowing scientists to begin the development medicines and individualized "cocktails" of therapeutics tailored to individual genetic profiles.

In 10?

Ten years from now, sequencing a human genome will cost less than $100. Within the decade, scientists are likely to have unraveled precisely how DNA interacts with our environment to impact our risk for developing disease. Expect DNA sequencing to become a regular part of your annual check-up along with the introduction of new therapeutics that can be prescribed to help delay or completely avoid getting specific diseases that you may be predisposed to.

And now we're stretching it, what about 20?

Every medicine you take will be tailored specifically to your genome. Every newborn child will be sequenced at birth, enabling future generations to use their DNA to guide the management of their health over their entire lifetime. Perhaps most amazingly, your DNA will be fully integrated into your everyday life. Genetics will move beyond the clinic, into a broad range of consumer products—snacks, vitamins, mouthwash, skin creams, dating services, etc., all optimized for your unique genetic profile.
-Mark Wilson

I can't speak for everyone here, but I could certainly go for a stick of gum that, instead of being labeled "grape" or "spearmint," simply stated, "You'll enjoy DNA-certified flavor, fatty."

[Image: Human chromosomes "painted" by flourescent dyes to detect abnormal exchange of genetic material frequently present in cancer. Chromosome paints also serve as valuable resources for other clinical and research applications.

Human Genome Program, U.S. Department of Energy, Human Genome Program Report, 1997.]

Women who 'let go' may have better luck with IVF

2009-12-14T01:19:00.000+05:30

Women who cope with the stress of infertility treatment by relinquishing control are nearly twice as likely to get pregnant as those who don't adopt this strategy, research from Israel shows.

The findings, say the researchers, suggest that techniques like meditation, which is focused on teaching people to "let go," could help improve women's chances of getting pregnant.

There is increasing evidence that stress and emotional distress can influence in-vitro fertilization (IVF) success, Dr. Nathalie Rapoport-Hubschman of the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva and her colleagues note in the journal Fertility and Sterility. But evidence on the effects of other psychological factors has been inconclusive, they add.

Rapoport-Hubschman and her team theorized that coping mechanisms, rather than traits like anxiety or hostility, might play a role in IVF success. While problem-focused coping is an effective way to deal with situations that are under a person's control, so-called "emotion-focused coping," which can involve humor, denial, relaxation, and letting go, might be a less stressful way to handle infertility treatment, they suggest.

The researchers looked at 88 women undergoing IVF, 21 of whom got pregnant. The only factors that independently influenced IVF success, the researchers found, were a woman's age and whether she had high "letting go" coping levels at the beginning of the study.

IVF treatment is "highly uncontrollable," Rapoport-Hubschman and her colleagues note in their report. "When control is not possible, focusing on and regulating one's associated emotions may be more effective."

Women who don't use this approach may spend more time worrying and thinking about whether or not they will get pregnant, the researchers note; this can affect multiple systems in the body.

"The next logical step would be to test whether meditation, aimed at helping women relinquish control and improve letting go, could have positive effects on reproductive outcomes in women undergoing infertility and IVF treatments," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, October 2009.

Intending mothers fight for maternity leave following surrogacy

2009-12-13T01:08:00.001+05:30

Following new UK government guidelines on surrogacy published last month aimed at improving the rights of surrogacy patients, Ministers are now facing a new legal challenge calling for further changes in the law.

Specialist fertility law firm, Gamble and Ghevaert, have written to Ministers demanding that the current rules, which prevent women who use surrogates from receiving maternity benefits, be changed. At present, only women who themselves go through a successful pregnancy are entitled to paid maternity leave and employment protection - even in cases where they are not the genetic parent. Thus, surrogate mothers are entitled to all maternity benefits. However, no such rights are available for parents who use a surrogate or adopt, leading campaigners to describe the current position as discriminatory.

Natalie Gamble, partner at Gamble and Ghevaert, explained the situation thus: 'The lack of right to maternity leave is tied up with the fact the surrogate mother is regarded as the mother…In any other circumstances you would get maternity leave. Women aren't going to need a whole year. What would make sense is a system where you have some sort of sharing arrangement [for maternity leave]'. She continued, 'We also need to take account of our modern human rights and anti-discrimination laws which do not allow unfair treatment of minority groups, however small they are'. At present, approximately 40 babies are born through surrogacy in Britain each year, mainly due to medical reasons which prevent some women from giving birth themselves.

Surrogacy in Britain is laden with problems. Surrogates in Britain may not receive payment for the service they render, apart from expenses. Furthermore, surrogacy agreements are not legally binding, meaning the surrogate mother has the right to keep the baby she gives birth to, even if the child is not genetically related to her, and she has been paid all expenses. These restrictions have led to couples going overseas to carry through a surrogacy arrangement. However this can also present difficulties; the worst case scenario is that a much-wanted baby is recognised in neither Britain, nor the country of it's birth.

Sharmy Beaumont, aged 33, is one of the few UK women who has become a parent with the help of a surrogate. Beaumont was born with a rare condition which meant her womb could not cope with carrying a child. After learning of this in her twenties, Beaumont contacted Surrogacy UK and was put in touch with her surrogate, Liz Stringer. After a successful surrogate pregnancy and the birth of her baby daughter, Isabelle, Beaumont was forced to take unpaid leave in order to care for her.

She says, 'My work have been understanding and have allowed me some leave to look after Isabelle…However, the fact that parents through surrogacy are not entitled to any maternity benefits to spend time with their babies is unfair and the Government has not recognised this'.

'I love being a mum,' Beaumont concludes, 'but the system is unfair'.

IVF Witness uses RFID to identify the sperm and eggs, and reduces the risk of lab errors in infertility treatment

2009-12-12T00:30:00.001+05:30

A new software technology is helping to reduce the risk of laboratory errors in infertility treatment, by electronically identifying the sperm, eggs, resulting embryos and other materials used in in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment cycles. Using non-invasive Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), IVF Witness(TM) can track a patient's sperm, eggs and embryos during the course of treatment. If the wrong material is introduced in the lab environment, IVF Witness alerts the staff, via visual and audible signals, to help prevent mislabeling of any materials.

While laboratory errors are rare, by creating an automated system to minimize the chance for mix up, IVF Witness safeguards the infertility treatment process and gives patients peace of mind.

The IVF Witness is being used in infertility clinics worldwide, including leading clinics in the UK and United States. Since launching this new technology last year, over 20,000 infertility treatment cycles have employed IVF Witness to ensure the safety and security of patients' genetic material.

IVF Witness uses RFID tags, each containing a microchip that acts as a unique digital fingerprint, safely identifying samples at the outset and tracking them through the fertilization process. Each patient is given an RFID identity card, with a unique identification, that are used with all sample materials for that patient, including Petri dishes and test tubes used in a patient's treatment cycle. The entire system is electronically managed.

"Our aim was to develop a system that automatically tracks a patient's eggs, sperm and resulting embryos during an infertility treatment cycle, to reduce the risk of mislabeling or error," said Bill Brown, President of Research Instruments. "Infertility treatment is a very precise and personal process and IVF Witness helps to maintain the integrity and security of this process for both healthcare providers and patients."

"IVF is difficult enough for patients without the added worry of possible mix ups," said Kevin M. Johnson, MD, Medical Director, Overlake Reproductive Health in Seattle, WA. "We want to offer our patients complete peace of mind and that is why we have invested in the IVF Witness system for both of our laboratories."

International Organizations Call for More Safeguards

The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) recently pledged to work with patient groups, policy makers and other stakeholders to develop systems to reduce the risk of errors. In the United Kingdom, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the UK's regulatory body, is supporting the use of electronic witnessing in all IVF clinics. Currently, HFEA requires all IVF clinics to at least 'double witness' the IVF process, with two staff members manually double-checking the labeling and handling of all samples.

According to John Robinson, MD, Scientific Director of Hull IVF Unit in the UK, "IVF Witness, unlike the double witness process, does not require two members of staff to operate. It allows embryologists to work safely and effectively, without frequent interruptions to witness with other colleagues. In effect, it is providing a continual and very robust safety check, independent and additional to the many checks embryologists have to carry out."

"Several infertility practices in the US, and most major IVF clinics in the UK have already installed the IVF Witness, and are pleased with the additional reassurance it brings," added Brown. "Interest has also been considerable in countries such as China, Japan and the Middle East, where IVF Witness has recently been launched."

Fruity Bats of Lavasa

2009-12-11T01:28:00.007+05:30

Why don't bats live alone?

They prefer to hang out with their friends!

A bat that was clinging to space shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank during the countdown to launch the STS-119 mission remained with the spacecraft as it cleared the tower, analysts at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center concluded.Based on images and video, a wildlife expert who provides support to the center said the small creature was a free tail bat that likely had a broken left wing and some problem with its right shoulder or wrist. The animal likely perished quickly during Discovery’s climb into orbit. Because the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge coexists inside Kennedy Space Center, the launch pads have a number of measures available, including warning sirens, to deter birds and other creatures from getting too close. The launch team also uses radar to watch for birds before a shuttle liftoff.Nevertheless, the bat stayed in place and it was seen changing positions from time to time. Launch controllers spotted the bat after it had clawed onto the foam of the external tank as Discovery stood at Launch Pad 39A. The temperature never dropped below 60 degrees at that part of the tank, and infrared cameras showed that the bat was 70 degrees through launch.The final inspection team that surveys the outside of the shuttle and tank for signs of ice buildup observed the small bat, hoping it would wake up and fly away before the shuttle engines ignited. It was not the first bat to land on a shuttle during a countdown. Previously, one of the winged creatures landed on the tank during the countdown to launch shuttle Columbia on its STS-90 mission in 1998.Bats sure are intriguing creatures.

There has never been a TV series where the animal hero was a bat. Why not? Because people generally hate bats.For many Westerners, bats conjure up eerie visions of vampires and witches. The Chinese see these flying rodents as symbols of good luck. Fortunately, there are people working on behalf of bats - people who study bats; who respect bats; who love bats; who have, on occasion, TASTED bats.No, seriously, although bats look like evil creepy demonettes from hell that want to swoop down and bite us and give us rabies, the truth is that they are generally harmless flying mammals just like us who form colonies, care for their young, go to the mall, etc. Statistically, the average bat is far less likely to be rabid than Abu Azmi. Besides catching insects, bats play a critical role in pollinating certain plants, such as the agave, without which there would be NO TEQUILA.Even vampire bats have their human side. Researcher Ted Fleming told me that sometimes a female vampire bat will return from a successful bloodsucking trip and share her good fortune by "regurgitating to her roost mates."

Many bat species are endangered because of humans, some of whom view bats as actual food. A researcher once told me that in parts of Southeast Asia, bat soup and fried bat are considered tasty treats. In Guam, people have eaten pretty much all the bats. There's a bat shortage! You could become a bat rancher and get rich! Although you would need skilled bat wranglers. He also told me that the Gubu people of Papua, New Guinea (I am not making the Gubu people up), have a big feast wherein they boil up a mess of bats, cook them over coals and then eat them whole, after which they pick little bat teeth out of their mouths. He said that, as a researcher, he actually took a tiny bite of this dish.Incredibly, he did not say that it tasted like chicken!

So we see that bats have really received a "raw deal" from us humans. I think that from now on, we should all remember that bats are our friends, and we should make every effort to be nice to them while remaining at a safe distance! Also, if we go to a restaurant in Southeast Asia, we should make darned sure we know what we are ordering.

The Bats we see around Lavasa are the Megabats.They are also referred to as fruit bats, old world fruit bats, or flying foxes. The megabat, contrary to its name, is not always large: the smallest species is 6 centimeters (2.4 inches) long and thus smaller than some microbats. The largest reach 40 cm (16 inches) in length and attain a wingspan of 150 cm (5 feet), weighing in at nearly 1 kg (2.2 pounds). Most fruit bats have large eyes, allowing them to orient visually in the twilight of dusk and inside caves and forests.Fruit bats are frugivorous or nectarivorous, i.e., they eat fruits or lick nectar from flowers. Often the fruits are crushed and only the juices consumed. The teeth are adapted to bite through hard fruit skins. Large fruit bats must land in order to eat fruit, while the smaller species are able to hover with flapping wings in front of a flower or fruit.Frugivorous bats aid the distribution of plants (and therefore, forests) by carrying the fruits with them and spitting the seeds or eliminating them elsewhere. Nectarivores actually pollinate visited plants. They bear long tongues that are inserted deep into the flower; pollen thereby passed to the bat is then transported to the next blossom visited, pollinating it.Because of their large size and somewhat "spectral" appearance, fruit bats are sometimes used in horror movies to represent vampires or to otherwise lend an aura of spookiness. In reality, as noted above, the bats of this group are purely herbivorous. Some works of fiction are more in line with this fact, portraying fruit bats as sympathetic or even featuring them as characters. For example, in the book series Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel, a fruit bat named Java is one of the main characters in the final book of the series. In Stellaluna, a popular children's book by Janell Cannon, the story revolves around the plight of a young fruit bat who is separated from her mother. In The Winjin Pom, a 1991 puppetry-based tv-series by Richard Carpenter and Steve Bendelack, Frazer is an anthropomorphic fruit bat with a laid-back attitude and a taste for fresh fruits.

Female short-nosed fruit bats have been observed performing fellatio on their partners during copulation. Mating pairs spent more time copulating if the female did so.The video seen here is sexually explicit and was edited and soundtracked by the researchers.
Coming back to Lake Dasve, you see a lot of fruit-bats suspended from the trees at the Western end of the lake (see photos!). The best sightings of these fruitbats are towards sunset when they are in their element. They are handsome creatures with a very stylish flight path. If you take the Pontoon boat ride at closing time (5pm), you can have a personalized sighting of our very own Lavasa Fruity Bats! I have spent hours on hours photographing these fascinating mammals. In fact, legend has it that they have a photographic memory! A Weizmann Institute researcher from Israel however, is using bats to help reveal the secrets of human memory.

The Rehovot institute's Interface magazine wrote recently about bat researcher Dr. Nachum Ulanovsky, a neurobiologist who studies the most common Israeli bat species - the fruit bat. He says they are an excellent animal model for human memory not only because of their impressive spatial memory but also due to their highly developed senses and unique behaviors. Bats are being outfitted with sophisticated telemetry equipment transmitting data about the activity of single neurons or networks. These are used as the bats crawl or fly around in Ulanovsky's lab. A US company working with the Rehovot researcher developed the world's first global positioning and telemetry system that weighs only nine grams; as the average fruit bat can carry nine grams of equipment and still fly with ease, it is the perfect bat species for his experiments. To avoid disrupting the bats' natural behavior, Ulanovsky has arranged for the building of a large cave-like room with rough-hewn rocks in the ceiling.

His work, which is partially conducted in collaboration with the Hebrew University, promises to reveal new information not only on human memory but also on hippocampal diseases such as epilepsy and Alzheimer's.

We are opening an outlet at New Years which will serve only desserts - and guess what it is christened - Fruity Bat!

Older IVF Mums can bank on a Girl

2009-12-10T00:23:00.001+05:30

A study of 13,000 Australian and New Zealand IVF mums found age had a profound effect on a baby's gender.

More than 10,000 babies are born through fertility treatment in Australia each year.

Most IVF mums are over 30, but researchers stopped short of saying the gender imbalance was causing a man shortage.

University of the NSW expert Prof Michael Chapman said in the normal population, 51 per cent of births were boys and 49 per cent girls.

The study of IVF mums showed women over 30 were 5 per cent more likely to have girls, while those under 30 were 5 per cent more likely to have boys.

And the probability of having a girl increased further with age. Women over 40 were up to 10 per cent more likely to have daughters than those under 30.

"So it's a substantial change ... and it will be having an impact on the gender ratio in Australia," Prof Chapman told a Fertility Society of Australia meeting in Perth yesterday.

He said it was the largest study of its kind, and provided clear evidence of an increased ratio of girls from older women after assisted conception.

Prof Chapman said the gender shift was not dramatic enough to create a serious shortage of men in the community, but it indicated IVF could change genetics.

"IVF certainly has some impact on the expression of the Y chromosome, and more importantly whether it has an impact in other ways on the genetics of a child," he said.

The reason for the link between maternal age and the sex ratio of babies was not yet clear, he said.

Royal blood disorder identified

2009-12-09T00:13:00.002+05:30

Scientists have discovered that the so-called 'Royal disease' that afflicted Queen Victoria's descendants was a very rare form of haemophilia. By analysing the degraded DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) taken from the bones of what are believed to be the last children of Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, scientists at the University of Massachusetts, US, discovered a mutation occurring in F9 on the X chromosome responsible for the production of Factor IX, a clotting agent. A malfunction in this production is the cause of haemophilia B.

Termed 'Christmas disease,' after Stephen Christmas who suffered from the disease in the 50s, haemophilia B affects one in 20,000-34,000 males, according to The Times newspaper. The disorder is passed through the maternal line but it only manifests itself in males, as they only have one X chromosome. It would be very rare for a female to be more than a carrier of the mutation as both X chromosomes would need to be affected.

Dr Evgeny Rogaev, who led the study published in the journal Science, commented, 'We have resolved a medical mystery from the past.' Although it was known that Queen Victoria's descendants suffered from a blood-clotting disorder, it was not known exactly what the condition was. In the publication the authors explain that: 'We identified the likely disease-causing mutation by applying genomic methodologies (multiplex target amplification and massively parallel sequencing) to historical specimens from the Romanov branch of the royal family.' The 'Royal disease' is now extinct, say the authors, but it was passed across the Royal families throughout Europe including Spain and Russia. It is believed the disorder originated spontaneously from Queen Victoria, whose son, Leopold, died after bleeding from a fall. The Times explained that whereas nowadays patients with haemophilia B are given synthetic clotting agents, back in 1905 Tsarina Alexandra turned to the infamous 'psychic' Rasputin.

Tsar Nicholas II and his family were murdered during the Russian Revolution in 1918. It was since believed that two of his children may have escaped, Alexei and Anastasia, but their bones were discovered in the Ural mountains in 2007. Subsequent testing confirmed the identity of the remains and that they too had been murdered.

Fatal heart condition passed on by sperm donor

2009-12-08T00:07:00.001+05:30

The American Medical Association has returned the issue of sperm donor screening to the public eye after publishing an article detailing the transmission of a rare and deadly heart defect to nine offspring of a registered sperm donor. The Los Angeles man (42), who is the genetic father of twenty-four children, was given a full medical check, along with tests for infectious diseases and provided a full medical history when he originally donated in the early 1990s but his genetic condition was not diagnosed until one of the children, aged 2, died suddenly from a previous undiagnosed heart problem.

The condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, leads to a thickening of the tissues in the heart, reducing the ability to pump blood. The problem affects around one in 500 people but, according to Dr Heidi Reim of Harvard Medical School and co-author of the article, many more are likely to carry the genetic defect without apparent symptoms.

The San Francisco sperm bank that passed the sperm on has now begun testing all donors with an electrocardiogram to ensure that transmission does not occur again. The article suggested that all clinics should consider implementing such a test as part of the battery of tests each donor engages in. While testing of donors is covered only by voluntary guidelines intended to rule out transmission of infectious and heritable diseases the degree to which genetic conditions are tested for varies widely and is often for rarer, higher profile conditions than hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

If diagnosed, the condition is treatable through medication, surgery and the implantation of a defibrillator to restart the heart if it stops. Such surgery has now been performed on one of the afflicted children who was already symptomatic and the others are in receipt of regular observation to monitor their condition's development.

Best yet - The Golden Years???

2009-12-07T12:09:00.002+05:30

Top 10 Tiger Woods Jokes

2009-12-06T00:17:00.004+05:30

One:

Apparently, the only person who can beat Tiger Woods with a golf club is his wife

Two:

What's the difference between a car and a golf ball? Tiger can drive a ball 400 yards

Three:

Tiger Woods was injured in a car accident as he pulled out of his driveway early Friday morning. It was Woods' shortest drive since an errant tee shot at the US Open.

Four:

What was Tiger Woods doing out at 2.30 in the morning? He'd gone clubbing

Five:

Tiger Woods crashed into a fire hydrant and a tree. He couldn’t decide between a wood and an iron

Six:

Perhaps Tiger should be using a driver?

Seven:

This is the first time Tiger’s ever failed to drive 300 yards

Eight:

Apparently, Tiger admitted this crash was the closest shave he’s ever had. So Gillette has dropped his contract.

Nine:

Tiger Woods wasn't seriously injured in the crash. He's still below par though

Ten:

Tiger Woods is so rich that he owns lots of expensive cars. Now he has a hole in one.

Australian mother adds twins to her two sets of quadruplets

2009-12-05T01:38:00.000+05:30

An Australian woman, who attracted media attention in 2005 after giving birth to a second set of quadruplets, has given birth again to a set of twins. According to the newspaper, The Australian, Mrs Chalk, 31, has had eleven children conceived using an anonymous sperm donor and artificial insemination, although there are conflicting reports that she may have undergone IVF (in vitro fertilisation). The treatment was given at a private clinic in Queensland.

Mrs Chalk was criticized by some for having the number of children her and her partner, Darren, chose to have. The Fertility Society of Australia took an interest in her case and the IVF Directors' Group issued criticism of the clinic in 2007 as being financially and clinically irresponsible, the Courier-Mail reports. But bioethicist Nicholas Tonti-Filippini at the John-Paul II Institute in Melbourne supported Mrs Chalk's reproductive decision-making. 'It's not up to the government or anybody else to tell people how many children they can have,' he said.

Although it is uncertain if Mrs Chalk did in fact undergo IVF, the case highlights the issue of multiple births which carry increased health risks to both mother and child. Clinics in the UK are advised by the regulatory body - the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority - that it is good practice to transfer only one embryo at a time and that multiple embryo transfer does not necessarily increase the chances of pregnancy, but does increase the risk of multiple births. Some commentators in Australia are concerned that financial pressures on fertility patients may persuade them to opt for multiple embryo transfer. 'What might be interesting is whether the Federal Government attempts to decrease Medicare funding to IVF. We certainly hope this does not drive patients to ask for more embryos to be put back in,' said Gino Pecoraro of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. 'People might be tempted to have more babies at once, thinking that might be cheaper. But the health implications are significant. That would be a major failing of the system and we don't want that to happen.'

The Chalks have told reporters that they do not have any more plans for further children. 'We'd love to have more children, but medically, that's it,' Darren Chalk said, adding: 'We'd have to buy a bigger bus!'

Cancer dad who went through IVF despite knowing he won't live to see his baby girl grow up

2009-12-04T00:01:00.002+05:30

Cradling his newborn baby for the first time is a huge milestone in any father’s life – one of those moments he will never forget.

But for Eamon Gorman, who has had chemotherapy every other week for the past two years, holding his little Maisie, was extra poignant.

Because Eamon does not know if he will live long enough to see his beautiful little girl grow up.

Eamon, 35, is being treated for bowel cancer. “When I held Maisie in my arms, I knew every battle had been worth it,” he says.

“I’m certain positive thinking and living for a future have kept me alive.

“I don’t want to know how long I’ve got, because I refuse to give up on life.”

Eamon’s wife Kate agrees. “We don’t talk about the sad stuff. Eamon is so strong, we just try to enjoy the time we have together and do nice things as a family.”

His diagnosis in July 2007 turned their world on its head. Eamon had started feeling ill on a flight home from Cyprus, but his only symptom was frequent toilet visits.

Until then he’d been fit and healthy. But within days his doctor referred him to hospital for bowel tests.

Kate, 28, says: “I was called in from the waiting room to be with Eamon. The consultant told us he was fairly sure it was bowel cancer.

“That moment our lives changed.”

A week later bowel cancer was confirmed, and subsequent scans revealed the tumour had spread to his lymph nodes, carrying rogue cells to his liver and his lungs.

Eamon says: “I decided to remain positive.

“When I was told it was cancer, I thought: ‘I can beat this.’ Then when I was told it was terminal, I thought: ‘Well, I will live as long as I possibly can’.”

Eamon didn’t want to know the prognosis.

He says: “If they had given me a date, I’d have seen it as a death sentence. I decided I’d rather not know so it wouldn’t put limitations on me or our life. Instead, I chose to take one day at a time.”

The news of Eamon’s illness had so many implications, not least his loss of fertility. So when the nurse asked straight after diagnosis if they wanted to freeze some of Eamon’s sperm, they immediately agreed.

Kate says: “I’m so grateful to that nurse because if she hadn’t asked that question, we wouldn’t have thought about it. Even though Eamon had a terminal diagnosis, we’d always planned to have children – it was at top of our list – and his cancer didn’t change that. We had already started trying.”

The couple had been planning to marry a year later but brought the wedding forward to August 2007, five weeks after Eamon’s diagnosis and two weeks after he started chemotherapy.

By then he had also provided the sperm which they hoped would allow them to start a family.

Kate, a part-time trainer, recalls: “It was a fantastic day of celebration.”

There was no honeymoon because Eamon needed chemo the day after the wedding.

As his treatment continued, the couple waited to find out whether they would be allowed to have IVF on the NHS.

A month after the wedding they went to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham for tests, and were referred under the NHS for proposed IVF treatment at the CARE Fertility Group in Nottingham. The couple had to have counselling, and their case had to be reviewed because of Eamon’s terminal diagnosis.

“It wasn’t until the following March that we finally got the go-ahead,” says Kate. Fertility treatment started in May 2008 when 12 eggs were removed from Kate, then two were injected with Eamon’s sperm to fertilise them and re-implanted.

Two weeks later the home pregnancy test was positive.

“We were in shock. I hadn’t dared to get my hopes up, but it was a dream come true,” recalls Kate.

Eamon adds: “We couldn’t believe there was good news after so much bad news. We were almost panicky with excitement!”

Kate did three pregnancy tests just to be sure – a scan confirmed everything was fine, and Eamon continued with fortnightly chemotherapy.

“Knowing Kate was pregnant kept me going,” he says.

Another high for soccer-mad Eamon was meeting the England football team last year thanks to the Willow Foundation charity, which provides morale-boosting experiences for people with life-threatening conditions.

But even that was no match for the joy of seeing his daughter Maisie Elizabeth born at the Royal Derby Hospital on May 17 this year.

Sadly Eamon was taken to hospital the next day after a bad reaction to the anti-cancer medication he was taking.

“That was a low point,’ says Kate.

“I’d just been allowed home with our new baby but Eamon wasn’t with me – he was being admitted to hospital as I was leaving.”

Support from friends and family kept the couple going, and a change in Eamon’s medication meant he was home with his wife and newborn daughter the following day.

Eamon is still having chemo but now has treatment at home in Derby to be with his wife and daughter.

“I will have a scan in November to see if the chemo is working. If it is, we would love to try for baby number two,” he reveals.

“I know some people will say I’ve brought a baby into the world who might end up without a father, but what’s important is that Maisie knows her father loved her very much.

“It upsets me to think I won’t see her grow up, but we take lots of photos and videos so she has memories of me.

I do think about how Kate will cope when I’m not here but that’s one reason we would like to have another child, so Maisie has a brother or sister. I spend all my time with her so we can build memories of our time together.”

Eamon, who is off sick from his job as a team leader, has signed legal documents giving Kate consent to use his sperm after his death, but she tries not to think about life without him.

“We never talk about how long Eamon has. We stay positive for each other and try to live life to the full.”

Eamon remains positive too. “Every day I wake up and tell myself I’m going to fight this, and everything’s going to be all right. I don’t feel sorry for myself.

“These are the cards I’ve been dealt so I get on with life rather than spend my days thinking about death.

“I consider myself lucky – I’ve met the girl of my dreams, and we have the most beautiful daughter.

“Every day I get to spend with my girls makes my life all the more precious.”

Dr George Ndukwe, medical director of CARE in Nottingham where the couple had IVF, said: “We are delighted to have helped Kate and Eamon. They have been through so much and we wish them all the best.”

Women denied NHS fertility treatment because 'they cannot carry child themselves'

2009-12-03T01:21:00.002+05:30

Women have criticized the situation saying only a 'quirk of nature' means they cannot carry their own child and if they were suffering from a different fertility problem the NHS would fund treatment.

Guidance on NHS funding for fertility treatment has been interpreted differently around the country meaning that in some places women who cannot carry their own child are funded but in others places they are not.

In many areas primary care trusts refuse to fund IVF because the resulting embryo would be implanted in the womb of a surrogate, even though the patients are willing to fund the surrogacy costs themselves.

The guidance from the National Institute for health and Clinical Excellence states that where the reason for infertility is known patients should be fast-tracked for NHS funded treatment but it goes on to say surrogacy lies outside the remit of the guidance.

This is what primary care trusts are using to justify refusing to fund IVF treatment for women who would require the services of a surrogate.

Sabreena Mahroof, of Surrogacy UK, said in around 80 per cent of cases IVF treatment must be pad for privately because primary care trusts have refused NHS funding. But some areas will fund the IVF part of the process leaving patients to pay the surrogacy fees.

She said: "It all depends on the primary care trust. There is a real postcode lottery here. We had hoped the new Human Fertilization and Embryology Act would clarify this situation but it has not.

"It is a real nonsense. These women are being discriminated against because they do not have a womb. Cost-wise it is no different to funding an IVF cycle where the embryo is implanted back into the same woman.

"No one is asking the NHS to fund the pregnancy expenses of the surrogate, that would be unfair.

"It is not fair that only the wealthy who can afford private IVF who can use a surrogate."

Tracey Davey, 40, from Fareham in Hampshire, has been trying to have a baby with her husband Terry, 48, for the last 12 years. She was born without a womb but produces eggs normally.

The couple have repeated been turned down for NHS funding for IVF treatment, been through appeals and have even attempted to adopt.

Eventually the couple remortgaged their home, spending £18,000 on private treatment, undergoing two cycles of IVF treatment.

Last year an embryo was implanted in a surrogate mother only for the pregnancy to fail.

The couple cannot afford to fund another cycle of treatment themselves and time is running out as a woman's age is a significant factor in IVF success.

Mrs Davey, a bank cashier, said: "I have been fighting this for the last 12 years and am angry at the way I have been treated. I did not ask to be born this way and is there was something else wrong with me my treatment would be funded.

"There are dozens of young girls in my situation and I hate to think that they will face the same thing as us.

"I feel they have put my life on hold. I was told that I could not have children when I was 16 but then in 1989 a woman became the first surrogate mother in the UK and that gave me hope. I cannot give up."

Clare Lewis, of Jones of Infertility Network UK said: “Surrogacy is a necessary treatment for those whose only chance of having a family is by this method.

"We are aware that many primary care trusts don’t fund surrogacy, probably because of concerns of legal ramifications and we would suggest that national guidance on this issue would be welcomed by the PCTs to eliminate such concerns and allow patients to access the treatment they need to have the family they so badly want.”

Dr Stuart Ward, clinical director of NHS Hampshire said: “We will fund one cycle of IVF for patients who meet the eligibility criteria. However, due to the complex legal and ethical complications that can arise with surrogacy we are unable to support fertility treatment through this route.

“If a consultant or GP feels that their patient has exceptional circumstances and should be considered for IVF treatment, even though they don’t meet the criteria, they can ask for the case to be considered through the PCT’s special referrals process.”

Current rules mean surrogate mothers can decide legally to keep the child, meaning many people still see the issue as fraught with controversy.

Around 50 successful surrogacies occur each year in Britain.

Blunder at top clinic sparks fresh IVF fears

2009-12-02T11:17:00.002+05:30

A serious blunder at one of Britain's top fertility clinics dramatically increased the risk its patients would suffer a miscarriage or give birth to a child with serious health problems, sparking fresh fears about how IVF centers are run in the wake of a series of scandals.

Unscreened sperm used by staff at the London Women's Clinic (LWC) to create dozens of embryos was later found to have a chromosome abnormality that could have been passed on to any unborn child, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. The British Fertility Society's screening guidelines make it clear that the clinic should never have accepted the donor. At least one couple suffered a miscarriage as a direct result.

The blunder constituted the most severe mistake that a clinic can make, according to the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which regulates the multimillion-pound IVF sector. In future, the watchdog will name and shame clinics for similar incidents under new rules to expose mistakes and near misses.

Fertility experts believe the LWC's error could be the "tip of the iceberg", and that it raises serious concerns about how the industry is regulated. It is the latest in a series of high-profile incidents, including a couple's last viable embryo being implanted into another woman, and eggs fertilized with the wrong sperm, forcing three couples' embryos to be destroyed.

Guy Forster, a solicitor at the law firm Irwin Mitchell who has represented several couples who have suffered mix-ups, said: "It's fair to say the problem is widespread. The HFEA must do more to ensure clinics meet their responsibilities, and clinics must pay more attention to systems they have in place and not just to success rates."

Dr Sammy Lee, a London-based fertility expert, said the HFEA was failing to ensure clinics followed guidelines. "It's a problem of compliance. The HFEA must make clinics adopt pharmaceutical-style quality audits."

The most recent HFEA figures show there were 182 "incidents" at clinics last year, eight of them serious. But lawyers believe the actual figures could be far higher. Several couples are pursuing legal proceedings.

The London Women's Clinic, one of the UK's top three fertility centers, was warned in the HFEA's latest inspection report last January, after inspectors found its staff failed to carry out "a number of witnessing stages", vital to ensure processes such as sperm screening are done correctly.

Yet as recently as June, the clinic was still using embryos created with unscreened sperm, according to one couple who spoke about their ordeal. At least 11 other women are thought to have had treatment using the sperm, including three couples who had frozen embryos in storage. The clinic, in Harley Street, does 1,300 treatment cycles annually and recently recruited more staff to cope with demand.

The prospective mother, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she suffered a miscarriage as a result of the blunder. The couple paid £15,000 and wasted more than a year trying to become pregnant. "It's left a very bitter taste. We felt that the clinic failed at a very basic level to provide a service we had paid for," she said.

Allan Pacey, secretary of the British Fertility Society, which draws up sperm- screening guidelines, said spotting the abnormality should have been "pretty standard". The couple had to destroy all 22 frozen embryos created with the unscreened sperm. They then faced a bitter compensation battle with the clinic. "It made us so aware that IVF is a business and it all comes down to money," they said. In the end, the clinic paid for them to undergo a further cycle of treatment abroad, and they are now expecting a baby.

Dr Kamal Ahuja, head of the LWC, insisted "all necessary screening" was done on donor sperm. He added that two affected couples had later had healthy babies.

An HFEA spokeswoman said it had audited all the stored samples at the LWC after it was notified about the incident.

Demand for IVF is soaring. Recent figures show the number of treatments rose by 6 per cent in 2007 to nearly 47,000.

Lying down after artificial insemination improves pregnancy rates, study shows

2009-12-01T01:06:00.001+05:30

A study in the Netherlands has shown that lying down following artificial insemination, also known as intrauterine insemination (IUI), increases the chances of pregnancy by 50 per cent.

The findings, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) last month, revealed that 27 per cent of women who remained in a supine position following treatment for 15 minutes achieved a live birth, compared with only 17 per cent of those who got up and moved around. In total, 391 couples aged between 18 and 43 took part in the study, which took place across several hospitals in the Netherlands. Each couple received up to three cycles of insemination and were split into two groups - one remained immobilised immediately after treatment and the other, the control group, were asked to walk around.

Lead author Dr Inge Custers, from the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam, said that the pregnancy rate for the immobilised group was 'significantly higher'. He explained that 'immediate mobilisation might cause leakage [of the sperm]', which may take longer to reach the fallopian tubes if the woman is moving around. 'As immobilisation is easily done and carries very little cost, we suggest incorporating immobilisation as a standard procedure in intrauterine insemination treatment', said Custers, adding that clinics in the Netherlands were already adopting the method. However, there is concern that extending the period each bed is used in clinics could mean that clinics treat fewer patients. Custers said that improving the success rate of IUI will be more economical for patients. 'Although immobilisation takes more time and occupies more space in busy rooms, the intervention will be economic in the long run, as pregnant patients will not return in subsequent cycles,' he said.

In an editorial piece which accompanied Custer's publication in the BMJ, Professor William Ledger, from the Academic Unit of Reproductive and Developmental Medicine at the University of Sheffield, said that there remain many unexplained factors that need to be explored, such as the optimal length of time a woman should remain immobile following treatment to achieve pregnancy. He also noted that it was not clear what proportion of women in the study were given drugs to stimulate their ovaries to produce eggs and expressed some doubt over the benefits of remaining immobile. 'Such postcoital positioning was advocated in the United States many years ago but did not seem to improve conception rates after sex,' he said. He also warned that the overall pregnancy rate achieved in the study is somewhat lower than can be expected in Britain.

Ledger said that clinics should perform their own studies in the 'real world' to test Custers' findings. If further studies confirm the findings of the Netherlands team then he agreed that some couples will be spared the cost of IVF (in-vitro fertilisation). Artificial insemination is cheaper than IVF and requires minimal drug treatment. It is often used prior to IVF and success rates vary from 5-70 per cent, according to Ledger.

Moving surrogacy law forward in the UK?

2009-11-30T01:50:00.002+05:30

Of all the prospective parents conceiving through assisted reproduction, those in surrogacy arrangements often face the most difficult legal issues. The surrogate and usually also her husband will be treated as the child's legal parents at birth, leaving the commissioning parents with no legal connection with their child whatsoever, even where both are the biological parents.

There is a special remedy available called a parental order. This is an order made by the family courts which reassigns parenthood after surrogacy, extinguishing the responsibility of the surrogate parents and transferring it to the commissioning couple. The process takes place post-birth: the application must be made within the first six months of the child's life (though the surrogate's consent is ineffective until after the first six weeks) and typically takes many months to be processed by the courts. At present, only married couples can apply, but as from 6 April 2010, unmarried and same sex couples will also be eligible.

The Department of Health (DH) is currently consulting on new draft regulations which prescribe the detail of this court process, and which will replace existing regulations that have been in place since 1994. The consultation closes on 23 November.

What is in the draft regulations?

Like the existing regulations, the proposed revised regulations apply provisions of adoption law to the parental order application process, setting out court procedure and giving a surrogate child broadly the same legal status as an adopted child. Adoption law has itself been overhauled substantially in recent years, and this is reflected in the wording of the new regulations. However, as part of the general updating, there are some important revisions being made to the existing parental order system which need to be looked at carefully.

For example, a court considering whether to grant an adoption order now has to first consider the 'welfare checklist', a prescriptive list of considerations which includes ascertaining the child's wishes and feelings and considering his or her relationship with the birth family. The new parental order regulations incorporate this checklist into the parental order process. However, it does not seem appropriate for the court to have to address all these issues in surrogacy cases, given that the child will inevitably be less than six months old, and will be already living with the applicants (at least one of whom is his or her biological parent).

Importing the new adoption law without amendment fails to adequately take account of the special nature of surrogacy arrangements, and there may be a risk that this could make the process of applying for a parental order even more onerous than before. While a parental order is similar to an adoption order (in the sense that it transfers legal parenthood from one person to another), surrogacy is very different from adoption. Because a surrogate child (or at least those to which parental orders can apply) is biologically connected to at least one of the commissioning parents and is almost invariably in their care from birth, the dynamic of the family is perhaps closer to donor conception than to adoption. Adapting adoption law is therefore a difficult task, and one which we think could be handled more carefully by the regulations.

The parental order system

Even though a more fundamental review may not be within the power of these regulations, it seems impossible to look at any legislation relating to parental orders without making the point that the whole system is problematic. Parental orders were introduced as a late amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 in response to a specific surrogacy case. At the time, surrogacy was viewed as very rare and something which occurred largely on the fringes of the law and ethical acceptability. The 1990 rules on legal parenthood clearly prioritised donor conception (making the carrying mother the legal mother, and her husband the legal father), and parental orders were designed as a limited remedy - a 'sticking plaster' - in respect of the awkward application of legal parenthood rules in surrogacy situations.

As all those working in this field know, things have changed radically since then. Surrogacy as a form of fertility treatment has blossomed, both in the UK and abroad, and no longer affects just a small number of altruistic inter-family arrangements. Indeed, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 itself has endorsed this, by legalising non-profit making surrogacy agencies like Surrogacy UK and COTS and extending the categories of couples eligible to apply for parental orders. We are also seeing growing numbers of fertility patients travelling abroad for surrogacy, which brings even more complex legal challenges.

The current system, which came about by historical accident rather than a concerted policy decision, fails to meet this increased demand, and is inadequate from almost every perspective. The surrogate and her husband (who, in the vast majority of cases do wish to surrender the child) remain legally and financially responsible for the child for up to a year after the birth, and may have no legal redress against intended parents who refuse to assume responsibility. The intended parents often have no status in respect of their child for many months, including no right to make decisions or to consent to immunisations, no right to transmit inheritance or citizenship rights automatically and the intending mother has no rights to maternity leave (though this is the subject of another current campaign), leaving children very vulnerable during the early months of their lives.

The system is not an effective guardian of public policy against commercial surrogacy, since the check on payments comes at the end the process (by which time any payments have already been made) and the only sanction available to the court is a refusal to grant an order, which is almost impossible to enforce since this would prejudice the welfare of a newborn child. And, most importantly of all, these problems mean that surrogate children lack even basic protection. The problems are highlighted most starkly in foreign surrogacy cases. For example, in the landmark case of Re X and Y (foreign surrogacy) [2008], the law left surrogate twins born abroad to a British couple stateless and parentless. Such children risk being abandoned to foreign state care in the absence of complex and expensive legal intervention - surely this is an outcome which the law has an obligation to avoid at all costs.

We need a better and more planned approach to surrogacy. Of course, there are difficult and sensitive issues to be handled in creating new law. Surrogacy arrangements are among the most ethically and humanly complex in assisted reproduction, with three or even four adults involved throughout the process of conception, pregnancy and birth, and possibly third party gamete donors as well. The respective interests, protection and independence from exploitation of all these adults and, most importantly, the resulting child, need to be adequately balanced and protected by the law.
It is disappointing that such issues were not properly addressed during the government's overhaul of assisted reproduction law last year. Although the Minister indicated that surrogacy was a sensitive issue which would be looked at separately, no firm commitment for this review, or a date, has yet been set - and it seems, given the current 'status' of surrogacy - odd to continue treating it separately. In order to ensure that our law can cope with the demands of modern surrogacy practice, and to ensure that vulnerable children are protected, we urge the government to take a fresh look, not only at the regulations, but at the law itself.

By Natalie Gamble and Louisa Ghevaert
Partners with specialist fertility law firm Gamble and Ghevaert LLP (www.gambleandghevaert.com)

The Sonic Skater

2009-11-29T01:20:00.002+05:30

Mental Humor

2009-11-28T01:15:00.001+05:30

Yesterday, I was walking along the fence to the hospital's mental wing
and I could hear a chorus of patients in the courtyard shouting, "13....13....13....."

I couldn't see through the fence, but I saw a small peephole in the
planks, so I looked through to see what was happening.

Some idiot squirted me in the eye with water!

Then they all started shouting, "14....14....14......"

After a brief recovery, I almost laughed up my lunch.

A Boy Named Sue

2009-11-27T01:08:00.000+05:30

Singh is King!

2009-11-26T03:51:00.000+05:30

You never heard about him,but he is the KING!!

Fauja Singh in an Adidas poster !!!
Fauja in Adidas 'Nothing Is Impossible' advertising campaign.He replaced David Beckham as Adidas’s new poster boy. On the Adidas billboards, spread across London, he was sitting cross-legged; as if cooling his heals after a day’s work out, peeping over Londoners, tired and overworked, telling them the secrets of his unfailing energy.

Fauja Singh, Britain’s most popular Sikh is 98 now, the oldest runner in London Marathon.He is threatening to break his own world record of 5.40 hours in the 90 plus age bracket that he set previously. While running Marathon races in London, New York and Toronto, he raised thousands of pounds for various charities promoting Sikh culture around the world. He has also raised money for B.L.I.S.S., a charity dedicated to the care for premature babies. He describes it as the ‘oldest running for the youngest.Fauja’s jogging skills were developed on an Indian farm in Punjab, and then at the magical age of 81, when he moved to the UK, his love for the sport became more “serious”.

Fauja Singh (born April 1, 1911) is a Sikh marathon runner in his nineties from India who is a world-record holder in his age bracket. His current personal best time for the London marathon is 6 hours 2 minutes, and his marathon record, for age 90-plus, is 5 hours 40 minutes.Fauja Singh shot to fame, when aged 89, he completed the gruelling 26.2 mile distance in 6 hours and 54 minutes. This knocked 58 minutes off the previous world best for anyone in the 90 plus age bracket. The career of this extraordinary Marathon runner is closely supervised by his personal trainer Harminder Singh. He says ‘he can still run for a few more years. And perhaps he might be the oldest man to run a Marathon.

Fauja Singh came to London in 1992 to live with his son after his wife’s death in his village in Jalandhar. He says ‘Sitting at home was really killing. Most elderly people in Britain eat a rich diet, don’t move about and only travel in cars, and that makes them sick’. He wasn’t prepared to go the same way. So he took up jogging initially to beat the boredom of sitting at home.

‘I never thought of running a Marathon then. But slowly it grew.’ What surprises many is that he supports is eight stone and six feet tall body frame with a very simple vegetarian diet. ‘I am very careful about different foods. My diet is simple phulka, dal, green vegetables, yoghurt and milk. I do not touch parathas, pakoras, rice or any other fried food. I take lots of water and tea with ginger’.And that smile is eternally fixed beneath his silver haired beard. Perhaps that’s the reason behind his strikingly inspiring and positive attitude. ‘I go to bed early taking the name of my Rabba [God] as I don’t want all those negative thoughts crossing my mind.’ Doesn’t he find it difficult to cover 26 miles at this age? ‘The first 20 miles are not difficult. As for last six miles, I run while talking to God.’

Adidas signed him up for its ‘Nothing Is Impossible’ advertising campaign. He won’t reveal how much money the deal involves, but says that a large part of his earnings goes to charity.

Fauja Singh has stated,”I won’t stop running until I die.. The next target, God willing, is to be the oldest marathon runner ever.

Fauja Singh hopes to return in 2009 to break the record for the oldest marathon runner - presently held by a 98-year-old Greek athlete.

His profile as found on Face Book:

Born: 1st April 1911 in India
Former Occupation: Farmer
Running Career: Rediscovered at age of 81
Diet: Ginger Curry
Marathons: London (5), Toronto (1), New York (1)
Marathon Debut: London, 2000 aged 89
London Marathon Personal Best: 6h 2m
London Flora Marathon 2000 6 Hours 54 m
London Flora Marathon 2001 6 Hours 54 m
London Flora Marathon 2002 6 Hours 45 m
Bupa Great North Run (Half Marathon) 2002 2h 39m
London Flora Marathon 2003 6h 2m
Toronto Waterfront Marathon 2003 5h 40m
New York City Marathon 2003 7h 35m
London Flora Marathon 2004 6h 7m
Glasgow City Half Marathon 2004 2h 33m
Capital Radio Help a London Child 10,000m 2004 68m
Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon 2004 2h 29m 59s

Taliban captive won his release by cooking curry

2009-11-25T00:04:00.003+05:30

Somen Debnath was travelling through the war-torn country as part of a five-year bicycle ride through 33 countries to promote Aids awareness.But he was taken by armed militants – who assumed he was a spy – as he travelled through the remote region of Herat.

He spent three weeks blindfolded strapped to a chair in a pitch black 10ft by 10ft dungeon living in daily fear that he would be killed.

Unable to understand his captors' commands, Indian-born Mr Debnath, 28, was regularly beaten for disobeying orders, starved and repeatedly told he was going to die.

But after realising that one of his captors had a very basic grasp of English, he convinced him to allow him to cook them all a meal.

The Taliban kidnappers were so impressed with his banquet they decided he was ''safe'' and let him go.

Mr Debnath said: "I cooked hot, spicy Indian food for them the way we have it in the Sunderbans in India."

"They were very happy and told my interpreter that I seemed to be a safe guy."

"In the meantime, I had chatted up the interpreter and through our short exchanges, made it clear that I was just a man who was out on adventure and had no intentions of harming their cause."

"The interpreter must have passed this on and I was set free after 24 days. The first sunlight which hit my eyes out in the open almost blinded me."

Mr Debnath, who has a degree from India in zoology and fine arts, set off on his bike from his village of Sunderbans, east India, in 2004.

His plan was to visit 191 countries by 2020 to highlight the plight of Aids across the globe and entered Afghanistan across the Pakistan border earlier this year.

But last month, as he cycled through the remote foothills of the Taliban territory of Herat, 138km from Kabul, Mr Debnath was snatched by militants, blindfolded and held hostage.

''I was looking for a newspaper office or at least some Indian official and it was obvious that I knew nothing of Herat,'' he added.

"Suddenly, a group of around 10 burly men, clad in traditional Afghan clothes and turbans, with bearded faces covered by scarves, surrounded me and started asking me questions."

"I could not answer them because I did not understand their language. They blindfolded me and took me to their hideout. I had no idea where it was. It was semi-arid land.

"I was put in a jailhouse. I did not see any other inmates though."

"I was given no food except some rice and a morsel of beef. I had to survive on that for three days."

"At times, they beat me up in frustration for not understanding their commands. I was repeatedly asked whether I had read the Holy Koran, whether I was a Hindu, whether I was a Pakistani, why was I carrying exercise books, what notes had I taken."

"I knew I would be slaughtered, I simply stood no chance."

"Most of time, I was strapped and tied with rough coir strings except when they allowed me to go to the lavatory."

He added: "I knew that the only hope was in total surrender."

"I told them that I respected their religion and admired their way of life. I told them that I believed in equality of all religions though even while saying this, I knew the sword could fall on my neck."

After 24 gruelling and terrifying days Mr Debnath was released and will travel home to tell his family of his ordeal – but has vowed to visit 191 countries before 2020.

Unable to attract even a single girl, frustrated man sues Axe

2009-11-24T00:50:00.000+05:30

New Delhi. In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for ‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’. The plaintiff has cited his failure to attract any girl at all even though he’s been using Axe products for over seven years now. Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women.

Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used, unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes, shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the brand managers of Axe. Vaibhav was pushed to take this step when his maid beat him with a broom when he tried to impress her by appearing naked in front of her after applying all the Axe products.

“Where is the Axe effect? I’ve been waiting for it for over seven years. Right from my college to now in my office, no girl ever agreed to even go out for a tea or coffee with me, even though I’m sure they could smell my perfumes, deodorants and aftershaves. I always applied them in abundance to make sure the girls get turned on as they show in the television. Finally I thought I’d try to impress my lonely maid who had an ugly fight with her husband and was living alone for over a year. Axe effect my foot!” Vaibhav expressed his unhappiness.

Vaibhav claims that he had been using all the Axe products as per the company’s instructions even since he first bought them. He argued that if he couldn’t experience the Axe effect despite using the products as directed, either the company was making false claims or selling fake products.

“I had always stored them in cool and dry place, and kept them away from direct light or heat. I’d always use a ruler before applying the spray and make sure that the distance between the nozzle and my armpit was at least 15 centimetres. I’d do everything they told. I even beat up my 5-year-old nephew for coming near my closet, as they had instructed it to keep away from children’s reach. And yet, all I get is a broom beating from my ugly maid.” Vaibhav expressed his frustration.

Vaibhav claims that he had to do go a lot of mental suffering and public humiliation due to the lack of Axe effect and wants HUL to compensate him for this agony. An advocate in Karkardooma Court, who happened to mistake Vaibhav for some deodorant vendor when he entered the court premises with all the bottles, has now offered to take up his case in the court. HUL has been served a legal notice in this regard.

HUL has officially declined to comment on the case citing the subject to be sub judice, but our sources inform that the company was worried over the possible outcomes of the case. The company might argue that Vaibhav was hopelessly unattractive and unintelligent and didn’t possess the bare minimum requirements for the Axe effect to take place. Officially HUL has not issued any statement, but legal experts believe that HUL could have tough time convincing the court.

“HUL might be tempted to take that line of argument, but it is very risky. There is no data to substantiate the supposition that unattractive and unintelligent men don’t attract women. In fact some of the best looking women have been known to marry and date absolutely ghoulish guys. I’d suggest that the company settles this issue out of court.” noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani said.

Meet the sexual healer who has slept with 1,500 men

2009-11-23T01:42:00.002+05:30

Mare Simone, 54, calls herself a "sex surrogate" and has devoted her working life to helping men, women and couples overcome problems in the bedroom. As a qualified sex therapist, she has given lessons in love to more than 10,000 clients over the past 23 years.

And while she estimates she has had penetrative sex with 1,500 of them, she insists there is nothing illegal about what she does. Mare says: "I earn my living by sleeping with other women's husbands or boyfriends. But I am in no way a prostitute as sex surrogacy is legal, as long as it is done in a therapeutic and healing atmosphere.
"People are paying for counseling and to cure their problems - not sex.

"I am helping improve and change the sex lives of thousands of men, which means I am also helping improve the sex lives of their wives and girlfriends.

"Some women become baby surrogates because they want to help women who can't have children. In the same way, I feel drawn to helping others have an intimate sex life.
"My job is so fulfilling and enjoyable. Seeing my customers leave with a new-found sexual confidence is a wonderful sight."

Single Mare, from Chelsea, West London, holds around five sessions A DAY and sees people from all walks of life. She says: "My clients are all ages, shapes, sizes and professions. They have either been recommended to see me by a sex therapist or former client or they seek me out through sexual surrogate organizations.

"The men generally need help with erection and premature ejaculation problems or have been sent by their wives because they weren't pleasing them in bed. Before they see me, they all have an STD test, and must always use a condom when seeing me.
"I also have some women come to me. Their problems are usually that they can't orgasm or have had bad lovers. I show them how to pleasure themselves and make them love their bodies.

"Some visit me for a few sessions, while others have around 12, depending on the extent of their problems.

"All of my sessions start in the same way. We start by chatting while I caress their hands to make them feel relaxed and confident with me.

"During the next few sessions I move to giving them back and shoulder massages, so the client relaxes further while talking about their problems.
"Following that, we do a mirror exercise. This is where the client and I will both take off our clothes and look at our bodies in the mirror.

"Usually, they feel very timid about their bodies and find it difficult to look at themselves. But when they realise I am not judging them, they begin to open up and feel confident.

"At that stage I move on to front body massages. I take over 'down below', showing them how they should be touching themselves.

"Finally, it's time to put everything into practice. This is the stage of lovemaking, so they can learn how to control themselves and solve their sexual problems.
"My job is basically to make people realise their problems are not just physical. They are in the mind and have a lot to do with self-confidence."

Mare has not always been so sexually open. At the age of 19, she was raped by a male friend after accepting a late-night lift home from a party.
Too afraid to report the attack, she lost her confidence in men and sex. When she married her first husband, Victor, ten years later, she still could not bear to be touched intimately.

She recalls: "My fear of sex put a huge strain on my marriage and I knew deep down it was due to the rape.

"Overnight I went from being outgoing to being introverted. When I did date, I found making love scary and traumatic.

"When I married Victor, our sex life was never great and after four years we divorced but we have remained friends.

"It was then that a friend recommended I start reading about tantric sex and sexual surrogacy.

"Learning about this unknown world of sexual healing made me feel that there was hope for me to get my sexual confidence back."

Mare decided to take a four-day course in sex therapy, where she learnt about tantric sex, an ancient Hindu practice that concentrates on a slower form of sex. "It was fascinating and during the course I also realised, for the first time, that the rape I had endured a decade before was not my fault. I could enjoy sex without feeling dirty, ashamed or guilty."

Now, Mare spends most of her time working in the US, where she is inundated with clients.

She says: "I see about four or five people a day and charge around £100 for a session.

"Sometimes I will have sex with a husband in front of his wife, to show them both how to be more sensitive lovers. Often, couples find just talking openly to a stranger about the problems in their love life helps in the bedroom."

Although she is proud of her job, she still finds it difficult to tell friends and family about her work. She also does not discuss it with any potential boyfriends.
She says: "I usually tell them I am a yoga teacher, until I trust them enough. Some can't cope with it and run a mile, while others simply find it fascinating and are impressed.

"A few trusted friends know what I do but my family would be horrified to hear about my daily life.

"As part of my work, I regularly do sexual surrogacy tours, travelling the world, helping people with their most intimate problems.

"The last time I was in London I saw 30 clients, some who had booked me months in advance.

"It's amazing how many people in the UK desperately want help with their sex lives, but have no idea where to turn.

"There are many sex surrogates in the US but they are extremely rare in the UK.
"People have to understand that intimate sex sometimes has to be learned. It does not come naturally to some people.

"The stress of modern life can cause problems and it's my job to fix that.

"Since I started surrogacy work, I have seen more than 10,000 clients and estimate that I have had penetrative sex with around 1,500 men. I continue to see clients weekly.

"Witnessing the men and women I help make huge improvements and feel confident about their bodies is wonderful.

"In the 20 years I have been doing this job, I have never felt miserable about going to work. I love what I do and have no plans to retire within the next ten years.

"I am a sexual healer and so proud and happy that I found my dream job."

The Winter Cometh

2009-11-22T03:42:00.000+05:30

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves. We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate. We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed. And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again—to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.
-Pico Iyer
The age of the hill station mirrored the period when seaside resorts, spas and the great mountain lodges were built in Europe and the United States. In some case, the style and atmosphere of these European or American mountain retreats were consciously copied in the colonies. The Adirondacks influenced a planner of Baguio, in the Philippines for example. But in colonial Asia, the relatively high altitude hill station, usually at 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level, always had to be more than just a resort. The hill station was also a genteel fantasyland, a retreat from reality where the homesick colonial could be cosseted by the atmosphere of a European hometown, down to its familiar institutions: the club, the library, the village church. The hill station at its homiest was and is a phenomenon most often associated with the British in India, but the French, the Americans, and to some extent the Dutch also endowed them with similar properties. As Indians, we must now take pride in announcing to the world a completely made by Indians – Hill-station!
If you're looking for an exotic winter vacation with clouds in your hair and memorable nature trails, Lavasa as a hill-station is hard to beat. Citrus Citrus has pulled together some ideas for adventurous types more interested in exploring the rain forests of Lavasa or the rappelling off Ekaant than hanging out in the shopping malls of cities such as Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, or Singapore. Even so, the Lavasa resort selections offer all the amenities one finds in major urban centers. Here's a sampling of what Lavasa has to offer this winter vacation season.
The best time of the year for water-sports activities is now! Lavasa is turning out to be the water-sports capital of the country – with personal water jets, speed-boats, pontoon boats, inflatable dinghies and a water-obstacle floating dock! Again the winter months will be the best time to see the almost-extinct fresh-water crabs & the fruit-bats of Lavasa. For the trekking enthusiasts, the nature trails are full of flowers & butterflies the next 4 months! For the adventurous types, go rappelling with the official adventure co of Lavasa – Z-bac! I can bet my last penny that someone who steps foot into Lavasa for the first time will skip a heart-beat! It is a mini-Switzerland in Maharashtra! Its not only tourism that is being promoted – the Lavasa Corporation is also supporting traditional crafts of the villagers around and the first cooperative for bamboo weaving is called Bamboosa!
By now all of us have heard (too often) the old Proust line about how the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new places but in seeing with new eyes. Yet one of the subtler beauties of travel is that it enables you to bring new eyes to the people you encounter. Thus even as holidays help you appreciate your own home more—not least by seeing it through a distant admirer’s eyes—they help you bring newly appreciative—distant—eyes to the places you visit. You can teach them what they have to celebrate as much as you celebrate what they have to teach. This, I think, is how tourism, which so obviously destroys cultures, can also resuscitate or revive them, how it has created new “traditional” handicraft outlets, and caused craftsmen in villages around Lavasa to pay new attention to their works. If the first thing we can bring the Indians is a real and balanced sense of what contemporary Lavasa is like, the second—and perhaps more important—thing we can bring them is a fresh and renewed sense of how special are the warmth and beauty of this town or hill-station, for those who can compare it with other places around the globe.
Thus travel spins us round in two ways at once: It shows us the sights and values and issues that we might ordinarily ignore; but it also, and more deeply, shows us all the parts of ourselves that might otherwise grow rusty. For in traveling to a new place, we inevitably travel to moods and states of mind and hidden inward passages that we’d otherwise seldom have cause to visit. The beauty of this whole process was best described, perhaps, before people even took to frequent flying, by George Santayana in his lapidary essay, “The Philosophy of Travel.” We “need sometimes,” the Harvard philosopher wrote, “to escape into open solitudes, into aimlessness, into the moral holiday of running some pure hazard, in order to sharpen the edge of life, to taste hardship, and to be compelled to work desperately for a moment at no matter what.”
Welcome to Lavasa!