Protein can kick-start male fertility.

The team from Cardiff University's School of Medicine first found that sperm transfers a vital protein, known as PLC-zeta (PLCz), to the egg upon fertilisation. Then it initiates a process called 'egg activation,' which switches on all the biological processes necessary for development of an embryo.

The team has found that eggs that don't fertilise because of a defective PLCz, as in some forms of male infertility, can be treated with the active protein to produce egg activation. The added PLCz kick-starts the fertilisation process and significantly improves the chance of a successful pregnancy.

"We know that some men are infertile because their sperm fail to activate eggs. Even though their sperm fuses with the egg, nothing happens," said Tony Lai, professor at Cardiff, who with professor Karl Swann, led the team at Cardiff University's Institute of Molecular and Experimental Medicine and funded by the Wellcome Trust, according to a Cardiff statement.

"These sperm may lack a proper functioning version of PLCz, which is essential to trigger the next stage in becoming pregnant," Lai added. "What's important from our research is that we have used human sperm PLCz to obtain the positive results that we had previously observed only in experiments with mice," Lai said.

"In the lab we have been able to prepare human PLCz protein that is active. If this protein is inactive or missing from sperm, it fails to trigger the process necessary for egg activation the next crucial stage of   embryo development," Lai said.

Floods, landslides displace 1 million in India; 33 dead

At least 21 people were killed in landslides and another eight were missing in the mountainous state of Sikkim, said state government spokesman A.S. Tobgay.In Assam, still recovering from deadly floods that hit the tea-growing state in July, eight people were killed and 20 were missing.

Floods displaced nearly one million in that state alone, and many were now sheltering in camps or beside roads, which tend to be built above the land they pass through, a senior official in Assam's disaster management authority said.Four people were buried and killed in mudslides in the state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The military and federal disaster response teams have launched operations to move people to higher ground by helicopter or in rubber boats. Nearly 100 shelters have been opened to accommodate the displaced.In July, at least 110 people were killed and more than 400,000 people were left homeless in Assam during floods which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said were among the worst in recent times.

Over the past 60 years, successive governments have built levees along most of the Brahmaputra, which is Assam's main river and is fed by Himalayan snow melt and some of the world's heaviest rainfall.But experts say the embankments are not only poorly maintained but are a discredited form of flood management.Floods have inundated three national parks in Assam including Kaziranga National Park, where two-thirds of the world's Great One-horned Rhinoceroses live. Some animals have been forced out of the park to nearby hills.

Five Indian Americans among Forbes 400 richest

Five Indian-Americans figure in the Forbes magazine's annual list of the richest people in America with Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates  retaining his top spot with $66 billion, up $7 billion from 2011.

He is followed by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s Warren Buffett (No. 2) with $46 billion, also up $7 billion from last year, and Oracle Corp's Larry eEllison (No. 3) with $41 billion, up $8 billion - and the biggest dollar gainer this year. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has been pushed down in the rankings to the no. 36 spot with his estimated net worth falling by about $8 billion to $9.4 billion since Facebook went public in May.

The Indian-Americans' list is topped by Bharat Desai and family with a net worth of $2 billion in the 239th place. Kenya-born Bharat Desai started as a programmer for Tata Consultancy Services, only to leave the company four years later to start Syntel with his wife. Next comes Romesh T Wadhwani (No. 250), founder and chairman, Symphony Technology Group, with a net worth of $1.9 billion. Landing in the US with only a few dollars in his pocket, he developed business software firm Aspect Development. Today his portfolio includes more than 10 different enterprise software companies.

Third on the Indian-American list is Kavitark Ram Shrirm (No. 298), managing partner, Sherpalo Ventures, with a net worth of $1.6 billion. He was one of the first people to write a check to Google cofounders Sergey Brin and Larry Page in 1998. Next comes Indian-born Manj Bhargava (No. 311) with a net worth of $1.5 billion. His two-ounce caffeine and vitamin elixir, 5-Hour Energy, promises to keep users alert without crashing -- and claims a 90 per cent-plus market share in the energy shot sector

Last on the Indian-American list is Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla  (No. 328) with a net worth of $1.4 billion. With a firm belief that the future lies in developing cleaner energy sources, the Khosla Ventures founder was a big backer of biofuel producers Kior and Gevo, both of which went public in 2011, according to Forbes.

Daily dose of walnuts boost sperm quality.

According to a new study by UCLA  researchers, eating 75 grams of walnuts a day improves the vitality,motality and morphology of sperm in healthy men aged 21 to 35. Dr. Wendie Robbins and her colleagues at the University of California,Los Angeles decided to investigate whether increasing polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are critical for sperm maturation and membrane function, would increase sperm quality in men consuming a Western-style diet.

The best sources of dietary PUFAs in a Western-style diet include fish and fish oil  supplements, flax seed, and walnuts, the latter of which are rich sources of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), a natural plant source of omega-3. With support by the California Walnut Commission, Dr. Robbins' team selected 117 healthy men between the ages of 21 and 35 who ate a Western-style diet and split them into two groups: one (58 men) who would avoid eating tree nuts and another (59 men) who would eat 75 grams of walnuts per day.

Previous studies had indicated that 75 grams of walnuts would be a dose at which blood lipid levels would change, but at which healthy young men would not gain weight. Before the experiment began and then again 12 weeks later, the men's semen quality was analyzed according to conventional parameters of male fertility, including sperm concentration, vitality, motility, morphology, and chromosome abnormalities.

After 12 weeks, the team found no significant changes in body-mass index, body weight, or activity level in either group. The men consuming walnuts, however, had significantly increased levels of omega-6 and omega-3 (ALA) fatty acids and experienced improvement in sperm vitality, motility, and morphology.

Those eating walnuts also had fewer chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm following the walnut dietary intervention.The control group, on the other hand, experienced no changes. Although this research indicates that eating 75 grams of walnuts per day can positively affect a young man's sperm quality, it is still unknown whether the benefits would apply to young men with fertility problems and whether they would actually translate into increased fertility.

Purple corn helps cure diabetes, kidney disease

A compound found in Purple Corn may helo in developing future treatments for Type 2 diabeted and kidney disease, scientists have said.Diabetic nephropathy is one of the most serious complications related to diabetes, often leading to end-stage kidney disease.

Purple corn grown in Peru and Chile is a relative of blue corn, and is rich in anthocyanins (also known as flavonoids), which are reported to have anti-diabetic properties.

Scientists from the Department of Food and Nutritionand Department of Biochemistry at Hallym University in Korea investigated the cellular and molecular activity of purple corn anthocyanins (PCA) to determine whether and how it affects the development of diabetic nephropathy (DN).

Their findings suggest that PCA inhibits multiple pathways involved in the development of DN, which may help in developing therapies aimed at type 2 diabetes and kidney disease.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi to receive US Congress award

US lawmakers are setting aside party differences as they honor Myanmar democracy leader Aung n Suu Kyi with the highest award of US Congress.

The Nobel Peace laureate's struggle against military rule in Myanmar is one that Democrats and Republicans have united in championing over the years. Her landmark visit to America offers a poignant opportunity to present the Congressional Gold Medal that she was awarded in absentia in 2008 when she was still under house arrest in her country.

She will receive the medal on Wednesday and will also meet with House and Senate leaders. Secretary of state Hilary Rodham Clinton also will attend the ceremony, to be held in the Capitol Rotunda.

26 killed in Mexico pipeline fire

At least 26 people were killed when a Mexican pipline exploded and caught fire at a gas plant near the US border on Tuesday.

 

The accident has also injured many others in the worst accident in just two years for the state-run Pemex energy firm.TV images have shown tall flames and plumes of smoke billowing from the gas plant, which is located near Reynosa, a city located in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas, which sits across from the Texas town of McAllen. The company stated on Twitter that:“Regrettably, the number of workers who died in this morning’s accident in Tamaulipas rose to 26.”

The death toll more than doubled on Tuesday evening from the 10 deaths that were reported earlier on. The company added that four of those dead were Pemex workers, while the other 22 people were contractors.They did not report any injuries, but a Red Cross worker let reporters know that 40 people were taken to a hospital, with more than half suffering from first- and second-degree burns.
The fire is the third incident at a Pemex facility in a little over a month.Workers immediately shut off pipeline valves while firefighters worked to spend two hours extinguishing the blaze.

Pipelines that carry gas and diesel in Mexico are often tapped by thieves looking to steal what they carry. There have been several oil spills and explosions as a result, although thieves rarely target gas pipelines.Authorities blamed oil thieves for an oil pipeline explosion in a central Mexico city that killed 28 people, including 13 kids, in December 2010. The blast scorched homes and burned people, affecting 5,000 residents in just a six mile area.