MAHATMA GANDHI

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on the 2nd Oct., 1869 at Porbander. His father was Dewan in the state of Rajkot. He was married to Kasturba when he was only a school student. After completing his schooling he went to England to study law and returned to India as a barrister in 1891. He started his legal practice at Bombay. But in connection with a case of an Indian firm he had to go to South Africa.It was in South Africa that Gandhiji started his political career. He was shocked to see that the Indian settlers there were humiliated and insulted. Gandhiji decided to fight against this injustice. He knew very well that he would not be able to achieve his objective by violence or force, so he invented a novel method of struggle for truth, justice and right which is popularly known as Satyagraha or non-violent resistance. Gandhiji had great faith in Satyagraha. During the course of his non-violent struggle, many a time he was insulted and even manhandled but he continued his fight relentlessly and ultimately he won the battle and was successful in securing the rights for the Indians in South Africa.Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa in 1915. He enrolled himself as a member of the Indian National Congress and devoted his energy to India’s struggle for independence. After the death of Lokmanya Tilak in 1920, Gandhiji became the topmost leader of this party and guided the course of struggle for freedom of India.The experiment of Satyagraha had already stood the acid test in South Africa. Gandhiji decided to adopt the same method for the purpose of achieving independence for India. Under the banner of the Congress he started the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience Movements in India. These movements proved very successful and thousands of Indians from all walks of life participated in these movements and courted arrest. Gandhiji himself was arrested and imprisoned several times. He organised the “Quit Movement” in August 1942. To his countrymen he ga\e call ‘Do or die’. Along with other prominent leader-Congress and thousands of persons, Gandhiji was arrested i sent to jail. Like a brave soldier, he continued to fitte. Hardships could not deter him from the right path of justice and non-violence. Ultimately this unique method struggle succeeded and India achieved her Independence the 15th August, 1947. The struggle which Gandhiji on was long, tiring and full of difficulties and hardships, but won freedom for India without blood-shed.

Gandhiji was a saint. He was a staunch believer in violence and Hindu-Muslim unity. He was deeply toi by the Hindu-Muslim riots in the country that followed partition of India in 1947. Gandhiji went from place place and pacified the angry mobs with his message of and peace. It was he who brought about peace in N and Calcutta in Bengal, Bihar and Delhi, and esta communal harmony. On the 30th January 1948, he was dead by a fanatic while he was going to his prayer meetiEf Birla House in New Delhi. The whole world was plungoi grief and mourning at the death of this noble soul apostle of peace. Next day his body was cremate Rajghat. Since then every foreign King, President. I Minister or dignitary, who visits India, goes to Ri to pay homage to him and lays a wreath at his samadhi.

Gandhiji was a great leader, a saint and a great reformer. He was pious, truthful and religious. He be1 in simple living and high thinking. Everybody who in contact with him was deeply influenced by his perso

Even in politics Gandhiji behaved like a saint. His weapon was Ahimsa or non-violence. He believed noble end cannot be achieved by ignoble means. He great passion for Harijan uplift. He used to stay at colony in New Delhi. He hated the practice of untou and worked with great zeal for the removal of ability and strongly advocated temple-entry for the

Gandhiji’s ideal was Ram Raj, wherein there wo»l complete peace, justice and happiness. According to ha imprisoned several times. He organised the “Quit Movement” in August 1942. To his countrymen he ga\ call ‘Do or die’. Along with other prominent leaders c Congress and thousands of persons, Gandhiji was arrestee sent to jail. Like a brave soldier, he continued to Hardships could not deter him from the right path of justice and non-violence. Ultimately this unique method struggle succeeded and India achieved her Independence the 15th August, 1947. The struggle which Gandhiji on was long, tiring and full of difficulties and hardships, btti won freedom for India without blood-shed.

Gandhiji was a saint. He was a staunch believer ii violence and Hindu-Muslim unity. He was deeply by the Hindu-Muslim riots in the country that followed partition of India in 1947. Gandhiji went from place place and pacified the angry mobs with his message of and peace. It was he who brought about peace in No and Calcutta in Bengal, Bihar and Delhi, and estat communal harmony. On the 30th January 1948, he wa dead by a fanatic while he was going to his prayer at Birla House in New Delhi. The whole world was plun grief and mourning at the death of this noble sou apostle of peace. Next day his body was cremal Rajghat. Since then every foreign King, President. Minister or dignitary, who visits India, goes to to pay homage to him and lays a wreath at his samadhi.

Gandhiji was a great leader, a saint and a great reformer. He was pious, truthful and religious. He in simple living and high thinking. Everybody who in contact with him was deeply influenced by his per

Even in politics Gandhiji behaved like a saint. His | weapon was Ahimsa or non-violence. He believed nob le end cannot be achieved by ignoble means, great passion for Harijan uplift. He used to stay at colony in New Delhi. He hated the practice of untou and worked with great zeal for the removal of una ability and strongly advocated temple-entry for the Harp

Gandhiji’s ideal was Ram Raj, wherein there wt complete peace, justice and happiness. According to ethical society free from conflicts and tensions, coercive apparatus of the state and based on harmonious relations between various interests and classes of society would be established under Ram Raj. He was a champion of democracy, and was deadly opposed to dictatorial rule. Gandhiji showed India and the world the path of truth and non-violence. He believed that it is trutli alone that prevails in the end.

Gandhiji believed that real India lived in more than five lakh villages, and therefore, he worked for village uplift. According to him India’s real emancipation depended on swadeshi i.e., boycott of foreign goods, use of khaddar, and encouragement to village and cottage industries.

Mahatma Gandhi is known as the Father of the Nation, because it was he who won freedom for us. He was the maker of modern India. India would not have been a free country but for Gandhiji. He was the light of the Nation and the architect of India’s freedom. The spiritual and moral force of Gandhiji’s miraculous weapon of non-violence shook the foundations of the mighty British Empire over wh ich the sun never set.

Gandhiji was a true believer in simple living and high thinking. He used to put on only a loin-cloth. He taught that true greatness did not lie in pomp and show but in service, love, truth and labour. It has rightly been said about Gandhiji that he was the greatest of the great. He is our guiding star.

Gandhiji was a great thinker and he expressed his views on a very wide range of subjects. In so far as religion was concerned, he believed in the equality and unity of all religions. According to him all religions were different paths to the same goal, and their aim was to make their followers better persons. In his view no religion taught hatred to others ; all religions taught love for all religions. Gandhiji had full and firm faith in God, and for him God and religion were inseparable.

For him religion and politics could not be separated from each other, because they were like the body and the soul. In is own words, “Politics bereft of religion is a death trap, because it kills the soul.” Gandhiji’s supreme moral force found expression in Satyagraha, which was a means to convert, not to annihilate one’s adversary. Satyagraha mean non-violent resistance and a plea for self suffering for a right, just and noble cause.

For Gandhiji means were as important as ends. Ifthi ends were noble, they could not be achieved by ignoble means. The axiom ‘ends justify the means’ was not approved by him. He believed in the use of right means for realising right ends. According to him the connection between the means and the ends was the same as between the seed ani the tree.

Gandhiji was a staunch believer in Ahimsa, which «m not a weapon of the weak but a manifestation of invincibir strength. The high degree of self-restraint, of which the cute of Ahimsa was born, was impossible for the faint-hearted Ahimsa was a feature of large-heartedness that had no ptaar for hatred, ill-will and anger for the opponent. He would resort to violence against anybody even under the great provocation. So much so that he said, “Freedom won violent means was of no use to me.”

For Gandhiji education did not mean literacy. Lite was only an aid to education. He held that true educa was that which was capable of achieving the objective ol round development of man. Man constitutes, the body, mind and the spirit. Education was aimed at bringing a a balanced and harmonious development of the three. E lopment of any one or two of the three meant a lo development. According to him training of the body essential part of education, because no mental devel was possible without adequate physical training. The r ship between the body and the mind was so interwov their development was impossible independent of each Similarly no intellectual attainment was worthwhile spiritual education. He, therefore, advocated a sy education which took care of the body, the mind and simultaneously. Gandhiji was of the opinion that education should be closely related to the needs of the : and the country. The education of a child should stan a useful craft hilosophy of the Gita, that every living being was a part of the ‘Supreme Being’ that exists in the soul of all. God was the creator of all and he created all men equal. To him nobody was high or low ; superior or inferior. The practice of untouchability was an anathema to him. He considered it a social evil that had sapped the vitality of our society. He was deeply distressed at the inhuman treatment meted out to nearly one-fifth of our population, who had been reduced to the level of serfs and were being denied all human rights. To him the practice of untouchability was immoral and irreligious, unjust, inhuman and against the principle of human equality.

Inspiring Stories From Gandhi's Life

(For all ages) I The night was very dark and Mohan was frightened. He had always been afraid of ghosts. Whenever he was alone in the dark, he was afraid that a ghost lurking in some dark corner would suddenly spring on him. And tonight it was so dark that one could barely see one's own hand. Mohan had to go from one room to another. As he stepped out of the room, his feet seemed to turn to lead and his heart began to beat like a drum. Rambha, their old maidservant was standing by the door. "What's the matter, son?" she asked with a laugh. "I am frightened, Dai," Mohan answered. " Frightened, child! Frightened of what?" "See how dark it is! I'm afraid of ghosts!" Mohan whispered in a terrified voice. Rambha patted his head affectionately and said, "Whoever heard of anyone being afraid of dark! Listen to me: Think of Rama and no ghost will dare come near you. No one will touch a hair of your head. Rama will protect you." Rambha's words gave Mohan courage. Repeating the name of Rama, he left the room. And from that day, Mohan was never lonely or afraid. He believed that as long as Rama was with him, he was safe from the danger. This faith gave Gandhiji strength throughout his life, and even when he died the name of Rama was on his lips.

II Mohan was very shy. As soon as the school bell rang, he collected his books and hurried home. Other boys chatted and stopped on the way; some to play, others to eat, but Mohan always went straight home. He was afraid that the boys might stop him and make fun of him. One day, the Inspector of Schools, Mr. Giles, came to Mohan's school. He read out five English words to the class and asked the boys to write them down. Mohan wrote four words correctly, but he could not spell the fifth word 'Kettle'. Seeing Mohan's hesitation, the teacher made a sign behind the Inspector's back that he should copy the word from his neighbour's slate. But Mohan ignored his signs. The other boys wrote all the five words correctly; Mohan wrote only four. After the Inspector left, the teacher scolded him. "I told you to copy from your neighbour," he said angrily. "Couldn't you even do that correctly?"Every one laughed. As he went home that evening, Mohan was not unhappy. He knew he had done the right thing. What made him sad was that his teacher should have asked him to cheat.

III In South Africa Gandhiji set up an ashram at Phoenix, where he started a school for children. Gandhiji had his own ideas about how children should be taught. He disliked the examination system. In his school he wanted to teach the boys true knowledge—knowledge that would improve both their minds and their hearts. Gandhiji had his own way of judging students. All the students in the class were asked the same question. But often Gandhiji praised the boy with low marks and scolded the one who had high marks. This puzzled the children. When questioned on this unusual practice, Gandhiji one day explained, "I am not trying to show that Shyam is cleverer than Ram. So I don't give marks on that basis. I want to see how far each boy has progressed, how much he has learnt. If a clever student competes with a stupid one and begins to think no end of himself, he is likely to grow dull. Sure of his own cleverness, he'll stop working. The boy who does his best and works hard will always do well and so I praise him." Gandhiji kept a close watch on the boys who did well. Were they still working hard? What would they learn if their high marks filled them with conceit? Gandhiji continually stressed this to his students. If a boy who was not very clever worked hard and did well, Gandhiji was full of praise for him.

IV This incident occurred when Gandhiji was practising law in the city of Johannesburg in South Africa. His office was three miles from his house. One day a colleague of his, Mr. Polak, asked Gandhi's thirteen-year old son, Manilal to fetch a book from the office. But Manilal completely forgot till Mr. Polak reminded him that evening. Gandhiji heard about it and sent for Manilal. He said, "Son, I know the night is dark and the way is long and lonely. You will have to walk nearly six miles but you gave your word to Mr. Polak. You promised to fetch his book. Go and fetch it now." Ba and the family were upset when they heard of Gandhi's decision. The punishment seemed far too severe. Manilal was only a child, the night was dark and the way lonely. He had only forgotten a book after all. It could be brought the next day. This was what they all felt, but no one had the courage to say anything. They knew that once Gandhiji's mind was made up, nobody could change it. At last Kalyan Bhai plucked up courage. "I'll fetch the book," he offered. Gandhiji was gentle but firm, "But the promise was made by Manilal.""Very well, Manilal will go but let me go with him," Kalyan Bhai pleaded. Gandhiji agreed to this and Manilal set off with Kalyan Bhai to fetch the book. The kind and gentle Gandhiji could be firm as a rock at times. He saw that Manilal kept his word and did as he had promised.

V Soon after Gandhi's return from South Africa, a meeting of the Congress was held in Bombay. Kaka Saheb Kalelkar went there to help. One day Kaka Saheb found Gandhiji anxiously searching around his desk. "What's the matter? What are you looking for?" Kaka Saheb asked. "I've lost my pencil," Gandhiji answered. "It was only so big." Kaka Saheb was upset to see Gandhiji wasting time and worrying about a little pencil. He took out his pencil and offered it to him. "No, no, I want my own little pencil," Gandhiji insisted like a stubborn child. "Well, use it for the time being," said Kaka Saheb. "I'll find your pencil later. Don't waste time looking for it now." "You don't understand. That little pencil is very precious to me," Gandhiji insisted. "Natesan's little son gave it to me in Madras. He gave it with so much love and affection. I cannot bear to lose it." Kaka Saheb didn't argue any more. He joined Gandhiji in the search. At last they found it - a tiny piece, barely two inches long. But Gandhiji was delighted to get it back. To him it was no ordinary pencil. It was the token of a child's love and to Gandhiji a child's love was very precious.

VI Children loved visiting Gandhi. A little boy who was there one day, was greatly distressed to see the way Gandhiji was dressed. Such a great man yet he doesn't even wear a shirt, he wondered. "Why don't you wear a kurta, Gandhi?" the little boy couldn't help asking finally. "Where's the money, son?" Gandhi asked gently. "I am very poor. I can't afford a kurta." The boy's heart was filled with pity. "My mother sews well", he said. "She makes all my clothes. I'll ask her to sew a Kurta for you." "How many Kurtas can your mother make?" Gandhiji asked. "How many do you need?" asked the boy. "One, two, three.... she'll make as many as you want." Gandhi thought for a moment. Then he said, "But I am not alone, son. It wouldn't be right for me to be the only one to wear a kurta." "How many Kurtas do you need?" the boy persisted. "I'll ask my mother to make as many as you want. Just tell me how many you need." "I have a very large family, son. I have forty crore brothers and sisters," Gandhiji explained. "Till every one of them has a kurta, how can I wear one? Tell me, can your mother make kurtas for all of them? At this question the boy became very thoughtful. Forty crore brothers and sisters! Gandhiji was right. Till every one of them had a kurta to wear how could he wear one himself? After all the whole nation was Gandhi's family, and he was the head of that family. He was their friend, their companion. What use would one kurta be to him?

VII One day Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel were talking in the Yeravda jail when Gandhi remarked, "At times even a dead snake can be of use." And he related the following story to illustrate his point: Once a snake entered the house of an old woman. The old woman was frightened and cried out for help. Hearing her, the neighbours rushed up and killed the snake. Then they returned to their homes. Instead of throwing the dead snake far away, the old woman flung it onto her roof. Sometime later a kite flying overhead spotted the dead snake. In its beak the kite had a pearl necklace which it had picked up from somewhere. It dropped the necklace and flew away with the dead snake. When the old woman saw a bright, shining object on her roof she pulled it down with a pole. Finding that it was a pearl necklace she danced with joy! When Gandhi finished his story, Vallabhbhai Patel said he too had a story to tell: One day a bania found a snake in his house. He couldn't find anyone to kill it for him and hadn't the courage to kill it himself. Besides, he hated killing any living creature. So he covered the snake with a pot and left it there. As luck would have it, that night some thieves broke into the bania's house. They entered the kitchen and saw the overturned pot. "Ah," they thought, "the bania has hidden something valuable here." As they lifted the pot, the snake struck. Having come with the object of stealing, they barely left with their lives.

VIII Gandhi went from city to city, village to village collecting funds for the Charkha Sangh. During one of his tours he addressed a meeting in Orissa. After his speech a poor old woman got up. She was bent with age, her hair was grey and her clothes were in tatters. The volunteers tried to stop her, but she fought her way to the place where Gandhi was sitting. "I must see him," she insisted and going up to Gandhi touched his feet. Then from the folds of her sari she brought out a copper coin and placed it at his feet. Gandhi picked up the copper coin and put it away carefully. The Charkha Sangh funds were under the charge of Jamnalal Bajaj. He asked Gandhi for the coin but Gandhi refused. "I keep cheque worth thousands of rupees for the Charkha Sangh," Jamnalal Bajaj said laughingly "yet you won't trust me with a copper coin." "This copper coin is worth much more than those thousands," Gandhi said. "If a man has several lakhs and he gives away a thousand or two, it doesn't mean much. But this coin was perhaps all that the poor woman possessed. She gave me all she had. That was very generous of her. What a great sacrifice she made. That is why I value this copper coin more than a crore of rupees."

IX This incident occurred in Noakhali. After the Hindu-Muslim riots Gandhi toured the area on foot to reassure and comfort the people. He would set off from a village soon after dawn and arrive at the next village after sunset. On arrival he would first attend to his work then he would take a bath. Gandhi used a rough stone to clean his feet. Miraben had given this stone to him many years ago and Gandhi had kept it carefully ever since. He took it with him everywhere. One evening after they had arrived at a village and Manu was getting Gandhi's bath ready, she noticed that the stone was missing. She looked everywhere but could not find it. She told Gandhi that the stone was lost and added, "It must have been left behind at the weaver's where we stayed yesterday. What should I do now?" Gandhi thought for a moment. Then he said, "Go and fetch the stone. If you suffer once, you'll not forget another time." "Can I take someone with me?" Manu asked. "Why?" questioned Gandhi. Manu was silent. She did not want to admit that she was frightened to go alone. The road to the village lay through forests of betel nut and coconut and it was easy to lose one's way. Besides, Manu was barely sixteen years old and she had never gone anywhere alone. But she could not think of an answer. So Manu took the path they had taken earlier in the day. Carefully following the old footprints she managed to reach the village and find the weaver's house. The old woman who lived there recognised her and welcomed her warmly. Tired and rather irritated Manu told her why she had come. But how was the old woman to have known that that bit of stone was so valuable? She had thrown it away with the rubbish. They both began to search for it. At last much to Manu's joy they found it. Manu had left the house at 7.30 in the morning. By the time she returned it was past one in the afternoon. She had walked nearly fifteen miles. Worn out, hungry and irritated she went straight to Gandhi and put the stone in the lap. Then she burst into tears. "This stone was a real test for you," Gandhi told her gently. "Do you know that this stone has been with me for the last twenty-five years. It has gone with me everywhere, from jails to mansions. I can easily get another stone like it, but I wanted you to learn that it is bad to be careless." "I've never prayed as hard as I did today," said Manu. "I want to make women brave and fearless", Gandhi said. "Today not only you but I too learnt a lesson." Manu did not say anything but she must have thought Gandhi's methods were very unusual.

ISRO plans to launch satellite for Navy in a few months

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has built a dedicated satellite for the Navy which will be launched in a few months by an Ariane-5 rocket from the Kourou island in French Guiana.

The communication satellite that weighs 2.5 tonnes is currently undergoing thermo-vacuum tests at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore. But the space organisation has not so far officially acknowledged that the satellite is meant for the Navy and has given it an innocuous name, GSAT-7.

It will be one of the several satellites to be launched by Ariane-5.

“This is the first time that the ISRO is building a dedicated satellite for the Navy. It is meant for defence requirements. The Navy and other agencies [the Army and the Indian Air Force] will use it for their communication,” ISRO sources said.

The GSAT series, built by the ISRO, are communication satellites which cannot be used for surveillance.

The Navy will use GSAT-7 to communicate with its submarines, frigates, destroyers and aircraft from its centres on the shore.

The ISRO's annual report for 2011-12 has sparse information on GSAT-7. It merely says, “GSAT-7, a multi-band satellite, is planned to be launched on board a procured launcher during 2012.” The report, in another place, adds, “The satellite employs the standard 2.5 tonne bus platform with the power handling capability of around 2,600 W and a lift-off mass of 2,550 kg. All the mainframe and the payload elements have been delivered. The satellite will be ready for shipment for launch during 2012.”

Communication satellite

The ISRO's 2010-2011 report is a little more liberal with information. It says, “GSAT-7 is a multi-band satellite carrying payloads in UHF [ultra-high frequency], S-band, C-band and Ku-band…The configuration of the satellite has been finalised and the design of the new payload elements is completed. The platform systems are under fabrication and payload sub-system realisation is on-going.”

Although the ISRO planned to launch GSAT-7 in 2011 onboard an indigenous Geo-Synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) from Sriharikota, it has been forced to go abroad because of its failures with its GSLV in April 2010 and December 2010. The GSLV could not put GSAT-4 into orbit in April 2010 after its indigenous cryogenic engine failed to ignite. The next GSLV flight in December 2010, with a Russian cryogenic engine, failed too. It was to have hoisted into orbit GSAT-5P.

These failures and the long time that is being taken to build the GSLV-Mark III rocket with an indigenous cryogenic engine have delayed the launch of Chandrayan-II and the ISRO's efforts to send an Indian astronaut into space.

With the GSLV with an indigenous cryogenic engine yet to prove its mettle and its performance with a Russian cryogenic engine below par, the ISRO does not want to take chances with GSAT-7.

“GSAT-7 is an operational satellite meant for the Navy. It has multi-frequencies. So we do not want to take chances,” explained the ISRO sources.

Cooking without oil: A story of healthy and flavourful food

NASA's space drink can reverse signs of ageing?

A "space drink" developed by NASA to protect astronauts from radiation can also reduce wrinkles and reverse the telltale signs of ageing in just four months, say researchers, following a human trial.

A team at Utah University has found in its research that the concoction, known as AS10, dramatically reduces wrinkles, blemishes and sun damage after four months.

At the start of their trial, the researchers took visia photographs - which reveal the condition of the skin below the surface by using different types of light exposure – of 180 participants.

They again took the photos after four months of drinking two shots of AS10 a day. By the end UV spots were reduced by 30 per cent and wrinkles by 17 per cent, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

AS10 was developed as a nutritional supplement for astronauts to protect them from the damaging effects of high levels of radiation outside the Earth's atmosphere.

The drink contains a blend of fruits including cupuacu (a Brazilian fruit from the cacao plant family), acai, acerola, prickly pear and yumberry, which all provide vitamins and phytochemicals - compounds known to block the harmful effects of radiation. Other ingredients are grape, green tea, pomegranate and vegetables.

Radiation particles alter oxygen molecules in the body to create reactive oxygen species (ROS) - "free radicals" which damage cells in a process known as oxidative stress. This process has been linked to diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's. The toxic molecules are also thought to play a role in the skin ageing process.

"Think of them as little Pac-men taking bites out of molecules that are essential for cells to function," said Dr Aaron Barson, who led the team.

AS10 is thought to improve skin condition because the drink's large quantities of antioxidants ward off oxidative stress, allowing the skin to heal naturally. Antioxidants attach themselves to ROS and neutralise them before they cause damage.

Dr Barson added: "The skin is the first body tissue to be exposed to UV rays and we know it is sensitive to oxidative stress. Our study shows it greatly benefits from a reduction in this stress. The effects of oxidative stress on the skin can be quickly modified and the skin can heal itself by drinking AS10."

Genetics May Guide Ways to Quit Smoking

A new study shows that genetic information can help predict whether medications will be likely to help a person quit smoking. The study brings health care providers a step closer to providing individualized treatment plans to help smokers kick the habit.

Tobacco use is the most preventable cause of disease, disability and death in the United States. Smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke results in more than 440,000 preventable deaths each year—about 1 in 5 U.S. deaths overall. Another 8.6 million people live with a serious illness caused by smoking. Yet over 46 million U.S. adults continue to smoke cigarettes.

Many smokers would like to quit but find that it can be a difficult and frustrating process. Previous studies have found that certain genetic variations influence the chances of successfully quitting. In a new study, a team of researchers led by Dr. Li-Shiun Chen of Washington University tested whether genetics can be used to personalize therapeutic strategies. The work was supported by several NIH components, including the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and National Cancer Institute (NCI). The study appeared early online on May 30, 2012, in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The scientists focused on specific variations in a cluster of nicotinic receptor genes, CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4. Prior studies had shown that this cluster contributes to nicotine dependence and a pattern of heavy smoking. Using data on over 5,000 smokers from a previous study supported by NIH's National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the researchers found that people carrying the high-risk form of the gene cluster reported a 2-year delay in the median quit age compared to those with the low-risk version.

The researchers next carried out a clinical trial. They randomly divided more than 1,000 smokers into 6 groups. One received only a series of brief counseling sessions. The others received the sessions plus 1 of 5 treatments: nicotine patch, nicotine lozenge, the medication bupropion (Zyban), nicotine patch and nicotine lozenge, or bupropion and nicotine lozenge.

Eight weeks after quitting, nearly half the participants had abstained from smoking. When given only counseling, those with the high-risk gene cluster were more likely to fail in their quit attempts than those with the low-risk cluster. However, medications increased the likelihood of success in the high-risk groups. Those with the highest risk had a 3-fold higher success rate with active treatment than with counseling only. In the low-risk group, medication added no significant benefits over counseling only. The impact of genetic variation on success was similar when compared across the other treatment options.

“We found that the effects of smoking cessation medications depend on a person's genes,” Chen says. “If smokers have the risk genes, they don't quit easily on their own and will benefit greatly from the medications. If smokers don't have the risk genes, they are likely to quit successfully without the help of medications such as nicotine replacement or bupropion.”

“This study builds on our knowledge of genetic vulnerability to nicotine dependence, and will help us tailor smoking cessation strategies accordingly,” comments NIDA Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow.

Breaking Bad Habits,,, Why It’s So Hard to Change

If you know something’s bad for you, why can’t you just stop? About 70% of smokers say they would like to quit. Drug and alcohol abusers struggle to give up addictions that hurt their bodies and tear apart families and friendships. And many of us have unhealthy excess weight that we could lose if only we would eat right and exercise more. So why don’t we do it?

NIH-funded scientists have been searching for answers. They’ve studied what happens in our brains as habits form. They’ve found clues to why bad habits, once established, are so difficult to kick. And they’re developing strategies to help us make the changes we’d like to make.

“Habits play an important role in our health,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of NIH’s National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Understanding the biology of how we develop routines that may be harmful to us, and how to break those routines and embrace new ones, could help us change our lifestyles and adopt healthier behaviors.”

Habits can arise through repetition. They are a normal part of life, and are often helpful. “We wake up every morning, shower, comb our hair or brush our teeth without being aware of it,” Volkow says. We can drive along familiar routes on mental auto-pilot without really thinking about the directions. “When behaviors become automatic, it gives us an advantage, because the brain does not have to use conscious thought to perform the activity,” Volkow says. This frees up our brains to focus on different things.

Habits can also develop when good or enjoyable events trigger the brain’s “reward” centers. This can set up potentially harmful routines, such as overeating, smoking, drug or alcohol abuse, gambling and even compulsive use of computers and social media.

“The general machinery by which we build both kinds of habits are the same, whether it’s a habit for overeating or a habit for getting to work without really thinking about the details,” says Dr. Russell Poldrack, a neurobiologist at the University of Texas at Austin. Both types of habits are based on the same types of brain mechanisms.

“But there’s one important difference,” Poldrack says. And this difference makes the pleasure-based habits so much harder to break. Enjoyable behaviors can prompt your brain to release a chemical called dopamine. “If you do something over and over, and dopamine is there when you’re doing it, that strengthens the habit even more. When you’re not doing those things, dopamine creates the craving to do it again,” Poldrack says. “This explains why some people crave drugs, even if the drug no longer makes them feel particularly good once they take it.”

In a sense, then, parts of our brains are working against us when we try to overcome bad habits. “These routines can become hardwired in our brains,” Volkow says. And the brain’s reward centers keep us craving the things we’re trying so hard to resist.

The good news is, humans are not simply creatures of habit. We have many more brain regions to help us do what’s best for our health.

“Humans are much better than any other animal at changing and orienting our behavior toward long-term goals, or long-term benefits,” says Dr. Roy Baumeister, a psychologist at Florida State University. His studies on decision-making and willpower have led him to conclude that “self-control is like a muscle. Once you’ve exerted some self-control, like a muscle it gets tired.”

After successfully resisting a temptation, Baumeister’s research shows, willpower can be temporarily drained, which can make it harder to stand firm the next time around. In recent years, though, he’s found evidence that regularly practicing different types of self-control—such as sitting up straight or keeping a food diary—can strengthen your resolve.

“We’ve found that you can improve your self-control by doing exercises over time,” Baumeister says. “Any regular act of self-control will gradually exercise your ‘muscle’ and make you stronger.”

Volkow notes that there’s no single effective way to break bad habits. “It’s not one size fits all,” she says.

One approach is to focus on becoming more aware of your unhealthy habits. Then develop strategies to counteract them. For example, habits can be linked in our minds to certain places and activities. You could develop a plan, say, to avoid walking down the hall where there’s a candy machine. Resolve to avoid going places where you’ve usually smoked. Stay away from friends and situations linked to problem drinking or drug use.

Another helpful technique is to visualize yourself in a tempting situation. “Mentally practice the good behavior over the bad,” Poldrack says. “If you’ll be at a party and want to eat vegetables instead of fattening foods, then mentally visualize yourself doing that. It’s not guaranteed to work, but it certainly can help.”

One way to kick bad habits is to actively replace unhealthy routines with new, healthy ones. Some people find they can replace a bad habit, even drug addiction, with another behavior, like exercising. “It doesn’t work for everyone,” Volkow says. “But certain groups of patients who have a history of serious addictions can engage in certain behaviors that are ritualistic and in a way compulsive—such as marathon running—and it helps them stay away from drugs. These alternative behaviors can counteract the urges to repeat a behavior to take a drug.”

Another thing that makes habits especially hard to break is that replacing a first-learned habit with a new one doesn’t erase the original behavior. Rather, both remain in your brain. But you can take steps to strengthen the new one and suppress the original one. In ongoing research, Poldrack and his colleagues are using brain imaging to study the differences between first-learned and later-learned behaviors. “We’d like to find a way to train people to improve their ability to maintain these behavioral changes,” Poldrack says.

Some NIH-funded research is exploring whether certain medications can help to disrupt hard-wired automatic behaviors in the brain and make it easier to form new memories and behaviors. Other scientific teams are searching for genes that might allow some people to easily form and others to readily suppress habits.

Bad habits may be hard to change, but it can be done. Enlist the help of friends, co-workers and family for some extra support.

New optimism about stemming spread of AIDS virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — An AIDS-free generation: It seems an audacious goal, considering how the HIV epidemic still is raging around the world.

Yet more than 20,000 international HIV researchers and activists will gather in the nation's capital later this month with a sense of optimism not seen in many years — hope that it finally may be possible to dramatically stem the spread of the AIDS virus.

"We want to make sure we don't overpromise," Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health's infectious disease chief, told The Associated Press. But, he said, "I think we are at a turning point."

The big new focus is on trying to get more people with HIV treated early, when they're first infected, instead of waiting until they're weakened or sick, as the world largely has done until now. Staying healthier also makes them less likely to infect others.

That's a tall order. But studies over the past two years have shown what Fauci calls "striking, sometimes breathtaking results," in preventing people at high risk of HIV from getting it in some of the hardest-hit countries, using this treatment-as-prevention and some other protections.

Now, as the International AIDS Conference returns to the U.S. for the first time in 22 years, the question is whether the world will come up with the money and the know-how to put the best combinations of protections into practice, for AIDS-ravaged poor countries and hot spots in developed nations as well.

"We have the tools to make it happen," said Dr. Elly Katabira, president of the International AIDS Society, which organizes the world's largest HIV conference, set for July 22-27. He points to strides already in Botswana and Rwanda in increasing access to AIDS drugs.

But Fauci cautioned that moving those tools into everyday life is "a daunting challenge," given the costs of medications and the difficulty in getting people to take them for years despite poverty and other competing health and social problems.

In the U.S., part of that challenge is complacency. Despite 50,000 new HIV infections here every year, an AP-GfK poll finds that very few people in the United States worry about getting the virus.

Also, HIV increasingly is an epidemic of the poor, minorities and urban areas such as the District of Columbia, where the rate of infection rivals some developing countries. The conference will spotlight this city's aggressive steps to fight back: A massive effort to find the undiagnosed, with routine testing in some hospitals, testing vans that roam the streets, even free tests at a Department of Motor Vehicles office, and then rapidly getting those patients into care.

"These are the true champions," Dr. Mohammed Akhter, director of the city's health department, said of patients who faithfully take their medication. "They're also protecting their community."

___

A few miles east of the Capitol and the tourist-clogged monuments, the Community Education Group's HIV testing van pulls into a parking lot in a low-income neighborhood with a particularly high infection rate. An incentive for the crowd at a nearby corner is the offer of a $10 supermarket gift card for getting tested.

Christopher Freeman, 23, is first in line. He was tested earlier this year and says showing off that official paper proclaiming him HIV-negative attracts "the ladies."

"Forget money, it's the best thing you can show them," he said.

But that test was months ago, and Freeman admits he seldom uses condoms. He climbs into the van and rubs a swab over his gums. Twenty minutes later, he's back for the result: Good news — no HIV. But counselor Amanda Matthews has Freeman go through a list of the risk factors; it's education to try to keep him and his future partners safe.

"Just try to get yourself in the habit of using condoms," she said. "You say it's hard to use condoms but what if you do contract the virus? Then you've got to take medications every day."

Freeman waves his new test result with a grin, and walks off with a handful of free condoms.

At a nearby bus stop, counselor Laila Patrick encounters a little resistance while handing out condoms, when a woman says that encourages sex outside of marriage.

"Stopping AIDS is everyone's business. You're looking out for the next person," Patrick said. "You might just want to help someone be safe."

___

About 34 million people worldwide have HIV, including almost 1.2 million Americans. It's a very different epidemic from the last time the International AIDS Conference came to the United States, in 1990. Life-saving drugs emerged a few years later, turning HIV from a death sentence into a manageable chronic disease for people and countries that can afford the medications.

Yet for all the improvements in HIV treatment, the rate of new infections in the U.S. has held steady for about a decade. About 1 in 5 Americans with HIV don't know they have it, more than 200,000 people who unwittingly can spread the virus.

Government figures show most new U.S. infections are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women. Of particular concern, African-Americans account for about 14 percent of the population but 44 percent of new HIV infections.

Your ZIP code plays a role in your risk, too. Twelve cities account for more than 40 percent of the nation's AIDS cases: New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Baltimore, Dallas and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Many are concentrated in specific parts of those cities.

"Maps tell the story," said Brown University assistant professor Amy Nunn, who is beginning a campaign that will bring a testing van door-to-door in the hardest-hit Philadelphia ZIP code.

"It's not just what you do, it's also where you live. There's just a higher chance that you will come into contact with the virus," she explained.

___

Prospects for a vaccine are so far elusive and health disparities are widening, so why the optimism as expressed by the Obama administration's goal of getting to an AIDS-free generation?

Consider the potential strategies, to add to tried-and-true steps such as condom use and treating HIV-infected pregnant women to protect their unborn babies:

—Studies found treatment-as-prevention could lower an HIV patient's chance of spreading the virus to an uninfected sexual partner by a stunning 96 percent. In the U.S., new guidelines recommend starting treatment early rather than waiting until the immune system has weakened. Abroad, the United Nations hopes to more than double the number of patients being treated in poor countries to 15 million by 2015.

—Other studies show a longtime AIDS medication named Truvada can prevent infection, too, if taken daily by healthy people who are at risk from their infected sexual partners. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to decide by fall whether to formally approve sale of Truvada as an HIV preventive.

—A study from South Africa found a vaginal gel containing anti-AIDS medication helped protect women when their infected partners wouldn't use a condom, generating more interest in developing women-controlled protection.

—Globally, experts also stress male circumcision, to lower men's risk of heterosexually acquired HIV.

___

Testing is a key step in improving prevention. The AP-GfK poll found 57 percent of adults say they've been tested at some point, a bit higher than federal estimates, but not enough. The government recommends at least one test for adults, and that populations at higher risk get tested at least once a year.

Following those recommendations depends in part on people's concern about AIDS. The poll found just over half of Americans consider HIV as much or more of a problem now than two decades ago. But less than 20 percent are worried about getting it themselves, and even populations at higher risk don't consider HIV a big threat. Some 16 percent of black respondents said they're very worried about HIV, compared with 4 percent of whites.

"We've become complacent about HIV in America, and it's a real tragedy because hundreds of thousands of people in our own country aren't getting the care they need," said Chris Collins of amFAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

The drugs can cost up to $15,000 a year in the U.S., and overall treatment costs are rising as people with HIV live longer. In developing countries, those drugs can cost less than $400 a year.

The AP-GfK Poll was conducted June 14-18 by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,007 adults nationwide. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

_____

In the U.S., the government is targeting the hardest-hit communities as part of a plan to reduce HIV infections by 25 percent by 2015, said Assistant Secretary of Health Howard Koh. Work is under way to learn the best steps to get people treated early, including in cities such as Washington, where 2.7 percent of residents have HIV, roughly four times the national rate.

Washington resident Zee Turner knows it's hard to stick with care. She's had HIV for two decades, learning the news when her baby was born sick. Health workers helped mom and daughter receive then-newly emerging treatments, and they're doing well today.

"I felt that I should get out here and try to help somebody else, because somebody had to help us get into care," said Turner, now 53 and a community health worker.

The city's latest HIV count suggests progress, with a slight decrease in new diagnoses and a majority of patients being connected with medical care. Community workers such as Turner are called to try to help people stay on treatment when other problems intervene.

"If they're on drugs, I take them to the drug program. If they need help going on Medicaid, I go with them to Medicaid," Turner said. "Any problem they have, I'm going to try to fix it and get them back into care."

Soon, a pill to motivate you to hit the gym

London: Want to shed those extra flab but struggle to get to the gym? Don't worry, scientists have now found a potential pill which they say could motivate you to exercise harder.

Researchers from the University of Zurich in Switzerland found that when a certain hormone in the brain was elevated in mice, it motivated them to run faster. The hormone, called erythropoietin (or Epo), had the beneficial effect without elevating red blood cell counts at the same time, the researchers said.

The potential treatment could help people with conditions from obesity to Alzheimer's disease, where increased physical activity is known to improve symptoms, they added. "Here we show that Epo increases the motivation to exercise. Most probably, Epo has a general effect on a person's mood and might be used in patients suffering from depression and related diseases," lead study researcher Max Gassmann was quoted as saying by the 'Daily Mail'.

In the study, published in 'The FASEB Journal', the team compared three types of mice: those that were injected with human Epo, those that were genetically modified to produce human Epo in their brain, and another group which received no treatment.

The researchers found that the two mouse groups that were harbouring human Epo in the brain ran faster and for longer than the control mice.

"If you can't put exercise in a pill, then may be you can put the motivation to exercise in a pill instead," said Dr Gerald Weissmann, Editor-in-Chief of 'The FASEB Journal'.

"As more and more people become overweight and obese, we must attack the problem from all angles. May be the day will come when gyms are as easily found as fast food restaurants." Obesity is growing as an epidemic which causes several illnesses such as heart disease and diabetes. Sedentary lifestyle, smoking and drinking are all blamed for it.

Treatments to tackle obesity include gastric band operations, which costs 6,000 pounds per patient, as well as gastric bypass surgery -- which splits the stomach into compartments so patients feel full more quickly -- that costs around 10,000 pounds a time.

Love Your Heart : Take Steps To Reduce Heart Risks

February is American Heart Month—a time to reflect on the sobering fact that heart disease remains the number one killer of both women and men in the United States. The good news is you have the power to protect and improve your heart health. 

NIH and other government agencies have been working to advance our understanding of heart disease so that people can live longer, healthier lives. Research has found that you can lower your risk for heart disease simply by adopting sensible health habits.

To protect your heart, the first step is to learn your own personal risk factors for heart disease. Risk factors are conditions or habits that make you more likely to develop a disease. Risk factors can also increase the chances that an existing disease will get worse.

Certain risk factors—like getting older or having a family history of heart disease—can’t be changed. But you do have control over some important risk factors such as high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, excess weight, diabetes and physical inactivity. Many people have more than one risk factor. To safeguard your heart, it’s best to lower or eliminate as many as you can because they tend to “gang up” and worsen each other’s effects.

A large NIH-supported study published last month underscores the importance of managing your risk factors. Scientists found that middle-aged adults with one or more elevated risk factors, such as high blood pressure, were much more likely to have a heart attack or other major heart-related event during their remaining lifetime than people with optimal levels of risk factors.

“For example, women with at least 2 major risk factors were 3 times as likely to die from cardiovasculardisease as women with none or 1 risk factor,” says Dr. Susan B. Shurin, acting director of NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. “You can and should make a difference in your heart health by understanding and addressing your personal risk.”

To tackle your heart risk factors, it helps to know your numbers. Ask your health care provider to measure your blood cholesterol and blood pressure. Then determine if your weight is in the healthy range.

The higher your cholesterol level, the greater your risk for heart disease or heart attack. High blood cholesterol itself doesn’t cause symptoms, so you can’t know if your cholesterol is too high unless you have it tested. Routine blood tests can show your overall cholesterol level and separate levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, HDL (“good”) cholesterol and triglycerides. All of these blood measurements are linked to your heart health.

High blood pressure (hypertension) is another major risk factor for heart disease, as well as for stroke. High blood pressure is often called the “silent killer” because, like high cholesterol, it usually has no symptoms. Blood pressure is always reported as 2 numbers, and any numbers above 120/80 mmHg raise your risk of heart disease and stroke.

“Scientific evidence is strong that controlling high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure prevents cardiac events such as heart attacks,” says Dr. Michael Lauer, a heart disease specialist at NIH. 

Your weight is another important number to know. To find out if you need to lose weight to reduce your risk of heart disease, you’ll need to calculate your body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight to height). This NIH web page can help: www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm. A BMI between 25 and 29.9 means that you’re overweight, while a BMI of 30 or higher means obesity.

Next, take out a tape measure. A waist measurement of more than 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men raises the risk of heart disease and other serious health conditions. Fortunately, even a small weight loss (between 5% and 10% of your current weight) can help lower your risk.

NIH has many tools available to help you aim for a healthy weight, including physical activity tips and a menu planner. To learn more, visit http://healthyweight.nhlbi.nih.gov/.

A heart-healthy diet includes a variety of fruits, vegetables and whole grains, as well as lean meats, poultry, fish, beans and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Try to avoid saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium (salt) and added sugar.

NIH's Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diets both promote healthy eating. U.S. News & World Report named TLC and DASH the top 2 overall diets for 2012.

Regular physical activity is another powerful way to reduce your risk of heart-related problems and enjoy a host of other health benefits. To make physical activity a pleasure rather than a chore, choose activities you enjoy. Take a brisk walk, play ball, lift light weights, dance or garden. Even taking the stairs instead of an elevator can make a difference.

“At least 2 and a half hours a week of moderate-intensity physical activity can lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, hypertension and diabetes—a winner on multiple counts,” says Dr. Diane Bild, a cardiovascular epidemiologist at NIH.

If you have diabetes, it’s important to keep your blood sugar, or glucose, under control. About two-thirds of people with diabetes die of heart or blood vessel disease. If you’re at risk for diabetes, modest changes in diet and level of physical activity can often prevent or delay its development.

If you happen to be a smoker, the best thing you can do for your heart is stop. People who smoke are up to 6 times more likely to suffer a heart attack than nonsmokers. The risk of heart attack increases with the number of cigarettes smoked each day.

The good news is that quitting smoking will immediately begin to reduce your risk, and the benefit in reduced risk will continue to increase over time. Just one year after you stop smoking, your risk will have dropped by more than half.

Beyond controlling your risk factors, you should be alert to certain symptoms and get checked by a doctor. Common signals that something‘s wrong with your heart include angina—pain in the chest, shoulders, arms, neck, jaw or back—as well as shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat or palpitations (arrhythmia)
and fatigue.

Be aware that the symptoms of a heart attack can vary from person to person. If you’ve already had a heart attack, your symptoms may not be the same if you have another one.

Finally, don’t forget that you can influence your loved ones’ heart health by setting an example. Do you have children, grandchildren or other young people who look up to you? If you follow a heart-healthy lifestyle, it’s more likely that they will, too.  Because heart disease begins in childhood, one of the best things you can do for those you love is to help children build strong bodies and healthy habits. 

The bottom line is, it’s never too late to take steps to protect your heart. It’s also never too early. Start today to keep your heart strong. Talk to your doctor about your risk and to create an action plan. Love your heart.

High Blood Pressure in Children

About 1 in 3 adults nationwide has high blood pressure, or hypertension. But did you know that kids can get hypertension too? By some estimates, up to 3% of U.S. children have high blood pressure. A new study by NIH-funded scientists shows that the number of kids hospitalized with hypertension is rising.

Scientists analyzed data on children, ages 2 to 18 years, who were hospitalized for high blood pressure. Over a 10-year period, the number these hospitalizations nearly doubled, climbing from 12,661 in 1997 to 24,602 in 2006. On average, children with hypertension also remained in the hospital twice as long as kids with other illnesses—8 days compared to 4 days.

Pediatric hypertension can lead to later complications. “A child with high blood pressure is at increased risk for having high blood pressure in adulthood and the heart and stroke risks that come with that diagnosis,” says study co-author Dr. Cheryl Tran of the University of Michigan. She and her colleagues suggest that the rise in hospitalizations for hypertension may be partly due to increased childhood obesity.

Hypertension often has no symptoms, but it can be easily diagnosed by a health care provider. The sooner it’s found, the sooner it can be treated. A healthy diet, physical activity and weight loss can help to keep blood pressure in check.

All children 3 years of age and older should have their blood pressure checked regularly.

Having high blood pressure may not cause any symptoms. Having your child's blood pressure checked is the only way to know if he or she has high blood pressure. The normal range for blood pressure in children is usually lower than in adults. If the blood pressure is high at three health care visits, your child may need further testing.

Steps to keep your child's blood pressure in the healthy range

These tips are good for all children, especially those who have or are at risk for high blood pressure:

• Give your child healthy home cooked food
• Use less canned or pre-prepared food
• Encourage physical activity
• If your child smokes or chews tobacco, talk with his or her doctor about how to help your child quit.
• Make sure that your child takes his or her blood pressure medicine if prescribed.

What does it mean to eat a healthy diet?

Eating for healthy blood pressure means eating:

• less salt and packaged foods that are high in sodium, and
• more fruits and vegetables.