Why some women get pregnant even when on the pill

Times of India Chennai 14.03.2019

It’s long been assumed that women who get pregnant on birth control pills somehow erred, possibly by forgetting a dose. But a new study suggests some women may inherit genes that break down contraceptive hormones rapidly, leaving them with hormone levels that are too low to prevent pregnancy, according to a report published in Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Researchers found women with a certain genetic variant metabolised estrogen and progesterone so quickly that it could put them at risk for pregnancy if they were taking low-dose birth control pills.

“If a woman came in and said she was taking birth control and got pregnant we assumed she did something wrong, missed a pill or wasn’t using the method like she was supposed to,” said the study’s lead author, Aaron Lazorwitz of the University of Colorado School of Medicine. “We need to believe the patient and to understand that there are other things outside of her control, like genetics, that could cause birth control to fail.”

The new research ought to start a trend, Lazorwitz said. “Women’s health hasn’t had a lot of this kind of research done yet,” he added. “It’s time we catch up with research in other medications that have shown that genetics can affect how the body breaks them down.”

To take a closer look at the issue, Lazorwitz and his colleagues recruited 350 women with an etonogestrel implant in place for at least a year and no more than 36 months. The long-lasting contraceptive comes in the form of a small plastic strip that is injected into the skin of a woman’s upper arm and slowly releases pregnancypreventing hormones over the course of three years.

The researchers chose to study the impact of genetics on hormone metabolism in women using the implant because “it was much easier to study and there was no concern about anyone missing a dose,” Lazorwitz said.

Lazorwitz and his colleagues focused on a gene, called CYP3A7*1C, that is turned on in all fetuses but switches off in most infants. In some women, the gene never switched off. Instead, it continues to make the CYP3A7 protein, which breaks down the hormones used in birth control, Lazorwitz said. REUTERS

BLAME IT ON YOUR GENES

Doctor among four booked for ‘stealing’ kidney

Devanathan.Veerappan@timesgroup.com

Madurai:14.03.2019

The K Pudur police in Madurai have registered a case against a doctor at a kidney hospital, his wife and two others, including the father of the recipient of a ‘stolen’ kidney. They allegedly ‘stole’ the kidney of a teenager and transplanted it to another person without the consent of the boy’s family members.

In her complaint, the donor’s mother, Shakeela Banu, 35, claimed that her son’s kidney was harvested in the hospital on the pretext of curing his ‘blood infection’. Though the incident took place in November 2017, a case was registered with K Pudur police station on Wednesday based on a petition the woman handed over to city police commissioner S Davidson Devasirvatham about 10 days ago. As reported earlier, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court had directed the commissioner to probe the issue. According to police sources, though Shakeela Banu had approached Melur police station in the district police unit to get a case registered, it was not done. Dr Palanirajan of Shastha Kidney and Multi Specialty Hospital, his wife, the recipient’s father Basheer and his friend Raja Mohammed were booked under IPC sections 420-cheating, 506 (i)- punishment for criminal intimidation and sections 18, 19, 20 of The Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994.

Dr Palanirajan told TOI that he was shocked to know about the case. He did the transplantation after getting all the required approvals and following the procedures including the approval from the authorization committee of Government Rajaji Hospital. “We have already submitted all the documents to the police officers, who inquired into the case before and were convinced. I think some money dispute between the donor and the recipient has dragged us into this,” he said.

Assistant commissioner of police Anna Nagar, Lilly Grace, who is the investigation officer, said that the case was registered based on the petition the woman had given to the commissioner and they were yet to start the inquiry. In her complaint, Shakeela Banu stated that Basheer and Raja Mohammed had been helping her with grocery items as she was struggling to make both ends meet. They told her that Basheer’s son had some disease and wanted blood transfusion frequently for which they sought her son’s blood.

Death sentence of Theni rape, murder convict upheld

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Madurai:14.03.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Wednesday upheld the death sentence by a trial court of a man who raped and murdered a college student and her male friend near Suruli fallls in Theni in 2011 In March 2018, the principal district and sessions judge, Theni, sentenced Diwakar to death after the offences against him were proved.

The verdict was referred before the division bench of Justices R Subbiah and B Pugalendhi and the bench upheld the trial court’s verdict.

Diwakar, now 30, had committed the crime when attempting to rob the couple after confronting them when they were spending time together near the falls, the prosecution held. He had also chopped off the limbs of the woman after raping her.

The woman’s family had filed a missing complaint initially and five days later, both the bodies were found in the forest area. The Rayappanpatti police eventually arrested the accused and substantial circumstantial evidence proved that he had committed the crime.

Diwakar, before the rape and murder, had threatened another couple the same day in the forest region and the man identified the accused after he came to know that a couple had been murdered.

“The brutality of the attack on the young and helpless girl, after raping her, would show the inhuman act of the accused. We are shocked by the savagery of the offence,” the division bench said, adding that the conduct of the accused showed that he is an extremist and would be a menace to society The bench also noted that the accused had criminal antecedents and he once attacked a policeman with a sharp object when police attempted to arrest him for jumping bail in this case.

Holding that the present case came under the rarest of rare category propounded by the Supreme Court, the division bench upheld the trial court’s order.

Diwakar raped and murdered a college student and her male friend near Suruli fallls in Theni in 2011. He had also chopped off the limbs of the woman after raping her

College students protest in Pollachi, Coimbatore

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore/Chennai:14.03.2019

College students from across Coimbatore district on Wednesday continued protests seeking proper investigation into the Pollachi sex scandal.

About 1,000 students from colleges in Pollachi on Wednesday gathered in front of the Pollachi municipality office and staged a road roko. Police dispersed them from the spot.

At least 100 students of the Coimbatore Arts College gathered in front of the college gate and raised slogans demanding that the accused be given the severest of punishment. “All those who were involved in the incident should be found and given the highest penalty, the death sentence. Only then such incidents won’t happen again,” said a protester.

College students in Chennai also staged protests seeking stringent action against the accused in the case. More than 500 students of MGR University in Maduravoyal staged a protest and tried to block the bypass road. But police prevented them from blocking the road. The students raised slogans against the accused. They also demanded that police initiate action against politicians or their relatives who were trying to protect the accused individuals.

More than 200 students of Pachaiyappas College staged a sit-in on the college premises demanding action against the accused. Holding placards, they raised slogans against the accused and sought stringent punishment.

Panel may hold inquiry

Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women Chairperson Kannagi Packianathan said that the commission is an individual body and it would conduct inquiry with the two sons of assembly deputy speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman if needed.

Pollachi sex abuse case goes to CBI

Agency To Probe Assault Case As Well

Julie.Mariappan & Subburaj.A TNN

Chennai/Coimbatore: 14.03.2019

The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday ordered transfer of the Pollachi sexual harassment case and a related assault case from the Crime Branch CID to the CBI. Governor Banwarilal Purohit has accorded consent to the transfer of case.

An order to this effect was issued by the home department based on the recommendation of DGP T K Rajendran. The case was initially registered by Pollachi East police station and it was subsequently taken over by the CBCID.

In a communication to the state government, the DGP said the two cases were transferred to the Crime Branch-CID on March

12. Since the investigation involves technical issues, including analysis of Facebook data, IP logs/addresses, internet usage logs, communication with Facebook service providers and other internet service providers in various countries and since the nature of the crime is extremely serious demanding some specialised attention, the central agency would be best placed to handle it.

The government has decided to accept the proposal of the DGP and transfer the case to CBI for further probe by issuing a notification under Section 6 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1946, said home secretary Niranjan Mardi in his order.

The case came out in the open after a girl student from a Pollachi college complained to the Pollachi East Police Station on February 24 that she was physically and sexually harassed and robbed of her gold chain worth Rs 20,000 by a group of men inside a car. A case was registered under Sections 354 A (Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354 B (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 392 (Punishment for robbery) of the IPC and Section 66-E of the Information Technology Act and Section 4 of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act against the accused, Sabarirajan, Thirunavukkarasu, Sathish and Vasanthakumar. They have been arrested and remanded in judicial custody.

On February 26, brother of the victim filed a complaint at the same police station that he was assaulted by Senthil, Babu, Mani and Vasanthakumar. While Senthil, Babu and Vasanthakumar were arrested the same day and remanded in judicial custody, another accused, Nagaraj, was arrested a day later.

Tasmac bar ransacked

A Tasmac bar owned by A Nagaraj, arrested for assaulting the brother of a Pollachi sex scandal victim, was ransacked by a mob at Suleeswaranpatti near Pollachi on Wednesday. A resident of Suleeswaranpatti said, “Nagaraj has escaped by getting conditional bail in the assault case. But, he was involved in the sex scandal. We have a video of Nagaraj sexually abusing a woman. Police is trying to help Nagaraj. He should be arrested immediately for sexual abuse.” TNN

UP IN ARMS: Goverment arts college students demand action in the Pollachi sex abuse case in Coimbatore on Wednesday

HC issues guidelines for transfer of state govt school teachers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

14.03.2019

The Madurai bench of the Madras high court has criticized the state school education department for irregular transfers of teachers on administrative grounds and issued a set of guidelines to be adopted by the department for transfer counselling.

The court made the statement after taking note of a submission by the school education department. Of the 1,181 transfers of government school teachers in 2018 on ‘administrative grounds’, several were on the basis of requests made by teachers indicating schools of their choice, the department had said.

Among the new set of guidelines, the court held that teachers who were not given transfer during the general transfer counselling should not be given transfers on administrative ground during the relevant academic year.

According to the detailed guidelines, the applicant must have worked for a minimum of one year in the present school to be eligible for general transfer. However, no such norms were framed for transfers on administrative ground.

The guidelines are in response to a petition which claimed irregularities in the transfer of teachers and sought a probe by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) into alleged irregularities in transfer and postings. After perusing the submissions made by the petitioner, K K Ramesh, and that of the state, a division bench of Justice K K Sasidharan and Justice P D Audikesavalu held that though records show irregular transfers made on administrative ground, there are no material before the court to prove the motive or to substantiate the ground taken by the petitioner that such transfers were made for “other reasons” and hence, a DVAC probe cannot be suggested.

“The annual transfers including the vacancies due to promotion/upgrading of schools must only be on the basis of general counselling,” the bench said. It then directed the department to issue the GO for general counselling sufficiently in advance.

The education secretary has been directed to ensure authenticity of the lists of vacancies and of transfers made pursuant to general counselling and to publish the same on the website without delay, the court said. “In order to fill subsequent vacancies, including those due to voluntary retirement, death, resignation, promotion and upgradation of schools, there should be at least two counselling sessions, preferably one in August and another in September, after the general counselling in June,” the court said. It also held that the clause allowing administrative transfer should not be invoked for transfers to fill vacancies as a result of promotions or upgrading of schools.

To fill subsequent vacancies... there should be at least two counselling sessions, preferably in August and in September, after the general counselling in June

Madurai bench

Fares set to fly high as aircraft grounded after Ethiopian crash

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.03.2019

Domestic airfares are set to go up as SpiceJet grounds its B737 Max 8 planes following a DGCA directive after the Ethiopian air crash. Around 14 flights have been cancelled as the aircraft model is being taken off service by Wednesday.

This means that between SpiceJet and Jet Airways, around 50 flights will not be operating. This will lead to capacity reduction on many routes resulting in hike in air fare in the coming weeks, feel airlines and travel agents. The increase in prices will hit families travelling during summer holidays.

SpiceJet in a statement said: “SpiceJet is rationalizing and optimizing the use of its Boeing 737 NG and Bombardier Q400 aircraft to address the current situation and minimize inconvenience to its passengers. We are evaluating options for augmenting capacity through additional flights and aircraft induction. We are sure our operations will be normal soon.”

Complying with the DGCA directive, SpiceJet has grounded its entire B737 Max fleet, while most of the B737 Max 8 aircraft of Jet Airways are grounded because the airline has to pay the lessors.

Sharat Dhall, COO (B2C) Yatra.com said, “At least 50 planes are out of action or grounded on the domestic front due to multiple reasons. That is a significant reduction in domestic airline capacity. The additional capacity coming in is not likely to cover this in the short term, while demand is going to be robust over the next few months because of the school holidays and surging leisure travel. The shortage of planes and high seat occupancies are expected to push airfares north in the short term.” Dhall said airfares were at least15% higher this year when compared to last year. A comparison of fare for March 14 in 2019 and the previous year, shows prices went up from Rs4,655 to Rs8,762 because of capacity reduction on the Chennai-Delhi route. On Mumbai-Chennai route the fare has increased from ₹5,671 to ₹20,329.

Aloke Bajpai, CEO and cofounder, ixigo, said: “Post the DGCA announcement, 34 international flights to Mumbai and 12 flights bound for Delhi were cancelled. Grounding of additional planes will further impact fares which were already high this season.” He said a majority of affected passengers have been accommodated by SpiceJet on alternate flights. “Additionally, the airline is also offering passengers the option of a refund, change of flight or date or destination (to nearest alternate airport), without any cancellation charges or fare difference.”