Are you a football fan? Your health is at risk during the World Cup

Paris: TIMES OF INDIA 11.06.2018

For football fans, the World Cup should be a time of fun with family and friends. But beware, experts say, it can also sicken or even kill you.

Research has pointed to a long list of hazards ranging from heart attacks and strokes, to unsafe sex, accidents, suicides, and a spike in domestic abuse. “It is not just a game,” warned a 2010 study in the American Journal of Medicine which said major sporting events “can acutely increase cardiovascular event and death rates.”

Most at risk are patients with known coronary artery disease, it said, or those who find themselves in particularly stressful circumstances: “a passionate fan, a high-stakes game, a high-intensity game, a loss, and a loss played at home.” Many a football fan may have shouted at the TV that they “nearly had a heart attack” when their team missed a shot at goal or let an opposing player through to score. But this is not something to joke about.

Research has repeatedly shown that psychological triggers such as stress, anxiety, and anger — emotions any sports fan can relate to — can bring on a heart attack.

“We know that this is an exciting time but don’t forget about your heart health,” advises Julie Ward, a senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation. Measures to reduce risk include using bloodthinning aspirin, meditation, and avoiding activities such as smoking, eating artery-clogging, fatty foods, or binging on alcohol or drugs. Though not within the control of fans, winning or losing makes a difference too, according to one study in New Zealand.

It found a 50% increase in hospital admissions for heart failure, particularly among women, after a semi-final loss in the 2003 rugby World Cup. By contrast, hospitalisations were lower after the country’s 2011semi-final win. It is not only our hearts we should watch. One study noted an explosion during the 2014 World Cup in cases of “retinal vein occlusion” — a blockage of small veins in the eye that is also known as an ‘eye stroke’. A common cause of vision loss, it is more common in people with cardiovascular disease.

Researchers compared the number of cases treated at a German university eye clinic during and four weeks after the 2014 World Cup with the same period in 2013. It found a definite increase, and said “it can be assumed that the emotional strain caused by a WorldCup is a risk factor.”

Why does the beautiful game stir up such dangerous passions? Psychologists have suggested that sporting events can give people a sense of group belonging and shared identity. There is also the sense of hope they provide, even for fans of teams that never win... Maybe this time! With such a deep emotional investment and high expectations, failure can lead to crushing disappointment. And it can drive some to more than just tears.

Several studies have found suicides rocketing after a World Cup defeat. A study last year found “a significant increase” in hospital admissions of young women in Tehran who drank poison during the four weeks of the 2014 World Cup. Iran was eliminated in the knockout stages.

A further threat to fans, experts warn, is risky behaviour driven by drinking too much alcohol, leading to road accidents, unsafe sex, and violence. A 2013 study, looking at trends during the 2002, 2006, and 2010 World Cups, found the risk of domestic abuse in England rose by 26% when the national team won or drew, and 38% when it lost. AFP

Baseless charge against spouse is cruelty, says HC

Vasantha.Kumar@timesgroup.com 11.06.2018

Bengaluru: Making unsubstantiated allegations against spouse could be counterproductive as a woman from Belagavi found out during divorce proceedings.

Responding to her techie husband’s petition seeking divorce, the woman made allegations about his conduct and character without evidence. The court, which heard an appeal from the Pune-based software engineer, granted him divorce after noting that the wife had failed to prove her allegations.

“The wife has made allegations without bothering to prove them,” a division bench comprising Justice Vineet Kothari and Justice HB Prabhakara Sastry observed. “Specific and categorical allegations — once made by a spouse in a petition for divorce — are required to be established by that person. Otherwise, making serious accusations and allegations itself amounts to mental cruelty.”

The court directed the man to pay ₹10 lakh as permanent alimony to his wife. The family court’s order for paying ₹7,500 a month as maintenance to their son was not altered by the high court.

The woman had alleged that her husband was quarrelsome owing to which he was transferred from Bengaluru to Pune. She further contended that her husband used to beat her and threw her out of their home. The woman also alleged that the techie, who consumed alcohol every day, was once beaten up for quarrelling with a passerby.

She claimed that her husband had an illicit relationship and used to spend a lot of money on that woman.

Court asks insurance firm to pay ₹22L to accident victim’s kin

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 11.06.2018

Madurai: Three years after an engineer, who was set to leave abroad for work, died after being hit by a minitruck near Madurai, the Motor Accidents Claims Tribunal, Sivaganga, has directed the insurance firm to pay his family ₹22 lakh. K Ilamaraja of Iluppakudi in Sivaganga district was on Madurai-Sivaganga main road when the mini-truck hit his bike, on May 31, 2015. Ilamraja died at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai.

In a petition seeking compensation, his family said Ilamaraja completed electrical and electronics engineering and got a job in Muscat. His visa formalities were on when he died.

The insurance firm, in its counter petition, said the truck driver did not possess valid driving licence and that the owner allowed him to drive the vehicle despite this. Hence it was not liable to indemnify the vehicle owner and compensate the petitioners.

However, documentary evidence proved that the driver had a valid driving licence and that the vehicle was insured with the company at the time of the accident. Sivaganga chief judicial magistrate J Radhika, after hearing both sides and perusing the documents, directed the insurer to pay ₹22.85 lakh to the victim’s family at an interest of 7.5 %.

Mofussil engineering colleges in TN turn up trumps this time
Make It To Anna Univ’s Top 50 List

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 11.06.2018

A handful of engineering colleges from mofussil areas managed to get into Anna University’s top 50 in terms of academic performance in the 2017 November/December semester exams.

These colleges, affiliated to Anna University, with a mediocre performance in the previous years have managed to scale up by at least 70 to100 positions.

Some of them include Nadar Saraswathi College of Engineering in Theni, Agni College of Technology in Kancheepuram, and Arunai Engineering College in Tiruvannamalai.

Authorities from these colleges say that they had invested more on infrastructure, human resources andindustrialtie-ups of late and are increasingly being rewarded with better rank and placements, irrespective of their location.

However, overall performance of affiliated colleges (nonautonomous) continues to be poor. Of the total 497 colleges, only 115 managed to record a pass percentage of 50% or above. This indicated that more than half the engineering studentsfrom thesecolleges across Tamil Nadu flunked in their recent semester exams. The situation was no different last year and the trend is indeed getting worse with time.

Experts have attributed this to poor quality of teachers, who are not paid as per government norms, poor lab facilities and lackof supportfrom the government to train these academically weak students.

Commenting on this, a senior official from Anna University said, “Thoughwewishtoinclude various parameterswhile assessing performances, we consider only the pass percentage while ranking them based on a Supreme Court guideline.”

Institutes like PSG Institute of Technology, SSN and VSB have managed to remain in the top 50. 

Bugs in train ticketing system identified

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 11.06.2018

A fortnight ago, when Tiruvallur resident K Baskar tried to book an unreserved ticket from Tiruvallur to Madurai via Arakkonam and Chengalpet, he was told by the booking clerk that the ticket would be available only through Chennai Central or Egmore.

Another route was through the Katpadi, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram, which was a longer route. This translates into passengers having to pay a fare little higher. Moreover, the system could also not provide tickets from Tiruvallur to certain locations in Andhra Pradesh, despite trains bound for those regions stopping at the station. This meant that travellers would have to go to Chennai Central or Egmore to book the tickets due to a defect in the Railways booking system. Not only is this an issue for the passengers, it is one for the officials as the crowd at terminal stations gets bigger.

After this was highlighted, the Southern Railway’s commercial department has started a process to add such combinations of railway stations into their system. For instance, on May 30, the department took cognisance of Baskar’s suggestions and added the Tiruvallur to Madurai via Arakkonam and Chengalpet combination and the stations between Vijaywada and Vishakapatnam for the Allepey-Dhanbad express train in their system software.

However, Baskar, who is a member of the Chennai Divisional Rail Users Consultative Committee (DRUCC), says that there are many such combinations of stations for which tickets are currently unavailable in the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS).

For example, the unreserved ticket from Salem town to Gummidipoondi is available only through Vridhachalam, Villupuram, Chengalpet, Tambaram and Chennai Egmore. However, the shortest route is through Salem junction, Jolarpet, Arakkonam and Chennai Central. The latter combination is not available in the Railway’s software.

A complete list of such unavailable combinations collected by Baskar and other railway passengers has been given to Southern Railway. “The Chief Booking Supervisor (CBS) at Tiruvallur has been instructed to issue system Blank Paper Ticket (BPT) for destinations which don’t have UTS database route,” a senior official said.

MBBS, BDS applications go on sale

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 11.06.2018

Sale of applications for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses offered by government and self-financing medical colleges in the state will begin on Monday.

Candidates can either download the application from tnmedicalselection.org or tnhealth.org or buy them at counters at all government medical colleges. Sale of applications will end at 5pm on June 18. The filled-in applications should be submitted on or before June 19, a release from the Directorate of Medical Examinations (DME) said.

Applicants for government medical college seats should take a demand draft of ₹500 and those seeking to join private colleges ₹1,000 in the name of The Secretary, Selection Committee, DME, Kilpauk. It is free of cost for candidates belonging to SC/ST communities.

It’s money, not reservation that dilutes merit in med admission

Rema.Nagarajan@timesgroup.com 11.06.2018

It is not caste-based reservation but money that compromises merit in medical admissions. This is obvious from the difference of about 140 marks or close to 20 percentage points between the average NEET scores of admissions to over 39,000 government-controlled seats and those to the over 17,000 management and NRI quota seats in private colleges where fees determine admission.

TOI analysed details of nearly 57,000 students admitted to 409 colleges last year. The average NEET score of students in government-controlled seats was 448 out of 720, while the quotas under private control averaged just 306. Incidentally, the average score of students admitted under the SC quota in government colleges was 398 and the overall average for SC students in all colleges was 367 — both much higher than the overall average for privately controlled seats.

The conclusion that it is high fees that are driving this dilution of merit in private college admissions comes from looking at how fees and NEET scores are correlated (see graphic). The higher the range of fees, the lower the average NEET scores.

As a result, the NRI quota, which typically has the highest fees, has the lowest NEET scores, a mere 221 on average. The correlation between fees and NEET scores can be seen even in government colleges, some of which have started charging fees beyond the means of even middle-class families.

The average score of students in government colleges where the annual fee is less than ₹50,000, was 487, whereas for those with fees of a lakh or more, it was 372.5.