EATING JUNK FOOD MAY INCREASE RISK OF DEPRESSION, SAYS A NEW RESEARCH

Times of india 28.09.2018

Eating junk food increases the risk of becoming depressed, a study has found, prompting calls for doctors to routinely give dietary advice to patients as part of their treatment for depression. In contrast, those who follow a traditional Mediterranean diet are much less likely to develop depression because the fish, fruit, nuts and vegetables that diet involves help protect against depression, the research suggests. The findings have come from an analysis by researchers from Britain, Spain and Australia, who examined 41 previous studies on the links between diet and depression. “A pro-inflammatory diet can induce systemic inflammation, and this can directly increase the risk for depression. Bad diet heightens the risk of depression to a significant extent,” said Dr Camille Lassale, the study’s lead author.

The analysis found that foods containing a lot of fat or sugar, or processed foods, lead to inflammation of not just the gut but the whole body, known as systemic inflammation. In that respect, the impact of poor diet is like that of smoking, pollution, obesity and lack of exercise.

“Chronic inflammation can affect mental health by transporting proinflammatory molecules into the brain, it can also affect the molecules — neurotransmitters —responsible for mood regulation,” said Lassale.

The research showed that poor diet has a causal link with the onset of depression and not merely an association. They did not find that their results were explained by people who are depressed eating more poor quality food, or that they were depressed to start with, she stressed.

“Poor diet may increase the risk of depression as these are results from longitudinal studies which excluded people with depression at the beginning of the study. Therefore the studies looked at how diet at baseline is related to new cases of depression,” Lassale said.

Dr Cosmo Hallstrom, a depression expert, said that if junk food did raise the risk of depression then an unhealthy diet was not just bad for the body but also the mind. “The chemistry in the gut is very similar to the chemistry in the brain. So, it’s not surprising that things that influence the gut might influence the brain too,” he added.

Added researcher Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, “This study provides evidence that eating a healthy diet can improve our mood and give us more energy. Increasingly, more GPs are recommending that their patients try to make sensible diet and lifestyle changes as part of a holistic approach to the management of chronic diseases because we know it may have a range of a positive effects on our patients’ physical and mental health.”
Agencies

HC: Allot med seat to visually challenged boy

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Madurai:28.09.2018

Criticising officials at Government Medical College, Pudukottai, for citing pedantic reasons to avoid admitting a visually challenged student, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court has directed the Directorate of Medical Education (DME) to admit him in the college. If seats in the Pudukottai college are filled, authorities are to allot a seat in any other college within the state, the court said.

J Vibin of Tenkasi was allotted an MBBS seat at the college under differently-abled quota based on his All-India rank of 285. He attended medical counselling and got the allotment order on August 1.

When Vibin went to the college with the order, he was asked to produce a disability certificate. He submitted the one issued by the government which put his disability at 75 % but he was asked to produce a fresh certificate issued by Madras Medical College, which in turn issued a certificate stating that he had 90% visual disability. Authorities declared him unfit to join the course and subsequently Vibin’s father moved the court.

When the petition came up for final hearing, counsel for the teenager cited a recent decision of the apex court which ruled in favour of a student who secured 419th rank in the differently abled quota. The denial of admission citing 90% visual disability is contrary to provisions of the disabilities act, counsel said.

In response, government counsel said the teenager was not found fit by the disability assessment board. Justice V Parthiban said the authorities should have given a positive thrust in implementing the objectives of the disabilities act. The court stressed that his visual disability, even assuming it to be 90%, should not be held against him in granting admission.

The attitude of the authorities is a sad reflection of kafkaesque mindset, unmindful of the harm that may inflict on a person with disability, the judge said.

The court said his visual disability, even assuming it to be 90%, should not be held against him in granting admission

Govt to recruit temporary teachers in higher secondary schools through PTA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore:28.09.2018

To fill vacant teacher posts in government higher secondary schools on temporary basis (for six months), the government has issued orders to recruit teachers through parent-teacher associations (PTAs).

There are 1,474 vacant posts for graduate (PG) teacher across the state and the school education department has decided to fill the posts through PTAs until fresh recruitments are made by the Teacher Recruitment Board (TRB), said a circular issued by the department.

Even though the board has initiated steps to fill the vacant posts, the process is time consuming and for the benefits of Class XI and XII students, the posts should be filled immediately, the circular said.

Teacher posts for eleven main subjects including Tamil, English, biology and zoology should be filled.

The posts are to be filled for the period between September 2018 to February 2019 on contract basis and a teacher will get ₹7,500 per month, the circular added.

Most of the posts fell vacant only two months ago after transfer counseling to fill posts of headmasters in government high schools was conducted, said a government school teacher, explaining that more than 80% of the HM posts were filled with PG teachers.

Attributing the existing vacancies to poor planning of the department, government school teachers condemned the move to fill the posts with temporary teachers.

“After revamping the syllabus, the department has conducted a three-day training to make teachers understand the teaching methodology and techniques adopted in the revamped syllabus. But, such training would not be provided for teachers recruited through the PTAs,” a teacher said.

Explaining that most of the PTA teachers would be fresh out of college without sufficient teaching experience, another teacher said it was going to be extremely difficult for the new teachers to understand and teach as it was difficult even for some experienced teachers. “The teachers could provide some sort of assistance to the students but not train the students,” he said, adding the government could say, on paper, that they had filled all the posts but in reality, it would not be effective.

The posts are to be filled for a period between September 2018 and February 2019 and a teacher will get ₹7,500 per month, a govt circular said

Hidden hoard in lockers of RTO caught taking bribe
2.5Kg Gold, 10.5Kg Silver Recovered A Few Days Ago

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:28.09.2018

When sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) caught Babu, a regional transport officer (RTO) in Kallakurichi of Villupuram, allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 early this month, little did they realise that would unearth much more.

Investigation into the official’s assets by DVAC has found nearly 13kg of gold and 32kg of silver from the officers bank lockers, apart from several property documents.

DVAC sources say when Babu’s residence was searched in the second week of September, they seized ₹30 lakh, around 1kg of gold and 11kg of silver. They also seized keys to six lockers.

These keys opened lockers held by Babu in several banks like SBI, HDFC, Andhra Bank and Catholic Union Bank (CUB), the sources said. In some cases, he had multiple lockers with the same bank, a source added.

When sleuths went checking recently, they found gold in the lockers.

In one locker, there was 10kg of silver. A few days ago, 2.5kg of gold and 10.25kg of silver were recovered from one of the lockers, the source said.

Apart from this, the lockers also had certificates of authenticity for diamond jewels, DVAC sources said.

In all, more than 60 property documents and 40 other policy documents have been recovered from the bank lockers, officers of the investigating agency said.

“This indicates that basically this RTO officer working in one corner of the state was a multi-millionaire,” said a source privy to the investigations. The recovery has completely taken the sleuths by surprise.

Incidentally, Babu was arrested after a complaint lodged by a man named B Muthukumar, who alleged that the official had demanded a bribe of ₹25,000 for issuing a fitness certificate, on September 10.

Along with Babu, middleman Senthil Kumar has reportedly been arrested by the DVAC which is keeping a close watch on transport department officials as they have come across modus operandi of several scams and methods by which black money is converted into gold, silver or invested in property.

The agency busted a scam in Madurai involving training schools recently.

AS PER HC ORDER

Dental course counselling for self-financing colleges today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:28.09.2018

Additional director of medical education has announced that as per the direction of the Madras high court, candidates who have not yet applied to bachelor of dental surgery (BDS) 2018-19

session can come with necessary documents at the selection committee office of the Directorate of Medical Education, Kilpauk on September 28 at 11am.

Eligibility will be undergraduate National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test 2018 score not less than 119 for general category and not less than 96 for SC/ST/OBC.

VIT CONVOCATION 29.9.2018

HC dismisses plea against transfer order

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, SEPTEMBER 27, 2018 00:00 IST

‘There is no mala fide intention’

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed the plea of a government servant and vacated the interim stay granted against her transfer after it found there was no mala fide intention behind the transfer.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan observed that there was no mala fide intention behind the transfer of the petitioner and it was made on the request of the petitioner herself.

The court was hearing the case of S. Umarani, who had filed the petition after she was transferred to Tiruchi from Karur on administrative grounds.

The Selection Grade Executive Officer in 2017 claimed that she was being transferred to various places without reason.

She said she was transferred from Karur to Tiruchi after only one year and added that the transfer was in violation of the government’s transfer policy and arbitrary in nature.

The State, in its response, said the transfer was purely on administrative grounds and as transfer was an integral part of the service, she could not refuse to accept it.

The court dismissed the plea while observing that as there was no hidden agenda behind the transfer, the order need not be interfered upon.