Court upholds MCI order to dismiss medical students

The Kerala High Court, on Thursday, upheld a directive of the Medical Council of India (MCI) to five self-financing medical college managements to dismiss management-quota students who could not score the minimum 50 per cent marks required for admission in the entrance test conducted during 2007-08.

A Division Bench, comprising Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice P. Bhavadasan, upheld the order while dismissing a batch of writ petitions filed by 79 students challenging it. The managements had conducted a common entrance test. The court found that the admissions were in clear violation of the mandatory norm in the MCI (Graduate Medical Education) Regulations, 1997.

Microsoft unveils IE9 web browser

Microsoft's latest web browser, Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft unveiled the "beta" test version of Internet Explorer 9 on Wednesday, a web browser that taps into the powerful processors in newer computers to make websites load and run faster.

IE9 also arrives with a more minimalist look and a few new tricks that start to blur the distinction between a website and a traditional desktop application.
Following the lead of Google's stripped-down Chrome browser, Microsoft's IE9 comes with far fewer buttons, icons and toolbars cluttering up the top of the screen. Its frame is translucent, and as people browse the web, IE9 can be subtly adorned with small icons and signature colors of the websites being viewed.
The new browser also takes cues from Windows 7, Microsoft's most recent operating system for personal computers. In Windows 7, people can "pin" favourite programs to the task bar at the bottom of the screen, creating a one-click shortcut. They can also customize a menu of options for each program, such as opening a frequently used file in Microsoft Word.
IE9 lets people pin individual websites to the taskbar, and some sites have already customized their so-called "jumplist" menus. For example, when people pin USA Today's site, the icon in the taskbar can display a menu that mirrors the colour-coded sections of the newspaper.
The aesthetic changes bring IE9 in line with Microsoft's newer software, but the company says the changes under the hood push its technology a step ahead of its competition. The browser can take advantage of multi-core microprocessors to crunch website code faster. It also uses the PC's graphics processing unit — the same chips that make the images in elaborate video games run smoothly — to make images, animations, movie clips and other visuals appear or play faster.
The new browser works on PCs with Windows 7 or Vista but not on older Windows XP computers or on Macs. At a media event in San Francisco Wednesday, Microsoft showed off several big-name websites that have been designed to take advantage of the new browser, including ones on Amazon.com, Facebook and Twitter. The sites are built with code that older browsers can understand, but most of them will be sluggish without IE9.

Bitter truth about honey

Indian companies sell honey contaminated with antibiotics within the country whereas export cleaner product, a new study has found. Chronic exposure to antibiotics can cause antibiotic resistance and lead to blood related disorders, World Health Organisation has said, leading to its ban in food products in Europe and the US. 

The Centre for Science and Environment, an NGO, has found different types of antibiotics, commonly used to check bacterial infection, in 12 brands of honey sold through counter including a brand each from Australia and Switzerland, where antibiotics in honey is banned. In all, these brands account for over 95 per cent of honey market in India.

Oxytetracycline was found in 50 per cent of samples in the range of 27 to 250 microgram per kilogram (ug/kg) as against the standard of 10 ug/kg, the standard fixed by the government's Export Inspection Council (EIC). 

Another antibiotic Chlorampheniocol, banned by the European Union, was found in 25 per cent samples higher than EIC standard of 0.3 ug/kg.

"Our study shows that honey manufacturers and the government do not care for our people's health," said Sunita Narain, CSE director at a press conference on Tuesday.

It became clear from the finding that honey exported is checked for antibiotics as they are banned in all western countries. The EIC tests between 2005 and March 2010 found antibiotics in five to 24 percent samples, much lower than what the CSE found.

In July, 2010 the European Union banned honey from India after it was found to contain antibiotics and heavy metals.

"No such tests have ever been conducted on honey sold in domestic market," said Chandra Bhushan, CSE's Associate. And, it was not possible as India is yet to notify standards for presence of antibiotics or any other contaminants in honey meant for domestic sale. The existing standards are only for natural quality of honey (for example sucrose content) and labelling.