New Delhi: Amid historically highest exports, the Centre on Wednesday said it has notified capping of sugar exports at 10 million tonnes in the current marketing year ending September to maintain the domestic availability and price stability. The notification was issued by the Directorate of General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) late at night on May 24.As per the DGFT notification, sugar exports will be allowed with effect from June 1 till October 31 this year or till further order, whichever is earlier, with specific permission of the Directorate of Sugar under the Food Ministry. In the ongoing marketing year (October-September), contracts for export of about 9 million tonnes have been signed, about 8.2 million tonnes of sugar have been dispatched from sugar mills for export and approximately 7.8 million tonnes have been exported. According to the Food Ministry, the decision came in the light of record exports of the sugar. Sugar exports in the 2021-22 marketing year are "historically highest". Exports in 2020-21 stood at 7 million tonnes and 5.96 million tonnes in 2019-20."Taking into consideration unprecedented growth in exports of sugar and the need to maintain sufficient stock of sugar in the country as well as to safeguard interests of the common citizens of the country by keeping prices of sugar under check, Government of India has decided to regulate sugar exports w.e.f. June 1, 2022," it said. Sugar mills and exporters need to take approvals in the form of Export Release Orders (EROs) from the Directorate of Sugar, Department of Food and Public Distribution, the ministry said in a statement. The decision will ensure that the closing stock of sugar at the end of September 2022 remains at 6-6.5 million tonnes, which is 2-3 month stocks required for domestic use.Crushing in the new marketing year starts in the last week of October in Karnataka. For Maharashtra, it begins in the last week of October-November and in November in Uttar Pradesh. So generally, up to November, supply of sugar takes place from previous year stock, it added. For sugar export from June 1 to October 31, Export Release Orders will be issued to exporters on receiving application through a transparent method and these orders would be placed on a website of the Department of Food and Public Distribution, according to a letter written to exporters by the Food Ministry. The ministry said sugar exports up to May 31 will be allowed.Further in the case of exports through bulk or break-bulk vessels, if the shipping bill is filed and vessels have already berthed or arrived and anchored in Indian ports and their rotation number has been allocated as of May 31, such vessels will continue to proceed for the loading and export of sugar without any approval or release order. Exporters can apply for EROs through the National Single Window System portal and no request for a change of ERO will be entertained. The validity of EROs issued will be up to the date of Let Export Order (LEO) under the contract agreement or 90 days, whichever is earlier, as per the statement. Non-implementation of ERO or non-export of sugar under ERO within LEO date will be viewed seriously and such exporters may be penalised under the Essential Commodities (EC) Act 1955 or the Sugar Control order 1966, it added. "Any breach of the above conditions for export by an exporter, would invite blacklisting of the exporter and would disqualify them from further participation in OGL export besides inviting action under the EC Act and Sugar Control Order," the ministry said.In a separate letter, the ministry has asked mills to submit online the details of the dispatch of sugar for export on a daily basis. In case of non-submission of these details, the applications for EROs may not be considered. Sugar mills have to apply for approval for dispatch of sugar for export/deemed exports, it said.The ministry mentioned that the government has been continuously monitoring the situation in the sugar sector, including production, consumption, export and price trends in wholesale and retail markets all over the country. India has been the highest producer and the second-largest exporter of sugar in the world in the current year. "As a result of regular efforts of the Government of India, despite record production of sugar, 99.5 per cent of cane dues for last sugar season 2020-21 have been paid and about 85 per cent of cane dues of current sugar season 2021-22 have also been released to farmers," the statement noted. The government is committed to maintain stable prices of sugar in the domestic market, and in the last 12 months, prices of sugar are under control, it said. Wholesale prices of sugar in India are range-bound between Rs 3,150 - Rs 3,500 per quintal, while retail prices are also within control in the range of Rs 36-44 in different parts of the country, it added.—PTI

Amid historically highest exports, the Centre on Wednesday said it has notified capping of sugar exports at 10 million tonnes in the current marketing year ending September to maintain the domestic availability and price stability.

Govt notifies capping of sugar exports at 10 mn tonnes for this year

Portland: Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a new analytical method that answers a long-standing question about type 2 diabetes: why do some obese patients develop the condition while others do not. The research has been published in the journal, “Journal of Experimental Medicine” Type 2 diabetes is a serious metabolic disease that affects roughly one in 10 Americans. Formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, it is a chronic condition affecting the way the body metabolizes glucose, a sugar that’s a key source of energy. This type of diabetes is frequently associated with obesity. For some patients, that means their body does not properly respond to insulin – it resists the effects of insulin, the hormone produced by the pancreas that opens the door for sugar to enter cells. In the later disease stages, when the pancreas is exhausted, patients don’t produce enough insulin to maintain normal glucose levels.In either case, sugar builds up in the bloodstream and, if left untreated, the effect impairs many major organs, sometimes to disabling or life-threatening degrees. A key risk factor for type 2 diabetes is being overweight, often a result of eating too much fat and sugar in combination with low physical activity. Andrey Morgun and Natalia Shulzhenko of OSU and Giorgio Trinchieri of the National Cancer Institute developed a novel analytical technique, multi-organ network analysis, to explore the mechanisms behind early-stage systemic insulin resistance. The scientists sought to learn which organs, biological pathways and genes are playing roles. In the human body, white adipose tissue is the main type of fat. “Our experiments and analysis predict that a high-fat/high-sugar diet primarily acts in white adipose tissue by driving microbiota-related damage to the energy synthesis process, leading to systemic insulin resistance,” said Morgun, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the OSU College of Pharmacy. “Treatments that modify a patient’s microbiota in ways that target insulin resistance in adipose tissue macrophage cells could be a new therapeutic strategy for type 2 diabetes.” The human gut microbiome features more than 10 trillion microbial cells from about 1,000 different bacterial species.Morgun and Shulzhenko, an associate professor in OSU’s Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine, in earlier research developed a computational method, transkingdom network analysis, that predicts specific types of bacteria controlling the expression of mammalian genes connected to specific medical conditions such as diabetes. “Type 2 diabetes is a global pandemic, and the number of diagnoses is expected to keep increasing over the next 10 years,” Shulzhenko said. “The so-called ‘western diet’ – high in saturated fats and refined sugars – is one of the primary factors. But gut bacteria have an important role to play in mediating the effects of diet.” In the new study, the scientists relied on both transkingdom network analysis and multi-organ network analysis. They also conducted experiments in mice, looking at the intestine, liver, muscle and white adipose tissue, and examined the molecular signature – which genes were being expressed – of white adipose tissue macrophages in obese human patients. “Diabetes induced by the western diet is characterized by microbiota-dependent mitochondrial damage,” Morgun said. “Adipose tissue has a predominant role in systemic insulin resistance, and we characterized the gene expression program and the key master regulator of adipose tissue macrophage that is associated with insulin resistance.We discovered that the Oscillibacter microbe, enriched by a western diet, causes an increase of the insulin-resistant adipose tissue macrophage.” The researchers add, however, that Oscillibacter is likely not the only microbial regulator for the expression of the key gene they identified – Mmp12 – and that the Mmp12 pathway, while clearly instrumental, is probably not the only important pathway, depending on which gut microbes are present. “We previously showed that Romboutsia ilealis worsens glucose tolerance by inhibiting insulin levels, which may be relevant to more advanced stages of type 2 diabetes,” Shulzhenko said.Zhipeng Li, Manoj Gurung, Jacob W. Pederson, Renee Greer, Stephany Vasquez-Perez and Hyekyoung You of the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine and Richard Rodrigues, Jyothi Padiadpu, Nolan Newman, and Kaito Hioki from College of Pharmacy also participated in this research, as did scientists from the National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Monash University in Australia.—ANI

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a new analytical method that answers a long-standing question about type 2 diabetes: why do some obese patients develop the condition while others do not.

Researchers reveal why not all obese people develop type 2 diabetes

Bhubaneswar: In a major drug haul, the Special Task Force of Odisha Police seized 2.58 kg of brown sugar worth Rs 2.5 crore and arrested three peddlers here, an officer said on Monday.Based on specific information, STF personnel raided a place near AIIMS, Bhubaneswar on Sunday and seized the brown sugar from the possession of three drug peddlers. All the three peddlers belonged to Khurda district, police said.A case under of NDPS Act 1985 has been registered in this connection.The special unit of the Crime Branch under Odisha Police has so far seized more than 54 kg brown sugar, heroin, 202 gm cocaine, more than 103 quintals of ganja, 750 gm opium and arrested more than 150 drug peddlers/dealers in raids since 2020, an official statement said.—PTI

In a major drug haul, the Special Task Force of Odisha Police seized 2.58 kg of brown sugar worth Rs 2.5 crore and arrested three peddlers here, an officer said on Monday.

Odisha STF seizes brown sugar worth Rs 2.5 crore, 3 held

In a major drug haul, the Special Task Force of Odisha Police seized 2.58 kg of brown sugar worth Rs 2.5 crore and arrested three peddlers here, an officer said on Monday.



Amaravati: <span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">Two workers were killed and nine injured in an explosion in a sugar factory near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh on Friday.&nbsp;
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">The incident occurred at Parry Sugar Refinery in Vakalapudi industrial area on the outskirts of Kakinada.
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">The blast took place apparently due to a short circuit when the workers were trying to give power connection to the conveyor belt while loading sugar bags.&nbsp;
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">According to an official, the fire broke out due to a short circuit.
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">“The prima facie indicates that an explosion occurred due to a short circuit at the conveyor belt in the factory which is used for loading the sugar bags. The injured were immediately taken to the hospital. The fire department, Electrical department, and police officials are inspecting the area he said. The case is registered,” said Kakinada SP Ravindranath Babu.
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">One person died on the spot while another succumbed at the hospital. The deceased were identified as R.V. Venkata Satyanarayana (36) and V. Rajeshwar Rao (45), both residents of Kakinada district.
<span style="color: rgb(44,47,52);background-color: rgb(255,255,255);font-size: 20px;font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", "Open Sans", Arial, sans-serif;">The condition of one of the injured B.V. Venkata Ramana (29) was critical. He was undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospital in Kakinada. Other injured were admitted to different hospitals in the city.&nbsp;
—IANS

Two workers were killed and nine injured in an explosion in a sugar factory near Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. 

 Two killed in blast at Andhra factory

Mumbai (The Hawk): Over-production of sugar is a problem for the economy; we spend Rs. 15 lakh crores / year for import of petroleum products, hence we need to diversify the agriculture sector towards energy and power sectors, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari while addressing the felicitation programme of National Cogeneration Awards 2022 in Mumbai today, August 27, 2022.
The Minister exhorted the industry of the crucial need to focus on alternative fuels with the help of futuristic technologies. “While 65% - 70% of our population depends on agriculture, our agricultural growth rate is 12%-13% only; the sugarcane industry and farmers are a growth engine for our industry. And the next move should be cogeneration to increase revenue from sugar. The industry should produce less sugar and produce more byproducts, embracing the vision for futuristic technologies and using the power of leadership to convert knowledge into wealth.” This will enable the farmers to become not only food growers, but energy producers as well, he said.
The Minister said that while our requirement was 280 lakh tonnes of sugar this year, the production was more than 360 lakh tonnes; this could be utilised due to the situation in Brazil. However, we need to divert production towards ethanol as the ethanol requirement is very high, the Minister pointed out. “Last year's capacity was 400 crore litres of ethanol; we have taken a lot of initiatives to increase ethanol production. Now is the time for the industry to plan demand for ethanol, using technologies such as power generators run by bioethanol.”
The Minister told the industry that the Government has decided to launch flex engines in India. “Bajaj, Hero and TVS are already making flex engines, many car manufacturers too have promised to launch their models on flex engines.”
The Minister informed how a crucial problem on the calorific value of ethanol has been addressed in discussion with researchers from Russia. “Calorific value of ethanol was less, 1 litre of petrol equalled 1.3 litre of ethanol, but using Russian technology, we have found a way to make the calorific value of ethanol the same as that of petrol.” The Minister informed that even auto-rickshaws can be run on bioethanol; in the construction equipment industry too, alternative fuels can be used, similarly, Germany has proven technology to run trains on bio-ethanol. A highly purified version of ethanol can also be used in the aviation industry; the aeronautical sector is doing research on how this can be done, he added. “Bio-CNG is way cheaper than CNG and can be made from rice straw and even from organic municipal waste, making it economically attractive.”
The Minister reminded the industry that there is scope of using harvesting technologies for cutting of sugarcane. “Harvesting machines can use ethanol as a fuel, making the circular economy possible.”
The Minister said that the sugar industry faces many problems and that we need rationalisation of power purchase rates; some states are not giving rates as per Central government policy, this is one reason why the sugarcane industry is not economically viable, the Minister said, asking the industry to raise the matter at appropriate forums.

Over-production of sugar is a problem for the economy; we spend Rs. 15 lakh crores / year for import of petroleum products, hence we need to diversify the agriculture sector towards energy and power sectors, said Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari while addressing the felicitation programme of National Cogeneration Awards 2022 in Mumbai today, August 27, 2022.

Reduce Production Of Sugar And Diversify Agriculture Towards Energy And Power Sectors: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari 

Lucknow: The high production cost of sugar in Uttar Pradesh may adversely impact its export from the state, creating a glut-like-situation in the upcoming cane crushing season.
As against a projected sugar production of over 100 MT in the upcoming crushing season (2022-23), the state's own consumption is likely to remain at 40 MT, leaving a vast chunk of sugar to remain stored in the mills if the state fails to push its stock in the national market, sources said.
The sugar mills are expected to start operation from next month.
The sugar production cost is primarily governed by the State Advisory Price (SAP), which is the highest in Uttar Pradesh.
The Yogi Adityanath government raised the SAP from Rs 315 to Rs 340 per quintal in September last year, ahead of the Assembly elections.
Official sources said that this raised the cost of sugar production from around Rs 31 to Rs 35 per kilogram.
The sugar industry has now demanded diversion of cane for the manufacture of ethanol.
A senior office-bearer in the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said that the situation was relatively suitable last year when exports were comfortable.
This year the industry remains apprehensive even as the Centre is yet to announce its export policy.
The UP Sugar Mills Association (UPSMA) has already submitted its representation to cane minister Laxmi Narain Chaudhary and cane commissioner Sanjay Bhoosreddy, demanding their intervention in earnest.
Industry sources said that the timely announcement of sugar export policy resulted in export of 10 million tonnes of sugar from India.
"We are waiting for it. It is a decision which the Centre must take," said an official in the cane development department.&nbsp;
—IANS

The high production cost of sugar in Uttar Pradesh may adversely impact its export from the state, creating a glut-like-situation in the upcoming cane crushing season.

 Sugar glut feared in UP as consumption comes down

Panaji: Hundreds of Sugarcane farmers in Goa are struggling to sell their yield for better price to traders from outside the state as the only Sugar factory of this coastal state has stopped operations for the last three years.
Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (Sugar Factory) was set up in 1972 by the first Chief Minister of Goa Dayanand Bandodkar at Dharbandora in South Goa. It had an excellent track record at the initial stage with many farmers engaged to take production of this crop. The sugar factory, however, went into losses in the last one decade or more and three years ago its operations were stopped stating it was not viable to operate. It was told then that after operations are stopped a new plant will be installed, which would also give by-product. However this has not come into reality yet.
According to reports, in 2017-18 around 789.48 ha land was under cultivation, with the engagement of 955 farmers producing 47,503.723 tonnes of sugarcane. In the subsequent year 798.64 ha land was under cultivation with the engagement of 865 farmers, who then produced 33,212.773 tonnes of sugarcane.
In 2020 the government announced to shut the operation of the sugar factory and production dropped to 26,282.61 tonnes, which was cultivated on 664.17 ha with engagement of 784 farmers.
Subsequent to it, Sugarcane farmers lost interest and in 2020-21 the production dropped to mere 31,202.188 ha and the number of farmers came down to 535. Only 431.57 ha of land was cultivated last year.
Many sugarcane farmers speaking to IANS have confirmed that this year too that the production will drop as the farmers have lost interest and many of them have started to grow vegetables in their fields.
The president of Goa Us Utpadan Sanghatana (Sugarcane Producers association) Rajendra Desai told IANS that due to the closure of sugar factory they are not getting a good rate for their crop.
"We are not getting a good rate. They (traders/contractors) ask for a cheaper rate. Traders have come to know the situation we are going through," Desai said.
"We want the sugar factory to start again as many families are dependent on production of sugarcane and we don't have any other option," he said.
He said that after the operations at the sugar factory were shut, the government took responsibility to deal their sugarcane with traders, but for only one year.
"Government helped us for only one year to deal with traders or sugar factories from neighboring states to purchase our sugarcane. Now in the last two years we are struggling to sell the produce," he said.
According to him Sugarcane cultivation is done in Sanguem, Quepem, Canacona, Dharbandora, Sattari, Bicholim and Pernem Talukas.
Sanguem, in South Goa, has maximum area under cultivation, which gives major production. Some farmers from Sanguem told that last year contractors lifted their produce assuring to give Rs 600 per tonne, however they are still not paid.
"We do hard work to cultivate sugarcane in our fields. But last year we felt cheated as contractors took advantage of our situation. Had the sugar factory not stopped the production, we would have not faced such hardship to get a good rate," farmer on condition of anonymity said.
In a bid to bring the loss-making factory in profit, late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in 2017 had advocated need to take by-product out of sugarcane
While telling the basic principle of the Sugar factory that if it (sugar) is established as a by-product the factory will run best, Parrikar had said that there is need to generate ethanol, alcohol, biomass, biogas from sugarcane waste.
He had asked the officials, then, to prepare a financial roadmap and to prepare points how this factory will come in profit.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari during the Assembly election campaign in 2017 had stressed the need to generate fuel from farm products. He had said that the alternate fuel can be generated from rice straw, wheat straw, cotton straw and used sugarcane waste. This had given hope to sugarcane farmers that the factory will grow and they will get good opportunities to sell their produce.
"We have to generate ethanol, alcohol, biomass, and biogas from sugarcane waste. For this I have asked for a detailed report. I want to address financial and production problems and have to ponder on which requirement we can convert positivity by ensuring generation of all products. Only after getting the detail report I will take decision.'' Parrikar had said.
Sugar Factory in Goa used to produce around 1300 bags of 50 kg sugar annually by procuring around 70,000 tonne sugarcane from the neighboring states and from local farmers which used to produce around 50,000 tonne.
According to sources, in 1990-91 around 1.5 metric tonne sugarcane was harvested in the state. But in recent years the production has dropped.
Narendra Sawaikar, chairman of Sugarcane Farmers Facilitation Committee and former MP, speaking to IANS said that Request for Quotation (RFQ) has been invited to set up an ethanol production plant at Dharbandora. "After this whole procedure gets complete, we will come to know the exact picture," he said.&nbsp;
—IANS

Hundreds of Sugarcane farmers in Goa are struggling to sell their yield for better price to traders from outside the state as the only Sugar factory of this coastal state has stopped operations for the last three years.

 Sugarcane production plummets in Goa, farmers struggle for decent returns

New Delhi: The Centre has extended the ban on sugar exports by a year till October 31, 2023 to ensure a check on the domestic prices and its availability in the country. The move is being seen as a step towards curbing rising food inflation. In May this year, the government had banned sugar exports with effect from June 1 till October 31, 2022 after the prices had surged exponentially. "Restriction on export of sugar (raw, refined, and white sugar) is extended beyond October 31, 2022 till October 31, 2023, or until further orders, whichever is earlier. Other conditions will remain unchanged," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification dated October 28. However, the restrictions won't apply on sugar being exported to the EU and the US under CXL and TRQ duty concession quotas, the notification said. A specified amount of sugar is exported to these regions under CXL and TRQ (tariff rate quota).&nbsp;
—IANS

The Centre has extended the ban on sugar exports by a year till October 31, 2023 to ensure a check on the domestic prices and its availability in the country.

Sugar export ban extended till Oct 31, 2023

Columbia: The study has discovered that short-term lifestyle changes can impair blood vessel sensitivity to insulin and also demonstrated how these alterations affect men and women differently.
The study was published in the journal, "Endocrinology."
Vascular insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance is a feature of obesity and type 2 diabetes that contributes to vascular disease. Researchers examined vascular insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance in 36 young and healthy men and women by exposing them to 10 days of reduced physical activity, cutting their step count from 10,000 to 5,000 steps per day. The participants also increased their sugary beverage intake to six cans of soda per day.
"We know that incidence of insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease is lower in premenopausal women compared to men, but we wanted to see how men and women reacted to reduced physical activity and increased sugar in their diet over a short period of time," said Camila Manrique-Acevedo, MD, associate professor of medicine.
The results showed that only in men did the sedentary lifestyle and high sugar intake cause decreased insulin-stimulated leg blood flow and a drop in a protein called adropin, which regulates insulin sensitivity and is an important biomarker for cardiovascular disease.
"These findings underscore a sex-related difference in the development of vascular insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance induced by adopting a lifestyle high in sugar and low on exercise," said Manrique-Acevedo. "To our knowledge, this is the first evidence in humans that vascular insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance can be provoked by short-term adverse lifestyle changes, and it's the first documentation of sex-related differences in the development of vascular insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance in association with changes in adropin levels."
Manrique-Acevedo said she would next like to examine how long it takes to reverse these vascular and metabolic changes and more fully assess the impact of the role of sex in the development of vascular insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance.
The entire MU research team consisted of Jaume Padilla, PhD, associate professor of nutrition and exercise physiology and co-corresponding author of this work; Luis Martinez-Lemus, DVM, PhD, professor of medical pharmacology and physiology, and R. Scott Rector, PhD, associate professor of nutrition. It also included postdoctoral fellows Rogerio Soares, PhD; and graduate students James A. Smith and Thomas Jurrissen.
Their study, "Young women are protected against vascular insulin-resistance"&amp;gt;insulin-resistance"&gt;insulin resistance induced by adoption of an obesogenic lifestyle." Part of the support for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health and a VA Merit Grant. The content does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agency. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest. —ANI

The study has discovered that short-term lifestyle changes can impair blood vessel sensitivity to insulin and also demonstrated how these alterations affect men and women differently.

Study: How Men, Women React To Reduced Physical Activity, Increased Sugar In Their Diet

Shahjahanpur: A 12-year-old girl was found dead with marks on her neck in a sugarcane field in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur, according to an official.
The deceased was identified as Pushpa alias Rajni, who according to the police, was mowing a field with her grandmother before being found dead in the sugarcane field.
S Anand, Superintendent of Police, Shahjahanpur, said on Thursday that the deceased's grandmother along with the villagers recovered her body after conducting a search in the village when the girl did not return to the field after keeping the mowed grass at her house.
The police suspected that the girl was strangled to death.
"Information was received about the recovery of a body of a 12-year-old girl who was identified as Pushpa alias Rajni in a sugarcane field. Information was also received that she was mowing the field which was nearly 300 metres distant from her house along with her grandmother. She did not return to the field after keeping the mowed grass at her house," Anand said.
The official said that the hands of the deceased were tied and her clothes were intact during the time of the recovery of her body.
"After waiting, her grandmother started her search. Her body was recovered when the search was conducted with the help of the villagers in the field. She has a mark on her neck as if she was strangled to death. Her hands were tied from behind. Her clothes were intact. A team of forensics has taken action on the spot," he said. The SP informed that the deceased's body has been sent for post-mortem and teams have been constituted to probe the incident. Further probe into the matter is underway. —ANI

A 12-year-old girl was found dead with marks on her neck in a sugarcane field in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur, according to an official.

12-Year-Old Girl Found Dead In Sugarcane Field In Shahjahanpur, Probe Underway

Thiruvananthapuram (The Hawk): Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in this city and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Indore have investigated and created a new artificial light-harvesting system that can effectively capture light for power conversion by imitating photosynthesis, the process by which plants absorb sunlight and produce sugar.
The findings of this investigation have been presented in the esteemed Royal Chemical Society journal, Chemical Science.
Dr. Sukhendu Mandal, an associate professor in the department of chemistry, along with his research assistants and Prof. Biswarup Pathak, a professor in the department at IIT Indore, are co-authors of the work.
With regard to the atomically exact molecule they created, Mandal described it as an assembly of 16 silver atoms, a ligand, and cyclodextrin that serves as a donor and I-carotene as an acceptor. This is the first application in which we have used an atom-precise nanocluster.
According to Mandal, "the opposing charges on the surfaces and the matched electrical energy distribution result in a 93% efficiency in energy transmission with a strong antenna effect from the UV to visible portion of the light spectrum."
Additionally, the researchers demonstrated that this energy may generate current with far higher yields than the sum of its parts.
This discovery coincides with the fact that researchers are working hard to construct systems that can mimic the photosynthesis process in order to create fake leaves or solar cells.
Chromophores are molecules that collect visible light and transmit it to other parts of plants and other photosynthetic microorganisms, where the energy is used for a variety of chemical reactions. They are the light-harvesting cores in these organisms.
The light-harvesting mechanism's molecular and atomic structure has been replicated in the lab a number of times. To imitate photosynthesis, polymeric structures, detergent-like compounds, vesicles, gels, and other bio-inspired structures have been employed.
The most frequent issue that these molecules run into is that the light is quenched as a result of the molecules aggregating or gathering together. Poor light capture and conversion efficiencies result from this.
The quenching issues with artificial light absorbers and transmitters have been solved by experts from IISER TVM and IIT Indore.
According to the research team's current thinking, this fundamental study of extremely effective energy transfer systems will serve as the foundation for the development of novel light-harvesting materials that can increase solar cells' efficiency and decrease energy loss.
This is crucial, according to Mandal, as India wants to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2070 and fulfil 50% of its electricity needs from renewable sources by 2030.
Although there is still much work to be done before these kinds of materials are widely used in solar energy production, the researchers believe that their research moves the goal of efficiency enhancement one step closer to reality.
(Inputs from Agencies)

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in this city and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Indore have investigated and created a new artificial light-harvesting system that can effectively capture light for power conversion by imitating photosynthesis, the process by which plants absorb sunlight and produce sugar.

Developed artificial photosynthetic devices for solar energy capture

Panaji: Sugarcane farmers in Goa are in distress over no 'buyers' for their sugarcane, who are dependent on neighbouring states for purchase as the only Sugar factory of this coastal state has stopped operations for the last three years.
The president of Goa Us Utpadan Sanghatana (Sugarcane Producers Association) Rajendra Desai told IANS that though the season of harvesting has started, there are no 'buyers' from neighbouring states.
"There are almost 850 members with our association. Many have stopped growing sugarcane after sugar factory stopped operations. But those who have grown the crop are suffering as nobody is coming to buy it," Desai said.
According to him, there are agents who approach to purchase the sugarcane yield, but after harvesting they fail to pay the promised rate. "They give oral assurances and once the sugarcane is harvested they don't keep their word. We are suffering. My own sugarcane is yet to be harvested as there is no taker," he said.
'Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana' (Goa's only sugar factory) was set up in 1972 by the first Chief Minister of Goa Dayanand Bandodkar at Dharbandora in south Goa. It had an excellent track record at the initial stage with many farmers engaged to take production of this crop.
The sugar factory, however, went into losses in the last one decade or more and three years ago its operations were stopped stating it was not viable to operate. It was told then that after operations are stopped a new plant will be installed, which would also give by-product. However this has not come into reality yet.
According to reports, in 2017-18 around 789.48 ha land was under cultivation, with the engagement of 955 farmers producing 47,503.723 tonnes of sugarcane. In the subsequent year 798.64 ha land was under cultivation with the engagement of 865 farmers, who then produced 33,212.773 tonnes of sugarcane.
In 2020 the government announced to shut the operation of the sugar factory and production dropped to 26,282.61 tonnes, which was cultivated on 664.17 ha with engagement of 784 farmers.
Subsequently, Sugarcane farmers lost interest and in 2020-21 the production dropped to mere 31,202.188 ha and the number of farmers came down to 535. Only 431.57 ha of land was cultivated last year.
Desai said that this year also, the production will drop as the farmers have lost interest as the factory is not starting operations. "We have demanded that the sugar factory should be started immediately, otherwise we will suffer," he said. According to him, there are many families that are only dependent on sugarcane production.
He added that due to the stopped operation of the sugar factory, they are not getting a good rate for their produce. "They (agents/traders) ask for a cheaper rate. Traders have come to know the situation we are going through," Desai said.
He said that after the operations at the sugar factory were shut, the government took the responsibility to deal their sugarcane with traders, but for only one year.
"Government helped us for only one year to deal with traders or sugar factories from neighbouring states to purchase our sugarcane. Now in the last two years we are struggling to sell the produce," he said.
According to him Sugarcane cultivation is done in Sanguem, Quepem, Canacona, Dharbandora, Sattari, Bicholim and Pernem Talukas.
In a bid to bring the loss-making factory in profit, late Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar in 2017 had advocated need to take by-product out of sugarcane
While telling the basic principle of the Sugar factory that if it (sugar) is established as a by-product, the factory will run best, Parrikar had said that there is need to generate ethanol, alcohol, biomass, biogas from sugarcane waste.
He had asked the officials, then, to prepare a financial roadmap and to come up with points how this factory will come in profit.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari during the Assembly election campaign in 2017 had stressed the need to generate fuel from farm products. He had said that the alternate fuel can be generated from rice straw, wheat straw, cotton straw and used sugarcane waste. This had given hope to sugarcane farmers that the factory will grow and they will get good opportunities to sell their produce.
"We have to generate ethanol, alcohol, biomass, and biogas from sugarcane waste. For this I have asked for a detailed report. I want to address financial and production problems and have to ponder on which requirement we can convert positivity by ensuring generation of all products. Only after getting the detail report I will make decision," Parrikar had said.
Sugar Factory in Goa used to produce around 1,300 bags of 50 kg sugar annually by procuring around 70,000 tonne sugarcane from the neighbouring states and from local farmers which used to produce around 50,000 tonne.
According to sources, in 1990-91 around 1.5 metric tonne sugarcane was harvested in the state. But in recent years, the production has dropped.
Sources informed that recently 'Request for Quotation' (RFQ) was invited to set up an ethanol production plant at Dharbandora and the process is on.
Meanwhile, Sugarcane farmers met Goa Forward Party MLA Vijai Sardesai over the issue seeking his help to raise the issue.
"Promised the All Goa Sugarcane Farmers Association that I'll voice their issues in the assembly session. The Goa government not only failed to fulfill the promises made but also turned its back on the massive real estate scam that's in full swing on Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana land," Sardesaid said. —IANS

Sugarcane farmers in Goa are in distress over no 'buyers' for their sugarcane, who are dependent on neighbouring states for purchase as the only Sugar factory of this coastal state has stopped operations for the last three years.

Goa's Sugarcane Farmers In Distress As They Find No Buyers

Lucknow: The modernisation of sugar mills in the last six years has transformed them into “integrated sugar complexes,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday.
Addressing an event on the occasion of 120 years of the sugar industry in the state, he said sugar in the state today is being produced on the same premises where there is an oxygen plant and an ethanol plant.
“UP’s sugar mills which are the largest producer of sugarcane and sugar in the country, are now being recognised as a source of ‘green energy’ with adoption of the policies of the Prime Minister and production of ethanol in large quantities,” he said. The first sugar mill in the state was established in Deoria.
The chief minister said that the way in the last few decades sugar mills were closing down farmers were desperate and were forced to migrate, till 2017, when the trend was reversed.
“In the last six years, a sum of Rs 1 lakh 97 thousand crore was paid to the sugarcane farmers through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer),” Adityanath said.
Today there are 100 sugar mills in the state, which are paying the farmers within 10 days of purchase, he said, calling it a big change, and urging the rest of the mills to make similar efforts.
“There is no problem of sugarcane slips, complaints of shortage have ended. The number of sugarcane farmers has increased from 45 lakh to 60 lakh. The production of sugarcane has increased and so has the area,” he said.
UP is the largest producer of sugarcane in the country followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Adityanath said that when all industries were shut across the country during the COVID pandemic, the sugar mills of Uttar Pradesh were functioning, contributing to record production of sanitisers in 23 states, and facilitating the setting up of oxygen plants.
At another event in the city, Adityanath urged the farmers to emphasise on the cultivation of horticulture crops to increase their income.
Addressing farmers after visiting the 54th Regional Fruit, Vegetable and Flower Exhibition held at Raj Bhavan here, he said, “Nature has given our farmers ample water resources and fertile land. Our state with 11 per cent of the agricultural land of the country meets the foodgrain needs of 20 per cent of India’s population. Horticulture crops contribute 25 per cent to our food providers’ agricultural GDP.
North India’s biggest fruit and flower exhibition is held for three days in the Raj Bhavan. “Such exhibitions provide a new platform for progressive farmers,” he said.
A coffee table book based on the 120-year journey of the sugar industry was released by the chief minister.
Meenakshi Saraogi who was given Padma Shri posthumously was among many from the industry who were honoured on the occasion.&nbsp;&nbsp;
—PTI&nbsp;

 The modernisation of sugar mills in the last six years has transformed them into “integrated sugar complexes,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Friday.

UP Sugar Industry Transformed Into 'Sugar Complexes' In Last 6 Years: Yogi

Roorkee (The Hawk): Prof Pradip K Maji and his team at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee), Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, have developed structural colour-based sensors by making structural colour from an unexpected natural resource–agro-waste sugarcane bagasse. It is a structural colour-based stimulus-responsive sensor from Nano-cellulose having implications in intelligent packaging. The colour of the laminated films comes from a ‘chiral nematic liquid crystal,' a specific molecular self-assembly that interacts selectively with specific colours of visible light. Prof Maji also emphasized that these sensing chips developed with an agro-waste-derived product show a dramatic change of reflection colour toward particular stimuli.
&nbsp;Today, colour trends in fashion and design include sparkling hues like holographic, pearlescent, and iridescent effects. Also, there is a cost to the environment. This development is a solution to the problem by using renewable resources like sugarcane bagasse. One of the important structural components obtained from sugarcane bagasse is cellulose. Precisely, cellulose nanocrystal competes as the most relevant raw material to imitate natural structural-based colouration. Also, the nanocellulose suspension is non-toxic and produced from readily available natural material, and is highly suitable for upscaling. The bagasse must first be ground into tiny microscopic fragments called cellulose nanocrystals to make this structural colour film. This process is divided into stages of bleaching raw fibre and acid hydrolysis of cellulose pulp under standardized conditions. The final CNC suspension is then concentrated to make it behave as a liquid crystal material showing amazing birefringence (splitting of light) properties. Ms. Chhavi Verma, the lead author of the work, added that, as a team, they were marching ahead to their set goals of sustainability to make the structural colouration approach feasible and commercially available, thus reducing the use of chemically based dyes and pigments.
This is the first demonstration of a photonic film having potential as a candidate material having implications in bio-optical engineering and intelligent packaging. The composite films displayed good visual colour-sensing properties with moderate antibacterial activity for Escherichia coli bacteria. The research work has been published recently in ACS Applied Nano Materials (https://doi.org/10.1021/acsanm.2c05177).
Prof. K K Pant, Director, IIT Roorkee acknowledged the idea and said, "As pressure mounts for environmentally friendly products and services, the demand for eco-friendly packaging alternatives has skyrocketed. This approach to developing an environmentally friendly bio-inspired product can potentially act as a substitute to synthetic sensors." Prof Pradip K Maji, Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, IIT Roorkee, highlighted, "The prepared sensors generate different colours in response to chemical stimuli and are very thin films, meaning minimal material is used. These films were further interlocked between layers of biopolymers to form a laminated structure having robust mechanical stability for intelligent packaging applications."&nbsp;

Prof Pradip K Maji and his team at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee), Department of Polymer and Process Engineering, have developed structural colour-based sensors by making structural colour from an unexpected natural resource–agro-waste sugarcane bagasse. 

IIT Roorkee Develops Structural Color Based Sensors From Agro-Waste Sugarcane Bagasse To Have Implications For Intelligent Pack

Amsterdam: Reducing the amount of sugar added to sodas and the size of the packages offered in supermarkets may help us all consume less sugar overall, so lowering the hazards to our health.
Consumers will benefit, but how will manufacturers be impacted? Marketing diet or sugar-free sodas does not result in a rise in the overall turnover of soda producers, according to US research.
This is due to the fact that consumers frequently move between sweet and sugar-free varieties of the same brand. Reducing the size of the soda package does, however, improve the brand's overall sales results. On the basis of data from the US, Jonne Guyt (UvA) and Kristopher Keller (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) conducted a recent study in marketing.
Excess sugar consumption is a problem all over the world. It can lead to a number of health issues, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, resulting in an increased burden on the healthcare system. "Companies like PepsiCo have reduced the sugar content of their products over the years, in addition to marketing their best-known brands in smaller packages ever more frequently. Although this has not reduced the average sugar content, the consumer's sugar intake per product has gone down in absolute terms," Guyt explained.
Soda manufacturers are having to strike a balance between reducing their products' sugar content on the one hand and maintaining or growing their turnover on the other. This can be difficult to achieve if consumers reject less sugary alternatives. Using data from the US, Guyt and Keller investigated whether the sugar content reduction strategies of soda manufacturers had an effect on sales - and if so, under which circumstances.
Cannibalisation
'While reducing the sugar content of sodas leads to lower sugar consumption, replacing a sugary drink with a new diet or sugar-free version tends not to make a difference to the producer's bottom line', Guyt said, "This is because of brand cannibalisation: the increased sales of the new diet version and the reduced sales of the sugary version of the same drink cancel each other out. Clearly, this is good news for consumers from a health standpoint, but less appealing when it comes to the brands' overall results. They benefit more from selling sugary drinks. However, we found that marketing the new drinks in smaller packages - like what the Americans call 'mini cans' of 7.5 and 8 fl oz (around 240 ml) - does lead to an increase in the brands' overall sales figures. This can be explained by the fact that these packages are as popular among consumers as the larger packages of competing brands that they used to buy. Overall, it is a win-win situation for consumers and producers alike."
'Fun' instead of 'healthy'
Among the other findings was the significant role played by a brand's product strategy. The researchers discovered that sodas with less sugar sold better when they were marketed with an enjoyment claim, such as 'sweetened with sugar', and worse when marketed with a health claim, such as 'no sugar'.
These products also sold better when marketed under the parent brand compared to a subordinate brand. Keller: 'Sugar content reduction efforts are noticeably more effective when not too much attention is drawn to them. Coca-Cola's Zero Sugar product range is a good example of this. In 2021, the range was redesigned to make it look more like "regular" Coca-Cola, as opposed to the Coca-Cola Zero of before.' Smaller packages also work better when marketed as a fun, high-quality alternative instead of a healthier one. Sales figures increase even further when smaller packages are sold as single products rather than as part of a multi-pack.
Not as mini as it sounds
Guyt and Keller analysed sales figures for almost 130,000 newly launched sodas produced by around 80 brands and sold in US supermarkets over a period of 11 years. They enriched the data with information about the sugar content of the various sodas. In addition, they looked at the brands' product strategies: labelling (enjoyment or health claim), branding (parent or subsidiary brand) and packaging format (single product or multi-pack). —ANI

Reducing the amount of sugar added to sodas and the size of the packages offered in supermarkets may help us all consume less sugar overall, so lowering the hazards to our health.

How Reducing Sugar Content Of Sodas Leads To Lower Sugar Consumption: Researchers 

Deoria: Criticising the previous governments for selling sugar mills at throwaway prices in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that his government wants to give jobs to thousands of youths by developing sugar complex.
While laying the foundation stone of 223 development projects worth Rs 480 crore in Deoria, the Chief Minister spoke about his connection with the district.
He said, "The common people and workers used to visit me without any hesitation even when I was a member of parliament. For the public issues in Deoria, Kushinagar, and Maharajganj, I did not hesitate to come here either."
"These are all of our people, whose issues need to be resolved. When the previous governments ignored issues, the public and I organized agitations to press for solutions", he added.
The Chief Minister lauded the able leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said, "India has become a model for the world. UP is developing a model of good governance. Six years ago, you knew about the circumstance at UP."
"Under the leadership of PM Modi, the development schemes have reached every youth, poor, farmer and woman. Deoria also benefitted from these welfare schemes," he added.
CM Yogi said, "The state has received an investment of Rs 35 lakh crore. Within two-three years, one crore youth will be given jobs. Skill mapping is being done to make the youth technically competent and we are also opening ITI, polytechnic, and nursing colleges." He further also stated that malaria used to be a problem in the state, but not it has been eliminated.
"Malaria used to be a problem in this region. After malaria was eliminated, encephalitis wreaked havoc. In Deoria, Kushinagar, and Maharajganj, encephalitis has been completely eradicated, we have also controlled the Covid-19 pandemic", he said.
Hitting out at the previous governments, CM Yogi said, "They used to divide in the name of caste. Today the double-engine government gives every person the right to live." Listing the achievements of his government, CM said, "Till now we have given houses to 54 lakh families, toilets to 2.61 crores poor, free electricity connections to 1.55 crore, Ujjwala connections to 1.75 crores poor and ration to 15 crore people of UP and 80 crore people of the country continuously for three years."
Taking a dig at the situation in Pakistan, Yogi said, "On the one hand, no one will go to bed without food in India, which has a population of 140 crores, while on the other, in Pakistan, which has a population of 22-23 crores, people are struggling for two proper meals."
CM also talked about the benefits of the flyover of Deoria and said that it'll be built to solve the traffic problem.
"The flyover of Deoria will also be built to solve the traffic problem. An application has been given in the Supreme Court to hand over the Baitalpur Sugar Mill to us which is an identity of this area."
"Now that the distillery, coal, ethanol, mill, and sugar complexes are being built, thousands of young people will have training facilities and employment", Yogi added.
The CM went on to say that not even a single sugar mill was shut down during Covid. Agriculture and Technology University is going to be built in the name of Mahatma Buddha in Kushinagar. Money has also been arranged in the budget. Money cannot be a hindrance in any work.
He also appealed to the people to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming municipal elections. "No one will have to wander in the tehsil for caste, income, or residential certificates as the online facility is being made available in the municipal body itself. By constructing a village secretariat in the gram panchayats, we want to offer this facility," said CM Yogi. "We also provided health ATMs at remote health centres where as many as 60 tests can be done," he added.
"The government thinks about development, and that's why it is happening. While some people used to exploit the youth, farmers in the name of caste", Yogi remarked. During this, the CM also performed 'Annaprashan' of children, and tricycles were also provided to the 'divyangs'. Along with this, cheques, keys and sewing machines were also given to the beneficiaries of various schemes including PM Swanidhi Yojana, PM Awas Yojana (Urban/Rural), and Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana (Rural).
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the Primary Health Center in Bahor Dhanoti village of Bhaluani development block in Barhaj (Deoria). The ribbon-cutting was done by schoolgirls. The CM inspected the health centre and took the information. During this, he also worshipped Lord Hanuman and planted saplings.&nbsp;&nbsp;
—ANI

 Criticising the previous governments for selling sugar mills at throwaway prices in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 

UP CM Lays Foundation Stone Of 223 Development Projects Worth Rs 480 Crores In Deoria

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh has surpassed Maharashtra in sugar production in the current season even as 118 sugar mills operated in UP during the period compared to 210 mills that were operational in the western state. UP's Cane Development and Sugar Mills' minister Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary told PTI, "UP is ahead of Maharashtra as far as production of sugar is concerned along with a number of other factors." Elaborating further, Chaudhary said, "The total sugar produced by Uttar Pradesh in sugar season 2022-2023 is 107.29 lakh tonnes (which includes 3.05 lakh tonnes of Khandsari (physically extracted sugar from liquid jaggery), as compared to 105.30 lakh tonnes by Maharashtra. The area under cane cultivation in Uttar Pradesh is 28.53 lakh hectare (maximum in India) as compared to 14.87 lakh hectare in Maharashtra." The sugarcane crushing season runs from October to June. "The sugarcane production in UP has been 2,348 lakh tonnes, while in Maharashtra it was 1,413 lakh tonnes," Chaudhary said. He added that total cane crushed by sugar mills in UP in the 2022-2023 season was 1,084.57 lakh tonnes, whereas it was 1,053 lakh tonnes in Maharashtra. The UP minister also informed that 19.84 lakh tonnes of sugar was diverted to ethanol in Uttar Pradesh, while in Maharashtra, it was 15.70 lakh tonnes. Pointing towards the number of installed sugar mills in both the states, the UP minister said that as compared to 246 installed sugar mills in Maharashtra, there are 157 installed sugar mills in UP. As many as 210 sugar mills operated in Maharashtra as compared to 118 in Uttar Pradesh, he said. He added that in the 2022-23 season, a payment of Rs 28,494.32 crore has been made to the farmers, and there are about 80 sugar mills, which have made 100 per cent payment within a week of closure. "Under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath jee, in the last six years, the sugarmills have made a payment of Rs 2,11,700 crore (to the farmers). In the tenure of the previous governments, 12 sugar mills were sold, while 18 sugar mills were shut down. After coming to power, we have opened new mills and increased the capacity of some mills," Chaudhary said. Sharpening his attack on the previous governments, Chaudhary said, "The payment made to cane farmers during the Bahujan Samaj Party regime (from 2007 to 2012) was Rs 93,000 crore, while in the Samajwadi Party government (from 2012 to 2017), it was about Rs 95,215 crore." The cane development minister said that the UP farmers' earnings from all other crops is almost equal to the amount they get in their bank account by selling just sugarcane. He also said that instructions have been issued to the sugar mills to remain operational till June 15. Meanwhile, when contacted, Maharashtra's Cooperation Minister Atul Moreshwar Save told PTI, "The production of sugarcane this year was less, so less amount of sugarcane reached the sugar mills as compared to last year, and hence there is the difference. However, next year, the capacity (of the sugar mills) will increase." —PTI

Uttar Pradesh has surpassed Maharashtra in sugar production in the current season even as 118 sugar mills operated in UP

UP Surpasses Maharashtra In Sugar Production This Season

Washington: According to a study, adults who are overweight or obese and have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes are at a higher risk of developing severe health issues. Experts disagree on the best dietary regimens and supportive measures to suggest, though. The study was published in the journal 'The Annals of Family Medicine'. In these findings, researchers used a 2 x 2 diet-by-support factorial design to randomise 94 adults with the aforementioned conditions, contrasting a very low-carbohydrate (VLC) or ketogenic diet with a Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. They also determined the outcomes of interventions that included and excluded additional support practices like mindful eating, effective emotion regulation, social support, and cooking instruction. Using intent-to-treat analyses, the VLC diet led to greater improvement in estimated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP; -9.8 mmHg vs. -5.2 mmHg, P =.046), greater improvement in glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c; -.4 per cent vs. -.1 per cent, P = 0.034), and greater improvement in weight (-19.14 lbs vs. -10.33 lbs, P = 0.0003), compared to the DASH diet. The addition of extra support did not have a statistically significant effect on outcomes.  For adults with hypertension, prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, and who are overweight or obese, a VLC diet demonstrated greater improvements in systolic blood pressure, glycemic control, and weight over a four-month period compared to a DASH diet. What We Know: Nearly half (47 per cent) of adults in the United States have hypertension and about half have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. Approximately 42 per cent of adults in the United States are also obese. These conditions can trigger stroke, end-stage renal disease, myocardial infarction and premature death. While first-line treatment for these individuals should be a diet and lifestyle intervention, experts disagree about which diet should be recommended. What This Study Adds: For adults who are overweight or obese, have hypertension, as well as prediabetes or type 2 diabetes, a very low carbohydrate diet demonstrated greater improvements in systolic blood pressure, glycemic control, and weight over a four-month period compared to a DASH diet. (ANI)

According to a study, adults who are overweight or obese and have type 2 diabetes or prediabetes

Study suggests diet that can improve blood pressure, sugar levels and weight control

New Delhi: Stem cells from the human stomach can be converted into cells that secrete insulin in response to rising blood sugar levels, offering a promising approach to treating diabetes, a significant pre-clinical study has said.  Researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City in the US showed they could take stem cells obtained from human stomach tissue and reprogramme them directly -- with strikingly high efficiency -- into cells that closely resemble pancreatic insulin-secreting cells known as beta cells.  Transplants of small groups of these cells reversed disease signs in a mouse model of diabetes, said the study which appeared in the journal Nature Cell Biology.  "This is a proof-of-concept study that gives us a solid foundation for developing a treatment, based on patients' own cells, for type 1 diabetes and severe type 2 diabetes," said study senior author Dr Joe Zhou, a professor of regenerative medicine and a member of the Hartman Institute for Therapeutic Organ Regeneration at Weill Cornell Medicine.  Dr Zhou has been working toward this goal for more than 15 years.  In a 2016 study, again in mice, he and his team showed that certain stem cells in the stomach, called gastric stem cells, are also highly sensitive to this activation method.  "The stomach makes its own hormone-secreting cells, and stomach cells and pancreatic cells are adjacent in the embryonic stage of development, so in that sense it isn't completely surprising that gastric stem cells can be so readily transformed into beta-like insulin-secreting cells," Dr Zhou elaborated.  After turning human gastric stem cells into beta-like cells, the team grew the cells in small clusters called organoids and found that these organ-like pieces of tissue quickly became sensitive to glucose, responding with secretions of insulin.  Dr Zhou said that he and his lab still need to optimise their method in various ways before it can be considered for clinical use.  Ultimately, the researchers hope to develop a technique enabling the relatively easy harvesting of gastric stem cells from patients, followed by the transplant, weeks later, of insulin-secreting organoids that regulate blood sugar levels without the need for further medication. —IANS

Stem cells from the human stomach can be converted into cells that secrete insulin in response to rising blood sugar levels

Human stomach cells may 'secrete insulin' to control blood sugar

Washington: Researchers at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre and associates have discovered that a form of glucose, a type of sugar, is intricately linked to a pathway used to construct DNA molecules as part of their investigation into the complexities of biochemical pathways involved in cancer development. When this pathway is hyperactive, it can result in cancer and chemoradiotherapy resistance. The findings of the study were published in Nature Chemical Biology. "For a good while, my lab has been exploring cell signaling and DNA transcription mechanisms by which cellular metabolism changes in response to environmental and genetic cues, with the goal of designing strategies to treat cancer and other diseases," says Huadong Pei, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Oncology at Georgetown Lombardi and a corresponding author of the publication. "Knowing that cancer cells usually grow quickly and require more glucose than normal cells to reprogram their metabolism has been key to jumpstarting this latest research effort in the hope that we can gain a better understanding of how we can fight cancer at the cellular, or even subcellular level." Pei's current research effort started when he and his colleagues looked at how nutrients that cells gobble up to stay alive end up triggering modifications to proteins as a result of adding a sugar called O-linked b-N-acetylglucosamine (O-GlcNAc) to the protein. This dynamic and reversible modification is emerging as a key regulator of a number of different cellular processes. In a series of experiments in both the lab and in mice, the researchers were able to determine that there is an important enzyme involved in nucleotide synthesis, called phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate synthetase 1 (PRPS1), that is modified by O-G1cNAc. Targeting either the sugar or the enzyme could be key to affecting cancer outcomes, the researchers believe. "Ultimately, we would like to be able to design drugs that target DNA nucleotide synthesis, which includes the modifications we've identified of adding a sugar to a protein and the catalyzing step acted on by the PRPS1 enzyme," said Pei. "In particular, we'd like to develop drugs that can be used to make lung cancer more sensitive, or responsive, to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as resistance to these therapies is still far too common. But there is still a long way to go, and many more experiments will be needed before we can even consider drug design." —ANI

 Researchers at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Centre and associates have discovered that a form of glucose

The Hawk

Tag : Sugar

Govt notifies capping of sugar exports at 10 mn tonnes for this year

Pushkar Raj Kapoor

Tag : Sugar

Govt notifies capping of sugar exports at 10 mn tonnes for this year

Pushkar Raj Kapoor

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