Huge consignment of drugs intercepted

IMPHAL, Sep 23 : A huge quantity of drugs hidden inside a cement-laden truck was seized by a combined team of Special Intelligence Unit (SIU) and Narcotic Cell of Imphal West District Police and troops of 43 Assam Rifles.
Altogether 13 sacks containing Spasmo Proxyvon capsules and C-U-Kuf, a brand of anti-cold/cough tablets hidden amongst cement bags in a 12-wheeler truck (AS-01DD/6622) were being brought to Imphal from Guwahati.
But the truck was intercepted at Kanglatongbi at about 9.30 am. Each uncoated C-U-Kuf tablet contains 60 mg of Pseudoephedrine Hydrochloride and 2.5 mg of Triproclidine Hydrochloride.
After taking the truck was taken inside the complex of Imphal West District Police Reserved Line, the cement bags were unloaded. The sacks containing the drugs were discovered when very few of the cement bags were left to be unloaded.
On opening the first sack, C-U-Kuf tablets were found neatly packed in cartons. SP capsules were also found in opening the other sacks.
The exact number of the drugs has not been counted till the time of filing this report and as such, it was difficult to calculate the monetary value of the seized drugs. Nevertheless, it is speculated that the monetary value would be in terms of lakhs of rupees and it would multiply manifold if the value is calculated at black market rates, said a source.
Incidentally, there were instances when drugs having Pseudoephedrine contents were seized on the way of smuggling to Myanmar. On the other hand, SP capsules have become serious menace in Manipur due to extensive abuse by a section of youngsters.
Truck driver Md Farooque Khan of Khabeishoi has been apprehended by police. It is reported that the truck is owned by one Md Taib Ali of Kabo Leikai.
Whereas the cement consignment was being shipped in for one Southern Iron Link based at New Bazar, Churachandpur, the drugs were dispatched in the name of one Bipin of Khurai.
While the cement bags were loaded at Barnihat, Meghalaya, the drugs were loaded at Guwahati, said the source quoting the driver.
It is reported that a thorough investigation would be carried out
 http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/tseitm-19446-huge-consignment-of-drugs-intercepted/

AR intercepts IED, drugs recovered

IMPHAL, Sep 23: Troops of 18 Sikh of 9 Sector AR intercepted an IED from Sangaiprou area today.
According to a PRO IGAR (S) release, foot patrol of the Unit, while carrying out search of the area found a suspected item wrapped with nails.
The area was cordoned off by the troops and bomb disposal squad of the Imphal West police informed. Later they neutralized the IED and disposed it off.
The IED was 10x4 inch in dimension which was used with plastic explosive and outer casing was covered with nail. The extra alertness and vigilance exercised by the troops avoided a major incident, added the release.
In yet another incident, discovering transportation of banned drugs, troops of 24 Assam Rifles of 26 Sector launched operation at Lokchao area and apprehended two drug peddlers on September 22. The apprehendees have been identified as Peter of Pallel and Momopa of Tengnoupal. The seized drugs included 1,16,150 pieces of Sucet tablet and 1,00,740 pieces of Skuf tablet. The arrested persons and recovery have been handed over to Narcotics control Bureau, Imphal.
http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/tseitm-19447-ar-intercepts-ied-drugs-recovered/ 

Mizohican Chp 163. Sex, drugs and North-east girls. Prologue: The Village far far away.

Mizohican

Chp 163. Sex, drugs and North-east girls.

Prologue: The Village far far away.

Tetei came from a village, far far away,

Where the spring river flows
       and the nightingale sings.
Where the autumn brook glisters
       like the face of an immaculate.
Where innocence still exists,
       there amidst the hills so green.

She left that village, filled with dreams,

Dreams that she always dreamt of
       back in her village so bare.
Dreams of neon lights and skyscrapers,
       and of opportunity in abundance.
Dreams filled with dreams and dreams,
       of changing her life and her destiny.

Oh how that dream shattered, with all the abuses,

Abused for being a woman,
       as if it is a sin to be one.
Abused for being from the North-east,
       as if she is a cheap whore from Sodom.
Abused by the media for being both,
       as if they haven’t done enough harm already.

Tetei cried every night, and finally made her way,
Back to her barren village, far far away.

------------------------------

Sometimes emotions just gush out when you can contain it no longer. Nobody can stop the colossal tide of pure, raw, unrestrained emotions vehemently pounding their way towards an infinitesimal orifice. For no matter how small the voices of the North-east people are, it is loud enough to echo through all the halls of Valhalla, awakening the ghastly monster which has been constrained deep within our souls.

Nobody can stop hatred. It has always been around, and will always be for the rest of our lives. We have learnt how to turn a blind eye to all the daily racial abuses, and a deaf ear to all the perpetual discriminations we face every passing moment. We have learnt how to cope with the insecurity we feel everyday because of our “differences” from the moment we wake up till the time we sleep. We have learnt how to suppress our emotions at times of gross injustice and humiliation because of our “chinky eyes”. Some of us too have unknowingly become racists ourselves because of the incessant racial abuses encountered by us. Yet, most of us never stop trying to correct the vox populi about the gross misconception of people from the North-east. Many of us have broken away from the stereotype moulds. But still, it will require a lot more effort and time to change the general mindset of the people.

But what really hurts, is when some tactless wannabe reporter comes up with an article at a daily newspaper (of a circulation of more than a million) [Link: MailToday] affirming the preconceived notion people fallaciously have about women from the North-east, that they are all nothing but the scums of society ready to sleep with anybody for money or a mug of draught beer at happy-hours TGIF.

With the aforementioned tabloid readership targeted at the middle class of emerging India [source: tksajeev], it is no wonder that women from the North-east are left stupefied and shocked beyond words when a nice well dressed gentleman approaches them and asks “how much?” They do expect such a cheap and tawdry solicitation from a roadside romeo or somebody from an uneducated background, but how could somebody so well refined behave this way? One glance at the kind of trash these so called middle class people read today, and you will know the reason why.

Could Mr. Kumar Vikram have written the article in a much more subtle tone? Of course he could. But he preferred to sensationalize the whole issue like a plot straight out from a James Hadley Chase novel. Sleazy night clubs. Drugs. Sex. Oriental babes. Money. Sex. Detectives. Drugs. Drug peddlers. Sex. The perfect formula to attract the attention of any normal hormone-raging male. And to what cost? The loss of dignity of every North-eastern woman trying to make an honest living in a “foreign” land that we call our country.

http://mizohican.blogspot.in/2008/02/chp-163-sex-drugs-and-north-east-girls.html  

US approves first-ever pill for HIV prevention, but at 14,000 dollars a yr Truvada shows encouraging signs

US approves first-ever pill for HIV prevention, but at 14,000 dollars a yr Truvada shows encouraging signs

WASHINGTON, Jul 17: The first-ever daily pill to help prevent HIV infection was approved Monday by US regulators for use by healthy adults who are at risk for getting the virus that causes AIDS.

Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences in California, has been on the market since 2004 and was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for a new use as a tool to help ward off HIV, in combination with safe sex and regular testing.

The pill as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been hailed by some AIDS experts as a potent new tool against human immunodeficiency virus, while other health care providers are concerned it could encourage risky sex behavior.

In addition, the regimen is estimated to cost around $14,000 per year, making it out of reach of many.

"Truvada alone should not be used to prevent HIV infection," said Debra Birnkrant, director of the division of antiviral products at the FDA.

"Truvada as PrEP represents another effective, evidence-based approach that can be added to other prevention methods to help reduce the spread of HIV."

The FDA said Truvada should be used as "part of a comprehensive HIV prevention strategy that includes other prevention methods, such as safe sex practices, risk reduction counseling, and regular HIV testing."

Truvada was previously approved as a treatment for people infected with HIV to be used in combination with other antiretroviral drugs.

The decision by the FDA followed the advice of an independent panel in May that supported Truvada for prevention in uninfected people, after clinical trials showed it could lower the risk of HIV in gay men and heterosexual couples.

One study of men who were sexually active with other men but were not infected with the virus that causes AIDS found 44 percent fewer infections in those taking Truvada versus a placebo.

Those in the study who took the drug regularly had almost 73 percent fewer infections.

A second study on heterosexual couples in which one partner was infected with HIV and the other was not showed that Truvada reduced the risk of becoming infected by 75 percent compared with a placebo.

Common side effects were the same as experienced by people with HIV who were taking Truvada, and included diarrhea, nausea, abdominal pain, headache, and weight loss.

However, the adherence rate -- meaning how often people in the study actually took the drug daily -- was low in the study of men who have sex with men, at just 30 percent, Birnkrant said.

In the study of heterosexual partners, adherence was much higher, at between 80 and 90 percent.

Therefore, the drug label must include special instructions for health care providers on how to counsel potential users of the drug.

The drugmaker must also include a warning that Truvada for PrEP "must only be used by individuals who are confirmed to be HIV-negative prior to prescribing the drug and at least every three months during use."

As to concerns about whether the pill might boost risky sex practices and lead people to abandon condoms as a first line of protection, Birnkrant said the studies have not shown that so far.

"We don't really have any strong evidence to show that condoms were not used or that there was a decrease in condom use when Truvada was used," she told reporters.

The goal of the approval is to eventually cut back on the rate of new infections in the United States, which have stayed steady in recent years at about 50,000 annually, she said.

A key goal of the US strategy against HIV/AIDS, set forth in 2010, is to decrease the number of new infections by 25 percent by 2015.

"The hope is that over time it will decrease the rate of new infections or incidence in the United States," Birnkrant said.

The FDA approval drew the support of amfaR, The Foundation for AIDS Research.

"We know that Truvada, when taken as directed, works. Now we need to figure out how to properly use it to change the course of the epidemic," said a statement by amfaR chief executive Kevin Robert Frost.

However, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation described the move as "reckless," largely because the FDA recommends but does not explicitly require a negative HIV test prior to use.

"The FDA's move today is negligence bordering the equivalence of malpractice which will sadly result in new infections, drug resistance and serious side effects among many, many people," said AHF president Michael Weinstein.

http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/sangai-express-news.php?newsid=17591 

Cellphones AIDS tests complicated in S.Africa, S.Korea

September 03, 2012 

South African and South Korean researchers are operative on creation a smartphone means of doing AIDS tests in farming tools of Africa that are a misfortune strike by a disease, a researcher pronounced Friday.
The group have grown a microscope and an focus that can sketch and analyse blood samples in areas distant from laboratories to diagnose HIV and even magnitude a health of defence systems.
“Our thought was to obtain images and analyse images on this smartphone regulating applications,” pronounced Jung Kyung Kim, a highbrow in biomedical engineering during Kookmin University in South Korea.
The gadget, called Smartscope, is a tiny 1-millimeter (0.04-inch) microscope and light that clips over a smartphone’s camera.
A customary chip with a blood representation afterwards slides into a tool in front of a microscope. Next, a special phone programme photographs a representation and analyses a cells.
The group hopes that trials in clinics might start subsequent year, Kim told AFP.
A opposite antecedent grown in a United States takes tests in a margin that need to be sent to a mechanism for analysis.
But a Smartscope will itself be means to do a CD4 dungeon count — a magnitude of white blood cells, that determines when diagnosis starts.
“Its simple duty is to count those CD4 cells for diagnosis,” pronounced Kim.
The new record is unfailing for AIDS diagnosis in remote communities in South Africa and Swaziland, where clinics mostly don’t have a record to do these tests effectively.
Almost 6 million South Africans are putrescent with HIV, while a entertain of Swazi adults lift a virus.
“In village health mobile record is not a gimmick. It becomes an essential partial of access,” pronounced Professor Jannie Hugo, who heads a family medicine dialect during a University of Pretoria, a partner in a study.

http://hiv-aids-help.com/cellphones-aids-tests-studied-in-s-africa-s-korea.html