Nepal-Taiwan and the world…Lekhnath Kafle (卡雷納)

 

 डा. लेखनाथ काफ्ले

ताइपेइ, ताइवान 

 

ढुङ्गा, माटो, रुख-बिरुवा

किटपतंग, जनावर र मान्छेहरु

अरुहरुको जस्तै

एउटा चौघेरा, एउटा सीमाना

गलेको, भत्केको साँध, मनको पर्खाल।

अराजक, बहुरंगी

घात-प्रतिघातका अनुभबी र पूर्ण प्रशिक्षित कलाकारहरु

चैते आधुनिक छेपाराहरु

थाकेका नदी र च्याँपिएको आकास

सपना बिहिन आँखाहरु

उदासी र निरास मुहारहरु 

टुंगो न भा‘का यात्राहरु 

बेवारीसे बिरामी जस्तै

सुतेको एउटा भुगोल

मेरो देश, मेरो स्वदेश।

 

देशबाशीहरु

डार्विनका पुराना बाँदरहरु

भुत्ल्याउदै छन प्रकृतिका जगल्टाहरु

आदीम काल देखी निरन्तर

के यो नरिवल नै हो र?

लुटनु, फुट्नु र टुट्नु

आफु आफु मै छुट्टीनु

त्यस्तै गरेर बाँच्नेहरुको देश

मेरो देश।

 

मान्छेको त के कुरा

बाँदर पनि त्यहाँका

सबै समाती रहन्छन दरो सँग अर्काको पुच्छर

ताकी, अर्को माथि न पुगोस

त्यही कंक्रिटको जंगल

पुच्छर झरेका देशबाशीहरु बस्ने देश

मेरो देश।  

 

नागरिक

हिउँका थुप्राहरुलाई भजाएर जीबिका चलाऊथ्यो

गौतम बुद्धको जन्म थलो देखाएर छाक जुटाउथ्यो  

हिजो आज ऊ

आफ्नै जन्म थलो बेचेर

अंग्रेजी सिकी रहेको छ

उसलाई परदेशीने चिट्ठा परेको छ

चिट्ठामा बाँचेकाहरुको एउटा देश

मेरो देश।

 

कबी, कलाकार

सतहमा, आफैसँग झुठ बोलेर आत्मरती गर्दछ

सुन्दर, शान्त र बिशालको ध्वाँसे गीत गाउँछ

गहिराइमा, दलाल धाउछ

हरियो पासपोर्ट बनाउछ

वा रातो पासपोर्ट किन्छ

सके सम्म छिटो देशबाट भाग्न

अस्तब्यस्त, भगौडाहरुको एउटा देश

 

मेरो देश।

 

प्रबासिदो मजदुर

खुशी खुशी करारनामा गर्दछ

मरुभुमिमा तातेर मर्न

नर्थ पोलमा जमेर मर्न

अग्ला भवनबाट खसेर मर्न

गहिरा समुद्रमा डुबेर मर्न

मेशिनमा पेलिएर मर्न 

सुरुङमा निसास्सिएर मर्न

अरु केही गरेर मर्न न सके

आत्महत्या गरेर मर्न

२१ औं शताब्दिका कमारा कमारीहरु जन्माउने देश 

मेरो देश।

 

नेता, कर्मचारी

डराइ डराइ साँचो बोल्नु पर्दा

तिनीहरु घृणा योग्य छन 

जो कामले देशबाट आफ्ना नागरिकलाई सीमाना कटाउछन 

तर भाषणमा

रित्तो स्वाभिमानको भजन गाँउछन

खोक्रो राष्ट्रियताको ढोङ रच्छन

उज्यालोमा आडम्बरी संस्कृतिको माला लगाउछन

अध्याँरोमा शक्ती केन्द्र धाउछन

जनताको टाउकोमा टेक्छन 

पदको लागि प्रभुको पाउ पर्छन

अनी हुंकार गर्छन

क्रान्तिकारी बन्छन

यो सुकिला सुट, बख्खु, टोपी र धोतीहरुको स्वर्ग

र आम मान्छेहरुको प्राकृतिक नरक देश 

मेरो देश।

 म

धरोधर्म, खसोखास अवसरबादी हुँ

त्यसो भन्दा मलाई कुनै दुख छैन

तर

एउटा कुराको निकै पश्चाताप छ

म किन यस्तो दरिद्र देशमा जन्मे?

मेरा अभागी बाउ आमाले रगत पसिना बगाएको देश

मेरो देश, मेरो स्वदेश।   

 

म निधारमा पोतिएको त्यो कालो टीका पखाल्न चाहन्छु

त्यो कलंक मेट्न चाहन्छु

तर संघर्ष गर्ने आँट नै छैन

त्यसैले  

म भाग्न चाहन्छु यो अध्याँरो भुमिबाट  

पुग्न चाहन्छु त्यहाँ

जहाँ नहोस

मेरो देश

र नहुन माकुरा जस्ता मेरा मान्छेहरु।

*** 

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) under the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) yesterday announced that the drug-resistant superbug NDM-1 that surfaced in South Asia has been found for the first time in Taiwan in a cameraman shot and wounded while working in India.

The bacterium carrying the NDM-1 gene was found in an intestine sample taken from the Taiwanese cameraman, who was shot outside a mosque by a masked gunman in New Delhi last month. NDM-1, short for New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase-1, was listed by the CDC as a communicable disease in September.

"The cameraman had been infected with the bacteria while undergoing surgery in the high-risk country of India. This is the first time that the strain has been detected in Taiwan and we therefore have reason to believe that this was an imported case," said Shih Wen-yi, deputy director general of the CDC.

Shih, however, urged the public not to panic over the first reported case of the superbug. "It’s not easy for the people to be infected by the cameraman," he said, adding that the cameraman has shown no symptoms of infection and has been out of hospital.

But Shih called for local people to maintain a high level of personal hygiene by constantly washing their hands, and adhere to the proper protocols when using antibiotics to guard against the bug.

According to Shih, during tests conducted on the cameraman, traces of the antibiotic-resistant superbug were found.

The cameraman, who was shot in the abdomen, was accompanied by a team of medical workers on his return flight to Taiwan on Sept. 27 to receive further treatment. Shih said all the waste material on the aircraft was properly disposed of. The cameraman, reportedly in good health, is required to report back to the CDC on a weekly basis for follow-up visits.

Doctors said once the cameraman is found to be suffering inflammation of the bladder or other organs, antibiotic medicine such as Tygacil is available domestically to cure the inflammation.

Bacteria with the NDM-1 gene has infected people around the world, but the infection epicenter is in India and Pakistan. They are resistant to most available antibiotics, including carbapenems that are used as a last resort when common antibiotics have failed.

NDM-1 was first identified in December 2009 in a patient hospitalized in New Delhi with an infection caused by Klebsiella pneumonia. It was later detected in bacteria in India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Japan.

In August this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement warning governments to take measures to combat anti-microbial resistance.

"Countries should be prepared to implement hospital infection control measures to limit the spread of multi-drug resistant strains and to reinforce national policy on prudent use of antibiotics, reducing the generation of antibiotic resistant bacteria," the WHO statement said.

The CDC has ordered local hospitals to immediately report any suspected cases, especially those in which the patient received medical treatment in India or Pakistan.

Source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2010/10/05/275014/Taiwan-reports.htm 

APP, July 15, 2010.

British scientists believe they have cracked the answer to the age-old question of which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Researchers have found that a protein called ovocleidin (OC-17) is crucial in the formulation of eggshells, and it is produced in the pregnant hen’s ovaries, the Daily Express reports.

Therefore, the answer to the conundrum must be that the chicken came first.

Using a high-tech computer to look at the molecular structure of a shell, the team of scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick found that OC-17 acts as a catalyst, kick-starting the conversion of calcium carbonate in the chicken’s body into calcite crystals.

They make up the hard shell that houses the yolk and its protective fluids while the chick develops.

"It had long been suspected that the egg came first but now we have the scientific proof that shows that in fact the chicken came first," said Dr Colin Freeman, from Sheffield University.

"The protein had been identified before and it was linked to egg formation but by examining it closely we have been able to see how it controls the process."

But the researchers have not yet got an answer to how the protein-producing chicken existed in the first place. 

 

Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/7584851/scientists-crack-chicken-egg-conundrum/ 

 

By Gisela Telis
ScienceNOW Daily News
16 September 2009

Squirrel monkeys can now see your true colors, thanks to gene therapy. Researchers have given the colorblind primates full color vision as adults by injecting their eyes with a human gene. The result raises questions about how the brain understands color, and it could eventually lead to gene-therapy treatments for colorblindness and other visual disorders in humans.

In the world of squirrel monkeys, seeing colors is for girls. Whereas some females enjoy full color vision, males of the South American genus see only blues and yellows (see picture). They lack a gene that allows color-sensitive cells in the eye, called cones, to distinguish red and green from gray–the same distinction that confounds most colorblind humans.

Seeking a possible treatment for the human condition, vision scientist Jay Neitz and colleagues at the University of Washington, Seattle, assembled six adult squirrel monkeys, four colorblind males and two female controls. The researchers tested them daily for a year, using a computer program that presented the primates with colorful clumps of dots on a screen of similarly varied gray dots (see video). The results established each monkey’s color vision, revealing that the female controls could see colors as a normal human would, while the male monkeys could not distinguish green and red clumps from the gray background. The team then injected the retinas of two of the colorblind monkeys with a virus that introduced the human gene for the red-detecting pigment in cone cells.

The researchers were not optimistic. Unlike the malleable brains of young animals, adult brains are far more rigid and tend to have a harder time rewiring themselves. Many patients blinded in childhood, for example, remain blind when their eyes are repaired in adulthood, because their brains never developed the circuitry for processing what they see.

Twenty weeks after the gene therapy, however, the monkeys began to spot red and green dots in the computer color tests, and soon after they were regularly acing the trials. "That’s when we broke out the champagne," says a still-surprised Neitz. Now, 2 years later, the monkeys remain able to distinguish all colors, almost on par with their female counterparts. Neitz attributes the monkeys’ adaptability to the fact that colorblind animals still have color-processing circuitry in their brains. The introduced gene simply gives them the ability to feed new information into the circuitry, "hijacking" a pathway previously used by blues and yellows for reds and greens as well.

  

Organic food has no nutritional or health benefits over conventionally produced food, according to a major study published on Wednesday.

Its conclusions were challenged by organic food campaigners.

Researchers from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said consumers paid higher prices for organic food in part because of its perceived health benefits, creating a global organic market worth an estimated US$48 billion in 2007.

A systematic review of 162 scientific papers published in the scientific literature over the last 50 years, however, found there was no significant difference.

"A small number of differences in nutrient content were found to exist between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs, but these are unlikely to be of any public health relevance," said Alan Dangour, one of the report’s authors.

"Our review indicates that there is currently no evidence to support the selection of organically over conventionally produced foods on the basis of nutritional superiority."

The results of research, which was commissioned by the British government’s Food Standards Agency, were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Peter Melchett, policy director of Britain’s Soil Association, which promotes organic farming, said he was disappointed by the conclusions reached by the study’s authors.

He criticised the methodology of the study, which he said had led researchers to reject some clear nutritional benefits as "not important".

Melchett also pointed out there was not sufficient research to assess the long-term effects of pesticides on human health.

Sales of organic food have fallen in some markets, including Britain, as recession has led consumers to cut back on purchases.

The Soil Association said in April that growth in sales of organic products in Britain slowed to just 1.7 percent in 2008, well below the average annual growth rate of 26 percent over the last decade, following a plunge in demand at the end of the year.

 

source: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/europe/2009/07/31/218498/Organic-food.htm 

GENEVA — A swine flu outbreak that appears to have caused fatalities in humans in Mexico and nonfatal cases in the United States prompted the World Health Organization this weekend to urge countries around the world to be alert for suspicious cases of influenza.

The government is planning to spend NT$600 million over three years on improving Taiwan’s English-language environment, including the opening of two English villages, reports said yesterday.

The plan to raise the standards of the English-language environment covered several directions, said the Council of Economic Planning and Development, the Cabinet’s top planning agency, which approved the plan yesterday afternoon.

The government should improve English signboards, push for a more cosmopolitan living environment, and strive to host more international concerts and exhibitions, the CEPD said.

The English villages would not be real villages, but places where the environment was more conducive to local residents to practice their English, according to the CEPD. Because of the prominent presence of foreign staff, the area of the Hsinchu Science and Technology Park was the first choice for an English village, while a second location was still under consideration. More villages could be added later if enough companies or organizations came forward with workable plans.

Signs inside the villages would be bilingual, but the government would not force shops and hotels to provide English-language service, the CEPD said. Companies willing to participate could register with the authorities and receive stars for the quality of their English-language service like the star ratings system in effect for hotels.

At least 3,000 people could participate in the programs beginning next year and receive a certificate, the government said.

The English villages the CEPD is planning are different from what has been done before in Taiwan and South Korea, namely areas where local students of the English language could practice by buying products and services from foreign teachers in make-believe shops and offices.

Such school-based programs were already in operation in several parts of Taiwan, including Changhua, Taoyuan, Pingtung and the outlying island of Kinmen, reports said.

As to street signs, the government will draw up a standardized list of translations and spellings for major locations.

Source: http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=925455〈=eng_news&cate_img=49.jpg&cate_rss=news_Society_TAIWAN

 

US President Barack Obama will tomorrow wipe out another contentious aspect of his predecessor George W. Bush’s legacy by removing curbs on federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research.

The president will sign an executive order reversing a policy that critics say has hampered the fight into finding treatments for grave diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes, a senior administration official said.

The official would not divulge the exact wording of the order, but confirmed, on condition of anonymity, that it would be in line with Obama’s campaign vow to restore funding to embryonic stem-cell research.

The move will spark delight among scientists who have long campaigned for the Bush policy to be overturned, but was already running into fire from social conservatives and right-to-life groups.

Obama spelled out his campaign policy on stem-cell research last August in a list of answers to the Science Debate 2008 scientific lobby group.

“I strongly support expanding research on stem cells,” Obama wrote. “I believe that the restrictions that President Bush has placed on funding of human embryonic stem-cell research have handcuffed our scientists and hindered our ability to compete with other nations.”

Reports about Obama’s plans for tomorrow were immediately condemned by Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

“Today’s news that President Obama will open the door to direct taxpayer funds for embryonic stem-cell research that encourages the destruction of human embryos is a slap in the face to Americans who believe in the dignity of all human life,” Perkins said.

John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House of Representatives said government money should be used to fund alternative stem-cell research that does not involve destroying an embryo.

“Republicans enthusiastically support adult, cord blood, and pluripotent stem cell research that have shown so much promise in recent years,” Boehner said. “The question is whether taxpayer dollars should be used to subsidize the destruction of precious human life. Millions of Americans strongly oppose that, and rightfully so.”

Bush barred federal funding for work on new lines of stem cells derived from human embryos in 2001, allowing research only on a small number of embryonic stem-cell lines that existed at that time.

He also several times vetoed legislation passed by Congress backing the research.

Obama reportedly told Democratic lawmakers shortly after his inauguration in January that he would guarantee lifting Bush-era restrictions on federal funding for stem-cell research.

“Barack Obama and [US Vice President] Joe Biden believe that we owe it to the American public to explore the potential of stem cells to treat the millions of people suffering from debilitating and life-threatening diseases,” his campaign said last year.

Bush argued that using human embryos for scientific research — which often involves their destruction — crossed a moral barrier and urged scientists to consider other alternatives.

source: http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2009/03/08/2003437919

By Kevin McLaughlin, ChannelWeb

As the Windows 7 beta test phase draws to a close, Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) is once again ramping up efforts to convince enterprises running Windows XP to start migrating to Windows Vista. And for those that decide to jump from XP to Windows 7, Microsoft has the following message: Plan ahead.

A scientist in Taiwan has invented the world’s first chlorophyll organic battery that can supply electricity within 10 seconds of being wetted with water, beverages or even urine.

Chungpin Hovering Liao, a professor at the Graduate School of Electro-Optic and Material Science of National Formosa University in central Taiwan’s Yunlin County, told a news conference Wednesday that the battery, when wetted, can provide electricity for two days to a week.

While the strength of the battery is about half that of an ordinary battery, its storage capacity is more than that of Japan’s water-powered fuel cells, he said.

The production cost of the chlorophyll organic battery is very cheap — about NT$1 to NT$2 (US$.03 to US$.06) , Liao said, adding that the battery contains no toxic substances and will not pose an environmental hazard, even if discarded at will.

The professor disclosed that he is in the process of applying for patent in Taiwan, the United States and other countries for the new invention and expects to see mass production in the near future.

Liao, 49, received a B.S. degree in nuclear engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Hsinchu, Taiwan, in 1982. He earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in plasma science and fusion technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology of the United States in 1989 and 1992, respectively.

more news :

Taiwan’s scientists invent eco-friendly reusable chlorophyll organic battery

http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=779449&lang=eng_news&cate_img=49.jpg&cate_rss=news_Society_TAIWAN

Source: http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=775823