HEALTH / SCIENCE / INTERNET TRULY TIMES 7 JAMMU, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 04, 2020 North Korean defectors say nuclear tests have ravaged their health YOUNG WORLD SEOUL, South Korea — firm. The president of SAND, Choi Defectors who lived near North Both Lee and Rhee Yeong Sil, Kyung Hui, who is also a defector Lessons from Korea’s nuclear testing site say another defector at the SAND but not from Kilju, suggested mil- they believe they are suffering office, say for years they had no itary activity at Punggye-ri in the from exposure to radiation and idea North Korea was testing years leading up to the tests could the casual fear for the health of family mem- nuclear devices. They ignored the explain contamination in the area. Doing an activity differently breaks monotony and bers still living there. tremors and only discovered the But Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, a sci- injects energy into mindless routines Standing about 5 feet tall, Lee truth after fleeing their homeland. entist-in-residence at the James Jeong Hwa walks with a slight Rhee, who is in her 60s and Martin Center for Those of you who are on social media may have limp. Middle-aged with an ashen defected in 2013, says that she Nonproliferation Studies in noticed those inky line drawings popping up at regular gray complexion and deep-set lived just a few miles from the Monterey, California, has doubts intervals over the past two weeks — from the begin- dark brown eyes, Lee says she's in Punggye-ri test site, and that her that radiation damaged the envi- ning of October, to be precise. The “inktober” initiative constant pain. neighbor gave birth to a deformed ronment and residents' health. aims at getting people to pick up a pen and doodle in a But back home, things are much baby. He said that if any radioactive mindful way, prompted by a single word. Poison, swift, worse, she says. "We couldn’t determine the gen- material had leaked, even from a crooked, and screech were some of the words on the "So many people died we began der of the baby, because it didn’t reported tunnel collapse this there’s a long-term risk of cancer. nuclear engineering at Seoul list, this year, and the sketches I have seen so far have calling it 'ghost disease,'" she said. Lee and other defectors are National University (SNU), says have any genitals," Rhee says. "In month following the sixth test, "We thought we were dying adamant these tests have had a the reality is that researchers are North Korea, deformed babies are powerful sensors in the region that ranged from simple to complex. because we were poor and we ate detrimental effect on their health. suffering from a "total lack of usually killed. So the parents "sniff" the atmosphere would have There is another Internet-fuelled motivational move- badly. Now we know it was the The scientific evidence and expert data." killed the baby." detected it. The same goes for pre- ment called “Nanowrimo” or “National Novel Writing radiation." opinion, however, is not so con- "I don’t think they’re lying," Some of Rhee and Lee’s claims of vious tests, he said. Month” which began in the United States, and has As Lee rubs her sore right leg in clusive. Kune-yull says of the defectors. radiation exposure date to the Days after the sixth test, the South spread across many countries. Here, you begin and fin- the office of SAND, a nongovern- South Korea’s Ministry of "We have to take their word, but I 1990s and even the 1980s, raising Korean government announced it ish a writing project within November. You set the mental organization in Seoul that questions about whether some- had detected trace amounts of Unification has been testing Lee don’t have much reliable informa- parameters — short or long — but the idea is to write advocates human rights in North and 29 other defectors from Kilju tion." thing other than a nuclear test radioactive xenon, though it never Korea, she recounted how she was for radiation contamination. Lee A woman walks before houses in a could have contaminated the envi- said conclusively where it came regularly and meet the target. caught trying to flee the country in told NBC News that her test village near Kimchaek on North ronment and made people sick. from. Creativity is the key 2003. results have already come back — Korea's northeast coast. It is locat- While the country's first nuclear Ferenc says it’s "very, very The two initiatives are quite different, yet they share She eventually escaped in 2010 and they’re clean. ed about 22 miles south of Kilju. test wasn’t until 2006, the defec- unlikely" that it came from the something. The first aims at getting everyone to draw, from her home in Kilju County, And aside from the testimony of Ed Jones / AFP - Getty Images tors tell stories of trout dying in Punggye-ri site. He’s also skepti- to have fun with lines and ideas. The second pushes home of North Korea’s nuclear te Lee and others, it's hard to verify A spokesman for the Korea the mountain streams and the cal of groundwater contamination. those who want to write to do something about it. But, According to the World Health area's prized pine mushrooms dis- Testing near water-saturated rock, radiation as the cause of the wide- Institute of Nuclear Safety told they both offer a clear project, and a definite timeline. Organization, radiation can impair spread illnesses, such as leukemia NBC News it’s "assumed" that appearing long before then. he says, could build up steam that the functioning of tissues and and other cancers, that defectors exposure to radioactive material A satellite image showing Kilju, vents contaminants into the air. You set a short-term goal and work towards it. organs, depending on the level of say have been ravaging Kilju. from the underground test site is North Korea. DigitalGlobe / Getty That, he says, is in no one’s inter- In the first instance, the appeal is in playing with words exposure. At lower doses, it says, Suh Kune-yull, a professor of excessive, but it’s difficult to con- Images file est. and ideas and expressing them visually — without hav- ing to be a serious artist. In engaging with this playful activity, you might surprise yourself, discovering an Hurricane Maria drug shortage interest, ability, or way of thinking that you had never Coffee can reduce diabetes risk really considered before. Our education system, by and Bengaluru: The medicine that one substance that has so far threatens tiny patients in U.S. large, schools us out of this way of engaging our minds, can delay your diabetes is been untested. and we end up falling into predictable, narrow ways of right on your coffee table. In their study, the researchers doing things. A commitment to doing something differ- ‘Cafestol’, a bioactive sub- wanted to see if ‘cafestol’ ent, in a lighthearted, un-serious way, can help us break stance found in coffee, could would help prevent or delay that and inject some energy into a mindless routine. help delay the onset of Type-2 the onset of Type-2 diabetes in This may sound somewhat contradictory — commit- diabetes, improve cell func- mice. The findings have been ment and lighthearted are not words that usually go tion and insulin sensitivity in reported in the American together. But that is exactly the appeal, and the joy, of laboratory mice, according to Chemical Society Journal of something like inktober. It is also a bit different from a a study carried out by a team Natural Products. According regular hobby or pastime, which, however enjoyable, of scientists in Denmark. to the authors, “the finding can also become habitual and routine. This is yet another research could spur the development of In the second instance, you use the month — or any finding that has driven coffee new drugs to treat or even pre- specified period of time — to challenge yourself to do from its universal role as a vent the disease”. For their insulin as well as liver, muscle high-cafestol group. Cafestol something you have always wanted to do, but had been breakfast beverage into the list study, the scientists chose a and fat tissues for gene expres- increased insulin secretion of items that can be recom- model of mice called KKAy sion analysis were collected. from isolated islets by 75-87 Drug shortages worsened by Hurricane Maria’s devastation on putting off for whatever reason. mended for a healthy diet and mice that are prone to develop The researchers isolated islets per cent compared to the con- Puerto Rico is now threatening some of the most tiny and vulner- By setting aside time for that particular activity, you are lifestyle. diabetes. Forty-seven male of Langerhans which produce trol group.” able patients in the U.S. — premature babies. committing to it and making space for it in your life. For instance, recently mice were randomly divided insulin and measured their The researchers conclude their Power outages caused by the hurricane are still hitting production Having others doing this along with you, as happens researchers at the University into two groups - treatment insulin secretory capacity. results show that cafestol pos- of saline solution, one of the most widely used medical supplies. during Nanowrimo, can also be hugely motivational. of Southern California in the and control groups. While all “After 10 weeks of interven- sesses anti-diabetic properties But they’re also causing bottlenecks in the supply of amino acids Plus, the idea that it has to be done within that short US in a study of more than the mice consumed normal tion, fasting plasma glucose in mice. “Consequently, used to feed very ill patients, including preemies, the Food and time forces you to put in a higher amount of effort than 180,000 participants found diet, the mice in the treatment was 28-30 per cent lower in cafestol may contribute to the Drug Administration says. you might have otherwise, given that we all tend to be that drinking coffee could lead group were fed daily with ‘cafestol’ group compared reduced risk of developing “It’s devastating for pediatrics and babies because hospitals were procrastinators when we get the chance. This limitation to a longer life. Researchers ‘cafestol’ for 10 weeks. The with the control group,” the Type-2 diabetes in coffee con- telling us they were down to just a few days’ supply and they were of time can also make it seem like less daunting. really getting extremely concerned,” said Captain Valerie Jensen, have also earlier identified animals in the control group researchers report. “Fasting sumers and is a good candi- One can take something from these two approaches and Associate Director of the Drug Shortages Program in the FDA’s substances in coffee that could were not given ‘cafestol’. At glucagon was 20 per cent date for drug development to apply them to other activities and areas of life — and Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. help reduce the risk of devel- the end, blood samples for lower and insulin sensitivity treat or prevent the disease in work too. oping diabetes but ‘cafestol’ is fasting glucose, glucagon and improved by 42 per cent in the humans. “Yesterday we announced we were going to have a pediatric for- mulation imported.” What if we allowed ourselves to periodically engage Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and patients who with new, unfamiliar activities, simply for the fun of it, are unable to eat or to be fed via stomach tube need infusions of to exercise a different part of our brain or body? What Massachusetts vaccinates students after meningitis B cases various combinations, depending on their nutrition needs. if we consciously made a small space within our clut- As with saline, there had been disruptions to the supply of amino tered, distracted existence to allow ourselves to finish The 22-year-old nursing that as many as 3,000 stu- acids, the FDA said. The main supplier of saline, Baxter, is also a some task we had always wanted to complete? student at the University of dents had been vaccinated major supplier of amino acid medical products to the U.S. market. Maybe sketching and writing aren’t for us. But there Massachusetts Amherst by Friday morning, and And some of its main facilities are in Puerto Rico. may be any number of other activities that could help figures she has given about Fitzgerald estimates anoth- “In order to help mitigate this shortage, the FDA has worked with 60 vaccines already on a er 800 more had been us break the habits of poor thinking and under-doing! Baxter to facilitate the temporary importation of amino acids for Friday in early December. immunized by mid-after- pediatric and adult formulations of IV amino acids from Baxter She’s one of many nursing noon Friday. facilities in the United Kingdom and Italy,” FDA director Dr. Scott Why buy when you students called in for duty Several strains of Gottlieb said in a statement. as the school tries to vacci- meningococcal bacteria The FDA has also made deals with the government in Puerto Rico, nate as many of its 30,000 can cause meningitis, an a U.S. territory, to make sure that medical manufacturers get their can make one students as possible inflammation of tissue sur- electricity restored first. Months after Maria hit, power has only A mobile making workshop is set to welcome students against meningitis B. rounding the spinal cord. been restored to about half the island. “I definitely feel I am an Karly Fitzgerald is getting across the country at IIT Hyderabad “We’re also working with other manufacturers of amino acids to While the world goes gaga about owning the latest expert at IM (intramuscu- recommends giving the these two cases raise our very good at giving vac- increase supplies to address the shortage, including ICU Medical phone in the market, how about making one? Come lar) injections now,” said vaccine to people at high level of concern,” the uni- cines. and B. Braun. ICU Medical had experienced manufacturing January 7, IIT Hyderabad plays host to students from Fitzgerald, a senior from risk, which includes col- versity said in a statement. The 22-year-old nursing delays, but now plans to return to the market soon, which will fur- colleges across the country for a workshop where they West Roxbury, lege students when there is “This means that there student at the University of ther help address the shortage,” Gottlieb said. Massachusetts. an outbreak. may be an increased risk of Massachusetts Amherst Jensen said the FDA speeds up inspections, provides advice and build mobiles from scratch. Meningitis B is caused by Last October, two students meningococcal disease for figures she has given about encouragement to help manufacturers of critical supplies such as The mobile they design will have basic functionalities a bacterial infection and it at UMass came down with other undergraduates on 60 vaccines already on a saline get back up and running. She said ICU Medical should start like call dialling, call receiving, sending and receiving can be deadly. There’s a meningitis B. Both recov- campus. We recommend Friday in early December. production early next year. SMSes using the GSM technology. vaccine to protect against ered, but genetic tests that all undergraduate stu- She’s one of many nursing The FDA has been struggling to keep saline solutions flowing The workshop, hosted as part of the NVision Fest that it, but because meningitis showed they had the same dents get vaccinated to students called in for duty since 2014, when increased demand caused spot shortages. The enters its fifth edition this year, welcomes students num- B is rare, it’s not part of the strain of the infection. help prevent further as the school tries to vacci- hurricane made things worse. bering nearly 2000 across the country. usual vaccine schedule. “Because these two stu- cases.” nate as many of its 30,000 Baxter makes what are called mini-bags of saline in Puerto Rico — Besides providing insights into the practical know-how The Centers for Disease dents were not in close Thus, the vaccine clinics. students as possible smaller 50 ml and 100 ml bags used to dilute and administer can- that goes into making a phone, the two-day workshop Control and Prevention contact with each other, The university estimates against meningitis B. cer chemotherapy drugs, antibiotics and other treatments. will help students gain conceptual knowledge on Embedded Systems, Embedded C and ATmega16. Students are advised to come in teams of four, and will be provided with a kit. “The workshop is entering its SAY NO TO STRETCH MARKS third year now, it’s been a rage since it began began. We It’s natural to put on weight we’re bringing you simple aged skin cells. Wash it off with cold water ready the groundwork for these fests for almost a year, from time to time, because, let’s home remedies. How to use it when it dries. during our holidays,” says Sai Niranjan Reddy, a third face it, we’re hardly supermod- All about aloe vera Heat half a cup of coco butter Do this every day for at least a year engineering student who organises the event. els. But with it, come stretch Aloe vera gel has a plethora of and two tablespoons of beeswax month for noticeable results. The workshop (where students will be provided certifi- marks. Gurjyot Kaur brings you skin and health benefits and the until the mixture melts com- Lemon juice to the rescue cates) hosted by IIT Hyderabad and AB Lab Solutions home remedies to deal with the best part is that the plant is easy pletely. When life gives you lemons... pesky lines to grow at home and doesn’t Mix it well and store it in a con- don’t make lemonade; use them will commence in the IIT Hyderabad campus on We’re no strangers to stretch require much care. The pres- tainer. to get rid of stretch marks! The January 7. marks, because practically ence of collagen in the gel of Apply the mixture over your acid content in lemons can Cultural feast every beauty magazine and the aloe vera plant can help stretch marks and leave it on for make scars and marks less visi- Scrub it gently for 10 minutes Cooling castor oil Later this month, IIT Hyderabad will feature a variety of wellness guru talks about them. tighten your skin and heal scars. at least 40 minutes for best ble. onto the affected area in a circu- Castor oil is used as a remedy musical perfromances and contests. They are shunned by the beauty How to use it results. How to use it lar motion. for various health, skin and hair 1) ELAN 2017 presents a fusion band contest Manthan, world, and can prevent you Take a small amount of aloe Egg white amino acids Gently massage lemon juice on The magic of potatoes issues such as wrinkles, dry where the fusion bands get an opportunity to upload from wearing pretty, short vera gel and massage it into The white of the egg can be to the affected area for about 10 Potatoes don’t just make deli- skin, dark spots and fine lines. dresses. They may even make your skin. used to treat scars or stretch minutes. cious chips and fries, they con- But, it can also help with stretch their videos. you feel self-conscious and The gel takes a while to be marks because it is rich in Wash it off with warm water tain cooling chemicals that are marks. The first round requires bands (with a maximum num- uncomfortable about your absorbed by the skin so leave it amino acids and proteins. and moisturise your skin after good for the skin. They can help How to use it ber of seven members) to upload their performance on appearance. You can develop on for a couple of hours before How to use it the massage. with growth of new skin cells Warm up some castor oil and the website songdew.com. The team leader is required stretch marks whether you’ve rinsing it off. Put the whites of two eggs in a The coffee cure and repair existing cells massage it onto the area in a cir- to register at elan.org.in. Last date to upload the videos gained weight or lost a few Soothing coco butter bowl and whip them gently Caffeine is biologically active too.How to use it cular motion, massaging for is January 15, 11:59 p.m. Shortlisted bands get to per- pounds, delivered a baby, There’s a reason why cocoa but- using a fork. and it penetrates the skin mak- Cut a thin slice of potato and about ten minutes. form at Elan-e-Jung finals, Elan 2017. recently hit puberty or even if ter is used in many beauty Clean the affected area of your ing it firm and lightening it too. rub it gently over your stretch Wrap the massaged area in a The final winner gets prizes worth Rs 35,000 and a you’ve done nothing! To help lotions and balms. It keeps your skin with cold water and apply a How to use it marks. cotton cloth and use a heating get rid of these conspicuous skin hydrated, makes it smooth thick layer of the whipped egg Grind coffee beans with warm Rinse the area clean with cold pad on it for 30 minutes to chance to record their music in Soundkraft Recording lines in the most natural way, to the touch and repairs dam- white. water to make a smooth paste. water after half an hour. deliver heat to the area. Studio, Hyderabad.