Acronyms from AskOxford.com

Acronyms are words formed from the initial letters of other words and pronounced as they are spelled, not as separate letters. Examples include: 

acronym	full form
Aids	acquired immune deficiency syndrome
NATO	North Atlantic Treaty Organization
UNESCO	United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
SIM (card)	subscriber identification module

 

·         Most acronyms can be written as capital letters or with only an initial capital letter. 

·         Some acronyms are so established that they are now 'normal' words, generally used without conscious awareness of their original full form. These words should be written in lower-case letters. Examples include: 

laser	light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation
radar	radio detection and ranging
quango	quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization
scuba	self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

http://oxforddictionaries.com/page/abbreviationsacronyms

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: 27 August 2011

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us. -Helen Keller, author and lecturer (1880-1968) 

Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to Anna Hazare from IBNLIVE

Dear Anna,

I write this to you neither as a fawning cheerleader nor a cynical journalist, but rather as a proud Indian like you. Let me applaud you at the very outset for having brought the issue of corruption to the national centrestage. You have worked tirelessly for more than two decades in exposing corruption in Maharashtra but Ralegan Siddhi is a long way from Delhi which is perhaps why television channels hadn't featured your contribution prominently till now. An opinion poll we did just a month ago suggested that more people had heard of yoga guru Baba Ramdev than a tireless fakir-like crusader from a Western Maharashtra village.

All that has now changed. Your latest fast has made you a household name. You've brought the mighty Indian state to its knees. You've encouraged millions of anonymous Indians to come out on the streets and get a voice. You've exposed a political class, suffering from a grave moral crisis, to the wider world. You've empowered those who've felt lost in a new India where wealth is the sole presiding deity. You've become a symbol of change and hope at a time when a scam culture has assaulted the conscience of the nation. You've even shown that the Marathas, a community that has failed to conquer Delhi since losing the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761, can indeed take the national capital by storm. But in every battle there must come a time when you must call a halt. That time may well be approaching.

Gandhi, the greatest Indian of them all, from whom you claim to derive your inspiration, never went on a fast unto death by refusing medication. For Gandhi, the idea of fasting was a form of self-purification, a fast could not be undertaken, as he said, "out of anger. Anger is a short-term madness." Yes, there is anger on the streets today, an almost volcanic eruption of the lava that has been simmering for decades. Your genius lies in being able to channel that popular anger against corruption into a well-defined goal of a strong anti-corruption law and, importantly, doing so in a peaceful manner. The real danger though now is that a peaceful, non-violent movement runs the risk of being overwhelmed by what Dr Ambedkar, the great constitutionalist, described a fast unto death as, by the "grammar of anarchy."

There have been some signs of this in the last 48 hours that are truly worrying. The gherao of the homes of Members of Parliament may be visually appealing, but it encourages an anti-politician 'sab neta chor hai' rhetoric that could further destroy faith in parliamentary democracy. The increasingly strident language being used by certain members of Team Anna - a term which creates the regrettable impression of you being surrounded by a coterie - is to be best avoided at a time when a rational dialogue is called for.

Only two days ago, a colleague of mine was assaulted in the heart of the capital by a drunk biker gang waving the Tricolour and chanting 'I am Anna' slogans. The frenzy being built up in the media by hyper-ventilating news channels and demagogic acolytes could easily transform a genuine people's movement into a lumpen expression of mob fury. It's a transformation that could end up destroying the hard-earned credibility of your struggle.

Ram Lila is not Mumbai's Azad Maidan nor is it the village square in Ralegan Siddhi. This is not some battle to stop the local thug from shutting his liquor shop. Here, there are multiple agendas that require dexterous negotiation and not mere sloganeering. The sight of gangster Abu Salem's girlfriend Monica Bedi parading Mumbai's streets with an Anna cap should convince you of the dangers of reducing the fight against corruption to a well-choreographed prime time TV spectacle.

It is true no fast can be called off till the primary goal has been achieved. If that goal is to have the Jan Lok Pal bill passed exactly as you desire then that is a maximalist position which is never easy to accommodate overnight. Gandhi himself often spoke of the 'beauty' of compromise. Without doubt the fact that you have forced an obdurate government to fast-forward the Lok Pal Bill and accept most of your proposals is itself a major achievement. But to ram through a Bill that has been hanging fire for decades within the space of a few days without a sustained and truly inclusive dialogue with all stakeholders would be self-defeating.

Yes, one recognizes you have little trust in a discredited government that only ten days ago, arrogantly and foolishly, first defamed, then arrested you and now salutes you. A flip-flop government sorely missing a strong political authority has taken refuge in parliamentary procedure when the simpler way out to atone for their sins would have been an unqualified apology for your arrest followed by a withdrawal of the government Bill and a fresh start to the pre-legislation consultation. Yes, you are hurt, and rightly so, by the government's attitude, but this is the moment to show your heart is much bigger than the petty minds who reside in official bungalows. It's time for practicality, not prestige. Why not, for example, get the government to commit to a special session of Parliament in six to eight weeks on an amended Lok Pal Bill so that a new, well-considered law becomes a Diwali gift to the nation?

Post-script: I have framed a picture of our meeting earlier this week. The caption reads: "When zero met hero!". India is not Anna, nor is Anna India, but you are now an icon for millions. Please don't allow a personality cult to shadow your ultimate gift of common sense.

http://ibnlive.in.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/62654/rajdeep-sardesais-open-letter-to-anna-hazare.html

Fun Vocabulary 1 (L1) Anagram and Palindrome

Fun Vocabulary 1 (L1)

Anagram

Listen, married, dormitory, astronomer, mother-in-law

A word, phrase, or sentence formed from another by rearranging its letters: "Angel" is an anagram of "glean."

Hint Jobs:

1.    Break

2.    Framer

3.    Cheater

4.    Leader

5.    Remain

6.    Repaint

7.    Rebuild

8.    Roasting

9.    Treason

10.   Nameless

Palindrome

A word, verse, or sentence (as "Madam I'm Adam") or a number (as 1881) that reads the same backward or forward

Aha, Madam, Racecar, Malayalam

Murder for a jar of red rum

1.    A legal document that you sign, especially one that proves that you own a house or a building

2.    Even; not sloping

3.    Twelve hours after midnight

4.    The males and the females

5.    To peek; to peer through a crevice

6.    Pertaining to public affairs, or to a city

7.    A term of respectful address to a women

8.    A belief, dogma, or principle

9.    An electronic system for locating objects

10.   Small child

 

 

 

Answers

Anagrams: Baker, Farmer, Teacher, Dealer, Marine, Painter, Builder, Organist (one who plays the organ), Senator, Salesman; Palindrome: Deed, level, noon, sexes, peep, civic, madam, tenet, radar, tot. 

Om! Yoga therapy to remove all disorders (TOI)

Jayashree Nandi, TNN | Jul 1, 2011, 12.41AM IST

BANGALORE: Yoga is no longer a traditional fitness workout. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans) not only has a 45-minute yoga package to treat psychiatric disorders like depression and schizophrenia, but has started comparing its curative effects with general medicine. 

Doctors at Nimhans say their studies reveal evidence of biological changes in the body brought about by yoga. They prescribe yoga therapy along with medication in major ailments, while using yoga therapy alone for less serious disorders. 

Nimhans is currently doing rigorous clinical trials on the impact of yoga in treatment. Doctors are also measuring biological parameters in patients after yoga therapy. This project has been taken up as the scientific community has still not accepted the role of yoga despite even mainstream doctors prescribing it with allopathic treatment. 

"In all our investigations, there is a high degree of evidence that yoga in different forms does have a curative effect in diseases like depression, memory loss in elderly persons, schizophrenia and others. We worked out specific protocols for yoga for specific neurological problems. The degree of improvement is comparable to that of medicine," said programme director, Advanced Centre for Yoga, Nimhans, Dr B N Gangadhar. 

Benefits of yoga 

Nimhans worked out 12 hypothetical leads, and for some, experts have found evidence. 

* Yoga reduces cortisol levels (cortisol is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland. It's released in response to stress and low level of blood glucocorticoids) 

* Yoga increases brain derived neurotrophic factor (BNDF). The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the nerve growth factor family. Expression of this gene is reduced in patients suffering from Alzheimer's and Huntington. It may regulate stress response 

* Yoga helps reduce TNF alfa (tumour necrosis factor) 

"We found that chanting of `Om' reduces activity of sensors which have become hyperactive in patients suffering from depression. About 35-40 patients come to our centre every day. We've developed a 45-minute package that should be practised daily. We found certain biological parameters also change with yoga practice. It's not merely faith in a traditional therapy; it's much more than faith," Dr B N Gangadhar said. 

Case study 

The yoga university (Bangalore and Jigani) recently found evidence that it can reduce sugar levels and help control it in a case of juvenile onset diabetes Type 1 of 14-year-old Rakshith S. He suffered very high sugar levels and severe glaucoma for 18 months but now his sugar level has stabilized thanks to 21 days of intensive yoga therapy. It's a matter of pride for Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samstha University. 

Rakshith was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 12 after complaints of giddiness and tiredness and being very hungry most of the time. In September 2009, he was diagnosed with fasting blood sugar level of 340 mg/dl and post-prandial blood sugar level of 525 mg/dl. 

"Doctors asked me to take insulin. I used to inject it. Despite using high doses, blood sugar level didn't come to normal," he said. 

When he came to SVYASA, his insulin dosage was 24 units in the morning and 24 in the evening. A holistic approach that included asanas, pranayama, suddhi kriyas or detox methods, meditation and sattvic food was put in place. But Rakshith had glaucoma in which the intraocular pressure rises, so he couldn't do all the asanas. 

His therapist Rupali Ashok Zamvar said: "We saw tremendous improvement and stability in his sugar level after therapy. His insulin dosage was gradually reduced. We gave him instant relaxation, quick relaxation and deep relaxation techniques. Diet also played a major role." 

Treatment training 
Dr R Nagarathna: Yoga expert 
The department of AYUSH launched a country-wide Stop Diabetes campaign. In it, we train yoga practitioners to treat diabetes patients. Extensive research over 20 years reveal that blood sugar reduces with yoga and good cholestrol increases. It has a calming effect on body and mind. We have seen improvements in those suffering from hypertension, obesity, heart diseases and cancer. 

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Om-Yoga-therapy-to-remove-all-disorders/articleshow/9056009.cms?prtpage=1