When it comes to heart disease, the health of the scaffold where cardiac cells grow may be a much bigger factor than previously believed.

Stuart Campbell, associate professor of biomedical engineering & cellular and molecular physiology, led a team of researchers examined the effects of a diseased extracellular matrix (ECM) — the scaffolding material that organizes cells into tissue — on the behavior of healthy heart cells. They found that the ECM appears to play a major role in the progression of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a genetic condition that causes thickened heart muscle. The study appears July 24 in the journal JACC: Basic to Translational Science.

HCM is often caused by gene mutations that affect muscle contraction. Drug treatment can correct the effects of these mutations, but it doesn’t completely reverse the disease. Suspecting that an unhealthy ECM is a culprit, Campbell’s team first obtained diseased ECM from a pig model of HCM. The heart cells were chemically removed from the tissue and replaced with healthy human heart muscle cells. They later compared these cells with cardiac muscle cells grown on a healthy ECM and found that those grown on the diseased ECM showed prolonged contractions and poor relaxation.

“This is really surprising because these cells contain identical genetics and yet they have completely different behaviors just by virtue of which matrix they were growing on,” Campbell said. “It’s almost as if the diseased matrix remembers that it was part of an unhealthy heart. These findings are essentially teeing up the question: How can we fix the matrix and potentially make a big difference in this disease?”

In the study, the researchers observed that the tissue on the diseased matrix required twice the force to stretch to the same length as the tissue on the healthy matrix. That, Campbell said, indicates that the stiffness of the diseased matrix itself is reprogramming active muscle contractions. To counteract the stiffer matrix, the cells appear to grow larger — perhaps mimicking the excess growth of the heart tissue seen in HCM.

“What’s fascinating is that if you take the diseased ECM and put some healthy cells on it, they suddenly have the hallmarks of the patient with poor diastole — the heart’s relaxation phase,” Campbell said. “The implication is that we have to address problems with the matrix to cure this disease once it has emerged — or better yet, be really confident about who’s going to get this disease and treat it before it happens.”

Harpreet Talwar (Kabir Talwar), an Entrepreneur and the owner of one of the most popular clubs in New Delhi. He owns RSPV, Jazbaa and Play Boy Club in Delhi. The restaurant and club Jazbaa and Playboy are at Samrat Hotel under his Firm Fit Fresh Food (India). Harpreet Talwar (Kabir Talwar) was a Delhi University graduate with financial family background. He launched Fit Fresh Food under which they acquired RSVP, Jazbaa and Playboy Club, Delhi. He is also the owner of other companies under which he imports furniture, footwear, and jewelry. 

Harpreet Talwar (Kabir Talwar) says about his Fit Fresh Food, “Fit Fresh Food offers a complete dining and lounging experience and is dedicated to offering a premium experimental dining experience to its clientele. In this new era of fitness consciousness, we offer people healthy-eating options which are our major plus point.”  

For Fit Fresh Food he awarded Times Power Icon award for his contribution to Food and Nightlife by Times in 2018.

Now, Harpreet Talwar (Kabir Talwar) is coming with Emiway Bantai in his Playboy club in Delhi. Emiway Bantai is one of the best rappers out there. He will be coming on 26th July at Harpreet Talwar’s (Kabir Talwar), Playboy Club. Emiway fans don’t gonna miss this. So if you wanna book your tables just visit on Instagram @kabirtalwar or @playboyclubdelhi profile.

Nafih Mohammed Naser, born on 13th December, in the year 1988 in Kasargod district of Kerala is currently appointed as the Social Media Coordinator of the Youth Congress, Bangalore district. He did his schooling from Saadiya Senior Secondary school and his under graduation with bachelors in commerce from PA college, Mangalore. He has a rather dynamic appeal to his approach in the representation of Indian politics, in the day and age where the younger generation detests politics and the corruption that revolves around it, here is a personality who brings out the more Positive, Powerful and impactful social reforms through constant engagement in public service.

Having a huge following on Instagram on his @nmnnafi, portrays a lifestyle which the youth identify, inspire and could relate with. This apart, Nafih Mohamed Naser has been actively involved in efforts to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social, political, economic reform with the desire to make changes in society. He has participated in many rallies and campaigns as a social activist and propagandas like the Anti-drug campaign, to spread awareness and curb its usage among the youth. 

He has also been actively involved in spreading awareness of the political campaigns, meetings, propagandas of the congress party and their contribution to the welfare of society through social media, print media etc.

His followers on social media can see the actual behind the scenes working of a politicians life? He’s breaking the stereotype in more than ways, with adopting lifestyle manners that the youth can identify and also aspire to be like.

Rishabh Sachdev is the owner/partner of Jyoti Group. He hails from Mumbai and is very successful in his line of business. Rishabh is a B.com graduate and knows very well how the market works in order to remain in the top position. 

Under Jyoti Group, Rishabh Sachdev runs Jyoti developers, Jyoti Surgical, Jyoti hotels and much more. In Mumbai, more than 100 buildings are considered by Jyoti group in the last 25 years. They’ve been working majorly in Mumbai’s Andheri area.

Rishabh wants to expand his work more. He will be producing a Bollywood action movie soon. That will mark his debut as a producer in the film industry.

Rishabh said, “I always wanted to venture into films. Now that I have stable and good growth in my business, I can broaden my horizons and invest in films which were always my area of interest.”

Bananas are rich in Vitamins, Iron, Magnesium and many other minerals that are beneficial for our health. But what if you are charged four hundred and forty-two rupees for two bananas in a hotel? Won’t you go bananas?

The well-known actor and India’s national Rugby player, Rahul Bose, took to Twitter to share this obnoxious incident where he demonstrated in a video that how JW Marriott at Chandigarh charged him 442.50 rupees for two bananas.

In the video, he said, “So I am shooting at Chandigarh on this beautiful suite of JW Marriott where they give you all these freebies and elegant cookies…While I was at the gym working out, I asked for two bananas…Of courses I got the bananas but, look at the bill.”

To View Click Here Rahul Bose Twitter

The actor was levied 9% UTGST and CGST. The banana invoice break-up read the food platter costs rupees 375 with taxes of 33.75 each on two sets of same slab GST.

Twitter couldn’t digest this cost of two bananas and went bananas after this revelation.

Here are some snapshots from Twitter..

Let’s supply banana to @JWMarriottChd now that we know what they sell at..I see a business venture for myself.” Tweeted @aartithakurjha

@astitvadhyan tweeted, “Kele ka chilka vapas de dete bhaiya kuch discount milta..”

Another one wrote: “They must have made special gold infused.”

@soumya_tweet wrote, “It’s not banana, it’s ullu banana.”

Actor Rahul Bose in his tweet wrote, “You have to see this to believe it. Who said fruit wasn’t harmful to your existence. Ask the wonderful folks at JW Marriott.”

Early education or pre-primary schools are vital for the preparation of children for a healthy and successful primary education. Many parents feel that children at that age are still too small to attend school and should be spending more time having fun at home. While this is true it is important that their early play and exploration is engaging, educative and stimulating. A well designed early years curriculum provides many stimuli and works towards seeing measurable growth in the child during his time at school. Some of the key benefits that you can expect from sending your child to an early years program will be:

Gives young children socio-emotional growth

One of the first things we need to teach our children is how to separate from their primary caregivers. For a child, knowing that he can separate from his parents into a new environment with new caregivers and have them come back for them a few hours later reinforces healthy separation and emotional security. This is fundamentally helpful for the child to feel comfortable, confident and engaged when they finally move on to full time schooling. A good early learning program focuses on building this independence in a child and measures for factors that show this growth. Interacting, observing and playing with other children also teaches a child how a social group operates and makes them comfortable amongst their peers in school.  

Foundation for numeracy and language skills

Early learning focuses on basic numeracy and language skills. While these are also taught at the primary level, it has been seen that students who engage in early learning are able to have a deeper and more conceptual experience rather than learning the basics. Children start to learn a language at a very young age and in fact, in India, they are often learning multiple languages at home. A good early learning or pre-primary program reinforces these skills. Children are also taught numeracy through different senses.  For example, counting can be taught by moving beads, watching a teacher or singing a song. This engages all of their senses in learning and awakens the child’s interests.  

Fine and Gross Motor development

Early learning or pre-primary programs also engage the physical needs of a child. Through play and special learning toys, teachers are able to create situations in which the child can engage their fine motor (fingers, hands, eyes) or their gross motor skills (running, jumping and crawling).  Exposure to a variety of environments and surfaces gives the child an opportunity to develop their muscles and prepare themselves for life.    

Engagement and exploration

All humans are constantly learning and children in their early years are learning at an extremely rapid pace. Thus it is important to expose them to new environments, people and peers. A new teacher, friend or friend’s parent may be able to give an important and personality forming experience to the child.  These experiences will help them grow into strong confident children who are able to navigate the world and become model citizens.  

Take your time and pick the right program, but remember, that by choosing the right early education or pre-primary school you can give your child that head starts to be successful. 

About the author: Rohan Parikh has a BSc in Economics from Wharton Business School, an MBA from INSEAD, and has more than 10 years of experience in the Real Estate and Hospitality industries. In 2013 Mr. Parikh entered the field of education by founding The Green Acres Academy in Chembur, and simultaneously pursuing a Master’s degree in Education through Johns Hopkins University. 

Yusef Reown is a young entertainer on the rise in Los Angeles, California. From a young age, he always knew he was meant to perform and entertain others around him. During his early teen years, he was flown out to South Africa to perform at TD Jakes, Mega Fest with an audience of over 100,000 people. Yusef always had a niche for writing stories and poems. He published his first poem in a book at the age of 11. 

His early start to fame started through social media sites such as Vine and Twitter. On Vine, he had around 600,000 followers and saw millions of views after constantly trending on Vine and Twitter. From that social media startup, he began to build other usernames on these platforms to expand my presence. Along with this, Yusef Co-Founded @SpiritualWord on Instagram which has over 950,000 followers. Although he has a passion for trends and social media, he has expanded his talents to great lengths.

By the age of 22, Yusef Reown became an internationally published poet by publishing with Half Baked Beans in India.Furthermore, he plan on having more poem and book publications in India when he returns to the country this year.

Along with his wonderful writings, Yusef I also likes to share his talents through my music. He has multiple tracks on iTunes, Spotify, etc. with award winning musicians and producers such as Akil Omari and Wave Chappelle. He wants to continue to create more music in the future as well as his poetry. 

Now living in Los Angeles, CA he is focusing on his entertainment career through modeling, acting, singing, and comedy. He has put on multiple sold out shows here in LA as well as Phoenix, Arizona. 

Yusef has also worked with HBO, Warner Bros, and Disney Studios. 

About his work, Yusef said, “As a resident of California I work as one of the lead producers/engineers for the Comedy Pop Up Network. I also am the host of my personal podcast through the Comedy Pop Up Network called “The Guys of Van Nuys” where myself and co-hosts Angus Stoudt and Calven Pesola share stories of our past life and the road to successful living in Los Angeles, CA.”

He added, “In most recent events I was booked to model for the beverage company Sprite at the 2019 BET Experience in LA. Was on an American game show called “America Says”, and Amazon.”

Nehaa Solanki an Indian Blogger who is well renowned for her Fashion and Lifestyle subjects has taken over the Internet with her sensational ideas and content generating immediate individual attention.

Nehaa a self-made fashionista Blogger has worked with a number of well-renowned brands has also been a part of a number of modeling projects. Nehaa also has a grip on beauty and cosmetic fields. 

Nehaa’s blogging site is considered to be one of the fastest-growing blogs, reaching the mass, making her a well-renowned name in the blogging world also her Fashion and Lifestyle and Travel subjects is a treat for the blogger having the same forte.

Nehaa’s travel diaries include a number of countries like Mauritius, Bali, Maldives and many more.

‘An organization’s culture must evolve in the next five years for their company to succeed, grow, and retain the best people.’ That’s what 80% of people said in an eye-opening 2018 study from Deloitte. Culture no longer fits in the confines of token birthday cakes and team outings. Culture today is an integral part of corporate strategy and has been shapeshifting over the years to include multiple meanings.

So, what does culture mean exactly?

According to Richard Perrin, Partner, Head of Advisory, KPMG Moldova, “Organizational culture is the sum of values and rituals which serve as ‘glue’ to integrate the members of the organization.”

In today’s increasingly dynamic job market, this need to integrate members has become more urgent than ever. There has also been a tectonic change in how candidates, especially millennials, look for a job. In addition to the normal parameters of pay scales and benefits, job seekers today evaluate organizations for the best fit. While you may be looking for the people who best fit your company’s culture, they are trying to find whether your company is the best fit for them.

And how can you be that organization? The one that everyone would be excited to work for? In my 20 years of experience working in across multiple industries, I have seen that there are a host of factors that go into the making of a culturally strong organization. I am attempting to describe a few top of the list here.

Establishing clear values

When terrorists took over the Taj Hotel in Mumbai on that fateful evening in November 2008, it immediately made headlines the world over. But as the harrowing attack was being brought under control, another piece of news grabbed the world’s attention. Of how various employees showed exemplary behaviour by risking their lives to save the lives of several guests and helping them escape. They had clearly acted on their own imbibing the core values of the Tata Group, which are hospitality and service. 

Laying down well-defined values gives employees watchwords to belong to. It inspires them, mobilizes them, and creates a sense of involvement, making them feel part of the organization be it internal engagements or business relations.

The IKEA effect

Participation and involvement is one of the crucial ingredients of a strong organizational culture and can be illustrated by the IKEA effect. The concept, described as part of consumer psychology, is quite simple. When a person is involved in building even a part of a product, they are immediately filled with a sense of pride and tend to assign a greater value to the end result. Similarly, in an organization, employees feels more motivated and experience higher job satisfaction when they feel that their participation is crucial to the company’s success.

A 2017 study from Bain & Company across 400 companies who had successfully achieved their goals for transformation rated engagement and participation as the top factor. The ability to effectively engage all the employees as one towards achieving the company’s goals was rated more than 50% higher than even competitive strategies. Among the participants, four out of five agreed that “today’s business leaders must trust and empower people, not command and control them.”

For any transformative program to succeed in the workplace, it needs to function as a unified whole with employees being the engine. As Antoine De Saint-Exupery, said in The Little Prince, “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Driving entrepreneurship

In other words, employees feel empowered with the autonomy they have been given, and this fosters entrepreneurship. “Self-organization enables employees to act more like entrepreneurs and self-direct their work instead of reporting to a manager who tells them what to do,” says Jon Wolske, former Culture Evangelist and Insights Manager at Zappos, in an E&Y article.

Indeed, after Zappos CEO, Tony Hsieh, introduced holacracy, a system of decentralization and self-management, in 2013, the company announced sales in excess of US$ 2 billion by the end of 2015. Interesting, right?

Organizations across sectors have been attempting to create and assign P&Ls two to three levels below the CEO and empowering them with financial decisions. This helps mid-level managers understand the linkage of their decisions to the top and bottom line a lot more clearly, thereby driving real entrepreneurial behaviour at each level.

A rewarding culture

Not only is individual entrepreneurship a crucial part of a robust organizational culture but also one that is bound to create palpable impact. As a Salesforce 2017 report pointed out, employees who felt their voices were heard were 4.6 times more likely to put in their best effort.

But embedding transformation at all levels in the organization also calls for follow-through; an acknowledgment of the employees’ dedication.

After all, who doesn’t want recognition for a job well done?

A good recognition program is one of the key ingredients for a balanced culture. In a Globoforce report, 85% of HR managers surveyed said that employee recognition and reward programs are an important part of organizational culture and boots engagement. It does go a long way in humanizing employee experience at the workplace, which in turn increases retention and productivity.

Designing a reward and recognition program that goes beyond rewarding performance and includes aspects like recognising desired behaviours (and thus strengthening desired culture at workplace), celebrating life events, and rewarding new business ideas have an extremely positive impact on employee morale.

A diverse culture

But there is another reward that you can give your employee, which is crucial to establishing a harmonious work culture. Recognizing their identity, background, and individuality.

The recognition of diversity is a key factor in assessing the robustness of an organization’s culture. It is also inexorably linked to the performance, profitability, and effectiveness of an organization.

Qantas Airlines CEO Alan Joyce can vouch for that. In 2017, the airline registered its second-highest profits ever, and Joyce attributed their success to a very diverse environment and a very inclusive culture,’ as he told The Australian Business Review.

And how do you define that inclusion? A truly robust diversity and inclusion initiative is all-encompassing. The Nukkad Teafe in Raipur gained popularity and has excellent customer retention for not just its food but also because it employs hearing and speech impaired staff. In Wipro’s sprawling campuses, Braille signages, wheelchair ramps, and voice-activated elevators well and truly embrace and include the differentially abled into the organization.

This year, L’Oréal USA was one of the companies that achieved a perfect 100% score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual Corporate Equality Index, which ranks US companies for their efforts to include the LGBTQ community. The company is proud of its partner benefits programs, awareness and accountability programs, and other initiatives that drive its mission of ‘Beauty for All.’

A Manpower report that came out in 2015 shows that 59% of corporate leaders believe that one of the most powerful changes that an organization can bring about is a gender-neutral culture. And it can be achieved only by getting past what Manpower calls an ‘entrenched male culture,’ and consciously including all genders and sexual orientations across all levels, diversity in leadership, and recognizing different needs. And that, I strongly believe, is a potent ingredient in making a culture rich and vibrant.

Infrastructure that supports culture

However, even the most lovingly built cultures can begin to unravel if an equally carefully designed physical infrastructure does not support it. Workplace design is crucial in effectively maintaining the company’s culture as it has been shown to have an impact on employee wellbeing and engagement.

Again, it comes down to having autonomy. A 2016 global study by Steelcase noted that 88% of employees who had more control over their workspace with the flexibility to choose where and how they worked along with accompanying equipment like good lighting were highly engaged and productive.

An open office plan, for example, promotes transparency and encourages a healthy and collaborative culture. It is more welcoming, immediate, and fosters a sense of community. Offices these days are following the No cabins, No doors culture which along with beautifully designed collaborative spaces enable employees to be more interactive and approachable.

However, an open office plan does not suit all types of businesses, and one needs to choose wisely. Perhaps, designing some areas in the open office model while retaining privacy in others might work better. Ultimately, the key is to leverage office space to the maximum in building a resilient workplace, which is in effect, the core of a strong organizational culture.

Building culture that’s unique to one’s company is tricky and requires an investment of thought and leadership time more than any other resource. There is no perfect recipe, but there are tried and tested ones. One needs to keep working on it, keeping room for culture to evolve positively given that changes in economy, competitive landscape or organization’s business strategy itself may warrant a change in some if not all aspects of the culture.

(The Author is Chief People Officer – ANAROCK Property Consultants. Views expressed are personal.)

Latest research has shown that people successfully treated for visceral leishmaniasis or Kala Azar in South Asia can still infect others if they develop a skin condition known as post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). This could be a threat to elimination of leishmaniasis in South Asia. 

The objective of the study was to assess whether parasites in the skin of PKDL patients could be transmitted to the sandflies that transmit kala-azar.  

The results of the study conducted by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh were published in Clinical Infectious Diseases this week.  

Patients can develop PKDL – skin lesions in the form of rashes and nodules – usually six months to one year after successfully completing treatment for visceral leishmaniasis, a deadly parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies also known as kala-azar, or black fever. PKDL lesions contain the same parasite that causes kala-azar. 

“This is the largest study of its type to date. Until now, information on the role of PKDL was scarce and scattered across decades of different research initiatives,” said Dr Jorge Alvar, senior leishmaniasis advisor at DNDi and co-principal investigator of the study. “The results unequivocally show that PKDL is of pivotal importance for maintaining transmission of the disease in-between epidemics.”

As part of the trial, PKDL patients allowed themselves to be bitten by laboratory-reared sandflies (which were free from infection) by plunging their hands into a cage for 15 minutes containing male and female sandflies. The sandflies were then analysed for the parasites that cause kala-azar. 

The results showed that nearly 60% of the 47 PKDL patients in the study passed on the parasites to sandflies. This means the insects could then go on to infect someone else. 

“Just because PKDL is not fatal it has largely been ignored by public health efforts, and many scientific questions around its role have remained unaddressed,” said Dr Dinesh Mondal, senior scientist at the icddr,b and principal investigator of the study. “While these new findings don’t answer all our questions, they do show that early treatment of PKDL patients will be a critical element of any leishmaniasis public health and elimination strategy.” 

People with PKDL sometimes remain untreated for a long time. Transmission of the disease could therefore be occurring even when kala-azar is controlled and small numbers are being reported.

‘’Great strides have been made in the control of kala-azar in South Asia, but this study shows that now we must engage in active PKDL case detection and provide prompt treatment as an integral part of kala-azar control and elimination,” said Dr Suman Rijal, Director of the DNDi Regional Office in India. “PKDL must be addressed in order to sustain elimination or we risk jeopardizing our earlier successes.”

DNDi is now preparing a similar study in Sudan. DNDi is also running clinical trials to test two treatment regimens for patients with PKDL, in South Asia and East Africa, in a bid to make treatments simpler, safer and more effective. Learn more here.