DesiPundit

Lekhni has a good analysis of the Niketa Mehta case. She summarizes the case that has been causing controversy, lays out the arguments for and against the abortion, and presents her take:

1.  Who is more important, the mother or the foetus? The crux is, can we force a mother to:
(i) carry an unwanted foetus to term, with possible medical complications to the mother during delivery or childbirth,
(ii) endure postpartum blues, and
(iii) post-birth, force her to care for an infant that she does not want, all this just because we believe the foetus is a living creature and is therefore considered a citizen?

Malapati Raja Sekhar points to a wonderful innovation that should go a long way towards solving the problem of transporting drinking water in rural areas. The solution - rollable water containers.

Peter Griffin has some great advice for people who want to quit smoking. I wanted to say the advice is heartfelt, but it sounds like such a bad pun.  I hope he recovers soon, and stays off nicotine.

3. Deal with it one pang at a time.

The urge to smoke doesn’t usually last more than a few minutes. 15 minutes at most. Find something to do with your hands for those 15 minutes. It helps. Or just recognise the pang, acknowledge it, and deliberately think about something else.

Next time you finish off a pack of your favorite biscuit in one shot, may be you have increased the risk of cancer. Nita checks some of the popular brands of biscuits and tells us that even the so called Healthy biscuits are NOT healthy.

It is also significant that biscuits such as these which proclaim themselves to be a “light” snack are not light. Just note the calories per 100 gms in this biscuit - over 500! This is higher than Britannia’s 495 calories for their goodday biscuits, and guess what - it has more energy/calories that Parle’s own glucose biscuit!!

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Britannia’s claim that this biscuit is healthy makes no sense! For one thing, the 79 percent cereal may be cereal but this “cereal” is nothing but maida (white refined flour) which is not healthy. And calling this biscuit ‘Pure Health’ is another misnomer. Even if this biscuit is more healthy than many others (fewer additives and no transfats) that does not justify this kind of labeling. They should just say zero transfat and leave it at that!

Mogadalai Gururajan feels that Jo’s post at Mutiny has claims that are irrational,unscientific and borders on sensationalism,fear mongering and conspiracy theories.Gururajan condemns the post that is stupid and wrongly timed.

I often come across posts in some of the scienceblogs (like aetiology for example), about anti-vaccination lobby in the US. However I did not know about such groups which are active in India till I saw this post in Mutiny today.

Suvrat Kher writes about an NPR study that maps hotspots for emerging diseases and finds that the developing world is a key ground for emerging diseases. While this would not be surprising by itself, I am more likely to think of Africa in this context. But Suvrat argues that India is also a major hotspot, given the high population density and proximity of humans to animals.

Spin the combinations any way you like and India especially north India emerges as a hotspot for emerging diseases in every which way. Not very surprising considering the very high population density and proximity with domesticated animals. The recent outbreak of Avian Bird flu in West Bengal is a reminder that such threats are real and the assessed risks are not an outcome of some computer simulation done in a far away lab.

temporal has a heart-wrenching poem describing a silent, hapless spectator in a hospital.

the patient is slipping,
will not see another dawn
if i speak up now
wailing will start
if i hold my peace

the night in quiet
will pass

I thought we had heard all the horror stories about prostitution in India - the kidnapping of girls, the inhuman conditions, the lack of opportunities to escape all this, the HIV risk.. Now there is another  - Cynic in Wonderland points to the dangerous practice of injecting hormones in pre-teen girls in Pune to make them appear older and more mature.

What are the people who burn buses for kissing in public doing about this?

The mixture of estrogens and testosterone is dangerous, (and often lethal) is forcibly given to these girls (considerately called ‘vitamins’ if you please) supposedly for the better health of the girls – but probably for the continued health of the pimps. ‘Fresh girls’ who actually look much older, have a dual advantage – on one hand, they are more ‘marketable’ and probably fetch a better price ; and on the other hand, they are also less likely to attract the attention of cops or social service workers.

Sonal Singh talks about pre-marital HIV/AIDS testing and the surrounding  issues.

No one should be put at risk for HIV/AIDS infection. After all, even though now infected persons can lead full and healthy lives for many years, it is a dangerous disease that not only an individual has to live with for his/her entire life, but also dumps emotional and financial burden on his/her family. Yes, definitely a premarital HIV test is necessary.

…..Firstly, the UN guidelines state that NO ONE (not the central government, not the state government, not the doctor, not the nurse, not the counsellor, not the brother, sister, father, mother, wife, child – NO ONE) can force an individual to test for HIV/AIDS. Okay. So you can’t do mandatory testing.

Bikerdude wonders what happened to Bangalore’s first ever roller coaster flyover.

“The Bengalooru Mahanagara Palike (BMP) is constructing a series of 5 hump-backed flyovers on Sankey Road, all in a span of 5 days. Ingenious Malaysian technology is being used, where interlocking concrete blocks will be assembled lego-style, to create a flyover system overnight. At the end of the 5 day period, Sankey Road will look like this: