Banana the Miracle Fruit Help Transform your Health.

This is interesting. After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.

But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

DEPRESSION:

According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS:

Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

ANEMIA:

High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

BLOOD PRESSURE:

This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

BRAIN POWER:

200 students at a Twickenham school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

CONSTIPATION:

High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

HANGOVERS:

One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

HEARTBURN:

Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

MORNING SICKNESS:

Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

MOSQUITO BITES:

Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

NERVES:

Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system..

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

ULCERS:

The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chroniclercases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

TEMPERATURE CONTROL:

Many other cultures see bananas as a ‘cooling’ fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has FOUR TIMES the protein, TWICE the carbohydrate, THREE TIMES the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, ‘A BANANA a day keeps the doctor away!’

source: Interesting Facts & Information

Satyam Kumar, whose father is a farmer, secured an all India rank of 679. He had got 8,137th rank last year and took the exam again to improve his ranking.

ARA: A 13-year-old child prodigy from Bihar'sBhojpur district, who had created history by becoming the youngest student to clear the IIT-JEE entrance exam last year, had cracked the prestigious examination again with an improved ranking this year. 

Satyam Kumar, whose father is a farmer, secured an all India rank of 679. He had got 8,137th rank last year and took the exam again to improve his ranking. 

The boy had broken the record of Delhi's Sahal Kaushik last year. Kaushik had cracked the IIT-JEE exam when he was 14. 

Born on July 20, 1999, Satyam had shownexceptional talent since childhood. He left Patna's Central Public School to move to Kota in Rajasthan to join an IIT coaching institute. 

The institute's director, R K Verma, took his test and found his so talented that he helped financehis studies for one of the toughest examinations in the country. 

Satyam, who passed his Class X examination from a Kota school, said he wants to be a scientist to contribute to aeronautical and aerospace engineering. 

At a function organized to felicitate him, Satyam told students to solve difficult problems of mathematics and physics playfully through duplet method.












source:TNN

28 of the 30 students from Bihar's Super 30 free coaching centre cracked the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE).

A labourer, a landless farmer, a mechanic, a small shopkeeper and a driver are among the proud parents of children who cracked the highly-competitive IIT-JEE examthis year, thanks to a free coaching centre for underprivileged students in Bihar.

This year, 28 of the 30 students from Bihar'sSuper 30 free coaching centre cracked the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE). The results were announced on Friday.  

One of the students from Super 30 who cracked the exam, Bhanu Pratap, is the son of Rampyare Pratap, a poor labourer from Uttar Pradesh. "You have shown us the day we had not even dreamed of. We shall always be obliged to you," Geeta Devi, Bhanu Prataps's mother, told Anand Kumar, who runs the free coaching centre. 

Pranav Kumar from Samastipur district in Bihar is the son of a landless farmer, Pankaj Kumar. Pranav studied in a government school. On cracking the exam, he said that Anand Kumar "not only taught us but gave us the confidence to excel even in the face of odds". 

When Ankit Kumar from Vaishali district in Bihar lost his father; a lineman in the telephone department in a road accident last year, his life seemed to come to a standstill. His jobless mother could not afford to educate him. "I came to know of Super 30 and cleared its screening test. Here, I seemed to have found my new father," he said. 

Shivangi Gupta, daughter of magazine vendor in Deha, 50km from Kanpur, saw acute hardship from her childhood as her father Viresh Chandra Gupta struggled to make both ends meet. 

"I was provided all help and stayed at Anand Kumar's and finally cracked my dream exam," Shivangi said. 

Another student who cracked the IIT-JEE exam after being tutored at Super 30 is Abhishek Kumar. His father, Ghanshyam, is a mechanic. Abhishek wants to become an electrical engineer, a trait that runs in his genes. 

Farhad and Yasmeen Shafi's son Hanjala has also made it through the IIT-JEE. Hanjala's parents have a small shop in Patna. They somehow scraped together money to pay his school fees. "Today my son is set to go to IIT," said a proud Yasmeen. 

Santosh Kumar's father Sanjeev Mallik from Madhubani is worried how he will pay his son's IIT fees, but he has faith in god to see them through. "I don't have the money to buy him new clothes and books. But when god has brought him this far, he will take care of his future also. I am a driver and don't even know what IIT is," Mallik said. 

A proud Afsar Nath Mishra, a Sanskrit teacher and priest from Banka, is proud that his daughter Preeti Kumari will be an engineer. "She will be our support when we are old," Mishra said. 

Super 30 is an innovative school run by Anand Kumar since 2002. He selects 30 students from poor families and grooms them for the IIT. He provides them with free board and lodging, paying for everything from his own pocket.

source :IANS

Unique, green air-cooling system for Nalanda University Bihar

Architects building the Nalanda International University at the ancient seat of learning in Bihar have decided to use the desiccant enhanced evaporative (Devap) air-cooling system. This is the first time such a system will be used in India.

The Devap system works by using "dessicant" material that removes moisture from the air using heat, as also evaporative technologies that bring about cooling by using up to 90 percent less energy than conventional means.

"We plan to use the Devap system in Nalanda International University for the first time in India, as it gels with the concept of the ancient seat of learning," said Rajeev Kathpalia, principal architect of the Ahmedabad-based company Vastu Shilpa Consultants, selected last month to design the university.

Kathpalia said the Devap system had not been tried in India till now. "It will be an experiment in Nalanda," Kathpalia told IANS, adding that it had shown satisfactory results in the US and Japan.

Kathpalia, along with B.V. Doshi, the firm's principal architect, visited the site at Rajgir, some 100 km from Patna, where the university will be built, and discussed the design with Vice Chancellor Gopa Sabharwal.

Sabharwal said construction work on the 446-acre plot, located 12 km from the ruins of the ancient seat of learning, would begin by December.

She said the first phase of the varsity, an initiative of the Indian government and supported by the East Asia Summit, would be completed in two years.

The university will begin its academic session from 2014, initially offering masters degrees in ecology, environment and historic studies, Sabharwal said.

Kathpalia pointed out that the buildings would be designed on the concept of "net zero" energy consumption. The university would generate its own energy using photo voltaics. It would also collect the biomass of neighbouring villages to generate its own electricity and harvest rainwater.

The university, which will have seven schools, will be fully residential, like the ancient Nalanda university. It will offer courses in science, philosophy and spiritualism, along with social sciences.

The project took shape in 2006, at the initiative of then president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

source: IANS

Senior CitizensThrong in on Facebook.

Are seniors becoming the new power user on Facebook? The landscape of Facebook is constantly changing and few are aware that people over 65 are taking classes about Facebook and using it as a social outlet and gaming source more and more everyday. SeniorNet was among the first to foresee this growing trend, which is why it offers social media courses as part of its curriculum.
This infographic illustrates the rampant growth of seniors using Facebook!
- See more at: http://seniornet.org/blog/the-new-facebook-user-senior-citizens-infographic/#sthash.w2dSDBVC.dpuf

Are seniors becoming the new power user on Facebook? The landscape of Facebook is constantly changing and few are aware that people over 65 are taking classes about Facebook and using it as a social outlet and gaming source more and more everyday. SeniorNet was among the first to foresee this growing trend, which is why it offers social media courses as part of its curriculum.
This infographic illustrates the rampant growth of seniors using Facebook!
- See more at: http://seniornet.org/blog/the-new-facebook-user-senior-citizens-infographic/#sthash.w2dSDBVC.dpuf

     For some, it acts as a lifeline, connecting them with their dear ones while for others, it's a new hobby. Either way, Facebook (FB) is the new hit among the aged.

Talking to a number of people in the city revealed that the fastest growing section for Facebook consists of people over 50 years of age. Elderly Patnaites are increasingly taking to social media. The reason for 50+ population flocking to FB is as varied as a need to keep in touch with family and friends, hunt for people from their past or wanting merely to be a part of changing times. 

Extremely active on FB, 65-year-old Tejrashi Mehrotra, an ex-teacher of Notre Dame Academy, said, "I previously had an account on Orkut and later, in 2007, I switched over to FB. Since then, my mantra has been to begin my day with signing in." Asked about the significance of social networking in her life, she said, "I think it's important to keep your grey cells engaged at such an age. FB helps me stay connected with all my students and colleagues. It's like my life's story unfolding on a screen. I make sure I wish all the people who have their birthdays coming up, and we share photos online too." 

On the other hand, a large number of this age group comes into this picture only by creating an account on the social networking site. Limiting their adventurous sides, they haven't really been on the go as far as social media is concerned and so, terms like 'Tagging' or 'Unfriend' aren't very well-known. 

"My daughter created my account a few months ago but I don't know much about it," said 55-year-old Mamta Tiwary, residing in Boring Canal Road area, "Even now, when faced with one of the many confusing scenarios FB presents, she is the one who helps me figure it out. My interaction is limited to visiting my page once a day before I go to bed."

Fifty-year-old Prabhat Trivedi, who had his account created by his daughter about two years ago, echoes the same line of thought. Updating status and changing cover photos aren't in his to-do list. "I can't find enough time to use FB much. When online, I mainly chat with my relatives and friends." 

Even though the percentage of Patnaites over age 50 who are joining Facebook has been on the rise, some of the older members have started to lose interest. "I joined Facebook about five years ago and was a regular user until a year ago," said V K Manchanda, a 65-year-old member. "I used to spend three to four hours every day, gathering all my relatives and creating a family tree but now, I don't log in often. Any argument in the family is blown up and discussed over Facebook and I get inevitably dragged into it."

"Be it among addicted teenagers or the middle-aged, Facebook has always been a rage. But, the presence of a family's older members on FB is now becoming more obvious than ever." said Anandpuri resident Amrit Jha, 35.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            SOURCE:TNN