Toddler born with dangerous heart defect who must have daily dose of Viagra says her first words

A baby born with a heart defect and kept alive with daily doses of Viagra has delighted her parents by saying her first words.

Cerys Small is always smiling because despite a shaky start in life she is finally on the road to recovery.

The 19-month-old toddler, was also born with no spleen and problems with her stomach and bowel. She is treated with daily doses of Viagra and took her first steps two months ago.

Cerys' is now 19 months old (right) and has rapidly improved after she had a throat tube replaced with a stomach tube. She had heart surgery at five months (left) to correct a number of defects

Relief: Cerys with her sister Megan and brother Evan as well as mother Kerrie and father Gareth. She has Viagra every day to help blood flow

She is now stringing sentences together after the feeding tube in her nose and throat was removed earlier this month. One of her favourite phrases is: 'I want to walk'.
Cerys’ parents Gareth and Kerrie both 32, said she has come on leaps and bounds in the past few months, especially since she underwent an operation to fit a feeding tube directly into her stomach on August 2.

Heart specialists are so impressed with her progress they say they do not need to see her for another nine months.

They also hope to eventually wean her off Viagra - most commonly used for treating sexual dysfunction in men - which helps her blood circulate around her body more easily.

Cerys Small when she was 10 months old after her condition had stabilised, with her sister Megan-Leigh and brother Evan

Mrs Small, from Newport, South Wales said: 'It’s lovely because people do not stare any more. She’s talking a lot more and wanting to eat more herself.

'She’s doing absolutely fab considering what the doctors told us she could be like. When I was pregnant the prognosis was grim, we didn’t even know if she would still be with us now.

'They advised us seven times to have a termination. She’s been through a hell of a lot in 19 months and she’s still got a long road to go down, but when you look at how she is now it makes you really grateful that we didn’t listen and we did carry on with the pregnancy.'

Doctor’s discovered Cerys had a hole in her heart during Mrs Small’s 20-week pregnancy scan and gave her just a 50 per cent chance of survival.
The toddler takes six tablets a day to manage her condition. She has proved she is a real fighter undergoing three open-heart operations all before she was five months old, and she continues to amaze doctors with her resilience.
Cerys, who has a brother Evan, eight, and sister Megan, nine, will eventually have to undergo more heart surgery in a few years’ time but for now the family are happy she is making good progress

New Zebrafish Study Explains Why the Circadian Rhythm Affects Health

According to a new study from Linköping University and Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, disruptions to the circadian rhythm can affect the growth of blood vessels in the body, thus causing illnesses such as diabetes, obesity, and cancer.
The circadian rhythm is regulated by a "clock" that reacts to both incoming light and genetic factors.
In an article now being published in the scientific journal Cell Reports, it is demonstrated for the first time that disruption of the circadian rhythm immediately inhibit blood vessel growth in zebra fish embryos.
A normal circadian rhythm regulates the genes needed to form the signalling substance VEGF, which in turn is necessary for blood vessel growth (angiogenesis). When light at night disturbs the circadian rhythm, and VEGF cannot be produced –- blood vessel growth is inhibited, which can be seen in the microscope images at right. Image: Lasse Dahl Jensen
Professor Yihai Cao leads a research group, which has demonstrated that the breaking point is the production of a very important signalling substance: vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). The formation of this substance requires a normal circadian rhythm.
During experiments with hours-old zebra fish embryos, the researchers manipulated their circadian rhythm through exposing them to lighting conditions varying from constant darkness to constant light. The growth of blood vessels in the various groups was then studied. The results showed that exposure to constant light (1800 lux) markedly impaired blood vessel growth; additionally, it affected the expression of genes that regulate the circadian clock.
"The results can definitely be translated into clinical circumstances. Individuals with disrupted circadian rhythms – for example, shift workers who work under artificial lights at night, people with sleeping disorders or a genetic predisposition – should be on guard against illnesses associated with disrupted blood vessel growth," says Lasse Dahl Jensen, researcher in Cardiovascular Physiology at Linköping University (LiU), and lead writer of the article.
Such diseases include heart attack, stroke, chronic inflammation, and cancer. Disruptions in blood vessel growth can also affect foetal development, women's reproductive cycles, and the healing of wounds

Protein Identified That Regulate Red Blood Cell Size and Number

The adult human circulatory system contains between 20 and 30 trillion red blood cells (RBCs), the precise size and number of which can vary from person to person.

Researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Founding Member Harvey Lodish have identified the protein cyclin D3 as regulating the number of cell divisions red blood cell (RBC) progenitors undergo, which ultimately affects the resulting size and quantity of RBCs. In some people, the cyclin D3 triggers RBC progenitors to mature after five rounds of cell division, resulting in more but smaller RBCs (top). In others it goes off after four cell division cycles, which leads to production of a fewer, larger RBCs (bottom). In both cases, the blood usually has the same ability to carry oxygen to distant tissues. 
Image: Courtesy of Genes and Development.

Some people may have fewer, but larger RBCs, while others may have a larger number of smaller RBCs. Although these differences in size and number may seem inconsequential, they raise an important question: Just what controls these characteristics of RBCs?
This question is particularly relevant for the roughly one-quarter of the population that suffers from anaemia, which is often caused by flawed RBC production. A better understanding of how RBC production is controlled may offer greater insight into the development and potential treatment of anaemia.
By analyzing the results of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in conjunction with experiments on mouse and human red blood cells, researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Founding Member Harvey Lodish have identified the protein cyclin D3 as regulating the number of cell divisions RBC progenitors undergo, which ultimately affects the resulting size and quantity of RBCs. Their findings are reported in the September 14 issue of Genes and Development.
“This is one of the rare cases where we can explain a normal human-to-human variation,” says Lodish, who is also a professor of biology and bioengineering at MIT. “In a sense, it’s a window on human evolution. Why this should have happened, we have no idea, but it does.”
Lodish likens cyclin D3’s role in RBCs to that of a clock.  In some people, the clock triggers RBC progenitors to mature after four rounds of cell division, resulting in fewer but larger RBCs. In others it goes off after five cell division cycles, which leads to production of a greater number of smaller RBCs. In both cases, the blood usually has the same ability to carry oxygen to distant tissues.
The initial hint of cyclin D3’s importance came from GWAS, genetic surveys of large numbers of people with or without a particular trait. Researchers compare the groups in an attempt to identify genetic variations.
“The problem with most GWAS is that you get a bunch of potentially interesting genes, but that doesn’t tell you anything about the functional biology, so you really have to figure it out,” says Leif Ludwig, a Lodish graduate student and co-author of the Genes and Development paper. “You only know something has a role, but you don’t know how it can cause variation. This work on cyclin D3 is a really nice example of how functional follow-up on a GWAS association can really teach us something about underlying biology.”
In the case of RBC size and number, a mutation affecting cyclin D3 production bubbled to the surface from the GWAS’s murky genetic data. Ludwig and co-author Vijay Sankaran then confirmed that reduced or inhibited cyclin D3 expression in mice and in human RBC progenitors caused those cells to halt cell division and mature earlier, producing larger and fewer red blood cells than mice and cells with uninhibited cyclin D3 production.
As one of only a handful of studies that have successfully used GWAS to produce definitive biological results, Sankaran is excited that this work confirms the value of such genetic studies.
“Can genetics teach us about biology?” asks Sankaran, also a postdoctoral researcher in the Lodish lab. “Yes! This work tells us that as genetic studies identify new genes, there will probably have been a lot of things biologists may have ignored. Genetics allows you to shine a spotlight on something interesting and then home in on it see what can be learned.”

CTS (Cognizant) HR Interview Pattern- 2012 (Sample)

CTS(cognizant)  HR Interview Pattern- 2012

Follow this steps before interview.............
(knock gently on the door, open it slowly and say)
Me   : "May I come in," (Clearly and loud enough for the panel to hear. After that "May I come in" you do not have to wait for a reply from the panel members- you can walk in... )
HR  : Please wait outside........
Me  : sure....
(I moved out the interview room, and stay out till they are called again.. After a few minute they called me.)
Me  : Good evening mam, Good evening sir (keep smile on your face.)
HR  :Good evening, me Arun and handshake with me
Me  : Also handshaked and told myself bhabani sankar and stood around 5 second
HR  : Please sit down....
Me  : Sat and told thank you sir
HR  :Tell me about your self..........
(Suggestion: your answer to this question should cover your educational background very briefly. You should talk about your achievements, if any, either in your academic or in work or both.
Then you can add a few details about what type of person you are, your likes, dislikes, etc. Giving details about your family background is not compulsory. Before interview frame a good answer and practice in front of a mirror.) 
Me  : I told confidently........
HR  : Why did you select computer science? Why not other subject?
(Suggestion : Give a positive answer to this question) 

Me  :  I chose to study computer science..............
HR  : what did you learn from the cultural and extra curricular activities you participated in? (In my CV I mentioned extracurricular activity)

Me  : I learnt the value of team work and the need to cultivate a healthy competitive spirit .Also, I have learn value of optimism and importance of a never-say-die attitude.

HR  : Why do you want to join CTS  and not any other company?

(Caution: Never tell the reasons such as ONSITE or SALARY. That gives a negative impression on you.)

Me  : sir, For a professional .................

HR  : Tell us why we should select you?

Me  :Told about my strong areas and team building capability. And told them for the above reasons I feel I am the best candidate for CTS.

HR  :  Do you Have any Question?

Me  : I asked about the training opportunities......... and I asked - What qualities do you want to fills this job?

HR   :  He gave me a detailed explanation........

HR  : Ok thank you so much.

Me:  Handshaked and told thank you so much mam. Thank  you sir.

Model Questions:
1.tell about urself
2.tell about ur family
3.tell about ur training
[4.diffrnce btn CDMA & GSM
5.how uninterrupted signal is available while roaming
6.some question from my ans. Like function of VLR ,HLR etc
7.what is broad band]
8.what is C?
9.how many types of data structure C provides? (I didn’t understand meaning of the question twice but clearly I told that. then I gave him exact answer  )10.how many types of linked list & detail explanation of each type
11.example of LIFO (initially I gave wrong ans ,very quickly I corrected it with full confident)
12.basic fundamental of optical fiber cable (OFC).
13.advantage of OFC
14.how OFC provides more security
15.what is bubble sort with example its time complexity
16.wirte c programming code of multiplication of two number (at the time of writing my files fell down,when I stood up to picKit up he asked me final question)
17.why CTS?

CTS : Test Paper

CTS latest selection process and palcement papers,selectio n Procedure consists Written Test Tech and HR
1. Analytical ability- 30 Questions
2. Verbal ability- 25 questions
Section-A Analytical Ability
1. If I had one more sister I would have twice as many sisters as brothers. If I had one more brother I would have the same number of each. How many brothers and sisters have I?
2. There is a number which is greater than the aggregate of its third, tenth and the twelfth parts by 58. Can you find the number?
Ans-120
3. If two men stand back to back, walk in opposite directions for 4 metres, turn to the left and walk another 3 metres, what is the distance between them when they stop?
Ans-10 meters
4. How many minutes is it until six o’clock if fifty minutes ago it was four times as many minutes past three o’clock?
Ans- twenty six minutes
5. Which letter replaces the question mark ?

Ans-C
6. Find out how will the key figure (X) look like after rotation.


Ans-4
7. Select the alternative in which the specified components of the key figure (X) are found.


Ans-3
8. Find out which of the figures (1), (2), (3) and (4) can be formed from the pieces given in figure (X).



Ans-3
9. Choose the correct mirror image of the given figure (X) from amongst the four alternatives.


  (X)                        (1)          (2)             (3)           (4)
Ans-4
10. Choose the figure which is different from the rest.


(1)        (2)       (3)     (4)     (5)
Ans-5
11. Choose the conclusions which logically follow from the given statements.
Statements: All men are vertebrates. Some mammals are vertebrates.
Conclusions:
   1. All men are mammals.
   2. All mammals are men.
   3. Some vertebrates are mammals.
   4. All vertebrates are men.
A.  Only (4)
B.  Only (2)
C.  Only (3)
D.  Only (1)
E.  Only (1) and (3)
Ans-C
12. Choose the conclusions which logically follow from the given statements.
Statements: Some keys are staplers. Some staplers are stickers. All the stickers are pens.
Conclusions:
   1. Some pens are staplers.
   2. Some stickers are keys.
   3. No sticker is key.
   4. Some staplers are keys.
A.  Only (1) and (2)
B.  Only (2) and (4)
C.  Only (2) and (3)
D.  Only (1) and (4) and either (2) or (3)
Ans-D
13. Choose the conclusions which logically follow from the given statements.
Statements: Some envelops are gums. Some gums are seals. Some seals are adhesives.
Conclusions:
   1. Some envelopes are seals.
   2. Some gums are adhesives.
   3. Some adhesives are seals.
   4. Some adhesives are gums.
A.  Only (3)
B.  Only (1)
C.  Only (2)
D.  Only (4)
Ans-A
14. Choose the conclusions which logically follow from the given statements.
Statements: All the bottles are boxes. All the boxes are bags. Some bags are trays.
Conclusions:
   1. Some bottles are trays.
   2. Some trays are boxes.
   3. All the bottles are bags.
   4. Some trays are bags.
A.  Only (3) and (4)
B.  Only (1) and (2)
C.  Only (2) and (3)
D.  Only (1) and (4)
Ans-A
15. Choose the conclusions which logically follow from the given statements.
Statements: Some cars are jeeps. All the boxes are jeeps. All the pens are cars.
Conclusions:
   1. Some cars are boxes.
   2. No pen is jeep.
   3. Some boxes are cars.
A.  None of three
B.  Only (1) and (2)
C.  Only (1) and (3)
D.  Only (2) and (3)
Ans-A
16.  If Go =32, SHE = 49, then SOME will be equal to
A.  56
B.  58
C.  62
D.  64
Ans-A
17.  Which of the following words would correctly decode the word ZHOFRPH if the simple alphabet shifting code is used?
A. ARTISTS
B. COMPUTE
C. MAILING
D. MAILING
Ans-D
18. Arrange the given words in a meaningful sequence:
1.District  2.Village  3.State   4.Town
A.  2,1,4,3
B.  2,3,4,1
C.  2,4,1,3
D.  3,2,1,4
Ans-C
19. Arrange the given words in a meaningful sequence:
1.Index  2.Contents  3.Title   4.Chapters  5.Introduction
A.  3,2,5,1,4
B.  2,3,4,5,1
C.  5,1,4,2,3
D.  3,2,5,4,1
Ans-D
20. In the questions below there consists of a question and two statements numbered I and II given below it. You have to decide whether the data provided in the statements are sufficient to answer the question. Read both the statements and give answer
Question: What will be the total weight of 10 poles, each of the same weight ?
Statements:
   1. One-fourth of the weight of each pole is 5 kg.
   2. The total weight of three poles is 20 kilograms more than the total weight of two poles.
A.  I alone is sufficient while II alone is not sufficient
B.  II alone is sufficient while I alone is not sufficient
C.  Either I or II is sufficient
D.  Neither I nor II is sufficient
E.  Both I and II are sufficient
Ans-C
21. In the questions below there consists of a question and two statements numbered I and II given below it. You have to decide whether the data provided in the statements are sufficient to answer the question. Read both the statements and give answer
Question: The last Sunday of March, 2006 fell on which date ?
Statements:
   1. The first Sunday of that month fell on 5th.
   2. The last day of that month was Friday.
A.  I alone is sufficient while II alone is not sufficient
B.  II alone is sufficient while I alone is not sufficient
C.  Either I or II is sufficient
D.  Neither I nor II is sufficient
E.  Both I and II are sufficient
Ans-C
22. Pointing to a photograph of a boy Suresh said, "He is the son of the only son of my mother." How is Suresh related to that boy?
A.  Brother
B.  Uncle
C.  Cousin
D.  Father
Ans-D
23. A $ B means A is the father of B; A # B means A is the sister of B; A * B means A is the daughter of B and A @ B means A is the brother of B. Which of the following indicates that M is the wife of Q?
A.  Q $ R # T @ M
B.  Q $ R @ T # M
C.  Q $ R * T # M
D.  Q $ R @ T * M
Ans-D
24.  Count the number of Cubes



Ans-89
25. Count the number of Cubes


Ans-58
26. What is always in worry?
A.  Difficulty
B.  Unrest
C.  Non-Cooperation
D.  Poignancy
Ans-B
27. Which one of the following is always associated with 'justice'?
A.  Hypocrisy
B.  Legitimate
C.  Magnanimity
D.  Diminutiveness
Ans-B
28. What is found necessarily in newspaper?
A.  Date
B.  Advertisement
C.  News
D.  Editor
Ans-C
29. Which one of the following is always in 'Sentiment'?
A.  Cruelty
B.  Insight
C.  Neutrality
D.  Emotion
Ans-D
30. My ten years old niece is taller than my twelve years old son:
A.  Always
B.  Never
C.  Often
D.  Sometimes
Ans-D
Section-B Verbal Ability
1. Pick up the one which is most nearly the same in meaning as the word printer in bold and can replaces it without altering the meaning of the sentence.
The bullet wound proved to be fatal and the soldier died immediately.
A.  grievous
B.  dangerous
C.  serious
D.  deadly
Ans-D
2. Pick up the one which is most nearly the same in meaning as the word printer in bold and can replaces it without altering the meaning of the sentence.
  She baffled all our attempts to find her.
A.  defeated
B.  thwarted
C.  foiled
D.  circumvented
Ans-C
3. In sentence below, four words which are lettered (A), (B), (C) and (D) have been printed in bold type, one which may be either inappropriate in the context of the sentence or wrongly spelt.The letter of that word is answer.
A.  The religious leaders
B.  attained all the
C.  ceremonies of other
D.  creeds
E.  All correct
Ans-B
4. Find the correctly spelt words.
A.  Ommineous
B.  Omineous
C.  Ominous
D.  Omenous
Ans-C
5. Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct?
There are not many men who are so famous that they are frequently referred to by their short names only
A.  initials
B.  signatures
C.  pictures
D.  middle names
E.  No correction required
Ans-A
6. Which of phrases given below each sentence should replace the phrase printed in bold type to make the grammatically correct?
The crime has growth rapidly in Russia since the disintegration of the communist system.
A.  rapid crime has grown
B.  crime has grown rapidly
C.  crimes grow rapidly
D.  crimes have been rapidly grown
E.  No correction required
Ans-B
7. In question below, the passage consist of six sentences. The first and sixth sentence are given in the begining. The middle four sentences in each have been removed and jumbled up. These are labelled as P, Q, R and S. Find out the proper order for the four sentences.
S1:  For some time in his youth Abraham Lincoln was manager for a shop.
P :  Then a chance Customer would come.
Q :  Young Lincoln way of keeping shop was entirely unlike anyone else's
R :  Lincoln would jump up and attend to his needs and then revert to his reading.
S :  He used to lie full length on the counter of the shop eagerly reading a book.
S6:  Never before had Lincoln had so much time for reading as had then.
The Proper sequence should be:
A.  SRQP
B.  QSPR
C.  SQRP
D.  QPSR
Ans-B
8. In question below, the passage consist of six sentences. The first and sixth sentence are given in the begining. The middle four sentences in each have been removed and jumbled up. These are labelled as P, Q, R and S. Find out the proper order for the four sentences.
S1:  Smoke oozed up between the planks.
P :  Passengers were told to be ready to quit the ship.
Q :  The rising gale fanned the smouldering fire.
R :  Everyone now knew there was fire on board.
S :  Flames broke out here and there.
S6:  Most people bore the shock bravely.
The Proper sequence should be:
A.  SRQP
B.  QPSR
C.  RSPQ
D.  QSRP
Ans-A
9. In question below, the passage consist of six sentences. The first and sixth sentence are given in the begining. The middle four sentences in each have been removed and jumbled up. These are labelled as P, Q, R and S. Find out the proper order for the four sentences.
S1:  For decades, American society has been calling a melting pot
P :  Differences remained - in appearence, mannerisms, customs, speech, religion and more.
Q :  The term has long been a cliche and half-truth.
R :  But homogenisation was never acheived.
S :  Yes, immigrants from diverse cultures and traditions did cast off vestiges of their native  lands and become almost imperceptibly woven in to the American fabric.
S6:  In recent years, such differences accentuated by the arrival of immigrants from Asia and  other parts of the world in the United States - have become something to celebrate and to  nurture.
The Proper sequence should be:
A.  QRSP
B.  SQRP
C.  SQPR
D.  QSRP
Ans-B
10. In question below, the passage consist of six sentences. The first and sixth sentence are given in the begining. The middle four sentences in each have been removed and jumbled up. These are labelled as P, Q, R and S. Find out the proper order for the four sentences.
S1:  There is difference between Gandhiji's concept of secularism and that of Nehru's.
P :  Nehru's idea of secularism was equal indifference to all religions and bothering about  none of them.
Q :  According to Gandhiji, all religions are equally true and each scripture is worthy of  respect.
R :  Such secularism which means the rejection of all religions is contrary to our culture and  tradition.
S :  In Gandhiji's view, secularism stands for equal respect for all religions.
S6:  Instead of doing any good, such secularism can do harm instead of good.
The Proper sequence should be:
A.  SQPR
B.  PSQR
C.  QSPR
D.  PRSQ
Ans-A
11. Choose the one which best expresses the given sentence in Passive/Active voice.
After driving professor Kumar to the museum she dropped him at his hotel.
A.  After being driven to the museum, Professor Kumar was dropped at his hotel.
B.  Professor Kumar was being driven dropped at his hotel.
C.  After she had driven Professor Kumar to the museum she had dropped him at his hotel.
D.  After she was driven Professor Kumar to the museum she had dropped him at his hotel.
Ans-A
12. choose the one which best expresses the given sentence in Passive/Active voice.
Do you imitate others?
A.  Are others being imitated by you?
B.  Are others imitated by you?
C.  Have others being imitated by you?
D.  Were others being imitated by you?
Ans-B
13. choose the word which is the exact OPPOSITE of the given words.
ARTIFICIAL
A.  Red
B.  Natural
C.  Truthful
D.  Solid
Ans-B
14. In question below a sentence broken into five or six parts. Join these parts to make a meaningful sentence. The correct order of parts is the answer.
1. was   2. and   3. Suresh 4. kind  5. loving 
A.  31425
B.  54213
C.  34251
D.  15243
E.  12345
Ans-A
15. A part of the sentence is italicised and underlined. Below are given alternatives to the italicised part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative.
If the room had been brighter, I would have been able to read for a while before bed time.
A.  If the room was brighter
B.  If the room are brighter
C.  Had the room been brighter
D.  No improvement
Ans-C
16. A part of the sentence is italicised and underlined. Below are given alternatives to the italicised part which may improve the sentence. Choose the correct alternative.
He sent a word to me that he would be coming late.
A.  sent word
B.  had sent a word
C.  sent words
D.  No improvement
Ans-A
17. Choose the one which can be substituted for the given word/sentence.
The study of ancient societies
A.  Anthropology
B.  Archaeology
C.  History
D.  Ethnology
Ans-B
18. Choose the one which best expresses the given sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.
told him that he was not working hard.
A.  I said to him, "You are not working hard."
B.  I told to him, "You are not working hard."
C.  I said, "You are not working hard."
D.  I said to him, "He is not working hard."
Ans-A
19. Choose the one which can be substituted for the given word/sentence.
A person who insists on something
A.  Disciplinarian
B.  Stickler
C.  Instantaneous
D.  Boaster
Ans-B
20. Choose the one which can be substituted for the given word/sentence.
A style in which a writer makes a display of his knowledge
A.  Pedantic
B.  Verbose
C.  Pompous
D.  Ornate
Ans-A
21. Read the sentence to find out whether there is any grammatical error in it. The error, if any will be in one part of the sentence.
A.  A lot of travel delay is caused
B.  due to the inefficiency and lack of good management
C.  on behalf of the railways.
D.  No error.
Ans-C
22. Pick out the most effective word(s) from the given words to fill in the blank to make the sentence meaningfully complete.
If you smuggle goods into the country, they may be ...... by the customs authority.
A.  possessed
B.  punished
C.  confiscated
D.  fined
Ans-C
23. Pick out the most effective word(s) from the given words to fill in the blank to make the sentence meaningfully complete.
The ruling party will have to put its own house ...... order.
A.  in
B.  on
C.  to
D.  into
Ans-A
24. Pick out the best one which can complete incomplete stem correctly and meaningfully.
His appearance is unsmiling but ......
A.  his heart is full of compassion for others
B.  he looks very serious on most occasions
C.  people are afraid of him
D.  he is uncompromising on matters of task performance
E.  he is full of jealousy towards his colleagues
Ans-A
25. Select the pair which has the same relationship.
SYMPHONY:COMPOSER
A.  Leonardo:music
B.  Fresco:painter
C.  colours:pallet
D.  art:appreciation
Ans-B

New Tool to Remove Stroke-causing Blood Clots

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and a common cause of long-term disability in the United States, but doctors have very few proven treatment methods.
Now a new device that mechanically removes stroke-causing clots from the brain is being hailed as a game-changer.
In a recent clinical trial, the SOLITAIRE Flow Restoration Device dramatically outperformed the standard mechanical treatment. Findings from the trial, called SOLITAIRE With the Intention for Thrombectomy (SWIFT), were published online August 26, 2012 in the journal The Lancet and will also appear in a later print edition of the journal.
SOLITAIRE, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March, is among an entirely new generation of devices designed to remove blood clots from blocked brain arteries in patients experiencing an ischemic stroke. It has a self-expanding, stent-like design, and once inserted into a blocked artery using a thin catheter tube, it compresses and traps the clot. The clot is then removed by withdrawing the device, reopening the blocked blood vessel.
"This new device is significantly changing the way we can treat ischemic stroke," said the study's lead author, Dr. Jeffrey L. Saver, director of the UCLA Stroke Center and a professor of neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "We are going from our first generation of clot-removing procedures, which were only moderately good in reopening target arteries, to now having a highly effective tool."
Results of the study showed that the device opened blocked vessels without causing symptomatic bleeding in or around the brain in 61 percent of patients. The standard FDA–approved mechanical device ― a corkscrew-type clot remover called the MERCI Retriever ― was effective in 24 percent of cases. The use of SOLITAIRE also led to better survival three months after a stroke. There was a 17.2 percent mortality rate with the new device, compared with a 38.2 percent rate with the older one.
About 87 percent of all strokes are caused by blood clots blocking a blood vessel supplying the brain. The stroke treatment that has received the most study is an FDA–approved clot-busting drug known as tissue plasminogen activator, but this drug must be given within four-and-a-half hours of the onset of stroke symptoms, and even more quickly in older patients.
When clot-busting drugs cannot be used or are ineffective, the clot can sometimes be mechanically removed during, or beyond, the four-and-a-half–hour window. The current study, however, did not compare mechanical clot removal to drug treatment.
For the trial, researchers randomly assigned 113 stroke patients at 18 hospitals to receive either SOLITAIRE or MERCI therapy within eight hours of stroke onset, between January 2010 and February 2011. The patients' average age was 67, and 68 percent were male. The time from the beginning of stroke symptoms to the start of the clot-retriever treatment averaged 5.1 hours. Forty percent of the patients had not improved with standard clot-busting medication prior to the study, while the remainder had not received it.
At the suggestion of a safety monitoring committee, the trial was ended nearly a year earlier than planned due to significantly better outcomes with the experimental device.
Other statistically significant findings included:

•     2 percent of SOLITAIRE-treated patients had symptoms of bleeding in the brain, compared with 11 percent of MERCI patients.
•     At the 90-day follow-up, overall adverse event rates, including bleeding in the brain, were similar for the two devices.
•     58 percent of SOLITAIRE-treated patients had good mental/motor functioning at 90 days, compared with 33 percent of MERCI patients.
•     The SOLITARE device also opened more vessels when used as the first treatment approach, necessitating fewer subsequent attempts with other devices or drugs.

"Nearly a decade ago, our UCLA Stroke Center team invented the first stroke retrieval device ― the MERCI Retriever ― and now we are pleased to have helped develop and successfully test a superior, next-generation clot removing device," said Dr. Reza Jahan, associate professor of radiology at UCLA and the study's principal neurointerventional investigator, who also led the pre-clinical studies. "It is exciting to have a highly effective new tool that can improve the outcomes for more stroke patients."

Capgemini : Test Paper

CAPGEMINI 14 JULY 2012 ONLINE TEST AT KERELA.Capgemini 2012 selection procedure and test pattern Capgemini Previous years largest collection of solved questions
Hi all Im Roham Kumar I attended Capgemini recruitment exam on 11 August 2012 in Kerala Here Im shairng all questions Capgemini asked this year all over India This the same questions they are asking this year recruitment so guys prepare well Capgemini new set of written test questions with answers
Capgemini Latest test cnsists
1.Written test
Total 75 questions ,
Time Limit 60 minutes ---
CAPGEMINI 14 JULY 2012 ONLINE  TEST AT KERELA.

Total  75  questions , 60 minutes ---SECTIONAL CUTOFF IS THERE

1. Aptitude (25 quest)….20 MINUTE
2. Reasoning (25 quest)…20 MINUTE
3. English (25 quest)…20 MINUTE
CAPGEMINI'S NEW SET....
 LOOK CAREFULLY...THIS IS THE LATEST QUESTION SET OF CAPGEMINI,
SOLVED THIS PAPER TOTALLY AND MATCH YOUR ANSWER,bECAUSE THIS PAPER IS CONTINUOUSLY COMING IN ONLINE TEST OF CAPGEMINI IN 2012.I HAVE GOT SELECTED AT CAPGEMINI....CAPGEMINI IS CONTINUOUSLY ARRANGING CAMPUS IN INDIA....THIS PAPER IS REATED CONTINUOUSLY 4 TIMES IN INDIA.....16TH MARCH 2012 MUMBAI,25 APRIL 2012 AT HYDRABAAD, JUNE AT CHENNAI AND AT LAST AT AT KERELA ON 14 JULLY...SO DON'T NEED TO PREPARE ALL THE THINGS JUST DO THIS CAREFULLY..YOU DEFINITELY WOULD CLEAR THE APTI ROUND....BUT CHECK THE ANSWER GIVEN HERE.THERE CAN BE SOME MISTAKE....BEST OF LUCK..SEE U IN CAPGEMINI

CAPGEMINI. Aptitude (30 quest)

1. The average salary of 3 workers is 95 Rs. per week. If one earns Rs.115 and second earns Rs.65 how much is the salary of the 3rd worker.
Ans.105.

2. A 16 stored building has 12000 sq.feet on each floor. Company A rents 7 floors and company B rents 4 floors. What is the number of sq.feet of unrented floor space.
Ans.60000

3.During a given week A programmer spends 1/4 of his time preparing flow chart, 3/8 of his time coding and the rest of the time in debugging the programs. If he works 48 hours during the week , how many hours did he spend debugging the program.
Ans. 18.

4. A company installed 36 machines at the beginning of the year. In March they installed 9 additional machines and then disconnected 18 in August. How many were still installed at the end of the year.
Ans. 27

5. A man owns 2/3 of the market research beauro business and sells 3/4 of his shares for Rs. 75000. What is the value of Business ?
Ans.150000

6. If 12 file cabinets require 18 feet of wall space, how many feet of wall space will 30 cabinets require?
Ans.45

7. A computer printer produced 176,400 lines in a given day. If the printer was in operation for seven hours during the day, how many lines did it print per minute?
Ans.420

8. From its total income, A sales company spent Rs.20,000 for advertising, half of the remainder on commissions and had Rs.6000 left. What was its total income?
Ans.32000

9. On Monday a banker processed a batch of cheques, on Tuesday she processed three times as many, and on Wednesday she processed 4000 cheques. In the three days, she processed 16000 cheques. How many did she process on Tuesday?
Ans.9000

10. The cost of four dozen proof machine ribbons and five dozen accouting machine ribbons was Rs.160/-. If one dozen accounting machine ribbons cost Rs.20/-, what is the cost of a dozen proof machine ribbons?
Ans.Rs.15

11. If a clerk can process 80 cheques in half an hour, how many cheques can she process in a seven and one half hour day?
Ans.1200

12. In a library, there are two racks with 40 books per rack. On a given day, 30 books were issued. What fraction remained in the racks?
Ans.5/8

13. The average length of three tapes is 6800 feet. None of the tapes is less than 6400 feet. What is the greatest possible length of one of the other tapes?
Ans.7600

14. A company rented a machine for Rs.700/- a month. Five years later the treasurer calculated that if the company had purchased the machine and paid Rs.100/- monthly maintenance charge, the company would have saved
Rs.2000/-. What was the purchase price of the machine?
Ans.Rs.34000

15. Two computers each produced 48000 public utility bills in a day. One computer printed bills at the rate of 9600 an hour and the other at the rate of 7800 an hour. When the first computer finished its run, how many bills did the other computer still have to print?
Ans.9000

16. If a salesman's average is a new order every other week, he will break the office record of the year. However, after 28 weeks, he is six orders behind schedule. In what proportion of the remaining weeks does he have to
obtain a new order to break the record?
Ans.3/4

17 On a given day, a bank had 16000 cheques returned by customers. Inspection of the first 800 cheques indicated that 100 of those 800 had errors and were therefore the available immediately for data processing. On this basis, how many cheques would be available immediately for data processing on that day?
Ans.14000

18. A tape manufacturer reduces the price of his heavy duty tape from Rs.30/- to Rs.28/- a reel and the price of a regular tape from Rs.24/- to Rs.23/- a reel. A computing centre normally spends Rs.1440/- a month for tapes
and 3/4 of this is for heavy duty tapes. How much will they save a month under the new prices?

Ans.Rs.87

19. The dimensions of a certain machine are 48" X 30" X 52". If the size of the machine is increased proportionately until the sum of its dimensions equals 156", what will be the increase in the shortest side?
Ans. 6"
20 In a certain company, 20% of the men and 40% of the women attended the annual company picnic. If 35% of all the employees are man, what percent of all the employees went to the picnic?
Ans.33%

21. It cost a college Rs.0.70 a copy to produce a Programme for the homecoming football game. If Rs.15,000/- was received for advertisements in the programme, how many copies at Rs.0.50 a copy must be sold to make a profit of Rs.8000/- ?
Ans. 35000

22. If the digits of my present age are reversed then i get the age of my son. If 1 year ago my age was twice as that of my son. Find my present age.
Ans. father-73, son-37

23. There are 6561 balls out of them 1 is heavy. Find the min. no. of times the balls have to be weighed for finding out the heavy ball.
Ans. 8

24.If I walk with 30 miles/hr i reach 1 hour before and if i walk with 20 miles/hr i reach 1 hour late. Find the distance between 2 points and the exact time of reaching destination is 11 am then find the speed with which it walks.
Ans. 120miles and 24 miles/hr

25. A thief steals half the total no of loaves of bread plus 1/2 loaf from a bakery. A second thief steals half the remaining no of loaves plus 1/2 loaf and so on. After the 5th thief has stolen there are no more loaves left in the
bakery. What was the total no of loaves did the bakery have at the beginning.
Ans: 31.


2. Reasoning (30 quest)

Answer Questions 1 to 5 on the basis of the information given below:
The only people to attend a conference were four ship captains and the first mates of three of those captains. The captains were L, M, N and O; the first mates were A, D and G Each person in turn delivered a report to the assembly as follows:

Each of the first mates delivered their report exactly after his or her captain. The first captain to speak was M, and captain N spoke after him.

1. Among the following which is not an appropriate order of delivered reports?

M, A, N, G, O, L, D
M, D, N, G, L, O, A
M, N, A, L, D, O, G
M, N, A, O, D, L, G
M, N, G, D, O, L, A

Ans : E

2. In case L speaks after A, and A is the third of the first mates to speak, then among the following statements which would be untrue?

O spoke immediately after G.
The order of the first four speakers was M, G, N, D.
O's first mate was present.
A was the fourth speaker after M.
The captains spoke in the order M, N, O, L.

Ans : D

3. Among the following statements which statement must be true?

In case the second speaker was a captain, the seventh speaker was a first mate.
In case the second speaker was a first mate, the seventh speaker was a captain.
In case the third speaker was a first mate, the seventh speaker was a captain.
In case the third speaker was a captain, the seventh speaker was a first mate.
In case the seventh speaker was a first mate, the first and third speakers were captains.

Ans : A

4. In case A spoke immediately after L and immediately before O, and O was not the last speaker, L spoke

second
third
fourth
fifth
sixth

Ans : C

5. In case G is M's first mate, D could be the person who spoke immediately

prior to T
prior to L
prior to V
after T
after V

Ans : D

6. At the college entrance exam, a candidate is admitted according to whether he has passed or failed the test. Of the candidates who are really capable, 80 % pass the test and of the incapable, 25 % pass the test. Given that 40 % of the candidates are really capable, then the proportion of the really capable students who can pass the test to the total students who can pass is about:

A. 68% B. 70% C. 75% D. 73%

Ans: B

7. Excluding stoppages, the speed of a bus is 54 km/hr and including stoppages, it is 45 km/hr. For how many minutes does the bus stop per hour ?

A. 12 B. 10 C. 9 D. 15

Ans: B

8. A boy goes to see a film and finds a man who is his relative. The man is the husband of the sister of his mother. How is the man related to the boy?

A. Uncle B. Brother C. Nephew D. None of the above

Ans: A

9. The ratio between the number of passengers travelling by I & II Class between two railway stations is 1 : 50, whereas the ratio of the I & II Class fares between the same stations is 3 : 1. If on a particular day, Rs. 1325 were
collected from the passengers travelling between these stations, what was the amount collected from the II Class passengers ?

A. Rs.1250 B. Rs. 1100 C. Rs. 1000 D. Rs.1150
Ans: A

10. When Rajeev was born, his father was 32 years older than his brother and his mother was 25 years older than his sister. If Rajeev's brother is 6 years older than Rajeev and his mother is 3 years younger than his father, how old was Rajeev's sister when Rajeev was born?

A. 15 Years B. 7 Years C. 17 Years D. 10 Years

Ans: D


(A) RNMEDQ
(B) RPKEDS
(C) TPMEFS
(D) RNKCDQ
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

Directions 11:15 : In each question below are given two statements followed by two conclusions numbered I and II. You have to take the given two statements to be true even if they seem to be at variance from commonly known facts. Read the conclusions and then decide which of the given conclusions logically follows from the two given statements, disregarding commonly known facts.

Give answer (A) if only conclusion I follows; (B) if only conclusion II follows; (C) if either I or II follows (D) if neither I or II follows and (E) if both I and II.

11.Statements : All puppets are dolls

All dolls are toys

Conclusions : I. Some toys are puppets

II. All toys are puppets

Ans: A

12.Statements : All apples are oranges

Some oranges are papayas

Conclusions : I. Some apples are papayas

II. Some papayas are apples

Ans: D

13. Statements :Some players are singers

All singers are tall

Conclusions : I. Some players are tall

II. All players are tall

Ans: A

14.Statements : All coins are crows

Some crows are pens

Conclusions : I. No pen is coin

II. Some coins are pens

Ans: D

15.Statements : All men are married

Some men are educated

Conclusions : I. Some married are educated

II. Some educated are married

Ans: E

16. Pointing to a man Snehlata says, "He is the only son of my father's father." How is Snehlata related to the man ?

(A) Mother
(B) Grand daughter
(C) Niece
(D) Sister
(E) None of these
Ans : (E)

17. Pointing to a lady in photograph, Madhurendra said, "Her mother is the only daughter of my mother's mother." How is Madhurendra related to the lady?

(A) Nephew
(B) Uncle
(C) Maternal uncle
(D) Brother
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

18. If P x Q means— 'P is the brother of Q', P ÷ Q means 'P is the son of Q' and 'P – Q' means 'P is the sister of Q' , then which of the following relations will show that Q is the maternal uncle of P ?

(A) Q x R ÷ P
(B) Q ÷ R – P
(C) P x R – Q
(D) P ÷ R – Q
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

19. In the class of 40 students, if Sanju is at 30th place from one end, what is his position from the other end?

(A) 9th
(B) 12th
(C) 10th
(D) 11th
(E) None of these
Ans : (D)

20. In a row of girls, Nivedita is 15th from the left and Vimla is 23rd from the right. If they interchange their positions, then Nivedita becomes 18 th from the left. Then at what position will Vimla be from the right?

(A) 25th
(B) 24th
(C) 26th
(D) 20th
(E) None of these
Ans : (C)

21. As 'Hindu worshiper' is related to 'Temple' in the same way 'Maulvi' is related to what?

(A) Monastery
(B) Church
(C) Mosque
(D) Sikh temple
(E) None of these
Ans : (C)

22. As 'Hungry' is related to 'Food' in the same way 'Thirsty' is related to what?

(A) Drink
(B) Tea
(C) Coffee
(D) Juice
(E) Waler
Ans : (E)

23. As 'Fly' is related to 'Parrot' in the same way 'Creep' is related to what?

(A) Snake
(B) Rabbit
(C) Fish
(D) Crocodile
(E) Sparrow
Ans : (A)

24. If ‘M’ denotes ‘÷’, ‘K, denotes ‘–’, ‘T’ denotes ‘×’ and ‘R’ denotes ‘+’, then; 20 K 16 T 8 M 4 R 6 = ?

(A) 18
(B) – 6
(C) – 12
(D) – 18
(E) None of these
Ans: B

25. How many such pairs of letters are there in the word TERMINATE each of which has as many letters between them in the word as in the English alphabet ?

(A) None
(B) One
(C) Two
(D) Three
(E) More than three

Ans: B

3. English (30 quest)

Directions 1-5: In each of the following questions, there is a certain relationship between two given words on one side of : : and one word is given on another side of : :while another word is to be found from the given alternatives, having the same relation with this word as the words of the given pair bear. Choose the correct alternative.

1.Oxygen : Burn : : Carbon dioxide : ?

(A) Isolate (B) Foam (C) Extinguish (D) Explode

Ans: (C)

2. Grain : Stock : : Stick : ?

(A) Heap (B) Bundle (C) Collection (D) String

Ans: (B)

3. Planet : Orbit : : Projectile : ?

(A) Trajectory (B) Track (C) Milky way (D) Path

Ans: (A)

4. Genuine : Authentic : : Mirage : ?

(A) Image (B) Transpiration (C) Reflection (D) Illusion

Ans: (D)

5.Illiteracy : Education : : Flood : ?

(A) Rain (B) Bridge (C) Dam (D) River

Ans: (C)

Directions for Questions 6 to10 :Each of the following sentences has been divided into four parts. There is an error in one of the parts. Point out the part which has an error .

6.A) I was astonished by the highly exciting tricks /

B) the acrobat displayed on the rope /

C) at great risk of like

D) at such an advanced age.

Ans: A

7. A) We, who are fortunate enough /

B) to have lived in the present century, /

C) hardly realize how our ancestors suffered /

D) from the belief in the existence of evil spirits.

Ans: B

8. A) We were expecting at least twenty delegates /

B) to participate in the seminar, /

C) but when I reached the hall,

D) I found no any delegate present there.

Ans: D

9. A) We bought five dozens pencils from a shop,/

B) but on opening in the packet at home /

C) we found five pencils short, /

D) but the shopkeeper did not accept the responsibility of the shortage.

Ans: A

10. A) I wanted to book a parcel weighting twenty and a half kilos /

B) but the booking -clerk refused to book it /

C) on the ground

D) that it was not properly sealed.

Ans: A

Directions for Questions 11-15: In each of the following questions, a paragraph or a sentence has been broken up into different parts. The parts have been scrambled and numbered as given below. Choose the correct order of these parts from the given alternatives

A. The potential exchanges between the officials of IBBF and the Maharashtra Body-Building Association has all the trappings of a drama we are accustomed to.
B. In the case of sportspersons, there is room for some sympathy, but the apathy of the administrators, which has even led to sanctions from international bodies, is unpardonable.
C. A case in the point is the hefty penalty of US $10,000 slapped on the Indian Body-Building Federation for not fulfilling its commitment for holding the Asian Championships in Mumbai in October.
D. It is a matter of deep regret and concern that the sports administrators often cause more harm to the image of the country than sportsmen and sportswomen do through their dismal performances.

1] CABD 2] DBCA 3] DABC 4] CDBA

Ans: 2
A. Its cargo consisted of 38 sacks of spices and Magellan himself had been hacked to pieces on the beach of Mactan in the Phillipines
B. So contrary to popular beliefe it was the crew of the Victoria who were the first men to have sailed around the globe
C. In spetembre 1522 Victoria , the sole survivor of the Armada, limped into the spanish port San Lucar , manned by a skeleton crew of 15, so weak they could not talk
D. In septembre 1519 the Armada de Molucca of five ships and 250 sailors has set out from San lucar de Barrameda under the command of Fernando de Magellan
E. It was to sail to the spice islands of the Malayan Archipelago where they were to excahnge an assortemnt of bells , mirrors , and scissors for cinnamon and cloves.

1] DECAB 2] AEDCB 3] CDEAB 4] DEABC

Ans:1
A. What came out was very large garland made out of currency notes.
B. The unsuspecting governor opened the box in full view of the gathering
C. When the RBI governor came to inaugrate the new printing press , the local unit of the BJP handed him a gift wrapped box
D. There was a twist - the notes were all as tattered as notes could get

1] DACB 2] CABD 3] CBAD 4] DCAB

Ans:3
A. But in the industrial era destroying the enemy’s productive capacity means bombing the factories which are located in the cities.
B. So in the agrarian era, if you need to destroy the enemy’s productive capacity, what you want to do is bum his fields, or if you’re really vicious, salt them.
C. Now in the information era, destroying the enemy’s productive capacity means destroying the information infrastructure.
D. How do you do battle with your enemy?
E. The idea is to destroy the enemy’s productive capacity, and depending upon the economic foundation, that productive capacity is different in each case.
F. With regard to defence, the purpose of the military is to defend the nation and be prepared to do battle with its enemy.

1] FDEBAC 2] FCABED 3] DEBACF 4] DFEBAC

Ans:1
A. The situations in which violence occurs and the nature of that violence tends to be clearly defined at least in theory, as in the proverbial Irishman’s question: ‘Is this a private fight or can anyone join in?’
B. So the actual risk to outsiders, though no doubt higher than our societies, is calculable.
C. Probably the only uncontrolled applications of force are those of social superiors to social inferiors and even here there are probably some rules.
D. However binding the obligation to kill, members of feuding families engaged in mutual massacre will be genuinely appalled if by some mischance a bystander or outsider is killed.

1] DABC 2] ACDB 3] CBAD 4] DBAC

Ans:1

Directions for Questions 16 to 20: The passage given below is followed by a set of five questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

To summarize the Classic Maya collapse, we can tentatively identify five strands. I acknowledge, however, that Maya archaeologists still disagree vigorously among themselves—in part, because the different strands evidently varied in importance among different parts of the Maya realm; because detailed archaeological studies are available for only some Maya sites; and because it remains puzzling why most of the Maya heartland remained nearly empty of population and failed to recover after the collapse and after re-growth of forests.

With those caveats, it appears to me that one strand consisted of population growth outstripping available resources: a dilemma similar to the one foreseen by Thomas Malthus in 1798 and being played out today in Rwanda (Chapter 10), Haiti (Chapter 11), and elsewhere. As the archaeologist David Webster succinctly puts it, “Too many farmers grew too many crops on too much of the landscape.” Compounding that mismatch between population and resources was the second strand: the effects of deforestation and hillside erosion, which caused a decrease in the amount of useable farmland at a time when more rather than less farmland was needed, and possibly exacerbated by an anthropogenic drought resulting from deforestation, by soil nutrient depletion and other soil problems, and by the struggle to prevent bracken ferns from overrunning the fields.

The third strand consisted of increased fighting, as more and more people fought over fewer resources. Maya warfare, already endemic, peaked just before the collapse. That is not surprising when one reflects that at least 5,000,000 people, perhaps many more, were crammed into an area smaller than the state of Colorado (104,000 square miles). That warfare would have decreased further the amount of land available for agriculture, by creating no-man’s lands between principalities where it was now unsafe to farm. Bringing matters to a head was the strand of climate change. The drought at the time of the Classic collapse was not the first drought that the Maya had lived through, but it was the most severe. At the time of previous droughts, there were still uninhabited parts of the Maya landscape, and people at a site affected by drought could save themselves by moving to another site. However, by the time of the Classic collapse the landscape was now full, there was no useful unoccupied land in the vicinity on which to begin anew, and the whole population could not be accommodated in the few areas that continued to have reliable water supplies.

As our fifth strand, we have to wonder why the kings and nobles failed to recognize and solve these seemingly obvious problems undermining their society. Their attention was evidently focused on their short-term concerns of enriching themselves, waging wars, erecting monuments, competing with each other, and extracting enough food from the peasants to support all those activities. Like most leaders throughout human history, the Maya kings and nobles did not heed long-term problems, insofar as they perceived them. We shall return to this theme in Chapter 14.

Finally, while we still have some other past societies to consider in this book before we switch our attention to the modern world, we must already be struck by some parallels between the Maya and the past societies discussed in Chapters 2-4. As on Easter Island, Mangareva, and among the Anasazi, Maya environmental and population problems led to increasing warfare and civil strife. As on Easter Island and at Chaco Canyon, Maya peak population numbers were followed swiftly by political and social collapse. Paralleling the eventual extension of agriculture from Easter Island’s coastal lowlands to its uplands, and from the Mimbres floodplain to the hills, Copan’s inhabitants also expanded from the floodplain to the more fragile hill slopes, leaving them with a larger population to feed when the agricultural boom in the hills went bust. Like Easter Island chiefs erecting ever larger statues, eventually crowned by pukao, and like Anasazi elite treating themselves to necklaces of 2,000 turquoise beads, Maya kings sought to outdo each other with more and more impressive temples, covered with thicker and thicker plaster— reminiscent in turn of the extravagant conspicuous consumption by modern American CEOs. The passivity of Easter chiefs and Maya kings in the face of the real big threats to their societies completes our list of disquieting parallels.

According to the passage, which of the following best represents the factor that has been cited by the author in the context of Rwanda and Haiti?
(1) Various ethnic groups competing for land and other resources.
(2) Various ethnic groups competing for limited land resources.
(3) Various ethnic groups fighting wit each other.
(4) Various ethnic groups competing for political power.
(5) Various ethnic groups fighting for their identity.
Ans: 2

By an anthropogenic drought, the author means

(1) A drought caused by lack of rains.
(2) A drought caused due to deforestation.
(3) A drought caused by failure to prevent bracken ferns from overrunning the fields.
(4) A drought caused by actions of human beings.
(5) A drought caused by climate changes.

Ans: 4

According to the passage, the drought at the time of Maya collapse had a different impact compared to the droughts earlier because

(1) The Maya kings continue to be extravagant when common people were suffering.
(2) It happened at the time of collapse of leadership among Mayas.
(3) It happened when the Maya population had occupied all available land suited for agriculture.
(4) AIt was followed by internecine warfare among Mayans.
(5) Irreversible environmental degradation led to this drought.

Ans: 3

According to the author, why is it difficult to explain the reasons for Maya collapse?

(1) Copan inhabitants destroyed all records of that period.
(2) The constant deforestation and hillside erosion have wiped out all traces of the Maya kingdom.
(3) Archaeological sites of Mayas do not provide any consistent evidence.
(4) It has not been possible to ascertain which of the factors best explains as to why the Maya civilization collapsed.
(5) At least five million people were crammed into a small area.

Ans: 4

Which factor has not been cited as one of the factors causing the collapse of Maya society?

(1) Environmental degradation due to excess population.
(2) Social collapse due to excess population.
(3) Increased warfare among Maya people.
(4) Climate change.
(5) Obsession of Maya population with their own short-term concerns.

Ans: 3


Directions : In each of the following questions, out of the given alternatives, choose the one which best expresses the meaning of the given word.

21. Abolish

minimize

Ans: A

22. make up

invent

complete

Ans: D

23. dispatched

taken by force
ordered to go
sent

Ans: D

24. ARDUOUS

Short
Difficult
Easy
Expensive

Ans: B

25. ABODE

Family
Farm
Car
Home

Baby girl becomes youngest ever to have life-saving operation after heart swells to twice its normal size

A four-week old baby girl has become the youngest Briton to receive a life-saving cardiac operation, after her heart swelled to twice its normal size within days of her birth.
Phoebe Whittle was born with a congenital defect which gave her tiny heart only a third of the oxygen it needed to work.

As a result, Phoebe’s heart ballooned to twice its size - swelling from the size of a walnut to the size of an orange.

But Phoebe, who was dubbed ‘Braveheart’ by her parents Charlotte, 27 and Carl, 32, made an amazing recovery following groundbreaking surgery at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

   

   

Recovery: Phoebe a week after her life-saving surgery (left) and now with her mother Charlotte (right)

Mrs Whittle said: 'It’s horrible to think the pain she was going through. She looked healthy on the outside for those first few weeks but inside she was so poorly.
'But she’s meant to be here and it’s incredible the recovery she’s made. She was home within ten days and it can take babies up to four weeks to be ready to come home.
'She’s tiny for her age but we’re all just so glad she’s here.'
She overcame a bout of pneumonia when she was just a week old but her family from Aspull, Lancashire, were left fearing for her health once again on Mother’s Day this year.
Scans at Royal Bolton Hospital raised concerns over her heart and she was rushed to Alder Hey, in Liverpool, in a critical condition on March 19.

 

More...

• Maternal instinct says your child's sick but the doctors won't listen. Don't give up. Experts say mothers really DO know best

She was diagnosed ALCAPA, Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from the Pulmonary Artery, that meant the artery to her heart muscle was connected incorrectly, starving it of oxygen.
Within hours doctors confirmed a high risk life-saving five hour operation, called a Coroary Artery Bypass Graft, was needed to save Phoebe’s life.
Left untreated, a massive 90 per cent of children born with the ALCAPA defect do not live to see their first birthdays.

Phoebe two days after surgery at Alder Hey hospital. Doctors were amazed at how quickly she recovered

Charlotte said: 'I felt like I was a bit of a fraud taking her back to hospital after her pneumonia but one of the nurses noticed she was starting to go blue.
'At the time I don’t think I understood the enormity of the nurse taking that blood test. It was her quick thinking that saved her life and got her to Alder Hey.
'We were told her condition was life threatening and that surgery would be needed to save her life.
'If they hadn’t checked the blood we could have taken her home and just found her dead one morning.
'I can’t look at photos of Phoebe in those first few weeks, its just too upsetting. She just couldn’t breathe and there was no way she could tell us.'
The condition affects around one in 20,000 newborns and is often not detected until weeks or months after birth.
Doctors took Phoebe straight into theatre for heart surgery and prepared her parents for a long and difficult recovery.
After spending three days in intensive care and a week in the cardiac ward, Phoebe was able to go home with her parents and 19-month-old brother Louis.

Relief: Phoebe is held by her mother Charlotte a week after the operation to fix her heart defect

The timely surgery should now see Phoebe live a normal life with regular check-ups and medication to help regulate her heartbeat.
Charlotte praised staff at the Bolton hospital for the checks on her heart that ultimately saved her and said she now looks back on the days of Phoebe’s surgery as a bad dream.
She said: 'It’s amazing to look at her now, I thought we had lost her. They prepared us for the worst and said it would be horrific for months afterwards but then she recovered so quickly.
'It’s so emotional to look back on now. At the time I held it together but I’ve been worse since, constantly checking her breathing and that she’s okay.
'It’s scary to think what could have happened because she did nearly die. Even though she made such a good recovery, she has still has a way to go to be the size she should be for her age.
'We’ve still got a long road to go but we know what we’re dealing with now.'

Dr Rob Johnson Consultant Paediatric Cardiologist at Alder Hey Hospital explained how the condition can often be diagnosed as just a cold.
He said: 'She is the youngest we’ve operated on and was lucky in some ways because she was diagnosed at half the age some children are.
'Often, like Phoebe’s case of pneumonia, the condition is often diagnosed as just a heavy cold so ALCAPA can take several heart scans to detect.
'It’s quite a subtle condition to pick up even when you’re dealing with a specialist centre like you are here, it can be difficult to pin down.
'The ultrasound tests we did at Alder Hey meant we were able to identify the abnormality.
'The blood vessels that supply blood to the heart are not connected so the heart beats at a lower pressure and is not fully saturated with oxygen.
'As a result the heart swells and enlarges and Phoebe’s heart was double the size it should have been.
'As in Phoebe’s case, it gets worse after birth but it is hard to detect as babies’ heartbeats are often fast. This means they can mask defects such as ALCAPA.

Alder Hey hospital prepare Phoebe for the life-saving surgery. She spent three days in intensive care afterwards

'The operation is still a fairly high risk procedure. The heart muscle is already sick at the start of the procedure and whilst the operation is usually a success, there is a period afterwards where the heart cannot cope on its own.
'That meant we had to provide mechanical assistance to help the heart still pump blood all round the body.
'Phoebe’s recovery time was remarkable, it’s usually three or four weeks before babies of this age are ready to go home.
'There’s only seven centres that do this procedure nationally and we were really pleased we could help.
'Phoebe hit the sweet spot of the NHS. The team in Bolton did a great job spotting it and we have great surgeons here who provided an excellent outcome for Phoebe and her family.'
Charlotte and Carl organised a sponsored spinathon in July for the Ronald McDonald House at Alder Hey, a purpose built facility that allows parents to stay on site whilst children undergo operations.
Charlotte said: 'Had this facility not been available we would have been sleeping on chairs at Phoebe’s bedside.
'The house allows families to be two minutes away from their sick child giving a little peace of mind at such a horrendous time.
'It also means that your other children have somewhere to stay and play so you don’t have the added feelings of being torn between your sick and
healthy children.'
Donations to their cause can still be made at www.justgiving.com/princessphoebe

Schoolgirl, six, has such severe allergies she could be killed by a kiss and must be wrapped in bandages all day

A little girl has such severe allergies that even a kiss could prove deadly.
Isla Franks, six, suffers such severe reactions that she is wrapped in bandages from the neck down for 24 hours a day, to protect her super-sensitive skin.
Her condition is so severe that she had to be rushed to hospital after her little sister gave her a kiss - hours after she had drunk a glass of milk.
Her parents have to keep her clothes in a freezer instead of a wardrobe - because of her extreme reaction to dust mites.
Isla was diagnosed with extreme allergies to eggs, milk, wheat, grass and dust when she was just six months old - and her parents told she would have to be wrapped in bandages to protect her skin.
Isla has a special cupboard for her food to stop it coming into contact with anything else.
Her mother Katy, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffs, said: 'We can’t do the things that other families can - even something as normal as going out for dinner could be deadly for Isla.
'If anything Isla is allergic to so much as brushes past her skin, she comes up in a huge angry rash which is really painful for her.
'And if it goes anywhere near her face, her throat will start to swell. She has so many allergies, it’s difficult to keep her away from them.' 
The schoolgirl struggles to live a normal life - and is regularly sent home from school after suffering from flare ups.
Last month, she suffered a reaction after sitting next to a school friend who owned a cat - revealing another allergy for her worried parents to add to the list.
Mrs Franks added: 'We noticed that something wasn’t right when Isla was six months old - she stopped sleeping properly and was really grumpy.
'Her skin would flare up so badly that people even stopped me in the supermarket and asked if I had burned her.
'The hospital carried out all sorts of tests, and discovered she was allergic to eggs, milk, wheat, dust and grass - we were devastated.
'We were told she had to wear bandages to cover her skin from the neck down to stop her skin flaring up.

'When her skin gets particularly bad, Isla has to have a layer of wet bandages, to cool her skin, over her usual layer of dry bandages, which she has to wear 24 hours a day.

Collect of Isla during an allergic attack the day after a neighbour cut their grass (left) and wearing her special coverings (right)

'Isla doesn’t know any different from having the bandages on, but they do irritate her. I have to sleep with her at night now to stop her scratching in her sleep, and pulling them off.
'There are a lot of things she misses out on that all her friends can do, which does upset me.
'Isla can’t go to parties, or round to her friend’s houses to play, because it’s too dangerous for her. If one of the other children touched her after eating something, it could kill her.

 

'She can’t take part in sports day, or even sit on the carpet with the other children at school, because if there’s any trace of dust in it, Isla’s allergies will flare up.
'The one blessing is that she’s been the same her whole life, so she doesn’t really know any different.
'She does sometimes get upset when she sees other children doing things she can’t do.

'The other day, she saw some children eating ice cream, and asked ‘what does that taste like, Mummy?’, which was really upsetting.
'But she’s a brave girl, and doesn’t let her allergies get in the way of running around and being a normal little girl.
'It sounds like a cliche to say you can’t wrap your kids up in cotton wool - but I literally have to.'

Discovery of 16 buried hands in Egypt provides first physical evidence of gruesome practice used by ancient warriors

A glimpse into the brutal way warriors proved their prowess 3,600 has been unearthed in Egypt.
Archaeologists excavating a palace in the ancient city of Avaris have dug up four pits containing 16 large right hands believed to have been sliced from the arms of vanquished enemies.

Find: In two of the pits 14 right hands were discovered, while two other pits were found holding one right hand each. It's not known whom these hands belonged to, they could have been from Egyptians or people in the Levant

Experts believe the discovery is the earliest and only physical evidence that soldiers used to present the cut-off right hands of enemies in exchange for gold.

After beating the enemy successful fighters would chop off their opponents hand to remove his strength and deprive him of his power for eternity.
Two of the pits discovered are situated in front of what is thought to be a throne room and contained one hand each.

The remaining 14 hands were found in two other pits built at a slightly later time in an outer section of the palace.

All the hands found in the Nile Delta northeast of Cairo are right hands.
Manfred Bietak, project and field director of the excavations, said: 'Most of the hands are quite large and some of them are very large.’ It was reported in LiveScience.
The finds are from a period when the Hyksos, thought to be from northern Canaan, established the heart of their kingdom at Avaris today known as Tell el-Daba.
Hyksos rulers King Khayan was thought to be living at the Palace at the time the hands were buried.

Egyptian writing and art depicts soldiers presenting the cut-off right hands of enemies in exchange for gold, says Bietak
He added: 'Our evidence is the earliest evidence and the only physical evidence at all. Each pit represents a ceremony.'
Cutting off the right hand helped to count victims and was a symbolic way of taking an enemy's strength.
'You deprive him of his power eternally,' says Bietak
The hands could have belonged to Egyptians or enemies the Hyksos were fighting in the Levant.
One inscription on the tomb wall of Ahmose, son of Ibana, an Egyptian fighting in a campaign against the Hyksos about 80 years later than the time the 16 hands were buried. It read:
'Then I fought hand to hand. I brought away a hand. It was reported to the royal herald.' For his efforts, the writer was given 'the gold of valor.’
Later, in a campaign against the Nubians, to the south, Ahmose took three hands and was given 'gold in double measure,' the inscription suggests.
Scientists are not certain who started this gruesome tradition. No records of the practice have been found in the Hyksos' likely homeland of northern Canaan, Bietak said.

Scientists find the stem cells that drive our creativity

A newly-discovered type of stem cell could be the key to higher thinking in humans, research suggests.

Scientists have identified a family of stem cells that may give birth to neurons responsible for abstract thought and creativity.

The cells were found in embryonic mice, where they formed the upper layers of the brain’s cerebral cortex.

In humans, the same brain region allows abstract thinking, planning for the future and solving problems.

Previously it was thought that all cortical neurons - upper and lower layers - arose from the same stem cells, called radial glial cells (RGCs).

The new research shows that the upper layer neurons develop from a distinct population of diverse stem cells.

Dr Santos Franco, a member of the US team from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, said: 'Advanced functions like consciousness, thought and creativity require quite a lot of different neuronal cell types and a central question has been how all this diversity is produced in the cortex.

'Our study shows this diversity already exists in the progenitor cells.'

In mammals, the cerebral cortex is built in onion-like layers of varying thickness.

The thinner inside layers host neurons that connect to the brain stem and spinal cord to regulate essential functions such as breathing and movement.

The larger upper layers, close to the brain’s outer surface, contain neurons that integrate information from the senses and connect across the two halves of the brain.

Higher thinking functions are seated in the upper layers, which in evolutionary terms are the “newest” parts of the brain.

The new research is reported today in the journal Science.

Growing the stem cells in the laboratory could pave the way to better treatments for brain disorders such as schizophrenia and autism.