WASHINGTON, Apr 18:  The US Supreme Court ruled yesterday in favor of a generic drugmaker in a case over how companies can fight brand-name rivals in an effort to get their cheaper medicines to market. The high court unanimously ruled that the generics company, Caraco Pharmaceuticals, could sue a brand-name drugmaker to get it to narrow its patent description with the Food and Drug  Administration. (agencies)

NEW YORK, Apr 18:  People who suffer serious injuries may have a better chance of surviving if they’re taken to a trauma center by a helicopter instead of an ambulance, suggests new research. The study’s lead author said he doesn’t know for sure why a helicopter is better than an ambulance or other ground transportation, but two possibilities are the speed of transport and the medical team on the chopper. (agencies)

NEW YORK, Apr 18: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer but sought to assure his shareholders that his condition is not “remotely” life-threatening and he feels “great” with “100 per cent” energy level.
The announcement by Buffett, who according to Forbes’ billionaire list is the third richest man in the world, is expected to put the spotlight on the succession plan at his company Berkshire Hathaway.
In a letter to his shareholders, the 81-year old philanthropist said he was diagnosed with “stage I prostate cancer” on April 11 and will begin a two-month treatment of daily radiation in July.
The disclosure by Buffett comes just three weeks before Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting scheduled for May 5 in his hometown of Omaha.
“The good news is that I have been told by my doctors that my condition is not remotely life threatening or even debilitating in any meaningful way,” he said.
Buffett said he has had several medical tests, including a CAT scan and a bone scan last week followed by an MRI. The tests have shown no incidence of cancer elsewhere in his body.
The radiation treatment, which will begin in mid-July, would will restrict his travel during that period, but will not change his daily routine.
He did not say anything about stepping down as Berkshire’s chief in the wake of the diagnosis, indicating that he still plans to remain at the helm of affairs of his company.
Buffett has been at the helm of Berkshire for nearly 50 years. It is one of America’s largest corporations, with a market value of nearly USD 201 billion.
Buffett, whose net worth is estimated at USD 44 billion, had for the first time in February said in his annual letter to shareholders that he had chosen a successor.
He, however, had not named the candidate.
Indian-origin Ajit Jain, head of the company’s reinsurance operations, is one of the leading candidates to succeed Buffett and head an empire that includes insurance business, railroad operator and several other diversified companies.
Apart from Jain, the other two top contenders are Matthew Rose, Chief of Burlington Northern Santa Fe; and Tad Montross, the leader of the General Re insurance subsidiary.
On his condition, Buffett said in the letter, “I feel great – as if I were in my normal excellent health – and my energy level is 100 per cent. I discovered the cancer because my PSA – prostate specific antigen level (an indicator my doctors had regularly checked for many years) recently jumped beyond its normal elevation and a biopsy seemed  warranted.”
He said he will inform his shareholders immediately “should my health situation change. Eventually, of course, it will; but I believe that day is a long way off”.
Being in the first stage, Buffett’s cancer has been detected very early and has not spread beyond the prostate gland, which is slightly larger than a walnut.
According to the American Cancer Society, other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. As per 2012 estimates in the US, about 241,740 new cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed and about 28,170 men could die of the disease this year.
About 1 man in 6 will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during his lifetime. The National Cancer Institute said the 10-year survival rate for men with localised disease is 99.5 per cent. (PTI)

BEIJING, Apr 18: China and Russia will hold major joint naval exercises close to Japanese waters this weekend, aimed at further strengthening strategic partnership and stepping up joint response to new challenges and threats.
China will send 16 naval ships and two submarines to its first joint naval exercise with Russia, slated to start this weekend in the Yellow Sea, the Chinese Ministry of National Defence said.
The drill, which Russian authorities said will involve warships cruising near Japanese waters, has rattled the nerves of media from Japan and South Korea, a report in the state-run China Daily said today.
Japanese media speculated that the move is aimed at warning Tokyo, which has maritime disputes with both China and Russia, while Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency said its coincidence with a joint drill between South Korea and the US is a showcase of military muscle that can balance the US in the region, the report said.
Major General Qian Lihua, director of the Foreign Affairs Office with the National Defence Ministry of China, said the drill was decided last year and it is “normal arrangement” within the framework of military cooperation between Beijing and Moscow.
Since 2005, China and Russia have conducted several joint military exercises within the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which also includes the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Still, as the first joint naval drill between the two Asia-Pacific powers, the exercise bears great significance, Chief of the General Staffs of the People’s Liberation Army Chen Bingde told his Russia counterpart yesterday.
“The joint exercise will lift the level of strategic cooperation and mutual trust of the two militaries and boost the capability of the two navies to jointly handle new threats and challenges in the region,” the general said, the daily quoted an official press release.
Rear Admiral Leonid Sukhanov, the Russian navy’s deputy chief of staff who will lead the drill with Ding Yiping, deputy commander of the PLA Navy, has said the exercise will provide a “good test” for the two armed forces.
The drill will focus on the protection of key maritime arteries and cover several phases including a maritime military review, according to Qian.
He said China will send 16 naval ships, including destroyers, frigates and missile boats, to the Yellow Sea near Qingdao, a coastal city in Shandong province where the headquarters of the Chinese North Sea Fleet is located.
Xinhua reported earlier that four warships from Russia’s Pacific Fleet left Vladivostok will participate in the exercise, which is scheduled to conclude on April 27. (PTI)

WASHINGTON, Apr 18: A study into how the Pacific Ocean leaks into the Indian Ocean has revealed details which researchers say could improve climate predictions.
This so-called Tasman leakage in the south of Australia is the second-largest link between the Pacific and Indian oceans after the Indonesian through-flow to the country’s north, according to an international team led by University of New South Wales.
Water travels through the world’s oceans along great loops driven by massive and often deep currents in a process known as the global thermohaline circulation, said the study’s lead author, Dr Erik Van Sebille.
Acting over millennial time scales, the global thermohaline circulation can exert significant influence on global climate variability. Because the Tasman leakage acts as a bottleneck in the Pacific-to-Indian flow, changes in this pathway can have significant impact on the global thermohaline circulation, say the researchers.
Additionally, the Tasman leakage could also have a direct effect on both the regional Australian climate and the availability of nutrients in the waters of Great Australian Bight, which in turn could affect marine ecosystems in these areas, the ‘Geophysical Research Letters’ journal reported.
Better understanding of this bottleneck in the global ocean has the potential to improve the accuracy of climate predictions, say the researchers.
The team used a high-resolution ocean circulation model to determine how much of the water flowing in the East Australia Current eventually ends up in the Indian Ocean.
According to the model, most of the water that runs southward along the coasts of Queensland and New South Wales veers east before reaching Bass Strait and stays within the Pacific Ocean.
The remaining fraction comprising the Tasman leakage continues flowing south, rounds Tasmania and then flows west through the Great Australian Bight until it reaches Cape Leeuwin and enters the Indian Ocean. (PTI)

WASHINGTON, Apr 18: Researchers claim to have discovered why people can feel like they have jetlag after surgery—it’s due to the general anaesthetic which alters the activity of genes that control the biological clock.
An international team, led by the University of Auckland, says its findings, published in ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’ journal, may have implications for post- operative recovery.
“Our work shows that general anaesthesia effectively shifts you to a different time zone, producing chemically induced jetlag. It provides a scientific explanation for why people wake up from surgery feeling as though very little time has passed,” said lead researcher Dr Guy Warman.
The study showed for the first time that general anaesthetic alters the activity of key genes that control the biological clock, shifting them to a different time zone.
In fact, the effect persists for at least three days, even in the presence of strong light cues telling the brain the correct time of day, say the researchers.
“It’s been known for some time that after anaesthesia people’s biological clocks are disrupted, and this can compromise their sleep pattern and mood as well as wound healing and immune function.
“By understanding why this happens we can work out how to treat it and potentially improve post-operative recovery,” Dr Warman said.
The work was done using honey bees. “It might sound unusual, but in fact bees are an ideal species to study time perception. Honey bees have an amazingly accurate sense of time, which allows them to forage and find flowers in the right place at the right time of day.
“By looking at their behaviour we can get a clear idea of what time of day they think it is, and quantify the effects of anaesthesia. An added advantage is that their biological clocks work in a very similar way to mammals,” he said. (PTI)

ISLAMABAD, Apr 18: India and Afghanistan failed to agree on transit fee for gas passing through Afghan territory under the USD 7.6-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India (TAPI) pipeline project, officials said today.
Consequently, Islamabad and New Delhi too could not agree on the transit fee for the segment of the pipeline passing through Pakistan, which has linked its fee structure to any India-Afghanistan agreement.
Technical teams of Afghanistan, India and Pakistan held talks for two days in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Petroleum Secretary Ejaz Chaudhry was quoted by The News daily as saying that the parleys had ended inconclusively yesterday.
However, Indian officials told that the talks were held in a positive atmosphere and there was considerable progress on all major issues.
The three countries were trying to settle their differences on the issue of transit fees, the officials said.
Afghanistan will charge Pakistan and India a transit fee for gas passing through the pipeline from Turkmenistan and Pakistan will charge India the same amount as the Afghan side.
Chaudhry said Afghanistan had demanded 54 cents per MMBTU (million British Thermal Unit) as the transit fee but this was rejected by India. Subsequently, the Afghan side made a demand of 50 cents per MMBTU and India responded with an offer of 47 cents, he said.
The difference between the two sides was just three cents per MMBTU and could be settled if there was political support from the Indian and Afghan leadership and “a push from the US”, which is supporting the project, the Dawn quoted its sources as saying. (PTI)