uly 29 (Reuters) – British finance minister George Osborne on Thursday said there was no tacit agreement with the Bank of England’s governor Mervyn King on keeping interest rates low. (Reporting by Sumeet Desai)
UPDATE 1-ING raises $175 mln from Kotak stake sale-sources
June 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
MUMBAI, June 24 (Reuters) – Dutch financial services group ING (ING.AS) raised $175 million by selling its entire 3.1 percent stake in India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM.BO), two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said on Thursday.
The sale of 10.8 million shares in stock market block deals was done at 750 rupees a share, the sources told Reuters. Another source had told Reuters on Wednesday that shares would be sold in the range of 730-750 rupees each. [ID:nSGE65M0HB]
The final sale price represent a 4.2 percent discount to Wednesday’s close price of 783.20 rupees.
Anneloes Geldermans, a spokeswoman for ING in Amsterdam confirmed that the Dutch group had sold its 3.1 percent stake in the Indian lender, but refused comment on the price at which the deal was struck. [ID:nWEA7349]
ING’s decision to sell its stake in Kotak was taken after “careful consideration” and is part of the bank’s “back to basics” programme announced in April 2009, which included a planned 8 billion euros in asset sales, she said.
Shares in Kotak Mahindra, which the market values at roughly $6 billion, fell as much as 3.4 percent after the block deal to their lowest in a week. By 0550 GMT, shares in Kotak Mahindra were down 2.2 percent at 766 rupees. Citibank (C.N) was the sole adviser to the deal, the sources said.
On Tuesday, another Dutch lender, Rabobank [RABO.UL], moved a step closer to setting up its own banking unit in India as it cut its stake in mid-sized local lender Yes Bank (YESB.BO) for about $213 million.
Citi was also the adviser on that deal, a separate source had said on Tuesday. [ID:nSGE65L05H]
Standard Chartered (STAN.L), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and Citibank are expanding their services and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) has applied for a banking licence in India, whose economy is forecast to grow more than 8 percent this fiscal year. ($1=46.3 rupees) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Tony Munroe; additional reporting by Amsterdam newsroom; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)
ING raises $175 mln from Kotak stake sale-sources
June 25, 2010 By Leave a Comment
June 24 (Reuters) – Dutch financial services group ING (ING.AS) raised $175 million by selling its entire 3.1 percent stake in India’s Kotak Mahindra Bank (KTKM.BO), two sources with direct knowledge of the deal said on Thursday.
Financials
The sale of 10.8 million shares, or 3.1 percent of the total equity, was done at 750 rupees a share, the sources told Reuters. ($1=46.3 rupees) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee and Tony Munroe)
Genetic variation linked to protection against sudden cardiac arrest
March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Washington, Mar 27 (ANI): A genetic variation associated with lower risk of sudden cardiac arrest has been found by physician-scientists at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute.
The finding will be published in Public Library of Science (PloS One).
The discovery came from a genome-wide association study, which examines the entire set of human genes to detect possible links between genetic variations and specific conditions or diseases.
In the study, the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute researchers compared the genetic makeup of 424 subjects who had experienced sudden cardiac arrest to the DNA of 226 control subjects who had no history of the disorder. All patients had a history of coronary artery disease, which commonly underlies sudden cardiac arrest.
Based on a comparison of the two groups, a genetic variation at the location of the GPC5 gene – a genetic sequence called rs3864180 – was found to be associated with a reduced risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
“If you have this genetic variation in your DNA, it appears that you may have a 15 percent lower likelihood of sudden cardiac arrest,” said Sumeet S. Chugh, M.D., associate director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, holder of The Pauline and Harold Price Chair in Cardiac Electrophysiology Research, and one of the senior authors of the study.
“This kind of genetic analysis is not aimed at identifying a single big gene defect or mutation,” he said. “The goal is to identify a series of smaller novel gene defects that, when grouped together, collectively result in either a protective effect or an increased susceptibility to sudden cardiac arrest.” (ANI)
Voting starts on a dull note in Golden Temple city
May 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Amritsar, May 13 (ANI): Voting in the city of the Golden Temple started on a not so enthusiastic note on Wednesday in the fifth phase of general elections.
Polling started at 7 a.m, in the urban areas of Amritsar. A dull beginning notwithstanding, voting is likely to pick up later in the day.
People visiting the polling booth this morning said they were in favour of casting their vote, as it is every citizen’s privilege and right to do so.
Eighty five-year-old Kamla said she has been exercising her franchise for over 50 years.
Kamla said: “I have always voted, no matter even if I had to skip a meal to cast my precious vote.”
Sumeet Arora, a resident of the city, said: “More and more people should come out and cast their vote, as it is the way we can strengthen democracy.”
In the rural areas of Amritsar, comprising between 1200 to 1300 villages, the voters have not been as enthusiastic, at least till 11 a.m.
In Amritsar, the electoral contest is between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Navjot Singh Sidhu and Congress candidate Om Parkash Soni. There are 12 other candidates contesting the elections in the city.
Over 1.2 million voters Amritsar would decide the fate of the contesting candidates.
The Punjab Police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure that elections are held in a peaceful manner. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)
Voting starts on a dull not at Golden Temple city
May 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Amritsar, May 13 (ANI): The city of Golden Temple started voting on a not so enthusiastic note on Wednesday in the fifth phase of general elections, with not many people turning up at polling booths despite wide awareness.
Though polling started at 7 a.m, in the urban areas of Amritsar despite a dull beginning the voting is likely to pick up later in the day.
However, the people visiting the polling booth early morning said, one must cast his or her vote. It is every citizen’s privilege and he or she must exercise this right.
Eighty five-year-old Kamla said that for over 50 years she has been casting her vote.
Kamla said: “I always voted no matter even if I had to skip one time meal to take out time to cast my precious vote.”
Sumeet Arora, a resident, said: ” More and more people should come out and cast their vote it is they way we can strengthen the democracy.”
In rural areas of Amritsar constituency, comprising 1200 to 1300 villages, the voters have not shown much enthusiasm to vote at least till 11.0′clock.
In Amritsar, the main contest is between Bharatiya Janata Party’s Navjot Singh Sidhu and Congress candidate Om Parkash Soni. There are 12 other candidates contesting elections for the same seat.
More than 1.2 million voters n Amritsar would decide the fate of the candidates who are contesting to win the Amritsar Parliamentary seat.
Meanwhile, the Punjab Police have made elaborate security arrangements to ensure elections be held in a peaceful manner here. By Ravinder Singh Robin (ANI)
New tool to calculate bleeding risk in heart attack patients revealed
April 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Washington, Apr 15 (ANI): By using eight clinical variables, scientists have found a new method, called the CRUSADE bleeding score, to estimate the risk of bleeding for a patient having a heart attack.
The bleeding-risk assessment tool, created by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Duke University, could also help lessen the chances that heart attack patients will experience this common complication.
“Until now, there hasn’t been a simple tool applicable to the general population that can predict the risk of bleeding before patients are treated for heart attack. Older methods for estimating risk either were derived from a low-bleeding-risk population or used variables that aren’t available until after treatment is begun,” said one of the study’s authors, Richard G. Bach.
Medications and procedures intended to prevent ischemic complications, or damage caused by lack of oxygen to the heart- anticlotting drugs and catheter-based interventions to the heart – also increase the likelihood of bleeding, which can be deadly.
“The risk of bleeding is substantial in people with heart attacks. We found that this population could be risk-stratified, so that people at high risk of bleeding could receive less aggressive anticoagulant and antiplatelet therapy while those at low risk could receive full-dose therapy,” says study co-author Brian F. Gage.
Led by Sumeet Subherwal, the researchers analysed the medical histories of more than 89,000 patients hospitalised in the US for non-ST-elevation heart attack.
This type of heart attack is the most common and usually results from a partial rather than complete blockage of the heart’s arteries.
The patient histories were part of the CRUSADE Quality Improvement Initiative, a national multicentre program that aims to improve outcomes for heart attack patients.
“A lot of treatment decisions have to be made very promptly after the patient arrives. So we designed a bleeding-risk stratification tool that would require only those variables that can be obtained up front. It’s a practical tool that can be used in any hospital setting,” said Bach.
After the CRUSADE analysis, the scientists identified eight factors that could predict the odds that a heart attack patient might suffer a bleeding event.
The factors are gender, heart rate, blood pressure, hematocrit (the concentration of red cells in the blood), creatinine clearance (a measure of kidney function), diabetes, peripheral vascular disease or stroke, and congestive heart failure.
The bleeding score calculation assigns points to each factor so that the total score coincides with risk of bleeding evidenced in the CRUSADE cases.
The range of possible scores is divided into five categories from very low to very high risk of bleeding.
The aim behind the bleeding risk score is to help guide critical early treatment decisions for clinicians caring for heart attack patients.
However, Bach said that the impact of its use on outcomes would need to be tested in clinical trials.
Potentially, the score will be used in conjunction with other practice guidelines to optimize heart attack treatment and minimize risk.
The tool has been described in a study in the journal Circulation. (ANI)