HEALTH

Experts debate on neurological disorders
Tribune News Service

Mohali, February 26
A four-day workshop on ''Drug discovery and development in the new millennium: interfacing with pharmacological and toxicological experimentation'' was inaugurated at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) here today.

Organised by the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, the workshop was inaugurated by Prof Y.K. Gupta, Director, Industrial Toxicology and Research Centre (ITRC), Lucknow. This workshop is aimed at providing students, researchers, managers and regulatory authorities an insight into different aspects of drug discovery and development.

Prof Gupta in his keynote address on “Oxidative stress and neurological disorders”, emphasised the utilisation of technology and networking of scientific personnel for conducting animal experimentation in the process of drug discovery and development. He explained the involvement of free radicals in various neurological disorders. Dr Gupta presented the summarised findings of research done by his team of scientists in the area of stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson's disease.

In his presidential remarks, Dr C.L. Kaul, Director, NIPER, said that due to paradigm shift in the drug discovery process critical decisions had to be made regarding targets, lead generation, optimisation and biological screening strategies and these are the prime factors for success. ‘‘The integration of such knowledge is the order of the day to achieve enhanced productivity in this area,’’ he said, adding that there was a need to reorient the screening programme so that test compounds with pharmaceutical and safety problems could be excluded at an early stage of development.

In his welcome address, Prof P. Rama Rao, Head, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology and convener of the workshop, said that the purpose of the workshop was to provide people involved in the drug discovery process a platform to acquaint themselves with various technologies.

Over 50 delegates from various parts of the country are participating in the deliberations of the workshop and experts from various areas of drug discovery and development have been invited to interact with the participants.

SPORTS

Teakwondo colour belt promotion test
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 26
A taekwondo colour belt promotion test was organised at Swami Ram Tirtha Public School, Phase IV, Mohali. Giving this information Satpal S. Rahal, general secretary, Technical Director, Punjab Taekwondo Association, said players from different training centres, participated in the grading test.

The successful players are: Amitoj Preet Singh (Blue to Blue I) - Guru Nanak VBT, Polytechnic; Sunil Kumar (green to green-I Belt) - Sant Isher Singh Public School, Centre; Deepak Kaushal (green to green-I Belt) - Paragon Senior Secondary School; Mahita Singh (yellow to green Belt) - Guru Nanak VBT, Polytechnic, Mohali; Vishwa Prem (yellow to green Belt) - Aanchal International School; Himanshu Sharma (yellow to green belt) - Sector 70, Training Centre; Lobzang Galak (yellow to green belt) - Shivalik Public School, Mohali; Rishav Chauhan, Ramandeep Singh, Seeran Preet Singh, Amoldeep Singh, Moman Preet Singh (white to yellow) - Shivalik Public School; Sunil sharma, Harmandeep Kaur, Gurinder Singh, Amandeep Sharma, Vijay Sharma (white to yellow belt) - All Sentinal Public School, Sohana; Bhanu Sharma (white to yellow belt) - Sector 70, Training Centre; Rahul Kaushal (white to yellow belt) - Mohali Public School, Phase X; Shakti Sen (white to yellow belt) - Shimla Public School, Phase X; Simran Singh (white to yellow belt) - Gem Public School, Mohali.

Athletics meet

Vasundhra in the u-13 girls section and Harkirna in the u-11 girls sections won the 100 m and 200 m titles, respectively, at the 25th annual athletics meet at YPS, Mohali, here today. The results of u-15(girls) — high jump: 1 Dollypreet (Tagore House), 2 Parneet (Ranjit House), 3 gurnain (Aitchison House); 4x100 m relay: 1 Patiala House, 2 Ranjit House, 3 Tagore House; 4,100 m relay: 1 Jairoop (Patiala House), 2 Parneet (Ranjit House), Divya (Tagore House); u-13, 100m: 1. Vasundhru (Patiala House), 2 Ravinder (Patiala House), 3 Aanchal (nalagarh House). 200 m: 1,Vasundhra (Patiala House) 2, Aanchal (Nalagarh House); under -11: 100 m: 1 Harkirna (Tagore House), 2 Mannat (Tagore House), 3 Ishleen (Patiala House). 200m: Harkirna (Tagore House), 2 Ishleen (Patiala House), 3 Neelam (Nalagarh House).

Boys (above 16) — 400m: 1 Tejinder (Patiala House), 2 Ankit Sethi ( Tagore House), 3 Ather (Aitchison House). 4x100m relay: 1 Nalagarh House, 2 Tagore House, 3 Ranjit House. high jump: 1 Harman Joy (Ranjit House), 2 Inderpreet ( Tagore House), 3 Harshdeep (Tagore House); 4x100m: 1 Aitchison House, 2 Ranjit House, 3 Patiala House; u-14 — 400m: 1 Mohemmed Wasin (Tagore House), 2 Harsimran (Aitchison House), 3 Harkirat (Aitchison House); 4x100m relay: 1 Aitchison House, 2 Patiala House, 3 Nalagarh House; U-12 — 100m: 1 Kabir (Nalagarh House), 2 Mandeep (Tagore House), 3 Jagteshwar (Ranjit House); 400m: 1 Kabir (Nalagarh House), 2 Ankit (Nalagarh House), 3 Pururawa (Patiala House); and u-10 — 100m: 1 Kirtanbir (Patiala House), 2 Sikender (Aitchison House), 3 Abhi (Tagore House).

Sumer wins laurels at athletics meet
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 26
Sumer Singh, a BA II student, was declared the best athlete in the 51th annual athletics sports meet of the Government College for Boys, Sector 11, Chandigarh.

The main attraction of the day was musical chair in which Gaganinder Kaur stood first whereas S. Thapar and Vijay Singh got the second and third places, respectively.

Mr S.P. Arora, Director Public Relations, UT, Chandigarh, was the chief guest on the closing ceremony.

The following are the results: 100 metre race: Hemant Khanna 1, Sartaj Singh 2, Sanjeev Kumar 3; 200 m race: Sartaj Singh 1, Hemant Khanna 2, Varinder Singh 3; 400 m race: Varinder 1, Abhey Kumar 2, Ashish Pathania 3; 800 m race: Sumer Singh 1, Sandeep Thakur 2, Harsimrat Singh 3; 1500 m: Sumer Singh 1, Harsimrat Singh 2, Varinder Singh 3; 3000 m race: Sumer Singh 1, Harsimrat Singh 2, Lucky 3; 5000 m race: Samer Singh 1, Ashok Kumar 2, Sandeep Thakur 3; discus throw: Kuldeep Singh 1, Rajbir Singh 2, Lawerence Paul 3; javelin throw: Lucky 1, Gulzar 2, Samsudeen 3; shot put: Samsudeen 1, Sahil Sharma and Dijen Singh 2, long jump: Vimal Kishore 1, Hemant Kumar 2, Amardeep Singh 3; high jump: Surjit Singh 1, Sunny Kumar 2, Pankaj 3; triple jump: Vimal Kumar Kishore 1, Pardeep 2, Amar Singh 3.