NEW DELHI, July 16: After enthralling cine lovers and television audiences with his acting in the film ‘Kis Kisko Pyar Karoon’ and comedy in ‘Comedy Nights with Kapil’ on Colors and ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ on Sony, Kapil Sharma now has another feather in his cap.
The comedian has been offered a song by Music Maestro A R Rahman, who was impressed with his singing when he (Rahman) appeared in ‘The Kapil Sharma show’.
The show, which has witnessed several celebrities from across the world of entertainment and sports, recently hosted Grammy awardee A R Rahman.
Unlike other stars, this was Rahman’s first appearance on a television show, ever!
As Rahman shared interesting anecdotes with Kapil, he mentioned that he had heard Kapil was a great singer too and asked him to sing something. Though shy, Kapil obliged and sang a beautiful rendition of the acclaimed Punjabi folk song ‘Heer’
Hearing Kapil’s alluring voice and distinctive style of singing, Mr Rahman was blown away and immediately promised to work with Kapil on an assignment.
When asked about the same, Kapil in his witty style, shared, “I love singing. Whenever while shooting when I get a chance, I sing my heart out. Also we have a lot of singers and composers who grace our show as guests.”
But on a serious note, he said,” I’m truly humbled that a music maestro like Rahman appreciated my vocal skills. It was very kind of him to say that he will give me a song to sing.” (AGENCIES)
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HIV
Cancer-fighting immunotherapy could treat HIV
LOS ANGELES, July 16:
A type of immunotherapy that has shown promising results against cancer could also fight HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, a new study has found.
Scientists from the University of California, Los Angeles found that recently discovered potent antibodies can be used to generate a specific type of cell called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs), that can be used to kill cells infected with HIV-1.
CARs are artificially created immune T cells that have been engineered to produce receptors on their surface that are designed to target and kill specific cells containing viruses or tumor proteins.
Chimeric receptors are the focus of ongoing research into how gene immunotherapy can be used to fight cancer. However, they could also be used to create a strong immune response against HIV, said Otto Yang, professor at UCLA.
Although the human body’s immune system does initially respond to and attack HIV, the sheer onslaught of the virus – its ability to hide in different T cells and to rapidly replicate – eventually wears out and destroys the immune system, leaving the body vulnerable to a host of infections and diseases.
Researchers have been looking for ways to strengthen the immune system against HIV, and it now appears CARs could be a weapon in that fight.
“We took new generation antibodies and engineered them as artificial T-cell receptors, to reprogramme killer T cells to kill HIV-infected cells,” said Yang.
“Others have used antibodies against cancer antigens to make artificial T-cell receptors against cancer and shown this to be helpful in cancer treatment,” he said.
While the receptors approach has been in use for almost 10 years to fight cancer, this is the first attempt to use the technique to treat HIV since 15 years ago, when experiments proved unsuccessful.
The new research differs because it takes advantage of new antibodies that have been discovered in the past few years.
In the previous trials, researchers had used an early type that was not antibody-based. That approach, however, was abandoned because it was clinically ineffective.
Here the researchers used seven recently discovered “broadly neutralising antibodies” that have the ability to bind multiple strains of invading viruses, unlike earlier isolated antibodies that tend to bind few strains.
These antibodies were re-engineered as artificial CAR-T cell receptors to have activity against broad strains of HIV.
In lab tests, the researchers found that all seven had varying degrees of ability to direct killer T cells to proliferate, kill and suppress viral replication in response to HIV-infected cells.
The next step is to find strategies to put these receptors into humans.
The research was published in the Journal of Virology. (AGENCIES)
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INVISIBILITY
Scientists step closer to
creating invisibility cloaks
LONDON, July 16:
In a first, scientists have made an object disappear by using a composite material that can enhance an object’s surface properties, an advance that may lead to practical invisibility cloaks.
Researchers from at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science, showed for the first time a practical cloaking device that allows curved surfaces to appear flat to electromagnetic waves.
“The design is based upon transformation optics, a concept behind the idea of the invisibility cloak,” said Yang Hao from QMUL.
“Previous research has shown this technique working at one frequency. However, we can demonstrate that it works at a greater range of frequencies making it more useful for other engineering applications, such as nano-antennas and the aerospace industry,” Hao said.
The researchers coated a curved surface with a nanocomposite medium, which has seven distinct layers (called graded index nanocomposite) where the electric property of each layer varies depending on the position.
The effect is to ‘cloak’ the object: such a structure can hide an object that would ordinarily have caused the wave to be scattered.
The underlying design approach has much wider applications, ranging from microwave to optics for the control of any kind of electromagnetic surface waves.
“The study and manipulation of surface waves is the key to develop technological and industrial solutions in the design of real-life platforms, for different application fields,” said Luigi La Spada from QMUL.
“We demonstrated a practical possibility to use nanocomposites to control surface wave propagation through advanced additive manufacturing,” said La Spada.
“Perhaps most importantly, the approach used can be applied to other physical phenomena that are described by wave equations, such as acoustics,” he added.
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports. (AGENCIES)
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ENTERTAINMENT-THE JUNGLE BOOK
Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ completes
100 days in theaters
NEW DELHI, July 16:
Disney’s American fantasy adventure ‘The Jungle Book’ today completed its 100 days in Indian theaters.
After becoming the highest grossing Hollywood films of all time in India, the movie has added yet another feather to its glittering cap.
Starring Neli Sethi, the movie is based on Rudyard Kipling’s eponymous collective works and is inspired by Walt Disney’s 1967 animated film of the same name, ‘The Jungle Book’ is a live-action computer generated imagery film that tells the story of Mowgli, an orphan human boy who, is guided by animal who play role of his guardians after he is left alone to fend himself in jungle. In the flick, Mowgli sets out on a journey of self-discovery while evading the threatening Shere Khan.
The total box-office collection for the film so far is a whopping 260.28 crores (Gross Box Office) and 187.40 cr has been the Net box office collection, thus setting a new benchmark for English films in India. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film will now be screened at 25 additional screens in the country.
The magic of Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo and Shere Khan shown in the movie has made everyone nostalgic.
Bollywood stars Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan, Nana Patekar, Om Puri and Shefali Shah have lent their voices for the lead character of the Hindi version of movie.
The film came out in the Indian theatres on April 8, a week before it was released in the US. (AGENCIES)
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ENT-SALMAN-LEAKS
Online film leaks: Offenders
must be jailed, says Salman
MUMBAI, July 16:
Superstar Salman Khan says strict action must be taken against those who leak films online.
Recently, films like “Udta Punjab”, “Great Grand Masti” and Salman-starrer “Sultan” were leaked online before their official release.
“It’s disgusting that films are getting leaked online before release. These people are nothing less than thieves as they make money in the name of other person’s hard work. It (piracy) is the worst profession, Salman said in an interview.
“Someone suggested you should put TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act) on people who buy and sell it (pirated DVD). As we pay tax and Maharashtra has the heaviest tax, something should be done. When two people will go to prison, others will stop it. It (piracy) doesn’t happen in South,” he said.
One of the reasons often cited for piracy are huge ticket prices. The 50-year-old “Dabangg” star, however, feels that ticket prices reduce after the weekend and there are single screen theatres as well where the prices are not much high.
“What about watching the film after the weekend that is Monday onwards. There are single screens as well. Even I feel the ticket prices are high but if you look at the infrastructure, the cost of real estate then you will understand that if they (multiplexes) don’t charge that much, then the theatre will close down,” he said.
Salman will be seen next in Kabir Khan’s “Tubelight”. (AGENCIES)
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