Exam form submission deadline pushed to Feb 9

NASHIK: The Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) has extended the date for submitting examination forms for engineering courses till February 9. On Friday, student activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in the city approached the sub-centre office of SPPU demanding additional for students to submit their exam forms. Many students were unable to fill the forms on time due to server congestion.

ABVP district co-ordinator Amol Gaikwad said, "Recently, a time table for engineering students pursuing graduation for the 2012 pattern was released. However, only two days were provided to students to fill the examination form, the process for which started on January 22

."Moreover, many students could not even fill the form as they received very little time to know about the notification and complete the required formalities, he added.

Gaikwad said that also, the university provided only one server link for all the students. This led to congestion of server line and many students could not log on to the website. Hence, to prevent the academic loss of the students, the time frame to fill the examination form should be extended, he added further.

Explaining the problems faced, Kunal Gaikwad, a second year electronic engineering student, "The server was down post afternoon. I tried to log in the website but due to load was automatically logged out for at least four times. It took me almost three hours to get the procedure complete, but then I was unable to download the form to be printed and later submitted to the college," he added.

A student, Janhavi Kadam, said, "I was charged a sum of Rs 300 as late fee due to the technical error encountered because of server congestion. However, the news of deadline extension is a relief."

Meanwhile, dean of engineering faculty Gajanan Kharate said, "There was a misunderstanding. The university conducts a continuous assessment test every month. Students thought they were filling forms for the test, whereas they were actually doing so for the semester exams."

The continuous assessment test is scheduled on January 27. The details of the students appearing for the test already exists with the university as they are based on roll numbers given in each class, Kharate added.

Gut bacteria may trigger auto-immune disease later in life

Researchers have revealed that the colonisation of the gut of young mice by certain types of bacteria can lead to immune responses later in life that are linked to disease.

This type of damage is a hallmark of auto-immune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus and systemic sclerosis where organs throughout the body are damaged by wayward immune responses.

"Our results demonstrate how gut health in young animals may be linked to auto-immune disease in older animals," said Dirk Elewaut, professor at Ghent University Hospital in Belgium, one of the lead authors of the study.

The microbiome of the young mouse impacts a loss of tolerance of the secondary immune system against proteins in the nucleus of the cell.

The attack of certain proteins by the body's own immune system can subsequently lead to tissue damage and disease.

"We have demonstrated a link between the microbiome of young mice and the later onset of auto-immune disease," Elewaut noted.

Further work is needed to establish the precise molecular mechanisms that lead to the onset of auto-immune diseases in humans but we now have a new path of inquiry that we can pursue and look for potential interventions, the authors concluded.

The findings were published in The EMBO Journal.