Category Archives: Science & Technologies

VIT Inks Pact with US Institute for Incubator Facility

Business & Economy, Education, Science & Technologies
VIT Chancellor G Viswanthan handing over prizes to one of the winning teams, which participated in the ‘Makeathon 2014’ | EXPRESS
VIT Chancellor G Viswanthan handing over prizes to one of the winning teams, which participated in the ‘Makeathon 2014’ | EXPRESS

Vellore :

The US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and VIT University here have joined hands to set up what they say is the first-of-its-kind incubator facility at VIT, to promote innovations by the student community.

This was disclosed by Dr Kenneth Eugine Paik, director of Sana, a volunteer organisation.

He was here to take part in the ‘Makeathon 2014’ organised jointly by the MIT and VIT on its campus since Saturday last.

Speaking to Express on Monday, Paik said, “This is first-its-kind facility that we would be setting up in India with an emphasis on capacity-building of the students to convert their ideas into business models and later patenting them also. This way we would be channelising the interest of students to the betterment of the community,” he further said. The MIT team would help as patrons and mentors for the students. An MoU would also be signed between the two universities in this regard, he added.

Paik and his colleagues from MIT and University of California have been camping at VIT, to judge the ‘Makeathon 2014’ in which around 450 students had participated.

VIT Vice-Chancellor Dr V Raju said that 34 judges and 47 mentors were involved in the selection of the best prototypes of products developed by the students in 36 hours of non-stop work. A total of 28 teams had worked on healthcare, 18 on automation, 21 on energy and 10 on media science-related products. According to him, the programme was the brainchild of the creation lab that has been set up at VIT to encourage students to find simple solutions to compelling problems affecting society. VIT vice-president Sekar Viswanathan, while handing over prizes to the winning teams at a function held on Monday, said, “We need to encourage students to think freely. The traditional education system did not do this. Universities must promote free thinking by the students and VIT had already taken a lead in this direction.”

VIT Chancellor G Viswanthan, while appreciating the students’ efforts, said VITA had been a trend setter and the Fully Flexible Credit System (FFCS) that was introduced by VIT four years ago was being introduced by IIT- Khargpur this year.

Jay Patravali, a third year student of VIT, who had received an award at the Makeathon for developing software to enable robots  communicate was upbeat with his idea. He said this software would have wide application in healthcare sector to help a surgeon to perform a surgery with the help of robots.

Sankalp and his team received an award for developing a low-cost Braille printer using any language.

Omkar and his team had developed a cranking portable mobilephone charger while Junwar and his team were awarded for developing an acupressure pad that could activate particular organs in the body.

The selected teams would also be participating in a ‘hackathon’ that is to be organised by Honeywell next month.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Tamil Nadu / by V NarayanaMurthi / July 30th, 2014

As she turns 100, nurse takes a walk down time

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Education, Historical Links, Pre-Independence, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Chennai :

With a rusty trunk in hand and a plethora of instructions in mind, Anna Jacob boarded SS Franconia from Bombay to Liverpool to pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. “It was 1947. There were 3,500 passengers on board, and most of them were Britons returning home,” says Jacob, 67 years later.

The journey lasted three weeks. “There was a badminton court, a swimming pool, a live band. Many of them were upbeat as they all were returning home at last,” says Jacob, her face breaking into a wrinkled smile.

Jacob, who will turn 100 this month-end, was among the first batch of students who completed the higher grade nursing course from Christian Medical College, Vellore, in 1936. In the city to attend the centenary celebration of Women’s Christian College, where she did an intermediate course in 1946, she recounts her days with Dr Ida Scudder, founder of CMC, and Vera Pitman, her nursing tutor.

Jacob, fondly called Annamma by her family and friends, surprises people with her sharp memory. “I still remember the day Miss Pitman came to our school in Tiruvalla, Kerala,” she recalls. “She was really tall and graceful, but what drew people to her was her passion for what she did — nursing. Fifteen minutes into her talk on the need for dedicated nurses in the country, I had already made up my mind to join her team in Vellore.”

Her family members were aghast as “Nursing was looked down at that time. No woman from a good family would get into the profession.” When I broke the news to my family that I was moving to Vellore, they were aghast. News spread fast and my father received condolence letters,” said Jacob, who was the third among five sisters. Undeterred, she went on to be among the first batch of nine students under Pitman. “It was the best move I made in my life,” says Jacob.

After completing her course three years later, Jacob moved on to work in Delhi, before she got a scholarship in 1947 to do a bachelor’s in Canada. “A month later, I saw myself on board SS Franconia and later made my way from Liverpool to Montreal,” she said. She returned to Vellore two years later, where she was made the Nursing Superintendent. She worked there from 1949 to 1974.

Pitman continued mentoring her through letters from London. “She said it was up to me to now to pass on what I was taught. And that’s what I did and continue doing,” says Jacob, who stays on her own in Vellore and continues mentoring young nurses.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by Ekatha Ann John, TNN / July 20th, 2014

 

Emerging Trends in Endocrinology Discussed

Science & Technologies

Chennai :

An endocrinology conference organised by Endocrine Society of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry saw the participation of more than 1,200 doctors and scientists from various parts of the country and abroad.

The meeting held on July 19 and 20 provided for a wonderful academic feast for physicians, gynaecologists and other practitioners having interest in various areas of endocrinology.

The conference began with a debate on the importance of Vitamin D and its relevance to holistic health. Prof A K Das, Dr Arun Menon and Dr Kaushik Pandit pointed out that the vitamin plays an important role not only in bone health, but also in reducing mortality, heart disease and even cancer. There is strong optimism among scientists that more benefits of Vitamin D will be discovered in large trials over the next few years.

A seminar on parathyroid disorders by Dr  Thomas Paul, Manoj Chada, Dr Prabhu and Dr Arun Menon, brought to focus that these disorders were not uncommon and should be considered as an important cause for kidney stones and osteoporosis. The discussion focused on the need to do further tests in cases of fractures and kidney stones.

Prof Nielsen and Prof Walker underlined the importance of family studies in the understanding of reasons behind diabetes. Better understanding through population studies will aid health professionals to advise patients regarding the importance of lifestyle changes to prevent and treat Type 2 diabetes. Walker discussed the link between overweight, obesity, insulin resistance and newer medications targeting Type 2 diabetes in future.

Areas like alcoholic fatty liver in diabetes were brought to focus by Dr Sarita Bajaj.  The seminar focused on the fact that diabetes would become the single most important cause for liver failure in the next decade and observed that identifying and treating it early can reduce the progression to a large extent.

Screening for diabetes in pregnant young women  and educating women regarding the importance of lifestyle changes before becoming pregnant were also discussed.  It said that obesity seemed to have a link with insulin resistance and poly cystic ovarian disease, having implications in fertility, development of diabetes in pregnant mothers and fetal health. These disorders in the mother could affect the child later with excess obesity, diabetes, hypertension etc. This needs to be studied more to avoid health problems in the next generation.

Another session on Type 1 diabetes in children  by Dr Swaminathan, Dr Prasanna Kumar and Dr Sundararaman, dealt with the importance of  treating children with diabetes by a team of experts to avoid future complications in this group.

Dr Vijay V discussed the importance of  diabetic foot problems and ways to effectively deal with a problem of public health importance.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com  / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / Express News Service / July 24th, 2014

Exploring new frontiers in medical imaging, physiology

Education, Science & Technologies

Intravascular imaging enables doctors to assess and capture images from inside the coronary artery

Madras Medical Mission (MMM) will soon launch a centre of excellence in imaging, physiology and structural intervention.

There are only three-four such centres in the Asia-Pacific region, including in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Mullasari Ajit S., director of cardiology, MMM, said the centre will conduct training and promote peer-to-peer learning by conducting expert group meetings, continuing medical education and demonstrations for physicians.

“We have installed a 3D OCT Ilumien Optis equipment. This technology helps in looking inside an artery in 3D mode and provides better images. We are also setting up a core lab for coronary and structural intervention in angiography and imaging for research purposes,” said Dr. Ajit on Friday.

On Saturday, a two-day symposium on advanced cardiovascular therapeutics was launched. The focus is on intravascular imaging and physiology and transcatheter congenital and structural cardiac interventions. A similar symposium will be held on July 26-27, with participation of national and international faculty.

S. Vijayakumar, senior consultant of cardiology, said angiography determines the decision to perform angioplasty but can underestimate or overestimate the narrowing of a blood vessel. It has limited ability to assess severity of coronary artery disease, and is also poor in predicting the size of the stent.

Intravascular imaging enables doctors to assess and capture images from inside the coronary artery to understand the severity of the block, decide on optimal treatment options and examine the outcomes of interventional procedures.

R. Sivakumar, head of paediatric cardiology, said advanced imaging gives a picture similar to direct surgical visualisation.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – July 20th, 2014

Chennai turns hub for broadcast technology

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Science & Technologies
A girl poses for a picture with special lights used in TV studios at a stall in an exhibition on broadcast equipment and technology in Chennai on Friday. — DC
A girl poses for a picture with special lights used in TV studios at a stall in an exhibition on broadcast equipment and technology in Chennai on Friday. — DC

Chennai:

Chennai is turning out to be a major hub for broadcast equipment manufacturers. To showcase the latest equipment, the trade organised an expo in the city.

Speaking to DC on Friday on the sidelines of the two-day international exhibition on broadcast equipment and technology on Friday, Satish Aggarwal, president of the association, said that this was the first in a series of exhibitions their association would organise.

“We chose to organise the exhibition in Chennai as it had several top TV channels in the country.  In the first hour of opening the expo, we had 150 registrations which show the kind of overwhelming response the city has given us. We expect the registration to touch 1,000,” he said.

Further, Mr Aggarwal said that in terms of logistics too Chennai provides good air connectivity to world’s top destinations which made them select Chennai to bring all broadcast equipment manufacturers under one roof.

Mr Masayoshi Hirashita, sales manager, Ikegami Electronics Asia Pacific Private Limited, a six-decade-old company manufacturing TV camera systems and video production accessories, said that the company had several Chennai-based Tamil channels as their clients. “We have provided latest equipment to many Tamil channels and we have come again to display our latest equipment,” he said.

Shyam, a broadcast engineer, says that Chennai boasts of being a hub for satellite channels as the cable TV industry in the city dates back to early ‘90s. “Even before anybody launched a satellite channel for Tamil, Chennaittes stahad started connecting to cable TVs to view foreign  channels,” he said.

source: http://www.deccanchronicle.com / Deccan Chronicle / Home> Nation> Current Affairs / DC / by  N. Arun Kumar / July 19th, 2014

South India’s first test tube baby turns mother

Records, All, Science & Technologies

KamalaCF20jul2014

The 24-year-old gives birth to a baby girl at the same hospital she was born in

At 4.24 p.m. on Thursday, the first cry of a newborn brought back memories of an unforgettable day in 1990 for doctors at GG Hospital and a family from Tirunelveli.

Twenty four years after she was born at the hospital, south India’s first test tube baby — Kamala Rathinam — delivered a girl at the same hospital. “She got married on September 8, 2013 and conceived naturally. She endured heavy labour pain this morning. We tried for seven hours to ensure a normal delivery but there was difficulty in opening of the mouth of the cervix. She underwent a caesarean section. She was due a week later but we did not want to take a chance,” Kamala Selvaraj, obstetrician and gynaecologist, GG Hospital, said.

The baby weighed 2.8 kg and both mother and child are healthy, she added. An excited Dr. Selvaraj said that this case will remove any doubts in people’s minds about whether test tube babies can lead a normal life. Ms. Rathinam and her husband Rajesh Hariharan are software engineers working in Bangalore.

“I was keen on bringing her to GG Hospital for delivery. We had ante natal check-ups done in Bangalore and came to Chennai during her eighth month of pregnancy,” Mr. Rajesh says.

Kamala’s birth on August 1, 1990 marked a milestone in Assisted Reproductive Technology in south India, recall doctors. Her father Ramamurthy (70) wishes his wife was alive to see their granddaughter. “She died last year when my daughter had just conceived,” he said. He was 46 when Kamala Rathinam was born. “I knew that this procedure was new but they explained everything to me, and I was not afraid,” he said.

Kamala was named after Dr. Selvaraj and his mother Ramarathinam, he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai> Health / by Serena Josephine. M / Chennai – July 11th, 2014

‘Milk Production in TN Up by 1.2 Lakh Litres a Day’

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Records, All, Science & Technologies

Chennai :

Milk production in Tamil Nadu has gone up by 1.2 lakh litres per day and 18,356 new born calves were added to the cattle population as a result of the 36,000 milch cows distributed by the initiatives of Chief Minister J Jayalalitha, Animal Husbandary Minister TKM Chinnayya said on Saturday.

Speaking at the valedictory of the 21st Annual Convention of Indian Society for Veterinary Immunology and Biotechnology at the Madras Veterinary College, he said the 6 lakh goats distributed free by the government have more than doubled their population to increase to 14.86 lakh.

According to him in the three years that the scheme has been implemented, about 1.2 lakh people who have received milch cows and over 1.5 lakh beneficiaries who have received goats are reaping the benefits of the scheme.

He also informed that Tamil Nadu accounts for 17.71 per cent of the poultry population of the country and more than 90 per cent of poultry products exported from India originates from the state.

The minister distributed several awards to the participating students and prize winning presentations at the conference which has drawn several delegates from the US and UK. Secretary to Government, Animal Husbandary, Dairying and Fisheries Department, S Vijayakumar, President of ISVIB, RK Singh, Dean of Virginia – Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, USA, Cyril Clarke and Vice -Chancellor of TANUVAS, TJ Harikrishnan, were present on the occasion.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service / July 20th, 2014

Community sustains “biggest” rooftop RWH

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Green Initiatives/ Environment, Nature, Science & Technologies

Nearly 12 years have passed, and it stands as a classic example

The successful rooftop rainwater harvesting structure has also given a scenic look to the Mariamman Teppakulam in Virudhunagar even during dry days. / Photo: G. Moorthy / The Hindu
The successful rooftop rainwater harvesting structure has also given a scenic look to the Mariamman Teppakulam in Virudhunagar even during dry days. / Photo: G. Moorthy / The Hindu

Nearly 12 long years have passed, and the rainwater harvesting (RWH) system in Mariamman Teppakulam here stands as a classic example of how community involvement could bring about phenomenal changes.

Dubbed as the first project to have the biggest network of rooftop RWH structure in the State – set up in 2002– the temple tank in an arid town has descent storage of water even now when other parts of the district are reeling under water crisis.

The municipality along with Virudhunagar RWH Association and Hindu Nadar Palasarakku Mahamai began to connect the rooftops of buildings around the tank in early 2002. Water collected from the rooftops was made to drain in the tank through a network of pipelines.

“Every time, we completed a big portion of the network, we received rain within a couple of days. The raising water level in the tank encouraged more people to join us voluntarily,” said former municipal vice-chairman and Virudhunagar RWH Association joint secretary S. Balakrishnasamy.

Over 50,000 square feet of rooftops were brought under the RWH network.

Besides, the local people took up repairing a channel that supplied surplus water from the Kowshika river from where water was pumped to the tank with underground pipelines laid for more than three km. All that the then Collector K. Gopal did was facilitating the work by coordinating with all the government departments, he said.

Earlier, the tank was rendered dry for good parts of the year after fast urbanisation changed the course of rainwater that used to feed the 324 feet by 294 feet tank.

“When sewage water started mixing with the rainwater in the river, the Mahamai went a step forward and bought over four acres of land upstream to create a new water storage point,” former secretary of the Mahamai P.M.S.N.K.D. Rajavel said.

A leading channel was dug up to bring rainwater from Kowshika river into a small waterbody. An infiltration well was dug up in it from where water was pumped to the tank some five km away.

“The municipality takes care of the electricity bill for pumping water. We have erected a 40-KVA generator to keep the 25-Horse Power motor pump on as and when required,” Mr. Rajavel said.

The Mahamai has created a corpus fund of Rs.40 lakh for the RWH system. It spends around Rs.5 lakh on its maintenance and operation. Water from here and the rooftops fills up not only the tank, but also eight wells in the area.

Dedicated pipeline with a valve control has been provided allowing overflowing water from the tank to fill up the wells. “Almost the entire southern parts of the town are water- sufficient,” Mr. Rajavel said.

The pump room along Kowshika river from where water is pumped to the tank. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu
The pump room along Kowshika river from where water is pumped to the tank. Photo: R. Ashok / The Hindu

Water stored in the storage point as a result of one hour rain in three spells last year was good enough to draw a huge quantity of water which was at least two times the capacity of the tank.

Mr. Balakrishnasamy said most of the 3,000-odd borewells in the town continued to provide sufficient water for the residents. The municipality has also created smaller rooftop RWH structures in 10 places that help in rejuvenation of groundwater in different residential areas across the town.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Madurai / by S. Sundar / Virudhunagar – July 18th, 2014

Experts converge at ophthalmology event

Science & Technologies

Until very recently, a corneal transplant was a very difficult affair, with the entire cornea of a donor being removed and implanted in the recipient.

Now, it is possible to replace only one portion of the cornea, 25 micron thick, to the recipient and thereby reduce discomfort experienced by the patient through a procedure called PDEK (Pre-Descemet’s endothelial keratoplasty), Amar Agarwal, CMD, Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital, said.

The procedure, which was developed in 2013, is now being taught to a number of doctors from different parts of the world. Over 1,600 doctors from various countries, including USA, Italy, Iraq and Jordan, have come here to be trained in PDEK and Glued IOL, a procedure used for cataract. The intraocular implant and refractive surgery convention was inaugurated on Saturday.

“Blindness due to cataract and corneal disease are major factors affecting quality of life and socio-economic status of patients and the economy of a nation at a micro level,” Governor K. Rosaiah, who inaugurated the convention, said.

Statistics reveal that approximately 1,20,000 people in India have corneal blindness and this number is expected to increase by 30,000 every year. By 2020, it is expected that 8.25 million people in the country will have cataract, he said.

The J. Agarwal Global Icon Gold Medal was awarded to Keiki R. Mehta. Four awards and 18 gold medals were presented to doctors for their service. Health minister C. Vijaya Baskar was also present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – July 06th, 014

Coimbatore gets first neo-natal ambulance

Records, All, Science & Technologies

Coimbatore :

The district got its first neo-natal ambulance for Coimbatore and two 108 ambulances exclusively for Valparai. The services was launched at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) on Saturday.

The neo-natal ambulance has transport incubators, ventilators and a multiport infusing system.

The 108 ambulance will be stationed at the neo-natal intensive care unit, CMCH. and it would be operated for neo-natal cases only.

Trained physicians who can handle neonatal cases will be available round the clock in the special neonatal ambulance. The state already has 33 neo-natal ambulances which have attended to an estimated 11,000 cases.

Two more 108 ambulances were inaugurated for the Valparai region. The ambulance is a four wheel drive vehicle suitable for hilly areas.

The 108 emergency ambulance services of the GVK emergency management and research institute has decided to operate one of the ambulances between Valparai and Mudis and another between Valparai and Sholaiyar.

“It is difficult for residents of Valpari and neighbouring villages to reach the hospital quickly in an emergency.

“These ambulances can take patients from remote areas to the Valparai GH quickly,” said George Kenneth, district manager, GVK Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI). tnn Health minister C Vijayabaskar flagged off the vehicles on CMCH campus on Saturday. S P Velumani, minister for municipal administration and rural development, S Revwathy, Dean of Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) and other government department officials participated in the function. Health Minister told the media persons that the Department of Cardiology would get two more additional doctors in CMCH for performing open-heart surgery.

He also visited trauma ward and met the people who met accident few days ago near Pillur dam.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / July 14th, 2014