Category Archives: Science & Technologies

Kovai doctor keeps it raw

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

Gone are those days, when elders in the family, treated their child’s illness with vegetables.

Chennai  :

Gone are those days, when elders in the family, treated their child’s illness with vegetables. It is believed that the disconnection from the traditional food culture has made the present generation unaware of the nutritional values in the native vegetables. Therefore, alternative medical practitioners through their campaigns at workshops and symposia on the native food system are attempting to bring awareness among people on the possibilities of curing several ailments just by putting them on a diet of native raw vegetables.

“From a vegetable vendor, you demand a ‘fresh’ bunch of mint or coriander leaves. But, is it not an irony that what you buy fresh is dead after you cook?  While cooking is nothing but an act of ‘killing’ the nutrients of a vegetable, why should you prefer it to be bought fresh?” asks BK Arunprakaash, a vegetable consultant, who runs Yogeshwar Vegetable Clinic in Coimbatore.

Photo: U Rakesh Kumar
Photo: U Rakesh Kumar

Arun, who treats diseases by prescribing appropriate diet patterns to his clients, points out that consuming raw vegetables provides a cure to several ailments. He displays a list of 12 different vegetables and the method of having each of them.“The banana, coconut and lemon, which we offer to the deities, are capable of bringing a change in a person’s behaviour.

I would say that our native vegetables have something more than nutrition. I have examined the impacts on a patient after making him consume raw native vegetables as brinjal and drumstick and the foreign ones like cauliflower and carrot. Then, I discovered that the former’s effect on the person was greater than that of the latter,” says Arun.

Citing a case study, he says, “A boy, who had been using offensive words in his language, gradually turned out to be polite after having raw snake gourd regularly.”Sixty-year-old Manivannan, a retired professor, and one of the clients of Arunprakaash says, “I was suffering from acute back and joint ache and I took certain allopathic medicines prescribed by doctors. However, they had only temporary effects on the disease. Later, when I consulted Arunprakaash at his clinic, he suggested that I have raw copra and vaazhaikaai (plantain) regularly. I followed the diet strictly, and now I am totally relieved of back and joint pains.”

Reminding the origin of the expression ‘Goodbye ‘as ‘God be with you’, a greeting of concern when a person takes leave of the other, Arun says, “In our society, many hardly know what is behind the custom of presenting a lemon to a person at the point when he sets out for a journey. During his travel, he may experience an unexpected physical hazard. At that point, let him have a full lemon with its peel. It saves his precious life. This is the truth behind the presenting of lemon.”

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by B. Meenakshi Sundaram / Express News Service / November 16th, 2018

Asia’s first woman neurosurgeon, T.S. Kanaka, dies at 86

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‘One of her areas of interest was deep brain stimulation’

Asia’s first woman neurosurgeon, T.S. Kanaka, died in Chennai on Wednesday after a brief illness. She was 86.

Dr. Kanaka, who retired as professor of Neurosurgery, Institute of Neurology, Madras Medical College (MMC), in 1990, was known to have inspired many women to take to the field of neurosurgery in the country.

One of them was her niece, G. Vijaya, who presently heads the Department of Neurosurgery at Sri Narayani Hospital and Research Centre, Vellore.

“She was the third woman neurosurgeon in the whole world. She has inspired at least 75 to 80 women to become neurosurgeons in the country. As an 11-year-old child then, I started to look up to her and went on to become a neurosurgeon, the second in our family,” she said.

She also served as an army medical officer for two years during the India-China war.

“Her main aim after retirement from MMC was to serve the needy and poor. She wanted to treat the geriatric age group, and went on to establish a centre, Sri Santhana Krishna Padmavathi Health Care and Research Foundation in Chromepet with all her pension benefits,” she said.

One of her areas of interests was deep brain stimulation, Dr. Vijaya added.

K. Deiveegan, former head of department, Institute of Neurology, MMC, said she has done a lot of pioneering work in stereotactic surgery along with professors V. Balasubramanian and S. Kalyanaraman. Another important area of interest for her was cerebral palsy.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Tamil Nadu / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – November 16th, 2018

A philately operation

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Dr. M.K. Sudhakar (right) and his collection of stamps. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy
Dr. M.K. Sudhakar (right) and his collection of stamps. Photo: G. Krishnaswamy

Iyappanthangal physician has a collection of stamps of Indians honoured abroad

But for a stamp autographed by Mother Teresa, Dr. M.K. Sudhakar has got almost all stamps issued in her honour. The doctor has got a collection of Mother Teresa stamps issued by 80 countries which include Albania, Austria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bosnia, Cuba, France, Germany and Mongolia.

The philatelist is a general medicine practitioner residing in Iyappanthangal.

“Most of the stamps that I have collected can be themed as Indians honoured abroad. In addition to Mother Teresa’s stamps, I have stamps of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and M.S. Subbulakshmi issued by other countries. Around 150 countries have issued stamps in honour of Mahatma Gandhi. The recent addition was a stamp issued in North Korea,” says Sudhakar.

His collection of Tagore’s stamps are from Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Russia, Sweden and Mozambique.

He has preserved the stamps collected by his father as well.

“My father has collected stamps of Mahatma Gandhi. They have become crinkled with age. Preservation of stamps is a big challenge. I laminate them in oleophobic-coated sheets and have them filed in albums. I also preserve the pamphlets issued along with the stamps. They give key information about the personality,” says Sudhakar.

The other themes in his collection include Bharat Ratna awardees. The first day cover of Defense Research and Development Organisation autographed by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and stamps on Air India are also part of his collection.

“For me, stamp collection is a stress buster. I find the act of arranging them categorically so relaxing. In the process, you learn a lot. As I chose to collect stamps issued in honour of great people, I got to know more about important events in history,” says Sudhakar.

Sudhakar is an active member of South Indian Philatelic Association for Stamps.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by L. Kanthimathi / November 16th, 2018

A Madurai-based hospital and Google are working together to stop early blindness

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion

Google is partnering with Madurai-based Aravind Eye Hospital on an AI-based algorithm to screen diabetic retinopathy and detect the early onset of blindness

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Remember those colourfully-lit weighing machines on railway platforms that would take a coin and give out a small cardboard ticket with the person’s weight and fortune? The Chief Medical Officer at Madurai’s Aravind Eye Hospital (AEH), Dr Ramasamy Kim, uses this analogy to explain how people could get a preliminary eye check-up done instead of visiting an ophthalmologist in the future.

“In one look, the machine will predict the condition of the retina and advise on the next step of action in seconds,” he says. All thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) in ophthalmology. He has been working on the technology with Google since 2013.

“The impact,” he says, “will be seen in patient care and diabetes management.” He imagines a scenario where the scope of algorithms on smartphones will not require the consumer to even go near a machine. “People can take selfies of the eye on their phone cameras and have instant access to ophthalmic care.”

The two organisations have been working on an automated tool that could detect diabetic retinopathy (DR), the second leading cause of blindness. DR is a condition where lesions develop in the retina of the eye of those living with long-standing diabetes. It puts them at risk of losing vision, if left untreated.

In April this year, USA’s Food and Drug Administration validated AI as a significant DR screening tool. “We now have to publish our research paper and await the certification before we can start implementing it in our routine work,” says Dr Kim. The licensing of the AI algorithm for use is expected by the year end, and is foreseen as a tremendous boost to eye care.

As head of the Retina department, Dr Kim gets over 600 patients daily in his out-patient department, of whom many spend time and resources in travelling to the hospital and waiting for their turn. There are many more left out, who do not come to the hospital simply because of lack of awareness. Eye doctors recommend a mandatory annual examination for all people living with diabetes and every person above 40 years. Dr Kim says in a country like ours, where the patient volume is high, AI will make the diagnosis quicker, and also rev up treatment to avoid preventable loss of vision.

“If the captured image of the eye shows negative for DR, then the person will be advised to rescreen after 12 months. And in case of a positive result, the person would be asked to see an ophthalmologist for further evaluation and immediate treatment,” explains Dr Kim.

When a person can avoid hospital visits up to the stage of detection of DR, it may appear healthcare is lending itself to the risk of machine calculations instead of relying on human knowledge and experience. But Dr Kim argues in favour of using technology effectively and efficiently in times when computers are available everywhere and to everybody but healthcare is not.

The World Health Organization estimates 71 million Indians live with diabetes and at least 20% of them suffer from DR. Of these, 20% are not even aware of their eye condition because they haven’t been in to a doctor for examination. Those who come to an ophthalmologist get their retinal images graded manually in what is today a time-consuming process taking from few hours to few days.

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Google predicts
  • Google has already débuted an algorithm to 97% accuracy that can identify a person’s age, sex, ethnicity and smoking status and predict the five-year risk of a heart attack, all on the basis of retinal imagery. The AI for DR has been found to be 87% sensitive and 90% specific for detecting more than mild diabetic retinopathy

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AEH, however, has been working on a semi-automated format since 2003, tying up with diabetic clinics across Tamil Nadu. When a patient walks into the clinic, a technician takes pictures of his/her retina with a fundus camera, and along with an online questionnaire answered by the patient, emails it to trained Aravind staff who use a software to grade the image for DR. By the time patients are done with their diabetes check-up, they are also informed about the status of their eye and the necessary follow-up action.

Aravind also has an established network of 71 vision centres across rural Tamil Nadu, that are supervised by trained technicians who take snapshots with retinal cameras of the inside of the eye of every person who walks in, and sends the digital reports to Aravind’s doctors, who then call in a diagnosis and course of treatment. Now, with the Google algorithm in place, the process of collating information and grading retinal images will be standardised and faster.

Dr Kim has spent the last four years working on 10,000 retinal images, drawing every lesion, distinctive spots, bleeding in the retina due to diabetes that could occur in various permutations and combinations, to help Google develop the algorithm that would recognise the signs of the disease early. From June this year, Aravind Hospital started supplementing its DR grading process with the Google AI in 10 of its rural tele-consultation centres. “The results are accurate,” says Dr Kim, who is now working on 60,000 retinal images for matching the grading results from the machine and the human eye in order to fine-tune the algorithm. He says the algorithms pick up problems that trained people sometimes can’t and different ophthalmologists can end up giving different opinions looking at the same image of the eye.

Google has created a database of 1,28,000 images from different sight centres around the globe, including two more in India — Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai and Narayana Nethralaya in Bengaluru. Dr Kim is one of the experts evaluating the data.

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Did you know?
  • One of the first examples of AI being used in science was a project called Dendral in the 1960s, which helped organic chemists identify unknown organic molecules.

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“The day is not far when AI will go solo, because there are two benefits of machine learning. More people will be able to check their eyes at a much lower cost, time, and effort, and doctors will be able to treat more patients who are at risk,” says Dr Kim, allaying fears of doctors left with less work. “The AI, in fact, will throw up huge numbers and accurately spot the vision status and detect the multiple problems or vision-killing conditions. It only means I will get many more patients to treat and reduce the several rounds of redundant tests.”

Though the challenge of a machine may lie in any false negative and deprive a patient of consultation, Dr Kim says AI is superior to anything that he has seen in DR screening. “The machine is able to see something beyond the human eye,” he says, “and as a doctor, my only interest is in getting a greater number of patients at an early detected stage for successful treatment.”

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Technology / by Soma Basu / November 12th, 2018

U.K Parliament award for Palanivelu

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Dr. C. Palanivelu
Dr. C. Palanivelu

C. Palanivelu, Chairman of GEM Hospital in Coimbatore, was honoured with the award for “Original Contribution to the Development of Laparoscopic Surgery” at the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom recently.

Baroness Lidia Antunes – Frederico, Chairman of Health Committee of Parliament of U.K., presented the award with medals and certificates. This makes Dr. Palanivelu the first Indian to be recognised in the Parliament of United Kingdom, among the 32 eminent medical professionals from various countries.

In his acceptance speech, Dr. Palanivelu observed that artificial intelligence and augmented reality would become part of robotic surgery soon. Navigational surgery was likely to emerge in clinical practice by incorporating information technology.

Dr. Palanivelu was also given special privilege to operate and teach in many countries including the U.K. without a formal post-graduate training, a press release said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Coimbatore / by Special Correspondent / Coimbatore – November 03rd, 2018

Ophthalmic trauma services launched

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Round-the-clock ophthalmic trauma services were launched at Rajan Eye Care Hospital on Tuesday.

Inaugurating the services, Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan urged young ophthalmologists to learn skills and take it to the remotest of villages.

Golden hour

Mohan Rajan, chairman and medical director, Rajan Eye Care Hospital, said ocular trauma has become an important aspect of eye care. “It is important to bring persons who have sustained eye injuries to an ophthalmologist within an hour, the golden hour. Many of the trauma cases can be grievous,” he said. He added that ophthalmic trauma could be due to chemicals — acid and alkali — sports, road traffic accidents and physical violence or assault.

About In fact, 45% to 50% of ocular injuries in children occurred at home because of the negligence of parents, he said adding that children are more likely to sustain eye injuries than adults. Sometimes, trauma can also have a late effect on the eyes. “There could be effects after three months. This included retinal tear and detachment. Hence, close follow-up is needed,” Dr. Rajan said.

With Deepavali round the corner, he said there were many injuries caused by crackers too. He reiterated the importance of treating ophthalmic trauma as an emergency. Pamphlets on do’s and don’ts while bursting firecrackers were released on the occasion. Sujatha Mohan, executive medical director of the hospital, Babu Peram, district governor, Rotary International District 3232 and Sathyanarayanan, president, Rotary Club, T. Nagar were present.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – October 31st, 2018

Ophthalmologists get Kazakh honour

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Dr. Mohan Rajan and Dr. Sujatha Mohan of the Rajan Eye Care Hospital were honoured by the Kazakhstan Ophthalmic Society.

The Ophthalmologist-duo were honoured as part of the 85th year celebration of the Kazakh Eye Research Institute held in Almaty, recently.

Dr. Mohan Rajan and Dr. Sujatha Mohan were the only Ophthalmologists to represent the country and were awarded for their contribution to Ophthalmic science and education.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – October 18th, 2018

‘Weapons are meant to protect country’

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies, World Opinion
H.E Oleg N. Avdeev (Consul General of Russia) having a word with A.Sivathanu Pillai, Father of Brahmos, Vice President Indi Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, along with N. Ram, chairman, The Hindu Publishing group (right) and Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information and Publicity Tamil Nadu (left) ''BrahMosin Vetri Manthiram'' book release function during the Mahatma Gandhi 150th year birth day celebration held at Russian Cultural Centre, Alwarpet in Chennai on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: B_JOTHI RAMALINGAM
H.E Oleg N. Avdeev (Consul General of Russia) having a word with A.Sivathanu Pillai, Father of Brahmos, Vice President Indi Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, along with N. Ram, chairman, The Hindu Publishing group (right) and Kadambur Raju, Minister for Information and Publicity Tamil Nadu (left) ”BrahMosin Vetri Manthiram” book release function during the Mahatma Gandhi 150th year birth day celebration held at Russian Cultural Centre, Alwarpet in Chennai on Tuesday. | Photo Credit: B_JOTHI RAMALINGAM

Sivathanu Pillai, creator of the BrahMos missile, credits Dr. Kalam for achievements

The Russian Centre for Science and Culture, along with the Indo-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industries, commemorated Gandhi Jayanthi by releasing a book by renowned defence technologist A. Sivathanu Pillai, BrahMos in Vetri Manthiram, on Tuesday.

A discussion on Indo-Russian humanitarian relations was held on the occasion.

Contribution lauded

Minister for Information and Publicity Kadambur Raju, who presided over the event, lauded the contribution of Mr. Pillai in creating the supersonic cruise missile, BrahMos, and promised to take his book to schools across the State so that students could get a glimpse of missile technology.

“The friendship between India and Russia has always been strong and will continue to remain so,” he added. N. Ram, Chairman, THG Publishing Private Limited, said, “Despite Western attempts to cause prejudice against Russia, the people of India have not been misled, especially in Tamil Nadu. I don’t see their propaganda have any serious influence. India remains immune.” Commending Mr. Pillai, he said, “Nobody, including the USA, has been able to reproduce anything like BrahMos. It is not meant to be used against anyone but to defend India’s national security.

“The people of Tamil Nadu represented by our Minister here are grateful to Russia for remaining steadfast strategic partners and co-operators.” Thanking the gathering for honouring his work and his book, Mr. Pillai recalled the days when he would study Tomahawk and other missiles to create something better in India. “It was Dr. Abdul Kalam’s dream to put our country on the top in technological advancements. “With the help of Russia and our leaders we were able to reach there by creating BrahMos,” he said.

“And like Mr. Ram said, weapons are not meant to fight but to protect. People will respect us only if we are able to defend ourselves,” he said.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Staff Reporter / Chennai – October 03rd, 2018

Google doodle honours Aravind Eye Hospitals founder Dr. Venkataswamy

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders, Records, All, Science & Technologies

DrAravind01CF01oct2018

Google on Monday honoured eminent ophthalmologist and founder of Aravind Eye Hospitals Govindappa Venkataswamy with a doodle in his birth centenary year.

The doodle, visible in India, Australia, and New Zealand, features a mirrored landscape blurred on one side and clear on the other with a caricature of Dr. Venkataswamy in the middle. Dr. Venkataswamy or Dr. V is known for introducing low-cost cataract surgery and the eminent ‘Aravind Model’ of free cataract treatment to the poor.

According to a World Health Organisation report released in 2012, cataract continues to be the main cause of blindness in the world (51%). According to a paper published by Indian Journal of Opthalmology, 8.25 million people could lose eyesight in India in 2020 due to cataract.

Dr. Venkataswamy started Aravind Eye Care in a rented house with 11 beds in Madurai in 1976 with an aim to eradicate what he called needless blindness. Today, Aravind has over 57 centres comprising five tertiary care centres, five secondary care centres, six outpatient centres and 41 vision centres across India.

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Born on October 1, 1918, in Vadamalapuram village in what is today Virudunagar district of Tamil Nadu, Dr. Venkataswamy decided to study obstetrics reportedly after seeing three of his cousins die due to pregnancy-related complications. He graduated from Stanley Medical College in Chennai and joined the Indian Army as a physician in 1945. But Dr. Venkataswamy had to retire in the early thirties after he was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis that permanently twisted his fingers out of shape. This also meant he could not continue as an obstetrician.

Dr. Venkataswamy studied Ophthalmology and subsequently became the head of the Ophthalmology department at the Government Madurai Medical College. For the next two decades, Dr. Venkataswamy led Tamil Nadu government’s initiative of mobile eye camps in rural areas. At one stage, Dr. Venkataswamy would perform 100 surgeries in a day. “His team of paramedicals do most of the prep work required for each surgery, freeing doctors to do what they do best,” said Google’s blog post on Monday’s doodle.

Dr. Venkataswamy designed the way to address the problem of blindness in a holistic way. “He set up eye camps in rural communities, a rehab center for blind people, a training programme for ophthalmic assistants, and personally performing over 100,000 successful eye surgeries,” said Google’s blog post.

After retiring in 1976, Dr. Venkataswamy founded Aravind Eye Care with 11 beds. The vision was to devote six beds to those patients who could not pay anything and to cover those costs with the other five beds, serving patients paying only as much as they could afford. This model is a case study for numerous medical institutions and governments across the globe and has featured in classed of Harvard Business School. Today, Aravind has nearly 4,000 beds and 70% of patients receive free or subsidised treatment. To put this in perspective, every year Aravind performs 60% as many eye surgeries as the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, doing so at one-thousandth of the cost.

Dr. Venkataswamy was accorded the Padma Shri in 1973 and BC Roy Award in 2001 for his low-cost lenses that costs as little as $2 and is being exported to over 120 countries.

Dr. Venkataswamy passed away on July 7, 2006, and his family continues to run Aravind with the same vision of the patriarch.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sci-Tech> Internet / by K. DeepaLakshmi / October 01st, 2018

Chennai Central gets a green tag

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

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The railway station has incorporated several eco-friendly concepts, says Southern Railways GM

The iconic brick red structure that the Chennai Central railway station is, now has a ‘green certification’ With this, the railway station becomes the first station in Southern Railway to be awarded Green Building Certification.

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC), instituted by the Confederation of Indian Industry, awarded the certificate during the Railway Swachchta programme at the Chennai Central railway station on Saturday.

Speaking at the programme, Southern Railway General Manager R.K. Kulshrestha said the green building rating for the railway station was given after it incorporated several concepts and features which the rating requires.

C.N. Raghavendran, chairman, IGBC Chennai Chapter, presented the IGBC plaque and certificate to Mr. Kulshrestha. Naveen Gulati, Divisional Railway Manager, Chennai division, was present at the function.

The IGBC, after evaluating the green features implemented in the railway station, awarded the certificate.

The railway green building projects include facilities like 100% LED lighting fixtures, installation of 5-star rated fans, solar energy, solar water heaters and segregation of waste at source along with waste recycling.

The Southern Railway has also improved the passenger amenities by creating separate pick-up and drop points, seating arrangements, waiting hall, pay-and-use toilets, air-conditioned dormitory, emergency medical care facility, and trolley-based luggage assistants.

The railway station also has smart passenger’s information systems and services. IGBC is working with 40 other stations in Indian Railways for the certification.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Chennai / by Special Correspondent / Chennai – September 16th, 2018