Month: May 2021

** How a passing fad in micro art helped this Kerala youth carve a niche for himself

Lispo would never forget his tedious high school days. The 20-year-old is indeed indebted to the drab lecture sessions that chiselled out his creativity and paved the way for scripting history in the pages of Asia Book of Records using pencils and chalks.

Kerala

** Two Kaziranga animals in photographers’ global Big 5, rhino not in list

More than 50,000 wildlife lovers across continents voted for their favourite animals to shoot with the camera.

Two of Kaziranga National Park’s ‘Big Five’ animals have made it to the planet’s ‘New Big 5’ for shooting with the camera.

Missing from the global list of “favourite animals to photograph” is the greater one-horned or Indian rhinoceros for which Kaziranga was born in 1905.

** Indian-origin researcher makes splitters for ventilator

iSAVE re-purposes flow valves to support two patients

A team of researchers in the United States has come up with splitters for ventilators that will address the shortage of the life-saving equipment. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, Bengaluru, recently approved the equipment. IndVentr is the Indian partner making the device.

Earlier this year, Shriya S. Srinivasan and her team were in discussion with Indian health officials. But the interest in their equipment was low.

Dr. Srinivasan, a biomedical engineer, is the daughter of immigrant parents. She visits India frequently to give bharatanatyam performances. She did her Ph.D in medical engineering and medical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. She took up Project Prana on the sidelines of her ongoing post-doctoral work.

** Volunteers from around the world rally to help tackle COVID-19 in Karnataka

Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute 1992 batch doctors liaise with volunteer groups to offer services

Doctors living across the world — all alumni of the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) from the 1992 batch — have now banded together with a coalition of volunteer groups to offer end-to-end COVID-19 management for patients in Karnataka, particularly in Bengaluru.

While the Karnataka COVID-19 Volunteers Team (KCVT), with over 500 members, has set up a helpline (080-47166115) which counsels patients, refers them to doctors for tele-consultation, helps in home management and to find hospital beds, Mercy Mission is operating two COVID-19 care centres and has a tie-up with the HBS Hospital in Shivajinagar for critical care. While the helpline and tele-consultation with doctors is available for patients across the State, other on ground facilities are in the city.

** New blood-based biomarker to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections

As COVID-19 stands as a grim testimony to the damage an infectious disease can cause to human health and welfare, a major challenge in treating such diseases is misdiagnosis, which can lead to trial-and-error treatments, and improper use of antibiotics. Identifying the correct type of infection, is, therefore critical.

A recent study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has identified a set of molecular biomarkers that can be used in the differential diagnosis of acute bacterial and viral infections.

First author Sathyabaarathi Ravichandran, Research Associate in the lab of Nagasuma Chandra, Professor at the Department of Biochemistry, explained that antibiotics are given even for viral infections in some cases because of misdiagnosis. With current methods, it can take a lot of time to test for bacterial or viral infections.

** IISc. vaccine, DRDO drug and OxyCare system are game changers: Sudhakar

The Health Minister visited DRDO facilities in the city on Friday

Health and Medical Education Minister K. Sudhakar reviewed ongoing efforts at Indian Institute of Science (IISc.), which is developing a vaccine for COVID-19, and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) that has developed a drug that prevents viral growth and a better oxygen management system. He hailed them as “game changers in the fight against COVID-19”.

Dr. Sudhakar visited DRDO facilities in the city on Friday where scientists appraised him of progress on 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) drug they are developing in collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL), Hyderabad. “Clinical trial results have shown that this molecule helps in faster recovery of hospitalised patients and reduces supplemental oxygen dependence,” DRDO scientists said.

He was also apprised of the OxyCare system, an intelligent oxygen management system that reduces exposure of healthcare providers by eliminating manual adjustments to oxygen flow. The PM-CARES Fund will procure 1.5 lakh units of Oxycare System at a cost of ₹322.5 crore. It will be deployed across the country, DRDO scientists said.