Science & Technology – Page 3

Karnataka’s tele-mental health platform has become model for entire country: Sudhakar

Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr K Sudhakar has expressed happiness and felt it is a matter of immense pride for Karnataka that the Union government has launched the brand new T-Manas programme, based on Karnataka’s E-Manas platform.

The new initiative was launched at the State level by Karnataka Governor Thaawar Chand Gehlot at the 26th Convocation of NIMHANS that took place in Bengaluru on Monday.

The T-MANAS platform will function as a 24/7 mental health facility across the country, the minister said.

Karnataka initially launched a tele-counseling program in association with NIMHANS when the pandemic first struck.

The primary objective of the initiative was to address the stress caused due to Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. The initiative saw immense success and the Karnataka government also experimented an online counseling for students at a time when the class 10 results were announced in the State.

Dr Sudhakar said Karnataka has completed a total of 23 lakh tele-counseling till date.

The E-Manas platform of Karnataka is one stop location for mental health. The platform connects patients, mental health professionals and mental health institutions.

The Minister said: “It is a heartening to see that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya are taking proactive steps to focus on improving mental health in the country. I am proud to say that Karnataka has played a pioneering role in focusing on mental health.”

Dr Sudhakar highlighted Karnataka’s new Brain health initiative which aims to train PHC doctors to diagnose and treat mental health and other brain related illnesses.

The Minister said one day in the week will be dedicated for this task at all the Primary and Secondary Health Centers in the State.

Robotic surgery puts patient back on feet

Aasra hospital claimed that it conducted the world’s first robotic total hip replacement surgery for a polio patient with a history of an unsuccessful girdle stone arthroplasty. A team of doctors conducted the surgery enabling the polio patient to walk after two years of being confined to a wheelchair.

The 48-year-old patient suffered from a fracture a few years ago and underwent a girdle stone arthroplasty at an orthopaedic hospital but was unable to move or walk after the surgery. A robotic total hip replacement surgery was done and a specially modified implant was placed in the hip joint. The surgery was conducted using MAKO Smart Robotics platform – one of the most advanced robotic surgery equipment available. With this precision surgery, a patient will be able to walk within a day post the procedure and return to normal life within 4-6 weeks.

Dr Jagadish Hiremath, Chairman, AASRA Hospitals, said, “There has been no documented evidence in any medical literature across the world of a total robotic hip replacement surgery conducted in such a complicated case. With conventional surgery, surgeons work based on the gut feeling and skills. With robotic surgery, everything can be planned in detail and hence perfect alignment of the implant can be achieved.”

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Jayadeva satellite centre at K.C. General Hospital to be functional from today

Angiograms, angioplasties and stenting procedures apart from master cardiac evaluation can be done at the satellite centre

Cardiac emergencies requiring the golden hour treatment in Central Bengaluru can now avail timely treatment at the State-run K.C. General Hospital. A 50-bed satellite centre of the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR), which was inaugurated on Thursday, will start functioning from Friday.

The compact cardiac centre, set up on an equip, operate, and manage (EOM) model, has 20 ICU beds and 30 general wards. Facilities such as ECHO, treadmill, ECG and a cath lab are also available.

SJICSR Director C.N. Manjunath said angiograms, angioplasties, and stenting procedures apart from master cardiac evaluation can be done at the centre.

Work on setting up the centre that was announced during former Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s tenure was delayed owing to COVID-19. The project was fast-tracked and completed within a year at a cost of ₹15 crore. While ₹8.7 crore has been given by the government, the remaining is through Jayadeva’s internal resources, he said.

“The required equipment and manpower (three cardiologists and supporting staff) has also been provided by Jayadeva. However, any cardiac emergencies that come after 5 p.m. will be shifted to the main Jayadeva institute as we cannot maintain two parallel emergency teams,” Dr. Manjunath explained.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who inaugurated the Jayadeva satellite centre and a 50-bed paediatric ICU that will be run by the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health on Thursday, said six regional command centres that will provide 24/7 support through telemedicine specialists to community health centres (CHCs) will be set up soon.

AB-ArK should cover high cost procedures

C.N. Manjunath, Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, suggested that the government should also include complex procedures costing above ₹2 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) health scheme.

“Although the total coverage is up to ₹5 lakh per family, many complex life-saving procedures or implants that cost above ₹2 lakh are not covered. This makes it inevitable for BPL patients to pay out of their pockets for such procedures,” he asserted.

Yeshaswini to be re-launched on November 1

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced that the Yeshaswini health insurance scheme for farmers will be re-launched on November 1. It was earlier proposed to be re-launched on October 2.

Initially launched in 2003, Yeshaswini was one of the largest self-funded healthcare schemes.

Young entrepreneur comes up with ‘Made in Hubballi’ pistol

Ankush Koravi to showcase India’s first indigenous pistol at Defence Expo in Gujarat

A mechanical engineering graduate from Hubballi, Ankush Koravi, who took the less trodden path, has now come up with the country’s first indigenous pistol. He is among the select few to get invited to the Defence Expo being conducted by the Union government at Gandhinagar in Gujarat in September.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Tuesday, Ankush Koravi, who is now the CEO of Astr Defence Private Limited, said that he will be showcasing the indigenously developed ATAL Modular Pistol at the Indian Pavilion of Defence Expo organised by the Ministry of Defence.

He said that he had showcased his assault rifle at the Defence Expo in 2020 and had test fired the weapon at DGQA (Defence) firing range.

Mr. Koravi said that his new product ATAL Modular Pistol had three inbuilt safety mechanisms making it the safest carry pistol in the world. The patent for its unique safety mechanism is pending.

He said that the ergonomics of the pistol has been tailor-made for Indian user and Indian conditions and it could be reconfigured to adapt to various applications like duty use, carry use and conceal use.

“It is designed with minimal parts for reliability. It features an alloy steel slide, polymer frame with three magazine capacity (15, 17 and 21) options. It has been designed for two calibres, 9x 19 mm for duty use and 0.32 inch for licensed citizens,” he said.

Elaborating on his four-year journey of setting up a defence startup with a scalable production unit, Mr. Koravi said that now the startup has its own manufacturing facility, licensed and approved, at Kadanakoppa in Kalghatgi taluk near Hubballi.

“The product will have ‘Made in Hubballi’ etched on it as every part of it has been indigenously designed and developed,” he said.

Major (Retd) Anand C.S. and Subedar (Retd) Ningappa, who were among the ex-servicemen who guided and helped Mr. Koravi in developing the product and improving it, said that it was great to see a young entrepreneur from Hubballi developing high quality arms, with his base as Hubballi.

President of Karnatak Chamber of Commerce Vinay Javali said that it was heartening to see a young entrepreneur from Hubballi being invited for the Defence Expo and the KCCI will extend all necessary assistance to him.

KCCI office-bearers, Executive Director of Astr Lokesh Koravi, HDMC councillor Rajanna Koravi and others were present.

Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Horticultural Research tops the list of 93 ICAR institutes in national ranking

Plant varieties and technologies developed by Institute located in Hessarghatta is contributing about ₹13,000 crore a year to country’s exchequer

Bengaluru has got one more feather in its cap with the Hesaraghatta-based Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR) being ranked top among institutions run by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

The IIHR has topped the combined list of ranking for 2019-20 and 2020-21 that was released by the IIHR on Wednesday.

In all, 93 various institutes run by the ICAR in different parts of the country were considered for ranking.

The ranking is done on various parameters including the institute profile, performance, recognition and awards received by its faculty, research output and outcome, impact of research taken up by the institute, and vision and future readiness of the institute.

While each of these parameters were allotted certain marks, the institutes were judged for a maximum of 100 marks.

Vast research

IIHR conducts research on 54 major horticultural crops and has released 330 hybrids and other varieties in these crops ever since its inception in 1967.

The institute has also released 157 technologies that have played a major role in boosting horticultural productivity in the country. The estimated impact of eight of these selected hybrids/varieties and technologies to the national exchequer is around ₹13,000 crore annually.

The institute is also focusing on the promotion of entrepreneurship through horticultural technologies and at present there are three technology business incubators in operation at the institute to hand hold and promote horticultural entrepreneurship.

Seed portal

In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, the IIHR recently launched an online portal for the sales of the seeds of the varieties released by it.

Institute Director Debi Sharma said the recognition for ICHR had increased the responsibility of the institute. IIHR was keen on pursuing its cutting edge research in new areas, she said.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Agricultural Insect Resources and the National lnstitute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease lnformatics, which too are ICAR institutes located in Bengaluru, have got the 23rd and the 50th rank respectively.

Dr Srinivas from Yadgir Appointed AIIMS director

Dr M Srinivas, appointed director to the prestigious All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Friday, is from under-developed Yadgir district. His elevation proves that those who have studied in government schools and that too in Kannada medium can also reach highest levels in academics and any other field they choose.

The Department of Personnel and Training of the Union government stated in the order that Dr Srinivas will serve as director for five years or till attaining the age of 65. He assumed charge on Saturday, his brother Dr Nagaraj told The New Sunday Express. Dr Srinivas is the first person from the Kalyana-Karnataka region to become the director of AIIMS.

Son of Ashappa, he was born on August 11, 1966. He studied at the Government Model Primary School at Station Bazar locality and later as a Kannada medium student at the Government New Kannada Proudha Shaale in Yadgir. He completed his PU from the Government PU College in Yadgir. A brilliant student all along, he got a seat at the Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences where he completed his MBBS. Later, he pursued his MS in Davanagere and then MCh at AIIMS.

Dr Nagaraj said his elder brother was a gold medallist in MBBS and MS courses. “Our father was a government servant and retired as a tahsildar. He was an admirer of government schools and especially of Kannada language. That is why he admitted Srinivas to a government school. Srinivas was hardworking and always dreamt of achieving something big,” he added.

Students and staff of New Kannada Proudha Shale congratulated Dr Srinivas by assembling on the school premises and holding up his posters. VIMS is planning a felicitation function soon, sources said.

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Two-day meet on Ayurveda inaugurated

A two-day national conference on ‘Ayurveda Dhara’, inaugurated on Friday at The University of Transdisciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU) in Bengaluru, stressed on the need to revitalise traditional health knowledge and its relevance. The TDU university Vice Chancellor Darshan Kumar said the aim of the conference is to strive for achieving ‘Ayurveda Vision 2047 ‘.

Calling it a complex domain, Kumar said that India can become a leader if there is successful integration of various sciences along with the traditional knowledge of Ayurveda. Prof Ganti Suryanarayana Murthy, National Coordinator, Ministry of Education, called for promoting Indian knowledge system from the primary school level to higher education.

Pramoda Devi, member of the erstwhile Mysore royal family and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush were present. The conference is jointly organised by the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture and TDU.

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Kadaba: Young agriculturist invents ‘tree cycle’ to climb areca nut tree

Areca nut farmers in Dakshina Kannada district are facing labour problems in order to pluck the areca nut crop from the top of the tree.

As both works of spraying pesticide and harvesting the crop happens simultaneously, labour shortage is felt by the farmers.

Bhaskar, a young agriculturist of Charvaka in Kadaba taluk, has invented an equipment that helps him to climb the areca nut tree by himself. The equipment is very simple and can be used by men as well as women. It is handy for spraying the pesticide to the crop as well as harvesting it from the tree.

This tree cycle is made of iron rods. One can climb the tree by locking the equipment to the arecanut tree. This equipment can be used with both hands and legs.

Bhaskar gave up studies after fifth standard due to various reasons and took up agriculture. As he also owns areca nut farm, he is aware of labour shortage.

Usually the labourers prefer large scale farmers as they get more income and evade going to small farmers like Bhaskar. This results in loss of crop also for the small farmer as the pesticide is not sprayed on time.

Bhaskar began using this equipment three years ago, but did many modifications and now successfully using the same for spraying the pesticide and removing the crop from the tree.

Bhaskar has sold the equipment to many areca nut farmers at a cost of Rs 6,500 per piece. He trains the farmer at his farm itself before handing over the equipment.

Bhaskar said that the present equipment can be used to climb only areca nut and he will develop it so that it can be used for climbing coconut trees also.

Motherhood Hospitals acquires Bengaluru-based Femiint Hospital

Since 2016, Motherhood Hospitals had invested ₹200 crore in consolidating its presence in Bengaluru, and was planning to make an additional investment of ₹50 crore

Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), which owns Motherhood Hospitals, a chain of hospitals dedicated to women and children, acquired Bengaluru-based Femiint Hospitals on September 21.

Femiint Hospital, located in Whitefield, provides women and childcare services ranging from out-patient care in gynaecology, pediatrics & IVF pediatric care to comprehensive in-patient care in obstetrics, birthing, gynaecology surgery, fertility & IVF care, besides pediatric surgery.

Since 2016, Motherhood Hospitals had invested ₹200 crore in consolidating its presence in Bengaluru, and was planning to make an additional investment of ₹50 crore.

With this acquisition, Motherhood Hospitals would have a network of seven hospitals and two out-patient facilities in Bengaluru. The company has set up a chain of 18 hospitals across 8 cities in India, post the AHH investment in 2016. It also has a network of 200 Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) beds.

Vishal Bali, Executive Chairman, Asia Healthcare Holdings (AHH), said, “We have built the largest women’s health network in South Asia. We believe there is an opportunity to consolidate this space, and offer exceptional clinical services to Women, newborns and Children.”

IISc researchers fabricate pressure sensors that use paper as the medium

Paper-based electronic devices are gaining greater attention owing to their natural biodegradability, excellent flexibility, porous fibrous structure, light weight, and low cost

Several industrial, automotive, and healthcare applications rely on accurate and precise measurement of pressure. Flexible and wearable pressure sensors are typically fabricated using petroleum-based polymers, but the solid waste generated from using such non-biodegradable plastics is harmful for the environment. To avoid this issue, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have now fabricated pressure sensors that use paper as the medium.

According to an IISc. release, a pressure sensor detects physical pressure and converts it into an electrical signal that is displayed in the form of a number indicative of its magnitude.

Nowadays, paper-based electronic devices are gaining greater attention owing to their natural biodegradability, excellent flexibility, porous fibrous structure, light weight, and low cost. However, paper-based sensors developed so far have certain disadvantages.

The team of Navakanta Bhat, professor at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) and corresponding author of the paper published in the ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, has proposed a design for the paper sensor that, by virtue of its structure and multilayering, achieves high sensitivity and can detect a broad range of pressures (0-120 kPa) with a response time of 1 millisecond.

The sensor is made of plain and corrugated cellulose papers coated with tin-monosulfide (SnS) stacked alternatively to form a multi-layered architecture. SnS is a semiconductor that conducts electricity under specific conditions.

“Paper in itself is an insulator. The major challenge was choosing an appropriate 3D device structure and material to give conductive properties to paper,” says Neha Sakhuja, a former PhD student at CeNSE and the first author of the paper.

When pressure is applied on the sensor’s surface, the air gaps between the paper layers decrease, increasing the contact area between these layers. Higher contact area leads to better electrical conductivity. On releasing the pressure, the air gaps increase again, thus decreasing the electrical conduction. This modulation of the electrical conductivity drives the sensing mechanism of the paper sensor, explained the release. “Our key contribution is the simplicity of the device. It is like creating paper origami,” said Prof. Bhat.

“The sensor shows promise in being developed into a flexible and wearable electronic device, especially in the healthcare sector. For example, the research team mounted it onto a human cheek to investigate the motion involved in chewing, strapped it to an arm to monitor muscle contraction, and around fingers to track their tapping. The team even designed a numeric, foldable keypad constructed using the in-house paper-based pressure sensor to demonstrate the device’s usability,” added the release.