Science & Technology – Page 7

Mangaluru: KMC Hospitals honor 6 eminent doctors on occasion of National Doctor’s Day

Dr Dilip G Naik – pro vice chancellor, MAHE-Mangaluru campus, Dr Anand Venugopal – chief operating officer, Teaching Hospitals, MAHE, Saghir Siddiqui – regional chief operating oficer, KMC Hospitals Mangaluru and Dr John Ramapuram – medical superintendent, KMC Hospital Attavar were the dignitaries on stage.

On this occasion six eminent doctors from the districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Kasaragod and Uttara Kannada were honored for their selfless service to the rural people of their region, and for their contribution towards healthy community. Dr Muralikrishna Irwathraya from Kakkinje, Dr B Shyama from Puttur, Dr Prakash V Naik from Honnavara, Dr Satish Kallimar from Mangaluru, Dr Avinash Kakunje from Kasargod and Dr B Sadananda Naik from Moodbidre were felicitated.

On this occasion, KMC Hospitals Mangaluru introduced, a unique card termed as ‘Doctor’s Privilege Card’ to aid in wellness of doctors and their family in and around Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada and Northern Kerala. More than 1,000 doctors from these regions will be given this card from KMC Hospitals Mangaluru. The first card was symbolically handed over to Dr K H Poojary, senior family physician from Attavar, Mangaluru. This ‘Doctor’s Privilege Card’ can be utilized at KMC Hospital Dr B R Ambedkar Circle, KMC Hospital Attavar, Durga Sanjeevani Manipal Hospital Kateel and at KMC Hospital Lab collection centers operating at 11 places in Dakshina Kannada district.

Human milk bank comes up at SDM Hospital in Dharwad

Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari inaugurates Amruta to cater to the needy in North Karnataka

The twin cities of Hubballi-Dharwad have got their first human milk bank in the form of “Amruta-SDM Rotary Human Milk Bank” set up on the premises of SDM Hospital at Sattur in Dharwad.

On Wednesday, Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari D. Veerendra Heggade inaugurated the human milk bank that will cater to the needs of needy patients in the North Karnataka region.

Inaugurating the human milk bank, Veerendra Heggade said that mother’s breast milk is crucial for the proper growth of the child. “Giving breast milk to another woman’s child is not a phenomenon. Such a practice has been in existence for time immemorial. Suppose one mother in a family fell sick, another lactating mother will breast feed such a child. Now, with technological advancements, human milk banks are being established,” he said.

The human milk bank has been set up by SDM Hospital with assistance from Karnataka Vikas Grameena (KVG) Bank and Rotary Club of Seven Hills which have extended help under the Rotary Foundation of the Rotary International Global Grant (Ph: 2232708). Thanking them for the support, Veerendra Heggade felicitated Rotary District Governor Gaurish Dhond, President of Rotary Club of Seven Hills Pallavi Deshpande, Secretary Gauri Madalabhavi and Chairman of KVG Bank P. Gopi Krishna on the occasion.

The human milk bank has been set up on a space of 1,000 sq m and the plan is to extend and add further services in the coming days. In addition to children getting treated at the hospital, the service will be extended to children in need from other hospitals and places.

Vice-Chancellor of SDM University Niranjan Kumar, Principal of SDM College of Medical Sciences Ratnamala M. Desai, Director of Administration Saket Shetty, Vice-Principal Vijay Kulkarni and others were present.

Bengaluru set to add 46 new unicorns in next few years: Hurun India

These 46 soon to be unicorns come with a cumulative valuation of $18.4 billion

Bengaluru, the startup capital of India and the world’s third largest startup ecosystem after the U.S and China, is likely to witness the emergence of 46 new unicorns in the next two to four years, as per predictions made by Hurun Research Institute on Wednesday.

Hurun India Future Unicorn Index 2022 said 122 new unicorns would come up in the country in the next two to four years and Bengaluru alone would add 46 of these soonicorns to its existing tally of 33.

The pack of 46 soon to be unicorns that comes with a cumulative valuation of $18.4 billion would be led by city-based Ninjacart, a fresh produce supply chain firm, according to the report.

The long list of city’s soonicorns also include startup Juspay that got noticed with a Softbank-led $60 million fundraising round. Founded by Vimal and Ramanathan, the fintech currently supports BHIM App, an Indian mobile payment app developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, based on the Unified Payments Interface. The firm has been building foundational infrastructure by unifying and enhancing hundreds of diverse payments options.

BEL signs MoU with Belarus-based Defense Initiatives

Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL) signed an MoU with Defense Initiatives (DI), Belarus, and Defense Initiatives Aero Pvt. Ltd., India, a subsidiary of DI Belarus, for supply of Airborne Defense Suite (ADS) for the helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The cooperation between these companies is also aimed at exploring various business opportunities for India and global markets for ADS, said BEL in a statement on Friday.

NIT-K faculty member gets patent for producing cement mortar brick having self-healing property upon cracking

A faculty member at the National Institute of Technology – Karnataka (NIT-K), Surathkal, has received an Indian patent for producing cement mortar brick with inclusion of bacteria in combination.

The brick thus made claims to be superior than the conventional ones in terms of strength and life of the structure and possess a self-healing property.

T. Palanisamy, an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the institute, had applied for the patent in 2014 and it was granted in June 2022.

According to Mr. Palanisamy, microbialcreat composite is a new-age material with the property of self-healing upon cracking. This action is by the precipitation of lime (calcium carbonate) by the non-pathogenic bacteria used in the composite, upon coming into contact with air and water through the crack. The precipitated lime will cover the crack, thereby improving the stability of the surface.

Will offer knowledge, market intelligence to startups: ISRO Chairman

He was speaking at the opening session of a one-day national conference titled ‘Development of Space Start-up Ecosystem in India.’

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will offer encouragement, knowledge and market information to startups to ensure the growth and development of the space industry, said S. Somanath, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, Department of Space here on Friday.

“The industry has been having a strong association with the Indian Space Programme all along. ISRO will offer support to startups in terms of encouragement, knowledge, ability to identify the market outside and provision of a conducive environment to ensure the growth of the space sector,’‘ he said while speaking at the opening session of a national conference on ‘Development of Space Start-up Ecosystem in India.’

Intellectual Property Rights Cell inaugurated at JSS AHER

Focus would be on innovations, research

The JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research in the city in association with the Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology (KSCST) has established an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cell.

It was inaugurated on Thursday and the objectives of the IPR Cell are to strengthen and expand human resources and institutions for training, research, and skill building in Intellectual Property (IP), to raise awareness about IP, catalyse commercialisation of IP, and to promote respect for IP rights.

The authorities said this would be a unique cell as the focus of this IPR cell at JSS AHER would be on innovations, IPR and commercialisation in the health sciences sector, medical devices, and patient care.

K.S.Rangappa, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Mysore, highlighted the importance of scientific research and outcomes in terms of IPR wherein he cited his own example of how out of the 7,000 molecules that he worked on, he could patent 12 products and 2 of these have been commercialised which are generating revenue for the IPR cell of the University of Mysore.

125 children with heart issues undergo free life-saving surgeries at Narayana Health City

In India, over 2.4 lakh children are born with a hole in the heart and Congenital Heart Disease is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children, said Devi Shetty.

Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Narayana Health City, said, “In India, over 2.4 lakh children are born with a hole in the heart and Congenital Heart Disease is one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children. Though these ailments are treatable, 20% of the children die before celebrating their first birthday owing to economic constraints.”

He thanked Centum Electronic Limited whose donation of Rs 50 lakh made the surgeries possible. “We are confident initiatives like this will encourage greater participation and will help in addressing the situation better,” Dr Shetty said.

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Bengaluru ranks 5th on global stage for tech venture capital investment

Tech firms have attracted VC funds worth $7.5 billion in the first half of 2022

Bengaluru has emerged as the top fifth city on the global stage for venture capital investment in tech startups in 2022, behind Bay Area (San Francisco), New York, London and Greater Boston, as per Global Startup Genome Report.

Tech firms in Bengaluru have attracted VC funds worth $7.5 billion in the first half of 2022, considerably higher than the previous record of$5.2 billion in the corresponding period last year, the report said.

C.N. Ashwath Narayan, Minister for IT/BT, told The Hindu that “Our city is a hub of the world’s top talent and our startups are very promising and growth-centric. This gives global investors confidence to invest in our companies in Bengaluru. Therefore VC and PE investment to city ventures are on the rise.’’

“Silicon Valley of India now attracts more investment than other global hubs like Singapore, Paris and Berlin and is trailing closer behind Greater Boston and New York,’‘ the report further said.

The Bay Area attracted $44.5 billion, New York $15.4 billion, London $ 11.3 billion and Greater Boston $8.9 billion.

The report highlighted Bengaluru’s formidable status with an ecosystem value of $105 billion, higher than Singapore ($89 billion) and Tokyo ($62 billion). Bengaluru’s massive growth in 2022 was largely attributed to greater access to funding with major funding rounds in 2022 forscale-up tech companies, including $55.7 million Series D for Ather Energy and Swiggy’s $700 million round in January.

Bidar farmer achieves what is considered impossible

A farmer hailing from Ghatboral village of Humnabad taluk in Bidar district has achieved that which is considered impossible for many of his peers. Apparao D. Bhosle has successfully created his own apple orchard on three acres of land.

Bhosle knew that Humnabad taluk is no Kashmir Valley but he was determined to prove that anything can be grown if there is fertile soil.

While the apple trees of this variety usually bear fruit in about four-five years in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh, the saplings planted on his land started flowering and bearing fruit within two years. The trees bore 20 to 25 fruits and the yield is expected to be better in the second harvest. Though the fruits are small, they are tasty. The trees have grown 10 ft to 12 ft in height, Bhosle said.