Month: January 2023

Aiming to revolutionise prostate cancer detection and treatment, Apollo Hospital Seshadripuram has introduced a novel technology, MRI Fusion TRUS guided Trans-Perineal Targe­ted Biopsy, that enhances the accuracy of cancer detection by 95 to 97%.  Dr Manohar T, Chief of Urology at Apollo Hospital Seshadripuram, who has successfully conducted 42 procedures using MRI Fusion TRUS guided Trans-Perineal Targeted Biopsy, said, “In this procedure, one has to undergo multi-parametric MRI and contouring of the lesions which are suspected to be cance­rous, and prostate size is marked via a special software pack.

The image is then transferred to the special ultrasound done trans-rectally.” Explaining the benefits of this latest technology, Dr Manohar T said: “Early diagnosis is critical in improving the outc­o­mes. Conve­n­tional investigation methods miss the diagnosis by 35-45%.”

newindianexpress.com

This year, the organisers are also introducing a special sweet called ‘Appu Special’ as a tribute to the late Puneeth Rajkumar.

IISc Prof Mahesh Kakde received the award in the mathematical sciences category for his contributions to algebraic number theory which is predicted to help in computing and cryptography.

The program will conclude on the 14th of January with famous drumist Shivamani all set to perform on the grand stage.

The seven-day Chikballapura Uthsava commenced on Saturday in a colourful manner which was inaugurated by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai in the presence of Dharmasthala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Hegde, and Adichuchanagir Mutt Nirmalananda Swamiji.

The programme was organised by the district administration and the Dr Sudhakar Foundation under the direct supervision of the health and family welfare minister and Chikballapur MLA Dr K Sudhakar.

The program will conclude on the 14th of January with famous drumist Shivamani all set to perform on the grand stage.

On the first day, women carrying kumba on their heads along with students and the general public participated in the procession which saw several artists including Dolukunitha. There were other programmes as well.

CM Basavaraj Bommai in his speech said that the government has promoted several developmental programmes for the people and farmers. He assured there would be more programmes.

He also lauded Sudhakar for taking several steps in controlling the spread of Covid.

Dhramadhikari Dr Veerendra Hegde praised the farmers of the region for being hard workers and remarked that every day, the crops grown in Kolar Chikballapur were being transported across the nation.

Sudhakar in his speech said that the Uthsava has been organised to mark the celebration of 15 years after the formation of the new district.

Ministers Byrathi Basavaraj, Sunil Kumar, MTB Nagaraj, Deputy Commissioner NM Nagaraj, Superintendent of Police DL Nagesh and others were present.

newindianexpress.com

The collaboration is expected to strengthen ISRO’s vision of harnessing the market potential of the most promising space tech innovators and entrepreneurs in India, as per a statement.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Microsoft on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together to fuel the growth of space technology startups in India.

The partnership would help empower space tech start-ups across the country with technology tools and platforms, go-to-market support and mentoring to help them scale and become enterprise-ready, said a statement issued by Microsoft.

The collaboration is expected to strengthen ISRO’s vision of harnessing the market potential of the most promising space tech innovators and entrepreneurs in India, as per the release.

Through this tie-up, the space tech startups identified by ISRO would be onboarded onto the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub platform, which supports startups at every stage of their journey from idea to attaining unicorn status. Through Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub, space-tech startup founders in India would have free access to the tech tools, and resources they need to build and run their businesses.

S Somanath, Chairman, ISRO, said, “ISRO’s collaboration with Microsoft will greatly benefit space tech startups in their analysis and processing of vast amounts of satellite data for various applications, using cutting-edge methods like AI, Machine Learning and Deep Learning.’‘

Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, said, “Space tech startups in India are playing a significant role in advancing the country’s space capabilities with the power of technology. We are pleased to collaborate with ISRO to accelerate this transformation of what’s possible in space and offer our technology tools, platforms and mentorship opportunities.’‘

thehindu.com

South Western Railway (SWR) has achieved the highest ever electrification of 712 route kilometre in a year and the highest ever originating gross revenue of ₹7,509 crore, General Manager of South Western Railway Sanjeev Kishore has said.

Addressing presspersons in Hubballi on Thursday, Mr. Sanjeev Kishore said that a major thrust has been given to high quality railway infrastructure and between January and December of 2022, new line has been laid for 22 km, while 210 km of line doubling has been completed.

In the present year (2023), doubling of the Londa-Miraj section and Hubballi-Chikjajur are targeted to be completed by February and March respectively, he said and added that this will mean that the entire railway section from Miraj to Bengaluru will be a double line.

He said that the railway zone has registered 94% punctuality and has also emerged as the best among the railway zones in terms of mobility improvement. The average speed of goods train has increased by 58% in the railway zone when compared to 2021, he said.

In terms of passenger revenue, the zone has registered the highest ever revenue of ₹2,534 crore. The highest ever automobile loading of 405 rakes, an increase of 70% over last year, has been achieved by the zone, he said.

Stands second

Mr. Sanjeev Kishore said that the railway zone stands second among all the railway zones in the country in key performance indices.

“Sangnal-Kushtagi (34 km) section of the Gadag-Wadi project, Karatagi-Sindhanur (18 km) section of Ginigera-Raichur new line project are targeted to be completed in 2023. Work is in progress in the Khajjidoni-Lokapur (9 km) section of the Bagalkot-Kudachi new line project. Further EPC tender has already being floated for the Lokapur-Yadavad section. The first phase (20 km) of the Tumakuru-Davangere project has already commenced,” he said.

Mr. Sanjeev Kishore said that for the convenience of people participating in the 86th Akhila Bharat Kannada Sahitya Sammelan in Haveri, special trains are being run between Benglauru and Hubballi with stoppage to Haveri. Seven long distance express trains have been given additional stoppages at Haveri, in addition to running DEMU special trains, he said.

Chief Public Relations Officer Aneesh Hegde and other officials were present.

The source of Cauvery is also among the most ideal locations to gaze at the sky.

Talacauvery in Kodagu district, which is the source of Cauvery river, has emerged as South India’s Hanle, as astronomers have been hosting “star parties” there for some time now. Hanle, located in Ladakh, and known for its pristine skies and minimal light pollution, is also India’s first Dark Sky Reserve.

A Dark Sky Reserve is a designation given to a place that has policies in place to ensure that a tract of land or region has minimal artificial light interference.

In south India, most dark sky locations are in the Western Ghats or some hill ranges nearby, and according to astronomers, Talacauvery is the most ideal location to gaze at the sky and have a star party.

Voluntary work

The Bangalore Astronomical Society (BAS), a group of volunteers working for the promotion of astronomy as a hobby as well as a science, is now hosting star parties at Talacauvery. IT professionals Sudhash Natarajan, Vishwanath S.K. and Keerthi Kiran have been volunteering to conduct the star parties for BAS.

“We at BAS usually arrange star parties on New Moon weekends (Friday-Saturday-Sunday) format as it is the ideal time to observe the celestial objects which we are looking for. We inform people who are interested in joining us for the star party eight to days in advance. Members of the sky party after arriving at the dark sky location set up their equipment like telescopes, binacolours etc and the observation goes on until 4.45 am,” said Sudhash Natarajan.

Mr. Natarajan said that the group which attends the star parties are of all walks of life and that they are a mix of experienced astronomers as well as students and newbies to astronomy. He added that star parties have also been conducted in Koratagere, Hoshalli, Kavalur, and Yercaud in the past.

Less light pollution

“However, Talacauvery is possibly the best dark night location in south India due to less light pollution. In astronomy, there is something called the Bortle scale which measures the night sky’s brightness of a location on a nine level numerical scale. The lesser the numerical scale it qualifies for a better dark sky location. For example, Hanle skies would qualify as Bortle one skies, Talacauvery as Bortle two, and Bengaluru as Bortle nine,” he added.

The star parties are usually conducted in the winter months between December to March as the skies are clearer during these months which is very important for stargazing.

Mr. Natarajan said a star party was conducted between December 23 and 27, 2022, and the next one would be between January 20 and 24.

thehindu.com

Seven Indian scientists have received the IndiaBioscience Outreach Grants (IOG) awards for taking science out of the lab.

IndiaBioscience, which is housed and supported by the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, had initiated the awards to bridge the gap between scientists and society.

The IOG awards were launched under two schemes: First time grants and Extension Grants.

The first-time awards were for young scientists who haven’t been awarded the IOG award last year, while the extension grant enabled second IOG awardees to re-apply for another year of funding.

“The researchers were encouraged to team up with one or more professional science communicators and come up with project ideas that have the potential to extend beyond English and incorporate regional languages,” IndiaBioscience said.

The seven winners ( five first-time awardees, two extension grant awardees) were selected from within a pool of over 98 proposals, and cover a variety of areas and niches including citizen science initiatives, educational webinars, stakeholder awareness programs, as well as interactive videos and graphics.

The winners of IOG first time grant are: Bittu K Rajaraman, (Ashoka University) for Discover Learning – scientific ways of learning and critical thinking, Chandana Basu (Banaras Hindu University) for GENETIKS4U project which aims to help students in grades 9-12 understand genetic concepts through colorful illustrations, infographics, comics, story-telling, and hands-on activities, Ishwariya Venkatesh (CSIR – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) for Let’s Talk Life – An integrated online platform to drive up student engagement in Life Sciences in India, Mayuri Rege (Ramnarain Ruia Autonomous College) for Aamchi Prayogshaala a project which aims at giving hands-on lab experiences to disadvantaged students and lab visits to ensure early exposure to careers in science and teaching and Tuli Dey (Savitribai Phule Pune University) for Back to the Future which focuses on virtual lab sessions, meeting scientists, online quizzes for school and college students.

The winners of IOG Extension Grant are Megha Kumar (CSIR – Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology) for the project IndiaAsksWhy a science podcast promoting curiosity-based learning by observation and asking life science related questions about the world around them and Neha Jain (Indian Institute of Technology, Jodhpur) for the project engaging youth to fight against antimicrobial resistance.

thehindu.com

Citizens of Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Togolese Republic will enroll on the platform.

Around 70 million citizens in Philippines (80% of the population) have enrolled themselves on their national digital identity programme rolled out by Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), a digital identity platform developed by a team at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB).

Upon the request of World Bank to initiate research and development, the project provides digital identities similar to Aadhaar to underdeveloped and developing countries. So far, 16 lakh lines of codes have been developed and used by countries, free of cost.

People of 9 nations to enroll

Although the project was first aimed at providing MOSIP to five countries, it has now been extended to nine countries. Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Togolese Republic are the countries whose citizens will enroll on the platform. A team of 30 people, comprising top designers and others from software, database design, security and privacy departments, are working on the project at IIITB.

“Along with technical know-how, we will also help the countries with technological training. Data, privacy, and security will all be within their own country and their policy, we will not interfere with it. We are providing digital identity for the world in a modular nature so that it can be customised to their needs. For instance, in Philippines, English, and Filipino are the languages which used, while in Morocco, it is French and Arabic. Different countries have separate biometric needs and accordingly, the modular biometrics will be used,” explained Debabrata Das, Director, IIITB, who is also the Chairman of Executive Committee for the project.

Scalable. secure

Prof. Rajagopalan, President of MOSIP project, added that the project is highly scalable and secure. The developers have also figured out a way to operate in 5,000+ habitable islands of Philippines where there is no good internet connection.

“We have developed a new technology to identify people where there is no internet or low bandwidth connection. A lot of research went into it and we developed a secure QR code which can be stored in local servers and mobiles and can be used to authenticate each other. Later, when they get internet connection, the information can be exchanged and authenticated,” he further said.

The project is also being funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norad, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Pratiksha Trust and Omidyar Network.

thehindu.com

The award is considered prestigious and very competitive given to Indian scientists below the age of 35.

Dr. Hrishikesh Tavanandi has been awarded the Medal for Young Scientist of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), New Delhi. He is serving as Training Coordinator on temporary basis in the Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) programme at CSIR-CFTRI, Mysuru.

INSA is a body of Indian scientists founded in 1935 with the aim of promoting science in India and harnessing scientific knowledge for the cause of humanity and national welfare.

One of the activities of INSA is to encourage and motivate young talent in Indian science. INSA awards the Young Scientist Medal each year. The award is a prestigious and a very competitive award given to Indian scientists below the age of 35 and is considered to be ‘the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist’.

It is given annually to those who distinguish themselves through these attributes as evidenced by their research work carried out in India. In selecting Dr. Hrishikesh Tavanandi, INSA President Prof. Chandrima Shaha wrote, “You have shown great potential to be a leader in research. I sincerely hope that you will continue to strive hard to reach your potential and to prove your leadership in the coming years.”

Dr. Tavanandi has carried out his research work under the guidance of Prof. K.S.M.S. Raghavarao, professor-IIT Tirupati and former Director, CSIR-CFTRI.

He has developed innovative and translatable hybrid and integrated separation processes to achieve gains in yield and quality of extractable, economically useful phytochemicals from biomass.

The noteworthy processes developed by him include, high quality bioactives from Spirulina and quality drying of micro-organisms and biomolecules by methods alternative to freeze drying.

Dr. Tavanandi received the award from INSA President Prof. Chandrima Shaha at the CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography, RC Visakhapatnam during the 88th annual general meeting of INSA.

thehindu.com