Karnataka on Monday announced free vaccination for COVID-19 for all those aged between 18 and 44 in government hospitals and centres from May 1.
Health Minister K. Sudhakar said ₹400 crore had so far been allocated for the purpose.
The government has been providing free vaccination to all those aged above 45 in government facilities, though there have been multiple complaints of vaccine shortage. Asked about vaccine availability, he said stocks based on orders were yet to come and more details would be released soon.
At a press conference on Monday, after the Chief Minister announced the decision, Dr. Sudhakar said with third and fourth waves being seen in other countries, the need was to vaccinate as many people as possible as soon as possible. “A sum of ₹81.32 crore has been allocated for COVID-19-related medicines, and ₹28 crore for Remdesivir,” he added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – April 27th, 2021
Abevmy is approved for treatment in metastatic colorectal carcinoma, metastatic breast cancer, non small-cell lung carcinoma, glioblastoma, ovarian, cervical and renal cancer as part of a specific regimen.
Biocon Biologics has received approval for its cancer drug Abevmy co-developed with Viatris.
Abevmy 100 & 400 mg, a biosimilar of Bevacizumab has received marketing authorization approval from the European Commission (EC) following the positive recommendation by the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency, said the company in a filing to the stock exchange.
Abevmy is approved for treatment in metastatic colorectal carcinoma, metastatic breast cancer, non small-cell lung carcinoma, glioblastoma, ovarian, cervical and renal cancer as part of a specific regimen.
The centralized marketing authorization granted by the EC is valid in all EU Member States as well as in the European Economic Area (EEA) countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.
“The European Commission’s approval of our biosimilar Bevacizumab will enable us to offer this biologic therapy to cancer patients in the EU along with our partner Viatris. The addition of biosimilar Bevacizumab will strengthen our portfolio of biosimilars for cancer in the EU, which include biosimilar Trastuzumab and biosimilar Pegfilgrastim. This approval underlines our commitment to expand affordable access to life-saving biosimilars and make an enduring impact on global health,” said a company spokesperson.
source: http://www.economictimes.indiatimes.com / The Economic Times / Home> Business News> India> Healthcare> Biotech>Pharmaceuticals / ET Bureau / April 26th, 2021
Researchers Anura V. Kurpad (left) and Sarita Devi from St. John’s Research Institute who have developed a new test to measure Vitamin B12 absorption.
Vitamin B12 deficiency arises mainly due to malabsorption
A team of researchers from St. John’s Research Institute (SJRI) has developed a new test to measure vitamin B12 absorption in humans with stable 13C isotopes. Earlier, this was possible only using the radio-isotopes-based Schilling test.
This major clinical development has been published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Vitamin B12 deficiency, that is widespread in India, is linked to many poor health outcomes. It is mainly due to a low intake of animal source foods or malabsorption. The problem lies in measuring whether it is well absorbed from the diet or from remedial supplements. Unless the absorption is known, it is very hard to design the appropriate dose to remedy deficiencies.
Sarita Devi from St. John’s Research Institute, who is the lead author of the paper, said unfortunately, the measurement of vitamin B12 absorption is not performed now, because the original or modified Schilling’s test requires radioisotopes. “The problem is the use of radioactive isotopes (Cobalt in this case), which is heavily restricted, to ‘label’ vitamin B12 so that it can be traced to quantify its absorption. This problem has continued for the last 70 years, since Dr. Schilling first published his eponymous testing method,” she explained.
The study describes the re-engineering and innovation of a new method to measure Vitamin B12 absorption. “We did this by biosynthesizing a novel Vitamin B12 molecule that was labelled with a ‘stable isotope’ of carbon 13C. This, as the name implies, is stable (not radioactive and therefore does not emit any harmful radiation) and is therefore safe for human use,” she said.
The molecule that the team of researchers synthesized, is a form of Vitamin B12 called 13 C-cyanocobalamin. This (cyanocobalamin) is one of the commercial vitamin B12 supplements that are prescribed. “We then used this to measure vitamin B12 absorption in humans, and also defined a new mathematical or pharmacokinetic model for this purpose. This test is safe and can now be used in a clinic and in any age group safely without radiation concerns,” Dr. Devi explained.
“This is a major development in nutrition that also changed the daily requirement of Vitamin B12 in a recently published report by the ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition for Indians,” she said. Anura V. Kurpad, senior author of the paper and chair of the ICMR Expert Committee on Nutrient Requirement of Indians, said the earlier thinking was that dietary vitamin B12 was 100% absorbed.
As the researchers’ team led by Dr. Devi had measured this at about 50% absorption, Dr. Kurpad said: “This effectively doubled the daily dietary requirement from 1 microgram to 2 microgram/day. Since Vitamin B12 is only available from animal source foods, it is critical to ensure that an adequate intake of milk or eggs/meat is available in the diet.”
From a therapeutic viewpoint when treating the deficiency, the study also showed that the absorption of Vitamin B12 was very tightly regulated, in that it could not go above a certain amount. Hence, a high intake does not necessarily mean more absorption, she added.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by Afshan Yasmeen / Bengaluru – March 02nd, 2021
A tiny two-cent patch of land in Katpady town in coastal Karnataka isn’t quite the Western Ghats, but close. Spatially and figuratively.
Mahesh Shenoy enjoys a walk in his forest-like backyard | express
Udupi :
A tiny two-cent patch of land in Katpady town in coastal Karnataka isn’t quite the Western Ghats, but close. Spatially and figuratively. It houses a minuscule fraction of the richness of the Western Ghats which is roughly 30km away. The plot of land in Udupi district is owned by Mahesh Shenoy, a 43-year-old businessman, and used to be fallow until a year ago. But today, his son Ameya, who is in Class 10, and daughter Anvitha, who is in Class 7, are growing up watching a Miyawaki forest grow.
Discussions with friends in Bengaluru introduced Mahesh to the concept of a Miyawaki forest. He researched online, and learned more about the urban afforestation method using local species of plants and trees created by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki.
Enamoured by the idea, he and his friends – Vishu Shetty, Ganeshraj Saralebettu, Nithyanand Volakad and Ravi Katapady — who also live in Udupi, formed a group called Organic Living, and got to work to create what might be Udupi district’s first Miyawaki forest. “Miyawaki promoted natural vegetation by raising mini forests along Japan’s coastline. I have adapted that model and customised it for the weather conditions of Udupi,” Mahesh says.
Mahesh and his friends dug up the soil on October 13, 2019, added manure, and monitored its nutrition levels for three months. Meanwhile, they chose the species they would plant. In January 2020, they planted around 220 saplings including teakwood, rosewood, Indian beech, neem, and almond — procured from government-run nurseries and acquaintances — a metre apart. “Amid problems of increasing groundwater depletion and rising urban heat, this Japanese method of forest creation is a ray of hope,” Mahesh says. “Many did not believe me, and said it was impossible, but I proved them wrong.”
Using conventional methods, a teakwood sapling would grow a couple of feet a year, but under the Miyawaki method, it grows about 6-10 feet a year. Some of the trees are 15-20 feet tall, have thick branches, belying the fact that they are barely a year old, and are home to dozens of birds. Mahesh named the forest Ganapathy Vana, after his grandfather.
Gowri Shenoy, Mahesh’ wife, became a full-fledged supporter of the venture when she learned that the forest would need work for only about two years, after which it would take care of itself. During the past year, Mahesh has worked hard to ensure that the four-layer forest in his backyard was watered, weeded and manured. He pretty much single-handedly took care of the work. He spent Rs 40,000 including the cost of saplings and manure.
Although Vanamahotsava is observed during the monsoon each year, in Mahesh’s view, “Vanamahotsava is not yielding much result, but creating a forest under this method is practicable. I want to show people that anybody can have a mini-forest in their backyard,” he says.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Prakash Samaga / Express News Service / January 31st, 2021
Spirituality isn’t usually considered a factor in conservation efforts. But indigenous peoples who worship wildlife may be helping protect endangered species from extinction.
The Soligas tribe in the Western Ghats of India reveres the Bengal tiger. Their coexistence in India’s Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple Tiger Reserve has helped the tiger population flourish, says Shadi Atallah, a natural resource economist in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at University of Illinois.
Atallah first learned about the Soligas from a BBC article that discussed how the tiger population doubled from 2010 to 2014, after the tribe obtained property rights to their ancestral land.
“The BBC article stated that the local tribe venerates the tiger and that worshiping relationship makes them the best conservationists,” Atallah says. “We could not find anything in the conservation economics literature that backs that claim. There was nothing that accounted for spirituality ecosystem service values.”
He and co-author Adrian Lopes wanted to investigate how the tribe’s spiritual beliefs might make them effective conservation stewards.
The researchers conducted a case study to assess spiritual value of the Bengal tiger for the Soligas tribe and show how such values can be harnessed as an economic tool for promoting sustainable wildlife conservation.
Atallah and Lopes used bioeconomic modeling to estimate four different management scenarios: Whether or not the Soligas tribe had property rights to the land, and whether or not poaching fines were implemented for illegal harvesting of the tigers.
Their results were clear: Tribal property rights were by far the best policy to protect the tigers.
“We observed that if you remove the property rights and poaching fines, the species goes to extinction in 49 years. Implementing poaching fines alone delays the extinction by nine years but does not prevent it,” Atallah says.
He suggests the tribe’s veneration of the tiger makes them less likely to look for the quick reward of illegal poaching.
There is little precedent for including spiritual values in economic models , Atallah notes.
“Putting a dollar value on spirituality is controversial,” he says. “But by leaving it out of economic calculations, we assume it has a value of zero.”
Bioeconomic models include biological information such as status and growth rate of a species and economic policies such as property rights and fines. They can also account for the values generated from wildlife ecotourism. But so far, they have not included wildlife spiritual values, Atallah states.
“If we can place a value on spiritual ecosystem services the way we do for ecotourism, we would not be under-accounting for those services when governments make policy decisions,” he notes.
Conservation efforts often consist of establishing protected areas by separating humans and wildlife. Such policies may involve expulsing indigenous communities and are controversial on ethical and humanitarian grounds. But Atallah and Lopes’ research also provides an economic argument by showing that local tribes are, indeed, the best conservationists.
The Indian Forest Rights Act grants indigenous tribes property rights to their ancestral lands; however, the tribes need to provide documentation for their claim to the land, and lack of proof has in some cases led to expulsion.
“Our research shows if a government has to decide which policy instrument to use, spending money in courts to secure the property rights of the local tribes is much more effective than spending money on catching and fining poachers,” Atallah says.
“If you care about the survival of the species, securing the property rights of the tribes that venerate them is the best tool you can have,” he concludes.
source: http://www.phys.org / Phys.org / Home> Biology> Plants & Animals / by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign / January 29th, 2021
V.P. Srujana with her parents Veena and M.B. Prabhu at Nagaprura Tribal Rehabilitation Centre. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Srujana of Nagapura is the first Adivasi to clear eligibility test in Karnataka
An advasi girl from Nagapura on the outskirts of Nagarahole has become a source of inspiration for other girls from the tribal community to take up education and pursue an independent career.
Meet V.P. Srujana of Nagarahole Tribal Rehabilitation Centre at Nagapura, who created history of sorts when she became the first primitive tribal in the State to clear the National Eligibility Test (NET) for assistant professor conducted by the National Testing Agency on behalf of the University Grants Commission (UGC).
In recognition of her achievement, Ms. Srujana was felicitated at a function at the centre on Wednesday. She had appeared for the UGC-NET in October 2020, the results of which were announced last month.
Belonging to the Pani Yerava community, which is a primitive and vulnerable microscopic tribe, she is also among the handful of Adivasis who have completed their post-graduation. Ms. Srujana, daughter of Veena and M.B. Prabhu, completed her M.Com. from the University of Mysore with a first class in 2019 and appeared for NET and cleared it, qualifying for assistant professor’s post.
She is from Balekovu tribal haadi in Virajpet taluk and did her primary schooling in Nallurupala Government Primary School in Hunsur. She stayed with her grandparents as there is no school at Balekovu. Her grandfather was working in the Forest Department at Hunsur as a Group D employee and hence Ms. Srujana stayed with them and went to school.
She completed her high school and PUC from the Government Junior College for Girls, Hunsur, and graduation from the Government Women’s College, Hunsur, after which she studied M.Com. Incidentally, her mother is the first graduate among the tribes and completed her degree from the University of Mysore in 1988.
Ms. Srujana told The Hindu that she drew inspiration from her parents who were supportive and now wishes to pursue Ph.D for which she is scouting for a guide. As someone conscious of the social backwardness of the community, Ms. Srujana intends to take up a topic relevant to the tribes.
This apart, she is also taking up the civil services examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. “Now that I have completed PG and cleared NET, I will prepare for the IAS preliminary examination which will also help in appearing for the KAS examination,” said Ms. Srujana. “It is a proud privilege to say that she is our daughter,” said her elated parents who aver that she will inspire other members of the tribe to take up education.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Karnataka / by R Krishna Kumar / Mysuru – January 28th, 2021
Sixty-four-year-old Jogati Manjamma, the first transwoman who was appointed as chairperson of Karnataka Janapada Academy has been awarded the Padmashri.
Poet Chandrashekar Kambara (File Photo)
Bengaluru :
Well known cardiologist and motivational speaker Belle Monappa Hegde, popularly known as BM Hegde, has been awarded the Padma Vibushan, India’s second-highest civilian award. Dr Hedge was conferred with Padma Bhushan in 2010.
Jnanapeeta awardee Chandrashekhara Kambara and folk artist Manjamamma Jogati were also among the five from Karnataka to receive the Padma awards this year.
Speaking to TNIE, Chandrasekhar Kambar said this award is for Kannada Saraswathi. “It is Kannada which got me till here. It gave me Jnanapeeta award and now Padmabhushana. I might have not got this if I had done my literary works in English.”
Sixty-four-year-old Jogati Manjamma, the first transwoman who was appointed as chairperson of Karnataka Janapada Academy has been awarded the Padmashri.
Eighty-two-year Prof Rangasami L Kashyap is an Indian applied Mathematician and a professor of Electrical Engineering. Along with his colleague, Prof Kashyap developed an important algorithm in pattern recognition. Prof Rangasami has translated four Vedas and wrote numerous books exploring the hidden meanings behind the Vedic mantras.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> States> Karnataka / by Express News Service / January 25th, 2021
The Karavali Wikimedians User Group celebrated the 20th year of Wikipedia at a function in Mangaluru on Saturday. | Photo Credit: H.S. Manjunath
Karavali Wikimedians User Group makes appeal to doctors to contribute articles
The Karavali Wikimedians User Group, having those who write mainly for the Kannada, the Tulu, and the Konkani editions of Wikipedia, on Saturday appealed to doctors to contribute India-specific articles on medical sector.
Addressing presspersons on the occasion of 20th anniversary of the site, secretary of the group and editor of Vishvakannada.com U.B. Pavanaja said that doctors should come forward to write on diseases, management of diseases, medicine, medical tests, and other aspects relating to the medical sector with an India-specific focus.
If they write in English, others can translate for the respective editions of Wikipedia. The doctors can also help Wikipedia writers by suggesting appropriate words in regional languages while translating technical medical words and medical terminologies.
Those doctors who can write in Kannada can also write for the Kannada edition of Wikipedia.
Mr. Pavanaja said that wikimedians have launched Special Wikipedia Awareness Scheme for The Healthcare Affiliates (SWASTHA) in the country.
He said Wikipedia which went live on January 15, 2001, has completed 20 years.
The Kannada edition of the site has completed 17 years and the Tulu edition is five-years-old. So far, 24 Indian language editions of Wikipedia have gone live.
The president of the group Vishwanatha Badikana said that the process of forming Wikipedia associations in colleges in the coastal belt has begun. The group has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Canara College in the city to promote Wikipedia activities by organising workshops, training activities to write for the site and the like.
It will also sign agreements with other colleges in the coming days. With this a hub to promote Wikipedia activities can be created.
Women’s articles
K.T. Dhanalakshmi, president, Wikiwomens Mangaluru, said that 400 articles related to women have been written in Mangaluru so far.
Kishor Kumar Rai Sheni, treasurer of the group, spoke on the growth of the Tulu edition.
The group celebrated the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia by organising a function in Tulu Bhavana. Krishnamohan, a doctor, from Moodbidri spoke on the occasion.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Mangaluru / by Special Correspondent / Bengaluru – January 24th, 2021
A team of four students from Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Manipal, recently won the first place at the TechFest conducted by IIT, Bombay, for developing a model that could prevent the spread of COVID-19.
A release from MAHE said that IIT Bombay’s annual technical event, TechFest, wanted students to innovate and find ways to stop the spread of the virus and distribute vaccines after its successful invention. The event was sponsored by L&T Electrical and Automation.
The problem statement was to develop a model that could be put in place to achieve the goal by devising methods that were practical, applicable and cost-effective.
The team’s solution was to introduce a vest consisting of wearable electronics and sensors that could be used to keep track of various physiological data of the user’s body, including heart rate, pulse rate, oxygen content and body temperature. The data was then transferred wirelessly to a cloud server through WiFi or through SMS, if WiFi was not available, along with user’s location.
The idea was judged on creativity, scalability, cost/ market value and other factors.
An abstract of the idea, a detailed report on the working of the model and an 18-minute pre-recorded presentation were judged in the three rounds that started on November 3 and ended on January 5.
The team comprised Paresh K.V., fourth year student, ECE, Sai Arvind Chinthanippu, fourth year, Mechatronics, Anukul Jindal, fourth year, ECE, and Sreerag Mahadevan Cheeroth, fourth year student, Mechanical.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / Mangaluru – January 18th, 2021
Mangaluru-based artists’ collective The Urban Weaver gives budding performers an opportunity to showcase their talents
The term ‘kingmaker’ might prove too premature, but Arvind R Shenoy and The Urban Weaver certainly help make things happen for creative souls.
“My passion is event management — usually not considered an art, but more of a business,” Arvind says. “My goal was to change that, because I felt in that arena, people behind the scenes are far more creative than many realise.”
It began when he was a BBA student in Manipal in 2016, and he realised there weren’t many avenues for musicians to perform. “I felt something had to be done to build the cultural community there,” he says.
In October 2017, he started organising open mic nights every Friday in Manipal, encouraging musicians to perform. and at the same time hone their talents or mentor a novice. The initiative quickly caught on and having hosted 63 events by the end of 2019, Arvind felt he had pretty much aced that goal.
A moment of clairvoyance in November 2019 made him feel he had to be prepared to change tack in 2020. Along came the lockdown and put a spanner in the works of everyone, everywhere.
“The community of musicians kept up a steady pace of work and once they realised the lockdown was going to be a long-term affair, they began putting their work online. However, unless you feel like you’re a part of a whole community, an individual might lose interest in what they do,” says Arvind.
Using his expertise gleaned from open mic nights, Arvind thought it would be a good idea to combine the various talents and strengths of those creatively inclined, to help them reach individual goals.online
Smaran Alva, a childhood friend and architect, joined him to handle creative content and visuals, while Akshay Baliga, an entrepreneur was brought on as production head. And so, The Urban Weavers (TUW) as an artistes’ collective came into being.
TUW works both ways, with artistes approaching the collective and vice versa. Arvind talks about being introduced to Frizzell D’Souza, a singerwith an amazing voice. “She was great, but was singing covers. I told her to get back to us with an original number and we’d help her get it out.”
Frizzell got back to him seven months later with an original song. TUW produced her début song complete with video, photos, cover etc in September 2020. It garnered over 15K hits on YouTube and TUW went on to release her second single, two weeks ago. ONLINE
“The whole idea behind the collective was to give people the push they needed to keep growing,” says Arvind. TUW not only gives musicians a platform to showcase their music, but also helps with audio and video productions as well as conduct select travel getaways.
”I do not do weddings, because I feel it’s too client driven,” laughs Arvind, adding, “I want to do events where you can create something; you might as well inspire people with your work. By the end of the show you have to set a standard.”
TUW’s team of 11 comprises an engineer, architects, a self-taught musician as well as a business and a music graduates.
