Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 18: Former Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja Teacher has been selected for this year’s the prestigious Central European University (CEU) Open Society Prize at a ceremony in Vienna on Friday.
Previous recipients of the CEU Open Society Prize include economist and Nobel Prize laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz, 2015 Nobel Laurate for Literature Svetlana Alexievich, seventh Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, and President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel, among others.
The international Prize, given by Central European University (CEU) is awarded annually to persons of exceptional distinction who serve the ideals of an open society, a press release said.
Michael Ignatieff, CEU President and Rector, said “As former Minister of Public Health in the Indian state of Kerala, during the Covid-19 pandemic, K. K. Shailaja Teacher and the dedicated staff of the public health service demonstrated to the world that determined leadership, community-based public health, and effective communication can save lives.”
“Shailaja Teacher’s example will inspire young women to enter public service, and Kerala’s record in containing the epidemic gives hope to nations in the developing world. By awarding CEU’s highest award to Shailaja Teacher, the university honors a public servant and female leader for her commitment to public health services, the bedrock of every open society,” CEU President said.
K.K. Shailaja Teacher, Former Minister for Health for Kerala, said “As I stand here today, the world is grappling with a crisis of unprecedented scale. When we devised a strategy for battling this pandemic in Kerala, we knew that it had to be centered on securing the government’s commitment and accountability to the people, as well as by working in synergy with civil society.”
“Timely interventions have undoubtedly helped to keep the mortality rate below 0.5% when faced with the pandemic.”
“In order to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, we put in place a priority policy rooted in scientific temper and the realization that we must be equipped with a knowledge base and a robust health infrastructure to manage disasters and other pandemics.”
“When we heard about a potential virus is spreading in Wuhan, China, in late January 2020, we started our preparation at once: we formed control rooms, rapid response teams, and vigorous planning was done.”
The most rewarding facet was the teamwork and sense of cohesiveness behind the efforts. Kerala’s achievements in public health, our responsive institutions, respect for human rights, and transparency in information are reflections of the values in support of an open society.”
K.K. Shailaja Teacher, addressing CEU’s graduating Class of 2021, said “To all the students who are graduating today, I want to say that learning is a continuous process; stay curious and keep learning and share your knowledge with others.”
She said “We live in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world where leaders must rise to global challenges and work out new constructive solutions together, to build an equitable society. As you step out into the world, this is an opportunity for each one of you to change the world and write history. Find that leader in you!”
CEU, based in Vienna and Budapest, awarded 27 doctoral degrees, 451 master’s degrees and 14 non-degree certificates on the Class of 2021, out of which some 20 students are from India.
All now join CEU’s global alumni body of 18,000 graduates –with 261 alumni from India– in 148 countries. With CEU holding its second virtual convocation with graduate students joining from all over the world, this July marks the end of CEU’s first academic year of the university wholly being in Austria.
Bengaluru, Jun 16: The Sars-Cov-2 delta variant not only has a 40 per cent higher transmission rate compared to the alpha variant (which in turn has a 50 per cent higher transmissibility than the original strain of the virus), it also causes a much more severe disease than alpha.
This is leading to further rise in the percentage of positive cases that require hospitalization, even though the infection is in younger people. The delta variant causes acute and severe immune suppression and an acute hyperglycemic state, predisposing individuals to the risk of opportunistic infections like mucormycosis (black fungus disease), according to doctors of Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru (a unit of Manipal Hospitals).
About 400-500 patients have been detected with mucormycosis in Karnataka, due to which the disease has been declared an epidemic in the state.
Dr Srinivas K, Consultant ENT, Head & Neck Surgeon, Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru (a unit of Manipal Hospitals) said, “Mucormycosis, or the Black fungus disease, is a rare and rapidly progressive disease with high mortality if not treated in time. It usually occurs in people who either have health conditions like untreated diabetes or are taking medicines that lower the body’s immunity. The infection is caused by a fungus called Mucormycetes which lives in our surrounding environment. Its transmission occurs by inhalation, inoculation or ingestion of the spores. There are probable theories about its spread such as fungus growing on the walls, negative pressure rooms, water leaks, poor air filtration, building construction activities, etc.”
Said Dr Pramod V Satya, Consultant – Internal Medicine, Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru (a unit of Manipal Hospitals) “Black fungus is very much treatable if patients take medical help on time, with typical recovery time being three weeks in early stages of the disease. They need to undergo complete and repeated surgical removal of the infected tissue from the affected areas and take anti-fungal medication in the form of Amphotericin-B. Since this disease is rapidly progressive and potentially fatal, our advice to patients is to consult an ENT specialist in initial stages of their course of symptoms. This is because early diagnosis and prompt treatment leads to a better cure rate and faster recovery.”
Talking about the kind of people at risk of black fungus infection, Dr Partha Pradeep Shetty, Consultant Nephrologist, Vikram Hospital, Bengaluru (a unit of Manipal Hospitals) added, “Individuals who suffer from diseases causing suppression of one’s immunity are at the risk of black fungus infection. Uncontrolled diabetes is one of the most important risk factors. Cancer patients, dialysis patients and those undergoing treatment with corticosteroids also have a higher risk. Other risk factors include patients facing trauma or burns and those who have undergone an organ or bone marrow transplantation. Patients should be especially cautious if they have had a previous Covid-19 infection and got treated with steroids or Remdesivir or were administered oxygen therapy.”
Dr Srinivas said, “At Vikram Hospital, we have been treating cases of mucormycosis affecting the sinuses, brain, palate or the eyes. Most patients who come early to us for treatment have nasal symptoms and associated headache. They do well with timely surgical and medical management. Some patients come late when the disease has spread to their eyes, brain or the palate. They require a more tedious and extensive treatment with extended hospital stay. We have been seeing cases of both single fungus as well as multi-fungus disease. The other fungi apart from black fungus that we are seeing in patients include Candida albicans, Aspergillus Niger and Aspergillus fumigates.”
Vikram hospital doctors recommend that patients of black fungus go for endoscopic surgery wherever possible. “There are many benefits of endoscopic surgery compared to open surgery. It is minimally invasive, helps preserves organs and enables complete clearance of the disease. It also does not lead to any facial deformation or functional deficit,” said Dr Srinivas K.
Hyderabad, Jun 16: Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech, which developed India’s indegenious Covid-19 vaccine ‘Covaxin’ , on Wednesday stated that the COVAXIN is ‘highly purified ‘to contain only the inactivated virus components by removing all other impurities.
‘New born calf serum’ is used in the manufacturing of viral vaccines and it is used for the growth of cells, but neither used in growth of SARS CoV2 virus nor in the final formulation, the vaccine maker said in a statement.
Bovine serum has been widely used in the manufacture of vaccines globally for several decades and the usage of ‘new born calf serum’ was transparently documented in various publications — Hamster Efficacy Study — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102054 ; Non-Human Primate Efficacy Study — https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21639-w; Preclinical Safety and Immunogenicity — https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102298 ; Neutralization of UK Variant (B.1.1.7) — https://doi.org/10.1093/jtm/taab051, Neutralization of South Africa Variant (B.1.351) and Delta Variant (B.1.617.2) —https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.05.447177– since the last 9 months, it added.
The Company had earlier said it has so far invested over ₹ 500 crore at risk from its own resources for product (Covaxin) development, clinical trials and setting up of manufacturing facilities for COVAXIN.
Bharat Biotech is investing in new facilities and repurposing existing ones across several states in India for enhancing the production of COVAXIN.
It is pertinent to mention here that the urgent need to set up a significant number of manufacturing facilities and to divert existing ones for COVAXIN, has resulted in reduced production of other vaccines at our facilities, leading to loss in revenues, the statement said.
We have been extremely diligent in selecting manufacturing facilities and partners, with the required levels of containment, capabilities and expertise.
Product development activities towards the development of vaccines against “ newer variants” are also underway at our facilities, the statement added.
New Delhi, Jun 16: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the proposal of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) on “Deep Ocean Mission”, to explore the deep ocean for resources and develop deep-sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.
Briefing media persons about the decision, Information, and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said the estimated cost of the Mission will be Rs 4077 crore for five years to be implemented in a phase-wise manner.
The estimated cost for the first phase for the three years (2021-2024) would be Rs 2823.4 crore.
Deep Ocean Mission is a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy initiatives of the Centre.
Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal Ministry implementing this multi-institutional ambitious mission.
Hyderabad, Jun 14: People who got infected with COVID-19 need not take two doses of vaccine yet with a single dose can develop robust antibody and memory cell response at par with two-doses for those who didn’t get the infection, said Padma Bhushan Awardee Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman, AIG Hospitals, and one of the co-authors in the study conducted on healthcare workers who got vaccinated.
Asian Institute of Gastroenterology (AIG) Hospitals, Hyderabad recently published a study conducted on 260 healthcare workers who got vaccinated between Jan 16 and Feb 5 in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases (a peer-reviewed journal).
The study was designed to assess the immunological memory response in all those patients. All patients were given the COVISHEILD vaccine.
Two significant observations that came out of the study including the previously infected group (people who got infected with COVID-19) showed a greater antibody response to a single dose of vaccine compared with those who had no prior infection; Memory T-cell responses elicited by a single dose of vaccine were significantly higher in the previously infected group compared with those who had no prior infection, AIG hospitals said in its study report released here.
It was concluded that higher memory T and B-cell responses in addition to higher antibody response with a single dose of vaccine given at 3-6 months after recovery from COVID-19 may be considered at par with two doses of vaccine for individuals already infected with COVID-19.
Commenting on the impact that this study can have on the overall vaccine administration strategy, Dr. Nageshwar Reddy, said “The results show that people who got infected with COVID-19 need not take two doses of vaccine yet with a single dose can develop robust antibody and memory cell response at par with two-doses for those who didn’t get the infection. This will significantly help at a time when there’s a shortage of vaccines in the country and more people can be covered using the saved doses.”
Dr. Reddy, the Indian , who recently won the highest honour from the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) — the Rudolf V Schindler Award, said that “Once we attain the requisite number of people vaccinated for achieving herd immunity, these patients who got infected and received only one dose can take the second dose of the vaccine. At this point, all our strategies should be directed at the widespread distribution of available vaccines and to include the maximum number of people at least with a single dose.”
During the second COVID wave when cases were growing exponentially; unfortunately, the vaccination rate took a downturn.
As of April 27l, when the growth rate of active infection was ~5% and the growth of vaccinated people was just 1.4 percent.
We need to modify vaccination strategy based on scientific evidence and with the objective that a larger set of the population can be covered in the shortest duration.
New Delhi, Jun15: The Ministry of Science and Technology on Tuesday said that the imaging of objects in foggy weather conditions may now be clearer as the researchers have found a method that can improve the images captured on such days.
With a technique involves modulating the light source and demodulating them at the observer’s end, the researchers have demonstrated the technique by conducting extensive experiments on foggy winter mornings at Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. They chose ten red LED lights as the source of light. Then, they modulated this source of light by varying the current flowing through the LEDs at a rate of about 15 cycles per second.
“The researchers kept a camera at a distance of 150 metres from the LEDs and the camera captured the image and transmitted it to a desktop computer. Then, computer algorithms used the knowledge of the modulation frequency to extract the characteristics of the source.
This process is called ‘demodulation’. The demodulation of the image had to be done at a rate that was equal to the rate of modulation of the source of light to get a clear image”, the MST said.
The team saw a marked improvement in the image quality using the modulation-demodulation technique. The time the computer takes to execute the process depends on the image’s size. “For a 2160 × 2160 image, the computational time is about 20 milliseconds,” Bapan Debnath, PhD scholar at RRI and a co-author of the study said.
The cost of the technique is low, requiring only a few LEDs and an ordinary desktop computer, which can execute the technique within a second.
The method can improve the landing techniques of aeroplanes by providing the pilot with a good view of beacons on the runway, significantly better than relying only on reflected radio waves as is presently the case. The technique can help reveal obstacles in the path that would otherwise be hidden by fog in rail, sea, and road transportation and would also help spotting lighthouse beacons, the researchers associated with this said.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 14: Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has announced admission to its Academic Programmes offered through ODL mode for the academic session commencing from July 2021.
The University offers Masters Degree Programmes, Bachelors Degree Programmes, PG Diplomas &, Diplomas, PG Certificate & Certificates Programmes in various subjects.
The application for admission is to be submitted online through the web link: https:gnouadmission.samarth.edu.in/. The last date for submitting the online applications is 15th July 2021.
The university is offering Masters and Bachelors Degree programmes in various subjects including Rural Development, Computer Applications, Tourism Studies, English, Hindi, Philosophy, Gandhi and Peace Studies, Education, Public Administration, Economics, History, Political Science, Sociology, Psychology, Adult Education, Extension and Development Studies, Gender and Development Studies, Distance Education, Anthropology, Commerce, Social Work, Dietetics and Food Services Management, Counselling and Family Therapy, Library and Information Science, Journalism and Mass communication, Environmental Studies etc.
IGNOU is also offering Post Graduate Diploma, Diploma, and Certificate programmes on a wide range subjects.
Learners who have already registered online for July 2021 admission through IGNOU Online Admission System are advised to login with their username and password and verify the status of their application and remove discrepancies (if any) at the earliest in order to confirm the admission.
For further details contact IGNOU Regional Centre Trivandrum, Rajadhani Building, Killippalam, Karamana. P.O, Thiruvananthapuram 695002, Ph: 0471-2344113/2344120/9447044132 Email: rctrivandrum@ignou.ac.in.
New Delhi, Jun 12: The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Saturday reduced the GST rate on an array of medicine and equipment used in the treatment of COVID-19.
Along with this, the GST on medicines useful in treatment of black fungus was cut to zero.
The items on which rates were brought down include medicines such as Remdesivir and Tocilizumab, medical oxygen, oxygen generation equipment, and diagnostic and testing machine kits, masks, COVID testing kits, oximeters, hand sanitisers, cremation furnaces, ambulances, temperature checking devices.
The cuts are applicable till September 30.
The Council took the decisions at its 44th meeting chaired by Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
In the last meeting of the Council, a group of finance ministers of States was formed in this regard and Saturday’s decisions were taken according to the recommendations of the group.
After the meeting, Sitharaman told reporters that most of the recommendations of the Group of Ministers had been approved.
‘Today’s meeting was a single-agenda meeting on the Group of Ministers which was constituted in last GST Council meeting to come up with recommendations on tax relief for COVID-19 essentials,’ she said.
The GST on Tocilizumab and Amphotericin B used for treatment of black fungus has been reduced from less than five per cent to zero, she said.
She said that the GST on Anti-Coagulants like Heparin and Remdesivir has been reduced from 12 per cent to five per cent.
The GST rate on medicines approved by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Department of Pharma for COVID treatment would now be five per cent.
The finance minister said that the GST on Medical Grade Oxygen, Oxygen Concentrator/ Generator, including personal imports thereof, Ventilators, Ventilator masks / canula / helmet, BiPAP Machine, High flow nasal canula (HFNC) device, Covid Testing Kits, Specified Inflammatory Diagnostic Kits, namely D-Dimer, IL-6, Ferritin and LDH,
Pulse Oximeters, including personal imports thereof has been reduced from 12 per cent to five per cent.
She said the GST on Hand Sanitizer, Temperature checking equipment, Gas/Electric/other furnaces for crematorium, including their installation, etc has been reduced from 18 per cent to five per cent.
Along with this, the GST on ambulances has been reduced from 28 per cent to 12 per cent.
Sitharaman however, said that 5 per cent GST on vaccines will stay.
The Centre will buy the 75 per cent vaccine as announced and will pay its GST too. But 70 per cent of income from GST will be shared with states.
Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 10: Prathidhwani, IT employees welfare organisation at Technopark, has launched the ‘First Bell digital education challenge’, to support students who are struggling with their studies as the new academic year also goes online.
Under this initiative, Prathidhwani plans to buy and distribute tablets to needy students from economically weaker families with the financial help of IT employees working in various companies in Technopark.
“The initiative was launched after several government schools approached us to support students from poor backgrounds to ensure that the online learning, especially of the students of the higher classes is not disrupted,” said Raneesh A.R, president of Prathidhwani.
Last year, the organisation had distributed learning devices to students from 57 families. The project is being implemented by raising Rs 7500 each from IT employees and well-wishers.