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150 patients undergo free angioplasty procedure at Jayadeva hospital

Amazing Feats, Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Science & Technology

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 Around 150 patients underwent free angioplasty and stenting procedures at the ongoing angioplasty workshop conducted by Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research.

The institute, in collaboration with Dr Govindaraju Subramani Heart Foundation and Medtronic Vascular Division, Santarosa, USA, gave away stents worth Rs 1.25 crore free of cost to all patients including farmers, labourers, vendors, autorickshaw drivers, senior citizens from Karnataka, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and other states, since October 17, when the workshop began.

Professor and HoD of cardiology and director, Jayadeva Institute, Dr C N Manjunath said the youngest patient at the workshop was a 38-year-old agricultural labourer and the oldest was 83.

He said: “Heart ailments are no more a disease of the elite and elderly population, it also affects the younger age group, women and poor people.”

Pre-discharge counselling sessions were also arranged during the workshop for the patients where doctors gave them suggestions on diet and lifestyle practices to be adopted to reduce health risks.

Interviews rescheduled

The Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research has said that the interviews to fill jobs reserved for the Hyderabad-Karnataka region that were postponed, will now be held on October 24 and 25.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> City / DHNS – Bengaluru, October 21st, 2016

Tribute : Anita Kaul , one of Karnataka’s finest Bureaucrats

Inspiration/ Positive News and Features, Leaders

She had served as Director-General of ATI Mysuru

by Dr. R. Balasubramaniam, Founder & President, Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement

With communication being what it is nowadays, my day began with a piece of bad news arriving on WhatsApp. A friend had sent me a message that Anita Kaul (62), one of Karnataka’s finest IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officers had passed away after a brief illness last night (Oct. 10). This news was hard to believe (as with many WhatsApp messages nowadays) and I called up another good friend and erstwhile colleague of hers to verify. He had just reached Delhi to be with her family and told me the inevitable. She leaves behind her husband Sanjay Kaul and son Rohan.

Anita Kaul had retired from the IAS just more than a year ago after a long and distinguished service in the Karnataka Cadre. She was the Secretary to the Ministry of Law, Government of India, at the time of her retirement, and post-retirement had associated with a social sciences research organisation. I had first met her a few decades ago and was impressed with her efficiency and insightful thinking right from this first interaction. She was with the HRD Ministry of the Government of India and had come visiting to Karnataka to launch one of her favourite women empowerment programmes — Mahila Samakhya. What left me changed was the manner in which she accepted the prevailing realities of gender imbalance and was making suggestions that were practical, embedded in the context and implementable on a large scale. Her fiery passion for improving the lot of women was only matched with her sense of pragmatism.

Her visit to our tribal school at Hosahalli when she was the head of the DPEP programme in Karnataka is still fresh in my memory. Her desire to know about all our educational experiments, her eye for detail and her constant questioning about the idea of the school’s architecture influencing the learning process was a learning exercise for all present. My closest interaction with her was when she was the Director-General of Administrative Training Institute (ATI) at Mysuru [9.1.2002 to 24.12.2004]. It was during her time that this Institute along with the State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) reached its peak. The innovative programmes and the impactful training sessions that she personally designed needed to be seen to be believed. One could scarcely believe that this was a Government Institution and the professionalism that every member of ATI and SIRD demonstrated was a tribute to her leadership.

The next location where she left her deep imprint was in the Ministry of Planning in the Government of Karnataka. She tried hard to bring in evidence-based policy-making and rigorous programme evaluations into the system but with limited success.

Every person who came in contact with her will remember her not just for her administrative brilliance but also for her humaneness, her constant concern for the common man, her instinctive ‘people-centric’ thinking and her stubbornness. Yes, she was stubbornly honest and unwilling to deviate even slightly from the path of the high standards of ethics and morality that she subscribed to. She was also known to take thoughtful decisions, but once she had made them, would stubbornly resist changing it.

Another endearing quality of hers was the freedom that she gave everyone around her to argue and challenge her. One could feel very comfortable criticising her, knowing fully well that soon she would be her caring motherly self again. Yet another dimension of her that people would hardly know was her concern for her aging in-law and mother. She was always trying to be by their side and care for them during their old age and infirmity.

People like Anita Kaul come along very rarely. Bureaucrats like her are rarer. She set high standards not just for the IAS but for the entire development community. She was a unique combination of passion, compassion, integrity, hard work, discipline and concern for the last man on the street. We will all miss you Madam, we pray to the Lord to give your family the strength to bear with the loss. May your soul rest in peace.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Feature Articles / October 19th, 2016

Bags Best Poster Award

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Records, All

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Mysuru :

A. Pramod Kumar, Research Scholar, working in Asha Kirana Charitable Trust Hospital (from JSS College of Pharmacy), has received the prestigious AIDS Society of India (ASI) Best Poster Award for his presentation titled “Effect of Cinnarizine on Efavirenz induced dizziness among Antiretroviral Therapy Naïve HIV patients” at the 9th ASICON – National Conference of AIDS Society of India held from Oct. 7 to 9 in Mumbai.

As prevalence of HIV infection is increasing, Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) programmes continue to expand and large population are being exposed to Anti-Retro Virals (ARVs). The safety of ARVs is a major concern as it can cause both serious short-term and long-term adverse reactions. Patients do not adhere to their medications due to adverse effects resulting in resistance and ultimately treatment failure. His research findings suggested the development of strategies to prevent such Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) will help physicians to gain understanding of factors to develop an ADR in HIV positive patients and prevent these reactions, which in turn help improve the adherence to medications. This paper has driven the attention of various authorities seeking the programme implementation at ART centre level, according to a press release from Dr. Srirama, Medical Officer, Asha Kirana Hospital.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> General News / October 18th, 2016

Star this week : Skating Champ: Varsha S. Puranik

Records, All, Sports

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Our city’s Varsha S. Puranik, a talented Roller-Skater, who is the National Champion in the women’s category for the last six successive years, has earned selection to represent the country. She will be representing India in the Asian Roller Skating Championship to be held at Lishui, China, from October 18 to November 2, 2016. She is our ‘Star This Week.’

Two other skaters from Mysuru, Aditya S. Rao, Elizabeth Achaiah will also be representing India in the Championship. The Indian team will be coached by Mysuru’s K. Srikanth S. Rao.

Varsha has performed well in the 12th Short Track National Speed Ice Skating Championships at Gulmarg, Jammu & Kashmir and won gold in the women’s section for Karnataka. She was part of the Karnataka team which won the Team Championship title with 12 golds, 12 silvers and 11 bronze medals.

Earlier, she had taken part in the 2015 National 52nd National Roller Skating Championships held at Navi Mumbai and won gold in the women’s 500mtrs event and won her 36th gold in the National Championships.

Varsha was awarded the prestigious Ekalavya Award by the Government of Karnataka last year. She represented India in the World Games 2013 at Cali, Colombia and fared well.

Varsha, a Doctor by profession, is the daughter of R. Srirama Krishna (retd. IOB) and Thara Srirama, who have been her great support. She has a elder brother in Sri Harsha, whose roller-skating exploits inspired her also to take up this sport. Starting skating at a young age of three, Varsha began her basics at Bal Bhavan Roller Skating rink under the guidance of Ravi in 1990. She jointed Vishwamithra Roller Skating Club in 1993 and started to train under the guidance of late K. Sridhar Rao at J.K. Grounds. Presently she trains with R. Srikanta Rao, a Ekalavya Award winner, at the Rao’s Roller Skating Club.

Varsha first represented the country in the International level in 2001 in the World Inline Speed Skating Championships held at France in 2001 and took part in the 10km race and finished 16th. She got her first International medal when she was part of the Indian relay team which won the bronze medal in the 5km relay event in the Asian Roller Skating Championships.

In 2003, she represented India in the World Junior Championships at Venezuela (5km race-finished 15th). In 2004, she finished 4th in the Individual event at the 10th Asian Championships held in Japan.In 2010, she represented India in the 16th Asian Games at Guangzhou, China and finished 7th in the 3000m Time Trials. In 2012, Varsha took part in the Wold Championships and finished in the top 20 skaters in the World and qualified for the World Games. Varsha took part in the World Games in Cali, Columbia and finished 16th in the 500m Road race.

source: http://www.starofmysore.com / Star of Mysore / Home> Sports News / October 16th, 2016

This Mangaluru village is walking a thin line

Education, Uncategorized

Residents of a village in Udupi district have been forced to walk on a dangerous path after authorities failed to make provisions for a road or a bridge while constructing a canal as part of Varahi Lift Irrigation Project.

About 250 members belonging to the Schedule Tribe community live in 30 houses in Soni village located in Siddapura village of Kundapur in Udupi district.
Speaking to Bangalore Mirror, Chitte Rajgopal Hegde, a social worker, said the village is located around a lake and there are two temples there.

To meet their basic requirements, the villagers have to reach Karebail which is about one and a half kilometres away.

“They need to walk daily to Karebail junction to meet their daily requirements that includes visiting provision stores, bus stand or a dairy unit. They walk a dangerous path that is about three feet wide on the concrete slab of a drain constructed for the flow of water from forests and hills between Soni and Karebail junction at Dyanooru. In case there is an accident, it is really difficult to conduct a rescue operation,” he said.

If not this route, they will have to travel for five kilometres to reach places like Shankarnarayana.

About four years ago, when the canal was being constructed between Soni and Karebail, people of the village had made several requests to the engineers to make a bridge across the drain.

The work for the canal began in the year 2008 and the project was inaugurated by chief minister Siddaramaiah last year. Priyanka Mary Francis, CEO of Udupi Zilla Panchayat, has assured she will look into the issue. A team is likely to visit the village soon.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / by Deepthi Sanjiv / TNN / October 20th, 2016

State Film Literature awards announced

Arts, Culture & Entertainment

Senior film journalist and critic, Uday Marakini’s Touch Screen, Mooru Dashakagala Cinema Shikari and Dr. Rajkumar’s Samagra Charitre by Doddahullur Rukkoji have been chosen for the Karnataka State Film Literature annual awards for 2014 and 2015 respectively. The award carries Rs. 20,000 in cash and gold medals for the writer and publisher.

Chowka Bara, by Sathish, has been chosen for the best Kannada short film award for 2015. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 50,000.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Cities> Bengaluru> News / by Staff Reporter / Bengaluru – October 21st, 2016

Self-repairing road could fix crater mess

Business & Economy, Green Initiatives / Environment, Nri's / Pio's, Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

Thondebhavi (Chikkaballapur District) :

The last time Thondebhavi came under the spotlight was almost a year ago when a cloud of ash from a nearby cement plant enveloped it. Now, this nondescript village is grabbing headlines for becoming the first in the country to have a self-repairing road.

Thondebhavi, 65km from Bengaluru and with a population of about 1,200 people, has a 700-metre road with a crack healing capability. This road is the brainchild of Prof Nemkumar Banthia of the civil engineering department at the University of British Columbia, Canada.

This will be a game-changer in road-building, especially in a country where roads are dotted with cracks and potholes. M Suresh of the National Institute of Engineering-Mysuru, who coordinated with Thondebhavi village authorities and University of British Columbia, said: “This road has been built with high strength concrete supplemented with fibres which have a hydrophilic nano-coating. This coating absorbs water. Since most road cracks develop because of unhydrated cement, the hydrophilic coating produces silicates that closes the cracks.”

The lifespan of these roads is 15-20 years. The road, about 100 mm thick and comparatively less than the usual cement road, would go a long way in reducing road-laying cost. Since fly ash is used for these roads, the carbon output is low.

The 700-metre stretch, which connects the village with the road to nearby Gauribidanur town, has enthused residents. Kantharaj, a resident and also president of Kolar Chikkaballapur Districts Co-operative Milk Union Ltd (KOMUL), said: “Earlier, people used to have a tough time on the slushy road. This stretch has come as a boon to villagers and they can transport their agricultural commodities to various places without any hassles.”

Jyothi Reddy, president, Thondebhavi gram panchayat, said the road has been of great help to people of the village. She said she’ll convince nearby cement factory authorities to take up many more roads in the village panchayat. Aswathachar, manager, Pragathi Krishna Gramina Bank, Thondebavi branch said the quality and finish of the road is fine and it’s expected to last longer compared to the normal cement one.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / TNN / October 18th, 2016

Driving forward: First woman racer to represent India at Malaysian rally event

Records, All, Sports, World Opinion

Life in the fast lane brings Anitha Kholay many accolades

Bengaluru-based actor, stylist and fashion designer Anitha Kholay is all set to be the first Indian woman rallyist to represent the country at the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in Johor, Malaysia, which is to be held from October 28-30.

Declared the fastest woman rally driver of the country at earlier events in Bengaluru, Ms. Kholay, an alumna of Bishop Cottons Girls School and Christ University, began her career in rallying as a navigator at the age of 16, and was instantly intrigued by the sport. The ‘Miss Bangalore 1998’, who has been an Indian national race and rally driver since 2003, said she was elated, and added: “This is a stepping stone to aspire for greater heights, a milestone in my career.” An MRU Motorsports team from Malaysia is preparing her car, a Proton NEO 1600 CC, which will touch speeds of up to 120 miles per hour in the 3-day championship.

Long road to success

Recalling her hard work for over two decades, Ms. Kholay said she is brimming with pride to be representing Karnataka and India at the international level. “My husband, Rupesh Kholay, discovered the potential of my proficiency behind the wheel in 1994. I haven’t looked back, and crave to steer and zoom. My favourite rallies have been the K-1000, which is the Bangalore Rally, because I enjoy the terrain the most,” she said.

Nearly 50 medals gleam in her residence in Koramangala. “I started with two wheelers, then enjoyed being a navigator, and then hopped on to full-time rallying and racing. I even love my drag racing, and the defined path in the autocross race!” says Ms. Kholay, who couldn’t have asked for a better start. She was also the first woman to lead a national rally championship with a woman’s team in 2003, and she gradually gathered experience in the inner workings of motor sports to become among the most awarded women rally drivers in the country.

Passion for speed

“I won most of my racing and rallying awards from 1994-2011 in the ladies category. I took a break when I had my two children, and have been constantly taking part in national rallies from 2003, travelling mostly to Nashik, Chikmagalur, Hyderabad and Cochin, amongst other cities,” she said. She added that she relies on a “perfect support system” of a workshop and tuners to mind her car’s health.

What does the fastest woman driver behind the wheel think of her pace on traffic-jammed Bengaluru roads? “My city driving is customised with music for relaxing, which I enjoy. Race and rally fulfil my passion for speed,” she said. “As a woman, I try my best to disentangle myself from negative criticisms and drive forward.”

Bengaluru student among 20 finalists of Peta contest

Arts, Culture & Entertainment, Nature

Bengaluru :

Beating hundreds of others, Bengalurean Kushal Hebbar has made it to the finals of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) India’s Cutest Vegetarian Next Door contest.

Kushal is among the 20 finalists selected by a panel of Peta judges, who took three factors into consideration – the contestants’ physical features, dedication to protect animals and reasons for being vegetarian.

Now, the public can vote for their favourite contestants. The two winners, one male and one female, will be decided on the basis of the three parameters as well as public voting.

Kushal, a final-year computer science engineering student at BNM Institute of Technology , has been a vegetarian all his life. “I love animals and wouldn’t want to eat non-vegetarian just for the sake of taste,” he said.

“On an average, vegetarians are slimmer and healthier than meat-eaters. And over their lifetime, they spare many animals the horror of factory farms, slaughterhouses and fishing nets,” said Peta nutritionist Bhuvaneshwari Gupta .

“In addition to causing animal suffering on a massive scale, eating meat and dairy products has been linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and obesity. Also, a United Nations report concluded that animal agriculture is “one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems,” says Peta.
The winners of the contest, which was open to all non-celebrity Indian residents, will be declared on November 1

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City News> Bangalore / TNN / October 15th, 2016

Cloud-based system to study heart condition wins international prize

Records, All, Science & Technology, World Opinion

The Kalaburagi based software developer and innovator Rupam Das has done it again and won the first prize in the General Health Category of “Code Healthy Challenge” organised by Red Hat Linux’s Open Shift based Cloud platform by New York based website Devpost. He bagged the award for his cloud based online system “Hrydyalysis” to study the ECG signals of a patient and detect the heart condition of the patient.

Along with the award, Mr. Das has won a purse of $10,000. Mr. Das, who has developed several techniques to detect heart diseases including Myocardial Ischaemia, Bradycardia, Tachycardia, Coronary Artery, partial epilepsy, Venticular arrhythmia, T wave alternans and others, claimed that his recent invention was a major breakthrough in the heart-care system.

He said that the system can be adopted widely in rural areas where the health care facilities is still minimal. The Hrydyalysis is now being developed as a full fledged end to end system to convert it into a commercial low cost cardio solution.

As per the new online cloud based system Hrydyalsyis, the patients’ ECG signal as input can be taken and analysed for detecting if the heart condition was normal or not. In case of any abnormality, the system detects the type of diseases and notifies what kind of heart disease the patient was suffering and the severity of the condition. Any low cost ECG machine can be connected to Hrydyalsis and patient’s heart condition monitored accurately, he added.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Karnataka / by Special Correspondent / Kalaburagi – October 15th, 2016