Awareness: College students to get ‘Covid ambassadors’ tag

Awareness: College students to get ‘Covid ambassadors’ tag

On Wednesday, the Health Minister along with Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and other officials, inaugurated a vaccination camp at the college.

Published: 16th December 2021 03:09 AM

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Every student at Government Queen Mary’s College for Women will be given ‘Covid-19 ambassador’ identity card in a day or two and these students will spread awareness on Covid vaccination in their area or street, said Health Minister Ma Subramanian.

On Wednesday, the Health Minister along with Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan and other officials, inaugurated a vaccination camp at the college. The minister said 5,500 students are studying in the college, and among them only 900 are not vaccinated. Through this camp, even these 900 students will be covered. He was hopeful that the college will become the first arts and science college in Tamil Nadu to achieve 100% vaccination coverage.

“So, students of this college will be the ideal people to spread awareness on Covid vaccination,” the minister said. He requested the students to spend at least 30 minutes daily to create awareness in their area or street. Subramanian said so far, 12,307 travellers from ‘at-risk’ countries have been tested for Covid at airports in the State. Also, two per cent of travellers from ‘non-risk’ countries are tested in random sampling and so far, 1,834 travellers from non-risk countries have been tested.

Health Secretary J Radhakrishnan said so far, there has been no clinical surge in cases, and the government is fully equipped to handle the cases in case of a surge. Oxygen generators, oxygen beds, oxygen plants have been kept ready. The infrastructure that was created during the last wave was not disturbed, he said.

Speaking at a function organised to distribute welfare aid to people affected with leprosy at Saidapet, the Health Minister said leprosy screening camps will be conducted in all 200 wards in Chennai and also in all government and Corporation schools for early detection of cases, so that treatment can be started.

He said it is worrying to see that more leprosy cases are being detected among children. In Tamil Nadu, the prevalence rate of leprosy in children is 8.71/10,000 while In India, it is 6.87/10,00. The high numbers is due to more screening in Tamil Nadu, he said.

Cash-strapped Madras University to hike fees from next academic year

Cash-strapped Madras University to hike fees from next academic year

“Madras University’s fees are lowest in the country and we need to hike it. Every time we plan to hike the fees, protests are staged against the decision.

Published: 18th December 2021 05:42 AM 

By Binita Jaiswal

Express News Service

CHENNAI: To tide over the financial crisis, the University of Madras is planning to revise the fee structure from the next academic year. However, academic fees will not be increased and the hike will be nominal. Currently, the varsity is examining the fees that can be increased, sources said.

“Madras University’s fees are lowest in the country and we need to hike it. Every time we plan to hike the fees, protests are staged against the decision. But increasing the fees is the need of the hour,” said a senior official of the university.

Vice-Chancellor (V-C) of the university, S Gowri, said, “Even if the fees are hiked, it will be nominal. We will ensure students are not affected in any way.” The V-C also clarified that tuition fees and examination fees will remain unchanged.

As per the recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India compliance Audit Report, the University of Madras continued to face financial crisis due to mismanagement and inadequate financial support from the Government of Tamil Nadu. The CAG report said funds meant for research and development activities were diverted to salaries and regular non-plan expenditure.

Sources in the university said revenue of the university has dropped while expenses have increased. The deficit is largely due to the increased financial burden after implementing Seventh Pay Commission scales of pay for teaching and non-teaching staff, and pensioners.

Univ lacks govt support: Report

As the recent Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India compliance Audit Report has revealed, the University of Madras continued to face financial crisis due to mismanagement and inadequate financial support from the Tamil Nadu Government

Being Smart Isn’t About The Brain

mind field SHORT TAKES ON BIG IDEAS

Being Smart Isn’t About The Brain

Our bodies & surroundings matter a lot

18.12.2021

‘Use your head,’ people often say, when they urge someone to apply their intelligence. But it’s actually the other way around, we think better when we think outside our heads, says science journalist Annie Murphy Paul in her book The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside Our Brain. Cognition does not occur merely in the lump of tissue inside our skull.

Brainbound thinking is inadequate for complexity of modern life, says the book. We need to recruit extra-neural resources, to listen to feelings and movements of our bodies, the physical spaces in which we learn and work, the minds of the other people around us. This is what brings focus, comprehension and creativity.

When the philosopher Andy Clark lost his laptop on a train in 2007, he experienced it as a sort of disorienting brain damage, prompting him to wonder where the mind ends and the brain begins. This is the ‘extended mind’ hypothesis, much debated since, about how cognition involves unconscious interactions between the brain, body and environment.

Paul’s book gathers all the neuroscience, cognitive science and psychology around this idea, shows how it is intuitively practised by artists, scientists, educators and leaders, and suggests how we can actually extend our own minds, by understanding embodied cognition, situated cognition and distributed cognition.

First, listen to what your body is telling you. It senses patterns and guides the brain with a tensing of the muscles or a quickening of the breath, a shiver or sigh. Being aware of these subtle nudges and prods is interoception. Financial traders who have it make better decisions than those who calculate, and they describe their decision-making as a sort of nameless sensing, like having whiskers or antennae.

Paul recommends shuttling, periodically checking in with one’s physical self in the middle of mental activity, now and then. Research shows that bodily activity and mental acuity are linked – so movement, gesture, even standing boosts cognition.

This is why classrooms and offices that link work to sitting run counter to our biological wiring, says Paul. Our surroundings vitally shape our thought, as anyone who comes back restored from time spent in nature can attest to. Green spaces engage a different part of our being, and tend to help our thoughts flow in a diffuse, more creative way.

While many people work in openplan offices or coffee shops, the most inspiring work environment is something like a monastery, with its solitary cells as well as cloisters and communal spaces. We need others, their company and stimulation, to think well.

The book makes a case for apprenticeship and imitation as a way of extending our minds. Mimicking the masters is a traditional way of learning new skills and making intelligent decisions, because it works.

Paul offers many tips on extending our own minds – offloading thoughts on paper or a device, to make a problem concrete rather than abstract, something that can be touched or tweaked physically, like a board. It is crucial to be able to alter one’s own mental state, take a walk or listen to one’s body when mentally overwhelmed.

The radical takeaway from this book is that intelligence is not a fixed lump, and people are not innately smarter than others. Rather, it is a transaction, a fluid interaction between our brains, our bodies, our spaces and our relationships.

Crisis In Nursing ... Skill shortage is global, solution has to be local

Crisis In Nursing

Skill shortage is global, solution has to be local

18.12.2021 

Who vaccinated you? Who provides the bulk of the care if you are hospitalised? Nurses are the lynchpin of our healthcare system but they just don’t get their due. To illustrate, the Lok Sabha this year saw 31 questions about doctors, including about violence against them, their mental wellbeing, shortages and deaths. Nurses suffer similar issues but they merited a grand total of one question. We learn from the answer that India has 1.79 nurses per 1,000 population, 46% less than the WHO norm. Topped with 21 months of non-stop pandemic work, this is a recipe for exhaustion.

Burnout has caused serious nurse shortages in many parts of the world. In the US Kentucky’s governor has actually declared a nurse staffing emergency, with an action plan to increase the state’s nursing students rapidly. Rich countries also have the option of importing nurses, with India being a top global exporter. Unattractive working conditions at home mean our nurses migrate eagerly. That most of them are women is not incidental to why they are underpaid and undervalued.

Beds and doctors cannot treat patients by themselves. It follows that India must reform outdated systems of professional governance as also the Indian Nursing Council Act of 1947 and increase investments in nursing education. But young people will be incentivised to train for the profession only if they see it being treated respectfully and remunerated fairly.

Honour killing case: Bombay HC confirms death sentence

Honour killing case: Bombay HC confirms death sentence

Mohammed. Akhef@timesgroup.com

Aurangabad:18.12.2021

The Bombay high court bench at Aurangabad confirmed a July 18, 2019 judgment by a sessions court in Maharashtra’s Nanded that had pronounced death sentence to a 29-year-old Bhokar resident Digambar Dasre and life imprisonment to his cousin, Mohan Dasre, for murdering a couple.

Digambar’s sister, Pooja  (22), was married a man against her wishes in 2017. Later, she eloped with her friend, Govind Karale. On July 23, 2017, Digambar and Mohan, killed the couple by slitting their throats. The accused were then arrested. “We are not inclined to convert death punishment of appellant accused Digambar into life imprisonment,” the HC bench said on December 13. The appellant accused could have cut-off social ties...however, they have committed cold-blooded murder in a pre-planned manner...” Both courts have held the double murders as a case of honour killing. “It is time to stamp out barbaric and feudal practice of honour killing, which are a slur on our nation” the bench said. “This is necessary as a deterrent for such outrageous, uncivilized behaviour,” the bench added. Additional public prosecutor Rajendra Dasalkar told TOI that after the murder, Digambar had surrendered to the police, himself approached the police and confessed to have killed the two victims.

Avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings: Govt

Avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings: Govt

26 New Cases Of Omicron Take India Tally Past 100

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:18.12.2021

The Centre recorded total 101 cases infected with the new SARS-COV2 variant Omicron from 11 states detected through genome sequencing.

“As the Omicron variant is spreading very fast across Europe and most parts of the world, there is a need to avoid non-essential travel and mass gatherings and keep festivities low-key. New Year celebrations have to be low-key,” ICMR director-general Dr Balram Bhargava said.

While Maharashtra (32), Delhi (22) and Rajasthan (17) have reported maximum number of cases, Karnataka and Telangana have recorded eight each, Gujarat and Kerala five each, and Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal one each till 4pm on Friday.

The government said only one or two cases are without travel history or contacts with those having travel history. However, in such cases, contact tracing is still going on. The government also said that it may be premature at this stage to extrapolate data of Omicron positive cases detected through genome sequencing to do a modelling for absolute numbers.

Asked if India is carrying out adequate genomic sequencing, officials said sufficient systematic strategic sampling is being undertaken for genomic sequencing to detect Omicron cases.

India is carrying out the “second-highest” number of genomic sequencing in the world and it is being further intensified, NITI Aayog member-health Dr V K Paul said.

“The overall situation is stable. In some districts the positivity rate is increasing and if needed restrictive measures should be implemented. There should be proper contact tracing and containment measures should be implemented. Clusters should be investigated to see if the new variant is driving the rise in cases there,” Paul said.

On whether the Omicron variant is at the community transmission level, Agarwal said, “We cannot at this point say that Omicron variant is widespread in India. Most cases of Omicron have a travel history or had contacts with those who have travel histories.

TN asks Centre to allow 7-day home isolation for international passengers

TN asks Centre to allow 7-day home isolation for international passengers

28 Suspected Cases Of Omicron

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.12.2021

Tamil Nadu has asked the Union government for permission to make sevenday home isolation mandatory for all passengers from abroad entering the state. After the seventh day, the state wants to make RT-PCR tests mandatory for these passengers so that only those who test negative can move around within the state. At present, only those arriving from 12 high-risk countries are subjected to RT-PCR tests and advised home isolation.

Only 2% of the other passengers from abroad are randomly selected for RT-PCR tests at airports.

State health minister Ma Subramanian said, "Now that passengers from non-risk countries such as Nigeria and Congo are also testing positive, we want to make home isolation mandatory for all international passengers." They will be subjected to RT-PCR tests after seven days and only if they test negative, will they be allowed to leave their homes. The state will be writing to the Union government seeking permission to implement the suggested changes, he said.

According to official data presented by him, more than 14,800 international passengers (12,767 from high-risk countries and 2,101 from other countries) underwent RT-PCR tests in the last two weeks and 70 among them tested positive. The state laboratories have detected 'S-gene drop', a sign of the Omicron variant, in 28 of these patients. All the 70 samples were sent to the Centre for genome sequencing. The results of 10 samples were communicated to the state. Eight were found to be infected with the delta variant, one tested positive for Omicron and one was categorised as not-in-sequence, the minister said. The local body had started tracking the places visited by the first Omicron patient in Chennai in the recent past. A total of 11 people, who were in contact with him, have tested positive. On Friday, samples of another 259 people from Ramapuram and 59 in Saligramam, both in Chennai, were collected and sent for lab analysis. Test results are awaited, said J Radhakrishnan, state health secretary. The minister on Friday launched a government scheme -- SMS reminders on vaccination for pregnant women and children -- announced during the recent budget session. Every year, nearly 20 lakh pregnant women and children receive vaccination against 12 diseases under the universal vaccination programme (UIP). Earlier, seven different text messages were sent to these women mentioning the deadline for vaccine dates. Now, 25 messages will be sent regarding the inoculation dates, government registrations and financial aid during prenatal and antenatal period, said an official release.