Science Education January 12, 2007
Posted by Confused in Education, India, Science.add a comment
The government seems to be finally waking upto the serious crisis which Indian science faces.
The Department of Science and Technology has therefore come out with the scheme of INSPIRE to offer science as a career option by providing necessary opportunities for youth with aptitude for careers seeking innovation and psychic delight in addition to reasonable income.
The scheme includes three elements in different age groups which will run for a period of five years.
The first element is providing Science innovation scholarships of Rs 5,000 for a total of one million young learners in the age group of 10-17 once in their school career during the next five years for experiencing the joy of innovation. Second element is providing mentorship for top one per cent performers of Class ten examinations through meeting with global icons – Nobel Laureates during summer camps .
Third element will be providing assured opportunity for career with science for best 500 students for 15 years, from 17 to 32 years by offering scholarship for doctoral research and an Assistant Professor’s job later.[link]
Sounds good on paper-as all government of India schemes inevitably do. But the crucial question is-where exactly is the problem? Is it merely the failure to attract the best talent or is it that the quality of work being done in science institutes is not innovative and cutting edge? Perhaps, government money would be better invested in enhancing the infrastructure of institutes like IISc.
Getting A Second Opinion January 1, 2007
Posted by Confused in Health, Science.add a comment
Interesting new research points towards the benefits of adopting a team approach in treating patients.
That, not run-of-the-mill second opinions, is what Sabel set out to study when he examined what happened to 149 breast cancer patients who, in one year alone, came to Michigan’s Comprehensive Cancer Center after being diagnosed, biopsied and getting a treatment recommended from a doctor elsewhere. “This was very eye-opening,” he says of the results. Now he wonders, “Is there a benefit to the multidisciplinary approach upfront, rather than seeing a surgeon, then going to the next doctor, then to the next doctor?” The study examined just recommendations for initial surgical treatment, not later chemotherapy or radiation — yet 52 percent of the women had one or more changes urged by the specialty tumor board, Sabel reported in the journal Cancer. [link]
One of the biggest problems in modern medicine is the lack of coordination among treating doctors. This frequently leads to the patient not getting the right treatment especially true in the case of elderly. The team approach makes a lot of sense but for it to work, medicine needs infusion of information technology. Patient records need to more accessible especially to the patient- a simple and cheap device like pen drive can help.
Alcohol Helpful In Brain Trauma December 31, 2006
Posted by Confused in Health, Science.add a comment
A new research suggests that people who have drunk moderate amounts of alcohol are more likely to recover from brain trauma.
The researchers nevertheless found clear evidence that in some cases, a certain amount of alcohol helps the brain recover from blunt trauma injury. And those findings, they said, could lead doctors to develop head injury treatments that involve alcohol preparations. They did, however, point out that as many as half of all patients hospitalised with trauma were intoxicated when they were hurt. Alcohol is believed to play a role in about a third of all deaths from injury. And by impairing motor skills, reaction time and judgment, alcohol increases the risk of injury in almost every imaginable way, leading to car crashes, falls, assaults and self-inflicted wounds. [link]
The implications of the research should be clear enough. Alcohol might help in recovering from head trauma but this is no call for drinking and driving. Why hurt yourself in the first place?
