Andhra Pradesh to emerge as major nuclear fuel hub by 2030

June 9, 2008
By Our Correspondent
Hyderabad, June 8: Andhra Pradesh is all set to play a crucial role in meeting the energy requirements of the country by 2030 through nuclear power.
The Department of Atomic Energy has set its eyes on Andhra Pradesh to explore hidden uranium and thorium reserves to meet the target of producing 10,000 mw of power. DAE plans to make nuclear energy at least 40 per cent of the total power consumption in the country in the next two decades.
Andhra Pradesh has vast nuclear fuel reserves in Nalgonda and Kadapa districts. The "site selection committee" of the DAE has identified certain places in Andhra Pradesh for setting up of nuclear reactors, but a decision has not yet been taken, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar told reporters.
Earlier, VP Raja, additional secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy, said his department would make more investment in Andhra Pradesh to achieve the nuclear energy target of the country. "Andhra Pradesh has prospective sites for nuclear exploration at Nalgonda and Kadapa. Nuclear research and development facility would be set up in Visakhapatnam. Together with UCIL plant at Nalgonda, NFC in Hyderabad, R and D facility at Visakhapatnam, ECIL, Atomic Minerals Division and uranium reserves in Kadapa, the State is going to have a major role in the years ahead," Raja pointed out at the NFC Day celebrations here on Thursday.
He said a force of 100 to 120 volunteers would be trained on June 16 and 17 to take up awareness campaign in nuclear sites in the State. They will explain to people in Telugu and Hindi that the safety measures adopted in the country were the most stringent in the world and there was no need to fear about these projects.
A titanium plant will be set up in Kerala, Dr Kakodkar said.

Indian metros: Cancer rate to go up by 26.6 per cent

June 9, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, June 8: Five cities including Bangalore and Chennai will report 26.6 per cent increase in the registered number of cancer cases this year, according to Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Science.
A research work carried out by Dr P Marimuthu of NIMHANS show that 26.6 per cent increase is expected in the registered number of cancer cases in Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi and Bhopal. In the case of Delhi, the increase will be 52.68 per cent, the highest for any city in the country. The age adjusted analysis by NIMHANS indicates that in terms of deaths, Mumbai is experiencing the higher incidence rate among the five cities. The mortality rate for Mumbai is 50 per cent reported from the age group 55 and above years.
"The changing demographic scenario in India is declining fertility level and increasing life expectancy. As the life expectancy at birth increases proportionately the percentage of geriatric population also rises. Higher incidence of non-communicable diseases, especially cancer is positively associated with
percentage of aged population of a country. The World Cancer Report documents that cancer rates are set to increase at an alarming rate globally. Cancer rates could increase by 50 per cent new cases for the year 2020," Dr Marimuthu told this correspondent.
The Indian Council of Medical Research indicates that the age adjusted incidence of gall bladder cancer in women in New Delhi is 10.6 per 1,00,000 population, the world's highest rate for women. Thyroid cancer is more prevalent in the coastal areas of Kerala and Karnataka, while oral cancer tops the list in Andhra Pradesh, particularly Hyderabad.
Men from Delhi in the age group 65-69 may have more number of cases followed by the age group 60-64 for the year 2008. Then men from Chennai will have an increasing trend from the age of 50 to 69 years. Almost a similar trend of cancer incidence for males in the year 2008 is expected from Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
He said in the female-age specific incidence, women from Delhi in the age group 50-54 may have more number of cases followed by the age group 40-44 for the year 2008. Then the females from Bangalore may have more number of cases from the age of 45 to 54 years. Almost a similar trend of cancer incidence for females in the year 2008 is
expected from Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai.
"Though there is no variation in reported number of cases from Mumbai over the years, the standardisation gives the idea of higher incidence rate for Mumbai. After further analysis on the population data, it is found that the Mumbai
population is negatively growing from 1991 to 2001 census years, but the registered number of case is constant over the years. The decreasing population size in Mumbai and almost the same number of registered cancers cases over the years influenced the incidence rate in Mumbai," he said.
Dr Marimuthu pointed out that there is decline in the cervical cancer incidence, but this decline is very meagre. Though the cancer incidence rate in India is less than that of the Western countries but due to the large population size, number of cases is more prevalent at any time. It is shown that in India 8.7 million Disease Adjusted Life Years lost from cancer was second to ischaemic heart disease.
The NIMHANS study found that Delhi is expected to have more number of cases every year. Though the number of cases is marginally declining in Mumbai, it is experiencing higher incidence rate among these five cities. More number of cases are projected in the age group 45-55 and in the age group of 65-70 years for females and males respectively. Cancer deaths are about 3.6 per cent to the total deaths and
50 per cent cancer deaths are recorded from the age group 55 and above categories.

Big Bang experiment: What's going to happen?

Scientists involved in a historic "Big Bang" experiment to begin on September 10 hope it will turn up many surprises about the universe and its origins -- but reject suggestions it will bring the end of the world.
And Robert Aymar, the French physicist who heads the CERN research centre, predicted that discoveries to emerge from his organization's 6.4 billion euro ($9.2 billion) project would spark major advances for human society.
"If some of what we expect to find does not turn up, and things we did not foresee do, that will be even more stimulating because it means that we understand less than we thought about nature," said British physicist Brian Cox.
"What I would like to see is the unexpected," said Gerardus t'Hooft of the University of Michigan. Perhaps, he suggested, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) machine at the heart of the experiment "will show us things we didn't know existed."
Once it starts up on Wednesday, scientists plan to smash particle beams together at close to the speed of light inside CERN's tightly-sealed Large Hadron Collider to create multiple mini-versions of the primeval Big Bang.
Cosmologists say that that explosion of an object the size of a small coin occurred about 13.7 billion years ago and led to formation of stars, planets -- and eventually to life on earth.
A key aim of the CERN experiment is to find the "Higgs boson," named after Scottish physicist Peter Higgs who in 1964 pointed to such a particle as the force that gave mass to matter and made the universe possible.
But other mysteries of physics and cosmology -- supersymmetry, dark matter and dark energy among them -- are at the focus of experiments in the 27-km (17-mile) circular tunnel deep underneath the Swiss-French border.
CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, says its key researchers -- and many ordinary staff -- have been inundated by e-mails voicing fears about the experiment.
There have been claims that it will create "black holes" of intensive gravity sucking in CERN, Europe and perhaps the whole planet, or that it will open the way for beings from another universe to invade through a "worm hole" in space-time.
But a safety review by scientists at CERN and in the United States and Russia, issued at the weekend, rejected the prospect of such outcomes.
"The LHC will enable us to study in detail what nature is doing all around us," Aymar, who has led CERN for five years, said in response to that review. "The LHC is safe, and any suggestion that it might present a risk is pure fiction."
Cox, from the School of Physics and Astronomy at Britain's Manchester University, was even more trenchant. "I am immensely irritated by the conspiracy theorists who spread this nonsense around," he said.
When the experiment begins soon after 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) on September 10, disaster scenarists will have little to work on.
In the first tests, a particle beam will be shot all the way around the LHC channel in just one direction. If all goes well, collisions might be tried within the coming weeks, but at low intensity. Any bangs at this stage, said one CERN researcher, "will be little ones."

NIMHANS: Tsunami trauma still haunts victims

June 1, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad: The Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean in December 2004 is now history. But
four years after the devastation, people affected by Tsunami are still in trauma. Their psychiatric morbidity is quite high and children are the worst-hit. The Bangalore-based National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences conducted a study on people affected by Tsunami and compared the data with those of normal
population. About 12,000 victims were interviewed as part of the study to establish psychiatric morbidity and the extent of mental trauma they had undergone.
"People are still traumatised. The effect will continue for some more time. In case of children, it may continue for life," NIMHANS assistant professor of psychiatry Dr
Suresh Bada Math, told this correspondent. A meta-analysis of 160 studies of disaster victims found that post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, generalised anxiety disorders, and panic disorders were identified.
The factors that most consistently increased the risk for adverse outcome were severity of the exposure to the disaster; living in a highly disrupted or traumatised community; lack of social support; belonging to an ethnic minority group; post-traumatic stress; and being female.
Psychiatric morbidity was 5.2 per cent in the displaced population and 2.8 per cent in the non-displaced population. The overall psychiatric morbidity was 3.7 per cent. The displaced survivors had significantly higher psychiatric morbidity than did the non-displaced population. The disorders included panic disorder, anxiety disorders not otherwise specified, and somatic complaints. The existence of an adjustment disorder was significantly higher in the non-displaced survivors. Depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were distributed equally in both groups.
According to Dr Suresh, one of the study team members, psychiatric morbidity was found to be the highest in the displaced population. However, the incidence of
depression and PTSD were distributed equally in both groups. Involvement of community leaders and survivors in shared decision-making processes and culturally
acceptable interventions improved the community participation.
"Cohesive community, family systems, social support, altruistic behaviour of the community leaders, and religious faith and spirituality were factors that helped survivors cope during the early phase of the disaster," he said.
The NIMHANS study suggested that in a developing country like India there is a high need for psychosocial rehabilitation from day one of the disaster. "Our observations
clearly depicts that the presence of a mental health team in the early phase of disaster is definitely required for treating the immediate needs of the patients and planning long-term psychosocial rehabilitation as per the local need. The ‘mental health/psychiatric’ label needs to be avoided in the country".
The initial assessment by the team revealed that five to eight per cent of the population were suffering from mental health issues following the disaster. This may increase as time passes. Psychiatric morbidity is expected be around 25 to 30 per cent in the disillusionment phase. A notable feature was the high resilience
observed in the joint family system during the early phase of the disaster.
The NIMHANS experiences emphasised the point that in the formulation of any psychosocial rehabilitation plan, due consideration should be given to the local
culture, traditions, language, belief systems and local livelihood patterns. Any rehabilitation programmes need to be flexible, locally adaptable and acceptable. Utilisation of local community resources and community participation should be emphasised, leading towards community empowerment.
The team found that 475 survivors had at least one psychiatric diagnosis. Of these, 244 were displaced survivors residing in the Port Blair relief camps, and 231 were in the Non-Displaced Survivors Group from Car-Nicobar Island. The most common psychiatric problems observed in the survivors’ group were adjustment disorder in 178 (37.5 per cent), depression in 102 (21.5 per cent), panic disorder in 57 (12 per cent), PTSD in 53 (11.2 per cent), anxiety disorder not otherwise specified (NOS) in 26 (5.5 per cent), and other disorders in 16 (3.4 per cent). The "other" disorders were noted in children and adolescents by their parents, and included dizziness, vertigo, startle response, sleep-wake cycle disturbance.

Cola and Health: ICMR to study health problems of soft drinks

May 27, 2008
By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, May 26: The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is gathering information from scientists and research institutions across the country on the
ill-effects of consumption of soft drinks, carbonated water and beverages on the health of people.
This is the first-ever major exercise taken up by the MoHFW on soft drinks in the backdrop of research reports by various laboratories that consumption of soft drinks
and carbonated water is deleterious to the health of people, particularly children. The MoHFW has entrusted the task to the Indian Council of Medical Research. Research laboratories and scientists, who have done work on soft drinks, may send in their data to ICMR by this month-end.
"Since, this issue is of national importance and in the public interest, scientists from all over the country are requested to share their, if any, published/unpublished
data/study with us (the reference of the published paper). If you are currently carrying out any study in the related field, you may send us the same," says Dr GS Toteja, senior scientist at ICMR.
Dr Toteja told this correspondent that the ICMR had already received 120 research papers and they are looking for more such studies so that ICMR could prepare a
comprehensive report. "This is a major exercise. Based on the papers and data presented to us, we will come out with a comprehensive report. A committee of experts will go through the papers," he said.
The MoHFW/ICMR move comes in the wake of publications in different parts of the world including India that soft drinks provide more than the recommended dietary allowance of refined sugar. Some of the soft drinks contain aspartame as sugar substitute, which lowers the seizure threshold in the brain inducing depression, rage and paranoia.
Since phosphoric acid forms a major component in soft drinks, regular consumption of drinks laced with this chemical may affect the body's function to utilise calcium, thus leading to osteoporosis.
Another component caffeine is known to cause jitters, insomnia, hypertension and beast lumps among others.
Based on a similar exercise in the USA, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases included soft drinks on the list of foods, which doctors may advise patients to avoid.
Surveys show that children and adolescents are the heaviest consumers of soft drinks and carbonated beverages. They are known to contribute nine per cent of calories in boys and eight per cent in girls.
The ICMR study will take all these medical facts into consideration before arriving at a final report.

Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad to get lead maps

May 26, 2008
By Syed Akbar
With lead poisoning threatening people in big cities, a group of scientists in Bangalore has decided to develop specialised lead maps for Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore to enable citizens know which areas are affected by lead.
The lead maps will tell people the landscapes and water bodies they should avoid if they want to keep themselves in good health. Once lead maps are developed for these cities, the project will be extended gradually to all districts. Specialised lead maps have become necessary for a country like India where people do not know much about the ill-effects of lead, which is present in most of the items people use in their daily life. Even a simple fancy item like Kajal/Surma (khol) is loaded with lead.
The maps will have “dangerous spots” highlighting the areas where lead contamination is considerable. “We are planning to create such maps for all the districts in the country. The lead maps will also inform citizens about the precautionary measures they should take whenever they happen to visit such areas,” says Bangalore-based Dr Venkatesh Thuppil, who is recognised as the “lead man of India”, for his pioneering research in the field.
The National Referral Centre for Lead Poisoning in India, Bangalore, of which Dr Venkatesh is the director, has taken up lead poisoning as a major health concern. Because of the untiring efforts supported by research studies by the Centre, the Government of India introduced the concept of lead-free petrol eight years ago.
Dr Venkatesh told this correspondent that they thought of lead maps after they came across several people with cases of lead poisoning. “We know that people are visiting us with cases related to lead poisoning. We then thought of identifying the areas which contribute to the problem. This took us to the proposal of creating lead maps for important cities,” he points out.
The national centre took up monitoring of air, water and soil in Bangalore as a pilot study. The scientists also studied the levels of lead in human blood to understand the gravity of the situation. “In our studies it came to our notice that people with high levels of lead in their blood were from areas where the concentration of lead in environment was high. The areas near battery repair units were the worst hit. The lead levels in blood samples of children from the vicinity were as high as 75 micrograms per decilitre as against the universally permissible limit of 10 micrograms per deciliter,” he said.
Lead maps for specific areas are important for they will not only tell people about the concentration levels of lead in a given locality, but also prevent lead-related health problems including retarded growth in children due to damage to the central nervous system.
Presently, the scientists of the national referral centre are busy collecting data from a number of places in Karnataka, besides Chennai and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
For accurate results, the scientists want to take lead concentration levels in a given locality during May-June, July-Oct and Nov-Dec, so that they could have exact information on the lead concentration just before the start of rainy season, during the rainy season and the months that follow.
The NRCLPI in collaboration with the Harvard University and Boston Medical Centre in USA is currently working on the abatement of lead and other heavy metals in Ayurvedic and other traditional medicines.
“Women have to be very careful about lead poisoning. The cosmetics are the utility products used extensively worldwide for maintaining and improving general appearance of face and other parts of the body. Women are frequently using Kajal/Surma and Kumkum without knowing the health hazards of these utility products,” he says.