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 “It has been 83 long years since C.V. Raman won the Nobel Prize for Physics. Another Nobel Prize in the sciences is long overdue for India
@pranab mukherjee  

First Indian Scientist to Win Nobel Prize

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (C.V. Raman) was the first Indian scientist to win Nobel Prize. C.V. Raman was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect, which is named after him. Raman effect relates to the inelastic scattering of a photon. When light is scattered from an atom or molecule, most photons are elastically scattered (Rayleigh scattering). The scattered photons have the same energy (frequency) and, therefore, wavelength, as the incident photons. However, a small fraction of scattered light (approximately 1 in 10 million photons) is scattered from excitations with optical frequencies different from, and usually lower than, the frequency of the incident photons. Raman effect is helpful in analyzing the composition of liquids, gases, and solids.

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Calls for shorter, effective treatment regimen with new TB drug

India has the second highest MDR-TB burden in the world, with nearly 66,000 new cases every year. This new drug comes at a time when DR-TB patients desperately need more options. The current treatment for DR TB relies on old antibiotics — many of which have severe side-effects ranging from constant nausea, deafness and psychosis. Patients must receive six months of painful injections and take up to 17 pills every day for up to two years.

Patients who reach MSF’s clinic in Mumbai often arrive in a very bad condition and some even die before they can start their treatment. A lot of them have already been treated in the private sector with inappropriate TB drug regimens. Often there is a lack of monitoring among treatment providers to ensure that patients are able to take their drugs continuously, it said

 

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved the new TB drug bedaquiline, the first since 1963. The fact that the drug is active against drug-resistant forms of the disease makes it a potential game changer.

In addition to bedaquiline, developed by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a second new drug that is active against multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) called delamanid, developed by Otsuka Pharmaceuticals, is undergoing registration by the European Medicines Agency and is expected to be approved for use this year.
 

[ MDR-TB multidrug resistence  is defined as resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin, with or without resistance to other first-line drugs (FLD).  ]

XDR-TB is defined as resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, and to any fluoroquinolone, and to any of the three second-line injectables (amikacin, capreomycin, and kanamycin)

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Maoist violence registers a new low in 2012

In 2012, there were 1,365 incidents of violence by Maoists in nine States. Maoist guerrillas killed 409 persons (296 civilians and 113 security personnel) This is a record low in the last seven years with the death toll standing at 611 (2011), 1,005 (2010), 908 (2009), 721 (2008) and 696 (2007), according to statistics of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

Interestingly, Jharkhand has overtaken Chhattisgarh in Maoist killings in 2012. Out of the total 409 killings last year, Jharkhand accounted for 160 deaths, followed by Chhattisgarh (107), Odisha (45), Bihar (43), Maharashtra (41) and Andhra Pradesh (13).

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