International symposium on
Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy & CME on Alternative Systems of Medicine for
Positive Health and Chronic Ailments was organized during Feb 1-2, 2002.
Two hundred and fifty delegates including experts from USA and all over India
participated in the event. The symposium and CME were inaugurated on 1st
Feb, 2002 at 11.00 am in the Auditorium. Dr. Vasantha Muthuswamy, DDG, ICMR
was the chief guest, Dr. S Natesh, Adviser DBT was the Guest of Honor and
the function was presided by Shri Dhirubhai Mehta, President, KHS. Dean Dr. O.
P. Gupta welcomed the gathering and Dr. B. C. Harinath, chairperson
explained the background and theme of the conference and CME. Dr. Ramji Singh,
co-chairperson got the souvenir of the conference released in the hands of the
Chief Guest and Dr. Ramesh Babu , Organizing Secretary proposed a vote of
thanks.
The
symposium and CME provided in-depth focus on various aspects related to the
Indian Systems of Medicine and stressed the need to study the ancient wisdom
with modern techniques/ methodologies. The experts, scientists and young
delegates assembled on this event unanimously passed ‘Sevagram Declaration’
for convergence of different health systems and to boost the growth &
development of Indigenous systems of Medicine for the benefit of suffering
humanity.
Some of the experts attended the symposium & CME included Dr. R. H.
Singh, (BHU, Varanasi), Dr. Nagarathna (Vivekananada Yoga Research Foundation,
Bangalore), Dr. Ashok Vaidya (SPARC, Mumbai), Dr. Manu Kothari (KEM Hospital,
Mumbai), Dr. Ved Prakash Mishra (Dean, Faculty of Medicine, Nagpur University),
Dr. Scott Gerson (National Institute of Ayurvedic Medicine, USA), Dr. Madhavan
Nair (Department of Medicine & Microbiology, State University of New York,
Buffalo, USA), Dr. Vishwanath P. Kurup (Veterans Administration Medical Center
Milwaukee, WT, USA), Dr. Bhaskara Rao (S. V. Ayurvedic college & Hospital,
Tirupati), Dr. Balendu Prakash (VCP, Cancer Research Foundation, Dehradun) , Dr.
A. R. V. Murthy (S. V. Ayurvedic college & Hospital, Tirupati), Dr. I.
Sanjeeva Rao (Varun Herbal Pvt. Ltd. Hyderabad) Dr. Amee. M. Parikh (Akhil
Upchar Mangal Foundation, Valsad), Dr. G. G. Parikh (Zandu Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Mumbai), Dr. D. B. A Narayana (Dabur Research Foundation, Ghaziabad), Dr. B. K.
Shrikhande (Baidyanath Research Foundation, Nagpur), Dr. S. I . Nagral (SPARC,
Mumbai), Dr. Y. B. Tripathi (BHU, Varanasi), Dr. B. Bapuji (Nature Cure Health
Care Centre, Hyderabad) and Dr. Rajiv Rastogi (CCRYN, Ministry of Health &
FW, New Delhi). The valedictory function was held on 2nd Feb at 4 PM
with Dr. Ashok Vaidya (SPARC, Mumbai) as Chief Guest and the function was
presided over by Shri
Dhirubhai Mehta.
The financial support for the Symposium & CME was provided by Central
Health Ministry, DBT, CSIR, DST, ICMR, MCI, Zandu Pharmaceutical Works Ltd.,
Mumbai, Shree Baidyanath Ayurved Bhavan Pvt. Ltd., Nagpur and Dabur Research
Foundation, Sahibabad.
JBTDRC and Academy of Medical Sciences, MGIMS have organized a guest
lecture on the selected theme ‘Wealth from Waste’ to celebrate National
Science day on Feb 28, 2002. Dr. Soham Pandya from Centre of Science for
Villages, Wardha, enlightened the faculty and medical students on his experience
and studies in the management of different types of waste for the benefit of
human kind and to prevent environmental pollution.
8th Training course on ‘Immunodiagnositcs for Infectious
Diseases’ supported by DBT, was held at JBTDRC during Feb 25th to
March 2, 2002. In this one week
course, 15 candidates – that included faculty members of Biochemistry &
Microbiology departments of Medical Institutes, mid level Scientists from
Research Institutes & Public Health Depts. and few PG students participated
in the course. The course was inaugurated on 25th morning at 10 am.
Padmashree Dr. K. Subbarao, Director, NIMS, Hyderabad was the Chief
Guest, Dr. D. A. Gadkari, Ex
Director NIV, Pune was the Guest of Honour
and the function was presided over by Dr. O. P. Gupta, Dean, MGIMS.
The course included daily one or two lectures in the morning by experts
working in infectious diseases followed by lab experiments. Prof. B. C.
Harinath’s presentation was on ‘ Pen-ELISA based Immunodiagnostics for
filariasis & Tuberculosis’. Dr. D.A. Gadkari covered an overview of
Immunodiagnostics as applied to ‘HIV & other viral infections’ and
‘HIV vaccine studies’ in two lectures. Dr. V. Gopal Krishna from NIV, Pune presented his work on ‘Human
Papilloma Virus and molecular diagnostics related to it’. Dr. M. V. R. Reddy
spoke on ‘The Principles & practical aspects of ELISA’ and also on the
‘Identification of vaccine candidates in Filariasis’. Apart from these
lectures, there was a daily briefing on all the techniques covered in the course
by Research Staff – Mr. Balaji, Ms. Bonny,
Ms. Swati, Mr. Sandeep, Ms. Sonika & Mr. Bhandari. The emphasis in
the course was to prepare all the raw materials needed for immunoassay within
the laboratory with minimum dependency to import reagents.
The lab schedule started with ‘Stick Indirect ELISA’ for detection of
Tb antibody. A different type of ELISA with plate system – with
‘inhibition’ principle was covered to detect filaria antigen. Participants
were trained on SDS-PAGE to separate tuberculous antigens, analyse by both
coomassie blue staining & silver staining. Immunoblotting was done to detect
filarial antibodies in patient’s sera against defined antigen bands. PCR was
demonstrated as applied to detect HPV infection. The other diagnostic techniques
covered were double diffusion (DD), counter current immuno electrophoresis (CIEP),
Indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT) to detect filarial antigen / antibody.
There were also demonstrations of techniques like Ammonium sulphate
precipitation, Dialysis, Ultra Membrane Filtration, Gel Filtration & Ion
exchange chromatography both by conventional column techniques & by FPLC .
The course ended with the valedictory function organized on 2nd March
presided by Dr. (Mrs.) P. Narang, Vice-Dean. The course was received well as
reflected from the very positive feed back from the participants.
Visitors:
i) Dr.
Madhvan P. N. Nair, Department of Medicine & Microbiology, State
University of New York, Buffalo, USA.
ii) Dr.
Vishwanath P. Kurup Veterans Administration Medical Center
Milwaukee, WT, USA.
i) Association of Clinical Biochemist of India (ACBI) has awarded ‘Prof K. P . Sinha – Prof. P. S. Krishnan Best paper Award for the paper entitled “ Isolation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis 31 kDa antigen protein of diagnostic interest from culture filtrate using anti ES-31 antibody by affinity Chromatography” by E. Raji Nair, Swati Banerjee, Satish Kumar, M.V. R. Reddy & B. C. Harinath published in ‘Indian Journal Of Biochemistry’ 2001, 16, 132-135.
ii) Another paper entitled “Production and diagnostic evaluation of monoclonal antibody specific to a 120 kDa B. malayi soluble antigen” presented by Mr. B. Ganesh fetched him ‘Young Scientist Award’ in the II International Symposium on Molecular Medicine organized by Sun Pharma, Vadodara, on Feb 2002.
Dr. B.C.Harinath Delivered a lecture on ‘Biochemical Characterization and Seroreactivity of 31 kDa M.Tb. Secretory serine protease of diagnostic interest in tuberculosis’ in the (a) II International Symposium on Molecular Medicine organized by Sun Pharma Advanced Research Centre in association with The Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, The State University of New York, Buffalo during Jan 21 – 24, 2002 and (b) In the 9th Asian Pacific Congress of Clinical Biochemistry, New Delhi during March 9-14th 2002. Dr. Harinath also chaired a Symposium on infectious diseases in the Congress.
Dr.
Satish Kumar attended the annual Bioinformatics Centre’s Co-ordinators
meeting held at BIC, University of Pune during January 29 –30, 2002 and
presented the progress report of our Bioinformatics Centre.
Dr.
M.V. R. Reddy Delivered
a lecture on ‘Evaluation
of Brugia malayi Antigens to Induce Protective Immunity Against Filariasis in Jird Model’ in the 9th APCCB, New
Delhi during March 9-14, 2002.
Mr. B. Ganesh Presented a paper titled “Production and diagnostic evaluation of monoclonal antibody specific to a 120 kDa B. malayi soluble antigen” for which he was awarded the young scientist award in the II International Symposium on Molecular Medicine organized by Sun Pharma, Vadodara, on Feb 2002.
Mr. Y. P. Bhandary presented a paper titled ‘Brugia malayi microfilarial Enzyme Malate Dehydrogenases and its diagnostic use in Bancroftian Filariasis’ in the 9th APCCB, New Delhi in March 2002.
Ms.
S. Gupta presented a paper titled “Analysis of Seva TB ELISA Es-31 antigen specific immunoglobulins IgM, IgA and IgG in sera of sputum and culture positive pulmonary
tuberculosis” in the 9th APCCB,
New Delhi in March 2002.
Bioinformatics Centre established 3 years back has been servicing as a centre for Local, Regional and National level dissemination of Information. ‘SEVAMED’ bibliography journal is being regularly published at this centre. This has been well received by the Scientist and Medical teachers. 3rd National level workshop on Medical Informatics, Research & Communication and short term inhouse training courses for the staff of the Institutes were organised. Centre has facility for offline and online bibliography search by the staff and students of this and neighboring Institutes. Database on Filariasis patient’s information & sera sample has been developed at this centre and databases on Tuberculosis and Advances in Infectious Disease Research and Traditional Medicine Annual Bibliography are in progress. Centre has initiated the research work on Medical Informatics with thrust on Clinical Informatics.
4th
Workshop on Medical Informatics and Biomedical Communication
(Sponsored by DBT & in Collaboration with ICMR)
September 23 - 25, 2002
Workshop on Medical Informatics and Biomedical Communication is being organized to expose Medical teachers, Scientists & postgraduate students to the basics in computer and advancement in Medical Informatics and Biomedical Communication. Topics being covered are 1. Computer & Informatics 2. Online & Offline information retrieval 3. Medical Informatics and its application for R & D 4. Organization, access, search & retrieval of inhouse database: a database on patients information & clinical management 5. Telemedicine and Medical Transcription 6. Introduction to Scholarly Communication in the Cyber age and How to Choose High Impact Journals in Biomedical communication etc. Afternoon sessions are devoted for demonstration followed by hands on sessions. The number of participants will be restricted to 15 persons who are familiar with operation of computers and desire to enhance their skill by learning emerging techniques in the areas of computers & Medical Information Technology.
Faculty: The faculty will be drawn from DBT, Bioinformatics Centres, ICMR, National Research Institutes & Universities.
For further information contact :
Dr. Satish Kumar
Officer-in-charge &
Reader in Biochemistry, MGIMS
Sevagram (Wardha) – 442 102
Tel : 07152 – 84341 to 84355 Extn. 262
E-mail : jbtdrc@nagpur.dot.net.in