Over 80 researchers from 11 countries launched an observational study to understand sepsis in newborns and current antibiotic prescribing practices. This is part of the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership’s (GARDP’s) broader programme to develop new and improved antibiotic treatments for newborns.

The observational study, led by the GARDP, is benefiting from US$2 million funding from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support study sites in Bangladesh, India, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

While significant progress has been made in recent years to improve child health globally, including a 50 percent reduction in child mortality since 1990, the number of preventable deaths in newborns remains unacceptably high. Neonatal deaths now represent 44 percent of all deaths in children under the age of five. Of great concern are the estimated 214,000 deaths in newborns attributable to drug-resistant infections.

The data generated from the study will inform GARPD’s ambition to develop and deliver new antibiotic treatments for newborns with drug-resistant bacterial infections. Limited research on newborns has resulted in a lack of evidence about appropriate treatment of serious and drug-resistant infections in this vulnerable population.

Sepsis, the body’s response to infection, can be life-threatening and poses a particular threat to newborns as their immune systems are not fully developed.  Increasing rates of bacteria resistant to existing treatments are reported globally, with hospitalized newborns and infants at high risk of developing drug-resistant hospital-acquired infections. Newborns’ susceptibility to sepsis is further compounded by the challenges of diagnosing serious bacterial infections since symptoms and signs can be non-specific and difficult to detect.

The observational study is being carried out in hospitals /neonatal units in Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Greece, India, Italy, Kenya, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and Uganda. The study has three sites in India (Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi, KEM-Mumbai and JIPMER in Puducherry). The study focusses on collecting clinical information on babies with significant /clinical sepsis. 

The study will generate a robust evidence base on how neonatal sepsis is managed which can be used as a basis for evaluating future interventions in neonates. Outcomes of interest will include mortality, antibiotic use and duration of antimicrobial therapy – there are currently few data on these parameters.

“We are grateful for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s commitment. Antibacterial resistance is one of the main barriers to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal to reduce neonatal mortality,” said Dr Manica Balasegaram, Director of GARDP.

New Delhi : To celebrate the invention of a powered vacuum cleaner by Hubert Cecil Booth more than a century ago, Google on Wednesday marked the British engineer’s 147th birth anniversary with an interactive Doodle.

The Doodle depicts an operator cleaning a carpet using Booth’s first design, nicknamed “Puffing Billy”, which was powered by an engine so big it had to be pulled around by horses and parked outside the house to be cleaned.

Though it was a far cry from the upright and handheld vacuums people use today, Booth’s invention forever changed the way we clean our homes — and made sweeping dirt under the rug a thing of the past, Google said in a statement. 

At the break of the 20th century, cutting-edge floor-cleaning technology involved blowing air and pushing debris, but Booth was intrigued by the inverse idea — cleaning by suction.

After seeing a demonstration of the “pneumatic carpet renovator” blowing dirt out of railway cars, the Gloucester-native tested his own idea.

To see how much dust he could remove by suction, the British engineer put his handkerchief to his mouth and sucked the air through it.

Inspired by the results he set to work on his first design — the Puffing Billy.

Booth started the British Vacuum Cleaner Company in 1903, and his flagship product – a somewhat smaller electric device – was soon embraced by fashionable households and even the British royal family. 

Booth’s contributions were not limited to changing the cleaning process only. He was a man of many talents who built bridges, designed engines for Royal Navy battleships, and ferris wheels in England, France, and Austria. 

But the Puffing Billy assured that his legacy would live on. 

Booth breathed his last on January 14, 1955.

Taking cognisance of the Indian government’s concerns over the misuse of its platform for repeated circulation of provocative content, Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday wrote to the IT Ministry saying the company is horrified by terrible acts of violence.

Reacting to the growing instances of lynching of innocent people owing to large number of irresponsible messages filled with rumours and provocation circulated on WhatsApp, the IT Ministry on Tuesday asked WhatsApp to take immediate action and ensure that the platform is not used for such malafide activities.

“Thank you for your letter dated July 2. Like the Government of India, we’re horrified by these terrible acts of violence and wanted to respond quickly to the very important issues you have raised. We believe this is a challenge that requires government, civil society and technology companies to work together,” WhatsApp said in the letter sent to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

WhatsApp which has over 200 million monthly active users in India, listed a number of measures it has taken in the recent past to control the spread of misinformation and abuse on its platform.

“We have been testing a new label in India that highlights when a message has been forwarded versus composed by the sender. 

“This could serve as an important signal for recipients to think twice before forwarding messages because it lets a user know if content they received was written by the person they know or a potential rumour from someone else. We plan to launch this new feature soon,” the company informed. 

According to media reports, over 30 people have been killed in the past one year by lynch mobs after rumours of child lifting triggered via messages on WhatsApp. 

In Mid-May, said WhatsApp, it added new protections to prevent people from adding others back into groups which they had left — a form of misuse we think it is important to correct. 

“Last week, we launched a new setting that enables administrators to decide who gets to send messages within individual groups. This will help reduce the spread of unwanted messages into important group conversations – as well as the forwarding of hoaxes and other content,” the popular messaging platform noted.

WhatsApp has also announced a new project to work with leading academic experts in India to learn more about the spread of misinformation.

“The fact-checking organisation Boom Live is available on WhatsApp and has published some reports on the source of the rumours that have contributed to the recent violence,” the company said.

While WhatsApp messages can be highly viral, the way people use the app is by nature still very private. 

“Many people (nearly 25 per cent in India) are not in a group; the majority of groups continue to be small (less than 10 people); and nine in 10 messages are still sent from just one person to another,” WhatsApp informed. 

The company also asked to Indian government to talk further about the actions it is taking and its plans going forward. 

“With the right action we can help improve everyone’s safety by ensuring communities are better equipped to deal with malicious hoaxes and false information — while still enabling people to communicate reliably and privately across India,” it noted.

WhatsApp also announced to soon start an engagement programme with the law enforcement officials across the country so “they are familiar with our approach and how we can be helpful”. 

A majority of Indian and foreign investors consider that high oil prices have emerged as a significant risk to the country’s economy, Moody’s Investors Service said on Wednesday.

The US rating agency’s report is based on a survey of 175 respondents, including from over 100 financial institutions at the annual India Credit Conference in Mumbai and Singapore held in June.

Investors were asked questions on issues like top risks facing the Indian economy, fiscal deficit, the recapitalizsation package for public sector banks and credit conditions for Indian corporates among others.

“Most of the respondents highlighted high oil prices as the top risk while 30.3 per cent of those in Singapore picked rising interest rates as the next top risk and 23.1 per cent of those in Mumbai picked domestic political risks as the second top risk,” Moody’s Vice President Joy Rankothge said in the report.

Most respondents said they believed India would not meet the central government’s fiscal deficit target of 3.3 per cent of GDP for the current fiscal. 

While only 23.3 per cent of the investors in Singapore and 13.6 per cent in Mumbai felt that the fiscal targets would be achieved, 84.7 per cent in Mumbai and 76.7 per cent in Singapore expected some fiscal slippage.

On the government’s bank recapitalisation plan, 85.7 per cent in Singapore and 93.6 per cent in Mumbai thought that it was insufficient to resolve the non-performing assets (NPA), or banks’ bad loans, challenges.

In this connection, while 59.6 per cent of the attendees in Mumbai thought that banks will be unable to raise capital from the markets, 32.1 per cent in Singapore felt the same way.

Respondents in both locations said funding conditions will be one of the top factors driving the outlook for non-financial corporates – 38 per cent in Mumbai and 34.6 per cent in Singapore.

According to the report, 28 per cent of respondents in Mumbai selected the resumption of capital investment as the second key factor affecting credit outlook while only 11.5 per cent felt this way in Singapore.

In contrast, 26.9 per cent of the Singapore attendees selected government policy and reforms as the second most important factor affecting the credit outlook, compared with 22 per cent in Mumbai.

New Delhi : Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday hailed the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the Delhi government that the Lt Governor is bound to act on the aid and advice by the Council of Ministers.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has been engaged in a dragging legal battle with the Lt Governor seeking better and free administrative and governing powers.

“A big victory for the people of Delhi… a big victory for democracy,” Kejriwal tweeted.

Calling the ruling a “landmark judgement”, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that from now on the city government would run smoothly.

“Now Delhi government will not have to send their files to LG for approval, now work will not be stalled. This is a big win for the people of Delhi. 

“Powers are restored back to Delhi. This verdict stands against the whimsicality of the LG. I thank the Supreme Court — it’s a big win for democracy,” Sisodia said.

Kejriwal along with his deputy and other ministers were on sit-in protest at Lt Governor Anil Baijal’ residence from June 11 to 19, seeking action against officials they said were on strike and approval for the city government’s ration scheme.

The AAP government approached the high court in August 2016 alleging obstruction in its functioning by the Lt Governor. The high court, however, ruled in favour of the Lt Governor, calling him the “administrator of Delhi”. 

The city government then approached the apex court.

A Supreme Court Constitution Bench on Wednesday unanimously ruled in favour of the Arvind Kejriwal government saying that the real powers of governance of Delhi rests with the elected representatives.

The apex court said the Lieutenant Governor (LG) was bound by the aid and advice of the Council of Minister in all the areas except land, police and law and order.

Speaking for Justice A.K. Sikri and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that the LG was not vested with any independent decision-making powers and cannot act in a mechanical manner.

It further ruled that in case of difference of opinion with the Council of Ministers, the LG has to refer the matter to the President, whose decision then would be binding.

The court further stated that the decisions of the Council of Ministers has to be communicated to the LG but that does not mean that the Council of Ministers requires his concurrence.

The court said that the provision that the LG can refer “any matter” under Article 239 to the President does not mean every matter.

Chief Justice Misra said that the executive powers of the Delhi government were co-extensive with its legislative powers.

The top court further said that Delhi can legislate on any issue that falls in the State list or the Concurrent list except for three areas of land, police, law and order.

Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan pronounced separate but concurring judgements.

New Delhi : The family that was found hanging in their north Delhi house on June 30 began preparations at least 10 days before its alleged “mass suicide”, police said. As per a video footage obtained from a premises opposite the family house, the family bought goods used in rituals, five tables and bandage from shops close to their Burari home.

The Crime Branch officials on Wednesday visited the house in Sant Nagar and conducted another search.

Police said Crime Branch investigators believe that one of the dead couples — Lalit Bhatia and his wife Tina — tied the hands and legs of other family members before all of the them hung themselves from an iron grill on a ceiling of a corridor during a ritual prayer.

“In another video clipping, Bhavnesh’s wife Savita and Tina were seen purchasing five stools at 10 p.m. on June 30. After some time, their teenaged children Dhruv and Shivam were seen carrying electric wire, which was used in hanging by some of the family members. 

“The line of investigation is focused on the role of Lalit and his wife,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Joy N. Tirkey said.

“The Crime Branch, which is examining the CCTV footage of the last two months, has found couple involved in suspicious activities. The couple was seen carrying goods used in ritual prayers from June 23 to 30. In one of the footage of June 27, Lalit was seen carrying a polybag containing items connected to Vastu Shastra,” a senior police officer connected to the probe said on the condition of anonymity.

“It was found in investigation that generally the family used to send one of their servants to purchase household goods,” the officer said.

“An employee at a nearby restaurant said he delivered 20 loaves as ordered by Lalit Bhatia on June 30 night. The food packet was received by Lalit Bhatia who took money from his brother Bhavnesh to pay up,” the officer added.

“Lalit Bhatia was last seen entering the house on the night of the incident. He was seen walking in the street with family pet dog which was chained in a room on the second floor during the ritual prayer. Their neighbour said that the family generally unleashed the dog during night hours and the pet was seen barking loudly on the fateful night,” he said.

“Like his late father Gopal Dass, who was in the Indian Army, Lalit gave all family members training in discipline, code of conduct, rehearsals of dos and don’ts during ritual practices. As per an entry in one of the registers seized from the house, he also instructed family members often to stand to position like soldiers after morning prayers for increasing mental strength,” the officer added.

“Lalit daily recalled the previous day’s chores and listed activities in his registers and made lists of things on which he had instructed other family members to follow. He used to research on death and mysteries of soul. As per his mobile phone details, he often watched paranormal and ghost shows on ‘You Tube’ and other Internet platforms,” he added.

The police officer said visera reports were expected within 10 to 15 days, which will tell if the family’s food was laced with sedatives before their deaths. 

“We will take help of psychology and paranormal experts as prima facie we suspect it to be a case of shared psychotic disorder,” he said.

Septuagenarian Narayani Devi and her 10 family members were found hanging in their house on Sunday when a neighbour went to check on them.

(IANS)

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Wednesday approved a proposal for expanding the scope of Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) by expanding its capital base to Rs 10,000 crore.

The CCEA also tasked the HEFA to mobilise Rs 1,00,000 crore for Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Higher Education (RISE) by 2022.

The CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal to expand this facility to all institutions, especially set up after 2014, Central Universities which have very little internal resources and the school education or health education infrastructure like AIIMS and Kendriya Vidyalayas.

The CCEA has approved five windows for financing under HEFA and the modalities of repaying the principal portion of the fund (interest continues to be serviced through government grants in all these cases).

HEFA was set up on May 31, 2017 by the Central government as a Non ­Profit, Non Banking Financing Company (NBFC) for mobilising extra-budgetary resources for building crucial infrastructure in the higher educational institutions under the Central government.

According to a statement, the CCEA also approved that the modalities for raising money from the market through government guaranteed bonds and commercial borrowings would be decided in consultation with the Department of Economic Affairs so that the funds are mobilised at the least cost.

“This would enable addressing the needs of all educational institutions with differing financial capacity in an inclusive manner,” the statement said.

In the existing arrangement, the entire principle portion is repaid by the institution over ten years and the interest portion is serviced by the government by providing additional grants to the institution. So far, funding proposals worth Rs 2,016 crore have been approved by the HEFA.

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved Minimum Support Price (MSP) for summer-sown crops for the year 2018-19, which will provide farmers a profit of 50 per cent or more over the cost of production.

Addressing the media, Union Minister Rajnath Singh said the cabinet had taken the “historic” decision to provide relief to distressed farmers as it would have “positive impact” on the economy.

He said that the Commission of Agricultural Costs and Production (CACP) had fixed input cost for major monsoon crop paddy at Rs 1,166 per quintal and the government had added 50 per cent profit, which would make the MSP Rs 1,750 per quintal this year — a steep increase of Rs 200 from Rs 1,550 last year.

The MSP for ‘Grade A’ variety of paddy would be Rs 1,770 per quintal while it will be Rs 2,430 per quintal for jowar — a year-on-year jump of Rs 730.

He said the MSP would be based on ‘A2 +FL’ – one of the input cost concepts recommended by the Swaminathan Commission and the Central government would spend additional Rs 15,000 crore on account of the higher MSP.

Rajnath Singh said the MSP for bajra would be Rs 1,950 per quintal — return of about 97 per cent as the input cost calculated by the CACP was Rs 990 per quintal.

The government has fixed the MSP of Rs 5,675 per quintal for arhar (66 per cent profit), Rs 6,975 for moong and Rs 5,600 for urad.

In case of cotton, the MSP has been raised to Rs 5,150 per quintal.

The MSP would be Rs 4,890 for groundnut, Rs 5,388 for sunflower, Rs 3,399 for soybean, Rs 6,249 for sesame and Rs 5,877 for nigerseed.

Rajnath Singh said the higher MSP was a part of the NDA government’s plan to double farmers’ income by 2022.

With Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL) failing to deposit Rs 1,000 crore, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the real estate firm to pay Rs 600 crore to pay back to the home buyers who have opted for a refund.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asked senior advocate F.S. Nariman, appearing for JAL, to take instruction from the company on depositing Rs 600 crore, instead of RS 1,000 crore, with top court’s registry.

The bench said that after the amount is deposited by the JAL, it would ask the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) bench at Allahabad to expeditiously decide the company’s plea on revival or restructuring of Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL), a subsidiary of holding company Jaiprakash Associates Limited.

The bench on May 16 had asked JAL to deposit Rs 1,000 crore, in addition to Rs 750 crore already deposited, with its registry by June 15, to refund the principal amount to the hassled home buyers and that on submitting the amount, the liquidation proceedings against JIL would remain stayed.

However, failure to deposit the amount would result in the start of insolvency proceedings against JIL, the bench had said. 

On Wednesday, the court was informed that Rs 1,000 could not be deposited. Rs 750 crore has already been deposited with the top court and another Rs 600 crore would be required to pay the principal amount to home buyers, the court was told.

To this, the bench asked the JAL to “establish its bonafide by paying the money”, and directed it to inform by July 13, the next date of hearing, about the company’s stand on depositing Rs 600 crore with it.

JAL had sought, in apex court, a direction for restraining the NCLT bench at Allahabad from proceeding further with the insolvency proceedings.

Earlier, the bench had sought from JAL details of its housing projects in the country and said that the home buyers should either get their houses or their money back.

The court was hearing the pleas of home buyers contending that around 32,000 people had booked flats and were paying instalments, but were not left in the lurch after the NCLT, on August 10, 2017, admitted the IDBI Bank’s plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against the debt-ridden company for allegedly defaulting on a Rs 526-crore loan.

London : Undergoing genetic testing for breast cancer creates a “DNA barcode” which can help transform treatment for the deadly cancer and make it more personalised to each patient, scientists say.

According to doctors at the Britain’s Cambridge University, mapping the genetic code could help them choose the right treatment as well as predict whether patients are likely to experience side effects, the BBC reported.

It can also reveal whether their cancer, the second most common cancer in women, is becoming resistant to treatment.

“Breast cancer is not one but 10 or 11 diseases that are distinct molecular entities… By sequencing the tumour we have something like a barcode which gives us the pattern of mutations in that cancer,” Carlos Caldas, Professor at the varsity, was quoted as saying.

The genome sequencing can detect whether patients have inherited mutations in BRCA1, BRCA2 genes which increases their risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. The findings can also have implications for their family.

“We can understand how the body and in particular the immune cells are responding and this enables us to deliver more precision in the medicine,” Caldas said.

“This barcode also enables us to do surveillance and identify early whether a tumour is coming back because of developing resistance to treatment. When those cells start releasing their DNA we can detect them in a blood test known as a liquid biopsy,” he noted.

Launched in 2016, the varsity’s Personalised Breast Cancer Programme has mapped the entire genetic code of nearly 300 women diagnosed with breast cancer, the report said.

These women have a sample of their tumour and of their blood sent for sequencing, with the full results coming back within 12 weeks.

“We want to reduce the number of toxic drugs that we give to patients, and where possible treat them with targeted therapies with fewer side effects,” Alejandra Bruna, molecular biologist at the varsity, was quoted as saying.