Atypical Bong - a blog on Life and Perspectives
PAL-V, The Flying Car
PAL-V, The Flying Car
- From a distance it looks like a vehicle built for the road, albeit a slightly unusual one.
- But on a straight stretch of tarmac or grass this machine can transform, giving it the ability to take to fly!
- The PAL-V took its maiden flight in March, and is certified for the air as well as the road.
- It needs only 165 metres to take off and can fly for up to 500 kilometres, or 315 miles.
- The PAL-V is like a standard gyrocopter, however it is quieter than a helicopter due to the slower rotation of the main rotor.
- Governments are already preparing for increasing traffic with Personal Air Vehicles like the PAL-V. In the United States and in Europe government-funded development programs are determining the infrastructure of ‘digital freeways’ to provide a safe corridor using GPS technology.
The Mysterious Common Krait Bite
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The Common Krait
The Common Krait
- Scientific name = Bungarus caeruleus
- It is an Elapidae Snake.
- Found All over India
- Local names = KALACH, Kalachiti, Seorchanda, Domnachiti , Ghamchata. Kala gandait, Kala taro etc.
IDENTIFICATION
- Non Hooded snake.
- Average length 2.5 feet.
- Glistening black colour.
- Slender white bands over body.
- Calm & quite night snake.
VENOM
- Strong Neurotoxic (presynaptic) Venom.
- There is no local pain or swelling.
- Fatal dose : One milligram only.
- Inj. Neostigmine doesn't give much benefit in management of a bite case.
THE MYSTERY
- Causes painless bite.
- Very fine almost invisible bite mark.
- Comes to the open floor bed.
- Variable period of onset of symptoms and signs.
- There may be Bizarre presentation.
Common Presentation Of A Bite Case
- Giddiness & Weakness.
- Pain Abdomen.
- Sore throat.
- Multiple joint pain.
- Vomiting.
- Convulsions.
DIAGNOSIS
- By High degree of suspicion.
- History of open floor bed last night.
- Most of the time there is no H/O any bite.
- No other physical abnormality.
- Acute bilateral ptosis.
- No improvement by Inj. Neostigmine.
MANAGEMENT
- Immediate infusion of AVS (Snake antivenin).
- Delay in AVS may lead to respiratory failure requiring ventilatory support.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Sleeping on Open floor bed is the main history.
- Presentation may be variable.
- H/O any bite usually absent.
- Development of Acute Bilateral Ptosis is pathognomonic in endemic area.
- Appearance of Pain abdomen in the coming morning.
- Rapid infusion of AVS helps in management.
- Delay in AVS may lead to respiratory failure.
Further Reading:
- toxinology.com.[Online].Available from: http://toxinology.com/fusebox.cfmfuseaction=main.snakes.display&id=SN0015.
- Whitaker R. COMMON INDIAN SNAKES-A Field Guide: MACMILLAN INDIA LIMITED; 2006.
- Karmakar RN. FORENSIC MEDICINE AND TOXICOLOGY: Academic Publishers.
- Nandy A. PRINCIPLES OF FORENSIC MEDICINE: New Central Book Agency.
High Risk of Tuberculosis among Tibetans living in India
The prevalence of TB is 3 times higher in the Tibetan population than the national average. According to the RNTCP officials, India’s national TB prevalence is about 168 cases per 1 lakh people, whereas exiled Tibetans living in India have a TB rate of nearly 500 per 1 lakh population.
The head of India’s Revised National TB Control Program (Dr Ashok Kumar) met the Dalai Lama on Wednesday at Dharamsala (the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile) regarding the alarming trend of the disease among the Tibetans. The meeting was held to seek the Dalai Lama’s guidance and intervention on how the Tibetan population could be better integrated into the RNTCP, and ensure that they take proper drugs in right regimens.
RNTCP officials said, “His Holiness has promised to help the ministry to fight TB among Tibetans.”
According to Dr Kunchok Dorjee (TB programme director, Delek Hospital, Dharamsala):-
- Low-nutritional status of monks who fled Tibet in the 1960s made them prone to TB.
- Those who were infected spread it to others through migration.
- Child monks have to live in close quarters and share dormitories inside the monasteries. Therefore, even if one of them is infected with the disease, it spreads to others very easily.
The Health Ministry is most worried about multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) — which is very difficult to treat. Dr Dorjee added, “At present, we don’t really know the prevalence of MDR TB among Tibetans. Around 20 DOTS centers in and around Dharamsala are treating patients with normal TB.” An RNTCP official also added, “We have told the Tibetan population that we will supply them drugs to treat MDR TB provided they follow the national TB control protocols.”
Treating an usual TB patient costs around Rs 600 over a six-eight months period, whereas an MDR-TB patient’s treatment is exponentially expensive at around Rs 1.5 lakh over 24-28 months.
The World Health Organization has supplied the exiled government with two Genexperts — a machine that diagnoses MDR TB in less than two hours.
According to a ministry official, “Time is of prime importance as far as diagnosing TB is concerned. A single MDR TB patient can spread the disease to 15 people every year, if left untreated”.
-Kounteya Sinha
-The Times of India
The Forest Maker (Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero)
This is the real life story of man named Jadav Payeng from Assam. He has single-handedly grown a sprawling forest on a 550-hectare sandbar in the middle of the Brahmaputra!
The forest now houses many endangered animals, including at least five tigers, one of which bore two cubs recently.The place lies in Jorhat, some 350 km away from Guwahati. Local people call the place 'Molai Kathoni' (Molai's woods) after Payeng's pet name, Molai.
Payeng's story goes back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. When waters had receded, Payeng who was only 16 years at the time, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles which became the turning point of his life. "The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage . I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested," says Payeng, now 47.
Soon he started living on the sandbar. He watered the plants morning and evening and pruned them. After a few years, the sandbar was transformed into a bamboo thicket."I then decided to grow proper trees. I collected and planted them. I also transported red ants from my village, and was stung many times. Red ants change the soil's properties . That was an experience," Payeng says, laughing.
Soon, there were a variety of flora and fauna which burst in the sandbar, including endangered animals like the one-horned rhino and Royal Bengal tiger.The Assam state forest department learnt about Payeng's forest only in 2008 when a herd of some 100 wild elephants strayed into it after a marauding spree in villages nearby. They also destroyed Payeng's hutment . It was then that assistant conservator of forests Gunin Saikia met Payeng for the first time.
"We were surprised to find such a dense forest on the sandbar. Locals, whose homes had been destroyed by the pachyderms, wanted to cut down the forest, but Payeng dared them to kill him instead. He treats the trees and animals like his own children. Seeing this, we, too, decided to pitch in," says Saikia. "We're amazed at Payeng. He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero."
-(The Times of India)
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