Hearing The Unheard: a special CME for special people -

Community Medicine Dept. Hosts an Initiative on

Curriculum Development

The partnering US Universities will depute their best faculty to teach and guide research to a large population of Indian students at hundreds of colleges and Universities in India via AMRITA's E-learning setup and ISRO’s Edusat. The programme also introduced and forged collaborative research partnerships between US and Indian Researchers, particularly in interdisciplinary, international, and globally challenging scientific and engineering problems.

The signing event was held jointly in the Intercontinental Grand, New Delhi at 11am on December 7, 2005 and the launch was conducted by His Excellency, The President Of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on December 8, 2005 1 PM at Rashtrapathi Bhavan. During the launch the distinguished US academic leaders gathered in Amriteshwari hall in Ettimadai campus with a live interaction with the President and Students at about 10 engineering colleges all over India.

This collaborative Indo-US initiative which has been lead by AMRITA University will include a broad range of areas, including but not limited to: Engineering and computer science, information and communication technologies, materials science & manufacturing, biotechnology and bioinformatics, nanotechnology, medical sciences, management sciences, earth and space sciences, mathematical and natural sciences, humanities and arts, media, etc.

Dr. Venky Narayanamurti, Dean of Engineering, Harvard University
Dr. Sharad Malik, Professor of Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE), Princeton University
Dr. Vijay Kumar Garg, Professor of ECE Department, University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Gretchen Kalonji, Head of International Programs, University of the California Office of the President
Dr. Frieder Seible, Dean, Jacobs School of Engineering, University of California San Diego
Dr. Rajesh Gupta, Professor, University of California San Diego
Dr. Ramesh Rao, Director, CALIT2, University of California San Diego
Dr. Susan Jeffords, Vice Provost, University of Washington
Dr. Rosalyn A. Pertzborn, Director, Office of Space Science Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Sanjay Limaye, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Andrew D. Hamilton, Provost, Yale University
Dr. John Mullin, Dean of the Graduate School, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Paul T. Kostecki, Vice Provost for Research, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Nigar J. Khan, Assistant Graduate Dean, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Dr. Joseph Mook, Chair of Mechanical Engineering, University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Dr. Bharat Jayaraman, Chair, CSE Department, University at Buffalo, State University of New York
Dr. Anderson Smith, Vice Provost for Undergraduate Studies and Academic Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology
Dr. Bruce Vojak, Associate Dean for External Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. N. Narayana Rao, Edward C. Jordan Professor of ECE, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Narendra Ahuja, Professor ECE Department, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Ashok K. Agrawala, Professor of Computer Science, University of Maryland
Dr. Stella W. Pang, Associate Dean for Graduate Education, University of Michigan
Dr. Santhosh Kumar Seelan, Professor, Department of Space Studies, University of North Dakota
Dr. Greg Weisenstein, Vice President and Provost, University of North Dakota

Earlier, five US universities including the University of California campuses at Berkeley and San Diego, Carnegie Mellon University at Pittsburgh, Cornell University at Ithaca- New York, and State University of New York at Buffalo had inked the agreement during the historic visit of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh to Washington DC on 20 July 2005.

"A belief gained through telling, hearing and reading will not last long. Whereas, the faith gained from experience will last forever." - Amma

Paediatric Oncology
Diagnosis of Thyroid Disorders
Inflammation and Degenerative Disorders
Radical and Oxidative Stress
Plus lectures from experts from across India.

This one day conference was held in Amriteshwari Hall on the AIMS campus. The programme featured national and international faculty and covered the latest techniques and technologies in Neonatology.

• Molecular biology
• Bioinformatics
• Human genetics
• Immunology
• Haemopoesis and stem cells
• Cancer Research
• Cell signalling

The institute is particularly keen to initiate research in Infectious Diseases, Human Genetics, Cell Signalling, Immunology, Cancer and Computational Biology.

Background

Due to the commitment of AIMS' senior clinicians, scientists and faculty towards research, it has been possible to establish a nascent clinical and scientific research with support from funding agencies and the pharmaceutical sector. Realizing the importance of impressive scientific advances and their translation to improvement in clinical management, AIMS has made a commitment to establishing a first class research facility. To achieve this in the context of current global scenario, research needs to take into account the local clinical issues. The depth and breadth of patients with different diseases that are available in India makes it strategically possible to do excellent research. Increasingly, research centres have been developed where molecular biology is intimately associated with clinical research and there is synergy between the two. The establishment of the Institute of Molecular Medicine provides clinicians and the scientists with adequate infrastructure to conduct good quality research, and enables fundamental questions to clinical problems to be addressed in detail. Further, because of the expense of doing good quality scientific research, the establishment of such a centre allows pooling of resources and sharing of common facilities between different groups.

The medical science faculty at AIMS has developed rapidly in the last five years to provide an opportunity to establish such a centre. To have an international profile, research is important. This is particularly so in India where many diseases are uniquely found only here or occur at high frequencies. The future training of doctors and nurses is going to be quite different given the advances that are going to be made in the next twenty years and such a research centre will facilitate in their training. The entire society in the southern region of India shall stand to gain from the proposed research centre. Also, the institute can be developed into a referral centre for other research laboratories within India. The Institute of Molecular Medicine will pursue basic and translational research of the highest quality, building on the current research activities at AIMS, together with existing infrastructure facilities.

Biomedical Research Centre

An objective of the Institute of Molecular Medicine is to have a balance between scientists who are interested in basic research and clinically oriented scientists. This is partly because basic scientists look at the problems in a different way and also enable the development of new technologies to address problems that are relevant in clinical medicine. Clinically oriented scientists bring a different angle to investigate the problem primarily from the knowledge base of clinical issues. Together with the research scientist, clinical scientists can make good contributions to the development of research in a particular area. The institute plans to appoint personnel in the short term who are enthusiastic, well rounded, and academically oriented on a tenure track basis to allow for turn over, with the appointments being made permanent at the end of a proper, rigorous scientific review after five to six years.

The Institute is planned to comprise of 30, 000 square feet on the first floor of the new hospital block. There is space for at least 20 medium sized groups and 4-5 larger scientific groups. A purpose animal house facility that extends the current one is being developed on the top floor. The Institute will have core facilities to do modern science that will be shared between groups.

The core service is an important part of developing such a facility, particularly with respect to newer technologies which are important for doing modern molecular biology. This includes the general molecular techniques that will comprise sequencing, oligo-nucleotides, micro-array facility and other facilities required to run a modern laboratory, which is to be shared between groups. It will also include the development of a good animal house and the establishment of facility where antibodies can be made. Proteomics is increasingly becoming an important tool and the institute plans to set up a system to collaborate with another centre which has such a facility.

Organisation

Each research group will have approximately five and eight staff to make it internationally competitive and to encourage the application of research grants from bodies for peer reviewed funding. The institute also wishes to establish collaborative research with industry to support a certain amount of sponsored research, and to have a stream of funds which will enable the basic research to be carried out.

Areas of Research

Scientists from any field of biological research will be encouraged but we specially plan to develop the following areas in the long term.

Human genetics will be a strong component because of the importance of genetics in understanding many common diseases to which patients are predisposed.

A second area of interest is immunology, because of the relevance of immunology to not only infectious diseases, but also to auto immune disorders and cancer. A good molecular biology focus will also be helpful in terms of relevance to different disciplines in medicine.

A strong focus on haemopoesis and stem cells would be very helpful in the future because much of the understanding of normal cell biology has come from development of research in haemopoetic systems. Although the focus should be predominantly in mammalian systems in the academic centre, it should not exclude lower organisms such as yeast which are simple to set up and powerful in terms of understanding mammalian biology.

Bioinformatics has become a very important discipline in modern biology, particularly with the completion of the human genome sequence. We plan to invest in this area particularly with people who are from biological backgrounds but may not necessarily know much about software development, but also people from a computer background who may not necessarily know much biology. Such a selection of people would allow questions to be asked and design of appropriate software to analyse the enormous amount of data already available publicly. Such a group of people are also important to help analyse researchers who do microarray or proteomic experiments.

AIMS has been receiving patients from over 16 countries including European nations and there is a steady increase in the number of patients, mainly for complex surgical procedures. The hospital has also initiated a dedicated International Healthcare Service team, which will take care of the patient right from arrival till their departure coordinating all aspects of medical treatment.

Kerala Tourism Development Corporation has been the forerunner in promoting Kerala internationally and is now venturing into new areas of health care tourism. Intersight Tours and Travels (P) Ltd. have partnered with KTDC for the last many years to promote Kerala to the rest of India and abroad by introducing various new concepts of tourism promotion.

With the objective of promoting and establishing Kerala as a medical tourism destination, Kerala Tourism Development Corporation, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Intersight Tours have signed an MOU. The consortium plans to promote Kerala as a medical tourism destination, where medical treatment will be provided at AIMS, holiday options will be provided by KTDC and the logistics of travel will be provided by Intersight. Through this joint venture we would be able to provide the patients cost effective quality medical care at AIMS and tourism options through any of the KTDC properties.

The consortium has decided to launch a pre buying Health and Holiday Card to the Non Residents Keralites, which will help them to have a comprehensive health monitor and a hassle-free holidaying with their family in any of the Tourism Destination of Kerala

Not only did Ramdas receive a memento and a handshake from the Chief Minister, but also the offer of a job as a bookbinder at a local press! Dr. V. N. Unni, HOD of Nephrology spoke on the occasion, highlighting the extreme wastage of precious organs in Kerala due to lack of awareness and coordinated effort. The Chief Minister promised to help in the awareness of Today, Ramdas has fully returned into normal life. AIMS had organised an anniversary function for him on 09 July 2005, which was graced by distinguished dignitaries including the honorable Chief Minister of Kerala, Shri Oomen Chandy, Honorable MP, Dr. Sebastian Paul, Chairman of SORT, Justice Narayanan Kutty, founding Chairman of SORT, Mr. Shamsudeen, and KPCC General Secretary Shri Shanawaz.

Not only did Ramdas receive a memento and a handshake from the Chief Minister, but also the offer of a job as a bookbinder at a local press! Dr. V. N. Unni, HOD of Nephrology spoke on the occasion, highlighting the extreme wastage of precious organs in Kerala due to lack of awareness and coordinated effort. The Chief Minister promised to help in the awareness of cadaveric organ transplantation.

Medical Informatics, a novel academic discipline bridging Medicine and Information Sciences, may be defined as the science that deals with the structure, acquisition and use of medical information. With the global boom in healthcare and quantum advancements in Indian IT, medical informatics is already becoming an exciting buzz word. The AIMS faculty includes an exceptional blend of clinicians, health informaticians, IT specialists and administrators, to create an outstanding multi-disciplinary learning environment.

Eligibility

These programmes aim to train individuals with a background either in biological or non-biological sciences to be effective leaders and participants in the evolving field of medical informatics, which is rapidly gaining prominence in India. Eligible candidates should have at least a Bachelors degree in a biological science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science or other IT related field. Medicine or Engineering/IT graduates are preferred.

Programme Training Areas and Expected Educational Outcomes

On completion of these programs, trainees will have adequate knowledge of accessing and processing biomedical and clinical information, basic principles of patient and hospital database management (expertise in computing, communications, and content). Trainees in the MSc. programme will learn how to design a medical database system (coding, classification, and reference models) and statistical analysis of the data, various standardization protocols (including data acquisition and transmission interfaces) and useful query language. These trainees will also be able to develop web-based applications to retrieve information from medical databases. In addition, they will receive training in planning their own standardized health information systems and e-health services (including strategy, budgeting, procurement and implementation) and build computer-assisted learning applications as well as computerized decision support systems (CDSS).

International Connections

A valuable component of the training will be interactions and course work possibilities for students with universities in the US (Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, University of Maryland) and Europe (International Health Academy, Malta).

Job Prospects

Graduates from this program who are already armed with a professional degree in Medicine, Engineering or IT will find that this additional qualification can facilitate promotion and higher compensation. Undergraduates without an existing professional qualification who complete this course can expect to be gainfully employed as health information system managers or administrators, specialists in the medical software industry and as educators with world-class exposure to the latest developments in information technology and multimedia based teaching applications in medicine.

Named FED+ AMRITA, the unique service is facilitated for the first time in India by a bank for the convenience of its customers. The service is seamlessly integrated with the systems at AIMS and Federal Bank's Internet banking facility, enabling a Federal Bank account holder to select and register for any of the AIMS Health Check Packages. Payment for this advance registration will automatically be charged from the customer's account with the bank.

Sudhakar Jayaram of AIMS said. "Amrita is constantly looking at ways and means in integrating partners and technology to streamline and enhance the overall patient experience from scheduling to delivery. We hope the new online service will be of great convenience to the customers of Federal Bank in using the state-of-the-art facilities at Amrita".

What Can You Do to Detect Osteoporosis?

A DXA scan (which measures your bone mineral density) can assess your risk of getting a hip fracture. Even after you have suffered a fracture, as you recover a DXA scan will tell you about the improvements in your bone health status.

Who Needs Evaluation for Osteoporosis? Who Is At a Risk of Fracture?

Women after menopause
People taking steroids or other hormone treatment
People with chronic disease
People with spine deformity/unexplained bone pains

Bone Marrow Density (BMD) testing is available at AIMS on the best DXA machine in India, Patients can walk in to the Bone Clinic at the departments of Endocrinology, Orthopaedics or Geriatrics. AIMS conducted a special Bone Health Recruitment Fortnight from 1 to 15 June, 2005, in which a hassle-free BMD testing was done via a direct entry into the institution .

The World Health Organization has recognized the efforts of the students as part of an international awareness camapaign on the hazards of tobacco.

Overseas Faculty:

Dr. Lisa Hornberger, University of California San Francisco

Dr. Shardha Srinivas, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA,

Dr. Aarti Hejmadi, University of California San Francisco

The course is designed for higher surgical trainees in head and neck surgery to attain practical skills in microvascular surgery as well as to learn the technique of harvesting commonly used flaps for head and neck reconstruction. The course has been structured to gain maximum hands-on experience in the microvascular laboratory and to learn step-by-step technique of harvesting flaps in cadavers under the supervision of experienced faculty. Delegates will also have opportunity to participate in live operating procedures.

Course Objectives

At the completion of course the trainees are expected to:

Acquire skills for microvascular surgery
Learn steps of harvesting common flaps used for head and neck reconstruction

The three day course was designed to cover all the topics in head and neck surgery through didactical short lectures and video presentations. The faculty included experienced teachers and noted head and neck surgeons from different parts of the country. Enough time was devoted after each lecture for interactions. At the end of each main session the topics covered was discussed by senior teachers on points pertinent to the post graduate examination. A printed handout with summary of the topics and pertinent references was provided.

The most advanced forms of ventilation, eg: SIMV, PSV, Volume Guarantee and high frequency ventillation, are used on a daily basis. Nitric Oxide is used in selected situations of pulmonary hypertensions. Neonatal cardio thoracic surgery is also done routinely. Paediatric neurology, cardiology and radiology services compliment the department effectively.

The NICU is a 16 bedded, 9 ventilated (baby log 8000 HFO and SLE 2000 HFO) plus. In addition to complex monitoring available for ventilated neonates, spirometry is available. The nurse-baby ratio is 1:1 for ventilated babies and 1:2 for non-ventilated babies.

The Neonatal Nursing Certificate Course (1 year) to compliment newly formed NICUs has already been commenced. The department has been rated by international experts as comparable in technology, systems and survival with any university hospital in the west.

This cancer detection and prevention clinic is meant for individuals those who have habits of smoking, pan chewing, use of Gutka or alcohol abuse. The other signs of mouth and throat cancers include white or red patch or non-healing ulcer of the mouth and throat or swelling of the neck. The patients may complaint of hoarseness, difficulty in swallowing or blood staining of saliva or sputum.

Thus far he has reviewed more than twenty books published from across the world on Toxicology and related areas.

Running advanced procedural and clinical skills labs
Teaching of undergraduate and post-graduate medical students
Faculty development programs - multidisciplinary CME programmes
Direct outpatient and inpatient clinical care
Applied clinical and educational informatics
Research
Innovative programs in non-traditional aspects of medical education like arts, humanities and the history of medicine

Apart from these awards, they have also been invited to present two of their clinical research papers at the scientific session of this conference. These studies are aimed at risk stratification of post myocardial infarction (after heart attack how patients would respond to treatment) using nuclear medicine investigations, i.e. Myocardial Perfusion SPECT scan.

Also, Dr. P. Shanmuga Sundaram, department head of the Department of Nuclear Medicine is the recipient of the year 2003 Young Investigator Award conferred by Indo American Society of Nuclear Medicine for his research paper presented at the 50th annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.

Abstract: While Type 2 diabetic subjects in developed countries are predominantly obese or overweight, those in India are often nonobese or lean. The reasons for leanness in these subjects has not been well understood. We assessed the prevalence of pancreatic islet autoimmunity in 83 lean adult subjects (BMI < 18.5 kg/m2) with type 2 diabetes by measuring antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase-65 (GAD Abs). Positivity to GAD Ab was present in 21 (25.3%) subjects. In addition, subjects with GAD Ab positivity were younger and had lower beta cell function (homeostasis model assessment, HOMA) as compared to the GAD Ab-negative group. This suggests that the antibody-positive group could have a slowly progressive form of Type 1 diabetes.

John H Trestrail III writes, "This is one of the first references this reviewer has analyzed that was published outside of North America, and I must say 'very impressive!'".

John Doull writes, "It will be a valuable addition to the books that I keep next to my telephone. I would rate it at 9.0 on [a scale of 10]."

Gyan Fernando wites, "For a new book on Toxicology, Pillay's book is quite impressive..."

Dr. Wayne Jones wites, "There was a lot of useful information in this book..."

The money would be spent for the reconstruction of homes in Nagapattanam, Velankanni, Cuddalore, Kanyakumari and some areas of Andhra Pradesh if the state governments give their permission. The houses will be built according to the specifications of the state governments. The M. A. Math has proposed to build houses consisting of two rooms, a kitchen, a small veranda and a toilet. As thousands are now homeless along the southeastern coast of India, the Math has already begun the construction of temporary shelters until the new homes are completed. The temporary shelters are being constructed in Srayikkad.

The Math will provide free education and counselling to those children who have lost both parents in the tragedy.

"Amma is ever ready to help the deserving, irrespective of religion, caste, nationality and language. The ashram will adopt orphaned children if the relatives are ready for it," Amma added.

She said her gesture was not meant "to compete or bargain" with government relief efforts. "But we cannot turn a deaf ear to the heart rending supplications of those who are crying for help. Nonetheless, we request that these charitable projects proposed by the mutt must not affect or stop any aid or privileges promised by the state and central governments to the victims."

Thus far he has reviewed more than twenty books published from across the world on Toxicology and related areas.

8 - 9 January, 2005 - The AIMS Paediatric Cardiac Services Department hosted a workshop on Fetal Echocardiography at Amriteshwari Hall on the AIMS campus.

Workshop Style

Interactive throughout with live demonstrations

Overseas Faculty:

• Dr. Lisa Hornberger, University of California San Francisco
• Dr. Shardha Srinivas, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI USA
• Dr. Aarti Hejmadi, University of California San Francisco