Tag Archives: Pune

NATIONAL: HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCES: National Drugs Regulator Approves Mylab’s PathoDetect™ kit, making it India’s First Indigenous Tuberculosis (TB) Detection Testing Kit

TB is an infectious disease, and according to the government data, India reported 1.93 million new TB cases in 2021.

India’s national drugs regulator has approved Pune based Mylab’s test kit to detect tuberculosis (TB) , making it the first made in India test kit to be approved for TB diagnosis, the company announced on Tuesday.

The kit simultaneously detects drug resistance to the two most commonly used drugs in TB treatment— Rifampicin and Isoniazid, the company added.

TB is an infectious disease, and according to the government data, India reported 1.93 million new TB cases in 2021, making it one of the major public health concerns in the country. India currently uses imported test kits; most of them come from US and Europe.

Apart from the central drugs standard control organization (CDSCO), the kit has also received approval from the national TB expert committee and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

“We are addressing several problems simultaneously here. First being able to speed up testing by automated systems that can do multiple tests at one time. Secondly, there is scarce trained manpower for RT-PCR testing, which India can now overcome with fully automated system which does not need highly technical person to handle samples and reagents,” said Hasmukh Rawal, managing director, Mylab.

According to people familiar with the matter, this kit is more automated that others in the market and reduces the need for high expertise to run the test. Also, the kit can be stored at Indian room temperature; thus catering to look temperature requirements.

The kit is priced around ₹650 per unit, which is almost comparable to the prices of others in the market.

“We have technology to detect TB and drug resistance in the form of genexpert that’s a cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test. But this is an expensive test in the private sector and the advantage of made-in-India kit will be its low cost. We will still have to be sure how reliable the technology is,” said Dr Vikas Maurya, director, department of Pulmonology, Fortis Healthcare.

According to the company, the kit has been approved after rigorous and large scale field trials and recommended by TB Expert Committee under the aegis of ICMR. Multicentre centre evaluation study and field feasibility testing studies were also carried out for the test kit.

Emphasizing on the important point of drug resistance, Rawal said, “There is a huge problem of resistance to drugs when it comes to TB.

Until now, India had to conduct 2 tests: one to detect TB first and to check drug resistance – that against only one drug (Rifampicin). With Mylab’s PathoDetect™ kit, in a single test – patients can know their active TB infection as well as drug resistance to 2 most common drugs – Isoniazid and Rifampacin – so that they take treatment that will actually work. This is a milestone moment in India’s TB Testing.”

The test kits have been designed to work in ambient temperatures compared to existing PCR options which need 2-8 degree cold storage. Mylab Compact device systems do not require special infrastructure for operations and feasibility studies done on mobile van in rural areas indicate them to be very robust, said the company.

sources/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

First Assistant Chief of Naval Staff ( Air Materiel ). July 2013 .

Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo assumed responsibility as the First Flag Officer of the newly created post of ‘ Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air Materiel)  [ACNS/AM] at the Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy) on Wednesday, July 17th, 2013.

This new post has been created with a single point responsibility for all matters related to aviation technical management of the rapidly growing air arm of the Indian Navy. He will have 3 sub-directorates looking at air logistics, plans/procurement and perspectives and systems engineering, as well as responsibilty for air technical manpower management.

Interestingly Rear Admiral Kanugo will report to the Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Pradeep Chatterjee and not the Chief of Materiel, Vice Admiral N N Kumar. This is due to the inherently operational side imperative of air maintenance, which can present an operational tempo different to the other, more traditional arms of the Navy.

The air arm of the Indian Navy operates over 200 aircraft with over 20 different types including fighters, fixed wing maritime reconnaissance aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles etc.

New infrastructure needs of the Indian Navy which recently marked its Diamond Jubilee are being added with new air stations like INS Parundu in Ramnathapuram, INS Baaz in Campbell Bay and several other multiple enclaves across the country. The Air arm of the Indian Navy is growing at a fast pace and the Indian Navy is not restricted to just being a Green Water Navy. ( Green Water means the fleet comprises only battle ships while the Blue Water Navy includes the possession of aircraft as well ).

Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo grew up in Hyderabad and did his schooling in many places in the State including a local government school and in Nagarjunasagar. He pursued his Engineering in JNTU College of Engineering, Anantapur. He joined the Indian Navy via his selection to ‘Indian Navy’s University Entry Scheme’ wherein his final years fees was paid by the Navy. Commissioned in 1981 he opted for the aviation stream of the Indian Navy, while the other two streams being submarine and ships. He pursued his Masters from the Institute of Armament Technology, Pune

During his 32 years of commissioned services in the Indian Navy – Rear Admiral Srinivas Kanugo has been Director of the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology at Kochi. The Chief Controller of Naval Aeronautical Quality Assurance Service. He held the post of Commodore Superintendent Naval Aircraft Yard – Kochi. He was also the Chief Staff Officer(Technical)at the Headquarter Naval Aviation, and the Principal Director at the Directorate of Naval Air Materiel at the Head Quarter, Ministry of Defence(Navy).

He was awarded Vishist Sewa Medal (VSM) in 2013 for his outstanding service and contribution to the Indian Navy.

India’s First Gold at the 20th Asian Athletics Championship . July 2013 .

Vikas Shive Gowda (Vikas Gowda) discuss thrower clinched the first gold for India on July 04th the eve of his birthday, amidst much celebration as the crowd listened to the National Anthem being played for the first time in the championship.

He threw the iron disc to a creditable 64.90m in his 4th attempt to win his first gold of the Asian Championship in his 5th appearance. Vikas Gowda had earlier won a silver each in the 2005 and 2011 editions. He holds the national record of 66.28m whilst his season’s best is 65.82m .

Amongst much celebration the home team won 3 medals on the second day at the 20th Asian Athletics Championship held at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, Pune, State of Maharashtra, India . As the championship concluded on Sunday, India had acquired a total haul of 17 medals. The tally of 9 for the men and 8 for the womens’ events, making it the first time in the last 5 Asian Championships that Indian men had won more medals than women. The total of 17 medals was India’s best since the 1989 edition in New Delhi.

The 29-year old athlete born on July 05th 1983, in Mysore,Karnataka is an ace discuss thrower and shot putter who trains in the US. He grew up in Frederick, Maryland in the US. His father Shive Gowda coached the 1988 Indian Olympic track team.

Vikas Gowda is an alumnus of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is the US MCAA National Champion 2006 in Discuss.

Vikas Gowda : Records : (2005) came 2nd in the 2005 Asian championships held in Incheon, Korea / (2010) came 3rd in the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China / (2010) came 2nd in the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi, India / (2011) came 2nd in the 2011 Asian Championship held in Kobe, Japan / (2013) 1st position, won Gold at the 20th Asian Championship held in Pune, India .