March 2017

Newsletter of Sri Ramachandra University

….Connecting SRU

Our Campus

srubridges@gmail.com2March ’17

From the Editor’s Desk

Bridges - Connecting SRU

Beloved Readers,

Let us stay connected…

March heralds the celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political

achievements of women. The women's day celebration at SRU served as a means to gain

inspiration from one another and become stronger. Eco-walk in the campus was a good

initiative to recognize the need to preserve and protect our natural resources. Tamil Section

reveals the value of personal relationships. Though the mobile phone is the quickest means

of communication, a source of reference for studying and a means of entertainment, it leaves

us without communicating in person creating estrangement in relationships.

Your Corner divulges that caring for people is an awesome responsibility. We must get

inspired to perform intentional acts of kindness as part of our daily routine. The opportunity

to make a difference to someone's life is a wonderful and rewarding experience. Let us aspire

to develop a compassionate and empathetic culture within our organization and thereby an

inter-reliant community.

Sheela Ravinder. S. Editor-in-Chief

Cover Photo Courtesy:Ms. D. IndhujaaBDS, Intern

Memories

Postgraduates of the Dept. of Community Medicine participated in the Pulse Polio Initiative, thin Poonamallee & Avadi on 7 Jan. 2007.

Bridges Committee

Patron:

Shri. V. R. VenkataachalamChancellor

Advisory Board:

Prof. J. S. N. MurthyVice-Chancellor

Prof. S. RangaswamiProfessor of Eminence inMedical Education

Prof. K.V. SomasundaramDean of Faculties

Editor-in-Chief:

Dr. Sheela Ravinder. S.

Editor:

Ms. Hemalatha C. R.

Co-Editor:

Prof. Antony Leo Aseer P.

Editorial Board:

Mr. Abhinand P. A.

Dr. Archana P. Kumar

Dr. Ganesh V. Dr. Nithya Jagdish

Prof. Prakash Boominathan

Prof. Sandhya Sundaram

Dr. Sreelekha B.

Secretarial Assistance:

Ms. Stella Augustus

Ms. Geetha R.

Photography:

Mr. Anand Kumar A.

Art & Design:

Mr. Arunagiri S.

Printing:

Mr. Velayudam S.

Glimpses

Prof. N. Sanjeeva Reddy, HOD, Reproductive Medicine and Surgery was conferred the

prestigious Dr. B. C. Roy National Award under the category of Eminent Medical

Teacher for the year 2015 by the Honorable President of India, Shri. Pranab Mukherjee thon 28 March 2017.

Happenings

srubridges@gmail.com3

Bridges - Connecting SRU

Dept. of SLHS & Bhoomika Trust, Chennai jointly organized from

rd th23 to 25 Feb. Dr. Leora R. Cherney, Professor, North Western University, Chicago & Ms. Ann K. Ohering, Director, Chicago Speech & Language Services were the resources persons. 67 speech language pathologists from all over India participated.

India's Premiere Seminar & Workshop on Aphasia Therapy

Dept . of SLHS & B h o o m i k a T r u s t , C h e n n a i j o i n t l y organized a crash course on

ndon 22 Feb. Dr. Leora R.

Cherney, Professor, N o r t h W e s t e r n

University, Chicago & Ms. Ann K. Ohering, Director, Chicago Speech & Language Services were the resources persons. 154 candidates participated.

Management of Aphasia: Current Trends

Facu l t y o f Den t a l Sciences in association with the Indian Dental Association (Madras branch) conducted an intercollegiate role play c o m p e t i t i o n

st on 21 Fe b . f o r c r e a t i n g awa r e n e s s a b o u t s u b s t a n c e a b u s e a m o n g yo u t h . Mr. K. Bhagyaraj, Film Director was the chief guest. 1450 students from 23 dental colleges in Tamil Nadu participated.

EUPHORIA'17

March ’17

Campus Environment Day in memor y o f Smt. Kamalam Ramasamy Udayar was observed on

th7 Mar. with the theme, 'Green Cover - the Need o f t h e H o u r ' . T h e activities included:· Eco-walk· Poster, essay, slogan & poem writing competitions· Planting of samplings· Street play on ‘Adverse Effects of Plastic’

Sri Ramachandra W o m e n ' s Advancement Cell celebrated the

with the theme, ‘50-50 by 2030’

th thon 7 & 8 Mar.

The activities included:· Essay, poem & slogan competitions · Workshop on 'Leaving a Legacy' by Ms. Gayathri Anand,

Professional & Leadership Coach, Global Action on Poverty(NGO)

· Panel discussion

80 faculty members participated.

International Women's Day

Dept. of Obstetrics a n d G yn eco l o g y Nursing observed the

with the theme, 'Be Bold

thfor Change' on 8 Mar. The awareness

events included a song, skit, dance & quiz competition. Around 100 women participated.

Internat ional Women's Day D e p t . o f P s y ch i a t r y

observed the th on 8 Mar.,

with the theme, ‘Be Bold for Change’ at G-Block, Psychiatry Ward. 120 faculty members, students and staff participated.

International Women's Day

Dept. of ENT, Head & Neck Surgery in association with Depts. of Anatomy, Forensic Medicine & Anesthesiology conducted the

th from 11 to th15 Feb. International faculty along with SRU faculty members

were the resource persons. Cadaveric workshop & live surgical workshop of 11 major surgeries were organized. 110 delegates from all over the world participated.

st1 All India Sri Ramachandra CME in ENT (ASCENT)

srubridges@gmail.com4

Bridges - Connecting SRU

March ’17

Dept. of Community Medicine and CRF conducted the

th thon 16 & 17 Feb. for Ph.D candidates registered under SRU. 40 candidates attended.

Orientation Program in Research Methodology and Biostatistics

Dept. of Pharmacology conducted to impart thpharmacology knowledge through fun on 17 Feb. for II year

BDS students. Different topics in Pharmacology were highlighted through various competitions such as poster presentation, debate, quiz, skit, just-a-minute, eulogy, etc.

Pharmfest'17

Dept. of Anesthesiology,

Critical Care & Pain

Medicine conducted the t h1 8 R a m a c h a n d r a

Anesthesia Continuing

Educationth thfrom 10 to 12 Feb.

Faculty members from

Harvard Medical School

and various universities across the country were the resource

persons. The program included basic & clinical lectures, case

discussions, paper presentation, quiz competition and workshops. thThe 10 Prof. Vijaylakshmi Kamat Memorial Oration was delivered

by Dr. Sunanda Gupta, HOD, Dept. of Anesthesiology, Geetanjali

Medical College, Udaipur. 850 delegates from all over the country

participated.

- RACE 2017

Dept. of Periodontology & Implantology conducted theth thfrom 9 to 12 Feb. The program

comprised of 25 lectures and two debates. 150 delegates from all over the country attended.

th9 Annual

Rapid Review & Revision Course Inst i tut ional Ethics

Committee organized

workshops on

th on 7 & th8 Feb. respectively. 54 members participated.

Standard

Operating Procedures of

the Institutional Ethics

Committee (IEC) and

E t h i c s i n C l i n i c a l

Research & GCP

st st thOn 31 Jan. & 1 Feb., Dept. of Radiology organized the 14 Annual Ramachandra Advanced Radiology Education - 180 delegates attended. Eminent radiologists from various institutions across the country were the resource persons for the conference

nd thheld from 2 to 5 Feb. 400 delegates attended.

The following medals were awarded:

· Prof. R. Natarajan Gold Medal for best outgoing student (2014-2017) to Dr. Remya Baburaj, II yr., PG

· Prof. V. Vidhyanathan Certificate for best performing PG student (2016-2017) to Dr. Noora Rafeek, II yr., PG

· Prof. D. R. Subramanian Gold Medal for best student delegate to Dr. John George, final yr., PG, MIMS College, Calicut

RARE 2017.

Revised Basic Course Workshop on Medical Education Technologies was conducted by the Medical Education Unit, the

nd thNodal Center for Medical Education Technologies from 2 to 4 Feb. 27 faculty members from SRMC attended.

Dept. of Bioinformatics conducted an

for Ph.D candidates registered

thunder SRU on 18 Feb. 40 candidates attended.

Orientation P r o g r a m - C o m p u t e r Applications in Research

Bridges - Connecting SRU

srubridges@gmail.com5March ’17

Partner Institution/Industry Date of Signing of MoU

M/s. Sai Mirra Innopharm Pvt. Ltd., Chennai 02-03-2017

Date Event

24.02.’17 A quiz program for final year UG students on the topic, ‘Basics of Life Science and

Technology’

10.02.’17 Show Case 2017 held at Saveetha Dental College, Chennai & · Dr. Deepak C., Reader won the best paper award

11.02.’17 · Dr. K. Anbarasi, Assoc. Professor won the best paper award - faculty session

10.02.’17 Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) Global Conclave 2017, National level

& conference with the theme, ‘Future Model of Healthcare-Integrated Care’ organized by11.02.’17 Association of Healthcare Providers, India held at Chennai

· Dr. Tanvi Menon, Ms. S. Nithya Priya & Ms. Dhanya Ann Koshy, I yr., MBA won the

II place in poster presentation

25.01.’17 Guest lecture on ‘Not so Sweet - A Review on the Systemic Features of Neutrophilic

Dermatoses’ by Dr. Paul Devakar Yesudian, Consultant Dermatologist, Betsi Cadwaladr

University Health Board & Royal Liverpool Dental Hospitals University Trust, USA

Department/Faculty

Bioinformatics

Oral and Maxillofacial SurgeryOral Medicine & Radiology

Management

Dermatology

Depts. of Dermatology, STD & Leprosy and Community Medicine jointly organized a

th on 30 Jan. The program also included an awareness talk on 'Leprosy'. All faculty members & PGs from Depts. of Dermatology & Community Medicine and Hospital Ward Technician students participated.

Leprosy Walk

thDepts. of Oral Pathology & Microbiology conducted the 5 National Rapid Review th th Course - on 29 & 30 Jan. Faculty members from various universities

were the speakers. A display of 140 histopathological slides and a quiz competition were also conducted. Around 110 delegates from 27 colleges across the country attended.

SCOPE 2017

The CRF and Dept. of Community Medicine organized an

thon 27 Jan. D r. G a n g a b o r a i a h , Senior Biostatistician, Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences, Bengaluru was the guest speaker. Around 100 delegates attended.

Orientation P r o g r a m o n S P S S

Version 24

stAn MoU was signed between the Dept. of ENT, Head & Neck Surgery, SRU and University of Malaya, UMMC, KL, Malaysia on 1 Feb. towards faculty exchange program related to advanced surgical training and research.

MoU

Bridges - Connecting SRU

srubridges@gmail.com6March ’17

Hunter-gatherers and farming villagers who live in worlds without light bulbs or thermostats sleep slightly less at night than smart phone-toting city slickers, researchers say. “Contrary to conventional wisdom, people in societies without electricity do not sleep more than those in industrial societies like ours,” says UCLA psychiatrist and sleep researcher Jerome Siegel.

Different patterns of slumber and wakefulness in each of these groups highlight the flexibility of human sleep — and also point to potential health dangers in how members of Western societies sleep, conclude evolutionary biologist David Samson of Duke University and colleagues. Compared with other primates, human evolution featured a shift toward sleeping more deeply over shorter time periods, providing more time for learning new skills and knowledge as cultures expanded, the researchers propose. Humans also evolved an ability to revise sleep schedules based on daily work schedules and environmental factors such as temperature.

Samson's team describes sleep patterns in 33 East African Hadza hunter-gatherers over a total of 393 days in a paper published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. The team's separate report on slumber among 21 rural farmers in Madagascar over 292 days will appear later this year in the American Journal of Human Biology.

Sleep patterns in these groups were tracked with wrist devices that measure a person's activity levels. Hadza volunteers slept an average of about 6.5 hours nightly, less than the about seven-hour average for most U.S. adults. Foragers and villagers, who slept in areas with various family and group members, awoke more frequently during the night than has been reported among Westerners. Scalp electrodes worn at night by nine villagers during nine nights revealed biological signs of relatively light sleep compared with Westerners, including shorter periods of slow-wave and rapid eye movement sleep. Sleep patterns are shaped by local environments and the ways in which groups make a living, scientists contend.

Hadza and Malagasy individuals often supplemented nighttime sleep with one or two daytime naps. Shut-eye breaks averaged 47.5 minutes for the Hadza and about 55 minutes for villagers. Critically, Samson says, foragers and villagers displayed more consistent daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness than are characteristic of Westerners. Hadza adults tended to hit the sack — or, more commonly, the mat — shortly after midnight and nap in the early afternoon. Malagasy villagers napped once or twice during the day's hottest hours, usually starting around noon, and retired in the early evening. At night, they slept in two phases, awakening for around an hour shortly after midnight. Historical accounts describe a similar sleep pattern among Western Europeans between 500 and 200 years ago — two sleep segments, divided by a period of activity or reflection.

Researchers also noted that hunter-gatherers and villagers got plenty of direct sunlight, unlike many Westerners. Several studies have linked inconsistent sleep-wake cycles and lack of sun exposure to health problems, including inflammation and heart problems, Samson says. “People in modern societies can take lessons from this research by attempting to get lots of light exposure during the day while reducing blue-wave light exposure after dark and dropping inside temperatures by a few degrees at night.” Smartphones and other digital devices emit blue-wave light, which can suppress melatonin production and delay sleep.

Effects of wayward sleep patterns or too little sleep on health vary across cultures and regions. For instance, sleeping less than six hours per night may increase appetite, as some studies suggest, but a sleep-deprived office worker surrounded by fast-food joints is more likely to become obese than a physically active hunter-gatherer faced with a limited food supply.

Samson's research aligns with previous evidence, conducted by Knutson, that rural Haitians living without electricity sleep an average of about seven hours nightly. In addition, Siegel's team recently reported that nightly sleep averages 5.7 to 7.1 hours in three hunter-gatherer societies, including the Hadza.

Source: D. Samson et al. Hadza sleep biology: Evidence for flexible sleep-wake patterns in hunter-gatherers. American Journal of Physical Anthropology. Published online January 7, 2017. doi:10.1002/ajpa.23160. D. Samson et al. Segmented sleep in a non-electric, small-scale agricultural society in Madagascar. American Journal of Human Biology, in press, 2017.

Believe it or Not Opening Eyes to the Evolution of Sleep

Dept. of Community Medicine observed the that RHTC, Vayalanallur on 30 Jan.

Medical & nursing students and RHTC staff participated. About 100 patients benefited from health education & an awareness program.

World

Leprosy Day

Reach Out

Students from Depts. of Allied Health Sciences, Biomedical Sciences, Dental College and Medical College participated in an awareness program as part of their

th on 10 Feb. 2017. The events included:

· hands-on training to perform Basic Life Support

· role play on case-based tasks

· awareness lecture on 'ill-effects of substance abuse'

· display of video on substance abuse

· distribution of pamphlets

150 students benefited.

NSS activity

srubridges@gmail.com7

Bridges - Connecting SRU

March ’17

Participants in this dialogue:

Peter Matthiessen (PM), Swami Rama (SR), and Robert Twigger (RT).

PM. Bob, we would like to hear more about the unique and special lessons that you learned in your Himalayan journeys – real and imagined – about the 'muted emissions of spirit and soma', in the 'batsqueak zone' as you were saying, and about how our thought process, mind and emotions tend to get warped in the high ranges of the Himalayas. But before I ask you to describe that, can we just listen to Swami Rama again? He has written so much about such experiences in those terrains. Can I ask you Swami?

SR. Why not? I would like to stress an important point here though; and that is, that what you experience is going to depend on what you're going to bring with you in your search; I mean the attitude, your mental or emotional make up. Your journey to the 'rocky spine' was a quest, a seeking, wasn't it Bob, it was a response to your curiosity – to find answers in historical, geophysical or shall I say, even seismic terms.

RT. Well, only to a limited extent. I also wanted very much to study how those high mountain ranges affect the sensibilities of one with a mystical or spiritual bend of mind. That's why I wrote in some detail on the experience of Younghusband. Heard of him Peter, … or you Swami?

PM. No, not really. But the name suggests someone young and energetic.

RT. Well indeed, he was! Certainly when he rose to fame as a young, impetuous and bold explorer. Captain Francis Younghusband of the Indian Army is remembered as the Father of Karakoram exploration and the first one to cross the treacherous Mustagh Pass, the riverine transition from Central Asia to India in 1887. Now, I'm putting the cart before the horse. Let me come back to Swami's question. The key to Younghusband's character was that he was a mystic. He believed that the world was not meaningless. Its beauty was conjoined to a real and intriguing existence beyond. His sense of the noumenal prompted him to promote the notion of fundamental religious unity on the point of experience and establish the World Congress of Faiths.

SR. In that sense he was like one of our Himalayan masters.

RT. Yes, he was. Standing at the foot of the Mustagh pass and seeing K2, the second highest mountain in the world, he wrote, “This world was more wonderful far than I had ever known before. And I seemed to grow greater myself from the mere fact of having seen it. Having once seen that, how could I ever be little again?”

SR. That's true. That's what I experienced as I grew up on the foothills of the Himalayas; the vast expanse of wilderness and the mountain ranges opening up one's mind to limitless ranges … beyond perceptual boundaries … noumenal like you say.

RT. Yes. I think what Younghusband wrote is a precise account of the effect of high mountains on the sensitive. The experience that both humbles and enlarges the soul.

Prof. S. Rangaswami,Professor of Eminence in Medical Education, SRU.

(will be continued…)

Soul to SoulHimalayan journeys: Meta-dialogue – 7

Bits 'n' BytesSpeed Up Your 3G

Users can improve internet experience by following some simple steps. Keep reading to know how a user can speed up the 3G connection. The steps are as follows:

Download the right browserGoogle Chrome is one of the best browsers available for Android. It can sync across multiple devices for a seamless internet experience. It also remembers all user passwords and bookmarks. However, Chrome takes up a lot of space as well. A service that offers memory saving features, such as the Opera Max can be used to overcome this problem. With its third-party VPN service, user will be able to save data on social media browsing, video and audio playback, and other things. Moreover, it also monitors user apps, to see which app is consuming the most data and manages data consumption accordingly. There is also a lighter version called Opera Mini.

Use text-only modeIn order to experience a faster internet connection, try keeping the browser in text-only mode. All browser apps available on the Google Play Store do not support this functionality, but it can be found in the Settings menu easily. Once user turns user browser to text-only mode, it will prevent the images from getting loaded. This will increase network speed quite a bit.

Clear cacheCache is one of the major issues which make the device slow. This is one of the common problems of phones running older version of Android. Having a stuffed cache can slow down everything about the phone, including internet browsing experience. In order to have better internet connectivity, just clear the cache. Go to user phone's Settings > Applications and select the app whose cache user wants to clear. User can also install an app cache cleaner, which will clear the cache of all the apps at once.

Uninstall memory hogging appsThere are many apps available which take up lot of space and also run in the background, making the phone sluggish. Some widgets also tend to be bigger offenders when it comes to memory use. So, in order to have a better and faster internet experience, just get rid of those widgets and also uninstall the apps that are not used actively.

8March ’17

Bridges - Connecting SRU

For internal circulation only

Colors Alumni Corner

Your CornerSomewhere down the road…

Grandiose

Remember when you were a kiddoAnd everything seemed interestingWhether the crawling of ants on the floorOr your maid going around dusting

The jump of joy on hearing your dad comeThe lump in the throat, before schoolThe wonder of staring through the car windowAnd make-believe games were so cool !

What happened when you grew up?Suddenly everything seems ‘okay’You don't feel sorry for the poor beggarYou don't feel the ‘excitement’ everyday

All you care about is the same routineAnd then you lie down and sleepCuriosity has become a thing of the pastIt's all about being serious and looking deep

You go through the same emotions everydayRegardless of how people around are faring Somehow it has become too costly to 'feel'Somewhere down the road. We stopped caring

.. . We stopped caring

Dr. Akshay Singh, II yr., M.D. Psychiatry

· Dr. P. Praveen Raj (Alumni - MS Surgery 2006-2007) has

been one of the editors for the book, 'Bariatric Surgical

Practice Guide' published in Feb. 2017 by Springer

· Ms. Ragini Mohanty (Alumni - MBA 2004-2006) was

awarded 'The Distinguished Professor Award' by the

Technology Forum, IIT, Mumbai for demonstrating

innovative and outstanding teaching methodology,

mentoring and networking academia in Jan. 2017

· Sri Ramachandra Speech & Hearing Alumni Association

(SRSHAA) sponsored 80% of the course fees

(Rs.53,600 for 40 SLHS students, 2016-2017 batch

from Oct. 2016 to Jan. 2017

Ms. V. M. Divya Sri, I yr., BDS

rdThe 73 Bridges Monthly Book Review was held on 03.03.'17

Book : When Breath Becomes Air

Author : Paul Kalanithi

Reviewed by : Dr. J. Nimeshika, Medical Officer, SRH

Forthcoming Bridges Monthly Book Review

Apr. 2017 : Vandhargal Vendrargal by Madhan

Reviewer : Prof. H. Thamizhchelvan, Dept. of Oral Pathology, Faculty of Dental Sciences.

¯ýÛ¼ý ¿¡ý

§¾¡øÅ¢

¯Ä¸õ À¼÷ó¾¢Õ츿¡ýÌ ÍÅÕìÌû «¨¼ò¾¡§Â!¯½÷׸¨Ç Á¨ÈòЦÀ¡öÓ¸õ «½¢Âî ¦ºö¾¡§Â!¿£ ±ØôÒõ þ¨ºì¸¡¸¸¡ò¾¢Õì¸ ¦ºö¾¡§Â!±Ø¾ §ÅñÊ ¨¸¸¨Ç¯ý¨É ÅÕ¼î ¦ºö¾¡§Â!

¿¡ý Å¢¨Ç¡¼ ¿ñÀ÷¸û ¸¡ò¾¢Õ츿¡ý ÀÊì¸ áĸõ ¸¡ò¾¢Õ츿¡ý §Àº ¯È׸û ¸¡ò¾¢Õ츿¡ý ÅÇà ¿¡Î ¸¡ò¾¢Õ츧¿Ãò¨¾ ¦¾¡¨Äò§¾§É ¨¸ô§Àº¢Ô¼ý!

Ms. Divya Thirunavakarasu, III yr., MBBS

Åñ½ì¸ðʼí¸Ç¢ý ÅÇ÷ ¾É¢ø§¾¡üÚô§À¡ÉÐ ÀͨÁ.

Dr. B. SreelekhaReader, Faculty of Nursing