Various forms of information

Information takes various forms based on the container it is placed.  Container can be books, news papers,  journals, magazines, blogs, wiki etc. It get manifested in various ways depending upon the content and container type.

It gets diluted if it is placed inside the existing content in a container OR becomes a detailed information. Information also gets modified, distilled, filtered before it takes the final shape of a container.

The other processes which information goes through are evaporation (if it is not stored in the container), centifugation, sublimation , crystallization, decantation. It gets contaminated OR becomes purified. It can be original (research), copied, pasted, replicated, distorted,plagiarized and numerous other forms. If it gets digested it becomes knowledge provided what you carry with you...Good or Bad. If you carry good container it makes you good but if you have a bad taste even the useful information becomes useless for you.

All I wish to say in my this posting is to carry and transfer the best information you have to build a knowledge society.

NB:  I am a learner I'm learning from you and if I made a mistake in my writing please forgive.
Writing without giving credit to the creator is a sin often I have done in many of my past postings. Sorry for that. I am learning ethics, copyright etc all from you and I love you for helping me at every move.

National Librarians' Day

Each year August 12th is being celebrated as National Librarians' Day in India, in  fond remembrance of Father of Library Science, Padmashree Dr SR Ranganathan's birthday. This day is celebrated with great fervor; various programs, seminars are  organized nationwide.  Some display by portraying 'His' picture, some represent by embedding quotations about libraries, importance of books on the walls etc.,What we do is we try to highlight the value of libraries, librarians and library supporters in some or the other way.

“Service to the Humanity" has always been our motto . “While this aspect has never changed, libraries have grown and evolved in how we provide for the needs of every member of the community.” 

To this certainly, Dr. Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan  five Laws of Library Science1931 have always been our inspiration to carry out 'good work'.

1. Books are for use
2. Every reader his book
3. Every book its reader
4. Save the time of the reader
5. The library is a growing organism

These laws are UNIVERSAL & have been modified in various ways in this digital world but the central theme being to serve our users..

Libraries today are more than repositories for books and other resources. They are the heart of their institutions, communities, campuses, and  schools. Libraries are deeply committed to the places where their patrons live, work and study.  Libraries are trusted places where everyone in the community can gather to reconnect and reengage with each other to enrich and shape the community and address local issues.

Librarians work with the support of administrators, teachers, students and the public. We the librarians at large, try to discover what our communities needs are and meet them whether through offering print, e-books or offering information literacy classes. We help the job seekers or those to support early literacy, librarians listen to the community they serve, and they respond.

With this posting, I wish all my professional friends 'A very Happy Librarians Day'

National Organ Donor Day-6th August,

Medicine has progressed leaps and bounds via transplant surgery in the present day. Organ donation after brain death can save the life of nine persons and improve the lives of many more.
However, due to prevalence of myths, superstitions and lack of awareness in India, a majority of people do not prefer this noble gift of life for others.
According to M. C. Misra, chief of the Jai Prakash Narayan Apex Trauma Centre at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the donor scene in India is very "dismal" . He stated that in in western countries around 70-80 percent of people pledge their organs, in India only about 0.01 percent do so.

Hope these efforts by GOI., media etc. will bring public awareness about brain death and motivate them for organ donation. As promoting deceased donation helps in kidney, liver, heart, pancreas and lungs transplants, facilitating the lives of many patients. Someone rightly said "I am happy to know that my husband is today alive in not one but seven people"

Compiled from various sources: TOI, HT, Daijiworld

What makes my country unique ?

There are 1,683 different spoken languages in India where every 2,000-5,000 km the language, clothes and food changes dramatically and this richness, diversity cannot be found anywhere else.
AND 'love' is our universal language that binds us together. Isn't amazing !

Source: TOI

 Search strategy on PubMed for 'future role of librarians/libraries in health sector' 

librar* AND (health OR medical OR hospital) AND(future OR role* OR ‘‘21st century’’)’

Vice President Addresses 'Golden Jubilee Celebrations of PGIMER, Chandigarh

Report by India Education bureau, Chandigarh: Vice President M. Hamid Ansari has said that a healthy population is a fundamental ingredient of inclusive development and nation building. Universal access to quality health care is not just a social imperative; it is a necessary condition for economic progress and prosperity. Addressing at the “Golden Jubilee Celebrations of Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh” at Chandigarh today, he said that an unhealthy population imposes enormous social and economic costs on society and hinders sustainable development. 

Details at: http://indiaeducationdiary.in/Showlatest.asp?newsid=23893

June 26 is the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1987,
Today, there is an alarming new drug problem; demand has soared for substances not under international control. Therefore, the 2013 UNODC global awareness campaign "Make health your 'new high' in life, not drugs" aims to inform the public, and particularly young people, about the harmful effects of new psychoactive substances (NPS). Sold openly, including through the internet, these substances, which have not been tested for safety in humans, can be far more dangerous than traditional drugs.
Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/drugabuseday/2013/highinlife.shtml

A relevant article on drug abuse in India--
Drug Trafficking and Narco-terrorism as Security Threats: A Study of India's North-east

Ningthoujam Koiremba Singh
and William Nunes

From India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs
(Volume 69 Issue 1, March 2013)

In India, especially the North-east Region is encountering serious threats emanating from drug trafficking, consumption and its counter-effects. Drug transit, drug use and drug addiction, subsequently, led to an increased amount of HIV/AIDS infections in Manipur. By looking at the alarming condition of drug abuse, the state government has banned drugs under the Prevention of Narcotic and Psychotropic Drug Abuse Act of 1985. Some of the reasons why drug use is so rampant are as follows: a large youth population, a lot of them with Westernised values, traditionally liberal attitudes to relationships and free lifestyle, widespread unemployment and lack of future prospects in an insurgency-ridden region, among others.

 Security issues in international relations, particularly during the era of the Cold War, were and had been dominated by the realist paradigm which saw the preservation of the state from external threat. Such a conception of security provided a very myopic and narrow understanding of the security problem of states, particularly smaller states. During the past decade, attempts are being made to broaden the security agenda to include not only military but also other sectors: political, economic, societal and ecological. Furthermore, with globalisation and the opening up of the economy has provided scope for cross-border migration and also illicit trade, especially narcotics, terrorism and a dangerous mix of both: narco-terrorism. This article will throw a light on the non-traditional security threats problem and issues of illicit drug trafficking and narco-terrorism in North-east India particularly in the case of Manipur.

Source: Sage Publication

Narcotics Control Bureau of India is involved in combating abuse of and illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances to make India a drug free society

Fierce battle of rain, landslide took off peoples' life in Kedarnath

Earlier heat stoke took of lives and now the worst rains at Uttrakhand.

Standing at a height of 11,760 feet and surrounded by majestic snow-capped peaks, the holy town of Badri Kedarnath was a picture of devastation after torrential rains in the eastern Himalayas breached a glacier, flooded mountain rivers and triggered scores of landslides on June 16, 2013. Many local residents, tourists to this very picturesque region, and Hindu pilgrims to Kedarnath and Badrinath – are dead or missing. A massive rescue operation is under way to reach survivors in the flood-hit Indian state of Uttarakhand, where at least 150 people have died. More than 50,000 people are stranded after the floods swept away buildings.
The horrific disaster, described by some as a ‘Himalayan tsunami’, was triggered by excessively heavy rainfall of more than 220mm in a region home to the headwaters of the river Ganges. The major cause of the devastation of Kedarnath town was the breaking of the Kedar Dome, a glacier-like body that caused a rupture of the Charbari lake reservoir less than 6km from the shrine. Locals said a huge rock as high as the temple broke away from the Kedar Dome and got stuck some distance behind the shrine.
Source: http://www.oshonews.com/2013/06/badri-kedarnath/

Was it a manmade disaster?  “It was a temple. Now it is not even a home.”

Intense Heat Wave

Heat wave conditions have claimed the lives of over 500 people in India since April. India’s Department of Disaster Management reported that 524 people have died of sunstroke since April 1. The Indian Meteorological Department said tomorrow’s forecast called for clear skies and continued heat, warning that “the heatwave will continue.”

The Times of India reported that the state of Hyderabad’s 500 sunstroke deaths in just three days is the highest such death toll in recent history.

New Delhi saw 43 degrees C (or over 109 degrees Fahrenheit) today, western states such as Gujarat saw highs between 116-118 degrees Fahrenheit, and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh hit 45 C (113 F). This state is one of the nation’s poorest, with 190 million people. Its energy infrastructure is inadequate to the demand of so many residents trying to cool themselves. Since pumps are often required to provide water, this also means that a power outage comes with a water outage. Angry residents attacked power company officials and even set fire to a power station. For the rest of the population, power outages combined with humidity caused most people to stay indoors.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org/ ( May 29, 2013)

One of the article that you may be interested  in reading about is 'From bibliometrics to altmetrics :
A changing scholarly landscape

Excerpts;

When future Science Citation Index founder Eugene Garfield first came up with the idea of journal impact factor in 1955, it never occurred to him “that it would one day become the subject of widespread controversy.”

Today, techniques for measuring scholarly impact—traditionally known as bibliometrics —are well known for generating conflict and concern, particularly as tenure-track scholars reach beyond previously set boundaries of discipline, media, audience, and format. From the development of more nuanced academic specialties to the influence of blogs and social media, questions about the scope of scholarly impact abound, even as the pressure to measure such impact continues unabated or increases. 

Read complete article at: http://crln.acrl.org/content/73/10/596.full

‘Malnutrition, quit India’ movement

"Man is guided by the stomach. He walks and the stomach goes first and the head afterwards. Have you seen that? It will take ages for the head to go first"-Swami Vivekananda

The dark age is almost over with the Ministry for Women and Child Development (MWDC), Government of India, having released a campaign against the spread of malnutrition in India.

The campaign, conceived by Prasoon Joshi of McCann Worldgroup, is titled 'Malnutrition Quit India'.
The campaign was launched on 19 November 2012 by president Pranab Mukherjee. It has been two years in the making now, and will roll out over 36 months across four stages by way of 40 AVs in 18 languages.

Mukherjee said, “Every second child in India suffers from malnutrition, and 42.5 per cent Indian children are its victims. These figures are a wakeup call and we must do our utmost at a time when Indian economy is on a strong growth trajectory. Creating public awareness on the different dimensions of malnutrition is a key requirement and I hope the campaign creates an enabling social environment to not only understand but also take informed collective action.”

On the campaign route, Prasoon Joshi, president, McCann Worldgroup, South Asia, said, "The biggest challenge was to present this very complex problem in as simple and idiomatic a language as possible. There was a lot of knowledge to be assimilated, simplified and then broken into easy action points that needed to not only be imbibed but also actioned. The campaign required tremendous bandwidth, and in that McCann formulated not a campaign but a movement: Malnutrition Quit India."

Aamir Khan has been made the face of this campaign for it to go beyond barriers of languages and cultures.(He is also brand ambassador for UNICEF malnutrition elimination cause) In stage one, the campaign would focus on generating awareness on the issue and raise alarm. The second stage would seek involvement of the masses; while stage three will attempt to popularise the message. And a stage four of the campaign will evoke the need to take necessary action.

Source:www.campaignindia.in/

           Applicable and ideal for libraries

OPEN DATA

Just like open access, now the term 'open data' is gaining momentum. It is about-- certain data that should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. It is a data bank which is accessible to all and purpose being to strengthen the statistics of a country that is to enhance and utilize data for scientific research.

U.S site on open data:http://www.data.gov/opendatasites
UK site on open data: http://data.gov.uk/
Indian site ....;http://www.data.gov.in/

Another useful site that I came across is Open Government Platform - OGPL is to promote transparency and citizen engagement-a joint initiative taken up by India and United States to promote transparency and greater citizen engagement by making more government data, documents, tools and processes publicly available.

India develops affordable vaccine for rotavirus diarrhoea
 New Delhi: Indian scientists have developed an affordable vaccine that has shown strong efficacy in preventing rotavirus diarrhoea, the most severe and lethal cause of childhood diarrhoea that kills over 100,000 children annually.


The vaccine `Rotovac` is the outcome of public-private partnership between the Indian government`s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and pharma company Bharat Biotech.

Once licensed by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), the vaccine will cost around Rs.54 per dose compared to the currently available vaccine which costs Rs.2,250 per dose. Each child needs to take three doses as part of vaccination.

"This is an important scientific breakthrough against rotavirus infections, the most severe and lethal cause of childhood diarrhoea, responsible for approximately 100,000 deaths of small children in India each year and rotavirus vaccine can save 60,000 deaths," said DBT Secretary K. Vijay Raghavan.

"The clinical results indicate that the vaccine, if licensed, could save the lives of thousands of Indian children who get rotavirus diarrhoea every year," he said.

As part of clinical trials, 7,000 infants from low income families in Delhi, Pune and Vellore were administered the vaccine.

"The clinical trials show that the vaccine is efficacious in reducing severe rotavirus diarrhoea by 56 percent during the first year of life, with protection continuing into the second year of life while it reduces the deaths by over 75 percent," said M.K. Bhan, former DBT secretary and currently advisor to the Indian Academy of Paediatrics.

The vaccine originated from an attenuated (weakened) strain of rotavirus that was isolated from an Indian child at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi in 1985-86.

"This is the first time that India has developed a vaccine and it is totally indigenous as strain was taken from an Indian infant, the vaccine was manufactures in India and clinical trials were also done in India," said Bhan.

"With its low price and strong efficacy, the vaccine has the potential to significantly reduce the incidence of severe diarrhoea due to rotavirus among children in India. It can also help in reducing infant deaths in other developing countries," he added.
The oral vaccine can be given alongside routine immunization vaccines like polio vaccine and others.

"It represents the successful research and development of a novel vaccine from the developing world with global standards," said Krishna M. Ella, chairman and managing director of Bharat Biotech.

Source-IANS

Information on web- Ophthalmology in India led me to the following important sites

All India Ophthalmological Society: It is the largest association of eye surgeons in India & second largest in the world with nearly 16,000 members. The AIOS was established in the year 1930.The objectives of the society are cultivation and promotion of the study and practice of ophthalmic sciences, research and man-power development with a view to render service to the community and to promote social contacts among ophthalmologists of the country. 
 The Indian Journal of Ophthalmology (ISSN 0301-4738) or IJO, is the official scientific journal of the All India Ophthalmological Society (AIOS),
 Ocular times is a bi-monthly magazine published by Axiom Communications for the ophthalmic community exclusively. Their mission is to serve you by sharing the latest clinical updates, practical interests like case conference, grand rounds or current treatment protocols, medico-legal aspects, latest research papers, cutting-edge technology  and many, many more.

Little on the  articles that I randomly found on Internet-
1.Sushruta: the father of Indian surgery and ophthalmology.
2. An evaluation of medical college departments of ophthalmology in India and change following provision of modern instrumentation and training
3.Ophthalmic research and publication in India: Where do we stand?