Newsletter of Sri Ramachandra University

….Connecting SRU

January 2012

Our Campus Shades of Green

srubridges@gmail.com2January ’12

From the Editor’s Desk

Bridges - Connecting SRU

Bridges Committee

Patron:

Shri. V. R. VenkataachalamChancellor

Advisory Board:

Prof. S. Rangaswami

Prof. K.V. Somasundaram

Prof. Jayanthi Mohan

Editor-in-Chief:

Dr. Sheela Ravinder S.

Editor:

Ms. Hemalatha C. R.

Co-Editor:

Mr. Antony Leo Aseer P.

Editorial Board:

Mr. Abhinand P. A.

Dr. Archana P. Kumar

Mr. Babu Y.

Dr. Ganesh V.

Prof. Kalpana Suresh

Dr. Nithya Jagdish

Prof. Prakash Boominathan

Prof. Sandhya Sundaram

Ms. Sreelekha B.

Secretarial Assistance:

Ms. Stella Augustus

Ms. Geetha R.

Photography:

Mr. Anand Kumar A.

Art & Design:

Mr. Arunagiri S.

Printing:

Mr. Velayudam S.

Cover Photo Courtesy:

Ms. R. Sai Ashwinist1 yr., Pharm. D

Beloved Readers,

A new beginning is always exciting and as the cycle of season rings out the old and ushers

in the new, the advent of Pongal will pave way for new opportunities and good fortunes.

Philanthropy is almost the only virtue wherein our altruistic actions can bring about a personal

sense of reward and fulfillment. Such an event organized to care for the underprivileged,

afflicted with childhood cancer undergoing treatment at SRMC conveys that it's our heart in

giving that makes the difference. “If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one” said

Mother Teresa. So let's give from our hearts generously and share our possessions without

getting uptight about them.

Global news in this issue reveals the path-breaking discovery of ‘Super-Earths’ by NASA

which has recognized the first-ever planet - Kepler-22b - in a habitable zone outside our solar

system. Let's reveal to ourselves that we are not far from becoming super human beings by

focusing on the present while looking forward to the future and being resolute to do our best in

all our endeavors.

Let us stay connected…

Sheela Ravinder. S. Editor-in-Chief

Sri Ramachandra Hospital Pediatric Oncology receives donation

Sahaay 2011, a philanthropy event held at thChennai on 14 Dec, was organized by Samudhaaya

Foundation Trust managed by Padmashri Sudha Ragunathan. She donated 20 lakhs to the care of underprivileged children undergoingcancer treatment in Sri Ramachandra Hospital. Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Former President, chief guest handed over the cheque to Dr. Julius Xavier Scott, Pediatric Oncologist, SRU.

Rs.

The Foundation(A Foundation by ical students for emato- ncology in diatrics)

The Med HOPE Foundation - a student support group for cancer children, was started in 2011 by the interns of Sri Ramachandra Medical College with the aim to create awareness on childhood cancer. The foundation is run by the interns under the guidance of Dr. Julius Xavier Scott, Pediatric Oncologist. Cancer awareness & screening camps, blood donation camps and medical conference (HOPE 2011) were conducted by the foundation. It is presently sponsoring the education of a cancer survivor.

Contact details:Dr. Adanma Mobile : 97890 51135E-mail : adanma_mbbs@yahoo.co.inDr. GuhanMobile : 91765 71765 E-mail : guhanramamurthy@gmail.com

MedMed

HOPEH O PE

Happenings

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Bridges - Connecting SRU

The Indian Speech and

Hearing Association,

Tamil Nadu organized an

as part

of Speech and Hearing thAwareness Week on 18

Dec. at Marina Beach,

Chennai. Around 350

audiology and speech pathology professionals and students from

six institutions in Tamil Nadu participated. 120 Ramachandrites

from the Dept. of SLHS took part.

Awareness Walk

Faculty of Management Sciences celebrated its

th on 13 Dec. The Chief Guest Mr. Chandu Nair, Inter-national Management Consultant, Chennai delivered a lecture on ‘Corporate Expectations on B-School/Students and a Journey of a Start-up Entrepreneur’.Around 75 Ramachandrites attended.

th10 Anniversary

Workshop on was organized by SRU, a Pfizer-preferred th thResearch Center and Pfizer Ltd., Mumbai on 26 & 27 Nov. 150 participants from various

teaching institutions and hospitals attended.

Advanced Good Clinical Practice

Depts. of Oral Medicine & Radiology and Community Dentistry organized a

th th for the public from 24 – 26 Nov. Free registration along with treatment at nominal charges and follow-up for three months were offered to 977 registered patients.

Mega Dental

Camp

Faculty of Physiotherapy conducted a state level s y m p o s i u m o n

th on 10 Dec. 113 participants from various colleges in Tamil Nadu attended. Poster competitions were conducted.

E v i d e n c e - b a s e d Physiotherapy in Low

Back Pain

Dept. of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences observed the

th thfrom 7 to14 Dec. Lectures on voice care and noise pollution were given at Rotary Clubs and in a few schools in Chennai. Approximately 400 people visited ‘Hearing Express 2011’ stall and watched movies on speech and hearing disability.

Speech and Hearing Awareness Week

Dept. of Pharmacy

Practice organized a

Continuing Community

Pharmacy Activity on

A I D S A w a r e n e s s

Program as part of the

thon 10 Dec. A skit on pharmacists’ role in

healthcare and HIV awareness counseling were conducted. Around

100 patients benefited.

Go lden Jub i l ee o f

Nat iona l Phar macy

Week Celebrations 2011

Dept. of Pediatrics r dc o n d u c t e d t h e 3

Ramachandra Intensive Pediatric PG Exam Review - on

rd th3 and 4 Dec. Faculty from medical institutions in Tamil Nadu and Kerala offered learning

sessions for over 200 students from all over South India.

RIPE 2011

January ’12

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lJBAS-2011 Inter-collegiate Staff Tournament was conducted by JBAS College for thWomen, Chennai on 13 Dec. SRMC & RI team won in several events.

Team Event Position

Men Volleyball WinnersCarrom Winners

Women Throwball WinnersTable Tennis Runners-upTennis Runners-up

stlMr. Ebin, IV yr. B.Sc.(N) won the 1 place in 100m running competition conducted

th thduring XXIV SNA National Biennial Conference at Bengaluru from 25 to 30 Nov.

SportsFarewell

Ms. G. Sagunthala, Dept. of Public Health

Date Event

19.12.’11 Seminar on Research Evaluation Criteria by Dr. Annapoorna Mary, (our alumnus) Baptist College of Health Sciences, University of Tennessee, Memphis, USA

17.12.’11 Enlight ’11- CME on Low Vision Aids. An inter-collegiate quiz competition was conducted as part of the event

st11.12.’11 21 Annual Conference of Indian Association of Dermatologists, Veneorologists & Leprologists,Pondicherry branch.

stDr. Deepika Lunawat, I yr., MD won the 1 prize for case presentationstDr. Prithivan P., II yr., MD won the 1 prize for poster presentation

ndDr. Rahul Kumar Sharma, II yr., DDVL won the 2 prize and Dr. G. Prasanthi, III yr., MD rdwon the 3 prize for case study

ndDr. Rahul Kumar Sharma, II yr., DDVL & Dr. G. Prasanthi, III yr., MD won the 2 prize in Quiz competition. Dr. Rahul Kumar Sharma, II yr., DDVL was awarded the ‘Talent of Dermatology - Prof. Patrick Yesudian Award’ - Madras Club of Cutaneous Medicine

10.12.’11 Ms. Susha Prasad, CRI received the ‘Highest Scorer Award’ from the Indian Academy ofrdOral Medicine & Radiology at the 23 Indian Academy of Oral Medicine & Radiology,

Bangalore

02.12.’11 CNE - ‘Infertility Desire Fertility’. Emerging trends on management of infertility were highlighted

01.12.’11 Prof. J. Thanka, was conferred Fellowship of Indian College of Pathologists (FICP) at theth60 Annual Conference of Indian Association of Pathologists and Microbiologists

at Patiala, Punjab

28.11.’11 to NAPCON-2011, New Delhi. 30.11.’11 Prof. Priscilla Johnson received the ‘Lung India Award’ for the outstanding original article

published in Lung India, by the Indian Chest Society in the NAPCON

Dr. R. Padmavathi, Prof. & Head, received the ‘NAPCON Award’ for the best oral presentation

ndDr. S. Shanmugapriya, Asst. Prof. won the 2 prize for oral presentation

st26.11.’11 Ms. Divyasree Medikonda, final yr., B. Pharm won the 1 prize in the essay competition organized by the Tamil Nadu Pharmaceutical Sciences Welfare Trust

25.11.’11 to XXIV SNA National Biennial Conference, Bengaluru. st30.11.’11 Mr. Aravind Raj, Ms. Jiss and Ms. Reshma, IV yr., B.Sc.(N) won the 1 prize and

Ms. Annalakshmi M., Ms. Algaa J. M. and Ms. Sharmili M., III yr. General Nursing & Midwiferyndstudents won the 2 prize in poster presentation

Professor,

Department

Faculty of Nursing

Optometry

Dermatology

Oral Medicine &Radiology

Obstetrics &Gynecology Nursing

Pathology

Physiology

Physiology

Pathology

Faculty of Pharmacy

Faculty of Nursing

Bridges - Connecting SRU

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17.11.’11 CME on ‘Respiratory Health’. The speakers were Prof. S. Rangaswami, VC, SRU, Dr. Pajanivel, Assoc. Prof., Pulmonary Medicine, Perunthalaivar Kamaraj Medical College & RI, Puducherry and Dr. K. Srikanth, Prof. & Head, Dept. of TB & Respiratory Diseases, PSG Institute of Medical Sciences & Research, Coimbatore

04.11.’11 to Ms. S. Anushya, CRI received the Indian Society of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry rd06.11.’11 (ISPPD) Award for scoring the first mark in Pedodontics & Preventive Dentistry at the 33 ISPPD

National Conference in Mangalore

15.10.’11 Ms. S. Anushya, CRI received the Indian Society of Periodontology (ISP) Merit Award for thscoring the first mark in Periodontology at the 36 ISP Conference in Ahmedabad

The crèche in our campus was initiated for the welfare of the children of our faculty members and staff. The Dept. of Pediatrics started it in the year 1990 in the premises of the staff quarters. During 1992 to 1995 it functioned in the nurses' hostel. In 2003 – a small building was made available opposite the College of Nursing. The crèche was shifted to the Faculty of Allied Health Sciences Block in 2008.

It began with 20 children and gradually increased to 40 children in 2011. Their age ranges from six months to three years. A disciplined routine is followed in child care where there is time to play, feed, teach and sleep. Many nurses and baby-sitters have been appointed to take care of the children between 07.30 am to 07.00 pm. The parents provide the food and other needs for their children on a daily basis. SRU

thcrèche day is celebrated on 30 Sep.

Contact Details: Extn. 479, Faculty of AHS Block, Ground Floor.

Did You Know?Crèche

Global NewsTime to Say “Hello” to Our Extra terrestrial Buddies?

The most Earth-like planet ever has been discovered orbiting a Sun-like star, every 290 days 600 light years away. National Aeronautics and Space Administration has announced that the Kepler space telescope has recognized the first-ever planet - Kepler-22b - in a habitable zone outside our solar system. It is about 2.4 times the size of the Earth, putting it in a class known as 'super-Earths'. “We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler-22b,” said Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center. “We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface, it ought to have a nice temperature,” he said.

Kepler-22b sits in its star's so-called ‘habitable zone’, the region where liquid water could exist on the surface. Studies are on to determine if the planet is solid, like Earth, or more gaseous like Neptune. If Kepler-22b has a surface and a cushion of atmosphere similar to Earth's, its surface temperature would be about 22°C, about the same as a spring day in Earth's temperate zone.

This path-breaking discovery means that astronomers have seen the planet crossing in front of its star three times. However we are a long way from learning whether life actually exists there. Kepler is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours, and cost the US space agency about $600 million. NASA announced that Kepler has uncovered 1,094 more potential planets.

Source: Agence France-Presse, December 6, 2011

Physiology and Chest & TB

Pedodontics & Preventive Dentistry

Periodontics

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Bridges - Connecting SRU

January ’12

To get more out of life, we must first give more. Let us walk the extra mile in our career and personal lives. Going the extra mile may take the form of little things, but it means a lot. We inherently believe that if we do more than we are required to do, we are somehow making ourselves subservient to others. A person who does beyond what is assigned to him gives more and better service with a positive mental attitude.

The more energy we expend the more it benefits us. It inspires us to continuously seek new & better ways of rendering service and develop definiteness of purpose. When we deliver the best we possibly can, striving each time to surpass all our previous efforts, we exercise and strengthen our mind. No one ever attains eminent success by simply doing what is required of them; it is the amount and excellence of what is over and above the required that determines the greatness of a person.

Let us thank God every day for the fact that we have a job, a salary and opportunities to do our best. Let us exercise our privilege to go the extra mile, enjoy all the rewards and make ourselves so valuable in our work that eventually we will become indispensable. Observance of this brings not only financial rewards but also the reward of happiness and contentment.

Go the extra mile. It's never crowded – Author unknown

Happiness is...……in going the extra mile

Life on Earth began in water, and in order for plants to rise above

water to live on land, they had to develop a cuticle membrane that

would protect them from uncontrolled evaporation and dehydration. “In

our study we discovered a completely new gene that along with other

genes contributes to the formation of this cuticle,” said Prof. Eviatar Nevo

of the Institute of Evolution of the University of Haifa, Israel, who took

part in the study.

In the course of the doctoral research carried out by Guoxiong Chen,

which began at the University of Haifa in 2000 under the supervision of

Prof. Nevo, the Chinese doctoral student found a mutation of wild barley

in the Judean Desert that was significantly smaller than regular wild barley.

It was found that this mutation causes an abnormal increase in water loss

because of a disruption in the production of the plant's cutin that is secreted

from the epidermal cells.

“This is one of the genes that contributed to the actual eventuality of life on land as we know it today. It is a key element in the

adaptation process that aquatic plants underwent in order to live on land,” explained Prof. Nevo. According to him, once we fully

understand the mechanism behind the production of cutin, and discover genetic variants of the EIBI1 gene, we will have the ability to

enhance the cuticle formation of cereals like wheat and barley. This would make them more resistant to water loss and more durable in

the dryer conditions on land. “Genetic enhancement of cultivated plants to make them durable in dry and saline conditions can increase

food production around the world,” Prof. Nevo concluded.

Source: G. Chen, T. Komatsuda, J. F. Ma, C. Nawrath, M. Pourkheirandish, A. Tagiri, Y.-G. Hu, M. Sameri, X. Li, X. Zhao, Y. Liu, C. Li, X. Ma, A. Wang, S. Nair, N.

Wang, A. Miyao, S. Sakuma, N. Yamaji, X. Zheng, E. Nevo. An ATP-binding cassette subfamily G full transporter is essential for the retention of leaf water in both wild barley

and rice. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1108444108

Believe it or NotEvolution of Life on Earth: Newly Discovered Gene Sheds Light

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Bridges - Connecting SRU

January ’12

The management, faculty, students and staff of Sri Ramachandra University are immensely grieved th

on the sad demise of our beloved Professor Dr. D. Gnanaprakasam on the 10 January 2012.

On these sorrowful moments, we fondly recollect the immense contributions of Professor Gnanaprakasam as a great surgeon, a teacher and a most respected senior colleague in SRMC & RI.

After retiring from the Tamil Nadu Government service, Professor Gnanaprakasam joined Sri Ramachandra Medical College & Research Institute and officiated as Dean of Faculties from July 1992 to March 1999 and subsequently as Director and Advisor of Academic Administration.

Prof. Gnanaprakasam rendered his services as a Medical Officer, Army Medical Corps., Indian Armyfor five years in the 1960s.

The list of beneficiaries of his skill and knowledge will run into thousands and will include grateful patients and a large number of loving students who would forever remember him as an unforgettable teacher and mentor.

We share the grief and express our condolences to the family members of Prof. Gnanaprakasam.

We pray that his soul may rest in peace.

Fond Memories…

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8January ’12

Bridges - Connecting SRU

For internal circulation only

thThe Eleventh Bridges Monthly Book Review was held on 4 Jan.

Book : Instant Turnaround: Getting people excited about coming to work and

working hard

Author : Harry Paul & Ross Reck

Reviewed by : Ms. R. Sweytha, II yr., M.B.A

Forthcoming Bridges Monthly Book Review

Feb.’12 - The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of

DNA by James D. Watson

To be reviewed by Mr. P. A. Abhinand, Research Scholar, Dept. of Bioinformatics

Buds ‘n’ Blooms

Sristi

Colors

Your Corner

Dr. Sheela Ravinder S.Asst. Prof., Dept. of Physiology

Painting by Mr. S. Arunagiri, Senior Artist, SRU Ms. S. Jayarajini, Asst. Prof., Optometry

Lighter Moments

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