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Our Campus Our Campus Newsletter of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (DU) January 2019
Our CampusOur Campus
Newsletter of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (DU)
January 2019
From the Editor’s Desk
Congratulations
Letters to the Editor
Bridges Committee
Patron:
Shri. V. R. VenkataachalamChancellor
Advisory Board:
Prof. P. V. VijayaraghavanVice-Chancellor
Prof. K.V. SomasundaramProfessor of Eminence &Advisor (Academic)
Prof. S. RangaswamiProfessor of Eminence inMedical Education
Editor-in-Chief:
Dr. Sheela Ravinder S.
Editor:
Ms. Hemalatha C. R.
Co-Editor:
Prof. Antony Leo Aseer P.
Editorial Board:
Dr. 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.
Beloved Readers,
Let us stay connected…
Pongal celebration in the campus every year is a time of great camaraderie and joy
shared among the students, faculty and staff. These festivals with various games showcasing
our culture and events to evoke the talents of students & faculty are valued moments that
help us to establish unity and nurture our relationships.
The student research convention program – ANVESHAN was a good platform to
develop innovation & creativity among students, integrate ideas & learned concepts and gain
experience in working together in an interdisciplinary setting.
Soul to soul concludes with the comprehension that we need to evolve to the next higher
level of consciousness and merge with the divine soul within us. The emergence of
consciousness into higher stages shall encompass the transcendence of self-limiting
psycho-spiritual aspects of lower stages to attain dimensional awareness. Let us absorb
the mantra for evolution: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are
spiritual beings having a human experience” and try to evolve & achieve complete
enlightenment.
Sheela Ravinder S. Editor-in-Chief
Dear Editor,
It gives me great pleasure to read our monthly newsletter – Bridges. The Happenings in the campus
are presented concisely and special events in the past can be relived through memories.
It serves as a unique platform to share information across the university and also to showcase
our hidden talents. I congratulate the Bridges team for creating a keen interest among the readers.
I wish the Bridges team success in all future endeavors and kudos for their sincere efforts in
maintaining the quality of the newsletter.
Ms. Cecyli C., II yr., M. Sc. Nursing
Mr. Anand Kumar A.Senior PhotographerSRIHER (DU)
Bridges
Cover Photo Courtesy:
Dr. Jayakumar M.Associate Dean - Super Specialty Studies
Mr. Prabakaran MathiyazhaganAssistant Director (International Relations)
Bridges
t h7 Sri Ramachandra Pathology Annual Rapid R e v i e w C o u r s e ( S P A R R C ) w a s conducted by the Dept.
thof Pathology from 4 to th10 Jan. 312 delegates
from all over the country participated.
Fa c u l t y o f D e n t a l Sciences conducted a seminar
thon 19 Dec. by Dr. S. M. Balaji, Director, B a l a j i D e n t a l & Craniofacial Hospital, Chennai & Member, Dental Council of India. 420 students and faculty members including anti-ragging committee members of our University attended.
on
Anti-Ragging
Measures
Faculty of Nursing
organized the th th on 8 & 9
Jan. with the theme, 'Family Nursing: Way Forward to Susta in Excellence.' Dr. S. Ani G r a c e K a l a i m a t h i , R e g i s t r a r , T h e
Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council was the chief guest. The conference included four plenary sessions with 13 topics and 50 paper presentations. 320 delegates including faculty members, nurses and students attended.
th4 National
Conference
Happenings
Republic Day Celebrations
Basic Life Support
Technique Training
Program was held on t h13 Dec. for NSS
v o l u n t e e r s . 2 4 0
volunteers benefited.
Faculty of Pharmacy organized the
on the theme, 'Declining Standards of Higher Education - Strategies for its Improvement' on
th 5 Jan. The resource person was Prof. S. H. Ansari, Former Vice-Chancellor, Director-cum-Dean, School of Open and Distance Learning, School of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Jamia Hamdard University, New Delhi. 300 delegates attended.
Prof. S. S. K . M a r t h a n d a m Endowment Oration
Dept. of ENT, Head & Neck Surgery along with the Dept. of SLHS
o r g a n i z e d t h e
of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and
thResearch (CLIPS) on 19 Jan. The chief guest was Dr. G. Selvarajan, Additional Director of Medical Education, Govt. of Tamil Nadu. 380 implantees and their family members attended.
t h1 3 Anniversary of Cochlear Implant Program
Dept. of Biochemistry a long wi th the Sr i R a m a c h a n d r a Laboratory Ser vices c o n d u c t e d
- an International Conference on ‘Obesity - Metabolic
rd thEnigma’ from 3 to 5 Jan. Dr. J. Radhakrishnan, Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare Department, Govt. of Tamil Nadu was the chief guest and Dr. K. K. Ramalingam, Chairman - KKR ENT Hospital & Research Centre, Chennai was the special guest. 274 delegates across India
ndattended. A pre-conference workshop was also organized on 2 Jan. and 75 delegates benefited.
BIOMETCON 2019
Bridges
Fa c u l t y o f D e n t a l Sciences organized a
t ho n 9 N o v . b y
Mr. V. Iraimudi, CEO, Graft 3D and Mr. Shaji, 3D Specialist, Vel Tech University Technology-based Incubator Facility. 30 representatives from the Depts. of Radiology, Orthopedics, Genetics, Biomedical Engineering, Spine Surgery, Cardiology, Urology, ENT, Pulmonology and Sports Medicine attended.
Sensitization Workshop on 3D Medical Modeling
The
was organized by S R I H E R ( D U ) . Dr. U. Suryanarayana M u r t y, D i r e c t o r - National Institute of
Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER-Guwahati), Dept. of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Govt. of India delivered the oration on 'Integrated Information
thSystem for the Control of Vector-borne Diseases' on 10 Dec. Dr. Palaniyandi, Representative of GCIM Alumni explained the genesis of GCIM and Alumni Endowment. 40 GCIM alumni members and 300 faculty members & students attended.
th6 Government College of Integrated M e d i c i n e ( G C I M ) Alumni Endowment Oration
The above teams will represent our university in the zonal level ANVESHAN-2019 to be held at Vignan's Foundation for Science, Technology nd rd& Research (Deemed to be University), Guntur, Andhra Pradesh on 22 and 23 Feb.
Student Name
Ms. Manjusha Mullappali P., III yr., MD, Pathology
Ms. Hamsalatha S., IV yr., B. Sc. BMS &Mr. Yogesh Kumar R., CRRI
Ms. Mubeena S., Ph. D. Research Scholar
Ms. Janani V., I yr., MPT
Ms. Manjusha A. & Ms. Dhanya Shri M., CRI
Title of Research
Clinico-pathological importance of rapid masson trichrome stain on frozen tissues
2-Channel ECG prototype
Peptide enhanced nanofiber scaffolds for tissue engineering
Effectiveness of 'trigger release brace' on hand grip strength in lateral epicondylalgia
Micro-guided Endodontics - A new beginning
Faculty / Department
Pathology
Biomedical Sciences, Technology & Research and Medicine
Centre for RegenerativeMedicine & Stem Cell Research, CRF
Physiotherapy(Orthopedics & Traumatology)
Conservative Dentistry & Endodontics
ANVESHAN - Student Research Convention 2019 th was organized on 11 Jan. to identify innovative research talent among young researchers of SRIHER (DU). Prof. Guhan Jeyaraman, Dept. of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology & Co-ordinator, Incubation Cell, IIT-M, Chennai was the chief guest. 84 groups consisting of 220 UG & PG students and research scholars across various faculty presented their research projects as printed/E-posters and models. The projects were evaluated by Dr. Thangam Menon, Former Director, IBMS, University of Madras, Dr. S. Meenakshi Sundaram, Professor, Centre for Biotechnology, Anna University and Prof. Mathangi Chandrasekhar, Dept. of Physiology, Chettinad Academy of Higher Education & Research, Kelambakkam. The five best presentations selected were:
The alumni chapter of Faculty of Dental Sciences conducted anston 1 Jan. Dr. M. J. Ramakrishnan, Former Principal,
Faculty of Dental Sciences shared his memories. A family get-together was also organized at Radisson Blu, Egmore. 70 alumni from all over the country attended.
Alumni Meet
Dept. of SLHS observed the
with
t h e t h e m e , ' C r e a t i n g
Awareness about Speech
and Hearing Problems' from th th10 to 15 Dec. The events
included:
· Free screening - 1782 individuals benefited
· Distribution of flyers
· Display of posters
· Social media campaign
National Speech & Hearing
Awareness Week 2018
Bridges
Date Event
28.12.'18 CDE on 'Horizons beyond BDS' by Dr. Mythili Srinivasan, Director, Salivary Research and Immune Therapeutics, School of Dentistry, Indiana University, USA
24.12.'18 Guest lecture on 'Role of Molecular Biology Techniques (OMICS) in Enabling Risk Assessment for Periodontal Diseases' by Prof. Purnima Kumar, Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
15.12.'18 CDE on 'Multi – Modality Management in Oral Cancer' at Dr. Rela Institute & Medical Centre, Chennai
st· Dr. Sharada T. Rajan, Assoc. Prof. - 1 Best Poster (Faculty category)
nd· Dr. Ashwini P. & Dr. Lalita Sai, PGs – 2 Best Poster (Student category)
13.12.'18 Mr. Ajith Kumar L. & Ms. Abisha Jayaraman, BPT interns won the best poster award at the International Conference on Recent Updates in Physiotherapy - 'EYAN 2018' held at SRM College of Physiotherapy, Chennai
08.12.'18 CME on 'Forensic and Medico-legal Education’& 09.12.'1807.12.'18 Dr. Sridevi Padmanabhan, Head, Dept. of Orthodontics has been elected as the Honorary
rdto Secretary of the Indian Orthodontic Society (2018-2021) at the 53 Indian Orthodontic09.12.'18 Conference held at Kochi
07.12.'18 Dr. P. S. Haritha, Assoc. Prof. won the first prize in paper presentation (research category) at therdto 53 Indian Orthodontic Conference held at Kochi
09.12.'18th07.12.18 The 8 UG Pedodontics Convention was held at Sree Balaji Dental College & Hospital, Chennai.
Best Poster - CRIsst
· Ms. Janvi M. Gandhi & Ms. Simran Jindal – 1 place st
· Ms. Ramyaja C. & Mr. Rajashena S. P. N. – 1 place nd
· Ms. Dhivya V. & Ms. Shalini V. – 2 place rd
· Ms. Jeyvarshini K. & Ms. Keerthana K. – 3 place st
· Ms. Indhra S. R. & Ms. Eileen Mary V. C. – 1 place rd
· Ms. Aksshaya R. & Ms. Jesshriya R. – 3 place rd
· Ms. Soneya A. & Ms. Sindhu S. – 3 place
06.12.'18 PERIO BUZZ at SRM Dental College & Hospital · Ms. Aarthi S. & Ms. Saranya S., CRIs – Best poster· Ms. Aarthi S., Ms. Ramyaja C. & Ms. Sasti Gayatri, CRIs – Runner-up - Quiz
Department/Faculty
Dental Sciences
Periodontology
Oral Pathology
Physiotherapy
Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
Orthodontics
Orthodontics
Pedodontics
Periodontology
Goose bumps are created when tiny muscles at the base of each hair known as arrector pili muscle, contract and pull the hair erect. The reflex is started by the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for many fight-or-flight responses.
Nerves and muscles that raise goose bumps also stimulate stem cells in the skin to enable hair follicles to grow hair. Ya-Chieh Hsu, a stem cell researcher at Harvard University at the joint meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology and the European Molecular Biology Organization claims that getting goose bumps when it is cold may encourage animals' fur to grow thicker, Hsu said.
Nerves that are part of the sympathetic nervous system — which controls pupil dilation, heart rate and other automatic processes — nestle next to stem cells that will create hair follicles, Hsu and her colleagues found. Usually nerves are wrapped in a protective coating called myelin, like electrical wire sheathed in plastic. But Hsu's group found that the nerves' ends were naked where they meet hair follicle stem cells, like wires stripped at the tips to make contacts with electrical nodes.
The nerves secrete the hormone, norepinephrine which is necessary for hair growth, the researchers found. These findings might help to explain why hair loss is a side effect of beta-blockers, which interfere with norepinephrine's action.
Sympathetic nerves next to hair follicles are also wrapped around tiny arrector pili muscles, which contract to make hair cells stand on end, causing goose bumps. Mice with mutations that prevented the muscles from growing also lacked the sympathetic nerves and did not show hair growth normally. Men with baldness also lack arrector pili muscles in scalps, suggesting that sympathetic nerves and goose bump–raising muscles may also be important in that type of baldness. Restoring the nerves and muscles may lead to new hair growth, Hsu said.
Source: Y. Shwartz et al. Beyond goosebumps: Interactions between the hair follicle, the arrector pili muscle, and the sympathetic nerve during development and hair follicle regeneration. American Society for Cell Biology/European Molecular Biology Organization (ASCB/EMBO) 2018 meeting. San Diego, December 9, 2018.
Believe it or NotGoose Bumps Boost Hair Growth
Did you know?
Bridges
Global NewsThe oldest plague bacteria ever found
A long-dead Scandinavian woman has yielded bacterial DNA showing that she contracted the earliest known case of the plague in humans. DNA extracted from the woman's teeth comes from a newly identified ancient strain of Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, the oldest ever found. The woman's bones, which date from 5,040 to 4,867 years ago, were found nearly 20 years ago in a mass grave at an ancient farming site in Sweden.
Teeth from an adult male in the same grave contain traces of the same plague variant, say evolutionary geneticist Simon Rasmussen of the University of Copenhagen. The fact that the plague DNA from the woman is better preserved was reported in the Journal Cell.
Comparisons of the newly found Y. pestis strain with other ancient and modern strains suggest that a plague epidemic emerged more than 5,000 years ago in densely populated farming communities in southeastern Europe. Then the plague spread elsewhere, including to Scandinavia via trade routes, Rasmussen's team concludes. That ancient epidemic apparently contributed to sharp population declines in Europe that began as early as 8,000 years ago.
In particular, the scientists suspect that an early form of plague developed among southeastern Europe's Trypillia culture between 6,100 and 5,400 years ago. Trypillia settlements were the first to bring enough people into close contact to enable the evolution of a highly infectious version of Y. pestis, the team suggests. Trading networks then transmitted the plague from Trypillia population centers, home to as many as 10,000 to 20,000 people, to West Asian herders known as the Yamnaya, the researchers argue. In this scenario, herders infected by the Trypillia people probably spread what had become a new strain of the plague both eastward to Siberia and westward to the rest of Europe, including Scandinavia. Yamnaya migrations to Europe roughly coincided with the rapid abandonment and burning of large Trypillia settlements, which probably occurred as a result of plague outbreaks, the scientists say.
Rasmussen and other investigators had previously suspected that Yamnaya herders brought early Y. pestis strains from Asia into Europe. “Now we can see that the plague was in Europe before the herders came,” Rasmussen says.
DNA comparisons let the researchers calculate that the Scandinavian woman's plague strain is the oldest of any Y. pestis variant identified so far. Based on a statistical model of how the bacterium evolved, the scientists estimate that the Scandinavian strain probably diverged from other Y. pestis forms around 5,700 years ago. A Eurasian plague variant previously dated to between 4,800 and 3,700 years ago — the oldest known until now — originated around 5,300 years ago, the team calculates. That's around the time Trypillia towns were abandoned, and Yamnaya herders trekked westward to Europe, Rasmussen says.
A form of the plague ancestral to present-day strains, which are mostly found in China, emerged in East Asia around 5,100 years ago, the team estimates. Still, archaeologists haven't found any sign of the plague bacterium at the Trypillia sites. Rasmussen and colleagues plan to look for Y. pestis DNA in human skeletons from settlements there.
The newly discovered plague variant fits the scenario that the researchers propose, says evolutionary geneticist Pontus Skoglund of the Francis Crick Institute in London. But it is also possible that centuries earlier, an as-yet-undetected Y. pestis variant spread through Eurasia and into Scandinavia, Skoglund says. Later, that strain could have given rise to Y. pestis strains that infected European farmers, Yamnaya herders and the Scandinavian woman.
Source: N. Rascovan et al. Emergence and spread of basal lineages of Y. pestis during the Neolithic decline. Cell. Published online December 6, 2018.
Alumni Corner
The Alumni Association of Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education & Research (DU) - Nursing Chapter conducted a multispecialty
sthealth camp on 1 Dec. at Elapakkam V i l l a g e n e a r A t c h a r a p a k k a m , Kanchipuram District.
Dr. Kanav Anand (Alumnus, M. D. Pediatrics
2005-2006), Pediatric Nephrologist at Sir Ganga
Ram Hospital, Delhi received a National Award
for Excellence in Healthcare in the field of
Pediatric Nephrology from Mr. Jagat Prakash
Nadda, Honorable Health Minister of India on th29 Dec.
Dr. Deepak Subramaniam (Alumnus, MBBS 1998-1999, M. S. General Surgery 2004-2005), Consultant General and Laparoscopic Surgeon at Fortis Malar Hospital has been selected as an Executive Committee Member of the Indo German Endo Laparoscopy Society.
[email protected] ’19 7
Participants in the dialogue:
Stephen Alter (SA), Julius Evola (JE) and Subramoniam Rangaswami (SR)
SR: Yes. I'll narrate Sri Aurobindo's sonnet Shiva
On the white summit of eternity
A single Soul of bare infinities,
Guarded he keeps by a fire-screen of peace
His mystic loneliness of nude ecstasy.
But, touched by an immense delight to be,
He looks across unending depths and sees
Musing amid the inconscient silences
The Mighty Mother's dumb felicity.
Half now awake she rises to his glance;
Then, moved to circling by her heart-beats' will,
The rhythmic worlds describe that passion-dance.
Life springs in her and Mind is born; her face
She lifts to Him who is Herself, until
The Spirit leaps into the Spirit's embrace.
SA: This is hard stuff SR, mystical!
SR: Yes, Sri Aurobindo's life-long work on Integral Yoga allowed him to realize the highest planes of consciousness he called
'supramental.' This is what he means by A single soul of bare infinities, and a mystic loneliness of nude ecstasy in the white summit of eternity. He
firmly believed that “Evolution is not finished; reason is not the last word nor the reasoning animal the supreme figure of Nature. As
man emerged out of the animal, so out of man the superman emerges.” The mystical-sounding lines in the sonnet tell us precisely that.
Of course, one needs to learn a lot more to get a glimpse of his Integral Yoga and how it helps in the evolution of the consciousness of
humanity and its transformation to a Divine Life.
JE: I guess it needs a firm foundation on Hindu philosophy to decipher the meaning of these lines.
SR: Not really Julius, what Sri Aurobindo says here is not based on any religious teachings. In the sonnet we read how when life springs in
her and mind is born, the mighty Mother (earthly consciousness) lifts Her face to Him who is Herself. What is meant here is reflection, the ability to
look within oneself until the Spirit leaps into the Spirit's embrace when the realization of the divine Spirit in the earthly Spirit occurs. That is
when the earthly Soul merges with the divine Soul – Soul to Soul. This, according to Sri Aurobindo, is the evolutionary destiny that awaits
humanity.
Postscript
Man is a transitional being; he is not final. As it did not begin with him, neither does it end with him. He is not its evident crown, not its highest issue, not the last
clear sum of Nature. Nature has not brought out in man her highest possibilities; she has not reached in him the supreme heights of consciousness and being; as
there was before him the infrahuman, the insect and animal, so there shall be after him the superhuman, the superman.
Man may himself become the superman, he may become all that he is not now; but for that he must exceed himself. It is not by clinging to his present imperfect
consciousness that he can take the next step in the evolution. He must discover and release the spiritual godhead within him, realise his divine possibilities, be
himself the giant potential something, the divine someone who has been struggling into emergence out of the original plasm that imprisoned it since began the
mystery of terrestrial Nature.
Sri Aurobindo
Concluded
Prof. S. Rangaswami,Professor of Eminence in Medical Education, SRMC & RI
Soul to SoulHimalayan journeys: Meta-dialogue – 26
Bridges
8January ’19 For internal circulation only
Colors
Marcescent
Citadel
Repeat, Rehearse, Move on
Poise
Bridges
Your Corner
Ms. Aamina Hyder, I yr., BDS
Ms. Jeeneet Kaur Kandhari, I yr., BDS
Ms. Ritika Baid, I yr., BDS
thThe 95 Bridges Monthly Book Review was held on 30.01.'19
Book : Sita - Warrior of Mithila
Author : Amish Tripathi
Reviewed by : Ms. Varsha Shankar, Intern, Dept. of SLHS
Forthcoming Bridges Monthly Book Review
Feb. 2019: Mahashweta by Ms. Sudha Murty
Reviewer : Ms. S. Kavya, I yr., M. Pharm.
She gazed at the incessant stretch of blooming rubiesSerene beauty, reinforced with timeBut beneath the velvet petals and queer tranquilityThe scent carried the apparent haunted line.
She dragged herself back home and scrutinized the mirrorAt the mask that guised her soul, stung and forlornHeart wrenched in pain, yet she faked a smileAnd chanted, 'Repeat, Rehearse, Move on’
No one had noticed her lonely silhouette Because the world had neither care nor timeManoeuvred by feigned yet callous indifference,That has puppeteered our worthless lives
Not too late, realization dawned upon herShe murmured 'No! I cannot go on'For now what the silver reflected, was a strangerYet she had to 'Repeat, Rehearse, Move on’
They laid the thorns with them velvet rosesWhen the lonely soul finally reached home As a penance for their failure to notice her painThat craved for vengeance, beneath her gravestoneOn her stone was etched that 'haunted' lineThat motto which steers all our livesNow t'was engraved, but with a change,'Repeat, Rehearse, Move on'
Ms. Lavanya Jeyakumar, I yr., MBBS
