Low reflection lenses, high reflection mirrors in devices such as better binoculars and telescopes, colour changing paints, and inks may now be powered by a newly discovered property of the interaction between light and molecules. Bengaluru based scientists have found that UV and blue light combination reversibly switches the system between 3D and 1D photonic structure — a novel interaction that can help make tunable and effective optical devices.

In their quest to develop materials for tunable and effective optical devices, Scientists from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, have discovered that high levels of light in the blue wavelengths or actinic light lead to switching between two photo isomers — Chiral Nematic (Ch) and Twist Grain Boundary Smectic C* (TGBC*) which are liquid crystal phases possessing photonic structures in one and three dimensions, respectively. This work involving the research team of Rajalaxmi Sahoo, D.S. Shankar Rao, U.S. Hiremath, C.V. Yelamaggad, and S. Krishna Prasad from CeNS, has been published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.

The change occurs because of interactions between light and molecules leading to photoisomerization in which light of a specific wavelength (actinic light) can bend molecules with certain linking groups. A well-known example in this regard involves a change in the shape of a macromolecule of azobenzene derivatives from essentially linear to highly bent form when irradiated with Ultraviolet light (~ 365 nm). The phenomenon found by the CeNS involves reverse transformation on stimulation with blue light. This phenomenon is quite attractive to achieve photo-driven isothermal phase transitions in liquid crystal (LC) materials. Such photoresponsive LCs are attractive for applications, including flexible polarisers, patterned objects, logic devices, and energy harvesting materials.

The present study also shows that photonic wavelength variations of over 100 nanometres can easily be achieved reversibly within a few tens of seconds, a feature that can find applications ranging from low reflection lenses and high reflection mirrors to colour changing paints and inks. 

Lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death worldwide, is tough to detect at early stages, making it difficult to treat. Scientists may soon have a solution in the form of diagnostic therapy for lung cancer which paves the way for personalized medicine.

Recently researchers from Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India, have developed a theranostics (diagnostic therapy) drug candidate for lung cancer. The research work funded jointly by DST, BRICS Multilateral R&D Projects grant, and SwarnaJayanti Fellowship Grant was published in the journal Theranostics.

The selective recognition and imaging of oncogene specific non-canonical DNA secondary structures (G-quadruplex-GQ structures) holds great promise in the development of diagnostic therapy (theranostics) for cancer and has been challenging due to their structural dynamics and diversity.

Prof. T. Govindaraju, along with his team from JNCASR, developed a small molecule for selective recognition of BCL-2 GQ through unique hybrid loop stacking and groove binding mode with turn on far-red fluorescence response and anticancer activity demonstrating the potential as GQ-targeted lung cancer theranostics.

The JNCASR team reported the theranostic activity of TGP18 molecule by turn on fluorescence recognition of BCL-2 GQ through unique hybrid binding mode as well as its anti-lung cancer activity and tissue imaging potential. Their strategy of specific topology recognition through hybrid binding mode led to capitalize on the gains of oxidative stress and genome instability to kill lung cancer cells in vivo. In addition, TGP18 with turn on emission band at the lower edge of far-red to NIR spectroscopic window proved to be a viable probe for tumour tissue imaging. Collectively, theranostic agent TGP18 with outstanding biocompatibility showed in vivo tumor inhibition and tissue imaging, indicating excellent clinical translational potential.

G-quadruplexes (GQs) are non-canonical DNA secondary structures which regulate a wide range of cellular processes, including expression of several oncogenes. In cancer cells, stabilization of GQs leads to replication stress and DNA damage accumulation and therefore considered as promising chemotherapeutic target. Despite the significant attempts to combine therapeutic and diagnostic properties in a single formulation, there are no concerted reports on small molecule theranostics. Similarly, there are no molecules reported for the topology selective recognition of myriad of GQs, especially oncogenic GQs.

This study by the JNCASR team revealed that the selective recognition originating from the distinct loop structure of GQ that alters the overall probe interaction and binding affinity. TGP18 binding to anti-apoptotic BCL-2 GQ ablates the pro-survival function and elicit anti-cancer activity by inducing death in cancer cells. The JNCASR team deciphered that inhibition of BCL-2 transcription synergized with signalling cascade of nucleolar stress, DNA damage, and oxidative stress in triggering apoptosis signalling pathway. Intervention of GQ mediated lethality by TGP18 translated into anti-cancer activity in both in vitro 3D spheroid culture and in vivo xenograft models of lung and breast cancer with superior efficacy for the former. In vivo therapeutic efficacy, supplemented with tumor 3D spheroid and tissue imaging potential define the role of TGP18 in GQ-targeted cancer theranostics.

According to their findings, a remarkably lower dosage of TGP18 (0.5 mg/kg) showed anti-lung tumor activity similar to anticancer drug gemcitabine at a very high dose of 100 mg/kg. The therapeutic agent TGP18 was found to reach the target tumor site as monitored by its far-red imaging of the tumor tissue.

This methodology can be further exploited to develop cancer-type specific theranostic drugs with tremendous implications in personalized medicine. A patent application has been already filed for this invention.

Disclosing this here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and MoS Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that ISRO’s maiden mission to the Moon has sent images which show that Moon may be rusting along the poles.  The sign of this finding is that even though the surface of the Moon is known to have iron – rich rocks, it is not known for the presence of water and oxygen, which are the two elements needed to interact with iron to create rust, he said.    

Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) say that this could be because the Earth’s own atmosphere is lending a helping hand which, in other words, means that the Earth’s atmosphere could be protecting the Moon as well.  Thus, the Chandrayaan-1 Moon data indicates that the Moon’s poles are home to water, this is what the scientists are trying to decipher. 

Dr Jitendra Singh said, as for Chandrayaan-3 is concerned, the launch may now take place somewhere in early 2021.  Chandrayaan-3 will be a mission repeat of Chandrayaan-2 and will include a Lander and Rover similar to that of Chandrayaan-2, but will not have an orbiter. 

Meanwhile, preparations are going on for India’s first ever Human Space Mission Gaganyaan, said Dr Jitendra Singh.  The training processes and other procedures are also in place.

Constraints due to Covid pandemic led to some disruptions in the plan for Gaganyaan but efforts are going on to stick to the timeline of around 2022, he said. 

The 3^rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah is being celebrated during the month of September 2020. Every year the Poshan Maah is celebrated under POSHAN Abhiyaan (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment), which was launched in 2018. Ministry of Women and Child Development, being the nodal Ministry for POSHAN Abhiyaan, is celebrating the Poshan Maah in convergence with partner Ministries and departments, at  National, States/UTs, Districts, and grass root level. The objective of the Poshan Maah is to encourage Jan Bhagidaari, in order to create a Jan Andolan, for addressing malnutrition amongst young children, and women and to ensure health and nutrition for everyone.

The importance of Nutrition in our lives was recently emphasized by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in the recent edition of his popular programme “Mann ki Baat” on 30^th August 2020. The Prime Minister drew attention towards the role played by nutrition in helping children and students to attain their optimum potential. He also noted the efforts made during the past few years especially in villages where public participation in nutrition week & nutrition month (Poshan Maah) is converting nutrition awareness into a mass movement.

Smt Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Women & Child Development and Textiles had chaired an inter-ministerial meeting on 27^th August 2020 and Shri Ram Mohan Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development interacted with all States and UTs to secure convergent activities during Poshan Maah. Identification of Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) Children and their management and plantation of Poshan Vaatikas– Nutri gardens, will be undertaken as focus activities during Poshan Maah, along with awareness generation regarding importance of early breast feeding, Need for good nutrition during first 1000 days of life, measures for reducing Anaemia in young women and children etc.

All the stakeholder Ministries have expressed their commitment to the objective of Poshan Maah and planned activities to bring Nutrition in focus through their verticals. Department of School Education, Ministry of Education has asked States to conduct Nutrition e-quiz and Meme making competition amongst students. Ministry of Panchayati Raj is planning to conduct special Committee meetings in every gram Panchayat during the month. Ministry of Rural Development has advised States to promote Nutri-gardens with the support of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. Ministry of Ayush has offered to support building a healthy lifestyle by adopting Yoga and holistic nutrition. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also extended its cooperation for all the activities in the best possible manner. 

Considering the prevalent COVID situation in the Country, Ministry of Women and Child Development is encouraging all stakeholders to use digital platforms for celebrating Poshan Maah. Social media, online activities, Podcasts, and e-Samvaad etc will be used to disseminate knowledge and information about importance of Nutrition in our lives. Ministry is also hosting a Webinar series, in which subject experts and Health Professionals will throw light on important aspects of health and nutrition for women and children.

Union Environment Minister, Shri Prakash Javadekar will be chairing a webinar on the first-ever International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies tomorrow, September 7, 2020.

Shri Javadekar will also be reviewing the progress of the activities under National Clean Air programme (NCAP) during the course of the webinar. The webinar can be joined live on the following link :

The webinar will be joined by Principal Secretaries of the Urban Development Department and Environment Department of 28 states and 8 Union Territories. Commissioner of 122 cities as identified in NCAP programme will also participate.

It is noteworthy that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his address from the Red Fort on this Independence Day, had highlighted the need of “Holistic Improvement in Air quality” in 100 cities.

The General Assembly of United Nations on 19 December 2019 adopted a resolution to observe the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on 07th September every year starting from 2020.

“A healthy mind breeds a healthy body” – Zig Ziglar

When my friend recalled how her family reacted to the news of her anxious and depressive state of mind, it lead me to think that among many other things, Depression is still considered a taboo among many middle class Indian families. Coming from one, I could relate how and why her parents were more concerned about “what people will say?” rather than how to help their child. They further aggravated the situation by questioning how could she “get” such a thing when no one else did? It was a slap in the face for me as well, when on asking my family as to what their view were on depression, they responded by saying-” It’s all nonsense, you kids suffer from a little stress, and you name it as depression. We’ve seen tougher times than you, yet we never faced such an issue. You need to learn to be strong”. What my parents, and several other people fail to realize is that those suffering from depression, anxiety or stress, are not the victims, but fighters, who try to reason out with themselves that today is not the day to Quit.

World Health Organization defines depression as a common illness related to severe mental health issues, affecting approximately 264 million people, and resulting in the deaths of roughly 8,00,000 people every year due to suicide. Despite the presence of several effective treatments, most people in middle and low income countries do not receive or seek help for their disorders. The root cause of this problem has been linked to multiple factors, psychological, social or biological- surrounding the individual. The recent being the Covid-19 pandemic and its resultant effects on people from across the world. Millions lost their jobs while helplessly watching their savings dwindling away while being isolated from any social interaction. Those who lost their loved ones to this disease, lost their peace of mind as well. The result? – rise in cases of problems related to mental health.

In one of the surveys conducted by Sangath – an NGO dedicated to mental well being, surge in levels of stress and depression due to Corona virus were reported. This pandemic has caused a mayhem not only in terms of physical health issues, but also increased psychological trauma in many. Though it is understandable as to why anxiety levels are escalating, the growing cases are still of concern. Nearly half of American citizens complained of increased mental health related problems, with 43% Indians suffering from similar issues. The mere fact that people are losing interests in hobbies and are experiencing continuous drop in energy levels, indicate that work load or our fast paced lives, are not always responsible for depression.

The current scenario has forced the medical facilities to prepare themselves for not only the Covid pandemic,but also the behavioral issues associated with the mind. Instead of regarding it as a stigma, the need of the hour is to focus on solutions for this major problem. A mental disorder leaves a deep gash in the mind of the sufferers, leading to life long a impact. If we fail to do anything about this now, we will fail to control it in the future.

There has been good news in the area of coral conservation as a newly developed genotyping chip has been launched which is the first in its kind and has the potential to save corals by identifying them genetically.

The chip can differentiate between corals and the symbiotic algae which lives in corals, thus providing researchers in stepping towards restoration of genetic diversity of coral reefs. It will further help in extracting DNA and analysing the data from the corals. A paper which describes all about the chip in the Journal Scientific Reports.

It is also known as micro-array uses more than 30,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms which are locations present in a coral genome. A single letter in the DNA alphabet can vary among distinct corals. It was designed using Caribbean corals which can also be used to analyse Pacific species. The scientists are very enthusiastic with the arrival of the chip and are looking towards it as a game changer in the field of coral restoration. 

We all know that donating blood is one of the most noble causes on this earth and it helps in saving lives. According to American Red Cross, a single donation can save three lives. But blood donation also has some cons, which include:

Bruising, continued bleeding, dizziness, light- headedness, nausea, pain and physical weakness has been noticed in some of the cases. Though it is a safe process, there are some points which should be kept in mind before donation. Now, we will look from a closer perspective at how blood donation can negatively affect those who are donating.

The first point is bruising, there is a fair amount of chance that a donor can get bruised during insertion of a needle, which ranges from yellow to purple to blue. Where normal bruises are okay and we should not worry about and can treat it with ice packs but if the bruise changes its colour, then we should definitely go to visit the doctor.

The second demerit is continued bleeding which may happen in some cases after the removal of the bandage which is applied by the nurse at the hospital after s/he removes the needle. We are told to keep the bandage for four to five hours as bleeding stops in some time. But in some cases, bleeding continues even after five hours then it is suggested to keep the bandage for a longer duration. And even after that, bleeding doesn’t stop then it is the time you go to see the doctor.

In some cases, dizziness, light-headedness and nausea was observed in donors after donation. After blood donation, the donors are told to sit and have energizing snacks and juices to not feel any after effect of donation to give their body rest. The feeling subsides in some hours but in some cases, it continues and in such cases the donors should call their centres and go to see the doctor.

Then comes pain. We all know that donating blood is not painless as a needle is inserted to take out the blood and removed when the process completes. Though the pain is not of high level but in case of bruising it aggravates, then it is suggested by the doctor to take some pain reliever medicines to alleviate the pain.

In some of the cases physical weakness was also experienced by the donors especially in the arm in which the needle was inserted. It is the reason; the nurses tell donors not do any heavy activity five-six hours after the donation.

But we should never forget how blood donation is necessary for humanity and how it has the ability to save a dying person. It is an act of humanity and can do a lot of good and save millions of hopes. As one blood donation can not only save only one life but it can save up to approximately three lives. It is totally up to a person to donate or not but if you are ready to donate then analyze pros and cons and whatever you are comfortable with, you can go for that.  

The Indian Rebellion in 1857 represented an important, but eventually unsuccessful, revolt in India between 1857 and 1858 against the British East India Company, a sovereign power in the name of the British Crown. In the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northwest of Delhi (now old Delhi), rebellion began on the 10th of May 1857 as a mutiny of corporate army troops. It then broke out in other rebellions, mainly in the upper Gangetic plains and central India, although there were also more northern and east incidents. In that area, the rebellion posed an extensive threat to the British power and was only contained in Gwalior ‘s defeat on 20 June 1858. The British gave amnesty on 1 November 1858 to all non-assassinated rebels, even though they did not formalize their hostilities until 8 July 1859. His name is disputed, defined in different ways as Sepoy Mutiny, Indian Mutiny, the Great Rebellion, the 1857 Rebellion, the American Rebellion, the First War of Independence.

Indian rebellion was nurtured by resentments emerging from diverse perceptions, including intrusive social reforms of the British type, harsh taxes on land, a gradual withdrawal by rich landowners and princes, and uncertainty about improving British rule. However, many Indians fought also for the British and most of them tended to be in line with the British law. On both sides, British officers and civilians, including women and children, were targeted by rebels and their allies, including sometimes whole towns, on terror, sometimes betraying unprecedented brutality, by British.

Following the outbreak at the Meerut mutiny, the rebels soon arrived at Delhi, which was proclaimed emperor Hindustan by its 81-year-old Mughal ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar. Eventually, large tracts of the North-West and Awadh provinces were occupied by the rebels. The response of the East India Company also came quickly. Kanpur and Delhi were recovered by the middle of July 1857 with the aid of reinforcements. It took the rest of 1857 and the best part of 1858 for Jhansi, Lucknow, and particularly the landscape of Awadh to suppress the rebellion. Other corporate managed regions in India — Bengal, Bombay, and Madras — have largely remained calm. In the Punjab, the Sikh princes supported the UK decisively by supporting and supplying troops. In the words of Governor-General Lord Canning, the large princely nations, Hyderabad, Mysore and Kashmir, and the smaller Rajputana, did not join the uprising, serving the British as “breakers in a storm.”

The revolt took on the characteristics of a patriot revolt against the British oppression in certain regions, especially Awadh. The rebels, however, did not declare articles of faith for a new constitutional structure. However, the rebellion proved a significant pillar in the history of the Indian and British empires. It caused the East India Company to split and compelled the British, in the passage of the Government of India Act 1858, to reorganise the army, the financial system and administration in India. The British government directly administered India in the emerging British Raj thereafter. Queen Victoria released a declaration on 1 November 1845 to the Indians, who promised equal rights to other British subjects, though lacking the legitimacy of a constitutional clause. Over the next decades, the Indians had to make strong reference to the Queen’s proclamation with the admissions of a new nationalism, when they were not always admitted to such privileges.

Fortis, a private hospital released a statement about 27-year-old woman who tested positive for the virus again which appears to be a scary situation of the recurrence of such devastating virus.

The woman was tested positive in July for the first time after she got symptoms fever of cough, she was fit after treatment and tested negative. Her symptoms were also not a severe one. After being discharged from the hospital, her symptoms of COVID erupted again in one month.

In an interview Dr Pratik Patil, Consultant, Infectious Diseases, Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road mentioned, “In the first week of July, the patient was symptomatic (fever, cough and sore throat) and was tested positive. She was admitted to the hospital and recovered well. A repeat test was conducted on her, which turned out to be negative, post which she was discharged on July 24. However, nearly after a month, in the last week of August, she developed mild symptoms again and has tested positive again. Both times she did not have any severe disease. This is possibly the first reported case of COVID reinfection in Bangalore.”

He further added, “’Usually, in case of infection, the COVID Immunoglobulin G antibody is tested positive after two to three weeks of infection. However, in this patient, the antibody has tested negative, which means she did not develop immunity after infection. There is second assumption to this that the IgG antibodies disappeared in nearly one month, leaving her susceptible for reinfection. Reinfection in someone means that antibodies may not be produced by every individual or if they do develop, they may not last long enough, and therefore, allowing the virus to enter the body and cause the disease again.”