Science & Us

On October 16, 2022, Dr Dilip Mahalanabis died in Kolkata. In 1971, he pioneered the use of oral rehydration therapy in refugee camps near Kolkata saving many lives. This was the first time it was used in a crisis setting. In this episode of Science and Us, Suno India’s Menaka Rao speaks to Dr Rajib Dasgupta about the scientific mechanism of oral rehydration therapy and why it works to save lives during acute diarrhoea. Dr Rajib describes the twists and turns which led to the final acceptance of oral rehydration therapy for diarrhoea treatment at the global level. The show is co-hosted by Rakesh Kamal. References Dilip Mahalanabis: The ORS pioneer who helped save millions of lives | The Indian ExpressMAGIC BULLET: THE HISTORY OF ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPYORAL MAINTENANCE THERAPY FOR CHOLERA IN ADULTS - The LancetOral fluid therapy of cholera among Bangladesh refugees[1] Mahalanabis D, Choudhuri A B, Bagchi N G, Bhattacharya A K, Simpson T WOral rehydration therapy: the simple solution for saving lives | The BMJDr. Bharati Pravin Pawar launches Intensified Diarrhoea Control Fortnight – 2022 aimed at zero child deaths due to childhood diarrhoea Exploring intra-household factors for diarrhoeal diseases: a study in slums of Delhi, IndiaSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In the past couple of decades, we have been hearing of cloudbursts in some part of the country or another. How is the Indian Meteorological Department studying this phenomenon? Why are these incidents increasing over a period of time, and what can be done to minimize the damages cloudbursts cause, both to life and property?To understand this phenomenon, we spoke to Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune studying climate change research, and extreme weather events such as heavy rainfall, floods, heat waves, and cyclones among others.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In this episode of Science and Us, we explore how music helps autistic children communicate with others.Suno India’s Menaka Rao speaks with Dr Nandini Chatterjee Singh, senior national programme officer, with Unesco Mahatma  Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) which works towards developing programmes and products that promote social and emotional learning and with the National Brain Research Centre in Manesar, Haryana. Dr Nandini conducted experiments with autistic children using functional MRI which gives us some understanding of how music and sung speech can open new frontiers for communication in autistic children. We also spoke to Meera Balachander, parent of an autistic man, Krishna Kumar to understand the role of music in his life.The show is co-hosted by Suryatapa Mukherjee.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

This is the second in the two-part series on how gendered understanding of science affects the way research is conducted. In this episode, Suno India’s Menaka Rao speaks to Sayantan Datta about how the certainty of male-female binary affects the way science is done.   Datta is a queer-trans science journalist and communicator who writes for feminist multimedia science collective, Life of Science. They also teach writing and communication at Krea University, in Andhra Pradesh.  Menaka Rao, and Suryatapa Mukherjee hosted this episode.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

What makes a healthy scalp? Scientists from the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal are working on understanding the scalp microbiome of Indians, both healthy and dandruff-ridden. They have now hit upon the role of coconut oil in maintaining a healthy scalp. Dr Vineet Sharma from IISER described the two ground-breaking studies on the scalp that have been done in their Institute.  Show notes: Frontiers | Comparison of Healthy and Dandruff Scalp Microbiome Reveals the Role of Commensals in Scalp Health | Cellular and Infection Microbiologyhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-86454-1See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The National Family Health Survey (2019-20) shows that 57% of women and 67% of children are anaemic in the country. This Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that the rice that will be distributed in the public distribution system and other government schemes such as Midday Meal will be fortified with iron, folic acid and vitamin B12. In this episode, Suno India’s Menaka Rao tries to understand if the fortification of rice will help reduce the anaemia levels of people in this country. In the process, we try to demystify the biological mechanism of anaemia and how just pumping in iron in the bodies does not necessarily work. Menaka speaks with senior scientists Dr HN Mishra, the head of the Agricultural and Food Engineering department IIT Kharagpur, Dr Rajesh Kapur who worked as a scientist in the department of biotechnology now the Vice-Chancellor of People’s University in Bhopal, Dr Madhavan Nair, retired from National Institute of Nutrition and Dr Anura Kurpad, department of physiology, St John’s Hospital, Bengaluru. Reporting and research - Menaka RaoCo-host and audio editing - Rakesh Kamal Shownotes Do we really know what goes into our food? - Suno India(PDF) Perspective: When the cure might become the malady: the layering of multiple interventions with mandatory micronutrient fortification of foods in IndiaNational Family Health Survey (NFHS-5)Inclusion of guava enhances non-heme iron bioavailability but not fractional zinc absorption from a rice-based meal in adolescentsINTENSIFIED NATIONAL IRON PLUS INITIATIVE (I-NIPI)(PDF) Hemoglobin concentration and anemia diagnosis in venous and capillary blood: biological basis and policy implications: Venous and capillary anemia diagnosisEvaluation of haemoglobin cut-off for mild anaemia in Asians - analysis of multiple rounds of two national nutrition surveysWHO technical meeting on considerations to determine haemoglobin concentrations to define anaemia in the lifecycleSingrauli 1st MP district to supply fortified rice in PDSSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

In September 2021, many people in Western Uttar Pradesh were struck by “mystery” fevers. Some even succumbed to them. Later the Central team found out that the fevers were mostly dengue fevers, or caused by scrub typhus and leptospirosis.  The fevers are “mysterious” often because local governments are not able to detect the cause soon enough. This is also because some of these areas have never seen these kinds of diseases. Climate change, urbanisation and a change in ways of living are some of the reasons for such diseases surfacing.  In this episode of Science And Us, Suno India’s Menaka Rao speaks to Ramesh Dhiman, a senior scientist who retired from the National Institute of Malaria Research. Dhiman has been tracking the effects of climate change on vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, kala-azar among others for decades now.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

There have been almost 12,000 cases of mucormycosis, commonly called ‘black fungus’, in India so far. Mucormycosis has a death rate of about 54% according to the The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Usually considered a rare disease, it is infecting those recovering from coronavirus at an unprecedented number, especially those who are diabetic. Gujarat and Maharashtra are the worst affected with almost 3,000 cases each of mucormycosis so far.  The Delhi High Court has ordered duty free import of mucormycosis medication Amphotericin B, while US-based Gilead Sciences is preparing to supply 1 million doses to India. But availability is not the only issue. The steep price of mucormycosis treatment is costing between five to fifteen lakhs per patient. Among the survivors of mucormycosis, some are losing their eyes due to the fungal infection. On this episode of The Suno India Show, our reporter Suryatapa Mukherjee speaks to Dr Akshay Nair, an oculoplastic surgeon in Mumbai. He has been treating several cases of mucormycosis in this pandemic. We explore causes, symptoms, preventive measures and treatment. So that if you encounter a mucormycosis infection, you’ll know exactly what to do.  Additional Reading: Mucormycosis Statistics | Mucormycosis | Fungal Diseases National Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Survey report 2015-2019See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

This is the second episode in the two-part series on developing COVID-19 vaccines for the Suno India show. In the first episode of the series, we discussed the different stages of clinical trials and how the vaccines were developed so fast.  In the second part, we are addressing key concerns about the cynicism around vaccine development. What are the legal processes involved in clearing the vaccines for mass vaccination in India? Were the vaccine trials fair and ethical? Is all the relevant information related to the vaccine development shared with the public?  For this episode, Menaka Rao spoke to Dr Amar Jesani, an expert bioethicist and teacher who has founded the prestigious journal, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics and advocate Murali Neelakantan, an expert in healthcare laws and drug development in India. Also listen “Vaccinating against COVID-19: How did we get so many vaccines so fast?"See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the need for good clinical trials in India – they help us figure out treatments that work and ones that don’t. But some of these studies have been marred by reports of ethical violations, creating hesitancy among the general public. There are checks and balances in the Indian clinical trial rules and other guidelines that are meant to prevent these violations. One of these checks is in the form of a body called the Ethics Committee. In this episode, we demystify this ethics committee. What is their role? Why do ethical irregularities keep cropping up? And what can ethics committees do to prevent them?  For this episode, Shreya Dasgupta spoke to Dr. Urmila Thatte, a clinical pharmacologist, bioethicist and Emeritus professor at the Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital in Mumbai; Dr. Anant Bhan, a bioethics and global public health researcher at Yenepoya University in Mangalore; and Dr. Subhrojyoti Bhowmick, the clinical director for clinical research, academics and patient safety, at Peerless hospital at Kolkata. This episode was supported by a grant from the Thakur Family Foundation, which has not exercised any editorial control over the contents of the podcast.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

The confirmed COVID19 cases in India have touched 2.98 million as on date. We at Suno India have been looking at the various efforts being deployed for pandemic management in the country and presenting critical voices since early on. We set out to find what the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, popularly known as CCMB has been working on, during the ongoing COVID19 pandemic. Established in 1977, CCMB is a premier research institute in the field of modern biology in India. In this episode of The Suno India Show, Ayesha Minhaz spoke with Dr Rakesh Mishra, the director of CCMB. From validating the testing kits to working on innovating cheaper test kits, CCMB has been involved in improving the country’s capacity in pandemic management in several ways. Dr Mishra speaks to us about all the ongoing extensive work.See sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.

With confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide surpassing 13 million with no sign of it slowing down, scientists are pushing forward with efforts to find and develop vaccines and treatments to slow down the pandemic and lessen the virus’ effects. It is estimated that some of the earliest treatments will likely be drugs that are already approved for other conditions and have been tested on other viruses. Many groups across the world are also working on potential COVID-19 vaccines with several also backed by the nonprofit Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Currently there are more than 150 projects around the world centred on the development of COVID-19 vaccine. According to a WHO summary of the state of vaccine development for COVID-19, there are 23 potential vaccines in human trials, with three of them in or starting large-scale late stage, or Phase III, trials to test efficacy. More recently, vaccine development and discussion came into limelight after a letter by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) was circulated widely which set August 15 as a deadline for vaccine to be rolled out. While ICMR later clarified that the letter was internal and was aimed at bypassing the “red tape” surrounding vaccine research, lot of experts and ethicists raised concerns on this. In this episode, Suno India editor Padma Priya spoke with Dr Shahid Jameel, the Chief Executive Officer of the DBT Wellcome Trust India Alliance, which is a biomedical research charity which funds research at not for profit institutions in India. Also listen The need for evidence-based medicine in treating COVID-19 Download – TranscriptSee sunoindia.in/privacy-policy for privacy information.