Millets are marvellous sources of nutrition. Traditional and rural societies everywhere in the country and agricultural scientists in the top echelons of the Indian government have long known it. But it took free India 70 years to notify millets as “Nutri-Cereals”–in 2018–which was also nationally declared as “The Year of Millets”.

According to a note prepared by the Union Agriculture Ministry,“Millets can help tackle health challenges such as obesity, diabetes and lifestyle problems as they are gluten-free, have a low glycemic index and are high in dietary fibre and antioxidants.”The note further states that “millets are nutritionally superior to wheat and rice owing to their higher levels of protein with a more balanced amino acid profile, crude fibre and minerals, such as iron, zinc, and phosphorous.”

Curative Power

A Mysuru-based scientist, Dr KhaderValli, popularly known as the “Millet Man of India”, explains why millets are superior to rice and wheat. How our body processes food is important to the absorption and value of food:

“Any food that takes a longer time to break down the glucose and fructose to be absorbed by the blood is truly healthy. While rice takes only 45 minutes to be absorbed by the blood, positive grains or millets take six hours”, says Dr Valli.

A post-doctoral fellow of Environment Science at Beaverton, Oregon, Dr. Valli did his PhD on steroids at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. But that was a long time ago. For the last 35 years, since he quit a lucrative job in the U.S., Dr. Valli has dedicated himself to the promotion of millets. He swears by their therapeutic value and prescribes a mix of five millets to his patients. Called the Siridhanya (rich grains) diet plan, it includes Kodo, Barnyard, Foxtail, Brown Top and Little Millets, and is reported to have cured patients suffering from a host of diseases, including anaemia, infertility, diabetes and cancer. Dr. Valli says, Barnyard millet, known as Udalu in Kannada and jhangora in Hindi, is his “personal favourite”.

Popular Dishes

In south India, Barnyard Millet flour is popularly used for making local foods like idli and dosa. In the north, especially in Uttarakhand, it is mixed with milk and sugar/jaggery to make a sweet dish, madirakikheer and with buttermilk known as paleu. Mixed millets khichdi is also popular in many parts of India while millet cookies, puffs, flakes and laddus are fancied items at high-end organic food stores all over the country. Research studies confirm the high nutrition of millets in general and Barnyard Millet in particular.

A 2019 research paper by V. G. Ranganathan and others of the Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Madurai, titled “Barnyard Millet for Food and Nutritional Security: Current Status and Future Research”, published in Frontiers in Genetic Nutrigenomics, June 23, 2020, says: “The nutritive value of Barnyard Millet is superior to that of other major and minor millets. It is a rich source of calcium, protein, magnesium, fat, vitamins, and some essential amino acids.”

According to the paper, the average carbohydrate content of Barnyard Millet varies between 51.5 and 62.9/100 grams, which is lower than that of other millets; its fibre, ranging between 8.1%  and 16.3%, is higher than in any other cereal and the protein content, between 11.2% and 12.7%, is reasonably higher than in other millets and cereals. “The high ratio of carbohydrates to crude fibre ensures the slower release of sugar in the blood, aiding in maintaining blood sugar levels.”

Recognising their nutritional value, the agriculture ministry recommended the inclusion of millets in the Public Distribution System (PDS) for improving nutritional support, but the idea has not caught on. Only Karnataka, Odisha and Uttarakhand have introduced millets in PDS, the main problems being the low shelf life of millets and poor storage facilities. For the same reasons, millets have not been included in mid-day meal schemes, among the most important places for the implementation of the government’s plan for millets.

Food as Status Symbol

While the government is still struggling against bottlenecks, private businesses are retailing millets successfully. Not just whole millets and millet flour, but also ready-to-eat items made out of them, are in high demand at upmarket food stores, which many find “unusual”.  “Initially, I was surprised to find foreigners and high-profile Indians asking for items made out of such desithings as ragi and jhangora that I thought were rather crude,” says saleswoman Meenakshi at one such store.“But now I know better,” she adds. Experts understand why she thought poorly of millets.

According to Senior Scientist at the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR)–Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Delhi, Dr. R S Bana, the young population of traditional and tribal societies have an “inferiority complex” about millets, and need to be educated about their nutritional value. They perceive rice and wheat as superior foods, he says, an observation that is endorsed by researchers. However, the scene has changed over the last decade.

Coarse Vs Refined

Lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension, and cancer, sourced to the preference for chemically processed and fast foods over the whole and coarse ones, have made the wealthy review their dietary choices. Refined and polished foodsare being blacklisted by them and crude foods with good roughage are the order of the day.

Dr.Bana agrees that there is a sizeable section of the rich and educated that is lately quite sensitive to the value of millets. It is they who offer the best hope of promoting millets. “Once they adopt these cereals as a staple diet, the approach of the poor people would also change.” As of now, Dr. Bana says, poor people are eating these nutritious foods “by default”.

POSHAN Atlas

A document,“The Current Position of Millets”, prepared by the Union Agriculture Ministry, talks about ways to promote the consumption and production of millets. Interestingly, it refers to a millet recipe book in regional languages published by The Indian Institute of Millets Research (IIMR).

As if to underline the importance of millets in the Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN), a “POSHAN Atlas” is being prepared under the guidance of the Principal Scientific Advisor; the atlas has information on state-specific recipes that account for cultural food preferences and palates. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has designed and is running the “Eat Right India Initiative”, which, the ministry paper says, could be an avenue for pushing for a wider use of millets.

The flip-flop over millets—from being known as the poor man’s food to being projected as a health food—also makes one wonder about the origin and composition of millets. According to a research paper by P. Ashoka and others, (published in November, 2020 in The International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences), millets originated in and around India, and have been the staple diet and health guardians of traditional societies for centuries. Belonging to the Poaceae/Graminae family, they are small-seeded grasses, yielding two major millets (Sorghum and bajra) and six minor millets (Finger, Foxtail, Little, Proso, Kodo, and Barnyard millets). Recently, a few minor millets have been added to this group, likeFonio, Quinoa and BrownTop millet.

“Each of the millets”, the paper notes, “is three to five times nutritionally superior to the widely promoted rice and wheat in terms of proteins, minerals (calcium and iron), and vitamins and fibre.” Millets, it adds, “are an ideal food for all the people, irrespective of age, and especially beneficial for children, pregnant and lactating women who are prone to anaemia.”

Local to Global

Today, India is the number one producer and consumer of millets in the world with Rajasthan as the top producer of millets in the country followed by Karnataka.The most interesting part of the millet graph is that in March this year, the United Nations declared 2023 as “The International Year of Millets”. The resolution in the U.N. General Assembly was proposed by India, and the Union Agriculture Ministry is already busy planning its campaign.

With so much energy being injected into the campaign, it would be no surprise if millets, described as “the first crops” in a government book, “The Story of Millets”, turn out to be “the future crops”– not just in India but across the globe.(India Science Wire)

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Keywords: Millets, Nutri-cereals, Food,Nutritional Security, Nutrition, Agriculture,Scientists, Agriculture Ministry, Antioxidants, ICAR, AahaarKranti, CSIR-CFTRI, ICMR-NIN

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Many wild plant species, such as wild fruit, leaf, flower and wild tubers, etcetera are used by rural and tribal populations significantly contributing to their livelihood and nutrition security. Did you know the wild crop species used by different tribal people in Koraput, Odisha has nutritional value and health benefits?

“The wild crops are important biodiversity components available from natural habitat, which are neither cultivated nor domesticated. These plants are collected from the forest, for food and medicine by tribal people who developed various processing methods according to their needs,” says Dr. Debabrata Panda, an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Biodiversity and Conservation of Natural Resources at the Central University of Odisha, Koraput.

Dr. Panda did his research on Agro-biodiversity, Underutilized Plant Species, and Wild Crops. He has made significant contributions in the field of collection, evaluation, and characterization of indigenous rice, millet, and other wild crop species found in Koraput.

“There are 122 wild edible plants used by 20 tribal villages in Koraput belonging to seven tribal groups, namely – Paroja, Bhumia, Gadaba, Bhatra, Saora, Gonda, and Kondha. The edible plants include wild fruit (39) species mostly consumed by the tribes compared to leafy vegetables (24), tuber (21) and flower (4),” informs Dr. Panda.

The wild edible tubers are largely collected during the winter season whereas the green leaves are collected in the rainy season and fruits and flowers are collected both in the winter and summer seasons. Notably, eight wild yam species are used as food by the tribes. Those are Dioscorea oppositifolia L., D. hamiltonii Hook.f., D. bulbifera L., D. pubera Blume., D. pentaphylla L., D. wallichii Hook.f., D. glabra Roxb and D. hispida Dennst.

When a comparison between the tuber quality traits of wild and cultivated yams was made, it found that the percentage of proximate compositions of wild yam tubers ranged from 3.82-5.42% ash, 1.55-1.90% fat, 1.45-1.60% fibre, 22.9-26.6% carbohydrate, 9.5-10.2% protein and 148-163 kcal gross energy compared to the cultivated (D. alata) species i.e. 3.16% ash, 0.91% fat, 1.40% fibre, 24.07% carbohydrate, 8.78% protein and 139 kcal gross energy.

Based on these findings, the wild Dioscorea species namely D. hamiltonii, D. pubera and D. oppositifolia have significantly higher amounts of nutritional and mineral content and nutritionally better than cultivated (D. alata) species.

The micronutrient composition analysis to know the quality and safety concerns about its use in the laboratory revealed that it ranged from 60.33-89.4 mg/100 g of sodium, 1029-1248 mg /100 g of potassium compared to 55.06 mg /100 g of sodium and 989 mg / 100 g potassium in cultivated species.

The majority of the wild yam tubers were rich in some of the essential minerals like calcium (18.08 to 74.79 mg/100 g), iron (11.15 to 74.79 mg/100 g), zinc (2.11 to 6.21 mg/100 g) and phosphorous (179 to 248 mg/100 g). The level of anti-nutrients such as diosgenin, phytate and oxalate content in raw tuber was significantly higher in wild Dioscorea species compared to the cultivated species (D. alata).

However, it is also testified that the anti-nutrients were lower than the recommended tolerable levels proposed by WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. But these less familiar wild tubers should not be ignored. Rather, these tubers are the safe food sources for mass consumption and domestication and can be used as a good alternative source of food to alleviate hunger and malnutrition.

Talking to India Science Wire, Dr. Panda said the research was aimed to chronicle the nutritional value and health benefits of wild crop species used by the tribes. The data on consumption patterns and nutritional importance were collected through questionnaires and personal interviews with tribal people.

“The nutritional traits such as proximate, nutritional and anti-nutritional compositions as well as the physico-functional properties were carried out at our laboratory of the Central University of Odisha. These wild plants might prove useful for tribes, but are largely ignored by researchers, breeders and policymakers,” he added.

Food and nutritional security are key concerns of the world. The majority of the people in different countries, including India are suffering from inadequacy in nutrition and various micronutrient deficiencies. With the onset of settled agriculture and modernisation, this knowledge is being lost at a rapid pace.

“The less familiar wild plants possess great potential as a good alternative source of food to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. Therefore, the mass consumption, commercialisation, popularisation and bio-prospecting of these valuable resources would be an appropriate approach for ensuring food and nutritional security of future generations,” Dr. Panda told India Science Wire.

Recommending the necessary steps to conserve these valuable resources at their natural habitat and validate it scientifically,Dr Panda has also underlined the need of conducting public awareness and community-based programmes at all levels for the conservation of such species.

“A strategy to promote commercial production of these wild plants is required to boost the local economy by initiating processing, value addition, and creating a market to reach larger consumers,” he urges.(India Science Wire)

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Keywords: Koraput, Wild Crops, Health, Plant species, wild fruit, leaf, flowers, wild tubers, nutrition security, wild crop species, tribals, nutritional value, biodiversity, natural habitat, Biodiversity, Natural Resources,  Central University of Odisha, Aahaar Kranti

It has achieved several nanosciences and technology-based breakthroughs like efficient low-cost electro-catalysts for rechargeable metal-air batteries from fish gills, visible light-assisted sensing of nicotine from cigarette smoke by using metal-organic nanotube Mobile 2D electron gas at oxide interfaces for electronic devices, says the statement issued by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).

The institute imparts advanced training courses and laboratory techniques of nanotechnology at the highest level, encouraging innovative and challenging technology/product based scientific projects,  boosting translational research (from laboratory to industry) and foster interactions with industry,  sensitizing the public and media about the advantages and safeguards in Nano Science and Technology.

INST, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, was established under the umbrella of NANO MISSION, initiated by DST to emphasize nano research in India. It started its activities as the first Indian nano-research institute in the country on 3rd January 2013 and shifted to its new campus in 2020.

The institute brings together biologists, chemists, physicists, and materials scientists under the same umbrella to pursue their interests in nanoscience and technology. INST has created state-of-art facilities in a short span of seven years to support multifaceted research activities in varied fields like Energy, Environment, Health Care, Agriculture, and Quantum Materials.

With the vision to emerge as a globally competitive India’s foremost research institution in Nano Science & Technology and contribute to society through applications of nanoscience & nanotechnology, INST has emphasized cutting-edge research in nanoscience and nanotechnology with an interdisciplinary flavour to meet global and local challenges.

To name some of its research achievements, the institute has about 180 research publications in international journals per year with an average impact factor of 4.2, and its overall rank (as per nature index) is 32. Further, two scientists from INST were ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally, and some scientists have become fellows of international organisations and editors of international journals and won prestigious awards.

INST has contributed significantly in promoting science and inculcating the practice to develop technology in India amongst the young generation of the nation through its unparalleled outreach program. The faculty of INST has directly interacted with more than 15,000 students in about 300 schools across the country and spread awareness about taking science as a career perspective. Through roadshows, the institute has demonstrated the importance of science in day-to-day life to more than 50,000 students and the general public.

It has reached out to more than 1000 students from marginalized sections of the society from 24 schools/colleges across the country towards scientific aptitude training.

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Keywords: Nanoscience for the Nation, Institute of Nano Science and Technology, INST, nanoscience, technology, electro-catalysts, metal-air battery, DST

Despite being resilient to natural challenges, mangrove ecosystems worldwide are lost at a greater rate than inland tropical forests due to human-induced factors. In India, mangroves are spread over an area of 4921 square kilometers.

Kathiresan, honorary professor and UGC-BSR faculty fellow, Annamalai University, has underlined the over exploitation and poor resource management, increased infrastructural uses, increasingly growing aquaculture and rice cultivation, as the main threats to mangroves in India. While speaking in a webinar titled “Restore Our Mangroves for the Future”, professor Kathiresan also highlighted the need for formulating a restoration planning by mapping degraded mangroves and by selecting best suited mangrove species.

While lauding the theme of the webinar, Dr C.N.Pandey, visiting professor, IIT Gandhinagar, emphasized on employing proper restoration techniques based on the ecological characteristics of the site. “Initially, many mangrove restoration projects failed due to a lack of environmental assessment of the selected sites”, said Dr Pandey.

Sunderbans in West Bengal accounts for almost half of the total area under mangroves in the country. Indian Sunderbans happens to be one of the most disaster-prone areas, in terms of frequency and severity of tropical cyclonic storms. Dr Abhjit Mitra, Director Research, Techno India University, Kolkata, highlighted the importance of mangroves in mitigating natural disasters. While suggesting an innovative method to protect the coastal areas by replacing the earthen embankments with vegetative solutions, Dr Mitra also flagged the need for conservation of degraded mangrove areas.

Dr. AnjumFarooqui, senior scientist, BSIP, shared some palaeoecological case studies to underline how the data set from the tidal flat and estuarine settings gives an idea about past environments and response of mangroves in concerning episodes of coastal inundation.

Dr Shilpa Pandey, scientist, BSIP, and convener of the webinar, highlighted the natural and anthropogenic factors responsible for the loss and degradation of mangroves. She also emphasized engaging local communities, especially women, young people, and school children in the mangrove restoration programmes.

The webinar was attended by a large number of senior academic faculty members, scientists, conservationists, research fellows, early career researchers, and school students. Dr Vandana Prasad, Director, BSIP and DrVinod.K.Dhargalkar, Executive Secretary, MSI, also addressed the participants. The webinar was jointly organized by the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences (BSIP) and the Mangrove Society of India (MSI), to commemorate the ‘International Mangrove Day’, observed on 26 July, every year.

Aside from being a receptacle of multiple coastal ecosystems, mangrove forests can also play an important role in the fight against global warming, as they have an enormous capacity for sucking up greenhouse gases and trapping them in their soils for thousands of years. They cansequester four times more carbon in comparison to the rain forests. (India Science Wire)

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Keywords: Mangroves, tropical trees, shrubs, tidal-estuaries, salt marshes, muddy coasts, saltwater, bio-diversity, fish, reptile, insect, mollusk, algae, bird, mammal species, marine ecosystems, tropical forests,UGC-BSR,Annamalai University, aquaculture, mangroves, species

Under the campaign, high-quality astronomical data sets were distributed to students for analysis and identification of asteroids. Students analyze the data using software which then leads to potential discoveries. These observations feed into the Near-Earth Object (NEO) data being compiled by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL).

The students get access to the real-time data from the ‘PANSTARRS’ (The Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System Telescope), located in Hawaii. They access these images and are trained in advanced data analytics to detect asteroids. This accounts for an invaluable real-time research experience.

The campaign called ‘Khagolshala Asteroid Search Campaign’ is an initiative of the Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India and SPACE-India, which was established in 2001, to popularize science and inculcate scientific temperament among the masses, especially students in India.

Space India has established Khagolshala Astronomy and Space Education Labs (ASELs) across 20 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas to date. It is working with a vision to get the younger generation in the country engrossed in astronomy and space sciences; application, exploration, innovation, and research in these areas. It works by engaging students through experimentation, observation, and analysis of the universe.

The conferment of the provisional status marks an important step as it could ultimately lead to the asteroids being named by their discoverers though it may take several years for that to happen as it involved an elaborate procedure.

The whole process starts with `preliminary detection’ which is the first, original observation of a new asteroid. This is followed by the `provisional status’. For this, the asteroid must have been observed a second time within the next 7-10 days. Asteroid detections with `provisional status’ are maintained in the International Astronomical Union (IAU)’s Minor Planet Center (MPC) database until there have been a sufficient number of observations to fully determine the orbit. That process typically takes 6-10 years, at which point the asteroid is numbered and catalogued by the IAU. The numbered asteroids can then be finally named by their citizen scientist discoverers.

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keywords: asteroid, International Astronomical Search Collaboration, IASC, research, Near-Earth Object,  data, NASA, Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), ‘PANSTARRS’, Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System Telescope, Hawaii, Office of Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, SPACE-India,

The Indo-Gangetic plain is exposed to significant emissions of black carbon (BC). However, most of the pollution-based epidemiological studies essentially relate exposure to particulate mass concentration (PM 10 / PM 2.5) that invariably treat all particulates with equal toxicity, without distinguishing individuals by their source or composition, though they may have different health consequences. Importantly, the health effects in terms of mortality due to black carbon aerosol exposure have never been evaluated in India.

A team of researchers from the Government of India’s Department of Science & Technology-Mahamana Centre of Excellence in Climate Change Research (DST-MCECCR) at the Varanasi-based Banaras Hindu University has filled the gap. They explored the individual as well as the cumulative impact of Black Carbon aerosol; fine (PM 2.5) and coarse (PM 10) particulates; and trace gases (Sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide, and ozone) on premature mortality in Varanasi.

The town, which is a typical urban pollution hotspot in the central Indo-Gangetic Plain, experiences very high aerosol loading and trace gas concentrations throughout the year due to the prevalence of a subsidence zone and observed decadal increasing trends both in Aerosol Optical Depth and Black Carbon aerosols.

The Scientists, supported by the Climate Change programme of the Department of Science and Technology, studied the daily all-cause mortality and ambient air quality from 2009 to 2016 and found a significant impact of Black Carbon aerosols, Nitrogen dioxide and PM2.5 exposure on mortality. The inclusion of co-pollutants (Nitrogen dioxide and PM 2.5) in the multi-pollutant model increased the individual mortality risks for Black Carbon aerosols.

The effect of pollutants was more prominent for males, age group 5 to 44, and in winter. They found that the adverse effect of air pollutants was not limited to the current day of exposure but can extend as long as up to five days due to the lag effect. They further showed that mortality rose linearly with an increase in air pollutants level.

Professor and Coordinator of MCECCR, Dr.R.K. Mall led the study. The team included Nidhi Singh, AlaaMhawish, Tirthankar Banerjee, SantuGhosh, R. S. Singh. They have published a report on their work in journal “Atmospheric Environment”.

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keywords: emission, environment, health, Indo-Gangetic plain, pollution, epidemiological, studies, particulate, PM 10, PM 2.5, toxicity, aerosol, trace gases, Sulphur dioxide, Nitrogen dioxide, ozone, Varanasi, aerosol optical depth

Lauding theinitiative launched by IIT Delhi, Prof K. Vijay Raghavan expressed hope that GRIP will result in the development of several innovative solutions for society.

Activities proposed as a part of this new initiative includes Social Immersion, a programme in which group of students will visit communities located in smaller towns and villages to immerse in social environments for a substantial time (one week to months) to study, understand and identify local needs and challenges, which can be addressed by the students when they return to the Institute campus.

“The immersion programme provides an opportunity for students to put themselves in the shoes of end-users and to co-create solutions which are likely to succeed. This programme also acts as a pipeline of ideas, which students and student teams can address as a part of semester-long design and innovation courses already available to them,” said Prof. PVM Rao, Head, Department of Design, IIT Delhi who is coordinating the initiative.

Another component of the GRIP initiative includes Grassroots Innovation Programme in which students and student teams will be allowed to work on semester-long or year-long projects on finding novel solutions to grassroots problems identified by them.

The needs/problems on which students are expected to work can be from one of the two routes:Students or student teams have identified the problem/need and validated it as a part of prior social immersion programme. Secondly, IIT Delhi student(s) who come from diverse regions of the country, identify problems/challenges being faced in their local communities (in their villages, towns and semi-urban settings).

The GRIP initiative will provide physical, intellectual, and financial resources to the students to carry out these projects.To implement the above programmes, existing courses and schemes of the Institute will be leveraged. In this way students will have an opportunity to earn academic credits for their efforts. The programme can synergize with other programmes of the Institute, which include UBA, RUTAG, NSS, ENACTUS, etc.

“There are many students who have shown interest in addressing the unmet needs in their own neighbourhoods.Further, students are enthusiastic to participate in proposing and validating novel solutions that respond to the local situation and the interests and values of the communities involved. The GRIP initiative is aimed at providing resources to the students who want to help the society by solving its problems,” said Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi.

IIT Delhi and HoneyBee Network (HBN),a volunteer based network that seeks innovative ideas and traditional knowledge produced at the grassroots level by individuals and communities and disseminates them to the wider ecosystem, have joined hands to groom students as torchbearers of social and grassroots innovation through GRIP programme.

Prof. Anil K. Gupta, Coordinator of Honey Bee Network said,“For the GRIP initiative, the Honey Bee Network will act as one of the facilitators to connect IIT Delhi students and faculty with local communities and environments.”  He further said that the social immersion and shodh-yatras will give an opportunity for students to learn from grassroots innovators and also to add value to their efforts.Students who do immersion in earlier years will have additional opportunity to address some of the needs identified by them as their course projects.

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Keywords:PSA, Grassroots, Innovation, GRIP,IIT, Societal problems, Rural,Semi-urban,Development, Society

Scientists have found that an active ingredient in the root of the herb called Glycyrrhizinlowered the severity of the disease and brought down viral replication.

The finding assumes importance as there is still no specific drug to treatCovid-19 infection even while several vaccines have come up. The doctors currently manage with a few repurposed medicines.

The NBRC team started looking for a drug against Covid-19 last year. They studied Mulethi as it was known to have excellent anti-inflammatory properties. They carried out a series of experiments to check its potential against the COVID virus.

When the COVID virus infects human cells, the body’s immune system reacts by releasing a set of proteins called cytokines. In the case of a severe infection, the immune cells respond rapidly by releasing a “storm of cytokines”. Sometimes this can become uncontrolled leading to severe inflammation and fluid accumulation in lung tissues. This condition may lead to acute respiratory distress, cell death, and eventually, organ failure.

The NBRC scientists found that glycyrrhizin molecules in Mulethi could help avoid this problem. The researchers expressed specific viral proteins in human lung epithelial cells. The proteins triggered inflammation in these cells. Treatment with glycyrrhizin cleared the inflammation. The untreated cells succumbed to inflammation.

The scientists analysed the molecule further and found that apart from inhibiting the cytokine storm, glycyrrhizin also reduces viral replication by 90%. Mulethi is widely prescribed for lung ailments, chronic fevers and respiratory tract inflammation in Ayurveda, glycyrrhizin is used in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B and C.

“Given its safety profile and tolerability, Mulethi might constitute a viable therapeutic option in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection,” scientistssaid. The team is now looking for partners to carry forward the research into the preclinical stage.They have published a report on their study  in Cytokine, the official journal of the International Cytokine and Interferon Society. Senior scientist ElloraSen, conducted the study with her fellow researchers Pruthvi Gowda, Shruti Patrick, ShankerDatt, Rajesh Joshi, and Kumar Kumawat.

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Keywords:  Department of Biotechnology, DBT, root, Glycyrrhizin, disease, viral replication, repurposed medicines, anti-inflammatory, immune system, proteins, cytokines, fluid, lung, tissue, respiratory, organ, epithelial cells.

In a recent study, the researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) have used a new catalyst for extracting hydrogen from water. Researchers have demonstrated how a magnetised catalyst can speed up hydrogen productionwhile bringing down the energy cost.They showed that their chosen catalyst had increased the speed of producing hydrogen and reduced the energy required to do so, compared to previous studies.

To extract hydrogen from water, researchers insert two electrodes across the water and pass current, which can separate the hydrogen from water, a process called electrolysis of water. Earlier studies have shown that metals like Platinum, Rhodium, and Iridium speed up electrolysis. “Although these metals work well, industrial systems don’t prefer them because they are expensive,” says Prof Chandramouli Subramaniam of IIT Bombay and an author of the study. The study has used a compound consisting of cobalt and oxygen to achieve the same goal at a much lower cost. While earlier researchers focused on developing new catalysts for the electrolysis of water, the authors of the present study concentrated on an alternative approach.

To achieve the increased energy efficiency, the researchers turned to less costly metal cobalt,already known for speeding up electrolysis. They decorated carbon nanoflorets,nanocarbon structures arranged like a marigold flower with cobalt oxide particles and placed these nanoflorets in the water. An electric field applied through the cobalt oxide to water molecules results in the electrolysis of water. Although cobalt oxide is a well-known electrochemical catalyst, it requires a high amount of energy and produces hydrogen at a low speed.

To increase the speed of electrolysis, the researchers did not rely on the electric field alone. Magnetic fields, which are related to electric fields, can play a crucial role in these reactions. The researchers showed that if they introduced a small fridge magnet near their setup, the reaction speed increased about three times. Even after removing the external magnet, the reaction still took place about three times faster than in the absence of the magnetic field. “This is because the catalyst we have designed can sustain the magnetisation for prolonged periods, the key being the development of a synergistic carbon-metal oxide interface,” explains JayeetaSaha, the author of the study. “A one-time exposure of the magnetic field is enough to achieve the high speed of hydrogen production for over 45 minutes,” she adds.

It is easy to integrate accessible house-magnets into the existing designs at a low cost. “We can directly adopt the modified setup in existing electrolysers without any change in design or mode of operation of the electrolysers,” says Ranadeb Ball, another author of the study.

“The intermittent use of an external magnetic field provides a new direction for achieving energy-efficient hydrogen generation. Other catalysts can also be explored for this purpose,” says Prof. Subramaniam.

Once the hydrogen is produced in large amounts, it can be packed off in cylinders and used as a fuel. If their efforts are successful, we might be looking at an environmentally friendly fuel, hydrogen, replacing petroleum, diesel, and compressed natural gas (CNG) in the future.

The study was supported by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), Department of Science and Technology (DST), the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR),and the Industrial Research and Consultancy Center, IIT Bombay. It was published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.

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Keywords: Hydrogen,Environment-friendly, Fuel, Oxygen, Gasoline, Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Bombay, Catalyst, Energy,SERB, DST,CSIR,ACS Journal

This kit can be used for in vitro qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 antigen.The SARS-CoV-2 Ag Rapid Test is a colloidal gold enhanced double antibody sandwich immunoassay for the qualitative determination of SARS-CoV-2 antigen in human nasal swabs, throat swabs, and deep sputum samples. It is suitable for general population screening and diagnosis of COVID-19.

The invention is directed towards an in vitro diagnostic kit for the qualitative detection of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus antigens in the nasopharyngeal swab, using the rapid immune chromatographic method.The identification is based on the monoclonal antibodies specific for the Coronavirus antigen.The results obtained are qualitative based and can be inferred visually with the naked eye.

A SARS-CoV-2 positive specimen produces a distinct color band in the test region, formed by the specific antibody antigen-colored conjugate complex”(Au-SARS-CoV-2-Ab)-(SARS-CoV-2-Ag)-(SARS-CoV-2-Ab)”.  The absence of this colored band in the test region suggests a negative result.A colored band always appears in the control region serving as procedural control regardless of the specimen contains SARS-CoV-2 or not.

The test is found to be suitable for early Ct values (Between 14 to 32) with a Sensitivity- 90%, Specificity- 100% and Accuracy- 98.99%, and certified by the ICMR. These are one of the best available values for any such test kit.The technology and its manufacturing are 100% indigenous, explained Dr. Harpal Singh.

MoS, Shri Sanjay Dhotre said, “I am confident that this technology will revolutionize the COVID test availability in the country. I am glad to know that the kit has been developed entirely using the internal resources at IIT Delhi.”He informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government is focused on Atmanirbhar Bharat through research, development, and innovations. The focus on research in National Education Policy, National Research Foundation and initiatives like PM Research Fellowship will help further to improve the quality of research in our country. Technology plays important role in wealth creation. IITs being premier technology institutions play a major role here.

He further asked the premier institutes to make the research centres and innovation parks in their campuses more vibrant and activate industry-academia linkages. For popularising science technology among general citizens, he asked the scientists and technologists to write more on these issues in print and other media, to deliver lectures for the general public, and to venture into the field of popular science fiction and non-fiction writing. Mechanisms to be developed for regular interaction of IIT professors and students with the school students in the vicinity, and vice versa, to inspire the school students to venture in the field of science and technology, Shri Dhotre said.

Speaking on this occasion, Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi said, “IIT Delhi had in July 2020 launched a Rs. 399 RT PCR kit, which helped bring the RTPCR test costs to the current level. Using the technologies developed in the Institute, over 8 Million PPE kits have been supplied so far. With the launch of this Antigen based rapid test kit, we hope to make the diagnostics easy and affordable for the rural areas.”

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Keywords: IIT Delhi, Rapid Antigen Test, COVID-19, Ministry of Education, Centre for Biomedical Engineering, SARS-CoV-2, Antigen, Immunoassay,Nasal swabs, Throat swabs, Sputum samples, Diagnosis