Pest No More

Imagine my surprise when I read this article in the New York Times one morning. Rats have been smart about keeping their secrets talents to themselves


Detecting Tuberculosis: No Microscopes, Just Rats    - NY Times-Jan 3, 2011

Researchers have found a new way of testing for tuberculosis that is fast, cheap and widely available: large rats that can smell the bacteria in a sputum sample. There are expensive and complicated laboratory tests for tuberculosis, and the World Health Organization recently endorsed a new machine that can give accurate results in under two hours. But the device costs $17,000, and each test requires a $17 cartridge.

Whatever else can be said about them, rats are cheaper.

Today, the most commonly used detection method in developing countries is smear microscopy. But unless there is a high concentration of them, the bacilli are easy to miss, and that results in as many as 60 to 80 percent of positive cases going undiagnosed.

Studies suggest that the Gambian pouched rat can do better. The animal, an omnivorous rodent with puffy cheeks and that chillingly familiar rat body and tail, weighs 10 to 15 pounds and thrives in colonies of up to 20 all over sub-Saharan Africa. The Gambian pouched rat apparently can smell the difference between tuberculosis bacilli and the myriad other germs that inhabit human phlegm.

 Writing in the December issue of The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Dr. Poling and his colleagues report a test of the rats using samples that were confirmed by laboratory culture as either positive or negative.

The animals’ sensitivity — that is, their ability to detect the presence of tuberculosis — ranged as high as 86.6 percent, and their specificity, or ability to detect the absence of the germ, was over 93 percent. In another test that compared the rats’ success to microscopy, the rats picked up 44 percent more positive cases.

The rats, raised in captivity, are all descended from animals captured in the Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, or on the outskirts of Morogoro, a city of about 200,000 people in the nearby Tanzanian highlands. This is the same animal, Cricetomys gambianus, that has been trained to sniff out land mines.(It is light enough not to set them off.)

End of Article

This opens up so many possibilities for the many pests which have been bothering us. Now we have to explore unique abilities of flies , mosquitoes, cockroach and the list doesn't end here. I am sure when Indian rats are put to task; they will prove there worth.

Prabhakar Devavaram

Traffic Part 2- Mental Speed Bumps

Based on the overwhelming response for the previous blog on traffic( 4 comments and  2 of them mine) I have decided to write; Traffic Part 2 . My love for the Indian cow continues. Its role in regulating traffic has not been appreciated by everyone. But according to Tom Vanderbilt,  the author a book called "Traffic  -Why we drive the way we do"got this response when he posed  a question to Mr Pereira (a traffic authority in New Delhi) about  Indian cows lying in the street and blocking traffic. 

Mr Pereira said - Let me correct a little misperception. The presence of a cow in a congested urban area is no hazard. Much as I don't like the presence of a cow on the road, when I am advocating smoother traffic and convenience , the presence of a cow  forces a person to slow down. Overall effect is to reduce speed and rash driving. Mr Vanderbilt adds that cows in effect act as 'mental speed bump' a term coined by an Australian traffic activist  named David Engwicht. With regular speed bumps the cars just speed from one to the next, there is no uncertainty about it.

So Once again I salute you the great Indian Cow.

Now I have been wishing everyone happy Pongal or Dasara, right and left, you may say. It was pointed out to me that its too early to celebrate Dasara . Thanks Gayathri Krishnan and Vasanthy for correcting me. Among the millions who have read my blog and started preparing for the Dasara festival, please wait. It will come soon in Oct 2010. Looking back , I mistook Dasara for another festival which is usually celebrated in the North in January called Sankranthi. You can now see why I was confused.

Prabhakar Devavaram

Traffic

This is an exerpt from the Boston Globe a week ago about the new reality of driving in India;

On a recent chilly evening, Gaurav Kumar eased his small truck onto a congested road in the Indian capital and accidentally scraped another vehicle in the honking mass of cars, scooters, and motorbikes.

 Enraged, the other car’s driver blocked Kumar’s truck and attacked him. He pulled the 24-year-old deliveryman out and shoved him so hard that his head hit the sidewalk. An hour later, Kumar died in a nearby hospital. “It was a small scratch. For this he lost his life,’’ Kumar’s widow, Prem Latha, said by telephone from the nearby town of Aligarh, where she lives with her infant daughter.

In another recent incident, a motorist at a crowded toll booth pulled out a gun and threatened the toll collector if he served another driver who had cut in line, local papers reported.

Sociologist Abhilasha Kumari also senses a change in attitude as the country’s new economic wealth makes society more materialistic.“It’s as if Delhi’s centuries-old culture of graciousness has been wiped off and has been replaced by a frenetic and pushy ‘me first’ ruthlessness,’’ .

 Kumari added. “They believe if you have the money, you flaunt it, with your big shiny new car, and you assert yourself forcefully on the road.’’

End of article from the Boston Globe

This is not unique for Delhi , I think this is the new reality of driving in major cities and towns in India.  When did we change into such arrogant people? Why did the driver want to shoot the toll collector instead of the car driver who cut in front? I think the consequences of shooting a poor toll collector is not much.

All we  need is some humility; but that is asking too much. As Dylan sang-  Money doesn't talk, it swears.

Prabhakar Devavaram

The Peacemakers

Today is celebrated as the Martin Luther King Day in the US. 200 years from now; if mankind still exists these are some of the names people will remember. The Hitlers of the world will be long forgotten. So let us take time to remember their contribution to world peace and as Indians our good fortune to have the leadership of Gandhi in the time of the freedom struggle.

The following is my favorite quote from Dr Martin Luther King Jr;

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."
— Martin Luther King Jr.

Prabhakar Devavaram

Happy Pongal from Winter Wonderland

The first time I saw snow I went out with a friend and ran in the snow enjoying the moment. Soon I realised that we had run outside without our shoes on. So over time have learnt many lessons to survive the cold and the snow. But I am always amazed by the snow blizzards which we get about 2 -3 times every winter. The whole city changes from its pulsating activity and turns desolate and beautiful.

These pictures are from the latest storm which dumped about 17 inches of snow over 24 hours. The first picture was taken in the Longwood medical area in Boston in front of Brigham and Women's Hospital. The last photo is in front of our house where my daughter build a snowman.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all the readers a Happy Pongal or Dasara Holidays. Please eat a sugarcane for me.

Prabhakar Devavaram

Happy New Year 2011

Dear Friends ,

Wish you all a very happy New Year. I hope that you and your family have a great year. It was pointed out to me that I did'nt write a Christmas blog. It was my fault, will try to be a better blogger in this New Year. And hope all of you celebrating Xmas had a grand time.

I am aware that some planning is being made for a local get together of our classmates in India in August 2011. Once I hear more will let all of you know.

Thanks

Prabhakar