நுழைவுத்தேர்வு ரத்து

//பொறியியல் துறைக்கு பெண்கள் 70% வந்தால் நல்லதுதான். //

மொத்தமாக பொறியியல் துறைக்கு பெண்கள் 70% வருவது நடக்காது... ஆனால் அண்ணா பல்கலைக்கழகம், Computer Science போன்ற பி்ரிவுகளில் பெண்களின் எண்ணிக்கை 50 சதவிகிதத்தை விட அதிகமாக இருக்கும்.

கிராமப்புற மாணவர்கள் (மற்றும் அவர்களின் பெற்றோர்) ஒரு தவறான கருத்தை கொண்டுள்ளார்கள்....

கிராமத்தில் உள்ள பள்ளியில் படிக்கும் மாணவன், +2வில் 195/200 எடுத்துள்ளான். ஆனால் நுழைவுத்தேர்வில் 80/100 எடுத்ததால் 275/300 மதிப்பெண். (25 மதிப்பெண் குறைந்துள்ளது - அதில் 20 மதிப்பெண் நுழைவுத்தேர்வில் குறைந்துள்ளது +2வில் வெறும் 5 மதிப்பெண்கள் மற்றுமே குறைந்துள்ளது) மருத்துவம் படிக்க முடியவில்லை !!!! எனவே நுழைவுத்தேர்வு இல்லையென்றால் 5 வெறும் 5 மதிப்பெண்கள் மற்றுமே குறையும். எனவே இடம் கிடைத்துவிடும் !!!!! என்ற கனவில் உள்ளனர். ஆனால் (கசப்பான) உண்மை என்னவென்றால்....
நுழைவுத்தேர்வில் 95/100 எடுத்த city student எழுத்து தேர்வில் 200/200 எடுத்திருப்பான்.....

அவன் 95/100 மதிப்பெண் பெற 1 மாதம் பயிற்சி மற்றும் 5000 ரூபாய் செலவு....

அதே நேரம் 200/200 மதிப்பெண் பெற 24 மாதம் பயிற்சி (many school sin cities do not take XI Syllabus. Instead they take XII Syllabus for two years. Now the government is very strict and has reformed this) மற்றும் 25000 ரூபாய் செலவு.... (Tuition for 4 subjects)

இந்த (கசப்பாண)உண்மை பலருக்கு (சில பத்திரிகைகள் - நக்கீரன் உட்பட) தெரியாததால் தான், குழப்பம்.

How many ICC officials does it take to change a lightbulb?

"How many ICC officials does it take to change a lightbulb?"
"Don't ask. The answer's not actually very funny." says Andrew Miller in his article at http://content-www.cricinfo.com/wc2007/content/current/story/292777.html

Community-wise segregation in district hospitals sparks debate

From The Hindu http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/27/stories/2007042705930400.htm

Community-wise segregation in district hospitals sparks debate

R. Ilangovan

"It is to gauge support of various communities to medicare facilities"

---

Patients and their relatives embarrassed by the practice Details to be sent to the Health Department SALEM: People availing themselves of medical treatment at Districts Government Head Quarters Hospitals as out-patients have to henceforth provide not only routine details such as their name, age and ailment, but also disclose the community to which they belong to. Till recently, these hospitals have been issuing out-patient slips that require patients to fill in details including patients' names, age, address and nature of illness. But from this week onwards, it has started recording the patient's community against a column printed at the top of the out-patient slip as under Other Castes (OC), Backward Class (BC), Most Backward Class (MBC), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST). Patients and their relatives are embarrassed by this new practice. "I was shocked when the issuing authority at the Government Head Quarters Hospital at Mettur asked me to disclose my caste," said a father who had brought his 10-month old boy to the hospital for treatment. Highly placed sources in the Department of Health, however, claim that the intention behind this decision is "good." They say it is being carried out , on instructions from officials, to gather data for a study under the "Tamil Nadu Health System Project and Reproductive and Child Health Project." "It is to gauge the patronage percentage of people belonging to various communities towards the government's medicare facilities and to find out whether the socially and economically marginalised are utilising these facilities fully or, if not, why," points out a senior health official. The hospitals would have to submit the details every month to the respective Joint Directors of Health, who will, in turn, forward it to the Department of Health. But the community-wise segregation of patients has sparked a row with activists calling it a "strange and disturbing" practice. Chairman, Federation of Associations for Consumer and Environment in Tamil Nadu, A. Asokan said it was unethical to ask an ailing man or woman to disclose his or her caste and community. N. Rama Asokan of Human Rights Education and Research Centre said such an approach should not be adopted even for a study.

World Bank is funding a multi billion (600 crores) project for Upliftment of Secondary Health Care facilities.

It is being carried out under the Tamil Nadu Health System Project

Few of the indicators (Outcome Indicators) that needs to be measured so that the World Bank is satisfied that Funding has been utilized judicially is the percentage of SC/ST availing these services

• CEmONCs should handle more than 50% of complicated deliveries for women belonging to SC/ST concurrently meeting the standards of quality of care.
• Reduced case-fatality rate among the SC/ST population for maternal admissions in CEmONC hospitals

The Caste is being asked so that the government can be aware of the data...
This is to find the utlisation percentage

By the way, the reason given by the "learned" judges for staying the OBC reservation is that the government does not have proper data. But now we other "learned" persons are opposing the collection of data. Irony ????

My Comments in Badri's Blog Regarding Entrance Exams

Badri has written in his blog about Entrance being a hindrance of Rural Youth

சரவணனுடன் பேசிக்கொண்டிருந்தபோது நுழைவுத் தேர்வு நீக்கப்பட்டால் கிராமப்புற மாணவர்களுக்குப் பலன் இருக்கும் என்றார். ஒரு சிலராவது பொறியியல் கல்ல்லூரிகளில் சேரும் அளவுக்கு ஆண்டிறுதித் தேர்வில் மதிப்பெண்கள் பெறுவார்கள் என்றார். நுழைவுத் தேர்வை எதிர்கொள்ளும் பயிற்சி இவர்களுக்குக் குறைவு என்றும் அதுபோன்ற பயிற்சியை எந்த அரசுப் பள்ளிக்கூடங்களாலும் கொடுக்க முடியாது என்றும் சொன்னார்.

My Comments

What about Cancelling IAS.....

1. Not everyone is able to write that
2. Of the 500 candidates selected, less than 5 are from villages
3. IAS Coaching classes are costly

In short, you will see that the arguments told against ENtrance are the same points that can be applied to Cancelling the entire exam process

In short we have 4 gross divisions
1. City vs Village
2. Poor vs Rich
3. Educated Parents vs Illiterate Parents
4. Forward Caste vs Backward Caste

In all 4 divisions, you can see that there is IMPROVED PERFORMANCE IN BOTH THEORY AS WELL AS ENTRANCE

Now come to the most important point.

Which is more difficult
1. TO train to student to get 48 out of 50 in entrance
2. TO train a student to get 200 out of 200 in theory


Well…. I do not know what you will answer, but from my personal experience, my marks in Entrance was 49.17 out of 50 where as my theory mark was 196.

The BITTER Truth is that getting 48 out of 50 in Entrance is MUCH EASIER than getting 200 out of 200 in Theory.

If you cannot train village students to get 48 out of 50 in entrance and therefore want to abolish the entrance, how are you going to make them get 200 out of 200.

Remember that there are about 1000 candidates (out of which 998 will be from Chennai, Tirunelveli and namakkal ) with centum in theory.

If there are NO entrances, obviously, they alone will be getting ALL THE MEDICAL SEATS, because the intense coaching, training, 5-tests-every-week-schedule are possible only in cities and “special schools” and not in village schools.

Village students, inspite of their hard word DO NOT USUALLY GET CENTUM because of poor handwriting and poor presentation – factors which play havoc in theory where as these are not needed in entrance.

In short, the factors I have mentioned above for common for ALL Exams (including IAS) and not just entrance

Atari 65 XE, My First Computer

My Uncle Gifted me an ATARI 65 XE, when I was in my 7th Standard. I learned Programming with that Computer (In BASIC)



This post is a result of Kiruba's Reliving Sinclair Spectrum Days

At least My Atari did not die prematurely. I gifted it to my Uncle's daughter after my Dad bought me a HP Pavilion

These are the details I have dug about that from http://www.heimcomputer.de/english/comp/atari65xe.html

Manufacturer:	Atari
Model:	65 XE (800 XE)
Released:	1985
Production ends:	?
Processor:	6502C, 8 Bit
Mhz:	1,79
Co-Processor:	-
RAM:	64 KB
ROM:	24 KB (14 KB Kernal + 8 KB Atari-Basic)
Operating Systems:	Atari OS (XL-OS)
Graphic, Resolution:	Graphic: 320x192 monocrom, 160x192 4 Colors, Text: 40x24 (Graphicchips: ANTIC + GTIA)
Colors:	16 of 256
Sound:	4 Channel, mono (Chip: POKEY)
Ports:	Video, HF, 2 Joystick, Cartridgeport, System-BUS, serial
Keyboard:	Typewriter, 62 Keys, QWERTY
Internal Drives:	-
Specials:	-
Accessories:	Discdrive, Tapedrive, Lightgun
Sold in:	worldwide
Launch price:	?
Sold Pieces:	?
Got own one from:	-

What I liked the most about that Computer was the Instruction manual given along with that computer that me the Language Basic. That is how one has to write an Instruction manual

Specifications and information (from http://www.geocities.com/compcloset/atari65xe.htm)

Introduced:	1985
CPU:	6502C, 1.79 MHz
Memory:	64K RAM, 24K ROM
Operating System:	XL Operating System
Input/Output:	Cartridge Port, two joystick ports, composite video output, serial bus connector for floppy drive or printer
Resolution:	320x192 max, up to 256 colors, 40x24 text
Bus:	Atari serial bus
Other Items in Collection:	XF551 Floppy Drive, Power Supply
Items Needed:	Operating System versions

The 65XE was essentially a straight replacement for the Atari 800XL, adding not much more than a new version of BASIC, and updating the looks to match its big brother, the 130XE

Entrance Exams and Women

Please read http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com/2007/04/jees-bias-against-women.html for more understanding

Also Read Do-boys-fare-better-than-girls-in Entrance Exams

I would like to give some inputs here.....

Whenever there was an Exam that combined both MCQs and Text Based Patters (there are a lot of such exams during MBBS), it was always found that girls outscored boys in the text part and boys outscored girls in the MCQ part....

I am sure that the concept of coaching etc do not come here...

In 1995, a student called Delinda scored 200/200 in ALL FOUR SUBJECTS other than English and Tamil (Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology) .... She of course attended the same entrance exam coaching centres as others, but managed some 80/100 in Entrance....

This is just a tip of ice berg...

Please note that for getting more than 95 %, every one, whether boy or girl is into some special kind of coaching... Tuitions, special classes etc....

Hence I do no consider the "Advantage of Coaching Argument"

For example, (in 1996) I got 199,196 and 185 in Class XII and 98.333 % in Entrance and got MBBS seat

The girl who got District First in our batch got 200,199,199 and 95 % in Entrance

Both got into MBBS

And the bottom line

We both attended the same Entrance Coaching Class and the same Tuition for Physics and Chemistry....

Now Abi,

Coming to "getting into MBBS" in Tamil Nadu, the motivation as well as the facilites were same to both....

THere will be equal number of boys and girls in Physics, Chemistry and Biology Tuitions / SPecial Classes and Coaching Classes and there will be equal number of boys and girls in the Entrance Coaching Institutes...

What you say (Boys getting more facilities / being motivated) may be true as far as IIT-JEE, PMPD etc, but as far as I know I don't thing that there is a difference between the genders at State Exams....

Yet the results are varied...

This year, there is NO entrance in Tamil Nadu.... You will see that out of the 1500 seats, at least 1100 will be filled by girls...

By the way, take the TOP 100 rankers in any Board Exams..... How many of them have got there without and coaching... Not even 5...

In my knowledge, the level of coaching / special classes / tuitions needed for Class XII exams are more than the one month Training for Entrance Exams....

I do not think that the difference is due to "coaching".. Both boys and girls attend coaching for Board Exams as well as coaching for Entrance Exams, but girls outperform boys in board exams and boys out perform boys in entrance exams

I do not think that JEE is more biased than any entrance (objective type of questions).... It is as biased against girls as any other entrance in the same way board exam (needing to memorise 1200 pages with comma full stop etc) is biased against boys !!!!

Abi Said

Bruno: Your points are interesting. However, would you say that there is a good correlation between entrance exam marks and high school exam marks?

Further, the TN entrance exams are just not in the same league as the JEE, Bruno. 95 % of the students may go to a coaching centre, but do you think it is really necessary for a bright, diligent student?

//(b) Coaching centres' practices. Boys can go to Kota and camp out there for a year (foregoing a year of college!); I can't imagine parents sending their girls there for such a long period. Also (as AS observed in his/her comment), coaching centres operate during ungodly hours (a centre in Mumbai even tried all-night coaching sessions!) This too puts girls at a disadvantage.//

I don't have any idea about Kota, but there is a Coaching Institute for PG Entrance at Kottayam. You just will not believe the number of girls from Tamil Nadu staying there for one full year (and then getting a good rank in PG Entrance)....

Similarly, if you see Speed, Positive or Lotus Fast Track, the number of girls attending these PG Medical Entrance Exam Coaching tells that parents no longer differentiate between a girl and boy (at least as far as Medical Field is concerned)

//Bruno: Your points are interesting. However, would you say that there is a good correlation between entrance exam marks and high school exam marks?//

What I am telling is the other way around. I am telling that though both the (same batch of) boys and girls attend the same "Extra Coaching" (read as Tuition / Special Classes) for Board Exams and the same Coaching Institute for Entrance Exams, the boys outperform girls in Entrance and girls out perform boys in Board Exams....

This I am telling from following the Education / Entrance scenario in Tamil Nadu.

What I am trying to tell is that there is an natural inclination for girls to score well in MEMORY based exams and BOYS in Application based Exams.

//Further, the TN entrance exams are just not in the same league as the JEE, Bruno. //
Agreed....
The papers may not be tough. But what about the Competetion Levels. You score Only One Question and you are out of the competetion. IIT-JEE has a tough question paper, but I feel the competetion is more intense in TN Entrance (inspite of the "Low" quality of questions) because the margin of error is very low

//95 % of the students may go to a coaching centre, but do you think it is really necessary for a bright, diligent student?//

Let me put it this way....
It (Coaching) is not necessary for a bright diligent student to score 99 %

But of the 3 lakhs odd students, 3000 (at least 1 %) are bright and diligent and can get 99% without Coaching. But they have only 1500 seats !!!!

Who among the 3000 gets this 1500 is decided more by the Coaching !!!!

//i can tell you the ratio in aiims, it is 10-14 girls in a batch of 50, ie 20-30%. it is much higher(50% or above) in the university med colleges, but most of them have some sort of reservation for girls.I have no idea about jipmer.//

There is NO reservation for girls in MBBS Admissions. Reservation for girls are there in Government Job (after MBBS) in Tamil Nadu. I have no idea about other states

No reservation for Girls in JIPMER

Something about Tamil Nadu Scenario... This may not be related to the debate, but I want to record my comments...

This year there is going to be NO Entrance Exams in Tamil Nadu for MBBS Admission

You will see that there is atleast 70 % of girls in the allotment list

And then, Not even 50 Students from Rural Areas will be getting seats (as Entrances are removed)

This may sound funny, but the truth is that the Amount of Coaching needed (read as money spent) for Entrance Exams is just 10 % of the Coaching (read money spent) that is being given for Board Exams to enable the candidate get centum.

Hence, Rural Students will be at a great disadvantage because of Cancellation of Entrance Exams....

After seeing the pathetic result of the regulation, they will bring back the entrance in few years.. !!!

மாயக்கண்ணாடியில் சாதீயமா?

If The movie had centered on a Engineer or Lawyer spoiling their career in pursuit of Cinema, Cheran may be the movie had been a blockbuster

290 Candidates to be selected by TNPSC

Good News to the Fresh recruits... The following is taken from the Policy Note of Tamil Nadu Government, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms
(http://www.tn.gov.in/policynotes/pdf/P_and_AR.pdf)

In the year 2006-2007, 1477 Medical Officers have been recruited by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission. It has been proposed to regularize the services of 1055 Civil Assistant Surgeon who worked on contract basis through a Special Qualifying Examination to be conducted by the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission. Further, it has also been ordered to recruit 290 Assistant Medical Officers and 16 Assistant Medical Officers (Dental) through the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission.

So Guys and Gals, Start Preparing for the TNPSC..... All the best

Click here to know about the books needed for TNPSC Preparation

TNPSC Section of TargetPG

Do Boys fare better than girls in Entrance Exams because of Coaching

The argument started here http://nanopolitan.blogspot.com/2007/04/women-in-computer-science.html

I would like to give some inputs here.....

Whenever there was an Exam that combined both MCQs and Text Based Patters (there are a lot of such exams during MBBS), it was always found that girls outscored boys in the text part and boys outscored girls in the MCQ part....

I am sure that the concept of coaching etc do not come here...

In 1995, a student called Delinda scored 200/200 in ALL FOUR SUBJECTS other than English and Tamil (Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology) .... She of course attended the same entrance exam coaching centres as others, but managed some 80/100 in Entrance....

This is just a tip of ice berg...

Please note that for getting more than 95 %, every one, whether boy or girl is into some special kind of coaching... Tuitions, special classes etc....

Hence I do no consider the "Advantage of Coaching Argument"

For example, (in 1996) I got 199,196 and 185 in Class XII and 98.333 % in Entrance and got MBBS seat

The girl who got District First in our batch got 200,199,199 and 95 % in Entrance

Both got into MBBS

And the bottom line

We both attended the same Entrance Coaching Class and the same Tuition for Physics and Chemistry.....


Coming to "getting into MBBS" in Tamil Nadu, the motivation as well as the facilites were same to both....

THere will be equal number of boys and girls in Physics, Chemistry and Biology Tuitions / SPecial Classes and Coaching Classes and there will be equal number of boys and girls in the Entrance Coaching Institutes...

What you say (Boys getting more facilities / being motivated) may be true as far as IIT-JEE, PMPD etc, but as far as I know I don't thing that there is a difference between the genders at State Exams....

Yet the results are varied...

This year, there is NO entrance in Tamil Nadu.... You will see that out of the 1500 seats, at least 1100 will be filled by girls...

By the way, take the TOP 100 rankers in any Board Exams..... How many of them have got there without and coaching... Not even 5...

In my knowledge, the level of coaching / special classes / tuitions needed for Class XII exams are more than the one month Training for Entrance Exams....

Continued at Entrance-exams-and-women

1 (one) year Rural Posting after MBBS

This was what I read in a Forum posted by a Young Doctor (Sorry, some one who is studying MBBS)

guys has anybody heard what the central health minister (ramadoss)is upto?apparently he plans to make 3 years rural service compulsory for ALL medical graduates before pg,all over the country.this news is alarming to say the least.has anyone any idea about which batch are they going to start with?i'm currently doing my internship,so i guess my batch will be the first to have its future ruined.if anyone has some knowledge about the scheme,please reply to this post-this concerns all of us.

Quote:

guys has anybody heard what the central health minister (ramadoss)is upto?

It was in Media

Quote:

apparently he plans to make 3 years rural service compulsory for ALL medical graduates before pg,all over the country.

Heard So

Quote:

this news is alarming to say the least.

Why Alarming ????

Quote:

has anyone any idea about which batch are they going to start with?

At least before 2009

Quote:

i'm currently doing my internship,so i guess my batch will be the first to have its future ruined.

If you say that by Rural Service (that means by working in a PHC), your future is to be ruined, GOD SAVE YOUR PATIENTS

And Now Let us examine the other side of the coin

Rural Health Service cannot be improved even if you post a doctor a village until you get rid of the Quacks


Though I am a strong advocate of Rural Service, i can't understand the logic behind asking those not willing to come to villages
The truth is that even with the present amount of doctors, the health care can be improved if we attend to few other factors.

It has been the practise of policy makers to point the finger at the doctor (or lack of doctor) for all the maladies in Indian Villages

The problem in of Health Care in Rural Setup is not just lack of Doctors............

It is lack of

1. Facilities

There is no use in asking a Doctor to go to Village giving just half a dozen drugs (Para, Septran, Avil, Albendazole, Chloroquine and Inj B Complex)

2. Lack of awareness by people

The rural public will not come to "english Medicine" as soon as they have an ailment...... First they will take thier own (grandmother suggested) medicine. Then they will go to a quack (the doctor posted in PHC is mostly young, where as in the opinion of the village public the quack being old is more experienced )... Then they will come to the Primary Health Centre and when you cannot cure them INSTANTANEOUSLY with the available drugs, they will go to the General hospital

3. Lack of Infrastructure

Most of the Primary Health Centres are located well out side the villages some places even 3 to 4 kilometres with no bus (and some places even no road ) How can you expect some one with pain to come there. They will obviously catch a bus to go to the near by city hospital

4. Lack of Working Knowledge by our Medicos

And then is another problem, from our side. We doctors will not give Injection (fearing AIDS) for cases not indicated. Where as the Quack will give injection (some times even 2, and charge for both )

So what is to be done by the Government

1. Government has to look at the other issues AND DO THE NECESSARY ISSUES while posting doctors

2. Doctors should be posted only after (at least 15 days of ) management training which is needed when you are working alone in a remote place

3. Make sure that the fresh graduates are posted in PHCs and CHCs which are well connected by Bus or Train (Other wise, no one will go !!)

What has the graduates do

1. Think this as an opportunity to learn managerial skills which will be definitely needed to run their own hospital in future (I am not telling that to learn managerial skills you have to come all the way to PHC- Don't take it as that way) I am only suggesting that PHC will teach a young doctor a lot more that is needed for a doctor than what is being thought from AC Rooms

2. Try to be a HEALER than some one who just diagnoses and treats

3. Ask the government to post them across various institutions like PHC / CHC / WCH / Sanatoriums / NTKH / TK H / DHQ H etc so that they have a wide exposure

4. Prepare for Post graduation Entrance Exams while being posted there

Shake Well

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=57749

Publication: The study was published Nov. 29 online in Annals of Internal Medicine (www.anals.org). Wolf is presenting a position piece on how to improve those labels Nov. 29 at the American College of Physicians Foundation conference in Washington, D.C.
On the web: www.northwestern.edu

When Michael Wolf paged though dusty, yellowing pharmacists’ logs from the 1890s at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, he found the following entry about a druggist’s encounter with a confused patient: “Shake well,” a patient apparently read out loud to the pharmacist from his prescription bottle label. “Does that mean I shake myself"”

It sounds like the punch line of a bad joke, but it wasn’t. And the confusion experienced by that patient more than a century ago hasn’t changed much.

Many people still don’t fully understand the seemingly simple label instructions on their prescription medication, according to a new study of low-income patients by Wolf, Ph.D., assistant professor of medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

Wolf found that nearly half of the patients in the study misinterpreted at least one or more out of the five prescription labels they were shown. Patients with low literacy made the most mistakes and frequently were unable to grasp four out of five label instructions. But even people with a high-school education and higher had problems.

“We came at this from a health literacy perspective, but we found it was a problem with many people in general,” said Wolf, director of Northwestern’s new Health Literacy and Learning Program, which aims to improve patients’ ability to understand and act on health information. “It was surprising how prevalent mistakes were regardless of an individual’s literacy level. Just being able to read the label doesn’t mean you’ll be able to interpret it.”

Wolf believes the main culprit is awkward wording. “Why are we not phrasing things properly on bottles"” he asked.

Recent studies have shown that many patients don’t take their medicine properly at home. Wolf’s research with co-lead author Terry Davis, professor at Louisiana State University, is the first to show why the errors occur. Ruth Parker, professor at Emory University, was senior author on the study.

Their research follows Wolf’s widely publicized June, 2006 study, which found patients with low literacy skills had trouble understanding prescription drug warning labels.

Addressing medication error is a high priority within the health care system. In July, the Institute of Medicine reported 1.5 million patients are injured each year by medication errors, of which more than one-third occur at home.

The potential for patient mistakes rises as Americans’ countertops fill with ever more bottles of prescription medicines. The average adult took six or seven medicines a year in 2002 compared to four or five medicines a decade ago. Not only are there more opportunities for mistakes, Wolf’s study showed that the more medications a patient takes, the more likely he or she will misunderstand the labels.

The most common mistake made by patients in the study was misinterpreting dosage instructions (a tablespoon versus a teaspoon) followed by misunderstanding the dose frequency.

“Just being able to read the label doesn’t mean you’ll be able to interpret it. Patients reading at a sixth-grade level or below could read it back. But if you ask them what it means to take two tablets twice daily, only one-third of the patients with limited literacy skills got that correct,” Wolf said.

“What is twice daily"” he asked in what sounded like an opening to a George Carlin comedy routine. “Do you take two at 8 a.m. or two at noon"”

“The most common misinterpretation was to take two pills a day. It’s not that they couldn’t figure out two plus two equals four. Rather, it’s the way the instructions were written. It’s awkward wording,” Wolf said, noting the wording is chosen by the individual pharmacist filling the prescription.

The more numbers included in the dosage, the more likely patients in the study got it wrong. The hardest label to understand: Take 1 teaspoon 3 times a day for 7 days. “It’s possible people read this quickly because they perceive it as simple. They get the numbers flipped. They confuse and misread them,” Wolf said.

The gap between reading and actually understanding the dose means that the current “teach back” technique, in which patients are asked to repeat back instructions to a health care provider, may be inadequate to prevent patient mistakes.

The 395 patients participating in the study ranged from 18 through mid-70s and were from primary care clinics serving indigent populations in Chicago; Shreveport, La.; and Jackson, Mich. Wolf said the study purposely focused on low-income patients because they are disproportionately affected by poor health. A patient was shown each commonly used medicine individually and asked how he or she would take it.

In his Northwestern office, Wolf pulled out giant plastic bags filled with the offending prescription bottles. Family members, friends and colleagues send him their used bottles, which he stockpiles at home. “My wife hates that,” he admitted with a smile. He also has a flourishing collection of pharmacy bags stapled with patient education material.

Another study led by Wolf published in September in Patient Education and Counseling showed those FDA-approved education materials aren’t useful to patients, especially those with low literacy skills. “There’s too much information on them,” Wolf complained.

Wolf proposes a complete redesign and standardization of the text and format of prescription medication labels. The challenge is how to best use the limited “real estate” of the plastic cylinders to clearly instruct patients. He is working with study authors Parker and Davis as part of an American College of Physicians Foundation initiative to design a better label design for prescription bottles. They expect to unveil the new label soon.

He also has a grant from Target Corp. to redesign the warning icons and usage instructions on its medication bottles. “There are 120 possible warnings and instruction stickers. There is little evidence for a lot of these warnings. There is no process to say what warnings should be on the label and which should not,” he said.

Rajasthan asks doctors to prescribe generic medicines

As per http://in.news.yahoo.com/070416/43/6emey.html, Rajasthan asks doctors to prescribe generic medicines

By IANS

Monday April 16, 03:35 PM

Jaipur, April 16 (IANS) The Rajasthan government has once again directed doctors in government-run medical hospitals to prescribe medicines by their generic names.

An official letter has been issued directing doctors in all government medical colleges, hospitals, primary health centres, community health centres and dispensaries to prescribe only the generic names of medicines and not the branded ones.

Now what is important..... We government Doctors in India have been prescribing with Generic Names from Time Immemorial.....

In fact there is even an old Joke .... Since we had only Generic Drugs, all drugs will be labelled as T/G.... and hence there were even situations where patients were of the opinion that for whatever disease we go to Govt Hospital they only give T/G Drug

What is the advantage of carrying a Digicam and Voice recorder

What is the advantage of carrying a Digicam and Voice recorder.....

Kiruba has a story to offer at http://www.kiruba.com/2007/04/airlines-scam-and-how-i-experienced-it.html

I had a Jet Airways flight at 7:15 am from Chennai to Mumbai. I landed at the airport by 6:25 am and by the time I finished 'baggage screening' and hit the counter, it was 6:35 am. The crowd in the airport was surprisingly less. I didn't have to stand in the queue for baggage screening and check-in counter.

I handed over my check-in printout and my driving license to the lady at the counter. She took a few minutes checking into her computer. She then went to her colleague and they had a whispering conversation.

She came back and with a straight face, said, "Sorry sir, It's 6:45 am and we close the boarding half hour before take off. The boarding is now closed. You are late for the check-in. "

Late? Did she say, "late" ??.

I keep my cool. I tell her I was at the counter 10 minutes ago. She says that doesn't count and the fact that since its 6:45 now, she is forced to close the counter.

And what she said next, totally pissed me off.

She said, "Besides, the plane is already full"

I ask her,"How can it be full, if I'm standing here in front of you?"

To that she replied, "Oh, we usually overbook the seats"

Now, I'm beginning to boil. I understood their strategy. Last minute bookings are done by desperate business folks who *must* make the journey and are willing to pay whatever it costs. The average last minute cost of an economy class ticket is around Rs.10,000.

I grudgingly keep my calm. "Overbook? How can you give away my paid seat to another person? You are doing exactly the same scam that CNN IBN exposed last week."

With an even sterner face, she says, "Sir, we are allowed to overbook. It's legal"

I said, "Oh, yeah?" and quietly and very slowly, proceeded to open my bag. I took out my video camera and my voice recorder and placed it on the counter.

And in a really calm voice, I said, "Can you repeat your last sentence, please. I'd like you to go on record. And if you are not authorized to speak, I would like you to put me with your press relations executive".

Emphasis MINE
For more details, visit his blog

This exposes the "honesty" of private corporates.....

Wonder what supporters of Privatization (and guys who criticize PSUs 24 hours a day 365 days a year) has to tell about this

Special TNPSC Soon for Doctors Brought into Time scale of Pay

Superstar's Punch Dialogues

Superstar's Punch Dialogues are collected and presented at Top 25 legendary punch lines of Rajinikanth

What is a Punch Dialogue

As per Wikipedia

A punch dialogue is an expression or a sentence used most frequently in the Indian film industry, especially the Tamil and Telugu film industries and is generally a dialogue uttered by the protagonist to describe his character and his off-screen ambitions in a flamboyant and grandiose manner. These dialogues have been used by dialogue writers to bolster the screen image of the protagonist and also make sure that another meaning is implicit in it which would convey the contemporary ambitions of the hero/heroine during the release of the film.

This has gone to such a level that even Reliance mobile has introduced a feature where in The Reliance subscriber has to dial 1234 and type the word "PUNCH". The charges for accessing the voice portal are Rs.6 per minute.

How will you expand M.Karunanithi

.... Few guys at Wikipedia, who did not know about South Indian Naming System chose the wrong way, when I wrote the following message

Please note that the Indian Naming conventions are different. The son's name is written first and then only the father's name (or surname) is written. Hence the Correct name will be Karunanidhi Muthuvel and not what you have corrected. In fact this is a name Kalaignar never uses. Indian always write their name as M.Karunanidhi. Doctor Bruno 02:29, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

And One Guy responded

Well I don't write my name that way though I'm from India. Is there any policy or guideline in Wikipedia about Indian Naming conventions etc? Idleguy 04:03, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

My Reply

Initials in Tamil naming conventions mean the father's name and not the son's name. For example brothers Robert Smith and William Smith are written as R.Smith and W.Smith. But brothers Lavan and Kusan are written as R.Lavan and R.Kusan in Tamil Nadu. Tell me how this should be expanded so as to give the westerners a correct interpretation. WIll you write it as Raman Lavan or Lavan Raman. WHat will be the impression that will be generated in the global community when it is written as Raman Lavan. Who will be considered as the father and who will be considered as the son. If you are going to name them as per western conventions it is K.Raman and L.Raman which is never done in Tamil Nadu. Similarly the smith brothers will be called as S.Robert and S.Williams. I can't comment upon this system, but please expand R.Lavan as Lavan Raman and not Raman Lavan Doctor Bruno 01:19, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Next doubt

That's not what we've done on other articles about Tamils. Thiru. Vi. Ka. is Tiruvarir Viruttacala Kalyanasundaram, not Kalyanasundaram Tiruvarir Viruttacala. Rajaji is Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari, not Rajagopalachari Chakravarthi. By the same logic, Karunanidhi should be Muthuvel Karunanidhi, not Karunanidhi Muthuvel. -- Arvind 10:53, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Explanation

Rajaji and Viswanathan Anand (and of late Dr.A.Ramadoss) are classic examples of how North Indian Media and Western Media have misintepreted the South Indian naming conventions

For communities using double initial (the first is the name of the Town/village and the second the name of the father) it is appropriate for the naming conventions used for Thiru.Vi.Ka. That is called as vilasam. Hope you all have heard about அய்யம்பேட்டை அறிவுடைநம்பி கலியம்பெரும்மாள் இந்திரன் and அய்யம்பேட்டை அறிவுடைநம்பி கலியம்பெரும்மாள் சந்திரன்

However the use of initials is different in South Indian context and western context.

The second example which you have given is an example of a error that has been done by the english media. They do the same thing for Vishwanathan Anand, Palaniappan Chidambaram. Another glaring example of wrong naming conventions is referring Anbumani as Dr.Ramadoss. Ramadoss is his father's name and not surname. (If it is a surname, Dr.Ramadoss can refer to either the father and son, but since it is his father's name, the english media are committing a blunder when they say htat Dr.Ramadoss is the Health Minister) Just because such errors have been committed by those who are not well versed in Tamil Naming Conventions, it does not mean that it should be continued.

See [1] This issue has been already highlighted Doctor Bruno 01:10, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Further Examples

I some one cannot still understand the naming conventions, please ask yourself as to how you will expand J.Jayalalithaa ?? Doctor Bruno 12:42, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Yet another example of how Western Media misinterpret Indian Naming conventions and use the father's name instead of the subject's name can be seen from the BBC Report which says Soundararajan is refusing to comment. (Common Guys... Soundarajan is her father) But atleast BCC mentioned S.Shanthi as Santhi Soundararajan, and not Soundarajan Santhi !!!! Doctor Bruno 03:32, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Maharashtra Naming Conventions

Amit Varma Writes is his blog at http://indiauncut.com/iublog/article/father-husbands-name/

There is much hoo-ha these days about bizarre new government guidelines that make women give details of their menstrual history on appraisal forms. S Mitra Kalita correctly points out in Mint that there is an equally invidious requirement that women in India constantly face on every form that they fill in: Father/husband’s name.

Kalita even spoke to an official in the labour ministry who told her that there is no law that requires such a question to be answered, but that “for 60-80-100 years blindly, we have been asking this question.” Don’t expect that to change. Inertia is a powerful beast.

The one requirement that has irritated me in forms that I’ve had to fill up in Pune and Mumbai is of “Father’s Name.” Why so? Well, in Maharashtra there is a custom of the father’s name being the middle name of a person, and the government here assumes that the custom holds across the country. So, say, if I wrote my father’s name as Cthulhu, my name would automatically go into the records as Amit Cthulhu Varma. Punjus and Bongs—I’m half of each—have no such custom, and I don’t have a middle name, but try explaining that to a ration-card officer.

Or even to Cthulhu.

On Moon

Joke circulating on the net:

Manmohan Singh to George Bush: We are sending Indians to the moon next year.

Bush: Wow! How Many?

Manmohan Singh: About 100, in the following order:

25 OBC,
25 SC,
20 ST,
5 handicapped,
5 sports persons,
5 terrorism-affected,
5 Kashmiri migrants,
9 politicians,
and if possible 1 astronaut.

My reply:

Manmohan Singh to George Bush: We are sending Indians to the moon next year.

Bush: Wow! How Many?

Manmohan Singh: About 100, in the following order:

35 Institute Quota
30 Payment Seat
20 Relative of Politicians
11 Relatives of Officials
2 OBCs
1 SCs
1 STs
0 Astronauts

For another reply see http://www.shivamvij.com/2007/04/caste-on-the-moon.html

Venugopal Sacked as per Court's Orders

From http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=03ae34b7-7dd4-457a-8221-a87ecc675778&

P Venugopal, director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, was on Wednesday removed of his additional charge as head of the cardiology department as per the directions of the Delhi High Court.

Sampad Kumar, the senior-most professor in the cardio-thoracic surgery department, will replace Venugopal.

On March 29, the High Court had vacated the stay over the hospital's governing body to take steps for removing him from the post of AIIMS director by adhering to the due process of law.

A division bench of Justices Swatanter Kumar and HR Malhotra had given 15 day's time to the government to act upon the court order.

The bench had said: "The institute's governing body is free to proceed in accordance with the law and on the basis of the questionnaire served upon the director to which he has already replied, and pass such orders with the prior approval of the government as it may deem fit and proper in the circumstances of the case."

Granting permission to the governing body to proceed against Venugopal, the bench said that the governing body was the supreme decision making body and the autonomy of the institute is necessary for the attaining excellence in the medical field.

On All Occassions

//Why don’t you compile the statistics of do-or-die situations that the Indian team has been in over the past seven years? Also consider, wins such as Adelaide 2003-04.

Then, fish out Sachin’s contributions: particularly in the 2nd innings of Test matches—and ODIs where India needed to qualify to the next stage or an ODI final.

You are likely to see that he’s not fired. //

I have seen that he has NOT fired in ALL occasions

But he has fired at least twice as better than all other Indian batsmen put togethers

Many guys are giving a list of few matches and say that Sachin let India down in such Crucial encounters.....

Agreed.... What were the other 10 gentleman doing in those "crucial matches"....

Why are those matches listed in Sachin's list of failures.... Why are they not list as failure of say Dravid, Sehwag etc...

Greg Chappell's email to his wife leaked to media?

Copied from http://www.gamecricket.com/2007/04/greg-chappells-email-to-his-wife-leaked.html

Greg Chappell's email to his wife may have been leaked to media,per sources

A source close to the Indian coach has informed segments of the media that one of Greg Chappell's emails to his wife may have been leaked to the media. Some sources,close to the coach, claim that the leak of the email may be as a result of a habit of sending important confidential emails to his media friends,rather than any deliberate leak of the email to the Indian media

The email leak controversy rages and is expected to escalate the current controversy

Who else could have leaked this email? Our sources close to the coach also point out the coach himself is unlikely to have leaked the email, since he is the epitome of sincerity. In fact, the sources suggest that a coach who has not made a single mistake in his reign as Indian cricket coach (it was always someone else's mistake) could not have made this simple blunder

In fact, this email leak could be attributed to a number of sources such as the Indian Internet services provider or certain search engine such as Google,acting in collusion with certain senior members of the Indian cricket team

Greg's brother Ian Chappell also could not be reached- per our sources close to the coach, Ian may have been busy calling for other Indian senior cricketers to retire,acting in isolation and with absolutely no prodding from the Indian cricket coach

Please take this blog post in the spirit of April Fool's day and definitely not take it seriously (despite what our sources close to the Indian cricket team say)

Is Sex Necessary for Evolution?

Original research article: http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-pdf&file=10.1371_journal.pbio.0050099-L.pdf

DOI of the scientific paper: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050099

Publication: Gross L (2007) Who Needs Sex (or Males) Anyway? PLoS Biol 5(4): e99

On the web: www.plos.org

If you own a birdbath, chances are you are hosting one of evolutionary biology's most puzzling enigmas: bdelloid rotifers. These microscopic invertebrates -widely distributed in mosses, creeks, ponds, and other freshwater repositories -abandoned sex perhaps 100 million years ago, yet have apparently diverged into nearly 400 species. Bdelloids (the "b" is silent) reproduce through parthenogenesis, which generates offspring with essentially the same genome as their mother from unfertilized eggs. Biologists have yet to find males, hermaphrodites, or any trace of meiosis- the process that creates sex cells - challenging the long-held assumption that evolutionary success requires genetic exchange.

The genetic variation created by meiosis and fertilization, theory holds, bolsters a species's capacity to weather shifting environmental conditions or resist rapidly evolving parasites. (During meiosis, the genome splits in two, and chromosome pairs swap bits of their DNA; during fertilization, the sex cells fuse to restore the complete genome.) Many multicellular eukaryotes pass through a sexual and asexual phase in their life cycle. But eschewing sex altogether, Ã la bdelloids, is not theoretically consistent with a long-lived evolutionary life span or extensive species diversification.

In a new study, Diego Fontaneto, Timothy Barraclough, and colleagues developed new statistical techniques for combined molecular and morphological analyses of rotifers to test the notion that species diversification requires sex. The researchers show that, despite an ancient aversion for interbreeding, bdelloids display evolutionary patterns similar to those seen in sexually reproducing taxa. How they have avoided the pitfalls of a lifestyle widely regarded as evolutionary suicide remains an open question.

Bdelloids have remained such an enduring enigma in part because biologists are still debating whether species exist as true evolutionary entities. And if they do, what forces determine how they diverge? Traditional taxonomy relies on morphological differences to classify species, but it can't distinguish whether such differences reflect physical variations among a group of clones or adaptations among independently evolving populations. In the traditional view of species diversification, interbreeding promotes cohesion within a population-maintaining the species -and barriers to interbreeding (called reproduction isolation) promote species divergence. With no interbreeding to maintain cohesion, the thinking goes, asexual taxa might not diversify into distinct species.

Fontaneto et al. defined species as independently evolving, distinct populations (or units of diversity) subject to distinct evolutionary mechanisms. They predicted that if factors other than interbreeding - such as niche specialization -controlled species cohesion and divergence, then asexual taxa should diverge along the same lines as sexually reproducing organisms. And if this were the case, they would expect to find genetic and morphological cohesion within independently evolving populations and divergence between them.

To detect independently evolving populations, the researchers analyzed marker genes isolated from clones of bdelloids collected from diverse habitats around the world. They constructed evolutionary trees using both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences (the molecular "barcode" cox1and 28S ribosomal DNA sequences, respectively) to identify species within the samples. For the morphological analysis, they measured the size and shape of the rotifers' jaws (called trophi).

The morphological results largely fell in line with traditional taxonomic classifications for most bdelloid species. And species identified as related on the DNA trees typically had similar morphology. The correspondence between the molecular and morphological results suggests that the majority of traditionally identified bdelloid species are what's known as monophyletic- individuals in the same species assort together on the evolutionary tree and share a common ancestor. Only two of these traditional, monophyletic species showed significant variation in trophi size or shape among the populations; both also showed significant divergence in the DNA trees.

Using statistical models to determine the likely origin of the observed DNA tree branching patterns, the researchers show that these distinct monophyletic genetic clusters represent independently evolving entities (rather than variations within a single asexual population). But what caused them to evolve independently? Are they geographically isolated populations that evolved under neutral selection, or did they evolve into ecologically discrete species as a result of divergent selection pressures on trophi morphology?
Is Sex Necessary for Evolution?
Scanning electron micrographs showing morphological variation of bdelloid rotifers and their jaws. Have these asexual animals really diversified into evolutionary species? (Image: Diego Fontaneto)

If bdelloids have experienced divergent selection, the researchers explain, they would expect to see high variation in trophi traits between species, and low intraspecies variation (compared to neutral changes). And that's what they found -bdelloids have experienced divergent selection on trophi size (and to a lesser degree, on trophi shape) at the species level.

Altogether, these results show that the asexual bdelloids have indeed experienced divergent selection on feeding morphology, most likely as they adapted to different food sources found in different niches. By showing that asexual organisms have diverged into "independently evolving and distinct entities," the researchers argue, this study "refutes the idea that sex is necessary for diversification into evolutionary species." They hope others use their approach to study mechanisms underlying species divergence in sexual taxa to clarify the hazy nature of species and biological diversity.