Latest news with #DepartmentofScienceandTechnology
GMA Network
2 hours ago
- Science
- GMA Network
Ballistic protection gear fit for Filipino physique under development
Local researchers are developing ballistic protection equipment that fits the body type of Filipinos. At the 8th National Research and Development Conference at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday, the Department of Science and Technology—Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD)—displayed the AeroComp Project, which was described as 'the future of the Philippines' ballistic defense industry.' The project aims to produce lightweight fiber-reinforced ballistic protection products, including helmets, Level IIIA to Level III tactical plates with a weight of 550 grams to 2,100 grams, as well as tactical vests weighing less than 1,000 grams that are custom-fit for Filipino soldiers. Denisse Jonel Pavia, a member of the research team, said that the project's goal is to address the problem of heavy plates and bulky vests that obstruct military activities. 'Our plates are made from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. It's a fabric, and then it's combined with pineapple fabric. Locally sourced yung pineapple, yung polyethylene ay outsourced. Tapos, yung current na tactical vest namin, we have designed it to fit the Filipino physique since yung current market yung feature nila mostly for mga American-based [physique]. It is bulkier,' Pavia said. (Our plates are made from ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene. It's a fabric, and then it's combined with pineapple fabric. The pineapple fabric is locally sourced, and then the polyethylene is outsourced. The tactical vest was designed to fit the Filipino physique since the current market features mostly American-based [physique]. It is bulkier.) The gear has already undergone field tests with the Philippine Navy and the Air Force and failure mode analysis—both of which yielded positive results. The project aims to supply the equipment to the Philippine military, with the intention of subsequently introducing them for commercial purposes. Each vest is expected to cost between P35,000 and P50,000, and the helmet is projected to cost between P12,000 and P20,000. AeroComp is targeted to be completed by May 2026. —VBL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
10 hours ago
- Climate
- GMA Network
Landslides hit Baguio City areas
Some families evacuated after landslides hit several areas in Baguio City due to the heavy rains from the combined effects of Severe Tropical Storm Emong, Tropical Storm Dante, and the Southwest Monsoon or Habagat, according to a report on GMA Integrated News' Unang Balita on Thursday. A landslide was reported at a slope protection project in Barangay Apugan-Loakan, EJ Gomez reported. Six families stayed in evacuation centers and took shelter in other places. In Barangay Pacdal, a landslide also affected Liteng Elementary School. A private construction site in Barangay Loakan Proper was also hit by a landslide. Two quarters of workers were damaged. In Barangay Camp 7, a landslide also blocked a road. The Department of Science and Technology as well as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources warned of possible flooding and landslide incidents in different regions in the country. There are over 3,000 "very highly susceptible" barangays in 15 provinces in Bicol, Cagayan Valley, MIMAROPA, and Western Visayas Evacuees are advised not to return to their homes amid heavy rains. There are 5,000 "highly susceptible" barangays in 22 provinces in Cordillera Administrative Region, Ilocos Region, CALABARZON, and Central Luzon. In Metro Manila, over 1,000 barangays are also at risk of experiencing flooding and landslides. — Joviland Rita/RSJ, GMA Integrated News
Indian Express
4 days ago
- Health
- Indian Express
Gujarat to create genome database of tribal communities: what's the project, why
In a first in the country, the Gujarat government has announced a genome sequencing project to create a database from 29 tribal groups across 17 districts of the state. The exercise, a local extension of the recently completed Genome India Project (GIP), will be carried out over the next five years. The entire eastern belt of Gujarat, which shares borders with Rajasthan in the north, Madhya Pradesh in the east and Maharashtra in the south, has districts with a predominantly tribal population. The Genome India Project — its report was released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January — saw 10,000 genomes from 83 diverse groups processed and stored at the Indian Biological Data Centre. It had around 1,800 samples from Gujarat, which included around 100 samples from tribal communities, not enough to represent them. Thus, the Gujarat Tribal Genome Sequencing Project aims to gain critical insight into the genetic makeup of these tribal groups, which, at 15% of the state's population, consist of approximately 1 crore people. This initiative is also expected to enrich the Central Genome India dataset. The project, approved in the Gujarat budget of 2025-26, will be helmed by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC). Implications of the project Mona Khandhar, Principal Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, said the understanding of genome characteristics will help the government in making more focused programmes. Subject enrollment will take place after a formal launch of the project by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, so that awareness begins before field researchers go to the villages. 'Our field teams will seek help from the local administration, communities, as well as the political leadership. This is why it was important to explain the project to MPs and MLAs. We are also taking help from researchers at Birsa Munda Bhavan and the Tribal Development Department,' said a scientist involved in the project. The project's six-point agenda includes capturing the unique diversity of India's population, improving diagnosis of rare diseases, supporting development of novel drugs, developing precision medical treatments tailored to genetic profiles, building a genomic reference panel for the tribal population, and boosting public health research infrastructure. Many among the tribal communities from Gujarat have excelled in sports. Director of GBRC Prof Chaitanya Joshi said, 'These tribes can be very good in, say, archery, or skills other communities may not have. So what are the genes associated with that? With this project, skill sets associated with genes can be identified.' Health aspect Health problems like malnutrition, anaemia, low BMI, prevalence of genetic diseases like sickle cell anaemia, G6PD deficiency are common in the tribal communities in Gujarat. Scientist and Joint Director at the GBRC Amrutlal K Patel said, 'So far, the medicines developed have been studied on the western population and we haven't explored the Indian genome. Diseases are more prevalent in specific communities and ethnicity also due to the Indian tradition of endogamy, as a result of which genome variations are conserved within castes.' Patel gave an example of how deaths due to organ failure were reported in certain tribes when they crossed 30 years of age. Two years ago, the GBRC researched some patients and their first degree family members, and found this was due to the mutation of the transthyretin (TTR) gene, resulting in the aggregation of protein that reached the organs, causing failure. Some mutations increase the chances of a disease, for instance BRCA1 and 2 genes in breast cancer. These are generally detected after 50 years of age and after tests. 'We can identify these in advance and design a policy that can prevent the prevalence of breast cancer. All these measures decline the disease burden on the community and thus the state government,' a scientist said. The process As part of this project, scientists will collect samples from 4,158 individuals from various tribal communities, including data on their physical measurements and blood biochemistry, and create a 2,000-strong diverse database of tribal genomes. 'We will genotype the samples and remove those that are genetically close to each other. Out of 4,158, we will do SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) type genotyping and take those with the most diverse genetics. The precaution is also because there might be bias during sample collection, which can then be eliminated at the analysis stage,' an official said. Of these, 378 will be trio samples. This means that samples will be taken of three members of the same family, including an individual as well as his/her biological parents. The other 3,780 will be individual samples. Apart from blood samples, stool samples will also be collected for microbial information. The role of the tribal department, according to Shahmeena Husain, principal secretary, will be to facilitate the technical team. 'We will facilitate the technical team as it will be a task to convince people to give samples.' Apart from name, education, medical history, information collected would include genealogical tree and addictions, physical characteristics like height, weight, BP, blood sugar, and waist measurement. The analysis After the samples have been collected, they will be stored at GBRC, where haematological and biochemical analysis of blood samples will take place. 'First, when the samples come from the field to the lab in Gandhinagar, they will be given Unique IDs. So those who receive the samples will neither know the gender nor the tribe of the person whose sample they are running through the process. This first round of encryption will be stored in our servers. Then, when it goes into the final process of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), the data will be encrypted for the second time,' said a researcher close to the project. Joshi said Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, which have 22% and 21% tribal population respectively, have shown interest in the project. 'Modalities on whether they want to be a part of it or contribute to it will be decided by the state, but if they approach us, we are ready.'
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Science
- The Hindu
IIA team decodes reason behind May 2024 solar eruptions
Bengaluru Astronomers at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) have decoded the reasons behind the series of powerful solar eruptions or Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) that resulted in rare northern lights dancing across the Ladakh's night skies in May 2024. These findings offer a major step forward in the improvement of space weather forecasting models, particularly in predicting the impact of complex CME events on Earth's magnetosphere. CMEs are massive ejections of magnetised plasma from the Sun's corona. When such solar blasts are directed toward the Earth, they can cause geomagnetic storms capable of disrupting satellite operations, communication systems, and power grids. According to the Department of Science and Technology, the great geomagnetic storm that started on 10 May, 2024, was linked to a rare sequence of six different CMEs erupting in succession, and it was associated with both solar flares and filament eruptions from an interacting complex active region on the Sun. Until now, gaining a complete understanding of how CMEs evolve thermodynamically as they travel from the Sun to Earth has remained challenging, primarily due to limited observations near the Sun as well as in near-Earth space. To bridge this gap, a team of solar astrophysicists led by Wageesh Mishra, a faculty member at IIA, used observations from the NASA and ESA space missions. They built a model to investigate the manner in which the rare chain of six interacting solar blasts reported from IIA's Indian Astronomical Observatory at Hanle in Ladakh interacted with each other and evolved thermally en route from the Sun to Earth. 'The study is the first of its kind, both in India and internationally, to capture the continuous thermodynamic evolution of multiple interacting CMEs across such a vast distance in the heliosphere,' said Dr. Mishra. 'Our analysis demonstrates that CME-CME interactions lead to significant thermal restructuring within. By the time they reach the Earth, the electrons in the complex ejecta were found to be in the heat-releasing state, while ions displayed a mix of heating and cooling behaviour, with the heating state being the dominant mode overall,' said Soumyaranjan Khuntia, the lead author and a doctoral scholar at IIA.
Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Health
- Indian Express
Gujarat becomes first state to launch genome sequencing project for tribals: Minister
Gujarat has launched a first-of-its-kind project, under which, genome sequencing of 2,000 people from various tribal communities across 17 districts in the state will be carried out to identify the 'burden of hereditary diseases', including sickle cell anemia. Gujarat is the first state to launch a tribal genome project, said Tribal Development Minister Kuber Dindor, who participated in a state-level dialogue in Gandhinagar on Tuesday. The Tribal Genome Sequencing Project, Dindor said, will prove to be a new milestone towards a prosperous and healthy future of the tribal community and act as a bridge between science and tradition. 'This project will prove to be very useful for the health welfare of tribal citizens. This project will be implemented by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Center (GBRC),' a government statement said. Through this project, it will be possible to identify genetic markers of innate immunity, cancer and other hereditary diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, etc. In addition, their health profile will be linked to basic health services. During the budget of the financial year 2025-26, a project named 'Creation of Reference Genome Database for Tribal Population in Gujarat' was approved, under which the goal was to create a reference database for the tribal community of Gujarat. MPs and MLAs from the tribal areas of Gujarat; Principal Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, Mona Khandhar; Principal Secretary of the Tribal Development Department, Shahmina Hussain; Secretary to the CM, Dr. Vikrant Pandey; Mission Director of GSBTM, Digvijaysinh Jadeja; Director of GBRC, Professor Chaitanya Joshi; Director of Tribal Development, Ashish Kumar; along with scientists and representatives of the tribal community participated in Wednesday's dialogue.
