Latest news with #NIB
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
Drug-free TN: NIB incinerates 3,500kg of seized narcotics
Chennai: As part of the ongoing 'Drug-Free Tamil Nadu' campaign, the Narcotic Intelligence Bureau (NIB) CID unit, incinerated a large volume of seized narcotic substances on Thursday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now A total of 3,510.68kg of dry ganja, 0.86kg of methamphetamine, and 239.6kg of ganja chocolates, linked to 112 cases, were destroyed at an authorized treatment and disposal facility at Thenmelpakkam in Chengalpet . A Amalraj, additional director-general of police, EBCID, supervized the incineration on Thursday. "All seized narcotics must be destroyed without unnecessary delay. I instructed officers to expedite the process in accordance with legal protocols," he said. The destruction process was carried out in accordance with legal procedures and under the direct supervision of senior officials, including the inspector-general of police, crime; the superintendent of police, NIB CID, Chennai; and the assistant director of the Tamil Nadu Forensic Sciences Laboratory (TNFSL), Chennai. According to police, this is part of a periodic effort to safely eliminate confiscated drugs and psychotropic substances. This year, NIB-CID officers destroyed a total of 7,139.387 kg of dry ganja, 74.15kg of hashish, 58kg charas, 1kg heroin, 241kg of ganja chocolates, and 0.86kg of methamphetamine, all from 355 registered cases. The public has been encouraged to report information related to the illegal sale and trafficking of drugs. Tip-offs can be shared via the helpline number 10581, WhatsApp at 9498410581, or through email at spnibcid@
Mint
3 days ago
- Health
- Mint
India to introduce more advanced testing for imported blood products to reduce infection risk
New Delhi: The health ministry plans to mandate the use of a faster and more accurate method to test all imported blood products to maintain the highest safety standards and reduce the risk of infection from transfusions. The ministry intends to introduce nucleic acid testing (NAT) to improve the screening of imported blood products for antibodies of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the hepatitis B virus, the hepatitis C virus and other impurities, an official aware of the matter said. The decision to shift to NAT has already been taken by the regulator, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), and the matter was discussed at the Drugs Technical Advisory Board meeting in April. The board is the highest statutory body responsible for advising the Central and state governments on technical matters related to the administration of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. Also Read | Banking on blood: Health ministry frames guidelines to curb paid donations, improve efficacy of transfusions With the introduction of NAT, the conventional testing method known as ELISA, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, will be done away with. ELISA, while a powerful tool, has several drawbacks, including the potential for false positive and negative results, apart from being time-consuming. The Department of Pharmaceuticals and the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) in Noida had issued an alert in October after the NIB found three imported blood products—Berirab-P (used in rabies injections), Hepabig (to prevent hepatitis B virus infection) and Tetglob (used for tetanus treatment)—to be of sub-standard quality. When the Berirab-P and Hepabig samples were tested again at the National Institute of Virology in Pune using an advanced version of polymerase chain reaction, which is more sensitive than ELISA, they passed the test metrics. The set of Tetglob samples sent to a private laboratory that used ELISA were non-reactive. Safety standards Bharat Serums and Vaccines Ltd, now owned by Mankind Pharma, is the only company in the country that imports these lifesaving blood products. Imported blood products are used for the treatment of critically ill patients or those who are suffering thalassemia and other blood-related disorders. These products are tested at government laboratories to ensure they meet safety and quality standards. Also Read | India plans standard evaluation and quality protocols for HMPV' testing kits 'These are tested using conventional methods, but now the plan is to amend the rules to allow an advanced version of testing in line with international practices," the official said. 'NIB also proposed that an amendment may be considered to test blood products by NAT." Queries sent to the health ministry, the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the Mankind Pharma spokesperson remained unanswered till press time. 'NAT testing gives accurate and quick results and nowadays it is highly used. NAT testing is used for tuberculosis and NAT testing was modified during the covid-19 pandemic to detect the coronavirus," a scientist from the Indian Council of Medical Research said, requesting anonymity. 'The ELISA test may sometimes give false results if the viral load in the sample is low. However, PCR and NAT give accurate results even if the viral load is low." Also Read | ICMR and CDSCO develop framework for validation of pathogen identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing According to an assessment by the National Blood Transfusion Council, the apex policymaking body for issues pertaining to blood and plasma, the clinical requirement of blood in the country is about 14.5 million units per year. The volume of each unit of blood is about 450 ml. In India, the import, manufacture, distribution and sale of drugs, cosmetics and notified medical devices are regulated by the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Health
- Time of India
48 COVID-19 cases reported in a day in Gautam Buddh Nagar; total 453
(Eds: Adds new cases updated at 10.30 pm) Noida (UP), May 31 () Forty-eight more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar on Sunday, taking the total tally in the district to 453, officials said. Nine of the patients were found positive during the day, while the reports of 39 came in late in the night, the officials said. District Surveillance Officer Sunil Dohare said that nine new COVID-19 cases were detected till 4 pm which took the tally to 414. "After that, results were received from the National Institute of Biologicals (NIB) in which 51 positive patients were declared. Of these, 39 are from Gautam Buddh Nagar, three are old patients with second sampling, while nine have been cross notified -- four each to Delhi and Bulandshahr and one to Ghaziabad," Dohare said. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like เทรดทองCFDsกับโบรกเกอร์ที่เชื่อถือได้| เปิดบัญชีวันนี้ IC Markets สมัคร Undo The number of active cases in the district went up to 153, according to official statistics. Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining Delhi, has so far recorded seven deaths due to the deadly virus. Among the new patients four are men aged 22, 27, 28 and 45 and a woman aged 28 -- all of them relatives of a person who works at Zee Media in Noida's Sector 16 and had already tested positive for COVID-19, the official said. ST MAN FT. LIL JHOLA, YUNG 22 & LIL NORZZA - INDIA | OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO | 2024 Others include a 23-year-old man from Sector 63, a 26-year-old man from Sector 36, both in Noida, and a 55-year-old man from Village Chichli and a 27-year-old woman from Gaur City, both in Greater Noida, he added. Of the 39 cases found later on Sunday, five belonged to a same family from Sector 48, while nine were contacts of a previous patient, Dohare said. 4,809 electors to vote in Presidential elections 2022: CEC Rajiv Kumar Also, 21 patients belonging to different areas of the district were suffering from influenza-like illness, while four others including a cancer patient tested positive for COVID-19, he said. The biennial event, a landmark in India's aerospace and defence sector, will bring together top aviation experts, global defence leaders, and technology high-speed aerial maneuvers, advanced aircraft displays, and strategic business discussions, the event is expected to draw thousands of visitors, from industry A 46-year-old man was discharged from Sharda Hospital on Sunday after being cured, he said. KIS NSD NSD
AU Financial Review
16-05-2025
- Health
- AU Financial Review
Australia moves towards a US-style health system - is that a good thing?
If you live in a capital Australian city and need to see a dentist or optometrist, there is a good chance you will end up in a clinic owned by your private health insurer. The same could be true for hospitals in the near future. Health funds such as Medibank Private, HCF, NIB and Bupa are investing hundreds of millions of dollars into primary care and telehealth. The move marks a significant shift in the healthcare model. Insurers have traditionally funded healthcare, but now they want to provide it as well.
WIRED
07-03-2025
- Science
- WIRED
Nokia Put a 4G Cellular Network on the Moon, but Couldn't Make a Phone Call
Nokia's Lunar Surface Communications System was supposed to be the first 4G network deployed on the moon and a test for future crewed missions. Things didn't go to plan. If everything went to plan on March 6, there'd be a small 4G LTE network on a tiny area of the moon right now. The first lunar 4G network—from Nokia—would have provided connectivity for several rovers as a part of the IM-2 mission. The work was supposed to pave the way for NASA's Artemis III in 2027, the first crewed mission to the moon since 1972, where Nokia and Axiom Space will integrate 4G LTE communications capabilities into astronaut spacesuits. Unfortunately, Intuitive Machine's lander, Athena, landed on her side—a fate that befell the original IM-1—not to mention 250 meters from its intended landing site at the lunar south pole. The orientation of the solar panels, direction of the sun, and cold temperatures in the crater it landed in all contributed to the fact that Athena couldn't recharge. The company announced on March 7 that the mission quickly concluded. (IM-2 wasn't the only craft to land on the moon—earlier this week, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully touched down.) While Nokia's 4G network couldn't be deployed as planned, the company is still claiming it 'delivered the first cellular network to the moon" since it "validated key aspects of the network's operation.' Inside Athena were several instruments and rovers along with Nokia's Network in a Box (NIB). In an interview at Mobile World Congress 2025, John Dow told WIRED this box is comprised of the radio, base station, routing, and core, all integrated into a compact system. He's the general manager of Nokia Bell Labs' Space Communications Systems. Nokia says it successfully powered up the NIB, which received commands and transmitted data to Intuitive Machines' ground station on Earth. All system components were fully functional, though it was only online for about 25 minutes until the power went out. The company had planned to make the first cellular call on the moon with the rovers, but the vehicles weren't deployed. What was supposed to happen? A few hours after landing, and after system checks, Athena's garage door would've opened and its onboard vehicles released. After traversing on the lunar surface, the rovers would have extended their antennas and connected to the network. 'Think of it like a connected vehicle," Dow says. "It has user equipment that we built that will connect with a 4G link to the network in a box on Athena.' One of these vehicles was the Micro Nova Hopper, nicknamed Grace, from Intuitive Machines—it was designed to hop into a permanently shadowed moon crater to take pictures and readings, looking for potential signs of water ice. Any data collected would have been transferred back to the NIB on Athena, which would have transferred it to Earth via a long-haul satellite uplink. (That trip to Earth takes about a second and a half.) Dow says the rovers were supposed to travel under 2 kilometers away from Athena (around 1.2 miles), which is how far the broadband connectivity will be supported. If Lunar Outpost mission controllers in Colorado were to send commands to the rovers, the data would have traveled via Intuitive Machine's direct-to-Earth data transmission service to Athena and dispersed through the 4G network. While the 4G LTE flavor is the same as on Earth, Nokia's Lunar Surface Communications System was optimized for space travel, with several redundancies to recover from potential hardware or electronic failures (lack of power was not one of them). Nokia's components were replaced with lighter materials when possible. For example, the company says it replaced a heavy cavity filter with a ceramic-based solution, reducing its weight by five times. Nokia also says it designed a thermal management solution that handles 'excess heat through conduction and radiation' since it can't use atmosphere-dependent convection used in electronics on Earth. This 4G NIB had a shorter than planned shelf life, but even if the mission had been successful, the NIB would still be short-lived. Dow says it wasn't meant to survive the harsh lunar night, which starts in about 9 days (a lunar day and a lunar night are each the equivalent of around 14 Earth days). In fact, the entire IM-2 mission was planned to end at this time, as the equipment's solar cells wouldn't have the energy to power the devices. For the Artemis III mission, the network and modules in the spacesuits will be built to survive the extreme temperatures of the moon, which can get as hot as 250 degrees Fahrenheit or as cold as -208 degrees. Over time, the goal is to establish permanent base stations. 'Once you have robust connectivity, you can see how you can have a basic infrastructure to support all the visions people talk about," Dow says. "As you see the scaling of travel to the lunar surface, then you'll have inhabitants," Dow says. 'Ultimately, it will get to the point where you no longer have to bring the network with you, you just have to bring the device because the network's there.' The 4G LTE communications that will be integrated into the Axiom spacesuit in the future will be able to communicate from astronaut to lander and astronaut to lander to astronaut. There won't be a smartphone for astronauts to hold up to their head. 'It'll be a little like driving in your car hands-free,' says Russell Ralston, the executive vice president of Extravehicular Activity at Axiom Space. The microphones in the suit will be voice activated, and the network will be able to handle multiple real-time HD video streams, not to mention telemetry and data from the built-in sensors. So why not 5G? The current generation mobile network provides significant improvements over its predecessor, after all. Dow says development for space takes a long time and that Nokia wanted to start with technology that has been robustly tested. At the time, 5G was still in its early adoption phase and, for the tests, those additional capabilities weren't needed. 'We're absolutely working on the evolution to 5G,' he says. If you're wondering if Nokia will be the only network provider on the moon, Dow says a multi-vendor environment will be flexible largely because Nokia is using a standardized technology with interoperability. Michael López-Alegría, chief astronaut at Axiom Space, spent time on the International Space Station from 2006 to 2007, and also commanded Axiom-1 in 2022—the first commercially crewed astronaut mission to the ISS. He says on the Apollo missions, the astronauts were heavily trained on geology, and while the Artemis III astronauts are undergoing similar training, having the capability to send high-definition video from the moon to more qualified people back home is changing the game. 'Now they can show a geologist on Earth [the things they're seeing] instead of having them learn everything that a PhD knows,' López-Alegría says. 'They can use it as a tool, a little bit like we do on the ISS today. I think this is a leap, and it's 50 years later, right? So it should be.' The IM-2 was the only scheduled test of Nokia's 4G network on the moon. It was only partly successful, but Nokia didn't share if there'd be another test now that IM-2 has concluded abruptly. Dow says the company will continue running tests on Earth ahead of Artemis III. Page 2 Skip to main content
