Daily News Mail - News of 01/06/2015

World No Tobbaco Day - 31 May

Modi to be first Indian PM in Israel

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Israel, making him the first Indian Premier to visit the country, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said here on May 31.
• Addressing a press conference to recount the achievements of the External Affairs Ministry in the past year, Ms. Swaraj said the PM’s “dates were not confirmed”, but that they were being “worked out.”
• Sources told The Hindu the visit could happen this year itself, with a high-level Indian team travelling to Tel Aviv in July for discussions on several bilateral issues.
• Ms. Swaraj also said she would visit Israel, Palestine and Jordan later this year, and will travel to Tehran in June for the Non-Aligned Ministerial meet.
• However, officials said there is no decision yet on whether Mr. Modi will attend the NAM summit in Caracas, Venezuela in September this year.

Plan to curb tobacco use coming: Nadda

• The Health Ministry is set to roll out a comprehensive plan to tackle tobacco use, which will incorporate preventive measures, Health Minister J.P. Nadda said here on May 31. May 31 was observed as World No Tobacco Day.
• “The government is committed to reducing the consumption of tobacco. Very soon the Ministry will launch a comprehensive programme using a three-pronged strategy of information, education and communication. This holistic approach will target new tobacco consumers as well as tobacco addicts,” Mr. Nadda told journalists on the sidelines of a function celebrating 25 years of laparoscopic cholecystectomy in India.
• However, the Minister avoided comment on the controversial statements of BJP MPs who said there was no link between tobacco and cancer.
• Recently, BJP MP Dilip Gandhi, Shyama Charan Gupta and Ram Prasad Sharma stirred up controversies over their remarks delinking tobacco and cancer.

Laparoscopic surgery

• Mr. Nadda underscored the need to make laparoscopic surgery available to the common people and widen its reach.
• “We need to popularise the method, and see that a maximum number of doctors are trained in laparoscopy. We will survey medical institutions to find out how many are using laparoscopic procedures and encourage teaching institutions to impart training,” he said.
• Mr. Nadda said the patient-to-bed ratio in India was a problem and laparoscopy was a meaningful intervention as it helped reduce stay in the hospital, post-operative case and was less painful.
• The procedures should be made accessible and affordable without compromising on quality, he said.
• Dr. Tempton Udwadia, Gastroenterologist and General Surgeon at Mumbai’s Breach Candy hospital, was felicitated for his pioneering efforts in the field of laparoscopy in India.

What is Laproscopic Surgery?

• Laparoscopic surgery, also called minimally invasive surgery (MIS), bandaid surgery, or keyhole surgery, is a modern surgical technique in which operations are performed far from their location through small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) elsewhere in the body.
• There are a number of advantages to the patient with laparoscopic surgery versus the more common, open procedure. Pain and hemorrhaging are reduced due to smaller incisions and recovery times are shorter. The key element in laparoscopic surgery is the use of a laparoscope, a long fiber optic cable system which allows viewing of the affected area by snaking the cable from a more distant, but more easily accessible location.
• There are two types of laparoscope: (1) a telescopic rod lens system, that is usually connected to a video camera (single chip or three chip), or (2) a digital laparoscope where the charge-coupled device is placed at the end of the laparoscope.
• Also attached is a fiber optic cable system connected to a 'cold' light source (halogen or xenon), to illuminate the operative field, which is inserted through a 5 mm or 10 mm cannula or trocar. The abdomen is usually insufflated with carbon dioxide gas. This elevates the abdominal wall above the internal organs to create a working and viewing space. CO2 is used because it is common to the human body and can be absorbed by tissue and removed by the respiratory system. It is also non-flammable, which is important because electrosurgical devices are commonly used in laparoscopic procedures.
• Laparoscopic surgery includes operations within the abdominal or pelvic cavities, whereas keyhole surgery performed on the thoracic or chest cavity is called thoracoscopic surgery. Laparoscopic and thoracoscopic surgery belong to the broader field of endoscopy.

Solar Impulse begins its toughest stretch

• The revolutionary Solar Impulse 2 aircraft took off early on May 31 for a six-day, six-night flight over the Pacific Ocean, the most ambitious leg of its quest to circumnavigate the globe powered only by the sun.
• Pilot Andre Borschberg, 62, left Nanjing, in eastern China, heading for the U.S. island of Hawaii, at about 2:40 a.m. (00:10 India time), after extended delays awaiting a suitable weather window.
• Lit by white lights on its wings, the plane rolled down the runway before climbing into a misty sky with its four whirling propellers nearly silent.

Record flying time

• The 8,500 kilometre flight could set a record for duration by a single pilot, organisers said.
• The current flight plan saw no threat from typhoons, a typical weather threat in Asia.
• It is the seventh and longest section of the maiden solar-powered global circumnavigation, an attempt to promote green energy.
• The journey began in Abu Dhabi in March and is scheduled for 12 legs, with a total flight time of around 25 days.
• Nonetheless, Solar Impulse 2 spent two months in China after arriving at Chongqing airport from Myanmar on March 31, where it had been due to make only a brief stop before continuing to Nanjing but was held up for weeks by weather issues.
• “For the Pacific, I need to be ready for the unknown,” Mr. Borschberg tweeted before takeoff.
• “I'm not sure how Si2 will behave over so many days and nights,” he added.
• Each day on the Pacific voyage, Mr. Borschberg will experience altitudes of 28,000 feet, akin to the world’s highest peak, and temperature changes of 55 degrees Celsius in the unpressurised, unheated Solar Impulse 2 cockpit.
• At the same time he will only be able to catch the shortest of naps — about 20 minutes at a time — given the need to check the autopilot.

Solar Impulse 2