YK Hamied is the Managing Chairman of Cipla, a company that has made its name in the low cost AIDS treatment for poor countries. During his travel in <\/p> Sundeep saw this as an opportunity to continue his research \u2013 in the serene environments of his home town, Pune and took up the offer. He started and runs the Chest Research Foundation which is located at Kalyani nagar. CRF started with Cipla\u2019s philanthropy, but is no longer solely dependent on them for funds. It earns revenues conducting training programs, but more so from conducting clinical trials for new drugs. These revenues are used for doing basic research, especially in Indian and Asian environments.<\/span><\/p> <\/p> Before we go into the medical research that goes on at CRF, it would be a good idea becoming familiar with what research is. One of Sundeep\u2019s life missions is to encourage school students to take up a career in research. Our educational system has only taught us to give answers. He likes to quote a Chinese Proverb \u201cOne who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; one who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.\u201d\u00a0Hidden within each unanswered question lies the root of discovery. \u00a0Knowledge comes by never being afraid or ashamed to ask questions about anything of which we are ignorant. <\/span><\/p> <\/p> In the 18th<\/sup> century, small pox was a major killer. (In <\/p> Some of the significant discoveries in medicine have been made by people who did not train as doctors, but who were ready to ask questions. A herb that grows in the rain forests of <\/p> You don\u2019t have to be an expert in the field to make discoveries. John Dunlop, you may know, is the inventor of the pneumatic tyre. Not too many of you may be knowing that he is a surgeon! <\/span>He developed the first practical\u00a0inflatable tyre for his son’s tricycle, fitting it to a wooden disc 96 cm across in the yard of his home in <\/p> Here is an interesting research project done by college students at <\/p> o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>GPS<\/span>o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>WiFi<\/span>o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Blue Tooth<\/span>o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Screen light<\/span>o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Videos Played <\/span>o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Temperature<\/span>o\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span>Number of applications running at background<\/span><\/p> <\/p> Most of the popular apps are games of some kind. The students researched Angry Birds, and found that 75% of the App\u2019s energy consumption goes in powering the free advertisements. Only 20% of the energy is used to play the game. 45% of energy goes in finding out your location, with which it can serve targeted advertising. <\/span><\/p> <\/p> Now coming back to the medical research at CRF. Pulmonary disease ranks above cancer in terms of cause for death. In a country like <\/p> Sundeep mentioned an interesting medical concept \u2013 the Heart Rate Variability. The lower the variability the higher the chances of a heart attack. In non-statistical language, this means that it is good to have a heart which beats at varying rates. If the rate becomes too constant, then you are in trouble. Heart Rate Variability gets affected by indoor pollution, including stir-frying. Even damp walls cause indoor pollution through spores released by fungi that grow on the wall.<\/span><\/p> <\/p> Here are two interesting projects that the CRF team has done. Research was done by a young medico who surveyed more than fifty temples in Pune and did medical check-ups of the pujaris who work there. As expected, none of them were smokers, but as not expected, 25% of them suffered from chest disease. The culprit \u2013 agarbattis. In fact Sundeep calls agarbattis as the biggest enemy of the lung in terms of tar content. <\/span><\/p> <\/p> Another team measured the tar given out by burning a Tortoise mosquito coil in a room with closed doors and window. The burning of one coil (made up of coal dust, coconut husk and resins) generated tar which is equivalent to the smoking of 100 cigarettes! The liquid repellants are only marginally better. When I asked Sundeep, what does he do at his house, he mentioned: \u2018I am myself asthmatic. (Note from author:<\/i> And an expert in Asthma research. Wow!<\/i>) If a liquid repellant is switched on anywhere in the house, my lungs notice it in a matter of minutes. What I use, and also recommend, is the old fashioned mosquito net.\u2019 Would like to end with a quote that Sundeep likes to use: Discovery is seeing what everybody has seen, but thinking what nobody has thought.<\/span><\/p> <\/p> You can visit Sundeep and CRF at www.crfindia.com<\/a><\/i><\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"