Sunday, June 6, 2010

Goa Blog

Goa Blog

Goan-Indian doctor leads breakthrough in breast cancer research

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 07:59 AM PDT

An Indian oncologist is among three experts in the U.K. who have achieved a breakthrough in the treatment of breast cancer after a 10-year trial that demonstrates that a single dose of radiation during surgery is just as effective as a prolonged course of radiotherapy.

Pink umbrellas and balloons are displayed over a stream to promote the Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign in Seoul. The recently developed interoperative radiotherapy offers new hope for breast cancer cure

Goa-origin Jayant Vaidya, who works at the University College, Royal Free and Whittington Hospitals, designed and led the trial called interoperative radiotherapy (TARGIT) involving 2,000 women along with oncologists Jeffrey Tobias and Mike Baum.

The new approach means selected patients receive just one dose of radiation during surgery to remove breast cancer.

A probe is inserted into the breast so that it can target the exact site of the cancer.

Dr. Vaidya said: "This has been my dream for the last 15 years. The new treatment could mean that many more women could conserve their breasts. TARGIT saves time, money and breasts."

He added: "Scientifically, the results change the way of thinking about breast cancer and its treatment.

It suggests that in selected patients the whole breast does not need to be treated and that the radiation dose and that the radiation dose can be much lower."

Dr. Vaidya, who hails from a prominent doctors family from Goa, studied at the Peoples's High School, Panaji, Dhempe College, and the Goa Medical College.

Dr. Tobias, who enrolled the first ever patient on the trial at the former Middlesex Hospital in London along with Dr. Vaidya, said: "I think the reason why it works so well is because of the precision of the treatment.

It eradicates the very highest risk area — the part of the breast from which the tumour was removed."

He added: "It is given in a single dose via an intra-operative probe and the conventional surgery is extended by just 30-40 minutes while the patient is asleep under anaesthetic."

It also means there is an otherwise unachievable degree of immediacy because the cancer is taken out and radiation goes in as soon as the surgery is complete — rather than weeks after.

The surgery and radiotherapy which would otherwise take around five weeks is done and dusted.

Kate Law, director of clinical research at Cancer Research U.K., said: "Radiotherapy is already a very effective treatment, so improving that even further is an exciting prospect.

"Further follow-up of these women will be needed to confirm whether this strategy not only makes the most of the therapy's power but also minimises any long—term side effects."

Results published in the Lancet show that in selected patients, the new method appears to be just as effective as conventional post-operative breast cancer treatment which can be a lengthy process.

A prolonged course of radiotherapy can mean 20 or 30 visits to hospital over five to six weeks.

However, targeted intra-operative radiotherapy benefits patients by reducing their exposure to radiation toxicity and reducing the number of journeys they have to make to hospital.

According to the authors, for the National Health Service it could mean reduced waiting lists for breast cancer treatment and estimated savings of as much as 15 million pounds a year, despite the initial outlay for new equipment.

Courtesy:Hindu

Director making waves in Goa

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 07:08 AM PDT

In this darkly brooding setting, rarely associated with Goa, Laxmikant Shetgaonkar unspools a touching, authentic film that has earned him international acclaim.

After taking the International Federation of Film Critic’s  award at the Toronto Film Festival in October last year, Paltadacho Munis (’The Man Beyond the Bridge’) was given the grand jury prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles recently. The film has also had a highly successful run at over a dozen film festivals abroad.

Based on a story by Konkani writer Mahableshwar Sail, the film looks at the concept of loneliness and how a man living deep in the forest handles himself in a rather unique situation. Vinayak (Chittaranjan Giri) is a forest guard tormented by the memory of his dead wife. He grieves her deeply and rejects his aunt’s pleadings to remarry. When his supervisor bluntly turns down his persistent applications for a transfer, Vinayak seems resigned to a solitary existence in a decrepit little house in a fast dwindling forest. He is required to carry out his duties though his uniform carries little power, even as the village is caught up in the shifting political dynamics.

One day a deranged woman, an outcast in the village, suddenly turns up at his door. Put off at first, the forest guard gives the woman food and shelter, and a bond slowly grows between the two, leading to a relationship. The arrangement becomes the gossip in the village and the couple is soon targeted. The village, meanwhile, is driven by the ambitions of the powerful local sarpanch who is set on building a temple on the forest land.

Shetgaonkar’s handling of the difficult subject in a multilayered narrative is admirable. He was “gripped”, he says, by the story. “I knew when I read it, I just had to tell it,” he says. .

With no filmmaking culture to speak of in Goa, Shetgaonkar worked with a small band of Goan theatre actors. The only professional actors in the film are Giri and Veena Jomkar who plays the mad woman. The Hindi-Telugu actor Giri, picked up for the lead part because of the “soulful look in his eyes”, had to take a crash course in Konkani.
Shetgaonkar has shown the way for independent filmmakers.

Courtesy:DeccanHerald

Goa police looking for missing ex-tourism minister

Posted: 06 Jun 2010 06:02 AM PDT

The Goa police say former tourism minister Fransisco Pacheco has not yet been traced. Pacheco resigned on Saturday, a day after the police interrogated him in connection with the death of his friend Nadia Torrado, a 28-year-old woman. He has since been missing. All police stations in Goa have been informed.

Police say it’s too early to say if he is involved, and that they need to investigate more. But they believe he is connected in some way to the case.

Pacheco, 46, quit from his post stating that he wanted the police to conduct free and fair inquiry into the incident.

Nadia had died in a Chennai hospital last Sunday after she allegedly consumed poison. Trouble started for the NCP minister when women organisations accused him of being responsible for her death.

However, Nadia’s family members, including her estranged husband Wilson Barretto, have stood by Pacheco saying his wife accidentally used a tube of rat poison mistaking it for toothpaste.

Courtesy:PTI

Navy rescues sick Jordanian from ship off Goa

Posted: 05 Jun 2010 07:12 PM PDT

A Indian Navy helicopter responded to a distress call from a merchant vessel Al Hamra on Saturday morning and evacuated a sick Jordanian man on board before taking him for treatment to the Salgaocar Medical Research Centre (SMRC), Vasco.

The patient Mohamad Abdallah Ayyad was suffering from severe appendicitis on the ship which was about 80km from the Goa coast. The Indian Naval authorities swung into action immediately and a Chetak helicopter was launched from INS Hansa at 9.40am.

The crew comprised Cdr A Barkataky, Sub Lt Vinoth, LAD GS Sen and LAD Bhupinder. Since there was no place to land, the helicopter had to be manoeuvred by the pilot so as to winch up the patient. The evacuation was executed promptly and in a professional manner, despite strong winds.

The patient was brought back to INS Hansa, the naval air base, Goa, at 11.30am. He was then handed over to the shipping agents and transferred for further treatment to SMRC, informed Cmdr Mahesh Joshi, naval PRO.

Courtesy:TOI

Pacheco resigned on moral grounds: NCP

Posted: 05 Jun 2010 09:42 AM PDT

NCP today said its minister Fransisco Mickey Pacheco resigned from the cabinet on moral grounds after his name was embroiled in the controversy surrounding the death of a 28-year-old woman friend.

The 46-year-old Goa Tourism minister and NCP legislator from Benaulim constituency faxed his resignation letter to Chief Minister’s Office this afternoon, a day after he was quizzed by the Crime Branch in connection with the death of Nadia Torrado.

“Our legislator resigned to protect moral platform. NCP has always wanted that people should know the truth in this case,” NCP national secretary Jitendra Deshprabhu told PTI.

Deshprabhu said Pacheco resigned to give a free hand to the investigating authorities to probe the case.

Nadia, a close friend of the NCP minister, had died on Sunday at Chennai allegedly after consuming rat poison.

Courtesy:PTI
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