TIMES CITYTHE TIMES OF INDIA, CHENNAI | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

GANESH CHATHURTHI PANDALS ACROSS CITY ARE ACURIOUS MIX OF DEVOTION, CREATIVITY | 4

GOVT’S SMALL SAVINGS SCHEMES LOSE THEIR LUREIN TAMIL NADU, ANDHRA PRADESH | 9

Collagen Film Developed From Puffer Fish Heals Burns Faster

Wasted fish skin now treats your wounds

Saradha Mohan Kumar | TNN

TS Uma, a scientist at the Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) was more than

just amused when she watched a television show last year on how puffer fish become a big ball by drinking water to avoid being eaten by a predator. It showed the elas-ticity of its skin due to the presence of collagen. That kept her thinking on why they can’t be used for medical purposes that need collagen support. The result today is a wound dressing material.

Uma kept travelling to Na-gapattinam to procure puffer fish, which is considered in-edible. Found in the deep sea, puffer fish get into fishing nets, and are thrown away.

“From the skin of puffer fish, I could develop a collagen film and sponge for dressing wounds. The film has the quality to absorb medicine and it can be used on burn wounds to clean and heal them,” she said.

With the collagen film, the wound has to be dressed only once in three days, unlike the conventional method that involves daily dressing. “The amount of collagen present in the film can assist the skin to grow faster,” said Uma, who has also developed kera-tin sponges and films, used

for dressing, from fur and horn of bovines. The prod-ucts will soon be registered for patent.

Leather research contrib-uting to medicare may sound unusual, but the lab has been churning out several health-

care products from animal waste. Like corneal implants from fish scales. “We are working with Sankara Neth-ralaya to make products that can be used for corneal re-pair and correction,” said T

P Sastry, head of the bio-products lab at CLRI.

Some of their products such as bone grafts, collagen sheets from fish scales and chrome waste were awarded patents in May. Collagen ex-tracted from animal bones waste in slaughter houses was developed into grafts. “This graft can be used to repair and rebuild bones in the spine and has application as dental implants,” said Sas-try. Usually, grafts are taken from the patient’s own body.

The collagen sheets, one of the first innovations, made using the extract from

animal intestines, were used to treat schoolchildren who were injured in the Kumba-konam fire accident.

The lab has also been mak-ing shoes, wallets and bags using regenerated leather. On being made into a shoe or a bag, the leather that does not fit into the shape of the prod-uct is wasted. “We have been using the remaining leather to make puppets, visiting cards, key-holder pouches and lamp shades,” he said.

The chandelier that beau-tifies the reception hall of CLRI was also made using regenerated leather.

HIDE TO HEALLeather research is contributing to medical care by helping develop new products

1 BONE GRAFT

Made from | Bone waste in slaughter house

How | Bone is de-mineralised leaving behind collagen powder, which is mixed with polymers to improve strength and made into grafts

Uses | Dental implant; repair bone loss caused by fractures; rebuild bones in hips, spine, joints

2 COLLAGEN SPONGEMade from | Chrome shavings waste

How | Leather from animal skin is tanned

with chemicals. The waste obtained during the process – chrome shavings – is de-chromed to remove toxins. Collagen is extracted and moulded into sponges

Uses | Wound-dressing material

3 COLLAGEN FILMMade from | Skin of puffer fish

How | Skin of puffer fish (rich in

collagen) used to make films or sponges

Uses | Wound-dressing, skin regeneration

4 KERATIN FILMMade from | Hair and horn waste in slaughterhouses

How | Keratin extracted from hair and horn is made

into films or sponges.

Uses | Wound-dressing. Keratin has skin-regenerative properties

5 CORNEAL IMPLANTMade from | Fish scales

How | Collagen extracted from fish

scales. Density

reduced to make thin films

Uses | Corneal repair and regeneration

2

3

1

4

5

CLRI IS WORKING WITH SANKARANETHRALAYA TO USE ANIMALWASTE TO MAKE CORNEALIMPLANTS APARTFROM OTHERHEALTHCAREPRODUCTS

THE BIG PUSH

FRUITS OF THE SEASL Shanth Kumar

FIRST COME, FIRST CAUGHT: Fishermen return to shore with the day’s catch at Kasimedu fishingharbour on Friday morning

Chennai: Sangeetha’s* prettyface is full of life but there is adeep scar curving down herneck – a grim reminder thatshe attempted suicide twoyears ago.

She is among a group of 15suicide survivors who volun-teered to narrate their experi-ences at Madras Christian Col-lege on Tuesday.

All of them tried to endtheir lives by consuming acidand are undergoing treatmentat the department of surgicalgastroenterology at RajivGandhi Government GeneralHospital.

Savitha*, a volunteer from

Kancheepuram who works as

a technician at a private labo-ratory, said, “Family problemsdrove me to attempt suicide. Itwas a split-second decision butI have realised that it is betterto face the challenges of lifethan succumb to it.”

The group of volunteersfrom different parts of TamilNadu comprised students, pri-vate sector employees andhousewives. From a petty fightwith a sibling to admonish-ment by a family member,from marital problems to aca-demic pressure, the reasonswhy they attempted to endtheir lives varied.

Dr S M Chandramohan,head of the department, saidconsuming acid caused exten-sive damage to the food pipeand large intestines. “Theycouldn’t swallow and requiredtreatment for several months.As reconstructive surgery isrisky, their example instillshope in other patients under-going treatment. They reachout to the public which helpsprevent suicides,” he said.

The department has beenconducting the awareness pro-gramme every year since 2003.This year’s event was in conso-nance with the theme of Sui-cide Prevention Day 2013, stig-ma is the major barrier tosuicide prevention.

(*Names changed)

They live to tell the tale of life after depression

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

BREAKING BARRIERS

Chennai: The Madras highcourt on Tuesday grantedanticipatory bail to DMDKMLA D Anagai Murugesan,who had been accused by aparty office-bearer of steal-ing a gold chain after a quar-rel.

Justice R Mala, grantingthe relief to Murugesan andhis associate R ValarpiraiChozhan, asked him to exe-cute a personal bond for`̀10,000 and furnish two sure-ties for a like sum each.

G Santhosh Kumar, coun-sel for Murugesan said aman named Ashok Kumarwho had lodged the com-plaint on September 2 had in-formed police the same day

that the gold chain was foundlying on a hotel floor and thatthe MLA had nothing to dowith it. Despite Ashok Ku-mar’s offer to withdraw thecomplaint, the Anagaputhurpolice did not allow him towithdraw it due to politicalreasons, he said.

“The complaint is falseand it was filed to harass theMLA and damage his reputa-tion,” Santhosh Kumar said.

According to the com-plaint, Ashok Kumar and theaccused duo got into an alter-cation at a hotel near Chro-mepet bus stand. The com-plaint was later received andan FIR registered on AshokKumar’s allegations.

Murugesan said thoughhe and Ashok Kumar went tothe police station after beingcalled for inquiry and toldthem that it was over and thegold chain did not go mis-sing, the police went aheadonly to harass him.

Court grantsanticipatorybail to DMDK

legislatorTIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: Southern Rail-way has introduced weeklysuperfast special trains toclear the extra rush of pas-sengers during the Onamand Puja holidays.

Kamakhya – ChennaiCentral – Kamakhya Week-ly Superfast Special willleave Kamakhya at 2pm onMondays on September 9,16, 23 and 30; October 7, 14,21, 28 and November 4, 11,18, 25 and reach ChennaiCentral at 2.55pm onWednesdays.

The return train willleave Central at 11am onThursdays on September12, 19, 26; October 3, 10, 17,24, 31 and November 7, 14,21, 28 and reach Kamakhyaat 12.30pm on Saturdays.

Reservation will start on

September 11. TNN

New trainsintroduced for

Onam, Puja

Chennai: A 22-year-oldman was arrested on Tues-day for killing his live-inpartner at Vepery.

Police secured Kar-thik, 22, for allegedly beat-ing up S Velankanni, 34.Police said that both Kar-thik and Velankanni weremarried to other peoplebut had been living witheach other for the last twomonths.

On Sunday, Karthikfought with Velankanni ashe suspected her of having

another affair. In the argu-ment that ensued, he beather up with a log. Velan-kanni sustained injurieson her head. Her mothertook her to Rajiv Gandhigovernment general hos-pital where she died on

Tuesday afternoon.The Vepery police who

initially registered an at-tempt to murder case al-tered it to murder and ar-rested Karthik.

Man heldfor killing partner

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: Residents can nowrate the performance of con-servancy operations in theirarea through an online sys-tem introduced across thecity by the corporation to im-prove garbage clearance.

The residents can visitwww.chennaicorporation-.gov.in and, after consideringfactors like sweeping, collec-tion by tricycle, bin clearanceand bin overflow, say whatthey think about the perform-ance. Their opinions, ranging

from ‘very good’ to ‘poor,’ willhelp keep tabs on workers.“Residents can also uploadpictures of the condition oftheir streets on the website,”said an official.

The corporation's com-plaint cell 1913 continues tobe flooded with complaintsabout piling garbage fromvarious areas. Officials sayabsenteeism of conservancyworkers is among the reasonsfor the increase in such com-plaints. “If the rating ofworkers in a particular area

is poor, we will seek an expla-nation from the officials andworkers. Necessary actionwill be taken based on resi-dents’ feedback,” he added.

P Srinivasalu, generalsecretary of CITU-affiliatedunion of corporation work-ers, blamed the civic body forpoor garbage clearance.“Many areas, especially thenewly-inducted localities,have been facing a severeshortage of workers and tri-cycles and this is affecting thequality of work.”

Some residents say the

new system will only help res-idents of posh localities. “Ar-eas in North Chennai whereinternet penetration is lowwill not benefit. Officialsshould conduct surprise in-spections in various locali-ties,” said Ravi Kumar ofMadhavaram.

The civic body along withRamky Enviro Limited re-cently created ww.cmsw.co.into check the status of garbagebins in Kodambakkam, Tey-nampet and Adyar zones.Any resident in these zonesseeing an uncleared garbagebin on his/her street canlodge a complaint in ‘bins onmap’ in this website.

Officials say they plan toexpand theonline tracking ofgarbage bins to all zones.

“We are now geo-tagginggarbage bins in Royapuram.After it is completed, we willdistribute smartphones toconservancy workers to takepictures of cleared bins. Peo-ple will be able to track thebins and file complaints,” anofficial said.

mp.christin@timesgroup.com

Now, rate performance ofconservancy workers onlineChristin Mathew Philip TNN

If the rating ofworkers in a par-ticular area ispoor, we will seek

an explanation fromthe officials andworkers. Necessaryaction will be takenbased on residents’feedbackCorporation official

Chennai: Umbrellas re-mained folded on Tuesday asa light drizzle teased the cityall day. The showers not onlyspelt pleasant weather butalso sent water trickling intothe city’s four key reser-voirs.

“The worst is over. Dur-ing the summer we were ex-cessively dependant ongroundwater as our surfacewater options had run dry.Now we are able to drawmore from the reservoirs,”said a Metrowater official.

The low pressure areathat had formed off the And-hra Pradesh coast has ex-tended to around 6km abovesea level, and will keepnorthern parts of Tamil Na-

du wet for the next threedays, said Met officials.

“We are to get near orabove normal rainfall for thenext three days, but the lowpressure will drift away aftercausing some rainfall. It is

not a major phenomenon,”said Y E A Raj, deputy direc-tor general, India Meterolog-ical department (Chennai).

The entire state has re-ceived a good amount ofrainfall over the past 10 days.

The rains have added 300to 400 cusecs of water and theovercast sky reduced the lossdue to evaporation. Aboutfour mcft of water is lost ineach reservoir daily due toevaporation. One cubic footof water is equivalent to 28litres.

The rain brought themaximum temperature onTuesday four degrees belownormal. While Nungambak-kam recorded a maximumtemperature of 30.5 degreesCelsius, Meenambakkam re-corded 30.7 degrees Celsius.The humidity remainedhigh at 85%. “The rain is ablessing, but the weatherturns sultry the moment itstops raining,” said Arun K,a commuter.

timeschennai@timesgroup.com

On Monday, Tambaramalone registered 3cm of rain.

Although intermittentrain during the summerblunted the searing heat, thereservoirs remained dry asthe amount of rain was in-sufficient. “The rain thismonth has reversed thetrend with increased inflowsinto the reservoirs in Chem-barambakkam, Red Hillsand Poondi,” said the Metro-water official. The civic bodyhas increased water supplyby almost 100 million litresper day over the last month.

On September 1, the totallevel in the four reservoirsstood at 1,327 million cubicfeet (mcft). The levels inchedup marginally to 1,477 mcfton Tuesday against the totalcapacity of 11,057mcft.

Showers increase water supply to reservoirs DID SOMEONE SAY SHORTAGE?

Water Levels In The City’s Reservoirs Have Increased

By Almost 100 Million Litres Per Day From Last

Month Due To Rain

Red Hills

Poondi

Chembarambakkam

667

511

469

289

188

360

Sept 10 Aug 10

(Figures in mcft)

* Cholavaram reservoir has

recorded 0 mcft

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The Central Boardof Secondary Education hasadvanced the date for the Stu-dents’ Global Aptitude Indextest from January 2014 to No-vember 2013. This is thefourth edition of the test.

The effort has been madeto give students ample time todecide on the subjects theywant to choose in Class 11,based on the results of thetest. Despite requests to makethe test mandatory for all stu-dents, the board has decidedto keep it optional. The test

helps Class 10 students pickthe right subjects in seniorsecondary classes based ontheir aptitude without suc-cumbing to peer pressure orparental expectations.

Usually schools start theadmission process even be-fore the boards begin inMarch. Students have saidthat by the time the aptitudetest is conducted in Januaryand the results reach them, itis too late to change the choiceof subject because seats in allstreams get occupied.

A release from the CBSEsaid that around 4 lakh stu-

want anything to confusethem,” she said.

Suma Padmanaban, prin-cipal of Asan Memorial Se-nior Secondary School onGreames Road, seconded theopinion. “The test doesn’t al-ways change the students’mind. They don’t accept thatthey could be suited for some-thing other than engineeringor medicine,” she said.

Schools can register on-line for the SGAI test by pay-ing `̀100 per student till Octo-ber 15. Students can log on towww.cbse.nic.in for more de-tails on the test.

dents have taken the test inthe last three years, and a sur-vey by the board has shownthat 88% of those who tookthe test relied on it to choosetheir majors in Class 11.

In Chennai, however,school heads said that a mi-nority choose to take the test,and an even smaller numbergo by it. V Gowrilakshmi,principal of Chinmaya Vi-dyalaya in Anna Nagar, saidthat of 160 students in highschool, around 30 take it.“Most do not want to take it,because they have alreadymade their choice, and don’t

CBSE advances aptitude test to Nov 2013TIMES NEWS NETWORK

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