Indians work miracles on a shoestring

Jaipur Foot in various sizes.

Tileshwar Prasad concentrates fiercelyon every step, one foot in front of theother, staring at the wall ahead as helearns how to walk again.

For the first time in a decade he is able tostand unaided, hands on hips and backstraight.

Tileshwar is the latest in a line stretchingback decades, and hundreds of thousands ofpeople, who have benefited from one ofIndia's most remarkable creations, the JaipurFoot, the prosthetic for the developing world,which takes just a day to measure and make,at a cost of $45.

Tileshwar is one of the first in the queue forJaipur's latest creation, this one developed inconjunction with Stanford University, a newknee that costs half that, says a report in theSydney Morning Herald.

Tileshwar lost his leg when he was 10. Abroken leg, which was poorly set and thenturned gangrenous, ended up amputated. Alocal-government-supplied prosthetic had noknee joint. He could not move without the aidof a stick, and walked slowly.

The Jaipur Foot is a story of Indian ingenuity.In the 1960s, two men in Jaipur, Dr PramodKaran Sethi and Ram Chandra, realizing howcrucial mobility was to people's lives andlivelihoods, but understanding how few couldafford even a visit to a doctor let alone a prostheticlimb, set about creating a cheaper alternative.Sethi, now retired, was an orthopedic surgeonand Fellow of Britain's Royal Collegeof Surgeons. Chandra was an artisan, a Pygmalionof sorts, trained in the family craft ofsculpture and unusually gifted, but with a formaleducation that ended in fourth grade.

Over three years they worked together,building and abandoning prototype prosthetics.The earliest, made of willow, then aluminum,were too stiff and unwieldy. The firstrubber models were not hardwearing enough.Chandra got the idea for vulcanized rubberfrom the man who fixed punctures on his bicycleand, sculpting it over a wooden frame,the Jaipur Foot was born.

The foot they perfected in 1968 was ideallysuited to India. Wearers can, almost from theminute they put it on, walk over unevenground, sit or squat, can climb trees and jumpfrom them and walk in sodden fields. Whilea modern prosthetic costs up to, and in somecases beyond, $10,000, the Jaipur Foot is just$45 to manufacture.

Nearly 22,000 feet and legs are made everyyear and mobile clinics have been taken to 26countries including Iraq, Afghanistan andland mine-plagued Cambodia. There areBhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti(BMVSS) teams in Fiji and plans are beingmade to travel to Libya.

Jaipur's latest development, DR Mehta,founder of BMVSS in Jaipur, says, is the logicalnext step, a prosthetic for higher amputations,dubbed the "$20 knee". Designed by ateam of Stanford University engineering studentssupported by BMVSS, the knee is madefrom an oil-filled nylon polymer and has onlyfive pieces of plastic and four nuts and bolts.It mimics the natural joint's movements, evenlocking like a human knee. First put on trial in2009, the early reports are positive.

Sonia Kumar honored for health services

Sonia Kumar, a CaliforniaState University,Fullertonstudent, was recently honoredwith the university's2011 Kenneth L. Goodhue-McWilliams Award for outstandingcommunityservice in the health professions.

Indian American Kumarhas worked at Cedars-SinaiMedical Center, Queen ofthe Valley Hospital in WestCovina and at a downtownLos Angeles medical clinicfor drug addicts and thehomeless. Kumar graduatedin biological sciencewith a concentration in celland development biologyand a minor in chemistry.

"I am truly humbled. Ican't believe I'm getting anaward for doing the things Ilove!" Kumar said. "I giveall the credit to the patientsI've come into contactwith, my mentors at theuniversity, in the clinic andin the hospitals — they'veall taught me invaluablelessons and helped megrow as a person and as afuture medical professional."Kumar aspires to be acardiac and trauma surgeonone day.

Fenugreek can spice up sex life

Anew research suggests that fenugreek(methi), which is foundthroughout Asia, may improvemale libido, says a report in the DailyMail.

According to a trial by the Centre for IntegrativeClinical and Molecular Medicinein Australia, men who took a twice dailyextract of the herb saw significant improvementsin their love life.

This new study looked at the effects of afenugreek-based preparation on the libidoof men aged 25 to 52 who took the extracttwice a day for six weeks, while anothergroup had a placebo pill.

Within six weeks, measures of libidohad increased by 25 per cent or more inthe men who had the fenugreek extract,but stayed the same or decreased in theother men.

Diabetes: Now a global epidemic

According to the findings of a newstudy published in the journal Lancet,prevalence of diabetes is apparentlyon the increase; with almost 10 percent of theadults in the world suffering from the disease.

Since 1980, the number of diabetic adultsin the world has witnessed a more thantwofold increase, to nearly 347 million --- afigure that is notably higher than the earlierestimates of 285 million; and hints at a potentialrise in treatment costs. The findings ofthe study – carried out by an internationalteam of researchers in conjunction withWHO – were based on the observation oftrends in diabetes and average blood sugarreadings in nearly 200 countries and regionsduring the last 30 years.

The researchers found that, in the past threedecades, the rates of diabetes have either increasedor at best remained the same in practicallyall parts of the world.

More specifically, so far as high-incomecountries are concerned, the US has reportedthe steepest rise in diabetes cases among menand the second-steepest among women;while, in case of the other countries, Chinaand India currently account for 40 percent ofpeople with diabetes.

[ BY R. PADMANABHAN ]