When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently from William Golding’s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman
For centuries western culture has been permeated by the idea that humans are selfish creatures. That cynical image of humanity has been proclaimed in films and novels, history books and scientific research. But in the last 20 years, something extraordinary has happened. Scientists from all over the world have switched to a more hopeful view of mankind. This development is still so young that researchers in different fields often don’t even know about each other.
When I started writing a book about this more hopeful view, I knew there was one story I would have to address. It takes place on a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific. A plane has just gone down. The only survivors are some British schoolboys, who can’t believe their good fortune. Nothing but beach, shells and water for miles. And better yet: no grownups.
Continue reading...Islanders are coming to terms with unexpected publicity from the contact-tracing pilot project
Last Sunday, we woke to the news that the Isle of Wight really had been chosen as the pilot location for the NHS coronavirus contact-tracing app, the idea having been floated by the leader of the council at the start of the previous week.
Thus a manic week began here at News OnTheWight, where we’ve been pumping out stories as usual, taking part in national media briefings, delving into details of the app and exploring privacy issues while dealing with queries from media outlets from around the world. All sorts of organisations started pushing press releases supporting the app – the most unexpected being the Church of England.
When Matt Hancock, the health secretary, announced at last Monday’s press conference, “Where the Isle of Wight goes, Britain follows”, there was a collective spitting out of tea on the island and beyond. Of course there were the predictable jibes – “How do I install the app on my fax machine?” was one of the best we heard, and once again, creativity was ignited with memes and T-shirts.
With such attention, locally it felt like little else but the app was discussed.
How has the app gone down? Lots of people seem to be jumping on board, claiming any perceived privacy downsides as a small price to pay. Others, with earlier smartphones, were excluded. Older residents overheard in the post office said they really wanted to use the app but their steam-powered mobile phones weren’t capable.
Epidemiologists use the term to describe tragic excess deaths – but for Covid-19 it seems to be the de facto government policy
There’s a term we use in epidemiology to capture the essence of increases in deaths, or excess mortality, above and beyond normal expectations: “harvesting”. During heatwaves, or a bad season of influenza, additional deaths above what would be normally seen in the population fit this description. Harvesting usually affects older people and those who are already sick. Generally, it is viewed as a tragic, unfortunate, but largely unpreventable consequence of natural events. It carries with it connotations of an acceptable loss of life. It is, in a sense, what happens as part of a normal life in normal times. But the word also has darker connotations: those of sacrifice, reaping, culling. As such, while it may appear in textbooks of epidemiology, it doesn’t occur in national influenza strategic plans or national discourse. The concept of harvesting is restricted to epidemiological circles.
But what if politicians promote the notion of harvesting (while declining to use the term) where it is not a “natural” consequence of events but a direct consequence of government policy? What if the medical and nursing world do not accept harvesting in these circumstances? What if a policy that results in harvesting cannot be articulated because it is unacceptable to the broader population? This is where we have got to with the coronavirus pandemic. Nowhere better exemplifies this tension between a policy and its popular acceptance than the effects of coronavirus in nursing homes.
Continue reading...Travellers into UK will be quarantined for two weeks when they arrive as part of measures to prevent a second peak, Boris Johnson is expected to say. Follow the latest updates
The transport secretary Grant Shapps will lead the government’s daily coronavirus press conference, which is due to begin shortly.
He will be joined by the deputy chief medical officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam.
Tributes have been paid to a learning disabilities nurse who died after testing positive for the coronavirus.
Augustine Agyei-Mensah, known to his colleagues as Gus, was a highly regarded team member at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Our hearts break today for Augustine’s wife and young family. We remain committed to supporting them through this time.
Augustine epitomised what we stand for here at NHFT. He was committed to making a difference and giving people a second chance.
Continue reading...Last week’s Dresden Drop looked to the future, revealing the long-awaited trailer for Peace Talks and the bombshell announcement that there will be TWO Dresden novels this year. This week, we’ll look to the past, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the publication of Storm Front on April 1st, 2000. Paranoid? Probably. But just because you’re [...]
Faraway galaxies have been spotted unexpectedly flashing up to 100 times their usual brightness, and it seems to be caused by eddies in Earth’s atmosphere
Coffee has been linked to changes on our DNA that affect how active certain genes are. The finding may help explain some of coffee's touted health benefits
The UK government will begin trials of its coronavirus contact-tracing app this week, but what impact it will have on slowing the spread of covid-19 is unclear
Once the coronavirus pandemic is over, we must work out how to stop the spread of poor information that has helped make a bad situation that much worse
I was scheduled to get a routine physical a while back, cancelled for obvious reasons, and last week Stevens County Medical Center called me to come in for it today, which feels odd. I guess our local clinic has not been overwhelmed — there have been zero reported cases of COVID-19 in Stevens County, perhaps […]
This story is a bit on the nose. Hello, Peter Ludlow here, CEO of InGen, the company behind the wildly successful dinosaur-themed amusement park, Jurassic Park. As you’re all aware, after an unprecedented storm hit the park, we lost power and the velociraptors escaped their enclosure and killed hundreds of park visitors, prompting a two-month […]
Former director of national intelligence James Clapper in 2018 said that he hadn't seen evidence that the Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russia to win the 2016 general election.Clapper was responding to a query from then-representative Tom Rooney, a Florida Republican, during an interview before the House Intelligence Committee. The transcript of the interview was released on Thursday."I never saw any direct empirical evidence that the Trump campaign or someone in it was plotting [or] conspiring with the Russians to meddle with the election," Clapper said."That's not to say that there weren't concerns about the evidence we were seeing, anecdotal evidence…[redacted]," Clapper added. "But I do not recall any instance when I had direct evidence of the content of these meetings. It's just the frequency and prevalence of them was of concern."Rooney then asked Clapper, "At what time is collusion collusion, and at what time is it just people that may have an affiliation with the campaign meeting or talking with… the Russian ambassador or somebody that's of Russian origin, and when should that be taken as something that rises to the level of an Intelligence Community concern?""I really can't answer it other than the sort of visceral reaction to why all these meetings with the Russians," Clapper responded. Clapper admitted that it would be "legitimate" for incoming Trump administration officials to meet with representatives of Russia, "but I think there is a line…between that and violating the principle that in this country we traditionally have one President and one administration at a time."The interview was part of a set of 53 transcripts of interviews held by the House Intelligence Committee as part of the Russia investigation. Current committee chairman Adam Schiff had called for the release of the transcripts in 2018.However, after 43 transcripts had been reviewed and redacted by intelligence agencies as of June 2019, Schiff refused to relase the completed transcripts to the public. Current acting DNI head Richard Grenell informed Schiff on Wednesday that all the transcripts were ready for publication.
The experiment is part of the government's track and trace strategy aimed at limiting a second wave.
Banks see stampede for bounce-back loans within hours of the new government scheme going live.
A judge dismisses Christian Hacking's bid to overturn a ban on posters put up around Waltham Forest.
Andrew's mother was dying in hospital under lockdown, so he used technology to spend time with her.
The UK is testing its own design but a Google-Apple initiative is winning over many other nations.
More than 40,000 people have downloaded the contact tracing app so far, ahead of a wider release.
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Tensions have long existed between gangs in Tottenham and Wood Green - for 10 weeks in 2018 they boiled over.
Velma, Emma and Dean believe mobile phone signals, wi-fi and other modern technology makes them ill.
Without any modifications, React is really fast as-is. There are, however, a few things that you can do to improve performance. While working at HelloSign, I discovered some quick fixes that made our apps incredibly snappy. With these simple changes, I was able to reduce render time from over 3000 milliseconds to less than 200 milliseconds.
Without any modifications, React is really fast as-is. There are, however, a few things that you can do to improve performance. While working at HelloSign, I discovered some quick fixes that made our apps incredibly snappy. With these simple changes, I was able to reduce render time from over 3000 milliseconds to less than 200 milliseconds.
Editor’s Note:
Check out our upcoming React University Workshops. Our next workshop, React 2016, will be held on April 23 at Microsoft Reactor in San Francisco and will offer a deep dive into creating modern Single-Page Applications (SPA) using React, Redux, React Router, Immutable.js, and Webpack. Also, if you’re interested in learning the basics about what it takes to be a Data Visualization Engineer, check out React and D3.
HelloSign is a cloud-based electronic signature tool founded in 2010. As you can imagine, HelloSign is a very JavaScript-heavy codebase. A lot of client-side behavior is necessary to create a rich signing experience. Lately, we’ve moved much of our codebase toward React. In fact, in many places we’ve broken up our codebase into several single-page applications written in React.
Although the HelloSign team was happy with React’s performance before I initially joined the project, I quickly found some low-hanging fruit that could improve runtime speed. Here are the steps you should take to see similar improvements in your own applications.
Before you begin, you should take a baseline measurement. Optimizations are meaningless if you can’t verify the results of your modifications.
Thankfully, Chrome has excellent developer tools to help. One, little-used feature of Chrome’s DevTools is the “Timeline” tool. It allows you to record and analyze all activity in your application. You can record interactions on the page, locate potential memory leaks, measure the total time it takes to perform a task, and identify areas of potential jank. Best of all, the results can be recorded for comparison with your final benchmark.
There’s actually a really awesome video on Chrome’s DevTools that goes into detail about the “Timeline” feature. You can view it here.
We chose to measure the time elapsed between the initial paint of our signer page to the final rendering of the entire page. The initial download of our bundles still needs some optimization, but we’re neither going to mess with nor measure this parameter. It’s fairly easy and consistent to test render time rather than trying to click areas around the page and trying to measure its performance in a repeatable way. Then, all we needed to do was to go to the signer page, open Chrome’s DevTools “Timeline” tab, and refresh the page.
As a side note, make sure that when performing this test, the “Paint” and “Screenshots” boxes are checked so that you can see what the user sees as the page is being rendered.
After all that, we determined that our rendering time from initial paint was a little over 3 seconds. Much too long. Luckily, there was little we had to do to make this quite a bit faster.
This step is easy to get wrong, even if you are well-informed. React’s documentation provides an overview, but doesn’t provide many specifics. React has great developer warnings and error checking, but these are only intended for development; if you take a look at React’s source code, you’ll see a lot of if (process.env.NODE_ENV != 'production') checks. This is running extra code that is not needed by the end user, not to mention that calling process.env.NODE_ENV is extremely slow. For production environments, we can remove all this unnecessary code. Just keep in mind that you don’t want to do this in development because it will remove all those helpful developer warnings.
If you’re using Webpack, you can use DefinePlugin to replace all instances of process.env.NODE_ENV with 'production', and then use the UglifyJsPlugin to remove all the dead code that no longer runs. Here’s a sample setup that you might use:
// webpack.config.js
...
plugins: [
new webpack.DefinePlugin({
// A common mistake is not stringifying the "production" string.
'process.env.NODE_ENV': JSON.stringify('production')
}),
new webpack.optimize.UglifyJsPlugin({
compress: {
warnings: false
}
})
]
...
React 0.14 introduced support for certain transpile time optimizations with Constant and Inline Element Babel Transforms. React Constant Elements treats JSX elements as values and hoists them to a higher scope. In other words, it hoists static elements and thereby reduces calls to React.createClass. React Inline Elements converts JSX elements into the object literals that they eventually return. Again, this minimizes the runtime calls to React.createClass.
The implementation is rather simple. We added our Babel configuration in our package.json file:
// package.json
...
"babel": {
"env": {
"production": {
"plugins": [
"transform-react-constant-elements",
"transform-react-inline-elements"
]
}
}
},
...
Lastly, you’ll want to run the benchmark again and compare it with that saved benchmark from before these optimizations. As you can see, the total runtime profile ends 200ms after initial paint! That’s 15 times faster!
Former India captain MS Dhoni's presence in the current India squad for the WT20 is the biggest topic of debate at the moment. Many cricketers, current and former have their own views.
Former Indian cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth shared his views on MS Dhoni’s chances of making it to the Indian team for the 2020 ICC T20 World Cup on Star Sports 1 show Cricket Connected and said “I am not going to be diplomatic. I am talking about if I was the chairman of the selection committee, what would I do. If the IPL does not happen then his chances are very, very bleak. Because straightaway, in my opinion, KL Rahul will be the wicketkeeper-batsman. Rishabh Pant, I still think he might be a bit of a doubt, but I believe that Rishabh Pant is highly talented. So, I wouldn’t mind taking him along with the squad, but definitely, if the IPL doesn’t happen, then Dhoni will have a difficult time getting back into the team for the T20 World Cup. Let’s be very honest about it. He is absolutely fit, he is a legend, he is brilliant. I am a great fan of Dhoni myself. But the question is for the World Cup team. So you’ll have to put the Indian team first and then the individuals.
Meanwhile, former opening batsman Gautam Gambhir also expressed his thoughts on Yuvraj Singh’s recent comments pertaining to role models in the current team and said, “I agree with Yuvraj that there is a dearth of role models in the Indian team currently, like in the 2000s, we had Dravid, Kumble, Laxman, Sourav and Sachin to guide the team. It is important to have senior players around you who can help you when you’re going through a rough patch. Right now, I don’t think there are enough seniors in the Indian camp, who will set aside their self-interest to help youngsters.
Who are the role models in #TeamIndia’s dressing room?
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) April 15, 2020
Watch @GautamGambhir, @VVSLaxman281 and other experts weigh in on the discussion and much more on #CricketConnected!
â³: Saturday, 7 PM
ðº: Star Sports Network & Disney+Hotstar pic.twitter.com/fwsyqil4Wp
Another ex-Test opener VVS Laxman also shared his views on Rohit Sharma not featuring in Wisden Cricketers of the Year list said on Star Sports 1 show Cricket Connected, “I think anyone who follows the game of cricket will be surprised and shocked not to see Rohit Sharma’s name in those five players list. Because yes, The Ashes is an important series, the World Cup is bigger than Ashes. And someone who has scored five hundreds; remember the first hundred was on a tough wicket in Southampton against South Africa and none of the other batsmen got runs. And he played another important knock against Pakistan. I am really shocked and surprised, and every cricketer will be shocked and surprised by this announcement from Wisden.”
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Indian shuttlers Ashwini Ponnappa and N Sikki Reddy have finally got some time to pause and reflect due to the COVID-19 pandemic and they are making the most of it by creating a database to analyse their past performances while waiting for another shot at Olympic qualification. The coronavirus outbreak has left over 1.2 lakh people dead and infected nearly 2 million globally, and brought all sports activities, including badminton, to a halt after countries imposed lockdowns. Ashwini and Sikki are doubles specialists and endured an underwhelming season last year. The time at hand has given them a chace to analyse the past performances.
"We don't have any one to sit and do analysis for us, so now that we have time, I'm doing some analysis of our performance. I am jotting down points, about areas where I can improve. I started with my matches and then other players on tour," Ashwini, who represented India at the London and Rio Olympic Games, told PTI. "You can always watch and analyse and understand the patterns but it is different when you see things on paper. It is more concrete. So trying to set up a complete database. My brother will help me out. He made an app for me in the past." Ashwini and Sikki fell at the first hurdle 13 times in 20 tournaments last year, and exited from the second round thrice.
Ashwini also picked up a calf injury during the Syed Modi International but the duo was still confident of qualifying by performing well in the remaining Olympic qualifiers. But with Badminton World Federation (BWF) cancelling all tournaments due to the coronavirus pandemic, their fate remains uncertain. "The problem is we don't know the new BWF rules regarding the qualification. There is one year left now, you can't take a two year old performance to select for Olympics, it has to be present performance, so we have to wait," said Sikki. "In badminton, there is a ranking cut off, so how will they accommodate the cancelled qualifiers, how will they count the ranking points, everything is too messed up now," she added. Sikki and Ashwini had reached the finals at Hyderabad Open Super 100 and Maldives International Challenge, last year.
The Indian pair is ranked 28th and will need to be inside top 16 on April 29, 2021 -- the new Olympic cut off date. Ashwini said: "Me and Sikki were confident of doing well in the 4-5 tournaments left but now no one knows what would be the criteria of Olympic qualification and BWF can't really say anything with things changing every moment." They are using the coronavirus-forced break to learn cooking, besides doing some wall practice and exercises for physical fitness. Talking about the effects of the lockdown on mental health, Sikki said: "We have been travelling a lot all these years and now for a month, we are at home, it is fine. But what if it is for 2-3 months, then it will get tough to stay away from the game.
"So it is important to stay motivated for once the lockdown is lifted because you will in a comfortable zone in the break and then all of a sudden you will need to push yourself." Ashwini added: "...now that Olympics have been postponed, nothing is certain and it is tough, you have to be really strong." The economic fallout of the coronavirus outbreak has hit sports hard and Ashwini said badminton too will be affected. "It will hit in terms of sponsors, in terms of tournaments being conducted because countries need sponsors to host events, and after this, I'm not sure what the economic status of many countries would be. "The way things are, it is will be tough to host tournaments, it will not be easy for countries to have tournaments with many big companies shut and struggling to survive," she signed off.
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They would have been striving together to make Rajasthan Royals win at this time of the year in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Instead, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the likes of Jos Buttler, Robin Uthappa, Varun Aaron and Riyan Parag to be at home and help the women in their lives.
"We have been home for three weeks now and we are loving it. He is also been doing lots of cooking. He has even done some cleaning for me," Louise Buttler said during a Rajasthan Royals social media interaction.
"It's been amazing to have Robin home for this long at a stretch. Robin's been cooking. He is trying his hand at cooking," said Shheethal, Uthappa's better half.
For 18-year old Riyan Parag, who impressed one and all last season, his mother Mithoo Barooah complained the Guwahati-born batsman has been into gaming all the time but it is good to be around him.
"I am actually loving it, having my kid around with me for so long. I also don't want him to be away from cricket as that's his passion. Not just that, he is gaming all the time which annoys me," Mithoo said.
Ragini, Aaron's wife, said she is getting used to the pacer's mess lying all around the house but also spending quality time with the husband.
"Spending time with my husband has been really great. It's the usual Varun Aaron mess all throughout the house."
The IPL has been postponed due to the lockdown getting extended till May 3.
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Wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson recently said that one cannot copy MS Dhoni and that the former India skipper can only be appreciated for whatever he has achieved in international cricket.
The official Instagram handle of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings shared a video in which Samson can be seen talking about Dhoni.
"MS Dhoni is a hero, he is a hero for everyone, he has spent so many years in international cricket, he has given us many memories, everyone will be inspired with what he has achieved in international cricket, a guy coming from Jharkhand and then going on to become the most successful Indian captain, he has achieved everything, I feel emotional and connected whenever I talk about MS Dhoni," Samson said in the video posted by Chennai Super Kings.
"You cannot copy MS Dhoni, you just have to look at him and clap your hands. I shared the dressing room with him when I was 19 years old, we were on a tour to England, after that I did not play for India for the next five years," he added.
In the video, the 25-year-old Samson also said that he once had a dream featuring MS Dhoni. The young wicket-keeper then revealed how that dream was fulfilled.
"I really had a dream that Mahi bhai was the captain of the team and he was changing the field. I was standing in the slips and he shouted Sanju go there, this is the dream I had, after some days the news came in that he has stepped down as the captain, and I thought how will my dream come true now," Samson said.
"But after a few days we played a pratice match against England at Mumbai, and Dhoni was the captain in the match and he indeed changed my fielding position, my dream came true, I need to tell this to Mahi bhai that my dream was fulfilled," he added.
Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup. Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the high-profile game.
This year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.
The board had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.
Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).
Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.
IPL 2020 was slated to begin from March 29, but the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Appreciating the 'beauty of nature,' actor Alia Bhatt recited a poem on Wednesday to mark the golden jubilee of Earth Day. The 27-year-old actor took to Instagram and shared a video singing a poem dedicated to mother Earth.
View this post on InstagramMy attempt at writing a little something to celebrate earth dayâÂÂÂÂÂÂï¸Â #EarthDayEveryDay
She said: "Hi guys, today is Earth Day and I was doing some writing and I dedicated writing a little poem, expressing the way I feel today and kind of every day." The 'Raazi' actor started reciting, "Today and every day, I'm grateful. For the sunrise and sunset. For the forests full of trees. The animals, the birds. The lakes, rivers and seas. I'm grateful for all we've built, Our bridges and our streets. I'm grateful for the love that binds us and the wind that sometimes knocks us off our feet.
"In these uncertain times, I'm grateful for those who put themselves in danger for us. Our saviours, the world's warriors! Today and everyday, promise to care for our planet and all it has to offer. I promise to value our home by doing better I choose to celebrate earth day Today and every single day!" The 'Highway' star captioned the post as, "Today and Everyday. My attempt at writing a little something to celebrate earth day[?] #EarthDayEveryDay."
Celebrity followers including Zoya Akhtar, Dia Mirza left their lovable comments on the post. Meanwhile, scores of leading ladies of the Bollywood industry took to social media to mark the golden jubilee of Earth Day.
Veteran actor Hema Malini tweeted: "Today is Earth Day. With the Coronavirus raging everywhere, time for us to reflect on how we have ravaged Mother Earth, stripping her of trees & vegetation & destroying the ozone layer."
Kajol tweeted: "The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. If that has not been proved categorically to us at this time I don't think it ever will be. Happy #EarthDay2020 to all the remaining species."
Others including Dia Mirza, Shilpa Shetty, Madhuri Dixit, and Bhumi Pednekar also took a moment to appreciate nature and thank mother Earth in different ways.
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Actor Ajay Devgn on Wednesday shared a PSA for 'Aarogya Setu' app. The video featured the actor in dual roles, first as a bodyguard that acts as Setu and the second role shows the actor as himself.
The 'Tanhaji' star took to Twitter and shared the video in which he is shown exercising while Ajay who also played the role of a bodyguard and introduces himself to the actor saying, "Sir, I am your new bodyguard, Setu."
Dhanyawad @PMOIndia @narendramodi for creating a personal bodyguard for every Indian to fight COVID-19. #SetuMeraBodyguard hai aur aapka bhi.
— Ajay Devgn (@ajaydevgn) April 22, 2020
Download @SetuAarogya now!
#IndiaFightsCoronahttps://t.co/fU7MfKfDwM pic.twitter.com/MHi7SMSTGD
Ajay then says, "But I already have bodyguards." "Sir, I'm a different type of bodyguard. Only Setu can guard you against coronavirus."
"How can this save us from coronavirus," asks Devgn. Setu replies: "I can alarm you in advance about the coronavirus threat, and I also alarm you in advance if coronavirus positive person is around you."
"Sir, I also will let you know if your family has any threat from your family," he added. To which Ajay replies, "Why would my family be threatened of me?"
"Sir, if you unconsciously get in contact with a corona positive patient, I am going to alarm immediately so that you don't pass the disease to your family."
He then announced that the Government of India has recruited me as a personal bodyguard to 130 crore Indians.
At the end of the video, the 'Golmaal' star appeals to download the AarogyaSetup app, and says "Setu is my bodyguard from coronavirus, and yours too! "
Along with the video Devgn wrote, Dhanyawad @PMOIndia@narendramodi for creating a personal bodyguard for every Indian to fight COVID-19. #SetuMeraBodyguard hai aur aapka bhi. Download @SetuAarogya now! #IndiaFightsCorona https://bit.ly/AarogyaSetuAppDownload... "
AarogyaSetu app, that was launched earlier this month in a public-private partnership, enables people to themselves assess the risk for their catching the coronavirus infection. The app makes its calculations based on a person's interaction with others, using Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.
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Actress Raveena Tandon has appealed all to extend help to the family of deceased Palghar lynching victim Nilesh Telwade. Sharing a website where one can donate, Raveena Tandon tweeted: "A fundraiser for the 29 yr old driver who was lynched along with Hindu sadhus. He leaves behind two little girls, please do your bit and help this family."
Twenty-nine-year-old Nilesh, a driver by profession, was lynched along with two sadhus by a mob of over 200 people in Maharashtra's Palghar last week. The brutal incident occurred while they were travelling from Nashik to Surat with some relief materials.
Suspecting them to be thieves, the crowd started questioning them, abused and then assaulted them brutally with sticks, rods and stones. Nilesh Telwade's untimely death has left his family including his wife and two little daughters in a helpless condition.
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Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Bollywood celebrities have taken up the responsibility to appeal to everyone to stay safe, take precautions, stop panicking and refrain from spreading rumours. Ajay Devgn too joined the bandwagon and made an emotional appeal to his fans to stay at home by launching a special song titled Thahar Ja.
Watch the song here:
The video has been sung and composed by Mehul Vyas and penned by Anil Verma. In the video, an emotional Devgn appeals to people to stay inside their homes and take a break from their regular activities for the sake of their families. His son Yug also makes an appearance at the end of the music video.
Sharing the video on his Instagram handle, the Singham actor wrote, "Pause. Reflect. Pray. We will weather this storm together. Stay safe, Stay Happy. Apno ke liye #ThaharJa #IndiaFightsCorona (sic)."
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Before this, Akshay Kumar came up with a special version of the song Teri Mitti, from his film Kesari, to show his gratitude to the doctors and policemen working selflessly during these testing times.
Salman Khan too gave us a spirited 'Pyar Karona' song that encourages us to fight the Coronavirus pandemic together. This was the superstar's first solo music album.
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Cancer care
Former ATS chief Himanshu Roy took his life earlier this month. While his suicide note didn't mention a reason, doctors and friends claim repeated recurrence of cancer had broken him, and he was low.
When the fight to overpower the disease is long-drawn, often with no light at the end of the tunnel, patients don't just need medication but also counselling and physical therapy.
Viji Venkatesh
"There is a stigma associated with cancer in our society. Such that people even lose their jobs after it being detected, which adds to the financial stress. With such physical and mental strain, it is important to have a third person to share your problems with and help you cope," says Viji Venkatesh, region head, South Asia, The Max Foundation, an organisation that works for cancer patients.
"We get 60,000 new cases every year. We are able to sustain and offer proper support because of our network of support groups, where patients are provided encouragement at every level. In order to beat the darkness accompanying the disease, patients need something to look forward to. Every year, we take a group of patients for a trip to Goa; we organise group talk sessions with other patients and celebrate all festivals. We have identified 90 places with cheap accommodation near the [Tata Memorial] hospital, and we also have yoga sessions. All these small initiatives help build the psychological strength of the patient," explains SH Jafri, head of CSR and PR, and international patient advisor at The Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel.
Experts explain why a holistic approach to cancer treatment is essential.
The body
Patients have less muscle mass due to weight and protein loss in the body. Hence, there is a need to improve the quality of life by giving the right exercises and dietary plan based on the different stages of treatment to improve strength. "Cancer treatment is teamwork — the counsellor, physiotherapist, nutritionist and oncologist need to work together. One must understand the capacity of the body, how much it can take; this can be gauged only by a professional," elaborates Dr Nilesh Makwana, director and consulting physiotherapist, Muscle N Mind Physiotherapy Centre.
Dr. Nilesh
Chances of a relapse in some kinds of cancers reduce when the patient undergoes physical therapy. An expert will understand the fatigue level of the patient and devise a plan based on the kind and the stage of the disease. For example, during treatment, in addition to the pain medication given by the doctor, a physiotherapist will use electrotherapy modalities such as TENS to relieve the pain and block the pain channels and improve joint mobility and the properties of the muscle. The treatment for relapse patients is different as the intensity of their medication is higher. "Different cancers need different treatments. For example, one of my patients had lung cancer, for which a part of the lung had to be removed. This reduces lung capacity. So, we improved the stamina by giving rehabilitation with oxygen, so that the other part of the lung gets enough oxygen to oxygenate the rest of the body. Another patient suffering from bone cancer had the thigh bone removed, and a knee and hip replacement at an advanced stage. Plus, the chemotherapy had reduced the body mass. We devised a strengthening programme for the lower body, without oxygen procedure one would need for lung cancer, modified footwear to repair the body imbalance and other procedures," shares Dr Makwana.
The mind
"The need for counselling begins right from when the cancer is detected. Acceptance of diagnosis is difficult. The patient and the family need to know the outcome of the disease — you cannot just tell the patient that everything will be alright," says Dr Adwaita A Gore, medical oncologist, Zen Multi Speciality Hospital. Acceptance has to come from the family as only then will they have the collective strength to support the patient. Dr Gore has seen cases where a delay in treatment was caused because the family refused to accept the truth.
The link
Dr Gore says that doctors identify the main caregivers as they are the vital link between doctor and patient. Patient interaction with the doctor will be for a short period, as compared to a close member who will motivate the patient throughout. The stress also takes a toll on the caregiver, hence s/he too needs a support group.
Occupy your mind
Try and continue working unless the treatment demands one to stop. This helps to continue the treatment.
Dr Adwaita A Gore
The talk
Counselling differs for all age groups. "For someone who is going to undergo an operation for throat cancer, he or she needs to know before the surgery that they might lose their voice. It's only a counsellor who can successfully explain that while you may lose your voice, there are now techniques available to enable you to speak again," says Dr Gore.
Financial counselling
"Financial counselling is crucial to motivating patients to continue treatment. They need to know that their family can be taken care of after they are no more," says Dr Gore.
Madhu Kastia, 57, housewife
Survivor speak
You have to believe that you can fight cancer — without that, you can't do anything. Think of it as regular fever. I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2014, and breast cancer in 2017. I was always into painting, and it was suggested to me that I pursue it to aid my treatment. I would finish one painting at every chemo session. I have gifted my works to my doctors, and a few have been displayed at Breach Candy Hospital. At hospitals, I would counsel other patients to be strong and take part in everything to live life like any other healthy person. I was advised by my doctors to pursue aqua aerobics and it has helped me improve my heart functioning from 25 to 40 per cent. My doctors emphasised the importance of physiotherapy. After my breast cancer surgery, I could move my hand easily because of physiotherapy. I had no hair when my daughter got married. But my supporters helped me in my fight, and to move on. Even getting a good wig that looks close to your real hair really helps build your confidence. My biggest support system has been my daughters and my husband.
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