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Top 10 Tell-Tale Signs Of A Bad Boss

2013-08-21T20:47:00.001-07:00

THIS IS A NICE ARTICLE WORTH FOR ANYTHING

Let's face it; we have all seen and experienced bad bosses. There are the ones that bully, the ones that only care about themselves and their own career, the cowards that hide behind others or the ones that drive you mad by trying to tell you how to do your job in the minutest level of detail. Seeing bad bosses in action can be hilarious but if you are on the receiving end of a bad boss it is usually no laughing matter. Bad bosses cause so much unnecessary stress in the work place and are a major cause of reduced productivity and performance.

The thing is that we are often not fully aware why we get stressed by our bosses, they just make us feel uncomfortable or in the worst case completely stressed out. I work with so many different companies all over the world, across all industries and sectors and believe I can tell whether someone is a good boss or not within seconds of meeting them and their team. You can just tell by what they say, how they say it and how they and their team behave. Here are my top ten tell-tale signs of a bad boss:

The Ego-Tripper - a boss that is arrogant, shows off at any opportunity and is in constant need of boosting his or her ego
The Coward - a boss that takes on no accountability and often hides behind others
The Micromanager - a boss that believes he knows how others should do their job, who can't trust people to just get on with their job and instead and micro-manages everything they do
The Incapable - a boss that has been promoted beyond his or her capabilities, has no clue how to do the job and has lost all respect of subordinates and co-workers
The Over-friendly Mate - a boss that inappropriately wants to be your best mate or nearest friend
The Bad Communicator - a boss that is unable to communicate anything effectively, be it the corporate strategy or individual performance feedback
The Plagiarizer - a boss that takes credit for other people's work or ideas and passes it off as his own (especially to his or her boss)
The Negative - a boss that just can't say anything positive and instead turns everything into doom-and-gloom
The Ego-Centric - a boss that doesn't care about the people who work for him and is not interested in helping, coaching and developing anyone else but himself
The Criticizer- a boss that is quick to critisize mistakes others make and is unable to provide constructive feedback

For me, each of the above are clear signs of a bad manager and when you get a boss with one or maybe two of the signs then you can usually manage around them (not ideal but doable). Really problematic is when you end up with a boss that shows several of them at the same time, in which case I can only wish you good luck!

Do you agree with the list? Are there other tell-tale signs you would add? Or have you got any stories, insights or experiences to share on the topic?

Tata DOCOMO launches Unlimited 1299 Plan

2013-08-12T22:03:00.001-07:00

Tata DOCOMO, the unified telecom brand of Tata Teleservices Limited, today launched an exciting post pay plan with unlimited benefits for its new CDMA customers. The new plan "Unlimited 1299 Plan" allows customers to make unlimited local and national calls on any mobile/fixed line network across India along with unlimited roaming benefits while on Tata DOCOMO network and free 3GB data and 3000 messages (local & national).

Post 3GB usage, the additional data will be charged at Rs 0.30/Mb. Once the user exhausts their limit of 3000 messages, charges of Re 1 for local, Rs 1.50 for National and Rs 5.00 for international message will apply. While roaming on Tata DOCOMO network is absolutely free, customer roaming on other network will be charged Re 1/min for incoming calls (all) & for making outgoing local calls where as outgoing STD calls will be charged at Rs 1.5/min.

This value for money plan provides complete peace of mind to customers, commenting on this product offer, Mr Ramakrishna S, Chief Operating Officer, Andhra Pradesh Circle, Tata DOCOMO said, "The move comes from a strategic intent of making the brand relevant for the high value customers. Tata DOCOMO CDMA in continuance with offering value for money offers and distinct approach has liberated the consumer from the conditions that used to limit an unlimited plan. Therefore, creating a whole new paradigm of unlimited plans that are truly unlimited."

Ranbaxy has erred, but it’s not the only one

2013-06-10T19:37:00.001-07:00

When Cadbury was rapped by the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration allegedly for worms in its chocolates, it roped in film icon Amitabh Bachchan as part of damage control, to endorse the product and vouch for its quality.

But Ranbaxy is no Cadbury, it sells medicines, not chocolates. It will have a longer and more painful walk back from the dock, after its recent decision to pay $500 million (over Rs 2,500 crore) to settle criminal and fraud charges against it in the US market.

Ranbaxy's fault: it falsified data and short-cut processes involving its medicines made at two manufacturing facilities in India. And worse, it made false statements to the regulatory US Food and Drug Administration.

For someone having a Ranbaxy tablet in her medicine-box, this development is bound to trigger concerns on the quality of medicines we consume. And to keep the faith, not just in the medicine, but the regulator as well, the system is only going to get more vigilant.

Ranbaxy's bitter pill holds out several lessons for local drug-makers. Indian drug-makers shoulder the responsibility of being pharmacy to the world. They are expected to have systems that are above board on quality.

But error is part of any human enterprise. The important part is to take the punch, mend your ways and move on.

COST OF SETTLEMENTS

Ranbaxy is the largest drug-safety settlement by a generic drug-maker in the US. But settlements are not unique to the company. In fact, it is a road oft taken by global drug-majors to tide over contentious, litigation-filled situations.

In the last decade, settlements have involved the biggest boys in the drug circles — Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Eli Lilly, Johnson and Johnson, Abbott, etc. And the reasons have been varied — promotion of medicines for unapproved usage, improper marketing of products, non-disclosure of health-risks. (see table)

Like in the Ranbaxy case, whistle-blowers have played a role in several of these cases too. Drug companies say in their defence that a settlement helps end uncertainty and may not necessarily be an admission of wrong-doing. But depending on how grievous the crime is — did it involve deaths, the motive, etc., — settlements too come in different shades. In fact, there is a view gaining ground, questioning settlements as a method to punish errant companies.

Japanese-company, Daiichi Sankyo-owned Ranbaxy projects revenues of over Rs 12,000 crore in 2013. It has been preparing for the $500 million penalty since the consent agreement with the US FDA in December 2011 — where it committed to strengthen procedures to ensure data integrity and comply with Current Good Manufacturing Practices (CGMP). The learning for local generic companies is that, they can ill-afford to pay their way out of mistakes. For multinational big daddies, settlements are just a fraction of their revenue. But a similar payment can drive a smaller generic company into bankruptcy.

GENERIC BACKDROP

The shrill debate around Ranbaxy's settlement also plays out against the backdrop of fierce turf wars between innovators and generic drug makers.

Ranbaxy's erstwhile promoters, the Singh brothers, sold their entire stake to Daiichi Sankyo in 2008, for over $4 billion. But as the two promoters lock horns on Ranbaxy's FDA woes, the India-based company faces the risk of being used as the stick to beat all generic drug-makers.

And here's the rub for India, home to several generic drug-makers. The US is the largest generics market and at last count, there are over 300 manufacturing sites in India, approved by the US FDA.

Generic drugs are chemically-similar versions of innovative medicines that have outlived their patent-protected exclusivity period. Innovators often derisively describe generics as copy-cats or me-too drugs, as the latter do not involve expensive research. And generic-players don't entirely buy the innovators' reasoning that their medicines are high-priced because it includes the steep cost of research.

In fact, they challenge attempts to sometimes dress up existing medicine in the garb of a new one and get a fresh bout of patent protection and exclusivity.

In an economic downturn, health administrators tend to lean on generic drugs to keep the spiralling cost of healthcare in check. And this is where every negative development for a company gets magnified by the lobby-infested pharmaceutical industry.

GRIEVOUS MISTAKE?

What really happened at Ranbaxy is privileged information between the two promoters, say several ex-Ranbaxians. But the gravity of its mistake can be evaluated against similar examples in the global pharmaceutical market, they add.

Ranbaxy is in the dock for selling adulterated medicine. The Department of Justice explains how the US regulator defines an "adulterated" drug — when the methods used in the manufacture, processing, packing or storage do not conform to what they outline as Current Good Manufacturing Practices. A recent World Health Organisation note builds some confidence as it says that Ranbaxy's products on its present list of pre-qualified medicines are of acceptable quality.

The WHO also points out that "adulterated" has a specific legal meaning in the US — when medicines are not manufactured under CGMP. "It does not mean that the medicine is necessarily substandard," it notes.

Industry watchers also point out that the data falsification issue has been on the boil for about eight years. But there are no class-action suits by patients, nor are regulators across the world scrambling to advise patients to stop using Ranbaxy's medicines.

Contrast this with Merck's payment of $4.85 billion to settle patient litigation after its painkiller Vioxx was taken off the market, following it being linked to heart risks.

CHANGED ENVIRONMENT

But the nagging thought remains. If the erstwhile home-spun major Ranbaxy is caught admitting fraud, what does it say of mid-sized drug makers dreaming big?

Drug companies are now more nimble in working with regulators, informing them of a fishy smell or glass pieces in products, as the case may be, and undertaking voluntarily drug recall to build trust with patients and regulators, says industry representatives.

But what about wilful fraud, possibly spurred by someone in authority? That is suicidal, says an industry veteran, as it will wreck your reputation and sales.

There is a jackpot to be got at the end of the rainbow, as drugs go off-patent in the years ahead. Why would a company shoot itself in the foot and throw away that opportunity?

Ranbaxy's story is a layered one. Questions are even being asked of the regulator and why it took an insider to catch the fraud. More questions will be asked by regulators across the world, and to drug companies of all hues.

After all, making medicines is like no other business in the world. It is a difficult cross to bear.

And to operate in this complex and competitive global arena, Indian drug-makers will have to benchmark themselves against global best practices and not be found wanting when put under the scanner.

Smith & Nephew to acquire Indian trauma business

2013-05-27T21:40:00.001-07:00

Smith & Nephew plc (LSE: SN, NYSE: SNN), the global medical technology business, today announces an agreement to acquire Adler Mediequip Private Limited and with it, the brands and assets of Sushrut Surgicals Private Limited, a leader in mid-tier, orthopaedic trauma products for the India market. The transaction is expected to complete upon the satisfaction of customary conditions. The terms are not disclosed.

The acquisition will give Smith & Nephew a well-established platform to provide and develop products for the mid-tier market in India and for export. In particular, it gives Smith & Nephew an entry point to India's fast growing trauma segment.

Olivier Bohuon, Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Nephew, commented:

"Through this important acquisition we are continuing to deliver on our Strategic Priorities to build leadership positions in the emerging markets, to supplement our organic growth through acquisitions, and to bring forward a mid-tier offering for these regions.

"Sushrut-Adler has a long and distinguished history, a reputation for quality products and a loyal customer base. Its trauma portfolio strongly complements our established positions in orthopaedic reconstruction and sports medicine in India, giving us an enhanced platform from which to continue to build a sustainable business. "

Adler employs 116 people, while approximately 50 Sushrut employees (which include an experienced sales force that directly supports the Adler business) will also transfer as part of the arrangement. Products include primarily trauma implants and instrumentation, as well as spine and limb salvage portfolios.

Adler is owned by the Pitre family and its senior management team will continue with the business. Ajay Pitre, Managing Director, said, "We are excited with the opportunity to bring together our long experience of navigating the mid-tier segment in emerging markets, with the vast global resources and capabilities of Smith & Nephew to create and provide relevant solutions".

Google Cloud Storage

2013-04-06T03:23:00.003-07:00

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Google Compute Engine Expands Availability

2013-04-06T03:23:00.001-07:00

In a world that is currently dominated by Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google has taken the next steps to announce itself as a solid alternative to AWS. The Google Compute Engine (GCE), an Infrastructure-as-a-Service product that allows running Virtual Linux Servers at Google scale was announced in June of last year and was available by invite only. The gates have been thrown open a little bit with Google announcing its expanded availability, price cuts and newer features.

Google announced at the App Engine blog that GCE is now available immediately for all customers who sign up for Gold Support and a price cut of 4% across the compute platform. Gold support starts at a fee of $400 per month. The initial feedback from customers has been positive for Google and the gradual rollout of the service and features shows that Google is being careful of getting the service rich with features and tested well before rolling it out to general availability.

It is not just price cuts that have been announced but also a set of Administrative features that allow a unified view of all the Google Compute Services that you use, five new instance type families and 2 additional zones in Europe for European customers.

Google Engineers are also highlighting World Wide Maze Chrome Experiment, developed by the Chrome team in Japan. This is a showcase for the various back-end services that are part of Google Compute Engine. The site converts any website of your choice into a three-dimensional maze that you can navigate via your smartphone. The Game state and synchronization data is handled by Virtual Servers running Node.js while the UI is hosted on AppEngine.

With Google I/O 2013 around the corner, we should definitely expect more news on the Google Compute Engine platform.

Alienware X51 Now Shipping with Ubuntu Linux, Starts at $599

2013-04-06T02:45:00.001-07:00

When Alienware released their diminutive X51 desktop last year, we were instant fans. It takes up no more room than an Xbox 360, but offers so much more potential - both in the games it can play and what they look like on your screen. In addition to being the smallest Alienware desktop, it was also the most affordable - by a large margin.

Up until now, you could get your hands on a fully-fledged Alienware for just $699. As of today, it's even cheaper.

Gamers who like Linux have always had a tough go of things, tougher even than gamers who traditionally preferred to run Mac OS X. Fortunately, running Linux has your primary desktop and gaming have won a number of important battles. Perhaps most obvious is Valve's decision to port Steam over to the platform, as well as at least one (but likely all) of their games.

It's been bolstered recently by the efforts of Epic and Unity, too. And if Valve is sincere in their efforts to put a Steam console on the market, it's likely to run some flavor of Ubuntu, according to recent leaks.

Today, Dell announced that they were throwing their own support into the fray, with an Ubuntu-powered desktop with Alienware branding. While Dell is no stranger to Ubuntu on machines, it's until recently been a second-class citizen - it would cost the same as a Windows PC, offer fewer configurations, etc.

That all seems to be changing, however, and this announcement is a very big sign of it.

When Dell first announced the X51, we commented on how it would be an excellent way of bringing Steam to the living room; it wouldn't surprise us in the least if Dell is making the move pre-emptively to cash in on Steam's effort later this year.

For that matter, Valve head Gabe Newell has gone on record as saying that any hardware effort on Valve's part would be along with the help of several companies; that is, there won't be any single Steam Box - there will be dozens.

Maybe this is Dell's Steam Box.

Whether it is or isn't doesn't matter. It's an awesome piece of kit, and without having to pay extra licensing fees, it's a hundred bucks cheaper than the Windows-powered version. That's right - it starts at just $599.

For that price, you get:

Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual Core
Ubuntu operating system
6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz (2 DIMMS)
1GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 645
Slot Load Dual Layer DVD Burner
Dell Wireless 1506 (802.11gn) WLAN half mini-Card
1TB SATA 3Gb/s,7200RPM

Not a bad start, and if you like, you can pay a bit extra and move things up to a quad-core Core i7 and even stronger graphics.

The new systems are available today from Dell.

Rackspace puts trollers on the rack

2013-04-06T02:44:00.001-07:00

Rackspace wants to end the terror campaign on IT by patent trolls by following them to their lair and killing them with fire.

The cloud infrastructure service provider has successfully defended itself from a patent infringement lawsuit over Linux and has started a counter attack.

The company has filed a lawsuit against Parallel Iron and IP Nav, a patent assertion entity (PAE) that Rackspace calls "the most notorious patent troll in America".

Writing in its blog, Rackspace said Parallel Iron sued it and 11 other defendants in Delaware last week for allegedly infringing on three patents that Parallel Iron said cover the use of the open-source Hadoop distributed file system.

It all goes back to 2010 when IP Nav, acting on Parallel Iron's behalf, accused Rackspace of patent infringement. However, it refused to reveal the details of its claims until Rackspace agreed to a "forbearance agreement," which held that either side would give the other 30 days notice before suing.

Rackspace agreed but Parallel Iron broke the agreement by suing Rackspace when it became clear it was not going to get what it wanted.

Rackspace has now fired back with its own lawsuit for breach of contract and a declaratory judgment that Rackspace does not infringe on the patents in question.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of Rackspace winning dismissal of a lawsuit from Uniloc, which alleged Linux infringed on a patent it holds connected to processing floating-point numbers.

Rackspace general counsel Alan Schoenbaum wrote that his company was not going to take it anymore,

He said that his company's goal with this lawsuit is to highlight the tactics that IP Nav uses to divert profits and capital from business.

His goal is that this time the patent troll should pay the company it attacked.

IP Nav claimed in a Federal Trade Commission filing to be a "white hat" entity created to "give the little guy a chance".

But Schoenbaum said that statement was "laughable" and that there were few trolls more notorious than IP Nav.

He added that there was no such thing as a patent troll that has the best interests of small businesses in mind.

"Instead, IP Nav and Parallel Iron are acting in their own selfish interests and suffocating innovation, while stripping capital away from businesses both large and small," he wrote.

Complaint numbers for TRAI in India

2013-03-18T22:25:00.001-07:00

Complaint numbers for TRAI in India.

TERM Cell (LSA)	HQ at (STD Code)	Office Address	Name of Head of TERM Cell (Sh./Smt.)	Design	Tel (O)	Fax(O)	Mobile	NIC e-mail ID
Ahmedabad (Gujarat)	Ahmedabad (79)	Ist floor ,P&T Administrative Building, Khanpur, Ahmedabad-380001	A.K.Bhatia	DDG	25501550	25500055	9427112233	ddgterm-ahm@nic.in
Andaman& Nicobar (West Bengal)	Port Blair (3192)	DTO Building, I Floor, Bengali Club Road, Near Head Post Office, Port Blair, A&N-744101	N Asokraj	DDG	242727	243636	9434281100	ddgterm-and@nic.in
Andhra Pradesh	Vijayawada (866)	D-11,Telcom officer's complex,Tikkel Road,Mogalrajpuram, Vijayawada - 520 010	P V Puranik	DDG	2487699	2466099	9423875502	ddgtermap.dot@nic.in
Assam	Guwahati (361)	9th floor, O/o CGMT , BSNL, Assam, Pan Bazar, Guwahati, Pin-781001	Hasan Zaheer.	DDG	2734222	2730788	9435599494	ddgvtm-asm@nic.in
Bangalore (Karnataka)	Bangalore (80)	II Floor, Aminity Block, Palace Road, Bangalore-560001	Veera Gowda	DDG	22372323	22283355	9448010804	ddgtermbg-dot@nic.in
Bihar	Patna (612)	7th Floor, Telephone Bhawan, R Block, Patna-800001	S. N. Singh	DDG	2506220	2506362	9431100087	ddgtermbr-dot@nic.in
Chennai	Chennai (44)	3rd Floor, Kellys Telephone Exchange,22 Kellys Road, Chennai-10	M.K.Sudarsanam	DDG	26451000	26472255	9445000125	ddgvtmchn-dot@nic.in
Chhattisgarh (Madhya Pradesh)	Raipur (771)	2nd Floor, CTO Building, Jaistambh Chowk, Raipur.	RK Garhwal	DDG	2226300	2226500	9425001004	ddgterm.cg@nic.in
Delhi	Delhi (11)	5/6th Floor, MTNL TE Building, Nehru Place, N Delhi-19	Sarvendra Singh	DDG	26469191	26469393	9868134777	ddgtermd-dot@nic.in
Gujarat	Ahmedabad (79)	Ist floor ,P&T Administrative Building, Khanpur, Ahmedabad-380001	Vinod Gupta	DDG	25510011	25510022	9426201947	ddg-term-guj@nic.in
Haryana	Ambala (171)	3rd Floor , CGMT BSNL Office Building, 107, The Mall Ambala Cantt	R.K.Rastogi	DDG	2602222	2602111	9416010101	ddgtermhr-dot@nic.in
Himachal Pradesh	Simla (177)	Hari Niwas, Khalini, Simla, HP-171002	S.K.Gupta	DDG	2629700	2622599	9418085566	ddgtermhp-dot@nic.in
Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh)	Hyderabad (40)	2nd Floor ,Kavadiguda Telephone Exchange,Hyderabad-3	M.S.R.Sarma	DDG	27543377	27543322	9490900456	ddgvtmhyd-dot@nic.in
Jaipur (Rajasthan)	Jaipur (141)	Ground Floor, Sanchar Bhawan Jhalana Institutional Area Jaipur-302004,	Mahidhar Pant	DDG	2712631	2712632	9414001617	ddgterm.jp-dot@nic.in
Jammu & Kashmir	Jammu (191)	4th floor, Technical Block, Telephone Xge Building, Trikuta Nagar, Rail Head Complex, Jammu.	V K Ahuja	DDG	2470111	2471998	9419124444	ddgvtm-jk@nic.in
Jharkhand (Bihar)	Ranchi (651)	2nd Floor, ARTTC Building, BSNL, (Near Jumar River), Hazaribagh Road, P.O. Neori, Ranchi -835217	J. B. Prasad	DDG	2273444	2273900	9431000181	ddgtermjh-dot@nic.in
Banglore (Karnataka)	Bangalore (80)	II Floor,Aminty Block, Palace Road, Bangalore - 560001	M S R Sarma	DDG	22372323	22373636	9449224560	ddgtermbg-dot@nic.in
TERM Cell (LSA)	HQ at (STD Code)	Office Address	Name of Head of TERM Cell (Sh./Smt.)	Design	Tel (O)	Fax(O)	Mobile	NIC e-mail ID
Kerala	Ernakulam (484)	O/o The DDG(TERM), Kerala, DoT, BSNL Telecom Store Depot., Gandhi Nagar, Ernakulam 682020	N Reguraman	DDG	2205900	2205903	9447712200	ddgtermkrl-dot@nic.in
Kolkata	Kolkata (33)	QA Bhawan, Block - EP & GP, Sector -V, Saltlake, Kolkata - 700091	A.Ghosh	DDG	23572002	23572003	9433000084	ddgvtmkol-dot@nic.in
Lucknow (U P - East)	Lucknow (522)	5/464-465,Viram Khand-V,Gomti Nagar, Lucknow	V.P.Singh	DDG	2727244	2727222	9415001415	ddgvtmlko@up.nic.in
Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal (755)	Doordarshan Bhawan, Room No.222, II Floor, Hoshangabad Road, Bhopal-462015	Sanjay Verma	DDG	2550199	2550196	9425001199	ddgtermdot-mp@nic.in
Maharashtra	Nagpur (712)	2nd Floor Khamla Telephone Exch. Khamla Nagpur-440025	K. Hanumanth Rao	DDG	2293999	2287999	9440055333	ddgtermnag-dot@nic.in
Mumbai	Mumbai (22)	5th floor, Technical wing, Saki Vihar Telephone Exchange, Andheri(East), Mumbai - 400072	Monisha Biswas	DDG	28574300	28573535	9869434400	ddgterm-mum@nic.in
North East-I (North East)	Shillong (364)	III Floor, CTO Building,Shillong-793001	B.Udaya Sankar	DDG	2220431	2220415	9436999011	ddgtermne1-meg@nic.in
North East-II (North East)	Dimapur (3862)	Behind OCB-Telephone Exchange Building, Dimapur-797112,	Supriya Dutta	DDG	237226	237227	9402220000	ddgtermne2-dot@nic.in
Orissa	Bhubaneswar (674)	4th Floor, Doorsanchar Bhawan, Unit-IX, Bhubaneswar-22, Orissa	K.K.Chanda	DDG	2547500	2547889	9438050505	ddgtermod-dot@nic.in
Pune (Maharashtra)	Pune (20)	CTO Compound,Behind GPO, Church Road, Camp, Pune-411001, Maharashtra.	Vineet Kumar Mathur	DDG	26121616	26134545	9423471400	ddgtermpune@gmail.com
Punjab	Chandigarh (172)	Ist Floor , Telephone Exchange Building, Sector-70, Mohali, Chandigarh-160071	Manoj Singh	DDG	2272040	2217700	9417220057	ddgtermpb-dot@nic.in
Rajasthan	Jaipur (141)	Ground Floor, Sanchar Bhawan, Jhalana Institutional Area, Jaipur-302004	Raman Lal	DDG	2712621	2712624	9414001214	ddgterm.rj-dot@nic.in
Tamilnadu	Coimbatore(0422)	3rd FL, Telecom Building, No-2, Bharthi Park Road-II, Coimbatore-641043	V.Raghunandan	DDG	2436400	2436800	9443300602	ddgtermtn-dot@nic.in
Uttar Pradesh (East)	Lucknow (0522)	5/464-465,Viram Khand-5,Gomti Nagar, Lucknow	D.K.Rohatgi	DDG	2727400	2727600	9452901900	ddgvtmupe@up.nic.in
Uttar Pradesh (West)	Meerut (121)	1st Floor Brahmpuri Tele. Exch. Meerut (U.P.)-250002	P. K. Singh	DDG	2402200	2402299	9412000042	ddgtermupw-dot@nic.in
Uttaranchal (U P-West)	Dehradun (135)	1st floor, BSNL Telephone Exchange, 197 Rajpur Road, Dehradun ,Uttaranchal-248001	B.K. Gupta	DDG	2734577	2734677	9412000556	ddgterm-uk-dot@nic.in
West Bengal	Kolkata (33)	82,Bullygunj Place,II Floor, Near Convergence Hall,Kolkata-700019	Apurba Kr. Das	DDG	24606575	24606576	9434778877	ddgtermwb-dot@nic.in

We can approach them for filing complaints for telecom operators complaints.

Following are the responsibilities of these "cells":-

With the increasing number of telecom operators in the country, the Government felt the need for presence of Telegraph Authority in the field at all the Licence Service Areas and Large Telecom Districts of the country, in order to ensure that service providers adhere to the licence conditions and for taking care of telecom network security issues. With the growth of private telecom and internet services, an increase in illegal / clandestine telecom operations was also observed. To address these issues, the Government created initially four Vigilance Telecom Monitoring cells (VTM) in Nov.2004 at Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. Nine more VTM Cells were created during the 2006 for the circles of Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and UP (E) and fifteen VTM Cells were subsequently added in Jan 2007 for Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, UP (West), Andaman & Nicobar, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, North East-I, North East-II, Orissa and Uttaranchal. Six more VTM Cells were added in March, 2007 for Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur and Lucknow, taking the total number of VTM Cells to 34. Since formation of Vigilance & Telecom Monitoring (VTM) Cells in the DOT, the role and functions of VTM Cells have increased manyfold. With a view to reflect the entire gamut of functions assigned to the Cells and to distinguish their role vis-�-vis staff-vigilance activities, the name of VTM Cells has been changed to Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring (TERM) Cells w.e.f 5^th August 2008.

2. Details of Works performed by Telecom Enforcement, Resource and Monitoring Cells (TERM Cells)

2.1 Vigilance Functions

(a) Inspection of premises of Telecom and Internet Service Providers

(b) Curbing illegal activities in telecom services

(d) To file FIR against culprits, pursue the cases, issue notices indicating violation of conditions of various Acts in force from time to time.

(e) Analysis of call/subscription/traffic data of various licensees.

(f) Technical arrangement for the lawful interception / monitoring of all communications passing through the licensee�s network.

(g) To ascertain that the licensee is providing the services within permitted area.

(h) Co-ordination with all service providers

2.2 Monitoring Functions

(a) Coordination with various network operators.

(b) Monitoring of network parameters.

(c) Checking of the compliance by the licensee in respect of the license conditions and any directions issued by the licensor in public interest.

(d) To ensure optimum call completion ratio of inter operator calls.

(e) Matters related to national security.

(f) Disaster Management: Taking over of network in the events of natural calamities or the other emergency situations.

(g) Grievance redresses of subscribers in respect of deficiency by various operators.

(h) Customer Document Verification with the objective to ascertain whether the mobile service operators are following the DoT guidelines for Customer verification before providing connections

(i) Perform such other functions as may be entrusted to it from time to time by the DOT in overall interest of the country and consumers

2.3. Security Functions

Technical interface between Security Agencies and Telecom Service Providers

2.4. Service Testing of various Licensed Service Providers in the Licence area and checking roll-out obligation as per license condition.

2.5. Registration of OSPs and Telemarketers in License Service Areas

3. Notable Achievements:

Mobile subscriber verification audit conducted by TERM Cells (VTMs) in the field has resulted in enhanced compliance to subscriber verification by the Service Providers, from 60% to more than 85%.
Due to decentralization of Registration for OSP & Telemarketing, and Service testing activities to TERM cells (VTMs), pending cases have been reduced substantially.
Raids conducted by TERM Cells (VTMs) on illegal set up have plugged losses to the tune of about 300 Crore Rupees for the exchequer.

The location of Headquarter and the area of Jurisdiction of the 34 TERM Cells are given below:

Sr. No.	TERM Cell	Location of Headquarter	Area of Jurisdiction
1	Chennai	Chennai	Chennai (Metro district), Pondicherry ( Telecom Districts)
2	Delhi	Delhi	Delhi including Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad and Gurgoan
3	Mumbai	Mumbai	Mumbai (Metro District)
4	Hyderabad	Hyderabad	Hyderabad (Telecom District)
5	Kerala	Ernakulum	Kerala, Lakshadweep
6	Karnataka	Bangalore	Karnataka excluding Bangalore Telecom District
7	Maharashtra	Nagpur	Maharashtra excluding Pune Telecom District
8	Gujarat	Ahmadabad	Gujarat excluding Ahemdabad Telecom District
9	Punjab	Chandigarh	Punjab including Chandigarh
10	Rajasthan	Jaipur	Rajasthan excluding Jaipur Telecom District
11	Tamil Nadu	Coimbatore	Tamil Nadu
12	UP(E)	Lucknow	UP(E) (Telecom Circle) excluding Lucknow Telecom District
13	West Bengal	Kolkata	West Bengal excluding Kolkata (Telecom Circle), Sikkim
14	J&K	Jammu	Jammu & Kashmir
15	Himachal Pradesh	Simla	Himachal Pradesh
16	Haryana	Ambala	Haryana excluding Faridabad and Gurgaon
17	Uttaranchal	Dehradun	Uttaranchal
18	UP(West)	Meerut	UP(W) (Circle) excluding Ghaziabad and Noida
19	Bihar	Patna	Bihar
20	Jharkhand	Ranchi	Jharkhand
21	Orissa	Bhuvneshwar	Orissa
22	Andaman & Nicobar	Port Blair	Andaman & Nicobar
23	NE-I	Shillong	North East-I(Telecom Circle)
24	NE-II	Dimapur	North East-II (Telecom Circle)
25	Assam	Guwahati	Assam(Telecom Circle)
26	Madhya Pradesh	Bhopal	Madhya Pradesh
27	Chattisgarh	Raipur	Chattisgarh
28	Andhra Pradesh	Vijayawada	Andhra Pradesh (Telecom Circle) excluding Hyderabad Telecom District
29	Lucknow	Lucknow	Lucknow Telecom District
30	Jaipur	Jaipur	Jaipur Telecom District
31	Bangalore	Bangalore	Bangalore Telecom District
32	Pune	Pune	Pune Telecom District
33	Kolkata	Kolkata	Kolkata Telecom District
34	Ahmedabad	Ahmedabad	Ahmedabad Telecom District

Their website http://www.dot.gov.in/vtm/vtm.htm

Implant Makers Forced to Disclose Gifts to Orthopaedic Surgeons

2013-03-06T19:41:00.001-08:00

By September 2013, a list of payments made to physicians by medical device or drug companies – including research grants, stock options, consulting fees and various gifts – will be available to the public.

The new regulation was built into the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) and is called the Physician Payments Sunshine Act. The law requires that device and drug companies report all payments over $10 made to doctors in 2012 by March 31, 2013, in order to be made public by September.

The new regulation not only redefines the relationship between the government and the drug and device industry, but also between physicians and the industry. Experts believe the new database will be especially helpful to hip and knee implant patients by allowing them to determine whether their doctors are being compensated by companies making the devices.

Senators who introduced the bill believe that physicians who receive benefits from drug and device companies are influenced to use the more pricey products, possibly compromising treatment of the patient.

Ashley Glacel, spokeswoman for the Senate Special Committee on Aging, which spearheaded the original bill, told Kaiser Health News: "We hope this lowers health care costs and strengthens patient-doctor relationships."

Over the past few years, the medical device industry has been the target of several government probes alleging that companies bribe doctors to use their products.

Much of the controversy has surrounded artificial joint manufacturers. In 2007, four implant makers — DePuy, Biomet,Smith & Nephew and Zimmer Holdings — agreed to pay $310 million in fines to settle federal charges over questionable doctor payments. A fifth company, Stryker, was also investigated, but escaped prosecution because it cooperated.

Benefits for Patients

While the new regulation should help curb Medicare fraud and lower health care costs, it will also benefit individual patients.

In studies of patients in clinical trials, research suggests that people are particularly troubled when they find out that doctors treating them in the trials are receiving stock in the medical companies. "They somehow felt that this physician could do something in the trial that could make the company a lot of money, which would then make him a lot of money," Kevin P. Weinfurt of Duke University told Kaiser Health News.

More recently, the controversy over medical device companies paying doctors consulting fees has resurfaced. Stryker, which escaped federal prosecution in 2007 over doctor kickbacks, is now facing mounting lawsuits over its Rejuvenate and ABG II hip implants after recalling them in 2012.

Branko Obradovic and Scott Ebert are two of the patients who have filed lawsuits against Stryker, claiming crippling injury from the faulty hips. Both were disturbed to learn that the surgeon who implanted the devices, Robert B. Zann, received $225,000 to $250,000 from Stryker for his consulting services, plus between $25,000 and $50,000 for other services and less than $25,000 for research services.

Critics Say Database Will Impede Innovation

The new regulation also has its critics, most notably doctors.

Some doctors believe that the new program will impede innovation by curbing collaboration between doctors and drug and device companies. Dr. Thomas Stossel, a professor at Harvard – who has accepted consulting fees from pharmaceutical companies — believes the issue has been blown out of proportion.

"What's wrong with a company buying me lunch or giving me a tote bag?" Stossel commented to Kaiser Health News.

Other critics say that the law only applies to physicians and teaching hospitals, while gifts to other medical professionals like nurses may still go unreported.

The database is expected to be accessible by Sept. 13, 2013, and will include detailed searches by name, type of gift received and other specifics.

Steam’s latest hardware survey – more than twice the number of Linux users since December

2013-03-05T22:40:00.001-08:00

How to news, lesson #53: Can't think of an appropriate image? Slap in some graphs at an angle!

It's a new month, meaning, for the most part, very little. Still, fans of minor incremental gains and losses in granular data do get the joy of a fresh Steam Hardware Survey, reducing down Steam's userbase into a comparable list of percentages. February's numbers bring strong gains for Linux, a new chunk of Windows 8 users, and the continued and seemingly unstoppable dominance of Windows 7.

The combined total of all Linux distros is 2.02% – still a fledgling next to the other major operating systems, but one that's growing quickly. December's confirmed Linux userbase accounted for 0.8% of the Steam user pot, meaning in two months Steam Linux gamers have more than doubled. It's worth remembering that in the interim Steam did host both a major Linux-focused sale, and a free TF2 penguin. One indie developer noted on Gamasutra that, during the sale period, his Linux sales figures were almost triple that of Mac.

Elsewhere on the list, Mac falls 0.37% to 3.07%. Given that the number is that low, despite Mac offering a wider library for longer, it seems inevitable that Linux will eventually become Steam's second major OS as its support continues to improve.

Meanwhile, Windows 8′s slow but steady progress means it nearly accounts for a tenth of Steam users, currently accounting for 9.63%. Windows 7 is on a downturn, but a glacially slow one. It lost just 0.42% of Steam users, and accounts for 69.31% of the platform's population. This is almost certainly not the conversion rate Microsoft were hoping for. In fact, Windows XP 32-bit is still beating Windows 8 64-bit, although the respective rates of loss and growth mean the old war-horse may finally be toppled in the next couple of months.

Thanks, Slashdot.

Quick Disclaimer: Inevitably, whenever we do this type of Steam hardware round-up, someone points out that Steam doesn't represent the entirety of PC gaming. They're entirely right! What it does do is offer a handy glimpse at a relatively broad cross-section, encompassing both AAA and indie, with a bit of free-to-play thrown in. It's far from perfect, but it is what we have easy-to-analyse data for.

Bayer to move HC to protect patent drug

2013-03-05T22:37:00.001-08:00

Today after the Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) reinforced the first compulsory licence granted in India on an anti-cancer medicine, German multinational Bayer said it would approach the Mumbai High Court with a petition.

"Bayer is committed to protecting its patents for Nexavar and will rigorously continue to defend our intellectual property rights within the Indian legal system," Bayer added in an e-mail response to Business Standard.

On Monday, the Appellate Board upheld the compulsory licence granted to domestic firm Natco Pharma last year, against Bayer's patented anti-cancer drug Nexavar. The move, which allowed the Hyderabad-based company to manufacture and sell the low priced generic version of the drug, is also expected to pave way for many other generic drug makers to seek compulsory licence for other essential but expensive patented drugs in the country.

With a compulsory licence being granted on Nexavar, the price of the drug is set to come down remarkably. While Bayer's Nexavar was priced at Rs 2.8 lakh a month, the compulsory licence is allowed to Natco Pharma on conditions that it will sell the medicine at Rs 8,800 for a month's therapy, and pay seven per cent royalty to Bayer on the total sales.

The ruling has created a stir in the drug manufacturing industry worldwide. While patient groups and health activists, along with generic developers, have applauded the decision towards making essential medicines affordable, it is seen as a blow to interest and profitability of multinational companies.

Bayer said the IPAB order "weakens the international patent system and endangers pharmaceutical research".

Supporting Bayer's argument, Novartis India's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ranjit Shahani, also president of Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India, which represents multinational drug makers, said: "There are two markets in India, but everything here is being directed towards just one of them �" the lowest common denominator." He said there are 10 such licences issued across the world.

"The grounds on which this compulsory licence has been granted is a clear signal that other generic drug makers can also apply for other expensive patent drugs," said K M Gopakumar of Third World Network.

A compulsory licence is a provision under the Indian Patent Act, which allows generic penetration in public interest even as a patent on an innovator product is valid. The provision provides a rare flexibility on patent protection included in the WTO's TRIPS Agreement.

Natco has gained compulsory licence for Nexavar mainly on three grounds under section 84 of Indian Patent Act. The first ground is that the patented drug is allegedly not available at a reasonably affordable price. Secondly, the reasonable requirement of public with respect to the patented invention has allegedly not been satisfied. Besides, the patent on the product has allegedly not worked in India as Bayer is importing the medicine and not manufacturing here, Gopakumar explained.

However, Bayer argues that the challenges faced by the Indian health care system have little or nothing to do with patents on pharmaceutical products as all products on India's essential drug list are not patented.

"One of the main barriers to access to medicines in developing countries such as India is the lack of adequate healthcare services and infrastructure ensuring that drugs will effectively bring treatment to those who most need it," said Bayer.

COMPULSORY LICENCE PROVISIONS UNDER INDIAN PATENT ACT

SECTION 84: Says the generic drug maker has to apply for a voluntary licence to the patent holder company. If the innovator refuses, the generic manufacturer can apply after 3 years from the date of grant of patent to the patent controller for compulsory licence.

SECTION 92: Special provison for compulsory licence on central govt notification says if the government is satisfied, in relation to a patent, that a compulsory licence be granted in circumstances such as urgency or public non-commercial use, it can grant the licence. Then the generic drug maker can apply for it without the patent holder's nod

SECTION 92A: Compulsory Licence for export of patented products in exceptional circumstances: Govt allows compulsory licence to a company for manufacture and export of patented products to a country having low-manufacturing capacity

SECTION 100: Power for Centre to use invention for purposes of govt: Allows govt to use compulsory licence through PSUs or private sector for own programmes

Increased pharma outsourcing to thrive Indian KPO firms

2013-03-05T22:35:00.001-08:00

EmPower Research Knowledge Services (P) Ltd is an initiator of Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) in India. The Bangalore-based firm is an offshore operation of the US-based EmPower Research Services. With a significant focus on the life sciences sector, the company tracks and forecasts strategies to transform operating models. Heading the Media Services Division of EmPower Research is D R. Sudhakar. In an interview with Nandita Vijay of Chronicle Pharmabiz, he provides an overview of the KPO sector which is brimming with career opportunities. Excerpts:

How would you describe the scene for KPO in pharma, biotech space in India?
Pharma outsourcing has been acknowledged as a promising segment and India will stand to benefit as the trend is here to stay. From networked R&D and contract research to data management, the opportunities are aplenty. A KPO can position itself to provide a range of services like providing decision support solutions, including business intelligence applications, analytic and reporting capabilities, analytic database development, data warehousing, data mining and analysis, financial analysis, consulting and custom research.

What are the factors driving the growth of this segment?
Outsourcing collaborations wherever possible, from discovery and development to gathering real-time market intelligence are helping to drive growth in this segment. Successful business relationships must manage priorities, costs and time.

How are cos open to the concept of KPO in India?
India has become a preferred KPO destination. Companies worldwide are increasing their capacity and profitability with the use of KPO outsourcing, thereby leveraging good quality and talented workforce.

Can KPO business in India align into a vertical business structure and repeat a BPO performance?
While KPO can indeed repeat the BPO example and perhaps align itself into a vertical business structure, it will be worthwhile to spread across at least a few specialisations. The initial part of the lifecycle is when an enterprise makes its value proposition and as it evolves this is refined as per clients' needs. At this stage the enterprise can leverage the strength of its relationship with clients and when working with large and diversified corporations, lessons learnt can be applied across other verticals.

What are the challenges for this sector in the country as business model represents high-end consulting and not just cheap labour outsourcing?
Managing clients' expectations would rank pretty high among challenges that we have faced. With some of the strongest and biggest relationships coming about with strong word-of-mouth and referrals, expectations are usually high. Setting these in right perspective at the beginning assumes a lot of importance. Extensive interaction between the client teams and the delivery teams usually helps in ensuring a sense of proportion.

Custom research and high-end consulting demands the creative best at all times and it is necessary to keep the monotony out. A good report needs to have rich insights; the optimal amount of depth and most importantly it needs to be crafted with a lot of care. Working under the pressure of steep deadlines all the time can easily lead to monotony and we constantly keep altering the teams and their composition to keep mental fatigue at bay.

How easy is it to get people for KPO sector?
We read about attrition all the time and that perhaps is a problem faced-industry wide. The KPO sector is learning this and trying to come to grips with it. While people are available, it is important to get the employable kind. Strong language and communication skills are the basics that are needed and good trainers build on that.

Much has been talked about the quality of talent available and that there is a dearth of employable candidates. Taking on people who are less suitable exerts a lot of strain on the system by creating unhappiness from the word 'go.' A supervisor has to put in that extra effort with such people that it becomes difficult to do justice to the entire team. This pressure is counter-productive.

We take a lot of care while screening candidates, initially trying to understand their aspirations, while providing them with an understanding of what to expect.

What are the jobs open for candidates in this sector?
Jobs in this sector involve a lot of reading and then compiling reports in formats as defined by clients. On one side, we have people compiling information on clinical trials that are being conducted on specific indications, or at times it involves looking at safety related information with a particular class of drugs, it could mean we gather information on all the presentations made at specific events. This includes existing products as well as those in the pipeline to looking at news and gathering market intelligence at the other end.

How has EmPower geared up to attract international pharma, biotech majors to provide services?
EmPower has a basket of offerings that range from media analytics, custom research and information services to support decisions. All our services are customized and we work actively with client teams in order to reach the desired output.

What are the future initiatives by the co in this space of life sciences?
EmPower Research already has a high degree of specialization in the field of media services for pharmaceutical and life sciences firms. We also do work in competitive intelligence gathering.

One related area that suits our competencies is in the area of prospecting research for possible alliances that pharma companies are looking out for, in order to build their pipeline.

How do you see the KPO sector growing in the coming years?
The KPO sector is already growing at a healthy compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 45% from 2007-2010. The trends already visible currently, of the value proposition changing from cheaper labour, to better/more expertise related work in non-core competence areas will continue. This will mean more high-end work being off shored across verticals, including pharma and life sciences. In media research, EmPower Research already sees higher focus on analytics; similarly, in contract research work, a shift to higher degrees of phase III and later stages of clinical trials, and even drug registration will be seen.

Suitable changes in drug rules required to motivate chemists to dispense generics: Amboth Raj

2013-03-05T22:24:00.001-08:00

To make medicines available at affordable prices and to encourage more pharmacy stores to take up dispensing generic equivalent to what doctors usually prescribe to patients, there is a need to bring amendment in the existing laws, according to Amboth Raj, president of Andhra Pradesh Drug Association.

As the Centre is planning to come up with more generic drug stores it is important to amend the laws which will safeguard the interest of the pharmacists who are willing to dispense the generic drugs in place of branded equivalents prescribed by the doctors.

"Today many doctors and private practitioners prescribe costly medicines to the patients. Even though the same drug equivalents at lower prices are available in the market they prefer prescribing the branded drugs due to commissions. This unethical practice is going on everywhere in the country. Though the government had passed orders to all doctors to prescribe drugs only with generic names not many are following this order and because of which the patients are bearing the financial burden," said Raj.

As there is a strong manufacturer and drug distributors lobby in the state promoting more branded drugs for their own self gains, it is difficult for the generic drug store owners to compete with them. Moreover there is a very low awareness among the people about the generic drugs. Many people feel that low costs drugs are ineffective and are of poor quality. This misunderstanding should be removed among the public to attract them toward the generic drug stores.

There are other nefarious elements among the drug distributors who are willingly opposing the setting up of generic drug stores fearing loss to their business. For instance the two existing medicine shop owners in Gandhi hospital had vehemently opposed the setting up of the Jeevandhara generic drug stores and High Court intervention was required in the matter.

To counter these self interested business lobbyists and to protect the interests of generic drug stores owners, Amboth Raj has suggested that the state government to bring in amendment in the law so that charitable trusts and other generic drug dispensers do not get entangled into the legal litigations, as there are possibilities that some competitors may hatch a conspiracy and create legal problems for the generic drug store owners for their self gain.

Adverse reactions trigger another metal-on-metal hip implant recall

2013-03-05T22:22:00.001-08:00

"A high incidence of adverse tissue reactions has been reported with metal-on-metal bearings with large heads" in the all-metal hip implants, according to a chapter in a March 2013 lecture series that Ottawa Hospital-based orthopaedic surgeons Dr. Vikram Chatrath and Dr. Paul E. Beaulé wrote.

The abstract of their chapter in "Instructional Course Lectures," a volume that the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons publishes, further explains the complexity of performing revision hip implant surgery in the presence of osteolysis, which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration parenthetically and succinctly defines as "bone loss."

The authors wrote, "Recent reports of lesions associated with metal-on-metal implants and trunnion corrosion with femoral head sizes larger than 32 mm suggest that other mechanisms of wear debris production may be present; observation alone may not provide adequate monitoring. Advanced imaging modalities, such as MRI, should be used along with routine radiography to assess soft-tissue involvement and the size of osteolytic lesions."

Does the surgical solution seem routine? Do the complications seem minor? How about the costs of injury, financial and otherwise, which appear to be anything but innocuous?

Buttressing the pertinence of these questions was another metal-on-metal hip implant recall.

Citing rates of revision surgery, J&J's DePuy Orthopaedics reportedly recalled in February its Adept metal-on-metal hip implant model, which had been sold overseas.

Domestically DePuy also recalled its ASR XL Acetabular Hip System in August 2010, as the FDA explained, "because of new, unpublished data from the UK joint registry indicating the revision rates within 5 years were approximately 13 percent."

Before that, Zimmer Inc. announced in July 2008 that it would "suspend marketing and distribution of the Durom Cup in the U.S., while we update product labeling to provide more detailed surgical technique instructions and implement a surgical training program for U.S. surgeons," issues that loomed over device failures.

No wonder metal-on-metal hip implant lawsuits have been filed by patients who have sought to recover damages for losses economic and otherwise. The litigation is definitely much ado about something.

Elevated failure rates of metal-on-metal hip implants have done their share of damage. Surgeons have had their hands full — let's deal with health insurance in another space — treating device-failure complications, to include metallosis, a condition derived from the release of metal particles into the tissue.

As a team of physicians based in The Netherlands wrote for Hip International in the fall of 2012, focusing on the all-metal large-diameter surgical hip replacements, "Metal ion release due to wear may cause osteolysis, pseudotumours and necrosis."

Further, concluding that they "do not advocate" the use of a particular Zimmer metal-on-metal hip implant model, researchers in The Netherlands also wrote, "Lack of bone ingrowth and the presence of ARMD (adverse reaction to metal debris) seem to contribute to a high failure rate of the Durom LDH THA."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended that orthopaedic surgeons, following metal-on-metal hip replacement surgery, "pay close attention to signs of the following local and systemic symptoms or complications associated with metal-on-metal hip implants":

• Hypersensitivity (allergic type reaction)
• Loosening
• Infection
• Osteolysis (bone loss)
• Aseptic lymphocytic vasculitis-associated lesions (ALVAL) (histologic reaction in surrounding tissue)
• Soft tissue mass (fluid-filled or solid soft tissue mass around the replaced joint that is diagnosed radiologically)
• Femoral neck fracture (for resurfacing systems)

Adverse reactions are not as rare as one might think. Addressing their study of large-diameter metal-on-metal total hip replacements, the British Hip Society and the British Orthopaedic Association reported, almost two years ago to the day, the following device-failure rates: "The presented results show a higher than anticipated early failure rate. These range from 21 percent revision rate at 4 years (potentially rising to 35 percent if all currently known painful implants progress to revision) to 49 percent at 6 years for the ASR XL device. Other devices have a revision or impending revision rate of 12-15 percent at 5 years."

The recently recalled foreign-marketed Adept design notwithstanding, patients may be entitled to compensation if they have undergone revision surgery or merely have suffered complications related to the following metal-on-metal hip implants:

• Biomet M2a Hip Implants
• Biomet M2a-Magnum
• Biomet Regenerex
• Birmingham Hip Replacement
• Birmingham Hip Resurfacing (BHR) system
• DePuy ASR XL Acetabular System
• DePuy ASR Hip Resurfacing System
• DePuy Pinnacle Acetabular Cup System
• DePuy PINNACLE ULTAMET Metal Liner
• Portland Orthopaedics Ltd. M-COR Modular Hip System
• RingLoc + Modular Acetabular System
• Stryker Hip Implants
• Wright CONSERVE Total Resurfacing Hip System
• Wright PROFEMUR Hip Implant
• Zimmer Durom Cup
• Zimmer Continuum Acetabular System

Operating in all 50 states, the medical device attorneys at Reich & Binstock want to help patients who have suffered adverse reactions that may be related to their metal-on-metal hip implants. For a free consultation with an experienced personal injury attorney, send an electronic request for free initial legal advice through www.reichandbinstock.com or call the law firm toll-free at 1-866-LAW-2400.

A fresh litter of Puppy Linux releases: Wary, Racy and Quirky

2013-03-05T22:21:00.001-08:00

Barry Kauler, the developer of the Puppy family of Linux distributions, has released version 5.5 of the Wary and Racy branches of the project. Wary is the edition of Puppy designed to be run on older hardware, whereas Racy has more features and needs more system resources but is based on Wary. For version 5.5, both editions had most of their underlying system libraries and some of the applications updated during the development phase; this took almost a year from the release of Wary 5.3 in April 2012.

Most of the updates to Wary and Racy 5.5 are based on updates to the Woof infrastructure that is used to build the various Puppy derivatives. Wary's kernel, however, is still the same version, based on the upstream Linux 2.6.32.59 kernel which is configured for single core i486 CPUs and includes a large number of third party dialup modem drivers. Racy uses a kernel based on the upstream version 3.0.66 which is the latest release in the 3.0.x series and is targeted at i686 CPUs; it includes multi-core supports.

Kauler has also released version 5.4.91 of Quirky, the experimental branch of Puppy that is used as a testbed for new ideas that might later be incorporated into the other editions. This is the first release of the distribution since November 2010. New features in Quirky 5.4.91 include support for the f2fs file system and an option that allows the complete distribution to be built into a single file. This uses a function in the Linux kernel that allows an initial file system to be included within the kernel itself. Essentially, the complete distribution is built into the kernel itself. The file is 126MB in size and to be run, requires 512MB of RAM.

Wary and Racy 5.5, as well as Quirky 5.4.91, can be downloaded from the ibiblio servers. Explanations of the different members of the Puppy Linux family are available fromKauler's web site.

Price of medicines may soar if evergreen patents granted

2013-02-26T21:10:00.000-08:00

Many medicines would become too pricey for ordinary consumers in the near future if the government allows manufacturers to extend patents under the so-called evergreen system.

This would allow drug companies to fix the cost of medicines, health advocates say.

"Evergreen patents could block competition and access to affordable medicine," researcher Usawa-dee Maleewong of the Health Systems Research Institute, said.

Usawadee's research into the impact of evergreen patents in Thailand found that over 2,188 requests for patent protection were submitted to the Intellectual Property Department between 2000 and 2010. Of these, only 12 were made by local drug makers, with the rest submitted by multinational pharmaceutical firms. American drug companies submitted about 736 requests during this period.

The department has approved 31 requests to date, meaning patent protection could be extended to these pharmaceutical products for 20 years - or indefinitely.

Usawadee's study revealed that most requests were intended to extend the patent term on an existing compound of a drug or on one to which minor changes had been made. She estimated this strategy would help create monopolies in Thailand worth about Bt8.4 billion over the next 15 years. - See more at: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Price-of-medicines-may-soar-if-evergreen-patents-g-30200825.html#sthash.J5pUS0sg.dpuf

DriveDroid lets you boot Linux on a PC by plugging in your (rooted) Android phone

2013-02-26T20:45:00.000-08:00

Makers of Linux-based operating systems have been letting you boot Fedora, Ubuntu, and other popular software from a removable CD, DVD, or flash drive for years. Now you can use your Android phone instead.

DriveDroid is a free app that lets you store a Linux ISO on your phone, plug it into a PC and boot from that disk image.

When you boot from this sort of disk image the entire operating system is loaded into your computer's RAM. That means that the OS should run pretty quickly (depending on what kind of hardware you're using), even though it's booting using files grabbed from your phone over a USB connection.

It also means that you can boot into an operating system such as Ubuntu or Chromium OS without overwriting Windows or whatever other software's already on your PC's hard drive.

There are a few good reasons to do this sort of thing. It gives you a chance to test an operating system before deciding whether to install it. You can also boot a Linux-based operating system on a PC as a sort of repair utility — you can reformat the hard drive, recover files, or perform other operations if there's something wrong with your primary operating system.

Don't have a Linux ISO handy? No problem. DriveDroid also includes an option to download popular Linux-based operating systems including Arch, CrunchBang, Debian, Fedora,OpenSUSE, and Ubuntu.

The easiest way to test out DriveDroid is to download SliTaz, an operating system that only takes up 35MB. It's one of the quickest operating systems you can download, and it's a light-weight OS that doesn't require a bleeding edge computer to run well.

You can also use the app to create a blank USB image which you can use to store files that are accessible to a PC.

DriveDroid requires a rooted phone or tablet and a USB cable to work properly. Some operating systems and some Android devices may not work as well as others.

Enabling & disabling the USB port in windows via registry.

2013-02-18T02:58:00.001-08:00

As per the Microsoft knowledge base article 823732 which contains instructions on how to disable USB storage access

for a certain group of users this disabling and re-enabing of USB ports is based on a simple registry entry.

To disable the access to USB port, in windows XP and 2000:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

3. Locate, and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\

Services\UsbStor

4. In the right pane, double-click Start.

5. In the Value data box, type 4, click Hexadecimal

(if it is not already selected), and then click OK.

6. Quit Registry Editor.

To re-enable a disabled port:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.

2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

3. Locate, and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\

Services\UsbStor

4. In the right pane, double-click Start.

5. In the Value data box, type 3, click Hexadecimal (if it is not already selected), and then click OK.

6. Quit Registry Editor.

However, there can be other ways too to bypass this issue,

one of the easiest is to invest in a PS2 to USB port convertor.

Indian consumers most confident globally in Q4: Nielsen

2013-02-10T20:14:00.001-08:00

Indians have emerged as the most confident consumers globally in the fourth quarter of 2012 despite job security and economy remaining their biggest concerns, in a study by provider of market information and insights Nielsen.

Consumer confidence in India increased two points to 121 in Q4, 2012 from the previous quarter. India has picked up on levels of optimism from Q2 and Q3, where it was steady at 119 points, though lower from Q1, when confidence levels were at 123 points, Nielsen said in a statement.

"The aspirational Indian is willing to upgrade, while more value conscious consumers are more responsive to deals and buying in bulk to keep expenditure buoyant," Nielsen India Region President Piyush Mathur said.

According to the survey conducted between November 10 and 27, 2012, consumer confidence declined in 33 countries and increased in 19 countries. It polled more than 29,000 online consumers in 58 countries in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa and North America.

India was followed in second and third by Philippines (119) and Indonesia (117) in the consumer confidence index. Crisis-ridden Greece came last with its consumer confidence index at 35.

As per the latest survey, 54 percent of respondents in India indicated they would put spare cash into savings.

"Thirty-nine percent said they would invest in new technology and products, while 36 percent reported they would spend spare cash on new clothes," it added.

When it came to buying things they wanted and needed, 55 percent of Indian respondents felt it was a good time in Q4. Four in five online consumers (81 percent) indicated they have changed their spending habits to save on household expenses.

"The fourth quarter highlights the willingness of people to spend during the holidays and festival season...The optimism, though, is tempered with a judicious controlling of household and discretionary expenses in order to balance the household budget," Mathur said.

The survey showed that job security and state of the economy continued to be the top concerns for Indian respondents.

"For one in five respondents (20 percent), job security is the biggest concern in Q4, down two points from Q3 (22 percent). The state of the economy is the biggest concern for 11 percent of respondents, down by three points from Q3 (14 percent)," it said.

Yet, globally 76 percent of online consumers in India and Philippines were the most optimistic about job prospects in the next 12 months, followed by online consumers in Thailand (70 percent) and China (70 percent), Nielsen said.

Can cut rates only when deposit rates cool: HDFC Bank

2013-02-10T20:03:00.001-08:00

HDFC Bank has been on a branch expansion spree in semi-urban and rural places over the last couple of years, outpacing rivals, as it hopes to reap rich dividends from the wealth creation in these centres when economic growth picks up in the coming years.

"Looking at the next 5-10 years, we do believe that if you are going to have a 6-8 percent GDP growth, you are bound to have trickle down effect of that into more and more semi-urban and rural locations," Paresh Sukthankar, Executive Director, HDFC Bank said in an interview to moneycontrol.com.

HDFC Bank shares outperformed those of peers by a wide margin for a long time after the market meltdown in 2008 triggered by the global financial crisis. But the law of averages finally seems to be catching up, as investors fret about valuations. Over the last one year, the stock has risen about 27 percent while rival private sector players like ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Mahindra have gained between 30-52 percent.

Analysts say HDFC Bank's fundamentals remain sound, but current prices are fully reflecting the positives.

Sukthankar is confident that his bank will continue to grow faster than the industry average, but cautions that the rate of growth be a function of how the economy does.

Responding to criticism that HDFC Bank has managed to protect its asset quality by shying away from long term loans to capital intensive sectors, Sukthankar said the bank's portfolio only reflects the key drivers of the economy.

"As the investment cycle picks up again, between our own balance sheet and our investment banking capabilities, we will be happy to participate what we believe are bankable projects with the sponsors that we are comfortable with," Sukthankar said.

Edited excerpts of the interview:

Q: Your bank has been consistently outperforming rivals in terms of earnings growth and asset quality, even in a difficult operating environment. What is the secret sauce?

A: If there was a simple recipe to this I am sure it would have got replicated. There is no one secret or couple of specific issues. One of the key contributors to this relatively more stable performance has been the diversification of our businesses. If you look at it from a lending point of view or an asset point of view, our business is almost half and half between wholesale and retail. I think that is important because if you look at the last 10 or 15 years that you are talking about, for almost 7-8 years till 2-3 years back, retail was the mantra. Then you went through a phase where post 2008-2009, when a lot of retail portfolios gave trouble for a number of banks—both domestic and foreign—and as a result retail became outcast of sorts and people were not looking to grow their retail books.

That was the time when capex cycle, infrastructure and new projects and so on were pretty much the key drivers of loan growth for the banking system. That happened for about four years or so. Again now in the last year or so because there have been some apprehensions about what is happening on the infrastructure side, on the capex cycle and the policy environment and so on. Clearly once again banks are re-focusing on retail.

In the last few years, in those 2-3 years when retail at an industry level came down, our retail was growing a little slower than 20 percent, but corporate was growing at about 25 percent. So, again we maintained our growth rates.

The point is that even in years or during periods when of one of the businesses is looking significantly more attractive than the other, we continue to invest in and grow the other business, although rates of growth may vary.

If you then look at the other reason why banks go through volatility in businesses and earnings, it is because of what happens on the funding side. We are essentially a deposit funded bank. We are not dependent on wholesale borrowings or foreign currency bonds and stuff like that. Within deposits again there is high proportion of retail—current and savings accounts(CASA)—which provides certain stability to the funding patterns. So we are a little less vulnerable to the volatility in interest rates than perhaps those who are more dependent on wholesale (bulk) deposits or wholesale borrowings. That again then gives us certain stability to our margins.

Besides, we have been growing our distribution network; so we are gaining market share.

Q: The rate of deposit growth has been slackening, making it difficult for banks to cut lending rates. Do you see this trend changing anytime soon?

A: Deposit growth has been sort of sluggish at a system level and it has certainly been slower and lagging loan growth. So, if you look at the last numbers which came out, you had deposit growth still at a system level at 13 percent or little less than that and loan growth was around 15-16 percent. So, there is some concern that deposit growth is not keeping pace with loan growth.

While we all have cut some interest rates and so on, for this to continue you certainly need a further reduction in the liquidity deficit which is there in the banking system which means either deposit growth picks up or you have further CRR cuts or some further liquidity which comes in through the OMO (open market operations) or other route and reduces the LAF (liquidity adjustment factor) borrowings to perhaps closer to Rs 30000-40000 crore (from around Rs 1 lakh crore at present). Then banks will say: okay at these rates we have got enough deposits, why not drop deposit rates. Because the only way you can drop your base rate on the lending side is if your deposit rates come down.

As far as we are concerned, our deposit growth has been certainly healthier than the system deposit growth. But even then, if you look at our deposit growth, it was around 22 percent as of December. So, we were clearly higher than the overall system, marginally slower than our loan growth which was around 24 percent. There was marginal difference of course, but we also had some tier-II capital and so on. So, we were more than comfortably funded. While both our loan growth and our deposit growth are ahead of the system so to that extent we have been able to source enough deposits, the fact is that at a system level if you need to see the transmission of lower rates on a continued basis, you would have to see further easing of liquidity. If there is not enough of deposit flows into the system at these interest rates then at lower interest rates there would be that much of a lower attractiveness of the retail deposit or of the saver to put money into bank deposits.

Q: You have opened around 1000 branches in the last two years, compared to an average of 300-400 by your rivals. Why the emphasis on the brick and mortar model?

A: We have also traditionally done an average of somewhere around 300-350 branches. In the last couple of years we clearly stepped up. A large part of this increased or an enhanced growth rate in distribution has been our focus on the semi-urban and rural markets. A good 70-80 percent of these new branches would be in new locations, in new cities which we were not in previously.

That also positions us better in terms of our priority sector lending (PSL) requirements, and whatever financial inclusion targets that we have.

We clearly believe that there is a reasonably large relatively under penetrated market in the semi-urban and rural areas. You must remember that these markets are intrinsically smaller, but collectively it will certainly make a difference.

If you look at it from a slightly more strategic point of view, today it has got a certain potential, but if you look at the next five, ten years then we do believe that if you are going to have a 6-8 percent GDP growth, you are bound to have trickle down effect of that into more and more semi-urban and rural locations. Equally from the other side when you look at better price realisations from an agriculture point of view, when you look at the government focus in terms of better supply chains, better developmental activities which are again rural based, you are going to see also greater income generation, wealth creation and the need for basic banking services which are currently not available there.

All of these things (opening more branches) cost us and we have seen some deterioration in our cost to income ratio as a result of that. But that is something we are willing to live with because we believe it is an investment which will hold us in good stead in future.

NTPC OFS oversubscribed: Govt likely to garner Rs 11,469 cr

2013-02-10T19:55:00.001-08:00

Excerpts from What's Hot on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show »

The big daddy of the government's divestment agenda, NTPC , had a successful offer for sale. The offer was subscribed 1.69 times . This was at a final indicative price of Rs 145.91 per share versus the floor price which was set at Rs 145 rupees per share.

The issue has received bids for 132.8 crore shares. CNBC-TV18's sources say that the cut for the NTPC OFS was set at Rs 145.55 rupees per share and that the government will get Rs 11,469 crore from this issue, a tad lower than its Rs 12,000 crore rupee target.

However, this boosts the government's total earnings from divestment to over Rs 20,000 crore.

According to Prtihvi Haldea, CMD, Prime Database the government would be extremely happy at this response because you know it has been oversubscribed and significantly oversubscribed. "Given the size of the issue, I think the response is overwhelming and the government should be very happy that, you know, this has not gone the ONGC or any other, you know, different way," he adds.

However, sounding a bit apprehensive, SP Tulsian of sptulsian.com said, "Definitely the OFS is a successful one, but what is interesting to note is that if you see upto 3.15 pm, the OFS had received close to about 95 cr shares. And I would have been happy to see the indicative price crossing Rs 147/share, since it has come you know, between Rs 145 -146/share, one can still say that the OFS has been successful, but ultimately, the quality of the investors which we will get to know maybe in the next 3-4 days, that who all have applied for and allotted the share, will be very interesting to see that."

US exports may drive top Indian pharma cos to grow in 2013

2013-02-10T19:50:00.003-08:00

Top Indian pharma players will continue to grow strongly at over 20 per cent in 2013, primarily led by exports to the US market, India Ratings said in its outlook for the sector. "We believe that top players of the sector will continue to grow strongly in 2013 (over 20 per cent per annum), primarily led by exports. "Of the export markets, Indian pharma will focus on the US market which presents significant opportunities for the next two years for generics, due to patent cliffs and recent changes in healthcare policies," said the India Ratings report on outlook for Indian pharmaceuticals for 2013.

Patent expiry opportunities, coupled with efforts to contain healthcare spends, are likely to drive the generic market in developed countries. Affordability and availability will make a case for generics usage in the branded generic developing markets. As per IMS Health, global generic spending is expected to increase to USD 430 billion by 2016 from USD 242 billion in 2011.

India Ratings said R&D spends may continue to increase in 2013 as well as Indian players have started targeting complex chemistry products. R&D spends have increased over the last few years as pharma players have built robust portfolios of products approved by USFDA. Most companies also have a strong pipeline of products awaiting approval, it said. Robust new product pipelines may bear fruit in 2013 on commercialisation. Incremental capex requirements, however, are likely to remain modest in the year as many companies benefit from existing infrastructure which would be sufficient for expected increase in operations, according to the agency.

Observing that the growth drivers for domestic pharma market would remain intact, India Ratings said the decision of National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy (NPPP) 2011 to increase the number of drugs under price control will not have any major impact on the sector's profitability. The pharma industry has also performed well on exports front, too, with exports having been increased from Rs 386 billion in 2008 to Rs 775 billion in 2012. A rise in demand for generics in developed markets will be led by patent expiries and an expansion of generics usage due to efforts taken to control healthcare costs by governments, according to the report.

Bharti Airtel to buy Alcatel-Lucent stake in India JV

2013-02-10T19:50:00.001-08:00

Bharti Airtel said it would buy the entire equity stake of Alcatel-Lucent SA Airtel launches voice based portal for value added services

Airtel launches voice based portal for value added services

2013-02-10T19:49:00.015-08:00

Bharti Airtel today launched a voice-based solution portal for value added services that will provide information in local language on activities such as agriculture, devotion, job updates, entertainment, education and health.

'Apna Chaupal', designed for rural and semi-urban market, will enable mobile customers across the country to browse and subscribe value added services by dialling toll free number 58080, the company said in a statement.

"We are happy to launch the Apna Chaupal service for our customers who can now easily avail all the relevant value added services from a single portal at 58080 without having to memorise the individual dialling numbers of each of the service," Bharti Airtel CEO (Delhi/NCR) Rohit Gothi said.

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The service will enable customers to access services like learning agricultural techniques, receive instant updates on 'mandi' rates and government jobs, access entertainment services like hello tunes, on their mobile phones with a voice call.

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Indian consumers most confident globally in Q4: Nielsen

Can cut rates only when deposit rates cool: HDFC Bank

NTPC OFS oversubscribed: Govt likely to garner Rs 11,469 cr

US exports may drive top Indian pharma cos to grow in 2013

Bharti Airtel to buy Alcatel-Lucent stake in India JV

Airtel launches voice based portal for value added services