At least nine injured in a hot air balloon crash on the edge of the Alps in Austria

The accident to the hot air balloon happened in the Bucklige Welt region known for its hilly landscape. Its location is about 53 miles south of the capital Vienna. Nine people suffered injuries after a hot air balloon crashed on the eastern edge of the Alps in Austria. Emergency services rushed to the scene of the accident. Initial reports mention about serious injuries to two of the passengers. The injured people scattered in different locations. Two were in the rural town of Untereck and five others with minor injuries were about three miles away near Stang. Moreover, a couple of seriously hurt people were airlifted by helicopter to local hospitals. The cause of the crash remains unclear but according to an Austria newspaper, the crash happened as the balloon was about to land on a meadow. Hot air balloon crash in the Austrian Alps leaves nine hurt. It seems the balloon descended at a fast rate and bounced off the ground. That knocked four people including the pilot and co-pilot out of the basket. The momentum dragged four of them along for a distance before the aircraft took off again with the five remaining passengers.

While in the air, the pilot apparently instructed the passengers by phone on how to make an emergency landing by phone. The balloon finally halted in a forest. Incidentally, there have been earlier instances of accidents to hot air balloons. In June last year, five people died after a gust of wind blew the hot air balloon into a power line. This happened in New Mexico, US. The pilot and three passengers were declared dead at the scene of the tragedy and the fifth person died after being rushed to hospital with serious injuries. Later, in July 2020 there was an accident in Germany. It happened in the city of Wesel, 35 miles north of Dusseldorf when a plane collided with the balloon which crashed into an apartment block.

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Doctors question the increasing instances of using stents for cardiac patients

Is the random use of stents on cardiac patients a result of greedy doctors? The question arises because several senior cardiologists in India have themselves raised concern over rise in the cases of unnecessary implant of stents in India.
In their opinion, more than one third of the elective procedures may not have been necessary. They also believe that there are instances of stents being used in absolutely normal patients. There are hospitals here that boast of conducting up to 25,000 angioplasties a year and many of the cardiologists are close to stent makers and suppliers. In the absence of any monitoring or oversight, patients in India have no protection from unnecessary use of stent.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 10 February 2017.

India is not alone in this. US faced an embarrassing situation a few years back. US undoubtedly has far better monitoring and oversight of medical procedures as compared to India and, studies there had found that only half the non-emergency cardiac stenting procedures were appropriate.
The result was that cardiologists and hospitals had to cough up millions of dollars in penalties for unnecessary stenting. Stent companies also had to pay heavy penalties to settle charges of giving kickbacks to doctors.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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China develops a humanoid robot Jia Jia to herald in a future of cyborg labour

China has developed a humanoid robot Jia Jia and, with this, China is heralding in a future of cyborg labour. The life-like robot “Jia Jia” is able to hold a simple conversation and make specific facial expressions when asked.
It is billed as China’s first human-like robot and was unveiled last year by a team of engineers at the University of Science and Technology of China.
This has been reported in thehindu.com dated 9 January 2017.

Jia Jia's creator has predicted that within a decade, artificially intelligent robots will begin to carry out a range of menial tasks in Chinese restaurants, nursing homes, hospitals and households. It has flowing black hair and is dressed in a traditional Chinese dress and looks very much real but, it still has to learn a lot - it has its charms but also its limits and simple questions frequently stump her.
The robot is able to answer a query about the day’s weather, hold basic conversations and recognize the gender of her questioners but has to learn a lot. Such robots have a bright future in China. Growing prosperity was causing many young Chinese to stay away from jobs like waitressing. Moreover, an ageing population would require more hands on deck in hospitals and nursing homes — and robots like Jia Jia can be really useful in these activities.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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