The Nuclear Medicine Oncology and Radiotherapy Institute (NORI) in Islamabad has introduced an important new technology called cyclotron. This machine, which cost Rs. 1.5 billion, will help produce a special material called Gallium 68 isotopes. These isotopes are used for an important test called Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans. PET scans are used to check how the organs and tissues in our body are working, and they are especially important for detecting cancer.

Before this, Gallium 68 isotopes were only available in Lahore, and patients from northern Pakistan had to travel long distances to get their scans. This was very difficult for many people, especially since the isotopes have a short life and cannot be moved around for long distances. Now, with this new cyclotron technology at NORI, patients in Islamabad and nearby areas can get these important scans without traveling far.

What is a Cyclotron and How Does it Help?

A cyclotron is a special machine that makes radioactive isotopes. These isotopes are used in different medical tests, like PET scans, to see how organs and tissues are working inside the body. The cyclotron at NORI can produce Gallium 68 isotopes, which are very important for detecting cancer. Before NORI had this technology, patients in the northern areas had to go all the way to Lahore for these tests, which was not easy.

Now that NORI has this cyclotron, patients within a 200-kilometer radius of Islamabad can get their PET scans locally, making it easier for them to get the medical care they need. This is a big improvement in cancer treatment and diagnosis.

Why is This Development Important?

For cancer patients, early diagnosis is very important. PET scans are one of the best ways to find cancer early because they help doctors see how the tissues in the body are behaving. However, before this cyclotron, only some people in Pakistan could get PET scans, and many people had to wait longer or travel far away to get their tests. With this new technology, more people in northern Pakistan can now access these important tests, which can save lives.

This new cyclotron will help Pakistan treat cancer patients more effectively. It will also make life-saving services available to people in areas that didn't have them before. The patients will no longer have to worry about traveling far for treatment.

NORI's Patient-Centered Approach

NORI has always been known for its commitment to patient care. Dr. Muhammad Faheem, the Director of NORI, spoke about how the hospital’s patient-centered approach makes it different from other hospitals. He highlighted that NORI has a no-refusal policy, meaning they don’t turn away any cancer patients. Whether the patients are rich or poor, NORI accepts them and ensures they get the treatment they need.

Thanks to this policy, NORI, along with its 19 other affiliated cancer hospitals, has been able to treat 80% of cancer patients in Pakistan. This is a huge achievement, as many hospitals turn away patients for various reasons, such as a lack of funds or resources.

Another important point is that NORI provides medicines at a 40% discount to in-patients. This makes cancer treatment more affordable for patients who may not have enough money to pay for expensive medicines. Dr. Faheem emphasized that NORI wants to make sure that all patients receive high-quality care, regardless of their financial situation.

The Role of NORI in Cancer Treatment

NORI was founded in 1983, and since then, it has grown to become one of the most important cancer treatment centers in Pakistan. Shahid Riaz Khan, the Director General of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, praised NORI for its work in helping cancer patients all over Pakistan. He also mentioned that many patients who were previously told by private hospitals that they couldn’t be treated have fully recovered after receiving care at NORI.

Dr. Shazia Fatima, the Director General of the Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Centre, explained that NORI is also involved in important projects like developing a cancer data registry, raising awareness about cancer, and training doctors from other countries. She also mentioned that 50% of Pakistan’s radiation oncologists work in Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) hospitals like NORI, making these hospitals very important in the country’s cancer care system.

Early Diagnosis Saves Lives

One of the most important things NORI focuses on is the early diagnosis of cancer. Dr. Fatima pointed out that when cancer is found early, it can be treated more easily, and the treatment will cost less. Early detection means that doctors can start treatment before the cancer has spread too much, which improves the chances of a successful recovery.

NORI is working hard to make sure that as many people as possible get checked early for cancer. This will help save lives and reduce the financial burden of cancer treatment.

Pakistan's Efforts to Produce Medicines Locally

Another important part of NORI’s work is the local production of medicines. The Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology (PINSTECH) produces important medicines for cancer patients, which saves the country a lot of money. PINSTECH saves about Rs. 350 million every year by producing these medicines locally instead of buying them from other countries.

This helps Pakistan reduce its spending on cancer treatments and allows the country to use that money for other important things. It is also a way to make sure that cancer patients in Pakistan have access to the medicine they need without relying on foreign imports.

Recognition for NORI’s Work

In 2023, NORI received recognition from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which called NORI a “Ray of Hope” for cancer patients. This recognition was given because of the hard work NORI has done to improve cancer treatment and diagnosis in Pakistan.

Success Story: Mohammad Zia

A great example of NORI’s impact is the success story of Mohammad Zia, a 54-year-old cancer survivor. Zia had been misdiagnosed by other hospitals and was told that his cancer was untreatable. However, when he came to NORI, he received the correct diagnosis and began treatment. After a year of treatment at NORI, he is now cancer-free and living a healthy life. His story shows just how important NORI’s work is in saving lives and offering hope to patients.

Wrap Up

The new cyclotron technology at NORI is a big step forward for cancer treatment in Pakistan. It makes important diagnostic tests like PET scans more accessible to patients in northern Pakistan. By providing affordable treatment, focusing on early diagnosis, and producing essential medicines locally, NORI is continuing to lead the way in cancer care. With its patient-centered policies and commitment to quality care, NORI is giving many people hope and saving lives.

Google Loses Huge Antitrust Case Over Search

Google’s Big Legal Loss

Google is set to appeal a recent court ruling where U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta found that the company broke antitrust laws to keep its search engine dominant. This ruling is a major setback for Google and might change how it does business and even affect how the internet works.

Judge Mehta’s Decision

Judge Mehta decided that Google used its power unfairly by paying big companies like Apple, Samsung, and Mozilla to make Google the default search engine on their devices and browsers. In 2021, Google spent $26 billion to be the default search engine on Apple and Android devices. About $18 billion of this went to Apple. The government says this prevented other search engines from growing and competing effectively.

Background of the Case

The case started in 2020 when the Justice Department and 38 states accused Google of blocking competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo. They claim Google has about 90% of the search market, a figure Google disputes.

Google’s Reaction

Google plans to appeal the ruling. Kent Walker, Google’s President of Global Affairs, argues that the company’s success comes from offering the best search engine, which users prefer. He believes the ruling wrongly suggests that Google shouldn’t be allowed to make its top-quality search engine easily available.

Impact on Other Tech Cases

This ruling could affect other major tech companies like Apple, Meta, and Amazon. It may set a new standard for how antitrust laws are applied to big tech companies.

What Happens Next

Judge Mehta has not yet decided what changes Google might have to make. Possible outcomes include changes to Google’s search operations or even selling parts of its business. The situation might be similar to the Microsoft antitrust case from the 1990s, where a breakup order was overturned on appeal, but Microsoft still had to follow certain rules.

The final result of Google’s case could impact how other tech companies are regulated and could affect ongoing antitrust lawsuits.

Facebook nowadays printed it’ll be rolling out a week’s well worth of events, each on its platform and on Instagram, to have a good time the graduating classification of 2020. The week will culminate in a digital commencement ceremony providing a movie star cast. Here’s what you can assume to see.
Instagram‘s already kicking off the week with some grad-themed stickers, which are accessible proper now. There’s a countdown decal that reminds customers of the huge tournament on Friday, as nicely as cap filters so graduating college students can see themselves in a mortarboard. Instagram is additionally introducing two hashtags: #GradPhotoChallenge and #GradMessagesChallenge, which will characteristic users’ senior quotes. Facebook, for its part, starts its Student Spotlight sequence honoring great graduates of the year.

Tuesday, May 12

Instagram will host a senior night time for athletes, certainly honoring pupil athletes such as Sabrina Ionescu, Myles Powell, Shay Knighten and Andrew Pryts.

Wednesday, May 13

Facebook will share Grad Walks on its Facebook app Page’s Stories. It encourages customers who choose to take part to share their very own through the hashtag #GradWalk2020. Facebook‘s social pages will also function a movie known as Part of Us, in which grads will share excerpts of Marina Keegan’s “The Opposite of Loneliness” paired with imagery from their college experience. Instagram will additionally host a digital standup comedy exhibit providing various creators.

Thursday, May 14

Instagram celebrates Superlatives Day with the aid of having featured creators honor the pleasant college students with superlatives. The Brooklyn Museum and Instagram‘s @design will announce the winners of their #Your2020Portrait contest, with the 5 winners getting $5,000 supplies and being featured in a digital artwork exhibit on the @design and @creators pages. The @creators web page will function numerous creators celebrating commencement and will additionally exhibit “yearbooks on Instagram.” The @shop will function a commencement present information from shoppable small businesses.

Friday, May 15

This will culminate in a large livestreaming event, which will characteristic a graduation tackle from Oprah Winfrey and remarks from the likes of Awkwafina, Simone Biles, and Lil Nas X. The relaxation of the match will encompass superstar visitor appearances in a numerous team that consists of Gordon Ramsay, Selena Gomez, Cardi B, Cookie Monster, and most of the solid of This is Us. It’ll additionally consist of Miley Cyrus singing “The Climb,” which sounds designed to tickle the nostalgia of the graduates, due to the fact that that song’s over ten years ancient and they would have all been teens when they first heard it.

On the equal day, Facebook will exhibit a brief movie referred to as Dear Grads, Love Groups, offering recommendation and well-wishes from Facebook Groups neighborhood members.

Given the world situation, it’ll of course be challenging for most college students to get the commencement of their dreams. There’s now not tons all people can do about that. But this will be… some thing at the very least. If Facebook‘s lineup is no longer to your taste, YouTube is additionally having a digital commencement ceremony on June 6, which will function a graduation tackle from each Barack and Michelle Obama. The audio system in this lineup will consist of Malala Yousafzai, Sundar Pichai, Lady Gaga, and BTS.

You can test Facebook‘s entire time table here. 

For many Americans, a regular day proper now would possibly appearance something like this: Roll off the bed and test the telephone. Open up a computer and document for unemployment advantages through a website. Set up a web education portal for youngsters out of college. Check in with a medical doctor through a telemedicine portal. Read news on Twitter. Buy groceries via Amazon. Watch tales on Instagram. Binge on Netflix. Connect with a set of friends on a Zoom video chat.
What passes for ordinary lifestyles now happens almost absolutely on line.
The coronavirus pandemic is in contrast to some other international emergency in latest history. Millions of people within the U.S. And around the world are constrained to their houses and not using a specific idea of whilst they may be able to resume existence as they knew it. Staying home has taken on the type of patriotic obligation generally reserved for instances of warfare.
The predominant query may be whether "regular life" ever returns.
"What I've found as a historian is that emergencies, as an instance like World War I, World War II, the Great Depression, they tended to boost up instead of always innovate new varieties of relationships, new varieties of ways of existence," said Robert Kargon, a professor of the history of technological know-how at Johns Hopkins University.
"My argument has been that basically those kinds of emergencies boost up traits that exist already in society," he said. "We've already visible how the internet is impinging on all styles of sports in terms of work, entertainment and so forth, and I suppose this is going to heighten it and it'll trade positive matters."

Full insurance of the coronavirus outbreak:

The net has in latest decades become embedded in nearly the entirety (try to find a product for which there is now not a web-connected version). But it was normally used to reinforce daily existence for the general public. Some younger humans referred to themselves as "extremely on-line," but for most it wasn't the center in their lives.
During the extremely good coronavirus lockdown of 2020, tens of millions of Americans are extraordinarily on line. Data from net offerings display huge increases in daily use. Assurances from net offerings and infrastructure corporations that they're capable of manage a lot of life's moving on-line have become closely observed.
When Netflix suffered problems Wednesday, some heralded it as another step towards apocalypse.
"In an emergency, era may be fast-tracked," said Amber Case, a researcher at the Institute for the Future, a nonprofit in Palo Alto, California, that does lengthy-term forecasting. She stated she expects a lift of research into technology round online schooling and allotted computing, and she or he predicts that the experience of getting to know extra matters on-line could have wide ripple consequences offline.
"I'm hoping we're going to see a next generation of teachers who're rock stars" focusing on coaching via video, she stated. "A lot of human beings are going to discover ways to cook sincerely, virtually well."
These shifts could not have passed off in the course of preceding countrywide emergencies, just like the 9-11 attacks almost  a long time ago. Smartphones didn't exist yet, and neither did social media, streaming services or effortlessly accessible videoconference calling.
In the days of dial-up modems, frequently only one tool within a domestic could be at the internet at a time, and it would tie up the smartphone domestic.
Joe Bak-Coleman, a Ph.D. Pupil at Princeton University who studies collective behavior and how technology influences society, said the capacity to move so much of life on line is a current development  and one which has been specially essential due to the character of the reaction to the coronavirus outbreak.
"Only inside the ultimate 5 years have we had generation like Skype and Zoom that permit us to do lots of our jobs online," Bak-Coleman said. "Relative to other pandemics, the potential to take our society online, at least portions of it, allows us so much."
The sort of shift the usa has gone via inside the past few weeks does not manifest without some pain points. People are locating they need to set limits, that their connection to technology can't be regular all day, every day, otherwise their brains won't get a hazard to rest.
"We're caught sort of in a duration of teenybopper where we've all been informed to go to our room," Case stated. "We need to rewrite our courting to technology, and we're breaking it."
The online shift may additionally exacerbate inequality. Millions of Americans don't have get admission to to fast broadband net. Some forty four percentage of adults with household earning underneath $30,000 a yr do not have home broadband services, the Pew Research Center said final 12 months. And in a few places, excessive-velocity broadband is not to be had at any charge, due to the fact vendors have not constructed the service.
"Where those networks do no longer exist — in which Americans do no longer have picks for excessive-capability services — social distancing is a lot harder on humans, if not outright impossible," the Electronic Frontier Foundation stated in a assertion emphasizing the importance of the net to the pandemic response.
The net is so much of existence in 2020 that the American Library Association is calling federal regulators for permission to deploy Wi-Fi warm spots the use of bookmobiles so as to guide neighborhoods that have relied on libraries which might be now closed.
Data from internet and enjoyment offerings paint a stark photograph of a country driven on-line.
HBO said Tuesday that point spent on its streaming provider HBO Now become up greater than 40 percentage from its 4-week common, and competition like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix also are seeing massive increases in visitors, in step with records from the research company SimilarWeb.
"Escapism and forgetting what's happening for a second is also what is keeping a few people sane," said Carolina Milanesi, a tech enterprise analyst at the research company Creative Strategies.
Just approximately each client technology employer has said comparable upticks. Facebook stated that in places hit hardest by means of the virus, voice and video calling has more than doubled on two apps it owns, Messenger and WhatsApp. "We are experiencing new statistics in utilization almost every day," executives wrote in a weblog submit.

U.S. streaming sites seeing coronavirus bumps in traffic

Per-week traffic to streaming sites, January to March, compared to the same time period in 2019.

• 2020
• 2019

Notes

Weeks start on Monday.

Companies that specialize in paintings-centered software program have also said a dramatic shift. Zoom has been beefing up its 17 statistics centers. Slack and Microsoft are reporting surges in call for for software regularly used by humans operating from home. Twitter stated millions more humans are using its service whilst the monetary downturn has forged a cloud over its ad enterprise.
Even the pandemic reaction is more and more going on on-line.
Mike Ryan, govt director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Program, stated Wednesday that health officers have been the usage of connected software like never before to proportion information round the sector about medical trials, case studies and predictive modeling.
"This is probably the first pandemic of the 21st century in which the overall electricity of records era, social media [and] artificial intelligence is being carried out to almost each issue of this reaction," Ryan said on the WHO's day by day briefing on the pandemic.
Now industry and regulators simply need to make sure that net carrier stays strolling at a level near what people count on.
Internet service companies have expressed self assurance that they can take care of the more load, although the picture in Europe won't be encouraging. Amazon, Netflix and YouTube have agreed to cut the great of their streaming motion pictures in Europe to avoid placing too much strain on networks there. Facebook and Instagram did the same in certain regions, and Sony slowed gaming downloads.
Ookla, a organization that measures internet overall performance, said this week that it had began to come across slower download speeds within the U.S. On both constant and cellular broadband.
But others have not detected a slowdown. Cloudflare, a employer that gives net safety and infrastructure services, said the handiest disruptions it has observed have been isolated to specific internet provider providers or in Europe.
"The internet become built for this," Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince stated, including that the electric grid or transportation networks couldn't withstand similar surges. "I can't think of every other public application that, in case you had someplace between a 20 and 100 percentage growth in use, which is what we're seeing right now, that it'd retain to function."
The largest alternate might not end up being how lots time we spend online however alternatively how people spend it.
Sherry Turkle, a professor of the social research of technology and technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stated she's been struck by using the creativity and thoughtfulness with which a few humans have put themselves on-line during the outbreak.
She pointed to the cello player Yo Yo Ma and the actor Patrick Stewart, who have broadcast themselves practising their crafts.
"Every institution I'm in is trying to reinvent itself in an online shape," she said. "You see people attempting to find something of themselves that they could use because the medium to specific themselves."
Turkle, who wrote "Alone Together," which info how generation can connect however also isolate people, said the pass online could come to be changing what it means to be on-line.
"Will people say, 'You recognise, I do not need to apply this screen for nonsense anymore'?" she stated. "Will we attain for the best people? Maybe so that it will be the legacy.

Zoom, the video-conferencing app that has visible a big rise in downloads because quarantines have been imposed across the world, is now being utilized by millions for paintings and social gatherings.

This week Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted a image of himself chairing a Cabinet assembly through the app.

This led to questions about how secure it became for authorities meetings.

Zoom has angrily defended its security record, saying it would solution any questions the government had.

What was the row about?

First came a tweet from the prime minister:

Image Copyright @BorisJohnson@BORISJOHNSON

It was closely followed by reports that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was suspending use of the app, something it strenuously denied.

The MoD instructed that Zoom had by no means been used for high-safety meetings, however persisted to be a device for cross-authorities chats.

Later, a Cabinet Office spokesperson moved to clarify the authorities's position: "In the contemporary unprecedented situations the want for powerful channels of conversation is vital. National Cyber Security Centre guidance indicates there may be no protection cause for Zoom no longer for use for conversations beneath a certain classification."

But Zoom turned into actually angered by using tips that it become not entirely secure.

"Zoom takes user safety extremely seriously," .
"Globally, 2,000 institutions starting from the world's largest monetary services companies to leading telecommunications providers, government agencies, universities, healthcare and telemedicine practices have performed exhaustive protection opinions of our user, network and statistics centre layers confidently choosing Zoom for entire deployment."

"We are in close verbal exchange with the UK Ministry of Defence and National Cyber Security Centre and are focused on imparting the documentation they need".
Exactly what this documentation is, neither Zoom, the National Cyber Security Centre nor the MoD were able to say.

So is it safe?

Zoom has had security flaws inside the past, consisting of a vulnerability which allowed an attacker to cast off attendees from meetings, spoof messages from customers and hijack shared screens. Another noticed Mac users pressured into calls without their knowledge.

All these have been patched however some professionals still think that the corporation has a alternatively blase attitude to protection.

"Zoom has had a chequered history, protection-wise, with some of times in which one has needed to question whether it really gets it with regards to users' privateness and security," stated cyber-representative Graham Cluley.

"Right now, plenty of people are the usage of Zoom for the first time and might not be au fait with the safest settings to preserve unwanted people out in their chats.

"They also probably haven't read the terms and conditions, however simply clicked 'Yes' to everything to get online. Zoom and other video messaging apps offer a valuable carrier proper now but folks ought to be cautious in their picks as they rush to connect online."

Prof Alan Woodward, a pc scientist at Surrey University thinks the government wishes to be cautious: "In some approaches for a public broadcast it would not rely if all and sundry can pay attention in as became the case for the No 10 briefing."

"However, in which I have taken element in authorities briefings where it is for the participants' ears most effective we've used Microsoft Teams."

"There is no evidence that Zoom has any troubles in its today's versions but in these crazy times it appears sensible best to use systems that are tried and tested. It does enhance the message that whatever you operate you have to use the modern-day version," he added.

Where did Zoom come from?

Zoom may handiest have emerge as a household name for the reason that globe became housebound but in fact its reputation has been developing for numerous years. When it debuted at the stock market closing year, it became already valued at $15bn (£12bn) and that has now risen to $38.5bn.
Started in 2011 by using Chinese software program engineer Eric Yuan, who emigrated from China to Silicon Valley on the age of 27, Zoom has quietly overtaken rivals consisting of Skype and Microsoft Teams, in component due to some quite simple functions along with adaptive backgrounds.

It is loose for everyone to use however its basic package deal has a 40-minute assembly limit, some thing it has just lifted for schools inside the UK, Canada and Germany to allow teachers to utilize longer classes as they home-faculty their pupils.

It has been downloaded greater than 50 million times on the Google app keep alone as a international lockdown sends humans in determined seek of digital ways to stay in contact with paintings colleagues, friends and family.

Are there privateness concerns?

Zoom collects big amounts of data so as to analyse its service and to provide organizations with useful tools.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has compiled a listing of its privateness issues:

• the host of a Zoom call has the ability to screen the activities of attendees whilst screen-sharing. They can see whether or not Zoom windows are lively or now not
• it also permits administrators to see special dashboards of customers' activity, such as a ranking system of users based on general number of assembly minutes
• if a user statistics any calls thru Zoom, administrators can get admission to the contents
• at some stage in any meeting that has occurred or is in progress, administrators can see the operating machine, IP address, location facts and device data of each participant

Despite those warnings, humans normally appear happy to share an increasing number of aspects of their life on the app, which includes a few who've given away as a substitute extra than they intended.

A extensively shared video on social media suggests a girl in a business convention forgetting that her colleagues can see her and going to the bathroom mid-assembly whilst the relaxation of her crew look on in bewildered embarrassment.

Other breaches of etiquette include "zoombombing", a word definitely set to take its place along self-isolation in post-virus dictionaries.

It is a shape of trolling that sees uninvited guests screen-sharing pornography or different worrying imagery. The problem occurs if info of a meeting are shared publicly and the host fails to set screen-sharing to ''host most effective".

Meeting hosts have to additionally disable "report transfer" to save you any malware being shared, said specialists.