WHO in contact with Russia on new Covid-19 vaccine: Spokesman

WHO is in close contact with Russia regarding a possible pre-qualification of the world’s first Covid-19 vaccine, a WHO spokesman said

The World Health Organization (WHO) is in close contact with Russia regarding a possible pre-qualification of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine, a WHO spokesman said. “We are in close contact with the Russian health authorities and discussions are underway regarding a possible pre-qualification of the vaccine by WHO,” WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said at a virtual press briefing on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

“The pre-qualification of any vaccine involves rigorous review and evaluation of all the data required for safety and efficacy” in clinical trials, said Jasarevic, adding that at the WHO level, this process would be the same for any vaccine candidate. “Each country has national regulatory bodies that approve the use of vaccines or drugs in its territory,” he said. “Manufacturers are asking for WHO pre-qualification because it is a kind of seal of quality.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that his country has registered the world’s first vaccine against the novel coronavirus. Putin said he hoped that the mass production of the vaccine registered in Russia should begin in the near future, and vaccination will be available to everyone in the country voluntarily…Read Full Story

Coronavirus: Trump signs executive order to prevent hoarding as toll rises

Till Monday, more than 43,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States

US president Donald Trump has signed an executive order to prevent hoarding of vital medical supplies and personal protective equipment as the country for the first time registered over 130 deaths in a day due to coronavirus. Till Monday, more than 43,700 confirmed cases of coronavirus were reported in the United States. Of these, over 10,000 were added in one day, according to Worldometer, a website which compiles COVID-19 cases. With 139 deaths, the number of fatalities crossed 550 by Monday night.

Signing the executive order, Donald Trump said his government would take action against hoarding and excessive pricing of vital medical and personal protective equipment as well as supplies such as hand sanitisers and face masks. “Very simply, we will not allow anyone to exploit the suffering of American citizens for their own profit,” he asserted, adding the Department of Justice will aggressively prosecute fraudulent schemes related to the pandemic.

New York State, in particular New York City, emerged as the hotspot of one of the worst public health crisis in the United States in recent memory. Nearly one in every two Americans infected by novel coronavirus are from New York City which reported 5,085 news cases on Monday taking the total to 20,875. As many as 157 residents of New York, a city which has one of the highest concentration of people in the country, have died of coronavirus so far. Of the total deaths in the city so far, 43 were reported on Monday…

Alcohol intake is key to long-term weight loss in diabetic people

Turns out, alcohol consumption may attenuate long-term weight loss in adults with Type 2 diabetes.

It was earlier noted that losing weight can help prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. While the best practice for weight loss often includes decreasing or eliminating calories from alcohol, few studies examined whether people who undergo weight loss treatment report changes in alcohol intake and whether alcohol influences their weight loss.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania suggested that while alcohol consumption is not associated with short-term weight loss during a lifestyle intervention, it is associated with long-term weight loss in people with overweight or obesity and Type 2 diabetes,

In the study, close to 5,000 people who were overweight and had diabetes were followed for four years. One group participated in Intensive Lifestyle Intervention (ILI) and the other in a control group consisting of diabetes support and education…

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Why are we still so fat?

Obesity’s genetic connection was conclusively demonstrated in the 1980s in a series of papers showing that body weight is strongly inherited, almost as strongly as height

Whenever I see a photo from the 1960s or 1970s, I am startled. It’s not the clothes. It’s not the hair. It’s the bodies. So many people were skinny.

In 1976, 15 percent of American adults were obese. Now the it’s nearly 40 per cent. Scientists do a lot of hand-waving about our “obesogenic environment” and point to favourite culprits: the abundance of cheap fast foods and snacks; food companies making products so tasty they are addictive; larger serving sizes; the tendency to graze all day.|Obesity

Everyone — from doctors to drug companies, from public health officials to overweight people themselves — would love to see a cure, a treatment that brings weight to normal and keeps it there. Why hasn’t anyone discovered one? It’s not for lack of trying. There is just one almost uniformly effective treatment, and it is woefully underused: only about 1 per cent of the 24 million American adults who are eligible get the procedure.

That treatment is bariatric surgery, a drastic operation that turns the stomach into a tiny pouch and, in one version, also reroutes the intestines. Their health usually improves anyway. Many with diabetes no longer need insulin. Cholesterol and blood pressure levels tend to fall. Sleep apnea disappears. Backs, hips and knees stop aching. There are not nearly enough surgeons or facilities to operate on all the obese people who might be helped by bariatric surgery, noted Randy Seeley, director of the nutrition research center at the University of Michigan.

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Here’s what causes asthma in kids with obesity

Weight might be the cause for one-fourth of asthma cases in kids with obesity, a recent study suggests.

Business Standard|The research, which studied health data from more than 500,000 children in the United States, suggested that about 10 percent of all kids aged between 2 to 17 with asthma, might have avoided the illness by maintaining a healthy weight. The findings are published in the Journal of Pediatrics.

“Asthma is the number one chronic disease in children and some of the causes such as genetics and viral infections during childhood are things we can’t prevent. Obesity may be the only risk factor for childhood asthma that could be preventable. This is another piece of evidence that keeping kids active and at a healthy weight is important,” said Jason E. Lang, lead author of the study.

Also Read :Screening for colorectal cancer may benefit male patients

For the retrospective study, researchers analyzed data for 507,496 children from more than 19 million doctor’s visits at six major children’s health centers.

Those classified as having asthma had been diagnosed at two or more doctor’s appointments and had also received a prescription, such as an inhaler. Tests of their lung function also confirmed they had the disease.

Children classified as obese (those with a body-mass index (BMI) in the 95th percentile or above for their age and sex) had a 30-percent increased risk of developing asthma than peers of a healthy weight…Read More

First gut bacteria may fight chronic diseases better

First gut bacteria may have a lasting effect on the ability to fight chronic diseases, according to a new study.

The new research shows that the first bacteria introduced into the gut has a lasting impact allowing science to adjust microbiomes to help ward off serious chronic diseases.

Findings by U of A microbial ecologist Jens Walter and his colleagues suggest differences in our microbial makeup likely depend on when we acquire our first microorganisms after birth and the order they arrive in our gut has a lasting impact on how the microbiome looks when we grow up.

“The discovery sheds new light on how these microbiomes, which are as personal as fingerprints, establish themselves and what drives their unique nature. That’s key to figuring out how to change our microbiomes for the better,” said Walter.|chronic diseases

In the study, researchers introduced distinct microbial communities, collected one at a time, from adult mice into the gastrointestinal tracts of young, genetically identical mice. The results showed that the microbiome in the adults was more similar to the microbiome introduced first.

Even using a cocktail of four different bacteria, the researchers repeatedly found that the first microbes showed the highest level(BS) of persistence and the strongest influence on how the gut microbiome developed.

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Study reports risk of rare adverse outcomes from breast implants

According to a study, silicone breast implants could increase the risk of several rare adverse outcomes in women.

“We are reporting an analysis of the largest prospective study to date on silicone breast implant safety,” commented Mark W. Clemens of The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.

“We are sharing critical information on complication rates and rare associations with systemic harms. This data gives women important safety information about silicone breast implants to have real expectations and to help them choose what is right for them,” added Clemens.

Women receiving silicone implants were at increased risk of several rare harms compared to the general population. The elevated risks included three conditions classified as autoimmune or rheumatologic disorders: Sjogren’s syndrome, with a risk about eight times higher than in the general population; scleroderma, a seven-fold increase in risk; and rheumatoid arthritis, about a six-fold increase in risk.

“These findings are associations compared to the general population and determining why these associations are observed or any causation requires further study,” said Dr. Clemens.

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Does Paracetamol use in infancy increases risk of asthma?

Turns out, children who take paracetamol during their first two years of life may be at a higher risk of developing asthma by the age of 18, especially if they have a particular genetic makeup.

According to a new research presented at the European Respiratory Society International Congress in 2018, the link between paracetamol use and asthma seemed strongest in those who had a particular variant of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) gene, GSTP1.

However, study author, Xin Dai, warned that the research showed only that there was an association between paracetamol and asthma, not that paracetamol caused the condition. She also found that another GST gene variant, GSTM1, was linked with reduced lung function.

GST genes contain the instructions for making enzymes that use an antioxidant called glutathione to mop up the effects of exposure to toxins in the body and the lungs. This mechanism helps to prevent damage to cells and inflammation.

“Paracetamol, on the other hand, consumes glutathione, reducing the body’s capacity to deal with toxic exposure. We hypothesized that people who did not have full GST enzyme activity because of common genetic variations or deletions may be more susceptible to adverse effects on the lungs from paracetamol use,” explained Dai.

Dai and her colleagues investigated their hypothesis in 620 children who had been followed from birth to 18 years old as part of the Melbourne Atopy Cohort Study.

The children had been recruited to the study before they were born because they were considered to be potentially at high risk of developing an allergy-related disease. They had at least one family member (mother, father or sibling) with a self-reported allergic disease (asthma, eczema, hay fever or a severe food allergy).

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Also Read : Does Paracetamol use in infancy increases risk of asthma?

Also Read : Aspirin doesn’t reduce heart attack risk: Australian study

Dengue - A continuing global threat

Dengue fever is a painful, debilitating mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue viruses. Each year, an estimated 400 million people globally are infected with the virus; about 100 million get progressively sick and 2.5 percent of those patients die. It is the fastest growing mosquito borne infection in the world.

BS| The World health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 40 percent of world’s population is at risk of being infected due to environmental conditions and burden of disease; people of all age groups are at risk. Most people who are infected have mild or no symptoms.

Dr Mohammed Sakeel of Fortis Hospital, Kalyan, said that mild symptoms of dengue may be confused with other illnesses that cause fever and flu-like symptoms. He stated that the most common symptoms are fever, and one or more of the following:

1) Headache

2) Eye pain (typically behind the eyes)

3) Muscle, joint, or bone pain

4) Rashes

5) Nausea and vomiting

6) Unusual bleeding (nose or gum bleed, small red spots under the skin, or unusual bruising)

Severe symptoms of dengue can be labelled as an emergency. Therefore, it is important to recognise the warning signs early.

Warning signs:

Watch for signs and symptoms of severe dengue, which develop 24-48 hours after initial fever goes away. If you or a family member develops any of these warning signs, go to a physician or nearest emergency department immediately:

1) Severe stomach pain or vomiting (at least 3 vomiting episodes within 24 hours)

2) Bleeding from the nose or gums

3) Vomiting blood, or blood in the stool

According to Rasika Parab of Fortis Hospital, Mulund and Rajeshwari Shetty of SL Raheja Hospital, dengue has the most vague myths associated with itself and the rise of social media just adds to the problem.

>Keep Reading :-  Dengue – A continuing global threat<< 

Also Read : Here’s how Zika virus strips immune cells of their identity

Also Read : Centre implements HIV/AIDS Act to protect rights of affected persons

Is increasing temperature raising childhood viral infection rates?

Turns out, hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) is a common childhood viral infection that mostly affects in warmer summer months because of the increasing temperature and humidity.

According to a recent study, global warming may impact the rates of HFMD, both by prolonging the duration of outbreaks during peak seasons and by increasing the likelihood of HFMD transmission throughout the year.

Dr Sarah Coates, lead author of the study, said, "There is an emerging understanding of the link between our changing climate and the rising incidence of various infectious diseases. Many of these changes are so insidious that they are hard for the average practitioner to detect at the individual level."| BS 

With these findings, Coates' team is hoping to raise awareness within the medical community of these large-scale trends and spur appropriate political action given their potential consequences to public health.

The full findings appeared in the journal- International Journal of Dermatology.

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Also  Read : Middle-aged adults must have 'drink-free' days: UK   health body

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Acute critical illness raises risk of kidney complications

People with acute critical illness have an increased risk of kidney complications and death, finds a study.

BS | “Patients with acute critical illness without apparent underlying renal disease — a group traditionally considered to be at low risk of renal diseases — have clinically relevant long-term renal risks,” wrote Dr. Shih-Ting Huang and Dr. Chia-Hung Kao of Taichung Veterans General Hospital and China Medical University, Taiwan, respectively.

Most studies have looked at patients with pre-existing kidney disease, while this study looked at data on 33, 613 Taiwanese patients with critical acute illness and no pre-existing kidney disease compared with 63, 148 controls for a medium-term renal outcome.

More than half of the patients (53 per cent) were above 65 years of age and two-thirds (67 per cent) had high blood pressure. Patients who had experienced acute kidney illness were at an increased risk of renal complications, developing chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease, with septicemia and septic shock being the strongest risk factors.

Of the critically ill patients in the study, 335 developed an end-stage renal disease, with a rate of 21 per 10 000 person-years compared with 4.9 per 10 000 person-years in the control group.

Patients who developed chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal disease were at a higher risk of death.

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New vaccine to offer treatment for acne

Do you often suffer from acne? Take heart, a potential vaccine that targets the bacterial toxins may soon be on the anvil, say researchers.

Health News : Instead of invading pathogens, the new vaccine would be the first to target bacteria already in human skin.

The researchers demonstrated that antibodies to a toxin secreted from bacteria in acne vulgaris can reduce inflammation in human acne lesions.

“Once validated by a large-scale clinical trial, the potential impact of our findings is huge for the hundreds of millions of individuals suffering from acne vulgaris,” explained lead investigator Chun-Ming Huang, from the University of California-San Diego, US.

An acne vaccination could circumvent potential adverse effects of topical or systemic retinoids and antibiotics, the current treatment options.

They found that Christie-Atkins-Munch-Peterson (CAMP) factor — a toxin secreted from the Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) bacteria, can induce inflammatory responses.

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Simple leg exercises can reduce negative effects on heart and blood vessels

Did you know how beneficial are simple leg exercises while lying down? A sedentary lifestyle can cause an impairment of transportation of blood in the body which in turn may increase the risk of diseases in the heart and blood vessels.

Health News:   Performing  Simple leg excercise can make a huge change and prevent such problems, a new study reveals.

Earlier work has demonstrated that prolonged sitting for up to 6 hours results in a decline in both blood flow to the limbs and in our larger arteries’ ability to widen to accommodate increased blood flow. This is the first study to show that sitting for just 10 minutes is sufficient to reduce blood flow to the legs and impairs the function of small blood vessels supplying muscles in the leg.

simple leg exercises

This paper also highlights a reduction in the function of small blood vessels when lying down. However, this study suggests that we might be able to reverse this impairment to some extent by performing some simple leg exercises when lying down in bed or on the sofa.

The effects of sitting on blood circulation have been attributed to blood passing more slowly through arteries while sitting. The researchers aimed to find out whether these reductions were caused by sustained sitting, or whether 10 minutes would be sufficient to have a negative effect.

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Eyes can provide early sign of Parkinson’s disease

Turns out, eyes play a crucial role for people with Parkinson’s disease.

People with the disease gradually lose brain cells that produce dopamine, a substance that helps control movement. Now, a new study has found that the thinning of the retina, the lining of nerve cells in the back of the eye, is linked to the loss of such brain cells.

Study author Jee-Young Lee said, “Our study is the first to show a link between the thinning of the retina and a known sign of the progression of the disease — the loss of brain cells that produce dopamine.”

Lee added, “We also found the thinner the retina, the greater the severity of the disease. These discoveries may mean that neurologists may eventually be able to use a simple eye scan to detect Parkinson’s disease in its earliest stages before problems with movement begin.”

The study involved 49 people with an average age of 69 who have diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease an average of two years earlier but who had not yet started medication. They were compared to 54 people without the disease who were matched for age.

Researchers evaluated each study participant with a complete eye exam as well as high-resolution eye scans that use light waves to take pictures of each layer of the retina. Researchers found retina thinning, most notably in the two inner layers of the five layers of the retina, in those with Parkinson’s disease.

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Research explores relationship between fever and cancer occurrence

In a new study, scientists have explored the relationship between fever and cancer incidence.

The recurring patterns in patient accounts suggest the existence of an inverse relationship between the history of infectious fever and cancer risk which are documented throughout decades of medical literature.

However, evidence supporting this correlation continues to be primarily anecdotal.

Drawing upon previous research and experimental data, the authors argue that repeated exposure to fever enhances the ability of gd T cells to detect cellular abnormalities and to foster inhospitable environments that destroy malignant cells.

This paper is the first to acknowledge the role that gd T cells may play as participants in this inverse relationship.

Infectious fever is the defensive and adaptive reaction that occurs when an organism’s immune system comes into contact with exogenous pyrogens, or pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP). Upon recognition of these exogenous pyrogens, endogenous mediators–also known as endogenous pyrogens–engage the febrile system.

The authors further elaborate on the function of endogenous mediators, like cytokines.

“In short, endogenous mediators of fever redirect metabolic substrates and energy to the immune system during fever. This markedly enhances the frequency of a vast range of immune effectors, including lymphocytes expressing gd heterodimer receptors, which possess a potent anti-infectious and antitumor competence,” wrote authors.

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Link discovered between inflammation and depression in type 1 diabetes

Inflammatory protein is associated with depression in diabetes, according to a study.

The research, conducted by at Lund University in Sweden, suggests that galectin-3 levels may be useful for diagnosis of depression or may be a new target for treating depression associated with type-1 diabetes, which could lead to better patient care.

It is well established that people with both type-1 and type-2 diabetes have an increased risk of developing depression, a debilitating mental health disorder with potentially serious consequences, but the causes remain poorly understood.

Galectin-3 is a key protein involved in promoting inflammatory immune system responses that are needed to repair tissue damage throughout the body, in response to injury or disease. However, elevated levels of galectin-3 have also been linked to an increased risk of inflammatory disorders including Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular disease. Previous research has suggested that both depression and diabetes may be associated with increased levels of inflammation in the body but the role of galectin-3 has not been investigated in either condition.

In this study, Dr Eva Olga Melin and colleagues measured the galectin-3 levels of 283 men and women, aged 18-59, with type-1 diabetes, for at least one year. Incidence of depression in these patients was self-reported and assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale-Depression subscale and possible confounding influences of lifestyle factors including heart disease, smoking or poorly managed diabetes were accounted for in the analysis. The researchers found that both men and women with type-1 diabetes and depression also had significantly higher galectin-3 levels.

Dr Melin commented, “We found that people with type-1 diabetes and depression had higher galectin-3 levels, yet no other diabetes-related metabolic changes could account for these elevated levels.”

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Humoral response corresponds to production of antibodies

When the body is continuously exposed to pathogens, the immune system notably mounts what is known as a ‘humoral response’, which corresponds to the production of antibodies that can help fight infections and provide long-term protection.

In a new study, the lab of Jacques Fellay at EPFL, working with the Pasteur Institute in Paris, has examined the humoral responses of 1,000 healthy people to common infections and vaccines.

The scientists measured antibody responses to fifteen antigens (molecules that trigger humoral responses) from twelve infectious agents: cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, herpes simplex virus 1 and 2, varicella zoster virus, influenza A virus, measles, mumps, rubella, and hepatitis B virus, Helicobacter pylori and Toxoplasma gondii.

In order to assess the importance of non-genetic factors, the researchers looked at the impact of numerous demographic variables. They identified age and sex as the most important determinants of humoral response, with older individuals and women showing stronger antibody responses against most antigens.

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New genes linked to childhood nephrotic syndrome identified

Childhood nephrotic syndrome is one of the most common chronic kidney diseases among children.

A Japanese research team led by Professor Kazumoto Iijima, Associate Professor Kandai Nozu and Tomoko Horinouchi, identified a group of genes which are strongly related to the development of childhood nephrotic syndrome.

Also known as nephrosis, childhood nephrotic syndrome is an incurable disease with an unknown cause, characterised by large amounts of protein leaving the body in the patient’s urine, and protein levels in the bloodstream becoming extremely low.

The majority of patients develop a steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome that responds to steroids and immune-suppressing drugs and go into remission, but at least 20% of cases are resistant strains that recur repeatedly during adulthood.

It is found that people who are genetically predisposed develop the syndrome when exposed to an immunological stimulus such as infection.

The research team is currently carrying out a genome-wide association study using the Japonica Array that targets 1,152 samples from infant nephrotic syndrome sufferers and a control group of 2,807 healthy Japanese individuals….READ MORE

Physical activities can reduce risk of cancer

A healthy diet and physical activities with no alcohol consumption can help in reducing overall cancer risk besides also lowering breast, prostate and colorectal cancer risks.

Researchers at the American Association for Cancer Research analysed the nutritional scores which showed the biggest benefit from a diet that discourages alcohol and reduces the risk of cancer.

The researchers estimated that in developed countries, around 35 per cent of breast cancers and 45 per cent of colorectal cancers could be avoided by better adherence to nutritional recommendations. It is, therefore, very important to investigate the role of nutrition in cancer prevention.

This study evaluated three previously validated nutritional recommendations: The WCRF/AICR score; the Alternate Healthy Eating Index; and the French Nutrition and Health Program-Guidelines Score, plus one relatively new index, the MEDI-LITE score, which measures adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Researchers found that all the diets were associated with some reduced risk, but the WCRF/AICR recommendations, developed specifically with cancer prevention in mind, had the strongest association with reduced risk…READ MORE

Mind-body therapies can help teens with anxiety

Turns out, biofeedback, mindfulness, yoga, and hypnosis provide a promising approach to the very common problem of anxiety in adolescents.

Researchers at Wolters Kluwer Health stated that the currently recommended treatments for adolescent anxiety i.e. cognitive behavioral therapy and antidepressant medications have important limitations.

Anxiety and fear are typical reactions to the academic, social, and developmental challenges that are common during the adolescent years. Clinical or pathological anxiety is excessive, persistent, and disruptive. While anxiety is often situational and time-limited, many teens develop chronic anxiety lasting six months or longer.

Mind-body therapies encompass self-regulation and positive thinking to help promote self-control, physical health, and emotional well-being.

Biofeedback techniques enable individuals to increase self-awareness and physical control through feedback on biological measures whereas mindfulness techniques incorporate aspects of meditation, body scanning…CLICK HERE