New Delhi,

The World Health Organisation’s TB report released today said India recorded 21.4 lakh TB cases in 2021, 18 per cent higher than 2020.

The WHO report notes the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the diagnosis, treatment and burden of the disease all over the world.

The Ministry of Health today said it had taken note of the report and added that India had, in fact, performed far better on major metrics as compared to other countries over time.

18% higher than 2020

• India’s TB incidence for 2021 is 210 per 1,00,000 population — compared to the baseline year of 2015
• One out of every four TB cases worldwide is in India

“India’s TB incidence for 2021 is 210 per 1,00,000 population — compared to the baseline year of 2015 (incidence was 256 per lakh of population in India); there has been an 18 per cent decline, which is 7 percentage points better than the global average of 11 per cent. These figures also place India at the 36th position in terms of incidence rates (from largest to smallest incidence numbers),” the government said.

While the pandemic impacted TB programmes across the world, India was able to successfully offset the disruptions caused, through the introduction of critical interventions in 2020 and 2021 — this led to the National TB Elimination Programme notifying over 21.4 lakh TB cases — 18 per cent higher than 2020, the ministry explained.

It said this success could be attributed to an array of forward-looking measures implemented by the programme over the years, such as the mandatory notification policy to ensure all cases are reported to the government. “Further, intensified door-to-door active case finding drives to screen patients and ensure no household is missed, has been a pillar of the programme. In 2021, over 22 crore people were screened for TB,” the government said.

 Patiala, 

Amid the shortage of medicines and surgical items, the Government Rajindra Hospital has stopped conducting heart surgeries. No bypass and open-heart surgeries have been performed at the hospital since October 15. It has been learnt that 10 planned surgeries are already pending and this number is increasing with each passing day. A superspecialist doctor working at the hospital said poor patients couldn’t buy surgical items and medicines for heart surgeries on their own as they were very expensive. “Around Rs 1.5 lakh-worth surgical items and other medicines are required for one heart surgery. Poor patients cannot afford expensive surgical items on their own,” he said.

The Tribune on Friday found that there was a shortage of even syringes at the hospital. As basic medicines are not available at hospitals, poor patients are the worst hit who have to purchase medicines from private shops.

Chief minister Bhagwant Mann had visited the hospital on October 19 and had assured the provision of medicines at the earliest.

When the issue was raised with Health and Medical Eduction Minister Chetan Singh Jouramajra, he said, “We have already released Rs 13 crore. The issue will be resolved in 10 days.”

Meanwhile, sources said owing to the pending bill worth crores of rupees, Jan Aushadi Kendra couldn’t purchase the medicines.

Employees at Jan Aushadi Kendra informed that they couldn’t purchase the medicines for the past few weeks. Consequently, patients admitted there are not able to buy even the basic medicines from Rajindra hospital’s Jan Aushadi Kendra where medicines are given at subsidised rates.

 When Chastity Murry had her first psychotic break, she went into her bathroom and downed a whole bottle of pills, hoping to die. Her teenage daughter had to perform CPR to save her life.

Around that same time more than a decade ago, the man who would become her husband, Dante Murry, also lost touch with reality and considered suicide.

Different illnesses led them down similar paths bipolar disorder in her case and schizoaffective disorder in his conditions long considered by many to be distinct and unrelated.

But a growing body of research shows that bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and the in-between diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder share common genetic underpinnings as well as overlapping symptoms and signs.

"They can be considered as part of a spectrum, said Dr. Morgan Sheng, who co-directs a psychiatric research center at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

Bipolar disorder is known for causing extreme mood swings. Schizophrenia is characterized by delusions, hallucinations and disordered thinking. Schizoaffective disorder includes symptoms of both.

The theory that they exist on a continuum has gained ground as more and more studies have found that variations in some of the same genes influence how susceptible people are to these conditions. One of the latest examples is the AKAP11 gene, which scientists at Broad and elsewhere pinpointed as a strong risk factor for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in research published in the journal Nature Genetics this year.

Experts say these insights will help doctors better understand what drives the illnesses, how they affect the body's most notoriously bewildering organ and what more can be done to help people. Down the road, experts envision the research could help guide treatment and lead to better drugs. For now, they hope it reinforces the idea that such disorders are biologically rooted and not moral failings or mysterious, unknowable conditions.

That's what the science is giving us a clear indication that there are genetic markers and risk factors, said Dr. Ken Duckworth, chief medical officer for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The Murrys who met through the alliance and married in 2020 hope the research provides answers for them and so many others with mental illness who they've gotten to know. With they help of doctors and one another, they are keeping their disorders in check and have found purpose helping others in similar straits.

Chastity Murry, 48, called them perfect partners; He's the peanut butter; I'm the jelly.

Yes, Dante Murry, 50, added with a smile. She's sweeter than I am.

PASSING DOWN PUZZLING CONDITIONS

Mental illness runs in both of their families haunting hers for at least five generations, she says.

Knowing this helped me to understand why this is happening to me, Chastity Murry said. That possibility was always there.

Sheng said genetics plays a big part in bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia. But experience and environment also play a big part, and these things interact in subtle ways. So it's not like everyone with risk genes is destined to become ill.

Morgan said a severe risk gene for schizophrenia, for example, may increase the chance of getting the disease 10-fold. But that only brings it up to 10%, since the population-wide risk of developing the illness is 1%. Given those odds, parents with the gene might not have any children with the illness.

But if you take a whole extended family that has that risk gene, there will be a number of cases popping up, Morgan said. It's a roll of the dice.

Experts say other illnesses along what some call the psychosis continuum are also more likely. When you look at a family, if you have one person with schizophrenia, you're more likely to have schizophrenia yourself, but you're also more likely to have bipolar, said Dr. Fernando Goes, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University.

The same is true for schizoaffective disorder, studies show.

There are no tests for these conditions which together affect around 9 million U.S. adults so diagnosis is based on history and the sometimes overlapping symptoms. For instance, psychosis can happen in all three illnesses.

This can make diagnosis difficult. Sally Littlefield of Oakland, California, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, then schizoaffective disorder, after spiraling into psychosis during a work meeting in 2018. For 10 months, she was convinced a team of psychologists had assumed control of her life and were experimenting on her against her will.

At one point during a manic episode, Littlefield wandered the streets of San Francisco, breaking into houses and cars, shoplifting and jumping from one car rooftop to another. She was eventually tackled by police and hospitalized. She came to realize she was ill when her delusions got so grandiose she believed she was president of the United States.

She said she's now doing well and willing to tell her story to help dispel stigma, discrimination and shame, which prevents a lot of us from recovering.

A VERY LONG JOURNEY'

People with mental illness hope stigma fades as doctors learn more about how these disorders arise and affect the brain.

A 2019 study said a growing number of experts now recognize that schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar not only share common genetic risk factors and symptoms but also look similar in neuroimaging and may have common treatment regimens. The mood stabilizer lithium, for example, is often used to treat bipolar and schizoaffective disorder. The recent Broad Institute research may provide clues to how the drug works, since AKAP11 interacts with what's thought to be lithium's target.

Other drugs also treat more than one of the illnesses. The Murrys take several of the same medications.

Someday, experts said genetic insights might allow doctors to intervene earlier in the disease process. While few people get genetic testing now except perhaps to see how they might react to a particular drug scientists said that could change in the future. If people knew their genetic risk and family history, Sheng said, they could seek help if something didn't seem quite right, before an illness caused major problems.

Some scientists, while acknowledging common genetic underpinnings of bipolar, schizoaffective disorder and schizophrenia, are skeptical about framing them as on a psychosis continuum, particularly if that leads to changing categories doctors use to diagnose people with each disorder. They say the current criteria are useful in deciding treatment and care.

Scientists agree that more research is needed. Finding new illness risk genes, for instance, is only the first step toward developing new medicines. A Broad road map says researchers must also figure out how the genes function, understand disease mechanisms and identify targets for the drugs.

NAMI's Duckworth said it might be 5 to 50 years before genetic findings translate into changes in clinical practice. It's a very long journey.

Meanwhile, many people living with mental illness rely on peer support in addition to medication and psychotherapy. The Murrys check on each other daily.

I can always tell when he's having a bad day. He can always tell when I'm having a bad day, said Chastity Murry, who has also been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and an anxiety disorder. If I'm acting a little off or something, he'll ask me: Have you taken your meds today? But I don't get offended because I know he's got my best interest in mind.

Both have also learned and grown from working as volunteers. Together, they facilitate support groups twice a week, check in with peers regularly by phone, and have been trained to help people who are suicidal.

This is my path in life, and his path as well, Chastity Murry said. We're helping them, but they're also helping us. 

 "New research papers should come from KGMU, on behalf of every faculty member"

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday advised the state's doctors to write research papers and get them published and not limit themselves to treating patients.

Adityanath inaugurated the the Department of Vascular Surgery and Thoracic Surgery at the King George Medical University (KGMU) and also launched Asia's first 'Pathogen Reduction Machine'.

"Some teachers of the KGMU have been recognised across the world as good scientists, but still there is a need for us to do a lot more," the chief minister said.

 

 

"When we talk about appointing doctors of existing medical colleges as teachers in newly set up medical colleges, the NMC (National Medical Commission) says that it has no objection but the problem is that they have not written a single research paper," he added.

If we are not able to write research papers, there will be no progress towards patenting, the chief minister asserted.

"There is no shortage of patients in KGMU but where are the research papers and publications? We have to make it a part of our daily routine and if we do not engage with it, it will hinder our progress," he said.

"Let us also make writing a habit. Don't just limit yourself to treatment. New research papers should come from KGMU, on behalf of every faculty member, on behalf of every department, we should give our publications. All the departments here should have some articles published in international journals," he said.

The chief minister said KGMU must move with the times.

"KGMU has come a long way. Five years ago, KGMU completed its 100-year journey, which is a milestone for any institution. In these 100 years, a lot of progress has been made in many areas of medical science," he said. 

Washington [US], October 22 (ANI): A recent study has discovered that a large number of chimps in Europe have low vitamin D levels, which might have a severe impact on their health.

The study, which is the largest of its kind, is published in the journal Scientific Reports. The authors say this research will help improve care and nutrition practices in these endangered animals.

Vitamin D deficiency is described by some as a pandemic, thought to affect up to 1 billion people worldwide. Vitamin D is well-known for its importance in maintaining calcium levels in the body, which is essential to the functioning of bones and muscles. However, vitamin D has a much wider range of biological functions, and prolonged vitamin D deficiency has been associated with a variety of disorders in humans such as heart diseases, cancers, autoimmune diseases, and respiratory infections.

Comparatively little is known about vitamin D in non-human primates. An international team of experts, including academics at the Universities of Nottingham, Birmingham, St George’s and Hong Kong, as well as zoo veterinarians from Twycross and Perth zoos, have set up a Europe-wide research project to investigate this in our closest animal relatives.

The international study found that inadequate vitamin D levels are widespread in chimpanzees living in Europe. This in turn could be a risk factor for the development of a mysterious heart disease that commonly affects them: IMF, or Idiopathic Myocardial Fibrosis.

The same research group previously investigated IMF in detail and found that a majority of chimpanzees from Europe showed the characteristic changes of this disease, but animals from Africa were not affected.

Dr Melissa Grant at the University of Birmingham said “This is essential research to further understand the factors contributing to maintaining a healthy in-human-care chimpanzee population for the future of the species. Such a wide range of individuals and locations has not been explored before and this reveals potential new ways to care for these animals.”

During the study, the team analysed samples from around 20% of all chimpanzees living in Europe. The samples came from 32 European zoos and sanctuaries, and were collected opportunistically when the animals were anaesthetised for health checks or minor veterinary procedures. The researchers analysed the samples along with detailed information about the individual animals and their care practices, as well as their geographical location, to understand which factors could be important for their vitamin D supply.

Sophie Moittie, who led the study originally at Twycross Zoo and is now an assistant professor at the University of St George’s, said: “There is clear correlation between vitamin D status and several diseases in humans. We share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees, therefore we need to assume that they might be at risk as well. It is our responsibility to ensure they get the best care possible, so we can preserve them into the future.”

Their findings show that unlimited outdoor access resulted in higher vitamin D levels, even for those animals living in Northern Europe, where sunny days are rare compared with their natural African habitat. Like in humans, there were also clear differences in vitamin D between seasons, and for many chimpanzees their end-of-summer concentrations may not be high enough to avoid a winter deficiency. Even chimpanzees living in Southern Europe are at risk of becoming vitamin D deficient, similarly to the humans living there.

These findings will now inform how these animals are cared for in zoos and sanctuaries, contributing to continuous improvements in welfare standards.

Professor Kate White from the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham said: “This is a really good example of clinical research informing best practice: unlimited outdoor access for these captive animals is likely to be more important than we previously thought.”

Professor Kerstin Baiker, the lead pathologist of this study from City University of Hong Kong said: “Vitamin D plays an important role in the transcriptional control of pro-fibrogenic and pro-inflammatory factors in the body, so adequate Vitamin D levels are vital for the health of chimpanzees in our care.”

Though vitamin D was long thought to be important only for bone health, its relevance nowadays is considered very profound. Hundreds, if not thousands of biological processes rely on its presence in humans and other animals, and a lack of this vitamin might be an important contributing factor to many modern human diseases. Understanding these in other great apes can both provide significant benefits to their conservation, and we also might learn important lessons for humans too. (ANI)

Washington [US]: Researchers have found that the region of the brain called the amygdala, which is responsible for powerful emotions like fear, might also be the reason behind overeating.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Bo Li has discovered a group of neurons in the amygdala that drives mice to eat fatty or sugary foods–even when they’re not hungry. Therapeutics targeting these neurons could lead to new treatments for obesity with minimal side effects.

Like most people, mice also tend to find foods high in fat and sugar the tastiest. They may indulge in these treats for pleasure, rather than for survival. The neurons Li and his colleagues studied trigger this behaviour, called hedonic eating. Li notes:

“Even if the animal is supposed to stop eating because they are already full, if those neurons are still active, it can still drive those animals to eat more.”

Almost no one succeeds in long-term weight management when treating obesity, Li says. Metabolic processes in the body often reverse any progress that’s made. Therapeutics can help increase the odds of successful treatment, but many drugs have unwanted side effects. “The medications currently available to aid weight management can cause significant side effects. So, a more targeted approach is needed,” Li says. “Identifying the brain circuitry that controls eating is important for developing better treatment options for people who struggle to control their weight.”

When the team switched off the specific neurons, mice weren’t drawn to the fatty, sugary foods that had tempted them before. “They just happily ate and stayed healthy,” Li says. “They not only stopped gaining weight but also seemed to be much healthier overall.” Switching these neurons off reduced overeating and protected against obesity. It also boosted the animals’ physical activity, leading to weight loss and better metabolic health.

Li and his team are exploring ways to manipulate the neurons that trigger hedonic eating. The next step, he says, is to map out how these neurons respond to different types of food and see what makes them so sensitive. He hopes this collaboration will lead to new strategies for effective anti-obesity therapeutics. (ANI)

NEW DELHI: A 57-year-old Kenyan woman diagnosed with stage IV endometrial cancer received a new lease of life after undergoing “low dose” immunotherapy and chemotherapy at a leading hospital here, doctors said on Tuesday. 

 PTI

New Delhi, October 20

Typhoid burden is decreasing in India, although overall cases are higher than previously estimated, shows a multi-year study of nationally representative antibiotic prescription data.

The researchers found that young adult patients account for close to one-third of the typhoid cases and children less than 10 years old account for more than a million cases annually.

The study, published in the BMJ Open journal, calls for including Indian’s own typhoid vaccine in its national immunisation programme.

“The key findings of the study include decline in cases from 9.9 million in 2013 to 7.9 in 2015 -- largely in the north and west regions, but children less than 10 years account for more than a million cases annually, males and boys have the highest burden,” Dr. Shaffi Koya, Research Fellow at Boston University School of Public Health, US, told PTI.

“10 different antibiotics accounted for 73 per cent of all prescriptions. Combinations and cephalosporins were the most prescribed antibiotics. Cefixime–ofloxacin combination is the preferred choice except in south India,” Koya said.

The data came from prescriptions of a panel of 4,600 private sector primary care clinicians selected through a multistage stratified random sampling.

The data had 671 million prescriptions for antibiotics extracted from the IQVIA database for the years 2013, 2014 and 2015.

The study provides the first age-specific typhoid antibiotic prescription estimates for India, using a large volume of geographically representative medical prescription audit data.

It shows a high rate of antibiotic prescription (714/100,000 population) for typhoid indicating a higher disease burden than previously estimated, especially among young adults and children, the authors said.

The team, including researchers from Public Health Foundation of India, New Delhi and Qatar University, noted that the lack of laboratory confirmation of typhoid may lead to some degree of misclassification.

 PTI

Depression treatments have the ability to rewire the human brain, according to a study that calls into question the belief that the structure of the adult brain is generally rigid.

Researchers at the University of Muenster in Germany have shown that in-patient treatment for depression can lead to an increase in brain connectivity.

Those patients who respond well to this treatment show a greater increase in connectivity than those who do not, they said.

The study, presented at the European College for Neuropsychopharmacology Congress in Vienna, Austria, calls into question the belief that the structure of the adult brain is generally rigid and incapable of rapid changes.

The researchers found that patients who responded well to anti-depression treatment, showed a greater increase in connectivity than those who did not.

“We found that treatment for depression changed the infrastructure of the brain, which goes against previous expectations,” said study lead researcher Professor Jonathan Repple.

“Treated patients showed a greater number of connections than they had shown before treatment,” Repple said.

The researchers studied 109 patients with serious depression and compared them with 55 healthy controls.

Their brains were scanned using an MRI scanner which had been set up to identify which parts of the brain were communicating with other parts, determining the level of connections within the brain.

The patients were then treated for depression, some with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), some with psychological therapy or medication, some with a combination of all therapies.

After treatment they were then rescanned and the number of connections recounted. They were also retested for symptoms of depression.

“Moreover, those who showed the most response to treatment had developed a greater the number of new connections than those who showed little response,” Repple said.

“A second scan showing that there are no time effects in healthy controls supports our findings that we see something that is related to the disease and more importantly the treatment of this disease,” said Repple.

“We don’t have an explanation as to how these changes take place, or why they should happen with such different forms of treatment,” he added.

The findings align very much with the current belief that the brain has much more flexibility in adaptation over time than was previously thought.

“This means that the brain structure of patients with serious clinical depression is not as fixed as we thought, and we can improve brain structure within a short time frame, around 6 weeks,” said Eric Ruhe, from Rabdoud Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands .

“We found that if this treatment leads to an increase in brain connectivity, it is also effective in tackling depression symptoms,” said Ruhe, who was not involved in the study.

This gives hope to patients who believe nothing can change and they have to live with a disease forever, because it is ‘set in stone’ in their brain, Ruhe added.

 

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

EU regulator endorses Takeda's dengue vaccine

The European drugs regulator on Friday recommended a dengue vaccine from Japan's Takeda, paving the way for a second vaccine for the mosquito-borne disease that causes millions of infections annually. European Medicines Agency (EMA) advisors backed the use of the Takeda vaccine for those aged 4 and older to prevent any of the four so-called serotypes of dengue.

Biden takes aim at Big Pharma, Republicans in California

U.S. President Joe Biden criticized Republicans and drug companies during a stop at a California community college on Friday as he campaigned for fellow Democrats in November's midterm elections. Biden's trip includes stops in California on Friday and Oregon on Saturday as the president looks to position his party, the Democrats, as a champion of consumers and lower healthcare costs at a time that inflation ranks among voters' top concerns. The midterm elections are on Nov. 8.

U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs Novartis, allows generic versions of MS drug

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday turned down Novartis' bid to block the launch of generic versions of the company's blockbuster multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya in a dispute with China's HEC Pharm Co Ltd and other generic drugmakers. Novartis had asked the justices to suspend a lower court's ruling that lifted a ban on generic versions of Gilenya, the Switzerland-based company's third highest-selling drug last year with $2.8 billion in sales.

Exclusive-NHS drafts stricter oversight of trans youth care

England's National Health Service has drafted new guidelines for treating transgender youth that would call for local authorities to be alerted in some cases where young people have obtained puberty blockers and hormone therapies on the private market, according to a copy of the guidelines reviewed by Reuters. The guidelines are part of a wide-ranging review of treatment for young transgender people seeking NHS care. The current approach, which can include medical interventions, has been criticized by some practitioners who said it rushed people onto medication, and by families who complained the service could not manage fast-growing demand.

Japan's Fujifilm stops work on Avigan as COVID drug

Fujifilm Holdings Corp has ended the development of its anti-influenza drug Avigan to treat COVID-19, the firm said on Friday, after more than two years of work on a pill once hailed as Japan's biggest contribution to the global coronavirus fight.

In March, Fujifilm had cut short enrolment in a Phase III trial, saying the emergence of the Omicron variant made it tough to measure the drug's effectiveness in preventing severe symptoms.

China says its zero-COVID policy is the best, most cost-effective, will improve

China's COVID-19 measures are the best, most cost-effective and will continue to improve, a spokesman for the ruling Communist Party said on Saturday. "We firmly believe that the light is ahead and perseverance is victory," Sun Yeli told a news conference in Beijing ahead of the party's 20th congress.

Long COVID at 12 months persists at 18 months, study shows

Most patients with COVID-19 who have lingering symptoms at 12 months are likely to still have symptoms at 18 months, new data suggest. The findings are drawn from a large study of 33,281 people in Scotland who tested positive for the coronavirus. Most of the results are in line with those from earlier, smaller studies.

Uganda introduces lockdown measures to halt spread of Ebola: President

Uganda President Yoweri Museveni said on Saturday the government was implementing an overnight curfew, closing places of worship and entertainment, and restricting movement into and out of two districts affected by Ebola for 21 days. The measures aimed at curbing the spread of the disease will be introduced immediately in Mubende and Kassanda districts in central Uganda, the epicenter of the epidemic, he said in a televised national address.

China reports 1,026 new COVID cases for Oct 15 vs 1,364 a day earlier

China reported 1,026 new COVID-19 infections for Oct. 15, of which 244 were symptomatic and 782 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Sunday. That compared with 1,364 new cases a day earlier - 361 symptomatic and 1,003 asymptomatic, which China counts separately.

Abbott recalls some liquid baby formula over bottle defect

 

Abbott Laboratories said on Friday it was recalling some ready-to-feed baby formula liquid products including Similac-branded items due to inadequate sealing of some bottle caps. The recall, which equates to less than one day's worth of infant formula used in the United States, is not expected to impact the overall formula supply, Abbott said in a statement.