Page 177 - Health Medical Pharma

Swine flu in Rajasthan: Toll reaches 48 as 5 more die

Five people in Rajasthan have reportedly died on Saturday due to swine flu, taking the death toll to 48 in just the first 19 days of 2019, health officials said.

Being bilingual may not benefit your kids

Do you think bilingualism will benefit your kid in any way? Think twice. A new study suggests that although speaking more than one language can provide social opportunities along the way, bilingual children are not necessarily more advantageous than monolingual ones when it comes to executive functions.

Now, gene therapy promotes nerve regeneration

A research conducted by the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN) and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) has shown that treatment using gene therapy leads to faster recovery after nerve damage.The research combined a surgical repair procedure with gene therapy and stimulated the survival of nerve cells and the regeneration of nerve fibres over a long distance.The findings, published in the journal Brain, are an important step towards the development of a new treatment for the people with nerve damage.The study states that during birth or following a traffic accident, nerves in the neck can be torn out of the spinal cord. As a result, these patients lose their arm function and are unable to perform daily activities such as drinking a cup of coffee.Currently, surgical repair is the only available treatment for patients suffering from this kind of nerve damage."After surgery, nerve fibres have to bridge many centimetres before reaching the muscles and nerve cells from ...

Positive psychology exercises boost happiness during substance use disorder recovery period: Study

Self-administered exercises can significantly boost in-the-moment happiness for adults recovering from substance use disorders, suggests a recent study.The study, published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, examined whether positive psychology exercises increase happiness in people recovering from substance use."Addiction scientists are increasingly moving beyond the traditional focus on reducing or eliminating substance use by advocating treatment protocols that encompass quality of life. Yet orchestrated positive experiences are rarely incorporated into treatment for those with substance use disorders," said Bettina B. Hoeppner, lead author of the study.As part of the study, the authors noted that effectiveness of positive psychology exercises may be promising tools for bolstering happiness during treatment and may help support long-term recovery.According to lead researchers, the study underlines the importance of offsetting the challenges of recovery with positive ...

Study links long periods of undisturbed sleep during pregnancy with stillbirth

Sleeping more than nine hours per night during pregnancy could be associated with late stillbirth, suggests a recent study.Researchers analysed online surveys involving 153 women who had experienced a late stillbirth the previous month and 480 women with ongoing third-trimester pregnancy or who had recently delivered a live-born baby during the same period.The findings, which appeared in the Journal of Birth, suggested an association between lengthy periods of undisturbed maternal sleep and stillbirths that were independent of other risk factors.But researchers caution that further research is needed to better understand the relationship and what it means for pregnant women."Pregnant women often report waking up and getting up in the middle of the night. While multiple awakenings during the night may concern some women, in the context of stillbirth it appears to be protective," said Louise O'Brien, lead author of the study.She notes that while there is already evidence that very ...

Novel antibiotic to combat drug-resistant hospital superbug

Researchers have now developed a new antibiotic that is heralded as a breakthrough against a lethal drug-resistant hospital superbug.

Placenta helps keep baby healthy during pregnancy complications: Study

Placenta regulates how much of oxygen and nutrients need to be transported to babies during challenging pregnancies, and is trained to adapt when to-be mothers have poor diets or low oxygen, a recent study suggests.The study, published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, observed that the placenta is the least understood organ and is notoriously difficult to study in pregnant women. But its ability to function properly is vital as it has a direct impact on pregnancy outcomes and the lifelong health of mother and child.The placenta develops during pregnancy and connects the developing baby to the mother. It serves as the lungs, kidneys, gut and liver for growing babies and carries oxygen and nutrients to the fetus whilst secreting hormones and discarding waste.The research focused on analysing small parts of the placental cells called mitochondria. Mitochondria are the energy powerhouses found in most cells of the body and use oxygen to convert sugars and fat into ..

Anti-inflammatory drugs may put you at heart attack risk

If you have been hit by the winter cold and are thinking about taking medicines that relieve your aches, pains and congestion, be careful. Those may also put your heart at risk, the American Heart Association has warned.

Alphabet's health division gets clearance for on-demand ECG feature in smartwatch

After Apple, Google's parent company Alphabet is working its way towards bringing health at the center of its products. Now, the company's health division Verily has reportedly received FDA 510(k) clearance for its Study smartwatch for an on-demand ECG feature.The Study Watch, announced two years ago, is intended to be a test platform for the company to research how to best gather health data on a wearable device, The Verge reported.The smartwatch already had the ECG feature, however, it didn't receive clearance from the FDA. The feature is increasingly becoming a standard for a lot of manufacturers and FDA's clearance for the feature in a Class II device is not for the actual efficacy of the device, but only that it is safe to use.Alphabet's Study Watch is a prescription-only device and is not meant to be a consumer smartwatch. The EKG feature on the Study Watch is intended to record, store, transfer, and display single-channel ECG rhythms.

Smoking may accelerate ageing: Study

Scientists who used artificial intelligence to determine biological age differences driven by smoking have found that smokers age much faster than their peers. Smoking has long been proven to negatively affect people's overall health in multiple ways. "Smoking is a real problem that destroys people's health, causes premature deaths, and is often the cause of many serious diseases," said Polina Mamoshina, a senior research scientist at Insilico Medicine in the US. "We applied artificial intelligence to prove that smoking significantly increases your biological age," said Mamoshina. The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, set out to determine biological age differences between smokers and non-smokers. The team evaluated the impact of smoking using blood biochemistry and recent advances in artificial intelligence. By employing age-prediction models developed by supervised deep learning techniques, the study analysed a number of biochemical markers, including measures ...

Wearable tool can detect anxiety, depression in children

Scientists have developed a wearable tool that can identify anxiety and depression in young children, paving the way for early detection and treatment of such disorders. Anxiety and depression are surprisingly common among young children -- as many as one in five kids suffer from one of them, starting as early as the preschool years. However, it can be hard to detect these conditions, known as "internalising disorders," because the symptoms are so inward-facing that parents, teachers and doctors often fail to notice them. If left untreated, children with internalising disorders are at greater risk of substance abuse and suicide later in life. "Because of the scale of the problem, this begs for a screening technology to identify kids early enough so they can be directed to the care they need," said Ryan McGinnis, a biomedical engineer at the University of Vermont in the US. Researchers develop a tool that could help screen children for internalising disorders to catch them early enough

Lilly cancer drug fails key trial, will no longer be prescribed

(Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co said on Friday that its cancer treatment Lartruvo, which had won conditional approval, failed to improve patient survival in a long-term confirmatory study and will no longer be prescribed, driving the drugmaker's shares down nearly 3 percent.

Hockey legend Balbir Singh discharged from PGI after three months

Hockey legend Balbir Singh Senior was on Friday discharged from PGIafter spending 108 days in the hospital, where he took treatment for Bronchial Pneumonia. A press release from PGI said it will take Singh four to six months to recover. "It is an unparalleled achievement and credit to his gritthat he could recover at the age of 95 from the scenario of Bronchial Pneumonia and near cardiac failure that he was initially admitted with," Prof. Jagat Ram, Director PGIMER said. "We wish him a speedy recovery & good health in the future for a long time to come and look forward to inviting him as our guest in PGIMER in the not so distant future." Singh, who won three Olympic gold medals with the Indian hockey team, was admitted to PGI on October 2 after he complained of breathing difficulty. Immediately after being admitted, the legendary centre-forward, was treated at the Respiratory Intensive Care Unit (RICU) of the renowned hospital. Kabir,the grandson ofSingh, thanked the PGI team for .

Extreme distress increases risk for dementia: Study

Men and women who are distressed in midlife could be at higher risk of developing dementia in their old age, suggests a new study.

Lilly's cancer therapy Lartruvo fails study, shares drop

(Reuters) - Eli Lilly and Co said its cancer treatment Lartruvo failed to meet the main goal in a late-stage trial and it expects to take a charge in the first quarter of 2019, sending its shares down more than 2 percent in early trade.

High levels of frailty may predict dementia risk: Lancet

Frailty can make older adults more susceptible to Alzheimer's dementia, finds a study that suggest that frailty should be considered in clinical care and management of the age-related disease.

Sleeping for long hours during pregnancy linked to stillbirths

Sleeping more than nine hours per night during pregnancy may be associated with late stillbirth, suggests a new study.

Prolonged undisturbed sleep during pregnancy may lead to stillbirth

A new Michigan-led international study suggests that sleeping more than nine hours per night during pregnancy may be associated with late stillbirth.Researchers analysed online surveys involving 153 women who had experienced a late stillbirth within the previous month and 480 women with an ongoing third-trimester pregnancy or who had recently delivered a live born baby during the same period.The findings, published in journal Birth, suggest an association between lengthy periods of undisturbed maternal sleep and stillbirths that were independent of other risk factors.However, researchers caution that further research is needed to better comprehend the relationship and what it signifies for pregnant women.Speaking about the study, lead author of the study Louise O'Brien, from the University of Michigan said, "Pregnant women often report waking up and getting up in the middle of the night."Brien is a researcher in the Division of Sleep Medicine, Department of Neurology and the ...

Woman who got HIV after blood transfusion delivers baby girl

A 24-year-old woman, who contracted HIV at a government hospital allegedly after being transfused contaminated blood, has given birth to a baby girl here. The woman had a normal delivery Thursday, Government Rajaji Hospital dean Dr S Shanmughasundaram told PTI, adding that the baby weighed 1.75 kg. "C-section would have facilitated lesser contact with the mother's blood. But the mother developed labour pain and the delivery happened quickly," he said. The low birth weight baby is being treated in the hospital's neo-natal intensive care unit and has been administered medicines for prevention of HIV transmission, the dean said. A healthy baby weighs between 2.5 kg and 3.5 kg at birth. HIV screening would be conducted on the 45th day to ascertain whether the child has been infected by the virus, he added. Last month, the pregnant woman contracted HIV at a government hospital in Sattur in Virudhunagar district allegedly after being transfused contaminated blood supplied by

Low-cost enzyme test to detect diseases, infection

Researchers say they have developed an inexpensive and faster enzyme test that can accurately detect diseases and bacterial contamination. The test, developed by scientists at the Queen's University Belfast in the UK, can detect enzyme markers of diseases known as proteases in humans, animals and food products. Proteases are crucial for microorganism growth and are responsible for the progression of many diseases, according to the study published in the journal Nano Research. Levels of proteases can be highly elevated in the urine of patients with diabetic kidney disease, or at the sites of infected wounds. Current protease detection methods are costly, time-consuming and are not always effective, researchers said. Scientists developed a nanosensor which has resulted in sensitive, fast and cost effective protease detection in milk and urine. "Not only is the test cheap to produce, but it can be used anywhere and is not reliant on laboratory conditions," said Claire McVey from the ...