Page 641 - Health Medical Pharma

Country's first online oncology tutorial series launched

Aimed at training doctors in early detection and prevention of various types of cancer, the health ministry today launched the country's first online oncology tutorial series designed by the Tata Memorial Centre. This is part of a national programme that will be rolled out across the country by Tata Memorial Centre in collaboration with state governments. Speaking at the launch, Health Secretary Preeti Sudan said that this was a "visionary step" that would leverage advances in information technology to strengthen health outreach and health services in the country. "This initiative will help the doctors upgrade their knowledge and skills and help them save many precious lives," Sudan said. The course is intended for physicians, gynecologists, dentists and other healthcare professionals who are not oncologists, but can play a very crucial role in early detection and diagnosis of various types of cancer, Sudan said. This will equip them with the skills and knowledge on ...

Australia green-lights medicinal cannabis exports

Australia agreed to allow exports of medicinal cannabis today in a boost to budding domestic manufacturers, as it eyes becoming a leading world supplier. The country's first medical marijuana farm received its growers' licence in March last year and others have followed, with the government seeing a big future for the industry. "This is actually a very important step for our domestic patients and our domestic supply," Health Minister Greg Hunt told broadcaster ABC. "By knowing they have an Australian market and an international market, that improves the likelihood of growing and production in Australia." He added that Australia was keen to become "the world's number one medicinal cannabis supplier", but that a condition of any export licence was that local patients were taken care of first. "We want a robust Australian medicinal cannabis industry so that doctors have safe, quality domestic products that they can confidently prescribe to their patients," said Hunt. While

Dietary sugar linked to spread of superbug: Study

A dietary sugar approved as a food additive for use in foods from sushi and vegetables to ice cream may have fuelled the frequency and severity of a deadly superbug, scientists say.

Apex Heart Institute performs coronary angioplasty with vascular robotic technology

A milestone for the history of interventional cardiology field in India has been achieved by world renowned Interventional Cardiologist Dr. Tejas Patel, Chairman and Chief Interventional Cardiologist at Apex Heart Institute, Ahmedabad. He announced the first commercial installation of Vascular Robotics system - CorPath GRX (US FDA approved) at Apex Heart Institute.This is the first and the only Vascular Robotic system outside the United States.Dr. Tejas Patel is a global key opinion leader and pioneer of the transradial access technique (angioplasty / stenting through the wrist artery), who has trained over5,000 cardiologists on this technique over the course of 25 years of his career.The hospital's first robotic-assisted stenting was performed via right dorsal transradial access by Dr. Tejas Patel. Within three weeks of vascular robotics installation at his center, Dr. Tejas Patel along with his partner Dr. Sanjay Shah has performed more than 50 coronary angioplasty / stenting ...

Ways to counter winter chill

Common cold is pretty much around in winter, but it can be countered easily. Simple steps such as getting enough sleep, drinking plenty of water or a mug of lemon tea with a teaspoon of honey can help you keep cold at bay, suggest experts.

Swine flu alert in Rajasthan

Rajasthan government on Thursday declared a red alert across the state in the wake of a large number of patients being reported positive for swine flu.

New sperm-sorting device may boost IVF success

US researchers have developed a sperm-sorting device that can select faster and healthier sperm and help women undergoing in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) become pregnant with fewer treatment cycles.

Triesta Unit of HCG to combine with Strand Life Sciences

Healthcare Global Enterprises today announced execution of definitive agreements for the business combination of its unit Triesta Sciences with bio- informatics firm Strand Life Sciences Pvt Ltd. The combination of Triesta and Strand creates an integrated platform with end-to-end capabilities in precision medicine, Healthcare Global Enterprises (HCG) said in a filing to BSE. HCG Chairman and CEO B S Ajaikumar said: "Strand and Triesta have been working together in bioinformatics and clinical genomics. We are now excited to combine our strengths and resources towards redefining precision medicine." Strand, a spin-off from the Indian Institute of Science, is the leader in genomic testing for cancer and inherited diseases in India , the filing said. "Together we are well on the path to building Asia's leading integrated analytics driven diagnostic and genomics research company. Through this alliance we will work together to be at the forefront of precision medicine," Strand

Virus that can help treat brain tumours identified

A virus injected directly into the bloodstream could be used to treat people with aggressive brain tumours, a study has found. Scientists from the University of Leeds and The Institute of Cancer Research in London have found that the naturally occurring virus could act as an effective immunotherapy in patients with brain cancer or other cancers that have spread to the brain. They showed that a type of virus called reovirus could cross the blood-brain barrier to reach tumours, where it is hoped they will replicate and kill the cancer cells. They also found that the virus was able to 'switch-on' the body's own defence systems to attack the cancer. The reovirus therapy could be used in conjunction with other cancer therapies to make them more potent and a clinical trial is currently underway. Since the virus infects cancer cells and leaves healthy cells alone, patients receiving the treatment reported only mild flu-like side effects. Up to now, scientists thought it was ...

Saksoft acquires California based startup Faichi Solutions

Through subsidiary Saksoft Inc.

Bharat Biotech's typhoid vaccine gets WHO prequalification

The World Health Organization (WHO) has given its nod to Bharat Biotech's typhoid vaccine Typbar TCV, which has longer-lasting immunity than existing vaccines, requires fewer doses and can be used on recipients over six months of age. The WHO prequalification paves the way for health and humanitarian organisations such as UNICEF, GAVI and Pan- American Health Organization to procure it for public health vaccination programmes across the world. "The fact that the vaccine has been prequalified by the WHO means that it meets acceptable standards of quality, safety and efficacy. "This makes the vaccine eligible for procurement by UN agencies such as UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance," the WHO said in a statement. In October 2017, the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation, which advises the WHO, recommended TCV for routine use in children over 6 months of age in typhoid endemic countries. SAGE also called for the introduction of TCV to be ...

Glenmark launches biosimilar of Adalimumab

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals today announced the launch of Adalimumab's biosimilar under a licensing pact with Zydus group firm Cadila Healthcare, for treatment of plaque psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis in the country. The biosimilar product, developed by researchers at the Zydus Research Centre, was first launched by Zydus in 2014 and is manufactured at Zydus Biologics, Glenmark said in a statement. The biosimilar will be marketed by Glenmark under the brand name ADALY, it added. "Being leader in the dermatology segment in India, ADALY is an important launch. The launch of this biosimilar will significantly enhance our presence in this segment," Glenmark India Formulations, Middle East and Africa President Sujesh Vasudevan said. ADALY will be available to patients in India at a fraction of the global cost, he added without disclosing the exact price at which the product will be sold in the country. Shares of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals were today trading at Rs 588.40 per ..

Immune boosting virus may boost brain tumour treatment

A naturally occurring virus, which can be injected directly into the bloodstream, has the potential to boost the immune system and enable it fight aggressive brain tumours, scientists have found.

Caffeine level in blood may help diagnose Parkinson's disease

How your body metabolises coffee can help diagnose Parkinson's disease, according to a study which found that people with the neurodegenerative disorder have significantly lower levels of caffeine in their blood. "Previous studies have shown a link between caffeine and a lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease, but we haven't known much about how caffeine metabolises within the people with the disease," said Shinji Saiki from Juntendo University in Japan. The study involved 108 people who had Parkinson's disease for an average of about six years and 31 people of the same age who did not have the disease. Their blood was tested for caffeine and for 11 byproducts the body makes as it metabolises caffeine. They were also tested for mutations in genes that can affect caffeine metabolism. The two groups consumed about the same amount of caffeine, with an average equivalent to about two cups of coffee per day. However, the people with Parkinson's disease had ...

Vitamin C boosts efficacy of tuberculosis drugs

Giving vitamin C with tuberculosis drugs could reduce the unusually long time it takes these medicines to eradicate the deadly pathogen, a study suggests. Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the US treated Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected mice with anti-tuberculosis drugs or vitamin C alone, or the drugs and vitamin C together. They measured M tuberculosis (Mtb) organ burdens at four and six weeks post treatment. Vitamin C had no activity by itself, but in two independent experiments, the combination of vitamin C with the first-line TB drugs, isoniazid and rifampicin, reduced the organ burdens faster than the two drugs without vitamin C. Experiments in infected tissue cultures demonstrated similar results, shortening the time to sterilisation of the tissue culture by seven days, researchers said. "Our study shows that the addition of vitamin C to TB drug treatment potentiates the killing of Mtb and could shorten TB chemotherapy," said William R ...

Vitamin C can enhance tuberculosis treatment

For people suffering from tuberculosis (TB), including foods rich in Vitamin C such as bell peppers, dark leafy greens, broccoli, kiwifruit, berries and oranges in the diet along with regular medication can enhance treatment and enable a faster recovery, suggests a study.

Caffeine level in blood may predict Parkinson's disease

The way your body metabolises your cup of coffee each morning may determine your chances of developing Parkinson's disease, according to a study.

Skin tissue with hair grown successfully from mice cells

In a first, scientists have successfully grown skin tissues complete with hair follicles using stem cells of mice, that can be used for drug testing and understanding hair growth. The skin model more closely resembles natural hair than existing models and may prove useful for reducing the practice of animal testing. Karl Koehler, assistant professor at the Indiana University in the US, originally began using pluripotent stem cells from mice, which can develop into any type of cells in the body, to create organoids - miniature organs in vitro - that model the inner ear. However, researchers discovered that they were generating skin cells in addition to inner ear tissue, and their research shifted towards coaxing cells into sprouting hair follicles. The research demonstrates that a single skin organoid unit developed in culture can give rise to both the upper and lower layers of skin, which grow together in a process that allows hair follicles to form the same way as they .

Philippines fines Sanofi, suspends clearance for Dengvaxia

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has fined Sanofi $2,000 and suspended clearance for the French drug maker's controversial dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, citing violations on product registration and marketing, its health secretary said on Thursday.

Novel sperm-sorting device could improve IVF success

Women undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) may become pregnant with fewer treatment cycles, thanks to a new device that can select faster and healthier sperm cells, scientists, including one of Indian origin, have found. The microfluidic device dubbed SPARTAN, short for Simple Periodic ARray for Trapping And IsolatioN, was developed by a team of researchers from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) and Stanford University in the US. It uses a field of three-dimensional posts that create an obstacle course for the swimming sperm cells. The strongest and healthiest sperm get through this array the fastest and then are collected at the outlet to be used in the IVF process, according to researchers, including Thiruppathiraja Chinnasamy from Stanford University. Traditional sperm-sorting methods used in IVF treatments select sperm that are the fastest swimmers. The SPARTAN device collects sperm that are the fastest and also the healthiest because it culls out those with ..