Page 34 - Healthcare

Aspartame 'possibly' carcinogenic, yet safe at common use levels, says WHO

Citing the results of two new assessments of the health impact of the popular artificial sweetener, the WHO said that it has "limited evidence" that aspartame can cause cancer in humans

HCA Healthcare says data breach may affect 11 mn patients in 20 states

Medical giant HCA Healthcare, which operates 180 hospitals in the U.S. and Britain, says the personal data of about 11 million patients in 20 states may have been stolen in a data breach. Samples of the data, including addresses, phone numbers, emails and birth dates, were posted to an online forum popular with cybercrooks by a hacker trying to sell them. The Nashville, Tennessee-based provider said the stolen data was not believed to include Social Security numbers, payment information or clinical info such as diagnoses. However, the data did include information on scheduled appointments and medical departments involved. A file dumped online by the hacker on Monday following what appeared to be a failed attempt to extort HCA includes nearly 1 million records from the company's San Antonio division. If 11 million patients are affected, the breach would rank in the top five as reported by health care institutions to the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights.

Deep sleep improves body's response to insulin, key to regulate blood sugar

An increased responsiveness of the human body to insulin during deep sleep, in turn, improving blood sugar control the next day, may be why lack of quality sleep is considered to increase risk of diabetes, researchers say. A stronger and a more frequent linking of the deep sleep brain waves, particularly the sleep spindles and the slow waves, triggered the body's parasympathetic nervous system into action, the researchers from the University of California (UC) Berkeley, US, found after examining sleep data of 600 individuals. The parasympathetic branch of the nervous system is associated with soothing and calming the body by producing physiological effects such as slowing down the heart and dilating blood vessels. The researchers detected this shift in the participants by measuring changes in their heart rate. Further, they found that switching to this tranquil and calm mode enhanced the body's responsiveness to insulin, the blood sugar-regulating hormone, which instructs cells to

Immunotherapy for lung cancer patients improves long-term survival: Study

For non-small cell lung cancer patients who are ineligible for standard of care platinum-based chemotherapy due to worries about their capacity to survive the treatment, the trial results

PM2.5 pollution in India dips by 19% between 2017 to 2022: Report

PM2.5 pollution in rural and urban India reduced by around 19 per cent between 2017 and 2022, according to a new analysis. Uttar Pradesh leads the way with a 38 per cent decline in PM2.5 pollution in both urban and rural regions during the same period. On the other hand, Maharashtra observed the least decrease in PM2.5 pollution across the country, according to the study conducted by Climate Trends, a non-governmental environmental think tank, using satellite data from IIT Delhi. PM2.5 are fine inhalable particles, with diameters that are generally 2.5 micrometers and smaller, and are the greatest risk to health. The acceptable annual standard for PM2.5 is 40 micrograms per cubic metre. Rural India's PM 2.5 levels in 2022 stood at 46.8 microgram per cubic metre, down by 19.1 per cent compared to 2017. Urban India's PM 2.5 levels in 2022 stood at 46.4 microgram per cubic metre, down by 18.7 per cent compared to 2017. The study shows the annual average PM 2.5 levels in rural and urba

Immune response against 'bystander' virus may cause long Covid: Research

Immune inflammatory reaction not against COVID-19, but against a common, harmless, dormant "bystander" virus present in the body, driving a cytokine storm, may be behind long Covid, a new research has found. Analysing Covid-patients' blood samples, researchers found that 3 months after being hospitalised for severe infection, there was no rapid increase in the immune cells targeting SARS-CoV-2, but an increase in those targeting the dormant Cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV is usually harmless but can stay in your body for life once infected with it. The finding indicated that the prolonged inflammation at 3 months in severe patients may not be driven by SARS-CoV-2 but instead may be "bystander driven". "Long Covid occurs in one out of ten COVID-19 cases, but we still don't understand what causes it. "Several theories proposed include whether it might be triggered by an inflammatory immune response towards the virus that is still persisting in our body, sending our immune system into ...

Intermittent fasting helps protect the brain from diseases like Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease is an increasingly urgent global issue. The World Health Organization predicts that the number of people with the condition will triple by 2050

Diabetes a pandemic, needs vaccines, efficacious medication for control

It is estimated that 101 million people in India - around 10 per cent of the country's population - are suffering from diabetes

Monitor preparedness for vector-borne diseases: Mandaviya to states

With the onset of monsoon, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya urged states to review their preparedness to deal with vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya. He also asked them to raise awareness among communities for the prevention and control of such diseases anticipating the health requirements. Mandaviya virtually interacted with Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, health ministers from 22 states, principal secretaries and other senior officials as part of the review meeting on Friday. Underscoring the importance of advance preparedness and joint efforts, he said, We effectively reduce the disease burden with proactive preparation anticipating the health requirements and making adequate provisions for them ahead of time. He exhorted the states to make optimum utilisation of budget for investing in the health infrastructure, reiterating that implementation of prevention measures leads to decreased disease burden. The health minister also asked th

Canada invites 500 healthcare workers through its Express Entry draw

Canada has invited 500 healthcare workers to immigrate under its first occupation-specific draw, aiming to bring additional focus on sectors facing major labour shortages. The draw, announced by Immigration Minister Sean Fraser on Wednesday, took the number of ITAs (Invitation to Apply) issued through its flagship Express Entry system in 2023 to 60,249, a press release by the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship said. It was the first Express Entry draw pre-announced by Canada, and featured a minimum Comprehensive Ranking System score of 476, ten points lower than the 10th all-programme draw of 2023 on Tuesday, the press release said. The new draws target candidates with strong French language ability, the press release said. On Tuesday, Canada announced a new open work-permit stream to allow 10,000 H-1B visa holders in the US to come and work in the country, a move that could benefit thousands of Indian tech professionals. Taking to Twitter to announce the draw, Fr

Maps to healthcare: Google announces AI tools for Indian developers

Company will give access its speech data comprising over 4,000 hours across 38 languages

Over $200 bn may have been stolen from Covid-19 aid: Federal watchdog

More than USD 200 billion may have been stolen from two large COVID-19 relief initiatives, according to new estimates from a federal watchdog investigating federally funded programmes that helped small businesses survive the worst public health crisis in more than a hundred years. The numbers issued on Tuesday by the US Small Business Administration inspector general are much greater than the office's previous projections and underscore how vulnerable the Paycheck Protection and COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan programmes were to fraudsters, particularly during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. The inspector general's report said at least 17 percent of all COVID-EIDL and PPP funds were disbursed to potentially fraudulent actors. The fraud estimate for the COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan programme is more than USD 136 billion, which represents 33 per cent of the total money spent on that programme, according to the report. The Paycheck Protection fraud estimat

Set to launch state-of-the-art healthcare ecosystem, says Gautam Adani

First project under Rs 60,000 cr CSR corpus

GenStore - India's Dedicated Healthcare E-Commerce Platform Launched By GenWorks Health Makes Shopping Easy for Customers Across India

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Fortis to sell Vadapalani hospital operations to Sri Kauvery Medical Care

The transaction will be an all-cash deal and is estimated to be consummated by the end of July 2023, subject to certain conditions as stipulated in the definitive agreements

Undernutrition in India a big concern, urgent attention needed: experts say

Undernutrition, especially the deficiency of micronutrients, remains a big concern in India, say food experts who emphasised the need to focus more on tackling this "hidden hunger" that undermines the health of people. Undernutrition denotes insufficient intake of energy and nutrients to meet an individual's needs to maintain good health. The Global Food Policy Report (GFPR) 2023 launched this week by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) said that globally the undernourished population had increased to 768 million in 2021, marking a 34.2 per cent rise from 2014 when it was estimated to be 572 million. Undernourishment was most prevalent in Afghanistan at 30 per cent between 2019 and 2021, followed by 17 per cent in Pakistan, 16 per cent in India, 12 per cent in Bangladesh, six per cent in Nepal, and four per cent in Sri Lanka, the report said. Shahidur Rashid, Director-South Asia, IFPRI, noted that India is well placed when it comes to food production and ...

India-made cold, cough medicines under WHO lens after nations flag concern

Reports of contaminated medicines came out in 2022 in The Gambia, with subsequent reports in Indonesia, Uzbekistan, and Micronesia; all the products under the scanner are syrup-based

India is working on several projects in collaboration with NSF: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event here highlighted the various initiatives taken by India to promote education, research and entrepreneurship. He was attending the Skilling For Future event organised by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and his visit to the organisation at Alexandria, Virginia, was hosted by First Lady Jill Biden. "I am really happy to have got an opportunity to interact with young and creative minds here. India is working on several projects in collaboration with NSF. I thank First Lady Jill Biden for planning and organising this event," Modi said. The Skilling For Future event was organised to highlight the US and India's shared priorities around education and workforce. "PM @narendramodi and @FLOTUS @DrBiden participated in a unique event focused on promoting vocational education and skill development among youth. PM and @FLOTUS discussed collaborative efforts aimed at creating workforce for the future. PM highlighted various initiatives undertaken b

Coordinated efforts ensure zero death: Mandaviya reviews heatwave situation

Effective disaster response and management is a collaborative work and with coordinated actions between the Centre and states, it can be ensured there are no deaths due to heatwaves, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said on Wednesday. Mandaviya chaired a high-level meeting to review the public health preparedness for management of heat-related illnesses and virtually interacted with state health ministers, state disaster management ministers and principal secretaries/additional chief secretaries and information commissioners of seven states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana) which are experiencing severe heatwave conditions. Mandaviya said that India has demonstrated during the recent preparedness measures for cyclone Biparjoy that timely and effective coordination between the Centre and states can produce the desired outcome. Sharing of ideas, expertise and best practices by states help in enriching everyone in effectively .

Smallpox spreads in Bihar village, locals allege medical negligence

More than 100 people from 35 families have been infected with smallpox in a village in Bihar's Supaul district, an official said