Health

New Delhi, Dec 7 (IANS) Deepinder Goyal, founder and CEO of Zomato’s parent company Eternal, on Sunday shared a first look at his new product, a brain blood flow monitoring device called ‘Temple’.He posted a short teaser on Instagram with the caption “Getting there,” giving users a glimpse of the small wearable gadget.The device has sparked curiosity ever since Goyal was seen wearing a tiny golden sensor on the right side of his forehead.Many users wondered what it was, prompting him to explain its purpose in an earlier LinkedIn post.Goyal said that Temple is an ‘experimental device’ designed to measure brain blood flow accurately, in real time, and on a continuous basis.He said the device was created while he was researching his recently discussed ‘Gravity Ageing Hypothesis’.Last month, G...

Bengaluru, Dec 6 (IANS) Biopharmaceuticals company Biocon on Saturday announced to fully integrate its biosimilar unit Biocon Biologics as a wholly owned subsidiary in a $5.5 billion deal.The company, in a statement, noted that it will acquire the remaining stake in Biocon Biologics from Serum Institute Life Sciences, Tata Capital Growth Fund II, and Activ Pine LLP through a share swap of 70.28 Biocon shares for every 100 Biocon Biologics shares, at a share price of Rs 405.78 per Biocon share. The deal values Biocon Biologics at $5.5 billion.Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson, Biocon Limited, called the integration “the next chapter in our evolution”.“Strategically, Biocon will be one of the few companies offering both biosimilars and generics at a global scale. As the only company...

New Delhi, Dec 5 (IANS) Kerala has reported 170 cases and 42 deaths due to amoebic meningoencephalitis, commonly known as brain-eating amoeba infection, in 2025, the government informed the Parliament on Friday.In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister for Health Prataprao Jadhav noted that the state has reported a total of “211 cases and 53 deaths since 2023”.“While the year 2023 saw two cases and two deaths due to amoebic meningoencephalitis, it jumped to 39 cases and 9 deaths in 2024. The cases soared to 170 in 2025, and claimed 42 lives,” Jadhav said.The Minister noted an investigation on the incidence of amoebic meningoencephalitis, conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Kozhikode, in July last year.“A high-level meeting was conducted by the Secreta...

Kabul/New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Reaffirming its steadfast support for the Afghan people, India on Thursday delivered 63,734 doses of Influenza and Meningitis vaccines to Kabul.In a statement shared on X, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated, "Reaffirming its commitment to support Afghanistan’s public health. India delivers 63,734 doses of Influenza and Meningitis vaccines to Kabul."On November 28, India delivered 73 tonnes of life-saving medicines, vaccines and essential supplements to Afghanistan to help meet healthcare needs.“Augmenting Afghanistan’s healthcare efforts. India has delivered 73 tonnes of life-saving medicines, vaccines and essential supplements to Kabul to cater to urgent medical needs. India’s unwavering support to the Afghan people continues,” Jaiswal posted on...

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Malaria infected an estimated 282 million people and claimed 6,10,000 lives worldwide in 2024, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) annual World Malaria Report on Thursday, which highlighted drug resistance as a major threat to elimination efforts.While the WHO-recommended vaccines helped to prevent an estimated 170 million cases and one million deaths in 2024, this was roughly 9 million more than the previous year.An estimated 95 per cent of these deaths were in the African Region, with most occurring among children under 5.India accounted for 73.3 per cent of all cases in the WHO South-East Asia Region. The country also reported 88.7 per cent per cent of all deaths in the region.The report showed that progress in reducing the malaria deaths -- a key ...

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Air Quality Index in the Delhi NCR region has seen significant improvement this year during the October-November period, the government informed the Parliament on Thursday.In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister of State for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MoEFCC) Kirti Vardhan Singh stated that the region has recorded the lowest average concentrations of particulate matter 10 and 2.5 since 2023.The Minister explained that the AQI in October 2023 stood at 219, dipping to 234 in 2024. It improved to 223 in 2025. In November, the region recorded an AQI of 373 in 2023, which dipped to 374 in 2024. In 2025, it stood at 354.The average concentration of PM 2.5 in October 2023 was 105 μg/m3, which climbed to 114 μg/m3 in 2024. However, it saw an impr...

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Nanoplastics derived from single-use PET bottles can directly disrupt key biological systems that are vital for human health, according to a study led by the Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Mohali (INST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), on Thursday.Nanoplastics, found in food and water, are a global concern and are increasingly being detected inside the human body. But their exact effects remain poorly understood.While many studies had focused on how plastics pollute the environment or damage host tissues, almost nothing was known about their direct impact on beneficial gut microbes that are central to human health.The team led by Prashant Sharma and Sakshi Dagariya from the Chemical Biology Unit at INST found the...

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) UK researchers have found a common childhood virus that can trigger DNA damage leading to bladder cancer later in life.Tackling the virus early could open the door to preventing bladder cancer later, said the team from the University of York.The study, published in Science Advances, revealed that after being contracted in childhood, the BK virus usually lies dormant in the kidney.BK virus infections do not have obvious symptoms, but physicians have learned a lot about the virus from the experiences of kidney transplant recipients who have to take immunosuppressants to prevent the immune system from targeting their new kidney.In laboratory studies using the human tissue that lines the urinary tract (urothelium), the team observed DNA damage patterns caused by the cel...

New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) The bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which causes the world’s most infectious disease Tuberculosis (TB), can survive antibiotic treatment and live longer by changing their outer fat coating, according to a new study led by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay on Wednesday.Even with effective antibiotics and widespread vaccination campaigns, TB continues to take lives.Globally, 10.7 million people developed TB and 1.23 million died from the disease in 2024, while India carries one of the highest burdens -- over 2.71 million cases in 2024.In the study, published in the Chemical Science journal, the researchers showed that the key to the bacteria's drug tolerance lies in their membranes -- complex barriers made mostly of fats, or lipids ...

New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS) Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare JP Nadda sensitised the Members of Parliament from across party lines on the TB-Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan and urged them to boost awareness and mobilise communities to eliminate the world’s most infectious disease.In the first of a series of interactions with Parliamentarians, with a special focus on MPs from Uttar Pradesh, Nadda underscored the important leadership roles of the MPs in achieving the goal of TB elimination.The MPs were informed about the campaign objectives, key activities being undertaken, and their role in supporting the campaign.The Minister urged the MPs “to monitor the campaign in their respective constituencies, raise awareness and reduce stigma around the disease, and mobilise the community to actively pa...