Health

New Delhi, Aug 4 (IANS) Ahead of the UN treaty on plastics, a new report in The Lancet journal on Monday has warned that plastic pollution is an underrecognised threat to the health of both humans and the planet, which must be addressed immediately.The report, led by a group of international experts, reviews the current evidence on how plastics -- including microplastics and plastic chemicals -- impact health.“Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health. Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually,” said corresponding author Prof Philip J Landrigan, from Boston College, US.The report discusses evidence that plastics endanger human health at every...

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) Children under the age of five with severe malnourishment could be at significant risk of developing antimicrobial resistant bacteria, according to an alarming study.Globally, 45 million children under the age of five are estimated to be severely malnourished. These children are also at a higher risk of developing life-threatening infections such as tuberculosis or sepsis due to their weakened immune systems.The new study led by researchers at the Ineos Oxford Institute for antimicrobial research (IOI) has found that antimicrobial-resistant bacteria are spreading rapidly among children being treated for severe malnutrition in a hospital facility in Niger.The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, showed that 76 per cent of children carried bacteri...

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Multiple sclerosis (MS) may begin far earlier than previously thought. Canadian researchers have decoded that the earliest warning signs of the immune system disorder may emerge more than a decade before the first classical neurological symptoms occur.The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, challenge long-held assumptions about when the disease truly begins, offering the most comprehensive picture to date of how patients engage with a range of health care providers in the years leading up to a diagnosis as they search for answers to ill-defined medical challenges."MS can be difficult to recognise as many of the earliest signs -- like fatigue, headache, pain and mental health concerns -- can be quite general and easily mistaken for other conditions," said senio...

New Delhi, Aug 2 (IANS) Scientists have found inflammatory pathways that contribute to asthma flare-ups in children that occur despite treatment.Eosinophilic asthma is characterised by high levels of eosinophils -- a type of white blood cell involved in the body's immune response. While eosinophils typically help fight infections, in eosinophilic asthma, they accumulate in the lungs and airways, causing chronic inflammation, swelling, and damage to the respiratory system.Eosinophilic asthma is driven by type 2 (T2) inflammation -- an immune response involving cytokines that promote the production and activation of eosinophils.Because of this, therapies targeting T2 inflammation are used to reduce eosinophil levels and prevent asthma flare-ups.“But even with targeted therapies against T2 in...

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) A team of Indian scientists has found a new way to treat liver cirrhosis, by targeting the lymphatic vessels in the liver and intestine that fail in case of cirrhosis.Chronic liver disease can progress from mild disease to fibrosis to cirrhosis (also known as scarring).Cirrhosis is accompanied by the distortion of both blood and lymphatic vessels in the liver and the intestine. Patients with advanced cirrhosis often develop complications like fluid accumulation in the abdomen.A team of scientists from the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi, and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati, focussed on improving the drainage capacity of lymphatic vessels in the liver and intestine by using nanocarriers filled wi...

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) More than Rs 10 crore has been spent under the National One Health programme for preventing zoonotic diseases in FY 2024-25, the government informed the Parliament on Friday.In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav, funds allocated and expenditure under the National One Health Programme for Prevention and Control of Zoonoses (NOHP-PCZ) during the last five years.“More than Rs 15.73 crore were allocated in FY25 -- the highest in the last five years. Of this, over Rs 10 crore has been spent," Jadhav said.In comparison, more than Rs 15.11 was allocated, and Rs 6.6 crore was spent in 2023-24.Under the NOHP-PCZ, various initiatives are taken to strengthen prevention, detection, and response capacities for zoonotic diseases ...

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) A total of 1,704 centres dialysis centres are operational till June 30 in India, said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav on Friday.In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Jadhav said that the dialysis centres, under the Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP), are operational in 751 districts in 36 states."There is a total of 1,704 centres operational as of June 30,” Jadhav said.He informed that the government has recommended setting up of haemodialysis centres in all the district hospitals initially and on saturation scale down till the Community Health Centres (CHCs) at the taluka level.This is done by the states/UTs as per the dialysis demand and gap assessment.“National Health Mission (NHM) supports States/UTs in imple...

Mumbai, Aug 1 (IANS) A letter from US President Donald Trump has asked 17 global drug giants to cut their prices in the country, sparking severe losses for them, as its impact hit the Indian stock market too.The letter urged that these businesses cut US drug pricing to match prices in other developed markets.Though no Indian pharmaceutical companies received Trump's letters, the Nifty Pharma index reacted sharply, falling 2.45 per cent during the intra-day trade on Friday.The index fell for the third day in a row. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd fell 3.98 per cent. Aurobindo Pharma lost 3.42 per cent and Granules India lost 3.2 per cent. Gland Pharma, Cipla, and Lupin fell 2 to 3 per cent.The US President wrote to 17 of the world's major pharmaceutical corporations, pressing them to lowe...

Mumbai, July 31 (IANS) Niva Bupa Health Insurance Company Ltd on Thursday announced that the company’s loss widened nearly five times year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 91.44 crore in Q1 FY26, compared to Rs 18.8 crore in the same period the previous year (Q1 FY25).Despite the loss, Niva Bupa saw strong growth in its premium collections. Gross premiums, written in the quarter ended June 30, rose 11.4 per cent YoY to Rs 1,631.9 crore, up from Rs 1,464 crore the previous year, according to its stock exchange filing.Net premiums written also increased by 11.8 per cent to Rs 1,287 crore, compared to Rs 1,151 crore a year ago.The agency channel continued to contribute the most to the company’s gross written premium, followed by brokers and its bancassurance network.The digital retail business, including ...

Patna, July 31 (IANS) Tensions escalated in the early hours of Thursday at Patna AIIMS as RJD MLA Chetan Anand was allegedly assaulted during a visit to the hospital.According to the police, Chetan Anand had arrived at the hospital around midnight to visit a patient when a heated argument broke out between him, hospital guards, and junior doctors, which later turned into a physical scuffle.Sources claim that during the confrontation, Chetan Anand was physically pushed and allegedly held hostage in a hospital room for about 30 minutes.The altercation is said to have occurred in the presence of his supporters, who accompanied him during the visit.Following the incident, a written complaint was lodged by the MLA at Phulwarisharif Police Station.The SHO confirmed the registration of the comp...