Health

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) India’s space sector is set to play a major role in advancing the country’s technological and economic growth, said Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh, in the Parliament on Thursday.In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Singh charted the measures undertaken by the government in boosting the space sector.“With the landmark space reforms in 2020, the Government has liberalised the Indian space sector and constituted the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe),” Singh said“The Indian space sector is poised to play a transformative role in the country’s technological and economic growth story,” he added.Post the announcement of space sector reforms in 2020, the number of registered space start-ups has grown e...

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) The Union government is strengthening health infrastructure, as well as addressing social determinants to build a Viksit Bharat by 2047, said Union Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Anupriya Patel in the national capital on Thursday.Speaking at the Convocation Ceremony of Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals, Patel highlighted how India’s National Health Policy (NHP), 2017, has redefined healthcare. It strives to ensure that everyone has access to quality healthcare services without facing financial hardship.“Only a healthy nation can be a developed nation. There can’t be a developed India without the proper health of its citizens,” Patel said.“For this, the government is focussed on Universal Health Coverage with a push in the he...

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) A group of scientists from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut has developed a new highly sensitive, low-cost, and point-of-care device with an electrochemical biosensor that could rapidly diagnose deadly sepsis infections and boost treatment outcomes.Sepsis is a serious medical condition caused by an infection that can lead to multiple organ failure, shock, and even death. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for timely therapeutic intervention and improving patient outcomes, which in turn directly impact mortality rates.Early diagnosis is possible with the precise and sensitive detection of specific biomarkers. Endotoxin, a toxic component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, acts as a key biomarker, signalling the presence of an in...

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) Just 7,000 daily steps can be key to reducing your risk of developing a range of chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and cognitive issues like depression, dementia, as well as death, according to a new study published in the journal The Lancet Public Health on Thursday.The comprehensive review, including 57 studies, analysed data from over 160,000 adults, and found that walking approximately 7,000 steps per day is associated with reductions in the risk of several serious health outcomes.The 7,000 steps aided in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease (by 25 per cent), cancer (by 6 per cent), type 2 diabetes (by 14 per cent), dementia (by 38 per cent), depression (by 22 per cent), and falls (by 28 per cent). The all-cause mortality was cut down by nearly 50...

New Delhi, July 24 (IANS) Researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela have developed a novel bacterial biofilm technology that can degrade phenanthrene -- a toxic Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) commonly found in industrial chemical waste -- and help mitigate industrial oil spills.PAHs are hazardous organic compounds capable of contaminating soil and water through fossil fuel combustion, industrial discharge, and oil spills.Traditionally, these are managed by chemical oxidation or soil excavation, which are expensive and often generate secondary pollution.However, the patented new biofilm, comprising cells attached to the substratum within an extracellular polymeric matrix, enabled 95 per cent degradation of phenanthrene in just five days.It provides an environ...

Sahibganj (Jharkhand), July 23 (IANS) In a shocking incident, a tribal family in Jharkhand's Sahibganj district was forced to carry the body of a teenage girl on a cot for over 10 km after they were denied an ambulance by the hospital. The deceased, Badrin Pahadin, belonged to the vulnerable 'Pahariya Janjati' community. She had been brought to the Sadar Hospital in Sahibganj on Monday in a critical condition. With no road connectivity to their remote village in Lodoni Pahad under Mandro block, her family carried her on a cot for 10 km to seek treatment. Tragically, she died during treatment at the hospital.After her death, the hospital refused to provide an ambulance to take her body back home. With no other option, the grieving family once again lifted the body on the same cot and walked...

Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) Dr. Reddy's Laboratories' net profit stood at Rs 1,409.6 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal (Q1 FY26), down 11 per cent sequentially, the company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday. The company had reported a consolidated profit of Rs 1,587.3 crore in the preceding quarter (Q4 FY25).However, the profit of the Hyderabad-based firm saw a marginal jump of over a per cent on year-on-year (YoY) from Rs 1,392 crore in the same quarter a year ago, according to the filing.Meanwhile, Dr. Reddy's Labs revenue stood at Rs 8,545.2 crore in the quarter under review, up around Rs 40 crore sequentially from Rs 8,506 crore, and Rs 872.5 crore year-on-year (YoY) from Rs 7,672.7 crore.The pharmaceutical company saw a jump of Rs 153 crore in its total operating expen...

New Delhi, July 23 (IANS) Older adults with high blood pressure may benefit from drinking beetroot juice, claimed a study on Wednesday.The blood pressure-lowering effect of nitrate-rich beetroot juice in older individuals may be attributed to specific changes in their oral microbiome, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK.Nitrate is crucial to the body and is consumed as a natural part of a vegetable-rich diet.In the study, when the older adults drank a concentrated beetroot juice ‘shot’ twice a day for two weeks, their blood pressure decreased. However, the effect was not observed in the younger group, as revealed by the findings published in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine.“This study shows that nitrate-rich foods alter the oral micro...

New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) The government on Tuesday said that it has approved 48 projects under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for promotion of domestic manufacturing of critical Key Starting Materials (KSMs) /Drug Intermediates (DIs) and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in India.The scheme aims to avoid disruption in supply of critical active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) used to make critical drugs for which there are no alternatives by reducing supply disruption risk due to excessive dependence on single source, said Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Anupriya Patel, in Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.Products notified and approved under the scheme prior to commencement of production under the PLI scheme were primarily imported. As of...

New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) A total of 6 crore people in the country have been screened for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) against the targeted 7 crore under the National Sickle Cell Mission, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Tuesday.Sickle Cell Disease is a chronic, single-gene disorder that causes a debilitating systemic syndrome characterised by chronic anaemia, acute painful episodes, organ infarction, and chronic organ damage, significantly reducing life expectancy.The genetic blood disorder affects the entire life of the patient, as it leads to various severe health complications.Of the 6 crore people screened, “2.15 lakh individuals were diagnosed with the disease and 16.7 lakh were identified as carriers”, the Ministry said.In addition, “2.6 crore health cards have been di...