Health

New Delhi, Aug 22 (IANS) While the One Health Mission has primarily concentrated on human, animal and wildlife health due to their distinct value chains, plant health also requires dedicated attention, according to Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the government.Charing the 28th Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) meeting here to discuss the National Plant Health Initiative (NPHI), Professor Sood emphasised the critical importance of initiating a focused Plant Health Initiative, and given India’s deep reliance on agriculture, “this topic is particularly relevant in the Indian context”.Prof. Sood highlighted that the present ecosystem offers a strategic opportunity to advance this initiative. Significant investments in in...

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) Herbal tobacco cessation products have an unregulated market on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Blinkit, revealed a new study led by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR).Herbal tobacco cessation products (HTCPs), which are mainly herbal capsules, lozenges, gutkha substitutes, powders, and herbal smokes, are being increasingly marketed as natural and safer alternatives to conventional pharmacotherapy."Herbal tobacco cessation products are widely available on Indian e-commerce platforms with unverified health claims and minimal regulatory disclosure,” said corresponding author Dr Prashant Kumar Singh, scientist at ICMR-NICPR.“This poses significant consumer protection and tobacco con...

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the global health community to prioritise pregnant and lactating women in research and vaccine trials of tuberculosis (TB) -- the world's most infectious disease. As per WHO data, every year, an estimated 200,000 pregnant or postpartum women develop TB, yet they remain largely invisible in research and clinical trials. This exclusion leaves critical gaps in evidence, delaying access to life-saving treatment and vaccines for these populations.Pregnant and postpartum women have an increased risk of developing TB compared with the general population. Moreover, TB disease in pregnancy is also associated with an increased risk of maternal morbidity, complications during birth, and perinatal morbidity and mortality. TB disea...

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) South Asian countries must collaborate and work together to strengthen health research and innovations, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) on Thursday.The Department of Health Research (DHR) and the ICMR inaugurated a two-day regional meeting in the national capital.The event, held at the Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, brought together senior representatives from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Timor-Leste to deliberate on strengthening health research systems, facilitate the exchange of good practices, and promote cross-border collaboration in South and Southeast Asia.“The issues we face are common to all of us, and it is time for our region to move towards shaping its own narrative. Research is the way forward, and by learning from each other’s research ecos...

Sydney, Aug 21 (IANS) In a first, a team of Australian scientists has grown the world's first fully functioning lab-made human skin with its own blood supply. The advance may pave the way for better treatment of skin diseases, burns, and grafts.The team from the University of Queensland used stem cells to create a replica of the human skin, which had blood vessels, capillaries, hair follicles, nerves, tissue layers, and immune cells."This is the most life-like skin model that's been developed anywhere in the world and will allow us to study diseases and test treatments more accurately," said lead researcher Abbas Shafiee, a tissue engineering and regenerative medicine scientist from UQ's Frazer Institute.“Until now, scientists have been limited in how we study skin diseases and develop new...

Seoul, Aug 21 (IANS) SK bioscience Co., the biotech arm of South Korea's SK Group, said on Thursday it will expand cooperation with the Gates Foundation on next-generation preventive medicines, with a focus on research and development (R&D) for pandemic preparedness.Officials from SK bioscience and the foundation held a meeting in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss collaboration on vaccine development and global public health projects, the company said in a press release. The meeting came amid Bill Gates' ongoing trip to South Korea that began Wednesday.The two sides have previously worked together on several projects, including the development of vaccines for typhoid and paediatric diarrhoea, as well as other antiviral preventive solutions, it said, reports Yonhap news agency.One of their ...

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) Rare diseases were included as a focus area under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for pharmaceuticals, which has considerably brought down the treatment cost, an official statement from Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers said on Thursday.Eight drugs for rare conditions have been supported under the PLI scheme, including Eliglustat for Gaucher’s Disease, where the cost of treatment has come down from Rs 1.8–3.6 crore annually to Rs 3–6 lakh, according to Amit Agrawal, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals.Other supported treatments include Trientine for Wilson’s Disease, Nitisinone for Tyrosinemia Type 1 and Cannabidiol for Lennox–Gastaut Syndrome, among others. He noted that such tangible reductions in treatment costs demonstrate the transformati...

Bhopal, Aug 20 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel on Wednesday emphasised the need for genetic card matching before marriage to prevent sickle cell anaemia, a hereditary disease.Patel said that early identification and prompt treatment are the most effective ways to prevent sickle cell anaemia. "The earlier the disease is detected, the greater the chances of controlling it," he added while addressing a workshop on Sickle Cell Anaemia at the Eklavya Adarsh Vidyalaya Auditorium in tribal dominated Mandla district on Wednesday. The programme was organised by the Ayush department of the Madhya Pradesh government, an initiative of the Centre government to eradicate sickle cell disease. While addressing the event, Patel urged people to visit health centres and get themselves teste...

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Europe is experiencing longer and more intense transmission seasons for mosquito-borne diseases, including West Nile virus (WNV) infection and chikungunya virus disease, according to a report by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control on Wednesday.The report blamed climatic and environmental factors such as rising temperatures, longer summer seasons, milder winters, and changes in rainfall patterns for the shift.These conditions combine to create a favourable environment for mosquitoes to thrive and transmit viruses.“Europe is entering a new phase -- where longer, more widespread and more intense transmission of mosquito-borne diseases is becoming the new normal,” said Pamela Rendi-Wagner, ECDC Director.“ECDC is working closely with all Member States...

New Delhi, Aug 20 (IANS) Omega fatty acids could protect against Alzheimer’s disease in women, new research showed on Wednesday.Scientists from the UK’s King’s College London and Queen Mary University London conducted an analysis of lipids -- fat molecules that perform many essential functions in the body -- in the blood. They found a noticeable loss of unsaturated fats, such as those that contain omega fatty acids, in the blood of women with Alzheimer’s disease compared to healthy women.They found no significant difference in the same lipid molecule composition in men with Alzheimer’s disease compared to healthy men, which suggests that those lipids have a different role in the disease according to sex. Fats perform important roles in maintaining a healthy brain, so this study could indic...