Health

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The wisdom provided by Ayurveda -- the ancient system of medicine -- can offer new dimensions to paediatric healthcare, said Prataprao Jadhav, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Ayush on Monday.The Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth (RAV), an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Ayush, organised the 30th national seminar under the theme “Management of Illness and Wellness in Paediatrics through Ayurveda”.It aims to advance holistic paediatric healthcare by bringing together leading Ayurveda scholars, researchers, practitioners, and students.“Ayurveda has always placed child health as the cornerstone of a flourishing society. This National Seminar is a timely initiative to highlight Ayurveda’s comprehensive approach to both illness management and we...

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) US researchers are building a non-invasive system using ultrasound to deliver drugs anywhere in the body with precision, as well as with reduced side effects.The new system, being developed by a team of Stanford University researchers, uses nanoparticles to encapsulate drugs along with ultrasound to unleash the drugs at their intended destinations.In a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the team showed in rats that their system can deliver ketamine to specific regions of the brain and painkillers to specific nerves in limbs. Using a new sucrose formulation, they found that nanoparticles are safer, more stable, and easier to produce.“Turns out just a little bit of sugar is all you need to make this work,” said Raag Airan, Assistant Professor of ra...

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) The Technology Development Board (TDB), under the Department of Science and Technology, granted its support to an indigenously developed AI-powered blood testing device for primary healthcare, the Ministry of Science and Technology said on Monday.The TDB signed an agreement with New Delhi-based Primary Healthtech for the project titled “IoT-enabled point-of-care blood testing device for affordable and accessible healthcare powered by AI/ML algorithms.”“The project will focus on enhancing the current prototype (M1) to perform five tests simultaneously, reducing patient waiting time, and setting up commercial-scale manufacturing. This next-generation Mobilab will include tests such as haemoglobin, creatinine, bilirubin, cholesterol, triglycerides, uric acid, glucose,...

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) A team of scientists from Japan has identified hidden immune 'hubs' that drive joint damage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that affects millions worldwide and can have a devastating impact on patients' lives. Yet, about one in three patients responds poorly to existing treatments.The team from Kyoto University discovered that peripheral helper T cells (Tph cells) -- a key type of immune cell involved in RA -- exist in two forms: stem-like Tph cells and effector Tph cells. The stem-like Tph cells reside in immune "hubs" called tertiary lymphoid structures within inflamed joints, where they multiply and activate B cells.Some of these then become effector Tph cells that leave the hubs and cause inflammation. Th...

New Delhi, Aug 18 (IANS) A Covid-19 infection can accelerate ageing in blood vessels around five years, particularly in women, according to research.As blood vessels ages, it can make arteries stiffer -- raising the risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attack, explained the researchers."We know that Covid can directly affect blood vessels. We believe that this may result in what we call early vascular ageing, meaning that your blood vessels are older than your chronological age and you are more susceptible to heart disease,” said Professor Rosa Maria Bruno from Université Paris Cité, France.“If that is happening, we need to identify who is at risk at an early stage to prevent heart attacks and strokes," Bruno said.The study, published in the European Heart Journal, in...

New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth (RAV), an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Ayush, is set to organise its 30th National Seminar, that will serve as a dynamic platform for ayurveda experts to advance knowledge, innovation and collaborative paediatric healthcare research, an official statement said on Sunday.Slated for August 18-19 here, the seminar on the theme “Management of Illness & Wellness in Paediatrics through Ayurveda will bring together renowned scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students to deliberate on traditional Ayurvedic approaches and contemporary evidence-based practices for promoting child health and wellness.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has time and again underlined the importance of traditional medicine in building a healthie...

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) The novel live attenuated type 1 and 3 oral polio vaccines (nOPV1 and nOPV3) are safe and elicit good immune response, results of a phase 1 randomized controlled trial have shown.The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, showed that nOPV1 and nOPV3 have a favourable safety profile. It also produced a comparable immune response and viral-shedding profile as the homotypic monovalent (single-strain) Sabin-strain oral vaccines (mOPVs).“This first-in-human trial of nOPV1 and nOPV3 showed that both vaccine candidates are safe and well tolerated in healthy adults and can elicit neutralising antibody responses similar to those elicited by mOPV1 and mOPV3, respectively,” said researchers, including those from the University of North Carolina.The findings are b...

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Brain’s immune cells may explain why a fading sense of smell is an early signal for Alzheimer's disease even before cognitive impairments manifest, according to a study.Researchers at DZNE and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) in Germany revealed that the brain's immune response seems to fatally attack neuronal fibres crucial for the perception of odours.These olfactory dysfunctions arise because immune cells of the brain called "microglia" remove connections between two brain regions, namely the olfactory bulb and the locus coeruleus, they noted in the paper published in the journal Nature Communications.These findings, based on observations in mice and humans, including analysis of brain tissue and so-called PET scanning, may help to devise ways for ea...

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) People with sensitive personalities are more likely to experience mental health problems like depression and anxiety, according to a study on Saturday.The study, led by Queen Mary University of London, defined sensitivity as a personality trait that reflects people’s capacity to perceive and process environmental stimuli such as bright lights, subtle changes in the environment, and other people’s moods.The research, based on a meta-analysis of 33 studies, revealed there was a significant, positive relationship between sensitivity and depression and anxiety. The findings, published in the journal Clinical Psychological Science, noted that highly sensitive people are more likely to experience depression and anxiety compared to those who are less sensitive.“We found p...

New Delhi, Aug 12 (IANS) A poor lifestyle with lack of sleep, binge drinking, and high stress, coupled with genes, is playing a significant role in the rising heart-related deaths in India, said experts on Saturday.Recently, an increasing number of heart-related deaths have been reported in the country. These have also been among people who are seemingly fit and are maintaining a healthy lifestyle.“Not all can be called heart attacks. About 20 per cent of the heart-related deaths in India are because of certain genes,” said Dr Rajiv Bhal, Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).He also blamed “binge drinking (alcohol) among the younger generation, silent hypertension, increasing stress, and a lack of proper sleep, as well as childhood obesity” for the surge in hea...