Health

In a significant development, India has been able to isolate and grow highly transmissible Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus in a laboratory setting.

Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) is a common genetic disorder among Indians affecting the red blood cells. It is transmitted by parents who carry a defective beta globin gene without suffering themselves. Close to 0.4 per cent of the population suffers from the disease while 10 per cent people are carriers who lead to birth of new SCA patients.

A new study has paved the way to help brain- and neuro-specialists plan patient-specific restorative neuro-rehabilitation activities for stroke, post-traumatic brain injury, mild cognitive impairment, dementia, and other neuropsychiatric disorders.

In the new study, researchers at IIT-Indore have synthesised a nanocomposite that was found to be quite effective in reaching inaccessible sites, overcoming physiological barriers, maintaining the concentration of drugs, and reducing cellular toxicity. The composite was formulated by loading bioactive compound Piperine onto a co-polymer called PLGA. Piperine, which is derived from the commonly used Black Pepper, has several therapeutic properties such as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-depressant, anti-angiogenic & anti-apoptotic, besides imparting a distinctive aroma and taste to cuisines.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (AB-DM) aims to create an online platform enabling interoperability of health data within the health ecosystem to create longitudinal electronic health records of every citizen, make healthcare accessible for all citizens, reducing the cost of care and enabling greater efficiencies in health service delivery.

The researchers have actually come up with an RT-PCR based assay for the detection of the new variant, said officials. At present, it takes over three days to detect Omicron variant worldwide as it is done using next-generation sequencing-based methods.

Scientists have found that climate parameters accounted for 9-18% of the total infectious disease cases in a study to probe the association between climate parameters and infectious diseases in children under 16-years-of-age in Varanasi-city in central Indo-Gangetic Plane.

A donated lung becomes “breathing” when it is put into a hermetically sealed machine called the “organ reconditioning box” and treated with a nutrient solution containing antibiotics and other necessary fluids that flush out the infection.

An estimated 14 million more cases and 69,000 more deaths were caused by malaria during 2020 compared to 2019. India was the only high burden country to record progress by sustaining a reduction in malaria burden between 2019 and 2020. However, the rate of decline was slower than before the pandemic, the WHO report stated, with the country still sharing over 80 per cent of the malaria burden of South-East Asia.

The consortium is focused on upscaling genomic surveillance as part of national efforts led by the INSACOG – Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected that the effort will aid in a rapid response to contain the spread of variants of concern.