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Member nations of the WHO South-East Asia Region endorsed the Paro Declaration on Tuesday to promote mental health in the region, agreeing to universal access to people-centered mental health care and services.

“There is no health without mental health. Increasing investments in mental health, including for preventive and promotive services at the primary care level, reduces treatment costs and increases productivity, employment and quality of life,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of WHO South-East Asia Region.

The Paro Declaration was adopted on day two of the current Seventy-Fifth Session of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Committee Session during the Ministerial Roundtable on tackling mental health via primary care and community involvement.

“The Declaration urges Member countries to develop and implement multisectoral policies across the life-course to address mental health risks and reduce treatment gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that mental health services reach all those in need, close to where they live, without financial hardship,” the Regional Director said.

Member nations committed to create country-specific objectives to attain universal primary care-oriented mental health services and to incorporate mental health in policy formulation, implementation, and assessment as part of the Declaration.

The Paro Declaration also calls for increased funding for community-based mental health networks, as well as continuous supply of medicines and rehabilitation, including occupational therapy, for everyone who needs it, as well as improved data collection and reporting, research implementation, and performance monitoring to ensure context-sensitive improvement of mental health systems.

In the South-East Asia Region, one in every seven persons suffers from a mental illness. Personal and economic distress and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have widened the gaps in addressing mental health challenges, such as a lack of human resources, low investment, stigma, insufficient prevention and promotion programmes, a lack of data, and a lack of services in primary care settings.

The Declaration urges the establishment of evidence-based and rights-based community mental health networks, as well as systematic planning for the deinstitutionalization of care for persons with severe mental illnesses, to provide an effective and complete response to mental health needs.

Member countries are committed to prioritising fiscal space for health and universal health coverage, ensuring appropriate investment in basic and secondary mental health services, and mobilising extra resources in collaboration with local and international stakeholders.

The cornerstone for providing mental health services and progress toward UHC, the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and the WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030 is strengthening the capacity of the primary health care system.

Member countries are committed to increasing the number of specialised and non-specialized mental health workers by identifying new cadres of healthcare personnel who are specially trained, equipped, and skilled for the delivery of mental health services at the primary care level and work as members of multidisciplinary teams within the health sector.

Persons with lived experience, as well as community empowerment and active involvement, contribute to minimise stigma and prejudice towards people with mental illnesses, their family members, and caregivers.

Strengthening preventive and promotion programmes at the national and subnational levels contributes to overall well-being by tackling suicide and self-harm, substance use, hazardous digital entertainment consumption, bullying, and parenting concerns. Member countries have committed to leading the multisectoral mental health response by guiding and harmonising the social, education, development, and economic sectors to address mental health determinants such as poverty, lack of education, social isolation, emergencies, and the impact of climate change, as well as setting country-specific targets to achieve universal primary care-oriented mental health services.

Several Member countries in the Region have already taken steps to strengthen policies, plans, laws, and services aimed at improving population mental health. Replicating and scaling up successful models and innovative interventions, leveraging digital technologies and telemedicine to improve access to services and capacity-building of healthcare workers, and leveraging evidence and data for programme improvement will help the Region withstand future mental health impacts exacerbated by humanitarian crises, climate change, and economic downturns.

The WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia has issued numerous significant decisions on mental health. These include alcohol consumption control policy options; noncommunicable diseases, mental health, and neurological disorders; comprehensive and coordinated efforts to manage autism spectrum disorders and developmental disabilities; and the SEA Regional Action Plan to implement the Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Alcohol Use.

Also Read: Covid outbreak taught us that health is most valuable asset: WHO Chief

WHO will continue to assist countries in reorienting primary care for mental health through task-sharing; capacity-building for mental health and psychosocial support during emergencies; and the establishment of a regional knowledge and training hub for coordinating evidence and data generation, prioritising research areas, and facilitating the exchange of experiences based on identified needs.

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The World Health Organization’s head has cautioned that the Covid epidemic is far from ending and urged people to be vaccinated.

During the 75th session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia, which began yesterday in Bhutan, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus remarked, “The epidemic is far from done. The virus is continually spreading and evolving… If the epidemic has taught us anything, it is that health is the most valuable asset on the planet. Every day, a commodity must be valued, prized, and battled for. Not as a luxury for the wealthy, but as a basic human right “.

He speculated that the global reduction in Covid cases may be related to poor testing rates. According to WHO data, 4.5 million new Covid cases were recorded last week, a 16% decrease from the previous week. Deaths were also down 13%, with around 13,500 people dying. The UN health agency went on to say that coronavirus infection was down everywhere in the globe, while fatalities were down everywhere except in Southeast Asia, where they were up 15%, and the Western Pacific, where they were up 3%.

WHO Director-General Tedros has cautioned that the arrival of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, as well as the likely appearance of a more deadly new Covid type, may result in an increase in hospitalizations and fatalities.

Tedros stated that vaccination rates are still unacceptably low, even in developed countries, adding that 30% of health workers and 20% of the elderly are unvaccinated.
Tedros hoped that by the end of June, all nations will have vaccinated 70% of their people.

However, 136 nations failed to meet the aim, with 66 still having coverage below 40%.

Last month, the WHO director stated that only ten nations had less than 10% coverage, with the majority of them experiencing humanitarian crises.

Also Read: Coating could be game changer to kill Covid virus, germs in minutes: Study

“One-third of the world’s population, including two-thirds of health workers and three-quarters of elderly persons in low-income nations, remains unvaccinated.” All governments, regardless of wealth level, must do more to vaccinate the most vulnerable people, enable access to life-saving treatments, continue testing and sequencing, and implement targeted, proportionate measures to prevent transmission and save lives.”

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According to leading health specialists on Monday, a prolonged COVID infection, even if moderate, may influence and has the ability to raise the incidence of heart attacks and brain strokes in patients.

A research indicated a 60% increase in the incidence of heart-related illnesses and neurological diseases, according to Dr Ashok Seth, Chairman of Fortis Escorts Heart Institute.

“There is a significant data from the west that has discovered that over a period of a year and more than a hundreds and thousands of patients research, there was a 60% rise in the incidences of heart attacks or even strokes compared to the normal population at the same period of time,” Dr Seth told ANI. So we are pretty sure that COVID, even if modest, can impact patients for up to a year and cause an increase in heart attacks and strokes.”

“We know that Covid itself causes increased incidences of strokes due to clotting in the acute stages, and that inflammation of the arteries also increases episodes of clots in the brain, causing strokes and clots in the lungs.” However, we are concerned about the long-term consequences. True, individuals with severe COVID had poorer one-year outcomes, but even those with modest COVID can have an elevated risk of heart attack,” he noted.

The expert advised individuals not to ignore symptoms and to seek medical attention as soon as possible.

“The first and most critical step is for all COVID sufferers to not disregard their symptoms.” “Even if you’ve healed from minor COVID, it’s crucial to have a checkup if you feel breathless, if you experience chest pain, if you feel discomfort or palpitations,” he added.

Dr. Setha went on to say that patients who have pre-existing conditions should get their hearts checked regularly.

“Secondly, we say that those who have COVID with multiple risk factors, who are known to have pre-existing heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, it is important for them to understand to get a check-up done like ECG, Eco cardiogram which tells about the functioning of the heart and ECG tells about any palpitations,” he explained.

“Third, for individuals who desire to return to an active lifestyle or those who exercised before to covid and claim to be recovered. “We always recommend obtaining a cardiac exam and doing mild to moderate exercise in a graded manner for the following three months before returning to a full physical hard exercise routine,” the doctor noted.

COVID has developed through time to be a multisystem illness affecting the brain and neurological system, according to Dr Padma Srivastava, Professor and Sr neurologist, AIIMS, Delhi.

“We’ve learned in the last two years that Covid is a multisystem illness that affects more than simply the lungs.” As a result, it involves the brain and neurological system. We also now know that there is a specific entity known as long Covid, which indicates that there are traits that appear and continue three months after Covid infection. “There is a lot of study going on all across the world,” she remarked.

“If I had to break it down, we have infection, inflammation, and the involvement of more than one of the brain, neurological system, muscles, and peripheral central nervous system during Covid. There are immediate acute circumstances in the brain, such as a brain attack or stroke, and then there is brain inflammation during Covid “Dr. Srivastava said.

According to the expert, study on these topics is now happening.

Also Read: Researchers devise novel method for identifying antigens that activate certain immune cells

“There is study being conducted on the possibility that these people would get dementia in the years after a covid infection. Will they get Parkinson’s-like symptoms to that extent? At the moment, there is a lot of multi-faceted study going on,” she said.

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The surface of a cell, which is coated with tens to hundreds of thousands of chemicals that help immune cells discriminate between friend and foe, can expose the secrets of the cell. Some of those projecting molecules are antigens that induce the immune system to attack, but detecting those antigens in the molecular forest can be difficult due to individual differences.

The study’s findings were published in the journal Nature Methods. A team of Stanford researchers led by Polly Fordyce, an Institute Scholar at Sarafan ChEM-H, has developed a novel strategy for predicting which antigens will elicit a significant immune response.

Their strategy might aid researchers in developing more effective cancer immunotherapies.

T cells, a kind of immune cell, crawl and squish their way through the body, utilising T cell receptors to molecularly read peptides, or tiny fragments of protein – which are nestled inside bigger proteins called major histocompatibility complexes (pMHCs) that extend from cell surfaces.

Healthy host cells express a variety of pMHCs that do not elicit an immune response; nevertheless, when T cells detect disease-indicating peptides, they become activated and seek out and destroy cells containing these alien signatures. Understanding how T cells identify these antigenic peptides from host peptides in order to avoid killing host cells by mistake has long been a mystery.

“In a sea of 10,000 or 100,000 non-antigenic peptides expressed on cell surfaces, a T cell may recognise a single antigenic peptide,” said Fordyce, an assistant professor of bioengineering and genetics.

The T cell crawl holds the secret to selectivity. T cell sliding stresses the links between receptors and peptides, which in most circumstances is enough to break the binding. However, it can occasionally have the opposite effect. Chris Garcia, co-author of the paper and professor of molecular and cellular physiology and structural biology, and colleagues had previously demonstrated that the more antigenic peptides had greater interactions with T cell receptors in response to sliding.

“It’s kind of like a Chinese finger trap,” Fordyce explained. “When you tug on the receptor-antigen relationship a little bit, the binding really lasts longer.”

Cellular impersonation of Antigens

Identifying the optimum antigen-receptor combinations necessitates applying that sliding, or shear, force between a peptide and a T cell while simultaneously measuring T cell activation, preferably hundreds of times to obtain repeatable data for many different peptide/T cell receptor couples. Existing approaches, however, are time-consuming and can result in only assessing one peptide with hundreds of T cells in a single day.

Yinnian Feng, the study’s first author, devised a method that allowed the researchers to measure 20 distinct peptides interacting with thousands of T cells in less than five hours.

They created tiny spherical beads from a polymer that swells when heated and affixed a few molecules of a specific peptide-studded pMHC to their surfaces to create a simpler system that resembles cells with dangling peptides. After placing a T cell on each bead and waited for receptors to attach to the peptides, they gently heated the bead. The bead’s expansion lengthens the distance between the tether points, and the resulting stretching of the T cell simulates the force it would feel sliding over cells in the body. The scientists then assessed how active the T cells were after exerting that force.

They could run hundreds of distinct trials in parallel by labelling each bead with a different colour, allowing them to follow many different pMHCs. After each run, they captured two sets of photos that they tiled over each slide: one that informs them which pMHC a certain bead is showing and another that tells them how active each T cell atop that bead is. Cross-referencing those photos reveals which antigens elicited the most powerful T cell responses.

With 21 distinct peptides, the scientists demonstrated that their results verified known activating and non-activating peptides for one T cell receptor and found a previously new antigen that generated a significant T cell response. They have already begun to address a challenge in immunotherapy by collaborating with the Garcia lab: the T cell receptors that form the highest affinity interactions with antigens in the lab are frequently activated by non-antigenic peptides in the body, a dangerous side effect that leads to the killing of healthy cells.

The researchers used their approach to describe T cell receptors designed to exclusively detect tumour antigens while avoiding off-target response. They want to develop libraries of over 1,000 peptides in the future to discover new antigens. They anticipate that this strategy, which is rapid and needs few cells, or a modified version of it, may be utilised to develop tailored immunotherapies one day.

Also Read: Children with Down syndrome like crispy, oily meals and avoid sticky ones

“This platform can aid in attempts to create T cells that selectively target cancer cells, as well as determining which antigens are capable of potently activating a patient’s own T cells to more effectively target cancer cells,” Fordyce explained.

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In our centuries-old struggle against germs, we may soon have a new weapon: the first long-lasting coating that can kill bacteria and viruses in minutes and continue to kill them for months at a time.

Developed by a team of University of Michigan engineers and immunologists, it proved deadly to SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), E. coli, MRSA and a variety of other pathogens. It killed 99.9% of microbes even after months of repeated cleaning, abrasion and other punishment on real-world surfaces like keyboards, cell phone screens and chicken-slathered cutting boards.

According to Anish Tuteja, a professor of material science and engineering at U-M and co-corresponding author of the research published in Matter, the coating might be a game changer in typically germ-infested public venues such as airports and hospitals.

“We’ve never had a decent way to keep constantly-touched surfaces clean, like airport touch displays,” he explained. “Disinfectant cleansers may kill germs in a matter of seconds, but they swiftly fade, leaving surfaces exposed to reinfection. We do have antibacterial surfaces that are long-lasting and made of metals like copper and zinc, but they take hours to destroy germs. This coating combines the benefits of both worlds.”

The transparent coating, which may be brushed or sprayed on, receives its resilience and germ-killing power from a novel combination of tried-and-true chemicals. It employs antimicrobial compounds derived from tea tree oil and cinnamon oil, both of which have long been utilised as safe and powerful germ killers that operate in less than two minutes. Polyurethane, a strong, varnish-like sealant often used on surfaces such as floors and furniture, provides the coating’s longevity.

“The FDA classifies the antimicrobials we tested as ‘generally considered as safe,’ and several have even been approved as food additives,” Tuteja explained.

“Polyurethane is a safe and widely used coating. But, just to be sure, we conducted toxicity testing and discovered that our specific mix of chemicals is even safer than many of today’s antimicrobials.”

According to the findings of the study’s durability tests, the coating might destroy germs for six months or more until its oil evaporates, reducing its disinfection efficacy. Tuteja claims that it may still be recharged by wiping it with fresh oil; the new oil is reabsorbed by the surface, restarting the cycle.

Tuteja believes the technology will be commercially accessible within a year; it has been licenced to Hygratek, a spinoff firm created by Tuteja with help from U-M Innovation Partnerships.

The main issue was to blend the oil and polyurethane in such a manner that the oil molecules could accomplish their germ-killing activity while not evaporating fast. The research team, which included Geeta Mehta, associate professor of materials science and engineering and biomedical engineering, and PhD students Abhishek Dhyani and Taylor Repetto, co-first authors, discovered a possible solution in cross-linking, a well-known process that uses heating to link materials together at the molecular level. The smaller oil molecules quickly joined with the cross-linking polymer molecules, resulting in the formation of a stable matrix.

However, in order to kill germs, oil molecules must enter their cell walls, which they cannot accomplish if they are strongly linked to the matrix. They eventually discovered a happy medium by partially cross-linking the materials – just enough to keep some of the oil molecules free to conduct their function while keeping others snugly linked to the polyurethane.

“There was some trial and error,” Tuteja explained, “but we soon discovered that cross-linking only portion of the oil achieved what we required.” “The free oil prefers to stick with the oil that’s cross-linked into the matrix, extending the life of the coating.”

Once the fundamental recipe was established, the researchers went about identifying a mixture of active substances capable of killing a wide range of the bacteria that cause the greatest problems for people. They collaborated with co-corresponding authors Christiane E. Wobus, an associate professor of microbiology and immunology, and J. Scott VanEpps, an assistant professor of emergency medicine, both at the University of Michigan Medical School, to select a representative sample of bacteria. Finally, scientists discovered an exact mix of antibacterial compounds that were efficient, safe, and cheap.

Tuteja notes that they are not bound by a single formula; the team’s mastery of the qualities of various chemicals allows them to alter the recipe for certain uses or rebalance the antimicrobial agents to kill specific microorganisms.

Also Read: Taking fish oil and vitamin D supplements during pregnancy reduces incidence of croup in newborns: Study

“Our objective is never to create a one-off covering, but rather to create a library of underlying material qualities from which to draw,” Tuteja explained. “We can build coatings that satisfy the demands of certain applications if we understand their qualities.”

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According to one recent study, robots may be more successful than parent-reported or self-reported exams in detecting mental health issues in children.

A team of roboticists, computer scientists, and psychiatrists from the University of Cambridge conducted a research with 28 children aged eight to thirteen, using a child-sized humanoid robot to deliver a set of conventional psychological questionnaires to each participant. The youngsters were eager to confide in the robot, sharing information with it that they had not previously disclosed using the normal evaluation approach of online or in-person surveys.

This is the first time robots have been used to assess children’s mental health.

According to the researchers, robots might be a beneficial adjunct to existing methods of mental health evaluation, but they are not designed to replace professional mental health care. The findings will be presented today (1 September) in Naples, Italy, at the 31st IEEE International Conference on Robot & Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many children’s mental health suffered as a result of homeschooling, financial pressures, and isolation from peers and friends. Anxiety and despair among children in the UK have been on the rise even before the epidemic, but resources and assistance to address mental health are critically lacking.

Professor Hatice Gunes, who directs the Affective Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory at Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, has been researching how socially-assistive robots (SARs) can be used as mental well-being ‘coaches’ for adults, but in recent years has also been investigating how they may benefit children.

“After becoming a mother, I became much more interested in how children express themselves as they grow, and how it may merge with my robotics work,” Gunes explained. “Children have a strong tactile sense and are lured to technology. They are disconnected from the physical environment if they are utilising a screen-based technology. Robots, on the other hand, are ideal because they exist in the actual world; they are more engaging, therefore the children are more involved.”

Professor Hatice Gunes, who directs the Affective Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory at Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, has been researching how socially-assistive robots (SARs) can be used as mental well-being ‘coaches’ for adults, but in recent years has also been investigating how they may benefit children.

“After becoming a mother, I became much more interested in how children express themselves as they grow, and how it may merge with my robotics work,” Gunes explained. “Children have a strong tactile sense and are lured to technology. They are disconnected from the physical environment if they are utilising a screen-based technology. Robots, on the other hand, are ideal because they exist in the actual world; they are more engaging, therefore the children are more involved.”

Professor Hatice Gunes, who directs the Affective Intelligence and Robotics Laboratory in Cambridge’s Department of Computer Science and Technology, has been researching how socially-assistive robots (SARs) can be used as mental well-being ‘coaches’ for adults, but in recent years has also been researching how they may be beneficial to children.

“After I became a mother, I became much more interested in how children express themselves as they grow, and how it can combine with my work in robots,” Gunes explained. “Children are very tactile, and they are lured to technology. They are removed from the physical world if they are utilising a screen-based technology. But robots are ideal because they exist in the physical world; they are more interactive, so the children are more engaged.”

Children and their parents or guardians completed a standard online questionnaire to measure each child’s mental well-being before to each session.

The robot accomplished four separate tasks throughout each session:

1) offered open-ended questions regarding recent joyful and unpleasant memories;

2) used the Short Mood and Feelings Questionnaire (SMFQ) to assess mood and feelings.

3) conducted an image task modelled after the Children’s Apperception Test (CAT), in which children were asked to answer questions about the pictures they saw; and

4) used the Revised Children’s Anxiety and Depression Scale (RCADS) to assess generalised anxiety, panic disorder, and depression in children.

Following the SMFQ, children were placed into three groups based on their likelihood of struggling with their mental health. Throughout the session, participants engaged with the robot by speaking to it or touching sensors on the robot’s hands and feet. During the session, other sensors recorded participants’ heartbeats, head movements, and eye movements.

Participants in the study all stated that they enjoyed conversing with the robot; some even volunteered details with the robot that they had not given in person or on the online questionnaire.

The researchers discovered that youngsters with differing levels of well-being worries interacted with the robot in different ways.

The researchers discovered that engaging with the robot resulted in more positive answer scores to the surveys for youngsters who were not having mental wellbeing-related concerns. However, for children who may be having well-being worries, the robot may have enabled them to confess their genuine sentiments and experiences, resulting in higher unfavourable questionnaire response scores.

“Because the robot we employ is child-sized and utterly non-threatening, children may regard it as a confidante — they feel safe sharing secrets with it,” Abbasi said. “Other researchers have discovered that youngsters are more willing than adults to give confidential information to a robot, such as that they are being bullied.”

According to the researchers, while their findings suggest that robots might be a valuable tool for psychological assessments of youngsters, they are not a replacement for human connection.

“We have no plans to replace psychologists or other mental health experts with robots since their skill far beyond anything a robot can achieve,” co-author Dr. Micol Spitale remarked. “However, our research shows that robots might be a beneficial tool in assisting youngsters in opening up and discussing topics they may not be comfortable sharing at first.”

According to the researchers, they want to extend their study in the future by enrolling additional individuals and tracking them throughout time.

They are also looking into whether comparable outcomes may be obtained if youngsters engage with the robot through video chat.

Also Read: Study gives better knowledge of how OCD develops and may lead to improved treatment options

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre contributed to the study.

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A behavioural model was utilised by researchers to better understand the origins of obsessive-compulsive disorder. They demonstrated that when learning parameters for reinforcement and punishment are significantly out of balance, the cycle of obsession and compulsion can be exacerbated. This study might lead to better mental health treatments.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) might be viewed as a result of uneven learning between reward and punishment, according to researchers from Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, and Tamagawa University.
They demonstrated that asymmetries in brain computations that relate present results to previous actions can lead to disordered behaviour using actual testing of their theoretical model.

This can occur when the memory trace signal for previous activities decays differentially for good and poor results. In this situation, “good” indicates that the outcome was better than predicted, while “bad” indicates that it was worse than expected. This research contributes to our understanding of how OCD develops.

OCD as mental condition

OCD is a mental condition characterised by intrusive and repetitive thoughts, known as obsessions, and specific repetitive activities, known as compulsions. Patients with OCD frequently feel helpless to modify their behaviour, even when they are aware that their obsessions or compulsions are unreasonable. In severe circumstances, these may leave the individual unable to lead a regular life.

Compulsive behaviours, such as frequent hand washing or constantly checking if doors are secured before leaving the house, are attempts to ease anxiety produced by obsessions. However, the mechanism by which the cycle of obsessions and compulsions is intensified was previously unknown.

NAIST researchers have now employed reinforcement learning theory to describe the chaotic cycle associated with OCD. In this approach, a better-than-expected event becomes more likely (positive prediction error), while a worse-than-expected outcome is suppressed (negative prediction error). Delays and positive/negative prediction mistakes must also be considered when using reinforcement learning.