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Covid case update: India reports lowest cases in 230 days

by Medically Speaking Team October 18, 2021

According to the latest Covid-19 bulletin issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Monday, India recorded 13,596 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the lowest in 230 days.

It was 3.9 percent lower than the previous day’s figure in the country. In India, the total number of cases is currently 3,40,81,315.

At least 166 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours taking the total death count to 4,52,290.

India’s recovery rate stands at 98.12%, the highest since March 2020, as a total of 19,582 patients recovered in the last 24 hours bringing the total recoveries to 3,34,39,331.

In the last 24 hours, active cases have declined by 6,152 and India’s active caseload stands at 1,89,694, the lowest in 221 days. The weekly positivity rate has been recorded at 1.37%, less than 3% for the last 115 days.

A total of 12,05,162 doses have been administered in the last 24 hours, which brings the total tally to 97,79,47,783.

October 18, 2021 0 comment

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Sense of smell is our most rapid warning system

by Medically Speaking Team October 17, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

The ability to detect and react to the smell of a potential threat is a precondition of our and other mammals’ survival. Using a novel technique, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have been able to study what happens in the brain when the central nervous system judges a smell to represent danger. The study, which is published in PNAS, indicates that negative smells associated with unpleasantness or unease are processed earlier than positive smells and trigger a physical avoidance response.

“The human avoidance response to unpleasant smells associated with danger has long been seen as a conscious cognitive process, but our study shows for the first time that it’s unconscious and extremely rapid,” says the study’s first author Behzad Iravani, researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet.

The olfactory organ takes up about five per cent of the human brain and enables us to distinguish between many million different smells. A large proportion of these smells are associated with a threat to our health and survival, such as that of chemicals and rotten food. Odour signals reach the brain within 100 to 150 milliseconds after being inhaled through the nose.

The survival of all living organisms depends on their ability to avoid danger and seek rewards. In humans, the olfactory sense seems particularly important for detecting and reacting to potentially harmful stimuli.

It has long been a mystery just which neural mechanisms are involved in the conversion of an unpleasant smell into avoidance behaviour in humans. One reason for this is the lack of non-invasive methods of measuring signals from the olfactory bulb, the first part of the rhinencephalon (literally “nose brain”) with direct (monosynaptic) connections to the important central parts of the nervous system that helps us detect and remember threatening and dangerous situations and substances.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now developed a method that for the first time has made it possible to measure signals from the human olfactory bulb, which processes smells and in turn can transmits signals to parts of the brain that control movement and avoidance behaviour.

Their results are based on three experiments in which participants were asked to rate their experience of six different smells, some positive, some negative, while the electrophysiological activity of the olfactory bulb when responding to each of the smells was measured.

“It was clear that the bulb reacts specifically and rapidly to negative smells and sends a direct signal to the motor cortex within about 300 ms,” says the study’s last author Johan Lundström, associate professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet. “The signal causes the person to unconsciously lean back and away from the source of the smell.”

He continues:

“The results suggest that our sense of smell is important to our ability to detect dangers in our vicinity, and much of this ability is more unconscious than our response to danger mediated by our senses of vision and hearing.”

The study was financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders and the Swedish Research Council. There are no reported conflicts of interest.

Story Source: Karolinska Institutet

October 17, 2021 0 comment

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Covid case update: India reports 14,416 new cases, lowest active caseload in 7 months

by Medically Speaking Team October 17, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

India reported 14,146 fresh COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday.

The daily infection count is lowest in 229 days marking the daily positivity rate at 1.29 per cent.

The new cases pushed the cumulative number of COVID cases in the country to 3,40,67,719.

As many as 19,788 patients have been recovered in the last 24 hours taking the total number of recoveries to 3,34,19,749.The current recovery rate is 98.10 per cent, the highest since March 2020

Meanwhile, the country’s active caseload stands at 1,95,846 which is said to be the lowest in 220 days.

As many as 4,52,124 people succumbed to COVID in the country so far.

A total of 59,09,35,381 COVID tests have been conducted in the country including 11,00,123 tests conducted on Saturday. Meanwhile, in the nationwide COVID vaccination drive, 97,65,89,540 doses have been administered so far, including 41,20,772 doses in the last 24 hours.

October 17, 2021 0 comment

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A small ICMR study finds that mixing vaccines is safe and provides better immunity

by Medically Speaking October 17, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

A small study of 18 people conducted by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) discovered that a combination of Covishield and Covaxin shots is safe and, in fact, provides better immunogenicity than two doses of the same vaccine.

However, the researchers have stated that the evidence is very limited and have called for multi-center randomised clinical trials to conclusively prove the findings.

”The reactogenicity profile of the participants of the heterologous group demonstrated that mixing of the two vaccines derived from different platforms is safe,” said the study, conducted by ICMR- Regional Medical Research Centre and ICMR-National Institute of Virology. It has been accepted for publication in the International Journal of Travel Medicine.

This study comes months after several people in Uttar Pradesh received Covishield as the first dose followed by inadvertent administration of Covaxin as the second dose.

October 17, 2021 0 comment

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The United States will allow travellers who received Covid vaccines in mixed doses to enter the country

by Medically Speaking October 17, 2021

written by Medically Speaking

Key Highlights

While the CDC in the United States does not allow mixed vaccines in primary series, it is fairly common in other countries.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously stated that it would accept any vaccines approved by the US regulator or the World Health Organization.
Beginning November 8, the United States will relax Covid-19 travel restrictions for international passengers.

International visitors who have been immunised with a combination of Covid vaccines will now be permitted to enter the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States confirmed on Friday that they will accept mixed-dose vaccines from international travellers.

“While the CDC does not recommend mixing vaccine types in a primary series, we recognise that this is becoming more common in other countries and should be accepted for the interpretation of vaccine records,” a CDC spokeswoman said.

The CDC earlier said that it would accept any vaccines approved by the US regulator or the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The US will ease Covid-19 travel restrictions for international passengers from November 8.

Additionally, the US also endorsed the booster dose of Johnson & Covid-19 Johnson’s vaccine, admitting that Americans who got the single-dose vaccine are not as protected as those who got other double-dose vaccines.

J&J told US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) that a booster dose provides additional protection as early as two months after the initial vaccine but will work better for those who get it after 6 months. The FDA’s advisory panel voted that booster shot should be taken at least 2 months after the initial vaccination.

Initial results from ongoing research suggest that J&J recipients may have a stronger response if the booster dose is from another brand. The preliminary results from a new study catering to effects of taking competing vaccine brands showed that booster shot from a competing vaccine jacked up virus-fighting antibodies — at least for a few weeks and it was most effective from taking a Pfizer or a Moderna booster shot after a J&J vaccine.

October 17, 2021 0 comment

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Low-calorie diet that mimics fasting in the body helps live longer, healthier life: Study

by Medically Speaking Team October 16, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

In a new University of Southern California study on the health effects of a low-calorie diet that mimics fasting in the body, researchers found regular five-day cycles of the diet in mice seemed to counteract the detrimental effects of their usual high-fat, high-calorie diet.

The study published in Nature Metabolism analysed the diet, health , and lifespan of three different groups of mice over two years.

The findings point to the potential of using a fasting-mimicking diet as “medicine,” according to the researchers”>researchers. A fasting-mimicking diet, or FMD, is a low-calorie diet that “tricks” the body into a fasting state.

One group of mice ate a high-calorie, high-fat diet (with 60% of their calories from fat) and became unhealthy and overweight.The second group of mice ate the same poor diet as the first one for approximately 4 weeks, followed by five days where they were fed an FMD and two days of a normal, healthy diet.

Study authors say those brief diet interventions were sufficient for that second group to return to normal levels of cholesterol, blood pressure, and weight. Notably, the mice who ate the fasting-mimicking diet for five days out of each month lived as long as the third group of mice that was consistently fed a healthy diet.

In humans, obesity caused by a high-fat, high-calorie diet is a major risk factor for metabolic syndrome, diabetes , and cardiovascular disease.

The study indicates that it’s possible for mice to eat a relatively bad diet that is counterbalanced by five days of a fasting-mimicking diet,” said study senior author Valter Longo, the director of the Longevity Institute at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and professor of biological sciences at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences.

Valter Longo added, “Our major discovery is that intervening with this diet made their hearts more resilient and better functioning than the mice who only ate a high-fat, high-calorie diet.”

The study authors say cycles of FMD appeared to prevent obesity in mice by reducing the accumulation of visceral and subcutaneous fat – all without causing lean body mass loss. FMD cycles also appeared to improve heart function and prevent high blood sugar and high cholesterol.

According to researchers”>researchers, the effect of FMD cycles on gene expression indicated a role for fat cell reprogramming in obesity prevention. Specifically, the diet’s impact on fat accumulation and cardiac aging could explain protection from early death caused by a high-fat, high-calorie diet.

The researchers”>researchers caution these results should not be misinterpreted. They emphasize that they don’t recommend that humans should eat a high-calorie, high-fat diet that’s mitigated by periodic fasting.

They say, however, the potential benefits of counteracting poor diets in this way should be further studied in clinical trials. These strategies could provide potential health benefits for people who may not be willing or able to change their diets on an everyday basis.The most effective diets at preventing or mitigating obesity in humans, including the ketogenic diet, require often radical and daily changes in dietary habits, the study authors say. Those requirements result in very low long-term compliance.

Longo said the study may indicate a “sweet spot” for the FMD in mice of five days a month.

“Even after the mice in the experimental group went back to their high-fat, high-calorie diet, the improved fat breakdown in their bodies continued for a fairly long period,” Longo explained. “Is there a similar sweet spot for humans, where you can intervene for a few days and still keep breaking down fat for several weeks?

Early FMD trials indicate potential health benefits for humans, he added. Several clinical studies published by Longo and colleagues indicate that a monthly FMD caused loss of fat mass without loss of muscle mass and improved cardio metabolic risk factors, especially in overweight or obese humans. They say this new mouse study shows that these monthly FMD cycles can actually restore the normal heart and metabolic health and lifespan in animals fed a high-fat and high-calorie diet, a lifelong study that cannot be done in humans.

October 16, 2021 0 comment

Kids Uncategorized

Kids can spread, carry emerging COVID-19 variants: Study

by Medically Speaking Team October 16, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

Researchers have shown in a recent study that infants, children, and teenagers are all capable of carrying high levels of life and replicating SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in their respiratory secretions, highlighting the importance of children in combating the pandemic.

The high levels of virus correlate to the live, infectious virus, according to the study, which found that levels are highest early in the disease in both symptomatic and asymptomatic youngsters. A team from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Ragon Institute, MIT, and Harvard University spearheaded the research.

They looked at 110 kids ranging in age from two weeks to twenty-one years old who had tested positive for COVID-19 at MGH or urgent care clinics. The researchers discovered no link between the children’s age and the size of their viral load. They also discovered that viral load did not correspond with the degree of sickness in the kids themselves, which is reassuring, but there are still worries for them and others around them.

“Children can carry the virus and infect other people,” said Lael Yonker, a pediatric pulmonologist at MGH.

“There had been the question about whether the high viral load in children correlated with the live virus. We’ve been able to provide a definitive answer that these high viral loads are infectious,” Yonker added.

As COVID-19 variants continue to emerge, infected children are potential “reservoirs” for the evolution of new variants as well as potential spreaders of current variants, she said.

“Kids with COVID-19, even if asymptomatic, are infectious and can harbour SARS-CoV-2 variants. Variants could potentially impact both the severity of the disease and the efficacy of vaccines, as we are seeing with the Delta variant. When we cultured the live virus, we found a wide variety of genetic variants. New variants have the potential to be more contagious and also make kids sicker,” Yonker noted.

Further, the viral loads of kids in the hospital were no different from those found in hospitalised adults, according to the study. Similar evidence was cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggesting that when compared to adults, children “likely have similar viral loads in their nasopharynx, similar secondary infection rates, and can spread the virus to others”. The study called for increasing awareness of pediatric COVID and implementing broader testing programmes for children as they are an essential component in the fight against COVID.

October 16, 2021 0 comment

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Covid case update: India reports 15,981 cases, vaccination exceeds 97.14 cr mark

by Medically Speaking Team October 16, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

According to data from India’s health ministry, 15,981 new coronavirus infections and 166 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. With this, India’s total number of Covid-19 cases has risen to 3,40,53,573.

The active cases decline by 2,046, taking the overall count to 2,01,632, whereas the Covid-related death toll has surged to 4,51,980. A total of 17,861 patients got recovered in a day. The total recoveries from Covid infection have jumped to 3.33 crore.

Meanwhile, India’s Covid-19 vaccination coverage has exceeded the 97.14 crore mark. In a day or two, India’s Covid vaccination drive is set to cross the 100 crore mark. To celebrate the achievement, the union health minister said big events have been planned.

“Announcements will be made at seaports, railway stations, bus stations, metro stations, and airports at the time India completes 100 crore vaccinations,” the minister said.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya informed that nearly 73% adult population has received the single dose of the vaccine and around 30% have been administered double doses.

October 16, 2021 0 comment

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Contraceptive pill can reduce type 2 diabetes risk in women with PCOS, says study

by Medically Speaking Team October 16, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

Contraceptive pill can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by over a quarter in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), revealed a study led by the University of Birmingham.

The research findings published in the journal Diabetes Care also show that women with PCOS have twice the risk of developing type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes (dysglycemia) – highlighting the urgent need to find treatments to reduce this risk.

In addition to the risk of type 2 diabetes, PCOS – which affects 10 per cent of women worldwide – is also associated with a number of other conditions in the long term, such as endometrial cancer, cardiovascular disease, and non-alcohol related fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

Symptoms of PCOS include irregular periods or no periods at all, which can lead to fertility issues, and many suffer from unwanted hair growth (known as ‘hirsutism’) on the face or body, hair loss on the scalp, and oily skin or acne.These symptoms are caused by high levels of hormones called androgens in the blood of women with PCOS.

Women with PCOS also often struggle with weight gain and the cells in their body are often less responsive to insulin – the hormone that allows the body to absorb glucose (blood sugar) into the cells for energy. This reduced response to insulin can lead to elevated blood glucose levels and can cause the body to make more insulin, which in turn causes the body to make more androgens.The androgens further increase insulin levels – driving a vicious circle.

The University of Birmingham-led team of scientists carried out two studies to firstly identify the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in women with PCOS, and secondly to investigate the impact of the use of combined oral contraceptives, often referred to as ‘the pill’, on the risk of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in women with PCOS.The pill is often given to women with PCOS to improve the regularity of menstrual bleeds.

Using UK patient GP records of 64,051 women with PCOS and 123,545 matched control women without PCOS, they first carried out a large population-based cohort study to analyse the risk of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes. They found that women with PCOS were twice at risk of type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, compared to those without PCOS. They also identified hirsutism (excessive hair growth) – a clinical sign of high androgen levels – as a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes among women with PCOS.

To investigate the impact of the pill on type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes, the researchers – including experts at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences – then carried out a further nested case-control study of 4,814 women with PCOS.

The scientists found that the use of combined oral contraceptives reduced the odds of developing type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in women with PCOS by 26 per cent.

The researchers behind the study are now planning to carry out a clinical trial to further evidence their findings in the hope it will lead to changes in global healthcare policy.

Co-senior author Professor Wiebke Arlt, Director of the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Metabolism and Systems Research, said: “We knew from previous, smaller studies, that women with PCOS have an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

However, what is important about our research is that we have been able to provide new evidence from a very large population-based study to show for the very first time that we have a potential treatment option – combined oral contraceptives – to prevent this very serious health risk.”

Joint first author Dr Michael O’Reilly, Health Research Board Emerging Clinician Scientist and Clinical Associate Professor at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, added: “We hypothesise that the pill reduces the risk of diabetes by dampening the action of androgens. How does this work? The pill contains oestrogens which increase a protein in the blood called sex hormone-binding globin (SHBG). SHBG binds androgens and, thereby, renders them inactive. Thus, if the pill is taken, SHBG increases. This decreases the amount of unbound, active androgens, lowering their impact on insulin and diabetes risk. “Joint first author Anuradhaa Subramanian, also of the University of Birmingham, added, “With one in 10 women living with PCOS, which is a life-long metabolic disorder, it is incredibly important that we find ways of reducing its associated health risks.”

Joint first author Anuradhaa Subramanian, also of the University of Birmingham, added, “With one in 10 women living with PCOS, which is a life-long metabolic disorder, it is incredibly important that we find ways of reducing its associated health risks.”

Co-senior author Krish Nirantharakumar, Professor in Health Data Science and Public Health at the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Applied Health Research, added: “Importantly, our data highlight that normal-weight women with PCOS were also at increased risk of type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes. This parallels our previous finding of increased NAFLD risk in normal-weight women with PCOS, further challenging the notion that PCOS-related metabolic complications are only relevant in the context of obesity. These data suggest that, rather than obesity in isolation, PCOS-specific factors, including androgen excess, underpin the increased metabolic risk.”

The study was supported by funding from Health Data Research UK, Wellcome Trust, the Health Research Board, and the National Institute for Health Research Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre which is based at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

The research was also carried out in collaboration with the University of Colombo in Sri Lanka, and McGill University in Canada.

October 16, 2021 0 comment

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AIIMS Delhi doctor booked for raping colleague; accused absconding

by Medically Speaking Team October 16, 2021

written by Medically Speaking Team

Delhi Police on Friday registered a rape case against a senior doctor of All India Institute Of Medical Science in the national capital.

A complaint of alleged sexual harassment was received from AIIMS, Delhi on October 11 at Hauz Khas police station, informed the police.

The victim is also a doctor at the hospital, who had informed the police that a senior doctor colleague had allegedly raped her when she went to his room for a birthday celebration of one of their colleagues on September 26.

Based on her statement, the police registered an FIR under sections 376 and 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at Hauz Khas police station and an investigation into the matter was taken up. During the investigation, a statement of the victim was recorded before the Magistrate under section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and raids were conducted at possible hideout places to catch the absconding doctor. Technical surveillance has already been mounted to nab the accused and continuous efforts are going on to trace him out at the earliest, said the police.

October 16, 2021 0 comment

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