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Candidates from T.N. have requested re-allocation of NEET-PG exam centres

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

As the number of NEET postgraduate examination centres has increased by four, Madurai MP Su. Venkatesan has demanded that candidates from Tamil Nadu who were previously issued admit cards for centres outside the state be re-allocated.

Mr. Venkatesan stated in a memorandum to Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya that 14 centres were initially designated in Tamil Nadu. However, four new centres were assigned to Virudhunagar, Dindigul, Chengalpet, and Tiruppur after a request from the MP for an increase in the number of centres was made to the Executive Director of the National Board of Examinations, Dr. Pawanindra Lal, on February 24.

“Yet, students who were earlier, issued admit cards for centres outside Tamil Nadu have not been given new admit cards for centres within Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Since the date of examination is scheduled on September 11, they have to be given an option for changing the centre from other State to the one in Tamil Nadu at the earliest,” the MP said.

This will ensure that students need not undertake long travel when the risk of getting infected by coronavirus was still not over.

The Minister should ensure that all candidates from Tamil Nadu were accommodated in the centres within the State itself.

 

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moderna covid-19 vaccine
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Two people died in Japan when the Moderna vaccine was halted due to contamination

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

According to the country’s health ministry, at least two people died in Japan after receiving Moderna Inc’s Covid-19 vaccination shots, which were among the batches later halted due to contamination reports.

The deceased people, both men in their 30s, died this month within days of getting inoculated with the second doses of Moderna vaccines, news agency Reuters reported quoting the ministry statement.

Each had received a shot from one of the three manufacturing lots of the coronavirus vaccines that were suspended on Thursday. Their deaths are being probed; the Reuters report added. Both had a fever the day after receiving the second dose and died two days following the fever.

This development comes after Japan on Thursday suspended the use of a total of 1.63 million doses of Moderna Inc’s coronavirus vaccines – over a week after the domestic distributor, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, got reports of contamination in some of the vials.

However, both Takeda and Moderna insisted on carrying out a “formal investigation” to determine the connection. “At this time, we do not have any evidence that these deaths are caused by the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine,” the companies said in a statement on Saturday.

Following the suspension of vaccine doses, both Moderna and Japan said that no efficacy or safety issue had been spotted and that the move was just a precautionary measure.

 

 

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Third wave likely to hit Karnataka by September-end, may not be severe if of same variant

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

By the end of September or the beginning of October, the third Covid-19 wave should arrive in Karnataka. Dr. C N Manjunath, director of the Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, stated that four to six weeks following a spike in cases in Kerala, there is a spike in cases in Karnataka.

“If the same virus strain is seen, the third wave won’t be as severe as the second wave, but that may not be the case if we see a new variant. The government of India says we don’t need to test those coming in from other states who have received both doses of the vaccine, but this cannot apply to Kerala, which is contributing 65 per cent of the country’s caseload. They need to show RT-PCR negative report while entering, quarantine for a week here, and undergo a retest, before being declared safe,” said Dr Manjunath, who is nodal officer for Covid-19 testing in Karnataka and member of the Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee.

He stated that the state must continue to test for Covid until December. The situation in Kerala is alarming, with one out of every five people testing positive for Covid. People entering the country for commercial, business, or educational purposes are subjected to stringent inspections at border checkpoints. The clusters previously began with nursing institutions in Mangaluru, where Kerala students came to study. He noted that Mangaluru and Udupi had between 25 and 30 nursing colleges.

“The challenge for the next wave is to ensure enough vaccines, and to vaccinate more people. We need to err on the side of maximum preparedness. The only worry is further mutations and immune escape variants as different strains evoke different antibodies,” he said.

Dr Manjunath said that Covid testing in Karnataka is robust, with 264 private and government labs combined for the purpose. Oxygen capacity is good, with all district hospitals and medical college hospitals having oxygen generators.

The government has stocked up on drugs, including steroids, Remdesivir, Amphotericin B, Immunoglobulins for children developing Multi-System Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS-C) post-Covid, etc. District-level task forces have been constituted and pediatric facilities strengthened in terms of numbers and training, he added.

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Covid-19: Delta variant doubles risk of hospitalisation as compared to Alpha, study suggests

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

Researchers revealed on Saturday in The Lancet that the Delta version of the virus that causes Covid-19 increases the risk of hospitalisation compared to the Alpha variant it has superseded as the prevalent strain globally.

Only 1.8 percent of the more than 43,000 Covid cases assessed in comparing the two variants were in patients who had been fully vaccinated.

Three-quarters were completely unvaccinated, and 24 percent had only received one jab of a two-dose vaccine.

“The results from this study therefore primarily tell us about the risk of hospital admission for those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated,” said co-lead author Anne Presanis, a Senior Statistician at the University of Cambridge’s MRC Biostatistics Unit.

Researchers analysed healthcare data from 43,338 COVID-19 cases in England from March 29 to May 23 of this year, including vaccination status, emergency care, hospital admission and other patient information.

All virus samples underwent whole genome sequencing, the surest way to confirm which variant had caused the infection.

Just under 80 percent of the cases were identified as the Alpha variant, and the rest were Delta.

Around one in 50 patients were admitted to hospital within 14 days of their first positive Covid-19 test.

After accounting for factors that are known to affect susceptibility to severe illness — including age, ethnicity, and vaccination status — the researchers found the risk of being admitted to hospital was more than doubled with the Delta variant.

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Neet 2021
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Details on NEET tie breaking policy after NTA removes age criteria

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

This year, the National Testing Agency (NTA) eliminated the provision of providing priority to elder candidates from the tie-breaking policy or regulation for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) and the National Eligibility Cumulative Entrance Test (NEET).

This new regulation will have a significant impact on the national Engineering and Medical entrance tests, which will be held in 2021 across the country. Due to the large number of candidates that take these well-known entrance exams each year, it is conceivable for applicants to have the same or similar results.

Previously, the NTA used the normal tie-breaking procedure to assign applicants rankings, but the age requirements are not included in the official information brochures for both JEE 2021 and NEET 2021 this year. The information brochures may be found by clicking on the links below.

Details on NEET 2021 tie-breaking policy:

If two or more applicants obtaining equal marks or percentile scores in the NEET (UG) 2021, the agency will evaluate them on the basis of their grades in Biology, Chemistry and finally with a smaller number of attempted incorrect and correct answers in all the subjects. Moreover, the tie-breaking criteria for NEET 2021 do not mention the age factor, as per the information brochure that was released this year.

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Aurobindo Pharma gets USFDA Nod for Cancer drug

by Medically Speaking Team
written by Medically Speaking Team

Aurobindo Pharma’s subsidiary Eugia Pharma Specialities announced on Friday that it has gained permission from the US Food and Drug Administration for Cyclophosphamide injection, which is used in the treatment of many kinds of cancer. Aurobindo Pharma announced in a regulatory filing that its subsidiary “Eugia Pharma Specialities Ltd has received a 505(b)(2) NDA approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (USFDA) for its Cyclophosphamide Injection 500 mg/2.5 mL and 1 g/5 mL vial.”

The product will be available in ready-to-use injection preparation, it added.

“The product shall be launched in the US market in the near term and will be manufactured in Eugia’s manufacturing facility in India,” Aurobindo Pharma said.

According to IQVIA, the approved product has an addressable market size of USD 170 million for the twelve months ending June 2021, it added.

Cyclophosphamide Injection is indicated for malignant lymphomas, multiple myeloma, leukemia, mycosis fungoides, neuroblastoma, adenocarcinoma of the ovary, retinoblastoma and carcinoma of the breast, the filing said.

This is the 19th product to be approved (including 3 tentative approvals) for Eugia. Aurobindo now has a total of 482 abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) approvals (453 final approvals and 29 tentative approvals) from the USFDA, it added.

Shares of Aurobindo Pharma were trading at Rs 709 per scrip on BSE, up 1.56 per cent from its previous close.

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The latest on WHO: recommended influenza vaccinations for newly developed strains may be found here

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

Learn more about the flu virus.

Seasonal influenza, or flu, is an infectious virus that causes respiratory disease. It is, however, readily confused with the common cold, which is caused by a distinct viral strain. While these illnesses have many similarities, such as cough, sore throat, and stuffy nose, there are a few significant distinctions. Fever, cold sweats, body pains, headache, tiredness, vomiting, and diarrhoea are all symptoms of the flu, which are not present in the common cold.

Let us take a closer look at the influenza virus and its effects on the increasing flu burden. As per WHO, approximately 65,000 people worldwide are affected by seasonal-influenza-related respiratory illnesses every year. Thirty-six per cent of them are from low to middle-income group countries, including India. Aside from the hospitalization rates for children in India and the severity of influenza burden being recorded, there are no national estimates available on influenza-related mortality.

Being vigilant during the monsoon and winter seasons

In temperate regions, influenza epidemics occur in the winter, whereas in tropical regions, seasonal epidemics appear to occur throughout the year with irregular outbreaks.1
Due to the diverse climate across India, there are vast variations in the impact of influenza from the northern to southern regions. In some parts of the country, particularly in the north, influenza circulation peaks during the winter, whereas in other parts, it peaks during the monsoons.2 Thus, there is a need for year-round preparedness and region-specific approaches for influenza prevention.

Controlling and preventing influenza

One of the primary reasons for annual outbreaks is that the influenza virus undergoes constant but fairly minor genetic mutations. This is called the “antigenic drift”, and it prevents people from developing lasting immunity. For example, a person who has caught the flu in the previous year will develop immunity to that particular viral strain, although they may not have immunity to the current year’s strain due to the slight change in or evolution of its genetic structure.

Seasonal influenza is most often caused by different strains of type A or B influenza viruses, both of which are responsible for annual epidemics, with a prevalence rate of 5–10% and 20–30% in adults and children each year, respectively.4 Globally, since September 2020, influenza activity was mostly reported from countries located in the tropics and subtropics as well as some countries present in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere. India was among the tropical Asian countries that reported the greatest detection of influenza.
The influenza vaccine, popularly known as the ‘flu shot’, is the first protective step against the virus. With changes in the major influenza strains year-on-year, it remains essential to take the latest influenza vaccine, comprising an updated composition to provide adequate and relevant immunity.

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NEET-UG: While some candidates call for test postponement, experts not in favour of additional postponement

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

On September 12, the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2021 for admission to undergraduate medical programmes will be held. The test, which has over 16 lakh pupils registered, was originally planned for August 1, but had to be postponed due to a spike in coronavirus infections during the second wave.

A section of students are now demanding a further postponement of the test citing various reasons. They shared their concerns on social networking websites through various hashtags such as #postponeNEET, #shiftNEETUG among many others. Academicians, however, believe that the exam date is suitable given the current circumstances.

Unfamiliar with new NEET-UG pattern

G Kishore from Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor, who is appearing for NEET-UG this year, is worried about his performance in the medical entrance exam because of the changed exam pattern.

“This year, the exam pattern has been changed and aspirants need to attempt 180 out of the total 200 questions. While this may appear to be a boon for students, it is a disadvantage. Reading and comprehending the additional 20 questions will take time but the duration of the exam remains to be 180 minutes. Besides, NTA’s Abhyaas app does not have mock tests available as per the new pattern. Amid the confusion of board exams and different entrances, students are yet to get well-versed with the new pattern,” said the 17-year old, who got 933/1000 marks in Board of Intermediate Education Andhra Pradesh (BIEAP) class 12.

Kishore added that NTA released the new pattern OMR on August 20. He claimed students are finding it difficult to adapt to the pattern on such a short notice.

Multiple exams in the first two weeks of September 

Kartikey, another NEET-UG aspirant from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, is a private category CBSE student. Since the central board is also conducting the improvement exams from August 15 to September 15, he will be appearing for both math and biology papers scheduled to be held on September 6 and September 13, respectively.

“Multiple exams are scheduled to be held in the first two weeks of September. ICAR AIEEA-UG 2021 will be held on September 7, 8, 9 and 17. The Uttar Pradesh Common Entrance Test (UPCET) will be conducted from September 5 and 6, 2021 across the state. CBSE is also conducting exams in the same month,” he added.

During the pandemic students who were lodged in cities preparing for the test had shifted back to their native places. “These students are facing issues with the choices of centres that they had submitted earlier as per the circumstance. If someone’s centre is in different cities for two exams, it is practically impossible for them to travel within 24-36 hours and give their best,” he added.

‘Injustice with NEET aspirants compared to JEE aspirants’

Students are also repeatedly claiming that the authorities have not considered the impact of the unprecedented coronavirus outbreak on NEET aspirants’ psychology and preparation.

Kishore said that JEE Main aspirants have got a total of four attempts this year, whereas NEET aspirants have only one attempt. “The syllabus of the medical entrance exam is exhaustive. The UG medical courses are also of longer duration. Amid coronavirus, around 16 lakh students will be appearing for the offline medical entrance exam, but there has been no consideration towards us. With exams scheduled before and after NEET-UG, aspirants are going to face tremendous psychological pressure. It will impact their performance in the exam,” he added.

Exams should not be postponed: Experts

While students think that the entrance exam should be postponed by at least a month, academicians believe that the exam date is suitable given the current circumstances.

Saurabh Kumar, Director Academics, Vidyamandir Classes, said that the exam should not be postponed further. “The exam was earlier scheduled to be held on August 1 but it has been delayed by more than a month. As per medical experts, the third wave of the coronavirus outbreak is expected to hit the country around September-end or October. There is already a shortage of doctors in the country, missing out on even one batch of upcoming doctors will deeply impact the healthcare sector in the long run,” he said.

MD Habeeb, NEET academic head, Narayana Group, dismissed aspirants’ demands and said that students must know the value of one academic year.

“September 12 is an apt date to conduct the exam. Genuine students who prepare throughout the year are aware of the fact that a 6-week postponement has given enough time to revise. Students should know that if the exam is further postponed, then it will impact the whole academic cycle. The results will be declared by November and counselling will be conducted in December. In such a scenario, students will not be able to begin their classes before 2022,” he added.

 

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AIIMS conducts ‘scarless’ bikini hip surgeries

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

At least 20 patients, primarily women in their late twenties and thirties, have had hip replacement surgery at AIIMS utilising a modified method in which the incision is placed within the bikini line skin fold or the frontal groyne crease. The procedure is also known as “bikini hip replacement surgery.”

Dr Rajesh Malhotra, professor and head of orthopaedics at AIIMS, told TOI that unlike the conventional approach for conducting hip replacement, which leaves behind a noticeable scar, the modified technique is done in a manner that few can tell surgery has been done even if the patient wears a bikini.
“Very few centres in the world do this surgery. It’s challenging and takes longer than usual, but we decided to adopt it to help young women who are hesitant to undergo the procedure for fear of the residual scar,” added Malhotra.

There are three main approaches for a hip replacement surgery. In the posterior approach, the surgeon makes an incision on the back of the hip joint and cuts the gluteus maximus muscle to remove the damaged joint and replaces it with artificial parts. In the anterolateral approach, the incision is made on the outer side of the thigh. In the anterior approach, a vertical incision is made on the front of the hip to replace the joints without cutting or splitting the muscles.

The bikini surgery is a modified version of the anterior approach where the surgeons make a horizontal incision along the bikini line to ensure minimal scar. Further, special cosmetic stitches are used to minimise the noticeability of the scar.
Malhotra said the operation through the bikini incision, which is only 6-8cm in width, was more challenging than the other approaches because the field of vision and operation was less. “It needs a lot of experience and the right selection of patients to succeed,” he added.

AIIMS conducted the first such surgery last year. Till date, 20 surgeries have been performed. Nine patients suffered from avascular necrosis of the head of the femur, six patients had a history of damage to the hip joints due to rheumatoid arthritis, two others suffered from arthritis caused due to lupus and bone damage due to tuberculosis, and one patient developed avascular necrosis of the hip and extreme pain post-Covid. Most of the patients were young women.

A mini-review on the psychology of scars published in the journal Psychiatria Danubina in 2018 stated that scarring may be skin deep, but psychological impact went deeper. “The evidence is decisive; the presence of scars can result in clear markers of mental disturbance in patients with associated symptoms of depression, anger, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.”

 

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The CPR facility in Kolhapur reopens for non-Covid patients

by Medically Speaking
written by Medically Speaking

KOLHAPUR: After a five-month hiatus, the Chhatrapati Pramila Raje (CPR) civic hospital in Kolhapur has resumed treating non-Covid patients.

The city’s main public hospital was transformed into Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) during the first and second waves of the Covid-19 epidemic, with all 400 beds allocated for Covid patients. Non-Covid patients were inconvenienced greatly when major departments such as ENT, obstetrics, mental health, out-patient, and in-patient were closed. In addition, the hospital catered to impoverished patients, who frequently flocked to the institution in huge numbers in search of free or reduced-cost treatment for a variety of diseases.

Dean of the hospital S S More said, “ As many as 250 beds will be reserved for Covid patients while the rest for non-Covid. I have asked the department heads to get stock of medicines and equipment. Since the hospital is being reopened for non-Covid patients after a long gap, high turnout is expected in the coming days.”

Currently, 155 Covid patients are undergoing treatment at the hospital. The authorities claim that logistics such as oxygen generator, refillers, ventilators required to tackle the third wave of the pandemic will be placed in the hospital in the coming days. Along with Covid, the hospital also catered to mucormycosis patients during the second wave, for which, four operation theatres were completely dedicated. Now, the number of mucormycosis patients, too, has come down. Therefore, two operation theatres will be made available for surgeries of non-Covid and non-mucormycosis patients.

District guardian minister Satej Patil has directed the authorities concerned to open two major public hospitals — IGM Ichalkaranji and sub-district hospital Gadhinglajfor non-Covid patients.

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