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India recorded 1590 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, a press release issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated on Saturday morning.

According to the Health Ministry, India’s active caseload currently stands at 8,601. The total number of recoveries from the infection has increased to 4,41,62,832 with 910 in the last 24 hours.

India’s recovery rate currently stands at 98.79 per cent.
The Daily Positivity rate and Weekly Positivity rate currently stand at 1.33 per cent and 1.23 per cent respectively.
The statement also said that 1,19,560 COVID tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, as of Saturday morning, and the conducted tests have so far reached a total of 92.08 crores.

Under the Nationwide Vaccination Drive, India has so far administered 220.65 crore Covid-19 Vaccine doses (95.20 crores Second Dose and 22.86 crores Precaution Dose), of which 9,497 doses were administered in the last 24 hours.

The Delhi High Court recently ordered the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to file an affidavit regarding a private hospital’s refusal to provide dialysis to an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) patient. The hospital claimed that it won the land in an auction from the DDA.

The hospital abruptly stopped his dialysis on March 1, according to the petitioner. He filed a petition through advocate Ashok Agarwal, expressing his dissatisfaction with the denial of dialysis treatment to him. It was also argued that because the private hospital obtained land on a concessional basis from the DDA, it must provide free treatment to EWS patients.

The Delhi High Court recently ordered the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to file an affidavit regarding a private hospital’s refusal to provide dialysis to an Economically Weaker Section (EWS) patient. The hospital claimed that it won the land in an auction from the DDA.

The hospital abruptly stopped his dialysis on March 1, according to the petitioner. He filed a petition through advocate Ashok Agarwal, expressing his dissatisfaction with the denial of dialysis treatment to him. It was also argued that because the private hospital obtained land on a concessional basis from the DDA, it must provide free treatment to EWS patients.

The high court, on the other hand, has asked the DDA to state whether there is any condition for free treatment to be provided to EWS patients. Justice Prathibha M Singh served the private hospital with notice and ordered it to file an affidavit within four weeks.

The hospital stated that the land was not given on a concessional basis and that the current petition is not maintainable because it is a private hospital. The hospital also stated that it purchased the land from the DDA through an auction.

“The hospital must place all the documents of the auction purchase with the affidavit. The DDA shall file its affidavit and state whether the land was allotted on a concessional basis, an auction basis, and whether there is any condition for free treatment given to EWS patients,” directed Justice Singh on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the bench further directed to check if there is any other Delhi government hospital, which is providing dialysis treatment to EWS patients and the same may be communicated to the counsel for the petitioner within one week.

If such a hospital is found, the petitioner must receive dialysis treatment there, according to Justice Singh. Furthermore, the Delhi Government’s counsel submitted that people who want to get reimbursed for medical treatment can do so through the Delhi Arogya Kosh Scheme.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for increased efforts to eradicate tuberculosis (TB) in the South East Asian region, which has the world’s highest TB burden. According to the WHO Press Release, Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, highlighted the urgent need for countries and partners to strengthen high-level leadership and investments, accelerate uptake of new WHO recommendations and innovations, better address social and economic determinants, and improve multisectoral collaboration.

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has not only halted, but also reversed, years of progress towards the end-of-TB milestones. The estimated global burden of new and relapse TB cases in 2021 was 10.6 million, up half a million from 2020.

WHO stated in an official release that TB and TB-HIV coinfection mortality stood at 1.6 million, an increase of around 200 000 from pre-COVID-19 levels. The WHO South-East Asia Region has the highest TB burden in the world. In 2021, the Region was responsible for more than 45 percent of global tuberculosis incidence and more than half of global tuberculosis deaths.

Throughout the COVID-19 response, the Region prioritised maintaining essential health services, including TB, but in 2020, 2.6 million new and relapse TB cases were reported, a 24% decrease from 2019. The Region achieved a partial recovery in 2021, reporting 3 million new and relapsed cases, 12% fewer than in 2019.

According to the official release, the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated key social and economic determinants of tuberculosis (TB), such as poverty and malnutrition, pushing tens of millions more people into extreme poverty in the Region. Even before the pandemic, an estimated 30-80% of TB patients in the Region faced catastrophic costs as a result of the disease, and around 1 million new TB cases per year – more than one in five – were attributable to malnutrition. It is estimated that the overall impact of the crisis could result in over 7 million additional TB cases and 1.5 million additional TB deaths across the Region between 2022 and 2026.

Despite enormous and ongoing challenges, the Region is stepping up efforts to meet the End TB milestones, in accordance with its Flagship Priority and Regional Strategic Plan for Ending TB 2021-25, as well as the global End TB Strategy, the UN Political Declaration on the Fight Against TB, and Sustainable Development Goal 3.3.

Preliminary data shared with WHO shows a strong recovery in TB case notifications in the majority of the Region’s countries. In several high-burden countries, the total number of patients started on treatment in 2022 is expected to be higher than in 2019, and in some cases, the highest ever.

Budget allocations for TB programmes in the Region totaled nearly USD 1.4 billion in 2022, with nearly 60% coming from domestic sources. Momentum must be maintained in the run-up to the second UN High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis (TB), which is scheduled for September 2023 and will bring together Heads of State from around the world to mobilise increased political and social commitment to ending TB and ensuring comprehensive and universal care for all.

The Region has several priorities in this regard. First, high-level leadership, engagement, and advocacy must be strengthened in order to increase investments to end tuberculosis. According to WHO, the Region requires at least USD 3 billion per year to avert nearly 4.5 million new TB cases and more than 1.5 million TB deaths by 2025.

Countries and partners must urgently – and sustainably – increase funding availability and strengthen investments, recognising that every dollar invested yields 40 dollars back. Over 5000 molecular test platforms have been installed across the Region to quickly diagnose tuberculosis and medication resistance.

Such platforms must be expanded to ensure rapid diagnosis and treatment, as well as to halt disease spread. A new, WHO-approved treatment plan that has improved cure rates in just 6-9 months should be quickly adopted and implemented globally, according to a WHO press release.

Furthermore, in the fight against tuberculosis, mechanisms should be established and/or strengthened to assist TB patients and their families in avoiding catastrophic costs, supplementing nutrition, and promoting treatment adherence. Stigma and discrimination must be addressed indefinitely, including through community engagement and empowerment programmes that promote high-quality information.

On World Tuberculosis Day, WHO reiterates its commitment to assisting all countries in the Region in getting back on track, turning the tide, and eliminating TB by 2030, leaving no one behind.

The health sector cannot eliminate tuberculosis on its own. Ending TB, on the other hand, necessitates concerted action from multiple sectors, which, as stated at the 2021 Regional High-level Meeting to End TB, should be coordinated by national high-level mechanisms. According to the press release, such mechanisms, which have been developed by seven countries, must define clear roles and responsibilities and be accompanied by an accountability framework that is aligned with WHO guidance.

To combat Covid-19, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) encouraged all states on Thursday to maintain concentrating on the 5-pronged approach of Test-Track-Treat-Vaccination and Covid Appropriate Behavior. According to the letter,  “We will do another mock drill to see the COVID-19 preparations. Mock drills will be done soon in all the states/UTs.”

According to a Health Ministry notice, more than 220.65 crore total doses of vaccinations have been provided across the country. “There has been no evidence of an increase in hospitalization. Precaution doses should be increased. Enhanced lab surveillance and testing of all severe acute respiratory Illness (Sari) cases needs to be done”, reads the statement.

The Ministry has also ordered states to guarantee that necessary medications and supplies for Influenza and Covid 19 are available in health institutions. Apart from that, states have been requested to guarantee that there are enough dedicated beds and health personnel.

While listening to music is a well-known mood booster, researchers at Michigan State University discovered that music-listening therapy can also increase drug effectiveness. “Music-listening interventions are like over-the-counter medications,” said Jason Kiernan, an assistant professor in the College of Nursing, adding, “You don’t need a doctor to prescribe them.”

Before, music-listening treatments were used to treat pain and anxiety, but Kiernan took a different approach by evaluating the benefits of music-listening interventions on chemotherapy-induced nausea. “Pain and anxiety are both neurological phenomena and are interpreted in the brain as a state,” Kiernan said, adding, “Chemotherapy-induced nausea is not a stomach condition; it is a neurological one.”

The short pilot trial comprised 12 chemotherapy patients who consented to listen to their favorite music for 30 minutes each time they needed to take their anti-nausea medicine as needed. They repeated the music intervention whenever nausea struck over the five days following their chemotherapy treatment. The patients in the research reported 64 incidents in total.

“When we listen to music, our brains fire all kinds of neurons,” Kiernan said. While Kiernan saw a reduction in patients’ nausea intensity and distress (how much it hurt them to be queasy), he adds that it is impossible to determine whether this was due to the medication’s slow release or the increased effect of the music. Kiernan is drawing inspiration for future research from another previously published study that examined the amount of serotonin, a neurotransmitter, produced by platelets in the blood after listening to painful and pleasurable music.

“Serotonin is the major neurotransmitter that causes chemotherapy-induced nausea,” Kiernan said, adding, “Cancer patients take medications to block serotonin’s effects.” Researchers discovered that patients who listened to pleasant music had the lowest amounts of serotonin release, indicating that the serotonin remained in the blood platelets and did not circulate throughout the body. Patients had higher stress and serotonin release after listening to music they felt unpleasant, according to the findings.

“This was intriguing because it provides a neurochemical explanation and a possible way to measure serotonin and the blood platelet release of serotonin in my study,” Kiernan said, adding, “In 10 to 20 years, wouldn’t it be neat if you could use a nonpharmacological intervention like listening to 10 minutes of your favorite music to complement a medicine?” The findings were reported in Clinical Nursing Research.

According to a new study published in Clinical Nutrition and funded by the Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee, coffee drinking can help reduce the occurrence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) (ISIC). This is mediated by differences in inflammatory indicators in the body. The study investigated the underlying mechanisms by which coffee consumption may help to reduce T2D risk and discovered that lower subclinical inflammation may explain a portion of the link.

The study intended to investigate the underlying processes correlating increased coffee intake with a decreased risk of T2D3-9 by examining coffee’s influence on inflammation biomarkers like C-reactive protein (CRP), which increases when there is inflammation in the body.

Utilizing data from the UK Biobank (n=145,368) and the Rotterdam Study (n=7,111), researchers verified that increasing coffee consumption by one cup per day was related to a 4-6% decreased risk of T2D. It is also anticipated that cohort participants will have lower insulin resistance, lower CRP, lower leptin, and greater adiponectin concentrations. Adiponectin is a hormone that regulates glucose and lipid metabolism and has been proven to have anti-inflammatory and insulin-sensitizing properties, whereas leptin regulates food intake and energy balance.

Rather than a fixed baseline, a one-cup-per-day increase was tested against individuals’ variable daily intake. The research cohort’s daily coffee intake varied from 0 to 6 cups per day, with data indicating advantages from an additional cup per day regardless of whether participants fell at the lower or upper end of that range.

Research from the UK Biobank cohort also revealed that the way coffee is brewed may have an influence on its health benefits. Filtered or espresso coffee, along with not smoking, exhibited the highest favorable correlation with decreased T2D risk and CRP concentrations. Dr. Trudy Voortman, Ph.D., Associate Professor in Nutritional Epidemiology at Erasmus University Medical Centre Rotterdam, and Dr. Carolina Ochoa-Rosales, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Scientist at the same university, co-authored the study.

Dr. Voortman said, “Coffee is one of the most frequently consumed beverages worldwide and its potential health effects trigger significant scientific research. Previous studies have linked higher coffee consumption to a lower risk of developing T2D but underlying mechanisms remained unclear. Our research shows that coffee is associated with differences in the levels of inflammation biomarkers in the body, and as we know that T2D is partly an inflammatory disease, this could be one of the mechanisms at play. These findings could also support future research into the effects of coffee on other inflammation-related chronic diseases.”

The study adds to the current body of data linking coffee drinking to a decreased risk of T2D, which might aid in the creation of guidelines on how diet and lifestyle modifications can assist noncommunicable disease reduction efforts like T2D.

According to a new study, those who suffer from epilepsy are more likely to die early. The elevated risk varies according to the individual’s location, the number of drugs they take, and any other ailments they may have. The findings were published online in Neurology, the official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

“Our research found an increased risk even among those who do not have other health problems and are taking only one medication to control their seizures,” said study author Seo-Young Lee, MD, Ph.D., of Kangwon National University in Chuncheon, Republic of Korea.

The researchers identified 138,998 persons newly treated for epilepsy using a national health database. The researchers next analysed the national death record and discovered that 20,095 study participants died throughout the 10-year study period. At the commencement of the trial, the average age of the participants was 49.

Researchers recorded the reasons for death for all subjects. They also recorded information such as a person’s age, gender, where they resided, and the number of prescriptions they had been prescribed. The researchers then computed the total fatality rates for study participants. The mortality rate is a measure of the total number of deaths in a given population. The mortality rates of study participants were compared to the general population’s death rates.

There were roughly 660,000 person-years among research participants, which indicate both the number of persons in the study and the amount of time each person spends in the study. There were 20,095 fatalities in research participants for that number of person-years, compared to an estimated 8,929 deaths in the general population.

Using person-years to quantify risk, researchers discovered that patients with epilepsy had a risk of mortality that was more than double that of the general population. The elevated risk was significantly greater in the study’s younger participants. Furthermore, those with epilepsy residing in rural locations had a 247 percent higher risk of mortality than the general population, while those living in urban areas had a 203% higher risk.

Participants in the study who used just one anti-seizure medicine had a 156% increased risk of mortality compared to the general population, while those who took four or more anti-seizure medications had a nearly fivefold increased risk.

When compared to the general population, people with epilepsy who had no other illnesses or health issues had a 161% greater chance of mortality. Those with epilepsy who had never or only once been hospitalised showed no higher risk of dying prematurely.

Among study participants who died, 19% died of cerebrovascular disease, which had a 4.5 times higher risk of death than the general population, 16% died of cancers outside the central nervous system, which had a 137% higher risk, and 7% died of cancers in the central nervous system, which had a 46 times higher risk.

According to Lee, such malignancies and cerebrovascular disease are commonly thought to be underlying causes of epilepsy. In addition, 6 percent died of pneumonia, 7 percent died of external causes such as falls, accidents, and drowning and 2 percent died of suicide, all of which had a two times greater risk. Epilepsy and status epilepticus were responsible for 2% of all fatalities.

“Our study demonstrated a wide range of mortality risks in people with epilepsy, depending on age, disease duration, disease severity, and other health conditions,” said Lee. “We also identified disparities for people living in rural areas and urge public health efforts to improve access to care. Active control of seizures, education about injury prevention, monitoring for suicidal thoughts, and efforts to improve accessibility to epilepsy care all contribute to reducing mortality.”

PCOS is a hormonal imbalance that can have an impact on ovulation, menstruation, and fertility. PCOS is closely associated with metabolic disorders that might result in weight gain and insulin resistance in addition to these issues. Here are some tips for treating PCOS with nutrition:
1. Limit Sodium
Aim to limit your daily salt intake to 2,300 mg. Limiting restaurant meals and processed foods in cans and boxes will help accomplish this goal. It's crucial to remember that cutting back on salt doesn’t mean your food needs to be bland! Use
additional seasonings to cook and flavor your dishes, such as fresh lemon, garlic, onion, flavored vinegar, herbs, and spices.
2. Choose whole grains
100% whole wheat products, cracked wheat (bulgur), barley, oatmeal, brown rice, low-fat popcorn, and corn are examples of whole grains that have undergone minimal processing. Amaranth, buckwheat, kamut, millet, quinoa, spelled, and teff are
other uncommon whole grains you can try. PCOS is a hormonal imbalance that can have an impact on ovulation, menstruation, and fertility. PCOS is closely associated with metabolic disorders that might result in weight gain
and insulin resistance in addition to these issues.

Here are some tips for treating PCOS with nutrition:
1. Limit Sodium
Aim to limit your daily salt intake to 2,300 mg. Limiting restaurant meals and processed foods in cans and boxes will help accomplish this goal. It’s crucial to keep in mind that cutting back on salt doesn’t mean your food needs to be bland! Use additional seasonings to cook and flavor your dishes, such as fresh lemon, garlic, onion, flavored vinegar, herbs, and spices.
2. Choose whole grains
100% whole wheat products, cracked wheat (bulgur), barley, oatmeal, brown rice, low-fat popcorn, and corn are examples of whole grains that have undergone minimal processing. Amaranth, buckwheat, kamut, millet, quinoa, spelled, and teff are
other uncommon whole grains you can try.
3. Avoid milk, carbs, sugar
Women with PCOS can consume milk and other dairy products but only in moderation. Dairy is a carbohydrate, thus consuming too much of it might raise blood sugar levels and trigger insulin growth factors.
4. Focus on fiber
Include whole grains, fruits, and vegetables into your diet to acquire at least 25 g of fiber each day. By lowering the impact of sugar on blood sugar and slowing down digestion, high-fibre diets can help fight insulin resistance. Those who have PCOS may benefit from this.
5. Prioritise soy protein
For people with PCOS, soy protein can be a helpful nutrition since it can enhance metabolic and cardiovascular health. Try to consume or drink 25 g of soy protein each day. Tofu, tempeh, edamame, soy nuts, soy butter, and soy milk are a few
foods that are good sources of soy protein. Women with PCOS can consume milk and other dairy products but only in
moderation. Dairy is a carbohydrate, thus consuming too much of it might raise blood sugar levels and trigger insulin growth factors.
4. Focus on fiber
Include whole grains, fruits, and vegetables into your diet to acquire at least 25 g of fiber each day. By lowering the impact of sugar on blood sugar and slowing down digestion, high-fibre diets can help fight insulin resistance. Those who have PCOS may benefit from this.
5. Prioritise soy protein
For people with PCOS, soy protein can be a helpful nutrition since it can enhance metabolic and cardiovascular health. Try to consume or drink 25 g of soy protein each day. Tofu, tempeh, edamame, soy nuts, soy butter, and soy milk are a few
foods that are good sources of soy protein.

According to research published by the American Psychological Association, certain personality traits are associated with life satisfaction, and that association remains stable regardless of age, despite changes in social roles and responsibilities that people may experience throughout their adult lives.

“Many studies have shown that people with certain personality profiles are more satisfied with their life than others. Yet, it had not been extensively studied whether this holds true across the lifespan. For example, extraverted – that is sociable, talkative – people might be particularly happy in young adulthood, when they typically are forming new social relationships,” said study co-author Gabriel Olaru, PhD, an assistant professor at Tilburg University. “We thus wanted to examine if some personality traits are more or less relevant to life, social and work satisfaction in specific life phases.” The research was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

To determine how the relationship between personality traits and life satisfaction changes over time, researchers analyzed data collected from 2008 to 2019 by the Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel survey, a nationally representative survey of households in the Netherlands. Over 11 years, 9,110 Dutch participants ranging from 16 to 95 years old at the time of the first survey answered multiple questionnaires to assess their Big Five personality traits – openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability/neuroticism – and their satisfaction with their social connections and their life overall. Only the 5,928 participants who were employed at the time of the survey also answered questions about their satisfaction with their work lives.

The researchers found that most of the relationships between personality traits and satisfaction remained the same across the adult lifespan, and that emotional stability was the trait most strongly associated with people’s satisfaction with their life, social connections and career.

“Our findings show that – despite differences in life challenges and social roles – personality traits are relevant for our satisfaction with life, work and social contacts across young, middle and older adulthood,” said Manon van Scheppingen, PhD, an assistant professor at Tilburg University and another co-author on the study. “The personality traits remained equally relevant across the adult lifespan, or became even more interconnected in some cases for work satisfaction.”

The researchers also found that different personality traits were related to people’s satisfaction with their social lives and careers – most notably conscientiousness for work satisfaction, and extraversion and agreeableness for social satisfaction. People who saw increases in these traits across time also reported increases in their life, social and work satisfaction.

People’s satisfaction with their work was the most affected by differences in age. As participants in the study aged, the relationship between career satisfaction and emotional stability grew moderately stronger.
Despite a weaker correlation between openness and life satisfaction overall, the researchers found that people who increased in openness also increased in life satisfaction across the 11 years measured by the LISS survey. This relationship may be explained by indirect processes, according to the researchers.

“Emotional stability likely shows a strong link with global and domain-specific satisfaction because this trait colors people’s general view of the world,” Olaru said.
“A good example of how personality interacts with the environment can be found in the work context. One of our findings was that the link between emotional stability and work satisfaction increases across age. This might be explained by the fact that emotionally stable people are less scared to quit unsatisfactory jobs and more likely to apply for jobs that are more challenging and perhaps more fulfilling and enjoyable in the long run,” van Scheppingen added.

Future studies should examine how variables that change with age, such as income, employment status, marital status and health, affect the relationship between personality traits and overall satisfaction with life, according to the researchers.
“While we did not examine what caused these changes, [the research] shows that our personalities and our happiness are not set in stone,” van Scheppingen said. “Perhaps we may even be able to influence how we change: If we try to become more organized, outgoing, friendly, this might increase life, social or work satisfaction as well.”

At present, the H3N2 virus is spreading very fast across the country and everyone is coming under the grip of this virus. In such a situation, it is also necessary for pregnant women to be cautious. If you are pregnant then it is very important for you to know how dangerous this virus is for you. 

What is H3N2?

Influenza virus, which typically spreads among pigs, is called a “variant” virus when it spread among people, according to the CDC (Centre for Disease Control and Prevention). Influenza A H3N2 variant virus (also known as “H3N2v” virus) with the matrix (M) gene from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic virus was first detected in humans in July 2011.

H3N2 virus and pregnancy 

If you are pregnant and have had a fever in the last three months, then the baby can also be affected and there may be a risk of miscarriage. If a pregnant woman has a fever, it directly affects the health of the baby and can cause preterm labor and low birth weight foetus .

Precautions to be taken:

If someone in your house is coughing, you should wear a mask and avoid going to crowded places. Wear a mask whenever you step out of the house. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, do not eat or drink anything from swine-affected areas. Don’t buy toys, pacifiers, cups, baby bottles, or anything from such places.

Remember:

The CDC says to wash hands with soap in running water after coming from swine-affected areas. If there is no soap and water then you can use an alcohol-based sanitizer. Avoid going near pigs. Keep gloves in hand, and wearing a mask.