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Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have successfully developed a blood test for anxiety. The test looks for biomarkers that can help them determine an individual’s risk of developing anxiety, the severity of their current anxiety, and which therapies are likely to treat their anxiety the best.

MindX Sciences is developing the test for wider use by physicians now that it has been validated by researchers.

“Many people are suffering from anxiety, which can be very disabling and interfere with daily life,” said professor of psychiatry Alexander Niculescu, MD, PhD. “The current approach is to talk to people about how they feel to see if they could be on medications, but some medications can be addictive and create more problems. We wanted to see if our approach to identify blood biomarkers could help us match people to existing medications that will work better and could be a non-addictive choice.”

Previous research by Niculescu resulted in the development of blood tests for pain, depression/bipolar disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. This latest study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, employs similar techniques to treat anxiety. The research included three distinct cohorts: discovery, validation, and testing. A blood test would be administered to participants every 3-6 months or whenever a new psychiatric hospitalisation occurred. Researchers could identify a patient’s current state of anxiety and match them with medications and nutraceuticals by examining RNA biomarkers in the blood, demonstrating how effective different options could be for them based on their biology.

“In addition to medications, there are other methods to treat anxiety, such as cognitive behavioural therapy or lifestyle changes,” Niculescu said. “But having something objective like this where we can know what someone’s current state is as well as their future risk and what treatment options match their profile is very powerful in helping people.”

A person’s biomarkers can also change over time. Niculescu said the test can help evaluate a person’s risk of developing higher levels of anxiety in the future as well as how other factors might impact their anxiety, like hormonal changes.

“There are people who have anxiety and it is not properly diagnosed, then they have panic attacks, but think they’re having a heart attack and up in the ER with all sorts of physical symptoms,” Niculescu said. “If we can know that earlier, then we can hopefully avoid this pain and suffering and treat them earlier with something that matches their profile.”

Niculescu said this new test could also be used in combination with the other blood tests his research has led to, providing a more comprehensive view of a patient’s mental health and risk of future mental health concerns. Researchers can also use the test to develop new treatments for anxiety that are more targeted to individual biomarkers.

“This is something that could be a panel test as part of a patient’s regular wellness visits to evaluate their mental health over time and prevent any future distress,” Niculescu said. “Prevention is better in the long run, so our goal is to be able to provide a comprehensive report for patients and their physicians using simply one tube of blood.”

According to new research, having a lower respiratory tract infection as a child increases your risk of dying from respiratory disease as an adult.

Researchers from Imperial College London discovered in a study published in The Lancet that children who had a lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) at the age of two, such as bronchitis or pneumonia, were nearly twice as likely as adults to die prematurely from respiratory disorders. According to the study, having an LRTI in early childhood increased the risk of dying prematurely from respiratory disease by about 2%, compared to 1% for those who did not.

After controlling for socioeconomic variables and smoking status, the results remained. Chronic respiratory diseases are a major public health problem, accounting for an estimated 3.9 million deaths, or 7 per cent of all deaths worldwide, in 2017. Most of these deaths were caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – a group of lung conditions that cause breathing difficulties, such as emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Previous research has linked infant LRTIs to the development of adult lung function impairments, asthma, and COPD, but it has been unclear if there is also a link to premature death in adulthood. This first-of-its-kind study spans more than 73 years and provides the best evidence to date that early respiratory health has an impact on mortality later in life.

The findings challenge the misconception that adult deaths from respiratory diseases are determined only by behaviour in adulthood, such as smoking. The researchers say that this highlights the need to prevent childhood respiratory infection and improve the health of children, through targeted public health measures and health service interventions, such as vaccination, improving living conditions, and better diagnosis and treatment of underlying health conditions.

The study was carried out in collaboration with researchers from University College London, Loughborough University, and Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Foundation Trust (now part of Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust).

Dr James Allinson, lead author for the study, from the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London, said: “Current preventative measures for adult respiratory disease mainly focus on adult lifestyle risk factors such as smoking. Linking one in five adult respiratory deaths to common infections many decades earlier in childhood shows the need to target risk well before adulthood.

“To prevent the perpetuation of existing adult health inequalities we need to optimise childhood health, not least by tackling childhood poverty. Evidence suggesting the early life origins of adult chronic diseases also helps challenge the stigma that all deaths from diseases such as COPD are related to lifestyle factors.”

Professor Rebecca Hardy, co-author for the study, from University College London and Loughborough University, said: “The results of our study suggest that efforts to reduce childhood respiratory infections could have an impact on tackling premature mortality from respiratory disease later in life. We hope that this study will help guide the strategies of international health organisations in tackling this issue.”

The study uses data from a nationwide British cohort study called The National Survey of Health and Development (NSHD), which recruited individuals at birth in 1946, to look at health and death records for 3,589 people up until 2019. Of the 3,589 study participants, 913 suffered a lower respiratory infection before the age of two.

Professor Nish Chaturvedi, the co-author for the study and PI of NSHD, from University College London, said: “This study highlights the importance of whole-of-life studies. As the UK’s longest-running nationally representative cohort study – the MRC NSHD, 1946 British Birth Cohort, is uniquely placed to investigate early life factors that can lead to premature mortality from respiratory disease in later life.”

As the results show the childhood origins of health inequalities among adults who were born in the 1940s, improvements in childhood health and healthcare since this time may have led to better outcomes for children born today. However, evidence of the potentially lifelong consequences of poor childhood health highlights the need for renewed efforts to prevent LRTIs among children.

The researchers used a statistical model to estimate the association between a respiratory infection in early childhood and premature death from respiratory diseases in adulthood, whilst adjusting for different factors that can influence risk.

Analysis adjusting for socioeconomic background during childhood and smoking status suggested that children who had an LRTI by the age of two were 93 per cent more likely to die prematurely from respiratory disease as adults, compared to children who had not had an LRTI by age two. This equated to a 2.1 per cent rate of premature adult death from respiratory disease among those who had an LRTI in early childhood, compared to 1.1 per cent among those who did not report an LRTI before the age of two.

The researchers say this increased risk potentially accounts for 179,188 premature deaths in England and Wales between 1972 and 2019, or one in five deaths from respiratory disease.

In comparison, adult respiratory deaths linked to smoking account for three in five deaths from respiratory disease or 5,07,223 excess deaths in England and Wales over the same period.

The researchers note that despite their adjustments, there may have been other risk factors which were unreported, such as parental smoking and being born prematurely. They also note that societal changes during the life-spanning study may have driven changes in the lung function of subsequent cohorts and altered outcomes.

Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday said that India sent medicines to 150 countries during covid crisis without increasing the price and compromising on the quality of the medicines.

Minister was speaking at the inauguration of the International Symposium on Health Technology Assessment in Delhi on Friday. “During the Covid crisis, India sent medicines to 150 countries without increasing price and compromising on the quality,” Union Health Minister said.

India offered support to more than 150 affected countries in the form of vaccines, medical equipment and medicines during the pandemic, Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh said in a Keynote address at the 26th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) in Canberra, Australia in January.

The Deputy Chairman had said that India facilitated the evacuation of stranded foreign nationals from different parts of India to around 123 countries.

Mandaviya said that India fulfils 65% of the world’s vaccine requirement.
“Today, if there is any country in the world which is providing affordable medicines, then it’s India,” he informed.
Harivansh further added that India took an exclusive initiative “Vaccine Maitri” to supply COVID-19 Made-in-India vaccines to various countries across the world.

Under this initiative, as of the first week of December 2022, India has supplied more than 282 million vaccine doses of COVID-19 to 101 countries and two UN entities.

“Since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic in India, we followed a ‘whole of Government’ and ‘whole of society approach’. We took several measures for containing the spread of the virus, addressing major gaps in the availability of life-saving healthcare facilities, shoring up livelihoods and restoring normalcy in the areas such as education and employment,” he had added.

On the steps taken by the Indian government during the COVID-19 pandemic, he had said, “As regards enacting relevant legislations, the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 was amended by Parliament to provide for adequate safety and protection of healthcare personnel handling patients and the epidemic. The Essential Commodities Act, of 1955 was amended to ensure that there are no shortages of foodgrains and also to keep the commodity prices under check during a pandemic. These changes helped to ensure food security to vulnerable sections of the country through the Public Distribution System.”

According to a study published in The BMJ, the general population’s mental health has not changed significantly throughout the covid-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels.

According to the researchers, some specific groups, particularly women, appear to have been more negatively affected, but the changes have been limited to minor. Numerous studies and media accounts claim that covid-19 has caused widespread mental health declines, although variations in study quality and misreading of cross-sectional data may have contributed to misleading results.

To address this, researchers compared general mental health, anxiety, and depression symptoms in populations during the covid-19 pandemic (from 1 January 2020 or later) to pre-covid evaluations (1 January 2018 to 31 December 2019).

Studies had to report data from groups comprising at least 90% of the same participants between pre-pandemic and pandemic periods or to use statistical methods to account for missing data. Most of the eligible studies were from high or upper middle income countries and were thoroughly assessed for bias before being included in the analysis.

Differences between groups were expressed as standardised mean differences (SMD). Generally, an SMD of less than 0.2 indicates a minimal effect, 0.2-0.5 a small effect, 0.5-0.8 a moderate effect, and 0.8 or more a large effect.

Among general population studies, no changes were found for general mental health or anxiety symptoms, but depression symptoms worsened minimally (SMD change 0.12).

Among specific groups, women or female participants were the only group that experienced a worsening of symptoms across all outcomes; all by small amounts (SMD changes 0.20 to 0.22). This is consistent with evidence that women and female members of society have experienced a disproportionately greater burden from the pandemic, note the researchers.

Depression symptoms worsened by minimal to small amounts for older adults, university students, and people who self-identified as belonging to a sexual or gender minority group, but not for other groups.

General mental health and anxiety symptoms were shown to worsen for parents, although the researchers stress that these results were based on small numbers of studies and participants.

In contrast, general mental health and depression symptoms were shown to improve for people with pre-existing mental health conditions. But, again, the researchers stress that these results were based on only two studies and improvement was negligible (SMD change 0.05).

No other subgroup experienced significant changes across all outcomes, including young people.
This was a well designed review based on a thorough literature search, but the researchers acknowledge that differences in study design, a high risk of bias in many studies, and a lack of evidence from lower income countries and children may have had an influence, and they suggest caution is needed in interpreting their results.

“Across population groups, results suggest that, rather than a mental health crisis, at a population level there has been a high level of resilience during covid-19, and changes in general mental health, anxiety symptoms, and depression symptoms have been minimal to small with no changes detected in most analyses,” they write.

Nevertheless, they say the pandemic has affected the lives of many people, and urge governments to “continue to ensure that mental health supports are available and respond to population needs.”

While this study clearly shows that we need not be overly concerned about the general population’s mental health in relation to the covid-19 pandemic, reported prevalence rates of mental health symptoms, especially among adolescents, are still concerningly high, say researchers from Denmark in a linked editorial.

This review does not tell us why any deteriorations occurred, or whether these deteriorations might have occurred even without the pandemic, signifying an underlying, but not covid-19 related, pan-societal problem, they write. Further research is required to help answer these important questions.

“Pandemic or not, there is a strong need to provide preventive mental health interventions for those most at risk of poor mental health outcomes,” they conclude.

Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar, Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, stated on Monday that the need of the hour is to shift gears and adopt a focused approach to imparting the best pharmacy education while keeping our curriculum in line with the latest developments in the field, as well as providing extensive education of specialised drugs to benefit the reach of pharmacists in the country.

On the occasion of National Pharmacy Education Day, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar launched Pharma Anveshan-2023. The day commemorates Prof. ML Shroff’s birth anniversary as the father of Pharmacy Education in India.

The event was organised with the goal of providing a platform for sharing academic research with industry and exchanging the benefits of research outcomes. This can aid in the exploration of commercial applications based on the interlinking of academia and industry.

Bharati Pravin Pawar congratulated the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) on organising “Pharma Anveshan 2023” to promote research and innovation and to strengthen industry-academia collaboration.

She discussed the contributions of “Prof ML Schroff” in this field, stating “A pharmacist is just as important as doctors and nurses in helping patients get treated for diseases and other health concerns. Pharmacists know the science of medicine in and out. They ensure that the patients get the right dose of life-saving prescriptions. By educating a patient and making sure their prescription is safe to take with their other health conditions and medications, pharmacists improve their quality of life and possibly even save a life. During the COVID pandemic, Pharmacists played a vital role in maintaining the supply chain of essential medicines.”

Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s words – “innovation should not only be the goal of our science, but innovation should also drive the scientific process forward”, she urged everyone to work on need-based medicine manufacturing and emphasized the crucial role of Pharmacists in the battle against AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance).

She also suggested PCI and pharmacy institutes create awareness about drugs and their usage, the importance of hygiene, community disease prevention, survey and data collection.

Dr Pawar further highlighted that under the visionary leadership of PM Modi, the Government of India has successfully laid the foundation to tackle the challenges related to the health system of the country. The government of India has prioritized developing its human resources towards developing a resilient, efficient and adaptive healthcare system.

Accentuating the future healthcare landscape need, Dr Pawar accentuated the pivotal role of pharmacists in the future of healthcare, evolving beyond dispensing medicines and becoming an essential part of your healthcare team.
She said, “Patient counselling and maintaining patient medical history can also be our focus area for better utilization of medicines and reducing adverse events. Doing so will help reduce the cost of treatment.”

The MoS emphasized that it is necessary for PCI not only to keep pace with global changes but also to lead research in this area so that the Indian pharmacy sector leads the world in innovation.

She also launched a ‘One Stop-Non Stop’ digital job portal of the Pharmacy Council of India, which will be useful for pharma professionals as well as recruiters from the industry. This will prove to be a game changer for the students coming from small towns and villages.

At the event, PCI also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Manufacturer’s Association (KDPMA), Life Sciences Sector Skill Development Council, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (LSSSDC), Indian Pharma Alliance (IPA) and Federation of Pharma Entrepreneurs (FOPE) to reduce the gap of industry and academia, strengthen faculty and student training and promote entrepreneurship and infrastructure development.

Noting an increase in cases of the H3N2 virus, which has become a source of concern, Dr. Randeep Guleria, Chairman of the Institute of Internal Medicine, Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, and Director of Medical Education, stated that this virus mutates every year during this time and spreads through droplets.

“So, currently we are seeing an increase in the number of cases of influenza, which is basically presenting fever, sore throat cough, body aches and runny nose history and is a type of influenza virus, which we see every year during this time of the year. But it is a virus with changes over time, it mutates over time and what we call an antigenic drift,” said Randeep Guleria. “We had a pandemic many years ago of H1N1. That circulating strain of that virus is now H3N2 and therefore it is a normal influenza strain. But we are seeing more cases because as the virus mutates a little bit, the immunity that we had against the virus becomes a little less and therefore people who are susceptible tend to get infection more easily,” Dr Guleria explained.

“It spreads through droplets. However, I think there is not that much of a cause of concern because although the number of cases increased hospitalisation has not gone up to a very large extent,” he said.

Dr Guleria also said that this virus changes slightly every year, so the virus which is H3N2, comes from the family of influenza viruses and influenza viruses, based upon its various subtypes, and it mutates or it goes changes slightly every year what is known as antigenic drift.

“We also see that during this time of the year when the weather changes, there is a higher chance of getting influenza and also because of the fact that we have now come back to a non-COVID state where we are not wearing masks, we’re having a lot of crowding. This is also allowing the virus to spread more easily. And therefore if we need to really prevent yourselves from getting influenza. We need to wear a mask if we’re going to crowded places. We also need to wash our hands frequently and also have physical distancing, if we are a more susceptible population, for influenza also there is a vaccine for the high-risk group and the elderly,” he said

“So in the festive season and we are only just around the corner. I would really say that people should celebrate Holi but they should be careful especially the elderly and those who have underlying comorbid conditions like chronic respiratory diseases, heart problems, patients have kidney problems or dialysis, they need to be careful about going into a crowded place and getting exposure,” Dr Guleria said alerting the elderly and people with comorbidities.

According to WHO, Globally, nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide ─ or 1 in 4 people ─ will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050, warns the World Health Organization’s (WHO) first World Report on Hearing.

On the steps of Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi ji for “Make in India” Prof. Dr. J.M. Hans, Padmashree Awardee with experience of over 40 years in ENT, 25 years in Cochlear Implant and with over 3500 counts of Cochlear Implant Surgeries did the first indigenous Cochlear Implant of Neubio Bold in India. Making efforts to promote hearing health on this “World’s Hearing Day” on 3rd March 2023, Dr Hans has organized community outreach programs, providing free hearing screenings and education to underserved communities and helping them with the “Gift of Hearing”. He believes that everyone, regardless of their background or socioeconomic status, deserves access to quality hearing healthcare as “Hearing care for all”.

Dr. J.M. Hans has done over 3500 such procedures and as a veteran he has even been tirelessly working to promote hearing health and raise awareness about the impact of hearing loss on individuals and society as a whole.

Dr JM Hans treated more than 30 children and families who were given “Gift of Hearing” and were implanted with “Neubio Bold”, first and only made in India Cochlear Implant in which there is no electronic inside making it safe for users. Dr JM Hans took an initiative to treat poor people who have hearing loss and couldn’t afford the expensive cochlear implant surgery.

Neubio BOLD being an indigenous implant, the recurring cost for patients is reduced drastically which is a major challenge with other manufacturers. This makes the implant affordable and accessible for lot of patients who are advised for cochlear implant as a hearing solution. With Neubio BOLD patients can listen close to natural sound appreciating music and tonal languages as this implant provides electric analogue signals-said Dr. J M Hans.

Every family had heart-warming stories to share after the implant was activated. The happiest moment in a parent’s life is when they hear their child say ‘papa’ & ‘mama’. Our child has been using Neubio’s implant for about 6 months and she is developing speech very well” said Himani’s father.

Shivika’s mother pointed out that her daughter now has a newly discovered hobby, dancing to music. ‘No matter how loud the music was before the surgery, she would not respond. Her favourite thing to do now after using the implant every morning is to turn on music & joyfully dance to it’.
Nikhil’s mother said he could now identify different fruits, vegetables, animals, vehicles & much more by just listening to their associated words. He is now following her mother’s verbal commands and enjoys learning mathematics at school.

A cochlear implant can be an expensive device to maintain. Considering Neubio’s implant is made in India, a question about the cost of maintenance was asked to many families. Parents pointed out that no family had bought or spent anything extra for the device’s maintenance over the course of a year.

Dr Hans was the first surgeon to do Neubio’s Implant in India and has done over 30 surgeries with this “New Make in India Neubio Cochlear Implant ” with all the patients showing very good outcomes. His Aim in the last 25 years, has been to improve & improvise, both Technique and Technology in the field of Cochlear Implant in the world.

The Minimal Invasive Technique reduced the time taken for surgery from 3 hours to 40 mts, which becomes even more Important when Bilateral Implantation is being done on an 8 months old child. Bilateral Implantation will take 6 to 7 hours as compared to 2.5 hours in this Technique

Dr. Hans Pioneered the Minimal Invasive Technique for Cochlear Implant in India, he was also involved in making of indigenous implants which was a project with the DRDO. In 2021, Neubio started making indigenous cochlear implants in India after being approved by CDSCO. These implants were made under the technology transfer program.

According to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, over 260 new medical colleges have opened in the last few years, doubling the number of seats in graduate and postgraduate medical courses.

He made the remarks addressing a post-Budget webinar on the subject of ‘Health and Medical Research’.
This was the ninth in a series of 12 webinars hosted by the government. The webinars are being held to solicit ideas and suggestions for the effective implementation of the initiatives announced in the Union Budget 2023.

During the webinar, PM Modi emphasised the importance of nursing in this year’s budget.

“Opening 157 nursing colleges in the vicinity of the medical colleges is a huge step in the direction of medical human resources. This may be useful in fulfilling global demand, not just the domestic need,” he added.

On India’s pharma sector during the Covid-19 pandemic, he said the trust it has gained the world over was unprecedented.

“The way India’s pharma sector has gained trust the world over during the Covid-19 pandemic was unprecedented. We have to capitalize on this”, the Prime Minister said.

Notably, India not only catered to its own population with life-saving vaccines but also supplied vaccines worldwide. Under Vaccine Maitri, India supplied vaccines to 100 countries and provided drugs to around 150 countries during the pandemic.

PM Modi also put a thrust on how his government is focused on using more technology in the health sector.

“We wish to provide timely healthcare to all citizens through digital health ID system. 10 crore teleconsultations have been made through government’s eSanjeevani telemedicine service,” PM Modi said.

Further, PM Modi also said one of the main focuses of the government is that people should get testing facilities and better primary health care near their homes.
“Critical health infrastructures are being set up in small cities and townships under PM Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission. Not only small cities are getting hospitals, ecosystem related to the health sector has also been developed,” he added.

According to a significant US study, giving patients too much oxygen during surgery increases the risk of later kidney, heart, and lung damage.

The results of the investigation were released in The BMJ. According to specialists in a related editorial, this study implies it may be time to reevaluate the liberal use of oxygen during general anaesthesia, even though the absolute risk is still modest.

Nearly all patients undergoing surgery under general anaesthesia get oxygen frequently to assist prevent hypoxia (dangerously low oxygen levels), and the World Health Organization suggests using oxygen liberally to lower the risk of infection.

During surgery, arterial blood haemoglobin oxygen saturation (SpO2) is continuously measured, enabling doctors to adjust the dose of oxygen to a target level. A normal SpO2 is 94-95 per cent. Giving oxygen in excess of that required to saturate haemoglobin – known as supraphysiological oxygen – is common.

Supraphysiological oxygen can harm the body’s cells and tissues, but the clinical relevance of these effects during surgery remains uncertain, and previous trials have not been able to detect any meaningful effects on organs.

To address this knowledge gap, a team of US researchers examined whether supraphysiological oxygen administration during surgery is associated with lower or higher postoperative kidney, heart, and lung injury.

Their findings are based on data for over 350,000 patients (average age 59; 52 per cent women; 70 per cent white) undergoing surgery with general anaesthesia and endotracheal intubation (a breathing tube placed into the windpipe) at 42 medical centres across the United States between January 2016 and November 2018.

Background information on factors such as age, sex, race, weight (BMI), and medical history was collected, and patients were screened for kidney, heart, and lung injury before and after their surgery.

The researchers then used an algorithm to calculate the amount of oxygen given above air level (21 per cent) against the time spent with oxygen saturation at or above 92 per cent throughout surgery.

Medical records were used to track cases of acute kidney, myocardial, and lung injury as well as 30 day mortality, hospital length of stay, and stroke.

The average duration of surgery was 205 minutes. Acute kidney injury was diagnosed in 6.5 per cent of patients, myocardial injury in 2.8 per cent, and lung injury in 4.4 per cent.

After accounting for baseline factors and other potentially influential variables, increased oxygen exposure during surgery was associated with a higher risk of organ injury.

For example, patients at the upper end (75th centile) of oxygen levels had 26 per cent greater odds of acute kidney injury, 12 per cent greater odds of myocardial injury, and 14 per cent greater odds of lung injury compared with patients at the lower end (25th centile).

Patients at the 75th centile of oxygen levels also had 9 per cent greater odds of stroke and 6 per cent greater odds of 30-day mortality than patients at the 25th centile.

However, patients at the 75th centile had a slightly shorter length of stay compared with patients at the 25th centile, an effect unchanged after excluding patients who died before discharge.

These are observational findings, so can’t establish cause, and the researchers acknowledge that not all patients were screened for kidney and heart injury after their surgery, nor were they able to consider factors such as diet, lifestyle, and medication use, which can influence susceptibility to organ injury.

Nevertheless, this was a large study, drawn from geographically diverse populations, ensuring precision and generalisability of the results. And findings were similar after additional analyses, providing greater confidence in their conclusions.

Based on their findings, the researchers say: “A large clinical trial to detect small but clinically significant effects on organ injury and patient-centred outcomes is needed to guide oxygen administration during surgery.”

This, and previous research, shows that oxygen can be a double-edged sword, point out experts in a linked editorial.
They suggest that future research on this topic could deal with some of the study’s acknowledged limitations and could also measure cognitive impairment because experimental evidence suggests that brain tissue is particularly vulnerable to redox imbalance.

Research collaborations between biochemists and anaesthesiologists should be encouraged, they add, “especially to identify cause-effect relationships between supraphysiological oxygen administration and organ injury.”

28th February 2023, New Delhi: An 8-year-old boy from Saudi Arabia with weight 84 kg, height 4 feet and BMI (57.2kg/m2) was suffering from MORBID OBESITY with OSA (OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNOEA). OSA was so severe that he could not sleep in night and has to be awake whole night. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea (OSA) is a life-threatening condition which is associated with morbid obesity. Patient have apnea sleep (Air hunger) in night and feel sleepy throughout day and can be life threatening. It requires BiPAP machine to sleep overnight. It can be treated by losing weight with bariatric surgery and BiPAP machine can be removed in most patients as early as first week following surgery.

He was very much addicted to chocolates and fast food. He came to INDIA for help. He was advised psychological and pediatric Endocrinologist counseling but his family after meeting them wanted some definitive, fast result procedure to save his life. They wanted him to undergo BARIATRIC SURGERY and met Dr Rajat Goel at Rosewalk Hospital for same. Bariatric (Metabolic or Life style modification) SURGERY is like laparoscopic Surgery, like gall bladder or hernia or appendix surgery requiring 4 to 5 key holes to perform it.

Dr Rajat Goel refused surgery due to age of child and was not sure whether child will be able to understand post-operative dietary protocol. Because the youngest age for Bariatric surgery usually advised at the age of 14 and it is normal for the patients above 18 years. His family was counselled about the procedure and all its pros and cons for 1 month but since Child was having severe OSA (breathing is interrupted during sleep, for longer than 10 seconds at least 5 times per hour throughout your sleep period), and was advised BiPAP machine to breath which he could not tolerate, patient was taken for Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy after anesthesia and other clearances and informed consent.

The child lost 10 kg of weight in 1week time and could sleep easily without need of BiPAP machine. Due to hormonal changes after surgery he stopped eating chocolates and was counseled by dietician along with his family for healthy lifestyle like 40 minutes activity daily and healthy food intake. BARIATRIC SURGERY done on right patient at right time can be like saving with long lasting results. Life after surgery is like patient becoming a new born baby with new taste and control over eating which lasts for 6 months and all eating habits can be reformed due to hormonal changes in bariatric surgery.

It not only improves physical health and treats/ controls all diseases associated with obesity like type 2 DM, HT, OSA, PCOS, FATTY LIVER and lot more but also improves mental (depression, inferiority complex, anxiety, eating disorders associated with obesity) and social life. To summarize surgery gives you a second chance to live life in a healthy way.