Rome The rapid onset of African Swine Fever in China – the country’s first reported outbreak – and its detection in areas more than 1,000 km apart, could mean the deadly virus may spread to other Asian countries anytime, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned, urging regional cooperation to guard against the disease.

“Outbreaks such as this one are important reminders to us all that we must work together in a multi-lateral and inter-governmental effort to prevent and respond to outbreaks of animal diseases because these diseases know no borders,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific.

“Good communication and coordination with the region’s private sector is essential to strengthen cooperation in ASF prevention and control,” she added.

There is no effective vaccine to protect swine from the highly contagious disease which also infects wild boar but not humans. Outbreaks can be devastating with the most virulent forms lethal in 100 percent of infected animals, FAO said.

There are increased fears that the disease will move across borders to neighbouring countries of Southeast Asia or the Korean Peninsula where trade and consumption of pork products is also high, FAO warned.

Chinese authorities have culled more than 24,000 pigs in four provinces in efforts to control the spread of the disease, FAO reported.

“The movement of pig products can spread diseases quickly and, as in this case of ASF, it’s likely that the movement of such products, rather than live pigs, has caused the spread of the virus to other parts of China,” explained Juan Lubroth, FAO’s Chief Veterinarian.

[IANS]

London Drugs currently undergoing development to treat anaemia — lack of blood — could be repurposed to help prevent people with Type-2 diabetes from developing heart failure, according to a new research.

Researchers found that after a heart attack, a protein called HIF acts to help heart cells survive.

In people with diabetes, fats accumulate within the heart muscle and stop the HIF protein from becoming active. This means that a person is more likely to suffer lasting heart muscle damage, and develop heart failure after a heart attack.

“After a heart attack, people with Type-2 diabetes are more likely to develop heart failure more quickly, but we have not fully understood the reasons why that is the case,” said lead researcher Lisa Heather, research student at the University of Oxford in the UK.

“What we have shown with this research is that the metabolism of people with Type-2 diabetes means they have higher levels of fatty acids in the heart. This prevents signals going to the heart protective protein telling it to ‘kick-in’ after a heart attack,” she added.

In the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the team treated diabetic rats with a drug known to activate the HIF protein, and were able to encourage the heart to recover after a heart attack.

However, these initial results suggest that several drugs known to activate HIF and currently undergoing phase-III clinical trials to treat people with anaemia, could potentially be given to people with diabetes, immediately after a heart attack in the future, the researchers said.

“This research in rats has not only identified the mechanism that could explain why people with Type-2 diabetes have poorer outcomes after a heart attack, but also a practical way this might be prevented,” the researchers explained.

However, further studies will be needed to confirm if the same benefits are seen in humans, they noted.

[IANS]

New York Researchers from University of Central Florida in the US have taught a computer how to detect tiny specks of lung cancer in computed tomography (CT) scans, which radiologists often have a difficult time identifying.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) system is about 95 per cent accurate, compared to 65 per cent when done by human eyes, the team said.

“We used the brain as a model to create our system,” one of the researchers Rodney LaLonde said in a statement released by the university.

The approach is similar to the algorithms that facial-recognition software uses. It scans thousands of faces looking for a particular pattern to find its match.

The group fed more than 1,000 CT scans into the software they developed to help the computer learn to look for the tumours, according to the research to be presented at the MICCAI 2018 conference in Spain in September.

“I believe this will have a very big impact,” said Assistant Professor Ulas Bagci.

“Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in the US and if detected in late stages, the survival rate is only 17 percent. By finding ways to help identify earlier, I think we can help increase survival rates,” Bagci added.

The next step is to move the research project into a hospital setting. After that, the technology could be a year or two away from the marketplace, Bagci said.

[IANS]

New York, Aug 26 (IANS) Individuals with weaker muscles do not typically live as long as their stronger peers, and are 50 per cent more likely to die earlier, finds a study.

According to researchers, muscle strength may be an even more important predictor of overall health and longevity than muscle mass.

In addition, hand grip strength specifically has been found to be inversely related to mobility limitations and disability.

However, despite being a relatively simple and cost-effective test, grip strength measurement is not currently part of most routine physicals, they said.

“Maintaining muscle strength throughout life-and especially in later life-is extremely important for longevity and ageing independently,” said lead researcher Kate Duchowny, post-doctoral student at the University of California-San Francisco.

The study, published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, highlights the importance of integrating grip strength measurements into routine care-not just for older adults but even in midlife.

“Having hand grip strength be an integral part of routine care would allow for earlier interventions, which could lead to increased longevity and independence for individuals,” Duchowny said.

For the study, the team analysed data of 8,326 men and women, aged 65 and older.

After adjusting for socio-demographic factors, chronic health conditions and smoking history, the results showed that people with low muscle strength are 50 per cent more likely to die earlier.

[IANS]

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) Coming down heavily on the Central government for its failure to frame any policy on e-cigarette, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday sought an affidavit indicating a time frame for putting in place a mechanism to regulate the manufacture, import and sale of e-cigarettes.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V. Kameswar Rao pulled up the Central government for its failure to take any decision on regulatory measures for e-cigarettes till date. It noted that some states have already taken steps to prohibit it.

The bench said that this is an important issue particularly for educational institutions.

The court was hearing a plea seeking a ban on or regulation of the sale and use of e-cigarettes. It listed the matter for further hearing on September 7.

The public interest litigation petition filed by anti-tobacco activist Seema Sehgal, through advocate Bhuvanesh Sehgal, said that though there are no specific guidelines to deal with emerging threats such as e-cigarettes several state governments and Union Territories have taken steps to prohibit it.

Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have declared e-cigarettes as an unapproved drug under the Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1954 and have begun prosecuting the vendors.

Columbia Asia Hospital Whitefield celebrated the Organ Donation Day by organizing a discussion on the pros and cons of Organ Donation and to create awareness among donors.

Donating an organ is providing the slightest ray of hope for many unfortunate patients, the best kind of gift one can lend their hands in. While in India, there is a crisis of organ donation, the purpose of this event is not only to make people more aware but also to promote the concept of “Gifting an Organ”, as an organ donated can save a life and start an era.

The discussion revolves around how the general mass feels about Organ Donation. In India, the myths and fears that a person has to face regarding the same has caused huge crisis in Organ Donation. To create more awareness and have a positive impact on getting more people interested,along with discussing about advanced technologies that are gradually changing the scenario.
Among the dignitaries, speaking on the occasion Dr. Pallavi Patri, Consultant-Chief of Nephrology & Renal Transplant, Columbia Asia Hospital Whitefield said “Organ Donation comes as a boon to the affected patients with a need of transplant. Transplants are only possible if the donor signs up and eagerly chooses to donate under no pressure or influence. For instance, when you donate your eyes, you are seeing for that person, you have a part of you residing in that person. In India, to overcome the disparity in donation, more donors are needed, so that the waiting list for organ donation is under control. There are so many illicit means and procedures going on in the name of Organ Donation, to get rid of that, more donors have to sign up and make a change.”

“It is the perfect platform to let out and discuss about the fears and myths related to donation. The modern and improved technologies have drastically changed and simplified the transplant procedures. Donating an organ is donating life to a person. The safest methods have made it possible for the living donors to continue with their lives soon after the donation. All the essential precautions and necessary protection are taking into care, so donor doesn’t have to suffer from infections or post-surgical traumas. Even with the growth in technology, the number of donors are still far low in comparison to the patients in need of transplant. Let us all come together and work for a better world, building on today’s vision by implementing the rightful strategies” saysDr. Manohar T, Senior Consultant-Urology, Columbia Asia Hospital Whitefield.

About Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd.
Columbia Asia Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. is the only company in India to utilize 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) route in the hospital sector.
About Columbia Asia Group of Companies
The Columbia Asia Group is owned by more than 150 private equity companies, fund management organizations and individual investors. The group currently operates eleven facilities in India and has presence in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Gurgaon, Ghaziabad, Kolkata, Mysore, Patiala and Pune. The company also operates hospitals in Malaysia (12), Vietnam (3), and Indonesia (3). The Indian management operations are managed from its office in Bangalore.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee remained “critical and on life support” at the AIIMS here on Thursday, a hospital statement said.

There was no improvement in his condition since Wednesday evening since his health deteriorated.

“Vajpayee’s condition continues to be the same. He is critical and on life support,” said the statement from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

A host of leaders, including Bharatiya Janata Party veteran and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and Congress President Rahul Gandhi, visited the hospital on Thursday morning to inquire about the health of the 93-year-old leader.

The others who visited the hospital also included Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan and BJP President Amit Shah.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the AIIMS on Wednesday night to take stock of the situation and enquire about Vajpayee’s condition.

Vajpayee, a diabetic patient, is undergoing treatment at AIIMS since June 11. He was admitted to the hospital for what doctors described as a routine check-up.

The 1924-born leader is under the supervision of Randeep Guleria, a pulmonologist and currently the Director of AIIMS.

Guleria has served as personal physician to the three-time Prime Minister for over three decades.

The former Prime Minister, whose birthday on December 25 is celebrated as Good Governance Day, was honoured with the Bharat Ratna in 2014 at his home.

A team of Indian-American researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and at the University of Utah at Salt Lake City, has used an ingenious process to enable curcumin to kill cancer cells.

Curcumin is the active ingredient of turmeric (haldi), the ubiquitous kitchen spice that gives curry its yellow color. Turmeric has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb because of its powerful anti-inflammatory and strong antioxidant property.

Curcumin is also known to exhibit anti-cancer properties, but its poor solubility in water had impeded curcumin’s clinical application in cancer. A drug needs to be soluble in water as otherwise it will not flow through the bloodstream.

Despite decades of research, the development of efficient strategies that can effectively deliver poorly water-soluble curcumin to cancer cells had remained a challenge.

A team headed by Dipanjan Pan, associate professor of bioengineering at UIUC, has now found a way out.

“Curcumin’s medicinal benefit can be fully appreciated if its solubility issue is resolved,” Pan told this correspondent in an e-mail.

Pan’s laboratory collaborated with Peter Stang at the University of Utah on ways to be able to render curcumin soluble, deliver it to infected tumors and kill the cancer cells.

Because platinum is a commonly used cancer therapeutic agent in the clinic, the researchers decided to experiment with a drug consisting of a combination of platinum and curcumin.

“It is a combination of clever chemistry and nano-precipitation utilising host guest chemistry,” Pan explained. “The sophisticated chemistry leads to self-assembled hierarchical structure that drives the solubility of curcumin and simultaneously delivers an additional anticancer agent, i.e. platinum. The combined therapeutic effect — of curcumin and platinum — is lethal for the cancer cells.”

The team has reported its work in the “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences” in the US.

According to their report, the metallocyclic complex created using platinum “not only enabled curcumin’s solubility, but proved to be 100 times more effective in treating various cancer types such as melanoma and breast cancer cells than using curcumin and platinum agents separately”.

“Our results demonstrate that curcumin works completely in sync with platinum and exerts synergistic effect to show remarkable anticancer properties,” says the report. “The platinum-curcumin combination kills the cells by fragmenting its DNA.”

“Extensive animal studies are in progress in my laboratory, including in rodents and pigs,” Pan said. His team also hopes to prove that this method will be effective in killing cancer stem cells — the birth place of cancer cells — thereby preventing the recurrence of cancer.

Pan’s team included post-doctoral researcher Santosh Misra at UIUC, and Sougata Datta, Manik Lal Saha, Nabajit Lahiri, Janis Louie, and Peter J. Stang from the University of Utah.

When Rambabu, a 27-year-old who worked in a ration shop in Patna, got to know he was suffering from brain tumor, he was devastated. But his nightmare was compounded when he traveled over a thousand kilometers in that condition to New Delhi for treatment only to find there was a waiting period of six months at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) referral hospital.

He could not afford treatment at a private hospital and a wait of six months at AIIMS seemed as good as being on death row. It was in that moment of hopelessness that lawyer and community worker Ashok Agarwal came to his rescue and made him aware of the government policy under which people from the economically weaker sections (EWS) are entitled to free treatment at large private hospitals built on government land.

Not only that, Agarwal also got Rambabu admitted at the Max Hospital, Patparganj, where he has already started receiving treatment.

“He used to complain of excruciating pain in his head 24 hours a day. Doctors in Patna suggested he should be taken to Delhi, where we arrived on July 18,” Rambabu’s brother Shambabu, 35, told IANS.

“At AIIMS, we were given a date in December for his operation but his condition was deteriorating. No matter what he ate, he would eventually throw up. He needed urgent attention,” he said.

An acquaintance then suggested they speak to Agarwal who got a bed arranged for the tumor patient at Max Hospital.

Thousands of people like Rambabu have benefited from the provision of 10 per cent charity beds meant for the EWS category, Agarwal told IANS.

About four years ago, Agarwal came across an entire family in the Harijan Basti in south-west Delhi which were affected by a fire caused by a cylinder blast. Three small girls had their faces terribly burnt and their father had bandages all over on one of his legs.

Agarwal referred them to Gangaram Hospital were they underwent plastic surgeries. The father’s leg was so infected so it had to be amputated but had the operation not been done, he would not have survived.

“There have been a dozen such episodes where I randomly came across a suffering person who was not able to avail any health facility. They were referred to various private hospitals that come under the government policy of charity beds,” he said.

Every Saturday, Agarwal meets people who need similar help at his chamber in Tis Hazari court. He helps them fill up the declaration form stating they belong to the EWS category and can’t afford costly treatment. But it took several decades for the advocate and other activists like him imbued with similar altruistic passion to ensure that private hospitals adhere to government guidelines and don’t turn away poor patients.

It was in 1949 that the Central government decided to allot land to hospitals and schools at highly concessional rates so as to involve them in achieving the larger social objective of providing affordable health and education to people. In 2002, Agarwal filed a petition because private hospitals were not serving the poorer sections of society. In his petition, he said even those hospitals where the allotment letters clearly said that up to 70 per cent beds had to be reserved were not following the rules.

A 2007 judgment by the Delhi High Court said that hospitals had to pay hefty fines if they earn profits on beds that had to be reserved for the poor. In 2012, the Delhi government ordered hospitals to implement the Delhi High Court’s judgment under which they were bound to reserve 10 per cent of the beds — with all medicines and tests included — and 25 per cent of all out-patient consultations for the poor.

But even that was not enough because, while beds were reserved, there was a time when none of them were occupied due to lack of awareness among the poor.

In order to spread awareness, Kapil Chopra, who served as the president of Oberoi Group of hotels for five years, joined hands with Agarwal and simulcasted an audio recording about this provision over WhatsApp, which went viral.

While Agarwal’s battle for the poor was on, Chopra independently made efforts to make people aware and help them through his web portal to get treatment in private hospitals. He started a website charitybeds.com which gives real-time availability of over 650 beds in Delhi and NCR every day.

“We realised there is a big difference between issuing an order and its implementation. We thought why don’t we help in bridging the gap between government, patients and hospitals because it’s very difficult for a poor person to enter a big private hospital like Max and tell them it’s his right to get treatment there. It is very intimidating for them,” Chopra told IANS.

The website has been running for the past five years now and is administered by his associates Lalit Bhatia and Gagan Bharti who answer all queries of poor patients, counsel them, help them get to hospitals and also with all the required documentation.

“We help patients when someone calls us, we go to government hospitals and pick up patients from there, we help people reaching private hospitals directly. We help people who have BPL (below the poverty line) cards and people who do not have any card as they are not aware because they are so poor,” Chopra said.

“Finally, I can say that around 85 to 90 per cent of these charity beds are occupied today,” said Agarwal with some satisfaction.