Beware, injectable drug users are at risk of superbug infections

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A type of superbug bacteria is spreading rapidly among people who inject drugs, says a new government report. Due to it, users of heroin and other injectable drugs were 16 times more likely than other people to develop severe illnesses, said the report.

“Drug use has crept up and now accounts for a substantial proportion of these very serious infections,” said Dr William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University, one of the study’s authors.

The US is in the midst of its deadliest drug epidemic ever. While overdose deaths have been the main concern, studies have noted that HIV and hepatitis C infections are spreading among drug users. The authors say the new report is one of the first — and the largest — to highlight how superbug bacterial infections are spreading, too.

MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, often live on the skin without causing symptoms. But they can become more dangerous if they enter the bloodstream, destroying heart valves or causing damage. Health officials have tied MRSA to as many as 11,000 US deaths a year.

Public health efforts have focussed on MRSA’s spread in hospitals and nursing homes, and infection-control campaigns have been credited for recent drops in MRSA infections at health care facilities. But as that success story has unfolded, MRSA infections tied to illicit drug use have risen. The opioid epidemic began with abuse of prescription pain pills, but in recent years has shifted to heroin and other injectable drugs.

MRSA is on the skin, and as the needle goes into the skin it brings the bacteria with it, explained Dr Isaac See of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, another of the study’s authors. The proportion of invasive, bloodstream-infecting MRSA cases that occurred among injection drug users more than doubled in five years, the study found. In 2011, 4% of those MRSA cases involved injection drug users; in 2016, the proportion was 9%.

The report is based on infections diagnosed at hospitals across Connecticut and in parts of California, Georgia, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee. Data were collected between 2005 and 2016.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/beware-injectable-drug-users-are-at-risk-of-superbug-infections/story-t5WJp8XTgDXaGjFM8bHb9N.html

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A journey from death to life

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Life was a dream for Amit Vaidya, who soared high financially and professionally till he was diagnosed with cancer when he was 27
Amit Vaidya lived the American dream. A Gujarati, born and brought up in the US, with a Ph.D. in economics, he worked in the entertainment industry’s business department. “It was an active but not a healthy lifestyle as I was an overachiever,” says Amit. His dreams “were shattered” when a few months after his father’s death he was diagnosed with first stage gastric cancer. “The fall was great as I had risen to great heights when I was 27.”

Opting not to do surgery, he went in for “aggressive chemo radiation” in New York. Two years later he went into remission. Within two months of his recovery, his mother was diagnosed with grade three brain tumour. “Nothing worked and I lost her too. Away in a foreign land, being the only child, I felt lonely and a scan showed my cancer had returned after 18 months. This time it showed up in my liver. Nine months later, in 2011, reports showed I was not responding to treatment and the cancer had spread to my lungs too,” he says emotionally.

Doctors told Amit that his life too was just a matter of time. “Not wanting to burden my friends, I started planning my funeral. Facing death was not frightening as I had seen death in its face. Seeing the grace with which my mother let go of her life, gave me the courage to accept death. In a cinematic way, I was excited that I would be reunited with my parents. I got on a self destructive path as I had nothing to live for,” says Amit.

He started “micromanaging his last moments and his funeral. “I also wanted to come to India once. Being a Bollywood junkie I wanted that cinematic touch of meeting my extended family here before my death.”

Soon he planned a trip to India. “Part of me thought I would die even before my feet touched the ground. There was some irony in the fact that my parents born here made US their home and died there. And, I, who lived there, would come to India and die here. It was like a full circle.”

The meeting with his relatives was “emotional”, but as “they had their own challenges, they were aghast when they discovered that I was critically ill. Doors were shut. I was again all by myself,” recalls a shattered Amit.

“When I lived in Delhi with a friend I was told about alternative therapies. Their love and care for me made me greedy again for life. An aunt also told me about an Ayurvedic hospital in Gujarat that claims to cure cancer in 11 days for just a rupee! Having nothing to lose I wanted to give it a shot.”

So off he went and explains that the treatment was disciplined with yoga, meditation and he was made to drink a mix of “desi cow milk, curd, ghee and gobar, go-mutra. I was to drink it on an empty stomach. For years everything tasted like saw dust because of the chemo. It was easy to drink something that smelled and tasted as it should. Others there were traumatised by this. I kept faith and did it diligently. I saw no change but felt no worse either.”

Scans showed that the cancer “had not spread”. Amit then went back to the hospital and lived there for another 40 days. Reports showed the cancer had decreased. “Wanting to continue the therapy,” Amit stayed with a farmer, who opened his house to Amit. “He offered me a tiny shack on his farm, a cot, a goshala with desi cows, a well and a toilet. I continued the therapy and after months was able to walk. Over time, walks became jogs, jogs became runs and I started finding joy in my mind. The villagers had time for me, which was the best gift I got, especially when I needed time to heal.”

After 18 months Amit claims he is cancer free and decided “on planning to live his life instead of planning a funeral. I now talk to people about my journey and that healing is possible. I make time to spend with cancer patients. It is all free. I have started an NGO called Healing Vaidya.”

He does not plan on going back to the US as “this country has given me much. I have learnt that people here don’t value what it can offer.”

Amit has written Holy Cancer – How A Cow Saved My Life , (Aditya Prakashan, Rs. 495) which was launched in the city recently. The book is available in book stores. For more log on to healingvaidya.org

Facing death was not frightening as I had seen its face. Seeing the grace with which my mother let go of her life, gave me courage.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/a-journey-from-death-to-life/article7558731.ece

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New Blood Test Could Predict Preterm Labor 2 Months Before It Happens

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Two newly developed blood tests may help moms-to-be accurately answer this ever-popular question: When is your baby due?

One blood test can predict gestational age and delivery date, while the other can flag some women who are at risk for premature delivery, according to a new study.

However, both tests are still in the beginning stages of research and aren’t yet available to the public, according to the study, which was published online today (June 8) in the journal Science.

If these potentially low-cost tests are available for public use someday, they could “hold promise for prenatal care in both the developed and developing worlds,” the researchers wrote in the study. That’s because about 15 million babies are born prematurely every year worldwide, and in the United States, premature birth is the leading cause of death among newborns, as well as complications later in life, the researchers said. [Blossoming Body: 8 Odd Changes That Happen During Pregnancy]

To perform the tests, scientists took blood samples from pregnant women and then analyzed free-floating genetic material known as RNA within each sample. This RNA comes not just from the mother but also the fetus and placenta and can provide insight on fetal development. In fact, these fragments of RNA can reveal which genes are switched on, indicating which stage of maturation the fetus has reached.

In effect, these noninvasive tests provide a way of “eavesdropping on a conversation” between the mother, the fetus and the placenta, without disturbing the pregnancy, study co-researcher Dr. David K. Stevenson, a professor of pediatrics at Stanford University in California, said in a statement.

In the first experiment, scientists examined 31 healthy pregnant women from Denmark who agreed to donate a blood sample from each week of their pregnancy, the researchers said. All of the women delivered their babies at full term, or after 37 weeks of pregnancy. After analyzing the women’s blood samples, the researchers found that RNA fragments corresponding to placental genes, “might provide an accurate estimate of fetal development and gestational age throughout pregnancy,” the researchers wrote in the study.

In fact, the predicted due dates from the RNA biomarkers were comparable with those from a first-trimester ultrasound, the researchers said. Even better, this test could be less expensive and more widely accessible than ultrasounds, the researchers noted.

In the second experiment, the researchers looked at 38 pregnant women — recruited by the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Alabama at Birmingham — who had an increased risk of preterm delivery because they had experienced premature contractions or had given birth prematurely before.

This experiment was small and unblinded (meaning the researchers knew which women’s samples they were looking at) but had encouraging results: When the researchers looked at a subset of the women, they found that the RNA analysis correctly classified six of eight (75 percent) women who delivered prematurely. Moreover, the same test misclassified just one of the 26 women who carried to full term. (In other words, it predicted that one woman wouldn’t carry to full term, but she did.)

When they did the test again on a different group of women within the study, the test accurately predicted 80 percent of preterm births. However, it also misclassified three of the 18 full-term births. These results came from blood samples that were collected two months before the women went into labor, the researchers noted. [9 Uncommon Conditions That Pregnancy May Bring]

“With further study, we might be able to identify specific genes and gene pathways that could reveal some of the underlying causes of preterm birth, and suggest potential targets for interventions to prevent it,” Stevenson said.

However, both tests have several limitations at this point. First and foremost, each test needs to be verified in a larger clinical trial that includes diverse ethnicities and is blinded, meaning the scientists won’t know which women are at risk for preterm birth, the researchers said.

However, if all goes well, the tests could be a useful, potentially inexpensive tool for both pregnant women and their doctors, the researchers said. The study was funded by the March of Dimes, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub — a research collaboration funded by Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.

Original article on Live Science.

Source: https://www.livescience.com/62778-blood-tests-pregnancy-due-date.html

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Gene therapy could restore hand function after spinal cord injury

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Researchers have tested a new gene therapy that has shown potential to help people with spinal cord injuries to re-learn skilled hand movements. People with spinal cord injury often lose the ability to perform everyday actions that require coordinated hand movements such as writing, holding a toothbrush or picking up a drink.

In the study published in the journal Brain, researchers tested the new gene therapy on rats for regenerating damaged tissue in the spinal cord that could be switched on and off using a common antibiotic. “What is exciting about our approach is that we can precisely control how long the therapy is delivered by using a gene ‘switch’. This means we can hone in on the optimal amount of time needed for recovery,” said Elizabeth Bradbury, Professor at King’s College London.

“Gene therapy provides a way of treating large areas of the spinal cord with only one injection, and with the switch we can now turn the gene off when it is no longer needed,” she added.

After a traumatic spinal injury, dense scar tissue forms which prevents new connections being made between nerve cells. The gene therapy causes cells to produce an enzyme called chondroitinase which can break down the scar tissue and allow networks of nerve cells to regenerate.

The researchers gave the gene therapy to rats with spinal injuries that closely mimicked the kind of human spinal injuries that occur after traumatic impacts such as car crashes or falls. “We found that when the gene therapy was switched on for two months the rats were able to accurately reach and grasp sugar pellets,” explained Emily Burnside from King’s College London.

“We also found a dramatic increase in activity in the spinal cord of the rats, suggesting that new connections had been made in the networks of nerve cells,” she noted.

However, the researchers had to overcome a problem with the immune system recognising and removing the gene switch mechanism.

To get around this, they added a “stealth gene” which hides the gene switch from the immune system. The gene therapy is not yet ready for human trials, the researchers said.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/gene-therapy-could-restore-hand-function-after-spinal-cord-injury-5222196/

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New ‘Smart Stent’ Can Detect Narrowing of Arteries

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Researchers have developed a type of “smart stent” that monitors even subtle changes in the flow of blood through the artery, detecting the narrowing in its earliest stages and making early diagnosis and treatment possible.

‘Smart stent that uses medical-grade stainless steel and looks similar to most commercial stents can help detect narrowing of arteries.’

For every three individuals who have had a stent implanted to keep clogged arteries open and prevent a heart attack, at least one would experience restenosis — the renewed narrowing of the artery due to plaque buildup or scarring — which can lead to additional complications.
The researchers believe that the smart stent could help doctors monitor their patient’s health more easily.

The device prototype was successfully tested in the lab and in a swine model, according to a study published in the journal Advanced Science.

“We modified a stent to function as a miniature antenna and added a special micro-sensor that we developed to continuously track blood flow,” said Kenichi Takahata, Professor at University of British Columbia in Canada.

“The data can then be sent wirelessly to an external reader, providing constantly updated information on the artery’s condition,” Takahata said.

The device uses medical-grade stainless steel and looks similar to most commercial stents.

It can be implanted using current medical procedures without modifications, the researchers said.

“Putting a smart stent in place of a standard one can enable physicians to monitor their patient’s health more easily and offer treatment, if needed, in a timely manner,” said research collaborator York Hsiang, Professor at University of British Columbia.

Source: https://www.medindia.net/news/new-smart-stent-can-detect-narrowing-of-arteries-180394-1.htm

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Robotic surgery equally effective as traditional open surgery for bladder cancer

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The outcome of robotic-assisted surgery and traditional open surgery are equally effective in treating bladder cancer, say scientists, led by an Indian-origin researcher.

The results, published in the journal The Lancet, may help patients and doctors to make informed decisions on the use of robotic surgery, which is not cheap, the researchers said.

There has been an assumption that patients who receive robotic surgery will perceive a better quality of life than patients who have open surgery. However, the trial showed that both groups had a significant return to their previous quality of life, and there was no advantage of one group over the other at three and six months after surgery.

“We have done more than four million surgeries with the robotic approach since the device came into existence, and on average we do close to a million robotic surgeries a year globally,” said Dipen J. Parekh, Chief Clinical Officer at the University of Miami, Florida in the US.

“There’s a steep cost to robotic technology, and there is a learning curve, so we need to build on this in terms of making rational, data-based decisions,” Parekh added.

A total of 350 patients were involved in the bladder cancer study. Half received the open surgical approach and half received robotic surgery, and they were followed for two to three years so that outcomes could be compared.

“The findings of this study provide high-level evidence to inform a discussion between patients and their physicians regarding the benefits and risks of various approaches for a complex and often morbid surgery, like radical cystectomy,” the researchers said.

But, because robotic surgery is being used in many other organs, including kidney, colorectal, OB/GYN and lung cancer, more studies are needed, Parekh said.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/robotic-surgery-equally-effective-as-traditional-open-surgery-for-bladder-cancer/story-NSyTRkWEyrMpV7Cc9QmKRM.html

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Pacemaker for heart, study suggests leadless variant better than transvenous one

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Good news for heart patients. If you want to keep your heart healthy, you should opt for leadless pacemakers over the conventional transvenous variants. While you can you avoid heart attack and stroke risk by following a disciplined exercise and diet routine to keep ensure a healthy heart, you need to be careful with the pacemaker variant you choose after a heart attack. According to a new study, heart patients who opt for leadless pacemakers are likely to have lesser short-term and mid-term complications than those with transvenous pacemakers. Approximately a million pacemakers are annually implanted in patients to provide electrical stimulation to regulate heartbeat. Conventional pacemakers are surgically placed under the skin of patient’s chest stretching from the shoulder vein and attaching to the heart. The wires and surgery lead to complications in the patient.

Leadless pacemakers, on the other hand, don’t have any wires and are ten times smaller than the transvenous ones. They are placed directly into the heart using a catheter passed through the femoral vein in the leg. A study compared short- and mid-term complications between 718 patients receiving the Nanostim leadless pacemaker and 1,436 patients with conventional (transvenous) pacemakers.

It was found that patients receiving one type of leadless pacemaker (Nanostim) overall had fewer complications (5.8% vs. 9.4%). Leadless pacemakers completely eliminated lead and pocket complications, including infection. By comparison, complications among traditional pacemaker recipients included lead complications (3.62%), pocket complications (0.42%) and infection (1.74%). There were no significant differences between the groups in regard to rates of vascular complications, electrode dislodgement and generator complications.

Daniel Cantillon, a researcher said, “The data from this study is encouraging, and we expect complications from leadless pacemakers to continue to decline as the technology improves and physicians gain experience implanting these devices”. The study was published in Heart Rhythm journal.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/pacemaker-for-heart-study-suggests-leadless-variant-better-than-transvenous-one/story-kgHsJeC4XRkFAfJqG20pMP.html

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This new drug can reduce post-childbirth bleeding and save lives, says WHO

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Excessive bleeding following childbirth is one of the major causes of death in several countries. Approximately 70,000 women die every year because of post-partum haemorrhage, which also increases the risk of babies dying within a month.

“Despite substantial reductions in maternal mortality, hemorrhage continues to be the largest direct cause of maternal death, accounting for 6,61,000 deaths worldwide between 2003 and 2009. More than 70% of hemorrhagic deaths occur post partum, and most are due to uterine atony, which results from poor contraction of the uterus after childbirth,” mentions the study.

Now, a clinical trial by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 10 countries (including India), shows that a novel formulation using the drug carbetocin could be an effective way to prevent excessive bleeding. It could potentially save thousands of women’s lives.

Currently, the WHO recommends oxytocin as the first-choice drug for preventing excessive bleeding after childbirth. Oxytocin, however, must be stored and transported at 2-8 degrees Celsius, which is hard to do in many countries, depriving many women of access to this lifesaving drug. If it gets exposed to heat, the drug becomes less effective.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that heat-stable formulation of carbetocin can be as safe as oxytocin in preventing post-partum haemorrhage. This new formulation of carbetocin does not require refrigeration and retains its efficacy for at least 3 years, when stored at a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius and 75% relative humidity. “This is an encouraging new development that can revolutionise our ability to keep mothers and babies alive,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO.

For the trial, the team studied 30,000 women, who gave birth vaginally in 10 countries such as India, Argentina, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Uganda and the UK. The study found that both drugs were equally effective at preventing excessive bleeding after birth, but oxytocin tends to degrade in higher temperatures, whereas heat-stable carbetocin shows no effect of high temperature. The next step will be a regulatory review and approval by countries.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/this-new-drug-can-reduce-post-childbirth-bleeding-and-save-lives-says-who/story-jVitd2aKBC1UYKj5Ljux5H.html

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Eyesight problems may signal cognitive changes in older adults

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Worsening vision in older adults may highlight problems with future cognitive functioning, says a new study done by the University of Miami. The findings also suggest that maintaining good vision through prevention and treatment of vision disorders may be a strategy to lessen age-related cognitive changes.

For the study, published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, researchers evaluated the longitudinal associations between visual impairment and cognitive function.

It found that visual impairment measured at a distance is associated with declining cognitive function both cross-sectionally and longitudinally over time with worsening vision having a stronger association with declining cognition than the reverse, said co-author D Diane Zheng from the University of Miami.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/vision-problems-may-signal-cognitive-changes-in-older-adults/story-mxpj85ZjZo0jAtvZk9u3ZP.html

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Water: Drinking how much is enough on a daily basis?

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The newest trend sweeping sunny California is people drinking untreated ‘raw’ water from unfiltered sources packed with natural ions, minerals, chemicals and organic matter. The fad will, sooner than later, wreck their health.

Along with ions and minerals, untreated water comes laced with bacteria, viruses, parasites, pesticides and heavy metals that cause nasty diarrhoea,dysentery, hepatitis A, cholera, typhoid and toxicities, among other diseases.

Just as contaminated water sickens and kills, safe water saves lives. Safe and easily available water for drinking, domestic use and food production lowers disease to boost economic growth and lower poverty, according to the World Health Organization.

Water is needed to carry nutrients to cells, moisten tissue, cushion joints, regulate body temperature and flush out toxins. Staying hydrated protects against colorectal and bladder cancers, high blood pressure, heart disease, urinary tract infections and kidney stones.

Most people drink water when they’re thirsty, but in warm and humid weather, thirst is often not the best indicator of dehydration. So how much water should we drink every day?

Water accounts for 55%-60% of the body’s weight, depending on gender. Much like the human body, water is an essential component of all foods and about 20% of our daily fluid requirement comes from food. Butter and oils are the only foods with no water.

The water content is more than 90% in foods like milk and yoghurt, and in some fruits and green vegetables, such as watermelon, cucumber, cabbage, lettuce and spinach. Fruits like apples, grapes, oranges, pears and pineapple are 80% to 90% water, while beans and legumes have a water content ranging from 60% to 70%. Even dried fruits, seeds and nuts are 1% to 9% water.

A normal healthy person needs about eight glasses (two litres) of water a day, which should go up in hot, sweaty weather and during vigorous activities, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research’s Dietary Guidelines for Indians. The tea, coffee, milk, yoghurt and whole foods you have will also help meet your hydration target, but water should be the fluid of choice.

For people in the UK, the National Health Service recommends 1.2 litres (six to eight glasses) of fluid every day to prevent dehydration, while the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends 3.7 litres (15.5 glasses) of fluids for men and 2.7 litres (11.5 glasses) for women.

Don’t substitute water with juices, even if they’re fresh and unsweetened, because they pack a lot of sugar and calories in each glass. While fresh fruit juices do have vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, they also have very high amounts of fruit sugars, which the World Health Organisation puts in the same category as harmful free sugars, the intake of which should not exceed 25 gm a day.

A glass of fresh orange juice, for example, has 0.4 gm of fibre and 24 gm of sugar, compared to 1.5 gm of fibre and 10 gm of sugar in one whole orange. The sugar in a glass of fresh, unsweetened orange juice (24 gm) is almost the same as in a glass of the colas (26 gm).

Coconut water contains potassium, which helps fight dehydration by increasing the body’s capacity to absorb and retain water and is particularly useful to hydrate people who are ill or very active. But since a 250 ml glass has 50 calories, using it as a substitute for zero-calorie water leads to weight gain.

Dry and scaly skin, frequent muscle cramps and constipation are signs that you’re dehydrated, so watch out for signs now that the hot, wet weather will make seat a part of life in most part of the country.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/water-drinking-how-much-is-enough-on-a-daily-basis/story-V2mFxsF9mfg0EBeFMH04AN.html

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