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One billion people may suffer from Glaucoma by 2030: AIIMS

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As the World Glaucoma Week ends on March 17, with over 11.2 million persons aged 40 years and older suffering from Glaucoma in India, researchers say that despite it being the second largest cause of blindness, it is more problematic than cataract, because the blindness caused by Glaucoma is irreversible. Over 70 per cent of the Indian population is at the risk of developing Glaucoma, of which 2 lakh are likely to lose vision on an average.

Doctors from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) have already proposed in their research papers that type four diabetes can occur in the brain and is the suspected cause of Glaucoma and related neuro-degenerative disorders. Due to it being considered one of the most complex human diseases, a majority of those suffering from Glaucoma go undetected and major challenges exist in detecting and treating those with the disease.

“There are striking similarities in genetic, biochemical, and molecular aspects which prove that Glaucoma is a form of brain-specific diabetes. There might be one billion people suffering of it across the world by 2030. It is sometimes uncontrolled even by medicines and requires multiple surgeries and lifelong therapies. It is known to be a silent ailment that can lead to blindness and hence creating awareness among the masses is necessary to prevent it from becoming an epidemic,” said Dr Muneeb Faiq, Clinical Researcher, AIIMS.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), it is the second largest cause of blindness in the world and fourth largest in India. The average age for the prevalence of Glaucoma is over 50 years, but with sedentary lifestyle and westernisation, the average age is getting reduced. It has recently been observed that of the total cases diagnosed with the condition, over 70 per cent of them were under the age of 35.

“It is important to get optic nerve examinations done regularly and further educate people about the disease. People with a family history of diabetes, hypertension, and poor blood circulation are at an elevated risk of getting the condition,” said Dr Ritika Sachdev, Additional Director Medical Services, Centre for Sight.

WHO REPORT
Glaucoma is the 2nd largest cause of blindness in the world and 4th largest in India. The average age for prevalence of Glaucoma is over 50 years. But, it has been observed that of the total cases diagnosed, over 70% were under the age of 35.

Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/health/report-one-billion-people-may-suffer-from-glaucoma-by-2030-aiims-2594549

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Lap-band surgery may lower chronic knee pain

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Obese people who have a band surgically strapped around their stomach to restrict food intake not only lose weight but will also suffer less from arthritic knee pain, a new study suggests.

According to researchers, the pain proceeds from the deterioration and related inflammation in knee joints caused in part by the extra weight they bear.

While the pain relief seen with lap-band surgery applied to all patients with osteoarthritic knees, researchers found that it was most helpful in the young men and women who lost the most weight.

“Our study shows that extremely obese people seeking relief from their knee pain should consider lap-band surgery earlier because the benefits from it being successful — although significant for all ages — decrease with age,” said co-author Jonathan Samuels, Associate Professor at NYU School of Medicine.

For the study, published in the journal Seminars in Arthritis and Rheumatism, researchers examined 120 patients who underwent lap-band surgery between 2002 and 2015.

All were surveyed for what they remembered about their knee pain immediately before surgery, a year after their procedure, and for as long as 14 years later.

The main purpose of the survey was to find out why some extremely obese people showed more knee pain relief from lap-band surgery than others.

According to the survey results, men and women in their 40s experienced post-surgical knee pain reductions after one year of between 50 and 60 per cent; while those in their 50s, one year later, had pain reductions between 30 and 40 per cent; and those in their 60s, had reductions between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

Pain relief persisted for a decade in all patients monitored.

People with BMIs in the upper 40s were just as likely to report decreased knee pain as people with BMIs in the lower 40s if they lost proportionally the same amount of total body weight.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/lap-band-surgery-may-lower-chronic-knee-pain-2091873

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Government approves Ayushman Bharat – world’s largest government-funded healthcare scheme

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The Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM), dubbed as Modicare, is touted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the world’s largest healthcare programme. It is estimated to cost about Rs12,000 crore annually.

To be rolled out in collaboration with the state governments, “Modicare” is expected to reduce Out Of Pocket (OOP) expenditure—the in-patient hospitalization expenditure in India has increased nearly 300% during last 10 years according to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) 2015. Currently, OOP expenditure in India is over 60%, causing impoverishment to nearly 6 million families coping with catastrophic health expenditures.

Ayushman Bharat is one of the big new ideas floated by the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which they believe could be a potential game changer in the upcoming electoral battles, including the general election due early next year.

The ambitious healthcare scheme will be covering almost all secondary and many tertiary hospitalizations with coverage of Rs5 lakh for each family. AB-NHPM will subsume the on-going centrally sponsored schemes Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) that offers a cover of Rs30,000 and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS) that offers up to Rs30,000/- per annum per senior citizen.

In a separate decision giving to boost to healthcare in India, the cabinet also approved continuation of the National Health Mission (NHM)—with effect from 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2020—with a budgetary support of Rs85,217 crore as central share over this period.

The National Health Mission will be the main vehicle for the Universal Health Coverage and will focus on strengthening the public health systems, particularly in high priority districts that include aspirational districts. The salient features of the NHM will be a shift from selective to comprehensive primary healthcare that includes care for common non-communicable diseases, geriatric healthcare, palliative care and rehabilitative care services, etc., through strengthening of the sub centres and primary health centres as Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs).

The NHM will complement AB-NHPM, by reducing OOP expenditure through intensification of initiatives such as NHM Free Drugs and Diagnostics Services Initiatives, Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme.

The cabinet also approved amendments in The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, in a bid to improve its regulation. The bill proposes to regulate surrogacy in India by establishing National Surrogacy Board at the central level and, state surrogacy boards and appropriate authorities in the states and union territories. The proposed legislation ensures effective regulation of surrogacy, prohibit commercial surrogacy and permit altruistic surrogacy to the needy Indian infertile couples.

In other decisions, the cabinet also approved the second and final extension of the term of the Commission constituted to examine the issue of Sub-categorization of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the central list, beyond 27 March 2018 for a period of twelve weeks, i.e. up to 20 June 2018.

Source: https://www.livemint.com/Politics/khSfHy9nMLY4lqW8m6UkUN/Modi-govt-launches-Ayushman-Bharat-healthcare-scheme.html

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Soon, walk around freely while getting your brain scanned – Here’s how

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You may soon be able to get a brain scan and move around at the same time. A lightweight, highly sensitive brain imaging device has been developed by British scientists that can be worn as a helmet, thereby allowing the patient to move about naturally.

Test results of the scanner showed that patients were able to stretch, nod, and even drink tea and play table tennis – all this while their brain activity was being recorded, millisecond by millisecond, by the magnetoencephalography (MEG) system.

Researchers said they hoped the new scanner would improve research and treatment for patients who can’t use traditional fixed MEG scanners, such as children with epilepsy, babies, or patients with disorders like Parkinson’s disease.

“This has the potential to revolutionize the brain imaging field, and transform the scientific and clinical questions that can be addressed with human brain imaging,” said Gareth Barnes, a professor at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Neuroimaging at University College London, who co-led the work.
They also run into difficulties when patients are unable to stay very still – very young children or patients with movement disorders for example – since even a 5-millimeter movement can mean the images are unusable.

Researchers, by using quantum sensors in the helmet scanner, overcame these issues, since these sensors are lightweight, work at room temperature and can be placed directly onto scalp – increasing the amount of signal they are able to pick up.

Matt Brookes, who worked with Barnes and built the prototype at Nottingham University, said that as well as overcoming the challenge of some patients being unable to stay still, the wearable scanner offers new possibilities in measuring peoples’ brain function during real-world tasks and social interactions.

“This has significant potential for impact on our understanding of not only healthy brain function but also on a range of neurological, neurodegenerative and mental health conditions.”

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/soon-walk-around-freely-while-getting-your-brain-scanned-heres-how-2092602

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Interstitium: The latest organ discovered in human body. All you need to know

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Scientists have discovered a new organ in the human body which they have dubbed the ‘interstitium’. According to a report in the Daily Mail, the interstitium lies beneath the top layer of skin, but is also in tissue layers lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles. The organ is a network of interconnected, fluid-filled spaces all over the body.

As per the report, researchers say the network that carries this interstitial fluid is its own distinct organ and it may even be one of the largest organs in the body.

Researchers say that the study is the first to define the interstitium as an organ in its own right, and as one of the largest of the body. The new organ is made up of both strong (collagen) and flexible (elastin) connective tissue proteins, with interstitial fluid moving throughout.

For the study, the researchers examined tissue specimens of bile ducts from twelve cancer patients and recognised the structure in each. They found it exists all throughout the body, acting like a shock absorber in all places where tissues are moved or subjected to force.

According to the team, the discovery of the fluid ‘highway’ could help to explain how cancer spreads in the body, and pave the way for new ways to detect and treat the disease.

Researchers were able to view living tissues instead of fixed ones by using a newer technology called probe-based confocal laser encomicroscopy. The instrument uses a camera probe to light up tissues, while sensors analyze the reflected patterns.

The study was originally published in the Journal of Scientific Reports.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/interstitium-the-latest-organ-discovered-in-human-body-all-you-need-to-know-2094586

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Minimally invasive procedure used to perform double hip replacement for first time in India

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The minimally invasive procedure direct anterior approach has been used first time in India by doctors in Hyderabad. A team of surgeons worked on a 53-year-old Somali patient, Mukhtar Hilowli, and performed a double hip replacement using the latest minimally invasive procedure the direct hip anterior for the first time in India.

Minimally invasive surgery encompasses surgical techniques that limit the size of incisions needed and hence lessen wound healing time, associated pain, and risk of infection. Both the hips of Mukhtar got fused following a severe bout of infection way back in 1986. In his case due to the infection and both right and left hip joints normal cartilage on femoral head and acetabulum was destroyed and caused fusion of femoral head and acetabulum.

Dr P. Sharath Kumar, orthopedic surgeon speaking with ANI said, “Basically both the hips became stiff; it’s just like one bone. So you can imaging somebody walking when both the hips are fused, which is extremely difficult. It is disabling. When we did an X-ray his both bones were completely fused, so the only way out was to do both sides. We call it as double hip replacement or bilateral hip replacement”.

Speaking more on the procedure, Dr Sharath said, “After the procedure, he is undergoing physiotherapy and is quite happy and overjoyed. He is living the dream because he can sit, move his hips and walk. Overall, it was a complex case. We don’t cut the muscle, we just separate them, reaching the joint. So your muscle strength is maintained to some extent”.

“The other issue is normally we all have a joint to go and put the implant, but in his case it was one bone, so we had to cut above and below to create some space and make room for the implant. That takes a lot of time and we have to be accurate in that otherwise it can leads to dislocations,” Dr Sharath continued. He revealed that a normal surgery in such cases takes one to one and a half hour but due to complexities in Mukhtar’s case, it took them two and a half hours.

Dr Hari Prasad, President, hospital division of Apollo speaking with ANI said, “We just saw an international patient coming from Somalia getting a very complex surgery done in India. It proves that India has the capability, the expertise, and the technology to treat most complex cases and provide most advanced health care, and a large part of the world doesn’t have access to this type of care.”

Further, Dr Prasad said, “India has an opportunity to bring in a lot more international patients and offer care here. In India, we cannot treat a patient who comes in on tourist visa. They need to take medical visa, which takes a longer time to be issued compared to regular visas, and is also more expensive than a tourist visa.”

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/minimally-invasive-procedure-used-to-perform-double-hip-replacement-for-first-time-in-india/story-IYTt7ZITxBlVUxgcPFNE8J.html

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This drug may reduce harmful inflammation in stroke patients

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Researchers have found that an anti-inflammatory drug — licensed for treating rheumatoid arthritis — may help patients in the early stages of stroke to reduce harmful inflammation.

The study follows earlier research that shows the drug given as an intravenous therapy reduces inflammation in stroke and sub-arachnoid haemorrhage patients.

According to the researchers, stroke is the most common cause of disability in adults and a leading cause of death worldwide.

“Though strokes affect different people in different ways, for many people they have a devastating effect on their long-term health and wellbeing. Excessive inflammation after a stroke is known to be harmful and predicts a worse outcome in patients,” said co-author Craig Smith, Professor at The University of Manchester.

For the study, published in the journal Stroke, researchers recruited 80 participants.

They were given six doses of the drug or placebo over three days. The first dose was given within six hours after the onset of the stroke symptoms.

The drug — Kineret — was given as a small injection just under the skin without giving the patients any identifiable adverse reactions.

Inflammatory markers were measured in the blood before treatment began and during study treatment and the study looked at ischemic strokes only.

“We have shown that Kineret injections, started within six hours of stroke onset significantly reduces levels of inflammation in patients,” said co-author of the study Craig Smith, Professor at The University of Manchester.

It is one of biologic agents transforming treatment in a range of illnesses, the researcher said.

The protein Interleukin-1 (IL-1) is part of the body’s defences and naturally produced to combat a range of illnesses. However, researchers have previously shown IL-1 increases inflammation and brain injury following a stroke.

Kineret works by blocking the actions of IL-1 which is released into the body following injury caused by a stroke.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/this-drug-may-reduce-harmful-inflammation-in-stroke-patients-2094087

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Now, there’s an injectable bandage that can heal internal injuries

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An injectable bandage fabricated from a seaweed-derived gel that is used in cooking can stop internal bleeding and promote wound healing, according to researchers of Indian origin in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Texas A&M University.

This self-administering injectable gel can prevent death from excessive blood loss from road traffic accidents, internal bleeding and shrapnel injury, they claim. Researchers used kappa-carrageenan found in seaweed to design injectable hydrogels, which are jelly-like 3-D water swollen polymer networks that simulate the structure of human tissues. Mixing this hydrogel with clay-based nanoparticles produced an injectable gelatin that led to plasma protein and platelets to form blood adsorption on the gel surface to accelerate clotting.

“These biomaterials can be introduced into a wound site using minimally invasive approaches to promote a natural clotting cascade and initiate wound healing response after hemostasis (the process to stop bleeding),” said Dr Akhilesh K. Gaharwar, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University. The study is published in the journal Acta Biomateriali.

Innovators are calling it a remarkable addition to the achievements in nanotechnology. “Many people die in road accidents due to internal bleeding from lack of timely medical aid, this innovation will help address the lacunae,” said Manish Goel, CEO, i3 Nanotec LLC & ICube Nanotec India.

“A more conducive environment for academia-industry partnerships and incubation space for young scientists will undoubtedly foster such and many more innovations. It is disheartening to see so many young researchers migrate to IT and finance, when nanotechnology has the potential of being lucrative while contributing to the society,“ he said.

These injectable bandages are also conducive to prolonged release of medicines used to heal wounds.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/health/now-there-s-an-injectable-bandage-that-can-heal-fatal-internal-injuries/story-ukF9KLgUc4en5gVpz052FK.html

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Eating broccoli daily may prevent hardening of neck arteries in older adults

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One should include cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and sprouts in their daily diet because they are good for health and may also help prevent the hardening of neck arteries.

According to a new study, consuming these veggies three or more times each day can prevent hardening of neck arteries in elderly women and also decrease the risk of heart diseases.

A team of researchers have observed a 0.05 millimetre lower carotid artery wall thickness between high and low intakes of total vegetables.

Lead author Lauren Blekkenhorst, from the University of Western Australia,”That is likely significant, because a 0.1 millimetre decrease in carotid wall thickness is associated with a 10 per cent to 18 per cent decrease in risk of stroke and heart attack.”

In addition, each 10 grams per day higher in cruciferous vegetable intake was associated with 0.8 per cent lower average carotid artery wall thickness.

“After adjusting for lifestyle, cardiovascular disease risk factors (including medication use) as well as other vegetable types and dietary factors, our results continued to show a protective association between cruciferous vegetables and carotid artery wall thickness.”

For the study, the research team distributed food frequency questionnaires to 954 Australian women aged 70 and older.

The women noted their vegetable intake in a range from “never eating vegetables” to “three or more times per day”.

Vegetable types included cruciferous, allium (for example, onions, garlic, leeks and shallots), yellow/orange/red, leafy green and legumes.

Sonograms were used to measure carotid artery wall thickness and entire carotid trees were examined to determine carotid plaque severity.

However, due to the observational nature of this study, a causal relationship cannot be established.

Blekkenhorst said, “Still, dietary guidelines should highlight the importance of increasing consumption of cruciferous vegetables for protection from vascular disease.”

The study is detailed in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/eating-broccoli-daily-may-prevent-hardening-of-neck-arteries-in-older-adults-2096739

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Diabetes patients can use this new sticky patch to end the use of painful finger-prick blood tests

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A team of researchers have developed a novel sticky patch which can non-invasively monitor glucose levels in diabetics through the skin. The patch will end the frequent use of painful finger-prick blood tests in diabetes patients.

Instead of piercing the skin to take blood, the patch draws glucose out from fluid between cells across hair follicles, which are individually accessed via an array of miniature sensors using a small electric current.

As per the study, the glucose collects in tiny reservoirs and is measured. Readings can be taken every 10 to 15 minutes over several hours.
The patch does not require calibration with a blood sample – meaning that finger prick blood tests are unnecessary, due to the design of the array of sensors and reservoirs.

The research team from the University of Bath in the UK hope that it can eventually become a low-cost, wearable sensor that sends regular, clinically relevant glucose measurements to the wearer’s phone or smartwatch wirelessly, alerting them when they may need to take action.

The advantage of this device is that each miniature sensor of the array can operate on a small area over an individual hair follicle – this significantly reduces inter- and intra-skin variability in glucose extraction and increases the accuracy of the measurements taken such that calibration via a blood sample is not required.

Richard Guy, from the University of Bath said,”A non-invasive – that is, needle-less – method to monitor blood sugar has proven a difficult goal to attain.”

He said,”The closest that has been achieved has required either at least a single-point calibration with a classic ‘finger-stick’, or the implantation of a pre-calibrated sensor via a single needle insertion.”

He added,”The monitor developed at Bath promises a truly calibration-free approach, an essential contribution in the fight to combat the ever-increasing global incidence of diabetes.”

“We utilised graphene as one of the components as it brings important advantages: specifically, it is strong, conductive, flexible, and potentially low-cost and environmentally friendly,” said Adelina Ilie, from University of Bath.

“In addition, our design can be implemented using high-throughput fabrication techniques like screen printing, which we hope will ultimately support a disposable, widely affordable device,” she said.

In this study the team tested the patch on both pig skin, where they showed it could accurately track glucose levels across the range seen in diabetic human patients, and on healthy human volunteers, where again the patch was able to track blood sugar variations throughout the day.

The next steps include further refinement of the design of the patch to optimise the number of sensors in the array, to demonstrate full functionality over a 24-hour wear period, and to undertake a number of key clinical trials.

The study was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/health/scientists-develop-new-sticky-patch-to-monitor-blood-sugar-in-diabetes-patients-2098525

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