Category:

Health

COVID-19 virus evolving to get better at becoming airborne, study shows

“The take-home messages from this paper are that the coronavirus can be in your exhaled breath, is getting better at being in your exhaled breath, and using a mask reduces the chance of you breathing it on others,” Jennifer German, a co-author of the study said.

“This means that a layered approach to control measures — including improved ventilation, increased filtration, UV air sanitation, and tight-fitting masks, in addition to vaccination — is critical to protect people in public-facing jobs and indoor spaces,” German added.

read more

COVID smell loss can have profound effects on your life, from weight change to intimacy barriers

For others, things were more fluid. Anosmia could mutate into parosmia. Food that was fine one day could become disgusting the next. This “chaos narrative” – as sociologists call it – meant that smell loss was very difficult to live with, let alone manage. A condition over which there was no control. The effect on appetite was also unpredictable. As might be expected, people had trouble eating – particularly when normal smells were distorted. Some were struggling, reporting malnutrition and severe weight loss.

read more

Country needs at least 600 medical colleges, 50 AIIMS-like institutions, says Gadkari

”The public-private investment model in the road and infrastructure development sector can be replicated in health care and education sectors. The country needs a minimum of 600 medical colleges, 50 AIIMS-like institutions, and 200 super-specialty hospitals. The government is also thinking of providing help to those social organizations that work in the medical and education sectors,” Gadkari said.

He also stressed the need to have at least one veterinary hospital in every tehsil.

read more

Poorly circulated room air raises potential exposure to COVID contaminants

Using CO2 as a tracer to track small respiratory aerosols that travel by air currents in a room, the Berkeley Lab team found that when overhead vents (or diffusers) are supplying heated air, it created thermally stratified conditions that block the flow of clean air down to the “breathing zone” in the middle height of the room.

As a result, even when people are sitting more than 6 feet from each other, some occupants may be exposed to respiratory aerosols from others at a rate 5 to 6 times higher than if the same room were well mixed.

read more

COVID-19 vaccinated pregnant women pass protection to newborns: Study

“Studies continue to reinforce the importance of vaccines during pregnancy and their power to protect two lives at once by preventing severe illness in both mothers and babies,” said Ashley S. Roman, MD, director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine and the Silverman Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Langone Health, and one of the study’s principal investigators.

read more

Of 610,000 cancers reported in 2012-19, 7.9% were childhood cases: Report

The highest proportion of cancer from all sites were reported in the age group 45 to 64 years, except for prostate cancer, which was higher in those over 65. Over 90 per cent of the cancers in different organ sites got diagnosed by microscopic examination, the report said.

Among all the cancers, the highest proportion of distant metastasis at presentation was seen in patients with lung cancer (49.2 per cent males and 55.5 per cent females), followed by gall bladder cancer (40.9 per cent males and 45.7 per cent females) and prostate cancer (42.9 per cent).
The highest proportion of cancer from all sites were reported in the age group 45 to 64 years, except for prostate cancer, which was higher in those over 65. Over 90 per cent of the cancers in different organ sites got diagnosed by microscopic examination, the report said.

read more

India & US to collaborate on health and to counter ransomware

The White House said both India and the US are committed to continued partnership on cybersecurity, to include efforts to promote critical infrastructure resilience, collaboration to counter cyber-enabled crime such as ransomware, and cooperation to address shared cyber threats, including through workforce development, and exploring common cyber standards and promoting secure software development.
The White House noted that over the 50 years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has successfully collaborated with the Indian government to address India’s public health priorities.

read more