Anti-aging treatment helps restore sight in mice

Tokyo: Scientists said on Wednesday they have restored sight in mice using a “milestone" treatment that returns cells to a more youthful state and could one day help treat glaucoma. “I’m excited about being able to rejuvenate organs and tissues that fail due to aging and disease,” said senior author of the study David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School. “We hope to treat glaucoma in human patients (at the trial stage) in two years.” The treatment is based on the properties that cells have when the body is developing as an embryo. At that time, cells can repair and regenerate themselves, but that capacity declines rapidly with age. The scientists reasoned that if cells could be induced to return to that youthful state, they would be able to repair damage. To turn back the clock, experts modified a process usually used to create the “blank slate” cells known as induced pluripotent stem cells. Those cells are created by injecting a cocktail of four proteins that help reprogramme a cell. To restore cells to a more youthful state, they tweaked the cocktail, using just three of the “youth-restoring” proteins — dubbed OSK. They targeted the retinal ganglion cells in the eye, which are linked to the brain through connections called axons. ....read more

Management of COVID-19 in patient with CKD without dialysis

What is the protocol for managing COVID 19 patients with stable CKD? Know all about it at 7:00 PM on MEDtalks with Dr. KK Aggarwal.Just click on www.facebook.com/drkkaggarwal or https://perfecthealthmela.com/vevent2/hall1a.php

CMAAO Coronavirus Facts and Myth Buster: Moderna files for emergency vaccine approval

1180: Moderna Filing for FDA Emergency Vaccine Approval, Reports 94.1% Efficacy[MEDSCAPE EXCERPTS]The Moderna COVID-19 vaccine was found to be 94.1% effective in the final analysis of its 30,000-participant phase 3 study. The company has filed for an emergency use authorization (EUA) from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Eleven individuals in the mRNA-1273 vaccinated group later tested positive for COVID-19, compared with 185 participants given two placebo injections, yielding a point estimate of 94.1% efficacy. This finding is in line with the 94.5% efficacy in interim trial results that were announced on November 16. ....read more

Gargling to improve oral hygiene prevents bacterial superinfections in COVID-19

Patients with respiratory viral infections are likely to develop co-infections, which increase the severity of their disease. Streptococcus pneumonia infection was found to be the cause of death in the majority of cases during the 1918 influenza outbreak.1 COVID-19 is a viral disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2. While the large majority of infections are mild in nature, around 20% of patients develop severe disease with complications such as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to bacterial superinfections, 2 as evident by the high neutrophil count and a significantly lower lymphocyte count in these cases. 3 ....read more

Do we get a human birth every time we die?

As per Vedic sciences, Hindu philosophy believes in rebirth unless your Sanchit and Prarabdha Karmas are totally exhausted. It also believes in liberation in which once your past karma’s debt is over, you do not take a rebirth. Garuda Purana, on the other hand, says that you can take a birth in animal species which means you can be born like a donkey or a dog. Vedic science, on the other hand, says that once you get a human body, you will either be liberated or get another human body only. ....read more

Video of The day

Vaccine Update Part-II

Healthcare News Monitor

Indian pharma: Driving excellence in quality and patient centricity

expresspharma.in

The Indian pharma industry has recorded tremendous growth over the decades, more so during the pandemic. The Indian pharma sector has continued to be one of the key stakeholders in the pharma supply chain, providing access to affordable and quality medicines. Even at a time when COVID-19 posed several challenges to manufacturing and transport, the Indian pharma industry was driven to meet domestic and export needs while ensuring the safety and quality of medicines. Companies toiled relentlessly to ramp-up production and ease out disruptions to ensure uninterrupted supply of medicines. Considering the production capacity that the country enjoys, several countries across the world export from India. The US imports close to one-third of generics used, from India. This is due to the availability of a high volume of quality drugs at cost-efficient prices compared to other manufacturing hubs in the world. While volume is certainly key, quality is of equal importance and cannot be comprised with as patient-centricity is one of the key tenets of the pharma ecosystem. This is the main reason why the USFDA established stringent guidelines which ensure that quality manufacturing standards for products are maintained by every pharma company.

Pfizer says committed to engaging with Indian govt to make vaccine available in country

livemint.com

American multinational pharmaceutical company Pfizer has said that it remains "committed to engaging with the Government of India to explore opportunities" to make the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine against the novel coronavirus available in the country. In a statement, a Pfizer spokesperson said, "Right now we are in discussions with many governments around the world and remain committed to engaging with the Government of India and explore opportunities to make this vaccine available for use in the country."

US President-elect Biden hires Indian-American as Surgeon General: Report

business-standard.com

US President-elect Joe Biden has tapped his key COVID-19 advisor Dr Vivek Murthy as the next Surgeon General, a role for which he was appointed during the Obama administration and had to leave abruptly during the current Trump administration, according to a media report. The 43-year-old Indian-American doctor is one of the three co-chairs of the Bidens COVID-19 Advisory Board. Vivek H Murthy, a former US surgeon general, has been asked to reprise the role in an expanded version in the new administration, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, quoting an individual familiar with the decision.

Surat man attacks doctor after wife’s weight reduction therapy ‘fails’

timesnownews.com

Surat: City police are taking efforts to apprehend a school teacher who allegedly attacked and looted a 32-year-old doctor near Shreeji Society. Police said the accused, identified as Manoj Dhudhagara, had paid Dr Ajay Moradiya in the last few months for his wife’s weight reduction therapy. However, she did not lose weight on expected lines. Upset with this, Dhudhagara demanded Moradiya to return his money. An argument flared up between the two when Moradiya refused to give the money back.