1. Roadmap to guide progress toward replacing animal use in toxicity testing: Sixteen federal agencies partnered to develop a strategic roadmap that offers a new framework for the safety testing of drugs and chemicals, which aims to provide more human relevant toxicology data while reducing the use of animals. The roadmap was published Jan. 30 by the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a federal interagency program headquartered at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in North Carolina. NIEHS is part of the National Institutes of Health.
2. Spending about 0.6 per cent of its total Gross Development Production (GDP) towards Research and Development (R&D), India "at its current rate ... would barely reach GERD (Gross Expenditure on R&D) of one per cent of GDP by the time it is as rich as the US", read the Economic Survey 2017-18 Report.
3. Many middle school and high school students have short sleep duration, according to research published in the Jan. 26 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
4. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced new action to combat the growing problem of abuse and misuse of the opioid-based antidiarrheal medication loperamide (Imodium) which is placing individuals at risk for cardiac dysrhythmia and death. It has asked OTC manufacturers to implement changes consisting of blister packs or other single-dose packaging and also to limit the number of doses appropriate for use for short-term diarrhea.
5. Wrong CPR is better than none at all: St John calls for public to attempt resuscitation.
6. The Indian Radiological and Imaging Association have decided to adopt the Kerala model and make the male-female ratio in the country almost similar to that of the state by saving the female gender fetus.
7. As per the 2011 census, Kerala and Puducherry are the only states in India with a female-to-male ratio higher than 0.99. The ratio for Kerala is 1.084 - 1084 females per 1000 males - while the national figure is 0.940.
8. NCDRC upholds fine imposed on railways over non-functional AC. The Apex Consumer Commission has upheld an order directing railways to pay Rs 15,000 to a man, whose 30-hour long train journey became a nightmare due to non-functional air-conditioners. 
9. Brenda Fitzgerald, Trump-appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "bought shares in a tobacco company one month into her leadership of the agency." The move seems to run counter to the CDCs mission of curbing smoking — as a leading cause of disease and death — in the United States, and raises ethical questions.
10. An advertisement is being aired on TV projecting the pharmacist in bad light and the Pharmacy Council of India has written a letter to DCGI to take action. 

Dr KK Aggarwal

Padma Shri Awardee Vice President CMAAO Group Editor-in-chief IJCP Publications

President Heart Care Foundation of India

Immediate Past National President IMA