Heena Sharma Blog

  India's coronavirus tally rose to 3,46,97,860 with 7,350 people testing positive for the infection in a day, while the number of active cases declined to 91,456, the lowest in 561 days, the Union Health Ministry data showed on Monday. The death toll from the pandemic has climbed to 4,75,636 with 202 new fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 46 days now. The number of active cases has declined to 91,456, comprising 0.26 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.37 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the Health Ministry said. A decline of 825 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 case count in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  India recorded 8,488 new coronavirus infections, the lowest in 538 days, taking the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases to 3,45,18,901, while the active cases declined to 1,18,443, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Monday. The death toll climbed to 4,65,911 with 249 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 45 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 148 consecutive days now. The active cases comprise 0.34 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.31 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 4,271 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  With 11,919 fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally has climbed to 3,44,78,517, while the number of active cases has gone up to 1,28,762, the Union health ministry said on Thursday. The death toll due to the viral disease has shot up to 4,64,623 with 470 more fatalities, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in the number of coronavirus cases has been below 20,000 for 41 straight days now and less than 50,000 fresh cases have been reported for 144 consecutive days. The number of active cases of the infection has gone up to 1,28,762, accounting for 0.37 per cent of the total caseload, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.28 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. An increase of 207 cases was recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours, it added. Read More

  India recorded a single-day rise of 12,516 COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the country's tally of infections to 3,44,14,186, informed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Meanwhile, the count of active cases in the country has declined to 1,37,416, which is the lowest in 267 days. The daily rise in new COVID-19 infections has been below 50,000 for 138 days. The tally of active cases has declined to 1,37,416, which comprises 0.40 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020. The national COVID-19 recovery rate is at 98.26 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. The country also recorded 13,155 recoveries in the last 24 hours taking the total number total recoveries in the country to 3,38,14,080. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.07 per cent. This has been less than 2 per cent for 39 days, the ministry said. The death toll due to the disease has climbed to 4,62,690, with 501 more fatalities in the last 24 hours. The f...

  India logged 10,126 new coronavirus infections , the lowest in 266 days, while the active cases dipped to 1,40,638, the lowest in 263 days, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Tuesday. With the fresh cases, the country's total tally of COVID-19 cases climbed to 3,43,77,113. The death toll climbed to 4,61,389 with 332 fresh fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 20,000 for 32 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 135 consecutive days now. The active cases settled at 1,40,638 comprising 0.41 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.25 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the ministry said. A decrease of 2,188 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours. Read More

  Cloth masks may reduce the transmission of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19 , only if they are washed daily at high temperatures, according to a study. "Both cloth masks and surgical masks should be considered 'contaminated' after use," said Professor Raina MacIntyre, from the University of New South Wales in Australia. "Unlike surgical masks, which are disposed of after use, cloth masks are re-used. While it can be tempting to use the same mask for multiple days in a row, or to give it a quick hand-wash or wipe-over, our research suggests that this increases the risk of contamination," Maclintyre said. The researchers analysed data from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) they published in 2015. Read More

Transporters are finding it difficult to streamline the supply chain of essential goods with only 15 per cent of trucks plying on the road amid the 21-day nationwide lockdown to control the coronavirus pandemic , the All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) has said. AIMTC, the apex body of transporters in the country, both cargo and passenger, represents around 10 million truckers and 5.5 million tourist buses and operators. "We have approximately 1.25 million trucks with national permit. But during the period of lockdown, only 200,000 to 250,000 trucks with national permits are on road," news agency ANI quoted AIMTC President Kultaran Singh Atwal as saying. Read More

Eating a big breakfast rather than a large dinner may prevent obesity and high blood sugar, according to study which may lead to better clinical dietary recommendations to reduce body weight and prevent metabolic diseases . The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, assessed 16 men who consumed a low-calorie breakfast and high-calorie dinner -- and vice versa in a second round -- over the course of three days. "Our results show that a meal eaten for breakfast, regardless of the amount of calories it contains, creates twice as high diet-induced thermogenesis as the same meal consumed for dinner," said the study's corresponding author, Juliane Richter from the University of Lubeck in Germany. "This finding is significant for all people as it underlines the value of eating enough at breakfast," Richter said. Read More

From a continued decline in infant and maternal mortality to inadequate funding for healthcare, from poor nutrition to an acute encephalitis syndrome outbreak, and from success in malaria prevention to below-par performance on leprosy control and tuberculosis elimination, here’s a look at 2019’s biggest health stories. Decrease in maternal mortality, infant mortality Fewer mothers died during childbirth as India’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR)--maternal deaths per 100,000 live births--fell 27% from 167 in 2011-13 to 122 in 2015-17, according to the Sample Registration System bulletin. However, India is still a long way from the Sustainable Development Goal for MMR: a target of 70 deaths per 100,000 live births by 2030. Three Indian states have already achieved this--Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. India’s infant mortality rate--deaths per 1,000 live births--also fell from 42 in 2012 to 33 in 2017, as IndiaSpend reported in June 2019. This rate is higher than the glo...

If you're planning to have a baby, researchers recommend quitting alcohol six months before conception. Drinking alcohol three months before pregnancy or during the first trimester was associated with a 44% raised risk of congenital heart disease for fathers and 16% for mothers, compared to not drinking. Binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks per sitting, was related to a 52% higher likelihood of these birth defects for men and 16% for women. "Binge drinking by would-be parents is high risk and dangerous behaviour that not only may increase the chance of their baby being born with a heart defect but also greatly damages their own health," said study author Dr Jiabi Qin, of Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha, China. Dr Qin said the results suggest that when couples are trying for a baby, men should not consume alcohol for at least six months before fertilisation while women should stop alcohol one year before and avoi...

Americans and others around the world have turned increasingly to dietary supplements in order to maintain or preserve their brain health . A recent study found that a quarter of adults over 50 take a supplement for brain-related health. But that same study, done by experts convened by the AARP, suggests that seniors should spend their money elsewhere. The supplements don’t work. This is no small issue. Expenditures on non-vitamin brain health supplements such as such as minerals, herbal mixtures, nurtraceuticals or amino acids, have extended into the billions of dollars. This can amount to between US$20 and US$60 a month for seniors, a sizable sum that could be put toward other expenses, including fresh vegetables and fruit that actually do make a difference. As a neurologist who studies brain health and prevention of dementia, and who has been involved in research in memory and Alzheimer’s disease for my entire career, I can help explain what we do and don’t know about sup...

Kerala Health Minister K K Shailaja confirmed Tuesday that a 23-year-old college student admitted to a hospital in Kochi has been infected with the Nipah virus . The results of blood samples of the student, which were tested at the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune, have confirmed Nipah, she said. The result came this morning, she said. The student has been admitted to a private hospital. Earlier, blood samples examined at two virology institutes--Manipal Institute of Virology and Kerala Institute of Virology and Infectious Diseases--had indicated Nipah. Read More Article Source -> Business Standard

Poor diet leads to hundreds of deaths in India annually, according to a Lancet study which found that globally one in five people die due to the lack of optimal amounts of food and nutrients on their plates. The report, which tracked trends in consumption of 15 dietary factors from 1990 to 2017 in 195 countries, showed that almost every region of the world could benefit from rebalancing their diets. The study estimates that one in five deaths globally -- equivalent to 11 million deaths -- are associated with poor diet, and diet contributes to a range of chronic diseases in people around the world. In 2017, more deaths were caused by diets with too low amounts of foods such as whole grains, fruit, nuts and seeds than by diets with high levels of foods like trans fats, sugary drinks, and high levels of red and processed meats. Low intake of whole grains -- below 125 grammes per day -- was the leading dietary risk factor for death and disease in India, the US, Brazil, Pakis...

A family that eats together, stays together, and now, according to a recent study, consistently eating breakfast as a family can also promote positive body image for children and adolescents. The study suggests that parents hoping to raise teenagers with positive body image might just find helpful tools in the kitchen every morning. "We know that developing healthy behaviours in adolescence such as eating breakfast every day and eating family meals can have long-term effects into adulthood. Children and adolescents are under a lot of pressure from social media and pop culture when it comes to physical appearance. Having a healthy relationship with food from eating breakfast and spending meal time with family might have a significant impact on well-being," said Virginia Ramseyer, one of the lead researchers. Researchers analyzed data from more than 12,000 students in more than 300 schools in all 50 states and Washington D.C. They looked at data related to eating ...

Can sugar be the sole culprit for making India the diabetes capital of the world? Well, if some experts and sugar industry representatives are to be believed, the sweetener is being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy over rising cases of diabetes in the country, especially as a host of factors, including sedentary lifestyle and growing urbanisation, are causing diabetes. In a seminar on 'Sugar and Health', organised by the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), the premier association of private sugar factories in the country, industry players said there was an annual increase of 6.25 per cent in diabetes cases in the country between 2000 and 2016. During the same period, per capita sugar consumption grew by only 1.23 per cent. ISMA’s efforts to highlight the health benefits of sugar come at a time when India is staring at a massive glut in the sugar market, with production in the 2018-19 sugar season (October to November) projected at around 30-31 million to...

It turns out that drinking multiple diet drinks daily may not be a very good idea for post menopausal women. A new study finds that it is associated with an increased risk of having a stroke caused by a blocked artery. The study was published in Stroke, a journal of the American Heart Association. The study is one of the first to look at the association between drinking artificially sweetened beverage and the risk of specific types of stroke in a large, racially diverse group of post-menopausal women. Compared with women who consumed diet drinks less than once a week or not at all, women who consumed two or more artificially sweetened beverages per day were: 23 per cent more likely to have a stroke; 31 per cent more likely to have a clot-caused (ischemic) stroke; 29 er cent more likely to develop heart disease (fatal or non-fatal heart attack); and 16 per cent more likely to die from any cause. Furthermore, researchers found risks were higher for certain wome...

Eating canned food during pregnancy can put the baby at risk of exposure to an industrial chemical bisphenol A (BPA), potentially affecting their reproductive health in later life, scientists say. While previous studies have shown the adverse health effects of prenatal exposure to BPA, there is little evidence surrounding effects specifically on ovarian function. Researchers from Boston University in the US found that there is sufficient data to raise concerns regarding exposure and ovarian performance. Detectable in surface water and soil sediments, BPA is used in many industrial processes and in the lining of food cans. While the greatest exposure is dietary from canned foods and plastic containers, skin exposure is a secondary route of smaller exposure, researchers said. Ovarian development and function represents a complex coordination of processes, starting early during prenatal development. Early aberrations have the potential to carry through the female reprodu...

Consuming a Western diet, low in fibre and high in fat and sugar , can put you at increased risk of developing severe sepsis, researchers say. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found mice that were fed the Western diet showed an increase in chronic inflammation, sepsis severity and higher mortality rates than mice that were fed a normal diet. Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body's response to an infection. It can lead to shock and organ failure. It is one of the most common cause of death worldwide. According to the researchers, including Brooke Napier from the Portland State University, the mice had more severe sepsis and were dying faster because of something in their diet, not because of the weight gain or microbiome, the body's community of bacteria. "The mice's immune system on the Western diet looked and functioned differently. It looks like the diet is manipulating...

With marijuana being legalised across North America, there is a changing perception that sees people believing that weed is the safest recreational drug. However, those assumptions are now challenged in an article in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology that examine the story of a patient who developed chest pain and myocardial ischemia after consuming most of a marijuana lollipop. Speaking about it, expert Alexandra Saunders said, "Marijuana can be a useful tool for many patients, especially for pain and nausea relief . At the same time, like all other medications, it does carry risk and side effects. In a recent case, inappropriate dosing and oral consumption of marijuana by an older patient with stable cardiovascular disease resulted in distress that caused a cardiac event and subsequent reduced cardiac function." According to the report, a 70-year-old man with stable coronary artery disease, taking appropriate cardiac medications at most of a lollipop infused w...

A new study now finds that the quality of a person's marriage could be affected by their genes. The study was conducted at at Binghamton University, State University of New York. A research team, led by Richard Mattson evaluated whether different genotypes of the Oxytocin Receptor gene (OXTR) influenced how partners support one another, which is a key determinant of overall marital quality. OXTR was targeted because it is related to the regulation and release of oxytocin, which is a hormone associated with feeling love and attachment. Oxytocin also appears to be relevant to social cognition and a wide range of social behaviour. Speaking about the study, Mattson said that while prior research has hinted that marital quality is, at least partially, impacted by genetic factors, and that oxytocin may be relevant to social support -- a critical aspect of intimate partnerships, his study is the first to provide evidence that variation on specific genes related to oxyto...