Health

CDC recommends that people wear masks in public settings, at events and gatherings, and anywhere they will be around other people. Effective February 2, 2021, masks are required on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations.

Epillo is slated to launch it’s pilot project- Blockchain based Digital Therapeutic Devices (DTx) in a strategic partnership with Hydrus7 Labs, a USA based blockchain technology company.

Epillo Health Systems, a Digital Healthcare company based in Europe, having it’s IP portfolio Patent-pending innovations in 153 countries through United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) and 27 countries of European Union (EU) through European Patent Office (EPO), working to transform the Digital Healthcare technology landscape by incorporation the best of Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning and Blockchain in Digital Healthcare has partnered with USA-based Hydrus 7 Labs (Venture of JD COIN LLC) to aggressively expand its innovation portfolio as well as broaden and accelerate product development in Europe and USA.

Epillo’s Digital Therapeutics (DTx) are patient-facing software applications that help patients treat, prevent, or manage the disease and that have a proven clinical benefit. For example, Digital Therapeutics can support patients in self-managing symptoms, adding benefits to their current therapies and thereby improve their quality of life and other clinical endpoints.

Dr. Bhupinder Singh (CEO of Hydrus7 Labs), along with Mr. Jhon Banga, Dr. Deepak Parashar led the strategic association on behalf of Hydrus7 labs. After the partnership, the new board of Epillo Health Systems, chaired by Dr. Bhupinder Singh of Hydrus7 Labs, has appointed Epillo’s existing founder and Director Mr. Aasif Shah as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Epillo’s user-facing and clinical use solutions and products such as the blockchain-based Digital Therapeutic Device (DTx) project, backed by Intellectual Property (IP), slated to launch in May 2021.

Epillo’s DTx (based on it’s patent-pending innovations) monitor, predicts, manages and prevents in real time:

• Drug-Food constituent interactions
• Drug-Drug constituent interactions

Through a patient-facing mobile application and a set of clinical tools for Clinicians to monitor and analyze Interaction and Pharmacological (Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic) profile change data of drugs in the cases of co-administration of drug-food constituents and drug-drug constituents.

There are undesirable pharmacological effects in a consumer of prescription drugs that are often triggered by the drug interactions either amongst themselves or with the food that the patient intakes. Also, the effects of any drugs can be slowed down by the consumption of specific foods which block or change their absorption capacities ie. Change in Pharmacokinetic or Pharmacodynamic profile of a drug. A drug is administered to efficaciously provide medical aid, However, this efficacy can be altered when such drug is co-administered with another drug or consumed together with certain food components. It is estimated that approximately 48% to 50% of the European, as well as the American population, are already under medical supervision or a clinical prescription for some or the other medical ailments or health concerns, giving Epillo’s Blockchain based DTx a wider userbase than any other Digital Healthcare Technology.

Epillo Health Systems, believes that Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the way patients own and control their Health Data, and the way healthcare stakeholders manage, secure, and share patient data.

‘The adoption of the Blockchain distributed ledger methodology in Epillo’s DTx solutions will create an unprecedented level of accuracy, privacy, and security for healthcare stakeholders, offering an innovative new way to ensure robust data integrity while giving patients more control over their own data in healthcare applications’’ said Dr. Bhupinder Singh, Chairman for Epillo board.

Focusing on Aiding Millions around the world, The Potential Market userbase of Epillo’s set of Blockchain-based Digital Therapeutic Devices (DTx) is projected to reach potential 160 MN people on regular therapeutic Prescription drugs in the USA ( 48.4 % of total population of USA, Source: U.S Department of Health and Human Service) and 217 Million people on regular therapeutic prescription drugs in Europe (48.6 % of total population of Europe, Source: Eurostats), totaling 377 MN users in Europe and the USA alone, and it’s allied clinical solutions reaching potential 950,000 clinicians in the USA and potential 1.7 Million clinicians in Europe, totaling 2.65 Million Clinicians in Europe and the USA alone.

“We plan to launch our blockchain-based Digital Therapeutics (DTx) patient-facing application and clinical solutions for the world wherein almost fifty percent of us are on regular therapeutic prescription plans, projected as Epillo’s potential users. Going forward doctors will be able to write Epillo’s Digital Therapeutics Mobile application (based on patent-pending innovation) as a DTx prescription along with the pill prescription (Rx) to enhance the therapy benefits of the prescribed drug for the patient” said Aasif Shah, CEO for Epillo.

New Delhi: India has carried out the fifth highest number of COVID-19 vaccinations by inoculating 2.03 million people till January 26, the Health Ministry said, stressing the number of beneficiaries who have received the shots has crossed 25 lakh till Thursday afternoon. Addressing a press conference, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that India was the fastest country to reach 1 million COVID-19 vaccinations in six days, while the US took 10 days, Spain 12, Israel 14, the UK 18, Italy 19, Germany 20 and UAE 27 days.

“As per our world data till January 26, India, which launched its nationwide vaccination drive on January 16, had carried out the fifth highest number of vaccinations in the world by vaccinating 2.03 million people. The important point is many other countries are showing their progress for over 50 days while India is showing its vaccination on January 26 after just 11 days,” Bhushan said.

Till January 26, the US had administered 23.54 million doses, the UK 7.64 million doses, UAE 2.76 million doses, Germany 1.99 million doses, Italy 1.58 million dose, Spain 1.36 million doses and France 1.14 million doses.

Bhushan said that the number of beneficiaries who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in India since the nationwide drive was rolled out has reached 25,07,556 till Jan 28 at 2 pm.

Lakshadweep (83.4 pc), Odisha (50.7 pc), Haryana (50 pc), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (48.3 pc), Rajasthan (46.8 pc), Tripura (45.6 pc), Mizoram (40.5 pc), Telangana (40.3 pc), Andhra Pradesh (38.1 pc), Karnataka (35.6 pc) and Madhya Pradesh (35.5 pc) are among the better performing states with over 35 per cent vaccination coverage of healthcare workers, he said.

On the other hand, Tamil Nadu (15.7 pc), Delhi (15.7 pc), Jharkhand (14.7 pc), Uttrakhand (17.1 pc), Chhattisgarh (20.6 pc) and Maharashtra (20.7 pc) have less than 21 pc vaccination coverage and need to improve, he said.

India’s cumulative COVID-19 positivity rate is 5.51 pc and is declining while the active casesare less then 1.75 lakh after seven months and is declining, Bhushan stated.

Two states, Kerala and Maharashtra, account for 67 per cent of total active COVID-19 cases in country, he said.

New Delhi: After a study which was conducted for a whole year, scientists have come up with anew playbook which will help business run a lot more smoothly.  According to a Wall Street Journal report, the lessons include: Mask-wearing, worker pods and good air flow are much more important than surface cleaning, temperature checks and plexiglass barriers in places like offices and restaurants.

Public-health experts also are advocating wide use of cheap, rapid tests to detect cases quickly, in part because many scientists now think more than 50% of infections are transmitted by people without symptoms.

ALSO READ: Covaxin Likely To Work Against UK Strain; ICMR Study Shows A Comparable Neutralization Activity

Wall Street Journal report quote Joseph Allen, director of the Healthy Buildings Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, “We have to still deal with ‘the right now.’ We’ve zeroed in on this set of controls that we know work.”

The scientists created these guidelines after months of investigations on how the coronavirus spreads and affects the body. Scientists combined with knowledge of years of managing occupational-health hazards in high-risk workplaces, such as factories and chemical plants, where tiny airborne pollutants can build up and cause harm. They say different types of workplaces—taking into account the types of interactions workers have—need slightly different protocols.

Spread from asymptomatic persons

Scientists, that it has been difficult to contain the virus because it spreads from people who aren’t showing any symptoms. Data cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 40% to 45% of those infected never develop symptoms at all. With the new viral variants that can transmit more readily, the potential for silent spread is even higher, infectious-disease experts said.

The other important factor is the spread through tiny air borne particles known as aerosols, these can linger in the air and travel upto 6ft.

The new study has diminished the focus on surface cleaning as scientists have come to understand that indirect transmission through contaminated surfaces doesn’t play as critical a role in the spread of Covid-19 contrary to what they believed in initial days of the pandemic.

One large study published online in November in the New England Journal of Medicine showed only 13% of Covid-19 patients reported a fever during the course of their illness, hence, temperature checks too are losing popularity.

Scientists now understand that brief encounters with an infected person can lead to spread, according to an October case study—an advance from earlier, when the rule of thumb was to avoid close contact for 15 consecutive minutes or longer. Hence, fresh air and effective filters indoors are important because they can remove virus particles before they have time to infect. Similarly, masks offer reduce the number of particles that can transfer from an infected person. Some even say doubling up on masks has more benefits, as a second layer may improve both filtration and fit, so long as the masks are worn correctly.

“For Covid, those two factors—asymptomatic spread and aerosolization—is what made mask-wearing so essential,” said Megan Ranney, emergency physician and assistant dean at Brown University according to the WSJ report.

Testing over temperature checks

Finally, when it comes to testing, some epidemiologists have been advocating for widespread use of antigen tests to prevent outbreaks, because they are cheaper and don’t require high-tech laboratory equipment to run, meaning they can be deployed in a broader range of settings.

Epidemiologists say that shifting toward using frequent, inexpensive and rapid tests on the same people multiple times a week to screen entire populations instead of one-time tests on individuals who have symptoms will be important to efficiently break transmission chains.

While rapid tests tend to be less sensitive than lab-based tests, Dr. Mina said the data suggest they have high sensitivity when people are most likely to be infectious according to the WSJ report.

Other experts says that while contact tracing is an effective way to contain the virus it can’t be done when the virus is spreading uncontrollably. For this, the WSJ report said, limiting gatherings, travel and crowding are more effective at denting spread, according to Abraar Karan, a global-health physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Expressing concern over “unfounded and misleading rumours” circulating in social media with regard to the safety and efficacy of the coronavirus vaccines, the Central Government has instructed the states and Union Territories to initiate penal action against those spreading misinformation.

The Centre said any such persons or organisations should be punished under the Disaster Management Act and the Indian Penal Code.

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Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter sent to the Chief Secretaries of all states and UTs said that there was a need to check such scaremongering.

“I would like to strongly emphasize that the National Regulatory Authority in the country has found both the vaccines safe and immunogenic,” he said in the letter dated January 19.

Urging the respective governments to counter the spread of misinformation, Bhalla said: “Such kind of rumour mongering, particularly by vested interests, can create unwarranted doubts among people at large and there is, therefore, a need to check all kinds of unfounded scare-mongering relating to the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccines.” 

READ: Is Delhi Moving Towards ‘Herd Immunity’? Here’s What Sero-Survey Suggests

The Union Home Secretary also said the Government of India is taking necessary steps to ensure the vaccination drive is successful and the pandemic is eventually eradicated.

India initiated the rollout of Covishield, developed by the Serum Institute of India, and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin across the country from January 16.

New Delhi: In some good news for PUBG fans, the battle royal universe is likely to get an expansion with the launch of two new games similar to PUBG, the development was confirmed by Krafton CEO,  Kim Chang-han. 

Krafton is the South Korean firm which owns PUBG Corporation. Its CEO Kim Chang-han confirmed to Bloomberg that it aims to make PUBG a big franchise and won’t turn it into a ‘one-hit-wonder.’ 

What it means is that the new PUBG-based game could be introduced for PCs and consoles. And in some good news for mobile users, there are chances that a new battle royale title based on PUBG could be launched for mobile.

The new PUBG-like games are expected to launch by 2022.

In some other details, a PUBG-based horror game named ‘The Callisto Protocol’ is also expected to release in 2022. The game will mimic the PUBG world.

For the uninitiated, PUBG and PUBG Mobile are also expected to get a major sequel, allegedly called PUBG 2 and PUBG Mobile 2. 

Though not officially confirmed, the new version will likely support cross-platform capability across PCs, gaming consoles, and mobile. 

Meanwhile, PUBG Corporation is making efforts to relaunch the mobile game to India months after a ban was imposed.

The Indian government had banned the game under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act claiming that PUBG Mobile app was engaged in activities that are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of the country. 

Washington: Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have tested a new combination therapy in animal models to see if they could find a way to make an already effective treatment even better. Since they`re using a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug to do it, this could help humans sooner than later.

These findings are published in the journal Cancer Letters. Christina Wicker, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Vinita Takiar, MD, PhD, led this research which she says will hopefully extend the lives of patients one day.”Head and neck cancer, like any cancer, is truly life-altering,” she says.

“Head and neck cancer could impact your throat, tongue or nose, and patients often can`t swallow, talk or eat; it truly takes away some of the most social, enjoyable parts of life.”

Researchers in this study combined radiation therapy with a drug (telaglenastat) that stops a key enzyme in a cell pathway that becomes altered in cancer cells, causing those cells to grow rapidly and resist treatment. Wicker says this drug has already been studied in multiple clinical trials to see if it could improve treatment of various cancers.

“Until now, no one has examined if this drug has the potential to improve radiation treatment in head and neck cancer. Most importantly, this drug compound has been well tolerated by patients and causes minimal side effects,” she says.

Using animal models, researchers found that the drug alone reduced the growth of head and neck cancer cells up to 90 per cent, and it also increased the efficacy of radiation in animals with head and neck tumours by 40 per cent. “With these results, and especially with previous clinical trials showing that the drug is well tolerated by patients, there is the potential to move more rapidly into head and neck cancer clinical trials,” Wicker says.

“In the future, we hope this drug will be used to make radiation treatments for head and neck cancer even more effective.” Currently, the most common treatment for that cancer is radiation therapy, but cancer eventually returns in up to half of the patients, Wicker says, and often it doesn`t respond as positively to treatment the second time around.”When [traditional] drugs are less effective, cancer growth becomes difficult to control, which can lead to the cancer quickly spreading to other organs,” she says.”It is very important that scientists and clinicians develop new cancer treatments to improve treatment of this type of cancer, and hopefully our findings will provide one more option to help patients.”

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: “The human touch is that little snippet of physical affection that brings a bit of comfort, support, and kindness. It doesn’t take much from the one who gives it, but can make a huge difference in the one who receives it,” writes Mya Robarts in the novel ‘The V Girl: A Coming Of Age Story’. 

The ongoing pandemic has proved how much touch-deprived the people in the world are, which, much aptly, has been given the term ‘skin hunger’ by psychologists. 

Also known as touch-deprivation, the condition can trigger additional stress in the body. The really long absence of skin-to-skin touch can give rise to Cortisol, the primary stress hormone which can lead to high levels of anxiety, depressions and other mental health issues. 

The ‘touch deprivation’ has added bleakness to the personal and professional choices of many as social distancing doesn’t allow people to hug, shake hands or sit close. Says, 24-year-old masseuse, Sharifa Bano of Zahara Nagar employed with Urban Clap, 

“The lockdown and the un-lockdown phases have almost ruined our profession. Very few women have booked for the services. A few days before the New Year, a young girl booked for a session. As a safety measure, I had to wear gloves, but this is not how one messages the human skin. This puts an embargo on the nerve endings to release stress and one won’t get the benefit.” 

Dr Abraham Verghese the professor of medicine at Stanford University calls human touch as the most important medicine. The skin is the largest organ in the body which with a friendly and positive touch releases Oxytocin hormone, also called the love hormone.

It is known to make one feel good and comforted thus reducing the levels of stress. 

“This releases the anxiety levels in many especially those who feel lonely. This pandemic has pushed people to stay away from their friends and dear ones. With no direct skin touch, it’s likely that people, who are already depressed feel more anxiety,” says Brijesh, a clinical psychologist. 

The same has been felt and reported across the globe showing how important touch is for the social-sensitive human being. That’s how during the lockdown and even in the post lockdown period the sale of pets went up. But there are people who don’t find it comfortable to hug an animal.

To this Brijesh adds, “While there’s no replacement for human touch, hugging a soft blanket or furry toys also gives a feeling of being hugged and touched.” 

NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: With engineering aspirants getting four attempts at computer-based JEE (Main) this year, senior officials of the ministries of education and health besides the National Testing Agency will meet on Monday to decide on the modalities of NEET-UG and whether it could be held more than once a year for the benefit of medical aspirants.

The government decided to conduct the computer-based JEE (Main) twice a year in 2019 and expanded it to four times a year from 2021. However, the medical entrance test continues to be held in pen-and-paper mode and just once a year. Close to 16 lakh aspirants registered for NEET-UG 2020, of which more than 13.5 lakh candidates appeared.

Dr Rakesh Yadav, president, Faculty Association of AIIMS, and Dr S Kumar, chancellor of Sri DevCaraj Urs University in Kolar, feel ‘one bad day should not result in wasting an academic year’. “A student may not be able to appear due to various reasons or may have a bad day. Therefore, like the engineering entrance, NEET too can be conducted multiple times,” said Yadav.

Two key points on the agenda for Monday’s meeting, according to government sources, are whether the entrance test should shift from pen-paper mode to computer-based and conducted twice annually. “World over, reliance on online exams due to its reliability and security is well established. So it is time for NEET to give up the pen-paper model as majority of pilferage happens during transfer of material to various examination centres,” said Kumar.

“If NTA can manage the logistics, NEET as a computer-based exam is a good idea,” added Yadav.

While the final decision rests with the health ministry, senior education ministry officials say that apart from benefit to the candidates, the computer-based test would be more transparent, faster and with an easier evaluation process, and there will be no delay in declaration of results.

Students feel they should get the benefit of multiple tests like the engineering aspirants. However, some are sceptical of making it computer-based. P R Subbaraman, a student from Chennai, said he welcomes the idea of NEET twice a year. “But online tests have many challenges, including connectivity issues. It’s better to write a pen-paper exam,” he said.

However, there are aspirants who feel that as NTA and IITs have successfully conducted JEE (Main), making NEET-UG computer-based would not be a problem.

NEW DELHI: India’s Covid-19 active caseload has fallen below the 2-lakh mark after nearly 7 months and comprises just 1.86 per cent of the total infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

It said that 72 per cent of the active cases are concentrated in Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal.

Thirty-four states and UTs have less than 10,000 active cases.

“The active cases have fallen to 1,97,201. This is the lowest after 207 days. The total active cases were 1,97,387 on June 27, 2020,” the ministry underlined.

A total of 16,988 people have recovered in a span of 24 hours. This has led to a net decline of 3,327 from the total active caseload, it said.

India’s daily new cases are on a steady decline which has also contributed to the shrinkage in active caseload, it underscored.

“Globally, India has one of the lowest daily new confirmed Covid-19 cases per million population in the last 7 days,” the ministry said.

As on January 20, 2021, a total of 6,74,835 beneficiaries have received the vaccination. In a span of 24 hours, 2,20,786 people were vaccinated across 3,860 sessions. A total of 11,720 sessions has been conducted so far.

The total recovered cases stand at 1.02 crore.

“The total recovered cases have crossed the active caseload by one crore a few days ago. The gap presently stands at 10,048,540,” the ministry highlighted.

Over 80 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and UTs.

Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 4,516 newly recovered cases.A total of 4,296 people recovered in Kerala followed by 807 in Karnataka.

Over 79 per cent of the new cases are concentrated in seven states and UTs.

Kerala reported the highest daily new cases at 6,186. It is followed by Maharashtra with 2,294 new cases.

There is also a steady decline in the number of daily fatalities which stands at 162 today.

Six states and UTs account for 71.6 per cent of new deaths.

Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (50). Kerala and West Bengal follow with 26 and 11 daily deaths, respectively, the ministry said.