There would be trashcans and toilets in Indian cities at intervals of 500 metres under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), its director, Praveen Prakash, has said, noting that steps were also being taken to penalise offenders for spitting and littering. ‘The mission has gathered pace since its launch (on October 2, 2014) and will achieve all its targets,’ Prakash told IANS in an interview. ‘Our target is to provide dustbins and toilets after every 500 metres (in urban areas). We will also focus on creating awareness among the masses,’ he said, adding: ‘The government is contemplating imposing penalties so that people practise the rules on cleanliness.’ Prakash, however, said that the penalties would be imposed only after adequate infrastructure was in place and awareness is created among people. The fines will be gradually imposed after studying the impact in smaller areas. (Read: When will Indian women have public toilets that aren’t dirty and unhygienic?)

‘It will be enforced in a ward first, then 10 wards and later in the entire city,’ he said, adding that penalties for cleanliness-related violations were the norm in much of the developed world and also in city states like Singapore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Swachh Bharat Mission seeking to achieve its targets by Oct 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The Mission seeks to construct 10.4 million individual household toilets and 508,000 community and public toilets, as also ensure 100 percent scientific disposal of municipal solid waste in 4,041 designated towns. It also seeks elimination of open defecation and eradication of manual scavenging. Prakash, an Indian Administrative officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, admitted that the pace of implementing the Mission had been slow in its first year. (Read: Swachh Bharat ranks the cleanest and dirtiest cities of India)

‘The pace of work was slow in the first year since we were focussed on making policies and removing administrative shortcomings. We are confident of fulfilling the targets by October 2, 2019,’ he said. Prakash, who also apprises the Prime Minister’s Office on developments concerning the mission, said that the task was tough but achievable. ‘I feel only 15 percent work took place in this area (achieving total sanitation) in the last about 65 years and we have a target of doing the rest of the work in five years. I am confident of achieving this target within the given time frame,’ he said. Prakash said that an effort was being made to bring about behavioural changes among people through self-help groups. ‘Governance of local bodies also needs to be reformed. We are working hard in this direction too,’ Prakash added. He said that private players were also being involved in the sanitation drive. ‘Private players are being involved in processes such as conversion of waste to compost,’ he said. He also took a dig at those criticising the Mission. ‘We have already constructed 1.2 million toilets and are working at fast pace. Those criticising us should wait till 2019. We will answer them then,’ he said. (Read: How lack of toilets in India affects your health)

Source: IANS

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In a complex procedure that reflected its commitment to technological advancement through its path breaking efforts, Fortis Malar took a leap forward by using Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR) to revive a man nearly 45 minutes after his heart had stopped beating. A team of cardiac experts at the Centre of Excellence for Advanced Cardiac Care Fortis Malar, Chennai, led by Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Director Cardiac Sciences performed the lifesaving procedure on a 38 year-old patient. This therapy involves supporting the patient with a portable heart and lung machine and cooling the temperature of the patient down to protect the brain during cardiac arrest. 38-year-old Jaysukhbhai Thaker from Gujarat was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy leading to end-stage heart failure. He was airlifted from Porbandar and admitted to Fortis Malar in Chennai for a possible heart transplant. After being stabilised with medications, he was shifted to a ward. (Read: First successful organ donation under Kerala’s organ donation programme)

While awaiting a donor heart, the patient suffered a sudden cardiac arrest and was unresponsive. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was immediately started and despite attempts for over 45 minutes, there was no cardiac contraction and he was, for all practical purposes, dead. A decision was taken to use ECPR and he was put on a portable cardiopulmonary bypass machine called ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenator) while the CPR was being carried out. Doctors persisted with the treatment and his heart finally started beating after 45 minutes, although he remained unconscious for 10 days, following which he woke up. Since ECMO cannot be continued indefinitely, an artificial heart pump or Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) called Centrimag was inserted to support him in the interim. When a suitable donor heart became available, he underwent a successful heart transplant. The patient has now recovered completely and is ready to go home. (Read: Inter-state heart transplant saves 16-year-old patient’s life)

Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Director, Cardiac Sciences, Fortis Centre for Heart Failure and Transplant, Fortis Malar, said, ‘The patient made a steady recovery post the surgery and is now leading a normal life. While mechanical CPR was performed on the patient, ECMO was introduced to revive his heartbeat. This is a perfect example of the success of combining extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) with cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) in saving patients during cardiac arrest. Though the procedure was technically difficult and challenging, it is a promising new technology in situations deemed to be uniformly fatal. We have increasingly started using ECPR for ‘in hospital’ cardiac arrest with very good outcomes and are exploring the possibility of extending it to other locations , including outside the hospital, as is done in a few places around the world, like Japan, San Diego and Taiwan.’ (Read: Haryana’s First Heart Transplant Performed at Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurgaon)

‘We can increase the chances of survival considerably by using ECPR in a cardiac arrest situation. The miniaturized heart lung machine has enabled us to institute ECPR at any location. With a wide ranging experience in handling cardiac patients, we continue to explore new frontiers and extend the limits of Cardiac Care as we establish Fortis Malar as one of the biggest Cardiac institutions in the world.’ said Dr. Suresh Rao K. G, Chief of Cardiac Anesthesia and Critical Care, Fortis Malar.

Dr Ravikumar, Interventional Cardiologist noted ‘From a cardiologist’s point of view, ECPR is a wonderful life saving procedure, but under utilized in the cathlabs and coronary care units due to various logistic problems. Fortis Malar has now taken a lead in this very critically useful area and is the first hospital to start this in a formal manner for cardiac arrest patients.’ Cardiac care at Fortis Malar is well established and ranked amongst the finest in the country. Our team of highly accomplished doctors led by Dr Balakrishnan and Dr Rao along with an experienced team of leading cardiac experts have been doing pioneering work in the field. Thanks to their efforts, Fortis Malar today is regarded as a landmark institution for cardiac care that is recognized far beyond Indian shores. We look forward to more remarkable milestones in the future’, said Mr Raghunath, Facility Director, Fortis Malar. Today Mr. Thaker is a happy man and is grateful to God that he was lucky. ‘I feel I have got a new lease of life,’ he said. (Read: Miracles happen: A brain dead advocate’s heart gives life to an autorickshaw driver)

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Anjali Hooda, sister and doctor of Randeep Hooda who collapsed on the sets of superstar Salman Khan-starrer ‘Sultan’, says drastic weight change is difficult ‘mentally and physically’. Randeep collapsed on Sunday evening following a severe attack of appendicitis. He underwent surgery at Fortis Hospital here on Monday. Asked how difficult it is for an actor to mould his body for a character which needs a drastic weight change, Anjali, a specialist in metabolism, told IANS: ‘For an actor, it may not be difficult because he is very motivated. But for his body it is very difficult because it doesn’t understand starvation. It is very difficult mentally and physically’. (Read: Parineeti Chopra talks about her body transformation that shocked the entire industry)

Anjali also added that the ‘motivation is so high for these people (actors) that they don’t realise the implications’ of fluctuating weight change. Asked if sudden fluctuation of body weight was the reason for Randeep’s health problem, she explained: ‘It’s (appendicitis) not directly related to fluctuation of weight. But yeah, weight loss of extreme type can cause faeces becoming hard because there is no fibre. This is minimal of a problem that can happen and this is a good example for people to know…’. Anjali also mentioned that this is a minute problem, but such major weight loss programmes can cause other ‘unforeseen problems’ in the body. (Read: Get a V-taper back like Salman Khan in Sultan!)

Randeep’s ailment could be related to the ‘extreme make-over’ he had for Omung Kumar’s ‘Sarjbit’, for which he ‘put his life on the line’, she said. ‘Sarbjit’ is a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death. He was attacked by inmates at a prison in Lahore in April 2013 and died a few days later. Randeep will be seen essaying the title role of Sarabjit and had to undergo major weight loss for the character. The ‘Kick’ star was given enough food to ‘sustain for the day’ while shooting the biopic. ‘So we were giving him very less calories and we were making sure that he doesn’t get any blood related issues like electrolyte problems and lack of energy,’ she said. Anjali added that the inflammation of appendix is ‘not directly related to weight loss, but can happen due to lack of fibre, calories and water… it can lead to anything’. (Read: Bhumi Pednekar shares her weight loss secret!)

Source: IANS

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Our brain remains constantly at work, even if the body is at rest. According to a study, the memories that are formed in one part of the brain are replayed and transferred to another area of the brain for long-term storage, even while our bodies take rest. ‘We want to understand how a healthy brain stores and accesses memories as this will give us a window into how conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease disrupt the process,’ said lead researcher, Freyja Olafsdottir, research associate at University College London, in Britain. Replay of previous experiences during rest is important for memory consolidation, a process whereby the brain stabilises and preserves memories for quick recall in the future. The researchers, in the paper published in Nature Neuroscience, investigated the role of sleep in memory consolidation by simultaneously studying two areas of the brain as the rats rested after activity. (Read: Good habits that can boost your memory)

The findings showed that the rats re-ran memories in their minds as they rested and 10-20 times faster. The same replay happened almost simultaneously, with a 10-millisecond delay, in grid cells located in a different part of the brain, suggesting that the rats’ memories transferred from one part of the brain to another. During rest, the team studied the responses of place cells in the hippocampus in brain, where memories are formed, and grid cells in the entorhinal cortex, where the memories were found to transfer to. The hippocampus constantly absorbs information but it seems it can’t store everything so replays the important memories for long-term storage and transfers them to the entorhinal cortex, and possibly on to other areas of the brain, for safekeeping and easy access. (Read: This is how our brain stores memories)

‘This is the first time we’ve seen coordinated replay between two areas of the brain known to be important for memory, suggesting a filing of memories from one area to another,’ said one of the researchers Caswell Barry. Understanding the physiological mechanism of this is essential for tackling amnesiac conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, where memory consolidation is affected, the researchers said. ‘The parts of the brain we studied are some of the first regions affected in Alzheimer’s and now we know they are also involved in memory consolidation,’ Olafsdottir said. Six rats were made to run for 30 minutes on a six metre long track before resting for 90 minutes. Their brains were then studied to investigate memory transfer to other areas of the brain. (Read: Including spices & herbs in diet improves your memory & other brain function)

Source: IANS

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What has DNA got to do with your first action between the sheets? A lot, say researchers, adding that there are 38 specific places in the human genome that may be linked with the age at which people first have sex. Interestingly, the researchers found that people with these variants were also 26 percent less likely to qualify for college admission and 33 percent more likely to start smoking. ‘While social and cultural factors are clearly relevant, we show that age at first sexual intercourse is also influenced by genes,’ said John Perry, researcher at the University of Cambridge in Britain, in a paper that appeared in the journal Nature Genetics. (Read: A step-by-step guide on how to have sex)

According to a Los Angeles Times report, these 38 spots affect a range of genes, including some that seem to affect the timing of puberty and others that have been linked with risk-taking behaviour. To reach this conclusion, the team found 38 DNA pieces with the help of more than 125,000 contributors to the UK Biobank — a large-scale study that identifies gene changes that influence timing of sexual behaviour. The volunteers between ages 40-69 gave a blood sample for genetic analysis and also reported how old they were when they lost their virginity. (Read: First time having sex? Here’s an ‘all you need to know’ guide for men)

The researchers analysed the data to find links between specific DNA variants and age at first sex. Thirty-three of the variants were found in both men and women, four were seen in men only and one uniquely in women. ‘We show that a substantial proportion of variation in age at first sex is due to genetic factors, which likely act through a variety of biological mechanisms,’ the authors noted. The findings may help scientists identify teenagers who can benefit from programmes to promote healthy behaviours. (Read: 16 things all women should know about sex)

Source: IANS

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Blocking a hormone that raises sugar levels in the blood may increase insulin levels while keeping blood sugar levels down, thus treating Type 1 diabetes, says a study. The findings showed that using insulin therapy and blocking ‘glucagon’ hormone as a combined treatment could, in some cases, provide a more effective and safer way to maintain a healthy balance and avoid the peaks and troughs of blood sugar levels. ‘Inhibiting the hormone ‘glucagon’ has recently been explored as an alternative or supplement to insulin injection, but it has limitations,’ said lead study author Pedro Herrera from University of Geneva in Switzerland. Read about how to reduce your risk of diabetes.

‘Our research reveals why the body needs to have some residual insulin production in order for a treatment blocking glucagon to work,’ Herrera added. Blocking ‘glucagon’ was only effective if some insulin was still being produced, the researchers noted in the paper published in the forthcoming issue of the journal eLife. In patients with Type 1 diabetes, blocking ‘glucagon’, in addition to insulin replacement, could help keep blood sugar levels in check. (Read: ABCDE of diabetes: 5 rules to control your blood sugar level)

It could also result in some glucagon-producing alpha cells converting into beta cells and producing more insulin. For the study, the team used transgenic mice in which insulin could be more efficiently eliminated. These mice became severely diabetic. The study point to a novel way to treat diabetes and also challenges the benefits of the strategy in severely diabetic patients. Read to know how naturopathy helps in diabetes treatment.

Source: IANS

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In ground-breaking research, an Indian-American scientist has engineered T-cells — a type of immune cells — to break the pancreatic cancer‘s physical and immunological walls using immunotherapy. Dr Sunil Hingorani, member of the clinical research and public health sciences divisions at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and colleagues created T-cells with a high affinity to a relatively tumour-specific antigen. Dr Hingorani looked for proteins — also found in the linings of the heart and lungs — that are expressed in unusually large amounts in the tumour cells and minimally expressed elsewhere. (Read: Neem extract can be used to treat pancreatic cancer)

The T-cells then were engineered to attack those. In the tests conducted on mice with pancreatic tumours, the engineered T-cells killed those cells over a 10-day period. Additionally, Hingorani and his team have worked to develop an enzyme that can help defeat the tumour’s high interstitial pressures and potentially open the door for greater penetration and effectiveness of T cells and other types of agents. By the end of the year, Dr Hingorani hopes to have the human version of the T-cell in clinical trials. The findings were recently presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2016 in New Orleans, US. (Read: MIT scientists design a device that delivers drugs directly to the pancreatic tumour)

Source: IANS

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Significant fall in birth rates are a major reason why women outlive men in the present world, a new research has found. Reduced reproduction rates benefit female lifespan more as females pay higher costs of reproduction than males. The findings of the study revealed that women who gave birth to 15 children or more lived on average six years shorter than women who only had one child. However, in men, no association was seen between number of children fathered and lifespan. ‘Our results have implications for demographic forecasts because fertility patterns and expected lifespans are continuously changing throughout the world,’ said lead researcher Elisabeth Bolund, postdoctoral research fellow at Uppsala University, in Sweden. (Read: Stress during pregnancy can lead to low-birth-weight in babies)

For the study, published in Scientific Reports, the team analysed 140,600 reproducing individuals in from Utah in US using unique longitudinal demographic records and found that men who were born in the early to mid-1800s lived on average two years longer than women. This reversed over time and women born in the early 1900s outlived men by four years. During this period, fertility in the population decreased from an average of 8.5 in the early 1800s to an average of 4.2 children per woman in the early 1900s. The female lifespan increased, while male lifespan remained largely stable. The data shows that only women paid a cost of reproduction in terms of shortened remaining lifespan after the end of the reproductive period. (Read: Facing domestic violence during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth & low birth weight)

Source: IANS

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If you do not have a romantic partner yet, stop gambling or making riskier investments as you may end up losing money, finds an interesting study. Environmental cues indicate that some people will have a relatively difficult time finding a mate. ‘This can drive people concentrate their investment choices into a few high-risk, high-return options,’ said lead study author Joshua Ackerman from University of Michigan in the US. ‘This is true even when the decisions people are making are not explicitly relevant to romantic outcomes,’ Ackerman added in the paper, published in a journal of Psychological Science. Research has shown that people who face uncertain outcomes often diversify their choices as a strategy for mitigating risk — if one investment or option falls through, they still have other investments or options to fall back on. (Read: How to get over a relationship — tips to deal with a break-up)

Ackerman and colleagues speculated that diversification may not be the optimal strategy if romantic success depends on passing above a certain threshold when it comes to resources, status or attractiveness. Choosing high-risk, high-reward strategies, even in domains unrelated to romance, could help an individual surpass the threshold and stand out from his or her competitors. The researchers analysed series of studies in which they manipulated the perceived odds of romantic success by presenting participants with information about the ratio of women to men in their area. In one study, 93 heterosexual participants looked at three photos containing images of men and women aged 18 to 35 who supposedly lived in the local community. (Read: Going through a break up? 4 tips to get over your ex)

Then participants were asked to imagine that they were buying scratch-off lottery tickets and were told to choose which option they would purchase: one $10 ticket for a $10,000 prize or 10 $1 tickets for $1000 each. The findings indicated that participants who saw an unfavourable sex ratio were more likely to concentrate their resources on choosing the riskier $10 ticket option, than those who saw a favourable sex ratio. ‘From an evolutionary perspective, if the options are to do whatever it takes to find a romantic partner or risk not finding one, the more rational choice may be to do whatever it takes,’ Ackerman stated. This research has the potential to affect anyone making decisions with uncertain outcomes, including both single and romantically committed men and women, Ackerman noted. (Read: 10 signs which say ‘it’s time to break-up’)

Source: IANS

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Many people who text while watching TV or listen to music while reading cannot hold their attention to one task. However, a new study has revealed that through mindfulness meditation, heavy media multi-taskers may adapt a more focused attention. Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison found that heavy media multi-taskers made greater strides than their low multi-tasker counterparts after meditation. ‘In general, people perform better after this mindfulness task,’ said Thomas Gorman, first author of the study. ‘But we found a significant difference for heavy media multi-taskers. They improved even more on tests of their attention,’ Gorman added in the paper published in the journal Scientific Reports. Previous studies have shown that people who most often let several types of media overlap can be distracted in the moment, but also score poorly on tests that assess attention even when the media sources are absent. (Read: Scientifically proven meditation benefits that’ll make you want to start now!)

‘Most of us who study media multitasking think that monitoring lots of sources constantly — instead of devoting yourself to one thing — induces a more distributed attentional state,’ stated C Shawn Green, stated senior author. The participants — comprising people who reported frequent media multitasking and those who rarely combine media — spent parts of two days taking standard tests that measure their attention. On one day, the attention tests were interspersed with Web browsing. On the other, each test was preceded by 10 minutes of the breath-counting exercise. ‘It’s deep focus on a single thing, and that single thing is not actually very demanding of your attention,’ Greens stated. (Read: The 10-step meditation guide for beginners)

The results revealed that heavy media multi-taskers scored worse than light media multi-taskers all around and both groups posted better attention scores right after counting breaths. Heavy media multi-taskers benefited from a short meditation exercise in which they sat quietly counting their breaths and for them sharpening their focus may be as simple as breathing. ‘However, one thing the presence of the short-term effects suggests is that the attentional system in heavy media multi-taskers isn’t intractably affected. It is possible for heavy media multi-taskers to adopt a more focused attentional state,’ the authors stated. (Read: Meditation can help you deal with chronic pain)

Source: IANS

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