Health

The first clinical trial is getting underway to see if transplanting pig kidneys into people might really save lives. United Therapeutics, a producer of gene-edited pig kidneys, announced on Monday that the study`s initial transplant was performed successfully at NYU Langone Health. It`s the latest step in the quest for animal-to-human transplants. A second US company, eGenesis, is preparing to begin its own pig kidney clinical trial in the coming months. These are the first known clinical trials of what is called xenotransplantation in the world. To protect the study participant`s identity, researchers aren`t releasing information about when the NYU surgery was performed or further patient information. NYU`s Dr Robert Montgomery, who led the transplant team, told The Associated Press...

Doctors in Kolkata gave a 59-year-old man a new lease of life after he underwent a highly complex CTO-angioplasty using IVUS guidance. The treatment was conducted under the supervision of Dr Norihiro Kobayashi, a renowned Interventional Cardiologist from Yokohama City Hospital in Japan, at Manipal Hospital Broadway.  The man was admitted under Dr Arijit Ghosh, HOD – Interventional Cardiologist, at the hospital with complaints of chest pain on exertion. Coronary angiography revealed a critical blockage in the left coronary artery and a 100 per cent blockage in the right coronary artery, a condition known as Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO). CTOs develop gradually over several years and are among the most difficult coronary blockages to treat. Due to the dense and hardened nature of the bloc...

Children born to mothers who had Covid-19 while pregnant may be at a high risk of suffering from developmental disorders, including speech delays, autism, and motor disorders, by the time they turn three years old, according to new research.  Researchers from the Mass General Brigham in the US explained that these may be due to immune activation during pregnancy, which disrupts normal foetal brain development. “These findings highlight that Covid-19, like many other infections in pregnancy, may pose risks not only to the mother, but to foetal brain development,” said Andrea Edlow, Maternal-Foetal Medicine specialist in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Mass General Brigham. The findings, published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, are based on an analysis of 18,124 ...

Pathogens were found in 11.1 per cent of the 4.5 lakh patients tested by the network of labs under the Indian Council of Medical Research as part of efforts to identify viral infections of public health significance. The top five pathogens detected were Influenza A in acute respiratory infection (ARI)/ severe acute respiratory infections (SARI cases), dengue virus among acute fever and haemorrhagic fever cases, Hepatitis A in jaundice cases, Norovirus in among acute diarrheal disease (ADD) outbreaks and Herpes simplex virus (HSV) in Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) cases. The spread of infectious diseases rose from 10.7 per cent in the first quarter to 11.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2025, according to the report by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) According to the ...

Struggling with memory and stress issues? A bite of dark chocolate or a handful of berries may help boost your memory levels and also cut down stress, according to an animal study.   The improved memory and cognition may be due to flavanols, found abundantly in cocoa and berries, said the team from Shibaura Institute of Technology, Japan. The study, published in the journal Current Research in Food Science, demonstrated that flavanol intake can trigger wide-ranging physiological responses resembling those induced by exercise -- functioning as a moderate stressor that activates the central nervous system and enhances attention, arousal, and memory. Flavanols also protect against neuronal damage. “Stress responses elicited by flavanols in this study are similar to those elicited by physic...

Doctors in Kolkata have successfully treated a five-year-old boy, for a massive right-sided pleural empyema, which is a serious infection marked by the accumulation of pus in the space between the lungs and the chest wall.  The boy, a resident of Alipurduar, had been experiencing high fever and severe breathing difficulties for nearly a week before being admitted to a local hospital in North Bengal. As his condition deteriorated, he was referred to Manipal Hospital in Mukundapur.   At the time of admission, the child was in severe respiratory distress, as the infected fluid was compressing his right lung and making breathing extremely difficult.  He was then treated by Dr Subhasis Saha, consultant – Paediatric Surgery, and Dr. Sayantan Bhowmick, associate consultant, Paediatric Pulmonol...

One in every 20 agricultural workers in Tamil Nadu could be having chronic kidney disease (CKD), with every other affected individual possibly having CKDu (chronic kidney disease with an unknown cause) -- a type known to affect mainly agricultural workers, a study published in The Lancet Regional Health Southeast Asia journal has estimated. The study points to factors associated with chronic kidney disease, including an increased age, diabetes, hypertension, anaemia and duration in a week spent working outdoors. Researchers, including those from Madras Medical College, said CKDu -- linked to heat stress due to working outdoors and exposure to agricultural chemicals and environmental toxins -- has been reported in "hotspots" around the world, including India, Sri Lanka and Central America...

An international team of scientists from Japan, the US, Australia, and Belgium has detected a new Covid-19-like virus from a species of moustached bats in Brazil, stoking fears of a potential spillover and a new disease.  Bats are natural reservoirs for many viruses, including betacoronaviruses -- which include the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus (MERS-CoV). The team from the universities of Osaka and Sydney detected the virus called BRZ batCoV from the Pteronotus parnellii -- a small insect-eating bat known for tiny hair tufts on its face. Even though the bat species is common in South America, experts fear the virus might have been gaining ground for months. “We identified a full-length genome of a novel bat CoV (BRZ b...

Jemimah Rodrigues has become India`s newest cricket hero after the historic five-wicket win over Australia in the ICC Women`s World Cup semi-final in Navi Mumbai yesterday. It was a moment of cheers and triumph for India, however it was a moment of release and quiet triump after times of emotional struggle for her. During the post-match press conference, she opened up about her experience hoping it`ll help others, revealing her struggle with anxiety and self-doubts in the weeks leading up to the semi-final match.  She spoke about how her family, friends and fellow team members helped her during this time. Rodrigues revealed, "And also at this time my mom, my dad supported me a lot. And also there  was Arundhati (Reddy), who I think almost everyday I`ve cried in front of, almost everyday ...

The national capital`s continued poor air quality and thick smog engulfing the city are not only harmful for the lungs but also eye health, said ophthalmologists on Thursday, while reporting a 50 per cent surge in eye-related problems.  The thick blanket of smog and dangerously high levels of pollution have led to a spike in cases of eye allergies, dryness, burning sensations, and excessive watering, affecting both adults and children. Doctors say that the toxic cocktail of smoke, particulate matter, and chemical residues released during firecracker burning is not only harmful for the lungs, but for the eyes as well. "If your cornea gets damaged, you need a corneal transplant to restore your vision. However, if pollution levels continue to rise, a time will come when no corneal transpla...