Health

In one of the many medical miracles of this week, a hospital in Mumbai has performed cochlear implant surgery on a patient while she was awake. It not only gave her hope of getting her ability to hear back again but also ended her challenge, which she had to deal with for the last three years.  The surgery conducted at Jaslok Hospital & Research Centre in Peddar Road, was done on a 19-year-old girl from Worli, who lost her hearing due to anti-TB treatment. She underwent the innovative procedure under local anesthesia.  It was conducted by a team of ENT surgeons led by Dr Brajendra Baser who was assisted by Dr Umendra Agihari and Dr Divya Prabhat along with anesthesiologist Dr Rajani. The patient was brought to tears as she heard sounds for the first time in three years on the operat...

Diabetes continually weakens the immune system, leading to poor health and a high risk of death among patients with tuberculosis (TB), said experts on Tuesday. The link between TB and diabetes -- two critical challenges to global health -- has long been established. TB and diabetes, both separately and combined, significantly affect individuals, communities, and healthcare systems worldwide. India`s TB burden remains a major public health challenge, with 28 lakh TB cases -- accounting for 26 per cent, the highest globally in 2024. The country also reported an estimated 3.15 lakh TB-related deaths, accounting for 29 per cent of the deaths globally. The burden of diabetes is also consistently increasing in the country, with over 100 million people currently living with the disease. “Diab...

A new study explains a possible reason why sometimes taking a nap break helps people perform better when they resume a task -- during sleep, short-term information related to the task at hand is converted into long-term, stronger memory, researchers found. The team, led by researchers from Harvard Medical School, US, monitored brain activity of 25 participants as they were learning a typing sequence, followed by taking a nap. During sleep, areas in the cortex -- brain`s outermost layer that helps with higher-level functions such as memory -- that were active while the participants worked showed more rhythmic, repetitive patterns, indicating that information related to the task is being processed, the team found. The results, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, also show that an in...

The brain might become the target of new type 1 diabetes treatments and pave a better way for insulin management, according to a study.  Researchers had, over a decade ago, found that an acute complication of type 1 diabetes -- diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) -- can be resolved with the hormone leptin, even in the absence of insulin. In the analysis, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the team explained how leptin affects the brain and how it might be used in future therapeutics. DKA happens when the body is unable to make insulin and begins to break down fat for fuel. This can lead to a life-threatening buildup of sugar (glucose) and ketoacids in the blood. Doctors have typically administered insulin to address the complication. But evidence now shows that, when insulin i...

Ahead of the UN treaty on plastics, a new report in The Lancet journal on Monday has warned that plastic pollution is an underrecognised threat to the health of both humans and the planet, which must be addressed immediately. The report, led by a group of international experts, reviews the current evidence on how plastics -- including microplastics and plastic chemicals -- impact health. “Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and planetary health. Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding $1.5 trillion annually,” said corresponding author Prof Philip J Landrigan, from Boston College, US. The report discusses evidence that plastics endanger human health at every stage of their li...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) may begin far earlier than previously thought. Canadian researchers have decoded that the earliest warning signs of the immune system disorder may emerge more than a decade before the first classical neurological symptoms occur. The findings, published in JAMA Network Open, challenge long-held assumptions about when the disease truly begins, offering the most comprehensive picture to date of how patients engage with a range of health care providers in the years leading up to a diagnosis as they search for answers to ill-defined medical challenges. "MS can be difficult to recognise as many of the earliest signs -- like fatigue, headache, pain and mental health concerns -- can be quite general and easily mistaken for other conditions," said senior author Dr. Helen T...

Nearly 70 per cent of India`s elderly population remains financially dependent, with many continuing to work post-retirement to survive, according to a new report. The study, "Ageing in India: Challenges and Opportunities," was released by the Sankala Foundation in partnership with NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, and the National Human Rights Commission. It draws on findings from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), offering a detailed snapshot of India`s rapidly greying population. Despite improved life expectancy, the report highlights that many elderly Indians live with economic and health insecurities. The report said that about 6.4 per cent of the elderly reduced their meal sizes, 5.6 per cent went hungry without eating, and 4.2 per cent did n...

The recent death of a 26-year-old man in Hyderabad, who collapsed while playing badminton and succumbed to a suspected heart attack, has once again drawn attention to the growing incidence of heart-related issues among young people. Health experts advise young working professionals, especially those in high-stress sectors like IT, to adopt healthier lifestyles from an early age and undergo regular preventive health check-ups to reduce the risk. Sagar Bhuyar, Senior Consultant Cardiologist at Kamineni Hospitals in Hyderabad, on Sunday said the heart conditions that were once seen in individuals in their 60s are now increasingly being diagnosed in people as young as 30. "Slow narrowing of the blood vessels has shifted to third (30s) and fourth decade (40s) from 60s. Reason is sedentary li...

A team of Indian scientists has found a new way to treat liver cirrhosis, by targeting the lymphatic vessels in the liver and intestine that fail in case of cirrhosis.  Chronic liver disease can progress from mild disease to fibrosis to cirrhosis (also known as scarring). Cirrhosis is accompanied by the distortion of both blood and lymphatic vessels in the liver and the intestine. Patients with advanced cirrhosis often develop complications like fluid accumulation in the abdomen. A team of scientists from the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS), New Delhi, and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), Guwahati, focussed on improving the drainage capacity of lymphatic vessels in the liver and intestine by using nanocarriers filled with a powerful pro...

Indian snacks are delicious, if not mouthwatering, and that is what makes them irresistible, especially the classic vada or samosa pav in Mumbai that have become synonymous with street food here. While the vada pav is a guarded treasure in the Maximum City, samosas have been in the news in the last few weeks. In July, it was about the apparent need for health labels on the Indian fried snack apart from jalebi, to promote healthy choices by highlighting the risks, and this week, Ravi Kishan brought up the samosa, along with dal tadka, during the zero hour of the Monsoon Session in the Lok Sabha.  The BJP MP and actor highlighted the samosa prices and portion size, and the unique need for uniformity across India. With the samosa in the spotlight again, the snack’s contents and health benefi...