Health

Gradual reduction of antidepressants together with psychological support can be an effective strategy to stop medication among adults who have recovered from depression, according to a study on Friday.  Antidepressants are typically recommended to be taken for six to nine months after a first episode of moderate-to-severe depression and anxiety disorders to prevent relapse. But there are concerns about overprescribing, long-term use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuation, which underscore the need for evidence-based deprescribing strategies. To understand, researchers from the University of Verona in Italy conducted a systematic review and network meta-analysis of 76 randomised controlled trials involving 17,379 adults. The findings, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, do not s...

A team of UK researchers has developed a pioneering blood test that could enable doctors to detect and monitor lung cancer in real time, which will help reduce diagnostic delays and improve patient outcomes.  Using the technique Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) microspectroscopy, the team detected a single lung cancer cell in a patient`s blood. The technique combines advanced infrared scanning technology with computer analysis, focusing on the unique chemical fingerprint of cancer cells, said researchers from University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), Keele University, and Loughborough University. "This approach has the potential to help patients receive earlier diagnoses, personalised treatments, and fewer invasive procedures, and it could eventually be applied to many ...

Researchers at IIT Delhi on Tuesday announced the development of an ingestible device that can sample bacteria directly from the small intestine, opening a new window into the human gut microbiome.  While not all bacteria are harmful, nearly half of all cells in the human body are microbial. These organisms line our gut and help us digest food, regulate mood, and build immunity. Yet studying them has remained difficult. Existing tools are invasive, such as endoscopy or ileostomy, or indirect, relying on stool samples that do not truly reflect conditions higher up in the digestive tract. The device, a tiny pill, once swallowed, stays shut in the stomach. It opens only in the intestine to collect bacteria, then seals itself again to keep the sample safe while moving through the gut, revea...

A Pune couple, who had been trying to conceive for seven years, were advised to consider adoption due to severe damage caused in the fallopian tubes and endometrium by the woman`s past Tuberculosis infection. Laparoscopy had revealed fluid-filled fallopian tubes, a scarred uterus (Asherman’s syndrome), and an endometrium too thin to support a pregnancy, leaving specialists unable to operate further.  The fertility specialists at Nova IVF Fertility, Lullanagar in Pune, suggested Platelet-Rich Plasma (PRP) therapy to help regenerate and rejuvenate her endometrium. After carefully monitoring the growth of her endometrium for a year, IVF was initiated at the right time, and the couple successfully conceived and recently welcomed a healthy baby boy. A year-long therapy to grow the endometriu...

Researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have uncovered a surprising player in autophagy, or the “self-eating” process that removes damaged parts of cells that can pave the way for developing therapies for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson`s, and cancer.  Autophagy is a key biological process where cells clear out damaged and unwanted materials. When a cell fails to clear waste, its health suffers, especially in long-lived neurons. The autophagy pathway, which removes damaged material and defends against infections, is disrupted in diseases like Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s. In cancer, autophagy plays dual roles. Autophagy initially prevents cancer but later supports tumour growth. Autophagy also acts as a tumour suppressor by maintaini...

Researchers have identified a previously overlooked protein that helps regulate appetite and energy use in the body. This "helper" protein supports a key system that decides whether the body burns energy or stores it, and when it does not function properly, appetite signals can weaken. New research suggests that a protein the body relies on to manage appetite and energy levels cannot function on its own. Instead, it depends on a partner protein to work properly. This discovery could help scientists better understand how genetic factors contribute to obesity. In a study published in Science Signalling on December 16, an international research team led by scientists at the University of Birmingham examined how a helper protein known as MRAP2 supports an appetite-regulating protein called...

Air pollution is no longer just an environmental concern; it is steadily shortening life expectancy, reducing productivity and quality of life, said health experts here on Thursday, even as the national capital has been witnessing deteriorating air quality for over a month.  Visuals from different parts of Delhi and the NCR showed sharply reduced visibility as dense smog engulfed roads, residential areas, and public spaces, affecting daily movement and raising health concerns among residents. Delhi recorded an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 356, as per data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). The experts noted that prolonged exposure to air pollution is eroding India’s economic growth while triggering a sharp rise in serious health conditions such as stroke, cardiovascular disea...

In a remarkable achievement, doctors in Pune have successfully saved the life of a 23-week premature baby boy weighing only 550 grams at birth, and complications like breathing difficulties.   The baby, delivered after premature rupture of membranes at a private hospital in Kondhwa, required immediate life support. The NICU transport team, also known as “NICU on wheels”, retrieved the extremely premature newborn in a specialised neonatal ambulance. After 100 days of care, the baby was discharged at 37 weeks, weighing 2.2 kgs, breastfeeding well, and showing a healthy developmental progress. The couple, who were expecting their first child, and eagerly looking forward to parenthood had to face a challenge. They never imagined that their joyful journey would suddenly turn into fear and un...

Even as the bird flu virus H5N1 is evolving rapidly, with the potential to become a significant threat to human health, a team of Indian researchers using an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based model has decoded how the deadly virus can actually spillover to humans.  In the study, published in the BMC Public Health journal, the team used BharatSim -- an ultra-large-scale agent-based simulation framework for infectious diseases that was originally built for Covid-19 modelling -- to describe the sequential stages of a zoonotic spillover. “We modelled the possibility of initial spillover events of H5N1 from birds to humans, followed by sustained human-to-human transmission,” said Philip Cherian and Gautam I. Menon from the Department of Physics at the Haryana-based Ashoka University, in the ...

While cheese -- high in saturated fat and sodium -- is known to raise the risk of high cholesterol or blood pressure, a new study has linked it to a lower risk of developing dementia.  The study, published in the journal Neurology, showed that some high-fat dairy products, such as cheddar, Brie, and Gouda, as well as whipping cream, double cream, and clotted cream, may actually lower the risk of dementia. The findings challenge some long-held assumptions about fat and brain health. However, researchers from Lund University, Sweden, clarified that “the study does not prove that eating high-fat cheese and high-fat cream lowers the risk of dementia, it only shows an association”. Researchers analysed data from 27,670 people in Sweden with an average age of 58 at the start of the study. The...