Anti-Microbial resistance is emerging as one of the world’s major healthcare challenges. India is one of the most affected geographies. Out of the projected AMR-related death of 10 million across the world, 20-25% or about 2.5 million deaths are projected in India alone.

The new platform called `India AMR Innovation Hub (IAIH)’ will focus on human-animal interface, and neglected tropical diseases and aim to create a globally connected ecosystem that includes an experienced scientific and clinical knowledge base, regulatory expertise, capability, and capacity building support such as funding and advanced research and development infrastructure, multi-pronged policy measures for public health and improving access, AMR stewardship and public communication for raising public awareness.

IAIH partners include national and global stakeholders such as World Health Organisation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), Narayana Health, Zydus Cadila, Johnson & Johnson, and support from ICMR, DBT, and ICAR. It will continue to add more partners and expertise with time.

IAIH recently convened a meeting chaired by the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India that brought together the collective thinking of all these partners on the way forward. It will soon outline specific interventions and prioritize focus areas in alignment with the National Action Plan on AMR.

Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO & Director, C-CAMP said, “The world is staring at a silent pandemic of AMR. We need to come together and fight this health challenge collectively for the well-being of our and coming generations. Today, we are extremely excited with the launch of IAIH and grateful to support from all our govt and non-govt partners.

”WHO has identified antimicrobial resistance AMR as one of the top ten global healthcare threats. The steady rise in AMR worldwide has been attributed to misuse and overuse of antimicrobials, lack of clean water and sanitation, lack of public awareness, and inadequate prevention and control measures to emergent and existing microbial infections. Besides infections, the problem poses a looming threat for 21st Century medicines as antimicrobial treatment regimens associated with conditions such as cancer treatment and post-operative care begin to fail.

SOURCE: India Science Wire

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Dr N. C. Talukdar, former Director, Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), Guwahati, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and Dr Devasish Chowdhury, Associate Professor at the Insitute, used banana plant extract as an alternative activating agent for the preparation of activated carbon from tea wastes.

Oxygenated potassium compounds contained in the banana plant extract help in activating the carbon obtained from tea waste. An Indian patent has recently been granted for the new process. The process began with the drying of the banana peel. It was then burnt to make an ash out of it. The ash was further crushed and made into a fine powder. Subsequently, water was filtered through the ash powder using a clean cotton cloth and the final solution was used as the activating agent.

The main advantage of this process is that the starting materials, as well as activating agents, are waste materials. Also, no toxic material was used at all in the entire process. The most preferred banana was found to be Bheem Kol, which is an indigenous variety found only in Assam and parts of North East India.

SOURCE: India Science Wire

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The leaders who had come from across the world to attend the global meet heard her with rapt attention not without a reason: she has been recognised as the Earthday Network Rising Star by Earthday Network, an international environment campaign, for 2021, for her innovation of a solar ironing cart.A class 10 student from Tiruvannamalai district of the southern State, Vinisha Umashankar, is also a recipient of the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam IGNITE Awards instituted by National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India. She won the prestigious award for her mobile ironing cart, which uses solar panels to power a steam iron box. She is now an inspiration for the world for her speech at the international conference.A key benefit of the solar ironing cart is that it eliminates the need for coal for ironing bringing about a shift towards clean energy. The mobile `istriwalae’ (laundry persons) can now offer their services at the doorstep of their customers without adding the dreaded carbon dioxide greenhouse gas to the atmosphere.

The ironing cart can also be fitted with USB charging and mobile recharging points which can fetch extra income for them. It is an ingenious solar-powered alternative for the millions of charcoal-burning ironing carts for pressing clothes and can benefit the workers and their families. The device can also be powered by pre-charged batteries, electricity, or diesel-powered generators in the absence of sunlight.Vinisha’s efforts have made India stand out as a country that brings innovative solutions for the climate change problem. Prominent world leaders like the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi; Prime Minister of Britain Mr. Boris Johnson; President of the USA Mr. Joe Biden; Prince William, founder of The Earthshot Prize; Mr. John Kerry, the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC) from USA; The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Noted philanthropist Mr. Michael Bloomberg amongst others were audience to her speech which is attracting a global appreciation.

SOURCE: India Science Wire

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To carry out the research, under lab conditions macrophages were analysed with and without a body clock. They discovered that macrophages without a body clock used far more glucose and broke it down quicker than normal cells. It was also seen that in the mitochondria, the pathways in which glucose was further broken down to produce energy were extremely different in macrophages without a clock. This led to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) which further added to inflammation. The study also shows that anything that negatively impacts on our body clocks be it insufficient sleep or inappropriate eating timings or not enough daylight can impact the immune system of our body leading to an unhealthy us. The collaborating research teams came from the RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, Swansea University, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Bristol and their study is published in Frontiers of Immunology. 

SOURCE:https://www.healtheuropa.eu/optimising-your-body-clock-may-reduce-risk-of-inflammatory-diseases/111917/

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Very importantly, all routes were considered to play a part in transmission and simple measures like thorough hand washing, respiratory hygiene and physical distancing made a useful contribution. Gaps in evidence and differences in opinion amongst the experts have been found around different variables including the effects of different kinds of masks on inhaled aerosols, the role of aerosol transmission and the effects of face coverings on transfer from hands to nose, mouth and eyes. The tool is interactive so that you can explore the scenarios which are most relevant to you. This tool makes it very clear that all the routes of transmission matter but in different proportions in different contexts. Simple to say that though airborne transmission is the main one in most situations but that does not mean that we ignore the others.  The study is published in The BMJ and aims to prove helpful to those faced with challenges of communicating complex, uncertain and imprecise evidence in the future. It is imperative to say that coronavirus is an ongoing pandemic and it is difficult to control its spread by just sticking to a single precautionary measure. Thus all routes of transmission need to be taken care of and a multi pronged approach to contain its transmission is the need of the hour. So choose your scenarios wisely and where you want to be.

Source: https://www.healtheuropa.eu/new-tool-helps-people-decide-how-to-protect-themselves-from-coronavirus/112046/

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As per worldwide estimates nearly 86 million people have been diagnosed with the chronic lung disease, COPD and direct healthcare costs related to lung attacks amount to 10 billion Euros in Europe and more than 30 billion Euros worldwide. In this light MonitAir was developed by Dr. Peter Lucas in the Netherlands to give COPD patients a self management tool to monitor their health condition. 

MonitAir is a smart self-test and a cutting- edge e-Health product which empowers and enables patients to monitor their COPD symptoms accurately, providing them with unprecedented insights into their condition and reducing the economic burden of healthcare consultations. MonitAir aims to bring in a transition in care for COPD patients. Starting with prevention and then enabling people to manage their own health for as long as possible.

This product is focussed on two principles, firstly, to work on further improvement of diagnostics and predictive value and secondly, striving hard for even more patient-friendly use, fail-safe and foolproof and intuitive. Doctors want to see patients intervene in their COPD symptoms at an earlier stage themselves so that they report to their doctors in time for better healthcare outcomes but unfortunately COPD patients only recognize the first symptoms of an emerging lung attack at a late  stage. To cater to this problem, MonitAir has entered the market. This product is based on a self-learning algorithm which works on a patient’s smartphone to completely autonomously interpret patient data and provide advice to the patient without direct intervention of the healthcare provider. It is used at the patient’s home in consultation with a doctor and the patient is completely self-reliant until MonitAir feels it is necessary for a doctor to intervene. It is a way for early recognition and prompt action to reduce the severity and duration of a lung attack, prevent complications, reduce healthcare costs and improve quality of life.

MonitAir is self-explanatory and its app guides the patient through the process but still the care provider delivers the product to the user and guides him on its use. The product consists of a thermometer, an oximeter and a spirometer. The patient takes his measurements at home and enters them in the MonitAir application, together with the answers to 10 questions derived from an internationally recognised questionnaire and then receives preventive and personalised advice from the device which he/she can follow independently.  There is a technical help desk, patient and care provider instructional videos, an optional professional training programme, proactive patient support by giving a signal if measurements are forgotten.

Presently MoniAir has its presence only in the Netherlands where it is being received very well by the users as well as the healthcare providers owing to which it will soon be rolled out to other nations. In the future, conditions like obstructive apnea and cardiac abnormalities will also be investigated for relevance and feasibility.

SOURCE:  https://www.healtheuropa.eu/monitair-empowering-patients-monitor-symptoms-of-copd/111789/

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A total of 460 pregnant women with an average age of 29 years at 18 maternity wards in France participated in the trial. These participants were randomly assigned either a financial incentives group (231) or a control group (229) when they were less than 18 weeks into their pregnancy. The participants completed six 10 minutes face to face visits and were asked to fix a date when they would quit smoking. Motivational counselling and support was given to them to prevent any possibility of relapse. Control group women were given a voucher worth 20 Euros per visit but they were not rewarded for abstinence, therefore their maximum voucher worth was 120 Euros after 6 visits. Whereas women in the financial incentive group could earn an additional amount depending on their abstinence which was measured by the amount of carbon monoxide on the participant’s breath at each visit. Thus these women could earn a maximum of 520 Euros at the end of their 6 visits. Other potential factors that were considered were age, income, ethnicity and use of nicotine replacement therapy. At each visit certain measurements were taken like nicotine withdrawal symptoms, time to relapse, blood pressure and use of cannabis and alcohol in the last 30 days.

The results showed that the pregnant women in the financial incentives group smoked 163 fewer cigarettes than in the control group. In the financial incentives group the continuous abstinence rate 16% (38 out of 231) was higher than those in the control group 7%(17 out of 229) and visit by visit, the abstinence rate was 4 times more likely in the  intervention than in the control group. In the financial incentives group time to relapse occurred significantly later and also the craving for tobacco was lower than in the control group.

With regard to the outcome of the babies, analysis showed that in the financial incentives group, babies were around twice as likely to have birth weights of 2500 g or more than in the control group. Financial incentives were also associated with a 7% reduction in the risk of a poor neonatal outcome, i.e. 4 babies(2%) in the financial incentives group and 18 babies (9%) in the control group. There were certain limitations while conducting the study like lack of involvement of partners in the intervention who smoked and lack of mother and baby follow-up after delivery.

Despite this the evidence shows that it is the right time to start including financial incentives as part of standard practice to support cessation of smoking during pregnancy for the benefit of an expecting mother and her born to be child/children. This study showing that pregnant women are more likely to stop smoking if given financial incentives as part of the treatment plan is published in The BMJ.

SOURCE: https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-065217

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NervGen Pharma Corporation, a Canadian life sciences company has rights to this innovation named NVG-291 made by Dr. Jerry Silver who is a leading global expert on spinal cord injury and is also a professor of Neurosciences at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. This drug is presently undergoing phase 1 human trials to check on its safety and lack of toxicity in healthy human trial volunteers and is being prepared for pivotal phase 2 human trials to be conducted in 2022 to test it for the first time in humans suffering from a range of debilitating spinal cord injuries and other nerve damages. The results are expected to be positive due to the surprising similarity between the central nervous system of humans and rats.

The achievement with NVG-291 is exciting because till date the pharmaceutical industry has not been able to bring any effective drug in the market which is able to repair injured nerves and allow patients to regain or improve key bodily functions.  The uniqueness of this drug is that it is designed to heal nerve damage by unleashing the body’s natural ability to repair itself and actually creates new neural pathways via the extraordinary process of neural plasticity. Thus this drug empowers sprouting or growth and fortification of healthy neurons thereby allowing regeneration and rejuvenation both at the site of injuries such as the brain or spinal column.

Dr. Silver was the first to identify a class of molecules in the central nervous system called chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs) which inhibit the sprouting and regeneration of neurons. Euphoria struck him when he found out that axons are freed from the debilitating effects of CSPGs when treated with NVG-291 which is a peptide (protein) that works by targeting the specific receptor ‘tyrosine phosphatase sigma’ (PTP) that blocks nerve repair following injury. This new drug also showed considerable promise in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke and traumatic brain injury. So phase 2 trials will also be done for the above stated diseases. Independently some other scientists in a German Laboratory have replicated this work by using doses of NVG-291that were 50 times more powerful. As a result their study achieved even better outcomes with no toxicity issue with the rats from using such high doses.

Such efforts of researchers have raised hope that this technology can improve the lives of tens of millions of people worldwide who suffer from nerve damage. The researchers are confident that they are working in the right direction and a breakthrough in the treatment of spinal injuries will emerge soon.

SOURCE: https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2021-04-08/nervgen-pharma-reports-2020-year-end-results

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To carry out the study researchers used the survey responses of a representative sample of first year students enrolled at a large, research-based, public university in Kingston, Ontario, Canada in the year 2018. The survey explored factors previously associated with academic performance and mental health in students and was offered two weeks into the first term in September 2018 and two weeks before the start of the exam period in March 2019. The study highlighted how the increased use of prescription drugs (but not prescribed) and illicit drug use amongst those without mental health issues at the start of their university classes is associated with greater odds of developing significant levels of depression and anxiety by the end of the first year.

Factors which lower the odds of developing significant symptoms and recovery of students who already have depression and anxiety symptoms are related to one’s level of socialisation and involvement in student societies, clubs and sports teams. A significant noting made by the research team was that the transition of university life coincides with the peak period for the emergence of mental illness, nearly75% of which starts in young adulthood. Students also spoke about other potentially influential factors like parental education, early life adversities like sexual/emotional/physical abuse and divorce. Social support, sense of belonging both within the campus and with their peers and the amount and frequency of alcohol, stimulants, sleeping pills that had not been prescribed was also assessed.

58% of eligible students completed the first round of questionnaires and assessments (3029 out of 5245) and 37% (1952) completed both sets. Resultantly, at the start of the year 2018, 27% students showed significant symptoms of depression and 32% students showed significant symptoms of anxiety. These figures had risen to 33% and37% respectively by March 2019.

The study was an observational one so it cannot establish a cause. The researchers thus highlighted how their findings may not be more widely applicable to other universities in different countries as many interrelated factors influence the emergence and maintenance of mental health problems including psychological, social and biological factors. The conclusion was that moderate to severe levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms are common among students at entry to university and persist during the first year. University connectedness may mitigate the risk of emergent or persistent symptoms, whereas drug use appears to increase these risks.

Source: www.labmanager.com

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For the study 3 control groups were formed with a total of 181 participants in which the first group had 60 patients who were treated with the BDMP plus doctor prescription medication, second group had 61 patients who were treated with the BDMP plus doctor- prescribed medication plus stress reduction module and third group had 60 patients who were only treated by doctor-prescribed medication. BDMP imparts lifestyle advisory, education and content related to healthcare as part of their curriculum which is customised as per the health profile and preferences of the patient. Comprehensive lifestyle data is provided to the doctors which enables them to give data backed clinical decisions and also helps the patients adhere to the advice given by the doctors to achieve Diabetes Remission a sustainable HbAIc level of below 6.5% for a minimum of 3 months.the study lasted for 16 weeks at the end of which patients from the first group showed 81.6% program completion rate, an average of 0.68% reduction in HbAIc levels, an average of 5.64%of baseline body  weight loss and Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) score average change from 56.3 to 44 (score ranges from 16-80), higher score indicates higher worry. Patients from group 2 showed 88.5%completion rate, an average of0.74%reduction in HbAIc levels, an average of 6.02% of baseline body weight loss and PSWQ score average change from 58.6 to 40.8. Patients from group 3 showed an average of 0.28% reduction in HbAIc levels, an average of 0.8% of baseline body weight loss and a PSWQ score average change from 56.2 to 55.5.

The results of the study were submitted to ADA on use of Digital Therapeutics which acts as a valuable tool enabling personalised care among diabetics. ADA then examined these results across cohorts with different age groups and profile of chronic patients suffering from Type 2 diabetes and certified that Breathe Well Being effectively works towards reversal of diabetes. The study proved that this lifestyle intervention program has helped its users’ show significant reduction in their HbA1c levels, body weight and stress levels.  More than 90% patients completely stopped or reduced their diabetes medications and more than 95% patients showed HbA1c level reduction of more than 10%.

The USP of this company is that it follows “No outcome No pay” policy wherein diabetic patients end up paying only if they see significant reduction in their HbA1c levels else the fee is refunded. Breathe Well-Being application is available on the Play store and App store to access the program and so far this clinical program has helped more than 10,000 members to reduce their blood sugar levels, lose weight and prevent further health complications..

SOURCE: www.crunchbase.com

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