Nervous system Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Micro Plastics – An Invisible Danger to Human Health

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Thu, 21 Nov 2019 06:08:48 +0000

Plastics – the wonder material is known for its durability, stability, and affordability – has become a major environmental challenge in recent years. This pervasive nature of plastic in the environment has led to its entry into the human body, posing a threat to human health.

Also Read: Say No to Single Plastic Bags

With over 400 million tons of plastic produced globally every year, the plastic still remains a choice for industries such as cosmetics, food packaging, utensils, etc. Much of waste plastic ends up in dump yards and also gets accumulated in water bodies. A number of studies have shown its adverse effects on the marine ecosystem and its presence in the bodies of marine animals such as fishes, mollusks, turtles etc. The plastic reaches bodies of its producers, humans, by consumption of sea food, closing the full circle.

Also Read: Post Antibiotic World

While macro-plastics remain a visible problem, micro-plastics and nano-plastics which are generated through physical, biological and chemical actions on plastic are emerging as a more serious health hazard. Due to their invisible nature, micro- and nano-plastics can enter human bodies through the use of products that contain nano-plastics such as scrubs, lipsticks, mascara, shampoos, etc., other than by consumption of seafood. Recent studies have also found microplastics in tap and bottled water. The workers in the textile and PVC industries also inhale nano-plastics unknowingly.

‘Other than the food chain, constant contact with day-to-day life plastic products allows oral, dermal and inhalation exposure to micro-plastics and additive chemicals to the human body. Therefore, it is important to determine the interactions between the microplastics and biological macromolecules in order to understand their effects on human health,’ explains Prof. Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Professor at Vellore Institute of Technology, who is engaged in studying the impact of microplastics in humans.

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According to the industry estimates, an average Indian consumes approximately 11 kg of plastic products in various forms every year. Though it is much less than what an American or a Chinese does, it is still a problem.

Scientists say that plastic particles can reach our stomach, and depending on their size, these plastics are either excreted, get entrapped in the stomach and intestinal lining or move freely in body fluids such as blood, thereby reaching various organs and tissues of the body. In line with this, a study carried out by Austrian scientists had shown that stool from individuals in eight surveyed countries contained microplastics. Similarly, high levels of BPA (Bisphenol A), a chemical used for making several plastics have been found in the urine of teenagers, in another study done by scientists from the University of Exeter, UK.

Also Read: ‘ELECTRA’ best-in-class motorised bed for Indian hospitals at affordable prices

While a number of studies have shown negative effects of plastics on the nervous system, hormones, immune systems together with the cancer-inducing property of plastics are already well known, scientists are now trying to understand how the basic machinery of the body interacts with plastic particles. In a new study, Prof. Chandrasekaran and his colleagues have looked at the interaction of nano-plastics with blood proteins and cells illustrating their adverse effects on human health. The group has shown that nano-plastics aggregate in blood, obstructing its flow in the body and render blood proteins nonfunctional.

For this study, blood was taken from five healthy males and then separated into plasma (protein portion of blood), white blood cells and red blood cells. Researchers then tested the interaction between nano-plastics and plasma. It was found that blood proteins such as albumins, globulins, fibrinogens, which play an important role in osmotic pressure, molecular transport, blood coagulation, immune response, etc., are absorbed on the surface of nano-plastics forming plastic-protein complex with size ranging from 13 to 600 nanometers.

Also Read: Clove Dental launches dental health plan

Once plastic particles are fully surrounded by proteins, the plastic-protein complexes are attracted towards each other resulting in aggregation of these complexes. Scientist says that these aggregates in the blood stream can block flow of body fluids. Also, this complex formation leads to structural and conformational changes in the blood proteins rendering them non-functional.

In addition, researchers also tested the interaction of both nano-plastics alone and aggregated plastic-protein complexes with white blood cells and red blood cells. It was found that the aggregated plastic-protein complex is more toxic and potent in causing the death of white and red blood cells than the nano-plastic alone. ‘Next, our research would be focused on how the aggregated micro- and nano-plastic complexes are taken up by cells, their movement within the cell and its related hazards and ailments,’ said Dr. Chandrasekaran.

Also Read: Regulatory alignment play catch up

The research team included Ponnusamy Manogaran Gopinath, Vinayagam Saranya, Shanmugam Vijayakumar, Mohan Mythili Meera, Sharma Ruprekha, Reshamwala Kunal, Agarwal Pranay, John Thomas and Amitava Mukherjee. The results of the study have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Credits: India Science Wire

The post Micro Plastics – An Invisible Danger to Human Health appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

AI Engraving Footprints on Healthcare Transcontinental Canvas

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 21 Dec 2018 07:22:38 +0000

SIR ALEXANDER FLEMING, the discoverer of Penicillin, shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1945. But when he arrived in Stockholm to receive the award he had a bad cold. Throughout the ceremony, he used his handkerchief repeatedly. Later when he was leaving, his eyes were still watery, and he was still sniffing. One of the officials shook his head sympathetically and said, “No good for colds”. EE Edgar January 1965.

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But, it was a stunning discovery that changed the course of history. The active ingredient, which Fleming named Penicillin, turned out to be an infection-fighting agent of enormous potency. When it was finally recognized for what it was, the most efficacious life-saving drug in the world, Penicillin altered forever the treatment of bacterial infections.

Now, it is turn of AI (Artificial Intelligence) that is making fast forays in a broad-spectrum of disciplines, and medical diagnostics and treatment field is paving way for intrusion of AI.

Across the world, race is underway to exploit AI for good of patients. Many say it is not much away from tipping point: those who will take timely advantage of it or those who are set to miss the opportunity at the initial moments.

In India, AI ball has started rolling in the wake of the huge potential of the healthcare network and an ever-burgeoning population of 130 crore people. A discussion paper on National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence prepared by NITI Aayog team which included, Arnab Kumar, Punit Shukla, Aalekh Sharan, and Tanay Mahindru, came up for discussions recently and moves are afoot to proceed further.

The paper delved at length on various dimensions of AI. It said NITI Aayog is working with Microsoft and Forus Health to roll out the technology for early detection of diabetic retinopathy as a pilot project. 3Nethra, developed by Forus Health, is a portable device that can screen for common eye problems. Integrating AI capabilities to this device using Microsoft’s retinal imaging APIs enables operators of 3Nethra device to get AI-powered insights even when they are working at eye checkup camps in remote areas with nil or intermittent connectivity to the cloud.

The resultant technology solution also solves for quality issues with image capture and systems checks in place to evaluate the usability of the image captured.

AI-based healthcare solutions can also help in making healthcare services more proactive – moving from “sick” care to true “health” care, with emphasis on preventive techniques.

AI solutions can augment the scarce personnel and lab facilities; help overcome the barriers to access and solve the accessibility problem; through early detection, diagnostic, decision-making and treatment, cater to a large part of India.

Cancer screening and treatment, the paper says, is an area where AI provides tremendous scope for targeted large-scale interventions. India sees an incidence of more than 1 million new cases of cancer every year, and early detection and management can be crucial in an optimum cancer treatment regimen across the country.

NITI Aayog is in the advanced stage for launching a programme to develop a national repository of annotated and curated, despite the obvious economic potential, the healthcare sector in India remains multi-layered and complex and is ripe for disruption from emerging technologies at multiple levels.

It is probably the most intuitive and obvious use case primed for intervention by AI-driven solutions, as evidenced by the increasing activity from large corporates and start-ups alike in developing AI focused healthcare solutions.

Researchers said the Adoption of AI for healthcare applications is expected to see an exponential increase in the next few years. The increased advances in technology and interest and activity from innovators provides an opportunity for India to solve some of its long-existing challenges in providing appropriate healthcare to a large section of its population. AI combined with robotics and Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) could potentially be the new nervous system for healthcare, presenting solutions to address healthcare problems and helping the government in meeting the above objective pathology images. Another related project under discussions is an Imaging Biobank for Cancer.

In US, Viz.ai, Inc., an applied artificial intelligence healthcare company a few months back announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a De Novo request for the first-ever Computer-Aided Triage and Notification Platform to identify Large Vessel Occlusion (LVO) strokes in CTA imaging. This regulatory clearance compliments Viz.ai’s recent European CE Mark for the product in January 2018.

“The Viz.ai LVO Stroke Platform is the first example of applied artificial intelligence software that seeks to augment the diagnostic and treatment pathway of critically unwell stroke patients,” said Dr. Chris Mansi, Neurosurgeon and Chief Executive Officer. “We are thrilled to bring artificial intelligence to healthcare in a way that works alongside physicians and helps get the right patient, to the right doctor at the right time.”

Stroke is a serious and time-sensitive medical condition that requires emergency care and can cause lasting brain damage, long-term disability, and death. A stroke occurs if the flow of oxygen-rich blood to a portion of the brain is blocked. When this happens 2 million brain cells die every minute. “This software device could benefit patients by notifying a specialist earlier thereby decreasing the time to treatment. Faster treatment may lessen the extent or progression of a stroke,” said Robert Ochs, Ph.D., Acting Deputy Director for Radiological Health, Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

The Viz.ai LVO Stroke Platform was developed using deep learning, a revolutionary technique where algorithms learn how to identify patterns in data from millions of prior examples. The Viz.ai system connects to a hospital CT scanner and alerts the stroke specialist that a suspected LVO stroke has been identified, sending the radiological images directly to their smartphone.

In a 300-patient performance study, the Viz.ai LVO Stroke Platform obtained an AUC of 0.91, identifying LVOs and alerting the relevant specialist with 90% sensitivity and specificity and a median scan to notification time of under 6 minutes. In over 95% of cases, the automatic notifications demonstrated faster notification of the specialist, saving between 6 and 206 minutes, with an average time saving of 52 minutes.

“Timely LVO stroke identification and transfer to a specialist hospital that can perform mechanical thrombectomy is the top priority for LVO stroke patients,” said Dr. Raul Nogueira, Professor of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Radiology at Emory University and the Immediate-Past President, Society of Vascular & Interventional Neurology. “This software is designed to help identify appropriate patients earlier and more often, and enable faster transfer and treatment, which, ultimately may result in improved patient outcomes.

Noted Cardiologist ERC Topol, who is Professor of Genomics and holds the Scripps endowed chair in innovative medicine, has now written a book that calls for the “creative destruction” of the current medical paradigm, which he believes has failed to keep up with the digitized world of interactivity, social media, computers, apps, and advanced engineering and electronics.

In his book, he lambasts current day medicine as being archaic and wasteful, making his case with a compelling blend of statistics, anecdotes. Prof. Topol believes that consumers teaming up with innovators in the med-digital world are the key to forcing change, which is certainly true. But how exactly will this work?

The NITI Aayog discussion paper says AI is a constellation of technologies that enables machines to act with higher levels of intelligence and emulate the human capabilities of sense, comprehend and act. Thus, computer vision and audio processing can actively perceive the world around them by acquiring and processing images, sound and speech.

The natural language processing and inference engines can enable AI systems to analyze and understand the information collected. An AI system can also act through technologies such as expert systems and inference engines or undertake actions in the physical world. These human capabilities are augmented by the ability to learn from experience and keep adapting over time. AI systems are finding ever-wider application to supplement these capabilities across enterprises as they grow in sophistication. The paper says healthcare is one of the most dynamic, yet challenging, sectors in India, and is expected to grow to USD 280 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of upwards of 16%, from the current ~USD 100 billion.

Adoption of AI for healthcare applications is expected to see an exponential increase in the next few years. Technology disruptions like AI are once-in-generation phenomenon, and hence large-scale adoption strategies, especially national strategies, need to strike a balance between narrow definitions of financial impact and the greater good. NITI Aayog has decided to focus on five sectors that are envisioned to benefit the most from AI in solving societal needs: a) Healthcare: increased access and affordability of quality healthcare; b) Agriculture: enhanced farmers’ income, increased farm productivity and reduction of wastage; c) Education: improved access and quality of education; d) Smart Cities and Infrastructure: efficient connectivity for the burgeoning urban population; and e) Smart Mobility and Transportation: smarter and safer modes of transportation and better traffic and congestion problems.

Yet, it faces major challenges of quality, accessibility, and affordability for a large section of the population:

A: Shortage of qualified healthcare professionals and services like qualified doctors, nurses, technicians and infrastructure: as evidenced in 0.76 doctors and 2.09 nurses per 1,000 population (as compared to WHO recommendations of 1 doctor and 2.5 nurses per 1,000 population respectively) and 1.3 hospital beds per 1,000 population as compared to WHO recommended 3.5 hospital beds per 1,000 population.

B: Non-uniform accessibility to healthcare across the country with physical access continuing to be the major barrier to both preventive and curative health services, and glaring disparity between rural and urban India. With most of the private facilities concentrated in and around tier 1 and tier 2 cities, patients have to travel substantial distances for basic and advanced healthcare services.

The problem is further accentuated by lack of consistent quality in healthcare across India, most of the services provided are individually driven rather than institution driven, and less than 2% of hospitals in India are accredited.

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Difference Between Pranayama and Breathing

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 07:56:20 +0000

Pranayama and Breathing

I agree everybody knows how to breathe, even a newborn child. Still, these days most of us need a breathing the program that can help us in dealing with our day-to-day desk work, driving, tension, anxiety and even depression. It is well known that deep breathing exercises can help overcome these stresses in life, so it is necessary for all of us to understand the science of breathing i.e. Pranayama.

“When the breath wanders, the mind is unsteady, But when the breath is still, so is the mind still.” Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Pranayama is a part of yoga system that teaches us the art of extending and controlling our breath in many ways. It teaches us to change the depth, rate, and pattern of breathing.

Also Read: Yoga Mojo Going Viral – Meditation in India

Difference between Pranayama and Breathing

Pranayama is the conscious awareness of breath. The term is derived from Sanskrit, Prana means breath, respiration, vitality or energy. Ayama means expansion or stretching. Thus, Pranayama connotes extension and control of breath. Proper rhythmic, slow and deep breathing, strengthens the respiratory system, soothes the nervous system and increases concentration. According to Yoga, the breath connects the Body, Mind, and Spirit.

The rate of breathing changes with circumstances such as it increases due to emotional or physical disturbances whereas, it automatically slows down when one is calm and peaceful. Like, when we get tired while climbing stairs, we get breathless. Try the following to regulate your breathing and feel less exhausted. Climb keeping shoulders straight and take a deep breath in for two stairs (inhale), and exhale for two steps, with a rhythm of two in and two out. Like this, we expel more carbon dioxide and take in great supply of oxygen, thus we feel less fatigue.

Mostly we use only a fraction of our lung capacity as we do shallow breathing. We barely expand the ribcage, shoulders are often hunched and have painful tension in the upper part of back and neck due to which we suffer lack of oxygen which makes us breathless and tired. So, keep both shoulder blades as close as possible without strain and exhale gently and fully pause, then inhale with a deep, slow, gentle breath until the lungs are comfortably filled. Then breath out slowly through the nose, without changing the position of shoulder blades. Repeat this cycle many times. By doing this, the brain gets stimulated and ease nerve tension by providing the fuller supply of oxygen.

Types of Breathing

Clavicular Breathing (Sectional Breathing): It is shallow breathing in which the abdomen is completely controlled, and breathing is performed by forcing the air into the uppermost region of the lungs. The shoulders and collar bones are raised while the abdomen is contracted during inhalation.

Thoracic (Chest Breathing): Breathing takes place by expanding and contracting the chest only, while the abdomen is kept under control. The middle lobes of the lungs are fully activated through this breathing.

Abdominal Breathing: Deep abdominal breathing brings air to the lowest and largest part of lungs. Breathing is slow and deep such that diaphragm is used properly.

A full yogic breath combines all three, beginning with abdomen and continuing the inhalation through the thoracic and clavicular area. The abdomen should expand outward on inhalation and contract on exhalation. To get the feeling of this motion, while sitting in any meditative posture preferably Vajrasana, place the hands on the abdomen close to each other. Exhale slowly inhale through the nostrils taking the hands away from each other so that the abdomen bulges. Hold the breath for a second. Then slowly exhale so that the abdomen retracts bringing the hands closer. Hold the breath for a second. Repeat the breathing cycle five times, preferably in the ratio 4:2:8:2. Breathing should be deep, slow and rhythmic.

The lower sections of the lungs increase with air flow. Rhythmic movement of the diaphragm massages the abdomen gently and enables the organs to function effectively.

Types and Benefits of Pranayama

Pranayama is practiced in a specific posture, especially sitting in Padmasana or Ardhpadmasana and should be performed early morning on empty stomach at a well ventilated quite place. Breathing should be slow and rhythmic, eyes should be close to control the mind and body. It has three aspects (1) Poorka (Inhalation) (2) Kumbhaka (Retention) (3) Rechaka (Exhalation).

Types of Pranayama:
• Ujjayi Pranayama (victorious breath)
• Anulom Vilom (alternate breathing)
• Brahamari Pranayama (humming bee breath)
• Bhastrika Pranayama (air is forcibly in and out)
• Shitali Pranayama (Cooling breath)
• Bahya Pranayama (forcibly breath in, breath out and then hold the breath)
• Kapalabhati Pranayama (exhales air from lungs is forcibly but inhalate involuntary)
Benefits of Pranayama

Pranayama purifies the psychic channels (nadis) and enables physical and mental stability. Pranayama is known to purify about 72,000 nadis or channels in the body. It helps to purify the blood and respiratory system. Deep breathing enriches the blood with oxygen. Large amounts of oxygen reach the brain, lungs, heart, and capillaries.

Pranayama techniques are beneficial in treating a range of stress-related disorders:
• Improves the autonomic functions
• Helps relieve the symptoms of asthma
• Aids in reducing unnecessary thoughts which helps in calming down the overactive mind thus reduces anxiety and depression
• Causes change in the cardiorespiratory system and help in lowering the blood pressure
• Improves physical fitness by practicing certain asanas of yoga, it is excellent for weight loss also
• Deep breathing i.e. bringing focus on the breath can be extremely relaxing and rejuvenating. Regular practice improves concentration, memory and overall state of mind.
Precautions

Pranayama should be practiced with care and it is better to do under the guidance of trained yoga teacher, as certain Pranayama is not advisable to be performed by people having certain ailments.

The post Difference Between Pranayama and Breathing appeared first on InnoHEALTH magazine.

Rural healthcare: Solutions lie in innovations

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 11:10:53 +0000

It has become imperative to make rural and remote areas healthy and free of diseases and infections to make ‘National Health Mission’ a success. There are still many parts of the country where medical services are still not accessible. With the iKure’shealthcare delivery system, the dream of providing minimum health service to the rural parts of the country has become true. Armed with Wireless Health Incident Monitoring Systems, Community Health Workers have been at forefront to provide doorstep solutions at minimal cost. iKure’shealthcare has become a new frontier to drive innovations in rural healthcare delivery

There are over 330 CHWs who are trained and strategically deployed across six states in rural India and have been rendering services under iKure’shealthcare delivery system.

Jayashree is one the CHW who works relentlessly in her village Hubli(Karnataka). One day, she visited a woman named Pushpa who was in her first trimester and looked quite unwell.On enquiring, Pushpa was found to suffer from Epilepsy. Her family also revealed that she has been prescribed with medicines by a local doctor, but she didn’t take them regularly.

Epilepsy is a disorder of the nervous system and such patients during pregnancy have major concerns. Jayashree felt the need and promptly captured her vitals on her smartphone loaded with Wireless Health Incident Monitoring Systems, (WHIMS), and pushed the patient’s vitals on to the cloud for a quick doctor reference.

For the next few days, Jayashree monitored and screened her closely and counselled her and family about different preventive measures pertaining to her health conditions. Soon after, Pushpa recovered and gave birth to a healthy child.

In the context of rural settings, it is never possible to create doctors or health clinics as required. To bridge the gap, the grassroots community members are empowered to provide clinical careenabled through WHIMS.The technology application is designed with an intuitive graphics user interface that can be efficiently used by a health worker even with a basic education.

For instance, WHIMS screen has a complete photograph of a human body.When a health worker clicks on the head, WHIMS gives options of potential symptoms of the head, such as ache, dizziness, seeing dark spots, and so on.

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Usually with the standard diagnostic tool, low accessibility and portability remain a huge constrain. WHIMS is accompanied with low-cost portable instruments to measure basic statistics and loaded on a tablet is carried by the CHWs in the remotest villages to diagnose patients. The patients pay an affordable rate for basic diagnostics and consultations, through which they earn additional income.

Unlike the Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA workers) who work as community mobilizer and not authorized to deliver clinical services, these CHWs meet both the ends.

Equipped with a medical kit that consists of devices including BP machine, stethoscope, pulse oximeter, thermometer, first aid kit, weight machine, Height measuring scale and gloves,they carry medicines for basic common ailments, non-invasive hemoglobin meter, haemoglobin kit, mobile phone based sphygmomanometer, urine analyzer, calorimeter, ECG, flipcharts/ Hoardings & registers.

Through these CHWs, every patient is also provisioned with Digital Health Card (DTH) encrypted with a QR (Quick Response) code and during home visits. DTH gets updated with latest clinical indicators. The health data obtained from the health cards is synced to a cloud for effective utilization in the upward heath chain at both secondary and tertiary levels.

CHW’s contact and familiarity within the community drive effective community mobilization measures. As they become an integral part of the healthcare delivery model, CHWs act as a catalyst to drive behavioral change. While they interacts and communicates the necessity on the ground and identifies appropriate health needs, it is through street plays, hoardings and message dissemination on mobile phones, theymobilize patients at different levels. They are also attuned to provide nutritional counselling, and spectacle services based on the community needs.

Further, WHIMS is upgraded with robust supply chain management framework, innovative algorithm, and Data Warehousing solutions. Driven by its CHWs, iKure aims to bring efficiency in public system & programe and improve lives.

The CHW model of empowering the women community and gender mainstreaming represents transformational change in rural healthcare delivery. As they champion tech-savvy cultural values in otherwise austere facilities, and limited supply of doctors, such effort has established inspirational leaders driving catalyst change in sustainable rural development.

“For a basic diagnostic long distance travel time, high cost of services and prolonged waiting hours at the local PHCs was a huge burden for these rural residents. Use of P-O-C devices is extremely portable, affordable with high accuracy rate and can be used by any health worker with a short training. This has been a critical step in rural healthcare delivery with a positive outcome on prevention, curative care and treatment procedures”.

Dr. Ajay Agrawal, Medical
Director-iKure

“Initially when I used to visit pregnant women, they were apprehensive and reserved. But repeated visits have given them confidence to open up. They ask many questions, show doctor’s report and ask for medicines. I have a joint family and few among them are pregnant, even they are educated, but they would consult me and ask for my opinion. I feel valued and found a voice through iKure”.

Gayathri Acharya
iKure CHW, Hubli, Karnataka

(Author: Dr. Tirumala Santra Mandal is a research and communication analyst at iKure. With a doctorate degree in corporate communication from IIT Kharagpur, she has worked in diverse fields of communications such as lie detection, multimedia communication, communicative English. Prior to working with iKure, she has worked as an editor and authored several publications in referred and business journals both at national and international levels.)

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