PGIMER Archives - InnoHEALTH magazine

Alarming! 26.7 Crore Tobacco Users in India

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Wed, 18 Jul 2018 08:11:39 +0000

“As per the Global Adult Tobacco Survey 2017, there are 26.7 crore users of tobacco in India. 5,500 children initiate tobacco use every day. One-third of these tobacco users will die prematurely. Lacs and lacs of Indian families are devastated with tobacco deaths, which are preventable. “Tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death.” Sambandh Health Foundation (SHF) Trustee and Head of Tobacco Control, Sanjay Seth said at a function in Chandigarh recently.
Also Read: Is There A Safe Time To Drink Alcohol While Pregnant?

As the adage goes, “Prevention is better than cure”, tobacco is the single most preventable cause of death. With the aim of having a tobacco-free society, doctors of PGIMER, Chandigarh got together for a meeting to address the tobacco epidemic.
Organizing and leading the doctors to meet in PGI Chandigarh, Dr. Anand Mishra, Additional Professor, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery said, “tobacco is an epidemic killing 10 lac Indians every year. It is the need of the hour that this issue is addressed at all levels in the Government as well as the community.”
An official statement after the meet said, “If we talk about the healthcare costs, the estimated economic cost of tobacco has been estimated at Rs. 1,04,500 crores (US$ 22.4 billion) which is 1.16 percent of the GDP and 12 percent more than the combined State and Central Government expenditures on health (2011- 12). The financial burden due to direct and indirect costs of tobacco-attributable diseases will continue to push families of millions of tobacco users towards poverty and stealthily decelerate the economic growth of the country.”
The Indian Council Medical Research (ICMR) estimates India will have more than 17.3 lakh new cancer cases and more than 8.8 lakh deaths due to cancer by 2020. 90% of oral cancers and 50% of all cancers are caused due to tobacco. This will not only affect the individual’s health and the families of the cancer patients but also adversely affect the economy of the country as a whole, the statement informed.
Dr. Vedant Kabra, Head of Department Surgical Oncology, Manipal Hospitals, and Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV) patron, said, “tobacco not only destroys physical health but also is a cause of extreme emotional trauma for the cancer patient as well as the family apart from draining them financially.”

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Tele-Medicine System to Strengthen Healthcare Services in India

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Thu, 10 May 2018 09:43:02 +0000

Till date, the Indian Government has taken various steps to strengthen the telemedicine network. Healthcare services take in the country, especially in rural India. Some of the efforts in this direction which need a mention are:

National Medical College Network (NMCN): With the purpose of e-Education and e-Healthcare delivery, 50 Government Medical Colleges has selected to interconnect, riding over NKN (National Knowledge Network). For this, one National Resource Centre (NRC) requires to centralise infrastructure and 7 Regional Resource Centres (RRCs) has established.

State Telemedicine Network (STN): The States/UTs have been supported under National Health Mission (NHM) under Program Implementation Plan (PIP) for strengthening State Telemedicine initiatives under STN & to create reliable, ubiquitous and high-speed network backbone, all available and future networks. So far,10 states have financially supported.

Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW) in collaboration with Department of Space has setup Telemedicine nodes at some pilgrim places for health awareness, screening of non-communicable disease (NCD) and for providing specialty consultation to the devotees visiting holy places like Maa Vindhyavasini Mandir, Vindhyachal Dham, Mirzapur (UP), Sheshnag, Amarnath Pilgrimage (J&K), Pampa Hospital, Ayyappa Temple at Sabrimala (Kerala) and Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Tele-Evidence: The tele-evidence facility streamlines the process of doctors appearing in courts in response to the summons. And saving their time not only for patient care but also for medical education and research. The project is operational in Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh since March 2014.

Also Read: An Interaction with J.P. Nadda on Health Plan

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Genetic link to heart disease in Indian population

InnoHEALTH Magazine — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 08:18:07 +0000

A team of Indian researchers have discovered that carriers of a set of genetic variants in the Chromogranin A (CHGA) gene called‘CHGA promoter haplotype2’ may be at higher risk for cardiovascular and metabolic disorders. An estimated 35 to 40 percent of Indian population may carry this genetic variant.

The study is based on analysis of genomic DNA samples from over 750 individuals from Indian population. The research findings have been published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

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Though the CHGA promoter haplotypeis present in other ethnic populations, it occurs more frequently in population of South Asian ancestry. “It is a protein of neuroendocrine origin and is secreted along with hormones like catecholamines. Earlier studies had suggest edits role in regulation of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases but there was no data aboutit in South Asian population,” said Lakshmi Subramanian, first author of this paper.

“Westudied genomic DNA of Indians and discovered a specific set of changes in the CHGA genesequence called Haplotype2 which contributed to increased CHGA gene expression, and ultimately increased CHGA protein levels in plasma. When the clinical parameters of those in the study were compared, Haplotype2 carriers displayed higher levels of metabolic and cardiovascular traits like plasma glucose, blood pressure and body mass index,” explained Dr. Nitish R. Mahapatra, Professor at IIT Madras.

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However, he said, these results need further validation in animal models as well as large scale studies in individuals with metabolic syndrome. “We hope these findings would help unravel biological pathways and mechanisms underlying these complex diseases and would help in the development of therapeutic as well as preventive strategies,” said Dr. Mahapatra.

“Basic research in cardiovascular biology is in a very nascent stage in India with only a handful of researchers working in this field. This new study significantly contributes towards understanding molecular basis of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. This is a fast emerging area with tremendous therapeutic and diagnostic potential,” commented Dr Shyamal K. Goswami, a professor at School of Life Science, JNU, who is not connected with the study.

The study was led by Dr. Mahapatra in a collaborative effort with Dr. Ajit S. Mullasari at Madras Medical Mission, Chennaiand Dr. Madhu Khullar at PGIMER, Chandigarh.

(Article shared from India Science Wire)

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Read all the issues of InnoHEALTH magazine:
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 1 (July to September 2016) – https://goo.gl/iWAwN2
InnoHEALTH Volume 1 Issue 2 (October to December 2016) – https://goo.gl/4GGMJz
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 1 (January to March 2017) – https://goo.gl/DEyKnw
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 2 (April to June 2017) – https://goo.gl/Nv3eev
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 3 (July to September 2017) – https://goo.gl/MCVjd6
InnoHEALTH Volume 2 Issue 4 (October to December 2017) – http://amzn.to/2B2UMLw
InnoHEALTH Volume 3 Issue 1 (January to March 2018) – https://goo.gl/fksdQx
InnoHEALTH Volume 3 Issue 2 (April to June 2018) – https://goo.gl/grbtRo

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