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Health Technology

New tool can diagnose strokes with a smartphone

New tool can diagnose strokes with a smartphone
Date : October 22, 2020
Source:
Penn State
Summary:
A new tool could diagnose a stroke based on abnormalities in a patient’s speech ability and facial muscular movements, and with the accuracy of an emergency room physician — all within minutes from an interaction with a smartphone.

Selective Focus Photography of Person Holding Turned on Smartphone
FULL STORY

A new tool created by researchers at Penn State and Houston Methodist Hospital could diagnose a stroke based on abnormalities in a patient’s speech ability and facial muscular movements, and with the accuracy of an emergency room physician — all within minutes from an interaction with a smartphone.

“When a patient experiences symptoms of a stroke, every minute counts,” said James Wang, professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State. “But when it comes to diagnosing a stroke, emergency room physicians have limited options: send the patient for often expensive and time-consuming radioactivity-based scans or call a neurologist — a specialist who may not be immediately available — to perform clinical diagnostic tests.”

Wang and his colleagues have developed a machine learning model to aid in, and potentially speed up, the diagnostic process by physicians in a clinical setting.

“Currently, physicians have to use their past training and experience to determine at what stage a patient should be sent for a CT scan,” said Wang. “We are trying to simulate or emulate this process by using our machine learning approach.”

The team’s novel approach is the first to analyze the presence of stroke among actual emergency room patients with suspicion of stroke by using computational facial motion analysis and natural language processing to identify abnormalities in a patient’s face or voice, such as a drooping cheek or slurred speech.

The results could help emergency room physicians to more quickly determine critical next steps for the patient. Ultimately, the application could be utilized by caregivers or patients to make self-assessments before reaching the hospital.

“This is one of the first works that is enabling AI to help with stroke diagnosis in emergency settings,” added Sharon Huang, associate professor of information sciences and technology at Penn State.

To train the computer model, the researchers built a dataset from more than 80 patients experiencing stroke symptoms at Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas. Each patient was asked to perform a speech test to analyze their speech and cognitive communication while being recorded on an Apple iPhone.

“The acquisition of facial data in natural settings makes our work robust and useful for real-world clinical use, and ultimately empowers our method for remote diagnosis of stroke and self-assessment,” said Huang.

Testing the model on the Houston Methodist dataset, the researchers found that its performance achieved 79% accuracy — comparable to clinical diagnostics by emergency room doctors, who use additional tests such as CT scans. However, the model could help save valuable time in diagnosing a stroke, with the ability to assess a patient in as little as four minutes.

“There are millions of neurons dying every minute during a stroke,” said John Volpi, a vascular neurologist and co-director of the Eddy Scurlock Stroke Center at Houston Methodist Hospital. “In severe strokes it is obvious to our providers from the moment the patient enters the emergency department, but studies suggest that in the majority of strokes, which have mild to moderate symptoms, that a diagnosis can be delayed by hours and by then a patient may not be eligible for the best possible treatments.”

“The earlier you can identify a stroke, the better options (we have) for the patients,” added Stephen T.C. Wong, John S. Dunn, Sr. Presidential Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering at the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Center for BRAIN and Houston Methodist Cancer Center. “That’s what makes an early diagnosis essential.”

Volpi said that physicians currently use a binary approach toward diagnosing strokes: They either suspect a stroke, sending the patient for a series of scans that could involve radiation; or they do not suspect a stroke, potentially overlooking patients who may need further assessment.

“What we think in that triage moment is being either biased toward overutilization (of scans, which have risks and benefits) or underdiagnosis,” said Volpi, a co-author on the paper. “If we can improve diagnostics at the front end, then we can better expose the right patients to the right risks and not miss patients who would potentially benefit.”

He added, “We have great therapeutics, medicines and procedures for strokes, but we have very primitive and, frankly, inaccurate diagnostics.”

Other collaborators on the project include Tongan Cai and Mingli Yu, graduate students working with Wang and Huang at Penn State; and Kelvin Wong, associate research professor of electronic engineering in oncology at Houston Methodist Hospital.

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Health Health Technology

Malaria test as simple as a bandage

Microneedle-based diagnostic a new platform for many diseases, blood draw not required

Date:
November 2, 2020
Source:
Rice University
Summary:
A test for malaria looks like a bandage, but can diagnose the disease in minutes without the need for medical expertise or specialized equipment.
Yellow Stethoscope And Medicines On Pink Background
                             FULL STORY

Testing for malaria could become as simple as putting on a bandage.

That’s the idea behind a platform developed by Rice University engineers who introduced a microneedle patch for rapid diagnostic testing that does not require extracting blood.

The device detailed in the Nature journal Microsystems and Nanoengineering draws upon protein biomarkers contained in dermal interstitial fluid, what people generally recognize as the fluid inside blisters but surrounds all of the cells in skin.

This fluid contains a multitude of biomarkers for various diseases, such as malaria, which can be used for rapid testing. The disposable patches could be programmed to detect other diseases, potentially including COVID-19, said mechanical engineer Peter Lillehoj of Rice’s Brown School of Engineering.

“In this paper, we focus on malaria detection because this project was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it’s a big priority for them,” said Lillehoj, who joined Rice in January as an associate professor of mechanical engineering. “But we can adapt this technology to detect other diseases for which biomarkers appear in interstitial fluid.”

The self-contained test developed by Lillehoj and lead author Xue Jiang, a Rice postdoctoral researcher, delivers a result in about 20 minutes and does not require medical expertise or any equipment.

The sticky patch has 16 hollow microneedles in a 4-by-4 array on one side, coupled with an antibody-based lateral-flow test strip on the other. The antibodies react when they sense protein biomarkers for malaria and turn two readout lines on the strip’s exposed surface red. If the test is negative, only one line turns red.

The needles are treated to be hydrophilic — that is, attracted to water — so the fluid is drawn in and flows through to the test strip. Once the test is complete, the device can be removed like any bandage.

While both microneedles and antibody test strips have been extensively studied, Lillehoj said his lab is the first to combine them into a simple, inexpensive package that will be easy to deploy at the point of need, especially in developing regions where finger-prick blood sampling and the availability of trained medical personnel to diagnose samples may be challenging.

The hollow needles are 375 microns wide and 750 microns long, enough to reach the fluid within skin that is typically between 800 to 1,000 microns thick. The needles are sharp enough to overcome the mechanical stress of entering the skin.

“Xue and I have applied the patch to our skin, and it doesn’t feel painful at all compared to a finger prick or a blood draw,” Lillehoj said. “It’s less painful than getting a splinter. I would say it feels like putting tape on your skin and then peeling it off.”

They think the familiar form factor may provide some comfort, especially to children. “We didn’t intend for it to look like a bandage,” he said. “We started with a rectangular shape and then just rounded the edges to make it a little more presentable. We didn’t plan for that, but perhaps it makes the patch more relatable to the general public.”

He estimated individual patches could cost about $1 if and when they are produced in bulk.

Categories
Health

Hard physical work may significantly increase the risk of dementia

Date:

October 26, 2020
Source:
University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Summary:
Men in jobs with hard physical work have a higher risk of developing dementia compared to men doing sedentary work, new research reveals. The researchers therefore urge the health authorities to make their recommendations concerning physical activity more specific.
    
                                                          FULL STORY

 

The muscles and joints are not the only parts of the body to be worn down by physical work. The brain and heart suffer too. A new study from the University of Copenhagen shows that people doing hard physical work have a 55-per cent higher risk of developing dementia than those doing sedentary work. The figures have been adjusted for lifestyle factors and lifetime, among other things.

The general view has been that physical activity normally reduces the risk of dementia, just as another study from the University of Copenhagen recently showed that a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of developing dementia conditions by half.

Here the form of physical activity is vital, though, says associate professor Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen from the Department of Public Health at the University of Copenhagen.

“Before the study we assumed that hard physical work was associated with a higher risk of dementia. It is something other studies have tried to prove, but ours is the first to connect the two things convincingly,” says Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, who has headed the study together with the National Research Centre for the Working Environment with help from Bispebjerg-Frederiksberg Hospital.

“For example, the WHO guide to preventing dementia and disease on the whole mentions physical activity as an important factor. But our study suggests that it must be a ‘good’ form of physical activity, which hard physical work is not. Guides from the health authorities should therefore differentiate between physical activity in your spare time and physical activity at work, as there is reason to believe that the two forms of physical activity have opposite effects,” Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen says and explains that even when you take smoking, blood pressure, overweight, alcohol intake and physical activity in one’s spare time into account, hard physical work is associated with an increased occurrence of dementia.

One of the study’s co-authors is Professor MSO Andreas Holtermann from the National Research Centre for the Working Environment. He hopes the dementia study from the University of Copenhagen will contribute to shine a spotlight on the importance of prevention, as changes in the brain begin long before the person leaves the labour market.

“A lot of workplaces have already taken steps to improve the health of their staff. The problem is that it is the most well-educated and resourceful part of the population that uses these initiatives. Those with a shorter education often struggle with overweight, pain and poor physical fitness, even though they take more steps during the day and to a larger extent use their body as a tool. For workmen, it is not enough for example to avoid heavy lifts if they wish to remain in the profession until age 70. People with a shorter education doing manual labour also need to take preventive steps by strengthening the body’s capacity via for example exercise and strength training,” he says.

The study is based on data from the Copenhagen Male Study (CMS), which included 4,721 Danish men, who back in the 1970s reported data on the type of work they did on a daily basis. The study included 14 large Copenhagen-based companies, the largest being DSB, the Danish Defence, KTAS, the Postal Services and the City of Copenhagen.

Through the years, the researchers have compiled health data on these men, including data on the development of dementia conditions.

According to Kirsten Nabe-Nielsen, previous studies have suggested that hard physical work may have a negative effect on the heart blood circulation and thus also on the blood supply to the brain. This may for example lead to the development of cardiovascular diseases like high blood pressure, blood clots in the heart, heart cramps and heart failure.

The National Research Centre for the Working Environment continues to work on the results with a view to identifying healthier ways of doing hard physical work. They have therefore begun to collect data from social and healthcare assistants, child care workers and packing operatives, among others, in order to produce interventions meant to organise hard physical work in such a way that it has an ‘exercise effect’.

They thus hope to see companies successfully change work procedures, ensuring for example that heavy lifts will have a positive effect rather than wear down the workers. The results will be published on an ongoing basis.

 

Story Source:

Materials provided by University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical SciencesNote: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Kirsten Nabe‐Nielsen, Andreas Holtermann, Finn Gyntelberg, Anne Helene Garde, Sabrina Islamoska, Eva Prescott, Peter Schnohr, Åse Marie Hansen. The effect of occupational physical activity on dementia: Results from the Copenhagen Male StudyScandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 2020; DOI: 10.1111/sms.13846

Categories
Health Sports

22 Benefits of Jogging

Courtesy : Healthsomeness.com

Jogging is a fairly gentle sport that allows you to get all the benefits of exercise without putting your body under huge amounts of strain. There are many benefits of jogging that go far beyond the obvious associations we make with it.

In fact, a surprising amount of these benefits are unknown to the majority of us, and even those that do jog may only feel some of them. However, this does not mean that the first associations we make with jogging are any less beneficial, so they are a good place to start in this list.

1. Respiratory System

Jogging is an aerobic activity, which means that the use of oxygen features heavily. This is the opposite of sprinting which is anaerobic, as no oxygen is involved; sprinters generally hold their breath for the duration of the sprint. In aerobic activities each cell in the body requires oxygen and produces carbon dioxide as a waste product.

The respiratory system is responsible for the intake of essential oxygen and the release of waste carbon dioxide. Of course, this is an ongoing process every time you breathe, but jogging helps make it a much more efficient one. The tidal volume, or the lungs’ capacity, increases overall, and as this increases the amount of oxygen your muscles need decreases due to their improved efficiency.

The lungs also grow more alveoli, which is where gas exchanges are made between the blood and the lungs, so that the extra intake of oxygen can be used effectively. The overall increase in your body’s intake and efficiency with oxygen has huge benefits that we will see later.

2. Cardiovascular System

The cardiovascular system is responsible for transporting blood around the body and consists of the heart, veins, arteries, and capillaries. It is through the blood that oxygen and carbon dioxide as well as other nutrients are transported between the lungs and every cell in the body.

The burning of cholesterol reduces blood pressure which subsequently lowers the risk of heart disease and strokes. Just like the lungs grow extra alveoli, capillary density will increase around the body to ensure that the oxygen is getting to new muscle and to already existing parts of the body.

Capillaries are where exchanges are made between the blood and cells, resulting in each cell receiving the oxygen and other essentials in greater quantities and speed, as well as more easily passing off waste. Each cell is therefore functioning to a much greater degree of efficiency.

3. Heart

The heart benefits hugely from jogging. It is arguably one of the most important organs in the body and is responsible for pumping blood. The improvements to the cardiovascular system have knock on effects for the heart. The heart is a muscular organ, so the more it works, the stronger it becomes.

Clearly a strong heart reduces the risk of heart disease in later life. Regular exercise, such as jogging helps to strengthen it.

4. Muscles

New muscle will grow and existing muscle will become stronger and more efficient. The muscle that gains the most benefit aside from the heart is the diaphragm. The diaphragm is the muscle which controls your breathing and separates your lungs and heart from the abdominal cavity.

Every time it contracts, your lungs draw in air. This is going to happen a huge amount of times during a jog, which means that it gets much stronger, and can help your lungs fill with more air as well as cope with any further strenuous activity.

The legs are clearly worked a lot also, and jogging does more than what simply walking does (stretching the muscles). Because jogging is a gentle sport, your legs will complete a large number of low weight extensions. This strengthens them without getting them to grow massive.

5. Brain

The organs of the body benefit enormously from the increase in oxygen, and although all are important, the most impressive improvement is in the brain. Experiments have shown that jogging leads to new neurons being created in the brain. Neurons are cells in the brain, and an increase in their number has shown to lead to better learning and memory capabilities while tackling diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease.

However, there are far more benefits for the brain than we would expect. Increased neuro-plasticity as a result of jogging means that the brain is more capable of adapting to changes, such as pregnancy. The brain also increases its cognitive ability and releases hormones that improve your mood and self-motivational abilities as well as many other psychological benefits.

6. Psychological Health

After introducing jogging to your regular routine, you will notice several improvements to your psychological health and energy levels. Jogging is often advised to those suffering from depression or addiction, although you do not need to be suffering from either of these two to notice the benefits.

Jogging causes a state of euphoria known as ‘runner’s high’ which comes after a period of moderate exercise. This feeling of euphoria is due to the release of endorphins. Jogging is also known to act as an anti-depressant, reduce stress, and increase energy levels, meaning that for those feeling low on energy and struggling with day to day activities, a gentle jog will increase your capability to deal with daily activities. This is essentially what fitness is all for.

7. Immune System

As with everything else, the immune system also increases in functionality. Your body becomes stronger and can resist infections, like the common cold. However, this is not the case for marathon runners who exert themselves to such an extent that their body is weakened.

This improvement is because of increased physical strength, stronger filtering devices in the trachea and increased production of white blood cells, as well as lower levels of stress, depression and fatigue. It is worth bearing in mind that putting your body under too much strain will weaken your immune system temporarily.

8. Bones

Jogging can strengthen the bones and may help prevent certain bone diseases from forming. Having healthy bones is important for a number of reasons. For example, red blood cells are produced by bone marrow. Jogging could also contribute to building stronger and more flexible joints.

9. Weight Loss

One of the major reasons that people start jogging is to lose weight. I mentioned earlier that cholesterol is burnt in veins and arteries, and it is true of fat in the body as well.

If you are jogging as part of a weight loss program it is important to be sensible and to take it slowly, run with good shoes and try to run on softer surfaces such as grass to lessen the pressure on your knees.

A good weight loss diet together with regular jogging can work wonders!

10. Anti-ageing

Everything mentioned above contributes to slowing the effects of age. After a relatively short period of jogging you will be in a better state both physically and mentally, and higher levels of energy and positivity help maintain a youthful outlook on life. More blood and oxygen gets to your skin, giving it more colour and firmness, thus slowing down any developing wrinkles.

11. Any Time, Any Place

Starting to jog only takes a little motivation and it can be done from anywhere at any time. Jogging in green areas is good for the sense of ‘runner’s high’ because you feel as though you are out in nature, something that is good for your psychological health.

However, if you live in a city and aren’t near a park, jogging down streets will still give you all the benefits listed above. Jogging can be done any time of the day at any time of year for the same benefits. It is sensible to wear warm clothes in the winter.

12. It is Free

Jogging incurs no extra cost other than buying a good pair of trainers. No other equipment is needed and no membership fee has to be paid to go for a run. Your health can be improved substantially, for free!

13. Improves Energy Levels

I mentioned earlier how increased energy levels are psychologically healthy, but this will also have huge benefits for all other areas of your life. Not only will you have more energy to be able to exercise longer, but your overall productivity will increase, be it at school or work.

14. Confidence

Jogging will drastically increase your confidence too. Many people look at their bodies with a very critical eye, and when you see the physical improvements, a greater self worthiness will be another reward. This is also due to the anti-depressive and stress reducing qualities of jogging.

15. Thought Organisation

Jogging has been shown to help people organise thoughts. When a stressful or complicated situation arises, a jog will help you feel as though you are physically moving through your thoughts and help you to reach a solution. This may be because you are spending time completely alone and with your body, that you feel you get closer to what is important to you.

16. Self-Sufficiency

Self-sufficiency is an important thing to learn in life. You have to know what you are capable of alone, and jogging not only helps you find that, but also helps you push your capabilities. This is because when jogging, it is completely up to you to meet targets and no one else can help you. If you are unfit, jogging will make you realise that and encourage you to push the limits of your capabilities.

17. Perseverance

Jogging teaches you that no gain can be achieved without perseverance. As with other areas of life, you will need to put work in to see any results. These results will be being able to run further, as well as the extensive health benefits listed above. When it is just you and the road, there is no choice but to just keep going, and this is a lesson that can be implemented in other areas of life.

18. Increase Attention to Health

Jogging reveals to you exactly what state of physical health your body is in. When we don’t exercise we do not see the damage that is caused by drinking, smoking and unhealthy foods, because we do not push ourselves beyond our comfort zones.

If you go for a jog after a long period of no exercise, the strain and pain in your heart and lungs will encourage you to stop smoking and drop other damaging habits and focus on starting a healthier lifestyle. This is good because although jogging is extremely healthy, it is not the only thing that can help your health.

19. Damage Reduction

When you exercise, the damage of living an unhealthy lifestyle can be reduced. Clearly this is not the best attitude to have because living in an unhealthy way is not recommended, but if you want to run to lessen the damage of an unhealthy meal or night, then you can! You should of course try to maintain a healthy lifestyle whenever possible.

20. Social Sport

Although jogging requires your own physical and mental strength, there are many groups that organise jogging sessions. This is a good way to meet active people and can be encouraging, as well as providing a less lonesome way of exercising regularly.

21. Improved Sleep

Your sleep will improve not only because you will be physically tired, but also because negative thoughts and stress that tend to keep us up at night are significantly lessened as a result of jogging. This will have further benefits in your life, and help maintain high energy levels.

22. Increases Life Span

All of the health improvements that come from jogging contribute to a longer life. All the physical and mental problems that jogging helps to overcome are serious problems that deteriorate your health, whether it be stress and depression or a weak heart.

Moreover, jogging will ensure that the extra years of your life are more likely to be free of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and it also counteracts the steady degradation of our bones, which happens to all of us as we age.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and it has given you a number of reasons to start incorporating jogging into your life, if you already don’t.

Categories
Health Health

Black hair on your tongue? Here’s what that could be

(CNN)When Dr. Yasir Hamad heard that a patient’s tongue had turned black, he decided he needed to see it for himself.

“It was the typical textbook case” of a condition known as black hairy tongue, said Hamad, an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Hamad published the case Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Despite the name, black hairy tongue isn’t hair at all. It refers to tiny nubbins on the tongue, called papillae, that have grown longer and turned black. These bumps, normally less than a millimeter long, can reach between 12 and 18 millimeters, according to a review last year.

As the papillae grow, they are thought to trap microscopic food particles, giving bacteria and other microbes a chance to thrive on the tongue — causing a strange discoloration.
A woman developed black hairy tongue after taking an antibiotic for a wound infection. This image appears in her case report.Image courtesy of fox6now.com
Black hairy tongue is an uncommon and harmless side effect of some drugs, but it can also be linked to smoking, poor oral hygiene and certain medical conditions.
Hamad’s patient, a 55-year-old woman, had received an antibiotic called minocycline to deal with an wound infection after a motor vehicle accident, according to his report. Within a week, her tongue turned black, she began to feel nauseated, and there was a foul taste in her mouth.

“As scary as this looks, the good part is that it’s actually reversible,” Hamad said. Four weeks after doctors changed her medication regimen, the patient’s tongue returned to its normal color.
About a month later, the patients tongue was no longer of the black hairy variety.
It’s unclear exactly how uncommon this is, Hamad said, but it’s the first case he’s seen in 10 years of practicing.

If your tongue starts to look suspiciously black and hairy, he added, don’t panic, and “check with your primary doctor, because some other conditions can resemble this.”
“A lot of things you can diagnose just from looking at the mouth,” Hamad said, with a message to fellow doctors. “That’s the lesson: Don’t miss that part of the body when you’re examining the patient.”

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Health Health

Coronavirus 2020 Outbreak: Latest Updates

Categories
Health Travel

Asia’s elephants are the hidden victims of the pandemic

Courtesy Duncan McNair – Telegraph

·
Wild elephants in Jim Corbett National Park, India - getty
Wild elephants in Jim Corbett National Park, India – getty

The sickening rise of exploitative elephant tourism, combined with the risk of Covid-19, has become a ‘perfect storm of dangers’ animal welfare experts warn

To witness elephants beaten, bloodied and injured, their natural lives forfeit – all in the name of tourism profits – is an outrage and a tragedy. And yet, this sordid practice takes place all over South-East Asia – in order to ‘break the spirits’ of elephants for easy tourism use. That much of this horror is driven by the UK market is cause for national shame.


How did Britain’s tourism industry sink to this? Since the 1960s, the package tour boom has fuelled intense demand for elephant attractions, triggering increased snatching of calves from the wild for riding, football, painting and other ‘entertainment’ – all based on ruthless ‘breaking’.


The UK plays a leading role in stoking demand, but also in supplying tourists to the elephant home states of South-East Asia – far more than any other European country (two million holidaymakers to India and Thailand in 2018 and 2019). In 2016, there were 13 million elephant rides in Thailand alone.


Little is done to alert tourists to the dangers posed by elephants that have been tortured beyond their endurance: they attack, often fatally. Yet destinations with such records remain widely marketed by UK travel companies.


What of Covid? Broken elephants, held in fetid close confinement and denied any exercise (in the wild they typically walk 60km a day) are highly effective transmitters of deadly airborne viruses like TB, SARS and Ebola. As scientific enquiry advances, the risk they shed Covid-19, too, is obvious. 

The people of India, home to two thirds of surviving Asian elephants and desperately struggling with Covid, are at further risk from this reckless promotion of unscrupulous venues – a perfect storm of dangers when restrictions ease.

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Health Health

World NTD Day 2020

World NTD Day 2020: Innovation to Elimination

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) include parasitic, bacterial, and viral diseases that cause illness and disability in more than 1 billion people worldwide. This group of diseases includes onchocerciasis (river blindness), Guinea worm diseaselymphatic filariasis (LF, or elephantiasis, a leading cause of avoidable disability), and trachoma (the leading infectious cause of blindness), as well as more than a dozen other diseases.microbiologist

A microbiologist with CDC’s NTD Elimination and Control Laboratory Team processes a blood sample using a multiplex machine, which can diagnose multiple diseases with a single sample. Credit: D. Snyder / CDC Foundation

As the world recognizes the first annual World NTD Day, we want to share what we are doing towards meeting the ambitious goals that will be set forth in the World Health Organizationexternal icon (WHO)’s NTD 2030 Roadmap and beat NTDs. For good.

Collectively, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States Agency for International Developmentexternal icon (USAID), and our partners have made tremendous progress towards global NTD goals. Thanks in large part to an approach that involves periodic distribution of safe and effective antibiotics (mass drug administration, or MDA) and other low-cost interventions such as water filters and bed nets, many countries are approaching nationwide elimination. Recent accomplishments include:

  • Half a billion people no longer at risk for certain NTDs
  • Elimination of river blindness from most of the Americas
  • Elimination of LF from all but four countries in the Americas
  • Elimination of trachoma in Morocco, Cambodia, Iran, Laos, Ghana, Mexico, Nepal, and Oman
  • Fewer than thirty cases of Guinea worm disease in humans each year globally

But the job is not done.New tech for NTD goals

Being able to accurately determine where NTDs are still present—and detect them should they come back—is critical to achieving and sustaining control and elimination. Without accurate and reliable diagnostics, countries are hobbled in their fight against these diseases.

Lymphatic filariasis

In 2018, when a CDC lab scientist uncovered a design flaw in an LF test that resulted in some infected people having negative tests, the manufacturer moved quickly to fix the problem and get the improved test back into the field. This further bolstered the collective drive to pioneer better diagnostics. With better, faster tests, in-country experts will be emboldened in their NTD elimination efforts.

As countries move to eliminate LF and other NTDs, new tools—and the capacity to effectively use them—are needed to help make the best decisions about what interventions are needed and to monitor diseases after elimination so that any reappearance can be dealt with swiftly.

Onchocerciasis

CDC is currently working with partners to validate new testing methods for onchocerciasis. With these new methods, CDC and its partners will pinpoint remaining areas where onchocerciasis is still active and then take appropriate, strategic steps to interrupt transmission.CDC developed a new blood-based test

CDC developed a new blood-based test for trachoma to measure progress towards elimination of blinding trachoma, an NTD that affects approximately 84 million people worldwide and can lead to blindness when people are repeatedly infected. Credit: S. Elder / CDC

Multiplex immunoassay

CDC’s recently developed multiplex immunoassay can detect antibodies to more than 30 different viral, bacterial, and parasitic disease agents from just a single small blood sample. This allows CDC to obtain critical public health information for a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. With these data, we are developing new strategies for identifying disease hotspots and targeting public health interventions to affected communities.

Trachoma

Programmatic decisions about where to focus trachoma elimination efforts are currently based on clinical eye exams. As countries reach elimination targets, simple, low-cost tools are needed to make sure trachoma does not return. Laboratory scientists at CDC have developed a low-cost rapid test that can detect antibodies to trachoma in blood. This test will help CDC and its partners monitor the impact of trachoma elimination programs and provide early warnings about where new transmission is happening. When we know where trachoma is spreading, we and our partners can step in and stop it.Building international capacity to combat NTDsLaboratory technicians

Laboratory technicians in Tanzania prepare filter paper blood spots that will be used to test blood samples for multiple parasitic diseases. CDC works with countries to strengthen the quality, reliability, and comparability of laboratory results used for decision making by NTD control and elimination programs. Credit: K. Won / CDC

If you’ve ever found yourself nervously trying to wield a confusing and expensive power tool, you may already know that advanced tools are useless when left in untrained hands. They’re wasted.

To ensure that countries are equipped to combat NTDs, an important component of CDC’s NTD program is the development of a skilled international workforce capable of integrating new technologies into their nations’ NTD elimination efforts and training others. CDC experts have traveled across the globe to boost this capacity.

These efforts empower countries to wage effective NTD elimination campaigns.NTD elimination requires collaboration

Alongside its partners—including the WHO, USAID, other US government agencies, NGOs, health departments, and clinics—CDC is forging ahead with the development of new tools that make NTD elimination a realistic goal. A reachable goal. With better tools comes the promise of better health for the millions of people worldwide still living under the threat of NTDs. For good.

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Articles Health

Major Health Problems In The World Today

8 Major Health Problems in The World Today

Nabin Paudyal Co-Founder, Siplikan Media Group – Culled from Nabin’s Article

Health problems are becoming more common than ever in the world today. This probably has to do with both progress in medical science, because of which it has been easy to diagnose health problems, and also people’s lifestyle, which is becoming increasingly unhealthy.

The principal causes for common health issues are unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, environmental degradation, high stress levels and genetics. While in the past, communicable ailments were the major issues, non-communicable diseases are the primary issues today.

Below, we discuss the most prevalent health issues in the world today along with their symptoms, causes and preventive measures.

1. Cancer

Cancer remains one of the major health concerns of the 21st century. Its occurrence has been increasing with modernization and advancement perhaps due to environmental deterioration and increased exposure to chemicals and radiation.

While there’s no particular cause of cancer, various risk factors contribute to the genesis of particular kinds of cancer. Tobacco and smoking, obesity, alcoholism, too much sun exposure and radiation are among the common risk factors, while genetics also plays a pivotal role with increased risk among siblings and relatives.

Various infections like Hepatitis B virus and Human Papilloma virus are also among the progenitors of cancer. Prostate cancer and breast cancer are the most common cancers in males and females respectively.

While a number of anticancer drugs, chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are used in treating cancer, complete treatment is still far off for many neoplasms. Hence, early detection of cancer is crucial.

Regular screening for cancer, lifestyle modifications like regular exercise, healthy diet, quitting smoking and tobacco are the preventive measures.

2. Diabetes

Diabetes is a chronic condition associated with abnormally high blood glucose levels: fasting blood sugar level greater than 110 mg/dl, random blood glucose level greater than 200 mg/dl.

Blood glucose level is maintained in normal range of 70-110 mg/dl by insulin, a hormone secreted by β cells of pancreas. Any abnormality that causes damage of β cells, and thus little or no insulin, contributes to pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes commonly seen in children and youth. Type 2 diabetes however results when body cells become resistant to action of insulin and it commonly affects older people.

Diabetes leads to many acute and chronic complications affecting almost all parts of the body – brain (stroke, cognitive impairment), eye (retinopathy, glaucoma), heart (heart attack, congestive heart failure), nerves (peripheral neuropathy), ear (hearing impairment), skin (increased risk of infections). It thus remains one of the most debilitating diseases.

Preventive measures include lifestyle modifications like regular exercise, inclusion of fiber-rich whole grains, nuts, vegetables and fruits in diet, maintaining normal weight and regular checkup.

Treatment regimen for type 1 and type 2 diabetes differ in that type 1 diabetes treatment includes insulin while type 2 diabetes are cured by sulfonylureas (glibenclamide, glipizide), meglitinides (repaglinide), biguanides (metformin), thiazolidinediones (pioglitazone).

3. Heart diseases

Heart diseases like myocardial infarction, angina, and heart failure have been associated with a high fatality rate, killing more people than all forms of cancer combined in the United States.

Smoking, high-fat diet, lack of exercise and sedentary lifestyle are the common causes, while other body conditions add fuel to the fire aggravating the disease. Atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension and infections are common culprits.

Hence, preventive measures like putting an end to smoking, minimizing salt intake, regular physical exercise, consuming a diet low in fat and having regular health checkups will do a lot in reducing your risk for heart diseases.

4. Kidney disease

Renal failure remains one of the main global medical concerns. Kidney disease is assessed by measurement of GFR, which is the ability of kidneys to filter blood. Normal value of GFR is 125ml/min and by definition decrease in GFR is kidney failure.

Causes of acute kidney injury include pre-renal causes like dehydration, blood loss and shock; renal causes include infections of kidney; obstruction to urine flow falls under post-renal causes.

When kidneys don’t function for more than 3 months, it’s called chronic kidney disease, unlike acute kidney injury which is acute in onset. Symptoms include reduced urine volume, nausea, loss of appetite, muscle cramps, etc.

Guidelines for kidney disease prevention include reduced protein intake, salt restriction, adequate fluid intake, cessation of smoking and maintaining normal body weight. Supplements like Forskolin really help in weight loss. Since kidney failure is mostly caused by diabetes and hypertension, treatment strategies include control of blood glucose level and blood pressure by necessary hypoglycemic and anti-hypertensive drugs. Kidney transplant is reserved for serious cases.

5. Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease affects cognitive function of the brain, and is more common in females than in males. In males, another brain disease—Parkinson disease—is more common.

While the exact cause of Alzheimer disease remains unknown, its widely known that advancing age and family history are common risk factors along with obesity, hypertension and Down syndrome among others.

Pathophysiology involves accumulation of senile plaques or beta-amyloid plaques and formation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) ultimately leading to loss of neurons and synapses necessary for cognitive functions of the body.

Treatment therapy includes only symptomatic therapies–cholinesterase inhibitors. Drugs are used according to symptoms, like antidepressants for depression and for agitation, sleep disorders, etc. Routine physical exercise will have effect on disease progression as increased cardiorespiratory fitness has been shown to slow disease progression.

6. Influenza

While a healthy person can fight influenza on his/her own, immunocompromised people, especially children, old, pregnant women, and people with conditions like diabetes and hypertension are at increased risk of developing potentially fatal pneumonia.

Increased incidence and death toll due to swine flu (H1N1 virus) led the WHO to declare the first flu pandemic in 41 years on June 11, 2009. It affected all continents except Antarctica in 2009-2010 season and has been regular problem since then, though luckily mortality rate has been similar to usual flu.

With complications like pneumonia, influenza poses a serious threat especially to above mentioned risk groups. Preemptive vaccination is the most effective way to prevent disease while regular washing of hands, preventing unnecessary touching of nose and mouth and wearing masks are also to be followed.

Two antiviral agents, Zanamavir and Oseltamavir, are effective drugs to reduce the effects of swine flu, with newer drugs under study. There is evidence, however, of drug resistance due to excessive and indiscriminate use. Hence, necessary precautions and prevention are the most efficient way to save oneself from falling victim to the influenza virus.

7. Stroke

Stroke or cerebrovascular accident is a condition potentially caused when blood supply to brain is interrupted thus leading to death of brain cells. It may be caused by ischemia– due to blocked artery—or it can be hemorrhagic—due to bursting of blood vessel.

Risk factors include obesity, physical inactivity, hypertension and diabetes, while genetics also plays a role. Since it can lead to a number of complications like paralysis of contralateral sides of the body, loss of cognitive function, emotional problems and abnormal behaviors, and also due to the fact that treatment for any disease of the brain is complicated, one ought to have adequate knowledge about stroke, about its risk factors in general and everyone should develop healthy lifestyle.

8. AIDS

AIDS, having originated from chimpanzees, is already a global pandemic. About 37 million people are living with HIV AIDS with 17 million unaware of the fact they have the virus in their body. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region with 25.8 million victims there, with significant number of them being children due to mother-to-child transmission either during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.

Transmitted through body fluids–blood, semen, breast milk, vaginal fluid, rectal fluids—it can be prevented if transmission of fluids can be avoided. Hence, safe blood transfusion, safe sex, limiting the number of sexual partners, getting tested and treated for other STDs are the effective preventive measures.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) helps HIV infected people to minimize virus load and stop progression of disease thus, reducing risk of transmission to other people as well. Antiretroviral therapy is provided to pregnant mother to minimize risk of transmission to child while new born child should also receive the treatment for 6 weeks. As a post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), it is also used in cases possibly exposed to HIV as in breakage of barrier during sex, exposure to virus in health workers, etc.

Categories
Fashion Health Health

5 ways the pandemic is changing fashion and beauty trends

In: false eyelashes, Crocs and khakis. Out: high heels and men’s dress shoes.

Consumers are heading back to shopping malls. But analysts say they are seeing fundamental shifts in what they’re buying. (Jorge Saenz/AP)

 Abha Bhattarai
June 15, 2020 at 4:00 a.m. PDT

The coronavirus crisis has upended just about every part of daily life. Tens of millions of Americans are out of work, and a deepening recession has forced many people to rethink their spending. Retailers — already saddled with a glut of unsold winter and spring merchandise — are scrambling to get a handle on these new habits and what is projected to be a long-term shift in the types of clothing, shoes and accessories people will be willing to buy.

“The longer we stay in this pandemic, the more our relationship with fashion will evolve,” said Dawn Karen, a fashion psychologist and branding consultant.

Here are five changes in the fashion and beauty industries already taking hold:

Hello, false lashes

Sales of eye makeup are on the rise as Americans look for ways to express themselves behind face masks while staying six feet apart. Leading the charge: False eyelashes, which averaged 15 percent increases in week-over-week sales in May as businesses in many parts of the country began to reopen, according to market research firm NPD Group. Mascara sales, meanwhile, grew 11 percent in the same period, while demand for eyebrow products jumped 5 percent.

“It makes complete sense,” said Larissa Jensen, a beauty analyst for NPD. “When you have to go out and you’re wearing a protective face mask, those are the products that emphasize your ‘smize’ — your smiling eyes.”

Sales of lip products, meanwhile, fell 5 percent in May. After all, Jensen said, nobody wants lipstick smudges inside their masks.

Makeup sales picked up last month after about two months of declines, when much of the country was hunkered down at home. During that period, Jensen says, many Americans shifted away from cosmetics to skin care products such as face scrubs and body creams, which are still performing well. Sales of high-end soaps, home scents and hair color also have risen in recent months, she said.
 

Goodbye, high heels and stiff dress shoes

Sales of high heels, loafers and other dress shoes have been tumbling for years, and analysts say the pandemic has turbocharged their demise. Sales of men’s and women’s dress shoes plunged 70 percent in March and April, according to NPD.

 

“High heels are way down,” said Beth Goldstein, a footwear analyst for NPD. “The question now is whether they’ll ever rebound. Of course, some women out there are dying to put their heels back on. But I think most of them are saying, ‘I’m never going to wear those shoes again.’ ”

Lately, she says, it’s all about comfort: Slipper sales doubled in April, as Americans splurged on higher-priced options such as fur-lined Ugg products. Crocs, known for their homely but comfortable signature foam clog, also have been “super hot,” she said.

 

“Retailers are recognizing that they’re going to have to rethink what they know about work and fashion,” Goldstein said. “There is going to be a long-term shift.”

A return to basics

Malls are reopening, but don’t expect to see racks filled with seasonal trends. With money tighter, retailers and consumers are loading up on evergreen basics and neutrals.

“The biggest upcoming change is going to be the propensity toward value,” said Marshal Cohen, a retail analyst for NPD. “As we come off the stimulus check, the consumer is not going to feel so rich anymore, which means a lot fewer impulse purchases.”

That has led many retailers to stock up on items such as plain T-shirts, classic-cut jeans, and beige and khaki pieces that won’t fall out of favor if they don’t sell right away.

“What we’re looking for today are core basics,” Morris Goldfarb, chief executive of G-III Apparel Group, which owns a number of brands including DKNY and Bass, said on an earnings call this month. “Fashion is not as important this year.”

Jeans, joggers and leggings have become among the biggest sellers at American Eagle. Meanwhile, online lingerie brand ThirdLove is focusing on neutrals and basics while pushing off trendier items, such as lace bras or seasonal colors, to next year, according to co-founder Heidi Zak.

“It’s virtually impossible to forecast right now,” she said.

Shorter hemlines

According to common lore — and the century-old Hemline Index — skirts and dresses get longer as the economy worsens.

But this time, analysts say, fashion is heading in the opposite direction, away from maxi dresses and floor-sweeping skirts.

“Hemlines were inching shorter anyway,” said Cohen of NPD. “Do I expect them to get even shorter? I do.”

The shift, he said, is less about fashion trends and more about retailers’ desperation. “When business gets bad, you need to make a bold statement to get people to buy something new,” he said. And if shoppers already have closets filled with ankle-length styles, that means enticing them with above-the-knee fashion.

Even more casual wear

Corporate America has been retreating from blazers and ties for years, and analysts expect to see more athletic wear and casual attire at the office even after the pandemic is over.

When Americans do head back to the office, they’re likely to trade in business casual for “Silicon Valley chic,” said Karen, the fashion psychologist. Think hoodies paired with blazers, and sweatpants with silky tops.

“There will be much more mixing and matching between dressing up and dressing down,” she said. “And it’ll be okay to wear the same thing over and over again. The pressure is off.”