Name: South-East Asia's first proton cancer centre opens in Chennai
Uploaded: 2019-01-29T04:28:07.fff+05:30
Duration: T00M31S
Channel: editorji
Description: Indian hospital chain Apollo Hospitals has opened South-East Asia's first Proton Cancer Therapy Centre. The Apollo Proton Cancer Centre was inaugurated in Chennai by the Vice President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu. The APCC will offer patients advanced multi-room proton therapy with pencil-beam scanning technology that provides the highest degree of precision.

Indian hospital chain Apollo Hospitals has opened South-East Asia's first Proton Cancer Therapy Centre. The Apollo Proton Cancer Centre was inaugurated in Chennai by the Vice President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu. The APCC will offer patients advanced multi-room proton therapy with pencil-beam scanning technology that provides the highest degree of precision.

The University of Oxford and pharmaceutical company&nbsp;AstraZeneca plan&nbsp;to start testing&nbsp;their Covid-19 jab in 5 to 12-year-olds as schools and nurseries reopen in the U.K, says a&nbsp;Bloomberg report.&nbsp;Children appear to be less affected by Covid-19, however, their role in the transmission of the virus remains unclear.&nbsp;A vaccine will protect them and ensure they don&rsquo;t infect others who are more at risk, say experts. The experimental jab was tried on adults first, showing transient side effects such as a temperature and a sore arm. When it moves into the more advanced stages of research in June, it will be administered to over 10,000 people, and some of them will be children. The team will start recruiting patients in the coming weeks, the report said.

In his new book titled&nbsp;How To Survive A Pandemic, American nutritionist Dr. Michael Greger&nbsp;has claimed that chicken farming could lead to a health crisis '100 times' greater than Covid-19, causing quite a stir. The vegan physician says that&nbsp;half the world&rsquo;s population could be wiped out by a disease from poultry farming if global farming practices continue as they are today.&nbsp;The Mirror reports,&nbsp;Greger&nbsp;believes current poultry production is the 'perfect breeding ground for diseases like the bird flu.' He pushed for smaller flocks with improved hygiene to try and slow the spread of viruses.&nbsp;

Researchers from Beijing say that wearing face coverings at home is 79 per cent effective in preventing the spread of Covid-19 amongst members of the same household living together. Publishing their findings in the BMJ&nbsp;Global Health journal,&nbsp;researchers questioned 460 people from 124 Chinese families&nbsp;with at least one coronavirus positive member in each house. It was found that secondary transmission occurred in 41 of the families with adults catching it more (69.5 per cent) than children (36 per cent). Wearing a face mask before the infection was slightly more successful in avoiding infection than disinfection, suggesting that the universal use of face masks, not just outside but also at home is a key to curbing the health crisis.&nbsp;

South Korean bio-pharmaceutical&nbsp;company,&nbsp;Celltrion Inc aims to start human trials for its Covid-19 experimental drug in July. According to reports, the treatment showed&nbsp;100-fold reduction in viral load of Covid-19 in animal testing conducted on ferrets. It will be tested on hamsters, monkeys and mice before trials begin on humans. The company shared that they could be running trials in the country or abroad and have the capability to mass produce the treatment once it is ready.&nbsp;

A simple, non-invasive blood test may be able to tell how prostate cancer patients will respond to treatment, a new study by The Institute of Cancer Research in London suggests. The liquid biopsy, researchers believe, may also help pinpoint patients at a greater risk of a relapse and tailor treatment for those in more advanced stages of the illness. For the study, the team of researchers from ICR and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation analysed almost ,1000 blood samples from prostate cancer patients. The results concluded that the tests can detect 'traces of cancer in the bloodstream' and could help track the progression of the disease as well as response to treatment. Men who were found with a higher level of tumour DNA in the beginning of treatment had a worse outcome. Patients were monitored with repeated blood tests and those who responded to treatment saw a fall in the cancer DNA.

According to the World Health Organisation, since Covid-19&nbsp;primarily&nbsp;affects the lungs, smokers are at a higher risk of developing severe disease and death. Chewing tobacco, on the other hand, leads to increased production of saliva and thus the urge to spit.&nbsp;Spitting in public places could enhance the spread of the virus. Tobacco is also a major risk factor for heart disease, cancer and diabetes that put people with these conditions at higher risk for developing severe illness when affected by Covid-19.&nbsp;However, there are no peer-reviewed studies that evaluate the direct risk of Covid-19 with tobacco use. The WHO cautions that&nbsp;the act of smoking involves contact of fingers with the lips, which increases the possibility of transmission of viruses from hand to mouth.&nbsp;Smoking waterpipes&nbsp;or e-cigarettes&nbsp;often involve the sharing of devices, mouth pieces and hoses, which could also facilitate the transmission. WHO recommends&nbsp;that if you smoke, now is a good time to quit completely.&nbsp;Within 2 to 12 weeks of quitting, circulation will improve and the lung function increases, says the&nbsp;health body.&nbsp;&nbsp;

An experimental diagnostic test&nbsp;that can visually detect the presence of the novel coronavirus in 10 minutes has been developed by scientists from&nbsp;the University of Maryland School of Medicine. A study published in the journal&nbsp;ACS Nano&nbsp;states that the test uses a simple assay containing gold nanoparticles to detect a colour change in the presence of the Covid-19 virus. Indian-origin lead author of the study Dipanjan&nbsp;Pan told PTI&nbsp;that based on preliminary results, the new test that only needs a nasal swab or saliva sample may detect RNA material from the virus as early as the first day of infection. However, scientists added that more clinical studies are needed to ascertain the effectiveness of the test.&nbsp;

To mark this year's World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organisation wants the highlight the importance of protecting teenagers from falling prey to the addiction. According to WHO estimates, nearly 90 per cent of smokers start smoking before they even turn 18 and more than 40 million young people aged 13-15, have already started to use tobacco. In fact,&nbsp;smoking e-cigarettes and hookah pipes, which are often marketed as 'safer' alternatives to conventional cigarettes are harmful, addictive, and increases the risk of developing heart and lung disease, the health body pointed out. With more than 15,000 flavours like bubble gum and candy, youngsters chances of smoking are now doubled.&nbsp;

May 31 marks World No Tobacco Day. In addition to raising awareness, the initiative&nbsp;recognizes the efforts of countries, individuals and organisations from around the world in tobacco control.&nbsp;Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has received this year's 'World No Tobacco Day Award' issued by the World Health Organization. In 2016, Finland updated its Tobacco Act&nbsp;with a new objective to end the use of tobacco and other nicotine products by 2030. To reduce the appeal of e-cigarettes, especially among young people, Finland strictly regulates them and has introduced a ban on the use of flavours in e-cigarettes &ndash; one of the few countries globally which has introduced such policy measures.

The issue of tobacco smoking and risk for acute respiratory infection has become a talking point amid the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a paper published in The Lancet journal, robust evidence suggests that several mechanisms may increase the risk of respiratory tract infections in smokers.&nbsp;Smoking impairs the immune system and the ability to contain infection. The risk of contracting pneumonia&nbsp;is about 3&ndash;5 times higher in smokers and they&nbsp;are also 5-times more likely to contract&nbsp;influenza, states the paper. There's not enough evidence to support that tobacco smoking increases the risk of being infected by Covid-19. However, available studies indicate that&nbsp;current smokers have increased gene expression of ACE2 - the main receptor used by the Covid-19 virus to gain entry to host cells and cause active infection.&nbsp;The challenge for Covid-19 studies is to have large enough sample sizes with all variables that might be associated with tobacco smoking and health.&nbsp;

The Indian Institute of Technology in Roorkee will be conducting research on identifying antivirals&nbsp;to treat the Covid-19 virus.&nbsp;The study is funded under the intensification of Research in High&nbsp;Priority areas under the Department of Science and Technology.&nbsp;Researchers will work on identifying small molecule inhibitors to target key enzymes that replicate the virus in the body.&nbsp;This will help expedite the process of identification of drugs that can be used to treat Covid-19.&nbsp;An IIT Roorkee professor Dr.&nbsp;Kamal Jain also&nbsp;recently created a new surveillance system for tracking suspected Covid-19 patients.&nbsp;
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Taking the fight against Covid-19 a step ahead, NHS&nbsp;England has rolled out a 'Trace and Test service' to move towards more localised and targeted efforts to tackle the virus. As part of the service, those who have contracted the infection in England and Scotland will be contacted by NHS&nbsp;teams and their interactions will be further traced. Those who are deemed to be at risk of infection, will be made to isolate for 14 days. Almost&nbsp;25,000 tracers are working for England's NHS Test and Trace team.&nbsp;

New York-based artist, Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada is nearing the completion of a 20,000-foot portrait of Dr. Ydelfonzo Decoo, who lost his life while fighting on the frontlines&nbsp;to battle the&nbsp;Covid-19 pandemic. The huge portrait is located on the pavement of a parking lot in Queens.&nbsp;Jorge&nbsp;calls it a 'terrestrial portrait', large-enough to be seen by the satellites! His mural is a tribute to all the&nbsp;healthcare workers, doctors and first responders&nbsp;who have lost their lives while helping others get through the pandemic.&nbsp;
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The US Food and Drug Administration has found high levels of a carcinogenic chemical in some pills of Metformin, a popular diabetes drug. According to a Bloomberg report, some extended-release version of the drug had unacceptable&nbsp;amounts of NDMA, a probable human carcinogen. The drug is taken by people with type 2 diabetes, to control high blood sugar. Some recalls may be witnessed this week, however, it is unclear which companies will be removing their products from&nbsp;the shelves. Patients must consult their doctors before deciding to stop to take the medication, the report cautioned.&nbsp;

Biotechnology major Biocon on Wednesday said it has received approval from the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) for a medical device to treat critical Covid-19 patients. The go-ahead is for an extracorporeal blood purification device called 'CytoSorb' to reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines levels in confirmed Covid-19 patients admitted to the ICU with confirmed or imminent respiratory failure. Studies have shown that Covid-19 patients who develop serious complications experience a 'cytokine storm', also known as Cytokine Release Syndrome, which leads to excessive inflammation, organ failure, and death. The licence granted to Biocon will be effective until control of the Covid-19 outbreak in the country. The device was introduced by Biocon in India in 2013 and since then, many patients undergoing organ transplant and sepsis treatment have benefited from it.

According to a survey by non-profit Plan International UK, 73 per cent said women were facing restricted access to menstrual products through shortages or disrupted supply chains. Speaking to 45 health professionals from 30 countries, the survey warned that sanitary product shortage and price hikes due to the pandemic have led to a rise in&nbsp;period poverty. A separate survey by the same group found that women are resorting to using toilet paper as an alternative due to lack of access to period products.&nbsp;

On the occasion&nbsp;of Menstrual Hygiene Day, UNICEF&nbsp;India Representative Yasmin Ali Haque said that the culture of silence around menstruation&nbsp;has grown even further during the pandemic.&nbsp;The is a major problem&nbsp;for women for&nbsp;economically disadvantaged backgrounds who are finding it tougher&nbsp;to manage their periods safely, hygienically and with dignity. To this end, the UN body launched a&nbsp;week-long campaign #RedDotChallenge&nbsp;to raise awareness, break the silence&nbsp;and change negative norms associated with menstruation. Celebrities including&nbsp;Dia Mirza,&nbsp;Aditi Rao Hydari,&nbsp;Diana Penty&nbsp;showed their support for the campaign.&nbsp;

Following WHO's&nbsp;decision to stop the trial for hydroxychloroquine, the French government&nbsp;has banned using the anti-malaria drug for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. The controversial drug has been proven to be harmful in several&nbsp;studies. The&nbsp;French High Council for Public Health has recommended&nbsp;that the drug not be used for clinical trials, following which the government decided to ban its use altogether.&nbsp;

In a first, a newborn baby born on March 11 at a British hospital will join a cannabis-derived treatment trial. The study aims to find if the medicine could reduce the level of brain injury for babies with neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The baby was born with an unexpected poor condition had to be transferred to a care unit where he received 72 hours of cooling therapy. Another baby born in April is also a part of the same study. The first babies in the trial will get only a 30th of the usual dose to minimise any side-effects. Other&nbsp;neonatal intensive care units in UK and Europe are also involved in the trial which will take a year to complete.&nbsp;

Over 200 organisations representing at least 40 million health workers from around the world have signed an open letter to the G20 leaders to ensure a 'green recovery' from the Covid-19 pandemic. The letter indicates that 7 million premature deaths are caused globally due to air pollution. They urge leaders to strengthen public health systems and warn that environmental degradation could lead to future diseases. The letter states that better preparation could have reduced the impact of the pandemic. Several nations are considering a green recovery plan and taking steps like remote working and reducing greenhouse gases. Some of the signatories include include the World Medical Association, the International Council of Nurses and the Commonwealth Nurses and Midwives Federation.

South-East Asia's first proton cancer centre opens in Chennai

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South-East Asia's first proton cancer centre opens in Chennai

Jan 29, 2019 16:28 IST

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