Around the Globe : Morning MEDtalks with Dr K K Aggarwal

New Delhi , August 14, 2018 :

Around the globe

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says a popular Kellogg’s cereal has been linked to a salmonella outbreak that has infected 100 people in 33 states. “Do not eat this cereal.” The agency says it found salmonella in samples of Honey Smacks, which has been subject to a voluntary recall by Kellogg since mid-June.
People are continuing to get sick from a nasty parasitic infection the CDC has linked to McDonald’s salads, UPI reports. The number of people hit with the Cyclospora parasite rose to 436 this week, up from 395 last week, with cases clustering in the Midwest (Illinois especially) and spreading across 15 states.
As per the WHO Global Status Report on NCDs-2014, India shares more than two-third of the total deaths due to NCDs in the South-East Asia Region (SEAR) of WHO. NCDs contribute to around 5.87 million deaths that account for 60% of all deaths in India. This is a cause for concern given the fact that the figure was 37.9% almost two decades ago, when more than half of the deaths (53.6%) were due to communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutritional diseases.
According to International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas (7th Edition), China has the largest number of diabetes (11.43 cr.), followed by India (7.29 cr.) in 2017. As per the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4); 2015-16, 5.8 % women and 8.0 % men in India are having blood sugar level above 140 mg/dl, in the age group of 15-49 years.Single parenting is a “dangerous concept for society”
Hon’ble Madras High Court Judge Justice N Kirubakaran expounds: Single parenting is a “dangerous concept for society”, leads to behavioural changes in children. He said, “Child needs the affection of both mother and father.” One cannot compensate for the other and the lack of such affection and love might cause behavioural changes, causing the child to turn against society”.

The Bench was hearing a Contempt plea moved against Secretary of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development for allegedly failing to comply with direction issued by Court to check child abuse.

The High Court observed that it is high time to “bifurcate” Union Ministry of women and child development and establish a dedicated ministry for child development. (TOI)

Studies of bereaved children show that many children develop nonspecific, subclinical, and transient behavioral disturbances in the year following a parent’s death. However, one in five children are at risk for a psychiatric disorder, and a subset of these may be vulnerable to depression.

Controversial digital contraceptive natural cycles cleared by FDA for US marketing

Natural Cycles, a mobile-phone application that can be used to prevent pregnancy, was cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration on Friday for direct-to-consumer marketing. The app, “digital contraception” tells women when they are fertile and should avoid sex or use contraception. The app relies on temperature readings from a basal body thermometer to track a woman’s menstrual cycle, since minor temperature rises occur around the time of ovulation.

According to the FDA, clinical studies involving about 15,600 women determined that, when the app is used perfectly, the failure rate meaning women getting pregnant was 1.8%, while, with typical use, or women sometimes not using the app correctly, the failure rate was 6.5%. Women in the study used the app for an average of eight months. By way of comparison, condoms have a perfect-use failure rate of 2% and a typical-use failure rate of 18%; for IUDs, typical- and perfect-use failure rates are below 1%.

The FDA says the app should not be used by individuals for whom pregnancy would be a major risk to the mother or fetus, nor by women who are using contraception that inhibits ovulation.