Morning Medtalks with Dr K K Aggarwal

Morning Health Talk:

New Delhi, May 13, 2018:

Clinical

• The Drugs Controller General of India and the Indian Council of Medical Research have come under question for approving the human papillomavirus vaccine for cervical cancer patients, despite a report by India’s Parliament opposing its use.
• ·MannKind Corporation announced an exclusive marketing and distribution agreement for Afrezza in India with Cipla Ltd., a global pharmaceutical company. Afrezza is the only United States Food and Drug Administration approved inhaled insulin available for patients suffering from diabetes.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has alerted nine countries neighbouring the Democratic Republic of Congo after the country reported an outbreak of Ebola earlier this week.
• Emergency workers are preparing for the ‘worst case scenario’ after 17 people died when the deadly disease spread through a remote area of the country into the major town Bokoro.
• Five classes of antibiotics are associated with an increased risk for kidney stones.  The risk is particularly pronounced with sulfa drugs and among children and adolescents, researchers report in an article published online today in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Sulfas, Cephalosporins, quinolones, nitrofurantoin and broad spectrum penicillins
• Middle-aged Americans who follow a healthy diet, exercise regularly, don’t smoke, drink moderate amounts of alcohol, and maintain a healthy weight could live more than a decade longer than those who don’t do any of these things. The five good health habits are never smoking, body mass index of 18.5 to 24.9 kg/m2, 30 minutes or more of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day, a high-quality diet (top 40%), and moderate alcohol intake (5 to 15 g/day [eg, up to one glass of wine/day for women] and 5 to 30 g/day [eg, up to two glasses of wine/day] for men). They estimate that life expectancy at age 50 years would be 14 years longer for women (age 93 vs age 79; 95% CI, 11.8 – 16.2 years) and 12.2 years longer for men (age 87.6 vs age 75.5; 95% CI, 10.1 – 14.2  years) if they had all vs none of these five healthy behaviors. The study was published online April 30 in Circulation.

Public Health

• WHO is preparing for the “worst case scenario” with the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So far there are 32 suspected, probable and confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and at least 18 people have died.

• Water Safety Pledge: I agree to Never swim alone; always obey all pool rules; stay away from drains and suction fittings; and always enter the pool feet first.

AMR

• In experiments executed according to guidance by the Clinical Laboratory and Standards Institute (CLSI), Vitality determined that cannabinoids including THC are effective antibiotics for C. diff, VRE, and a variety of additional pathogens.
• Dr. Gautam Dantas and his colleagues were trying to kill some bacteria they had collected from soil. So, naturally, they tried knocking them out with some antibiotics. They were unsuccessful. The soil bacteria were resistant to the drugs—but the bacteria ate the very antibiotics that were meant to kill them. The discovery came as a shock to Gautam, now Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University in St. Louis, and he says it changed the course of his career.

Weather

Maximum Temperature

Températures more than 40.0°C is recorded at most parts of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, north Chhattisgarh, Gujarat region, Marathwada, Telangana and Rayalaseema.

Maximum temperature departures as on 11-05-2018: Maximum temperatures were markedly above normal ( 5.1and above) at many places over Jammu & Kashmir; appreciable above normal (3.1°C to 5.0°C) at most places over Himachal Pradesh; at many places over Vidarbha; at a few places over Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi and above normal (1.6°C to 3.0°C) at most places over Uttarakhand, Punjab, Rajasthan and Marathwada; at many places over Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Konkan & Goa, Madhya Maharashtra and Coastal Karnataka; at a few places over Telangana and at isolated places over West Uttar Pradesh and Gangetic West Bengal and near normal over rest of the country.