Morning Medtalks with Dr KK Aggarwal

Morning Health Talk

New Delhi, May 20, 2018:

Practicing Changing Update

• Certain patients who experience ischemic stroke while asleep, so that the time of onset is unknown, now have the chance to benefit from thrombolysis treatment after the results of the WAKE-UP trial. The trial used new MRI technology to identify patients who had less brain tissue damage, suggesting the stroke had occurred more recently (approximately within the 4.5-hour cut off used for thrombolysis treatment).
• When taken in the first 48 hours immediately following surgery, acetaminophen was associated with modest protection against postoperative AKI in kids (adjusted OR 0.86 for every 10 mg/kg, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.90), according to a team led by Sara Van Driest, MD, PhD, of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

R3 Campaign: Restoring Regular Rhythm

• 20% of stroke patients are in AF at admission.
• 15.7% of patients who should be are not on any treatment for AF prevention and 13.5% are wrongly on aspirin.
• Post-traumatic stress disorder may be a risk factor for developing atrial fibrillation, according to a study presented on May 9 at the 38th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society.
• Although catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) traditionally requires an overnight hospital stay, same-day discharge of most patients is feasible, according to research presented here at the 39th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society.

Clinical

• A study published on Thursday in the British Medical Journal, and funded by Cancer Research UK, found that increased body mass index, body fat percentage and even waist circumference, are associated with “a higher risk of being a smoker, and with greater smoking intensity, measured by the number of cigarettes smoked per day”.

Public Health

• Pools are gross. The water can be so contaminated that it’s been making thousands of people sick. The US CDC sorted through nearly 500 outbreaks linked to pools, spas, and waterparks that made more than 27,200 people sick and killed eight people between 2000 and 2014. Roughly one-third of those outbreaks were traced back to hotels, motels, inns, and lodges, according to the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Remember one simple rule: Don’t swim or let your kids swim if sick with diarrhoea.
• WHO voiced its concern over a new case of the Ebola virus in a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Prior to the diagnosis, all cases that are part of the outbreak were contained in remote villages of the country. WHO planned to contain the virus in these villages to curb the spread of the deadly disease. The newly discovered case could threaten Wangata’s abundant population of 1.2-million people.

Policy

• From the academic year 2019-20, all MBBS students in the country would embark on a five-and-half-year journey with a two-month ‘Foundation Course’ rather than straight away jumping into subjects such as anatomy, physiology as is the practice now. According to the new syllabus, students will get practical training from first-year of the course.

Legal

Can the court refer to and place reliance upon the reports of the Parliamentary standing committees (PSC)? The five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court in the context of the two public interest litigations (PILs) on the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines by Kalpana Mehta and ors v Union of India (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 558 of 2012) and Sama-Resource Group for Women and Health and ors v Union of India (Writ Petition (Civil) No. 921 of 2013) on May 9, 2018, held that under Article 105(2), a member of Parliament couldn’t be held liable for anything said in Parliament or in any committee. Similarly, any reports submitted by MPs were also protected by the said Article 105(2). The bench held that placing reliance on PSC reports in court proceedings does not violate the parliamentary privileges under Article 145(3) of the Constitution.

The court indicated that the PSC report is a public document that allows public access to parliamentary proceedings and thereby a step towards governance. Further, the court referred to section 57 (4) of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, which permits the judiciary to take notice of parliamentary proceedings.

Wellness

Understanding moisturizers: Petroleum jelly is one of the most effective moisturizers, especially when used right after bathing to seal in moisture. Creams and lotions that contain some water are a better choice for a facial moisturizer. Many of these creams and lotions are humectants, an oil-free class of moisturizer that binds water to skin, so the smoothing, softening effects may last longer.

Most moisturizers contain water, glycerin, petrolatum, stearic acid, propylene glycol, and lanolin. Some contain botanical ingredients, such as jojoba oil, coconut oil, safflower oil, and linoleic acid, which help maintain the skin’s outer layer of keratin and keep skin supple. Manufacturers use other ingredients, such as cetyl alcohol, palmitic acid, and dimethicone, to give moisturizers a creamy, velvety, or translucent look and feel, and to help shore up the “mortar” that keeps skin soft and smooth. Some moisturizers also contain sunscreens and cosmeceuticals, which help prevent or even correct fine wrinkles, uneven skin pigmentation, and other signs of aging and photoaging.

World IBD Day: 10 recent advances in Crohn’s and colitis research

1. Less frequent colon cancer screening may be safe in some IBD patients

2. Heart disease risk in IBD tied to chronic inflammation

3. Drinking sweetened beverages does not appear to increase IBD risk

4. Half of Crohn’s patients with perianal fistula relapse after quitting anti-TNF

5. Mitochondrial DNA triggers immune response in patients with IBD

6. Endoscopic monitoring key in ‘treat-to-target’ approach for IBD

7. IBD prognosis must be considered to optimize therapy, expert says

8. Obesity linked to biologics failure in UC

9. IBD, Parkinson’s link suggests anti-TNF may be protective

10. Early data warrants human studies of cannabinoids for IBD (haelio dot com)

Weather

Heat Wave: : Heat wave observed at one or two pockets over Vidarbha.

Maximum Temperature

• maximum temperature departures as on 17-05-2018:  maximum temperatures are appreciable above normal (3.1°c to 5.0°c) at many places over Himachal Pradesh; at a few places over Saurashtra & Kutch; at isolated places over Madhya Maharashtra;  above normal (1.6°c to 3.0°c) at most places over West Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat Region & Vidharbha; at many places over Rajasthan and Andaman & Nicobar islands; at a few places over East Madhya Pradesh, Marathwada and Assam & Meghalaya; at isolated places over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh & Delhi, West Uttar Pradesh and Coastal Karnataka. Yesterday, the highest maximum temperature of 47.6°c was recorded at chandrapur (vidharbha).

Heat Wave Warnings for Next 24 hours : HEAT WAVE CONDITIONS VERY LIKELY AT ISOLATED PLACES OVER VIDARBHA.