Dengue: Low platelet count never dangerous

Dengue: Low platelet count never dangerous
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Air pollution can affect child's brain development: Experts

Air pollution can affect a child's brain development, create abnormalities, and lower the IQ, health experts have claimed. The health experts, whose claim is based on several studies, said that the difference between the working memory capacity of children living in urban areas is 4-5 per cent lower than children living in rural areas due to the effects of pollution. "The findings are disturbing as optimal brain development is crucial in setting the foundation of children's future. Children are most vulnerable to negative effects of air pollution due to their higher breathing rate to body size ratio, and less developed natural barriers in the lungs," explained S.P. Byotra, Head of Department of Internal Medicine at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Byotra claimed that even indoor environment cannot be termed as safe since exposure to many common everyday pollutants in our homes, including tobacco smoke, lead in paint and toys, emissions from cooking stoves, mycotoxins among others, can affect a child's brain development. A study published in PLOS Medicine, a peer-reviewed weekly medical journal, said that air pollution not only causes respiratory problems but can also affect the brain development of children of all ages including in the womb. According to medical experts, millions of children exposed to toxic levels of indoor and outdoor pollution were showing brain detrimental effects exhibiting brain abnormalities. Tobacco dust, indoor air pollution, and airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were contributing the most. "Indoor air pollution is one such health hazard which silently enters our body and incapacitates us from the inside. Its quality is equally or more dangerous than outdoor air pollution. Since we spend more time indoors, naturally the risk associated with indoor air is more," said Raj Kumar, Head of Respiratory Allergy and Applied Immunology at Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute. Considering the deterioration in health due to air pollution, a country wide anti-pollution awareness programme, named Clean Air India Movement (CLAIM), has been started by air purifier manufacturer Blueair. Under the initiative, Blueair has decided to plant a million trees across the country in the coming years. A study published in the Pediatrics journal shows a clear association between mothers' exposure to high levels of environmental pollutants during pregnancy to a four-point drop in children's IQ scores by age five. Source - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news/Air-pollution-can-affect-childs-brain-development-Experts/articleshow/53429184.cms

August 1-7 is World Breastfeeding Week

World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 170 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by WHO and UNICEF policy-makers in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding. The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until a baby is six months old, and continued breastfeeding with the addition of nutritious complementary foods for up to 2 years or beyond. This year's WBW theme is ‘Breastfeeding: A key to Sustainable Development’. The World Breastfeeding Week 2016 theme is about how breastfeeding is a key element in getting us to think about how to value our wellbeing from the start of life, how to respect each other and care for the world we share.

Source -eMediNews 
Photo source - https://www.retailpharmacymagazine.com.au/event/world-breastfeeding-week/

गर्भवती महिलाओं की हर माह 9 तारीख को मुफ्त जांच : नरेंद्र मोदी

अच्छे दिनों की शुरुआत 

ICMR Draft "National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving Human Participants, 2016''

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has posted draft guidelines “National Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical and Health Research involving Human Participants, 2016” on its website

Website Link

Draft National Ethical Guideline Link

ICMR has invited suggestions/ feedback from all interested stakeholders till 15th September, 2016. The guidelines are divided in various sections to cover a range of topics and attempts to address the emerging ethical concerns related to biomedical and health research … (ICMR)

Source - eMediNexus.com

PM Modi joins health campaign and asks people to avoid taking antibiotics without the doctor's prescription

IMA hails PM taking up the cause of medical profession.

 

In his monthly address to the people of the nation in 'Mann Ki Baat', Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi urged people to not take antibiotics without the prescription of a doctor since resorting to such short cuts to get better soon has been giving rise to new problems. He also asked the citizens to take antibiotics for the entire course prescribed by the doctors and not leave it midway as it can potentially lead to antibiotic resistance.

He informed the people that the Government is resolute on stopping the menace of antibiotic resistance and that antibiotic medicine strips are now having a red line to warn the people. He suggested that in order to get well soon, consuming any antibiotic that is available easily, without consulting a doctor, is not a wise choice. While explaining the issue of antibiotic resistance, he stated that random and excessive use of antibiotics makes the causative organisms accustomed to the particular drug, and the drug thus loses its efficacy and utility. This practice of impetuous use of antibiotics thus creates newer problems that require years of research to find out solutions for.

Additionally, leaving an antibiotic course, prescribed by a doctor, midway, or continuing it for longer than prescribed, both will harm the patient and help the bacteria. The causative organisms are fast undergoing mutations and rendering the once-effective antibiotics, ineffective now, thus adding to the problem of antibiotic resistance.

While antibiotic resistance is a global public health problem, the issue nowhere is it as stark as in India. Resistance to fluoroquinolones among invasive Salmonella Typhi isolates in India was 8% in 2008 that rose to 28% in 2014. And antibiotic use itself is the most significant driving force behind this resistance. In the year 2010, India was the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics for human health, with consumption estimated at 12.9 x 109 units (10.7 units per person). It is high time that we start taking our health seriously and understand that the use of antibiotics without a prescription is going to do more harm than good.

Source : Dr. K. K. Aggarwal posted on http://www.emedinexus.com/

The ill-effects of toxic chemicals

Everyday, children and adults are exposed to a variety of chemicals found in common household items. Now a growing body of research suggests that many of these chemicals — which are used to make plastic more flexible and upholstery less flammable — may also pose a threat to the developing brain. While the link between early chemical exposure and neurodevelopment disorders in children remains a matter of scientific debate, a coalition of top doctors, scientists and health advocates is calling for more aggressive regulation. The goal is to protect expectant mothers, infants and children from neurotoxic chemicals by stepping up efforts to curb air pollution, remediate old lead pipes, phase out certain pesticides, ban endocrine-disrupting chemicals used in food packaging and plastics and come up with a plan for getting rid of furniture laden with fire retardants.

The scientists note that neurodevelopmental disorders are complex and have multiple genetic, social and environmental causes. But most chemicals in use today were not adequately tested for safety before being allowed on the market, said Dr Jeanne Conry, an obstetrician-gynecologist and a past president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which is part of the coalition. “Before we can prescribe medicine, we have to prove it’s safe,” she said. “So, how come with the chemical industry, we assume everything is safe and have to prove there’s harm?”

Three weeks ago, the coalition endorsed a first-of-its-kind consensus statement called Project Tendr, which stands for Targeting Environmental NeuroDevelopmental Risks. The statement was published in the scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives, and related articles are being published over the next few months in endocrinology, nursing, pediatrics and epidemiology journals. “We, as a society, should be able to take protective action when scientific evidence indicates a chemical is of concern, and not wait for unequivocal proof that a chemical is causing harm to our children,” the statement says. 

The call for action comes just one week after the US president Barack Obama signed into a law a much-debated overhaul of the nation’s 40-year-old toxic chemical rules. Critics say the changes do not go far enough, and the plan for testing some 64,000 chemicals is far too slow — just 20 chemicals at a time. And the new law does not cover pesticides, one of the largest sources of childhood chemical exposures.

An official with the American Chemistry Council, which represents companies that make flame retardants, plastics and phthalates, said the new law already addresses the concerns raised by the Tendr coalition. The rules give more authority to the Environmental Protection Agency and require it to take into account vulnerable populations like pregnant women, children and older people, she said. 

The Tendr coalition includes pediatric neurologists, several minority physician associations, nurses, learning disability advocacy groups, environmental organisations and the Endocrine Society. Linda Birnbaum, director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, has also signed the statement. The bottom line: The group wants the chemical industry to prove a chemical is safe, rather than waiting on the medical and scientific community to prove it is harmful.
“We’re saying, shift the burden of proof,” Jeanne said. Wading into a potentially contentious issue like regulation of chemicals is unusual for the ACOG, but the group has been alarmed by rising rates of neurodevelopmental disorders and 
other health problems in children. 

Researchers say changes in diagnostic criteria and a greater awareness of developmental disorders including autism, attention deficit disorders and other learning disabilities may explain some of the increase in rates but not all of it. The chemicals singled out by the coalition include:

*Organophosphate pesticides: In one study, women who were pregnant when they lived near areas where these pesticides were in use were as many as three times more likely to have a child who developed autism or other developmental disorders. Janet Collins, a senior vice president at CropLife America, which represents pesticide manufacturers, said the studies show only an association between pesticide levels and autism disorders, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

*Flame retardants: Recent studies have found that children exposed prenatally to higher levels of flame retardants had lower IQs. Flame retardants are used in fabric and upholstery padding, computers and baby products.

*Lead: The government has banned leaded gasoline and household paint, but old homes and pipes often still contain lead that gathers in dust and leaches into water. No level of exposure is considered safe.

*Phthalates: Prenatal exposure has been linked in studies to problems with attention and intellectual deficits. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has banned the use of six phthalates in toys and child care products, but they are still used in all kinds of consumer products.

*Combustion-related air pollutants: Prenatal and early childhood exposure to some pollutants has been linked with preterm birth and low birth weight, as well as developmental delays.

“The goal is not to demonise every chemical on the market,” said Heather B Patisaul, a professor at North Carolina State University at Raleigh. “We need to find the group that are harmful, and figure out why, and develop new chemicals that are significantly less harmful.”

Roni Caryn Rabin, July 19, 2016, The New York Times

Source - http://www.deccanherald.com/content/558680/ill-effects-toxic-chemicals.html