Medically Speaking Team

According to media sources, the United States designated Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency on Thursday, indicating that the virus poses a serious risk to Americans.

President Biden’s health secretary, Xavier Becerra, made the news. According to the New York Times, the designation will free up emergency cash and remove certain bureaucratic barriers. The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency over the outbreak more than a week ago, granting federal agencies the authority to direct funds toward the development and evaluation of vaccines and drugs, to access emergency funding, and to hire additional workers to help manage the outbreak, which began in May.

“We’re prepared to take our response to the next level in addressing this virus, and we urge every American to take monkeypox seriously,” the health secretary, Xavier Becerra, said at a news briefing.

This action comes as US President Joe Biden and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra have been under great pressure from campaigners and public health professionals to act more forcefully to address the outbreak.

Biden had already recruited an experienced emergency response official and a recognised infectious disease specialist to lead the White House response, indicating that the administration is ramping up its efforts.

Also Read: India records two more monkeypox cases

Jynneos, the monkeypox vaccine, is in short supply, and the administration has been chastised for acting too slowly to increase the quantity of doses. Declaring an emergency would not alleviate the shortage, but the government might take efforts to improve availability of tecovirimat, the prescribed treatment for the ailment.

As of Wednesday, the United States has documented over 7,000 cases of monkeypox, with Washington, New York, and Georgia having the highest rates per capita. More than 99 percent of the instances involve males who have intercourse with other men.

The virus is usually spread by intimate personal contact; the illness is seldom lethal (no deaths have been documented in the United States), but it can be very painful. The country already has one of the world’s highest rates of monkeypox infection, and the figure is projected to climb as surveillance and diagnostics improve.

Declaring monkeypox an emergency sends “a strong message that this is important, that it must be dealt with now,” said Anne Rimoin, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a member of the W.H.O.’s advisory panel on monkeypox, as per the media portal.

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According to a new big study undertaken by experts at the American Cancer Society, the two most important risk factors connected to a relative and absolute five-year likelihood of developing any cancer are older age and smoking (ACS).

The study’s findings were published in the journal ‘Cancer.’ The findings also show that, in addition to age and smoking history, practitioners should examine excess body fatness, a family history of any disease, and a number of other characteristics to assist patients assess if they may benefit from increased cancer screening or preventative programmes.

“Single cancer type-specific screening recommendations are based on risk factors for that specific type of cancer,” said Dr. Alpa Patel, senior vice president, population science at the American Cancer Society and lead author of the study. “Our findings are encouraging as we are working to define subgroups in the general population who could benefit from enhanced cancer screening and prevention.”

For this study, researchers analyzed two ACS prospective cohort studies, Cancer Prevention Study-II Nutrition Cohort and Cancer Prevention Study-3 to identify the risk factors associated with greater than two-per cent absolute risk of any cancer within five years. The authors studied 429,991 participants in the United States with no prior personal history of cancer and followed for cancer for up to five years.

The hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals for association were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Individualized Coherent Absolute Risk Estimation was utilised to assess absolute risks by age using these HRs.

Within five years of registration, 15,226 invasive malignancies were detected among patients. Current smokers had the highest multivariable-adjusted relative risk of any cancer compared to never smokers. Alcohol drinking, a family history of cancer, red meat eating, and physical inactivity were also linked to increased risk in men.

Body mass index (BMI), type 2 diabetes, hysterectomy, parity, family history of cancer, hypertension, tubal ligation, and physical inactivity were all linked to an increased risk of cancer in women.

“As we consider the possibility that future tests may be able to identify several types of cancer, we need to begin understanding who is most at risk for developing any type of cancer,” said Patel. “These types of data are not widely available, but necessary to inform future screening options, such as blood-based multi-cancer early detection tests that could help save lives.”

India on Thursday witnessed an uptick in the number of new COVID-19 infections as it recorded 19,893 cases in the last 24 hours, according to the data shared by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

On Wednesday, India recorded 17,135 cases of COVID-19. India’s active caseload currently stands at 1,36,478 at the rate of 0.31 per cent.

The Ministry informed that the COVID-19 death toll is now at 5,26,530.

As many as 20,419 recoveries were reported in the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries from Covid-19 infection is now at 4,34,24,029, taking the country’s current recovery rate to 98.50 per cent.

The daily positivity rate and weekly positivity rate stand at 4.94 per cent and 4.64 per cent, respectively.

The Ministry said 87.67 crore total tests have been conducted in the country so far of which 4,03,006 were conducted in the last 24 hours alone.

On the COVID-19 vaccination front, 205.22 crore total vaccine doses have been administered so far under the nationwide vaccination drive.

On Wednesday, a 31-year-old woman in the national capital tested positive for Monkeypox, bringing India’s total to nine.
This is India’s first occurrence of the sickness among women. She is being treated at one of Delhi’s government hospitals.

Another 35-year-old Nigerian guy residing in Delhi with no recent travel history tested positive for monkeypox earlier on Tuesday.

The patient has been admitted to the Lok Nayak Jaiprakash hospital, which is run by the Delhi government.

So far, India has documented 9 cases of monkeypox, 5 from Kerala and 4 from Delhi.

According to reports, following a surge in the number of Monkeypox cases in the country, isolation rooms for the treatment of such diseases have been made active in three central government hospitals.

“The isolation rooms for the treatment of Monkeypox patients are operational in three major central government hospitals i.e Safdarjang hospital, RML hospital and Lady Hardinge hospital,” official sources told ANI.

The Delhi Government issued the official statement on Tuesday on the preparation of isolation rooms in government and private hospitals. The 20 isolation rooms at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan (LNJP) Hospital, while 10 isolation rooms have been set up in Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital (GTB) hospital and 10 at Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital.

Notably, the Delhi government has also asked private hospitals to provide isolation rooms for Monkeypox patients. Kailash Deepak Hospital in East Delhi, MD City Hospital in North Delhi, and Batra Hospital and Research Centre in Tughlakabad in South Delhi are the three hospitals.

A recent study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the brain activity of 51 male-female love couples while they experienced intimate partner hostility in real time. They discovered that aggressiveness against intimate partners was connected with abnormal activity in the brain’s medial prefrontal cortex, or MPFC, which has various tasks, one of which is the ability to nurture perceptions of connection with and worth of other people.

A new study performed by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers examined the brain activity of 51 male-female love couples while they experienced intimate partner hostility in real time using functional magnetic resonance imaging. They discovered that aggressiveness against intimate partners was linked to abnormal activity in the brain’s medial prefrontal cortex, or MPFC, which has various tasks, one of which is the ability to nurture beliefs of connection with and worth of others.

“We found that aggression towards intimate partners has a unique signature in the brain,” said lead author David Chester, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Humanities and Sciences. “There is something distinct happening at the neural level when people decide whether to harm their romantic partners, a process that differs in a meaningful way from decisions about whether to harm friends or strangers.”

The research was led by Chester’s Social Psychology and Neuroscience Lab, which seeks to understand the psychological and biological processes that motivate and constrain aggressive behavior. The study, “Neural Mechanisms of Intimate Partner Aggression,” will be published in the journal Biological Psychology.

The researchers were able to analyse couples’ brain activity during intimate partner violence by having them play a computer game against three different persons, one at a time: their romantic partner, a close friend, and a stranger. They were actually playing against a machine.

Participants were challenged to press a button quicker than their opponents. The loser will be punished with a terrible blast of sound on their headphones, they were warned. The researchers evaluated hostility by allowing participants and hypothetical opponents to choose the loudness of a sound explosion, with higher volume reflecting more violence and lower volume representing less aggression.

“Basically, we gave participants repeated opportunities to hurt or not hurt each of these three people, and we examined how brain activity changed based on who they thought they were hurting,” Chester said. “But … no one was actually hurt by this computer game, participants unknowingly played against the computer.”

The findings of the researchers also went beyond the lab and into the real world. They had participants complete a validated questionnaire in which they were questioned if they had committed acts of intimate relationship violence previous to the research.

They discovered that reduced activity in the medial prefrontal cortex predicted some of the subjects’ actual acts of intimate partner violence.

“We expected to see that intimate partner aggression was linked to a unique signature of brain activity,” Chester said. “What we were surprised about was the ability of this brain signature to predict real-world intimate partner violence.”

They also looked at how the brain activity of men and women influenced one other’s hostility. They discovered that the male partner’s brain response to perceived provocation predicted women’s intimate relationship aggressiveness.

“This result fits with the well-established finding that women’s intimate partner aggression may very often be in self-defense,” Chester said.

He claims that the study’s findings reveal fresh insights into brain areas that are likely to be effective targets for therapies aimed at reducing intimate partner violence and assisting research in developing an accurate brain model of such damaging behaviours.

Chester went on to say that the researchers handled this investigation with extreme caution. Couples were pre-screened to ensure they were not at high risk of domestic violence. The researchers debriefed each subject individually to ensure that they were ready to be reunited with their companion. They also thoroughly debriefed both couples as a pair to ensure that there were no residual, negative consequences from the research.

“We had robust protocols in place in case anything went wrong, to safeguard the well-being of our participants,” Chester said. “It is of paramount importance that studies into intimate partner aggression prioritize the safety and well-being of their participants, and we believe we achieved this goal.”

While this study focused on male-female intimate partner violence, Chester believes that future research should look at similar relationships across a wider range of gender identities and sexual orientations.

When people first meet you, they notice your smile. People want healthy, dazzling white teeth so they may feel more confident when they flash wide-mouthed, eye-crinkling smiles.

Whitening methods, on the other hand, can damage enamel, creating cavities and discoloration, while toothpaste only eliminates surface stains. A novel hydrogel treatment that whitens teeth without hurting them and disintegrates cavity-forming biofilms has been found by researchers. The study’s findings were published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

According to the American Dental Association, daily brushing and flossing are effective techniques to prevent cavities from developing. These treatments, however, do not properly whiten teeth. Consumers frequently seek for over-the-counter or professional treatments that mix hydrogen peroxide-containing gels and blue light, resulting in a chemical reaction that eliminates stains.

This combination eliminates the majority of the discolouration but produces reactive oxygen species that can degrade enamel. Previously, Xiaolei Wang, Lan Liao, and colleagues altered titanium dioxide nanoparticles to create a less harmful tooth-whitening procedure. This approach nevertheless necessitated the use of high-intensity blue light, which might harm adjacent skin and eyes. As a result, the researchers sought a substance that, when triggered by green light, would both whiten teeth and prevent cavities.

The researchers created a thick combination of bismuth oxychloride nanoparticles, copper oxide nanoparticles, and sodium alginate. The combination was then uniformly coated over the surface of teeth adhered to a slide before being sprayed with a calcium chloride solution, resulting in a highly adherent hydrogel.

The substance was then tested on teeth stained with coffee, tea, blueberry juice, and soy sauce and put in a lab dish. The teeth were brighter over time after treatment with the hydrogel and green light, and there was no enamel damage. Another series of trials revealed that the treatment destroyed 94% of bacteria in biofilms.

The scientists utilised the novel approach on mice whose mouths were injected with cavity-forming bacteria to demonstrate that the therapy may work on teeth in vivo. The green-light triggered hydrogel significantly prevented the formation of mild and deep cavities on the surface of the animals’ teeth. According to the researchers, its safe, brush-free method both prevents cavities and whitens teeth.

Antibiotic resistance is a well-known issue. The similar thing happens when medications are used to treat pathogenic fungus. What causes it is still poorly known.

“The results are highly relevant for combating fungal infections in clinical practice, veterinary medicine and agriculture,” says Professor Ulrich Kuck, Senior Professor in General and Molecular Botany at RUB. He cooperated on the project with the Bochum researcher Dr Tim Dahlmann and the team headed by Professor Dr Joe Heitman, who is currently based at Duke University in North Carolina and has been a visiting professor at RUB on several occasions.

Number of fungal infections on the rise

“In the western hemisphere, the number of people with a lowered immune defence is increasing, because life expectancies are rising rapidly and treatment with immunosuppressants after organ transplants is becoming more common,” explains Ulrich Kuck. “This is associated with an increase in fungal infections.”

Cryptococcus neoformans is one of the most important human pathogenic fungus, causing cryptococcosis. It causes acute infections in immunocompromised persons, and the fatality rate can reach 70%. This is because drug-resistant fungus species frequently emerge in hospitals, making treatment more challenging. It was previously unknown which cellular and genetic pathways cause this resistance.

However, transposons were recognised to have a role in the resistances. Jumping genes are DNA segments that may vary their location in the genome and consequently impact gene activity. If a transposon inserts itself into a gene that is required for drug sensitivity, resistance may develop.

Transposon mobility is regulated by regulatory RNAs, often known as small interfering RNAs, or siRNA for short.

RNA mechanism causes resistance

The researchers detected gene changes in resistant isolates that resulted in siRNA control being turned off in their present investigation. It was feasible to restore siRNA control by inserting an entire copy of the gene; as a consequence, the researchers were able to prevent the transposons from jumping and gave information on the source of resistance. The gene segments that code for siRNAs are difficult to detect in the genome due to their modest size. Tim Dahlmann was able to find them using bioinformatic analysis. By finding resistance mechanisms, it will be feasible to employ them in the future to treat mycoses in humans.

Pregnant women with inflammatory bowel disease and their unborn infants face higher risks and complications than pregnant women without IBD. These are the findings of a recent study that looked at the outcomes of over 8 million pregnancies.

The University of Missouri School of Medicine led the study, and the results were published in the journal International Journal of Colorectal Disease. IBD refers to Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, both of which cause chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal system. IBD mostly affects young people, including women in their reproductive years.

“IBD is an incurable disease, and its relapsing and remitting nature is stressful for the estimated 3 million U.S. men and women diagnosed,” said senior author Yezaz Ghouri, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine. “Because this disease tends to affect women during their peak fertility period, we wanted to know the impact of IBD on maternal and fetal outcomes. To our knowledge, this study is the most comprehensive of its kind, using data from multiple institutions in 48 states.”

Between 2016 and 2018, the study team examined almost 8 million pregnancies. 14129 of them moms had IBD. Pregnant women with IBD had a greater incidence of gestational diabetes, postpartum haemorrhage, hypertensive problems, preterm birth, foetal growth limitation, and foetal mortality, according to the findings. Pregnant women with IBD experienced lengthier hospital stays after giving birth. They spent an extra half-day in the hospital and had to pay more than $2,700 in medical bills.

“Based on our findings, we suggest that women who have moderate to severe IBD should get pre-conceptional counseling and be treated aggressively to achieve remission prior to getting pregnant,” Ghouri said. “Our study results illustrate the importance that IBD be optimally controlled prior to conception.”

Researchers describe a new function of vitamin K, which is well recognised for its role in blood clotting. The researchers observed that the completely reduced version of vitamin K effectively inhibits ferroptosis cell death.

Ferroptosis has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, acute organ damage, and a variety of other disorders in recent years. Thus, the current data suggest that vitamin K therapy might be a new and potent method for treating ferroptosis-related disorders.

Vitamin K is a potent ferroptosis suppressor

Since ferroptosis prevention is considered a highly promising approach for the therapy of many degenerative diseases, new mechanisms and compounds regulating ferroptosis are extensively being explored. To identify these new molecules, a team of researchers led by Dr. Eikan Mishima and Dr. Marcus Conrad, both from the Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death at Helmholtz Munich, along with collaborators from Tohoku University (Japan), University of Ottawa (Canada) and Technical University of Dresden (Germany), systematically studied a number of naturally occurring vitamins, as well as their derivatives. “Surprisingly, we identified that vitamin K, including phylloquinone (vitamin K1) and menaquinone-4 (vitamin K2), is able to efficiently rescue cells and tissues from undergoing ferroptosis” Dr. Eikan Mishima, first author of the study explained.

Unraveling the long sought-after vitamin K reducing enzyme FSP1

In 2019, a team of researchers led by Dr. Marcus Conrad found ferroptosis suppressor protein-1, or FSP1, as a unique and potent regulator of ferroptosis. The researchers discovered that the completely reduced form of vitamin K (vitamin K hydroquinone) is a potent lipophilic antioxidant that suppresses ferroptosis by trapping oxygen radicals in lipid bilayers. Furthermore, they discovered that FSP1 is the enzyme that effectively converts vitamin K to vitamin K hydroquinone, resulting in a unique non-canonical vitamin K cycle. Because vitamin K is essential for blood clotting, the researchers discovered that FSP1 is responsible for a vitamin K-reduction pathway that is resistant to warfarin, one of the most routinely used anticoagulants.

Breakthrough in understanding vitamin K metabolism

A study found that adolescents and teens with scoliosis who undergo spinal fusion can still be provided an adequate dose of pain medication while taking less opioids.

The Michigan Medicine study’s findings were published in the Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. Researchers included 72 teenage patients undergoing spinal fusions at the University of Michigan Health and gave them 30 doses of oxycodone as well as normal nonopioid medicines following the operation.

Preoperative education on the hazards of opioids and the necessity of nonopioid pain management choices was provided to 49 patients and their carers, whereas no preoperative information was provided to the remaining 35 patients.

Despite being released with the same number of opioid and nonopioid drugs, the study found that 23 percent of patients who did not get preoperative education phoned for an opioid prescription refill, compared to 6 percent of patients who did receive preoperative education. Patients in the present trial drank less oxycodone and had fewer days of oxycodone usage when compared to a group of 77 adolescents who previously had spinal fusion and had no standard discharge prescription criteria.

“Spinal fusion is arguably one of the most painful procedures we perform in pediatric orthopaedics, but our findings show we can provide excellent pain control by employing multimodal pain management techniques and preoperative education,” said G. Ying Li, M.D., senior author of the study and orthopaedic surgeon at U-M Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

When given a bigger prescription amount, the preceding group of patients took an average of 29 doses of oxycodone. According to this information, participants in the present research were prescribed 30 doses of oxycodone, but they only took 16 of them while experiencing relatively low pain levels.