New Delhi, Aug 17 (IANS) Rashtriya Ayurveda Vidyapeeth (RAV), an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Ayush, is set to organise its 30th National Seminar, that will serve as a dynamic platform for ayurveda experts to advance knowledge, innovation and collaborative paediatric healthcare research, an official statement said on Sunday.Slated for August 18-19 here, the seminar on the theme “Management of Illness & Wellness in Paediatrics through Ayurveda will bring together renowned s…

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Brain’s immune cells may explain why a fading sense of smell is an early signal for Alzheimer’s disease even before cognitive impairments manifest, according to a study.Researchers at DZNE and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) in Germany revealed that the brain’s immune response seems to fatally attack neuronal fibres crucial for the perception of odours.These olfactory dysfunctions arise because immune cells of the brain called “microglia” remove connecti…

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) People with sensitive personalities are more likely to experience mental health problems like depression and anxiety, according to a study on Saturday.The study, led by Queen Mary University of London, defined sensitivity as a personality trait that reflects people’s capacity to perceive and process environmental stimuli such as bright lights, subtle changes in the environment, and other people’s moods.The research, based on a meta-analysis of 33 studies, revealed th…

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) The novel live attenuated type 1 and 3 oral polio vaccines (nOPV1 and nOPV3) are safe and elicit good immune response, results of a phase 1 randomized controlled trial have shown.The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, showed that nOPV1 and nOPV3 have a favourable safety profile. It also produced a comparable immune response and viral-shedding profile as the homotypic monovalent (single-strain) Sabin-strain oral vaccines (mOPVs).“This first-in-human tri…

Kolkata, Aug 16 (IANS) The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur has established a dedicated training centre — School for Skills: Healthcare & Technology — within its campus to train rural and semi-urban youth as allied health professionals, said a statement issued by the institute on Saturday. The school will initially accommodate 150 students per year, offering short-term certificate courses aligned with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF), including General Du…

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) A poor lifestyle with lack of sleep, binge drinking, and high stress, coupled with genes, is playing a significant role in the rising heart-related deaths in India, said experts on Saturday.Recently, an increasing number of heart-related deaths have been reported in the country. These have also been among people who are seemingly fit and are maintaining a healthy lifestyle.“Not all can be called heart attacks. About 20 per cent of the heart-related deaths in India are …

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) While paracetamol or acetaminophen has long remained the first choice of painkiller in pregnancy, a new study claims it may lead to neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), such as autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in babies.Acetaminophen is the most commonly used over-the-counter medication taken during pregnancy, with more than 50 per cent of pregnant women using the drug worldwide. It is widely used for headaches, pain, or fever by pregnant wome…

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Preterm babies with very low birth weight who received a probiotic alongside antibiotics had fewer multidrug-resistant bacteria and a more typical gut microbiome, according to a study.The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, is based on a trial testing probiotics among a group of 34 preterm babies born with a very low birth weight, under 1,500g, representing around 1-1.5 per cent of babies born around the world.Researchers from the University of Birming…

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) UK researchers have discovered eight new genes associated with schizophrenia, an advance that will improve the understanding and future treatment development for the severe mental disorder.Schizophrenia significantly affects how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. It can cause a range of symptoms, including hallucinations, delusions, disorganised thinking, and changes in behaviour.In the breakthrough study, scientists at the Centre for Neuropsychiatric Genetics and Geno…

New Delhi, Aug 15 (IANS) An enhanced version of an immunotherapy drug has shown significant promise against aggressive cancers in phase-1 trials, according to researchers.While CD40 agonist antibodies — a class of cancer drugs — have, over the past 20 years, been effective at activating the immune system to kill cancer cells in animal models, they have also caused dangerous systemic inflammatory responses, low platelet counts, and liver toxicity, among other adverse reactions — even at a low …