New Delhi, Feb 27 (ANI): In a breakthrough study, researchers have uncovered key details as to how the Salmonella bacteria that cause typhoid fever, identify a host's immune cells and deliver toxins that disrupt the immune system and allow the pathogen to spread. The findings were published in the journal PLOS Pathogens. It provides new directions for developing treatments for typhoid fever. The Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi bacteria causes the fever which annually infects up to 21 million people worldwide and close to 6,000 people in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease is most common in areas with poor sanitation and unsafe water and food, including South Asia, and especially Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. The study identifies three subunits on a typhoid toxin protein, one of which is key for delivering the toxin into host cells.

New Delhi, Feb 26 (ANI): A new study has thrown some positive light on stress and depression suggesting that despite all of its negative effects, stress still benefits people socially. The study was published in the journal Stress and Health. In a study, a team of scientists including Penn State researchers found that experiencing stress made people both more likely to give and receive emotional support from another person. This was true on the day they experienced the stressor as well as the following day. Researchers suggest that while stress can certainly lead to negative health outcomes, there are potential benefits, as well. Researchers further asserted that while the negative effects of stress -- such as heart disease, compromised immune function and depressive symptoms -- are well-documented, they were curious if there were potential benefits to stress, such as emotional support.

New Delhi, Feb 25 (ANI): In a recent study researchers proposed a new scientifically correct and medically actionable disease classification system for obesity based on the concept of Adiposity-Based Chronic Disease (ABCD). Diagnostic term Adiposity-Based Chronic Disease (ABCD) reflects both the pathophysiology and clinical impact of obesity as a chronic disease. The research published online in Obesity is the flagship journal of The Obesity Society. The proposed coding system has four domains: pathophysiology, body mass index (BMI) classification, complications, and complication severity; and incorporates disease staging, specific complications that impact health, the basis for clinical intervention, individualized treatment goals and a personalized medicine approach. The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the European Association for the Study of Obesity (EASO) have both embraced the concept of ABCD.

New Delhi, Feb 24 (ANI): With the deadly coronavirus having already claimed more than 2,300 lives in China alone, and the deadly virus having spread to other countries, concerns are growing about how long the virus may linger on surfaces. According to CNN, the concerns have grown to such an extent that China's central bank has decided to clean and destroy a large chunk of its currency notes as they change hands multiple times in a day. According to US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Coronaviruses are the group of viruses that are commonly found among animals and are in some rare cases called as the zoonotic. They can be transmitted from animals to human beings. According to the CDC, the coronaviruses spread the most through respiratory droplets like sneeze or cough and they have poor sustainability on surfaces. According to the CDC, flu viruses, on the other hand, can live on certain specific surfaces for about 48 hours and can potentially infect people if the surface remains disinfected.

New Delhi, Feb 23 (ANI): Commonly known as 'kadi patta', the local Indian curry leaves which are easily found in every household serve not just as an ingredient for cooking but can also be used in many different ways that benefit our health. According to a report published in the Krishi Jagran, curry leaves are effective in controlling blood sugar levels, diabetes management, maintenance of gastrointestinal health and many more. Curry leaves are one of the many magic herbs that are found and grown on the Indian soil. Herbs are used in several Indian delicacies.

New Delhi, Feb 22 (ANI): Fat around our arteries plays an important role in keeping blood vessels healthy, according to new research. Known as Perivascular Adipose Tissue fat helps arteries let go of muscular tension while under constant strain. This is similar to the bladder, which expands to accommodate more liquid while at the same time keeping it from spilling out. PVAT has largely been ignored by researchers who have thought its main job was to store lipids and do little more. Researchers also tested other arteries and were able to duplicate the same response.

New Delhi, Feb 21 (ANI): According to new research, intensive behavioural therapy from dietitians may be a very effective way for older Americans to lose weight. Patients undergoing intensive behavioural therapy for obesity met with a registered dietitian once every week for the first month. The patients and the dietitians discussed behavioural health risks and factors affecting their choices. The dietitians recommended clear, specific, and personalized advice and the dietitians and the patients worked together to pick goals and methods to achieve them, and the two arranged to follow up meetings to discuss progress and challenges. The analysis showed statistically significant improvements in clinical outcomes from intensive behavioural therapy treatment. Patients also took prescription medication an average of six days less than the control group. This study suggested that the advantages of dietitian-provided intensive behavioural therapy extend beyond weight loss to include associated benefits for Medicare patients.

New Delhi, Feb 18 (ANI): In a first, researchers have come up with a smart jumpsuit that is capable of measuring the spontaneous and voluntary movement of infants starting from the age of five months. The study on the smart jumpsuit and the related analysis method applied to seven-month-old infants was published in the Scientific Reports journal. In the future, the jumpsuit can also be used to study older children. Vanhatalo says that the new analysis method quantifies infant motility as reliably as a human being would be able to do by viewing a video recording. After the measurement, the infant's actual movements and physical positions will be known to the second, after which computational measures can be applied to the data.

New Delhi, Feb 17 (ANI): It has come to notice that the spread of misinformation, harmful advice, fake news about diseases could be making its outbreaks worse, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA). Researchers say their findings could also be useful for dealing with the COVID-19 Coronavirus outbreak. The researchers' team is on the take that a bid to combat people sharing misinformation on social media could save lives. Many harmful effects are known around the spread of misinformation, but less known is the possibility that misinformation spread could harm human health, especially during the outbreak of an infectious disease.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (ANI): Children of mothers who experience physical violence tend to miss more school, suggests a study. The study found that 23.3% of women who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) reported their child's school attendance was disrupted. The study used baseline data from a sub-sample of 659 women in Mexico City who recently experienced IPV and reported having a child under age 18. Researchers identified four distinct classes of IPV experiences: Low Physical and Sexual Violence; Low Physical and High Sexual Violence, High Physical and Low Sexual Violence and Injuries; and High Physical and Sexual Violence and Injuries.

New Delhi, Feb 14 (ANI): A study conducted on mice by a team of researchers has identified important implications for understanding the influence of genetics on cannabis dependence in adolescent females. The brain's endocannabinoid system regulates the activity of cannabinoids that are normally produced by the body to influence brain development and regulate mood, as well as those from external sources, such as the psychoactive ingredient THC, also known as D9-tetrahydrocannabinol, which is found in cannabis. An enzyme called fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) breaks down a cannabinoid called anandamide that is naturally found in the brain and is most closely related to THC, helping to remove it from circulation.

New Delhi, Feb 13 (ANI): Stroke survivors with high levels of optimism had lower inflammation levels, reduced stroke severity and less physical disability after three months as compared to those who are less optimistic, says a recent study. In a small study of 49 stroke survivors, researchers examined the relationship between optimism, inflammation, stroke severity and physical disability for three months after a stroke. Researchers said that understanding how these elements relate to or impact one another may provide a scientific framework to develop new strategies for stroke recovery. Post-stroke inflammation is detrimental to the brain and impairs recovery. Optimism has been associated with lower inflammation levels and improved health outcomes among people with medical conditions, however, no prior studies assessed if this association exists among stroke patients. This pilot study is a secondary analysis of data collected from a repository of neurological diseases. Outcomes included optimism levels from the revised Life Orientation Test, a standard psychological tool for measuring optimism; stroke severity evaluation through the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and levels of inflammatory markers--interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNFa) and C-reactive protein (CRP). As optimism levels increased, stroke severity and the inflammatory markers IL-6 and CRP decreased even after considering other possible variables. However, this was not true of TNFa.

New Delhi, Feb 10 (ANI): A recent study has established that high dose intake of opioid is not effective in reducing pain. The researchers' team from Central Arkansas and Minneapolis VA Health Care Systems and three universities have suggested after studying available data that patients who got their opioid dosage increased were not helped by the higher dosage as compared to those, who continued with earlier dosage. The Veterans Affairs study looked at prescribing data of more than 50,000 VA patients taking opioids.

Mumbai, Feb 08 (ANI): Researchers found that 13 per cent of deaths occurring during or up to one year after pregnancy among Louisiana women in 2016-17 were homicides. Pooja Mehta, M.D., clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at LSU Health New Orleans School of Medicine, was also a member of a research team. The results were published in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The team conducted a retrospective analysis of vital records data provided by the Louisiana Department of Health of all cases of maternal death that year. Of the 119 maternal deaths, homicide accounted for more deaths than any other single cause.

New Delhi, Feb 07 (ANI): A group of researchers has come up with a unique form of yarn made up of human skin cells that could soon replace conventional sutures in surgical procedures. According to CNN Health, surgeons can use this 'human textile' for knitting, sewing and crocheting damaged organs. The scientists from the University of Bordeaux, France, suggest that their invention could "truly integrate into the host's body." Normal sutures pose a risk of eliciting a detrimental immune response from the patients' bodies. "Most permanent synthetic biomaterials are recognised as foreign by the innate immune system, which leads to the well-described 'foreign body reaction' upon implantation." Stating its efficacy, the scientists wrote: "This material can be used as a simple suture to close a wound or can be assembled into fully biological, human."

Washington DC (US), Feb 05 (ANI): United States (US) president Donald Trump delivered his third State of the Union (SOTU) address to a Joint Session of the United States Congress. Addressing the session, Trump spoke about threat of coronavirus outbreak which the world is facing at the moment. He said, “We're working with the Chinese government and working closely together on Coronavirus outbreak in China. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat.” He further asserted that the AIDS epidemic will be eradicated from America by the end of this decade. The address comes amid his ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate.

New Delhi, Feb 04 (ANI): The hours of sleep children manage to get significantly determines their vulnerability towards depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior, and poor cognitive performance. Sleep states are active processes that support reorganisation of brain circuitry. This makes sleep especially important for children, whose brains are developing and reorganizing rapidly. In a study by researchers from the University of Warwick -- recently published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry -- cases of 11,000 children aged between 9 and 11 years from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development dataset were analyzed to find out the relationship between sleep duration and brain structure. Measures of depression, anxiety, impulsive behavior and poor cognitive performance in the children were associated with shorter sleep duration. Moreover, the depressive problems were associated with short sleep duration one year later. The reduced brain volume of areas such as orbitofrontal cortex, prefrontal, and temporal cortex, precuneus, and supramarginal gyrus was found to be associated with the shorter sleep duration.

New Delhi, Feb 04 (ANI): Researchers at the University of Eastern Finland have developed a new deep learning model that can identify sleep stages as accurately as an experienced physician. Sleep is manually classified into five stages, which are wake, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and three stages of non-REM sleep. The study published in the IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics opened up new avenues for the diagnostics and treatment of sleep disorders including obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). It is estimated that up to one billion people worldwide suffer from obstructive sleep apnoea, and the number is expected to grow due to population ageing and increased prevalence of obesity. When untreated, OSA increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, among other severe health consequences. To overcome these challenges researchers used polysomnographic recording data from healthy individuals and individuals with suspected OSA to develop an accurate deep learning model for automatic classification of sleep stages. According to the researchers, deep learning enables automatic sleep staging for suspected OSA patients with high accuracy.

New Delhi, Feb 03 (ANI): A breakthrough study pointed out on one of the reasons for short breath among adults can be low weight at the time of birth. The study further advocates that newborns who are abnormally underweight, have higher chances of developing poor cardiorespiratory fitness later in life than their normal counterparts. The findings underscore the importance of prevention strategies to reduce low birth weights even among those carried to at term delivery. Having a good cardiorespiratory fitness - that is the ability of the body to supply oxygen to the muscles during sustained physical activity - is important for staying healthy. Alarmingly, cardiorespiratory fitness is declining globally, both for youths and adults. Given its implications for public health, there has been a growing interest in understanding the underlying causes of poor cardiorespiratory fitness. Researchers have identified both physical inactivity and genetic factors as important determinants.

New Delhi, Feb 01 (ANI): Air India 'special' flight that took off from China's Wuhan landed Delhi on February 01. It evacuated 324 Indians from China to prevent them from deadly spread of coronavirus. World Health Organisation (WHO) had declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency. Death toll has reached around 259 in China.

New Delhi, Jan 31 (ANI): Keeping in view of coronavirus, Air India is sending a ‘special’ flight to China on January 31. Atleast 400 Indians will be evacuated today from Wuhan in China. Speaking on it CMD of Air India, Ashwani Lohani said, “Air India has always come forward for the nation. Atleast 400 Indians will be evacuated today from Wuhan in China by Air India flight. It will take off at 12 pm today and will return by 2 am tomorrow. Further arrangements will be done by MEA and Health Ministry for passengers after they will reach India.”

New Delhi, Jan 31 (ANI): People who have a relatively higher intake of fermented soy products are at a reduced risk of dying from various causes, says a latest research. The Japanese study, published in the British Medical Journal, however, stresses that the findings should be interpreted with caution as they may have been affected by unmeasured (confounding) factors. In Asian countries, especially Japan, several types of soy products are widely consumed, such as natto (soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis), miso (soybeans fermented with Aspergillus oryzae), and tofu (soybean curd). It is, however, unclear whether different soy products, especially fermented soy products, are associated with specific health effects. They base their findings on 42,750 men and 50,165 women aged 45-74 years who were taking part in a study based on 11 of Japan's public health centre areas. Participants filled in detailed questionnaires about their dietary habits, lifestyle, and health status. Deaths were identified from residential registries and death certificates over a follow-up period of nearly 15 years.

New Delhi, Jan 30 (ANI): According to a new study conducted by researchers, consuming alcohol during pregnancy might lead to the poorer cognitive functioning of children. The study based on 23 published reviews was conducted by the researchers from the University of Bristol and was published in the International Journal of Epidemiology. The researchers further found out evidence that drinking during pregnancy could also lead to lower birth weight reinforcing the UK Chief Medical Officers' #DRYMESTER guidelines which suggest abstaining from alcohol consumption during all trimesters. Approach based on genetic-markers known as ''Mendelian randomization' was also used. Research on this topic has taken place through the 'observational' studies where participants already exposed to a risk factor and researchers do not try to change who is or isn't exposed. While the review was comprehensive it was limited in its ability to establish how much alcohol leads to these negative outcomes. However, the researchers concluded that women should continue to be advised to abstain from alcohol during pregnancy.

New Delhi, Jan 29 (ANI): Walnut consumption by healthy, elderly adults had little effect on cognitive function over two years, but had a greater effect on elderly adults, who had smoked more and had a lower baseline neuropsychological test scores, says a study conducted by researchers in California and Spain. Walnuts contain omega-3 fatty acids and polyphenols, which have previously been found to counteract oxidative stress and inflammation, both of which are drivers of cognitive decline. The study published in 'The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition' examined nearly 640 free-living elders in Loma Linda, California, USA, and in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. For two years, the test group included walnuts in their daily diet, and the control group abstained from walnuts. Subsequently, findings from Loma Linda University researchers have linked nut consumption to lower risk of cardiovascular diseases.

New Delhi, Jan 28 (ANI): According to a recent study in Canada, the rate of survival of preterm babies in Canada has increased by 25% after the introduction of national program - Evidence-based Practice for Improving Quality (EPIQ) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the country. The new research was published in the journal CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal). The EPIQ program was introduced in 2003 by the Canadian Neonatal Network in 25 neonatal units to improve outcomes for premature babies. The study, originating from Sinai Health in Toronto, analyzed the effect of changes in care practices on outcomes for 50,831 infants born prematurely between 2004 and 2017. Researchers found that survival without major adverse health effects increased from 56.6 percent to 70.9 percent (25 percent) for very preterm babies and from 70.8 percent to 74.5 percent (5 percent) for babies born between 23 and 25 weeks' gestation, over the course of the 14-year program. Preterm babies often have chronic health issues due to early premature birth, and this quality improvement program resulted in a significant reduction in several adverse outcomes for such babies.

New Delhi, Jan 27 (ANI): A new study on mouse reveals that consuming high protein diet spurs unstable plaque, the kind which leads to blocked arteries. And more plaque build-up in the arteries increases the risk of a heart attack. The new study was published in the journal Nature Metabolism. The mice on the high-fat, high-protein diet developed worse atherosclerosis -- about 30 percent more plaque in the arteries -- than mice on the high-fat, normal-protein diet, despite the fact that the mice eating more protein did not gain weight, unlike the mice on the high-fat, normal-protein diet. The researchers found that certain amino acids, especially leucine and arginine, were more potent in activating mTOR -- and derailing macrophages from their cleanup duties, leading to cell death -- than other amino acids.