Drugs

Drugged Punjab, stained establishment (The Tribune: 20180717)

https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/drugged-punjab-stained-establishment/621476.html

A spirit of helping people affected by drugs, not punishing them, is needed to deal with thedrug problem in Punjab. Coordination between sectors helping to reduce the supply anddemand of drugs as also spreading awareness of their harmful effects is the key to the issue.

Senior journalist and former Information Commissioner, Punjab

Currently, reports of deaths related to drugs in the media are causing ripples of fear and anxietyacross Punjab. Neither is the menace of drug abuse new nor is its politicisation. Despite changeof government, 'oath and claim', apparently, the infrastructure and apparatus of drug traffickingand consumption are intact. Even registration of thousands of cases under the NDPS (NarcoticDrugs and Psychotropic Substances) Act, 1985, against small-time carriers and couriers(barring exceptions), has made little impact. The shoving of petty addicts into rehabilitationcentres and clinics has also not helped.

Substance abuse is essentially a 'psycho-socio-medical' problem. Scores of surveys/ studiesconducted in the past two decades by institutions, including state's own, have come up withcauses and remedies. Yet, successive governments have taken only baby steps.

The most striking feature of these surveys/studies was the manner in which the SAD-BJPgovernment 'rubbished' them, including the one by the Society for Promotion of Youth andMasses (SPYM), the National Drug Dependence Treatment Centre, All-India Institute ofMedical Sciences, New Delhi, conducted in collaboration with the Punjab's Department ofHealth and Family Welfare (February-April 2015). The then Deputy Chief Minister dubbed thefindings as a 'conspiracy to defame' the state. Now he does not want the fight against drugabuse to be 'politicised'. Yet, he targets Congress. If the SAD-BJP was in 'denial mode' earlier,it is now guarded in comments.

DAILY NEWS BULLETINLEADING HEALTH, POPULATION AND FAMILY WELFARE STORIES OF THE DayTuesday 20180717

To deal with drug terrorism, the Cabinet's decision to recommend to the Centre an amendmentin the NDPS Act was to add 'death penalty' for drug peddlers. This provision already exists inthe Act for those held guilty for the second time. How deterrent and effective has this Act beensince its promulgation? The common perception is that the establishment knows who all areinvolved, yet is unwilling to act. The establishment itself is 'stained', given the 'dubious' role ofits instrumentalities. The nexus between drug cartels, organised criminals, politicians andenforcement agencies has aggravated the problem. It is time to break the nexus betweentraffickers and their supporters in the establishment, if the state is to shrug off the tag of UdtaPunjab.

And for public consumption, the Cabinet has formed a 'monitoring committee' and a 'workinggroup'. Understandably, experts have rejected these steps. Ostensibly, such laws and acts areno deterrent for offenders because quick and effective implementation is missing. Otherwise,there would not have been a chain of Nirbhaya episodes after incorporating 'death' for rapists.Rattled by the drug deaths — 23 in June alone, in just five districts of Ferozepur, Tarn Taran,Amritsar, Ludhiana and Faridkot — the director-general of police has held a review meeting,even as the Special Task Force's efforts remain 'work-in-progress'. That the high court is seizedof the issue is a different story. Social media is abuzz with the observance of a 'black week' tofocus the government’s attention on the vexed problem.

Expectedly, the government's focus seemingly remains on targeting the drug network to reducesupply, introduce out-patient opioid-assisted treatment and improve the conditions in de-addiction centres/clinics, and build mass awareness on drug abuse and reduce its demand. Willit succeed?

The Congress leadership is on the back foot, defending its actions and apportioning the blamefor recent deaths as much to 'adulterated' heroin (chitta), because of turning off the main supplyinlets, as it claims, as on the 'misuse' of anti-addition drugs by taking these 'intravenously' tosatisfy their craving.

Substance abuse is not a recent phenomenon. Even before Partition, opium, alcohol and poppyhusk were widely consumed. And, post 1947, people graduated to heroin and became 'addicts'or, as the World Health Organisation, says 'dependent' on opioid derivatives. As per the WHO,the categories of drugs other than opioid (and tobacco and alcohol) that may also causedependence are cannabis, sedatives, hallucinogens, cocaine, amphetamine type stimulants andinhalants.

Punjab has the dubious distinction of having as many liquor shops as there are primary schools:in the bracket of 12,000-14,000, each. Liquor fetches handsome revenues. In fact, Punjab'sreluctance to treat the drug situation as a full-blown crisis is partly because of the stategovernment's dependence on revenue from alcohol. The Comptroller-General of India hadreported a 59 per cent hike in liquor consumption in Punjab between 2005 and 2010.

Even smuggling of heroin from Pakistan along the 553-km international border has escalated.The Border Security Force seized 377 kg of heroin in 2017, a spike of 18 per cent over 2016;it was worth Rs 1,365 crore. It is believed that with low returns from farming, people living onthe border with lands across the fence, act as conduits and get paid as much as Rs 2 lakh perkg.

In fact, from narco-terrorism in the mid-1980s, heroin trafficking from across the border rapidlypicked up in 2000. The question is not of quantifying the substance abuse but its cascadingimpact on the youth, affected families and the state.

Several factors are responsible for causing the drug problem in Punjab and the GreenRevolution is one. It had set high lifestyles and living standards, but down the decades, thesewere difficult to maintain, as yesteryear farming crisis caused an over-reliance on cash cropswhile returns dwindled and unemployment spiked. Easy availability and access to drugs isanother factor.

The SPYM report stressed it would require a healthy mix of short and

long-term strategies and inter-sector coordination among stakeholders, besides a spirit of'helping affected people', not 'punishing them'. Coordination between sectors involved inhelping reduce the supply and demand of drugs and spreading awareness of their harmfuleffects is necessary. All these three approaches have their distinct role to play. Over-relying onany one of the three is likely to be detrimental.

Food Safety (The Asian Age: 20180717)

http://onlineepaper.asianage.com/articledetailpage.aspx?id=11153142

Malaria Infection (The Asian Age: 20180717)

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Mortality (The Asian Age: 20180717)

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Health Care (The Asian Age: 20180717)

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IVF

Freeze your egg, don’t kick your career, say Doctors to working women inIndia (The Indian Express: 20180717)

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/freeze-your-egg-dont-kick-your-career-say-doctors-to-working-women-in-india-3012082/

IVF Expert at city based Indira IVF, Sagarika Agarwal, said: "Egg freezing could be a boonfor the working women in India."

arely five per cent of working women in India prefer egg freezing to delay pregnancy ascompared to 30-40 per cent in the West. City doctors say avail the technique to say good byeto the biological clock.

Apart from the lack of proper awareness, social stigma plays a huge role in the adoption of newreproduction medical technology.

IVF Expert at city based Indira IVF, Sagarika Agarwal, said: “Egg freezing could be a boonfor the working women in India.”

But social stigma and a lack of confidence in new advanced technologies have prevented itfrom becoming popular here although a large number of working women use it abroad.

Agarwal explained the procedure for egg freezing which is similar to IVF.

She said: “Patient is injected with hormonal drugs for 10 to 12 days to stimulate her ovaries toproduce more eggs than normal. During which she could experience menopause-likesymptoms. So doctors monitor to ensure that her ovaries are not dangerously overstimulated.”

The eggs are then retrieved under sedation or general anaesthesia using an ultrasound-guidedneedle that sucks the eggs from each follicle and are stored.

When the woman is ready to use her frozen eggs, they are warmed up, injected with sperm andleft to fertilise on a petri dish.

If successful zygotes are formed, then two to three of these are transferred to her uterus withthe hope that would impregnate,” said Agarwal.

Naina Raichand, a gynaecologist at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, advised egg freezing as thebest alternative for working women to ensure pregnancy even above the 35 years age group.

Raichand said: “If a couple is not financially stable and prefer to attain some monitory comfortbefore welcoming a new member then this technique is best.”

She also said that early egg preservation is beneficial. Age is important because eggs startgrowing old in the 30s. Also, fertility declines with age.

Cautioning women that eggs cannot be frozen just before menopause, Raichand said if womendelay the process then good quality eggs could not be guaranteed, since women cross theirprime by then.

Shunning myths, Raichand observed that the success rate of pregnancy achieved through‘frozen’ eggs was at par with those achieved using fresh eggs.

She said: “Many MNCs are now encouraging their female employees to freeze their eggs sothat they would not have to compromise for either their career or in attaining motherhood.”

“Over the years, storage techniques have also been refined. Therefore, success rate, too, hasimproved. In future, motherhood will soon be truly independent of the biological clock,”Raichand added.

Nano bubble

Nano bubbles filled with drug may kill cancer cells: Study (New Kerala:20180717)

https://www.newkerala.com/news/read/22088/nano-bubbles-filled-with-drug-may-kill-cancer-cells-study.html

Sydney, July 16 : In a step further to identify range of cancer treatments available to patients,scientists have developed drug-filled nano bubbles triggered in the body by X-rays which mayhelp kill the malignant cells.

The tiny bubbles, known as liposomes, are commonly used in pharmacology to encapsulatedrugs, making them more effective in the treatment of disease and researchers have now beenable to engineer these liposomes to discharge their drug cargo on-demand, once activated bystandard X-rays. Initial testing has shown this technique to be highly efficient in killing bowelcancer cells.

"The development and application of various nanomaterial designs for drug delivery iscurrently a key focus area in nanomedicine," said lead author Wei Deng, fro ARC Centre ofExcellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), Australia.

"Liposomes are already well established as an extremely effective drug-delivery system. Madeout of similar material as cell membranes, these 'bubbles' are relatively simple to prepare, canbe filled with appropriate medications and then injected into specific parts of the body. Theissue however, is in controlling the timely release of the drug from the liposome," Deng added.

For the study, published in the journal Nature Communications, the team embeded goldnanoparticles and the photo-sensitive molecule verteporfin into the wall of the liposome, in alaboratory setting

The X-ray radiation caused the verteporfin to react and produce highly reactive singlet oxygenwhich destabilisesdthe liposomal membrane, causing the release of the drug, Deng explained.

"The gold nanoparticles are added into the mix as they focus the X-ray energy. This enhancesthe singlet oxygen generation and hence improves the speed of the membrane breakup," sheadded.

The liposomes were filled with chemotherapy drug called doxorubicin, which killed the cancercells far more effectively than without X-ray triggering

Thus, controlling the timely release of the drug from the bubble is very crucial, Deng said.

Pregnancy

Younger pregnant women at high risk of prenatal depression: Study (NewKerala: 20180717)

https://www.newkerala.com/news/read/22079/younger-pregnant-women-at-high-risk-of-prenatal-depression-study.html

Owing to the increased pressures of social media and the pace of modern life, youngerexpecting mothers may be at more than 50 per cent higher risk of developing prenataldepression, than their mothers, according to a study.

"The research shows that depression in today's young women may be driven by rises in feelingoverwhelmed and stressed rather than feelings of being down and flat," Rebecca Pearson fromBristol University was quoted as saying to Daily Mail.

"Given that depression in pregnancy has substantial impact to both mother and child this is ofkey importance for health services," she added.

Chronic stress, sleep deprivation, eating habits, sedentary lifestyle, and the fast pace of modernlife may also contribute to an increasing prevalence of depression among young peoplegenerally and the impact of such changes may be amplified during pregnancy.

Present generation of young women have also experienced rapid change in technology,internet, and social media use, which has been associated with increased feelings of depressionand social isolation and changes to social relationships.

For the study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, the team analysed data from2,390 pregnant women aged between 19 and 24 years from 1990 to 1992, and their daughterswho were pregnant between 2012 and 2016.

The analysis showed that 17 per cent of women from first generation suffered from prenataldepression which rose to 25 per cent for the younger mothers.

Further, the study also showed that if mothers suffered from depression during pregnancy, thentheir daughter may be three time more likely to develop depression, the Independent reported.

"If we think what's changed, the female workforce has increased in the past 25 years and thereare two elements relevant to mental health, one is young women's aspirations and ambition -and whether that becomes trickier to achieve by becoming pregnant," Pearson said.

"The other is one of practicality of having to go to work; the physical and mental exhaustionof having to work while pregnant" she noted.

Blood group A

Ticks are more likely to attack blood group A: Study (New Kerala:20180717)

https://www.newkerala.com/news/read/21909/ticks-are-more-likely-to-attack-blood-group-a-study.html

London, July 16 : People with type A blood could be more at risk of being bitten by a tick,including bugs that cause the potentially fatal Lyme disease, a study says.

Ticks are blood-sucking parasites, often found in woodlands, carrying a host of bacteria.

In the study, researchers from the Masaryk University in Czech Republic, dropped a tinysample of blood from types A, B, AB and O onto a sterile layer of filter paper on a Petri dishin the lab.

An Ixodes ricinus tick or a "sheep tick", was placed in the dish and scientists tracked itsmovements for two minutes.

The results revealed that the ticks preferred type A blood 36 per cent of the time, while 15 percent of the parasites gravitated towards blood type B, the Daily Mail reported.

"The study demonstrated that blood group might be one of the factors determining the feedingpreferences of Ixodes ricinus ticks," lead researcher Alena Zakovska, from the varsity, wasquoted as saying.

"The information obtained about the potential preference of ticks for specific blood groups canbe used to reduce the risk of tick bite," she added.

Further studies are needed to confirm the link and establish why ticks may prefer certain bloodtypes, the researchers warned in the journal Annals of Agricultural and EnvironmentalMedicine.

Ticks are generally oval, flat and small -- the size of a sesame seed when unfed. Once engorgedwith blood, they can grow to the size and shape of a coffee bean.

They look for hosts to cling to, often by climbing to the top of a long blade of grass and waiting.

It's thought that 17 per cent of ticks are infected with a bacteria -- borrelia bacterium -- that canpotentially cause Lyme disease, characterized by fever, headache and a ring-shaped rash thatresembles a bullishness.

"People with the risk blood type A should take appropriate measures to protect themselvesmore effectively," Zakovska said

Health Treatment (Dainik Gagaran: 20180717)

https://epaper.jagran.com/ePaperArticle/17-jul-2018-edition-Delhi-City-page_11-882-12038-4.html

Heart Diseases (Dainik Gagaran: 20180717)

https://epaper.jagran.com/ePaperArticle/17-jul-2018-edition-Delhi-City-page_17-870-4775-4.html

Malaria

लापरवाही के िखलाफ (Hindustan: 20180717)

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Waste Management (Hindustan: 20180717)

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