WHO’s first report on hypertension, the silent killer
Globally, hypertension affects one in three individuals and four out of five do not have it adequately controlled, according to the first World
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Day: May 3, 2025
Draft patent amendment rules undermine pre-grant opposition
Currently, the Patents Act explicitly permits anyone to file a pre-grant opposition. But as per the draft patent amendment rules,
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Quality of active TB case finding suboptimal in India
At the national level, 9.3% of the population were screened, just 1% of the screened were tested and 3.7% of
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One-third of TB patients received no payment for nutrition support
A 2022 study noted that 45% of people in India are undernourished, accounting for nearly 1.2 million TB cases each year
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Why Nipah virus outbreaks are occurring only in Kerala
With fruit bats positive for Nipah virus antibodies seen in other States, it is likely that Nipah virus infection and deaths may be going undetected in other States while they get picked up in Kerala, especially in Kozhikode district
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What helped Vikram lander to soft-land on the moon
In the Chandrayaan-2 mission in 2019, there were three errors that happened in succession causing the lander to crash on the moon. It would have been a success if any of the three errors had not happened
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Chest X-ray interpretation using AI can detect more TB cases
In 2021, WHO recommended the use of CAD products that use AI to automate the interpretation of digital chest X-rays for TB screening and triage in people older than 15 years
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Missed childhood TB cases impede achieving 2025 goal
Nearly 0.34 million children <15 years of age in India are estimated to get TB disease every year. While children in this age group are estimated to contribute about 13% of the total TB caseload, only 6% are notified
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Explained: Can improved nutrition help prevent TB?
With undernutrition the most prevalent risk factor for tuberculosis, weight gain leads to a reduction in TB cases and mortality
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In TB detection, India far from meeting the 2025 goal
In 2022, the bacteriologically confirmed cases among notified TB patients in the public sector was just 59% (1.07 million), and testing for at least rifampicin resistance among the bacteriologically confirmed TB patients was just 77% (0.82 million)
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RATIONS trial done in India shows nutrition support prevents TB, related deaths
In the randomised controlled trial involving household contacts of patients with pulmonary TB, nutritional support led to 39-48% reduction in TB disease in the intervention group
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In TB detection, smear microscopy’s share still holds sway
According to the WHO Global TB report 2022, over 40% of people with TB across the world were not diagnosed in 2021. In India, a large number of people with TB were not diagnosed even prior to the pandemic
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Are human challenge studies effective?
Are human studies more challenging than clinical trials, and what are the benefits in a country where the burden of infectious diseases is high?
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