Cough syrups containing a mixture of antitussives, antihistamines, decongestants and expectorants may appear logical — one drug to dry secretions, another to suppress cough, a third to open nasal passages. But the underlying flaw is that these ingredients often work in opposing ways or have overlapping side effects
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As long as protecting the reputation and interests of the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the top priority, it is unlikely that there will be any meaningful reforms to prevent future tragedies caused by DEG. The bid to cover up, distract and obfuscate, as seen in the last few days, serves as valuable pointers
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A recent study has shown that a simple blood test can detect traces of cancer more than three years before it is clinically diagnosed. This is more than early detection. But screening tests will need to be 50 times more sensitive to reliably detect cancer this early
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Fresh tiger faecal samples from five tiger reserves across India had different microbiota despite no major differences in diet, hinting at the role of external factors in shaping the bacterial composition
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In people with G6PD deficiency variant, HbA1c blood test used for diagnosing type 2 diabetes and monitoring people with diabetes appear artificially low for any given glucose level, particularly in males, leading to delayed diagnosis and compromised treatment
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Mandatory reporting would highlight which cancers are surging and where, enabling targeted campaigns — from anti-tobacco drives to HPV vaccination, and early screening in high-incidence areas. Several States have already made cancer notifiable, and their experiences offer valuable lessons
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On reconstructing the cranium of the one-million-year-old Yunxian 2 fossil, reserchers found that the cranium contained both primitive and derived traits and concluded that it is representative of the H. longi clade, which is sister to H. sapiens and likely contained the Denisovans
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The endoplasmic reticulumun has an expected role in orchestrating cell migration during tissue repair. At convex edges, where lamellipodial crawling occurs, the endoplasmic reticulum reorganised into thin tubules. At concave edges, where cells contract to close the gap, the endoplasmic reticulum formed sheet-like domains that worked with actin bundles
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An extreme rainfall event — about 572 mm of rainfall in just over 48 hours — was identified as the immediate trigger for the disaster. But the occurrence of a landslide is not determined by rainfall alone. It is the result of a complex interaction between this climatic trigger and pre-existing terrain vulnerabilities
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While warning colouration fared better in environments with low predation intensity, camouflage strategy helped when camouflaged prey species were less common and when light levels were low. Climatic seasonality had no effect on predation risk, and predation was not lower for warning-coloured prey at lower latitudes
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The Ganga River has been through unprecedented drying for 30 years between 1991 and 2020 in the last 1,300 years (700 to 2012). The drying seen during 1991-2020 is 76% more intense than the last severe drought that occurred in the 16th Century — between 1501 and 1530. The lastest 30-year period stands out as the driest period not only because of the number of drought years but also because the drought prolonged for a few years without a break
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An AI-powered, lightweight, diagnostic, web-based App — CerviSpectraDiag — developed by researchers from IIT Kharagpur and KIIT University for early detection of cervical cancer has an accuracy of 84.73%. It offers diagnosis in near real time while maintaining privacy and data security as processing of spectral data of cervical tissue happens at the device level
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Though located in the same climatic zone, aspect, and slope, Durung Drung glacier lost over eight sq. km area and retreated more than 800 metres, while the Pensilungpa glacier lost just over two sq. km and retreated only about 200 metres. Besides the warming climate, other factors too have a role to play
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