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Research

Mediterranean Diet May Cut Heart Disease, and Death Risk in Women by 25%

Sydney: Ladies follow a Mediterranean diet to improve your heart health and reduce your risks of cardiovascular disease and death by nearly 25 percent, suggests a study. The Mediterranean diet is rich in whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and extra virgin olive oil; moderate in fish/shellfish; low to moderate in wine; and low in red/processed meats, dairy products, animal fat, and processed foods. Cardiovascular disease accounts for more than a third of all deaths in women around the world. While a healthy diet, including a Mediterranean diet, has been a key plank of prevention, most relevant clinical trials have included relatively few women or haven't reported the results by sex, the researchers said. The new study, published in the journal Heart, is the first to focus on the association between a Mediterranean diet and incident CVD and death, specific to women. "We found that a Mediterranean diet was beneficial in women, with a 24 percent lower risk of CVD and a 23 percent lower risk of total mortality," said researchers including from the University of Sydney. The risk of coronary heart disease was 25 percent lower, while that of stroke was also lower, although not statistically significant, in those who most closely followed this diet compared with those who did so the least. The Mediterranean diet's antioxidant and gut microbiome effects on inflammation and cardiovascular risk factors are among the possible explanations for the observed associations, the researchers said. In addition, the diet's various components, such as polyphenols, nitrates, omega-3 fatty acids, increased fiber intake, and reduced glycaemic load, may all separately contribute to a better cardiovascular risk profile. "However, mechanisms explaining the sex-specific effect of the Mediterranean diet on (cardiovascular disease) and death remain unclear," they note, adding that the findings reinforce the need for more sex-specific research in cardiology. "Female-specific cardiovascular risk factors, including premature menopause, pre-eclampsia, and gestational diabetes, or female predominant risk factors, such as systemic lupus, can all independently increase (cardiovascular disease) risk," the researchers said. For the data analysis, the researchers included 16 published studies involving more than 700,000 women aged 18 and above. The researchers also acknowledged various limitations to their findings, including that all the studies analyzed were observational and relied on self-reported food frequency questionnaires. Read More►Simple Urine Test Can Reveal Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease
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Diabetes Almost Doubles Risk of Death From Covid: Study

London: People with diabetes were almost twice as likely to die with Covid and almost three times as likely to be critically or severely ill compared to those without diabetes, finds a study. The study conducted by researchers from the University of Aberdeen, UK found patients with diabetes had a significantly higher risk of requiring an intensive care admission and supplementary oxygen or being admitted in a critical condition in comparison to patients without diabetes. However, good control of blood sugar in these patients can significantly reduce this risk. "We found that following a Covid-19 infection, the risk of death for patients with diabetes was significantly increased in comparison to patients without diabetes," said Stavroula Kastora from the varsity. "We also show that good glycaemic control may be a protective factor in view of Covid-19 related deaths," she added, in the paper published in the journal Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism. The team reviewed findings from 158 studies that included more than 270,000 participants from all over the world to determine how Covid affects people living with diabetes. The pooled results showed that people with diabetes were 1.87 times more likely to die with Covid, 1.59 times more likely to be admitted to ICU, 1.44 times more likely to require ventilation, and 2.88 times more likely to be classed as severe or critical, when compared to patients without diabetes.AA Further, the researchers found that patients in China, Korea and the Middle East were at higher risk of death than those from EU countries or the US. They suggest this may be due to differences in healthcare systems and affordability of healthcare. Diabetes is a serious medical condition where blood sugar levels are too high. In 2021, approximately 537 million adults between the 20-79 years were living with diabetes, according to the International Diabetes Federation. The total number of people living with diabetes is projected to rise to 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045. While diabetes increased severity of Covid, a recent study published in the journal Diabetologia, also showed people who have had Covid-19 infection are at increased risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. "In light of the ongoing pandemic, strengthening outpatient diabetes clinics, ensuring consistent follow up of patients with diabetes and optimising their glycaemic control could significantly increase the chances of survival following a Covid infection," Kastora noted. (Agency) Read More► Double-Masking Does Not Improve Protection Against Covid: Study
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Covid-19 Pandemic Raised Antibiotic-Resistant Infections:

New York: People hospitalised during the pandemic both for Covid and other conditions have a higher rate of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections compared to patients hospitalised before the pandemic, according to a study. An estimated 1.2 million people worldwide died in 2019 from antibiotic-resistant infections, and this number is predicted to increase ten-fold by 2050. There have been studies reporting that the pandemic was associated with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) secondary infections, possibly due to the increase in the use of antibiotics to treat Covid-19 patients and disruptions to infection prevention and control practices in overwhelmed health systems. The study, presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) being held in Portugal, evaluated the pandemic's impact on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in 271 hospitals across the US. The researchers assessed AMR rates per 100 hospital admissions before and during the Covid pandemic, and examined whether drug-resistant infections were acquired in the community-onset setting (defined as a culture collected less than two days after admission) or in the hospital-onset setting (more than two days after admission). In total, 1,789,458 patients were admitted to the hospital in the pre-pandemic period and 3,729,208 during the pandemic. The number of patients admitted to the hospital with at least one AMR infection was 63,263 in the pre-pandemic period and 129,410 during the pandemic. Patients who tested positive or negative for Covid had higher levels of AMR than patients before the pandemic, 4.92 per 100 admissions and 4.11 per 100 admissions, respectively. For hospital-associated infections, the AMR rate was 0.77 per 100 admissions before the pandemic and 0.86 per 100 admissions during the pandemic, and highest at 2.19 per 100 admissions in patients with Covid-19. When looking at community-onset infections, the AMR rate was 2.76 per 100 admissions in the pre-pandemic period, and 2.61 per 100 admissions during the pandemic. "These new data highlight the importance of closely monitoring the impact of Covid-19 on antimicrobial resistance rates, said Dr Karri Bauer from the US pharmaceutical company Merck. "It is particularly worrying that antibiotic resistance has been rising during the pandemic in both SARS-CoV-2 positive and negative patients. Hospital-acquired infections are a major concern, with antimicrobial resistance rates significantly higher during the pandemic than before," he added. (Agency) Read More► Omicron Ups Risk of Upper Airway Infections, Cardiac Arrest in Small Kids
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6 in 10 People Continue to Suffer A Year After Covid Infection: Study

Six in 10 people with SARS-CoV-2 still have at least one symptom of long Covid a year later, with fatigue, shortness of breath and irritability being the most common, a new study has shown. The study, being presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Portugal, found that Covid-19 symptoms that don't clear up after 15 weeks are likely to last at least a year. An estimated 25-40 per cent of people with Covid-19 develop long Covid, persisting symptoms that can affect multiple organs and include mental health problems. Most of the data to date, however, is based on patients who were hospitalised with Covid-19 and it isn't clear how it applies to Covid-19 cases more generally. To find out more, Aurelie Fischer and colleagues at the Luxembourg Institute of Health in Luxembourg, surveyed almost 300 people a year after they were diagnosed with Covid. The 289 participants (50.2 per cent women) had an average age of 40.2 years and were divided in three groups, based on the severity of their initial infection: asymptomatic, mild and moderate/severe Covid-19. They were asked to fill in a detailed questionnaire about whether they were experiencing 64 common long Covid-related symptoms. A third (34.3 per cent) were experiencing fatigue a year on, 12.9 per cent said respiratory symptoms were affecting their quality of life and more than half (54.2 per cent) had ongoing sleep problems. Participants who had moderate/severe Covid-19 were twice as likely to still have at least one symptom a year on than those whose initial infection was asymptomatic. Having had moderate/severe Covid-19 was also associated with more sleep problems after a year than being asymptomatic (63.8 per cent vs. 38.6 per cent). "Participants with a mild form of the acute illness were more likely than those who'd been asymptomatic to have at least one symptom at one year, and to have sleep problems, but to a lesser extent than those with a moderate or severe acute illness," Fischer said. One in seven participants (14.2 per cent) said they could not envisage coping with their symptoms long-term. Further, the analysis also revealed that some groups of symptoms tend to occur together, suggesting that there are multiple different types of long Covid. Read More► Covid Not Only Infects Human Retina, But Can Also Replicate in It
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Study Reveals How Covid Can Lead to Long Term Pain

New York: A team of researchers has provided important insights into how SARS-CoV-2 the virus responsible for Covid-19 can lead to long-term pain. Using a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the research team found that the infection left a gene expression signature in the dorsal root ganglia that remained even after the virus cleared. The signature matched gene expression patterns seen in pain caused by other conditions. "A significant number of people suffering from long Covid experience sensory abnormalities, including various forms of pain," said researcher Randal (Alex) Serafini from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. "We used RNA sequencing to get a snapshot of the biochemical changes SARS-CoV-2 triggers in a pain-transmitting structure called dorsal root ganglia," Serafini added. For the study, to be presented at the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics' annual meeting, the research team involved a hamster model of intranasal Covid-19 infection that closely reflected the symptoms experienced by people. The researchers observed that SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters showed a slight hypersensitivity to touch early after infection, which became more severe over time, up to 30 days. They then performed similar experiments with the Influenza A virus to determine if other RNA viruses promote similar responses. In contrast to SARS-CoV-2, Influenza A caused an early hypersensitivity that was more severe but faded by four days post-infection. Analysis of gene expression patterns in the dorsal root ganglia revealed that SARS-CoV-2 caused a more prominent change in expression levels of genes implicated in neuron-specific signalling processes compared to influenza. Additional experiments showed that four weeks after recovering from a viral infection, flu-infected hamsters had no signs of long-term hypersensitivity, while SARS-CoV-2-infected hamsters showed worsened hypersensitivity, reflecting chronic pain. The hamsters that had recovered from SARS-CoV-2 had gene expression signatures similar to those seen in the dorsal root ganglia of mice affected by pain that was induced by inflammation or nerve injury. Read More► Covid Not Only Infects Human Retina, But Can Also Replicate in It
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फ्लू के साथ कोविड होने

लंदन: जिन वयस्कों को कोविड-19 और फ्लू के कारण एक ही समय में अस्पताल में भर्ती कराया गया है, उनमें गंभीर बीमारी और मृत्यु का खतरा उन रोगियों की तुलना में बहुत अधिक है, जिन्होंने अभी-अभी कोविड या किसी अन्य वायरस का अनुबंध किया है। नए शोध में इसकी जानकारी दी गई है। द लैंसेट जर्नल में प्रकाशित अध्ययन ने संकेत दिया कि सार्स-सीओवी-2 के सह-संक्रमण वाले रोगियों, जो कोविड-19 का कारण बनते हैं और इन्फ्लूएंजा वायरस को वेंटिलेशन समर्थन की आवश्यकता होने की संभावना चार गुना अधिक होती है और मरने की संभावना 2.4 गुना अधिक होती है। अगर उन्हें केवल कोविड था। एडिनबर्ग विश्वविद्यालय के शोधकर्ता केनेथ बेली ने कहा, "हमने पाया कि कोविड और फ्लू वायरस का संयोजन विशेष रूप से खतरनाक है। यह महत्वपूर्ण होगा क्योंकि कई देश सामाजिक दूरी और रोकथाम के उपायों के उपयोग को कम कर रहे हैं।" बेली ने कहा, "हम उम्मीद करते हैं कि कोविड फ्लू के साथ प्रसारित होगा, जिससे सह-संक्रमण की संभावना बढ़ जाएगी। इसलिए हमें अस्पताल में कोविड रोगियों के लिए अपनी परीक्षण रणनीति को बदलना चाहिए और फ्लू के लिए अधिक व्यापक रूप से परीक्षण करना चाहिए।" शोधकर्ताओं का कहना है कि निष्कर्ष अस्पताल में कोविड रोगियों के अधिक फ्लू परीक्षण की आवश्यकता को दर्शाते हैं और कोविड और फ्लू दोनों के खिलाफ पूर्ण टीकाकरण के महत्व को उजागर करते हैं। अध्ययन के लिए, टीम ने 6 फरवरी, 2020 और 8 दिसंबर, 2021 के बीच यूके में कोविड के साथ अस्पताल में भर्ती 305,000 से अधिक रोगियों को शामिल किया। रेस्पिरेट्री वायरल सह-संक्रमण के परीक्षण के परिणाम कोविड के 6,965 रोगियों के लिए दर्ज किए गए थे। इनमें से कम से कम 227 में इन्फ्लूएंजा वायरस भी था और उन्होंने काफी अधिक गंभीर परिणामों का अनुभव किया। (एजेंसी) यह भी पढ़े► कोरोना का नया वैरिएंट फिर मचा सकता है तबाही: फौसी