Is Gene Therapy Really Fruitful for Osteoarthritis?

Letter to Editor by Jayeeta Chowdhury, Dattatreya Mukherjee, Debraj Mukhopadhya

Can Mohalla Clinics be a Catalyst for Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna to achieve Universal Health Coverage in India?

BACKGROUND: Expenditure on health sector in India is one of the lowest public health expenditures in the world at just over 1% of GDP, with substantial disparities in population, infrastructure, availability and provision of services that define the Indian health care system. In a reform of Indian health systems approved by the Indian Government in March 2018, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was launched on 23rd September, 2018 to provide financial health insurance coverage of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalizations to more than 10.74 million poor families that form the bottom 40% of population in India. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this paper is to discuss and analyze the benefits and weaknesses of the AB-PMJAY model and investigating the position that these clinics can play in (I) improving the provision of urban health facilities (II) resolving health inequities (III) and enhancing primary health care.MATERIALS AND METHOD: The authors explored different databases. Government portals, research publications on AB-PMJAY and Mohalla clinics (MC) to do in-depth analysis of various parameters.RESULTS: Although there are significant obstacles to the programme, by building impetus for program reform, AB-PMJAY offers an opportunity for the nation to resolve long-standing and ingrained shortcomings in governance, quality control and stewardship, and to accelerate India's development towards the stated UHC supply goal. The main achievement of these facilities in the last 18 months has been to introduce wellness to civic and political dialogue. CONCLUSION: Mohalla Clinics can prove as a major catalyst for Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna for health reforms and progress towards universal health coverage in India

Effect of Air Pollution on the Occurrences and Death of COVID-19

Air contamination continues to be the leading environmental risk factor for all causes of death, leading to substantial years of lives and economic decline adapted to incapacity increased deaths in air pollution in past pandemics, in 1918, Spanish Flu and in 2003 with SARS-CoV-1. The host susceptibility and respiratory virulence are increased and viral clearance is decreased. Therefore, there is a question about the effect of air contamination on the current 2019 coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). History and research have until now been concerned with the huge potential consequences of the COVID-19 air pollution pandemic. In order to validate this correlation, more epidemiological and environmental research is necessary. Moreover, countries must leverage air emissions reduction funds to benefit their wellbeing and enhance their possible impact on future pandemics

From Inception of Herbal Medicine to an Ideal Perception of Therapeutic Agent: Rhododendron as a Therapeutic Agent – A Review

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women all over the world. Despite advanced treatment modalities, the systemic toxicity remains a major side effect resulting into patient morbidity and mortality despite many technological breakthroughs, even the best breast cancer treatments available today are not 100% effective. Chemotherapy has improved, but many drugs still do not reach the tumor site at effective doses and are often associated with high systemic toxicity and poor pharmacokinetics. Moreover, for many malignancies, diagnosis is obtainable only in metastatic stages of development, reducing the overall effectiveness of treatment. The choice of available treatments depends on tumor characteristics such as biomarkers, tumor size, metastatic disease, ligands, and antigen or endocrine receptor expression. Combined with surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiation remain the first line of treatment for patients with cancer. Even with these treatments, however, cancer continues to have high fatality rates and current therapeutic modalities have yet to significantly improve the often dismal prognosis of this disease. Nanotechnology is a highly focused approach, which may provide more effective and less toxic treatment when compared to chemotherapy. The Nanoparticles (NP) plays a vital role and it can conjugate with various drugs by different methods to deliver drugs to the target site. The NP surface is designed with ligands to get affinity towards specific cells and co-polymers to get protection from immune cells. The nanoparticles conjugated drug can ultimately recognize the site and join to the target and enter to the cell by receptor mediated endocytosis. Then NPs are able to release drugs controllably to cure diseases. Rhododendron is one of the naturally occurring plants which possess various health benefits, such as prevention and treatment of diseases associated with heart, dysentery, diarrhea, detoxification, inflammation, fever, constipation, bronchitis, asthma and cancer

Effects of hERG K+ channel beyond prolonged QT syndrome

The human ether -a -go-go - related gene (hERG) potassium channel assumes the focal part for directing cardiac sensitivity; heart activity like repolarization adequately controlling the QT time interval electrocardiogram, that is communicated within our heart, different cerebrum areas, endocrine cells, smooth muscle cells, and a vast range of growth cell line isolates. Procured adversity or benefits changing in hERG could cause perilous "long" or "short" QT conditions, independently & the unusual weakness of hERG to impede by a various extent of medications underlies an acquired LQTS, an issue that slopes individuals to dangerous cardiovascular arrhythmias. Interestingly, a decrease in hERG flows because of either hereditary deformities or unfriendly drug impacts can promote obtained long QT disorders described by activity likely prolongation, lengthening of the QT interval on a superficial level of ECG and an expanded danger for “torsade de points” Arrhythmias & unexpected death are two side effects of the non-antiarrhythmic compound have incited the recall of certain popular drugs. Statistics on the working of hERG channel restraint give critical experiences into the sub-atomic elements that decide state voltage, and use-dependency of hERG current block. Regardless, creating evidence traps hERG in an assortment of physiological and over-the-top cycles. Propels in understanding the underlying premise of hERG gating, its traffic to the cell surface, and the atomic architecture engaged with drug-block of hERG, are giving the establishment to reasonable treatment and counteraction of hERG related long QT disorder. This survey sums up the ebb and flows information on hERG capacity and brokenness, and the spaces of progressing research. Here we discuss the current knowledge of other effects of the hERG potassium channel beyond prolonged QT syndrom

Sex hormones as an emerging weapon to combat COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) started as an epidemic in Wuhan in 2019 and was declared pandemic by WHO in March 2020. The virus has been identified and named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This novel coronavirus strain is the causative agent of COVID-19, and continues to rapidly spread worldwide. SARS-CoV-2 is a highly pathogenic and transmissible coronavirus that spreads through respiratory droplets and unprotected close contact.(1) “COVID‑19 outbreak, which has caused >95 millions confirmed infections and >2 million coronavirus related deaths, is one of the most disastrous worldwide crises in recent years. Several methods have been used to examine SARS-CoV-2 infections.” i.e. RT-qPCR for viral RNA detection, and rapid screening procedures for antibody or virus detection. COVID-19 shows an incubation period of 3–7 days globally. Approximately 80% of the cases remain mild or asymptomatic, 15% are severe and 5% infectious cases turn to critical, requiring ventilation.(2) Several clinical trials have been proposed for its treatment and management with supportive aim of mortality reduction.(1). By glancing a view on fig 1, it can be evidently seen that COVID-19 cases have started to rise significantly since last few months. Furthermore, as per World Health Organization (WHO), there have been 131,020,967 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at a global level recently. COVID-19 shows a clear gender disparity in clinical outcome. Globally, infection rates between men and women are similar; yet epidemiological data revealed that men are more likely to have enhanced severity and mortality. “In the current corona pandemic, as well as in both the 2003 SARS-CoV and the 2012 Middle East respiratory syndrome epidemics, females have substantially lower fatality rates than males as most of the immune regulatory genes are encoded by X chromosomes, resulting in women’s generally stronger inflammatory response(2). This sex disparity in immune response is postulated to be largely driven by sex hormones.(3)

Version 2 of A DIGITAL SURVEY ON PEOPLE OF WEST-BENGAL ON THE ACCEPTANCE AND AFFORDABILITY OF COVID19 VACCINE

Currently, multiple vaccines for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are in clinical trials. In Oct-Nov 2020, 1078 individuals in West Bengal surveyed to evaluate possible acceptance rates, affordability and factors affecting the acceptance of a vaccine for COVID-19. Of these, 77.27 percent of respondents reported that they would be very or very likely to take a vaccine for COVID-19, 5.3 percent don’t want to take vaccine and 12.24 don’t know about their decision. In that 58 percent respondents want to take Indian Vaccine; 19 percent respondents want to take foreign vaccine. Other respondents can take any vaccine. The affordability, 40 percent respondents want a vaccine bellow 500 INR, 25 percent respondents want a vaccine of 500-1000 INR. 11 percent respondents want vaccine of over 1000 INR