BDS INSIGHTS by Dr Manish Khazane

The World Health Organization has an Indian doctor for its new Deputy Director General for Programmes. Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research has been appointed as the same. A paediatrician by trade, Swaminathan is famous for her research in tuberculosis. The position she now adorns in the WHO is the second highest position in the global organization. It comes only below the Director General. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who took the post in July is the Director General. Swaminathan's is also the highest position adorned by an Indian in WHO’s history. DOCTOR RESPONSIBLE FOR RAISING INDIA’S FOCUS ON TB RESEARCH The doctor comes with over 30 years of experience in clinical research. She used to be the director of the National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai. She has been largely responsible for heightening the focus on tuberculosis research in India. To this end, she even created a consortium called “India ...

Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Email Doximity Republish Print The effectiveness of the nasal spray flu vaccine illustrates of the limitations of randomized controlled trials. JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES R andomized controlled trials have long been held up as the “gold standard” of clinical research. There’s no doubt that well-designed trials are effective tools for testing a  new drug , device, or other intervention. Yet much of modern medical care — perhaps most of it — is not based on randomized controlled trials and likely never will be. In this “dark matter” of clinical medicine, past practices and anecdotes all too often rule. We need to look beyond trials to improve medical care in these areas. In a randomized controlled trial (RCT), participants are randomly assigned to receive either the treatment under investigation or, as a control, a placebo or the current standard treatment. The randomization process helps ensure that the various groups in the st...

During patient treatment, the clinician needs to consider many factors that will affect the ultimate outcome. In simple terms, these factors can be grouped into 3 categories: (I) operator needs, (II) restoration needs, (III) the tooth needs. (I)The operator needs are the conditions the clinician needs to treat the tooth. (II) The restoration needs are the prep dimensions and tooth conditions for optimal strength and longevity. (III)The tooth needs are the biologic and structural limitations for a treated tooth to remain predictably functional. The Cala Lilly is a flower and is the new model for composite preparations. SOURCE: Modern Molar Endodontic Access and Directed Dentin Conservation, David Clark et al,2010

Antibiotic resistance is a result of different environmental factors and behavioral changes. Recently, antibiotic resistance has been on the rise in the past decade. In the recent turn of events, Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) has issued an urgent notice to MCI, PCI, Nursing, and Dental Council on 1st Feb 2017, about the rational use of antibiotics with the aim to limit antimicrobial resistance. Antibiotic resistance is a growing threat which needs to be contained. It has also led to the death of a patient in India. To limit the antibiotic resistance, the office has been advising about the strict requirements and prescription of Schedule H and H1 drugs for sale. Thereby, DCGI advised Indian supply chain system stakeholders for strict compliance of the Drugs & Cosmetics Act and Rules (January 2017): Taking strong policy measures, including strict regulatory action on over the counter sale of high-end antibiotics Raising awareness through different platforms and ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmyOt7uRIRg What can you do for your kidneys? Kidney diseases are silent killers, which will largely affect your quality of life. There are however several easy ways to reduce the risk of developing kidney disease. Keep fit and active Keeping fit helps to reduce your  blood pressure  and therefore reduces the risk of Chronic Kidney Disease. The concept “on the move for kidney  health ” is a worldwide collective march involving the public, celebrities and professionals moving across a public area by  walking , running and cycling. Why not join them – by whatever means you prefer! Check out the events section of the WKD website for  more  information. Keep regular  control of your blood sugar level About half of people who have  diabetes  develop kidney damage, so it is important for people with diabetes to have regular tests to check their kidney functions. Kidney damage from diabetes can be r...

WASHINGTON: The swine flu virus in India which has already killed more than 1,500 people since December may have acquired mutations that make it more severe and infectious than previously circulating H1N1 strains,  a new MIT study has warned. The study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) contradicts previous reports from Indian health officials that the strain has not changed from the version of H1N1 that emerged in 2009. READ ALSO:  Four factors that gave the swine flu virus more teeth MIT researchers found that the recent Indian strains carry new mutations in the hemagglutinin protein that are known to make the virus more virulent. Hemagglutinin binds to glycan receptors found on the surface of respiratory cells and the strength of that binding determines how effectively the virus can infect those cells. In the past two years, genetic sequence information of the flu-virus protein hemagglutinin from only two influenza strains from India has been deposited into p...

Right now, West African countries are experiencing the worst outbreak of Ebola in history. Guinea, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Liberia have confirmed more than 700 deaths from the disease, which has swept through those countries since appearing just six months ago. In this outbreak, it’s killing more than half of the people it infects — which makes it one of the less lethal strains of Ebola to emerge recently. Perversely, this relatively low mortality rate has a lot to do with its quick and devastating spread; Ebola is the sort of malicious evolutionary creation that exploits anything and everything it can find. It is the disease on which virtually all viral-horror thrillers are based. Remember that, much like HIV, Ebola is a new disease. The first recorded cases came in just 1976, in and around Zaire and Sudan. Ebola isn’t the sort of long-standing historical hardship that we can shrug off as part of the human experience, like cancer or the flu — this thing is younger than ma...