Category: Health

Claimed to be “the world’s most exclusive yoga experience”—a 75-minute yoga session on the top of red rocks in the Valley of Fire in Nevada—costs $3,499. It includes roundtrip flying of the yoga enthusiasts from Las Vegas Strip to Valley of Fire, about 55 miles away, in a helicopter; and is said to be adaptable for all skill levels.

A joint venture of award-winning and Las Vegas headquartered Maverick Aviation Group and Silent Savassana, “HeliYoga: Limitless” yoga class is reportedly held on one of the highest peaks of Valley of Fire.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, urged City of Las Vegas and Clark County to offer free yoga classes, like some cities were undertaking in the country.  Providing an opportunity to avail the multiple benefits yoga offered, it would be a nice welcoming gesture for the tourists and a befitting expression of thanks towards the hard working locals.

Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out.

Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image.  Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.

Maverick claims to serve over 225,000 guests annually; while Silent Savasana states to offer “a distinctive, fun, and inspiring version of yoga” with a tagline “A Work In, Not a Work Out”. The Valley of Fire is said to derive its name “from red sandstone formations, formed from great shifting sand dunes during the age of dinosaurs, 150 million years ago”.

Gerald Surya, M.D., pleaded guilty to falsely certifying physical examinations for commercial drivers on October 21. Specifically, Dr. Surya certified that he had examined applicants for commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) and found them physically fit to drive heavy commercial vehicles when in fact he had not performed those examinations. When sentenced, Surya faces up to 15 years in prison.

The guilty plea was announced by Robert L. Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Douglas Shoemaker, Regional Special Agent-in-Charge, United States Department of Transportation-Office of Inspector General (USDOT-OIG).

As set forth in court filings and facts presented at the guilty plea proceeding, drivers of certain commercial vehicles, such as school buses and heavy transportation trucks, must possess a CDL issued by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) pursuant to regulations set forth by the United States Department of

Transportation (USDOT). Before obtaining a CDL, all applicants must pass written and road tests related to safely driving such large vehicles.

In addition, the applicants must be examined and certified fit to drive those vehicles by a physician or other qualified medical personnel authorized by the USDOT to conduct such examinations. Upon receipt of the certification, the applicant must file a copy with the DMV. Further, on a monthly basis, USDOT-certified medical examiners are required to electronically transmit to USDOT copies of certifications they have executed for CDL applicants.

Dr. Surya was authorized to conduct USDOT mandated medical examinations and certifications for CDL applicants and purportedly performed such examinations at his office located at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York. In fact, the applicants were not examined by Dr. Surya, but instead by other office staff

members who had little or no medical training and were not authorized to conduct the mandated medical examinations. The guilty plea took place before United States District Judge LeShann DeArcy Hall. The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Public Integrity Section. Assistant United States Attorney Michael H. Warren is in charge of the prosecution.

Sankara Eye Foundation reached a new milestone on May 21st. It celebrated our 39th Founder’s Day to commemorate the launch of SEF initiative in Coimbatore 39 years ago with a small medical center.  “Today, SEF has grown to eight super specialty eye care hospitals across India performing over 500 eye surgeries a day,” said Murali Krishnamurthy, who has been spearheading Foundation’s the operation across the US. “The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano is a proud sponsor of the Sankara Eye Foundation,” he added.

The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano, Joint ownership with physicians, is the only freestanding, full-service hospital in North Texas dedicated solely to heart and vascular health care. The hospital is acknowledged as a regional and national leader in cardiovascular care. Its commitment to providing safe, quality, compassionate care is rooted in medical and service excellence.

The hospital is ranked 5th in the nation in heart valve surgery*, 6th in the country in open heart surgery*, and #1 in the Dallas-Ft. Worth cardiac surgery market**. As a medical destination for heart and vascular care, the hospital offers advanced care in multiple cardiovascular specialties. Additionally, the hospital is actively engaged in more than 80 clinical research trials. Guests are treated to the hospital’s signature Five-Star Service, which has earned Inpatient and Emergency Department satisfaction scores*** that rank among the top hospitals in the country.

Once again, Sankara Eye Foundation has been applauded for its work ethics and transparency by Charity Navigator which examines two broad areas of a charity’s performance: its Financial Health and its Accountability & Transparency.  Even with the new enhanced financial rating methodology used this year, SEF managed to hold onto its 4 star rating.

This spring, SEF undertook the 5-city concert tour with the famous trio  Shankar Ehsaan Loy and the  New Generation. SEF staff and volunteers worked round the clock, and their dedication paid off with the concerts being sold out in almost all cities.

The audience were treated to an eclectic mix of songs both from the bygone era and today’s times, performed by the trio and the New Generation. The crowd found it very hard to stay seated with the high intensity, foot tapping numbers and the atmosphere was magical throughout.

SEF is still mostly volunteer run and is supported by over 50,000 donors all over the USA and the collective efforts are paying off.  SEF received the top 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for sound fiscal management, commitment to accountability and transparency.   We also won the IMC Ramakrishna Bajaj National Quality Performance Excellence trophy in the health care category.

Even though our uncle literally forced us to start the Sankara Eye Foundation, now we realize that this is the best thing that has happened to us.   We have made so many friends and that has enriched our lives beyond imagination.     Initially I used to think that I was making a difference in the lives of our dear visually handicapped brothers and sisters but now it is dawning on me that I am the biggest beneficiary.  I am so fortunate and grateful for this golden opportunity. Let us, together, eradicate curable blindness – Vision 20/20 by 2020. In order to get more information on how to join us on this noble mission, please visit:http://www.giftofvision.org/

Long Island, NY: The National Indo-American Association for Senior Citizens Inc., (NIAASC) organized its 28th annual conference on Seniors on May 21, 2016 at the Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Center in Elmont, New York. The conference, held in collaboration with Kerala Center, Shanti Niketan, and New York Psychiatry and Cognitive Care, was attended by dozens of members of the organization from across the nation.

The theme for the day-long conference was “Future of Aging in a Changing World” with three components that were discussed in smaller groups. Overview of the subject was presented by Dr. Nalini Juthani, Distinguished Life Member of American Psychiatry Association. Sub-topics included: Macro Factors Affecting Indian Seniors; Financial impact of Living Longer; and Social Life and Connection.

Sponsored by two not-for-profit entities – India Home and India Association of Long Island, along with eighteen individuals, the interactive participation of the attendees highlighted various important factors affecting seniors and their families.

The conference was opened by Thimbu Thalappillil, president of the Kerala Center, who welcomed the participants and detailed various programs and services provided by the Center. Rajeshwar Prasad, president of NIAASC, dwelt with the various subjects that have been covered in its previous 27 conferences since its inception in 1998. He emphasized that NIAASC has successfully worked in collaboration with various entities for conducting these full-day conferences.

The discussions on Macro Factors, especially dealing with legal issues, were coordinated by Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan, a pediatrician and former President of Suffolk County Pediatric Society. Bhavani also was responsible for program coordination of all three groups.  A spokesperson from Russo Law firm, Eric J Einhart talked to the group about Elder Law. Drawing up wills, Power of attorney, Living trusts, Medicare, Medicaid, Home health care, Nursing home care, eligibility requirements for the above. Through a power point presentation, audience were educated on advances in Healthcare technology, gene therapy and health care in the near future.

Discussions on Financial Impact, focusing on financial issues, were led by HSBC Ruben Altamirano, and Putnam Investments, David Casey, who gave the attendees information on retirement funds, diversification, and money management, how to bridge the gap, as retirees now, thanks to better healthcare are living longer. e.g. if someone worked from 20 years to 60 years and retired, and then proceeded to live from 60 years to 100 years, managing portfolios or investments needed to be handled appropriately. Kathleen A. Foster, Project Director with the Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs, led the discussions on the need for fitness, recreation, being in touch with one’s relatives and community, Adult Ed programs, free programs, volunteerism, getting around, and staying optimistic.

New York State Senator, Tod Kaminsky, in his address, spoke about his commitment to issues of seniors, while underscoring the importance of services for seniors in the state and their benefits to seniors and their families.

Prasad who with the help of many NIAASC Board members and others had developed the 10-page program brochure and Spring 2016 newsletter informed that the document has been posted on the NIAASC web site. The brochure covered the first Retirement Complex, SHANTINIKETAN, in Tavares, Florida – a piece written by its founder, Iggy Ignatius. NIAASC honored an ongoing senior program – GOLDEN PARADISE – SOCIAL ADULT DAY CARE in Nassau County and its founder and vice president of operations, Sridhar Shannugam, accepted the plaque.

The conference was coordinated by Sampurna Jain, Avinash Suri, Asha Samant and Satya Malhotra. The program ended with the General Body meeting where in the five retiring Board members were approved to serve on the Board of Directors. The Board also approved Dr. Asha Samant as NIAASC Secretary. Vote of Thanks was proposed by Satpal Malhotra, NIAASC treasurer, who had submitted its annual financial report to the members.

A Catholic elementary school in Alberta (Canada) treated its students with a yoga class on May four as a part of Mental Health Awareness Week initiative. Ecole Our Lady of the Rosary School (EOLRS) in Sylvan Lake, a Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 2 publicly funded English-French Catholic school, whose “Motto” is “Learning, Listening and Following Jesus” and which provides “education in a Catholic environment”, has posted four pictures on its Facebook of pupils doing yoga.

Welcoming EOLRS for offering multi-faceted yoga to its students as Mental Health Awareness Week activity, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, urged all Canadian public and private schools to launch yoga programs for various benefits.

Yoga, referred as “a living fossil”, was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.

Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.

According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to a recently released “2016 Yoga in America Study”, about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image.  Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.

Local Blyss Yoga; which quoted India’s renowned yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar (“It is through your body that you realize you are a spark of divinity.”) on its website; reportedly conducted the class.

Mission of EOLRS includes “committed to making Christ known to children” and its website states: “Our Catholic faith is nurtured and experienced in all classes, celebrations, and prayer”. Diane Kulczycki is the EOLRS Principal, Dr. V. Paul Mason is Superintendent of Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools and Father Les Drewicki is the Parish Priest.

Cases of patients mistakenly operated on the wrong leg, administered double the permissible dosage of medicines or not given adequate care could be more common — and have far more serious consequences — than one thinks. A new study published in the BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) on Wednesday said that if medical error were a disease, it would be the third largest killer in the US.

There hasn’t been an equivalent study for India, but a Harvard University study in 2013 estimated that 52 lakh injuries occur across India each year (out of the 430 lakh globally) due to medical errors and adverse events. The new BMJ study, conducted by a Johns Hopkins University team, for the first time measures the contribution of medical errors (estimated at 2.51 lakh annually as against 6.11 lakh deaths due to heart disease and 5.85 lakh deaths due to cancer) to deaths in the US.

Medical errors are rarely black or white decisions. “A nurse in an ICU would literally have a split second to decide which injection to give a suddenly serious patient. If a patient turns serious at 3am, she is faced with a situation in which she has three similar sounding and similar looking injections to choose from,” said Dr Nikhil Datar, a gynaecologist and health activist, who set up the Patient Safety Alliance in Mumbai five years ago to promote a healthy dialogue between patients and doctors on unintended medical errors.

There are many such interfaces in the medical world daily. Dr Datar quotes World Health Organization’s statistics that estimated one in 10 hospital admissions leads to an adverse event and one in 300 admissions in death. WHO’s European data shows that medical errors and health-care related adverse events occur in 8% to 12% of hospitalizations.

The biggest contributors to medical errors are mishaps from medications, hospital-acquired infections and blood clots that develop in legs from being immobilized in the hospital. “Approximately 3 million years of healthy life are lost in India each year due to these injuries,” said the 2013 Harvard study.

But Dr Datar gives another point of view. “In the last five years, I have realized that people don’t want to talk about medical errors. There hasn’t been any increase in the awareness about patient safety but there has been a manifold increase in blaming doctors and the healthcare system,” he said.

The BMJ study, meanwhile, said death certificates in the US have no facility for acknowledging medical error. “Death certificates could contain an extra field asking whether a preventable complication stemming from the patient’s medical care contributed to the death.”

New York, NY: Enhance Community through Harmonious Outreach, (ECHO), in association with Indian Nurses association and HFCC are partnering with Oncology, Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology and Pulmonary Specialists in the area is organizing a Free Cancer Awareness Camp for our Community on Sunday, May 22nd 2016 from 11 am to 4 pm, Dr. Thomas P. Mathew, Executive Director of ECHO, announced here last week.

“The initiative is a unique campaign to draw attention to the importance of cancer awareness and screening. There are staggering facts with frightening numbers about this disease. The good news is that this fight we absolutely can do something about. ECHO is committed more than ever to help get the word out about this disease, raising awareness. We need your help and humbly requesting for your support.” According to Usha George, President of Indian Nurses Association of NY

“We believe that our organizations can work together in a number of ways to directly address the critical problem and help collectively collaborate in this new initiative by our community based physicians to increase Cancer Awareness and the importance of Screening, Coping with Cancer, and Pranik Healing and Yoga,” says Biju Chacko, Operations Director. “The camp will include Seminars by Oncology, Gastroenterology, Pulmonary and Internal Medicine Physicians.Workshops, one on one talk with experts, Brochures, flyers, preventive screenings,” Sabu Lukose, MBA, Program Director, adds.

Koppara B. Samuel, Communications Director, says, “We are planning to advertise in the local community to approximately reach around 50,000 homes and all Indian Community through leaders like you. We at ECHO look forward to the chance to work with you on this noble cause and awareness initiative.”

Solomon Mathew, Capital Resource Director, says, “At this time we are reaching out to all our media partners through television, newspaper, social media and community organizations to reach out and promote with public service announcements and spread the word to encourage screening.”

Montreal, April 26, 2016 – Smoking addiction in schizophrenia can be explained by significantly increased activation of the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), a region involved in the brain reward system. These new data, the result of a study by researchers at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (CIUSSS EST, Montreal) and the University of Montreal confirms the tendency to smoke and low smoking cessation rates of people with schizophrenia.

“Smoking is a real problem for people with schizophrenia,” said Stéphane Potvin, a researcher at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal and lead author of the study. “Their health and life expectancy are often undermined by this addiction, whose brain mechanisms were until now largely unknown,” said the associate professor at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Medicine.

Essentially, the research team observed greater neuronal activation of a specific region of the brain (vmPFC) in schizophrenia smokers compared with healthy subjects when presented with appetitive cigarette images. At the behavioural level, the researchers also found that schizophrenia smokers had more depressive symptoms than did participants in the control group.

“These observations suggest that smoking has a greater rewarding effect in schizophrenia smokers. This corroborates the hypothesis already formulated of their increased vulnerability to this addiction but also demonstrates the great difficulty for them when it comes to quitting smoking,” said Potvin.

The prevalence of smoking in people with schizophrenia is high, and cessation rates are low. Schizophrenia smokers are twelve more times likely to die from heart disease related to smoking than are those who do not smoke. “It is necessary to explore avenues that will help people in their efforts to free themselves from smoking,” said Potvin. “That is why we want to continue our research into whether this activation of the ventro-medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is caused by the disease itself or by the effects of antipsychotics,” concluded the researcher.
In their study, the researchers used neuroimaging techniques to compare the brain responses of 18 schizophrenia smokers and 24 smokers without psychiatric disorders while viewing appetitive cigarette images. In addition, participants were asked to complete a questionnaire to assess their depressive symptoms (Beck II)

Source: S. Potvin, O.Lungu, O. Lipp, P. Lalonde, V. Zaharieva, E. Stip, J-P Melun, A. Mendrek. Increased ventro-medial prefrontal activations in schizophrenia smokers during cigarette cravings. Schizophrenia Research. April 2016.www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27005897

Stéphane Potvian is a researcher at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal) and holder of the Eli Lilly Canada Chaire in Schizophrenia Research. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University de Montreal’s Faculty of Medicine.

WASHINGTON — Suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years, a federal data analysis has found, with increases in every age group except older adults. The rise was particularly steep for women. It was also substantial among middle-aged Americans, sending a signal of deep anguish from a group whose suicide rates had been stable or falling since the 1950s.

The suicide rate for middle-aged women, ages 45 to 64, jumped by 63 percent over the period of the study, while it rose by 43 percent for men in that age range, the sharpest increase for males of any age. The overall suicide rate rose by 24 percent from 1999 to 2014, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which released the study on Friday.

The increases were so widespread that they lifted the nation’s suicide rate to 13 per 100,000 people, the highest since 1986. The rate rose by 2 percent a year starting in 2006, double the annual rise in the earlier period of the study. In all, 42,773 people died from suicide in 2014, compared with 29,199 in 1999.

“It’s really stunning to see such a large increase in suicide rates affecting virtually every age group,” said Katherine Hempstead, senior adviser for health care at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, who has identified a link between suicides in middle age and rising rates of distress about jobs and personal finances.

Researchers also found an alarming increase among girls 10 to 14, whose suicide rate, while still very low, had tripled. The number of girls who killed themselves rose to 150 in 2014 from 50 in 1999. “This one certainly jumped out,” said Sally Curtin, a statistician at the center and an author of the report.

American Indians had the sharpest rise of all racial and ethnic groups, with rates rising by 89 percent for women and 38 percent for men. White middle-aged women had an increase of 80 percent.

The rate declined for just one racial group: black men. And it declined for only one age group: men and women over 75.

The data analysis provided fresh evidence of suffering among white Americans. Recent research has highlighted the plight of less educated whites, showing surges in deaths from drug overdoses, suicides, liver disease and alcohol poisoning, particularly among those with a high school education or less. The new report did not break down suicide rates by education, but researchers who reviewed the analysis said the patterns in age and race were consistent with that recent research and painted a picture of desperation for many in American society.

“This is part of the larger emerging pattern of evidence of the links between poverty, hopelessness and health,” said Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard and the author of “Our Kids,” an investigation of new class divisions in America.

The rise in suicide rates has happened slowly over many years. Federal health researchers said they chose 1999 as the start of the period they studied because it was a low point in the national suicide rate and they wanted to cover the full period of its recent sustained rise.

The federal health agency’s last major report on suicide, released in 2013, noted a sharp increase in suicide among 35- to 64-year-olds. But the rates have risen even more since then — up by 7 percent for the entire population since 2010, the end of the last study period — and federal researchers said they issued the new report to draw attention to the issue.

Policy makers say efforts to prevent suicide across the country are spotty. While some hospitals and health systems screen for suicidal thinking and operate good treatment programs, many do not.

She noted that while N.I.H. funding for suicide prevention projects had been relatively flat — rising to $25 million in 2016 from $22 million in 2012 — it was a small fraction of funding for research of mental illnesses, including mood disorders like depression.

The new federal analysis noted that the methods of suicide were changing. About one in four suicides in 2014 involved suffocation, which includes hanging and strangulation, compared with fewer than one in five in 1999. Suffocation deaths are harder to prevent because nearly anyone has access to the means, Ms. Hempstead said. And while the share of suicides involving guns declined — guns went from being involved in 37 percent of female suicides to 31 percent, and from 62 percent to 55 percent for men — the total number of gun suicides increased..

The question of what has driven the increases is unresolved, leaving experts to muse on the reasons.

Julie Phillips, a professor of sociology at Rutgers who has studied suicide among middle-aged Americans, said social changes could be raising the risks. Marriage rates have declined, particularly among less educated Americans, while divorce rates have risen, leading to increased social isolation, she said. She calculated that in 2005, unmarried middle-aged men were 3.5 times more likely than married men to die from suicide, and their female counterparts were as much as 2.8 times more likely to kill themselves. The divorce rate has doubled for middle-aged and older adults since the 1990s, she said.

Disappointed expectations of social and economic well-being among less educated white men from the baby-boom generation may also be playing a role, she said. They grew up in an era that valued “masculinity and self-reliance” — characteristics that could get in the way of asking for help.

“It appears this group isn’t seeking help but rather turning to self-destructive means of dealing with their despair,” Professor Phillips said. Another possible explanation: an economy that has eaten away at the prospects of families on the lower rungs of the income ladder.

Dr. Alex Crosby, an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said he had studied the association between economic downturns and suicide going back to the 1920s and found that suicide was highest when the economy was weak. One of the highest rates in the country’s modern history, he said, was in 1932, during the Great Depression, when the rate was 22.1 per 100,000, about 70 percent higher than in 2014.

“There was a consistent pattern,” he said, which held for all ages between 25 and 64. “When the economy got worse, suicides went up, and when it got better, they went down.” But other experts pointed out that the unemployment rate had been declining in the latter period of the study, and questioned how important the economy was to suicide.

The gap in suicide rates for men and women has narrowed because women’s rates are increasing faster than men’s. But men still kill themselves at a rate 3.6 times that of women. Though suicide rates for older adults fell over the period of the study, men over 75 still have the highest suicide rate of any age group — 38.8 per 100,000 in 2014, compared with just four per 100,000 for their female

SEATTLE AND NEW ORLEANS – Dr. Sunil Hingorani, a member of the Clinical Research and Public Health Sciences divisions at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, will present recent groundbreaking developments in treating pancreas cancer with engineered T-cells at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2016 in New Orleans on April 16.

Hingorani, a pancreatic cancer specialist, teamed up with Fred Hutch immunotherapy experts Drs. Phil Greenberg and Ingunn Stromnes in successful efforts to breach the cancer’s physical and immunological walls using immunotherapy, a type of treatment that harnesses or refines the body’s own immune system with T-cells engineered to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

Specifically, Hingorani’s team created T cells with a high affinity to a “relatively” tumor-specific antigen. Why relatively? Notoriously difficult pancreatic tumor cells don’t produce many unique proteins that allow for completely tumor-specific T cells. Instead, the team had to look for proteins that are expressed in unusually large amounts in the tumor cells and minimally expressed elsewhere. The T cells then were engineered to attack those.

But there was a potential problem: That same targeted mesothelial protein also can be found in the linings of the heart and lungs. However, in tests on mice with pancreatic tumors and immune system responses nearly identical to those in humans, the engineered infused T cells parked only briefly in those linings (without harming them) and then moved along to attack the tumor cells. What’s more, they killed those cells over a 10-day period, as did subsequent infusions.

Additionally, Hingorani and his team have worked to develop an enzyme that can help defeat the tumor’s high interstitial pressures and potentially open the door for greater penetration and effectiveness of T cells and other types of agents. By the end of the year, Hingorani hopes to have the human version of the T cell in clinical trials.

This work was supported by a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center/University of Washington Cancer Consortium Cancer Center Support Grant, the Giles W. and Elise Mead Foundation, the Safeway Foundation, a gift from Maryanne Tagney and David Jones, the National Cancer Institute, and grants from the Korean Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Juno Therapeutics, the Irvington Institute Fellowship Program of the Cancer Research Institute and the Jack and Sylvia Paul Estate Fund to Support Collaborative Immunotherapy Research.

Editor’s note: For researcher bios, photos and more, please visit fredhutch.org/media.

Higher stress, diminished quality family time linked to worse health for children

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — More than half of adults believe children today are more stressed, experience less quality family time and have worse mental and emotional health than children in past generations, according to the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.
“We have seen major advances in medicine and public health over the last century that have greatly reduced children’s illness and death. On the other hand, conditions like childhood obesity, asthma and behavior problems have become more common,” said Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P., director of the poll and professor of pediatrics and internal medicine at the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.
“We wanted to know how the public perceives these trends, so we conducted this latest national poll to gain insights into adults’ perceptions of children’s health today. We found that adults in the U.S. broadly agree: children’s health today seems worse than for children over the past several decades.”
Among the key results, 55 percent of adults polled believe kids’ mental and emotional health is worse today than when they were children. Coping and personal friendships for children were also widely viewed as worse than for children in the past.
“The dominant view from this poll is that children’s health is worse today than it was for generations past, and we need to more urgently address these challenges,” said Mark Wietecha, CEO and president of Children’s Hospital Association, which collaborated on the poll.
In addition to the perception of diminished emotional and mental health, the poll found adults perceive children as having worse physical health as well. Forty-two percent of adults say kids today are in worse physical health compared to their own childhoods.
The poll also found generational differences in adults’ perceptions of children’s health: Pre-baby boomers ages 70 and older were most likely to perceive that children’s physical health today is better than when they were growing up. Baby boomers (ages 51-69), generation Xers (ages 35-50) and millennials in the 18-34 age group were less likely to perceive that children’s physical health is better now.
The poll of nearly 2,700 adults in a nationally representative sample asked respondents to assess key variables for children growing up today, compared to those in prior decades. The findings linked to behavioral health are consistent with previous Mott polls that cited bullying, stress, suicide, and depression as leading child health concerns identified by adults across the U.S.

April 18, 2016: A new analysis of 204 studies involving more than 1.4 million people suggests that metformin, the most frequently prescribed stand-alone drug for type 2 diabetes, reduces the relative risk of a patient dying from heart disease by about 30 to 40 percent compared to its closest competitor drug, sulfonylurea.

The study, designed to assess the comparative—not absolute or individual—benefits and risks of more than a dozen FDA-approved drugs for lowering blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, is described in the April 19, 2016 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Diabetes now affects almost 10 percent of the U.S. population and poses a growing public health threat, and most people will eventually need drug treatment, the researchers say.

“Metformin looks like a clear winner,” says Nisa Maruthur, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This is likely the biggest bit of evidence to guide treatment of type 2 diabetes for the next two to three years.”

Maruthur, the lead author on the meta-analysis, notes that cardiovascular fatalities—heart attacks and strokes—are major risks for people with uncontrolled blood sugar, but it has never been clear if one diabetes drug is better than another at lowering these fatalities. Other diabetes-related complications include blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations.

This review, Maruthur says, provides a much-needed update to two previous analyses, the last one published in 2011. Since then, researchers have published more than 100 new studies comparing the effectiveness of various blood sugar-lowering drugs, and several new drugs have also come on the market since the last report.

Of the total 204 studies analyzed, 50 spanned several continents, while others were conducted across Europe, Asia and the United States. Most of the studies were short term, with only 22 mostly observational studies lasting more than two years. Participants in the studies were generally overweight with uncontrolled blood sugar levels. Many studies excluded the elderly and those with significant health problems. Just shy of half of the studies made no mention of race or ethnicity. When researchers did report that information, only 10 to 30 percent of participants were nonwhite.

Maruthur says the new analysis not only looked at cardiovascular disease but also other drug effects, including glucose control, and common side effects, such as weight gain, hypoglycemia and gastrointestinal problems. Because the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes end up using multiple blood sugar-lowering drugs, Maruthur and her team also evaluated how the drugs performed when used alone or in combination. While some of the various studies’ participants were on insulin, this injectable drug was only evaluated when used in combination with other drugs.

Among other findings, the new review revealed that DPP-4 inhibitors, a class of anti-diabetic drugs that were very new at the time of the 2011 review, were clearly less effective at lowering blood sugar levels compared to metformin and sulfonylureas.

In terms of side effects, a new class of drugs known as SGLT-2 inhibitors, which work by shuttling excess glucose out of the body through urine, caused yeast infections in 10 percent of users, a side effect unique to this drug, Maruthur says. However, SGLT-2 inhibitors, along with another drug class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, helped patients lose weight. Sulfonylureas, on the other hand, caused weight gain and resulted in the highest rates of hypoglycemia, or too-low blood sugar, among the oral medications.

Cautioning that such meta-analyses can be limited because of differences in research protocols and measurements across studies, Maruthur and her colleagues took steps to ensure that only studies using similar methods were combined. Also, they excluded from their analysis any studies that included patients taking additional, nonstudy diabetes drugs.

Overall, Maruthur says, the results indicate that metformin, which has been around since the late 1990s, works just as well, if not better, than sulfonylureas, which have been on the market since the late 1950s/1960s, and diabetes drugs that have appeared on the market more recently. She says the new findings are in line with the current recommendation that metformin be used as a first-line therapy. The real question arises, Maruthur says, when patients and doctors must choose a second drug to be used in combination with the metformin.

“The medications all have different benefits and side effects, so the choice of second-line medications must be based on an individual patient’s preferences,” Maruthur says.

Maruthur and her team’s work will be published alongside the report they wrote for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the funding agency for the study, detailing the hundreds of studies included in Maruthur’s analysis and an exhaustive summary. Both the American College of Physicians and the Veterans Association plan to use these publications to update their guidelines.

The cost of diabetes drugs is a major consideration when prescribing. While metformin is available as a relatively cheap generic, many newer drugs carry a hefty price tag. In 2014, per-person spending was higher for diabetes drugs for any other class of traditional drugs, in part because over half the prescriptions filled for diabetes were for nongenerics.

April 18, 2016: A new analysis of 204 studies involving more than 1.4 million people suggests that metformin, the most frequently prescribed stand-alone drug for type 2 diabetes, reduces the relative risk of a patient dying from heart disease by about 30 to 40 percent compared to its closest competitor drug, sulfonylurea.

The study, designed to assess the comparative—not absolute or individual—benefits and risks of more than a dozen FDA-approved drugs for lowering blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, is described in the April 19, 2016 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Diabetes now affects almost 10 percent of the U.S. population and poses a growing public health threat, and most people will eventually need drug treatment, the researchers say.

“Metformin looks like a clear winner,” says Nisa Maruthur, M.D., M.H.S., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “This is likely the biggest bit of evidence to guide treatment of type 2 diabetes for the next two to three years.”

Maruthur, the lead author on the meta-analysis, notes that cardiovascular fatalities—heart attacks and strokes—are major risks for people with uncontrolled blood sugar, but it has never been clear if one diabetes drug is better than another at lowering these fatalities. Other diabetes-related complications include blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations.

This review, Maruthur says, provides a much-needed update to two previous analyses, the last one published in 2011. Since then, researchers have published more than 100 new studies comparing the effectiveness of various blood sugar-lowering drugs, and several new drugs have also come on the market since the last report.

Of the total 204 studies analyzed, 50 spanned several continents, while others were conducted across Europe, Asia and the United States. Most of the studies were short term, with only 22 mostly observational studies lasting more than two years. Participants in the studies were generally overweight with uncontrolled blood sugar levels. Many studies excluded the elderly and those with significant health problems. Just shy of half of the studies made no mention of race or ethnicity. When researchers did report that information, only 10 to 30 percent of participants were nonwhite.

Maruthur says the new analysis not only looked at cardiovascular disease but also other drug effects, including glucose control, and common side effects, such as weight gain, hypoglycemia and gastrointestinal problems. Because the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes end up using multiple blood sugar-lowering drugs, Maruthur and her team also evaluated how the drugs performed when used alone or in combination. While some of the various studies’ participants were on insulin, this injectable drug was only evaluated when used in combination with other drugs.

Among other findings, the new review revealed that DPP-4 inhibitors, a class of anti-diabetic drugs that were very new at the time of the 2011 review, were clearly less effective at lowering blood sugar levels compared to metformin and sulfonylureas.

In terms of side effects, a new class of drugs known as SGLT-2 inhibitors, which work by shuttling excess glucose out of the body through urine, caused yeast infections in 10 percent of users, a side effect unique to this drug, Maruthur says. However, SGLT-2 inhibitors, along with another drug class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, helped patients lose weight. Sulfonylureas, on the other hand, caused weight gain and resulted in the highest rates of hypoglycemia, or too-low blood sugar, among the oral medications.

Cautioning that such meta-analyses can be limited because of differences in research protocols and measurements across studies, Maruthur and her colleagues took steps to ensure that only studies using similar methods were combined. Also, they excluded from their analysis any studies that included patients taking additional, nonstudy diabetes drugs.

Overall, Maruthur says, the results indicate that metformin, which has been around since the late 1990s, works just as well, if not better, than sulfonylureas, which have been on the market since the late 1950s/1960s, and diabetes drugs that have appeared on the market more recently. She says the new findings are in line with the current recommendation that metformin be used as a first-line therapy. The real question arises, Maruthur says, when patients and doctors must choose a second drug to be used in combination with the metformin.

“The medications all have different benefits and side effects, so the choice of second-line medications must be based on an individual patient’s preferences,” Maruthur says.

Maruthur and her team’s work will be published alongside the report they wrote for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the funding agency for the study, detailing the hundreds of studies included in Maruthur’s analysis and an exhaustive summary. Both the American College of Physicians and the Veterans Association plan to use these publications to update their guidelines.

The cost of diabetes drugs is a major consideration when prescribing. While metformin is available as a relatively cheap generic, many newer drugs carry a hefty price tag. In 2014, per-person spending was higher for diabetes drugs for any other class of traditional drugs, in part because over half the prescriptions filled for diabetes were for nongenerics.

Evangelists of vegetarian and vegan diets are quick to cite growing evidence that reducing meat consumption improves human health in attempt to win over converts. Likewise, climate change activists often cite the strain that animal products place on the environment to advocate for changed practices.

Now, new research published in the journal PNAScombines the two perspectives to show that the widespread adoption of vegetarian and vegan diets could save millions of lives and trillion of dollars. “There is huge potential,” says study author Marco Springmann, a researcher at Oxford University, “from a health perspective, an environmental perspective and an economic perspective, really.”

Researchers assessed four different scenarios with humans consuming varying levels of meat to evaluate the links between diet, health and the environment. The lowest level of meat consumption—widespread adoption of the vegan diet—could help avoid more than 8 million deaths by 2050, according to the study. A vegetarian diet would save 7.3 million lives.

The environmental impacts of a dietary shift could be just as dramatic, according to the researchers. Livestock alone account for more than 14% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and by 2050 the food sector could account for half if cuts are implemented in other sectors along the lines that countries have committed to doing. A vegan or vegetarian diet could cut those emissions by 70% and 63%, respectively.

Changing dietary patterns could save $1 trillion annually by preventing health care costs and lost productivity. That figure balloons to as much as $30 trillion annually when also considering the economic value of lost life. And that doesn’t even include the economic benefits of avoiding devastating extreme weather events that could result from climate change.

Placing a dollar value on the benefits of the vegetarian diet could play a significant role in public policy on these issues, according Springmann. Policymakers often conduct cost-benefit analyses before implementing new rules and the new research could provide them with a starting point for accounting for the economic benefits of policies to wean the world off meat.

The study also illustrates how the benefits of changing dietary patterns vary from region to region. Some areas—namely, East Asia, Latin America and Western high-income countries—benefited from reduced red meat consumption. Others in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa will benefit the most from increased fruit and vegetable intake. Those details could help policymakers create narrowly targeted policies, researchers say.

Washington, DC: March 31, 2016 – Imagine contact lenses that can deliver medicines directly to the eye, slow progression of nearsightedness in children, or monitor glucose levels in patients with diabetes. Those are some of the emerging advances in contact lens technology reported in the April special issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

The special issue on “Revolutionary Future Uses of Contact Lenses” presents original research and reviews on proposed new uses for contact lenses. Taking advantage of new materials and technologies, these ideas go far beyond the traditional use of contact lenses for vision correction, offering potential new treatments for eye diseases, along with new approaches to monitoring of medical conditions.

The special issue was assembled by an international expert panel, led by Lyndon Jones, PhD, FCOptom, of University of Waterloo, Ont., Canada. It features 13 papers on new and emerging applications—some still under development, some already available—for contact lens technology: Slowing progression of myopia. With rising rates of nearsightedness (myopia) in children worldwide, there is growing interest in the use of contact lenses to prevent or slow progression of this vision defect. Two original research studies suggest that lasting reductions in myopia progression may be possible even with some currently available contact lenses. In the future, lens designs developed specifically for this purpose may be even more effective.

Drug and stem cell delivery. New technologies such as “molecular imprinting” have renewed interest in the possibility of using contact lenses to deliver medications directly to the eye over a period of days to weeks. While many challenges remain, this approach could lead to improved treatments for ocular diseases, achieving higher drug levels in the eye itself. Contact lenses are even being evaluated a new approach to stem cell therapy for patients with ocular surface diseases.
Contact lens ‘biosensors.’ New technologies may enable the development of contact lenses containing biosensors to monitor patient health. For example, a device to monitor changes in intraocular pressure in patients with or at risk of glaucoma is commercially available now. The special issue also includes a report on biosensing contact lenses that can measure glucose levels in the tear film of the eye, which may one day provide a new approach to continuous monitoring in patients with diabetes.
New approaches to vision correction. Meanwhile, researchers are still working on new designs to further improve vision correction with contact lenses. Studies in the special issue report promising results with new approaches to extending depth of vision for patients with aging-related vision loss (presbyopia) and benefits of “centrally red-tinted contact lenses” for patients with degenerative retinal diseases or extreme light sensitivity (photophobia).

Other technologies in earlier stages of development include accommodating contact lenses capable of changing change focus, “wearable displays” using contact lenses, and lenses with “photonic modulation” for treatment of seasonal affective disorder. “The advances in contact lens technology, especially imaging and new biocompatible materials, has made such possibilities a reality,” comments Anthony Adams, OD, PhD, Associate Editor of Optometry and Vision Science. “Researchers are already proposing solutions to the clinical and research challenges posed by these revolutionary new uses of contact lenses, going well beyond vision correction.”
Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry, is the most authoritative source for current developments in optometry, physiological optics, and vision science. This frequently cited monthly scientific journal has served primary eye care practitioners for more than 75 years, promoting vital interdisciplinary exchange among optometrists and vision scientists worldwide.

Founded in 1922, the American Academy of Optometry is committed to promoting the art and science of vision care through lifelong learning. All members of the Academy are dedicated to the highest standards of optometric practice through clinical care, education or research.

The formation of tiny bubbles around the head of ultrasonic scalers, used by dentists to remove built-up plaque, is key to the cleaning process, researchers including an Indian-origin scientist have revealed. “Putting the pieces together, we can say that altering the shape and power of these commonly used tools make them more effective, and hopefully, pain-free,” added lead study author Nina Vyas.

The bubble formation, or cavitation of water around the head of the scaler, was observed using high-speed cameras. The findings are the first to prove that cavitation takes place around the free end of ultrasonic scalers.

Removing dental plaque and calculus that is the build-up of what we know as tartar or hard plaque, is a big part of maintaining oral health and a regular occurrence in dental check-ups.

“These findings will help us to understand how to make the tools as effective as possible,” said Damien Walmsley from University of Birmingham in Britain. For the study published in the journal PLOS ONE, scalers of differing power and head shape were used and compared to quantify the patterns of cavitation.

A Satelec ultrasonic scaler was studied at medium and high operating power using high speed imaging at 15,000, 90,000 and 250,000 frames per second, and the tip displacement was recorded using scanning laser vibrometry.

Researchers were not only able to show that cavitation occurred at the free end of the tip, but that it increases with power and the area and width of the cavitation cloud varies for different shaped tips. The methods developed will help test new instrument designs to maximise cavitation, with the aim of designing ultrasonic scalers that operate without touching the tooth surface, the authors noted. With this, the process of teeth cleaning will become both less painful and more effective

Newark, CA: Riti Lomesh, a young Indian American woman began a 21-day hunger strike on Mar. 23 in the lobby of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in the state of California  to protest the lenient treatment accorded to the driver of a pickup truck which killed her brother last year when it overturned in Niles Canyon, near Fremont, Calif. “The district attorney has been very sympathetic to the driver. There has been a lot of victim-blaming for my brother,” Riti Lomesh told the media on the seventh day of her hunger strike. “I find it very disheartening,” said the 23-year-old native of Newark, Calif.

According to reports, on the evening of Apr. 20, 2015, Karan Lomesh, 19 at the time of his death, and another minor who is not being named, got into the open flatbed of Austin Daniel Strong’s Mazda 1994 pick-up truck. The California Highway Patrol reported that Strong was driving about 50 miles per hour on Palomares Road, which leads up to the canyon. Strong, 19 at the time, was unable to negotiate a curve, according to CHP reports, and his truck flew off the roadway and landed in a trench about 30 feet below.

Karan Lomesh and the other rider were ejected from the flatbed. Riti Lomesh said the truck landed on top of her brother, crushing him to death. Karan Lomesh was pronounced dead at the scene. Two other riders were taken into emergency care; one – the other flatbed rider – was treated for moderate injuries, while the other was treated for minor injuries. Strong declined medical treatment.

Riti Lomesh claimed that Strong ignored speed limit signs of 25 mph and was driving erratically. The CHP reported that drugs or alcohol were not involved in the incident. Teresa Drenick, a spokeswoman for the Alameda County District Attorney’s office, told the media that Strong pleaded no contest to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. He will be sentenced Apr. 12, said Drenick, who declined to comment on the length of sentence Strong will receive.

In California, felony vehicular manslaughter charge carries a sentence of four to six years in state prison, plus a $10,000 fine. Riti Lomesh is reported to have told the media that she was concerned that Strong might receive less than one year for an incident that caused the death of her brother. She expressed concern that Strong’s driver’s license had not been suspended following the deadly accident and alleged that the DA’s office has been treating the case in a “boys will be boys” manner.

In the week that she has been protesting in the lobby, Lomesh said no one from the DA’s office has reached out to her. Riti Lomesh described her brother as “a very kind, compassionate human being,” who was passionate about science, and volunteered with a science-learning program for younger children. “My family and I are utterly dismayed by the lack of justice for my brother,” said Lomesh.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Researchers estimate that each year 1,825 college students ages 18-24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle collisions. About 20 percent of college students meet the criteria for an alcohol use disorder, with one in four college students report adverse academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall.

“Alcohol abuse, binge drinking in particular, is thought to be a rite of passage for college students; but in reality it’s a very serious health epidemic in the United States,” said Peter Hendricks, Ph.D., associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health Department of Health Behavior. “It is important to understand what alcohol is, why it’s problematic, and what a person can do to minimize the risk should they choose to drink.”

Moderate drinking, as defined by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, is no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men, translating to seven or fewer drinks per week for women and 14 or fewer drinks per week for men. A standard drink is a 12-ounce beer, 8-ounces of malt liquor, a 5-ounce glass of wine or a 1.5-ounce shot of liquor.

Binge drinking, which is especially problematic, is four drinks in two hours for women and five drinks in two hours for men. More than one-third of college students engage in binge drinking monthly.

“Alcohol leads to impulsive decisions and can be addictive,” Hendricks said. “Even though it’s legal for those 21 years of age and older, college students should be aware of the dangers of drinking alcohol.”

Megan McMurray, clinical psychology intern at UAB, notes that drinking alcohol in excess is dangerous and can quite easily lead to death. Overdose of alcohol can occur when a person has blood alcohol content sufficient to produce impairments that increase the risk of harm. Age, drinking experience, gender, the amount of food eaten and even ethnicity can influence BAC. Critical signs and symptoms of alcohol poisoning include: Confusion; Vomiting; Seizures; Slow breathing; Irregular breathing; and Hypothermia.

“As BAC increases, so does alcohol’s effects and the risk for harm,” McMurray said. “Even small increases in BAC can decrease coordination, make a person feel sick and impair judgment. This can lead to injury from falls or car crashes, leave one vulnerable to sexual assault or other acts of violence, and increase the risk for unprotected, unintended intercourse.”

McMurray explained further, “When BACs get even higher, amnesia or blackouts occur. If a person has signs of alcohol poisoning, it is very dangerous to assume that an unconscious person will be fine by “sleeping it off.’”

Alcohol acts as a depressant, impairing basic bodily functions, such as the gag reflex, leaving people vulnerable to choking on their own vomit and dying in their sleep. Alcohol can also irritate the stomach, making the suppression of the gag reflex especially problematic.

Furthermore, on a national level, 696,000 students between the ages of 18-24 are assaulted every year by another student who has been drinking and 97,000 students between the ages of 18-24 report experiencing alcohol-related sexual assault or date rape each year.

According to an article published in Lancet in 2010, alcohol is rated as the single most harmful of all abused substances, ranking higher than heroin, crack cocaine and methamphetamine.

“Alcohol is ingrained in our culture, and binge drinking is perceived as a lighthearted, fun and humorous rite of passage among college students,” Hendricks said. “It’s crucial to communicate the dire risks of binge drinking and challenge the notion that alcohol use is a normal and harmless part of the college experience.”

Hendricks recommends that those under the legal drinking age of 21 refrain from drinking alcohol. Moderate drinking (again, no more than two drinks per day for men and one drink per day for women) may be considered for those over the age of 21. Hendricks offers suggestions that may help reduce the harm of immoderate alcohol use: Alternate each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water; Eat a full meal before drinking occasions; Sip drinks slowly and avoid taking shots, chugging or using a beer bong, as drinking quickly leads to a steep BAC curve and subsequent impairment; Do not mix alcohol with other drugs as this increases risk of toxicity and harm. Mixing alcohol with benzodiazepines (for example, Xanax and Klonopin) is especially problematic and can lead to death; Have a safe ride home by designating a driver or using public transportation, taxi or safe rides; Never leave your friends; Do not accept drinks from someone you do not know. Never take your eyes off of your drink; Intoxicated individuals cannot provide consent to sexual contact or intercourse; and Sexual contact or intercourse with an inebriated person may be considered rape in most states.

UAB’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science is advancing innovative discoveries for better health as a two-time recipient of the prestigious Center for Translational Science Award. Find more information at www.uab.edu and www.uabmedicine.org

The eyes, heart, pancreas, kidneys, esophagus, liver and bone marrow of a Bengaluru youth have granted a new lease of life to at least eight persons in New York. This followed his family’s decision to donate all his organs after he was declared brain-dead in Brooklyn Hospital Centre on Sunday.

Rajeev Naidu, 24, was admitted to the hospital with lung infection on February 21 and was undergoing treatment under the care of his roommates. Rajeev was pursuing masters in engineering from New York University in Washington Square South. He was a meritorious student and staunch follower of New Zealand cricketer Brendon McCullum.

“My parents and I haven’t seen Rajeev since he fell ill in February . We never expected this. My husband Jayanth has gone to the US to bring his body home. We are proud of whatever he did while he lived and equally proud of him for promoting a greater cause by donating his organs,” said his elder sister Kruthika Purushottam, a techie with HP. The family is expecting the body to arrive in Bengaluru by Thursday .

His last rites are likely to be performed on Friday . Rajeev, from Vidyanagar in Bommasandra, southeast Benglauru, completed BE in Computer Information Science from PESIT University in 2014. Rajeev worked in Dilip Material Handling Equipment, a local company in Bommasandra, for a year before taking admission for masters in NYU in 2015.

“Rajeev was an amazing person -kindhearted, helpful and always sported a smile. He would approach classmates, juniors and seniors to talk to them and help them. He was a great student and one of the top scorers in our university. Rajeev has made India proud by donating organs to those who needed them in US,” said Tejaswini Reddy, a classmate from PESIT.

ST. LOUIS – A lifesaving therapy for premature babies and people with injuries that prevent them from eating can cause severe liver failure and gut atrophy. A Saint Louis University researcher is studying how to prevent the damage from parenteral nutrition (PN), which is more commonly known as intravenous feeding.

Ajay Jain, M.D., a SLUCare pediatric hepatologist and gastroenterologist and the medical director of the pediatric liver transplant program at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, received a $703,620 grant from the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to continue studying strategies for PN-associated injury.

The funds will further his work into the role of bile acid activated receptors FXR and TGR5 in PN-associated hepatic and gut disease. The grant also provides support for research into gut microbes.

The NIH grant builds on previous research. Jain, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Saint Louis University, received a $150,000 grant from the North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (NASPGHAN) in 2015 and a $50,000 grant from the American Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Rhoads Research Foundation in 2014.

People receive PN when part, or all, of their digestive system doesn’t function normally. A solution containing carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients essential for normal nutrition is given intravenously.

It is a common and critical therapy for sick babies, children and adults all around the world. Despite being a life saver, PN causes several complications, Jain said, including a life threatening and potentially fatal liver and bowel disease – especially in fragile NICU babies.

The cause of the liver and bowel disease is unknown, Jain said, but is likely caused by several factors. No established therapies exist to treat or prevent the onset of the liver and bowel disease.

Jain’s research focuses on understanding the interplay of bile acid regulated pathways that modulate the gut-liver axis during PN infusion. He says the way the gut and liver communicate to maintain normal health is disrupted while a patient receives intravenous nutrition.

In a clinical setting, Jain has found mitigation of PN-associated side effects if at least some nutrition can be provided via the gut.

“It almost appears as if some food delivery to the gut is of paramount importance to generate critical signals to maintain normal health and prevent such injury,” Jain said. Jain’s research also will assess the role of the gut microbiome during parenteral nutrition.

“There are about a 100 trillion bacteria in the gut. In fact, microbial genome exceeds the human genome by almost a 100 fold, making us genetically 99 percent bacteria and 1 percent human,” Jain said. “PN may change the finely regulated gut microbiome. Our measures are aimed at restoring the normal gut-liver cross talk and the gut microbiome to as close to normal again as possible.”

Jain said his work on PN, funded through competitive SLU grants (Presidents Research Fund, Fleur-de-Lis grant, Liver Center grant) and foundation grants including the American Liver Foundation award, has yielded encouraging new data. With the NIH funding, Jain aims to: Critically evaluate gut and hepatic injury during PN therapy; Explore the mechanisms that regulate PN pathology; and Address alteration in gut microbiota.

Jain’s previous work has identified unique molecules and pathways that are altered during PN. In this project, he will assess these molecules and devise strategies and pharmacological therapies to correct the defect and mitigate complications.

Such research could help bring a paradigm change to current preventative strategies. “It would be the biggest reward if we can ultimately devise interventions to help PN-associated injuries, which unfortunately maximally affects our most vulnerable and most precious population segment – the babies,” Jain said.

The Saint Louis University Liver Center enjoys worldwide recognition as a center of excellence for research and treatment of liver diseases and liver cancer.

Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level. Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: infectious disease, liver disease, cancer, heart/lung disease, and aging and brain disorders.

“Majority of pandemic experts of all kinds, felt that a pandemic that would sicken a billion people, kill 165 million people and cost the global economy about $3 trillion would occur sometime in the next two generations,” Indian American journalist and writer Sonia Shah writes.

According to her, epidemiologists are bracing themselves for what has been called the next “Big One” — a disease that could kill tens of millions of people in the coming years. In an interview to Fresh Air’s Dave Davies on NPR, Shah talked about her new book, Pandemic: Tracking Contagions from Cholera to Ebola and Beyond, Shah discusses the history and science of contagious diseases. She notes that humans put themselves at risk by encroaching on wildlife habitats. “About 60 percent of our new pathogens come from the bodies of animals,” she says.

Shah adds that international travel is also a factor in the spread of disease. “Air travel shapes our epidemics in such a powerful way that scientists can actually predict where and when an epidemic will strike next just by measuring the number of direct flights between infected and uninfected cities,” she says.

Looking toward the future, Shah says that epidemiologists can do more to identify potential outbreaks before they happen. But eliminating them altogether is another matter. “Our relationship to disease and pandemics is really … part of our relationship to the natural world,” she says. “It’s a risk we have to live with.”

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

On our first response to new pathogens

A lot of times when we talk about being more prepared in preventing pathogens from spreading or preventing pandemics, what we’re really talking about is first response, stepping up our first response, so that when we have outbreaks of disease that our hospitals are prepared and we have vaccines stockpiled and we are able to fly our experts around really quickly to get to the scene of the outbreak, and things like that. But that’s not actually preventing these pathogens from emerging and from causing outbreaks. That’s kind of after the fire has started, then we rush in with our fire extinguishers.

But to really prevent them would mean stepping it way farther back, and that is possible now, because … we know there’s certain places that have higher risk of pathogens emerging, and we can do kind of active surveillance in those places by mapping the microbes that are there, by surveilling people or animals who are more likely to spread or to have spill-overs of microbes into their bodies. … We have more advanced detection capacity now with genetic analysis and other kinds of ways that we can see where these invisible microbes are spreading and changing.

On how most of our pathogens come from animals

From bats, we got Ebola; from monkeys we got HIV, malaria, most likely Zika, as well; from birds we got avian influenzas, all other influenzas as well, West Nile virus, etc. So it’s when we invade wildlife habitat or when we disrupt it in ways that brings people and animals into close contact, that their microbes start to spill over and adapt to our bodies.

On how Zika emerged

I think Zika is a great example of how new pathogens are emerging today. It came out of the bodies of animals; for many years, we had Zika virus in the equatorial forests of Africa and Asia. It mostly infected monkeys and possibly other creatures, too, but it very rarely came into humans. …

We don’t know what the triggering event was that allowed Zika virus to start spreading into humans, but we do know what it exploited — and it exploited two things that a lot of other pathogens have exploited, too, which is urbanization and flight travel. So in the 1940s and ’50s and ’60s when we had Zika virus in the forests of Africa, it was carried by a forest mosquito and that mosquito very rarely bit humans, it mostly bit animals, which is why we didn’t have a lot of Zika virus in people, at least it’s one reason why.

What we’re seeing now is Zika virus has crossed over into a mosquito called Aedes aegypti, and this is a mosquito that has expanded its range over recent years as we have urbanized. It specializes in living in human cities. It loves garbage, it can breed in a drop of water in a bottle cap … and it only bites humans.

So once we had Zika virus coming into Aedes aegypti, this highly urbanized mosquito, that’s when we started having this explosive spread. Of course, it traveled from Asia. It came out of Africa. It came into Malaysia, and then probably into the Philippines, Micronesia and French Polynesia. And that was the sort of slow spread, but then the rapid expansion happened when it came from French Polynesia into Brazil, and that was almost certainly through a flight, either people from French Polynesia coming to Brazil for the World Cup or possibly an international canoe race. But whatever it was, it was on a flight that it came over, and from there it’s able to access these huge, highly urbanized populations and have no immunity, and that’s what created the epidemic.

On the evolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

We’ve known since antibiotics were first developed that if we use them in ways that were not medically necessary that it would lead to the evolution of resistant bacteria. And yet, in this country, 80 percent of our antibiotic consumption is not medically necessary, it’s done for commercial reasons.

When we have livestock farmers giving antibiotics in low doses to their animals because it fattens them, it helps them gain weight faster and that gets them to market faster, so this is a commercial use. And that’s the vast majority of the antibiotics that are consumed in this country are for that reason. …

We’ve known this for years and we do have an increasing problem with antibiotic-resistant pathogens, which is a very serious problem where we’re running out of these drugs to treat these runaway infections, and we’re on the cusp of entering an era when we have no more antibiotics that work for some of these bugs. …

We need to use antibiotics more rationally. We don’t do that now. That’s sort of the hardest part of it that we need to do. But the other part of it is we also need to develop new antibiotics to keep up — these pathogens are always going to evolve resistance eventually, so we always need to come up with new weapons to fight them.

On why incidents of Lyme disease are increasing

Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria that lives in rodents and is spread by ticks. Now in the intact northeastern forest where Lyme disease first emerged, there used to be a diversity of different woodland animals there, like chipmunks and opossums as well as deer and mice and other things, but as we spread our suburbs into the northeastern forest and we kind of broke up that forest into little patchworks, we got rid of a lot of that diversity. We lost chipmunks, we lost opossums, and it turns out that those animals actually control tick populations. The typical opossum destroys about 6,000 ticks a week through grooming, but the typical white-footed mouse, which is what we do have left in those patchwork forests, a typical mouse destroys maybe 50 ticks a week. So the fewer opossums you have and the more mice you have, the more ticks you have and the more likely it becomes that this tick-borne pathogen will spill over into humans. And that’s exactly what happened with Lyme disease and now with many other tick-borne illnesses as well.

On what scares virologists most

Novel forms of influenza are what really keeps most virologists up at night, because we are so good at spreading those around quickly, and it happens every year. We have a flu pandemic every year, and now we’re hatching all kinds of new kinds of flu viruses, mostly in Asia, and then they’re spreading across the globe, and we don’t have immunity to some of those. …

Right now, a typical flu virus, the seasonal flu, will still kill a lot of people every year and it’s a real drain on our global economy. But we kind of put up with that, so if you had a new flu virus that even had a slightly higher mortality rate, you could see a lot more death and destruction because so many people get the flu. Think about the 1918 flu, which killed maybe 100 million people, maybe more, estimates vary, but certainly huge numbers of people died from that flu. The mortality rate was like 1 percent, which isn’t huge. It sounds like a small number, but when you think about how many people get the flu, that adds up to a huge number of deaths. So these new kinds of influenza, I think, are what virologists are most fearful of.

New Brunswick, NJ – Significantly more individuals who smoke and have a serious mental illness made a sincere attempt to quit after receiving a single, 45-minute counseling session, compared to those who received an interactive educational intervention. According to a study published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research by investigators at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, the brief counseling session is more effective because it utilizes an adaptation of motivational interviewing, a goal-oriented, client-centered style facilitating change.

“Our research found that a brief motivational interviewing intervention is a reasonable approach for increasing quit attempts, even in smokers with serious mental illness who were not initially interested in quitting,” said Marc L. Steinberg, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and lead author of the study. “The findings suggest that motivational interviewing may be a more productive approach than traditional educational interventions.

“Many healthcare providers assume that individuals with serious mental illness will only respond to very intensive interventions, and therefore, do nothing due to time constraints.” Dr. Steinberg continued. “On the contrary, our data indicates that smokers with serious mental illness will respond to even a very brief intervention.”

While motivational interviewing provided a benefit with regard to quit attempts, Dr. Steinberg and his colleagues found that many of the quit attempts did not translate into lasting abstinence.

“Individuals with serious mental illness are less likely to quit as compared to those without mental illness, and while we were able to use a brief intervention to encourage quit attempts, it is likely to require more intensive treatments, including counseling and pharmacotherapy, to produce longer-term abstinence,” said Dr. Steinberg. Nicotine & Tobacco Research named Dr. Steinberg’s study as the Editor’s Choice in the March issue.

“The results of the Steinberg study suggests the usefulness of motivational interviewing with adults with SMI [serious mental illness] as well. Future studies can build on these results to determine the best ways to motivate the greatest number of adults with SMI to make a quit attempt,” according to the journal’s editorial. The study and editorial were published in advance online at http://ntr.oxfordjournals.org/content/18/3/243.

The study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health (5K23DA018203 and 1R34DA030652) awarded to Dr. Steinberg. Jill Williams, MD; Patricia Dooley Budsock, MA; and Nina Cooperman, PsyD, of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Naomi Stahl of American University, contributed to the study.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder is one of the most frequently encountered neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood, and a new study from researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham recently published in Optometry and Vision Science shows a relationship between ADHD and vision problems in children.

Results from a large survey of 75,000 children suggest an increased risk of ADHD among children with vision problems that are not correctable with glasses or contacts relative to other children with 15.6 percent of children with vision impairment also having an ADHD diagnosis, compared with 8.3 percent of children with normal vision. These types of vision problems could range from color vision deficiency to a lazy eye but would also include children with vision impairment. The study included children ages 4 to 17 enrolled in the National Survey of Children’s Health.

This finding suggests that children with vision impairment should be monitored for signs and symptoms of ADHD so that if present, this dual impairment of vision and attention can best be addressed.

Director of the UAB Center for Low Vision Rehabilitation, Dawn DeCarlo, O.D., was the lead investigator on the study. She says just because vision problems that are not correctable with glasses or contacts are associated with ADHD that does not mean that one causes the other.

The national study was produced in response to patients of DeCarlo exhibiting vision impairment and ADHD. A previous paper reported an increased prevalence of ADHD among the children in her vision rehabilitation clinic.

“Because we do not know if the relationship is causal, we have no recommendations for prevention,” DeCarlo said. “I think it is more important that parents realize that children with vision problems may also have attention problems and that both require professional diagnosis and treatment.”

So if your child has vision problems, should you be worried about them developing ADHD?

“I wouldn’t worry about them developing ADHD,” DeCarlo said. “But if they seemed to have symptoms of ADHD I’d make sure that all of their vision needs are addressed through proper eye care and vision rehabilitation and would have them evaluated by an expert in attention disorders.” Other co-authors from UAB included Cynthia Owsley, Ph.D., Gerald McGwin, Ph.D., Mark Swanson, O.D.,and Kristina Visscher, Ph.D.

Meditation and aerobic exercise done together helps reduce depression, according to a new Rutgers study. The study, published in Translational Psychiatry this month, found that the mind and body combination – done twice a week for only two months – reduced the symptoms for a group of students by 40 percent.

“We are excited by the findings because we saw such a meaningful improvement in both clinically depressed and non-depressed students,” says Brandon Alderman, lead author of the research study. “It is the first time that both of these two behavioral therapies have been looked at together for dealing with depression.”

Alderman, assistant professor in the Department of Exercise Science and Sports Studies, and Tracey Shors, professor in the Department of Psychology and Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, both in the School of Arts and Sciences, discovered that a combination of mental and physical training (MAP) enabled students with major depressive disorder not to let problems or negative thoughts overwhelm them.

“Scientists have known for a while that both of these activities alone can help with depression,” says Shors. “But this study suggests that when done together, there is a striking improvement in depressive symptoms along with increases in synchronized brain activity.”

The men and women in the Rutgers study who completed the eight-week program – 22 suffering with depression and 30 mentally healthy students  –  reported fewer depressive symptoms and said they did not spend as much time worrying about negative situations taking place in their lives as they did before the study began.

This group also provided MAP training to young mothers who had been homeless but were living at a residential treatment facility when they began the study. The women involved in the research exhibited severe depressive symptoms and elevated anxiety levels at the beginning. But at the end of the eight weeks, they too, reported that their depression and anxiety had eased, they felt more motivated, and they were able to focus more positively on their lives.

Depression – a debilitating disorder that affects nearly one in five Americans sometime in their life – often occurs in adolescence or young adulthood. Until recently, Rutgers scientists say, the most common treatment for depression has been psychotropic medications that influence brain chemicals and regulate emotions and thought patterns along with talk therapy that can work but takes considerable time and commitment on the part of the patient.

Rutgers researchers say those who participated in the study began with 30 minutes of focused attention meditation followed by 30 minutes of aerobic exercise. They were told that if their thoughts drifted to the past or the future they should refocus on their breathing – enabling those with depression to accept moment-to-moment changes in attention.

Shors, who studies the production of new brain cells in the hippocampus – the portion of the brain known to be necessary for some types of new learning – says even though neurogenesis cannot be monitored in humans, scientists have shown in animal models that aerobic exercise increases the number of new neurons and effortful learning keeps a significant number of those cells alive.

The idea for the human intervention came from her laboratory studies, she says, with the main goal of helping individuals acquire new skills so that they can learn to recover from stressful life events.  By learning to focus their attention and exercise, people who are fighting depression can acquire new cognitive skills that can help them process information and reduce the overwhelming recollection of memories from the past, Shors says.

“We know these therapies can be practiced over a lifetime and that they will be effective in improving mental and cognitive health,” says Alderman. “The good news is that this intervention can be practiced by anyone at any time and at no cost.”

An Indian-origin cancer research expert has received a Knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his “influential” work on prevention and treatment of cancer in the annual New Year’s Honors list published here Dec. 31.

Harpal Singh Kumar, who is the chief executive of Cancer Research UK, has been honored for services to cancer research and being “hugely influential in promoting research into the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and cancer care.”

“CRUK’s income and research spend are at an all-time high. Under his leadership, it has been instrumental in pushing the government to take further measures to reduce smoking and to ban sun-beds for under-18s,” Kumar’s citation reads.

“He also chaired the Independent Cancer Taskforce and authored the NHS Cancer Strategy ‘Achieving World Class Cancer Outcomes. A Strategy for England 2015-20’, published in July 2015,” it said.

Kumar leads this year’s honors list of Indian-origin names, covering fields of entrepreneurship, financial services and community service.

“He has been instrumental in setting up the Francis Crick Institute as a world-leading center of biomedical research and innovation,” the citation added.

Samir Desai, founder-CEO of Funding Circle, receives a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire for his work in the field of financial inclusion, and Raminder Singh Ranger, chairman of Sun Mark Ltd, is awarded a CBE for services to business and community cohesion (see separate story).

Among the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire list are Kala Patel, managing director of Kiddycare Ltd Nurseries, for services to childcare business, and Daljit Lally, deputy chief executive of Northumberland Country Council, for services to integrated care.

A British Empire Medal has been awarded to Aatin Ashok Anadkat, managing director of Hotel Maiyango in Leicester, for services to entrepreneurship. The largest Indian-origin representation is among the list of Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Declaring that the Zika virus is “spreading explosively,” the World Health Organization announced it will hold an emergency meeting of independent experts Monday to decide if the outbreak should be declared an international health emergency.

At a special meeting Thursday las t week in Geneva, WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan said the virus — which has been linked to birth defects and neurological problems — was becoming much more of a threat.  One WHO scientist said the Americas could see up to 4 million cases of Zika in the next year.

Chan said although there was no definitive proof that the Zika virus was responsible for a spike in the number of babies being born with abnormally small heads in Brazil, “the level of alarm is extremely high.”  She also noted a possible relationship between Zika infections and Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis.

Stamford, Conn. – Dec. 23, 2015 – AmeriCares has $1.1 million worth of medicine headed to Nepal to restock hospitals running critically low on essential supplies. The shipment, which is expected to arrive in early January, is in response to an urgent request from the World Health Organization. AmeriCares pharmaceutical partners, including AbbVie, Fresenius Kabi, and Pfizer, generously donated products for the emergency shipment.

The delivery is part of a series of aid shipments AmeriCares is sending to address a serious medicine shortage in Nepal. A political dispute is disrupting the flow of imported products from India, vastly reducing the amount of fuel, medicine and other necessities entering Nepal. This is the second shipment this month to alleviate the medicine shortages. Last week, AmeriCares shipped enough basic medicine to Nepal to support a population of 40,000 people for three months.

Many of the health facilities AmeriCares is supporting through its earthquake recovery program report suppliers have halted deliveries, and some have warned they might have to cut services if they cannot access the products they need. AmeriCares latest shipment includes antibiotics, pain relievers, thyroid medication, allergy medicine and other medical products. The WHO and the Ministry of Health and Population will manage the distribution of products to health facilities throughout the country.

“The shortage of fuel and medicines has created a second emergency only eight months after the devastating earthquake,” said AmeriCares Vice President of Emergency Response Garrett Ingoglia. “With support from our pharmaceutical partners, we are helping to ensure hospitals in Nepal can continue serving patients.”

An AmeriCares emergency response team was on the ground in Nepal within 48 hours of the April 25 earthquake, working to restore critical health services. To date, AmeriCares has deployed emergency medical teams to treat survivors, delivered more than $21 million in urgently needed medicines and relief supplies and supported health care services in affected regions. AmeriCares opened an office and warehouse in Kathmandu to oversee its earthquake recovery programs through 2018.

AmeriCares has been aiding survivors of natural disasters, political conflict and extreme poverty around the world for more than 30 years, saving lives and restoring health and hope. To donate to AmeriCares Nepal Relief Fund go to www.americares.org/nepalearthquake

Research into how alcohol consumption affects health has been going on for a long time. According to reports, a 1990 prospective cohort study included results of more than 275,000 men followed since 1959. Compared with those who never drank alcohol, those who consumed one to two drinks a day had a significantly reduced mortality rate from both coronary heart disease and “all causes.” Those who consumed three or more drinks a day still had a lower risk of death from coronary heart disease, but had a higher mortality rate over all.

A 2004 study came to similar conclusions. It followed about 6,600 men and 8,000 women for five years and found that compared with those who drank about one drink a day on average, those who didn’t drink at all and those who drank more than two drinks a day had higher rates of death. Results like these have been consistent across a number of studies in different populations. Even studies published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research agree that moderate drinking seems to be associated with a decreased risk of death over all.

However, alcohol seems to have different effects on different diseases. Almost all of the major benefits of drinking are seen in cardiovascular illnesses. In fact, with men, even consumption of a surprisingly large amount can seem protective.

When it comes to cancer, the picture isn’t as rosy. For instance, a 2007 study involving the Women’s Health Study cohort found that increased alcohol consumption was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. More broadly, a 2014 systematic review of epidemiologic and experimental studies looking at alcohol and breast cancer found that the overall consensus is that each additional drink per day increases the relative risk (comparing the risk in two groups) of breast cancer by a statistically significant, but small, 2 percent — although not the absolute risk.

A meta-analysis of colorectal cancer and alcohol found that heavy drinkers, but not light or moderate drinkers, were at increased risk of the disease. No relationship is seen with respect to bladder cancer or ovarian cancer. A study that included all cancers found that light drinking was protective; moderate drinking had no effect; and heavy drinking was detrimental.

Moderate alcohol consumption has been found to be associated with other benefits, though. A cohort of about 6,000 people followed in Britain found that those who consumed alcohol at least once a week had significantly better cognitive function in middle age than those who did not drink at all. This protective effect on cognition was seen in people who drank up to 30 drinks a week.

A 2004 systematic review found that moderate drinking was associated with up to 56 percent lower rates of diabetes compared with nondrinkers. Heavy drinkers, though, had an increased incidence of diabetes. This is where savvy readers should be asking: What about randomized controlled trials? After all, epidemiologic evidence and associations only go so far; they cannot get us to causation.

Recently, in Annals of Internal Medicine, such a trial was published. Patients with well-controlled Type 2 diabetes were randomized to drink 150 milliliters of water, white wine or red wine with dinner for two years. The beverages were provided to patients free of charge. They were all placed on a Mediterranean diet with no calorie restrictions.

Researchers found that those who drank the wine, most notably red wine, had a reduction in cardiometabolic risk factors, or those for heart disease, diabetes or stroke. This was especially true in patients who had certain genotypes. Further, no one had any significant adverse effects from being randomized to drink the alcohol.

In another analysis of that randomized control trial published this year, the most interesting finding was about blood pressure. In this study, some people saw a reduction in systolic blood pressure. Again, the alcohol was not associated with significant adverse effects. This contradicts the findings from systematic reviews of epidemiologic studies that show alcohol intake may be associated with a small but significant increase in blood pressure.

Adding further complications was a shorter-term trial looking at red wine consumption that found it had no effect, positive or negative, on blood pressure in patients with atherosclerosis. A different analysis of that study found that it did result in improved cholesterol levels, even though many patients were already being treated with statins.

A 2011 meta-analysis examined 63 controlled trials of wine, beer and spirits, and found that all of those beverages increased levels of HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). There was even a dose-response, with more alcohol consumed having more of an effect.

Synthesizing all this, there seems to be a sizable amount of evidence that moderate alcohol consumption is associated with decreased rates of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and death. It also seems to be associated with increased rates, perhaps to a lesser extent, of some cancers, especially breast cancer, as well as some other diseases or conditions. The gains from improved cardiovascular disease deaths seem to outweigh all of the losses in other diseases combined. The most recent report of the U.S.D.A. Scientific Advisory Panel agrees with that assessment.

But alcohol isn’t harmless. Many people with certain diseases or disorders, and women who are pregnant, need to avoid it. Others who can’t keep their consumption to acceptable levels need to abstain. Alcohol is very harmful when abused, so much so that it’s difficult for me to tell people to start drinking for their health. That’s rarely the conclusion of any studies about alcohol, no matter how positive the results. Nor is it the advice any doctors I know give.

However, the evidence does seem to say that moderate consumption is safe, and that it may even be healthy for many people. If you’re enjoying some drinks this holiday season, it’s nice to know that they may be doing more than just bringing you cheer.

“It’s amazing to see what the synergy of like-minded people can do. This 1.3 million is not just a number, it’s 1.3 million lives who have started seeing,” said Dr. R.V. Ramani, founder of the Sankara Eye Care Institutions in India, at Sankara Eye Foundation’s annual gala Dec. 12 at the Sakoon Restaurant.

The banquet hall was brimming with Indian American community philanthropists, business and social leaders, volunteers and donors, who gathered at the event to support the organization’s flagship mission of eliminating curable blindness in India.

Vital funds to the tune of $700,000 were raised during the night to support and empower the underprivileged experiencing sight loss in India. “Mr. Ram Reddy announced 100,000 at the BATA banquet, one anonymous person donated 100,000 and another person gave 50K,” Murali Krishnamurthy, founder and SEF executive chairman, told the media.

“I would request people to close their eyes and donate, so we will open more eyes. It’s your hospital, and we are helping our people back home,” he said, adding that an anonymous donor has offered to match all donations up to $1 million until Dec. 31, 2015.

The annual charity event attended by mostly Indian Americans was part of the foundation’s fundraising efforts for its new hospitals in Hyderabad, Telangana, and Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The land for the Indore hospital has already been procured while the land for the Hyderabad hospital has been identified, said Krishnamurthy.

SEF has played a pivotal role in increasing the number of free eye surgeries provided annually for the economically disadvantaged in India — from 8,000 in 1998 to over 150,000 surgeries and counting today.

The organization has so far conducted more than 3.6 million adult vision screenings, over 5.1 million children screenings, performed 8,145 pediatric surgeries and distributed over 107,000 free eye glasses, all free of cost.

Ramani, delivering the evening’s keynote address, spoke on Sankara’s history, growth, philosophy, goals and achievements. “Eighty percent of the country’s blind are needlessly blind,” Ramani said at the gala. “When we give vision to a child, we give the next 80-85 years of productive life, and when we give vision to an adult, we make him/her the breadwinner of the family.”

Ramani was accompanied by his wife, Dr. Radha Ramani, with whom he founded the first Sankara Eye Hospital in Coimbatore in 1977. “The whole values of Sankara are the five principles… serve silently, serve with humility, serve without conditions, serve with love and conviction,” Radha Ramani said at the gala, noting the importance of acts performed with love.

“People from this part of the globe are donating, and we deliver the service at the other end, and when we see the actual benefit reaching out to them, not in hundreds or thousands but beyond a million, it is a soul-fulfilling experience,” R.V. Ramani told the media.

Emphasizing bringing the gift of light to the underprivileged, Ramani said, “Giving vision at every age has got a tremendous impact and doing that for someone who does not have access to and cannot afford it, it’s amazing.”

The evening was an entertaining one featuring vibrant musical performances and a cocktail reception and dinner. With eight fully functional hospitals, the foundation aims to build at least 20 eye hospitals across India by the year 2020 under its Vision 20/20 project, and to perform a million surgeries annually.

“It’s like having an extended family as Sankara Foundation in United States, who contributes by thought, conviction, involvement and monetary,” said Ramani. “Today we are able to replicate the model everywhere in India because of the contribution that is coming from here.”

The organization, one of the world’s biggest charities of its kind, is the recipient of many honors along with securing a coveted four-star rating from Charity Navigator for its sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency, said Krishnamurthy.

The uniqueness of Sankara’s social enterprise lies in its replicable and sustainable model of 80/20, wherein 20 percent of patients pay for the free treatment that the 80 percent poor receive.

Ramani said it takes about 18 months for a hospital to be constructed and fully operationalized, and about five years for it to become financially self-sustainable after inception. “Donors have to think in terms of supporting the cause not just one time,” he stated. “Every year they should give some support as the first five years they are all toddlers, and we have to hold their hands until they start walking by themselves.”

These super-specialty eye care hospitals equipped with Lasik facilities treat not only cataract, which is a major cause leading to blindness in India, but also offer a full range of comprehensive eye care services, including ocular oncology. A program called SANQALP or Sankara quality assurance learning program, is in place, where a quality champion is identified for each hospital, who drives quality in that hospital, along with tracking 48 quality indicators on a month to month basis.

“Our site restoration rate is at 98.3 percent,” Dr. Kaushik Murali, president, medical administration, at Sankara Eye Foundation, India, told the media. Forty meritorious girls from the disadvantaged section are trained on a curriculum-based program to serve as technicians, and to make sure that the knowledge percolates from the seniors to the fresh recruits; in effect, Sankara hospitals have set up a knowledge management system, Murali said.

Another unique feature of Sankara is the Rural Outreach Model, which brings eye care to the doorstep of rural India. Eye care and diagnostic camps are conducted in villages every week to screen poor patients for eye problems; those needing surgeries are taken to the base hospital for treatment.

Free transportation, food and lodging are provided for patients during their hospitalization. The also receive systematic follow-up ensuring effective post-operative care.\ The organization also uses technology to the maximum for a targeted intervention.

“Today, all our hospitals are linked and data transfer is real time. We have built our own app, SERVICE, which stands for Sankara Electronic Remote Vision Information System,” Bharath Balasubramaniam, president of community outreach at Sankara Eye Foundation, India. “The app enables us to reach out to the community, screen them and also tag them, so we are able to map diseases, identify where there is more prevalence of diabetes, cataract and hyper tension and then decide our camp location,” he said.

A leading U.S. robotic surgeon, Dr. Chris Holsinger from Stanford, will visit India this week to train head and neck surgeons on minimally invasive methods such as robotic surgery for treating cancer patients. India with its vast number of smoking population is home to the largest number of head and neck cancer patients in the world that go untreated. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) studies reveal that in India over 200,000 head and neck cancers are reported each year. Of these, nearly three-fourth cancers relate to oral cavity, throat and voice box.

Holsinger, who leads Stanford Cancer Centre’s Head and Neck Oncology practice will share his vast experience at the Second National Workshop in Transoral Surgery at Delhi’s Rajiv Gandhi Cancer Institute & Research Centre (RGCIRC) on Saturday. During the day-long session Holsinger, widely recognised as the global guru of head and neck surgery, will speak to over a 100 surgeons on the ‘How, When and When Not’ of robotic surgery, according to a media release.

The audience will include surgeons from All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Medanta Medicity, Maulana Azad Medical College (MAMC), Sir Ganga Ram Hospital and Post Graduate Institute of Medical Research (PGI). In addition, he along with workshop co-chair and consultant surgical oncologist RGCIRC Dr. Surender Dabas will also conduct robotic surgeries that will be telecast live to the attendees at the event.

The conference will debate issues like relative merits and demerits of radiotherapy versus robotic surgery as a method to treat mouth and pharynx cancer patients. Since 80 per cent of Indian patients test negative for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), robotic surgery leads to better results compared to radio theraphy.

“While smokers have a 16 times higher risk of contracting oral cancer, the risk factor grows to 36 times among smokers who consume alcohol,” said Dabas who has conducted over 200 robotic surgeries in the last two years. “Participation of patients in preventive health checkups is key to controlling this menacing medical condition,” said Dr AK Dewan, medical director and Chief of Head and Neck surgery, RGCIRC.

Holsinger, founded and led the programme in Minimally Invasive and Endoscopic Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas’ MD Anderson Cancer Centre before founding the programme in robotic surgery at Stanford. RGCIRC’s oncology practice in Head and Neck, Urology, Gynaecology, Thoracic and General area has recorded over 1500 robotic surgeries since introduction in early 2011.

“Robotic procedures in India are estimated to cross the 6000 mark in 2015 as more and more procedures across the spectrum have started using robots,” said Dr Mahendra Bhandari, CEO of the U.S. headquartered Vattikuti Foundation that is promoting prevention and treatment of cancer in USA and India.

Dr. Dinesh Vyas, an Indian-American surgeon is hoping to raise $25 million to train 1.5 million first responders – the first rescuers to arrive at an accident scene – in five years to prevent over 1,000 deaths on Indian roads every day that cost the nation $50 billion annually. Rajasthan University-educated surgeon Dr. Dinesh Vyas, an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at Michigan State University since 2011, has already trained over 4,000 first responders in India using a $200,000 simulator dummy.

He is now leading a strong international multi-disciplinary team to India from December 26 to January 4, 2016 to win support for the programme from Indian auto, IT and healthcare industries by way of corporate social responsibility (CSR). “This programme will generate $5 billion business for auto, IT and healthcare industries and will save a lot of lives,” Vyas told IANS in an interview.

“Trauma and roadside epidemic is one of the biggest health concerns for India,” he said. “Unfortunately, it has been neglected for a long time and with a three percent annual increase in deaths, we have more than 1,000 deaths everyday and 5,000 severe disabilities.”

Over the last eight years, Vyas’ team has established five centres in Rajasthan which have trained 2,000 first responders in person and another 2,000 through an online course with the help of 200 trainers under its umbrella. Training 1.5 million first responders at 50 centres in the next five years would stall a three percent increase in mortality, he said. “Our next five-year goal will be to reduce the mortality to one percent annually, at par with any developed nation.”

The idea behind taking an international delegation to India, Vyas said, was “to address the trauma problem holistically”. “We are concentrating systematically on all the aspects of trauma, to prevent a burden on the health system,” with a focus on pre-hospital care while simultaneously building a platform on prevention.

The aim is to develop and build a contextual training programme in multiple aspects of trauma in various Indian languages starting with Hindi, Bengali and Telugu. The international delegation comes with major strengths in fields ranging from surgery and trauma and critical care to mass media and communication to health legal issues and highway engineering.

The delegation includes faculty from US and Britain, with several endowed professors from Pittsburgh, Michigan State and other major universities. Dr. McSwain from Tulane University, one of Vyas’ collaborators, developed in 1980 a four-tier system in the US that goes from online education to highly sophisticated trauma programmes for surgeons.

“The technology we are using is not available even in most of the centres in the US at this time,” Vyas said. “We are designing a programme that will eventually help even developed nations in building a cost efficient programme.” To raise money for the programme, Vyas and his team are making presentations to various foundations and IT companies both in the US and India. During his visit to India, Vyas would be visiting Jodhpur, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Manipal, Bangalore, Karimnagar and New Delhi.

He will be addressing, among others, the National Police Academy in Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Police Academy and meet officials and fellow professionals to gain support for his mission.

“We are pleased to recognize UC San Diego Health for its commitment to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee, executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care.”

UC San Diego Health is part of a group of hospitals recognized for their commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines and recommendations.

When someone experiences a major stroke, almost two million nerve cells in the brain die each minute, emphasizing the need for rapid treatment. Stroke patients who receive life-saving interventions more quickly have a higher chance of recovery. A recent data analysis showed the Comprehensive Stroke Center at UC San Diego Medical Center exceeded national average treatment times, and as a result, has received a “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award” from The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association (AHA/ASA).

“Our success as a Comprehensive Stroke Center is a team product, including neurologists, radiologists and pharmacists all working together with one goal: to provide the fastest and most effective treatments using the highest level of imaging and diagnostic tools,” said Thomas Hemmen, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Neurosciences at UC San Diego School of Medicine and clinical services chief of neurology at UC San Diego Health. “Receiving this award validates our ongoing efforts to turn guidelines into lifelines.”

To receive a Gold Plus Award, a hospital must achieve 85 percent or higher compliance to core standard levels of care as outlined by the AHA/ASA for two or more 12-month consecutive periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight “Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures.” According to the AHA/ASA, on average, someone suffers from a stroke every 40 seconds. The neurological event is the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States.

UC San Diego Medical Center was the first to receive Comprehensive Stroke Center certification in San Diego County in 2012 and has pioneered endovascular approaches using state-of-the-art devices for procedures, such as embolectomies – the surgical removal of blood clots.

“This honor not only reflects the life-saving technologies used when every minute counts, but it also recognizes the high quality of elective care our center provides to patients diagnosed with conditions such as brain bleeds and aneurysms or who have suffered from a previous stroke,” said Alexander Khalessi, MD, vice chairman of clinical affairs for neurosurgery and director of endovascular neurosurgery at UC San Diego Health.

The center also brings instant expertise to other organizations and saves lives beyond San Diego County with the stroke telemedicine program, which transports stroke specialists virtually via computer desktop or laptop to the patient’s bedside using highly sophisticated video, audio and Internet technologies.

“Time is brain during a stroke, so it is paramount we continue to use innovative approaches that lead the way in stroke care,” said Khalessi, who also played a critical role in working with the AHA/ASA to write new guidelines on early management of acute ischemic stroke.

Rena N D’Souza, an Indian-American doctor and professor of dental sciences has been elected vice-president of the International Association for Dental Research (IADR). Rena N D’Souza, an internationally regarded researcher and highly honored dental educator is an alumni of Government Dental College – University of Bombay, is currently serving as the professor of dental sciences, neurobiology & anatomy, and pathology at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

D’Souza would later on serve as the president-elect, president and immediate past president of International Association for Dental Research, a media release said. A past president of the American Association for Dental Research (2012-2013), she has been an active IADR member since 1984 and is nationally and internationally known for her research in craniofacial development, genetics, tooth development and regenerative dental medicine.

As a leader in the field, D’Souza has led an active research program for more than 25 years on tooth development and genetics, matrix biology and tissue regeneration, the release said.

She has also directed two comprehensive National Institutes of Health (NIH) institutional research training and development programs and served on several grant review panels.

She served on the NIH’s National Advisory Dental and Craniofacial Research Council, the Physician-Scientist Workforce Working Group for NIH Director Francis Collins and as chair of its subcommittee on dentist-scientist training. D’Souza is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, director on the Friends of NIDCR Board and member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina).

On December 3rd, people across the globe took part in International Day of Persons with Disabilities. This day aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities. AIF and its partners recognized this auspicious day by holding two events, one in New Delhi and one in New York City. The event in India garnered coverage from CNN-IBN.

In New York City, AIF brought together preeminent thought leaders in the disability space for a discussion on “Skilling the Disabled for the Workforce.” The keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, who is a world-renowned entrepreneur and is the Founder of the Wadhwani Foundation. Dr. Wadhwani spoke about the innovative work that his foundation is doing in India in terms of skilling those with disabilities, as well as his Foundation’s strong partnership with AIF. Ravi Kumar, the CEO of AIF, talked about AIF’s Ability Based Livelihood Empowerment (ABLE) program. ABLE trains persons with disabilities and facilitates their entry into the job market through advocacy, promoting inclusive growth in India. Kumar talked about how this year ABLE has impacted more than 3,000 persons with disabilities, 2.5 times the previous year, and that the program has now overall has impacted over 10,000 persons with disabilities.

The event also featured an enriching discussion with some of the world’s top thought-leaders in the disability space including Atul Bhatara (Co-Managing Member, Ushaholdings LLC), Sheena Iyengar (Inaugural S.T. Lee Professor of Business in the Management Division, Columbia Business School), Peter Kenny (Director in Global Compliance, Barclays), Michael Monteferrante (President and CEO, Envision), and Frances West (Chief Accessibility Officer, IBM). The panel was moderated by Shraysi Tandon, Business Reporter/Anchor, CCTV America.

When it comes to emotional health, young couples – especially women — do just as well moving in together as they do getting married, according to a new national study. Using data collected in the 2000s, researchers found that single young women experienced a similar decline in emotional distress when they moved in with a romantic partner or when they went straight to marriage for the first time.

Men experienced a drop in emotional distress only when they went directly to marriage, not when they moved in with a romantic partner for the first time.

But for young adults who moved on from that first relationship, both men and women received similar emotional boosts whether they moved in with their second partner or got married to them.

The findings suggest an evolving role of marriage among young people today, said Sara Mernitz, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in human sciences at The Ohio State University. As recently as the early 1990s, young people still received emotional health benefits when they went from living together to getting married, Mernitz said.

“Now it appears that young people, especially women, get the same emotional boost from moving in together as they do from going directly to marriage,” she said. “There’s no additional boost from getting married.”

The study appears online in the Journal of Family Psychology and will be published in a future print edition. Claire Kamp Dush, co-author of the study and associate professor of human sciences at Ohio State, said the results may reflect the fact that cohabiting today does not carry the same stigma as in previous generations. Nowadays, about two-thirds of couples live together before marriage.

“At one time marriage may have been seen as the only way for young couples to get the social support and companionship that is important for emotional health,” Kamp Dush said. “It’s not that way anymore. We’re finding that marriage isn’t necessary to reap the benefits of living together, at least when it comes to emotional health.”

Another significant finding was that the emotional benefits of cohabitation or marriage aren’t limited to first relationships. The study found that young adults experienced a drop in emotional distress when they moved from a first relationship into cohabitation or marriage with a second partner.

“The young people in our study may be selecting better partners for themselves the second time around, which is why they are seeing a drop in emotional distress,” Kamp Dush said. The researchers used data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997. This study included 8,700 people who were born between 1980 and 1984 and were interviewed every other year from 2000 to 2010.

The NLSY97 is conducted by Ohio State’s Center for Human Resource Research for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In addition to asking about their relationship status at each interview, participants were asked five questions assessing their levels of emotional distress. They reported on a scale of 1 (all of the time) to 4 (none of the time) how often in the past month they had felt “downhearted and blue” and other symptoms. This study has advantages over studies that simply compare groups of people who are single, married and cohabiting.

“We are able to look at people over a 10-year period and see what happens to them individually as they make these various transitions in their relationships,” Mernitz said.

The study did find some gender differences, at least for first unions of marriage or cohabitation. For those entering a first union, men experienced a decrease in emotional distress only if they went directly into marriage. There was no change in distress for men who cohabited with a female partner.

That may be because men are more likely than women to report cohabiting as a way to test a relationship, which has been linked in other research to subsequent relationship problems. Also, Kamp Dush noted that this study assessed only emotional distress. Other research suggests that behavioral indicators of health – such as alcohol use or violence – may be more accurate for men than emotional indicators.

In any case, the gender differences were visible for only first unions. There were no differences in emotional health changes for men and women entering their second union, whether they were marriage or cohabitation.

The study also found that individuals who gave birth (or whose partner gave birth) showed significant decreases in emotional distress compared to those who did not have a child. That may seem surprising, given the stress associated with having a child, Kamp Dush said. But she noted that this study looked only at emotional distress. There may be other ways in which the stress of raising a child is manifested in these couples.

Kamp Dush said that marriage may provide some benefits over cohabitation that were not measured in this study, such as stability. But these findings provide evidence of a changing landscape in the United States. “It’s not commonly known that couples can get emotional benefits from moving in together without being married. That’s something we should be talking about,” she said.