Rx – Recipere
Dr Mahinder Watsa, well known sexologist dies at 96
The popular Indian sexologist, Dr Mahinder Watsa who wrote the regular newspaper column, “Ask the Sexpert” for more than ten years in Mumbai Mirror, died at the age of 96 years. An official statement by his children said that “he lived a glorious life and on his terms.” Dr Watsa was a trained obstetrician-gynaecologist and is credited with setting up India’s first sex education, counselling and therapy centre. Dr Watsa was 80 when he began writing the now-famous daily sex advice column and is pegged to have answered thousands of queries. Many of these questions and answers from the column have been published in his book named, It’s Normal!.
New class of antibiotics active against a wide range of bacteria
Wistar Institute scientists have discovered a new class of compounds that uniquely combine direct antibiotic killing of pan drug-resistant bacterial pathogens with a simultaneous rapid immune response for combating antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These findings were published today in Nature. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared AMR as one of the top 10 global public health threats against humanity. It is estimated that by 2050, antibiotic-resistant infections could claim 10 million lives each year and impose a cumulative $100 trillion burden on the global economy.
India’s Active Caseload continues to decline, stands at 2.77 lakh
The ongoing trend of contraction of India’s total active cases continues. The active caseload of the country stands at 2,77,301 today. The share of Active Cases in the total Positive Cases has further shrunk to 2.72%. A net decline of 1,389 cases from the total active caseload was registered in the last 24 hours. Daily recoveries have outnumbered the daily new cases since more than a month now. In the last 24 hours, 20,021 persons were found to be COVID positive in the country. During the same period, 21,131 new recoveries were registered ensuring a drop in the active caseload. Total Recoveries are nearing 98 lakhs (97,82,669). The Recovery Rate has also increased to 95.83%.
Dry run of Covid vaccine rollout starts in 4 states
A dry run of the Covid-19 vaccination programme has started today in the four states to test the planned operations and focus on the management of any possible adverse events following immunisation, cold storage and transportation arrangements, and crowd management at session sites with proper physical distance. The dry run is being carried out in the states of Punjab, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat today and tomorrow. In addition, infection control practices will be followed at the site to prevent coronavirus transmission.
Scientists develop new gene therapy for deafness
A new study from Tel Aviv University (TAU) presents an innovative treatment for deafness, based on the delivery of genetic material into the cells of the inner ear. The genetic material “replaces” the genetic defect and enables the cells to continue functioning normally. The scientists were able to prevent the gradual deterioration of hearing in mice that had a genetic mutation for deafness. They maintain that this novel therapy could lead to a breakthrough in treating children born with various mutations that eventually cause deafness.
