Top 5 Ongoing Trends in Healthcare Sector

Gone are the times when healthcare sector had a reputation of almost negative customer experiences. Nowadays, healthcare companies are going all guns blazing about their approach towards their customers. The approach also includes the optimum use of advanced technology besides newer approaches in-order to create a progressive change in the healthcare industry. Let us run through some of the upcoming trends in the healthcare eco-system.

Trends in Healthcare Sector

Tailored Medicine – Medicine is all about observation based diagnosis with evidence to support the same. Today, healthcare centers are equipped with the latest in technology that results into accurate and speedy diagnosis. For example, with the help of radiology clinicians can investigate structures deep inside the body and with techniques like histopathology, clinicians can identify virus and tumors using microscopes.

Virtual Reality – Virtual reality is working well in the management and treatment of pain. As per a study of the recent times, children responded to chemotherapy better when they played games while undergoing the same. This was because their attention got concentrated from the treatment part to the play part and hence even resulted in them requiring less dosage. Side effects like nausea and hypertension were also reduced compared to children who were advised to rest.

Patient Customization – Data has grown and so has the ability of the healthcare facilities to provide their customers with an experience that is absolutely personalized. Based on the history of the patient, these clinics provide facilities like potential health issues, doctors preferred by the patient, patient preference in terms of remote treatment or walk in, to name a few. This can help avoid the complexities involved with the navigation through health care professional web and makes patients information available readily for speedy and accurate treatment solutions.

Augmented Reality – Besides other fields, augmented reality is playing a crucial role in healthcare and is fast turning out to be one of the most effective applications in medical training. AR helps doctors while monitoring diagnosis with the treatment procedure options to look forward too. They don’t have to spend time in honing their medical knowledge further because treatment options can simply pop up on their screen with options and suggestions. For example, while doing a child checkup the growth chart can pop up on the monitor itself, thus helping the doctor with seamless treatment procedures.

Smart Technology in HospitalsSmart Technology in Hospitals has actually helped better patient experience, comfort, and care. For example, many hospitals have started using smart technology in hospitals. In a few countries, certain healthcare outfits use self-adjusting beds for pressure and support customization for patients. Many are also making use of man free facilities where robots carry out the monitoring process of the patient in the room. Smart technology is available in different forms and works in reducing risks while increasing comfort and efficiency. Affirmatively, the use of smart technology across the healthcare ecosystem is poised to grow day by day, obviously so.

Top 5 Pregnancy Complications To Be Aware Of

The news of pregnancy brings in smiles on the faces of the family members. On the flip side, during the three trimesters, you need to be on your toes and all alert because pregnancy can cause complications if proper care is not taken. Though you are going to be under the scanner all through the pregnancy cycle and your doctor is going to get you tested on various complications, you yourself need to be aware of them and take self-care to keep them at bay.

Here is a run through some complications of pregnancy that can be life threatening to the fetus and the mom as well.

Top 5 Pregnancy Complications To Be Aware Of

1. Pre-eclampisa – It is the almost rare condition in pregnancy because it usually affects only 5 % of the pregnant women in India. This condition is caused by high level of proteins in the urine, high blood pressure or kidney conditions post 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Care needs to be taken to be aware and act promptly by the doctor if there are even mild symptoms of it because it can progress fast and can be life-threatening to the baby and the mother too. The solution to it is early delivery.

2. Gestational Diabetes – This is one of the common conditions occurring in pregnant women in India. Around 10% women could be prey to this condition that can be diagnosed during 24-28 weeks of pregnancy. Post-diagnosis your blood sugar levels will be monitored on a regular basis. Most of them with mild conditions manage to keep it at bay through exercise and diet and are able to deliver healthy babies without complications. But, care needs to be taken to avoid it from aggravating because it can then cause serious harm to the fetus.

3. Placenta Previa – This condition can cause complications towards the end of pregnancy not in the early stages. Hence, the doctors check the location and placement of your placenta with a sonography test during the second     tri-semester. 1 in 200 women suffer from this condition and it can be quite dangerous if the placenta is at extremely low levels.

4. Miscarriage – One of the most dreaded conditions which can only be avoided by taking proper care, miscarriage is caused in the first 20 weeks. This is common with Indian women and 20% of them experience this condition within 12 weeks mostly. The symptoms of it include spotting and bleeding at the vagina. The doctor does a sonography to check for the condition.

5. Premature Delivery – Premature delivery is when the cervix opens before 37 weeks of pregnancy. If the delivery happens too early then it can be life-threatening for the baby, so care needs to be taken to avoid it.

The department of Obstetrics and Gynecology has been providing comprehensive health care for women. We provide regular clinical services in Obstetrics like antenatal care, labor management, postpartum Care. We also provide specialized care in high risk pregnancies like P.I.H, Eclampsia, GDM, Multiple gestations, BOH. With the backup of NICU, we are able to salvage preterm babies of 30 weeks on wards. Highly qualified doctors, with the help of well equipped labor ward, conduct normal and caesarian deliveries

SriDevi – A Victim of Sudden Cardiac Arrest – Know About Sudden Onset

The legendary actoress, a versatile actor, a super star, epitome of grace – Sridevi left every fan of hers across the world in shock as she made her way to the heavenly abode. Only 54 years of age, a fitness freak, one who maintained a healthy lifestyle all through her life passed away in such a shocker, all of a sudden cardiac arrest of massive nature.

It took so much time to come to terms with this saddening or heart wrenching fact and still is unbelievable because we lost her at such a young age of 54, in a film industry where actors like Salman, Shahrukh and Amir at 50 are still playing lead roles and setting the box office on fire with hundreds of crores their films rake in when they release.
Now that we know that sudden cardiac arrest can happen irrespective of aging here is a short note on what it is all about, the symptoms and treatment.

sudden-cardiac-arrest

Sudden Cardiac Arrest – It occurs all of a sudden without a clear sign. Symptoms might be there but not indicating clearly of a heart issue. In a sudden cardiac arrest case, the heart stops functioning suddenly due to some disturbance and disrupts blood flow. The blood supply to heart as a result is cut off. Sudden cardiac arrest requires prompt medical intervention in order to increase survival chances.

Symptoms – The symptoms usually are not very clear and may be underlying. This symptoms include Dizziness or fatigue, shortness of breath, heart palpitations and chest pain around 4 weeks before the attack. The symptoms vary in men and women. People who suffer from chest pain may have it secondary accompanied with primary pain of head, shoulder and neck or back.

Risk Factors
Though sudden cardiac arrest occurs out of the blue without clear signs, some risk factors responsible on a long run include diabetes, high cholesterol levels, smoking, obesity and high blood pressure to name a few. Sometimes genetics is also responsible for causing a sudden arrest to people who are fit and have no medical history of heart disease like Sridevi’s case.

Treatment – Sudden Cardiac arrest is a highly life threatening condition which can lead to death in most cases if not given immediate medical aid. You need to offer CPR as primary treatment or use a defibrillator for the same. You can even give chest compressions until the help arrives. If medical aid is provided instantly and properly, survival is possible.

Well, it’s advisable to follow a healthy lifestyle and go for a routine checkup one every year once you cross 50 years of age.

Rajarajeswari Heart Center, part of the esteem institute, Rajarajeswari Medical College & Hospital. Was established in May 2012 as an initial non-interventional department with 2D echocardiography, Treadmill Test and cardiac consultation

*source from the internet

Tatoo Ink and Side Effects – A Short Review

Tatoo Ink and Side Effects

Before we get to the question that whether tatoo ink is harmful to the body or not just quickly understand the process through with tatooing is carried out. The tatoo artist, to make a permanent tatoo uses hundreds of needles for pricking into the skin and delivering ink into the dermis. Now, dermis as well know lies below the epidermis layer of skin and consists of nerves and blood vessels. Yes, its obviously painful and to make a tatoo isn’t less than an act of bravery for many. The point in question is that many of us really wish to have permanent tatoos and many of us may already have had one but rarely anyone of us has ever thought about the side effect of inking at all.

But, we do have a few curious heads called researchers and scientists who are apparently trying to figure out whether this tatoo ink is harmful or not. Now, research findings show that once the ink is delivered by the tatoo artist inside the dermis, it moves to the lymphatic system through the blood stream to the lymph nodes. This is because of the carbon black in the ink which has the ability to break down into nano particles fast and spread through blood. But, sometimes tatoo ink also consists of nickel and chromium additions particularly in organic tatoos. In mice it has also shown to reach the liver. Reaching the liver might take some time but as per dermatologists within minutes of insertion the ink particles reach the lymph nodes.

Now let us understand what happens to the tatoo pigments after the tatoo is done. Some of the ink gets cleared but some is not cleared by the repair cells known as macrophages and remain trapped within the skin cells and showing out through the skin as a tatoo. Generally the ink does not go very far from the point it is injected but some of it does have the ability to travel to the lymph nodes. Research has also shown that many of the individuals with enlarged lymph nodes have been the ones with tatoos for more than a decade.

Well, but it is yet to be proved if tatoo ink is apparently harmful to the body or not. Research is still in progress to say the least.

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Brain Has Eyes Too – A sneak Peek Into Neurons

Yes, that is true. Nicknamed as ‘Jennifer Aniston’ a neuron based on the participant study which showed that one of the neuron of his brain lit up on recognizing the face of particular people like Jennifer Aniston or Hillary Clinton. So, this neuron was named after Jennifer Aniston. This report further revealed that one single specific cell lit up whenever a person’s certain conscious experience was concerned. This throws further light on the response of brain cells the relation of the activities with consciousness. Though, understanding the scope and science of human consciousness is a mystery that is yet to be unfolded and even researchers cannot say with surety if these neurons lead to conscious thoughts.

Brain Has Eyes Too - A sneak Peek Into Neurons

There were studies around the same carried out in 2008 which used a masking technique. This technique showed an image of a popular person like Aniston for 16 milliseconds immediately followed by a pattern Image muddling the face afterimage on the retina, thus making it rather hard for the brain to register what it saw. Later on in another study that used a method for hiding images from participants awareness. The phenomenon used for the experiment is called attentional blink wherein two target images are shown in a high speed streaming along with some other similar images. This results in a person often not able to recognize the second image targeted.

A similar study was carried out over a list of 21 patients under epilepsy and brains were fitted with special treatment electrodes. The trial included showing 14 different images predetermined by the scientist as familiar to the person. Further each one had a particular activity of specific brain cell. Now, when the trial was conducted, the researchers asked the participants to concentrate on two target images of the 14. All the images would later be flashed on the screen for 150 milliseconds. The medial temporal lobe was under constant monitoring during and after the trail and the researchers queried the participants if they had seen two images of familiar faces.

Every cell with unique signature was studied as it lit up and helped researchers link a brain cell pattern to particular images and had the ability to tell about the image represented even though
the participants are not aware of it.

Furthermore, research work is on as the researchers believe that they are at the intersection of perception and memory and investigation was needed to find out the results of direct stimulation of neurons.

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Safe House For Many Disease Causing Viruses – Human Semen

Safe House For Many Disease Causing Viruses - Human Semen

When researchers was carried out on Zika virus, it was found that the virus finds its way through the man’s semen and stays there safely for a long time, over a few months. This led to a further study about other viruses with the ability to find their way to the man’s semen and staying there safely.

The research was carried out at the oxford university and it was discovered that there were a minimum of 27 different viruses with and ability to get into the blood and the semen as per the existing reports of scientific literature of ‘viremic’ viruses. The research also highlighted that the spread of the viruses in the semen is apparently even more than assumed.

The list of viruses not only includes lesser known ones but lots of popular ones too like HIV, Hepatitis C, Ebola, herpes, chikungunya, chickenpox and the less known ones like simian foamy, rift valley fever to name a few.
Though research is just at the preliminary stage as only the list of the viruses that have the ability to use a man’s semen as a safe house stay are known but more details like how long can they actually stay there, in what concentrations and how able they are in triggering or fueling he disease is yet to be studied.

Additionally, it is yet to be known whether these viruses have the ability to infect the sperms. This holds grave importance because it can lead to mutating the sperm DNA and passing the same to the next generation further increasing cancer risk in that generation as well. Additionally, many of us might not be aware that testes are known to be immune to any invasions by the body’s immune system. They are also therefore called immuno-logically privileged.

These findings might just raise questions on the considerations around treatments developed for viral diseases and their effects on the virus located across the body included the male reproductive tract.

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Lower Back Pain vs Kidney Pain – The Difference

Many of us fail to figure out the difference when we experience pain particularly when its either kidney or lower back pain. So, to begin get down to the definition of lower back pain and kidney pain.

It’s called lower back pain when it occurs anywhere from the buttocks upto the lower back. While kidney pain is said to occur between the hips or flanks and the ribs. At times you may experience it in the upper abdominal region as well. Well, this is the basic difference in back pain and kidney pain but otherwise also there are many other difference that can help you figure out which kind of pain you are suffering from. Here’s a sneak peek into a few other differences between kidney pain and lower back pain.

LOWER BACK PAIN VS KIDNEY PAIN

Kidney Pain
Kidney pain is the result of a kidney infection or a kidney stone usually. Kidney infection can cause mild pain but kidney stone pain is very severe in nature and often compared to labor pain.

Causes
The causes of kidney pain include kidney infection and kidney stones as mentioned before besides the pain could also be a result of renal infarction, kidney cancer and glomerulonephritis.

Lower Back Pain
Lower back pain is further divided as acute pain and chronic pain. While acute pain lasts for around 4 to 12 weeks, chronic back pain can easily last over 12 weeks. Also known as lumbago it affects people of all age groups.

Causes
Lower back pain is a result of muscle sprain, spasm or tear leading to disc bulge or herniation, spinal stenosis, osteoporosis or sciatica. It could also be due to vertebral body, pedicle fracture or fracture of lamina. It can be caused due to Paravertebral muscle spasm or metastatic vertebral cancer.

Pain Management
Kidney Pain – Kidney pain treatment depends of its causes and usually involves use of antibiotics and medications if its infection but in case of kidney stones if that does not work a laser surgery or a minimally invasive surgery could be carried out.

Back Pain – For relief against lower back pain issues treatment could include suitable therapies like heat and cold, physical and massage therapies to name a few. In case with complications based on the diagnosis surgical procedures might be advised.

Well, its always advisable to visit your doctor if you suffer from back pain in order to figure out the root cause of the problem, be it kidney or lower back.

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Gallbladder Sludge – An Overview

Gall Bladder, a small organ inside our body but none the less is equally important as it has a unique function to perform just like every other organ. Gall bladder is responsible for acting as a reservoir for the bile, collecting it, concentrating it and emptying it into the bile duct. The bile duct further takes it to the small intestine for digestion.
The sludge in the gallbladder is known as biliary sludge and is also considered as microscopic form of gallstones. This sludge is generally made up of cholestrol and other particles as well as calcium and sodium crystals.

Gallbladder Sludge

People suffering from this conditions have symptoms like bloating, diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, indigestion, sweating to name a few. Initially the symptoms are mild but with time they start getting worse. Eventually, it could lead to gall bladder stones as well.

Risk Factors / Causes
The triggers of gall bladder sludge include fasting, certain medications, drug abuse, diet high in cholestrol, pregnancy and alcohol addictions. Even attempting a crash diet to go slim can result into gall bladder sludge as with little or no food intake the bile excretion decreases thus retaining the minimal bile in the bladder leading to sludge.

Diagnosis
Symptoms as mentioned before include severe abdominal pain in the upper right side of the body.

Treatment
If gall bladder sludge is diagnosed, doctors do suggest ursodoil, to help break down the protiens if any in the bile. Drinking a lot of water helps in removal of sludge naturally. But, if that does not work then the gall bladder stone needs to be removed from the body.

Prevention
Drinking plenty of water, intake flax seed oil, vitamin C and avoid food with high cholestrol contents.

Well, gall bladder stones can be removed easily with minimally invasive surgeries but its important to seek doctors advice if your symptoms match the above.

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Artificial Limbs That Respond To Thoughts – A Reality That Costs A Fortune

Over the years, scientists have been working on prosthetic limbs that can respond to human thoughts. These projects have been heavily funded by many organizations and defense agencies across the world. A significant development in the direction has now led to the creation of the first ever prosthetic limb that responds to human thoughts much like a real limb.

Artificial Limbs That Respond To Thoughts

Earlier, there was news about creation of prosthetic limbs that respond to thoughts but their movement was quite limited and hence, people in need either abandoned them or never preferred to use them. But, as per the doctor of Imperial college London, the new approach which shifts their focus from the muscles to the nervous system has helped them create a limb that responds to thoughts effectively.

According to him, their technology helps them detect and decode the signals clearly. The experiments and testing have been carried out with amputee volunteers and after physiotherapy they have been able to make more extensive movements.

Today, a lot of research scientists are already working and testing bionic arms. There is already and alternative of using brain implants available. But, the benefit of using the nerve from the spine is the compatibility factor, making it usable with existing prosthetic arms that too wire free linking from the brain, as per the researchers at Imperial College of London.

Another example is that of a thought controlled prosthetic being developed at the John Hopkins University, USA. It is being tested on a 50 plus amputee who lost his limbs in an electrical accident as a teenager. It is yet to be clinically tested and find a place in the market. The limbs are called Modular Prosthetic Limbs or MPL and the customer socket inside brain can pick up brain signals that control the arms. Thus, just by thinking the amputee is able to move the limb or limbs. To do the same, the amputee had to undergo a surgery for remapping the remaining nerves of his/her missing arms so that the brain could send signals to the prosthetic. As per the chief engineer at John Hopkins, with the remapping growing deeper, the working will better because of the over 100 sensors fitted in the arm. Another advantage of MPL being its modular design. This design helps in creating prosthetic limbs customized as per individual requirements.

Having said that, as on day MPL costs a bomb, as much as a Maserati car to be precise. Well, scientists are yet to work on a budget prosthetic, affordable to people in need. experts at John Hopkins are also working on creating caps that send signals about brain activity to the robotic arm. As for the market availability, they do hope to make the MPL available to the consumers within a few years.