01-01-2021 The Asian Independent

www.theasianindependent.co.uk
HEALTH
01-01-2021 to 15-01-2021
13
New research explains severe
virus ATTACKS on lungs
London : A team of Swedish
researchers has revealed how different
kinds of immune cells, called
macrophages, develop in the lungs,
and which of them may be behind
severe lung diseases, a discovery that
may contribute to future treatments
for Covid-19, among other diseases.
To date, research on the development
of human lung macrophages has
been limited.
In a new study published in
Immunity, researchers at Karolinska
Institutet in Sweden used a model to
study the development of lung
macrophages directly in a living
lung.
This has been combined with a
method to study gene activity in individual
cells, RNA sequencing, and
thereby discovered how blood monocytes
become human lung
macrophages.
"In our study, we show that classical
monocytes migrate into airways
and lung tissue and are converted
into macrophages that protect the
health and function of the lungs,"
said Tim Willinger, Associate Professor at
the Department of Medicine who led the
study.
New York : An estimated 3,71,504
babies will be born around the world on
New Year's Day, with about 60,000
babies expected to be born in India
alone, UN Children's Fund (Unicef)
said on Friday.
In total, an estimated 140 million (14
crore) children will be born in 2021.
Their average life expectancy is expected
to be 84 years.
While Fiji in the Pacific will welcome
2021's first baby, the US will welcome
its last.
Globally, over half of the births on
the first day of New Year are estimated
to take place in 10 countries: India
(59,995), China (35,615), Nigeria
(21,439), Pakistan (14,161), Indonesia
"We have also identified a special kind of
monocyte, HLA-DRhi, which is an intermediate
immune cell between a blood monocyte
(12,336), Ethiopia (12,006), the US
(10,312), Egypt (9,455), Bangladesh
(9,236) and the Democratic Republic of
the Congo (8,640), the Unicef said.
"The children born today enter a
world far different than even a year ago,
and a New Year brings a new opportunity
to reimagine it," Unicef Executive
Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement.
"Children born today will inherit
the world we begin to build for them -
today. Let us make 2021 the year we
start to build a fairer, safer, healthier
world for children."
In India, the babies born on Friday
will have a life expectancy of 80.9
years, Unicef said. An additional thousand
babies are surviving each day due
and an airway macrophage."
These HLA-DRhi monocytes
can leave the blood circulation and
migrate into the lung tissue.
Macrophages are immune cells
that, among other things, protect
the lungs from such attacks.
But under certain conditions,
lung macrophages can also contribute
to severe lung diseases,
such as chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) and
Covid-19. The non-classical
monocytes, however, develop into
macrophages in the many blood
vessels of the lungs and do not
migrate into the lung tissue. In an
infection with the novel coronavirus,
SARS-COV-2, which causes
Covid-19, researchers believe
that protective, anti-inflammatory
macrophages are replaced by proinflammatory
lung macrophages
from blood monocytes.
"Given their important role in
rapid inflammatory responses, our
results indicate that future treatments
should focus on inflammatory
macrophages and monocytes to reduce
lung damage and mortality from severe
Covid-19," said Willinger.
No approval for Covaxin, expert panel
seeks more data from Bharat Biotech
New Delhi : The Subject Expert
Committee of the Central Drug Standard
Control Organisation on Friday has held that
the data provided by Bharat Biotech for its
coronavirus vaccine 'Covaxin' is not sufficient
for grant of emergency use approval
and has asked for more information, top
sources said. Earlier on Friday, the expert
committee, which is tasked with vetting
covid-19 vaccine proposals, recommended
emergency licensure for the Serum Institute
of India-manufactured 'Covishield'. It
become the first vaccine to secure recommendation
for emergency use in India.
The Pune-based Serum Institute has partnered
with Oxford-AstraZeneca for conducting
clinical trials and manufacturing
'Covishield' while Bharat Biotech has collaborated
with the Indian Council of Medical
Research (ICMR) for 'Covaxin'. The committee
had convened a meeting to take a call
on the emergency use authorisation sought
by the Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and
America's Pfizer for their coronavirus vaccines
candidates.
Pfizer was the first one to apply for the
accelerated approval on December 4, followed
by the Serum Insstitute and Bharat
Biotech on December 6 and 7, respectively.
The meeting comes a day before dry run
of the vaccine is slated to commence in all
the states and Union Territories to equip the
administration in management of vaccine
supply, storage and logistics including cold
chain management. The Central government
plans to vaccinate nearly 30 crore people in
the first phase of drive. It will be offered to
one crore healthcare workers, along with 2
crore frontline and essential workers and 27
crore elderly, mostly above the age of 50
years with co-morbidities.
to the country's efforts as envisaged in
the India Newborn Action Plan 2014-
2020, the UN agency said.
"Anticipating and addressing the
potential impact of the pandemic is crucial
if we are to prevent a roll back of
gains made in saving the lives of children.
As we do so,we must also think
long term, to build back a better world
when the crisis finally recedes," said
Unicef India Country Representative,
Yasmin Ali Haque.
"The pandemic has shown us the
need for systems and policies to be in
place to protect people all the time, not
just in the event of a crisis."
This year will mark mark the 75th
anniversary of Unicef.
‘Over 10 mn children
to suffer from acute
malnutrition in 2021’
United Nations : More than
10 million children in the
Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC), northeast
Nigeria, the Central Sahel, South
Sudan and Yemen will suffer
from acute malnutrition in 2021,
the UN Children's Fund (Unicef)
said. All of these countries and
regions are experiencing "dire
humanitarian crises", while also
grappling with intensifying food
insecurity, the coronavirus pandemic
and, with the exception of
the Central Sahel, "a looming
famine", the Unicef said in a
statement on Wednesday.
"For countries reeling from
the consequences of conflicts,
disasters and climate change,
Covid-19 has turned a nutrition
crisis into an imminent catastrophe,"
Unicef Executive Director
Henrietta Fore said.
"Families already struggling
to feed their children and themselves
are now on the brink of
famine. We can't let them be the
forgotten victims of 2020," she
added. Severe acute malnutrition
is the most extreme and visible
form of under nutrition. Children
with severe acute malnutrition
have very low weight for their
height and severe muscle wasting.
It is a major cause of death
in children under five, and its
prevention and treatment are
critical to child survival and
development. Through 2020, in
spite of Covid-19 challenges,
Unicef and its partners continued
to deliver lifesaving assistance to
the most vulnerable children and
their families in the hardest to
reach areas through adjustments
on the existing programs to
maintain and increase access.
With the situation feared to
worsen in 2021, Unicef called on
humanitarian actors on the
ground in these countries as well
as the international community
to urgently expand access to and
support for nutrition, health and
water and sanitation services for
children and families. Unicef has
appealed for more than $1 billion
to support its lifesaving
nutrition programs for children
in countries affected by humanitarian
crises over 2021.
3.7L babies will be born worldwide on Jan 1, 60K in India: Unicef