disease – TheNewsHub https://thenewshub.in Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:11:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 WHO endorses new test for tuberculosis https://thenewshub.in/2024/12/06/who-endorses-new-test-for-tuberculosis-2/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/12/06/who-endorses-new-test-for-tuberculosis-2/?noamp=mobile#respond Fri, 06 Dec 2024 15:11:48 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/12/06/who-endorses-new-test-for-tuberculosis-2/

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has endorsed a new test for tuberculosis (TB) to fasten efforts to eradicate one of the deadliest and dangerous infectious disease.

The test is called Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra and uses analysis of molecules to detect genetic markers and presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes TB, in the saliva of people suspected to be infected by the disease, according to the United Nations.

The new test is the first to receive endorsement from the UN health agency earning the “prequalification status” meaning that it has passed the stringent quality checks.

“This first prequalification of a diagnostic test for tuberculosis marks a critical milestone,” said WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products Dr Yukiko Nakatani.

“It underscores the importance of such groundbreaking diagnostic tools in addressing one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases,” he added.

The global health body added that accurate results from the test can be expected “within hours” and while the test is running, it can also detect genetic mutations from the saliva of the people who resist first-line TB drugs such as rifampicin.

This advancement can help doctors in prescribing “second-line” treatments to the sufferers.

“It is intended for patients who screen positive for pulmonary tuberculosis and who have either not started anti-tuberculosis treatment or received less than three days of therapy in the past six months,” the UN health agency said.

Tuberculosis remains one of the world’s leading fatal diseases, resulting in over a million deaths annually.

“High-quality diagnostic tests are the cornerstone of effective TB care and prevention,” said WHO Director for Regulation and Prequalification Dr Rogerio Gaspar.

“Prequalification paves the way for equitable access to cutting-edge technologies, empowering countries to address the dual burden of TB and drug-resistant TB,” he added.

Moreover, seven more TB tests are in the assessment status by WHO as the organisation aims to expand access to quality-assured testing technology for the disease.

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In world's first, stem cell therapy reverses woman's type 1 diabetes https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/01/in-worlds-first-stem-cell-therapy-reverses-womans-type-1-diabetes/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/01/in-worlds-first-stem-cell-therapy-reverses-womans-type-1-diabetes/?noamp=mobile#respond Tue, 01 Oct 2024 17:50:52 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/01/in-worlds-first-stem-cell-therapy-reverses-womans-type-1-diabetes/

In a major breakthrough, Chinese scientists found a clinical cure for type 1 diabetes after carrying out a world-first procedure to transplant islet cells in a female patient that reverses the major disease.

She was injected with stem cells harvested from her own body, according to clinical research published on Wednesday in the journal Cell, which also quoted the procedure of the Chinese doctors as a possible clinical cure for type 1 diabetes.

The first of its kind, stem cell therapy, was performed by medical scientists from Tianjin First Central Hospital, Peking University, Changping Laboratory and Hangzhou Reprogenix Bioscience.

Type 1 diabetes is one of the more severe forms of the major disease in which some people’s own immune system starts attacking their pancreas, as early as their childhood, damaging the islet cells responsible for making insulin.

Until now, any long-term cure for the condition has been via transplantation of a pancreas, and in the short term most type-1 diabetes patients rely on insulin injections to control blood sugar.

Emerging studies over the last decade have pointed to a potential cure using stem cells, which have the special ability to grow and differentiate into different types of cells, Independent UK reported.

Scientists previously developed a breakthrough procedure in which a type of stem cell, which can be nurtured and grown into any tissue, is used to replace tissues in the body.

The new medical trial, described in the journal last week, involved first extracting cells from a 25-year-old female patient from Tianjin, China, and reverting them to their unspecialised state.

The patient, who had type 1 diabetes for 11 years, was completely dependent on insulin treatment and suffered from poor blood sugar control.

After the transplant of islet cells derived from chemically induced pluripotent stem cells (CiPSC-islets), she regained the capability to autonomously regulate her blood sugar.

“Traditional islet transplant therapy can alleviate these problems,” Wang Shusen from Tianjin First Central Hospital, one of the corresponding authors of the paper, was quoted by the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Shusen added that the therapy has shown clear progress as an alternative treatment strategy, but a shortage of pancreas donors means its application is limited.

Seventy-five days after the transplant, she became insulin independent and has remained insulin injection-free for over a year. All her diabetes-related indicators have reached the levels of a healthy person, confirming the clinical cure of this type 1 diabetes patient, the report added.

The researchers said that the procedure “restored glycemic control” in the patient, functionally reversing her type-1 diabetes over a year. They added that there was “no indication of transplant-related abnormalities.”

However, the patient had to be monitored for a long duration to validate the effectiveness of the method, the researchers cautioned. They added that the patient was already receiving drugs to suppress her immunity due to a prior liver transplant.

The scientists also called for further clinical studies assessing the benefits of stem cell transplantation in reversing type 1 diabetes.

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