OMH CAPSULE: New Omicron Sub-Variant Detected In India

Only My Health brings you a quick round-up of all the latest health news that you need to know. 

The World Health Organization has confirmed that a new sub-lineage BA.2.75 of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in India.

 

New Omicron Sub-Variant Detected In India: WHO

According to WHO, a new sub-lineage BA.2.75 of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in India.

In a statement, the Director-General of WHO Tedros said that "On COVID-19, globally reported cases have increased nearly 30% over the past two weeks.”

Earlier, Israeli Scientist Dr Shay Fleishon of central virology laboratory at Sheba Medical center, had claimed that BA.2.75 sub-variant of Omicron was detected in10 states and union territories in India.

According to Dr Fleishon, BA.2.75 was detected mainly in Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Haryana.

On the emergence of the Omicron sub-variant BA.2.75, WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan said this
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"this sub-variant seems to have a few mutations on the receptor-binding domain of the spike protein...It’s still too early to know if this sub-variant has properties of additional immune evasion or indeed of being more clinically severe." 

Adding to this, WHO Incident Manager COVID-19 Abdi Mahamud said that now is not the time to declare that the pandemic is over.

IIT Madras Develop AI Tool For “Personalised” Cancer Diagnosis

IIT Madras researchers have developed an AI-based tool that can predict cancer-causing genes in an individual and help devise personalized cancer treatment.

The tool named ‘PIVOT’ is designed to predict cancer-causing genes based on a model that “utilises information on mutations, expression of genes, and copy number variation in genes and perturbations in the biological network due to an altered gene expression.”

The tool is based on a machine learning model that classifies genes as tumour suppressor genes, oncogenes, or neutral genes

This tool is the first to use supervised learning and considers the functional impact of mutations while making predictions.

ICMR-VCRC Develops Bacteria-Infected Mosquitoes To Control Dengue

With the goal to control dengue strains, the Indian Council of Medical Research and Vector Control Research Centre developed two mosquito colonies that are infected with bacteria for the control of dengue.

The ICMR-Vector Control Research Centre that is located in Puducherry developed two colonies of Aedes Aegypti that are infected with these two strains (TXTGFX: - wMel and wAlbB Wolbachia) called Ae. aegypti for reducing the spread of the viral disease. 

The expert cited good potential in the technology and informed that the study started four years ago and has been completed now but government approvals were still pending.

The actual project may need numerous government approvals as ‘mosquitoes are to be released every week in the local areas’.

Beer Is Good for Gut Health Helps Prevent Diabetes Obesity

A study has claimed that drinking beer is beneficial to the intestine and has the potential to prevent chronic diseases.

The study is conducted by the Center for Research in Health Technologies and Services, a non-profit research and development unit, in Portugal.

In this study, healthy men aged 23 to 58 were asked to drink 330 milliliters of beer daily for four weeks.

The study said that beer has certain elements that help in making the gut healthier. 

Polyphenols, which are present in the beer, are the key factor behind the beneficial effect of the drink. 

It added that consuming beer can improve the composition of the intestinal microbiota, a factor that can prevent chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, and heart diseases.

The researchers point out that the benefits of polyphenols have already been proven in red wine.