Health Bulletin 17/March/2023

Here are the top medical stories for the day:

NTA issues clarification on SC, ST certificate for NEET 2023

National Testing Agency (NTA) has issued a clarification for the candidates on the SC/ST Certificate for NEET UG 2023.

As per the notice concerning the Information Bulletin for NEET UG 2023, it is clarified that no cutoff date for the SC/ST certificate in favour of the concerned candidates has been stipulated. Clause 6.2.3 of the Information Bulletin has been amended accordingly. Para (1) and para (2) of Appendix-XB in the Information Bulletin have also been updated.

For more details, check out the link given below:

NTA Issues Clarification On SC, ST Certificate For NEET 2023

Man bedridden for 4 yrs walks a day after surgery in Delhi

Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital performed a seven-hour surgical procedure for simultaneous bilateral hip replacement for ankylosing spondylitis on a 23 years old delhiite. Ankylosing spondylitis is an inflammatory arthritis that affects the spine and large joints.

The patient came to the hospital with completely fused hip joints and spine with flexion contracture. 

Conduct NEET PG 2023 counselling at least a month before MBBS internship deadline: Doctors urge Health Minister

Referring to the delay in NEET PG counselling in the last two years, the doctors under Federation of Resident Doctors Association (FORDA) recently wrote to the Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya requesting him to expedite the counselling process of NEET PG 2023.

In its recent letter addressed to the Health Minister, FORDA suggested to conduct the counselling for NEET PG 2023 in the first or second week of July i.e. at least a month before the last date of eligibility in August.

For more details, check out the link given below:

Conduct NEET PG 2023 Counselling At Least A Month Before MBBS Internship Deadline: Doctors Urge Health Minister

Dementia risk is reduced by a Mediterranean diet

Consumption of a traditional Mediterranean-type diet - rich in foods such as seafood, fruit, and nuts - is associated with a reduced risk of dementia, reports a study published in BMC Medicine. Individuals with a higher adherence to a Mediterranean diet had up to 23% lower risk for dementia compared with those who had lower adherence to a Mediterranean diet.

Diet may be an important modifiable risk factor for dementia that could be targeted for disease prevention and risk reduction but previous studies exploring the impact of a Mediterranean diet have typically been limited to small sample sizes and low numbers of dementia cases. Oliver Shannon and colleagues analysed data from 60,298 individuals from the UK Biobank who had completed a dietary assessment. The authors scored individuals using two measures for adherence to the Mediterranean diet. During the mean follow-up of 9.1 years there were 882 cases of dementia. The authors also considered each individual’s genetic risk for dementia by estimating their polygenic risk, a measure of all the different genes that are related to risk of dementia.

Reference:

Shannon, O.M., Ranson, J.M., Gregory, S. et al. Mediterranean diet adherence is associated with lower dementia risk, independent of genetic predisposition: findings from the UK Biobank prospective cohort study. BMC Med 21, 81 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-023-02772-3