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March 11, 2022• Featured, Lifestyle, News, Reviews, Trending

Prevention and Management of Non-Communicable Disease in low-income community

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) are leading cause of premature mortality. According to Indian State-Level Disease Burden Initiative report, disease burden of India has shifted from Communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional diseases (CMNNDS) to non- communicable diseases over the period of 1990 to 2016 from 37.9% to 61.8%.

Risk segment and socio-economic impact of NCD

Though major NCD diseases are associated with old age people approximately 42% of all NCD deaths globally occurred before the age of 70 years. Children, adults and the elderly are all vulnerable to the risk factors contributing to NCDs. Poverty is another factor closely linked with NCDs. In resource constraint setting of healthcare, NCDs increases out of pocket expenditure of an individual or sometimes loss of breadwinner of the family forcing many families below the poverty line. Vulnerable and socially disadvantaged people get sicker and die sooner than people of higher social positions, especially because they are at greater risk of being exposed to harmful products, such as tobacco, or unhealthy dietary practices, and have limited access to health services.

Chronic Disease Prevention Programme, an initiative towards NCD management:

iKure together with MIT Sloan School of Management in the District of Paschim Medinipur, iKure initiated a study on NCD with randomly selected 500 people in test group. The initiative is measured following parameters to get greater insight on the contributing factors towards cause of NCD. Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), Hb1AC, Systolic Blood Pressure, and BMI are collected to derive the analytics. Using power BI tool following trend has been identified where 25% of all respondents suffered from type1 diabetes, 43% type2 diabetes, 11.8% with high cholesterol, 65.6% hypertensive and 5% obese. Though it is surprising to know such trends were known to affect the elite group, but our findings shows the emergence of NCD trends even in low-income community group.

Moreover, the High-cholesterol, High Blood pressure and High pulse rate was a common trend among identified high risk CVD patient found in 8.4% of the population.

Further, we found high risk CVD zone affected mostly within 56-80 years of age group.
Case of Diabetes was found between 41-56 years age group and females are marginally more prone to diabetic in the catchment areas.

The clinical observation was recorded during door-step screening, monitoring, and doctor’s consultations. The high-risk patients were provided tertiary care through telemedicine platform and appropriate medication. Awareness was created by the CHWs on self-management, prevention and control on NCDs.

Conclusion:

In the heterogeneous country like India, iKure is putting the right step forward to achieve WHO’s global targets for prevention and control of non-communicable disease by 2013-2020.

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March 11, 2022• Featured, Lifestyle, News, Tech, Travel

Integrated approach to healthcare

Never sees how rich or poor you are or neither judge you being affluent or dissolute, but when it hits, it hits equally hard to all of us- helpless, clueless and money less! In India, where the healthcare is being the most neglected for decades, and accessibility, affordability and quality underpinned with political and policy discourses, people have little hope left, as they witness the deeply rotten system within.

While the govt. is making every amendment to make quality care and treatment available at fair and affordable price, the balance between public needs with commercial aspirations has failed to bring efficiency in the system.

But this can be solved, if we look at the healthcare system in totality but not in isolation and I am happy iKure has put the right step forward where it seems health as an outcome of a holistic and integrated effort. Though started at a minuscule level, iKure is looking at health in totality as against in silos. We are bringing path-breaking innovation, sustainable approaches and best players under one roof that are seamlessly integrated across and impact every levels of the larger system.

Though the clamor of the rising healthcare costs, inefficient system and highly compromised quality create havocs in one’s mind during any episode of illness, iKure serves its beneficiaries with a difference, where it not just treats illnesses but creates good health by acting in totality. This integrated approach will be the game changer in future bringing efficiency in the system to serve better and act responsibly.

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March 11, 2022• Featured, Lifestyle, News, Trending

iKure reducing status of anemia by increasing knowledge and healthcare practices

In India, anemia is identified as a serious health issue where half of the country’s women of reproductive age are anemic. Despite the fact Government of India has implemented several initiatives for eradicating anemia, only 13 per cent improved women cases have been registered as per Global Nutrition Report 2017. Anemia is linked to adverse pregnancy outcomes including preterm delivery and intrauterine growth retardation and associated with various maternal morbidities like fatigue and postpartum depression & increased maternal mortality.

Finding the solution to anemia in rural health iKure’s Community health worker’s follows a step-wise approach to improve status of anemia in its catchment areas namely Hubli, Tabageria and Varanasi. With scheduled home/ camp visit as well as in Hub & Spoke clinic, iKure extends care in the following ways:

 Early detection: Early diagnostic is a first step towards the cure. With Low-cost point-of -care devices, iKure provides diagnostic services at the door Step/Camps/Hub/Spoke to ensure high coverage and penetration of its cost effective care to every women and across the remote belt.
 Awareness building: iKure believes that if expectant women knew of the impact of anemia, they would surely not forget to take the supplement. Informing women about the possible side-effects of these supplements, such as black stools and nausea, also helps improve knowledge and understanding. iKure’s health workers with their stronghold in the village community create awareness among the rural population regarding appropriate feeding practices – including exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life, and optimal complementary feeding during the first 2 years of life which are crucial for avoiding the development of iron deficiency anemia.

 Regular screening and follow up: Most of the health initiative undertaken by the Government provides iron and folic acid supplements but assurance against consumption is not adequate. Regular follow up by the CHWs improve consumption patterns.
 Targeting Vulnerable groups in a strategic way: Women at reproductive age and the children below 5 years are the most vulnerable group of Anemia. iKure target this vulnerable group in a fragmented way by their specific programmes like school health programme; MCH programme and special screening programme through workgroup and self-help group.
 Distribution of Toolkit: iKure develops creative tools to create awareness among the population. These toolkits are delivered when a patient visit iKure’s clinic. It is a handy way to spread the message regarding anemia.

 Conclusion :- Awareness building in appropriate feeding practices reflects in 90% mothers who have started breast
feeding within 1hr of delivery and has positive effect on improved birth weight. 51% child within 0 to 6 month of age and 31% child between 6 to 12 months of age were identified with no development delays minimizing adverse outcome of anemia in pregnant women.

Identifying anemia is vital because anemia can go undetected until it becomes severe. The multi- factorial disorder needs extensive communication campaign and technology to detect and treat anemia. iKure continues to bridge the gap through improved health practices, nutritional counselling and sanitation and hygiene practices.

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March 11, 2022• Featured, Lifestyle, News, Tech, Travel

The Main Types of Vaccines

The safety and effectiveness of a vaccine depends on how it is made and what it contains. There are four main ways to develop vaccines:

Live attenuated vaccines contain bacteria or viruses that have been altered so they can’t cause disease.		Killed vaccines contain killed bacteria or inactivated viruses.		Toxoid vaccines contain toxins (or poisons) produced by the germ that have been made harmless.		Component vaccines contain parts of the whole bacteria or viruses.

Live Attenuated Vaccines

Live attenuated vaccines usually are created from the naturally occurring germ itself. The germs used in these vaccines still can infect people, but they rarely cause serious disease. Viruses are weakened (or attenuated) by growing them over and over again in a laboratory under nourishing conditions called cell culture. The process of growing a virus repeatedly-also known as passing–serves to lessen the disease-causing ability of the virus. Vaccines are made from viruses whose disease-causing ability has deteriorated from multiple passages.

Examples of Live Attenuated vaccines:

Measles vaccine (as found in the MMR vaccine)
Mumps vaccine (MMR vaccine)
Rubella (German measles) vaccine ( MMR vaccine)
Oral polio vaccine (OPV)
Varicella (chickenpox) vaccine
Inactivated (Killed) Vaccines
Inactivated (killed) vaccines cannot cause an infection, but they still can stimulate a protective immune response. Viruses are inactivated with chemicals such as formaldehyde.

Examples of Inactivated (Killed) vaccines:

Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV), which is the shot form of the polio vaccine
Inactivated Influenza Vaccine
Toxoid Vaccines
Toxoid vaccines are made by treating toxins (or poisons) produced by germs with heat or chemicals, such as formalin, to destroy their ability to cause illness. Even though toxoids do not cause disease, they stimulate the body to produce protective immunity just like the germs’ natural toxins.

Examples of Toxoid Vaccines:

Diphtheria Toxoid Vaccine (may be given alone or as one of the components in the DTP, DTaP, or dT vaccines)
Tetanus Toxoid Vaccine (may be given alone or as part of DTP, DTaP, or dT)

Component Vaccines

Some vaccines are made by using only parts of the viruses or bacteria. These vaccines cannot cause disease, but they can stimulate the body to produce an immune response that protects against infection with the whole germ. Four of the newest vaccines are made this way.
Examples of component vaccines: Haemophilus Influenzae Type B (HIb) Vaccine/Hep B Vaccine/Hep A Vaccine/ PCV (Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine)

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March 11, 2022• Featured, News, Trending

Health Screening

Due to our lives getting complex with the passage of time, this topic assumes an enormous dimension, for the upkeep of a healthy society. ”Health Screening” is the need of the hour for every member of a progressive nation, helping build a sound future of a country.

‘Health Screening‘ is almost a mandate today, in view of the huge amount of disease conditions which are ascribed to….largely faulty Lifestyle…. responsible for essentially preventable and timely remediable ailments… broadly speaking.

This preventable and holistic approach should be made available to the public at large, in rural, semi-urban and urban settings, where the community is scattered and located.

Primary prevention is the buzzword today, in the medical fraternity,thereby on one hand preventing increasing morbidity and on the other hand relieving people of the disease and financial burden implicated in all such cases.

* An overall glimpse into the contemporary ‘Health Screening’ recommendations may be found as below (although the list is by no means exhaustive)…

1. General Survey of persons of all ages… at a recognized health facility… to discover physical abnormalities…related to a disease.

2. Diagnostic modalities… such as…

Blood tests…. to rule out Hypertension/Diabetes/Lipid disorders/ Stones in the Urinary system/Acute & Chronic viral affections… like HIV/Hepatitis A,B,C &E,/ Tumour Markers(as decided by the Physicians)

Stool for Occult Blood… to rule out Large Intestinal Malignancy

Prophylactic Colonoscopy… to rule out Cancer of the Large Intestine…for diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

PAP smear (In women)… to rule out Cancer of the Cervix

PSA (In males)… to rule out Cancer of the Prostate (beyond results due to enlarged Prostate)

Mammography and/or USG… to rule out Cancer of the Breast

Lung Cancer Screening….to those who have been long smokers…to rule out Carcinoma-Lung.

Oral cancer screening measures… to detect early Oral Cancers

Periodical USG-Abdomen of subjects…to keep an eye on the many abdominal organs… affected by hectic lifestyle measures. etc. to name only a few of the modalities for this gigantic objective.

This campaign should be widely propagated to mitigate the suffering of humanity from a large No. of Disease entities which are largely preventable and even if detected early ,can be claimed to be curable… as per international guidelines and evidence based Medicine.

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March 11, 2022• Featured, News, Trending

SMOKING

Smoking is a commonly abused potential to inhale tobacco/ items of substance abuse in the form of smoke through the upper naso-pharyngo-laryngeal passage. The list of substance(s) which could be taken in this manner is quite huge today… a few being… tobacco and a gamut of items under the heading of ‘substance abuse’.. Like opium and its derivatives.. in the form of heroin/cocaine/methamphetamine/PCP/cannabis etc etc.

The most commonly adapted form of Smoking menace is that of Cigarettes/ Pipe smoking/ Tobacco manipulated in many other forms. For those who smoke, it is the mindset which initiates this habit which then culminates into addiction. Youngsters feel it makes them look and act like mature adults with an obvious imaginary style quotient attached with the habit. Persons of slightly older age find that it is an essential habit to relieve them of stress of day to day life and many who feel it helps them to ease bowel habits and then cannot kick the practice as time goes on!

Although various governments across the globe have restricted out smoking in almost all the public areas like passenger transport… such as airports & aircrafts / train stations and rail compartments / public gathering areas-like cinema halls/auditoriums/malls etc. , public awareness is still not up to mark to curb/ get rid of the habit. To add to the woes…stopping tobacco sale is simply not achievable due to the commercial stakes involved in a large scale. The health hazards of Smoking can look like a big list of diseases… some prominent ones being…Hypertensive and other Heart Diseases /Oro-pharyngeal cancers/ Gastro-esophageal Lesions/Stomach

Cancer/Respiratory Conditions like COPD etc. If a person quits the habit of smoking, the good results start kicking in with immediate effect but the damage done to the body cannot be undone!

For such a vast country like ours, the impact of this single habitual menace can easily be understood which causes a huge burden of disease to the already overburdened health system of this country, but results in a mammoth scale of morbidity and mortality which is easily looked upon in the realm of preventable illness. As true Samaritan of India, we can only hope that this problem gets addressed some day and people are freed from the slavery of such potentially harmful addiction… to lead healthy lives.

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March 11, 2022• Featured, News, Reviews, Tech

Malaria

Malaria is a dreaded disease since primitive times and time immemorial.

There is no statistics on how many lives has been lost since the dawn of civilization, from this preventable malady…this far.

It is a vector borne disease caused by the parasite Plasmodium species transmitted by the ubiquitous mosquito…Anopheles type…the female variety.

The parasite variants are Plasmodium Vivax/Plasmodium Falciparum/Plasmodium Malariae and Plasmodium Ovale responsible for causing the different clinical types of Malaria, each with different characteristic features and morbidity potentials.

The essential symptoms are Fever with chill and rigor and a subjective combination of headache/nausea/vomiting/abdominal ache/body pain etc.in an apparently non-complicated case of malaria. In complicated cases, the signs and symptoms become more sinister.

The fever often takes a typical periodical rhythm and gets the typical name of Tertian/Quotidian types of fever…associated with other typical/atypical symptom complex. Out of the whole galaxy of Malaria variants, what is dreaded most by the medical fraternity is Falciparum Malaria…which often ends up with fatal complications unless treated promptly and appropriately. The usual complications are affection of the central nervous system (Cerebral Malaria) manifested by convulsions and passing of black urine ( hence the name of Black Water Fever)….due to massive intravascular haemolysis of the parasitised RBC-s and the haemoglobin finding its way out through the kidneys….ending up with Renal failure… ! However with prompt and adequate treatment ,the complications may be avoided completely !

The treatment of Malaria is simple following its correct diagnosis and goes by a certain protocol adapted from country to country depending on the epidemicity of the disease and the resistance/susceptibility pattern of the region to the different drugs meant for the same. The basic tenets of malaria treatment remains the same guided by the parasite species and the nature of treatment required…..prophylactic / therapeutic. Travellers destined for Malaria prone areas are recommended to undertake Malaria prophylaxis prior to travel in those countries.

For some species relapse of Malaria isa big potential problem and some typical medication needs to be taken to prevent this relapse,due to characteristics of its lifecycle in the Red Blood corpuscles in blood/liver…over a certain period of time.
Some typical drugs used in Malaria prophylaxis / treatment /relapse control are..Chloroquine/Mefloquine/Quinine/Artemisin group of Drugs/Primaquine etc. guided by the indication of the type of approach required.

Prevention of Malaria is a daunting and herculean task targeted to different strategies of vector control ,through adult and larvicidal measures and adopting self protective measures like avoiding mosquito bites at all costs and steps to drastically reduce the adult mosquito population through strategic measures.
Emphasis should be placed on diagnostic approach to Malaria by proper facilitation of blood collection through Smear preparation on slides….thin and thick smears ..and identifying the exact variant of the parasite and its density.

Immediate treatment begins as soon as results are available and confirmation is also seeked through Immunological Tests for Malaria. (Malaria Antigen)…on select cases,as per the decision of the clinician.
Trained manpower is also a perquisite in Malaria control at all stages of its management approach.
In spite of adopting all the recommended measures in Malaria control…old and new….the menace of the disease is far from over and the human race needs to take particular precautions to prevent its transmission and spread to the community and keep the mortality as low as possible !

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March 11, 2022• Featured, Lifestyle, News, Tech

iKure’s effective technology integration to address public health data challenges

“It is not because countries are poor that they cannot afford good health information; it is because they are poor that they cannot afford to be without it.”
– Health Metrics Network, World Health Organization

Introduction
Health data is of paramount importance for public health policies, programs, budgets and evaluations, forming a strong ground for effective implementation and the basis for optimum health functions. Even a small scale data resource can turn highly effective to estimate highly resolved health effects. However, India’s existing health information remains skewed with large gaps in data collection, dissemination and analysis. With burden of diseases on the rise and the Millennium Development Goals’ deadline drawing closer, addressing the data challenges has grown imperative for effective healthcare delivery.

Data Challenges in India’s public health system

India’s public health department is limited with health statistics cadre with little or no statistical training. The system continues to lack data management, analysis, interpretations of large-scale public policies. Further, issues related to standardized health data collection. The aggregated data are collected and tabulated using different reporting formats by the health record department which leads to dublicacy and redundant data capture. Another challenge of the public health system is the medium on which records are stored. Health departments maintain paper based format and very few of them have opted the computer medium.

With the continuous emphasis of collecting and maintaining correct data for medical and research purposes, another obstacle among record keepers of recent trends is data utility. The practice for data collection is not well known and request for data collection is often misinterpreted.
With the given issues on data collection and sharing, the quality of data obtained from different locations also varies. Key data points when captured are difficult to accurately translate into a common language, which can influence the quality of data.

Integration of patient’s data using technology

The potential of health information technology in transformative healthcare delivery has achieved significant traction, but such technology holds huge potential in streamlining the aggregated data into aunified data management system to address the data challenges in public healthcare system.

iKure’s healthcare delivery is enabled by cloud hosted technology platform that seamlessly integrates various cutting edge technology allowing collection, display, transmission of patient’s generated health data accurately even with least human interface.

Mobile health technology holds great potential to address the data challenges, since it has reached in various segments of the population that have been underserved by healthcare settings for ages. The rapid growth of consumer mobile health market reveals that patient’s interest and use of mobile technology for sharing and receiving information have grown extensively.¹ The high rate of adoption for digital technology presents massive opportunity to track patient’s clinical health outcomes, better characterize the behavioral and environmental effects on health and intervene constantly to improve health.²
For example, a basic cell phone is used to collect and disseminate information, identify locations, social contact and connectedness and these opportunities expands with the use of modern applications, computing power, and interface capabilities such as smart phones, wearable devices and m-health applications.

iKure’s Data sources

iKure believes health data will influence every step of the healthcare cycle, from patient experience to care delivery, innovative model and medical research. iKure helps medical practitioners analyze data creating a single data repository.
The data collected through various sources are stored through following medical devices:

Point-of-care diagnostics: iKure’s use of various point-of-care testing device such as digitalized ECG, glucose tests, Blood pressure etc., that create continuous streams of data which can be leveraged by medical field to interpret trove of information for early detection and diagnosis.

EMR Technology: iKure provides quick access to EMR, creating complete atomization of its patient’s medical records. Leveraging algorithm with machine learning, it offers medical experts to answer specific questions based on patient’s health rather than from global and national statistical averages.

Telemedicine platform: iKure extends access to healthcare for the underserved population through telemedicine platform. This has enabled iKure patient’s get access to specialized care in rural areas with no proper infrastructure. As its long term benefits is still unknown in medical research, studies on doctor’s effectiveness to collect patient’s information through digital settings can offer better insights and outcome on patient’s health.

Data for Research Analysis

iKure leveraging disruptive technology innovations are bringing together diverse kinds of data including socio-economics, environment, and genetic information along with individual health status, behavior and outcomes providing a powerful resource for medical research to pose new questions, uncover new findings and validate hypotheses. Towards this, iKure is working in association with Tandem Research organizations, which aims at developing and applying technology to detect early diseases and maximize the potential of its patient database to achieve high efficiency and make meaningful impact in patient’s life. This project will bring meaningful insights drawing from the field of Science and Technology Studies to develop frameworkto understand the sociology of the user and development of ethical and safe AI applications to protect user’s interest and privacy. It will draw qualitative information that is essential to understanding the socio-cultural factors that affect the system and the patient.

Data for Drug Trials and Analysis

With the ability of iKure to capture real-time patient’s health data, it presents wider scope for pharmaceuticals to leverage such data for clinical trials and analyze drug usage. Collaboration with iKure will provide access to million patients’ database providing granularity where pharma companies will know if there is greater benefit of using certain drug for a particular health issues based on highly specific characteristics. Going forward, we aspire to work with Pharma companies wanting to market-test their drugs usage and new trials. We intend to collaborate with public health agencies that are looking to understand what kind of treatments are efficacious and can be plugged together with regard to specific epidemics and save data collection costs.

Conclusion

In view of the privacy challenges related to Data access, iKure is using anonymization algorithm to effectively preserve both patient’s privacy and data utility. iKure’s data anonymization ensures balance between data utility and required participant data privacy. iKure is also using high security measures for the Data Security & Privacy.

References
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5603303/
2. https://www.nih.gov/sites/default/files/research-training/initiatives/pmi/data-collection-mobile-technologies

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March 11, 2022• Featured, News, Reviews, Tech

Sleep

Sleep is a periodical “switch off” from the immediate and remote surroundings…without any shut off of the body and brain…..a time for cellular rejuvenation and metabolic ‘house cleaning’…processing information acquired during wakefulness and a complex mechanism of warding off many illnesses….which is still in the process of research and understanding by mankind !

It is a stage of reversible consciousness with a few subtle physiological changes being at command, by a process of natural default, which happens with all human beings.

Sleep patterns are being governed by a circadian rhythm which is again controlled by several factors such as….daylight/darkness….genetic programming of our bodies….demands of our occupation…..fullness/emptiness of stomach…mental status..presence of/absence of pain in our body…..effect of medication etc. and the interplay of a lot of other factors…in day to day life.

Sleep deprivation…if continued for long, leads to a cumulative quantum of ‘sleep debt’ which is detrimental to the day to day functioning of the human body, until it leads to a sudden,,catastrophic let down of the whole system and a system collapse !

Symptoms of sleep deprivation could be any/all of the following……….. Excessive sleepiness during the day/Abnormal yawning/Irritability and lack of concentration/Daytime fatigue etc. A brief daytime shut eye…….often yields better performance in work or activities demanding greater concentration.

A minimum period of 6-7 hours of sleep a day is the basic requirement of our system….and more sleep or less sleep has its own consequences. Some occupations demand night shifts and wakefulness…such as Doctors..Pilots….Security and Army Personnel…Call center Employees etc. Although such people tend to balance it with sleeping through daytime hours….in the long run it may cause problems due to an alteration of the biological clock of the body.

Also……studying throughout the night by students ‘burning midnight oil’…is a common practice. This is detrimental to the cognitive performance the following day , due to lack of proper sleep. A good night’s rest works wonders for such anxious students and leads to better examination performances,it is noticed.

Sleep Disorders are often diagnosed in a sleep laboratory by tests referred to as Polysomnography and interpreted and treated by Sleep Specialists ! Some typical sleep disorders are…………………………

Narcolepsy and Cataplexy / Parasomnias / Somnambulism (sleep walking) /Hypersomnias versus Hyposomnias in the form of Early morning wakefulness/Delayed onset of sleep etc.to mention a few of the many identified conditions under this heading. They are often accompanied by psychiatric illnesses, to be addressed by Psychiatrists,if not by Sleep Physicians.

Self-medication with sleeping drugs through OTC purchases is forbidden for its addicting potentials and other significant side-effects of such medications and should be strictly prescribed by Doctors with mention of the exact duration of such a therapy.

( In many countries sleeping pills in general are all controlled drugs with stringent rules guiding their sale and usage)

To ensure a sound sleep overnight, a ‘sleep hygiene’ needs to be followed by all who suffer from sleep disorders as also otherwise normal people………………

The immediate environment should be controlled/modified as below..
• Switching off all electronic devices for the sleep period
• Light instrumental music in the ambience
• All lights to be switched off ( the sleep hormone Melatonin gets released during darkness !! )
• A comfortable bed which is non-hurting to the body areas
• A cool bedroom
• No arguments just before sleep time with partners, spouses ,or children,or, other family members
• Some may read books with softer- to- mind content
• Light dinner about two hours prior to bedtime…aided by a warm cup of milk..may be, to induce sleep…just before retiring for the day
• A brief walk around may help some people just after dinner
• No vigorous exercise / gym regime just after dinner..avoiding bending down to steer clear of reflux issues in the upper GI tract
• Late night trepidation in the world of social media is mentioned to be discouraged around sleeping time…which often robs one of quality sleep in the night.( Social media has turned out to be one of the most strong‘predators’ of sleep !)
• Evacuation of bladder and bowels is an essential mandate before going to sleep.( A full bladder and ignoring the call is a main cause of restlessness during sleep…particularly during early morning hours).Of course people with Enlarged Prostate/Diabetes may need to get up a few times in the night, to respond to the call of nature !

Alcohol and/or smoking does not in any scientific way help in inducing sleep…one should note.
A brief meditation or a short prayer may help to soften the frayed nerves earned from the vagaries of life in the waking hours..!!
A person who sleeps well regularly has a sound immune system in general and wards off many illnesses…apart from staying non-obese and not falling prey to Hypertension ,Diabetes and a few other lifestyle diseases. For a long and productive quality of life (QOL)..proper and regular sleep plays a very important role..improving our efficiency and memory and all cognitive functioning as a whole.
So…..the message is Sleep well and take care of the body as a whole…in a preventive and prophylactic manner .

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March 10, 2022• Featured, Lifestyle, News, Tech, Travel

Meshing of Big Data, AI And ML in Cardiac Care Continuum

Introduction:
Every year 2.1 million patients die due to heart ailments in India. We have just 1 Cardiac Specialist for every 3 lakh patient. Although secondary and tertiary health care providers are engaged in doing ECGs and several other vital collections to analyze heart health conditions, but none of the existing solutions can identify high-risk cases from such reports and respond in time.

To address this gap, iKure combining Big Data, AI, and machine learning works on ECG signal anomaly detection & Patient risk model using stank ranking & deep learning that can assist cardiologists to offer preventive care much faster in the human life cycle. In association with IBM data science, iKure’s integrated platform provides seamless automation and interpretation of patient data to enable instant feedback for high-risk cases and offers high quality and cost effective continuity of cardiac care both for rural and semi-urban population.

Timely interventions can reduce the time span between critical and stable heart health conditions. However, failure of such gets magnified typically in last mile populations that constitute over 16 million cardiac patients out of total 30 million people. It has been observed that over the year from 2000 to 2015, the age-standardized rate of mortality (per 100,000 person-years) due to coronary heart diseases increased among rural men by 40% and for female it rose to 56%, whereas decline was registered among urban residents. Cardiac care in rural India is limited and inaccessible due to major shortfalls like shortage of doctors, diagnostic centers, equipped facilities, coupled with lack of awareness.

Cardiac diseases can be addressed through effective treatment plans, constant screening, and monitoring. Artificial Intelligence(AI) and Machine-learning(ML) can provide life-saving care in general and CardioVascularDiseases(CVD) specifically as high risk conditions can be identified early, impending strokes and heart attacks spotted in advance. Studies have established that AI is set to revolutionize cardiac care. This is particularly relevant in today’s context, as India is home to 16% of the global population, 25% of the world’s Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) burden, 120 million hypertensives, and a large number of individuals with Rheumatic heart disease (RHD). CVD will be the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the country by 2020. Researchers have started meshing up Big Data with AIand machine learning algorithm to predict the anomalies quickly, cheaply and accurately without using the invasive methods.However, implementation of such advanced technology in primary healthcare delivery is still in its nascent stage in last mile communities. iKureusingAI and ML into their primary healthcare delivery, has taken cardiac care to advanced level of treatment.

The Cardiac Risk Model: The initiative is jointly done by iKure and the IBM Data +AI elite team that work on ECG signal anomaly detection and Patient risk model using stack ranking & deep learning. By leveraging iKure’s cloud based platform, it brings the power of AI with respect to patient’s clinical data stored in an AWS, MySQL data store to develop high risk pattern and can predict cardiac arrest in patients in much earlier stage.

Data is knowledge and when big Data from EKG signals coupled with a large volume of patient data from IBM cloud, cardiologists will get empowered to deal with cardiac problems through risk ranking of cardiac patients. It could also classify the EKG data as normal or with anomalies and present a prioritized list of patient cases to the call center physician for review based on potential acuteness via a cloud-based web application. It will help them to treat patients based on acuteness. In that way resources are utilized in the best possible way. Proof of concept is already developed that demonstrated that the platform can bring the power of AI to iKure’s data stored in an AWS, MySQL. The pilot project is showcased at IBM’s technology conference, Think 2019 in San Francisco. Accuracy of this model is already proved using patient clinical and demographic variables and physician feedback with the added benefits of rapid model development, publication and iteration.

Analysis of arrhythmia anomaly to predict cardiac arrest

.

Conclusion: The analytics help screening of vital parameters including Heart Rate monitoring, a disorder in application sequence, arrhythmias, an electric axis of heart, myocardial ischemia and infarction and cardiac rhyme diagnosis vital for the prevention of early cardiac arrest. Leveraging iKure’s integrated model together with machine learning algorithm and Artificial Intelligence will enable specialists to have a more logical approach to diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmia. The output of such effort will enhance continuity of cardiac care even in last mile communities.

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Risk segment and socio-economic impact of NCD

Chronic Disease Prevention Programme, an initiative towards NCD management:

Conclusion:

Integrated approach to healthcare

The Main Types of Vaccines

Live Attenuated Vaccines

Examples of Live Attenuated vaccines:

Examples of Inactivated (Killed) vaccines:

Examples of Toxoid Vaccines:

Component Vaccines

Malaria

iKure’s effective technology integration to address public health data challenges

Sleep

Meshing of Big Data, AI And ML in Cardiac Care Continuum

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