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Showing posts with the label coronavirus test

Obesity epidemic of India

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Obesity in India is on the rise. It has reached enormous proportions. As I sit and count at airports, the number of women who look obviously overweight and obese, the figures I get is 8 out of 10. And this is around same in children of all sexes and around 6 in 10 men show clearcut overweight and obesity that is obvious even to naked eye. Anthropometric measurements might reveal more of them.  What are the likely causes? I have a theory that starts analysing these cases right from the 2000s or previous century. Junk food eating and sedantry lifestyle had already given an upward push to obesity in last century. And this also gave rise to diabetes mellitus in both men and women. Hence, such mothers also had diabetes in pregnancy. Some who did not have diabetes otherwise had gestational diabetes. From 2000 to 2026 prevalence of gestational diabetes has risen in india. It has even spread to rural areas and recent national data gives a figure of 22.4% which is almost 1 in 4 pregnant mot...

US FDA clears and approves the first-ever at-home rapid coronavirus test based on LAMP!

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The USA FDA has given emergency approval to the first at-home rapid coronavirus testing kit. The results would be available in 30 minutes. Lucira Health is responsible for the development and manufacturing of the test kit. It could become the method of choice for fast testing on a mass scale and outside the healthcare facilities.  The First at-home rapid coronavirus test Lucira Health has come out with the first-ever at-home rapid test for COVID-19. The US FDA has provided a green light to this test on an emergency level since the pandemic is raging high in the world still and especially in the USA. One can run the test from the start to the finish at home itself and also procure the results in less than an hour. It is a potential route to test for COVID-19 on a widespread scale and outside the healthcare settings.  Lucira's at-home test [Source: NYTimes] The company's website states that it needs just a nasal swab for testing and the results would be available in half-an-hour...