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India Today
28-05-2025
- Health
- India Today
No! Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is not in Covid-19 quarantine
Social media has been abuzz with rumours that Indian astronaut-designate Shubhanshu Shukla is in Covid-19 quarantine ever since the update from Axiom Space came tyhat Ax-4 crew has entered into a claims are Shukla, along with his three international crewmates, entered a standard pre-launch quarantine ahead of the Axiom Mission-4 (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS) — a routine protocol for all astronauts, not a response to first day of quarantine is complete! The #Ax4 team has landed in Florida. They are now entering a two-week quarantine phase to stay healthy as they gear up for their launch to the @Space_Station. Axiom Space (@Axiom_Space) May 25, 2025advertisementWHAT IS THE AX-4 QUARANTINE? The Ax-4 quarantine is a critical safety measure, not related to any specific illness like protocol, known as 'health stabilization,' is designed to ensure that astronauts are in peak health and free from infectious diseases that could jeopardize the mission or endanger the ISS ISS is a closed environment with limited medical resources, so even a minor infection could have serious consequences for both the new arrivals and those already DOES THE QUARANTINE WORK?The quarantine typically lasts about 14 days before and a small support team are isolated in a controlled facility near the launch site, with strict measures to minimise exposure to include enhanced hygiene, daily health checks, and limited contact with outsiders. Final mission briefings and training exercises are conducted in any crew member develops symptoms, they are further isolated and monitored to protect the process ensures that astronauts do not carry colds, flu, or other contagious diseases into space, where the immune system can be weakened and infections can spread rapidly. The ISS is a closed environment with limited medical resources. (Photo: Axiom Space) The Ax-4 crew, including Shukla, will remain in quarantine until their scheduled launch on June 8, is a long-standing standard operating procedure (SOP) for all human spaceflight missions. It protects the health of the astronauts, safeguards the ISS's sensitive experiments and equipment, and ensures the scientific integrity of the Ax-4, this is especially crucial as the crew will spend up to 14 days conducting complex experiments and outreach activities in Watch
India Today
27-05-2025
- Health
- India Today
Why some Covid-19 cases turn severe while others don't
A recent study suggests that the virus behind Covid-19 has the potential to turn important immune cells into ones that weaken the body's ability to fight the finding out what makes some people develop severe Covid-19, researchers from Johns Hopkins University have found that the SARS-CoV-2 virus may alter neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cells, in a way that weakens the immune study, funded by the US National Institutes of Health and published in Science Translational Medicine, reveals that neutrophils in Covid-19 patients may lose their ability to fight infections. Instead, these cells begin suppressing other immune cells, particularly T cells, which are essential for clearing viruses from the body.'In some Covid infections, the virus appears to reprogram neutrophils into a different type of cell that suppresses T cells. This may help explain why some people develop severe illness,' said Dr Andrea Cox, senior author of the altered cells are known as PMN-MDSCs (polymorphonuclear myeloid-derived suppressor cells), which have been seen in cancer and other non-viral diseases but not commonly in viral infections like researchers analysed blood samples from 39 hospitalised Covid-19 patients and compared them with samples from nine healthy individuals. None of the patients had received Covid vaccines or immunosuppressant drugs like dexamethasone. advertisementIn those with severe Covid-19, the team found that neutrophils had changed form, they had 'degranulated,' releasing their contents and morphing into PMN-MDSCs. These reprogrammed cells expressed two proteins, LOX-1 and PD-L1, known to suppress T cell the researchers exposed healthy neutrophils to the virus in the lab, they observed the same transformation: the cells began suppressing T cells, stopping them from multiplying and releasing cytokines, signalling proteins that activate other immune when the same experiment was done using the H1N1 influenza virus, the neutrophils did not convert into suppressor cells, indicating a unique feature of may already be a treatment that could counter this effect. The researchers added PD-L1-blocking antibodies, a type of drug used in cancer therapy, to neutrophils exposed to SARS-CoV-2. The result: T cells were less suppressed and became more active."This suggests that combining PD-L1 antibodies with antiviral drugs, or even using them alone when antivirals aren't possible, might help patients with severe Covid,' Cox CDC defines severe Covid-19 as illness that results in hospitalisation, ICU admission, or study offers a deeper understanding of how SARS-CoV-2 might hijack the immune system and lead to severe illness and opens new doors for treatments that could help the body fight back more Watch
India Today
19-05-2025
- Health
- India Today
Woman with cancer, teen with kidney disease die in Mumbai; test positive for Covid
A 59-year-old woman with cancer and a 14-year-old girl with kidney disease died at a state-run hospital in Parel. Both tested positive for Covid-19 posthumously. Doctors clarified that these deaths at the KEM Hospital on Sunday were not caused due to deaths came amid reports of a rise in Covid cases in Singapore and Hong Kong even as health authorities in India said the current coronavirus situation in the country was under Hospital authorities said the 14-year-old paediatric patient had nephrotic syndrome and died due to kidney failure. On the other hand, the cancer patient died of sepsis. Authorities said that there was no need to panic as viruses, over time, become endemic and lose their instance, KEM Hospital has reported 15 Covid-19 cases over the past two months. All of them were mild and the patients recovered without complications. It is only in patients with comorbidities that Covid-19 can become serious, but even that has become Reel IN THIS STORY#Covid-19#Mumbai
BBC News
21-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Covid-19: Businesses prove adaptable in the face of pandemic
Businesses across the South East were sternly tested by the unprecedented nature of first national lockdown in March 2020 forced huge numbers to close at short notice, and left many facing an uncertain coronavirus proved the death knell for some businesses, others were able to adapt in the most adverse of circumstances and have flourished Farry, owner of Laila Paris Aesthetic and Wellbeing Clinic in Horley, said, in a way, the pandemic helped, adding: "Now we are booming." Pre-pandemic, around 30% of Laila Paris's customer base worked at Gatwick Airport and associated Farry said it took "a good two years" for this base to this period of uncertainty, she went into a "deep reflection" about her desired direction for the said: "I've actually now branded myself as the Skin Witch and I'm doing really well with that."We're very fortunate that actually Covid has, actually boosted our business in a way."We did survive and now we're booming." Lesley Farrow, co-owner of Niche Boutique in Rye, said the pandemic forced her hand to open an online operation and outlet said: "At the end of the whole lockdown period we'd lost eight months of business roughly."The stock was still coming in and we were closed, so we opened a website."Mrs Farrow, whose husband Peter Farrow runs a jewellery business on the same site, admits the move online was a "learning curve".As for the outlet, this came about because there was so much stock that needed to be displayed."Covid has made us have two stores," she added. The Copper Rivet Distillery in Chatham rose to prominence during the pandemic, having pivoted from producing gin and whiskey to hand sanitizer for the emergency services. During the period of greatest need, the distillery was making 10,000 litres of sanitizer a Matthew Russell says this level of production was no accident. He said: "We as an organisation were monitoring the situation quite closely on the lead-up to the lockdowns..."Given the fact that Copper Rivet distillery is one of the few producers to make alcohol from scratch, we did a lot of pre-planning on what we might need to do or be asked to do."With tour numbers still not fully recovered since the pandemic, the distillery has adapted its offering by introducing more experience packages.
