http://www.physioblasts.org/ en-gb 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 administrator@nospam.com hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.84.1 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin SuperBug is the bacteria which is immune to all antibiotics available. The bacteria is identified with the gene causing resistance to the antibiotics called NDM-1 gene or called the 'New Delhi Metallo-lactamase 1' gene. At present two bacteria are identified with the gene, the E.Coli and the Klebsiella Pneumonia. It is claimed to be resistant to all but Tigecycline and colistin drugs. A Belgian who was treated in Pakistan for a leg injury was the first  person reported to have died of the SuperBug.It does sound alarming a situation. More than fifty Britons  have been identified and treated for the Bug. 3 Australians also are identified to have contracted the bug. It was first identified on a swedish national who was treated in India. It is also reported in Canada, Sweden and the US. Most of them have travelled to India for their treatment in the last few years. The bug is said to be spreading fast.But is this the worst ever? Certain facts that are important to be noted are that a far more dangerous SuperBug was identified in 2006 in Houston, Texas which was named 'VIM-7' which was resistant to all antibiotics except only Polymyxin B. Critics points out that the bug wasnt named Houston bug or Texas bug nor was the issue publicised much. They also notes that a bacteria susceptible to more drugs than the VIM-7 cannot be named the most dangerous. They also points out about the high publicity given to the matter and also the naming of the Bug by a particular country capital (NewDelhi) and not in the name of the professor who found it (Prof. Timothy) or the country were it was researched upon ( UK ) or even the country whose national died first due to the infection ( Sweden ) or the country from where the first person died got infected (Pakistan).Medical tourism is a popular option for a good number of western nationals. People who have to wait for months and years on an average in their own countries began using the highly efficient and modernised services offered by other countries like India, Malaysia, Cuba, South africa, Israel, Thailand, Hungary, Turkey and few other European nations. It is estimated to be a 40 billion dollar business which is expected to grow to around 100 billion dollar by 2012. India, the leader in medical outsourcing or medical tourism alone roughly does a business of 4-5 billion dollars at present. An estimated 7,00,000 Americans used medical services in outside countries in 2007 and and around 1,00,000 Britons tried the same. The reasons for this being a popular option for many as per 2008 Mckinsey and company reports was 40% go outside for advanced technology, 32% for better healthcare, 15% for a faster medical treatment and 9% for a cheap treatment.Critics points out that by naming the bug as New Delhi Metallo-lactamase-1, one can effectively scare away potential foriegn customers or patients from Indian hospitals. Is this a powerful, effective business plan executed by someone? Or just a racially biased or disgruntled or attention seeking researcher's plan? Or a much more effective commercial plan by some pharmaceutical companies? The study which named the Bug and told the world about how dangerous it is was funded by 3 pharmaceutical companies one of which manufactures Tygecycline, one of the drug to which the Superbug responds.Another fact critics points out is that the researcher Prof. Timothy Walsh had been pursing the SuperBug theory from almost 2004 and was never able to hog the limelight hope for. With all his previous attempts failed, critics feel that this was a perfect strategy to bring himself into the limelight.Researches and studies point out that the Superbug is caused due to continous exposure to high doses of antibiotics over a period of time and that high dose medications were always common more in the western and developed nations. Infact it was in those developed nations the incidents of drug resistant bacteria came into existence. The MRSA and the VIM-7 all were reported first in the developed nations and even once a report in 2008 on London Evening Standard  titled 'The Superbug fear drives patients abroad' was published.Critics points out that the origin of antibiotic resistant bacteria cannot be outside these developed nations and the present scare and publicity about it could be a stunt by some disgruntled researcher looking for some attention or a commercial plan outlayed by some pharmaceutical companies or even a business breaking plan by few nations disturbed by the popularity gaining medical tourism to discredit India's dominance in the field. http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.83.2 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Arun Standard Education of Physiotherapy (StEP) towards Development is the first nationwide initiative in India targeted specifically to address standards of Physiotherapy education.It aims for developing a strong foundation for the future of the Physiotherapy profession in India with sound research evidence. The StEP initiative is envisaged to understand and answer the ambiguities of Physiotherapy education in India. It is also conceptualized to act as a forerunner that might help to develop/propose a standard physiotherapy education across India.If you are a physiotherapist or a PT academician or a physiotherapy student and would like to contribute towards this initiative you can visit the website more details.Website: http://stepindia.info/Volunteer: http://stepindia.info/index/step_opportunities/0-5 http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.82.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Arun In response to pervasive, ongoing security breaches by significant numbers of graduates of physical therapy schools from certain foreign countries, the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT or Federation) will suspend National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE) testing for all graduates of schools located in those countries, pending the development of a separate, secure exam for those graduates (to be called the NPTE-YRLY). The affected individuals will include all graduates of physical therapy schools in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Philippines.As a result, new registrations for both the PT and PTA versions of the NPTE have been suspended as of 11:59 PM, Sunday, July 11, 2010, for all graduates of physical therapy programs located in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Philippines. Testing will resume once development of the NPTE-YRLY has been completed. The Federation expects to launch the NPTE-YRLY in or about the fall of 2011. Currently, the Federation intends to offer the NPTE-YRLY once per year, at select test sites to be identified at a later date. The Federation will contact graduates from the affected physical therapy schools who have already registered for the NPTE to provide written instructions regarding when and under what conditions they will be able to take the NPTE. Jurisdiction physical therapy licensing authorities will be informed of the status of candidates from affected programs who have applied to their jurisdiction for licensure in separate correspondence.This necessary security measure is in response to compelling evidence gathered by the Federation reflecting systematic and methodical sharing and distribution of recalled questions by significant numbers of graduates of programs in the affected countries, as well as several exam preparation companies specifically targeted to these graduates. This evidence was obtained through extensive forensic analyses of exam performances, as well as a variety of legal actions brought by the Federation in the United States and abroad. Most notably, this includes the raid and seizure of evidence from the St. Louis Review Center in Manila, Philippines, and its alleged owners/operators, Gerard L. Martin, Roger P. Tong-An and Carlito Balita, which revealed the widespread sharing of hundreds of live test items. In response, the Federation is pursuing criminal copyright prosecution against St. Louis Review Center and its owners, has invalidated the scores of several individuals believed to have unfairly benefitted from advance access to test questions, and has removed the compromised items from the exam. http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.81.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin   A new research has found out that even a low-intense exercise program can reduce depression and increase physical therapy results in recovering stroke patients. The study followed 103 recovering stroke patients who were all receiving regular, standard treatment in hospital. 53 of the patients were enrolled in an additional, experimental program for upper limb recovery called Graded Repetitive Arm Supplementary Program (GRASP). The remaining 50 patients carried on with regular treatments. Patients in the GRASP group spent an extra 35 minutes four times a week doing non-intense arm exercises as part of rehabilitation activities, such as pouring water in a glass, buttoning up a shirt, or playing speed and accuracy games. Depressive symptoms were measured by the Center for Epidemiology Depression Rating Scale (CES-D), which measures symptoms of depression.The GRASP treatment program improved stroke-affected arm and hand function by 33 per cent as well as improving the amount that the patient used their arm and hands. At 4 weeks, the GRASP patients also reported less depressive symptoms and greater change scores than those in the control group did and the effects lasted up to five months. Depression and depressive symptoms in the weeks following a stroke are very common. Depression may be a direct result of the damage to a region of brain and in addition, the sudden change in ability and life circumstances.  "The power of physical activity to raise the spirits of recovering stroke patients is stronger than anyone suspected," Heart and Stroke Foundation researcher Dr. Jocelyn Harris told Canadian Stroke Congress.  She says that many stroke survivors experience feelings of depression in the weeks and months following stroke, which can interfere with the recovery process. This may be due in part to the fact that depression can cause a lack of motivation, increased fatigue, and trouble concentrating. Intense physical activity has a positive effect on reducing depression for most stroke patients. But some stroke patients undergoing medical treatments have special challenges and can't reach high activity levels, she says.  This new study shows there is no reason for these patients to miss out on the benefits of physical activity.   Source: Medindia.net http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.80.1 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin     The President of India Pratibha Patil signed an Ordinance empowering the government to dissolve or reorganize the MCI and establish an efficient medical regulatory body to carry out the functions hitherto executed by the Medical Council of India.     Established in 1934 under the Indian Medical Council Act, 1933 , The Indian Medical Council's main objectives were to maintain uniform standards of medical education at the undergraduate and post graduate level, recommending the recognition/de-recognition of medical qualifications of medical institutions in India or abroad, maintaining a permanent registry of doctors with recognized medical qualifications and ensuring ethical practices in the medical profession.     Though MCI was the backbone of the medical feild in India which was transformed enormously since it's inception, it lately had been in the news for various other reasons. Scandals, allegations of misrule, suppression of fellow medical fields, dip in teaching qualities in the affliatied institutions etc had cause a big drop in its public approval ratings. The recent arrest of MCI’s President Ketan Desai by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on charges of seeking a 2-crore bribe was the last nail on it's coffin.Following the arrest and the President’s Ordinance, the government has formed an interim Board of governors headed by Dr. S.K. Sarin, Dept. of Gastroenterology, G.B. Pant Hospital, New Delhi, as a stop gap measure to carry out the functions of the MCI.     The current MCI crisis has to be resolved quickly and effectively to restore credibility to Indian medical education and practice in the eyes of the world. Despite the shame, the MCI crisis has finally made it imperative to overhaul the system that dictates one of the largest healthcare services in the world. Healthcare in India has huge gaps with shameful incidences of ‘medical negligence’ and rampant corruption hampering effective healthcare delivery to India’s huge population.    This all came at a time when Medical tourism is picking up in India and attracting patients from around the world seeking relief from chronic ailments. Cost effective expert treatments in modern medicine and alternative therapies are the pride of India, in addition to world class hospitals equipped with medical experts and state of the art equipment and facilities for accurate diagnosis and treatment of various diseases and disorders.Source-Medindia  http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.79.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin Studies in recent years indicate that in some Total hip replacement cases the devices can quickly begin to wear, generating high volumes of metallic debris that is absorbed into a patient’s body. Such situation can touch off inflammatory reactions that cause pain in the groin, death of tissue in the hip joint and loss of surrounding bone. It has indeed lead to some of the leading orthopedic surgeons in the US to reduce or stop the use of a popular category of artificial hips amid concerns that the devices are causing severe tissue and bone damage in some patients, often requiring replacement surgery within a year or two. Such replacement devices known as “metal on metal” implants, have been used in about one-third of the approximately 250,000 hip replacements performed annually in the US. They are used in conventional hip replacements and in a popular alternative procedure known as resurfacing. The devices, whose ball-and-socket joints are made from metals like cobalt and chromium, became widely used in the belief that they would be more durable than previous types of implants. Artificial hips, intended to last 15 years or more, need early replacement far more frequently for reasons like dislocation than because of problems caused by metallic debris. But surgeons say that when metal particles are the culprit, the procedures to replace the devices can be far more complex and can leave some patients with lasting complications. Soft-tissue destruction and destruction of bone is seen in such patients.A recent editorial in a medical journal for orthopedic surgeons, The Journal of Arthroplasty, urged doctors to use the metal-on-metal devices only with “great caution, if at all.” The limited studies conducted so far estimate that 1 to 3 percent of implant recipients could be affected by the problem. Given the large number of people who have received metal devices, it could mean thousands of patients. Reports suggest that women are far more likely than men to be affected.Studies show that the devices can shed atomic-size particles of metals like chromium and cobalt that can be readily absorbed by tissue or enter the bloodstream. Doctors at leading orthopedic centers say they have treated a number of patients over the last year with problems related to the metal debris.It is not clear whether some makers’ devices are more prone to the debris problem than others. But some experts argue that some manufacturers, in a rush to meet the demand for metal-on-metal devices, marketed some poorly designed implants and that some doctors fail to properly implant even well-designed ones.Several orthopedic surgeons agreed that the procedure was generally safe. But those doctors said they were limiting resurfacing procedures to men under 55 with strong bones because other patients, including women, did not have good outcomes. All hip devices, regardless of the material, create debris as the ball rotates and rubs against the cuplike socket. But in metal-on-metal hips, either because of poor design or poor implant technique, the ball can sometimes press against the cup’s edge. This creates a chisel-like effect referred to as “edge-loading” that produces large volumes of microscopic metallic particles that can cause havoc in some patients. http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.78.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin A key protein known as SIRT3 has been identified in energy regulation process. In a research by scientists at the Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology the authors concluded that acetylation is a new mechanism for regulating fatty acid oxidation in mitochondria and that SIRT3 mediates the acetylation state.  Many mitochondrial proteins undergo a small chemical modification known as acetylation, which varies during feeding and fasting conditions. And it was known that the enzyme SIRT3 is involved in removing these modifications.The scientists used mice to investigate the role of the enzyme.  Both the copies of the gene had been deleted in the mice. It was seen that mice that lost both copies of the SIRT3 gene appeared to be completely normal in normal food conditions but while the mice was tested under fasting conditions expression of SIRT3 was increased in the liver. The livers of mice without SIRT3 had higher levels of fat and triglycerides than normal mice, because the mice could not burn up the body fat. Looking further into the mitochondrial level, they found that the enzyme called LCAD was hyper acetylated and contained even more acetyl groups than usual and the enzyme had reduced activity. Analysis showed that higher levels of SIRT3 expression and activity increase the activity of LCAD enzyme in fat oxidation. A number of other proteins are also acetylated in the mitochondria, which suggests that other proteins may be involved.The authors were excited in saying "The implication is that SIRT3 may have a pathologic role in some metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or fatty liver disease. We are excited about exploring these possibilities."Source-ANI http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.77.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin A scary, shocking and very concerning data was revealed when researchers complied their data on stroke incidence in the US. They found that the average age of stroke patients in 2005 was nearly three years younger than the average age of stroke patients in 1993-1994. They also noticed that the percentage of people 20 - 45 having a stroke was up to 7.3 percent in 2005 from 4.5 percent in 1993-1994. The proportion of patients under age 45 is up and the incidence rate is up too.The findings were presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke conference 2010 by the lead author Brett M. Kissela, Associate Professor, Co-Director of the Neurology Residency Program at the University of Cinccinatti Neuroscience Institute. http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.76.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Arun Contract Duration: 6 monthsObjective: The Physical Therapists/Occupational Therapists will provide, in collaboration with local partners, rehabilitation services at local hospitals and train local health staff as well as families of disabled persons in basic rehabilitation techniques. Main Tasks:Identification and detection of persons with disabilities in local hospitalsCoordination with local partnersProvision of therapySetting up of regular rehabilitation services at hospital levelTraining and sensitization of local hospital and health staff in basic rehabilitation  Professional Profile and Requirement At least 3 years of professional experience as PT/OTKnowledge of disability issuesSound knowledge in orthotics and prostheticsGood reporting skillsProven good organisational skills  as well as a high level of autonomy and flexibilityPersonal ProfileIntercultural knowledge and sensitivityExcellent inter-personal skillsTeam player and good communicator with a proven ability to motivate peopleOverseas experience in a developing countryProven ability to perform and live in a multicultural working environmentGood English (both oral and written); knowledge of French language is an added advantageKnowledge of Haiti and emergency work is a plusThe future job holder is a Christian, who adheres to CBM beliefs as well as values and commits to CBM’s Child Protection Policy.CBM encourages persons with disabilities to apply for this position.Candidates meeting these qualifications with proven, relevant working experience, are invited to submit, via E-mail to Ute Norman, a cover letter, CV, copies of diplomas, three professional references and salary expectations to [email] / www.cbm.orgApplication deadline: 24th February, 2010Cited from: <http://www.cbm.org/en/general/CBM_EV_EN_general_article_193771.html> http://www.physioblasts.org/news.php?item.75.3 2010-09-09T08:25:36-07:00 Robin    A study points to early physiotherapy, including massage and shoulder exercises, could help prevent and reduce one of the most common complications of breast cancer surgery, the secondary lymphoedema. Secondary lymphoedema  is caused by damage to the lymphatic system during treatment, leading to fluid retention and arm swelling. It affects majority of women within first year of surgery which also cause cosmetic disfigurement, anxiety, depression and emotional distress.   The effectiveness of early physiotherapy in reducing the risk of secondary lymphedema after breast cancer surgery was investigated upon in the study.The study identified 120 women who had undergone breast cancer surgery involving removal of lymph nodes .Sixty patients were assigned to early physiotherapy and an educational strategy and 60 to the educational strategy only . Both programmes lasted three weeks and patients were followed up four weeks after surgery, and again at three, six and 12 months after surgery.   Physiotherapy included manual lymph drainage, massage of scar tissue, and shoulder exercises by a physiotherapist. The educational strategy included materials about the lymphatic system and advice on how to avoid injury and prevent infection.One year follow-up was completed by 116 women. Of these, 18 (16%) developed secondary lymphoedema of which 14 were in the control group (25%) and four in the intervention group (7%). This difference was statistically significant.A survival analysis also showed a significant difference, with secondary lymphoedema being diagnosed four times earlier in the control group than in the intervention group.   It was thus conluded by the researchers that early physiotherapy could help prevent and reduce secondary lymphoedema in women for at least one year after breast cancer surgery. An accompanying editorial says that physiotherapy shows promise in a selected group of women and suggests that clinicians should consider referring patients to physiotherapists who are trained in treating lymphoedema.Source: BMJ.