Amid concern over rising cases of COVID-19 in Madhya Pradesh, a 52-year-old woman died of the virus during treatment at a private hospital in Indore.

The woman, a resident of Ratlam, around 150 km from Indore, was admitted to Manorma Raje T B (MRTB) hospital in Indore with complaints of respiratory distress on June 8.

Meanwhile, a COVID test was also conducted. Two days later, on Wednesday, medical reports revealed that she was COVID-positive.

Subsequently, she was shifted to the isolation ward.

She died on June 11, a senior doctor at MRTB hospital said on Thursday.

The hospital administration also confirmed that the patient was suffering from multiple diseases, including tuberculosis and hypertension, due to which her health condition continued to deteriorate.

With the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warning that daytime temperatures in Delhi may soar to 45 degrees Celsius, the Health Ministry on Wednesday urged people to stay indoors during peak hours, and to drink safe fluids.

The IMD has issued an orange alert for the national capital on Wednesday.

The IMD has warned that daytime temperatures in Delhi could reach as high as 45 degrees Celsius, with night-time lows hovering around 29 degrees Celsius. The ongoing weather conditions are part of a prolonged heatwave affecting large parts of northwestern India.

"Extreme heat can be risky. Stay indoors during peak hours, eat lower-calorie food, drink safe fluids, and never leave kids or pets in parked cars,” the Health Ministry, said in a post on social media platform X.

Amid a fresh wave of Covid-19, Israeli researchers have discovered that a protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus can cause the immune system to attack healthy cells mistakenly.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, sheds light on how severe Covid complications may occur and suggests new ways to prevent immune-driven damage from the virus, news agency reported.

Researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found that the virus's nucleocapsid protein (NP), which normally helps package the virus's genetic material inside infected cells, can spread to nearby uninfected epithelial cells.

Once on the surface of these healthy cells, NP would be mistakenly identified by the immune system as a threat. The immune system then deploys anti-NP antibodies, which mark these uninfected cells for destruction.

An international team of scientists has unveiled an artificial intelligence (AI) technique that securely analyses global cancer samples, paving the way for more personalised and privacy-protected cancer treatments.

This innovative approach promises to accelerate personalised cancer treatment by enabling clinicians to match therapies to individual patients better, news agency reported.

The study involved the analysis of protein profiles, known as proteomes, from 7,525 cancer samples collected by 30 collaborating research groups across six countries, including Australia, the United States, Canada, Spain, Greece, and Austria.

Strict privacy laws and technical differences in lab methods have long made it difficult to combine large cancer datasets, said the researchers led by Australia's Children's Medical Research Institute (CMRI).

Researchers have identified genetic factors that trigger symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and anxiety.

The international study led by King’s College London, UK, examined how individuals’ varying sensitivity to environmental factors can influence levels of ADHD symptoms, autistic traits, anxiety and depression symptoms, psychotic experiences and neuroticism.

Researchers from 23 universities around the world combined data from up to 21,792 identical twins (10,896 pairs) from 11 studies to discover genetic variants linked with environmental sensitivity. This is the largest genome-wide association study (GWAS) of identical twins to date.

They identified several genetic factors that were linked with differences in environmental sensitivity within identical twin pairs. The interaction between these genetic factors and environmental exposures could explain differences in susceptibility to psychiatric and neurodevelopmental conditions, said the researchers in the paper, published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

Gujarat has recorded over 1,100 active cases of Covid-19, with 235 reported in the last 24 hours, said officials here on Tuesday, adding that there is no need to panic as long as precautions are being taken.

The total active cases were reported till Monday.

A 55-year-old man, who was undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital, succumbed to the infection after experiencing symptoms for four days. Medical officials confirmed the patient also suffered from comorbidities, including diabetes, which may have worsened his condition.

This fatality marks the first Covid-related death in Rajkot amid a gradual spike in infections. The city has now crossed 100 confirmed cases. Health authorities have intensified monitoring in affected areas and urged citizens to remain vigilant.

Job insecurity, lack of reliable childcare, and poor health are the barriers behind the rising fertility crisis, according to the latest report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released on Tuesday.

The State of World Population (SOWP) report showed that millions of people are not able to realise their real fertility goals -- that is a person’s ability to make free and informed choices about sex, contraception, and starting a family. It called for a shift from panic over falling fertility to addressing unmet reproductive goals.

The report, which included a UNFPA-YouGov survey across 14 countries, including India, with 14,000 respondents reveals multiple barriers to reproductive autonomy in India.

Financial limitations (40 per cent) were one of the biggest barriers to reproductive freedom. This was followed by job insecurity (21 per cent), housing constraints (22 per cent), and the lack of reliable childcare (18 per cent) that is making parenthood feel out of reach.

Childhood adversity may have a profound connection with lifelong vulnerability causing psychiatric disorders and other brain consequences, according to a study.

The study showed that early life experiences become biologically embedded and create lasting changes in brain structure and immune function.

"The immune system doesn't just fight infections -- it plays a crucial role in shaping our mental health throughout life," said Sara Poletti, senior researcher at IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Milan, Italy.

"Childhood trauma can fundamentally reprogramme these immune responses, creating vulnerability to depression, bipolar disorder, and other psychiatric conditions decades later," she added.

By identifying specific inflammatory markers associated with childhood trauma, the study provides potential targets for novel interventions.

A daily dose of a commonly used, safe, and inexpensive antibiotic may help reduce preterm births (born at 37 weeks’ gestation or before), in women with HIV, according to a study of almost 1,000 pregnant women in Zimbabwe.

An international group of researchers, from the UK and Zimbabwe, found that women living with HIV who took the antibiotic trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole during their pregnancy had larger babies who were less likely to be preterm.

Trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole is a broad-spectrum antimicrobial agent with anti-inflammatory properties that are widely used in sub-Saharan Africa.

The study showed that for babies born to a small group of 131 women with HIV, the reduction in premature births was especially marked, with only 2 per cent of births in the trimethoprim–sulfamethoxazole group preterm, as compared with 14 per cent in the placebo group.

Amid the fresh wave of Covid-19, with more than 5,000 active cases, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati developed a novel method to accurately detect and measure the amount of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid infection.

The innovative approach is based on how quickly a clay-virus-electrolyte mixture settles: a process commonly known as sedimentation. The new technique offers a simple and affordable alternative to the complex and expensive methods like Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), antigen testing, and antibody testing -- currently in use for virus detection.

The team used Bentonite clay -- a clay well known for its ability to absorb pollutants and heavy metals due to its unique chemical structure.

Previous studies have shown that clay particles can bind with viruses and bacteriophages, making it a promising material for virus detection.

Women with early onset of periods, and later menopause -- which means a longer reproductive span -- can have a healthier brain ageing in life, according to a study.

The study showed how a woman’s reproductive years may shape brain health later in life and also reduce the risk of dementia.

It also suggested the role of oestradiol (or the lack thereof) in the development of dementia.

Oestradiol levels rise at puberty, remain high during most of a woman’s reproductive life, and then decline sharply around menopause. This drop in oestradiol has been linked to an increased risk of dementia and other age-related brain conditions.

US researchers have identified a mechanism that SARS-CoV-2 -- the virus that causes Covid-19 -- uses to protect itself inside the body as it works to replicate and infect more cells.

Without this protective mechanism, viral infection is dramatically reduced, said the team from the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and the University of Chicago.

The finding, published in the journal Nature Communications, not only provides a potential target for new Covid therapies but also offers insights that could inform future vaccine and antiviral development.

Statins, typically used to lower blood pressure may also help lower the risk of death among patients suffering from deadly sepsis by 39 per cent, according to a study on Friday.

Sepsis occurs when the immune system overreacts to an infection, causing such a strong inflammatory response that vital organs begin to shut down. It is life-threatening, as in about 15 per cent of cases, sepsis worsens into septic shock, characterised by dangerously low blood pressure and reduced blood flow to tissues.

The risk of death from septic shock is even higher, between 30 per cent and 40 per cent.

The earlier patients with sepsis are treated, the better their prospects. Typically, they receive antibiotics, intravenous fluids, and vasopressors to raise blood pressure.

However, the large cohort study published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology has shown for the first time that supplementary treatment with statins could boost their chances of survival.

Blood sugar responses after food, especially carbohydrates, may indicate metabolic health status as well as signal the risk of prediabetes, according to a study.

Researchers from Stanford University in the US explained that the differences in blood sugar response patterns among individuals were associated with specific metabolic conditions such as insulin resistance or beta cell dysfunction -- both can lead to diabetes.

The findings, published in Nature Medicine, suggest that this variability in blood sugar response could lead to personalised prevention and treatment strategies for prediabetes and diabetes.

"This study suggests that not only are there subtypes within prediabetes, but also that your subtype could determine the foods you should and should not eat," said Michael Snyder, Professor in Genetics at Stanford Medicine.

 A single dose of the long-acting antibody nirsevimab developed to prevent respiratory syncytial virus infections in infants can halve hospitalisations for bronchiolitis, according to a study.

Bronchiolitis is an acute viral infection that affects the respiratory system of children under one year of age mainly in the first six months of life with greater frequency between November and March.

It is often associated with respiratory syncytial virus infection (in about 3 out of 4 cases) that can cause respiratory failure, especially in children under one year of age - among babies under six months old.

Australian researchers have identified a common genetic variant that doubles the risk of dementia in men.

The team from Curtin University said that one in three people carry one copy of the variant, known as H63D, while one in 36 carry two copies.

The research, published in the journal Neurology, found that men who carry a double H63D variant are twice as likely to develop dementia in their lifetime compared to women.

The study, based on 19,114 healthy older people in Australia and the US, investigated whether people who had variants in the hemochromatosis (HFE) gene, which is critical for regulating iron levels in the body, might be at increased risk of dementia.

"Having just one copy of this gene variant does not impact someone's health or increase their risk of dementia. However, having two copies of the variant more than doubled the risk of dementia in men, but not women," said Professor John Olynyk, from the Curtin Medical School.

Sleeping disorders may be act as an early indicator of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia (LBD) -- a type of dementia, according to a study.

The study focussed on patients with Rapid eye movement behaviour disorder -- a sleep disorder where individuals physically act out their dreams during the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep.

"Normally, when we're asleep and dreaming, our muscles are paralysed, but around age 50, some people become very agitated during sleep and start punching, kicking and screaming," said Shady Rahayel, a medical professor at Université de Montréal in Canada.

Mongolia has recorded 335 new cases of measles infection over the past 24 hours, bringing the national caseload to 4,274, according to the country's National Centre for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) on Friday.

Meanwhile, 114 more measles patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total number of recoveries to 2,793, the NCCD said in a statement.

According to Mongolian doctors, the majority of new measles infections were among children aged 10-14 who had only one shot of the measles vaccine, news agency reported.

In this regard, the NCCD advised parents to protect their children from a potentially severe disease by getting them two doses of the measles vaccine.

According to the World Health Organisation, measles is a highly contagious viral disease transmitted by respiratory droplets and direct contact. Measles spreads easily when an infected person breathes, coughs or sneezes. It can cause severe disease, complications, and even death.

Depression can significantly raise the risk of dementia both in middle age as well as among those aged 50 and above, according to a study.

Dementia affects over 57 million people globally. There is currently no cure, so identifying and treating the factors to reduce the risk, such as depression, is an important public health priority.

The findings showed that potential links between depression and dementia are complex and may include chronic inflammation, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation, vascular changes, alterations to neurotrophic factors, and neurotransmitter imbalances. Shared genetic and behavioural-related modifications may also increase the risks.

The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, highlights the importance of recognising and treating depression across the life course, not just for mental health, but also as part of a broader strategy to protect brain health.

People with autism could be at a higher risk of developing Parkinson's disease early in life, according to a large-scale study that showed similar underlying biological mechanisms of the conditions.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet questioned a possible connection between the neuropsychiatric diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which affects an individual's thought processes, behaviour, and interpersonal communication, and early-onset Parkinson's disease -- a condition that affects locomotion and movement.

The results, published in JAMA Neurology, show that people with an autism diagnosis were four times more likely to develop Parkinson's disease than people without such a diagnosis.

The correlation between the conditions remained even when controlling for socioeconomic status -- a genetic predisposition for mental illness or Parkinson's disease and other such factors, said the researchers, who suspect the role of dopamine.

Amid another global wave of Covid-19 disease, a new study showed that about 15 per cent of babies and toddlers are facing long-Covid conditions and that their symptoms can vary based on age.

Long Covid in kids can be defined as prolonged symptoms that last for at least three months after a SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The study, published in the JAMA Pediatrics, is based on 472 infants and toddlers, and 539 preschool-aged children enrolled from March 2022 to July 2024, found that about 15 per cent of kids had long Covid.

A silent health crisis is brewing within corporate India, with a significant number of employees suffering from chronic illness, poor mental health, and burnout, according to an alarming report on Thursday.

The report by Plum, India's leading employee health benefits platform, showed that chronic illness hits working professionals by the age of 40. The report noted that 40 per cent of employees take at least one sick day each month for mental health reasons, and 1 in 5 are considering quitting due to burnout.

Alarmingly, the data reveals a consistent pattern across the onset of major health conditions: heart disease (by age 32), cancer (by age 33), diabetes (by age 34), chronic kidney disease (by age 35), cerebrovascular disease such as strokes, ischemia (by age 36)

Love to drink sugar-sweetened beverages like soda, fruit juice, or energy and sports drinks? They may raise your risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D), according to a study.

However, dietary sugars consumed in or added to nutrient-dense foods, such as whole fruits, dairy products, or whole grains, do not cause metabolic overload in the liver, said researchers from Brigham Young University in the US.

These embedded sugars elicit slower blood glucose responses due to accompanying fiber, fats, proteins, and other beneficial nutrients, the team said.

For the study, published in the journal Advances in Nutrition, researchers analysed data from over half a million people across multiple continents.

They found that with each additional 350 ml serving of sugar-sweetened beverages (that is, soft drinks, energy drinks, and sports drinks) per day, the risk of developing T2D increased by 25 per cent.

An 11-year-old boy from Cambodia's Kampong Speu province died of H5N1 human avian influenza, becoming the fourth human death from the virus so far this year, the country's Ministry of Health said in a press statement released on Wednesday.

"A laboratory result from the Pasteur Institute of Cambodia showed on May 27, 2025, that the boy was positive for the H5N1 virus," the statement said.

The ill-fated boy lived in Samraong Tong district's Srey Sampoung village.

"According to queries, chickens and ducks near the patient's house had gotten sick and died subsequently a week before the boy fell ill," the statement said.

With fresh concerns over Covid-19 resurgence, six new Coronavirus infections have been confirmed in Bihar’s capital Patna, including among healthcare workers at AIIMS-Patna.

The latest spike has prompted hospitals across the state to go on high alert, with precautionary measures being swiftly reinstated.

Among the newly-infected are a female doctor, a female nurse, and another employee of AIIMS-Patna, all currently undergoing treatment under the supervision of senior doctors.

Two additional patients at Nalanda Medical College Hospital (NMCH) have tested positive, while another case involves a 42-year-old man from the RPS Mod area, whose test was conducted at a private lab in Raja Bazar.

According to Civil Surgeon Dr. Avinash Kumar Singh, the city now has a total of nine active Covid-19 cases.

Of these, three have been hospitalised, while the remaining six are in home isolation.

Israeli scientists have pinpointed a crucial network of immune cells that allows humans to digest food safely without triggering harmful reactions.

The discovery, led by researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS), sheds new light on oral tolerance, the body's ability to recognise food as harmless and prevent an immune system attack, news agency reported.

This vital system stops everyday foods from causing inflammation while still letting the immune system fight off infections.

The breakthrough could pave the way for new treatments for food allergies, sensitivities, and disorders like celiac disease. By understanding how this system works, scientists hope to correct what goes wrong when the body mistakenly attacks food.

"If an aggressor fires across the border, he will be swiftly neutralised, peace accords notwithstanding. The immune system operates on a similar principle," said Dr. Ranit Kedmi from Weizmann’s Systems Immunology Department.

The recent directive by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to install "Sugar Boards" in schools is an essential public health measure that also aligns with global nutrition goals, said health experts on Tuesday.

Amid increasing cases of diabetes and obesity among young children, the CBSE, last week, instructed over 24,000 affiliated schools across India to establish sugar boards.

The Sugar Boards will provide essential information, including recommended sugar intake, the sugar content in commonly consumed foods (such as junk food and cold drinks), health risks associated with high sugar consumption, and healthier dietary alternatives.

“This initiative educates children about the dangers of excessive sugar consumption, which is a major contributor to childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. By clearly displaying recommended sugar intake and the sugar content in common foods, the boards promote awareness and healthier choices,” Dr Naval Vikram, Professor of Medicine, at AIIMS, New Delhi, told.

Amid the surging number of cancer cases in women, a new study on Tuesday found its association with increasing global warming conditions.

In the study, published in the journal Frontiers in Public Health, scientists found that global warming in the Middle East and North Africa is making breast, ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancer more common and more deadly.

While the rise in rates is small it is statistically significant and suggests a notable increase in cancer risk and fatalities over time.

“As temperatures rise, cancer mortality among women also rises -- particularly for ovarian and breast cancers,” said Dr Wafa Abuelkheir Mataria of the American University in Cairo.

“Although the increases per degree of temperature rise are modest, their cumulative public health impact is substantial,” Mataria added.

US researchers have identified a widely used antidepressant drug that could shrink the growth of tumour and help the immune system fight cancer.

Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) found that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), best known for the role they play in the brain, can significantly enhance the ability of T cells to fight cancer.

In the study, published in the journal Cell, the researchers tested SSRIs in mouse and human tumour models representing melanoma, breast, prostate, colon, and bladder cancer.

They found that SSRI treatment reduced average tumour size by over 50 per cent and made the cancer-fighting T cells more effective at killing cancer cells.

"It turns out SSRIs don't just make our brains happier; they also make our T cells happier -- even while they're fighting tumours," said Dr. Lili Yang, senior author and a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) has thanked India for its commitment and support to the historic Pandemic Accord.

After three years of negotiations, the Agreement was adopted by consensus by member countries of the WHO at the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva this week.

India is also a signatory to this treaty, which has been in talks since the Covid-19 outbreak, which killed millions of people worldwide. The treaty aims to bridge global healthcare gaps and inequities in case of future pandemics.

“Namaste, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for joining us virtually at a historic 78th WHA when the Pandemic Accord was adopted. We are grateful for India's commitment and support to the WHO,” the WHO chief said in a post on social media platform X.

Age-related decline in the immune system can have a measurable impact on CAR-T cell therapy -- one of the most advanced forms of cancer immunotherapy, according to a study.

CAR-T therapy works by engineering a patient's T cells to recognise and destroy cancer cells.

The study led by Swiss researchers found that CAR-T cells from aged mice had poor mitochondrial function, lower "stemness," and reduced antitumour activity.

It was due to a drop in levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) -- a molecule essential for cellular energy and metabolism of mitochondria, said the team from the University of Lausanne (UNIL), the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).

"CAR-T cells from older individuals are metabolically impaired and significantly less effective. What's exciting is that we were able to rejuvenate these aged cells by restoring their NAD levels -- reviving their antitumour function in preclinical models," said Dr. Helen Carrasco Hope.

Fortis Healthcare, a leading Delhi-Based hospital chain, has reported a 7.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY) drop in its net profit to Rs 188.02 crore for the fourth quarter of financial year 2024–25 (Q4 FY25) -- down from Rs 203.14 crore in the same period last fiscal (Q4 FY24).

The decline in profit was mainly due to a sharp rise in total expenses and impairments in investments.

Fortis said its total expenses rose 13.6 per cent to Rs 1,741.52 crore in Q4 FY25, compared to Rs 1,531.76 crore in the year-ago period.

The company also incurred an exceptional loss of Rs 53.57 crore during the quarter. This was due to impairments on its investment in an associate firm and on some of its assets, including property and equipment.

Despite the drop in profit, the company reported strong growth in its revenue.

SK bioscience, a biotech arm of South Korea's SK Group, on Wednesday said it has won a patent lawsuit against global pharmaceutical giant Pfizer over pneumococcal vaccine components.

In 2020, Pfizer filed a lawsuit with a Korean court, claiming that SK bioscience's export of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) components and finished products for research to Russia infringed on the composition patent of its vaccine Prevnar 13, news agency.

South Korea's Supreme Court recently upheld a lower court's ruling that SK bioscience's PCV13 components do not fall within the scope of Pfizer's patent claims.

The court also ruled that the production and export of PCV13 products for research purposes do not constitute patent infringement.

SK bioscience developed SKYPneumo, South Korea's first domestically produced PCV13, in 2016.

 A team of scientists at the Institute of Advanced Study in Science and Technology (IASST), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), has found drugs with potential to treat neurodegenerative disorders -- a major global health challenge.

In the study, published in the Journal Drug Discovery Today, the team highlighted the potential of peptidomimetics to treat neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, by promoting neuronal growth and survival.

Peptidomimetic drugs -- or synthetic molecules that mimic the structure of natural proteins -- can be repurposed to provide an effective therapeutic strategy to treat neurodegenerative diseases by promoting neuronal growth and survival.

While neurotrophins, proteins crucial for neuronal survival and function, have shown promise as potential treatments, their instability and rapid degradation have hindered their therapeutic application.

Maharashtra has reported two Covid-related deaths since January this year, the state health department has said, adding that the two were patients with comorbidities.

The department, late Tuesday night, stated that both deaths were reported from Mumbai and involved patients with comorbidities (simultaneous presence of two or more medical conditions in a person). One of the deceased had nephrotic syndrome with hypocalcemia seizure, while the other was a cancer patient.

According to the health department, a total of 6,066 swab samples have been examined for coronavirus since January, of which 106 tested positive for the infectious disease. Of these, 101 were from Mumbai and the remaining from Pune, Thane, and Kolhapur. Currently, 52 patients are undergoing treatment for mild symptoms, while 16 are being treated at hospitals.