Dharamsala, June 29 (IANS) Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who underwent a successful knee replacement surgery at a New York hospital, was discharged on Saturday.

“His Holiness the Dalai Lama underwent successful knee replacement surgery on Friday, June 28, at the Hospital for Special Surgery,” said David J. Mayman, MD, Chief of the Adult Reconstruction and Joint Replacement Service at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) said in a statement.

“He is expected to make a full recovery and was discharged on June 29. His Holiness’ personal medical team and office were in constant communication with the surgical and medical staff at HSS. We are grateful for their trust and assistance,” Mayman added.

The office of the Dalai Lama on Friday released a video statement stating the spiritual leader has successfully undergone knee surgery and he is in good health after the operation.

Tibetans worldwide rejoice over the 14th Dalai Lama’s successful knee surgery. Special prayers from followers of Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Buddhism were held at the Tsuglagkhang temple here.

The Nobel Peace Laureate departed Dharamsala on June 21 for the US via Switzerland to undergo medical treatment for his knee.

Revered by the Tibetans as a ‘living god’ and idolised in the Orient and the West, the elderly globetrotting Buddhist leader will turn 89 on July 6.

Scores of Tibetans and his followers worldwide are hoping the spiritual leader will be invited by President Joe Biden to sign the Resolve Tibet Act into law on his birthday.

Despite criticism by China, the US government has extended security service equivalent to a head of state to His Holiness.

–IANS

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Seoul, June 29 (IANS) Medical school professors and community doctors in South Korea decided on Saturday to convene a one-day nationwide debate next month on the government’s medical reform, a decision that will apparently result in a collective one-day walkout.

A doctors’ consultative group, known as the “special committee for upright medical care”, resolved to hold the debate on July 26 with participation from doctors of every discipline, including medical school professors, reports Yonhap News Agency.

Represented by medical professors as well as trainee and community doctors, the committee was launched earlier this month as the representative body to negotiate with the government over medical reform.

Committee officials said the debate will inevitably lead to a one-day suspension of medical services by participants, who are likely to be mostly medical professors at general university hospitals.

Committee members also reiterated their call for the government to abandon its medical school quota hike, which they said was decided without scientific justification.

The decision came amid the continuing standoff between the government and the doctors’ community over the government’s decision to increase admission quotas across medical schools nationwide by about 1,500 seats for next year in an effort to address a shortage of doctors.

Medical professors at three major hospitals of Yonsei University have been on an indefinite walkout since Thursday, demanding “tangible measures” from the government to resolve the ongoing health care crisis.

Since late February, trainee doctors nationwide have also been staying off their duties at general hospitals in protest, significantly reducing medical service capacities at the hospitals.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) Having meaningful social interactions with peers is associated with lower loneliness and greater affective well-being, a new study has shown.

To conduct the study, published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, the researchers followed three cohorts of university students over three years, collecting data on their social interactions and momentary well-being.

“Our research indicates that engaging in meaningful social interactions has net positive outcomes for affective well-being, stress, and loneliness,” said lead author Mahnaz Roshanaei, of Stanford University.

“Spending more time in substantive and deep conversations with anyone with either strong or weak ties, results in benefits for the average person’s well-being outcomes,” she added.

The study found greater benefits for well-being when meaningful social interactions happened in person (or face-to-face), compared to other communication channels like direct messaging and texting.

Meaningful social interactions while resting resulted in higher well-being than those occurring during activities such as studying or dining.

The researchers acknowledged that their study had limitations, including the fact that it focused on university students and may not be generalisable to the general population or outside of the US.

“In the future, the results of this study can be used in designing personalised intervention-oriented strategies for encouraging healthy social lives, such as personalised recommendations for maintaining social support and connections,” said Roshanaei.

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) A short-term, low-salt diet along with less body fluids may help repair and even regenerate certain cells in kidneys, scientists in the US have reported after showing promising results in animal studies.

A loss of salt and body fluid can stimulate kidney regeneration and repair in mice, according to a study led by stem cell scientist Janos Peti-Peterdi from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

This regenerative response relies on a small population of kidney cells in a region known as the macula densa (MD), which senses salt and exerts control over filtration, hormone secretion, and other key functions of this vital organ, according to the study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Currently, there is no cure for this silent disease. By the time kidney disease is diagnosed, the kidneys are irreversibly damaged and ultimately need replacement therapies, such as dialysis or transplantation.

To address this growing epidemic, Peti-Peterdi, first author Georgina Gyarmati, and their colleagues took a highly non-traditional approach.

As opposed to studying how diseased kidneys fail to regenerate, the scientists focused on how healthy kidneys originally evolved.

The team fed lab mice a very low salt diet, along with a commonly prescribed drug called an ACE inhibitor that further lowered salt and fluid levels.

The mice followed this regimen for up to two weeks, since extremely low salt diets can trigger serious health problems if continued long term.

In the region of the MD, the scientists observed regenerative activity, which they could block by administering drugs that interfere with signals sent by the MD.

When the scientists further analysed mouse MD cells, they identified both genetic and structural characteristics that were surprisingly similar to nerve cells.

In the mouse MD cells, the scientists also identified specific signals from certain genes, which could be enhanced by a low-salt diet to regenerate kidney structure and function.

“We feel very strongly about the importance of this new way of thinking about kidney repair and regeneration,” said Peti-Peterdi. “And we are fully convinced that this will hopefully end up soon in a very powerful and new therapeutic approach.”

–IANS

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New Delhi, June 29 (IANS) In another bid to ensure healthcare for all, the government has unveiled three new initiatives which will play a major role in improving the quality of healthcare services in the country.

These initiatives include virtual National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) assessment for Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAM); a new dashboard which will help health institutions in quickly monitoring compliance with respect to Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS); and a spot food licence and registration initiative for food vendors.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Ganpatrao Jadhav, said the government has established over 1.73 lakh AAMs, doubled the number of medical colleges since 2014, increased the number of AIIMS from seven to 23 and more than doubled the number of PG and MBBS seats since 2014.

“The government is committed to strengthening the healthcare system with more skilled human resources and quality infrastructure that can tackle both present and future medical challenges”, the minister noted.

Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Anupriya Patel, said that the launch of the virtual NQAS assessment and dashboard “will lead to improvement in providing quality of healthcare in public health facilities while the launch of the spot food licence will enhance the Ease of Doing Business in India”.

NQAS for Integrated Public Health Laboratories (IPHL) will improve the quality and competence of management and testing systems, which will positively impact the reliability of test results.

The launch of the spot food licence initiative is a ground-breaking new functionality for the instant issuance of licences and registrations through the Food Safety and Compliance System (FoSCoS).

FoSCoS is a pan-India IT platform designed to address all food safety regulatory needs.

Minister Patel said the government is working hard on building a robust and quality healthcare infrastructure by 2047, in accordance with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi’s vision.

–IANS

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