The good old anti-inflammatory arthritic drug threatens to edge out
Remdesivir and Trump-favourite hydroxychloroquine from the corona shelves. The Oxford University researchers found that it reduces mortality by one-third in critical coronavirus cases. The WHO described the finding as the "green shoots of hope." But how far is it true?
LONDON, June 17: British Health Minister Matt Hancock told Parliament on Wednesday
that Oxford researchers had found dexamethasone useful in the treatment of critically
ill covid patients. Dexamethasone is the first effective medicine found for
the treatment of coronavirus, he claimed.
"It's the first time that anyone in the world has clinically proven that a
drug can improve the survival chances of the most seriously ill coronavirus
patients," Hancock explained.
The Oxford University researchers had announced on Tuesday that the first results
of the trial found that the drug reduces mortality by one- third in critical
coronavirus cases. The treatment is immediately available and is already in
use in NHS (National Health Service), according to Hancock. The UK has 2,40,000
doses of dexamethasone in stocks.
It cut the risk of death by a third for patients on ventilators. For those
on oxygen, it cut deaths by a fifth. Chief Medical Officer for England Prof
Chris Whitty tweeted it would save lives around the world.
The risk of death was reduced from 40% to 28% in patients on ventilators and
25% to 20% in those on oxyden. About 2,000 hospital patients were given the
trial medicine by the Oxford researchers. Their head Prof Martin Landray said
the benefit is clear.
"This is the most important trial result for COVID-19 so far. Significiant
reduction in mortality in those requiring oxygen or ventilation from a widely
available, safe and well-known drug. Many thanks to those who took part and
made it happen. It will save lives around the world," Prof Chris Whitty said.
The drug, used as anti-inflammatory in arthritis and asthma, is instantly available
worldwide and is cheap and well-known. It is a common steriod used since 1960.
It is administered intravenously in intensive care and in tablet form for less
seriously ill patients. For a 10-day course it costs 5 pounds in the UK.
In fact it works like a drug against cytokine storm, which manifests in coronavirus
patients in advanced stage, helping in recovery: Reason why it has been described
as a life-saver in ventilator cases only. (Does it mean the drug is for cytokine
storm and not for coronavirus as such?)
Cytokine storm is that state when the body's immune system goes into an overdrive
to destroy foreign bodies or responds violently to mistaken signals, leading
to damages like bleeding, clotting, strokes and abrasions to own organs. Here
the lungs. Bleeding lungs then stop oxygen supplies and brings death. The drug's
intervention is here, treating the cytokine storm.
Dexamethasone calms the immune system.
The only other drugs being tried for covid are comparatively new. Remdesivir
developed for SARS and hydroxychloroquine which is a malaria drug also useful
in arthritis and IBS. Both were included in the therapy protocol for coronavirus
patients in India last week. Hydroxychloroquine, which has been promoted by
US President Trump from the very beginning and has now been disapproved by the
FDA, was a couple of days ago stopped by the WHO also from trial and use.
An optimistic Prime Minister Boris Johnson said dexamethasone is "a remarkable
British scientific achievement" that can be celebrated. "We have taken steps
to ensure we have enough supplies, even in the event of a second peak," he said.
The WHO has hailed the trial of the repurposed drug. Dexamethasone has "given
signs of hope." However, intensive work should go on on the preventive side
although the new drug is a "very welcome news" and it gives "green shoots of
hope," the WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. It is a
cheap and common steriod that can definitely help the critically ill. The medicine
has been used since 1960 to reduce inflammation in arthritis and asthma and
in some skin conditions. It cuts death rate by one-third, he elaborated.
Five people were arrested from a banquet hall in Sector 51 Noida on Thursday
where they were called to hold a rave party in a trap laid by the animal
rights group, PFA. They named Yadav but he was not present.
Betting through Dubai-based Mahadev Book in India is conducted through a countrywide network. Probes reveal that the online gambling is worth several millions and top politicians, officials and celebs have been beneficiaries.
TAILPIECE: Polling dates for some States are round the corner. Top
politicians have begun their acrimonious debate who looted more, even as
Mahadev is washing their dirty laundry in the open ghat. Come what may,
one needs to seize power to amass "thy wretched pelf!" One simple
question is, why else one should spend lakhs or crores to get elected! A
question every Indian should ask to oneself at least once a day!
His inaction amounts to defeating the rights of the people of the State to
welfare measures sought to be implemented through the Bills, the Kerala
Government's petition submitted, while the State of Tamil Nadu remarked
that its "Governor is acting as a political rival."
Tailpiece: Coming up back to back, the petitions in their totality seem to question the provision of Raj Bhavan, and not motives of a Governor as a
person.
Hundreds of cars piled up behind the wreckage of crashes occurring one
after other in backing up - continuous crashes to the rhythm of metallic
clanks and bangs back to back. According to reports, some ops required
'Jaws of Life' to pull apart the mangled cars to save lives inside.
The pilots struggled with Emerson to thwart a shut-off as he reached for
the T-handles (see pix). Later he admitted to police he had taken
psychedelic mushrooms and had a "nervous breakdown."
Doctors reasoned how the incidence of heart attacks is spiking over time and
advise the simple way to play safely is to take a break and rehydrate
yourself.
But how come ten people, including children, die of cardiac arrest at
Garba in 24 hours, and that at different places of Gujarat? Garba had been going on
for six days, and every year it is celebrated.
Shocking news from the UK: Leading grocers have started bribing policemen with free food and drinks to persuade them to take action against shoplifters.
Shoplifting has risen by about 27 per cent in 10 major cities across the UK
this year. The cost of retail crime last year was $2.15 billion. Besides, “We
are seeing organised gangs threatening staff with weapons and emptying
stores," Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said. Data shows that the police failed to respond to 73 per cent of serious
retail crimes that included assault and abuse of workers, apart from
shoplifting.
Harris said hip-hop is “the ultimate American art form” that “shapes every
aspect of American popular culture.” “Hip-hop culture is American
culture,” she said in a talk at her official residence at the US Naval
Observatory in Washington, D.C.
The social media had mixed reaction. There was much appreciation that
she dances better than any VP in American history. But some called her
"moves" as “cringe” while others did not like her pink pants - "pink pants
don’t look good.” In fact, her ensembles have always been incongruous.
"Let’s see how the (Governor's) Vice-Chancellors are given salary."
Mamata's extreme statements will put the Marxist Government in Kerala,
which is also facing similar issues, to shame. Has she begun the
countdown for a war on the streets?
It's true Mamata has come to see a conspiracy to demolish the established systems across the country, but lacks the ability to foresee what exactly is being pushed.
Brandishing a sword, Mahant Paramhans told reporters on Tuesday he
himself will behead MK Stalin's son for his remarks against Sanatan
Dharma in case nobody came forward to accept his offer he made in his
video. Udhayanidhi reacted to the saint's Monday video, "I will speak
more. I am the grandson of the artist who put his head on the rail track for
Tamil Nadu."
Somanath elaborated, "I am an explorer. I explore the Moon. I explore the inner
space. So it's a part of the journey of my life to explore both science and
spirituality. So I visit many temples and I read many scriptures. So try to find the
meaning of our existence and our journey in this cosmos. So it's a part of the
culture that we are all built to explore, find out the inner self as well as outer
self. So for the outer, I do science, for the inner I come to temples." (See videos)
Rao the mathematical legend had fathered the path-breaking Rao-Blackwell
theorem, one of the most important theorems in mathematical statistics, at the
age of 25. That brought him global fame. He is also famous for his Cramér-Rao
Bound inequality theorem relating to quality of estimators in statistics which has
had a profound bearing on applications of modern economics and several other
diverse fields. Simply put, with the pioneering statistician computation became a
tool to analyse even socio-economic challenges of modern times.
The alleged incident has received such a flash publicity that a standardised
city's hugely middle class population will have second thoughts about eating
outside for some time. Now everything on the table looks suspicious!
“All subjects directly connected to the people should be shifted to the State List. Particularly the subject of education. Only if this is done can cruel exams like NEET be abolished,” Stalin said. Education was moved from the State List to the Concurrent List with the 42nd Constitution Amendment made by the Central Government in 1976.
Decentralisation has been at the core of Tamil politics since the times of CN Annadurai. Stalin indicated there will be political changes in the offing.
TAILPIECE: While the Centre and the States are at loggerheads, it takes a
different cognitive acumen to know that entrance tests are not the way for
students' admission to courses.
As recently as Tuesday Craig Robertson had posted on Facebook: "Perhaps
Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the
Marxist." Biden was scheduled to make his first visit to Utah as President
Wednesday afternoon.
Maruti is recalling 87,599 S-Presso and Eeco vehicles to inspect and possibly
replace parts in the steering system. All reputed companies around the
world do recall their products when a defect comes to light.
Meanwhile, a question arises why just in about a year so many accidents have
taken place involving Mercedes sent to India while the car has won safety awards
abroad? In most cases, the vehicle collided with divider, while manoeuvring a
turn. Was there a split second delay in the steering system coming to a grip
when at high speed? Did anybody in India bother to study a pattern in several
of these accidents that took place one after other?
Former Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry died when his Mercedes-Benz-SUV hit
a divider in Gujarat. Cricketer Rishabh Pant's Mercedes-Benz-SUV rammed a divider
in Uttarakhand and smashed. It went up in flames but he escaped with injuries.
Brother of PM Narendra Modi, Prahlad Modi's Mercedes-Benz-SUV met with a similar
accident in Mysuru. And many more.
Experts blame violation of the Visual Flying Rules (VFR) for most of the
chopper crashes in the mountains as the leading cause. VFR means fly only
visually - because of the lack of navigation aids in remote areas or unreliability
of GPS-like aids in hilly terrains or a remote manipulation of instruments
in cases of sabotage - as the topography plays havoc especially in the monsoon
(mid-June to September).
Even when VFR is followed, most crashes occur due to CFIT (Controlled Flight
into Terrain) - that is, everything else is OK but the aircraft collides with
hills or trees hidden by the clouds. This also occurs mostly in the monsoon.
On Tueday with Manang, the chopper was brand new, pilot was highly experienced.
But it hit an 'invisible' tree and then crashed against a hillside. This
CFIT occurred when the pilot tried to dodge patches of clouds even as he was
following the VFR.
Simply put, everyone knows flying in the hills during the monsoon is risky,
but the companies want to make more money in any which case. This type of
tragedy is very frequently invited in the Indian hill State of Uttarakhand
as well, where pilots are even made to fly without the mandatory rest.