Children whose families use screens a lot tend to have weaker vocabulary skills, and video games have the biggest negative effect on kids’ brain development, according to a study on Thursday.

Scientists from Estonia surveyed the parents of more than 400 children about their screen use, their children’s screen use, and their children’s language skills.

The findings, published in the Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, found that parents who use screens a lot also have children who use screens a lot and that children’s higher screen time is associated with poorer language skills.

NITI Aayog on Wednesday released a new report that provides a blueprint of a rapid response system in the event of a public health emergency or pandemic.

The report titled ‘Future Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response - A Framework for Action’ was prepared by an Expert Group constituted by the government think tank.

After the recent Covid-19 pandemic, which claimed over 7 million lives globally, and more than half a million lives were lost in India, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of more such health threats.

As per the WHO, 75 per cent of future public health threats are likely to be zoonotic threats (which could be due to emerging, re-emerging and new pathogens).

People suffering from common laryngopharyngeal dysfunction like chronic cough, hoarseness, recurrent throat clearing, especially after Covid, may be at significant risk of developing a heart attack or stroke, warns a study on Wednesday.

Researchers from the University of Southampton observed a reduction in baroreflex sensitivity -- a measure of how much a person's heart rate changes in response to changes in blood pressure -- in patients with throat symptoms.

The team noted that the findings could be explained by the Vagas nerve -- which controls the autonomic nervous system -- prioritising protection of the airways over less urgent functions, such as blood pressure regulation.

Due to heavy rains in Kutch district, the mysterious fever that has been plaguing the region has spread further.

Reports indicate that over 15 people have died in Lakhpat taluka allegedly due to this unknown illness.

The situation has caused significant concern among the authorities in Gujarat.

Health officials and the district's health commissioner have arrived to investigate the matter.

Samples from suspected cases have been sent to Pune for further analysis, to gather more information and improve the health situation.

If you are suffering from chronic pain in your body, it may be time to actively work towards losing that belly or abdominal fat, suggests research on Wednesday.

Reducing belly fat may help reduce chronic musculoskeletal pain particularly if it’s at multiple body sites, especially in women, revealed the study, published in the open-access journal Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.

Musculoskeletal pain, which affects about 1.71 billion people globally, affects bones, joints, ligaments, tendons or muscles.

Previously published research has shown that obesity is associated with musculoskeletal pain, but it’s unknown if excess fat tissue is linked to chronic musculoskeletal pain at multiple body sites, said researchers from the universities of Tasmania and Monash in Australia.

A combination of Siddha drug treatment can help reduce anaemia among adolescent girls, claimed a study on Tuesday.

The study showed that Siddha drug combination “Annapeticenturam, Bavana katukkay, Matuḷai maṇappaku and Nellikkay lekiyam (ABMN) can improve the level of haemoglobin as well as Packed cell volume (PCV), Mean Corpuscular volume (MCV) and Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin (MCH) in the anaemic adolescent girls”.

The ABMN medication “significantly lowered the clinical features of anaemia like fatigue, hair loss, headache, loss of interest and menstrual irregularities and significantly improved the level of haemoglobin and PCV, MCV, and MCH in all anaemic girls,” showed the study published in the reputed Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge (IJTK).

Dengue cases in Bihar are rising rapidly with 55 new cases being reported in the past 24 hours, said officials here on Monday.

Of these, 27 have been identified in Patna. Within Patna, the Azimabad zone has been particularly affected, recording 13 cases, while Kankarbagh and Bankipur zones have reported five cases each.

On Saturday, dengue claimed two more lives in the state capital, bringing the total number of deaths due to the disease in the state to five.

Beyond Patna, other districts are also seeing a rise in cases. Five new cases were reported in Samastipur and four in Saran within the last 24 hours.

Administering the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in older adults with underlying health conditions may be a cost-effective way to reduce disease, a modelling study showed on Monday.

While RSV infections are known to cause major illness, especially in infants, the rate of infection increases with age. It can be dangerous for older adults, especially those with certain medical conditions, and can cause serious complications like pneumonia, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

There are now vaccines available to prevent disease caused by RSV in adults, and vaccination campaigns may reduce the incidence in older adults and associated health care costs, said the team of researchers led by the Public Health Agency of Canada.

In the paper published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal), the team created a model to assess the cost-effectiveness of vaccine programmes in various age groups with different medical risks.

Amid the global outbreak of mpox, a US CDC report shows that, unlike Covid-19, the monkeypox virus (MPXV) does not easily spread through the air.

The CDC's latest 'Morbidity and Mortality' weekly report included a study on 113 persons with mpox who travelled on 221 flights during 2021-22.

The results showed that none of the 1,046 passenger contacts got infected.

The rising consumption of processed and packaged food in India will likely affect health outcomes and policies may be required to regulate the nutritional content of these foods and promote healthier alternatives, a government paper has stressed.

According to the paper, titled ‘Changes in India’s Food Consumption and Policy Implications,’ by the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to the Prime Minister, across regions and consumption classes, “we observe a significant increase in the share of household expenditure on served and packaged processed food”.

This increase was universal across the classes but more pronounced for the country's top 20 per cent of households and significantly more in urban areas.

“While food processing is a growth sector and a significant creator of jobs, this rising consumption of processed and packaged food will also likely affect health outcomes,” the paper warned.