Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

The Department of Molecular Medicine and Biotechnology at the Sanjay Gandhi <keyword id="401744" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Post-Graduate-Institute-of-Medical-Sciences">Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences</keyword> (SGPGIMS) here has developed a faster and much <keyword id="9320981" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="cheaper-test">cheaper test</keyword> for <keyword id="8864712" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="covid-19-infection">COVID-19 infection</keyword>. The technology is the first rapid <keyword id="130094" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="RNA">RNA</keyword> (Ribonucleic acid)-based test that can detect COVID-19 infection within a lab time of 30 minutes and will cost only around Rs 500. Professor Swasti Tiwari, who led the research team and is the head of the department, told IANS on Sunday , that they had already filed for patent and approval of ICMR and the technology would be transferred for commercial use on getting the same. Prof Tiwari said, "The test is a single-tube lab test which takes less than 30 minutes of laboratory time and has high specificity and sensitivity. The test does not require sophisticated instrumentation or any expertise for result interpretation." She further explained that the data related to test development and optimisation has recently been communicated for publication in a scientific journal. The process of testing human samples using this technology is underway. She said that after the approval of ICMR, mass testing of coronavirus would be possible at a cheaper rate. This point-of-care test will have a direct impact on mass screening, and will especially benefit the people in screening/holding areas of various service centres such as hospitals and airports.

SGPGIMS develops RNA -based cheaper and faster test for COVID-19

Many students in India desire to pursue their education in medicine and build their careers. Medicine in India is a thriving field that has attracted a large pool of top talents. India has some of the best medical colleges globally in terms of faculty, facilities, research infrastructure, outreach, and inclusivity. National Institute Ranking Framework, managed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India, lists medical colleges in the country based on several assessment parameters. This mission aims to rate them for their quality, image, and performance. Here is the list of <keyword id="7512346" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="top-10-medical-colleges-in-india">top 10 medical colleges in India</keyword> for 2020 based on the<a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2020/MedicalRanking.html"> NIRF ranking</a>. #1 All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi NIRF has awarded 90.69 points to AIIMS – New Delhi, and has ranked it as the country's top destination for medical courses. AIIMS, New Delhi, was created in 1956 vide an act enacted in the parliament of India. It has now been recognized as an institution of national importance. The college offers UG, PG, and doctoral courses in different fields of medicine. #2 Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh – Chandigarh The points bagged by the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, is 80.06, which places the institution as the second-best in the nation for pursuing medical courses. Deemed as an institution of national importance, PGIMER is consistently receiving top ranks in the NIRF assessment. The college offers courses in several disciplines of medicine as per the world’s best standards. #3 Christian Medical College, Vellore - Tamil Nadu With 73.56 points in the NIRF assessment, CMC – Vellore stands in the third topmost position among India's best medical colleges. Founded in 1918 by Dr Ida Sophia Scudder, the daughter of a medical missionary, CMC – Vellore is a Christian minority institution affiliated to Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University. #4 National Institute of Mental Health &amp; Neuro Sciences, Bangalore - Karnataka The fourth-place among India's best medical colleges is reserved for the National Institute of Mental Health &amp; Neuro Sciences, Bangalore, which has scored 71.35 points in the NIRF assessment. NIMHANS – Bangalore has established itself as one of the most sought after destinations for medical courses by talented students. The institution has a very long history from colonial times as it was born from the Bangalore Lunatic Asylum, founded in 1847. #5 Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow - Uttar Pradesh Located in Lucknow, the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences has scored 70.21 points in the NIFR assessment. It has captured fifth place among the <keyword id="10115863" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="top-10-medical-colleges">top 10 medical colleges</keyword> in the country. Situated in the southeast of Lucknow city, SGPGIMS has one of the country's best infrastructures for medical courses. #6 Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - Uttar Pradesh NIRF has awarded 64.72 points for Banaras Hindu University – Varanasi and has placed it in the sixth position among the best medical colleges offering world-class medical courses. Cherishing a long tradition founded by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Banaras Hindu University started its journey in 1916, growing as a reputed institution attracting top talents. #7 Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences &amp; Research, Kochi – Kerala With 64.39 points, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences &amp; Research – Kochi has bagged the seventh position among the nation's leading medical colleges. Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (Amrita Hospital) has been regarded as one of the country's premier hospitals that have achieved the best medical treatments and education standards. #8 Jawaharlal Institute of PostGraduate Medical Education &amp; Research, Puducherry – Pondicherry Standing in the eighth position in 2020 among the best medical colleges in India, the scores bagged by JIPMER – Pondicherry is 63.17. Recognized among the institutions of national importance, JIPMER – Pondicherry offers UG, PG, diploma, and certificate programs in various disciplines of medicine. The hospital attached to the college is a highly sought after destination for medical treatments. #9 Kasturba Medical College, Manipal – Karnataka NIRF awards 62.84 points for Kasturba Medical College – Manipal and has rated it in the ninth position among India's best medical colleges. Considered as one of India's leading destinations for medical courses, KMC offers an array of UG medical courses in addition to PG courses across 55 disciplines in medicine. #10 King George's Medical University, Lucknow - Uttar Pradesh Scoring 62.20 points on the NIRF listing among India's best medical colleges, King George's Medical University, Lucknow occupies the tenth position among the leading colleges for medical courses in India. KGMU is a reputed medical college in the country that was established in 1905. Present since the colonial times, the institution has achieved excellence in medical education.

Top 10 medical colleges, universities, and institutes in India

The Ministry of Human Resource Development, on Monday, <a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2019/Ranking2019.html#">released</a> its annual list of rankings of the educational institutions in India under the national institutional ranking framework 2019. The rankings are based on a number of parameters including teaching, learning &amp; resources, research, placement metrics, and outreach and women participation. Here are the <keyword id="7512348" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="top-medical-colleges">top medical colleges</keyword> in India. Here is the full <a href="https://www.nirfindia.org/2019/MedicalRanking.html">list.</a> 1. <keyword id="6365231" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="all-india-institute-of-medical-sciences">All India Institute of Medical Sciences</keyword> New Delhi, Delhi Score: 87.52 2. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh Chandigarh Score: 77.88 3. Christian Medical College Vellore, Tamil Nadu Score: 70.32 4. Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences Lucknow, UP Score: 64.16 5. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Score: 62.84 6. Banaras Hindu University Varanasi, UP Score: 61.66 7. Kasturba Medical College Manipal, Karnataka Score: 61.40 8. Jawaharlal Institute of PostGraduate Medical Education &amp; Research Puducherry Score: 61.38 9. Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences New Delhi Score: 59.80 10. King George’s Medical University Lucknow, UP Score: 58.53

Here are the top medical colleges in India - Government data

NEET 2020 Result Soon: These are the best medical colleges in India, according to NIRF

New Delhi, Dec 5 () India may be projected to become a USD 3 trillion economy, but it is lagging on creating the institutional frameworks of an ambitious middle-income emerging economy, say two former finance ministry officials.
Vijay Kelkar and Ajay Shah have come out with a book "In Service Of The Republic: The Art And Science of Economic Policy" which stands at the intersection of economics, political philosophy and public administration.
"India has come into middle income, with a USD 3 trillion economy. We had a great surge of growth from 1991 to 2011, drawing on a new intellectual framework of policy that was built from 1977 onwards. For the first time in India's history, there was a substantial decline in the number and the share of those in poverty," they say.
According to them, the period after 2011 has seen a retreat from the optimism of 1991-2011 and this is a cause for great concern.
In the book, they tell about this underperformance and how to get back on the growth turnpike.
"Intensification of the 1977-2011 strategies will not suffice: what is required is rethinking the foundations," the authors suggest.
They say economic policy operates at the intersection of economics and politics and the ideal policy pathways must be worked out on blackboards, but then the conflicts of democratic politics are played out and determine the policy choices in the real world.
"Hence, our analysis draws as much on the timeless themes of building the republic as it does on public economics. In India, the modernisation of the political system and the economy is taking place at the same time - and feeding into each other. In this process, economic policy strategy must serve the larger objective of building the republic.
"The foundations of liberal democracy - the principles of debate, dispersion of power, the rule of law and curtailing executive discretion - are integral to solving the difficulties of economic policy that afflict India today," the book, published by Penguin Random House India, says.
Kelkar, who served as Petroleum Secretary, Finance Secretary and Chairman of the Thirteenth Finance Commission of India among other responsibilities, and Shah, who worked at the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research and the Ministry of Finance, describe the demonetisation episode as a large shock upon the economy.
"Even if a cost-benefit analysis showed that the benefits outweighed the costs, the fact that it was a large disruption should have been a consideration in the decision," they say.
The authors assert that there is a vast array of objectives that a state can potentially pursue through government action. But there is a big gap between dilettantism in public policy and the professional capability of actually making it work.
"We need the intellectual capacity to envision how a plausible-sounding intervention will actually work out."
A recurring theme of this book is an appreciation of 'self-organising systems', of the uncoordinated decisions of individuals left to themselves, that discover order by themselves. 
"The organic development of the economic system, with freedom in the hands of each individual, works better than instructions from the top."
Referring to the problem of boom and bust in Indian agriculture, they say the price of onions surges under shortages; this attracts sowing; the price of onions crashes in a glut; this discourages sowing; and so on.
"We suffer from the cycle of boom and bust in Indian agriculture because the state has disrupted all the four forces of stabilisation - warehousing, futures trading, domestic trade and international trade," they write.
"The state makes things worse by having tools like MSP and applying these tools in the wrong way. Better intuition into the working of the price system would go a long way in shifting the stance of policy," they add. ZMN SHD
SHD

India needs institutional frameworks of middle-income emerging economy: Book

<keyword id="66" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Delhi">Delhi</keyword> wears the crown of achievements with an increase in literacy rate (86.) and sex ratio, according to Economic Survey of Delhi 2014-15 tabled in the <keyword id="6356117" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-assembly">Delhi Assembly</keyword> today. 

	The sex ratio has improved from 821 in 2001 to 868 in 2011. The density of population has increased from 9,340 persons per square km in 2001 to 11,297 persons per sq km in 2011. 
 

	According to the survey, the literacy rate has increased from 81.67 per cent in 2001 to 86.34 per cent in 2011. The urban population of the national capital increased from 93.18 per cent in 2001 to 97.50 per cent in 2011. 

	Per capita income of India’s national capital is almost three times its value for the country, which stands at Rs. 87,748. Its per capita income during financial year 2014-15 has increased to Rs 2.41 lakh from Rs 2.12 lakh in the previous fiscal, a rise of nearly 13.50 per cent over the period. 
 

	As per the survey, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices during 2014-15 has increased to over Rs 4.51 lakh crore, a growth of 15.35 per cent over the previous year. 
 

	At constant prices, the growth of the Gross State Domestic Product for 2014-15 is 8.2 per cent as compared to 7.4 per cent recorded at national level. 
 As per the survey, the fiscal deficit of <keyword id="6354952" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Delhi-Government">Delhi government</keyword> was Rs 2,21.25 crore in 2014-15, which is 0.049 per cent of GSDP, as compared to estimated fiscal deficit of 2.35 per cent of all states during the same year. 

	The expenditure incurred on social service sectors in Delhi increased from 48.79 per cent in 10th Five Year Plan to 57.12 per cent in the 11th Five Year Plan and 65.75 per cent for the first three years of the 12th Five Year Plan. 
 

	Tax collection of Delhi government registered a growth of 2.64 per cent in 2014-15 as compared to the growth of 10.60 per cent in 2013-14, it said. 
 

	Delhi has maintained its consistent revenue surplus which was Rs 6,079.53 crore in 2014-15 as compared to Rs 5,615.37 crore in 2013-14. 
 

	As per Census 2011, about 97.50 per cent of the population lived in urban area. Rural area of Delhi reduced from 558.32 sqm in 2001 to 369.35 sqm in 2011. The number of villages has declined from 165 in 2001 to 112 in 2011, as per the survey. 
 

	The decennial population growth of Delhi during 2001-2011 was recorded as 20.96 per cent as compared to around 50 per cent in each decade between 1961 and 1991 and 47 per cent between 1991 and 2001. The population of Delhi as on March 2011 was recorded at 167.53 lakh. 
 
 

	About greenery, the survey said, tree cover area in 2013 was 297.81 sq km, which is 20.08 per cent of the total area of Delhi. 
 

	The total cropped area reduced from 52,816 hectares in 2000-01 to 34,312 hectares in 2014-15. 
 

	The number of agricultural operational holdings has reduced from 25311 in 2005-06 to 20497 in 2010-11, it said. 
 

	The main reasons behind such reduction are fast urbanisation and shift in occupational pattern especially during the last two decades. 
 

	On power sector, it said the electricity supply in Delhi increased from 23,537 million units in 2005-06 to 37,484 million units in 2014-15. The total number of electricity consumer in Delhi is 54.05 lakh in 2014-15 with power consumption recording an annual growth of 3.63 per cent.
 

	Peak demand increased from 3,626 MW in 2005-06 to 5,925 MW in 2014-15. AT&amp;C (Aggregate Technical and Commercial) losses were brought down from 52 per cent in the pre-reform era to 12.83 per cent in 2014-15. 
 As per the survey to encourage <keyword id="6357019" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="solar-energy">solar energy</keyword>, a new Solar Photo Voltaic (SPV) Power Plant of 2.14 MWp at <keyword id="6354478" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indira-Gandhi">Indira Gandhi</keyword> International Airport has been successfully installed and commissioned. 

	New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) area will be developed as a 'Solar City' by installing SPV panels on rooftops of government buildings, metro stations, bus stops, among other places. 
 

	The total number of motor vehicles on road in Delhi as on March 31, 2015 touched to 88.27 lakh, showing an increase of 6.4 per cent over previous year. 
 

	Total road network of Delhi has increased from 32,131 lane km in 2007-08 to 33198 lane km in 2014-15. 
 

	Average ridership of Delhi Metro was approximately 24 lakh per day during 2014-15 with around 238 Metro Feeder bus services available at 41 metro stations. 
 

	DTC operates 3,781 low-floor AC and non-AC CNG buses and 924 standard-floor buses to take care of about 39 lakh passengers daily, while private sector corporate carriage operators are operating 1,406 cluster buses in 9 clusters. Government has installed CCTV cameras on a pilot basis in 200 DTC buses. 
 

	As per 2011 Census, 81 per cent of total households were having piped water supply system. 
 

	The total number of water connections provided by Delhi Jal Board (DJB) has increased from 17.85 lakhs in 2009-10 to 20.65 lakhs in 2013-14. 
 

	The survey said that about 142 MGD of treated waste water is being utilised for cooling of power plants, horticulture, parks, irrigation as well as crops irrigation. 
 

	According to the report, 35.98 per cent of total population of Delhi is residing in urban areas. There is a near universal electrification and 99 per cent of the households have access to sanitation facilities. 
 

	Close to 31.76 lakh houses (77.6 per cent) were being used exclusively for residential purposes in 2011. The DUSIB has setup 271 night-shelters for the shelter-less population. 
 

	In the education sector, Delhi has a variety of quality schools, colleges and universities as well as centres for research and higher education with male and female literacy rate of 91.03 per cent and 80.93 per cent respectively. 
 

	As per the survey, the literacy rate of Delhi is at around 86 per cent, which is much higher than the all India level of 74 per cent as per the 2011 Census. 
 

	Delhi government has invested massively in education sector for improving the education as around 20 per cent of the total budget of 2014-15 was allocated to the education sector. 
 

	The total number of schools increased from 5043 in 2009-10 to 5798 in 2014-15. Even the number of students enrolled in schools increased from 37.38 lakh in 2009-10 to 44.13 lakh in 2014-15. 
 

	About 25,000 students got admitted under EWS quota in 1200 recognised private unaided.
 
 It is said the number of students in ITIs and Polytechnics increased from 22,070 in 2009-10 to 28628 in 2013-14, with a growth of 30 per cent in five years. More than 16000 trainees were trained under <keyword id="985247" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Skill-Development-Mission">Skill Development Mission</keyword> during 2014-15. 

	As per economic survey, Delhi has a wide network of health sector infrastructure comprising 95 hospitals, 1,389 dispensaries, 267 maternity homes, 973 polyclinics and 16 medical colleges. 
 

	It is said total number of hospital beds increased from 41,706 in 2010 to 48,096 in 2014 simultaneously bed population ratio increased from 2.54 to 2.71 in the same period. 
 

	About 82 per cent of the total births were institutional in 2013. 
 

	The life expectancy in Delhi is of 72 years four years more than the national average of 68. 
 

	In social security and welfare sector around 95 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) with a network of 10,897 Anganwadi Centers took care of 14.58 lakh pregnant and lactating women and children up to the age of 6 years. 
 

	About 3.32 lakh senior citizens were provided monthly old age pension during 2014-15. 
 

	Around 7.5 lakh girls registered under Ladli Yojana and 84,305 girls received the final maturity value upto March 2015. 
 

	The survey said that around 3400 households were provided financial support of Rs 10,000 under National Family Benefit Scheme during the year 2014-15. 
 

	About 27,000 students of SC/ST/OBC/Minority category studying in recognized unaided public schools got reimbursement of tuition fee. 
 

	Delhi is one of pioneer state in implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 with effect from September 1, 2013. It issued 17.68 lakh National Food Security Smart Cards have been issued to eligible households and all the digital Food Security Cards are Aadhar enabled. 
 

	The survey said the number of persons below Poverty Line in Delhi has reduced from 23.3 lakhs (14.2 per cent) in 2009-10 to 16.96 lakhs (9.91 per cent) in 2011-12.

	 
	 
	(image credits: wallpapers.brothersoft.com)

Delhi’s per capita income increased 13.50 % during fiscal 2014-15

<ul class="summary-list"><li>All adults in <keyword id="3658" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="India">India</keyword> can get vaccines starting May 1, but the shots may not be widely accessible.</li><li>India's government allows vaccine manufacturers to charge fees at private hospitals.</li><li>The cost could amount to $10 to $32 per vaccine - well above India's average daily income.</li></ul>The Indian government announced last week that all adults will be eligible to receive <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> vaccines starting May 1. But there's a catch: The shots won't be free everywhere.Healthcare workers, frontline workers, and Indians older than 45 can already get their shots through government vaccination centers at no cost. But under the nation's plan, the rest of India's adult population could be charged a fee at those same locations. Most Indian states have promised to waive costs for all adults at the sites, but that's not the case at private hospitals, which will continue to charge for vaccines. India's government has also given vaccine manufacturers permission to raise their prices in the open market.The nation's two main coronavirus vaccines, known as Covaxin and Covishield, are each offered to the federal government at 150 rupees ($2) per dose - or 300 rupees ($4) to fully vaccinate one person. (Covishield is India's locally produced version of the AstraZeneca vaccine, while Covaxin is similar to China's Sinovac vaccine.)But Covishield's manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India, said last week that the price would be different for state governments and private hospitals: The former will be charged 400 rupees ($5.35) per dose, and the latter 600 rupees ($8) per dose. And the maker of Covaxin, Bharat Biotech, <a href="https://twitter.com/BharatBiotech/status/1385994219475456000/photo/1">announced Saturday</a> that it plans to charge India's state governments 600 rupees ($8) per dose, and private hospitals 1,200 rupees ($16) per dose. That's between $10 and $32 per vaccine at wholesale prices - well above the average daily income in India. Private hospitals could ultimately ask consumers to pay even more.Charging for shots could prevent many Indians, particularly poorer residents, from getting vaccinated right away. That's especially detrimental given the country's devastating surge in coronavirus infections. India reported more than 350,000 new cases on Monday - the world's highest-ever daily total. The four daily caseloads before that shattered world records as well. Deaths in India have skyrocketed to more than 2,300 per day on average - the highest of any country, aside from Brazil.Even these unprecedented tallies likely underestimate the real number of cases and deaths, epidemiologist wager. Widespread testing shortages prevent India from quantifying the full scale of its outbreak - and a handful of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/world/asia/india-coronavirus-deaths.html">doctors</a>, local journalists, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-22/even-record-death-toll-may-hide-extent-of-india-s-covid-crisis">relatives of the deceased</a> have reported that the official counts don't align with the long lines outside of hospitals, nor the bodies piling up at crematoriums. "If you ask me how many people are actually getting infected in India every day, I would say it's a least 1 million," Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health, said in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAs40QV1gp0&amp;utm_source=Dean+Jha&amp;utm_campaign=f4ec7bfc08-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_10_03_12_18_COPY_01&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_e4fcd685bb-f4ec7bfc08-2244757667bfc08-224475766">a Monday webinar</a>.<h2>A slow vaccine rollout could mean even more death</h2><div type="image" title="COVID women vaccine line" height="2400" width="4305" msid="82281740" hostid="261"></div>More than any other country, India is in a race against the clock to get shots into arms. A <a href="https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=total-deaths&amp;tab=trendrend">model</a> from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicts that India could see another 572,000 deaths between now and August 1. According to the model, India's daily cases have likely reached their peak already - but daily deaths won't peak until next month. The nation has thus far immunized less than 9% of its population since. Prabhat Jha, an epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, told Insider that the current rate, he estimates just 20% of Indians will receive their first dose by mid-June.Rahul Gandhi, a member of the Indian National Congress, <a href="https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1384733889009229824">said last week</a> that because private hospitals are charging for shots, long lines are likely at the vaccine sites where residents don't have to pay."Enough of discussion. Countrymen should get the vaccine free. Do not make India the victim of the BJP system," Gandhi <a href="https://twitter.com/RahulGandhi/status/1386539389887541249">tweeted on Sunday</a>, referring to India's opposing political party, the Bharatiya Janata Party.The BJP is the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been accused of downplaying India's crisis. Modi held large election rallies and discouraged the implementation of more lockdowns as coronavirus cases surged this spring. <div type="image" title="lndia vaccine line " height="3287" width="4748" msid="82281742" hostid="261"></div>In <a href="https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1712710">a recent press release</a>, India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare suggested that charging for vaccines could give manufacturers more money to scale up production, or perhaps encourage new vaccine manufacturers to bring their shots to India.But Bramer Mukherjee, an epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan, told Insider that India already has the resources to ramp up its own vaccine supply."India is the vaccination production magnet in the world," Mukherjee said. "They should be able to scale up and be able to do much better job at this."<h2>A black market for vaccines?</h2><div type="image" title="India vaccine elderly" height="3728" width="5776" msid="82281746" hostid="261"></div>Many of India's low-income residents have already had trouble getting vaccines: A lack of internet access can make it difficult to sign up for appointments, and government-run vaccination centers aren't always easily accessible to those living in urban slums. Wealthy Indians, however, can purchase vaccines at private hospitals fairly easily. As of March, twice as many private hospitals were doubling as vaccination centers than government hospitals, <a href="https://qz.com/india/1983300/indias-poor-are-being-left-behind-in-coronavirus-vaccine-drive/">Quartz reported</a>. "Vaccinating just the affluent and urban elites will not be as effective or equitable as more targeted distribution to social and geographic hotspots," Prabhat Jha said.Already, Indian hospitals have price gouged medications like remdesivir, an antiviral drug that showed early promise as a COVID-19 treatment but appears less effective in recent studies. Although the government capped the price of remdesivir at 1,100 to 1,400 rupees (around $15 to $19) per unit, Indian police have arrested at least 14 people for selling remdesivir at higher prices on the black market, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/pune/three-held-for-black-marketing-of-remdesivir-selling-vials-for-rs-32000-to-45000-per-unit-7288971/">according to The Indian Express</a>. In at least two of those cases, the drugs were being sold for 32,000 to 45,000 rupees (around $429 to $603) per unit. "There's a huge black market for remdesivir, and I'm worried that might happen for vaccines now as well," Krutika Kuppalli, an assistant professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, told Insider. "If there's not enough supply and the demand keeps going up, then people start getting desperate."

India's vaccine providers can charge $10 to $32 for coronavirus shots amid the country's unprecedented surge

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="coronavirus">Coronavirus</keyword> vaccines are facing their biggest safety scare to date. </li><li>A small number of people immunized with <keyword id="92247" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Johnson-Johnson">Johnson &amp; Johnson</keyword>'s or <keyword id="6409874" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="astrazeneca">AstraZeneca</keyword>'s shot developed serious blood clots.</li><li>Medical experts say a blow to public confidence in vaccination is a graver threat than the actual adverse events.</li></ul>The race to immunize the world against the coronavirus is now facing its biggest safety-related challenge yet.Two leading vaccines, developed by Johnson &amp; Johnson and by AstraZeneca, have now seen their rollouts disrupted by concerns that they cause very rare but serious cases of blood clotting.The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-plans-pause-johnson-and-johnson-vaccine-rollout-blood-clots-report-2021-4">jointly recommended on Tuesday that the US pause the rollout of the J&amp;J vaccine</a> as the agencies investigate. AstraZeneca's shot isn't available in the US.The concern is a genuine one. Both vaccines have been tied to a small number of unusual cases of blood clots in the brain, though regulators haven't concluded that J&amp;J's shot is responsible for the clots. In the US, six people have developed the clots and one person died.People who recently received J&amp;J's vaccine should watch for the signs and symptoms of blood clots, medical experts said, such as severe headache, shortness of breath, abdominal pain, or leg pain. If you experience such symptoms, contact a medical professional, they advised. Still, experts emphasized that because COVID-19 is so devastating, the benefits of the vaccine probably outweigh the risk of these rare side effects."We're talking about an event that occurs in 1 in 1 million shots, versus if you catch COVID, the chances of you being hospitalized are 1 in 100 for most people," said Dr. Alex Spyropoulos, a blood-clot specialist and professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, the research arm of Northwell <keyword id="6354750" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="health">Health</keyword> said. "These are orders of magnitude different."JOIN US THURSDAY FOR A LIVE EVENT:<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/live-webinar-jj-astrazeneca-covid-vaccine-side-effects-blood-clots-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> Experts answer your questions about coronavirus vaccines and the risk of rare, serious blood clots</a>The recent debate in Europe over AstraZeneca's vaccine suggests one path forward. After weeks of investigation, European regulators concluded that AstraZeneca's shot was causing rare blood clots. But they also said that the benefits of the vaccine outweighed the risks, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrazeneca-vaccine-side-effects-blood-clots-very-rare-ema-2021-4">urged people to continue using it</a>.<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astrazeneca-vaccine-worth-it-despite-blood-clot-link-experts-2021-4">Some countries have said that younger people should get other vaccines, rather than AstraZeneca's shot, if those are available.</a> That's because COVID-19 is less dangerous for younger people.On Wednesday, the CDC will host an emergency meeting of its independent advisory group to discuss J&amp;J's vaccine.The US could take a similar approach to Europe. SVB Leerink industry analyst Danielle Antalffy said in a Tuesday investor note that she expects the CDC's committee will "recommend a demographic-based restriction to the recommendation for the product's use (e.g., not recommended for women under 50 years of age)."<h2>Experts fear safety scares will boost hesitancy</h2><div type="image" title="covid19 vaccine" height="1317" width="1756" msid="82056837" hostid="261"></div>Scientists have studied the J&amp;J and AstraZeneca vaccines in trials involving about 70,000 people.The J&amp;J trial was, in fact, temporarily paused last October, after a 25-year-old man suffered from rare, serious blood clotting shortly after vaccination. Ultimately, researchers determined there was no clear cause and resumed the study, <a href="https://www.fda.gov/media/146217/download">according to FDA documents on the vaccine</a>.But in general, ultra-rare safety problems are usually only identified once vaccines are given to millions of people. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/covid-vaccine-tracker-global-distribution/">Nearly 800 million doses of coronavirus vaccines</a> have now been given around the world.The other two US-authorized vaccines, developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, have not raised any major safety concerns.Some people who got the shots initially had severe allergic reactions, known as anaphylaxis, but those events have been rare and manageable. The J&amp;J and AstraZeneca safety snafus are the first real speed bumps on the road to global immunizations. Unlike the Pfizer and Moderna shots, these programs were seen as instrumental to inoculating low-and-middle-income countries.Both shots have advantages: AstraZeneca is selling its two-dose shot for a few dollars a dose, while J&amp;J's vaccine requires just a single dose.US regulators have said they hope to quickly resume giving the J&amp;J vaccine after evaluating its safety.What alarms medical experts more is that safety fears will lead to a surge in vaccine hesitancy."I am profoundly concerned about the ramifications of keeping the people's confidence in the relative safety of these vaccines and the relative danger of a raging pandemic that kills people," Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious-disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Insider. Gandhi's ultimate message to the public: "Keep calm and vaccinate." The US and European data suggest J&amp;J's and AstraZeneca's vaccine could cause these blood-clot cases in an exceedingly small proportion of people. The US has seen six <a href="https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/joint-cdc-and-fda-statement-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine">such cases out of nearly 7 million people immunized</a> with J&amp;J's shot. European regulators have identified <a href="https://www.newsday.com/news/health/coronavirus/j-j-vaccine-1.50213408">220 blood-clotting cases out of 34 million AstraZeneca shots given</a>.<div type="image" title="Dr. Alex Spyropoulos, Professor at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and blood clot specialist" height="1055" width="1407" msid="82056838" hostid="261"></div>In addition to the rarity, some experts, including himself, aren't convinced the cases are even caused by the vaccines, said Spyropoulos."What's much more worrisome than the extremely rare side effect, if that's what this is, is the public confidence in widespread vaccination. That's the most worrisome issue," Spyropoulos told Insider in a Tuesday interview. <h2>With unclear path ahead, challenge of communicating <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> rises again</h2>The long-term challenge will be a communication issue. The US is far better at accomplishing remarkable scientific feats - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/moderna-designed-coronavirus-vaccine-in-2-days-2020-11">developing multiple vaccines using new technologies in record time</a> - than it is at <a href="https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/how-science-communication-failing-during-covid-19">explaining them to the public</a>.In this case, the safety worries require a nuanced discussion of balancing known benefits of the vaccine against potential, very rare, risks. Finding that proper tone is a perennial challenge in public health."It is difficult to communicate to the public that something scary has happened but it's rare," Gandhi said.US regulators could have learned from the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/germany-suspends-astrazeneca-vaccine-blood-clotting-0ab2c4fe13370c96c873e896387eb92f">chaotic European review of similar safety events</a> with AstraZeneca's shot, Gandhi said. Instead of urging a pause for the entire immunization program, Gandhi said regulators could have recommended restricting J&amp;J's vaccine to older adults or just men as a less harsh measure. The vast majority of reported cases of blood clots linked to both J&amp;J's and AstraZeneca's shots have been reported in younger women."There are things that could've been done that are a little less extreme than pausing it completely," Gandhi said "I wish we learned from the [European Medicines Agency] last week, because the problem was it led to so much fear. It is understandable that it's going to lead to fear, but we also desperately want to get through this pandemic and these are incredibly effective vaccines."

Doctors say fears of blood clots from J&J's shot are overdone and could delay the push to end the pandemic

<ul><li><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>A new study looked at the effectiveness of drug treatments in court programs in Ohio.</li><li>The study found 89% of participants were given Vivitrol, a treatment favored by judges but not most addiction doctors.</li><li>Misconceptions about drug treatments are still very prevalent, making it harder for&#xa0;the public to get the "gold standard" treatment for opioid use disorder.</li></ul>A study of <a href="http://mha.ohio.gov/Portals/0/assets/Initiatives/ATPP/Final-ATP-Evaluation-Report.pdf">addiction treatment programs in Ohio</a>&#xa0;shows many of the problems with the current approach to the US opioid crisis.&#xa0;The study, conducted by <a href="http://tresearch.org/">nonprofit Treatment Research Institute</a>, looked at 25 drug courts in Ohio in 2016 to determine the effectiveness of giving medication-assisted treatment to its participants - 500 in total. Ohio currently <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/data/statedeaths.html">has the fourth-highest overdose death rate</a> in the US.Medication-assisted treatment&#xa0;uses prescription medications in conjunction with psychological therapy to help patients work&#xa0;on the underlying issues leading to their substance use, without the constant pressure of withdrawal.There are a few primary medications that are used in the treatment.&#xa0;The most widely studied are maintenance drugs like buprenorphine and methadone,&#xa0;which are chemically similar to opioids and work by attaching to the same brain receptors, preventing users from using other opioids to get high while reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms. The other major medication is naltrexone, which stops the&#xa0;effects of opioids by completely blocking the brain receptors but does little to reduce cravings or withdrawal symptoms. Naltrexone is most often prescribed as Vivitrol,&#xa0;<a href="https://www.vivitrol.com/opioid-dependence/what-is-vivitrol">a monthly injection</a>&#xa0;approved by the FDA in 2010 that has been criticized for its side effects&#xa0;and questionable success.Numerous leading treatment officials and addiction doctors have touted buprenorphine and other maintenance treatments as the "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-heroin-epidemic-solutions-2016-3/innovation.rss" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">gold standard</a>." But it remains expensive,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-heroin-epidemic-solutions-2016-3">difficult to access</a>, and often stigmatized by public officials as "substituting one opioid for another," as Health and Human Services Secretary&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hhs-secretary-tom-price-medication-assisted-treatment-suboxone-news-opioid-crisis-2017-5">Tom Price did in May</a>. (He later walked&#xa0;back that statement.)&#xa0;Alkermes, the makers of Vivitrol, have capitalized on that stigma by&#xa0;<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/vivitrol-opiate-crisis-and-criminal-justice">marketing Vivitrol directly to drug courts, prisons,</a>&#xa0;and other parts of the criminal-justice system.&#xa0;In many cases, the company targeted judges in areas hard hit by the opioid crisis - like Ohio - with a bias toward viewing addiction as a moral weakness.It appears to have worked.&#xa0;One of the main objectives of the study was to compare the effectiveness of buprenorphine and Vivitrol. It wasn't able to do that, however, because it found that 89% of the drug court participants studied were given Vivitrol. In many cases, Vivitrol was the&#xa0;only treatment offered to participants. That left the study with too small of a sample size to adequately compare the two medications.The implication is clear: Drug court judges in Ohio heavily prefer and are often mandating the use of Vivitrol, a phenomenon that many doctors have found problematic.When judges mandate&#xa0;a particular treatment without consulting medical personnel, they are "practicing medicine from the bench,"&#xa0;Dr. Devang Gandhi, the head of the University of Maryland's addiction residency program, told Business Insider.&#xa0;The issue, Gandhi said, is that "decisions are made by judges who don't really understand what these medications are," often leaving participants with "inappropriate" treatments.&#xa0;Further, the study, which was initiated after the state legislature&#xa0;invested an $11 million last year to expand medication-assisted treatment&#xa0;in the criminal justice system,&#xa0;found that the stigma around the treatments remains prevalent.&#xa0;Over 70% of the drug courts or agencies studied reported "widespread misconceptions and misinformation" of medication-assisted treatment, furthering&#xa0;negative opinions. Nearly half of community members, including participants, reported seeing medication-assisted treatment&#xa0;as a "crutch." The misconceptions went the other way as well - one-quarter of community members reported seeing the treatment&#xa0;as a "magic bullet," meaning that they thought if participants got the medication, they didn't need support or psychological treatment to recover.&#xa0;<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"Because of bias and misinformation and outright lying, addicts are told [buprenorphine is] not a good treatment ... that it's just another addiction," said&#xa0;Mark Willenbring, a leading addiction psychiatrist who runs Alltyr, a treatment clinic in Minneapolis."Unless you consider diabetic people addicted to insulin, there really is no difference," he told Business Insider.One Ohio advocate,&#xa0;Sandi Kuehn,&#xa0;the CEO of the Center for Addiction Treatment in Cincinnati,&#xa0;said that local&#xa0;coverage of the study in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, the largest newspaper in Ohio, did little to clear up the misconceptions. The&#xa0;article's headline ("<a href="http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/09/study_relapse_prevention_medications_like_vivitrol_and_suboxone_used_in_drug_courts_have_minimal_impact_on_recidivism.html">Study: Relapse prevention medications like Vivitrol and Suboxone used in drug courts have minimal impact on recidivism</a>"), she noted, didn't accurately reflect the study, which found that&#xa0;"the use of MAT in drug courts appears to be an effective strategy for improving client retention."Further, the story&#xa0;lumped together the success rates of Vivitrol and Suboxone (the brand name for buprenorphine) despite the fact that they are two different types of treatments - and that the vast majority of those studied used Vivitrol.&#xa0;Kuehn, whose organization rarely prescribes Vivitrol, told Business Insider&#xa0;that "misconceptions" around Suboxone and other medication-assisted treatment&#xa0;have been rife in the justice system and elsewhere since the treatments were first introduced - attitudes that "haven't changed a whole lot" in more than a decade since.Kuehn said&#xa0;that, while the Plain-Dealer's coverage was "concerning," the study itself, which acknowledges that MAT works, is&#xa0;a "baby step" in the right direction.&#xa0;<div><div style="position:relative;width:auto;padding:0 0 56.25%;height:0;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;margin:0;border:0 none" data-break-on="414" data-lg-id="experience-59b3011f0a5c8" data-lg-src="//view.ceros.com/business-insider/desktop-heroin-vaccine-compare-chart" data-lg-padding="56.25%" data-sm-id="experience-59b313e186356" data-sm-src="//view.ceros.com/business-insider/desktop-heroin-vaccine-compare-chart-1" data-sm-padding="83.33%"> </div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-touts-1986-tax-law-called-same-law-disaster-1991-video-footage-joan-rivers-2017-8">Trump touts the 1986 US tax reform law as 'something special' - here's footage of him calling it a 'disaster' in 1991</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

One of the states hit hardest by the opioid crisis shows us what's wrong with how we're fighting it

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div><ul><li>A new vaccine for heroin is getting closer to human trials.</li><li>But it's still 10 to 15 years from reaching the market.</li><li>Addiction experts and treatment professionals are wary of how much it will help the current opioid crisis.</li></ul>Two scientists are locked in a race to develop a groundbreaking vaccine for heroin. But many addiction experts and health officials warn that the medicine is unlikely to be the end game for the current opioid crisis and is a decade from reaching the market, at the earliest.Dr. Kim Janda, a chemist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, has been developing vaccines targeting addictive substances for nearly 30 years and has pioneered much of the research in the field. He began developing the heroin vaccine about a decade ago and in recent years has begun work on a vaccine for fentanyl, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fentanyl-drug-prince-overdose-deaths-2016-8">a painkiller 50 times more powerful than heroin</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fentanyl-legal-drug-stronger-heroin-contaminating-street-drugs-vancouver-canada-2017-5">the cause of an increasing number of overdose deaths</a>.His competitor, Dr. Gary Matyas, has been developing his vaccine since 2011 at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland, a facility run by the Department of Defense. Matyas' work largely builds on Janda's and grew out of a research push to develop a vaccine for HIV - his vaccine has since become a combination heroin and HIV vaccine. So far, both Janda's and Matyas' vaccines have been tested only in animals.While work on opioid vaccines stretches back decades, the research has gained added urgency in light of the opioid crisis. Last year, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/opioid-overdose-death-statistics-2016">more than 30,000 Americans died from overdoses</a> related to opioids, with that number rising nearly every year since 1999. President Donald Trump announced <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-opioid-crisis-national-emergency-2017-8">that he was declaring the crisis "a national emergency</a>" last month, but his administration has yet to officially do so.Still, the prospect of a heroin vaccine has stoked a lot of interest and enthusiasm in the research. But as more is learned about the vaccine, its limitations as a moonshot cure have become clearer."Vaccines are an innovative approach that may be promising, but it won't be the panacea," Dr. Ivan Montoya, a <a href="https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/organization/divisions/division-pharmacotherapies-medical-consequences-drug-abuse-dpmcda/office-director-od">director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse</a>, who has approved grants for both projects, told Business Insider.<h2>Keeping heroin from entering the brain</h2>Vaccines help the body create antibodies. For example, a measles vaccine works by helping the body's immune system make antibodies that can confront the virus should you come across it. That way, you won't get sick.That's how a heroin vaccine would work, in theory, helping the body's immune system recognize the heroin molecule and knock it out of the body before it can get to the brain receptors that give you a high. If you aren't able to get high - ideally for a long period after the vaccine's given - it could make it easier to quit, or at least protect you from overdose."These drugs have to get in the brain to have their function," Matyas said.While the details are still being worked out, each vaccine works in different ways. Janda's vaccine is designed to specifically eliminate heroin, while Matyas is working to make his vaccine bind to the substances that heroin breaks down to. If successful, that would mean Matyas' vaccine could block the effects of a wider variety of opioids.That's important because one of the main concerns is that many addicts switch between substances to get their fix. A persistent opioid addiction leaves the brain perpetually lacking endorphins for long periods after use stops. Because neither vaccine fixes that, it could leave addicts trying to alleviate cravings by opioids not covered by the vaccine."If you create a vaccine for morphine, people could switch to fentanyl. We already have people using fentanyl rather than heroin to avoid triggering drug tests because fentanyl is so difficult to detect," Mark Willenbring, a leading addiction psychiatrist who runs Alltyr, a treatment clinic in Minneapolis, told Business Insider.On the other hand, creating a vaccine that targets a broad spectrum of opioids has its own problems. One of the most effective treatments for opioid use disorder are maintenance drugs like buprenorphine (commonly known as Suboxone) and methadone, which are chemically similar to opioids and work by attaching to the same brain receptors, preventing users from using other opioids to get high while reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms.Matyas acknowledged that creating a vaccine that stops problematic opioids while avoiding treatment drugs is the goal.<h2>What it will take to get a heroin vaccine approved</h2><h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div></h2>For now, the vaccine has been tested only in animals. Montoya at NIDA called current studies of the vaccines' use in animals "encouraging" but said it remains to be seen whether they will work in humans.The hope is to get a human clinical trial started within a couple of years, but that could take <a href="http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/find-a-clinical-trial/how-clinical-trials-are-planned-and-organised/how-long-it-takes-for-a-new-drug-to-go-through-clinical-trials">up to 15 years</a> from the earliest of human trials to approval. First, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/how-fda-drug-approval-works-2017-2">researchers will have to show that the vaccine is safe to administer</a>, then you have to show it's effective at what it sets out to do. A heroin vaccine will likely take just as long, by Matyas' estimate.That process won't be cheap and will need the backing of a drug company.While Matyas has licensed his vaccine to biotech company Opiant, which <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/price-of-naloxone-narcan-skyrocketing-2016-7">developed the NARCAN anti-overdose spray</a>, CEO Dr. Roger Crystal told Business Insider it is waiting for more pre-clinical data before deciding whether to proceed. The data should be available by the end of the year.In the event Matyas' vaccine doesn't pan out, Crystal said Opiant would look to license other potential vaccines until the company found a success. "We're here for the long run," Crystal said.Despite being the trailblazer in the field, Janda has had more difficulties attracting significant interest for his vaccine, at least until recently. He said that just a few years ago he nearly gave away the vaccine free. As the opioid crisis has intensified, so has interest. He is now working on a deal with a small biotech company - he declined to name which since the deal isn't done - to bring his vaccine through clinical trials, which he says will cost between $30 million and $40 million.Janda says his focus is on getting the vaccine to the public as soon as possible."I'm not looking to make money off this," he said. "The people out there that have these problems don't have deep pockets."<h2>Making 'a good decision once'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>The heroin vaccine appears to be part of a trend in addiction research focusing on long-acting treatments that rely less on patients' decision-making.Opioids hijack the brain's rewards system, resulting in fundamental changes to addicts' brain wiring. The longer one uses, the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/maia-szalavitz-unbroken-brain-treating-addiction-as-a-learning-disorder-2016-4">more profound changes are to an addict's ability to make choices</a>. One recovering addict, Andi Peterson, told Business Insider that even while enrolled in a treatment program, getting high "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/heroin-addict-explains-why-hard-stay-sober-drug-rehab-center-2017-4">required no thought" and was "like breathing</a>."Most addicts go through years and several stints of treatment to achieve abstinence. Relapse is a common and expected part of the process.Addiction experts and treatment professionals have long worked toward solutions that acknowledge this aspect of brain <keyword id="41551" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>. The "gold standard" of opioid-use-disorder treatment, according to them, are psychological therapies in conjunction with maintenance medication like buprenorphine or methadone, which prevent users from getting high while reducing cravings.But such treatments must be taken daily, and while buprenorphine can be taken anywhere, methadone must be taken at a clinic often far from the patient's home. If a patient forgets or misses a dose, the cravings return and can trigger a relapse.Researchers such as Matyas and Janda are looking to work around that daily-choice issue. The first medication to achieve that is Vivitrol, <a href="https://www.vivitrol.com/opioid-dependence/what-is-vivitrol">a monthly injection</a> approved by the FDA in 2010 that blocks opioid receptors in the brain. But the drug has been criticized for its side effects - including a painful withdrawal process - and questionable success.Many patients that do end up trying Vivitrol, according to treatment professionals that spoke to Business Insider, tend to stop after the first monthly shot, largely because the drug, like the vaccine, has no effect on cravings."Some places have good luck with patients returning for their monthly shot, but we haven't had much success," Sandi Kuehn, the CEO of the Center for Addiction Treatment in Cincinnati, told Business Insider. Most patients aren't interested in the treatment, she said.&#xa0;Crystal, Opiant's CEO, thinks the vaccine will be more effective than Vivitrol precisely because it works for longer than Vivitrol's one-month timeline, and requires patients to only "make a good decision once."While it is unclear how long a vaccine will remain effective, Janda said it would likely require three injections over three months, with the possibility of a booster shot at a later date. A study <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/ipdf/10.1021/jacs.7b03334">presented in August at an industry conference</a> found that the vaccine lasted as long as eight months in monkeys.NIDA is also funding research into long-acting versions of buprenorphine, particularly Probuphine, an <a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm503719.htm">implant that doles out the medicine</a> for six months. Approved last year, Probuphine <a href="https://www.drugabuse.gov/about-nida/noras-blog/2016/05/probuphine-game-changer-in-fighting-opioid-dependence">has been called a "game changer</a>" by Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of NIDA, largely because it solves the daily-decision issue while alleviating cravings, unlike the vaccine or Vivitrol."The more often you have to administer the medication, you lower the adherence to treatment," said Montoya of NIDA, adding that the agency thinks long-acting treatments will improve adherence.<h2>Another Vivitrol</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Vivitrol has drawn headlines over the past year after investigations by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/vivitrol-opiate-crisis-and-criminal-justice">ProPublica,</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/11/health/vivitrol-drug-opioid-addiction.html?mcubz=1&amp;_r=0">The New York Times</a>, and the <a href="https://www.statnews.com/2016/11/14/opioids-prisons-vivitrol/">Associated Press</a> reported how Alkermes, which developed the drug, grew its business from $30 million in 2015 to $209 million a year later, primarily by <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/vivitrol-opiate-crisis-and-criminal-justice">marketing its product directly to drug courts, prisons,</a> and other parts of the criminal-justice system.In many cases, the company targeted judges in areas hard hit by the opioid crisis wary of maintenance treatment and with a bias toward viewing addiction as a moral weakness. Vivitrol was pitched as a way to avoid treatment that "substitutes one opioid for another," a still common misconception of buprenorphine <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hhs-secretary-tom-price-medication-assisted-treatment-suboxone-news-opioid-crisis-2017-5">repeated in May by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price</a>.Daniel Wolfe, a director at progressive organization Open Society Foundations, slammed Vivitrol in STAT News as a treatment that "<a href="https://www.statnews.com/2017/06/29/vivitrol-methadone-opioids/">prioritizes the fantasy of being drug-free</a> over the real interests of people in need of help."Addiction experts and treatment professionals worry that the heroin vaccine, if marketed improperly, could go down the same path - providing governments another reason to avoid maintenance therapies, which they see as more effective.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"When the courts start practicing medicine from the bench, there is a real fear that they may latch onto vaccines and mandate them without involving clinicians," Dr. Devang Gandhi, the head of the University of Maryland's addiction residency program, told Business Insider. "That is often the case now, where decisions are made by judges who don't really understand what these medications are."That fear may not be entirely unfounded. When asked what Opiant saw as a potential market for the vaccine, Crystal said it would be "ideal" to administer to those with a history of abuse, "particularly in the prison setting."<h2>'You can't find a magic bullet for this'</h2><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>While addiction experts and treatment professionals expressed excitement at the prospect of Janda's and Matyas' research, many wondered how "practically useful" such a vaccine would be for those on the front lines of the crisis.Willenbring, the addiction psychiatrist, said that solving the opioid crisis is not a matter of developing new treatments but expanding access of current treatments to those that need it."The problem right now is not that we don't have effective treatments, it's that we don't have enough of it," said Willenbring, who was the director of treatment research at the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism from 2004 to 2009.The treatment paradigm - psychological therapies in conjunction with buprenorphine or methadone - represents&#xa0;"some of the most effective treatments not just in addiction but all of medicine," Gandhi said.While the Obama administration <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-buprenorphine-suboxone-policy-2016-7">made administrative changes to increase the number of prescribers </a>administering buprenorphine last year, a study <a href="http://www.healthline.com/health-news/anti-opioid-drug-is-underused#2">conducted by the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine earlier this year</a> found that only 44% of physicians who had obtained a waiver to prescribe buprenorphine were doing so at full capacity. The White House opioid commission <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-opioid-commission-republican-healthcare-obamacare-repeal-2017-8">recommended expanding access to buprenorphine and other</a> medication-assisted treatments in its July report.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Willenbring put it bluntly: "It's hard for me to talk about highly theoretical treatments that may not work when we already have highly effective treatments that people can't access," he said. "If we're serious about ending this crisis, we'd make sure anybody who wants medicated-assisted treatment can have immediate access at an affordable price, if not free."Kuehn, the CEO of the Ohio treatment center, said that the complicated nature of addiction makes it unlikely that any one treatment will work for all patients, but that any additional treatments could be effective tools."You can't find a magic bullet for this. It would be misleading for the public to think that it can be easily cured," she said.While Janda acknowledged the limitations of the vaccine, he said it's not designed to be a cure-all, but something that could be used in conjunction with current treatments to help addicts."If we think that the treatments we have right now are going to solve our problems, I don't think that's going to be the case," he said. "We've got to start looking outside the box to try to find some alternative or other therapies."<div><div style="position:relative;width:auto;padding:0 0 39.58%;height:0;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;margin:0;border:0 none" data-break-on="414" data-lg-id="experience-59b313f0dfd7a" data-lg-src="//view.ceros.com/business-insider/desktop-heroin-vaccine-compare-chart-1-1" data-lg-padding="39.58%" data-sm-id="experience-59b31a36105d4" data-sm-src="//view.ceros.com/business-insider/desktop-heroin-vaccine-compare-chart-1-1-1?heightOverride=570" data-sm-padding="47.5%"> </div></div><div><div style="position:relative;width:auto;padding:0 0 56.25%;height:0;top:0;left:0;bottom:0;right:0;margin:0;border:0 none" data-break-on="414" data-lg-id="experience-59b3011f0a5c8" data-lg-src="//view.ceros.com/business-insider/desktop-heroin-vaccine-compare-chart" data-lg-padding="56.25%" data-sm-id="experience-59b313e186356" data-sm-src="//view.ceros.com/business-insider/desktop-heroin-vaccine-compare-chart-1" data-sm-padding="83.33%"> </div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-footage-hurricane-harvey-threat-texas-2017-8">Terrifying NASA footage from space shows the giant Hurricane Harvey about to slam the Texas coast</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

2 scientists are locked in a race to develop a groundbreaking vaccine for heroin, but it might not be a 'magic bullet'

Fasting could prevent aging and transform your body, but it goes against everything we think of as healthy

<h3><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/3336/134463728/in/photolist-cTao9-88jj4K-9VQ2h-aTrioX-6j8MRH-sRxZM-5kkypc-7AP7dH-86zWAj-86wL58-daEN5U-fQHd4-ffkNnv-5k1JHS-bB2NxX-3pGPov-eJLA2t-bB2Nzn-bB2Nx4-9r6Jns-bo7W9s-bB2NuR-bo7Web-bB2NvZ-bB2NvM-bo7W7N-bo7W8Y-bB2Nwi-bB2Nvt-bB2Nxe-bo7W7y-bo7W8q-bB2NuD-bo7Wd7-bB2Nvc-bB2NyV-bo7Wdu-bB2NtZ-bo7W73-bo7Wfu-8zZH4X-atq5fd-9A9iAp-8qUnuN-bo7VdQ-bo7Ve5-bB2Mxz-bB2Mzx-bB2MAi-bo7VfQ/">Diego Torres Silvestre/Flickr</a></div></div></div>BI Answers: How many days can a human survive without water?</h3>
We can't live on air and sunshine alone. The human body needs food and water to survive. 
A human can go for more than three weeks without food (Mahatma Gandhi survived 21 days of complete starvation), but water is a different story. 
At least 60% of the adult body is made of it and every living cell in the body needs it to keep functioning. Water acts as a lubricant for our joints, regulates our body temperature through sweating and respiration, and helps to flush waste.
The maximum time an individual can go without water seems to be a week - an estimate that would certainly be shorter in difficult conditions, like broiling heat.
The week limit is based on observations of people at the end of their lives, when food and water intake has been stopped, Randall K. Packer, a professor of biology at George Washington University <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pulled-rubble-after-16-days-water-secret-survival-f1C9876099" target="_blank">told Maggie Fox of NBC News last yea</a><a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pulled-rubble-after-16-days-water-secret-survival-f1C9876099" target="_blank">r</a>. 
However, one week is a generous estimate. Three to four days would be more typical. 
"You can go 100 hours without drinking at an average temperature outdoors," <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pulled-rubble-after-16-days-water-secret-survival-f1C9876099" target="_blank">Claude Piantadosi of Duke University told Fox</a>. "If it's cooler, you can go a little longer. If you are exposed to direct sunlight, it's less." 
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">USGSAs much as 65% of the human body is water.</div></div></div>
The Danger Of Dehydration 
Our bodies are constantly losing water, which is why drinking a glass of H20 once a day is not enough to keep the body replenished. We lose water when we sweat, go to the bathroom - even when we exhale.
"Under extreme conditions an adult can lose 1 to 1.5 liters of sweat per hour," Packer wrote in <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-can-the-average/" target="_blank">2002 article for Scientific American</a>. "If that lost water is not replaced, the total volume of body fluid can fall quickly and, most dangerously, blood volume may drop."
When you have too little blood circulating in your body, blood pressure falls to levels that can be fatal. Body temperatures also rise when we stop sweating. 
Dehydration that causes "a loss of more than 10% of your body weight is a medical emergency," according to the <a href="http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&amp;ContentID=1499" target="_blank">University of Rochester Medical Center</a>, "and if not reversed can lead to death."
Water Sources
We get some water from food, "but drinking water is your main, and best source, of water," according to a website maintained by the <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002471.htm" target="_blank">National Institutes of Health</a>. 
Other beverages like juice or milk also help keep the body hydrated. The only fluid you would want to stay away from is alcohol because it actually causes the body to lose more water than normal through <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2012/02/28/3441707.htm" target="_blank">excessive urination</a>. 
This post is part of a continuing series that answers all of your "why" questions related to <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword>. Have your own question? Email <a href="mailto:dspector@businessinsider.com">dspector@businessinsider.com</a> with the subject line "Q&amp;A"; tweet your question to <a href="https://twitter.com/BI_Science" target="_blank">@BI_Science</a>; or <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BusinessInsiderScience" target="_blank">post to our Facebook page</a>.

You Searched For "indira gandhi institute of medical sciences" and got 12 results

SGPGIMS develops RNA -based cheaper and faster test for COVID-19

IANS

Top 10 medical colleges, universities, and institutes in India

BI India Bureau

Here are the top medical colleges in India - Government data

BI India Bureau

NEET 2020 Result Soon: These are the best medical colleges in India, according to NIRF

BI India Bureau

India needs institutional frameworks of middle-income emerging economy: Book

PTI

Delhi’s per capita income increased 13.50 % during fiscal 2014-15

BI India Bureau

India's vaccine providers can charge $10 to $32 for coronavirus shots amid the country's unprecedented surge

Aria Bendix

Doctors say fears of blood clots from J&J's shot are overdone and could delay the push to end the pandemic

Andrew Dunn

One of the states hit hardest by the opioid crisis shows us what's wrong with how we're fighting it

Harrison Jacobs

2 scientists are locked in a race to develop a groundbreaking vaccine for heroin, but it might not be a 'magic bullet'

Harrison Jacobs,Lydia Ramsey

Fasting could prevent aging and transform your body, but it goes against everything we think of as healthy

Kevin Loria

Here's How Many Days A Person Can Survive Without Water

Dina Spector

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides