Empowering People to Participate in Life

Dear readers,

Many thanks for your continuous support to our efforts to bring out Double Helical every month, with a wide variety of informative, research-based reports and stories touching your lives.
We have selected a very crucial topic for the May issue’s cover story ‘Cochlear Implant’ – with contributions from an expert team of doctors. As you know Cochlear Implant requires sound medical expertise and thorough knowledge of the anatomy of the middle and the inner ear to avoid post-surgical complications. The cochlear implant surgical procedure is done in the hospital setting under general anaesthesia. The surgeon performing Cochlear Implant surgery must be experienced in ear surgery and ideally in some aspects of neurotologic surgery. Ability to hear sounds is closely linked to mental development. Cochlear Implant has emerged as a ray of hope for people suffering from hearing loss.
Hearing helps us to communicate with each other. Lack of hearing makes the person incapable of facing life’s challenges. Hearing loss can be present at birth which is called as congenital hearing loss or it can develop after birth when it is called acquired hearing loss. The hearing loss occurring after the speech and language development is termed as post-lingual hearing loss. Having hearing loss since birth and not developing speech and language is termed as pre-lingual deafness. There are many causes of congenital deafness. These are hereditary causes which may sometimes be associated with syndromes like Down’s syndrome, Waardenburg Syndrome, Usher, Alport etc.
The story ‘Primary but Vital’ highlights that there is an acute need for skilled primary ear care workers for delivering essential ear and hearing care services, considering skewed doctor population ratio in the country. In India, the estimated significant auditory impairment reaches up to 6.3% prevalence (moderate to severe hearing loss) out of the total population of 1.25 billion.
It is important to note that nearly half of causes of hearing loss are preventable. Lack of awareness regarding importance of ear care is a major challenge in the country. People also have poor knowledge about the resources available for ear care. Myths and misconceptions worsen the situation. Also, there is inadequate manpower in the country for addressing ear and hearing care issues. In India, the doctor population ratio is skewed with only 0.7 doctor /1000 population as against WHO’s recommended ratio of one doctor per 1000 population. When it comes to ENT specialists, the situation worsens with there being only 6 ENT doctors per one million population.
The story ‘Shocking Revelation’ points to a serious concern of our lives. Recently, a research report finds that common varieties of bread may contain cancer-causing chemicals. A latest report released by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) reveals that bread could contain cancer-causing chemicals, including Potassium Bromate and Potassium Iodate. These are banned in many countries, but not in India due to slack food regulations. The CSE tested some of the breads sold in Delhi and found residues of Potassium Bromate and Iodate in commonly consumed varieties.The use of Potassium Bromate – classified as a category 2B carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic to humans) – is banned in most countries. Also, Potassium Iodate, which contributes to thyroid-related diseases, was found.The institution has now recommended an immediate ban on these two chemicals.
The study, conducted by CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML), says Indian bread manufacturers use Potassium Bromate and Potassium Iodate for treating flour while making bread. The PML tested 38 commonly available branded varieties of pre-packaged breads of popular fast food outlets from Delhi.
The investigation team found 84 per cent samples positive with Potassium Bromate/Iodate. They re-confirmed the presence of Potassium Bromate/Iodate in a few samples through an external third-party laboratory. The team checked labels and talked to industry and scientists.
In addition, there are number of exclusive stories based on intensive research, field reports and analysis. We do hope you will enjoy reading these insightful stories. Thank you again for your support.
Amresh K Tiwary,
Editor-in-Chief