Heart disease is often linked to high cholesterol, obesity, or lack of exercise. However, there is mounting evidence that suggests that mental health plays a crucial role in cardiovascular well-being. Stress, anxiety, and depression can silently strain the heart, increasing the risk of serious complications.

A recent study, published in Nature Human Behaviour, showed that loneliness has a significant impact on proteins present in a person's blood. For the study, researchers used data from more than 42,000 participants to explore whether the 9.3% who reported social isolation and 6.4% who reported loneliness had different levels of proteins in their blood compared with those who did not. The researchers then studied data that tracked the health of participants over an average 14-year period.

"We found around 90% of these proteins are linked to the risk of mortality," Dr Chun Shen, Fudan University in China, who is also the lead researcher said. "In addition, about 50% of the proteins were linked to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and stroke," he added.

Dr Shrey Kumar Srivastav, senior consultant at Sharda Hospital, said that subtle symptoms of heart disease, such as fatigue, shortness of breath, swelling in the lower legs, dizziness, and jaw pain, are often overlooked or attributed to stress and ageing. "Women, in particular, may experience atypical signs like extreme fatigue, indigestion, or upper abdominal pain instead of classic chest pain, leading to delayed diagnosis," he added.

Can Mental Health Issues Trigger Heart Diseases?

Chronic stress can trigger harmful cardiovascular effects, including elevated blood pressure, increased heart rate, and inflammation—key contributors to heart disease. Anxiety and depression further impact heart health by disrupting sleep patterns, raising stress hormone levels, and encouraging unhealthy habits like poor diet and inactivity.

Mental health issues like depression and anxiety have a profound impact on the heart. They don’t just affect emotions but can increase inflammation and put extra strain on the cardiovascular system, warns Dr Srivastav.

Certain risk factors, such as obesity and diabetes, disproportionately affect women, making them more vulnerable to heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). However, due to gender-specific symptom variations, heart disease in women often goes undiagnosed for longer.

Obesity is more prevalent in women than men and is a major risk factor for heart failure. Diabetes, too, has a greater impact on women’s heart health, yet diagnosis and treatment delays are common. Addressing this gap requires increasing awareness, training healthcare providers, and promoting early diagnostic tools,” explains Dr Srivastav.

How Can You Protect Your Heart?

A simple yet effective way to support heart health is by committing to a brisk 30-minute walk daily. Walking not only helps regulate blood pressure and manage weight but also improves circulation and reduces stress.

"Regular physical activity, paired with a heart-healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and lean proteins, significantly lowers cardiovascular risks," advises Dr Srivastav.

Heart disease can often go undetected until a major event occurs, making routine screenings essential.

- For women: Begin screenings around age 30 and continue with regular checkups.

- For men: Start screenings at age 35.

Health screenings, including blood pressure checks, cholesterol tests, and electrocardiograms (ECGs), are critical for early detection of silent heart conditions.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that vaccine manufacturers must change the three strains included in the vaccines for the Northern Hemisphere's next influenza season. The WHO recommended that the vaccines for the next flu season must include the new variant of the influenza virus that increased last fall too late to be included in this winter's flu shots.

As of now with the technology available, companies need at least six months time to prep for new flu shots in time for immunization campaigns beginning in the late summer or early fall.

What Is The New Strain That WHO HAs Recommended To Be Included In Vaccine Shots?

Researchers first found out about the new variant in October after this season's flu shot was already out and distributed. This was the A (H3N2) subclade K. As per Danuta Skowronski MD, a flu researcher at the British Columbia Centre for Disease Control in western Canada, this led to a mismatch in the vaccines that went into people's arms and the viruses circulating around them.

While vaccines manufactured for the Southern Hemisphere were updated as compared to those distributed in the US last year, subclade K also appeared too recently. In the Southern Hemisphere, including Australia and South Africa, flu season runs from April to October. The highest number of cases and peak activity is seen between June and September.

More About Subclade K

The A (H3N2) subclade K, also known as the "super flu" is the new version of H3N2, which has been circulated worldwide this year "acquired 7 new mutations over the summer," said Antonia Ho, a consultant in infectious disease at Scotland's University of Glasgow. As per her media statement, this "means the virus is quite different to the H3N2 strain included in this year's vaccine".

Does That Mean Earlier Flu Shots Were Useless?

Many scientists and public health experts were worried that the current flu shots in circulations used in Northern Hemisphere were useless against the subclade K. However, Skowronski says that the vaccine, in fact, worked better than imagined.

Many other experts, William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, as reported by NBC, said, “Decades of data show that even when the match isn’t perfect, the flu shot continues to prevent hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and helps keep people out of the cemetery."

In an interim report released earlier this month, researchers found that the latest flu vaccine sin Canada reduced the risk of illness caused by influenza A (H3N2) viruses and severe enough to require an outpatient medical visit by 40 per cent as compared with the risk faced by unvaccinated people.

Strains Recommended For Fall Flu Shots

The WHO recommended different strains on how the latest flu shots will be manufactured. For instance, some traditional vaccines are based on viruses grown in eggs, whereas new vaccines are made in cell cultures or use recombinant or nucleic acid based technology.

The recommendation for egg-based vaccines are:

• an A/Missouri/11/2025 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Darwin/1454/2025 (H3N2)-like virus; and
• a B/Tokyo/EIS13-175/2025 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

The recommendation for cell culture-, recombinant protein- or nucleic acid-based vaccines are:

• an A/Missouri/11/2025 (H1N1)pdm09-like virus;
• an A/Darwin/1415/2025 (H3N2)-like virus; and
• a B/Pennsylvania/14/2025 (B/Victoria lineage)-like virus.

A recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) showed that more than 40 percent of prostate cancer patients in the country are diagnosed after the cancer has spread.

The 43 percent of late diagnosis cases indicates the significant burden of late detection of prostate cancer in the country. This can not only limit treatment options but also lead to poorer survival outcomes.

The study, published in the Indian Journal of Surgical Oncology, revealed that while more than 80 per cent began treatment within two months, but referral patients experienced longer delays.

Researchers from the ICMR’s National Centre for Disease Informatics and Research, in Bengaluru, stressed the need to strengthen referral pathways to ensure timely, stage-appropriate care.

“Our study indicates that over 80 percent of patients commence treatment within two months of diagnosis, but referral systems and delays in care persist,” said corresponding author Prashant Mathur, Director, ICMR-NCDIR, in the paper.

“To address these challenges, the healthcare system must prioritize improving referral efficiency, reducing administrative bottlenecks, enhancing coordination through digital health records, and multidisciplinary tumor boards,” the authors added.

Age, The Strongest Risk Factor For Prostate Cancer

The ICMR study is based on an analysis of 9,347 cases from 96 hospitals under the National Cancer Registry Program.

The researchers found that 75.6 percent of total prostate cancer cases occurred in the age group of 60–80 years, indicating that advanced age remains the biggest risk factor for the condition.

As life expectancy increases, more men reach the higher-risk age group, but awareness and screening practices have not scaled proportionately.

Adenocarcinoma was the most common pathology, constituting 77 percent of cases.

It is the most common form of prostate cancer, accounting for over 95 per cent of all cases. It develops in the gland cells that produce prostate fluid and typically grows slowly over several years.

Further, the ICMR researchers noted that about 57 percent of cases were diagnosed with localized (29.9 percent) or locoregional (27 percent) cancer.

Thirty percent underwent surgical treatment, and 22 percent received radiation therapy. Systemic therapy was the most common single modality treatment.

“Early detection and streamlined referral pathways are essential to improve prostate cancer outcomes in India,” the researchers said.

Prostate Cancer And Its Prevalence In India

Prostate cancer forms in the cells of the prostate -- a gland found only in males and a part of the male reproductive system. It lies below the urinary bladder and in front of the rectum.

Nearly all prostate cancers develop from glandular cells (adenocarcinomas).

Globally, prostate cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men in 112 countries and the leading cause of cancer death in 48 countries. In 2020, an estimated 1.4 million new cases of prostate cancer and 0.37 million deaths were reported worldwide.

In India, it is the second most common cancer among men, accounting for more than 60 percent of the prostate cancer burden in South-Central Asia. As per the ICMR data, the country reported 34,540 incidences of prostate cancer and 16,783 deaths.

Prostate cancer symptoms include urinary difficulty, a weak stream, or blood in the urine.

As prostate cancer is a slow-developing disease, it often causes no symptoms during the early-stage, leading to delayed medical consultation.

Other reasons for late detection in India include low awareness, limited routine screening -- PSA (prostate-specific antigen) programs; social stigma and hesitation due to embarrassment or cultural taboos.

Lack of access to specialist care, diagnostic facilities, and cancer centers, especially in rural populations, coupled with cost and referral gaps, also leads to delay in diagnosis.

In a shocking video, a woman who ordered packaged eggs sold by Eggoz from Zepto claims they were filled with plastic-made strands instead of yolk, however the brand soon quoted FSSAI's rules and issued a clarification.

Earlier this week, Shalini Singh shared an Instagram video of six eggs that appear to have yellow, thread-like strands emerging from within, suggesting that instead of slimy yolk, she found a plastic substance bursting out of the eggs after boiling them.

In the clip, the visibly upset customer is heard saying: “Until now we had only heard that fake eggs or plastic eggs were being sold in the market, but today I witnessed an example in my own home. I ordered Eggoz Everyday brand eggs from Zepto and as soon as I put them on to boil, instead of yolk, plastic started coming out from inside."

Pointing at the cracked eggs, she added, “You can see in the video yourself, plastic is coming out in the form of noodles. Each egg has the Eggoz Everyday stamp on it. Look at how plastic fake eggs are reaching our homes.

“This is what we are buying today. If they had been cooked in another way, we might not even have realized we were consuming plastic. These boiled eggs burst, and that is how we found out it was plastic. If this is the condition of such big brands today, what is even left safe to eat?"

Can Egg Yolks Be Filled With Plastic?

"Consumers need to remember that the quality and appearance of the egg mostly depend on the way they are stored and for how long they are stored. Egg quality is best maintained when they are stored in cold temperatures preferably inside refrigerators and consumed within a period of 2 to 3 days.

"When kept in room temperature, several changes take place in an egg that bring about differences in the smell, texture and appearance of the egg."

The FSSAI further suggested holding up an egg against a very bright light in a dark room to detect its age. If its fresh, the egg will display a small air gap usually at the broader (blunt) end and if its starting to age, the air cell will expand in volume.

Upon hard boiling a fresh egg, you can clearly see the indentation left behind at the top of the egg once the shell is peeled off.

When fresh eggs are boiled, the yolk normally stays in the center and is not very mobile because of the chalaza (the strings of tissue) that hold it in place. These strings break down as the egg ages (during storage or transportation). When hard boiled eggs are cut length wise, one can see that the yolk has moved off the centre.

What Did The Company Say?

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

They also reached out with an official clarification, stating that there is no such thing as plastic eggs and that the claims stem from common misconceptions, quoting FSSAI's guidance.

In an official statement, the brand commented: "There are no plastic eggs. Eggs are a natural agricultural product, and variations in texture or appearance may occur due to storage or temperature conditions at different stages after production. Such natural changes do not indicate the presence of artificial or plastic material and do not affect food safety."

The company also highlighted its commitment to strict farm-to-shelf quality processes, including hygienic handling, batch traceability and temperature-controlled logistics.