A recent study suggests that people who donate blood regularly may have genetic changes in their blood that could in fact reduce the risk of developing cancer. It is conducted by the researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, and the study has now provided new insights into how and why blood cancers develop. The study is published in the journal Blood and was conducted by the scientists from Heidelberg and the German Red Cross blood donation center. There is yet a need for further research to confirm these findings.

What Did The Study Find?

The researchers examined the blood of two groups of healthy male donors in their 60s:

• One group had donated blood three times a year for 40 years.
• The other group had donated only about five times in total.

The goal was to analyze genetic mutations in their blood and assess whether frequent donation had any impact on their genetic makeup.

How Can Blood Donation Affect Stem Cells?

As and when people age, their blood and other cells naturally develop mutations and some of them can also increase the risk of cancer. When anyone donates blood, his or her body compensates by producing new blood cells, which can influence the genetic diversity of stem cells in the bone marrow. The study also found that both groups had a similar number of mutations. For instance the frequent donors had 217 mutations, while the irregular donors had 212 mutations.

However, the nature of these mutations differed. In the frequent donors, 50% of the mutations were of a type not associated with a high risk of blood cancers, compared to only 30% in the irregular donors.

Further laboratory analysis showed that these specific mutations behaved differently from those linked to leukemia, a type of blood cancer. When human blood stem cells with these mutations were injected into mice, they were found to be highly effective at producing red blood cells, which is considered a positive outcome.

Dr. Hector Huerga Encabo, one of the study authors, emphasized that these mutations do not indicate an increased risk of leukemia. The findings suggest that regular blood donation may influence how stem cells evolve, but whether this translates into a lower cancer risk remains uncertain.

Read More: Who Can Donate Blood To Whom?

Limitations

One notable disadvantage is the "healthy-donor effect"—because blood donors are often healthier than the general population, their lower cancer risk could be unrelated to blood donation.

Dominique Bonnet, senior researcher and head of a stem-cell laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, stressed the need for larger studies with female volunteers to confirm the findings.

Despite ongoing research into potential health benefits for donors, the primary goal of blood donation remains saving lives. NHS Blood and Transplant emphasized that while the study is interesting, further research is required to draw firm conclusions. The organization also noted that blood supplies are currently critically low and encouraged eligible individuals to donate.

Also Read: How Long After a Tattoo or Piercing Can I Donate Blood?

Massive wildfires have ravaged several parts of Canada and other regions of the world, filling the air with hazardous smoke. This has triggered health warnings far beyond the fire zones.

While most people experience immediate breathing problems during and after wildfires, experts say that some health effects can persist long after the skies clear.

Why Is Wildfire Smoke Harmful?

Wildfire smoke is composed of harmful gases and microscopic particles known as PM2.5. These tiny particles are small enough to travel into our lungs and enter the bloodstream, where they can trigger inflammation throughout the body.

Unlike typical air pollution, wildfire smoke also contains toxic substances released from burning homes, plastics, furniture, vehicles, electronics, and industrial materials, making prolonged exposure particularly harmful.

Long-Term Health Risks After Wildfire Exposure

Also read: Delhi's Poor AQI, Monsoon Conditions Put Children's Lungs at Risk: Ways to Keep Kids Safe

Lung And Chronic Respiratory Disease

Prolonged exposure to wildfire smoke can have long-term effects on the respiratory system. Possible health effects may include:

• Persistent cough
• Poor lung function
• Worsening asthma symptoms
• Increased COPD episodes
• Greater risk to respiratory infections

Children, older adults, and people with existing lung conditions face the highest risk because their lung function is already compromised.

Heart Disease

Also read: Phones, Pollution, AI: What Is Driving Cognitive Decline In Humans?

The tiny particles in wildfire smoke don't just stay confined to the lungs. Once they enter the bloodstream, they can affect the cardiovascular system. In the long run, research says wildfire smoke exposure can lead to:

• Heart attacks
• Stroke
• Irregular heart rhythms
• Elevated blood pressure
• Increased inflammation in blood vessels
• Effects on Brain Health

With frequent incidences of wildfires, scientists are looking into how wildfire smoke affects the brain. Emerging evidence suggests smoke exposure may contribute to:

Headaches

• Difficulty concentrating
• Memory problems
• Cognitive decline
• Increased inflammation affecting brain function

Mental Health Consequences

Wildfires can affect mental health in more than one way. Besides the stress of evacuation and property loss, smoke exposure itself may contribute to mental health problems directly. One is at the risk of the following mental health issues after exposure:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• Sleep disturbances

Communities repeatedly exposed to wildfire events may experience prolonged psychological distress that could often go undetected.

Possible Cancer Risk

Growing evidence suggests that long-term exposure to wildfire smoke may increase the risk of several cancers. Studies have reported possible associations with lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, and certain blood cancers

Although researchers say more studies are needed to establish a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the findings highlight the importance of limiting repeated smoke exposure.

Also read: How Air Pollution Puts Heart Patients At Risk - What You Can Do About It

Pregnancy And Infant Health

Pregnant women are among the groups considered most vulnerable to wildfire smoke. Research suggests exposure during pregnancy may increase the risk of preterm birth, low birth weight and other pregnancy complications.

Healthcare providers recommend minimizing outdoor exposure whenever air quality deteriorates.

How To Protect Yourself After Wildfire Exposure?

Even after visible smoke disappears, harmful particles may remain in the air. Experts recommend:

• Monitor local air quality before going outdoors.
• Stay indoors when pollution levels are high.
• Use HEPA air purifiers if available.
• Wear a well-fitted N95 mask if exposure is unavoidable.
• Keep doors and windows closed when it is smoky outside.
• Continue taking prescribed medications for asthma or heart disease.
• Seek medical attention if coughing, chest pain, breathlessness, or other symptoms persist.

When we think of dialysis, we often picture a machine filtering blood and keeping patients alive. What rarely comes to mind is the small blood vessel in the arm that makes the entire process possible.

For every patient on haemodialysis, the arteriovenous (AV) fistula is quite literally a lifeline. Without it, dialysis cannot be performed effectively. Yet, despite being one of the most important parts of treatment, fistula care remains one of the least understood aspects of kidney disease.

This silent gap in awareness is costing patients their lifeline.

A Growing Burden That We Cannot Ignore

India adds nearly 2.2 lakh new patients with end-stage kidney disease every year, creating a demand for over 3.4 crore dialysis sessions annually.

One of the biggest challenges we see in clinical practice is that patients often seek medical help only after the fistula has already stopped functioning.

The warning signs are usually ignored.

The vibration over the fistula becomes weaker. The arm begins to swell. Bleeding continues longer than usual after dialysis. Needle insertion becomes increasingly difficult. Sometimes dialysis itself becomes less effective.

By the time patients reach an interventional radiologist or vascular specialist, the fistula may already have developed significant narrowing (stenosis) or complete blockage.

Unfortunately, many of these complications are preventable if detected early.

In our experience, nearly 30% of patients eventually lose their fistula because they report too late, when timely intervention could have salvaged access.

Also read: COVID Spikes In India: Experts Allay Fears, Stress Vaccination And Masks

Why Does This Keep Happening?

Unlike diabetes or blood pressure, there is no widespread public awareness around fistula surveillance.

Many dialysis patients receive instructions on medicines and dialysis schedules but very little education on how to examine their fistula every day.

There is also no universally implemented patient education protocol across dialysis centres, leading to inconsistent awareness about fistula care.

The result is simple: patients unknowingly damage the very access that keeps them alive.

Your Fistula Speaks Every Day - Learn To Listen

Patients should examine their fistula daily.

A healthy fistula has a continuous buzzing sensation or “thrill.” If this vibration becomes weak or disappears, medical attention should be sought immediately.

Similarly, swelling of the arm, redness, prolonged bleeding after dialysis, pain around the fistula, or difficulty during needle insertion should never be dismissed as routine.

These are early warning signs - not inconveniences.

Also read: Omicron Sub-Lineages Likely Behind COVID Surge In India: Why Deaths Are Occurring

Five Simple Habits That Can Save A Fistula

• Feel the fistula every day for its characteristic vibration.
• Never allow blood pressure measurement, blood draws or intravenous injections on the fistula arm.
• Avoid carrying heavy weights or sleeping on the access arm.
• Maintain good hygiene around the fistula site.
• Report any change in blood flow, swelling or bleeding immediately instead of waiting for the next dialysis session.

These small daily habits can often extend the life of a fistula by years.

Early Detection Can Prevent Major Procedures

One of the greatest advances in dialysis access care is that many fistula problems no longer require open surgery.

If narrowing is detected early, minimally invasive image-guided procedures such as fistuloplasty (balloon angioplasty) can restore blood flow, preserve the existing fistula and help patients continue dialysis without interruption.

The key, however, is timing.

A fistula that is evaluated early is often salvageable.

A fistula ignored for weeks may not be.

We Must Shift Our Focus from Creating Fistulas To Preserving Them

Every successful fistula represents months of planning, surgery and healing. Losing it means additional procedures, temporary catheters, higher infection risk, increased costs and emotional distress for patients already living with chronic kidney disease.

As doctors, we have become increasingly skilled at creating dialysis access.

The next challenge is ensuring patients know how to protect it.

Because for someone living with kidney failure, the fistula is not just another blood vessel.

It is the lifeline that keeps life moving.

By Dr. Avik Bhattacharyya, Senior Consultant - Interventional Radiology, CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI

GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and liraglutide, best known for regulating appetite and aiding weight loss, may also help reduce symptoms of binge eating disorder (BED), which affects more than 17 million people worldwide, according to a new study.

The systematic review and meta-analysis, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, found that GLP-1 drugs, with semaglutide as its key ingredient, reduced binge eating episodes, loss-of-control eating and emotional eating, highlighting their potential role in treating binge eating disorder alongside obesity.

Binge eating disorder affects over 17 million people globally, and around two-thirds of people with the condition also live with overweight or obesity. It is also common among individuals seeking weight-loss treatment.

"Binge eating disorder, where people regularly eat an excessive amount of food while feeling they have lost control, is common and highly impairing, affecting over 17 million people worldwide," said lead author Dr Ilaria Costantini from the Psychiatry Department at University College London (UCL), UK.

"But treatment options are limited and there are currently no approved medications, so there remains a need for better ways to help people living with this condition. We found evidence that weight loss drugs may help to manage some key symptoms of binge eating disorder," Costantini added.

Also read: Babies Without Vitamin K Shot At Higher Risk Of Brain Bleeding: Study

What Did The Study Find?

The researchers analyzed 25 randomized controlled trials conducted across 12 countries on four continents, involving 8,069 participants.

The trials evaluated GLP-1 drugs that target the appetite-regulating hormone GLP-1, including semaglutide (marketed as Ozempic or Wegovy), tirzepatide (Mounjaro) and liraglutide.

These medications suppress appetite by acting on the central nervous system and insulin secretion, delay stomach emptying, and may also influence brain pathways involved in reward and impulse control.

Compared with placebo or other treatments, people taking GLP-1 drugs reported:

• Moderate reductions in binge eating severity
• Reduced loss-of-control eating
• Lower levels of uncontrolled eating
• Reduced emotional eating

Read More: Obesity-Driven CKM Syndrome A Growing Public Health Threat, Warns American Heart Association

The researchers also found that participants taking GLP-1 drugs reported greater cognitive or dietary restraint, meaning they made more deliberate efforts to limit what they ate.

The benefits extended beyond weight loss, with improvements seen in several behaviors associated with binge eating disorder.

More Research Needed on Dietary Restraint

While increased dietary restraint was observed, the researchers cautioned that it remains unclear whether this represents healthy self-regulation or a more rigid, potentially harmful eating pattern that could worsen binge eating over time.

"From the evidence available, we cannot say whether the increase in dietary restraint reflects a positive and helpful form of self-regulation or if it is a more dysfunctional pattern of eating. We hope that future research can clarify whether or not taking weight loss drugs might contribute to more pathological forms of eating restriction such as meal skipping," said Izzy Emptage from UCL Psychiatry.

Researchers Urge Caution

The researchers said GLP-1 drugs could become an important addition to treatment plans for binge eating disorder when used alongside psychological therapies and social support.

However, they also highlighted important limitations. Most of the studies included in the review had a high risk of bias, were funded by pharmaceutical companies, and rarely included participants with a clinical diagnosis of binge eating disorder, reducing the certainty of the findings.

"GLP-1s may offer a promising additional treatment option for people living with both binge eating and obesity," the researchers said, while stressing that these drugs "should not be viewed as a standalone solution to binge eating disorder."

They added that larger, independently funded clinical trials are needed before these medications can be routinely recommended for treating binge eating disorders.