Aster Medical Journal (AMJ) Volume 1 Issue 2

It gives me immense pleasure to dedicate Aster Medical Journal (AMJ) to the medical fraternity. As a multi-channel knowledge-dissemination platform, the mission of AMJ is to advance healthcare by sharing knowledge and expertise. Tracing the Nipah outbreak right from its first occurrence in Malaysia to the recent outbreak in India, this issue of AMJ offers comprehensive coverage of this zoonotic virus epidemic. Documentation of Kerala’s encounter with Nipah is significant for the many lessons it offers to the world. Especially, the collaborative work across the public and private sectors, the interdisciplinary coordination, and the cooperation across all levels of governments, which have set a benchmark for the future. I would like to congratulate the Government of Kerala and the Honourable Minister for Health, Smt. K.K. Shailaja. They stepped in with…

Scientific journals debuted in the 17th century with the French Journal des Savants and the British Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. These journals complemented scientific meetings, which had been, until then, the primary way of communicating science. Medical journals have gone a long way since then. Now, they influence the quality of patient care and increase the clinical and academical acumen of healthcare professionals. They also help to remove practices that are not evidence-based. Ideally, medical journals are intended as a platform for the exchange of ideas at any level. Unless there is a free exchange of health information worldwide, the patients will tend to be the victims. I am happy to introduce the inaugural edition of the Aster Medical Journal, which will soon emerge as a landmark publication…

At $2.1 Million, Zolgensma is the world’s most expensive drug ever Zolgensma® (onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi) a new drug approved by the FDA, costs more than $2.1 million. Zolgensma® is a gene replacement therapy indicated for the treatment of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in paediatric patients. Originally developed by Avexis, the drug became a part of Novartis’ portfolio after it acquired Avexis in May 2018. Zolgensma can be a one-time, life-saving treatment that allows for children with SMA to function in ways unimaginable just a few years ago. ICMR launches TB vaccine trial Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) launched a vaccine trial to prevent the occurrence of tuberculosis (TB) among close contacts of a TB patient. The study would enroll over 12,000 healthy household contacts of sputum smear-positive TB cases that…

At the age of 21, Katie became the youngest person ever to receive a full-face transplant. This was the critical moment after the donor’s face was surgically removed before being transferred onto Katie. There was complete silence in the room as the surgical team absorbed the gravity of their mission. The transformational procedure took over 30 hours and was undertaken by a team of around 30 medical professionals at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.…

A Nigerian health tech genomics and AI start-up, 54gene is building Africa’s largest biobank to tap into the multi-trillion-dollar global pharmaceutical industry. Africans are more genetically diverse than all other populations combined. Yet, African DNA makes up less than 2% of genetic research material in Genome-wide Association Studies [GWAS]. 54gene is now positioned to build the largest database of genomic and phenotypic consented data of Africans. The unique data sets will be used exclusively for research; to proactively address the significant gap the genomics market currently poses for Africa, using African DNA to focus on drug discovery opportunities that will improve access. 54gene was founded in 2019 by Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong and named for the 54 countries that make up the African continent. Born in Calabar, Nigeria, to parents who…

The young man shifts nervously in the front seat of the van as it turns down increasingly narrow roads, then alleyways, and eventually dirt tracks. His broad grin and swagger have faded since he first volunteered to lead us to the home of a local gachhi, a collector and seller of date palm sap. Leaning out the open window, he asks for directions from three men standing over the parts of a disassembled engine scattered on a dusty concrete floor, then from a man butchering chickens on a wood block out front of a roadside stand. Whether our guide’s waning confidence is due to the fact that he doesn’t know the area as well as he first let on, or because revealing a local secret to a vanload of outsiders…