Archive for month: May, 2024

Tiruchirappalli: In a tragic incident, 5 final year MBBS students of a private medical college in Tamil Nadu’s Trichy, who went to Nagercoil to attend a wedding, drowned in the sea off the Rajakkamangalam Lemur Beach on Monday morning.

According to the police, all five deceased medicos, two women and three men house surgeons, were final-year students of Trichy SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre. One of the victims was from Andhra Pradesh, and the other four were from Tamil Nadu, all in the age group of 23-24 years. The police said all bodies have been recovered.

Speaking to PTI, the police said, “Five students of a private medical college in Tiruchirappalli drowned in the sea off the coast of Kanniyakumari on Monday… A group of MBBS students doing their house surgeonship in the Tiruchirappalli college went to the Lemur Beach at Rajakkamangalam and a huge wave dragged several of them into the sea.”

“Two women and 3 men drowned,” Kanniyakumari police superintendent E Sundaravathanam said.

To a question, the police official said the students were told by local people to avoid going to the beach in view of official warnings of sudden ‘swell waves.’

The students, however, managed to reach the beach by going through a coconut grove. They arrived in Kanniyakumari district on May 5 to take part in the wedding of a student’s brother, the official said adding the bodies were being sent to the families, adds PTI.

Three students, who were part of the group, are being treated at a government hospital.

“There were high tides, and a security staff posted there had warned them. As they were close to the water, enjoying the sea, a strong wave hit them and dragged seven people. Two were rescued soon, but five students lost their lives due to drowning. One of the rescued is in critical condition and admitted to the hospital. A case has been registered, and an investigation is ongoing,” an officer informed The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, expressing grief, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin conveyed his condolences and sympathies to the kin of the deceased and said necessary assistance would be provided to the bereaved families after getting the Election Commission’s permission.

According to the trial, gene therapy for therapeutic angiogenesis showed promise for patients with angina who had already exhausted their options for medical therapy and coronary revascularization. The findings were published online in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions.

“XC001, an engineered adenovirus vector that transiently increases VEGF-A expression in the myocardium, administered via transepicardial delivery is safe and generally well tolerated,” the researchers reported. “Exploratory improvements in ischemic burden, total exercise duration, and subjective measures support a biological effect sustained to 12 months, warranting further investigation.”

XC001 is a novel adenoviral-5 vector designed to express multiple VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) isoforms and more safely and potently induce angiogenesis. Kenta Nakamura, Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle. (K.N.), and colleagues conducted the EXACT trial to assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of XC001 in patients with no option refractory angina.

The single-arm, multicenter, open-label trial included 32 patients with no option refractory angina who received a single treatment of XC001 (1×1011 viral particles) via transepicardial delivery.

The researchers reported the following findings:

• There were no severe adverse events attributed to the study drug. Twenty expected severe adverse events in 13 patients were related to the surgical procedure.
• Total exercise duration increased from a mean of 359.9 seconds at baseline to 448 (3 months), 449.2 (6 months), and 477.6 (12 months; +88.3, +84.5, and +115.5).
• Total myocardial perfusion deficit on positron emission tomography imaging decreased by 10.2%, 14.3%, and 10.2%.
• Angina frequency decreased from a mean of 12.2 episodes to 5.2 (3 months), 5.1 (6 months), and 2.7 (12 months), with an average decrease of 7.7, 6.6, and 8.8 episodes at 3, 6, and 12 months.
• Angina’s class improved in 81% of participants at six months.

While further research is warranted to validate these findings and optimize treatment protocols, the results of the EXACT Phase 2 Trial signify a paradigm shift in the approach to refractory angina management. With continued advancements in gene therapy technology, the prospect of personalized, targeted treatments for ischemic heart disease looms on the horizon, promising renewed hope for patients facing this challenging condition.

Reference:

Nakamura K, Henry TD, Traverse JH, Latter DA, Mokadam NA, Answini GA, Williams AR, Sun BC, Burke CR, Bakaeen FG, DiCarli MF, Chaitman BR, Peterson MW, Byrnes DG, Ohman EM, Pepine CJ, Crystal RG, Rosengart TK, Kowalewski E, Koch GG, Dittrich HC, Povsic TJ; EXACT Trial Investigators. Angiogenic Gene Therapy for Refractory Angina: Results of the EXACT Phase 2 Trial. Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2024 May 2:e014054. doi: 10.1161/CIRCINTERVENTIONS.124.014054. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38696284.