Washington, April 07: A team of scientists claim to have found a new method to check the spread of mosquito-born diseases such as dengue and malaria.
A group of American and Australian researchers at the University of Michigan observed that mosquitoes infected with Wolbachia bacteria were unable to produce larvae as the infection caused Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI), resulting to early death of embryo.
London, April 07: Sticks and stones may break your bones but words can hurt you too, a study suggests.
Scientists have found that reading a list of words associated with agonising experiences triggers a reaction in the part of the brain that handles pain, reports.
Although there is no immediate physical response, scientists suspect that hearing such words before experiencing pain could make the sensation worse, as the brain is primed to expect it.
Mumbai, April 07: Love the look of the tempting red-yellow mangoes at your local fruit vendor’s shop? Stop, before you reach for them. Dangerous chemicals could be the secret behind their good looks. These chemicals are not just carcinogenic and cause serious physiological problems, they are also banned by the Indian government.
On Tuesday, inspectors of the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), raided two mango vendors at Ghatkopar and seized a huge amount of such artificially ripened mangos. The cost of these mangoes is more than Rs2.5 lakh.
Washington, April 07: In a breakthrough, scientists have developed a toothbrush-like instrument that could detect oral cancer just in 15 minutes with a gentle touch.
A team of scientists led by researchers at the Rice University have created a nano-bio-chip that was found to be 97 per cent “sensitive” and 93 per cent specific in detecting which patients had malignant or premalignant lesions.
The minimally invasive technique would deliver results in 15 minutes instead of several days, as lab-based diagnostics do now, the researchers said.
Illinois, April 06: Talking to babies can boost their brain power, a study has revealed.
Months before babies start to speak, words play an important role in their brain development and even at the age of three months, words have a bigger impact on their minds than other sounds, including music, reports dailymail.co.uk.
The research showed that babies who heard words were better able to ‘categorise’ pictures than those who simply heard tones.
Almost 50 three-month-old boys and girls were shown a series of pictures of fish, accompanied by either words or beeps.
Washington, April 06: Exercise is a magic drug for those with depression and anxiety disorders, and should be more widely prescribed by mental health care providers, says new research.
“Individuals who exercise report fewer symptoms of anxiety and depression, and lower levels of stress and anger,” says Jasper Smits, director of the Anxiety Research and Treatment Programme at Southern Methodist University at Dallas.
Hamburg, April 06: Impotence may be an early warning sign of heart disease in older men, according to a team of German scientists.
In a study involving 1,549 male cardiovascular patients from 13 nations, the researchers at the University of the Saarland found nearly 55 per cent had reportedly mild to severe cases of erectile dysfunction.
They also found that, over a five-year period, 11.3 per cent of the patients with erectile dysfunction died. Also, 16 per cent of those deaths were the result of cardiovascular disease.
World, April 06: It’s reviewing whether to repeal its lifetime ban on donations from gay men, the U. S. agency that regulates the nation’s blood supply says.
A recent Food and Drug Administration statement said, “We are considering the possibility of pursuing alternative strategies that maintain blood safety.”
Since 1977, the ban excludes blood donations by men who have had sex with another man, even one time.
The AIDS virus, HIV, can be spread through blood transfusions and gay men were considered more likely to be HIV-infected than the general population.
London, April 06: According to researchers if mothers followed the U. S. government’s recommendation of six months of exclusive breastfeeding, some 900 deaths may be avoided yearly.
MedPage Today had reported that study authors Dr. Melissa Bartick of Harvard Medical School and Arnold Reinhold of the Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics, both in Boston, also estimate if 90 percent of new mothers exclusively breastfed — no water, infant food, juice, formula, cow’s milk or sugar water — infants for six months, it could save $13 billion annually.
London, April 06: Thyroid-ScanThyroids can be normal and overactive and young adults suffering from overactive thyroids face 44% increased risk of strokes.
Herng-Ching Lin, senior study author and professor at the School of Health Care Administration, College of Medicine in Taipei, Taiwan, said that most of the ischemic strokes in young people are undetermined.
Ischemic stroke happen when artery stop supplying blood to the brain due to some blockage and the brain cells unable to make energy and consequently die. This condition demands immediate medical treatment.
London, April 06: Pregnant women who drink alcohol are exposing their babies to the risk of epilepsy, a study has shown.
Researchers found that children born with a condition caused by exposure to alcohol in the womb are more likely to suffer from debilitating seizures.
They looked at 425 people aged between two and 49 who had foetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
Fewer than 1 per cent of people develop epilepsy, but 6 per cent of those with FASD had it and 12 per cent had experienced at least one seizure.
London, April 06: Cancer-CellsBritish scientists have found a new group of molecules which will prevent the deadly tumors of cancer from spreading. This is a remarkable breakthrough to fight against cancer.
Scientist, Dr Gerd Wagner , the team leader of University of East Angila claim that they have discovered a synthetic version of a molecule in cancer cells which can block an enzyme, that affects how cells attach and force other cells to spread around the body.
London, April 06: A new study has shown that women who are highly educated are more likely to consume alcohol than their less-educated counterparts.
The research led by London School of Economics and involving thousands of 39-year-old British women and men, showed a similar link between educational attainment and alcohol consumption among men, but the correlation was less strong.
“The more educated women are, the more likely they are to drink alcohol on most days and to report having problems due to their drinking patterns,” telegraph.co.uk quoted the report as saying.
London, April 06: Scientists have developed a simple blood test that is capable of detecting breast cancer in women before it can be detected by standard screening methods.
Normal breast screening checks using x-rays – only detect a tumour once it is three of four times bigger, by which time it may have started to spread beyond the breast.
New Delhi, April 05: A team of 27 doctors separated 18-month-old Siamese twins Geeta and Sita after a 14 hour-long rare and difficult surgery in a hospital Monday.
The surgery started in the morning at Batra Hospital and ended just before 9 p.m. The twins are from Bihar and their parents are labourers.
“The surgery is over and the twins have been separated,” Sanjeev Bagai, a senior doctor and chief executive of the hospital, told.
London, April 05: Teens allowed to go to bed after midnight were almost a quarter – 24 per cent – more likely to suffer from depression and a fifth more likely to think about self harm than those who were set bedtimes of 10pm or earlier, British Daily Telegraph said in study carried out by an American university.
Dr James Gangwisch, lead author and a professor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, said: “Our results are consistent with the theory that inadequate sleep is a risk factor for depression.”
London, April 05: More than 430,000 U.S. women die each year of heart disease, but many women are unfamiliar with signs, U.S. researchers say.
To better spot cardiovascular disease Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas began a new Heart & Vascular Wellness Program for women including a detailed heart health history, blood pressure check, HbA1C and C-reactive protein blood test, cholesterol and diabetes screenings, and one-on-one discussions with a medical provider
London, April 05: As if people needed any more reason to eat chocolate – now scientists find a bar a week could stop you from having a stroke.
A study of nearly 50,000 people found that those eating chocolate were 22 per cent less likely to suffer a stroke than those that didn’t.
And those who did suffer a stroke but had indulged in chocolate were 46 per cent less likely to die as a result.
The reason is believed to be that the food is rich in flavanoids, a healthy anti-oxidant, although researchers at the University of Toronto are keen to carry out extra studies.
London, April 05: Millions of British women are suffering from poor vision because they are too vain to wear spectacles, a study has revealed.
The research revealed a quarter of females who need glasses refuse to get their eyes tested and would rather squint or suffer blurred vision than ‘ruin their appearance’ with spectacles, reports dailymail.co.uk.
Approximately 7.5 million women are struggling with eyesight which they know is well below 100 percent.
Mumbai, April 04: In an effort to prevent parent-child transmission of HIV/AIDS, Maharashtra Government has decided to introduce ‘DNA-PCR’ test from this year for new born babies.
“Using the sophisticated Polymerised Chain Reaction (PCR), it would be possible to identify whether the six-week old new born has been affected with the HIV transmitted from the mother. Therefore treatment can be started immediately with navirapine prophylaxis and can be made available to the mother and the baby,” Health Minister Suresh Shetty told PTI.
Washington, April 04: Reading a bedtime story to your child for 20 minutes every night could improve his or her literacy by at least 10 school days a year, experts have said.
Banking on this theory, an American non-governmental organisation has launched a programme which encourages families to read together for at least 20 minutes each night.
“Read for just even 20 minutes (every night) and it makes all the difference in literacy’s goals,” Laura Numeroff, a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator of children’s books, was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
Washington, April 03: Make physical activity a part of your daily life, even if it be unintentional.
“If you aren’t in the habit of being physically active, you can run out of energy trying to force yourself to do it everyday,” said David Conroy, associate professor of kinesiology and human development and family studies at Pennslyvania State University (PSU).
Washington, April 03: Neuroscientists are clueing into how the brain is capable of holding and retrieving memories for specific fears, revealing a more sophisticated storage and recall capacity than previously thought.
The study may have implications for treating post-traumatic stress syndrome – as scientists begin to understand how different fears are stored in the brain, they can move toward addressing specific fear memories.
Washington, April 03: Perception of poor sleep and the conscious awareness of its impact on daytime functioning might be stronger predictors of immediate postpartum mood disturbances than actual sleep quality and quantity in healthy new mothers, says a new study.
The study has been published in the April 1 issue of the journal Sleep.
London, April 03: Runners in the London marathon should drink cherry juice to recover after the race, scientists have suggested.
In a study, runners who drank tart cherry juice before and after the race recovered better than those taking a dummy drink.
It is thought the antioxidant vitamins, called anthocyanins, in the juice helps the body to resist damage and repair itself, reported telegraph.co.uk