Washington, January 28: Childhood obesity increases the risk of developing heart disease and stroke even in those with no known cardiovascular risk factors, a new study finds.
Metabolic syndrome, consisted of abdominal obesity, elevated triglyceride and decreased HDL levels, hypertension and impaired glucose tolerance, places youngsters at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes in early adulthood.
Dubai, January 28: A high-tech facility was inaugurated here in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to manufacture a drug required in PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scan for cancer patients.
The drug, Flurodeoxglucose (FDG), has a short shelf life of only 10 hours. Therefore, importing it into the UAE was a cumbersome process.
To conduct a PET scan, the patient needs to be injected with a dose of FDG.
The PET scan is considered better than the regular scans as it can detect cancer early.
Ahmedabad, January 27: With nine more people succumbing to swine flu the death toll in Gujarat has reached to 225, while 33 fresh cases of the infectious disease were detected, health officials said today.
According to state health department officials, three patients, Vikram Zapda (45), Gangaben Parmar (75)and Sweety Patel (25) died of swine Flu at V S hospital here.
One S K Bhatnagar and Suresh Patel both aged 54, succumbed to the H1N1 virus in Vadodara civil hospital yesterday but their death was reported today.
Hamburg, January 27: A new study disclosed that around 125.2 million preggies are prone to malaria annually.
Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan parasite occurring in the tropic and sub-tropic, is the major cause of the majority of malaria fatalities.
But, the most common type of malaria is P. vivax malaria, which also thrives in temperate areas.
The majority of malarial casualties are among young kids in sub-Saharan Africa but expecting mothers and their unborn babies are at high risk of having malaria.
London, January 27: Moderation appears to be the best approach to controlling blood sugar in a form of diabetes that affects many adults, researchers said Wednesday, since lowering it too far can be as risky as letting it stay too high.
The scientists also found that people suffering from type 2 diabetes who used insulin to get blood sugar levels down to near normal were 50 per cent more likely to die during the study period as those who used a combination of oral drugs, such as metformin and sulphonylurea.
Washington, January 27: Children writing with both hands are more likely to struggle in school and be diagnosed with hyperactivity disorder, a new study finds.
In individuals naturally gravitated toward using their right hand, the left hemisphere of the brain, the center for language, is more dominant. In mixed-handed individuals, conversely, it is less clear that one side of the brain is more dominant over the other.
New York, January 27: Smoke exposure during pregnancy damages the baby’s blood pressure control system, increasing his/her risk of cot death, a new study finds.
Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the leading cause of death with an unknown reason among infants aged between 1 and 12 months. Low birth weight and prematurity are considered important risk factors for the condition.
According to the study published in Hypertension, maternal smoking increases the risk of SIDS in the newborn by two thirds.
London, January 27: A new drug combo, consisting of medications commonly used to fight HIV/AIDS, has shown promising results in protecting individuals against the disease.
According to a study published in PloS One, Truvada, a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine, prevents HIV infection through major routes of transmission in mice with “humanized” immune systems.
The drug is believed to produce pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) through preventing the virus from creating more viruses in the body.
London, January 26: Although changing social and cultural mores seem to have whittled down a sense of guilt today, this emotion is ‘significantly higher’ among women than men, says a new study.
The main problem, according to experts, is not that women feel a lot of guilt (which they do), but rather that many men feel “too little”.
“Our initial hypothesis was that feelings of guilt are more intense among females, not only among adolescents but also among young and adult women…,” said Itziar Etxebarria, who led the study at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU).
A simple one hour surgery devised in the UK can reduce high blood pressure and is being hailed as the most exciting development in this field since the advent of anti- hypertensive medication 50 years ago
REMEMBER your disbelief the first time you were told that you “suffered” from high blood pressure? There were no bothersome symptoms after all. But this diagnosis has now put you in the league of friends and relatives already dealing with hypertension.
Srinagar, January 25: With the death of one more person due to swine flu, the death toll in the pandemic has gone upto five in Jammu and Kashmir, health officials said today.
Garrison Reserve Engineering Force (GREF) employee Manoj Kumar of Kerala, who was admitted to a hospital here on January 17, died last evening.
As a precautionary measure, 30 colleagues of Kumar have been given medicines and are being treated at their unit in Akhnoor.
Berlin, January 25: Parents of a child who plays computer games excessively should limit computer use but not issue blanket condemnations, a social education worker advised.
London, January 25: In what could revolutionise healthcare for the rising diabetes population worldwide, scientists claimed to have developed a 15-minute non-surgical treatment that could lead to drastic weight loss and reverse the onset of the disease.
The breakthrough treatment, considered a cheap and safe alternative to surgery, involves a device called EndoBarrier — a plastic sleeve that is inserted into the intestine of a patient to prevent food being absorbed into the body.
Ahmedabad, January 24: Two persons died of swine flu in Gujarat today taking the death toll so far to 213, while 11 new cases were reported from different parts of the state.
According to health department officials, Anand Mavjibhai (32) died of swine flu at PDU hospital in Rajkot while Pratap Gandabhai (35) died at general hospital in Bhavnagar.
In all 213 persons have died due to H1N1 virus while 1,144 people have tested positive with the infectious disease.
Today, new cases were reported from Vadodara,Junagadh, Jamnagar, Rajkot and Ahmedabad.
–Agencies
Hamburg, January 24: E-cigarettes are considered as a healthy alternative to real cigarettes as their users can inhale nicotine without tar, tobacco or carbon monoxide. However, not enough studies support this hypothesis.
FDA officials are concerned about different amounts of nicotine vapor inhaled with each puff in different brands of the battery-operated device. They also believe the smoking alternative contains powerful cancer-causing chemicals.
New Delhi, January 23: Your morning cuppa has to be had lukewarm. Drinking hot tea makes you four times more prone to cancer of the oesophagus, or food pipe, says a study conducted by the Tata Memorial Hospital (TMH).
The act beats hollow well-known causes of oesophageal cancer like chewing tobacco, smoking and excessive alcohol intake.
New York, January 23: Women who smoke marijuana during pregnancy may impair their baby’s growth and development in the womb, a new study suggests.
Poor fetal growth and reduced head circumference at birth are linked to an increased risk of problems with thinking, memory and behavior in childhood. Cigarette smoking during pregnancy is known to impair fetal growth, but studies on the potential effects of marijuana have been inconclusive.
Washington, January 23: A new study, published in the ‘Journal of Applied Physiology’, has offered intriguing insights into the biology and perhaps even the future of human running speed.
Lead researcher Peter Weyand of Southern Methodist University said: “The prevailing view that speed is limited by the force with which the limbs can strike the running surface is an eminently reasonable one,”
Cleveland, January 23: “In countries like the US, the percentage of patients suffering from heart diseases has gone down due to an increase in awareness and dietary habits.
This is yet to be seen in India,” said Dr Inderjit Gill, who is a staff cardiothoracic surgeon with the Cleveland Clinic’s Heart Centre at Cleveland.
Ahmedabad, January 22: With two more persons succumbing to swine flu here, the death toll due to the disease rose to 208 in Gujarat, health officials said here today.
Ankit Ashokbhai (20) died of swine flu at municipal-run LG hospital here this morning, while 18-year-old Jagrutiben died at a private hospital yesterday, they said.
Meanwhile, 16 new cases of swine flu have been reported today from Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Junagadh, Vadodara and Jamnagar, the officials said, adding that the total number H1N1 positive cases in the state has reached 1,112.
–Agencies
Washington, January 22: Motivating smokers without judging them can prove to be an effective way of kicking the habit, says a new study.
According to a new review of studies, such a procedure can be more fruitful if a primary care physician uses a form of supportive counseling called “motivational interviewing.”
The review included data from 14 studies published between 1997 and 2008, with more than 10,000 smokers involved.
Washington, January 22: Obesity comes with plenty of health risks but there’s one that’s perhaps not so well known — increased risk of developing liver cancer.
Now, a team of researchers have confirmed in mice that obesity does act as a ‘bonafide tumour promoter’, and they have backed it up with real evidence.
‘Doctors always worry about our weight, but the focus is often on cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, both of which can be managed pretty well with existing drugs,’ said Michael Karin of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
New Delhi, January 22: The government has lowered its estimates for the number of people living with HIV/AIDS in India from 23.1 lakh in 2007 to 22.7 lakh in 2008-09. Estimates of the prevalence of the infection are down to 0.29 per cent from 0.36 per cent in 2007.
“The trend suggests that the overall strategy is working. In 2006-07, 36 people per 10,000 were infected, now the number is 29. That’s quite a decline,” said Damodar Bachani, Dy DG, Department of AIDS Control.
London, January 22: Don’t drink your tea hot. Your morning cuppa has to be had lukewarm. Drinking hot tea makes you four times more prone to cancer of the oesophagus, or food pipe, says a study conducted.
The act beats hollow well-known causes of oesophageal cancer like chewing tobacco, smoking and excessive alcohol intake.
London, January 21: A chemical found in non- stick cookware and food packaging has been linked to thyroid disease.
The substance, PFOA, which is found throughout the home, has previously been branded potentially carcinogenic.
Now it has been further called into question by research which shows that those with higher levels in the blood have higher rates of thyroid disease.