Health

New Delhi, December 10: Five persons died due to swine flu today even as 339 fresh cases were reported nationwide, with Delhi topping the list, Health Ministry said.

All the five deaths were reported from Rajasthan, taking the toll in the pandemic to 663.

Of the 339 fresh cases reported today, the national capital topped the list with 141 cases, followed by Rajasthan 72 and Maharashtra 28.

With the fresh cases, the total number of those afflicted by the disease has touched 20,929.

Washington, December 10: Older alcoholics knock back far more than younger ones, and for those over 60 that means an average of 42.5 drinks every week, a US study released found today.

The research, led by Linda Ginzer of Ohio State University and carried out in late November by the Gerontology Society of America, examined data from 43,000 people between 2000 and 2001 of whom 10,000 were over 60.

London, December 10: People who follow a low-carb, high-fat diet (LCHF) are more susceptible to cardio-diseases, says a study.

The research was lead by Steven Hunter from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast.

“High-fat diets have become popular because they seemingly promote more rapid weight loss and because of their palatability,” said Hunter.

“However, we now have proof that they do not help people lose weight any faster than more conventional diets, and the potential negatives of increased cardiovascular risks far outweigh the potential positives,” added Hunter.

London, December 09: Tobacco use kills at least 5 million people every year, a figure that could rise if countries don’t take stronger measures to combat smoking, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.

In a new report on tobacco use and control, the UN agency said nearly 95 percent of the global population is unprotected by laws banning smoking. WHO said secondhand smoking kills about 600,000 people every year.

New Delhi, December 09: India has successfully mapped the human genome that will help develop effective drug development in the country, an achievement that puts the country among an elite league of six countries which have achieved the feat so far.

“This is a unique achievement in the field of science. The US, UK, China, Canada and (South) Korea are the other countries which have achieved it before us,” Science and Technology Minister Prithviraj Chavan told reporters in New Delhi.

“This genome sequencing sets the stage for India’s entry to an elite club,” he added.

Washington, December 09: A daily dose of pistachios can help keep lung cancer at bay, concludes a new study.

According to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference, a diet that incorporates a daily dose of may help reduce the risk of lung and other cancers.

New Delhi, Dec 09: The HIV/AIDS bill, aimed at preventing discrimination and protecting the rights of people living with the disease, is “under finalisation”, union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Tuesday.

Azad informed the Rajya Sabha that the government proposes to introduce the HIV/AIDS bill but there were no firm dates yet.

“The draft of the bill on HIV/AIDS is at present under finalisation. However, no firm date can be indicated at this stage,” he said in a written reply to a question on when the bill was going to be introduced in parliament.

Ludhiana, Dec 09: As the district administration relaxed curfew today, the OPDs of different hospitals saw patients coming in large numbers.

Dr Sandeep Puri, Medical Superintendent of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital said, “I was on leave today but received reports of heavy rush in hospital OPDs. Due to closure of three days, patients came today.”

While Dr Monika Malhotra, Ayurvedic Medical Officer of Government Ayurvedic Health Centre, Haibowal, said, “Today, we received more than 25 patients, which we get in average, while in last three days, it was only 10-12.”

New Delhi, Dec 09: International aid agency Global Fund Tuesday announced a $128.5 million grant for India to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Of the newly approved grants, $69.4 million will be provided for expanding care and treatment services for tuberculosis (TB), particularly for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. India bears 21 percent of the global TB burden and has the highest estimated incidence of multi-drug resistant cases of any country.

New Delhi, Dec 09: Three new swine flu cases were reported in this Himachal Pradesh capital Tuesday, a day after a 22-year-old died due to the H1N1 virus, officials said.

‘Three more patients tested positive in Shimla’s Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital Tuesday,’ swine flu nodal officer Vinod Mehta told.

He said two patients were from Shimla district and the third was from Kullu.

A total of 21 patients have tested positive for H1N1 in the state out of which three have died.

—IANS

New Delhi, December 08: An indigenous swine flu vaccine is far from ready but India has given the green signal to two foreign pharmaceutical giants to begin human trials of their vaccine in the country.

“GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Baxter have received approval from the drug controller of India to carry out human trials in India. The bridge study with volunteers will tell us whether their medicine is safe for us or not,” V.M. Katoch, secretary, department of health research in the health ministry, said.

London, Dec 08:In a key breakthrough, scientists have tracked the spread of breast cancer cells “live” for the first time, which they claim could pave the way for new cures for the disease.

A team at Cancer Research UK tagged cancer cells with a protein that glowed blue and showed that the protein, called Transforming Growth Factor beta, triggers the release of cancer cells from the main tumour.

Once free, these cells pass into the bloodstream and move into bones or other organs like the liver and the brain — which can prove fatal, the ‘Daily Express’ reported.

Washington, Dec 08: A chromosome abnormality called aneuploidy can cause cancer, US researchers said in a study published, confirming what scientists have long suspected.

With virtually all human cancers having an abnormal number of chromosomes, scientists have “long suspected that gene mutations which promote erroneous chromosome separation during cell division are to blame for tumor development,” researchers at the Mayo Clinic said in a statement.

New Delhi, Dec 08: With H1N1 influenza cases on the rise as winter sets in, and only 42 ventilators at designated hospitals to cater to critical patients, the Delhi government has placed ‘urgent tenders’ to procure 30 more ventilators.

Close to 600 H1N1 influenza cases have been reported in the Capital in the past three days, and with 198 patients testing positive for H1N1 flu on Monday, Delhi crossed the 6,000-mark. So far, 6,171 people have tested H1N1 positive in the city.

Chandigarh, Dec 08: Three persons have died of swine flu in city hospitals in the last 24 hours. All victims are from Punjab.

The deceased are a 45-year-old man from Jalandhar, Harbhajan Singh, a 35-year-old woman from Hoshiarpur, Anju Bala, and 35-year-old man from Baltana, Varinder Kumar.

On Monday, Harbhajan came to PGI in extremely critical condition.

He died half-an-hour after his arrival. Similarly, Bala died 20 minutes after she was admitted in PGI.

New Delhi, Dec 08: Nearly 300 children die of measles every day in India, various UN agencies claimed Monday arguing that delayed vaccination policies of the country are jeopardising the 2010 global target of reducing measles mortality by 90 percent.

Berlin, Dec 08: Fresh air and exercise usually help lift sagging spirits in the gloom of late autumn and winter, a leading Psychiatrist told.

“One reason for low spirits is that we spend less time out of doors and are less active in the winter,” said Frank Schneider, president of the German Society of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Nervous Diseases (DGPPN) and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Aachen University Hospital.

Schneider said that lethargy and difficulty getting up in the morning were not unusual during those months.

Washington, December 07: European scientists have found that asthmatic smokers could “reverse” some of the damage done to their lungs just by putting down cigarette.

According to researchers at the University of Groningen, Netherlands, smoking asthmatics can reverse some of the damage to their lungs that exacerbates asthmatic symptoms just by quitting smoking, the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine reported.

Kolkata December 07: Safiqul Mondal had given up hope that his nine-year-old son will ever be able to lead a normal life after the child accidentally swallowed a pen cover. But doctors of a private hospital here have brought smiles back on Safiqul’s face by removing the ‘foreign element’ stuck in the child’s lungs.

Imran, the second child of Safiqul, was suffering from cough and cold since Oct 10. On Oct 17, while playing with the pen close to his nose, Imran suddenly sneezed and the cover disappeared into his throat.

Chandigarh, December 06: About 16.90 lakh children were administered polio drops under the Sub-National Intensified Pulse Polio Immunisation (IPPI) round in Haryana today.

The children, upto the age of five, who were given the immunisation drops made up about 65 per cent of the targeted 26 lakh children to be covered during the three-day campaign, a spokesman of Haryana Health Department said here.

The drive was in 13 of the 21 districts of the state, while others would be included on the following days.

–Agencies

Wellington, December 06: An HIV-positive man in New Zealand has allegedly injected his sleeping wife with his own blood so she would start having sex with him again.

The woman told the police that her husband also hoped it would prevent her from finding another man and leaving him, Sunday Star Times reported.

It is believed the man wanted to give her the disease so she would start having sex with him again.

The man, 35, admitted infecting his wife, in the first case of its kind in New Zealand.

Muscat, December 06: Higher levels of nicotine is found in the blood of smokers who light up on waking, placing them at an increased risk of developing lung cancer.

“Not all smokers are the same and approaches to smoking reduction may need to account for individual smoking behaviors such as the intensity and frequency of puffing, cravings, and physiological symptoms,” said lead researcher Joshua Muscat.

Washington, December 06: A new study finds breastfeeding can lower the mother’s risk of developing metabolic syndrome in the long run.

According to the study published in Diabetes, breastfeeding reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome — a cluster of risk factors such as elevated blood pressure, insulin resistance, and abdominal obesity linked to diabetes and heart disease — in the new mother.

Women who breastfeed tend to adopt a healthier lifestyle than new mothers who do not breastfeed and therefore lose the weight gained during pregnancy faster.

Hyderabad, December 05: One of the qualities that every human being has to develop within himself is strength. Not just the physical strength, though that is one part of it, but mental strength.

The strength to achieve anything one wants. The strength to face different challenges life has to offer.

And the strength to remain calm through adversities. This is what I call inner strength. It is the basic confidence and power that a man feels within himself. Without this man becomes powerless. He becomes a victim of life and feels everything to be out of his control.

Lucknow, Dec 05: A 27-year-old HIV positive youth in Uttar Pradesh was forced to leave his village by his neighbours, who feared they could get infected through mosquito bites.

The youth, who is a resident of Sewain village in Gorakhpur district, some 300 km from Lucknow, has been living in seclusion on the outskirts of the village for the last four days.

‘Locals convened a panchayat and passed a resolution that my son would not be allowed to live in the village as the disease could spread through mosquito bites,’ the youth’s 65-year-old mother told reporters Saturday in Gorakhpur.