Health

Geneva, November 21: The World Health Organisation said Friday that a mutation had been found in samples of the swine flu virus taken following the first two deaths from the pandemic in Norway.

However, it stressed that the mutation did not appear to cause a more contagious or more dangerous form of A(H1N1) influenza and that some similar cases observed elsewhere had been mild.

“The Norwegian Institute of Public Health has informed WHO of a mutation detected in three H1N1 viruses,” the WHO said in a briefing note.

London, November 21: Physicians currently insert camera-equipped endoscopes into patients to hunt for visible abnormalities, such as tumours, on internal organs. Now, a researcher is designing one that is capable of seeing deeper and may even help detect tumours at earlier stages.

Huikai Xie, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida (UF), is working on replacing the cameras with scanners that “see” beneath the surface of tissues – revealing abnormal groups of cells or growth patterns before cancerous growths are big enough to be visible.

Chicago, November 21: Attention ladies, if you want a perfect figure, quit smoking as a new study claims that women can control their weight better by shunning cigarettes.

Researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, found that women who quit smoking while receiving treatment for weight control were better able to shed their flab.

The finding disproves current clinical guidelines that trying to diet and quit smoking at the same time will sabotage efforts to ditch cigarettes.

Paris, November 21: Beaten or sexually abused children are more likely to show accelerated ageing of cells later in life, a condition linked to higher rates of cancer and heart disease, according to a study released Friday.

Investigators found that the natural process by which protective “caps” on the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, are worn away as humans age was accelerated among adults who had suffered such trauma in childhood.

Earlier studies had shown that psychological stress elevates risk for a wide range of diseases and mental conditions.

London, November 21: Thousands of Vicks nasal sprays are being recalled because of fears that they could contain dangerous bacteria.

Consumers are urged to call a helpline if they own one of the affected products

Routine testing showed the sprays could contain the bacteria B. cepacia, which can cause serious infections in people with weak immune systems or with lung conditions.
Manufacturers Procter & Gamble say there have been no reports of anyone falling ill.

New Delhi, November 21: As many as 10 swine flu deaths were reported Saturday in the country, including four in Maharashtra alone, taking the toll in India to 553, health department officials said here.

Also, 127 new cases were reported in the country taking the total number of people suffering from the contagious virus to 16,328.

With the four deaths reported from Maharashtra, the death toll in the state has gone up to 219.

Three deaths from Rajasthan Saturday has taken the toll in the state to 33.

London, November 21: Tiny particles released by car brake pads can harm lung cells, according to new research.

Researchers found that heavy braking, as in an emergency stop, caused the most damage, but normal breaking and even nearness to a disengaged brake resulted in potentially dangerous cellular stress.

Mechanics Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser and Peter Gehr from the University of Bern and Michael Riediker from the Institute for Work and Health, Lausanne, worked with a team of researchers to study such effects.

Washington, Nov 21: How does going on a diet help fight ageing? Scientists have found some anti-ageing molecules that get activated by a low calorie diet.

Charles Mobbs, professor of neuro-science and geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM), and colleagues unravelled a molecular conundrum to determine that in certain conditions, a lower-calorie diet slows the development of some age-related conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease.

How the diet is restricted – whether fats, proteins or carbohydrates are cut – does not seem to matter.

Gorakhpur(UP)Nov 21: Three more children succumbed to encephalitis here, taking the toll in the viral fever in eastern Uttar Pradesh to 524 since January this year. The deaths took place in the last two days.

Twenty-five people suffering from encephalitis have been admitted to different hospitals in the region, Additional Director Health L P Rawat said. He said about 3000 patients suffering from Japanese Encephalitis and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) were admitted this year to the BRD Medical College and other hospitals in the region.

Out of this, 524 have died.

–PTI

New Delhi, Nov 21: Ranbaxy Laboratories has recalled from the US market a batch of 4,348 cartons of Sotret Isotretinoin capsules used in treating skin infections.

According to the information available on US health regulator Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) website, Ranbaxy through its US-based subsidiary Ranbaxy Laboratories Inc, has issued a ‘nation-wide class III recall’ for a batch of Sotret Isotretinoin capsules of 40 mg strength.

Mumbai, Nov 21: Shobha Joshi, 54, of Dhule will have her first baby, rather babies, 35 years after marriage. A scan has revealed she will have twins, the delivery due in seven months.

She was set on the road to motherhood by the Origin International Fertility Centre in Thane, 300 km from Dhule. Her husband Vidyadhar, a Brahmin priest, had unwrapped an offering of rice and read a newspaper report on how the clinic had helped parents have a child through surrogacy.

New Delhi, Nov 21: Over the years, the profile of a nutritionist has evolved in many ways. From being someone who dealt only with basic meal plans, today’s nutritionist handles a variety of complex tasks.

When it comes to handling diabetic patients, the change is most dramatic.

From telling diabetics what foods to avoid, today’s nutritionist has to keep abreast of highly complex growing scientific knowledge.

Diabetics are mostly attracted to the special diabetic foods being marketed widely. Most of the time, these special foods are no different from foods for a normal individual.

Chandigarh, Nov 21: The advisory committee of the UT Health department on Friday said no school should be shut in the city unless there are three or more positive cases of swine flu from different classes in the same school, and that a class be suspended only if all the positive cases are concentrated in one section. This comes in the wake of schools resorting to suspending classes or shutting completely after many students tested positive for H1N1.

Pune, Nov 21: An HIV vaccine may take some time to become a reality, but in the meantime, antiretroviral treatment (ART) ramains the only hope for HIV patients. Close on the heels of World AIDS Day (December1), the Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society (MSACS) will set up 62 ART centres in the state that will be functional by mid-December.

National AIDS Research Institute (NARI) director Dr R S Paranjape said, “We have enrolled 500 patients in the free-of-cost ART programme and so far only four require second line treatment of anti HIV drugs.”

London, Nov 20: In what’s claimed to be a ground -breaking research, scientists are to use embryonic stem cell therapy “to cure blindness” in people.

Clinical trials of the treatment for Stargardt’s disease — a rare, incurable eye disease that causes blindness early in adulthood — are expected to begin next year, British newspaper ‘The Times’ reported.

And if the research is cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration, 12 patients with Stargardt’s disease, involved in the trial, could become the world’s first to receive such treatment based on embryonic stem cells.

Hamburg, November 20: Numerous studies have shown negative impact of deadly fumes, produced from cigarette on health. Hence, smoking is not only highly dangerous for people who smoke, but also for people who inhale it.

Recent study has shown that secondhand smoke leads to greater blood-vessel damage in toddlers and obese children as compared to other children.

The recent study was based on the data collected from 52 toddlers (ages 2 to 5 years) and 107 adolescents (ages 9 to 18 years).

Berlin, November 20: Many women comb their hair when it’s wet and end up with a wad of hair in their comb and a hurting scalp.

It’s easier to comb hair when it’s dry, said Stefanie Koehn, president of an association of hair stylists in Germany. That’s because wet hair is supple and can easily be overstretched. When it’s combed it can be like elastic and pull out from the root.

Long hair in particular should be combed starting at the tips. First comb through any tangles there, then comb through the hair from the root to the tips.

Chandigarh, Nov 20: Even as cases of swine flu among school students continue to rise in the tricity, the UT Health department will reconsider the strategy of closing educational institutions completely.

New Delhi, Nov 19: The onset of puberty can be an agonising time for many adolescents. This is the time when a strong emphasis is placed on looks and many teenagers look for peer validation. It is not surprising then that several teens are knocking on the doors of plastic surgeons for nose jobs and liposuction.

Washington, Nov 19: People with 70 percent burns die from related and secondary infections despite the best efforts of doctors and nurses and advances in medicine. But a revolutionary dressing developed at Tel Aviv University (TAU) eradicates infection by killing bacteria and preventing deaths in burn injuries.

Meital Zilberman, TAU professor in biomedical engineering, has developed a new wound dressing based on fibres which can be loaded with antibiotics to speed up healing, and then dissolve when they’ve done their job.

Melbourne, Nov 19: Trishna is already doing well enough that she could leave intensive care, said the director of neurosurgery at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.

A Bangladeshi toddler separated this week from her conjoined twin sister was talking and behaving normally Thursday after waking from a medically induced coma, the head of the surgery team said.

Trishna is already doing well enough that she could leave intensive care, said Wirginia Maixner, director of neurosurgery at Royal Children’s Hospital.

Washington, Nov 19: The Hepatitis B virus (HBV) targets men more readily than women, triggering serious complications like cirrhosis and liver cancer, says a new study.

Men infected with HBV are also six times more likely than women to develop a chronic form of the disease.

About 400 million people worldwide have chronic hepatitis B, including a form that is highly infectious and can be transmitted through blood, saliva and sexual contact.

Washington, Nov 19: Runny nose, fever, cough, even pneumonia — the symptoms sound like swine flu but children hospitalized at one U.S. hospital in fact had a rhinovirus, better known as a common cold virus, doctors said on Wednseday.

Hundreds of children treated at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia had a rhinovirus, and federal health investigators are trying to find out if it was a new strain, and if this is going on elsewhere in the country.

Washington, Nov 19: Transplanting a potent form of adult stem cells into the heart muscle of subjects with severe angina lessens pain and improves walking ability.

These findings are the result of the largest national stem cell study for heart disease. The transplant subjects also experienced fewer deaths than those who didn’t receive stem cells.

Out of the estimated million people in the US who suffer from chronic, severe angina — chest pain due to blocked arteries — about 300,000 cannot be helped by traditional medical treatment namely angioplasty, bypass surgery or stents.

Sydney, November 19: Women stressed during pregnancy were more likely to have children with a higher risk of developing behavioural and emotional problems.

Researchers analysed data from more than 1,700 children in the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study, jointly conducted by the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research and the University of Western Australia (UWA).

The findings are drawn from child behaviour checklists undertaken at two and five years of age.