Health

New Delhi, August 11: With 125,000 people becoming disabled annually due to traumatic brain injuries suffered in road accidents, experts Monday emphasised that India needs to train healthcare professionals in providing neuro rehabilitation care to patients.

“There has been an alarming increase in number of road accidents in the country in the past few years and we need to prepare our doctors, paramedics and health care workers to handle traumatic brain injury patients and post rehabilitation,” said Rajendra Prasad, executive director, Indian Head Injury Foundation (IHIF).

Washington, August 11: Childhood obesity has quadrupled in the last 40 years, but parents can help stave off this impending crisis if they help their children eat better and exercise, says a new study.

“We’ve seen a 10 fold increase in Type-2 diabetes and psychological and social consequences, such as prejudice, rejection, discrimination and low self-esteem in children,” Edward Abramson told the American Psychological Association (APA)’s 117th Annual convention on Saturday.

Mumbai, August 11: Even as two critical patients battling H1N1 infection at Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, showed marginal improvement, 33 more tested positive in Mumbai on Monday, taking the count of confirmed cases in the city to 95. Among the latest cases is that of a doctor, who was part of the team treating H1N1 patients at Hiranandani. BMC officials said a third patient at a private hospital is in a critical condition. They did not give the details.

London, August 11: A ray of hope for the blind! A new type of eyedrop has shown encouraging signs for treatment of the world’s most common causes of blindness — glaucoma.

Scientists in Italy, who’ve come up with the eyedrops, have claimed the solution would well fight glaucoma, caused by the pressure inside the eyes and known as the “sneak thief of sight” because of its gradual effects.

In fact, according to them, tests have showed the formula, which contains a special “nerve growth factor”, can prevent cells from dying and even improve vision.

London, August 11: Spotted yet another wrinkle? No need to simply surrender to the temptation to the tall claims made by the burgeoning “anti-wrinkle” cream market which makes sure that there’s an anti-ageing cream launched every month.

Try out the “miracle cream” for a change, say boffins.

A team in Britain have come up with the new 3LAB Super ‘h’ Serum cream which they claim reverses sun damage and plump ageing skin — all you need to do is to shell out 215 pounds for a tiny tot.

Paris, August 11: Children with seasonal flu should not be given antivirals such as Tamiflu because harmful side effects outweigh relatively meagre benefits, according to a study released on Monday.

In some children Tamiflu caused nausea and vomiting, which can lead to dehydration and other complications, researchers reported.

The study did not cover the current outbreak of swine flu, but its conclusions suggest that antivirals may not significantly reduce the length of illness or prevent complications in children infected with the new A(H1N1) virus, the researchers said.

Jakarta, August 11: Nearly 4.9 million people infected with HIV/AIDS live in the Asia-Pacific region, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

And more than 95 percent of those infected live in Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Thailand and Vietnam, WHO said in a report Monday.

New Delhi, August 10: With three more swine flu deaths Monday, taking the total to seven, India geared up to further tackle the spread of the contagious infection by ordering more vaccines and asking qualified private hospitals to come forward to take on patients.
The total swine flu infections now stand at 960 with 95 new cases reported Monday.

Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that the Influenza A (H1N1) infection was increasing on a “vast scale” and at least 30 percent of Indians are likely to get infected by the highly contagious disease.

Puducherry, August 10: Puducherry government has decided to initiate multi-departmental activivites to sensitise people on steps to be taken if symptoms of ‘swine flu’ have been noticed.

Chief Minister V Vaithilingam told during a press conference today that the departments of school education, women and child welfare, civic bodies and tourism launched steps to approach the people to create awareness among them as to what steps they should take whenever symptoms of H1N1 flu were seen.

He said all the four suspected cases reported at JIPMER were tested negative.

Mumbai ,August 10: While the whole world is in panic f swine flu. Bollywood seems to be following the quote “prevention is better than cure” and the first one to act upon it is none other than our famous filmmaker Karan Johar. Thus, Karan Johar has cancelled the two day shoot of his forthcoming flick “Qurbaan” which was to be carried out in Pune.

New Delhi, August 10: If you think that a simple surgical mask guarantees protection from the swine flu virus, you are wrong.

The normal surgical masks that people are now using to protect themselves from the swine flu virus offer little protection, experts claimed and recommended a special mask called N95 for the purpose.

The N95 mask, recommended by the Centre for Disease Control, United States, and doctors here is designed in such a way that it does not allow even a micron of the virus to enter the respiratory system.

Mumbai, August 10: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) appealed to school authorities that if they find any suspected case of H1N1 or any similar symptoms they must inform the parents who in turn must get their children tested for Swine flu if necessary.

“We have asked that teachers and staff members must report Swine flu related cases or any similar symptoms like cold, cough, fever and running nose to their parents and they get their children tested for it and must take rest for seven to 10 days,” Additional Municipal Commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said.

Pune, August 10: Swine Flu claimed its fourth victim in the worst-hit Pune district this evening, with the death of a 35-year-old man at the Sasoon Hospital here.

“Sanjay Tilekar, who was admitted to the hospital on August 6, died due to Swine Flu,” hospital sources said.

Tilekar, a chemist, was earlier undergoing treatment at Noble Hospital in Hadpsar and then shifted to Sasoon Hospital in a critical condition and had been on ventilator since then, sources said.

The patient was suffering from acute respiratory infection, sources said.

New Delhi, August 10: With more and more people, especially school children, testing positive for swine flu in the national capital, parents are becoming worried about sending their wards to schools while residents welfare associations are trying to raise awareness about the contagious infection.

‘Parents are panicking. Some are not even sending their children to schools by the school transport and instead are picking them up and dropping them,’ Delhi School Parents Association convenor Varinder Arora told IANS.

New Delhi, August 10: Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Monday announced a string of measures to tackle the spread of swine flu that has killed six people and affected over 860 in India in the last three months.

The steps are:

* More thermal scanners at all international airports in the country, besides Delhi. They would be installed on an emergency basis.

* The national stockpile of Oseltamivir or Tamiflu will be increased by another 20 million capsules.

* The testing capacity of existing 19 designated laboratories would be doubled.

New Delhi, August 10: Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Monday said closing down schools was no solution to control the spread of swine flue even as a number of them shut down after some students tested positive for the disease.

This decision, Azad said, should to be based on the situation prevailing in the affected areas and ‘therefore, it would be for the state governments to take a decision about closure of schools’.

‘However, mere closure of schools would not solve the problem, unless the children restrict themselves to their homes,’ Azad told reporters here.

New Delhi, August 10: Swine flu continued to grip the country with 82 fresh cases on Sunday with 34 people testing positive in Pune, one of the places worst hit by the infection with two deaths already reported from there.

With these cases, the total number of positive cases has gone up to 864 in the country.

About 4,084 people have been tested so far out of which 864 are positive for Influenza A H1N1 (swine flu), the health ministry said.

Washington, August 10: Vantocil, an antimicrobial product long used as a hospital disinfectant, is also highly effective in controlling the H1N1 virus that causes swine flu, according to research conducted in the US.

Research done by ATS Labs, Eagan, Minnesota, showed Vantocil FHC was effective within 10 minutes in controlling the H1N1 virus.

Vantocil FHC is a non-staining, disinfectant detergent concentrate for cleaning all hard surfaces in hospitals. It can also be used in domestic settings and food processing.

Berlin, August 10: Eating easily digestible foods and chewing thoroughly before swallowing helps prevent heartburn, according to the Professional Association of German Internists (BDI).

Hectic meals and fatty, heavily spiced or fried foods can trigger heartburn, the BDI says. Other risk factors include sweet and sour foods, alcoholic drinks, coffee, black tea and smoking.

Bangalore, August 10: India is expected to witness a five-fold increase in cancer cases in the next 10 years owing to various reasons, including tobacco consumption and increase in ageing population of the country, oncologists said.

The latest figures of the National Cancer Registry Programme of the Indian Council for Medical Research indicate that more than 2.5 million Indians suffer from cancer.

Washington, August 10: Babies receptive to new information at the age of six months and one year also excel in academics as adults, according to a new study.

The study, led by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) psychologist Joseph Fagan, found that intelligent babies do become more intelligent as they grow.

The psychologist developed the Fagan Test of Infant Intelligence over 20 years ago. The test measures the response infants have to pictures of novel objects.

New Delhi, August 10: With three doctors in the capital testing positive for swine flu, the central government has appealed to all doctors, paramedics and lab technicians to follow safety guidelines to avoid getting infected with the influenza A(H1N1) virus.

“Three doctors who tested positive for the flu had accidental exposure to the virus due to some laxity. All doctors, paramedical staff and lab technicians must take adequate precautions to avoid swine flu infection,” health secretary Naresh Dayal told reporters here Friday.

London, August 10: Psychopaths who kill and rape have faulty connections between the part of the brain dealing with emotions and that which handles impulses and decision-making, scientists have found.

In a study of psychopaths who had committed murder, manslaughter, multiple rape, strangulation and false imprisonment, the British scientists found that roads linking the two crucial brain areas had “potholes”, while those of non-psychopaths were in good shape.

New York, August 10: People who need a new kidney may need to look no farther than across the dining room table, according to a new study that shows that spouses are good potential sources for so-called “living-unrelated organ donation”.

Due to a worldwide shortage of organs available for transplant from people who have died, “living organ donors” have become a major source of organs for transplantation.

New York, August 10: More and more teenage girls in developing countries are using various birth control methods, but they are less consistent with it and have higher rates of unplanned pregnancy than adults, an international study finds.

Since 1986, researchers found, the percentage of 15- to 19-year-olds using contraception has increased substantially in many developing nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.

By 2006, rates varied widely among countries, but on average, about one-quarter of young women said they had used some birth-control method by the age of 19.