Health

London, August 07: Middle-aged smokers are 70 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who don’t smoke, a new study has warned, prompting experts to advise regular physical and mental exercises.

The study published in Britain’s Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry says people who smoke, have high blood pressure or diabetes massively increase their risk of developing dementia.

Under-55s who smoke increase their risk five-fold, and smokers aged between 46 and 70 have a 70 percent higher risk of developing chronic memory loss, according to the study.

Sydney, August 07: An Australian scientist of Indian origin has developed a new method to send nanocells to cancerous tumours so that tumours that are resistant to other drugs can be destroyed.

After five years of research, Himanshu Brahmbhatt and his partner Jennifer MacDiarmid of EnGeneIcs, the cancer therapeutics company they founded, are set to commence human clinical trials of their process, which involves sending bacterially derived nanocells or EDVs (EnGeneIC Delivery Vehicles) into rogue cancer cells in two separate waves.

Washington, August 07: “That blasted siren. I can’t focus.” That reaction to an undesired distraction may signal a person’s low working-memory capacity, according to a new study.

Based on a study of 84 students divided into four separate experiments, University of Oregon (UO) researchers found that students with high memory storage capacity were clearly better able to ignore distractions and stay focussed on their assigned tasks.

Washington, August 07: Social stress could lead to heart disease by causing the body to deposit more fat in the abdominal cavity and could also speed up harmful plaque build-up in blood vessels, according to new research.

In this study, female monkeys were fed a western-style diet containing fat and cholesterol. The monkeys were housed in groups so they would naturally establish a pecking order from dominant to subordinate.

Subordinate monkeys are often the target of aggression and aren’t included in group grooming sessions as often as dominant monkeys.

Riyadh, August 07: A Saudi special needs girl has died from swine flu, pushing the Kingdom’s A-H1N1 death toll to seven, the Health Ministry announced Thursday.

The 12-year-old girl, who died Wednesday two days after being admitted to a hospital in Al-Hasa, was suffering from an underdeveloped central nervous system, the ministry said in a statement.

The girl was suffering from acute chest problems, high temperature and acute lung inflammation. She was also infected with the A-H1N1 virus, the statement said.

New York, August 07: Agreements between former President Bill Clinton’s foundation and two drug companies will lower prices on medications for patients with drug-resistant HIV in the developing world.

One agreement, with Mylan lowers the annual price of four antiretroviral drugs that are used as a second line of treatment when patients develop a resistance to the first drugs they are treated with.

The other agreement, with Pfizer reduces the cost of a medication that can be used in conjunction with the drugs in patients who have tuberculosis.

Washington, August 07: ‘That blasted siren. I can’t focus.’ That reaction to an undesired distraction may signal a person’s low working-memory capacity, according to a new study.

Based on a study of 84 students divided into four separate experiments, University of Oregon (UO) researchers found that students with high memory storage capacity were clearly better able to ignore distractions and stay focussed on their assigned tasks.

Toronto, August 07: Canadian researchers have found that a hormone in the human gut could be used to lower sugar levels in diabetics.

Researchers of the Toronto General Research Institute and the University of Toronto have found in their study on a rat model that activating receptors of the cholecystokinin (CCK) peptide hormone in the gut rapidly lowers blood glucose levels.

The activation of the receptors of this hormone triggers a signal to the brain and then to the liver to lower glucose or sugar production, say researchers in their paper.

Ahmedabad, August 07: Doctors at a city hospital today claimed they have come up with a cure for people who have a leaking mitral valve in their heart and this could give a lease of life to critical patients.

“After a heart attack the muscles of heart become weak and as a result it dilates. Due to dilation of heart one of the vital valves – mitral- starts leaking, which could lead to heart failure,” Dr Anil Jain of SAL Hospital told mediapersons here.

Washington, August 07: Researchers have found specific nerve cells responsible for itchiness, a discovery that could lead to better treatments for skin conditions.

Experiments on mice show they have nerve cells that convey only an itch sensation — contradicting common wisdom that itch and pain are closely related.

Reporting in the journal Science, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Peking University Third Hospital in Beijing said they created itch-free mice by killing their itch-specific neurons.

Washington, August 07: A new technique has given researchers a “big picture” look at the genome of the AIDS virus, the first time its entire gene map has been decoded.

The technique may not only lead to new treatments against the fatal and incurable virus, but for other viruses such as influenza and the bugs that cause the common cold, they said on Wednesday.

London: The World Health Organization has announced that the first vaccines for swine flu pandemic are likely to be ready for use by September this year.

–Agencies

Pune, August 07: The city of Pune is fast emerging as the epicenter of swine flu outbreak in the country, with two more patients reported to be critical and on ventilator support on Friday.

The two patients – a 36-year-old Ayurveda doctor and a 35-year-old pharmacist – have both tested positive for swine flu or H1N1 influenza A virus and are admitted to government-run Sassoon General Hospital. Both are in critical but stable condition, doctors said. A definite report on their condition is expected later in the day, they added.

Washington, August 07: A novel cooling treatment can improve the outcome after a heart attack, says a new study.

The treatment, which lowers body temperature to prevent damage to the brain and other major organs when blood flow is restored after cardiac arrest, is considered “good value”, compared to many other widely utilized medical procedures, including dialysis.

Ludhiana, August 06: The anti-larvae staff team of the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme visited various areas in the cityon Wednesday.

According to Dr Maninderjit Singh, District Health Officer, Ludhiana, “Larvae of dengue mosquito were detected in the Tyre Market near the Old Local Bus Stand, workshop and coolers of DMC and CMC hospitals and in the Punjab Agricultural University.

Washington, August 06: Wealthy countries worried about their shrinking birth rates may have had their prayers answered. If they get just a little richer, birth rates should head up again, US researchers reported on Wednesday.

They studied 24 countries over 30 years, looking at fertility rates and a measure of education, income and lifespan called the human development index.

New York, August 06: A common treatment that uses medical cement to fix cracks in the spinal bones of elderly people worked no better than a sham treatment, the first rigorous studies of the popular procedure reveal.

Pain and disability were virtually the same up to six months later, whether patients had a real treatment or a fake one.

Washington, August 06: A blood test that detects nine compounds in blood may offer a safe way to diagnose early cases of lung cancer, Celera Corporation reported on Tuesday.

Such a test would allow quick treatment of lung cancer, which is usually not detected before it has spread, Celera, which became independent of Applera Corp. earlier this year, said in a statement.

“This is one of the most promising assays I’ve seen as a predictor of non-small cell lung cancer,” Dr. Harvey Pass of the New York University Langone Medical Center, who helped test the diagnostic, said in a statement.

Beijing, August 06: A dog is suspected to be the origin of an outbreak of pneumonic plague in northwest China that has killed three people and left 10,000 under strict quarantine, state media reported.

Ziketan, a remote town in a Tibetan area of Qinghai province, has been locked down since Saturday in an effort to contain the spread of the highly virulent disease.

One patient was in critical condition and seven others were infected, most of them relatives of the first fatality, a 32-year-old herdsman, or local doctors, Xinhua news agency said.

Bhubaneswar, August 06: An engineer who had recently returned from Singapore was Thursday admitted to a Cuttack hospital with swine flu symptoms, Orissa’s first suspected case of the disease.

He was admitted to the Sri Ram Chandra Bhanja Medical College hospital in Cuttack, 26 km from here, after reporting symptoms similar to swine flu, an official said.

‘The patient was admitted today. He complained of a runny nose, cough and throat irritation — all suspected to be symptoms of swine flu,’ administrative officer of the hospital, U.N Mallik, told IANS.

Pune, August 06: Women cradling babies, schoolchildren tagging along with parents, college-going teens, senior citizens and even pregnant women – more than People wait for H1N1 test a thousand people thronged Pune’s Government-run Naidu Hospital on Wednesday as panic deepened two days after the country’s first fatality from swine flu was reported from the city.

Men, women and children with the slightest hint of cough and cold, anxious to get tested for the flu virus, began gathering from early morning and doctors and hospital staff soon found themselves swamped by a jostling crowd.

Pune, August 06: Nine more persons, including three girl students of St Anne’s school which recorded the first fatality of swine flu here, have tested positive for the virus even as names of two schools were added to the list of affected educational establishments, health officials said today.

The swine flu pandemicThe three schoolmates of the deceased Reeda Shaikh, the class nine student of St Anne’s who died of the infection on August 3, belong to different classes, leading to concern that the virus may have spread in the school.

Mumbai, August 06: Swine flu continues to spread in Maharashtra with 30 new cases reported till Thursday morning, raising the total to 172, a senior health official said.

“Nine new cases have been detected in Pune, and four in Mumbai, including a senior state civil servant,” Pradeep Awate, head of the Swine Flu Control Room, said.

Among the victims who tested positive is State Excise Commissioner IS Chahal, he said.

Chahal had returned from a trip to Britain recently and had complained of swine-flu type symptoms and tested positive at Kasturba Hospital late Wednesday night.

Washington, August 06: Exercise may be a great way to combat the debilitating fatigue in patients suffering from leukemia, say researchers.

The research team from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that physical activity can significantly improve symptoms of fatigue and depression, increase cardiovascular endurance and maintain quality of life for adult patients undergoing treatment for leukemia.

London, August 06: Swiss drug maker Novartis has begun injecting its swine flu vaccine into people in the company’s first human tests, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

The vaccine is being tested in a yearlong trial of 6,000 people of all ages in Britain, Germany and the United States, Novartis spokesman Eric Althoff told agency, adding that the vaccine will likely be on the market before the trial finishes.

A person in Britain became the first to get the swine flu vaccine about 10 days ago, he said.