Health

New Delhi, August 06: In a critical comment on India, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the World Bank said robust economic growth and food security alone would not remove the tag of being “one of the most malnourished”.

“Whilst India celebrates its booming economy and GDP growth, the country remains one of the most malnourished in the world today,” the multilateral lending agency said in a study on undernourished children in South Asia.

Panaji, August 05: Goa will invoke the Epidemic control Act (ECA), 1897, to curb the spread of influenza A (H1N1) once the state’s busy tourism season gets underway in October, health minister Vishwajeet Rane said on Wednesday.

Rane’s announcement comes barely a day after the Maharashtra government invoked the act in Pune and Satara districtS after a 14-year-old Pune schoolgirl died of swine flu.

Chennai, August 05: The Madras High Court today ordered removal of photographs of a 25-year-old woman and her four-year-old daughter from AIDS awareness campaign banners across Tamil Nadu within a week after she complained that they gave an impression as if the two were HIV affected.

Justice K Suguna recorded an undertaking by the Tamil Nadu AIDS Control Society on removing the posters of the woman who said that her family came close to being ostracised by relatives and neighbours after the publication of the photos as part of the campaign two years ago.

New York, August 05: People who were heavily exposed to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center still had elevated risks of developing post-traumatic stress disorder even five years later, according to a study released Tuesday by the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The study contained better news about asthma. While those who developed respiratory symptoms soon after the attacks were still being diagnosed with asthma some years later, rates among people who first showed symptoms after 2003 were consistent with normal asthma rates.

London, August 05: Biological differences in the brain may explain why some people turn into psychopaths, says a new study.

The research, conducted by Declan Murphy, along with Michael Craig and Marco Catani, at King’s College, examined the brain biology of psychopaths with convictions that included attempted murder, manslaughter, multiple rape etc.

Using a powerful imaging technique (DT-MRI) researchers highlighted biological differences in the brain which may underpin these types of behaviour and provide a more comprehensive understanding of criminal psychopathy.

Panaji, August 05: Goa will invoke the Epidemic control Act (ECA), 1897, to curb the spread of influenza A (H1N1) once the state’s busy tourism season gets underway in October, Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane said Wednesday.

Rane’s announcement comes barely a day after the Maharashtra government invoked the act in Pune and Satara districtS after a 14-year-old Pune schoolgirl died of swine flu.

London, August 05: Scientists in Japan have managed to grow teeth from stem cells, a development that could make dentures redundant.

The researchers, from the University of Tokyo, grew a tooth “germ”, a seed-like piece of tissue which contains the cells and instructions necessary to form a tooth, which they then transplanted into the jawbones of a mice.

Hormones in the animal’s bodies also reacted to the transplant and helped the teeth to grow.

Washington, August 05: Something as simple as the color of a cigarette packet can dupe smokers into thinking the cigarettes it contains are less dangerous to their health, a study showed.

The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada showed that, in addition to words like “light,” “mild,” and “low-tar,” which have been banished from cigarette packets in more than 40 countries, design elements and color are being used by tobacco companies to lull smokers into a false sense of security about the harmful effects of smoking.

Bangalore, August 05: The popular idiom, ‘you are what you eat’ now gets a new twist – you are how you eat. The more aware you are when you eat, the healthier you can be, new research suggests.

And the way to mindful eating is the traditional Indian practice for selfawareness – yoga.

Regular yoga practice is associated with mindful, or conscious, eating. And people who eat mindfully are less likely to be obese, according to a study led by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Kodinji, August 05: Walk around Kodinji village and you’ll think that you have double vision.

The village is home to as many as 230 sets of twins. Nobody knows why there are so many twins in the village of 15,000 people, although one local doctor suspects it might be due to the water.

In fact with about 35-45 twins per live birth, this village in North Kerala, India, has four times more twins than normal. Not surprisingly, the village has been dubbed “the twin village.”

Geneva, August 05: The World Health Organization stuck to its statement that about two billion people could catch H1N1 influenza by the time the flu pandemic ends.

But the estimate comes with a big health warning: no one knows how many people so far have caught the new strain, known as swine flu, and the final number will never be known as many cases are so mild they may go unnoticed.

“By the end of a pandemic, anywhere between 15-45 percent of a population will have been infected by the new pandemic virus,” WHO spokeswoman Aphaluck Bhatiasevi said in a statement.

Vadodara, August 05: Gujarat government has directedprivate doctors in the state to refer any suspected Swine flucase to the government run hospitals.

“The state government run hospitals are fully equippedto treat Swine flu cases and there is no reason for panic,”Gujarat Health and Family Planning Minister, Jaynarayan Vyas,told PTI.

After the 14-year-old girl succumbing to Swine flue inPune city of Maharashtra, Gujarat government is on an alert,Vyas said.

New Delhi, August 05: Shaken by the death of a 14-year-old schoolgirl who succumbed to swine flu due to “delayed treatment”, the government on Tuesday said all those who exhibit H1N1 symptoms have to report to government hospitals, but would be allowed home quarantine if the case warrants.

The announcement was made by the Joint Secretary Vineet Chawdhry in a press conference after a high level meeting at the Health Ministry.

“We want to address the apprehension and concerns of the people and don’t want a repeat (of the Pune incident),” he told reporters.

Chicago, August 04: Depression in children as young as 3 is real and not just a passing grumpy mood, according to provocative new research.

The study is billed as the first to show that major depression can be chronic even in very young children, contrary to the stereotype of the happy-go-lucky preschooler.

Until fairly recently, “people really haven’t paid much attention to depressive disorders in children under the age of 6,” said lead author Dr Joan Luby, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St Louis.

Washington, August 04: US scientists say they may have tracked down the origins of the deadly disease malaria – chimpanzees.

In recent years diseases like HIV-Aids and Ebola have been traced to chimpanzees, and a study being released on Tuesday shows that this is nothing new, according to Dr Nathan D Wolfe, an author of the report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Malaria has been a human disease as long as history,” Wolfe, of Stanford University and the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, said in a telephone interview.

New Delhi, August 04: Delhi has seen the maximum number of swine flu cases in India so far with 163 patients, closely followed by Pune – where a 14-year-old girl has died due to the influenza A(H1N1) virus.

According to official data issued here Tuesday, Delhi tops the list followed by Pune with 112 cases since India reported its first swine flu case May 16.

Monday, a 14-year-old girl died due to influenza A(H1N1) virus in Pune, which has been declared a pandemic city.

New Delhi, August 04: India Tuesday reported 16 more swine flu cases, mostly children, taking the total number of people infected in the country to 574 so far.

‘About 2,528 people have been tested, out of whom 574 are positive for the influenza A(H1N1). Of the 574 positive cases, 470 have been discharged,’ a statement by the health ministry said. The remaining 96 people are under observation or treatment in special hospital facilities.

India saw its first swine flu death Monday when a 14-year-old girl succumbed to the influenza A (H1N1) virus.

Seoul, August 04: South Korean scientists today claimed to have discovered the mechanism that causes depression and memory loss in diabetes patients, paving way for new ways of chemical treatment methods for the psychological ailments.

The discovery marks the first time scientists have found changes in metabolic materials in the brain triggering negative mood changes, they said.

The scientists from Seoul National University led Lyoo In-kyoon said the discovery is significant because symptoms like depression and forgetfulness were attributed to psychological causes in the past.

Washington, August 04: Dysport, a new anti-wrinkle facial filler that can potentially replace Botox, smoothens frown lines between the eyes, says a new study.

“Our study confirmed that Dysport is a safe and effective tool in fighting wrinkles,” said Rod Rohrich, plastic surgeon at the University of Texas-Southwetern, (UT-S) and study co-author.

“It also confirmed that the dosage should be tailored to one’s facial muscle mass to be most effective. So it’s important to visit a certified plastic surgeon to ensure the dosage is correct,” Rohrich added.

Hong Kong, August 04: Frequent handwashing and the wearing of face masks at home can help reduce the transmission of influenza viruses within the household if the measures are implemented in good time, a study in Hong Kong has found.

The findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, are seen as important as patients may need to be quarantined at home in a pandemic if hospitals run short of isolation facilities.

“During a pandemic, resources may not be available to isolate all infected individuals, and home isolation of some patients may be required,” the researchers wrote.

Washington, August 04: Malaria may have jumped to humans from chimpanzees much as AIDS did, U.S. researchers reported on Monday in a study they hope could help in developing a vaccine against the infection.

They found evidence the parasite that causes most cases of malaria is a close genetic relative of a parasite found in chimpanzees. Genetic analysis suggests the human parasite is a direct descendant of the chimp parasite, they reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

New Delhi, August 04: In a major initiative to check diabetes, the Centre is contemplating compulsory blood tests for the entire population of the country.

Set to be floated under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), the new project will seek to cover the entire population, specially the urban and rural poor, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad told.

“I have asked the department of research to formulate a plan and may be we will also look into the feasibility of a public-private partnership mode for this,” he said.

New York, August 04: You knew too much TV could be bad for kids in general. Now, hints a study released Monday, too much time in front of the tube, even playing video games, may increase a child’s risk of developing high blood pressure.

The findings held regardless of whether the children were overweight or thin.

Pretoria (South Africa), August 04: South Africa recorded its first death due to the influenza A(H1N1), also known as swine flu, BuaNews reported Tuesday quoting the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).

The NICD confirmed that a 22-year-old Stellenbosch University student died from swine flu July 28.

According to a NICD report given to the department of health, the deceased showed flu-like symptoms July 20 and was treated at the campus clinic.

On July 27, the boy’s condition deteriorated and he was moved to the Intensive Care Unit, where he died.

The death of 14-year-old Pune girl has put the government on the backfoot. Here are the symptoms and treatment for the deadly diseases and how to fight it.

Symptoms and treatment

The basic symptoms for swine flu are similar to the seasonal flu – fever, sore throat, cough, stuffy nose, headache, body aches and fatigue.
H1N1 strain is a mutated form of the swine virus. It is communicable only through human-to-human contact.
Swine flu is not a food-borne disease and does not spread through pork.
Tamiflu, Relenza are prescription drugs effective against these strains of Swine Flu.