Health

New Delhi, July 06: The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the premier research and education body here that also caters to 8,000 patients every day, topped the list of medical institutes benefiting from the union budget announced Monday.

India’s health budget has gone up by nearly Rs.4,000 crore to Rs.21,113.33 crore ($4.35 billion) with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee giving special emphasis to rural healthcare.

Of the total health budget, AIIMS got a major chunk as it was allocated Rs.677 crore, up from last fiscal’s Rs.573.42 crore.

New Delhi, July 06: New cases of swine flu were reported Monday, taking the total figure of the influenza A H1N1 cases in the country to 145 so far, health officials said here.

‘Of the 939 persons tested so far in the country, 145 have been tested positive for the influenza A (H1N1),’ a statement issued here said.

Of the total cases, 103 people have been discharged from hospital after treatment.

The new cases Monday were reported from Delhi (2), Jalandhar (2), Mumbai (2), Kochi (1), Bangalore (1) and Gurgaon (1).

London, July 06: The virus has swept through the UK since April, infecting thousands of people although most have suffered mild symptoms.

Here is a timeline:

* April 24: The Health Protection Agency says it is monitoring a deadly swine flu outbreak in Mexico and the United States after more than 60 people die after contracting the virus.

* April 26: Iain and Dawn Askham, of Polmont, near Falkirk, are confirmed as the first UK cases of swine flu after returning from their honeymoon in Mexico.

London, July 07: Costa Rica is very nearly paradise, not just for holiday-makers lounging on its beaches, but for its citizens who are extremely satisfied with their lot and also have a tiny carbon footprint.

The combination has earned the central American country first place in a new Happy Planet Index (HPI) published on Monday.

New Delhi, July 06: Doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) here have rejoined a 10-year-old boy’s broken spinal cord, hospital authorities said Saturday, terming it as a “first-of-its-kind case”.

The boy, Premchand from Firozabad in Uttar Pradesh, fell while playing in a field and the moving blades of a tractor’s harrow went over his back cutting his vertebral column into two.

Geneva, July 06: The head of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, said Monday that the global economic crisis was causing people to ditch healthy foods that this would lead to health problems.

“When money is tight, the first thing that drop out of the diets are the healthy foods,” said Chan, adding that these are “almost always more expensive” than processed items.

This was particularly true in the developing world, where chronic diet related diseases were on the rise, she noted.

Washington, July 06: Is your child spending too much time in front of the TV? As parents, handle it by valuing vigorous team sports. That is more likely to influence children to join a team or participate in some kind of exercise, and spend less time watching TV or at the computer, a new study has found.

Researchers from Baylor College and Duke University studied a sample of 681 parents of 433 fourth and fifth graders from 12 schools in Houston, Texas.

Washington, July 06: Caffeine given daily to ageing mice with Alzheimer’s reversed their memory loss, says a new study.

The new findings provide evidence that caffeine could be a viable ‘treatment’ for established Alzheimer’s disease, and not simply a protective strategy,” said study author Gary Arendash, University of South Florida (USF).

“That’s important because caffeine is a safe drug for most people, it easily enters the brain, and it appears to directly affect the disease process,” he added.

Columbia, July 06: High impact sports such as running appear to improve bone mineral density more than such sports as cycling, swimming, or rowing, according to a study conducted by the University of Missouri.

“Only the skeletal sites that experience increased stress from exercise will become stronger,” according to Pam Hinton, associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology at the university’s College of Human Environmental Sciences.

Bonn, July 06: Revenge may be sweet, but it could damage your health and make you unhappier than most other people, according to a study by German and Belgian researchers.

The study conducted among 20,000 people by the universities of Bonn and Maastricht also revealed that people who like to pay back perceived injustices also have fewer friends and are less satisfied with life.

The researchers wanted to find out what influence character traits such as positive and negative acts of reciprocation had on “success” and “satisfaction with life.”

Hamburg, July 06: Night shift work is strenuous, but the potential health problems, such as obesity and cardiovascular disease, may be much bigger than previously thought, according to a recent study.

The study conducted by Harvard University in Boston and published in the online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed a higher risk of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease among night shift workers.

Ludhaina, July 06: As many as 260 patients were examined today at a free medical camp organized by DMCH in the OPD block of the hospital. The consultants from the specialties of Medicine, Pediatrics, Skin, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Orthopaedics, Eye, ENT and Urology examined the patients.

Mumbai, July 05: As the details of Michael Jackson’s medication come out in the open, it reminds us that it’s not just narcotics that can addict us but prescription drugs, too, can be just as addictive.

Dr Shrikant Shinde is a 25-year-old post-graduate medical student with a reputed Pune hospital for a specialisation in pediatrics — hardly the addict kind. Yet, his addiction to painkillers has followed a similar path.

San Francisco, July 05: It might take Californians a puff or two to get their heads around an apparent contradiction recently enshrined in state law. The same marijuana smoke that doctors can recommend to ease cancer patients’ suffering must soon come with a warning saying it causes the disease.

State environmental regulators last month voted to place marijuana smoke on its list of hundreds of substances known to cause cancer. The decision could lead to warning signs in medical marijuana dispensaries and labels on packaged pot within a year.

New Delhi, July 05: Youth in India and China face huge risks from party drugs like Ecstasy and Adam because of their large populations and increasing disposable income, a senior UN official has warned.

Besides, these synthetic drugs are easily available as they can be produced in the kitchen unlike heroine or cocaine, says Christina Albertin, who heads the UN Office on Drugs and Crime for South Asia.

Wellington, July 05: Roll-your-own cigarettes, favoured by some smokers who think they are safer than the factory-made products, could be more dangerous, even when filters are used, according to research released in New Zealand on Sunday.

Dr Murray Laugesen, a public health specialist based in Christchurch, said a study found that smokers of roll-your-owns inhaled 28 per cent more smoke, even though they contained less tobacco than factory-made cigarettes, because they tended to suck more intensively.

London, July 05: Parents might be alienating their kids by allowing them to play computer games for too long, according to a leading author.

Bernadette Tynan, a former child development academic, insists that the solitary nature of the games might have an adverse impact on parent-child bond, which is believed to be key to development.

“Parents are right to be concerned about online products as some do tend to focus on solitary time and do little to help build parent-child relationships,” the Scotsman quoted Tynan as saying.

New York, July 05: Children who are overweight and wet the bed at night may have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), researchers report.

Both being overweight and wetting the bed are associated with the nighttime breathing disorder, they found. However, overweight and bedwetting are not associated with each other.

In a “case-control” study, Dr. Joseph G. Barone, of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and colleagues performed overnight sleep studies in 149 children between the ages of 5 and 15 with OSA, and 139 matched control children.

Washington, July 05: Teens who suffer from migraine headaches are more likely to get lower grades, and less likely to graduate from high school, or attend college than those who don’t have migraine, according to a study.

Conducted by Joseph Sabia, a professor of Public Policy at American University’s School of Public Affairs, and Daniel Rees, a professor of Economics at the University of Colorado Denver, the study is the first to have examined effect of migraine in teens on future academic achievement.

New Delhi, July 04:A Thai national was found suffering from swine flu, taking the total number of influenza A (H1N1) cases in India to 129, said an official statement Saturday.

‘The only new case reported Saturday was of a 23-year-old Thai national who travelled from Bangkok to Mumbai by Thai Airways flight TG 317 that reached Mumbai June 28 and proceeded further to Kandla port (in Gujarat) to board a ship on which he is a crew member,’ it said.

Washington, July 04: Queen’s University biologists have revealed that insight into the locust’s brain may offer a novel way to manipulate human brain to stave off diseases like migraines, stroke, and epilepsy.

The researchers said that a similarity in brain disturbance between the insect and human sufferers of migraines, stroke, and epilepsy could open pathways for development of new drug therapies.

London, July 04: Scientists are focussing on bacteria-killer proteins known as colicins to potentially open the way to new medicines.

A team led by Colin Kleanthous, biology professor from the University of York, will study how colicins use decoys to mimic key parts of the cells’ own protein machinery to evade their defences.

Wellington, July 04: Three people have died of swine flu in New Zealand, the Ministry of Health announced on Saturday, reporting the country’s first fatalities from the H1N1 virus.

It said the chief coroner had reported that it was “strongly probable” the H1N1 virus was a major factor in the death of a 19-year-old man in Hamilton on Sunday and a 42-year-old man in Christchurch on Thursday.

A Ministry statement said that a young girl with underlying medical conditions died on Saturday morning in Wellington Hospital after testing positive for swine flu.

London, July 04: A new breed of sweet potato is being touted as the superfood of the future, with experts saying the vegetable may stop people from getting cancer.

The designer sweet potato, grown for its anti-cancer purple pigment, is also said to contain anti-aging and antioxidant chemicals, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Soyoung Lim, a researcher from Kansas State University, developed the variety of sweet potato with a purple skin and flesh to boost its cancer-fighting properties.

Washington, July 04: Well planned vegetarian diets are healthy and nutritious for all age groups and help prevent heart diseases, cancer, obesity and diabetes.

Winston Craig, professor of nutrition and wellness at Andrews University, and Reed Mangels, nutrition advisor at the Vegetarian Resource Group, Baltimore, conducted the study on behalf of the American Dietetic Association (ADA).