Lifestyle

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).

Washington, July 04: Suffering from diabetes? Fret not, just adopt a proper and healthy diet, for a new study has revealed that using lifestyle interventions on top of existing drug treatments can help controlling high blood sugar levels.

A team at University of Otago has provided intensive dietary advice to improve blood sugar control in diabetics — even though they’re on what is regarded as the best available medication.

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.

Cancun (Mexico), July 04: World Health Organization head Margaret Chan has warned a forum in Mexico that the swine flu virus worldwide is now unstoppable.

The WHO says most H1N1 cases are mild, with many people recovering unaided.

As the summit opened, the UK alone was projecting more than 100,000 new cases of H1N1 a day by the end of the summer.

“As we see today, with well over 100 countries reporting cases, once a fully fit pandemic virus emerges, its further international spread is unstoppable,” The BBC quoted Dr. Chan, as saying in her opening remarks.

Mexico, July 03: At least 337 people have died from swine flu, which has also sickened 80,000 others in 121 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday. Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, announced the agency’s updated figures at a two-day summit on influenza being held in the Mexican resort city of Cancun.

Washington, July 03: Experts suggest that it is ‘alluring’ even for well-behaved children to emulate ‘bad’ characters on a film screen”.

But the study also shows that movie characters who smoke, regardless of whether they are a ‘goodie’ or a ‘baddie’, overall influence teens’ smoking tendencies.

Susanne Tanski, the lead author on the study, and an assistant professor of paediatrics at Dartmouth Medical School in the US, said: “It’s true that ‘bad guys’ are more often smokers in the movies, but there really are not that many ‘bad guys’ compared to ‘good guys’.

Washington, July 03: In a landmark finding a team of international scientists have identified the immune system link to schizophrenia, the devastating mental disease thought to be caused by the interaction of both genetic and environmental factors.

The researchers also showed the condition is genetically similar to bipolar disorder also known as manic depression.

New Delhi, July 03: In a bid to give much-needed breather to lakhs of asthma patients as well pharma majors like Cipla, India has sought exemption for ozone-depleting choloroflurocarbons (CFC) based metered-dose inhalers (MDI) under Montreal Protocol for 2010.

The exemption request has come after five drug companies including Sun Pharma, Cadila, Midas and Cipla expressed their inability to switch-over from CFC based asthma inhalers to non-CFC based inhalers by the target period of 2009, citing financial and technical reasons, environment officials said.

London, July 03: A new method developed by researchers helps women whose ovaries have been struck by cancer to have babies. Pascal Piver, who manages the in vitro fertilisation centre at Limoges University Hospital in France, described a new, two-step method of ovarian transplant that has produced excellent results in women whose ovaries have been frozen because of cancer treatment.

He said that his team’s technique worked to restore ovarian function quickly and already one patient from his clinic had had a baby and another had become pregnant.

Mexico, July 03: The UN’s top health official has opened a forum in Mexico on combating swine flu by saying that the spread of the virus worldwide is now unstoppable.

World Health Organization head Margaret Chan added that the holding of the meeting in Cancun showed confidence in Mexico, which has been hard hit.

The WHO says most H1N1 cases are mild, with many people recovering unaided.

As the summit opened, the UK alone was projecting more than 100,000 new cases of H1N1 a day by the end of the summer.

New Delhi, July 02: There has been an improvement in the health sector but India faces a shortage of over 28,000 health centres, the Economic Survey 2008-09 said Thursday.

“There is a shortage of 20,855 sub centres, 4,833 primary health centres (PHCs) and 2,525 community health centres (CHCs) as per the 2001 population norm,” the survey said.

New Delhi: Even though India is the largest supplier of vaccines to the world, its domestic market is completely paralyzed, risking the health of millions of children, especially newborns, says a report.
“India is the largest supplier of vaccines to the world yet its domestic market of vaccines stands completely crippled, endangering the health and future of millions of its children, especially newborns,” according to a report in Down To Earth (DTE), a fortnightly magazine of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

Washington, July 02: Diets high in protein and cholesterol are linked with a higher risk of hospitalization or death due to cirrhosis or liver cancer, while diets high in carbohydrates are associated with a lower risk, according to the latest research.

Researchers, led by George Ioannou of Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, investigated whether dietary nutrient composition was associated with the subsequent development of cirrhosis or liver cancer in a representative sample of the US population.

Washington, July 02: Twenty-six states in the United States saw a rise in adult obesity rates during the past year while there was no decrease in any other state, newly-released figures showed.

Meanwhile, the number of obese and overweight children has now climbed to 30 percent in 30 states, according to findings in an annual report on obesity in America, released on Wednesday by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Toronto, July 02: The Canadian University of Western Ontario has developed a new HIV/Aids vaccine that is ready for human trials.

The vaccine called SAV001H has been developed by the university at London, about 160 km from Toronto, in collaboration with Sumagen Canada, a subsidiary of the Korean pharmaceutical company.

In a statement Tuesday, Sumagen Canada said it has submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin the first phase of trials of the vaccine on human beings.

Faizabad, July 01: An HIV affected woman was forced to deliver her baby outside a government hospital after she was allegedly denied treatment by the doctors in eastern Uttar Pradesh’s Ambedkar Nagar district.

The 28-year-old pregnant woman, a resident of Jahageeraganj locality in Amdedkar Nagar, went to Mahatma Jyotiba Phule district hospital last evening in the district, 60 km from here.

New Delhi, July 01: Three new cases of swine flu were reported in India Wednesday taking the total number of cases reported to 112, a statement said.

One person each in Delhi, Bangalore and Gurgaon were found positive for H1N1 infection.

“The case in Delhi is of an 11-year-old male child who travelled from Munich via Dubai and reached Delhi June 26. On June 30, since he was having fever and cough, he reported at the identified health facility where he is admitted,” a statement issued by the health ministry said Wednesday.

London, July 01: Scientists have discovered a wonder molecule in mother’s milk that protects and repairs the delicate intestines of newborn babies.

Called pancreatic secretory trypsin inhibitor (PSTI), the ingredient is found at its highest levels in colostrum – the milk produced in the first few days after birth.

PSTI is a molecule normally found in the pancreas, and protects it from being damaged by the digestive enzymes it produces. It seems to play a similar protective role in the gut.

Washington, July 01: Stressed men are more likely to gamble, smoke, have unsafe sex or consume illegal drugs. Conversely, stressed women moderate their behaviour and are less likely to indulge in risky choices, says a new study.

“Evolutionarily speaking, it’s perhaps more beneficial for men to be aggressive in stressful, high-arousal situations when risk and reward are involved,” said gerontologist Nichole Lighthall.

Washington, July 01: When it comes to dental health, an acidic fruit juice like orange is even worse than teeth whitening agents, warns a recent study.

University of Rochester Medical Centre’s YanFang Ren and his team determined that the effects of six percent hydrogen peroxide, the common ingredient in over-the-counter whitening products, are insignificant compared to acidic fruit juices.

For the first time, researchers were able to see extensive surface detail thanks to a new focus-variation vertical scanning microscope.

Toronto, July 01: The Canadian University of Western Ontario has developed a new HIV/AIDS vaccine that is ready for human trials.

The vaccine called SAV001H has been developed by the university at London, about 160 km from here, in collaboration with Sumagen Canada, a subsidiary of the Korean pharmaceutical company.

In a statement Tuesday, Sumagen Canada said it has submitted an application to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin the first phase of trials of the vaccine on human beings.

Washington, July 01: Nearly three months after the US immigration agency started accepting petitions for the H-1B visas for highly-skilled foreign professionals, it is still looking for more than 20,000 applications to fill the Congressionally-mandated cap of 65,000.

Amid the economic downturn and protectionist provisions in the US stimulus package, the demand for the visas, which is mostly availed by Indian professionals, has slowed down.

New Delhi, July 01: The Delhi government has decided against sending samples of H1N1 influenza cases to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, as the institute takes up to 48 hours to report back.

Experts say test results should not take more than six hours. Officials say since suspected patients are kept in the same wards as patients confirmed with H1N1 flu, it increases chances of getting infected. Now, the government will send samples only to the Delhi-based National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).