Child death forces India to recall measles vaccine

The Ministry of Heath and Family Welfare in India has recalled over four million doses of a measles vaccine supplied by a south Indian drug manufacturer—Indian Immunologicals Limited—after four children died following inoculation with the drug.

The Ministry has directed all state governments to stop use of the vaccine until further orders, besides halting further supplies from the Hyderabad-based manufacturer.

The recall came after four infants who received the measles vaccine in the southern state of Tamil Nadu died on Wednesday.

Grief-stricken parents said their babies started frothing at the mouth and nose and died within 15 to 20 minutes of being administered the vaccine.

The State Health Minister said that the children might have had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine, while noting that some 20,000 children in Tamil Nadu were inoculated against measles with the same drug Wednesday.

According to sources, vaccine samples have been sent to a national laboratory for testing and a team of health experts is examining how the vaccine was stored and how health workers administered it.

Taking immediate action on the issue, the Government of Tamil Nadu has suspended its measles vaccination programme. The recall is likely to hit the immunisation programme in other states also.

India releases cyclone management guidelines

: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) of India on Thursday released a guideline for management of cyclones aimed at helping various ministries and departments in the centre and the state to prepare flood management plans and minimise loss of life and property.

The guideline also reccomended an exclusive eco-system monitoring network to study the impact of climate change and setting up of a comprehensive Cyclone Disaster Management Information System (CDMIS) to cover all phases of disaster management.

Besides identifying 10 key areas of cyclone management, including the establishment of a state-of-the-art cyclone early warning system (EWS) involving observations, predictions, warnings and user friendly advisories, the guideline has also called for commissioning of the National Disaster Communication Infrastructure (NDCI).

According to the NDMA reccomendation, the commissioning of NDCI would help the country provide dedicated and failsafe communications to the national, state and district disaster management authorities and officials concerned.

The new guidelines also stresses on the need to expand the warning dissemination outreach by introducing ‘Last Mile Connectivity’, that includes using VHF technology to provide public address system along the entire coast line.

It also recommended that the National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) should be implemented in all the 13 coastal states and UTs.

The guidelines also talks about the taking up structural mitigation measures like improving structural lifeline infrastructure, construction of multi-purpose cyclone shelters and cattle mounds, ensuring cyclone resistant design standards in rural and urban housing schemes, building all-weather road links, bridges, culverts and saline embankments.

The NDMA document further stated that management of coastal zones should include mapping and delineation of coastal wetlands, patches of mangroves and shelterbelts and identification of potential zones for expanding bio-shield spread based on remote sensing tools.

Under the new guidelines, a National Cyclone Disaster Management Institute will be set up of in one of the coastal states to address all issues related to cyclone risks.

It further recommended the commissioning of Aircraft Probing of Cyclone (APC) facility to fill the critical observational data gaps and significantly reduce the margin of error in predicting cyclone track, intensity and landfall.

Releasing the guidelines, the Union Minister of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Kapil Sibal said that the National Guidelines for the Management of Cyclone have been formulated after a ‘nine step’ process fully taking on board various central ministries and departments and the states and union territories.

The process also included wide consultations with scientific and technical institutions, academics, technocrats and humanitarian organisations.

Speaking on the occasion, Sibal also said that a National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project for approximately Rs 1,600 crore with assistance from the World Bank, is in the process of finalisation covering all the 13 coastal states and union territories.

The various activities under this project will include construction of cyclone shelters, shelter belt and mangrove plantations, establishing last mile connectivity, improving link roads.

Once all the activities, as laid down in these guidelines are implemented, we will be much better prepared to face the hazards of cyclones, the Minister added.

The guidelines of management of cyclones describe in brief the manifestations of the phenomenon of floods, achievements made so far in controlling them, provides a roadmap for future course of action, and includes a well defined milestones to help in monitoring implementation thereof.

Microsoft’s e-Gov platform is now available

Microsoft announced the worldwide availability of its Citizen Service Platform (CSP), designed to help governments of all sizes more responsively deliver services to citizens via the Internet.

It also facilitates easier interaction with citizens, streamlines processes and, as a result, saves time and taxpayer money, the company stated.

The new platform will be available to customers along with free templates to help them implement technological solutions to some of the most common issues governments face.

The CSP, a culmination of Microsoft’s partnerships, programmes and projects conducted with governments over several years, was developed based on challenges faced by diverse government offices and different regions worldwide.

The company has developed an applications framework upon which partners can build solutions that address specific government needs, including technical guidance regarding implementation and customization for use by both partners and customers.

To date, more than 90 partners have signed up to build solutions on the CSP, Microsoft informed.

The CSP availability includes templates available for existing customers for free download, bolstering their ability to do more with existing technology investments.

The new platform consists of eight new templates that focus on common government pain points, including E-Councilor template which allows messenger communication with a virtual government worker to ask questions, Web TV template that allows government and citizen video hosting in Web 2.0 style and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 templates, a set of 40 templates to customise scenarios that address both site and system administration needs.

Others include local government communications template, role-based my site template, agenda management template that allows organisations to streamline processes, electronic form templates addressing areas from building permitting to tax declaration and Microsoft Dynamics CRM templates for municipal governments.

With these templates, governments are able to apply them to their own CSP configurations, and customise them to further close the gap between citizen expectations and their own delivery of services.

India to prepare NPR with 2011 Census

After the successful completion of pilot project on identity card, the Government of India is planning to prepare the National Population Register (NPR) with the 2011 Census. It will have specified characteristics of each individual, including photograph and finger biometrics.

Inaugurating the two day Data Users Conference for the 2011 Census here today, organised by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commission, the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil observed that the creation of NPR might usher in the era of register-based census in the country.

He further said that it would help in future to have the estimates of population on a real time basis by combining it with the system of registration of births and deaths in the country.

Pointing out that the population of India is expected to reach 1.2 billion by 2011, he said that the difficult areas and difficult populations should be identified in advance so that no person in any household is left unrecorded and no area is left untouched.

He informed that a Committee has been set up under the Chairmanship of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India to look at the provisions of the India Census Act, 1948 and consider providing for supervision by independent observers, wherever deemed essential.

The Home Minister emphasised the need to use technology at every possible stage of the census planning and census taking, while adding that a number of new technologies have emerged and matured over the past decade.

He said that the endeavour of census organisation should be to complete the release of the 2011 data within two to three years from the date of completion of census.

Addressing the conference, the Minister of State for Home Shakeel Ahmed mentioned that innovations have been made from time to time in the process of census taking.

He said that for the 2011 census, database of village boundary and location for each sub-district has been digitally prepared and for the towns, the census organisation has undertaken preparation of digital geographic database with the support of Survey of India.

Ahmed said that a Group under the Registrar General of India in the context of National e-Governance project is examining standardisation of the name and address system in the country. Once in place, this would help reduce the omission rate at census considerably.

The Minister observed that the focus of data dissemination would continue to be more on electronic media and the data dissemination strategy would aim at developing a healthy camaraderie with all sections of data users, both within the government and outside.

Earlier, the Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta said that India has not only an exceptional record as a country of having uninterrupted decennial censuses but also of managing the census within an affordable cost.

He further informed that the cost of the 2001 census was Rs 1,403 crore which comes to Rs 14 per person.

Gupta stressed that there was a need to ensure that the number of questions in the next census did not become so large as to disturb the balance which is essential to maintain between the enumerator’s motivation and respondent’s fatigue.

Slovenia launches eDemocracy service

The Government of Slovenia has launched an eDemocracy service that offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions.

The service, given under national government portal ‘eUprava’, will allow citizens to follow closely the preparation and adoption of regulations, and co-operate in the elimination of administrative barriers, reports ePractcie.

It offers a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to improved communication between the general public and public administrations and increasing greater efficiency in the democratic process.

The eDemocracy service provides general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level, thus helping citizens to improve their understanding of the system.

It has four different elements, which include eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes; and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.The Government of Slovenia has launched an eDemocracy service that offers the public the opportunity to influence changes in existing legislation, by contributing their suggestions, comments and opinions.

The service, given under national government portal ‘eUprava’, will allow citizens to follow closely the preparation and adoption of regulations, and co-operate in the elimination of administrative barriers, reports ePractcie.

It offers a direct link to elected representatives, thus contributing to improved communication between the general public and public administrations and increasing greater efficiency in the democratic process.

The eDemocracy service provides general information on the public administration, democratic processes, and the adoption of laws and regulations at both national and EU level, thus helping citizens to improve their understanding of the system.

It has four different elements, which include eliminating administrative barriers; contacting elected representatives; democratic processes; and legislation, legal rules in the EU, public information or elections.

Austria launches e-auction website

The Government of Austria has launched a website ‘e-Auktin’ to help boroughs—administrative divisions—put their building, supply and service needs up for electronic auction. It also permits further bargaining before a contract is signed.

According to an ePractice report, the new website is set to revolutionise local authority procurement and cut costs, while facilitating average savings of around 10 per cent to local taxpayers.

The local authority procurement is regulated by strict Austrian law, where bargaining is prohibited after a contract has been awarded to the cheapest or to the best current bid.

However, the newly launched e-auctions system allows the procuring agency or departments to receive further offers from, and bargaining with, all participants.

Besides, the new solution also promotes transparency in local government procurement, while opening up municipal contracts to a geographically wider range of potential bidders.

Once implemented, the new e-auction system can also be used for other, more minor purchases—not subject to statutory tendering requirements.

The new facility, developed by Joachim Grieber of Austria’s Kufgem Kommunal Consulting, involves no licensing or registration costs.

India executes 1st phase of smart ID cards

The first phase of the implementation of the pilot project on Multi-purpose National Identity Cards (MNIC) has been completed on March 31, 2008.

In a written communication to the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Home Affairs Shakeel Ahmad said that more than 12 lakh identity (smart) cards have been issued to those of 18 years and above in the pilot areas in 12 states and one union territory in the country.

He further said that 20 MNIC centres set up one in each tehsil and block of the pilot areas will remain functional till March next year for maintenance and updating of database.

Besides, they will be providing services to the identity card holders as well as those who could not be verified in the first phase.

Meanwhile, the Minister informed that the Planning Commission has accorded ‘in principal approval’ to the scheme for preparation of National Population Register (NPR).

He further said that the scheme envisages collection of information on specified items of each individual at the time of population enumeration during census 2011.

New regulation for medical devices industry likely

The Government of India is in the process of creating a new and better regulatory structure for the medical devices industry as part of its effort towards achieving quality healthcare for all.

Announcing this at the Medical Technology Conference organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in New Delhi, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Joint Secretary Debasis Panda said the government will provide some regulations for the medical devices industry that is growing in a haphazard manner.

He further added that the Ministry is working towards a switch from a control regime to a regulatory regime to cope with the new technologies and treatments that are now available.

According to CII, the medical equipment industry is estimated at US $2.17 billion, growing significantly at 15 per cent per year, and is further estimated to reach US $4.97 billion by 2012

Indian Healthcare Federation President Naresh Trehan said that it is imperative to accelerate growth through partnering and aligning with the key stakeholders including the healthcare service providers, medical technology industry and insurance providers.

CII’s National Healthcare Committee has made huge strides by bringing the industry and the government together on several issues relating to providing sustainable healthcare to the masses and this interactive conference will work towards taking this process forward, Trehan added.

“Poised to touch Rs 140,000 crore in five years time, Indian healthcare sector is all set to become one of the largest in the world,” Philips Electronics India Senior Director and Business Head Anjan Bose said.

He further said that the medical services and devices industry must tap into this emerging market and explore the potential of India as a future production hub while focusing on improving the quality of healthcare, R&D and ethical issues.

“There is urgent need to understand and regulate the composite and complex medical technology industry and this conference is aimed at bringing together all the stakeholders to discus issues of technology, manufacturing, financing and above all ethics,” CII Medical Equipment Division Chairman Alok Mishra said.

The Indian medical technology sector has come a long way in providing quality healthcare products and has seen an increase of investments in healthcare facilities, especially in hi-tech medical equipments and devices.

Mobile medical units for Indian villages

In an effort to take healthcare to door step of the public in rural areas, especially in underserved areas, the Government of India has approved mobile medical units (MMUs) at one MMU per district under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

In a written communication to the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Panabaaka Lakshmi informed that two kinds of MMUs are envisaged, one with diagnostic facilities for the states other than North-Eastern states, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K).

In addition, for these states, specialised facilities and services such as X ray, ECG and ultra-sound have been proposed to be provided due to their difficult hilly terrain, non-approachability by public transport and long distances to be covered.

The states are, however, expected to address the diversity and ensure the adoption of most suitable and sustainable model for MMUs to suit their local requirements, the Minister said.

Lakshmi said that the funds are released to states and union territories (UTs) as per their requirements in their respective annual NRHM programme implementation plans.

She further informed that pathology labs facility is available at the level of Primary Health Centre and Community Health Centres, which are established in rural areas as per population norms.

HP initiates ‘green’ printing for California

HP has announced that it has partnered with the state of California to implement a print cartridge recycling and environmental printing programme throughout state agencies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 500 tonnes per year.

The programme couples print cartridge recycling with a unique rewards system that provides points toward upgrading printers to more efficient HP models.

Piloted with the State Board of Equalisation last year, the programme begins with free return and recycling services for HP ink and toner cartridges through the HP Planet Partners programme.

HP claimed that, if fully implemented statewide, the programme would divert 100 tonnes of print cartridges from landfills annually.

Additionally, as state agencies purchase and recycle HP print cartridges, they earn points with the HP PurchasEdge rewards programme that can be used to accelerate their replacement of older printers with newer, more energy-efficient HP models—saving the state as much as US $2 million per year.

The company also will provide a new tracking and reporting process so each participating agency will receive reports on its contributions toward statewide environmental performance goals.

“Working together to find creative ways to reduce pollution and save money is the best model for a public-private partnership. We strive to be green, while saving lots of green,” the State and Consumer Services Secretary Rosario Marin said.

Announced in tandem with the Green California Summit and Exposition, the programme is now rolling out at the Department of General Services and will be available to all state agencies by the end of the year.

The programme aligns with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order to reduce grid-based electricity use in state buildings by 20 per cent by 2015, thereby reduce the associated greenhouse gas emissions.

The collaboration with HP will create more opportunities for the state to upgrade to printers with energy-efficient technology and duplexing features that significantly reduce paper use and increase statewide energy savings.

Pre-addressed, postage paid and high-volume collection boxes placed at each state agency ensure an easy process for return and recycling.

HP then tracks and documents the returns in accordance with the California State Agency Buy Recycled Campaign. These customised materials are provided by HP to the state free of charge.

If all state agencies follow the lead of the State and Consumer Services Agency, Department of General Services and HP, California is estimated to recycle as much as 100 tonnes of HP inkjet and LaserJet print cartridges per year.

ICG-IOTWS meets to mitigate tsunami danger

The fifth session of the Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (ICG-IOTWS) begins in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) today.

The four -day meeting will evaluate progress on the development of the Indian Ocean system, specifically in the areas of seismic detection, sea-level measurement, risk assessment, numerical modelling and scenario development, inter-operable warning centres, and mitigation, preparedness and response.

However, the main focus of discussions will be the proposals for setting up a network of Regional Tsunami Watch Providers (RTWP) for the Indian Ocean.

This network, to be established between 2009 and 2011, will eventually replace the interim advisory service currently provided by the Tsunami Warning Centre in the Pacific (PTWC) in Hawaii and the Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) in Tokyo.

The session will be opened by Malaysia’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation Datuk Maximus Ongkili, IGC-IOTWS Chairperson and Indonesian Institute of Sciences’ Scientific Services Deputy Director Ian Sopaheluwakan and the UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) Tsunami Coordination Unit Head Peter Koltermann.

The ICG-IOTWS was set up in 2005 at the initiative of UNESCO-IOC, in response to the tragic December 2004 tsunami that struck Indian Ocean coastlines.

India has already set up the National Tsunami Early Warning System, comprising a real-time network of seismic stations, Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) and tide gauges to detect tsunamigenic earthquakes and to monitor tsunamis in the Indian Ocean region.

The system detects all earthquakes of more than six magnitude occurring in the lndian Ocean, in the less than 20 minutes of occurrence.

The efficiency of the end-to-end system was proved during the large undersea earthquake of 8.4 M that occurred on September 12, 2007 in the Indian Ocean.

Chandigarh to become ‘Solar City’ by 2012

Taking the green initiative on the forefront, the Chandigarh Administration has announced that the union territory is preparing to become the first ‘Solar City’ of India by 2012.

According to Chandigarh Administrator Advisor Pradip Mehra, the UT Administration has already issued requisite directives to all the officers in the UT to start preparation for achieving the ‘Solar City’ target within the stipulated time frame.

He was speaking at a symposium on ‘Protecting Health from Climate Change’ organised by the Indian Public Health Association, here.

Cautioning on the ill effects of climate change, Mehra said that people should accept that they are in the middle of climate change and the frequency of natural disasters is increasing at an alarming pace.

He said that with economic development accompanied with the Industrial Revolution has led to the unprecedented development and great increase in welfare activities, thereby increasing the comfort levels.

“But consequent to it is the huge consumption of fuels leading to Global Warming,” Mehra said adding that the global warming would lead to rise of sea level and submerging of islands and coastal areas of the world and result in greater migration from coastal regions.

Lakshadweep to digitise anganwadi centres

The Lakshadweep Administration has decided to digitise all the 87 Anganwadi Centres and various activities under Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) in the union territory (UT), the first in the country to do so.

This would help to monitor and evaluate the Anganwadi activities in the geographically isolated islands of the UT.

Talking about the initiative, UT Administrator BV Selvaraj said that the digitisation will integrate the programmes under ICDS and would enhance women and child development in the country.

The ICDS is a globally recognised community based early child care programme which addresses the basic inter-related needs of young children, expectant and nursing mothers and adolescent girls across the lifecycle in a holistic manner.

Sources at the Department of Women and Child Development said that the first phase of computerisation for this project will be completed by April-May 2008.

The Department is also working towards ensuring that selected Anganwadi workers are given proper computer education with the help of the UT Information Technology Department and National Informatics Centre (NIC), before the infrastructure for the project roll out is completed.

It would ensure the well-being and growth of women and children, which finds expression in the Constitution and is well woven into the spirit of the Indian polity, besides fully realising the objectives of ICDS.

East Singhbhum takes e-route for land records

In an effort to bring e-Governance at the grass root level, the Government of Jharkhand has computerised land records of Khatiyan and Register-II of all the nine anchals of the East Singhbhum district.

The web-enabled service is aimed at ensuring efficient, accurate, transparent delivery mechanism and swift conflict resolution in ownership issues.

It would also provide electronic record of rights (ROR) to land owners at nominal rates and information empowerment of land owners, besides providing low cost and easily reproducible data for reliable and durable preservation.

East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner (DC) Nitin Madan Kulkarni said that kiosks have been established at all the anchal offices to fulfill the demands of e-Governance, after the completion of the computerisation process.

The kiosks offer various services to citizens, which mainly include disbursal of ROR, application acceptance for mutation, settlement, objection entries, copy of Register-II details, help feature for web users and complain lodging against any revenue official or transaction.

It also offers administrative services, including day wise money collection report for an anchal under rent and ROR head, MIS report for the rent collection, ROR issuance and Register-II issuance.

Meanwhile, the Chief Minister Madhu Koda has launched Vasudha software at the Jamshedpur anchal, which is a Web-based software and has role based access with provisions for biometric device for enhanced security.

The new software provides auto escalation of pending transactions, auto backup facility and Unicode based support for local language.

The solution, designed and developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC), would help the state revenue officials and administrators for land reforms and protection of legal rights of land for the citizens.

Arunachal joins ‘Vahan’ brigade

In its bid to streamline and improve vehicle registration process in the state, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh last week finaly adopted ‘Vahan’, the computerised vehicle registration system at the Yupia District Transport Office (DTO).

Developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in India, Vahan is a smart cards based system for issuance of registration for commercial and private vehicles.

A special machine—card reader—of the Transport Department will test this smart card and prove authenticity of the registration, besides helping in identifying the vehicle whether the vehicle is stolen or authentic one.

Privatisation of smart card has been curtailed for time being by giving necessary training to all transport staffs. Customised Vahan is the result of expert efforts from the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

The solution will help the DTO in the registration of a vehicle, collection of road tax, issuing fitness certificate and road permits, while enforcing transparency in state government department and central government department.

Launching the project, the Transport Commissioner YD Thongchi said that it will be extended to remaining DTOs of the state. The DTO office Yupia will be training centre for other DTOs and DTO staff on the project.

The Vahan set up at Transport Department attempts for better citizen services, monitoring of government revenue, management and control, faster implementation of revision in policies, instant accesses to information to any department and single window service for collection of fees and tax.

The Transport Commissioner said that Vahan has begun as mandatory for registration of vehicles all over India that has taken place after ‘Sarathi’ but Arunachal Pradesh lagged behind because of many factors including lack of knowledge in the technology.

RTI violation proves costly for 120 PIOs

The Central Information Commission (CIC) in India has penalised over 120 public information officers (PIOs) for not providing information under Right to Information Act of 2005, imposing a penalty amounting Rs 13 lakh until March 2008.

Disclosing this at the seminar on Right to Information Act 2005 organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry in India (Assocham), the Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah stated that over Rs 5 lakh penalty has been recovered of the guilty PIOs out of the total imposed penalty.

He clarified that the full penalty could not be recovered as more than 100 PIOs, accused of not providing information under the Act, have moved various courts against the CIC orders.

Habibullah said that the Commission would become more proactive to take stern action against PIOs that refuse to provide information to those who have sought.

Also, the Commission has asked all government departments and public authorities to put their policy decisions on their respective website.

“With this, the public can access the information from the government and public authorities without even fulfilling the required applications,” he said.

Habibullah, however, said that use of the information act has exceeded the public expectations as everybody is asking for relevant information under the Act.

He added that the government has not been able to keep a rapid pace with it and is therefore under heavy pressure to provide information within 30 days as provided under the Act.

The CIC also went on to the extent of saying that public has become more demanding and asking for any sort of information which has built up even a case for contempt and if the flow continues, the Commission would move and file a contempt case with relevant bodies.

The Chief Information Commissioner admitted that publicity and awareness among public about Right to Information Act has yet to be percolated as a large section of people are not adequately aware of it in the absence of adequate publicity campaign.

Interestingly, he said that in the rural segment, particularly people below poverty line (BPL) are much more aware about the right to information act as nearly 10 per cent of such a lot in the countryside is making use of this Act to obtain relevant information from public authorities.

Habibullah said that the government machinery is learning to get used with the Act as its enactment was done only in 2005 and it is because of this reason that sometimes, the dissemination of information takes time beyond 30 days as provided in the Act.

Seeking public participation to cooperate with the government, the the Chief Information Commissioner urged the masses not to seek those information that have no relevance as it would ease out the pressure on the government.

Speaking at the seminar, Assocham Legal Affairs Committee Chairman Suman Jyoti Khaitan offered the facilities of Assocham in consultation with NGOs to popularise the salient features of the Right to Information Act.

He further said that in doing so, a larger section of society would gain out of it as the Act would bring about a revolution in India in public participation with government for good governance.

Punjab offers free computer course for poor

In an effort to provide computer training to poor and needy students, the Government of Punjab has sponsored a free computer training workshop for students belonging to economically weaker section of the society.

Announcing this, the Punjab Chief Parliamentary Secretary Harish Rai Dhanda said that the group will cover students belonging to Schedule Castes, Schedule Tribes, Other Backward Classes (OBC) and to lower income group.

The programme will be run at SCD Government College in Ludhiana and provide basic computer training of 25 days to 20 needy students every month.

The Political Secretary to Dhanda, PC Garg, said a grant of Rs 64,000 for running the programme in 2008-09 had been released and if the results proved to be useful then more grants would be given to the college for further enhancement of this programme.

He said the basic mission of the programme was to enhance computer literacy among the poor students and to make them capable for earning their livelihood.

The students may enrol themselves for this programme at the computer centre of SCD Government College.

More organisations and institutions would be involved in this mission to make the human resources IT enabled under this capability enhancement programme.

Australian Nurses on Trial Over Death of Patient, Charged With Negligence

TWO nurses in Queensland, Australia are on trial, charged with causing the death of a patient admitted for back problem.


Michael George Gibbons, 51, and Jennifer Annique Valentine, 48, are charged with allowing the patient’s blood oxygen saturation to drop to levels which were ’incompatible with life.’

Crown prosecutor David Meredith told the Brisbane Supreme Court that the pair failed in their duty of care on April 23, 2005, by not calling for backup in time to save the life of Christopher Hammett and should be convicted of criminal negligence.

The 41-year-old Hammett was recovering from a surgery for his back problem.

Meredith said experts would testify that healthy people typically had oxygen saturation levels of about 99-100 per cent while patients coming out of operations could go as low as 93 per cent without causing alarm.

Hammett’s fell to 85 per cent and below that midnight. But the nurses did not follow the prescribed hospital procedure by calling in the doctor, ambulance or nearby larger hospitals which had emergency or intensive care units.

The jury was shown medical charts with hourly checks allegedly done by Ms Valentine, listing Hammett’s oxygen saturation levels as going down to 60 per cent by 1am, but still no calls were made.

Meredith said instead Gibbons went on a break about 1am, not returning until Ms Valentine asked him for help when Hammett’s level had dropped to 53 per cent after 2am.
Meredith said by then the patient was comatose and his oxygen levels were ’past the point of no return’.


Widow Lyn Hammett gave evidence saying her husband was a ’fitness fanatic’ and ’didn’t stop from the moment he got up to late at night,’ detailing his career as a hockey player and coach, elite golf instructor and head of the sport department at Robina High School.

She said his back had been causing him some ’annoying pain,’ so the father of three decided to have surgery to return to his full form.

Mrs Hammett, also a nurse, said she left the hospital about 9.15pm after seeing her husband who seemed to be resting comfortably, after being given morphine. She phoned from home to check again, and was told by a female nurse that Hammett was sleeping.

She detailed how she was then woken by a phone call from a male nurse at 3.08am, telling her that Hammett had deteriorated and was being transferred to the emergency department at the Gold Coast Hospital across the street.

Shortly after arriving there, she was told her husband had died.

But the nurses denied any wrong doing or negligence.

The trial continues.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Indian Doctors Perform Asia's First Artificial Heart Transplant

An Indian hospital has successfully performed what it says is Asia's first artificial heart transplant on a 54-year-old man, the head of the institution said Thursday.


Surgeons at Bangalore's Narayana Hrudayalaya implanted a ventricular assist device, or VAD, in the patient in a four-hour operation on March 20 under the guidance of a team of US experts, hospital chairman doctor Devi Shetty said.

The device, measuring 60 millimetres (2.4 inches) in diameter and weighing 298 grams (10 ounces), is implanted in the lower part of the chest below the heart. It is connected to an external battery by a cable and has to be recharged every four hours.

"The VAD is a simple centrifugal pump that sucks the blood from the heart and pumps it into the aorta," Shetty said. "It can pump 10 litres of blood every minute, compared to the normal four or five litres, so it's quite powerful."

The aorta circulates oxygenated blood throughout the body.

Surgeons in the US and Europe have implanted such "new-generation" artificial hearts in 220 patients in the past eight years, but the Bangalore operation was the first of its kind in Asia, Shetty said.

The patient, identified as Venkatakrishniah, suffered a heart attack in 2003 and had been forced to leave his job at a state-owned company because he was unable to work even after bypass surgery.

"After the bypass surgery, my condition worsened and I was unable to walk six steps," Venkatakrishniah was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper.
"But (now)... I can walk, climb stairs and am even planning to work."


The device provides an alternative to heart transplants, out of reach for many because of the limited number of donor organs available and their suitability for patients. Some other types of artificial heart are intended as a "bridge" until a suitable donor organ can be found.

The VAD cost about 3.4 million rupees (85,000 dollars). Hospital costs, which added up to about 600,000 rupees in Venkatakrishniah's case, were waived.

Since conducting the transplant, the hospital has received inquires from more than 100 patients in India and overseas, where medical costs are much higher, Shetty said.

"It is of great satisfaction to us," he added. "It shows India can become a centre of excellence for tertiary healthcare like it has become in software. We have the expertise and the infrastructure and we can get the technology."

Source-AFP
SRM/L

Novel Device to Track Tumour Radiation Dose

One of the main issues with delivering radiation doses to tumors is that the location of these cancers is purely guess work. Now bio-engineers from the US are promising a tiny device that can not only predict the exact dosage delivered inside the tumor, but can also locate it accurately.


This "wireless implantable passive micro-dosimeter," enclosed in a glass capillary small enough to inject into a tumor with a syringe, is being developed by engineers at Purdue University and would help to kill tumors more effectively.

The team developing this device is headed by Babak Ziaie, an associate professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a researcher at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center.

Ziaie said that the device could be in clinical trials in 2010.

"Because organs and tumors shift inside the body during treatment, a new technology is needed to tell doctors the exact dosage of radiation received by a tumor," said Ziaie.

While conventional imaging systems are difficult to use during radiation therapy, are costly and sometimes require X-rays, which can damage tissue when used repeatedly, the new device uses radio frequency identification, or RFID, technology, which does not emit damaging X-rays.

This device is not run on batteries but will be activated with electrical coils placed next to the patient. It contains a miniature version of dosimeters worn by workers in occupations involving radioactivity and this tiny dosimeter could provide up-to-date information about the cumulative dose a tumour is receiving over time.
"It's a radiation dosimeter and a tracking device in the same capsule and will be hermetically sealed so that it will not have to be removed from the body," said Ziaie.


The prototype of this sensitive dosimeter was tested with radioactive cobalt. One of the most striking features of this device is that it would not require intricate circuitry, which could make the device easier and less expensive to manufacture than more complex designs. The system consists of simple electronic devices called capacitors and coils.

With a diameter of about 2.5 millimeters, or thousandths of a meter, and length of 2 centimeters, this miniature device is small enough to fit inside a large-diameter needle for injection with a syringe. However, the researchers are working towards reducing its size further, shrinking it to about half a millimeter in diameter and half its current length, roughly the size of a rice grain.

The findings of this research are detailed in a paper appearing in an upcoming issue of IEEE Transactions On Biomedical Engineering.

Source-ANI
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Spread of Prostate Cancer Cells Halted

Spread of prostate cancer can be halted by disrupting communication between cancer cells and the cells that promote inflammatory response, researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine have found.


The finding not only suggests new ways to control cancer spread and metastasis but also provide an impetus to look more closely at existing inflammation-controlling drugs including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, cyclooxygenase inhibitors, antioxidants and statins.

Dr. Paul Lindholm said it is possible that these widely available drugs could be used to control aggressive cancer cell growth and spread for these and other inflammation-associated cancers.

In previous studies, Dr. Lindholm and his colleagues at Northwestern found that when compared to benign prostate tissues, prostate cancer tissue has a higher density of macrophages and the monocytes from which these immune system cells derive.

These scavenger cells are vital to the regulation of immune responses and the development of inflammation.

High grade and high stage prostate cancer tissues showed significantly increased numbers of macrophages compared to low grade and low stage tumours.

When the researchers added monocyte-like cell lines or monocytes obtained from the blood of normal people to less aggressive prostate cancer cell lines, these cancer cells became more invasive, indicating that the cancer cells and the monocytes were indeed communicating with each other.

In the new study, the researchers showed that the monocyte-like cells stimulate the cancer cells' Nuclear Factor-kappaB, a gene regulating transcription factor able to stimulate gene activity.
To check whether NF-kappaB activity was boosting the cancer cells' movement and invasive activity, the researchers introduced into the cancer cells biological inhibitors that blocks NF-kappaB activity.


The treatments that block NF-kappaB activity reduced the cancer cell movement and invasion through the basement membrane (a thin, delicate layer of connective tissue underlying the epithelium of many organs).

The study was presented on April 8 at the Experimental Biology 2008 meeting in San Diego.

Source-ANI
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Injection of Skin Cells Found Effective in Treating Tennis Elbow

Injection of skin cells has been found effective in treating tennis elbow, UK researchers say.


The 15-minute procedure uses cells taken from a tiny piece of their own skin. They are then injected into the joint to regenerate the damaged tendon that causes the painful condition.

A pilot study on 12 patients has thrown up satisfying results.

Eleven were cured within weeks with no side effects and only one patient failed to respond.

The pioneering technique could also help treat tendon and ligament damage throughout the body - such as a torn Achilles tendon.

Tennis elbow, which is known in medical terms as lateral epicondylitis, is a degenerative condition thought to affect two million people in Britain - mainly between the ages of 40 and 55, reports Daily Mail.

It is caused by fraying of the tendon that joins the forearm muscle to the upper arm.

Repeated overuse of the arm is most often to blame, but it can also be triggered by an isolated incident - lifting something too heavy can be enough to trigger an attack.

Patients initially suffer feelings of stiffness in the elbow first thing in the morning, as well as severe pain on the bony outer side of the joint.

This pain can radiate up and down the arm, weakening the wrist so severely that some find even taking the lid off a jar impossible.

Doctors recommend rest, anti-inflammatories, a series of physiotherapy sessions and steroid injections - although steroids have recently been shown to be no more effective than rest.
It was found a few years ago that injecting patients with their own blood at the site encouraged the growth of new tissue, sealing the tears.


The problem is that this generates scar tissue, which is far less elastic than healthy tendon and so limits the range of movement.

In the new treatment, a 4mm piece of skin is taken from the hip and used to isolate special "stem" cells.

Stem cells are capable of morphing into any form of tissue.

Although adult stem cells tend to be less flexible than embryo stem cells, they can be coaxed into developing tissue similar to their site of origin, doctors say.

For instance, skin stem cells can be grown into muscle tendon or ligaments but not into liver or kidney cells.

The huge advantage they have over embryonic stem cells is that using the patients’ own stem cells means they won’t be rejected by the body.

The few stem cells taken from the skin are cultured until they have grown over one million cells. This takes between four and six weeks.

The cells are then injected under ultrasound guidance into the tendon defects.

This technique has been adapted from a treatment developed by veterinary surgeons four years ago to get champion racehorses back on track following serious tendon damage.

The work on horse injury was pioneered by Roger Smith, professor of equine orthopaedics at the Royal Veterinary College.

"There are many similarities between horses and humans," says Professor Smith. "They age and exercise in the same way and suffer from similar strain injuries."

A team working at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore, Middlesex, led by Dr David Connell, tested the technique in a pilot study last year.

One of the patients was Michael Arciero, 54, a hospital porter from Chessington in Surrey.

He had been diagnosed with tennis elbow in his left arm a year previously.

"Whenever I tried lifting anything, pain shot all the way down to my hand," he recalls.

"I was treated with blood injections, which worked although my arm took weeks to improve.

"But when the condition flared up in my right arm, it was much more debilitating, probably because I’m right-handed and rely on that side more.

"After the procedure, I was told to avoid lifting anything heavy for a fortnight, but within two days the pain had gone. A week later, I was back at the gym."

The first clinical trial of the treatment is under way, with half of the 50 testers being given injections of the stem cells and the others receiving injections of their own blood.

Commenting on the research, Simon Owen-Johnstone, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, said: "This appears to be a radical solution for tennis elbow, and I would welcome any new treatment that helps these patients."

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Female Mouse Fertility Influenced by Small Molecule MiRNAs

Tiny molecules called miRNAs influence fertility of female mice besides regulating the conversion of genetic information to proteins, a new study has indicated.


miRNAs are usually generated naturally by the body, which is a complex process that involves a protein known as Dicer.

In the study, by Jiahuai Han and colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, females of mice expressing substantially lower levels of Dicer than normal mice (Dicerd/d mice), were found to be infertile.

It was found that infertility was caused due to impaired functioning of the corpus luteum, the structure that forms at the site of release of the fertilized egg and that is required to maintain pregnancy at the early stages.

After detailed analysis it was found that the functioning of the corpus luteum was impaired because it was unable to form new blood vessels, and that this was associated with increased expression of the protein TIMP1, which inhibits blood vessel formation.

When the miRNAs miR17-5p and let7b were injected into the ovaries of Dicerd/d mice, the expression of TIMP1 was decreased and the number of blood vessels in the corpus luteum increased.

This made the authors conclude that the development and function of the corpus luteum in mice is tightly regulated by miRNAs.

The study is published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Source-ANI
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Humour Plays a Crucial Role in Healthcare

Canadian researchers have revealed that a bit of humour can play a crucial role in healthcare settings, even when patients are terminally ill.


Dr Ruth Dean co-author of the study and a nurse researcher from the University of Manitoba carried out the study in the palliative care unit, spending 200 hours observing and informally interacting with care providers, patients and family members and carrying out semi-structured interviews with 15 healthcare staff, including nurses, doctors, a social worker and physiotherapist.

The team concluded that humour played an essential role in promoting team relationships and adding a human dimension to the care and support that staff provided to seriously ill patients and their families.

Her colleague Joanne Major from the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg spent 72 hours in an intensive care unit, observing and carrying out semi-structured interviews with 15 nurses.

"Some people feel that humour is trivial and unprofessional in healthcare settings, but this study shows that it is neither," said Dr Dean.

They found that humour helped the staff to cope with, and sometimes distance themselves, from difficult situations.

"When you've had the most stressful day and you're ready to cry, sometimes it's easier to bring out humour and take it in the other direction instead of bawling on somebody's shoulder," said an interviewee.

Humour also helped them to bond with other healthcare professionals and provide mutual support, shared laughter nurtured a sense of community.
"If you have those fun moments and that connectedness even the worst hell can happen" said one healthcare professional who worked with terminally ill patients. "


They used humour to reduce tension when things don't go as well as they could do.

Humour not only helped them to connect with patients and make them feel cared for as individuals, but also to reduce patients' embarrassment with the indignity of needing help with toileting and other highly personal functions.

When a patient suffered an episode of incontinence she reported that she found the nurse's matter of fact humour - "what goes in must come out" - made her feel less distressed.

Then there was the satisfaction that staff felt when they saw a patient smile.

"Despite major differences between the work of the intensive care and palliative care units, they are both areas where serious illness, high anxiety and patient and family distress are prevalent and staff are placed in emotionally demanding situations" said Dr Dean.

The study appears in the April issue of the UK-based Journal of Clinical Nursing.

Source-ANI
SPH/L

Northern Ireland launches e-care for patients

The Government of Northern Ireland has launched an electronic patient-record system—NI Emergency Care Record (NIECR)—to improve emergency care for patients attending accident and emergency (A&E) departments and ‘out-of-hours’ doctors’ services.

Launching this, the Northern Ireland Health Minister Michael McGimpsey said that the Southern Health and Social Care Trust will be the first in county to introduce this system.

While the new system will initially be introduced on a pilot basis in the areas of Amagh and Dungannon, full roll-out across Northern Ireland is expected by the end of the year, reports ePractice.

The Minister said that most people imagine that if they need medical help in the night or at a weekend and are treated by staff in an out-of-hours setting, or at an A&E department, the staff there will have access to their medical records, which is not the case.

Welcoming the system, Southern Health and Social Care Trust Chief Executive Colm Donaghy said that the system will give staff working in the out-of-hours service more detailed medical information about their patients, enabling them to make more informed decisions in their treatment and give them the best possible treatment.

With the new system in place, only health service staff involved in treating the patient will have access to their records and stringent measures were accorded to control access and protect patient confidentiality.

In addition, letters have been sent out to all households in the pilot area providing patients with the opportunity to opt out of the system if they so wish, ePractice report added.

The new system is expected to improve services to some 1.2 million patients attended to every year by Northern Ireland’s five ‘out-of-hours’ doctors’ services and 11 A&E departments, the Ministry informed.

To ‘disaster’ is human, not nature

Political inaction, poor decisions and bad management have helped to turn South Asia into the world’s most disaster-prone region, says Oxfam International in its ‘Rethinking Disasters’ report.

According to the report, although nature traditionally gets the blame, it is human failure that turns a natural shock such as a cyclone into a humanitarian disaster.

It urged governments and donors to do more to reduce the risk of disasters before they happen and to tackle underlying factors such as poverty and discrimination that leave millions of people more vulnerable to disasters.

“The Kashmir earthquake in 2005 killed 75,000 people. That’s more than 12 times the number who died in Japan’s Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995, which was of similar strength,” Oxfam’s South Asia Regional Director Ashvin Dayal said.

Talking about the report, he further said that poverty, exclusion, inequality and unsuitable policies raise risks for poor people, especially, women and minorities.

The report highlighted that both the human and monetary cost of disasters in South Asia is enormous.

Citing examples of natural disasters such the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the Kashmir earthquake alone killed over 120,000 people and the floods of 2007 affecting over 30 million in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, the report said that the region loses up to six per cent of its GDP to disasters annually.

Pointing towards the alarming situation of climate change, Oxfam report said that two thirds of South Asia’s disasters are climate-related.

As global warming increases the frequency, severity and unpredictability of extreme weather events and causes sea levels to rise, South Asians will bear the brunt. Bangladesh, for example, is predicted to lose a tenth of its rice crop and one third of its wheat output over the next 50 years.

“The right policies and preparations can save lives and money—our experience shows that preparedness costs a fraction of what a disaster response can cost. The problem is that governments and donors do not prioritise these preventative measures,” Dayal said.

Oxfam further said that governments, donors and development agencies must integrate disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation measures into all development projects, strengthen infrastructure, reduce underlying vulnerabilities and encourage more resilient communities.

In Rethinking Disasters report, Oxfam has identified four key spheres for action, which include social inclusion in understanding risk and prepare accordingly, constructing sound structures and environmental protection, economic support in tackling poverty and political involvement in protecting rights in a crisis and beyond.

The report further suggested that governments must combat South Asia’s huge inequalities in incomes, power and access to support, providing essential services and information as basic rights.

“Each new disaster deepens poor people’s vulnerabilities and slows development. Failure to act urgently, therefore, will be counted in lost lives and wasted money,” the Regional Director said.

eGov, households push India PC sales up 26%

India has registered a 26 per cent growth in PC sales—desktop computers and notebooks—during October-December 2007 period, thanks to the increased focus on e-Governance by the central and state governments and strong demand from the household segment.

According to the findings of MAIT’s industry performance review for the quarter, the overall PC sales in the country during the period stood at 1.75 million units, with telecom, banking and financial services, manufacturing, e-Governance and IT-enabled services showing signs of steady growth.

Commenting on the industry performance, MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta said that aggressive pricing by the PC vendors has also helped improve the PC penetration, especially in the households and the small and medium enterprise (SME) segments.

Adding that the growth in these verticals is expected to continue in the fourth quarter, Mehta said that apart from the traditional sectors, consumption was also witnessed in SMEs, education, retail and other computer-centric small enterprises.

The buoyant mood in IT consumption was led by significant growth in notebook sales, which grew by 158 per cent, while consumption of desktops grew by four per cent, the report added.

According to the report, the desktop market has sold 1.25 million units in Q3 of 2007-08, a growth of four percent over Q3 of 2006-07.

The assembled desktops—the smaller lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for 32 per cent of the PC sales in Q3 of 2007-08, while the proportion of the branded desktops was 68 per cent.

The report further revealed that MNC brands accounted for 51 per cent of the market while the Indian brands accounted for the rest 17 per cent.

In the desktop market, in the business segment, it was primarily the banks, financial institutions, insurance companies, educational institutes, retail sector, IT sector and IT related companies that were the lead consumers; while in the household segment, reduced prices coupled with applications for ‘entertainment’ and ‘education’ have fuelled the market.

While increased focus on e-Governance by the central and state governments provided traction for desktop consumption, the households market emerged as one of the key drivers of consumption, enabling the market to rapidly expand into the hinterland.

According to the report, notebook sales crossed five lakh units recording 158 per cent growth over the third quarter in 2006-07.

The high growth in notebook consumption can be attributed to the drop in notebook prices and the additional benefit of mobility and space management, the report added.

Besides several first-time PC buyers are now opting for notebooks rather than desktop, the MAIT report revealed that high consumption in corporates, IT companies, financial institutes and the government however continues to drive the notebook consumption.

Compared to the same period last year, consumption of laser printers grew by 36 per cent, however, that of inkjet and dot-matrix printer (DMP) declined by 17 per cent and seven per cent, respectively.

The uninterrupted power supply (UPS) market has shown substantial increase in demand, with the consumption of UPS witnessed an increase of 30 per cent on an annual basis.

‘Micro T(rack)ech’ your lost laptop online

Micro Technologies India has launched a lost notebook tracking system (LNTS), that it claims will help locate stolen laptops via the World Wide Web.

According to the company, the new software for laptops is embedded on notebook hard drives, allowing systems to be tracked as soon as they are connected to the Internet.

Claiming that Micro LNTS is an ideal and proactive solution for notebook users, the company said that users need to install the software on their laptops where it resides and operates in stealth mode to be able to locate laptops whenever needed.

And the process is simple—one just needs to login to the web-based personal tracking and monitoring page through Micro LNTS website to view and trace where the laptop has been accessed from, that too from any corner of the world.

With LNTS installed, users can hide the documents that carry vital information, it offers data wise storage and could block misuse of any computer and notebook at any point of time remotely by control setting

The software also enables to provide login intimation on mobile and email, remotely monitoring of user specified URL and document and further provides list of installed software.

Besides, the Micro LNTS corporate model keeps track of the whereabouts of each employee while travelling and the moment user logs in via the web, a report is generated with the complete details and is sent to a designated individual within the organisation, the company said.

Can you have Sex while taking TB Medication.

Yes.

Ranbaxy to help DBT in TB drug research

Ranbaxy Laboratories has signed an agreement with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in India to push New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR) for tuberculosis in the country.

The research will be conducted under the aegis of DBT’s major initiative in the area of tuberculosis.

As per the agreement, three major areas identified are development of diagnostics, development of vaccines and development of drugs.

Speaking on the occasion, Ranbaxy Laboratories CEO and MD Malvinder Mohan Singh said, “We will work towards building a winning model to develop innovative medicines in the area of tuberculosis.”

Under the alliance, Ranbaxy will develop novel drugs, using inhibitor design for novel targets, pathways and proteins, while DBT will support the project with a financial grant, for a period of three years in the first phase of the collaboration.

On identification of a lead molecule, both the organisation will jointly support its clinical development.

Accordingly, a joint Steering Committee will be constituted to direct, manage and coordinate the collaboration.

“We view this strategic partnership as a viable means for faster discovery and development of better medicines,” Ranbaxy Drug Discovery Research Senior VP Pradip Bhatnagar said.

‘Forgotten MDG’ to impact mother, child health

Though much of the world is on track to reduce poverty by 50 per cent, majority of the countries may miss the 2015 deadline of cutting down child and maternal mortality rate.

Serious concerns have also been expressed on the likely shortfalls in primary school completion, nutrition, and sanitation goals.

Issuing a global alert on the status of on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) achievements, the World Bank and IMF in their recent report also warned that most countries will fall short of meeting the eight globally agreed development goals.

Categorising the twin goals of reducing hunger and malnutrition as the “forgotten MDG”, World Bank President Robert B Zoellick said that, “In this year of action on the MDGs, I am particularly concerned about the risks of failing to meet the two goals.”

Quoting the report, Zoellick also pointed out that reduction in malnutrition has a “multiplier effect” that directly contributes to the success of other MDGs, including maternal health, infant mortality and education.

The global monitoring report “MDGs and the Environment—Agenda for Inclusive and Sustainable Development” stressed the link between environment and development and calls for urgent action on climate change.

It further warned that developing countries stand to suffer the most from climate change and the degradation of natural resources.

To build on hard-won gains, developing countries need support to address the links between growth, development and environmental sustainability.

Stressing that developing countries need more foreign aid and domestic resources to reach the MDGs, the IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said that high economic growth and a stable macroeconomic environment remain essential for reducing poverty and increasing investment in health and education.

The report further revealed that progress toward the MDGs differs dramatically across countries, regions, and income groups.

According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa lags on all counts, including the goal for poverty reduction, though many countries in the region are now experiencing improved growth performance.

With stronger efforts by the countries themselves and their development partners, most MDGs remain achievable for most countries.

With this, the report laid out an integrated six-point agenda, with strong, inclusive growth at the top.

The agenda also calls for more effective aid; a successful outcome to the Doha round of trade talks; more emphasis on strengthening programs in health, education and nutrition; and financing and technology transfers to support climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Halfway to 2015

* Though the overall aid landscape is expanding, official development assistance (ODA) —estimated at $103.7 billion in 2007—has stalled. To meet the G8 promises to increase aid by $50 billion by 2010, ODA must expand. Meanwhile, new donors like China and India are growing in size and importance.
* Growth momentum will have to be sustained and broadened in developing countries in the face of financial turmoil. The IMF projects global GDP growth will slow from 4.9 percent in 2007 to 3.7 percent in 2008. Developing countries’ growth will ease to 6.7 percent, but persistent financial market turmoil and knock-on effects on growth pose significant downside risks.
* The number of people living on under $1/day in the developing world declined by 278 million between 1990 and 2004, and a stunning 150 million in the last 5 years of that period.
* Rapid progress is possible. Vietnam reduced poverty from 58 percent in 1993 to 16 percent in 2006.
* Forty million more children are in school and gender disparity in primary and secondary schools has declined by 60 percent, but 75 million children remain out of school.
* Every year, three million more children survive, and 2 million lives are saved by immunization. But every week, 10,000 women still die from treatable complications of pregnancy and birth, and over 190,000 children under five are lost to disease. Two million people now receive AIDS treatment, but about the same number die every year of the disease, and over 33 million are infected with HIV.
* The economic burden of environmental health hazards is estimated at 1.5 to 4 percent of GDP. Worldwide, environmental risk factors play a role in 80 percent of diseases, including malaria, diarrhea, and respiratory infections. A child dies of malaria every 30 seconds.
* A billion people lack reasonable access to safe drinking water and 2.6 billion people (40 percent of the world population) do not have access to basic sanitation. Meeting the water and sanitation targets will require doubling the current annual investment to about $30 billion.
* The UN estimates that by 2030, developing countries will need $100 billion annually to finance mitigation and $28-$ 67 billion for adaptation.
* A third of the developing world’s population—1.6 billion people—lack access to modern energy, and are forced to rely on carbon-emitting biomass and fossil-fuel energy.
* An area of forest equivalent to the size of Panama or Sierra Leone is lost every year to land use changes, with most of the loss concentrated in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa.
* In 2007, gross concessional flows from multilateral development banks crossed $12 billion, a 10.3 percent increase driven by the International Development Association (IDA). While Asia continued to receive almost half of these flows, Africa received 45 percent in 2007, up from 37 percent in 2000.

Tamil Nadu inaugurates SDC, SWAN

The Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday formally inaugurated the State Data Centre (SDC), the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) and Common Service Centre (CSC) programme at Taramani, here.

The SDC would be housed at the Taramani Software Technology Park of India (STPI) facility, which will also have the Tamil Nadu ICT Academy.

Inaugurating the STPI, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said that the facility would give further boost to the Information Technology-related activities in the state.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated the linear accelerator at the Adyar Cancer Hospital and the tele-medicine facility at the Government Royapettah Hospital.

Talking about the state government’s ICT initiatives Karunanidhi also pointed out that Tamil Nadu was among the few states in India where the CSC project had progressed well.

The Chief Minister also informed that the government would be setting up 5,440 CSCs across the state. “This is the first step towards bridging the digital divide,” he said.

India’s Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways T R Baalu and Union Minister of Communication and Information Technology A Raja were also present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Baalu said that the initiatives would also help the state increase its software exports and bring about a revolution in the delivery of services to the citizens.

He further informed that Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra accounted for over 80 per cent of the total software exports through STPs during the previous financial year.

Baalu said that Tamil Nadu accounted a share of 14.4 per cent in Rs 21,000 crore of total exports in 2006-07, showing an increase of about 34 per cent over the previous year.

He said that even the growing size of international software market, every state has considerable scope to grow and therefore suggested that Tamil Nadu should gear up for the challenge and make a niche for itself in the international software market.

Referring to the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), Balu said that once SDC, SWAN and CSCs schemes are in place, transaction time and cost of delivery of services to the citizens as well as within the government will be drastically reduced and prove a boon for the nation.

Baalu added that very soon these schemes would be implemented in 29 states and six union territories of the country.

He further said that with the implementation of NeGP, the gap between citizens and the government would be bridged, thereby increasing transparency in the functioning of the government.

Ruthless Streak In Dictators is Genetic

Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, Saddam Hussein, and Robert Mugabe would not have been so infamous had it not been for their bad genes, a new study has found.


Researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem say that they have discovered that a gene called AVPR1a is linked with ruthlessness, and that it may explain the money-grabbing tendencies of those with a Machiavellian streak.

Lead researcher Richard Ebstein revealed that the genetic link was established through an economic exercise called the 'Dictator Game', in which more than 200 student volunteers participated.

The exercise allowed the participants to behave selflessly, or like money-grabbing dictators like former Zaire President Mobutu who filled in his pockets at the cost of its citizens.

Ebstein said that, while the exact mechanism by which the gene influences behaviour was unknown, one could say that one some people just did not believe in the old adage that "it is better to give than to receive".

He indicated that there the reward centres in their brains might derive less pleasure from altruistic acts leading them to behave more selfishly.

The researchers specifically focused on AVPR1a as it is known to produce receptors in the brain that detect vasopressin, a hormone involved in altruism and 'prosocial' behaviour. They wondered if differences in expression of this receptor in the human brain might make different people more or less likely to behave generously.

During the study, the researchers tested DNA samples from the participants before asking them to play the dictator game. The students were divided into two groups: 'dictators' and 'receivers' (called 'A' and 'B' to the participants).
Each dictator was told that they would receive 50 shekels (about 14 US dollars), but were free to share as much or as little of this with a receiver, whom they would never have to meet. The receiver's fortunes thus depended entirely on the dictator's generosity.


The scientists observed that almost 18 per cent of the dictators kept all of the money, nearly one-third split the money down the middle, and a generous six percent gave it all away.

While no link was found for this tendency to be gender-specific, but it was dependent on the length of the AVPR1a gene, as people having the shorter version of this gene were more likely to behave selfishly.

Ebstein said that the vasopressin receptors in the brains of people with short AVPR1a might be distributed in such a way that it makes them less likely to feel rewarded by the act of giving.

Based on his observations, Ebstein came to the conclusion that the dictatorial tendencies certainly had a genetic component.

However, Nicholas Bardsley at the University of Southampton, UK, who studied the Dictator Game, said that researchers should be careful while using such games as a tool for arriving at results regarding human generosity.

The study has been reported in the journal Genes, Brain and Behavior.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

Sexual Abuse of Aboriginal Girls Continues Without Let Up in Australia

Helpless aboriginal girls continue to be victims of sexual abuse in Australia despite much-touted government interventions.


The problem is particularly rampant in the Northern Territory mining town of Nhulunbuy, community elders have complained. Girls as young as 13 are given cash, drugs, alcohol and taxi rides in exchange for sex.

The elders have also asked police to investigate a group of non-indigenous men in the town who, they say, have been sexually abusing aboriginal teenagers for years.

People are angry that the despicable practice was still on in Nhulunbuy, 650 kilometres east of Darwin, eight months after the $1.5 billion intervention in the Territory's remote indigenous communities.

Bernadette Guruwiwi, 19, told the Sydney Morning Herald it was well known that last Monday two girls went to the house of a retired mine worker. Both of them were given beer and marijuana to smoke before the man took the other girl into his bedroom for sex, she said. The man gave the teenager $500.

Bethany Yunupingu, 20, told how two girls recently went to the house of a non-indigenous man who works for the NT Government. They were both given marijuana. One was paid $100 for having sex with the man while the other girl was given money for introducing her to the man.

A 19-year-old Aboriginal woman who asked not to be identified said she was offered three bottles of whisky to talk with a man in a taxi. "I knew what he wanted … I'm disgusted that these things are going on here," she said.
The abuse of indigenous teenagers and young women is an open secret in Nhulunbuy.


Aboriginal teenagers often provided sex to be taken to or from the town of Yirrkala, which costs $40 in a taxi, said residents who did not want to be named. They told how teenage girls were often picked up outside the town's hotel late at night.

Galarrwuy Yunupingu, the most powerful indigenous leader in the Territory, gave permission for members of his family to tell the Herald what they knew about sexual abuse in the town.

"We are family so we can talk about these things together," said Yunupingu, a former Australian of the Year and former head of the Northern Land Council, which represents most indigenous groups in northern Australia. "But everybody here knows what has been going on and the time has come for us to put an end to this once and for all," he said.

"We have seven girls who are ready to provide information to the police … the offenders should be brought to justice, then lock them up and throw away the keys."

Leon White, a former school principal in Yirrkala, said there has been a "conspiracy of silence" about abuse. He said government agencies needed to work more closely to help parents protect vulnerable children and teenagers.

"The indigenous intervention is yet to produce outcomes that prevent these things happening." White said one recent positive development was the establishment of a "remote learning partnership agreement" which helped monitor indigenous children.

The report, Little Children Are Sacred, which prompted the intervention, referred to allegations of a rampant sex trade in Nhulunbuy where non-Aboriginal mining workers gave Aboriginal girls aged between 12 and 15 alcohol, cash and other goods in exchange for sex.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Aussie MP Suggests Sex Contracts to Save Men from False Rape Allegations

Men Down Under will be carrying sex contracts in their pockets, if an Aussie politician has her way.


South Australian MP Ann Bressington has suggested that women should sign a contract before having sex to combat false rape allegations.

In a response to proposed laws making it an offence to continue a sex act with a person who changes their mind about consent, Bressington suggested to Parliament that men should carry a sex contract to prevent being accused of rape.

She also claimed "one-night stands" and casual relationships would become a "high-risk activity".

The proposed contract would also include details of the woman's marital status, whether she has children and whether she consents to being taken to another location to engage in sexual activity.

"Perhaps this parliament could devise a contract which men could carry around in their pocket, next to their condoms," News.com.au quoted her, as saying during a speech to Parliament.

"There could be a waiver should a man meet up with a woman who has had a couple of drinks before they engage in sexual intercourse.

"The contract may contain the name and address of the women, with her driver's license number, so that the man can see the signatures match, clauses that state that the woman has or has not been drinking or taking drugs – licit or illicit – and that she consents to foreplay," she added.
On a radio show, Bressington confirmed that she thought men should carry sex contracts if the current Bill passed both houses of Parliament.


"(The Bill) opens the door to more false allegations that are already occurring. Men will have no defence from women falsely crying rape," she said on the radio show.

"This Bill makes men guilty until proven innocent and they will have no defence,” she said.

When asked about the contract idea, she said she was serious because it would prevent men being falsely accused.

Source-ANI
SRM/L

Widow Paraded Naked in North Indian Village for Entering Temple

A middle-aged woman was paraded naked on the streets of a village in Bihar on Thursday.


She had dared enter the local temple and thus polluted the holy abode of the gods, violating the prohibition against the entry of widows and hence the ‘exemplary punishment.’

Bihar in northern India is one of the most backward states in the country. It is not only plagued by poverty and lawlessness, but instances of brutalities are also common there.

In a region where superstition rules the roast, helpless women are routinely accused of practising witchcraft and set upon violently.

Kalawati of Ranwatand in Dhanbad district has since lodged a complaint with the police saying a mob had stripped her naked, garlanded her with shoes and paraded her.

The screaming crowd of upper caste villagers also accused her of practising witchcraft and held her responsible for the outbreak of chicken pox in the village in which one woman died.

Besides some had tried to make her swallow human excreta, but she managed to resist them, the Times of India reports.


Kalawati regularly offered worship at the local temple dedicated to Kali, but the villagers were outraged, especially so the women. Ironically the temple is dedicated to a woman deity believed to have vanquished a male daemon.

The village women fully supported the humiliation of the widow and staged a demonstration in front of the police station where Kalawati filed her complaint.

Though none has been arrested so far, the police claimed that the guilty would not go unpunished.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Removing Barriers to the Distribution of Life Saving Vaccines

Barriers to the distribution of life saving vaccines in low income countries can and should be overcome, say experts in this week’s issue of the BMJ.


They suggest that building local clinical research and vaccine production capacity in developing countries will increase the global availability of affordable vaccines.

Delay in delivering vaccines in low and middle income countries results in more than two million deaths a year.

Many of the reasons offered for the unequal access to vaccines in poorer countries can be challenged with new evidence and a better understanding of the underlying problems, write Dave Chokshi, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Aaron Kesselheim, from the Division of Pharmacoepidemiology anfd Pharacoeconomics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

They point out that an exclusive focus on the primacy of public health infrastructure can result in a missed opportunity to build infrastructure through vaccination. Studies of polio eradication in the Americas have shown how immunisation programmes can strengthen the infrastructure of health systems.

Vaccines are one of the few interventions that can save lives even when healthcare infrastructure is inadequate or non-existent, they argue.

However, there are worries about insufficient funding, say the authors. For instance, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has collected almost $7bn since its inception in 2000, but it estimates that it will cost $35bn to carry out its existing programmes in the 72 poorest countries up to 2015.
In addition, there are concerns about intellectual property rights slowing the distribution of vaccine technology from rich to poor countries, prices offered by pharmaceutical manufacturers being too high, and the implementation of donation programmes being too slow.


So what needs to be done to increase the availability of these life saving vaccines, ask the authors?

Constructing clinical research of vaccine efficiency in low and middle income countries would expand scientific capacity, encourage more ethical clinical trials, and better inform government’s risk-benefit calculations for investing in vaccines, claim the authors.

In addition, lowering the barriers to vaccine production in developing countries by, for example, improving local manufacturers' access to specialised technology, would build innovative capacity as well as production capacity, they say.

But the authors believe that the ultimate aim of any effort to improve global access to vaccines is to show the benefits of vaccination to local leaders in health care and government.

Local political leadership when combined with increased investment can prioritise disease prevention, raise awareness of the benefits of vaccination, and encourage country-level leadership, they conclude.

Source-BMJ
KAR/L

Hospital Follow-up Services Not Necessary for All Child Cancer Survivors

Many child cancer patients will benefit from ongoing follow-up, but others should be allowed to move on and put the experience of cancer behind them, say experts in this week’s issue of the BMJ.


Most adults who survive cancer are discharged from active follow-up after five years, but historically children have been followed up for life, however this is becoming unsustainable, write Meriel Jenney from the Children’s Hospital for Wales and Gill Levitt from Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Follow-up of children who survive cancer should be individually tailored and may not be necessary for all, they argue.

Previous studies have shown that at least 62% of child survivors have some late side effects as a result of their curative treatment. But this data is based on different treatments than those used today. For example, many of the late side effects seen in older studies were caused by radiotherapy, a treatment that is now used less frequently.

More than three quarters of children with cancer now survive into adulthood, but how can a follow-up service be developed for this growing and diverse group of patients, ask the authors.

Patients who are at high risk of late side effects—such as those who have received a bone marrow transplant—will require ongoing observation by skilled clinicians in a hospital setting.

But for an increasing number of patients who are at low risk of late side effects, an accessible summary of the patient’s previous treatment with a plan for any necessary investigations and likely late side effects, managed by primary care doctors, could be the solution, suggest the authors.
As long as there is a mechanism in place to recall any patient for a more detailed follow up if new late side effects are identified, only those with the highest risk of late effects should be brought back regularly to the clinic, say the authors.


The other patients must be allowed to move on, to leave the clinical setting and put the experience of cancer behind them, or they may never believe they have been cured, they conclude.

Source-BMJ
SRM/L

Female Doctors may Outnumber Male Doctors in Future

More women now graduate from medical school than men, and soon male doctors will be in the minority. But are we risking future staffing problems, or is there still some way to go before we reach true equality?


Two experts debate the issue in this week’s BMJ.

Increasing numbers of female graduates will create a major shortfall in primary care provision and may also affect education, research, and development, argues Brian McKinstry, senior research fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

Evidence is growing, he says, to demonstrate the negative consequences of the feminism of primary care in the UK and elsewhere. For example, fewer women than men choose to work out of hours, and the increase in women doctors may have partly influenced the recent abandonment of out of hours work by general practitioners in the UK, he claims.

But according to McKinstry we are yet to feel the full effects of this feminisation. For instance, above the age of 45 years men, mostly working full time, are in the majority, whereas general practitioners younger than 45 years are mostly female and working part time. As older, mainly fully time doctors retire, unless employment behaviour changes, there will be a major shortfall in primary care provision, he argues.

This demographic change may also affect education, research, and development, he adds. An American study of women in internal medicine found that women with children had fewer publications than men with children, while Scottish data indicates that women contribute about 60% of the activity of men in development aspects of general practice such as training, teaching, research, and committee work.


He concludes that in the absence of any profound change in societal views on responsibility for child care, a balanced approach to recruitment in the interests of equity and the future delivery of services is vital.


But Jane Dacre from University College London, argues that rather than worrying about having too many women in medicine we should be focusing on ensuring equality of opportunity.

Although women outnumber men in most medical schools by about 3:2, they are under-represented in some areas, especially in clinical academia and in specialties requiring more acute and on call responsibilities and more technical skills.

Dacre believes that medicine needs and wants to attract the best and brightest people whatever their sex. But in order to welcome more women into senior positions, she says, institutional barriers that prevent their progression such as a lack of rota flexibility, low acceptance of career breaks and part-time working, and the need for greater availability of child care and easily accessible and funded part time training options needs to be addressed.

The feminisation of medicine should be welcomed as an opportunity to be creative with workforce planning and to recognise that a more flexible way of working is essential to delivering good quality patient care at all times of the day and night, she says.

In an accompanying editorial, Jenny Firth-Cozens from The London Deanery, acknowledges that the implications of the proportional rise in female doctors must be taken into account. But she warns that any financial estimation that compares the cost of employing male or female doctors must take into account sex differences in the costs of poor performance, litigation, re-education, and rehabilitation that are consistently higher for male doctors.

Source-BMJ
SRM/L

Abortion, a Dirty Word for the Bush Administration – Even in a Search Engine!

Abortion? That seems to be a taboo for the Bush administration even in a search engine. A U.S. government-funded medical information site has quietly begun to block searches on the word "abortion," concealing nearly 25,000 search results.


The site, called Popline, is claimed to be the world's largest database on reproductive health and is run by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland. It's funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the federal office in charge of providing foreign aid, including health care funding, to developing nations.

The massive database indexes a broad range of reproductive health literature, including titles like "Previous abortion and the risk of low birth weight and preterm births," and "Abortion in the United States: Incidence and access to services, 2005."

But on Thursday, a search on "abortion" was producing only the message "No records found by latest query,” the Wired magazine reports.

Stephen Goldstein, a spokesman for Johns Hopkins, said he wasn't aware of the censorship, and couldn't immediately comment.

Under a Reagan-era policy revived by President Bush in 2001, USAID denies funding to non-governmental organizations that perform abortions, or that "actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations."

A librarian at the University of California at San Francisco noticed the new censorship on Monday, while carrying out a routine research request on behalf of academics and researchers at the university. The search term had functioned properly as of January.
Puzzled, she contacted the manager of the database, Johns Hopkins' Debbie Dickson, who replied in an April 1st e-mail that the university had recently begun blocking the search term because the database received federal funding.


"We recently made all abortion terms stop words," Dickson wrote in a note to Gloria Won, the UCSF medical center librarian making the inquiry. "As a federally funded project, we decided this was best for now."

There was no notice of the change on the site.

Dickson suggested other kinds of more obscure search strategies and alternative words to get around the keyword blocking.

"In addition to the terms you're already using, you could try using 'Fertility Control, Postconception'. This is the broader term to our 'abortion' terms and most records have both in the keyword fields," she wrote.

She also suggested using a euphemistic search strategy of "unwanted w/2 pregnancy." But the workarounds don't satisfy critics of the censorship.

"The main function of their site is keyword search, and if you use a phrase that contains the word 'abortion,' it ignores it," notes Melissa Just, the library director at the cancer research institute and hospital named City of Hope in Duarte, California. Just followed the conversation on a listserv and said she was outraged when she found out about the censorship incident.

"Even if you were trying to make an argument to someone that abortion is a bad idea for them -- whether it's a health risk, or you're concerned about their mental well being, you wouldn't be able to find articles about your claim," she notes. "It's shutting off both the pro and the con access."

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Man Murdered for Sexual Abuse in India

A tailor in a suburb of Mumbai in western India has been brutally done to death because he was suspected to have sexually abused a 12-year-old boy.


Mohammed Akbar Sheikh (34) had apparently abused the son of his landlord. When the boy’s family came to know of the incident, they were predictably outraged, and it was they who clubbed the tailor to death. Even the 62-year-old grandmother of the abused boy joined the gory dance of death, it is reported.

The police have since arrested the four accused — the boy’s father Abdul Wahid (37), uncles Salim Sheikh (29) and Abdul Razzak (32) and his grandmother Salma Begum (62).

Siraj Khan, a resident of the area, told the police, “There was a lot of screaming…I saw Sheikh pinned to the wall and assaulted brutally. I appealed to the landlord family to hand over Sheikh to the police and not torture him that way, but they won’t listen. In fact they threatened me that a similar fate could be in store for me if I didn’t mind my business. It was a question of family honour, they maintained and I had to retreat.”

But Siraj too filed the complaint only the next day as he had not expected the tailor to be murdered. He had hoped the man would be let off after the family gave vent to their anger.

It was on discovering the body of the man the next day, he went to the police, the Hindustan Times reports.

“The boy has been sent for a medical examination,” a senior police official said.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Broken Heart may Prove More Fatal for Men Than Women

Contrary to popular perception, a new study has found that men are more likely to die of a broken heart than women if they lose their partners.


According to the study, broken heart syndrome' does exist, but widowers are up to six times more likely to suffer than women who have lost their husbands.

Research by the Cass Business School in London, found that women are up to twice as likely to die in the year following a partner's death, reports the Telegraph.

But, men are more vulnerable and their chances of dying increases up to sixfold in the 12 months after losing a partner.

Experts claim that people who lose a loved one often adopt unhealthy habits such as smoking and a poor diet.

However, it is thought intense loneliness and the psychological distress caused by the loss could play a large part.

The research also suggests that after the first year, the chance of the remaining partner dying is reduced.

Source-ANI
RAS/L

The Other Side of MBBS

Great suggestion for our profession By Dr Ashok Sinha

Dear All, One of the most thought provoking artiocles I read recently is reproduced
below. I hope people like it and discuss and forward it to more people including their MP's!


Great suggestion for our profession By Dr Ashok Sinha

The recent controversy regarding the village posting of doctors has put
the medical community on one side and the whole world on the other side. I
remember, 35 years ago, when I was selected for medical college I went to
one of my elderly aunts to seek her blessing. She was not very happy about
the issue, no, she was not jealous, but she expressed her anxiety very
eloquently. "You are such a nice boy, but now you'll become a bad man".
That, I think, sums up the attitude of the society towards the doctors.

The problem possibly lies with the doctors. They work for money, they do
not bother about the society, they can kill female fetuses for a few bucks
more, and they can refuse treatment for want of money; they are not
up-to-date with knowledge, they do unnecessary tests to get a share of the
booty. Most of the complaints are probably true. I have seen
ultra-sonologists giving shamelessly false report to assist another
shameless gynecologist in going for an unnecessary surgery, and I have seen
many more un-parliamentary linen that I should not wash in public. All are
true and more.

My worry is about the ways the society is trying to go about solving the
problem. The society is trying to find a solution without assistance from
doctors. It was the same when the consumer protection act came. Most of the
sane doctors protested, some insane ones also did. No one listened to us. I
remember having told one gathering of legal experts, that they were putting
the patients from the frying pan to fire; from doctors clutches to lawyers.
I asked them, why did they want consumer protection act for the medical
community, to improve services or getting compensation, or did they want
just to teach a lesson! I assured them none of these would be possible.
People refuse to learn from history. Has the road accident compensation
policy improved the quality of drivers? It has only raised the insurance
rates and probably helped the family of the dead. If consumer protection act
implementation for medical community was intended for compensation, it was
good, but if it was meant to improve services, it was useless. People gave
us funny looks, thought we were `so bad'.

Now the great thinkers of the nation are again at it. They want doctors to
go to villages, and because the anti-social doctors do not want to go to
villages, they'll have to be forced. I am surprised at the cerebral quality
of the people who rake up such ideas. Has any one tried to find out why
doctors are not interested in going to the villages! Is it only money! By
the way, one of the lowest paid employees in India is a junior doctor. As a
junior doctor I was paid a princely sum of Rs. 225/- PM, while the ward
> boys were paid Rs 400/-. Their duty was 8 hrs, mine 24 hrs; they had one
> weekly holiday, I had none. They had time for lunch; I did not. I survived
> because the `sisters' were real sisters; I shared their food. If the
> barber failed to turn up, I had to `prepare' the patient for surgery; the
> ward boy would not even have a nightmare of doing it. If the ward boy were
> absent I had to `ensure' that the
patient reached the OT on time, riding on the trolley, guess who pushed it
through the corridors of the hospital! But I tell you; I enjoyed my stay as
a house surgeon. I am still proud of what I did. Because that was when I
learned. That was what prepared me for the future. That is where I learnt
how to give a painless suture, how to tackle a violent patient, how to
tackle grief. I do not think a Lal Bahadur Institute trained babu will ever
understand that, they do not have the training.
Look at the position of medical education today. MBBS is a five and a half
years course. Already the longest course in the country. But an MBBS degree
is truly nothing today. At one time an MBBS degree was equivalent to an M Sc
degree. One could become a lecturer after MBBS, could do a Ph D, or D Sc
after MBBS. But no more, now MBBS is equivalent to B Sc. MD was a doctoral
degree, Doctor of Medicine, now a postgraduate degree, a three years
postgraduate degree. A two years postgraduate diploma is not equivalent to M
Sc. Even the MCI is trying its best to degrade the status of medical
degrees.
I invite the society to understand the problem first. Force should come as
the last option, not the first. Today an MBBS degree holder is a pariah in
society, to be accepted by the people he has to have a postgraduate
qualification. `Only MBBS', or `simple MBBS', or worse `plain MBBS' are
terms we hear often, but do not understand the agony of it all. MBBS
entrance is one of the toughest in the country, but let me introduce you to
a tougher entrance, the PG entrance. The number of seats for PG is one third
of the total MBBS seats, so in any case two thirds of the MBBS shall remain
`plain and simple'. This cutthroat competition has prompted the students to
treat MBBS degree as a qualifying benchmark for PG entrance tests. They
prepare for the test rather than trying to become doctors. This one entrance
test would make or break their career. It is better to be a simple B Sc then
to remain a simple MBBS. There are instances where MBBS students are paying
smaller hospitals to get internship certificate without going to the
hospital so that they can utilize the time studying. What is the result?
They do not become a `doctor' after MBBS; they remain students. One third of
them get into PG, two- thirds fail. No, not because they are stupid, because
the know-all government has put a rationing in the number of seats for PG.
Imagine the fate of these students, they are plain MBBS, did not spend time
learning during internship, now they are out in the open, no respect, no
knowledge, official quacks. This is the most serious wastage of trained
manpower the country is facing today, all because of our policy makers.

Who is responsible? There was one know-all TV talk show, which said if you
cannot become a doctor in five years, you could never be. So cerebral! These
are the people who control the society, God help us. One does not become a
`doctor' immediately after passing MBBS; it takes at least 2-3 yrs of
fulltime work under supervision to be able to work independently. That was
what house jobs were. Earlier house jobs were compulsory before MD entrance.
After 2 house jobs if one did not get in to PG one could still practice. Now
house job has no PG entrance value. Practicing medicine without a House job
does not prepare a doctor well.

Is there a solution to the problems in villages? It is there, if our great
parliamentarians bother to listen to us. By the way I have a few more
proposals. I want to make it compulsory for the parliamentarians to stay in
a village for one year as MP and fulfill all promises made during election
campaign otherwise their Membership would be cancelled. Make it compulsory
for IIM graduates to stay in a village for one year to work for betterment
of rural finances, before they get their degree. I want High Court judges to
stay in villages at least 2 months a year to help solve the pending cases in
the villages to be eligible for promotion to Supreme Court. I want the IAS
officer to be posted in a village for one year before they are confirmed in
their jobs.They can all stay in the excellent accomodation provided in the
villages for the doctors. Sounds funny?

Who started the jokes!

Here is what I suggest.

The entire medical course needs to be revamped. Instead of hundreds of
confusing degrees there should be one degree, MD. It should be a nine years
integrated course, equivalent in status to a Ph D. All students, after four
years, would get a provisional registration to work as doctors under
supervision. They would select their specialty at this juncture, depending
on the merit and other government policies of the time. Even a surgeon would
be MD. All the diploma courses would be abolished. There would be
specialties in family practice, clinical medicine, hospital based
internists, surgeons, ophthalmologists, and all other specialties that we
have today.
One year out of this course will be a village posting where they can learn
the problems of the villages and unlearn some hi-tech solutions to simple
problems. There would never be a shortfall of doctors in villages, happy
doctors and not frustrated ones. I do not think there would even be a murmur
of protest from anywhere. No forcible "Cultural Revolutionary" tactics would
be needed. The GPs that we get would be trained ones, not untrained ones as
we get now.

How does a patient differentiate between a physician MD and a general
practitioner MD. The same way they do now, between MDs in Medicine,
pharmacology, biochemistry and pathology. In any case, government can
recognize certain associations, memberships of which can be made compulsory.
(For example, MD, Member of Indian College of Pharmacology, or MD Indian
College of Surgeons.). This way every doctor that comes out of the college
would have some special skills, and have worked independently for at the
least 4 years before being released to the society. There is no wastage of
doctors as `simple MBBS'. The super-specialties should be limited to a few,
the brightest> ones. There should be no further confusing degree like M Ch,
DM. The super-specialists would be offered fellowships of the college, e.g.
MD, Fellow of the Indian College of Cardiac Surgeons, equivalent to
postdoctoral degree, D Sc.

By the way this does not solve the problem of the bad guys in the
profession as mentioned in paragraph two of this article. I'll share a
bitter truth with you. The patients are as much responsible for this
situation as the doctors. The ratio of good doctors and bad doctors is
exactly the same as the ratio of good guys and bad guys in the society, not
more, not less. There is something very wrong in the way patients select
their doctors. Name and fame does not depend on skill, knowledge and
sincerity. Sound business tactics, sometimes not so ethical, makes one
doctor more popular than the other. This article is aimed at sensible people
who want a solution, not revenge. The next doctor could be your son; the
next patient could be your son.

Dr Ashok Sinha could be reached at ashokagt2@yahoo. com
79 Tilla, Kunjavan, Agartala, Tripura.

Trauma Centres Along The Highways in India

A revised scheme namely “Project for establishment of trauma care facilities along National highways” during the 11th Five Year Plan has been envisaged to develop a network of Trauma centres along the Golden Quadrilateral, North-South and East-West corridors of the National Highways to help the accident victims.


This information was given by the Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha

The revised project envisages the availability of the life support ambulances every 50 Km. along with the National Highways. It also provides for three categories of Trauma centres, viz. L-I, L-II and L-III. The trauma care network has been so designed that no trauma victim has to be transferred for more than 50 Km. and a designated trauma centre is available at every 100 Km.

The proposed budget estimate for the scheme during the current financial year (1007-08) is Rs.42.73 crores and 34 hospitals in 6 States have been identified for upgradation in the 1st phase.

Source-PIB
SS/M

Govt.’s Concern With Sale of Gender Identification Kits in India

India in one of the few countries where there is a gender disparity due to the prevalence of female feticide in many communities.
The declining sex ratio in India is a matter of great concern and calls for concerted action from all quarters. In order to contain the menace of female feticide and ushering in a healthy sex ratio in the Country, the Central Government enacted the Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994. The Act, inter alia, provides for stringent action against individuals and genetic laboratories/ clinics offering sex determination services. Similar penalty provision also exists for those who seek such services.

Various mechanisms have been evolved at the national, State and district levels to ensure strict compliance of the provisions of the Act by all stakeholders through periodic inspection and monitoring.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha

The advent of Internet e-communication has emerged as a new threat in this regard. It has been reported that some of the overseas agencies are freely posting advertisements pertaining to sex determination services and wares. For instance, websites like the www.GenSelect.com, www.4-gender-selection.com, www.pregnancystore.com etc., are offering sex determination kits called the ‘baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Test Kit’, that help the buyer determine the sex of the foetus through DNA analysis at home.
The matter was referred to the Ministry of Communications & IT to block the offending websites. But, that Ministry expressed the view that such an action did not render the promoters of such sites completely ineffective as they could re-emerge and be available for the viewers again under a new nomenclature and in a new avatar.


To identify the people involved, the issue was then taken up with the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, to trap the people importing the sex determination kits pandered by the offending overseas websites into the Country.

The Ministry of Health requested the Customs Department for details of the individuals or organizations who have imported the sex determination (Gender Testing) kits from abroad to facilitate the Government to proceed further against such people under Section 23 (3) of the PC & PNDT Act and also to intercept and not release such articles under Sub-Section (2) (k), (u) & (v) of Section 11 under Chapter IV of the Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962), vide the Government’s letter dated 29.11.2007 and 5.1.2008.

In response to the Government’s above request, the Customs Department have suitably alerted their field formations not to release the imported Gender Testing Kits and to take appropriate action under the Customs Act.

Source-PIB
SS/M

Health Care System In Need Of Redesign

Redesign of the processes surrounding the delivery of clinical care is needed to cope with the increasing strain on Australia’s health system, according to an article in the supplement to the latest Medical Journal of Australia entitled “Health services under siege: the case for clinical process redesign”.


Professor Paddy Phillips, Head of the Department of Medicine at Flinders University in Adelaide, and his co-author Professor Clifford Hughes, CEO of the Clinical Excellence Commission in Sydney, say there is a need for effective and sustainable change within the health system, not just another restructure.

The authors recommend a redesign of underlying processes to improve the delivery of clinical care.

“Clinical process redesign focuses on the processes at the coalface and uses the experience of the clinicians involved in care to bring about sustainable change,” Prof Phillips says.

“Redesign identifies the ‘disconnects’ in current clinical services and how they affect the final outcome. This is fundamental because this redesign is not about clinical practice redesign, but rather about improving the processes underpinning the delivery of clinical care.”

The authors highlight several areas where delivery of care can be improved to help ease the pressures on the whole system. These include management of unplanned admissions to hospitals, and preparation for planned admissions.

By understanding the patient journey and maximising preadmission planning, the system will then have the capacity to respond to unexpected admissions with much more flexibility, the authors say.
“The traditional argument against such improved practices is that we free up one bed only to have somebody else occupy that bed,” Prof Phillips says.


“Such a view is short-sighted and focused only on the acute care hospital phase of the patient journey.

“By improving flow of patients through EDs and back to the community, the protracted wait of many other patients is shortened and the access to appropriate care greatly enhanced.”

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.


Source-AMA
SUN

Health Ministry Releases The Names Of World Bank Assisted Health Programme

The details of World Bank assistance for health sector programmes to different states during the period 1997-2003 was given out be the health ministry on Friday. This information was given by the Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.


With regard to alleged kickbacks to former Orissa Health Minister and other officials, it is stated that the Detailed Information Report of the World Bank indicated that a firm has admitted paying INR 500,000 (USD 11,000) to the Orissa State Minister of Health and other ministry officials to facilitate the payment of INR 2.5 million (USD 55,500) in non-Bank-funded invoices. The Government of India has taken up this matter with the State Government and the Government of Orissa has entrusted this matter for investigation to its Vigilance Department, which has ordered a full-fledged vigilance inquiry on 24.1.2008 to look into all the irregularities pointed out in the World Bank report.

World Bank assisted Health Systems Development Projects in different States during the period 1997-2003

Project Name	Year of Approval	Year of completion	Net Commitment amount (in US $ million)
Single/Multi state projects
UP Health Systems Development Project	April-00	Dec.-06	79.9
Orissa Health Systems Development Project	June-98	March-06	82.1
Maharashtra Health Systems	1998	2005	134
Population IX (Rajasthan, Assam, Karnataka)	1994	2001	88.6
AP 1st Referral II Health Systems	1994	2002	133
State Health Systems II (West Bengal, Karnataka , Punjab)	1996	2004	350
Population VIII (Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata)	1992	2002	79
TOTAL			946.6

Source-PIB
SS/G

Smoking Habits in India on the Rise

A report from a Govt. Agency in India indicates an increasing prevalence of tobacco consumption in India, with 57% males and 10.8% females reportedly consuming tobacco in some form. This is against the general global trend


The state wise data is annexed. As per the NSSO age-specific rates, regular consumers of tobacco (aged 10 year and above) were 18.65 crore in rural India and 4.93 crore in urban areas in 2004. The state wise Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS), 2006 also indicates a decrease in the age of onset of tobacco consumption in the age group of 13-15 years.

Section 4 of the “The Cigarette and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003” prohibits smoking in a Public Place.

There are studies to indicate a strong linkage between film personalities and their influence on youth. Since a few film personalities have reportedly been violating the provisions of the Act, by smoking at public places, they have been advised time and again to desist from such action(s).

This information was given by the Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Use of tobacco by state
Percentage of women and men age 15-49 who use any kind of tobacco, who smoke cigarettes or bidis, by state, India, 2005-06
State	Women		Men
	Who use any kind of tobacco	Who smoke cigarettes/bidis	Who use any kind of tobacco	Who smoke cigarettes/bidis
India	10.8	1.4	57.0	32.7
North
Delhi Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Punjab Rajasthan Uttaranchal	3.1 3.3 1.2 5.3 0.8 7.8 5.4	1.4 2.6 1.1 0.7 0.5 3.3 2.7	40.0 46.3 40.0 52.7 33.8 60.4 53.3	26.5 39.8 33.6 40.2 20.9 41.8 36.3
Central
Chhattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Uttar Pradesh	25.2 16.0 12.1	0.2 0.5 2.4	68.6 68.5 64.3	31.8 40.2 35.5
East
Bihar Jharkhand Orissa West Bengal	8.0 11.6 31.4 15.6	4.9 0.6 0.3 1.3	66.5 61.7 68.8 70.2	29.0 19.4 27.1 50.1
North
Arunachal Pradesh Assam Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura	27.2 23.2 39.6 31.9 60.8 28.1 18.7 48.2	3.1 0.6 4.3 1.9 16.1 0.3 5.4 7.9	62.6 72.4 69.5 69.2 83.4 67.9 61.8 76.0	31.4 36.4 37.9 60.0 73.6 39.3 33.3 56.7
West
Goa Gujarat Maharastra	4.4 8.4 10.5	0.2 0.6 0.1	27.8 60.2 48.2	13.6 26.1 17.7
South
Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Kerala Tamil Nadu	5.2 4.8 1.8 2.8	0.5 0.1 0.1 0.0	42.8 44.7 43.5 40.1	32.5 27.9 35.8 31.2

Source-PIB
SS/M

Alcohol Consumption More Prevalent in Lower Classes and Young

The Government is cognizant of the fact that consumption of alcohol in excessive amounts can lead to social economic and health related problems.


A study conducted by NIMHANS for WHO published in the year 2006 shows that nearly 30% of adult men and less than 5% of women consume alcohol giving a male to female ratio of 6:1.

Alcohol use is higher in poor communities. The average age of initiation has reduced from 28 years during the 80s to 20 years in recent years.

This information was given by the Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss in a reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Alcoholism could lead to liver disease and brain damage, gastro intestinal diseases, peptic ulcer, pancreatic diseases, nervous system related diseases, alcoholic dementia, alcoholic memory loss, peripheral nerve damage, muscle damage, cancer of several body organs, hypertension and coronary heart diseases etc. Besides severed health problems, accidents also take place resulting in head injuries and hospitalization.

The policy with regard to sale and distribution of alcohol is within the purview of the State Governments. Therefore, the efforts made to contain the damage done by alcoholism vary from State to State. The business of alcohol is a controlled one and without a licence issued by the respective State Government, no one can sell alcoholic beverages. Selling of alcoholic beverages to minors is prohibited. A high rate of State excise duty is levied to dissuade people from consuming alcohol. Advertisements of alcoholic beverages have been banned by the Government.

Apart from this, clinical care, building awareness, counseling and rehabilitation is made available through de-addiction centres and counseling centres run/funded by the Government.

Source-PIB
SS/M

Sociable Parents Produce Brighter Kids: New Study

A new study shows that the increased amount of social activity among parents resulted in producing brighter kids with better talents and skills.


The report by Professor Sarah Brown and Dr Karl Taylor, found that kids whose parents are socially active tend to score better in reading, maths and vocabulary tests.

"Children's scores in reading, mathematics and vocabulary tests are positively associated with the extent of their parents' formal social interaction. The results suggest a lack of social interaction may have adverse intergenerational effects in terms of educational attainment. Children of parents who engage in relatively low levels of social interaction attain relatively low scores in reading, maths and vocabulary,” the Telegraph quoted the report, as stating.

For the study, the researchers assessed the level of social activity carried out by parents at the age of 23. After 10 years, they compared their children's test scores. The study also took into account different types of clubs the parents were involved in, including environmental charities, trade unions, staff associations and residents' groups.

"The relationship between education and social interaction is not surprising since education plays an important role in developing the social skills of children. Reading and writing are crucial for the ability to communicate and hence engage in social interaction later on in life,” the report said.

The results of the study were oblivious to the amount of social activity carried out within the family or how social children were outside the home.
The study also indicated that an extended support network might aid socially active parents.


"Social interaction outside the family may lead to parents being able to access the support and assistance of other individuals and, hence, may benefit parents bringing up children,” the authors wrote.

The study took data from the National Child Development Study, which has tracked the lives of a representative sample of the British public born in 1958.

The study will be presented at the Royal Economic Society's Annual Conference at the University of Warwick.



Source-ANI
SUN/G

Nepal Ranks High In Maternal Death Rate

A global network statistics states that maternal death rate in Nepal is highest among the South Asian Countries.


According to the statistics made public by Federation of Safe Motherhood Network (FSMN) on Saturday, 281 out of 100,000 mothers die untimely during the postnatal stage in Nepal.

FSMN also released statistics that point out that three infants die every hour and one maternal death takes place every four hours.

The MDR, which has reduced in the past few years, is still the highest in Nepal among the South Asian countries.

FSMN President Dr Arju Deuba Rana said that the MDR could be reduced significantly by social awareness.

The network also indicated that lack of awareness regarding health facilities and weak access of the general public to the existing health facilities is responsible for the high MDR in the country, kantipuronline reported.

Source-ANI
SUN

World's Smallest 'Nano' Dimond Ring Created

The scientists at University of Melbourne successfully created the world's smallest diamond ring, which is 300 nanometres in thickness, and five microns in diameter.


University of Melbourne scientists have revealed that they made the tiny ring by carving out a circular structure in an artificially made diamond.

The ring may be helpful for scientists who are developing quantum information processing, say its makers.

The scientists describe their ring as a component in a device for producing and detecting single photons (particles of light), which can carry information.

An ordinary digital computer stores information in bits that have a value of either '1' or '0', just as a light switch can only be 'on' or 'off'. The order of 1's and 0's indicates a certain piece of information.

The researchers say that the fact that photons can hold a value of 1 and 0 at the same time suggests that they may expand the possibility of information storage, reports Live Science.

The development of the tiny diamond ring was announced at the March meeting of the American Physical Society in New Orleans.

Source-ANI
SUN/M

Genetic Cause Of Infertility Linked To Sex Chromosome Gene Identified For The First Time

The researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that the mutations in the human TEX11 gene may be a genetic cause of infertility in men.


According to Jeremy Wang, assistant professor in the Department of Animal Biology at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine and colleagues, their study of the genetic causes of infertility is the first of its kind to link a particular sex chromosome meiosis-specific gene to sterility.

The TEX11 gene, just like mice, is also located on the human X chromosome. As the disruption of TEX11 causes azoospermia, or non-measurable sperm levels in mice, mutations in the human TEX11 gene may be a genetic cause of infertility in men.

As we know that men have only one X chromosome inherited from their mother, i.e. only one copy of the TEX11 gene, this would mean that any mutation might cause sterility. Thus, just like other X-linked disorders such as colour blindness and muscular dystrophy, genetic mutation causing a son’s infertility could be passed from his mother.

The researchers hypothesize that a screening of the TEX11 gene may provide a pre-birth diagnosis for infertility in men. The study also reports the first meiosis-specific factor ever found on the X chromosome.

Meiosis is a cell division process that produces gametes in both sexes. During meiosis, homologous chromosomes undergo pairing, synapsis, recombination and faithful segregation. Meiosis leads to the exchange of genetic material between paternal and maternal genomes to produce genetically diverse gametes (sperm or eggs). Thus, any defects in meiosis are a leading cause of both infertility and birth defects.
An estimated 15 percent of couples are affected by infertility worldwide, yet the genetic causes of male infertility remain largely unknown. For decades, conventional wisdom stated that the X chromosome had little to do with meiosis or infertility because the X chromosome is silenced during male meiosis. This thinking led to fertility studies that focused on the Y chromosome and autosomes.


In an earlier study on mice male germ cells, it was found that almost one third of the identified germ cell-specific genes are located on the X-chromosome.

However, in the current study it was found that sex chromosomes do have a role to play in meiosis. Even though, these X-linked, germ cell-specific genes get inactivated during later stages of male meiosis, they play a role in the early stages.

The researchers found that TEX11 forms distinct foci on meiotic chromosomes and seems to be a novel constituent of the meiotic recombination machinery. Thus the researchers genetically engineered male mice that lacked TEX11 function and discovered that this led to chromosomal asynapsis during the process of gamete formation.

In other words, homologous chromosomes could not pair together during meiosis and chromosomes formed fewer crossovers, i.e. sites where they recombine, during the initial stages of meiosis. Subsequently, these failures led to elimination of spermatocytes at later stages in the genetic recombination process and, ultimately, male infertility.

The researchers believe that as TEX11 interacts with SYCP2, an integral component of the protein complex that mediates synapsis during meiosis, TEX11 promotes both synapsis and genetic recombination and may provide a physical link between these two meiotic processes.

The study is published in the latest issue of Genes & Development.

Source-ANI
SUN/M

How To Choose Our Future Doctors?

The selection process for Australian medical students needs to ensure the right methods are used to choose the right applicants, according to articles in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.


Professor David Wilkinson, and his co-authors from the School of Medicine at The University of Queensland, assessed how well prior academic performance, admission tests and interviews predicted academic performance in a graduate medical school.

They found that the school’s selection criteria predicted academic performance only modestly.

Selection criteria included the student’s prior degree grade point average (GPA), the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT), and an interview.

“GPA is most strongly associated with performance, followed by interview score and GAMSAT score,” Prof Wilkinson says.

“As a result, the school has removed the interview from its selection process.”

In a related editorial in the journal, Professor David Powis from the School of Psychology at the University of Newcastle says an increasing trend to eliminate the interview process from selection criteria could be related to cost.

“Community expectations of the skills and competencies of a graduating doctor support the retention of methods to evaluate personal qualities,” Prof Powis says.

“However, this approach comes at a cost. The question for medical schools is whether the effectiveness is worth the cost.

“My view is that we should continue to select medical students based on criteria that include desirable personal qualities, using procedures that have demonstrated reliability and validity.”

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

Source-AMA
SUN/G

'India Capable In Leading The World In Renewable Energy Technologies': Al Gore

Addressing at the launch of the India chapter of the US-based non-profit organization called 'The Climate Project', the former US Vice-President and Nobel laureate Al Gore said that India is capable to lead the world to solve climate change crisis.


"India has proven its capability in sectors like Information Technology and can be a leader in the world in developing new renewable technologies to combat climate change," he told reporters here.

Asked about the differences between developed and developing countries on greenhouse gas emission cuts, Gore said fast developing nations like India has a right to aspire for higher standard of living and set whatever goals they think is appropriate.

Using 21st century-efficient technologies is the relevant issue today, not the comparison in emissions by countries, he said.

"India itself is vulnerable to effects of climate change and can be a part of the solution," he said.

Gore said there is need for a change in the US policy on climate and whoever comes to the White House after the November presidential polls will have to take necessary steps.

"My country is the largest source of pollution and most responsible for creating the problem. We need a change in policy in the US," said the environmental activist who has won an Oscar for his documentary on global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth."

Source-ANI
SUN/G

ADHD Treatment For Children Different Between Specialties

Standardisation of diagnosis and treatment of ADHD is needed to ensure consistency between treatment by psychiatrists and paediatricians, according to a study in the latest Medical Journal of Australia.


Dr David Preen, Director of the Centre for Health Services Research at The University of Western Australia’s School of Population Health, and his co-authors found that treatment of children with stimulant medicines for ADHD differed significantly between the two clinical specialties.

“Paediatricians treated more patients per prescriber, a greater proportion of boys, and a younger age demographic,” Dr Preen says.

“Paediatricians relied less on combined psychotropic pharmacotherapy and prescribed lower stimulant doses than psychiatrists.”

The authors suggest one reason the majority of children were seen by paediatricians was because referral pathways are more likely to direct child patients to paediatricians first.

Similarly, paediatricians may have treated more male patients because boys often exhibit disruptive behaviour that is more readily identified resulting in greater referral for treatment.

Differences in medication prescription between the two specialties may be because psychiatrists are more often referred children with psychiatric or behavioural disorders requiring multifaceted medication regimens.

“It is possible that the differences in prescribing medication are due to fundamental variations surrounding ADHD diagnosis and treatment as a result of differing levels of mental health training,” Dr Preen says.

“A case could be made for the standardisation of diagnosis and treatment of ADHD within and between specialities.”

“A state or national ADHD plan with consistency across clinical disciplines appears to have merit.”

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.


Source-AMA
SUN/G

High Risk Of Lung Damage Invloved With Legal Exposure to Vermiculite

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati have found that there is a greater chance for the prevalence of lung damage in the mine workers,some 25 years later in their lives, due to the exposure to legal levels of vermiculite.


Experiments conducted on mineworkers in Libby, Montana showed scarring and thickening of the membrane that lines the chest wall, some 25 years later.

Vermiculite is a mineral that has a number of consumer applications, from gardening products to loose-fill home insulation.

The “Libby vermiculite” was first suspected of causing lung damage in the late 1970s, when researchers documented a cluster of bloody pleural effusions among workers who handled it.

In 1980, the researchers studied 513 individuals who worked at a plant that processed Libby vermiculite and 2.2 percent among them showed pleural changes or interstitial fibrosis.

The follow up of the study showed that the prevalence of lung damage in still-living members was 28.7 percent for pleural changes and 2.9 percent for interstitial fibrosis.

“I expected to see a higher rate of x-ray changes, but was surprised at the percentage,” said James Lockey, the principal investigator of the study.

“We found that even low levels of exposure to asbestos-like fibres can cause thickening of the membrane that lines the chest wall,” he added.

Out of 430 surviving members, 280 were asked about their lung health and work history, including particular exposure level and the numbers of years they worked.
They were then given chest x-rays, which were assessed for pleural plaques, thickening and interstitial changes by professional radiologists.


The analysis showed a significant trend of increasing changes with increased exposure. Workers with highest exposure levels had an average of 6 to 16 times the risk of pleural changes when compared to those who were minimally exposed.

Moreover, the changes were significant even at levels of exposure currently permitted by law.

“When humans are exposed to any mineral fibres that are long, thin and durable in human tissue and can reach the pleural membrane, these fibers can cause health problems,” Lockey said.

The findings are published in the second issue for March of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Source-ANI
SUN/M

Life Expectancy in India

The Office of Registrar General of India in a release said that the life expectancy at birth for Indian males and females corresponding to the mid year 2003 was 62.3 and 63.9 years respectively, giving an overall life expectancy as 63.2 years.


This information was given by the Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare, Smt. Panabaaka Lakshmi in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

Further, as per the report “State of the World’s Children, 2008, published by UNICEF, the life expectancy at birth for Japan and USA are 82 and 78 years respectively in 2006. Statement-I gives the Life Expectancy at birth for selected countries including India.

To improve primary health care system and provide medical facilities to citizens in rural areas, the Government has initiated comprehensive health sector reforms. The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) is the main vehicle for these reforms and is a flagship programme of the Government. It is being operationalized throughout the country, with special focus on 18 states, which includes 8 Empowered Action Group States (Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Orissa and Rajasthan), 8 North-East States, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. The main aim of NRHM is to provide accessible, affordable, accountable, effective and reliable primary health care facilities, especially, to the poor and vulnerable sections of the population. NRHM seeks to strengthen the Public Health delivery services at all levels. The interventions/initiatives launched under the NRHM aim to reduce mortality and morbidity so that the life expectancy of the people will improve.


The Infant Mortality Rate of India and some selected countries was released.


Government of India has initiated several measures to bring down the Infant Mortality Rate in the country. A major initiative is the implementation of the Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI) strategy, which adopts a holistic approach to the management of the commonest causes of neonatal and childhood mortality – sepsis, acute respiratory infections, diarrhoea, measles and malaria, all compounded by malnutrition. IMNCI is to be implemented throughout the country in a phased manner. In addition, thrust is being given to ensure institutional deliveries and train health personnel on essential newborn care so that skilled attendance at birth is available and all newborns receive specialized care. Efforts to deliver newborn, both facility based as well as home based, are being made. Micronutrient supplementation with Vitamin A, Iron Folic Acid and Zinc, Infant and Young Child Nutrition are being stressed. Immunization is one of the major thrust areas of the ongoing Reproductive & Child Health Programme.

The National Rural Health Mission, launched in April, 2005 for a period of 7 years (2005 to 2012) is an overarching initiative with a holistic approach which provides multiple strategic approach, like provision for health infrastructure up-gradation and a health care worker for every 1000 population, among others and has envisaged reduction in Infant Mortality as one of the prime goals to be achieved

Life expectancy at birth (years) and Infant Mortality Rates - Selected Countries
S. No Countries and territorie Infant mortality rate (under 1) Life expectancy at birth (years)
2006 2006
1 Afghanistan 165 43
2 Australia 5 81
3 Austria 4 80
4 Bangladesh 52 63
5 Bhutan 63 65
6 Brazil 19 72
7 Canada 5 80
8 China 20 73
9 France 4 80
10 Germany 4 79
11 India * 57 63.2
12 Iran (Islamic Republic of) 30 71
13 Japan 3 82
14 Kuwait 9 77
15 Mexico 29 76
16 New Zealand 5 80
17 Pakistan 78 65
18 Singapore 2 80
19 Spain 4 81
20 Sri Lanka 11 72
21 Sweden 3 81
22 Switzerland 4 81
23 United Kingdom 5 79
24 United States 6 78


Source: (1) Extracts from "State of World's Children 2008" brought out by UNICEF
* For India, data from the Sample Registration System of the Registrar General of India has been used, which is the official source for such estimates. Life Expectancy for India corresponding to the year 2003

Source-PIB
SS/M

China to Build Two Specialized Leprosy Hospitals in Northwestern Province

China will build two specialized leprosy hospitals in the northwestern province of Qinghai, a region where the disease formerly prevailed, local health authorities said on Sunday.


The hospitals, which would cost 4.8 million yuan (about 677,000 U.S. dollars), would improve medical services to leprosy patients, according to an official with the Qinghai Provincial Development and Reform Commission. The hospitals would open this year.

The Yushu and Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefectures, where the hospitals would be located, were once leprosy-prone areas, reports Xinhua news agency.

Qinghai reported a leprosy incidence rate of 0.56 per 100,000 persons in 2005, 83 percent down from 1955, as a result of eradication efforts.

Last year the Chinese government had announced it was investing at least 276 million yuan (35.4 million U.S. dollars) over the next two years, in a bid to improve the living conditions and healthcare provided at more than 600 of its leprosy rehabilitation centers.

Provincial governments were urged to take full responsibility of leprosy sufferers' disability allowances and medical subsidies.

Official statistics claim there to be 6,300 leprosy sufferers nationwide, with most cases reported in the southwest of the country.

The Chinese government has for years provided free medical treatment to leprosy suffers and has launched a continuous public campaign to eradicate discrimination and the social stigma surrounding the disease.

86-year-old Li Huanying, a doyen in the fight against leprosy, could be said to have helped cure more than 10,000 leprosy patients and is still working full time on leprosy control at the Beijing Tropical Medicine Research Institute.
Her goal is to eliminate the disease from the country, which has about 6,000 patients.


"We have to detect and treat leprosy early so that our next generation will not be disabled and crippled," said Li, sitting on her chair in a 5-sq-m office.

A bacteriology and public health graduate from the Johns Hopkins University in the United States, Li was the first Chinese woman to work as a technical expert for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Indonesia and Myanmar in the 1950s.

In 1959, she came back to China where she worked at the Academy of Medical Sciences in Beijing.

In 1978, when the WHO set the goal of controlling six main tropical diseases, including leprosy, worldwide, the Beijing Tropical Medicine Research Institute appointed her to work on leprosy.

"I had only six months of experience of dealing with leprosy during the 'cultural revolution (1966-76)'," said Li. "But I had the medical background and am a fast learner."

She introduced the new WHO regimen multi-drug therapy - a free and simple yet highly effective cure.

Her efforts have played a big part in reducing the annual average number of new leprosy patients to 1,500 from about 2,000 before 1998.

Leprosy is a disease of the less advantaged and about half the patients live in the mountainous regions in Southwest China.

When Li shook hands with patients at a leprosy village in Yunnan Province, it shocked local officials and villagers.

On another occasion, she picked up a patient's shoes and put her hands inside.

"Patients often feel numb in their hands or feet, and can easily pick up skin injuries.

"I wanted to see if there were any nails or sand in the shoes."

In addition to medical treatment, elimination of discrimination and fear is vital, she said. "Fear comes from superstition, lack of education and lack of sympathy."

In rural areas, a patient is often considered a person possessed by ghosts and stigmatized.

"But I cannot understand why even some doctors shun leprosy patients."

Li, who is single, leads a simple life. She cooks three meals a day and favors vegetable salads. A domestic helper cleans her apartment twice a week.

"My greatest joy is to make myself useful and tackle the unsolved problems in leprosy control," she said.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Research on Genetic Medicine That Treats Deadly Diseases Underway

An explosion in genetic research is helping physicians detect and treat deadly diseases and could soon lead to genetic prescreening to assess risk and design personalized preventative treatments, researchers said Tuesday.


A special issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association assessed the state of genetic-based treatments and presented a number of significant discoveries, including a genetic predisposition for developing post-traumatic stress disorder.

"The magnitude, scope, and pace of discovery in genetics and genomics research are at unprecedented levels and continue to increase exponentially," JAMA editor-in-chief Catherine DeAngelis wrote in a co-authored editorial.

"These discoveries have important implications for understanding disease processes ... for predicting disease susceptibility and progression, and for refining and individualizing treatments - all of which ultimately have the potential to improve health and to increase both quality of life and longevity."

Advanced computing technology and the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003 and other key databases have pushed genetic research into "a rapid discovery phase," lead author Gregory Feero of the National Human Genome Research Institute wrote in a commentary.

"In the past year, genome-wide association studies yielded highly robust information on scores of new genetic markers for common chronic disorders including diabetes, heart disease, Crohn disease, and several common cancers," he wrote.

But the majority of genetic markers discovered in these studies have a "modest" impact on the risk of developing the disease of 10 to 40 percent, he wrote.
And clinical applications for preventative treatment is currently limited by a "lack of information on how the prevalence and risk contribution of these markers vary across population groups" and "fragmentary information on how most genetic risk factors interact with environmental factors."


Other issues of concern surrounding genetic screening is the emotional impact on patients, the threat of discrimination and the "'blizzard of false positives' that is inevitable when hundreds of thousands of genetic markers are probed at the same time," wrote Kenneth Offit of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

"The field is already replete with such initially promising but ultimately false-positive associations between genetic markers and schizophrenia, obesity, stroke, and Parkinson disease, for example," he wrote.

The research presented in the journal nonetheless present significant advances in the genetic links to a number of common diseases, including cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, post traumatic stress disorder, and blood clots.

Perhaps the most intriguing study was one which found that a gene related to stress response could help predict whether people who had experienced child abuse or other early trauma would later suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD.)

PTSD is a common psychiatric disorder affecting at least seven percent of the US population, "with much higher rates among combat veterans and those living in high-violence areas," the authors wrote.

But people experiencing the same trauma often have different responses, and it was not clear why some developed PTSD and others did not.

"The most novel and important finding of our study was the interaction between (the genotype) FKBP5 polymorphisms and child abuse history to predict the levels of adult PTSD symptoms," wrote lead author Rebekah Bradley of the Emory University School of Medicine.

"These genotypes potentially serve as predictors of both risk and resilience for adult PTSD among survivors of child physical and sexual abuse."

Another large study found a gene associated with a "significant" increase of up to 20 percent in the risk of bone fractures and lower levels of bone mineral density in the spine and hip, while a third study found a link between a protein associated with carrying cholesterol in the blood and heart disease.

Source-AFP
SRM/L

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Could Be in the Genes

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could be in the genes, it has been found. Researchers say that survivors of child abuse were particularly likely to have symptoms of post-traumatic stress as adults if they also had specific variations in a stress-related gene.


The worse the abuse, the stronger the risk in people with those gene variations.

The study of 900 adults is among the first to show that genes can be influenced by outside, non-genetic factors to trigger signs of PTSD, news agency AP reports.

''The study is groundbreaking,'' the largest of just two reports to show molecular evidence of a gene-environment influence on PTSD, said Karestan Koenen, a Harvard psychologist doing similar research. She wasn't involved in the new study.

''We have known for over a decade, from twin studies, that genetic factors play a role in vulnerability to developing PTSD, but have had little success in identifying specific genetic variants that increase risk of the disorder,'' Koenen said.

The results suggest that there are critical periods in childhood when the brain is vulnerable ''to outside influences that can shape the developing stress-response system,'' said Emory University researcher and study co-author Dr. Kerry Ressler.

The study appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

Ressler noted that there are likely many other gene variants that contribute to risks for PTSD, and others may be more strongly linked to the disorder than the ones the researchers focused on.
Still, he and outside experts said the study was important and that similar advances could lead to tests that will help identify who's most at risk. Treatments including psychotherapy and psychiatric drugs could be targeted to those people.


About a quarter of a million Americans will develop PTSD at some point in their lives after being victimized or witnessing violence or other traumatic events. Rates are much higher in war veterans and people living in high-crime areas.

Symptoms can develop long after the event and usually include recurrent terrifying recollections of the trauma. Sufferers typically avoid situations and people who trigger the memories and often have debilitating anxiety, irritability, insomnia and other signs of stress.

Though preliminary, the study provides needed insight into a condition expected to hit rising numbers of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. The agency paid for the study.

Insel said the results help explain why two people in the same jeep see a roadside bomb, and one simply experiences it as ''a bad day but goes back and is able to function,'' while the other later develops paralyzing stress symptoms.

''This could be quite a wave that will hit us over the months and years ahead,'' Insel said.

Study participants were mostly low-income black adults, aged 40 on average, who sought non-psychiatric health care at a public hospital in Atlanta. They were asked about experiences in childhood and as adults and gave saliva samples that underwent genetic testing.

Almost 30 percent of the participants reported having been sexually or physically abused as children. Most also had experienced trauma as adults, including rape, attacks with weapons and other violence.

The researchers focused on symptoms of PTSD rather than an actual diagnosis, and found that about 25 percent had stress symptoms severe enough to meet criteria for the disorder, Ressler said.

Childhood abuse and adult trauma each increased risks for PTSD symptoms in adulthood. But the most severe symptoms occurred in the 30 percent of child abuse survivors who had variations in the stress gene.

The researchers were not able to determine if the symptoms were reactions to the child abuse or to the more recent trauma -- or both, said co-author Rebekah Bradley, also of Emory University.

The study is an important contribution to a growing body of research showing how severe abuse early in life can have profound, lasting effects, said Duke University psychiatry expert John Fairbank, co-director of the Duke and UCLA-run National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. He was not involved in the research.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Look for Women 15yrs Your Junior

People may say some nasty things about men marrying women half their age, but as it turns out, these men are the ones having the last laugh – evolutionarily speaking.


Statistics have shown that monogamous men have the most children if they marry women younger than themselves but how much younger is the key question.

According to a previous study of Swedish census information, a 4 to 6-year age gap is best, but new research has found that in some circumstances a surprisingly large gap – 15 years – is the best.

Martin Fieder at the University of Vienna and Susanne Huber of the University of Veterinary Medicine, also in Vienna, Austria, studied the Swedish data and found that a simple equation related the age difference of the parents to the number of offspring.

For people who had maintained monogamous relationships throughout adulthood, the most children were found in couples where the man was 4.0 to 5.9 years older than the woman. The probable reasons behind this state of affairs are not controversial:

"Men want women younger than themselves because they are physically attractive, while women tend to prioritize a partner who can provide security and stability, and so tend to opt for older men,” New Scientist quoted Fieder, as saying.

Erik Lindqvist at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm, Sweden, pointed out that the age of the mother is likely to be more important than any age difference: the older the mother, the lower her chances of having more children.
"We added that factor into the calculation," said statistician Fred Bookstein at the University of Washington, a colleague of Fieder and Huber.


"The importance of the age difference didn't change,” Bookstein added.

The study is published in Biology Letters.

Source-ANI
SPH/M

A Pet Cat may Reduce Heart Attack, Stroke Risk by a Third

People may avert the risk of heart attack and strokes by having a cat as a pet, suggests a study.


Minnesota University researchers, who carried out the study, have found that owning a cat can reduce a person's likelihood of having heart attacks and strokes by more than a third.

Professor Adnan Qureshi, lead researcher, said that his team looked at 4,435 adults aged between 30 and 75, about half of whom owned a cat.

While presenting the study's findings at a stroke conference in America, he said that 3.4 per cent of the cat owners died from a heart attack over 10 years.

Professor Qureshi further said that the death rate from heart attacks was 5.8 per cent among the group who had never owned a cat.

He expressed surprise at the strength of the effect that owning a cat appeared to have on the risk of heart attack and strokes.

"The logical explanation may be that cat ownership relieves stress and anxiety and subsequently reduces the risk of heart disease," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

As to why owning a cat reduces this risk, Professor Qureshi says that stroking the pet perhaps reduces the level of stress-related hormones in the blood, which in turn lowers blood pressure and the heart, and thereby prevents heart disease.

Source-ANI
SPH/M

Actual Cause of Chronic Diseases Is Lack of Exercise: Study

Using the elevator instead of the stairs could be a very bad decision for your body, suggests a new study which found direct evidence that lack of daily physical activity is an actual cause of many of the risk factors for chronic diseases, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease.


The study also found that it only takes about two weeks of reduced activity for individuals to start noticing the effects.

“Our findings indicated that if there is a lack of normal physical activity, a person greatly increases the chances of developing a chronic disease,” said Frank Booth, professor of biomedical sciences in the MU College of Veterinary Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen conducted two different studies. The first study asked participants to reduce the amount of steps they took per day from 6,000 to 1,400 for three weeks.

They were instructed to use motorized transportation such as a car or elevator instead of walking or taking the stairs, in every situation possible.

In the second study, researchers asked participants who were more active, averaging 10,000 steps per day, to reduce their activity to 1,400 steps per day for two weeks.

At the conclusion of both studies, participants were administered a glucose tolerance test or a fat tolerance test, or both. These tests measure how fast the body is able to clear glucose or fat from the blood stream.

The research team found that after two weeks of no exercise and very little activity, participants had much higher levels of glucose and fat and took a much longer time to clear the substances from their blood streams than before.
This means that the longer it takes the body to clear the blood stream of the substances, the higher the likelihood that a person will develop diabetes or other chronic diseases.


“We used to think that it is healthy to be physically active, but this study shows that it is dangerous to be inactive for just a couple of weeks,” said Bente Klarlund Pedersen, lead author of the study and professor of internal medicine and director of Centre of Inflammation and Metabolism at the University of Copenhagen.

“After 14 days of reduced stepping, subjects experienced accumulation of the dangerous abdominal fat, while also developing elevated blood-lipids, a sign of -pre-diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If you choose the passive mode of transport and abstain from exercise, than your risk of chronic disease is likely to increase markedly,” Pedersen added.

It was also found that the total skeletal and muscle mass in the body decreased when the lack of activity decreased.

Booth said that further studies are required to help answer more questions about the detrimental effects of long-term physical inactivity.

The study is being published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) this week.

Source-ANI
SPH/L

Wine Affects Memory More Than Beer

According to a research by German scientists drinking wine causes more damage to the part of the brain, which provides memory and spatial awareness than most other forms of alcohol.


The Gottingen University researchers said in an article in the Alcohol and Alcoholics journal that very little was known about which drinks were more harmful to the brain.

The study involved comparing brain scans of alcoholics and healthy adults. Participants were also asked what drinks they preferred.

The hippocampus, which is associated with memory, is one of the first regions of the brain to be affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

This hippocampus area in the brain was up to 10 per cent smaller in alcoholics when compared to “healthy” adults.

According to the researchers, the average size of the hippocampus in non-alcoholics was 3.85ml. For wine drinkers, it was just 2.8ml. In comparison, beer drinkers (3.4ml) and spirit drinkers (2.8ml) had a larger hippocampus than those who consumed wine.

“This is the first study investigating the impact of the type of preferred beverage on brain-volume shrinkage in patients with alcohol dependence,” said the researchers.

A hippocampus can affect memory, navigation and sense of space. It could also result in feelings of disorientation.

Source-Medindia
THK/L

One Fourth of Japanese Couples Not Having Sex: Survey

One-quarter of married couples in Japan have had no sex in the past year, a survey showed, urging an open discussion of the issue as the country struggles to boost a dwindling birth rate.


Sex is particularly elusive as people grow older, with the study finding that 37.3 percent of Japanese married couples in their 50s were not having sex.

Nihon University's Population Research Institute, which conducted the study with the World Health Organisation (WHO), said that there needed to be a serious look at the issue.

"There may be a need to look into the fundamental aspect of reproduction -- the frequency of having sex -- as a new problem in a nation with a low birth rate," the institute said in this week's report.

There was no comparable data for other countries but earlier surveys by condom manufacturer Durex has put Japan among the world's least sexually active nations.

Japan has one of the world's lowest birth rates, presenting a potential future demographic crisis for the world's second-largest economy which takes in few immigrants.

The government has been studying ways to make society more family-friendly, including providing more legal protection to professional mothers and reducing Japan's notoriously long working hours.

But Naohiro Ogawa, head of the institute, said that Japan's low birth rate cannot be explained just by socioeconomic factors, saying the study found no correlation between sex drive and stress.
Experts from the WHO, the institute and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population will hold a conference in Tokyo in November to discuss the matter, he said.


Sex was most frequent among young married people. The survey found that 42.2 percent of couples who are in their 20s and have lived together for less than five years had sex once a week or more often.

Source-AFP
SRM/L

Women More Prone to Alzheimer's Risk in Their Lifetime Than Men

A new study led by an Indian origin researcher has estimated that one in six women and one in ten men are at the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease during their lifetime.


Sudha Seshadri, MD, led the study that was carried out at the Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM).

As a part of the study, 2,794 participants without dementia of the Framingham Heart Study were followed for 29 years.

Over the course of the study, the researchers found 400 cases of dementia of all types and 292 cases of Alzheimer’s.

Based on this they estimated the lifetime risk of any dementia at more than one in five for women, and one in seven for men.

“The realization that the lifetime risk of stroke or dementia was more than one in three in both sexes, which is higher than the lifetime risk of coronary heart disease in women, is sobering,” said lead author Sudha Seshadri, MD, an associate professor of neurology at BUSM and an investigator of the Framingham Heart Study.

According to the researchers, the greater lifetime expectancy for women translates into a greater lifetime risk of several diseases.

“People should be aware of the risk of a disease at some point in their life. Similarly, such statistics are essential for public health planners to estimate the projected disease burden in a population during its expected lifespan,” adds Seshadri.

The findings have been released by the Alzheimer’s Association in their publication 2008 Alzheimer’s Disease: Facts and Figures.

Source-ANI
SRM/L

Awakening Sleeping Stem Cells Holds Cure for Regenerating Damaged Retina

Researchers at Schepens Eye Research Institute have given new hope for regenerating the human retina damaged by disease or injury - by successfully awakening sleeping stem cells.


They have identified a chemical in the eye that triggers the dormant capacity of certain non-neuronal cells to transform into progenitor cells - a stem-like cell that can generate new retinal cells. According to the researchers, the discovery offers new hope to people suffering from diseases that harm the retina, such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

"This study is very significant. It means it might be possible to turn on the eye's own resources to regenerate damaged retinas, without the need for transplanting outside retinal tissue or stem cells," said Dr. Dong Feng Chen, associate scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute and Harvard Medical School, and the principal investigator of the study.

Scientists are already aware of Muller cells and they have generally assumed that they kept retinal tissue protected and clear of debris.

However, in recent years, researchers have reported that these cells sometimes exhibit progenitor cell behaviour and re-enter the cell cycle.

Progenitor cells are like stem cells but are more mature and are more limited in the number of cells types they can become.

However, until this study, researchers couldn't understand what triggers the transformation.

In the new study, Chen and her research team found that when the naturally occurring chemicals known as glutamate and aminoadipate were injected into the eye, the Muller cells began to divide and proliferate.
Not certain if these chemicals directly signalled the transformation, the researchers tested them in the laboratory and in mice. They added each chemical separately to cultures of pure Muller cells and injected each into the space below the retina in healthy mice.


The researchers found that in both cases, the cells became progenitor cells and then changed into retinal cells. And with aminoadipate, the newly minted retinal cells migrated to where they might be needed in the retina and turned into desirable cell types.

The study specifically showed that by injecting the chemical below the retina, the cells give rise to new photoreceptors - the type of cells that are lost in retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration, which causes blindness.

Now, the researchers are planning to test this process in animals that have been bred to have diseases that mimic macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa.

The study is published in the March issue of Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS).

Source-ANI
SRM/L

Bulgarian Pathologist Convicted for Violating Work Regulations

A Bulgarian pathologist has been charged with violating work regulations after illegally removing human tissues and bones from bodies awaiting autopsy, the prosecutor's office in Sofia said Tuesday.


"Stanislav Christov, head of pathology at Sofia's Alexandrovska hospital, has been charged with violating the rules on working with human organs and tissues, notably to make a profit," the prosecutor's spokesman Roussi Alexiev told AFP.

Bones and tendons had been removed before autopsies could be carried out, he added.

The removal of tissues or organs for transplant is authorised under Bulgarian law. In the cases in question however, the pathologist allegedly acted before the autopsy, which are held to determine the cause of a person's death, rather than after.

The alleged offences happened from 2004 until the present day, said Alexandro.

Bulgarian radio also reported that the suspect had authorised the incineration of several people without the permission of their families.

If convicted, he could face up to seven years in prison.

Source-AFP
SRM/L

Mommyhood is Actually Good for the Brain

You might be losing your night sleep to the task of changing diapers, but mommyhood is actually good for the brain, as it makes mums braver, faster and less stressed says a new US research.


The finding, presented at this week's International Congress on Women's Mental Health in Melbourne, states that motherhood causes neurological changes that make 'good' mothers.

Craig Kinsley, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Richmond's Department of Psychology, said that all female mammals change some of their critical behaviours after giving birth. These are normally behaviours that are linked to a mother's ability to care and protect her offspring.

In tests on rats young mothers showed better maze negotiation skills and memory, and decreased levels of stress and fear.

''Mothers become more protective of their offspring and will defend against a predator twice their size,'' ABC Online quoted Kinsley, as saying.

''They overcome their fear and are very capable of defeating the predator,” he added.

His studies show that these improvements in behaviour last a lifetime, remaining with the rat mothers for up to 26 months, the human equivalent of being in your late 80s.

Kinsley said that his research suggests that the improved behaviours are due to the large hormonal fluctuations that occur during pregnancy and lactation.

These cause major changes to parts of the brain, particularly the hippocampus, which is where long-term and new memories reside.
''When you learn something your brain changes. Neurones form new proteins that represent that new experience in your brain,” he said.


The neuroscientist has tracked these changes by measuring brain activity, particularly in the hippocampus, through a range of techniques including gene expression differences.

He said motherhood makes the brain more 'plastic' and flexible, enabling it to respond to the demands of sure

Kinsley points to one example where a mother rat's predatory prowess in catching a cricket was shown to be

Kinsley said that if females with a deficit of a critical neurochemical, such as oxytocin, can be identified, then ''when they are first interacting with the baby you can give them a boost of oxytocin at a critical time''.

Source-ANI
SPH/M

Fewer, But Higher Doses of Radiation Effective for Breast Cancer

A study in radiotherapy treatment involving nearly 4,500 women and a 10-year trial period showed less radiation delivered in fewer doses is effective in preventing the return of the breast cancer.


Women with breast cancer normally get chemotherapy first, radiotherapy next. In the current treatment scenario, women must attend hospital five days a week for five weeks. This involves spending an hour or more queuing for the radiotherapy machine, getting their correct position under it and receiving their daily dose of radiation.

The international standard radiotherapy schedule for early breast cancer, stipulates that women should receive 50 gray of radiation in 25 equal doses over five weeks. But this requires a huge investment of time and effort from the patient, although it reduces the risk of local cancer relapse by nearly 70 percent.

The study involved women with breast cancer in two trials, called Start A and B (Standardization of Breast Radiotherapy Trial). The women attended clinics three days a week over five weeks and received a total dose of between 39 and 41.6 gray, compared with the normal 50 gray.

The findings showed that “reducing the overall dose of radiation by 20 per cent and the number of sessions by 40 per cent cut side effects without increasing cancer recurrence.”

The study published online in Lancet Oncology and The Lancet could also have implications for other cancers of glandular tissue, such as prostate cancer.
Professor John Yarnold, of the department of clinical radiotherapy at the Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, southwest London, led the trials. According to him, "If these results are confirmed and adopted internationally then what women will notice is that hospitals start shortening their radiotherapy schedules, which will be more convenient for them.”


Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, LA said, "These two studies confirm work done in the U.S…. Today, there are a whole bunch of techniques to give shorter courses of radiation."

According to Dr.Brooks, "One of the biggest problems in radiation therapy is just the sheer amount of time it takes for women to receive treatment." He added, "In the U.S., traditionally, it's about six weeks of treatment. When many women live 50 miles from a radiation center, that's a 100-mile trip each day, five days a week. That's an enormous amount of time and effort to have radiation."

Experts, who said the indications were good, however warned it was too soon to change practice on the basis of two studies that had followed patients for five to six years. Professor John Yarnold said independent researches were needed to back the findings.

Source-Medindia
THK/L

Brain Imaging Shows We Bond With People Similar to Us

Using brain imaging, scientists have shown that we easily bond with people we consider similar to ourselves.


Adrianna Jenkins, a graduate student in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University and colleagues used fMRI scanning, and found that the region of the brain linked to introspective thought is also accessed when inferring the thoughts of other people who are similar to oneself.

However, they also demonstrated that this is not the case when considering those who are different politically, socially, or religiously, thus possibly explaining why divisions are hard to overcome.

“Our research helps to explain how and when people draw on their own inner experiences to make inferences about the experiences of others. The findings suggest that the part of the brain that is responsible for introspection also helps us to understand what other people might be thinking or feeling. But this primarily seems to be the case for people who we perceive to be similar to ourselves,” Jenkins said.

Earlier research revealed that the lower portion of a brain region called the "medial prefrontal cortex" (MPFC) is active when people consider themselves or people like them, and the upper portion of the MPFC indicates judgments about different people. Psychopaths, who have little empathy, have faulty MPFCs.

The Harvard team reports that the same brain region is engaged both when we are introspective about ourselves and when we make inferences about the minds of others who have leanings perceived to be similar to our own.
Jenkins and colleagues tested whether individuals are more likely to access this self-referential region of the brain when considering the thoughts of a similar person or someone who is different. They used fMRI scans to examine brain activity when individuals were asked about their thoughts or feelings regarding an everyday experience, and what they imagine that another person might think or feel about a similar everyday experience.


The study involved 13 students, both graduate and undergraduate, from colleges and universities in the Boston area, who identified themselves as politically liberal at the end of the study.

At the beginning of the study, the subjects were shown photographs of two unfamiliar individuals, and then read a brief descriptive paragraph about each. One individual was described as a student at a college in the Northeast, with liberal political and social attitudes, and one as a conservative, fundamentalist Christian at a large university in the Midwest.

The students were then asked a series of questions about their own thoughts or feelings, and the thoughts or feelings of the liberal or conservative individual. The questions pertained to everyday experiences such as, “How much do you enjoy doing crossword puzzles?” or, “How likely is it that he would get frustrated while sitting in traffic?”

By examining the brain’s activity in the vMPFC, the researchers were able to see that the individuals used a similar thought process when considering their own reactions to the questions, and the reactions of the individual that was identified as a liberal college student in the Northeast.

However, the researchers did not see similar activity in this region of the brain when the subjects were

According to Jenkins, it’s possible that we rely on our own perspective to assess the potential thoughts and feelings of people who we think are similar, while we may make inferences regarding the thoughts of dissimilar others based on a different process.

The study is published in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source-ANI
SPH/M

Blue LED's Help to Increase the Alertness of Drowsy Drivers

A new study by US researchers has suggested that blue LEDs (Light-emitting diodes) in truck cabs and truck stops can help to increase the alertness of drowsy drivers by resetting their body clocks, thus helping to reduce accidents.


According to a report in New Scientist, scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, did the study.

The scientists are testing blue LEDs that shine light at particular wavelengths which convince the brain that it is morning, therefore, resetting the body's natural clock.

That could help reduce the number of accidents that occur when people drive through the night.

Nearly 30% of all fatal accidents involving large trucks in the US happen during the hours of darkness, according to a recent report by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, while fatigue causes half of all truck accidents in the early hours on UK motorways.

"The concept of using light to boost alertness is well established in other areas," said Mariana Figueiro, co-author of a new white paper published by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 's lighting research centre.

"Translating that understanding into a practical application is the next challenge," she added.

The researchers envision drivers taking 30-minute "light showers" in truck stops fitted with similar lights to recharge themselves. Otherwise, the lights could be fitted into truck cabs as well.

Figueiro is currently investigating how the blue light affects daytime alertness of sleep-deprived and non-sleep-deprived subjects.
"These findings will also be applicable to transportation applications, since the accident rates during the afternoon hours are still higher than in the morning hours," said Figueiro.


Results so far show a clear effect on the brain activity of test subjects of both kinds.

"After 45 minutes there is a clear effect," said Figueiro. "You start to see a beautiful increase in brain activity in the 300 milliseconds response, which is a measure of alertness," she added.

Figueiro now plans experiments on a driving simulator using different light spectra, of 450 and 470nm, and intensities of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 lux, to see which combination works best without obscuring the driver's view of the road.

Source-ANI
SPH/M

World Water Day Function to Be Inaugurated by Vice President Today

Vice President Hamid Ansari will inaugurate the plenary session of the World Water Day Function here today.


The event is being organised by the Ministry of Water Resources.

Union Minister for Water Resources Professor Saifuddin Soz and Minister of State for Water Resources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav will also address on the occasion.

Important issues related to 'Integrated Water Resources Development and Management (IWRDM)' like water quality, water supply and health will be discussed to facilitate combined discussions in the day long sessions of the function.

Eminent experts and stakeholders in the field of water resources will participate with suggestion for firming up the strategies in the water sector.

Ministry of Water Resources organised programmes on various issues concerning water sector in partnership with concerned Ministries of Government as well as Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) preceding the World Water Day.

Workshops were organised on data base management, ground water regulation and management, conjunctive use of surface and ground water, eco-system security, technology transfer, investment in water sector, corporate social responsibility as well as civil society participation in the context of IWRDM.

Many Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) have been invited to participate in the programme to make the discussions broad based with the involvement of civil society.

In pursuance of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution, March 22 is observed every year as the World Water Day. However, this year, the UN has decided to observe the World Water Day on March 20.

Source-ANI
SRM/L

Vasectomy Going 'Great Guns' in Exchange for Guns

A bandit-infested region of India is trying to persuade men to undergo sterilisation by offering to fast-track their gun licence applications, an official said on Tuesday.


Officials in central Madhya Pradesh state's Shivpuri district decided to adopt the policy -- already tried out by some neighbouring states -- to increase the low vascectomy rate.

"I came to know that it had to do with their perceived notion of manliness," said Manish Shrivastav, administrative chief of Shivpuri district, part of the Indian Chambal region, which is famed for its lawlessness and bandits.

"I then decided to match it with a bigger symbol of manliness -- a gun licence," he said. "And the ploy worked."

The plan comes as India, which has a population of 1.1 billion people, is trying to encourage people to have smaller families to ease poverty.

Vasectomy rates have soared since the policy was introduced last month, he added, although those undergoing sterilisation are still required to meet all regulations governing arms licences.

"Over 150 men have got themselves sterilised since we have offered the gun licence preference. I expect another 100 by the end of this month," Shrivastav told AFP.

Only eight men underwent the snipping procedure last year, in spite of financial rewards of 1,100 rupees (27.5 dollars).

The district of 1.4 million people has just 11,000 licensed arms, but locals say they want guns because bandits have large numbers of unlicensed weapons.
"I never bothered to apply for a licence before because I knew it was not so easy to get," said Shivpuri resident K.K. Saxena, 55, who recently underwent the procedure. "But when I heard about this then I decided to apply."


Saxena was provided with a medical slip confirming his sterilisation to attach to his gun application.

About 10,000 to 15,000 people apply each year for gun licences in Shivpuri, but only about 500 permits are granted annually.

One official, however, lambasted the idea.

"Where there are guns, even minor feuds often escalate into events that claim lives," said a police official who did not want to be named.

"The government should consider other incentives. It's ridiculous and irresponsible on the part of the authorities."

Source-AFP
SRM

Ambika Soni for Inclusion of Disability Studies in Curriculum

Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni today said that any proposal for inclusion of disability studies in academic discipline should be supported as it will create an awareness in society about the needs and rights of the physically challenged.


Inaugurating a three-day “National Congress on Disability Studies in Secondary and Higher Education in India” here, Soni said: “Attitude has to be changed towards the physically challenged persons as they are challenged in a limited sense only and can do wonders in other areas of their expertise or interests.”

“People at work place, society and in the country as a whole must be sensitized about the needs of the physically challenged and their rights within the Constitutional framework,” Soni added.

Referring to the socially and economically disadvantaged groups in the country, she said that we must work towards creating an inclusive society where every person would contribute to the growth and development of the country.

“Public awareness campaign for creating such an inclusive growth is the need of the hour,” she added.

She said the Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture is sensitive to the special needs of challenged people.

The Minister further added that all the world heritage sites are in the process of providing special facilities for such people.

“Other important monuments will also be provided with facilities, which would improve access to these monuments to people with special needs. This would enable them to appreciate the heritage of this country in the same manner as other citizens,” she said.

The Tourism Ministry is also encouraging the hotels and other tourism related infrastructure to be developed in a manner that people with special needs could also use them as effectively as others.

Source-ANI
SRM/M

Scientist Develop First 3-D View of Anti-cancer Agent

The first three-dimensional image of how a well-established chemotherapy agent targets and binds to DNA have been created. This scientists say, might help develop better chemotherapy drugs to treat a wide range of cancers.


Scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine and the Purdue School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis used X-ray crystallography, which helped them produce the first 3-D molecular level images of bleomycin bound to DNA.

X-ray crystallography is a widely used analytical technique in which X-rays are directed through crystals and results are deduced from the pattern of diffraction of the X-rays.

“Although bleomycin has been studied for 40 years and much is known about the mechanism of action of bleomycin, without an accurate 3-D picture you can’t fully understand how the drug targets and sits on the DNA. If you want to improve on the properties of the drug, to make it a better chemo agent, you need to understand in great detail how it works,” said Millie M. Georgiadis, Ph.D., associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the IU School of Medicine and at the Purdue School of Science.

“Our 3-D picture of the structure of bleomycin gives us a much better understanding of exactly how the drug interacts with the DNA so we can begin thinking about engineering a better drug, with less toxicity. Since it’s a DNA targeting agent, there’s no limit to what type of cancers we could target with bleomycin if we can decrease the toxicity,” said Dr. Georgiadis, a structural biologist.

The study is published in the Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source-ANI
SRM/L

Heart Attack Treatment Without Verification of Attack Could Prove Fatal for Cocaine Users

Administering heart attack treatment to cocaine users without verifying whether indeed it is a case of heart attack could prove fatal. Cocaine itself could induce such symptoms.


Particularly younger patients rushed to the emergency room (ER) with heart attack symptoms should be asked if they've recently used cocaine, the American Heart Association warns doctors.

For these patients, honesty can be a matter of life or death: Some heart attack treatments can be deadly to someone using cocaine, guidelines published online Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation said.

The drug can cause chest pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, palpitations, dizziness, nausea and heavy sweating — all symptoms of a heart attack.

"Not knowing what you are dealing with and giving the wrong therapies could mean death rather than benefit," said Dr. James Reiffel, professor of clinical medicine at Columbia University Medical Center/New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The number of cocaine-related users visiting ERs rose 47 percent from 1995 to 2002, increasing from 135,711 to 199,198, according to the government's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (That's a tiny percentage of the more than 100 million patient visits to emergency rooms each year.)

"The symptoms that they get with the cocaine are very similar to a heart attack," said Dr. James McCord, who chaired the statement writing committee.

Cocaine can cause a heart attack, but only about 1 percent to 6 percent of patients with cocaine-associated chest pain actually have a heart attack, the statement says. Still, doctors say it's important for anyone with chest pain to get it checked out, news agency AP reports.
Cocaine increases blood pressure and the heart rate, constricting arteries into the heart, said McCord, cardiology director of the chest pain unit for the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit.


"Your heart rate goes up because your heart needs more oxygen, then it shrinks the arteries to the heart," McCord said.
The statement says that since most cocaine-associated chest pain isn't a heart attack, such patients should be monitored instead of being admitted to the hospital. They would have an electrocardiogram and other tests to rule out a heart attack.

"If you admit everyone to hospital with chest pain, you use valuable resources," said Reiffel.

Two typical heart attack treatments can be dangerous to those using cocaine:

• Clot-busting drugs carry an extra risk of bleeding into the brain in patients whose blood pressure is high due to cocaine use.
• Betablockers that can lower blood pressure without constricting arteries in typical heart attack patients have the opposite effect in cocaine users, raising blood pressure and squeezing cocaine-narrowed arteries.

Reiffel said doctors should explain why it's important to know if a patient is using cocaine. He said that admitting use of an illegal substance is confidential information that won't be reported to law enforcement. "The caregiver is not here to judge."

The statement also recommends that cocaine users who do have a coronary artery blockage get a bare metal stent instead of a drug-coated one since chronic drug users may not reliably take the medication needed to prevent new blockages.

McCord said that the drug counseling available in observation units varies among hospitals, and that more could to improve the counseling cocaine-using patients get.

"I think an ideal scenario would be someone whose job is to talk to them about this — explain the extent of the health problems, give them information about resources to help them quit cocaine," McCord said.

Source-Medindia
GPL/L

Dog's Heart Condition Improves, Thanks to Viagra

Anti-impotence drug Viagra has given a ‘new lease of life’ to a dog suffering from a heart condition.


Talisker, a three-year-old border collie, developed heart problems after contracting a lung infection.

This meant that whenever he got a little too excited, he would lose consciousness as his heart was not pumping blood fast enough.

Owner Lesley Strong admits that though she had been ‘shocked’ when the vet told her to give her pooch Viagra, it certainly worked wonders for her beloved pet.

"I was shocked when the vet recommended Viagra and it raised a few eyebrows when I first collected the prescription. But it's given Talisker a new lease of life," the Telegraph quoted her, as telling the Sun.

Source-ANI
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Inadequate Lab Facilities Fuelling Spread of Drug-resistant TB in Asia

Inadequate laboratory facilities in Asia and the Pacific are fuelling the spread of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation said Wednesday.


Inadequate laboratory facilities in Asia and the Pacific are fuelling the spread of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation said Wednesday.


Many countries lack basic laboratory capacity to monitor and manage multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, the WHO said in a statement released from its Western Pacific regional headquarters in Manila

The WHO said less than one percent of multi-drug resistant TB cases were confirmed by a laboratory and officially reported in the region.

In 2006 only 600 of the estimated 150,000 drug resistant TB cases in East Asia and the Pacific were officially notified by a "quality-assured laboratory," the statement said.

Undetected and untreated, a TB patient can infect 10 to 15 people a year "simply by coughing or sneezing" and the disease can be spread by passengers travelling on aircraft, the WHO said.

"The spread of multi-drug resistant-TB is every TB programme's nightmare. One case can take up to two years to treat with drugs that have serious side effects and cost 100 times more than the regular regimen of drugs," it said.

"Outbreaks of multi-drug resistant TB are going unnoticed constantly," said WHO regional director Shigeru Omi.

"We are worried this silent epidemic could set us back years. We could lose the gains made in recent years," he said in the statement.

A recent WHO report based on surveys from 81 countries found multi-drug resistant TB is spreading faster and is more widespread than previously believed.
The WHO said Cambodia and the Philippines have only three laboratories each able to diagnose multi-drug resistant TB.


"Countries need to do more than upgrade laboratories," said Pieter Van Maaren, WHO regional adviser for tuberculosis and leprosy.

"Laboratories have long been neglected, suffering from a shortage of funds, trained personnel and quality assurance systems."

Nearly a half million new cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis occur each year worldwide, or around five percent of the nine million new cases in total, the WHO said last month.

Source-AFP
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Researchers Describe Delivery of Brain Probes by Eye Drop

Harvard researchers have confirmed that eyes are windows of the brain, by describing the development of gene probe eye drops, which make it possible to monitor and identify tissue repair in the brain of living organisms using MRI.


Present methods are not very effective as they involve a risky, invasive, and relatively slow process of penetrating the skull to extract tissue samples and then examining those samples in a laboratory.

“We hope our study provides a tool for better treatments of neurological diseases, diagnosis, prognosis during therapy, and improved delivery of therapeutic agents to the brain,” said Philip Liu of Harvard, co-author of the study.

Liu also said that further studies are needed to determine exactly how these gene probes reach brain tissue.

In the current study, Harvard researchers explain how they link a relatively common MRI probe (superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles) to a short DNA sequence that binds to proteins in cells responsible for brain tissue repair (glia and astrocytes).

Then, they used the eye drops on mice with conditions that cause ‘leaks’ in the blood-brain barrier.

The researchers scanned animals’ brains using MRI and found that brain repair activity was visible.

Glia and astrocytes are responsible for repairing brain and nerve tissue, and have a role in numerous diseases and disorders that cause at least microscopic breaches in the blood-brain barrier, including traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, cardiac arrest, and glioma, among others.

In addition, researchers believe that the probes may also help diagnose thinning of vascular walls in brains, which occurs as Alzheimer’s disease progresses.

The study was published in the April 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal.

Source-ANI
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Playboy Launches Its Philippine Edition With Tasteful Nudity

American adult magazine Playboy launched Wednesday its first Philippine edition, triggering protests from the country's conservative Roman Catholic Church, but promising to avoid full-frontal nudity.


The local issue promises to be tamer than other editions sold across the world and will seek to avoid offending local sensibilities, editor-in-chief Beting Laygo Dolor told AFP.

"The Philippine edition has been adjusted to our culture, including the fact that we are a predominantly Catholic country and a little more conservative," Dolor said.

While flesh will be featured, "there will not be full frontal nudity," Dolor said, stressing that they were not out to compete with the local editions of "lad magazines" FHM and Maxim, which are more explicit.

"We are targetting a different demographic -- the slightly mature, more upscale men," Dolor said.

"The main reasons for them buying this magazine is for the artwork, articles and photography," he said.

Four of the Philippines' top literary writers are among those on the roster of contributors to Playboy, the 25th international edition of the US-based magazine which was launched more than 50 years ago, he said.

While some ultra-conservative segments of the society "won't be very happy" Dolor said he does not expect the magazine to trigger social unrest like in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation.

Playboy launched its Indonesian edition in 2006, triggering protests there and forcing advertisers to back out.

But Monsignor Pedro Quitorio, spokesman for the influential Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said the Philippines already had a host of problems from poverty to scandals that it can't afford to "have one more moral problem."
"That (Playboy) would destroy our moral stature," Quitorio said, adding that government should investigate the franchise.


Senior CBCP member Bishop Pedro Arigo, meanwhile, noted that Filipinos "are already a lost generation" with sales of adult magazines widespread in the country.

Playboy "will further add to the degeneration of (Filipinos') sexual culture," Arigo said.

Source-AFP
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Mental Health Problems In Childhood Exert Negative Effects in Adulthood

Mental health problems in childhood may manifest as depression and anxiety in adult life, a new study has revealed.


The study is based on over 8000 participants of the 1958 Birth Cohort, who were born during one week in March 1958, and whose health has subsequently been tracked.

The long-term mental health of the participants was reviewed during childhood at the ages of 7, 11, and 16, with the help of information from teachers and parents, and into adulthood at the ages of 23 and 33, based on personal interviews.

When participants turned 45, they were invited to discuss their working lives and mental health.

Researchers of the study found that living in rented accommodation, having a longstanding illness, no qualifications, and no partner were the factors associated with depression and anxiety in mid life.

And workplace stressors, including little control over decisions, low levels of social support, and high levels of job insecurity also caused the same conditions in mid life.

Researchers found that these stressors quadrupled the risk of depression and anxiety.

Internalising behaviours, usually defined as depression or lack of concentration, in early childhood and adulthood strongly predicted poor quality working life, with many work stressors.

Researchers suggest that mental health problems in early childhood and adulthood did not fully explain the mid life depression, but these could have a knock-on effect.

The study found that mental health problems in childhood could affect the ability to pass exams and gain qualifications, so blighting an individual's prospects of getting well-paid and satisfying work.
Researchers believe that people who have experienced mental illness early in their lives may also opt for less demanding, low status work, because it might be more manageable, but at the same time, less rewarding and more stressful.


The study is published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

Source-ANI
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Fruit Flies Respond to Sweets Like Humans

Researchers at the Monell Center have found that fruit flies are more like humans in their responses to sweet flavours than almost any other specie.

The diverse range of molecules that humans experience as sweet does not necessarily taste sweet to other species.

However, fruit flies respond positively to most sweeteners preferred by humans, including sweeteners not perceived as sweet by some species of monkeys.

The findings demonstrate the key role of environment in shaping the genetic basis of taste preferences and feeding behaviour.

'Humans and flies have similar taste responses because they share similar environments and ecological niches, not because their sweet receptors are similar genetically,' noted senior author Paul A.S. Breslin, PhD, a Monell sensory geneticist.

'Both are African species, both are omnivorous, and both historically are primarily fruit eaters,' he added.

To compare how molecular structure is related to sweet taste perception in humans and flies, the Monell researchers evaluated how fruit flies respond to 21 nutritive and nonnutritive compounds of varying molecular structure, all of which taste sweet to humans.

Breslin and lead author Beth Gordesky-Gold, PhD, used two behavioural tests to evaluate the flies’ responses to the various sweeteners.

The taste reactivity test measures whether a fly extends its feeding tube, or ‘proboscis,’ to consume a given sweetener. In addition, a two-choice preference test evaluates the flies’ responses to a sweetener by measuring whether they consume it in preference to a control solution (usually water).
The Monell researchers found that fruit flies and humans both respond positively to the same broad range of sweet-


'The similarity between human and fly responses to sweeteners is astounding, especially in light of the differences in their taste receptors,' notes Gordesky-Gold, a Drosophila (fruit fly) geneticist at Mo

Sweet receptors belong to a large family of receptors known as G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), which are involved in biological processes throughout the body.

Human and fly sweet taste GPCRs are presumed to have markedly different structures, an assumption that is based on differences in the genes that code for them.

Since substances will only taste sweet if they are able to bind to and activate a receptor, these two structurally different types of sweet receptors must have similar ‘binding regions’ that fit the same range of molecular shapes.

'That genes could be so divergent in sequence and so similar in physiology and function is truly striking. This is a wonderful example of convergent evolution in perceptual behavior, where evolution has taken two different routes to address pressures imposed by shared environment and nutrition,' said Breslin.

The study is published in the current issue of the journal Chemical Senses.

Source-ANI
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IBM algorithm to help manage disasters

Scientists at IBM Research Labs have developed specialised math algorithms to help model and manage natural disasters including wildfires, floods and diseases.

While the algorithm would enable scientist to model flood scenarios in terms of their severity, location and spread characteristics, it would also help in optimising resource acquisition and deployment decisions.

It also helps obtain strategic resource organisation recommendations and tactical optimal deployment decisions.

According to IBM, the ‘stochastic optimisation model’ was developed by its math scientists in New York and India who worked together with business experts from IBM’s Global Business Services and clients to arm government bodies, relief agencies and companies with tools for strategic planning for more effective allocation of resources for natural disaster management and mitigation.

The mathematicians magic potion is bottled up in complex algorithms—essentially math equations—that helps speed up and simplify complex tasks into everyday life such as determining the fastest route to deliver packages and detecting fraud in health insurance claims.

It also helps in automating complex risk decisions for international financial institutions, scheduling supply chain and production at a manufacturing plant to maximise efficiency or detecting patterns in medical data for new insights and breakthroughs.

Talking about the project, IBM India Research Laboratory Director Daniel Dias said that the challenge lies in matching high-end mathematical programming technologies with high-impact business and societal problems, while using open platforms and standards.

“Our researchers have worked on innovative optimisation solutions designed to create a roadmap for a responsive disaster risk reduction,” he added.

The deployment of resources during a natural disaster, whether it be water, food, machines, or people, requires complex planning and scheduling and the need to adapt to constantly changing scenarios, often involving large number of resources, unique requirements based on location and the varying staffing levels associated with each resource.

The government agencies use different systems to estimate their programme needs, including preparedness resource planning, yet no one system has been able to adapt to the increasing complexity of natural disaster management, IBM stated.

These challenges resulted in IBM developing a large-scale strategic budgeting framework for managing natural disaster events, with a focus on better preparedness for future uncertain disaster scenarios.

The underlying optimisation models and algorithms were initially prototyped on a large US government programme, where the key problem was how to efficiently deploy a large number of critical resources to a range of disaster event scenarios.

That system generated a single solution for each disaster scenario. The current enhancements to the budgeting system include the development of a decision support system to allow decision makers to consider multiple solutions to each disaster scenario, so that a range of solution alternatives can be generated by the system.

The same models can be explored to manage floods or famines in India, or natural disasters anywhere in the world, the company said.

A fully developed, customised and implemented model can significantly help the country’s approach for disaster risk reduction and disaster management.

“We are creating a set of intellectual properties and software assets that can be employed to gauge and improve levels of preparedness to tackle unforeseen natural disasters,” IBM India Research Laboratory Senior Researcher and Optimisation Expert Gyana Parija said.

In the case of flooding, for example, the stochastic programming model would use various flood scenarios, resource supply capabilities at different dispatch locations, and fixed and variable costs associated with deployment of various flood-management resources to manage various risk measures, IBM stated.

By assigning probabilities to the factors driving outcomes, the model outlines how limited resources can meet tomorrow’s unknown demands or liabilities. In this way, the risks and rewards of various tradeoffs can be explored, the company added.

Stochastic programming offers greater modelling power and flexibility, but it comes at a cost-premium processing time.

However, recently, stochastic programming has benefited from the development of more efficient algorithms and faster computer processors.

This means that rather than predicting a limited future using forecasting, decisions supporting a wide range of probable scenarios can be taken.

The model allows all unforeseen challenges to be solved, mostly within an hour, and has very good scalability that promises to gracefully manage even larger models in the future.

AIDS sweeps Bihar family

Global campaign against the AIDS notwithstanding, this deadly disease has wiped out an entire family in Bihar’s East Champaran district. All the five member of the family have died, three with the disease and rest out of shock.

People of the area are shocked while officials of the Bihar Aids Control Society and state health department are tight-lipped over the incident.

Officials said the AIDS killed a poor couple and their three year old son, while old parents of the victim died of shock.

The death of the family members began this January and on March 31, it came full circle when the last surviving member of the family Parvati Devi met her end.

The epicentre of the AIDS quake was at Jihuli village under Patahi police station of East Champaran district.

Reports said Jahindra during his stay in Delhi contracted the deadly HIV positive, but he did not disclose it to his family members.

He even did not seek any medical advice due to social stigma attached with the disease. Gradually, his entire family came in the grip of AIDS.

Villagers said the first casualty in the family was reported on January 2 this year when the three-year-old son of Jahindra, Pappu succumbed to the disease. Some 10 days later, Jahindra too died leaving behind his wife and old parents.

The successive deaths in the family were a big shock to the old couple and they too died after 10 days. The last survivor Parvati succumbed to the deadly disease on Monday.

According to a National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) estimate, Bihar has a total of 70,000 HIV Positive cases. However, a Bihar State AIDS Control Society report confirms only 16,054 persons, including 6,035 women and 789 children.

In the last eight months itself, 1,468 fresh cases have been detected in Bihar, registering an increase of about 34 percent from those reported last year, revealing how fast the AIDS bomb was ticking in the state.

The first AIDS case in Bihar, according to officials, was reported from Nawada district in 1992 and in the last 15 years this disease has now taken over the entire State.

Himachal to adopt open door policy for entrepreneurs

In an effort to boost industrial expansion, the Government of Himachal Pradesh would adopt open door policy to facilitate the prospective entrepreneurs in the state.

Himachal Government will solve their problems and will ensure a good infrastructure for them in the state, Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal said.He was addressing a function organised by the Himachal unit of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Wednesday.

He said that planned development of the industrial towns was being ensured and Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh Development Authority had been assigned the responsibility of systematic development of the industrial townships.

Dhumal said that the state government would evolve a mechanism for evacuation of the generated power from power house to the grid by requisitioning the services of the transmission experts to construct consolidated structure for the same so that the entire hill area was not crowded with the transmission tower lines.

He said that efforts were afoot to speedily harness the identified hydro potential of the state and make the same available to the needy states.

Furthermore, the Chief Minister said that the state had tied up with the Punjab government to provide 300 MW of power during the lean season of winter months and provide the same on barter basis to Punjab during summer season when the power demand in plains rises.

Similarly, he informed that Punjab had agreed to complete the Chandigarh-Baddi road by middle of next year to connect it with upcoming international airport at Mohali through express highway, besides constructing another road connecting the area with Parwanoo and also to improve the Pinjore-Nalagarh road to facilitate smooth plying of vehicles in industrial areas.

The Chief Minster said that efforts would be made to organise a joint meeting of the administration, industrialists and truck operators to sort out the transportation disputes in the industrial towns.

Dhumal said that the land bank possibilities were being explored and modalities being worked out to implement the same for further allotment to prospective entrepreneurs at reasonable prices.

Stressing that quality infrastructure was being created to provide congenial environment to the industrialists, he said that entire industrial area would be connected with best road, rail and air facilities, which would help the entrepreneurs, carry forward their activities conveniently.

The Chief Minister further said that airports of state were being expanded to accommodate landing of bigger capacity planes besides making available night landing facilities.

He said that the Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation had assured four flights a week during lean season and daily flights during summer season.

Dhumal said that all out efforts were being made to get the industrial package extended up to the original scheduled date of March 2013 to attract industrial investment.

The Chief Minister said that the industrialists also needed to construct residential accommodation for their workers along with their plants, which would go a long way in the improvement of work culture and efficiency amongst their workers.

He further urged the industrialists to provide suitable employment to the youths of the state.

Ranbaxy hormone to cure osteoporosis

Good news for aging people suffering from osteoporosis! Ranbaxy Laboratories on Thursday launched recombinant human parathyroid hormone ‘Bonista- Teriparatide’ injection for the treatment of the disease, in collaboration with Virchow Biotech.

According to the company, the product has been indigenously researched at Virchow in Hyderabad and developed in association with the Department of Science and Technology in India.

Commenting on the launch of the product, Ranbaxy Senior VP and Regional Director (Asia and CIS) Sanjeev I Dani said that with growing longevity, Osteoporosis a condition characterised by loss of bone mass, would gain increased attention.

Dani claimed that Bonista is a quality bio-generic therapeutic options to doctors and an affordable and efficacious product to patients.

According to the company, with the life span of an average Indian going up, the country is witnessing an increase in the number of osteoporosis cases; with an estimated 50 per cent Indian women having osteoporosis, the actual number translates to over 30 million.

Experts suggests that one of the reasons could be that the majority of Indians have low vitamin D status and are on low dietary calcium which makes them prone to bone diseases.

Ecstasy Pills Make Women Get Intense Highs but Worse Comedowns

Women who take ecstasy get higher and more intense highs than men, but they also suffer a much harder comedown in the days after, says a new research.


The lead researcher of the study, Dr Kelly Allott, from the University of Melbourne, said that party pills hit women harder than men.

"What we've seen from all the evidence is that the highs are higher and more intense for women," News.com.au quoted Allott, as saying.

"And the low in the following days after taking the drug appears to be much lower. So they tend to experience the extremes of the drug experience,” Allott added.

In the research, Allott reviewed 29 studies from Australia and abroad to collate the latest evidence on how the drug affects men and women differently.

The findings from three lab studies of ecstasy users overseas suggest that women respond more strongly, with more and stronger hallucinations and euphoric feelings, Allott said.

In the days after they have a lower mood then men, with biological studies suggesting females may also be hit harder by the longer-term negative effects of the drug.

Women were also more at risk of a potentially fatal ecstasy-related coma.

Men were more likely to die after taking the drug, but toxicology tests showed that was probably because of higher doses and the use of several drugs at once rather than the drug itself.

Allott said it was still unclear why women felt the effects differently, but there were a few theories under investigation.
"It's possible that (the female sex hormone) estrogen increases the sensitivity to the effects of drugs such as MDMA, which act on the serotonin system affecting mood.


There may also be gender differences in brain structure, or differences in how men and women metabolise the drug in the body,” she added.

The research is published in the journal Neuroscience and Biobehavioural Reviews.

Source-ANI
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Resveratrol from Grape Skin Could Help Prevent Diabetes Related Complications

When it comes to keeping complications of diabetes at bay, it seems that an apple a day may have to take a back seat to another fruit - grapes.


Researchers at the Peninsula Medical School in the South West of England have found that the grape skin compound Resveratrol could stop complications of diabetes like heart disease, retinopathy and nephropathy (kidney disease).

It does so by protecting against the cellular damage to blood vessels caused by high production of glucose.

Resveratrol stops the damage by helping cells make protective enzymes to prevent the leakage of electrons and the production of toxic ‘free radicals’.

Dr. Matt Whiteman, Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Science, Peninsula Medical School, said: “Resveratrol’s antioxidant effects in the test tube are well documented but our research shows the link between high levels of glucose, its damaging effect on cell structure, and the ability of resveratrol of protect against and mend that damage.”

“Resveratrol or related compounds could be used to block the damaging effect of glucose which in turn might fight the often life threatening complications that accompany diabetes.

“It could well be the basis of effective diet-based therapies for the prevention of vascular damage caused by hyperglycaemia in the future,” he added.

The study appears in the science journal “Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism” this week.

Source-ANI
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Male Monkeys Spy on Females to Win 'Sperm Competition'

Male Barbary macaques spy on their mates having sex so they can take part in a so-called 'sperm competition' and deposit their sperm in as many females as possible, a new study has indicated.


Hearing an ejaculatory call is a signal to other males that "sperm competition" for fertilisation has commenced, the study found.

Keen to get in on the race, other males will approach the female.

"There's a conflict between male and female reproductive success," New Scientist quoted Dana Pfefferle of the German Primate Center in Gottingen and study's lead researcher, as saying.

"Females should try to be choosy and get only the best male genetic material," she added.

Males, on the other hand, may be best off trying to fertilise as many females as possible.

When the females are infertile, they slightly modify the structure of the call, making the male less likely to ejaculate. Fertile females sometimes make non-ejaculatory calls as well.

In the study, the researchers Dana Pfefferle of the German Primate Center in Gottingen and her colleagues recorded ejaculatory and non-ejaculatory calls produced by both fertile and infertile female Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) in "La Foret des Singes", a primate visiting centre in France where Barbary macaques roam freely.

The scientists, then, hid a speaker in the park foliage, not far from a resting male, and played the recorded cries.

After listening to the cries, the males showed strong responses to ejaculatory calls. They turned around and looked in the direction from which the call came for roughly twice as long, and in some cases rose and approached the microphone.
Pfefferle made sure the recorded female was never around during the playback experiments, so the other males could not find her. Upon hearing the ejaculatory calls, males did however approach other females and checked their genitals for the swelling that indicates they are fertile.


Pfefferle said that the strategy adopted - whether females are choosy or promiscuous - depends on the species' social structure.

In case of Barbary macaques, females are all fertile at roughly the same time. During that period, females and males mate frequently and indiscriminately.

"It's all about sperm competition. I think the female wants to get as much sperm as possible to 'choose' which genetic material is passed on to her offspring," Pfefferle said.

The study is published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Source-ANI
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Screening Programme for Healthy People Could Put Sick Patients in a Tight Spot

Concerns that screening people who are well could make it more difficult for sick patients to get a GP practice appointment are voiced today by the British Medical Association. Commenting on the government announcement that everyone between the ages of 40 and 74 will be entitled to vascular screening, Dr Laurence Buckman, chairman of the BMA’s GP Committee said:


“While we would like to welcome this, as prevention is undoubtedly better than cure, we have serious concerns about the pressure this will put on an already overstretched general practice. Over a third of the population fall into this age range which for an average practice means two thousand patients. It could work out at 40 extra appointments a week – and that’s if they only need one appointment. If the process means they need two or three appointments, to ultimately be told they are fit and healthy, then you’re looking at doubling or tripling that number. Whether it is nurses, GPs, healthcare assistants or pharmacists who do these checks, there is not currently the workforce, the time in the day, or even the space in our surgeries to carry out this number of consultations. At the moment all our appointments are booked up with patients who are in immediate need of medical care.

“General practices already undertake health assessments for new patients covering things such as height, weight, blood pressure and urine testing. Those patients who are at risk regularly have their vascular risk factors checked including their cholesterol.”
Dr Buckman questions the lack of scientific evidence behind the government screening plans. He adds:


“To justify healthcare spending on this scale there would need to be very clear evidence that this is both cost and clinically effective. There have been no pilot schemes and the models the government is using are theoretical. Inevitably large sale screening will impact on access to services for sick patients.”

Source-BMA
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Kidney Failure Rampant Among Blacks in Chicago

Kidney disease has become a "quiet epidemic" among black communities in Chicago, where "thousands" of black residents are "suffering kidney failure and facing the possibility of blindness, limb amputation, life on dialysis and premature death," the Chicago Tribune reports. The Tribune article is the first in a series examining the impact of chronic diseases on urban communities.In parts of the city’s South and West sides -- where the population is predominantly black -- the kidney failure rate is more than twice as high as the national average and three times as high as in the rest of the city’s population, according to federal statistics. In Chicago’s South Side communities, 390 in every 100,000 residents have end-stage kidney disease; the rate in West Side communities is 387 for every 100,000. Citywide, the rate is 124 cases per 100,000, while the nationwide rate is 150 per 100,000, according to the data. Hispanics also have an elevated risk of kidney failure, but "the problem is more acute" among blacks, according to the Tribune. In the U.S., one in eight people who experience kidney failure is Hispanic, while one in three is black.

Experts contend that the higher rates of kidney failure among blacks can be attributed to a "combination of overlapping factors," including high rates of diabetes and hypertension; obesity; high concentrations of poverty; and "a lack of access to medical care, health insurance, affordable, safe places to exercise and supermarkets that sell inexpensive, healthy foods," the Tribune reports. In addition, in black communities in Chicago, "dialysis centers are full," and many residents "suffer serious, chronic illness during the prime of life, making them too sick to work and unable to move ahead economically," according to the Tribune.
In an effort to reduce blacks’ high rate of kidney failure, support groups, and religious and community leaders across the city are distributing educational materials in black communities and offering health screenings, interventions and other outreach efforts, the Tribune reports. Donna Calvin, a Chicago nurse practitioner who specializes in kidney disease prevention, said, "Hypertension and diabetes are killing us," adding, "These diseases are devastating our community".


Source-Kaiser Family Foundation
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'Gulping 8 Glasses of Water a Day' may Be of Little Use:Researchers

You have heard it time and again - drink eight glasses of water a day to stay hydrated. But, this cliched advice lacks scientific evidence, claim scientists.


According to a new study, a recent look at what is known about the health effects of drinking water reveals that most supposed benefits are not backed by solid evidence.

The study indicates that most people do not need to worry about drinking their recommended 8 glasses of 8 ounces ("8x8") of water per day.

While it is clear that humans cannot survive for longer than several days without water, very little research has assessed how average individuals' health is affected by drinking extra fluids.

Ingesting water is helpful for everything from clearing toxins and keeping organs healthy to warding off weight gain and improving skin tone, experts have claimed.

In order to investigate the true benefits of drinking water, Dan Negoianu, MD, and Stanley Goldfarb, MD, of the Renal, Electrolyte, and Hypertension Division at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, PA, reviewed the published clinical studies on the topic.

The analysis of the various studies revealed that individuals in hot, dry climates, as well as athletes, have an increased need for water. In addition, people with certain diseases benefit from increased fluid intake. But no such data exist for average, healthy individuals.

In addition, no single study indicates that people need to drink the recommended "8x8" amount of water each day. Indeed, it is unclear where this recommendation came from.
The studies, which were reviewed, included - a look at studies related to the notion that increased water intake improves kidney function and helps to clear toxins.


A variety of studies reveal that drinking water does have an impact on clearance of various substances by the kidney, including sodium and urea. However, these studies do not indicate any sort of clinical benefit that might result.

Drs. Negoianu and Goldfarb also investigated the theory that drinking more water will make people feel full and curb their appetite. But studies remain inconclusive.

Headaches also are often attributed to water deprivation, but there are few data to back this up. In addition, water has been touted as an elixir for improved skin tone. While dehydration can decrease skin turgor, no studies have shown any clinical benefit to skin tone as a result of increased water intake.

The study has been published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

Source-ANI
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Red Wine And Tea may Be Useful in Controlling Blood Sugar Levels

Type 2 diabetes sufferers may be able to control their blood sugar levels by consuming moderate amounts of red wine and tea, a new study has indicated.


Red wine has been shown to protect people from heart disease, even when they follow a diet high in saturated fat, and the healing powers of tea are becoming the stuff of legend.

Now, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have shown that certain antioxidants found in red wine and tea may help regulate the blood sugar of people with type 2 diabetes by inhibiting the action of alpha-glucosidase that controls the absorption of glucose from the small intestine, and protect the body from complications such as high blood pressure and heart disease.

"Levels of blood sugar, or blood glucose, rise sharply in patients with type 2 diabetes immediately following a meal. Red wine and tea contain natural antioxidants that may slow the passage of glucose through the small intestine and eventually into the bloodstream and prevent this spike, which is an important step in managing this disease," said Kalidas Shetty, a food scientist at the University of Massachusetts.

For the study, both red and white wines were tested in the laboratory using in vitro enzyme studies to determine how well they could stall the activity of a target enzyme called alpha-glucosidase, responsible for triggering the absorption of glucose by the small intestine.
The researchers found that red wine was the winner, and was able to inhibit the enzyme by nearly 100 percent. Values for white wine hovered around 20 percent.


This was clearly related to the amount of a specific type of antioxidants, called polyphenolics, found in the wines, Shetty said.

"Our testing showed that red wine contains roughly ten times more polyphenolics than white wine. Laboratory results suggest that these compounds, found in many plant-based foods, may play a role in inhibiting alpha-glucosidase and slowing the passage of carbohydrates into the bloodstream," he added.

Alpha-glucosidase is the ta