Page 304 - Health Medical Pharma
Inquiry starts into UK blood contamination scandal
A public inquiry in Britain into a contaminated blood scandal dating back decades which left at least 2,400 people dead began Monday with a commemoration service and opening statements. The long-awaited probe will consider the treatment of thousands of people with haemophilia who contracted hepatitis C and HIV after receiving blood transfusions, mainly from the United States, through the state National Health Service (NHS) in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Prime Minister Theresa May announced the inquiry last year, saying the episode was "a tragedy that has caused immeasurable hardship and pain for all those affected". It will consider "whether there have been attempts to conceal details of what happened" through the destruction of documents or withholding of information, according to the terms of reference published in July. It will also explore if those attempts were deliberate and if "there has been a lack of openness or candour" in the response of the government, NHS bodies and other
Height linked to varicose veins: Study
Tall people are more likely to develop varicose veins, characterised by swollen, twisted veins that can be seen just under the surface of the skin, usually in the legs, finds a new study.
Kolkata resident gets new life in city's 2nd heart transplant
A 51-year-old man here got a new lease of life Monday as Kolkata witnessed its second heart transplant surgery at a city hospital. The organ, harvested at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, was flown to the city in a chartered plane late on Sunday, a senior officer of Kolkata Traffic Police said. It was brought to Fortis Hospital, Anandapur, in the southern part of the city, from NSCBI airport through a green corridor, covering a distance of 26 km in 16 minutes, he said. "The corridor was created by Bidhan Nagar and Kolkata Police personnel with help from Swastha Bhawan officials and other stakeholders," the officer added. The surgery started as soon as the organ arrived in the hospital, a doctor, who was part of the team that performed the operation, said. "Heart transplant was the only way to save 51-year-old Salt Lake resident, who was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy," he said. The family members of the 24-year-old accident victim in Andhra Pradesh had to be counseled ..
Star Trek-inspired diagnostic device developed
Scientists say they have developed a Star Trek-inspired hand-held device, based on a silicon chip, that could help make rapid, sophisticated medical diagnostics more accessible to people around the world. The 'multicorder' created by researchers from the University of Glasgow in the UK takes inspiration from the science fiction franchise Star Trek's famous tricorder device, which the show's medics use to make quick and accurate diagnoses. Described in the journal Biosensors and Bioelectronics, the new device pairs a hand-held sensor with a smartphone app to measure the levels of various metabolites in fluid samples from patients. Metabolites are small molecules found in fluids from the human body. By measuring and monitoring their relative abundance, scientists can keep track of general heath or the progression of specific diseases. The ability to rapidly detect and quantify multiple metabolite biomarkers simultaneously makes this device particularly useful in cases of heart attack, ..
Playing golf may help you live longer: Study
Playing golf regularly may increase longevity and reduce the risk of developing heart disease or stroke, researchers claim. A systematic review published in British Journal of Sports Medicine included data from 342 eligible studies and discussions among an international working group of 25 experts in public health and health policy, and industry leaders. The evidence shows that playing golf regularly is associated with longevity and reducing the risk factors for heart disease or stroke, according to researchers from the University of Edinburgh in the UK. It can boost older people's strength and balance, they said. The sport is also associated with good mental health and improving the overall health of those with disabilities, researchers said. Compared with other sports, the risk of injury is moderate, but as it is an outdoor activity, golfers may be more at risk of skin cancer, they said. The sport is often perceived as expensive, male dominated, difficult to learn, and not a game ...
Maternal cannabis use likely to trigger early indulgence in kids
Children whose mothers use marijuana are more likely to start smoking weed an average of two years earlier, which can lead to severe neuropsychiatric and social consequences, according to a new study.
Man gets new life in Kolkata's second heart transplant
A 51-year-old man from Kolkata was given a new lease of life after doctors at a private hospital conducted city's second successful heart transplant here on Monday.
Provide details of steps taken to ensure no more deaths due to diphtheria: DCW to hospital
Concerned over the death of 14 children from diphtheria in a span of 12 days at a municipal hospital in north-west Delhi, the DCW has asked the hospital to provide details of the urgent steps taken by it to ensure no more deaths occur due to the disease. The death toll of children from diphtheria at Maharshi Valmiki Infectious Diseases Hospital in north-west Delhi has risen to 18. The area's mayor has set up a panel to look into it, officials said Sunday. Taking cognisance of the issue, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal issued a notice to the medical superintendent of the hospital. In the notice, she said it has been reported that children died because of unavailability of anti-diphtheria vaccine despite the hospital being a specialist centre for the disease. It is also reported that the patients are being forced to purchase injections from outside. She asked the hospital to give reasons for the recent deaths at the hospital. Maliwal also asked for details of the ...
Varicose veins linked to height of a person?
According to a study, height may be a risk factor for varicose veins."We may be able to leverage what we know about the biology underlying human height and use it to uncover the root causes of varicose vein disease," said lead author Nicholas J. Leeper of Stanford University in California. "Ultimately, this may help investigators discover a therapy that can prevent or reverse this common and sometimes debilitating disease."It is a common condition that is increasingly being associated with serious health risks, including life-limiting ulceration and venous thromboembolism, which is when a blood clot forms within a vein. However, little is known about what causes varicose vein disease or how to treat it.Researchers confirmed that age, gender, obesity, pregnancy and history of deep vein thrombosis are risk factors for varicose veins, and also found that increased height adds to the risk for varicose veins.The study also found that genes that determine height also influence the ...
Play golf to boost longevity, cut stroke risk
Want a long life? Playing golf regularly can boost longevity as well as reduce the risk factors for heart disease and stroke, a panel of international experts has claimed, while stressing on the need to make the sport more inclusive.
Octopuses react to 'ecstasy' just like humans: Study
Octopuses react to the popular mood-altering drug called MDMA or "ecstasy" in the same way as we do, according to a study which unveils an evolutionary link between the social behaviours of the sea creatures and humans. Scientists from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US studied the genome of a kind of octopus not known for its friendliness toward its peers, and tested its behavioural reaction to ecstasy. They found preliminary evidence of an evolutionary link between the social behaviours of the octopuses and humans, species separated by 500 million years on the evolutionary tree. The findings, published in the journal Current Biology, may open opportunities for accurately studying the impact of psychiatric drug therapies in many animals distantly related to people. "The brains of octopuses are more similar to those of snails than humans, but our studies add to evidence that they can exhibit some of the same behaviours that we can," said Gul Dolen, an assistant .
Smaller implanted heart valves may increase health risks
Patients who underwent a minimally invasive, catheter-based approach to replace the aortic valve experienced inadequate blood flow because the prosthetic valves were too small, finds a research.
Tall people more likely to have varicose veins
Taller people are more likely to develop varicose veins, a condition that causes the blood vessels just under the skin to swell or twist, scientists have found. Scientists from Stanford University in the US examined the genes of more than 400,000 people in search of clues to what causes this common but little understood condition. "Genes that predict a person's height may be at the root of this link between height and varicose veins and may provide clues for treating the condition," said Nicholas Leeper, associate professor at Stanford. The study, published in the journal Circulation, also identified 30 genes linked to varicose vein disorder and to a strong genetic correlation with deep vein thrombosis. Varicose veins are swollen, twisted veins that can be seen just under the surface of the skin, usually in the legs. Although the condition is often dismissed as nothing more than a cosmetic nuisance, it can cause moderate pain and has been linked to the more serious side effects of ...
Safe for pilots to sport beards: Study
A clean-shaven face may not be necessary for pilots to ensure their safety during in-flight emergencies, according to scientists who found that those who sport a full beard can also properly seal on an oxygen mask. Several airlines require pilots to have a clean-shaven face, as it is believe to be necessary to ensure a proper seal on an oral-nasal face mask during an emergency scenario. Scientists from the Simon Fraser University (SFU) in Canada conducted a study to determine the efficacy of face masks on different beard lengths. The wanted to understand if present-day equipment used in commercial airline industry delivers sufficient oxygen to protect a bearded pilot from hypoxia during an emergency cabin depressurisation scenario, said Sherri Ferguson from SFU. Hypoxia occurs when the body does not receive enough oxygen and can cause damage to the brain and other organs minutes after symptoms appear and render a pilot incapacitated or unconscious. "We had to find out whether the ...
'New drug may help curb alcoholism, depression'
Scientists say they have developed a novel drug that may treat alcoholism by reducing alcohol intake, and also reduce depression without inducing seizures. According to studies, alcoholism has risen sharply in the 2000s, to the point that one such study suggests that one in eight people meet the criteria as an alcoholic, said researchers at Purdue University in the US. Depression affects many of the 140 million people worldwide struggling with alcohol use disorders, they said. Only a few drugs are approved for treating the disorder. The goal of those medications is to reduce alcohol cravings, but they do not treat psychiatric disorders. The study focused on a G protein-coupled receptor, called the delta opioid receptor, which is a novel drug target that is different from the receptor in the body that binds prescription opioids. The team developed drugs that bind to this new target and selectively activate a particular protein-signalling cascade of this receptor. "We can then use this .
Children of mother's who use marijuana, likely to try it early
A recent study suggests that children with mothers who use marijuana are more likely to try it at a younger age.According to the research, when mothers use marijuana during the first 12 years of their child's life, the children are more likely to start using cannabis at an earlier age than those with mothers who don't use it.Natasha A. Sokol, lead investigator of the research said, "Early initiation is one of the strongest predictors of the likelihood of experiencing health consequences from marijuana use. In a shifting regulatory environment in which we expect adult marijuana use to become more normative, developing a deeper and more nuanced understanding of social risk factors for early initiation is a critical step in intervention design and delivery.""Incorporating maternal cannabis use into our understanding of the important risk factors for early initiation may help us better identify at-risk youth for more tailored or intensive prevention strategies," Natasha added.They ...
Many people missing out on the health benefits of golf
Turns out, playing golf is not only good for your mental and physical health, but it may also help one lead a longer life.Amid a growing body of evidence on the health impacts of the sport, the consensus aims to help current and would-be players maximize the health pros and minimize the health cons of golf, and to guide policy-makers and industry leaders on how best to make golf more inclusive and accessible and so encourage more people from all walks of life to take up the sport.The statement draws on a systematic review of the available published evidence (342 eligible studies) and discussions among an international working group of 25 experts in public health and health policy, and industry leaders.The agreement was reached on 79 statements in three areas. These set out what is currently known about golf's associations with health; the factors that may help or hinder take-up of the sport; and a series of recommendations for golfers, industry leaders, and policymakers on how best to
Blood test can detect drowsiness
Scientists have developed a blood test that can detect if a person is sleep deprived, an advance that may help prevent car crashes that result from drowsy driving. Previous research has shown that drivers who get just one to two hours less than the recommended daily allowance in a 24-hour period nearly double their risk for a car crash. For the study, led by Derk-Jan Dijk from the University of Surrey in the UK, 36 participants skipped one night of sleep. During this 40-hour period of sleep deprivation, blood samples were taken and changes in the expression levels of thousands of genes were measured. A machine learning algorithm identified a subset of 68 genes and with 92 per cent accuracy could detect whether a sample was from a sleep-deprived or well-rested individual. This discovery paves the way for a future test which will be able to assess if a driver was sleep deprived, researchers said. "We all know that insufficient sleep poses a significant risk to our physical and mental ...
Afghanistan launches polio vaccination drive
Afghan health authorities on Monday launched a five-day polio vaccination drive in some of the country's most high-risk provinces.
Prosthetic valve ups risk of death
A new research found that patients who undergo a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) suffer an increased risk of death and heart failure.Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania stated that the implanted heart valve is too small for the patient which can lead to inadequate blood flow. The team also found that the risk of death and heart failure readmissions was 19 per cent and 12 per cent higher, respectively, after one year, as compared to patients without severe PPM."This is an important contemporary snapshot of what's happening in the real world with commercial TAVR procedures," said the study's lead author Howard C. Herrmann. "This is the first study that is large enough to demonstrate meaningful data associated with PPM for a relatively new procedure like TAVR. Based on these findings, prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM) is an important problem in this population, one that deserves greater awareness among operators. And being aware of it is the first step in trying