Page 604 - Health Medical Pharma
2 drinks a day may be good for brain: Study
Besides helping you relax, a couple of glasses of wine after a busy day may tamp down inflammation and help the brain clear away toxins, including those associated with Alzheimer's disease, suggests new research.
Dengue vaccine row wreaks havoc on Philippine war on disease
Widespread fears over a controversial dengue vaccine that some blame for child deaths are wreaking havoc on the Philippines' war on preventable diseases, with many parents refusing to get their children immunised, a senior health official said today. Immunisation rates for polio, chicken pox, tetanus and other diseases are significantly down from previous years since the government suspended the sale and distribution of the Dengvaxia vaccine in December, Health Undersecretary Enrique Domingo told reporters. The government is also investigating Dengvaxia's alleged role in the deaths of at least 14 children who were among the 830,000 who got the vaccine as part of the world's first public dengue immunisation programme in 2016-2017. "Our programmes are suffering... (Filipinos) are scared of all vaccines now," Domingo said, adding that immunisation rates for some diseases are down to 60 per cent, significantly lower than in recent years and below the target of 85 per ...
AstraZeneca links with Alibaba and Tencent in China push
LONDON (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has clinched two new deals with Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Tencent as the British drugmaker steps up its drive to expand business in China.
UK allows doctors to make babies with DNA from 3 people
Britain's fertility authority says it has granted permission to doctors at clinic in northeastern England to create babies from the DNA of three people, to help prevent two women from passing on fatal, genetic diseases to their children. It is the first such approval for the UK but the technique has already previously been used: a baby was born in Mexico in 2016 using the experimental therapy. The treatment fixes problems linked to mitochondria, the energy-producing structures outside a cell's nucleus. Faulty mitochondria can result in conditions including muscular dystrophy and major organ failure. The technique uses DNA from two women and one man. Last year, Britain granted Newcastle University a license to use the novel technique but approval is still needed for individual patients.
IUIH to invest Rs 1,600 crore to set up medicity in Assam
Indo-UK Institute of Health today said it will pump in Rs 1,600 crore to set up a medicity with a 1,000-bedded hospital in Assam, taking the total investment in India to Rs 19,200 crore. The Indo-UK Institute of Health (IUIH) shall be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Assam government during the two day-long 'Advantage Assam - Global Investors Summit 2018', beginning tomorrow. "With this MoU, we have expanded our presence to the 12th state in India, taking the overall investment to Rs 19,200 crore. Each IUIH Medicity, including the one to come up in Assam, shall be developed with an investment outlay of Rs 1,600 crore," IUIH Managing Director and Group CEO Ajay Rajan Gupta said. The medicity will have a 1,000-bedded hospital in association with the UK's leading NHS hospital and up to 20 per cent of the total patients will be given free treatment at IUIH facilities, he added. The IUIH medicity in Assam will have medical college, nursing college, PG ...
Medical device makers disappointed with Budget 2018-19
Medical device manufacturers have been left disappointed by the Budget 2018-19, saying their concerns have not been addressed. Although they welcomed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's mega healthcare proposal saying it was a step in the right direction, domestic medical devices makers said promised reforms and anticipated conducive measures to boost local manufacturing have not happened. On the other hand, associations such as Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) and AdvaMed said the government should not dis-incentivise technical innovation by medical device manufacturers. "It is frustrating that against our expectations, the government has not included any measures for promoting growth of USD 10 billion Indian Medical Device market in the Budget 2018-19 as has been done for consumer electronics, food processing, footwear, etc," Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) Forum Coordinator Rajiv Nath said. Though the Budget's focus on providing ...
Benign tumor found in lung of Danish queen's husband
Doctors at Copenhagen's university hospital have found a benign tumor in the left lung of Prince Henrik, Danish Queen Margrethe's French-born husband. The royal palace said today the 83-year-old prince, who was hospitalised Sunday, now would be treated for a lung infection before joining the monarch at the Fredensborg Palace, north of Copenhagen. In recent years, Henrik has voiced his dissatisfaction with not being the queen's equal when she acceded to the throne in 1972. In August, Henrik, who retired from public life in 2016, said he didn't want be laid to rest next to Margrethe in a specially designed sarcophagus made for the couple. A month later, the palace announced Henrik was suffering from dementia.
Standing for six hours a day may help you lose weight: study
Standing for six hours a day could help people actually lose weight, a study has found. Prolonged sitting has been linked to the obesity epidemic, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, researchers said. For the study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, researchers analysed results from a total of 46 studies with 1,184 participants in all. Participants, on average, were 33 years old, 60 per cent were men, and the average body mass index and weight were 24 kilogrammes per square meter and 65 kilogrammes, respectively. "Standing not only burns more calories, the additional muscle activity is linked to lower rates of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes, so the benefits of standing could go beyond weight control," said Professor Francisco Lopez- Jimenez, Chief of Preventive Cardiology at the Mayo Clinic in the US. The gap in energy expenditure between standing and sitting could be even greater than the study found. The participants were standing ...
New method may lead to hair loss therapy
Japanese researchers have developed a novel method for the mass production of hair regenerating tissues, that may lead to a new treatment for hair loss. Researchers at Yokohama National University in Japan successfully prepared up to 5,000 cellular aggregates, also known as 'hair follicle germs (HFGs)' simultaneously. They showed new hair growth from the HFGs after transplantation into mice. "This simple method is very robust and promising. We hope that this technique will improve human hair regenerative therapy to treat hair loss such as androgenic alopecia," said Junji Fukuda, Professor at Yokohama National University. Hair loss troubles a substantial number of individuals all over the world, particularly in ageing societies. Hair regenerative medicine has emerged as a new therapy to combat the problem. The therapy involves regenerating hair follicles, the tiny organs that grow and sustain hair. One of the more challenging obstacles to hair regenerative medicine has been
New hair regeneration tech raises hope for baldness cure
Japanese researchers have developed a novel method for the "mass production" of hair regenerating tissues, that may lead to new treatment for hair loss.
Ibuprofen during pregnancy may harm fertility of daughters
Pregnant women who consume commonly used ibuprofen in the first 24 weeks of their pregnancy may be reducing the number of eggs in the ovaries of their daughters, harming their future fertility, a study warns. Researchers have found the first evidence in human ovarian tissue that exposure to ibuprofen during the crucial first three months of foetal development results in a "dramatic loss" of the germ cells that go into making the follicles from which female eggs develop. The germ cells either die or fail to grow and multiply at the usual rate. "We found that two to seven days of exposure to ibuprofen dramatically reduced the germ cell stockpile in human foetal ovaries during the first trimester of pregnancy and the ovaries did not recover fully from this damage," said Severine Mazaud-Guittot, from the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in France. "This suggests that prolonged exposure to ibuprofen during foetal life may lead to long-term effects on women's
Breast cancer treatments may up heart failure risk
Treating breast cancer patients with chemotherapy and radiation may increase their risk of developing cardiovascular diseases, the American Heart Association has warned.
Ibuprofen in early pregnancy may harm daughter's fertility
Women who consume commonly used Ibuprofen even for just two days during the first 24 weeks of their pregnancy may reduce their daughter's number of eggs, potentially affecting their fertility in the future, new research has warned.
Here's why red wine is good for your heart
Researchers are developing a new stent that releases red wine antioxidants slowly over time that promotes healing and prevents blood clotting and inflammation.Heart disease occurs when plaque builds up within artery walls blocking the blood flow through tissues in the body, increasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke.About 630,000 people die each year from heart disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.While there is no singular cure for heart disease, there are numerous forms of treatment including lifestyle changes and surgical procedures. In one procedure called a coronary angioplasty, a surgeon inserts and inflates a tiny balloon inside a blocked or narrow artery to widen it and allow blood to flow through to the heart thereby decreasing the risk of a heart attack or stroke.This procedure often includes inserting a permanent small mesh tube to support the blood vessel called a stent.Commercial stents can release chemotherapy agents that are toxic ...
Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Causes and symptoms
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, is a type of lung disease that results in the scarring, or fibrosis, of the lungs for an unknown reason. Over time, the scarring progresses and compromises the elasticity of lungs.IPF is a form of interstitial lung disease. There are many other kinds of interstitial lung disease that can also cause inflammation and/or fibrosis, and these are treated differently. It is important to work with a pulmonologist in order to determine if you have IPF or a different form of interstitial lung disease.The cause of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is not completely understood. "Idiopathic" means of unknown cause. Common risk factors for IPF include:• Genetics (family history): Up to 20% of people with IPF have another family member with an interstitial lung disease. If more than one member of your family has IPF, the disease is called familial pulmonary fibrosis.• Cigarette smoking: Approximately 75% of people with IPF are current or previous cigarette ...
Women between 16-30 at highest risk of cervical cancer
A retrospective analysis of HPV (Human Papillomavirus) testing in Cervical Cancer Screening has revealed that samples received from women from 16 - 30 years (14%) age group had the highest percentage of positive cases of high risk HPV, and hence a chance of developing cervical cancer.Performed by SRL Diagnostics, it was followed by the percentage in women from the 61-85 years (8.39%) age group. More than 3,000 women were tested pan-India between 2013 and 2017 for High Risk HPV infection by using the global standard method - Hybrid Capture II.Overall, 8.04% women showed high-risk HPV infection. More women from western India (about 10.23%) had high risk HPV infection than those from any other zone, closely followed by women from the South (about 9.78%) zone.The tests utilized in the screening for cervical cancer are - Conventional (Pap) test and Liquid-based Cytology (LBC), Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) and HPV testing for high-risk HPV types. In this analysis by SRL test ...
Dr Reddy's launches generic Tetrabenazine tablets in US
Drug firm Dr Reddy's Laboratories today said it has launched in the US market generic Tetrabenazine tablets used for treatment of involuntary movements associated with Huntington's disease. The company's Tetrabenazine tablets have been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA), Dr Reddy's Laboratories said in a filing to the BSE. They are a generic version of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Luxembourg S A R L's Xenazine tablets, it added. According to IMS Health data, Xenazine brand and generic had US sales of approximately USD 322 million MAT for the most recent twelve months ending in November 2017, Dr Reddy's Laboratories said. The company's Tetrabenazine tablets are available in strengths of 12.5 mg and 25 mg, it added. Shares of Dr Reddy's Laboratories were today trading at Rs 2,154.95 per scrip in the afternoon trade on BSE, down 0.09 per cent from the previous close.
Awareness about eye cancer necessary in the country: Doctors
Stating that most cases of eye cancer in the country get detected at alarmingly late stages, doctors here have stressed on the importance of spreading awareness about types of the disease and its symptoms among people to ensure its prevention, detection and treatment.
One cigarette a day can significantly damage your heart
For people who think that smoking only one or two cigarettes a day carries little cardiovascular risk, a new study maintains the only way to reduce risk is to quit.Smoking just one cigarette daily is associated with a "much greater than expected" increase in risk for coronary heart disease, researchers conclude in the latest study by British medical journal.Cardiovascular disease, not cancer, is the greatest mortality risk for smoking, causing about 48% of smoking-related premature deaths.Cigarette smokers have a higher risk of developing heart diseases. The growth of heart diseases is dependent on many interlinked factors such as age, body mass index, blood pressure, diabetes, alcohol consumption and smoking too.Smoking causes the heart to beat faster and for blood pressure to go up, but all the contaminants in the cigarette smoke damage the blood vessels. That blood vessel damage is what may potentially lead to heart failure.So, as a result of that, any risk factor that can ...
Air pollution can lead to lung cancer
Delhi is now the world's most polluted capital, with levels regularly exceeding those in Beijing, China.Pollution is a slow but steady killer. The toxin levels people are exposed to today will likely shorten people's life spans by several days or weeks. Air pollution, in particular, is linked to many health conditions, especially lung cancer."According to a recent report, lung cancer constitutes 6.9% of all new cancer cases and 9.3% of all cancer-related deaths in both men and women. It is imperative for each one of us to understand the effects that air pollution have on the lungs and on one's health and overall well-being," said Dr M Udaya Kumar Maiya, Medical Director, Portea Medical.Lung cancer or lung carcinoma is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. This can spread further by a process known as metastasis into nearby tissue or other parts of the body.The two main types of carcinomas are: small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and ...