Page 627 - Health Medical Pharma

Odisha government announces incentives for doctors doing PG

The Odisha government on Tuesday decided to provide monthly financial incentives of Rs 18,000 to doctors doing their post graduation in pre and para clinical subjects.

High fat western diet could make prostate cancer aggressive

Eating a typical Western high-fat diet such as cheeseburgers and fries could make prostate cancer more aggressive and cause them to spread, finds a study.

Curbing junk food ads may cut rising obesity in teens

Junk food advertisements (ads) shown during programmes that are popular with young people, such as talent shows and football matches, drives youngsters to snack more on unhealthy food.

Haryana to adopt Clinical Establishments Act through ordinance

The Haryana government today decided to promulgate an ordinance for adopting the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act in the state. Finance Minister Abhimanyu told reporters that the decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar here, as the state did not have a piece of legislation to regulate and register clinical establishments. The proposed legislation will cover the clinical establishments having more than 50 beds, he said. The effective implementation of the legislation will ensure that clinical establishments in the state adopt ethical medical practices in treatment and patient care. "Effective action can be taken against clinical establishments indulging in fraudulent or unethical practices under the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, 2010. The Act will also ensure quality care and treatment to the patients at fair and affordable price," he said. Health Minister ...

New system needed to up availability of doctors: Kovind

President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday called for a new regulatory system to enhance availability of doctors and medical professionals as work load of the existing doctors was incredibly high.

Black Death plague was spread by dirty humans, not rats

Black Death, one of the worst pandemics in human that claimed millions of lives in Europe during the 12th Century, may have been spread by human fleas and body lice, rather than rats, a study suggests. It has long been thought that the plague, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, which lasted in Europe until the early 19th century, was spread by rats. It devastated European populations from 1346 to 1353 and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people. However, according to scientists from the University of Oslo in Norway and the University of Ferrara in Italy human "ectoparasites", such as body lice and human fleas, might be more likely to have caused the epidemic. The researchers created models of how a disease could be spread by rats, airborne transmission, and fleas and lice on humans and clothes, according to 'The Telegraph'. They found that, in seven of the cases, there was a closer resemblance between the human model and the outbreak when ..

Available medical seats highly inadequate for students: Prez

Expressing a serious concern over the "highly inadequate" number of medical education seats in the country, President Ram Nath Kovind today said various regulatory impediments that had prevented the growth would have to be overcome. He said this while addressing the 45th convocation of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Kovind, who talked at length about the "gaps" that remained between a good healthcare system and the population of the country, said that in the absence of the stipulated number of doctors, the workload on the existing ones was "very high" and that this situation needed to be addressed "very urgently". "I would say unrealistically high," he said, referring to the pressure on a doctor in the country. "I recognise that I am placing a big responsibility on the capable shoulders of our doctors. I acknowledge that our doctors need help. They need help in the form of more colleagues and this is where we need a new regulatory system to enhance

Gene linked to blood sugar, diabetes identified

Scientists have identified a new gene thought to be critical in the regulation of insulin, an advance that may pave the way for novel treatments for both rare and common forms of diabetes. In addition to the more common forms of diabetes (type 1 or type 2), in about 1-2 per cent of cases diabetes is due to a genetic disorder, known as maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY). A defective gene typically affects the function of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, known as beta cells. Researchers from Vanderbilt University in the US, Queen Mary University of London and University of Exeter in the UK studied the unique case of a family where several individuals suffer from diabetes, while other family members had developed insulin-producing tumours in their pancreas. These tumours, known as insulinomas, typically cause low blood sugar levels, in contrast to diabetes which leads to high blood sugar levels. "We were initially surprised about the association of two ...

Healthureum unveils Blockchain-based technology to improve medical care

Aiming to reduce inefficiencies in operations, resources, data, drug sourcing and technology, Estonia-based Healthureum has announced a Blockchain-based 360-degree ecosystem for administering medical care in a reliable manner.

Gene causing diabetes, low blood sugar levels identified

Researchers have identified a new gene that is thought to be critical in the regulation of insulin -- the key hormone in diabetes -- from a family with both high and low blood sugar conditions.

GSK Consumer Healthcare appoints Filippo Lanzi as Asia Pacific head

GSK Consumer Healthcare on Tuesday announced the appointment of Filippo Lanzi as regional head of Asia Pacific, a geography composed of 23 countries.Filippo will report to Brian McNamara, CEO of GSK Consumer Healthcare, and become a member of the consumer healthcare strategic leadership team as well as the GSK Singapore country board."Filippo is an outstanding leader who brings a wealth of expertise to a dynamic and rapidly growing Asia Pacific Region at GSK Consumer Healthcare. He has a unique ability to translate strategy into world-class execution by bringing together teams and innovations that drive results," said Brian McNamara."His people-focused leadership style and proven track record growing categories and transforming businesses are exactly what we need to win," McNamara added.Filippo joined GSK as part of a joint venture between GSK's Consumer Healthcare and Novartis OTC.Filippo, who helped lead the JV business integration in Europe, has more than 20 years of experience in .

Non-invasive therapy could remotely kill cancer cells

Scientists have developed a system that can non-invasively and remotely control immune cells so that they recognise and kill cancer cells. There is a critical need to non-invasively and remotely manipulate cells at a distance, particularly for translational applications in animals and humans, researchers said. They developed an innovative approach to use mechanogenetics - a field of science that focuses on how physical forces and changes in the mechanical properties of cells and tissues influence gene expression - for the remote control of gene and cell activations. The team from University of California, San Diego in the US used ultrasound to mechanically perturb T cells, and then converted the mechanical signals into genetic control of cells. They show how their remote-controlled mechanogenetics system can be used to engineer chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-expressing T cells that can target and kill cancer cells. The engineered CAR-T cells have mechano-sensors and ...

Dozens of toddlers die from malnutrition, measles in Papua

Dozens of toddlers in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province have died from malnutrition and measles over the past few months, a military spokesman said today, underscoring a lack of accessible medical care in the remote region. The high number of deaths comes after President Joko Widodo vowed in 2014 to beef up infrastructure on the island that is shared with Papua New Guinea. At least 59 toddlers have died from a combination of measles and malnutrition in the remote Asmat region, which has a severe shortage of doctors, said Papua military spokesman Muhammad Aidi. "We received reports from the local health officials about" these deaths, he told AFP. "We don't know for sure yet whether the malnutrition was caused by lack of food or by the parent's lack of knowledge regarding healthy food." In response, the military has deployed medical teams and support staff to supply villagers with medicine, vaccines, medical equipment and nutritious food, Aidi added. About 129,000 ...

GSK Consumer Healthcare appoints Filippo Lanzi as APAC head

GSK Consumer Healthcare today said it has appointed Filippo Lanzi as Regional Head of Asia Pacific region. He replaces Zubair Ahmed who takes over as the Non- Executive Chairman of India Board, the company said in a statement. As Regional Head of Asia Pacific, a geography composed of 23 countries, Lanzi will report to the company's CEO Brian McNamara and has also become a member of the consumer healthcare strategic leadership team as well as the GSK Singapore Country Board. Commenting on the appointment, McNamara said: "His (Lanzi) people-focused leadership style and proven track record of growing categories and transforming businesses are exactly what we need to win." Lanzi, who joined GSK as part of a joint venture between GSK's Consumer Healthcare and Novartis OTC, helped lead the JV business integration in Europe and has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare industry, the statement said.

How preterm birth may affect baby's language skills decoded

Preterm babies are likely to experience delays in the development of the brain region linked to hearing and understanding sound, which may lead to speech and language impairments at age 2, scientists say. "We have a pretty limited understanding of how the auditory brain develops in preterm infants," said Brian Monson, professor at University of Illinois in the US. "We know from previous research on full-term newborns that not only are foetuses hearing, but they're also listening and learning," said Monson, who led the study published in the journal eNeuro. Ultrasound studies reveal, for example, that, beginning at least as early as 25 weeks into gestation, foetuses will blink or move in response to externally produced sounds, he said. Other research shows that newborns prefer to listen to sounds - such as music or speech - that they were exposed to in the womb over unfamiliar sounds. Electroencephalogram studies of the brains of preterm infants show electrical activity ..

Premies show poor language skills in early childhood: Study

Premature babies, who are born early in the third trimester of pregnancy, are more likely to experience delay in learning speech and language in early childhood.They also found that that they are also likely to experience delay in the development of the auditory cortex, a brain region essential to hearing and understanding sound.Lead researcher Brian Monson from the University of Illinois said, "We have a pretty limited understanding of how the auditory brain develops in preterm infants"."We know from previous research on full-term newborns that not only are fetuses hearing, but they're also listening and learning", Monson added.To better understand how the auditory cortex matures in the last trimester of gestation, the team of researchers turned to a large dataset collected at the St. Louis Children's Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit between 2007 and 2010.The 90 premature infants in the study had undergone magnetic resonance imaging one to fourtimes in the course of their stay ..

Decoded: How preterm birth may impact language skills

Altered development of a part of brain region essential to hearing and understanding sound in preterm infants is associated with poorer language skills in early childhood, a study has found.

Stifling a sneeze could be fatal, doctors warn

Trying to stifle a forceful sneeze by pinching your nose and clamping your mouth shut may prove to be fatal, warn doctors including those of Indian origin, after this manoeuvre left a man with a painful, ruptured throat. Spontaneous rupture of the back of the throat is rare, and usually caused by trauma, or sometimes by vomiting, retching or heavy coughing, so the 34-year-old's symptoms initially surprised the emergency care doctors at the University Hospitals of Leicester in the UK. The young man had developed a popping sensation in his neck which immediately swelled up after he tried to contain a forceful sneeze by pinching his nose and keeping his mouth clamped shut at the same time, according to doctors including Raguwinder S Sahota and Sudip Das. A little later he found it extremely painful to swallow and all but lost his voice. When the doctors examined him they heard popping and crackling sounds, which extended from his neck all the way down to his ribcage - a ...

Magic mushrooms may treat depression without dulling emotions

Psychedelic drugs like magic mushrooms can help relieve the symptoms of depression, without the 'dulling' of emotions linked with antidepressants, a study has found. Working out if someone is happy, angry or afraid, from the look on their face, is a skill we may take for granted. For some people, however, such as those with chronic depression, this innate ability to pick up on and respond to emotional prompts like a facial expression can be disrupted, with the brain becoming oversensitive to negative stimuli. While antidepressants drugs can help to combat the symptoms of depression for patients, they can dampen how the brain processes strong emotions - effectively turning down the dial on the hypersensitivity to negative emotions but also 'blunting' intense positive mood. Researchers at the Imperial College London in the UK suggest that psychedelics, like magic mushrooms, may hold the key to sidestepping some of these effects in treating depression, by reviving the ...

Ex-Maha legislative council chairman NS Pharande passes away

Former chairman of Maharashtra legislative council Prof Narayan Sadashiv Pharande passed away early Tuesday morning at around 8Reportedly, NS Pharande was admitted to MJM hospital at Pune 15 days ago after a paralysis attack. He was suffering from internal bleeding in brain (intracerebral hemorrhage), which lead to his death.Pharande was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Maharashtra's Ahmednagar Constituency.