‘Health’ Articles
Written by Rahul on 04 September 2009
Washington, Sept 4 (ANI): Nicotine replacement therapy at least four weeks before surgery can almost halve the risk of poor wound healing in smokers, suggest researchers.
“It is not easy to quit smoking just before an operation,” said Professor Peter Sawicki, the Institute’s Director.
“But people who smoke are more likely to have complications after surgery than people who do not smoke,” he added.
Experts from German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) have revealed that nicotine replacement therapy can help people quit smoking and avoid complications after surgery.
It helps reduce withdrawal symptoms when people stop smoking by giving them nicotine through a patch or chewing gum.
The study has shown that only 14 percent of the patients who smoked had problems with wound healing if they had nicotine replacement therapy at least four weeks before surgery, compared to 28 percent of the patients who did not have nicotine replacement therapy.
“Anaesthetics and surgery put a strain on the body’s oxygen supply as it is,” said Professor Sawicki.
“Smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that is available in the blood even more, making it more difficult for wounds to heal – a process which requires oxygen,” he added.
The study appears on informedhealthonline.org. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 04 September 2009
London, September 4 (ANI): A US expert says that the public health measures taken in response to swine flu may be seen as alarmist, overly restrictive, and unjustified.
Peter Doshi, a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argues that any plans for pandemics need to take into account more than the worst case scenarios.
Writing in a paper published on bmj.com, he even calls for a new framework for thinking about epidemic disease.
He points out that pandemic preparations have focused on responding to worst-case scenarios over the past four years, which is why the H1N1 outbreak was responded to as an unfolding disaster.
While some countries erected port of entry quarantines, others advised against non-essential travel to affected areas and some closed schools and businesses.
Doshi insists that pandemic A/H1N1 is significantly different than the pandemic that was predicted.
According to him, pandemic A/H1N1 virus is not a new subtype but the same subtype as seasonal H1N1, which has been circulating since 1977.
He stresses that a substantial portion of the population may have immunity against it.
Doshi further argues that actions in response to the early H1N1 outbreak were taken in an environment of high public attention and low scientific certainty.
He says that the perceived risk was amplified by the sudden emphasis on laboratory testing for H1N1 in the first weeks of the outbreak.
He has even highlighted the fact that the World Health Organisation has revised its definition of pandemic flu since the emergence of A/H1N1.
The wisdom of many of these responses to pandemic A/H1N1 will undoubtedly be debated in the future, he writes.
Public health responses not calibrated to the threat may be perceived as alarmist, eroding the public trust and resulting in the public ignoring important warnings when serious epidemics do occur, he warns.
The success of public health strategies today depends as much on technical expertise as it does on media relations and communications.
Strategies that anticipate only type 1 epidemics, severe disease affecting many people, carry the risk of doing more harm than they prevent when epidemiologically limited or clinically mild epidemics or pandemics occur, he concludes. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 04 September 2009
Melbourne, Sept 4 (ANI): The thinner your thighs, the greater your risk of heart disease – that’s the conclusion of a new study.
According to the research, which looked at more than 2800 men and women with an average age of around 50, thigh circumference is linked to the risk of heart disease and premature death.
The study has been published in today’s edition of the British Medical Journal.
It found that heart disease risk more than doubled for both men and women who had a thigh circumference of less than 55 centimetres. Those volunteers with thighs between 55 and 60 centimetres received a protective effect against heart disease. However, that protective effect reduced for people with thighs above 60 centimetres in circumference, reports ABC Science.
According to associate Professor David Cameron-Smith, of Deakin University in Melbourne, thigh circumference is a broad indicator of physical activity and muscle mass is related to how much exercise you do.
“[If] you don’t use it, you lose it,” he said.
Cameron-Smith says using muscles has a very strong protective effect against heart disease and diabetes.
“It’s been known for a long time that muscle mass and strength are important determinants of longevity and health. Even moving from no activity to some activity has a dramatic effect,” he said. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 22 August 2009
Pune / Chennai, Aug 22 (ANI): Two more swine flu deaths were reported on Saturday in the country, taking the death toll to 47.
One death each was reported from Pune and Chennai.
With a 60 year old Baban Hangule succumbing to the virus on Saturday, Pune witnessed 20 deaths for the virus so far.
According to sources, Hangule was admitted in a serious condition to the state run Sasson Hospital on August 19.
The Maharashtra Health Department has expressed fears about controlling the spreading of the virus.
Educational institutions continue to remain closed.
The H1N1 virus has claimed the maximum victims in Pune since the first fatality was reported on August 3. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 22 August 2009
Pune / Chennai, Aug 22 (ANI): Two more swine flu deaths were reported on Saturday in the country, taking the death toll to 47.
One death each was reported from Pune and Chennai.
With a 60 year old Baban Hangule succumbing to the virus on Saturday, Pune witnessed 20 deaths for the virus so far.
According to sources, Hangule was admitted in a serious condition to the state run Sasson Hospital on August 19.
The Maharashtra Health Department has expressed fears about controlling the spreading of the virus.
Educational institutions continue to remain closed.
The H1N1 virus has claimed the maximum victims in Pune since the first fatality was reported on August 3. (ANI)
Tags: august 19, baban, Chennai, death toll, educational institutions, fatality, fears, flu, flu deaths, health department, Maharashtra, maximum, Pune, swine flu, virus
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Written by Rahul on 20 August 2009
Bangalore, Aug.19 (ANI): The total number of the confirmed swine flu affected cases risen to 211 in Karnataka on Wednesday with 17 individuals testing positive for H1NI virus.
According to sources in the health department, out of the 17 positive cases, 12 were reported in Bangalore while two each were reported in Davangere and Belgaum and one in Gadag.
118 cases are under treatment in various hospitals in the state, with Bangalore seeing most cases (106) and other districts (12) while remaining 93 patients have been discharged. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 20 August 2009
Ahmedabad, Aug.19 (ANI): Expressing concerned over the consistent rise in swine flu cases in different parts of the State, the Gujarat government on Wednesday opted to invoke the pidemic Act
Gujarat recorded nine fresh H1N1 infections on Wednesday.
State’s Principal Secretary for Health, Ravi Saxena said: “We have invoked the Act and now can quarantine any person, use any building or hospital and ask for compulsory cleanliness in any part of the state.”
With Wednesday’s invocation of the Epidemic Act, Gujarat joined Maharashtra, Haryana and Delhi who have already invoked the Act.
Once the Act is invoked, the state health authorities get powers to deal with the pandemic, Saxena said.
In last two days, 22 positive cases of the swine flu have been reported from various districts like Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Valsad and Gandhinagar besides Ahmedabad, Vadodara and Surat.
Meanwhile, with the fresh cases, the total number of H1N1 infections has risen to 67 in the Gujarat state where three persons, including an NRI, have succumbed to the viral disease. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 20 August 2009
Melbourne, Aug 19 (ANI): The Federal Government in Australia has decided to take a look into the massive diet and weight-loss industry, following reports that the obesity rate in the country is still climbing.
Weight-loss programs and products will have to prove that they can help people keep off the kilos long-term as the Federal Government cracks down on the 414-million dollar-a-year industry.
The Kevin Rudd Government’s Preventative Health Taskforce is understood to have called for the weight-loss industry to be regulated in a report handed down last month.
It follows growing evidence that diets may actually be adding to the obesity crisis, as overweight people lose weight rapidly while following programs, but quickly put it back on after they stop.
The taskforce said that young women in particular were spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on such programs to manage their weight.
Despite this, the nation’s obesity rate was climbing with more than 60 per cent of adults now overweight or obese.
While weight-loss programs and pharmacy-based meal replacement programs were popular, the task force said there was limited data to show they were actually effective.
It wants a wide-ranging review of diet products and a common code of practice drawn up covering the cost, the training of counsellors and the promotion of the diets.
The Dietitians Association of Australia is backing the recommendation.
According to the Daily Telegraph, a spokesman said all commercial diet programs should be assessed by a body of experts similar to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, which assesses drugs for safety and efficacy before they can go on sale.
The association said regulation should require businesses marketing a diet program to provide evidence to a panel of experts showing what percentage of those who used the diet kept the weight off two years after starting.
Chief executive Claire Hewat said a good diet would result in weight loss of about half a kilogram per week.
“If you can lose 5 per cent of your body weight you are doing really well,” News.com.au quoted her as saying.
“Diets are not the point, it’s lifestyle change that is needed,” she stated. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 17 August 2009
Wellington, Aug 17 (ANI): The next time you kiss your partner, keep this health warning in mind – the symbol of affection is a major transmitter of herpes.
While kissing ‘demonstrates love and affection’, it also poses risks, warns the Australian Herpes Management Forum (AHMF) ahead of the roll-out of a national ad campaign.
AHMF executive director Tricia Berger says that kissing poses risks to both adults and children.
“No parent kissing their child or partner kissing their girlfriend wants to pass along the Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), but people should be aware this is the main method of transmission,” the NZPA quoted Berger as saying.
“Once you have been infected with HSV-1 or HSV-2, the virus stays in your body for life and can be reactivate at any time,” Berger added.
HSV-1, the variant of the virus otherwise referred to as cold sores, is commonly acquired as a child from contact, often a kiss, with adult relatives.
Berger says that when a person becomes infected, they will not always have typical cold sore symptoms.
“If you have a herpes sore on or near your mouth, its likely that you’ll pass the virus along to whomever you kiss,” she says.
“It is also possible to transmit the virus even when there are no apparent sores or symptoms, but the risk is higher when the sores are visible,” she added.
HSV-1 is also behind 40 per cent of genital herpes cases, while about 12 per cent of people have the virus’ HSV-2 variant, which is the most common cause of genital herpes. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 17 August 2009
Washington, August 17 (ANI): Health experts in India will begin clinical trials to determine the efficacy of the first dry powder inhalable vaccine for measles next year, according to a report.
Presented at the 238th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) in Washington on Sunday, the report points out that measles sickens millions of infants and children, and kills almost 200,000 annually in India.
Dr. Robert Sievers, who leads the team that developed the dry-powder vaccine, said that it was a perfect fit for use in back-roads areas of developing countries, which often lack the electricity for refrigeration, clean water, and sterile needles needed to administer traditional liquid vaccines.
“Childhood vaccines that can be inhaled and delivered directly to mucosal surfaces have the potential to offer significant advantages over injection. Not only might they reduce the risk of infection from HIV, hepatitis, and other serious diseases due to unsterilized needles, they may prove more effective against disease,” he said.
“Many serious infections, such as the measles virus, can enter the body through inhalation. Measles vaccine dry powders have the potential to effectively vaccinate infants, children and adults by inhalation, avoiding the problems associated with liquid vaccines delivered by injection,” he added.
Sievers, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, has revealed that he took inspiration for the new vaccine from research on how people inhale tiny airborne droplets of air pollutants.
To create an inhalable vaccine, he and his colleagues a patented process known as the Carbon Dioxide-Assisted Nebulization with a Bubble Dryer (CAN-BD).
The researcher said that the weakened measles virus is mixed with “supercritical” carbon dioxide – part gas, part liquid – to produce microscopic bubbles and droplets, which then are dried to make an inhalable powder.
The powder is puffed into a small, cylindrical, plastic sack, with an opening like the neck of a plastic water bottle, and administered.
“By taking one deep breath from the sack, a child could be effectively vaccinated,” Sievers said.
He says that, in animal tests, the inhaler has been found to be just as effective in delivering measles vaccine as the traditional injection.
The researchers are now working on an inexpensive dry powder inhaler that would deliver measles or influenza vaccines to developing nations, and could be used elsewhere.
They believe that the new method may also do away with the problem of people refusing inoculations because of their fear of needles.
Sievers says if the inhaler passes final safety and effectiveness tests, the Serum Institute of India Ltd. expects a demand growing to 400 million doses of measles vaccine a year.
“Human clinical trials are expected to begin next year in India, after animal safety studies are completed this year.
About two-thirds of the world’s deaths due to measles occur in that nation. Worldwide, several hundred people die every day from measles-related disease,” he said. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 17 August 2009
New Delhi, Aug 17 (ANI): Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Monday said the Government is going to issue guidelines for schools asking them to dispense with the routine of holding daily assembly meeting in morning to prevent spread of swine flu.
“Morning assembly in schools, where students come in close contact could become a source for spread of the virus,” Azad said.
The guidelines would be issued in a couple of days, which would also make it mandatory for school teachers to check each student for symptoms of the deadly H1N1 virus, Azad added.
“It is also being made mandatory for each teacher to go from seat to seat in the class to check for symptoms of flu, identify the student and immediately send him or her back with the advice that they should stay at home for a week,” Azad added.
Azad informed that a new vaccine is expected to be developed in five to seven months, for which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has already provided the seed from Atlanta-based Centre for Disease Control.
He also said that additional 24 thermal scanners would be put into operation at international airports across the country.
Meanwhile, three more persons died of the deadly H1N1 virus on Monday, taking country’s swine flu death toll to 28. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 11 August 2009
Washington, Aug 11 (ANI): Insufficient sleep may contribute to the development of insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance, which in turn may increase the long-term risk of diabetes, concludes a new study.
The study has been accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (JCEM).
Sleep curtailment is characterized by physical inactivity and overeating.
The new study examined whether reduced sleep duration itself may increase the risk of developing diabetes when combined with physical inactivity and overeating.
Researchers in this study subjected a group of healthy middle-aged men and women to two controlled 14-day periods of sedentary living with free access to food and 5.5 or 8.5 hour bedtimes. When the subjects had their bedtimes decreased from 8.5 hours to 5.5 hours they showed changes in their response to two common sugar tests, which were similar to those seen in people with an increased risk of developing diabetes.
“Our findings raise the possibility that when the unhealthy aspects of the Westernized lifestyle are combined with reduced sleep duration, this might contribute to the increased risk of many overweight and sedentary individuals developing diabetes,” said Plamen Penev, MD, PhD, of the University of Chicago and a senior author of the study.
“If confirmed by future larger studies, these results would indicate that a healthy lifestyle should include not only healthy eating habits and adequate amounts of physical activity, but also obtaining a sufficient amount of sleep,” the expert added. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 11 August 2009
Washington, August 11 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have moved a step closer to transforming embryonic stem cells into a multipurpose medical tool, for they have successfully transformed these versatile cells into progenitors of white blood cells and into six types of mature white blood and immune cells.
The researchers agree that a clinical use for their approach is some years away, but they insist that the new technique may produce cells with enormous potential for studying the development and treatment of disease.
They say that the technique works equally well with stem cells grown from an embryo and with adult pluripotent stem cells, which are derived from adult cells that have been converted until they resemble embryonic stem cells.
They even believe that the new technique could produce blood cells with specific defects, if the adult cells came from people with certain bone marrow diseases.
The technique could also be used to grow specific varieties of immune cells that could target specific infections or tumours, say the researchers.
Study leader Igor Slukvin, an assistant professor in the university’s Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, points out that the likely most immediate benefit is cells that can be used for safety screening of new drugs.
“Toxicity to the blood-forming system is a key limit on drug development, so these cells could be used for safety testing in any drug development,” says Slukvin, who performs research at the National Primate Research Center in Madison.
While bone marrow stem cells are already used to screen drugs, the researchers say that their method promises to produce large quantities of cells in a dish that can be more exactly tailored to the task at hand, without requiring a constant supply of bone marrow cells from donors.
Considering that the development of stem cells into mature, specialized cells is governed by trace amounts of biological signalling molecules, the researchers exposed two types of highly versatile stem cells to various compounds.
The team eventually found a recipe that would cause the cells to move through a process of progressive specialization into a variety of adult cells.
Writing about their study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, they revealed that the result included osteoclasts, cells that play a role in osteoporosis, and eosinophils, which are involved in allergy and asthma.
Other adult cells included dendritic and Langerhans cells, which direct other immune cells to attack infections, and neutrophils, the most common type of white blood cell.
“While we now can make almost all types of blood cells from embryonic and adult pluripotent stem cells, the next major challenge is to produce blood stem cells (called hematopoetic stem cells) that might be used in a bone marrow transplant,” Slukvin says.
This life-saving procedure can replace the entire blood-forming system in a patient with blood cancer, but more than one-third of patients cannot find a well-matched bone marrow donor and thus risk graft-versus-host disease, a sometimes-fatal attack on the patient by the transferred immune system.
Slukvin says that compatibility problems may vanish if the blood-forming stem cells are based on the patient’s own cells.
“Eventually, we want to make therapeutic cells that could be used instead of bone marrow transplants,” says the researcher.
Slukvin hopes that the novel method will eventually produce cells that model a variety of medical conditions.
“We can take cells from patients with a disease of the blood system and explore the cause and treatment of that specific disease. We can generate blood cells which are normal or abnormal, and study the mechanisms and treatments of blood cancers,” he says.
Scientists now suspect that many cancers have their own stem cells, a long-lived malefactor that spawns cells that form the bulk of the tumor.
“Cancer has these stem cells, and we need to target them for treatment. But when patients come to the clinic, they already have cancer, so the malignant transformation already started.
By reprogramming blood cancer cells to pluripotent stem cells and differentiating these cells back to blood, we hope to generate cancer stem cells in a dish; that would be a good model for studying how these cells formed, to figure out what external factors make them go bad.
This could be a crucial step in treating or preventing cancer,” says Slukvin. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 10 August 2009
London, August 10 (ANI): It may soon be possible to stop babies dying in the womb, thanks to a measurement to spot small placentas that can act as an early warning system.
This breakthrough results from the efforts made by Yale University researchers in developing an equation to work out the volume of the placenta with a high degree of accuracy.
Writing about their work in the American Journal of Perinatology, the researchers have expressed the hope that their measurement could spot problems with the organ, which nourishes the growing foetus.
Very small placentas have been associated with foetal death, although many healthy babies are born of below-average size placentas and, conversely, sickly infants from larger ones.
Harvey Kliman, from Yale’s department of obstetrics, revealed that he got inspired to develop an accurate means of measuring the organ after he learnt that it was difficult to gauge on ultrasound screens.
The researcher revealed that the sum involves estimates of the maximum width, height and thickness of the placenta to produce the Estimated Placenta Volume (EPV), and is reported to predict its actual volume by up to 89 per cent.
“The method works best during the second and early third trimesters,” the BBC quoted Dr. Kliman as saying.
“I hope that the EPV test becomes routine for pregnant women,” Dr. Kliman added.
The researchers believe that their work may help monitor pregnancies more carefully.
Patrick O’Brien, of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, suggested that the proposition had potential, saying: “It would be most useful if the calculation could be made earlier on in the pregnancy – later on we have a good idea of the health of the baby just by looking at it.
I would like to see this as a study carried out on a large group of women to see if it does flag up problems at the outset. It certainly looks interesting.” (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 10 August 2009
Pune, Aug 10 (ANI): A 35-year-old chemist Sanjay Tilekar died of swine flu on Monday at the Sasoon Hospital in Pune, registering the seventh death by H1N1 virus in the country.
Earlier in the day, a 35-year-old ayurvedic doctor and a four-year-old boy died of swine flu in Pune and Chennai.
Taking preventive measures to tackle the deadly virus, Government of Maharashtra on Monday ordered the closure of all educational institutions for the next one week in Pune and also in the industrial townships on the outskirts of the city, where swine flu has claimed five lives so far.
This was stated by Ajit Pawar, District Guardian Minister overseeing Pune region at a press conference here on Monday.
“From today till August 17, all colleges, high schools, primary schools should be closed, all private classes should be stopped in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. All children are advised to stay indoors,” said Pawar.
Besides schools and colleges, the Government has also ordered the closure of all the theatres for the next three days. He also informed that three swine flu patients in Pune were critical.
“Out of the four positive cases (in Sassoon Hospital) three are critical. We have been giving them appropriate treatment,” Pawar added. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 09 August 2009
New Delhi, Aug. 9 (ANI): Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Sunday apologised to the family of 14-year-old swine flu victim Reeda Shaikh for his remarks stating that she was responsible for infecting nearly 85 people of her school.
“I never intended to hurt Shaikh family in any way. I never meant to say the Reeda spread H1N1 infection in Pune,” said Azad.
Azad’s apology follows Reeda’s family members demands for an apology, in writing, by Azad and Union Health Secretary Naresh Dayal.
Earlier on Sunday afternoon, while addressing a press conference in Pune, Reeda’s mother Sheireen slammed Azad’s comments that Reeda might have spread the disease to nearly 85 people of her school.
“We want an apology from the government. He (Azad) has hurt a mother… he has blamed our child, Reeda for having infected 80 others by going to four hospitals. He needs to get his facts right,” Reeda’s mother stated on Sunday afternoon.
The family also demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry into the entire swine flu crisis management system and formation of a medical committee to deal with the situation. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 09 August 2009
Mumbai, Aug.9 (ANI): Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Sunday said that his Government was considering a proposal to allow private hospitals fulfilling Government guidelines to treat swine flu cases.
Chavan on Sunday convened a five-hour-long high-level meeting on the Swine Flu situation in the State, which has seen three of the four H1N1 deaths recorded in the country.
Interacting with the mediamen, Chavan said: “A decision on the issue would be taken in two days after a meeting with private hospital managements.”
“Those private hospitals who are willing to set up isolated wards and follow Government of India’s guidelines would be considered,” he added.
There are, however, no restrictions on private doctors examining suspected cases, Chavan said.
Chavan said people should wear masks in public place.
A doctor should send suspected cases to screening centres, which would take throat swab to get it tested for swine flu, the CM added.
Chavan asked people to restrict movement at public places. He, however, announced that it would be up to school managements to decide on closing the school in view of the swine flu.
Meanwhile, a meeting of all Ganesh mandals and Dahihandi mandals would be convened on Monday to discuss ways of minimising spread of swine flu. It is because hundreds of thousands of people throng the streets during Ganeshotsav and Dahihandi celebrations. (ANI)
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Written by Rahul on 09 August 2009
Mumbai, Aug. 9 (ANI): Condition of a 28-year-old swine flu patient admitted to Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital in Mumbai was reported to be critical on Sunday.
“Sandeep Gaikwad, a resident of Chandivili is still critical and put on ventilator, but is stable. He is being treated as per doctors’ advise from Kasturba Hospital,” said Manish Joshi, Manager of Dr. L H Hiranandani Hospital.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Sunday said that government is considering a proposal to allow private hospitals to treat swine flu cases.
“A decision on the issue would be taken in two days after a meeting with private hospital managements. Those private hospitals who are willing to set up isolated wards and follow Government of India’s guidelines would be considered,” Chavan said.
Chavan also urged people to restrict themselves from unnecessary outings.
Four persons have succumbed to swine flu. Earlier, a 43-year-old non – resident Indian (NRI) died of swine flu at the City Civil Hospital in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
On Saturday, 53-year-old Fahmida Panwala from Mumbai and 42-year-old teacher Sanjay Tukaram Kokre from Pune had died of swine flu.
On August 3, a 14-year-old schoolgirl Reeda Shaikh had died in Pune. (ANI)
Tags: Ahmedabad, ashok, Chavan, Chief Minister, flu, flu cases, Government of India, hiranandani hospital, Joshi, Manish, Mumbai, nri, private hospital, private hospitals, Pune, Sandeep, Sanjay, swine flu, Tukaram, ventilator, wards
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Written by Rahul on 09 August 2009
New Delhi, Aug.9 (ANI): With the number of Swine Flu cases being on the rise in Maharashtra and some other States of the country, the Delhi Government held a meet on Sunday to discuss measures to curb spread of HINI virus.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who presided the meet, informed 228 cases of Swine Flu were noticed of which 117 have been discharged and 58 are still undergoing treatment so far in the national capital.
“We would advice through you that all the people of Delhi not to panic but to take precautionary measures,” said Shiela Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi told media.
Ahead of the meet, a decision on closure of schools for a temporary period and restricting movement in public places was expected.
Dikshit, however, clarified that no advisory to schools was being issued by the Government to close down their schools.
“No we are not planning to close schools at all. However, if some schools have found three to four cases, they can close their schools for some time. But there is nothing like that the schools are being closed. Only an advisory is going to be sent by tomorrow morning by Principal Secretary, Education, to the schools to say: Please Be Careful,” Dikshit added.
The advisory will contain the direction to explain cause and symptoms of Swine Flu.
At present there are 14 hospitals in Delhi that have facility for Swine Flu treatment.
Besides CM Dikshi, Delhi Health Minister Kiran Walia attended the meet and other senior officials related to health department.
Delhi Government has also issued a help line ….Ph.23921401
Several schools in Mumbai and neighbouring Navi Mumbai and also all education institutions in Pune and Pimpri have been closed for a week as a precautionary measure. (ANI)
Tags: Chief Minister, delhi government, education institutions, flu cases, flu treatment, health department, health minister, hospitals in delhi, Kiran, Maharashtra, navi mumbai, precautionary measure, precautionary measures, principal secretary, schools in mumbai, senior officials, sheila dikshit, swine flu, undergoing treatment, walia
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Written by admin on 31 March 2009
Washington, March 31 (ANI): Researchers at Tel Aviv University (TAU) in Israel have developed a device, dubbed a ‘bionic nose’, which can be used to detect microscopic signs of cancer, bombs and impure water.
Both cancer cells and the chemicals used to make bombs can foil detection because they appear in trace amounts too small for conventional detection techniques.
But now, scientists at Tel Aviv University have engineered a molecule that can magnify weak traces of “hidden” molecules into something we can detect and see.
Using molecular techniques in nanotechnology, Professor Doron Shabat of TAU’s Raymond and Beverly Sackler School of Chemistry has engineered new molecules that have the power to identify targets – such as biomarkers in cancer, materials in explosives, or pollutants in water – even when present in miniscule amounts.
Professor Shabat’s invention, like a bionic nose, can “sniff out” these trace molecules and amplify them tenfold, making them noticeable for doctors and crimefighters.
Shabat, a bioorganic chemist, plans to develop the technology so that it amplifies signals millions and billions times stronger than they are.
“We are developing a molecular system that amplifies certain events,” said Shabat. “That way, we’ll be able to respond faster to medical, security and environmental threats. In effect, our device can amplify just about any chemical system that has a certain kind of reactivity,” he added.
According to Shabat, “It has the potential to help doctors diagnose diseases – those with biomarkers, and enzymatic activities that are compatible with our molecular probe.”
“The long list includes a few kinds of cancer, as well, including prostate cancer. But, it also has applications for testing for impurities in water. It has both biological and non-biological applications,” he added.
Professor Shabat’s invention is a molecular sensor that acts in a solution.
A chemist would add trace amounts of the test material from the field – a spoonful of contaminated drinking water, for example – into the solution and would simply see if the color of the solution changes.
If so, the targeted material – the cancer, or explosive, or pollutant – is present.
The prototype is ready, and Shabat plans to use it to “amplify” problems around the world to improve healthcare, safety, and security. (ANI)
Tags: Beverly Sackler, Biological Applications, biomarkers, cancer cells, chemist, Crimefighters, Environmental Threats, Enzymatic Activities, Impurities In Water, Kinds Of Cancer, Medical Security, Miniscule Amounts, Molecular Probe, Pollutants In Water, Prostate Cancer, Reactivity, Sackler School, Shabat, Signs Of Cancer, tel aviv university
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