Becton Dickinson unveils new blood sampling system
The $3 billion Becton Dickinson, global leaders in the manufacture of medical devices has introduced a novel system for collection of blood samples 'Vacutainer'. A patented Becton Dickinson System cannot be recycled and is expected to open a new windown in blood sampling efforts. The new product facilitates safety of …
Rs. 7.5 cr. for NGOs' AIDS control projects
A sum of Rs. 7.5 crores has been pledged under the AIDS Prevention and Control Project (APAC) of the Voluntary Health Service (VHS), a non-governemntal organiation, to be provided as grants to 50 NGOs for undertaking AIDS control and intervention projects in Tamil Nadu over a period of three years, …
Fat-blocker margarine from pinewood fibre
A new margarine made with a fat-blocking derivative from pine trees lowers blood cholesterol by an average of 14 per cent in people who eat it, US researchers reported on Wednesday. Men and women with borderline-high cholesterol who are the spread regularly lowered both their total chloesterol and their so-called …
WHO for global tobacco treaty
The new Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Mr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, has called for an international treaty to control advertising, taxation, foreign sales and package design of tobacco. The WHO's suggestion comes amid reports that tobacco giants are targeting developing countries with fantastic results to make up for falling …
Huge meteor shower will turn Calcutta night into day
Come November 17, and the night skies will light up with a showr of sparks like nothing that India has seen for the past thirty years, apart from Haley' Comet.This torrent of meteors, called the Leonid Meteor shower, will begin shooting out in all directions from the eastern sky and …
Row over Kerala's infant mortality rate
A debate is raging over the finding of two demographers that the infant mortality rate (IMR) in Kerala may not be as low as projected. Dr. S. Irudaya Rajan of the Centre for Development Studies here and Dr. P. Mohanachandran Nair of Department of demography, University of Kerala, have claimed …
Kalam launches indigenous hepatitis B vaccine
Scientific Advisor to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, launched a new and indigenously made vaccine for Hepatitis D Revac B at Hyderabad on Thursday evening. The vaccine, developed by using the recombinant DNA technology, is being manufactured by Bharat Bhotech International Ltd, promoted by …
Doctors oppose Icelandic genebank
Iceland's plan to set up a database containing genetic information about its population is being opposed by doctors who claim it is medically unethical and could threaten the right to privacy. Thanks to its geographic isolation, Iceland has a relatively heterogeneous population. This genetic uniformity, and a long history of …
Dolly's creators sign agreement to develop disease-free sheep
A US biotech firm is joining forces with the researchers who cloned Dolly the sheep to develop a new technology to produce disease-free organs for use in human transplants. Kimeragan, based in Newton, Pennsylvania, is hoping to combine its new approach to gene therapy, called chimeraplasty, with the cloning technology …
DNA helps pick marrow donors
Two groups of researchers say they have found ways to make bone marrow transplant operations considerably safer and to expand the pool of donors. The unrelated studies, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, are milestones in the field of transplnatation, and their techniques can be put into use …
Tk 126.16 crore German aid for population project
Germany will provide Tk 126.16 crore for Bangladesh's population programme under a financial agreement between the two sides. According to the deal, signed in Francfurt, the German contribution would be spent for financing Health and Population Sector Programme-V in the country.
Malaria showcause on doctor
A day after shaking up its doctors for neglecting duty when a malaria scare is sweeping the city, Calcutta Muncipal Corporation (CMC) showcaused a doctor in its Bhowanipore clinic for his long and unauthorised absence. CMC is also taking steps to check the growth of mosquito larvae and water supply …
Mineral genie is out of the bottle
The government is a silent spectator while people are tricked into drinking bottled mineral water, at prices ranging from Rs 10 to 15 a bottle, without knowing the mineral and preservative contents. A public interest litigation filed in Delhi High Court has said this, citing results of a research conducted …
WHO campaign against tobacco industry
The World Health Organisation has proposed opening discussion on an international framework convention to contrl tobacco - this substance is expected to cause ten million deaths worldwide in 2000.
Yellow River in the red
In a desperate bid to save the yellow river from drying, Chinese conservationists have decided to draft the nation's first river protection law, the media recently. Owing to decades of excessive use of water and pollution, the river has begun to dry and the bill drafted by the yellow river …
Floods fail to solve water crisis in Maharashtra
The past week's suicide by a village elder has put the spotlight on the drinking water crisis in the rural hinterland of Maharashtra in spite of a good monsoon in the past few years. A 65-year-old man in the Buldhana district of the State doused himself with kerosene and set …
Chilka heading for biological death
Even though migratory birds started flocking to the world famous Chilka lake with the onset of the winter, environmentalists apprehed that the lake is heading towards a 'biological death' if the increasing human activity on the banks and pollution go unchecked.
Painkiller link to child liver failure
Children are suffering liver failure after taking paracetamol even at the recommended dose, researchers have found. Dr Ted O'Loughlin, a staff specialist in gastroenterology at Sydney's New Children's Hospital, said dosing children with paracetamol over several days appeared risky, particularly if they were not eating well. A study of 16 …
Hospital war on super-germ
Melbourne was experiencing the outbreak of an antibiotic-resistant germ, health authorities warned yesterday, and they urged hospitals to take immediate steps to try to halt the spread of the potentially deadly bacteria. Several of the city's biggest hospitals - including the Alfred, the Austin and Repatriation Medical Centre, Royal Melbourne …
400 doctors in Dallas quit health plan
In the biggest rebellion yet against a health insurance company, more than 400 doctors in Dallas have terminated their contracts with Aetna Inc.'s health maintenance organization, and Aetna has retaliated by cutting off their access to all its Dallas patients. As a result, nearly 30,000 patients covered by Aetna must …
