WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
A Chinese law banning the buying and selling of blood took effect. The law reflects a growing uneasiness in China about the heavy reliance on paid blood donors. This reliance is contributing to the rapid spread of AIDS. Medical centers all over the country are bracing for problems because of …
Each of the potatoes is regular in shape and has a pale brown skin that shines under the bright lights of the high-tech greenhouse. They look like ordinary spuds waiting their turn for a one, way trip to the chip pan or the cooker but, despite their mundane honey appearance, …
Nineteen women have become pregnant-and one has already delivered a healthy baby boy-as a result of a new in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique developed at Stanford to minimize the risk of multiple births, researchers reported in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. The …
A protein manufactured by the human immune system kills the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, an international team of scientists has observed in laboratory tests. The discovery they say, could lead to new treatments for a disease that affects up to one-third of the world's population. The protein granulysin, made by …
Pradip K. Bose has found convincing evidence from a site close to Churhat that the first multiple celled animals evolved about 1.1 bilion years ago, a finding that will stretch back the chronology of animal life by a good 500 million years. The discovery, says Prabhu Kalia, an expert on …
A glycoprotein found in milk may prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their children. Lactoferrin is a natural antibiotic, secreted in a number of body fluids; including saliva, bile, pancreatic fluid, tears and milk. A team of Norwegian and US scientists led by Rolando Viani, of the University …
The opening of Europe's biggest-ever urban regeneration scheme will not happen at least for six months. The 196m pounds barrage is a record breaking feat of engineering and social regeneration. The 1.1km dam is 11 times bigger than any such construction in the UK and outspans any in Europe except …
Many electrical appliances use energy even when switched off. One estimate - by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US - suggested that US consumers waste over $3.5bn a year on electricity consumed by products they think are turned off. Power Intergrations, an electronics company based in California, has …
Results of the largest and longest running study of people with type 2 diabetes should change the way the disease is routinely treated and significantly improve the quality of life for many with the disease, experts say. The United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study, published in the current issue of The …
Do not use antibiotics every time you sneeze, researchers at the National Public Health Institute of Finland have advised patients suffering from symptoms of common cold. A new study confirms that almost all colds are, in fact, caused by viruses, and so antibiotics should not be used to treat them. …
According to the latest reports, sucralose, a new sugar substitute, has won the US Food and Drug Administration's (PDA's) approval as the first artificial sweetener to be used in a wide range of products. Sucralose was approved by the PDA for all practical uses as an artificial sweetener, including sweetening …
DEAD men tell no tales, but thanks to science, they can sure make babies, In a first-of-its-kind operation, sperm from a dead man have been used for the first time to establish a pregnancy. This seems sure to intensify calls for reproductive technologies to be more tightly regulated. The man …
People with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have a surprisingly active thymus, an organ at the base of the neck that sends out immune cells but winds down with age. Researchers assumed that anyone with HIV would have an inactive thymus due to attack by the virus and normal ageing. …
Brain scans confirm what smokers insist: cigarettes improve concentration. Elizabeth Quattrocki of the McLean Hospital in USA, asked four smokers not to smoke for 24 hours. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, she scanned the brains of these volunteers and four nonsmokers as they answered questions about some pictures. Both groups …
IT is the catch 22 story. Cigarette smoking is injurious to health, proclaim the cautionary statements on every packet, but on the other hand, if you quit smoking for a short period of time, you are likely to land yourself in an accident or two, say British researchers. Stopping smoking …
THIRTY nine men have died so far after taking the anti-impotency drug Viagra, confirms the us Food and Drug Administration (PDA). About 85 per cent of the patients were found to have one or more risk factors related to coronary artery disease. Almost half the victims died within three hours …
NEUTRON stars are rapidly rotating stars composed predominantly of closely packed neutrons. They emit rapid, regular pulses of radiation (usually at radio frequencies, and are known as pulsars). Since 1967, when the first pulsar was discovered accidentally, a lot of research has gone into neutron stars. One of the several …
