$250m WB credit for healthcare
The World Bank announced a US dollar 250 million credit for a health and population project to support healthcare reform in Bangladesh.
Embryonic idea mends age and disease damage
Swiss researchers recently severed a part of the brain stem of a batch of laboratory rats, thus preventing them moving their front paws. But when the rats were injected with a drug treatment, they could once again climb ropes and grasp food pellets. The experiment, described in a recent issue …
U.S. sweetner gets thumbs up in U.S.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of acesulfame potassium, a noncaloric sweetner, for use under the brand name Sunett, the sweetner is already an ingredient in soft drinks sold outside the U.S. by Coca Cola Co. and Pepsi Co. and was previoulsy approved in the U.S. for …
Brazil opens probe into prostate cancer drug
Brazil's health ministry has opened an investigation into the production of an anti-prostate cancer drug by the Brazilian subsidiary of Schering, the German pharmaceuticals group, after inspectors found fake pills on the market.
Researchers report strains of drug-resistant HIV
Researchers presented disturbing reports that some people have contracted new strains of the AIDS virus that are resistant to some of the powerful drug combination therapies that have revolutionized treatment of the disease over the past two years. This was one of the several presentations made at the 12th World …
Brazil drugs scheme praised
Free and universal access to anti-AIDS drugs saves money for the government, according to the organisers of Brazil's pioneering drug distribution programme. Since the end of 1996, the Brazilian government has been offering, free of charge, a cocktail of three anti-retroviral drugs to the 55,000 patients in the country who …
The Parthenium menace
While the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation and the UT Administration are shifting blame on each other for the congress grass menace in the city, the deadly weed is proliferating unchecked, thus playing havoc with the health of the residents.
Centre will take a keener interest in Indian medicine
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee hinted at the appointment of a minister to oversee the promotion of Indian Systems of Medicine and promised an increase in budgetary allocation at the inauguration of the 55th plenary session of the All India Ayurvedic Congress' at New Delhi on Wednesday.
Periyar dam issue
HC orders notice on Swamy's plea: The Madras High Court today ordered notice to the Kerala and Union Governments on a public interest litigation for a direction to restore to 152 feet the level of the Mullai Periyar dam from the present level of 136 feet. A Division Bench, comprising …
Spray vaccine prevent flu
A nasal spray vaccine has proven effetive in preventing influenza in children, raising hopes that injections, so much disliked by the little ones, will become obsolete. American scientists who developed the attenuated (weakend) live-virus vaccine have reported that the spray conferred 93 per cent protection against both circulating A and …
Centre to formulate law for protecting Indian herbs soon
The much-awaited legislation on regulating access to the country's biological wealth, has been redrafted and sent to the chief ministers of all states for their comments. Disclosing this to The Indian Express, Environment Minister Suresh Prabhu said the legislation seeks to establish a National Biodiversity Authority with state boards to …
Digvijay's claims about Narmada stir baseless, alleges Medha
The Narmada Bachao Andolan has said it would contine the agitation against the construction of the Maheshwar hydro-electric project if the Government did not listen to "reason", adding however, that it would not give up discussions with the State administration on the issue.Andolan leader Medha Patkar, who attended yesterday's marathon …
AIDS conference asks govts to become more active
Public health officials at the 12th Annual AIDS Conference on Tuesdasy provided details of initiatives to get treatment to the worst hit regions of the world and called on governments to become more active in fighting the deadly disease.
Deadly bacteria found in chicken
A lethal strain of bacteria known as VRE has been found during inspections of imported chicken,health officials said Wednesday. Chicken tainted with vancomycin resistant enterococcus, or VRE, normally does not cause problems in healthy people, but it could be fatal to the elderly and those with serious illnesses whose immune …
Planned amusement park on toxic waste site in Osaka spurs
A plan to build a Jurassic Park at a former industrial waste disposal site has raised concerns that part of the first Universal Studio project outside the United States will be built over soil contaminated with toxins. Environmentalists and activists are calling for a thorough and open examination of the …
Infection among prisoners high
Sexually transmitted diseases and blood-borne infections rank high among jail inmates, according to a study at AIIMS by scientists which suggests inclusion of prisoners among the "high-risk groups" to check the trend.
Deep impact
Once confined to a handful of practitioners tucked away in Chinatowns, acupuncture has blossomed into a widely accepted treatment in the United States : a report.
Rats raise tissue repair hopes
Scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel have helped paralysed rats partially regain the use of their hind legs, in a study that might eventually have implications for paraplegics. This month's issue of Nature Medicine reports that in a series of experiments with rats, the researchers managed to stimulate the …
