Pig-heart doctor for truth campaign
With a report by the Central reearch and Forensic Laboratory confirming that he had indeed conducted xenotransplantation of a pig heart into a human being, Dr Dhani Ram Baruah has decided to "launch a campaign to tell the medical fraternity and the people the truth".He had hogged the headlines last …
New drug mix may simplify HIV therapy
Researchers at the 12th World AIDS Conference unveiled a surprisingly poweful and easy-to-use combination drug therapy that may change the way HIV infections are treated. The new therapy would slash the number of HIV-fighting pills patients must take to three a day from at least 10.
Johnson & Johnson drug may pose risks
U.S. federal regulators warned that Johnson & Johnson's popular heartburn durg Propulsid may cause genetically deadly heart-rhythm problems when combined with numerous other medications, and recommended that the drug only be used after other treatment options fail.
FDA gives approval to computer used to find breast cancer
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a computer system that could significantly improve the chances of detecting breast cancer. The machine made by R2 Technology Inc., can analyze mammograms and highlight suspicious areas. Studies have estimated that radiologists typically fail to detect 20 out of every 100 cancers on …
UAE approves Viagra sale
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the first Arab country to approve the sale of the anti-impotence drug Viagra.The drug should now go on sale by the end of the year.
AIDS scientists tackling the ultimate goal
a cure : At this week's 12th World AIDS Conference held in Geneva, researchers talked of plans for going the next step. Their intention : Rid the body of HIV completely or reduce it so drastically that the body's own immune defences can hold the virus in check without drugs.
A sound advance for early warning of bone disease
Early and accurate detection of osteoporosis, a bone thinning disease that affects 200m people worldwide, was developed by Myriad Ultrasound of Israel. The system, SoundScan, uses standard ultrasound gel applied to the flesh around the bone. It is small, mobile, uses no ionising radiation and has a built-in self-diagnostics program.
National policy on prevention of AIDS soon
A recently-conducted epidemiological surveillance on AIDS by the Union health ministry shows the high rate of AIDS prevalence of 2.4 per cent in the general population of Maharashtra, and 1.2-1.6 per cent in the southern states and Manipur.This was revealed by Union health minister Dalit Exhimalai on Tuesday at the …
WB lends $376.4 m for health projects
The World Bank has approved two more loans worth $376.4 million for health projects taking total approvals by the bank to over $917 million since sanctions were slapped on India.
Deadly grip of AIDS is devastating American blacks
Seventeen years after AIDS was identified as a deadly disease among gay white men in New York and San Francisco, the disease is becoming an epidemic largely among black people in the United States-quietly devastating families and neighbourhoods. And yet it is all but ignored by leading black institutions.
New baby boom surpasses the first
Sometime within last year, the number of children in the United States rose beyond the peak of the post-World War II baby boom, signalling a new demographics-driven reordering of social, economic and political priorities. The number of children younger than 18 has reached 70.2 million according to the Census Bureau, …
Scientists have shot at genetically engineered vaccine
The first HIV vaccine trial to take place in Africa is ready to go ahead in Uganda, according to Donald Burke, a vaccine expert with the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). The trial, which will be conducted by the Ugandan ministry of health, will inject the vaccine, genetically engineered by …
Glaxo HIV drug aims to beat side effects
Glaxo Wellcome, the UK pharmaceuticals company, presented clinical trial data for abacavir, an HIV drug submitted last week to US, Canadian and European authorities for approval. Glaxo, which was promoting its compound at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva, hopes the US Food and Drug Administration will approve abacavir …
New view on UFOs
Who knows? : Some sightings over the years of "unidentified flying objects"-UFOs-have been accompanied by unexplained physical evidence that deserves serious study, according to an internatioal panel of scientists. In the first independent scientific review of the controversial topic in almost 30 years, directed by Peter Sturrock, a physicist at …
First beef export for two years eaten in Brussels
The first export consignment of beef to leave UK for more than two years was served up in Brussels. However, Northern Ireland meat exporters who supplied the meat warned that it would be several months before significant sales could be secured.
Importance of micro-enterprises in rehabilitation stressed
The framework for enabling the people displaced by the land acquisition schemes under the Water Resources Consolidation Project(WRCP), funded by the World Bank, to participate in the programmes for their rehabilitation was discussed at a two-day workshop organised by the Asian Information Marketing and Social(AIMS) Research in Madurai last week.
Germ plasm bank to protect rare medicinal plants
More than 40 species of rare medicinal plants that can cure diseases like jaundice, ulcer, kidney stones and women's ailments are protected at a germplasm bank on 250 hectares in the evergreen forest of Point Calimere wildlife sanctuary.
E.coli prompts Costco beef recalls
Costco Wholesale Corp. has recalled frozen ground beef patties from 24 states after a New York woman became sick from deadly E.coli bacteria, the U.S. Agriculture Department said. The USDA tested Costco beef from the same batch eaten by the woman and found traces of E.coli 0157:H7 bacteria, which can …
HIV in infants may go
French researchers say using caesarean-sections during birth coupled with the HIV -fighting drug AZT could nearly eliminate transmission of the AIDS virus from mother to child. Two studies released on Saturday and to be presented at the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva show the rate of mother-to-infant transmission plummeting …
Melghat children die of malnutrition
Drought may lead to starvation deaths in many parts of the country but in the Malghat region--in the picturesque foothills of the Satpuras--it is rain that claims lives. Over 4,000 children from the Korku tribe have died, mainly due to malnutrition, in the last six years. The situation gets worse …
