Pain free injections
US researchers have developed a way to take the pain out of injections. Their technique relies on anarray of 'microneedles' - each much thinner than a human hair. The array only penetrates the outmost layer of the skin which doesn't contain any nerve endings. The team from the Georgia Institute …
Herbicides could treat malaria
European and US scientists have discovered that a group of parasites responsible for human diseases such as malaria share a metabolic pathway essentialto the survival of many plants. The finding suggests that common herbicides could be turned into anti-parasitic medicines. The parasites in question all belong to a group of …
Patients rights bill unveiled
House republicans have unveiled a long-awaited proposal to define patients rights and set uniform nationwide standards for health insurance, especially health maintenance organization in US. The insurance immediately denounced the proposal, saying it would increase costs for consumers.
AIDS running wild
The latest figures on the global AIDS epidemic are frightening beyond expectations. A country-by-country analysis by the United Nations AIDS program has found that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is running wild through many parts of the developing world, especially the impoverished nations of Africa south of the Sahara. …
Audit team doubts Nagpur TB centre's book-keeping
An audit of a District Tuberculosis Control Centre here has led to the discovery of alleged discrepancies in its account books.A two-member audit team- from the office of the joint director, health, Pune - reportedly found no office record of the purchases made by the TB centre for the year …
Import of suspected 'mad cow' products banned
The Union Commerce Ministry has banned imports of certain products being exported from the United Kingdom, Switzerland and other countries of the European Union, which may be prone to Bovine Spongioform Encephalopathy (BSE), popularly known as the 'Mad Cow' disease.
Core Healthcare to launch new anaesthetic drug
Ahmedabad-based Core Healthcare has received approval from the drug controller for a novel anaesthetic, 'Profol' which enables precise control of the state of unconsciousness. The drug is being launched all over the country today.
Smoking offensive revealed
The tobacco giant Philip Morris considered challenging Australia's health warnings on cigarettes and Victoria's workers' compensation laws as part of a billion-dollar global offensive against the anti-smoking movement, a confidential industrydocument reveals. Philip Morris also planned to "diffuse and reorient" the World Health Organisation and the International Union Against Cancer, …
Assam orders inquiry into gastro deaths
The State government has ordered a high-level inquiry into the large-scale deaths of tea plantation workers in the three Upper Assam districts of Jorhat, Sibsagar and Golaghat where gastro-enteritis assumed epidemic proportions.
Here Viagra comes free
The mayor of a small southern town in Brazil said on Wednesday he will distribute Viagra free of charge in a bid to raise the community's population and get more federal aid. Mayor Elcio Berti, mayor of Bocaiuva do sul, 650 kms southwest of Rio De Janeiro, said he was …
TN putting in place cauvery delta desilting project
The Tamil Nadu Government has drawn up a Rs. 154-crore project for desilting 14,000 km of water channels in the Cauvery delta. The project will be completed in the next three years, the Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, told press persons on the second day of his two-day survey of …
New TB treatment gains U.S. approval
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug to fight tuberculosis, the first new treatment in more than a decade for the virulent disease, and one that doesn't require as many doses in the months' long regimen. Doctors and researchers said the drug, rifapentine, will make it easier …
High-level probe into gastro deaths demanded
The General Secretary of Asom Sangrami Chah Shramik Sangha (ASCSS), Sri Brij Pradhan today claimed that gastro-enteritis had so far claimed lives of over 400 tea workers in the State and demanded a high-level probe into the deaths and exemplary punishment to the management of those tea gardens who failed …
Panel sees some cancer risk in power lines
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) that typically surround electric power lines should be considered a possible human carcinogen, according to a new report by a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences panel. The 28-member international panel voted 19-9 to consider EMFs as a possible cause of cancer. The NIEHS, which is part …
DNA test kit developed to detect malaria
Mosquito species that carry malaria can now be swiftly identified with a DNA test kit developed by Australian researchers, that will aid eradication of disease-carrying mosquitoes quickly and cheaply.Though the DNA probes are a more reliable way of identifying species than morphology but it requires blood smaples to be taken …
Largest AIDS vaccine trial begins in U.S.
American volunteers began rolling up their sleeves and receiving injections yesterday in the first-ever large-scale human test of an AIDS vaccine. The three-year trial of Vaxgen Inc.'s AIDS-VAX is intended to learn whether it can protect people from infection with the AIDS virus. The testing is the final step before …
Proposal to revamp blood banks soon
A proposal to revamp the Red Cross blood banks all over country is likely to be taken up by the Union Health Ministry soon. Most of the existing 20 Red Cross Blood banks in different states are not functioning due to financial crunch and many of these blood banks have …
Firms to cut prices of drugs for AIDS in poorer nations
In an attempt to get AIDS drugs to HIV-infected people in Africa, Asia and South America, several major pharmaceuticals companies are slashing their prices, in some instances by 50% to 75%. The large scale price discounting will be formally announced next week at the 12th International AIDS Conference in Geneva.
Tea workers protest gastro deaths
Hundreds of tea workers from various parts of Assam under the banner of Asom sangrami Chah Shramik sangha today staged protest demonstration in front of Janata Bhawan in view of deaths of hundreds of tea workers due to gastro-enteritis which has broken out in an epidemic form in several tea …
Probe ordered into polio vaccine 'farce'
The Department of Family Welfare in the Ministry of Health has ordered a high-level probe into reports of alleged administration of spurious polio vaccines to children in Ghaziabad and other towns of Western Uttar Pradesh.
