U.S. Virologist plans international test of AIDS vaccine
Virologist Donald Francis, who successfully battled Ebola in the Sudan and smallpox in India, is now taking on the trickiest assignment of his career: an international test of an AIDS vaccine. Dr. Francis announced Wednesday that his company, VaxGen Inc., has won permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration …
HC stays chemotherapy by radiotherapists
In an important but interesting case, the question of whether radiotherapists can administer chemotherapy to a cancer patient is being examined by the Kerala High Court. Prima facia, Justice K Narayana Kurup of the Kerala High Court has found grounds to stay the recent Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) directive preventing …
Support urged for bill
The government is being urged to support a bill protecting traditional healers and intellectual knowledge on Thai herbs and medicines. The Thai Medical Wisdom Protection and Promotion Bill, say its supporters, will protect traditional healers and their knowledgewhich is not covered by intellectual property rights law.
Health outlay hike an illusion
IMA : The Indian Medical Association has said that the Union Budget has failed to give the health sector due importance.
Tall order
Researchers at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the U.S. came up with the hypothesis that wearing shoes with tall heels increase the risk of arthritis in the knees. The researchers noticed that arthritis of the knee is twice as common in women as in men.
A joint problem in China
A little known ailment is making life a misery for millions of young people in rural China. Kashin-Beck disease stunts children's growth and inflicts chronic arthritis-like pain on adults. According to Francoise Mathieu, director of the KBD Project for Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), the disease is common in a crescent …
Quick and cheap test for cancer
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the US are developing a quick and inexpensive test for cancer that might eventually be used to screen patients who have a potentially high risk of developing the disease. The test is based on allopurinol, a drug normally used to treat gout.
Air conditioning cooler than CFCs
Daimler-Benz is considering using carbon dioxide as a refrigerant in car air conditioners, in an effort to improve their enviromental performance. Daimler-Benz belives that switching to carbon dioxide would reduce the air conditioners overall contribution to the greenhouse effect by one-third.
Canada reprieve on tobacco sponsorship
Canada will ban all tobacco sponsorship in five years, but is giving events such as motor racing and jazz concerts a reprieve from restrictions scheduled to take effect later this year.
With new data firms show off impotence drugs
Several companies developing medicines to compete with Viagra presented study results showing their drugs could successfully treat impotence. But none appears likely to present a serious threat to the Pfizer Inc. blockbuster.
EU confirms 'positive opinion' on Viagra
The European Union's medicines agency confirmed that its scientific advisory committee had recommended that Pfizer Inc's impotence treatment Viagra be marketed in Europe.
Hepatitis C therapy approved
The Food and Drug Administration approved a combination of two powerful antiviral drugs to treat liver-destroying hepatitis C, a threapy that promises to be almost 10 times better than standard treatments. The FDA cautioned that Rebetron therapy, manufactured by Schering-Plough, was not a cure and had some serious side-effects.
Safe motherhood campaign launched in Punjab
The Punjab Government has launched a fortnight-long State-wide campaign to educate the people on safe motherhood. Camp sites have been identified to provide antenatal care to three lakh women in the rural and urban areas.
Atal goes back on Gujral word for Sarovar upkeep
The Centre has told the state government that it will not release any funds for the upkeep of Rabindra Sarovar in south Calcutta. The decision comes a few days before World Environment Day. Union environment minister Suresh P Prabhu, in a letter to state urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya, has …
CM flags off new water tankers
The Delhi Chief Minister, Mr Sahib Singh, who is also the chairman of the Delhi Jal Board, here today flagged off new water tankers acquired by the Board. These tankers will provide immediate relief to the people living in short-supply areas. In order to meet the demand of water supply …
Maternal nutrition linked to later-life disease in kids
Clear evidence is emerging about the importance of improving maternal nutrition for preventing chronic later-life disease in children - before they have children of their own.Building a sturdy baby seems to depend on good nutrition for the mother throughout her life.An ambitious study funded by the UK Welhome Trust and …
Bahuguna's objections on Tehri project rejected
The high-level committee constituted by the then Prime Minister, Mr. H.D. Deve Gowda, at the behest of the "Chipko"leader, Mr. Sunder Lal Bahuguna, while giving a green signal to the Tehri Dam Project has rejected objections raised about its safety by the latter, according to Mr. S.C. Sharma, General Manager, …
Japanese way of arresting vehicular pollution in Nepal
To repair, maintain, modify, recondition automobile, motorbike of diffrent makes and models and to check the vehicular emission in an ultra-modern way, some Nepalese entrepreneurs have recently established an auto workshop in Kathmandu. Nepal has been using "Muffler Test System" till today which can only check the silencer pipe of …
China intensifies ban on smoking in public places
A total of 29 provinces and cities in China have formulated regulations banning smoking in public places. China has about 320 million smokers. A survey shows that over 90 per cent smokers smoke in public places.
