- Court decision likely to fuel abortion debate
The US Supreme Court let stand a lower court decision that ruled unconstitutional a state's attempt to ban some late term abortions. Though the Court's action did not constitute a formal ruling on the admissibility of such laws, it seemed likely to fuel an already highly charged debate in the …
Moscow boom town for plastic surgery
Moscow's creaking healthcare system may seem unlikely to attract rich foreigners seeking delicate surgery. But in an extraordinary twist, the Russian capital has become a mini boom town for plastic surgery, drawing patients from as far away as London and Sydney, seeking cheap and reliable face-lifts, breast implants and liposuction.
Drug-resistant TB rears head in state
The public is largely unaware and the authorities nonchalant. But doctors are steadily getting more and more cases of a relatively new and dangerous scourge stalking the Calcutta and countryside: multiple drug resistant tuberculosis.
Experts team to check malaria
The detection of 37 malignant malaria cases in the Calcutta city has led the Calcutta Municipal Corporation to set up an expets team which is conducting an anti-larvae drive. CMC technicians examined 1,864 slides in corporation clinics and detected 374 positive cases.
Cancer-curing drug on the cards
A new wonder drug, which could simultaneously cure cancer in blood, central nervous system, lungs, ovaries and the breast is on the cards. And the onus for this is on T. Ravikumar whose thesis programme is going on at the L.M. Pharmacy college, Ahmedabad.
ICMR issues new set of guidelines
The Indian Council of Medical Research has come up with a new set of guidelines on the issue of transfer of biological material into and outside India for biomedical research.
NHRC panel to focus on women's health
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has set up a Core Group of experts to address the issue of gender inequality with respect to maternal mortality, female foeticide and infanticide and poor health care for women. Sources said that it was the "callous insensitivity" to the right to lead a …
Drug to combat breast cancer
Women suffering from advanced breast cancer that has spread to other organs may soon be able to take a pill in their quest to slow their incurable disease. Advisers to the US Food and Drug Administration recommended that the government approve the drug Xeloda, though they emphasized that the pill's …
- Comebcak of a killer
Tuberculosis(TB) has re-emerged as the number one killer in the world. And the battle against it will mainly have to be fought in India, says Dr Thomas Frieden, WHO medical officer in India. Every day, a thousand people in India succumb to the disease which also happens to be the …
Supreme Court backs ruling against Ohio abortion ban
A divided Supreme Court handed advocates of abortion rights a victory Monday by leaving intact a precedent-setting ruling that struck down a state law banning a type of late-term abortion. The justices, by a 6 to 3 vote, let stand ruling that called the 1995 Ohio law unconstitutional and blocked …
Scientists fighting a global battle against malaria
The US army is fighting a global battle against a deadly enemy with frightening air borne stealth capabilities - an adversary who flies around undetected, delivers its killer payload and quietly disappears into the night. There is nothing new about this enemy. The mosquito borne disease known as malaria has …
- Following our noses
In a paper published in the journal Nature, psychologist Martha McClintock of the University of Chicago reported what may be the best evidence yet of human pheromones. In an experiment she was able to speed up and slow down the monthly cycles of women by exposing them to a whiff …
- El Nino's allergies
From the Atlantic to the Pacific, a warm, wet winter promises bumper crops of pollen. Thanks to an extremely mild winter, trees across much of the U.S. - including maple, alder, cotton wood and oak - are budding two to three weeks early, filling the air with their irritating pollen. …
- HIV cases declining in Manipur
Cases pf fresh HIV infections have declind in Manipur following awareness campaign agaist Intra-Venous drug users but deaths caused by AIDS are on the rise.
Brazilian support erodes for 5-nation waterway
A key Brazilian signaled that his nation is reconsidering its vital support of a controversial plan to dredge a deep-river waterway that environmentalists say would threaten one of the world's most valuable,and most sensitive ,wetlands.
In a startling reversal, monkeys are said to create new brain cells
For years, neurobiologists clung to a fundamenral truth: Once animals, or people, reach adulthood, they may lose brain cells but they can never grow new ones. There were a couple of exceptions - birds and rats but the thought was that these were peculiarities of nature and not evidence of …
Male contraceptive is likely in 5-7 yrs.
A male hormonal contraceptive as a reliable and reversible methods of birth control is a feasible possibility today, says Dr. David Handelsman, director of the andrology unit at royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. "What it now needs is continued efficacy studies and a better delivery system."
Truck drives precipitate spread of AIDS in TN dist.
A major chunk of western Tamil Nadu-encompassing Salem, Namakkal, Erode, Thiruchengode and Shankari areas- is dominated by the transport industry. Consequently, there is a high floating population of truck and trailer drivers, thanks to whom AIDS has spread its tentacles all over. Namakkal is known for the large number of …
Astra may shift more research overseas
Astra ,the Swedish pharmaceuticals group,may shift large parts of its research and development operations overseas in protest at high income and a shortage of scientists in Sweden.
Whew!
The enormous asteroid(1997 XF11) heading for Earth proved to be a cosmic false alarm, but that's no reason not to start planning for the next one : a report.
