WHO published its World health statistics report 2025, revealing the deeper health impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on loss of lives, longevity and overall health and well-being. In just two years, between 2019 and 2021, global life expectancy fell by 1.8 years—the largest drop in recent history— reversing a …
The Union Health Ministry today denied newspapers reports that a recent survey had revealed that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS among the general population has reached the level of one per cent in the country.
Researchers have cracked the three-dimensional structure of a key protein involved in stroke and epilepsy, paving the way for new drugs to treat those diseases. Scientists from Vertex Pharmaceuticals in US published the finding in the latest issue of Structure magazine.
it was a case of a shark escaping from the jaws of human "cruelty'. A restaurant owner in Hong Kong is facing charges of animal cruelty after a 2.6-metre female shark was rescued from a fish tank a day before it was to be served to customers. The Lie Garden …
studies have shown that when some common blood pressure-reducing drugs are taken with the juice of the grapefruit, the impact of these drugs significantly increases as compared to the conventional way of taking them with water. There are other drugs besides the blood pressure ( bp) regulators that are affected …
prescribing drugs according to the will of patients is proving hazardous throughout the world. Private hospitals and clinics on the street are often suspected of adopting such practices. As a result, more and more bacteria are responding to people's overuse of antibiotics by evolving new ways to combat drug effects. …
Treatment with an anti-depressant drug can help smokers give up the habit. People who smoke are more likely to have depression than non-smokers. Richard Hurt and his colleagues of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, USA, conducted a study on 615 people. They found that an anti-depressant bubropion helped many of …
biological pesticides offer a more sound means of controlling insect pests than synthetic chemicals. A bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis ( b t) produces a crystalline protein that is highly toxic to moth larvae. At a time, when nearly 500 species of arthropods have evolved insecticide resistance to other pesticides, there …
The absence of a mother's touch can severely affect the development of an infant's brain. Mary Carlson, psychologist and neuroscientist at the Havard Medical School, USA, says that the lack of physical touch increases levels of a critical stress hormone in a child's brain, making a baby ill-natured. This may …
the beleaguered Russian space station Mir received a shot in the arm when two cosmonauts made a space walk of six hours and 17 minutes to install a new solar panel outside the station's scientific module Kvant on November 6. The new panel would double the power supply on the …
it is a common belief that computers and telecoms have been playing a major role in accelerating economic growth. The mindboggling investment by companies in the us on computers and telecommunications further proves the necessity of information technology in recent times. Yet, if official figures are to be believed, the …
indians have the highest levels of pesticide residues in their bodies, says a study conducted at the King George Medical College, Lucknow. Devika Nag, head of the department of neurology who led the study, warned that there was an urgent need for public awareness campaigns to promote the use of …
it is heartening to note that in the present decade, the intellectuals and academicians of the nation are not pontificating and publishing in just the realm of abstract theory but are directly linking their expertise and studies to the very real situations and problems faced by people. Ghanshyam Shah is …
Abnormalities in specific genes can be detected 30 times faster with a new method developed at Kyushu University. The technique measures current flow in a liquid sample to both detect the existence of an abnormal gene and to provide some idea about the amount in which it is present. Research …
A research group from Okayama University said it has developed a way to synthesize nucleic acids that readily dissolve in water and thus can be more easily developed into medications for antisense therapy, which seeks to switch off harmful genes.
In September, the Environmental Protection Agency will start seeking public reaction to one of the largest environmental testing programs ever. Under Congressional mandate, the agency proposes to screen some 87,000 compounds over the next two years, at a cost to the chemical industry of more than $100 million. It's all …
Engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center plan to launch the first plane on Mars. The estimated tab: $48 million. The Ames team, has already designed a robot plane and dubbed it Kitty Hawk. It would be carried to the Red Planet like the Mars Rover but launched in the air, …
Dendritic cells are the pacesetters of the human immune system-they regulate the activity of immune cells in lymph nodes. Researchers at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center (UPMC) are "training" dendritic cells to target specific tumors afflicting individual patients. The researchers are able to do that by synthetic peptides that …
Hungry molecules inhabiting pores in minuscule ceramic beads could soon be cleaning up vast amounts of contaminated soil and water. Researchers at the Energy Dept.'s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL) in Washington, believe the beads may be the best pollution fighter yet. Ounce for ounce, the ceramic beads can gobble …
Escape gas masks, life-saving equipment purchased by Coal India Limited and meant to provide respiratory protection to coal miners, have been found to be posing health risks to miners.
