Novartis Launches New Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever Liquid for Children as Safe Over-the-Counter Treatment Option

July 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

PARSIPPANY, N.Y., July 27 /PRNewswire/ — Novartis announces the introduction of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever, the only branded over-the-counter children’s liquid acetaminophen product currently available nationwide in the US. Triaminic® now offers parents a product that combines the pain relieving and fever-reducing power of acetaminophen with the brand that has been trusted by pediatricians and parents for more than 50 years.

“Given the lack of availability of some over-the-counter children’s analgesic products, parents and caregivers have been confused and concerned about what to give their children to temporarily reduce a fever or relieve headaches and minor sore throat pain,” said Jennifer Trachtenberg, MD, practicing pediatrician and chief pediatric officer of www.RealAge.com. “It is important that parents know there are safe and effective treatment options now available from brands they know and trust. If parents have any questions about which over-the-counter options are most appropriate for their kids, they should ask their doctor or pharmacist.”

To help parents restock their medicine cabinets with a reliable option, Novartis is giving away up to 250,000 bottles of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever in the US, valued at USD 1.5 million. Between August 2 – 8, 2010, parents can purchase a bottle of Triaminic Fever Reducer Pain Reliever and submit the original receipt and proof of purchase, along with a rebate form that can be obtained by registering at www.triaminicgiveaway.com(1) to receive a refund for the purchase price of the product(2). For full details, go to www.triaminicgiveaway.com.

“Triaminic® is the leading children’s cough and cold brand(3) and children’s health has been the brand’s sole focus for more than 50 years. We feel it is important to now offer parents a dependable fever reducer and pain reliever product for their children,” said Charlie Hough, OTC North America Region Head, Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. “By giving away up to 250,000 bottles of Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever, we will make it even easier for parents to have access to the only children’s liquid acetaminophen product now available nationally from a trusted brand name.”

Focus on Kids’ Health and Appropriate Use of Children’s Medicines

Children’s health and wellness is the number one priority of the Triaminic® brand. In addition to the free product offer, www.triaminic.com also provides helpful tips and information for parents from Dr. Trachtenberg about keeping children healthy and ensuring the safe and appropriate use of children’s medicines.

* Know the active ingredients: It’s important to carefully read the labels on all children’s medications and understand the active ingredients, especially if you are giving them multiple medications. Knowing what’s in your child’s medicine will help you determine if it’s the right course of treatment to best ensure your child is on the road to recovery.
* Consider a little TLC: In addition to an over-the-counter fever reducer and pain reliever, Dr. Trachtenberg always recommends her version of TLC: Time, Love and a Couch. Take time to sit with your sick child in a comfortable, quiet place, like the living room couch, put a cool compress on her head and gently rub her temples until the fever and pain subside. If your child’s symptoms continue, call your pediatrician.

Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever and all Triaminic® products meet rigorous Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) standards, as defined by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Novartis adheres to these guidelines at its manufacturing sites to ensure that Triaminic® products are safe, effective and meet these strict quality and purity standards.

Triaminic™ Fever Reducer Pain Reliever temporarily reduces fever and relieves minor aches and pains due to the common cold, flu, headache, minor sore throat, and toothache. The product is intended for children ages 2 -11 and is available in grape and bubble gum flavors. Triaminic Fever Reducer Pain Reliever is available at drug stores, grocery stores and retail stores nationwide. For more information, go to www.triaminic.com.

About Triaminic®

Triaminic products are safe and effective when used as directed, and have been relieving children’s cough and cold symptoms for more than 50 years. Trusted by parents and caregivers, the Triaminic brand has a full line of children’s cough, cold, allergy and analgesic products that meets a variety of children’s – and parents – needs. For more information, please visit www.triaminic.com.

Disclaimer

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as “will,” or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from Triaminic Fever Reducer Pain Reliever. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Triaminic Fever Reducer Pain Reliever will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management’s expectations regarding Triaminic Fever Reducer Pain Reliever could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or government regulation generally; competition in general; industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Novartis Group’s assets and liabilities as recorded in the Group’s consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG’s current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Novartis provides healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Focused solely on healthcare, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines, diagnostic tools and consumer health products. Novartis is the only company with leading positions in these areas. In 2009, the Group’s continuing operations achieved net sales of USD 44.3 billion, while approximately USD 7.5 billion was invested in R&D activities throughout the Group. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ approximately 102,000 full-time-equivalent associates and operate in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

References

(1) While supplies last. 250,000 rebate forms will be available at www.triaminicgiveaway.com

(2) Up to $6.99

(3) Based on IRI FDMx latest 4 weeks ending June 6, 2010

Novartis Media Relations

Central media line : +41 61 324 2200

Eric Althoff

Novartis Global Media Relations

+41 61 324 7999 (direct)

+41 79 593 4202 (mobile)

eric.althoff@novartis.com

Julie Masow

Novartis Consumer Health, Inc.

+1 973 503 7663 (direct)

+1 862 579 8456 (mobile)

julie.masow@novartis.com

e-mail: media.relations@novartis.com

Novartis Investor Relations

Central phone:

+41 61 324 7944

Susanne Schaffert

+41 61 324 3769

North America:

Pierre-Michel Bringer

+41 61 324 1065

Richard Jarvis

+1 212 830 2433

Thomas Hungerbuehler

+41 61 324 8425

Jill Pozarek

+1 212 830 2445

Isabella Zinck

+41 61 324 7188

Edwin Valeriano

+1 212 830 2456

e-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com

e-mail: investor.relations@novartis.com

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Lyrics | Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song | Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Video | The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me

November 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Lyrics | Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song | Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Video | The Police – Don’t Stand So Close To Me

“Don’t Stand So Close to Me” is a 1980 song and hit single by the British rock band The Police. It concerns a schoolgirl’s crush on her young teacher and the teacher’s nervousness about the situation.

The Police won the 1982 “Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal” for this song. A re-recorded version of the song was released in 1986 as “Don’t Stand So Close to Me ‘86″.

To View Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Video Click Here

Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Lyrics :

Young teacher, the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly
Knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s longing
This girl’s an open page
Book marking – she’s so close now
This girl is half his age

Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me

Her friends are so jealous
You know how bad girls get
Sometimes it’s not so easy
To be the teacher’s pet
Temptation, frustration
So bad it makes him cry
Wet bus stop, she’s waiting
His car is warm and dry

Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me

Loose talk in the classroom
To hurt they try and try
Strong words in the staffroom
The accusations fly
It’s no use, he sees her
He starts to shake and cough
Just like the old man in
That book by Nabakov

Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me

Don’t stand, don’t stand so
Don’t stand so close to me

To View Don’t Stand So Close To Me Song Video Click Here

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“Gollum from Lord of the Rings” spotted, bludgeoned in Panama

September 19, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sept 18 (ANI): A mystery creature reportedly beaten to death by a group of teenagers in Panama has become the subject of intense speculation on internet forums.

Terrified locals in Cerro Azul were running scared after the creature they describe as “Gollum” crawled out of a lake and charged schoolkids, reports The Sun.

It was spotted on Saturday when four 14 to 16-year-olds were playing by the waterfront, according to Panamanian news service Telemetro.

The hairless creature has been described as having rubbery skin and measuring almost 150cm.

The teenagers were said to have feared for their own safety as the creature moved towards them so they picked up rocks and sticks and beat it to death, before throwing its corpse in the water and running away.

The youths tossed the carcass into a nearby lake but later returned to take photographs, the report said.

Experts have yet to examine the images. However, locals told Panama news channels that the water-monster was “Gollum from Lord of the Rings”.

One said: “I have only seen that creature once before – and it was in the Tolkien film.”

The fictional Gollum – originally known as Smeagol – was a hobbit whose later name was derived from the “disgusting gurgling, choking cough he made”.

JRR Tolkien – who wrote the Middle Earth adventures – said of the character: “He had become deformed and twisted in both body and mind by the corruption of the Ring.

“His only desire was to possess the Ring which had enslaved him, and he pursued it for many years after he lost it.”

Internet speculation centres around whether the “monster” is actually a shaved sloth or pit bull terrier. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Chavs top the list of Brits’ 100 most annoying things

September 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Sep 4 (ANI): A survey has revealed that chavs, who are typically portrayed as uncultured, anti-social, baseball cap wearing youths, have topped the list of the 100 most annoying things Brits find.

The survey revealed that more than 60 percent people found chavs to be “very annoying”.

The Brits were also annoyed by people driving too close behind them and people who smell, with 55 per cent and 52 per cent of the 3,000 people polled saying this was one of their biggest peeves.

Of the top 10 annoyances were people who eat with their mouth open (50 per cent), rude shop assistants (50 per cent), foreign call centres (49 per cent), stepping in dog dirt (49 per cent).

The list also included people who cough without covering their mouths (49 per cent), slow Internet connections (49 per cent) and poor customer service (47 per cent).

Lactofree’s Annual Intolerance Survey also found 79 percent of people were wound up easily by the little things in life, with 65 per cent driven to distraction.

On average, people find themselves getting annoyed more than three times a day and half of all respondents said they were likely to turn into a grumpy old man or woman.

The survey also found 39 per cent of Brits were cheesed off with the nation’s obsession with Z-list celebrities, while 38 per cent were fed up with the preoccupation with Katie Price and Peter Andre’s split saga.

Low on the list was the recession, with 31 per cent of people finding it annoying, and bankers, with 13 per cent finding them irritating.

Outside the top 100 were mice, mothers-in-law and karaoke, with 9 per cent of people finding these very annoying.

“‘This survey shows how intolerant we are as a nation, and how even the smallest of things annoy us – especially when, for many, their annoyances are driving them to distraction,” the Telegraph quoted Samantha Glassford, brand manager for Lactofree, as saying.

“‘This year the poll has shown how especially irritated we are by other people and their bad habits and how surprisingly low a nationwide burden such as the recession came in the annoyance list.

“For many of us, there really isn’t a cure for these everyday intolerances, yet when it comes to those food intolerances, there can be a solution.

“Lactofree, for example, will help those with lactose intolerance enjoy dairy again without any of the symptoms such as bloating, flatulence and feeling sluggish, so that’s one intolerance that can be dealt with,” she added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Swine flu blows over, schools reopen in Pune

August 25, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Pune, Aug 24(ANI): Schools in Maharashtra’s Pune city reopened on Monday after remaining closed for at least two-weeks following the increased risk of deadly H1N1 virus spreading in the city.

Schools were closed as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of swine flu among students, which claimed at least 60 lives across the country with the maximum cases coming from Pune. Twenty-three deaths were reported in the city.

Though the virus has subsided, school authorities are still monitoring each student for flu-like symptoms.

Jayshree Venkatraman, the Principal of DAV Public School, said students are being made to clean their hands with sanitizers and teachers are monitoring the students with flu-like symptoms before they enter the school premises.

“The school buses were fumigated and after every two hours we are sending sanitizers to the classroom to ensure that children wipe their hands with the sanitizers or wash their hands very frequently using the washrooms or wash basins available and of course, teachers have been oriented,” said Venkatraman.

“At entry gates, we are having teachers to ensure that children having cough, cold, fever do not enter the school premises and even in the classrooms, the class teachers are oriented to check whether ant child is suffering from cold and fever is not sitting in the class. Those students are identified and quarantined in one of the classroom and the parents are called and asked to take the children back home,” Venkatraman added.

Parents are also happy at the way school authorities are taking precautions at every step to contain further spread of the virus.

“There is fear but how long can our children miss their schools? I attended the school meeting before and the school authorities are taking every precaution. I do not think so there should be any problem,” said Yogita Joshi, a parent.

Meanwhile, some schools have chosen to remain close to let the condition improve further. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Condition of three swine flu suspects better, says RML doctor

August 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug 13 (ANI): The condition of the three swine flu suspects, who are admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, was reported to be much better on Thursday.

“The condition of three patients who were serious is improving well. We are awaiting the report from NICD, ” said Dr. N K Chaturvedi, Medical Superintendent, RML.

The three patients were admitted to RML on Wednesday with swine flu like symptoms.

Of the three, one is a 29-year-old man, who is also suffering from renal failure, another a 40-year-old man, who is suffering from pneumonia and a two-year-old child suffering from cough and cold.

The patients have been put under treatment and are responding well.

Though the reports of their samples are still awaited, the doctors at the hospital are hopeful of their recovery.

RML is one of the government certified testing centres for the symptoms of H1N1 virus.

Till Wednesday, a total of 654 people were screened at the RML, of which 584 are adults and rest 70 are children.

The RML doctors took samples of eleven patients, but no one has been advised admission. Of the 11 patients in the isolation ward, four have already been discharged.

The toll of H1N1 positive cases has risen to 312 in New Delhi.

As on Thursday, the fatal cases of swine flu had touched the mark of 20. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

‘Jackson’s minders threatened doctor into giving him prescription drugs’

July 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 14(ANI): A doctor has revealed that Michael Jackson’s bodyguards had threatened him when he refused to give the singer prescription drugs at Las Vegas in 2003.

The unnamed physician claims to have visited the icon in his hotel suite after he was told that Jackson was suffering from cough and sore throat.

“The whole thing was staged. It was all a lie. They just wanted drugs. They wanted me to call in all these pills under someone else’s name,” Contactmusic quoted him as telling Las Vegas Review Journal newspaper.

He described: “His minder started giving me a rough time. He was trying to intimidate me. I said, ‘I can’t do that,’ and he replied, ‘What do you mean, they always do that.’ “

The doctor who spoke in condition of anonymity said that he first thought the episode to be a prank on him.

He said: “The handler came up to me and put a finger in my chest and said, ‘You do that.’

“I was waiting for someone to jump out of bushes and say ‘You’ve been punked!’ I felt like I was on ‘Candid Camera.’ “

Now, the doctor believes that the King of Pop was suffering from autism, which is a brain development disorder.

He said that the singer displayed “classic signs of autism”, that include poor social interaction and communication, abnormal intensity or focus, severe insomnia and unusual eating habits. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Top players in swine flu scare at Wimbledon

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 30 (ANI): The last 16 players left at the Wimbledon have been asked to be cautious, and were placed on high alert for swine flu after four ballboys and girls were sent home following suspected swine flu symptoms.

The players were contacted by the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) and were informed that some staff had fallen ill with flu-like symptoms.

“The ball boys and girls were being monitored closely had been sent home after consultation with the Health Protection Agency,” the Telegraph quoted Johnny Perkins, spokesman for the AELTC, as saying.

According to reports, Jelena Jankovic had complained of feeling unwell after her match with American Melanie Oudin on Saturday.

“It is not good news, especially for the players travelling round the world, meeting so many people, it is not a good thing. But I am sure the club is trying to protect us as much as possible,” said Roger Federer.

The club has produced a list of guidance to help players avoid falling ill, and also issued a formal notice to all personnel at the Championships warning anyone suffering from a high temperature, sore throat, cough or aches to stay away. (ANI)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eto’o greed for more puts a question mark on his move to City

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, June 30 (ANI): Cameroon’s star striker Samuel Eto’o's greed for more than 250,000 pound a week has put a question mark on his 25 million pound move to Manchester City. The deal is in danger of collapsing.

The Cameroon footballer is set to become the highest-paid player in the world by pocketing 250,000 pound a week for the next four years if he joins City.

But he is demanding a 12.5 million pound signing-on fee and that could scupper the deal at the last minute.

Eto’o's agent Josep Maria Mesalles said: “If there is not a 180-degree turnaround, then he will stay with Barcelona.”

Catalan giants Barca were ready to let their star striker go for a cut-price fee because he only has one year left on his contract, The Sun reports.

President Joan Laporta appeared resigned to losing Eto’o on Sunday when he revealed that the hit man has a stratospheric offer from City.

Eto’o believes he is entitled to pocket the extra cash because of the way Barcelona seem to be driving him out of the Nou Camp.

Eto’o is not prepared to miss out on the huge signing-on fee he could expect if he saw out his contract and signed for a club of his choosing next year, and is therefore, asking for that money now.

It is unclear whether that cash would come out of the fee City cough up or whether the Arab owners of the Eastlands club will be forced to shell out more money.

Meanwhile, City’s Brazilian star Elano is demanding showdown talks with boss Mark Hughes when he returns from holiday after Confederations Cup duty. And it is almost certain they will end with the 28-year-old being told he can go, with Inter Milan keen on signing him. (ANI)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

dmx drug – dmx – dextromethorphan – dxm drug – what is dxm – antoine maisani

June 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment

dmx drug – dmx – dextromethorphan -  dxm drug -  what is dxm – antoine maisani

Pop Star Michael Jackson’s death coming into scanner as involved the usage of Pain Killer drugs.

Now it has come in lime light about usage of Pain Killer drugs and to know about these drugs and their harmful side effects.

DXM  or Dextromethorphan also known on the street as “Triple C’s” or “Skittles”, is a cough suppressant found in many over-the-counter cough and cold remedies is one this such drug.

DXM has other uses in medicine, ranging from psychological applications to pain relief available  in market in the forms of syrup, tablet, and lozenge  under several different brand names and generic labels.

Now coming  to the Side-effects of dextromethorphan use can include nausea, drowsiness, fever, vomiting etc., if the doses higher than medically recommended, dextromethorphan is classified as a dissociative psychedelic drug, with visible effects

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

9 more Swine Flu cases discovered; confirmed cases rises to 89

June 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, June 27 (ANI): The discovery of nine more individuals getting affected with Swine Flu on Saturday pushed the total number of confirmed cases to 89 in the country.

Nine new cases-four each in Bangalore and Delhi and one case in Punjab’s Gurdaspur city were reported.

However, of the total 89 cases of H1N1 or Swine Flu in the country 59 patients have already been discharged. The rest of the affected persons are admitted to the identified health facility.

The positive case in Mumbai was a 36-year-old man who travelled from New Jersey to Mumbai on Monday and reported to a health facility with complaints of fever and cough on Thursday.

Meanwhile, 16 people have been discharged after being successfully treated for swine flu. All the other patients are stable. The situation is being monitored.

Of the 31 school children in Jalandhar who returned from the US, 14 continue to be under medication. They have responded to treatment.

The remaining children and about 296 contacts are under chemoprophylaxis.

As of now, no case has been reported among the contacts, said a Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry release.

So far, samples of 407 people have been tested. Of the 50 positive cases, five are indigenous.

World Health Organisation has reported 39,620 laboratory confirmed cases of swine flu from 89 countries till June 17. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hyderabad witnesses first swine flu case in India

May 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Hyderabad, May 16 (ANI): Hyderabad witnessed its first ever case of swine flu on Saturday when a 23-year-old man was found to be infected with Influenza AH1N1.

According to the Health Ministry, the passenger travelled by Emirates Airline from New York to Hyderabad via Dubai. He reached India on Wednesday morning and was quarantined after he was found to be suffering from fever.

“He was shifted to the identified isolation facility under strict infection control. His samples have tested positive for Influenza AH1N1,” a Health Ministry statement said.

The person is being treated with anti-influenza drugs Oseltamivir and Afebrile.

All the passengers who came in contact with the infected person are also being monitored.

The passengers are being advised to remain under home quarantine for a period of seven days and monitor themselves for symptoms like fever, cough and difficulty in breathing. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No swine flu cases found in India

May 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment

New Delhi, May 2 (ANI): Ministry of Health Joint Secretary Vineet Choudhary on Saturday assured people that India was still free from the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu.

“I wish to clarify that as of now, we do not have any confirmed case of H1N1 virus in this country. The screening that takes place in airports does pick up patients who have some symptoms of flu, cough, cold or fever. They are then subjected to a medical examination and as a matter of precaution; sometimes samples are drawn from such patients,” said Chowdhary.

The statement came after two patients admitted to the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital who showed symptoms of fever and common cold after their arrival from abroad.

According to the Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Nitish Kumar Chaturvedi, the patients are under strict observations and their samples have been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.

“One of the suspect cases had travelled from Texas on April 19 and checked into the hospital late Friday. He is a resident of Ghaziabad and showed no symptoms at all. He caught fever on April 24and recovered after two days, but because of the awareness campaign by the media, he came to our isolation ward. Our physicians examined him and he showed no symptoms of swine flu at all, but still we are keeping him under observation,” Chaturvedi said.

The other patient had arrived on a flight from London on Friday and was admitted to the hospital after being screened at the Delhi airport.

Reportedly, he had symptoms of cold, running nose, and throat infection, but had no fever. His samples are being examined.

Besides, another two passengers flying in from Chicago were also admitted in the hospital late on Friday night. Both were suffering from cough, cold, fever and upper respiratory infection.

Swine flu, which is now being called influenza A (H1N1) by the World Health Organisation (WHO), has been spreading rapidly with over 350 confirmed cases being reported the world over.

The Government on Friday had said passengers from the H1N1 virus affected countries would be screened intently at all the airports of the country.

The authorities have deployed 96 doctors for the purpose. Screening was done at 10 airports yesterday. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Surveillance and personal hygiene key to ward off swine flu

May 3, 2009 By 1 Comment

New Delhi, May 1 (ANI): Doctors representing various professional organisations and systems of medicine on Friday spelt out the preparedness to deal with the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, here.

Dr. K. K. Aggarwal, President of Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI), Dr. N.K. Yadav, Director of Health Services, Municipal Corporation of Delhi and Dr. J Nagpal, President of Expressions India, narrated the various preventive measures to be followed by the masses as well as the classes.

Heart Care Foundation of India has warned that the key to fighting swine flu was to pay more attention to personal hygiene.

“So far we have heard three kinds of flu – swine flu, bird flu and the human flu. Precautions for swine flu are same as human flu. Whenever we cough, we should cough on our sleeves. This message is very important for the public. We use disposable paper or cough on our sleeves. We do not need the N 95 filter in India for swine flu,” said Dr. K K Aggarwal, President of Heart Care Foundation of India.

Medical experts also stressed on the need for medical institutions to focus on infection control in order to prevent spread of swine flu.

Also, lending support to the cause was Bollywood singer Shibani Kashyap who also rendered a song and explained the benefits of singing from health perspective.

The swine flu outbreak has killed as many as 179 people in Mexico and 1 in the US forcing the World Health Organisation (WHO) to concede that a global flu pandemic is imminent.

A 39-year-old woman, who worked as a census worker in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca and whose name has not yet been disclosed, could be the first casualty of the deadly swine flu virus.

In fact, the WHO has raised its influenza pandemic alert level to phase five, one step short of a fully blown pandemic. Phase 6 is the highest in the scale and is for a full-scale pandemic.

Reportedly, the swine flu has spread to countries like the US, New Zealand, Israel, Canada and United Kingdom among several other countries. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Septuagenarian man coughs up inch-long nail stuck up his nose for 30yrs

April 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, April 10 (ANI): A septuagenarian man coughed up an-inch long nail that had been stuck up his nose for 30 years.

Prax Sanchez, 72, said that he did not remember whether any hammer-and-nail mishaps took place with him in the past.

He said that it was only after doctors administered an MRI on him that something metallic was detected in his face.

“When I went to lay down on the MRI machine, I had a real pain on my right said under my eye,” the Daily Express quoted him as saying.

The MRI’s magnetic force dislodged the nail, causing Sanchez to cough it up.

“The nail may have been up there for 30 years. Once it’s in the nasal cavity like that, a little membrane forms around it,” his doctor Jamieson Kennedy said.

Sanchez said that he did not have any idea as to how the nail made it up his nose.

“I can’t remember ever using a nail like it. I’ll probably frame it,” he said. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Big belly raises heart failure risk

April 8, 2009 By 1 Comment

Washington, Apr 8 (ANI): Carrying an extra four inches of fat around the waist can increase a person’s risk of being hospitalised with heart failure, warn researchers.

A study led by investigators at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) has found that larger waist circumference is associated with increased risk of heart failure in middle-aged and older populations of men and women.

The findings, published online in the April 7 Rapid Access Report of the journal Circulation: Heart Failure, showed that increased waist size was a predictor of heart failure even when measurements of body mass index (BMI) fell within the normal range.

A life-threatening condition that develops when the heart can no longer pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs, heart failure (also known as congestive heart failure) is usually caused by existing cardiac conditions, including high blood pressure and coronary artery disease.

Heart failure is characterized by such symptoms as fatigue and weakness, difficulty walking, rapid or irregular heartbeat, and persistent cough or wheezing.

To reach the conclusion, researchers examined two Swedish population-based studies, the Swedish Mammography Cohort (made up of 36,873 women aged 48 to 83) and the Cohort of Swedish Men (43,487 men aged 45 to 79) who responded to questionnaires asking for information about their height, weight and waist circumference.

Over a seven-year period between January 1998 and December 2004 the researchers reported 382 first-time heart-failure events among the women (including 357 hospital admissions and 25 deaths) and 718 first-time heart-failure events among men (accounting for 679 hospital admissions and 39 deaths.)

Their analysis found that based on the answers provided by the study participants, 34 percent of the women were overweight and 11 percent were obese, while 46 percent of the men were overweight and 10 percent were obese.

“By any measure – BMI, waist circumference, waist to hip ratio or waist to height ratio -our findings showed that excess body weight was associated with higher rates of heart failure,” explains Emily Levitan, ScD, the study’s first author and a Research Fellow in the Cardiovascular Epidemiology Research Unit at BIDMC.

Further breakdown of the numbers showed that among the women with a BMI of 25 (within the normal range), a 10-centimeter higher waist measurement was associated with a 15 percent higher heart failure rate; women with a BMI of 30 had an 18 percent increased heart failure rate. In men with a BMI of 25, a 10-centimeter higher waist circumference was associated with a 16 percent higher heart failure rate; the rate increased to 18 percent when men’s BMI increased to 30.

Furthermore, adds Levitan, among the men, each one-unit increase in BMI was associated with a four percent higher heart failure rate, no matter what the man’s waist size. In women, she adds, BMI was only associated with increased heart failure rates among the subjects with the largest waists. Finally, the authors found that the association between BMI and heart-failure events declined with age, suggesting that the younger the person, the greater the impact of weight to heart health.

“This study reinforces the importance of maintaining a healthy weight,” says Levitan. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vaccination best bet against whooping cough, say experts

April 5, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CHENNAI: While the Directorate of Public Health continues to deny the existence of pertussis or whooping cough in Tamil Nadu and hospitals and
paediatricians claim that cases are being noticed, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics Committee on Immunization has been recommending intensification of vaccination drives and denies reports about a pertussis-free’ city or state.

According to the statistics available with the Indian Academy of Paediatrics, about 22,616 cases of pertussis were reported in India in 2006. “This reflects only a fraction of the actual disease incidence as DTP3 (diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis) coverage in India is only 55%, and coverage by the first and second booster even lower,” it said. The Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital in Chennai had recently stated that it had admitted 17 children with whooping cough in the past six years.

Dr A Parathasarathy, former president of Indian Academy of Paediatrics, says that the statistics hold good. “The recommendations of the committee suggesting a booster vaccine were based on the US experience. But that does not mean we don’t have cases here. We don’t report them because of lack of effective surveillance,” he said.

Senior paediatricians say that there is no reason to believe that the disease burden of pertussis is low or nil in the city. “When the whole of India has cases, how is it that TN or Chennai alone is free? It’s not the ignorance of doctors but blind dismissal of facts by authorities. We have had 15-day-old infants with such problems. And we have been reporting it to the health authorities,” says S Balasubramanian, senior consultant paediatrician.

Dr Parathasarathy suggests that the only way to keep the disease away is to intensify vaccination drives. “Even here, we are in a fix because the first vaccine is given only in six weeks. And it takes some time for the vaccine to work. If the children get the disease earlier, we need to look at what can be done.”

Director of public health Dr S Elango says that claims by doctors about lack of facilities to test the disease is not true. “We are willing to test samples if anyone wants it,” he says. “Chennai corporation officials will also be talking to the hospital for further coordination,” he adds

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Man swallows nail scissors while using them as toothpick

April 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 2 (ANI): A man, who used a pair of nail scissors as toothpick after eating, has had to undergo surgery after he swallowed them.

Kong Lin, 27, was cleaning his teeth with the four-inch scissors, when laughing at a joke caused him to accidentally swallow them.

He tried to cough them up but the points, facing up, got stuck in his throat.

Surgeons took 30 minutes to remove the scissors and had to use local anaesthetic, as sedating him would have relaxed him and allowed the clippers to slip down his throat.

“Luckily Mr Lin does not have much of a wound left inside his throat,” the Sun quoted surgeon Dr. Chen Wei in Putian, China, as saying. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Lulu slams music industry for cheapening pop with semi-naked acts

March 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, March 2 (ANI): Veteran Scottish pop star Lulu, 60, has slammed the music industry for exploiting present-day singers as sex symbols.

She said that young female artists were being forced to dress in sexy outfits and perform provocative acts.

She blasted industry bosses saying that semi-naked routines-like those performed by the Pussycat Dolls, Katy Perry and Girls Aloud-had become more important for them than the music itself.

“Young girls today have to straddle naked before they can get noticed. It’s cheapened the music and I think it is exploitative. I would never have stripped off like that and gyrated up and down a pole,” the Scotsman quoted her as saying.

“There are talented kids who don’t need to do that, but it is just expected of them. It’s so regressive. I feel bad for them.

“To be a singer, you have to be naked and do things with your body and men on video. What has that got to do with the music?” she added.

Lulu also criticised the competitive nature of the modern pop industry, saying that talent alone was no longer enough to be successful.

“I would not want to be launching a career now. Nowadays, you have to achieve world domination or you get dropped by the record company. If the first single’s not a hit, you’re out.

Today, to be successful, it is not enough to be a good singer. You have to have an army of people all focusing on that goal relentlessly,” said the singer, who achieved stardom after her hit ‘Shout’ reached the Number 1 spot in the charts, when she was just 15 years old.

“You don’t just have to have talent and appeal. There has to be a big strategy.

“You have to be able to hold your head together, because the celebrity thing is completely out of whack. I think it’s crazy,” she added.

Lulu revealed that she loved listening to the music produced by Pink, Christina Aguilera, Duffy, Alexandra Burke and Amy Winehouse.

“I love Duffy and Alexandra Burke who just won the X-Factor. They are really talented. I’m an Amy Winehouse fan – she’s a great writer. She reminds me of the Ronettes,” she said.

She, however, also revealed that she did not like the current pop culture.

“It’s like a McDonald’s world. Everything is instant – instant success and instantly disposable,” said the Glasgow-born singer.

“Even when it was really crazy in the 1960s, it wasn’t like it is now. It is beyond insane.”

“Everybody is a celebrity. There is nobody to aspire to be. Everybody is famous and everybody is documenting every time they breathe, spit, cough or close their eyes.

“No wonder the music business doesn’t mean much any more. Then, there was a mystique about things,” she added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Entertainment News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Cough, cold medicines ‘bad for kids’

March 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 1 (ANI): Kids should not be given over-the-counter cough and cold medicines because they are ineffective and can be harmful.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that a review of 69 cough and cold remedies for children had ‘found no robust evidence that these medicines work’ and gave warning that ‘they can cause side effects, such as allergic reactions, effects on sleep or hallucinations’.

The alert centres on 15 ingredients found in most cough and cold medicines, many of which have been used by drug companies for years, reports the Telegraph.

Several children have died from overdoses of the medicines. The deaths of at least five kids under two have been linked to the remedies and more than 100 serious cases of suspected adverse reactions have been reported, with children requiring hospital treatment.

There has been growing concern about cold remedies for children, particularly when parents miscalculate the dose, give additional doses or combine products containing similar ingredients.

By March next year, all over-the-counter cough and cold remedies containing the 15 ingredients will have warning labels on their packaging. (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
« Older Posts