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Weight loss can prevent kidney disease progression in obese patients

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 18 (ANI): Shedding extra pounds can preserve kidney function in obese people with kidney disease, according to a new study led by Indian origin scientist from Cleveland Clinic.

Weight loss can improve a number of health problems, like it can improve control of diabetes, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and reduce the effects of heart disease.

During the study, Dr Sankar Navaneethan, and his colleagues analysed the studies that examined the effects of weight loss interventions in obese kidney disease patients.

It showed that weight loss attained through diet and exercise reduces proteinuria (excess excretion of protein in the urine-a hallmark of kidney damage) and may prevent additional decline in kidney function in obese patients with kidney disease.

Studies also showed that surgical interventions normalize the filtration rate of the kidneys in obese patients with high filtration rates (a risk factor for the development of kidney disease).

While the findings imply that weight reduction may prevent the progression of kidney disease in obese kidney disease patients, the authors noted that there were only a small number of studies available for analysis and additional high-quality long-term studies on this topic are needed.

The study appears in Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology. (ANI)

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Exercise beats shockwaves for chronic shoulder pain

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 16 (ANI): Supervised exercise helps ease chronic shoulder pain better than sound shockwave treatment, a new study suggests.

In the study, published in the online British Medical Journal, team of researchers based in Oslo, Norway compared the effectiveness of radial extracorporeal shockwave treatment (low to medium energy impulses delivered into the tissue) with supervised exercises in patients with shoulder pain.

The research involved 104 men and women aged between 18 and 70 years.

Participants were randomised to receive either radial extracorporeal shockwave treatment (one session weekly for four to six weeks) or supervised exercises (two 45 minute sessions weekly for up to 12 weeks).

Both groups were similar at the start of the study with regard to age, education, dominant arm affected and pain duration.

All patients were monitored at six, 12 and 18 weeks and were advised not to have any additional treatment except analgesics (including anti-inflammatory drugs) during the follow-up period. Pain and disability were measured using a recognised scoring index.

After 18 weeks, 32 of patients in the exercise group achieved a reduction in shoulder pain and disability scores compared with 18 in the shockwave treatment group.

More patients in the exercise group returned to work, while more patients in the shockwave treatment group had additional treatment after 12 weeks, suggesting that they were less satisfied.

The authors conclude: “Supervised exercises were more effective than radial extracorporeal shockwave treatment for short term improvement in patients with subacromial shoulder pain.” (ANI)

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Natalizumab drug improves quality of life of MS patients

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sept 13 (ANI): A new study has found that multiple sclerosis patients taking Tysabri (Natalizumab) experienced a significant improvement in both their physical function and psychological well-being.

“The symptoms that an MS patient deals with on a daily basis result in significant psychological and physical effects that can adversely impact their quality of life,” said Dr William Stuart, medical director of the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta.

“In a previous pivotal trial, TYSABRI not only showed a reduction in relapse rates and disability progression, but also improved quality of life.

“Results from this observational study further demonstrate the impact of TYSABRI on improving MS patients’ well-being as reported by patients who live with this disease every day,” he added.

The study assessed the health outcomes from patients’ perspectives before starting TYSABRI and after the third, sixth and 12th infusions of TYSABRI.

After six TYSABRI infusions, patients reported statistically significant improvement in disease-specific quality of life (QoL), which measures the physical impact of MS in terms of mobility and self care, as well as the psychological impact of MS in terms of anxiety/depression.

The participants also scored higher in general health-related quality of life.

The findings were presented at the 25th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). (ANI)

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New WHO data sheds light on two leading causes of pneumonia

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 12 (ANI): New World Health Organization data has highlighted two leading causes of pneumonia, which claims the highest number of lives of children under age 5, both globally and within developing countries like India, Pakistan and Kenya.

The findings could serve as a clarion call to developing country governments to invest in pneumonia prevention programs.

According to the studies, Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae type b [Hib] infections take the lives of an estimated 1.2 million children under age 5 each year.

Although safe and effective vaccines exist to provide protection against both diseases, use of Hib vaccine has only recently expanded to low-income countries and pneumococcal vaccine is not yet included in national immunization programs in the developing world.

In developing countries, children bear the highest risk for pneumonia and that is where most pneumonia-related child deaths occur.

“Our findings underscore the urgent need for prevention efforts throughout the developing world. The need for vaccination and improved treatment is particularly urgent in Africa and Asia, which together account for 95% of all pneumococcal deaths,” Kate O’Brien, primary author of the pneumococcal study, said.

The ten countries with the greatest number and greatest proportion of global pneumococcal cases were in Asia and Africa, and taken together account for 66 percent of cases worldwide.

These countries include India, China, Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya and the Philippines.

“In areas of the world where access to quality care is limited, the use of pneumococcal vaccine is particularly necessary to limit disease and save lives. Implementing pneumococcal vaccine is critical if developing countries are to achieve United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4 for child mortality reduction,” said Thomas Cherian, Coordinator of the WHO Expanded Programme on Immunization.

Through the GAVI Alliance, low income countries can access existing and future pneumococcal vaccines with only a small self-financed contribution of as little as 0.15 dollars per dose.

“If fully rolled out in GAVI-eligible countries, the pneumococcal vaccine could save the lives of more than 440,000 children by 2015. We encourage all developing countries to apply for this support as an important first step to saving children’s lives,” said Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, CEO of the GAVI Alliance.

Just like pneumococcal disease, the greatest burden of Hib disease lies in Asia and Africa.

The ten countries with the highest estimated number of Hib deaths in 2000 include India, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, China, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Angola and Niger.

“The burden of Hib disease is substantial and almost entirely vaccine preventable. Expanded use of Hib vaccine could reduce the global burden of childhood pneumonia and meningitis and reduce child mortality,” said James Watt at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

The World Health Organization and the GAVI Alliance, which is supporting the Hib Initiative, have been working to expand supplies of Hib vaccine, reduce vaccine cost and assist countries with vaccine introduction.

The WHO data will be published in the upcoming edition of the Lancet. (ANI)

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Brain’s face processing ability does reduce with age

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 9 (ANI): A British study suggests that the ability to identify a face, when it is shown for only a fraction of a second, reduces as people age.

Lead researcher Guillaume Rousselet, from the University of Glasgow, came to this conclusion after analysing electric activity from the brains of young and old people as they watched pictures of faces with cloud-like noise.

He said: “Very few studies have attempted to measure the effect of ageing on the time-course of visual processing in response to complex stimuli like faces. We found that, as well as a general reduction in speed in the elderly, one particular component of the response to a face, the N170, is less sensitive to faces in the elderly.”

The N170 occurs 170 milliseconds after a stimulus is presented.

The researchers revealed that it was more closely associated with the appearance of a face among the young subjects.

However, in older subjects, the researcher said that it occurred also in response to noise, perhaps implying reduced ability to differentiate faces from noise.

Revealing the findings of the study, Rousselet said: “Our data support the common belief that as we get older we get slower. Beyond this general conclusion, our research provides new tools to quantify by how much the brain slows down in the particular context of face perception. Now, we need to identify the reasons for the speed reduction and for the heterogeneity of the effects – indeed, why the brains of some older subjects seem to tick as fast as the brains of some young subjects is, at this point, a complete mystery.”

The study has been published in the journal BMC Neuroscience. (ANI)

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Aquaculture accounts for 50 percent of fish consumed globally

September 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 8 (ANI): A new report by an international team of researchers has determined that aquaculture, once a fledgling industry, now accounts for 50 percent of the fish consumed globally.

The findings are published in the Sept. 7 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

“Aquaculture is set to reach a landmark in 2009, supplying half of the total fish and shellfish for human consumption,” according to the authors.

Between 1995 and 2007, global production of farmed fish nearly tripled in volume, in part because of rising consumer demand for long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.

Oily fish, such as salmon, are a major source of these omega-3s, which are effective in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, according to the National Institutes of Health.

“The huge expansion is being driven by demand,” said lead author Rosamond L. Naylor, a professor of environmental Earth system science at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Program on Food Security and the Environment.

“As long as we are a health-conscious population trying to get our most healthy oils from fish, we are going to be demanding more of aquaculture and putting a lot of pressure on marine fisheries to meet that need,” Naylor added.

To maximize growth and enhance flavor, aquaculture farms use large quantities of fishmeal and fish oil made from less valuable wild-caught species, including anchoveta and sardine.

“With the production of farmed fish eclipsing that of wild fish, another major transition is also underway: Aquaculture’s share of global fishmeal and fish oil consumption more than doubled over the past decade to 68 percent and 88 percent, respectively,” said the authors.

In 2006, aquaculture production was 51.7 million metric tons, and about 20 million metric tons of wild fish were harvested for the production of fishmeal.

“It can take up to 5 pounds of wild fish to produce 1 pound of salmon, and we eat a lot of salmon,” said Naylor, the William Wrigley Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

One way to make salmon farming more environmentally sustainable is to simply lower the amount of fish oil in the salmon’s diet.

According to the authors, a mere 4 percent reduction in fish oil would significantly reduce the amount of wild fish needed to produce 1 pound of salmon from 5 pounds to just 3.9 pounds. (ANI)

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High recurring heart attack, stroke rates prevail globally despite use of many medicines

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 1 (ANI): An international study has shown that patients with vascular disease have a surprising high rate of events like strokes, heart attacks, hospitalisations and mortality, despite the use of many medicines and other treatments.

The study has also shown that patients in North America, including the U.S., experience an above-average rate of such events.

While the highest rate of these events was observed among patients in Eastern Europe, the lowest was among those in Australia and Japan.

A presentation on the results from the international REACH (Reduction of Atherothrombosis for Continued Health) Registry was recently made by a researcher from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2009 in Barcelona on August 31.

The study examined data for 32,247 patients one and three years after they enrolled in the registry.

A European Heart Journal report on the study says that patients who had symptomatic vascular disease had a 14.4 percent rate at one year and 28.4 percent rate at three years of having a heart attack, stroke, rehospitalisation for another type of vascular event or vascular death.

The report further states that patients with vascular disease in more than one location of the body had the highest event rate at 40.5 percent at three years.

When projected over the global population who would mirror the patients in REACH, this represents millions of serious vascular events occurring every few years, many of which could be prevented.

“We were surprised by the high rate of these recurring vascular events,” said lead author Dr. Mark J. Alberts, a professor of Neurology at the Feinberg School and the director of the stroke program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

“We know how to prevent vascular disease and the events that it produces. This points to the need for better prevention, better use of medications and a need to develop more potent medications. These are the number one and two causes of death throughout the world,” he added.

Many of the patients in the REACH study were taking the appropriate medications for their vascular disease.

“But that doesn’t mean the medications worked or were being adhered to properly. Perhaps they need more or different medications,” Alberts said.

According to him, this study shows the need for more patients to adopt healthier lifestyles with increased exercise, a healthy diet and smoking cessation.

The author points out that these are inexpensive approaches to reducing and preventing the occurrence of vascular events. (ANI)

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UNICEF celebrates 200 episodes of Kyunki… Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai.

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug.28 (ANI): UNICEF recently celebrated the telecast of the 200th episode of its entertainment education serial Kyunki… Jeena Issi Ka Naam Hai on Doordarshan National.

A serial with all the emotional and dramatic twists and turns that make soaps so popular, Kyunki… has emerged as an innovative and effective agent for behavior change communication amongst Indian television viewers.

Watched by over 125 million viewers across India, the gripping social drama promotes life-enhancing, life-saving messages, critical to the welfare and survival of children and mothers everywhere.

From safe motherhood to HIV prevention, infant feeding to girls’ education, Kyunki promotes prosocial attitudes, behaviours, and practices that contribute directly to the reduction of infant and maternal mortality rates

Naysan Sahba, Programme Communication Specialist at UNICEF India Country Office, who conceptualized the serial says “When we began to work on the show’s concept about four years ago, at the height of the popularity of the saas-bahu sagas, everybody said impossible, there’s no audience for this. Well, we went ahead, carefully if courageously, and you can imagine our delight in that not only is our show doing well but a new wave of socially conscious TV serials, serials tackling hard-hitting issues effecting women and children, have followed suit and are taking the country by storm” .

Kyunki… has a rather unique viewership including unexpected regulars in the form of youngsters and men. A favorite of many across India, the serial is one of the top rankers in its primetime spot of 8:30 PM to 9 PM and is the leading daily soap on DD National.

Not shying away from taking up socially sensitive issues such as the ill effects of child marriage and early pregnancy, gender equality, proper use of contraceptives and prevention of HIV/AIDS, Kyunki… has been a catalyst in encouraging dialogues amongst young girls and families in rural India about things that they earlier had next to no say about.

Concurrent audience research shows that there has been a consistent increase in the number of viewers who say they intend to take action as a direct result of watching Kyunki…, including informing others about the importance of education, motivating children to join school, immunizing one’s own children and regularly washing hands with soap .

The serial has also become a helpful tool and an excellent reference point for frontline workers who promote positive changes in social and health behaviors through interpersonal communication. In depth interviews with health workers, teachers and other influencers has shown that Kyunki… in fact reinforces many of the same ideas they work with and introduces contemporary issues in an interesting, entertaining and practical manner. (ANI)

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Bariatric surgery can eliminate diabetes symptoms

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 28 (ANI): Weight-loss surgery can help eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in nearly 80 percent patients, an international study has found.

The research team led by Professor Henry Buchwald of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, observed almost 135,000 patients for the study.

The findings concluded that 78 per cent patients had a “complete resolution” of diabetes for up to two years post-surgery, while 87 either saw resolution or noted an improvement in their condition, reports Timesonline.

Type 2 diabetes is common to obese people and occurs when the body stops producing or using insulin, the hormone that maintains the sugar level in blood.

Losing weight can help the body to efficiently use available insulin, and thus prevent kidney failure, nerve damage and eye problems.

The weight-loss surgery, medically known as the bariatric surgery, or the gastric-band operation, fits a band around the upper part of the stomach, restricting the amount people can eat before feeling full. Though the operation can benefit diabetes patients, it is advised only for the very obese, who’ve failed to lose weight otherwise.

But charity Diabetes UK is a little sceptical about the findings of the research.

Zoë Harrison, care adviser for the charity, said: “Although the data shows good results from bariatric surgery, it must be remembered that any surgery carries serious risks.

“Bariatric surgery should be considered only as a last resort. It can lead to dramatic weight loss, which in turn may result in a reduction in people taking their type 2 diabetes medication, and even in some people needing no medication at all. This does not mean type 2 diabetes has been cured.

“These people will still need to eat a healthy, balanced diet and be physically active to manage their diabetes.” (ANI)

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‘Laughing gas’ leaves ozone layer in splits

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 28 (ANI): A new study has determined that nitrous dioxide, popularly known as ‘laughing gas’, has now become the largest ozone-depleting substance emitted through human activities, and is expected to remain the largest throughout the 21st century.

The study was authored by A.R. Ravishankara, J.S. Daniel and Robert W. Portmann of the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) chemical sciences division.

For the first time, this study has evaluated nitrous oxide emissions from human activities in terms of their potential impact on Earth’s ozone layer.

As chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which have been phased out by international agreement, ebb in the atmosphere, nitrous oxide will remain a significant ozone-destroyer, the study found.

Today, nitrous oxide emissions from human activities are more than twice as high as the next leading ozone-depleting gas.

Nitrous oxide is emitted from natural sources and as a byproduct of agricultural fertilization and other industrial processes.

Calculating the effect on the ozone layer now and in the future, NOAA researchers found that emissions of nitrous oxide from human activities erode the ozone layer and will continue to do so for many decades.

ESRL tracks the thickness of the ozone layer, as well as the burden of ozone-depleting compounds in the atmosphere. It maintains a large portion of the world air sampling and measurement network.

NOAA scientists also conduct fundamental studies of the atmosphere and atmospheric processes to improve understanding of ozone depletion and of the potential for recovery the ozone layer.

“The dramatic reduction in CFCs over the last 20 years is an environmental success story. But manmade nitrous oxide is now the elephant in the room among ozone-depleting substances,” said Ravishankara, lead author of the study and director of the ESRL Chemical Sciences Division in Boulder, Colorado.

The ozone layer serves to shield plants, animals and people from excessive ultraviolet light from the sun.

Thinning of the ozone layer allows more ultraviolet light to reach the Earth’s surface where it can damage crops and aquatic life and harm human health.

Though the role of nitrous oxide in ozone depletion has been known for several decades, the new study is the first to explicitly calculate that role using the same measures that have been applied to CFCs, halons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing ozone-depleting substances.

According to scientists, nitrous oxide is also a greenhouse gas, so reducing its emission from manmade sources would be good for both the ozone layer and climate. (ANI)

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Bariatric surgery can eliminate diabetes symptoms

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 28 (ANI): Weight-loss surgery can help eliminate the symptoms of type 2 diabetes in nearly 80 percent patients, an international study has found.

The research team led by Professor Henry Buchwald of the Department of Surgery at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, observed almost 135,000 patients for the study.

Type 2 diabetes is common to obese people and occurs when the body stops producing or using insulin, the hormone that maintains the sugar level in blood.

Losing weight can help the body to efficiently use available insulin, and thus prevent kidney failure, nerve damage and eye problems.

But charity Diabetes UK is a little sceptical about the findings of the research.

Zoë Harrison, care adviser for the charity, said: “Although the data shows good results from bariatric surgery, it must be remembered that any surgery carries serious risks.

“These people will still need to eat a healthy, balanced diet and be physically active to manage their diabetes.” (ANI)

Airframe tests to help ensure better air travel safety

August 27, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 27 (ANI): Recent tests by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will provide much needed, independent data on how electromagnetic radiation penetrates aircraft, helping to ensure continued air travel safety.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires aircraft manufacturers to demonstrate that their aircraft have effective high intensity radiated field (HIRF) protection.

The manufacturers conduct tests on their aircraft and provide those results to the FAA as part of the certification process.

The tests are designed to show where and to what extent electromagnetic radiation, across a wide spectrum of frequencies, penetrates a given craft’s airframe.

This information is important in determining if and where shielding is needed to protect vital electronic instrumentation from malfunction or damage while flying through ground-based radar beams, for example.

This effort was undertaken to assist the FAA with HIRF measurement procedures and data processing methodologies.

The FAA has struggled with data sets provided by HIRF testers because they use a wide range of measurement/data processing techniques that are not standardized.

For an independent analysis of the situation, a NIST team recently performed HIRF tests on three representative aircraft to give FAA officials a frame of reference for the procedures and data reduction techniques used for typical low-level airframe HIRF attenuation/shielding tests.

Having this information will help the FAA ensure that commercial aircraft are indeed meeting minimum shielding requirements and, ultimately, make the safety of tested aircraft more transparent.

“This will get everyone on the same page,” said Chriss Grosvenor, a NIST electronics engineer. “The FAA and aircraft manufacturers now have a lot of unbiased data they can look at, and our method is just another method to obtain that information,” he added.

The three aircraft chosen for the representative tests were a Boeing 737-200 and a Bombardier Global 5000 business jet, both owned by the FAA, and a Beechcraft Premier IA carbon-fiber composite business jet, owned by the Hawker-Beechcraft company.

By measuring all three aircraft and comparing the results, NIST was able to provide a guide for the optimization of HIRF testing standards for the EMC aircraft manufacturing community.

The tests were conducted over a two-year period using a commercial measurement system that incorporates NIST-developed ultra-wideband antennas, a network analyzer and an optical fiber link to obtain high-resolution measurements from the megahertz to gigahertz range. (ANI)

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Long-term tamoxifen use may up aggressive breast cancer risk

August 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 26 (ANI): Tamoxifen drug, commonly used for treating breast cancer, can actually increase the severity of the disease, finds a new study.

The researchers showed that long-term tamoxifen use increases risk of an aggressive, hard to treat type of second breast cancer.

Lead researcher Dr Christopher Li at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre compared the breast-cancer patients who received the estrogen-blocking drug tamoxifen to those who did not and found that while the drug was associated with a 60 percent reduction in estrogen receptor-positive, or ER positive, second breast cancer – the more common type, which is responsive to estrogen-blocking therapy – it also appeared to increase the risk of ER negative second cancer by 440 percent.

“This is of concern, given the poorer prognosis of ER-negative tumors, which are also more difficult to treat,” said Li.

The findings from the new study supports Li’s earlier research suggesting a link between long-term tamoxifen use and an increased risk of ER-negative second cancers.

“The earlier study had a number of limitations. For example, we did not have information on the duration of tamoxifen therapy the women received,” said Li.

“The current study is larger, is based on much more detailed data, and is the first study specifically designed to determine whether tamoxifen use among breast cancer survivors influences their risk of different types of second breast cancers,” the expert added.

However, Li insists that while the study confirmed a strong association between long-term tamoxifen therapy and an increased risk of ER-negative second cancer, it does not suggest that breast cancer survivors should stop taking hormone therapy to prevent a second cancer.

The findings are published in the journal Cancer Research. (ANI)

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Smoking may aggravate malnutrition in developing countries

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 24 (ANI): Smokers may exacerbate the problem of malnutrition in developing countries because they tend to finance their habit by dipping into the family food budget, say a pair of researchers.

Steven Block and Patrick Webb, of Tufts University, have revealed that their fidning is based on a study conducted in Java, Indonesia.

They say that their findings suggest that the costs of smoking in the developing world go well beyond the immediate health risks.

The researchers surveyed 33,000 households, most of which were poor, and found that the average family with at least one smoker spent 10 percent of its already tight budget on tobacco.

They observed that 68 percent of a smoking family’s budget went to food, and 22 percent for non-food, non-tobacco purchases.

On the other hand, said the researcher duo, the average non-smoking family spent 75 percent of its income on food, and 25 percent for non-food items.

“This suggests that 70 percent of the expenditures on tobacco products are financed by a reduction in food expenditures,” the researchers write.

They note in their report that that decreased spending on food appeared to have real nutritional consequences for children of smokers, with the study finding that smokers’ children tended to be slightly shorter for their ages than those of non-smokers.

The decrease in child nutrition associated with a parent who smokes is “an intuitive but rarely documented empirical finding,” the researchers write.

The team further pointed out that the poorer nutrition in smoking families came not only because they bought less food in total, but also because the food they ate tended to be of lower quality.

They said that, compared to non-smoking families, families with a smoker were found to spend a larger budget share on rice and a smaller share on meats, fruits and vegetables, which are nutrient-rich, but more expensive.

“The combination of direct health threats from smoking coupled with the potential loss of (food) consumption among children linked to tobacco expenditure presents a development challenge of the highest order,” the researchers conclude.

The study has been published in Economic Development and Cultural Change. (ANI)

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Pregnant women recommended not to use fetal heart rate monitors

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 21 (ANI): Pregnant women are being recommended against the use of Doppler devices, an ultrasound transducer used to detect the baby’s heartbeat, at home.

Dr Thomas Aust and colleagues from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Arrowe Park Hospital, in British Medical Journal, explained the case of 27-year-old woman who presented to their labour ward with reduced fetal movements.

The authors said the woman first observed a reduction in her baby’s activity two days earlier but reassured herself after using her own Doppler device, which is not intended to replace recommended antenatal care.

The antenatal care team monitored the fetal movements, which were less than comforting, and a caesarean section was carried out later that evening to deliver the baby, who remained on the special care baby unit for eight weeks.

Though the experts did not determine if self-monitoring altered the outcome in this case, posters in their antenatal areas advising that patients do not use these devices had been put up. (ANI)

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Heart attack death rates fall in US following hospitalization

August 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 19 (ANI): There has been a significant reduction in the death rates of heart attack patients over a decade in the US following efforts to improve care.

According to researchers, from 1995 to 2006, hospital 30-day death rates decreased significantly for patients hospitalized for a heart attack, as did the variation in the rate between hospitals.

“Over the last 2 decades, health care professional, consumer, and payer organizations have sought to improve outcomes for patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction [AMI; heart attack],” wrote the authors.

Lead researcher Dr Harlan M. Krumholz, S.M., of Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. and colleagues examined 30-day mortality among patients, aged 65 years or older (average age, 78 years) who were hospitalized with an AMI.

They found that the all-cause and in-hospital death rates decreased over the study period.

“The 30-day mortality rate decreased from 18.9 percent in 1995 to 16.1 percent in 2006, and in-hospital mortality decreased from 14.6 percent to 10.1 percent,” said the authors.

“In contrast, the 30-day mortality rate for all other conditions was 9.0 percent in 1995 and 8.6 percent in 2006,” they added.

The 30-day risk-standardized mortality rates (RSMRs) decreased from 18.8 percent in 1995 to 15.8 percent in 2006.

“Between 1995 and 2006, the RSMR for patients admitted with AMI showed a marked and significant decrease, as did between-hospital variation,” said the authors.

“Although the cause of the reduction cannot be determined with certainty, this finding may reflect the success of the many individuals and organizations dedicated to improving care during this period,” they added.

The study is published in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). (ANI)

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Steel Minister asks SAIL to complete all expansion plans on time

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Aug 18 (ANI): Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh on Tuesday asked the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) to complete all the ongoing expansion programmes on time.

He was reviewing the Q1 performance of the public sector major at a meeting here today.

He said, the economy looks set for a rebound considering the latest IIP numbers and the projections of GDP this fiscal. This will translate into decent demand growth for steel in the near future.

The Minister appreciated the difficult business environment following the slowdown and hoped the situation to improve in the next couple of quarters.

He expressed satisfaction over the performance of SAIL during the first quarter.

The steel major reported a turnover of Rs 9747 crore during April-June 09, a decrease of 20 per cent over the same quarter last year. The net profit also fell by 27.7 per cent to Rs.1326 crore.

Singh urged the SAIL to strengthen its CSR activities.

“Out of the budget of Rs. 80 crore, the company has been able to spend Rs10.83 crore during the first quarter which is a drop of 201 per cent on sequential basis and a drop of 60 per cent compared to Q1 of the previous year,” he said.

The profitability was adversely affected due to reduction in average net sales realization of saleable steel, escalation in input prices mainly of imported coal, coke, ferro-silicon, increase in railway freight, increase in fuel cost surcharge by DVC and higher interest charges. (ANI)

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Bolt would have been in danger of nabbing a speeding ticket!

August 18, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Berlin (Germany), Aug.18 (ANI): Jamaican Usain Bolt, who broke the world 100 meter record on Monday, is said to have run so fast that he was in danger of getting a speeding ticket.

Bolt set the world record at 9.58 seconds, a huge reduction from the old record of 9.69 he ran a year previously at the Beijing Olympics.

According to the Daily Express, no one has ever carved such a big chunk off the world’s fastest time since electronic timing was introduced.

Maurice Greene taking Donovan Bailey’s record from 9.84 to 9.79 10 years ago was thought a huge achievement – but it did not compare with this.

At his fastest Bolt clocked 30 mph.

Bolt begins again this morning in the 200m. He will be cool until the final,then let those long legs go in another explosion of pace.

His world record at the Olympics was 19.30.

Bolt wants to finish his career as a legend.

“The first few chapters are going well. It’s getting there but two seasons can’t do it,” he said.

“I have to keep doing it year after year. I could go 9.4, but I think the world stops at 9.4. For me, 9.5 is definitely a big thing. I’m proud of myself because I’m the first man to have done that,” he added. (ANI)

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Scientists use camera flash to turn insulating material into conductor

August 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Aug 13 (ANI): Can camera flash actually turn an insulating material into a conductor? Yes, if Northwestern University researchers are to be believed.

Lead researcher Jiaxing Huang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science have found a novel way of turning graphite oxide – a low-cost insulator made by oxidizing graphite powder-into graphene, a material that conducts electricity.

Materials scientists previously have used high-temperature heating or chemical reduction to produce graphene from graphite oxide.

However, these techniques could be problematic when graphite oxide is mixed with something else, such as a polymer, because the polymer component may not survive the high-temperature treatment or could block the reducing chemical from reacting with graphite oxide.

During the study researchers simply held a consumer camera flash over the graphite oxide and, a flash later, the material became piece of fluffy graphene.

“The light pulse offers very efficient heating through the photothermal process, which is rapid, energy efficient and chemical-free,” said Huang.

When using a light pulse, photothermal heating not only reduces the graphite oxide, it also fuses the insulating polymer with the graphene sheets, resulting in a welded conducting composite.

Using patterns printed on a simple overhead transparency film as a photo-mask, flash reduction creates patterned graphene films. This process creates electronically conducting patterns on the insulating graphite oxide film-essentially a flexible circuit.

The research group hopes to next create smaller circuits on a single graphite-oxide sheet at the single-atom layer level.

“If we can make a nano circuit on a single piece of graphite oxide. It will hold great promise for patterning electronic devices,” said Huang.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. (ANI)

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Ozone depletion reduces CO2 uptake of Southern Ocean

August 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, August 9 (ANI): In a new research, scientists have determined that depletion in the ozone layer is reducing the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake of the Southern Ocean.

Most current models predict that the strength of the Southern Ocean CO2 sink should increase as atmospheric CO2 rises, but observations show that this has not been the case.

To help resolve this discrepancy, scientists Andrew Lenton and Nicolas Metzl, along with other researchers, considered the effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, which most previous studies had not included.

They compare coupled carbon-climate models with and without ozone depletion and find that including ozone depletion produced a significant reduction in Southern Ocean carbon uptake, in good agreement with observed trends.

The simulations show that ozone depletion, combined with increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration, drives stronger winds above the Southern Ocean.

These stronger winds bring more carbon-rich deep water to the surface, which reduces the ocean’s ability to absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The researchers also found that ozone depletion increases ocean acidification. They suggest that future climate models should take stratospheric ozone into account. (ANI)

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Weight loss can prevent kidney disease progression in obese patients

Natalizumab drug improves quality of life of MS patients

New WHO data sheds light on two leading causes of pneumonia

Brain’s face processing ability does reduce with age

High recurring heart attack, stroke rates prevail globally despite use of many medicines

Bariatric surgery can eliminate diabetes symptoms

‘Laughing gas’ leaves ozone layer in splits

Bariatric surgery can eliminate diabetes symptoms

Airframe tests to help ensure better air travel safety

Long-term tamoxifen use may up aggressive breast cancer risk

Pregnant women recommended not to use fetal heart rate monitors

Heart attack death rates fall in US following hospitalization

Steel Minister asks SAIL to complete all expansion plans on time

Bolt would have been in danger of nabbing a speeding ticket!

Ozone depletion reduces CO2 uptake of Southern Ocean

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