Mysterious disease toll is 31 in Bihar |  |
- Mysterious disease toll is 31 in Bihar
- Tobacco ads everywhere, why isolate Metro: DMRC
- Missouri Botanical Garden receives $3 million from Monsanto Company toward World Flora
- Ultrasounds spot heart disease early in rheumatoid arthritis patients, Mayo Clinic finds
- Going abroad? First serve the country, doctors told
- High drop-out rate hits Delhi's tobacco cessation centres
- Encephalitis toll rises to 18
- Future medical conditions predicted with new statistical model
- University of Houston engineering researcher receives $2.6 million RPSEA grant
- Minnesota, Mayo Clinic join to advise primary care doctors on pediatric mental health
| Mysterious disease toll is 31 in Bihar Posted: 06 Jun 2012 05:55 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Patna, June 6 - The deaths of eight more children because of a mysterious disease in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and Gaya districts has taken the death toll to 31 in 10 days, officials said Wednesday. The government has yet to identify the cause of the deaths. Health Minister Ashwani Kumar Choubey and Principal Secretary - Amarjit Sinha denied reports that the children were dying due to suspected encephalitis. The causes are yet to be ascertained, Choubey said. Sinha said most deaths were due to excessive heat, dehydration and malnutrition. Till date, 23 children have died in Muzaffarpur and eight in Gaya. Over four dozen children suffering from the mysterious disease have been admitted to hospitals in both districts. Nearly a dozen are battling for life, said a health official. Some doctors and health officials have reportedly claimed that the children were suffering from symptoms similar to encephalitis. Last year, encephalitis, a mosquito-borne disease, claimed nearly 150 lives in the two districts. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Tobacco ads everywhere, why isolate Metro: DMRC Posted: 06 Jun 2012 03:26 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, June 6 - Reacting to a letter by an anti-tobacco advocacy group on display of tobacco advertisements at various Metro stations in the capital, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation - Wednesday said gutka and cigarette ads are everywhere, and the Metro should not be blamed in isolation. If you talk of tobacco advertisements, they are everywhere - on television, radio, malls etc. The DMRC can't be seen in isolation for something like this, a source from the DMRC management told IANS Wednesday. In a letter to the DMRC chief, voluntary group HRIDAY - had asked the management to take advertisements of tobacco products off Metro premises as the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act - prohibits any form of direct or indirect advertisement of tobacco products. While DMRC managing director Mangu Singh is yet to formally respond to the letter, the Metro management said it is the responsibility of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity - to step in and issue common guidelines for control on tobacco ads. It is the DAVP guidelines that will help. Reach of mediums such as TV and radio, where these ads are more prevalent, is far more than the Metro, the official said. The DMRC follows the guidelines set by the DAVP, under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, for the display of advertisements in its premises. Our managing director would be drafting the letter soon, added the official. HRIDAY, in its letter June 1, had stated: Indirect/surrogate advertisements of tobacco products like 'Chaini Chaini', 'Cool Lip', 'Dilbag', 'Rajdarbar' have been displayed at many prominent and most busy metro stations like Rajiv Chowk, Kashmere Gate and Central Secretariat. Feeder buses around several Delhi metro stations have been seen completely painted with tobacco advertisements, it added. The voluntary organisation expressed concern at over 90 percent of oral cancer cases in the Indian population being attributed to... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Missouri Botanical Garden receives $3 million from Monsanto Company toward World Flora Posted: 05 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) (ST. LOUIS): The Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, Mo., U.S.A. has received a generous three-year, $3 million gift from Monsanto Company to support its work on the development of a World Flora Online. The World Flora is an international collaborative effort involving the leading botanical institutions worldwide to develop the first-ever comprehensive, authoritative and accessible online resource for the world's approximately 400,000 known plant species. The World Flora Online will improve access, analysis and management of critical botanical information for policy makers and planners, biodiversity conservation practitioners, botanists, ecologists, geneticists, other scientists and users of plant data worldwide. The support of Monsanto Company will fund the Missouri Botanical Garden's contributions to this ambitious endeavor from 2012 to 2015. The proposed World Flora Online will be an invaluable, accessible treatment of the world's plant diversity that will act as a baseline to support global efforts to identify, safeguard, sustainably use and manage plants for humankind, said Dr. Peter Wyse Jackson, president of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The importance of Monsanto Company's funding for this international endeavor cannot be overstated. With the creation of the online World Flora, we are one step closer in having the tools in place to halt the loss of plant species worldwide by the year 2020, an essential goal outlined by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. The project will include the building of an open-access web-based system for data collection and a subsequent web portal for the display, query and export of this data for scientific and governmental research and conservation. Upon completion of a first phase of the project, it is anticipated that data on some 100,000 plant species, including names, descriptions, geographical distributions and conservation status, will be available with open... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Ultrasounds spot heart disease early in rheumatoid arthritis patients, Mayo Clinic finds Posted: 05 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Special echocardiograms show promise for early detection of a potentially deadly complication in rheumatoid arthritis: heart disease, Mayo Clinic research shows. The findings were being presented at The European League Against Rheumatism annual meeting in Berlin. Rheumatoid arthritis patients are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease and it is important to take steps to intervene, but the risk assessment tools physicians commonly use often underestimate the danger. Myocardial strain imaging using a special type of ultrasound called speckle-tracking echocardiography can detect early abnormalities in heart function unique to rheumatoid arthritis patients, and may be an effective way to screen them for cardiovascular disease, the Mayo study found. The challenge that we've had in our studies, and other people have had as well, is identifying patients with rheumatoid arthritis early enough so that we can intervene, before the symptoms become clinically apparent, says senior researcher Sherine Gabriel, M.D., a Mayo Clinic rheumatologist and epidemiologist. So before they have a heart attack, before they have heart failure, so that we can identify those high-risk patients early, at a time when we can make a difference. In rheumatoid arthritis, the immune system attacks tissue, inflaming joints and sometimes affecting other organs. A recently published Mayo Clinic study found that two commonly used heart disease risk assessment tools -- the Framingham and Reynolds risk scores -- often underestimate the danger faced by rheumatoid arthritis patients. They are in greater danger not only of the kind of heart disease that causes heart attacks, but the type that causes heart failure, Dr. Gabriel says. Mayo Clinic is working to develop a more effective risk assessment tool, but in the meantime, the echocardiogram findings are an important step forward, she says. Researchers studied 100 rheumatoid arthritis patients... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Going abroad? First serve the country, doctors told Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:36 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Kolkata, June 4 - The Indian government plans to bring a regulation to ensure doctors have a compulsory stint in the country especially in the rural sector, Minister of State for Health Sudip Bandopadhyay Monday said. The government is spending crores of rupees for making doctors and specialists, but after passing out most of them go abroad. We are planning to bring in a regulation/declaration which will make sure that the doctors serve in their state/country for a specific period, said Bandopadhyay. He said the government was planning to increase the number of medical seats in order to produce more doctors. We will increase the number of seats in order to generate more doctors so that there are enough doctors to serve in the rural belt. West Bengal is also planning to increase the number of MBBS and post graduate seats every year, he said. West Bengal Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharjee said the private health care institutions should assist the state government in order to revamp the rural health care sector. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| High drop-out rate hits Delhi's tobacco cessation centres Posted: 04 Jun 2012 05:04 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, June 4 - The sight of haphazardly placed posters and pamphlets saying 'Quit Smoking' and showing a stubbed out cigarette in an ashtray signals a smoker's failed attempt at kicking the butt. In what experts call 'been there, not done that', tobacco de-addiction centres are now grappling with a high drop-out rate coupled with a dismal quitting rate among tobacco users. At public cessation centres, the motivation level among tobacco users is very low as most of them join under familial pressure, Harpreet Mehar, clinical psychologist at the department of rehabilitation in Delhi's Ram Manohar Lohia - Hospital, told IANS. Adding to this, tobacco is so addictive that they are not able to overpower their urge and leave course midway, he said. RML Hospital is one of three government-run de-addiction centres in the national capital. The other two are the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences - and the V.P. Chest Institute. In these centres, most addicts leave mid-way due to lack of awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco consumption. Of the 400 patients we have dealt with in the last three years, only 6-7 percent were able to quit tobacco. After some infrastructural issues, we integrated the cessation centre with our psychiatry department, Mehar said. For the country with nearly 274.9 million tobacco users, the Global Adult Tobacco Survey - says nearly 26 percent of them use smokeless tobacco, six percent are cigarette smokers, and nine percent smoke bidi. Tobacco is the leading cause of cancer deaths in India. Nimesh Desai, head of the IHBAS de-addiction centre, said apart from lack of awareness, many people also quit the clinic in between because there was no follow-up mechanism. Tobacco cessation centres - have evolved in a way that we now see participation from cancer specialists, psychiatrists, voluntary organisations and pulmonologists. Even then, low awareness, lack of follow-up and tracking... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Posted: 04 Jun 2012 03:03 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Patna, June 4 - Suspected encephalitis has killed three more children in Bihar's Muzaffarpur and Gaya districts, taking the death toll in eight days to 18, officials said Monday. Nearly a dozen districts of the state have been put on high alert following the deaths. The mosquito-borne disease, which claimed nearly 150 lives last year in Bihar, has returned with a vengeance. Health official Rajendra Prasad has asked civil surgeons in Gaya, Aurangabad, Jehanabad and Arwal districts in particular to be on alert to check the spread of the disease. A health official in Muzaffarpur said authorities in over half a dozen districts of north Bihar have been told to take steps to check and control the disease. Eleven children have died in Muzaffarpur and seven in Gaya. Over two dozen children are admitted in hospitals in both places. Muzaffarpur civil surgeon Gayan Bhusan said the children died after contracting high fever followed by convulsions. Encephalitis is a condition of acute inflammation of the brain resulting either from a viral infection or when the body's immune system mistakenly attacks the brain tissue. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Future medical conditions predicted with new statistical model Posted: 04 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Analyzing medical records from thousands of patients, statisticians have devised a statistical model for predicting what other medical problems a patient might encounter. Like how Netflix recommends movies and TV shows or how Amazon.com suggests products to buy, the algorithm makes predictions based on what a patient has already experienced as well as the experiences of other patients showing a similar medical history. This provides physicians with insights on what might be coming next for a patient, based on experiences of other patients. It also gives a predication that is interpretable by patients, said Tyler McCormick, an assistant professor of statistics and sociology at the University of Washington. The algorithm will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Annals of Applied Statistics. McCormick's co-authors are Cynthia Rudin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and David Madigan, Columbia University. McCormick said that this is one of the first times that this type of predictive algorithm has been used in a medical setting. What differentiates his model from others, he said, is that it shares information across patients who have similar health problems. This allows for better predictions when details of a patient's medical history are sparse. For example, new patients might lack a lengthy file listing ailments and drug prescriptions compiled from previous doctor visits. The algorithm can compare the patient's current health complaints with other patients who have a more extensive medical record that includes similar symptoms and the timing of when they arise. Then the algorithm can point to what medical conditions might come next for the new patient. We're looking at each sequence of symptoms to try to predict the rest of the sequence for a different patient, McCormick said. If a patient has already had dyspepsia and epigastric pain, for instance, heartburn might be next. The algorithm can also... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| University of Houston engineering researcher receives $2.6 million RPSEA grant Posted: 04 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A University of Houston civil engineering researcher has received a $2.6 million grant to develop a new type of smart cement that could make offshore drilling safer. Cumaraswamy Vipu Vipulanandan is working on developing a material that offshore oil rig operators could use to monitor the health of a well during its construction as well as throughout its operational life. The non-profit Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America (RPSEA) awarded the three-year grant to Vipulanandan under its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy. Baker Hughes, a Houston-based oilfield services firm, is contributing $500,000 more to the research project. Vipulanandan wants to create a material that is more sensitive than the standard drilling mud and cementing slurry used by operators to construct and form offshore wells. Slurry cement is a mixture of water, cement and fine sand in a certain ratio that is usable to fill gaps and voids and for other repairs. Offshore oil producers face a variety of extreme factors, from widely varying temperatures to very high pressures to extremely corrosive seawater. The wells also are basically inaccessible; meaning monitoring their overall health is another major challenge. Vipulanandan is working on adding new materials to the slurry, including nano-scale particles of calcium, silica and iron. Other modifiers include polymers, coupling agents, water-reducing agents, particle fillers and admixtures. These additions, he said, will turn the drilling mud and cementing slurry into piezomaterials, meaning their electrical properties will change when they encounter mechanical stresses, temperature changes and chemical reactions. It's sort of like your skin. When someone touches your skin, you can feel it. You can feel the pressure, he said. During a well's construction, electrical leads will be placed in the outer casing of the well. As the slurry is poured to form the inner wall of the well, the... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Minnesota, Mayo Clinic join to advise primary care doctors on pediatric mental health Posted: 04 Jun 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) ROCHESTER, Minn. -- The Minnesota Department of Human Services has entered into a two-year contract with Mayo Clinic to provide expert guidance to pediatricians and other primary care providers who prescribe psychotropic medications for children. The new service is referred to as collaborative psychiatric consultation and is based on pilot projects that improved care and saved money. A two-year, $1.7 million state and federal investment in the program is expected to be fully offset by reduced costs for inpatient hospitalizations and medications in the state Medical Assistance program. While all Minnesota physicians will be encouraged to use the service, it will be required for Medical Assistance fee-for-service payment for certain psychotropic medications for children. We are pleased to join with Mayo Clinic to provide better mental health care to all Minnesota children, especially children served by the Medical Assistance program, says Lucinda Jesson, Human Services commissioner. This new psychiatric consultation service holds the promise of improved access and quality of care as well as greater efficiency so resources can be focused on appropriate treatment. For the first time in the state's history, this new program will enable child psychiatrists and social workers across leading health care systems to function as an integrated team, says Peter Jensen, M.D., a Mayo Clinic psychiatrist. We're truly working together to help Minnesota's primary care physicians deliver quality health care to their children with mental health needs. The new service will also expand the capacity and strengthen the system of oversight and monitoring of psychotropic medication use among children in foster care; they are up to five times more likely to be on a psychotropic medication than other children on Medical Assistance, a concern in Minnesota and nationally. Mayo Clinic will partner with other health systems to ensure the new service is... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| You are subscribed to email updates from RxPG News : Latest Medical, Healthcare and Research News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Post a Comment