Experts stress 5 musts before weight loss surgery |  |
- Experts stress 5 musts before weight loss surgery
- Goa to re-negotiate mediclaim scheme with insurer
- Study serves up healthy choice of rice
- East Midlands designed health sensor could be a lifesaver for miners
- Killing of Bin Laden offers insight into the 'business of martyrdom'
- Geologists testing aquifer rocks as containers to permanently trap carbon dioxide
- University of Nottingham to play key role in European solar energy technology project
- Unprecedented subatomic details of exotic ferroelectric nanomaterials
- Study reveals good news about the GI of rice
| Experts stress 5 musts before weight loss surgery Posted: 10 Jul 2012 12:44 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) NewDelhi, July 9 - Even as India and China top the global chart of obese and diabetic people, experts charted out five prerequisites for patients and surgeons before weight loss surgery, doctors said Monday. Over the years, there has been a lot of international attention on metabolic surgery. And with increasing problems of obesity, these guidelines will also help diabetic patients in understanding whether they can choose bariatric surgery as an option to cure their problem, said Muffazal Lakdawala, founder, Centre for Obesity and Diabetes Surgery -. In the task force meet of the fifth Asian consensus meeting on metabolic surgery, top metabolic surgeons and diabetologists from across the globe came out with the list of requisites. The prerequisites that doctors have come with are: the metabolicsurgery team must be a multidisciplinary team and patients who undergo surgery need life-long follow up by the diabetologist/endocrinologist/bariatric physician and a nutritionist. The prerequisites defined various limits of the basic metabolic index - of the patient eligible for the surgery, holding that patients of type two diabetes with less than a BMI of 30 must be offered surgery only under experimental protocol. Metabolic surgery must be performed only at high volume centres performing more than a 100 procedures in a year, the list added. According to the Diabetes Atlas by the IDF, China had overtaken India as the Diabetes Capital of the World last year. US stands third in the list with over 23 million diabetics. While bariatric surgery is the most suggested treatment mode for obese people, the IDF last year called for the surgery to be considered earlier in the treatment of eligible obese diabetic patients. Aprospective trial is going to be started comparing the results of surgery with medical management to see the effects on micro and macrovascular complications of diabetes in these patients, the task force added. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Goa to re-negotiate mediclaim scheme with insurer Posted: 09 Jul 2012 02:17 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Panaji, July 9 - The Goa government will re-negotiate the terms and conditions of its mediclaim insurance scheme with ICICI Lombard and re-launch it within the year, Health Minister Laxmikant Parsenkar said Monday. Speaking to reporters at the party headquarters here, Parsenkar said the health ministry was planning to up the health cover ceiling from Rs.60,000 to Rs.2 lakh as part of the negotiations. We will be re-negotiating with the ICICI - company and raise the limit to Rs.2 lakh. They should be in a position to agree. If they don't then we will look for another service provider, Parsenkar said. Unveiled in September last year, the Swarnajayanti mediclaim scheme aims to provide universal health insurance coverage to all the 3.5 lakh households in Goa with less than five members. The scheme, which is the first to be implemented in any Indian state, however, hit a roadblock after several private clinics in the state refused to accept the terms and conditions, calling them unviable. We will also be taking into confidence all the private clinics and nursing homes during the negotiations, Parsenkar said. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Study serves up healthy choice of rice Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Rice consumers concerned about reports that rice is linked to diabetes can rest assured that rice can be part of a healthy diet, with scientists finding that the glycemic index (GI) of rice varies a lot from one type of rice to another, with most varieties scoring a low to medium GI. The findings of the research, which analyzed 235 types of rice from around the world, is good news because it not only means rice can be part of a healthy diet for the average consumer, but it also means people with diabetes, or at risk of diabetes, can select the right rice to help maintain a healthy, low-GI diet. The study found that the GI of rice ranges from a low of 48 to a high of 92, with an average of 64. The research team from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Food Futures Flagship also identified the key gene that determines the GI of rice, an important achievement that offers rice breeders the opportunity to develop varieties with different GI levels to meet consumer needs. Future development of low-GI rice would also enable food manufacturers to develop new, low-GI food products based on rice.Dr. Melissa Fitzgerald, who led the IRRI team, said that GI is a measure of the relative ability of carbohydrates in foods to raise blood sugar levels after eating. Understanding that different types of rice have different GI values allows rice consumers to make informed choices about the sort of rice they want to eat, she said. Rice varieties such as India's most widely grown rice variety, Swarna, have a low GI and varieties such as Doongara from Australia and Basmati have a medium GI. Dr. Tony Bird, CSIRO Food Futures Flagship researcher, said that low-GI diets offer a range of health benefits: Low-GI diets can reduce the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes, and are also useful for helping diabetics better manage their condition. This is... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| East Midlands designed health sensor could be a lifesaver for miners Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A chance discussion between a Professor at The University of Nottingham and the managing director of a Derby company has resulted in the development of a revolutionary new technology which could help save lives in the mining industry. Tioga, which employs 90 people at its headquarters in Derby, is a contract electronics manufacturer producing products in sectors as diverse as telecommunications, medical devices, security, mining, gaming and transport. The University of Nottingham has, since 2008, been researching into a technology called 'Heart Light' which provides a way of continuously monitoring the heartbeat of new-born babies by attaching a small sensor to their head. This also means that doctors and midwives can perform resuscitation if needed, without having to stop to check the heartbeat with a stethoscope. During a chance conversation between Professor Barrie Hayes-Gill of the University and Warwick Adams, the Managing Director of Tioga, the Professor mentioned the patented Heart Light work that he and his team had been involved in. As Tioga undertakes work in the mining industry, Mr Adams was curious as to whether the technology could potentially be developed to monitor the wellbeing of miners while working underground. Interestingly, the predecessor to the Heart Light was initially designed for the monitoring of workers in Rio Tinto aluminium smelting plants in 2004, so its migration to mining was a natural progression of the original purpose of the technology. Recent mining accidents have all too clearly demonstrated the need to be able to assess the health and location of miners trapped underground. Although some mines now use RFID systems (Radio Frequency Identification Systems), many still employ the tally system, using tokens to check whether miners have returned from their shift. In addition, there are no reliable monitoring systems in place to indicate whether or not the miner is suffering from any health... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Killing of Bin Laden offers insight into the 'business of martyrdom' Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) COLUMBUS, Ohio - The way the U.S. military killed Osama bin Laden sent a message every bit as powerful as the fact that he was killed in the first place, according to the author of a new history of suicide bombing. The fact that bin Laden was killed by a team of highly trained soldiers - and not by a drone or bomb - spoiled the grand narrative of brave Muslim fighters vs. U.S. technology that bin Laden and al Qaeda had developed in their war against the United States. Bin Laden had built up this image of himself and al Qaeda as a morally superior David against the technological Goliath that is the United States, said Jeffrey Lewis, a lecturer in the International Studies program at Ohio State University. But bin Laden was killed by people who risked their lives to get to him. The United States could have flattened the compound with a bomb, but we took a risk in order to apprehend or kill him. And we made sure that we got the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks, without a lot of other casualties. It sent a message to the Muslim world that we were after justice and not revenge. Lewis is author of the new book The Business of Martyrdom: A History of Suicide Bombing (Naval Institute Press, 2012). In the book, Lewis discusses how suicide bombers were essential to bin Laden's narrative, because they were supposed to show how al Qaeda relied on people of faith over technology to gain victory over their enemies. But bin Laden was wrong in his belief that al Qaeda didn't rely on technology, according to Lewis. The key to understanding suicide bombing - and to preventing it - is to realize that suicide bombers are essentially a form of technology themselves. In fact, Lewis came to the subject of suicide bombing through his background studying the history and philosophy of technology, particularly biotechnology. When people used the term smart bomb as a metaphor for suicide bombing, it always seemed to me that it was more than just a... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Geologists testing aquifer rocks as containers to permanently trap carbon dioxide Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Two Kansas State University geologists are part of a comprehensive statewide study on using rocks for long-term storage of carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a gas that is a byproduct of respiration and burning fossil fuels and heat sources, among other causes. Studies have linked increased carbon dioxide production to climate change. Currently, more carbon dioxide is being produced by various sources, both natural and anthropogenic, and is going into the atmosphere, said Saugata Datta, assistant professor of geology who is leading the university's involvement in the project. This study is not to look at what carbon dioxide does to the atmosphere, but rather how to sequester it and keep it from reaching the atmosphere in the first place. Datta and Robin Barker, master's student in geology, Arnoldsville, Ga., are studying the geochemical effectiveness of trapping and storing carbon dioxide by injecting it more than 5,000 feet underground in the Arbuckle aquifer under Kansas. The aquifer has a thick layer of porous rock that scientists believe could permanently store carbon dioxide. It also contains groundwater with such high salt concentrations that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has deemed it unsafe to drink. According to Datta, determining whether the rocks of the Arbuckle are effective for permanently storing carbon dioxide could be beneficial to manufacturing and production industries, which currently monitor carbon dioxide production levels due to regulations. The aquifer is one of 10 throughout the nation that is being studied. Scientists from other national institutions and universities are conducting similar projects in Alabama, California, Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. The study at Kansas State University is threefold. For the first portion -- already in progress -- Datta and Barker are using water and rock core samples from the aquifer to... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| University of Nottingham to play key role in European solar energy technology project Posted: 09 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The University of Nottingham has joined a 10 million euro project to develop cost effective, solar generated electricity. Photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, converts solar radiation into electricity using solar cell panels. At the moment, producing silicon solar cells involves the use of complicated equipment such as vacuum processes, high temperatures and clean rooms, which makes the cost of energy generated in this way expensive. Establishing a way to fabricate cost-effective high efficiency solar cells has long been of interest to both academics and industry. The Novel Nanostructured Thin/Thick Film Processing Group, which is based at the University, will be working on the project, entitled SCALENANO to develop cost-effective photovoltaic devices and modules based on advanced thin film technologies. SCALENANO, which is part of the European FP-7 project, runs until 2015, and involves 13 European partners from research institutes, universities and companies, who all have an interest in the development of PV technologies. Speaking about the project, Professor Kwang-Leong Choy, who is leading the research group at The University of Nottingham, said: As the global supply of fossil fuels declines, the ability to generate sustainable energy will become absolutely vital. Generating electricity by converting solar radiation into electricity, potentially provides us with an unlimited source of energy. At the moment, the production of silicon solar cells involves complicated equipment, vacuum processes and clean rooms which makes the cost of PV cells very expensive. By working together with academic and industrial partners across Europe, we are confident that we will be able to find a way of fabricating cost-effective, high efficiency solar cells, which will benefit businesses and households across the world. There are issues with the thin film solar cells currently commercialised at the moment, due to challenges with... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Unprecedented subatomic details of exotic ferroelectric nanomaterials Posted: 08 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) UPTON, NY - As scientists learn to manipulate little-understood nanoscale materials, they are laying the foundation for a future of more compact, efficient, and innovative devices. In research to be published online July 8 in the journal Nature Materials, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and other collaborating institutions describe one such advance - a technique revealing unprecedented details about the atomic structure and behavior of exotic ferroelectric materials, which are uniquely equipped to store digital information. This research could guide the scaling up of these exciting materials and usher in a new generation of advanced electronics. Brookhaven scientists used a technique called electron holography to capture images of the electric fields created by the materials' atomic displacement with picometer precision - that's the trillionths-of-a-meter scale crucial to understanding these promising nanoparticles. By applying different levels of electricity and adjusting the temperature of the samples, researchers demonstrated a method for identifying and describing the behavior and stability of ferroelectrics at the smallest-ever scale, with major implications for data storage. This kind of detail is just amazing - for the first time ever we can actually see the positions of atoms and link them to local ferroelectricity in nanoparticles, said Brookhaven physicist Yimei Zhu. This kind of fundamental insight is not only a technical milestone, but it also opens up new engineering possibilities. Ferroelectrics are perhaps best understood as the mysterious cousins of more familiar ferromagnetic materials, commonly seen in everything from refrigerator magnets to computer hard drives. As the name suggests, ferromagnetics have intrinsic magnetic dipole moments, meaning that they are always oriented toward either north or south. These dipole moments... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Study reveals good news about the GI of rice Posted: 08 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Research analysing 235 types of rice from around the world has found its glycemic index (GI) varies from one type of rice to another with most varieties scoring a low to medium GI.This finding is good news because it not only means rice can be part of a healthy diet for the average consumer, it also means people with diabetes, or at risk of diabetes, can select the right rice to help maintain a healthy, low GI diet. The study found that the GI of rice ranges from a low of 48 to a high of 92, with an average of 64, and that the GI of rice depends on the type of rice consumed. The research team from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and CSIRO's Food Futures Flagship also identified the key gene that determines the GI of rice, an important achievement that offers rice breeders the opportunity to develop varieties with different GI levels to meet consumer needs. Future development of low GI rice would also enable food manufactures to develop new, low GI food products based on rice. Dr Melissa Fitzgerald, who led the IRRI team, said GI is a measure of the relative ability of carbohydrates in foods to raise blood sugar levels after eating. Understanding that different types of rice have different GI values allows rice consumers to make informed choices about the sort of rice they want to eat, she said. Rice varieties like India's most widely grown rice variety, Swarna, have a low GI and varieties like Doongara and Basmati from Australia have a medium GI. Dr Tony Bird, CSIRO Food Futures Flagship researcher, said that low GI diets offer a range of health benefits. Low GI diets can reduce the likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes, and are also useful for helping diabetics better manage their condition, he said. This is good news for diabetics and people at risk of diabetes who are trying to control their condition through diet, as it means they can select the right rice to help maintain a healthy, low GI diet.... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
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