Government sends team of doctors to violence-hit Assam |  |
- Government sends team of doctors to violence-hit Assam
- Liver transplant in India saves Yemeni boy
- Beware! You may be more vulnerable to hepatitis than you think
- Mayo Clinic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock announce collaboration
- Martian polygons and deep-sea polygons on Earth: More evidence for ancient Martian oceans?
- Born weighing 450 grams, baby girl survives
- FDA approves personalized therapy for tough-to-treat colorectal cancer
- Now measure your sleep pattern with wireless
- Infant dies after removal from Punjab hospital incubator, probe ordered
- 'Pregnant women more vulnerable to Hepatitis E-induced liver failure'
| Government sends team of doctors to violence-hit Assam Posted: 27 Jul 2012 09:14 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 27 - The central government Friday airlifted doctors and para-medics to provide medical help to hundreds of thousands of people who have been displaced and are living in relief camps following sectarian violence in Assam. Two teams comprising physicians, gynaecologists, paediatricians, public health specialists, resident doctors and nurses have been airlifted from Delhi, a government statement said. The medical teams will support the state government's efforts to provide relief and immediate medical help to the people in the relief camps, the statement added. In Delhi, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth reviewed the relief and medical arrangements in the camps through a video conference with the Assam chief secretary to ensure that food and other supplies were available in adequate measures. Assam's Bodo areas have seen week-long communal clashes that have claimed 45 lives. The violence has displaced about 3.92 lakh people in the three districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang and Udalguri. There were no no reports of any fresh violence since Thursday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to fly to Assam Saturday in an attempt to calm the situation in the northeastern state. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Liver transplant in India saves Yemeni boy Posted: 27 Jul 2012 05:33 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 27 - The Malek family from Yemen had lost all hope when nine-year-old Abdul was diagnosed with the same liver disease that had killed his two siblings. But the boy has got a new lease of life after doctors from the national capital region did a complicated liver surgery on him, transplanting a portion of his father's liver into his. Abdul was diagnosed with a liver disease that was followed by jaundice and an enlarged liver. The disease begins in infancy. So many children are not able to receive timely liver transplant due to lack of awareness, Vivek Vij, head of department of liver transplant in Fortis Hospital in Noida, said Friday. Abdul was diagnosed with progressive familial intraheptic cholestasis which, doctors say, progresses to cirrhosis within the first decade of life. We had already lost Abdul's four-year-old brother and a two-year-old sister to the same disease, the boy's uncle Hasan Abdo Hasan Surain said. The surgery, held June 15, cost the family over Rs.15 lakh with medication for the first three months. Abdul was discharged after two weeks of the surgery. Liver transplantation is an established treatment for children with end-stage liver diseases with good long term survival, said Rajeev Tomar, a consultant paediatric hematologist at Fortis Hospital. In the over 10-hour long surgery, the team of doctors met the challenging task of operating on Abdul's small blood vessels. So far, he has not had any complaints of jaundice and itching. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Beware! You may be more vulnerable to hepatitis than you think Posted: 27 Jul 2012 01:56 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 27 - Casual one-night stands and multiple partners could be the starting points of serious health concerns. Not just for HIV, which most people are now aware of, but more for hepatitis. Expressing concern over the low awareness among people, especially youngsters, about hepatitis, doctors say that much more needs to be done to spread the word about the disease, like has been done for HIV/AIDS. Very often, I have young patients coming to me for a post-exposure test for HIV after unprotected sex, or sex with multiple partners. What they don't realise is that the probability of contacting the hepatitis B or even C virus through the sexual route is much higher than HIV, Monica Mahajan, senior consultant at Max Hospital here, told IANS. The inflammatory disease of the liver affects 100 million with chronic hepatitis B infection in the Southeast Asian region, WHO said. According to doctors, two to five percent of India's population is affected by hepatitis B. D. Sreenivasa, consultant at the gastroenterology centre at Fortis Hospital, Bangalore, said that 20 percent of the population is prone to the infection in the future. Mahajan said the hepatitis virus is 50-100 times more contagious than HIV. Sexual contact is one of the most common routes for the virus to spread. But it can also spread through other body fluids like blood; so beware of infected needles. Having said that, cases of the virus spreading because of blood contamination has gone down relatively, Mahajan said. Mother-to-child transmission is also mostly taken care of because of all the screening tests that a pregnant women goes through. Plus, now the universal immunisation programme includes protection against hepatitis B, making children less vulnerable. So it's those in the sexually active age group, in 20s-30s, who are unaware that they are vulnerable, she added. The infection can cause acute illness with symptoms such as nausea, dark urine,... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Mayo Clinic, Dartmouth-Hitchcock announce collaboration Posted: 27 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) LEBANON, N.H. -- Mayo Clinic and Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) today announced a formal collaboration to bring the strengths of both organizations to the goal of improving health and health care quality while lowering overall costs. Under the agreement, D-H will become a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, a growing network of like-minded organizations that share a commitment to serving patients and their families. Video Alert: Multimedia resources are available on the Mayo Clinic News Network. Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Mayo share a long history of working to deliver high-quality, cost-effective, safe, value-based health care, says James Weinstein, D.O., CEO and President of D-H. From creating the High Value Healthcare Collaborative with other partners, to advancing the patient's voice in health care decisions, Mayo and D-H have pursued a common vision, mission and commitment to a healthy population. Dartmouth-Hitchcock remains an independent entity under the agreement. As a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network, D-H physicians and providers will have access to Mayo Clinic resources, including tools to promote physician-to-physician consultations and a point-of-care database of best-practice information on disease management, care guidelines, treatment recommendations and reference materials. Health care in America is at a crossroads, says John Noseworthy, M.D., president and CEO of Mayo Clinic. Providers are seeking meaningful relationships that allow them to best address their patients' needs while improving the efficiency and effectiveness of care. The Mayo Clinic Care Network is about advancing longstanding relationships with organizations that share a commitment to improving care and value for our patients. We are very proud to welcome Dartmouth-Hitchcock into the Mayo Clinic Care Network and building the long tradition of collaboration between our two organizations to serve patients throughout this region. This... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Martian polygons and deep-sea polygons on Earth: More evidence for ancient Martian oceans? Posted: 27 Jul 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Boulder, Colorado, USA - Debate over the origin of large-scale polygons (hundreds of meters to kilometers in diameter) on Mars remains active even after several decades of detailed observations. Similarity in geometric patterns on Mars and Earth has long captured the imagination. In this new article from GSA Today, geologists at The University of Texas at Austin examine these large-scale polygons and compare them to similar features on Earth's seafloor, which they believe may have formed via similar processes. Understanding these processes may in turn fuel support for the idea of ancient oceans on Mars. Through examination of THEMIS, MOLA, Viking, and Mariner data and images, planetary scientists have found that areas on the northern plains of Mars are divided into large polygon-shaped portions and that sets of these polygons span extensive areas of the Martian surface. Smaller polygon-shaped bodies are found elsewhere on Mars, but these are best explained by thermal contraction processes similar to those in terrestrial permafrost environments and not likely to form larger polygons. In the August 2012 issue of GSA Today, Lorena Moscardelli and her colleagues from The University of Texas at Austin present a detailed comparison of the geometric features of these large Martian polygons and similar features found in deep-sea sediments here on Earth. Moscardelli and colleagues note striking similarities. On Earth, polygon-shaped areas, with the edges formed by faults, are common in fine-grained deep-sea sediments. Some of the best examples of these polygon-fault areas are found in the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea. These are imaged using detailed, 3-D seismic surveys conducted to search for offshore oil and gas deposits. Images reproduced in this paper show that these deep-water polygons are also 1,000 meters or greater in diameter. While the details of deep-sea polygon formation on Earth are complex, Moscardelli and her... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Born weighing 450 grams, baby girl survives Posted: 26 Jul 2012 10:50 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Chandigarh, July 26 - Born three months premature and weighing just 450 grams, an infant girl has survived and has been discharged from a private hospital in Mohali near here, said doctors. Doctors who treated the infant claim that the girl could be the country's smallest baby to survive this medical condition. Discharged from the hospital over three months after she was born April 21 this year, the infant now weighs 1.4 kg, neonatology consultant Sunil K. Aggarwal told media here Thursday. He said that the infant was kept under close observation and treatment round-the-clock at the neo-natal intensive care unit - at the hospital during these three months. For the infant's mother, Rajni, seeing her little one survive despite her medical condition was the greatest gift from God. Rajni had earlier experienced three failed pregnancies - all in the seventh month of pregnancy. Aggarwal said that most newborn specialists consider that babies weighing less than 500 grams have a bleak chance of survival. In the first week, none of us thought the baby was going to make it. She is a little miracle, he said. It's too early to know how she will fare when she grows up. Since she did not have any major complications, we are hopeful of normal development, he said. Aggarwal said: There is no reported survival of a baby of this weight in India. The earlier record, based on the various reports published in this regard, was of a baby weighing 495 grams from Pune in October 2010. The infant needed ventilation support for 15 days before she could breathe on her own, he said. Thereafter, we had to put her on artificial oxygen for another 12 days, apart from providing intravenous nutrition for the first two weeks till she became stable, he added. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| FDA approves personalized therapy for tough-to-treat colorectal cancer Posted: 26 Jul 2012 09:00 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 26 - There's new hope for colorectal cancer - patients with the US FDA approving the first personalized therapy for its treatment. More than 42,000 new CRC are estimated to occur in India in 2012, doctors say. The FDA nod for Erbitux is based on data from a large scale patient study titled CRYSTAL - conducted outside the U.S, said an official release announcing the approval. The totality of the data from CRYSTAL, along with data from other Erbitux trials, provide compelling and consistent evidence of the benefit of Erbitux in the treatment of KRAS mutation negative - EGFR-expressing mCRC, said Ashok Vaid, Chairman of the Medanta Cancer Institute, Gurgaon. Colorectal cancer occurs when the disease has spread to at least one distant organ and tissues, such as the liver, lungs, lining of the abdomen or ovaries. Generally, only 12 percent of patients affected with this form of the disease survive beyond five years. However, once they were treated with cetuximab -, combined with the chemotherapy currently in use, the patients' survival rate had gone up to as much as 20 percent and with significant decrease in the risk of disease progression compared to patients receiving only the present line of chemotherapy, found an analysis of the study data against the advanced stage of cancer centres. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Now measure your sleep pattern with wireless Posted: 26 Jul 2012 08:02 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 26 - Eager to know if you got a good night's sleep? A new sleep monitoring device can measure the amount you've slept! The contact-free device, launched by GEAR4, is called Renew Sleep Clock. It is also capable of recommending the ways through which one can improve his or her sleep pattern as well as lifestyle. Unlike other devices, a person wouldn't have to wear any wires which often disrupt the natural sleep comfort. The new device can be attached with an iPod, iPad or iPhone. It is the easiest way to evaluate your level of deep sleep, sleep expert Michael Breus, said in a statement. Unlike other products on the market, there is nothing you need to wear or plug-in, you just turn it on, dock your device, and wake up the next day to a better understanding of your physically restorative sleep, Breus added. The sensor in the device knows when someone is asleep and whether they are in light or deep sleep. It even knows if one has left the bed during the night or if other interruptions woke them from slumber. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Infant dies after removal from Punjab hospital incubator, probe ordered Posted: 26 Jul 2012 07:55 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Jalandhar/Chandigarh, July 26 - Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal Thursday ordered a high-level probe after the parents of a newborn alleged that their child died in the civil hospital in Jalandhar after hospital staff removed her from the incubator for non-payment of an amount of just Rs.200. The parents of the infant girl, Anita and Sanjeev Kumar, alleged Thursday that their child died Wednesday evening, just hours after the staff of the civil hospital's paediatrics ward removed her from the incubator. They alleged that the staff had asked them to deposit a fee of Rs.200 for the incubator which they could not do immediately. They took the child out of the incubator and even stopped giving her any other treatment. She died Wednesday evening, Sanjeev Kumar told media in Jalandhar, 150 km from Chandigarh. The girl child was born July 21 and suffered complications due to jaundice. Badal ordered a high-level inquiry to look into the allegations of negligence against the hospital staff which led to the death of the girl. The Punjab government constituted a high level committee comprising Additional Deputy Commissioner Parneet Bhardwaj, Sub-Divisional Magistrate - Sumeet, Civil Surgeon R.L. Bassan, and medical officers Sangeeta Kapoor and Jaswinder Kaur. The committee has been directed to submit a report within three days to the government. State Health minister Madan Mohan Mittal also directed Director, Health Services Karanjit Singh to probe the matter. I am shocked if this has happened. We have ordered a probe into the matter. Such incidents cannot be tolerated, Mittal told media in Chandigarh. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| 'Pregnant women more vulnerable to Hepatitis E-induced liver failure' Posted: 26 Jul 2012 03:28 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 26 - In one of the widest single-centre studies conducted by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences - here, it was found that water-borne Hepatitis E was the basic cause of acute liver failure in nearly 60 percent of pregnant women. Hepatitis E, a preventable disease, is transmitted mainly through contaminated drinking water and can lead to death by triggering acute liver failure. Post failure, the liver is not able to remove toxic substances in the blood. The two-decade study closely examined over 1,000 consecutive patients admitted at AIIMS from Jan 1986 to Dec 2006. It compared the progression of Hepatitis E in pregnant women, non-pregnant women and men in the age group 15-45 years. We found that Hepatitis E was the causative agent of acute liver failure in among 60 percent of pregnant women and girls. However, the virus caused acute liver failure in only 30 percent non-pregnant females, S.K. Acharya, head of department of a gastroenterology at AIIMS, told IANS. Among men, only 23 percent were affected by liver failure caused by Hepatitis E, said Acharya, who is also the co-author of the study. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver, most commonly caused by a viral infection. In the study, 249 pregnant women were compared with 341 non-pregnant females and 425 males. Pregnant women may be more vulnerable to infection by Hepatitis E virus. The mortality rate among hepatic pregnant women was found to be over 50 percent, the study noted. The study puts pregnant women at an increased vulnerability to Hepatitis E, leaving them with more cautions to follow on hygiene, safe drinking water and sanitation. There is a general liver insufficiency or weakness during pregnancy. So, Hepatitis E virus has a higher attack rate and progression in pregnant women, Acharya explained. There are five main Hepatitis viruses - types A, B, C, D and E. Other than viral infection, Hepatitis is also caused by alcohol, drugs,... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
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