Love your smartphone? Then check out the negatives too

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• Love your smartphone? Then check out the negatives too
• 'Obesity kills more people than AIDS'
• PM calls for increasing health spending to five percent
• Thousands of pregnant women in Goa given inferior capsules: Report
• Medical team from Delhi to probe vaccine deaths
• Batcha's death due to asphyxia: Doctor
• Liquid biomaterials take stem cell therapy to new level
• Psychological impact of Japan disaster will be felt 'for some time to come'
• Injectable bulking agent improves symptoms of fecal incontinence
• 4 Gujarat children die after being given measles drops

Love your smartphone? Then check out the negatives too Posted: 20 Mar 2011 01:17 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, March 20 - Proud of your latest smartphone and the sparkling bright images? Well take care, your status symbol could cause premature facial wrinkles as well as increase the risk of cancer and impotency with excessive use. With the rising demand for smartphones, health concerns related to its use have also increased. National Skin Centre Director Navin Taneja says staring at the small screens of smartphones like BlackBerry and iPhone for long leads to excessive squinting and consequently undesirable wrinkles in and around the eyes. 'Use of smartphones have considerably increased over the years. People use their phones for 8 to 10 hours a day. Owing to the small screens they have to focus a lot on it and excessive use of facial muscles causes wrinkles around the eyes,' Taneja told IANS. 'With wrinkles and frown lines appearing on the face, many people in the age group 20 to 25 who have been using smartphones frequently are going in for botox treatment. We are entertaining 5 to 7 clients a month who ask us for this,' he added. Using smartphones for longer periods can also take away the skin's glow. 'It is quite possible that with excessive use of smartphones, the skin will lose its shine and there will be overall dullness on the face,' said Pritam Pankaj, consultant dermatologist and cosmetic laser surgeon. The smartphone base in India is about 8-9 million users, which is quite low considering the overall mobile base globally. And the problem is not just limited to skin; the radiation emitted by the phones can cause even bigger problems. 'Smartphones pose greater health risk as they emit 2.5 times more radiations than any other normal phone. These emissions can increase the risk of brain tumours, impotency and premature ageing,' said Anup Dhir, a senior consultant at the department of cosmetic surgery, Indraprastha Apollo hospital. Alerting the users, smartphone making companies have raised words of caution in user... http://www.rxpgnews.com

'Obesity kills more people than AIDS' Posted: 18 Mar 2011 10:53 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Ahmedabad, March 18- Obesity kills more people than AIDS and is emerging as a serious threat, said health experts here Friday. Shashank Joshi, president of the governing council of the All India Association of Advanced Research in Obesity -, said obesity was not a new problem in India. Speaking on Obesity in 2011, on the first day of the two-day national conference, the expert said that obesity was described in the ancient Indian texts such as the 'Charak Samhita'. The health condition was emerging as a serious threat with 24 million people in India being obese. 'The Indian population is at a special risk because of the tendency to develop central obesity. The 'thin fat Asian Indian phenotype' is now well established,' said Joshi adding that Indians had a higher proportion of fat in their body composition and more so in the abdominal area. 'Obesity kills more people than AIDS and often underlines problems such as diabetes and heart diseases. It is also associated with accelerated ageing,' he added. Listing sedentary lifestyle, watching of too much TV, use of internet and other gadgets of comfort as contributing factors in the rise of obesity among Indian children, Joshi underlined the need for taking proper nutrition, brisk walks, proper yogic practices and de-stressing as ways in managing obesity. Focusing on obesity as 'the emerging Indian epidemic', the inaugural session was opened by Parimal Trivedi, Vice Chancellor of Gujarat University, and Mrunalini Devi Puar, of the Maharaja Sayajirao University. Speaking on the occasion, Parimal Trivedi said that case studies in obesity needed to focus on age, food habits, lifestyle and human behaviour too. Mrunalini Puar emphasized on the need to interlink nutrition and obesity and said that nutrition along with yogic practices should be made the mainstay in controlling obesity. http://www.rxpgnews.com

PM calls for increasing health spending to five percent Posted: 18 Mar 2011 12:24 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, March 18 - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Friday said public spending on health needs to be increased from the less than two percent right now to five percent in the next five years. Answering a question on high rates of infant mortality and other health issues at the India Today Conclave, the prime minister said: 'We need to increase public spending on health from less that two percent presently to about five to six percent in next five or six years. That should be the goal that we should aim at as a nation.' The prime minister said the National Rural Health Mission focuses on these problems and, even though work has been done, more was needed. 'I do agree that we need to do lot more, but it would be wrong to say that nothing has been done. The National Rural Health Mission primarily focuses on some of these issues. But I do agree with you that this is not something which can be done or achieved overnight,' he said. Infant mortality in India at present stands at 53 per thousand live births, while the maternal mortality rate is 230 per lakh population. Both are considered crucial indexes for measuring public health and stand quite high. In 2008, India recorded world's highest number of maternal deaths at 63,000, even after a 59 percent drop in the maternal mortality rate compared to 1990. http://www.rxpgnews.com

Thousands of pregnant women in Goa given inferior capsules: Report Posted: 18 Mar 2011 11:30 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Panaji, March 18 - Thousands of pregnant women in Goa were administered substandard iron folic capsules from 2008 to 2010, the Comptroller Auditor General - has said. The CAG report, tabled Thursday during the budget session of the state assembly, criticized the inefficient quality control mechanisms of the health department that had resulted in the procurement of 5.29 lakh substandard iron folic acid capsules of which nearly four lakh tablets were administered to pregnant women. 'It was observed that 5.29 lakh substandard capsules were utilized by the health units and only 1.43 lakh were returned to the DHS -, its deputy director confirmed that the tablets were utilised by the health centres,' the report stated. In its critique of the health department, the CAG report warned the implications of consuming substandard medicines could be hazardous. Folic acid is globally acknowledged as an important nutrient during the first phase of pregnancy and before conception as women who are deficient in folic acid have a greater risk of having a baby with defects such as spina bifida, a disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. 'The distribution of substandard medicines reflected inadequate quality control mechanism and inefficient monitoring of procurement and distribution,' it said. According to the report, the medicines were procured from two companies Goa Antibiotics and Pharmaceuticals Limited, a public sector undertaking run by the state government, and a Madhya Pradesh-based firm Modern Laboratories Limited. The report also pointed out that 30 percent of samples sourced from medicines worth Rs.2.5 crore under the National Rural Health Mission - during the last five years were substandard. 'The FDA -, Goa collected samples on 10 occasions during 2009-10 and the results indicated that 30 percent of the samples were of substandard quality,' the report stated, adding that a large quantity of the... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Medical team from Delhi to probe vaccine deaths Posted: 18 Mar 2011 01:08 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Gandhinagar, March 18 - A special medical team from Delhi is slated to visit Gujarat shortly to study the cause of death of four children after they were administered oral vaccine for measles in Adipur town of Kutch district in Gujarat on Wednesday. An official spokesman of the state government said Thursday the foods and drugs department has collected samples of the same vaccines from key places in the state and sent them for laboratory test. The state health department has also initiated a check and review of the mass immunization drive underway in the state. The state government has already suspended the mass immunization drive till further orders. The leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Shaktisnh Gohil, however, charged the state government with negligence in the mass immunization drive. He said as per the instructions issued by the central government based on the guidelines of the World Health Organisation, every staff member involved in mass immunization drive must be specially trained in 'Adverse Effects After Immunization -' programme since measles vaccines particularly had the tendency to cause 'Anaphylytic Shock' which could cause death within minutes if not treated immediately. Such treatment was required to be provided on the spot in case of such an eventuality but unfortunately the state government had made no arrangements for training of the staff involved in the mass immunization programme, he added. http://www.rxpgnews.com

Batcha's death due to asphyxia: Doctor Posted: 17 Mar 2011 06:01 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Chennai, March 17 - Sadiq Batcha, realtor and a close business associate of former communications minister A. Raja, died due to asphyxia, a doctor who performed autopsy on the body said Thursday. The injuries were similar to those that were found on a body when a person is hanged. Speaking to IANS, V. Dekal, who performed autopsy on Batcha's body Thursday at Government Royapettah Hospital, said: 'The death is due to asphyxia -. The signs of asphyxia like bluish fingers and damage to internal organs were there.' He said there were no other injuries on the body. 'The injuries on the neck skin are similar to the ones that would occur when a person is hanged. We have sent the skin samples to see whether the injuries occurred after the death,' Dekal said. According to him, injuries on the neck would occur even if a person is hanged after his death. He said samples of internal organs have been sent for forensic test to check for poisoning. According to him, Batcha's finger nails were clear. However, they have been sent for tests to detect presence of rope fibres. Queried whether Batcha's neck bone was fractured, Dekal said: 'Fracture of neck bone is not a must for death due to hanging. Fracture of bone depends on factors like age of the person and other things.' As to the time of probable time of death, he said: 'The body was brought to the hospital around 3 p.m. yesterday -. The death would have happened between six - eight hours prior to that.' He said there was partially digested food in Batcha's stomach, but what it was cannot be confirmed. According to Dekal, a number of tests have to be conducted to pinpoint the exact reason of death, and might take around two weeks. 'Only after getting all the reports, I can say clearly about the case,' Dekal said. Sadiq Batcha was under the Central Bureau of Investigation - scanner to check whether his company, Green House Promoters, was a conduit for the money generated in the spectrum... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Liquid biomaterials take stem cell therapy to new level Posted: 17 Mar 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) At present, cartilage implants created using stem cells can only be constructed as a solid shape, acting as an interim measure before the almost inevitable need for total joint replacement. Now researchers at the University of Bristol are investigating the possibilities of a biologically-engineered synthetic liquid polymer that would eliminate the need for further surgery by offering a one stop, permanent solution. Dr Wael Kafienah, from Bristol's School of Medical Sciences, believes this research could represent the next breakthrough in stem cell therapy. He and his team are collaborating with researchers in Canada and Qatar to explore how such a biomaterial could be created. Dr Kafienah, the lead Principal Investigator for Bristol, has been funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRP), with approximately $1 million over a period of three years to conduct the initial research. The QNRP has an international annual cycle of highly competitive, peer-reviewed, collaborative funding. If the research proves successful, clinical trials could be carried out within five years. Initial research shows that an injectable gel would have the capacity to form three-dimensional scaffolds that could be moulded to assume the solid form of even an irregularly shaped defected area, resulting in the formation of new tissue that would fully fill the defect at the point of delivery and encourage the growth of healthy cells. A gel-based biomaterial could also be used for immunotherapy, where stem cells injected into the body would stimulate the immune system to destroy the tumour by providing a source of gene therapies or therapeutic vaccines. Injecting these stem cells in the form of a gel would allow clinicians to target the tumour through a prolonged, controlled release of the therapeutic proteins required, with obvious benefits to the patient as there would be fewer courses of treatment. Dr Kafienah said: The versatility of... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Psychological impact of Japan disaster will be felt 'for some time to come' Posted: 17 Mar 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The psychological impact of natural disasters such as the Japan earthquake can be revealed in the way people inherently respond to unpredictable situations, according to a psychology expert at Queen Mary, University of London. Dr Magda Osman, Psychology Lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London, and author of Controlling Uncertainty: Decision-making and Learning in Complex Worlds, said the disaster had a devastating immediate effect on tens of thousands of people in Japan but the true psychological impact will be felt for some time to come. A disaster like the Japan earthquake has such wide-ranging implications, especially on the psychological well-being of those affected, Dr Osman said. After a disaster, typically small communities become incredibly co-operative and pull together to help each other and start the rebuilding process. There's an immediate response where people start to take control of the situation, begin to deal with it and assess and respond to the devastation around them. The problem is that we aren't very good at calculating the long-term effects of disasters. After about two months of re-building and cleaning up we tend to experience a second major slump when we realise the full severity of the situation in the longer term. This is what we need to be wary of because this triggers severe depression. Dr Osman, who works in Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said as soon as there is a disaster, there is often a rapid increase of mental health problems in the people who have been affected. This is because natural disasters threaten our sense of control in the world. Our sense of control is like a mental engine, it's like an adaptive driving force that helps us stay motivated. When bad, unpredictable events happen we don't feel we have any effect over anything and this is when we start to lose self esteem, she said. People who live in areas which are prone to disasters such as in Japan... http://www.rxpgnews.com

Injectable bulking agent improves symptoms of fecal incontinence Posted: 17 Mar 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Injection of a bulking agent into the anal canal improves symptoms of faecal incontinence more than does a sham (placebo) treatment. The authors say this is the first time such a randomised trial comparing active and sham treatments has proven efficacy, and that the treatment is safe. The authors of the Article are Dr Wilhelm Graf, Department ofSurgery, Akademiska sjukhuset, Uppsala, Sweden, and colleagues. The prevalence of faecal incontinence is the same in men and women and ranges from around 3% in individuals aged 20-30 years to around 15% in those older than 70 years. The cause of faecal incontinence is multifactorial and not completely understood. Two recognised types of clinical incontinence exist: passive incontinence and urge incontinence. Passive incontinence (ie, leakage without notice) is related to low anal resting pressure and internal sphincter deficiency. Urge incontinence (ie, inability to withstand an urge to defecate) is often attributed to an insufficiency in external sphincter tone and activity. While injection of a bulking agent in the anal canal is increasingly used to treat for faecal incontinence, efficacy has not been shown in a controlled trial. In this study the authors aimed to assess the efficacy of injection of dextranomer in stabilised hyaluronic acid (NASHA Dx) for treatment of faecal incontinence. 206 patients aged 18 to 75 years from the USA and Europe were randomly assigned to receive 4 injections of 1 ml of NASHA Dx in the anal canal (136 patients) or sham treatment (the same injections but no substance injected). The researchers found that, after six months, just over half (52%) patients who received NASHA Dx had a 50% or more reduction in the number of incontinence episodes, compared with less than a third (31%) who received sham treatment. There were 128 treatment-related adverse events reported in the treatment group, and 29 in the sham group. These included transient injection-site... http://www.rxpgnews.com

4 Gujarat children die after being given measles drops Posted: 16 Mar 2011 10:32 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Gandhinagar, March 16 - Four children died in Gujarat after they were given oral vaccine drops for measles, official sources said here Wednesday. The government has ordered immediate suspension of the oral vaccination drive and instituted a high-level probe. The children, all below the age of one year, were from a slum colony in Adipur town of Kutch district and were administered the vaccines by the health department staff. Noting signs of complications, they were immediately rushed to a Rambag hospital where they died during treatment, the sources said. According to a government spokesman, seven children were given oral vaccines by the health department officials, and of them four developed complications. He said efforts are on to trace the remaining three. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi expressed shock at the death of the four children and ordered immediate suspension of the oral vaccination drive. A high-level inquiry has also been ordered. The chief minister promised stringent action if any negligence is found on the part of the staff leading to the tragedy. He also announced an assistance of Rs.1 lakh each to the families of the deceased children. Immediate orders have been issued to impound the particular batch of the oral vaccine and samples are being sent to the laboratory for testing. Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas denied any negligence by the department. He said the vaccines were procured from the public sector India Immunological Limited in Hyderabad and that the batch carried expiry date of April 2012. However, he said, the samples have been sent to the drugs laboratory in Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh for testing. The opposition leader in the state assembly, Shaktisinh Gohil of the Congress, described the incident as very tragic. It comes after reports of 17 women dying in the neighbouring Rajasthan, who had delivered at a government-run hospital in Jodhpur. The women died of excessive bleeding at... http://www.rxpgnews.com

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