Delhi steps up campaign against malaria, dengue |  |
- Delhi steps up campaign against malaria, dengue
- Fatty liver -- how a serious problem arises
- International organizations join forces to promote cardiovascular health
- Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Indian public water supply
- Living dinosaurs: The evolutionary history of modern birds
- Lithium in drinking water in Andean villages
| Delhi steps up campaign against malaria, dengue Posted: 06 Apr 2011 08:03 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 6 - Stepping up the campaign against vector borne diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya during the monsoon season, authorities Wednesday released a booklet on their its prevention and control. Put together by the Heal Foundation, in association with the ministries of urban development and health and family welfare as well as the Municipal Corporation of Delhi -, the intervention module will be distributed initially to 100,000 households in the capital. 'In 2010, the cases of vector borne diseases like malaria, dengue and chikungunya were very high. It was more so in Delhi because of the flooding and the constructions at various Commonwealth Games sites. Hopefully this year, things will change,' Prithvi Raj Sawhney, mayor of Delhi, said at a conference on vector diseases. According to Sawhney, 678 people died of malaria and 104 due to dengue across the country in 2010. Approximately 13,73,317 malaria cases and 27,196 dengue cases were recorded. 'This first draft of the intervention module will be distributed in 100,000 households in Delhi and, depending on their response, it will be improvised and distributed in the rest of the city. Then it may be upgraded and distributed in other parts of the country,' he added. The booklet explains what malaria and dengue are, and answers frequently asked questions related to these diseases. The booklet highlights that malaria is not contagious and that there are no vaccines for dengue fever. 'Preventing the spread of vector borne diseases is very simple. One just has to ensure that there is no stagnation of water - in water coolers, flower pots etc - and that water vessels like overhead tanks must be covered,' N.K. Yadav, health officer of the MCD, said. 'To prevent breeding, one can put two tablespoons of petrol or kerosene for each 100 litres of water. Usage of mosquito nets, repellants is also important,' he added. V.M. Katoch, director of the Indian Council... http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Fatty liver -- how a serious problem arises Posted: 06 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Excess fat around the hips and belly may not really be compatible with current beauty ideals, but, to a certain degree, it is a normal, even vital energy store of our body. However, it is a different matter if the organism stores fat in organs such as the liver, pancreas or muscles. This is a clear sign of a metabolic disorder. Up to 80 percent of obese people develop fatty liver disease, which is regarded a typical characteristic of the dangerous metabolic syndrome. Deposition of fat in the liver may lead to chronic liver inflammation and even to liver cancer. In addition, fatty liver is considered to be an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis. The great medical relevance of fatty liver as a severe condition accompanying insulin resistance and type II diabetes caused the research group headed by Dr. Stephan Herzig of the Division of Molecular Metabolic Control to investigate how this syndrome arises. Which molecular switches are turned on or off in a cell when food delivers too much energy-rich fat molecules, or triglycerides? To this end, the investigators determined the level of particular proteins involved in specific gene activation in the liver tissue of mice. These proteins, which are known as transcriptional co-activators, regulate which proteins are read and transcribed into messenger RNA molecules in a cell. In overweight mice, the researchers observed that a high triglyceride level in the liver was always associated with reduced production of a co-activator called TBL1. This was found both in animals that developed fatty liver for hereditary reasons and in those animals that received calorie-rich food. TBL1 was originally discovered in connection with a rare hereditary hearing disorder. In the liver, but not in other tissues, an oversupply of fat reduces the production of TBL1. As a result, fat burning in the liver is reduced so that more fat molecules are deposited in liver cells.... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| International organizations join forces to promote cardiovascular health Posted: 06 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) This year's EuroPRevent meeting, 14 -16 April, is taking full advantage of its Geneva location and the close proximity to the European Headquarters of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Heart Federation (WHF), the United European Football Association (UEFA), and the International Olympics Committee (IOC). On Thursday 14 April the European Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (EACPR) will host joint sessions including a session looking at the medical, legal and ethical aspects of eligibility screening for competitive sport with the IOC, a session looking at Cardiovascular prevention in Russia with WHO and WHF, a session looking at the Global challenges in CVD with the WHO and WHF, and a session looking at competitive sports in high risk patients with the IOC. It's a marvelous opportunity to be able to bring together all these organisations that are engaged in prevention and rehabilitation to fight heart disease and to provide science and practical tools to improve cardiovascular health both in Europe and also around the world, says Hugo Saner, the local organizer of the Congress. EuroPRevent 2011, which represents the biggest meeting in Europe on cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation, expects to attract over 1,500 delegates including epidemiologists, clinical cardiologists, sports physiologists, basic scientists, nutrition counsellors, physical therapists, nurses, sports teachers and psychologists. The field of cardiovascular prevention is currently gaining real momentum, says Volker Adams, chair person of the EuroPRevent Congress Programme Committee. For a while we've had the scientific knowledge, but now big strides are being made in improving the diagnostic technology and we're starting to see real political will power to bring about change. EuroPRevent 2011 brings all these aspects of prevention together. The congress will be arranged around four main tracks: global challenges in... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Indian public water supply Posted: 06 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Disease-causing bacteria carrying the new genetic resistance to antibiotics, NDM-1, have been discovered in New Delhi's drinking water supply. A Cardiff University-led team found new strains of resistant bacteria in the Indian capital, including species which cause cholera and dysentery. The findings are the first evidence of the environmental spread of NDM-1, which had previously only been found in hospitals. The scientists are calling for urgent action by health authorities worldwide to tackle the new strains and prevent their global spread. The Cardiff scientists also highlight the all-round benefits of preventative measures such as better sanitation and appropriate drinking water. Cardiff scientists were the first to identify the NDM-1 gene which makes bacteria resistant to a large range of antibiotics. Moreover, the NDM-1 gene is carried on mobile DNA called plasmids which can carry up to 13 other antibiotic resistance genes. While most patients with the bacteria have recently been hospitalised in India, some cases have occurred there without recent hospital treatment, prompting the team to test the wider environment. Samples were taken in New Delhi from public water taps and from waste seepage, such as water pools in the street. Resistant bacteria were found in 4 per cent of the water supplies and 30 per cent of the seepage sites. The researchers identified 11 new species of bacteria carrying the NDM-1 gene, including strains which cause cholera and dysentry. Antibiotics are used to reduce excretion of bacteria in cholera patients, and to reduce the duration and severity of dysentery. Worryingly, the identified Shigella isolate, which can carry dysentery, is resistant to all appropriate antibiotics. Study leader Professor Tim Walsh, of Cardiff University's School of Medicine, said: These are extremely worrying results. We found resistant bacteria in public water used for drinking, washing and food preparation and also... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Living dinosaurs: The evolutionary history of modern birds Posted: 05 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Even the wide interval between birds and reptiles has been shown by the naturalist to be partially bridged over in the most unexpected manner, on the one hand, by the ostrich and extinct Archeopteryx, and on the other hand, by the Compsognathus, one of the Dinosaurians. - Charles Darwin, Origin of the Species, 1872. When Darwin penned these words the recognition by Thomas Huxley of a transitional fossil appeared to confirm a remarkable, but straightforward evolutionary story; that modern birds evolved from ancient dinosaurs. Yet in the centuries following this discovery the rise of modern birds remains greatly debated and now, in their new title Living Dinosaurs: The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds , researchers Gareth Dyke and Gary Kaiser set out to unite ornithologists and paleontologists to form a modern understanding of the evolution of birds at the beginning of the 21st century. When Huxley discovered what was believed to be a 140-million-year-old fossil, bridging the gap between dinosaurs and birds, it was hailed as one of the great triumphs of early evolutionary history, said Dyke. Nothing in biology is that straight forward and since the 1920's this consensus has been challenged causing a debate of such length and intensity that students studying fossil organisms have been largely isolated from those studying living organisms. Living Dinosaurs: The Evolutionary History of Modern Birds , aims to bring the two fields of ornithology and paleontology together to present the current understanding of avian evolution. Each chapter presents a current point of view, placed into context with discussion of the direction of future research. The books focuses on evolutionary aspects of function and ecology, rather than technical descriptions of fossils and begins with a review of the early ancestry of birds and the conditions under which they diversified in the Cretaceous era. The book continues by providing ornithologists... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Lithium in drinking water in Andean villages Posted: 05 Apr 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) That the thyroid can be affected and that the kidneys in rare cases can be damaged are known side-effects of medication with lithium. Female patients who become pregnant are also advised against taking medicine containing lithium, as the substance can affect the foetus. The amounts of lithium that the Latin American women are ingesting via their drinking water are perhaps a tenth of what a patient would take daily for bipolar disorder. But, on the other hand, they are absorbing this lithium all their lives, even from before birth, says occupational and environmental physician Karin Broberg from Lund University in Sweden. What this implies for their health, we don't really know in practice. That is why we are planning a new study which will compare the health of two groups of mothers and children: respectively, the ones with the highest and lowest levels of lithium in their blood. The Andes Mountains are rich in elements, to which the large copper mines in Chile and Peru, among others, bear witness. In several countries, lithium is also extracted, and Bolivia has enormous lithium reserves in its large salt desert, Salar de Uyuni. However the elements in the ground are not just a resource but also an environmental risk. In an earlier study in which Karin Broberg took part, involving the same mountain villages in the Salta province in Northwest Argentina, high levels of arsenic, lithium, cesium, rubidium and boron were found in the drinking water and in the urine of the women studied. Lifelong ingestion of arsenic and lithium brings a clear health risk. What the ingestion of the other substances implies is not known, because there is very little research on their role in ordinary drinking water, she says. The researchers have carried out their studies with a technique called mass spectrometry. With older techniques it has only been possible to analyse one substance at a time in a water sample for example, but through refinement... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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