Overweight people will stay that way for ever |  |
- Overweight people will stay that way for ever
- '40 million infected with Hepatitis B in India'
- RAND book provides critical review of US actions since 9/11 attacks
- Local efforts can stem the increasing unnecessary cesarean sections
- To help doctors and patients, UB researchers are developing a 'vocabulary of pain'
- Delhi's private hospitals told to treat poor free
- Tests on energy drinks soon, BJP activists told
- MCD to launch anti-dengue drive
- Exploring science through underwater robotics
| Overweight people will stay that way for ever Posted: 27 Jul 2011 09:14 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) It's bad news for overweight people. A 55-year study in Britain has found out that once people gain weight, they can never return to their original size. Of the 12 million Britons who diet every year, less than 10 percent succeed in losing significant amounts of weight - with most putting it back on within a year. The national survey by the Medical Research Council followed 5,362 men and women since their birth in 1946, and 20,000 people born in 1958, the Daily Express reported. The study measured weight and blood pressure and assessed the lifestyles of the people. 'Both groups began increasing in weight in the 1980s and since then people have been increasing in mass all through life,' Rebecca Hardy of the council was quoted as saying. 'For men it goes up steadily through life. For women it starts slowly and accelerates in the mid-30s. Once people become overweight they continue relentlessly upwards - hardly ever going down.' The study, however, adds that dieting has its own benefits. People who try to lose weight tend to eat better and exercise more, leading to increased fitness and lower blood pressure. The latest health survey in Britain says that in 2009, 14 percent of children and 25 percent of adults were obese. http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| '40 million infected with Hepatitis B in India' Posted: 26 Jul 2011 06:05 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Kolkata, July 26 - Around 40 million people in India are infected with Hepatitis B and the risk of its transmission is hundred times more than that of the dreaded HIV, a gastroenterologist said here Tuesday. 'In our country it has been seen that there are around 40 million patients with Hepatitis B as compared to 2.5 million people with AIDS. Hepatitis B virus is 100 times more infectious than HIV,' said Mahesh Goenka, director of Institute of Gastroenterology at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital. 'Hepatitis B is a blood borne disease which is more infectious than HIV virus. The best way to prevent this disease is awareness among the masses because this disease if detected can be cured in 80 percent of the cases,' said Goenka at an interactive session organised by the hospital in the run-up to the World Hepatitis Day observed July 28. Goenka said that chronically infected people were at high risk of death from cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| RAND book provides critical review of US actions since 9/11 attacks Posted: 26 Jul 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A new collection of essays by experts from the RAND Corporation examines America in the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, focusing a critical eye on the nation's actions since the attacks and outlining changes in strategy needed to improve efforts against jihadist groups. Successes outlined in the book, The Long Shadow of 9/11: America's Response to Terrorism, include the significant degradation of al Qaeda, improved intelligence systems that have helped uncover terrorist plots and strengthened public health capabilities to safeguard Americans against any future attacks. But the nation also has made significant mistakes during the past decade. Those errors include overconfidence in rebuilding Afghanistan, launching a war in Iraq that did little to weaken al Qaeda, and many actions that aided jihadist recruiting by fostering resentment toward the United States, such as the detainee abuse committed at Abu Ghraib prison. There is consensus that the United States has accomplished a great deal in the past 10 years in its efforts against terrorism, said Brian Michael Jenkins, co-editor of the anthology and the person who began RAND's terrorism study efforts nearly 40 years ago. But this collection of essays points out that the United States has made many mistakes in its response to the 9/11 attacks and significant attention is needed to correct the nation's path. Most of the authors of the 16 essays were involved in terrorism research long before the 9/11 attacks and many also have firsthand experience with these issues through service in the armed forces, Central Intelligence Agency, and the U.S. Departments of State, Justice and Defense. Others have advised military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, or domestic agencies such as public health agencies. These essays are not just primers in theology or cultural sensitivity, Jenkins writes. They are pragmatic arguments about how to succeed. Among the more provocative essays... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Local efforts can stem the increasing unnecessary cesarean sections Posted: 26 Jul 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Caesarean section rates are steadily increasing globally. Requiring two doctors to agree that a Caesarean section is the best way to deliver a baby, rather than just needing one opinion, providing internal feedback to doctors on the number of operations performed and seeking support from local opinion leaders may reduce the use of this procedure. For low-risk pregnancies, nurse-led relaxation classes for women with a fear or anxiety of childbirth and birth preparation classes for mothers may decrease caesarean sections. On the other hand, providing prenatal education and support programs, computer patient decision-aids, decision-aid booklets and intensive group therapy to women have not been shown to decrease Caesarean sections effectively. Likewise, insurance reform, legislative changes, external feedback to doctors on their performance and training of public health nurses to provide mode of delivery information in childbirth classes do not decrease caesarean section rates. These were the findings of a systematic review carried out by researchers in Thailand and Australia and published in The Cochrane Library. Around the world more and more women are opting to deliver their babies by a Cesarean section rather than have the discomfort and perceived greater risk of a standard vaginal delivery, says study leader Suthit Khunpradit, who works in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Lamphun Hospital, in Thailand. He points out that while reported Caesarean section rates vary, studies have shown that in England, Scotland, Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark Caesarean section rates rose from around 4% to 5% in 1970 to 20% to 22% in 2001. Furthermore, in 1997 up to 40% of women in Chile opted for a Cesarean section and current figures show that 46.2% of deliveries in China are by Caesarean section. In 1985 an expert panel of the World Health Organization suggested that you could expect up to 15% of women to benefit from a... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| To help doctors and patients, UB researchers are developing a 'vocabulary of pain' Posted: 26 Jul 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) BUFFALO, N.Y. -- All over the world, patients with chronic pain struggle to express how they feel to the doctors and health-care providers who are trying to understand and treat them. Now, a University at Buffalo psychiatrist is attempting to help patients suffering from chronic pain and their doctors by drawing on ontology, the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of being or existence. The research will be discussed during a tutorial he will give at the International Conference on Biomedical Ontology ( He describes the goals of his work in a video interview: Pain research is very difficult because nothing allows the physician to see the patient's pain directly, says Werner Ceusters, MD, professor of psychiatry in UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and principal investigator on a new National Institutes of Health grant, An Ontology for Pain and Related Disability, Mental Health and Quality of Life. The patient has to describe what he or she is feeling. That is a serious shortcoming, Ceusters says, because each patient's subjective experience of pain is different. Descriptions of pain therefore lack the precision and specificity that is taken for granted with other disorders, where biomarkers or physiological indicators reveal what health-care providers need in order to assess the severity of a particular disorder. If we want to more effectively help people suffering from chronic pain, we need to study a population that is consistent, patients who have features in common, Ceusters says. The problem with pain is, it's very hard to build up a group with the same sort of pain. People don't have the same vocabulary or linguistic capabilities or even the same cultural backgrounds. It's something pain researchers have struggled with for decades, Ceusters says. We need to develop a vocabulary of pain. That's where ontology comes in. The philosophical definition of ontology is the study of things that exist... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Delhi's private hospitals told to treat poor free Posted: 25 Jul 2011 10:33 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 25 - The Supreme Court Monday directed private hospitals in Delhi to give free treatment to poor patients referred to them by government institutions, till a policy on the issue is ready. The apex court bench of Justice R.V. Raveendran and Justice A.K. Patnaik said this would be the arrangement till private hospitals and the Delhi government hammer out a common policy on giving free treatment to poor patients. The court said that so long the policy of free treatment was not put in place, the private hospitals would maintain a separate account of expenses incurred by them on treatment to poor patients. These expanses would be factored in while making the policy. The court asked private hospitals to submit within 10 days their proposals to the government on extending free treatment to poor people. The court asked private hospitals and the government to work out a common policy applicable to all the medical centres. Senior Counsel Rohinton Nariman and Rajiv Dhawan, appearing for private hospitals, told the court that patients under free category were welcome but they were not approaching the hospitals. Justice Raveendran said: 'We will issue directions that over-crowded government hospitals should send their patients to these - hospitals.' Appearing for petitioner activists' group Social Jurist, counsel Ashok Agarwal told the court that the government was not serious about free treatment of poor patients. 'If the government was serious, then this plea would not have come before this court.' Nariman highlighted the high cost of cancer treatment and its financial implication for private hospitals. He said that beyond a certain level the cost of treatment of poor patients should be reimbursed by the government otherwise it would lead to hospitals' bankruptcy. The court directed the listing of the matter after four weeks. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Tests on energy drinks soon, BJP activists told Posted: 25 Jul 2011 08:06 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Mumbai, July 25 - The Maharashtra government plans to carry out tests to verify claims made by major energy drinks manufacturers about the caffeine content in their beverages, an official Monday assured the Bharatiya Janata Party's youth wing. This assurance was given by state Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Seema Vyas to a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha - which brought to her notice the adverse effects of caffeine quantities in energy boosters like Red Bull, Cloud Nine, Monster, Burn, XXX and others. 'We submitted a report by a New Delh-based NGO which has made some startling findings on these energy drinks available without any checks or restrictions in the market all over India,' BJYM president Ameet Satam told IANS. Among the findings by the NGO are that many energy drinks manufactures do not mention the caffeine content and others give misleading caffeine content figures on the cans, which violates the rules, he said. Satam said there are many studies worldwide which reveal that caffeine poses adverse effect on the human body, leading to high blood pressures, strokes, paralysis or even death. 'The manner in which these energy drinks are consumed by the youngsters is shocking. You can even see schoolchildren consuming several cans daily, besides the youth working in call centres, sports enthusiasts, and so on,' he added. Expressing concern, Vyas assured that she would initiate laboratory tests of energy drinks samples available in Mumbai and Maharashtra and then plan out further action. Earlier, the BJYM protested against the energy drinks manufacturers and burnt several cans of energy drinks outside the FDA office in Bandra-Kurla Complex and threatend to drag the manufacturers to court if the state government fails to take appropriate action. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| MCD to launch anti-dengue drive Posted: 25 Jul 2011 07:24 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, July 25 - The Municipal Corporation of Delhi - Monday announced a special anti-dengue drive after the civic agency found many mosquito breeding grounds in government offices and houses following the intermittent rains in the city. 'The MCD will launch a special checking and prosecution drive next week. Strict action will be taken against persons/institutions who are found creating mosquitogenic conditions and fail to take specified preventive measures, if breeding is detected,' Municipal Commissioner K.S. Mehra said. According to the civic agency, besides houses, mosquito breeding grounds have been found at government offices and institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology -, Jawaharlal Nehru University -, and various police stations. 'The MCD has issued over 30,000 legal notices for houses found with conditions that can cause mosquito breeding. Around 23,000 houses have been found with mosquito breeding grounds,' Mehra added. MCD health officer N.K. Yadav said that to prevent the spread of vector-borne diseases, it must be ensured that there is no stagnation of water - in water coolers, flower pots etc. - and that water vessels like overhead tanks are kept covered. 'One can put two tablespoons of petrol or kerosene for each 100 litres of water. Usage of mosquito nets, and repellents is also important,' he added. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Exploring science through underwater robotics Posted: 25 Jul 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Across the country this summer, middle and high school students are making a splash by discovering science and engineering while building programmable robots to accomplish underwater missions. WaterBotics, an innovative program developed at Stevens Institute of Technology by the Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education (CIESE), is a fun activity that engages kids to solve real-world problems and attracts interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). We are living in an age when knowing how to create new knowledge and what to do with it can create a healthier, safer, and more prosperous planet, says Dr. George Korfiatis, Stevens Provost and University Vice President. Scientists, engineers, and technologists are providing the fuel to power the enterprises of this and future generations. WaterBotics is part of a $2.5 million National Science Foundation program to increase the pool, persistence, and diversity of students who pursue STEM study and careers. Expanding from its initial testing grounds in New Jersey, summer camps and educator institutes are happening this summer at sites in Dayton, Ohio, Chicago, Illinois, and in Austin and throughout Texas. Our partners in this national scale up project are bringing their own expertise and engaging their networks of teachers and out-of-school educators to deliver the WaterBotics curriculum to girls and underrepresented youth in four regions this summer and during the next school year, says Beth McGrath, CIESE Executive Director and Principal Investigator of the NSF program. Using LEGO and Mindstorms equipment, WaterBotics students work in teams to rapidly prototype, design, and program underwater robots to accomplish a series of missions in an 8 foot diameter pool. Building robots that can swim, grab objects, and navigate obstacles introduces concepts like buoyancy, stability, and gears, and engineering skills such as design, through the... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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