Strong association between the consumption of red meat and risk of type 2 diabetes |  |
- Strong association between the consumption of red meat and risk of type 2 diabetes
- Sex ratio better in villages than cities, says survey
- New anti-censorship scheme could make it impossible to block individual sites
- Atlanta runs world's most fiscally efficient airport, Guangzhou boosts efficiency: UBC research
- 'Irregularity in rural health fund spending in Uttar Pradesh'
- 37 Indian medical colleges report irregularities
- Mumbai seeks tobacco-free Ganesh puja
- WHO raises alarm over nutrition
- Farmer's wife treated for rare brain disease
- New approach to thyroid surgery eliminates neck scar
| Strong association between the consumption of red meat and risk of type 2 diabetes Posted: 10 Aug 2011 07:27 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) A new study by Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers finds a strong association between the consumption of red meat—particularly when the meat is processed—and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The study also shows that replacing red meat with healthier proteins, such as low-fat dairy, nuts, or whole grains, can significantly lower the risk. The study, led by An Pan, research fellow in the HSPH Department of Nutrition, will be published online in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition on August 10, 2011 and will appear in the October print edition. Pan, senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at HSPH, and colleagues analyzed questionnaire responses from 37,083 men followed for 20 years in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study; 79,570 women followed for 28 years in the Nurses' Health Study I; and 87,504 women followed for 14 years in the Nurses' Health Study II. They also conducted an updated meta-analysis, combining data from their new study with data from existing studies that included a total of 442,101 participants, 28,228 of whom developed type 2 diabetes during the study. After adjusting for age, body mass index (BMI), and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, the researchers found that a daily 100-gram serving of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck of cards) was associated with a 19% increased risk of type 2 diabetes. They also found that one daily serving of half that quantity of processed meat—50 grams (for example, one hot dog or sausage or two slices of bacon)—was associated with a 51% increased risk. "Clearly, the results from this study have huge public health implications given the rising type 2 diabetes epidemic and increasing consumption of red meats worldwide," said Hu. "The good news is that such troubling risk factors can be offset by swapping red meat for a healthier protein." The researchers found that, for an individual who eats one daily... http://www.rxpgnews.com    |
| Sex ratio better in villages than cities, says survey Posted: 10 Aug 2011 06:17 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 10 - More and more educated people in cities across the country are opting for sex determination tests compared to people in villages, and urban areas are recording a decline in female birth rate, according to the annual health survey - released Wednesday. The survey found that sex ratio at birth, under 0-4 years and in all ages in rural areas is better than in urban areas. The sex ratio at birth across nine states ranges between 764 in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, and 1,030 in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. The survey, released by the health ministry, was carried out in nine states - Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Orissa and Chhattisgarh - during July 2010-March 2011. The survey for the first time collected district level data - from 284 districts in nine states - to help the ministry understand the grass root level situation. It covered health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate -, sex ratio, maternal mortality rate -, crude birth and death rate. 'It is a matter of grave concern that educated people in cities are opting for sex determination tests,' said Health Secretary K. Chandramouli. He said that the ministry has been facing a problem in practical implementation of the laws against sex determination. 'The difficulty is that when it comes to sex determination, doctor and patient go hand-in-hand. Patients have to undergo ultrasound for many other medical conditions and it is difficult to find if it is for sex determination or not,' he said. According to the health secretary, these indicators would provide requisite inputs for better planning of health programmes and pave the way for evidence-based intervention strategies. While the sex ratio is better in rural areas, the infant mortality rate there is much higher compared to cities. The highest number of infant deaths takes place in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and in all the nine states female infants... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| New anti-censorship scheme could make it impossible to block individual sites Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) ANN ARBOR, Mich.---A radical new approach to thwarting Internet censorship would essentially turn the whole web into a proxy server, making it virtually impossible for a censoring government to block individual sites. The system is called Telex, and it is the brainchild of computer science researchers at the University of Michigan and the University of Waterloo in Canada. They will present it Aug. 12 at the USENIX Security Symposium in San Francisco. This has the potential to shift the arms race regarding censorship to be in favor of free and open communication, said J. Alex Halderman, assistant professor of computer science and engineering at U-M and one of Telex's developers. The Internet has the ability to catalyze change by empowering people through information and communication services. Repressive governments have responded by aggressively filtering it. If we can find ways to keep those channels open, we can give more people the ability to take part in free speech and access to information. Today's typical anticensorship schemes get users around site blocks by routing them through an outside server called a proxy. But the censor can monitor the content of traffic on the whole network, and eventually finds and blocks the proxy, too. It creates a kind of cat and mouse game, said Halderman, who was at the blackboard explaining this to his computer and network security class when it hit him that there might be a different approach---a bigger way to think about the problem. Here's how Telex would work: Users install Telex software. Halderman envisions they could download it from an intermittently available website or borrow a copy from a friend. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) outside the censoring nation deploy equipment called Telex stations. When a user wants to visit a blacklisted site, he or she would establish a secure connection to an HTTPS website, which could be any password-protected site that isn't... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Atlanta runs world's most fiscally efficient airport, Guangzhou boosts efficiency: UBC research Posted: 10 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL), one of the world's busiest international airports is also the most fiscally efficient, says an aviation think-tank based at the University of British Columbia's Sauder School of Business. ATL generated 60 per cent of its total revenue from non-aviation activities, compared to the lowest-ranked North American airport Chicago's O'Hare International Airport (ORD), which derived only 34 per cent of its income from alternative sources. The Air Transport Research Society (ATRS), headquartered at Sauder, has released the 2011 ATRS Global Airport Benchmarking Report comparing the fiscal efficiency of 156 airports and 19 airport groups in North America, Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific. The report, produced by a team of international aviation academics led by Sauder researcher Tae Oum, reveals that airports in Atlanta, Copenhagen, Oslo, Hong Kong and Sydney are the leaders in their respective continents for efficiency among international airports serving more than 15 million passengers a year. The airport that made the biggest gain in efficiency in the 2011 ATRS report was China's Guangzhou Bai Yun (CAN), which recorded a massive boost in efficiency of 31.9 per cent from the previous year. This pushed the airport up the ranking to third place in the Asia-Pacific region from its previous ranking of ninth in 2010. Our report shows that the world's most efficient airports are supplementing core income with money generated through non-aeronautical revenue streams, such as parking, office rentals, retail activity and real estate development, says Prof. Oum, president of ATRS. Our benchmarking report also shows that more efficient airports tend to offer lower aircraft landing fees and passenger terminal charges, ultimately leaving more money in the pockets of travellers, says Oum. Hartsfield-Jackson's diverse revenue streams allowed it to offer some of the lowest... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| 'Irregularity in rural health fund spending in Uttar Pradesh' Posted: 09 Aug 2011 09:30 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 9 - A central team that reviewed fund management under the National Rural Health Mission in Uttar Pradesh found 'irregularity' in award of contracts for procuring emergency medical transport services and poor quality of drugs, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. In a written reply, Minister of State Sudip Bandyopadhyay said Uttar Pradesh has 'primary responsibility' for implementing NRHM that aims to provide quality healthcare to people living in remote areas. The central health team, which carried out the investigations in May, found 'irregularity in award of contract for procurement of emergency medical transport services and mobile medical units, management of hospital cleaning and gardening, procurement of safe drinking water'. The minister said the team also found 'poor quality' of drugs and consumables. 'In respect of civil construction works, there was mere transfer of funds to various state government agencies without any formal agreement and without any system,' the minister said. He also said that the civil construction was monitored 'poorly' and pointed fingers at the quality of the construction. He said that no action was taken even after defects were pointed out in the civil constructions. 'Non operationalisation of emergency transport services even after procurement of 779 ambulances,' Bandyopadhyay said. 'The primary responsibility for implementation of the mission is that of the state government health is a state subject ..,' he said. 'UP government had also approached the CAG for conduct of special audit in the implementation of NRHM..,' the minister added. Bandyopadhyay said they have also asked CAG to conduct a special audit on NRHM implementation in the state from the beginning, which the agency has agreed. The state has seen three medical officers dying under mysterious circumstances. Vinod Kumar Arya, the chief medical officer - in Lucknow, was shot dead in October 2010 when he was... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| 37 Indian medical colleges report irregularities Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:24 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 9 - As many as 37 Indian medical colleges, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, reported irregularities/malfunctioning in the past three years, the Rajya Sabha was informed Tuesday. In a written reply, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the central government has received 37 complaints regarding malfunctioning/irregularities against some medical colleges in the country between 2008 to till date. Complaints were received against seven medical colleges in Uttar Pradesh and five each in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Similarly, three cases each were reported from Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka. The others were - Tamil Nadu -, Maharashtra -, Kerala - and Pondicherry -. Azad said that they are reforming the current system. '.. the central government has proposed to set up a National Council of Human Resource in health as an overarching regulatory for health sector,' he said. The council will coordinate all aspects of medical, dental, nursing, pharmacy and paramedical education in the country. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Mumbai seeks tobacco-free Ganesh puja Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:08 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Mumbai, Aug 9 - The city's Ganesh puja organisers will have to ensure that no one smokes or consumes tobacco inside their marquees during the 10-day festival this year, officials said Tuesday. The Mumbai civic corporation, in association NGO ACT-India, Tuesday included the regulations of the national tobacco control law - the Control of Tobacco Products Act, 2003 - in the terms for granting licences for Ganesh mandals this year. The NGO, which also initiated the Smokefree Mumbai Campaign, had advocated for these changes with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation - and the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti. Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said the initiative should be extended to all other social festivals. 'This is a very good initiative and will help educate people against the ill effects of tobacco,' he said. 'We are planning to extend this initiative to other social festivals like Navratri,' he added. To encourage the initiative, a 'Tobacco Free Ganesh Mandal Competition, 2011' too was announced. Marquees which adopt the best tobacco control practices will be awarded cash prizes. Ganesh puja, one of the major festivals in the city and across Maharashtra, will be held Sep 1-11 this year. http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| WHO raises alarm over nutrition Posted: 09 Aug 2011 06:12 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 9 - Millions of children dying or falling ill due to malnutrition in the Asia-Pacific region is leading to dire socio-economic consequences, the World Health Organization - warned Tuesday. In a statement released in Colombo, Sri Lanka, WHO was emphatic that malnutrition undermined economic growth and perpetuated poverty. It affected productivity by diminishing the capacity to do physical work and reduced earning ability. 'The double burden of malnutrition that is under-nutrition and overweight, with under-nutrition being more prominent in Asia, weakens people's immune systems and heightens the risk of non-communicable diseases,' the statement read. Malnutrition accounts for 11 percent of global diseases, leading to long-term poor health and disability, as well as poor educational and development outcomes. According to the statement, if simple measures like introducing complementary food items after six months and breastfeeding a child for up to two years were adopted, they would help greatly in avoiding about 20 percent of deaths among children under five. A three-day discussion on scaling up nutrition levels in children will commence Wednesday in Colombo, in which health experts and policy-makers from the Asia-Pacific region will participate. WHO Regional Director for Western Pacific, Shin Young-soo, said nutrition played a major role in cognitive and intelligent quotient development. It could further encourage a person to break the shackles of poverty. 'People with adequate nutrition are more productive and can create opportunities to gradually break the cycles of poverty and hunger,' Shin said. Under-nutrition contributes to about a third of all child deaths, and impairs healthy development and life-long productivity. When combined with inadequate sanitation, it leads to frequent diarrhoeal diseases. About 71 million children in Asia are estimated to be underweight, according to WHO. In comparison,... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| Farmer's wife treated for rare brain disease Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:39 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, Aug 9 - The wintry morning of Dec 18, 2010, was just another day for Omwati Singh, a farmer's wife in Haryana's Ballabhgarh, when the 42-year-old woke up at 4 a.m. to complete household chores and accompany her husband to the farms. However, things went topsy-turvy when she collapsed and her family found her unconscious in the kitchen, soaked in sweat and vomit. The mother of four children was diagnosed with a combination of heart and brain disorders, until she was finally brought to Apollo hospital in the capital where she was treated for a rare state called 'Takotsubo syndrome' - a condition in which the brain closely mimics symptoms of a heart attack. 'We rushed her to the nearest hospital in Faridabad, she was fretting and mumbling. We were told that she had suffered a heart attack and the problem was of both the heart and the brain,' said Umed Singh, Omwati's husband, who sold a chunk of his land in Ballabhgarh to get his wife treated. Omwati underwent several diagnostic tests, shuttled between hospitals in the national capital region - even as her husband and children stood by her side. 'The same day we came to Apollo Hospital where doctors told her to immediately go for a brain surgery as the problem of the heart was provoked because of brain hemorrhage. She was operated upon the same day, and is fine now,' Umed Singh said, as he sat beside Omwati. The surgery cost him around Rs.6 lakh. 'I was worried for my daughter who was undergoing treatment for kidney stone at that time. But all this happened to me suddenly,' Omwati said. Doctors said the patient suffered from brain hemorrhage that produced changes in the heart and abnormal widening of the blood vessels in the brain. 'It was a case of subarachnoid hemorrhage causing bleeding in the area between the brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain. She showed symptoms such as headache, blood pressure, drowsiness, vomiting that cannot be easily... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
| New approach to thyroid surgery eliminates neck scar Posted: 09 Aug 2011 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) CHICAGO- As the rate of thyroid cancer continues to climb, doctors are urging patients to be more cautious about thyroid nodules, a common disorder that is responsible for a small but growing number of thyroid cancer cases. Thyroid nodules affect nearly 13 million Americans and are a result of abnormal cell growth on the gland. Until recently, the only way to remove nodules and rule out cancer was through surgery that required a five centimeter incision across the front of the neck. The procedure, and the large scar that resulted, was a deterrent for many patients who feared altering their appearance for something that may not be life threatening. Today however, a new option exists that allows surgeons to access the neck through the armpit, allowing for a biopsy of tissue with no visible scar. We now have a minimally invasive way of determining if a thyroid nodule is cancerous, said Jose Dutra, MD, head and neck surgical oncologist and director of the Thyroid Surgical Clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. It's an approach that more patients are comfortable pursuing. If we can identify cancerous cells earlier we increase the chance of removing the cancer before it spreads. The procedure, transaxillary robotic thyroid surgery, utilizes 3D cameras and specially designed robotic arms to create a small incision within the armpit, the mechanical arms work just like hands allowing the specialized surgeon to operate remotely with precise control and movements to remove suspicious nodules. The underarm area has fewer nerve endings than the anterior neck area, so there's less pain, no scarring on the neck, and with good care, the incision will heal faster, said Dutra who is also an associate professor at the department of otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. This summer, Socorro Delaluz became one of the first patients at Northwestern Memorial to undergo transaxillary... http://www.rxpgnews.com   |
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