Hong Kong has urged people to stay indoors as the city chokes under the worst cloud of man-made air pollution the city has recorded, officials say. Air pollutant readings on Thursday broke records going back to 1999, except for levels reached when a natural dust storm hit the southern Chinese …
A coalition of countries and agencies seeking to curb Earth-warming pollutants like soot released by wood-fired ovens and methane from oil extraction, on Tuesday welcomed seven new members to its fold. At a meeting in Paris, the Clean Air and Climate Coalition, launched by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton …
POLLUTION is giving otherwise healthy children asthma-like symptoms, potentially affecting their lung growth and function and casting doubt on whether national air quality standards are strong enough. A national study of 2860 primary school children found nitrogen dioxide, contained in motor vehicle exhaust, was present in the lungs of two-thirds …
Polluted air, mainly due to vehicular smoke, burning of garbage and very low tree plantation, is increasing respiratory diseases in Karachi, therefore, urgent steps are needed to check the worsening situation. Vehicular smoke is the number one cause of the growing air pollution in Karachi, causing serious environmental loss to …
China now has 260 million sufferers of chronic diseases, which are being blamed for up to 85 percent of the country's deaths, according to the 2012-15 action plan on chronic-disease prevention and control. Chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes have become more prevalent and now account for about 70 …
Health workers are trying to determine whether a mixture of known diseases or something new is responsible for killing more than 60 children in Cambodia over the past three months, a World Health Organization expert said. Sponsored Links The mystery disease has killed 61 of 62 children hospitalized since April, …
Twelve UK cities and urban areas may have to ban or fine heavily polluting traffic from their centres within months after the European commission refused to allow Britain more time to reduce dangerous exhaust emissions, according to air quality campaigners. Newcastle, Liverpool, Tyneside, Sheffield, Bristol, Brighton, Birkenhead, Preston, Swansea, Belfast, …
Human respiratory epithelia function in airway mucociliary clearance and barrier function and have recently been implicated in sensory functions. The authors investigated a link between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis and molecular mechanisms underlying Ca2+ influx into human airway epithelia elicited by diesel exhaust particles (DEP).
Taken at face value, the results of the fourth edition of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA), released 11 March 2011 are sobering. Every person in the country is at 10 times or greater risk for getting cancer from outdoor air pollutants than the agency’s …
When their wearied bodies demand rest and care, elderly people in the country's urban slums are instead condemned to toiling in their closing days if they are to eat and survive the day. Visiting several slums in Narayanganj, the correspondent of the news agency found the elderly people living miserable …
The Madras High Court has upheld the validity of a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on March 16 last year banning the manufacture, sale and distribution of Gatifloxacin, a drug used for treating acute bacterial exacerbation of chronic bronchitis, acute sinusitis and community acquired …
Dust pollution in Dhaka air remains above the danger level one-third of the year, said minister for environment Hasan Mahmud in parliament, attributing it to open-air construction works and road digging and the brick-kilns set up around the city. The minister, during the question-answer session, said during dry seasons, presence …
A measles outbreak has killed eight children and afflicting over a dozen in different areas of Bajaur Agency over the last few days. Locals told Dawn on Thursday that children in far-flung villages of Utmankhel and Barang tehsils were the worst hit by measles. Hazrat Gul, a Uthmankhel resident, said …
China currently has 260 million patients with chronic diseases, and these illnesses have resulted in some 85 percent of the country's total deaths, figures from the Ministry of Health show. According to a 2012-2015 blueprint on chronic disease prevention and control released by the ministry on Monday, as a result …
Gurdaspur: Hazardous smoke resulting from burning of wheat stubble can be seen billowing out of every other field in the region despite the act being illegal. Fire in fields sometimes goes out of control and leads to fatal incidents. In a recent incident, Sardara Singh, a middle-aged farmer, along with …
The Health Ministry has identified the importance of establishing a Special Task Force for the prevention of respiratory diseases Deputy Health Minister Lalith Dissanayake said yesterday . He said that the ministry will implement a mechanism to promote in treating asthma. The deputy minister was speaking at a ceremony organized …
Till now, doctors in the private sector were free to treat TB patients, and weren't required to keep a record. India has finally declared tuberculosis (TB) a notifiable disease. The announcement signifies that with immediate effect, all private doctors, caregivers and clinics treating a patient suffering from TB will have …
With cases of MDR and XDR tuberculosis being reported from various parts of the country, the Union Health Ministry has decided to make TB a notifiable disease. This means any institution, government or private, which sees a new tuberculosis patient, will have to mandatorily inform designated health authorities about the …
Highly pathogenic avian H5N1 influenza A viruses occasionally infect humans, but currently do not transmit efficiently among humans. The viral haemagglutinin (HA) protein is a known host-range determinant as it mediates virus binding to host-specific cellular receptors1, 2, 3. Here we assess the molecular changes in HA that would allow …
MUMBAI: The National Tuberculosis Institute (NTI) in Bangalore has validated Hinduja Hospital's January report about total drug resistance in eight TB patients. A copy of the report was sent to the state TB department on Monday. "The DOTS-plus (Directly Observed Treatment Shortcourse ) team will discuss the re por t …
