Good Food is First Food. It is not junk food. It is the food that connects nature and nutrition with livelihoods. This food is good for our health; it comes from the rich biodiversity of our regions; it provides employment to people. Most importantly, cooking and eating give us pleasure. …
practitioners of Ayurveda in India have been hit by the recent ban imposed by the Union government on the use of endangered varieties of medicinal herbs. The order prohibits exports of such plants, plant portions and their derivatives and extracts. The order was issued by the commerce ministry when certain …
researchers at the New York University Medical Centre have recently identified a protein on the surface of the single-celled malaria parasite, Plasmodium , which helps it to invade human liver and blood cells. The find, the second such in the past year, has created ripples of excitement among scientists. An …
indians and Chinese immigrants are among the healthiest people in the uk while those from Bangladesh and Pakistan are in the poorest of health. A report, The Health of Britain's Ethnic Minorities , brought out by the Policy Studies Institute and based on a survey of about 9,000 people belonging …
a settlement in Florida has pressed panic buttons for the tobacco industry worldover. Setting a precedent, the government of Florida signed a us $11.3 billion settlement with us cigarette manufacturers to recover costs of medical treatment for curing ailments caused due to smoking. The cigarette companies, apart from promising to …
there is no clear definition of a good soil nor is there an index to measure the quality of such soil. Researchers in the us now claim that fractal geometry may provide an answer. The structure of soil, which is made up of soil grains and air spaces, determines how …
smog in the office has not been on the agenda of environmentalists. But, in fact it might be causing some severe health problems. Modern office machines such as fax, photocopiers, and printers, can create ozone, which reacts with various commonly-found chemicals to produce volatile organic compounds ( voc s). These …
Unusually small babies have a high risk of getting diabetes, say French researchers. A study conducted on 230 adults by Juliane Leger and colleagues at France's national research organisation, INSERM, reveals that those who are born small tend to have high levels of blood sugar
Women suffering from severe morning sickness (nausea) may run an increased risk of breast cancer. A study conducted by Leslie Bernstein and her colleagues at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, USA, seems to support this theory. The researchers studied the medical records of nearly 450 women who …
High levels of lead in adults may not be as harmful as people thought earlier, according to a study conducted by Pal Osterberg and colleagues at the university hospitals of Lund and Malmo, Sweden. Previous studies had suggested that adults who have high levels of lead in their body have …
the monkeypox virus is being transmitted among humans more readily than ever before, according to us researchers. Monkeypox is a virus that has symptoms nearly identical to smallpox. Of the 89 people studied in the Democratic Republic of Congo, nearly 73 per cent had been infected by others, according to …
the latest addition to the list of factors that lead to heart disease is one that depends on internal regulation of the body. Amino acids, the basic building blocks of proteins, are required by the body for metabolism. But a recent study conducted by Ottar Nygard and others in Haukeland …
a drug is being developed that would help repair damaged nerves in patients with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and other brain disorders. Two groups of researchers, one led by Guilford at Johns Hopkins University and another led by Bruce Gold at Oregon Health Sciences University, discovered the drug several years …
studies on rheumatoid arthritis indicate that treatment with strong drugs may work better than the gradual approach to the crippling disease. Rheumatoid arthritis is an auto-immune disease, which is caused when the body's immune system turns against the tissue in the joints . Doctors in Belgium and Holland say that …
Viral encepha-litis, a mosquito-borne disease, has taken its toll in southwestern parts of Nepal during this year's monsoon. The disease, which broke out in the first week of July, has already claimed 13 lives, eight of the victims being children, according to M Kidwai, chief of the Nepalganj zonal hospital. …
A Hong Kong court has awarded us $24.5 million to an American musician, who suffered injuries after inhaling a toxic pesticide 10 years back during rehearsals at the Academy for Performing Arts. The payout is said to be the largest in Hong Kong for a personal injury case. Kristan Phillips, …
Recycling of waste has become a major source of income as well as a tool to protect the environment in South Africa. Figures from the World Resource Foundation and Packaging Council of South Africa ( pascsa ) show the country recycles nearly 38 per cent of its total annual consumption …
The pilferage of teak trees in the reserve forests under Maulvibazar range and shed trees in various tea gardens in Bangladesh has caused ecological imbalance in the region. Though the district administration has filed more than 300 cases against nearly 500 offenders, the efforts to stop the felling of teak-trees …
research from Pennsylvania suggests that smoking heavily for many years may activate a receptor in smokers' lungs that makes them more susceptible to cancer. And once activated, the receptor stays switched on, even after decades without a puff. Jill Siegfried and her team at the University of Pittsburg and their …
It seemed to be a rough dirt road leading to nowhere. But these are the the remains of hippo trails leading to dried-up wallowing pools in a remote part of Tanzania. Hippos wallow in freshwater pools during the day to escape the sun. At night they plow through the mud …
a bangalore hospital has mastered the art of injecting a sperm into an egg cell outside the woman's body. This method is an advancement over the in vitro fertilisation of the test-tube method. Called Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection ( icsi ), this procedure is useful for couples who have not …
