In India, a country with a vast population and a diverse socio-economic fabric, healthcare remains fraught with challenges including disparities in access. These socio-economic disparities are deep, and they influence health outcomes. It is imperative to bridge these gaps amid the ongoing epidemiological, nutritional and demographic transitions that are bringing …
Smoking cigarettes has the same effect as cutting the life span by close to five years, according to a mortality risk chart released Tuesday in the US Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "The effect of smoking on the chance of dying is similar to the effect of adding five …
Beasts in my belfry: Maneka Gandhi At least 90 per cent of Indian chickens are fed arsenic compounds; they are, therefore, the carriers of diseases Do not believe for a moment that chicken is good for you and that if you have a cholesterol or heart problem and do not …
What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don't? Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. "I think the safe practice,' said Dr Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center …
Donald G. Mcneil Jr. As the world's population ages, gets richer, smokes more, eats more and drives more, non-communicable diseases will become bigger killers than infectious ones over the next 20 years, the World Health Organisation is reporting. The report, World Health Statistics 2008, shows that AIDS, tuberculosis, neonatal tetanus …
Surprising research suggests that childhood cancer is most common in the Northeast, results that even caught experts off guard. But some specialists say it could just reflect differences in reporting. The large government study is the first to find notable regional differences in pediatric cancer. Experts say it also provides …
Experts at a discussion yesterday said there are around 12 lakh cancer patients in the country and two lakh new patients are added annually of which 1.5 lakh patients die due to the disease. If detected earlier, 90 percent cancer is curable especially in the case of cervical and breast …
India's rural activists for years have blamed the overuse and misuse of pesticides for a pervasive health crisis that afflicts villages like Jhajjal across the cotton belt of Punjab. Evidence continues to mount that the problems are severe. Last month, a government-funded study revealed that chemical fertilizers and pesticides have …
Two studies pointing to the link between heavy pesticide use and several illnesses, including cancer, in Punjab have prompted the state government to set up a cancer registry programme. The Punjab government has decided to begin a cancer registry programme. The move is believed to be in response to mounting …
Hairless mice that ingested arsenite in drinking water exhibited more than a 5-fold enhancement of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) carcinogenesis, whereas arsenite alone was carcinogenically inactive. Dietary organoselenium blocked the cancer enhancement effect of arsenic but not cancer induction by UVR.
Certain kinds of carbon nanotubes -- hailed as a new "wonder" material -- behave like asbestos and could lead to a lung cancer that appears decades after exposure, an international team of researchers said on Tuesday. The findings suggest that the lightweight building block, 100 times stronger than steel and …
more bad news for smokers. The cancer stick undermines the body's immune system, leaving it more susceptible to bacterial infections, shows new research. It is already known that smokers are more prone to infections and inflammatory diseases due to the hundreds of toxic components in cigarettes. Now researchers have found …
If anyone remakes "Erin Brockovich," this is a scene I want to see. A scientist launches a study to determine the toxicity of hexavalent chromium, the drinking-water contaminant at the center of the lawsuits Brockovich spearheaded. The study will be a meta-analysis, combining existing individual studies to, he says, produce …
Women who stop smoking can enjoy major health benefits within five years, but it can take decades to correct respiratory damage and shed the added risk of lung cancer, researchers reported on Tuesday. Health Guide: Smoking
Three years ago the Ramakrishna* family were waiting for their life to end in their village on the outskirts of the city. It was not just that their young son had cancer. It was that in trying to meet the cost of his treatment, the family had sold everything they …
ALMOST without exception, scientists and policy makers agree that hybrid vehicles are good for the planet. To a small but insistent group of skeptics, however, there is another, more immediate question: Are hybrids healthy for drivers? There is a legitimate scientific reason for raising the issue. The flow of electrical …
Among the cancer patients of the country, around 30 percent are suffering from head and neck cancer. Smoking, chewing tobacco leaves and taking alcohol cause high risk for mouth, vocal cord and lung cancer, specialists told a seminar in the city yesterday. ENT department of Medical College for Women and …
The state government is taking out a massive immunisation programme to protect adolescent girls against cervical cancer. This is the first programme of its kind in the country and is being undertaken with the help of the World Health Organisation. "We are going to take up a pilot project in …
Among the many environmental concerns surrounding nuclear power plants, there is one that provokes public anxiety like no other: the fear that children living near nuclear facilities face an increased risk of cancer. Though a link has long been suspected, it has never been proven. Now that seems likely to …
A new generation of drugs made from nature, from antibiotics to treatments for cancer, may be lost unless the world acts to stop biodiversity loss, according to a new book. These developments could come from chemicals made by frogs, bears and pine trees, but the authors of "Sustaining Life" warned …
