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 …
in february, the us state of New Mexico rejected two bills demanding a ban on the use of aspartame, an artificial sweetener in food items. Aspartame, found in products like cough syrups, chewing gum, candy, desserts and soft drinks, is said to increase the risk of cancer, among other things …
Benzene exposure from vehicular sources and its health impact are relatively unexplored in India. We have investigated in this study hematology and lymphocyte subsets of 25 petrol pump attendants, 25 automobile service station workers and 35 controls matched for age, sex and socioeconomic conditions. The participants were non-smoking males of …
people with a specific variation in a gene who are exposed to arsenic have greater risk of getting skin lesions and hyperkeratosis, a precursor to skin cancer, say researchers from Kolkata. The gene, called ercc2 (excision repair cross-complementing rodent repair deficiency, complementation group 2), repairs any damage to dna. The …
using bio-fuel for cooking could lead to cardiovascular diseases and cancer, says a research team from Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute, Kolkata. The team found that biomass smoke causes the activation of neutrophils and monocytes (white blood cells) and platelets. Platelets are blood cells that help in blood coagulation. These clump …
researchers have found an increased risk of bladder cancer due to exposure to chlorinated water through drinking, swimming and bathing. The study was published online in the January 15, 2006, issue of American Journal of Epidemiology. The study found that exposure also occurs through inhalation and dermal absorption of trihalomethanes …
the fight for access to a generic version of a cancer drug is likely to get more problematic. India's ministry of commerce and industry has signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with the us Patent and Trademark Office (uspto) on intellectual property (ipr). Signed on December 20, 2006, the mou …
Epidemiological studies were conducted in pesticide exposed agricultural workers along with an equal number of age- and sex-matched controls. All the 200 exposed volunteers were suffering from fever, nausea, headache and other abnormal symptoms and visited the hospital for general health check-up. These cases were taken up for more detailed …
In August and September 2006, patients with cancer, lawyers for patient advocacy groups, and representatives of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) converged on the offices of Novartis in Mumbai, India, to protest the company's efforts to obtain an Indian patent on Gleevec, the company's brand-name version of imatinib mesylate. Gleevec (spelled Glivec …
mobile friendly: Researchers have found no link between mobile phone use and cancer. They used mobile-phone companies' records to gauge phone usage. They tracked subjects for an average of 8.5 years, and some followed up to 21 years. Joachim Schuz of the Institute of Cancer Epidemiology, Copenhagen, looked at more …
humans are more prone to cancer because of their body mass. However, nature has protected us somewhat from this risk by disallowing the secretion of an enzyme that rapidly heals damaged cells but promotes cancer. Telomerase, the enzyme which is not normally found in humans, is found in abundance in …
curry leaves do not just satiate taste buds. Scientists have discovered a new aspect to the leaves; the possibility of curing prostate cancer. Researchers from Santiniketan-based Visva-Bharati University, Kolkata's Indian Institute of Chemical Biology and Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, us, have isolated mahanine
Pesticides, common environmental exposures, have been examined in relation to breast cancer primarily in occupational studies or exposure biomarker studies. No known studies have focused on self-reported residential pesticide use. The authors investigated the association between reported lifetime residential pesticide use and breast cancer risk among women living on Long …
there may now be a non-toxic cancer remedy in place. It is the only one, claim scientists of the Kolkata-based Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science. According to them, methylglyoxal in combination with ascorbic acid has been found to have significant curative effects on cancer patients. The study published …
another attempt to bring chrysotile, the most common form of asbestos, under the prior informed consent list (pic) of the Rotterdam Convention has failed. Parties to this international treaty governing trade in toxic substances met in Geneva between October 10 and 13, 2006. But they couldn't agree on adding chrysotile …
In its June 2006 conference in Geneva, the International Labour Organization adopted a resolution: "Considering that all forms of asbestos including chrysotile...are classified as known human carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer
Shrimp trade marred: Shrimp, the second largest export commodity from Bangladesh to the European Union (EU), might lose its huge market, as the group is considering blacklisting a good number of Bangladeshi shrimp exporters. The commission has detected the presence of nitrofurazone, a chemical used to store shrimp in the …
The war over Glivec, a cancer treatment drug, is expected to intensify as two writ petitions filed by Novartis AG, the Swiss pharmaceutical group, come up for hearing on September 26, 2006, in the Madras High Court. Petition 24754 was filed against the January 25, 2006, order of the assistant …
Scientists have found a way to trick cancer cells into committing suicide. The technique potentially offers the means to personalised anti-cancer therapy. Most living cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which, when activated, changes into executioner enzyme caspase-3 and initiates programmed cell death, called apoptosis. In cancer cells, however, the …
a compound extracted from red algae (Kappaphycus alvarezii), which is grown widely in coastal Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, can cure cervical cancer, claims a study by a team of German and us oncologists. Cervical cancer accounts for almost a quarter of all cancer incidents among Indian women. Lab studies showed …
High levels of stress are known to cause diseases like hypertension, peptic ulcer and insomnia. But a group of scientists at the University of Texas M D Anderson Cancer Center, Houston (in the US) now claims that chronic stress can even encourage the growth of cancerous tumours. The team of …
