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 …
AFTER 4 years of hot pursuit, a us biotech company has won the race to isolate the much sought-after breast cancer gene called BRCA I. Close on the heels of this discovery, an international group has reported mapping of another breast cancer gene called BRCA2. Together, the pair probably accounts …
The German pharmaceutical giant Schering AG is in for a hard time. Androcur and Diane 35, 2 of its best-selling drugs marketed in Europe, are suspected to be potential causes of cancer. Tests carried out on rodents by the Federal Institute for Medication and Medical Products revealed a possible carcinogenic …
ONLY 50 years ago, cancer was the Demon of Death spoken of in hushed whispers. What appeared to be a perfectly normal cell suddenly turned into a stealthy, lethal killer, rampaging through the body and destroying its victim from within. Even as recently as the "70s, many theories and myths …
How do you fix faulty genes that cause cellular havoc by sending out all the wrong signals? Using molecular genetic techniques, scientists are trying to insert bits of foreign DNA into cancerous cells to correct them. But the problem is: how do you do it for every tumour cell? To …
In India, medical research has concentrated on communicable diseases like tuberculosis and leprosy. Cancer research is still at a preliminary stage and most research centres have focused on the epidemiology of the disease or developing better surgery and radiotherapy techniques. Some laboratories, like the Cancer Research Institute at the Tata …
GENES •Mary Claire King, a University of California geneticist, discovered the breast cancer gene BRCA1, which lies on chromosome 17 •Two groups simultaneously discovered the 2 genes, HMSH2 and hMLHI, which cause hereditary colon cancers VIRUSES •The Epstein-Barr virus, closely related to the herpes virus, is associated with cancers of …
Cells are not immortal. But cancer scientists have only recently taken this fact seriously. Apoptosis, a Greek word meaning the shedding of leaves in autumn, refers to the tendency of cells to commit suicide. Billions of cells kill themselves every hour as other cells proliferate continuously to maintain a constant …
The travails of Nepal's estimated 50,000 cancer patients may soon be at an end. Instead of going abroad for treatment, they will have access to medical treatment at the 100-bed B.P. Koirala Memorial Cancer Hospital at Chitwan in south Nepal. The US $ 10 million hospital, being built with help …
TAXOL, the anti-cancer wonder drug extracted from the leaves and bark of the yew tree, has found another target. Researchers at the University of California School of Medicine say that polycystic kidney diseases (PKD), the most common hereditary kidney disease which accounts for 10 per cent of the patients requiring …
THE ozone layer over the US had thinned to unprecedented and worrisome flimsiness during 1993, say scientists who had monitored sunlight at various ground sites over the year. Between January and April of last year, ozone concentration was 12.6 per cent below normal (New Scientist, Vol 142, No 1927). What …
Simple urine and blood tests could soon be used to detect cancer. Scientists at the Boston Children's Hospital and the Harvard Medical School have detected increased levels of a tumour-related protein in the urine of patients suffering from cancer. Further, researchers at the Massachusetts-based Matritech Inc have reported finding proteins …
The holy grail of synthetic taxol may be in sight. Taxol, used to treat breast and ovarian cancers, is extracted in very small quantities from the leaf and bark of the endangered Himalayan and Pacific yew. But now, two teams of organic chemists -- led by K C Nicolaou of …
CAPITALISING on more than 100 years of expertise in plant product chemistry, Dabur, one of India's largest Ayurvedic formulation manufacturers, has now ventured into modern pharmaceutical research and product development. Dabur recently announced that it had perfected a method to extract taxol -- a potent drug used to treat ovarian …
SCIENTISTS at the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) say a healthy diet rich in spinach and other leafy green vegetables offers protection against cancer of the mouth. Their studies also show that certain vitamins and minerals taken regularly can retard the development of malignant oral cancers. The team of …
TURMERIC -- the age-old panacea for headaches, pimples and fractured limbs -- could also keep cancer away, say scientists at the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Nutrition. Kamala Krishnaswamy and her colleagues have recently reported that curcumin, the active ingredient of turmeric (Curcuma longa), which is known to have an anti-cancer …
* PATENT wars are heating up. British drug manufacturer Glaxo has won one patents case against a Canadian manufacturer, but faces a second against another. Both claim Glaxo's products -- stable and unstable forms of Zantac -- are not different enough to justify different patents. Zantac is the world's best-selling …
CANCERS occur when some cells break free from the body's control and multiply prolifically. That's the classical view. But now there is a new way of looking at cancer -- it may be because cells are not dying fast enough. Advocates of this novel view are confident that if death-defying …
TOBACCO came to India in the 17th century with the Portuguese and today, the plant is grown over as much as half a million hectares in the country. India was one of the first countries in the world to report the adverse health effects of tobacco use. In 1902, the …
CALCULATED in monetary terms, the benefits of plants used against cancer is estimated to be $1,100 billion. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development puts the value of a human life at $12.4 million and plant-based cancer drugs save 90,000 lives a year in rich countries. A US Environmental Protection …
ASPIRIN -- the world's most popular pain-killer -- if consumed regularly, may reduce the risk of cancer of the digestive system, suggests a study undertaken by Michael J Thun and his team from the American Cancer Society and the Emory University School of Public Health in Atlanta. They found a …
