Women-led and women’s rights organizations are on the frontlines of today’s humanitarian crises—but many are at risk of disappearing. As global needs rise due to conflict, climate change, and displacement, deep cuts to foreign aid are threatening organizations that provide life-saving services for women and girls. In March 2025, UN …
In 2005, road traffic injuries resulted in the death of an estimated 110 000 persons, 2.5 million hospitalizations, 8-9 million minor injuries and economic losses to the tune of 3% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in India.
there is renewed interest in gold salts curing rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic inflammatory disease of joints and other tissues. Using them to treat arthritis has been a matter of longstanding debate because of their side effects. A new study by David Pisetsky, chief of rheumatology and immunology at the Duke …
Over three decades, the Jaipur Foot has benefited more than 300,000 people, reached 22 countries and is set to undergo a transformation. vibha varshney travels to Jaipur to measure the progress For over 30 years it has been changing people's lives, helping them stand on their feet. Now the Jaipur …
The Jaipur Foot has two parts: the factory-made foot and the custom-made plastic mould. The foot is fashioned out of two pieces of microcellular rubber and a wooden ankle piece. Fingers are attached separately. The rubber gives the foot the flexibility and the ability to absorb the shock. The assembled …
Alang's woes On March 12, 2007, the Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of a case against the Norwegian asbestos-laden ship Blue Lady for another six weeks. On March 8, an intervening petition was filed in the ongoing case by sarpanchs from 12 villages around the Alang-Sosiya shipbreaking yard. They argued …
the latest buzz: Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered the oldest bee ever known, a 100-million-year-old specimen preserved in almost lifelike form in amber, and an important link to help explain the rapid expansion of flowering plants during that period. The specimen, at least 35-45 million years older than …
rachel Carson couldn't have been more accurate. A disturbing silence is the overarching presence in lands doused with chemical pesticides. Not just Padre
A sealed card is at the heart of Japan's bid to unmask the genetics behind various diseases including arthritis and asthma. The Japanese Institute of Physical and Chemical Research plans to push Japan to the forefront of the global effort to interpret the human genome. The facility will use its …
The ongoing medicinal plants patent controversy has another entrant: ashwagandha (Withania somnifera), a plant that is widely recognised for its medicinal worth and commonly found in India. A study conducted by the Patent Facilitating Centre of the New Delhi-based Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, verified that in the past …
cases of crippling bone deformities are emerging from four villages on the outskirts of Lahore. These villages are now known as the "fluoride belt'. Says Sajid Maqbool, project director of the Children Hospital in Lahore: "So far, 100-120 cases
A new study suggests that Cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive chemical in marijuana, can ease arthritis. Researchers from the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology in London and Hebrew University in Jerusalem have found that Cannabidiol suppresses part of the immune response of mice with collagen-induced arthritis. This reduces the inflammation and joint damage …
An onion a day could help keep osteoporosis (inflammation of bone and cartilage) at bay, claims a new study. When male rats were fed one gramme of dry onion per day, bone resorption
Twenty needles - nine pierced in each leg and two in the belly - with the probes attached to a mild electrical current gave Harold Katcoff of Baltimore, us , the relief that aspirins, steroids and anti-inflammatory drugs could not. Suffering from osteoarthritis (a chronic disease of the joints caused …
According to researchers at Cardiff University, UK, cod liver oil can ease pain of arthritis by mimicking the effects of aspirin. The fish oil is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These inhibit a key inflammatory enzyme called cox-2, which is thought to cause much of the swelling and pain in …
Backache is the second major cause of employee absenteeism after common cold. Now, Susanna Annunen and her team from the University of Oulu in Finland report that inter-vertebral disk disease, also called sciatica, may well run in the families with a gene called COL9A2 that is responsible for the condition. …
about 12 villages around the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh have been affected by fluoride contamination in the water. Consumption of the contaminated water has resulted in bone deformities among villagers; at least one member of every family in these villages is afflicted. A water survey conducted by the Uttar …
thousands of people suffer fractures that do not heal easily. New research shows that pulsed, low-intensity ultrasound treatment helps mend fractured bones. More than 80 per cent of patients, with fractured bones that had failed to fuse, benefited from the therapy, according to a report presented at the recently held …
Joshua M Smith and his team from North Dakota University, USA, suggest that writing can help improve the health of people, especially those suffering from chronic illnesses. The researchers asked 112 patients with asthma and rheumatic arthritis to write about their most traumatic experiences for 20 minutes at a time …
GANDHAR KARMAKAR is nine years old. He has only one eye, and suffers from paralysis. Elder to him by three years is Motiram. He suffers from osteoporosis (general bone damage). Dunia Uraon, also just short of his teens, is another unfortunate adolescent. His mother suffered three miscarriages before giving birth …
the Japanese government is considering revising its guidelines on gene therapy. The present rules, which were introduced in 1994, limits researchers to its use only for treatment of terminal diseases such as cancer and aids . The move follows an application by researchers to Osaka University's ethics committee for permission …
