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Is Diabetes the Leading Cause of Kidney Failure in India

No one knows the answer to this one as we do not have collective data, however diabetes is the number one cause of kidney failure in the United States, accounting for more than 40 percent of the new cases of end-stage renal disease (ESRD)each year. People with ESRD require regular dialysis or a kidney transplant to stay alive. Almost 25% of patients suffering from diabetes will get kidney...

Another ray of hope for Arthritis Sufferers

Arthritis causes inflammation of a joint or joints and the surrounding tissues and affects millions of people all over the world. Anti-arthritic drugs can cause side effects and surgery can be expensive, however there is hope from a natural product liquid glucosamine and chondroitin sulfates. Some excellent results with an approach based on a combination of the two supplements have been r...

Cancer Doctors Okays Controversial Prostate Therapy

A controversial treatment for prostate cancer in which radioactive seeds are implanted in the prostate to destroy the tumor received support Friday from doctors writing therapy guidelines for the prestigious 17-hospital National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. This type of therapy is known as brachytherapy, the procedure has been performed for years by...

Bypass Heart Surgery Performed Without General Anesthesia

A minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass (MIDCAB) procedure was performed at Pittsburgh while the patient was awake. The operation was done under thoracic epidural anesthesia. This approach may help in discharging the patient early from the hospital. Dr. Zenati from the team of doctors who performed the surgery said that patients who are operated in this way may not have to go t...

New hope on the Horizon for People Wishing to Quit Smoking

Smoking is one of the most difficult addiction to give up. In an exciting research done at the University of Toronto in Canada it was found that medication called methoxsalen ( this is currently used to treat skin disorders) may help addicts who wish to give up smoking. Nicotine replacement, in the form of a patch or gum, to keep the level of nicotine in blood up witho...

New Way to "See" Genes, Evaluate Effectiveness of Gene Therapies Discovered

This technology essentially renders the body transparent and will allow physicians to determine whether gene therapies reach targeted cells and work as they should. "The technology is expected to help patients with cancer and other illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease. The discovery is outlined in the August 2000, issue of the journal Nature Medicine. UCLA researchers plan to tes...

Another injectable contraceptive Pill approved by FDA

Lunelle-a monthly injectable contraceptive pill has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration in USA. It is more than 99 percent effective when women get the shot once every month according to the company release marketing the pill. Lunelle is an alternative to another injectable contraceptive called Depo-Provera that lasts three months. It works Like many other birt...

Endangered species may be successfully cloned in another animal's womb

Scientists for the first time have found a way for the survival of endangered animal species of the world. In a major breakthrough a Massachusetts scientists who engineered the feat has managed to clone cells from an endangered animal (Asian Gaur) and successfully impregnated an Iowa cow with the clone. The scientific journal Cloning has reported in its upcoming edition that...

Consensus on "Combination Therapy" for Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among women in the world. There has been some on going controversy on certain aspects of treatment modalities of this cancer. Besides surgery there are other options to treat the cancer including radiation, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy. Now at a three-day conference at the National Institutes of Health doctors have agreed to a consensus on the c...

General Anesthesia Safe For Children On Ketogenic Diet Suffering From Epilepsy

Epileptic children have always been ostracized as children of a lesser God. The physical, mental, moral and social ramifications of these hapless children are beyond words. One stumbling handicap in the surgical treatment of such children was the feasibility of administering General Anesthesia to these children. In many cases the anesthesia times ranged from 1 to 10 hours with procedur...

Acupuncture May Help Chemotherapy Side Effects

Oriental medical practice of Acupuncture along with commonly used medications may help ease the distressing and disabling side effects of chemotherapy for breast cancer patients, if researchers at National Institute of Health (NIH) are to be believed. According to Dr. Joannieshen MD, MPH, research associate at NIH, electro-acupuncture was more effective in controlling vomiting than...

Controversial deal on public access of the human genome map

, which is a much talked about topic, considering that the mapping of the genes will enable one to have the information to manipulate individual characteristics like the color of the eye or even skin. It will also help say whether a cell will function normall...

Spirulina may be the next immune boost on the block

News is out that Spirulina may be the wonder drug we are all looking out for. According to Journal of Medicinal Food, Spirulina , significantly increases the cytokine production in cultured immune system cells. To evaluate the effects of spirulina on the immune system, immunologists at UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center collected blood samples from 12 healthy volunteers and i...

Vitamins-The answer to Heart Disease?

Ongoing research is however to co...

The Cancer Rumour mill working over time

The single most important word to make people sit up and take notice in health care apart from AIDS or HIV should be cancer!!!!!!!!!! The mere mention of the word is enough to bolster people to sit up and listen. But should we really accept all that is heard and said about the disease? Or should we use our gray cells and analyse the pros and cons and then decide? Should we believe all tha...

Miracle cure for Alzheimer’s around the corner

Alzheimer’s Disease, one of the most common and perhaps the most dreadful kind of Dementia, where there is degeneration of the brain tissue, might at last have the much awaited miracle cure round the corner. A vaccine made headlines sometime ago, as being efficient in reducing plaque formation in mice, which is characteristic of Alzheimer’s. Latest reports say that it also improves mental...

Crowning glory of 2000!!! Cracking of the genetic code is top of tops

With the New Year elbowing out the old year it is time to reflect on the good old year and all the research work of 2000. And when we do that the first and foremost medical breakthrough, which comes to our mind, is the cracking of the genetic code. Almost all the top ten lists released by every one connected with the world of medicine features this remarkable feat in a prominent place and...

Abstain from sex- the latest mantra of American teens

The latest fad in the United States of America is surprisingly abstinence!!!!! Shockingly enough the teen crowd, particularly below 18 years, is taking the buzzword seriously.Last year there were many public abstinence pledges with many millionaire celebrities joining the jing bang. This pledge has been taken seriously, alteast for a certain period of time, according to some analysts who...

New hope for cancer victims – will vaccine cure the deadly bug

One very deadly form of cancer is pancreatic cancer, though it isn’t very common. Globally it kills lakhs of people every year. And now there is some hope for the unfortunate victims. A new vaccine has been successfully tested on the pancreatic cancer victims and it has increased the survival rates in many. Vaccines are typically thought of as a way of preventing disease. In cancer, howe...

Heart disease in the newborn is related to maternal malnutrition

In its December issue Heart has carried a study on maternal malnutrition in the first trimester of pregnancy and how it causes coronary heart diseases in the newborn. Dr. Tessa .J. Rosé boom of the university of Amsterdam and her team have studied the occurrence of coronary heart diseases in children and correlated the findings to maternal malnutrition in the three trimesters of pregnancy...

“Brain fingerprinting”- The new lie detectr

In an exciting development, in the field of criminology, a new lie detector has been developed in the United States of America. This is called “brain fingerprinting”. This invention is supposed to be the best lie detector available as on date and is said to detect even smooth criminals who pass the polygraph test (the conventional lie detector test) with ease. The new method employs brain...

Starvation in pregnant women can cause heart disease to their children

Starvation during pregnancy can lead to increased risk of heart problems to their children in their adult life. Adverse foetal environment contribute to several aspects of cardiovascular risks in adult life, but they depend on the gestational time. People whose mothers starved during the first 13 weeks of pregnancy can have heart diseases later in their adult life, Starvation during mid...

Antioxidants protect health tissue in people undergoing radiation therapy.

A recent finding by Indian scientists revealed that two antioxidants in black pepper and turmeric- piperine and curcumin were found to help protect the bacterial DNA from damage by irradiation in test organism. Spices with antioxidants property have radio protective effect and protecting organisms like Escherichia role and Bacillus megaterium organisms (taken for study) against of gamma...

Dietary phytonutrients – Secret for the good food to taste ba

Phytonutrients have been associated with cancer prevention and other health benefits. They are trace chemicals and taste bitter, acid or astringent. If phytonutrients have to be consumed then demands of good taste and good health may be wholly incompatible. The bitter phytonutrients protect the plant against being eaten by harmful herbivores. The plants which contains phyto nutrients are...

Clinton's new problem - Is the outgoing American president suffering from skin cancer?

The outgoing U.S. president Bill Clinton will be remembered as one of the most controversial presidents ever. He created history by becoming the first American president in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Only because he managed to win at the senate did he save himself and his country further damage. He has been the center of many burning controversies throughout...

And now live birth on the internet.com?

A hospital in Singapore has given birth to a new idea. Anxious parents and relatives can actually see their little ones at the hospital on the net. And this comes with live audio and video feed. Imagine being busy at your office and still being able to see your kid at the hospital bed at the same time! Sounds cool? Singapore’s Thomson medical center website gives parents passwords that c...

Doctors operate upon patients in candlelight- latest from the quake scene

The latest word from Gujarat is that doctors are being stretched to their limits working on cases for hours together without a break. At times they work in candlelight when the power fails, but the work goes on. Many caesarean sections to deliver babies were conducted in open verandahs. On Jan 27th nearly 1500 patients were operated upon without a break. Many fractures were fixed without...

Stem cell research- now Nobel Laureates join the debate

Throwing their lot with the group of scientists asking for more funding into stem cell research, 80 Nobel prize winners are faxing a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush asking him not to block stem cell research in any way. The debate on stem cell research is reaching a feverish pitch with both sides slamming each other on the pros and cons of stem cell research. While those...

And now they say infections can cause heart disease!!!!

Most people are paranoid about heart disease. One survey said that of all ailments people are most worried about AIDS/HIV, hepatitis and heart disease. Whenever people get to read something on heart disease, they get so engrossed in it that they start worrying at times over trivial problems based on the assumption that it could lead to heart disease.However a recent study conducted in Aus...

Children suffer the most when parents divorce

A recent study conducted in the United States of America, says that children suffer the most when parents divorce. Further more when parents prolong an unhappy marriage and avoid a divorce for the sake of children, instead of doing the children good, it will only do more damage to the kids, the authors of the study say.Dr. Allan Booth and Dr. Paul R. Arnato of Pennsylvania State Universit...

And now they say infections can cause heart disease!!!!

Most people are paranoid about heart disease. One survey said that of all ailments people are most worried about AIDS/HIV, hepatitis and heart disease. Whenever people get to read something on heart disease, they get so engrossed in it that they start worrying at times over trivial problems based on the assumption that it could lead to heart disease.However a recent study conducted in Aus...

Doctors at risk- the ugly side of the noble profession

A recent study shows that doctors are amongst the top victims of workplace crime. They are often threatened and abused by relatives of patients who die during treatment. Without going into who is right and who is wrong the report says doctors are targeted and sometimes made to pay a very heavy price if things go wrong.Calling it the ugly side of the noble profession, the study says that d...

Water - The silent killer!!!

The world health organization says, water related illnesses claim up to 3 million lives a year. WHO released a report to coincide with World Water Day on 22nd of March. The report says most of those who die are children and much of the suffering is needless. People in the developing world are particularly at risk for water-borne diseases. About 2.2 million people die of diarrhea caused by...

Lure of the home turf brings back NRI doctors

WE are seeing the first signs of a reverse brain drain in the healthcaresector, which is expected to only grow over time. The emergence of moderncorporate and investorowned hospitals in the country is steadily luring moreand more NRI doctors back to home turf. And unlike other sectors, where compensations at par with international levelshave been the main draw, doctors are actually ta...

The brain loves a surprise

Scientists in Atlanta, Georgia, have opined after an exhaustive study that the brain loves a surprise. The study was conducted on 25 men and women and studied their responses to different stimuli. Dr. Gregory S Berns of Emory University led the study. The fact that some people rely on an orderly routine, while others thrive on never knowing what the day will bring, may have something to d...

Beware of the oral patch! It could be cancer!!!

Oncologists have warned that the common white patches found inside the mouth can lead to oral cancer in many cases. A simple genetic test can help pinpoint if the patches could become cancerous or not.Scientists at the University of Oslo spearheaded this research. If identified early and treated, leukoplakia, as the patches are known, can be cured and the occurrence of cancer prevented....

Award for TTK Chitra heart valve prosthesis

TTK Healthcare and Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Science and Technology have bagged theNational award for successful commercialization of indigenous technology 2001 for developing artificial heart valve prosthesis.It is a tilting disc valve design incorporating a metallic housing, which is integrally machined from a cobalt based wrought alloy. The circular disc inside is made of ul...

Patients often assume wrongly that they are allergic to penicillin

A team of researchers who reviewed medical literature on the accuracy of penicillin allergies has come out with a startling expose!!!! Nearly 80% of people who claim that they are allergic to penicillin actually are under the misconception that they are allergic to the drug. The researchers led by Dr. Alan R. Salkind, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Misso...

Scientists plan human cloning clinic in the United States

An international group of reproductive scientists plan to launch a human cloning clinic, which will provide cloning services to infertile couples within 18 months, according to a US infertility specialist, Dr. Panayiotis Zavos. Dr. Zavos, a biologist at the Univeristy of Kentucky, is not medically qualified but holds a doctorate in reproductive physiology and is an owner and director of...

The World Bank funds private Hospital in India

The World Bank, whose website (www.worldbank.org) declares "Our dream is a world free of poverty, 'is backing the construction of private hospital in Mumbai, India, a move which some health agencies fear sets a precedent for using development assistance for projects that will mainly benefit the rich. The bank has given the government of Maharashtra state an International Development Asso...