Health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing in 22 International airports. 42,024 passengers have been screened on 16.8.2009 of which 30,644 passengers were from affected countries. 225 doctors and 172 paramedics are manning 83 counters at these airports. A cumulative total of 48,52,048 passengers have been screened. Two hundred and twenty laboratory … Read more
Erasing drug-associated memories may prevent recovering drug abusers from relapsing, researchers at the University of Cambridge have discovered. The team, led by Professor Barry Everitt, was able to reduce drug-seeking behaviours in rats by blocking a brain chemical receptor important to learning and memory during the recall of drug-associated memories. Their research, which was funded … Read more
Endosulfan – a chemical used as an insecticide on crops and turf – use prohibited in New Zealand. From next year, it will no longer be legal to import, manufacture, or use endosulfan and formulations containing endosulfan in New Zealand. The prohibition is the outcome of a formal reassessment of the chemical by The Environmental … Read more
Women who store fat on their waist in middle age are more than twice as likely to develop dementia when they get older, reveals a new study from the Sahlgrenska Academy. The study has just been published in the scientific journal Neurology. “Anyone carrying a lot of fat around the middle is at greater risk … Read more
As body mass increases, so does a patient’s risk of urinary tract infection (UTI), according to Baltimore researchers. A new study, presented at the 104th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) assesses and stratifies this risk. Researchers evaluated insurance claims of 95,962 subjects over a five year period (from 2002 through 2006) … Read more
Increased risk of cancer for occupational groups including hairdressers, sewing machinists, field crop and fruit and vegetable growers, reported by New Zealand researchers. Occupational cancers account for 330 deaths in New Zealand each year, about five per cent. Dr Andrea ‘t Mannetje is lead author of a study on Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in New Zealand, now … Read more
When the heart is stopped and restarted, the patient’s life may be saved but their brain is often permanently damaged. Therapeutic hypothermia, a treatment in which the patient’s body temperature is lowered and maintained several degrees below normal for a period of time, has been shown to mitigate these harmful effects and improve survival in … Read more
Frog skin contains natural substances that could be the basis for a powerful new genre of antibiotics, revealed by researchers. In a report at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, the team of stalwart frog-fanciers described enlisting colleagues worldwide to ship secretions from hundreds of promising frog skins to their laboratory in … Read more
Alcoholics are more impulsive than non-addicted people making financial decisions, revealed by researcher Charlotte Boettiger at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The researchers also discovered that a specific gene mutation boosted activity in these brain regions when people made impulsive choices. The mutation was already known to reduce brain levels of the … Read more
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Damon T. Arnold announced that beginning Tuesday, December_15, 2009, all Illinoisans will be eligible to receive an H1N1 flu vaccination. In addition to local health departments and private physicians, Illinoisans will be able to go to many retail pharmacies for H1N1 flu vaccinations starting no later than December … Read more