Convert health issues into community
movement: Harsh Vardhan
Dhaka: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan
Tuesday stressed upon turning health issues into a social and community
movement, saying that the "power of belief" has gone a long way in
taking on health challenges.
"My mantra for success is to find
a way to convert health issues into a social and community movement. It is the
power of community participation and partnership that can empower us to achieve
what we seek to achieve. It can bring an end to preventable deaths, including
child and maternal deaths," Harsh Vardhan said during the opening session
of the 67th general meeting of the WHO regional committee here.
He said India's triumph over polio was
an illustration of the "power of belief".
"In the mid-1990s, while
conceiving the pulse polio mission, we had to encounter comments that it was an
impossible thing to achieve, given the ground conditions in India. But
eventually, the collective will triumphed," he said.
The health minister said the power of
belief has also given India a new hope, new energy, new enthusiasm and new
vision to take on even greater health challenges.
He pledged India's unequivocal support
to the Dhaka declaration on vector-borne diseases to be adopted at the four-day
event attended by health ministers of 11 countries.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina
inaugurated the event.
Bangladesh's Health Minister Mohammad Nasim, WHO
director-general Margaret Chan, and WHO regional director Poonam Khetrapal
Singh were also present.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
10.09.2014
Scientists closer to building
replacement kidneys in lab
Washington: In a first, US researchers
have addressed a major challenge in the quest to build replacement kidneys in
the lab.
Working with human-sized pig kidneys,
scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina have
developed the most successful method to date to keep blood vessels in the new
organs open and flowing with blood.
"Until now, lab-built kidneys have
been rodent-sized and have functioned for only one or two hours after
transplantation because blood clots developed," said Anthony Atala,
director and professor at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
"In our proof-of-concept study,
the vessels in a human-sized pig kidney remained open during a four-hour
testing period," he added.
If proven successful, the new method -
to more effectively coat the vessels that keep blood flowing smoothly - could
potentially be applied to other complex organs that scientists are working to
engineer, including the liver and pancreas.
The current research is part of a
long-term project to use pig kidneys to make support structures known as
"scaffolds" that could potentially be used to build replacement kidneys
for human patients with end-stage renal disease.
Using pig kidneys as scaffolds for
human patients has several advantages, including the fact that the organs are
similar in size and pig heart valves - after their cells are removed - have
safety been used in patients for more than three decades.
The study appeared in the journal Technology.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
10.09.2014
Fresh honey could provide
alternative to antibiotics
London: At a time when antibiotic
resistance is increasing, researchers have found that lactic acid bacteria
found in fresh honey could offer a possible alternative to antibiotics.
The bacteria produced a number of active
anti-microbial compounds, the findings showed.
"When used alive, these 13 lactic
acid bacteria produce the right kind of anti-microbial compounds, depending on
the threat," explained study co-author Tobias Olofsson from Lund
University in Sweden.
When the lactic acid bacteria were
applied to severe human wound pathogens such as methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Pseudomonas aeruginosa and vancomycin-resistant
Enterococcus (VRE), among others in the laboratory, the bacteria counteracted all
of them.
While the effect on human bacteria has
only been tested in a lab environment thus far, the lactic acid bacteria was
applied directly to 10 horses with persistent wounds.
Where the owners had
tried several other methods to no avail, honey helped to heal the wounds in
horses.
The secret to the strong results lie in the broad spectrum of
active substances involved, the researchers said.
"However, since store bought honey does not contain the
living lactic acid bacteria, many of its unique properties have been lost in
recent times," Olofsson noted.
The study appeared online in International Wound Journal.
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
10.09.2014
Don’t blame people for disappointing
you. Blame yourself for expecting too much
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