Central government to provide financial assistance for
haemophilia patients
The central government will provide financial assistance
under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) to state governments to help
haemophilia patients, the Rajya Sabha was informed.
The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, launched by Congress
President Sonia Gandhi Feb 6 under NRHM provides facilities for early detection
and treatment of haemophilia, Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said in a
written reply on Tuesday.
He said state governments could submit proposals for
treatment of haemophilia cases in their respective programme implementation
plans for consideration of central assistance.
Azad said diagnosis and treatment facilities for haemophilia
disease are also available in central government hospitals like Lady Hardinge
Medical College, Sucheta Kriplani Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar
Lohia Hospital (all in New Delhi) and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate
Medical Education and Research, Puducherry.
What is haemophilia?
Haemophilia, a congenital lifelong bleeding disorder that
prevents the blood from clotting properly, leads to patients bleeding
internally, mostly in the joints, muscles and vital organs like the brain. In
many cases, the disease leads to permanent disability.
India has nearly over 100,000 haemophilia patients, most of
whom face severe problems in treatment with only a few able to afford the high
costs.
17.08.2013
Scientists
find a possible cure for childhood cancers
Now scientists have found a way to target the
structure of cancer cells, making the treatment of cancer that much more
possible.
Researchers at the University of New South
Wales (UNSW) demonstrated that the therapy is effective in two types of cancers
in the animal model – namely neorublastoma (cancer that affects children) and
melanoma (skin cancer). Scientists say that the drug causes the collapse of the
structure of the cancer cells. Since this process happens relatively quickly
and is effective against every type of cancer cells, it has given scientists
hope for more new age treatments for ailments like cancers in children.
This new line of treatment could lead to an
entirely new type of chemotherapy, which could have more positive outcomes for
hard-to-treat cancers and have fewer long-term side effects for survivors.
Lead scientist Dr Justine Stehn from the
Oncology Research Unit, in the School of Medical Sciences, says that targeting
the architecture of cancer cells has long been the aim of almost all studies,
but because these building blocks also make up the heart and muscles, attacking
those cells was impossible. Soon they found that there was another building
block that was unique to cancer cells – tropomyosin. This compound in the
cancer cell structure was sufficiently different from those in the heart and
muscle, and could be safely targeted.
The study was published in journal Cancer
Research.
17.08.2013
Better
to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly
Robert Schuller
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