Eye colour linked to alcohol
dependence
New York: People with blue eyes have a
greater chance of becoming alcoholics, says a study
"This suggests an intriguing
possibility -- that eye colour can be useful in the clinic for alcohol
dependence diagnosis," said lead researcher Arvis Sulovari, a doctoral
student in cellular, molecular and biological sciences at University of Vermont
in the US.
The results of the research suggest the
hope of finding the roots of not only alcoholism, but also many other
psychiatric illnesses.
The authors found that primarily
European Americans with light-coloured eyes -- including green, grey and brown
in the centre -- had a higher incidence of alcohol dependency than those with
dark brown eyes, with the strongest tendency among blue-eyed individuals.
The study outlined the genetic
components that determine eye colour and shows that they line up along the same
chromosome as the genes related to excessive alcohol use.
But the researchers said more research
is needed to determine the reasons behind the link between eye colour and
alcohol dependence.
"These are complex
disorders," said Dawei Li, assistant professor of microbiology and
molecular genetics at University of Vermont.
"There are many genes, and there
are many environmental triggers," Li added.
The study appeared in the American Journal of Medical
Genetics: Neuropsychiatric Genetics
Source: www.zeenews.india.com
03.07.2015
Cuba first country to eradicate
mother-to-child HIV transmission: WHO
Havana: Cuba on Tuesday
became the first country in the world to eradicate the transmission of HIV and syphilis from
mother to newborn, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The WHO
announced in a press release that it validated Cuba`s success in eliminating
mother-to-child transmission.
"Eliminating transmission of a
virus is one of the greatest public health achievements possible," WHO
Director-General Margaret Chan said.
"This is a major victory in our
long fight against HIV and sexually transmitted infections, and an important
step towards having an AIDS-free generation," she added.
Cuba celebrated getting the recognition
from the international agency.
"It is a historic day for the
prevention of HIV and AIDS and for progress towards a generation free of this
burden both nationwide and around the world," Xinhua cited Cuba`s state
daily Granma as saying.
Every year, an estimated 1.4 million
women around the globe living with HIV become pregnant. Untreated, they have a
15-45 percent chance of transmitting the virus to their children during
pregnancy, labor, delivery or breastfeeding, according to the WHO. The number
of children born annually with HIV has almost halved since 2009, down from
400,000 in 2009 to 240,000 in 2013, but much more needs to be done "to
reach the global target of less than 40,000 new child infections per year by
2015", the WHO said.
Nearly 1 million pregnant women
worldwide are infected with syphilis annually, which can result in early fetal
loss and stillbirth, neonatal death, low-birth-weight infants and serious
neonatal infections.
Cuba succeeded in lowering the HIV
transmission rate to 1.85 percent, below the 2 percent target rate countries in
the region in conjunction with the WHO and other health agencies had been
aiming for.
"Cuba`s achievement today provides inspiration for
other countries to advance towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission
of HIV and syphilis," said Carissa F Etienne, director of the Pan American
Health Organisation.
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