Health

By Sajjad Hussain

Islamabad, Sep 24 (PTI) Pakistan on Monday launched a massive nationwide anti-polio vaccination drive touted as the final push against the crippling disease to cover 38.6 million children under five years of age.

The drive will last for three days but a 2-5 day catchup campaign will be launched following the initial drive so that no one was left out.

Dr Rana Safdar, chief of anti-polio campaign, said that the campaign has started in all parts of Pakistan.

DHAKA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved additional loan financing of 110 million U.S. dollars for a project that is improving access to urban primary healthcare services in Bangladesh through public-private partnerships (PPPs).

NEW DELHI, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- India's Supreme Court Monday overturned a government ban on a popular pain killer and two other drugs.

The three medicines, including popular pain killer Saridon, were among 328 drugs banned by the Indian Health Ministry last week, stating there's "no therapeutic justification" for the ingredients and that those could pose risk to people.

VLADIVOSTOK, September 11. /TASS/. Pre-clinical studies to create a new domestic drug based on the yttrium-90 isotope to treat liver cancer can be completed within the next few months, Andrei Kaprin, Director General of Russia’s National Medical Research Radiology Center and full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told TASS on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

"Pre-clinical studies of a potential pharmaceutical drug based on the yttrium-90 isotope could be completed within the next two or three months. We have very good results there," he said.

11 Aug 2018; AFP: Monsanto's German owners insisted Saturday that the weed killer Roundup was "safe", rejecting a California jury's decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that the product might cause cancer.

5 Aug 2018; AFP; A new outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to have killed 33 people in the east of the country, the health ministry said Saturday.

Thirteen Ebola cases have been confirmed since the fresh outbreak was declared on August 1 in North Kivu province.

While just three of the fatalities have been among the 13 confirmed cases, the death toll is believed to have risen to 33, the health authorities said in a bulletin Saturday.

KINSHASA, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- A new Ebola outbreak has been confirmed in the eastern North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Health Minister Oly Ilunga said on Wednesday.

"Just one week after announcing the end of the ninth epidemic of Ebola in Equateur province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a new epidemic, and there is no indication at this stage that two epidemics, separated by more than 2,500 km, are linked," said Ilunga in a statement.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- American scientists identified a substance in blood as a biomarker for depression and pointed to a new class of antidepressants that could be freer of side effects and faster-acting than those in current use.

People with depression have low blood levels of acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), a nutritional supplement that is being sold in drugstores, according to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

WASHINGTON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- American and Chinese scientists developed a new nanoparticle vaccine that could effectively protect mice against influenza A virus, according to a study published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The double-layered vaccine made with peptides showed strong potential for combating influenza viruses, providing a promising approach for developing universal influenza vaccines.

Kolkata, Jul 26 (PTI); Former President Pranab Mukherjee today said despite the country having high GDP growth and being among the top economic powers, it is "way behind" in the overall happiness ranking.

India occupies the 133rd place (according to a world survey) in overall happiness ranking in 2018, Mukherjee said.

He said this was so in spite of the impressive GDP numbers, high average life expectancy, which went up from 31.4 years (in four years after Independence) to 68 years at present, and a quantum jump in foodgrain production since 1947.