Wellness News

Preventing Diabetic Foot Syndrome

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:59:54 GMT

Last month, a Lokhandwala-based businessman shot himself in the head after being bedridden for more than six months on account of a gangrene on his foot.

Catching ’em young: Docs enlist teachers to check diabetes in students

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:57:15 GMT

Sahil Jha (name changed), 14, spent almost three hours every day on social networking websites and online gaming. When he was not chatting online, he would watch television shows and play virtual cricket on his playstation.

Diabetes: lifestyle disease no. 1

Sun, 06 May 2012 19:56:02 GMT

Since 2011, pulses, dry rotis and vegetable juices have replaced pizzas, burgers and colas in 31-year-old Nikalank Jain’s meal box.

Changing face of AIDS

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:36:58 GMT

India has halved new HIV infections. The best way forward is to stamp out infections altogether by changing restrictive laws that drive people away from AIDS services. Sanchita Sharma writes. Health scan

A wamble through Vietnamese culture

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:32:11 GMT

A Songkran (Baisakhi) break in Vietnam had me on a hectic trail by plane, boat, road and train. I noticed that puppies are farmed like chickens there. A Songkran (Baisakhi) break in Vietnam had me on a hectic trail by plane, boat, road and train. I noticed that puppies are farmed like chickens there. Renuka Narayanan writes.

When little girls dress to kill for real

Sat, 05 May 2012 16:27:31 GMT

All little girls do it, put on mum’s stilettos, beads and lipstick to pout at the mirror and make-believe they are sophisticated adults. For most little girls, it ends the moment mum walks in and shoos them away to wear sensible shoes and wash off the war-paint. Sanchita Sharma writes.

Brideorexia gets a new bizarre avatar

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 16:49:30 GMT

Brides desperately starving themselves to look their smallest for their ‘Big Day’ are now opting for emaciation options more outlandish than the alien regulars at the intergalactic Mos Eisley Cantina in Star Wars.

US warns two drugs may have sexual side effects

Sat, 14 Apr 2012 05:21:37 GMT

Two Merck drugs for treating male baldness and enlarged prostate will now carry extended labels to add more possible sexual side effects, US regulators said.

Germs protect against allergies

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:23:39 GMT

Exposing children to germs could make them healthier, say scientists, underlining once again why allergies, asthma, and other inflammatory diseases have increased among people who have grown up in cleaner and more sterile environments.

Hitting snooze button makes it worse

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:33:18 GMT

Sleeping well

Starting a fitness break at work

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 17:44:11 GMT

From getting the boss on board to rounding up colleagues for a warm-up, here are some tips on circulating energy in office.

Sleeping pills may kill you early: Study

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:28:21 GMT

Taking sleeping pills frequently can increase the risk of premature death more than five-fold a new study has warned.

The good doctor

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:13:13 GMT

Ilias Ali of Assam quotes from holy texts to persuade husbands to accept sterilisation without the fear of stigma and allays concerns about their sexual health, one snip at a time. Rahul Karmakar reports.

Consider the lilies, for all flesh is as grass

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:49:29 GMT

It was Basant Panchami the other day and it will be Valentine's Day soon and wherever there's 'spring', ye olde earth is busy putting on lipstick and scent. Every right-minded person should think pink polka dot thoughts tied in perky hello-kitty bows and "The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose" (Isaiah 35:1).

Air in India among the world's most deadly

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:42:26 GMT

India has unhealthiest air in the world, a new study says, confirming the fear that air quality was getting worse because of urbanisation. Of the 132 countries ranked by scientists at Yale and Columbia Universities for the Environment Performance Index (EPI) 2012, India ranks dead last on the parameter - Air (effects on human health) - much behind neighbours such as China, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.

A highly infectious numbers game

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:38:00 GMT

We all use numbers every day, but the people who seem to be having the most fun with them are epidemiologists. Over the past few years, estimates for almost all major killer infections - HIV that causes AIDS, tuberculosis, bird flu, swine flu, to name a just few - have been swinging between what can best be described as bipolar extremes.

Back from the brink

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:29:26 GMT

What caused a young girl to batter a baby almost to death? The answer to this question lies in her past.

Bladeless cataract surgery, at a steep cost

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:24:45 GMT

A hi-tech laser that makes cataract surgery foolproof is all set to revolutionise treatment of the disease that is the leading cause of blindness in India.

Lab-grown super flu a boon, not threat

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:19:27 GMT

Popularly referred to as the “armageddon virus”, the H5N1 bird flu virus has been called “probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make” by its creators because of its ability to spreads easily between humans and kill faster than all other flu viruses known in recent human history.

Well heeled after surgery

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:14:20 GMT

New ankle implant makes foot movement, gait and balance as good as normal after replacement surgery. Jaya Shroff Bhalla reports. Out of Sync | Ankle replacement

Have a bad mood? Here's why

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:02:39 GMT

A new, small study of 25 women suggests that being mildly dehydrated can take a toll on women's mood and cognitive function. US magazine TIME reported last week that the women in the study experienced the bad effects from only mild dehydration about one percent lower than optimal hydration levels.

Health scan

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:35:50 GMT

A snapshot of the current thinking in medicine, fitness and lifestyle trends that impact your life

Why chopstick economies prosper the most

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:28:48 GMT

So here I am midweek at possibly the best stand-alone Vietnamese restaurant in Bangkok, putting myself around the following: an omelette slow-cooked to thin, crunchy perfection with snips of sprouts, a tiny bowl of yellow rice with black raisins, fried spring rolls that I wrap one at a time in a lettuce leaf and spike with grated carrot relish and because the person I’m with insists, we end with a bowl of classic pho (clear Vietnamese soup with things in it), one-into-two, for it’s really been a bit much. Perhaps I should have had the fresh (unfried) spring rolls with yards of leaves inside but how much rabbit food can a person eat? Renuka Narayan writes.

Statin, the newest stealth superdrug

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:25:28 GMT

The only car I have ever lusted after was the Lotus Esprit S1 from the Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. Roger Moore’s wonder-machine had front-mounted rocket launchers and morphed into a submarine underwater. The screen role did more for Esprit sales than anything Lotus had attempted to do before. The company spent £18,000 on the film, which caused sales to shoot up so dramatically that the waiting list for the car ran into 3 years. Sanchita Sharma reports.

Wave cure

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:20:46 GMT

High-frequency focused ultrasound is the new non-surgical option to treat fibroids in the womb, which affects one in five women under 55 years. Rhythma Kaul reports.