Brain cancer emerges as major cause for child deaths: Study

According to a recent research, brain cancer has taken over leukemia and has become the major cause of cancer deaths in children. The report states that pediatric cancer death rates have been dropping since the mid 1970s and describes the changes in cancer death rates among the children and teens aged between 1 to 19. Lead author Sally Curtin said, “The shift from leukemia to brain cancer as the leading site of cancer death is a noteworthy development in the history of childhood cancer as it was always leukemia until…

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Carotid is key to high blood pressure

Carotid is key to high blood pressure (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images) Removing one carotid body from some patients with high blood pressure can provide immediate and sustained fall in blood pressure, finds a new study. Carotid bodies, a small cluster of chemoreceptors and supporting cells located near the fork (bifurcation) of the carotid artery that feed the brain with blood, appear to be a cause of high blood pressure. “The falls in blood pressure are impressive — more than pharmacological medication — and demonstrate the potential for targeting the carotid body…

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Air pollution claiming a life every 23 seconds in India

Future of air we breathe is nightmarish. Present stats from WHO report states 1.4 million people in India die pre-maturely due to air pollution, which accounts to one life is given up every 23 seconds. Come 2030 and fuels we use today would have made air so toxic with pollutants that it would be close to impossible to live and move without oxygen kit as a permanent burden and part of lifestyle. Renewable energy catering to humungous needs in the near future seems far sighted and for now cleaner fuels…

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It’s your lifestyle or your liver

It is not just chronic alcoholism but sedentary lifestyle and junk eating habit that is leading to increased incidents of liver diseases. Earlier, alcoholism was the main cause of liver disease, now doctors say that just like in the West, even in Kerala, obesity and lifestyle diseases are equal contributors to liver diseases. Of the 491 patients who underwent liver transplant at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) between 2007 and 2016, 30% had absolutely no history of alcohol consumption. They were either obese or had lifestyle dis eases like…

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Why emotional stress can impact body movement

Why emotional stress can impact body movement (Thinkstock Photos/Getty Images) Have you ever wondered why we sometimes ‘freeze’ when we are frightened or under strong emotional stress? This may be because the response to anxiety may include not only the parts of the brain which deal with emotions, as has been long understood, but also movement control centres in the brain. “This (study) is the first hard proof that strong emotions produce a response in brain areas concerned with movement,” said lead researcher Laura Muzzarelli from Vita-Salute San Raffaele University…

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Chikungunya: Causes, symptoms and prevention

Just like the most dreaded Dengue, Chikungunya is also a mosquito-borne virus. Chikungunya is mostly not fatal but its pain can be highly traumatizing. What’s worse is that it can be easily misdiagnosed in areas where dengue is common. If not tested at the right time, it does not even reflect in lab results. Causes Incidentally, both Dengue and Chikungunya are caused by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, two species that are playing havoc in the country. Symptoms – City doctors suspect that the virus has mutated, leading to…

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