Health

Federal health regulators on Tuesday signed off on the first new sunscreen ingredient for the US market in more than 25 years, giving Americans access to a skin-protecting chemical long used in Europe and other parts of the world. The Food and Drug Administration says the ingredient, bemotrizinol, met the agency`s standards for protecting from dangerous ultraviolet rays while causing little irritation or absorption into the skin. The ingredient is safe for adults and children 6 months and older, the agency stated in a release. Bemotrizinol will initially be sold in the US by the Dutch manufacturer DSM Nutritional Products under the brand name Parsol Shield, which is expected to launch later in the year. After an 18-month exclusivity period, the ingredient will be available for use by ot...

The National Commission for Homoeopathy (NCH) on Wednesday issued an advisory calling on media organisations, institutions and the public to exercise responsibility and ensure factual accuracy while making statements about Homoeopathy and registered homoeopathic practitioners.  In an advisory issued through a circular, the Commission called upon media organisations, healthcare institutions, professional bodies and social media users to ensure factual accuracy before making public statements regarding Homoeopathy or registered homoeopathic practitioners. NCH Chairperson Dr. Tarkeshwar Jain said the Commission had taken serious cognisance of instances where defamatory and unsubstantiated remarks about Homoeopathy were being circulated across print, electronic, digital and social media plat...

While millions of soccer fans cheer or groan over World Cup matches spanning North America, health officials will be on high alert for germs. A heatwave may be the most obvious health threat. But infectious diseases can spread in a crowd, and experts are set to scrutinise wastewater, hospital visits, even social media for any signs that an outbreak might be brewing. Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is among the top concerns, sparking a warning this week from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. With a nearly six-week stretch of packed stadiums, bars and tourist sites in 16 cities, officials are on the lookout for a long list of infections, from the stomach bug norovirus to mosquito-borne dengue fever."This is truly a marathon," said Palak Raval-Nelson, Philadelphia`s ...

For many parents, a child’s first steps are a moment of joy. For one family, however, their baby girl’s early steps were accompanied by worry.  Doctors in Mumbai successfully treated a three-year-old girl diagnosed with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy through a minimally invasive, single-session intervention and helped her move closer to a more natural way of walking. The procedure was led by Dr Taral Nagda, senior consultant – Paediatric Orthopaedics, at Narayana Health SRCC Children’s Hospital. Her journey had been delicate from the very beginning. Born prematurely at seven months, weighing just 1250 grams, she had spent her earliest days in the NICU for three months as her tiny body learned to stabilise and grow. As she got older, there were small signs that things were not following ...

Cervical cancer remains an important public health problem in India, with approximately 127,000 new cases and 80,000 cervical cancer-related deaths reported annually. According to the release, the regular screening of women over the age of 30 years at 3-5 yearly intervals can detect precancerous and cancerous cervical lesions, but coverage has remained poor despite the inclusion of visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) in the National Programme for Screening of the three common cancers, namely, breast, oral and cervical cancer. Persistent infection with carcinogenic types of human papillomavirus (cHPV) is the necessary cause of cervical cancer. WHO has recommended transition to HPV testing as the best strategy to achieve cervical cancer elimination, as stated in the release. Using va...

When temperatures soar, most of us chalk up our frayed nerves and sleepless nights to simple discomfort. But something far more complex is happening beneath the surface. Extreme heat is a systemic physiological stressor that throws the body`s most essential hormonal systems into disarray.  From cortisol to melatonin, the hormones that govern our energy, sleep, and emotional balance become collateral damage in the body`s battle against the heat.  Medical experts explore how extreme heat acts as a systemic disruptor, throwing the body’s delicate hormonal ‘internal clock’ out of sync. They provide clinical strategies to regulate cortisol and melatonin when extreme heat disrupts sleep, mood, and energy. Your body reads heat as a crisis The moment temperatures climb to an uncomfortable extr...

His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, underwent a successful left knee replacement surgery at Apollo Hospital in New Delhi on Monday, said a medical bulletin. It recalled that in June 2024, His Holiness underwent a successful right knee replacement at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City and made an excellent recovery. “Following today’s procedure, His Holiness returned to his hospital room in stable condition. His recovery is progressing well, and he remains in good spirits,” his personal physicians Tsetan D. Sadutshang, Tamdin Tsewang, Tsering Lhadon, and Tenzin Tsundue said in a statement. They added that the medical, nursing, and administrative teams at Apollo Hospital had been providing exceptional care, support, and attention, and expressed gratitude for their professionalism...

In today’s fast-paced world, symptoms such as hair fall, fatigue, anxiety, weight gain, poor concentration, disturbed sleep, and mood swings are commonly blamed on stress, unhealthy eating habits, lack of exercise, or hectic lifestyles.  While lifestyle factors certainly play a role, these symptoms may sometimes point toward an underlying thyroid disorder that often goes unnoticed for months or even years. The thyroid gland, a small butterfly-shaped gland located in the neck, plays a critical role in regulating metabolism, energy production, hormonal balance, heart rate, body temperature, and overall bodily functions. Even a slight imbalance in thyroid hormone levels can affect multiple organs and systems, leading to symptoms that are vague, gradual, and easily mistaken for everyday stre...

A newly identified "blood signature" may predict lung cancer risk more than five years before diagnosis, offering a potential pathway to earlier prevention, a study has revealed.  The findings, published in Cell, could help identify people who would benefit from preventative drugs, even before they receive a lung cancer diagnosis, said a statement from Australia`s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) released Friday. The study analysed over 48,000 blood samples, identifying a 14-protein signature that predicted lung cancer risk within five years and was validated across eight international datasets, including in non-smokers. Researchers suggested that the signature does not come from the tumour itself, but reflects an altered inflammatory lung environment that prec...

A type of cell death linked to iron and oxidative stress could be playing a role in keeping the brain healthy by helping maintain a balance while producing new neurons in the hippocampus, which is critical for memory and learning. "Ferroptosis (type of cell death) has been identified in almost every neurological disorder where cells are dying, including Alzheimer`s disease, Parkinson`s disease and stroke," Tara Walker, associate professor at the Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland in Australia and author of the study published in the journal Cell Stem Cell, said. "But we wanted to know whether it also had a role in normal brain function," Walker said. Researchers focused on neurogenesis in adult mice, or the process by which neural stem cells in the hippocampus divi...