Bird flu spreads in Cambodia - Deutsche Welle

The deaths of four Cambodians from avian flu have health experts worried. Just four weeks into the year, the toll is Cambodia's second highest since avian flu was first detected here in 2005.

Sonny Inbaraj Krishnan, the WHO's communications officer, said Wednesday, January 30, that the organization remained concerned at the deaths from H5N1, which is better known as avian flu.

"These are the first cases globally this year," he said.

Avian flu was first reported in Cambodia in 2005 when four people died. The highest annual toll was in 2011 when eight Cambodians died.

H5N1 is extremely dangerous once it jumps from poultry to humans. Worldwide it has killed 364 people out of 615 infected since 1997.

The virus has already claimed four lives in Cambodia this year

Although there have been no proven cases of human-to-human transmission, Krishnan said, experts fear H5N1 could undergo a recombination and re-assortment with another influenza virus.

"And that could give rise to a new virus that is transmittable between humans," he said.

Children at risk

Seventeen of Cambodia's 26 confirmed infections have occurred in children, the Ministry of Health said Tuesday. The victims who died on Monday were a 1-year-old girl and an 8-year-old girl. Earlier this month the disease claimed a 15-year-old girl and a 35-year-old man. The fifth person infected, a baby, recovered.

In response, the authorities have sent teams to the villages where the victims lived, culled thousands of chickens and ducks, and sprayed disinfectant.

Minister of Health Mam Bunheng said parents must tell their children to wash their hands and keep them away from areas where poultry live.

"If [children] have difficulty breathing, they should be brought to medical attention at the nearest health facilities and attending physicians be made aware of any exposure to sick or dead poultry," Mam Bunheng said.

The WHO's Krishnan said health teams have monitored the condition of people who came in contact with the victims, adding that all had tested negative for the virus. The government has also boosted the number of television and radio spots warning of avian flu and telling people how to protect themselves, and staff at health clinics in the affected provinces will receive refresher training on avian flu in February.

Population influx

However, two imminent events will add to the challenges of containing the spread of the disease.

The first is the February 4 cremation of Norodom Sihanouk, the country's revered former king, in Phnom Penh. The government expects that more than a million people will travel to the capital to pay their respects. Many will bring food, including live poultry.

The avian flu cannot yet be transferred from human to human

The other is Chinese New Year on February 10. In preparation for the festival, large numbers of chickens and ducks are usually transported ahead of that date to markets in the cities and towns.

Either event could promote the spread of the disease. On Tuesday, government and UN health experts met to work out how best to prevent that. Krishnan said officials would hand out information leaflets to people coming to the capital to warn them of the risks and advise them how to avoid contracting the disease. That includes not eating birds that have died from illness, and cooking poultry thoroughly.

Most of the efforts underway are designed to ensure that people do not get infected with avian flu in the first place. Once they do, the chances of recovery are slim - not least due to the country's weak healthcare system. In total, 23 Cambodians out of 26 infected to date with avian flu have died - a fatality rate close on 90 percent, and well above the global figure of nearly 60 percent.

Krishnan said part of the problem is that Cambodians typically first seek medication at their local pharmacy or private clinic. That costs precious days. Given that H5N1 can kill in around a week, by the time patients arrive at hospital "the chances are slim that they will survive."

UN alert

On January 29, the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned that the world risks repeating the 2006 avian flu outbreak when 63 countries were affected.

Experts worry the flu could claim more lives in2013 than it did in 2006

The FAO's Chief Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth said countries were not doing enough. The global economic crisis meant there was less cash to combat diseases that originate in animals, including H5N1.

"This is not only true for international organizations but also countries themselves," Lubroth said. "Even though everyone knows that prevention is better than cure, I am worried because in the current climate, governments are unable to keep up their guard."

H5N1 is endemic in a number of countries in Asia and the Middle East, and the FAO said countries must spend more on prevention methods and improve the surveillance of livestock. Lubroth said inaction risked another pandemic.

"We need to come together to find ways to ensure the safety of the global food chain," he said. "The costs - and the dangers - of not acting are just too high."

The town is not best for breast - Hartlepool Mail

Our statistics actually make quite worrying reading when we compare ourselves to the rest of the country and even in the North-East we are among the worst areas for breast feeding rates.

Only around 45 per cent of new mothers feed their baby on the breast as opposed to a bottle and of those about half of them do not keep it up for longer than three days.

That means approximately three quarters of new born babies in Hartlepool are not receiving their mother’s milk within three days of being born and are therefore potentially not getting the very best possible start in their new life.

Numerous schemes have been tried and tested to encourage more new mothers to choose to breast feed their babies over recent years and although there has been a very slight improvement in the statistics, we cannot honestly say we are succeeding.

The reason for the report was to stimulate debate and ideas of how we improve things going forward.

I hope I don’t need to extol the virtues of breast feeding and the extra health and well being benefits it brings to children both in their development and in later life.

Every medical study that I have come across says it is healthier to breast feed than to use a formula in a bottle.

I take it as a fact that breast feeding is more beneficial to a baby and for me that has got to be the over riding argument in any debate on the subject.

So therefore, why is it the case that Hartlepool has such low figures? No one is exactly sure and it is probably down to quite a number of reasons and our approach in the future needs to address all of the potential causes.

The attitude that a girl’s mother and grandmother never breast fed and their babies turned out all right is a reason often given by new mothers.

To me that is like saying my grandad smoked until he was 101 so I’ll be perfectly fine if I do, it simply doesn’t wash.

The arguments for breast feeding need to be more persuasive, information needs to be clearer and there is definitely a role for grand parents in persuading their daughters that breast is best.

There is also a big role to play for new fathers as well. Undoubtedly, they will want the very best for their child so they also need to be made aware of the advantages of their partner feeding on the breast so they can support them through the most difficult first few days and beyond.

Men are also biologically prevented from doing the night feeds if their child is breast feeding so apart from making the odd cup of tea at 3am just to keep in the good books, they generally manage to get a good night’s sleep.

There are also two other much bigger than normal advantages in your partner breast feeding if you know what I mean!

It’s easy to roll out the usual excuse of Hartlepool being a more deprived area as a reason for these low figures but places like Mansfield, Trafford and Gateshead with similar demographics have had some fantastic success in increasing breast feeding rates which shows it can be done.

Perhaps there is a fear and trepidation amongst expectant mothers about breast feeding and that much more work is needed around support and encouragement in the run up to the birth.

We talked about getting peers involved, ladies who had been there and done it or even still doing it to help new mothers overcome any difficulties they may experience or think they will experience.

Positive role models could play a huge part in this and it would be great if some celebrity A-listers or even Kate Middleton decide to breast feed which would send out a very strong message particularly to younger mothers.

A couple of years ago, there was talk about encouraging Hartlepool as a town to be breast feeding friendly so new mothers would feel totally comfortable feeding their babies in public.

I don’t think this has happened and a lot of the feedback we get from mothers is that, no matter how discreet they are in most places, it can still be an uncomfortable experience.

Breast feeding is one of the most natural things on the planet.

Most people say it is socially acceptable but for it truly to be so, the mothers must feel totally comfortable when they do it and a lot of work is needed in Hartlepool to make that so.

In a minority of cases, there is a medical or biological reason why a new mother cannot breast feed but for everyone else it comes down to choice and sometimes sacrifices.

The overwhelming evidence says that the best choice for a child to be fed on the milk of its mother.

Not enough women are making the best choice for their child in Hartlepool and if we want the next generation of Hartlepudlians to be healthier than us, we need to get more and more women to make a better choice. The Health and Well-Being Board will be putting together a strategy over the coming months to try and tackle our short comings.

This will result is better advice, better information and a number of campaigns and I sincerely hope, more women choosing to breast feed their baby.

Measles epidemic hits Islamabad! - PakistanToday.com.pk

Over 5 children being admitted to hospitals dailyISLAMABAD - The number of measles affected children is rising day by day in government run hospitals of federal capital. It has been learnt that 4 to 5 affected kids were being admitted in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) while score of children were being examined in OPD on daily basis.

In PIMS four more children between the ages of three to four years old coming from Bara Kahu, Tarlie and Pind Paria were admitted in the isolation ward while since the beginning of January, 42 children have been admitted to the isolation ward.

Meanwhile, approximately ten measles affected children are getting treatment in emergency and OPD in Polyclinic Hospital on daily basis Spokesperson of Polyclinic, Doctor Sharif Istori, claimed that children who had been vaccinated had also been infected with the disease however their cases were not as complicated as those children who had not receive any vaccine.. He advised the parents to get their children vaccinated to reduce the risk of complication from this disease. Three consecutive years of flooding and a decade of insecurity in mean millions of children have gone unvaccinated and are so badly malnourished they are unable to resist infections.

At the same time, the population has become suspicious of vaccination teams.

Maryam Yunus, of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said 103 children had died from complications of measles, such as pneumonia or diarrhoea, between January 1 and 19.

The worst hit province was Sindh, she said, which recorded 63 deaths and which was very badly affected by floods in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

“The number is huge,” she said. “The basic problem is that we have a very low routine rate of immunisation all over the country because there are security issues, displaced populations, and other factors – such as malnourishment in Sindh – which are all contributing to the problem.”

The number of cases has rocketed in recent years, from 64 deaths in 2011 to 300 last year, underlining the difficulties faced by health workers in tackling preventable diseases.

Their work was also undermined by a CIA programme in 2011, which used a hepatitis vaccination campaign as part of a ruse to track down Osama bin Laden. Many people have been suspicious of vaccination teams ever since.

Nine health workers were shot dead at the end of last year, in an apparently coordinated campaign against polio vaccinators.

As a result Pakistan seems as far away as ever of eradicating the disease, raising fears that it could act as a reservoir to reinfect other parts of the world. This week Egypt announced it will conduct an emergency polio drive after the virus was found in sewage in the capital, Cairo, despite the disease not being seen for eight years. The WHO said the wild polio was of the same strain as that found in Pakistan prompting calls for travellers to be vaccinated as they left the South Asian country.

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Another kid loses to measles - The Nation

LAHORE – The menace of measles continued to haunt the provincial capital with increasing intensity as one more patient died at a City hospital on Tuesday, taking the death toll till today to three. As many as 40 more patients were admitted to different hospitals, taking the overall tally to 215.  Husnain Qaiser, five months, breathed his last at Mayo Hospital.
Out of 40 new patients, 22 were admitted to Children’s Hospital, five each to Services Hospital and private healthcare centres in the city, four to Jinnah Hospital and two each to Mayo Hospital and Lahore General Hospital.
On Monday, 15 patients were admitted to different hospitals in the City. Out of 15 patients, six were admitted to Children’s Hospital, five to Mayo Hospital and two each to Jinnah Hospital and private healthcare centres in the city.
After Sindh and Balochistan, the outbreak of measles in Punjab has caused worries among the people, political leadership and health professionals. Reportedly, more than 140 patients have so far been admitted to the provincial hospitals.
On January 20, Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif took notice and directed Special Assistant on Health Kh Salman Rafique to immediately submit a report to him.
The chief minister also directed that all possible steps should be taken to overcome the problem. In compliance with the CM directive, Rafique chaired a meeting of Health EDOs at Health DG Office to review the situation and adopt anti-measles measures across the province.
A spokesman for the Punjab Health Department said satisfactory arrangements had been made to cope with the situation. He said that anti-measles vaccination drives have been carried out in the affected areas of the province. He said the Punjab government had also vaccinated the children through special campaigns in the districts and union councils adjacent to Sindh and Balochistan.
YDA strike: The Young Doctors Association Punjab continued their strike at OPDs of public sector hospitals across the province including the City on 14th day.  The protesting doctors checked patients at camps instead of performing duties at OPDs.  Though strength of protesting doctors at camps kept on decreasing with every passing day due to firm stance of the government and effective steps for normal functioning of OPDs, the suffering of humanity remained on the receiving end.

Court sends Efroze Pharma director on two days remand, manager to jail - PakistanToday.com.pk

LAHORE - A local court on Wednesday sent Efroze Pharma Director Nadir Feroz on two days’ physical remand while Manager Shakil Nagar was sent to jail.

Other accused in Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) spurious medicines case that unleashed several deaths of heart patients including doctors, pharmacists and store owners were also presented before the court.

The drug, Isotab, had caused more than 200 deaths and was declared unfit for use as it contained massive proportions of pyrimethamine used in malaria treatment.

Majority of Pakistanis think addicts should be given medical treatment - News Tribe

Islamabad: Sixty one per cent Pakistanis believe addicts should be given medical treatment for their addictions, a recent poll suggests.

A nationally representative sample of men and women from across the four provinces were asked “In your opinion, how should addicts be dealt with?” in a Gilani Research Foundation Survey carried out by Gallup Pakistan.

Responding to this, 61 per cent said addicts should be given medical treatment, 23 per cent said they should be punished and 14 per cent said they should be left on their own. However, 2 per cent did not give any response.

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Report sought in PIC deaths' case - The News International

LAHORE: Lahore High Court Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on Tuesday directed the Punjab government to present a report on judicial inquiry and its implementation regarding the deaths caused by reaction of drugs provided to the patients by the Punjab Institute of Cardiology.

As the court started hearing, a provincial law officer informed the court that the government had received the judicial commission’s report and now was taking steps in its recommendations.

The petitioner’s counsel complained that there was no implementation of the judicial inquiry pertaining to the case and the government was not showing seriousness. The CJ asked Advocate General Punjab to ensure presentation of the report by February 04, the next date of hearing.The CJ issued this order while hearing a petition seeking implementation of the judicial inquiry pertaining to the case.

Turkey to train Afghan medical staff - www.worldbulletin.net

Turkey will be providing training for Afghan medical staff.

World Bulletin / News Desk

Afghanistan will be sending their 49 medical staff to Turkey to gain expertise.

Afghanistan's Health Minister Dr. Suraya Dalil stated 49 Afghan medics would be sent to Turkey to receive training and gain experience in the fields of developing capacity, nursing care, midwifery and pharmaceutics.

Delil made clear that the 49 medics who would be sent in 2 groups and they were picked between doctors and nurses on a countrywide competitive examination.

Afghan minister explained that medics would receive training in Turkey for six months.

Turkey has built many hospitals and infirmaries in Afghanistan where people receive free care.

Kenya to enhance relationships with China - Kenya Broadcasting Corporation

The China Government has promised to implement the follow up measures to enhance the strong bilateral relationship in trade and economic cooperation between China and Kenya.

This is aimed at enhancing foreign aid programmes, continuous foreign aid trainings in a move towards promoting transition and upgrading project contracting in Kenya and Africa at large.

The mutual beneficial cooperation between Kenya and China has led to the achievement of developments in both countries   through mutual political trust, economic and trade cooperation, and the cementation of the traditional friendship since 1963.

Speaking Tuesday at a press conference at the Chinese embassy in Nairobi, Shifan Wu, the China Embassy in Kenya spokesman said that the Chinese Government will make efforts with Kenya to further enhance cooperation in the fields of politics, economy and trade, culture and education.

China further offered to provide $20 billion of credit line to the Africans countries to assist them in developing infrastructure, agriculture, manufacturing and small and medium sized enterprises in the next three years Kenya included.

Elsewhere, the U.N. World Food Programme has begun providing food assistance in the southern Somali city of Kismayo for the first time in more than four years.

Conflict and insecurity have prevented WFP and many other humanitarian agencies from working in the area, but improved security and access now make it possible to reach Kismayo's most vulnerable people.

A recent survey showed high levels of malnutrition and food insecurity in the city.

WFP is providing hot meals to 15,000 people and specialized nutritional support to some 5,000 mothers and children under the age of five years.

"It is extremely important that we are again able to work again in Kismayo, as our recent rapid food security and nutrition assessment found there is great need," says  Stefano Porretti, WFP's Representative in Somalia.

"The survey showed that almost half the households in Kismayo are really struggling to meet their daily needs, and 24 percent of children below the age of five are malnourished."

WFP has set up five special nutrition centres around the city, where pregnant and nursing women and young children are checked for malnutrition. If found to be suffering from moderate acute malnutrition, they receive fortified ready-to-use food to supplement their daily diets. So far, two thirds of those in need of treatment are children.

WFP now has three hot meal centres in Kismayo, each able to provide meals for 5,000 people a day. Since the programme started earlier this month, large numbers of people are turning up at the centres, and providing them with cooked food is considered a safer option than distributing dry rations that can be the target of thieves.  

In preparation for re-starting its food assistance programmes in Kismayo, WFP has been training local partners and has also dispatched a chartered vessel with over 1,100 metric tons of food to the port city - enough to support the hot meal programme for an initial period of three months and the nutrition programme for six weeks.

Young doctors' strike enters 15th day - The News International

MULTAN: Young doctors’ strike in the outdoors ward Wednesday entered into the 15th day, as the Punjab provincial government remain indifferent to the demands of the striking doctors, while the ordeals of poor patients continue worsening, Geo News reported.

The striking doctors have set up camps outside the outdoors wards of all the government hospitals, where medical check ups of the visiting patients are being done, however, the patients are not being provided medicines or any required clinical test facilities.

Doctors said that they would continue their strike until the Gujranawala registered cases against the leaders of the doctors are not withdrawn and their other demands met.

Four dead from bird flu in Cambodia - ABC Online

By Robert Carmichael in Phnom Penh.Posted January 29, 2013 17:37:28

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says four Cambodians have died from avian flu in January.

The organisation is concerned that the deaths from avian flu - known formally as H5N1 - and the infection of another person come in the first four weeks of the year.

Avian flu can pass from infected chickens and ducks to humans.

Since it was first discovered in humans in 1997 it has killed around 360 of the approximately 600 people known to have been infected.

Experts fear it could mutate into a virus that spreads between humans.

In Cambodia health teams have responded by going to villages where the five patients lived, testing residents and culling infected poultry.

The government is also using television and radio to explain how to keep safe, including making sure children wash their hands and stay away from sick birds.

Avian flu was first recorded in Cambodia in 2005.

The highest toll was in 2011 when eight people died.

Topics: health, diseases-and-disorders, cambodia

Pakistan teenager Malala Yousufzai to get plate in skull - BBC News

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WFP returns to Somali port city - UPI.com

Published: Jan. 30, 2013 at 7:26 AM

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The U.N. World Food Program announced it started providing food assistance in the southern Somali city of Kismayo for the first time in several years.

WFP said it was delivering food aid to around 15,000 people in the port city for the first time in more than four years. Stefano Porretti, the WFP representative for Somalia, said nearly one-quarter of the children in the area are malnourished.

"It is extremely important that we are again able to work again in Kismayo, as our recent rapid food security and nutrition assessment found there is great need," he said in a statement.

Porretti said WFP determined that about half of the households in Kismayo are struggling to meet daily food needs.

The government in Mogadishu has struggled to exert control as it fights al-Shabaab, a militant group allied with al-Qaida. Authority over Kismayo recently returned the government after African forces helped overrun al-Shabaab forces there.

15 more measles cases - The News International

LAHORE

AS many as 15 more patients of measles have been admitted to different hospitals of Lahore on Monday. Six patients have been admitted to Children’s Hospital, five to Mayo Hospital, two to Jinnah Hospital and two patients have been admitted to private hospitals of Lahore.suspended: The Health Department has immediately suspended Medical Superintendent Tehsil Headquarters Hospital Kehror Pacca Dr Maqbool Joyia and Deputy District Health Officer Dr Javed Iqbal for showing negligence in checking measles and non-compliance of the instructions issued by the department. According to a handout here Monday, EDO Health Lodhran Dr Fazal Karim has been transferred with immediate effect.

Lightning As Migraine Trigger, What You Should Know - eMaxHealth

Lightning may be joining chocolate, bright lights, and other items on the list of migraine triggers. According to researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC), lightning may have an impact on the onset of migraines and headaches, so keep an eye on the weather forecast.

The new study, which appears in the journal Cephalalgia, is the first time experts have outlined a relationship between lightning and migraine. In an editorial that accompanies the article, Hayrunnisa Bolay from Gazi University notes that “several previous studies have failed to provide its [lightning] correlation with the incidence of headache/migraine.”

Bolay also points out that people with migraine have claimed that weather factors can be migraine triggers, “though many studies either failed to show a link between particular weather components and incidence of headache or produced conflicting results in investigating major atmospheric variables.”

Enter Vincent Martin, MD, professor in general internal medicine and a headache expert, and Geoffrey Martin, a fourth-year medical student at UC. These individuals and their team used data from two clinical trials that involved a total of 90 (91% females) with a diagnosis of migraine.

All the participants had kept a daily diary for three to six months in which they recorded headache activity, the severity of their head pain, and any associated symptoms. The UC investigators used weather data from the archives of the National Climatic Data Center and other reliable sources.

Here is what the researchers found:

A 28 percent increased risk of migraine and a 31 percent increased risk of headache among chronic headache sufferers on days when lightning struck within 25 of the participants’ homesA 24 percent and 23 percent increased risk of new-onset headache and migraine, respectively, when lightning struck

According to Geoffrey Martin, “this study very clearly shows a correlation between lightning, associated meteorological factors and headaches.” Vincent Martin also noted that they found a 19 percent increased risk of experiencing a headache on days with lightning even after they made concessions for other weather factors associated with thunderstorms.

Why lightning may trigger migraine
Although the study provides provocative information about an association between lightning and migraine, the exact mechanisms are not yet known. There are several theories, however.

For example, lightning releases low-frequency electromagnetic waves called sferics, which may have a role in triggering migraine. Lightning also raises the level of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides and ozone, which have been linked to headache and migraine.

Lightning and electrical storms can produce charged ions, and positive air ions have been linked to a greater risk of experiencing migraine. Yet another explanation may be that lightning releases fungal spores in the atmosphere, which may trigger migraine in susceptible individuals.

This latest study from the University of Cincinnati comes on the heels of research published in Neurology. In that report, investigators noted that migraine with aura triggers may not be as potent or important as previously believed.

A migraine with aura refers to episodes in which individuals experience visual disturbances and other sensory symptoms before the head pain starts, such as numbness, seeing flashing lights and/or wavy lines, tingling of the face and hands, and distorted sense of smell.

Bottom line
What value are the findings of this latest study on lightning and migraine? The authors note that if future studies confirm their findings, the information could help predict migraine in people who are sensitive to weather changes.

For now, however, if you suffer with migraine, you may want to keep an eye on the weather. If lightning is in the forecast, you can take preventive medication or other measures available in anticipation of this migraine trigger.

SOURCES:
Boley H. En’lightning’ the impact of atmospheric conditions in headache. Cephalalgia 2013 Jan 24. Online before pub. Doi:10.1177/0333102412474507
Hougaard A et al. Provocation of migraine with aura using natural trigger factors. Neurology 2013 Jan 23. DOI:10.1212/WNL.0b013e31827f0f10
Martin G et al. Lightning and its association with the frequency of headache in migraineurs: an observational cohort study. Cephalalgia 2013 Jan 24. Online before pub. Doi: 10.1177/0333102412474502

Image: Morguefile

Pneumonia, measles death toll climbs to 47 in Upper Dir - The News International

DIR: The death toll of children from pneumonia and measles in Kohistan area of Upper Dir district increased from 25 to 47 as a team of health officials returned from the remote area on Monday. Executive District Officer (EDO Health) Dr Abdul Wakeel confirmed 47 deaths from the outbreaks that hit Thal, Kumrat and Lamoti areas of Dir Kohistan. He said the most of the areas were inaccessible due to snowfall. He feared the deaths could be more than what they had recorded. “We faced problems in ascertaining the exact number of the deaths caused by post-measles pneumonia due to snow that has covered the mountainous areas,” he said.

The disease could have been caused by severe cold weather in the area that is situated 105 kilometres away from Dir town, the district headquarters. He said the area had also been affected by measles.

The Health Department official said medical teams had been working in the area and were trying to control the situation. He said more than 1,500 children were being vaccinated against pneumonia and measles.

He said the Health Department had been working hard after it received information about outbreak of pneumonia and resultant deaths. Residents confirmed that mobile teams in Thal and Kumrat went door-to-door to vaccinate children and provide other necessary medicines to people.“The situation has improved after the health teams arrived in the area,” stated Jandul Khan, a resident of Thal.

What causes migraine? - PakistanToday.com.pk

HYDERABAD - Underlining the need for adopting an effective strategy against increasing cases of migraine, eminent neuro-physician Dr Syed Irfan Ali said people could avoid the disease by adopting preventive measures.

“The migraine headache is usually aggravated by daily activities such as walking upstairs. It leads to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, facial pallor and cold hands and feet,” he said on Monday.

A typical attack lasts between 4 to 72 hours and an estimated 40 percent to 60 percent of migraine attacks were preceded by warning symptoms lasting hours to days. Symptoms may include sleepiness, irritability, fatigue, depression or euphoria, yawning, and cravings for sweet or salty foods.

Dr Irfan Ali said migraine attacks were commonly activated due to the sympathetic nervous system in the body and this system was often regarded as a part of the nervous system that controls primitive responses to stress and pain.

According to Dr Irfan, the increased sympathetic nervous activity in the intestines causes nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea.

“The absorption of oral medications for small purposes caused ineffectiveness of medications taken to treat migraine headaches,” he said.

Ali added that the increased sympathetic activity also decreases the circulation of blood, and this leads to pallor of the skin, as well as cold hands and feet.

He said for approximately 24 hours after a migraine attack, the migraine victims may feel drained of energy and may experience a headache along with sensitivity to light and sound. “Some of the patients may have recurrences of the headache during this period,” he added. Dr Irfan Ali said migraines can occur in any individual beyond the age of fifty as increasing age makes headaches very likely.

Regarding migraine treatment, he said it could include non-medicinal and medicinal approaches.

“Aspirin, Aleve, Motrin, and Advil are all similarly effective in relieving pain and fever and the main difference between aspirin and non-aspirin is their effect on platelets,” he said. He said platelets were small particles in the blood that caused blood clots to form and aspirin prevented the platelets from forming blood clots.

“Aspirin can increase bleeding by preventing blood from clotting, although it also could be used therapeutically to prevent clots from causing heart attacks and strokes,” he said. He said disturbances such as sleep deprivation, too much sleep, poor quality of sleep, and waking up frequently at night were also associated with migraine headaches, whereas improved sleep habits have been shown to reduce the frequency of migraine headaches.

Dr Irfan said caffeine was found in many food products like cola, tea, chocolates and coffee and the low dose of caffeine could increase alertness and energy, but it may also cause insomnia, irritability, anxiety and headaches. “The overuse of caffeine containing analgesics causes rebound headaches,” he added.

Dr Irfan Ali said some women suffer from migraine around the time of their menstrual periods while other women experience migraine headaches only during the menstrual period. He said the term “menstrual migraine” was used mainly to describe migraines that occur in women who get a headache from two days before to one day after their menstrual periods and the declining levels of estrogens at the onset of menses was the likely cause of menstrual migraines.

Stem Cell Therapy Helps Stroke Victims Recover in Two Weeks - IBTimes.co.uk

The rats completely recovered from a stroke within two weeks with stem cell therapy (Wiki Commons)

Stem cell therapy administered shortly after a stroke could significantly increase the sufferer's chance of a complete recovery.

When administered to rats within 30 minutes of suffering a stroke, the rodents made a full recovery within two weeks, a study showed.

The research, published in BioMed Central's open access journal Stem Cell Research & Therapy, found that stem cells from the bone marrow of fat can improve the recovery of rats following a stroke.

Researchers at La Paz University Hospital found that treatment improved the amount of brain and nerve repair, as well as the animal's ability to complete tasks.

Rats were treated intravenously with stem cells half an hour after a stroke. In humans, such rapid response is known to dramatically improve the outcome of victims.

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The researchers found improvements in the stem cell group within 24 hours of the treatment, compared to the control group.

The FAST response advertising campaign has aimed to increase awareness of symptoms. Facial and arm weakness and speech problems suggest it is time to call emergency services.

Human trials

A delay in treatment can result in death or long-term disabilities. A stroke occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off. 

Within two weeks the rats treated with stem cells had near-normal scores in tests, even though the stem cells did not seem to migrate to the damaged area of the brain. They also had higher levels of biomarkers implicated in brain repair.

Stem cells from both bone marrow and fat (adipose) helped treat rats, giving strong implications for human testing. Study author Exuperio Díez-Tejedor, from La Paz University Hospital, said: "Improved recovery was seen regardless of origin of the stem cells, which may increase the usefulness of this treatment in human trials.

"Adipose-derived cells in particular are abundant and easy to collect without invasive surgery."

BBC presenter Andrew Marr recently suffered from a stroke at the age of 53. Fellow presenter Jeremy Vine recently spoke about his recovery, saying: "He's on the mend and he does send a huge thank you to friends and viewers who've bombarded him with goodwill messages.

"He says that's been truly wonderful, he's really looking forward to returning to work in due course and resuming duties on a Sunday morning."

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YDA strike in Punjab enters 14th day - The News International

LAHORE: Young Doctors Association (YDA)’s strike in Punjab has entered into the 14th day, yet there is no sign of flexibility seen in the stands of either of the parties the YDA and the Punjab government, while the patients’ woes know no bounds, Geo News reported.

Young doctors have erected tents in the parking shades and open areas of the government hospitals all across the province for the medical check up of the patients, who neither get the medicines nor provided the necessary medical test facilities.

Young doctors vow to continue their strike until the finalization of their service structure and the release of their arrested fellow doctors.

On the other hand, the government claims that majority of the striking doctors have started signing the letter for pardon giving an undertaking that they would not participate in strike in future.

Meanwhile, the patients all over the Punjab continue to suffer with no relief in sight.

IoBM organises free health camp - The News International

KARACHI: In an unique IoBM health camp, the CBM Society of Health Managers (CSHM) presented a comprehensive and free-of-cost health package to hundreds of visitors, comprising IoBM students, faculty, management, staff, alumni and contacts, according to an announcement from the IoBM Public Affairs Section.

Participants complimented the theme of the camp “Me and my parents – My healthy world” and congratulated the CSHM for organising specialised free awareness sessions, assessments, health checkups and training workshops, it said.

The programme turned out to be a platform to bring a unique opportunity for hospitals, pharmaceuticals, industries and allied organisations to promote their healthcare products and brands, which will cater to a target market of students, faculty, health professionals, consultants and numerous visitors from allied corporations.

A significant feature of this health camp was National Highway and Motorway Police (NHMP) conducting a special road safety awareness workshop for the visitors, it said.Stalls set up for participants at the camp included South City Hospital, Tabba Heart Institute, GlaxoSmithKline, Fatimid Foundation, Abbott, Pfizer, Dr Essa’s Laboratory and Diagnostic Centre, RG Pharmaceutica Pvt. Ltd., PharmEvo, ATCO, VCare, Synsodyne, The Health Foundation, EyeLand and others.

KWSB sets up Implementation and Coordination Cell - PakistanToday.com.pk

PPI  0 13 hours ago   |   Karachi - On the directives of Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) Managing Director Misbahuddin Farid, an Implementation and Coordination Cell has been established to improve service delivery of the board.

Per details, Tehseen Manzar had been appointed as Implementation and Coordination Cell Director.

This cell would also look over the performance and implementation on different directives and orders since there were repeated reports of delay in implementation of directives.

The newly established cell would coordinate with departments concerned and organisations to ensure that all orders, letters and directives were carried out in a swift manner, improving Karachi Water and Sewerage Board’s performance. It would also look in to the performance and negligence of officers.

The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board MD had directed all departments to send copies of all letters received and sent to Implementation and Coordination director so that he could ensure better performance of the board.

'Focus needs to be on mothers and newborns' - The Express Tribune

Gynaec­ology worksh­op held at Genera­l Hospit­al. Thousands of women and newborn children were dying every year owing to the non-availability of healthcare facilities, says Prof Vohra. PHOTO: FILE LAHORE: 
Facilities for mother and child health at basic health units’ level need to be focused on in order to save women from complications during pregnancy. Gynaecology and child health specialists must be appointed at the village level so that healthcare facilities provided by the government can be used for the welfare of the masses.
These recommendations were made by the Post Graduate Medical Institute Principal Anjum Habib Vohra while addressing the participants of a gynaecology training workshop at the Lahore General Hospital (LGH) in connection with a two-day Scientific Symposium to be held on January 30 and 31. Prof Dr Muhammad Aslam, Prof Shaheena Asif, Prof Farrukh Zaman, Prof Nuzhat Khawaja, Prof Shamsa Humayun and Dr Mamoona Ashraf delivered lectures on the subject of child and mother health. PGMI faculty members, gynaecologists and other doctors were present on the occasion.
Prof Vohra said it was necessary to focus on the health of the mother and the child to develop a healthy society. He said thousands of women and newborn children were dying every year owing to the non-availability of healthcare facilities. He said women and children needed special attention.
The PGMI said that medical professionals were needed to create awareness about issues during a newborn’s upbringing. He stressed that doctors should motivate mothers to breastfeed their newborn children because it would save them from many diseases.
He stressed the training workshop participants to serve their hometowns after getting specialised education so that women in rural and remote areas should not fall ill to diseases because of untrained birth attendants and semi-literate dispensers. Women doctors, he added, could play a major role.
LGH’s Prof Dr Aslam and other professors talked about clinical complications and stressed the need to create awareness so that people seek medical treatment from qualified doctors only. They also stressed the need to provide free tests at Gynaecology Outdoor so that pregnant women may be screened for cancer during pregnancy.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2013.

Drug reaction: LHC seeks inquiry report - Frontier Post

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has ordered to present a report on judicial inquiry and its implementation regarding the deaths by reaction to drugs distributed free of cost by Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC), FP News desk reported on Tuesday.

The Lahore High Court heard the drug reaction case today. During the hearing, petitioner Advocate Azhar Siddique complained that there is no implementation of judicial inquiry pertaining to the case..

On this, the court ordered to present the report on judicial inquiry and its implementation and adjourned the hearing till February 4.

Public health: No birth certificate for children not immunised - The Express Tribune

Govern­ment hopes measur­e will force parent­s to get their childr­en vaccin­ated. EPI programme targets eight diseases: polio, neonatal tetanus, measles, diphtheria, pertussis hepatitis B & C, pneumonia, meningitis and tuberculosis. PHOTO: FILE

LAHORE: 

In order to encourage parents to get their children vaccinated under the government’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI), the city government on Monday directed officials to deny requests for birth certificates and admissions in schools if parents do not submit a vaccination card.

A letter to the effect will be sent by the office of the Local Government assistant director to all union councils. The executive district officer (Education) was also directed by the DCO to make vaccination card mandatory for the admission of child in school.

According to the EPI website, the programme targets eight diseases: polio, neonatal tetanus, measles, diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), hepatitis B & C, pneumonia, meningitis and tuberculosis. The website warns that if the EPI is discontinued, about 1,000 children (under the age of five) would die every day in Pakistan.

On Monday, District Coordination Officer Noorul Amin Mengal chaired a meeting in connection with the EPI. He directed the officials concerned to vaccinate children against viral diseases like measles, tuberculoses and polio. He asked the officials to ensure that the vaccination drives against measles and tuberculoses are a success “like the campaign against polio”.  He directed officials to ensure that the vaccinations should be available at all static centres. To create awareness among the public about the vaccination drives, he suggested that banners and steamers be displayed on all major roads and places.

Town Administrators were instructed to hold meetings, twice a week, to review the performance of the vaccinators involved with the programme.

Vaccinators would be provided with ‘reflective jackets’ so they can be easily recognised.

Mengal directed executive district officer (EDO) (Health) to depute staff for vaccination at hospitals, basic health unites and rural health centres and to attach CDC supervisors and sanitary inspectors with vaccinators.

“I need hundred per cent results in the vaccination [drive] against measles, tuberculoses and Hepatitis B & C,” said the DCO. The meeting was attended by District Officer (Coordination) Sahibzadi Waseema Omer, assistant commissioners and administrators of all towns of the city, town municipal officers, district officer (Health), deputy district officers (Health) in the city’s nine towns and representatives of the World Health Organisation and the UNICEF.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2013.

Halal nail polish! Say what? - The Express Tribune (blog)

Freedom to wear nail polish: A 'breathable' nail polish, which allows water vapors to pass through to the nail, is causing a stir among devout Muslim women who are unable to wear regular polish because of daily prayers. PHOTO: REUTERS

Cosmetic company Inglot claims it’s manufactured the world’s first ‘wudu-friendly’ nail polish.

Being a relatively modern creation, nail polish remains obviously unaddressed by early Islamic sources. But the general consensus in the Islamic community is that praying with nail polish is impermissible because of the waterproof barrier it creates on nails, which prevents the wudu ritual from being completed five times a day.

Enter Inglot’s happy accident – their 02M Breathable nail polish line, akin to breathable contact lenses, is made with a breathable polymer that allows oxygen and water vapour to seep through to the nails.

Inglot’s tapping into the market of ‘halal’ cosmetics is something of a goldmine – no doubt, a strategic, lucrative move. And frankly, I’m not ashamed to admit that discovering 02M Breathable polishes constitutes the entire sum of my current happiness.

Ever since I clued in on nail polish’s nullifying effects on wudu, I’ve had conversations with almost all the women in my life on the topic.

Some choose to overlook the matter, others are undecided, while others choose to refrain entirely – instead choosing to paint their talons red only while on their red, which can get embarrassing pretty fast because then “everyone and their moms immediately know you’re on your period”, as a friend bluntly puts it.

Even though I have long known the stance of Islam’s intelligentsia on nail polish and prayer, I couldn’t resist bringing it up during an interview I was doing with one of the greatest Islamic scholars of our time.

I struggled with how to pitch myself, ultimately saying,

“I realise that this may not be the kind of deep and thoughtful question you hope journalists would ask of you but… your stance on nail polish and prayer, please?”

Well, ask and ye shall receive – and so I received, in a politely non-judgmental manner, an answer I’d already known.

Later, I ruminated with a friend on the absurdity of my wasting precious face time with someone who was such a repository of knowledge. I also lamented on the weight of obligation, which pressed down on me even more now that I had in personam received affirmation from authority.

My friend suggested I “go and get a second opinion”, to which I said, “I’m not having a medical crisis,” shunning his suggestion.

Plus, going Imam-shopping so that I could get a religious verdict more amenable to my desired lifestyle just feels many shades of wrong. After all, isn’t the grand plan of a religion like Islam to function as a lifestyle? How then can we tailor bits of it so that it aligns better with our whims and worries?

So this is why Inglot’s halal-certified nail polish comes as a welcome, oil tanker sized source of joy for me.

And the fact that a fellow, equally concerned Muslimah went so far as conducting a rigorous coffee-filter test to verify Inglot’s claims of water permeability, indicates I’m not the only one celebrating!

Read more by Maria here or follow her on Twitter @mariakari1414

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