ADMISSOIN NOTIFICATION 2012 : JAMIA HAMDARD, NEW
Delhi
Online / offline applications (under general categroy and NRI/Sponsored category as per detail given below are invited for admission to the following programmes :
FACULTY OF PHARMACY :
1.
PhD
- Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy & Phytochemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmaceutical Medicine
2. M Pharm - Pharmacuetical Chemistry, Pharmaceutics, Pharmacognosy & Phytochemistry, Pharmacology, Pharmacy Practice, Quality Assurance, Pharmaceutical
Biotechnology
3. Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm
4. Diploma of Pharmacy (D.Pharm
FACULTY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY :
1.
M.Tech
Bioinformatics
FACULTY OF SCIENCE :
1.
PhD
-
Biochemistry
,
Biotechnology
,
Botany
, Toxicology
2.
M.Sc
-
Biochemistry
,
Botany
,
Biotechnology
, Toxicology, Bioelectronics & Instrumentation
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND INTER-DISCIPLINARY SCIENCES :
1.
PhD
-
Bioinformatics
,
PhD
- Chemoinformatics
2.
M.Tech
- Food Technology
- Online application form is available on our website :
www.jamiahamdard.edu w.e.f. 1st february 2012.
- Offline (Printed application form will be available from 1st march 2012 at Jamia Hamdard counter and form may also be obtained by post from Asst Registrar (Admissions , Jamia Hamdard by sending a draft of Rs 600/- for General Category and Rs 3100/- (for NRI/Sponsored category in favour of Jamia Hamdard payable at New
Delhi
by 31.03.12
- The Entrance Test will be held at Allahabad / Calicut /Lucknow /
Delhi
/hyderabad /
Kolkata
/Kota / Patna /Pune /Srinagar, Anantnag (J & K
Deadline : 05.04.12
Jefferson City, MO (KSDK - The state's Medicaid program will receive more than $289,000 to settle allegations that a St. Louis-based pharmaceutical company lied to customers by saying two drugs were approved for coverage under state and federal health care programs.
Under the agreement, KV Pharmaceutical Company, parent company of now-defunct Ethex Corporation, will pay approximately $17 million to the federal government and participating states to compensate for Ethex's conduct.
According to the suit, Ethex misrepresented the regulatory status of Nitroglycerin Extended Release Capsules (Nitroglycerin ER and Hyoscyamine Sulfate Extended Release Capsules (Hyoscyamine ER .
Despite not being covered by federal and state health care programs, the two drugs do not pose a risk to patients. At present, neither drug is on the market.
Koster said citizens should report suspected Medicaid provider fraud or abuse and neglect to his Medicaid Fraud Hotline toll free at 800-286-3932, e-mail the complaint to
attorney.general@ago.mo.gov or complete a complaint form at the
Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Website.
Madurai Kamaraj University
Admission Notification : 2012 - 2013
APPLICATIONS ARE INVITED FOR ADMISSION TO THE FOLLOWING COURSES OFFERED BY THE SCHOOLS OF THE UNIVERSITY FOR THE ACADEMIC YEAR 2012-2013.
Category-A (Selection based on Entrance Test Marks Only
M.Sc
Courses ( 2 years
1.
M.Sc
. Environmental Sciences (2 years
M.Phil. Courses – 1 year
1. M.Phil.
Biotechnology
2. M.Phil. Environmental Sciences
PROCEDURE FOR OBTAINING PROSPECTUS AND APPLICATION FORM
Category-A & Category-B
Prospectus and application can be downloaded from the following website :
www.mkuniversity.org Xerox Copies of downloaded applications may also be used.
ELIGIBILITY
Category-A
(P.G. Courses
1.
M.Sc
.(Environmental Sciences : B.Sc. in any branch of Life sciences (Biology/ Bio-chemistry/
Botany
/
Zoology
/ Bio-technology/ Physics/ Chemistry passing minimum of 50% marks for all communities /Categories.
(M.Phil. Courses
1. M.Phil.(
Biotechnology
: A pass in
M.Sc
. with
Botany
,
Zoology
,
Microbiology
,
Biochemistry
, Genetics,
Biotechnology
and other related areas of
Life Sciences
with 55% of total marks.
2. M.Phil.(Environmental Sciences : A pass in
M.Sc
. in any branch of
Life Sciences
(Biology/ Environmental Sciences/ Environmental Biology/
Biochemistry
/
Botany
/
Zoology
/
Biotechnology
/ Physics/ Chemistry with 55% of total marks in all the subject for all community/categories and 50% for SC/ST candidates.
PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING FILLED-IN APPLICATION FOR ADMISSION
1 Applicants are requested to read carefully the rules of eligibility and other instructions given in the prospectus.
2 Applicants who are willing to apply for more than one course should use separate application form for each course.
Registration Fee :
- Category-A : All P.G. courses : Rs.300/-
- Category-A : All M.Phil. Courses : Rs.400/-
- Category-B : All P.G courses : Rs.200/-
- Category-B :Post P.G Diploma course :Rs.300/-
SUBMISSION OF FILLED-IN APPLICATION :
a Applications defective in any particulars will summarily be rejected.
b Filled-in application should be sent on or before the last date specified to
THE REGISTRAR
MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY
PALKALAINAGAR
MADURAI 625 021
Deadline : 11.04.12
By Ben Hirschler
LONDON, Feb 28 (Reuters - How to measure medical corruption? Tuan Anh Nguyen, a researcher at Hanoi University of Pharmacy, believes informal payments to doctors are "a dominant factor" in high prices of the older off-patent drugs that make up the lion's share of prescriptions in many emerging markets.
After interviewing doctors, pharmaceutical companies, government officials and pharmacists in both the private and state hospital sectors, he concluded in a study published last year that around 40 percent of the drugs' price in Vietnam is typically spent on offering financial inducements to doctors.
"When I talk to colleagues in some other Asian countries they say the situation is the same," he told Reuters.
His investigation broke down the different legal and illegal components that contribute to the cost of drugs in Vietnam, and found 40 to 60 percent of the final price could be spent to induce prescribers to use particular medicines, and to persuade procurement officers inside hospitals to buy them. The biggest share went to doctors.
Nguyen said the problem was worse with generic medicines sold by Asian companies, although his study did not name any firms. In Vietnam the price of these is sometimes even higher than that of the original branded product, in order to recoup payments made to doctors by drug companies trading these medicines.
But Western drug firms are not immune: pharmaceutical company representatives who spoke to Nguyen reported that doctors typically expect a commission of about 15 percent from European drug makers; the figure they look for from Asian producers is nearer 40 percent.
The study, which was presented at the International Conference for Improving Medicines in Antalya, Turkey, last October, found multinational companies tend to prohibit bribes, officially at least, although pressure to achieve sales targets often means representatives ignore this and give money to prescribers.
At other times, multinationals pay for one-off benefits like luxury holidays that would be prohibited under anti-kickback rules adopted by the drug industry in the United States.
Doctors surveyed said they took the cash and non-cash offers to make up for low salaries, and it was common for commissions from the pharmaceutical industry to become the main source of income for some physicians, leaving those reputable doctors who are determined to stay "clean" out in the cold.
It's a situation one foreign drug salesman says has turned the system upside down: "Now, the worse the doctors, the more money they have. It's ridiculous."
Applications are invited from the eligible candidates for the following posts at Gauhati University :
1. Professor in the following departments :
Zoology
- Spl. Animal Physiology/Animal Physiology and
Biochemistry
/ Animal Ecology.
2. Associate Professor in the following departments :
a.
Zoology
:
i Spl-Cell &
molecular biology
(Reserved for SC
ii Spl-Fish Biology & Fisheries Science
b.
Botany
- Spl. Open
c.
Biotechnology
& Bioengineering-Spl.-
Bioinformatics
/Genomics and Proteomics.
3. Assistant Professor in the following departments :
a.
Biotechnology
i Spl-
Microbiology
/Microbial Technology
ii Spl-
Bioinformatics
/Computational Biology
b. Biological Science :
M.Sc
.
Biochemistry
, MS
Bioinformatics
.
Pay Band and Academic Grade Pay :
- Professor : PB-4 =Rs. 37,400-67,000 & AGP : Rs. 10,000/-
- Associate Professor : PB–4 Rs. 37,400-67,000 & AGP : Rs. 9,000/
- Assistant Professor : PB-3 =Rs. 15,600-39,100 & AGP : Rs. 6,000/-
- For contractual post = Rs. 15,000/-(Consolidated per month
Application Fees : Candidates will be required to pay an amount of Rs. 1000/- (in case of SC/ST Rs. 500/- by Demand Draft in favour of “Registrar, Gauhati University” payable at SBI, G.U. Branch as an application fees for the post. Completed applications in the prescribed form along with necessary enclosures must reach “The Registrar, Gauhati University, Guwahati-14” latest by 15.03.2012 Those who are willing to apply for more than one post, they must submit separate application form with separate application fees. The name of the post and Department must be written on the envelope of the application.
Deadline : 15.03.12
7th Summer Training Programme in
Industrial
Biotechnology
June 4, 2012 – July 6, 2012 at
STEP - TU
Organized by
Science & Technology Entrepreneur’s Park
Thapar University
ABOUT
Thapar University
& STEP :
Thapar University
is located on the 250 acre campus in Patiala, Punjab. It was established in 1956 as Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology which offers Post-graduate and undergraduate programs in Engineering, Science, Management and Social Sciences. Thapar Technology Campus is synonymous with a diverse community that is committed to scholarship, entrepreneurship, research and development.
Science and Technology Entrepreneur's Park (STEP at
Thapar University
(TU is a centre for Business Incubation to promote business in the upcoming multidisciplinary area of
Biotechnology
. STEP focuses on the domains of agri-
Biotechnology
, biofertilizers, mushroom cultivation, plant tissue culture and food processing technology. STEP has successfully incubated 18 companies out of which 9 have graduated. These firms have created more than 40 jobs and are generating revenues of nearly 1 Crore. One of our incubatee company “Glow Biotech, Aligarh” has also won the ISBA Entrepreneurship Award in the category of “
Biotechnology
and
Life Sciences
.”
STEP has organized various EDP's, awareness camps, seminars and summer training modules in the past seven years on plant tissue culture, mushroom cultivation, organic farming, food processing, soy processing, spirulina production technology and analytical techniques. Various other conferences and seminars are also organized at STEP from time to time. Looking towards the number STEP has organized around 70 EDP’s, 10 Awareness Camps and 3 National conferences in the last seven years which were attended by about 1600 participants including students, teachers, entrepreneurs, researchers and farmers.
OBJECTIVES :
a. STEP has specialized well equipped laboratories especially for business incubation in biofertilizer and biopesticide production, food processing and analysis, pilot scale lab, controlled rooms classified as growth room, cold room, inoculation room, instrumentation room, biowaste recycling.
b. The participants in the training will be interacting with experts in their fields and will get practical experience of various modern techniques along with the in depth understanding of underlying principles. Experiments will be conducted in small groups under the expert supervision. Participants individually will follow experimental protocols and demonstration experiments.
c. This programme is an intensive hands on training programme imparting technical knowledge, management and developing entrepreneurial skills in different areas of
Biotechnology
.
TOPICS COVERED :
DNA Technology and
Bioinformatics
1. Genomic DNA and plasmid DNA isolation from bacteria
2. Restriction digestion and agarose gel electrophoresis
3. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR amplification
4. Transformation
5. Database searching, computational tools and structure prediction
6. Multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis
Microbiological and Micropropagation Techniques
1. Isolation, enumeration and characterization of microbes
2. Brightfield and Fluorescent microscopy of microbes
3. Biosafety and mass production of inoculants
4. Micropropagation of medicinal plants
Fermentation Technology
1. Introduction to fermentation technologies
2. Bioreactor design
3. Upstream and down streaming processing
4. Vinegar and wine production technology
Food Technology and Analytical Techniques
1. Processing of soy products
2. Powderization of milk using spray drier
3. Mushroom cultivation and Single Cell Protein Production
4. Physio-chemical analysis of soil
5. Heavy metal analysis by AAS
6. Ethanol analysis by GC
7. Analysis of metabolites using HPTLC
Entrepreneurship
1. Biotech Business Incubation and Entrepreneurship
2. Intellectual Property Rights
SALIENT FEATURES OF THE PROGRAM :
a. One to one interactive session.
b. Personal mentoring and monitoring.
c. Lectures and practical sessions by established academicians, researchers and professionals.
d. Exposure to the techniques at the industrial level.
e. Strong emphasis on Entrepreneurship & Business incubation skills.
TARGET: Students who are enrolled in any UG/PG Programmes, Faculty and others.
SELECTION PROCEDURE : The candidates would be selected on first cum first serve basis. Referral letter from the concerned institute is must for students (if enrolled .
NUMBER OF SEATS : 20 per batch
METHODOLOGY : Lectures, discussions and hands on practical training.
CERTIFICATE : On the successful completion of the course Certificate of Participation would be issued.
FEES : Rs.15, 000/- till April 30, 2012 & Rs. 16,000/- after April 30, 2012 payable by DD in favour of “STEP-TIET” payable at Patiala (Course fee includes only programme fee and course material; Boarding/lodging and travel charges to be borne by the candidate; Campus hostel accommodation can be provided on request on chargeable basis subject to availability. Fee once deposited will not be refunded
For further information and registrations please contact:
Prof. Dinesh Goyal
Executive Director
STEP,
Thapar University
Patiala-147 004
TeleFax: (0175 -2393011
Ms. Gurmeet Kaur
Accounts cum Office Secretary
STEP,
Thapar University
Patiala-147 004
Tel: (0175 -2393600, 3602
Mob: 98147-71954
E-mail: ccstep@thapar.edu;
sendtogurmeet83@gmail.com
Deadline : 25.05.12
A new virus, first detected in 2011, that causes birth defects in sheep, cattle and goats, has got a toe-hold in Britain, but where did it come from?
Age: First detected last year.
Appearance: It's a virus!
Meaning? It's so tiny that you don't need to worry your pretty little head about what it looks like. If you want to know about the effects, though …
Let's pretend I do. It causes stillbirths and birth defects in sheep, cattle and goats, as well as fever, diarrhoea and lower milk production in cows. So far
74 English farms have been affected, with the worst hit areas being East Sussex, Kent, Norfolk and Suffolk. The National Farmers Union calls the disease a "ticking time bomb".
Is it only Britain that's affected? Au contraire. Cases have also been reported in Germany, Benelux, Italy and France. In some flocks up to half of all lambs have deformities such as hydrancephaly, where parts of the brain are replaced by liquid-filled sacs.
I'm beginning to see why this isn't one of those picture-led articles. Where was this horrible disease first spotted? The west German town of Schmallenberg, previously known for its textiles. Its nickname is
die Strumpfstadt
, or the Sock Town.
Good old Wikipedia. This sounds like one more reason to keep everything German out of Britain. I beg your pardon?
I'm auditioning for a job on the Sun on Sunday. The virus is not spread by humans, as far as scientists can tell, or even farm animals. The culprit appears to be midges.
German midges? Not exclusively.
That sounds like a fudge. Whatever. The point is, there's not much point restricting animal movements, a la foot-and-mouth disease.
So what can be done? Scientists are working on a vaccine, though this could take several years to develop. So far they have managed to isolate the virus and culture it in insect and hamster cells.
Are humans in any danger? That is "unlikely", according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. However, it has advised health authorities to keep an eye on anyone in contact with infected animals.
What terrible news for the rural economy. I don't know about that. This must be a great time to be a vet.
Do say: "There goes the countryside."
Don't say: "There goes the barbecue."
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The first legal volley is fired over plans to shoot badgers in England. But whatever the courts decide, the public has rejected the plan, preferring vaccination to tackle TB in English cattle
The
battle for the badger has begun in earnest, with the opening shot of a high court legal battle being fired, a complaint made under European wildlife law and a new public opinion poll showing just 12% of people think killing badgers should be the main focus in attempting to reduce the spread of tuberculosis in cattle.
How did it get to this? Pretty easily. The government was under severe pressure to tackle what is truly a terrible problem for infected herds - they have to be slaughtered at great financial and emotional cost to farmers and to the taxpayer, who paid ?90m in compensation for the 25,000 cattle killed in 2010. Environment secretary Caroline Spelman had a world-class scientific trial, conducted over 10 years, on her desk showing that persistent culling of badgers over a decade can cut bovine TB by about 16%.
So far so good. But to expand the cull using the trap-and-shoot method of killing employed in the trial would be even more expensive than doing nothing. So the government gave the go-ahead for the cull using "free-shooting" - a man in a tree with a high-powered rifle. At this point, the "science-led" tag Spelman used to justify the go-ahead
disappeared in a puff of gun-smoke, and that's not just me saying it but lots of the scientists who ran the 10-year-trial.
There will be a tiny trial of free-shooting, but if it is shown to be ineffective, the whole cull is fatally wounded. That's one of the three legal grounds the Badger Trust is using to seek a judicial review in the high court of Spelman's decision. As it happens, even if free-shooting is judged acceptable, the government's own impact assessment shows the culls will still be more expensive for farmers than doing nothing and taking the hit - hideous as that is - of TB infection. And that's without accounting for the legal challenges and the high costs of policing shooter-versus-activists stand-offs in the woods at night.
What does the public think? A new poll, published on Tuesday, shows us that 31% support the cull, 40% oppose it and a lot of people - 29% - don't know. The poll was a professional one, run by YouGov, for the animal protection charity
Humane Society International (HSI , whose UK director Mark Jones said: "The majority of the public oppose killing badgers, but the poll also indicates a significant level of indecision or confusion and I suspect that this stems from uncertainty surrounding the issue of whether or not a cull is 'science-led'. Defra has consistently claimed that its cull policy would be science-led and yet the scientific legitimacy of culling badgers has been vociferously questioned by highly respected scientists and conservationists such as Lord Krebs [who led the 10-year trial] and Sir David Attenborough."
YouGov also asked people what they though should be the main tool for dealing with bovine TB. Culling was backed by 12%, as was restricting cattle movements and reforming farm practices, and 15% didn't know. But the most popular choice by far was vaccination, which was backed by 60% of people in England.
Vaccination programmes are taking place right now and trapping and injecting badgers is expensive, though it can hardly cost much more than trapping and shooting them. Back in 2010, the previous government said an oral vaccine would be ready by 2015, which could be left in bait, a much cheaper way to innoculate the animals.
But the new coalition government cancelled five of the six vaccination trials set up. Spelman now says a useable vaccine is "years away", which certainly helps bolster the case for shooting badgers, if not pleasing the English public. I estimate
the cull will cost ?92m, plus legal and policing costs, over eight years, while vaccination research is getting just ?20m.
HSI has also brought a complaint against Spelman via the
Bern Convention, which binds the UK government to regulate any exploitation of badgers to keep populations "out of danger", unless certain conditions are met.
So, we have a "science-led" cull disowned by the researchers who led the science and one that will cost more than doing nothing. Everyone's first choice - vaccination- has lost funding, and the row is now in the expensive realm of the courts. This is not on track to end well for badgers, cattle, farmers, scientists or the taxpayer.
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album title:
The Pharmacist
genre:
gangsta rap
year: 2004
track list:
- 1. J-Loc - Day in the Life.mp3 ( 3:41 / 3.29 Mb
- 2. J-Loc - Number 1 on My Team featuring C-Million Spook.mp3 ( 4:11 / 3.68 Mb
- 3. J-Loc - Fast Lane featuring O. T. M. All Stars.mp3 ( 2:57 / 2.68 Mb
- 4. J-Loc - Hopes and Dreams.mp3 ( 6:36 / 6.39 Mb
- 5. J-Loc - Road to the Riches featuring O. T. M. All Stars.mp3 ( 3:50 / 3.49 Mb
- 6. J-Loc - Feeling Trapped featuring C-Million Spook.mp3 ( 3:57 / 3.49 Mb
- 7. J-Loc - Gotta Get the Scrill.mp3 ( 4:16 / 3.78 Mb
- 8. J-Loc - Drastic featuring Jaz P-Dog.mp3 ( 3:25 / 3.00 Mb
- 9. J-Loc - Money or the Murder.mp3 ( 3:54 / 3.49 Mb
- 10. J-Loc - The Pharmacist.mp3 ( 4:53 / 4.29 Mb
- 11. J-Loc - Coming Aggravated.mp3 ( 4:05 / 3.59 Mb
- 12. J-Loc - Hate on Me.mp3 ( 3:21 / 3.00 Mb
- 13. J-Loc - Scrilla Fortune.mp3 ( 4:07 / 3.68 Mb
- 14. J-Loc - Ghetto Fortune.mp3 ( 3:12 / 2.78 Mb
- 15. J-Loc - Bonus.mp3 ( 4:16 / 4.00 Mb
By JOANN S. LUBLIN And CHRISTOPHER WEAVER
New questions emerged about the abrupt resignation of Stryker Corp.'s chief executive, Stephen P. MacMillan, and the company's discussion with analysts that he had a romantic relationship with an ex-employee.
The 48-year-old executive resigned Feb. 8 after apparently losing the confidence of some key board members at the medical-device maker, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Taking voices away from actors, or plunging audiences into darkness, can provide an immersive, more intimate experience
For the makers of
The Artist, clutching five Oscars this week including best film, silence is quite literally golden.
Some have argued that it wooed the Academy by conjuring up the romance of Hollywood's past. Regardless of its awards success, it has won the hearts of the public with a novel approach that trusted them to take an imaginative leap. Disposing with dialogue let the viewer engage in an unfamiliar way with the characters and invest in the story.
By depriving the actors of their voices, director
Michel Hazanavicius focused attention on gesture, action and movement. Of course, all those things are present in a talkie, but without words a raised eyebrow takes on greater significance, and the look of love, when it does not have to speak, is invested with unfamiliar power.
There is potent richness in depriving audiences of its familiar senses – or messing with them a little – to create a new frame to look through. For some years now
Sound & Fury, the theatre company I co-direct with Dan Jones and my brother Tom, has been plunging its audiences into a total blackout, providing aural stimulation to heighten the visual sense.
It has sometimes taken quite a lot to convince the more health-and-safety conscious theatres that bright green exit lights are not necessary throughout the show. But once past that hurdle, the pitch black can't-see-your-hand-in-front-of-your-face environment has been a liberating theatrical tool, which has had startling results. We found audiences rapt and excited about how their imagination was set free. That the sound world, with live actors but without a set, could transport them to the story's heart in darkness. The shared experience and immersive quality, they said, set it well apart from radio. The dark let us take the audience to places you could not normally visit, in the case of
Kursk, our most recent work, to witness the last moments of the doomed Russian submarine.
The eminent neuropsychologist Professor Richard Gregory, whose life's work investigated how the brain sees, was curious about how sight deprivation combined with sound in one of our shows could almost stimulate the visual sense. The conversation ended up inspiring our latest work. Going Dark is the story of a man going blind and struggling with his changing perceptual experience. It uses periods of total darkness to let the audience into his new sightless world.
The appetite for sense deprivation experience is widening. The effect of artist
Miroslaw Balka's installation at Tate Modern resided in nothing you could actually see. And theatre playing to a different sense is a growing trend.
David Rosenberg and Glen Neath's new play
Ring gives the audience headphones for a play in total darkness.
Perhaps the willingness to be drawn away from the visual and the familiar taps in to a desire to switch off the visual sense and take a break from the battery of images we deal with every day from billboards to public transport TV. Or, in the case of The Artist, to have the imagination retuned to receive a story differently and enjoy a film experience that is a little more intimate.
The writer Saul Bellow argued that the accumulation of distraction – particularly the visual – was a destructive force. He suggested that "the emergence from distraction is aesthetic bliss". In the case of his craft, the novel, he described the act of reading as entering a "state of intimacy with the writer", turning to hear a voice as if "coming from a place beneath the breastbone".
A state of intimacy lets us discover something about ourselves and our world. That is what we are all after, isn't it? Sometimes you can find it in silence or without looking.
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EARLY diagnosis has become one of the most fundamental precepts of modern medicine. It goes something like this: The best way to keep people healthy is to find out if they have (pick one heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or, of course, cancer — early. And the way to find these conditions early is through screening.
It is a precept that resonates with the intuition of the general public: obviously it’s better to catch and deal with problems as soon as possible. A study published with much fanfare in The New England Journal of Medicine last week contained what researchers called the best evidence yet that colonoscopies reduce deaths from colon cancer.
Recently, however, there have been rumblings within the medical profession that suggest that the enthusiasm for early diagnosis may be waning. Most prominent are recommendations against prostate cancer screening for healthy men and for reducing the frequency of breast and cervical cancer screening. Some experts even cautioned against the recent colonoscopy results, pointing out that the study participants were probably much healthier than the general population, which would make them less likely to die of colon cancer. In addition there is a concern about too much detection and treatment of early diabetes, a growing appreciation that autism has been too broadly defined and skepticism toward new guidelines for universal cholesterol screening of children.
The basic strategy behind early diagnosis is to encourage the well to get examined — to determine if they are not, in fact, sick. But is looking hard for things to be wrong a good way to promote health? The truth is, the fastest way to get heart disease, autism, glaucoma, diabetes, vascular problems, osteoporosis or cancer ... is to be screened for it. In other words, the problem is overdiagnosis and overtreatment.
Screening the apparently healthy potentially saves a few lives (although the National Cancer Institute couldn’t find any evidence for this in its recent large studies of prostate and ovarian cancer screening . But it definitely drags many others into the system needlessly — into needless appointments, needless tests, needless drugs and needless operations (not to mention all the accompanying needless insurance forms .
This process doesn’t promote health; it promotes disease. People suffer from more anxiety about their health, from drug side effects, from complications of surgery. A few die. And remember: these people felt fine when they entered the health care system.
It wasn’t always like this. In the past, doctors made diagnoses and initiated therapy only in patients who were experiencing problems. Of course, we still do that today. But increasingly we also operate under the early diagnosis precept: seeking diagnosis and initiating therapy in people who are not experiencing problems. That’s a huge change in approach, from one that focused on the sick to one that focuses on the well.
Think about it this way: in the past, you went to the doctor because you had a problem and you wanted to learn what to do about it. Now you go to the doctor because you want to stay well and you learn instead that you have a problem.
How did we get here? Or perhaps, more to the point: Who is to blame? One answer is the health care industry: By turning people into patients, screening makes a lot of money for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors. The chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society once pointed out that his hospital could make around $5,000 from each free prostate cancer screening, thanks to the ensuing biopsies, treatments and follow-up care.
A more glib response to the question of blame is: Richard Nixon. It was Nixon who said, “we need to work out a system that includes a greater emphasis on preventive care.” Preventive care was central to his administration’s promotion of health maintenance organizations and the war on cancer. But because the promotion of genuine health — largely dependent upon a healthy diet, exercise and not smoking — did not fit well in the biomedical culture, preventive care was transformed into a high-tech search for early disease.
Some doctors have long recognized that the approach is a distraction for the medical community. It’s easier to transform people into new patients than it is to treat the truly sick. It’s easier to develop new ways of testing than it is to develop better treatments. And it’s a lot easier to measure how many healthy people get tested than it is to determine how well doctors manage the chronically ill.
But the precept of early diagnosis was too intuitive, too appealing, too hard to challenge and too easy to support. The rumblings show that that’s beginning to change.
Let me be clear: early diagnosis is not always wrong. Doctors would rather see patients early in the course of their heart attack than wait until they develop low blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. And we’d rather see women with small breast lumps than wait until they develop large breast masses. The question is how often and how far we should get ahead of symptoms.
For years now, people have been encouraged to look to medical care as the way to make them healthy. But that’s your job — you can’t contract that out. Doctors might be able to help, but so might an author of a good cookbook, a personal trainer, a cleric or a good friend. We would all be better off if the medical system got a little closer to its original mission of helping sick patients, and let the healthy be.
H. Gilbert Welch, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, is an author of “Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health.”
Conclusions Receiving hypnotic prescriptions was associated with greater than threefold increased hazards of death even when prescribed
Nearly 180 dolphins have been found stranded this winter on the shores of Cape Cod. Image by the International Fund for Animal Welfare.
Last week, we
posted a story on the unusually high number of dolphins that have been stranded off the Cape Cod coastline this winter: 179 have been recorded stranded, at least 108 of which have died. That's more than half the strandings seen in an average year in just the last month.
Since the story was published, we've received several comments inquiring whether military exercises and sonar could be responsible for the surge in strandings. So we turned to some experts for an answer.
It's true that naval sonar has been linked to marine mammal beachings in the past. In March 2000, 17 whales were stranded in the Bahamas following a U.S. Navy sonar exercise. Another incident involving sonar use in a 2002 international naval exercise left 14 beaked whales stranded on the Canary Islands.
But experts say it's unlikely that sonar was a factor in the Cape Cod events.
Terrie Williams, director of the
Marine Mammal Physiology Project at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studies the physiological effects of sound in the ocean on marine mammals. She says sonar can cause two types of injury in deep-diving animals, such as beaked whales.
Research has indicated that sounds in the water can disorient the animals, causing them to alter their swimming paths and engage in risky diving patterns. If a deep-diving mammal rises too rapidly, it can lead to a case of "the bends," which involves nitrogen bubbles forming in the animal's body tissue, Williams says. If the bubbles lodge in the wrong place, such as the brain or neural tissues, they can obstruct blood flow, leading to bone damage.
"When I'm looking at the effects of sound on stranded animals, I look for changes in heart rate, ear bone structure ... and problems in the head," Williams said. But the sound itself can also cause cracking or damage to the ear bones. So she also searches for signs of damage caused by acoustics.
Katie Moore, manager of the marine mammal rescue effort for the
International Fund for Animal Welfare says she's seen no evidence of any of these symptoms in the dolphins she and her team have tried to rescue.
Darlene Ketten of the
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who has been studying the stranded dolphins in her lab, agrees. Research is still ongoing, she says, but lab analyses show no indication of animals suffering from issues related to acoustics.
"We've seen multiple different causes of death from some of the animals," Ketten said. "They're generally healthy, and there's not one single cause that we can pinpoint as of yet."
Because of their speed and the depth at which they swim, common dolphins are rarely affected by sonar, Williams said: "They are very fast animals, and give the impression that they are fairly robust when it comes to sound."
The United States Navy has operated one marine training exercise on the East Coast this year, according to U.S. Navy spokesman Lt. Matt Allen. The exercise,
Operation Bold Alligator 12, occurred between Jan. 30 and Feb. 12 in and around the coasts of southern Virginia and North Carolina.
High frequency active sonar may have been used in this operation, Allen said. "This type of sonar is used for depth finding and mine location purposes, and is similar to fathometers, which are used by fisherman," he said. "But it's short range and has never been associated with marine mammal strandings."
It couldn't have affected these dolphin strandings because of the distance this sonar travels, Allen added. High frequency active sonar typically travels five nautical miles, and Cape Cod is hundreds of miles away.
Katie Moore elaborates on the subject in a post
here. "The fact is we know there has been no naval sonar activity in our region within a proximity affecting the coast of Massachusetts and these particular animals," she writes. "The acknowledged Mid-Atlantic activity is simply too far away to drive these dolphins to strand."
Marine experts have been working feverishly on the scene and in labs to determine the possible causes. So far, they've arrived at few definitive answers. Moore, who has led the rescue effort on Cape Cod, speculates that changes in the greater Gulf of Maine ecosystem, including an unusually warm winter and movement of prey, as well as the hooked shape of Cape Cod are all possible contributing factors.
But as researchers are faced with increasing pressure to find a cause for the strandings, frustration is mounting on all ends.
Critics and concerned citizens have been sending emails and voice mails to IFAW, claiming that researchers and rescuers are not telling the truth, Moore said.
"All we can tell people is what we've found based on the tests we've run and the research we're doing," she said. "But there are some people who are not going to want to believe that. I can only tell you what we know and be honest about what we've found."
But Moore says that she recognizes that it's important for people to question what is happening in the water.
"For these dolphin strandings, sometimes there are human causes behind it and sometimes there aren't," she said. "In this case, there is no human source for the strandings from what we know so far."
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science or technology for Just Ask, send an e-mail to science@newshour.org with "science question" in the subject line or leave it in the comments section below.
Walk-in- interview for the selection of “Project Assistant” on contractual basis under the on-going project “Studies on aberrant crypt foci, apoptosis and early growth response genes (Rps27a & ß-Catenin in rat colorectal carcinogenesis (CRC using floral isolates of Butea monosperma” is scheduled to be held on 09.03.2012 (Wednesday at 10.30 AM. The post is purely temporary in nature and co-terminus with the project. Eligible candidates may attend the Walk-in-interview at the above address
Name of the Post : Project Assistant
- Number of Post : One
- Monthly Emoluments : Rs.8000/-pm (Consolidated
- Essential Qualification : First class in
M.Sc
.
Life Sciences
(Animal Science /
Biotechnology
/ Bio-Chemistry / Biomedical Science.
- Desirable Qualification : Experience in working with
molecular biology
and Animal tissue culture techniques are preferable
- Age Limit : 28 years as on the date of interview (Relaxation is admissible in case of
- SC/ST/OBC as per Government Instruction of India
- Project Duration : Three years
Candidates attending the walk-in-interview should neatly type the application in the format prescribed in MS – WORD – TIMES NEW ROMAN FONT -12 Sizes and submit the same along with attested copies of educational qualification, experience and publications etc., at the time of attending the Walk-in-interview. Original certificates should also be brought for verification at the time of Walk-in-interview.
Dr.G.MATHAN
Assistant Professor
Principal Investigator-DST Project
Department of Biomedical Science
Bharathidasan University
Tiruchirappalli - 620 024
Tamil Nadu
Walk in Interview : 09.03.12
There's a growing body of research linking childhood trauma (abuse, neglect, family dysfunction, etc. to impaired brain development and functioning.
Maia Szalavitz at TIME's Healthland blog describes the findings of new study by Harvard researchers (published in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences :
Now, in the largest study yet to use brain scans to show the effects of child abuse, researchers have found specific changes in key regions in and around the hippocampus in the brains of young adults who were maltreated or neglected in childhood. These changes may leave victims more vulnerable to depression, addiction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD , the study suggests.
CDC's
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE Study enrolled more than 17,000 members of study partner Kaiser Permanente in San Diego between 1995 and 1997 and has been tracking their medical status.
Researchers have found higher childhood stress to be associated with a greater risk of several negative health conditions and behaviors, from alcoholism and early initiation of smoking to depression and sexually ischemic heart disease. The website
ACEs Too High, run by journalist Jane Stevens, collects news and research related to ACEs, and one of the site's recent pieces (via
Reporting on Health profiles the
efforts of Tarpon Springs, Florida to address trauma as a community.
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