With a spurt in virus-carrying mosquitoes in Chennai and its suburbs, the number of cases of dengue has been mounting.

While there hasn't been any panic so far, unlike what was seen in Tirunelveli and Nagapattinam, it has come to light that several private hospitals have been treating patients with dengue symptoms on an outpatient basis. On Tuesday, the demise of a 26-year-old Sathya, hailing from Madhavaram - rumoured to have dengue - raised the worry quotient.

Several patients with fever and parents of feverish children rushed to the nearest hospitals to seek treatment for dengue.

Prominent children's hospitals in the city confirmed that they have had to put up a waiting list as there had been a spurt in the number of dengue-and-related-fever cases. After examining the dead woman's body, doctors at Stanley Medical College filed a report to the Department of Public Health that she had not died of dengue, but she had a "non-infectious viral condition". Surprisingly, the corporation has not stepped up and publicised the fact that this was not a dengue death, like they did when a child in Chetpet died, nor did they make it known that they were fogging and taking anti-mosquito breeding measures.

Meanwhile in Thanjavur, the Principal Health Secretary to the Tamil Nadu government Dr J Radhakrishnan, held a review meeting with district health department officials on the measures taken to control dengue outbreak in the district at the Thanjavur Medical College Hospital.

The Secretary is now holding a series of discussion and review meetings across the State to assess the impact of dengue. Addressing officials at TMCH, Radhakrishnan said, "The spread of the disease has witnessed a spike in recent times. With monsoon round the corner, the district health deparment officials must create awareness among people and must monitor the situation regularly."

As part of the activities, short message Services (SMS) were sent to doctors and nurses about the symptoms of the dengue, preventive measures and treatments available.

Reducing the swimming ability of the sperm could pave way to developing a new male contraceptive pill, Australian researchers have found.

Researchers have discovered a way to cut off the fuel supply to the "motor" that drives human sperm, greatly reducing their swimming ability and opening a new avenue to develop a male contraceptive pill.

The finding throws new light on the little-understood reasons for infertility in men, the 'Sydney Morning Herald' reported.
Researchers, led by Moira O'Bryan from Monash University's school of biomedical sciences, engineered mutation in a gene called RABL2 that delivers protein fuel to the engine in a sperm's tail in mice.

The mutation resulted in sperm tails that were 17 per cent shorter than normal and a 50 per cent reduction in sperm production.

The most striking result was that all mice with the mutated gene were rendered infertile and their sperm incapable of swimming.

"They weren't wriggling or going anywhere, they were just twitching. With this mutation, we get motors that don't work properly. To be fertile, sperm need motility ... Or swimming ability," the paper quoted Professor O'Bryan as saying.

O'Bryan collaborated with scientists from the University of Newcastle, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and the University of Cambridge for the research.

She said a future male pill might work to inhibit the RABL2 gene rather than change it permanently.

"The challenge with developing the male pill isn't rendering the sperm infertile but turning them back on again," O'Bryan said.

As RABL2 is also found in other tissues such as the brain kidneys and liver in lower concentrations, an inhibitor specific to the testes would need to be developed.

The end of the monsoon season has once again resulted in a spurt of cases of swine influenza, also knows as swine flu, across India. Pune is the worse affected city in the country. 226 people were affected by the H1N1 infection killing 9 between June and September this year. According to reports, four people died in September alone in Pune.

In Madhya Pradesh, over a hundred persons have tested positive for swine flu so far, with 19 persons dead so far this year. At Indore, a lady doctor in Indore was tested positive a week ago for H1N1 virus, authorities said. In Bhopal alone, the infection has claimed 10 lives. Indore, Ujjain and Gwalior account for six, two and one deaths respectively, sources said. Swine flu cases have also been reported from Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and other parts of the country.

The flu virus spreads mainly from person to person through coughing, sneezing or talking to people with influenza. Its symptoms include unusual tiredness, severe headache, runny nose, sore throat, shortness of breath or cough, sudden loss of appetite, aching muscles, diarrhoea or vomiting. If you have flu-like symptoms, stay at home, get plenty of rest and use the prescribed pain killers. If flu stays for three days, see a doctor and undergo H1N1 test.

A new math method can help predict a woman`s chances of becoming pregnant, depending on how long the couple has been trying, say researchers.

For instance, the researchers from Warwick Medical School found that, if the woman is aged 35 years, after just six months of trying, her chance of getting pregnant in the next cycle is less than 10 percent.


The analysis, developed by Warwick Medical School and the London School of Economics, uses the number of menstrual cycles over which the couple has been trying for a baby to determine a probability of conception within the next month, the journal Public Library of Science ONE reported.

The method makes use of an important math result first described by Thomas Bayes, an 18th century Presbyterian minister, which allows probabilities to be calculated by combining prior information with new evidence, according to a Warwick statement.

Peter Sozou of the London School of Economics said: "After several cycles without pregnancy, it becomes relatively more likely that a couple have low fertility.

"This is the main reason why it becomes less likely that conception will occur in the next cycle."

Geraldine Hartshorne, professor at Warwick Medical School, added: "Many couples are not aware that chance plays a big role in getting pregnant. People expect to get pregnant when they want to, so finding out that it isn`t happening can be a shock.

"Approaching a doctor about such a personal matter is daunting so knowing when is the right time to start investigations would be a useful step forward," said Hartstone.

"We can`t work out exactly when, or if, a woman will become pregnant - but this analysis can predict her chances, and give a percentage estimate of pregnancy in the next cycle," concluded Hartstone.

Linda from Virginia, United States quit smoking after an arduous 40 years with just one try of electronic cigarettes. She said, "I smoked for 40 years. I also tried to quit smoking cigarettes 11 times in 10 years, but couldn't make it stick until I got my electronic cigarettes starter kit. I love vaping so much better than smoking. There is a variety of flavors and I still get nicotine, if I want it. I have an option of different strengths of nicotine, too."

E cigarettes have become quite popular among smokers and especially with those who are looking to quit tobacco smoking. A strong reason why a majority of people are switching to e cigarettes to quit smoking is its wide acceptability as a safer, more effective alternative in terms of health and being more sociability. Smokers realize smoking is bad for their health but the addiction to nicotine just hinder them from kicking the habit. Many pro-smokers have already gained through the benefits of electric cigarettes. Here's how.

Healthier option

Cigarette smoking is injurious to health. It contains carbon monoxide and thousands of other toxic chemicals. Smokers who realize this is the main push why they want to quit smoking altogether. E cigs make it possible to replicate the physical and smoking sensation of smoking a real cigarette while filtering out all the harmful chemicals present in a tobacco cigarette.

No nicotine withdrawal

Unlike tobacco cigarettes, e cigs consumption does not require user to monitor on nicotine intakes. The amount of nicotine can be easily regulated in case of electric cigarettes. Each vial used in electronic cigarettes contains nicotine additives as well as flavoring additives. This helps ensure that those who use smokeless cigarettes will no longer need to revert back to smoking real cigarettes if they are not satisfied with the electronic version.

More socially acceptable

Due to smoking bans in various public places such as restaurants and parks, smokeless cigarettes are being adopted by more and more smokers. Many state regulations ban tobacco cigarettes but allow vapor cigarettes in public places. That is because vapor cigarettes do not emit smoke but water vapor during user's exhalation, which makes it socially more acceptable. It does not even smell like tobacco and does not affect nearby people either.

Indy from Missouri, a chain smoker for 40 years said, "I smoked 2-3 packs a day for over 40 years but I switched to vapor cigarettes and stopped smoking tobacco cigarettes 4 years ago. Now I enjoy all the health benefits that e cigarettes have to offer."