Mosquitoes like some people better than others, and differences in the microbes living on our skin may help explain the bloodsuckers' dining preferences.

It turns out men with a large variety of microbes living on their skin make for less attractive meals for the African malaria-carrying mosquito Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto. The mosquito instead appears drawn to men whose skin bacteria are relatively similar to each other.

Those findings come from a study that also found a connection between certain types of microbes and men's status as more or less attractive to a mosquito.
Mosquito bites are more than just an itchy annoyance; they can spread malaria and other fatal diseases. Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, and in 2010 it was responsible for an estimated 655,000 deaths, mostly among African children, according to the World Health Organization.
So the relationship between mosquitoes' preference and skin microbes has important health implications.

This study suggests skin microbes could be part of a person's built-in defense system, and this line of research could lead to new tools to protect against the spread of disease, the research team writes in a study published Dec. 28 in the journal PLoS ONE.
The logic behind the effect is simple: Odors from human skin are essential cues that guide mosquitoes to our skin, and the microbes living on our skin play an important role in producing these odors. In fact, without skin bacteria, human sweat would be odorless to the human nose, according to the researchers, led by Niels Verhulst of Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Verhulst and colleagues collected volatiles - the easily evaporated chemicals responsible for odor - from the left feet of 48 men. They then gave the mosquitoes a choice between each sample and a standard ammonia concentration. (The odor of ammonia is known to attract mosquitos.) They also sequenced DNA from the skin of the left foot; this gave them information on what, and how much of it, was living on the men's feet.

Of the 48 men who volunteered for the study, the researchers classifed nine as "highly attractive", while seven were considered "poorly attractive."

In addition to finding that a greater diversity of skin microbes seems to deter mosquitoes, the researchers came to associate certain types of bacteria with how delicious the mosquitoes found the person to be.

The more tasty men had microbes that were less diverse and were likely to include Leptotrichia, Delftia, Actinobacteria Gp3 and Staphylococcus microbes, the researchers found.

Meanwhile, the volunteers who, for instance, had a diverse array of microbes on their skin, as well as lots of Pseudomonas and possibly Variovorax species, were less attractive.

"We hypothesize that the lower attractiveness to mosquitoes is caused by a selective group of skin microbiota that emanates compounds that interfere with the attraction of mosquitoes to their human hosts," the researchers wrote.

A team led by an Indian-origin neuroscientist has found a gene that "turns on" when memories are stored in the brain, a discovery they believe could help pinpoint the exact locations of memories in the brain.

It's known that when one witnesses a new event, the brain encodes a memory of it by altering the connections between neurons. This needs turning on many genes in those neurons. Now, neuroscientists at the MIT have identified a gene, called Npas4, which is very active in the hippocampus - a brain structure known to be critical in forming long-term memories.

The findings, described in the journal Science, would be a breakthrough in pinpointing the exact locations of memories in the brain and might open up new avenues for altering or even creating memory, the researchers said.
"We think of Npas4 as the initial trigger that comes on, and then in turn, in the right spot in the brain, it activates all these other downstream targets," a researcher said.

The Gujarat government has planned to add 450 medical seats every year in the next three years, Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas announced here on Sunday.

Claiming that Gujarat was racing ahead of other States in the country, he said that by 2022, when India was expected to have one medical college for every 25 lakh population, Gujarat would have in place one medical college for every 15 lakh people in the State.

Mr. Vyas was speaking at a function organised to celebrate the beginning of the silver jubilee year of the Pramukhswami Medical College at Karamsad.

At the same function, Chief Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Ramanbhai Gokal Privilege Centre, an extension of the medical facilities being provided at the Shree Krishna Hospital. Once operational, the centre with state-of-the-art infrastructure would cater for the needs of patients from rural areas at an affordable price and the income generated by it would be used for providing subsidy to poor patients at the Shree Krishna Hospital.

The Pramukhswami College was the first private medical college in the State and perhaps first in the country with base in rural areas. Mr. Modi said the State government was committed to laying equal emphasis on preventive healthcare as much as medical care as part of the State's policy for "a healthy Gujarat." He claimed that several welfare schemes of the State government, including measures for providing clean drinking water and pro-active steps to curb pollution, had given Gujarat an edge over other States in terms of public health and family welfare.

Outlining the State's medical education programme, Mr. Vyas said as per present projections, India would need about 6.5 lakh doctors and about 12.5 lakh trained nurses by the year 2025 to meet the demand for skilled medical and para-medical professionals. He said Gujarat was chalking out plans to achieve the goal with focus on quality education and training. He also stressed the need for medical colleges to introduce continuing education and training programmes for doctors and para-medics to keep themselves abreast of the latest advancements in medical technology and procedures.

On average, normally the health cover people take is Rs 1-3 lakh. For minor hospitalisation or surgery, this amount may be sufficient but what if there's something serious? As health costs soar, you need to review your health insurance needs and cover any shortfall.
When increasing
cover, consider top-up health insurance plans.

Top-up plans

A top-up health insurance plan, also known as add-on plan, is a regular indemnity plan that covers hospitalisation costs but only after a threshold limit. In insurance parlance, this limit is called deductible.

Top-up plans start with a basic deductible of R1 lakh; the deductible can go up to R5 lakh. A deductible of R1 lakh means the first R1 lakh of the hospitalisation bill will have to be borne by the insured himself; the balance will be paid by the insurer. Owing to the deductible, these plans are cheap.

Sample Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co Ltd's Extra Care, a top-up health insurance policy. For a sum insured of R10 lakh and a deductible of R3 lakh, the policy charges R2,500 from a 30-year-old. But for Health Guard, their regular indemnity policy, the premium is R10,913 for a sum assured of R10 lakh.

"With year-on-year healthcare inflation at 16-20%, a top-up policy is a low-cost investment, which will pay dividends in the long run," said Mahavir Chopra, head (e-business and retail), Medimanage.com, a health insurance portal.

Top-up policies come as individual & floater plans

Limitations: Some top-up plans may not cover pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses. For instance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd's Healthcare Plus and Star's Super Surplus do not cover pre-and post-hospitalisation expenses. However, Sanjay Datta, head-underwriting and claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, said there is a reason why. "Pre-and post-hospitalisation expenses are roughly about 10-15% of the total expenses. This the base policy can cover. The idea behind a top-up cover is to buy extra."

Also, top-up plans cover only "single incidence hospitalisation". If your hospital bill exceeds the deductible during a single incident of hospitalisation, only then does the top-up plan gets triggered.

When do they make sense?

Top-up plans make a lot of sense if you have a comfortable base. "Top-ups are being mis-sold as an immediate extension cover of an existing cover," said Chopra. "But the most important factor that people are unaware of is that the threshold or deductible triggers only when the cost of single hospitalisation goes above the threshold. Hence, in our opinion, one should have a comfortable core cover for the family and a top-up to extend the cover."

In fact, top covers are cost effective the most when the deductible is high. You can afford a higher deductible when your basic cover is decent. "The premiums actually depend on how close you are to the ground," said Datta. "Typically, minor claims that are between R2 lakh and R3 lakh are more frequent than huge claims that are above R4 lakh. So a top-up plan that comes with a higher deductible is cheaper than a top-up plan with a lower deductible."

Other policies

Floater policies: A good time to consider a floater policy is when your family expands. Since a floater policy considers the entire family as one unit, the premiums are lower. But the biggest advantage of a floater policy is also its biggest drawback-in the rare case when the entire family needs medical care, a small floater cover can pinch very hard.

Defined benefit plans: The market does not stop at indemnity policies alone. Health insurance plans that have a defined benefit are equally popular. Since the benefits under these plans are defined, they usually work well as income supplement products.

But if you have enough savings or sufficient health insurance, you could give other defined benefit plans, including hospital cash that pays daily cash during hospitalisation or major surgical benefit that pays a lump sum on major surgical procedures a miss. To make top-up plans work in your favour, ensure you have a comfortable base.

The maternity ward is becoming passe, at least for those with money.

Birthplace Health, a Hyderabad-based start-up, has come up with a concept of birthing centres, as they are branded, exclusively meant for child birth.

Targeted at the premium segment, the company is looking to set up a network of such centres, which would provide ambience and several facilities for hassle-free deliveries, across the country.

The premium segment (delivery costing Rs50,000 and more) is about 30% of the Rs11,000 crore birthing market in India.

Birthplace is setting up a proof-of-concept facility in Hyderabad at an investment of about Rs20 crore, which will start in March.

"Delivering a child is an emotional moment of a woman. This is also an occasion for the entire family to celebrate unlike in any other medical need. So, a hospital, which has a variety of people including very sick people seeking treatment, is not the right place for delivering a child. Pregnancy is not a disease and is a moment of joy for the entire family. With this concept, we have been working on a business plan for the last one year," Tarun Siripurapu, managing director of Birthplace Healthcare, said.

The company plans to open over a dozen facilities in various locations like Vizag, Chennai and Coimbatore by 2017. Each centre is expected to cost between `10 crore and `15 crore depending on the location.

The company is funding the first centre through internal resources while it is keen on tapping banks, private equity and venture capital firms for expansion.

"Everything in the birthing centre would be exclusively designed for the would-be mother. The doctors, nurses would be of her choice. We would even provide music of her choice. There is also a library with a good collection of books. Moreover, we don't want to treat the visitors to the centres as typical attendants in a hospital. There are no visiting hours and when to allow people inside is left to the choice of the mother," he said.

The centre also offers facilities like yoga and Lamaze classes, apart from mother and baby exercises, diet and nutrition advice. It also offers training to the fathers on simple issues like changing the baby diapers.

But, all that has a cost to it. Typically, a normal delivery at the centre would cost `80,000 and Caesarian Section would cost less. "Our attempt would be to encourage normal delivery and we would like to charge less for a C Section," he said pointing to the popular perception that the hospitals and nursing homes perform more C Sections to charge more.

According to Siripurapu, a former McKinsey executive in New York, the first centre is expected to take a year to break even and translate into about 1,000 deliveries. "During the first year, we are expecting about 80% of deliveries to happen through referral mode from other gynaecologists in the city," he said. The company is targeting to capture about 8-10% of the premium segment once its network is in place.