A 65-year old Nigerian woman suffering severe rheumatoid arthritis, who hadn't walked for 11 years, is now walking again. She was treated in India and believe it or not, she will be going home with five metallic implants. It's like a second life for 65-year old Margaret to be able to stand up and walk on her own after being bedridden for 11 years.

"My fingers were so swollen, I could not even brush my teeth, my grand daughter used to help me. I couldn't stand up, couldn't walk. I couldn't go to the church. My daughter used to help me wash. My cook would feed me. And I was in great pain. I used to cry day and night," Margaret said.

A year ago, she flew down to India with her son where doctors at a private hospital in the capital performed three separate types of surgeries on her.

First, both her knee joints, which were almost worn down due to rheumatoid arthritis, had to be replaced with metallic implants. Next, she had spinal surgery to help ease the pain and correct the stoop in her back, so she could stand again. And finally, both her hip joints needed to be replaced with metallic implants.

In total, Margaret now has five metallic implants in her body.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr Yash Gulati said, "She has metal joints in her hips, metal joints in her knees, metal screws in her spine, metal all over. She was over weight, had soft bones but despite all challenges, she did well."

The surgeries cost about Rs 14 lakh in total, but Margaret has no complaints.

She said, "I was dead then, I am alive now. I want to go back to the church and I want to run my business again, be with my sons and daughters, play with my grandchildren."

After regular physiotherapy for the next few weeks, Margaret would be able to fly home to a new life.

Women who have abortions are at risk of severe mental health problems, new research has found.

The study showed that those who undergo abortion face nearly double the risk of mental health difficulties compared with others and that one in ten of all mental health problems was a result of an abortion.

The findings come as Tory MP Nadine Dorries, backed by Labour's Frank Field, has put down an amendment to a Health Bill which requires women seeking abortion to see an independent counsellor first.

Currently organisations which provide abortions offer counselling, but critics say the advice given can often be biased.

The latest research was carried out by American academic Priscilla Coleman and published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

It adds to previous findings made public by the journal three years ago which first questioned the assumption of abortion campaigners that terminating a pregnancy reduces rather than increases the health risks to women.

Professor Coleman's study was based on an analysis of 22 separate projects which analysed the experiences of a total of 877,000 women, of whom 163,831 had had an abortion.

It said: "Results indicate quite consistently that abortion is associated with moderate to highly increased risks of psychological problems subsequent to the procedure.

"Overall, the results revealed that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81 per cent increased risk of mental health problems, and nearly 10 per cent of the incidence of mental health problems were shown to be directly attributable to abortion."

The study said that abortion was linked with a 34 per cent greater chance of anxiety disorders, and 37 per cent higher possibility of depression, a more than double risk of alcohol abuse - 110 per cent - a three times greater risk of cannabis use - at 220 per cent - and 155 per cent greater risk of trying to commit suicide.

Professor Coleman said her research was intended "to produce an unbiased analysis of the best available evidence addressing abortion as one risk factor among many others that may increase the likelihood of mental health problems".

She added: "There are in fact some real risks associated with abortion that should be shared with women as they are counselled prior to an abortion."

There was a time when In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) used to be immensely admired by middle-aged women for resolving issues related to pregnancy.

However, the world is advancing rapidly, and at present, young women from urban backgrounds, who are not able to envisage because of an ultra-traumatic daily life, late marriages and long-working hours are slowly but steadily turning back on In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF).

Expressing her opinion related to the contrast in preference for IVF, Indira Ganeshan, gynecologist specializing in IVF, said that the IVF was mostly used by patients between 38 and 45 years of age. But, since last seven years or so, there is a gradual and noticeable budge in the age group of women opting for IVF treatment.

IVF is a medical progression to fertilize egg cells using sperm. The most imperative thing is that the amalgamation is conducted outside the human body.

Hormonal injections are used in order to enhance the efficiency of the eggs. The eggs are later detached from ovaries, and are processed with sperm for the process of fertilization, carried out inside a regulated and cultured milieu.

During the final phase of treatment, the fertilized egg is relocated into patient's uterus so as to establish a booming and fruitful pregnancy.

The treatment method is gaining popularity rapidly. At present, nearly 70% patients are between 23 and 32 years of age, though the tendency is noticeable merely in urban locations, said Dr. Indira.

A new study led by an Indian-origin researcher has identified six new genes that are responsible for the early onset of type-2 diabetes in South Asians (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh).

The findings give scientists new leads in the search for diagnostic markers and drug targets to prevent and treat this major disease.

People of South Asian ancestry are up to four times more likely than Europeans to develop type 2 diabetes, which is a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

The researchers from around the world examined the DNA of 18,731 people with type 2 diabetes and 39,856 healthy controls. The genomes of the participants were analysed to look for locations where variations were more common in those with diabetes.

The results identified six positions where differences of a single letter in the genetic code were associated with type 2 diabetes, suggesting that nearby genes have a role in the disease.

"This is the first genome-wide association study in South Asians, who comprise one-quarter of the globe"s population, and who carry a high burden of the disease and its complications, including heart attack and stroke," said Professor Jaspal S Kooner, from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, the lead author for the study.

"We have shown that the genetic variants discovered here in South Asians also exist and contribute to diabetes in Europeans.

"Our studies in Asians and European populations highlight the importance and gain in examining the same problem in different ethnic groups," he added.

The study has been published in Nature Genetics.

Teenage girls who starve themselves in an attempt to lose weight could raise their risk of heart disease later in life by up to a third, a new study suggests.

Severe undernutrition during adolescence, even for short periods, can have severe consequences later in life according to researchers from the University Medical Centre in Utrecht, The Netherlands.

A study of almost 8,000 women found that those were seriously deprived of food during their teens, through no fault of their own, went on to have a significantly higher risk of heart disease in future years.

Doctors recommend women eat 2000 calories a day to stay healthy, but some modern-day celebrities have reportedly chosen to undergo periods of starvation in a bid to make themselves thinner.

Victoria Beckham is alleged to have eaten 600 calories a day after adopting a diet of little more than mineral water and strawberries before becoming pregnant with her third son, Cruz.

Even more severe was the diet of Portia De Rossi, the former Ally McBeal and Arrested Development actress, who last year claimed to have dropped six stone during an earlier period of anorexia in which she ate just 300 calories a day.

Healthy eating campaigners expressed concerns that negative images in the media could prove seriously damaging to young people having trouble with their own eating habits.

A study of almost 8,000 women found that those exposed to severe underlnutrition and weight loss at some point during their childhood and adolescence had a 27 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease in later life, rising to 38 per cent in those who had been aged 10 to 17.

Women who had suffered moderate hunger and weight loss had a slightly higher risk of heart disease, although the study also found that the risk of stroke was lower for women who had been undernourished than for those who had not.

Annet van Abeelen, who led the study, said: "Our study pinpoints the crucial role childhood plays in adult health.

"Growth that has been hampered by undernutrition in later childhood, followed by a subsequent recovery, may have metabolic consequences that contribute to an increased risk of diseases later in adulthood."

A spokesperson for Beat, the eating disorder charity, said: "Daily, young people are surrounded by images of so-called role models in the media which can be unhelpful to someone who is struggling with their eating habits.

"Eating disorders and yo-yo dieting can certainly have long term health consequences which can lead to organ failure."

Researchers studied almost 7,845 women who had been aged up to 21 during the Dutch famine in 1944-45, during which official rations slumped as low as 400-800 calories a day before the country was liberated from Nazi occupation.

Writing in the European Heart Journal, researchers said: "The Dutch famine of 1944-45 is a 'natural experiment' in history, which gave us the unique possibility to study the long-term effects of acute undernutrition during childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood in otherwise well-nourished girls and women."

The participants were divided into three groups - those who had been "severely" exposed to famine, those who had been "hardly" exposed and those whose experience fell in between.

Figures showed that women who were severely exposed to the famine had a 27 per cent higher risk of coronary heart disease than those who were unexposed, rising to 38 per cent in those who were aged 10-17 at the start of the famine.

The researchers observed that stress during the famine may also have led to changes in behaviour which could impact on a person's risk of heart disease later in life.

But in an editorial accompanying the study, Prof Kausik Ray and colleagues at St George's University of London wrote that the paper, along with seperate research into Chinese and Russian famines, provided "consistent data showing that nutritional status in childhood may impact significantly on chronic diseases processes in later life."