The discovery could lead to new tests to identify if deafness in their family is genetic and therefore if any future children would be at risk.

An estimated one child in 750 is born profoundly deaf or with a severe hearing loss. In at least half of these children, the cause of deafness is genetic.

The research was funded by the Royal National Institute for the Deaf and conducted in The Netherlands.

It discovered that changes in the PTPRQ gene can lead to deafness after studying the genetics of families where several members had inherited childhood hearing loss.

The research project compared the DNA of individual family members in order to identify regions in the DNA likely to contain the genes that cause deafness. Using this approach, the researchers discovered this and a further two new deafness-causing genes.

All three genes are thought to play an important role in the development of the delicate inner ear hair cell, which is essential for hearing.

Dr Sohaila Rastan, RNID's Chief Scientific Advisor said: "Knowledge of genes causing deafness tells us more about how our hearing works. This research will help develop medicines that are desperately needed to prevent deafness and restore hearing. ''

Dr Hannie Kremer from Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre said: "Our approach is identifying more genes for congenital deafness. This knowledge will help improve treatments for patients, genetic counselling, molecular diagnosis and the development of advanced therapeutic strategies."

Department of Health and Family Welfare along with the rest of the world observed World Health day on April 7 at conference hall of Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, Kohima.

According to a press note Dr. M. Kire, joint director Directorate of Health and Family Welfare, dwelling on theme 'Urbanisation and Health- 1000 cities 1000 lives', highlighted on the effect of rapid urbanization and industrialization on health and the role that can be played by department. Further, he stated that water and air pollution effect on health had become a worrying trend in control or prevention of diseases and with influx of huge number of migrant labourers from other states in fast developing towns like Dimapur, Mokokchung and Kohima, the introduction of diseases not prevalent in the state had become a possibility or reality. The meeting also deliberated on issues like awareness generation or inters- sectoral co- ordination, proper waste or water management and control of air pollution.

FPAI: Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) Nagaland Branch also observed the day. Resource person Vizalenu Khatso shared on the challenges of urbanization and health and said urban poor suffered disproportionately from a wide range of diseases including tuberculosis and HIV. She stressed on importance of urban planning to promote healthy behaviors and safety through regulatory controls on tobacco and food safety. The other highlight of the day included free medical health camp for all clients visiting the FPA Drop-in-Centre at NSF Martyrs park.
IRSCN: IRSCN observed the day on the theme 1000 cities -1000 lives.
A press release issued by Dr SP Agarwal general secretary IRSCN. said that it was estimated that by 2030 six out of ten people will be living in city dwellers and urbanization will face health challenges in water, environment, violence, injury, non communicable diseases and risk through tobacco/ alcohol use, unhealthy diets would increase disease outbreaks and therefore requested Red Cross to initiate clean up activities in their neighborhoods. He requested them to visit nieghbours, orphanages, and hospitals and express solidarity with them.

CIHSR: CIHSR, Dimapur began the week long "World Health Day-2010" at the Great Commission Kids Academy (GCKA), Naga United Village, Dimapur on April 7. The meeting was held at the Covenant Hall, GCKA. Dr. Tanya Seshadri (MD, Community Medicine) from CIHSR, Dimapur introduced the theme of the Day- "1000 Cities: 1000 Lives- Urban Health Matters" emphasizing the challenges for health up keep in the ever expanding Urban population. Seshadri also showed a short video clip of a Japanese boy named Yuhta Oissi studying in Class 4, at the Shizuoka City High School who was responsible for bringing stringent rules against smoking in public place in his city of Shizuoka, Japan. Dr. Sulanthung Kikon, pediatrician, CIHSR edified on the importance of keeping their bodies and minds healthy including physical exercise and sports, balanced and nutritious diets, saying 'No' to drugs and 'No' to too much of computer games and its adverse effect on one's health.

Earlier Elizabeth Dozo, Head Mistress of GCKA welcomed the gathering while Dr. Viu Meru, Community Health Consultant chaired the meeting.
Following the meeting, in collaboration with the Indian Medical Association, Dimapur Branch, Nagaland, doctors from CIHSR conducted health check up for the students of the school. During the week the students of GCKA will have competition in painting, essay writing and debate on several relevant issues of Urban Health.

Delhi Public School Dimapur also organized 'World Health Day 2010' on April 7 with resource person Dr. Leena Sen who spoke on the theme "urbanization and health".

The state government has ordered an inquiry into the incident in which a young woman gave birth to a child right outside Zenana Hospital in the city on Saturday.

The inquiry was ordered by minister of state for health Rajkumar Sharma. "The allegations made against the hospital administration are serious in nature and if they are found true, disciplinary action will be taken," said the minister, who is currently in Delhi.

It is a matter of disgrace that a patient had to beg for treatment despite all medical advancements, he said.

The incident occurred on Saturday morning when a seven month pregnant woman reached the hospital for consultation but could not enter the building due to labour pain. Her husband rushed to the hospital to seek help but the staff asked him to bring the woman inside.

Even as she continued to groan in pain for nearly an hour, none from the hospital offered help, nor a stretcher was send to pick her.

Meanwhile, some passersby informed the 108 ambulance service which soon arrived to attend the woman. Though the child was delivered on road in complete absence of any medical care, the staff of 108 ambulance helped to cut its umbilical chord. They were later admitted to the hospital though the child was reported brought dead.

"The child died inside the womb and it was not because of unavailability of medical care. There was no neglience on the part of the staff," the hospital administration said later.

Congenital stationary night blindness, an inherited condition that affects one's ability to see in the dark, is caused by a mutation in a calcium channel protein that shuttles calcium into and out of cells. Now, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have teased apart the molecular mechanism behind this mutation, uncovering a more general principle of how cells control calcium levels. The discovery, published in Nature, could have implications for several other conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Huntington's diseases.

"Calcium is so crucial for normal functions like heart contraction, insulin control and brain function," says David Yue, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Calcium Signals Lab at Hopkins. "If calcium levels are off at any time, disease can ensue. Our new approach, watching calcium channels in action in living cells, allowed us to tease apart how they behave and how they're controlled and find a new module that could be targeted for drug design."

The aberrant calcium channel protein that causes this type of night blindness is missing the tail end of the protein. Yue's team compared the ability of this protein to full length versions by examining how well they can maintain electrical current in cells. Normal channels show a decrease in current with an increase in calcium levels. "We and others initially believed that the missing piece of the protein might behave to simply switch off the ability of elevated intracellular calcium to inhibit this current," says Yue. "Without this module, there's no way to down-regulate the calcium entering through these channels."

Yue's team found out, however, that in reality, this module functions in a far richer and nuanced manner. Calcium channels are known to be controlled by the protein CaM, which senses and binds to calcium, whereupon CaM binds to channels in a manner that inhibits their calcium transport function. To figure out how the tail module works in conjunction with CaM to control the calcium channel, the team used a molecular optical sensor tool that enabled them to see in live cells different levels of CaM, a controller of the channel protein. When CaM is abundant, the sensor glows cyan; when CaM is low, the sensor glows yellow.

The researchers found that the tail module doesn't simply turn off channel sensitivity to calcium; rather, the module smoothly retunes how sensitive channels are to CaM, and in turn how sensitive the transport function of channels is to intracellular calcium. In all, the tail module smoothly adjusts how much calcium enters cells. This manner of adjustment "may bear on many neurodegenerative diseases where calcium is dysregulated," says Yue.

With the optical sensor, Yue and his team next will examine other types of live cells, including nerve and heart cells, to measure whether changes in calcium channel behavior can lead to disease-like states.

The secrets of a key gene that helps us to live longer and fight disease have been unlocked by University of Birmingham researchers. They works to develop a drug based on the gene, which makes it a real possibility for cutting down the ageing process of the body.

Dr Robin May who led the research says that there is a definite potential to develop drugs slowing down the ageing process, though stopping ageing may not happen.

The higher levels of the gene called DAF-16, is directly linked with the longer life. It is strongly involved in determining ageing and average lifespan of laboratory worms. This genes also have effects on other traits including immunity. If the gene is more, the possibility to live longer will be high. Exposing the worms to a short burst of higher temperature, a quick bit of stress, increased the activity of this gene.

Scientists say that their experiment gave the idea that some moderate level of stress or challenge will be sufficient for us to live longer.

The study has been published in the journal Plus One.