Slippery bacillus

Meeting to care

Propelled into action by the suffering of relatives and patients afflicted with the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and Alzheimer's disease, family members and doctors have joined hands to set up the Motor Neurone Disease Association of India and the Alzheimer's and Related Disorders Society of India to help patients deal with these debilitating disorders.

High-pressure juveniles

Children suffer from high blood pressure (BP) almost as much as adults, according to two studies conducted among 3,200 children aged 5-16. Among the factors attributed for the high juvenile BP levels were obesity and a family history of hypertension.

The right formula

Setting a global precedent, the Eighth Asian Congress of Paediatrics in the Capital refused to accept financial support from infant formula food companies. The congress president, R D Potdar, claimed this was a principled stand taken by the paediatric community to promote breast-feeding. Paediatric conferences all over the world are supported by baby food manufacturers.

Alarming figures

WIDESPREAD depression is a cause of concern to psychiatrists. According to the book, Down with Gloom or How to Defeat Depression, by Brice Pitt and Mel Calman of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, one in eight people may be significantly depressed at any one time. At least half go unrecognised by general practitioners, but two million new cases are still found in Britain every year. Even more alarming is the fact that, of the 4,000 suicides a year, 70 per cent are triggered off by depression.

Overdose

Prescription of antibiotics in Northern Ireland increased 207 per cent during 1988-91, say researchers at the University of Belfast. Drugs for heart patients and antacids also registered boosts of 126 and 46 per cent respectively. Furthermore, the investigation revealed a three-fold increase in the prescription of oral antibiotics and that the drug to hit stores first usually retained the largest market share (British Medical Journal, Vol 307, No 6909).

Drugs alone do not create health

ONE EXPECTS doctors to refrain from overdosing the patient. But do they really do that? Apparently not, as is evidenced by experiences in some European countries such as France and Italy. The governments of these nations are spending twice as much on medicines per capita than others without any significant improvement in relative life expectancies.

Is violent behaviour hereditary?

VIOLENT aggression in humans may be because of a genetic defect, a recent Dutch study suggests. Han G Brunner and his colleagues at the University Hospital in Nijmegen report that a change in the gene coding for an enzyme called monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) may be responsible for unprovoked, aggressive outbursts displayed by certain males in a Dutch family that the researchers have been studying for the past ten years (Science, Vol 260, No 5115).

Irate doctors complain US reforms illegal

AMERICAN doctors are waving their scalpels against Hillary Clinton, head of the presidential task force on health. The American Medical Association, which fears that investments made in specialised training and equipment by physicians would be devalued if Hillary's proposed health care reforms come into force, has contended that the practice of medicine is a property right protected by the US Constitution.

Drug dilemma

THE JAPANESE pharmaceutical industry will shrink by 10 per cent in three years because of government plans to tighten price controls, say analysts. Drug manufacturers in Japan usually offset price cuts by increases in volume, as the process of drug dispensation in the country offered doctors the incentive to prescribe many expensive medicines (Down To Earth, May 31, 1993). This will, however, no longer be possible because the government plans to predetermine reimbursement for various diseases.