“Regular physical activity is associated with better lung function among smokers, regardless of air pollution levels.” — Environment International Source :  https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/healthline-ritesh-kumar/article25217566.ece

Cadmium review:Jewellery with the toxic metal cadmium is showing up on the shelves of national retailers in the U.S. , according to newly released test results. Analysis done for the non-profit Center for Environmental Health showed that some jewellery sold with women’s dresses and shirts was nearly pure cadmium, which …

A revolutionary journey in India’s health-care system has just begun with the launch of Ayushman Bharat. The world’s largest public health-care scheme promises to cover 100 million poor and vulnerable families. But will it have a transformative impact in a country where this is delivered mostly by the private sector? …

Research undercuts beliefs about strenuous training and pregnancy Female athletes seem to be able to exercise safely and intensively both before and during pregnancy without increasing their risk for birth-related complications, even if they are trekking up Mount Everest, according to two eye-opening new studies. Together, the new research undercuts …

Past and present co-exist in Delhi’s Naya Jain Mandir The Shri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir dominates the skyline at the entrance of Chandni Chowk in Shahjahanabad, or Old Delhi. The red spires can be seen opposite the Red Fort’s Lahori Darwaza from afar. This temple has its origins in the …

It’s all that’s real — everything else is an illusion It really amazes me how some people will never admit that they were wrong. Take, for instance, this whole anti-Aadhaar-wine-and-cheese-loving-paid-urban-Naxal-pro-JNU gang. The Supreme Court has definitively settled the matter in favour of Aadhaar by a thumping majority of 4:1. And …

Proper public remembrance alone restores dignity and self-respect to the victim Last week saw several women come out publicly to speak about their suffering at the hands of sexual predators in our society. But do we, those of us who saw or heard them, really understand what they experienced, the …

Much of what exists on social media is not conversation or even argument. It is sheer gossip Gossip plays a crucial role in one of our greatest epics. I am talking of the Ramayana, and what Sita has to undergo as a consequence of, yes, gossip after she has been …

A rare case of organ transplant failure highlights the need for outcome registries in India In a rare instance in Mumbai last month, the organs of a 59-year-old brain-dead patient, that were harvested and transplanted, failed in all the three recipients. One of them, a 32-year-old being treated for renal …

Critical hardware swapped to back-up units, solar panels pointed towards sun Barely a week after NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope entered safe mode, the Chandra mission has also suffered a glitch possibly due to the failure of the gyroscope, the US space agency said. The Chandra X-Ray Observatory, observing the universe …

Injected bacteria transferred the pigment-producing genes to the rose genome It may soon be possible to breed blue roses in your garden, say scientists who have found a way to express pigment-producing enzymes from bacteria in the petals of a white rose. Researchers including those from Chinese Academy of Sciences …

Drug safety results of over 5,000 patients showed significant reductions in patient mortality while no new safety signals have emerged In a recent Rapid Communication, the World Health Organisation (WHO) made important changes in the regimens to treat patients with multidrug-resistant TB (resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin). Two of the …

‘High-risk’ zones need special conservation attention Human–animal conflict is common in the Himalaya like any other region where wildlife and people live together. A study of patterns of leopard attacks here reveal that some areas are high-risk zones requiring urgent conservation measures for the safety of both man and beast. …

The silk scaffold has seamless junction between the cartilage and bone portions Implanting cartilage alone or injecting cells found in healthy cartilage (chondrocytes) at the site of injury to heal the damaged cartilage in patients with osteoarthritis does not produce favourable results. Similarly, implanting two different scaffolds joined together to …

As Sri Lankans grapple with rapidly soaring living costs, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told Parliament last week that “the increase of oil prices is inevitable in the current global context”. Fuel prices went up from six to eight rupees — 92-octane petrol costs LKR 155 (roughly Rs. 68) — slowly …