The organic acids present in the aerosols serve as a unique fingerprint in identifying the source of pollution.

A 20-year-old woman who was hospitalised in Taiwan in May 2013 with shortness of breath has been found to be infected with a novel H6N1 avian influenza virus subtype.

Research shows the condition was seen in pre-industrial humans

A study published on Monday (March 11) in The Lancet disproves the notion that atherosclerosis (hardening and narrowing of the arteries) that causes heart attack and stroke is a predominantly lifestyle-related disease and product of industrialisation. The researchers, who studied 137 mummies from four populations spread across geographically using whole body CT scanning, provide hard evidence that the condition was seen in pre-industrial humans. The populations studied were from ancient Egypt, ancient Peru, the ancestral Puebloans of southwest America and the Unangan of the Aleutian Islands (modern Alaska).

The programme was started at six centres in Tamil Nadu

The Chennai-based National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (formerly Tuberculosis Research Centre) has started a pilot testing programme of providing for six months isoniazid TB drug as prophylactic to HIV-positive individuals. People recruited will include those on antiretroviral therapy (ART) too. The programme was started about two months ago at six centres in Tamil Nadu (including two ART centres in Chennai) and it got under way recently in Bangalore, New Delhi and Hyderabad. The ART centres were chosen by the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO).

BARC’s Nisargruna biogas technology can produce 25-30 kg of methane and 50-60 kg of organic manure from onetonne of biowaste A staggering amount of waste is generated every day in every town and city, and the local bodies are grappling with logistics for its disposal. The problem arises as the government and individuals fail to see waste as a potential source of energy and agricultural input in the form of manure.

The Bangalore Corporation, which recently made waste segregation mandatory at the household level, is showing the way for the rest of India. It is setting up 12 Nisargruna biogas plants across the city to convert biodegradable waste into methane and organic manure.

The national strategic plan for TB control for 2012-17 developed by the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has raised the bar for tackling the fast- growing TB epidemic in the country. The main goal of the strategic plan is to provide universal access to early diagnosis and effective treatment.

According to the draft report of the fifth Joint Monitoring Mission (JMM) of the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme , the strategic plan, if implemented in full earnest, would save about 7,50,000 lives over the next five years.

The “Report on possible impacts of communication towers on wildlife including birds and bees,” is a textbook example of how not to write scientific reports.

An expert committee, also comprising a few scientists from reputed institutions, was constituted in August 2010 by the Ministry of Environment and Forests to study the issue. It was on the basis of their recommendation that the Central Department of Telecommunications was recently directed to ensure that new mobile towers do not come up within a one-kilometre radius of existing towers.

Having nearly 275 million tobacco users, India ranks second globally and very close to China (approximately 301 million users). But unlike China, where nearly all are smokers and nearly 95 per cent smoke manufactured cigarettes, India accounts for more of smokeless tobacco users — 206 million, says a study published today (August 17) in The Lancet .

The study analysed the data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) conducted between October 2008 and March 2010. The data from 14 low and middle-income countries that “collectively contribute to most of the disease burden attributable to tobacco use” was compared with that of the U.K and the U.S. The number of people surveyed was different in the case of each country. India had the highest number surveyed, both of men and women.

The annual rate of shrinkage is 48.2 metres in terms of length and 0.57 % in terms of area

A majority of glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding regions are retreating, according to a study published recently in Nature Climate Change . The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions contain most of the world’s glaciers outside the polar region. The total glacier area in this region is 100,000 square kilometres. The authors found that the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding regions exhibited systematic differences in glacial shrinkage.

Sixty per cent of people living in India do not have access to toilets, and hence are forced to defecate in the open. In actual numbers, sixty per cent translates to 626 million. This makes India the number one country in the world where open defecation is practised. Indonesia with 63 million is a far second!

At 949 million in 2010 worldwide, vast majority of people practising open defecation live in rural areas. Though the number of rural people practising open defecation has reduced by 234 million in 2010 than in 1990, “those that continue to do so tend to be concentrated in a few countries, including India,” notes the 2012 update report of UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO).