Members of the Hriday Mitra Pratishthan will launch an agitation to protest against the state government's attitude towards patients suffering from cancer, kidney and heart ailments.

Managing trustee of the Pratishthan Shrikant Mundada said the Siddhivinayak Mandir Nyas at Prabhadevi used to provide financial aid of Rs20,000 to patients suffering from cancer, kidney and heart diseases. "However, this help has stopped since November 2008," he said, explaining that the finances of the temple trust are being managed by the state law and judiciary department of the state government.

Akansha Mishra, 23, has had close to 1,000 fractures all over her body — a sneeze or just the touch of her mother's bangles was enough to break her bones. The 23-year-old suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) or brittle bones, a congenital disorder affecting one person in a lakh population.

A surgery has now given her hope of a stronger future. Akansha, a resident of Padrona, a small village in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, was operated at Criticare and Breach Candy hospitals a month ago. She was in the city last week for a follow up.

The hepatitis-B epidemic in Modasa has not only taken lives of many but also given rise to frauds.

Promising hepatitis-B virus vaccination at reasonable prices, some fraudsters have taken Rs17,000 from residents of Varthu village near Modasa.

Tempted by the pricing at Rs12 a vaccination, (otherwise Rs50), about 1,500 residents in Varthu village, gave away money and never found self proclaimed doctors visiting the village again.

Be it a fast lifestyle, erratic working hours or stress. Slowly yet steadily, the factors have been taking its toll on women, including teenagers. Or so say doctors about cases they face where patients complain about severe hair loss, sudden weight gain, irregular menstruation or increased hair growth on the chest or body. The symptoms may vary, but the causal factor is a sudden hormonal change in the body.

City gynaecologists say over the last five decades, the number of women suffering from hormonal problems has increased to 20 per cent.

Washington, Feb 25 : A new study has revealed that kids who have high blood pressure are not as good at complicated, goal-directed tasks, have more working memory problems and are not as adept at planning as their peers without hypertension.

The study also found if kids are both hypertensive and obese, they are also more likely to have anxiety and depression.

For the study, Marc Lande, M. D., a paediatric nephrologist at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and colleagues enrolled 32 newly diagnosed hypertensive children and adolescents (10 to 18 years old) from the Paediatric Hypertension Clinic at the University''s Golisano Children''s Hospital.

Washington, Feb 25 : Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health have found that pregnant women and new moms with diabetes are likely to become depressed, putting both themselves and baby at risk.

"While previous studies have linked diabetes and depression in the general population, this is the first time, to our knowledge, that the relationship has been studied specifically in pregnant women and new mothers," says Katy Backes Kozhimannil, research fellow in the Department of Ambulatory Care and Prevention at Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

"We believe these findings may help clinicians better identify and treat depression in new mothers," Kozhimannil added.