ICICI Lombard wins bid for Goa's health insurance scheme

ICICI Lombard, a health insurance company, won the bid for the state-financed health insurance scheme in Goa, by surpassing six other bidders, state health minister Vishwajit Rane announced today.

Rane said that ICICI Lombard had quoted the lowest premium for the scheme, which will cover more than 3.5 lakh households, with each family comprising 5 or less members. The scheme would come into effect from September this year.

The other six bidders included National Insurance Company, Royal Sundaram and TATA AIG.

Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat had launched this scheme during the recent state budget, in which, every household would be eligible for a preliminary and secondary health-care, up to Rs 60,000, annually.

Rane told reporters in Panaji that cashless cards would be provided to the beneficiaries, who can approach any of the listed hospital and get the treatment, including admission absolutely free. Only the people living in Goa since last 5 years would be eligible.

Rane claimed that Goa will become the first state to implement such an insurance scheme for the people. The state has already covered super-speciality treatments under its medi-claim scheme.

Single mums prone to illness in midlife

A new study has revealed that single mothers are more susceptible to health problems in their midlife than their peers who become mothers after marriage.

The study findings show that women who had delivered children outside of marriage reported being less healthy when they reached their 40s than the ones who had postponed motherhood until after their marriage.

In addition, marriage, which occurred after motherhood did not appear to remedy women`s health problems unless they married the biological father, remained married to him and were white or Hispanic. Researchers did not notice any beneficial effect of later marriage for black mothers.

The researchers analysed survey responses from close to 4,000 women aged 14 to 22 years when the study began in 1979, following which they were interviewed every year until 1994 and then every two years afterward until 2008. The results of the thirty years study showed that women who had their first child out of wedlock reported lower levels of health at age 40 than did those who were married when they had their first child.

Considering that far more women have out-of-wedlock children today than several decades ago, the researchers have predicted the trend could lead to an increasing public health problem as these women enter their midlife. According to the researchers, about 40 per cent of newborns in the United States come from single moms compared with 10 per cent in 1960.

Researchers have concluded that the health effects were probably largely a result of the single mothers economic disadvantage. "In the long run, it`s still a case of the socioeconomic disparities that produce all sorts of negative outcomes for people," said William Avison, a sociologist at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

The new study will be published in the Journal American Sociological Review.

Soon, birth control pill for men sans steroids

Washington: Researchers are developing what may be the first oral contraceptive for men without any side effects as it does not contain steroids.

Columbia University Medical Centre researchers found that low doses of the drug stopped sperm production with no apparent side effects.

And crucial for a contraceptive, normal fertility was restored soon after the drug's administration was stopped.

Tests of low doses of a compound that interferes with retinoic acid receptors (RARs) showed that it caused sterility in male mice. Scientists have known for almost 100 years that depriving an animal of dietary vitamin A causes male sterility.

Senior study author Debra J. Wolgemuth, professor of genetics, obstetrics and gynaecology, while investigating male infertility, ran across a paper by Bristol-Myers Squibb on a compound that was being tested for the treatment of skin and inflammatory diseases.

The compound seemed to cause changes in the test similar to the mutation that she and Sanny S. W. Chung were probing in Wolgemuth's lab. Chung is an associate research scientist at Columbia University, according to a Columbia statement.

The company Bristol-Myers dropped its interest when it found that the compound also was in the company's words - "a testicular toxin".

"We were intrigued," said Wolgemuth. "One company's toxin may be another person's contraceptive." Accordingly, they wanted to investigate whether the compound prevented conception at even lower levels than those cited in the company's study.

Wolgemuth and her team placed the treated male mice with females and found that reversible male sterility occurred with doses as low as 1.0 mg per kg of body weight for a four-week dosing period.

"We have seen no side effects, so far, and our mice have been mating quite happily," said Wolgemuth.

3 sisters commit suicide in Gujarat to end HIV misery

In a shocking incident, three HIV-infected sisters consumed pesticides and committed suicide late on Friday night at their home in Khadaliya village of Vartej taluka in Bhavnagar district.

Of the three sisters, two died on the spot while the third died in the government hospital at Bhavnagar. All the three girls were minors, the eldest being 16 years old.

Preliminary investigation by the police has revealed that all members of the girls' family are infected by the AIDS virus. The girls' mother, who died of HIV related complications a few years back, had acquired the deadly virus during blood transfusion given to her during a delivery several years back. Sources said residents of the village maintained distance from them because of the fear of the dreaded illness.

The last rites of the three sisters were conducted in the village on Saturday afternoon. The police have started further investigations regarding the incident.

According to unconfirmed reports, the sisters had taken the extreme step either because they were fed up of the social boycott or were worried about their future as their father, who also has the HIV virus, was continuously ill.

V Chandrashekhar, superintendent of police, Bhavnagar, said the three sisters had died after consuming pesticide. "They had consumed the pesticide at their home. All the three were HIV positive," Chandrashekhar said, adding that the family is very poor. When asked about the alleged social boycott of the family, he said he could not say anything as investigation is still going on.

The three sisters - Abha, 16, Meera, 12, and Chitra, 10, (names changed) - had consumed pesticides together at their home at around 11 pm on Friday.

"We rushed to the spot after 108 emergency services informed us that three sisters had committed suicide. The two had died on the spot while the third died at the government hospital in Bhavnagar where they were taken for treatment," said JR Zala, investigating officer of the case.Zala further said the mother and a brother of the deceased sisters, who were also HIV positive, had died four years back. "All the three sisters were living with their father on a farm outside the village with other family members, who worked as labourers on the farm," he said.

The investigating officer further said that the villagers had not completely boycotted the family but they maintained a distance from the family members. "The sisters were worried about their future as their father was also ill. We also came to know that the mother of the deceased acquired HIV from the blood given to her during delivery years ago," Zala said.

Born deaf are having stronger eye sight than who are able to hear

A new research concludes that deaf people are having better eyesight than in people who are able to hear.

The study was conducted at University of Sheffield and it found that the retinal development is entirely different in people who born deaf and who loses their hearing ability in their earlier life.

The study indicated the people who born deaf have greater peripheral vision which allows them to have more awareness of their surroundings and it indicated that their surrounding awareness is increased by their stronger eye sight.

Andrew Elliot, the co-author of the study said, “Red enhances our physical reactions because it is seen as a danger cue.”