AFP, WASHINGTON - Low levels of vitamin D in elderly people may lead to increased depression and other psychiatric problems, Dutch researchers said.

"Underlying causes of vitamin D deficiency such as less sun exposure as a result of decreased outdoor activity, different housing or clothing habits and decreased vitamin intake may be secondary to depression, but depression may also be

REUTERS, Beijing - A province in eastern China recorded 622 new cases of the intestinal virus known as enterovirus 71 on Saturday alone, the official Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.

The figure brought to 5,151 the number of people infected by the virus in Anhui province, Xinhua quoted the provincial health administration as saying. Anhui's worst hit city was Fuyang with 362 cases.

Beijing, May 02 (bdnews24.com/Reuters) - A deadly virus has spread rapidly in eastern China, killing at least 21 children and infecting nearly 3,000, Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

Enterovirus 71 began spreading in Fuyang in the eastern province of Anhui in early March but authorities only reported it publicly on Sunday, saying there had been 789 cases.

REUTERS, KATHMANDU - Nepal has issued a bird flu alert and is testing poultry along the border with India, where the virus rages despite the culling of tens of thousands of chickens since 2006, officials said.

Nepal, which has not reported any bird flu cases, banned the import of poultry from India in January. But it shares an open border with the Indian state

AFP, WASHINGTON - An experimental gene therapy has helped restore partial vision to people with congenital retinal disease, according to breakthrough studies which provides hope for treating various eye illnesses.

Clinical trials showed success on three young adults at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia who suffered from a rare and as yet incurable form of congenital blindness, according to studies published Sunday.

The number of diarrhoeal patients, mostly children, is on the rise in the city due to the sweeping mild heat wave and short supply of pure water, reports UNB A total of 408 people visited International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research, Bangladesh ICDDR,B with complaints of stomach upset Friday till 5pm.

"The number might go up to 560 by midnight," Dr Shahdat Hossain, head of the longer stay unit of ICDDR,B, told UNB Friday. He said some 556 people with the same complaint visited the ICDDR,B in 24 hours till Thursday midnight, while the same number of patients visited it Wednesday.

AFP, PARIS - An ambitious global drive led by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to end malaria deaths in Africa "in the near future" was to be launched Friday on World Malaria Day, according to Britain's leading medical journal.

The multi-billion dollar (euro) initiative will start with the delivery of 250 million insecticide-treated bednets by the end of 2010 to those parts of the continent where the deadly disease is endemic, The Lancet reported.

REUTERS, GUWAHATI, India - Authorities battling an outbreak of bird flu in poultry in Tripura blamed Bangladesh for the spread on Thursday, but many experts said India was not doing enough to contain the virus.

More than 25,000 chickens and ducks have already

AFP, TOKYO - The monthly discomfort many women see as a curse could pay off someday as Japanese researchers say menstrual blood can be used to repair heart damage.

Scientists obtained menstrual blood from nine women and cultivated it for about a month, focusing on a kind of cell that can act like stem cells.

Bangladesh is likely to go for manufacturing cancer medicines for the poor countries, including SAARC nations, to provide cost-effective and affordable treatments to the patients, reports agency.

This was focused at a 4-day International Socio-Scientific Cancer Conference (ISSCC) for SAARC Region held in Dhaka recently under the joint auspices of the Oncology Club and the Federation of Anti-Cancer Activities of Bangladesh (FACAB).

Medical waste management

A total of 255 out of 1,000 healthcare establishments in Dhaka City have so far been brought under hazardous medical waste management programme and rest 705 hospitals will come under it by 2012 to drastically cutback public health risks, reports agency.

Marie Stopes, a reproductive healthcare provider and the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) in cooperation with Projects in Agriculture, Rural Industry, Science and Medicine (PRISM) took the initiative under a programme styled ‘Hospital Waste Management Project (HWMP).

AFP, SINGAPORE - The world risks wiping out a new generation of antibiotics and cures for diseases if it fails to reverse the extinction of thousands of plant and animal species, experts warned Wednesday.

Biodiversity loss has reached alarming levels, and disappearing with it are the secrets to finding treatments for pain,

Speakers at a seminar Saturday urged the government to undertake a preventive cardiology programme and initiate a coordination with the National Centre for Control of Rheumatic Fever and Heart Diseases (NCCRF&HD) to help prevent from cardio diseases in the country, reports agency.

The preventive measure should be implemented by the NCCRF&HD under the control of director general of health services for coordinating the activity

Speakers at a discussion in the city on Friday placed emphasis on taking preventive measures minimizing the use of medicines to cure diseases, reports agency.

The also called on all concerned to see healthcare from the humanitarian point of view without considering it a commercial commodity.

A total of 5.28 lakh children have been suffering from night blindness in the country mainly due to ignorance in taking vitamin-A enriched food including fruits and vegetables, reports agency.

Colonel M Sirajul Karim, medical adviser to the General Officer Commanding of the 9th Infantry Division said Tuesday while inaugurating the advocacy programme on school health for the area

Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser for Fisheries and Livestock Manik Lal Samaddar on Thursday said the government will cull only the chickens of the bird flu- affected poultry farms in future on an experimental basis, reports agency.

Director General of Department of Livestock Sunil Chandra Ghosh and former director general Dr Nazir Ahmed also addressed the seminar, among others. Prof Dr Mansurul Amin of Bangladesh Agriculture University and BLRI Senior Scientific Officer Dr M Giasuddin presented

Agency

Eight people died in Narsingdi and Kishoreganj Wednesday after eating puffer fish, locally known as potka fish, doctors said. Six people died in Belab upazila of Narsingdi, where 32 others, including a fishmonger, had also been affected.

The dead are Monir Hossain Khandaker, 60, his wife Hajera Begum, 50,