The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

HEALTH

BODY & MIND
Bollywood glamourising smoking: WHO
Tripti Nath

Disturbed by the portrayal of tobacco in a high percentage of Indian films, the World Health Organisation has called on the Indian film industry to stop promoting a product that kills every second regular user.

A recent WHO study on portrayal of tobacco by the Indian film industry has shown that 76 per cent of the 400 films reviewed had some form of tobacco use. The report titled ‘Bollywood: Victim or Ally’ was presented at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva on Friday.

The study infers that the Indian film industry has glamourised use of tobacco. Ms Ambika Srivastava, WHO Consultant and President, Strategic Mediawork, who conducted the study says that 76 per cent of the films reviewed for the study portrayed tobacco consumption which is significantly high.

“It is estimated that in India alone, 15 million persons see Indian films everyday. Around 76 per cent of the top-rated films portray smoking as the ‘cool’ thing to do. Whether it is done consciously at the behest of the tobacco industry or unwittingly, Bollywood cannot afford to ignore its potential in curbing the tobacco epidemic any further. The study established linkages between portrayal of tobacco in films and its implications for the youth. Group discussions with young people clearly show that the use of tobacco on screen has a strong influence on their lifestyle,” says Ms Srivastava.

The study has concluded that unlike the early years of cinema when the villain was shown smoking, good characters are shown using tobacco today. Dr Uton Muchtar Rafei, Regional Director for WHO South East Asia Region says, “Smoking in the movies is a powerful motivation for young people to copy their cine screen idols. Given the fact that the Indian films are popular in other countries of the South Asian sub-continent and Middle East and Africa, they are providing a strong pro-smoking impetus across millions of impressionable youth. The cine industry has a responsibility to the youth, their biggest clientele and must examine its own record in promoting tobacco use and institute mechanisms to prevent misuse of the medium in promoting tobacco.”

WHO Country Representative to India, Dr S.J. Habayeb, says that the growing trend in portrayal of smoking in films is especially worrisome in India where over 800,000 people die every year due to tobacco-related diseases.

The findings of the study are based on the feature films made between 1991 to 2002. These included Tamil and Telugu films. Apart from this, the study also looked at 35 films telecast in the last three years. The study included 31 in-depth interviews with actors, producers and film directors. Besides, the survey also included review of films by 180 respondents in Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai. The field investigators involved in the survey also spoke to teenage groups to find out how portrayal of smoking in films affected their behaviour.

Don't ignore leg pain

Pain in the leg while walking or resting could be due to a vascular problem and should not be ignored, warns Dr Jaisom Chopra, Vascular Surgeon at Batra Hospital.

Dr Chopra says that most of us ignore the pain or take some pain killers to get momentary relief. “But such recurrence of leg pain to be ignored as it could be due to an underlying vascular problem. The vascular disease is caused due to blockage of artery to the leg. It is caused by deposition of fat within the arterial wall. This reduces blood supply to the leg and causes pain and other problems,’’ he says.

Dr Chopra says that about 25 to 30 patients are diagnosed as suffering from vascular disease in a month in Batra Hospital alone. He says that a lot of patients diagnosed with vascular disease come to him late. By this time, gangrene has set in. This results in necrosis of the tissue.

The symptoms of vascular disease are pain on walking, which is relieved by rest, pain preventing a person from sleeping at night, pain in legs, hips and buttock, pain when lying down or when legs are elevated, change in complexion of legs and feet, brittle toe nails, blue or purle toes, hairless toes, legs and calves, wounds between toes or on the ankles.

“If the pain gives a person a sleepless night, he could be in danger of losing his leg. This condition should be brought to the notice of a vascular surgeon immediately,’’ he says. A number of tests can ascertain if the pain is vascular.

The colour doppler or ultrasound of the leg arteries is necessary to indicate the site of narrowing or blockage and finding out if collaterals will be able to take the increased blow flow after surgery. The second test is angiogram. It is a slightly painful invasive technique, which shows the inner lining of deceased arteries along with the extra channels (collaterals).

Dr Chopra says that if the patient has pain only while walking, exercise and complete abstinence from smoking can help. In other cases, two kinds of surgeries may be advised depending on the intensity of the problem. These include the Mininaml Invasive Surgery and Bypass Surgery. In case of a critically `Ischeamic leg’, strong intravenous vasodilator drugs may be given to dilate vessels by drugs.

Lice check-up camp

The Mediker division of Mumbai-based Marico Industries is collaborating with SHARP (School Health Annual Report Programme), a Delhi-based voluntary organisation to organise a lice check-up camp in Ryan International school in Sector 21, Faridabad on Tuesday, for students of primary classes.

The effort is part of Mediker’s avowed objective to make Haryana the first lice free State. A study sponsored by Mediker showed that the incidence in lice among the girl child is very high in Haryana. So far, Mediker has covered 55 government and private schools in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Plant-based medicine

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), an autonomous research and development organisation and Indigene Pharmaceuticals, have signed an agreement to develop plant-derived medicines for the international market. Elaborating on the collaboration, Dr R. A. Mashelkar, Director General, CSIR and Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research said, “Healthcare providers and patients worldwide are seeking safer and cost effective treatment options. Indigene with its proprietary knowledge base and Multiplex Molecular Validation technology and a team of experienced professionals from the global pharmaceuticals industry is positioned to accelerate CSIR’s product development and commercialisation efforts in the Phytopharmaceutical domain.’’

The Chairman and CEO of Indigene Pharmaceuticals, Dr M. Vaman Rao said that Indigene is excited to collaborate with CSIR because CSIR laboratories have comprehensive expertise and knowledge in areas of plant-based medicine.

Vision document

The Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), a statutory body under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, has recently released a Vision Document 20IO to achieve the objective of universalisation of rehabilitation services.

The RCI was set up by an act of Parliament in 1992 to develop, standardise and regulate all training programmes and policies in the field of rehabilitation and special education all over the country.

The vision document has proposed a re-look at the entire concept of rehabilitation in the context of accelerating the pace of training. RCI will also undertake a review of its curricula to lay more emphasis on emerging technologies for imparting education and providing rehabilitation services in rural and urban areas. Between 1993 and 2002 end, about 21,877 special education teachers and other professionals have been trained and registered with the RCI. The Document proposes focus on training for timely intervention, training professionals to provide early childhood education, community-based education, vocational education, foundation courses on disability, national programmes on disability, human resource development at postgraduate and diploma level, mass awareness through print and electronic media, inter-ministerial and international collaboration.

The Council is organising the National Workshop of Rehabilitation Scientists on February 24 and 25 to evaluate the progress of its programmes and evolve a strategy to address issues related to trained manpower. The workshop will also develop a feasible, viable and sustainable action plan for at least five years.

Prostate gland

The R.G. Stone Urological Research Institute in South Delhi has introduced Holmonium Laser Prostectomy, a device used to enucleate the enlarged lobes of prostate gland. The lobes are enucleated with the help of a 550-micron laser fiber attached to a Holmonoium laser machine. Prostate examination is recommended once a year after a man crosses the age of 50 years.

According to the institute, 25 per cent men above the age of 50 may develop an enlarged prostate.

For cancer patients

Payal Jain: The flower of the show.

Payal Jain, a Summa-cum-Laude graduate from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, San Fransico, put up a show at the Hyatt Regency on Saturday in support of the Delhi-based Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA).

The show titled – Soul Collection, 2003, had star attractions from the world of modelling including Shala Lopez, Carol Gracias, Tapur, Lakshmi Rana, Neena Manuel, Vidhisha, Jesie Randhawa, Aparna Kumar, Joey Mathews, Diandra and Sapna Kumar. The show displayed breath-taking designs in Benaras Brocades, timeless Chikankari, the block print collection and the traditional Bandhini. The show ended with a grand auction for the CPAA, which believes in the philosophy of total management of cancer.

Rabies on the upswing, hospitals ill-equipped
Our Correspondent

Ghaziabad, February 22
With people being bitten by stray dogs and monkeys becoming a common occurrence the number of rabies patients is on the increase in the Modi Nagar area.

The problem of patients’ discomfiture is compounded by the fact that most of the hospitals and dispensaries are either oblivious of this scourge or are ill-equipped to treat rabies patients as they do not have injections at all.

People have demanded the municipal committee chief should have stray dogs and monkeys captured in the city.

According to Dr Bhagwati Charan Varma, in-charge of the Hapur veterinary dispensary rabies virus is found in dogs, monkeys, mongoose, mice, cats and some other animals. After dogs, monkeys have a higher rate of this virus. The virus is there in the saliva of these creatures and whenever they bite human beings the rabies virus automatically gets injected into the human system. Animals or humans can become affected with hydrophobia also, a state when patients become mortally afraid of water.

During January this year three heads of cattle had perished in Shahajahanpur, says Dr Varma. A team of Meerut veterinarians, after examining the cattle, came to the conclusion that they had died due to hydrophobia whereas villagers had thought they had died due to brain fever.

Many similar cases have been reported from a number of villages in the area.

When rabies patients come in contact with water their skin gets affected with the result they try to avoid water.

With rabies getting worse, the patient get jolts and his voice resembles that of a dog coughing, says Dr Mukesh Gupta. Rabies is a time-bound disease which comes into its full form within five to 10 days. Unfortunately, rabies injections are not available in all hospitals. Though district hospitals are equipped with medicine, it is given selectively and not to everyone.

There is a great misgiving in public mind that hospital authorities don’t attach any importance to monkey bite. The number of monkeys is increasing in towns and cities but being considered Hanuman’s Sena people mistakenly think monkey bite can cause no harm.

But monkeys have lately created a terror in the oil mill area. To check the monkey menace people have brought langoors to control them. Mr Dev Raj Mittal said of late monkeys had especially targeted women and children.

People have demanded an effective campaign by the government and municipal bodies to rid the area of stray dogs and monkeys.

SPORTS

Lion Kanishka emerge B Division champions
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 22
A fine knock of 62 by Amanjit Singh and deadly bowling of 4 for 24 by Santram enabled Lion Kanishka defeat Bank of Baroda by 190 runs and emerge champions of the DDCA B Division League at the Kotla No II ground.

Scores - Lion Kanishka: 340 for 9 in 40 overs (Amanjit Singh 62, Anup Rana 46, Muddsir Rashid 39 n o, Vikas Sharma 35, Raj Kapoor 30, Keshar Chaudhary 41, Surender Kumar 2 for 55).

Bank of Baroda: 150 all out in 30 overs (Surender Kumar 36, Sharad Batnagar 33, Ajit Kumar 30, Santram 4 for 24, Muddsir Rashid 2 for 12, Amanjit Singh 2 for 49).

National Stadium defeated Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) by eight runs in a Super A Division match at Kotla I ground.

National Stadium: 200 for 7 in 40 overs (Vivek Razdan 55 n o, Tariq-ur-Rehman 27, Hanish Arora 27, Harpreet Singh 2 for 30).

CWC: 192 all out in 39.5 overs (Rajeev Vinayak 51, Gaurav Sharma 44, Sunil Sudan 34, V Arvind 3 for 24, Shashi Ranjan 2 for 43).

Malviya Club defeated Air Force by eight wickets in a Super A Division match at the Air Force ground. Air Force made 142 all out in 39.3 overs.

Scores - Air Force: 142 all out in 39.3 overs (Sumit Sharma 54, Deepak Bhaskar 27, T Anand 2 for 28, Onkar Singh 2 for 23).

Malviya Club: 143 for 2 in 28.3 overs (Padamjeet Sehrawat 71 n o, T Anand 35).

Dena Bank defeated South Delhi Club by 11 runs in a Super A Division match.

Scores - Dena Bank: 141 all out in 29.2 overs (Sanjay Sharma 58, Mahesh Sood 28, Nitin Thareja 3 for 33).

South Delhi: 130 for 5 in 30 overs (Rameez Niyamat 35, Prashant Yadav 35, Ghayoor Ahmad 30, Vikas Vij 3 for 19, Mahesh Sood 2 for 24).

Alitalia down HDFC

Alitalia Airlines defeated HDFC Bank by two wickets in a league match of the second Turf Challenge Cup Cricket Tournament at the Mount St Mary’s ground. Raman, who scored a brisk 65, was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Scores - HDFC Bank: 146 all out in 20.4 overs (Sant Ram 21, Virender Bhoj 22, Conard Young 3 for 12, Vivek 2 for 27).

Alitalia Airlines: 147 for 8 in 24.2 overs (Raman 65, Nirmal Bansal 2 for 38, Sant Ram 2 for 19).

Six players qualify for Mercedes finals
Our Sports Reporter

New Delhi, February 22
Six players have qualified from Delhi and will be the special guests of Mercedes Benz at the prestigious Mercedes Trophy golf finals to be layed at Pune on March 8. The three lucky winners at the national finals will be flown to Stuttgart (Germany) for the world finals, to be held from September 25 to 30.

Over 450 players participated in the Delhi leg, held on Friday and Saturday at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

Karan Kumar tallied 39 points to win the Category A event on count back. Capt. Shakti Dogra, with 40 points, finished second. In Category B, Amit Pal Singh Gooller scored 46 points to emerge winner. Atul Malhotra finished second on 45 points.

Mukul Bahri tallied 46 points to annex the Category C event. Y Suri on 43 points took the second position. Arvind Vishwanathan won the closest to the pin contest while Tiger Bahadur hit the ball to a distance of 350 yards to win the longest drive contest.

The Mumbai leg will be held at the Willingdon Sports Club on March 2 while the final will be held at the Poona Club Golf Course on March 8. DaimlerChrysler India managing director Hans-Michael Huber gave away the prizes at a gala awards function organised by the Taj Mahal hotel.

Jindal and Power in final

Jindal Steel and Power will take on Signature in the final of the Raymond Maharaja Jiwajirao Scindia Gold Cup Polo Tournament. In the semi-finals on Saturday, Jindal Steel and Power defeated Army-Tag Heuer 10-6 while Signature defeated Army Blue-Tag Heuer 6-3.

Angad Kalaan, Basheer Ali and Adhiraj Singh scored for Signature while Col J S Virk, Col Pinka Virk and Manoj Dewan hit home the goals for Army Blue.

In the second semi-final, Jindal Steel and Power were helped by goals from Shamsheer Ali and Samir Suhag while Satish Kumar and Gerrardo Dollardin got the goals for Army Tag Heuer.