The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| India temple elephants sent on rejuvenating holiday Posted: 18 Dec 2011 06:58 AM PST  Decorated elephants walk during a procession for the Jaal Yatra in Ahmedabad. A southern Indian state on December 14, 2011 ordered a vacation for elephants employed by temples as part of an official programme to 'rejuvenate' the weary creatures, officials said. – AFP pic State foresters herded 45 domestic pachyderms from Hindu shrines and hermitages in Tamil Nadu to the coastal state's Mudumalai forests for a 48-day break to help them regain lost vigour, they said. "The elephants were brought in two batches in trucks from various temples and mutts (hermitages) across the state," said senior forest department official Ameer Haja. They will eat a special diet of sugarcane, coconuts and banana laced with herbal medication and vitamins during their stay at the rejuvenation camp, Haja added. Elephants form a traditional part of Hindu rituals in temples, where they bless pilgrims and devotees with their raised trunks. They are also trained to perform other physical duties at the shrines. – AFP Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Israeli scientists develop cancer ‘cluster bomb’ Posted: 18 Dec 2011 02:49 AM PST  Medical researchers from Tel Aviv University say they have developed a new technique for blasting cancer tumours from the inside out. – Photo by shutterstock.com Tel Aviv University professors Yona Keisari and Itzhak Kelson are about to start clinical trials of a pin-sized radioactive implant that beams short-range alpha radiation from within the tumour. Unlike conventional radiation therapy, which bombards the body with gamma rays from outside, the alpha particles "diffuse inside the tumour, spreading further and further before disintegrating," a university statement quoted Keisari as saying. "It's like a cluster bomb – instead of detonating at one point, the atoms continuously disperse and emit alpha particles at increasing distances." The university said that the process takes about 10 days and leaves behind only non-radioactive and non-toxic amounts of lead. "Not only are cancerous cells more reliably destroyed, but in the majority of cases the body develops immunity against the return of the tumour," the statement said. The wire implant, inserted into the tumour by hypodermic needle, "decays harmlessly in the body," it added. It went on to say that in pre-clinical trials on mice, one group had tumours removed surgically while another was treated with the radioactive wire. "When cells from the tumour were reinjected into the subject, 100 per cent of those treated surgically redeveloped their tumour, compared to only 50 per cent of those treated with the radioactive wire," it said. "The researchers have had excellent results with many types of cancer models, including lung, pancreatic, colon, breast, and brain tumours." It added that the procedure would begin clinical trials at Beilinson hospital, near Tel Aviv, "soon." – AFP Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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