The Unicef has reportedly found that there are more than 30 million girls who are `at risk` of being subject to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) over the next decade.

FGM, a ritual cutting of girls` genitals is practised by some African, Middle Eastern and Asian communities in the belief it protects a woman`s virginity and more than 125 million girls and women alive today underwent this procedure which is now opposed by a majority of countries where it was practiced.

According to the report, Unicef survey found that support for FGM from both men and women has seen a decline and the organization wants action to end the practice completely.

Unicef deputy executive director Geeta Rao Gupta said that FGM `is a violation of a girl`s rights to health, well-being and self-determination and added that legislation is not enough to end the practice.

The study found that FGM remains almost universal in Somalia, Guinea, Djibouti and Egypt and there was little discernible decline in Chad, Gambia, Mali, Senegal, Sudan or Yemen.

However, it was seen that most girls and women and a significant number of boys and men, opposed the practice.

Rao Gupta said that the challenge now is to let girls and women, boys and men speak out loudly and clearly and announce they want this harmful practice abandoned.

The report added that the consequences of FGM include severe bleeding, problems in urinating, infections, infertility and increased risk of newborn deaths in childbirth.

One third of people suffering from throat cancer are infected with a form of the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a study has suggested.

More than 100 types of HPV are there and there are two HPV strains that are likelier to cause cancer - HPV-16 and HPV-18.

HPV-16 is believed to be responsible for about 60 percent of cervical cancers, 80 percent of cancers in the anus and 60 percent of oral cancers.

The new study observed HPV`s link with cancer of the back of the throat - oropharyngeal cancer .


In the study, the researchers looked at blood test results collected from people who took part in a huge prospective study into lifestyle and cancer, who were healthy at the beginning.

They compared blood test results of 135 people, who went on to develop throat cancer, and for 1,599 people free of cancer.

The University of Oxford team found 35 percent of those with throat cancer had the antibodies, compared with fewer than 1 percent of those who were cancer-free, the BBC reported.

The study has been published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

A new study revealed that a derivative of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), a main ingredient of over-the-counter fish oil supplements, can soothe and prevent neuropathic pain caused by injuries to the sensory system.

The research, by Duke University, focused on a compound called neuroprotectin D1=protectin D1 (NPD1=PD1), a bioactive lipid produced by cells in response to external stimuli.

NPD1=PD1 is present in human white blood cells, and was first identified based on its ability to resolve abdominal and brain inflammation.

"These compounds are derived from omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, but are 1,000 times more potent than their precursors in reducing inflammation," Ru-Rong Ji, professor of anesthesiology and neurobiology at Duke University Medical Center and principal investigator of the study, said.

The team used laboratory mouse models of nerve injuries to simulate pain symptoms commonly associated with post-surgical nerve trauma.

They treated these animals with chemically-synthesized NPD1=PD1, either through local administration or injection, to investigate whether the lipid compound could relieve these symptoms.

Their findings revealed that NPD1=PD1 not only alleviated the pain, but also reduced nerve swelling following the injuries.

Its analgesic effect stems from the compound`s ability to inhibit the production of cytokines and chemokines, which are small signaling molecules that attract inflammatory macrophages to the nerve cells.

By preventing cytokine and chemokine production, the compound protected nerve cells from further damage. NPD1=PD1 also reduced neuron firing so the injured animals felt less pain.

Ji believes that the new discovery has clinical potential.

"Chronic pain resulting from major medical procedures such as amputation, chest and breast surgery is a serious problem," he said.

Current treatment options for neuropathic pain include gabapentin and various opioids, which may lead to addiction and destruction of the sensory nerves.

On the other hand, NPD1=PD1 can relieve neuropathic pain at very low doses and, more importantly, mice receiving the treatment did not show signs of physical dependence or enhanced tolerance toward the lipid compound.

The research is published online in the Annals of Neurology.

Hypertension patients who do not take their blood pressure medications systematically have a greatly increased risk of suffering a stroke and dying from it compared to those who take their medication correctly, a study has shown.

A study of 73,527 patients with high blood pressure, published online Wednesday in the European Heart Journal, found that patients who did not adhere to their medication had a nearly four-fold increased risk of dying from stroke in the second year after first being prescribed drugs to control their blood pressure, and a three-fold increased risk in the tenth year, compared with adherent patients.

"These results emphasise the importance of hypertensive patients taking their ant-hypertensive medications correctly in order to minimise their risk of serious complications such as fatal and non-fatal strokes," Dr Kimmo Herttua said.

Dr Herttua, the first author of the study, is a senior fellow in the Population Research Unit at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

"Non-adherent patients have a greater risk even 10 years before they suffer a stroke. We have also found that there is a dose-response relationship. The worse someone is at taking their anti-hypertensive therapy, the greater their risk," Herttua wrote.

The researchers, including scientists from Finland and University College London, UK, used nationwide registers in Finland that give details of prescriptions, admissions to hospital and deaths.

Women who take aspirin every other day could lower their risk of developing colon cancer by 20 percent, new research has suggested.

For the study, researchers at the Brigham and Women`s Hospital in Boston, looked at 39,876 women in the age group of 45 and older.

For the study, participants took a 100 mg dose pill of aspirin or a placebo every other day from when they were enrolled in the study until 2004.

The participants also completed questionnaires about their cancer status, how often they took their medication, any negative effects, any additional aspirin use and other risk factors.

After the study, researchers followed 33,682 participants, who were not given additional aspirin or placebos for this additional time frame, through March 2012.

After nearly two decades, women in the aspirin group had a 20 percent less chance of developing colon cancer than those who were taking placebos.

And women who continued taking aspirin after the end of the trial had the lowest colon cancer risk, CBS News reported.

The study, funded by the U.S. National Cancer Institute and U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine.