Typhoid fever and paratyphoid fever (also collectively known as enteric fever) are severe systemic illnesses characterized by sustained fever and generalized symptoms.
The infections are transmitted through fecal-oral route and are caused by the bacterium Salmonella typhi or Salmonella paratyphi A, B, or C. Together, they cause an estimated 26 million infections and 200,000 deaths every year, with high numbers originating from parts of South Asia.
An increased prevalence of antibiotic resistance has been found with first line treatments using oral amoxicillin, chloramphenicol and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. This has led to a new generation of antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones to curb the new resistant species.
Gatifloxacin was previously released in 1999, but was withdrawn after concerns about its side effect of causing unstable blood sugar levels was published in 2006 by the New England Journal of Medicine.
Led by Dr. Amit Arjyal in Nepal, researchers from the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, together with researchers at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit–Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, Nepal, ran an open-label randomized superiority trial, investigating the efficacy and side effects of a new fluoroquinolone, gatifloxacin, against chloramphenicol.
In this trial, the team discovered that gatifloxacin was not inferior to chloramphenicol in rates of treatment failure and had similar fever clearance time. There was also neither a difference in rates of positive stool cultures at the 1 and 6 month mark nor any difference in relapse rates.
The results of this trial was published in Lancet Infectious Diseases. The researchers identified several advantages of using gatifloxacin over chloramphenicol. There were fewer side effects associated with gatifloxacin such as anorexia, nausea, dizziness and diarrhea. Gatifloxacin required less frequent administration for a shorter duration compared to chloramphenicol (1 time a day for 7 days, versus 4 times a day for 14 days). It also cost less than chloramphenicol, at . Finally, chloramphenicol-resistant strains may be susceptible to gatifloxacin.
However, gatifloxacin use resulted in elevated sugar levels in elderly patients, which returned to normal after the treatment was concluded. Hence, the researchers submitted a recommendation to the World Health Organization that gatifloxacin be used in young populations with a low risk of diabetes. The drug is also currently in Phase III trials for the treatment of mycobacterium tuberculosis

Research results indicate that, after exposure to humor, there is a general increase in activity within the immune system, including:

	An increase in the number and activity level of natural killer cells that attack viral infected cells and some types of cancer and tumor cells.
	An increase in activated T cells (T lymphocytes). There are many T cells that await activation. Laughter appears to tell the immune system to "turn it up a notch."
	An increase in the antibody IgA (immunoglobulin A), which fights upper respiratory tract insults and infections.
	An increase in gamma interferon, which tells various components of the immune system to "turn on."
	An increase in IgB, the immunoglobulin produced in the greatest quantity in body, as well as an increase in Complement 3, which helps antibodies to pierce dysfunctional or infected cells. The increase in both substances was not only present while subjects watched a humor video; there also was a lingering effect that continued to show increased levels the next day.

 Laughter Decreases "Stress" Hormones
The results of the study also supported research indicating a general decrease in stress hormones that constrict blood vessels and suppress immune activity. These were shown to decrease in the study group exposed to humor.
For example, levels of epinephrine were lower in the group both in anticipation of humor and after exposure to humor. Epinephrine levels remained down throughout the experiment.
In addition, dopamine levels (as measured by dopac) were also decreased. Dopamine is involved in the "fight or flight response" and is associated with elevated blood pressure.
Laughing is aerobic, providing a workout for the diaphragm and increasing the body's ability to use oxygen.
Laughter brings in positive emotions that can enhance – not replace -- conventional treatments. Hence it is another tool available to help fight the disease.
Experts believe that, when used as an adjunct to conventional care, laughter can reduce pain and aid the healing process. For one thing, laughter offers a powerful distraction from pain.
In a study published in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, patients were told one-liners after surgery and before painful medication was administered. Those exposed to humor perceived less pain when compared to patients who didn't get a dose of humor as part of their therapy.
Perhaps, the biggest benefit of laughter is that it is free and has no known negative side effects.

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells anywhere in a body. The abnormal cells are termed cancer cells, malignant cells, or tumor cells. Many cancers and the abnormal cells that compose the cancer tissue are further identified by the name of the tissue that the abnormal cells originated from (for example, breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer). Cancer is not confined to humans; animals and other living organisms can get cancer. Below is a schematic that shows normal cell division and how when a cell is damaged or altered without repair to its system, the cell usually dies. Also shown is what can occur when such damaged or unrepaired cells do not die and become cancer cells and proliferate with uncontrolled growth; a mass of cancer cells develop. Frequently, cancer cells can break away from this original mass of cells, travel through the blood and lymph systems, and lodge in other organs where they can again repeat the uncontrolled growth cycle. This process of cancer cells leaving an area and growing in another body area is termed metastatic spread or metastatic disease. For example, if breast cancer cells spread to a bone (or anywhere else), it means that the individual has metastatic breast cancer.

The girl with 8 limbsIn 2005, a girl with four arms and legs was born in a poor, rural Indian village. LAXMI  had two functioning arms and legs on the top of her body, but fused with her body at the pelvis was a parasitic twin with two arms and legs of its own, an undeveloped torso, and no head.







Trapped twin lives inside brother—for 36 yearsSanju Bhagat was always a little concerned about his large stomach, which was once so big he appeared to be nine months pregnant. Amazingly, he never received any medical attention for his protruding belly until he was hospitalized for shortness of breath in 1999 at the age of 36.

Instead of the enormous tumor they expected to find, the doctors who operated on Bhagat found the remains of a half-formed twin that had been living inside him. The condition, known as FETUS IN FETU occurs when one twin gets trapped inside the body of the other in the womb.