News

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister   Yogi Adityanath   on Wednesday banned chewing of 'paan' (beetal leaves), and consumption of tobacco and its products in all state government offices, hospitals and educational institutions and directed for ban on use of polythene. The Chief Minister also allocated portfolios to his ministerial colleagues, keeping several key departments like home, revenue, mining and jails with him. Adiyanath inspected the Shastri Bhavan (annexe) here during his first full working day here after taking oath as the Chief Minister on Sunday. He inspected various floors and sections of the building to get a first-hand account of cleanliness and work ethos. According to an official release, Adityanath gave a stern message that "old work style and lax attitude towards work" will not be tolerated and stringent action taken against those found wanting in discharge of their duties. Adityanath asked Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar to ensure a proper s...

Smoking puts your sperm at risk Do you smoke? You could be unwittingly lowering your   sperm   quality, a new study warns. The research that included 20 nonsmoking men and 20 men who smoked found that that sperm of smokers has a greater extent of DNA damage than that of non-smokers. Researchers also assessed 422 proteins in participants' sperm. One protein was absent, 27 proteins were underrepresented, and 6 proteins were over-represented in smokers. Analyses of these proteins suggest that cigarette   smoking   may promote an inflammatory response in the male reproductive tract. "More and more studies are demonstrating a harmful effect of smoking on male fertility. Our results point in the direction of important semen alterations: semen of smokers presents an inflammatory nature, associated with decreased capacity of sperm to achieve fertilization and generate a healthy pregnancy," said senior author Dr Ricardo Pimenta Bertolla. Bertolla added that in t...