Solving a longstanding mystery, scientists have found that the human heart continues to generate new cardiac cells throughout the life span, although the rate of new cell production slows with age.
The finding, published in the April 3 issue of Science, could open a new path for the treatment of heart diseases such as heart failure and heart attack, experts say.

“We find that the beating cells in the heart, cardiomyocytes, are renewed,” said lead researcher Dr. Jonas Frisen, a professor of stem cell research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. “It has previously not been known whether we were limited to the cardiomyocytes we are born with or if they could be renewed,” he said.

The process of renewing these cells changes over time, Frisen added. In a 20-year-old, about 1 percent of cardiomyocytes are exchanged each year, but the turnover rate decreases with age to only 0.45 percent by age 75.

“If we can understand how the generation of new cardiomyocytes is regulated, it may be potentially be possible to develop pharmaceuticals that promote this process to stimulate regeneration after, for example, a heart attack,” Frisen said.

That could lead to treatment that helps restore damaged hearts.

“A lot of people suffer from chronic heart failure,” noted co-author Dr. Ratan Bhardwaj, also from the Karolinska Institute. “Chronic heart failure arises from heart cells dying,” he said.

With this finding, scientists are “opening the door to potential therapies to having ourselves heal ourselves,” Bhardwaj said. “Maybe one could devise a pharmaceutical agent that would make heart cells make new and more cells to overcome the problem they are facing.”

But roadblocks remain. According to Bhardwaj, scientists do not yet know how to increase heart cell production to a rate that would replace cells faster than they are dying off, especially in older patients with heart failure. In addition, the number of new cells the heart produces was estimated using healthy hearts — whether the rate of cell turnover in diseased hearts is the same remains unknown.

To find out the rate at which new heart cells are generated, the researchers used carbon-14 dating to estimate exactly when in the life span the cells were created. They found that less than 50 percent of cardiomyocytes are exchanged during a normal human life span.

Levels of carbon-14 can be used to date the cells, because levels of this isotope rose during the era of above-ground nuclear bomb tests, back in the 1950s. This also increased the levels of carbon-14 in the cells of all people and animals on Earth at the time. However, the levels of carbon-14 in our DNA has been dropping since above-ground testing was banned. So, pinpointing the levels of carbon-14 at various times in particular cells let the researchers date when each cell was born.

Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that for any cell-replacement therapy to be clinically useful, the rate of cell regeneration would have to dramatically increase.

“It was previously believed that the cardiomyocytes are terminally differentiated and cannot regenerate when the heart is damaged,” Fonarow said. “Recent studies have suggested that cardiomyocytes can regenerate, but there has been substantial controversy as to the rate of cellular turnover,” he said.

This new study, using carbon dating, suggests that cardiomyocyte regeneration can occur, but to a very limited degree, Fonarow said.

“Whether there will be medical or gene therapies that can safely and effectively allow for higher rates of myocardial regeneration will require further study,” he said.

In a related development, scientists reporting in the April 3 issue of Cell Stem Cell found that they could use stem cells to promote the creation of new blood vessels in mouse hearts.

The team from Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, used a dual therapy. On one side, they slowed the degradation of SDF-1, the main chemical that guides stem cells to damaged heart tissue. They also treated the mouse hearts with granulocyte colony stimulating factor, a drug that mobilizes stem cells from various places such as the bone marrow and blood. This two-pronged approach led to the generation of new blood vessels and improved cardiac function following a heart attack, the team said.
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Conference Press Release
25 March 2009
Delegates of the International Conference on Indigenous Peoples’ and Extractive Industries are set to submit on Saturday to officials of the United Nations, multi-lateral financial agencies and governments their position paper on how to address the plight of the Indigenous Peoples worldwide, including other measures that would mitigate the problems of climate change brought about by the indiscriminate extraction of natural resources.
In the three-day conference attended by 85 representatives from 37 countries, they are one in saying that the manner by which transnational mining companies undertake the extraction of oil, gas, gold and other mineral resources often tramples their basic human rights viz-a-viz the seemingly relaxed regulations imposed on them by the states.
“The faces of violence, the persecution of IPs, and the manner of incursion in our lands are the same worldwide, — from the continents of Africa to Asia as far as extractive industries are concerned, not to mention the environmental destructions they caused,” the world indigenous peoples said.
UN representatives, including those from the World Bank and other multi-lateral financial institutions are also expected to arrive tomorrow for a separate expert workshop, which also caps the three-day affair of the IP delegates. Government representatives from Bolivia, the Philippines, Ecuador and Norway are also expected to participate.
Conference organizer Tebtebba, said they expect a positive response from these institutions, expressing hopes that future endeavors to address these problems will be in accordance to the highest standard set forth under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and on corporate accountability. The UNDRIP is the latest international agreement adopted by the UN General Assembly and signed by 143 countries in September 13, 2007.
They said that while they admit that extractive industries play a vital role in pumping up the economy of the world, this should be done under strict regulations and international standards to protect the environment, propel sustainable development, alleviate poverty and respect and preserve the rights and cultural legacy of the IPs.
“We hold our rights to be inherent and indivisible and seek recognition not only of our full social, cultural and economic rights but also our civil and political rights. We condemn all doctrines, policies and practices based on the presumed superiority of certain peoples and worldviews,” they said.
In the Philippines, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources continues to harp the bright opportunities for the mining industry as an estimated $3 Trillion of untapped mineral resources has been opened up for extraction with interested foreign investors. Thus, it is more likely that further dislocations of the local indigenous peoples and environmental degradation will take place unless there is a strong and effective mechanism that will govern the conduct of the mining companies.
Just yesterday, Intex Resources Philippines Inc., a unit of Intex Resources ASA of Norway, signed a $2.95-billion agreement with the Philippines to develop a nickel reserve on an area straddling Occidental and Oriental Mindoro provinces.
This comes at a time when the country also hosts the second international conference in an effort to send a strong message to world and financial leaders to halt future schemes by both the mining companies and governments that go beyond the bounds of the laws and regulations protecting the environment and the rights of the indigenous peoples.
For inquiries, please contact:
Jo Villanueva
Mobile: 09194111660
Email: jomvillanueva@gmail.com

Each April in Kawasaki the Kanamara Festival takes place at the Wakamiya Hachimangu Shrine in Kawasaki, about thirty minutes by train south of Tokyo. It’s an unusual festival and one that may cause you to shake your head and look twice at some of the mikoshi (portable shrines) being paraded through town.

“Huge pink and black phalluses were paraded down the streets of this Japanese town in an annual fertility festival, as some 30,000 worshippers asked for blessings and protection from sexually transmitted diseases.”

Source: Reuters, Phallic festival celebrates fertility in Japan
The Kanamara Festival dates back over three hundred years when prostitutes came to the shrine to ask for protection from syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. Today, prayers are for fertility and protection from AIDS and the penis is the symbol of the festival. Volunteers carve daikon (Japanese radishes) in the the shape of the male and female sexual organs and offer them to the gods.
Popular souvenirs from the event are phallus shaped candies and the area surrounding the shrine is decorated with images of the penis in all shapes and sizes!

This years festival will be help on April 5th and starts with a fire ceremony and the opening rites performed by a Shinto priestess. After which a giant pink phallus will be loaded onto a mikoshi (portable shrine) and costumed participants will proudly and boisterously parade it through the streets. This event goes on all day and long into the night.

It’s not your usual festival and certainly not one for the prudish!
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More pictures

by Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai

first, she lays down the heartbeat
the flat hand on the drum
advancing into the battlecry of love

next comes the handclap
shake the evil spirits from the air,
send them scrambling to their corners,
wave and wiggle and wriggle them
from sticking on our skins

on top of that is the shakera
like a ratchet,
tweaking, tightening, fastening
us to the song

the strain of piano is the rare bird
picking at concrete outside a brooklyn
bodega or the green leaf, lush and veiny
that falls on a chicago project bench, the real
light when most hope is gone, not
sugar saccharine fake sickly sweet stuff

on top of that, is the scratch
lest we forget that we are in mistress
missy’s house that she controls
the time and stop. the love. and stop.
our hearts and stop. what

did the record labels know what
to do with her? put her in shiny
plastic suits and bug-eyed glasses
like a hundred-sided die tumbling
against the rain on her window

an alien cartoon sent to us from the future
to push enough units without tits and
ass under plastic shrinkwrap –

no thighs exposed, she had her divas
for that: aaliyah, tweet, ciara, jazmine sullivan,
some say her girls, these fine little young things,
sexy and rare and strong, she mentored them,
cooed them, coaxed them into melody

i can’t help but find two women tangled in the
pretzel of love in the studio 3 AM laying their hearts down
on the track, crooning and conjuring waveforms for some man
who never was and never will be there.

he just as much an illusion as the booties
backed up in the video.

missy’s hand on her girl’s fit waist, pulling her close
in the booth by the top of her low-rise jeans, the
golden boil of the song welling hot in her girl’s belly
and throat.

i can’t help but imagine two women’s
bodies finding each other
between these sheets of sound

while tom cruise jumps from oprah’s
couch screaming his love for his second
mechanical wife, latifah bashfully answers the
interviewer, saying “set it off” was her favorite
role, progress held by the pristine rings on Ellen
and Portia’s fingers, lindsay lohan’s lesbianism
just a naughty bleached blonde trend following
alcoholism and rehab, katy perry’s exploratory girl-kissing

no match for two women traversing love,
locked in the studio 3 AM, ripping apart
and resurrecting the bones of each song.

Her website www.yellowgurl.com

A request from Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai:

So it’s always been my dream to be on a 30 under 30 list, and time is quickly evaporating, ha! So yes, NOMINATE KELLY FOR ANGRY ASIAN MAN’S 30 UNDER 30 MOST INFLUENTIAL ASIAN AMERICANS. Just send 100 words or less on why you think I should be on his 30 Under 30 List. Details here: http://www.angryasianman.com/2009/03/who-are-30-most-influential-asian.html-YAY!

By WHO (World Health Organization)

WHO last issued a public statement on the financial crisis in the days prior to the Washington meeting of the G20. While acknowledging the severity of the problems faced by G20 leaders and their partners in government around the world, the statement went on to say, “It is not yet clear what the current financial crisis will mean for low-income and emerging economies, but many predictions are highly pessimistic.”
Over the course of the last four months, as forecasts for economic growth in all parts of the world have been revised ever downward, it has become increasingly clear that those predictions were only too accurate. The crisis is now truly global. It strikes at a critical time for health in all parts of the world.
• In low-income countries, the impact of the crisis is being felt through reduced demand for exports, tighter access to capital, less foreign direct investment and falling remittances. Consequent unemployment too often comes with no protective safety net. As incomes fall, public sector services become the more favoured source of health care at the very time that government revenues to finance them are under greatest pressure. Information is still patchy, but we know that at least seven ministries of health in Africa – including some of the poorest – have already been notified that the budget for health will be cut as the result of the crisis. Others anxiously await the next budget cycle.
• When local currencies are devalued the cost of imports rises. Essential life saving medicines may become either unavailable or unaffordable. We know that costs of medicines rose in previous crises – we are already seeing the same effect again as prices rise, not just in Africa but in Europe and Central Asia (up to 30%). The potential impact extends beyond the individual and family to societies as a whole. Governments have made commitments to keep people living with AIDS on treatment. We have to take the steps needed to ensure that these promises can be upheld. Drug prices are rising in some of the countries affected by drug-resistant TB. Failure to contain this threat to public health has consequences well beyond national borders.
• Many high-income countries with ageing populations have been positioning themselves for anticipated increases in spending on health and pensions. Several are in the process of undertaking complex and politically challenging reforms. We must be concerned when we see evidence that plans to set aside resources and create the fiscal space to address the future health needs of the elderly are being shelved as the crisis deepens.
Health is a global concern. It is a vital investment in economic development and poverty reduction. It is central to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Access to health care is a fundamental entitlement and responsibility of governments the world over. Reducing exclusion, extending universal benefits and protecting people from impoverishment are common elements of a growing number of national health policies. Managing expectations and containing spiralling health care costs is critical to the continuing solvency of many economies in the industrialized world. Maintaining the integrity of systems that protect us from cross-border health threats, that detect and respond to outbreaks, pandemics and emerging diseases is of concern to all nations. Progress in one direction depends on all the others. We compromise on any one of these elements at our collective peril.
• A global crisis requires global solidarity and actions. Maintaining levels of health and other social expenditures is critical to protect life and livelihood and to boost productivity. Where countries do not have adequate reserves and where revenues have fallen, the shortfall will have to come from aid. It will need to be skilfully managed for maximum impact. But the critical point is that commitments to maintain levels of aid are not an additional extra to the recovery agenda, but an integral element for its success.
• The impact of the crisis will vary country by country, but to sustain levels of health there is a growing consensus as to what needs to be done. We need good quality real-time information to guide the response; we need to be able to identify groups most at risk; to ensure that safety net programmes are well targeted so they reach the most needy; to seek efficiencies in spending where possible; to recognize that crises often offer opportunities for reform; to sustain spending on prevention (which is often the first casualty of spending cuts); and where external aid is required to ensure it is as effective as possible.
• People are the ultimate target of economic recovery. WHO’s concern is people’s health, but health is dependent on many factors: employment, shelter, nutrition, education. In some countries, economic stimulus packages target people’s health directly (through reducing health insurance payments, or building less number of clinics). But a well-planned infrastructure programme will have multiple benefits: rural roads increase access to markets, boost farmers’ income, and reduce maternal mortality. Assistance to micro finance schemes helps keep children in schools, empowers women, and boosts the long-term health prospects of their families.

The financial crisis has shown the downside of global inter-dependence. The response must demonstrate the opposite – the benefits of global cooperation. There are positive signs: several countries have made public their commitments to maintain levels of social sector spending. Most donors have promised to keep to their commitments for aid spending. Many countries have decided to forge ahead, despite the crisis, with reforms that will make their health systems fit for purpose as they face major demographic and social changes. The UN is working hard on ensuring a more joined up response. The equation between crisis and opportunity is fast becoming the cliché of the moment. Nevertheless, I would argue that a truly global approach to economic recovery, which puts peoples’ lives and livelihoods at its centre, will mean that we could emerge with systems that are stronger, more efficient and more equitable than those that are currently under such serious threat.

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I think this Poem must have been written looking at 2nd world war destruction of France
Salam,
Asghar Vasanwala

Paris

With dusk, lit up pale-faced lights
In endless rows along lanes & alleys
And from their beggar-bowl-shaped bulbs rained forth
The frustration of this crowded city
Far off, beyond the horizon’s panorama
The signposts of past grandeur, began to bedim
While right before the eye
A shadow, ceiling to wall’s shade
In the hope of a fellow shadow
Speechlessly to his wont
Holds his breath
The preface of time’s callousness
And a stranger
Dodging the lights and ghostly
Shadows
Bends back to his dreamless den

(Translation by Ikram Azam)

Paris (by Faiz Ahmed Faiz)

Din dhala kucha-o-bazar mein saf-basta hueeN
Zard zard roshniyaN

saf-basta=standing in a row Zard=yellow

In meiN har eik ke kiskol se barsiN, rim-jhim

Kishkol=begging bowl, kamandal

Is bhare shehr ki nasudagiyaN

Nasudgi=frustration

Door pas-e-manzar mein dhud-lane lage

Pas-e-manzar=behind the scene

Azmat-e-rafta ke nishaN

Azmat-e-rafta=past glory

Pesh Manzar meiN

Pesh Manzar=in front

Kisi saya-e-deevar se lipTa hua saya, koi
Doosre saye ki mohum si ummid liye

mohum=imagined, false

Roz-marrah ki tarh Zer-e-lab

zer-e-lab=concealed under lips, in heart

Sharh-e-be-dardi-e-ayyam ki tamheed liye

Sharh=explanation Be-dardi= cruelty, callousness tamheed=preface

Aur koi ajnabi
In roshniyoN, sayoN se katrata hua
Apne beKhwab shabistaN ki taraf jata hua

shabistaN =place for spending night, bedroom

By Ram Puniyani

Varun Gandhi is the son of Sanjay and Maneka Gandhi; Late Sanjay Gandhi was the son of Indira and Feroz Gandhi; Indira Gandhi was the only daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru. Birth defects are consistent with Darwinian theory of evolution but many of the magnitude revealed by Varun Gandhi are not in record. A Hindu boy born to a Sikh mother and Parsi father? In the article below, Varun Gandhi utters unutterable but then this most likely is the way members of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Singh (RSS) family think. Some say, other are too clever to openly say it.

Varun Gandhi in his election speeches (March 2009) has been pouring vitriol against minority community. He presented the usual prejudices and biases in a very hateful manner. He associated minority community with being aggressive and violent. He pointed out that arms are being smuggled into ghettoes (i.e. Muslim localities), Hindus are being targeted, cow slaughter ‘remains’ have been found but no action has been taken. This is part of his speech, which he accepted as being part of his talk. At the same time he disowned the CD, which shows him talking of cutting hands of those attacking Hindus, that Muslims have frightening name etc. Any way, this taped speech came to the notice of election commission. Election Commission sent him a notice about violation of code of conduct. Meanwhile, he first apologized and then disowned the tape. Election Commission rejected his plea of CD being doctored, and also advised BJP not to field him as a candidate for elections. BJP spokesman said it is their prerogative to decide as to whom to field or not. Meanwhile Varun Gandhi is being more sought after as a speaker in BJP rallies. The Muslim members of the BJP first were appalled by all this, condemned it but later they took ambiguous position about the same. The top leadership of the party kept mum initially and now and now seem to stand firm to field him as BJP candidate.

Apparently Varun Gandhi got the advice not to apologize as his speech has given a ‘correct’ signal to the core constituency of BJP. Watching part of the video on TV show was an experience of total disgust, the language, the content, the way such hateful things have been talked about against minorities in such a hateful manner.

One realizes that ‘Hate speech’ is the outcome of the politics of divisiveness, it is the concentrated expression of the ’social common sense’ prevailing in the society, it is the forthright and blunt way of putting things, which communal parties propagate anyway. It is not out of the blue that these formulations suddenly crop up, their infrastructure, the base of these has already been made by a section of political outfits. Also ‘Hate Speech’ is generally an accompaniment of the politics in the name of religion and language, and also many times it precedes the violence. The communal-sectarian parties decide when and in what proportions to use it. One recalls two major examples in the recent times. One was Sadhvi Ritambhara, who was propped up for pravachans (religious discourses) by RSS combine. She was talking blunt anti minority things, duly endorsed by communal political organizations. This took place around the Babri demolition. Later she was packed off to some Ashram as their politics needed a change of Hate language.

One has been hearing similar things from many a sadhus of VHP, small and sundry members of communal gang, some Muslim communalists and the ilk of Togadia. There has been a more sophisticated presentation of the similar formulations by many others. Modi, all through talked of divisive language, but kept changing the form in a very subtle way to suit the changing needs of his political strategy. When he said that post Gujarat refugee camps should be shut down as they have become factories of production of children, he was reinforcing the propaganda about Muslims having more number of children. The effect on minority community was the intensification of the atmosphere of fear and intimidation. When intermittently these types of politicians are not talking Hate language, it is not because they have a change of heart but because at that moment it may not be needed as per their calculations. Away from the gaze of the media many of communalists have been spreading hate against minorities in equal measure.

In the wake of Mumbai riots Bal Thackeray, who currently is praising Varun Gandhi, indulged in Hate speech, inciting his Shiv Sainiks to undertake violence. He also got away with it due to clever way of putting his vitriol and due to the lack of adequate laws which can distinguish the Hate speech from freedom of expression, which can distinguish between one’s political opinion and painting the ‘other’ community in a negative light. Incidentally it is important to distinguish between criticizing a community and criticizing a political organization. While political organizations can and must be criticized, communities should not be humiliated or insulted. Also no political organization can be synonymous with the religious community, whatever its claims.

It is not only disturbing but totally against the values of our democratic society that such ‘hate other’ ideology and speeches have become the weapon in the hands of a type of politics, which thrives on exclusion, which identifies a particular religious community as synonymous with the nation state. Again this ‘hate speech’ is the language of section of those who thrive on identity politics far away from the real issues of the society.

As such Hate speech in India entered the political arena with the rise of communal streams in politics, like Muslim League on one side and Hindu Mahasabha +RSS on the other. These streams believed in the nation based on one religious community. These streams came from the sections of earlier rulers, landlords, Nawabas and Rajas etc. The ideology of religion based nationalism is narrow and it excludes ‘other’ from its notion of nationhood. These beliefs then get converted into Hate other, and later turn in to ‘Hate speech’. This did form the basis of many a communal violence in pre independence era and also during the last two decades. Varun Gandhi, as a BJP follower may not have undergone the total indoctrination in RSS shakhas, where the Hate Ideology is instilled in the minds of young recruits, but he must have been exposed enough to those formulations, through his personal interaction. Hate ideology as seen above is the prelude of hate speech.

The CD of Varun Gandhi rally not only showed a very liberal sprinkling of the saffron, it also shows the hysterical approval of violence from section of those participating in the rally. Ironically Varun Gandhi is eager to cut some hands while protecting the Mother Cow! This Hate ideology first creates a social common sense, which becomes the mind set of large sections of society. From here it goes on to form the base on which communal violence may be triggered. Communal violence in turn leads to polarization of communities and later to ghettoization in due course as one is now witnessing in Gujarat to a great extent, and in other states in different degrees.

This Hate Speech can be understood in two ways. On one hand it is just a concentrated expression of sectarian- communal ideology. By now lot of communal ideology has become overt part of social common sense. We need to introspect as to from where these divisive ideas take root. Second it is based on the politics of exclusion. Most of those who have at one or the other point of time resorted to it do come from a sectarian political stream. The exclusionary politics can also be based on linguistic considerations. Bal Thackeray began his hate campaign by focusing on non-Marathi speaking job-seekers in Mumbai, understood as code words for South Indians, in the late 1960s and 1970s. Later he switched to anti-Muslim campaigns as that could promote him as an all-India leader in the Hindutva pantheon. His nephew Raj Thackeray is practicing the same divisive politics in the name of language and region.

Where does Hate speech lead in the short run and long run? In the short run some of the gullible, weak sections of society may see some hope in this language of bravado, away from the serious existence related issues, they may feel empowered temporarily by Hating other, feeling that their problems will get mitigated. Those against whom Hate is being propagated, out of fear start erecting a physical and emotional cordon around them. This is when ghettoisationn, not just physical but more importantly psychological takes over. And the bonding of fraternity, the essential values of our democracy starts feeling immense strain. Its ‘final destination’ is Germany like situation, where the community against whom Hate is spread, becomes an easy target of the social discrimination to the extent of physical elimination, as was witnessed in the case of Jews.

The biggest challenge we face today is to propagate the inclusive ideas at social political and cultural level, the ideas and values which united Indians, cutting across religion, region and language. These values have been challenged by the practitioners of regional and communal politics. The debate needs to be broadened to reach the positive values to all the people. Then we also need laws which can ensure that the likes of Varun Gandhi, Bal- Raj Thackeray etc. do not get away despite their anti national politics and utterances. As Bal Thackeray was earlier debarred from voting, same way Varun Gandhi should be punished and not permitted to contest the elections.

(Issues in Secular Politics, March 2009 II; www.pluralindia.com; ram.puniyani@gmail.com )

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(submitted by Feroz Mehdi)

Meet Nepal’s new dermatologists in a fish tank

By Kong Yen Lin

When spa entrepreneur Megha Chaudhary returned from Singapore after a two week holiday, she came up with an elaborate business plan: to set up a fish spa in Kathmandu.
It required clients getting used to confronting their spa therapists in a tank, as live Garra Rufa fish get busy as skin exfoliators. As soon as Midas Spa was set up in Durbar Marg, the business took off.
“I’m constantly on the look-out for new technologies and innovations, and I thought the gently ticklish sensation of the treatment, together with its beautifying properties will catch on among young women,” says the 27-year-old.

These fish are a member of the carp family which nibbles dead skin, producing enzymes at the same time that leave skin smooth and healthy. Customers have the option of dipping either hands or feet into the tank for a 30-minute session.
Commonly found in the rivers of Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, they have been used traditionally to treat psoriasis, a chronic skin disease. While it may seem novel here, such doctor fish spas have been taking Europe and Southeast Asia by storm.
Megha’s uncle physically carried 50 fish in bags to Nepal by plane. Keeping them alive has been a challenge, as they require water of 32 celsius maintained strictly at an acidity level of pH7.5.
The entire investment cost Megha Rs 25,000 and the next hurdle was to establish a niche market. While other services like ayurvedic massages, manicures and facials are offered, she aims to make the doctor fish spa Midas’ signature product.
“I’m not sure if the dead skin will go, but the dip is very soothing and therapeutic,” says Ruchi Goel, a Midas regular.
Reeta Shrestha, a lecturer of dermatology at the Tribhuban University Teaching Hospital agrees that the unique selling point of the treatment lies in its ‘feel-good’ factor rather than medical benefits. The hospital sees an average of 50-60 psoriasis patients during the dry seasons, and administers moisturizing and keratolitic treatment such as steroid creams. Recovery takes about one to two months.
Her spa may still be a start-up, but Megha is already making big plans to set up a branch in Delhi and a spa resort in Kakani.
Kong Yen Lin
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