London, Feb 25 : Long working hours can raise the risk of dementia, a new study has warned.

What’s more, extreme tiredness and tension could be as harmful for the brain as smoking, the study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology found.

The study found that middle-aged workers clocking up more than 55 hours a week have poorer mental skills, including short-term memory and ability to recall words, than those working fewer than 41 hours.

To reach the conclusion, researchers led by Dr Marianna Virtanen from the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health monitored 2,214 British civil servants from the 1980s, reports The Telegraph.

The Muktangan De-addiction Centre at Mohanwadi has started an exclusive de-addiction centre for women to help them kick the habit.

The new centre, named Nishigandh, is on Muktangan's premises at Yerawada and is a 15 bedded centre.

Deputy director of Muktangan De-addiction Centre Mukta Puntambekar told newspersons that drug abuse and substance users among women are on rise since the last couple of years.

Hepatitis-B killed three more people in Modasa on Monday, a day on which the Gujarat government vaccinated 50,000 residents of the taluka in 10 hours, in what could be one of India’s largest medical mop-ups. The toll from the outbreak has now touched 56, although officials assert that the figure is 45. Two of Monday’s casualties are women, identified Kapila Patel (30) and Harshida Rathod (21).

The mass-vaccination drive is being carried out in the Modasa taluka and surrounding villages of the Sabarkantha district by 225 teams of health officials and NGO volunteers.

Members of the Hriday Mitra Pratishthan will launch an agitation to protest against the state government's attitude towards patients suffering from cancer, kidney and heart ailments.

Managing trustee of the Pratishthan Shrikant Mundada said the Siddhivinayak Mandir Nyas at Prabhadevi used to provide financial aid of Rs20,000 to patients suffering from cancer, kidney and heart diseases. "However, this help has stopped since November 2008," he said, explaining that the finances of the temple trust are being managed by the state law and judiciary department of the state government.

Akansha Mishra, 23, has had close to 1,000 fractures all over her body — a sneeze or just the touch of her mother's bangles was enough to break her bones. The 23-year-old suffers from osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) or brittle bones, a congenital disorder affecting one person in a lakh population.

A surgery has now given her hope of a stronger future. Akansha, a resident of Padrona, a small village in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, was operated at Criticare and Breach Candy hospitals a month ago. She was in the city last week for a follow up.

The hepatitis-B epidemic in Modasa has not only taken lives of many but also given rise to frauds.

Promising hepatitis-B virus vaccination at reasonable prices, some fraudsters have taken Rs17,000 from residents of Varthu village near Modasa.

Tempted by the pricing at Rs12 a vaccination, (otherwise Rs50), about 1,500 residents in Varthu village, gave away money and never found self proclaimed doctors visiting the village again.