Student Health Insurance - Why is it Essential?

Health is one of the most important things in the life of every person. And, if you are a student who isn't producing money yet, cheap student health insurance can become quite handy.
Specially if you consider how much does it cost. This market has grown in such a way that there is even an international student health insurance, ready to attend the thousands of foreign students that come to study to the United States.

What Is Student Health Insurance?
Student health insurance plans have been specially designed by insurance companies. Their purpose is to offer an affordable student health insurance that covers the typical accidents in which students incur, with premiums and deductibles that can be paid by students (specially undergraduates who may still depend on their parents).

But, why is it so necessary, isn't the basic college insurance plan enough? Actually, no. The college insurance may cover some typical scenarios, but that's it. What if you are a medicine student? This people are in contact with all kind of patients, many of them with infectious diseases. It is a very wise choice to protect yourself from these situations.
Things To Look For In A Student Health Insurance

Although there are dozens of things to look for in a student health insurance coverage, there are some that are more important than others. For example, what is the maximum amount of money for which you will be covered? This is very important since there are certain medical procedures that can surpass the hundred thousand dollars. You don't want to find yourself with the impossibility of using your insurance plan for covering your medical expenses.

Another important factor is the deductible. The deductible is the base fee that you need to pay and that won't be covered by the insurance. For example, let's say that you are hospitalized due to an accident and the bill is $5,000. In order to use the insurance, you need to pay a base fee of, let's say, $200, while the rest is covered by the insurance company. A good rule of thumb to remember is, the higher the deductible, the lower the premium.

Restrictions are very important too. It is unavoidable that cheap student health insurance do not cover a lot of scenarios, specially those that entail high costs and aren't part of the average situations. For example, determined types of cancers that are very rare but very expensive to treat. Read carefully the insurance coverage, and don't forget that coverage varies from company to company, and even from state to state.

Finally, customer support. Unfortunately, there has been cases in the insurance industry where the representatives of a company incur in negligence. Look for an insurance company that has a proven reputation and who really cares for the health of their clients. Don't go for insurance companies that have a dubious history or who have been recent participant of corporate scandals.

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Fat Women 'more sexually active'

Those who think women scoring more on the weighing scale do not score much when it comes to sexual behaviour, certainly need a reality check, for a new study has revealed that fat ladies have more sex than females with "normal weight".

Oregon and Hawaiian researchers have found that a woman's weight does not seem to affect sexual behaviour.

Led by Dr Bliss Kaneshiro, an assistant professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii, and Oregon State University professor Marie Harvey, the study was based on data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth that looked at sexual behaviour of more than 7,000 women.

In earlier studies it was Kaneshiro observed that obese and overweight women have a higher risk of unintended pregnancy than do normal weight women.

Thus, Kaneshiro studied the relationship between body mass index and sexual behaviour, including sexual orientation, age at first intercourse, number of partners, and frequency of intercourse.

"Our analysis demonstrated that obese and overweight women do not differ significantly in some of the objective measures of sexual behaviour compared to women of normal weight. This study indicates that all women deserve diligence in counselling on unintended pregnancy and STD prevention, regardless of body mass index," said Kaneshiro.

The study ruled out the widely held stereotypes that overweight and obese women are not as sexually active as other women, as the researchers concluded that it's the opposite that is true.

"I was glad to see that the stereotype that you have to be slender to have sex is just that, a stereotype," said Harvey.

The data revealed that overweight women were more likely to report having sexual intercourse with a man, even when she controlled for age, race and type of residence.

In fact, 92% of overweight women reported having a history of sexual intercourse with a man, as compared to 87% of women with a normal body mass index.

"These results were unexpected and we don't really know why this is the case," said Kaneshiro.

Kaneshiro's study was awarded first prize at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' annual meeting this year.

The study was published in the September issue of Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

source:timesofindia

Mental illness big health risk by 2010

Do you get panic attacks every time you are in a chaotic situation? Do you have an obsession to do something repeatedly, like pulling
out strands of hair while concentrating on work? Both of these, quite often ignored by most of people, are mild forms of mental illness - which is set to become the number one health risk in India by 2010, a new report says.

According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), which released a report last month on mental health, morbidity on account of mental illness is all set to take over from cardiovascular diseases as the number one health risk in India in the next two years.

The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (NIMHANS) further says that over 20 million Indians suffer from serious mental ailments and 50 million more from milder forms.

Thus, a shocking 70 million people suffer from mental ailments and yet, 50-90% of them are not able to access corrective services. Awareness of mental health, experts say, is just not enough.

"Mental illness may become the biggest health risk in the next two years, but the awareness is still not there. The stigma attached to mental illness is so great that people just refuse to address the problem," Praveen Thapar, chairperson of the Sanjivini centre for Mental Health, said.

Therefore, instead of addressing such problems like panic attacks, depression, obsessive behaviour or hysteria - which are mild forms of mental illnesses - Thapar said that people just ignore them.

"The danger of this kind of attitude is that things can sometimes get out of your hand. Therefore, address it when you can," said Thapar, who is also a counsellor at Sanjivini that specializes in emotional crisis-interventions.

Abhijit Sen (name changed), a 30-year-old, for instance, visited his doctor nearly 10 times last month. The reason? Every time he is in a chaotic situation on the road, he gets a panic attack and calls home, saying that he is unwell and needs to be taken to the hospital.

"Initially his family believed him and thought that he must be really suffering from some disease. But every time the reports were negative. Three months later, he realized he needed help to get over his panic attacks.

"When he finally decided that he needed counselling, we unearthed that this was an offshoot of a difficult childhood, of an alcoholic father and a strict mother. He is now coping well with it," Thapar said.

Parents queue to select baby gender

A growing number of British couples are undergoing procedures at clinics overseas to determine the gender of their babies. However, as the BBC's Colette McBeth reports, this service is often offered illegally.

Like many a story, it started out with a simple conversation with a friend.

Is that really possible? I remember asking, before going straight home to my laptop and typing the words "gender selection" in the search engine.

My friend had told me she knew of someone who was going abroad to have a daughter through IVF.

The woman in question had two boys, both conceived naturally, but had a burning desire for a girl and didn't want to leave anything to chance.

Once on the internet, I was amazed to learn how many women not only wanted the same but felt so strongly about it.

I found whole websites devoted to discussion about where gender selection was legal (not the UK or most of Europe) and the cost of treatment (anything from £7,000 to £17,000).

Many patients who were planning to go abroad were completely confused as to where it was legal and where it wasn't

UK couples 'choosing baby gender'

Women who had four boys but couldn't rest until they had a daughter, or three girls and desperately wanted a son.

And this wasn't a cultural thing. If anything, girls won over boys.

It is possible to almost guarantee the sex of a baby using IVF and a type of embryos screening called Pre-Implantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD).

In most countries, though, PGD is used only for medical reasons. So if there is a genetic disease which runs in boys, couples would be allowed to have PGD to implant only female embryos.

Website advert

Some countries, such as the US and Russia, do allow sex selection - but I quickly realised there was a problem with all of this.

Many patients who were planning to go abroad were completely confused as to where it was legal and where it wasn't.

And some clinics seemed to be profiting out of the confusion.

One such clinic is the Jinemed Center in Istanbul. It has a slick website and boasts the claim "life begins with us".

It was also advertising on a gender selection website. You could even plan a fortnight's break in the sun, tell your friends you're taking the family on holiday and go for IVF/PGD.

The only problem with all of that is that gender selection is illegal in Turkey.

No matter, I found many posts in which women said they'd had treatment there or had been told it was possible.

And it happened two Jinemed representatives were coming to London for the weekend to see prospective patients.

Secret filming

So one Sunday a few weeks ago I went along to a dental practice in Shepherds Bush in London where the Jinemed had hired a room.

I took a small handbag which in itself was fairly normal except this one contained a hidden camera. We (my husband accompanied me) waited an hour to be seen.

The doctor and nurse had been rushed off their feet, it seemed.

Putting three embryos back in a young woman is really bad practice because of the high risk of multiple pregnancy
Professor Peter Braude
Kings College London

Two days of back-to-back appointments - and 50% of those couples wanted sex selection.

I began to explain our story. "I'm 33 and we have two boys conceived naturally and..."

Before I could finish the nurse interjected with a smile. "And you want a daughter."

Over the course of half an hour they explained the costs involved and said we could have the whole procedure done in Turkey.

They also said they normally put in three embryos. That rang alarm bells.

The maximum in the UK is two and most doctors would like to see that reduced to one because multiple pregnancy is the single greatest risk with IVF.

Baby impact

In an earlier conversation it was suggested any extra foetuses could be "taken out" or aborted if I did get pregnant with twins or triplets.

I showed Professor Peter Braude of King's College London our footage.

Having been involved in IVF for many years he advocates implanting only one embryo in women going for fertility treatment.

He said: "Putting three embryos back in a young woman is really bad practice because of the high risk of multiple pregnancy.

"So even if you went abroad for treatment and had your IVF treatment you're bringing those twins back for care in this country - and besides the impact on the NHS there's significant impact on those babies."

Despite being told we had filmed its representatives offering to carry out the procedure, the Jinemed Center says it does not do it, and always warns patients about the risks of multiple pregnancies.

But, after contacting the Turkish government with our findings, it has now launched an official investigation into the Jinemed Center and warned UK patients not to travel there for gender selection.

Proof if needed that the desire to complete a family with a son or a daughter by going down the "high tech" route could turn into a legal nightmare.

Doctors discover organ donor is not brain dead

When the Chennaibased Frontier Lifeline hospital received a call from a private hospital in Namakkal stating that the family of a 59-year old accident victim was willing to donate his organs for transplant on Saturday, everyone including officials at the Government Central Registry was impressed with the fourth such case in a month. Arrangements were made in Chennai to bring the patient for multiple organ harvesting. However , the second mandatory inspection found that the man was not brain dead, and his eyeballs were responding to light. The authorities, suddenly, went into caution mode.

Only on Friday, a private hospital in Salem had called the city doctors to say that one of their patients was brain dead following a road accident. Doctors at Frontier Lifeline shifted the patient to Chennai to harvest his heart, kidneys, eye, liver and skin. When the patient arrived at the hospital they realised that no neurosurgeon had declared the patient brain dead. The doctors at the central registry in Government General Hospital rushed the patient to a private hospital. After the brain death certification, doctor harvested and transplanted the organs.

"When we received the call the following day and were told that the patient was 59, who had been in an accident a month ago. But when we insisted that they have the brain death certified before moving the patient, the neurologist on examination found the man responding ," said a senior official at the health department. On Tuesday, the patient continued to be treated at the intensive care unit of Deepthi Hospital in Namakkal.

Meanwhile, with several sections of the media publicising the names of the donors and recipients, transplant surgeons and doctors have raised voices of concern to the health department officials. "It was okay when the first heart transplant surgeons Dr Christian Bernard revealed the names of the recipient to the donor family . But in the Indian context it could be more sensitive," says orthopedic surgeon Dr George Thomas, editor, Indian Journal of Medical Ethics.

Organisations including the members of Indian Medical Association and Tamil Nadu State Medical Council have also objected to hospitals revealing the identity or attracting any form of media publicity earlier than the date of discharge of recipients. "The order says that even after discharge , the details of the recipient or ethics of the medical profession should not be compromised or violated. But we see this being blatantly violated ," said an IMA official.

Health Secretary V K Subburaj said the government was considering restraining the hospitals and media considering the rights of patients. Family of Tiruchi man donates organs

Relatives of a 45-year-old man who was declared brain dead, came forward to donate his organs to the needy in Tiruchi. Tamilselvan, a rice merchant from Neithalur village in Karur district met with an accident on Sunday and sustained a head injury. Doctors at a private hospital in Tiruchi declared him brain dead on Tuesday afternoon. Convinced by the doctors of the rationale of donating the organs of Tamilselvan, his wife Rani and two sons signed the necessary documents. His kidneys were immediately transplanted to Muruganandam (27) of Boodalur in Thanjavur and Muthuselvan (43) of Manapparai in Tiruchi.

source:timesfindia

Teeth-grinding and trouble in preschool

Preschool-age children who grind their teeth are more likely to have problems in preschool and to be withdrawn.

American researchers asked the low-income parents of 1,956 preschoolers if and how often their 4-year-olds grind their teeth while asleep. Roughly 38 percent of the preschoolers were reported to grind their teeth one or more times per week and nearly 7 percent reported this behaviour four or more times per week. The prevalence of tooth grinding within the population that was studied was very high (37 percent). Studies show that typically around 20 percent of children younger than 11 years old grind their teeth at night.

As the frequency of tooth grinding during sleep increased, parents were also more likely to report that their child was withdrawn or that they didn’t get involved with others and that preschool adjustment was poor. We can't assume that tooth grinding causes withdrawn behaviour or problems in school, but there is some kind of dynamic relation between tooth grinding and preschool adjustment.

Tooth grinding is not something to ignore, as it can lead to temporomandibular joint pain and frequent arousals during sleep, and nighttime arousals lead to sleep fragmentation and there is a plethora of research that deleterious effects of sleep fragmentation on functioning and health.

source:ndtv.com

Now, an artificial Heart that beats

LONDON: Scientists have created what they claim is the world's first artificial heart that beats.

A European team, led by French cardiac surgeon Alain Carpentier, has unveiled the fully implantable heart that can respond instantly to changes in blood pressure and adapt the heart beat rate accordingly.

"If you showed the electrocardiogram to a cardiologist he would say 'that's a human heart.' Well no, it isn't: it's a prosthesis," Prof Carpentier was quoted by British newspaper 'The Daily Telegraph' as saying.

Prof Carpentier, the Head of Research on cardiac grafts and prostheses at Georges Pompidou Hospital in Paris, and his team have come up with the artificial heart after 15 years of research.

In particular, he used his expertise as a world authority in artificial heart valves to overcome the problem of blood clots -- the main stumbling block in other attempts to build an artificial heart.

He did this by using specially sterilised "bioprosthetic" pig cartilage and by replicating the exact same blood flow -- or hemodynamics -- of the human heart that reduce blood clot risks.

"The aim of this heart is to allow patients to go from an impossible life where they can do just a few steps from their bed to an armchair to a normal social life. They will even be able to run -- although naturally not a marathon," he said.

Weighing around a kilo, the only external part of the man-made organ is its battery having a five-hour charge life.

Prof Carpentier said the new heart was necessary given the chronic shortage of heart donors and growing heart patient waiting lists. "I couldn't stand seeing young, active people dying aged 40 from massive heart attacks," he said.

Kids' eye problems often emerge in homework battle

Your 9-year-old's eyes hurt during homework? Your teen's a slow reader plagued with headaches? They may have a common yet often missed vision problem: Eyes that don't turn together properly to read.

As many as one of every 20 students have some degree of what eye doctors call "convergence insufficiency," or CI, where eye muscles must work harder to focus up-close. And those standard vision screenings administered by schools and pediatricians won't catch it — they stress distance vision.

When symptoms such as eye strain, headaches, double vision or reading problems trigger the right diagnosis, doctors prescribe any of a hodgepodge of exercises designed to strengthen eye coordination. Now a major government study finally offers evidence for the best approach: Eye training performed in a doctor's office for 12 weeks.

The right treatment can make a profound difference, says Adele Andrews of Rydal, Pa., whose son Thomas participated in the study when he was 10 — and improved enough to at last start reading for fun.

His mother knew something wasn't right early on: Reading seemed to require a physical struggle of Thomas that his three older siblings never experienced.

"He always wanted to buy books but he wouldn't read them. He wanted to but it was too hard for him," she recalls.

Then homework began and "I don't even want to tell you how bad it was," Andrews adds. "He would get frustrated. He wouldn't do it. ... I tried bribery, I tried everything. It got to the point where it was just a battle."

Why? To bring print or other close-in work into focus, both eyes must turn slightly inward, or converge. As its name implies, convergence insufficiency means the eyes aren't doing that properly. Words may appear blurry or double, or disappear as readers lose their place. How much extra effort eye muscles must exert to compensate and bring that image into focus determines whether someone has obvious symptoms and how bad they are.

Complaints are rare in very young children because pictures and large type don't require as much convergence. Parents tend to start noticing a problem once homework and deeper reading begins. Some people complain only in the teen or college years, perhaps when their workload outpaces their ability to compensate. Others find they can read with one eye closed and do fine.

Nor does everyone experience obvious symptoms. How many compensate enough that CI truly doesn't matter — and how many quietly try to avoid reading? No one knows.

Dr. Mitchell Scheiman of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University is suspicious when a child's "behavior is, 'I don't want to read, I don't like reading, I can't concentrate." His advice then: "Just rule it out."

Diagnosis requires seeing an ophthalmologist or optometrist trained to treat children who can measure convergence with some simple tests such as moving a pencil steadily closer to the nose until the person sees double.

But which treatment works best: The most commonly prescribed "pencil push-ups," practicing that pencil-to-nose test at home? At-home computer eye games? Or more varied eye exercises, including computer-based ones, performed in a doctor's office with at-home techniques for reinforcement?

A study funded by the National Eye Institute aimed to find out, by randomly assigning 221 9- to 17-year-olds to one of those approaches or to a control group given "dummy" exercises at the doctor's office.

Three months later, nearly three-quarters of the office-treated patients had greatly improved — compared with no more than 43 percent of home-treated patients, Scheiman and colleagues report in this month's Archives of Ophthalmology. The study will continue tracking patients for a year, to ensure the benefit lasts.

At roughly $75 a visit, office treatment is clearly more expensive. Why would it work better? First, they got more intense treatment. The NEI's Dr. Brian Brooks says a combination of more varied in-office exercises may hold a child's attention better — along with a doctor acting like a personal trainer, ensuring the youngster does each technique properly and doesn't slack off.

What's not clear is the more intricate in-office techniques could be adapted for home use and work just as well, he cautions.

But Andrews witnessed the difference between the two techniques as they're practiced today. Thomas was originally assigned to pencil push-ups but improved only slightly. After his 12 study weeks were over, researchers switched him to office-based treatment — and his mother saw a rapid lessening of the homework battles.

Today at 13, Thomas has "become pretty serious about his schoolwork," says a relieved Andrews. "He's going to do OK."

Monthly injection can halt arthritis

There is new hope for the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, with drug authorities in Europe in the
final stages of approving a monthly injection that would halt the crippling effects of the condition.

A research, presented at the annual conference of the American College of Rheumatology in San Francisco, suggested that a simple monthly injection could now halt the debilitating effects of the disorder.

"Results of this pivotal study convincingly demonstrate that tocilizumab can effectively and rapidly diminish the painful and debilitating effects of rheumatoid arthritis," said Professor Paul Emery, from the University of Leeds, who led the trial of the drug, described as "exciting" and "dramatic" by the medical profession.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disorder that causes the immune system to attack the joints and can also damage some organs, such as the lungs and skin. It can be a disabling and painful condition, which can lead to substantial loss of functioning and mobility.

The international LITHE trial, which was conducted in 15 countries and involved 1,190 patients, found that nearly half of patients on the medication found their condition did not get any worse.

Tocilizumab works in conjunction with an existing treatment, methotrexate, and is administered monthly in hospital. The drug, which will be sold under the brand name RoActemra, is currently seeking approval from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA), the Daily Telegraph newspaper said.

"We are encouraged by these findings, particularly as the treatment shows such promise of achieving remission, the ultimate goal for people with this cruel and debilitating disease," Ailsa Bosworth, chief executive of Britain's National Rheumatoid Arthritis Society (NRAS), was quoted as saying by the British daily on Monday.

The World's Fattest Man Is Getting Married!

In case you haven't heard the gigantic news, Manuel Uribe is getting married!!! There's hope for us all!

Manuel, who was named the world's fattest dude back in 2006, announced that he will tie the roll with his girlfriend of four years Claudia Solis on October 26th in Monterrey, Mexico.


They haven't decided on a location, but Manuel will have to be towed through the streets on his bed, because he can't walk. It will be like a wedding parade! Only not.

Back in 2006 when Guinness declared him the chunkiest chunk who ever chunked, he weighed 1,230. Thanks to love and support from Claudia, he has lost 550 pounds. She probably snuck Fen-Phen into his Gansitos.

Manuel said that he will take only one bite of the wedding cake for pictures, but will stop there because of his diet. I think one bite to Manuel means the whole cake.

Congrats to Manuel and Claudia! I say we all put our pesos together and get Claudia some sexy lingerie for her wedding night! Sexy lingerie made out of crush-proof steel with a door in the crotch.

WHY CARBOHYDRATES? We Feel Better.

WHY CARBOHYDRATES? Complex carbohydrates increase our levels of serotonin, so when we eat them, we feel better.

When our serotonin levels are higher, we are happier. It’s that simple.

The unfortunate thing about it however is that most obese people tend to crave carbohydrates that are both convenient and in many instances high in fat.

These include fast food items such as French fries, milkshakes, hamburgers, cookies, candy, crackers, chips, bread, and the list goes on.

On a neurological level, ingested carbohydrates triggers the production of the hormone INSULIN, this inadvertently stimulates an INCREASE OF THE AMINO ACID, TRYPTOPHAN, in the UPTAKE PROCESS TO THE BRAIN.

This is key because tryptophan acts as a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin and is readily converted into serotonin once it enters the brain.

So, a high consumption of carbohydrates works to increase our serotonin levels and this in turn improves our mood, appetite and our overall eating behavior.

Hence, distressed individuals find temporary relief in the “SEROTONIN HIGH” that they get from ‘pigging out’ on carbohydrates. It makes them feel better.

This high is only temporary, so to maintain these feelings of happiness, people tend to reach for carbohydrates often and before long it become habitual.

Healthy Food

Stay Energized All Day

Top 10 Tips to Stay Energized All Day

Getting through the day can feel like a marathon. Mile 1: Roll out of bed. Mile 2: Feed yourself and everyone else in your house. Mile 3: Get to work on time. It's like you've run 5K, and it's not even lunch yet! Nutritionist Monique Ryan, MS, RD, the author of Sports Nutrition for Endurance Athletes, knows the secrets to get through real marathons. I asked her to pass some advice down to us mortals who simply want to stay alert until sundown.

1. Start the day right. Yes, that means breakfast. Combine a whole grain with fruit, skim dairy, or soy milk, and even add some lean protein to the mix to sustain energy levels throughout the morning. Cooked oatmeal with yogurt and a banana or Lite Mueslix with soy milk and blueberries are good choices.

2. Have a mid-morning snack. Combine a protein and a carbohydrate. It is fine to be hungry mid-morning, so honor your hunger and give your body fuel when it is asking for it. Try yogurt with a peach, low fat string cheese with an apple, or cottage cheese and grapes.

3. Eat lunch on time. Don't push back lunch until you are ravenous. Instead, eat your mid-day fuel right on time to keep your blood glucose levels nice and steady.

4. Boost your mental energy. Nature's nutrition for the brain are omega-3 fatty acids. Add light tuna or salmon to your lunchtime food choices, in addition to walnuts, tofu, and canola oil. Healthy fat keep you feeling full for a longer period of time, so add small amounts to meals and snacks. Some good choices include avocado and almonds.

5. Start the day with moderate caffeine levels and keep caffeine intake modest. While it does increase mental energy, too much caffeine may lead to energy highs and then lows, and it can interferes with quality sleep.

6. Limit processed foods high in sugar. Avoid the office candy jar, treats, and vending machine whenever possible. Processed foods do not provide sustained energy and can result in low-energy moments during the day.

7. Consume foods high in folate. Higher levels of blood folate have been associated with faster and better thought processing. Good sources include lentils, chickpeas, black beans, asparagus, broccoli, avocado, and orange juice. Also important are vitamins B6, found in bananas and spinach, and B12, found in lean proteins and skim dairy products.

8. Have an afternoon snack. If dinner is late or if you have an evening workout scheduled, fruits, vegetables, and low-fat yogurt provide energizing carbohydrate.

9. Consume complex carbohydrates that contain fiber. The fiber allows the carbohydrates to be released more slowly, providing sustained energy. Opt for whole grain bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and whole grain cereals.

10. Stay hydrated. About two-thirds of our body is water, and dehydration can contribute to reduced energy levels. About 80% of the fluid we consume comes from the fluids we drink, and the other 20% comes from foods. Always drink when you are thirsty, and have water available during the day to hydrate regularly.

Arthritis drugs do not raise cancer

Popular rheumatoid arthritis drugs that block a protein linked with inflammation do not appear to raise the overall risk of cancer,
Spanish researchers said on Saturday.

The drugs, known as TNF blockers, suppress the immune system by blocking the activity of an inflammatory protein called tumor necrosis factor, or TNF. They have been used since 1998, but some studies have suggested the drugs raise the risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer and lymphoma - by toning down the immune system.

"Despite foreseen fears, blocking the tumor necrosis factor does not make patients more prone to develop cancer," Dr. Loreto Carmona of the Fundacion Espanola de Reumatologia in Madrid said in a statement. Carmona, who is presenting his research at the American College of Rheumatology's annual meeting in San Francisco, used health data collected from two Spanish registries - databases of patients.

One included nearly 4,500 people taking the drugs from 2001 through 2007; while the other included data from 1999 through 2005 on nearly 800 people with RA not taking the drugs. Overall, the researchers found 70 cases of cancer in the group that took the drugs, compared with 29 cases in the group that did not take the drugs.

NO RISK DIFFERENCE Because the groups were of different sizes and followed for different periods of time, they did a calculation that showed no statistical difference in the cancer risk between the two groups. Dr. Eric Matteson of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who was not part of the research, said the findings offer some assurances.

"What it tells us is if there is an increased risk of cancer, the overall event rate is still very low," he said in a telephone interview. But he said the study has several limitations, the main one being that people in the studies were not matched ahead of time for age, sex, and other health problems. And while the study looked at the overall risk for cancer, Matteson said it did not address whether there is an increased risk of specific types of cancer. Nor does it address whether the drugs might pose a particular threat to children and teens, something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently investigating. "Overall, there doesn't seem to be a higher risk of cancer, but these assessment tools are still imperfect," Matteson said. "The FDA and physicians and doctors are still concerned and that is why there are warnings for all of these drugs on the package label about concerns over cancer." Anti-TNF drugs include Johnson & Johnson's Remicade or infliximab, Abbott Laboratories Inc's Humira or adalimumab, Amgen Inc and Wyeth's Enbrel or etanercept and UCB's Cimzia or certolizumab pegol. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease and often strikes young people, resulting in pain, stiffness and swelling. It affects about 20 million people worldwide.

Vaccine slashes diarrheal illness in kids

A vaccine against rotavirus, the leading cause of diarrhea in infants, has led to a dramatic drop in hospitalization and emergency room visits since it came on the market two years ago, doctors reported Saturday.

A bonus: the vaccine seems to be preventing illness even in unvaccinated children by cutting the number of infections in the community that kids can pick up and spread.

"We're a little surprised by the degree of impact given the coverage we've achieved," said Jane Seward of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only about half of young children had received the vaccine and very few had received all three doses when the studies were done.

Results were reported Saturday at an infectious diseases conference in Washington.

Before the vaccine, more than 200,000 U.S. children were taken to emergency rooms and more than 55,000 were hospitalized each year with rotavirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhea, mostly from January through May. Worldwide, the virus kills 1,600 young children each day.

Since Merck & Co.'s Rotateq came out in 2006, hospital visits and stays due to the virus have dropped 80 percent to 100 percent, studies by the CDC and several other groups show.

Last winter, rotavirus cases started and peaked two to three months later and were much less extensive than in previous years, CDC scientists report. Hospitals in a network that tracks these cases for the CDC saw more than an 80 percent drop in admissions from them, one study showed.

Another study, by Merck, found a 100 percent drop in hospitalizations and ER visits during the 2007 and 2008 rotavirus seasons compared to previous ones. The study was based on a review of health insurance claims for about 61,000 infants and diagnoses by doctors in routine clinical practice.

Rotateq is an oral vaccine given at two, four and six months of age. In June, a second rotavirus vaccine came on the market — GlaxoSmithKline's Rotarix. It requires only two doses, completed by four months of age.

Also at the conference, scientists reported that a new version of Wyeth's Prevnar vaccine seems to better protect kids against germs that cause pneumonia, meningitis and ear infections, but whether it makes it onto the market before dangerous strains become a big problem remains to be seen.

Scientists have been retooling Prevnar, which came on the market in 2000 and is advised for children under age 2. It protects against the seven strains of Strep bacteria that were causing the most serious infections at the time. Since then, new strains have become more of a threat and increasingly are resistant to common antibiotics.

The experimental new vaccine adds six of these to the original seven. Scientists from Wyeth and from Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, compared immune responses to the new vaccine, given to 293 babies, versus those of an equal number of babies given the old one.

The new vaccine did about as well as the old one on six of the seven original strains and well on the six new ones, including the one causing the most worrisome, hard-to-treat infections now.

The company has said it plans to seek federal approval for it in early 2009, and review can take a year or more. British-based GlaxoSmithKline has a similar vaccine in final-phase testing that targets 10 strains common in Europe and other regions.

In the meantime, parents should continue to have their toddlers get the existing Prevnar, and to use antibiotics only when needed because they don't work against the common cold and overuse worsens the bacteria resistance problem, said Dr. Cynthia Whitney, a pneumonia expert at the CDC.

Green tea may delay type-1 diabetes

Green tea may delay type-1 diabetes

A powerful antioxidant in green tea may prevent or delay the onset of type-1 diabetes, according to a
study.

Researchers were testing EGCG, green tea's predominant anti-oxidant, on a lab mouse with type-1 diabetes and primary Sjogren's syndrome, which damages moisture-producing glands, causing dry mouth and eyes.

"Our study focused on Sjogren's syndrome, so learning that EGCG also can prevent and delay insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes was a big surprise," said Stephen Hsu, molecular cell biologist at the School of Dentistry, Medical College of Georgia (MCG). The study was published on Friday in Life Sciences.

In the mouse, EGCG reduced the severity and delayed onset of salivary gland damage associated with Sjogren's syndrome, which has no known cure.

"EGCG modulates several important genes, so it suppresses the abnormality at the molecular level in the salivary gland. It also significantly lowered the serum auto-antibodies, reducing the severity of Sjogren's syndrome-like symptoms," Hsu said. Auto-antibodies are antibodies the body makes against itself.

Both type-1 diabetes and Sjogren's syndrome are autoimmune diseases, which cause the body to attack itself. Autoimmune disorders are the third most common group of diseases in US and affect about eight percent of the population, an MCG press release, quoting Hsu, said.

Leukaemia drug can halt, reverse MS

Researchers at the University of Cambridge said Thursday they have found that a drug originally developed to treat leukaemia can halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis (MS).

In trials, alemtuzumab reduced the number of attacks in sufferers and also helped them recover lost functions, apparently allowing damaged brain tissue to repair so that individuals were less disabled than at the start of the study.

"The ability of an MS drug to promote brain repair is unprecedented," said Dr Alasdair Coles, a lecturer at Cambridge university's department of clinical neurosciences, who coordinated many aspects of the study.

"We are witnessing a drug which, if given early enough, might effectively stop the advancement of the disease and also restore lost function by promoting repair of the damaged brain tissue."

The MS Society, Britain's largest support charity for those affected by the condition, said it was "delighted" at the trial's results, which must be followed up with more research before the drug can be licensed.

"This is the first drug that has shown the potential to halt and even reverse the debilitating effects of MS and this news will rightly bring hope to people living with the condition day in, day out," said head of research Lee Dunster.

MS is an auto-immune disease that affects millions of people worldwide, including almost 100,000 in Britain and 400,000 in the United States.

It is caused by the body's immune system attacking nerve fibres in the central nervous system, and can lead to loss of sight and mobility, depression, fatigue and cognitive problems. There is no cure, and few effective treatments.

In the trial, 334 patients diagnosed with early-stage relapsing-remitting MS who had not previously been treated were given alemtuzumab or interferon beta-1a, one of the most effective licensed therapies for similar MS cases.

After three years, alemtuzumab was found to reduce the number of attacks the patients suffered by 74 percent over the other treatment, and reduce the risk of sustained accumulation of disability by 71 percent over interferon beta-1a.

Many individuals who took alemtuzumab also recovered some of their lost functions, becoming less disabled by the end, while the disabilities of the other patients worsened, the study in the New England Journal of Medicine said.

Alastair Compston, professor of neurology and head of the clinical neurosciences department at Cambridge, said alemtuzumab was the "most promising" experimental drug for the treatment of MS.

He expressed hope that further trials "will confirm that it can both stabilise and allow some recovery of what had previously been assumed to be irreversible disabilities".

Alemtuzumab was developed in Cambridge and has been licensed for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Panel calls for vaccine for adult smokers

A woman smokes a cigarette. The World Health Organisation and anti-smoking activists have unveiled a "death clock" tracking how many people will die from tobacco use to mark a new campaign against the illicit tobacco trade.

For the first time, an influential government panel is recommending a vaccination specifically for smokers. The panel decided Wednesday that adult smokers under 65 should get pneumococcal vaccine. The shot — already recommended for anyone 65 or older — protects against bacteria that cause pneumonia, meningitis and other illnesses.

Federal officials usually adopt recommendations made by the panel, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The vote means more than 31 million adult smokers probably will soon be called on to get the shot.

Studies have shown that smokers are about four times more likely than nonsmokers to suffer pneumococcal disease. Also, the more cigarettes someone smokes each day, the higher the odds they'll develop the illnesses.

Why smokers are more susceptible is not known for sure, but some scientists believe it has to do with smoking-caused damage that allows the bacteria to more easily attach to the lungs and windpipe, said Dr. Pekka Nuorti, a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Pneumococcal infections are considered the top killer among vaccine-preventable diseases. It's a common complication of influenza, especially in the elderly, and is considered responsible for many of the 36,000 annual deaths attributed to flu.

The committee voted 11 to 3 to pass the recommendation, with one member abstaining. The panel also added a call for smoking cessation counseling.

Some members said it might be more cost effective to recommend the vaccine for smokers who were at least age 40, because pneumococcal disease is relatively uncommon in younger smokers. Others at the meeting made the same argument.

Dr. James Turner, who oversees student health programs at the University of Virginia, said about one in five college students smoke but he has never seen a case of serious pneumococcal disease in a student body.

"I wonder how many young people are truly benefiting from this" recommendation, said Turner, speaking as a representative of the American College Health Association.

The shot is less than perfect. First licensed in 1983, it is designed to protect against 23 strains of pneumococcal bacteria. But it hasn't proved very effective against pneumonia, and hasn't been very effective in warding off other pneumococcal illnesses in people with weakened immune systems and people age 80 or older.

It's to be given to smokers as a one-time dose with no booster, but its protection drops off after five to 10 years.

Made by Merck & Co., it's sold under the trade name Pneumovax and costs about $30 a dose.

A different vaccine — Wyeth's Prevnar, which came on the market in 2000 — is recommended for children under age 2, and for kids 2 to 5 with certain chronic conditions or who are at higher risk for illness. That vaccine costs about $84 per dose.

Prevnar protects against seven strains of bacteria that were the most common causes of pneumococcal diseases at the time the vaccine was developed. But lately, those strains have stopped being important causes of illness. Experts have become concerned about dozens of other strains, including some that have flourished and become resistant to antibiotics.

Wyeth has been developing a new vaccine. It is expected to present study data on it at a scientific meeting later this month, and to apply for government licensing approval early next year.

Also on Wednesday, the committee for the first time voted on recommendations about whether anthrax vaccine should be given to children and pregnant women in the event of a terrorist incident.

The committee noted that the vaccine, made by Emergent BioSolutions, is not licensed for use children and has not been studied in pediatric patients. But post-exposure vaccination in children may be considered, depending on the circumstances, the members concluded.

The committee also decided that pregnant women should receive vaccine if they are exposed to inhalation anthrax. They heard the results of a recent study of more than 37,000 infants born to vaccinated military women in 1998 through 2004. It found no increase in birth defects when mothers were vaccinated before they got pregnant or vaccinated late in pregnancy. A small increase in birth defects was reported for women vaccinated during the first-trimester, but it wasn't clear the vaccination caused the problems, CDC officials said.

'Sexercise' for that slim figure

Indulge in plenty of sex

Forget treadmills, long walks and Atkins diet, an expert has come up with a new way of staying in shape-and it has nothing to do with cutting out on carbs - it's indulging in plenty of sex.

Yes, you heard it right, "sexercise" makes a person slimmer - if you do enough of it. Combining sex and fitness is like killing two birds with one stone. Sex gets you fit. And being fit makes you want to have more sex. This is, in large part, because of all of the benefits a good sexercise routine offers, like: improved blood flow in strengthening your heart, better cholesterol, changing more of your bad cholesterol (LDL) to good cholesterol (HDL), weight control, better sleep and greater energy, including longer life and a better quality of life.

According to Fox News, women, in particular, feel more attractive with sexual fitness, since they produce more estrogen. This makes for shinier, smoother hair. Both sexes glow as their skin pores become cleansed, thanks to sweating. They feel sexier than ever. But how do you start this sexercise routine? Well, sex educator Dr.Yvonne Kristín Fulbright has come to your rescue.

Get a physical if you haven't in a while . While it may be laughable to do this, you're going to be physically active, accelerating your heart rate, pulse, and blood pressure. You're also going to be testing and developing your strength, stamina, and flexibility. As with any form of exercise, you need to make sure that you're good to go. Aim for half-hour romps 3-5 times a week. This may seem like a lot, but this is actually not very time-consuming. Consider the amount of time you put into your favorite TV show.

Remind yourself of the rewards. Sex for 30 minutes burns anywhere from 15-350 calories, depending on how physically active you are. This is the equivalent of calories burned during a half an hour of brisk walking,
running, or lifting weights. Vigorous or longer sex sessions five times per week can burn up to 1,650
calories! The active partner - typically the one on top - tends to burn more.

Don't lose focus. You can easily get distracted with all of sex's delights. But your goal is to make it burn. In a matter of weeks, you can notice improvements in the tone and strength of your stomach, back, buttocks, legs and arms.

Aim for variety. Your sexercise routine doesn't have to be routine. You can't take it for granted that sexercising won't be boring, at least not in the same way as your treadmill. So get creative.

Watch what you eat . Also maintain moderate exercise out of the bedroom. Take care of each other post-workout. After working up a good sweat, you'll have to hit the shower.

Suffering from dry cleaning effect?

Do you often forget to drop off the clothes at the dry cleaner? Well, then you are suffering from what the Yale researchers call the
"dry cleaning effect," which they say is the result of clashing of brain systems.

Such duelling in brain system also points to ways by which substance abusers and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder can overcome bad habits.

Led by Christopher J. Pittenger, M.D., researchers have described a sort of competition between areas of the brain involved in learning that results in "dry cleaning effect."

An area of the brain called the striatum helps record cues or landmarks that lead to a familiar destination. It is the area of the commuter's brain that goes on autopilot and allows people to get to work, often with little memory of the trip.

However, when driving to an unfamiliar place, the brain engages a second area called the hippocampus, which is involved in a more flexible system called spatial learning. The commuter must employ this system if he or she wants to run an errand before work.

"When you have driven the same route many times and are doing it on autopilot, it can be really difficult to change. This is why I cannot, for the life of me, remember to drop off my dry cleaning on the way to work. If I'm not paying enough attention right at that moment, if I am thinking about something else, I just sail right on by," said Pittenger.

The researchers developed a way to study how these two modes of learning might be interconnected in mice.

When the researchers disrupted areas of the striatum in mice in one group, it was discovered that the mice's ability to complete landmark navigation tasks was impaired. However, these mice actually improved on tasks that involved spatial learning.

On the other hand, when an area of the hippocampus involved in spatial learning was disrupted, the animals could no longer navigate spatially but learned landmark tasks more quickly.

The researchers hypothesised that the interactions between these two systems may be important for understanding certain mental illnesses in which patients have destructive, habit-like patterns of behavior or thought.

Tourette syndrome, and drug addiction involve abnormal function of the striatum and may also involve disruption of the interactions between the two learning systems, which may make habits stronger and less flexible.

"This is part of what we are doing in cognitive-behavioral therapy when we teach patients to recognize their destructive habits, to take a step back, and to learn to do things differently. What we're really asking them to do is to use one of these systems to overcome and, ultimately, to re-train the other," said Pittenger.

In time, Pittenger hopes his studies will lead to more effective treatments for psychiatric disease - and, maybe, help him drop off his dry cleaning.

The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Magnet device aims to treat depression patients

Graphic shows how magnetic stimulation is used to treat depression
government has approved the first noninvasive brain stimulator to treat depression — a device that beams magnetic pulses through the skull. If it sounds like science-fiction, well, those woodpecker-like pulses trigger small electrical charges that spark brain cells to fire. Yet it doesn't cause the risks of surgically implanted electrodes or the treatment of last resort, shock therapy.

Called transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS, this gentler approach isn't for everyone. The Food and Drug Administration approved Neuronetics Inc.'s NeuroStar therapy specifically for patients who had no relief from their first antidepressant, offering them a different option than trying pill after pill.

"We're opening up a whole new area of medicine," says Dr. Mark George of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, who helped pioneer use of TMS in depression. "There's a whole field now that's moving forward of noninvasive electrical stimulation of the brain."

While there's a big need for innovative approaches — at least one in five depression patients is treatment-resistant — the question is just how much benefit TMS offers.

The FDA cleared the prescription-only NeuroStar based on data that found patients did modestly better when treated with TMS than when they unknowingly received a sham treatment that mimicked the magnet. It was a study fraught with statistical questions that concerned the agency's own scientific advisers.

For a more clear answer, the National Institutes of Health has an independent study under way now that tracks 260 patients and may have initial results as early as next year.

Quantifying the benefit is key, considering the price tag. TMS is expected to cost $6,000 to $10,000, depending on how many treatments a patient needs, says Dr. Philip Janicak of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who helped lead the NeuroStar study. That's far more expensive than medication yet thousands of dollars cheaper than invasive depression devices.

Neuroscientists have been using TMS for years as a research tool in brain studies. Zap a powerful magnet over a certain spot on the head — where motion is controlled — and someone's arm can suddenly, involuntarily, lash out. Beyond the "wow" factor, magnetized pulses were triggering brain activity.

The question was how to harness that activity in a way that might improve disease. TMS also is being studied in stroke rehabilitation and other brain disorders.

"Nobody thought this would work; it was a crazy idea. I had to do it at 6 in the morning before the real scientists came in," South Carolina's George laughs as he recalls work he began in 1993.

But, "the brain is an electrical organ," George adds, explaining the rationale. "Electricity is the currency of the brain. It's how the brain does what it does."

For depression, psychiatrists aim the magnet at the left front of the head, the prefrontal cortex. Since everyone's brain is different, they first zap the top of the head to find a patient's motor-control region, and then carefully move 5 centimeters forward. Then, the NeuroStar beams about 3,000 pulses a minute during a 40-minute treatment, done about five times a week for up to six weeks.

The theory: Stimulating brain cells in the prefrontal cortex triggers a chain reaction that also stimulates deeper brain regions involved with mood.

TMS did prove to be very safe: Patients in the NeuroStar study suffered no seizures or memory problems like shock therapy can cause, or other reactions throughout the body. The chief complaint from the sessions was headaches.

The FDA cleared the device after focusing just on a subset of the patients initially enrolled — 164 who had failed one antidepressant during their current bout of depression, not those who were more severely treatment-resistant.

What's a modest benefit? About 24 percent who got TMS scored significantly better on standard depression measures after six weeks, compared with 12 percent who got the sham, says Janicak. That's about as well as patients respond to a single antidepressant, he says.

Some reported remarkable improvement.

"One day it was like a light switch went off," says Steve Newman, 60, of Washington, D.C., who enrolled in the NeuroStar study at the University of Pennsylvania in 2005.

Newman had suffered repeated bouts of depression since he was a teenager, and drug after drug barely blunted it. He was considering shock therapy when he heard about TMS.

After two weeks of treatment, Newman was wondering if he was getting the sham — when suddenly, he started feeling lots better, and doctors spotted a corresponding major improvement in his depression measurements.

"I was awake. I was there," says Newman who said he still gets what he calls a "maintenance dose" of TMS about once a month.

EUREKA MOMENT

You're most creative at 10:04 pm - EUREKA MOMENT

Trying really hard to come up with a good presentation to impress your client tomorrow? Well, in that case, make sure you do it after dinner, for

according to a new research, people are at their most creative late at night with 10.04pm the most likely time for a eureka moment.

According to a new survey, brainwaves are least likely to strike in the afternoon. The least creative time in the day is 4.33pm, with 92% of people admitting to feeling uninspired in the afternoon, the survey found. The poll of 1,426 people showed that a quarter of us stay up late burning the midnight oil when seeking inspiration, the poll by the Crowne Plaza hotel chain showed.

Taking a shower is the most popular way of getting our creative juices flowing, with 44% of us heading beneath the nozzle when in need of a mental breakthrough, reports the Telegraph.

The research showed that 58% of people forget their best ideas by failing to write them down immediately, although women are more successful at keeping note of their brainwaves.

Child virus kills 3, sickens 110 in east China

Hand, foot and mouth disease has killed three children and sickened about 110 others in eastern China, state media reported.

The official Xinhua News Agency said late Sunday that all the cases were reported in Jian'ou city of Fujian province from October 1 to 17.

Citing a provincial health official, Xinhua said the children who died from the infectious disease were under a year old and came from different towns. Twenty-two of the infected children were still hospitalized for treatment, the report said.

The provincial government has sent eight epidemic prevention experts to the city to help local medical staff conduct citywide checks on children, Xinhua said.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is common in young children and is characterized by fever, mouth sores and a rash with blisters. It is spread by direct contact with nose and throat discharges, saliva, fluid from blisters, or the stool of infected persons. It is not related to foot and mouth disease, which infects cattle, sheep and swine.

In spring, the spread of the virus sickened more than 24,000 people and killed dozens across China before authorities reported a slowdown in infections in May in Anhui, the province where the outbreak was first reported.

Anhui was the worst-hit province with 26 deaths, and the outbreak was first reported there in March.

Hawaii ending universal child health care

Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.

Gov. Linda Lingle's administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don't believe that was the intent of the program."

State officials said Thursday they will stop giving health coverage to the 2,000 children enrolled by Nov. 1, but private partner Hawaii Medical Service Association will pay to extend their coverage through the end of the year without government support.

"We're very disappointed in the state's decision, and it came as a complete surprise to us," said Jennifer Diesman, a spokeswoman for HMSA, the state's largest health care provider. "We believe the program is working, and given Hawaii's economic uncertainty, we don't think now is the time to cut all funding for this kind of program."

Hawaii lawmakers approved the health plan in 2007 as a way to ensure every child can get basic medical help. The Keiki (child) Care program aimed to cover every child from birth to 18 years old who didn't already have health insurance — mostly immigrants and members of lower-income families.

It costs the state about $50,000 per month, or $25.50 per child — an amount that was more than matched by HMSA.

State health officials argued that most of the children enrolled in the universal child care program previously had private health insurance, indicating that it was helping those who didn't need it.

The Republican governor signed Keiki Care into law in 2007, but it and many other government services are facing cuts as the state deals with a projected $900 million general fund shortfall by 2011.

While it's difficult to determine how many children lack health coverage in the islands, estimates range from 3,500 to 16,000 in a state of about 1.3 million people. All were eligible for the program.

"Children are a lot more vulnerable in terms of needing care," said Democratic Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland. "It's not very good to try to be a leader and then renege on that commitment."

The universal health care system was free except for copays of $7 per office visit.

Families with children currently enrolled in the universal system are being encouraged to seek more comprehensive Medicaid coverage, which may be available to children in a family of four earning up to $73,000 annually.

These children also could sign up for the HMSA Children's Plan, which costs about $55 a month.

"Most of them won't be eligible for Medicaid, and that's why they were enrolled in Keiki Care," Diesman said. "It's the gap group that we're trying to ensure has coverage."

Now Chicken Soup for High Blood Pressure

Chicken soup, a popular home remedy for common cold, may have a role in fighting high blood pressure, according to a Japanese study.

Ai Saiga of Nippon Meat Packers and colleagues cited previous studies indicating that chicken breast contains collagen proteins with effects similar to ACE inhibitors, mainstay medications for treating high BP.

But chicken breast contains such small amounts of the proteins that it could not be used to develop food and medical products for high BP. Chicken legs and feet, which are often discarded as waste products in the US and are key soup ingredients elsewhere, appear to be a better source, according to a release of American Chemical Society (ACS).

In the new study, Saiga and colleagues extracted collagen from chicken legs and tested its ability to act as an ACE inhibitor in lab studies. They identified four different proteins in the collagen mixture with high ACE-inhibitory activity.

Given to rats used to model human high BP, the proteins produced a significant and prolonged decrease in blood pressure, the researchers said.

The research is scheduled for publication in the Oct 22 issue of ACS' biweekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Therapy helps hard-to-transplant get a new kidney

Cynthia Preloh, with her husband Brian Preloh, rests in her hospital room after a kidney transplant at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. Preloh underwent an unusual procedure that allowed her to receive a kidney from her son, a kidney that she would otherwise have rejected. Preloh wasn't expected to survive the wait for a standard cadaver kidney.

Nearly one in three patients who need a kidney transplant may never get one because their bodies are abnormally primed to attack a donated organ. Now doctors are trying new ways to outwit the immune system and save more of those so-called "highly sensitized" patients — often with kidneys donated by living donors, considered the optimal kind.

"I feel very lucky. Our son saved my life," said Cynthia Preloh of Arlington, Va., after an unusual combination of blood cleansing and a cancer drug allowed her to receive a kidney from her son that her body otherwise would have destroyed.

It's promising work that comes as the nation's kidney distribution system is beginning a major overhaul. Together, the two efforts aim to make a long-needed dent in the years of waiting it can take to get a kidney transplant.

That's crucial, because "your chance of getting successfully transplanted decreases with time," says Dr. Keith Melancon of Georgetown University Hospital, Preloh's surgeon and a leader in the small but growing field of incompatible kidney transplants.

More than 77,000 people are on the national waiting list to receive a kidney from a deceased donor. Yet fewer than 17,000 transplants a year are performed, about 10,500 of them from deceased donors and just over 6,000 from living donors, relatives or friends who offer to help a specific patient. The wait can stretch four to five years, and more than 4,000 patients die on the waiting list each year.

The United Network for Organ Sharing is considering some big changes to the system. There's no formal proposal yet, but there are options under discussion:

_Wait times might be defined by kidney function deterioration rather than how early someone gets on the transplant list, to level the field for patients who don't see a specialist right away.

_In addition to wait time, matches may weigh recipient and kidney age and medical conditions to maximize what's "life years from transplant." One kidney might last longer in an older person without diabetes than in a younger diabetic, explains Dr. Kenneth Andreoni of Ohio State Medical Center and vice chair of the UNOS kidney committee.

"It's trying to get the balance between having a person live longer because they have the transplant over dialysis, and also looking at how many years in total they would live," he says.

_Ranking the quality of donated kidneys in a way that would let patients choose one of lesser quality if it means a shorter wait, or try to hold out longer for a better one.

Such changes wouldn't increase available kidneys. Hence the need for the new kidney match-making called desensitization aimed at patients like Preloh who otherwise might not get a chance at a new organ.

A transplant starts by matching patient and donor kidney according to blood and tissue type. Today's anti-rejection drugs are so good that tissue-typing can be far from perfect.

A different threat is what's called antibody-mediated rejection, where patients increasingly are "sensitized" — their bodies produce antibodies that are super-vigilant at attacking most available kidneys. What causes that? Pregnancy, blood transfusions, a previous transplant, increased time on dialysis. So longer transplant wait times are fueling sensitization, a vicious cycle.

The more antibodies, the harder it is to find a compatible kidney. So the quest is to rid patients of antibodies targeted to a specific donated kidney, and keep them from making more.

One method: Filtering a patient's blood, called plasma pheresis, before transplant. Another is intravenous immune globulin, or IVIG, a mix of infection-fighting antibodies that basically crowd out the bad kidney kind with run-of-the-mill types. They're treatments pioneered at a few hospitals — including Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University — and now slowly spreading.

But that's not strong enough for many super-sensitized patients, so a new experiment is testing the lymphoma drug Rituxan, which fights the immune-system cancer by killing certain antibody-producing cells. Cedars-Sinai researchers reported the first preliminary but promising evidence in the New England Journal of Medicine this summer: Rituxan helped slash antibody levels enough that 16 of 20 patients could be transplanted, and all but one of the new kidneys was working a year later.

Back at Georgetown, Cynthia Preloh, 50, had been told to expect a seven-year wait for a donated kidney when diabetes destroyed her own. Diabetics have particularly poor survival on dialysis and her son offered a faster living donation, but Preloh had too many antibodies that would attack his tissue.

Melancon — who moved from Hopkins to Georgetown in the nation's capital to spread this work — hoped Rituxan would give Preloh enough extra desensitization to try the transplant. Her new kidney started working on the operating table, "which was the best thing you could hope to hear," she said last week as she recovered.

How to Care for Ears

Taking care of your ears involves two things: caring for the outer ear itself for cosmetic reasons, and protecting your hearing by caring for the inside of your ear. The following will show you ways to protect your ears from damage, infection and hearing loss.

* Ear plugs or cuffs

Caring for Your Ears
Step1

Avoid blows to the outer ear. If you wrestle, box or participate in a contact sport such as rugby, wear headgear that includes protection for your ears. Repeated blows to the outer ear can result in a condition called cauliflower ear, in which the cartilage of the ear is damaged and the ear becomes deformed.

Step2
Pierce carefully, particularly if piercing cartilage. An infected piercing can cause permanent damage to the outer ear, something that will ruin the look of any earring.

Step3
Clean your ears with a washcloth-covered finger only. Never put anything inside your ear canal, including cotton swabs. Your ear canal is very narrow, and a swab or finger can damage it; they can also cause ear wax to get pushed against the ear drum, which can cause hearing problems.

Step4
Leave ear wax alone. Wax is your ear's way of trapping and eliminating anything foreign that gets into the ear canal. Most people don't need to clean wax out of their ears. If you find you have too much ear wax (it's visible in the ear or it's affecting your hearing), use a few drops of ear wax remover or hydrogen peroxide in the canal. After a few minutes, flush the ear with a rubber bulb and tepid water.

Protecting Your Hearing
Step1
Avoid noisy places. NASCAR racetracks, firing ranges, rock concerts and construction sites are just a few places that frequently have noise levels that can damage hearing. Any place where you have to shout to be heard should be avoided. If you choose to go anyway, wear earplugs.

Step2
Turn the volume down. Be careful not to play personal stereos and televisions too loud, especially if using headphones or earbuds.

Step3
See your doctor if you have an earache. Ear infections can damage the ear drum or the bones of the middle ear, causing hearing loss. Your doctor may prescribe medication or order a minor surgical procedure to help you if you suffer from frequent infections.

Step4
Be careful with illness and medications. Respiratory illnesses should be treated to avoid their spread to the ears. Certain medications can damage hearing; take only what's prescribed for you and follow the directions carefully. Avoid others who are ill; some illnesses can only be treated with antibiotics that can damage hearing.

Step5
Stop smoking. Smokers are more likely to lose their hearing than non-smokers.

Step6
See your doctor if you suffer from sudden hearing loss or hear noises in your head (tinnitus). These can be symptoms of a serious illness which needs to be treated.

How to Be Amazing and Fit After 50

Small steps any woman (or man) can take to slow the aging process and live a healthier life

Fit and Fabulous after 50

Steps

1. Exercise --The simplest and easiest way to take one necessary step toward being fit and fabulous is to exercise. I’m not talking about running to the gym five days a week, pumping iron or cycling until you drop. I’m talking about something simple that you can do at a moderate level every day. I’m talking about walking. Walking is easy to do and requires no equipment except a good pair of shoes, and can be done anywhere and at any time. A brisk pace for 45 – 60 minutes for 5 to 7 days a week can reduce fatigue, promote weight loss, lower blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol, and prevent osteoporosis, diabetes and heart problems. Moderate exercise is also a de-stressor and muscle builder.

2. Quit Smoking--Smoking is the number one preventable cause of aging and illness in older adults. Excess deaths from cigarette smoking increase with age. Sixty percent of all smokers began by age 13. For them, aging begins at 13 and not at 30 as in non-smokers. Tobacco is the only product that when used as intended can and probably will kill you. You can add memory loss to the long list of health problems that come from smoking. Smokers may have twice the risk of getting Alzheimer's disease as do people who have never smoked. Stop now — it's never too late. If you quit smoking now, you can still reduce your risk of memory loss later in life.The fact that people who smoke develop wrinkles at an earlier age than their non-smoking counterparts seems to be due degrading enzymes A study from Ohio State University shows that using hypnosis to quit smoking is 30 percent effective in men and 23 effective in women. .. "Women seem more likely to smoke in response to stress or anxiety than men do.”

3. Manage Stress--Stress can make you sick and look older than your years. If you are under stress it shows in you face, in your attitude and in your sleep habits. Stress is the primary cause of insomnia, and without adequate sleep, you age much faster.

4. Self hypnosis is an excellent way to de-stress your life. Simply distressing affirmations are available at Achieve-With-Hypnosis.

5. Get Enough Sleep--Most people do not get enough sleep! For nearly 40% of Americans, this time is usually filled with tossing, turning, and frequent waking. These are textbook symptoms of insomnia, the most common sleep disorder in the United States. Seven to eight hours of sleep of night is optimum, and most of us don’t get that. Without adequate sleep, when the body rejuvenates, you awaken tired, with dark circles and puffy eyes. Wrinkling Is another sign of not getting enough sleep. Sleep can be enhanced by several different activities: adequate exercise, proper eating habits, weight loss,limiting alcohol and quitting smoking. Without doing these things, sleep can be a commodity that can not be bought at any price.

6. Make Diet Changes--Eat a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Many of these contain antioxidants — substances that protect and nourish brain cells. And antioxidants may help prevent cholesterol from damaging the lining of your arteries and slowing blood flow to your brain. Foods high in antioxidants include colorful fruits and vegetables, such as oranges, berries, broccoli, spinach, carrots, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Supplement your diet with high quality vitamins, herbs, and minerals.

Men most romantic 'at age 53'

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's ladylove Carla Bruni knows it better -- men are at their most romantic when they touch 53, according to a survey.

The poll has revealed that the majority of men do not embrace romance until they are well into their fifties, but as soon as they attain 53 they can even beat youths when it comes to showering their partners with love.

And what's interesting is that it found that more than three quarters of those aged between 51 and 55 believe saying "I love you" daily is the most romantic gesture of all.

Moreover, men in their fifties are also more likely to appreciate a bit of romance in their lives and they even tend to surprise their spouses or partners more often than their younger counterparts, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

In fact, the poll of 2,000 men aged 18 to 65 found a third have recently surprised their partner with champagne on ice, while more than one in four wrote their partner a poem.

Almost half will surprise women with flowers, perfume and chocolate as compared to only 24 per cent of men aged 25. Other surprises include grand gestures such as organising romantic weekends away or pampering days.

"By the time a man reaches his fifties he has a wealth of experience under his belt, and will be wiser about things which please a woman. He will have endured countless arguments with his partner, made hundreds of mistakes and blundered his way through the early years of his relationship.

"When a man reaches the grand old age of 53, he will be wiser about what works for his partner, and will be more likely to make an effort.

"Another major difference with the 'empty nesters' generation is that many will have children who have flown the nest and their partner is the only person they come home to at night. This means couples have more time to spoil each other," he said.

EU tells music lovers to turn down MP3 players

The European Union told music lovers Monday to turn down the volume of MP3 players, saying they risk permanent hearing loss from listening too long at maximum levels.

EU scientists reported that between 2.5 million and 10 million Europeans could suffer hearing loss from listening to MP3 players at unsafe volumes — over 89 decibels — for more an hour daily for at least five years.

EU spokeswoman Helen Kearns said the EU executive was asking people, especially children and young people, "to turn it down" now because they may be damaging their hearing without noticing it.

"It's damage that may come back and haunt you later in life," she said at a news conference.

She said regulators would look next year at lowering the EU legal limit of 100 decibels for MP3 players.

Apple was forced to pull its iPod player from store shelves in France and upgrade software on the device to limit sound to 100 decibels.

The Cupertino, California-based company ships a warning with each iPod that cautions "permanent hearing loss may occur if earphones or headphones are used at high volume."

EU noise rules are meant to limit noise levels in the workplace, construction sites, factories and even orchestras.

How to Choose the Right Doctor for Plastic Surgery

According to Remedy Life magazine, there were more than 12 million plastic surgeries in 2007. Unfortunately, a number of those surgeries were botched but authorities are vague on the percentage because many go unreported. If you are planning to have cosmetic surgery, such as breast augmentation, nose re-shaping, liposuction or eyelid enhancement; find the right surgeon by following the tips listed in the article.

Step1
Check with The American Board of Plastic Surgery.

The American Board of Plastic Surgery presents board certification to qualified surgeons in the area of Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Head and Neck Surgery, and Plastic Surgery. You can find a board certified surgeon by visiting one of the certification website: abfprs.org, AAFPRS or ASPS.

Step2
Talk to your family doctor.
Consult a trusted doctor or get recommendations from friends who have already undergone the procedure.

Step3
Check experience.

Get a doctor with extensive experience in performing the procedure. A person who conducts cosmetic surgery all the time is a good possibility but you will want to know if he performed several surgeries in the one you wish to get.

Step4
Ask for references and proof of performance.

Ask to see before and after photographs. Ask for references from patients who have had the procedure. Also check for disciplinary actions against surgeons you are considering.

Dr. Robert Kotler of WebMD suggests that you also consider surgeons who teaches at a medical school and has publications in medical journals on the subject of cosmetic surgery. These doctors are typically involved and are experts in the field.

Tips & Warnings

* Beware of cheap procedures. Many doctors are concerned that procedures advertised as cheap or quick are typically of a less quality.

WHO probing deaths from mystery disease in SAfrica

The U.N. health agency says it is investigating a mystery disease that killed three people in the South African city of Johannesburg.

The World Health Organization says the disease appears to be a form of hemorrhagic fever.

It says tests have proved negative for Ebola, Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, Marburg fever and other main types of hemorrhagic fever.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl says the first death on Sept. 13 was a tour guide who had fallen ill in Zambia before being evacuated to South Africa. Two further deaths on Sept. 30 and Oct. 4. involved a paramedic and a nurse who treated the woman.

Hartl said Friday that 121 people are being monitored and WHO hopes to receive further test results by Sunday.

'Pregnancy doesn't make women mushy'

Motherhood and pregnancy might make individuals go a little gooey, but it doesn't turn women's brains into mush, says a new study.

According to mental health researchers at The Australian National University, despite fears mothers may have that pregnancy affects their cognitive functions, there is no evidence to suggest that is true. The findings have been released as part of Mental Health Week.

The research team, lead by CMHR Director professor Helen Christensen, analysed information from the PATH through Life Project database and found that neither pregnancy nor motherhood had a detrimental effect on cognitive capacity.

The PATH Through Life Project began in 1999 by recruiting and interviewing 2500 young people aged between 20 and 24. The group were subsequently followed up in both 2003 and 2007.

After eight years of the study, 223 of the women had become mothers and 76 had been pregnant at the time of the research interview.

"Our research suggests that although women - and their partners - think there may be a link between brain capacity and pregnancy and motherhood, there are certainly no permanent ones that we can find," said professor Christensen.

"We found no effects of pregnancy on cognitive capacity and motherhood also had no detrimental effects. One thing we did observe was that women who have children become marginally less well educated than women who don't have children in their 20s.

"While this is hardly surprising, as having children will interrupt education, it is something to watch in the future as early mothers may be disadvantaged later on if they do not continue with further training," she added.

Professor Christensen said the study was only able to look at the effects of motherhood over a relatively short time, and she hoped that future human data will align with findings about mother rats. "Rodent data shows that mother rats have improved multi-skilling capacity and less fear responses than non-mothers. The rat data suggests that mother rats navigate mazes more efficiently, have less anxiety and fear and excel at multi-skilling.That sounds to me like almost every mother I know and I hope that the human effects eventually mirror those findings," she said.

Vitamin D to protect vital organs

Vitamin D, once associated with rickets and osteoporosis, is now recognised as a key player in contributing to overall health, according to the latest research.

Anthony Norman, expert on vitamin D from University of California Riverside (UCR), identified its potential for contribution to good health in secretion and regulation of insulin by the pancreas, heart and blood pressure regulation, muscle strength and brain activity.

Vitamin D deficiency can impact 36 organs like bone marrow, breast, colon, intestine, kidney, lung, prostate, retina, skin, stomach and the uterus. Already, vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle strength decrease, high risk for falls, and increased risk for colorectal, prostate and breast and other major cancers.

"It is becoming increasingly clear to researchers in the field that vitamin D is strongly linked to several diseases," said Norman, a distinguished professor emeritus of biochemistry and of biomedical sciences who has worked on vitamin D for more than 45 years, according to a release of UCR.

Vitamin D is synthesised in the body in a series of steps. First, sunlight's ultraviolet rays act on a precursor compound in skin. When skin is exposed to sunlight, a sterol present in dermal tissue is converted to vitamin D, which, in turn, is metabolized in the liver and kidneys to form a hormone. It was Norman's laboratory that discovered, in 1967, that vitamin D is converted into a steroid hormone by the body.

The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 200 international units (IU) for people up to 50 years old. The recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 400 IU for people 51 to 70 years old and 600 IU for people over 70 years old. Norman's recommendation for all adults is to have an average daily intake of at least 2,000 IU.

While deficiency of vitamin D impacts health negatively, ingestion of extremely high doses of vitamin D can cause hypercalcemia, a condition in which the blood's calcium level is above normal.

Hundreds of stones removed from Dalai Lama's gall bladder

Hundreds of pebble-like stones, ranging from half a centimetre to one centimetre in size, were removed from the gall bladder of Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Friday. The stones had been giving the Buddhist leader sleepless nights for the past few weeks.

A team of surgeons from Gangaram Hospital in New Delhi, led by Dr P K Chaubey, chairman of the hospital's department of minimal access surgery, removed the stones using the 15-minute keyhole procedure called laparoscopy.

During the procedure, the team sedated the Nobel prize-winning leader and made several tiny incisions in the abdomen. The team then inserted a laparoscope and a miniature video camera which gave a close-up view of the organs and tissues. The surgeons then carefully separated the gall bladder from the liver and bile ducts.

They then cut the cystic duct and removed the gall bladder through one of the small incisions.

According to surgeons who spoke to TOI on condition of anonymity, the 73-year-old Dalai Lama will be discharged from the hospital by Tuesday. He can resume normal activities like travel and public talks after a week.

Doctors said because the abdominal muscles are not cut during laparoscopic surgery, patients have less pain and fewer complications than after open surgery, which requires an incision of five to eight inches across the abdomen.

"All the stones have been successfully removed. The Dalai Lama had been feeling acute pain in the abdomen for the past few days because of it," a surgeon from the hospital said.

The Dalai Lama's aide, Chhime R Chhoekyapa, called the surgery a simple, routine procedure. Speaking to TOI, Chhoekyapa said: "The bursts of pain had been bothering the Dalai Lama since the end of August. His initial treatment took place in Mumbai where the stones were diagnosed. However, the surgery to remove them was successfully completed on Friday."

According to Chhoekyapa, the Dalai Lama's future travel plans aren't being changed. He will travel across Japan on a seven-day lecture tour from the end of this month and is expected to return by mid-November to his home in Dharamsala — where he set up his government-in-exile after fleeing Tibet following a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

"The Dalai Lama didn't have travel plans till the end of October. He may return to Dharamsala before leaving for Japan, if he feels up to it. Or else, he will leave straight for Japan from Delhi. He also plans to visit Meerut and Pune after his return from Japan," Chhoekyapa told TOI. The Dalai Lama arrived in Delhi on Monday from Dharamsala.

A typical gallbladder stone attack can cause steady pain in the right upper abdomen that increases rapidly and lasts from 30 minutes to several hours.

Indian Doctors Perform Liver Transplant on 7-Month-Old Child

Ina unique surgery of its kind, Indian doctors at the Apollo Indraprastha Hospital in New Delhi have performed a successful liver transplant on a 7-month-old child.

Sivojit Paul was born with a condition called biliary atresia. In this condition there are no connections between the liver and the intestine. Therefore bile is not excreted and this can lead to a fatal condition. The only way out is to perform a liver transplant.

Sivojit, who is based in Kolkata, came to New Delhi two months ago with severe jaundice after a surgery to connect the liver and intestine failed in a Kolkata hospital. His mother Munmun Paul told reporters they were referred to Delhi by the Kolkata doctors.

Doctors at Apollo said they could not afford to wait because the child's condition was rapidly deteriorating. Generally liver transplants are not attempted until one year of age.

Pediatric gastroenterologist Dr Anupam Sibal and his team found Sivojit's father Indranil Paul to be a fit donor. A part of his liver was taken to be transplanted into his son.

Biliary atresia is not a common condition. Only 1 out of 12,000 babies suffer from this condition, which cannot be treated unless a liver transplant is performed.

While doctors expect Sivojit to make a complete recovery and lead a normal life; he still has to take anti-rejection medicines all his life.

Dalai Lama hospitalised with abdominal pain

The Dalai Lama has been hospitalised due to abdominal pain and could undergo surgery on Friday, a senior doctor said, but his spokesma
n insisted that he was only undergoing "routine tests."

The spiritual leader was admitted to New Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital on Thursday following media reports that abdominal pains for which he had spent four days in a Mumbai Hospital in August had recurred.

"He was admitted when he complained of abdominal pain and now chances are that the Dalai Lama will be operated upon, most probably tomorrow (Friday)," said a senior doctor at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, who did not wish to be identified.

"His holiness, who was discharged from Lilawati Hospital (in Mumbai) on September 1, was advised to visit our hospital for follow-up checks but he was admitted when he complained of severe abdominal pain," he added.

Hospital chief Nalini Kaul declined to comment on the Dalai Lama's health but the Press Trust of India, quoting unnamed sources, also said the monk was likely to be operated upon on Friday.

Hospital spokesman Ajay Sehgal said health details of the Dalai Lama would be released only by the Tibetan leader's office in the northern Indian hilltop town Dharamshala.

The Dalai Lama's spokesman Tenzin Takhla dismissed the report of surgery and said that the spiritual leader was undergoing "routine tests." The Buddhist monk had been scheduled to return to his home-in-exile in Dharamshala on Thursday, but Takhla said that he would now remain in hospital at least till Saturday.

In the weeks preceding his illness, the Dalai Lama had pursued a hectic international itinerary as he campaigned for improved human rights in Tibet while China hosted the Olympic Games.

Take vitamins after weight loss surgery

Latest research suggests that you should not forget to take your multivitamins after gastric bypass surgery for obesity.

The case of a woman who developed a vitamin deficiency disease because she did not take multivitamins after weight-loss surgery was taken up for study by Rachel Batterham and Alberic Fiennes, of University College London.

The 27-year-old woman attended hospital with a three-week history of dizziness, low-appetite, and vomiting, having had uncomplicated gastric bypass surgery two months earlier at University College Hospital (UCH) London.

Upon discharge after her weight-loss surgery, she was prescribed the standard treatments of multivitamins and lansoprazole - a drug which prevents the stomach producing acid, according to a release of UCH. The report was published in this week's edition of The Lancet.

Upon examination, she had rapid heartbeat and dehydration, and was provisionally diagnosed with gastric outflow obstruction; but an endoscopy revealed nothing of note.

Since the surgery the woman had lost nearly 20 kg, and blood tests gave results consistent with dehydration. She was given intravenous fluids, including glucose, and also drank high-sugar energy drinks.

The next day, she felt light headed and collapsed in the shower, and had extremely low blood pressure. Further tests revealed abnormal eye movements, hyper-reflexia in her arms, weakness of the thighs, and reduced touch sensation - all of which led to the diagnosis of thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency.

Intravenous administration of thiamine began, and the patient made a full recovery. She admitted that she had not been taking her multivitamins.

Following gastric bypass surgery, vitamin supplements are necessary to make up the shortage of vitamins entering the body through food intake. Total body thiamine stores last 18-60 days, and deficiency can cause wet beriberi (cardiovascular problems), dry beriberi (nervous system problems) or Wernicke's encephalopathy (an acute neurological disorder characterised by eye movement problems).

The woman had symptoms of all these three conditions.

Drug companies: No cold medicines for kids under 4

Don't give over-the-counter cold remedies to kids under 4, drug companies said Tuesday. What sniffling little ones need, doctors said, are plenty of fluids and lots of tender, loving care.

"The best thing a parent can do is comfort their children," said Dr. Laura Herrera, a Baltimore family practitioner and mother of two. "Keeping them as comfortable as possible is certainly better than giving cough and cold medicines."

In a concession to pediatricians, who doubt the drugs do much good for children and worry about risks, the companies that make over-the-counter remedies like Dimetapp and Pediacare announced they had changed their advice to parents for the second cold season in a row.

Besides recommending against cold medicines off drugstore and grocery shelves, the companies say not to give antihistamines to kids to help them sleep. The new instructions are on packages that started hitting stores this week.

Last year, the industry went against cough and cold medicines for children under 2. The latest changes came after discussions between drug companies and the Food and Drug Administration. The talks were kept quiet for months as federal health officials debated how to respond to a pediatricians' petition seeking to ban the medications for kids under 6. At a public hearing last week, neither industry officials nor regulators gave any hint of an impending announcement.

Cough and cold products have been given to children for decades, but it turns out the medicines were never scientifically tested to see how well they work in kids. And recent research has found some untoward side effects, mostly stemming from accidental overdoses.

Pediatricians who support a ban for kids under 6 nonetheless said they were pleased with the industry announcement.

"It's a huge step forward," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Baltimore's health commissioner. "There is no evidence that these products work in kids, and there is definitely evidence of serious side effects."

Problems with over-the-counter cough and cold medicines send some 7,000 children to hospital emergency rooms each year, with symptoms including hives, drowsiness and unsteady walking. Many kids overdose by taking medicines when their parents aren't looking.

"The 2- and 3-year-olds are definitely the highest risk," said Sharfstein. "More than 50 percent of the problem is with these kids. If they don't have this stuff around the home, they're less likely to grab it and ingest it."

The new advice could create its own kind of quandary. For example, what to do in a family with a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old?

Dr. Herrera said parents should resist the urge to give the medications to the older child. "They feel like they're doing good by giving these medications, but in some cases they could be doing more harm than good," she said.

Herrera has a 6-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, and neither of them have gotten cold remedies.

The drug makers said they are also introducing new dispensers to help parents make sure they give the right amount of medicines, and not too much. The industry is expanding a nationwide educational campaign aimed at getting parents to be more careful.

"We are doing this voluntarily out of an abundance of caution," Linda Suydam, president of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, said in announcing the changes on behalf of the companies. "The vast majority of the serious adverse events are in 2- to 3-year-olds. They are the ones who get into the products by being curious toddlers."

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., an advocate for children's health care, said he will continue to press the FDA to ban the drugs for children under 6. Outside advisers made that recommendation to the agency a year ago.

"While I'm pleased to see that the drug companies are voluntarily taking some steps to ensure the safety and well being of our children, I am disappointed that the FDA has not followed the recommendations of its own advisory panel," Dodd said.

Dr. Janet Woodcock, a senior FDA official, said restricting use of the medicines to children over 4 makes sense as an interim step, while the agency continues to study the risks and benefits in children under 12. It's a process that could take years.

"This was a logical cutoff," said Woodcock, adding, "It was somewhat of a judgment call." She said government officials fear that taking the medicines off the shelves might prompt parents to give their children adult medicines instead.

Leading cough and cold brands include Dimetapp, Pediacare, Robitussin, Triaminic, Little Colds and versions of Tylenol that have ingredients to treat cold symptoms. U.S. families spend at least $287 million a year on cold remedies for kids, according to Nielsen Co. statistics that do not include Wal-Mart sales.

Herrera, the Baltimore family doctor, said kids with colds usually get better in a few days. Coughs and sniffles can be distressing, but they are also a sign that the body is doing its work.

Parents may want to give Tylenol or Motrin if a child is running a fever of 101 degrees or higher, Herrera said. Sniffles can be cleaned up with tissues or gently suctioned if kids are too young to blow their noses. And children should be watched for any signs of trouble breathing, which could signal more serious problems.

The industry said parents should never:

_Give adult medicines to a child.

_Give two or more medicines with the same ingredients at the same time.

_Give antihistamines to make a child sleepy.

And parents should:

_Give the exact recommended dose, using the measuring device that comes with the medicine.

_Keep medicines out of sight and out of reach.

_Consult their doctors if they have any questions.

Cops nab pair in same vehicle for drunken driving

Fargo police said two men were arrested for drunken driving in the same vehicle. Police Lt. Pat Claus said an officer pulled over a 23-year-old man early Thursday morning. Claus said while that man was taking a sobriety test, a 24-year-old passenger got behind the wheel and tried to drive off.


Claus said the passenger was also arrested for drunken driving. Both men were taken to the Cass County jail.

Claus called the case "unique."

Pregnancy Tips

Tips to prevent nausea and morning sickness

* Eat more often but smaller amounts. Try not to go more than four hours between eating.
* Get out of bed slowly
* Keep biscuits handy to eat before getting out of bed
* Avoid large meals
* Rest as much as you can as feeling tiredness makes the feeling worse
* Try to avoid smells and food that make you feel worse
* Clean, lemony smells may make you feel better
* Avoid eating spicy or fatty foods
* Try to wear loose clothes that don't put pressure on your stomach

Tips to prevent heartburn

* Try putting a pillow between your knees to help ease the strain on hips and knees.
* Decrease your fluid intake in the evenings (but not during the day) and avoid caffeine to avoid heartburn.
* Eat little and often. Drink milk or herbal teas with chamomile or fennel after eating.
* Also eat peppermints after eating.

Travel tips

* The second trimester is the best time to travel. At this time, you are probably over the sick and nauseous feelings of the first trimester. The miscarriage risk is also minimum at this time.
* On the road or in the air, avoid sitting for extended periods of time, try to walk around at least every hour or two. On a plane or train, even a trip up and down the aisles can help get your circulation going. Also make frequent trips to the toilet.
* Carry light snacks so that you do not go without food for long periods of time. Keep munching a carrot, an apple or a sandwich every hour or so.
* In the sultry heat of India, keep water handy all the time ot prevent dehydration and cramping.
* Use travel sickness bands - these work by massaging your pressure points.

Miscellaneous

* If you suffer with piles during pregnancy ice packs covered with a soft cloth on the area can provide relief.
* To relieve backache, place a warm hot water bottle on the relevant area. Press your spine against a wall and keep in that position for a few seconds.
* For cramps, gentle exercise will help - swimming is particularly good. Raise your feet on a pillow when lying in bed.

Pain relief during labour

* Having your back rubbed during labour helps with the pain.
* When you are in labour, try and walk around or at least stay in an upright position for as long as possible. This speeds up the process.
* Squatting, hands and knees or standing during delivery increases the pelvis size by over 30% giving you a faster, easier and safer delivery.
* Eating and drinking fluids during labour is the best natural remedy for labour pain.
* You can help your baby move into the optimal position for birth in your third trimester by making sure that your knees are lower than your hips when driving, sitting or relaxing.

source:ndtv.com

Scottish survey reveals contraception myths

Scotland, United Kingdom : A Scottish survey has found that most of the women do not avail the best available contraception because of false beliefs and fears arising from inadequate information. The survey was conducted to examine why use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) in the UK is still low.

Long-acting reversible contraceptives have high effectiveness and do not depend upon occasion or daily compliance, as with methods such as the pill or condoms. Types of long-acting reversible contraception include the contraceptive injection, contraceptive implants and an intrauterine method.

LARC methods are highly effective in preventing unintended pregnancies, bur their uptake is still low in the United Kingdom. The survey of 55 women, carried out by sexual health specialists in southern Scotland, discovered anxiety about weight-gain was one of many myths and misconceptions that deterred many women from getting the long-acting hormonal contraception.

The survey, published in this month's issue of the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, said that most of the women rejected the coil and implants because they did not want examinations or invasive procedures. There were others who chose the birth control pill just because their parents, colleagues or friends were using it.

The study's researchers, supported by the Department of Health (DH), the Scottish Government and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, said that the long-acting contraceptives seemed to scare many women who were worried that they would affect their long-term fertility.

"We are shooting ourselves in the foot by saying they are long-acting, and we need to emphasize that they don't impair fertility, and the majority of them don't affect weight," said Professor Anna Glasier, from Sexual Health NHS Lothian.

"Doctors tend to focus on medical problems, whereas women are actually more worried about their weight, their skin and their chances of being able to have children in the future," she said.

According to Lynn Hearton, of the Family Planning Association (FPA), several women worry about things like their fertility and gaining weight while taking long-term contraceptives. Such women are not only concerned about their effectiveness, but their impact on the whole of their lives.

"Contraception is of paramount importance to many women of all ages, but there are many myths and misconceptions circulating about how methods work and what the side effects are,” Hearton said. "So it's imperative that each and every woman has the information, time and support to consider all these issues and make her own informed choice."

Introduced in the 1960s, the oral contraceptives are medicines taken by mouth to help prevent pregnancy. Commonly known as birth control pill, the medicine is now the world's most popular form of contraception used by more than 12 million women in the United States and more than 60 million women worldwide, as per the estimates of U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The contraceptive pill that revolutionized birth control practices uses hormonesdefine to suppress ovulationdefine. The pill, typically containing estrogen or progesterone, inhibits ovulation and thereby prevents conception.

German doing well after 1st double arm transplant

Karl Merk, center, and his surgeons Christoph Hoehnke, left, and Edgar Biemer pose during a news conference in Munich, southern Germany on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2008. Farmer Merk who received the world's first complete double arm transplant is recovering well and able to perform some basic tasks, though doctors said Wednesday it still could take up to two years until he re-learns how to use his hands properly. Doctors spent 15 hours on July 25-26 grafting the donor arms onto the body of 54-year-old Karl Merk, who lost his own just below the shoulder in a farm accident involving a combine six years ago.



Germany - A German farmer who received the world's first complete double arm transplant said Wednesday that incredulity gave way to joy when he woke from surgery to discover he had arms again

Karl Merk, who lost his arms in a farming accident six years ago, said he at first could not believe that the transplant appeared to have been succesful.

"It was really overwhelming when I saw that I had arms again," said the 54-year-old, who wore a sleeveless black shirt showing clearly where his new arms had been grafted.

"These are my arms, and I'm not giving them away again," he told reporters at the Munich University Clinic where he remains nearly three months after the 15-hour operation.

Merk is recovering well and can perform simple tasks such as opening doors and turning lights on and off. His ultimate goals are to eat and dress himself — and ride a motorcycle.

"All in all, our wildest expectations have pretty much been fulfilled," said Christoph Hoehnke, one of the lead doctors.

A total of 40 surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses and other support staff carried out the 15-hour operation on July 25-26 to graft the donor's arms on to the body of Merk, who lost his own just below the shoulder in a combine harvester accident.

Doctors said there were good indications of nerve growth in the arms but it could take up to two years before he relearns how to use his hands.

Merk appeared at the news conference Wednesday with lower arms bandaged and supported with a series of straps attached to shoulder pads.

Merk said he was looking forward to going home after four to six more weeks of an intensive program of physiotherapy, electric stimulation and psychological counseling.

There is also still a risk that Merk's immune system will react, though doctors said so far there was no sign of them being rejected.

Symptoms Of Menopause

Dietary Changes to Make at Menopause

Diet can't cure the troubling symptoms of menopause, many can make a significant difference. And, if you take menopause as a signal for renewal and preparation for the second half of your life, the changes you make now can yield important benefits for decades to come.

When you've gone for a full year without a period, you have officially reached menopause. Nevertheless, a woman's body begins to change starting about 6 years sooner. During this time, called the perimenopause, the reproductive system prepares to retire and the ovaries gradually produce less estrogen. With perimenopause comes a variety of symptoms.

For many women, hot flashes (hot flushes) are the most noticeable result of the sharp variations in estrogen levels that mark this part of their lives. This sudden burst of heat can occur at any time and spread over your upper body, perhaps causing you to break into a sweat. The good news is that a hot flash will vanish as quickly as it appears. And despite their reputation as a universal sign of menopause, hot flashes trouble some women for only a few months, while as many as a third have none at all.

Over a span of years (often 10 or more), you may also notice changes in your skin, such as increased dryness and wrinkling, and in hair texture. The lining of your vagina may become thinner, drier, and less pliable. Your breasts may lose some of their fullness, and the nipples become less pronounced. Significantly, although some bone loss is a normal part of aging, bone loss speeds up rapidly in women at menopause.

During or following menopause, you may find yourself gaining weight. Although it occurs at a time of dramatic hormonal changes, you can chalk up this gain to advancing age. Unless you exercise regularly, you'll begin to lose calorie-burning muscle at midlife. In addition, your metabolism will slow down, and your body will no longer need energy to support your reproductive system. To maintain your former body weight, you may need to cut your calorie intake by 10 to 15 percent while increasing your level of activity.

While most menopausal changes are physical, some women also develop such emotional problems as mood swings, irritability, and fatigue. While these feelings have not been directly linked to hormonal changes, they could easily be brought on by hot flashes, sleep deprivation, and other stressful consequences of menopause. Although diet can't solve these problems, keeping your nutritional status at peak levels is obviously a wise move during this stress-filled period.

Menopause is a highly individual experience. You may recognize many of these changes, or you may hardly notice any. Although you may be tempted to chalk up such problems to menopause, it's a good idea to report them to your doctor. Some symptoms associated with menopause could be caused by something else, such as a thyroid disorder. Some could be signs of serious disease. Your doctor can determine whether symptoms such as hot flashes really are due to menopause, and can help you decide on a treatment. Whether you seek treatment or not, however, upgrading your lifestyle and your diet can help get you through.

source:health.yahoo.com

Nobel physics prize goes to 2 Japanese, 1 American

Two Japanese scientists and an American won the 2008 Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for theoretical advances that help explain the behavior of the smallest particles of matter.

The American, Yoichiro Nambu, 87, of the University of Chicago, won half the $1.4 million prize for mathematical work he did nearly a half-century ago.

"I had almost given up" on getting the Nobel, Nambu said.

Makoto Kobayashi and Toshihide Maskawa of Japan shared the other half for a 1972 theory that forecast the later discovery of a new family of subatomic particles.

The insights of the three scientists "give us a deeper understanding of what happens far inside the tiniest building blocks of matter," said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which presents the physics award.

Or, as physicist Phil Schewe, a spokesman for the American Institute of Physics, put it: "Nature works in strange ways, and these three physicists helped to explain that strangeness in an ingenious way."

They focused on a concept physicists call symmetry, and more specifically on occasions when that symmetry is violated.

In physics, the idea of symmetry means that a physical situation will be unaltered by certain changes. At the subatomic level, for example, things should happen the same way whether time is running forward or backward, so if you were watching a movie, you couldn't tell which way the movie was going. Similarly, symmetry could mean that you couldn't tell whether you were viewing action directly or through a mirror.

If one of those rules is violated, the symmetry is broken.

An important example of broken symmetry arose immediately after the big bang, when just a tiny bit more matter than antimatter was created. Because these two kinds of particles annihilate each other when they meet, that excess of matter was responsible for seeding the visible parts of the universe.

Nambu introduced his description of so-called spontaneous broken symmetry into particle physics in 1960. The Nobel citation said his theories now permeate the Standard Model of physics, which is the basic theory of how the universe operates. For example, spontaneous broken symmetry offers an explanation for how different particles acquired different masses.

In 1972, Kobayashi and Maskawa explained why an earlier experiment had found that some subatomic particles called kaons failed to follow the rules of symmetry. Their explanation correctly predicted the existence of a new family of quarks, which are a kind of subatomic particle.

Kobayashi and Maskawa also predicted that broken symmetry would arise for other particles called B-mesons. Nearly 30 years later, they were proven right.

The Japanese-born Nambu moved to the United States in 1952 and is a professor at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago, where he has worked for 40 years. He became a U.S. citizen in 1970.

Kobayashi, 64, works for the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, or KEK, in Tsukuba, Japan. Maskawa, 68, is a physics professor at Kyoto Sangyo University in Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto. He also teaches at Nagoya University in his hometown in central Japan.

"I wasn't expecting the prize," Kobayashi said at a news conference. "I've been only pursuing my interest."

Maskawa told reporters that as a scientist he wasn't thrilled.

"The Nobel prize is a rather mundane thing," he said.

The prizes in chemistry, literature and the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced later this week. The economics award will be presented on Monday.

Latest warning highlights dangers of microwaving

Zapping frozen meals in the microwave may be fast and easy, but it also can make you sick if it's not done properly.

That message has been slow to catch on, despite a spate of illnesses last year from improperly microwaved frozen foods. On Sunday, the government issued a new warning urging consumers to thoroughly cook frozen chicken dinners after 32 people in 12 states were sickened with salmonella poisoning.

"Given how people use microwaves, it's great for reheating, but maybe not so good for cooking," said Doug Powell, scientific director of the International Food Safety Network based at Kansas State University.

The problem is that microwaves heat unevenly, and can leave cold spots in the food that harbor dangerous bacteria, such as E. coli, salmonella or listeria. So microwaving anything that includes raw meat, whether it's frozen or thawed, can cause problems.

"I think most food-safety experts probably would have said it's not a good idea to microwave anything that's from a raw state," said Michael Davidson, a University of Tennessee food microbiologist.

Many people wrongly assume all frozen meals are precooked and only need to be warmed. It's a misconception fostered in part by foods prepared to appear cooked, such as chicken that has been breaded or pre-browned.

"I haven't worried about the safety of frozen food. Maybe I should," Kathy Tewhill said while perusing the frozen food aisle of a Hy-Vee grocery store.

In reality, even some meals designed to be microwaved can be unsafe if they are not heated thoroughly enough, or are cooked using directions meant for a microwave with different wattage.

The government doesn't track microwave-related food-borne illnesses, but every year more than 325,000 people are hospitalized for food-related illnesses. Last fall, hundreds became ill when Banquet pot pies made by ConAgra Foods were linked to a salmonella outbreak and frozen pizzas made by General Mills were tied to an E. coli outbreak. Both products were recalled.

Since then, food companies have revamped the cooking instructions on their frozen foods to ensure they are sufficient for killing off any dangerous bacteria, says Leslie Sarasin, head of the American Frozen Food Institute trade group.

ConAgra and Nestle Prepared Foods, two of the largest frozen foods producers, have rolled out revised instructions on many of their brands which include Stouffer's, Lean Cuisine, Banquet and Healthy Choice.

But preparing frozen foods safely may require a change in consumers' microwave habits, too. In the latest outbreak, some of the meals were microwaved even though the products weren't intended to be.

Microwaves produce short radio waves that penetrate food about 1 inch and excite water, fat and sugar molecules to produce heat. Food safety experts say that method poses more risk than a stove or oven because it heats food unevenly.

To be safe, they suggest getting a food thermometer and using it to check the temperature of microwaved food in several places, especially if the product includes raw ingredients.

"If you were going to make one of these things for a kid, you'd definitely want to be checking the temperatures on the things or using your (conventional) oven," Davidson said.

But spotting raw ingredient isn't always easy because the only clue most companies offer is the two words "COOK THOROUGHLY" on the front of the package.

Consumers also need to become better acquainted with the technical specifications of their microwaves. The unit's wattage — how powerful it is — influences how well it heats food, and cooking instructions are written for specific wattages.

But microwaves lose power over time, and some smaller microwaves may not produce enough power to safely cook some products. Banquet pot pies, for example, now include a warning that the product shouldn't be cooked in microwaves with less than 1,100 watts output.

Kathy Barges, another Hy-Vee shopper, says she tries to follow the directions on her Lean Cuisine meals exactly, but hadn't noticed the package's warning to adjust cooking time if she doesn't have an 1,100-watt microwave.

"I'm not sure what mine is," Barges said. "It's an expensive microwave, so I assume it's got the most wattage on it."

And if most people don't know the wattage of their home microwaves, forget the ones they might use to nuke their lunch at work. "Who's got a thermometer in their desk drawer?" Davidson said.

College student Jordan Sullivan said he regularly eats frozen pizza and pizza rolls, but never has given much thought to the safety of it.

"I just toss them in and wait till they look good," Sullivan said of the rolls, which do include raw ingredients.

While following directions helps, experts say the bottom line is that cooking raw food is still a job best left to stovetops, grills and ovens.

Fan use linked to lower risk of sudden baby death

Using a fan to circulate air seemed to lower the risk of sudden infant death syndrome in a study of nearly 500 babies, researchers reported Monday.

Placing babies on their backs to sleep is the best advice for preventing SIDS, a still mysterious cause of death. Experts also recommend a firm mattress, removing toys and pillows from cribs, and keeping infants from getting too warm.

Such practices helped slash U.S. SIDS deaths by more than half over a decade to about 2,100 in 2003. But SIDS remains the leading cause of death in infants ages 1 month to 1 year.

"The baby's sleeping environment really matters," said study senior author Dr. De-Kun Li of the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, Calif. "This seems to suggest that by improving room ventilation we can further reduce risk."

SIDS is the sudden death of an otherwise healthy infant that can't be attributed to any other cause. These babies may have brain abnormalities that prevent them from gasping and waking when they don't get enough oxygen.

The new study, published in October's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, offers another way to make sure babies get enough air.

More research is needed, said Dr. Fern Hauck of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, but she said that because fan use is in line with theories, it may be worth considering.

"This is the first study that we know of that has looked at this issue," said Hauck, a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics SIDS task force.

Researchers interviewed mothers of 185 infants who died from SIDS and mothers of 312 infants of similar race and age. Moms answered dozens of questions about their baby's sleeping environment.

Researchers took into account other risk factors and found that fan use was associated with a 72 percent lower risk of SIDS. Only 3 percent of the babies who died had a fan on in the room during their last sleep, the mothers reported. That compared to 12 percent of the babies who lived.

Using a fan reduced risk most for babies in poor sleeping environments.

The study involved infants in 11 California counties. It was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

HEAL WITH HOMEOPATHY

HEAL WITH HOMEOPATHY HEALTH QUERIES

Is there a cure for bed-wetting?
My 15-year-old son wets the bed every night for the past 7-8 years. I am really worried. Please help.
Your son seems to be suffering from secondary nocturnal enuresis, a condition when a child begins wetting again after having stayed dry. Most often, secondary nocturnal enuresis is caused due to psychological stress, chronic constipation and infection - most commonly urinary tract infection. Researchers find that moving to a new town, parental conflict or divorce, arrival of a new baby or loss of a loved one or pet can cause insecurity, contributing to recurring bedwetting. Homeopathic medicine would vary as per the cause identified in your son's case. In the meanwhile give him Rhus tox 30, 5 pills twice daily which is known to be effective in cases of bed-wetting in young boys.

I am a 64-year-old woman. I have just undergone a surgery for the removal of gallstones and I suffer from flatulence. Please prescribe some homeopathic medicine.
You can take Carbo veg 30, 5 pills twice daily. Consult a doctor if symptoms persist. Eat small meals at frequent intervals. Have a light and early dinner.

I am suffering from psoriasis since 20 years. For the past 3years, almost 80 per cent of my body gets covered with psoriasis on and off. Please help.
One of the complications of psoriasis is erythrodermic psoriasis and it seems that you have developed a tendency towards erythroderma. Management plays a very important role in such cases since your skin sheds a lot of protein and iron through the psoriatic scales. Drink plenty of water. Moisturise your skin with liquid paraffin or olive oil. Eat 3 egg whites per day to compensate the protein loss. Another good source of protein is soya. Avoid red meat since it can increase the inflammation of the skin. You may need electrolyte supplements to compensate for electrolyte imbalances. Wash your hair regularly with a mild anti dandruff shampoo. You can take homeopathic medicine Mezereum 6c, 5 pills twice daily. Continuous medical monitoring will be required in your case in order to avoid further complications like hypothermia, infection, malnutrition, and dehydration.

Coming soon: Single pill to tackle all heart problems

Here’s some hearty news! Yes, if researchers are to be believed, you could simply pop a single pill to tackle all your cardiac problems. An international team, funded by the Wellcome Trust in London and the British Heart Foundation, is developing what they claim is the “Polypill” — a cheap drug that can protect against heart disease and stroke.

In fact, the researchers have already begun recruiting around 700 volunteers across six countries for a pilot ‘trial’ of the “Polypill” manufactured by Hyderabad-based Dr Reddy’s, the ‘New Scientist’ reported.

According to them, the red heart pill to be priced at $ one for a month’s supply, blends blood-thinning aspirin, a cholesterol-lowering statin, an ace inhibitor and a thiazide to lower blood pressure.

Trials in thousands of people could start next year, said the researchers led by Anthony Rodgers at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. “The Polypill is aimed at reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke in poor and rich countries alike. However, its use will vary around the world,” Simon Thom of Imperial College London, who is running the UK trials, said.

In the developing world, he advocated distributing the pill “almost blind” to everyone over the age of 55 years. But, countries where people have better access to doctors and drugs are unlikely to adopt the one-size-fits-all approach. Instead, over-55s could be put on one of several different “Polypills” containing varying doses of the drugs, depending on their health needs, according to them.

Sleep apnoea may prolong life

Israeli scientists have discovered that sleep apnoea, an exhausting sleep disorder that causes heavy snoring, can actually prolong life.

Studies conducted in the past have shown that sleep apnoea increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. The latest study, suggests that some sufferers live longer than those who do not have the condition.

The new finding also indicates that doctors may be causing more harm to some patients than good by treating them for the disorder. The study followed 611 patients aged 65 and over for more than four years.

According to the researchers, patients with moderate sleep apnoea were less likely to die over the course of the study than those who did not have the condition. By the end of four years, three times as many people without sleep apnoea died.

Mortality rates among patients with light and severe sleep apnoea were the same as the general population, the study showed. Peretz Lavie, who carried out the research at the Lloyd Rigler Sleep Apnoea Research Laboratory in Haifa, Israel, called the findings "astonishing".

"We know that sleep apnoea does reduce life expectancy for people under the age of 50, so to find that it could actually prolong life for elderly patients was quite a shock," the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

He now wants to identify the exact mechanism behind the syndrome and discover whether there is a way to determine which patients are experiencing the benefits of sleep apnoea. He said that the findings should change the way that doctors treat some patients with sleep apnoea.

He said, "At the moment we are treating people indiscriminately, but this study suggests that if elderly patients are not suffering any of the symptoms of sleep apnoea, then they should probably not be treated at all."

Hope for those under breast cancer shadow

The very first feel of the slightest lump in the breast might be shocking for a woman, but proper diagnosis through mammography and clinical breast examination go a long way in preventing breast cancer. The HCG Centre for Breast Health, inaugurated on Saturday, will attempt to create this much-needed awareness of the disease.

Statistics on breast cancer are not new, but the figures are still alarming - one in every 22 Indian women is likely to suffer from breast cancer at the rate of one woman affected every 6.5 minutes.

According to Ajai Kumar, chairman and CEO of HCG, the problem in India has more to do with economics. "Around 1,50,000 women interviewed in this connection proved this observation right," he said. It is urban women who are more prone to the disease due to various reasons like lifestyle, influence of alcohol and tobacco , and even late pregnancy.

"But timely focus on proper diagnosis and effective public-private partnership in setting up more such centres can help tackle the disease effectively ," he said.

Having already seen two close friends suffer, actress and social activist Shabana Azmi, who inaugurated the centre, feels there is more to be tackled under psycho-oncology . "The mental denial mode needs to be handled at a higher level making the affected realize that if you can live with diabetes and BP, you can also live with cancer," she said. Further, every woman above 40 should get a regular mammogram done once a year.

"This could also help prevent any further cost on lastminute treatment," she said.

Biocon MD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw , who launched the digital mammogram facility at the centre, offered all possible support to the cause.

She has already lost a friend to the disease and doesn't want to lose more. "Effective industrial partnerships with such centres can empower the cause," she said. "We also need effective cancer vaccines," she added.

Art show for cancer awareness

A 'pink spirit art show' at Swasti contemporary art gallery was also unveiled on Saturday. The exhibition showcasing the art of ten artists was an initiative to express solidarity with the breast healthcare initiatives of HCG.

These initiatives of HCG are part of its Pink Hope campaign launched to create breast cancer awareness and to provide early detection for cure.

Tackling twin fears

A major psychological fear of most women affected by breast cancer is the possible loss of feminity with hair loss during chemotherapy and likely surgical removal of breasts. "But they can be tackled with confidence ," says Shabana Azmi, brand ambassador for breast cancer awareness.

"Who said being bald is not being a woman? During the shoot for the film Water, I sported a bald head boldly in public and even at my son's wedding . There is no need to fear it. Just face it boldly and the baldness will never worry you," she said.

"Not always does a woman affected with breast cancer have to lose her breasts. This is done only in rare cases when there is no other possible way out to save her life," she explained .

Gritty survivors

Last May, Keerti Tiwari noticed a lump on her right breast while bathing. Horrified, she went in for further check ups to realise that it was a malignant tumour. Luckily, she had detected it right at stage one. Initially she feared dying young, spending days watching her 11-year old daughter playing and wondering if she would be alive to see her grow. The next six months were a tough medical and psychological challenge - a breast conservation surgery followed by six rounds of chemotherapy and seven weeks of radiotherapy alongside facing hair loss and other side effects of the strong drugs and treatment. But she made it. And her struggle to survive for her good health and her family is sure enough an inspiring example for any woman

Hope at last

Who said fighting breast cancer is only possible at economically higher levels? Suguna from Anekal taluk is not from an economically sound background and works as a teacher at a local school. Working on a tight time-table at home and school, she never realised the disease within until she reached stage two. And it was the acute pain while lifting water that got her alerted. But now she is out of danger. A timely medical care at St John's Hospital and the funds she got from HCG centre gave her a hope even when she detected her problem at an advanced stage

German, 2 French share Nobel medicine prize

Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for separate discoveries of viruses that cause AIDS and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases.

French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV; while Germany's Harald zur Hausen was honored for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.

The German medical doctor and scientist received half of the 10 million kronor (US$1.4 million) prize, while the two French researchers shared the other half.

"I'm not prepared for this," zur Hausen, 72, of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, told The Associated Press by telephone. "We're drinking a little glass of bubbly right now."

In its citation, the Nobel Assembly said Barre-Sinoussi and Montagnier's discovery was one prerequisite for understanding the biology of AIDS and its treatment with antiviral drugs. The pair's work in the early 1980s made it possible to study the virus closely.

That in turn let scientists identify important details in how HIV replicates and how it interacts with the cells it infects, the citation said. It also led to ways to diagnose infected people and to screen blood for HIV, which has limited spread of the epidemic, and helped scientists develop anti-HIV drugs, the citation said.

"The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease and dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients," the citation said.

The Nobel assembly said zur Hausen "went against current dogma" when he found that some kinds of human papilloma virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer. He realized that DNA of HPV could be detected in tumors, and uncovered a family of HPV types, only some of which cause cancer.

The discovery led to an understanding of how HPV causes cancer and the development of vaccines against HPV infection, the citation said.

Barre-Sinoussi is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Union at the Intsitut Pasteur in France, while Montagnier is the director for the World Foundation for Aids Research in Prevention, also in the French capital.

Barre-Sinoussi's father, Roger Sinoussi, told the AP that his daughter is visiting Cambodia this week.

"I am happy for her," he said, reached at her home in the Paris suburbs.

Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite, established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden's central bank.

The awards include the money, a diploma and an invitation to the prize ceremonies in Stockholm and Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.

Last year's medicine award went to U.S. researchers Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and Briton Martin Evans for work that led to a powerful and widely used technique to manipulate genes in mice, which has helped scientists study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

How to Avoid Getting Dry Eyes from the Computer

People are staring at computer screens more and more. This gives you dry eyes, but luckily, the problem is only short-term and can be avoided in the first place.

1. Blink. People blink at least half as much as normal when staring at the computer screen, because people usually squint and your eyes are not made for looking at monitors. It may be hard to remember to do this constantly, so every now and then you can close your eyes for a few seconds.

2. 10-10-10. Every 10 minutes, look at an object 10 feet away for 10 seconds to get them adjusted to long-distance too, so you are ready when you get off the computer.

3. Adjust the screen settings. You will find that if you make your screen a bit more dull, it is actually easier to read. The screen should be just as bright as your surroundings, and should not appear to be a glowing box nor pitch black object. You will find that you can actually get used to a brightness of 0. Contrast should usually be in the level of the 80s, but they are different for different screens. Contrast is the strength of the colors compared next to each other.

4. Back up the screen, but not so much that you have to strain to read the text. 16-24 inches is a good distance, depending on your eyesight and the size of the screen. Consider changing the settings to show larger text on every site accessed on your browser.

5. Use the computer less and make your time count. Learn to type faster so that you can type up an email faster and be able to get off faster. It is also very efficient to print up long pages that you would have to read on the computer. If you are really sensitive, consider getting a job that doesn't require computer use on a daily basis.

Tips

* Ignore the myth about looking at computer screens making you nearsighted because of the pixels. Looking at computer screens is just like reading a book.

* Before and after long periods of time with computer use, lubricate your eyes with non-preserved or sensitive eyes artificial tears or take a steamy shower but don't get regular water in your eyes as this dilutes and flushes out your natural tears.

* Some of this information can also apply to other types of screens, such as that of TVs, handheld games and cell phones.

* Stay hydrated so you are sure to have enough tears to make.

* Too much time on the computer can also cause fatigue. Take breaks often.
* Your eyes can also become bloodshot from being dry but don't use "get the red out" drops since these can cause rebound redness and this makes the bloodshot condition chronic. Get rid of the dryness and the bloodshot appearance goes away.

Law will protect the non-smoker

The Supreme Court order, upholding ban on smoking in public places (including workplaces) is a vindication of the right of the non-smoker to protect personal health and upholds the role of the state in enacting laws to protect public health.

When a terrorist detonates a bomb, it justifiably causes outrage. When a noxious chemical is released into the air, it attracts penalty. However, when tobacco smoke, which contains several dangerous chemicals, was regularly discharged, restaurant owners and tobacco industry representatives rushed to block laws which forbid smoking in places.

Abundant evidence exists of the harm tobacco does to the health of non-smokers. A baby can be stillborn or emerge with a low birth-weight if the mother inhales tobacco smoke. A child becomes vulnerable to respiratory infections, asthma, suffers from decreased physical fitness and impaired growth, if subjected to passive smoking.

Adolescents can lose the elasticity of their arteries, setting the stage for early heart attacks in adulthood. Spouses who are passive smokers have a 25 per cent higher risk of heart attacks and a 30 per cent higher risk of cancer.

Scientific evidence also proves that laws prohibiting smoking in public places protects the health of non-smokers and even help smokers to quit. Some cities have reported reductions in the number of heart attack related hospital admissions.

Many countries have implemented smoking ban in public places and workplaces. Ireland, Scotland, England, Norway, France and Italy are among the European nations. China and Iran are recent Asian additions to Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand. India cannot lag behind in protecting its people from tobacco smoke.

The writer is president, Public Health Foundation of India

Now, early diagnosis of bladder cancer

GE Healthcare on Friday evening announced the launch of a new technique for early diagnosis of urinary bladder cancer.


It announced a new diagnostic agent called Hexvix (hexaminolevulinate) at the 9th Asian Congress of Urology being held in New Delhi.

Bladder cancer comprises 4.7 per cent of all cancers in the human body in India and is the second most common genito-urinary cancer as per the Delhi Cancer Registry 2002. This could be only the tip of the iceberg as cancer incidence in India is largely unknown as the registries are covered in urban centres only.

Medical research has tried to address the difficulties in diagnosing bladder cancer and this research eventually led to the development of Hexvix fluorescence cystoscopy. This technique involves instilling a photosensitizing agent - Hexvix into the bladder via a catheter leading to identification of malignant cells that get illuminated with blue light and emit red fluorescence.

"Early and accurate detection is the key to save lives in any disease conditions, especially killer diseases like cancer. Hexvix is a proven early detection agent for Bladder Cancer and we are happy to introduce this in India today" said Sarvadeep Sachdev, director, Medical Diagnostics Division, GE Healthcare South Asia.

Throwing light over the causes of bladder cancer, Prof. Narmada Prasad Gupta, chairman, Department of Urology at AIIMS, New Delhi says, "Smoking has been found to be a common factor in 55 percent of the bladder cancer cases, of which 45 percent had smoked for more than 20 years, as per our 1985 study. Apart from cigarette smoking, beedi and hukka smoking is more prevalent in India and in male population".

Dalai Lama to undergo medical check-up

The Dalai Lama will have a medical check next week, a senior aide said on Saturday, calling it a routine follow-up after he was admitted to hospital with abdominal discomfort in August.

The 73-year-old exiled Tibetan spiritual leader has since recovered fully and remains cheerful, but doctors have advised him to cut down on long travels and rest more.

He will travel to New Delhi for a check-up on Monday.

"His health is fine. He's going down for a follow-up medical check up after the pain he had suffered in August," Tenzin Taklha told Reuters.

The Dalai Lama was admitted to a hospital in Mumbai with "abdominal discomfort" in August. He was released a few days later after doctors said there was no cause for concern.

A smiling Dalai Lama left the hospital for Dharamsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in northern India, where he has spent most of his time resting, discussing the situation in Tibet and teaching.

U.S. President George W. Bush called to inquire about his health last month after the Nobel Peace Prize winner cancelled his visits to Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

At his public discourses, the Dalai Lama has routinely spoken for three to four hours, cheerfully answering questions from followers and admirers.

"He just completed eight days of teachings. Every thing went well," Taklha said.

The Dalai Lama has called a special meeting of Tibetan exiles in November or December to discuss this year's political unrest in Tibet and the future of the Tibetan movement.

Tuberculosis: An Ancient Disease Continues to Thrive

As the number of drug-resistant TB cases continues to rise, health officials are finding ways to treat less contagious patients at home, where family and community members work together to ensure that patients like this woman in Swaziland continue to take the medications they need to recover

The Church of Scotland Hospital in Tugela Ferry, South Africa, sits in an arid valley among the mountains of KwaZulu-Natal. Occupying a dozen or so tin-roofed, low-slung buildings, the hospital serves its rural patients well: Women come to have babies, H.I.V. patients register to receive their medications, and those infected with tuberculosis check in for a chance to recover from an ancient scourge.

But in 2005 a physician noticed that some of those TB patients, many of whom were H.I.V.-positive, were not getting any better, despite being on anti-TB medications. Nothing he provided them seemed to control the tubercle bacillus flourishing in their bodies. Of the 53 who were sickest, 52 died, most within a month of entering the hospital.

The bacterium responsible for these deaths was nothing the doctors at Church of Scotland had ever seen before. It had found a way to evade not just the first-line antibiotics commonly used to treat the disease but several of the drugs of last resort as well. KwaZulu-Natal, and the world, had seen its first outbreak of extensively drug-resistant TB.

Thousands of years after tuberculosis ravaged ancient cultures stretching from Greece to Egypt, more than a century after the bacillus responsible for the disease was first identified and decades after the first antibiotic treatments, TB continues to survive, even thrive, in ever more aggressive forms. In 2006, 9.2 million more people were diagnosed with the disease, almost exclusively in the developing world, and 1.7 million people died from it. More alarming is a growing subset of TB cases, estimated at half a million, that are resistant to more than one of the handful of anti-TB drugs. While they still make up only 5% of the total annual TB burden, these cases of multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB are mushrooming, fueled by both the surge in H.I.V./AIDS and health systems that have ignored the threat of TB for too long.

But it doesn't have to be this way. TB is an entirely preventable and treatable disease. And the drug-resistant strains beginning to emerge in Africa, Russia, China and India, say experts, are epidemics of our own making. Unlike H.I.V., the tubercle bacillus succumbs to powerful medications. But the drugs are not where they need to be, and when they are, spotty monitoring and poor health infrastructure make it hard to ensure that patients take the daily pills or frequent injections they must receive for six months to eradicate the infection. Stopping treatment too early allows the small population of drug-resistant strains to survive and keep the infection going. "We are still in denial about how bad this problem is and how much worse it's going to get," says Dr. Jim Kim, head of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School and a co-founder of Partners in Health, a global-health aid organization. "We are at the pre-antibiotic era for TB again. We've been afraid of getting there, but guess what? We're there."

The biggest threat, XDR TB, is currently resistant to the most potent classes of first- and second-line anti-TB drugs available — and there is no third line of pharmaceutical defense. While some promising candidates are being tested, even if they prove effective, they will not be available for at least five more years. There is also no easy way to detect drug-resistant strains of TB; current sputum-based screens can take anywhere from two weeks to two months, during which time doctors protectively place infected patients on first-line drugs too weak to battle the aggressive strain effectively rather than risk the overuse of last-resort medications that would only feed drug resistance. And in Africa in particular, tuberculosis is nurtured alongside AIDS in a deadly double hit: The weakened immune systems of H.I.V. patients make them more vulnerable to TB infection, and because their crippled immune systems can no longer mount proper responses, H.I.V. patients infected with TB often don't produce the recognizable symptoms of the disease such as coughing or visible lesions on chest X-rays. Their abnormal immunity also renders the myco-bacterium difficult to detect in blood-based assays.

In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) in June recommended widespread use of a new, faster test that can screen for drug-resistant TB in the blood in one or two days. But it requires sophisticated lab facilities for amplifying genes that are beyond the limited resources of most developing nations. "It will be very difficult to bring expensive technologies, machines and trained technicians on a wider scale," predicts Dr. Arvinder Pal Gill, district TB officer in Moga, in India's Punjab region. In addition, the test can detect only MDR TB, not the emerging XDR strains. But both WHO and the Global Fund for H.I.V., TB and Malaria are betting that investing in such facilities will boost these nations' ability to combat not just TB but other infectious diseases too. UNITAID, the international drug-purchasing organization, has pledged $26.1 million to the effort, while the Global Fund promises to entertain grant proposals from countries eager to build such labs. "We don't have the luxury of having a simple saliva test that tells you in one minute if you have MDR TB," says Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of WHO's Stop TB program. "We have to work with what we have."

To document the ongoing TB epidemic, TIME's James Nachtwey traveled to seven countries over the last five months, photographing the diverse and changing face of the disease. As his images show, controlling the epidemic requires investing not just in new technologies but also in expanding existing programs to control and detect TB before it even becomes resistant. And dots (Directly Observed Treatment, Short Course) is a critical part of that strategy. Developed in the 1990s, the program requires health officials to be present to watch their patients take their complete course of medications, even if it means visiting them in their homes. In many regions, these officials are now recruiting a host of nonmedical personnel, including family members and religious and community leaders, to become DOTS enablers. In Punjab, retired teachers, shopkeepers and cured patients are paid $6 for each patient they observe completing an entire course of treatment.

Officials in Africa's Lesotho, where 10% of the population is infected with MDR and 30% is H.I.V.-positive, are relying on a collaboration between the government and Partners in Health, which provides private funding, to address another challenge in TB care: the need to isolate the sickest patients to prevent them from spreading the disease. Lesotho now boasts its first 10-to-15-room facility equipped with negative airflow, which contains and filters air circulating through TB wards. A single such center is hardly enough, but it is a start. "It shows you it is possible," says Raviglione. And that is the most powerful lesson in TB today. The bug can adapt; if we're smart, so can we. —with reporting by Megan Lindow/Cape Town, Madhur Singh/New Delhi and Yuri Zarakhovich/Moscow

How to Alter Your Weight by Eating Breakfast

Sometimes losing weight is just a matter of changing a couple of habits. Many people leave the house without eating a healthy breakfast, and then binge eat at lunch. Try something new! Fill up in the morning and start off your day right!

Step1
Eat every morning at about the same time if possible.

Step2
The earlier you eat the better. It helps jump start your metabolism.

Step3
Eat protein. It helps you fill up and takes longer to digest than carbohydrates.

Step4
If you eat carbohydrates make sure they are the complex kind. This means fruit, oatmeal, or healthy cereals. Stay away from sugary drinks or cereals.

Step5
Drink a cup of coffee. It speeds up metabolism and helps you burn more calories.

Step6
Take a vitamin and follow with an 8 oz or more glass of water. This will fill you up and start your body off right by hydrating.

Step7
Have some skim milk with your cereal. It will help build bones and fill your belly.

Step8
Get moving. If you can get in an early morning workout, that is even better. Then have a great day!

Saliva Could Be Used To Detect Oral Cancer: Study

Nearly 300,000 people are affected annually by oral cancer. Patients with oral Saliva Could Be Used To Detect Oral Cancer: Studys quamous cell carcinoma, a form of oral cancer have a low five-year survival rate and a high rate of recurrence especially when the cancer has metastasized in lymph nodes located in the neck. It is also a fact that often mouth cancer is not detected until it's in the late stages.

In the recent research, researchers have found a simple way to detect oral squamous cell carcinoma. Researches found that a simple test that detects proteins in saliva can help in detection of oral cancer. The study was led by Shen Hu, PhD, assistant professor of oral biology and proteomics at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Dentistry.

Researchers collected saliva samples from 64 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 64 healthy patients. Researchers chose five potential biomarkers, to detect the presence of oral cancer. Researchers were successful 93 percent of the time.

The importance of this study lies in the fact that this is the first study that showed a practical way to use saliva protein levels for oral cancer detection. Researchers believe that the discovery of these biomarkers may lead to a useful clinical tool for noninvasive diagnosis of oral cancer in the future since collection of saliva is very easy.

Shen Hu said: "This test is currently not available, but we are developing near-the-site-of-patient-care microfluidic devices to detect these markers that we can use in clinical trials. I believe a test measuring these biomarkers will come to a point of regular use in the future."

Hu added: "We have demonstrated a new approach for cancer biomarker discovery using saliva proteomics."

China lung disease 'to kill 83m'

A US study has suggested that more than 80 million people in China will die in the next 25 years as a result of lung disease.

The research says the vast majority of those premature deaths are preventable.

The study focused on the devastating impact of smoking and the widespread practice of burning wood or coal at home for cooking and heating.

The Harvard School of Public Health research looked at a 30-year period, spanning the last five and the next 25.

Respiratory disease is already a leading cause of death in China, but this latest study suggests a startling rise.

In the 30-year period, it calculates, about 83 million Chinese people will die prematurely of lung disease.

Intervention plea

That includes lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, an even bigger killer.

Most of these early deaths are preventable, it says, caused by smoking and the common practice of burning wood and coal in home stoves.

Prof Majid Ezzati, the study's senior author, says dramatic intervention now by China's government could save many millions of lives.

"If China manages to control tobacco through taxation, through health education, through advertising bans, and if it manages to get clean fuel to the 70% of its population who need cleaner fuels, or ways of burning their current fuels more cleanly, they have a lot of health gains to make."

At the moment, one in three cigarettes lit in the world is smoked in China.

About half of Chinese men smoke, and there is concern the next trend will be an increase in smoking amongst women too.

That has not been factored into the study, and could boost the number of deaths still further.

Precancerous Skin Lesions and Skin Cancer Pictures Gallery

Skin Cancer: Spot the Early Warning Signs



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AHA Says Depression Screening Must For Heart Patients

Patients suffering from heart disease as well as from depression are at an increased risk of suffering from another adverse heart event. Hence the American Heart Association (AHA) has called for depression screening in heart patients.

The American Psychiatric Association has also endorsed these guidelines, which appear in detail in Circulation. Some of the recommendations include:

* Early screening for depression in heart patients.
* Timely follow-up of patients who exhibit symptoms of both conditions
* Scheduling depressive heart patients for evaluation
* Heart patients who have depressive symptoms must be screened for anxiety as well
* Consider treatment options like cognitive behavioral therapy, physical activity, cardiac rehabilitation and antidepressants.

Judith H. Lichtman, a co-chair of the AHA statement and an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine said there was plenty of evidence depression worsened the outcomes of heart disease in patients.

"By understanding the prevalence of depression and learning more about the subgroups of heart patients at particular risk of depression, we can begin to understand the best ways to recognize and treat it," she added in a news release.

Heart patients are usually vulnerable to a second adverse event that can prove disastrous in presence of depression given the emotional quotient involved in it. Hence by calling for routine screening of depression in heart patients, the AHA is trying to ensure that doctors do not neglect this important aspect of care.

Depression

DIET CURE FOR COMMON AILMENTS

Depression is the most common of all emotional disorders. This may vary from a feeling of slight sadness to utter misery and dejection. It stems from a variety of physical and psychological symptoms which together constitute a syndrome.

Depression is the most unpleasant experience a person can go through. It is far more difficult to cope with than physical ailments. The growing complexities of modern life and resultant crises, as well as mental stress and strain in day-to-day life usually lead to this disorder. Suicide is the major risk in depression.

Symptoms
It is not always easy to diagnose depression clinically. The most striking symptoms of depression are feelings of an acute sense of loss an inexplicable sadness, loss of energy and loss of interest. The patient usually feels tired and lacks interest in the world around him. Sleep disturbance is frequent. Usually, the patient wakes up depressed at 4 or 5 in the morning and is unable to go back to sleep. Other disturbed sleep patterns are, difficulty in falling asleep, nightmares and repeated waking from midnight onwards.

The patient often suffers from guilt, oppressive feelings and self-absorption. Other symptoms of depression are : loss of appetite, giddiness, itching, nausea, agitation, irritability, impotence or frigidity, constipation, aches and pains all over the body, lack of concentration, and lack of power of decision. Some persons may lose interest in eating and suffer from rapid loss of weight while others may resort to frequent eating and as a result gain in weight.

Cases of severe depression may be characterised by low body temperature, low blood pressure, hot flushes and shivering. The external manifestations represent a cry for help from the tormented mind of the depressed persons. The severely depressed patients feels worthless and is finally convinced that he himself is responsible for his undoing and his present state of hopeless despair.

Causes
Depleted functioning of the adrenal glands is one of the main causes of mental depression. Irregular diet habits cause digestive problems and lead to the assimilation of fats. An excess of carbohydrates like cereals, white sugar, coffee, tea, chocolates and comparatively less quantities of vegetables and fruits in the diet may result in indigestion. Due to indigestion gases are produced in the digestive tract, causing compression over the diaphragm in the region of the heart and lungs. This in turn, reduces the supply of oxygen to the tissues which raises the carbon dioxide level, causing general depression. The excessive and indiscriminate use of drugs also leads to faulty assimilation of vitamins and minerals of the body and ultimately causes depression. The use of aspirin leads to deficiencies of vitamin C and antacids can cause deficiencies of calcium and vitamin B. Diabetes, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia ) and weakness of the liver, resulting from the use of refined or processed foods, fried foods and an excessive intake of fats may also lead to depression.

Dietetic Treatment
The modern medical system treats depression with anti-depression drugs which provide temporary relief but have harmful side-effects and do not remove the causes or prevent its recurrence. The harmful side-effects include gross liver damage, hypersensitivity, insomnia, hallucinations, a confused state, convulsions and a fall in blood pressure.
In nature cure, emphasis is placed on diet which has a profound effect on the mental health of a person. Even a single nutritional deficiency can cause depression in susceptible people. Dr. Priscilla, associate clinical professor at the University of California, prescribes nutritional therapy to build up brain chemicals, such as serotonin and norepinephrine, that affect one’s moods and are often lacking in depressed people. She recommends eating foods rich in B vitamins, such as whole grains, green vegetables, eggs and fish.

The diet of persons suffering from depression should completely exclude tea, coffee, alcohol, chocolate and cola, all white flour products, sugar, food colourings, chemical additives, white rice and strong condiments. The diet should be restricted to three meals. Fruits can be taken in the morning for breakfast with milk and a handful of nuts and seeds. Lunch may consist of steamed vegetables, whole wheat chappatis and a glass of butter-milk. For dinner, green vegetable salad and all available sprouts such as alfalfa seeds, mung, cottage cheese or a glass of butter-milk would be ideal.

The depressive mood can be overcome by activity. Those who are depressive will forget their misery by doing something. Exercise also plays an important role in the treatment of depression. It not only takes the body physically and mentally fit but also provides recreation and mental relaxation. It also gives a feeling of accomplishment and thus reduces the sense of helplessness. The patient must also learn the art of scientific relaxation and meditation which will go a long way in curing depression.

source:goodhealthnyou.com

Are food allergies dangerous?

Are food allergies dangerous?

Absolutely; there are several other manifestations that we classify as minor, for example, certain food ingredients can trigger off itchiness, runny nose, wheezing and even asthma. But at times you can get anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a medical emergency where a patient becomes unwell, stop breathing, choke and get into a very serious condition, which can lead to a cardiac arrest.

High heels may be harmful for women's health

A lot has been said and done in the name of style and fashion. As long as a trend manages to make you look good, it does not really matters how harmful it can be. From colouring of hair to using straighteners and dryers,nothing has discouraged their usage as its 'affects' are favoured. Have you ever wondered that the kind of footwear you use also hampers your overall health?

Women are doing long-term damage to their health by wearing higher heels, and for longer, experts have warned. A recent study found that up to a third of women suffer permanent problems as a result of their prolonged wearing of 'killer heels', ranging from hammertoes and bunions to irreversible damage to leg tendons.

Most of the problems are caused by the increased pressure high heels put on the ball of the foot and the higher the heel, the greater the pressure. The knees and back also can be affected. A British survey found that one in 10 women wears them at least three days a week and a third of the women had hurt themselves falling off their high heels.

"High heels make you raise your heel and as soon as you do that your centre of gravity is pushed forward," the Courier Mail quoted UK consultant podiatric surgeon Mike O'Neill, spokesman for the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, as saying. "What happens then is you bend your lower back to compensate for this and that changes the position of your spine, putting pressure on nerves in the back," O'Neill added.

This can cause sciatica, a painful condition that traps nerves, triggering pain and numbness as far down as the feet. O'Neill said that another common problem is that the Achilles tendon - which runs up the back of the leg from the heel - becomes permanently damaged. "This tendon is designed to be flexible, so the foot can lie flat or point. But many women who wear high heels too often suffer a shortening of the tendon because once the heel is pointed upwards, it tightens up. Stretching it again can be very painful," O'Neill said.

"When you try to put your foot into flat shoes you get a lot of pain in the back of the heel. I've seen 70-year-olds still hobbling around in high heels because they can't put their feet flat any more as it's just too painful," O'Neill added.

Other common problems include bunions, bony growths at the base of the big toe caused by tight, ill-fitting shoes, and so-called "pump bumps", where straps and the rigid backs of pump-style shoes cause a bony enlargement on the heel. Many women also develop hammertoes, where tight-fitting shoes force them to crumple up their toes, shortening the muscles inside and leaving them permanently bent.


Wonder what the standard 'six-inch' heels do to a model's feet as she ramps around 'tall' in them?

How to Skin a Pumpkin

Pies, breads and soups flavored with fresh pumpkin are delicious additions to any fall menu. Few people tackle these recipes with fresh pumpkin, though, because it's not an easy fruit with which to work. Anyone who's carved a jack-o-lantern knows the skin of a pumpkin is tough. However, this technique for skinning a pumpkin makes it an easy first step to any

Step1
Buy a pie pumpkin. Pie pumpkins are a smaller, meatier version of this fruit. They are easier to handle in the kitchen, and they yield more "meat."

Step2
Wash the outside of the pumpkin. Pumpkins grow on vines on the ground where they pick up dirt, especially when it rains. Even if the pumpkin appears clean when you buy it, it was probably picked by hands you know nothing about.

Step3
Cut the pumpkin into quarters. Using a sharp cleaver, hack the pumpkin in half and then in half again. Don't be afraid to whack the pumpkin on the floor if the cleaver gets stuck in it. Pumpkins are hard and can stand a lot of abuse without bruising.

Step4
Scoop out the seeds. Use a heavy metal spoon to scrape out the inside of the pumpkin including all the strings.

Step5
Arrange pumpkin pieces face down in a casserole dish and cover. Microwave the pumpkin for 15 minutes. The cover will allow steam to build up and cook the pumpkin without drying it out. When you can easily poke a fork through the skin, the pumpkin is done.

Step6
Let the pumpkin cool. Only fools rush in, and they get burned every time. Take the cover off and let the pumpkin sit until you can comfortably handle it.

Step7
Hold the shell in one hand and use a large spoon to scoop the pumpkin out into a bowl. The microwave softened the pumpkin and hardened its shell, so it should slide out easily in one piece

Health Tip Of The Day

Healthy Cooking

Wash vegetables before cutting or chopping them to avoid the loss of water-soluble vitamins. Using a pressure cooker retains more vitamins than cooking in a pan.

An AIDS prevention breakthrough

In what is being described as a breakthrough in AIDS prevention, a group of engineering students and a medical doctor are reported to have
designed a simple 'shield' to block mothers transmitting the HIV virus to their babies while breastfeeding.

HIV-infected mothers who have no option but to breastfeed their babies contribute to the global spread of HIV, and scientists have long fretted over how to stop it.

The breakthrough promises protection to the estimated 700,000 babies who are born each year to HIV-positive mothers - the overwhelming majority of them in sub-Saharan Africa, but many thousands in India too.

After a month-long meeting in August, a team of five engineering students and an experienced medical doctor recently announced that they have found a simple yet effective way of disinfecting breast milk by modifying an existing nipple shield.

According to one of the researchers, Stephen Gerrard of Cambridge University, the team was initially given the task of finding a practical way to "deactivate" the HIV virus by heating mother's milk.

"We quickly established the concern that this may be too lengthy for many women in developing countries, so they might not have the time for it," said Gerrard in a statement to his sponsors, the international volunteer group Engineers Without Borders.

The team then came across a research group at Drexel University in Philadelphia who had identified a compound called Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate (SDS), which could kill the HIV virus quickly.

"They have been studying SDS for use in a filter in a baby bottle, but we came up with a way to make its use much more practical," said Gerrard.

Bringing in the Drexel researchers into the project, the team made slight changes to an existing nipple shield so that it could be used to add SDS to breast milk.

"We found that if we added a non-woven material like cotton-wool or felt containing SDS to the nipple shield and had the baby feeding on that, the HIV virus could be de-activated without having to go through the heat treatment," said Gerrard.

Although the team has filed an application at the US Patent Office, a spokesman for Engineers Without Borders UK said there was "no way" the research would be used to make a profit.

"Our whole approach is of not-for-profit research, and it's the same with the IDDS at MIT, so there's no way the research will be used for making profit," Chris Cleaver, a Cambridge University engineer, told IANS.

Gerrard says that although a definite breakthrough, more research is being conducted at Drexel to establish that the majority of HIV virus is de-activated when the milk passes through the cotton-wool.

If successful, the team expects the nipple shield to be available for about two dollars and last a month. With the SDS filter costing about 20 cents (Rs 8) a day (they have to be changed every day), the cost of prevention would tot up to around 27 cents (about Rs 10) per day, a figure seen as high in countries like India.

India's Health Secretary Naresh Dayal was quoted saying last year that there may be 70,000 children infected with HIV in India, with nearly 21,000 new infections occurring among children every year.

Another estimate, given in a government report submitted to the UN this year, puts the figure of infected Indian children at 3.8 percent of the total HIV population - which would take the figure up to at least 91,000.