Health Related articles updated on daily Basis.

Night_Hawk · Jul 16, 2011

Bigger bites ensure lesser eating
(IANS)

15 July 2011
WASHINGTON - Larger portions at restaurants usually mean we tend to eat more, but surprisingly bigger bites lead to eating less.
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”We examined the influence of small versus large bite-sizes on overall quantity of food consumed,” write study authors Arul Mishra, Himanshu Mishra, and Tamara M. Masters from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

They conducted a field study at a popular Italian restaurant. They used two fork sizes to manipulate bite sizes and found that diners who used large forks ate less than those with small forks, according to new study in the Journal of Consumer Research,.

”Diners can satisfy their hunger by choosing, eating, and paying for their food—all of which involve effort. The fork size provided the diners with a means to observe their goal progress,” the authors explain, according to an Utah statement.

The authors tested this conclusion by varying the quantities of food. They found that when the initial quantity of food was more (a well-loaded plate), diners with small forks ate significantly more than those with large forks.

When customers were served small servings, the fork size did not affect the amount of food.

Interestingly, in a lab experiment the authors found that participants with small forks consumed less than those with large forks.
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riverblue · Jul 16, 2011

i think with bigger bites one doesnt chew the food properly and it is gulped down hastily as compared to smaller ones...... and end result is eating more because the satiety level is fulfilled later than usual........

Night_Hawk · Jul 16, 2011

riverblue said:
i think with bigger bites one doesnt chew the food properly and it is gulped down hastily as compared to smaller ones...... and end result is eating more because the satiety level is fulfilled later than usual........

Agree ....

QaiserMirza · Jul 18, 2011

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riverblue · Jul 18, 2011

good post but for some people with migraine coffee itself is a trigger factor......... so anybody with migraine plz dont start taking coffee until and unless you know what your trigger factors are

Night_Hawk · Jul 28, 2011

riverblue said:
good post but for some people with migraine coffee itself is a trigger factor......... so anybody with migraine plz dont start taking coffee until and unless you know what your trigger factors are

I agree.....

Night_Hawk · Jul 28, 2011

Exercise more for good brain

(IANS)

26 July 2011
WASHINGTON - That exercise helps maintain good health is well known but it also improves your brain’s wellness, say researchers.

New research conducted at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign suggests exercise plays a vital role in maintaining the brain and cognitive health throughout life.

Exercise appears to change brain structure, prompting the growth of new nerve cells and blood vessels. It also increases the production of neurochemicals that promote growth, differentiation, survival, and repair of brain cells.

Michelle W. Voss and her colleagues reviewed 111 recent human and animal studies.

They showcased the effects of aerobic exercise and strength training on humans, from children to elderly adults, the Journal of Applied Physiology reports.

For example, physical inactivity is linked with poorer academic performance, while exercise programmes appear to improve memory, attention, and decision-making.

These effects also extend to young and elderly adults, with solid evidence for aerobic training benefiting executive functions, including multi-tasking, planning, and inhibition, and increasing the volume of brain structures important for memory.

Although few studies have evaluated the results of strength training on brain health in children, studies in elderly adults suggest that high-intensity and high-load training can improve memory.

This study also highlights gaps in scientific literature.

For example, the authors note that more research is needed on how a particular type of exercise might promote different consequences on brain health and cognition.
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Night_Hawk · Jul 28, 2011

Fancy a tattoo? Beware of hepatitis
(IANS)

28 July 2011

A pair of wings on the back, a butterfly on the ankle or simply a pair of initials on the hand - beautifully designed tattoos are a craze these days. But getting yourself inked can expose you to the dangerous hepatitis B or C virus and even HIV, warn doctors.
Getting a permanent tattoo involves piercing the skin with a needle and injecting coloured ink in different designs. If the needle or the surroundings is infected, then the chances of transmission of the hepatitis virus goes up manifold.

‘Tattoos are a potential cause for spreading hepatitis B and C virus, even HIV. While the number of cases is still not very high, we do come across patients who have been infected this way,’ Ajay Kumar, senior consultant (gastroenterology) at the Indraprastha Apollo hospital, told IANS.

‘The main risk is if the equipment, which is the needle, is infected and not enough precaution is taken to prevent transmission,’ he added.

But it’s not just the needle that can spread the virus.

Ajay K. Sachdev, head of surgical gastroenterology at the Artemis Health Institute, Gurgaon, said: ‘Needles are not the only things that can cause transmission of the hepatitis virus or even HIV. The silent culprits are the expensive ink bottles in which the artist dips his needle time and again while doing the tattoo.’

‘So even if they use disposable syringes or fresh gloves, if an artist uses the same ink bottle for several clients, the chances of transmission of the virus increase. Now since these ink bottles are mostly imported, they generally don’t use fresh bottles for every client,’ Sachdev told IANS.

Explaining the science behind it, Sachdev said: ‘Tattoo making involves pricking the needle deep into the dermis - the layer under the skin surface - which results in bleeding and the same needle is dipped into the paint bottles which leads to transferring of infection.’

‘The chances of a person getting infected are higher if one gets it done immediately after an infected person at a tattoo parlour,’ he said.

While there are no official figures, Sachdev said 5 to 10 percent are infected by hepatitis in India. The country also has around 2.5 million HIV-affected people.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the viral hepatitis kills more people than any other communicable disease in Southeast Asia (the world body categorises India in this region).

In fact the estimated number of deaths in the region associated with viral hepatitis and its complications exceeds deaths due to malaria, dengue and HIV/AIDS combined.

Recognising the alarming situation and stressing that countries make it a notifiable disease, July 28 is being observed as the first official WHO World Hepatitis Day.

While hepatitis A and E are transmitted through contaminated food and water, hepatitis B and C are transmitted through infected blood or body fluids. And while there are vaccines against hepatitis A and B, there are none for C and E.

A.S. Puri, head of the department of gastroenterology at the G.B. Pant hospital, said they have come across several cases in which unsterilised tattoo equipment or contaminated ink was the cause of hepatitis C infection.

‘The hepatitis C virus can hide in liver cells for years and manifest itself as cirrhosis, liver cancer or liver failure,’ Puri said, adding that body piercing is yet another means by which this virus can be transmitted, along with intravenous drug use.

Due to the asymptomatic nature of the viruses, about 60 percent of infected individuals are unaware of their diagnosis until they suffer complications like cirrhosis.

According to WHO, it is estimated that in Southeast Asia, 100 million people have chronic hepatitis B infection (5.6 percent of the population) and 30 million people have chronic hepatitis C infection (1.6 percent of the population).

Hepatitis B virus is 50-100 times more infectious than HIV, WHO says.

‘The only means by which you can guard yourself against getting infected while getting a tattoo is by being aware. Tattoo parlours are cropping up everywhere; so the government should frame guidelines that they should follow,’ Sachdev said.

‘Youngsters going to get a tattoo should take care that fresh needle and fresh ink bottle is used. Also that they are vaccinated. And the artist should find out if any of their client is B or C positive,’ he added.
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Night_Hawk · Aug 1, 2011

Fat is more dangerous for South Asians

(AFP)

29 July 2011

Weight gain can be more dangerous for South Asians than for Caucasians because the fat clings to organs like the liver instead of the skin, said a study published Thursday.
The main difference between Caucasians and South Asians comes down to how much space there is to store fat in the body and where it holes up, said Sonia Anand, lead author of the study in the public access journal PLoS One.
“South Asians have less space to store fat below the skin than white Caucasians,” said Anand, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at McMaster University.
“Their excess fat, therefore, overflows to ectopic compartments, in the abdomen and liver where it may affect function.”
When extra fats clings to the organs, it can cause high glucose and lipid levels, which are risk factors for heart disease.

That means South Asians with a weight and height ratio, or body mass index (BMI), that would be considered in the healthy range for Caucasians may merit screening for conditions like diabetes and coronary artery disease.
The Canada-based study recruited 108 people in all, some first- or second-generation immigrants from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, or Bangladesh and the rest Caucasian subjects whose ancestry could be traced to Europe.
They underwent a series of measurements and tests to assess body fat, cholesterol and sugar levels.
“Young, apparently healthy South Asians have greater metabolic impairment compared to white Caucasians who tend to develop metabolic changes at higher levels of obesity and at a more advanced age,” said the study.
South Asians tended to have lower HDL (or good) cholesterol, higher total body fat but lower levels of abdominal fat, fattier livers and less lean muscle mass than Caucasians of similar age, height and weight.
“This study helps explain why South Asians experience weight-related health problems at lower BMI levels than Caucasians,” said Arya Sharma, director of the Canadian Obesity Network and a co-author of the study.
“For the clinician, this also means that individuals of South Asian heritage need to be screened for the presence of heart disease and diabetes at lower BMIs.”

Night_Hawk · Aug 1, 2011

Emotional pendulum

Samineh I. Shaheem

23 July 2011

Tearing while watching a commercial, giggling as you speak to a friend on the phone, shouting at your 4 year old for spilling juice on the laptop or silently reminiscing about happy memories while listening to your favorite tune are just a few examples of the incredible variation of emotions we might encounter.
[FONT=&quot]The journey of life is filled with stirring twists and turns that trigger different reactions and feelings in us, sometimes simultaneously. For instance, you’re enjoying a relaxing stroll through a stunning flower-filled park when suddenly you are disturbed by an irritating phone call. As your attention shifts, you fail to see the little puddle along your path and step into a lovely mixture of mud and leaves. What could ease the discomfort and tension here? A delicious hot chocolate purchased from a nearby caf as you have a friendly and enlightening conversation with the person waiting in line in front of you. Nice. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]We devote a large chunk of our energy balancing the variety of emotions our mind deals with. Moods are an expression and direct reflection of these inner feelings. So a mood swing is any sudden shift in disposition that, if not persistent or irrational, is considered completely normal. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Unfortunately there are many myths swirling around moods, like the belief that women are significantly more temperamental than men. “I can’t, for the life of me, understand my wife’s mood swings,” says Khalid, 28. “At times it seems like madness; she’s tearing up one minute and laughing the next. I used to wonder if I was doing something wrong but now I give up. Women are just moody!” [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Many people share Khalid’s view, however scientifically, there’s no difference between the genders in terms of experiencing sentiments. If we had to generalise, we have found that men tend to be more impulsive and women more in tuned to their emotions. That’s partly because women’s physiology demands production of certain hormones responsible for altering neurotransmitters in the brain that effect mood, at different stages of life. [/FONT]
[h=5][FONT=&quot]These stages are:[/FONT][/h] [FONT=&quot]u Premenstrual syndrome[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Pregnancy[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Post pregnancy[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Menopause [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Imagine living in a house where mom is going through menopause, one daughter is pregnant, the daughter in law has just delivered and little sister is going through puberty. This would be one BIG feeling factory. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Causes in mood swings can be attributed to several different factors that are not gender biased. For instance, drinking too much coffee can set us up for a caffeine-induced high as we feel energetic, lively and more productive. When the effects of caffeine wear off and we crash, symptoms akin to mild depression might occur whereby one feels tired, groggy and irritable. [/FONT]
[h=3][FONT=&quot]Some more causes of mood swings might be:[/FONT][/h] [FONT=&quot]u Moods can be effected by emotional energy[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]radiated from people we interact with [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Diet [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u An inability to manage our emotions[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]appropriately [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Not getting enough sleep can disrupt our[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][FONT=&quot]physiology and human body clocks [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Lack of emotional intelligence [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Stressful life events[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Exhaustion [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Mood swings should not be mistaken as a disease or psychological condition. They are normal aspects of human behavior, experienced by most, and are governed by biological and environmental stimuli. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]However, there can be times when mood swings can become tiresome and exhausting, impacting our interpersonal relationships. If you feel that your mood swings are beginning to disrupt your life, taking some or all of the following steps may help ease the emotional rollercoaster ride. Try to:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Get enough sleep [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Take time out to do pleasurable activities[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Avoid conflict[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Take regular breaks during work or study [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Eat healthily[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Exercise[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Do not repress painful thoughts or emotions[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Surround yourself with people you are comfortable with [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u [/FONT][FONT=&quot]Be aware of negative triggers and try to avoid them[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]u Acknowledge the fact that moods are not static [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]It is also important to keep in mind that persistent and illogical changes in temperament could be a sign of a more serious psychological problem. If mood swings are severe and occur frequently disrupting professional, academic or personal life then it would be beneficial to consult a professional in order to pursue expert guidance. This way, we can get off the ‘swing’ before we hurt our self or those around us. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Remember learning more results in living more. Over to you…[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Samineh I Shaheem is an author, an assistant professor of psychology, currently lecturing in Dubai, as well as a cross-cultural consultant at HRI. She appears on numerous radio programmes and conferences and has studied and worked in different parts of the world, including the USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands, and the UAE. Please forward your thoughts to [email protected][/FONT]

Night_Hawk · Aug 5, 2011

[h=3] Health Benefits of Fasting [/h]

Night_Hawk · Aug 5, 2011

[h=3]Weight Loss: Dieting Tips and Side Effects [/h]

Are you planning to embark on dieting? The process of dieting might be tough and will require patience at the same time, but the whole process can be made lot easier by eating food which is low in calories but at the same time will appeal to your taste buds. With this you will never be hungry and sticking to the dieting plan will not be monotonous.
The following foods are low in calorie but high in nutrition content, which will make your journey to attain perfect body easy as well as lot more fun. Prior to beginning with your diet plan go through your shelf containing spices as this will be a redeeming factor when you get on with your diet plan. The food stuff is low in fat and little or no oil is used in cooking. The enhancers such as herbs as well as spices will improve the taste of your food. The spices that is a must have include nutmeg, mustard powder, cayenne pepper, mustard seeds and cinnamon. Cottage cheese is another ingredient that will assist in making your food yummy. The cottage cheese is an abundant source of calcium as well as protein, along with that its low calorie content makes it ideal for your diet chart. It can be made use of in salads as well in cooking. Green vegetables are another nutritious add-on to your daily diet chart. The vegetables linked with potato family should be wholly avoided as they include fewer calories as compared to the other vegetables. A salad for lunch will make you hale and hearty. So have as much as you can as they have minimal calories but are rich in nutrition value. Another great source that is stocked up with proteins is beans. Stock them up and consume them regularly. The energy and zeal you will feel after you put yourself on low calorie diet will be amazing. So, start now and enjoy life. Via, dietingacademy

Night_Hawk · Aug 5, 2011

Dieting:

Night_Hawk · Aug 8, 2011

Beat diabetes with wheat, rice free diet

(IANS)

6 August 2011

Forget the much advertised cornflake or the humble roti and ricethey can kill. Workday menus of Indians living in big cities are being redefined by the fear of proliferating diabetes brought on by stress and poor diet, say leading lifestyle doctors and diabeticians.
With India expected to be home to 80 percent of the worlds diabetic population by 2025, the buzzword is low glycemic load foods. The glycemic index or GI is a measure of the effects of carbohydrate on blood sugar level.

Studies have proved that people who eat low-glycemic food over several years are less prone to type 2 diabetes and coronary heart diseases than those who love their morning platter of parantha, poori and roti (Indian breads) - the high glycemic delights.

The meals should be kept free of flour, cornflakes, wheat and rice, Gaurav Sharma, a diabetologist, sports medicine and lifestyle doctor told IANS. They can kill with excess starch and gluten allergy, the newest wheat allergen on the pantry shelf which can aggravate the condition of diabetics.

An ideal anti-diabetic breakfast, the most important meal of the day, should be a combination of eggs - fried, poached or scrambled in extra-virgin olive oil - accompanied by a tomato or mint dip followed by herbal or jasmine tea, he added.

Eggs do not increase cholesterol; the popular perception of eggs as a potential source of cholesterol is a myth, said the doctor who has treated several top sportspersons including Kapil Dev.

Sharma, who has been practising lifestyle medicine for the last two decades, has designed several anti-diabetes diet plans.

Every Indian family with or without a history of diabetes must use at least three different varieties of cooking oils rich in the essential Omega-3 fatty acids, which help production of natural insulin, the doctor said.

They can be olive oil, mustard oil, clarified butter, coconut oil or flaxseed oil, he added.

Breakfast is ideally followed by a light snack of nuts and tea after two-three hours. Three hours on, lunch should be a spartan affair.

Eat at least two platters of curried vegetables cooked in Omega 3 rich oil, a portion of paneer or cottage cheese cooked in a light gravy of spices and tomatoes, chicken or mutton, the amount of which should not exceed the size of the palm for it corresponds to the size of the stomach, Sharma recommended.

According to the National Institute of Nutrition, the shift from traditional to modern foods, changing cooking practices, increased intake of processed ready-to-eat foods, intensive marketing of junk food and health beverages have affected peoples perceptions to food as well as their dietary behaviour.

A study by the institute said: The irrational preference for energy dense foods and those with high sugar and salt content pose a serious health risk.

Said nutrition expert Divya Sanglikar of Desidieter, a nutrition group: The traditional Indian palette has always been considered healthy, second to Mediterranean food.

But the fast-paced lifestyle and the boom in the food processing industry has been responsible for making people nutritionally lazy. Well-balanced thalis (platters) are being replaced by takeaways and two-minute noodles, increasing the threat of diabetes and related complications, she added.

Diabetes-India.com, one of the oldest and the biggest online platforms campaigning for a diabetes-free life, advises that traditional Indian diets with slight modifications are close to what is considered an ideal low diabetes diet.

The basic advice is to avoid sugared foods, it prescribes.

The carbohydrate level should remain around 60-70 percent of the total calorie intake by a diabetes patient, while proteins should make up 12-18 percent of the total calories.
The portion of fats is best confined to 20-25 percent of the total calories, the Diabetes-India diet plan says.

The diabetes picture in the country is grim, said Sharma, quoting a new study conducted by an organisation in Chennai this year.

It revealed that Ernakulam topped the list of diabetes-ravaged cities with an incidence of 19.5 percent, followed by Thiruvananthapuram with 17.5 percent, Chennai 13.5
percent, Bangalore 13.5 percent and Delhi 10.5 percent.

According to global statistics, one person dies every 10 seconds of diabetes-related illnesses and two new diabetes cases are identified every 10 seconds.

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Night_Hawk · Aug 11, 2011

New test detects kidney disorder early

(IANS)

8 August 2011

The risk of cardiac disorders due to kidney diseases can now be reduced by an X-ray that makes early detection possible, health experts said.
[FONT=&quot]‘Patients with chronic kidney diseases have higher levels of phosphorus in the blood, which causes increased calcification of the major arteries and heart valves. This contributes the increased risk of cardiovascular disease in such patients,’ said A.K. Bhalla, senior consultant and co-chairman at the department of nephrology, Sir Ganga Ram hospital.

‘Lumbar X-ray of spine is performed to identify stones in the kidney and nephrocalcinosis, which can lead to renal failure in future,’ added Bhalla.

Experts recommend the abdominal X-ray to determine calcification at the right time and help in preventing fatal consequences. The test costs around Rs.200-250.

‘The lumbar X-ray also shows vascular calcification (deposition of calcium) especially in diabetic patients who are more vulnerable to kidney disorder,’ said Ashwani Gupta, from the nephrology department of the Ganga Ram Hospital.

According to the National Kidney Foundation of India, 100 in a population of a million suffer from kidney diseases.

While around 90,000 kidney transplants per year are required in the country annually, only 22.5 percent patients requiring dialysis are able to receive treatment the treatment.

Experts suggest some of the common risks for kidney diseases are diabetes and hypertension.

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Night_Hawk · Aug 11, 2011

Red meat boosts diabetes risk

(AFP)

10 August 2011

WASHINGTON — Two slices of bacon, a hot dog or a serving of deli meat daily has been found to significantly boost the risk of getting type 2 diabetes, said a major US study published on Wednesday.
The research by experts at the Harvard School of Public Health represents the largest study of its kind to date and appears in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Eating 50 grams of processed red meat every day increased a person’s diabetes risk by 51 percent, while eating 100 grams of unprocessed red meat each day, about the size of a deck of cards, boosted the risk by 19 percent.
However, those risks went down if the red meat was substituted with nuts, white meat, low-fat dairy or whole grain proteins.
“Clearly, the results from this study have huge public health implications given the rising type 2 diabetes epidemic and increasing consumption of red meats worldwide,” said senior author Frank Hu.
“The good news is that such troubling risk factors can be offset by swapping red meat for a healthier protein.”
The data for the study came from questionnaire responses from more than 204,000 people in US nurses and health professionals’ studies. The subjects were tracked for between 14 and 28 years.
Researchers also updated a meta-analysis that included their data with other studies covering more than 442,000 participants.
Diabetes affects nearly 350 million adults worldwide, and more than 11 percent of adults over age 20 — or 25.6 million people — in the United States have the disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Type 2 diabetes, a chronic disease that involves high levels of blood sugar, is often caused by obesity, lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits.

Night_Hawk · Aug 11, 2011

‘Amazing’ therapy wipes out leukemia

(AP)

11 August 2011
NEW YORK - Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia — turning the patients’ own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells.
They’ve only done it in three patients so far, but the results were striking: Two appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third patient is improved but still has some cancer. Scientists are already preparing to try the same gene therapy technique for other kinds of cancer.
“It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did,” said Dr. Carl June, a gene therapy expert at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re just a year out now. We need to find out how long these remissions last.”
He led the study, published Wednesday by two journals, New England Journal of Medicine and Science Translational Medicine.
It involved three men with very advanced cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL. The only hope for a cure now is bone marrow or stem cell transplants, which don’t always work and carry a high risk of death.
Scientists have been working for years to find ways to boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. Earlier attempts at genetically modifying bloodstream soldiers called T-cells have had limited success; the modified cells didn’t reproduce well and quickly disappeared.
June and his colleagues made changes to the technique, using a novel carrier to deliver the new genes into the T-cells and a signaling mechanism telling the cells to kill and multiply.
That resulted in armies of “serial killer” cells that targeted cancer cells, destroyed them, and went on to kill new cancer as it emerged. It was known that T-cells attack viruses that way, but this is the first time it’s been done against cancer, June said.
For the experiment, blood was taken from each patient and T-cells removed. After they were altered in a lab, millions of the cells were returned to the patient in three infusions.
The researchers described the experience of one 64-year-old patient in detail. There was no change for two weeks, but then he became ill with chills, nausea and fever. He and the other two patients were hit with a condition that occurs when a large number of cancer cells die at the same time — a sign that the gene therapy is working.
“It was like the worse flu of their life,” June said. “But after that, it’s over. They’re well.”
The main complication seems to be that this technique also destroys some other infection-fighting blood cells; so far the patients have been getting monthly treatments for that.
Penn researchers want to test the gene therapy technique in leukemia-related cancers, as well as pancreatic and ovarian cancer, he said. Other institutions are looking at prostate and brain cancer.
Dr. Walter J. Urba of the Providence Cancer Center in Portland, Oregon, called the findings “pretty remarkable” but added a note of caution because of the size of the study.
“It’s still just three patients. Three’s better than one, but it’s not 100,” said Urba, one of the authors of an editorial on the research that appears in the New England Journal.
What happens long-term is key, he said: “What’s it like a year from now, two years from now, for these patients.”
But Dr. Kanti Rai, a blood cancer expert at New York’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center, could hardly contain his enthusiasm, saying he usually is more reserved in his comments on such reports.
“It’s an amazing, amazing kind of achievement,” said Rai, who had no role in the research.
None of the three patients wanted to be identified, but one wrote about his illness, and his statement was provided by the university. The man, himself a scientist, called himself “very luck,” although he wrote that he didn’t feel that way when he was first diagnosed 15 years ago at age 50.
He was successfully treated over the years with chemotherapy until standard drugs no longer worked.
Now, almost a year since he entered the study, “I’m healthy and still in remission. I know this may not be a permanent condition, but I decided to declare victory and assume that I had won.”

Night_Hawk · Aug 12, 2011

Chest pain severity not an attack indicator
Reuters

12 August 2011
NEW YORK - A high degree of pain does not make it any more likely that someone coming into the emergency room with chest pains is having a heart attack, according to a study.
[FONT=&quot]Researchers at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, who looked at more than 3,000 patients, also found that the most severe chest pain was not a good predictor of who was actually having a myocardial infarction, nor of which patients were more prone to having one over the next month. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The opposite was also true, said Anna Marie Chang, one of the authors of the study, which appeared in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“If chest pain isn’t severe, that doesn’t mean it’s not a heart attack,” she added. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Using a scale of zero to 10, with zero representing no pain and 10 being the worst pain imaginable, researchers gauged the pain levels of about 3,300 patients who arrived at the UPenn hospital emergency department complaining of chest pain. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]They then followed the patients for 30 days to see who had further heart-related events. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Patients with the most severe chest pain were no more likely to be having a heart attack, or to have one within the next month, than patients with lesser pain. Pain that lasted more than an hour was also not a useful sign of a heart attack versus other conditions. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]The pain of a heart attack also doesn’t always settle in the chest area but may be in the chest, arm, jaw back or abdomen, doctors said. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Failures to diagnose acute myocardial infarction account for 30 percent of malpractice claims paid out, the study authors said, with 2 to 5 percent of patients who are having heart attacks being inappropriately discharged from emergency departments. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]But while pain severity wasn’t a good indicator of who was having a heart attack at the hospital, having arrived at the emergency department in an ambulance was. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]That may be because people tend to dismiss chest pain until they are having symptoms they deem serious enough to warrant calling emergency services, said James Feldman, an emergency physician at Boston Medical Center who was not involved in the study. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]“The cause of chest pain may or may not be a heart attack, but it could definitely be something serious,” he added.

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Night_Hawk · Aug 17, 2011

Coffee reduces cancer risk

(AFP)

15 August 2011
WASHINGTON — Coffee has been shown to reduce the risk of skin cancer by helping kill off damaged cells that could otherwise turn into tumors, according to a US study published on Monday.
The findings indicate that moderate caffeine drinking, or perhaps even applying coffee to the skin, could be useful in warding off non-melanoma cancer, the most commonly diagnosed of all skin cancers.
Using mice that had been genetically altered to suppress a protein called ATR, researchers showed that the mice were able to fend off cancer even when exposed to ultraviolet light.
Previous studies have suggested that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee per day has the effect of suppressing ATR and triggering the die-off of cells harmed by UV rays.
The altered mice eventually did develop cancer, but three weeks later than normal mice.
After 19 weeks of ultraviolet light exposure, the engineered mice showed 69 percent fewer tumors and four times fewer invasive tumors than the control group.
However, the protective effects only went so far. After 34 weeks of UV exposure, all the mice developed tumors.
“Eventually, if you treat them long enough, the mice will develop cancer so it is not 100 percent protection forever,” Allan Coffey, one of the study’s authors, told AFP.
“Really, with almost any carcinogen, eventually all the animals will develop tumors.”
Coffey and his team were able to confirm their hypothesis that caffeine — when consumed or applied to the skin — works by inhibiting ATR. Now they say more studies are needed to see how it may work on humans.
“We want to see whether caffeine has an effect in people when you give it topically,” he said.
Skin cancer is the most prevalent cancer in the United States, with more than one million new cases each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Non-melanoma types of skin cancer, including basal cell and squamous cell types, are the most commonly diagnosed and are often treatable if detected early.

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Night_Hawk · Aug 17, 2011

Health benefits of milk include good bone health, smooth skin, strong immune system, prevention of illnesses such as hypertension, dental decay, dehydration, respiratory problems, obesity, osteoporosis and even some forms of cancer. The beneficial health nutrients obtained from milk are mandatory for human body and help in prevention of chronic ailments.

Milk is highly enriched in nutritional food value. It has almost all the regular nutritional elements such as protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins, minerals etc and thus provides a very healthy and natural source for fulfilling these nutritional needs.

The nutritional value of milk have always influenced people all over the world to include it in diet. Addition of milk in your daily diet can also help in achieving a well balanced diet. Milk is an ideal source of nutrients such as vitamin A & B, calcium, carbohydrate, phosphorous, magnesium, protein, zinc and riboflavin.

Milk is extremely beneficial drink for mankind. Some of the advantages of drinking this life giving nectar are as follows:
* Calcium: Milk is the best source of calcium supply to our body. Calcium protects the body from major chronic ailments such as cancerous chemicals, bone loss, arthritic condition, migraine headaches, pre-menstrual syndrome, and obesity in children and aids in losing unwanted fats.

* Milk is rich in calcium, which is very essential for growth and proper development of strong bone structure. Bone disorders such as osteoporosis can be prevented with daily intake of adequate quantity of milk.

* Taking a specific portion of milk in a daily basis helps to maintain a healthy blood pressure.

* Healthy Teeth: Encouraging children and youngsters to drink milk would give them excellent dental health, as milk protects the enamel surface against acidic substances.

* Regular consumption of milk also helps to reduce risk the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

* Rehydration: The body needs to be replenished with liquids at regular intervals. It is very essential for growing children and they must drink at least six to eight glasses of fluid every day. Milk contains a good quantity of water molecules and is considered the best fluid for rehydration.

* Skin Care: Milk is known to benefit our skin by helping us maintain a fair and smooth complexion. Milk is also good for dry skin, if you have dry skin apply milk on your face (and other body parts), leave it for about 15 minutes and then wash it, the milk solids nourish and smoothen your skin, the lactic acid present in milk is known to aid in removing the dead skin cells, thereby rejuvenating your skin.

* Acidity Reduction: Consumption of milk products can also help in reducing heartburn aches, and high acidity stomachs.

Milk is a very healthy and natural diet and can be a substitute for unhealthy food with more fat and artificial elements.

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