1, July 2014

Pinprick of blood can help in medical diagnosis

ESA is building a prototype tester for crews on the International Space Station to provide diagnosis within a few minutes from a pinprick of blood.

The ultimate device will offer rapid health checks and results for scientific research.

The droplet is placed on a portable device built around a disc like a mini-DVD. The disc is set spinning to separate the sample into plasma and serum for a whole range of simultaneous tests.

On the ground, there are already numerous applications - the automated laboratory unit covers illnesses such as heart disease, prostate cancer, diabetes and liver disease.

The space device is being developed by Irish company Radisens Diagnostic, which began working with ESA in 2011.

The first phase of the partnership with ESA assessed its suitability for space, with this new phase intending to design practical prototypes for use on the Station and other future manned space missions.

Weightless living aboard the confined quarters of the orbital outpost can lead to various negative consequences, but the day-by-day oversight by medical experts on the ground is limited.

"What Radisens will develop is of the utmost interest," comments ESA's Francois Gaubert. "Being able to perform rapid analysis of astronauts' blood samples and monitor their physiological parameters aboard the Station, without having to transport the samples down to labs on the ground, would prove extremely useful."

Source: www.timesofindia.com

01.07.2014

Complex heart tests up cancer risk

Radiation from standard X-rays do not significantly raise cancer risks for young children, in general, but children undergoing more complex procedures with higher radiation have higher risks, says a study.

"Cancer risk overall is relatively low, but we hope that this awareness will encourage providers to limit radiation exposure in children, when alternative procedures can offer the same benefit with less radiation," said Jason Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in the US.

Researchers reviewed medical records to find the most common imaging procedures, calculated how much radiation organs absorb during each procedure and then used a report from National Academy of Sciences in the US to analyse lifetime cancer risks based on the amounts of each procedure's exposure.

Lifetime cancer risk increases ranged from 0.002 per cent for chest X-rays to 0.4 per cent for complex CT scans and cardiac catheterisations.

The study appeared in the journal Circulation.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

01.07.2014

Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own unguarded thoughts

Buddha

30, June 2014

Indian govt to focus on ’2020: Vision for Healthcare in India’

The Health Minister also unfurled the ‘Swasth India’ portal which, apart from showcasing medical advancement and recommending panacea for the benefit of Indians, would facilitate online permission for Indian American doctors to serve in the areas of their choice in India. ‘Swasth India’ would make it possible for any US-based Indian doctor to select the areas they wish to serve in India, seek and receive formal approval from Medical Council of India (MCI) on their qualifications, and address all other government issues within 15 days.  

‘Before leaving on this trip, I had written to MCI that existing bottlenecks should be eased and if permission is held up beyond 15 days, then it should be deemed automatically granted,’ Harsh Vardhan said. The president of MCI, Jayashreeben Mehta, was present on the occasion. Harsh Vardhan?s theme, ’2020: Vision for Healthcare in India’ drew warm appreciation from the audience. He stressed that under Modi’s overarching leadership, health policy making and its implementation will not be the monopoly of the government but would be guided by the lived experience of hundreds of experts who will be urged to bring local solutions to local problems.  

‘For the first time we have a Prime Minister who is committed to serving every mother and child, every Indian young and old, with free and clean hospitals, generic medicines, rational drug policy, healthy lifestyles and, most importantly, enough doctors. I urge the Indian Diaspora to avail this historic opportunity to contribute to realising this dream,’ the Health Minister said. The Minister admitted that in the areas of telemedicine, seminal research, surveillance and early warning systems and, most importantly, medical insurance, he could do with the proven expertise of Indian American doctors.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

30.06.2014

Music, dancing may help your baby develop social skills

Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada have found that bouncing to a musical beat in time with others could instill helpfulness in babies.

While it has already been proven that people who move in time together in activities ranging from dancing to rowing a boat are likely to bond and work together, the McMaster study is believed to be the first to study the effects on babies.

‘Moving in sync with others is an important part of musical activities,’ says lead author and doctoral student Laura Cirelli. ‘These effects show that movement is a fundamental part of music that affects social behavior from a very young age.’

Researchers worked in pairs to bounce each baby in the study, which tested a total of 68 babies.

When the music started playing, one researcher bounced the baby in a forward facing carrier, while the other researcher stood facing the baby and the person holding him.

The pairs of researchers bounced either in sync or at a different tempo, depending upon whether they were in the test or control group.

When the music stopped, subjects were given a classical test of child altruism in which the researcher who had been facing him would pretend to accidentally drop an object to see if the baby would help him.

The babies who had been bounced in sync with the researcher across from them were 20 percent more likely to help than those bounced offbeat.

Cirelli believes her findings are significant towards building a more cooperative social climate and that singing, clapping and dancing in time to music should be an essential part of developmental learning.

Moving forward, Cirelli is now working on a project to determine whether the babies’ bouncing-inspired helpfulness extends to others, or if it is geared solely towards his bouncing partner.

The study will be published in an upcoming issue of Developmental Science.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

30.06.2014

Don’t raise your voice …Improve your argument

28, June 2014

Urgent need to rehabilitate drug addicts: President Pranab Mukherjee

There is an urgent need to provide community-based services for the identification, counselling and de-addiction of drug addicts along with their after-care and rehabilitation, President Prabnab Mukherjee said Thursday. At an award ceremony here to recognise outstanding services in the field of prevention of alcohol and substance abuse, Mukherjee said alcoholism and drug abuse were psycho-social-medical problems requiring a holistic approach. ‘The aim of the comprehensive treatment programme should not merely be to get the addicted individuals off alcohol or drugs. Focused attention on making the addicts productive members of the society by making them drug-free, crime-free and gainfully employed is what is required,’ he said.

The president said the importance of skill-building and vocational training of drug-dependent people for their social and economic reintegration cannot be over-emphasised. The stress should be on mobilisation of community resources and greater community participation. ‘Law enforcement agencies should be sensitised to the needs of victims of substance abuse to enable them to be rehabilitated and reintegrated in the society,’ he said. ‘Generating continuous and sustained awareness through innovative methods about the harmful effects of drug abuse also assumes critical importance,’ he added.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

28.06.2014

A happy marriage leads to a healthy heart!

How happy you are in your marriage affects your heart in more ways than previously thought as researchers have found that unhappy marital interaction is linked to thicker carotid arteries and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease. ‘Growing evidence suggests that the quality and patterns of one’s social relationships may be linked with a variety of health outcomes, including heart disease,’ said Thomas Kamarck, professor of psychology at University of Pittsburgh in the US.  

‘The contribution of this study is in showing that these sorts of links may be observed even during the earliest stages of plaque development (in the carotid artery),’ Kamarck added. Those in unhappy marital interactions may have an 8.5 percent greater risk of suffering heart attack or stroke than those with a surfeit of good feelings, the findings showed. The study included 281 healthy, employed, middle-aged adults who were married or living with a partner in a marital-like relationship. Their interactions were monitored hourly over the course of four days, with the partners rating their interactions as positive or negative. Carotid artery thickness was also measured. Those partners reporting more negative interactions were found to have thicker carotids. The study appeared in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

28.06.2014

Expression of the face could be seen by everyone but depression of heart could be understood by the best one

27, June 2014

Too much television may cause early death

Washington: A new study has warned that people who watch TV for three hours or more each day are likely to die prematurely.

People should consider getting regular exercise, avoiding long sedentary periods and reducing TV viewing to one to two hours a day as suggested by researchers.

Around 13,284 young and healthy Spanish university graduates are assessed by the researchers of the American Heart Association to determine the association between three types of sedentary behaviour and risk of death from all causes: television viewing time, computer accessing and driving time, Xinhua reported.

Researchers have found out that there is no significant association between the time spent using a computer or driving and higher risk of premature death from all causes.

They further says that studies are needed to confirm what effects may exist between computer use and driving on death rates, and to determine the biological mechanisms explaining these associations.

Risk of death is two-fold for those who reported watching three or more hours of TV a day as compared to those watching one or less hours.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/news

27.06.2014

Thyroid treatment may prevent heart disease in diabetics

New York: Low thyroid levels in the cardiac tissue of diabetics may be the major cause of their associated heart disease, a study has said, indicating that restoring thyroid hormones in heart may prevent heart disease in diabetics.

Diabetes triggers low thyroid levels that contribute to heart failure, the findings showed.

In animal models, the researchers found that administering low doses of the active form of thyroid hormone, T3, prevented the progression of heart disease.

"This treatment prevented the abnormal changes in gene expression, tissue pathology, and heart function," said Martin Gerdes from New York Institute of Technology in the US.

The most recent study builds on a growing body of research by Gerdes and others that link low thyroid hormone levels in heart tissue to heart failure.

"The clinical implications are profound and far-reaching because it suggests that the heart disease associated with diabetes may be easily preventable," Gerdes added.

"And importantly, the dose we gave of T3 hormone did not significantly change the serum (blood) thyroid hormone levels but it was enough to make all the difference in the heart tissue," Gerdes noted.

The study appeared online in the journal Molecular Medicine.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com/news

27.06.2014

When you are alone, ‘control your thoughts’ and when you are in crowd, ‘control your words’

26, June 2014

Now a virus that kills cancer cells!

A virus can be used to kill triple-negative breast cancer cells and tumours grown from these cells in mice, finds a new research. Understanding how the virus kills cancer cells may lead to new treatments for breast cancer, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) infects humans, but is not known to cause sickness. ‘Treatment of breast cancer remains difficult because there are multiple signalling pathways that promote tumour growth and develop resistance to treatment,’ said Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology at Pennsylvania State University in the US.

In prior studies, the researchers tested the virus on a variety of breast cancers that represent degrees of aggressiveness on human papillomavirus-positive cervical cancer cells. The virus initiated apoptosis – natural cell death – in cancer cells without affecting healthy cells. Treatment of breast cancer differs from patient to patient due to differences in tumours. A triple-negative breast cancer is typically aggressive. ‘There is an urgent and ongoing need for the development of novel therapies which efficiently target triple-negative breast cancers,’ Meyers said.
In the current study, the researchers tested AAV2 on a cell-line representative of triple-negative breast cancer. The AAV2 killed 100 percent of the cells in the laboratory by activating proteins called caspases, which are essential for the cell’s natural death.  

AAV2 mediated cell killing of multiple breast cancer cell lines representing both low and high grades of cancer and targeted the cancer cells independent of hormone or growth factor classification. ‘These results are significant, since tumour death in response to therapy is also used as the measure of an effective chemotherapeutic,’ Meyers said. The findings appeared in the journal Cancer Biology & Therapy.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

26.06.2014

Are heart tests likely to give you cancer?

Radiation from standard X-rays do not significantly raise cancer risks for young children, in general, but children undergoing more complex procedures with higher radiation have higher risks, says a study. ‘Cancer risk overall is relatively low, but we hope that this awareness will encourage providers to limit radiation exposure in children, when alternative procedures can offer the same benefit with less radiation,’ said Jason Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in the US.  

Researchers reviewed medical records to find the most common imaging procedures, calculated how much radiation organs absorb during each procedure and then used a report from National Academy of Sciences in the US to analyse lifetime cancer risks based on the amounts of each procedure’s exposure. Lifetime cancer risk increases ranged from 0.002 percent for chest X-rays to 0.4 percent for complex CT scans and cardiac catheterisations. The study appeared in the journal Circulation.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

26.06.2014

Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly until you learn to do it well

Zig Ziglar

24, June 2014

Staring at screen all day can damage your eyes

Tokyo: Working in front of a monitor for more than seven hours per day may lead to symptoms similar to those of dry eye disease, a new study has warned.

The tear fluid that protects and lubricates the eye contains a protein called MUC5AC that is secreted by specialised cells in the upper eyelid.

Researchers have found the levels of MUC5AC in the tears of those who stare for long periods at computer screens were almost as low as in people with dry eye disease, 'Utah People's Post' reported.

People staring at screens also tend to open their eyelids wider as compared to doing other tasks and the extra exposed surface area in addition to infrequent blinking can accelerate tear evaporation and is associated with dry eye disease.

"Office workers who are worried about dry eye can make some simple changes to decrease the risk of disease. The exposed ocular surface area can be decreased by placing the terminal at a lower height, with the screen tilted upward," Dr Yuichi Uchino, an ophthalmologist at the School of Medicine at Keio University in Tokyo said.

Researchers sampled tears from the eyes of 96 Japanese office workers, roughly two-thirds of which were men. They then measured the concentration of MUC5AC proportional to the total amount of protein in the tears.

The amount of MUC5AC in the tears of workers who looked at screens for more than seven hours per day was, on average, 38.5 per cent lower than the amount in the workers who spent fewer than five hours a day looking at screens.

Among the subjects, 14 per cent were diagnosed with dry eye disease and had 57 per cent less MUC5AC in their tears compared to those without dry eye disease, the report said.

The research was published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

24.06.2014

Advanced CT scanners to reduce radiation exposure

New York: The growing use of CT scans could be placing patients at a higher lifetime risk of cancer from radiation exposure, but advanced CT scanning equipment has reduced the danger significantly, says a new study.

Computed tomography (CT) scans are an accepted standard of care for diagnosing heart and lung conditions.

The new study by Beaumont Health System, of 2,085 patients at nine centres in the US and Middle East, found that using newer generation, dual-source CT scanners significantly reduced radiation exposure for patients when compared with first generation, 64-slice, single-source scanners or first generation, dual-source CT scanners.

Patient radiation exposure was reduced by 61 percent with the newer scanners, with no significant difference in image quality for patients having CT scans for coronary artery disease, pulmonary embolism or aortic disease.

“Newer technology makes a difference in terms of radiation exposure and the difference is quite large,” said study author Kavitha Chinnaiyan, director of Advanced Cardiac Imaging Research at Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.

“It is important for patients to ask questions when referred for a radiation-based test to understand what the procedure involves and what the risks are of the particular technique and if there are alternative imaging choices,” she said.

The study findings also have important implications for referring physicians, she said.

“Clinicians must understand that imaging studies not only have a major impact on the care of an individual patient, but also on trends in radiation exposure, as well as overall health care costs,” Chinnaiyan added.

”Incidental findings may require further imaging studies with other radiation-based tests. It is important to discuss the risks and benefits of testing with patients, and to refer them to centres that offer newer technologies,” she said.

The study results provide information that will help in setting standards for radiation safety quality control in cardiovascular imaging.

The study appeared online in Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

24.06.2014

The value of a man should be seen in what he gives and not in what he is able to receive

Albert Einstein

23, June 2014

Genetic 'barcode' to identify origin of malaria

Containing malaria could be a lot more convenient as researchers have now designed a genetic barcode of malaria parasite, which can be used to identify the geographic origin of the parasite from a blood sample and monitor its spread. 

"By taking finger-prick bloodspots from malaria patients, physicians could use this new barcode to quickly and accurately identify where a form of the parasite may have come from, and help in programmes of malaria elimination and resistance containment," explained Cally Roper from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

The researchers found a highly predictive barcode in the genetic sequence of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. 

"Our work represents a breakthrough in the genetic barcoding of P falciparum as it reveals very specific and accurate sequences for different geographic settings," Taane Clark from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine said. 

The researchers analysed DNA of over 700 P falciparum malaria parasites taken from patients in 14 countries in West Africa, East Africa, South East Asia, Oceania and South America. 

According to the authors, this barcode is limited as the current study lacks representation of the Indian sub-continent, Central America, southern Africa and the Caribbean, owing to the scarcity of sequence data from these regions. 

The study appeared in the journal Nature Communications.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

23.06.2014

No health risk from cell phone radiation

Radiations emitted by mobile phones and towers do not cause any health hazard, experts said here Thursday.

Myths without any reasonable scientific basis have been floated by people with vested business interests that electromagnetic field emissions (EMF) cause health hazard, they said.

Rigorous and independent scientific studies across the globe have been carried out to dispel the fear of health hazard from mobile tower antenna and phones.

Experts were speaking at a panel discussion on "Mobile network and public health" organised by the COAI, a leading mobile communications association.

They stressed that people, who believe that radiations are really harmful, are not fully aware and should understand this perception clearly.

"Ionising radiation causes damages to the molecules - they break the chemical bonds and can cause health hazards. But non-ionising radiation from mobile tower and antenna do not cause the breakage of bonds and do not cause damage to the molecules," said R.V. Hosur, senior professor, Chemical Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

"A number research and studies have been conducted around the globe to ascertain if there is any relationship between the radiation emission from the mobile phone and cancer. However there is no enough evidence providing mobile phones causes cancer in humans," he added.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), over six billion people use mobile phones to communicate with one another.

"The radiation waves used in the mobile phones technology are probably at the lowest end of the electromagnetic spectrum and do not cause any health hazard," said Rakesh Jalali, Radiation Oncologist at Tata Medical Centre.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

23.06.2014

To be successful, the first thing to do is fall in love with your work

Sister Mary Lauretta

21, June 2014

Antibiotics improve growth in kids

Researchers have suggested that antibiotics are able to improve growth in children at risk of undernourishment in low and middle income countries.

Their results suggest that the youngest children from the most vulnerable populations benefit most and show significant improvements toward expected growth for their age and sex, particularly for weight.

A team of researchers from McGill, the University of British Columbia and others, set out to determine whether antibiotics lead to improvements in growth in pre-pubertal children living in low and middle income countries.

Paper's first author Ethan Gough, McGill PhD candidate in the Faculty of Medicine (Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health), said they looked at changes in both height and weight.

He said that they searched the research literature for studies that treated children aged 1 month to 12 years with an antibiotic, and analyzed the results of 10 trials involving 4,316 children in seven low and middle income countries. Children were generally smaller in height and weight than adequately nourished children of the same age. This group of studies reflects the spectrum of stunting and wasting malnutrition seen in these countries.

Amee Manges, a professor in the School of Population and Public Health, at the University of British Columbia, said that overall they we found that antibiotic treatment had a positive effect on both height and weight with increases of 0.04 cm/month for height and by 23.8 g/month for weight, asserting that after accounting for differences in the age of the study participants, effects on height were larger in the youngest children and effects on weight were larger in the trials that were conducted in Africa.

The results have been published in the British Medical Journal.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

21.06.2014

Playing football can lower BP in women

Instead of just thumping your desks or pumping your fists even as you watch a World Cup football match on television, you should also get into some real action if reducing blood pressure is one of your concerns.

Playing football could help lower blood pressure in women aged 35-50, a study shows.

Women within this age group with high blood pressure achieved a significant reduction in blood pressure and body fat percentage through playing recreational football for 15 weeks.

"After 15 weeks of participation in recreational football, systolic and diastolic blood pressure had fallen by 12 and 6 millimetres of mercury (mmHg) and the women had lost 2.3 kg of fat on average," said Magni Mohr from University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

"The football training produced an impressive reduction in blood pressure that was more than twice as big as with swimming performed over the same period as with football," Mohr said.

The study involved 41 untrained women aged 35-50 years of age with high blood pressure of around 140/90 mmHg.

"As well as the impressive effects on blood pressure and body composition, we also saw a drop in cholesterol and a big improvement in physical fitness as a result of the 15 weeks of football training," said Peter Krustrup, professor at University of Exeter in Britain.

The study appeared in Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

21.06.2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone

Dr Abdul Kalam