1 September, 2017

What your lip colour says about you

The first sign of any disease is mostly seen on the lips and so it is rightly called the window to your health by traditional Chinese medicine experts. If the colour of our lips change, it is our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong. The position of our body, its internal organs, temperature and blood can be understood just by the colour of our lips. Let us find out what different colour of lips denote:

PALE OR WHITE LIPS: Pale or white lips are a clear sign of being anaemic. This means that your body lacks red blood cells or haemoglobin. Haemoglobin is the main part of the red blood cells and binds oxygen. Therefore, if your body lacks this, then your lips are bound to turn pale. Eating iron rich foods like spinach, dried fruits and breads are a good start to increase your haemoglobin.

RED LIPS: Red lips mean your body is overheated. At a time like this, you will see the additional signs of bad breath and craving for snacks. According to experts, this means that you have a dysfunctional liver, which ends up releasing heat in the body. Other than this, red lips also signify the presence of an allergy from any kind of food or liquid, causing your lips to swell.

PURPLE OR BLUE LIPS: A normal phenomenon during winters, purple or blue lips should not be ignored if it persists for a long time. This is because this may mean that you have a heart and respiratory issue. This also means that blood circulation in the body is improper. If there is a hint of a green line around your lips, it signifies poor blood circulation around liver and spleen.

DARK RED TO BLUE LIPS: Dark red to blue lips signify that you need to detoxify your body immediately with healthy foods and liquids. This simply means that your digestive system is stressed due to toxification and your body needs to get rid of these disturbing agents. Sticking to an alkaline diet will help.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

01.09.2017

The same fire that melts butter, makes steel strong

Lois

31 August, 2017

Middle-aged people who walk slowly at a high risk of heart disease, says study

Exercise, especially in present times, is and should be an important part of our everyday lives. That said, walking is considered one of the best workouts and is recommended by doctors across the world.

When we go out for a walk as a workout, we resort to brisk walking. But are you really walking briskly? The results of a study based on the pace of a person's walk have meted out a warning, especially for the middle-aged.

As per the study, middle-aged people with a slow walking pace are at a higher risk of developing heart disease compared to those who walk steady or at a brisk pace.

The study revealed that middle-aged people, both men and women, who reported that they are slow walkers were around twice as likely to have a heart-related death compared to brisk walkers. "This suggests that habitual walking pace is an independent predictor of heart-related death," said Professor Tom Yates, Reader at the University of Leicester in Britain.

Further, walking pace was strongly linked to an individual's objectively measured exercise tolerance, and a good measure of overall physical fitness.

"Thus, walking pace could be used to identify individuals who have low physical fitness and high mortality risk that would benefit from targeted physical exercise interventions," Yates added. Moreover, the study also found that handgrip strength is a weak predictor of heart-related deaths in men and could not be generalised across the population as a whole.

For the study, published in the European Heart Journal, the team analysed 420,727 middle-aged people across Britain. In the following 6.3 years, after the data was collected there were 8,598 deaths: 1,654 died from cardiovascular disease, while cancer took 4,850 lives.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

31.08.2017

The best way to conquer

 the problem is to face it

30 August, 2017

High salt intake may double heart failure risk

Love to eat salted wafers, nuts, french fries and other processed foods? Beware, according to a study, high salt intake is associated with a doubled risk of heart failure. The findings showed that people who consume more than 13.7 grams of salt daily may be at two times higher risk of heart failure compared to those consuming less than 6.8 grams. This salt-related increase in heart failure risk was independent of blood pressure level — increased level of which is also a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, the researchers said. The optimal daily salt intake is probably even lower than 6.8 grams. The World Health Organisation recommends a maximum of 5 grams per day and the physiological need is two-three grams per day.

“The heart does not like salt…High salt (sodium chloride) intake is one of the major causes of high blood pressure and an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke,” said Pekka Jousilahti, professor at the National Institute for Health and Welfare, Finland.  The results were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Barcelona. For the study, the team followed 4,630 women and men aged 25 to 64 in Finland over 12 years.  Samples of their urine were tested to gauge their salt intake. The researchers divided the participants into five groups based on their salt intake; the low-salt group consumed less than 6.8 grams a day and the highest had more than 13.7 grams a day. Over the course of the study, 121 men and women developed new heart failure.  The results showed that the group consuming the most salt were 2.1 times more likely to develop heart failure and the group who ate the second highest amount of salt — between 10.96 and 13.7 grams — were 1.7 times more likely.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

30.08.2017

What you are thinking is what you are becoming

29 August, 2017

Hair loss - A mirror of diabetes

Hair is God's priceless gift and it is as important as the other parts of the body. It is reflection of our identity. A healthy adult scalp contains an average of 80,000-120,000 hair. Usually, hairs on human scalp grows at a rate of 0.4 mm/day or 1 cm (less than half an inch) per month and normal cycle of hair growth lasts for 2 to 6 years.

Diabetes is a long term disease that affects virtually all organs of the body. Earlier, many organs except hair were considered as a mirror to diabetes complications. Now, molecular studies of hair have opened new outlooks in the diagnosis of diabetes and its complications. Diabetes can slow down your hair growth. You may face comparatively more hair fall if you are diabetic. It is not just your head, but your arms, legs and other body parts can also suffer from severe hair loss. In diabetes, the rate of hair regrowth also gets slower.

If a person is suffering from severe hair loss, it may be an alarming signal for possibility of diabetes development. You must consider visiting your doctor if you are facing unusual hair loss. Only a few diabetologists recognize this as a first sign of diabetes.

A French study was conducted to establish the link between hair loss and diabetes. A total of 6,00,000 people with diffuse hair loss were enrolled. Results from the study revealed that all the enrolled people with diffuse hair loss were diabetic, although they were unaware of the fact that they were diabetic. Therefore, people with complain of hair loss should have their serum glucose level checked. Sometimes, even unexplained hair loss can help in diagnosis of silent diabetes.

Speak with your doctor if you are having any bothersome diabetes symptoms, including hair loss. It becomes even more important to visit your doctor if you are losing hair loss from arms and legs as it could be an indicator of poor blood flow. If your hair loss is related to diabetes, you can control it by managing your blood sugar level, adjusting your diet and lifestyle. Once your diabetes is under control, you will notice a reduction in hair loss.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

29.08.2017

A goal without a plan is just a wish

28 August, 2017

India among 5 countries with highest rheumatic heart disease deaths

With 1,19,100 deaths, India is among the five nations -- Indonesia, the DR Congo, China and Pakistan -- that accounted for 73 per cent of rheumatic heart disease deaths globally in 2015, a study has showed. The death toll in the other four nations stood at 1.18 million in Indonesia, 8,05,000 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 72,600 in China and 18,900 in Pakistan.

Rheumatic heart disease is a condition of damaged heart valves caused by bacterial infection that leads to rheumatic fever. The highest estimated death rates -- more than 10 per 1,00,000 -- occurred in India, the Central African Republic, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Lesotho, Marshall Islands, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu.

"The persistence of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease reflects the challenges many countries face in improving the social, environmental, and economic conditions that lead to the disease," said Gregory A. Roth, Assistant Professor at the University of Washington

Further, the study showed that mortality has not appreciably declined in these regions, which include some of the world's poorest countries, since 1990, although the risk of death from the disease has dropped around the world over the last 25 years. 

The number of individuals who were living with rheumatic heart disease had not declined, either, the researchers said in the paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In addition, about one per cent of school age children in these endemic countries have evidence of rheumatic heart disease. 

"We have very cost-effective interventions that treat strep throat and prevent rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease from getting worse, but these children often don't have access to the care they need," said David Watkins, from the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

28.08.2017

Winners are ordinary people with extra ordinary determination

26 August, 2017

People can now take a Google test to check depression

People in the US will soon have an option to take a screening test on Google to know if they are depressed or not. Now, when users in the US will search for “depression” on Google, they will see a box atop the results on mobile, which the search giant calls a Knowledge Panel, The Verge reported on Wednesday. The Knowledge Panel contains information on what depression is, what its symptoms are and the possible treatments.  “The update adds the option to tap on ‘check if you’re clinically depressed’ and take a clinically validated screening questionnaire called PHQ-9. The self-assessment is private and is meant to help steer people who might be depressed toward in-person evaluations,” the report noted.

According to Google spokesperson Susan Cadrecha, the feature is being rolled out on mobile in the US soon and it is not meant to subvert a medical evaluation.  “The results of the PHQ-9 can help you have a more informed conversation with your doctor,” according to National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), which partnered with Google on the questionnaire. According to NAMI, clinical depression is fairly common condition with almost one in five Americans experiencing an episode in their lifetime. But only about 50 per cent of people who have depression get treated for it. Recently there was another study that that proves that an individual suffering from depression may be at an increased risk of developing changes in the structure of the brain associated with communication and thinking skills, researchers say. The findings showed that alterations were found in parts of the brain known as white matter, which contains fibre tracts that enable brain cells to communicate with one another by electrical signals.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

26.08.2017

Don’t stop learning, because there is always a room for improvement

24 August, 2017

This new eye test may help detect signs of Alzheimer's disease

A team of US scientists has developed a new eye test that noninvasively scans the retina and help detect beta-amyloid protein, a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. Amyloid beta are amino acids and main component of the amyloid plaques that are found in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

The experimental technology scans the retina using techniques that can identify beta-amyloid protein deposits that mirror those in the brain. The study has revealed a 4.7-fold increase in retinal plaque burden in patients with Alzheimer's, compared to controls.

Keith L Black, Director of the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Hospital in Los Angeles said,"As a developmental outgrowth of the central nervous system that shares many of the brain's characteristics, the retina may offer a unique opportunity to easily and conveniently detect and monitor Alzheimer's disease."

Accumulations of neurotoxic beta-amyloid protein can be detected with positron emission tomography, or PET scans, and analysis of cerebrospinal fluid, but these are invasive, inconvenient and costly, making them impractical for routine screening and follow-up evaluation.

However, the new technique uses an autofluorescence imaging system that includes a specialised ophthalmic camera and sophisticated image processing software. The tests non-invasively detects presumed amyloid deposits in retinas of living patients.

In addition, the tests showed retinal plaque clusters, or "hot spots", containing the most toxic forms of beta-amyloid with specific distribution patterns in superior peripheral regions that were previously unexplored.

Maya Koronyo-Hamaoui, Associate Professor at the hospital noted,"Findings from this study strongly suggest that retinal imaging can serve as a surrogate biomarker to investigate and monitor Alzheimer's disease (early in the process)."

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

24.08.2017

Best way to escape from your problems is to solve them

23 August, 2017

Now an artificial heart can be made of spider silk

Researchers have developed cardiac muscle tissue made of spider silk, to investigate whether artificial silk protein could be suitable for engineering cardiac tissue. Ischaemic diseases such as cardiac infarction leads to irreversible loss of cardiac muscle cells, which is the main cause of reduced cardiac functionality that affects the working of the heart. According to the researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) in Germany, silk could be the key to artificial cardiac tissue. Or, the protein that gives the silk its structure and mechanical stability called as fibroin. For the study, published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, the team investigated the suitability of the silk protein eADF4(?16) produced in the laboratory for the production of cardiac tissue.

The research involved applying a thin layer of the silk protein to a glass slide. The technique is based on the fact that cells with a negatively charged surface adhere to films made of the eADF4(?16) silk protein due to its positive charge. The study focussed, in particular, on cardiac cell functionality. The researchers compared these cells to cells that they had applied to a film of fibronectin, which is similar to the natural environment of cardiac cells. No functional differences between the two were observed. The researchers were able to demonstrate, for instance, that factors responsible for hypertrophy — enlargement of cardiac cells for instance in athletes and pregnant women — also led to a growth in volume in the cardiac cells that had been cultured on a film of eADF4(?16). The possibilities of printing artificial silk proteins using 3D printing technology therefore represent the first steps towards future methods for engineering functional cardiac tissue, the researchers noted.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

23.08.2017

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength

22 August, 2017

Many young cancer patients do not receive adequate fertility information and support

All cancer patients of reproductive age should be provided with fertility information and referrals for fertility preservation. A new Psycho-Oncologyanalysis of the published literature indicates that many cancer patients are not receiving such support, however.

In the analysis of 23 relevant studies, investigators found that many clinicians are broadly informed about the risk to their patients' fertility brought about by cancer treatment, but many factors hinder the appropriate discussions and referrals needed to provide adequate fertility support to patients of reproductive age. For example, some oncology clinicians may lack appropriate fertility knowledge and be unsure whose role it is to provide fertility support.

"Impaired fertility brought about by cancer treatment leads to long-term psychological distress and lowered quality of life for cancer patients of a reproductive age. As such, it is paramount that clinicians are able to deliver oncofertility services to the standard of best practice guidelines, to assist in lowering long term distress," said Dr. Shanna Logan, lead author of the article. "However, as the results of this review indicate, oftentimes oncofertilty related services are not delivered to the standard required or in line with patient's needs. Moving forward, the results of this review will be utilised to aid in the development of an international competency framework, to better assist clinicians in providing necessary oncofertility care in the future."

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

22.08.2017

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra

Jimmy Johnson

21 August, 2017

Rising number of cardiac patients in India in 30-40 age group a concern, say doctors

A modern lifestyle that people all over the world have adopted or are adopting seems to be a big reason for the rise in heart problems. In India, cardiovascular diseases seem to be one of the biggest reasons for the rise in mortality rate, unfortunately at early ages. Doctors attending a global conference in Hyderabad voiced their concern over the growth in the number of cardiac patients in India, especially in the age group of 30-40 years. The four-day ACVSA (Advanced Cardiovascular Solutions) India 2017 conference organised by the Facts Foundation, India in partnership with the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), USA, is being attended by over 1,500 delegates from India and abroad.

According to the cardiologists, married people have a 14 percent reduced risk of heart attack than those who are single or divorced. The data collected by cardiologists also shows the link between breast cancer and cholesterol levels. Reducing cholesterol with statins can bring down the risk of breast cancer. The findings were announced by Rahul Potluri, Founder of ACALM (Algorithm for Comorbidites, Associations, Length of stay and Mortality) and cardiologist, Aston Medical School, UK, here during the conference.

Voicing concern over growing numbers of cardiac patients in the age group of 30-40 years in India, Potluri said "The reasons being rapid adoption to Western habits, in addition to our known predisposition to heart disease." They plan to collate the data from individual hospitals for analysis.

The data from Britain indicates that the Indian population there has 20 percent greater chronic total occlusion of heart blood vessels than the locals and much younger patients are afflicted of the disease. Amongst Indians there is 30 per cent higher chance of diabetes than the Caucasian population.

A Sreenivas Kumar, Founder Director, FACTS Foundation; Chairman, Cardiovascular Sciences & Chief Cardiologist, Citizens Hospital, said heart disease can be prevented in 80 percent of patients, if they follow healthy lifestyles with regular exercise, healthy diet habits, by controlling BP, cholesterol, diabetes etc.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com                   21.08.2017

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible

18 August, 2017

Young people with chronic illness more likely to attempt suicide

Young people between the ages of 15 and 30 living with a chronic illness are three times more likely to attempt suicide than their healthy peers, according to a new study from the University of Waterloo.

The study found that chronic conditions -- such as asthma, diabetes and Crohn's disease -- increase a young person's odds of suicidal thoughts by 28 per cent and plans to die by suicide by 134 per cent. Having a chronic condition increases the odds of a suicide attempt by 363 per cent.

"Evidence suggests risk for suicide attempts is highest soon after young people are diagnosed with a chronic illness," said Mark Ferro, a professor in Waterloo's Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. "There is a critical window of opportunity for prevention and continued monitoring."

Young people living with a chronic illness are also more likely to suffer from a mental illness.

"Having a chronic illness may increase the risk for the development of psychiatric disorder, which in turn, increases risk for suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts," said Ferro. "Having both a chronic illness and psychiatric disorder has a compounding effect, further increasing the odds of suicidal thoughts."

The findings suggest the need for health-care providers to consider the link between chronic illness and psychiatric disorders, and implement appropriate preventive interventions, said Ferro.

"For many young people with chronic conditions, their physical illnesses take precedence in doctor's visits leaving little, if any, time for mental health concerns," said Ferro. "While the idea that there is no health without mental health is becoming more pervasive, we still have a long way to go."

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults in Canada. 

Source: www.sciencedaily.com

18.08.2017

Try and fail but don’t fail to try

Stephen Kaggwa

17, August 2017

Delayed prescriptions could help fight antibiotic resistance

Delayed prescriptions or shorter courses of treatment could be a potential way of fighting antibiotic resistance, suggest two studies led by University of Southampton in Britain.

"Antibiotic resistance is now considered a global health crisis and one of the contributors is over-prescription of the drugs. We need to adopt new approaches if we are going to reduce our over-reliance on antibiotics," said Professor Michael Moore, who led both studies published in the British Journal of General Practice. The first study concluded that doctors could use antibiotic prescriptions for sore throats but tell patients not to take them straight away.

Issuing an antibiotic prescription with the instruction of not to 'cash it in' unless symptoms persisted was as effective as giving them the drugs immediately, the study said.  The second study showed that shorter courses of antibiotics for sore throats (a five-day course, instead of the ten-day course) could be just as effective and help reduce over-consumption of antibiotics.

"A 'wait and see' approach seems to have similar benefits to a prescription on symptoms approach; and we found that less people end up using them. A shorter course of antibiotics does not seem to have disadvantages and is another way of reducing exposure to antibiotics," Moore said.  Both studies were observational studies. The researchers followed thousands of patients who presented with a sore throat. 

In the first study, patients who were given antibiotics straight away started to recover around a day sooner than those given no prescription at all. Patients given a delayed prescription experienced a similar recovery rate to those given immediate antibiotics.

The research team believe this was because most infections clear up on their own with no need for antibiotics, while patients felt reassured by the knowledge they had a prescription they could use just in case.  In the second study the researchers looked at those treated with an antibiotic and compared recovery rates for those given five, seven or ten days treatment. 

Those on the ten-day course were slightly less likely than those on the five-day course to revisit their GP with new or persisting symptoms. But the difference was very small and was not statistically significant.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com          17.08.2017

Dream it, believe it and achieve it

14 August, 2017

Women have more spine problems than men and even delay treatment

Not only do more womenthan men suffer from spine problems, but their problems are also more severe, according to a study by a city hospital. Women also reach out for medical help much later than men, added the study . It is accepted that Indian women neglect their health, even if they are suffering from flu or tuberculosis. But the chronic pain associated with spinal problems underlines just how much women delay treatment.

"More women suffer from spine problem and for a longer period of time," said Dr Vishal Peshattiwar of the spine surgery department at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Andheri, who is conducting the study . He said a woman wouldn't seek medical attention until she is literally bed-ridden. The study's main finding, according to Dr Peshattiwar, is the average wait for surgery for women in pain is longer than of men. "Around 90% of women in the sample pool had symptoms for more than five years; with 50% having it for more than a decade. The wait for men was shorter; 90% had less than five years of complaints," he said.

Dr Eknath Pawar, who heads the orthopaedic department of JJ Hospital, said he didn't find a major difference between the number of men and women who come for surgery. "But there is indeed a tendency among women to carry on despite back pain. This is especially true about women who stay at home," said Dr Pawar.

Men, on the other hand, have quick surgeries. "Men usually sustain spine problems due to accidents or falls at workplace.They undergo surgery on an emergency basis," he said.

There is another gender skewed statistics: Female patients are usually a decade younger than the male patients. "A few issues aggravate spine-related problems in women such as Vitamin D deficiency , deficiency of calcium due to improper diet and lack of exercise, especially after child birth, that weakens them," said Dr Peshattiwar. "The findings also showed the disparity that still exists within Indian households and where do we lack when it comes to women nourishment and health."

Source: www.timesofindia.com

14.08.2017

Defeat the defeat before the defeat defeats you

10 August, 2017

Middle-aged people with diabetes and high BP have higher chances of suffering from dementia later

Middle-aged persons who have cardiovascular health risk factors, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and are also current smokers, have a greater chance of suffering from dementia later in life, researchers have warned. The findings showed that the chances of dementia increased most strongly with age followed by the presence of APOE4 — a gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Diabetes or high blood pressure, also called hypertension, increased the chances of developing dementia. Importantly, diabetes was found to be almost as strong a predictor of dementia as the presence of the APOE4 gene, the researchers said. “Our results contribute to a growing body of evidence linking midlife vascular health to dementia,” said Rebecca Gottesman, Professor at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US.

However, “these are modifiable risk factors. Our hope is that by addressing these types of factors early, people can reduce the chances that they will suffer from dementia later in life,” Gottesman added. In addition, the researchers also discovered a link between dementia and prehypertension — a condition in which blood pressure levels are higher than normal but lower than hypertension.  Diabetes, hypertension and prehypertension increased the chances of dementia for participants, irrespective of race. Finally, smoking cigarettes also increased the chances of dementia, the researchers noted. For the study, published in JAMA Neurology, the team analysed the data of 15,744 persons, from 1987-1989 aged 45-64 years.

During an average of 23 follow-up years, the researchers found 1,516 participants were diagnosed with dementia.  In a separate study, Gottesman found that the presence of one or more vascular risk factors during midlife was associated with higher levels of beta amyloid — a protein that often accumulates in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients.  This relationship was not affected by the presence of the APOE4 gene and not seen for risk factors present in later life, the researchers said. 

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

10.08.2017

Best way to escape from your problems is to solve them

9 August, 2017

Women have more active brains than men: Study

Women's brains are significantly more active than that of men, especially in the areas involving focus, impulse control, mood and anxiety, a study has found. The largest functional brain imaging study to date compared 46,034 brain imaging studies to quantifying differences between the brains of men and women.

The brains of women in the study were significantly more active in many more areas than men, especially in the prefrontal cortex, involved with focus and impulse control, and the limbic or emotional areas of the brain, involved with mood and anxiety.

The visual and coordination centres of the brain were more active in men.

SPECT (single photon emission computed tomography) can measure blood perfusion in the brain. Images acquired from subjects at rest or while performing various cognitive tasks will show different blood flow in specific brain regions.

Subjects included 119 healthy volunteers and 26,683 patients with a variety of psychiatric conditions such as brain trauma, bipolar disorders, mood disorders, schizophrenia/psychotic disorders, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

A total of 128 brain regions were analysed for subjects at baseline and while performing a concentration task. Understanding these differences is important because brain disorders affect men and women differently. Women have significantly higher rates of Alzheimer's disease, depression, which is itself is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, and anxiety disorders, while men have higher rates of (ADHD), conduct-related problems and incarceration.

The study findings of increased prefrontal cortex blood flow in women compared to men may explain why women tend to exhibit greater strengths in the areas of empathy, intuition, collaboration, self-control, and appropriate concern.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

09.08.2017

Try and fail, but don’t fail to try

 Stephen Kaggwa

8 August, 2017

Loneliness as deadly as obesity

Loneliness may be a greater public health hazard than obesity, according to a study which found that social isolation may put people at an increased risk of early death. "Being connected to others socially is widely considered a fundamental human need -crucial to both well-being and survival," said Julianne Holt-Lunstad, professor at Brigham Young University in the United States.

"Extreme examples show infants in custodial care who lack human contact fail to thrive and often die, and indeed, social isolation or solitary confinement has been used as a form of punishment," said Holt-Lunstad. "Yet an increasing portion of the American population now experiences isolation regularly," she said.

Loneliness and social isolation have both been associated with poor health. One study reported by Medical News Today last year, for example, suggested that loneliness may be linked to Alzheimer's disease, while other research linked social isolation to reduced survival for breast cancer patients. To illustrate the influence of social isolation and loneliness on the risk for premature mortality, Holt-Lunstad presented data from two research reviews.

The first involved 148 studies, representing more than 300,000 participants, and found that greater social connection is associated with a 50% reduced risk of early death.The second study, involving 70 studies representing more than 3.4 million individuals from North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, examined the role that social isolation, loneliness or living alone might have on mortality. Researchers found that all three had a significant and equal effect on the risk of premature death, one that was equal to or exceeded the effect of other well-accepted risk factors such as obesity .

"There is robust evidence that social isolation and loneliness significantly increase risk for premature mortality, and the magnitude of the risk exceeds that of many leading health indicators," said Holt-Lunstad.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

08.08.2017

It always seems impossible until it’s done

Nelson Mandela

7 August, 2017

India ranks low on breastfeeding practices

India is among the world's five largest emerging economies where investment in breastfeeding is significantly low resulting in an annual economic loss of $14 billion because of child deaths and cognitive losses caused from poor breastfeeding practices, according to a report.
In India, less than 50% of children are breastfed within an hour of birth, whereas the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months stood at 55%. Early initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding can prevent nearly 99,499 deaths of children every year due to diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Five countries - China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria - alone account for over 2,36,000 child death every year because of inadequate breast feeding. These countries are together estimated to incur an economic cost of $119 billion every year due to mortality and cognitive losses, says the report by UNICEF and WHO in collaboration with the Global Breastfeeding Collective.

"We strongly recommend exclusive breastfeeding for first six months. This not only protects children by providing them immunity against a lot of diseases, but also help mothers reduce weight and chances of breast cancer," says Dr Indu Taneja, senior consultant (obstetrics & gynaecology) at Fortis.

The report also highlights the growing number of deaths in India among women due to cancer while Type II diabetes is also attributable to inadequate breastfeeding.

"Breast milk works like a baby's first vaccine, protecting infants from potentially deadly diseases and giving them all the nourishment they need to survive and thrive," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO.

According to Dr Taneja, though awareness among women for breastfeeding has increased, the investment in infrastructure mainly in workplaces remain negligible in India.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

07.08.2017

Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people

 Eleanor Roosevelt

5 August, 2017

Global blind population set to triple by 2050

The prevalence of blindness and vision impairment worldwide is set to triple from nearly 36 million to 38.5 million by 2020 and 115 million in 2050 due to an increase in the ageing population, a study has claimed. The study, published in the journal Lancet Global Health, showed that in 2015 an estimated 36 million people were blind, 217 million were moderately or severely vision impaired, and 188 million had mild vision impairment. Near-vision impairment due to uncorrected presbyopia affected 1.09 billion people aged 35 years or older. Most of the blind people live in South Asia (11.7 million, 80 per cent), followed by East Asia (6.2 million) and Southeast Asia (3.5 million). Some parts of sub-Saharan Africa also have particularly high rates.

“There is an ongoing reduction in the age-standardised prevalence of blindness and visual impairment, yet the growth and ageing of the world’s population is causing a substantial increase in number of people affected,” said Rupert Bourne, Professor at the Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.  Further, there are more than 200 million people with moderate to severe vision impairment, which is expected to rise to more than 550 million by 2050. For the study, the team estimated trends in prevalence of vision impairment and their uncertainties, by sex, for 188 countries in the 21 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) regions, from 1990 to 2015.  “Even mild visual impairment can significantly impact a person’s life. For example, reducing their independence… as it often means people are barred from driving,” Bourne was quoted as telling the BBC. Visual impairment also limits people’s educational and economic opportunities, Bourne said.

The study calls for better investment in treatments, such as cataract surgery, and ensuring people have access to appropriate vision-correcting glasses. “Interventions provide some of the largest returns on investment. They are some of the most easily implemented interventions in developing regions,” Bourne said. “They are cheap, require little infrastructure and countries recover their costs as people enter back into the workforce,” he added.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

05.08.2017

It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish