Medical conditions that can cause hair loss

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Factors that can lead to hair loss

There are numerous reasons behind why one experiences hair loss. It could either be hereditary or an outcome of medical treatments or even due to an underlying disease. While losing hair is not something to be worried about, in case it is extreme and is leading to baldness, you must address it and find out the source of your problem.

Thyroid problems

Hair loss can be a consequence of hormonal imbalance. Hormones help regulate bodily functions and have a significant role to play when it comes to hair growth. Thyroid is what controls our body's ability to absorb essential nutrients like iron, calcium, etc that are responsible for hair growth. That said, both hypo- or hyperthyroidism, which are linked to under- and overactive thyroid glands respectively, can lead to loss of hair.

Alopecia areata

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease associated with hair loss and balding. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks hair follicles, resulting in thinning hair, patches of hair loss, some balding, or total baldness. This could either be temporary or permanent, but it can be treated. One must consult the doctors.

Lupus

Lupus is another autoimmune disease that can lead to hair loss. It can cause widespread inflammation of the skin, especially the face and the scalp region. It can slowly thin out the hair on the scalp and gradually lead to baldness

Nutrient deficiencies

Studies have suggested that lack of certain nutrients can lead to hair loss, which is why many experts recommend a proper diet to restore your hair growth and strength. Iron, zinc, fatty acids and various vitamins are all important nutrients you must add to your diet so as to prevent the risk of hair loss.

Stress and hair loss

When it comes to stress associated with hair loss, there are three different types to it: Telogen effluvium, Trichotillomania and Alopecia areata.

 

6 early signs of rheumatoid arthritis

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Here are six early signs of Rheumatoid arthritis that you need to look out for:

Excessive fatigue

Fatigue is a common symptom of this condition. Even before the obvious signs of the condition like joint pain and inflammation appear, a person with rheumatoid arthritis may feel extremely tired and depressed. They may lack the motivation to do even regular tasks and have a low sex drive. It is because the body starts using all the energy to fight inflammation.

Weight loss

Joint pain and weight loss seem unrelated, which is why this symptom often goes unnoticed. An unexplained weight loss along with prolonged fatigue is considered an early symptom of rheumatoid arthritis. It is an indirect effect of inflammation caused due to attack on the tissues. When you feel tired and feverish you lose your appetite and eventually shed kilos.

Joint stiffness

After a week or two, you may notice stiffness in your joints, especially in the morning. The episodes of joint stiffness will also appear throughout the day after a period of inactivity. You may feel tightness in your wrists, your knees, and feet, which could be felt on both sides of the body. In the beginning, the stiffness will go away on its own after a while. It will start to linger longer with time.

​Numbness and tingling

Inflammation of tissues can also put excessive pressure on your nerves. It can over time lead to numbness, tingling and tenderness in your hands and feet. When you press your joints they may feel tender and you would find it difficult to do even basic work like walking and moving an object from one place to the other.

​Decrease in the range of motion

Joint stiffness and tenderness may also make it difficult for the person to move freely. In the initial phase of rheumatoid arthritis, a person may have difficulty in moving the wrist back and forth and performing exercises. With time the disease will progress and start damaging their ligaments and tendons, making it difficult to bend and straighten them.

Joint redness

Rheumatoid arthritis can also make the joints appear red. It is actually the inflammation of the tissues that gives them a red appearance. Along with this, discolouration of the skin around the joints in the hands and feet is also common.

 

Early signs of liver damage from excessive drinking

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Excess alcohol consumption can lead to liver damage

When it comes to your liver, alcohol consumption can prove extremely harmful. Heavy, excessive drinking can also lead to incurable liver damage and may have a heavy impact on your overall health. This form of liver damage is also known as alcohol-related liver disease (ARLD).

Fatigue

As far as your liver is concerned, fatigue can be an early tell-tale symptom for the same. Irrespective of why your liver is suffering - may be due to a virus, excess alcohol consumption or an inherited disease - feeling weak and fatigued is a common sign. This may last for a long time, can be mild or may cause drastic complications.

Decreased or loss of appetite

Large amounts of alcohol consumption can suppress your appetite. It may make you feel nauseous, less energetic. Furthermore, due to a lack of proper nutrients and minerals in the body, it may contribute to liver cell damage.

Nausea

Liver disease like alcoholic hepatitis can often lead to nausea and vomiting, accompanied by abdominal tenderness and discomfort, a low-grade fever and an overall feeling of being unwell.

Unexplained weight loss

Given that excess alcohol consumption can cause decreased or loss of appetite, rapid, unexplained weight loss can also be a sign of liver damage from alcohol. While staying in shape and preventing obesity is key to keeping liver problems at bay, drastic change in the body weight and appearance can mean something more dangerous and concerning.

Swelling of the liver

Years and years of alcohol consumption can make your liver inflamed and swollen up. A common symptom of ARLD, liver swelling is prevalent in people suffering from liver damage from excess alcohol intake. This damage can further cause scarring, leading to Cirrhosis, the final stage of liver diseases.

 

Drug companies eye mRNA technology for flu shots

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 With Covid-19 proving the credibility of mRNA technology, many drug companies are racing to apply the same formula for developing vaccines for influenza, Nature reported.

While Moderna, Pfizer and Sanofi have, in recent months, initiated Phase 1 trials of mRNA-based seasonal flu vaccine candidates, more companies intend to follow their leads next year.

However, unlike Covid-19, mRNA-based flu shots could also prove a more challenging test as nine flu jabs from four different vaccine manufacturers are already available in the US alone. Although the shots built around inactivated viruses or recombinant proteins are safe, they typically offer only 40-60 per cent protection from infection.

At the same time, mRNA-based jabs might produce broader immune responses, better sequence fidelity of proteins, and accurate strain selection. Moreover, the technology makes it easy to incorporate large numbers of antigens -- all of which could translate into greater immune protection, the report said.

But mRNA is also prone to tolerability issues, as seen in Covid shots developed by Moderna and Pfizer -- they often cause sore arms, headaches, low-grade fevers and fatigue. These same symptoms can occur with approved flu shots, but typically are much milder in degree. On the other hand, the potential benefits of mRNA for preventing flu are many, majorly because of how it is manufactured.

"Because mRNA vaccines are manufactured synthetically, by encoding a target antigen sequence into a plasmid template, they offer high fidelity: encoded antigens exactly match the flu strains selected for each year's vaccine. By contrast, inactivated virus vaccines that are made in egg- and cell-based systems often suffer from sequence mutations that weaken their effectiveness," the report said.

 The recombinant protein vaccines also offer that same fidelity advantage, but the manufacturing process for these is comparatively cumbersome.

 The flexibility and speed of mRNA vaccine production also means that drug makers could wait longer to begin manufacturing -- starting production in May, say, instead of February, for the northern hemisphere. This would enable them to make more informed decisions about what strains to include, the report said.

Do you breathe through your mouth while sleeping?

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Do you breathe through your mouth while sleeping? Read this

Breathing provides our body with oxygen and helps us release carbon dioxide. We all breathe through our noses. But in the case of nasal congestion, we end up breathing through our mouth, especially during our sleep. While we might think of this habit as harmless, it's not so.

Breathing through the nose can lead to a lot of health concerns. Here are some of them as listed by nutritionist Pooja Makhija in one of her social media posts.

Nasal breathing is important for your overall health. It helps in aiding weight loss. Yes, you read that right. Read ahead to know more why nasal breathing is important.

The nutritionist said, “Our autonomic nervous system has two main branches — sympathetic and parasympathetic. The sympathetic branch is responsible for our ‘fight or flight response, whereas the parasympathetic branch is responsible for the ‘rest and digest, tend and befriend response. Basically, the sympathetic branch gets you fired up and primed for movement, and the parasympathetic branch puts the brakes on and chills your body out”.

How breathing can affect workouts

She also said, “Mouth breathing biases your body towards a sympathetic state, whereas nasal breathing activates the parasympathetic response. If the body is stuck in this state due to chronic stress and breathing dysfunction, it won’t effectively rebuild tissue from all of the HIIT workouts you are doing.”

​Nasal breathing for weight loss

The nutritionist said, “Since a large portion of this recovery process happens while you sleep, it is especially important to breathe in a way that shifts your nervous system state into ‘rest and digest' mode. This is why nasal breathing is so important for weight loss.”

​How to improve oral breathing

She added, “Obviously, we switch to oral breathing only when our nasal passage is blocked. Good quality Vitamin C supplements (and foods), curcumin (opens up sinus blockages), zinc-rich foods and supplements can really help improve nasal breathing (provided of course, that’s the prime reason and not a deviated septum). Speak with your nutritionist for exact doses and duration”.

Researchers develop a sensor that can diagnose heart attacks in minutes

 

 (Source:https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/health-news)

 Heart attack is a serious health condition that requires immediate medical attention. Any delay in it can put the life of the patient in danger. However, it is difficult to detect the symptoms of a heart attack beforehand as they are subtle and often goes unnoticed. To overcome this issue and save patients lives, a team of researchers has developed a sensor that could diagnose a heart attack in less than 30 minutes.

The study showed that, by targeting three distinct types of microRNA or miRNA, the new sensor can distinguish between an acute heart attack and a reperfusion -- the restoration of blood flow, or reperfusion injury and requires less blood than traditional diagnostic methods to do so.

"The technology developed for this sensor showcases the advantage of using miRNA compared to protein-based biomarkers, the traditional diagnostic target," said Hsueh-Chia Chang from the University of Notre Dame.

"Additionally, the portability and cost efficiency of this device demonstrates the potential for it to improve how heart attacks and related issues are diagnosed in clinical settings and in developing countries," Chang added.

A patent application has been filed for the sensor and the researchers are working with Notre Dame's IDEA Center to potentially establish a start-up company that would manufacture the device. According to the study, published in the journal Lab on a Chip, currently, it takes health care professionals hours to diagnose a heart attack.

Initial results from an echocardiogram can quickly show indications of heart disease, but to confirm a patient is having a heart attack, a blood sample and analysis are required. Those results can take up to eight hours.

"The current methods used to diagnose a heart attack are not only time-intensive, but they also have to be applied within a certain window of time to get accurate results," said lead author Pinar Zorlutuna from the varsity.