Alcohol more injurious to women than
men
Woman who find alcohol hard to resist even after
three standard drinks are more likely to suffer from injury when compared with
men, shows new research that includes patients from India.
While the risk of injury is similar for both men and women up to three standard drinks (containing 16 ml or 12.8 g of pure ethanol), the risk then increases more rapidly for women, becoming twice the risk to men around 15 drinks and three times the risk to men around 30 drinks.
"There is an increasing risk relationship between alcohol and injury, but risk is not uniform across gender, cause of injury, or country drinking pattern," said lead author, Cheryl Cherpitel from the Alcohol Research Group (ARG) of the Public Health Institute in the US.
In this study the drinks were reportedly consumed six hours prior to injury.
While the risk of injury is similar for both men and women up to three standard drinks (containing 16 ml or 12.8 g of pure ethanol), the risk then increases more rapidly for women, becoming twice the risk to men around 15 drinks and three times the risk to men around 30 drinks.
"There is an increasing risk relationship between alcohol and injury, but risk is not uniform across gender, cause of injury, or country drinking pattern," said lead author, Cheryl Cherpitel from the Alcohol Research Group (ARG) of the Public Health Institute in the US.
In this study the drinks were reportedly consumed six hours prior to injury.
The risk of violence-related injury is consistently larger than the risk of other types of injuries, the study showed.
The researchers also found that the risk of injury from violence increases more rapidly as the volume of alcohol consumed increases.
The study looked at over 13,000 injured patients from 18 countries - Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The study appeared online in the scientific journal Addiction.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
05.11.2014
Meditation: a boon for breast cancer
survivors
Practising meditation has a positive physical
impact at the cellular level in breast cancer survivors, new research shows.
The team found that telomeres - protein complexes at the end of chromosomes - maintain their length in breast cancer survivors, who practise meditation or are involved in support groups.
Although the disease-regulating properties of telomeres are not fully understood, shortened telomeres are associated with several disease states as well as cell ageing while longer telomeres are thought to be protective against disease.
"We know that mindfulness meditation will help you feel better mentally but for the first time, we have evidence that they can also influence key aspects of your biology," said Linda E. Carlson, director of research in the psychosocial resources department at Alberta Health Services' Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
The study involved 88 breast cancer survivors.
In the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery group, participants attended eight weekly, 90-minute group sessions that provided instruction on mindfulness meditation and a gentle Hatha form of yoga.
Participants were also asked to practise meditation and yoga at home for 45 minutes daily.
In the Supportive Expressive Therapy group, participants met for 90 minutes weekly for 12 weeks and were encouraged to talk openly about their concerns and their feelings.
"It was surprising that we could see any difference in telomere length at all over the three-month period studied," Carlson added.
Further research is needed to better quantify these potential health benefits but this is an exciting discovery that provides encouraging news, the authors concluded.
The study was published online in the journal Cancer.
Source: www.timesofindia.com
05.11.2014
The practice of forgiveness is our most important contribution to the healing of the world
Marianne Williamson
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