20 March, 2015

Do artificial lights affect our health?

Over-exposure to artificial light at night has serious long-term health implications like tendency to breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, and possibly other forms of cancer, says a new study.

‘It’s a new analysis and synthesis of what we know up to now on the effect of lighting on our health,’ said Richard Stevens University of Connecticut, Farmington (Uconn).

‘We don’t know for certain, but there’s growing evidence that the long-term implications of this have ties to breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, and possibly other form of cancers,’ he said.

Inadequate exposure to natural light during the day and overexposure to artificial light at night is not conducive to the body’s natural sleep/wake cycle.

Stevens and co-author Yong Zhu from Yale University explained the known short-term and suspected long-term impacts of circadian disruption in an article published in the British journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

‘It’s become clear that typical lighting is affecting our physiology,’ said Stevens.

‘But lighting can be improved. We’re learning that better lighting can reduce these physiological effects. By that we mean dimmer and longer wavelengths in the evening, and avoiding the bright blue of e-readers, tablets and smart phones,’ he added.

Those devices emit enough blue light when used in the evening to suppress the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and disrupt the body’s circadian rhythm, the biological mechanism that enables restful sleep.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.03.2015

India’s first hand transplantation surgery praised by international experts

In January, a revolutionary surgery was performed by doctors at Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, where the country’s first-hand transplantation surgery carried out. The team, Dr Manu and his assistant Dr Vijay, has been applauded by the medical fraternity worldwide for their successful attempt at this complex surgery. Warren C Breidenbach, who carried out the world’s first-hand transplant, flew down from the USA to meet the duo. Dr Breidenbach hailed their efforts and expressed satisfaction over the hospital’s advanced methods, and assured every help in its research activities.

As quoted in the Indian Express, Dr Breidenbach said that hand transplantations in India are rare as donating hands in India is not yet common. He also informed that his team has performed over 86 surgeries in America and Europe as organ donation including hands is a common practise in Western countries.

What is organ transplantation?

Organ transplantation is required in cases when a person is suffering from organ failure, and the organ needs to be replaced. The replacement can only be carried out  when the patient gets an organ from another person — who is known as the donor. This donor may be someone who has recently died or someone who is living and wishes to donate his/her organ.In the case of a dead donor (also known as a cadaver donor) a doctor can harvest organs like the heart, lungs, skin, eyes, intestines, liver, pancreas etc. But in the case of a living donor he/she can donate organs like the kidney and liver and even stem cells.

The process of organ donation is quite complex and needs a large amount of tests before the donation actually occurs. Apart from the tests there are a number of laws governing the transplantation and donation of organs — mainly done to curb the rising trend of the organ black market.  Wondering about the rules that govern an organ donation? 

In India the organ donation scenario is very dismal as a number of people shy away from pledging their organs either due to fear or because of all the myths that surround the practice. The fact of the matter still remains that organ donation can help save someone’s life after a person’s death. Why allow perfectly good organs to go to waste when they can be the reason for someone else’s life? Want to know more about how to pledge your organs? 

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.03.2015

It is possible to fail in many ways while to succeed is possible only in one way