1 June, 2016

Afraid of weak bone health? Switch to cycling today!

Exercise that puts greater strain on bones, like running, may help in improving bone health more effectively than non-weight bearing activities like cycling, finds a new study. ‘Normal human beings need to exercise moderately to maintain health. However, those at risk of weaker bones need to take up running rather than swimming or cycling,’ said lead author Giovanni Lombardi from Istituto Ortopedico Galeazzi in Italy. The researchers measured glucagon, leptin and insulin — hormones involved in regulating metabolism — as well as levels of osteocalcin and P1NP (proteins associated with bone formation) in 17 trained runners before and after a 65-km mountain ultramarathon run. They compared it to the hormones and bone constituents of twelve adults of the same age who did not run the race but did low to moderate physical exercise. 

Increasing glucagon levels indicate an energy demand, whilst increasing insulin and leptin levels indicate adequate or excessive energy levels, the researchers stated. The findings showed that the ultramarathon runners had higher levels of glucagon and lower levels of leptin and insulin when finishing the race as compared to the control group. The falling levels of insulin ultramarathon runners lead to similarly falling levels of both osteocalcin and P1NP — suggesting that athletes may be diverting energy from bone formation to power the high-energy demands of their metabolism.

However, the runners also had higher P1NP levels at rest compared to controls, suggesting that they may divert energy from bones during racing but also have a net gain in bone health in the long-term. Running exerts a higher physical load on bone than swimming or cycling, it could be that these forces stimulate bone tissue to signal to the pancreas to help meet its energy needs in the long-term, the researchers explained. ‘Our work has shown that bones aren’t just lying idle, but are actively communicating with other organs and tissues to drive the body’s energy needs,’ Lombardi said. The results of the study were presented at the 2016 European Congress of Endocrinology in Munich, Germany.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

01.06.2016

Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself

George Bernard Shaw

31 May, 2016

Indian medical colleges lag in research: Lancet report

Indian medical colleges are churning out doctors but barely any researchers, if a report published in the revered medical journal Lancet is an indication. "India's medical schools have neglected research as a focal point of academics and they produce few publications," the report says.

According to a study cited in the report, over 332 of 579 (57%) medical colleges didn't publish a single research paper between 2005 and 2014. It refers to a recent report of the parliamentary standing committee on health , which called for the scrapping of the Medical Council of India (MCI), mentioning that the Supreme Court has described the state of medical colleges as "rotten", and says research is seen as a "non-profitable activity" by Indian medical schools.

The report blames a massive patient burden and lack of resources and faculty for the phenomenon. Experts believe this will have serious implications on handling healthcare challenges in India. Lack of infrastructure is another impediment.

The study points out that only 25 (4.3%) institutions produced more than 100 research papers in a year and their contribution was 40.3% of the total output. "The states with the highest number of private medical colleges fare the worst - more than 90% of the medical colleges in Karnataka and Kerala have published no paper. In contrast, the annual research output of the Massachusetts General Hospital was 4,600 and Mayo Clinic 3,700," the study added.

The study concludes that medical education has becomes a business and hence research is looked at as a non-profitable activity. "A drastic overhaul of Indian medical education is necessary, similar to that initiated by Abraham Flexner in the US," the study says.

Lack of data and and irregular patient follow-up leads to inadequate research, says Dr B S Ajai Kumar, renowned oncologist, founder and CEO, HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. "Definitely, research has been neglected in Indian medical schools over the years. The institutions focus on academics and clinical analysis and ignore research. There is enormous clinical material for research in India," he said.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.05.2016

Winning isn’t everything,

 it’s the only thing

Vince Lombardi  

30 May, 2016

About to undergo an eye surgery? Listen to music to calm your anxiety

Listening to soothing music just before an eye surgery can ease patients’ anxiety as well as help reduce the level of sedation required, finds a new study. ‘Listening to music may be considered as an inexpensive, non-invasive, non-pharmacological method to reduce anxiety for patients undergoing elective eye surgery under local anaesthesia,’ said Gilles Guerrier from Cochin University Hospital in France.

According to the researchers, being awake during surgery is particularly stressful for patients. The findings showed a significant reduction in anxiety among patients who listened to music (score 23 out of 100) compared to those who didn’t (score 65 out of 100). Patients who listened to music received significantly less sedatives during surgery compared with the non-music group (16 percent vs 32 percent).

Further, the postoperative satisfaction was significantly higher in the music group (mean score 71 out of 100 versus 55 for the non-music group).‘The objective is to provide music to all patients before eye surgery. We intend to assess the procedure in other type of surgeries, including orthopaedics where regional anaesthesia is common,’ Guerrier added. The pilot study evaluated the effect of music on anxiety in outpatients undergoing elective eye surgery under topical (local) anaesthesia.

The team evaluated a total of 62 patients who heard relaxing music or no music for around 15 minutes just before cataracts surgery. The selected 16 pieces of music of various styles including jazz, flamenco, Cuban, classical and piano, aimed at preventing and managing pain, anxiety and depression. A surgical fear questionnaire (SFQ) was also used to assess anxiety before and after a music session. The results were presented recently at Euroanaesthesia 2016 in London.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

30.05.2016

Be miserable or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it’s always your choice

Wayne Dyer     

28 May, 2016

Over 80 percent of world's city dwellers breathe polluted air: WHO

Over 80 percent of world's city dwellers breathe polluted air, increasing their risk of lung cancer and other life-threatening diseases, a World Health Organisation reports said on Friday.

The report also states that among the other health complications caused due to the poor air includes diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases. According to the findings, 98 percent of the low-income countries are among poor air quality countries. The report was a outcome of the data collected from 795 cities in 67 countries between 2008 and 2013. Various surveys have revealed that every year over 3 million premature deaths take place due to various health problems caused by air pollution .

About the WHO report, S.P. Byotra , who heads the medicine department at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here, said: "Giving the level of pollution people are exposed in metros, breathing in a healthy air, at least when they are in their homes, may help reduce the chances of getting into these air pollution related health issues."

According to the experts, high levels of air pollution is not just leading to an increase in the respiratory diseases, like poor lung function, asthma and allergies, but also other health problems like obesity, lung cancer, poor foetal development and increased cases of miscarriage.

Byotra also said that installation of air purifiers can be an easy way to prevent respiratory problems caused by indoor air pollution. Doctors said that air purifiers are becoming more reliable for people in cities because pollutants released indoors were 1,000 times more likely to reach the lungs than pollutants released outdoors.

Vijay Kannan, India head of purifier manufacturer Blueair, said: "Apart from people with poor respiratory health, children and elderly, people with other common diseases are also opting for air purifiers.. even pregnant women are getting air purifiers installed in their homes because of the latest findings on various health hazards of air pollution and rising awareness."

Source: www.timesofindia.com

28.05.2016

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something

Plato

27 May, 2016

Bread makers assure that they will not use potassium bromate or iodate in products

Leading bread makers on Thursday asserted that they will give up the use of chemicals like potassium bromate and iodate, in wake of a study warning these chemicals may cause cancer, in their products. ‘We will not use potassium bromate and iodate if people don’t like it. We were using them as their use was allowed by our government and scientists. We have other enzymes and emulsifiers as their alternate,’ said Aadil Hassan, heading a delegation of All India Bread Manufacturers’ Association, at a press conference here. Explaining the rationale for potassium bromate’s use in baking bread, Hasan, who is the managing director of Harvest Gold Breads, said that was an oxidizing agent. Admitting its over use was harmful, he said that ‘if used with sophistication, it only adds to the product’.

‘Potassium iodate never had any use for us. We were using it since government had mandated its use for breads,’ he said, adding that the AIBMA has decided to give up use of both additives because ‘there is a confusion among the consumers regarding its use.’ He also said that both the additives are in use among the leading countries of the world including the US. ‘In Europe these additives are not used as there are other enzymes available,’ Hassan said, adding the CSE never shared their reports with the bread manufacturers and they came to know about their claims only from the media.

Meanwhile, an AIBMA statement also called for a wider debate to make food products in India better. After a Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) report suggested the use of potassium bromate as an additive in food products may lead to cancer, the country’s food regulator, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), on Monday had banned use of both additives in preparation of bread.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

27.05.2016

Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself

Joseph Campbell

26 May, 2016

Beware! Artificial sweeteners may harm your health

Are you turning to artificial sweeteners or other sugar substitutes to lose weight? Although these sweeteners may help obese individuals reduce and cut calories, they may also have negative health effects, a study warns.

Artificial sweeteners are not digested by the body. However, the recent study suggests that bacteria in the gut may be able to break down artificial sweeteners, resulting in negative health effects. Currently, there are many new sugar substitutes that are used in foods and beverages and are marketed as "sugar-free" or "diet," including soft drinks, chewing gum, jellies, baked goods, candy, fruit juice and ice cream and yogurt.

"Our study shows that individuals with obesity who consume artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame, may have worse glucose management than those who don't take sugar substitutes," said Jennifer Kuk from York University's school of kinesiology and health science in Canada.

For the study published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, data from 2,856 adults from the "Third National Health and Nutrition Survey" (NHANES III) was used.

Individuals reported their diet over the past 24 hours and were categorised as consumers of artificial sweeteners -- aspartame or saccharin -- or high or low consumers of natural sugars -- sugar or fructose. The diabetes risk was measured as the ability to manage blood sugars using an oral glucose tolerance test. The results showed that those who used artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame, may have worse glucose management than those who don't take sugar substitutes

"We didn't find this adverse effect in those consuming saccharin or natural sugars," Kuk added.

"We will need to do future studies to determine whether any potentially negative health effects of artificial sweeteners outweigh the benefits for obesity reduction," Kuk stated. Further investigation is needed to determine if there are any health effects of using these sweeteners, the researchers noted.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

26.05.2016

Learning without thinking is labor lost; thinking without learning is dangerous

25 May, 2016

Nearly half of all heart attacks may be 'silent'

New York: Nearly half of all heart attacks may not have classic symptoms, such as chest pain, shortness of breath and cold sweats but are likely to be silent, reveals new research.

A silent heart attack occurs when blood flow to the heart muscle is severely reduced or cut off completely.

"The outcome of a silent heart attack is as bad as a heart attack that is recognised while it is happening," said Elsayed Z. Soliman, director of the epidemiological cardiology research centre at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Centre, in the US.

The findings showed that silent heart attacks are made up 45 percent of all heart attacks.

Also, these are more commonly found in men but are more likely to cause death in women.

Further, the risk of dying from heart disease increases by three times in case of a silent heart attack.

The chance of dying from all other causes rises by 34 percent.

Silent heart attacks are usually detected when patients undergo an electrocardiogram (ECG) -- a process to check heart's electrical activity.

"Doctors need to help patients who have had a silent heart attack quit smoking, reduce their weight, control cholesterol and blood pressure and get more exercise," the researchers noted in the paper published in the journal Circulation.

For the study, the team analysed the records of 9,498 middle-age adults.

For over an average of nine years after the start of the study, 317 participants had silent heart attacks while 386 had heart attacks with clinical symptoms.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

25.05.2016

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated

Confucius

24 May, 2016

This is what the doctors and nutritionists have to say about carcinogens in your bread

In wake of a CSE study which reportedly found certain harmful chemicals in bread, buns, pavs, pizza bases and other commercially-sold bakery items, doctors and nutritionists have called for stricter regulation of the industry. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) study, released on Monday, focussed on two chemicals – potassium bromate and potassium iodate – which are banned in many countries but are widely used by Indian bread manufacturing companies to make bread soft and fluffy. ‘It is true that breads, buns and other bakery products contain these chemicals, apart from things like colours. All these can be carcinogenic in the long run,’ Seema Gulati, the head nutritionist at the private Fortis Hospital, told IANS. Ruing that there are ‘few regulations’ govern manufacturing of bakery products, she called for ‘stringent guidelines’ for the industry, while also advising parents to see that children do not take too much of such products. Siddharth Sahni, senior oncologist at Apollo Hospital, said the dangerous nature of potassium bromate was first highlighted in 1990 by Japanese researchers but people did not pay much attention then.

‘It was found to cause cancer and damage kidneys. Not much attention was paid then. After 2001, it is a banned food additive in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, across the European Union and many other countries,’ he said and demanded its use should also be banned in India. However, while admitting that potassium compounds are harmful, P.K. Julka, a former professor of oncology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), noted that it is not known what quantity or proportion of them can actually be harmful. ‘Potassium bromate disrupts thyroid function, slows down neural and cognitive development and has a carcinogenic potential. But the problem is that it is not known how much of these chemicals can cause damage,’ he said. 

Julka cautioned that before jumping to a conclusion it should be properly investigated as to what quantity of these chemicals can be consumed safely and whether the packaged breads cross that limit or not. ‘There should be more research and study on the permissible limits of these chemicals,’ Julka said. Umesh Kapil, professor, public health nutrition at AIIMS, meanwhile maintained that chemicals or not, products made of ‘maida’ (refined flour) are actually harmful. ‘The food items which don’t have dietary fibre are not good for health. Bread is mostly made of ‘maida’, which doesn’t have dietary fibre,’ he said. 

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.05.2016

Nothing can be done without hope and confidence

 Helen Keller

23 May, 2016

From August, doctors to be 'trained' in soft skills

Given the worsening doctor-patient relationship across the country, one of the country's premier management schools has decided to "train" doctors insoft skills . Come August, doctors and hospital administrators can attend classroom sessions to learn, among other things, how to smoothen frayed nerves with minimal or no words at all, the art of listening and the role of empathy in the healing process.

"Non-verbal communication has a special relevance in healthcare because patientspay close attention to the non-verbal signals of health professionals.They rely on these signals to gain trust before any verbal interaction takes place," said professor Deepa Sethi from IIM Kozhikode, who has designed the course after carrying out a national survey .

Her study, conducted among 250 patients from various hospitals across the country, found that patient compliance with a treatment "depends largely upon their considering the doctor as empathetic". Her earlier studies, too, had found that doctors who maintain eye contact or use a soft tone are more likely to win a patient's confidence than those who don't."My researches have identified four factors that affect a patient's response to the doctor's treatment and indicates the need for formal training in communication for doctors in factors like: eye contact, active listening, interpersonal skills, social touch, appearance and body language," she told TOI.

Considering that incidence of violence against doctors and healthcare institutes are increasing, experts, both within and outside the medical fraternity, feel such interventions can help. Dr Nikhil Datar of the Patient Safety Alliance said, "Such courses would be useful as our medical schools don't have the time to focus on this aspect. On a working day, outpatient departments of our government hospitals see hundreds of patients, speaking an extra sentence to even one patient can lead to a delay for other patients."

A senior doctor pointed out that most old-timers had a paternalistic attitude towards patients and don't like being questioned."The old dictum was lesser the questions asked, the better for patients. Such paternalistic attitude is still the norm in most medical schools. Students see their professors behaving in this manner and imbibe it," said the doctor, adding that "poor communication skills among doctors is hence not surprising".

Source: www.timesofindia.com

23.05.2016

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart

 Lucius Annaeus Seneca

21 May, 2016

Global life expectancy increased by 5 years since 2000: WHO

New Delhi: There have been a dramatic gains in life expectancy worldwide since 2000, although a major inequalities persist within and among countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) report.

The report states that globally life expectancy increased by 5 years between 2000 and 2015, the fastest increase since the 1960s.

The increase was greatest in the African Region of WHO where life expectancy rose by 9.4 years to 60 years, driven mainly by improvements in child survival, progress in malaria control and expanded access to antiretrovirals for treatment of HIV.

“The world has made great strides in reducing the needless suffering and premature deaths that arise from preventable and treatable diseases,” said Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO. “But the gains have been uneven. Supporting countries to move towards universal health coverage based on strong primary care is the best thing we can do to make sure no-one is left behind.”

This year’s “World Health Statistics: Monitoring Health for the SDGs” report also notes that with an average lifespan of 86.8 years, women in Japan can expect to live the longest. Switzerland enjoys the longest average survival for men, at 81.3 years.

However, people in Sierra Leone have the world’s lowest life-expectancy for both sexes: 50.8 years for women and 49.3 years for men.

Global life expectancy for babies born in 2015 was 71.4 years (73.8 years for females and 69.1 years for males), but an individual child’s outlook depends on where he or she is born.

The report also shows that newborns can expect to stay healthy for just 63.1 years globally (64.6 years for females and 61.5 years for males) - nealy 8 years before the average of death.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

21.05.2016

The best way to see Faith is to shut the eye of Reason

Benjamin Franklin

20 May, 2016

High potato intake linked to high blood pressure

New research, published this week in The BMJ, puts a worrying new slant on a global staple - the humble potato. Researchers link increased potato intake to high blood pressure in adults. The study is only observational, but the findings are likely to spark debate.

Thanks to the potato's hardy nature, the calorie-packed tuber has become an incredibly cheap and useful global product. Potatoes are grown in 125 countries and all 50 U.S. states. There are 4,000 different varieties, and the global crop exceeds 300 million metric tons.

There are some nutritional benefits to the potato, but, as recent research appears to demonstrate, there is no such thing as a free lunch. U.S. government food programs initially restricted starchy vegetables, like the potato, to one cup a week, but in recent years, the potato has returned to U.S. government healthy meals programs. The justification for their inclusion relies on their high potassiumcontent, which is associated with lower blood pressure. Despite the well-documented effect of potassium on blood pressure, the long-term effects of a potato-heavy diet on blood pressure has not previously been studied.

A fresh look at potatoes and health

Scientists at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in Massachusetts, investigated links between potato consumption and blood pressure for the first time.

The team looked at potatoes in all their forms - mashed, boiled, chips, and fries. Data were taken from three large American studies, spanning more than 20 years and charting the diets of 187,453 men and women. The team controlled for numerous factors, including weight, smoking status, level of physical activity, and current dietary habits.

After controlling for these factors, the team found that eating four or more servings of mashed, baked, or boiled potatoes per week was associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, or hypertension, when compared with less than one serving per week. The effect was not found in men. On further investigation, the team found that replacing one serving of potatoes per week with a portion of non-starchy vegetables was associated with a significant drop in blood pressure.

Also, an increased intake of French fries was associated with increased hypertension in both men and women. More surprisingly, those who consumed higher amounts of potato chips did not display an increased risk for hypertension and, in fact, the men who ate more chips showed a reduced hypertension risk.

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

20.05.2016

Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned

Peter Marshall

19 May, 2016

One third India's population to suffer from hypertension by 2020

One third of India's population is likely to suffer from hypertension by 2020, with around 20 per cent of the rural populace too becoming victims, said health experts on Tuesday. Experts said that hypertension is on the verge of becoming an "epidemic" and every person with a blood pressure count of 140/90 is considered to be in the hypertensive category.

"Studies show that hypertension is likely to end up being an epidemic in the near future; and approximately one-third of our population will suffer from it by 2020. Currently, estimates show that incidence of hypertension is 20 to 40 per cent in urban areas and 12 to 17 per cent in rural areas," said Pratik Soni, cardiologist consultant at Mumbai-based Wockhardt Hospital.

Stating that patients suffer from from hypertension-related health problems, which they are not able to understand, Soni said, "Not even half of the Indians residing in urban areas are aware of the killing consequences of hypertension." Pradeep Gadge, consultant diabetologist, Gadge's Diabetes Centre, said: "Apart from heart disease, hypertension increases the risk of stroke, heart failure , kidney damage, blindness and many more chronic problems."

Emphasizing that youngsters were becoming prey to hypertension quite easily due to a sedentary lifestyle and the lack of fitness, Gadge suggested that young people should also go for regular check-ups, especially if their family members are suffering from hypertension. According to doctors, 90 per cent of patients suffering from hypertension are not even aware of their health condition, which can become fatal as the condition also leads to the bursting of brain nerves.

Talking about the major reasons behind increase in hypertension, Abhay Vispute, medical director, SRV Hospital said, the reasons identified are "eating late, excessive time spent on smartphones by youngsters who seem to be living in a virtual world instead of physically walking around and communicating with people, sedentary lifestyles etc".

"Among all the other major chronic illnesses, hypertension can also lead to kidney scarring, raising an alarm over rise in kidney failures among the younger population," said Vispute.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

19.05.2016

Put your heart, mind, intellect and soul even to your smallest acts. This is the secret of success

18 May, 2016

Pinki Virani, author of Aruna’s Story, wants Passive Euthanasia Act renamed to The Aruna Act

The award-winning author has written a personal plea to the Union Health Minister, Dr J P Nadda, to rename the Passive Euthanasia Act as The Aruna Act.

  

A year after Aruna Shanbaug passed away in ward no.4 of civic-run KEM Hospital in Mumbai after spending 42 long years in a vegetative state, the Union Ministry finally came up with a draft bill on passive euthanasia recently and has even called for comments from the public via emails before June 19, 2016. Over the last few years, Shanbaug has become the face of the euthanasia debate and patients’ rights in India and she’s also seen as the inspiration behind the draft bill.

Shanbaug, who worked as a nurse, was brutally sodomised and choked with a dog-chain by a ward boy in the basement of the hospital in 1973. The attack cut off the oxygen supply to her brain and resulted in partial blindness and at the age of 25, she was left to languish in a semi-coma state without any friends or family members to look after her. Since then, she was taken care of by the nurses of the hospital along with activist and author Pinki Virani until she finally succumbed to pneumonia on May 18, 2015. Click here to readAruna Shanbaug’s story.

Virani, a National award winning author of the book ‘Aruna’s Story: The True Story Of A Rape & Its Aftermath’, was one of the first people to respond to the to the draft bill on passive euthanasia by writing a personal plea to Dr J P Nadda, the Union Health Minister.

In her four page long letter to Dr Nadda, Virani has requested that the Passive Euthanasia Law should be renamed as ‘The Aruna Act (Terminally-Ill Patient Protection in Passive Euthanasia).’

‘A woman so wronged, who died so broken, a human being who received no justice at all  – can her anguish at least be validated with the Law, which she has started, in her name as Aruna’s Act,’ asks Virani, who also questioned a clause in the draft bill. She plans on sending a detailed and section-by-section suggestions on the Passive Euthanasia Law to Dr Nadda and his IAS officers on Aruna’s birthday which falls on June 1.

‘Her first (legal) death anniversary is today but she died as a living, breathing human being on the night of November 27, 1973 itself,’ says Virani.

In 2009, after Aruna  spent more than 36 years in a semi-coma state, Pinki Virani approached  the Supreme Court (SC) of India to file a euthanasia petition to decrease Aruna’s feeds systematically as per international practices in passive euthanasia. While her plea was dismissed, in 2011, the SC allowed passive euthanasia but ruled against ‘active euthanasia’, where a lethal injection is administered to end lives of patients with terminal illness.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

18.05.2016

You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great

Zig Ziglar

17 May, 2016

India 2nd in neonatal deaths, stillbirths, maternal deaths

India may be struggling to make it to the top in many fields, but has been ranked first in the world in neonatal deaths and stillbirths , and second in the number of maternal deaths . The top rank here means the country has done worse than the others.

According to The Lancet's 2016 report, with nearly 7 lakh neonatal deaths and 6 lakh stillborn babies reported in the country in 2015, India is worse than Asian countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh, and African countries like Ethiopia, Tanzania , Nigeria, Congo and Niger in the top 10 countries , which account for 62% and 65% of all neonatal deaths and stillborn babies in the world.

The only other country which figures among the 10 largest economies of the world but also appears in this list is China. Globally, there were 2.7 million neonatal deaths and 2.6 million stillbirths. As far as maternal deaths go, India is only behind Nigeria, while all other afore mentioned countries have fared better. India, ranked second, reported 45,000 such deaths out of nearly 3,00,000 globally. The top 10 countries accounted for 58% of global maternal deaths.

While statistics point to continuing apathy in healthcare, experts here attribute it to a lack of human resource and infrastructure. "We need to strengthen the system if we are going to move to institutional deliveries. More people need to be trained and made available," Dr Asha Benakappa, director, Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health.

According to The Lancet , poor indicators cannot be attributed to India's population alone."Population is an important factor, but the rankings of countries with the most stillbirths also shift with changes in mortality risk and fertility," the report says.

The report said the number of stillbirths has reduced more slowly than maternal mortality or mortality in children younger than five years, which were explicitly targeted in the Millennium Development Goals. The Every Newborn Action Plan has the target of 12 or fewer stillbirths per 1,000 births in every country by 2030, which still appears a far dream. Most (98%) stillbirths are in low-income and middle-income countries.

Source:www.timesofindia.com

17.05.2016

Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger

Arnold Palmer

16 May, 2016

Want to boost your memory? Go barefoot!

New Delhi: Earthing or walking barefoot on sand, grass or soil is associated with astonishing health benefits. Many doctors suggests that walking barefoot not only improves sleep but also increases levels of antioxidants in the body and reduces inflammation.

Apart from all these health blessings, it is now scientifically proven that walking barefoot boosts our working memory.

The researchers from the University of North Florida in the US said that the running barefoot leads to better cognitive performance. This practice improves our ability to recall and process information.

The researchers enlisted 72 participants between the ages of 18 and 44, who ran both barefoot and with shoes on at a comfortable, self-selected pace for approximately 16 minutes.

Working memory was measured before and after running.

The results of this research, published in the journal Perceptual and Motor Skills, found a significant increase -- approximately 16 percent -- in working memory performance in the barefoot-running condition.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

16.05.2016

If you’re waiting for the perfect moment, forget about it  there’s

 no such thing

14 May, 2016

Frequent social media use may lead to eating disorder

Excess use of social media such as Facebook, Instagram or YouTube may lead to disordered eating and body image concerns among young adults, suggests new research. Eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, binge Eating disorder and other clinical and mental health issues where people have a distorted body image and disordered eating.

"We've long known that exposure to traditional forms of media, such as fashion magazines and television, is associated with the development of disordered eating and body image concerns, likely due to the positive portrayal of 'thin' models and celebrities," said lead author Jaime Sidani from University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the US.

"Social media combines many of the visual aspects of traditional media with the opportunity for social media users to interact and propagate stereotypes that can lead to eating and body image concerns," Sidani noted. The results were published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The researchers sampled 1,765 US adults, aged 19-32 years, using questionnaires to determine social media use. The questionnaires asked about the 11 most popular social media platforms at the time -- Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest , Vine and LinkedIn.

They cross-referenced those results with the results of another questionnaire that used established screening tools to assess eating disorder risk.

The researchers found that the participants who spent the most time on social media throughout the day had 2.2 times the risk of reporting eating and body image concerns, compared to their peers who spent less time on social media. And participants who reported most frequently checking social media throughout the week had 2.6 times the risk, compared with those who checked least frequently.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

14.05.2016

Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves

 Abraham Lincoln

13 May, 2016

President Pranab Mukherjee says nursing professionals are the backbone of healthcare system

President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday said nursing professionals were the backbone of the healthcare system and their contribution was critical in achievement of nation’s healthcare goals. ‘Nursing professionals are the backbone of the healthcare system. Nurses play a vital role in all aspects of healthcare, be it national health campaigns like polio eradication, mid-wife services and community education,’ said Mukherjee after presenting the National Florence Nightingale Awards to nursing personnel on the occasion of International Nurses’ Day. ‘Their level of commitment and care are much valued in both urban and rural areas, including remote areas of the country. Their contribution is critical in the achievement of the nation’s healthcare goals. Their inputs into health sector policies are equally important for they help in creating the necessary supportive work environment for their practice,’ he added.

The president also said emerging global threats such as microbial resistance, new pandemics, infections, and natural disasters have added to the pressure and demands on healthcare services. ‘The services of nurses are crucial for a response system that a government creates to meet these challenges. Nursing personnel in our country are increasingly better educated and well-trained. ‘They are now more adept at communicating with patients, and connecting with citizens, communities and policy makers. In the next fifteen years or so, the nature of their services will undergo significant change,’ Mukherjee added.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

13.05.2016

He is able who thinks he is able

Buddha