August 22, 2012 Clippings

Apple peel can help stave off high BP

Eating an apple a day without removing the peel can help prevent high blood pressure.
Canadian scientists have found that the fruit is more effective than other "superfoods" including green tea and blueberries as a source of antioxidants and chemical compounds called flavonoids that combat the potentially life-threatening condition.

In a study, researchers from Nova Scotia Agricultural College tested the peel and the fleshy fruit of apples separately.

The peel was found to be up to six times more effective in inhibiting an enzyme called ACE, which is known to cause hypertension and high blood pressure, according to the team's results in the journal Food Chemistry.

"Apples are one of the most popular and frequently consumed fruits in the world," the Daily Express quoted the researchers as stating.

"Apple peel is a rich source of flavonoids which provide numerous health benefits - apple peel flavonoids inhibited the enzyme ACE," they added.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

22.08.2012

Soon, tasty drugs for diabetes, cancer

University of Illinois scientists have found compounds in Illinois blueberry and blackberry wines that inhibit enzymes responsible for carbohydrate absorption and assimilation.

The finding could provide a tasty way to help people with diabetes decrease their blood sugar.

"We're thinking about a dealcoholized fermented fruit beverage that would optimize the inhibition of the alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes and also make use of the wines' other healthful bioactive components," said Elvira de Mejia, a U of I professor of food chemistry and food toxicology. Graduate student Michelle Johnson evaluated the nutritional value of 19 Illinois wines, deciding on a blueberry-blackberry blend for maximum effectiveness.

In the in vitro study, the scientists compared the anti-carb effects of the alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase enzymes with acarbose, an anti-diabetes drug. The carb-degrading enzymes were inhibited in a range of 91.8 per cent for alpha-amylase compared to acarbose and 103.2 percent for alpha-glucosidase compared to acarbose, de Mejia said.

The study is the first to assess the effect of berry fermentation at different temperatures on these carb-inhibiting enzymes. At both room and cold (4 degree C) temperatures, berry wine retained the ability to degrade the enzymes, she said.

In a second study, Johnson quantified the antioxidant, polyphenol, and anthocyanin content of blueberry and blackberry wines. Her proposed blend contains an abundance of these bioactive compounds, which add to its healthful properties.

The researchers are particularly interested in the ability of anthocyanins to reduce inflammation, which contributes to the development of many chronic illnesses, including cancer, metabolic disease, and cardiovascular disease. To that end, they are experimenting with the berries' effects on inflammatory cells, and they have found that anthocyanins reduce markers associated with the inflammatory response.

"Preliminary studies have indicated that anthocyanins may have a positive effect on cognition and overall brain health while protecting against some of the effects of aging, such as Alzheimer's disease and memory loss. These berries have some very intriguing components," de Mejia said.

A food chemist, de Mejia would like to remove the alcohol from the wines, leaving the carb-degrading enzyme compounds, the inflammation-fighting anthocyanins, and other beneficial bioactive components in a functional and flavourful drink for diabetics and others.

The bioactive ingredients could also be added to any prepared beverage to give it colour, flavour, and nutritional punch, making them useful to the food industry, she said.

Source: www.timesofindia.com                      22.08.2012

Revenge converts a little right into a great wrong

August 21, 2012 Clippings

Indian women show higher rates of tobacco use

The largest ever world wide study has dug its heels into the tobacco crisis. According to the international survey , nearly half of all men and 1 in 10 women use tobacco in many developing countries.

In 2008, India banned smoking in public places. However, very little has been done to implement these directives. According to the survey, done by the Buffalo School of Public Health, India’s anti-tobacco drive is extremely ineffective. The survey covered over three billion people across 16 countries.

To back up this proclamation, the study goes on to show that India has among the slowest tobacco-quit rations in the world. Very few smokers or smokeless tobacco consumers have kicked the habit in the last four years. An estimated 10 lakh Indians lose their life every year due to disease

Its lead author Gary Giovino has pointed out that 100 million lives were lost prematurely due to tobacco use in the last century. “In the absence of effective actions, about one billion people worldwide will die prematurely in the next century from tobacco use,” Giovino has been quoted as saying. Worse, most of these deaths will come in lower and middle-income countries.

While quit rates are high in countries like the USA and UK, they are abysmally low in countries like India and China which is home to a combined total of 575 million smokers.

The study concluded that the tobacco industry’s promotion of its products through subtle surrogate advertising is more effective that the anti-tobacco ones put forward by governments. “Our data reflect industry efforts to promote tobacco use,” said the study. “These include marketing and mass media campaigns by companies that make smoking seem glamorous, especially for women. The industry’s marketing efforts also equate tobacco use with Western themes, such as freedom and gender equality.”

Source: http://health.india.com

21.08.2012

Indian docs save Pakistani woman’s life with successful liver transplant

In a world fraught with riots and hate, a young boy has shown that humanity and compassion still exists. A Pakistani woman, suffering from liver cirrhosis underwent a successful liver transplant at Sir Gangaram Hospital. The woman’s son had donated his liver saving her from the potentially fatal liver cirrhosis.

“A team of 21 people including doctors and other staff of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital successfully transplanted the liver of her son in the Pakistani woman, Zaib Un Nisa, curing her of cirrhosis of liver August 14,” said Associate Director, Hepatobiliary and liver transplant department of the hospital, Dr Naimish N. Mehta. Dr. Mehta said the liver was voluntarily donated by the woman’s 27-year-old son Umar Subhani, who works in the office of the chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan. The family lives in Sialkot. “Nisa was affected with Hepatitis-C four years ago and was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan. Hepatitis for a long period damaged her liver completely,” Mehta told IANS. The woman was so unwell that she was unable to walk even a short distance.

“In January this year, the family approached the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital via email. They come to Delhi in February after getting a medical visa,” said the doctor. The doctor explained that the operation was technically challenging as Hepatitis C virus had caused damage to Nisa’s hepatic artery (which carries oxygenated blood to the liver). “During the liver transplant, the artery had to be reconstructed with a conduit. The conduit was obtained by removing a portion of the patient’s right thigh vein. This reconstruction was simultaneously performed with implantation of the new liver so that an arterial supply carrying oxygenated blood was established for the new liver,” said the doctor.

This operation was complex due to the arterial reconstruction; it took 16 hours, and cost Rs.17.75 lakh, the cheapest rate for a liver transplant in the country. The patient’s son told IANS that the hospital staff and the Indian student community had been very supportive. He had pasted notices seeking blood donors in Rajinder Nagar, and many students had volunteered. “I have not donated my liver to my mother. I have only returned to her a body part that I got from her 27 years ago,” Umar quipped. The donation was also an Eid-ul-Fitr gift.

Source: http://health.india.com                              21.08.2012

He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak

Ausonius

August 18, 2012 Clippings

What are your chances of developing kidney failure?

A new study has found that the likelihood of middle-aged adults developing kidney failure during their lifetime. The study states that about one in 40 men and one in 60 women of middle age will develop kidney failure if they live into their 90s. This translates into a 2.66 percent risk of kidney failure for men and a 1.76 percent risk for women. The risk is higher in people with reduced kidney function (men: 7.51 percent and women: 3.21 percent) compared with people with relatively preserved kidney function.

Kidney failure is on the rise and currently afflicts two million people worldwide. It takes a significant toll on both individuals and the public as a whole, causing poor health in patients and generating considerable health care costs, the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology reports. Despite kidney failure’s impact, researchers don’t have a good estimate of people’s likelihood of developing it over their lifetime. Accordingly, from 1997 to 2008 Tanvir Chowdhury Turin and Brenda Hemmelgarn, from the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and colleagues studied 2.89 million adult residents free of kidney failure at the start of the study.

“Given the high morbidity (prevalence of disease) and cost associated with kidney failure, we wanted to quantify the burden of disease for kidney failure in an easily understandable index to communicate information for patients, health practitioners, and policy makers,” said Turin, according to a statement from Calgary university. The lifetime risk of kidney failure is consistently higher for men at all ages and kidney function levels, compared with women, the researchers said.

Source: http://health.india.com

18.08.2012

How tattoos can cause hepatitis

Body piercing or getting your body tattooed in David Beckham style may cost you a huge price — infection of Hepatitis B and C virus. The needle used in the act to (re) fashion your body may just be infected with the said virus causing liver disease, which in its ultimate stage often turns cancerous (liver cirrhosis). That is deemed to happen if the needle is not properly sterilized.

How tattoos are done

A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made on your skin with pigments inserted through pricks into the skin's top layer. Typically, the tattoo artist uses a hand-held machine that acts much like a sewing machine, with one or more needles piercing the skin repeatedly. With every puncture, the needles insert tiny ink droplets. The process — which is done without anesthetics — causes a small amount of bleeding and slight to potentially significant pain.

How they cause hepatitis?

Tattoos are a potential cause for spreading hepatitis B and C virus. "The main risk is if the equipment, which is the needle, is infected and not enough precaution is taken to prevent transmission. But it's not just the needle that can spread the virus.
Needles are not the only things that can cause transmission of the hepatitis. The silent culprits are the expensive ink bottles in which the artist dips his needle time and again while doing the tattoo. So even if they use disposable syringes or fresh gloves, if an artist uses the same ink bottle for several clients, the chances of transmission of the virus increase. Now since these ink bottles are mostly imported, they generally don't use fresh bottles for every client.
Explaining the science behind it, "Tattoo making involves pricking the needle deep into the dermis - the layer under the skin surface - which results in bleeding and the same needle is dipped into the paint bottle which leads to transferring of Hepatitis B or C from infected to another.
Preventive measures to rescue yourself from hepatitis

Tattoo as you would any other medical procedure. You want a tattoo parlor to be at least as clean as your doctor's office.

Ask to see the tools the artist will use. The needles should be new, sterilized, and wrapped — no exceptions. The ink should be in small pots meant for single-use and anything that touches your skin should not be reused. And the artist should wear gloves.
Tattoos can be beautiful, artistic expressions of our inner selves. Just be sure you know the risks and go to a professional tattoo artist.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

18.08.2012

You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience

Stanislaw J. Lec

August 17, 2012 Clippings

Now, perfume that can help you lose weight!

The latest slimming aid comes in the form of a perfume bottle, and it already has a waiting list of 6000 people.

Prends–moi is the world’s first slimming fragrance from Velds that has been developed at the French perfume house Robertet, the Daily Mail reported

Makers have claimed that the fragrance is designed to “slim with pleasure” and is based on “aromatherapeutic” and “neurocosmetic” research.

The perfume contained ingredients that release B-endorphins that are present in the skin and a “pleasure message” is transmitted through the brain triggering a sensation of well being and an increase in contentment reducing the need to overeact.

A “Slimming Complex” that has been formulated with caffeine, carnitine and spirulina extract activated the two key enzymes directly involved in lipolysis (fat degradation).

A trial study by BIO-EC of women aged form 18 to 70 years of age, who were not on a diet, found that 75 percent felt that the perfume limited the need to snack and 73% felt a feeling of pleasure.

People can generously spritz in the morning, as they would do with any perfume, and throughout the day whenever the need for snacking arises.

Further results can be achieved by very lightly massaging the perfume into targeted areas, morning and night to help sculpt and slim the contours of the body.

As for the smell of the perfume, there are top notes, with lively accents of bergamot, mandarin and grapefruit.

With a low alcohol content, the perfume is perfect for those who love summer all year long.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

17.08.2012

Men with short ring fingers may survive prostate cancer

Men with ring fingers that are shorter than their index fingers are thought to have lower levels of testosterone and thus have a better chance of recovering from prostrate cancer, a new study has claimed.

Tests showed that cancer victims responded better to an anti-tumour drug if their ring finger was shorter than the index finger - the finger next to the thumb.

Testosterone is a hormone that is known to help prostate tumours grow.

Doctors who tested the theory on 142 volunteers found those with short ring fingers responded better to dutasteride, a drug that fights cancer by blocking the effects of testosterone on the prostate. Numerous studies show finger length is linked to the risks of conditions ranging from heart disease and osteoarthritis to depression and Motor Neurone Disease.

The difference between the two fingers is determined by exposure to testosterone while a baby is still in the womb.

According to research, this can have a profound effect on health later in life.

The risks increase with age, with men over 50 more likely to develop a tumour, and there is a strong genetic element to it.

However, the latest findings by experts at Seoul National University in South Korea suggest that doctors might soon be able to predict who will respond best to treatment by measuring men's fingers.

Although the men in the study did not have cancer, they did have enlarged prostates or benign prostatic hyperplasia - a common condition in men over 50 where the prostate grows and blocks the flow of urine. Dutasteride has been used for several years to treat BPH and prostate cancer. The volunteers took the drug every day for six months.

When their prostate glands were measured to see if they had shrunk, there was a much bigger reduction in men with short ring fingers.

"These results suggest finger length might predict the response to dutasteride treatment," the Daily Mail quoted the researchers as writing in the report.

The study has been published in the British Journal of Urology.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

17.08.2012

A good reputation is more valuable than money

Publilius Syrus

August 16, 2012 Clippings

Malnutrition in children a big challenge say the PM

On the occasion of the 66^th Independence Day, the Prime Minister,Manmohan Singh said that India is facing a big challenge of eradicating malnutrition in children. He also promised that the UPA ( United Progressive Alliance) has taken steps to deal with the problem. Addressing the nation on the 66th Independence Day, the prime minister said: “Malnutrition in children is a big challenge for us. We have taken steps in many dimensions to deal with this problem.”

“In the last eight years, the number of mothers and children benefiting from the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Service) has doubled,” he said. The prime minister said that the process of making ICDS more effective was in its last stages and would be completed in the next one or two months.

Source: http://health.india.com

16.08.2012

India to provide free medicines and better health care

The Indian government has taken a step closer to better healthcare. The government has proposed to give away free medicines through government hospitals and health centres. This was announced here by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address to the nation on Independence Day. The prime minister said the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) was launched in 2005 so that health services could be extended to every village. After its success, “we now want to expand the scope of health services in our towns also”, he said in his address from the Red Fort.

“The National Rural Health Mission will be converted into a National Health Mission which would cover all villages and towns in the country. “We are also formulating a scheme for distribution of free medicines through government hospitals and health centres,” he said. NRHM, which is the flagship programme of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, was launched with the aim to provide better health services to people living in remote areas in India.

“Today this mission is being implemented with the help of 10 lakh health personnel, including 8.5 lak Asha workers,” the prime minister said. ASHA or Accredited Social Health Activists are local women trained to act as health educators and promoters in their communities. The prime minister also said that no new case of polio had been reported in the country in the last one and a half years. “India does not figure in the list of countries affected by this disease,” he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) took India, which in 2009 had more polio cases than any other nation in the world, off its polio endemic list early this year after not a single case of the crippling disease was reported for over a year. India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Afghanistan are the four countries where polio is still endemic. He also described malnutrition among children as a “big challenge”. “We have taken steps in many dimensions to deal with this problem,” he added.

Source: http://health.india.com

16.08.2012

Pakistan girl all set to get cochlear implant through Indian NGO

A 20-month-old girl has received another chance at a normal life. The girl is all set to receive a cochlear implant in India. The procedure will be performed at Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, thanks to an NGO. The implant will enable Khadija to hear. Khadija was born deaf to Adnan Adeel and Shehr Banu in the Pakistani port city of Karachi. “We came to know of the problem four months after her birth and we were worried about her future,” Shehr Banu told IANS. Khadija is the couple’s second daughter. Adeel is an electrical engineer in Karachi.

“I came to know about SAHI (Society to Aid the Hearing Impaired) through the Internet. I am grateful to them for offering the device free of cost as a gesture of goodwill,” said Adeel, who arrived here a week ago. While the device costs $20,000, the surgery expenses will around $5,000 to $6,000, he said. Hyderabad-based SAHI helps poor children with hearing impairment. It identifies children mainly in rural areas with little or no access to modern medical treatment. “We have come to India for the first time and are very happy to be here,” said Shehr Banu, a housewife.

“I have not felt that I am in some other country. There is no difference between our two countries. The people, the culture and the language everything is same,” said Adeel. “We were feeling helpless and were afraid that our daughter will grow as deaf and dumb. I cried and prayed to Allah. The Almighty opened the doors, the doors of a so-called enemy country,” he added. Adeel approached 300 individuals and organisations seeking help for Khadija. “I am honoured to be the first foreigner to avail charity from SAHI but I hope I will not be the last.”

“In a state of war all our resources are used on weapons instead of meeting the needs of poor, hungry and the needy. We need a war not against each other but against poverty and diseases,” he said. The Pakistani couple were also guests at a India and Pakistan joint celebrations for Independence Day, which was disrupted by Vishwa Hindu Parishad cadres. “We are not enemies. We are friends. If we were enemies we would not have been sitting like this and jointly celebrating our independence,” he added.

Source: http://health.india.com

16.08.2012

Everything comes to him who waits

August 14, 2012 Clippings

Patients trust docs who carry stethoscope

Doctors sporting 'iconic' medical symbols like stethoscope during e-consultations seem to win their patient's trust, says a new Australian research.

The six-month e-health project was undertaken by researchers at the Curtin University Health Innovation Research Institute (CHIRI) and funded by Curtin's Office of Research and Development.

They investigated the process of providing e-consultations, and whether the presence of 'iconic' medical symbols like a stethoscope, surgical scrubs or a reflex hammer would help doctors build a relationship of trust online.

Medical e-consultations make use of electronic computing and communication technologies in the consultation processes, particularly when a client is unable to see a doctor face-to-face, the Journal of Medical Internet Research reports. In the study, a series of images portraying different combinations of medical tools were shown to 168 people who ranked them by how trustworthy they looked, according to a Curtin statement.

The stethoscope was ranked the most positive by participants, receiving a rating of 95 percent. Words associated with the medical device included honest, trustworthy, honourable, moral, ethical and genuine.

Moyez Jiwa, professor and head of CHIRI Chronic Disease and research leader, said the findings were particularly important to the medical field given its growth in the e-health field.

"Our research also highlighted that although the stethoscope was singularly the most trusted medical tool," Jiwa said.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

14.08.2012

Bizarre – girl has ‘nails’ growing all over her body!

A medical mystery has doctors in Memphis stumped. The mystery of how a woman’s body is producing nails in place of hair all over her body has doctors worried and in the dark about its cause. Shanyna Isom, 28, suffered an allergic reaction three years ago which caused the debilitating syndrome, which has left her struggling to walk and carry out daily chores.

The university student was left covered in hard scabs as “nails” replaced the hair on her body and doctors are still in the dark about how to cure Shanyna’s mysterious illness. Isom lives with her family in Memphis and was in her first year at university when the nightmare began. In September 2009 she was prescribed steroids after suffering an asthma attack and within hours the law student was “itching” all over her body. Shanyna became bedridden as the illness took over and doctors tried to determine what was wrong.

In 2011 she began treatment in Baltimore where doctors established that the bumps were in fact human nails slowly covering Shanyna’s body. Today doctors have yet to diagnose her but have been able to control her symptoms. She relies on family and friends for financial help and they have rallied around her for support.

Source: http://health.india.com

14.08.2012

A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds

Sir Francis Bacon

August 13, 2012 Clippings

To combat 'silent killers', India to conduct survey

India for the first time is undertaking a survey on lifestyle trends in nine states in an effort to get data on people suffering from non-communicable diseases like diabetes and cardio-vascular diseases, and find a solution to combat these silent killers.

India presently has no figure on non-communicable diseases (NCDs). According to World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates, by 2030 67% of all deaths in India will be due to such causes. The Lancet estimates that the loss to national income for India due to non-communicable diseases mortality for 2006-15 will be $237 billion.

The health ministry has directed the Registrar General of India (RGI) to undertake the survey.

The RGI has been asked to collect clinical, biochemical and anthropometric components like blood pressure, fasting sugar, iodine and iron levels among people in the nine states of Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam. These nine states account for around 50% of the country's population and have the highest number of infant and maternal mortality rates put together.

"The survey will be the maiden estimate of parameters like blood pressure, height and weight, fasting sugar, iodine and iron levels in such a big and diverse sample. Earlier, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had done some surveys but the sample size was very small," an RGI official told IANS.

RGI will start collecting samples from 1,400 households in 284 districts in the states by the end of September or early October. The clinical parameters would help get an estimate of the number of people suffering from lifestyle and nutritional diseases.

Till now the focus of the Annual Health Survey (AHS) and National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted by the government has always been on maternal and infant deaths, malnourishment among children and immunisation.

The health ministry is presently running a pilot project -- India's National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) and Stroke (NPCDCS) -- to screen about 150 million people by 2012.

The programme includes establishment of clinics at 100 district hospitals and 700 Community Health Centres (CHCs) for diagnosis and management of non-communicable diseases to ensure availability of life saving drugs. "The data will help us in putting together a strategy to deal with the growing problem," said a health ministry official.

According to the RGI official: "The work has been outsourced to a private survey agency. A team of three people, consisting of two health investigators and one health supervisor, will conduct the survey in each of the 284 districts.

Source: www.dnaindia.com                       13.08.2012

Now a blood test to detect Alzeimer’s

Now Alzheimer’s may be detectable through an easy blood test. A new study has shown that a blood test is in the offing to detect Alzheimer’s disease. ”Reliability and failure to replicate initial results have been the biggest challenge in this field. We demonstrate here that it is possible to show consistent findings,” says William Hu, assistant professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, who led the study.

Hu and collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania and Washington University, St. Louis, measured the levels of 190 proteins in the blood of 600 study participants at those institutions. They included healthy volunteers and those who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). MCI, which foreshadows Alzheimer’s, causes a slight but measurable decline in cognitive abilities, according to an Emory statement.

Neurologists currently diagnose Alzheimer’s disease based mainly on clinical symptoms. Additional information can come from PET brain imaging, which tends to be expensive, or analysis of a spinal tap, which can be painful. “Though a blood test to identify underlying Alzheimer’s disease is not quite ready for prime time given today’s technology, we now have identified ways to make sure that a test will be reliable,” Hu said. “In the meantime, the combination of a clinical exam and cerebrospinal (brain) fluid analysis remains the best tool for diagnosis in someone with mild memory or cognitive troubles,” Hu added.

Source: http://health.india.com

13.08.2012

Be noble in every thought and in every deed

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow