Month: November 2013

Air travellers don’t trust female pilots: Survey

Air travelers are less likely to trust female pilots at the control of an aircraft in comparison to their male counterparts, a new UK survey suggests.

Around 51 per cent of the nearly 2,400 people surveyed said they did not trust a female pilot, while just 14 per cent said they would feel safer with a woman.

While 25 per cent of the people said the gender of the pilot did not matter, nine per cent said they were “unsure”, the ‘Telegraph’ reported.

As many as 32 per cent of those who proffered a male over a female, said “male pilots are more skilled”, while 28 per cent of them questioned the ability of female pilots to handle pressure.

Among those who preferred to see a woman at the control of an aircraft, 44 per cent said men were “too hot-headed in a crisis”, while a quarter said men might be “too easily distracted”.

All the people surveyed had taken a flight in the last one year, the report said.

“To see that more than half would be less likely to trust a female pilot was absolutely astounding,” said Chris Clarkson, managing director of UK based travel site Sunshine.co.uk, which undertook the survey.

“Clearly, many Britons have stereotypes that they need to get rid of,” said Clarkson.

Source: Economic times

 

Worried that your baby sick? Let good microbes grow

Here’s possible solace for parents who are up at night with a baby who gets sick all the time: There appears to be a good reason why infant immune systems don’t fight off germs.

A newborn’s immune system is deliberately not doing battle with every germ that comes along so that “good” microbes have a chance to settle in, researchers say. That explanation is at odds with the widely held belief that those new immune systems are just too weak to do the job.

Evidence has been mounting that most of the trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that inhabit the human body are actually helpful. They seem to perform crucial functions, such as helping fight off pathogens and teaching our immune systems how to function properly in the long term.

Babies start acquiring their personal collection of microbes at birth. But it seems to take a few years for what scientists call our microbiome to fully form. That’s where this research comes in.

In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature, Dr. Sing Sing Way, a specialist in infectious disease in babies, and his colleagues at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital report that the immune systems of newborns are actively suppressed.

The experiments, which were done in a lab with mice and blood samples from human infants’ umbilical cords, show that certain red blood cells, known as CD71 cells, rein in the newborn immune system. That could create a welcoming environment for beneficial microbes, the researchers say, in a way that an adult immune system can’t.

Unfortunately, the scientists didn’t look at how long immune system suppression might last in actual babies. But most parents know that eventually their child won’t get sick as often. And that could be when the immune system strikes a balance between allowing good microbes to thrive while fighting off the bad ones.

Source; npr

Doctor Suspended after feeling up patient

A Blenheim doctor who unnecessarily intimately examined a South Korean vineyard worker and then altered his notes has been banned for 18 months and must always have a chaperone present with females on his return to practice.

Ravi Kiran Reddy Tamma, who has returned to India, worked for the Marlborough After Hours GP Services in Blenheim in August 2011, when he examined a South Korean woman who was working in the vineyards.

She believed she had a recurrence of a urinary tract infection.

Dr Tamma did not explain she could have a chaperone present and examined her completely naked, during which he touched her vagina and massaged her abdomen and legs, all while not wearing gloves.

He made no record of her breathing, pulse, blood pressure or heart rate and diagnosed her with a kidney infection.

The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal said Dr Tamma also changed his notes to justify what he knew to be an inappropriate examination.

Dr Tamma admitted he had breached professional standards.

The tribunal ruled he be suspended for 18 months and for three years after that he must have a chaperone present whenever he sees a female patient.

In addition:

  • his notes will be randomly audited;
  • he will be assessed by a sexual misconduct team;
  • he must take a course on maintaining appropriate professional boundaries;
  • he must pay nearly $19,000 towards the case against him.

Dr Tamma, in a letter from India, apologised to the patient for his behaviour. He said he wanted to return to practice in New Zealand but wanted to make sure he was mentally stable first.

Source: 3news

Researchers warn medical tourism ‘myths’ unfounded

A team of British researchers is warning governments and health care organizations around the world not to fall for the myths and hype surrounding medical tourism.

With the promise of a lucrative market and huge global market opportunities, the appeal of medical tourism is hard to miss.

But researchers from London, York, Sheffield and Birmingham, UK, challenge the view that there is an ever-growing number of people prepared to travel across national borders to receive medical treatment.

They caution that all that glitters may not be gold, saying:

“Our message is: be wary of being dazzled by the lure of global health markets and of chasing markets that do not exist.”

The researchers say medical tourists are typically from affluent countries who will be treated as private patients and will cover their own medical costs.

They are not to be confused with health tourists, who may not always intend to pay for their treatments.

The report, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), looks at the flow of medical tourists between countries and the interaction between the demand for, and supply of, these services.

Medical tourists can access the full range of medical services but most commonly opt for dental treatments, cosmetic surgery, elective surgery or fertility treatment.

There has also been a shift toward patients from developed countries traveling to less develop ones for lower-cost treatments than would be available at home – helped by cheap air fares and better research opportunities through the internet.

Patients beyond Borders, which claims to be “the world’s most trusted source of consumer information about international medical and health travel,” estimates there are 8 million cross-border patients worldwide, spending on average between $3,000 and $5,000.

And using their statistics about potential savings, it is easy to understand why they estimate 900,000 Americans will travel out of the US for treatments.

Potential savings by traveling to various countries are as follows:

  • Brazil: 25-40%
  • Costa Rica: 40-65%
  • India: 65-90%
  • Malaysia: 65-80%
  • Mexico: 40-65%
  • Singapore: 30-45%
  • Thailand: 50-70%
  • Turkey: 50-65%

Historical links influence destination choice

Price is not the only determining factor when it comes to choosing a destination. The authors argue that in terms of medical tourism, there is not necessarily a level playing field, and they challenge the view of open and global markets. They say it is not as simple as building facilities and expecting patients to come.

Networks, history and relationships may also explain a great deal about the success of particular destinations.

Dr. Daniel Horsfall, from York’s Department of Social Policy and Social Work, who carried out the statistical analysis for the study, explains:

“We found that historical flows between different countries and cultural relations account for a great deal of the trade.”

“The destinations of medical tourists are typically based on geo-political factors,” he adds, “such as colonialism and existing trade patterns. For example, you find that medical tourists from the Middle East typically go to Germany and the UK due to existing ties, while Hungary attracts medical tourists from Western Europe owing to its proximity.”

But the British research warns that there is not enough evidence “to enable us to assess who benefits and who loses out at the level of system, programme, organisation and treatment.”

Lead author Dr. Neil Lunt, from the University of York, explains:

“What data does exist is generally provided by stakeholders with a vested interest rather than by independent research institutions. What is clear is that there exists no credible authoritative data at the global level, which is why we are urging caution to governments and other decision-makers who see medical tourism as a lucrative source of additional revenue.”

But if the promise of financial savings is too attractive to dismiss, remember that different countries may also have different standards of care. Companies brokering medical tourism do not have standard accreditation, so it may not be clear what is covered and what is not.

The study also points out that there is currently no overarching legal or ethical strategy for medical tourism, and the researchers call for more information and understanding before even considering what regulations are needed.

But as to whether medical tourism is a good or bad thing, the researchers decline to call. The report concludes:

“On balance there is a pressing need to explore further as to whether medical tourism is virus, symptom, or cure.”

 

Source: Medical news today

Speaking a second language delays dementias, even in the illiterate

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There’s more evidence that speaking a second language can delay the onset of dementia later in life — this time in a population where even illiterate people reaped the benefits of being bilingual.

Conducted in Hyderabad, India, the largest study of its kind so far found that speaking two languages slowed the start of three types of dementia — including Alzheimer’s disease — by an average of 4.5 years.

“Being bilingual is a particularly efficient and effective type of mental training,” said Dr. Thomas H. Bak, a researcher at The University of Edinburgh and a co-author of the study published Wednesday in the journal Neurology. “In a way, I have to selectively activate one language and deactivate the other language. This switching really requires attention.”

That kind of attention keeps the brain nimble and may ward off not only Alzheimer’s disease, but other cognitive conditions such as frontotemporal dementia and vascular dementia, the new study found.

Bak is part of the team led by Dr. Suvarna Alladi, a professor of neurology at the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad. The researchers examined case records of 648 patients with dementia who entered a memory clinic at a Hyderabad university hospital between June 2006 and October 2012.

Slightly more than half of the patients, some 391, spoke more than one language in a place where many people grow up learning three or more languages, including Telugu and Dakkhini along with English and Hindi.

Previous studies have focused on the impact of bilingualism on dementia mostly in immigrants in Canada, which may have influenced the results, Bak said.

“It really brought up the question, is it the bilingualism or is it is being an immigrant?” he said. “They have very different lifestyles, very different diets, which can affect the outcome.”

Still, those studies also found that speaking more than one language delayed dementia by the same span of time, four to five years.

The Indian patients offered a chance to examine the issue in a society where many people are naturally multilingual and shift easily among different languages in different social settings.

“If I live in Hyderabad, I am practically always switching,” said Bak. “There will not be a day when I don’t have a chance to practice.”

The researchers found that patients who spoke a single language developed the first symptoms of dementia at age 61, versus age 65 ½ in those who were bilingual. The delay was slightly more than three years for Alzheimer’s disease, but about six years for frontotemporal dementia and about 3.7 years for vascular dementia.

In people who couldn’t read, the delay of dementia was about six years later in those who were bilingual versus those who spoke only one language — evidence that education isn’t the key in postponing problems, the researchers said.

The effect of bilingualism on dementia onset was independent of other factors including education, gender, occupation and whether patients lived in urban or rural areas, the authors said.

Speaking more than two languages didn’t appear to increase the effect, a result that surprised researchers, Bak said. Other studies have found that the more languages spoken, the greater the protection against dementia.

An outside expert who documented the first physical effects of the delay of dementia in people who speak more than one language praised the new study.

“Being able to show that immigrant status was not a factor answers one remaining question, said Dr. Tom Schweizer, a neuroscientist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Canada, who found in 2011 that bilingual people have twice as much brain damage as those who speak one language before they show signs of Alzheimer’s disease.

“The fact that the illiterate subjects were also showing this strong effect was also novel,” he added.

It’s still not clear exactly how language acquisition triggers protection against dementia, or whether another kind of intense brain activity such as learning an instrument or doing puzzles could mimic the effect, Schweizer said.

Going forward, conducting dementia research in other non-Western cultures will be key to understanding the effect of bilingualism on dementia, the authors of the new study said.

“For me, the most important message is that you cannot do all the studies in the same place,”Bak said. “In completely different contexts, in complete different populations, we found the same effect

Source: inagist.com

Sanitary napkin may soon be available for Rs 2.50 apiece

A teacher-student duo of the Institute of Technology and Management (ITM) here has designed a machine that will be able to provide a biodegradable sanitary napkin for just Rs 2.50 apiece.

Assistant professor Ashwini Sharma, along with his student Surbhit Arora, used wood pulp to produce the napkin, which is both biodegradable and cost-effective.

“A majority of the rural and poor urban women in India use pieces of cloth and other unhygienic things during menstruation, as they cannot buy sanitary napkins which are expensive. We hope the machine will be helpful to them,” said Sharma.

The machine can make the napkin in a three-step process that involves pressing, sealing and cutting.

All these three steps occur in one cycle, in which four napkins are produced in one go.

“The machine is semi-automatic and uses only a small amount of power, so it can be used to run small and medium enterprises. This way, we also hope to generate employment for women in rural areas,” Sharma said.

National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, under a scheme titled “Design Clinic Scheme” of medium and small enterprises, funded this project with a contribution of Rs 1.5 lakh.

“The project has been recently awarded the first prize for most innovative work at the national ‘Rural Entrepreneurship’ seminar in Jaipur. We promote innovation in our students in a big way, and we are happy that they have turned out to be social innovators,” said Prem Vrat, vice chancellor, ITM. [IANS]

Source: India medical times

 

 

Young men have unrecognized eating disorders

Eating disorders are most often associated with young women, but a new study suggests young men can also become obsessed with their appearance and go to extremes to enhance their bodies.

The problem can resemble a traditional eating disorder or involve use of drugs and supplements, according to U.S. researchers, and it tends to go along with depression, binge drinking and recreational drugs.

“The results of our studies would suggest we need to be thinking more broadly about eating disorders and consider males as well,” Alison Field, the study’s lead author, said. She is an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Classical eating disorders include anorexia nervosa, in which a person refuses to eat, and bulimia nervosa, in which someone binge-eats then purges through vomiting or laxative use.

“For a lot of males, what they’re striving for is different than females,” Field said. “They’re probably engaged in something different than purging.”

It has been estimated that one in every 10 cases of an eating disorder occurs in men.

For the new study, Field and her colleagues used survey responses collected between 1999 and 2011 to see what concerns teenage boys had about their bodies.

Field’s team also wanted to know if eating disorders were tied to later unhealthy behaviours, such as drug and alcohol use.

The surveys were answered every one to three years by 5,527 boys who were between ages 12 and 18 at the start of the study in 1999.

The researchers found that 31 per cent of the teens had – at some point – binged on food or purged.

About nine per cent reported a high level of concern with their body’s muscularity and about two per cent were both concerned about muscularity and had used some type of supplement, growth hormone derivative or anabolic steroid to enhance it.

Use of those products rose to about eight per cent when the researchers looked just at 16- to 22-year-olds.

“The results from this study would suggest that males who are extremely concerned about their physiques are doing or using things that may or may not be healthy,” Field said.

“There are a whole range of products available online that we don’t know if they’re healthy or not,” she said. “We know when a lot of them are tested, they’re not what they’re marketed to be.”

Those young men who used enhancement products were also more likely than their peers to binge drink and use drugs, the researchers found.

In her mind, Field said the behaviour of those young men could be the male equivalent of binge-and-purge disorders, because they’re using the products to alter their bodies.

About six per cent of the young men surveyed said that in addition to muscularity, they were also concerned about their thinness.

Overall, though, young men were more likely to be focused on muscularity and that concern increased with age.

Between two per cent and three per cent were concerned only about their thinness. Those young men were more likely to develop symptoms of depression later on.

“We think about a lot of disorders and diseases that look different in males than females,” Field said. “This is another example and we need to remember that.”

“These are not likely to be healthy behaviours,” Dr. Evelyn Attia said. She is a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

“The overwhelming number of people – often young men – who are thinking about needing to change their body by using some of these supplements is certainly something the family should know about and we as clinicians should be aware of,” Attia, who was not involved in the new study, said.

She added that those behaviours and the use of those supplements should be tracked for future research. At this point, she said, it’s hard to say whether these behaviours are truly eating disorders.

Field said it would be unrealistic to expect young men and women not to be concerned about their weight or their bodies, but for some it’s all they’re concerned about.

“The images these teens are seeing of models don’t even look like that,” Field said. “They’ve been airbrushed and shaded … so everyone believes they have unbelievable definition in their abs and arms.”

The new research appeared in JAMA Pediatrics. The authors note that the survey’s respondents were mostly white and middle class, which may limit the study’s relevance to other populations.

Field suggested that doctors and parents should be aware of their patients’ or children’s attempts to change their bodies to make sure it’s being done for the right reasons and in a healthy way.

“It’s a good time to have that conversation,” she said.

Source: the globe and mail

No real proof bacon can hurt sperm, so let your sex life sizzle

When news hit recently that eating bacon may be bad for your sperm, we were bummed. (After all, Men’s Health editors love bacon.)

But after digging into the actual research, we realized our BLTs (and swimmers) are probably safe — for now.

First, some background: Researchers at Harvard University recruited men who were having trouble getting their wives pregnant, then asked them questions about their diets. The guys who ate between 2.5 and 19.5 servings of processed red meat a week — including bacon, hot dogs, burgers and lunch meats such as bologna — had significantly more damaged sperm than men who ate less than that amount.

While the scientists can’t explain the link, they did rule out some of the dietary factors associated with eating processed red meats. “Neither total fat intake nor animal fat explained the sperm damage,” says study author Myriam Afeiche, Ph.D. (These 15 Facts You Didn’t Know about Your Penis will keep your member healthy and happy.)

In fact, because the survey couldn’t pin down a reason why eating bacon cheeseburgers correlated with sperm damage, you probably shouldn’t worry about your gonads just yet. “The results of this research are good for raising questions, but not providing answers,” says Alan Aragon, M.S., Men’s Health’s nutrition adviser.

That also means there’s no clear connection between processed meat and the infertility the couples in the study were suffering from. “(The researchers) were only looking at one measure of sperm health — not whether it prevents someone from getting pregnant,” says Men’s Health’s urology adviser Larry Lipshultz, M.D.

Until we know more, here’s what you can do: “Keep processed meat to a max of 20 percent of your weekly meat intake,” Aragon advises. So if you eat three 4-ounce servings of meat a day, you can eat up to 4 servings of bacon each week. And stock up on more seafood: The study found that guys who ate the most salmon, tuna fish, and bluefish had 34 percent more total sperm. (For more foods that strengthen your swimmers,

Source: nbc news

12 Ways to Younger-Looking Eyes

Eyes are one of the most prominent features of a person and because the skin around the eyes is delicate and more prone to creases, sagging, and puffy dark circles, it requires special care. New York Dermatologist and Cosmetic Surgeon Dr. Cameron Rokhsar, M.D., lists the top eye care treatments and habits that can reverse signs of aging and create younger-looking eyes.

eye care treatments provide a wide variety of options for the everyday person who wants a refreshed and less-tired look that will last. Eyes are one of the first things to notice about a person, so it’s important to have bright and youthful eyes rather than tired-looking bags and wrinkles.

1.    Beauty Sleep Is Real

Wrinkles, bags, and crow’s feet don’t stand a chance against an adequate enough sleep and day-to-day skincare. Getting the right amount of sleep every night at regular intervals is essential to leading a long, healthy and productive lifestyle. “Beauty sleep” is not just an expression; it really is the key to beautiful, healthy skin that lasts. Sleep restores the skin’s natural balance and increases the effectiveness in skincare treatments. Skin automatically rejuvenates itself during sleep.

Not enough sleep leads to stress, which triggers the adrenal glands that create an over production of the stress hormone, cortisol. Once the hormone is released, it stimulates the sebaceous glands to produce more oil. Stress creates a chain reaction that is recipe for bad skin. Clinical studies have proven stress is the common denominator of many skin problems.

When you don’t get enough sleep, not only are you tired, but you physically show the signs of sleep deprivation with puffy, under-eye bags and dehydrated skin. The ideal amount of consecutive sleep is 6 to 8 hours in order to allow the body to get through the 5 sleep stages. During these stages, the cortisol and insulin levels help produce more collagen. During the fourth stage, growth hormones surge and tissue repair occurs.

When a lack of sleep increases the levels of stress hormones, the body undergoes chronic stress, which leads to increased inflammation and subsequent acceleration of aging, and worsening of acne. Poor sleep habits can result in skin sensitivity and irritation. The skin gradually loses its ability to protect itself from all the chemicals, pollutants and dirt it comes in contact with everyday.

By avoiding caffeine 4 to 6 hours before bed, limiting alcohol and heavy meals before sleep, getting regular exercise, and developing a regular bedtime and morning wake-up call, even on the weekends, your skin will thrive in healthy glow. The skin on the eyelid is so thin and delicate it is one of the most noticeable aspects of the face, especially when skin isn’t treated right. As such a delicate part of the face, it needs these healthy lifestyle changes in order to flourish.

2.    Eye Cream Maintenance

Since eye skin is the thinnest skin on the body, it has the best opportunity for skin absorption of cream with rejuvenating effects. Creams are best absorbed by eyelid skin, however it is important to make sure that they contain the right ingredients for optimal eyelid skin health. Among key ingredients to look for are retinol, vitamin C, and growth factors.

As the body ages, the skin loses collagen, an important foundational protein. Retinol, is essentially vitamin A which works as an effective cell-communication ingredient and stimulates new collagen production. Retinol is an ingredient to look for when shopping for eye creams, along with vitamin C and growth factors. Vitamin C has many benefits for the body’s overall well-being, but the skin in particular reaps many rewards from Vitamin C’s power to slow down free-radicals, which are the unstable molecules that damage collagen and cause skin dryness. Growth factor products are another formidable skin care ingredients that have the ability to drive repair and new skin cell growth that has been overexposed to UV rays. Crow’s feet are eye wrinkles that should be treated with care because of the fine lines that form overtime from sun damage and squinting. Having a quality daily eye cream can help keep the delicate skin around the eyes younger and healthier looking for longer.

3.    Cover Up: Sunglasses

Think sunglasses are just to help stop squinting? They do more than that; they protect the thinnest skin on the body, which is more susceptible to harmful ultraviolet rays (UV). The wrinkles that form around the eyes are fine and can easily sag below and above the eye. Protecting eyes from sun damage should be a priority, regardless of the type of skin tone, ethnicity, or eye color; although people with lighter eyes typically have lighter skin with less pigment, and thus experience sun damage easily.

Choosing eyeglasses with UV protection should be a top priority. It is crucial to protect the eyes, especially during peak sun hours of 10am to 4pm, in order to avoid eyesight damage, as well as sun damage to the delicate eyelid skin. Choose sunglasses with 99 to 100 percent of both UVA and UVB ray protection. Different UV rays are specific wavelengths of light that emit their own sun damage at varying degrees. The color or shade of the lens’ darkness actually has nothing to do with the level of protection, so instead just focus on the percent of UV blockage.

4.    Puffy Eyes? Limit Salt Intake

Nearly everyone has woken up with swollen and puffy eyes that cannot be treated with a simple cream. In order to have younger looking eyes it’s important to not only pay attention to sleep and stress, daily skincare, and eyewear, but to avoid a high sodium diet that may result in puffy, tired looking eyes.

Dr. Rokhsar suggests patients avoid salt during dinnertime because a salty meal right before bed will only make puffy eyes worse. The body needs salt, just not so late at night. Kidneys control water retention and release, and when there is a high level of salt, the kidneys will retain water in response, which results in bloating. The skin under the eyes are so thin, that once sodium levels are high and the body is at rest in the horizontal sleep position, the water will pool beneath the eyelids. By morning time there is a noticeable puffiness beneath the eyes because gravity redistributes water when lying flat as a direct result of the high-salt intake.

5.    Dark Under-Eyes Circles

Dark circles are another tired-looking feature nobody wants, and is often difficult to cover up with makeup. The claims that one cream can completely cure a person of dark under-eye circles are misleading because there are multiple causes for dark circles.

Some treatments are lifestyle changes such as more sleep, a healthier and well balanced diet, and to quit bad habits such as smoking. Smoking causes vascular, blood vessel, problems that can make the dark under-eye circles more prominent. Vascular congestion can appear purple and may be associated with allergies; although it is significant to understand that some people are just born with more vessels than others beneath their eyes. Certain ethnicities are prone to dark under-eye circles, predominantly seen in Indians and Hispanics. But everyone inevitably ages, and with that comes the loss of fat pads beneath the eyes, accentuating aging eyes.

Under-the-eye hollowness then appears and creates a dark, unsightly shadow.

Another important cause of under eye circles is allergies or eczema. Rubbing the eyelid skin can cause darkening of the eyelids. Avoid scrubbing washes on eyelids. If a patient has seasonal allergies and suffers from itchy eyes, the daily intake of an over-the-counter antihistamine such as Zyrtec or Allegra may be the right answer.

6.    Thermage To Tighten Eyelids

One of the most well known treatments for tightening and lifting the eyelid, reducing fine wrinkles above the eye and reduce hooding eyelids that characteristically droop, is Thermage. Thermage uses radiofrequency technology to deliver heat into the lower layers of the skin and tighten internally. The skin lifts and smoothes out wrinkles to renewal facial contours. Immediately after treatment, the skin may feel tighter, smoother and appear more youthful, and will increasingly tighten overtime because of the progressive collagen production. Results can last two years or longer depending upon the patient’s natural aging process.

7.    Fraxel Eyelid Tightening

Fraxel, a fractional laser treatment, can be used to gently resurface eyelids gradually and can be used in addition to filler or surgical treatments. This laser therapy is the most innovative approach to laser skin treatment by resurfacing the skin 15 to 30 percent each session. Just one treatment Fraxel can reverse up to 10 years of eye aging. Microscopic columns of treatment are administered along the desired sections of skin which stimulates collagen production, the protein responsible for tightening and structuring the skin.

Results are usually seen within one to two weeks post treatment, and there is virtually no downtime because no invasive surgery was necessary. Aside from eyelid tightening, the Fraxel laser is also an effective treatment for fine lines, wrinkles, surface scarring, sun spot pigmentation and sun damage.

8.    Ulthera For Upper Eyebrows

Ultherapy is FDA approved for nonsurgical brow lifts, which is an effective way to smooth out and tighten the skin around the eyes to achieve a natural, young looking set of eyes without turning to surgery alternatives. Ulthera uses ultrasound technology to tighten skin by thermally heating deep layers of the skin, which stimulates new collagen production. With new and healthy collagen, the skin will tighten and strengthen the foundational layers of the skin, ultimately smoothing skin from the inside out.

When Ultherapy lifts the brow and opens up the eyes, it reduces the excess skin that rests on the lids. This non-surgical alternative creates and maintains a more youthful appears in one 30 to 60 minute procedures that provides patients the ability to forgo invasive eyelift surgery.

9.    Fillers: Belotero and Restylane Around The Eyes

Injectable fillers are effective ways to smooth the skin around the eyes and provide subtle, natural looking volume to correct hollow eyes. Belotero is specially designed to diminish both fine lines around the eyes and the upper lip. It’s one of the newest fillers released onto the market that can provide volume while simultaneously hydrating the skin.

Another effective non-surgical eyelift treatment utilizes Restylane’s ability to create a fuller lower eyelid while filling in lines and folds. This cosmetic dermal filler’s key ingredient is hyaluronic acid, a natural sugar found in the body. Because it is naturally produced, there is no chance of an allergic reaction, which also makes it biodegradable. The body will naturally break down the filler substance within six to nine months post injection. The whole procedure takes 10 minutes and is injected into the lower eyelids in order to rejuvenate its appearance and restore volume for sunken eyes.

In order to ensure that eye-restoration is fully addressed, volume, texture, and excess skin must all be taken into consideration when choosing to correct baggy eyes. Often times, surgery is not necessary to remove excess skin around the eyes, however the tightening of skin is an effective approach to supplement Restylane.

10.    Get Rid of Crow’s Feet With Dysport and Botox

Patients often complain about the crow’s feet that appear along their eyes from years of smiling, laughing and squinting. Similar to the effects of fillers, which tighten and smooth the skin, Botox and Dysport provide the patient with similar results. Dysport and Botox share the same active ingredient, botulinum toxin A, a neurotoxin that simply immobilizes the nerve’s messages and stops the muscle contraction from happening. The repetitive muscle contraction, whether it be squinting or laughing are what cause the lines around the outside of the eyes. Botulinum A blocks the nerves that cause unnecessary micro movements of the muscles, which stops the crow’s feet wrinkles from happening.

The nerves won’t lose their ability to contract muscles; instead it will just stop the face from making micro-movements. When micro-movements are made throughout the face, they begin to form fine lines and hard to treat deep wrinkles. Results of a tighter and smoother skin around the eyes generally begin to show 24 hours to five days after injection. These wrinkles are indicators of older age, although recently younger people are taking steps towards avoiding the development of wrinkles all together by using Botox or Dysport.

11.    Latisse For Longer Lashes That Last

Having long eyelashes can give the appearance of more youthful and attractive eyes. There are hundreds of different ways to appear to have longer lashes. Fake eyelashes with messy glue, makeup tricks, curlers, diets, transplants, and over-the-counter drugs, are all inconvenient methods that could be avoided.

Latisse is the first and only FDA-approved prescription treatment for eyelashes. The results are thicker, longer and darker lashes with a simple treatment application. Beautiful actress and model Brooke Shields uses Latisse for longer, fuller lashes because of its effectiveness. It is not only a safe alternative to the chaos of other methods, but it is also delicate to the sensitive surrounding area. Latisse is applied to the base of the upper lashes and is clinically proven to be highly effective in almost 80 percent of patients.

Patients that dab Latisse on their top lids each night before bed will start to see longer lashes after 4 weeks and full results are achieved in 16 weeks. The medication will automatically spread to the lower lashes when you blink.

12.    Blepharoplasty: The Surgical Eyelift

When non-surgical treatments do not provide the patient with the results they desire, Blepharoplasty, or eyelid surgery is an effective route to achieve cosmetic goals. The procedure is performed by making tiny incisions in the eyelid and under the eye. Any excess fat is removed, the skin is then tightened and sutures are secured. Removal of the under eye fat pad will significantly decrease any puffiness around the eye, which results in a brighter and wider eye appearance. Eyelid surgery can correct droopy upper eyelids, also known as hooded eyes, but does not remove dark circles or lift sagging eyebrows, each of which can be treated separately.

A surgical eyelift is considered a minor surgery and can be performed while the patient is under local anesthesia or IV sedation. A combination of eyelid tightening, skin and fat pad removal can be performed on either the upper, lower eyelid or both

Source: pr web

 

New Drug Combination Causes Cancer To ‘Eat’ themselves

Turning cancerous cells into cannibalistic cells may be an oncologists best bet for treating a wide variety of tumors. In a study from the Virginia Commonwealth University, researchers have determined that a new drug combination can cause cancer cells to “eat” themselves without harming surrounding tissue. The treatment was shown to be effective in cancers of the colon, liver, lung, breast, brain, and kidney.

Published in the journal Molecular Pharmacology, the study sought to determine whether a combination of the drugs sorafenib and regorafenib can combine with so-called PI3K/AKT inhibitors to achieve a broader, more pronounced effect. Co-author Andrew Poklepovic said in a press release that although further research is necessary, the current findings set the stage for a promising phase 1 clinical trial.

“It is still too premature to estimate when a clinical trial will open to further test this drug combination therapy, but we are now in the planning phase and encouraged by the results of these laboratory experiments,” he told reporters.  “We are also encouraged by the fact that the drugs used in this therapy are either already approved by the FDA to treat certain cancers or are currently being investigated in other clinical trials.”

According to the researchers, sorafenib and regorafenib attacks the tumor growth by blocking the production of enzymes called kinases, which play a crucial role in the proliferation of cancerous cells. Essentially, the new drug combination broadens this effect by adding another class of kinases inhibitors called PI3K/AKT inhibitors. As a result, many cancer cells “starve,” and the tumor growth can no longer be sustained.

“We know that there are certain cellular processes that are frequently dysregulated in cancers and important to cell proliferation and survival, but if you shut down one, then cells can often compensate by relying on another,” said senior author Paul Dent of the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center. “We are blocking several of these survival pathways, and the cancer cells are literally digesting themselves in an effort to stay alive.”

The study represents the latest attempt to identify a new, reliable method of action for cancer drugs. In a similar research effort published earlier this year, scientists at Oregon State University described how a new type of nanotechnology can improve the efficacy of cytotoxic therapies by heating up cancerous cells. Hopefully, both studies will help oncologists and pharmaceutical researchers develop novel ways to treat the disease that currently kills over 500,000 Americans each year.

Source: Medical Daily