Month: January 2014

Fresh hope for hay fever sufferers

Researchers are set to discuss and make recommendations on the safety and efficacy of oral tablets used to treat ragweed allergy symptoms, during a public meeting of the Allergenic Products Advisory Committee, organized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

There is more to seasonal allergies than a little congestion and sneezing. If you notice eating watermelon, cantaloupe or avocado make you cough and itch, it may be a symptom of ragweed allergy. But more help might be on the way for some of the 23 million hay fever sufferers.

“The committee is likely to approve these tablets which will mark great improvement in the fight against allergy,” allergist Michael Foggs, MD, president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), said. “Once the committee and then the FDA approve the tablets, allergy sufferers will have another form of treatment available to them.”

If the committee, which granted approval for grass allergy tablets in December, also approves the ragweed allergy tablets, the FDA will then have to approve both the grass and ragweed tablets before they can be made available to allergy sufferers.
Currently, the best treatment for those with moderate-to-severe allergy symptoms is allergy shots, also known as immunotherapy. This treatment requires tiny injections of purified allergen extracts.

A pill a day may seem more appealing than getting shots. So why bother with allergy shots anymore?
Dr. Foggs said that allergy shots can be customized to provide relief to multiple allergens, including tree, grass, weed, mold, house dust, dander, and mold, while offering the assurance of more than 100 years of experience in causing remission, not just symptom relief in allergy.
The researchers think there may be pros and cons of these differing forms of treatments. Board-certified allergists can help patients make good short-term and long-term choices.

Source: Yahoo news

33 new genes behind onset of cancer uncovered

A research team has found many new cancer genes – expanding the list of known genes tied to these cancers by 25 percent.

Moreover, the study shows that many key cancer genes still remain to be discovered. The Broad Institute-led research team’s work, which lays a critical foundation for future cancer drug development, also shows that creating a comprehensive catalog of cancer genes for scores of cancer types is feasible with as few as 100,000 patient samples.

Broad Institute founding director Eric Lander, senior co-author, said that the knowledge of genes and their pathways will highlight new, potential drug targets and help lead the way to effective combination therapy.

Over the past 30 years, scientists had found evidence for about 135 genes that play causal roles in one or more of the 21 tumor types analyzed in the study. The new report not only confirms these genes, but, in one fell swoop, increases the catalog of cancer genes by one-quarter.

It uncovers 33 genes with biological roles in cell death, cell growth, genome stability, immune evasion, as well as other processes.

The result has been published in the journal Nature.

Source: Zee news

‘Morning after pill’ under review for being less effective for overweight women

New findings suggest that “morning after pill” emergency contraceptives may be less effective for overweight and obese women.

Pills that are commonly used in the UK will be included in a review, the European Medicines Agency confirmed, but family planning experts said that women should not be put off seeking contraception and should speak to a professional if they had concerns.

It comes after the French drug company HRA Pharma changed the labelling of its product Norlevo, widely available in France, Ireland and other European countries, after studies showed the pill was less effective in women weighing 75kg or more, and ineffective in women weighting more than 80kg.

The active ingredient of Norlevo, levonorgestrel, is also contained in the most popular emergency contraceptive pill in the UK, Bayer’s Levonelle.

Professor Anna Glasier, a leading expert in reproductive medicine who led research inTO levonorgestrel at the University of Edinburgh, told The Independent it was “highly likely” that other medicines for which it was an active ingredient would be similarly affected.

The UK’s second most common emergency contraceptive, HRA’s EllaOne, which uses a different active ingredient, will also come under review.

Lynn Hearton, from the sexual health charity the Family Planning Association, said that, while the review was being carried out, any woman with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 who was concerned should speak to their GP or visit a contraception of sexual health clinic.

Source : DNA India

Cocaine users enjoy social interactions less

Regular cocaine users have difficulties in feeling empathy for others and exhibit less prosocial behavior, scientists say.

Researchers at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich in Switzerland found that cocaine users have social deficits because social contacts are less rewarding for them.

Chronic cocaine users display worse memory performance, concentration difficulties, and attentional deficits but also their social skills are affected as previous studies at the University of Zurich suggested.

These investigations also found that cocaine users have difficulties to take the mental perspective of others, show less emotional empathy, find it more difficult to recognise emotions from voices, behave in a less prosocial manner in social interactions, and they reported fewer social contacts.

Moreover, worse emotional empathy was correlated with a smaller social network.

The scientists now believe that social cognitive deficits contribute to the development and perpetuation of cocaine addiction.
In the new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, psychologists Katrin Preller and Boris Quednow, Head of the Division of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, concluded that impaired social interaction skills of cocaine users could be explained by a blunted response to social reward.

The research team demonstrated that cocaine users perceived joined attention – the shared attentional focus of two persons on an object after gaze contact – as less rewarding compared to drug-naive healthy controls.

In a subsequent functional imaging experiment they showed that cocaine users showed a blunted activation of a crucial part of the reward system – the so called medial orbitofrontal cortex – during this basal kind of social interaction.

A weaker activation of the medial orbitofrontal cortex during social gaze contact was also associated with fewer social contacts in the past weeks.

“Cocaine users perceive social exchange as less positive and rewarding compared to people who do not use this stimulant,” Quednow said.

Source: Business standard

 

Impulsive people more likely to binge eat, study finds

Impulsive behaviour, which is linked to alcohol and drug addiction, could also lead to food addiction, psychologists say

Impulsive people are more likely to be binge eaters, warns a new study.
Researchers have found the same kinds of impulsive behaviour that lead some people to abuse alcohol and other drugs may also be an important contributor to an unhealthy relationship with food.

They discovered that people with impulsive personalities were more likely to report higher levels of food addiction – a compulsive pattern of eating that is similar to drug addiction – and this in turn was associated with obesity.

Principla investigator Doctor James MacKillop, associate professor of psychology at the University of Georgia in the US, said: “The notion of food addiction is a very new one, and one that has generated a lot of interest.

“My lab generally studies alcohol, nicotine and other forms of drug addiction, but we think it’s possible to think about impulsivity, food addiction and obesity using some of the same techniques.”

Dr MacKillop and his colleagues hope that their research will ultimately help physicians and other experts plan treatments and interventions for obese people who have developed an addiction to food, paving the way for a healthier lifestyle.

The study, published in the journal Appetite, used two different scales, the Yale Food Addiction Scale and the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale, to determine levels of food addiction and impulsivity among the 233 participants. Researchers then compared these results with each participant’s body mass index, which is used to determine obesity.

Dr MacKillop said: “Our study shows that impulsive behaviour was not necessarily associated with obesity, but impulsive behaviours can lead to food addiction.”

However, he said just because someone exhibits impulsive behaviour does not mean they will become obese, but an increase in certain impulsive behaviours is linked to food addiction, which appeared to be the driving force behind higher body mass index (BMI).

The results are among the first forays into the study of addictive eating habits and how they contribute to obesity.

Dr MacKillop’s team now plans to expand their research by analysing the brain activity of people as they make decisions about food.

He said the food industry has created a wide array of eating options, and foods that are high in fat, sodium, sugar and other additives and appear to produce cravings much like illicit drugs. Now his team will work to see how those intense cravings might play a role in the development of obesity.

He added: “Modern neuroscience has helped us understand how substances like drugs and alcohol co-opt areas of the brain that evolved to release dopamine and create a sense of happiness or satisfaction.

“And now we realize that certain types of food also hijack these brain circuits and lay the foundation for compulsive eating habits that are similar to drug addiction.”

Source: telegraph

Olive oil may help prevent breast cancer

A new study led by an Indian origin researcher has found that a major component of olive oil, hydroxytyrosol, may help prevent breast cancer in postmenopausal women.

“We know there is a correlation between breast density and breast cancer,” Tejal Patel, M.D., breast medical oncologist with Houston Methodist Cancer Center said. “A decrease in density of one percent can potentially translate into a nearly two percent reduced risk of developing breast cancer.

Previous research has shown that olive oil provides many health benefits including lowering the risk for heart disease, high blood pressure and possibly stroke.

Houston Methodist will enroll 100 patients — 50 premenopausal and 50 postmenopausal women. Each patient will take one 25 mg hydroxytyrosol capsule for 12 months and undergo checkups every three months. There is no placebo control.

In addition to looking at whether hydroxytyrosol has an impact on breast density, researchers will also note possible side effects of the chemical.

Source: DNA India

Childhood amnesia occurs at the age of seven

Psychologists have suggested that age seven is when these earliest memories tend to fade into oblivion, a phenomenon known as “childhood amnesia.”

The research involved interviewing children about past events in their lives, starting at age three. Different subsets of the group of children were then tested for recall of these events at ages five, six, seven, eight and nine.

Emory psychologist Patricia Bauer, who led the study, said that their study is the first empirical demonstration of the onset of childhood amnesia.

She said that they actually recorded the memories of children, and then they followed them into the future to track when they forgot these memories.

The experiment began by recording 83 children at the age of three, while their mothers or fathers asked them about six events that the children had experienced in recent months, such as a trip to the zoo or a birthday party.

After recording these base memories, the researchers followed up with the children years later, asking them to recall the events that they recounted at age three. The study subjects were divided into five different groups, and each group of children returned only once to participate in the experiment, from the ages of five to nine.

While the children between the ages of five and seven could recall 63 to 72 percent of the events, the children who were eight and nine years old remembered only about 35 percent of the events.

The study has been published in the journal Memory.

Source: ANI news

Almost 200 years later, are we living in the final days of the stethoscope?

stethescope2

An editorial in Global Heart, journal of the World Heart Federation, suggests the world of medicine could be experiencing its final days of the stethoscope, due to the rapid advent of point-of-care ultrasound devices that are becoming increasingly accurate, smaller to the point of being hand-held and less expensive as the years roll by.

The editorial is by Jagat Narula, editor-in-chief of Global Heart (Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York) and Bret Nelson, also of Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

In the editorial, a brief history of both the stethoscope (invented in 1816) and the ultrasound (invented in the 1950s) is given, with the authors suggesting that the stethoscope could soon be exiled to the archives of medical history.

They say: “At the time of this writing several manufacturers offer hand-held ultrasound machines slightly larger than a deck of cards, with technology and screens modelled after modern smartphones.”

Compared with expensive, bulky, ultrasound machines of the past, the authors say, “Hand-held ultrasound devices introduced an alternative concept of relatively inexpensive, easy-to-use machines which could generate images interpretable by a wider spectrum of clinicians at the point of care. Soon concerns about smaller machines having inferior image quality compared to devices many times larger and more expensive were outweighed by evidence that rapid diagnostic decisions could be made with portable machines.”

The editorial highlights that nowadays, more than 20 medical specialties include use of point-of-care ultrasound as a core skill, and that mounting evidence suggests that compared with the stethoscope ultrasound technology can reduce complications, assist in emergency procedures and improve diagnostic accuracy.

The authors say: “Thus, many experts have argued that ultrasound has become the stethoscope of the 21st century. While few studies have pitted ultrasound head-to-head against the stethoscope, there is evidence that ultrasound is more accurate even than chest x-ray in the detection of pneumothorax, pleural effusion, and perhaps even pneumonia. Ultrasound allows visualisation of cardiac valve function, contractility, and pericardial effusions with greater accuracy than listening with the stethoscope. And beyond the heart and lungs lie dozens of other organs and structures — well-described in the literature of point of care ultrasound — which are opaque to the abilities of the stethoscope.”

Asking why the stethoscope has not yet made way for its more technically advanced counterpart, ultrasound, the authors say that while the cheapest available stethoscopes are literally disposable (though many can cost hundreds of dollars), the cost of the cheapest ultrasound devices is still several thousand dollars, making roll-out, especially in developing nations, much more difficult.

There may also be resistance from the older generation of healthcare workers who were not originally trained with this technology. Yet all the evidence shows that ultrasound can diagnose heart, lung, and other problems with much more accuracy than the 200-year-old stethoscope.

The authors conclude: “Certainly the stage is set for disruption; as LPs were replaced by cassettes, then CDs and .mp3s, so too might the stethoscope yield to ultrasound. Medical students will train with portable devices during their preclinical years, and witness living anatomy and physiology previously only available through simulation. Their mentors will increasingly use point-of-care ultrasound in clinical environments to diagnose illness and guide procedures. They will see more efficient use of comprehensive, consultative ultrasound as well — guided by focused sonography and not limited by physical examination alone. And as they take on leadership roles themselves they may realise an even broader potential of a technology we are only beginning to fully utilize. At that point will the “modern” stethoscope earn a careful cleaning, tagging, and white-glove placement in the vault next to the artefacts of Laennec, Golding Bird, George Cammann, and David Littmann? Or, as some audiophiles still maintain the phonograph provides the truest sound, will some clinicians yet cling to the analogue acoustics of the stethoscope?”

Source: India Medical Times

 

10 Simple Ways To Soothe A Sore Throat

If swallowing is making you cringe in pain, chances are you have a sore throat. That scratchy, burning sensation may be part of a bigger problem, such as an infection, cold or the flu, or it could just come from dryness in your throat. Whatever the cause, a sore throat is painful and very irritating. It can turn the simplest things, like eating and talking, into a chore. But the good news is that a sore throat is easily treatable. Below are 10 ways to soothe your sore throat, some common, and some unique.

1. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS

The key to soothing a sore throat is to constantly keep it moisturized, and the best way to do so is to drink plenty of fluids. This not only soothes the throat, but also washes away any bacteria that may be lingering in that area. Drinking hot fluids, such as tea or coffee, can help with inflammation and just flat-out feels good on a sore throat. Citrus drinks, such as lemonade, orange juice and lemon or lime juice with honey, are also good sore throat soothers.

Other drinks, like milk, sports drinks and water, are also good fluids for a sore throat. However, if your sore throat is cause by a cold or the flu, avoid drinks with caffeine since it is a diuretic and can dehydrate you.

2. SUCK ON A LOZENGE OR HARD CANDY

Another good way to keep the throat moist is to suck on throat lozenges, or even cough drops. Many throat lozenges are made with pectin, zinc and vitamin C, which will help boost the immune system if you’re feeling under the weather.

3. SUCK ON SOMETHING COLD

After drinking a hot drink, you may want to suck on an ice-cube or ice pops. It’s both soothing and refreshing. But if you find that sucking on anything cold is irritating your throat, simply bite off a small piece and let it melt in your mouth.

4. SUCK ON GARLIC

It may sound unappetizing, but sucking on garlic can stop your sore throat in its tracks. That’s because garlic contains a chemical called allicin, which kills bacteria, including the type that causes strep throat. Just take a fresh clove of garlic, cut it in half and put one piece in each side of your mouth. Don’t bite the garlic, but mash it with your teeth to release the allicin. This remedy is a good way to prevent sore throats as well.

5. MAKE A FUNKY DRINK

An old-fashioned remedy that has many variations is a drink of apple cider vinegar, honey and water. Just mix one tablespoon each of honey and vinegar with eight ounces of hot water and drink.

If you think you can stomach something a little stronger, try this Russian remedy: Mix one tablespoon each of horseradish, cloves and honey with eight ounces of hot water and enjoy.

6. GARGLE WITH SALT WATER

Gargling with salt water at least once an hour can help with inflammation and swelling, and can ease the discomfort of a sore throat. To make the perfect salt water mix, add one tablespoon of salt to one cup of warm water. Gargle with this mixture at least once an hour. If you have post nasal drip, you might want to gargle more often to soothe your throat.

If you want to add a little flavor to the solution, add one tablespoon of sage or a half-teaspoon of turmeric. Both can also help ease inflammation of the throat.

7. TRY THROAT SPRAY

A quick spray of Chloraseptic can numb the back of the throat – but only temporarily. Like gargling, it will have to be administered at least once every hour.

8. CLEAR YOUR NASAL PASSAGES

Postnasal drip tends to be a common cause of sore throats, so keeping your nasal passages clear is another way to prevent and ease a sore throat. You can use either a saline nasal spray or a salt water mix. Mix one tablespoon of water with one cup of warm water and put it in a Neti pot or a bulb syringe. Pour the mixture into the nose, one nostril at a time. Hold one finger over the opposite nostril while doing so. Let the excess water drain and then gently blow your nose. Repeat the process two or three times and then switch nostrils.

9. INHALE STEAM

If your sore throat was cause by a cold, or if you’re looking for another way to clear your nasal passages, try breathing in steam. Studies show that it is also effective in making a sore throat go away more quickly. An easy way to inhale steam is to take a hot shower, but you can also heat a pot of water and breathe in the steam from the pot. While leaning over the pot, place a towel over your head to tent the steam. For a more soothing steam, add a few drops of eucalyptus oil to the water.

10. TAKE MEDICINE

If all else fails, take some over-the-counter or prescribed medicine for relief. Also, be sure to seek medical attention for chronic sore throat or if the condition has become severe.

Source: symptom find

Yoga Poses for Beginners:

The Yoga Poses for Beginners library serves as a comprehensive intro guide to the most popular yoga poses and sequences.

Becoming familiar with and learning these poses should get you through a class in any of the types of yoga styles.

1. Seated Yoga Poses – Grounding and calming, these poses provide some of our deepest muscle opening and twisting.

2. Standing Yoga Poses – Good for strength, balance and focus. These energetic poses provide a straight line to shaping our best body.

3. Arm Balances – These yoga poses are good for strength, body awareness and focus, providing some fun challenges for every body.

4. Backbends – Opening up in the spine and chest feels great and strengthens our connection to intuition.

5. Inversions – Good for balance and concentration, as well as circulation.

6. Core Poses – These poses will strengthen your core and get your abs beach ready!

7. Yoga Poses for Weight Loss – These poses will help you shed unwanted pounds!

8. Restorative Poses – These yoga poses are great for winding down and connecting to our breath.

9. Yoga Poses for Back Pain – Whether the origins are some acute injury or long-term stress, there are a few simple poses that can help with back pain.

10. Yoga Sequences & Moving (Videos) – How we move and breathe is much more important than the exact shape of our poses, for clearing our bodies and minds and creating our own best health.

Source: mind body green