Health News

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

‘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

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

Turning off your smartphone at night can make you more productive at work

What does it mean for you?

Switching off your smartphone at night means better productivity at work the next day.

‘Smartphones are almost perfectly designed to disrupt sleep,’ said Russell Johnson, assistant professor of management at Michigan State University in the US.

‘Because they keep us mentally engaged late into the evening, they make it hard to detach from work so we can relax and fall asleep,’ he warned.

How was the study conducted?

In a pair of studies surveying a broad spectrum of workers, his team found that people who monitored their smartphones for business purposes after 9 p.m. were more tired and were less engaged the following day on the job.

Many of us consider the devices to be among the most important tools ever invented when it comes to increasing productivity of knowledge-based work, said the research published in the journal Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes.

For the first study, the researchers had 82 upper-level managers complete multiple surveys every day for two weeks.

The second study surveyed 161 employees daily in a variety of occupations – from nursing to manufacturing and from accounting to dentistry.

Across both studies, the surveys showed that night-time smartphone usage for business purposes cut into sleep and sapped workers’ energy the next day in the office. (Read: Lower brightness of smartphones to get better sleep)

Why are smartphones bad for sleep?

In addition to keeping people mentally engaged at night, smartphones emit ‘blue light’ that appears to be the most disruptive of all colours of light.

Blue light is known to hinder melatonin, a chemical in the body that promotes sleep, Johnson said.

‘The night-time use of smartphones appears to have both psychological and physiological effects on people’s ability to sleep and on sleep’s essential recovery functions,’ he added.

Source: newsr

Tips to CONTROL your DIABETES naturally

10 ways that will help you in taking care of your blood sugar levels in a natural way

1. Fibre rich natural foods

Diabetics should load up on fruits, vegetables, beans and whole grains as they provide extraordinary support to your digestive system plus your liver. These foods add up the fibre content that helps in clearing toxins from your body as fibre binds to wastes and moves them out

2. Daily exercise

Exercise done daily helps stimulate your respiratory system that includes heart, lungs and breathing that are all natural detoxifiers. Even as you lose weight, you shed the fat that stores toxins.

3. Avoid fad diets

Any kind of diet, even a detox or a cleansing diet or any fasting, dramatically disturbs metabolism and may even do long-term damage especially for people with diabetes.

Diabetics need a steady source of nutrients to support blood sugar, not fasting that overstresses your body’s metabolism.

4. Grapefruit healthy for diabetics

Grapefruit is rich in Vitamin C and Lycopene, anti-oxidants that help protect against heart disease by lowering cholesterol and fighting free radicals.

Pectin in Grapefruit helps control blood sugar spikes.
4. Grapefruit healthy for diabetics

Grapefruit is rich in Vitamin C and Lycopene, anti-oxidants that help protect against heart disease by lowering cholesterol and fighting free radicals.

Pectin in Grapefruit helps control blood sugar spikes.

5. Nuts are healthy for diabetics

Nuts are rich in fibre and magnesium, both of which may help regulate your blood sugar; nuts are good food sources of vitamin E, an anti-oxidant that helps prevent nerve and eye damage.

Nuts go a long way in providing seniors with healthy monounsaturated fats that is good for the diabetic heart. Nuts are high in calories so a small handful each day is enough.

6. Spices healthy for diabetics

Polyphenols found in spices and herbs are powerful anti-oxidants and have an anti-inflammatory effect. Phytonutrients in Cinnamon help improve the ability to respond to insulin, thus helping normalising blood sugar levels.

Add cloves, cinnamon, oregano, marjoram, and sage to your meal.

7. Whole grains vital and healthy for diabetics

Whole grains are packed with anti-oxidants and soluble and insoluble fibre, helping reduce blood sugar spikes, overcome insulin resistance, metabolise fats and also keep the digestive track healthy.

People who eat whole grains regularly have lower blood cholesterol and the grain also keeps blood sugar levels stable.

8. Lean meat healthy for diabetics

Lean meats, fish, beans, soy products and low fat dairy products are great sources of protein.

Ensure that the protein food you choose is low in calories and saturated fat.

9. Protein choices for diabetics

The best choices of protein foods are lower in saturated fat and calories like dried beans, legumes, peas and lentils as they are packed with protein, fibre and complex carbs.

Fish and seafood like cod, halibut herring, salmon, trout, tuna, are excellent protein foods for diabetics; try poultry, without skin with lean cuts of chicken, and turkey.

10. Omega 3 rich foods for diabetics

Salmon or tuna is rich in protein and good fats that help stabilize blood sugar.

You may also include cod, halibut herring, trout, or tuna in your diabetic diet.

Source: rediff

5 reasons why crying is actually good for your baby!

Often you don’t know why your little one is in tears and disturbed to the core. But the good thing about crying is that baby’s indication about his needs and mother’s instincts work together. ‘It’s through crying that a newborn expresses his needs while the mother responds, this also helps in the mother baby bonding,’ says Dr Geetanjali Shah, consultant pediatrician attached to Ashwini Hospital, Mumbai. A crying baby needs soothing and we all know that. But while you whack your brains how to calm your baby know that it’s a healthy sign indicating his overall well-being. Wondering how?

Importance of first cry: This is the sound you had been waiting to hear all the while. It not only marks your baby’s arrival but blows trumpets for you as you enter a new phase of life. ‘This helps the baby to breathe in and the lungs to open up to take in air. Though many parents believe that crying would every time help the lungs to grow stronger but it’s only the first cry that does the trick. Other times look for signs that are distressing the baby,’ says Dr Shah. When your baby breaks into his first cry you know that all is well within and you can sigh in relief.

Helps in communicating: In the absence of crying, you would never be able to know what your baby needs. ‘Crying can be because of various reasons and in varied pitches. Each pitch indicates the level of discomfort or attention needed. Over the period of time each mother learns to read between the cries,’ says Dr Shah. So when your baby cries look for the obvious, is he hungry, needs a diaper change, feeling hot or cold, needs comforting or is crying for attention. ‘Only his cries will tell you that you need to check on his well-being as it serves to be a medium of communication, a kind of language for the baby,’ explains Dr Shah.

Helps in psychological well-being: When you are taking care of or soothing your baby it gives out a message to him that he is not alone. ‘Many adults would advice to ignore a crying baby in order to discipline them, but newborns need more attention than discipline in the initial months of life. This helps the baby to feel secure and safe; a child growing in such care and love develops into a better individual than the one who is not. A baby ignored every time would land being quiet and this would pose a challenge for the baby’s physiological well-being. In fact unusually quite babies can be psychologically disturbed within,’ cautions Dr Shah.

Helps to stretch muscle: If you take a closer look at a crying baby, you would see the many muscles, the limbs or the entire body that’s been twisted and turned while the child whines. Gosh, that’s an exercise in itself! ’But it’s not like babies do not stretch themselves often. So be sure that the cry is not due to any medical reason or colic. Do not leave a child crying for too long,’ says Dr Shah.

Helps shed excess emotional baggage: Now this isn’t surprise that tears are a way of shedding the excess emotional baggage even for babies. Know when they have tantrums and you chose to not obey your little master, the obvious thing for him to do is break into a cry. Don’t panic, this allowing of emotions to come out is also good. ‘Listen to your baby while he cries and explains his needs or desire, especially the toddlers, and then talk it out and distract them. This works to break the tantrum and balance the emotions as well,’ says Dr Shah.

Source: Health India