health tips

Insulin inhaler could replace diabetic injections

An Insulin Inhaler delivers powdered insulin with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

An inhaled insulin device made by MannKind Corp proved more effective than injected and oral treatments in trials, potentially improving the quality of life for millions of diabetics and creating a multi-billion dollar opportunity for the company.

The product, Afrezza, is a whistle-sized inhaler that delivers powdered insulin to adults with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. This ease the use of insulin compared to regular shots, it has the potential to capture a big share of the global insulin market.

The number of diabetic patients is increasing worldwide and is projected to cross half a billion by 2030. According to a July report by Transparency Market Research, the global insulin market is expected to reach $32 billion in 2018.

MLV & Co analyst Graig Suvannavejh expects Afrezza to get regulatory approval; to market the company successfully.

He estimates U.S. and European sales of about $3 billion for Afrezza by 2025.

The inhaled insulin market has seen high-profile commercial failure in the past. Pfizer Inc withdrew Exubera in 2007 due to poor sales. The large size of the device and a high price were blamed for its failure.

Suvannavejh said a potential partner for MannKind could come from among such major diabetes players as Denmark’s Novo Nordisk, French drugmaker Sanofi, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co Inc, Eli Lilly & Co and Johnson & Johnson.

 

Chemical used in plastics make children obese

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Researchers found that children with higher BPA levels were more likely to have an abnormal waist circumference-to-weight ratio.

 

Children who have higher levels of Bisphenol A, a chemical used in plastics, make children to become obese and have abnormal waist circumference, a new study has suggested.

The University of Michigan researchers studied the levels of BPA in children`s urine and measured body fat, waist circumference, cardiovascular and diabetes risk factors.

Previously BPA was widely used in manufacturing of polycarbonate and epoxy resins used in a variety of products for children, including baby bottles, protective coatings on metal food containers, plastic toys, and dental sealants.

Donna Eng, M.D., author of the study and recent graduate of the Pediatric Endocrinology Fellowship at C.S. Mott Children`s Hospital, said that studies in adults had shown an association between high BPA levels and obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but little was known about its effects in children.

The study found that higher odds of obesity, defined as a BMI above the 95th percentile on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth curves, was associated with higher levels of urinary BPA.

Researchers also found that children with higher BPA levels also were more likely to have an abnormal waist circumference-to-weight ratio.

The study did not find significant associations of BPA with any other chronic disease factors, including abnormal levels of cholesterol, insulin or glucose levels.

Eng said that their study suggested a possible link between BPA exposure and childhood obesity. We therefore need more longitudinal studies to determine if there is a causal link between BPA and excess body fat.

Joyce Lee, M.D., M.P.H, associate professor of Pediatrics at C.S. Mott Children`s Hospital, said that they were surprised that their study did not find a link between BPA and measures of cardiovascular and diabetes risk, which has been established among adults.

She said that based on the results, BPA may not have adverse effects on cardiovascular and diabetes risk, but it`s certainly possible that the adverse effects of BPA could compound over time, with health effects that only later manifest in adulthood.

Copper plays key role in Alzheimer’s disease

A New study showed that copper accumulate in the brain and cause the blood to break down, resulting in the toxic accumulation of the protein

A new study reported that copper is one of the main cause for the onset and enhancement of Alzheimer`s disease.

The study by University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) Department of Neurosurgery showed that copper can accumulate in the brain and cause the blood to break down, resulting in the toxic accumulation of the protein amyloid beta, a by-product of cellular activity.

the research is conducted in both mice and human brain cells by a series of experiments and pinpointed the molecular mechanisms by which copper accelerates the pathology of Alzheimer`s disease.

The research team – “dosed” normal mice with copper over a three month period. The metal is available in drinking water and was one-tenth of the water quality standards for copper established by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The researchers found that the copper made its way into the blood system and accumulated in the vessels that feed blood to the brain, specifically in the cellular “walls” of the capillaries.

They observed that the copper disrupted the function of LRP1 through a process called oxidation which, in turn, inhibited the removal of amyloid beta from the brain. They observed this phenomenon in both mouse and human brain cells.

In mice, the cells that form the blood brain barrier have broken down and become “leaky” – a likely combination of aging and the cumulative effect of toxic assaults – allowing elements such as copper to pass into the brain tissue.

They observed that the copper stimulated activity in neurons that increased the production of amyloid beta. The copper also interacted with amyloid beta in a manner that caused the proteins to bind together in larger complexes creating logjams of the protein that the brain`s waste disposal system cannot clear.

This one-two punch, inhibiting the clearance and stimulating the production of amyloid beta, provides strong evidence that copper is a key player in Alzheimer`s disease. In addition, copper provoked inflammation of brain tissue which may further promote the breakdown of the blood brain barrier and the accumulation of Alzheimer`s-related toxins.

Smart phones cause rise in Myopia – warns Eye Surgeon

Operating Smartphone’s at a close proximity keeps the genes well beyond and the short-sightedness would be stabilized. This is known as `epigenetics`.

Smartphone’s have changed our lives easier but there is a flip side too. They cause eye problems like vision impairment, says a leading laser eye surgeon.

Surgeon David Allambym has revealed that Smartphone’s have caused cases of myopia (short-sightedness) among young people to surge.

Allamby, founder of Focus Clinics, has reported a 35 percent of people are suffering with advancing myopia, due to the launch of Smartphone’s in 1997, and warns that Myopia in young adults could increase by 50 percent within 10 years.

Half of Britons own Smartphone’s and spend an average of two hours per day using them. Combined with the amount of hours spent in front of a computer screen, laptop, tablet and television, it means that particularly young people and children are at risk of permanently damaging their vision.

New research found that the average Smartphone user holds the handset 30 cm from their face, with some people holding it just 18 cm away, compared to newspapers and books, which are held 40cm away from the eyes.

According to Allamby, watching and operating Smartphone’s at a close proximity keeps the genes well beyond and the short-sightedness would historically have stabilized, around the age of 21. This is known as `epigenetics`. Myopia used to stop in our early 20s but now we see it progressing throughout the 20s, 30s, and even into our 40s.

“If things continue as they are, I predict that 40-50 percent of 30-year-olds could have myopia by 2033 as a result of smart phones and lifestyles in front of screens, an epidemic we call Screen-Sightedness.

Parents and people should limit screen time wherever possible even by going outside without their phone for a period of time each day, and also seriously consider the age at which they give their children a Smartphone,” Allamby said.

It is predicted that by 2014 children aged 12 to 17 years will be the second biggest market for Smartphone’s behind 18-24 year olds.

 

Women with weak thyroid more likely to have autistic children

A new study has claimed that pregnant women, who are unable to make enough thyroids, are nearly 4 times more likely to produce an autistic child.

More than 4,000 Dutch mothers and their children, have a growing view of autism spectrum disorders. This can be caused by a lack of maternal thyroid hormone, which helps the foetal brain cells during embryo development.

Gustavo Roman, M.D., a neurologist and neuro epidemiologist who directs the Nantz National Alzheimer Center, said that autism is caused by environmental factors in most cases, not by genetics.

The researchers also found that autistic children had more pronounced symptoms if their mothers were severely deficient for T4, also called thyroxine.

Mild T4 deficiencies in mothers produced an insignificant increase in autistic children’s symptoms. The most common cause of thyroid hormone deficiency is a lack of dietary iodine – because both the thyroid hormones, T3 and T4, contain that element.

The present work was based on the Generation R Study, conducted by Erasmus Medical Centre (Rotterdam, Netherlands) doctors and social scientists, in which thousands of pregnant women were voluntarily enrolled between 2002 and 2006.

Blood was withdrawn from the mothers at or around 13 weeks into their pregnancies to measure levels of T4 and two proteins that could indicate the cause of thyroid deficiency.

Six years later, mothers were asked to describe the behavioral and emotional characteristics of their children using a standardized psychology checklist.

Researchers identified 80 “probable autistic children” from a population of 4,039. 159 mothers were identified as being severely T4 deficient (defined as having 5 percent or less of normal T4, but producing a normal amount of thyroid stimulating hormone), and 136 were identified as mildly T4 deficient.

The researchers found a weak association between mild T4 deficiency and the likelihood of producing an autistic child, but a strong association between severe T4 deficiency and autism (3.89 more likely, as compared with mothers with normal thyroid hormone).

 

New study to deactivate dengue virus

The new strategy overcomes the prevailing challenges of vaccine development by tackling the virus ’ability to ‘hide’ from the host immune system.

A new strategy decreases the ability of dengue virus to escape the host immune system has been discovered by A*STAR’s Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN). This strategy opens a door to the world’s first universal dengue vaccine candidate that can give full protection from all four serotypes of the dreadful virus.

The research done in collaboration with Singapore’s Novartis Institute of Tropical Diseases (NITD) and Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology and supported by Singapore STOP Dengue Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Program grant.

Early studies have shown that a weakened virus generate protective immune response offers the best hope for an effective vaccine. However, over the years of vaccine development, scientists have learnt that the path to finding a virus of appropriate strength is fraught with challenges.

Even though there are only four different serotypes, the fairly high rates of mutation means the virus evolve constantly, and this contributes to the great diversity of the dengue viruses circulating globally.

In some cases, the immune response developed following infection by one of the four dengue viruses appears to increase the risk of severe dengue when the same individual is infected with any of the remaining three viruses.

With nearly half the world’s population at risk of dengue infection and an estimated 400 million people getting infected each year, the need for a safe and long-lasting vaccine has never been greater.

The new strategy overcomes the prevailing challenges of vaccine development by tackling the virus’ ability to ‘hide’ from the host immune system.

Dengue virus requires the enzyme called MTase (also known as 2’-O-methyltransferase) to chemically modify its genetic material to escape detection.

In this study, the researchers discovered that by introducing a genetic mutation to deactivate the MTase enzyme of the virus, initial cells infected by the weakened MTase mutant virus is immediately recognized as foreign. As a result, the desired outcome of a strong protective immune response is triggered yet at the same time the mutant virus hardly has a chance to spread in the host.

The researchers went on to demonstrate that the MTase mutant dengue virus cannot infect Aedes mosquitoes. This means that the mutated virus is unable to replicate in the mosquito, and will not be able to spread through mosquitoes into our natural environment.

The results confirmed that MTase mutant dengue virus is potentially a safe vaccine approach for developing a universal dengue vaccine that protects from all four serotypes.

Katja Fink from SIgN said, “There is still no clinically approved vaccine or specific treatment available for dengue, so we are very encouraged by the positive results with this novel vaccine strategy.”

“Our next step will be to work on a vaccine formulation that will confer full protection from all four serotypes with a single injection. If this proves to be safe in humans, it can be a major breakthrough for the dengue vaccine field,” Fink added.

12 year boy affected by deadly brain eating amoeba

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Zachary Reyna, a boy affected by brain eating amoeba

Family members have told media that Zachary Reyna, a 12 year old boy affected with Naegleria fowleri – an amoeba that causes deadly brain infections- while playing with friends near drainage in his house in LaBelle on Aug 3. He is being treated in the intensive care unit at Miami Children’s Hospital. The single-celled organism is commonly found in freshwater lakes, ponds and rivers.

The illness is extremely rare. This was identified in the early 1960’s. About 120 cases have been reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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Naegleria fowleri – an amoeba mostly found in ponds, lakes

Zachary’s brother, Brandon Villarreal, said. “He slept all day, all night, and that’s when my mom was like, ‘Okay, something’s not right.’”

The next thing his family knew, Zac had been diagnosed with primary amoebic meningoencephalitis — also known as PAM — and was undergoing brain surgery. He is currently in intensive care at Miami Children’s Hospital.

 

 

Mystery Baby: catches fire – scientists aren’t convinced

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A two-and-half-month-old boy, Rahul caught fire for four times

Can humans spontaneously burst into flames? More people think Spontaneous human combustion is a real one, but most scientists aren’t convinced.

The mystery baby, a two-and-half-month-old boy, Rahul caught fire for four times, is expected to be unraveled when the test results are out on Monday and Spontaneous human combustion pictures are shown below

The body burns spontaneously due to combustible gases emitting from the patient’s body, without any external source,” Dr R Narayana Babu, head of the pediatrics department, Kilpauk Medical College, told. “Clothes and other things nearby that are inflammable may also catch fire.”  Doctors treating the child believe that he may have spontaneous human combustion (SHC), a condition in which the excretion of gases causes the body to catch fire.

However, some experts rubbished the spontaneous human combustion theories, saying that it is not possible.

“SHC is a hoax theory. A baby catching fire spontaneously is not possible,” burns specialist at KMC Dr J Jagan Mohan told The Times of India. “Alcoholics have a very small percentage of alcohol secreted in their sweat but even that wouldn’t generate a fire.”

Only about 200 cases of spontaneous human combustion facts have been reported in the last three centuries, the latest in February this year when a 65-year-old man from Muldrow, Okla, was believed to have died of SHC. His body was found charred without any source of fire.

However, a dozen tests have been performed on Rahul, and his vital functions are working normally.

Though doctors say Rahul must still undergo a skin biopsy, Dr.Manny, told that, “I think that all this talk about spontaneous combustions is a bunch of smoke and mirrors.  One thing I can tell you for sure is there is no scientific way a human being can suddenly burst into flames”.

There are medical conditions that can create areas of devascularization in the skin, which may mimic burned flesh.  Actual flames protruding from the human body in a spontaneous way? No way, Jose.

According to Dr. Jayaraman, former head of the plastic surgery department at Government Kilpauk Medical College Hospital, health and lifestyle factors such as smoking and inadequate hydration could cause spontaneous human combustion and stated this condition called ketosis, which occurs due to alcoholism, or a low-carbohydrate diet could also create spontaneous combustion. 

“About 25 percent of my diabetic patients experience ketosis, and there aren’t pregnant women blowing up on the streets of Manhattan”, by Dr. Manny. I know that there have been so-called isolated reports of people spontaneously combusting, but all of these cases have been mere anecdotes.  Also these incidents occurred in people’s homes and no one has seen these or taken pictures of them.

“So until someone shows me a YouTube video or I see someone spontaneously combust with my own eyes, I would have to say this is all a hoax.  In regards to this young boy, I hope he is taken care of in the hospital and that the authorities investigate whether or not this child suffered from any abuse in his home”, by Dr. Manny

 

 

New treatment found for brittle bone disease

Brittle bone disease

The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Children’s Hospital introduced a new treatment for the children with brittle bone disease. The study of the new treatment is published in The Lancet.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is an inborn disease causing fractures in childhood as well as fractures in adults.

This is a genetic disorder which is caused by abnormalities of genes that control the production of a protein called collagen, which is the main protein in bone and essential for bone strength.

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The classic blue sclerae of a baby with osteogenesis imperfecta

This protein collagen makes the bone more fragile and results in OI. Researchers stated that this is the first study to demonstrate the use of the medicine risedronate. This medicine risedronate not only reduce the r

234 × 350 – sciencephoto.comisk of fracture in children with brittle bones but also have rapid action. The curves for fracture begin to diverge after only 6 weeks of treatment.

 

Nick Bishop, professor of pediatric bone at the University of Sheffield, said: “We wanted to show that the use of risedronate could significantly impact on children’s lives by reducing fracture rates and it did.

“The fact that this medicine can be given by mouth at home (other similar medicines are given by a drip in hospital) makes it family-friendly.”

The study, funded by the Alliance for Better Bone Health, trailed children with Osteogenesis Imperfecta aged 4-15 years showed that oral risedronate reduced the risk of clinical fractures and the drug was well tolerated.

 

Top 10: homemade remedies to cure acidity

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Acidity

Do you have unpleasant burning sensation in your stomach? Don’t worry; we bring you simple and effective home remedies that can help you to reduce the intensity of acidity

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cloves

 

Cloves

If you are suffering from gastritis, then clove acts as the wonder drug to relieve from this sensation. Just take about two cloves and slightly bite them so that juices keep oozing out. Soon, the problem will vanish.

 

Cumin Seeds

Cumin seeds

Take a teaspoon of cumin seeds, roast, and crush them in such a manner that they don’t become powder. Then add a glass of water and have it with every meal. It does wonders.

 

 

 

Jaggery

Jaggery

Jaggery can help a lot in treating heartburn and acidity.

Consume a small lump and allow it to get dissolved in your mouth to get relief from acidity. But, this remedy should not be tried by people who have diabetes.

 

 

 

 

 

Raita

Raita prepared with curd added with grated cucumber and coriander will surely aid in digestion and eliminate acidity.

 

 

 

 


Basil leaves

 

Basil leaves are popular for their medicinal properties. Chewing around 5-6 basil leaves relieves acidity. One can also make a blend of crushed basil leaves and dried leaves which can be consumed with water or tea or simply be swallowed.
Butter-milk

Simple and most easy homemade remedy to treat acidity is consuming butter-milk mixed with a ¼ teaspoon of black pepper powder. 

 

 

 

 

Mint 

mint juice or chew raw mint leaves after meals everyday to keep acidity and indigestion away from you.

 

 

 

 

Ginger 

Ginger is considered as a cure-all herb as it helps in treating so many different kinds of conditions. Consume the right amount of ginger about half an hour before each meal and feel the difference.
Milk 
Milk contains large amount of calcium which helps in preventing build-up of stomach acid. So, drink a glass of milk after your meal to soothe your stomach after having a spicy meal.

 

 

 

Vanilla ice cream 

A cup of vanilla ice cream not just savors your tooth but also helps gastritis. This is an easy home remedy to fight acidity.