Month: July 2014

Know more health benefits of Sesame Seeds :

sesame seeds1

Sesame (Sesamum indicum), has long been “domesticated” in our region and is used in many ways. In many traditional dishes, cakes, sweets, spreads, bread and rolls, sesame is one of the most important ingredients. And for its curative effect against baldness, dandruff, toothache, tinnitus, sciatica, disorders in breastfeeding …
Today, most sesame seeds is grown in China , India and Sudan , because its seeds contain between 45 and 60 percent of high-quality oil is used for cooking , salad and production of margarine .

Sesame is high , hardy plant with leguminous fruits , and seeds are extremely nutritionally rich and are picked ripe and then dried .
Sesame seeds contain the highest concentration of phytosterols , ingredient by chemical structure similar to cholesterol .

Phytosterols have the power , if they are sufficiently present in the diet , reducing the level of cholesterol in the blood , improve immunity and reduce the risk of certain cancers .

sesame seeds2

Otherwise, the seeds are one of the most useful supplements to the diet , while sesame seed oil is considered extremely high quality , and is often used as a substitute for olive .

Sesame oil is a good prevention against thrombus formation , or blood clot , but also against the long-term imprisonment and irregular bowel movements.

It is recommended for the removal of intestinal parasites , intestinal cleansing , as well as for the treatment of hemorrhoids accompanied by pain and bleeding .

In folk medicine is used for the rehabilitation of injuries , acne , sores, warts , burns …

Sesame is extremely rich in iron , so it is enough to eat 50 grams of seeds to meet the daily needs of man for this mineral. In addition to iron , calcium , manganese , copper , magnesium and selenium are present in large quantities .

It contains vitamin E , a powerful antioxidant, which protects cells from aging, the incidence of tumors and heart disease .

At the same time ,is an excellent source of thiamin B1 , B6 pyridoxine , niacin , folic acid and riboflavin . Sesamin is another ingredient , important in protecting the liver from oxidative damage . Proteins and omega-6 fatty acids are also important ingredients for maintaining health.

Studies have shown that sesame is effective against inflammation and pain in rheumatoid arthritis , and asthma attacks .

Although difficult for sensitive stomachs , sesame still occasionally can be consumed as it is the perfect cleaner of the digestive organs . In countries where it is grown , sesame has a strong reputation as an aphrodisiac.

sesame seeds3

HEALING TINCTURES
* For those who do not have enough calcium in the body.
Just one soak 1 tablespoon of seeds in 2 cups of yogurt and leave it to whole night the in the refrigerator. In the morning eat it on an empty stomach. This process should be repeated continuously.

* For the treatment of hemorrhoids.
Grind 1 tablespoon sesame seeds and then add two tablespoons of water. Blend it and add a teaspoon of butter. Whisk them good and then spread on a piece of toast and eat.

* Against burns.
Boil for couple of minutes two tablespoons of sesame seed .Then strain the contents of and leave the tea to cool down.Than gently apply tea with some cotton swabs on the burns several times a day.

Source: secretly healthy

 

Five healthy foods that won’t blow your budget

Five healthy foods that won’t blow your budget

Many people will agree that finding food that is nutritious, great-tasting and affordable can be difficult. In fact, most of us think that it can be possible to obtain at least the first two of those goals, yet difficult to combine all three. Nevertheless, you should not think this goal hopeless; it is possible to find healthy, delicious recipes suitable to your budget. All you have to do is to be mindful when choosing what you eat. If your budget will allow, choosing organic meat and dairy will help to improve the nutritional profile of your meals. Below are some healthy foods that won’t break the bank.

1. White chili – This is a healthy and delicious meal that will suit any tight budget. Made with white beans and spices, a small amount of lean ground meat goes a long way. Make a delicious creamy base with yogurt and chicken broth.

2. Omelet – To get the most nutrition from this eggs choose those from free-range chickens. Made with loads of fresh, in-season vegetables, this can be a great way to get a delicious meal for not a lot of money.

3. Pork tenderloin – Cooking tenderloin is very cost-effective, yet can be very healthy. You should not be intimidated about the price of tenderloin because it will surely fits in your budget and at the same time ensures to be a healthy food.

4. Yogurt – Packed with healthy probiotics to support gut health, yogurt is also high in protein. Choose plain, whole mik organic yogurt to avoid added hormones, antibiotics, and other chemicals. A quick and delicious way to serve it is as a parfait with fresh fruit, nuts or granola.

5. Broccoli – Rich in phytonutrients and fiber this is a versatile vegetable to include in your diet. It can be eaten raw, cooked, steamed, in soups, casseroles, side dishes and more. While it does have a distinctive flavor, you can also use broccoli when juicing.

Eating healthy foods need not be expensive because you can find foods that are affordable and healthy. On the other hand, while looking for affordable foods you should make sure not to compromise on the quality of your foods. Indeed, eating healthy foods on budget means selecting the foods that are full of nutrients but are affordable. Low budget meals include grains, beans, vegetables and fruits. They are not only easy to prepare and affordable but also highly nutritious. Smart planning, creativity, and resourcefulness in shopping for foods and preparing foods can help you create delicious, healthy meals.
Source: grains and more

 

 

New MIT finger device reads to blind in real time

New MIT finger device reads to blind in real time

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing an audio reading device to be worn on the index finger of people whose vision is impaired, giving them affordable and immediate access to printed words.

The so-called FingerReader, a prototype produced by a 3-D printer, fits like a ring on the user’s finger, equipped with a small camera that scans text. A synthesized voice reads words aloud, quickly translating books, restaurant menus and other needed materials for daily living, especially away from home or office.

Reading is as easy as pointing the finger at text. Special software tracks the finger movement, identifies words and processes the information. The device has vibration motors that alert readers when they stray from the script, said Roy Shilkrot, who is developing the device at the MIT Media Lab.

For Jerry Berrier, 62, who was born blind, the promise of the FingerReader is its portability and offer of real-time functionality at school, a doctor’s office and restaurants.

“When I go to the doctor’s office, there may be forms that I wanna read before I sign them,” Berrier said.

He said there are other optical character recognition devices on the market for those with vision impairments, but none that he knows of that will read in real time.

Berrier manages training and evaluation for a federal program that distributes technology to low-income people in Massachusetts and Rhode Island who have lost their sight and hearing. He works from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.

“Everywhere we go, for folks who are sighted, there are things that inform us about the products that we are about to interact with. I wanna be able to interact with those same products, regardless of how I have to do it,” Berrier said.

Pattie Maes, an MIT professor who founded and leads the Fluid Interfaces research group developing the prototype, says the FingerReader is like “reading with the tip of your finger and it’s a lot more flexible, a lot more immediate than any solution that they have right now.”

Developing the gizmo has taken three years of software coding, experimenting with various designs and working on feedback from a test group of visually impaired people. Much work remains before it is ready for the market, Shilkrot said, including making it work on cellphones.

Shilkrot said developers believe they will be able to affordably market the FingerReader but he could not yet estimate a price. The potential market includes some of the 11.2 million people in the United States with vision impairment, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Current technology used in homes and offices offers cumbersome scanners that must process the desired script before it can be read aloud by character-recognition software installed on a computer or smartphone, Shilkrot said. The FingerReader would not replace Braille – the system of raised dots that form words, interpreted by touch. Instead, Shilkrot said, the new device would enable users to access a vast number of books and other materials that are not currently available in Braille.

Developers had to overcome unusual challenges to help people with visual impairments move their reading fingers along a straight line of printed text that they could not see. Users also had to be alerted at the beginning and end of the reading material.

Their solutions? Audio cues in the software that processes information from the FingerReader and vibration motors in the ring.

The FingerReader can read papers, books, magazines, newspapers, computer screens and other devices, but it has problems with text on a touch screen, said Shilkrot.

That’s because touching the screen with the tip of the finger would move text around, producing unintended results. Disabling the touch-screen function eliminates the problem, he said.

Berrier said affordable pricing could make the FingerReader a key tool to help people with vision impairment integrate into the modern information economy.

“Any tool that we can get that gives us better access to printed material helps us to live fuller, richer, more productive lives, Berrier said.

Source: fox news

Suffering from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS)? Don’t lose hope

Suffering from Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome Don't lose hope

Are you experiencing irregular periods, weight gain, hair growth on the body and face, thinning of the hair on the head? Don’t ignore the symptoms as chances are you may be suffering from a condition called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).

What is PCOS?

PCOS is an endocrine disorder which is associated with an excess of androgens or male hormones in the body. It leads to the formation of small cysts in the ovaries. According to experts, nearly 40% percent of teenagers today suffer from PCOS due to sedentary life or consumption of high calorie, high carb diet.

It is more commonly found in women living in urban areas than women residing in rural places as it is majorly a lifestyle disease. The exact cause of the disease is not known.

Symptoms of PCOS

Symptoms of PCOS include irregular, missed or scanty menstruation cycle, weight gain, excessive hair growth on chin, lower abdomen, thighs, facial hair and thinning of hair on your head.

Why worry if you have PCOS?

One of the major effect that PCOS have on a female body is that it leads to imbalance of hormones which may again interfere with the growth and release of eggs from the ovaries, thereby preventing ovulation and may lead to infertility in some cases.

Also, since the body becomes resistant to insulin, a women is at risk of obesity, hypertension, cholesterol and uterine cancer.

Is it possible to have a baby with PCOS?

The good news is that one need not be depressed as PCOS can be managed with medicines to some extent. A women can easily conceive by adopting a healthy lifestyle, eating right and maintaining healthy weight.

Treatment of PCOS

Treatment of PCOS depends partially on the woman’s stage of life. For younger women, treatments can include inducing exercises in daily routine, diet modifications and medication. Experts also prescribe the usage of birth control pills to control the menstrual cycle thereby decreasing androgen levels in the female body.

Some other treatments like Progesterone therapy is also adviced by doctors.

Source: zee news

India to hold biggest Yoga fest in China next week

India to hold biggest Yoga fest in China next week

India will hold the biggest Yoga festival in China next week where the iconic Indian spiritual and physical art form has become a rage with millions of health-conscious Chinese making it part of their routine.

More than 1500 people are expected to take part in the Yoga Summit — the second such festival to be held in China in recent years — that will be held from July 7 to 12 at the picturesque city of Dali in Yunnan Province.

Indian Embassy and Indian Consulate in Guangzhou is organising the event as part of the ongoing year-long Glimpses of India festival being organised across China to expose the Chinese public to popular Indian ancient dance and art forms.

The Sangeet Natak Akadami dance troupe which is currently touring China is scheduled to perform at the festival. Geeta S Iyengar, daughter of the famous Yoga guru B K S Iyengar, along with 17 top Yoga exponents would take part in the event.

B K S Iyengar, who visited China in 2012, has become a popular ambassador of the art form among millions of Chinese practitioners and his works were widely translated into Mandarin.

The art form has become a rage with almost every gym across China having Yoga instructors. Specialised teaching centres like YogiYoga, run by Yoga exponent Mohan Singh Bhandari and Yinyan, a Chinese journalist who previously worked for Elle Magazine, trains over 8,000 would-be teachers.

Yoga is also considered as a million-dollar business in China where it is seen as a more of potent physical exercise. There is, however, criticism about the certification of teachers being churned out by many institutes.

The Yoga Summit which is being advertised all over China is expected to draw large audience, Indian officials said. Indian Ambassador Ashok K Kantha and top local Chinese officials were expected to take attend the festival.

Source: samachar

Scorpion’s venom can make cancer cells ‘glow’

Scorpion’s venom can make cancer cells ‘glow’

In what can alter the course of cancer treatment in the near future, researchers have found a compound that appears to pinpoint all of the malignant cells in a patient’s body. The twist is that the compound’s main ingredient is a molecule that is found in the sting of a deadly scorpion. The compound called chlorotoxin is found in the venom of the death stalker scorpion known as leiurus quinquestriatus. It gives malignant cells a bright fluorescent sheen so surgeons can easily spot them, wired.com reported.

‘A scorpion-venom concoction that makes tumours glow sounded almost too outlandish to be true in the beginning. But with generous donations from individuals, the fluorescent scorpion toxin is now in Phase I clinical trials,’ informed Jim Olson from the renowned Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre that developed the technique, called ‘Tumour Paint’. (Read: Cancer vaccine developed to boost lifespan of patients)

Scorpion venoms are cocktails of numerous individual toxins that attack different targets within a victim’s body. Olson and his team found that chlorotoxin did not attach just to brain tumours — it grabbed onto all sorts of cancers, from those that affect the skin to those that destroy the lungs. In lab experiments, Olson began to inject fluorescent-tipped chlorotoxin into mice — the compound lit up cancer cells that no other technology could identify. In one instance, the chlorotoxin illuminated a clump of just 200 malignant cells that were burrowed deep within a wad of fat. ‘That was the point we learned that the technology was far more sensitive than an MRI,’ Olson was quoted as saying

Source: the health site

Full Moon Night May Reduce Sleep by 20 Minutes

Full Moon Night May Reduce Sleep by 20 Minutes

Next time when your grandmother tells you a folklore as you try to sleep on a full moon night, tell her to cut short as you are going to lose some sleep owing to the effect of lunar cycle on your brain.

Researchers have found that people actually sleep 20 minutes less when the moon is full.

“Participants slept an average of 20 minutes less and had more trouble falling asleep during the full moon phase. However, the greatest impact on REM sleep (during which most dreaming is believed to occur) appeared to be during the new moon,” said Michael Smith from Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

Based on a study of 47 healthy adults aged 18 to 30, the results support an earlier theory that a correlation between sleep and the lunar cycle exists.

“The brain is more susceptible to external disturbances when the moon is full,” Smith added.

A Swiss research study conducted last year showed that the full moon affects sleep.

The findings demonstrated that people average 20 minutes less sleep, take five minutes longer to fall asleep and experience 30 minutes more of REM sleep.

“There may be a built-in biological clock that is affected by the moon, similar to the one that regulates the circadian rhythm,” researchers said.

Re-analysis of the data showed that sensitivity, measured as reactivity of the cerebral cortex in the brain, is greatest during the full moon.

Greater cortical reactivity was found in both women and men whereas only men had more trouble falling asleep and slept less when the moon was full, said the paper that appeared in the journal Current Biology.

Source: ndtv

‘On-off’ switch can help coma patients come to life

on off switch-can-help-coma-patients-come-life

Do you know there is an “on-off” switch in our brain that controls consciousness? Scientists have found one that can help coma patients regain consciousness.

Researchers at George Washington University made an epileptic patient go to sleep by applying an electrical impulse in a specific brain region.

After they stopped the stimulation, the patient came out of coma and had no memory of what had just happened.

“It is like the ignition of a car when turning a key can bring all the other components of the car to life,” Mohamad Koubeissi from George Washington University was quoted as saying.

The effect was produced by stimulating the patient’s claustrum – a thin sheet of neutrons at the lower part of the central brain. Once stimulation of the claustrum stopped, the patient regained consciousness.

Koubeissi found that low-frequency stimulation reduced epileptic seizures in patients by 92 percent without impairing memory.

The discovery of the switch could be very useful in certain areas of medicine, said the study reported by New Scientist.

Source: business standard

Advanced Standing Nursing Program (ASN) – in TAU

ASN

Texila American University has a continuing commitment to assist the registered nurses in attaining the baccalaureate degree. All RN students will have the opportunity to receive advanced placement credit upon completion of specific courses.

Salient Features of the Program

  • This program is also called the RN- BSN Conversion program.
  • This is for those nurses who are already registered nurses, but would like to further their knowledge and upgrade themselves with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree.
  • Students will be provided training for CGFNS Exams.
  • CGFNS protects the public by ensuring that nurses and other health care professionals educated in countries other than the United States are eligible and qualified to meet licensure, immigration and other practice requirements in the United States.
  • TAU provides training to students for NCLEX exams- this is in built with the Curriculum.
  • NCLEX exams is conducted by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing [ NCSBN].

For more details register here http://www.tauedu.org/texila-connect/signup.html

Cesarean section may cause epigenetic changes

Cesarean section may cause epigenetic changes

Researchers have found that the mode of delivery could make an imprint in the stem cells of the newborn infant. The finding may help explain why individuals born by cesarean section statistically have an increased risk of immunological diseases, researchers said.

“The biological mechanisms predisposing a foetus or a newborn infant to get a certain disease later in life are complex and depend on both genetic and environmental factors during formative years,” said Tomas Ekstrom, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

“In this study, our focus has been whether the way a baby is born can have an impact on a cellular level in the form of epigenetic alterations in DNA,” Ekstrom said.

Epigenetic changes in the DNA of the cell nucleus occur when environmental factors affects the way the genes are encoded without altering the actual genetic code.

Thus, genes can be switched on and off to adapt body functions following the necessities of the surrounding environment.

In the current study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, researchers investigated epigenetic alterations in stem cells from sorted cord blood.

Global epigenetic analysis was then done from 43 infants, of whom 18 were delivered by cesarean section. Finally, DNA from 12 infants (6 cesarean sections) was analysed for genome-wide locus-specific epigenetic states. The result showed specific epigenetic differences between the groups in almost 350 DNA regions, including genes known to be involved in processes controlling metabolism and immune defense.

“During a vaginal delivery, the foetus is exposed to an increased level of stress, which in a positive way will prepare the unborn baby for life outside the uterus,” said Mikael Norman, Professor of Neonatology.

“This activation of the foetus’ defense systems doesn’t occur when a cesarean section is performed before labour begins, which in turn could be a possible cause for the noticed differences between the groups,” Norman said.

Researchers cautioned that it is still unknown whether the differences that were found in the studied babies remains over a longer period of time, and thus actually have an impact on future disease risk.

Source: IBN live