19-year-old girl wakes up during brain surgery, asks doctors ‘How’s it going?’

A teenage girl in Poland woke up during brain surgery and asked her doctors how the operation was going.

Iga Jasica, 19, had been undergoing the procedure to have a cancerous growth removed from her brain. Doctors say she woke up halfway through the surgery when the anesthetic wore off. Her brain was exposed, but surgeons say the southwest Polish girl’s health was not in jeopardy.

“Despite coming round, she didn’t feel anything and was never in danger,” neurosurgeon Dawid Larysz told The Daily Mirror. He added that Jasica wouldn’t have been able to see or feel anything. Jasica doesn’t remember waking up during the surgery.

Doctors are investigating whether the anesthetic may have been improperly administered. Other experts told The Daily Mirror that the operation itself could have triggered her waking up despite the anesthetic.

While chatting with doctors during the procedure, Jasica reportedly brought up cats. After the surgery, she reflected on the experience The Daily Mirror reported

“I missed Christmas because of this operation, but it is the best present I could have had, as I am now feeling great,” Jasica told The Daily Mirror when the procedure was complete.

Source: fox news

Weight Loss Tip – Get sufficient sleep to lose weight

If you want to lose weight, get enough sleep. Sleep is crucial for weight loss as it allows you to perform physical activities properly and improves metabolism. Sleep also significantly affects the hormones of your body that influence your appetite. When you do not get enough sleep, the
hormone, ghrehlin, can enhance your appetite leading to weight gain. It has also been observed that sleep-deprived people crave for sugary and junk foods and even experience tiredness, dizziness and lack of concentration.

Further, people who work for late night shifts or have irregular sleep patterns have been found more prone to obesity and diabetes. You can follow this weight loss diet by expert dietician.

Sleep for at least 7-8 hours in a day is a must as a proper sleep will make you feel energetic and put a check on cravings for high-calorie food, hence preventing you from being a victim of obesity. Avoid eating anything before going to bed as it may interfere with your sleep. Also avoid watching the television before sleep as you may face difficulty in getting sleeping.  Combining sleep with thirty minutes of exercise and a balanced diet can set you on the path of better health and slimmer waistline.

Source: the health site

Boy survives after having nail scissors lodged in his heart

Children have long been warned of running with scissors, but for one boy, the worst-case scenario took a lucky turn, thanks to a neighbor who is an emergency paramedic, reported Central European News (CEN).

Sasha Ulyanov, 3, was playing at home with his three sisters when he ran into a wall carrying a pair of nail scissors and stabbed himself in the heart. The children’s mother was out taking lunch to their father, who was working in the field.

“Sasha is our youngest child. He was running with the scissors through the kitchen door and misjudged it, and ran into the door frame with the scissors in his hand. He fell to the floor screaming, and our oldest daughter, Diana, who is 15, picked him up and rushed him next door to our neighbor,” the children’s mother, Natalia Baltsyukevich, 35, told CEN.

That neighbor, Liubov Mikhalchik, is an emergency paramedic in their village of Pashkovich in Eastern Belarus Voranava District. “I realized straightaway that it was a serious injury.” Mikhalchik said. “You could see the scissors vibrating to the beating of his heart,”

Mikhalchik first ensured the scissors were not disturbed before arranging for Sasha to be transported to the local hospital. Surgeon Dr. Viktor Kovalchuk, head of the department of pediatric surgery at the Medical University of Grodno, and his team removed the scissors from the muscular wall of the right ventricle of the heart, then removed the blood that pooled in the pericardial.

“I can’t ever remember having someone come in with such a serious heart wound and still surviving,” Kovalchuk told CEN. “ The scissors had wedged in the wall of the heart, and we needed to operate immediately. The boy’s heart was already showing signs of failing.”

The surgery was successful, and Sasha spent two days in the specialist ward before being transferred to the Grodno Regional Hospital, where he was kept in the ICU for seven days. Sixteen days after his injury, he was allowed to return home.

“I can’t thank the doctor and all those involved in setting my son’s life enough,” his mother said. “It is fantastic that he is already back home after just two weeks in hospital.”

Source: fox news

4 reasons why eating pickles in excess is bad for your health

Pickles are an integral part of Indian cuisine and no meal is complete without them but too much of this can be extremely harmful for your health.

How do pickles harm your health?

1. High salt content: We all know that one should not consume large quantities of salt as it increases risk of hypertension and heart disease. It is also the main reason for swelling and water retention which causes the volume of blood to increase thereby causing high blood pressure.  As per WHO, the recommended dietary intake of salt is 5 g or one teaspoon, which is far less than the salt content in one teaspoon of pickle. Homemade pickles are better in quality as the table salt is used in their preservation whereas, commercially prepared pickles are preserved using various chemicals such as sodium benzoate which are very harmful. Sodium benzoate is a potential carcinogen because it deprives cells of oxygen and breaks down the immune system causing cancer.

2. Too much oil: When pickles are made, vegetables are soaked in oil as oil acts as a barrier from moisture thus preserving them. Oil also prevents the contamination of pickles by bacteria and fungus which in generally cause the decaying or rotting of food. But remember that the same oil also increases your cholesterol levels, which means you suffer the risk of contracting heart disease or worsening it. High cholesterol levels also damage the liver in the long run.

3. Pickles are known to increase the risk of gastric cancer1 : A study conducted in southern India, among people with same dietary patterns and socio economic background, has shown that the consumption of pickled vegetables increases the risk of developing gastric cancer.

4. Pickled vegetables may increase the risk of oesophageal cancer: Studies have shown that consumption of pickles doubles the chances of developing oesophageal cancer.2 Although the study did not give conclusive results but the risk factors cannot be neglected.If pickles have so many harmful effects on your body, why does the Indian tradition recommend pickle in small quantities. The reason is it is also a store of good bacteria which helps in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

Source: the health site

Health benefits of Jackfruit

Jackfruit, one of the tropical fruits available is both delicious to eat and even has a sweet taste. It is also rich in energy, dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins making it one of the most healthy summer treats to relish.

Jackfruit has many health benefits. Here are some:

Immunity: The fruit contains an excellent source of Vitamin C antioxidants which helps in building immune system in order to protect against common diseases such as cough, cold and flu.

Energy: It contains a good amount of carbohydrate, calorie and simple sugar like fructose and sucrose, providing a quick boost of energy. Also, it has no cholesterol content which makes jackfruit a healthier food option.

Maintains Blood Pressure: The good amount of potassium contained in the fruit helps to lower high blood pressure and also reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks.

Improves Digestion: Jackfruit is good for digestion and prevents constipation because of the good amount of dietary fiber in it, making it bulk laxative.

Colon Cancer: The dietary fats contained in the fruit helps to clean toxins from the colon. Thus, it reduces the effects of toxin in the colon and protects from colon cancer.

Good for Eyes: Jackfruit contains Vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health. It increases vision and protects from free radicals. As this fruit is a rich source of antioxidants, it is highly effective in preventing degeneration of the retina.

Source: zee news

7 scientific reasons why lack of sleep can be bad for you

Nothing in the world can beat the pleasure derived from sound sleep. Yet, with today’s modern culture, people have trained their bodies to the condition of sleep deprivation. Sleep is essential for the body to restore and regenerate its systems so that you function optimally during the day. Naturally, sleeping for less number of hours in the long run will damage your entire body, with serious effects on the nervous system, circulatory system, immune system, digestive system and reproductive system. Here are some detrimental effects of lack of sleep on the body you must know.

Lowers brain function: When you’re sleeping, your brain goes through phases of  sleep cycle. This gives enough time for busy neurons, relaying signals throughout the day, to form new pathways and reprogram themselves to deal with activities for the next morning. When you don’t sleep, you force your brain to overwork, leaving it completely exhausted. As a result, you’re unable to perform simple tasks the next day. It interferes with your level of alertness and affects your focus and concentration.

Studies have shown that those who are well rested have higher activity in the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, responsible for speech. Those who are sleep deprived have least activity in this region, which is why they are unable to process language. Neither do they understand or process what’s being said nor can they speak or express properly. The part of the brain responsible with decision making skills also gets affected. Because the neurons are not rested well, the brain’s response time to a situation gets delayed. That’s why sleep deprived people cannot make quick logical decisions or execute a plan properly.

Makes you fat: Your brain is responsible for regulation of a lot of cycles involving release of hormones and initialisation of pathways. Imagine, if the
neurons themselves are not working properly how will they regulate these pathways? One of the cycles that the brain regulates is the hunger cycle.

Ideally, lack of energy (in the form of food) signals the brain to induce hunger and when the body is provided with energy, the brain is signalled to induce a feeling of fullness. Two key hormones –leptin and ghrelin –play an important role in this cycle. When ghrelin is released in high levels and the level of leptin is low, the brain signals a feeling of hunger. When the levels are reversed, a feeling of fullness is induced.

Lack of sleep over a few nights raises the levels ghrelin, which constantly signals you that you’re hungry. Further, scientists suggest that lack of sleep
manipulates the levels of these hormones such that it triggers cravings for calorie-rich foods, leading to obesity. Studies also suggest that poor sleep
interferes with the body’s ability to metabolise sugar

Increases risk of depression: There’s a reason why you tend to feel positive and happy in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Signals for all negative thoughts originate and are processed by a small part of brain called the amygdala, while all positive thoughts are generated in the region called
hippocampus. When you don’t sleep properly at night, the activity in the hippocampus gets affected with minor or least impact on the amygdala. Therefore, during the daytime your brain just cannot retrieve pleasant or happy memories. Since amygdala is functional, thoughts originated from there mask everything else, making you depressed.

Can lead to heart disease: Lack of sleep affects the circulatory system in a very different way. When you don’t rest for a day or two, you exert stress on all organs of your body. As a result the fight-or-flight response for stress gets triggered. If you continue to exert yourself, this response does not get switched off. As a result, the level of stress hormones in the blood increases. These hormones can wreck a havoc in your circulatory system. They can increase blood pressure, damage the walls of the arteries, affect the heart rate and cause blockages in the blood vessels.

Lowers immunity: Sleeping is the time utilised by the immune system to produce antibodies, increase the number of fighting cells and cytokines in the blood. Naturally, when you don’t sleep these activities get hampered. If the number of white blood cells decreases, you’ll be susceptible to a lot of common infections and will fall sick more often. Prolonged sleep deprivation has also been linked with death, caused due to severely weakened immune system. One study states that those who sleep less than four hours daily have three times greater chances of
dying within six years

Increases risk of accidents: The fact that different parts of the brain rest during different stages of the sleep cycle indicates that you just cannot afford
to sleep for less number of hours. If a particular part of the brain doesn’t get rest for a long time, it will soon begin to shut down itself, inducing
microsleep. In this stage, a person may remain awake with eyes wide open but the brain goes into delta phase for rest. It is in this phase that a person is the most susceptible to accidents and injuries.

Lowers sexual desires: If you still need a stronger reason to sleep well, this one would probably work. Lack of sleep can literally kill sexual desires, in both men and women. You’ll feel more sluggish, tired and fatigued. You won’t have enough strength and will feel low. Lack of sleep can lower the levels of
testosterone, affecting sperm quality and reproduction in men, while in women it can affect orgasms, leading to general loss of interest in sex

Source: The health site

Lose weight the yoga way

Obesity is a medical condition in which your body fat level is so high that it affects your quality of life negatively. Your energy levels drop, it affects your work, your body becomes a breeding ground for illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disorder, osteoarthritis, and you begin to lose confidence due to which your self-esteem drops. As a result your general attitude towards life becomes pessimistic.

Therefore, obesity affects not just your physical health but also but also your mental health and hence the overall quality of life. Good news is that the obesity can be tackled with a proper diet and following a yogic lifestyle. Here are some steps you can take to beat obesity:

Take The Leap:

Practice asanas like Pascimottanasana, Bhujangasana, Ardha-sarvangasana , Ustrasana, Shavasana, Hasthapadanugushthasana and Gomukhasana to shed extra kilos. All these asanas work on every single muscle of your body and help in stretching, strengthening and toning your body.

Yoga asanas like the Uddiyana Bandha , help reduce excess fat around belly and Yogendra Pranayama IV and IX soothe your nervous system and helping you relax.
Make changes gradually. Don’t try to do everything all at once. It will take longer to lose weight when you are following a correct weight loss plan, but you will be able to keep the weight off permanently. Don’t give in to crash diets. They may get you quick results but not lasting ones.

Always set a realistic target. It is better to lose weight gradually rather than drastically. A drastic weight loss program results in loss of water and precious tissues from your body instead of fat. Aim to lose half a kilogram every week and not a drastic five kilograms a week. Success will come more easily and you are motivated to continue your efforts

Do not skip your meals, as you will eventually carve for unhealthy foods and binge on high calorie snacks. Eat your meals regularly while you are relaxed, do not hurry through your meal. This way, your body will absorb more nutrients.

Tips and tricks:

  • Most people have packed schedules at work and this leaves them with no time to exercise. However, there are some very simple tips that you can follow.
  • Take the stairs whenever possible instead of the elevator.
  • Park your car towards the rear of the parking lot to increase the distance you walk.
  • When taking a bus, taxi or subway, exit one stop before your destination and walk the remaining distance.
  • Take your pet for longer walks.
  • Indulge in a hobby like gardening or fix-it-yourself projects that require some amount of physical exercise.

Source: The health site

How to improve your dental health!

A beautiful smile is a gift endowed by nature that one must always cherish. But are you afraid that your smile will no longer draw the desired attention it once gained?

Here’s how to improve your overall teeth health.

In case you lose a whole tooth:

Science has made it possible to re-fix your tooth, the only thing expected of you is to save it the proper way. You can hold it back at the same place till you get immediate medical help or you can preserve it by wrapping it in a plastic pouch. Another way to save it is by keeping it immersed in milk while you rush to your dentist.

For sparkling white teeth:

Who doesn’t want a sparking set of teeth! If daily brushing doesn’t do the trick then feel free to try any of these tips.

  • Dip you toothbrush into a bowl of organic apple cider vinegar and brush as usual.
  • The same goes with baking soda, as you can take a pinch of baking soda and brush your teeth with it.
  • But beware of overusing any of the above mentioned products as using it on a daily basis can strip the enamel coating off your teeth. Therefore, it’s safe to use baking soda or organic apple cider only once a week.

Apart from the above mentioned tips one must make sure not to indulge in drinking any dark coloured colas as they contain chromogens and acids which are the major culprits for your teeth stains.

  • Use a straw to drink smoothies, colas and other juices to save your teeth from the harmful effects of acidic presence in the drink.
  • Smoking cigarette can wreak havoc on your teeth, so if your conscious of your smile then its time you chuck the habit.

To soothe your sore throat:

  • Gargle with ‘organic apple cider vinegar’ to soothe your sore throat. It is considered the best option for mouth’s health due to its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.
  • Salt water gargle is another age-old remedy for sore throat.
  • Taking Lozenges every 3-4 hours can be soothing as it keeps the mouth moist by producing saliva which further minimises the parched feeling.
  • To keep the cavity-causing plaque off your teeth:
  • Saliva is nature’s teeth-cleaning agent, it has all the necessary properties required to keep your teeth clean enough.

Hence the question arises, why to brush if saliva is enough?

Our mouth produces least amount of saliva at night, therefore, if something sticks to your teeth during dinner and you go off to sleep without brushing then it comes under germ attack. And if you make it a habit of not brushing your teeth at night due to laziness (known to be the famous reason world-wide) then with the passing of time, it will lead to yellowing of the teeth, stains and plaque build-up.
By the time you brush your teeth in the morning, the germ attack might already have had ruined your breath and teeth health.

Selecting a mouthwash:

While shopping for a mouthwash, one must make sure it’s alcohol-free. Too much alcohol content in the mouthwash can backfire by drying out the saliva producing glands and tissues in your mouth leading to bacteria production.

To clean your tongue the best way:

Your tongue is a host for plaque causing bacteria, therefore it is imperative to clean your tongue on a daily basis.

People usually prefer cleaning their tongue with a toothbrush. Though it is the most preferred way, one should be cautious enough not to brush too hard as it can damage the taste buds.

It’s better to choose your tongue cleaners carefully. A tongue scrapper or a brush specifically designed to clean the tongue is a far better option than a regular toothbrush!

Natural ways to improve your teeth health:

  • Glass of milk a day can surely keep the dentist away!
  • Rinse your mouth after 15 minutes of every meal
  • Munch on celery and raw carrots!
  • Major myth broken!
  • Myth- Apples are good for teeth!
  • Truth- Apples contain a good amount of sugar which has the potential to degrade your teeth’s quality by raising the acid levels in the mouth.

Therefore, rinse your mouth immediately after eating an apple, or drink some water.

Source: zee news

World’s First Womb-Transplant Mother Hopes to Inspire Others

The parents of the world’s first womb-transplant baby said they hope their story inspires other couples who are struggling with infertility. The 36-year-old mother from Sweden had been born without a uterus, but last month she gave birth to a healthy but premature boy after having a womb transplant. “Yes, we made history,” the woman told The Associated Press on Monday. “It’s hard to answer but for us it feels like we are normal parents with a newborn baby — lots and lots of happiness and love for this little boy.”

The woman, who agreed to the interview provided her identity was not disclosed, was among nine to receive a new womb in a ground-breaking trial last year. “Even if I had years and years of sorrow and loss of hope, at the first touch and when I saw my baby I just felt as a mother,” she said. Her husband added they will be forever grateful to the 61-year-old woman who donated her uterus, the mother of one of his best friends. “What she did for us was so amazing and selfless that the words ‘thank you’ don’t seem like enough,” he said.

Source: nbc news

UN committee approves USD 49.9 mn funding for Ebola response

A UN committee that deals with administrative and budgetary issues has approved a 49.9 dollar million funding for the world body’s large-scale response to tackle the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

The Fifth Committee of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution allocating funding for the newly established UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and the Office of the Special Envoy on Ebola. At the committee’s meeting, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Chef de Cabinet, Susana Malcorra, presented his preliminary funding proposal requesting USD 49.9 million for the rest of the year.

The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) endorsed the amount and recommended that the General Assembly approve it. UNMEER teams have already deployed to the Mission headquarters in Accra, Ghana, and to offices in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“The establishment of UNMEER is the first step in the global efforts to contain the outbreak, which must be further strengthened by a wide range of actions and measures at all levels,” President of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa said, highlighting efforts to mobilize required financial, medical and humanitarian assistance. More than 6,500 people have been believed to be infected, and more than 3,300 have died since the latest outbreak of the disease was confirmed in March.

Aside from the UNMEER funding, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has said that it needs USD 988 million to respond to the outbreak. So far, USD 257 million – or 26 per cent – has been raised.

Meanwhile, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is warning that the Ebola health crisis must not be allowed to become a crippling socio-economic crisis as well, as two of its officials began a visit to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. “This devastating health crisis is destroying lives and communities. It is also impairing national economies, wiping out livelihoods and basic services, and could undo years of efforts to stabilize West Africa,” Director of UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support Magdy Martínez-Solimán said.

“As we work together to end the outbreak, now is the time to ensure these countries can also continue to function and swiftly get back on their feet,” he added.

Source: first post