Staring at screen all day can damage your eyes

Staring at screen all day can damage your eyes

Working in front of a monitor for more than seven hours per day may lead to symptoms similar to those of dry eye disease, a new study has warned.

The tear fluid that protects and lubricates the eye contains a protein called MUC5AC that is secreted by specialised cells in the upper eyelid.

Researchers have found the levels of MUC5AC in the tears of those who stare for long periods at computer screens were almost as low as in people with dry eye disease, ‘Utah People’s Post’ reported.

People staring at screens also tend to open their eyelids wider as compared to doing other tasks and the extra exposed surface area in addition to infrequent blinking can accelerate tear evaporation and is associated with dry eye disease.

“Office workers who are worried about dry eye can make some simple changes to decrease the risk of disease. The exposed ocular surface area can be decreased by placing the terminal at a lower height, with the screen tilted upward,” Dr Yuichi Uchino, an ophthalmologist at the School of Medicine at Keio University in Tokyo said.

Researchers sampled tears from the eyes of 96 Japanese office workers, roughly two-thirds of which were men. They then measured the concentration of MUC5AC proportional to the total amount of protein in the tears.

The amount of MUC5AC in the tears of workers who looked at screens for more than seven hours per day was, on average, 38.5% lower than the amount in the workers who spent fewer than five hours a day looking at screens.

Among the subjects, 14% were diagnosed with dry eye disease and had 57% less MUC5AC in their tears compared to those without dry eye disease, the report said.

The research was published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
Source: Times of India

Monsoon Special: How to keep your little ones safe and healthy!

Monsoon Special How to keep your little ones safe and healthy

 

The cool breeze and the refreshing rains in monsoons come as a huge relief after the hot summer season. But these gleeful moments can also bring along humidity, mosquitoes, diseases, etc, which in turn can give you a lot of anxiety and worries regarding your little one’s health.

Below are a few tips to help you keep your kids healthy during this season:

Hygiene and Cleanliness: Since this season brings with it a lot of challenges, hygiene comes first. Keep your room and surrounding areas clean and dry.

Due to humidity, your little ones may sweat a lot, which can lead to fungal infections, skin rashes or allergies. Keep your baby clean by bathing him/her atleast once a day. Adding a few drops of neem oil in the bathing water works as a disinfectant.

Wash your hands as well as your baby’s after changing nappies and after he eats, to keep diseases at bay. Cut your baby’s nail short to keep him/her clean and healthy. .

Food and Drink: Always serve your little ones moderately hot/warm food. Make sure your children drink only boiled or filtered water. Even when you go out, carry water bottle from your home. Avoid giving them food, fruit juices and drinks with ice from outside. Not just your kids, but adults should also avoid eating from outside during this season.

If you have a baby who’s on formula milk, always use boiled and cooled water to make his feed. And if your are breastfeeding, keep breastfeeding your baby. This will strengthen the baby’s immune system as well as help protect from illness. Your breastmilk contains antibodies that can keep your baby strong and healthy.

Also, make your child drink plenty of boiled water to prevent dehydration.

Clothes: During this humid season, dress your child in loose cotton clothes that will absorb the sweat and let his skin breath. Avoid synthetic and nylon clothes.

Make sure that your child does not wear damp clothes as this can lead to fungal infections. Remember even slightly wet cloth can lead to flu. Keep his/her skin dry to prevent prickly heat.

During day time, be sure to cover your baby’s arms and legs to avoid mosquito bites.

And if you have a school-going kid, make sure that his/her raincoat, school bag, gumboots, socks and other items are dry and clean.

Avoid Mosquitoes: As monsoons bring along a lot of illnesses, keeping your home and surroundings clean can help avoid your child from mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, malaria or chikungunya. Applying mosquito repellants/creams on your baby’s skin or using a mosquito net will help avoid mosquito bites.

Source: zee news

USVI reports first locally acquired case of chikungunya

Magens Bay Beach in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Caribbean

The US Virgin Islands Department of Health confirmed two new cases of chikungunya virus. The first case has been confirmed as locally acquired; the second case is an imported case with the patient having recent travel history outside of the territory. One previous imported case was confirmed on May 12, 2014.

Health Commissioner Darice Plaskett stated, “With the increasing number of confirmed cases reported in the Caribbean, the department of health has been proactively preparing for the introduction of the chikungunya virus into the territory. The department is working closely with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Juan F. Luis Hospital, Schneider Regional Medical Center, VI Waste Management Authority and the VI Department of Tourism to raise awareness and prevent the spread of the virus.”

Chikungunya or Chik-V is a mosquito-borne viral disease similar to dengue that is transmitted to people by infected mosquitoes. Like dengue, chikungunya is spread by the Aedes species mosquitoes, including Aedes aegypti, which is found in the US Virgin Islands. These mosquitoes like to bite during the day.

There is no vaccine to prevent the disease or specific antiviral treatment. Symptoms usually begin 3–7 days after being bitten by an infected mosquito and may include fever with severe joint pains (often in the hands and feet), headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, or rash.

Plaskett added, “The department of health’s ‘Fight the Bite Campaign’ has in the past focused on dengue, the most common mosquito-borne disease in the Virgin Islands. We now add another focus, chikungunya.”

All residents and visitors are urged to protect themselves against mosquito bites.

Guidelines provided by the CDC include:

  •  use of insect repellent (with products containing DEET, picaridin, IR3535, or oil of eucalyptus and para-menthane diol as an active ingredient),
  •  wear long sleeves and long pants when possible, and
  • use mosquito proof screens on windows and doors.

Residents should also take special precautions to reduce mosquito breeding areas in and around dwellings, residences, and businesses. These precautions include:

  •  emptying standing water from containers, and
  •  keeping tires in a dry place or punch holes in them so the water drains out.

Department of health medical director, Dr Marc Jerome, highlighted, “People experiencing symptoms of chikungunya should see a doctor. Healthcare providers should watch for other possible cases of chikungunya. People at increased risk for severe symptoms include newborns exposed during delivery, older adults (>65 years) and people with medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

Chikungunya is reportable by law and all confirmed or suspected cases must be reported to the health department

Source: caribbean news

UNICEF Steps up Lifesaving Interventions in North-Eastern Nigeria

0

UNICEF is scaling up its support to conflict-affected communities in north-eastern Nigeria to improve health, nutrition, and water and sanitation services.

UNICEF has sent more than 1,000 basic health care kits to Borno and Yobe states, enough to cover the basic health needs of more than 400,000 people during a campaign this month. The kits were funded by the Bill & Melissa Gates Foundation.

At the same time, UNICEF is working to increase from 43 to 65 the number of primary health care centers it supports in the two states. The project integrates health services, nutrition and water and hygiene, with a focus on the most vulnerable mothers and children.

Attacks on health facilities, water points and farms have severely affected local communities, and particularly children, in Borno and Yobe.

UNICEF will procure essential medicines, medical supplies and equipment for the health centres, and help ensure the facilities operate six days a week to provide routine immunization, maternal health services and outpatient curative services.

The project also aims to treat 11,300 severely malnourished children in the two conflict-affected states, in addition to existing efforts to treat 200,000 children in a wider area of northern Nigeria this year.

UNICEF will further facilitate procurement for the construction of water and sanitation facilities around health care centres and in the communities.

“The humanitarian needs are huge and there are only few humanitarian actors on the ground,” said Jean Gough, who heads the UNICEF Nigeria office. “Hundreds of thousands of people have fled the violence, often after losing their homes and their livelihoods. Access to food, health services and water is a major issue,” she added.

The assistance was made possible with funding from the government of Japan, the EU and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

But considering the huge needs in the region, existing funding will be used up quickly and considerable fresh funding will be needed.

Last week, UNICEF also provided, three 2,000-litre tanks, blankets, mattresses, soap, and other basic items for the community of Chibok, Borno state, where 284 schoolgirls were abducted in April and May

Source: all africa

Tiny robotic arm could operate on babies in the womb

surgery in the womb

Some birth defects in newborns could one day be a thing of the past due to new robotics technologies being developed to perform surgery on babies in the womb.

Spina bifida is one such disease, affecting approximately 1 in 2,500 newborns worldwide, where a lesion on the back leaves the spinal cord exposed in the womb, leading to severe disabilities, learning difficulties, and sometimes death.
The best option is to perform surgery to correct the problem before the baby is born but the complexities of such a procedure mean this currently only takes place in five countries worldwide. Most countries instead perform surgery after a child is born, but when the majority of damage has been done.

To reduce the risk involved in fetal surgery, scientists at University College London (UCL), and KU Leuven in Belgium are developing a miniscule robotic arm to enter the womb with minimum disruption to mother and baby. The robotics are targeting spina bifida but also lesser known conditions such as twin-twin transfusion syndrome, where blood passes unequally between twins who share a placenta, and fetal lower urinary tract obstruction, where babies are unable to urinate in the womb and their bladders become large and distended.

surgery in the womb1

Surgery on fetuses has been effective in treating some conditions to date, but for spina bifida, the risks to mother and baby mean surgery is currently only performed in a handful of countries, where specialist teams exist.

“Most birth defects can be prevented if we can intervene earlier,” says Professor Sebastien Ourselin, from the UCL Center for Medical Image Computing, who is leading the new research project. “But currently, surgical delivery systems are not available and operating on babies in the womb is reserved for just a handful of the most severe defects as risks are too high.”

Ourselin’s team plans to develop a small three-armed robot, no more than 2 cm wide, to allow more surgeries to take place, as part of a $17 million project funded by the Wellcome Trust and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

surgery in the womb2

The device will consist of a photoacoustic camera that provides 3D imaging of the fetus in real time, which will help guide two flexible arms to deliver gels or patches to seal the gap in the spine of babies with spina bifida. If successful, the arms will be developed with more dexterity and degrees of freedom to perform surgery themselves and treat further conditions such as congenital heart disease. They may even deliver stem cells as stem cell therapies progress. Once entry into the womb becomes safe, the potential is huge.

In countries where fetal surgery is currently performed, surgeons cut into the mother’s womb before 26 weeks of pregnancy, but there are health risks, side effects to mothers and risks of pre-term labor.

surgery in the womb3

“Where surgery is available in Europe, people are reluctant and fearful of the side-effects,” explains Dr. Jan Deprest, who is leading the work at KU Leuven and has patients declining surgery quite regularly. “Robotic surgery is becoming popular these days and we need to take advantage of that and improve not only the number of patients choosing surgery but also improve the freedom with which we can operate using these flexible probes.”

surgery in the womb4

To have the best effect, surgery must take place before 26 weeks to prevent damage to the exposed spinal cord and the resulting disability. Ourselin wants to go in even earlier.

“We want to go in at 16 weeks to provide the greatest benefit to patients and no one is doing this yet,” concludes Ourselin. “The most important thing is to reduce the invasiveness of the procedure as you want to avoid causing pre-term labor. If we can make this possible, we want to expand treatment to be possible for all diseases which are already present at birth.”

Source: CNN

New breathalyzer test could help detect `deadly` lung cancer

Breath test to detect lung cancer

Researchers have developed a breathalyzer test that could help detect cancer.

The device developed by Prof. Nir Peled of Tel Aviv University’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Prof. Hossam Haick (inventor) of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and Prof. Fred Hirsch of the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver, is embedded with a “NaNose” nanotech chip to literally “sniff out” cancer tumors.

The study, presented at a recent American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in Chicago, was conducted on 358 patients who were either diagnosed with or at risk for lung cancer. r Peled said lung cancer is a devastating disease, responsible for almost 2,000 deaths in Israel annually – a third of all cancer-related deaths.

He said ” Our new device combines several novel technologies with a new concept – using exhaled breath as a medium of diagnosing cancer.”

Dr Peled said their NaNose was able to detect lung cancer with 90 percent accuracy even when the lung nodule was tiny and hard to sample. It was even able to discriminate between subtypes of cancer, which was unexpected.

“Cancer cells not only have a different and unique smell or signature, you can even discriminate between subtypes and advancement of the disease,” said Dr. Peled. “The bigger the tumor, the more robust the signature.”

The device and subsequent analysis accurately sorted healthy people from people with early-stage lung cancer 85 percent of the time, and healthy people from those with advanced lung cancer 82 percent of the time. The test also accurately distinguished between early and advanced lung cancer 79 percent of the time.

The Boston-based company Alpha Szenszor has licensed the technology and hopes to introduce it to the market within the next few years

Source: ANI

Music could help recover stroke victims

Music-Help-Stroke-Victims

Stroke victims could recover earlier if they take up any musical instrument, according to experts of Goldsmiths, University of London.

Dr Lauren Stewart, from the music, mind and brain team based in Goldsmiths’ Department of Psychology, said that despite a good deal of research into rehabilitation approaches, treatment options were limited, News.com.au reported.

Stewart further said that their research showed that playing a musical instrument could be an effective intervention for neglect patients.

Source: business standard

Medical properties of Cinnamon

cinnamon-1-

Cinnamon is one of the oldest spices in the world which is obtained by grinding the brown bark of the cinnamon tree (Cinnamonum verum).

He is mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible and was used in ancient Egypt not only as a spice in drinks and medicine , but also as one of the ingredients that are used for embalming .

At this time cinnamon was very highly esteemed and considered even valuble than

Extract of it has many favorable effects on human health: balance blood sugar levels , prevent clothing of the blood , has anti-inflammatory , antimicrobial and antifungal properties and improves brain function .

cinnamon

Healing capabilities of cinnamon come from essential oils found in its bark : cinamaldehid , cinamil acetate , alcohol , cinamil etc. .

Cinnamon is helpful for people who have type 2 diabetes – studies show that the ingredients that include cinnamon stimulate insulin receptors and inhibit an enzyme that inactivates insulin.

He also lowers LDL cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood and prevent diabetic complications and cardiovascular disease in people with type 2 diabetes.

Besides the unique essential oils , cinnamon contains trace minerals such as manganese and a very good source of fiber , iron and calcium .

These compounds reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis and regulate stool in cases of diarrhea or constipation

cinamon-2

Properties of cinnamon :

  • – Lowers blood sugar with type 2 diabetes ;
  • – Maintain metabolic balance between glucose and insulin in the blood ;
  • – For the prevention of cardiovascular diseases ;
  • – For the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia ;
  • – To regulate the proper function of the digestive tract ;
  • – Shows anti-inflammatory , antimicrobial and antifungal properties .
  • Source: secretly healthy

Human sweat can reduce bacteria fighting capabilities

human-sweat-beneficial

A new research has revealed that human sweat can diminish bacteria-fighting qualities of brass objects like door knobs and taps within an hour of contact.

While copper found in everyday brass items such as door handles and water taps has an antimicrobial effect on bacteria and is widely used to prevent the spread of disease, Dr John Bond OBE from the University of Leicester’s Department of Chemistry has discovered that peoples’ sweat can, within an hour of contact with the brass, produce sufficient corrosion to adversely affect its use to kill a range of microorganisms, such as those which might be encountered in a hospital and which can be easily transferred by touch or by a lack of hand hygiene.

The study also suggested that it is possible for sweat to produce an oxide layer on the metal within an hour of contact.

Dr Bond said that this is the first study to quantitatively analyse the temporal corrosion of copper alloys such as brass in the first few hours after contact between fingerprint sweat concentrations of salt and the metal.

He further suggested that for the short term it would be good to keep the brass in public environments free from corrosion through regular and thorough cleaning but for the longer term, using copper alloys with corrosion inhibitors included in the alloy would be a good choice.

The research ‘Electrochemical behaviour of brass in chloride solution concentrations found in eccrine fingerprint sweat’, is published in the journal Applied Surface Science

Source: yahoo news

Ginger, the perfect home remedy for indigestion

ginger-short-post

If you frequently suffer from digestive problems and flatulence (gas in the stomach), try ginger.

Ginger helps in digestion and improves absorption and assimilation of essential nutrients. It also helps break down the proteins in your food. Ginger promotes mucus secretion and protects your stomach against ulcers. Apart from that, its carminative (gas expulsion) property provides relief from bloating and gas and helps reduce flatulence. Here are some tips to keep flatulence away.

Apart from these, ginger has anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antioxidant, and anti-emetic properties. It helps to decrease inflammation, swelling and pain due to its ability to inhibit prostaglandin and leukotriene synthesis. Ginger also inhibits serotonin receptors and has the ability to break up and expel intestinal gas (carminative effect) which makes it a good antiemetic agent. Its antioxidant activity, the ability to induce cell death (apoptosis) and suppressing certain protein bestows it with anticancer properties as well. Moreover, compounds found in ginger are known to suppress allergic reactions as well. All these properties make ginger a powerhouse of health benefits.

So, if you are suffering from indigestion you could try the following home remedies:

Tip#1: Wash and peel some fresh ginger. Now crush it and squeeze out the juice. Collect it in a small cup and drink the concentrate once a day. You will definitely find instant relief.

Tip#2: Cut fresh ginger into thin slices. Now place the piece at the back of the mouth and bit into it once. Do not swallow it and allow the juice of the ginger to slowly enter your stomach. This remedy also helps in relieving indigestion.

Tip#3: This remedy is great for those of you who suffer from indigestion with nausea. Take a thin slice of ginger and sprinkle some salt on it. Chew on it the same way as in tip#2. This will also help reduce nausea and indigestion.

Source: the health site