Month: May 2008

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Healthy Tips News on Health & Science

Body Clock ‘Cog’ Could End Jet-Lag

International travellers, who often complain of jet lag and sleeping disorders will soon have a treatment in hand, as scientists have now discovered a unique “cog” in the sleep-controlling human body clock which may help them avert these disorders.

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It is believed that the body clock governs the circadian rhythms of the body and connects the cycles of metabolism and behaviour to the cycle of day and night.

It often gets disrupted by old age, disease, international travel and shift work and such disturbance not only causes problems sleeping and eating, but also leads to serious illness.

And now, researchers have identified a molecule, known as c-AMP, a common signalling molecule, which plays a major role in keeping the body clock’s “rhythms” going. This molecule is located in the hypothalamus of the brain, which harbours cells that keeps the body clock in alignment with the other major organs including the heart, lungs and liver.

Led by Michael Hastings, at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, the study found that the body clock keeps ticking owing to the daily activation of this molecule, or “cog” in tandem with the body’s genes and proteins.
When the circadian day starts, genes are switched on which then produce proteins, which in turn go on to switch off the same genes at the end of the day. These proteins are then broken down over the circadian night and the process continues again beginning the next morning.

The scientists have claimed that this knowledge of the mechanism of circadian clock may pave the way for new treatments for jet leg and other sleep disorders, in which the body clock is effectively “reset”. The technology arm of the laboratory has applied for a patent application for looking after the pharmacological methods of manipulating the molecule.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Healthy Tips

A Home Remedy for Migraine Attacks

: A team of British researchers has developed a “brain stimulation” method that can be used at home to short-circuit migraines before they become disabling.

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Professor Vince Walsh of the UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Queen Square has revealed that his system will soon be tested on migraine sufferers around the country.

A research team at Ohio State University recently showed that zapping the brain with a magnetic field, with the help of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) could abort attacks as they start to develop.

However, that effect could be achieved only if the coil was applied to precisely the right part of the brain.

Professor Walsh says that his brain stimulators called DC machines offer a simpler method to perform the same task.

“We need to get brain stimulation into the home – you can’t nip off to see your neurologist when you know you’re going to have a migraine,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

Professor Walsh has revealed that his DC machine simply requires two electrodes, colour coded pink and yellow.

When the electrodes are put on a patient’s head, the current passes between them, through the brain.

It promises to have long lasting results for up to 90 minutes, says Professor Walsh. He even says that the same technique may help people cope with the aftermath of a stroke too.

Professor Walsh has revealed that recent trials have shown that his method is capable of improving speech and the ability to make arm and hand movements by making the brain more plastic, so that areas spared by the stroke are co-opted to take over from those that have been damaged.

“Patients can be helped to learn to grip cutlery, turn water taps, pout things – simple everyday abilities they may have lost after a stroke. The method helps the brain find new solutions. There is a wholly convincing study of the benefits with stroke in a trial at the National Institutes of Health in America,” he says.

He will make a presentation on his method at the end of the month at a major conference of 300 researchers from around the world in London.

You may click to see:->Yoga & medition  can help to reduce migrain   click to see the pictures

Migrain Treatment Approach

Home Remedy For Migrain

Sources: The Times Of India

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Premature Ejaculation Defined

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It’s official now — ejaculation in less than 60 seconds from start of intercourse is “premature”.

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A 20-member panel of the world’s leading sexual health experts, set up by the International Society for Sexual Medicine (ISSM), has for the first time defined premature ejaculation (PE) — a sexual dysfunction affecting 30% of the world’s adult men.

Speaking to TOI from Orlando, eminent American urologist Ira D Sharlip, the study’s main author, said the medical definition of PE — the bane of millions of men worldwide — was reached after “studying hundreds of international studies published on PE.” The team’s study, that backs the definition, will be published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine on Saturday. It will also be officially announced on May 19 at the American Urological Association‘s annual conference in Florida.

Dr Sharlip told TOI, “The definition of lifelong PE is now a form of sexual dysfunction in which ejaculation occurs within a minute of vaginal penetration, almost every time during intercourse. The previous definitions did not quantify the time limit and so many men who just reached a climax early, sometimes mistook themselves to be suffering from PE, causing them tremendous mental distress, depression, anxiety and marital discord.”

According to Dr Sharlip, the hope now is that more people reaching climax within a minute will understand PE as a medical condition and seek treatment without suffering in silence.

He says the definition would also help drug companies identify actual PE patients when conducting a drug trail in the future. In September 2006, ISSM reportedly felt the need for an objective evidence based definition of PE. They then set up a committee of 20 experts representing every continent. The panel of experts agreed that the constructs that were necessary to define PE were time to ejaculation, inability to delay ejaculation and negative consequences from PE.

“We reviewed hundreds of published papers on PE, specially 20 that specifically addressed objective measures to pinpoint PE. The committee met in Amsterdam in October to reach a conclusive definition. Those with PE should be immediately put on a combination of psychological and drug therapy,” Dr Sharlip said.

Reacting to the study, Dr Vikram Sharma, urologist at Max Hospital, told TOI that the standardization would now reduce incorrect diagnosis of PE cases across the world. Indian surveys have shown that 10% of all adult males in the country suffer from some sort of sexual dysfunction, a large chunk of which — nearly 7% — would be of PE.

According to Dr Sharma, PE most commonly affects Indian men aged 19-26 years and decreases by nearly 50% after they reach 30.

“Till now, whenever patients complained of PE or reaching climax before five minutes of intercourse, we first put them on counselling sessions. However, now we know that in patients who ejaculate within a minute, it is a pathological disorder that would need immediate medical intervention. In absense of any standardisation earlier, doctors failed to diagnose serious PE cases thereby prolonging mental and physical trauma for the patient,” Dr Sharma said.

Experts say PE is humiliating for adult men and so many don’t acknowledge and address it until it is too late.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Juice ‘Prevents Clogged Arteries’

Juices made from apples or purple grapes – and the fruit themselves – protect against developing clogged arteries, a study suggests.

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Juice made from purple grapes had the most beneficial effect

Researchers fed hamsters the fruit and juice or water, plus a fatty diet.

The animals who were fed grape juice had the lowest risk of developing artery problems, Molecular Nutrition and Food Research reports.

The University of Montpellier team said the juice’s benefits came from its high levels of phenols – an antioxidant.

Antioxidants in various foods have been regularly cited as being beneficial to heart health.

The French team looked at how juicing affected the phenol content of fruit – because most studies look at raw fruit.

Four glasses a day

They then looked at how being fed various kinds of fruit affected the hamsters’ risk of atherosclerosis – the build-up of fatty plaque deposits in the arteries that can lead to heart attacks or strokes.

The amount of fruit the hamsters consumed was equivalent to three apples or three bunches of grapes daily for a human.

Hamsters given juice drank the equivalent of four glasses daily for a person weighing 70 kilograms (154 pounds).

The apples and grapes had about the same phenol content, while the purple grape juice had 2.5 times more phenols than apple juice.

Compared with animals given water, those given fruit or fruit juice had lower cholesterol levels, less oxidative stress, and less fat accumulation in their aorta, the main vessel supplying oxygenated blood to the body.

Purple grape juice had the strongest effect, followed by purple grapes, apple juice and apples.

The researchers say their findings suggest the amount of phenols contained in a food have a direct effect on its antioxidant properties.

Other antioxidant compounds in the fruits, such as vitamin C and carotenoids, could also contribute to their effects, they added.

The team, led by Kelly Decorde, said their findings “provide encouragement that fruit and fruit juices may have a significant clinical and public health relevance.”

A British nutritionist said: “High levels of antioxidants are recognised as being good for you.”

You may also click to see:->Beetroot ‘May Cut Blood Pressure’

Apple juice ‘may prevent asthma’
Berry juice may be a heart tonic

Molecular Nutrition and Food Research April ’08

Sources: BBC NEWS:MAY 16, ’08

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Featured Health Alert

Smiling Unwillingly is Bad for Health

Singapore Airlines flight attendantsImage via Wikipedia

Forcefully flashing your teeth at work is dangerous for health, scientists have warned.

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According to German researchers, forcing staff to be happy and polite all the time is likely to make them sick.

They believe most at risk are flight attendants, salesmen, call centre operators, waiters and other workers in close contact with the public.

Professor Dieter Zapf, a researcher at Frankfurt University, Germany, said fake friendliness led to depression, stress and hit the immune system.

This can trigger more serious ailments such as high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems.

“Every time a person is forced to repress his true feelings there are negative consequences,” the Mirror quoted him, as saying.

In order to reach the conclusions, for over two years, 4,000 volunteers including shop workers and flight attendants, were put in an imaginary call centre and abused by clients.

Some could answer back, while others had to stay polite and friendly.

Those allowed to stand up to clients had a rapid heartbeat for a brief period, but those who had to remain friendly found their hearts were still racing long after the client had hung up.

Researchers decided “being friendly against one’s will causes nothing but stress”.

Prof Zapf said: “We are all able to rein in our emotions, but it becomes difficult to do this over a protracted period as cabin attendants are forced to on long-haul flights.

“These people need space away from the passengers where they can be on their own and let feelings run free.

“We have to get away from the ‘customer is king’ attitude and show more respect to those in service industries.”

Sources: The Times Of India

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