Month: October 2010

Categories
News on Health & Science

Backs Chest Compressions in Resuscitation

 

[amazon_link asins=’B01MTJ2VWD’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’ae84c148-2d62-11e7-9820-23cfd9fb5bc6′]

Concentrating on chest compressions rather than mouth-to-mouth when giving emergency resuscitation can produce better results, says research published in The Lancet.

CLICK & SEE

A study of 3,000 patients found that chest compressions alone increased chances of survival by more than 22%.

But training in how to give both chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breaths is the best option, experts say.

The UK Resuscitation Council is due to produce new CPR guidelines next week.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a combination of chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth breaths, given in a life-threatening emergency like a cardiac arrest or heart attack.

The study, compiled by doctors from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria, looked at the survival rates of people treated by untrained members of the public taking instructions from the emergency services over the phone.

Dr Peter Nagele, from the department of anaesthesiology, critical care and pain therapy at the Medical University of Vienna, said that if untrained bystanders avoided mouth-to-mouth breaths during CPR, they were more likely to perform uninterrupted chest compressions.

That then increased the probability of CPR being successful.

Different techniques
The research in The Lancet involved two analyses.

The first used data from three randomised trials involving more than 3,000 patients.

It showed that chest-compression-only CPR was associated with a slightly improved chance of survival compared with standard CPR (14% v 12%).

In the second analysis of seven observational studies, researchers found no difference between the two CPR techniques.

The study authors maintain that continuous, uninterrupted chest compressions are vital for successful CPR.

Dr Jas Soar, chair of the Resuscitation Council from Southmead Hospital in Bristol, said: “Any CPR is better than no CPR. If you witness a cardiac arrest, dial 999 immediately. Those trained in CPR should follow existing guidance of 30 chest compressions followed by two rescue breaths.

“Those not trained should start compressions and follow instructions until an expert arrives,” Dr Soar said.

Dr Meng Aw-Yong, medical adviser at St John Ambulance, acknowledged that rescue breaths could be off-putting.

“The current advice is that if you’re unwilling or unable to do full CPR then chest compressions are better than nothing.

“The best solution, however, is for people to get trained in how to carry out chest compressions and rescue breaths so they can be the difference between a life lost and a life saved,” he said.

The British Heart Foundation says that being able to do CPR more than doubles the chances of survival.

Claire O’Neill, community resuscitation programme lead at the BHF, said: “For someone who is untrained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation, doing both chest compressions and rescue breaths really can be difficult.

“We also know that uninterrupted chest compressions are very important for increasing the chance of survival. So being directed to focus solely on chest compressions could make people more willing to attempt resuscitation, which could ultimately save lives,” she said.

Click to learn more …….(1).…

..(2)….

…(3)…..
Source : BBC News

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Categories
Herbs & Plants

Clerodendrum infortunatum(Gnetu ful in bengali)

Botanical Name :Clerodendrum infortunatum
Family: Lamiaceae /Verbenaceae.
Genus: Clerodendrum
Species: C. infortunatum
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales

Common Names: hill glory bower, Saraswaty’s leaf, sticky glorybower • Bengali: bhant, ghentu • Hindi: bhant • Kannada: ibbane • Lepcha: kumboul kung • Malayalam: peruku, vattaparuvalam • Manipuri: kuthap manbi • Marathi: bhandira • Sanskrit: bhandika, bhandira, bhantaka • Tamil: perugilai, vattakanni • Telugu: kattiyaku, saraswati-yaku ;

Habitat:  Clerodendrum infortunatum is native to tropical regions of Asia including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, the Andaman Islands, and Sri Lanka.

Description :
Clerodendrum infortunatum is a perennial flowering shrub or small tree, and is so named because of its rather ugly leaf. The stem is eresct, 0.5–4 m high, with no branches and produce circular leaves with 6 inch diameter. Leaves are simple, opposite; both surfaces sparsely villous-pubescent, elliptic, broadly elliptic, ovate or elongate ovate, 3.5–20 cm wide, 6–25 cm long, dentate, inflorescence in terminal, peduncled, few-flowered cyme; flowers white with purplish pink or dull-purple throat, pubescent. Fruit berry, globose, turned bluish-black or black when ripe, enclosed in the red accrescent fruiting-calyx. The stem is hollow and the leaves are 6-8 inch (15–20 cm) long, borne in whorls of four on very short petioles. The inflorescence is huge, consisting of many tubular snow white flowers in a terminal cluster up to 2 ft (0.6 m) long. The tubes of the flowers are about 4 inch (10 cm) long and droop downward, and the expanded corollas are about 2 inch (5 cm) across. The fruits are attractive dark metallic blue drupes, about a half inch in diameter. Fruit usually with 4 dry nutlets and the seeds may be with or without endosperm. It flowers from April to August.

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

Chemical composition: The major compounds are sterols, sugars, flavonoids and saponins. Novel crystalline compounds such as clerodolone, clerodone, clerodol and a sterol designated clerosterol have been isolated from the root. Seven sugars namely raffinose, lactose, maltose, sucrose, galactose, glucose and fructose were identified. Fumaric acid, caffeic acid esters, ?-sitosterol and ?-sitosterol glucoside were isolated from the flowers. Apigenin, acacetin and a new flavone glycoside, characterised as the methyl ester of acacetin-7-0-glucuronide are isolated from the flowers. Saponin is one of the major compounds of the leaf. 24 beta-ethylsterols, clerosterol and 22-dehydroclerosterol, 24-methyl-sterols (24-methylcholestanol, 24-methylcholesterol, 24-methyl-22-dehydrocholesterol, and 24-methyllathostero) and 24 beta-ethyl-22-dehydrocholestanol are found in the seeds.Scutellarin and hispidulin-7-O-glucuronide are present in the leaf. Poriferasterol and stigmasterol are the components of the aerial parts.

Properties and uses: The juice of the leaves is believed to possess anthelminitic properties-

Medicinal Uses:
Saponin (SN1) isolated from Clerodendrum  infortunatum leaves in doses of 30, 50, 75 and 100 mg/kg, ip provided 36.28, 60.47, 90.71, 100% protection respectively from writhing induced by 1.2% v/v acetic acid. In hot plate method, SN1 not only produced analgesia in mice but also potentiated the analgesic action of pentazocine and aspirin. The anticonvulsant activity was tested by leptazol-induced seizures. SN1 decreased the duration of seizures and gave protection in a dose dependent manner against leptazol-induced convulsions. The results suggest that saponin has significant analgesic and anticonvulsant effects.
In Ayurvedic and Siddha traditional medicines, the leaves and roots of C. infortunatum are used as herbal remedy for alopecia, asthma, cough, diarrhoea, rheumatism, fever and skin diseases. It is also known to have hepato-protective and antimicrobial activities.[FROM :unreliable medical source] The roots and bark of stem of this plant prepared as decoction and given in the dose of 60-80 ml twice daily for respiratory diseases, fever, periodic fever, cough, bronchial asthma, etc. The leaves are ground well and applied externally to induce ripenning of ulcers and swellings. A paste of leaves and roots are applied externally over skin diseases especially fungal infections and alopecia. Fresh leaves are given for diarrhoea, liver disorders and headache.
Traditional practices:
The leaf and root are widely used as antidandruff, antipyretic, ascaricide, laxative, vermifuge, and in treatments of convulsion, diabetes, gravel, malaria, scabies, skin diseases, sore, spasm, scorpion sting, snake bite and tumor. In Thai medicine the leaves and root are known to be diuretic; and used for treatment of intestinal infections and kidney dysfunction; when boiled or ground with water, it is taken to increase milk secretion for post-labor. In many traditional practices the leaves and root are widely used as antihyperglycemic.

Click to learn more :

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerodendrum_infortunatum
ভাইটা ‘‍ঘন্টাকর্ণ’ : CLERODENDRUM INFORTUNATUM.,
https://sites.google.com/site/efloraofindia/species/a—l/l/lamiaceae/clerodendrum/clerodendrum-infortunatum

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Categories
Herbs & Plants

Wikstroemia indica (THYMELAECEAE) Tie Bush

[amazon_link asins=’147815845X,9814733695′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’c90250f7-2da7-11e7-bd11-9750b045e365′]
Botanical Name :Wikstroemia indica
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Wikstroemia
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Malvales
Species: W. indica
Common Name: Bootlace bush Tie bush
Other Names :Indian stringbush, bootlace bush, or small-leaf salago
ChineseName : li?o g? wáng

Habitat : Native of India to China, throughout Malaysia and the Malay Islands to Australia”.In Sri Lanka, “an introduced species now abundantly established on sandy roadside banks, grassland, forest margins”

Description:
Small twiggy shrub, c. 0.3-1.25 m tall. Branchlets and twigs slender, terete, with scattered fine hairs when very young but soon quite glabrous, striate, blackish-purple. Leaves oblanceolate to elliptic or oblong, 1.5-6 x 0.6-2 (-2.6) cm, subcoriaceous, shining on the upper surface but duller below, glabrous or almost so, cuneate to attenuate at the base, obtuse (sometimes more or less emarginate) or acute at the apex; petiole 1-2 mm, glabrous. Flowers yellow or green, in dense axillary or terminal few-flowered spikes, subsessile or shortly (to c. 3 mm) pedunculate; pedicels c. 2 mm, articulated below the middle. Calyx tube 5-9 mm, sparsely pilose on the outer surface, glabrous within; lobes 2-3 mm, oblong to ovate, obtuse, sparsely pilose dorsally, glabrous within. Anthers oblong, c. 0.75-1 mm. Ovary ellipsoid-oblong, c. 2 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose about the style base; hypogynal scales 2, linear, acute or usually truncate or incised at the apex; style very short (less than 0.5 mm), stigma large and solitary. Fruit broadly ellipsoid to subglobose, 4-6 mm, naked, fleshy, red or green, glabrous. Seed globose-pyriform, 3.75-5.75 mm, with a short apical point, black”

click to see the pictures…>…..(01).....(1).……...(2).……...(3)..…….(4)....
Stems hairless (smooth) or sparsely hairy on juveniles and new growth, later smooth and shiny.

 

Leaves to 6 cm, hairless, upper surface dark green and glossy, lower surface glaucous (ashy) and dull, petiole (leaf stalk) 1-2 mm.
The tough stringy bark is a rough and ready string if torn off in thin strips, hence the name Tie Bush. Also known as Bush Bootlace.

Pale green to cream flower heads with 1-4 flowers each.
Fruit a succulent, bright, egg-shaped red or orange berry. Fruit and leaves toxic if eaten.

Click to see more pictures:

Medicinal Uses:
It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Studies of chemicals in Wikstroemia have suggested it contains chemicals that may prove useful in cancer research.  click to learn more  :

you may click to learn more :

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikstroemia_indica
http://www.saveourwaterwaysnow.com.au/01_cms/details_pop.asp?ID=338
http://noosanativeplants.com.au/plants/502/wikstroemia-indica
http://www.hear.org/pier/species/wikstroemia_indica.htm

Related articles
Categories
Healthy Tips

Walking ‘Could Ward off Dementia and Mental Decline’

Elderly people who get about by walking are less likely to suffer mental decline or even dementia, a study says.

.[amazon_link asins=’B000VICRO8,B00OS9R9VW’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’6885bc7d-2da8-11e7-9049-4dd9244d3f04′]

Brain scans revealed that older people walking between six and nine miles a week appeared to have more brain tissue in key areas.

The Pittsburgh University study of 299 people suggested they had less “brain shrinkage“, which is linked to memory problems.

The research was reported in the journal Neurology.

The volunteers, who had an average age of 78, were checked for signs of “cognitive impairment” or even dementia.

The Pittsburgh team also had access to brain scan results from four years previously which measured the amount of “grey matter” in their brains.

Brain health

This is found at various parts of the brain and is known to diminish in many people as they get older.

Each of them had been quizzed in their 60s about the number of city blocks they walked each week as part of their normal routine.

The results showed that those who walked at least 72 blocks – six to nine miles – a week had a greater volume of grey matter.

Four years after the scans, 40% of the group had measurable cognitive impairment or even dementia.

Those who walked the most were half as likely to have these problems compared with those who walked the least.

Dr Kirk Erickson, who led the study, said: “If regular exercise in midlife could improve brain health and improve thinking and memory in later life, it would be one more reason to make regular exercise in people of all ages a public health imperative.”

Susanne Sorensen, from the Alzheimer’s Society, said that the study was further evidence that a healthy heart could lead to a healthy brain.

She added: “One of the benefits of this research is that it eliminates the impact other socio-economic factors may play and focuses specifically on walking rather than exercise more generally.

“Although a link has been found between lack of exercise and brain shrinkage, we need more research to find out why physical activity may affect the brain.

“The best way to reduce your risk is to take regular exercise, eat healthily, don’t smoke and get your blood pressure and cholesterol checked.”


Source : BBC News

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
Categories
Featured

Mild Memory Loss is Not a Part of Normal Aging

Getting older, in and of itself, is not the cause of so-called “senior moments”. A new study found that even these mild memory lapses are caused by the same brain lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
[amazon_link asins=’B01I0WGU5I,B01MZ45WUP’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’0d4de0d4-2da9-11e7-b2a5-75b463cb1f4f’]
Researchers found that in the last four to five years of life, people’s memory showed a very rapid decline. Pathologic lesions were found to be related to this rapid decline. The preceding years showed a much more gradual decline that was the actual result of normal aging.

According to Newswise:
“… [R]ecognizing that the earliest changes in memory are related to Alzheimer’s pathology can lead to early diagnosis and will be critical information if a treatment is developed that can alter the pathologic course of the disease.”

Resources:
Newswise September 15, 2010
Neurology September 21, 2010; 75(12):1070-8. Epub 2010 Sep 15

Posted By Dr. Mercola | October 07 2010 | 43,083 views

Related articles

css.php