Tag: Times Of India

Categories
News on Health & Science

What Causes Arteries Clog Up

[amazon_link asins=’B01IAHNP3I,B07578Z1SM’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’d18eb2fc-2f27-11e8-ad37-ab6d32cff6b6′]

British scientists have identified an enzyme that plays a crucial role in clogging up of arteries . Here’s what causes arteries to clog up :

.CLICK & SEE THE PICTURE
They have discovered that an enzyme called matrix metalloproteinase-8 that raises blood pressure and causes abnormal build-up of cells in the arteries – both of which increase the risk of heart disease….

“Our research tells us that this enzyme plays a crucial role in the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries which causes heart disease,” said lead researcher Shu Ye, Professor of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at Queen Mary, University of London.

“Many patients with high blood pressure or heart failure are currently treated with ACE inhibitor drugs. However, some patients do not respond sufficiently to ACE inhibitors alone.

“We hope that what we’ve found here could be the basis for new drugs that can enhance the effects of ACE inhibitors, which would reduce deaths from heart disease,” Ye added.

During the study, researchers genetically engineered mice to lack the MMP8 enzyme.

The mice were fed on a Western-style diet high in fat and cholesterol and compared to normal mice fed on the same diet. The mice, which lacked the enzyme, had clearer arteries and lower blood pressure.

The researchers also studied 2,000 patients who were being tested for clogs in arteries leading to their hearts with a test called a coronary angiogram.

They found that around 25 per cent of these patients had a slightly different version of the gene for MMP8 and their arteries were more clogged than other patients.

Source: The Times Of India

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
Featured Meditation

Meditate Your Pain Away

[amazon_link asins=’1590308492,B00DDHIA1S,B007WVNUUW,151193543X,0861713168,B072MQY9Z4,B00546XBQK,1974336441,1466480033′ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’finmeacur-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’777778b4-86f4-11e7-a90d-210a35b68849′]

Zen meditation – a centuries-old practice that helps people gain mental, physical and emotional balance – can keep pain at bay

CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES


Universite de Montreal researchers.

According to a Psychosomatic Medicine study, Zen meditators have lower pain sensitivity both in and out of a meditative state compared to non-meditators. Along with Pierre Rainville, a professor and researcher at the Université de Montréal, Joshua A. Grant, a doctoral student in the Department of Physiology co-authored the paper.

The main aim of the study was to examine whether trained meditators perceived pain differently than non-meditators. “While previous studies have shown that teaching chronic pain patients to meditate is beneficial, very few studies have looked at pain processing in healthy, highly trained meditators. This study was a first step in determining how or why meditation might influence pain perception,” says Grant.

To reach the conclusion, the scientists recruited 13 Zen meditators with a minimum of 1,000 hours of practice to undergo a pain test and contrasted their reaction with 13 non-meditators. Subjects included 10 women and 16 men between the ages of 22 to 56.

The administered pain test was simple: A thermal heat source, a computer controlled heating plate, was pressed against the calves of subjects intermittently at varying temperatures. Heat levels began at 43 degrees Celsius and went to a maximum of 53 degrees Celsius depending on each participant’s sensitivity. While quite a few of the meditators tolerated the maximum temperature, all control subjects were well below 53 degrees Celsius.

Grant and Rainville noticed a marked difference in how their two test groups reacted to pain testing – Zen meditators had much lower pain sensitivity (even without meditating) compared to non-meditators. During the meditation-like conditions it appeared meditators further reduced their pain partly through slower breathing: 12 breaths per minute versus an average of 15 breaths for non-meditators.

“Slower breathing certainly coincided with reduced pain and may influence pain by keeping the body in a relaxed state. While previous studies have found that the emotional aspects of pain are influenced by meditation, we found that the sensation itself, as well as the emotional response, is different in meditators,” Grant said.

The ultimate result was that Zen meditators experienced an 18 per cent reduction in pain intensity.

Source:The Times Of India

Related articles
Categories
News on Health & Science

A Sweeter Broccoli to Cut Heart Diseases

Scientists claimed to have developed a new variety of broccoli that is not only grown naturally, but also tastes sweeter and has 40 per  cent more anti-oxidants than the normal to reduce risks of heart disease and cancer.
………………..sweeter broccoli
Scientists at Victoria’s Department of Primary Industries (DPI), have discovered “Booster Broccoli”, a new variety that is the first in the group of super vegetables and contains more anti-oxidants than the usual variety, the ABC report said on Monday.
DPI’s leading scientist Rod Jones said that the new broccoli is not the result of genetic engineering.

“All we’ve done is gone back and minded nature‘s natural diversity,” he said.

Jones also said that DPI had partnerships with large companies and had tested 400 varieties of broccoli before selecting the one that had the highest anti-oxidant content and now they have decided to breed the “Booster Broccoli”.

“It’s also about improving the health of our population in general by getting people to eat vegetables that we know are very good for them,” he added.

“It’s a premium branded product so the returns to growers should be higher,” Jones said.

Source: The Times Of India

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
News on Health & Science Positive thinking

Kissing Can Cause Herpes

If you think a kiss is just a kiss, you might want to think again, for the simple pleasure now comes with a health warning-it can cause herpes. The Australian Herpes Management Forum, which is to start an awareness campaign, has warned that a kiss is a major transmitter of herpes. The symbol of affection “poses risks to both adults and children”.
…………………………a_kiss_for_you
“No parent kissing their child or partner kissing their girlfriend wants to pass along the Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), but people should be aware this is the main method of transmission. Once you have been infected with HSV-1 or HSV-2, the virus stays in your body for life and can reactivate at any time,” the Australian media quoted AHMF’s Executive Director Tricia Berger.

“If you have a herpes sore on or near your mouth, it is likely that you’ll pass the virus along to whomever you kiss. It is also possible to transmit the virus even when there are no apparent sores or symptoms, but the risk is higher when the sores are visible,” Berger said.

HSV-1 is the variant of the virus otherwise referred to as cold sores. It is commonly acquired as a child from contact, often a kiss, with adult relatives.

Berger said the herpes risk posed by kissing would be the main theme of a new community service awareness campaign. Television and radio ads will be aired nationally from August up to National Herpes Awareness Day, in October.

Source: The Times Of India

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
Categories
News on Health & Science

Homeopathy Can Cure Swine Flu, Claims Practitioner

At a time the country is grappling with H1N1 virus and Tamiflu tablet is belived to be the only solution, a well-known medical practitioner
today claimed that people can have a cost-effective treatment in homeopathy for swine flu.

“The people can take some of cost-effective and clinically proved homeopathic medicines for swine flu treatment as well as prevention,” Batra’s Positive Clinic’s chairman and managing director, Dr Mukesh Batra, said.

Batra recommends `Oscilococcinium 30′ and `Influenzium 200′ for swine flu prevention as well as to improve the immune system among the general public towards the flu.

“The homeopathy medicine ‘Gelsemium 30’ has been proved effective clinically in the treatment of swine flu in France a decade back and has been reported in the British journal of Clinical Medicine,” Batra said.

Similarly, treatment for swine-flu was done in Spain during 1917-18 war period with ‘Bryonia 30’ and proved effective, he said.

In the case of Spanish flu, homeopathy brought mortality rate from 30 per cent to one per cent, he claimed.

Source: The Times Of India

Related articles by Zemanta
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
css.php