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What To Do If You’ve Got Flu?

February 3, 2011 by ·

Red nose, sore eyes, headache, aching body and a fever. Do these symptoms sound familiar? Yes, we are talking about flu – the illness which tends to strike this time of year. Here’s a rundown on it

There’s no escaping it, not unless you live on another planet. So you need to be prepared for it when it strikes. Happily for you, it’s not hard to miss the signs – a runny nose, watery eyes, a low to high-grade fever, an aching body and a scratchy throat. We are talking about flu. Medical experts call it influenza. No matter what you call it, you feel miserable when you have it. However, with a little bit of care you can keep healthy and sane when all around you people are in paroxysms of sneezing and coughing. [Read more...]

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The Carcinogenic Impact Of Asbestos

January 22, 2011 by ·

For more than centuries, it has been noted that a lot of builders have used asbestos products to insulate homes. However, it was not known that exposure to all these mineral causes a variety of cancers. And for the past couple of decades, great efforts were made by different health enthusiasts to  lessen cancer causing products. Hence, a great disadvantage to the discovery of the carcinogenic impact of asbestos is the fact that it can take 20 or more years for the cancer to develop. Today, asbestos-caused cancer of the membrane which surrounds many of the body’s vital organs is called Mesothelioma cancer. Though being considered as a rare disease, hence, it is no longer regarded rare to people having been exposed to asbestos. So, for people who have been affected with this disease, better visits the above mentioned for more details and information’s.

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Kidney Failure Rate Stabilizing

January 21, 2011 by ·

The number of Canadians living with end-stage kidney disease is rising.

At the end of 2009, 37,744 Canadians were living with kidney failure — more than triple the number recorded in 1990, a new report released Thursday shows.

The Canadian Institute for Health Information’s report on treatment of end-stage organ failure in Canada is based on data from 2000 to 2009, the most current year available.

An estimated 37,744 Canadians were living with kidney failure at the end of 2009. Of these, 22,310 were on dialysis and 15,434 were living with a kidney transplant.

The report says that of the 1,224 kidney recipients, 187 received pre-emptive transplants, which are becoming an increasingly important treatment option in Canada. [Read more...]

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Why Coffee Protects Against Diabetes

January 13, 2011 by ·

Coffee, that morning elixir, may give us an early jump-start to the day, but numerous studies have shown that it also may be protective against type 2 diabetes. Yet no one has really understood why.

Now, researchers at UCLA have discovered a possible molecular mechanism behind coffee’s protective effect. A protein called sex hormone–binding globulin (SHBG) regulates the biological activity of the body’s sex hormones, testosterone and estrogen, which have long been thought to play a role in the development of type 2 diabetes. And coffee consumption, it turns out, increases plasma levels of SHBG.

Reporting with colleagues in the current edition of the journal Diabetes, first author Atsushi Goto, a UCLA doctoral student in epidemiology, and Dr. Simin Liu, a professor of epidemiology and medicine with joint appointments at the UCLA School of Public Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, show that women who drink at least four cups of coffee a day are less than half as likely to develop diabetes as non-coffee drinkers.

When the findings were adjusted for levels of SHBG, the researchers said, that protective effect disappeared. [Read more...]

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Almonds Curb Diabetes, Heart Disease

December 30, 2010 by ·

A new study – conducted at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey – has suggested that eating almonds could help prevent diabetes and heart disease.

Scientists discovered that including the nuts into our diets could help treat type 2 diabetes. As well as combating the condition, linked to obesity and physical inactivity, it could tackle cardiovascular disease, they said.

Diabetics have a shortage of insulin or a decreased ability to use the hormone that allows glucose to enter cells and be converted to energy.

When diabetes is not controlled, glucose and fats remain in the blood and over time, damage vital organs. [Read more...]

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Component In Common Dairy Foods May Cut Diabetes Risk

December 21, 2010 by ·

Scientists at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and collaborators from other institutions have identified a natural substance in dairy fat that may substantially reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. The compound, trans-palmitoleic acid, is a fatty acid found in milk, cheese, yogurt, and butter. It is not produced by the body and so only comes from the diet.

Reporting in the December 21, 2010, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine, investigators led by Dariush Mozaffarian, associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at HSPH and Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, J.S. Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism and chair of the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases at HSPH, explain that trans-palmitoleic acid may underlie epidemiological evidence in recent years that diets rich in dairy foods are linked to lower risk of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic abnormalities. Health experts generally advise reducing full-fat dairy products, but trans-palmitoleic acid is found in dairy fat.

The HSPH researchers examined 3,736 participants in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded Cardiovascular Health Study, who have been followed for 20 years in an observational study to evaluate risk factors for cardiovascular diseases in older adults. Metabolic risk factors such as blood glucose and insulin levels, and also levels of circulating blood fatty acids, including trans-palmitoleic acid, were measured using stored blood samples in 1992, and participants were followed for development of type 2 diabetes. [Read more...]

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Scientist Shows Link Between Diet And Onset Of Mental Illness

December 14, 2010 by ·

Changes in diet have been linked to a reduction of abnormal behaviors in mentally ill people or animals, but a Purdue University study shows that diet might also trigger the onset of mental illness in the first place.

Joseph Garner, an associate professor of animal sciences, fed mice a diet high in sugar and tryptophan that was expected to reduce abnormal hair-pulling. Instead, mice that were already ill worsened their hair-pulling behaviors or started a new self-injurious scratching behavior, and the seemingly healthy mice developed the same abnormal behaviors.

“This strain of mouse is predisposed to being either a scratcher or a hair-puller. Giving them this diet brought out those predispositions,” said Garner, whose results were published in the December issue of the journal Nutritional Neuroscience. “They’re like genetically at-risk people.” [Read more...]

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