Babies can be Fed with Donkey Milk If Required

Donkey's milk is also nutritious, but contains more protein than mother's milk. It can be given to the babies, if necessity arises in a diluted form. it has been seen that camel milk prolongs life.

Amplify’d from www.cbsnews.com

Donkey's Milk: Nutritious for Kids?

Children with allergies to cow's milk and goat's milk are finding a nutritious alternative in donkey's milk. Anna Matranga reports. Read more at www.cbsnews.com

 

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Antimicrobial Tenofovir Gel is Promising in Preventing AIDS

Anti-viral drug, a vaginal containing tenofovir is preventing HIV transmission to a larger extent. Please read the full story.

Amplify’d from www.thelancet.com

Antiretroviral vaginal gel shows promise against HIV

A transparent antiretroviral gel could turn out to be the unexpected winner in the race to give women a means of protecting themselves against HIV. Adele Baleta reports.

The results of a phase 2b proof-of-concept study of 889 HIV-negative women in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, have shown that a gel for vaginal application containing 1% of the antiretroviral drug tenofovir is safe and effective for preventing HIV. Antiretroviral drugs have been shown to effectively treat people living with HIV, and to prevent mother-to-child transmission, but this is the first time an antiretroviral gel has been shown to prevent sexually transmitted HIV.

After 2·5 years of gel use, there were 38 new infections in the treatment group, compared with 60 in the control group. Over this period, 39% of women using the gel were protected, and 54% were protected when the gel was used as prescribed—within 12 h before sex and 12 h after sex—for more than 80% of their sexual intercourse. After a year there were 50% fewer new HIV infections in those using the gel than in women using a placebo gel.

The results are good news for microbicides, which have previously shown disappointing results and faced increasing scepticism about their potential use. The results of 11 trials of six candidate microbicides over the past 15 years have been negative.

Full-size image (90K) Adele BaletaDownload to PowerPoint A nurse shows a woman how to use the gel applicator

There was no evidence of any emergence of HIV-resistant strains with early, short-term, and intermittent use of the gel, and the only reported side-effect was a small increase in mild diarrhoea. Frohlich says that if confirmed, the CAPRISA trial results show that an antiretroviral-based microbicide could in time be an effective prevention strategy that can be safely used by women to prevent HIV infection. Read more at www.thelancet.com

 

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To Tackle Bronchial Asthma

A holistic approach to asthma management. Please go through it.

Amplify’d from www.firstbloggersclub.com

How to Cope With Asthma

Asthma (Bronchial) is primarily a manifestation of an allergic disorder, either external or internal. There occurs inflammation in the respiratory tract epithelium (the lining cells). The inflammatory substances acting on the musculature cause spasm of respiratory tract and there are the manifestations, in form of wheezing, breathlessness, straining and cough etc. There is something called cardiac asthma, symptoms of similar nature due to heart failure. The mainstay of treatment is steroid in form of inhalation and injection. Methylprednisolone is preferred over prednisolone sodium or hydrocortisone because of less side effects. Along with it is added a short-acting bronchodilator, B2 receptor stimulant e.g. salbutamol or terbutaline. Most of the cases respond to it but necessitate  long term use of a bronchodilator. A sputum liquefying agent may be required to easily spit out the thick bronchial secretions. New research in this field suggest the bigger role of vitamin D in easing the symptoms of asthma and possibly preventing the attacks, vitamin D acts at the level of the respiratory epithelium, helping in stabilizing it. It reduces inflammation and consequent spasm of the respiratory muscles. Image via Wikipedia, A House dust mite Patients of asthma should avoid allergens, may be typical to the individual, like house dust, dusts from beds, pollens, vehicular exhaust, room deodorants; and foods like egg or shrimp etc.  The list can go on. Actually, a patient learns from his/her experience, what to avoid. These patients should avoid some common analgesics having B2 receptor blocking activity. Obesity is also blamed for asthma. Weight reduction is liked to ease of symptoms. Asthma can be tackled by Yogic practices, which is in vague in India. That can be Pranayam, basically it is inhaling in full and exhaling in full with closing one side of nostrils alternately. It is to be practiced under guidance. Moderate exercise, like brisk walking will also ease the symptoms. Image via Wikipedia It is said that cats in home prevent asthma, I am not sure. If it is so, might be due to gradual tolerance to the cat hair acting as an allergen, which might be due to desensitizing effect. It is also said that allowing babies to be dirty, engaging them in childhood play, takes away some of allergic disorders and possibly asthma; and creates resistance to certain infections. Some time back, FDA has warned about co-prescription of long acting beta stimulants and steroid; which caused more cardiac events and readmissions to the hospitals. A life style modification, diet modification, some precautions and some supportive medication may help asthmatics to lead a normal life. Read more at www.firstbloggersclub.com

 

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Synthesis of Natural Joint

Bone was made outside the body, so also flesh. Now it is joint. If, it finally comes to the clinicians, it will be a boon.

clipped from timesofindia.indiatimes.com A natural replacement for worn-out joint PARIS: Scientists have shown for the first time that it may be possible to replace a human hip or knee with a joint grown naturally inside the body using the patient's stem cells. In experiments on rabbits, the researchers coaxed the animals' stem cells to rebuild the bone and cartilage of a missing leg joint, according to a study published on Thursday. "This is the first time an entire joint surface was regenerated with return of functions including weight-bearing and locomotion," lead researcher Jeremy Mao, a professor at Columbia University Medical Center, said. In the experiments, Mao and colleagues removed the forelimb thigh joint of 10 rabbits, and then implanted a kind of scaffolding made of biologically compatible materials. The fact that the regenerated limb joint was created from the stem cells in the host animal — rather than being harvested and then cultivated outside the body — is also unprecedented, they said.

How Much Water is Sufficient for You

Image via Wikipedia

As much as 70% of body weight is water, and as much as 70% of earth is covered with water bodies; Is not it? There is some simile. Water is lost from body through invisible ways and visible ways;

1. Visible Loss; 

• Through faeces;
• Urine;

        and

• Sweat.

1. Invisible loss: 

• Through Respiration.

So, one should pass urine of about 1.5 litres/day to wash out most of the waste products of body metabolism. Both visible and invisible loss of water depend on the climatic conditions. if one feels thirsty, that means there is Ist degree dehydration i.e. about 5-10% of water is already lost from body. One must drink water frequently so that he/she does not feel thirsty. Drinking water after the thirst, only covers the loss to some extent.



So, one should be free to drink water before thirsty feeling comes up and drink so as to pass at least 1.5 to 2 litres of urine per day to stay healthy. That will be around 2.5 litres to 4 litres per day depending on the climatic conditions.



Excessive water drinking is also bad; causes, what is called water intoxication.

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Historical Letters Reached Sixty Years Late Than Never

The nature plays with human, we are both aware and unaware of it. It is a lot of surprise and sorrow for the recipients of letters of a plane crash right in 1950. Please read the details in the original post in "The Telegraph".

Amplify’d from www.telegraph.co.uk

Letters frozen in time arrive after 60 years

When an airliner crashed near the summit of Mont Blanc 60 years ago, rescuers fought desperately through storms to reach the site.

While walking away from her University of Dundee colleagues for a lavatory break Miss Cowan, 22, discovered the mailbag, which, due to rock falls and melting snow, had descended about 8,000ft over the years.

She found four bundles inside and the postmark on the letter at the top read: “Bombay, 1950”. Read more at www.telegraph.co.uk

 

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Muddy Play

There might be some chemical in the mud, which might have some good effect on health.

Amplify’d from news.in.msn.com

A 'muddy' affair: Boryeong Mud Festival

People play with mud during the 13th Boryeong Mud Festival at a beach in Boryeong. The festival runs from July 17-25. Read more at news.in.msn.com

 

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Is Diabetes II Linked to Bone Froming Cells

Image via Wikipedia

I quote from Cell;

"The broad expression of the insulin receptor suggests that the spectrum of insulin function has not been fully described. A cell type expressing this receptor is the osteoblast, a bone-specific cell favoring glucose metabolism through a hormone, osteocalcin, that becomes active once uncarboxylated. We show here that insulin signaling in osteoblasts is necessary for whole-body glucose homeostasis because it increases osteocalcin activity. To achieve this function insulin signaling in osteoblasts takes advantage of the regulation of osteoclastic bone resorption exerted by osteoblasts. Indeed, since bone resorption occurs at a pH acidic enough to decarboxylate proteins, osteoclasts determine the carboxylation status and function of osteocalcin. Accordingly, increasing or decreasing insulin signaling in osteoblasts promotes or hampers glucose metabolism in a bone resorption-dependent manner in mice and humans. Hence, in a feed-forward loop, insulin signals in osteoblasts activate a hormone, osteocalcin, that promotes glucose metabolism."

Image via Wikipedia

The bone forming cells may have a role in initiation of the disease diabetes II.

Image via Wikipedia

clipped from www.cell.com Insulin Signaling in Osteoblasts Integrates Bone Remodeling and Energy Metabolism Insulin signaling in mouse osteoblasts increases activity of the hormone osteocalcin Osteocalcin activation depends on the acidic pH in the bone resorption area Enhanced osteocalcin activity promotes glucose metabolism via bone resorption Regulation of glucose metabolism by bone also occurs in humans

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Guidelines for Screening of Gout

Monosodium Urate; Image by euthman via Flickr

Finding monosodium urate (MSU) in the synovial fluid from the affected joints of patients suspected of Gout is diagnostic of the disease. The new guideline suggests 7 variables, basing on which patients can be further tested to conform gout.

clipped from www.medscape.com July 22, 2010 — A diagnostic rule involving 7 clinical variables is useful in helping to determine which patients are at high risk for gout and should undergo further testing with joint fluid aspiration to test for the presence of monosodium urate (MSU) crystals. The 7 variables, which the researchers describe as "easily ascertainable in primary care," include male sex, previous patient-reported arthritis attack, onset within 1 day, joint redness, involvement of the first metatarsophalangeal joint (MTP1), hypertension or 1 or more cardiovascular diseases, and serum uric acid level of more than 5.88 mg/dL. When the diagnostic rule was used (score ranging from 0 - 13), a score of 4 or less ruled out gout in almost 100% of patients. According to the researchers, in these patients, a differential diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis, pseudogout, psoriatic arthritis, and reactive arthritis vs gout should be considered.

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New Drug Sans Risk of Heart Attack and Fracture Risk

Scientists are working to develop newer drugs which will not have the side effects of rosiglitazone and pioglitazone i.e. risk of fracture and heart attack.

Amplify’d from www.reuters.com

Study raises hope for safer diabetes drugs

CHICAGO (Reuters) - A new understanding of the link between diabetes and obesity may help drug companies design safer versions of treatments like GlaxoSmithKline's Avandia, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday.

"Our findings strongly suggest that good and bad effects of these drugs can be separated by designing second-generation drugs that focus on the newly uncovered mechanism," Bruce Spiegelman of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who worked on the study in the journal Nature, said in a statement.

The drugs act on a protein called PPAR-gamma, found mostly in fat cells, that regulates genes involved in the body's response to insulin.

Scientists had believed the drugs work by stimulating PPAR-gamma, causing it to increase the activity of some genes and dampen others. The Dana-Farber researchers and a team from The Scripps Research Institute in California now think the drugs work in a different way.

In studies in obese mice, they found obesity activates a molecular switch called cdk5, which causes a chemical change in PPAR-gamma, triggering resistance to insulin and increasing blood sugar levels.

They did studies in cells and a test tube and found that drugs like Avandia and Actos block changes in cdk5 in addition to stimulating PPAR-gamma.

Both drugs increase the risk of fractures and heart failure, and several reports have linked Avandia with an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

He thinks drug companies might be able to design more selective diabetes drugs that treat insulin resistance without stimulating PPAR-gamma, which Spiegelman thinks is responsible for the side effects seen in Actos and Avandia. Read more at www.reuters.com

 

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Lipid From Frog Skin Hastens Wound Healing

The researchers;
Venkat Raghavan K, Mary Babu, Rama Rajaram and Korrapati Purna Sai,
Department of Biomaterials
Central Leather Research Institute
Chennai, India; recently published an article in "Lipids in Health and Disease listed in PubMed and archived at PubMed Central", where they have found potential use of frog lipid in wound healing. I quote;

" The current study envisages the role of frog skin lipids in the inflammatory phase of wound healing. The lipid moiety of the frog skin dominated by phospholipids exhibited a dose dependent acceleration of healing irrespective of the mode of application. The efficiency of the extract is attributed partially to the anti-inflammatory activity as observed by the histochemical and immunostimulatory together with plethysmographic studies.

Conclusions: Thus, frog skin for the first time has been demonstrated to possess lipidcomponents with pharmaceutical and therapeutic potential. The identification and characterization of such natural healing molecules and evaluating their mechanism of actionwould therefore provide basis for understanding the cues of Nature and hence can be used for application in medicine."

The full article can be viewed here

Indian Operating System and Browser

Though, there was a linux operating system (BOSS) developed in India for several years, a little was known to the users like me. A few months back, it became known to larger population, still it is not well known to many more. To-day, Epic browser for India was launched perhaps powered by Mozilla. The initial impression is good. let us watch, how much popular it becomes.

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Epic Web Browser for India

New web browser launched. Please read in detail.

Amplify’d from www.epicbrowser.com

Meet Epic. Your New Best Friend.

the first-ever web browser for India the world's only antivirus browser

Need Installation help?

Maximum. Yes. Maximum Security. For your browser. For your whole system. Built in Antivirus: Scan downloads automatically. Scan your system manually. Epic Kills any viruses it finds. Totally free. Malicious Website warnings: We'll warn you if you're about to visit a web site known to host viruses or malware. Anti-Phishing Protection: A big, bolded domain so you know if you're at citibank.com or citiphishingsite.com.

Is Privacy important to you? One-Click Private Data Deletion. One-Click Private Browsing. Flash cookie deletion built in. (the first browser ever to kill them). No Browsing Reports. We don't store your browsing or search data. Ever. Read more at www.epicbrowser.com

 

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Billion Hearts Beating

Image via Wikipedia

This is the organ, which works relentlessly along with respiration. It beats in an average 72times/min. in an adult. Main fuel it uses is fat. It gets nutrition from the blood vessels supplying it, called coronary arteries.
To keep the heart beating perfectly one should go for some safe practices.
Lifestyle modification, if following a sedentary life;

• Take up physical activity regularly.

Dietary modification;

• More fiber, less refined sugar, more complex carbohydrate, optimum amount of protein, good oil (repeatedly heated good oils also loose the beneficial effects), fruits and vitamins. More precisely called Mediterranean diet.

• Less salt in diet; not more than 2.5grms/day.What is precisely called DASH i.e. dietary approach to stop hypertension.

• Control diseases like sore throat in children, which may lead to rheumatic arthritis and heart disease in future.

• Abstain from alcohol ( Red wine may be beneficial, but not recommended as a preventive method, but, if already in habit may continue)

• Abstain from tobacco products in any form.

• Control of hypertension and diabetes, if suffering from.

• Regular lipid profile check up and controlling it to a satisfactory level (HDL, high density lipoproteins are good for heart).

• Refrain from stress and strain (More night shift duty is linked to cardiac events). Relaxation is a must.

• Taking drugs regularly for control of diseases like hypertension, kidney disease and diabetes,

• Keep minimum drugs like aspirin at home, which is helpful in event of an unexpected heart attack. Report to your house physician first in such an event.

Image via Wikipedia

Be aware of the symptoms of heart attack and angina, like;

• Pain in left side chest or shortness of breath following  unaccustomed exertion.

• Pain in left front side of chest with/without radiation to neck, back, upper abdomen, right side, left arm and neck etc. Constant discomfort in upper abdomen in absence of stomach problem.

• Pain as above with;

1. Sweating, light headedness, fainting attack, cold and calmy skin, sudden decrease in blood pressure and reeling of head and struggling to take breath etc.

We can keep our heart beating for a longer period, if try a little.

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Protein In Milk Is Protective In Fatal Diseases of Infants

Image via Wikipedia

Lactoferrin, an immune protein present in the colostrum, the thick first breast milk that is secreted after birth of their babies is protective especially to the low birth weight babies; researchers say.
In India, the thick yellowish milk, colostrum was being discarded earlier giving it the name "Witch Milk". Awareness has lead to feed the same to their babies now-a-days.

clipped from www.cochranejournalclub.com Sepsis is the most common cause of death in the newborn and is a particular problem for premature and very low birth weight infants. Necrotizing enterocolitis is an inflammatory condition predominantly affecting premature infants, and infection may be a contributory factor. Antibiotics used to treat sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis are not always effective, and their widespread use can lead to antibiotic resistance. Lactoferrin, which occurs naturally in human colostrum, milk, tears and saliva, has been shown to have antimicrobial activity and is a constituent of natural immunity. This Cochrane review investigates whether lactoferrin might prevent sepsis and necrotizing enterocolitis in premature infants.

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Genes For Alopesia

Again it is claimed that genes are linked to alopesia, they direct immnune cells to surround the hair follicles t o keep them dermant.

clipped from www.nlm.nih.gov Genes Tied to Hair Loss Disorder Findings may pave way for new treatments for alopecia areata, researchers say Among the eight genes, one in particular -- ULBP3 -- has been shown to attract toxic cells that can invade and destroy an organ. In a person without alopecia, ULBP3 is turned off. But in people with alopecia, ULBP3 proteins are plentiful in the follicle. "In people with alopecia areata, we see a huge expression of the ULBP3 gene in the outermost layer of the follicle," Christiano said. "ULBP3 is a danger signal that signals to T cells to come in and attack the follicle. It's like putting nectar on the hair follicle, then the 'bees' come in and do their damage." When the follicle is attacked, the hair falls out. If the T cells remain, which they do in alopecia areata, the follicle goes dormant.