This is unlike any precautions your mother or grandmother has told you about. Scientists have found that the most commonly used and seemingly harmless things can prove to be dangerous for your unborn kid.

The quintessential hairspray! Can you believe that a simple hairspray can cause defects in your unborn male child?

Scientists revealed that they found there to be a link between hairspray and a genital defect in boys. Women who are exposed to the hair product during the first trimester of pregnancy have more chances of giving birth to a child (son) with a genital deformity called hypospadias.

What is Hypospadias?

When the penis of a fetus is forming normally, the urethra extends from the bladder to the tip of the penis. In hypospadias, the urethra does not develop properly as it should and may end along the shaft, with the urinary opening being on the underside of the penis. In some severe cases, this opening is also seen near the rectum or the scrotum. Imagine how horrible it would be for a male baby to pass urine from below the penis.

In the UK, this defect is supposed to affect more than 250 boys, causing the urinary opening to be shifted to beneath the penis. It may be corrected in the baby’s first year but in severe cases, it leads to urinary problems, sexual and fertility issues.

How does a simple hairspray that goes on the hair affect the unborn child?

These hairsprays contain phthalates, which disrupt the normal workings of the endocrine system hormones) and which directly affect reproductive development.

This study was conducted on 471 women who have given birth to sons with hypospadias and 490 mothers of boys who do not have this defect. It was found that a high percentage of mothers with exposure to hairspray in the first trimester of pregnancy gave birth to sons with hypospadias. However, this risk was reduced greatly in mothers taking folate supplements during the same period.

While this condition is not life threatening, it has to be corrected surgically both for cosmetic and functional reasons. Doctors say that any surgery on a small baby can be traumatic to both the child and the parent. It is certainly better to be safe than sorry.

In case you are about to deliver and you have used hairsprays during pregnancy, then don’t panic. You will need to understand what hypospadias is and how to get it treated. For all you know, your baby may be completely normal and fine.

How is the surgery for hypospadias performed?

Learning about this surgery can help. It can last anywhere between one to four hours, depending on the amount of repair needed. In mild cases that are not complicated, all that needs to be done is to form a new opening at the tip of the penis and close the old one underneath. In more severe cases, a thin tube is inserted to carry the urine from the bladder to the tip of the penis, where a new opening is created. After the surgery, the penis will be bandaged and perhaps an IV placed on the baby’s arm. The baby will be under observation and then the IV removed later. The baby should be allowed to urinate at least once before leaving the hospital. Don’t worry as the baby in most cases will find the first urination painful and cry. This pain will go away in a couple of days and he will be normal soon.

Researchers say that women who are in jobs with high exposure to hairspray chemicals, such as hairdressers, factory workers, beauty therapists, researchers working on hairsprays are at high risk.

But it’s not all bad news as researchers have also found that folic acid intake reduces this risk by almost 36%. So, if you’ve already used hairsprays, the best thing for you to do now is to take folic acid and stay away from any further use of hairsprays. With research revealing new things every day, it may seem that these revelations don’t really matter, but would you want to take such a risk on your baby? My guess is NO!

So far, 15 countries have reported human infections of the multi-strain swine flu and a little more than 100 people have died from the infection, mostly in Mexico, which is where the outbreak of swine flu started.

What Is Swine Flu?

Swine Flu or swine influenza is a respiratory disease that causes influenza in pigs. Although, these viruses may be present among swine all around the year, the outbreaks usually occur during the fall and winter months just like influenza strikes humans during these months.

Are Pig Farms Responsible For This Outbreak Of Swine Flu?

While swine flu viruses are not generally said to infect humans, there have been a few human infections here and there. These infections have mostly occurred in people who are directly exposed to pigs. Even in the past, there have been a few cases where one person spread swine flu to other people. There was supposedly an outbreak of swine flu in 1988 in pigs and it lead to human infections. It was also documented that health care workers taking care of the patients with swine flu suffered from the transmission of the virus. However, there has never before been a community outbreak.

In this outbreak, Edgar Hernandez from Mexico is the first confirmed case of swine flu. He is said to have been infected from a gigantic pig farm in Mexico, which is one of the chain of pig farms that are controlled by Smithfield, one of the world’s biggest pig breeders and pork processors. Each of these pig farms has about 50,000 pigs.

After the break of swine flu, Smithfield issued a statement saying their facilities are not the origin of the current swine flu epidemic. The samples are being tested at the University of Mexico.

The question that is being asked is whether a pig farm can generate such new virus strains? Experts are of the opinion that it is very difficult to identify the exact source of origin of a virus. The larger the farm the more swine viruses that are present and there is more interaction between pigs and humans, leading to a higher likelihood of transfer of the virus from pigs to humans.

It is said that with such large numbers of pigs, the excreta produced is thousands of gallons, and this is toxic not only because of the different kinds of bacteria and viruses but also because of the cocktail of chemicals that are pumped into the pigs as well as the chemicals used to clean up their pens. The excreta along with dead pigs, is stored in huge lagoons surrounding the farms, and has been seen to seep into the groundwater and overflow during rains. Smithfield holds has been held responsible for environmental pollution on 23 counts, including the destruction of many river systems in North Carolina, and had to pay the biggest ever penalties in 2000.

So the likelihood that the swine flu outbreak, which is just a breath away from being declared a global pandemic, is a result of corporate greed and negligence, according to reports.

Are Pork Products Safe?

WHO made it very clear that no influenza viruses are capable of surviving the heat at which pork is normally cooked. According to WHO’s food safety scientist, influenza viruses are not known to be transmissible to people through eating processed pork, so that makes not only cooked pork but also processed pork products like ham, bacon, sausages and salami completely safe to for consumption.

Swine Flu Vaccine

WHO revealed that N1H1 is a new strain of swine influenza virus, and there is no vaccine to contain it yet. Scientists have started working on the vaccine, which may take another 6 to 9 months for the whole process to complete; which includes first identifying the organism and then commercialization.

The infected person should receive treatment within 48 hours. Beyond this period, the virus gets inside the cells and drugs will fail to act and prevent it. Prompt treatment is very important. If a passenger who has swine flu travels in a flight, there is a big risk of transmitting it to other passengers just like seasonal flu through sneezing or coughing.

Symptoms For Swine Flu

The symptoms are said to be similar to the seasonal influenza; which includes fever coughing, lack of appetite and lethargy. Some people with swine fly were also seen to have a sore throat, runny nose, vomiting, nausea and diarrhea.

Precautions To Be Taken

People may become infected if they touch something that has flu viruses (through sneezing and coughing) on it and touch their nose or mouth with the same hand.

It is advised to:

• Wash hands frequently
• Avoid contact with infected persons and animals
• Stay away from people with cold or influenza like symptoms
• Stay away from pigs
• Avoid touching the mouth or nose without washing hands

There are two main tasks at hand; one is to break the cycle of transmission of the virus and the other is to develop a vaccine. Towards breaking the cycle, passengers are being screened at airports and people are warned of the flu-affected areas. Hundreds of people were quarantined in a Hong Kong Hotel after a Mexican tested positive for the deadly flu. Scientists at various centers have already started working on the vaccine and it should be a matter of months before they have a solution for this and hopefully, before it turns into a pandemic.

Before we blame anyone for this, let us delve deeper into why this happens. If we take the example of Heath Ledger, he was killed by a deadly combination of OxyContin, a painkiller; Xanax, an antidepressant, Valium, Unisom, Vicodin and Restoril – all FDA-approved pharmaceuticals prescribed legally by doctors.

His is not an isolated case nor is it rare. This problem is far more serious than you could ever imagine; with at least 100,000 Americans dying from FDA-approved medicines each year. This fact is known since the 1960s, with studies revealing that more than 5% of hospitalizations are due to drug toxicity and one of every 20 drugs administered in hospitals results in some adverse reaction, with 10% of the reactions being life-threatening.

The problem here is the toxicity of the chemicals prescribed and the fact that consumers consider all FDA-approved medicines to be completely harmless and use them without any apprehensions – as and when they like. They are completely safe, right? Wrong – if you are one of those people who pops the “safe” pill for everything, you may be putting yourself at risk.

Are consumers ignorant? What makes them believe that prescription drugs can be harmless? OR if drugs are harmful, they why are they approved by the FDA?

I know you must be having all sorts of questions popping up in your mind.

Pharmaceutical Advertising

This casual attitude towards prescription drugs stems from the fact that consumers are made to believe they are safe, not because they are ignorant. The pharmaceutical industries advertise their pills as the best pills for health and consumers believe them and start considering them as food supplements. The nasty business of television advertising does the trick for pharmaceutical companies. As we all know, a picture is worth a thousand words. The unsuspecting consumer, who is no physician, tends to buy these ads, where healthy people are featured to push the drugs. These companies are conniving and come up with names that make them sound very healthy, such as “Restoril: that implies “restorative” function.

Prescription Drugs Are Toxic

The reality is that most of these prescription drugs cause liver toxicity; sometimes severe. This toxicity is multiplied a million times when these drugs are combined. Imagine several toxic substances combined to form a lethal cocktail. That’s exactly what happens and that’s what is said to have killed Heath Ledger and thousands of other consumers too. Heath had come under a lot of flak after death with many people blaming him for taking too many medicines. But why not if he needs them? Aren’t all the advertisements claiming that their drugs are FDA-approved and completely safe? Aren’t all the doctors prescribing all these drugs together? Is he a doctor to understand the “unspoken” words?

Most consumers may not take so many pills if only they knew the dangers of consuming a combination of drugs. Nobody wants to die. People take these pills to safeguard themselves from their illnesses, certainly NOT to kill themselves.

How Can Things Get Better?

Things can be improved by improving physicians’ prescription practices, identification of contraindications and potential drug-to-drug interactions and providing better consumer education regarding proper use of medications. These recommendations from numerous sections of the society remain just recommendations with nothing being done. In fact, with more and more powerful drugs being released into the market, the deaths may certainly have increased over time. There seems to be no easy way out and it is not easy to change the ways of the unscrupulous pharmaceutical companies making millions of dollars at the risk of people’s lives, and we as consumers must do everything possible to keep ourselves healthy and safe. The stage has come where many people now believe that going to a hospital or a doctor can be dangerous.

Role of Doctors

Doctors can change things by being more knowledgeable about the drugs they prescribe; especially understanding the interactions with other drugs. They should question patients about all the medicines they are already taking; including health supplements, herbs and anything they are using. Patients on their part should not rely completely on the doctors who don’t always warn them of the complications of using deadly combinations. Think of what you, as a consumer can do, to prevent this from happening. Do your own research or ask a pharmacist about drug interactions.

Natural Medicine

Prevention of prescription drug toxicity is the only cure to this widely spread disease. It just requires doctors as well as consumers to be more conscientious. They can also start thinking on the lines of using natural medicine for some of the health problems that are not critical in nature. For example, for a person with acute bronchitis, vitamin A, vitamin C and Echinacea can be wonderful as long as the patient is watched carefully. There are many other health problems where natural medicine eliminates the need for potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Natural medicine is completely safe and serious adverse reactions are very uncommon.

Do your due diligence and keep yourself safe. Don’t follow all those thousands people to an early grave.

These scientists are surely God-sent. They can take nature into their hands and successfully mould things the way they want. We all experience various emotions; happiness, sadness, grief and a million others every day of our lives. Bad memories bring on negative emotions, and we suffer the pain of recollecting the events.

Did you know that illnesses of the mind are the worst culprits for our general health? They can show their impact on us physically, leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, dementia and many other health issues. From ancient times, we have been told that the miracle drug to cure all diseases is “happiness.” But frankly, how many of us can say that we have complete control over our mind or emotions?

I remember seeing a friend frequently wake up in the middle of the night and cry. The reason – this friend was unfortunate enough to have undergone some traumatic events in the past, and those thoughts used to play on the mind at night. Each one of us has a tale to tell but not all of us are strong enough to take in our stride what fate has in store for us.

The good news is that now you can. You can now control your thinking, completely erasing the bad memories and retaining only the happy ones. No more wallowing in self pity, remembering the past. Scientists have recently discovered that they have the capacity to erase certain memories by playing around with a particular substance in the brain. They can make you forget a traumatic event, a constant fear or even a bad habit. Any smokers or alcoholics here?

Brooklyn has taken the lead in this research, where researchers have proudly announced their achievements. They revealed that a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory; such as spatial knowledge, motor skills or emotional associations, has the power to actually erase them.

The drug that is sent to the brain, blocks the activity of a substance that helps the brain retain the information it learns. If used in higher doses, it has the potential to ward off dementias and other memory problems.

So far, scientists have done their studies only on animals but they say since memory problems work similarly in humans, they are confident of identical results in their future human tests.

Research suggests that brain cells activated by an experience keep one another on biological speed-dial, just like a group of people that are joined together by witnessing a traumatic or unforgettable event. You just call on one and word quickly goes to the larger network of cells, each cell apparently adding some detail, like the smell, sound, sight etc. The brain retains this memory by making sure the connections and communication between these cells is more efficient.

PKMzeta is a molecule that is found to be present and activated in cells when the cells create a lasting communication or connection with a neighboring cell. These PKMzeta molecules are found to stick to themselves, just like troops occupying a small peninsula, and strengthen the connection between brain cells. Then they stayed there indefinitely as sentries guarding our mind.

After finding out how PKMzeta works in our brain, scientists, then checked how it worked in living animals. Andre Fenton, who studies memory in mice and rats, had found that once these animals were taught certain things like avoiding a mild electric shock for their feet by moving around their room, they never forgot these teachings and always remembered how to avoid the shock. But when these same animals were injected with a drug called ZIP directly into their brain, they forgot everything they were taught almost immediately.

The rats and mice forgot what was taught to them because ZIP interfered with PKMzeta molecules. One dose of ZIP also made these rats forget a strong hatred for a particular taste that made them sick just a few months earlier.

Todd Sacktor, a neuroscientist leading the team at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn says, “If the molecule is as important as it appears to be, you can see the possible implications.”
All these findings make the scientists confident that it is not long before humans can be injected with a drug to forget forever whatever bad memories are haunting them, while retaining all other memories in perfect condition. Even if it actually takes years for us to be confident about using such drugs, they can actually help millions of people suffering from trauma panic attacks and other mental illnesses.

Why Should We Monitor Blood Sugars?

Most people tend to delay monitoring as they feel it doesn’t matter, but it does. The high and lows in blood sugar levels can lead to a series of complications in both types of diabetics; Type 1 diabetes and Type 2.

In the short term, diabetes can cause:

• Weakness
• Tiredness
• Thirst
• Excessive urination
• Blurry vision
• and increased susceptibility to infections.

High blood sugars over the long-term can lead to severe complications. They can affect our vital systems; the brain, heart, kidneys or eyes:

• Retinopathy – that leads to blindness
• Nephropathy – leading to kidney failure that necessitates either transplantation or dialysis
• Neuropathy – which commonly leads to amputations
• Heart disease – with uncontrolled cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
• In the elderly – high blood sugars can lead to electrolyte imbalance and dehydration leading to falls, which can be potentially dangerous if there is a broken hip.

Self Monitoring Of Blood Sugar

This has become common now as more and more people understand the importance of regular monitoring not only as a way of knowing how they are but also to assist the physician in providing the right care.

• You can help your diabetologist by taking pre and post meal blood sugar levels; both taken on separate days. Pre meal levels are meant to be taken early in the morning before anything is eaten. Post meal levels are to be taken a couple of hours after the meal. You can also take the 3:00 am sugar levels, 5:00 pm sugars and bedtime sugars.

• Bed time blood sugar levels should be between 100 and 140 mg/dl. If bed time glucose is less than 100 mg/dl consume a carbohydrate (CHO) snack before going to bed. If the 5:00 pm random blood sugar is less than 80 mg/dl, there is a risk of going into hypoglycemia at night.

• If you keep yourself physically active, check your sugars pre-exercise too. If the sugar level is less than 90 mg/dl, it will help to snack on carbohydrates as well as look into your insulin dosages.

• If there is a difference of less than 50 mg/dl between the pre and post meal sugars, it indicates that you are following good food choices.

• If blood sugars are more than 240 mg/dl, you will have to keep a check on what you are eating, your medication and perhaps limit any vigorous exercises.

Keep a note of all the blood sugar levels; activity and food changes, as this helps in understanding any deviations in sugars with the changes in meal patterns or exercise schedule or eating out. Many people make the extra effort to keep track of each and every food item eaten on a particular day and compare it with the blood sugar levels on that day. This may seem like a big thing to do, but in fact it isn’t and it helps you take care of your diabetes in a perfect manner.

There are several blood sugar monitoring devices available in the market. Talk to your physician or someone who is already using one, to find the most accurate one, even if it is a little expensive.

Your Blood Sugar Monitoring Device

Let’s see what your monitoring device should have. The first thing you should be looking at is ease of use. You should be able to monitor your glucose easily and it should not become another job to be done.

Many of the latest devices come with some great features:

Auto Coding: This feature has the calibration code embedded on each strip, thus ensuring there are no coding errors.

Results Flagging: Some of the latest devices can store fasting and post meal readings separately, so you don’t really need to write down the results on any other log.

Small Pricking Devices: You should ensure you are able to check your blood-glucose in the most painless manner possible. This can be possible only when the pricking device is small. Many of the latest devices are so tiny that you can hardly feel the pricking.

Temperature Sensor: This sensor is great in that it helps you get the most accurate results based on the temperature.

How Is Diabetes Caused?

Now that we have read about the importance of monitoring the blood sugar levels, there is something very basic that needs to be done first.

The sad fact is that many of those suffering from diabetes don’t really know anything much about how it is caused. Understanding the causes will help you take the necessary precautions and the much-needed care.

Diabetes is a condition where the sugar levels or glucose levels are high in the blood. There are many reasons why this happens. The main reasons are that the pancreas which is an important endocrine organ does not secrete enough insulin. Insulin is the hormone that helps glucose to travel in the bloodstream to reach different cells in our body and provide energy. Another major cause of diabetes is insulin-resistance. This usually happens in type 2 diabetes. Here, although enough insulin is produced by the pancreas, the cells in our body are resistant to the glucose-lowering effects of insulin.

A person suffers from high blood sugar levels (diabetes), if there is not enough insulin production or if they have insulin-resistance.

Diabetes may not really have a complete cure but it can be handled very effectively and many people who are diabetics lead completely normal lives. Blood sugar monitoring plays a very crucial role in ensuring you do the needful to lower your blood sugar levels.

While most of the foods we consume are safe, there are a few foods that can prove to be potentially dangerous and even fatal at times if not cleaned, cooked or stored in a certain way. Understanding this helps us practice safe eating habits.

Let’s take a look at some of the very common but potentially dangerous foods we eat on a daily basis:

Blowfish (Fugu)

In Japan, there was an incident recently where blow fish testicles prepared by an unauthorized chef made diners ill and they developed limb paralysis and breathing problems, and had to be hospitalized. The owner of the restaurant did not have the license to serve Blowfish, which is extremely poisonous if not prepared properly. Fugu is considered a delicacy in Japan and Hong Kong. According to a Health Association in Japan, Blowfish poison, called tetrodotoxin is about 1,200 times more poisonous than potassium cyanide. It has the capacity to cause death within one hour after eating. Statistics reveal that more than 100 people die of Fugu poisoning each year. The most poisonous parts of Fugu are the muscles, liver, ovaries and the skin. The chefs need to have a special licence to prepare Blowfish and getting the licence is a long process, and after the training, the chef has to prepare a Fugu meal and eat it himself. So, the next time you are in Japan, you know which food you should not be tempted to try.

Shellfish

All mulluscan shellfish including mussels, oysters, mussels, clams, scallops and geoduck can be poisonous. Gastropods, moon snails and sea cucumbers can also be toxic. However, crabmeat does not contain toxins but the guts of a crab do and they need to be discarded and the crab cleaned thoroughly before cooking. Eating shellfish contaminated with algae that contains dangerous toxins can cause an illness called paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP). The shellfish can accumulate high levels of toxins including domoic acid, produced by this microscopic algae. Even cooking does not always remove the toxins. Early symptoms of this illness can include tingling of the tongue and the lips, which may at times begin immediately after eating poisonous shellfish or within a couple of hours. Depending on the amount of toxin that is ingested, the person may have tingling of the fingers and toes and then lose control of the legs and arms, followed by breathing problems. If the poison consumed is a lot, then the chest muscles and abdomen become paralyzed and can result in death within two hours.

Mushrooms

We all know that some varieties of mushrooms are poisonous and can cause death. Mushroom poisoning is also known as “mycetism.” Death Cap is one such mushroom variety which contains toxins that can cause death on the first bite. The Deadly Webcaps and Destroying Angels are also poisonous. The problem with mushrooms is that, many a time, the wild poisonous mushrooms are misidentified as an edible variety; the Gyomitra is confused with the Morrel and the Death Cap is confused with the Paddy Straw. There have been cases of experienced mushroom gatherers poisoned by eating toxic species. Symptoms of mycetism can be anything from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death.

Rhubarb

Rhubarb contains oxalate which is known to cause poisoning when large quantities are consumed; either raw or cooked. The leaves contain higher concentrations of oxalate and that is the reason most recipes use the stem and not the leaves. Another toxic agent is anthraquinone glycosides that is present. It is said that during World War 1, Rhubarb leaves were used to compensate for the lack of other vegetables because of the war, and this caused poisoning and a few deaths too. However, it requires about 25 grams of pure oxalic acid to cause death, which means a person has to eat about 5 kg of Rhubarb leaves. But only a fraction of that can cause sickness. Eating these leaves on a regular basis causes too much oxalic acid in the urine which will result in bladder or kidney stones. Even cabbage, spinach, beet tops, potatoes and peas contain oxalic acid but in small quantities. The symptoms of oxalic acid poisoning include, weakness, burning in the mouth, burning in the throat, difficulty breathing, abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, convulsions, coma and death from cardiovascular collapse.

Even chocolate can be toxic to humans as it contains alkaloid theobromine; however, it takes an unholy amount to kill a person. However, dogs, cats, horses and parrots can be easily killed with the ingestion of chocolate.

Although, you don’t have to go around assuming you are poisoned every time you feel unwell after eating one of these foods, it always helps to know what can be dangerous and stay away from foods that are highly poisonous.

Aids

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease that you can get infected with because of a weakness in the body’s immune system that fights diseases. AIDS is caused by a virus called Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

When a person acquires HIV, the body naturally makes “antibodies,” which are special molecules, to fight this infection. The detection of HIV in a person is done by a blood test which looks for these antibodies. If antibodies are found in the person’s blood, it means the person has HIV infection. People with HIV antibodies are called “HIV-positive,”

It is a misconception that people who are HIV-positive all have AIDS. Hundreds of people who are HIV-positive do not get sick for years. As this HIV-infection progresses, it slowly collapses the body’s immune system. When this happens, all the viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites that usually are harmless to normal people, make people sick, causing “opportunistic infections.”

How does one get AIDS

Nobody “gets” AIDS. They get an HIV infection which later develops into AIDS. The problem with HIV is that it is infectious and people can easily get infected from other people who don’t look sick and many of them may not even have been tested for HIV. The blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk of HIV infected people infects others because of the presence of virus in it.

HIV virus is passed through:

• Sex with an HIV infected person
• Deep kissing if there are bleeding gums or open sores in the mouth
• Sharing a needle (like injecting drugs) with an infected person
• Being born to as well as drinking the breast milk of an HIV infected mother
• Blood transfusion (which was previously the main cause of HIV infections, but no longer the problem as blood goes through a strict screening procedure).

Myth

One common myth is that touching an HIV-infected person causes infection – this is completely wrong. Researchers also say that HIV is not transmitted through tears or saliva.

Identification of a person with HIV Infection

It may not be possible to know when one is infected by HIV. The symptoms differ; while some people suffer from headaches, sore joints and muscles, fever, swollen lymph glands, or even a skin rash for a couple of weeks; others show no symptoms whatsoever. Even in the case of people experiencing these symptoms, they are usually passed off as flu.

How the HIV virus develops

The virus multiplies in the body for weeks or months before the immune system starts responding. A person will not test positive before the immune system responds to the virus by creating antibodies. The bad news is that the person can still infect others during this period. So, what happens is that people don’t know they have HIV infection and even tests don’t show positive, but all the time they are infecting other people close to them. Many people stay healthy for even as long as ten years after the first appearance of symptoms; however, slowly but surely the immune system is damaged over the years. The damage to the immune system is measured by the CD4 cell count and HIV infection turns into AIDS when the immune system is seriously damaged. A healthy individual has between 500 and 1500 CD4 cells in a milliliter of blood. A person who has less than 200 CD4 cells or less than 14% CD4 percentage may have AIDS. Opportunistic infections are also found; such as pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) which is a lung cancer; Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) a skin cancer; cytomegalovirus (CMV) an infection that affects the eyes; candida a fungal infection that causes thrush.

Treatments and Cure

In the 1990s, AIDs was a leading cause of death in the United States. However, new treatments have brought down the death rate by a huge margin. There is no cure for AIDS even today. There are certain drugs that slow down the virus and the damage to the immune system. There is still no way that HIV can be cleared completely from the body.

There are drugs such as ARVs that help reduce the rate of opportunistic infections; however, some infections are still difficult to treat.

Cancer – A disease that still scares people

There are 200 different types of cancer and it may be lurking within a body and the body may not even know. A minor ache that is usually ignored may be the begetter of this lethal disease. It shrouds itself until the time comes to reveal itself – many a time a little too late. All the time when it is quiet, the cancer cells are multiplying and spreading within the body. It can affect any organ of the body. The cancer cell continues to divide and abnormally multiply until it develops into a lump or tumor, which can either be malignant or benign.

Malignant or Benign

A benign tumor does not spread or metastasize to other parts of the body and is not cancerous. They can mostly be removed and may not pose a threat. However, if it is malignant, it spreads and can metastasize to different parts of the body through the blood lymph system.

The effect of cancer can be bad but the advances in clinical research, cancer treatments and alternative treatments make it less dreaded than it was previously. However, it still kills one out of every four Americans and is surpassed only by heart disease as the leading cause of death. If lung cancer spreads to the brain, it is called metastatic lung cancer.

Different Types of Cancer

Skin: Malignant melanoma and skin cancer.

Blood and Lymphatic System: Hodgkin’s disease, leukemias, lymphomas, Waldenstrom’s disease and multiple myeloma.

Digestive System: Esophageal cancer, pancreas cancer, liver cancer, pancreas cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer and anal cancer.

Urinary System: Bladder cancer, kidney cancer, prostate cancer, testis cancer and prostate cancer.

Cancers in women: Breast cancer, ovarian cancer, choriocarcinoma and gynecological cancers.

Then there are the bone tumors, brain tumors, nasopharyngeal cancer, retroperitoneal sarcomas, carcinoid tumor, head and neck cancer, thyroid cancer, soft tissue tumor and cancers for which the primary site is not known.

The most common types of cancers are breast cancer, colon cancer, lung cancer and Prostate cancer.

Cancer Treatments

Traditional treatments include – radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, hormone therapy and immunotherapy. All of these therapies have been found to be safe and effective, although they are associated with unpleasant side effects. Depending on the type of cancer, these treatments are used in combination or individually and control the growth of cancer cells or eliminate the disease completely.

The treatment procedures may be detrimental to the emotional well-being of the patient and this is where alternative therapies, such as acupuncture, aromatherapy, medication, massage, homeopathy, herbal products etc. help. These therapies are aimed at preventing illness, reducing or preventing side effects, reducing stress and control or even cure some cancers.

Some traditional therapies like ayurveda are also known to cure different types of cancer. Although, the successful use of these therapies for a complete cure is under study, they have several supporters who believe they provide a positive aspect to their treatment and care, helping them cope better with the distressing physical and emotional side effects of cancer.

In this day and age, with all the advancement in science, there still are a few diseases that are scary and dreaded. Some of the others are Alzheimer’s, Hansen’s disease (Leprosy), tuberculosis etc. This dread-factor arises from the fact that these diseases either do not have a cure or have several life-long problems associated with them.

We think we are gazing at some object fixedly without moving our eyes. But scientists say there is nothing like a steady stare, as the eyes continue to move even when we try and fix a gaze on a stationary object.

We may not be able to notice the eye movements, but our eyes are making flickering movements unconsciously thousands of times.

These movements are called microsaccades and are a type of fixational eye movements and occur when we gaze at something fixedly for at least many seconds. This is not only common to humans but also happens in animals with foveal vision.

Fovea is a part of the eye that is located at the center of the retina and is responsible for sharp central vision (foveal vision). This vision is important for reading, watching movies, driving and all activities that require visual detail.

There has been research going on for years about these jerk-like involuntary movements. Experts have long been dismissing these movements as accidental due to invalid nerve signals. This topic was highly debated and still remains unsolved. There was no clear-cut answer as to what sort of fixational eye movements contribute to the vision.

But now these microsaccades are said to be not accidental but essential to maintain visibility and keeping our vision sharp. Without these microsaccades, vision would probably fade away, as their main function is to keep refreshing images on the retina.

A researcher from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, Dr. Richard Krauzlis concentrated in understanding the command centre in the brain. This is the centre responsible for tracking objects and is used to scan different columns in a newspaper or track a moving object. He found that these eye movements are controlled by this part of the brain.

Dr. Ziad Hafed from the Salk Institute measured the neural activity in the superior colliculus before the microsaccades and after. He said, “Because images on the retina fade from view if they are perfectly stabilized, the active generation of fixational eye movements by the central nervous system allows these movements to constantly shift the scene ever so slightly, thus refreshing the images on our retina and preventing us from going blind.”

In the study performed on people, the group of people had to look for 10 seconds each at 40 different scenes of animals in their natural environment or landscapes. Their eye movements were traced with an infrared pupil-tracking system.

The conclusion of this study was that – during these unconscious eye movements, the eyes do rest for a fraction of a second on a certain part of the image and this is for the visual cortical neurons to interpret that part of the image and to understand the complete image. When the eyes then land on a different part of the image, the neurons then alter their responses. This has been seen to make the responses sharper. This shows that flickering eye movements are crucial for the vision to remain normal.

The discovery also involved finding out that microsaccades not only help keep vision sharp and prevent blindness. When our gaze is fixed, our attention can shift to any object that attracts our attention and is within the boundaries of our vision. Even after we avert our eyes, microsaccades will keep revealing these objects of attraction because they are biased toward objects that we find attractive. This could be the reason we keep picturing an attractive man or a woman we laid eyes on.

Researchers hope that these findings will help them understand the neural mechanisms better in patients with eye movement deficits. This will help them design neural prosthetics in the future for patients with brain damage as well as perhaps help create machines that can see as well as humans.

If you are, you would know that this happens because sweeping resolutions are very easy to make but hard to stick with. Most large-scale resolutions only add to the stress levels and become another obligation one “has” to do, rather than something that becomes part of your life.

If you have decided to bring about a change in your lifestyle for the sake of your mental and physical health – and stay fit for life, then all you got to do is make small changes – take one step at a time. Piecing together all these smaller steps makes achieving goals possible.

If you have small children, remember, they are going to follow suit. A healthy parent develops health consciousness in their children. It is all about leading a healthy lifestyle.

Follow these small changes for a month and see how your entire life changes for the better:

Diet

You will find most diet plans targeting fat, sugar or carbs. However, the main problem with people who want to reduce their calorie intake is the serving sizes.

“However little one may eat, one always overeats,” said Napoleon Bonaparte, who was given to moderation in eating and drinking.

When you go to a restaurant, you are served platefuls of food that contain more calories than you should be consuming in a single day. Since you cannot ask for half, the next time you want to enjoy Chicken Parmesan, order to get half of it packed in a takeaway bag even before they serve you. Even at home, use smaller serving dishes. You can even start using salad places for the main dishes to make them look full and give you a feeling of contentment. Most people tend to eat a lot of comfort food, especially during winter. Avoid this!

Exercise

An effective exercise is one that is intensive. Showing intensity while exercising means you are going to the next level. It is easy to boost your metabolism and this can be done by going up the stairs at home, a few times a day. You can walk, cycle or run to jump-start your metabolism. It will also help to add simple short one-minute bursts. In those short but intense moments, your body burns many more calories.

Stress Less

Observe yourself and look for tension in your mind and body. For example, if you notice yourself clenching your teeth or holding the steering wheel tightly when driving, that is an indication of tension within you and a rising level of aggravation. Another clear evidence of stress is if you keep having repetitive thoughts about something you hate; it could be a task or a person. This is a dangerous thing, which can aggravate if not stopped in the initial stages. It is very crucial to drive this tension away as soon as possible. Do some yoga or breathing exercises. Exhale deeply and slowly and hold your breath for as long as you can. Then inhale slowly, letting your lungs fill up with air completely. Pause with every exhalation and inhalation. Do this for 10-15 minutes every day. Once you are able to do this once, increase it to twice a day. This is a great way to combat stress, if done without fail every day.

Be Thankful

We get so caught up with the struggles of day-to-day life that we tend to overlook the good things life has to offer. Psychologists say that it works wonders to find one thing in a day – to be thankful for. It refocuses you on the positive aspects of life. You can post a reminder on the bathroom mirror, so that you see it every morning when you are getting ready.

Do not disregard this as something you already know. Most of know everything but we fail implementing them. Follow this simple achievable plan that can make a world of difference in your life. Through this, you are inculcating a habit for a healthy lifestyle, which will see you in good stead for years to come. Many of us just need a starting point – a plan to follow initially, and we can take it from there.

My doctor said, “Take that pill and call me in the morning!”

But I don’t have to call – My pill will!

Did that get you curious? Here’s the story – which begins in Netherlands, at the Philips Research in Eindhoven.

Researchers have come up with an amazing technology that is currently being tested on animals and not on humans yet; but has a great future potential to treat life-threatening and debilitating diseases of the digestive tract – Crohn’s disease, colitis and colon cancer.

Christened “Intelligent Pill” but lovingly called the iPill, (no Apple is nowhere in the picture) it is a plastic capsule that can be swallowed with water or food and is meant to travel naturally through the digestive system, within about 24 hours, dispensing medicine at specific locations along the way.

The iPill has been electronically programmed to reach a particular problem area in the body and deposit medicine there, based on a pre-defined drug release protocol.

The amazing thing about this pill is that it radios dispatches to the doctor as it travels.

If you are wondering how specific locations are determined, the pill measures the local acidity of its environment. In our intestinal tract, specific areas have specific pH profiles, which is a measure of acidity. The stomach is very acidic and then the acidity of the gut is sharply decreased, becoming progressively less acidic from the upper intestine. Taking into consideration this pH information and data about capsule transit times, specific locations in the gut are easily determined. It also sends data to a control station wirelessly, about the local temperature, measurements and the time elapsed since the time it was swallowed. The medical staff can then respond.

According to a senior communications manager at Philips Research, “If a doctor sees an adverse reaction, a signal could be sent to override the iPill and not distribute any more of the drug.”

Doctors say there are several advantages of localized drug delivery:

• The possibility to deliver smaller doses of the drug.
• Fewer problems than when drugs travel through the body in the bloodstream.

“The drugs might have fewer side effects while having a higher therapeutic value,” said Dr. Peter van der Schaar, who is a gastroenterologist in Heerlen and worked with Philips in developing this device.

This iPill is the size of a fat multivitamin and is a small computer of sorts and two-thirds of the pill is taken up by a microprocessor, battery, wireless radio, antenna, pump and other technology and one-third contains a drug reservoir with medicine.

Localized drug delivery through electronic systems is said to be already in use. An investigator at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Michael J. Cima reveals that localized delivery is being used in clinical testing of pharmaceutical products. A volunteer is given a pill to swallow, which is programmed in such a way that it releases medicine at certain areas in the gastrointestinal tract, and tracking is done with X-rays. However, these pills are not yet released for use by people.

It was in 2001 that FDA approved the first camera pill for diagnostic applications and now researchers from Philips have come up with the next generation pill.

Although, it is too early to talk about the pricing of the iPill, it is not likely to come cheap, given the ammunition it holds. If this pill turns out to be as brainy as it is hoped to be, it can prove to be invaluable to all those people suffering from severe digestive tract problems, including cancer.