Using both types of polio vaccine could speed up efforts to free the world of the disease, research suggests.
The oral vaccine is leading the fight to eradicate polio, but trials in India show an additional injection of inactivated virus boosts immunity.
The World Health Organization said the findings, published in the journal Science, were "truly historic".
The disease, which is spread through contaminated faeces, can cause paralysis and even death.
Fighting polio has been one of the biggest success stories in global health.
In 1988, there were 350,000 cases of polio in more than 125 countries.
The disease is now widespread in just three countries - Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan - and cases have fallen by more than 99%.
Vaccines
Two drops of the oral vaccine, which contains a weakened polio virus, is the preferred tool in eradication efforts because it is cheap and gives resistance in the digestive tract to lower transmission of the virus.
The injected vaccine works largely in the bloodstream.
"But the oral vaccine is less effective in exactly those places we'd like it to work," one of the researchers, Prof Nicholas Grassly, of Imperial College London, told the BBC.
It is thought other infections may interfere with the vaccine.
The solution has been multiple vaccination. As part of India's successful eradication campaign, some children received 30 doses by the age of five.
Source: bbc news
Here's a roundup of five medical studies published this week that might give you new insights into your health, mind and body. Remember, correlation is not causation -- so if a study finds a connection between two things, it doesn't mean one causes the other.
Good neighbors are good for your heart
A study published Monday in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health suggests your community matters in matters of the heart.
Researchers tracked the cardiovascular health of more than 5,000 seniors with no known heart problems over four years. In 2006, participants in the Health and Retirements Study were asked how much they felt a part of their neighborhood, if they had neighbors who would help them, whether they trusted people in the area and if their neighbors were friendly.
During the study period, 148 of the participants had a heart attack. Researchers found people who reported feeling more "social cohesion" were less at risk.
Tight-knit local communities may help to reinforce and encourage certain types of behaviors that protect against cardiovascular damage, the study authors say.
In June, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued draft recommendations that encourage pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and young children to eat two to three servings of fish per week to aid fetal and childhood development. This fish should be low in mercury, the FDA said, because mercury can harm the brain and nervous system.
This week food safety experts at Consumer Reports analyzed data from the FDA to find out what kinds of seafood are safe for these populations to eat regularly. They identified 20 types -- including salmon, shrimp, domestic crawfish and oysters -- that contain low levels of mercury and are safe to eat several times a week.
The experts said pregnant women and children should steer clear of six types of seafood: swordfish, shark, king mackerel, gulf tilefish, marlin and orange roughy. If you are a frequent fish consumer, meaning you eat 24 ounces or more every week, Consumer Reports recommends you avoid those seafood types as well.
Researchers also found that canned tuna contained particularly high levels of mercury, and recommended pregnant women avoid it altogether.
Many new mothers are made aware of their risk for post-partum depression. But having a baby can put both moms and dads at risk for mental health disorders like anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychosis, says Carrie Wendel-Hummell, who presented her study on perinatal mental health disorders at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association this week.
"(Post-partum depression) has been framed so much as being a hormonal disorder, but the evidence there is actually very limited," Wendel-Hummell said. "Childbirth itself is a life change and a life stressor, so actually there's far more evidence that those risk factors are the cause."
The University of Kansas researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 17 new fathers and 30 new mothers. Many said they experienced stress related to their relationships, family-work balance issues, and struggles with poverty.
Wendel-Hummell encourages new parents to accept help from friends, family and the community during the early stages of their child's life.
Data shows that screening people with a limited life expectancy for certain types of cancer doesn't provide any benefit to their health -- and that treating any cancer found in these patients can do more harm than good. But seniors at high risk for death are still being screened frequently, according to a study published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers looked at data from the National Health Interview Survey from 2000 to 2010, on more than 27,000 participants over 64. At least a third of participants with the highest mortality risk had received a recent cancer screening, with 55% undergoing prostate cancer screening.
The analysis also showed that screening was common in participants with less than five years to live, the study authors say.
"It is the physician's responsibility to tailor treatment to the patient and his cancer," writes Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society. "Many Americans simply cannot accept that there are cancers that do not need treatment."
Violent video games may depress your fifth grader
Video games have long been a topic of intense debate. But most of these discussions have focused on how video games affect aggression or violent tendencies.
A new study published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking looked instead at video games and depression. Researchers analyzed data from 5,147 fifth-grade students and their caregivers, who participated in another study.
They found students who played high-violence video games for more than two hours a day had significantly more depressive symptoms than those who played low-violence video games for less than two hours a day.
The researchers don't know if the link between the two is cause-and-effect, meaning the video games cause depression or vice versa. More studies will have to be done to see if the association would last as the students grow older.
Source: cnn
Bodies of the four Nigerians, who died of Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, have been cremated in line with World Health Organisation, WHO, requirements for disposal of such corpses. The body of the index (first) case, Patrick Sawyer was the first to be cremated on July 25, 2014.
The decision to cremate the bodies, it was gathered, may not be unconnected with the deadly nature of the Ebola Virus which is known to be easily transmissible from human to human during handling of corpses of victims.
A health official at the Emergency Operation Centre, EOC, of the Mainland Hospital, Lagos, who confirmed the development, said the Lagos State Government in following strict guidelines for disposal of the bodies, authorised cremation of all the bodies.
The official who pleaded anonymity said the decision to cremate all bodies was to ensure appropriate containment measures and guarantee proper handling of the bodies.
"All the bodies of those who died of Ebola from this centre have been cremated. None was allowed to undergo traditional burial because extreme care is being taken to prevent further infections," the official noted.
The WHO in recommending that people who die from Ebola should be promptly and safely buried, notes that cremation, which is the application of high temperature to reduce bodies to basic chemical components (ashes), is ideal for safe disposal of bodies of such persons in order to minimise further transmission.
In a statement weekend, the ECOWAS Commission stated that the remains of its Protocol Assistant at the Lagos Liaison Office, Mr. Salihu Abdulqudir Jatto, who succumbed to the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD, on August 12, 2014, had been laid to rest in a private ceremony in Ikorodu, Lagos state.
The statement said a delegation from the Commission had earlier paid a condolence visit to the deceased's widow and other members of his family.
Jatto was among persons that assisted the American-Liberian Mr. Patrick Sawyer, and contracted the disease from the late Sawyer who took ill on arrival in Nigeria on July 20, 2014 on his way to a regional conference in Calabar, and later died in a Lagos hospital of the EVD.
The statement noted that prior to the burial last Friday, a special prayer service in honour of the deceased was held at the Commission's Abuja Headquarters. The activity was presided over by Vice President of the Commission Dr. Toga Gayewea McIntosh who represented the President of the Commission, Kadré Desire Ouédraogo.
Glowing tributes were paid in memory of Jatto, who was variously described as a diligent, passionate, humble and hardworking staff, who died a hero in the course of duty.
Leading the other mourning colleagues in the outpouring of grief, McIntosh described Jatto as "a sharp, young, aggressive goal-getter and a personal friend.
"We are all touched by his death, which is both a personal and collectively loss," McIntosh said, praying for the repose of Jatto's soul.
Head of Protocol at the Commission, Mr. Steve Onwuka, narrated examples of Jatto's unique "unassuming, humble and infectious" character and recalled that Jatto died at a time the world attention was focused on the region, albeit for the Ebola health emergency.
Others who spoke at the occasion, include Mr. Hyacinth Okwu, of the Finance Directorate; Mr. Franck Afanyiakossou, and Mr. Joshua Iyamu, a member of the Staff Association, all acknowledged Jatto's legacy of service and exemplary character.
They appealed for improvement of the staff welfare and asked for special care of Jatto's wife and children given the circumstance of his death.
Earlier, Mr. Saihou Njie, of the Human Resources Directorate said the ceremony was part of the traditional gestures of honour to a departed colleague.
Source: all africa
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing an audio reading device to be worn on the index finger of people whose vision is impaired, giving them affordable and immediate access to printed words.
The so-called FingerReader, a prototype produced by a 3-D printer, fits like a ring on the user’s finger, equipped with a small camera that scans text. A synthesized voice reads words aloud, quickly translating books, restaurant menus and other needed materials for daily living, especially away from home or office.
Reading is as easy as pointing the finger at text. Special software tracks the finger movement, identifies words and processes the information. The device has vibration motors that alert readers when they stray from the script, said Roy Shilkrot, who is developing the device at the MIT Media Lab.
For Jerry Berrier, 62, who was born blind, the promise of the FingerReader is its portability and offer of real-time functionality at school, a doctor’s office and restaurants.
“When I go to the doctor’s office, there may be forms that I wanna read before I sign them,” Berrier said.
He said there are other optical character recognition devices on the market for those with vision impairments, but none that he knows of that will read in real time.
Berrier manages training and evaluation for a federal program that distributes technology to low-income people in Massachusetts and Rhode Island who have lost their sight and hearing. He works from the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts.
“Everywhere we go, for folks who are sighted, there are things that inform us about the products that we are about to interact with. I wanna be able to interact with those same products, regardless of how I have to do it,” Berrier said.
Pattie Maes, an MIT professor who founded and leads the Fluid Interfaces research group developing the prototype, says the FingerReader is like “reading with the tip of your finger and it’s a lot more flexible, a lot more immediate than any solution that they have right now.”
Developing the gizmo has taken three years of software coding, experimenting with various designs and working on feedback from a test group of visually impaired people. Much work remains before it is ready for the market, Shilkrot said, including making it work on cellphones.
Shilkrot said developers believe they will be able to affordably market the FingerReader but he could not yet estimate a price. The potential market includes some of the 11.2 million people in the United States with vision impairment, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
Current technology used in homes and offices offers cumbersome scanners that must process the desired script before it can be read aloud by character-recognition software installed on a computer or smartphone, Shilkrot said. The FingerReader would not replace Braille – the system of raised dots that form words, interpreted by touch. Instead, Shilkrot said, the new device would enable users to access a vast number of books and other materials that are not currently available in Braille.
Developers had to overcome unusual challenges to help people with visual impairments move their reading fingers along a straight line of printed text that they could not see. Users also had to be alerted at the beginning and end of the reading material.
Their solutions? Audio cues in the software that processes information from the FingerReader and vibration motors in the ring.
The FingerReader can read papers, books, magazines, newspapers, computer screens and other devices, but it has problems with text on a touch screen, said Shilkrot.
That’s because touching the screen with the tip of the finger would move text around, producing unintended results. Disabling the touch-screen function eliminates the problem, he said.
Berrier said affordable pricing could make the FingerReader a key tool to help people with vision impairment integrate into the modern information economy.
“Any tool that we can get that gives us better access to printed material helps us to live fuller, richer, more productive lives, Berrier said.
Source: fox news
Some U.S. doctors are becoming concerned about the quality of generic drugs supplied by Indian manufacturers following a flurry of recalls and import bans by the Food and Drug Administration.
India supplies about 40 percent of generic and over-the-counter drugs used in the United States, making it the second-biggest supplier after Canada.
In recent months, the FDA, citing quality control problems ranging from data manipulation to sanitation, has banned the importation of products from Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd, Wockhardt Ltd and, most recently, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
“I’m just beginning to realize the gravity of the problem,” said Dr. Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic. “It’s terrible and it is starting to get a lot of traction among physicians.”
Indian drugmakers are by no means the only companies to recall products or be warned by the FDA about manufacturing problems. For instance, quality control failures at Johnson & Johnson forced the company to recall dozens of products over the past five years, ranging from artificial hips to children’s Tylenol.
And last year, Germany’s Boehringer Ingelheim said it would shut down its U.S. contract manufacturing unit, Ben Venue Laboratories, after it was cited for repeated manufacturing violations that led to shortages of the cancer drug Doxil.
India’s drugmakers, a $14 billion industry, reject any criticism that their products are inferior to drugs made in other countries.
“We have heard doctors making generalized statements, without being specific on any product or company,” said D.G. Shah, Secretary General of the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance, a trade group representing large Indian drugmakers. “This is a deliberate and serious campaign to malign the Indian generic industry.”
If U.S. doctors come across a medicine that does not meet quality standards, they should report it to regulators, he said. “Doctors are not in a position to judge whether manufacturing processes are correct or not. That is the U.S. FDA’s job.”
Generic drugs account for nearly 85 percent of medicines prescribed in the United States and the government is relying on them to help rein in healthcare costs.
“We are losing control over what people are swallowing,” said Dr. Harry Lever, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic who is trying raise awareness of the matter among U.S. lawmakers. “Now, when a patient comes in who is not doing well, the first thing I do is look at their drugs and find out who makes it.”
Increasingly, Lever said, he is recommending patients seek out generic drugs from specific manufacturers outside India.
“I’m tending to stay away from India,” he said. “There’s something wrong. Too many things are happening.”
INDIA DOCTORS HIT BACK
Indian physicians do not share the concerns.
“Our drugs are being sold in many countries and being accepted, so we have no issues,” said Narendra Saini, Secretary General of the Indian Medical Association, a voluntary body of 215,000 doctors. “How do I know that Western drugs are better than our drugs?”
A 2012 report by India’s parliament alleged collusion between pharmaceutical firms and officials at the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), the country’s drugs regulator, and described an agency that was both understaffed and underqualified.
Saini said physicians trust that the CDSCO is taking care of the quality and the standard of the drugs made in India.
“We very much trust those medicines,” he added.
Representatives of Ranbaxy, Sun and Wockhardt were not immediately available to comment.
Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the Clinical Diabetes Center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York, said he is concerned about the quality of generic drugs in general, not just those from India. He cited, as an example, his experience with the diabetes drug metformin.
“When patients open the bottle of medication it smells like dead fish,” he said. Zonszein did not know which company made the foul-smelling drug.
Physicians do not have a say in which generic drug a patient receives, as that depends on which products are stocked by individual pharmacies. If a patient wants to avoid a certain manufacturer, he or she may have to change pharmacies.
Doctors may specify that the branded version of a drug be dispensed, but insurance companies frequently refuse to pay for them.
Dr. Richard Kovacs, who heads a number of American College of Cardiology committees and sits on its board of trustees, said doctors may need to play a greater role monitoring the medications prescribed by their practices.
“The average U.S. cardiologist has been able to assume that the drugs were safe and effective. It now appears we need to be more vigilant as a profession, and assist the FDA by reporting cases where we are concerned about irregularities in the drugs supplied to our patients,” he said.
Source: Reuters
If you speak more languages than one, it is good not only for your social image but also for the health of your brain, a research said. Bilingualism has a positive effect on cognition later in life. Individuals, who speak two or more languages, even those who acquired the second language in adulthood, may slow down cognitive decline from ageing, the research found. ‘Our study is the first to examine whether learning a second language impacts cognitive performance later in life while controlling for childhood intelligence,’ said lead author Thomas Bak from University of Edinburgh.
Bilingualism is thought to improve cognition and delay dementia in older adults. While prior research has investigated the impact of learning more languages than one, ruling out ‘reverse causality’ has proven difficult. ‘The crucial question is whether people improve their cognitive functions through learning new languages or whether those with better baseline cognitive functions are more likely to become bilingual,’ Bak asked. For the current study, researchers relied on data of 835 native speakers of English who were born and living in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Some 262 participants reported to be able to communicate in at least one language other than English. ‘The findings indicate that those who spoke two or more languages had significantly better cognitive abilities,’ the researchers added. The strongest effects were seen in general intelligence and reading. The effects were present in those who acquired their second language early as well as late. ‘These findings are of considerable practical relevance. Millions of people around the world acquire their second language later in life. Our study shows that bilingualism, even when acquired in adulthood, may benefit the aging brain,’ Bak concluded. The study was published in the journal Annals of Neurology.
Can speaking two languages save you from dementia?
It’s a great thing that we Indians speak so many different languages. Most of us speak two or more languages and that apparently cuts down our risk of developing dementia! A new study has shown that people, who speak more than 1 language, tend to develop dementia up to 5 years later than those who are monolingual.
A team of scientists examined almost 650 dementia patients and assessed when each one had been diagnosed with the condition. The study was carried out by researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad (India). They found that people who spoke two or more languages experienced a later onset of Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and frontotemporal dementia.
The bilingual advantage extended to illiterate people who had not attended school. This confirms that the observed effect is not caused by differences in formal education. It is the largest study so far to gauge the impact of bilingualism on the onset of dementia – independent of a person’s education, gender, and occupation and whether they live in a city or in the country, all of which have been examined as potential factors influencing the onset of dementia. The team of researchers said that further studies are needed to determine the mechanism, which causes the delay in the onset of dementia
Source: health
Unmanned aerial vehicles could one day be used to help deliver medical aid and other necessities to needy individuals in hard-to-reach areas.
Compact aerial drones have not been widely used by American physicians and other medical providers, partly because the new technologies remain taboo and regulations have not caught up to them. But some doctors say drones could become a cost-effective way to care for patients miles away from them.
Dr. Jeremy Tucker, an emergency physician at MedStar St. Mary's Hospital in Leonardtown, Maryland, believes drones could be safely used to deliver compact items such as vaccines, pills and even water to the seriously ill in remote areas.
“The earliest health applications for drones will be for disaster relief,” Tucker told Reuters Health. “The benefit of delivering care via drone is that you don’t need a landing zone. You can deliver supplies right to the people who need them.”
Tucker, who has never piloted a drone, said using them to help fight the spread of infectious diseases could help familiarize doctors and older patients with them.
“People are all worried about Ebola right now; you could fly in medications, supplies right to the areas needed,” he added. “What I envision in the future: someone in charge of disaster relief could summon a mobile clinic, and basically with the push of a button, have mobile drones dropping off supplies, like tents and water.”
In suburban areas, Tucker said they could be used to deliver care to individuals in crowded areas, such as shopping malls or apartments.
Palo Alto- and London-based Matternet is a start-up company working to build a drone-based delivery system for individuals in low-income countries without access to proper roads. Paola Santana, the company’s chief regulatory and strategy officer, said their drones could be a cost-effective alternative to transport trucks.
Matternet drones weigh less than 10 pounds and can carry more than half their own weight for miles.
The name of the company – Matternet - refers to a network for transporting matter.
“We started to think about moving stuff that was very important, that could save lives,” Santana told Reuters Health. "We thought about moving very small, health-related payloads such as diagnostics, medicine and clinical supplies and creating a network with that."
Matternet expects to launch medical drones in cooperation with nonprofit organizations in other countries as early as next year. Santana said the Federal Aviation Authority has not granted them permissions to fly their drones in U.S. airspace, causing them to experiment elsewhere.
"We had to go to areas where the need was very high and the risk was very low," she said. "Every new technology faces this."
Asked about privacy concerns and patient safety, Santana said Matternet has developed safeguards for their drones, including the ability to shut them down if hijacked. Their drones are designed to fly only to and from pre-programmed landing spaces.
"We have the overview of everything that is being moved in the system, that way we can track and monitor every vehicle," she said. Most vehicles will fly at about 400 feet, or about 40 stories high.
In 2012, Matternet carried out their first field trials throughout the Dominican Republic and Haiti. They successfully delivered small packages to a camp in Port-au-Prince that was set up after the devastating 2010 earthquake. More recently the company has tested its drones in Bhutan.
Flying model aircrafts and drones for recreation does not usually require FAA approval, but flights for commercial operation require certified aircrafts, licensed pilots and operating approval, an FAA spokesperson told Reuters Health. Proposed rules for drones less than 55 pounds are expected to be released later this year.
Source: reuters
Ice cream, birthday cake and cookies are typical treats in our kids’ diets, but did you know that 16 percent of children and teens’ daily calories come from added sugar?
It’s no surprise that too much sugar can cause tooth decay, hyperactivity and increase the risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes. Yet experts say parents have no idea that all that sugar can also cause other chronic— albeit avoidable —health problems.
Cold, cough and allergies
One of the most common effects sugar can have on children are cold-like symptoms, said Dr. Julie L. Wei, a pediatric otolaryngologist at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Fla. Wei said many of her patients complain of chronic runny noses, excessive mucus, cough and symptoms of sinus infections.
Some kids are even diagnosed with allergies, without having any formal testing. They’re prescribed medication but their symptoms may actually be due to too much sugar.
“If we get rid of the symptoms, kids won’t need the medicine,” Wei said.
Croup and acid reflux
Some children even have recurrent episodes of what looks like croup. These children go to bed seemingly healthy, but wake up during the night with a barking cough and trouble breathing.
After she asked about their habits, Wei found that most of these children had a habit of drinking chocolate milk throughout the day. The combination of dairy and sugar takes longer to digest and is highly acidic. This means that food comes back up through the esophagus, touches the vocal cords and causes a laryngospasm.
“It’s like a charley horse of your voice box,” Wei said.
Often times, kids diagnosed with acid reflux are given over-the-counter medications that block the natural stomach secretion of acid and mask symptoms.
“We’re not having a whole generation of children who have some rare disease that they’re making more acid than before,” Wei said. “They are consuming 10 times more acid every single day than they used to.”
Weakened immunity
The body’s microbiome is made up of trillions of good bacteria that digest food, produce vitamins and protect it from germs and disease. But when kids consume too much sugar, it can alter the balance between good and bad bacteria and weaken their immune systems, Wei said. So although your children may still get frequent colds, their symptoms may be reduced if their sugar intake is reduced as well.
Poor diet
Children who snub fruits, vegetables and other healthy fare may not be picky eaters after all. They might just be loading up on too much sugar which can cause stomachaches and poor appetite.
How to cut down
Reducing the amount of sugar your child consumes is a good idea, whether he has symptoms or not. In March, the World Health Organization proposed new draft guidelines that recommend only 5 percent of the total daily calories in our diets come from sugar. Here are some simple changes you can make.
1. Swap sugar.
“We as parents need to look at smart substitutions because we know that our kids are going to be drawn towards what their peers are eating,” said Jessica Crandall, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
So instead of ice cream, freeze plain Greek yogurt and add fresh fruit or use applesauce instead of sugar when baking.
2. Nix the juice.
Even if the juice box says “100 percent juice,” “organic” or “no sugar added,” it doesn’t mean it’s healthy. In fact, a typical juice pouch has about 22 grams of sugar. Offer water or seltzer instead and add slices of cucumber, berries or orange to taste.
3. Cut down on other liquid sugar. too.
Soda is an obvious one, but sugar can also show up in orange juice, sports drinks and smoothies. Even if your child plays sports, water should be enough to rehydrate.
4. Read labels for sneaky sugars.
The FDA has proposed new food labels to include a line for added sugars, but in the meantime, take a good look at labels. Sugar can hide in unsuspecting foods like pasta sauce, pre-packaged oatmeal, salad dressing, processed foods, and cereal. In fact, a recent report by the Environmental Working Group shows kids’ cereals have 40 percent more sugar than adults’.
5. Be careful about healthy alternatives.
You might think honey and agave are better choices but just because it’s natural, doesn’t mean it’s healthier. Get creative with vanilla extract, cinnamon or nutmeg. Instead of syrup, top pancakes with fresh fruit or almond butter.
“You’re adding flavor without just dumping sugar into it,” Crandall said.
6. Nix yogurt in the evening.
Offer yogurt during the day, not before bedtime. Scan labels to make sure sugar isn’t listed as one of the first few ingredients or offer plain yogurt and add your own fresh fruit instead.
7. Take it slow.
Your kids might not take well to drastic changes in their diets, but if you make it gradual, they’ll eventually come around. Mix a low-sugar cereal with their favorite one until they get used to it. Or buy one less bag of cookies and replace it with a pint of blueberries each week.
8. Teach healthy eating.
It’s important that your kids love how healthy food tastes rather than forcing them to eat it.
“It’s not just about controlling their environment, it’s about teaching them healthier habits so they start engaging in them on their own,” Crandall said.
9. Voice your opinion.
The new school standards for meal programs will help cut down on sugar and some schools even have “sugar-free” campuses. You can advocate for healthier options at your child’s school by supporting initiatives and advocating for healthier options in the cafeteria, vending machines and events.
Source: foxnews
Studies show that women who have doulas during labor and delivery are less likely to have a C-section and interventions, have shorter labors, have less risk for complications, feel more positive about their baby’s birth, are more successful with breastfeeding and are less likely to have postpartum depression.
After you bring your baby home, a postpartum doula can give your family the information, know-how and support you need to make the transition into motherhood a bit easier
1. Why did you become a doula?
One of the best ways to break the ice and see if you connect with the doula is to find out why she’s passionate about her job because it can clue you into her personality and preferences, said Barbara Heid, a DONA International-certified birth and postpartum doula.
2. Do we click?
It’s important to make sure you feel comfortable with the doula especially since she’ll be supporting you during a stressful time, noted Dr. Doni Wilson, a doula and naturopathic doctor and author of “The Stress Remedy."
3. What type of education and training do you have?
A doula who is certified by a national organization like DONA International or Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA) is your best bet, since they are required to have a certain level of education and training. They also must attend a certain number of births that meet specific guidelines to qualify.
4. How many births have you attended?
Ask the doula how many births she has attended and in what setting (hospital, birth center, home). Although at least 20 births is ideal, your personal feeling may trump experience, Wilson said.
5. What is your birth philosophy and approach?
It’s important to ask the doula how she views childbirth, what she thinks about an epidural and what she can do to help you avoid a C-section— barring an emergency— to make sure you’re on the same page. You can also ask how she can help you advocate for yourself, help you release fear, and share her ways to move labor along.
“You want a doula who will support your choices no matter what happens [because] birth is unpredictable,” Heid said.
6. Are you available?
Ask the doula how many births or postpartum clients she takes on a month and if she will be available in the weeks surrounding your due date, in case you go into labor earlier or later than expected. Also, if you go into labor and your doula isn’t available, find out about her backup, how their relationship works and if you can meet her beforehand.
7. Do you know my provider?
It’s ideal if the doula has worked with your OB/GYN or midwife, but not necessary. Ask the hospital if they offer doula services or ask your provider for a referral. Either way, what matters is that the doula is a team player, Heid said.
8. When labor starts, how soon will you be with me?
Since labor can start differently for each woman, it’s important to ask the doula when she will join you. Some doulas will wait until you’re at the hospital or in active labor, and provide phone support in the meantime, while others will be with you the minute your labor starts. Also find out if you can reach her by text, phone or voicemail only.
“A doula should be available to respond to you right away and be the first person to you once labor starts,” Wilson said.
9. Do you have other training or expertise?
Some doulas are also registered nurses, childbirth educators, massage therapists, lactation consultants or certified in aromatherapy.
10. How can you help my partner?
A doula’s role is to support both you and your partner so ask specifically about ways the doula can help your partner support you during and provide reassurance for him about the birth process. If you’re hiring a postpartum doula and your family has specific needs, find out how the doula can customize her services for you.
11. What does the fee cover?
Fees vary depending on where you live, although hospital doula services may be more affordable and some new doulas may waive their fee in order to qualify for certification.
The fees typically cover one or two visits before you give birth and a follow-up either in person or on the phone. Be sure to ask about the refund policy if you delivery too quick for the doula to arrive or if you have a C-section and the doula does not attend.
12. Do you have references?
It’s a great idea if you can talk to the doula’s past clients to find out if they had a positive experience.
Source: foxnews
An Indian woman’s family thought she was under the spell of black magic — but it turns out she had been swallowing metal objects, according to The New Indian Express.
For over four years, the 35-year-old had been behaving abnormally. When she was finally taken to the hospital, doctors did an X-ray and found what turned out to be 152 metal objects in her stomach, which was almost hanging close to her pelvic bone.
The objects included 96 small nails, 23 large nails, screws, coins, a hair pin, and a key.
Doctors at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) said they were surprised that the woman did have esophageal injuries. The only adverse symptoms she exhibited were breathlessness and a bloated stomach.
When she arrived at the hospital, the woman was anemic and malnourished. She had gradual blood loss because of the sharp objects, and was given blood, blood products, proteins and nutrition before she went in for surgery.
Surgeons removed the objects during a 90-minute surgery.
“With the nodules in her stomach, we had to first rule it out as cancerous,” said Dr. S.M. Chandramohan, head of surgical gastroenterology at RGGGH. “Also, when we opened her stomach during the surgery, it looked like a huge tumor.”
For years, the woman’s family thought she was possessed and would regularly take her to temples and witch doctors.
“Only for the past five years, she has been undergoing treatment for her mental illness,” her brother said. “But we never knew she had swallowed such objects.”
Source: foxnews
Municipal worker who got stung by an estimated 1,000 bees while mowing a park lawn on Thursday (July 24) was in stable condition. So how did he survive the buzzing attack?
Turns out, the man’s attackers probably Africanized honeybees, according to the local fire department are not as deadly as their name may suggest. To be lethal, the bees would likely have had to sting the man several hundred more times, experts say. In addition, the victim seems not to have been allergic to the bees. (The bees also stung two other workers who tried to help the man.)
Not-so-killer bees
Africanized honeybees, or “killer bees,” have been in the United States since about 1990, according to May Berenbaum, head of the department of entomology at the University of Illinois. But despite their dramatic nickname, these insects aren’t that deadly.
An estimated 40 people in the United States die every year from stings by hymenoptera species. That group of insects includes some 150,000 species of bees (and killer bees), wasps, ants and other bugs, Berenbaum said.
It’s hard to pin down specific data on the number of people attacked annually in the United States by Africanized honeybees: As Berenbaum explained, this is partly because not all attacks are reported and partly because, oftentimes, people aren’t quite sure what stung them.
Furthermore, it’s difficult to pin the blame on a particular species of bee in instances of injuries or deaths caused by insects, because some species dont leave any telltale evidence. While honeybee stingers stay behind in the body of the victim, many species take their stingers with them after attacking, Berenbaum explained.
Fierce defenders
Though Africanized honeybees don’t always attack, when they do, the results can be devastating. While the victim of Thursday’s attack in Wichita Falls, Texas, survived the incident, not all killer bee victims have been as lucky.
Last year in Waco, Texas, about three hours south of Wichita Falls, an estimated 40,000 Africanized honeybees attacked a local farmer who was mowing a neighbor’s pasture with tractor. Larry Goodwin, 62, sustained more than 3,000 stings before collapsing to the ground. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The number of stings that Goodwin sustained likely caused his unfortunate death, Berenbaum explained. The average person can sustain 10 bee stings per pound of body weight, both Berenbaum and the U.S. Department of Agriculture note. As such, 500 stings might be enough to kill a child, but the 1,000 stings suffered by the man in Wichita Falls did not deliver a lethal dose of venom, given his body weight.
“With honeybees, in particular, the venom isn’t really designed to kill. It’s designed to educate basically, to drive away an enemy and make sure the enemy doesn’t repeat the threat,” Berenbaum told
Unfortunately for the victims of killer bee attacks, the insects aren’t very good at distinguishing between a true threat and an accidental nudge from a noisy mower. Africanized honeybees are extremely protective of their hive and brood, much more so than European honeybees. And their “home turf” is much larger than that of their calmer cousins. About 100 yards (91 meters), or the length of a four-lane highway, is usually a safe distance from these insects, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In addition to number of stings, other factors also play roles in determining a person’s chances of surviving a killer bee attack. These include the general health of the victims, and their weight and sensitivity to bee venom.
Furthermore, people who are allergic to bee stings can experience a severe physiological reaction after just one sting, Berenbaum said.
Called anaphylactic shock, this severe allergic reaction can prove lethal for some people attacked by bees. Berenbaum describes anaphylaxis as an “immune response running amuck,” and while she said that everyone is likely to experience some kind of allergic reaction to bee venom, only some individuals experience anaphylactic shock.
Allergic to bees or not, anyone who encounters a swarm of these defensive insects should “run away,” she said. “And don’t zigzag. That serpentine move you see in movies all the time just slows you down.”
Berenbaum also advises killer-bee targets not to jump into a pool or other body of water, which you might also have seen in movies. As she explained, the bees will just be waiting for you when you come up for a breath of air.
Source: Foxnews
For the first time, vitamin B17 began being promoted as medicine against cancer in early the 1950’s by Dr. Ernst Krebs. The theory about the treatment of cancer with the help of vitamin B17 is based on the fact that according to Krebs, cancer is a disease that is caused by inadequate intake of vitamins and minerals that are needed in the body.
The fact is that today the modern man is exposed far more to this disease as opposed to primitive cultures in the past. Dr. Krebs as a possible explanation says that old tribes had very different habits related to nutrition. For example, representative of the tribe Hunza, have an intake of 250 to 3000 milligrams of vitamin B17, as opposed to the average American or European, who through industrial processed food eats intakes barely 2 milligrams of the vitamin daily.
The Hunza tribe is an old tribe based in Northern Pakistan. Members of the tribe live over 100 years and the disease cancer is completely unknown to them. The reason for this is the fact that this tribe feeds on apricot seeds daily, it is their most abundant fruit and is part of their daily diet.
Up until his death in 1996, Dr. Krebs argued that by increasing the daily dose of vitamin B17, the risk of getting sick from cancer would be reduced significantly by 100%.
Now you know the secret, so eat apricot seeds because they contain the highest concentration of vitamin B17.
Source: for healthy life style
A study conducted at Columbia University in New York, came to a conclusion that women with polycystic ovaries, which consumed the spice every day, rebalanced their menstrual cycle within six months than those who took placebo. Some of them also became pregnant during this period. – See more at:
“Scientists have long been trying to find a natural and homeopathic medicine for polycystic ovarian syndrome”, said the author of the research Dr. Daniel Kort, and added: “With this research we found that a seemingly simple spice can be a solution for women suffering from polycystic ovarian syndrome.”
It is estimated that 5-10% of women worldwide suffer from polycystic ovarian syndrome. In America that number is estimated at 5 million. The symptoms of this syndrome are irregular periods, infertility, as well as acne and hair growth on the face.
Scientists believe that cinnamon, except for polycystic ovaries, can affect the body so as to improve the body’s ability to process glucose and insulin.
In China, Japan and Far East countries, women who are unable to stay pregnant consume cinnamon powder with half a teaspoon of honey and add it to chewing gum so that they can consume a little bit of it all day. If you don’t prefer this way, simply rub this mixture over your gums several times a day.
Source: Texilaconnect
