Wednesday 16 October 2013

List of Home remedies, which will help you minimize your chances of getting a heart attack



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The number-one killer for both men and women, heart disease is the result of the narrowing of the arteries that supply the heart with blood, oxygen, and nutrients. This process, called coronary artery disease, can generally be traced to a condition called atherosclerosis, the build-up of cholesterol-rich fatty deposits, or plaques, on the inside of arterial walls. As these deposits accumulate over time, the coronary arteries narrow to the point that the flow of oxygenated blood to the heart is impeded. (Arterial spasms — triggered by smoking, extreme emotional stress, or exposure to very cold temperatures — may also cause coronary arteries to narrow suddenly and dangerously.)

What are The risk factors, and how you can reduce that

Major risk factors for cardiovascular disease include cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and/or triglycerides, diabetes mellitus, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and poor nutrition. Prevention and treatment centers around these risk factors — and these approaches will help you lower risk for many other types of illness, as well as helping you feel great and have more energy overall.

1. No smoking.

Smoking has to be avoided in order to curb this risk.Cigarette smoking remains the leading preventable cause of cardiovascular disease in women, with more than 50 percent of heart attacks among middle-aged women attributable to tobacco. Risk of cardiovascular disease begins to decline within months of smoking cessation and reaches the level of persons who have never smoked within 3 to 5 years. So, Make a Pledge today and quit smoking now.

2. Low cholesterol level.

High blood cholesterol is a condition that greatly increases your chances of developing coronary heart disease. Extra cholesterol in the blood settles on the inner walls of the arteries, narrowing them and allowing less blood to pass through them to the heart. Aim for total cholesterol below 200 mg/dL; LDL cholesterol below 130 mg/dL and HDL above 35 mg/dL. Try to settle your Blood Pressure to 120/80 for ensuring safe levels.

3. Weight of your body

Obesity and sedentary lifestyles are epidemics in the United States that contribute to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of obesity has increased among both men and women in the United States in the past decade; currently about one third of adult women (or 34 million) are classified as obese. Also, 60% of both men and women get no regular physical activity. Obesity, especially abdominal adiposity, is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women.

4. Regular Exercise

Recent evidence suggests that even moderate-intensity activity, including briskwalking, is associated with substantial reduction of cardiovascular disease risk. These findings support the 1995 federal exercise guidelines endorsing 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity most days of the week, a program that should be feasible and safe for most of the population. Regular exercise and maintenance of healthy weight should also help reduce insulin resistance and the risk of non–insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, which appears to be an even stronger risk factor for cardiovascular disease in women than in men. Diabetes is associated with a threefold to sevenfold elevation in cardiovascular disease risk among women, compared with a twofold to threefold elevation among men. Approximately half of all deaths in patients with non–insulin dependent diabetes mellitus are due to heart disease.


5.  Eat less saturated fat but more fiber


Diets low in saturated fat and high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fiber are associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Also, a recent study reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal confirmed that eating fruits and vegetables, particularly green leafy vegetables and vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables, seems to have a protective effect against coronary heart disease. You may even think about moving toward more flexitarian or vegetarian eating habits: A vegetarian diet reduces the risk of coronary artery disease, and may even reverse existing coronary artery disease when combined with other lifestyle changes. A Mediterranean diet that uses olive oil can reduce the risk of coronary artery disease.


6.  Avoid Trans Fat


Trans fatty acids have been linked to adverse lipid profiles and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. This includes most margarines. The role of other fatty acids, including monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and marine omega-3 fatty acids, remains controversial.

7. Consume Alcohol In Moderation, but try to avoid that

Moderate intake of alcohol is related to reduction of cardiovascular disease — but may raise blood pressure and increase risk of breast cancer. Early surgical menopause is linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, which appears to be negated by the use of estrogen therapy.

8. Have lots of risk reducing Vitamins

Antioxidant vitamin supplements, particularly vitamin E and homocysteine-lowering agents such as folate and B6, have promising roles in prevention of cardiovascular disease, but conclusive evidence may hinge on the results of several ongoing randomized clinical trials. When it is found in unusually high levels, homocysteine brings the same degree of risk as having high cholesterol does. The B vitamins, especially folic acid and B12, will drive elevated homocysteine levels down to normal, often without the need of any prescription medication.

9. Follow some new stress management tools

Poorly controlled stress may have an adverse effect on blood lipids. An attitude of hostility has been powerfully linked with a higher incidence of cardiac events, and cynical distrust has been associated with accelerated progression of carotid artery disease. Relaxation methods (meditationbreathing exercises), yoga, and stress management techniques are essential for preventing cardiovascular disease and coronary artery disease and for reducing the risk of recurrent cardiac problems. Meditation improves exercise tolerance and decreases electrical changes associated with poor circulation to the heart. Meditation has also been shown to lower cholesterol and reverse carotid artery thickening. Also consider acupuncture, which has been shown to help relax the myocardium and improve circulation.

10. Herbs*


Ask your Health Professional about herbs and nutritional supplements that may be useful in preventing and treating cardiovascular disease, including:
  • Bilberry
  • Turmeric (curcumin)
  • Fenugreek
  • Ginger
  • Guggul
  • Ginkgo
  • Garlic (one garlic clove is roughly equal to 4 mg to 1 gram of garlic; a daily dose of 600 to 800mg may be recommended)
  • Onion
  • Vitamin B12
  • Folic acid (500 to 5000 micrograms daily may be recommended)
  • B6
  • L-Carnitine
  • Coenzyme Q10 (100 to 300 mg daily may be recommended)
  • Vitamin E (400 to 800 International Units daily may be recommended)
  • Magnesium (200 to 400 mg daily may be recommended)
  • Niacin (A typical oral dose of 100 mg, three times daily; may gradually increase to avg. dose of 1 gram three times daily, with a maximum dose of 6 grams. Extended release tablets: Dosing may begin with one 375-milligram tablet at bedtime and be increased by no more than 500 mg per four-week period, to a maximum of 2,000 mg, given as two 1,000-milligram tablets before bed)
  •  Fish oils (6 grams daily may be recommended)
  • Soy (Isoflavones may be recommended)



*Please consult your Doctor before following any of the Herbs



Friday 11 October 2013

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Thanks a lot. Spread smile.

Alcohol Abuse

ALCOHOL ABUSE is very common problem which can be seen almost everywhere, from your closet to other parts of the country.

This is because of western culture which has affected our civilization. But I cannot Blame any country or any part of the world for this degradation, rather i can say, If anything is happening to you, that's because of your own nature. 

That's because, it's up to you, how you get the things and gets addicted to that. I want to share my own experience which I had in my past. I know a senior from my hostel ( in Ranchi ), He was very much addicted to all types of drugs, tranquilizers, alcohol, cigarette and many other things.

Each time, when he used to get some new name or some new brand, He used to get hyper to get that thing. 
There came a time, when he was unable to stand properly, His parents came to know about this, they stopped sending him money as they knew that he would misuse those money for that addiction.

But, What happened ??? He started borrowing money from his friends and juniors for fulfilling his desire.
So, ALCOHOL ABUSE is worst then any other thing on this planet. It's my humble request to all of you who drinks and smokes, PLEASE QUIT SMOKING AND DRINKING TODAY.

Now, I know it's very difficult to quit smoking and drinking once you are addicted to this.

But I will share 12 Steps which you can follow to get rid of this Curse.


Here are those 12 steps with Image Description, Please Do follow these steps to make your life fulfilling.



  •  First, anticipate that it may take many attempts to finally quit forever. A typical person may take fifteen years to recover from smoking and drinking completely and be back to normal.


  • Do not procrastinate! Start taking steps to quit as soon as you see this article.


  • Get rid of ALL forms of your addiction in the house. Throw away all the cigarettes immediately. Pour all alcoholic drinks down the sink, and rinse clean. (Or better yet, flush them down the toilet: you'll never get it back, and if you did, you wish you hadn't :)

  • Get rid of anything that reminds your of smoking or drinking, e.g. aftershave, mouthwash, cologne, burning things etc. It is better to dispose them to be safe, then to risk a relapse. If you're totally addicted to alcohol you'll drink ANYTHING with alcohol in it.

  • Stay FAR away from places where people smoke or drink. And avoid people that cause you to smoke or drink. Better yet, spend time with your kids, or your parents, spend as much time as possible with these people. If your parents and kids smoke and drink though... You're screwed.


  • Enlist the help of everyone you can find, tell them: no matter what, forbid you from ever smoking or drinking again.
  • It's been said, to get rid of ONE habit, replace it with another. Buy yourself something to to occupy your time, e.g. video games, TV, books, chewing bubble gums.

  • When you go to stores, avoid the cigarette checkout lane, and the liquor aisles. Do NOT ever visit a liquor store!!


  • Attend support groups, such as Alcoholic Anonymous, Smokers Anonymous, or just good old buddies who have also quit to share experiences.




  • Buy some fizzy drinks with lots of carbonation.

  • Eat a good balanced diet.

  • When your friends offer you some cigarette or beer, say no, and run out of there!

STOP DRINKING NOW !!!
























Friday 27 September 2013

Are you worried about your belly, Rub it and remove monthly Blues :)



Ladies, we all know PMS is no treat. Instead of popping pills that cause wacky side effects-and that also muck up our drinking water-alleviate symptoms with a solution Mama Nature would approve:Buddha Nose Girl Balm.
The beeswax salve is all the rage among ladies in Japan, but it's now growing in popularity Stateside. Join the belly-rubbing craze and dab some on. It's organic; essential oils like sage, rose, and ginger encourage hormonal balance to keep our-and our water's-pH balance in check. Twenty bucks gets you a mighty cute and reusable, 1-ounce tin.::ecofabulous

HOW TO REMOVE WARTS NATURALLY WITH ASPIRIN AND COMMON HOUSEHOLD ITEMS


Warts happen. Don't feel bad about it if they happen to you. They don't make you icky, they don't make you diseased, they don't make you anything bad at all. They're simply a normal thing that happens to skin and they happen at any age. However, thanks to our perfectionist standards of beauty, you have every right to want to get warts removed from your skin when they do pop up.
Before you go running to the drug store to get some over-the-counter medicine that comes in soon-to-be-trash packaging (and required the expelling of pollution during its production), why not try to rid yourself of warts naturally? You might have some things around the house that could help you get rid of your warts, believe it or not.

Here are some natural wart remedies you should try:

Try rubbing some aloe over your wart and securing it against the wart with a band-aid.
Aspirin
Dissolve the Aspirin in water and rub the mixture all over the wart. Yum!
Baking Soda
Rub baking soda all over the wart. Do this 3 times daily.
Other things to try rubbing (and leaving) on the wart:
Banana Peel
Onion
Garlic
Glue
Chalk
Papaya
Potato
Tape
You'd be surprised at some of the natural things that can help to remove a wart if you just give them a try.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

Breast cancer drug toxic to brain cells and central nervous system


 Researchers have revealed that the breast cancer drug tamoxifen is toxic to cells of the brain and central nervous system, and produces mental fogginess similar to "chemo brain."
Corresponding author Mark Noble, Ph.D., professor of Biomedical Genetics and director of the UR Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Institute, said that it is exciting to potentially be able to prevent a toxic reaction to one of the oldest and most widely used breast cancer medications on the market.
Although tamoxifen is relatively benign compared to most cancer treatments, it nonetheless produces troubling side effects in a subset of the large number of people who take it.
By studying tamoxifen's impact on central nervous system cell populations and then screening a library of 1,040 compounds already in clinical use or clinical trials, his team identified a substance known as AZD6244, and showed that it essentially eliminated tamoxifen-induced killing of brain cells in mice.
Noble's team first identified central nervous system (CNS) cells that are most vulnerable to tamoxifen toxicity. Chief among these were oligodendrocyte-type 2 astrocyte progenitor cells (O-2A/OPCs), cells that are essential for making the insulating sheaths (called myelin) required for nerve cells to work properly.
Exposure to clinically relevant levels of tamoxifen for 48 hours killed more than 75 percent of these cells.
The study has been published in the Journal of Neuroscience.

LOVE HORMONE... Let's see, how it works


The hormone, oxytocin, could play a role in treating psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, a new study has revealed.
According to the study conducted by Dr David Cochran of University of Massachusetts Medical School and his colleagues, oxytocin is an important regulator of human social behaviors.
The study also revealed that the hormone can also be useful for treating certain mental health diagnoses, particularly those which involve impaired social functioning.
A growing body of evidence in animals and humans has revealed that oxytocin, probably most familiar for its role in initiating labor and breast milk flow in pregnant women, plays an important role in regulating social behaviors.
Based on these effects, researchers have suspected that oxytocin may be a common factor in certain psychiatric disorders. The reviewers analyze the evidence for oxytocin's involvement in specific disorders-including some early research on oxytocin as a potential treatment for these conditions.
"The evidence suggests a role of oxytocin in the pathophysiology of some psychiatric disorders, particularly those characterized by impairments in social functioning," Dr Cochran and coauthors wrote.
Though the preliminary nature of the currently available data precludes a clear understanding of the exact nature of the hormone's role, the study showed that proper clinical trials would be able to provide a better understanding of the extent and limitations of the clinical effects of externally delivered oxytocin.
The study was published in Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

Do you know, Microbes are sometimes Useful too...


A new study has revealed that gut microbes may hold the key to deal with significant health problems faced by people in the world today.
Researchers of Oregon State University have found that problems such as autoimmune disease, to clinical depression, and simple obesity may in fact be linked to immune dysfunction that begins with a "failure to communicate" in the human gut.
Dr Natalia Shulzhenko said that the human gut plays a huge role in immune function and it is little appreciated by people who think its only role is digestion.
Shulzhenko said that the combined number of genes in the microbiota genome is 150 times larger than the person in which they reside.
She said that an emerging theory of disease is a disruption in the "crosstalk" between the microbes in the human gut and other cells involved in the immune system and metabolic processes.
Shulzhenko said that in a healthy person, these microbes in the gut stimulate the immune system as needed, and it in turn talks back.
She added that the increasing disruption of these microbes caused by modern lifestyle, diet, overuse of antibiotics and other issues is breaking down this "conversation."
The study was published in Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology.

Now That's what we call Awareness... New HIV infections down 33 percent since 2001: UN


Geneva: A UN report Monday said new HIV infections among adults and children were estimated at 2.3 million in 2012, down 33 percent from 2001.
New HIV infections among children have been reduced more than half from 2001 to reach 260,000 in 2012, while AIDS-related deaths have dropped by 30 percent since the peak in 2005 as access to antiretroviral treatment expands, Xinhua reported citing a latest report released by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
Standard antiretroviral therapy consists of the combination of at least three antiretroviral drugs to maximally suppress the HIV virus and stop the progression of HIV disease.
In 2011, UN member states set a target of reaching 15 million people with HIV treatment by 2015.
The report said, by the end of 2012, 9.7 million people in low and middle-income countries were accessing antiretroviral therapy, an increase of nearly 20 percent in just one year.
Moreover, the World Health Organisation set new HIV treatment guidelines this June, expanding the total number of people estimated to need treatment by more than 10 million.
"Not only can we meet the 2015 target of 15 million people on HIV treatment, we must also go beyond and have the vision and commitment to ensure no one is left behind," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said in a statement.
Significant results have also been achieved toward meeting the needs of tuberculosis (TB) patients living with HIV, as TB-related deaths among people living with HIV have declined by 36 percent since 2004, the report said.
However, the report noted that slow progress was made in ensuring the respect of human rights, securing access to HIV services for people at risk of HIV infection, particularly people who use drugs, and in preventing violence against women and girls.
Besides, gender inequality, punitive laws and discriminatory action are continuing to hamper national responses to HIV and concerted efforts were needed to address these persistent obstacles to the scale-up of HIV services for people most in need, the report said.

Monday 23 September 2013

And the Beat Goes On

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It has been said that music feeds the soul. It is also said that music is a universal language, understood by all. Music serves a number of purposes ranging from communication to simple enjoyment. Not only that, but research also suggests that music can play an important role in deterring and minimizing the affects of age-related cognitive dysfunctions.
Decades of research has implied a direct correlation between the development of neural pathways associated with not only hearing and feeling the sound and rhythm of music, but also the process of learning to play musical instruments.
Scientific research implies that brain development begins as early as the third week from conception and continues well into an adult’s twenties. The human brain is far more plastic during early development than in later life. So how might music relate to the development of the brain and cognitive neural responses of older adults?
Although there is little evidence to suggest that a fetus truly reacts to the sound of music, there appears to be a correlation between learning to play a musical instrument such as the piano and the development of spatial recognition perception in young children. The enhancement of neural connectivity associated with hand and eye coordination as a child learns to play an instrument suggests that musical training can have a long-term effect on the ability to process and understand the meaning and exchange of words.
Neurological deficiencies associated with the aging process describe a litany of disorders ranging from short-term memory loss to the slow decay of response time. Evidence suggests that the aging process reduces inhibitory neurotransmitter levels and dampens neural processing. Yet, further evidence reveals a link between previous musical training during childhood and a reduction in the degenerative neural processes associated with aging.
One particular study suggests that the nervous system is essentially changed in those individuals who had received early childhood training in music (for at least three years duration), and that these neural alterations continued into adulthood even if the training was discontinued (a minimum of seven years later).
Given this link, it could be that time reaction delays can be reversed through neural auditory training processes. A recent study theorized that cognitive training through auditory processes could re-establish — to some extent — age-related insufficiencies in temporal dispensation in the brain. And in turn, the associated plasticity of the brain could serve to encourage enhanced perception and cognitive abilities.
The study’s findings found that even short-term training induced neural plasticity in older adults in fundamental aspects of biological auditory processing. The results demonstrated that declines in neural temporal precision, normally associated with the aging processes found in older adults, were to some extent reversed. Improvements were also noted in short-term memory, processing speed, and sensitivity of speech.
Efforts such as these to understand the brain’s response to reduced inhibitory neurotransmitter levels and a reduction in neural processing as it relates to age-related dysfunction has led to research the possible role that music can and does play in slowing and possibly reducing these outcomes. It may be that music feeds a lot more than just the soul.
References
Anderson S, Parbery-Clark A, White-Schwoch T, & Kraus N (2012). Aging affects neural precision of speech encoding. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32 (41), 14156-64 PMID: 23055485
Anderson S, White-Schwoch T, Parbery-Clark A, & Kraus N (2013). Reversal of age-related neural timing delays with training. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (11), 4357-62 PMID: 23401541
Pujol J, Vendrell P, Junqué C, Martí-Vilalta JL, & Capdevila A (1993). When does human brain development end? Evidence of corpus callosum growth up to adulthood. Annals of neurology, 34 (1), 71-5 PMID: 8517683
Skoe E, & Kraus N (2012). A little goes a long way: how the adult brain is shaped by musical training in childhood. The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 32 (34), 11507-10 PMID: 22915097
Image via Rick Lord / Shutterstock.

Uncontrolled Blood Pressure, Genetic Risk, and Alzheimer’s Disease

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A new article published in JAMA: Neurology demonstrates a link between genetics, Alzheimer’s disease, and vascular problems.
There continues to be a large focus within dementia research to understand the link between heart health and brain health. This also is a growing area of research not only because most societies are aging (i.e., the average age of the population increases as people live longer and have fewer children) but also because many societies struggle with increasing obesity rates. Obesity and heart disease are strongly linked.
In addition, it has been well-established that people who have higher blood pressure are at greater risk of cognitive decline in old age and at greater risk for developing dementia. Such decline or dementia are believed to be caused, at least in part by, acute or chronic changes to the white matter of the brain. These changes are typically called small or silent strokes by physicians and are visible on magnetic resonance images (MRI) or CT scans. Due to the prevalence of white matter disease in dementia, diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease have been updated within the past few years to focus more on the role that cerebrovascular disease plays in the Alzheimer’s disease process.
In terms of genetics, the best-verified risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease relates to the apolipoprotein E4 (ApoE) genotype. Individuals who have two copies of the ApoE4allele have up to a 12-fold increase risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease.
In order to officially diagnose someone as having Alzheimer’s disease, a postmortem pathology examination must be performed on the brain with results demonstrating the presence of groups of proteins called beta-amyloid (plaques) and what are called tau-driven neurofibrillary tangles (basically a twisting and changing of part of the internal structure of neurons – brain cells). While confirming the presence of these plaques and tangles requires pathological dissection, a type of brain scan called positron emission tomography (PET) imaging can be used to look at amount of beta-amyloid plaque build-up in living people.
What the researchers wanted to investigate is whether there is a link between having high blood pressure, the amount of beta-amyloid plaque people without Alzheimer’s disease have, and genetic risk (ApoE4). The researchers found weak and non-significant evidence that people with at least one ApoE4 allele had more plaque build-up in their brains as did people with hypertension. More importantly and significantly, those who had both genetic (ApoE4) and vascular (hypertension) risk had significantly more plaque in their brains. Further analyses showed that people without controlled high blood pressure were the ones who had the most plaque in their brains, on average. Again, the study population included middle-age and older adults without dementia at time of study participation.
What this study demonstrates is that middle- and old-aged people without cognitive difficulties who have genetic risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (ApoE4 alleles) and who have high blood pressure show much more Alzheimer’s pathology in their brains. Much of this difference is driven by people who do not have well-controlled high blood pressure, meaning that if people have genetic risk of Alzheimer’s disease but do a good job of controlling blood pressure (keeping it under 140/90) do not have much more Alzheimer’s pathology than those without genetic risk and without (or with controlled) high blood pressure.
In summary, middle-age adults who have genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and who do not control high blood pressure are likely at much higher risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life than those who keep blood pressure under control.
References
Rodrigue KM, Rieck JR, Kennedy KM, Devous MD, Diaz-Arrastia R, & Park DC (2013). Risk Factors for ?-Amyloid Deposition in Healthy Aging: Vascular and Genetic Effects. JAMA neurology, 70 (5), 600-6 PMID: 23553344
Image via Juan Gaertner / Shutterstock.