Herbal Med

13/09/2018

04/01/2018

16/09/2016

Danger and complete truth about your fairness cream:
India market is considered the biggest market for beauty products specially fairness solution. Among Indian society there is an absurd statement and phenomenon of beauty.

hanks to our high list of endorsement start, both men & women need variety of fairness creams. In spite of existing multimillion dollar market of fairness products in country, the question of how impactful these products are? Keep dwindling in consumer's mind. Our skin colour is determined by our race and genetic lineage which in turn decides the amount and structure of melanin. Fairness creams can only work to a certain extent. As per dermatology studies, achieving fairness up to 20% is possible, but not more than that. The fairness creams only block sun rays and prevent secretion of melanin. Thus help in reducing tan and restoring natural skin.

Side Effects of Fairness Creams -
Extreme use of fairness creams can rather lead to severe skin damage. Fairness creams contain harmful bleaching agent such as hydroquinone, mercury, lead, nickel, chromium and high levels of steroids that cause following problems:
- Thinning of skin
- Discoloration of face
- Capillaries become prominently visible
- Severe acne
- Hypersensitivity to sun
- Rebound paradoxical pigmentation
- Unwanted facial hair growth
- Skin allergy
- Skin cancer Thus these creams should always be used judiciously only under the supervision of a certified dermatologist.

06/09/2016

IVF centres planned in Govt hospitals in Assam
Guwahati - For the poor, childless married couples in Assam, there finally emerges a ray of hope!
For the first time, the State Government plans to facilitate IVF (in-vitro fertilization) treatment or birth of a ‘test tube baby’ for the fertility-challenged couples in government-run hospitals.

Sources informed that an IVF centre will first start at the Guwahati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) and subsequently, such centres will be replicated in other medical colleges as well.

The introduction of the IVF centre under the Gynaecology Department of the GMCH would mean that poor, childless parents, too, would have access to the facilities at a cost which would be less than half the cost charged by private hospitals across the country.

A source at Dispur told this reporter that although the idea to have such facilities at the GMCH was mooted some two years back, the matter got stalled for a number of reasons.

“The IVF centre at the GMCH would be of state-of-the-art quality and a team of dedicated staff, including doctors, would render their services. It will have all the specialised features of top class facility,” the sources said, adding the nitty-gritty of the set-up is being discussed.

In Assam, the first test tube baby was born on July 7, 1995 under Dr ML Goenka at the Institute of Human Reproduction (IHR) located in Guwahati and since then hundreds of such babies were born in the Northeast.

In the Northeast, around 80 to 100 babies are born through IVF treatment every month and the success rate is believed to be highest in the IHR, the institute which pioneered the trend in the region under Dr Goenka.

Dr Deepak Goenka, an IVF expert and Chairman of the IHR, told this reporter that the success rate of IVF treatment in the institute (IHR) is more than 60 per cent.

Apart from the IHR, five other clinics offer the IVF treatment in Guwahati.

Dr Goenka, when asked, said that it is good that the government hospitals are coming up with such plans because not everyone can afford such treatment in a private set-up.

“The acceptance level among people of the State and the region as a whole has been increasing over the years. Being one of the pioneers in this field, we at IHR are treating couples not only from places like Delhi and West Bengal but also from abroad. We have the best facilities at par with any international set-up,” Dr Goenka said, pointing out that 10 to 15 per cent of the married couples in India are estimated to be infertile, with Assam being no exception.

Dr Illias Ali of the GMCH, who has been leading the family planning campaign, too, has welcomed the government move saying the decision would be a blessing to couples who are not so financially well-off.

“I have seen parents shelling out money beyond their capacity to become parents. Hopefully, with IVF treatment facility within the government set-up, such cases will not be repeated,” Dr Ali added.

IVF is the process by which eggs are removed from the ovaries and mixed with s***m in a laboratory culture dish for fertilization. The fertilised egg is then transferred to the patient’s uterus.

22/07/2016

Decrease in blood flow to the brain is 'earliest sign of Alzheimer's' scientists discover in most thorough study ever published on the disease
-Until now, increase in amyloid protein was thought to be the first sign
-But a landmark study has found blood flow decreases in the brain first
-The Montreal study also found cognition decreases earlier than thought
-It is the most thorough study ever published on late-onset Alzheimer's

A landmark study has identified the first physiological sign of late-onset Alzheimer's.

Contrary to previous understanding, brain scans show a decrease in blood flow through the brain is the earliest indicator that a patient has the disease.

An increase in amyloid protein was thought to be the number one sign.

But while amyloid plays a role, experts at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital have determined that blood flow decreases first in the most thorough study ever published on Alzheimer's.
They also found that changes in cognition begin earlier than previously thought.

The study, led by Dr Alan Evans, has provided the most complete maps of the disease to date.

Researchers analyzed more than 7,700 brain images from 1,171 people in various stages of Alzheimer's progression.

They used a variety of techniques including MRI scans and positron emission tomography (PET), as well as analysis of blood and cerebrospinal fluid.

Late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) is caused by a complex combination of associated mechanisms in the brain. It is the most common cause of dementia

Due to its complexity, studies have thus far struggled to provide a complete picture of the disease.

But this study, published in the journal Nature Communications on June 21, has taken all elements of the brain into account, including the pattern of amyloid concentration, glucose metabolism, cerebral blood flow, functional activity, and brain atrophy in 78 regions of the brain.

'The lack of an integrative understanding of LOAD pathology, its multifactorial mechanisms, is a crucial obstacle for the development of effective, disease-modifying therapeutic agents,' Yasser Iturria Medina, a post-doctoral fellow at the MNI and the paper's first author, says.

The team will now look to determine the causes of each mechanism to improve research to develop treatments.
It is something that is limited only by how much computer power Big Data can provide.

'This is a computational, mathematical challenge that goes beyond anything we've done so far,' says Evans.

'Our goal is to go to a high-level, causal modeling of the interactions amongst all of the factors of disease, but you need huge computational power to do that. It's our job to be ready with the software, the algorithms, and the data while we wait for the hardware to appear.'

'We still need more data-driven integrative studies, capable of considering all possible biological factors involved, as well as of clarifying the direct interactions among these factors,' says Medina.
'Without that, we cannot dream of effective treatments. We would continue to work in the dark.'

20/07/2016

Kids Who Bite Nails, Suck Their Thumbs Have Fewer Allergies: Study:
Melbourne - Children who bite their nails or suck their thumbs are less likely to develop allergic sensitivities, a new study suggests.

And, if they have both 'bad habits', they are even less likely to be allergic to such things as house dust mites, grass, cats, dogs, horses or airborne fungi, researchers said.

"Our findings are consistent with the hygiene theory that early exposure to dirt or germs reduces the risk of developing allergies," said Malcolm Sears, formerly from Dunedin School of Medicine in New Zealand and currently with McMaster University in Canada.

"While we do not recommend that these habits should be encouraged, there does appear to be a positive side to these habits," said Sears.

Researchers were testing the idea that the common childhood habits of thumb-sucking and nail-biting would increase microbial exposures, affecting the immune system and reducing the development of allergic reactions also known as atopic sensitisation.

The habits of thumb-sucking and nail-biting were measured in a longitudinal birth cohort of more than 1,000 New Zealand children at ages 5, 7, 9 and 11; and atopic sensitisation was measured by skin-prick testing at 13 and 32 years old.

Researchers found 31 per cent of children were frequent thumb suckers or nail biters.

Among all children at 13 years old, 45 per cent showed atopic sensitisation, but among those with one oral habit, only 40 per cent had allergies, researchers said.

Among those with both habits, only 31 per cent had allergies. This trend was sustained into adulthood, and showed no difference depending on smoking in the household, ownership of cats or dogs; or exposure to house dust mites, they said.

The findings were published in the journal Pediatrics.

25/05/2016

Smoking during pregnancy can harm baby's brain - Study:
Mothers who smoke during pregnancy can increase the risks of mental disorders in their babies, warns a study.

The results showed that a higher maternal ni****ne level in the mother's blood was associated with a 38 percent increased odds of schizophrenia among their offspring.

Ni****ne readily crosses the placenta into the foetal bloodstream, specifically targets foetal brain development, causing short- and long-term changes in cognition and potentially contributes to other neuro-developmental abnormalities.

"To our knowledge, this is the first biomarker-based study to show a relationship between foetal ni****ne exposure & schizophrenia," said senior author Alan Brown from Columbia University's medical centre in the US.

"We employed a nationwide sample with the highest number of schizophrenia cases to date in a study of this type," Brown added in the paper published online in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The team examined nearly 1,000 cases of schizophrenia and matched controls among offspring born in Finland from 1983-1998, who were ascertained from the country's national registry.
The findings persisted after adjusting for important confounding factors including maternal and parental psychiatric history, socio-economic status and maternal age.

Heavy smoking based on cotinine, a reliable marker of ni****ne in maternal sera, was reported by 20 percent of the mothers of cases, but only 14.7 percent of the mothers of controls.

Smoking during pregnancy is known to contribute to significant problems in utero and following birth, including low birth weight and attentional difficulties.

"These findings underscore the value of ongoing public health education on the potentially debilitating and largely preventable, consequences that smoking may have on children over time," Brown noted.

The researchers also found that offspring of mothers who reported smoking during pregnancy have an increased risk of bipolar disorder.

17/01/2016

Drinking during pregnancy exposes baby to 428 diseases:
Toronto - Consuming alcohol during pregnancy may expose your baby to the risk of 428 distinct diseases linked to Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), a new study has warned.

FASD is a broad term describing the range of disabilities that can occur in individuals as a result of alcohol exposure before birth. "The study underscores the fact that it is not safe to drink any amount or type of alcohol at any stage of pregnancy," said lead author Lana Popova, adding that the disease conditions affect nearly every system of the body, including the brain, vision, hearing, cardiac, circulation, digestion, and musculoskeletal and respiratory systems.

The severity and symptoms of FASD vary, based on how much and when alcohol was consumed, as well as other factors such as stress levels, nutrition and environmental influences.

Based on 33 studies representing 1,728 individuals with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), the most severe form of FASD, the researchers were able to conduct a series of meta-analyses to establish the frequency with which 183 disease conditions occurred.

More than 90% of those with FAS had co-occurring problems with conduct. About eight in 10 had communication disorders. Seven in 10 had developmental disorders, and more than half had problems with attention and hyperactivity.

"The issue is that the underlying cause of the problem, alcohol exposure before birth, may be overlooked by the clinician and not addressed. Newborns should be screened for prenatal alcohol exposure, especially among populations at high risk," he said.

19/11/2015

LED lights may help treat Alzheimer's disease: New study:
Researchers have used blue LED lights to effectively prevent the buildup of a protein known to cause Alzheimer's disease, an advance that may pave the way for light-induced treatments for neurodegenerative diseases.

Scientists from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology conducted a research to suppress an abnormal assembly of beta-amyloids, a protein commonly found in the brain, by using photo-excited porphyrins.

Beta-amyloid plaques are known to cause Alzheimer's disease. The finding suggests new ways to treat neurodegenerative illnesses including Alzheimer's disease. Light-induced treatments using organic photosensitisers have advantages to managing the treatment in time and area.

In the case of cancer treatments, doctors use photodynamic therapies where a patient is injected with an organic photosensitiser, and a light is shed on the patient's lesion. However, such therapies had never been employed to treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Alzheimer's starts when a protein called beta-amyloid is created and deposited in a patient's brain. The abnormally folded protein created this way harms the brain cells by inducing the degradation of brain functions, for example, dementia. If beta-amyloid creation can be suppressed at an early stage, the formation of amyloid deposits will stop. This could prevent Alzheimer's disease or halt its progress.

The research team effectively prevented the buildup of beta-amyloids by using blue LED lights and a porphyrin inducer, which is a biocompatible organic compound. By absorbing light energy, a photosensitiser such as porphyrin reaches the excitation state. Active oxygen is created as the porphyrin returns to its ground state.

The active oxygen oxidises a beta-amyloid monomer, and by combining with it, disturbs its assembly. The technique was tested on drosophilae or fruit flies, which were produced to model Alzheimer on invertebrates. The research showed that symptoms of Alzheimer's disease in the fruit flies such as damage on synapse and muscle, neuronal apoptosis, degradation in motility, and decreased longevity were alleviated.

Treatments with light provide additional benefits - less medication is needed than other drug treatments, and there are fewer side effects. When developed, photodynamic therapy will be used widely for this reason. "This work has significance as it was the first case to use light and photosensitisers to stop deposits of beta-amyloids," said Chan Beum Park of the Materials Science and Engineering Department at KAIST.

20/09/2015

29/08/2015

7 Easy Ways to Boost S***m Health:
Around half of all fertility problems in relationships are down to the male partner, and more specifically, their s***m health.

This article helps to advise men how to increase the quality and quantity of their s***m, but firstly, what is considered healthy and unhealthy?

“The term ‘healthy s***m’ indicates that the s***ms are abundant in number, with at least 15 million s***m cells present in one mililitre of semen sample (40 million/ejaculate), they have a normal shape and structure and they have their motility intact. If any one of these qualities in majority of your s***ms is missing, they are unhealthy.”

So having unhealthy s***m could mean you are infertile and your s*x drive could be lowered. To help, here are some key steps to boost your s***m quality and quantity courtesy of The Health Site.

Eat right - This has to be the first step if you want to keep your fertility intact. The effects of eating unhealthy junk food may not be evident right away but it’s going to affect your reproductive system in the long run. This could be one of the reasons why more and more number of men are now suffering from erectile dysfunction and infertility. A simple, healthy diet should be rich in protein; fruits, vegetables and fibre can do wonders to your reproductive health.

Exercise - Your s***m quality is bound to degrade with age. But if you keep yourself active when you’re young, you will not face too many problems in your s*x life later. Being too thin and too fat, both have been linked to significantly low levels of testosterone, loss of interest in s*x and poor erections. So, exercise well and lose some weight if needed. Remember, too much exercising can also affect your fertility. So, keep it moderate.

Reduce your alcohol intake - There is a lot of evidence suggesting that heavy alcohol consumption can cause infertility in men. According to a study, having more than one drink every day can lower the secretion of testosterone, the male reproductive hormone required for healthy s***m production, and increased s*x drive or libido. Another study showed that 5 units of alcohol can trigger changes in the levels of reproductive hormones and degrade s***m quality in young men. Alcohol can also change the structure of your s***ms and make them immotile.

Cut on to***co - Cigarette smoke contains carcinogens like cadmium, lead and benzo-a-pyrene. Smoking one pack of ci******es can significantly increase the level of cadmium in your semen, while lowering the zinc levels. Cadmium can damage the DNA of your s***ms, killing them, reducing them in number. If you and your partner are finding it hard to get pregnant, and you smoke, it is vital that you quit.

Ditch recreational drug use - It’s also no surprise that recreational drugs like ma*****na and co***ne have been linked to the inability to perform s*xually, also leading to infertility, and so should be cut out as well. Use can cause lowered seminal fluid production, lowered blood supply to the p***s, poor s***m quality and lowered s***m count.

Don’t stress - A healthy mind is the key to a healthy body. If you keep your mind occupied with tackling unnecessary stress, all the functions of your body will get affected, including your s*xual organs. A high level of stress hormones in the blood can lower s***m count, affect s***m production and also affect your s***m quality.

Minimise exposure to heat - Some studies have linked increased exposure to heat with lowered s***m count. So, if you’re planning to become a father, try to stay away from hot bathtubs, overly-hot showers and Jacuzzis for a while. Using them for a long time can obstruct your testicles and harm healthy s***ms. Also try not to wear clothing that is too tight around your ge****ls, such as skinny jeans.