Health News-8: "Insulin in Spray Form"

The Chief Executive Officer of the Generex Biotechnology Corporation of U.S., Anna Gluskin, launched the world’s first Recombinant DNA human insulin buccal spray nationally in Kolkatta on Monday (November 17, 2008).

Courtesy: The Hindu, Madurai, November 18, 2008 (“Snapshots”)

Wikipedia articles on “RECOMBINANT DNA” and “INSULIN”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombinant_DNA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin

Grateful thanks to The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Facts & Figures-49: "World Heart Day 2008"

Statistics released on the occasion of the World Heart Day 2008 (September 28th) are frightening. One should take it as a warning signal and take due care of oneself.

* 1.5 billion people or nearly one in three adults over the age of 25, will have high blood pressure, one of the biggest single risk factors for Carrdio Vascular Disease(CVD), the world’s number one killer.

* High blood pressure and CVD are increasing in prevalence, including among the young, and need immediate action and attention.

* World Heart Day, a major heart health awareness campaign now in its ninth year, is run by the World Heart Federation’s member organizations in over 100 countries.

* World Heart Day activities include health checks, organised walks, runs and fitness sessions, public talks, stage shows, scientific forums, exhibitions, concerts, carnivals and sports tournaments.

* Cardio vascular diseases have been projected to cause 4.6 million deaths annually in India by the year 2020.

* High blood pressure (Hypertension: >140/90 mmHg) is directly responsible for 57% of all stroke deaths and 24% of all coronary disease deaths in India at an underestimate, there are 31.5 million hypertensives in rural and 34 million in urban populations.

* In the treatment of heart disease alone, non-compliance with drug regimens and inability to change lifestyle is believed to cause as many as 1,25,000 avoidable deaths.

Excerpts from “Know Your Risk of CVD” by Dr.R.Sivakumar, Senior Consultant, Interventional Cardiologist, Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre, Madurai in The Hindu, Madurai of September 28, 2008.

Wikipedia article on “CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiovascular_disease

Grateful thanks to Dr.Sivakumar,The Hindu and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

How To-82: "How to Cure a Cold Without Medicine"

How to Cure a Cold Without Medicine
from wikiHow – The How to Manual That You Can Edit

One of the most helpful cold remedies is Vitamin C!

Steps

1. Take vitamin C tablets or eat citrus fruit regularly
2. Get extra vitamin C when cold symptoms appear
3. Remember to get plenty of natural vitamins in addition to any pills taken
4. Although not proven, try eating chicken noodle soup lessening the affects of a cold
5. You can also gargle some salt water to reduce mucous from the throat.
6. Another remedy is by taking a warm bath, the steam from the bath will thin out the mucous and temporarily stop coughing.
7. Drinking fluids will help relieve a cold sooner, so be sure to stay hydrated.
8. Honey disolved in tea will help to soothe a sore throat
9. Take the day off: sleep is the fastest way to get over a cold
10. Breathe in steam to get rid of a plugged nose
11. Take Umcka to shorten the duration of the cold. Google it if you don’t know what it is.

Tips

• Drinking a cup of orange juice every morning is an easy way to get Vitamin C!
• Eating healthy and excersising can decrease your risk of getting sick.
• try putting something hot over your head and have tea in steamy water.
• Make sure to get a good amount of sleep because that will help your body to fight off the infection.

Warnings

• Be sure not to overdose on Vitamin C!
• Medicine can sometimes be needed, so be sure to see a doctor if symptoms persist or if you feel really sick.
• dont eat junk food when sick it will make it wose

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Cure a Cold Without Medicine. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Health Tips-27: "Mosquito Menace"

A friend of mine likened mosquito to God, because it is also omnipresent and All-Powerful like God. Joking apart, mosquito is a real menace.

Spoiling your sleep, making you scratch the bitten spot, infecting you with serious diseases like malaria, dengue,chikungunya and brain fever.

We try everything that we can think of to get rid of the menace: mosquito coils, mosquito nets, sprays containing mosquito repellents etc. In the process, we have started poisoning ourselves with toxic chemicals like allethrin, which is commonly used in mosquito coils. We even close all windows, doors and every other hole through which it can come. We block all paths of ventilation and are ready to suffocate ourselves to death rather than be bitten by mosquitos. Still all our efforts fail and we despair not knowing what to do.

On occasions, I have taken ‘Ledum Palustre’, a homeopathy medicine in low and medium potencies for mosquito bites with definite relief.

My nephew, Aravind, never fails to light a stick of “dasangam” to stop mosquitoes from entering the house. To some extent, it stops them; an added benefit of this is the pleasant smell that emanates from the fumes. I have read somewhere “dasangam” and “agar bathis” (generally incense sticks) have a positive effect on the mind.

Mosquito repellents is big business now. In every home you find people using some sort of mosquito repellent or the other. As everybody knows, mosquitoes thrive and multiply where water stagnates, whether it is rain water or water from the gutters. Our civic bodies whose top most priority should be sanitation do not have time or money to maintain it. They spend public money to put up hoardings everywhere of their leaders or of themselves, which are no use to the general public and a clear misuse of public funds.

I have come across these interesting, useful and very practical articles in “THE WHY FILES” entitled, “Mosquito Bytes”, “Protecting yourself from the flying nightmare”, “Trivial facts about a non-trivial insect” and “Why do mosquitoes bite me more than my friends?”. I feel it would be of interest to everybody. I am giving below their links, in case you want to read these articles:
http://whyfiles.org/016skeeter/index.html
http://whyfiles.org/016skeeter/7.html
http://whyfiles.org/016skeeter/8.html
http://whyfiles.org/071questions/7.html

For a detailed article on “MOSQUITO” from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosquito

If you have any additional material, you are most welcome to share them with me and other readers of this blog. Thank you.

Grateful thanks to Terry Devitt, S.V.Medaris, David Tenenbaum and Amy Toburen of The Why Files and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

 

 

Health Facts-7: "Salt in Your Diet"

Your food tastes horrible without salt. It is an important part of your diet. Salt is a mixture of sodium chloride.

The truth is our bodies need sodium to help us regulate blood pressure and blood volume. 

Sodium also assists in keeping our muscles and nerves in top shape.

But as in all things, moderation is the ultimate key.

Salt is linked with high blood pressure, heart disease, heart attacks as too much sodium thickens the blood.

The link to obesity is a result of sodium’s ability to retain water which weighs heavy. Water retention may be mistakenly thought of as fat, as it will accumulate in the ankles and mid section.

Health literature can be confusing with its talk of grams and milligrams. Medical practitioners agree that no more than one and quarter teaspoons of salt per day should be used, about 2400 milligrams.

While it is good to use spices instead of adding table salt to your food, check the spice labels as sodium appears naturally too in small amounts in various spices. Read container labels and look for words such a ‘soda’ and ‘sodium’. These are all indicators of salt’s presence and it is best to keep the salt low.

Courtesy: Chennai Times, Supplement to The Times of India, Chennai, Sep.15, 2008.

Wikipedia article on “SALT”:

Grateful thanks to The Times of India and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt