Turmeric lowers post operative risk of a heart attack |  |
- Turmeric lowers post operative risk of a heart attack
- MU receives national award for using mind-body approach to improve health
- Can social media detect the changes in public mood?
- Here come smart insulin pumps for diabetic kids
- 'Fast-track mode work for 264 backward districts'
| Turmeric lowers post operative risk of a heart attack Posted: 17 Apr 2012 04:40 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Turmeric may help lower heart attack risk in people post bypass surgery, thanks to curcumin, the yellow pigment present in the spice which has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Bypass surgery improves blood supply to the heart muscle. However, during the surgery that is usually performed with the heart stopped, the organ can be damaged by prolonged lack of blood flow, increasing the patient's risk of heart attack. The new findings suggest that curcumins may reduce such risks when added to traditional drug treatments. The results need to be confirmed through further research, said Wanwarang Wongcharoen from Chiang Mai University in Thailand, who led the study, the American Journal of Cardiology reported. Researchers at the Thai university studied 121 patients who had non-emergency bypass surgery between 2009 and 2011. Half the patients were given one-gram curcumin capsules to take four times a day, starting three days before their surgery and continuing for five days afterwards. The other half took the same number of drug-free placebo capsules. The researchers found that during their post-bypass hospital stays, 13 percent of the patients who'd been taking curcumins had a heart attack, compared to 30 percent in the placebo group. After accounting for any initial pre-surgery differences, Wongcharoen and his colleagues calculated that people on curcumins had a 65 percent lower chance of heart attack. It's very, very encouraging, said Bharat Aggarwal of the study. Aggarwal works with the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, which studies the use of curcumins in cancer therapy, according to the Daily Mail. According to researchers, it is likely that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin may have helped limit heart damage in the patients. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| MU receives national award for using mind-body approach to improve health Posted: 16 Apr 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) The belief that the mind plays an integral role in physical health dates back to the earliest days of medicine. The Greek physician Hippocrates, often referred to as the founder of medicine, wrote natural forces within us are the true healers of disease. A University of Missouri team has tapped into the science and practice of this mind-body interaction to develop an innovative and award-winning program. Called Taking Care of You: Body-Mind-Spirit, the program was recognized with the 15th annual Jeanne M. Priester Award. The award honors extension groups that develop and expand programs that positively impact health. MU won the award in the county/multi-county category against 28 other nominations from across the nation. Developed at MU, the program teaches approaches to deal with stress and experience healthier ways to eat. People struggle with developing healthy lifestyle behaviors, and stress plays a major role in that, said Molly Vetter-Smith, assistant professor and state specialist for health education with MU's School of Medicine and MU Extension. This program examines health decisions and offers practical research-based strategies to manage stress and explore mind-body interactions, including mindfulness and other strategies from the field of positive psychology. It teaches activities to help participants better manage their stress, which our research shows results in improved health behaviors. One of the activities involves mindful eating. The practice emphasizes the enjoyment of the eating experience by focusing on aromas, taste and texture of food. If participants slow down and savor all aspects of the eating experience, said Vetter-Smith, they realize they're much more satisfied with smaller portions of food. Research shows that normally when you eat a meal, you really pay attention to the taste of your food for the first two bites and the last bite, Vetter-Smith said. For all those bites in between, we're not... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Can social media detect the changes in public mood? Posted: 16 Apr 2012 05:00 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New research has analysed the mood of Twitter users in the UK and detected various changes in the mood of the public. In particular, the researchers observed a significant increase in negative mood, anger and fear, coinciding with the announcement of spending cuts and last summer's riots together with a possibly calming effect during the royal wedding. The study by academics at the University of Bristol's Intelligent Systems Laboratory is presented at the International Workshop on Social Media Applications in News and Entertainment (SMANE 2012) held in Lyon, France. In this study the researchers focused on measuring the mood, and changes, using standard tools for mood detection, of a large sample of the UK population. A collection of 484 million tweets generated by more than 9.8 million users from the UK were analysed between July 2009 and January 2012, a period marked by economic downturn and some social tensions. The findings present intriguing patterns that can be explained when events and social changes are taken into account. The researchers found that a significant increase in negative mood indicators coincided with the announcement of the cuts to public spending by the government, and that this effect is still lasting. They also detected events such as the riots of summer 2011, as well as a possible calming effect in the run up to the royal wedding. Intriguingly, a rise in public anger seems to have already been under way in the days before the riots. Nello Cristianini, Professor of Artificial Intelligence, speaking about the research, said: Social media allows for the easy gathering of large amounts of data generated by the public while communicating with each other. While we leave the interpretation of our findings to social and political scientists, we observed how the period preceding the royal wedding seems to be marked by a lowered incidence of anger and fear, which starts rising soon after that. Of course,... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| Here come smart insulin pumps for diabetic kids Posted: 12 Apr 2012 09:39 AM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) New Delhi, April 12 - As many as a million children suffer from Type I diabetes in India and painful for them are those insulin jabs. But smart insulin pumps are now changing things for these kids. Type 1 diabetes - is the most common form of diabetes among children. According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation -, in India, there are about 10 lakh children with Type I diabetes, Neeru Gera, consultant endocrinologist, Max Hospital, Saket here, told IANS. The first and foremost advantage of insulin pump therapy is that it could help children get relief from the daily pain of insulin shots, Gera added. Diabetes is of different types. For instance, Type 2 is found in people who are above 40, while gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy. Usually diabetic patients have to take insulin injections before a meal. But an insulin pump brings more flexibility. Costing between Rs.99,000 and Rs.350,000, the insulin pump comes in the shape of a mechanical device, a little larger than a pager, which can be attached to a belt or a pocket. It delivers fast-acting insulin into the body via an infusion set - a thin plastic tube ending in a small, flexible plastic cannula - or a very thin needle. One has to insert the cannula beneath the skin at the infusion site, usually in the abdomen or upper buttocks and insulin is delivered through this infusion set. A patient can keep the infusion set in the same place for two to three days -. It can then be moved to a new location. With insulin pump therapy, the concept of multiple daily injections hardly exists. The patient only needs to change his or her infusion set a maximum of 12 times per month, Shalini Jaggi, consultant diabetologist, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute here, told IANS. When it comes to Type 1 diabetes, children in the age group of 10-14 years are at a higher risk of developing it. Those aged between five and nine years have middle risk and kids of 0-4 years have... http://www.rxpgnews.com |
| 'Fast-track mode work for 264 backward districts' Posted: 11 Apr 2012 08:36 PM PDT ( From http://www.rxpgnews.com ) Jaipur, April 11 - Work on districts lagging on various health parameters across the country will be fast tracked in the year ahead, Minister of State Health and Family Welfare Sudeep Bandopadhyay said here Wednesday. The health ministry has identified 264 backward districts across the country which are lagging behind on health parameters. This includes parameters like maternal mortality rate, infant mortality rate, disease burden and effectiveness of policies, Bandopadhyay said at a consultation celebrating National Safe Motherhood Day. Emphasis is being given on community involvement under the national rural health mission - for local health needs that affect these parameters, the minister added. The two-day consultation, organised by ministry of health, government of Rajasthan, White Ribbon Alliance and USAID -, saw participation from health workers and officials from all across the country. While the districts cover states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh among others, the ministry has also added an additional workforce of 13,000 health managers at the district level. The medical workers will work in assistance with ASHA - and ANM - workers who are the pulse of the NRHM, said ministry officials. We have added around 13,000 health managers at the local level under NRHM. There has also been an addition to the workforce of specialised doctors, medical officers and Ayush - doctors, said Anuradha Gupta, mission director for NRHM, ministry of health. Improvement has been there, but we are yet to translate this addition to better statistics. The year ahead for NRHM is very crucial as the centre and states will have to work together on policies, Gupta added. The ministry and Rajasthan government also flagged off 'Hamari Beti Express' to reach out to rural and urban population over the year and disseminate messages on girl child and sex determination. http://www.rxpgnews.com |
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