Sports N Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that world has become more vulnerable to outbreaks of disease caused by contaminated food because of growing global trade.

Top WHO officials said investigating these outbreaks has also become more difficult because food could contain ingredients from around the world and is transported through a complex global supply chain.

From news.yahoo.com:

One challenge faced by governments worldwide is how to “reduce the health and economic consequences of food-borne diseases”, Chan said.

She cited an outbreak this year of a new killer E.coli strain, which infected almost 4,000 people and left 51 dead across Europe and caused massive losses to vegetable farmers.

European farm products such as tomatoes, lettuces, courgettes and sweet peppers were withdrawn from the market between late May and the end of June as a result of the disease, while Russia briefly banned EU vegetable imports.

“Outbreaks of food-borne disease have become an especially large menace in a world bound together by huge volumes of international trade and travel,” said WHO director-general Margaret Chan at a conference in Singapore on improving preparedness against global health threats.

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An enzyme, SGK1, which acts as a fertility switch could trip conception in women or cause a miscarriage depending on its high or low levels.

The findings may potentially open the way to newer treatments for these conditions and lead to better contraceptives.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

One in 100 women trying to conceive experience recurrent miscarriages, defined as the loss of three or more consecutive pregnancies.

Researchers from Imperial College London looked at tissue samples from the womb lining, donated by 106 women being treated for unexplained infertility or for recurrent miscarriages, the journal Nature Medicine reports.

The women with unexplained infertility had been trying to conceive for two years or more and the most common reasons for infertility had been ruled out, according to an Imperial College statement.

‘I can envisage that in the future, we might treat the womb lining by flushing it with drugs that block SGK1 before women undergo IVF,’ said Jan Brosens, professor who led the study at the Imperial College Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology.

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According to a US study, an herbal supplement (palmetto) that is widely sold in the United States and Europe to relieve urinary symptoms in men with an enlarged prostate has no benefit over a placebo.

“Astonishingly enough, there was not any measurable effect — either in benefits or in toxicity — with increasing doses of the supplement in comparison to placebo,” said co-author Claus Roehrborn, chairman of urology at University of Texas Southwestern.

From news.yahoo.com:

“These supplements are apparently not doing anything measurably above and beyond what we call the placebo effect,” said Roehrborn of the research in the latest edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Led by Michael Barry of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, researchers followed 379 men age 45 and older whose symptoms included difficulty emptying their bladders, weak and/or frequent urination.

As part of the randomized trial, some received saw palmetto extract — which comes from the berries of the saw palmetto dwarf plant tree — and others were given a sugar pill that smelled and tasted the same.

“None of them showed any effect whatsoever in contrast to placebo,” Dr. Roehrborn said. “These supplements cost about $30 or more a month, and they obviously don’t help.”

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According to a new study of more than 300 astronauts in the U.S. space program, prolonged amounts of time in orbit can take a significant toll on vision although effects in the long-term are not clear.

“People have been flying in space for 50 years and nobody has gone blind yet,” said Dr. Tom Mader, an ophthalmologist at the Alaska Native Medical Center, in Anchorage, who led the study.

From Reuters.com:

The new study, of more than 300 astronauts in the U.S. space program, found that almost 50 percent of those who served on long missions — six months or more — reported experiencing new problems with their ability to see objects near to them while in space and for some time after returning to Earth. Roughly 23 percent of astronauts who spent shorter periods in orbit reported problems with their near vision during their missions and after getting home.

The NASA-funded researchers also did physical exams on seven male astronauts who complained of vision problems after returning from six-month tours in space. They found several signs of eye stress in all of them, including a buildup of fluid around the optic nerve, the development of folds in the bed of vessels that supply blood to the retina, flattening of the eyeball and more.

“But it’s still something to be concerned about,” Mader told Reuters Health.

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Lord Crisp, who was the NHS chief executive and permanent secretary of the Department of Health between 2000 and 2006, has remarked that more hospitals need to be closed to enable the health system to succeed in the future.

Crisp said building programs had gone too far, leading to overcapacity.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

In an interview with the BBC Lord Crisp said: ‘In the late 1990s, waiting lists, A&E and standards in cardiac care were the big issues and we dealt with them.

‘But the challenge now is dealing with the numbers of older people and those with long-term conditions.

‘They need supporting in the community.

‘That means a shift away from hospitals. There will be less need for large hospital outpatient departments and some services and whole hospitals will need to close or be merged with others.’

He added that the scale of hospital building had been excessive, with more than 100 new hospitals or rebuilds taking place.

Crisp urged for an overhaul of hospitals to free up funds for community services to deal with the ageing population.

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Two Japanese firms are entering India in an attempt to tap the $1-billion nutraceutical market in India products that combine the benefits of nutrition with pharmaceuticals.

Kaneka Corporation and Hydride Ion Corporation have entered into a pact with Generix Lifesciences, an Indian pharmaceuticals firm, to sell such food supplement pills and other such feel good products in the country.

From in.finance.yahoo.com:

‘One capsule a day will enhance the overall quality of life,said Ramesh Rajan, director of Genlife. Nutraceuticals make people feel good and live healthy and longer, without any side effects,’ Rajan told IANS.

Delhi-based Generix Lifesciences has formed a unit called Genlife to market these nutraceutical and food supplement products and promote their use with the help of their Japanese partners.

Initially the company will focus on popularising the use of food supplement pills in Delhi and the National Capital Region and then would gradually move to other major cities across the country.

‘In the medium term, our plan is to import just the ingredients and manufacture the products in India. It will reduce the cost significantly,’ said Sandeep Jha, director at Genlife, adding the products would be repackage at their factory in Roorkee.

The nutraceutical supplement market in India is currently estimated at around $1 billion, including the unorganized sector, Rajan said.

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A new method that involves no anesthetic, no cutting, and just a simple 20-minute process to insert two tiny spring-like implants has come up as an excellent option for women considering sterilization.

The best thing is that the failure rate is one in 1,000, the same as for the male equivalent of tubal ligation, the vasectomy.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

Consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist Martin Farrugia, at the Cadogan Clinic, Sloane Street, London, explains: ‘We use a hysteroscope, basically a thin telescope that is inserted into the neck of the womb, which allows us to see exactly what’s happening.

Once the location of each tube is satisfactorily identified, the surgeon presses a button on the hysteroscope which releases the spring. This then lodges permanently in each tube at a depth of about two centimetres. The implant contains polyethylene plastic fibres which cause a reaction, known as fibrosis, that gradually blocks the tubes with scar tissue over a period of two to three months.’

Mr Farrugia is a keen advocate of this method of permanent contraception and was involved in its European trials in 2000.

The only downfall is that the Essure process is irreversible unlike tubal ligation.

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High doses of niacin, also known as vitamin B3, could be useful in improving the performance of men suffering from severe impotence.

Niacin is a vitamin found in breakfast cereals such as porridge and Weetabix.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

Like statins, the anti-cholesterol drugs prescribed to millions of people in the UK, niacin can help to reduce levels of harmful fats that clog up the body’s main arteries.

It’s thought taking it every day helps to reduce cholesterol deposits in the main arteries in the pelvis, allowing more blood to reach the genitals.

It may also work by helping blood vessels to dilate, which improves blood flow.

But the quantities involved, up to 1,500mg a day, cannot be consumed by simply eating an extra bowl of cereal or other niacin-rich foods, such as meat, fish, eggs or milk.

In fact, one person would need to scoff around 580 Weetabix biscuits to get the equivalent amount eaten by each of the 161 men who took part in the study.

The study was carried out by researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

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Scientists have suggested that chewing your food for longer could help you lose weight.

A study disclosed that munching on each mouthful for longer significantly minimize the amount of calories consumed during a meal.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

Volunteers who chewed each mouthful 40 times ate 12 per cent less food than those who chewed just 15 times.

It is thought chewing for longer prevents over-eating by giving the brain more time to receive signals from the stomach that it is full.

It also appears to lower levels of ghrelin, the ‘hunger hormone’, circulating in the digestive system.

In a report on their findings, which were published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the researchers remarked that eating more slowly may be a simple and effective way of tackling weight problems.

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A new and large study has appeared to quell fears that taking statins might raise the risk of cancer.

There was no significant difference in cancer risk among those who took statins and those who didn’t, according to researchers who reported this finding after evaluating approximately 91,000 adults whose full medical records were available via an electronic database.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

After an average of five years of follow-up among nearly 46,000 pairs of people who either used the cholesterol-lowering drugs or did not use them, 11.37 percent of participants taking a statin developed cancer, compared to 11.11 percent of those individuals not taking a statin, according to the study in the July 15 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

A common survival curve plotted for any cancer diagnosis up to 10 years also showed no difference between the two groups, the researchers reported.

The study authors noted that due to the way the matching pairs were selected, their conclusions “may not be generalizable to the overall population of U.S. adults taking statins” and recommended further analyses.

Experts not involved in the study, however, supported the findings.

Dr. David C Goff, department chair of epidemiology & prevention in the division of public health sciences at Wake Forest University Health Sciences Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. said, “This is another very strong piece of evidence that there is no concern about cancer risk with statins.”

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According to a recently concluded study, middle-aged smokers who take Pfizer’s Chantix or Champix, one of the most popular quit smoking drugs, face an increased risk of suffering heart attacks or other serious heart problems.

British and American scientists analyzed 14 clinical trials of Champix and found the likelihood of developing serious heart complications resulting in hospitalization, disability, or death was 72 percent higher in patients taking the drug when compared with those taking a placebo.

From Reuters.com:

“People should be concerned. They do not need Chantix to quit and this is another reason to consider avoiding Chantix altogether,” he said in a statement. “People want to quit smoking to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, but in this case they are taking a drug that increases the risk for the very problems they are trying to avoid.”

Pfizer, the world’s largest drugmaker, said in a statement it disagreed with Singh’s interpretation of the data. “The analysis contains several limitations — most notably that it is based on a small number of events, which raises concerns about the reliability of the authors’ conclusions.”

Investors had high hopes for Chantix when Pfizer launched it in 2006. But reports of suicidal thoughts and other mental health problems in users led U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officials to order a so-called “black box” warning on the drug’s label in 2009.

“Our new research shifts the risk-benefit profile of varenicline,” said Sonal Singh of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, who led the research and published it in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

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When the buzzwords are health and fitness improvement, there can surely not be anything better than inspiration coming in the form of motivating words.

Health is not simply the absence of sickness. – Hannah Green

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses. – Hippocrates (460 BC – 377 BC), Regimen in Health

Health is not valued till sickness comes. – Dr. Thomas Fuller (1654 – 1734), Gnomologia, 1732

Be not slow to visit the sick. – Ecclesiastes

I have never cared much for fish – it floats in the belly as much as in the pond.  – Erica Eisdorfer, The Wet Nurse’s Tale, 2009

Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady. – Francois de La Rochefoucauld (1613 – 1680)

It is amazing how much crisper the general experience of life becomes when your body is given a chance to develop a little strength. – Frank Duff, A Coder in Courierland, 03-20-05

What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease. – George Dennison Prentice

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can’t buy. – Izaak Walton (1593 – 1683)

Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average. Which means you’ve met your New Year’s resolution. – Jay Leno (1950 – )

You can either hold yourself up to the unrealistic standards of others, or ignore them and concentrate on being happy with yourself as you are. – Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content webcomic, #352, 05-04-05

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.  – Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)

When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It’s also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be. -  Molly Wizenberg, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, 2009

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In spite of the low proportion of women who breastfeed their babies in the UK for any length of time, the British government has stepped back from a campaign launched 18 years ago for encouraging new mothers to start and continue breastfeeding.

The Department of Health is no longer sending central funds for National Breastfeeding Awareness Week.

From Guardian.co.uk:

The Department of Health, which has cut back on all forms of social marketing, is said to be reviewing the situation. But also worrying campaigners is the disappearance of a network of regional infant feeding co-ordinators who were based in the strategic health authorities which are now being abolished.

Yet organisations involved with new mothers, such as the royal colleges of midwives and nurses as well as the NCT, say the battle to increase breastfeeding rates is far from won. New figures, to be published next week, are likely to show an increase in the number of women who start to breastfeed their baby, but are not expected to show a big shift in the numbers who continue to do so even close to the six months recommended by the World Health Organisation and endorsed by the UK government.

There will be no central co-ordination or national campaign, which the Royal College of Midwives said was “very disappointing” although vents will take place around the country, organized by local hospitals or groups such as the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).

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There is nothing better and more inspiring than motivational quotations when it comes to staying ahead of the rest.

Look to your health; and if you have it, praise God and value it next to conscience; for health is the second blessing that we mortals are capable of, a blessing money can’t buy. – Izaak Walton (1593 – 1683)

Getting my lifelong weight struggle under control has come from a process of treating myself as well as I treat others in every way. – Oprah Winfrey (1954 – ), O Magazine, August 2004

A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world. – Paul Dudley White

Pain (any pain–emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: “We would be more alive if we did more of this,” and, “Life would be more lovely if we did less of that.” Once we get the pain’s message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away. – Peter McWilliams, Life 101

The more severe the pain or illness, the more severe will be the necessary changes. These may involve breaking bad habits, or acquiring some new and better ones. – Peter McWilliams, Life 101

Health consists of having the same diseases as one’s neighbors. – Quentin Crisp

It is amazing how much crisper the general experience of life becomes when your body is given a chance to develop a little strength. - Frank Duff, A Coder in Courierland, 03-20-05

What some call health, if purchased by perpetual anxiety about diet, isn’t much better than tedious disease. – George Dennison Prentice

Health is not simply the absence of sickness. – Hannah Green

A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings, and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses. – Hippocrates (460 BC – 377 BC), Regimen in Health

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