FIGHTING COMMON COLD

The common cold is a viral infection that affects the upper airways including the nose, voice box, throat, windpipes and the lungs. 

There are more than two hundred viruses that can cause colds and are commonly known as rhinoviruses or the nose viruses.

These viruses cause inflammation or swelling of the mucous membrane lining the airways.

Early Symptons:

• Early signs of a cold are a sore, scratchy throat, sneezing, and a runny nose.
• Other symptoms are headache, watering eyes, chills, weakness, cough and congestion, fever and muscle ache. 
• The symptoms generally last for 2 to 7 days and in some cases may last for weeks.

Simple Ways to avoid cold:

• You should also get plenty of sleep or rest. If you are tired and fatigued, your body's resistance decreases, making you more susceptible to common cold.
• You should avoid drinking milk as it causes mucus to form and coat your throat making it very difficult for you to swallow and cough.
• You should eat spicy foods. Spicy hot foods will cause your body to expel mucus.
• When you eat these types of foods, your nose will start to run and you will begin to cough up mucus.Spicy foods work just like a natural decongestant but without side effects.
• Drinking plenty of liquids can help. Water, juice, clear broth or warm lemon water with honey helps loosen congestion and prevents dehydration.
• A saltwater gargle - 1/2 teaspoon salt in a glass of warm water - can temporarily relieve a sore or scratchy throat.
• Hot Soup is also a better way to rid off cold.
• Avoid alcohol, coffee and caffeinated sodas, which make dehydration worse.
• Dont take any pain relief pills(non-prescribed), wihich may make the situation worst after somedays.

Dogs ‘can tell if you’re getting bowel cancer’

Believe it or not, dogs can sniff out bowel cancer in breath and stool samples, with a very high degree of accuracy, even in the early stages of the disease, a new research has revealed.


According to researchers, the man’s best friend’s sense of smell is 1,000 times more sensitive than a human’s, and as a result it can apparently pick up chemical compounds specific to certain cancers.
In the research, published in the ‘Gut’ journal, a labrador detected traces of cancer with more than 90 per cent accuracy from samples provided by volunteers.

Mobile phone health hazard: call for changes in radiation norms

Taking a stringent view of the health hazards posed by radiation from mobile phones, towers and base stations, a high-level inter-ministerial committee (IMC) has called for revision of radiation norms according to Indian needs.

According to the report submitted by the IMC, radiation from mobile phones and towers could lead to symptoms like fatigue, sleep disturbance, dizziness and lack of concentration.

It said it could also lead to slowing down of reaction time, loss of memory, headache, disturbance in digestive system and heart palpitation.

Striking a mind-body balance

The erstwhile ‘rubber-band', as she was dubbed in school thanks to her flexibility, Payal Gidwani-Tiwari feels elated for having been able to use her passion to help others attain physical and emotional fitness.


With her book From XL to XS, published by Random House India, being released recently, Payal talks about her tryst with yoga and fitness, how it has become a way of life and how it can change your life as well.


Tell us about your journey so far.

The Other half: Dying of indifference

Every eight minutes a woman dies in our country due to pregnancy-related complications. Why aren't we able to devise an accessible healthcare system?

“She gave birth, died. Delhi walked by”. This was the headline of a six column news item on the top of an inside page in Hindustan Times (August 29, 2010). Illustrated with four telling photographs, the story was about a pregnant destitute woman, who lay on the footpath of Delhi's busy and well-frequented Shankar Market, which is adjacent to the iconic Connaught Place. Thousands of people must have passed her, but no one spared a glance at what appeared a bundle of rags covered in a red cloth.

On July 26, this woman gave birth, unaided by anyone. The cries of the newborn infant caught the attention of some of the shopkeepers and one of them, the owner of a garment shop, picked up the baby. The mother apparently refused help and died on that same spot where she had given birth, four days later. The police came and removed her body and took the child, who had been in the care of the Good Samaritan until then, to a foster home.

Red wine component pill successful during heart attacks

 Researchers seeking a more reliable alternative than aspirin for heart attacks may have found it in a red wine molecule called resveratrol.

University of Connecticut (U-C) researchers induced heart attacks in animals and found that resveratrol significantly reduces damage to heart muscle. Scarring and fibrosis were limited and the animals survived an otherwise mortal event.

Dipak Das, professor at the U-C Cardiovascular Research Centre, Farmington, says that resveratrol provokes a "pre-conditioning effect" whereby antioxidant defenses in the heart are switched on prior to a heart attack. This limits damage to heart muscle.

Mr. Das says that resveratrol's preconditioning effect is “the best yet devised method of cardioprotection.” The dosage of resveratrol is critical in producing the pre-conditioning effect.

Mr. Das found the human equivalent dosage of 175-350 milligrams reduced damage to the heart during a heart attack.

Since resveratrol also thins the blood and inhibits clots that form in coronary arteries in a similar fashion to aspirin, and exhibits other beneficial properties, such as anti-adhesion factors that inhibit plaque from sticking to artery walls, it may be superior to aspirin.

Breathe easy

With changes in climate and increase in pollution, many people routinely suffer from the common cold. A blocked nose is the most common symptom. When you have a cold, many chemicals are released, which act on the tiny blood vessels in the lining of the nose. This causes the lining to swell and makes breathing difficult. If this happens during sleep, it is far more distressing. If neglected, a blocked nose leads to chronic ailments.

The nose filters the air we breathe. When the nose is blocked, it cannot filter the air efficiently leading to entry of germs and other foreign particles. This further aggravates the cold and leads to infections. Since the nose, ear, throat and sinuses are interconnected, an infection in the nose can travel to these areas.

The feeling of stuffiness in the nose, during a cold, makes breathing difficult, and also leads to headaches, body pain and watery eyes. This makes it very difficult to concentrate on work. Moreover the constant headache makes you irritable and frustrated. A blocked nose also affects sleep patterns. With loss of sleep, a feeling of lethargy creeps in and it becomes almost impossible to keep pace with the daily routine.

Treatment options

Pediatricians advocate introduction of pentavalent vaccine

 Two top pediatricians have strongly advocated the introduction of pentavalent (five-in-one) vaccine into the national immunisation programme citing a consensus on the issue by the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP).

“The national consensus has been in active existence since last then years and there is an urgent need to wake up and immunise every infant with three doses of pentavalent vaccine,” Dr. Mrudala Phadke, former Vice Chancellor of Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) told PTI.

“We already have diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus in our national programme and addition of two more components - Hepatitis B and Heamophilus Influenzae (Hib) will automatically cover five diseases in the same injection,” Dr. Phadke along with Dr. Uday Bodhankar, former IAP President and now Secretary General of Common Wealth Association for Health & Disability, said.

Vaccinations against Hib have known to decrease early childhood meningitis and pneumonia significantly in developed and recently in developing countries.

Throwing light on the need to include these two diseases in the programme, Dr. Bodhankar said, “in terms of morbidity, a child who develops meningitis may remain as handicapped as a child of poliomyelitis in terms of paralysis, and may also suffer from mental and hearing 

impairment.”

Handling fussy eaters

Food for thought - Children have small stomachs, and their meals should be small and frequent

Children between the ages of 4-8 need 1300- 1700 kcal. in their daily diet. 

This includes 19 gm of protein, 800 mg of calcium, 10 mg of iron, and 5 mg of zinc. 

Environmental influences, including media and peers, and parental choices, influence the dietary behaviours of children and can have important consequences for long-term health. The following are a few pointers for parents.

Snack healthily

Children have small stomachs, and their meals should be small and frequent: 4-6 per day, rather than the usual three square meals per day. It is better to pack two small-portion lunch boxes rather than one large lunch box for the child. Snacks are an essential component of a child's diet. Milk, fruit juice and nuts are the most healthful snacks for a child.

Establish a healthy eating environment at home. No television during meals. This is important because the child needs to focus on inner cues of hunger and satiety while eating. It is easy to overeat when the mind is distracted by matters other than food.

Counter negative dietary influences with positive examples. It is useless to ask children to not be tempted by advertisements featuring fast foods and soft drinks. The better option is for parent to demonstrate good eating choices by example. Do not force-feed the child beyond his point of satiety. Parents tend to overestimate the child's capacity for food, and the stomach's natural elasticity aids them in this mistake. Do not encourage the child to “make a happy plate”. If the child indicates he is full, respect his wishes. Wait a couple of hours and try again when he is hungry.

Walnuts: good for the heart, prostate

 Walnut consumption slows the growth of prostate cancer in mice and has beneficial effects on multiple genes related to the control of tumour growth and metabolism, researchers have found.

Paul Davis, nutritionist and researcher with the UC Davis Cancer Centre in California, said the findings provide additional evidence that walnuts, although high in fat, are healthy.

“This study shows that when mice with prostate tumours consume an amount of walnuts that could easily be eaten by a man, tumour growth is controlled,” he said. “This leaves me very hopeful that it could be beneficial in patients.” he added.

Prostate cancer affects one in six American men. It is one in which environmental factors, especially diet, play an important role. Numerous clinical studies have demonstrated that eating walnuts - rich in omega-3 polyunsaturated fats, antioxidants and other plant chemicals - decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Davis fed a diet with whole walnuts to mice that had been genetically programmed to get prostate cancer. After 18 weeks, they found that consuming the human equivalent of 2.4 ounces of walnuts per day resulted in significantly smaller, slower-growing prostate tumours compared to mice consuming the same diet with an equal amount of fat, but not from walnuts.

‘An hour of physical activity enough for normal BMI women’

 Women with normal Body Mass Index need not do rigorous exercise to keep slim as a new study has claimed that an hour of moderate physical activity, like yoga and taking a stroll, daily is enough for maintaining their fitness.

In a 13-year-long study, a team of researchers led by scientists from the Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School found that by climbing stairs, taking a hike, taking a yoga class, or any other moderate physical activity thousands of healthy women maintain their weight without cutting calories.

“The only catch is that it only worked for women with a normal body mass index (BMI) who did these exercised for an hour daily,” the team was quoted as saying by the Scientific American.

During the study, they monitored 34,079 relatively healthy middle age and older women seven times to gather information on weight and physical activity levels and saw that for women under the age of 65 and with BMIs below 25, exercise made a big difference.

“Those in that group who got less than 420 minutes of moderate activity each week gained significantly more weight than those who were able to squeeze in more than 60 minutes a day,” said lead author I-Min Lee.

However, for women who started the study either overweight or obese and who maintained average eating habits, the amount of moderate activity did not seem to affect their statistical likelihood of losing weight.

Salt reduction in processed foods could save lives

A new study has found that reducing salt in processed foods could prevent strokes and heart attacks and also save billions of dollars in medical costs.

According to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System, the U.S. food service industry should make a voluntary effort to reduce salt.

In the study, the researchers developed a computerized model that simulates the effects of reduced sodium intake on a large population of people between the ages of 40 and 85. Based on a similar, salt-reduction campaign in the United Kingdom, the researchers estimated that a collaborative industry effort could lead to a 9.5 per cent decline in Americans’ salt intake.

Happy mornings

Here's a wake-up call: What you do in the hour after you get up can help you look and feel your best for the rest of the day. The right moves and foods will give you the focus, stamina, and positive outlook. Plus, you'll kick-start your metabolism, helping you torch extra calories and melt more fat. Our get-up-and-go routine outlines tips guaranteed to make your morning a true power hour.

Even early birds can find it difficult to slip out from under their warm, cosy covers on dark winter mornings. Here's how to make it easy. Because of hormonal shifts that occur while we're asleep, the majority of us wake up feeling a bit down. So, put a sticky note on your alarm clock reminding you of something exciting that's happening the next day, to give you a quick lift.

A toasty room temperature makes it easier to nod off, but you may wake up groggy. The ideal temperature is between 60 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

‘Biological clock’ key to longer life

A not-so-good night’s sleep could reduce your ability to handle oxidative stress, cause impacts to your health, speed aging and ultimately cut short your life.

In a study based on fruit fly, scientists from Oregon State University have outlined how a key gene that helps control circadian rhythms can improve the health of aging fruit flies if it is intact, but can result in significant health impacts, up to and including earlier death, if it is absent.

The research, published in the journal Aging, found that young fruit flies without this gene were able to handle some stress, but middle-aged and older flies were not.

“We’re beginning to identify some of the underlying mechanisms that may help explain why organisms age,” said Natraj Krishnan, a research associate in the OSU Department of Zoology. “This study suggests that young individuals may be able to handle certain stresses, but the same insults at an older age cause genetic damage and appear to lead to health problems and earlier death. And it’s linked to biological clocks.” Natraj added.

Kidney ravages

Kidney is a vital organ of the body with multiple roles. Apart from detoxifyingthe blood and making it fit to carry appropriate nutrition, it also helps make the red blood cells by producing a hormone called erythropoietin and balances various minerals in the body. Take for example calcium and phosphorus which helpthe bones to be in shape and sturdy.

The bone tissues are constantly being remodelled and rebuilt while they are fortified with calcium and phosphorus. The balance of these minerals is maintained by the kidney with the help of calcitriol that it produces. This enzyme takes the help of the Vitamin D which is gained from sunlight and helps in assimilation of the minerals into the bones. In chronic kidney diseases or End Stage Renal Failure, the functioning of the kidney declines and the minerals are not assimilated causing weakness and brittleness of bones. These changes become apparent only when it becomes irreversible and it makes it that much more imperative to balance these hormones in such patients at the earliest even as they are under treatment with medication and dialysis.

‘Moderate alcohol intake prevents weight gains’

Women are often advised to stop drinking to avoid extra calories but a new research suggests that women who regularly consume moderate amounts of alcohol are 30 per cent less likely to gain weight than those who do not drink.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston said the women who consumed two to three servings of beer or wine each day were less likely to gain extra pounds as they get older. The 13-year research found that women who did not drink at all gained the most weight.

The findings, reported this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, are based on a study of 19,220 U.S. women aged 39 and over who had normal body weight at the start of the study. Researchers tracked the women’s drinking habits over 13 years.

About 60 per cent of the women were light or regular drinkers, while about 40 per cent reported drinking no alcohol. Over the course of the study, 41 per cent of the women became overweight or obese. The risk of becoming overweight was almost 30 per cent lower for women who consumed one or two alcohol beverages a day, compared to others who did not drink at all.

The non-drinkers in the study actually gained more weight over time: nine pounds, on average, compared with an average gain of about three pounds among regular moderate drinkers.

The effects were found for beer, red wine, white wine and spirits, although the strongest association was found for red wine. It isn’t clear what accounts for the association, the authors said.

Protect your kidneys and control diabetes — this year's theme

You are reading this on World Kidney Day and the doctors are telling you to mind your blood sugar. Puzzling? Wait, diabetes and hypertension are two of the most common causes of renal disease in Indians.

No wonder then that the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations has taken on the diabetes monster, only a year after they took on hypertension (last year's theme). This year's theme is ‘Protect your Kidneys, Control Diabetes.'

In the online resources available on World Kidney Day (worldkidneyday.org) Paul Zimmet and Robert Atkins observe that in 2003, the ISN and the International Diabetes Federation launched a booklet called “Diabetes and Kidney Disease: Time to act” to highlight the global pandemic of type 2 diabetes and diabetic kidney disease. “Seven years later, the same message has become even more urgent,” the authors write.

“With the incidence of diabetes and hypertension on the rise, we are going to see the group of people with kidney disease swell,” says Sunil Shroff, founder, MOHAN Foundation. He also calls for lifestyle alterations, not only to stem the tide of the epidemic, but also to reverse it.

Zimmet and Atkins also state that primary prevention of Type 2 diabetes will require massive lifestyle changes in the developing and developed world supported by strong governmental commitment to promote lifestyle and societal change. 

Anti-swine flu drug FLUVIR available in India

Mumbai: FLUVIR, the first anti- swine flu drug, was on Tuesday launched in the retail markets across the country.

An Indian drug manufacturer, Hetero Healthcare Limited, announced the launch of FLUVIR, Oseltamivir drug similar to Tamiflu in the retail market.

The launch of the drug came at a time when the deadly virus has claimed 257 lives and affected 8,153 people in the country.

Before the government notification allowing retail sale of anti-viral drug Oseltamivir, the Centre procured 19 million FLUVIR capsules from Hetero to check the recent outbreak of deadly H1N1 flu in India, Marketing Director, Hetero Srinivas Reddy claimed.

FLUVIR, which was available only through government hospitals, will now be available in around 480 designated medical shops having Schedule X licence across the country, he said.

Andhra panchayat bans HIV centre

Sunday August 30, 2009, Nalgonda

Community prejudice against HIV/AIDS patients came to the fore in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh where a gram panchayat passed a resolution asking a community care centre for people living with HIV/AIDS to be shifted out of their village.
"We will get those diseases. We don't want this here. Never ever," said a local. The 10-bedded centre funded by NACO and run by a corporate hospital was moved here in June.
The authorities say though the resolution is passed by a democratic body, it has no legal validity and must be annulled, but the bigger challenge is to address the apprehensions of the locals.
"Let them locate the centre one kilometre away from the village or shift it back into the main hospital premises. Why did they shift it here in the middle of the village,'' said village sarpanch Mangamma.
"Locals are not against HIV positive people but want to safeguard the health of those in the village," said Sadiq, who lives close to the centre.
Some villagers have told NDTV that medical waste was not being disposed off properly and they fear that mosquitoes could transmit the disease.
However, others say they are aware how HIV spreads but are worried about opportunistic infections like tuberculosis in the patients moving around in the village.
"Not just needles, all biological products and disposables, as per universal precautions, we are disposing. If they feel centre is not in their welfare, centre may be forced to closed down,'' said Dr Colonel C G Wilson, principal of Kamineni Institute of Medical sciences.
The authorities say the resolution is not legal or binding. But convincing the villagers is not going to be easy.