Boy survives after having nail scissors lodged in his heart

Children have long been warned of running with scissors, but for one boy, the worst-case scenario took a lucky turn, thanks to a neighbor who is an emergency paramedic, reported Central European News (CEN).

Sasha Ulyanov, 3, was playing at home with his three sisters when he ran into a wall carrying a pair of nail scissors and stabbed himself in the heart. The children’s mother was out taking lunch to their father, who was working in the field.

“Sasha is our youngest child. He was running with the scissors through the kitchen door and misjudged it, and ran into the door frame with the scissors in his hand. He fell to the floor screaming, and our oldest daughter, Diana, who is 15, picked him up and rushed him next door to our neighbor,” the children’s mother, Natalia Baltsyukevich, 35, told CEN.

That neighbor, Liubov Mikhalchik, is an emergency paramedic in their village of Pashkovich in Eastern Belarus Voranava District. “I realized straightaway that it was a serious injury.” Mikhalchik said. “You could see the scissors vibrating to the beating of his heart,”

Mikhalchik first ensured the scissors were not disturbed before arranging for Sasha to be transported to the local hospital. Surgeon Dr. Viktor Kovalchuk, head of the department of pediatric surgery at the Medical University of Grodno, and his team removed the scissors from the muscular wall of the right ventricle of the heart, then removed the blood that pooled in the pericardial.

“I can’t ever remember having someone come in with such a serious heart wound and still surviving,” Kovalchuk told CEN. “ The scissors had wedged in the wall of the heart, and we needed to operate immediately. The boy’s heart was already showing signs of failing.”

The surgery was successful, and Sasha spent two days in the specialist ward before being transferred to the Grodno Regional Hospital, where he was kept in the ICU for seven days. Sixteen days after his injury, he was allowed to return home.

“I can’t thank the doctor and all those involved in setting my son’s life enough,” his mother said. “It is fantastic that he is already back home after just two weeks in hospital.”

Source: fox news


4 reasons why eating pickles in excess is bad for your health

Pickles are an integral part of Indian cuisine and no meal is complete without them but too much of this can be extremely harmful for your health.

How do pickles harm your health?

1. High salt content: We all know that one should not consume large quantities of salt as it increases risk of hypertension and heart disease. It is also the main reason for swelling and water retention which causes the volume of blood to increase thereby causing high blood pressure.  As per WHO, the recommended dietary intake of salt is 5 g or one teaspoon, which is far less than the salt content in one teaspoon of pickle. Homemade pickles are better in quality as the table salt is used in their preservation whereas, commercially prepared pickles are preserved using various chemicals such as sodium benzoate which are very harmful. Sodium benzoate is a potential carcinogen because it deprives cells of oxygen and breaks down the immune system causing cancer.

2. Too much oil: When pickles are made, vegetables are soaked in oil as oil acts as a barrier from moisture thus preserving them. Oil also prevents the contamination of pickles by bacteria and fungus which in generally cause the decaying or rotting of food. But remember that the same oil also increases your cholesterol levels, which means you suffer the risk of contracting heart disease or worsening it. High cholesterol levels also damage the liver in the long run.

3. Pickles are known to increase the risk of gastric cancer1 : A study conducted in southern India, among people with same dietary patterns and socio economic background, has shown that the consumption of pickled vegetables increases the risk of developing gastric cancer.

4. Pickled vegetables may increase the risk of oesophageal cancer: Studies have shown that consumption of pickles doubles the chances of developing oesophageal cancer.2 Although the study did not give conclusive results but the risk factors cannot be neglected.If pickles have so many harmful effects on your body, why does the Indian tradition recommend pickle in small quantities. The reason is it is also a store of good bacteria which helps in the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract.

Source: the health site


Health benefits of Jackfruit

Jackfruit, one of the tropical fruits available is both delicious to eat and even has a sweet taste. It is also rich in energy, dietary fiber, minerals, vitamins making it one of the most healthy summer treats to relish.

Jackfruit has many health benefits. Here are some:

Immunity: The fruit contains an excellent source of Vitamin C antioxidants which helps in building immune system in order to protect against common diseases such as cough, cold and flu.

Energy: It contains a good amount of carbohydrate, calorie and simple sugar like fructose and sucrose, providing a quick boost of energy. Also, it has no cholesterol content which makes jackfruit a healthier food option.

Maintains Blood Pressure: The good amount of potassium contained in the fruit helps to lower high blood pressure and also reduces the risk of stroke and heart attacks.

Improves Digestion: Jackfruit is good for digestion and prevents constipation because of the good amount of dietary fiber in it, making it bulk laxative.

Colon Cancer: The dietary fats contained in the fruit helps to clean toxins from the colon. Thus, it reduces the effects of toxin in the colon and protects from colon cancer.

Good for Eyes: Jackfruit contains Vitamin A, an important nutrient for eye health. It increases vision and protects from free radicals. As this fruit is a rich source of antioxidants, it is highly effective in preventing degeneration of the retina.

Source: zee news


7 scientific reasons why lack of sleep can be bad for you

Nothing in the world can beat the pleasure derived from sound sleep. Yet, with today’s modern culture, people have trained their bodies to the condition of sleep deprivation. Sleep is essential for the body to restore and regenerate its systems so that you function optimally during the day. Naturally, sleeping for less number of hours in the long run will damage your entire body, with serious effects on the nervous system, circulatory system, immune system, digestive system and reproductive system. Here are some detrimental effects of lack of sleep on the body you must know.

Lowers brain function: When you’re sleeping, your brain goes through phases of  sleep cycle. This gives enough time for busy neurons, relaying signals throughout the day, to form new pathways and reprogram themselves to deal with activities for the next morning. When you don’t sleep, you force your brain to overwork, leaving it completely exhausted. As a result, you’re unable to perform simple tasks the next day. It interferes with your level of alertness and affects your focus and concentration.

Studies have shown that those who are well rested have higher activity in the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex, responsible for speech. Those who are sleep deprived have least activity in this region, which is why they are unable to process language. Neither do they understand or process what’s being said nor can they speak or express properly. The part of the brain responsible with decision making skills also gets affected. Because the neurons are not rested well, the brain’s response time to a situation gets delayed. That’s why sleep deprived people cannot make quick logical decisions or execute a plan properly.

Makes you fat: Your brain is responsible for regulation of a lot of cycles involving release of hormones and initialisation of pathways. Imagine, if the
neurons themselves are not working properly how will they regulate these pathways? One of the cycles that the brain regulates is the hunger cycle.

Ideally, lack of energy (in the form of food) signals the brain to induce hunger and when the body is provided with energy, the brain is signalled to induce a feeling of fullness. Two key hormones –leptin and ghrelin –play an important role in this cycle. When ghrelin is released in high levels and the level of leptin is low, the brain signals a feeling of hunger. When the levels are reversed, a feeling of fullness is induced.

Lack of sleep over a few nights raises the levels ghrelin, which constantly signals you that you’re hungry. Further, scientists suggest that lack of sleep
manipulates the levels of these hormones such that it triggers cravings for calorie-rich foods, leading to obesity. Studies also suggest that poor sleep
interferes with the body’s ability to metabolise sugar

Increases risk of depression: There’s a reason why you tend to feel positive and happy in the morning after a good night’s sleep. Signals for all negative thoughts originate and are processed by a small part of brain called the amygdala, while all positive thoughts are generated in the region called
hippocampus. When you don’t sleep properly at night, the activity in the hippocampus gets affected with minor or least impact on the amygdala. Therefore, during the daytime your brain just cannot retrieve pleasant or happy memories. Since amygdala is functional, thoughts originated from there mask everything else, making you depressed.

Can lead to heart disease: Lack of sleep affects the circulatory system in a very different way. When you don’t rest for a day or two, you exert stress on all organs of your body. As a result the fight-or-flight response for stress gets triggered. If you continue to exert yourself, this response does not get switched off. As a result, the level of stress hormones in the blood increases. These hormones can wreck a havoc in your circulatory system. They can increase blood pressure, damage the walls of the arteries, affect the heart rate and cause blockages in the blood vessels.

Lowers immunity: Sleeping is the time utilised by the immune system to produce antibodies, increase the number of fighting cells and cytokines in the blood. Naturally, when you don’t sleep these activities get hampered. If the number of white blood cells decreases, you’ll be susceptible to a lot of common infections and will fall sick more often. Prolonged sleep deprivation has also been linked with death, caused due to severely weakened immune system. One study states that those who sleep less than four hours daily have three times greater chances of
dying within six years

Increases risk of accidents: The fact that different parts of the brain rest during different stages of the sleep cycle indicates that you just cannot afford
to sleep for less number of hours. If a particular part of the brain doesn’t get rest for a long time, it will soon begin to shut down itself, inducing
microsleep. In this stage, a person may remain awake with eyes wide open but the brain goes into delta phase for rest. It is in this phase that a person is the most susceptible to accidents and injuries.

Lowers sexual desires: If you still need a stronger reason to sleep well, this one would probably work. Lack of sleep can literally kill sexual desires, in both men and women. You’ll feel more sluggish, tired and fatigued. You won’t have enough strength and will feel low. Lack of sleep can lower the levels of
testosterone, affecting sperm quality and reproduction in men, while in women it can affect orgasms, leading to general loss of interest in sex

Source: The health site