Exercise ‘as good as medicines’ in treating disease

Exercise may be just as good as medication to treat heart disease and should be included as a comparison when new drugs are being developed and tested, scientists say.

 In a large review published in the British Medical Journal on Wednesday, researchers from Britain’s London School of Economics and Harvard and Stanford universities in the United States found no statistically detectable differences between exercise and drugs for patients with coronary heart disease or pre-diabetes, when a person shows symptoms that may develop into full-blown diabetes.

 For patients recovering from stroke, the review — which analyzed the results of 305 studies covering almost 340,000 participants — found that exercise was more effective than drug treatment. Doctors writing prescriptions to get patients active Cardiovascular disease is the world’s number one killer, leading to at least 17 million deaths a year. “In cases where drug options provide only modest benefit, patients deserve to understand the relative impact that physical activity might have on their condition,” the researchers wrote. The review also said the amount of trial evidence on the health benefits of exercise is considerably smaller than that on drugs, which the scientists said may have had an impact on their results. They argued that this “blind spot” over exercise in scientific evidence “prevents prescribers and their patients from understanding the clinical circumstances where drugs might provide only modest improvement but exercise could yield more profound or sustainable gains.” The review adds to a large body of evidence showing that regular exercise is key to human health. According to the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO), physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality, causing an estimated 3.2 million deaths around the world each year. The WHO says regular moderate intensity physical activity — such as walking, cycling or participating in sports — can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, colon and breast cancer, and depression, as well as cutting the risk of bone fractures and helping to control body weight. At least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity a week in 10-minute bouts is recommended for adults, said Kristi Adamo, a research scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa where she studies obesity prevention. But only 15 per cent of adults achieve this, according to the Canadian Health Measures Survey. Adamo notes that the idea of using exercise as medicine dates back to Hippocrates, who called walking man’s best medicine. “Exercising is challenging for a lot of people. People have many competing interests and exercise often is not a priority for them,” Adamo said in an interview with CBC News. “But I think that as the recognition is growing that exercise is medicine and that exercise can be used not only to prevent disease but … to reduce mortality, I would hope that people would heed that advice.” The study’s authors called for regulators to consider requiring pharmaceutical sponsors of new drugs to include exercise in their clinical trials. For example, participants in the control groups could exercise, Adamo said. Source:

Palo santo: A fragrant wood with cancer fighting properties

Palo Santo - the sacred wood

Palo Santo – the sacred wood

In South America, both in urban settings and in the Amazon, I have encountered a fragrant wood used as incense and known as palo santo, which means “wood of the saints.” Appropriately named, the aroma of palo santo (Bursera graveolens) is heavenly. If you grew up attending Catholic church or any of the institutions in which incense is burned, palo santo may smell familiar to you.

Fragrant woods are not uncommon. In New Mexico, I have enjoyed many fires made of pinion pine, whose fragrance can be detected all through the streets of Santa Fe or Taos on a cold winter night. In northern India, I have smelled fires made of the incense wood deodar, whose aroma similarly wafts over the hills at night.

The tall tropical palo santo tree is related to both frankincense and myrrh, and it is widely distributed throughout much of Central and South America, as well as the Galapagos Islands. Because palo santo has become increasingly popular due to the booming Amazon tourism trade, it will eventually need to be cultivated. Otherwise, we will experience dwindling populations of these delightfully fragrant rainforest trees.

Use of palo santo reportedly dates back to the time of the Inca Empire. The heartwood of the tree is used, and you can find bundles of palo santo for sale in markets throughout South America. Burning the wood is done to clean bad energy from a place and to promote good fortune. It is typical and common for palo santo to be burned in a ceremonial setting such as a shamanic ceremony, and often people who attend ceremonies will smoke themselves and each other with this wood. Being smoked with palo santo feels fresh and invigorating.

The essential oil of palo santo is responsible for the unique fragrance of this wood, and contains resins that are rich in the sesquiterpene class of compounds, most notably limonene. It also contains the fragrant compounds non-amine and germacrene. In one published Cuban medical study, components in the essential oil inhibited the growth of a specific type of breast cancer, MCF-7. Palo santo essential oil is significantly anti-bacterial, which probably explains its traditional use as an incense wood for dispelling bad energy.

Like cedar, which is burned in the ceremonies of the Native American Church, palo santo may be chipped into fine pieces and set alight to generate fragrant smoke. Alternately, a small piece of the wood will be lit and allowed to burn – and then blown out and waved around to smoke a place. Some people perform steam distillation on the wood to yield an essential oil, which has an especially captivating aroma. The oil is worn as a fragrance, and is also added to topical liniments and balms to relieve joint pain.

Online you will see that sticks of palo santo are widely available. You can also obtain the essential oil of this tree. I burn a little bit of palo santo regularly at home and find that it leaves a room smelling clean and free of any musty odors. Once you have smelled palo santo, you will likely find it a welcome addition to the atmosphere of any space.

Source:

Relaxation Drinks: The Opposite of Energy Drinks

Relaxation Drinks: The Opposite of Energy Drinks  Can relaxation, a good night’s sleep or happiness come from a lightly carbonated, berry-flavored beverage?

Amid booming sales of energy drinks spiked with caffeine and other stimulating ingredients, some people are heading to the soda aisle for drinks that promise the opposite effect. With names like Neuro Bliss, Marley’s Mellow Mood (as in Bob), and Just Chill, the products aren’t marketed as medicine, but as a way to relax without turning to more traditional, if sometimes imperfect, measures like taking prescription drugs or having a few beers.

Consumers are warming up to drinks that could fill the chasm between taking medication for anxiety or sleep problems and doing nothing, says Paul Nadel, president of Neuro Drinks, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based company that sells a line of six drinks including Neuro Bliss, Neuro Sleep and Neuro Sonic, an energy drink. He says the “overmedicated culture we live in” has primed consumers for the concept of a relaxation drink.

Small studies show that some of the ingredients in relaxation drinks, like melatonin, valerian root and L-theanine, appear to help fight sleeplessness or to create a sensation of relaxation in isolated situations.

Still, clinicians recommend turning to drugs or supplements as a last resort for sleep and anxiety problems after trying daily exercise, a consistent wake-up time, turning off electronics and darkening rooms in the evening, therapy or other measures.

The ingredients appear reasonably safe for most adults, but users should check with a doctor or research how they might mix with other medications or pre-existing illnesses, says Catherine Ulbricht, co-founder of Natural Standard Research Collaboration, a Somerville, Mass., group that evaluates natural therapies.

She notes that this class of beverages with multiple active ingredients hasn’t been well-studied: “I don’t mean to sound scary, but it’s not water.”

Often the drinks are marketed as dietary supplements, a classification under Food and Drug Administration standards that means at least one ingredient isn’t considered conventional food. The FDA doesn’t review the efficacy, safety or quantity of active ingredients in dietary supplements.

The relaxation drinks come as traditional soda sales continue on an almost decadelong decline and more companies are introducing drinks tailored to niche audiences.

More consumers say they want a drink that feels healthier than soda—hence the raft of new, lower-calorie beverages. Some have only natural ingredients, while other so-called “functional” products claim some benefit like energy, sleep or cold-fighting properties.

Big beverage companies are pitching coconut water, energy drinks and fruit smoothies, but so far haven’t dipped their toe into the relaxation business.

It’s not clear the relaxation drink concept will stick. In 2012 relaxation drinks (which includes sleep drinks) accounted for about $32 million in U.S. wholesale sales, a slight increase from previous years, but a tiny amount compared with the $6 billion generated by U.S. energy drinks the same year, says Gary Hemphill, managing director of research for Beverage Marketing Corp. “Some people say, ‘If I want to relax I’m going to have a martini,” Mr. Hemphill says.

Read More at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304373104579109283589583074.html

Krokodil, Molly and More: 5 Wretched New Street Drugs

When it comes to altered states of consciousness, humans are nothing if not inventive. A number of new synthetic drugs, opiate painkillers and other substances have emerged recently as increasingly popular among partygoers and drug addicts. And some of these substances are alarming health experts and law enforcement officials.

Here’s a look at five of the most potent of these street drugs.

Few street drugs have as wretched a reputation as desomorphine, a cheap derivative of codeine that’s mixed with gasoline, oil, alcohol or paint thinner. Addicts shoot the concoction directly into their bodies with a hypodermic needle; the drug causes dark, scaly patches of dead and decaying skin. These gave rise to the street name “krokodil,” or crocodile.

While krokodil had previously been confined to Russia and former Soviet Bloc nations, a few cases of krokodil use have started appearing in the United States and other countries. Even those users who kick the habit are often severely disfigured for life, suffering serious scarring, bone damage, amputated limbs, speech impediments, poor motor skills and varying degrees of brain damage.

2C-P

A little-known synthetic hallucinogen with only a brief history of use, 2C-P is reportedly a long-lasting and very potent drug. Its intense psychedelic effects don’t begin until a few hours after a person takes it, but they can last for 10 to 20 hours, according to law enforcement officials.

At a concert in Middlebury, Conn., in September, four teenagers were hospitalized after collapsing almost simultaneously — police suspect 2C-P was the culprit, according to the Hartford Courant. “It was like a light switch went off,” acting Middlebury Police Chief Richard Wildman said in a press statement. Officers used CPR and a defibrillator to treat a teenage male who had stopped breathing and had no pulse, the Courant reports.

Butane hash oil

Also known as amber, honey, wax, ear wax and by its initials BHO, butane hash oil is a highly concentrated form of the active ingredient in marijuana (tetrahydrocannabinol or THC). Use of BHO is known as “dabbing,” because of the way the drug is ingested: Users place a small dab of the substance on a hot, metal surface, then inhale the resulting puff of smoke, according to SF Weekly.

The high is nothing like regular marijuana: It’s not uncommon for people to lose consciousness after inhaling BHO. “Things like this never happened until the popularization of hash oil in recent years,” Dale Gieringer of NORML, a marijuana advocacy group, told SF Weekly. “The dangers are dire enough to merit a special warning.”

Molly

The active ingredient in the popular club drug Ecstasy is MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine), and Molly is generally considered the most-refined, crystalline form of MDMA. A potent hallucinogen, Molly has been blamed for drug overdoses that killed four people this year, the New York Daily News reports.

One problem is the questionable purity of any synthetic drug, according to experts. “It’s exactly the same phenomenon that occurred with Ecstasy a decade ago,” Dr. Charles Grob, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the UCLA School of Medicine, told the Daily News. “Ecstasy had terrible reliability, and it’s the same with Molly. Though it’s being marketed as pure MDMA, it’s a hoax.”

Suboxone

Buprenorphine, marketed as Suboxone, is an opiate painkiller that’s often used to wean addicts off of more powerful opiates like heroin and hydrocodone. Substance abuse experts praise its success at treating addictions, and about 3 million Americans have used it for this purpose, according to the National Pain Report.

But a report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found that the number of emergency room visits involving Suboxone had increased by a factor of 10 from 2005 to 2010. More than half of these visits were for recreational use of the drug. “The buprenorphine, these visits may have been misused or abused, either for psychoactive effects or in an attempt to self-treat for opioid dependence,” according to the SAMHSA report.

Source: livescience.com

7 insects you’ll be eating in the future

7 insects you'll be eating in the future

As the human population continues to inch closer to 8 billion people, feeding all those hungry mouths will become increasingly difficult. A growing number of experts claim that people will soon have no choice but to consume insects.

As if to underscore that claim, a group of students from McGill University in Montreal has won the 2013 Hult Prize, for producing protein-rich flour made from insects. The prize gives the students $1 million in seed money to begin creating what they call Power Flour. “We will be starting with grasshoppers,” team Captain Mohammed Ashour told

Earlier this year, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released a report titled, “Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security.” The document details the health and environmental benefits derived from a diet supplemented by insects, a diet also known as “entomophagy.” Gleaned from the FAO document and other sources, here’s a list of seven edible insects you may soon find on your dinner plate.

Mopane caterpillars

Mopane caterpillars — the larval stage of the emperor moth (Imbrasia belina) — are common throughout the southern part of Africa. Harvesting of mopane caterpillars is a multi-million dollar industry in the region, where women and children generally do the work of gathering the plump, little insects.

The caterpillars are traditionally boiled in salted water, then sun-dried; the dried form can last for several months without refrigeration, making them an important source of nutrition in lean times. And few bugs are more nutritious: Whereas the iron content of beef is 6 mg per 100 grams of dry weight, mopane caterpillars pack a whopping 31 mg of iron per 100 grams. They’re also a good source of potassium, sodium, calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, zinc, manganese and copper, according to the FAO.

 Chapulines

Chapulines are grasshoppers of the genus Sphenarium, and are widely eaten throughout southern Mexico. They’re often served roasted (giving them a satisfying crunch) and flavored with garlic, lime juice and salt, or with guacamole or dried chili powder. The grasshoppers are known as rich sources of protein; some claim that the insects are more than 70 percent protein.

Researchers have noted that the gathering of Sphenarium grasshoppers is an attractive alternative to spraying pesticides in fields of alfalfa and other crops. Not only does this eliminate the environmental hazards associated with pesticide sprays, it also gives the local people an extra source of nutrition and income, from the sale of grasshoppers.

 Witchetty grub

Among the aboriginal people of Australia, the witchetty grub is a dietary staple. When eaten raw, the grubs taste like almonds; when cooked lightly in hot coals, the skin develops the crisp, flavorful texture of roast chicken. And the witchetty grub is chock full of oleic acid, a healthful omega-9 monounsaturated fat.

Though people often refer to the larvae of several different moths as witchetty grubs, some sources specify the larval stage of the cossid moth (Endoxyla leucomochla) as the true witchetty grub. The grubs are harvested from underground, where they feed upon the roots of Australian trees such as eucalyptus and black wattle trees.

 Termites

Want to get rid of the termites gnawing at your floorboards? Just do like they do in South America and Africa: Take advantage of the rich nutritional quality of these insects by frying, sun-drying, smoking or steaming termites in banana leaves.

Termites generally consist of up to 38 percent protein, and one particular Venezuelan species, Syntermes aculeosus, is 64 percent protein. Termites are also rich in iron, calcium, essential fatty acids and amino acids such as tryptophan.

 African palm weevil

A delicacy among many African tribes, the palm weevil (Rhychophorus phoenicis) is collected off the trunks of palm trees. About 4 inches (10 centimeters) long and two inches (5 cm) wide, the weevils are easily pan-fried because their bodies are full of fats, though they’re also eaten raw.

A 2011 report from the Journal of Insect Science found that the African palm weevil is an excellent source of several nutrients such as potassium, zinc, iron and phosphorous, as well as several amino acids and healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids.

 Stink bugs

Their name certainly doesn’t lend itself to culinary appeal, but stink bugs (Hemiptera order) are consumed throughout Asia, South America and Africa. The insects are a rich source of important nutrients, including protein, iron, potassium and phosphorus.

Because stink bugs release a noxious scent, they are not usually eaten raw unless the head is first removed, which discards their scent-producing secretions. Otherwise, they are roasted, or soaked in water and sun-dried. As an added benefit, the soaking water — which absorbs the noxious secretions — can then be used as a pesticide to keep termites away from houses.

 Mealworms

The larvae of the mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor) is one of the only insects consumed in the Western world: They are raised in the Netherlands for human consumption (as well as for animal feed), partly because they thrive in a temperate climate.

The nutritional value of mealworms is hard to beat: They’re rich in copper, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc and selenium. Mealworms are also comparable to beef in terms of protein content, but have a greater number of healthy, polyunsaturated fats.

Source: 

 

Weight loss surgery can increase pain killer dependence

Weight loss surgery can increase pain killer dependence

Initially, researchers assumed that when patients underwent weight loss surgery, they would decrease their dependence on pain medications over time. The reason for their assumption: Obese patients who shed pounds should experience a reduction in pain caused by excess weight in areas such as the knees and back. Instead, however, a new study has revealed that weight loss surgery actually may increase dependence on pain killers, reported U.S. News on October 1.

“Our premise was that because patients who are undergoing bariatric surgery were undergoing such dramatic weight loss, whatever chronic pain they were going through would be relieved and their need for medication would be reduced,” said study author Marsha Raebel, of Kaiser Permanente Colorado in Denver. “We were very surprised to find we were totally wrong. Not only did their chronic use of opioids not go down, it actually went up.”

Researchers discovered that bariatric patients who already used opioid painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin increased their drug intake by 13 percent during the first year after surgery. And rather than decrease their dependence as they lost more weight over time, these patients had increased their drug intake by 18 percent three years after.

In the study, which was reported in the Oct. 2 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers emphasized that weight loss resulting from procedures such as gastric bypass typically relieves pain linked to the stress that extra pounds place on the knees, back and other joints. But that relief did not influence how much pain medication the patients took.

“We have patients who have pain that simply doesn’t respond to weight loss,” Raebel said. “If the patient thinks that’s the reason they’re going to have bariatric surgery, there should be some counseling to explain their pain may or may not get better after surgery.”

And the experts stress that setting a goal of taking fewer chronic pain killers is essential. Since the 1980s, opioid prescriptions in the nation have quadrupled, as has accidental opioid overdose deaths.

Raebel believes that obese people actually experience pain in a different way.

“Folks who are obese are more sensitive to pain and have lower pain thresholds than people who aren’t obese,” she said. “This altered pain processing continues even after they undergo bariatric surgery.” Therefore, she thinks that their drug usage might increase to help them deal with their continued sensitivity to pain.

Bariatric physician Dr. Brian Sabowitz offered another interpretation of the study.

“Narcotics may not be absorbed the same way after a gastric bypass as they are before a gastric bypass,” said Dr. Sabowitz, who practices in San Antonio, Texas, and serves as an adjunct assistant professor of medicine for the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. “Maybe one reason narcotic use increased is because people were getting less narcotics

Source:

Statin side effects: Weigh the benefits and risks

Statin side effects: Weigh the benefits and risksDoctors often prescribe statins for people with high cholesterol to lower their total cholesterol and reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke. Most people taking statins will take them for the rest of their lives, which can make statin side effects difficult to manage.

For some people, statin side effects can make it seem like the benefit of taking a statin isn’t worth it. Before you decide to stop taking a statin, discover how statin side effects can be reduced.

 

What are statin side effects?

Muscle pain and damage

The most common statin side effect is muscle pain. You may feel this pain as a soreness, tiredness or weakness in your muscles. The pain can be a mild discomfort, or it can be severe enough to make your daily activities difficult. For example, you might find climbing stairs or walking to be uncomfortable or tiring.

Very rarely, statins can cause life-threatening muscle damage called rhabdomyolysis. Rhabdomyolysis can cause severe muscle pain, liver damage, kidney failure and death. Rhabdomyolysis can occur when you take statins in combination with certain drugs, or if you take a high dose of statins.

Liver damage

Occasionally, statin use could cause your liver to increase its production of enzymes that help you digest food, drinks and medications. If the increase is only mild, you can continue to take the drug. If the increase is severe, you may need to stop taking the drug, which usually reverses the problem. Your doctor might suggest a different statin.

If left unchecked, increased liver enzymes may lead to permanent liver damage. Certain other cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as gemfibrozil (Lopid) and niacin, increase the risk of liver problems even more in people who take statins. Because liver problems may develop without symptoms, people who take statins should have their liver function tested about six weeks after they start taking statins, and then again every three to six months for the first year of treatment, particularly if their statin dose is increased, or they begin to take additional cholesterol-lowering medications.

Digestive problems

Some people taking a statin may develop nausea, gas, diarrhea or constipation after taking a statin. These side effects are rare. Most people who have these side effects already have other problems with their digestive system. Taking your statin medication in the evening with a meal can reduce digestive side effects.

Rash or flushing

You could develop a rash or flushing after you start taking a statin. If you take a statin and niacin, either in a combination pill such as Simcor or as two separate medications, you’re more likely to have this side effect. Taking aspirin before taking your statin medication may help, but talk to your doctor first.

Neurological side effects

Some researchers have studied whether statins could be linked to memory loss or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Researchers have not found a link between statin use and either condition.

Who’s at risk of developing statin side effects?

Not everyone who takes a statin will have side effects, but some people may be at a greater risk than others. Risk factors include:

  • Taking multiple medications to lower your cholesterol
  • Being female
  • Having a smaller body frame
  • Being age 65 or older
  • Having kidney or liver disease
  • Having type 1 or 2 diabetes

What causes statin side effects?

It’s unclear what causes statin side effects, especially muscle pain.

Statins work by slowing your body’s production of cholesterol. Your body produces all the cholesterol it needs for digesting food and producing new cells on its own. When this natural production is slowed, your body begins to draw the cholesterol it needs from the food you eat, lowering your total cholesterol.

Statins may affect not only your liver’s production of cholesterol, but also several enzymes in muscle cells that are responsible for muscle growth. The effects of statins on these cells may be the cause of muscle aches.

How to relieve statin side effects

To relieve statin side effects, your doctor may recommend several options. Discuss these steps with your doctor before trying them:

  • Take a brief break from statin therapy. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell whether the muscle aches or other problems you’re having are statin side effects or just part of the aging process. Taking a break of 10 to 14 days can give you some time to compare how you feel when you are and aren’t taking a statin. This can help you determine whether your aches and pains are due to statins instead of something else.
  • Switch to another statin drug. It’s possible, although unlikely, that one particular statin may cause side effects for you while another statin won’t. It’s thought that simvastatin (Zocor) may be more likely to cause muscle pain as a side effect than other statins when it’s taken at high doses.
  • Change your dose. Lowering your dose may reduce some of your side effects, but it may also reduce some of the cholesterol-lowering benefits your medication has. It’s also possible your doctor will suggest switching your medication to another statin that’s equally effective, but can be taken in a lower dose.
  • Take it easy when exercising. It’s possible exercise could make your muscle aches worse. Talk to your doctor about changing your exercise routine.
  • Consider other cholesterol-lowering medications. Ezetimibe (Zetia), a cholesterol absorption inhibitor medication, may be less likely to cause muscle pain than may statins, or may reduce muscle pain when taken with a statin. However, some researchers question the effectiveness of ezetimibe compared with statins in terms of its ability to lower your cholesterol.
  • Don’t try over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers. Muscle aches from statins can’t be relieved with acetaminophen (Tylenol, others) or ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, others) the way other muscles aches can. Don’t try an OTC pain reliever without asking your doctor first.
  • Try coenzyme Q10 supplements. Coenzyme Q10 supplements may help to prevent statin side effects in some people. If you’d like to try adding coenzyme Q10 to your treatment, talk to your doctor first to make sure the supplement won’t interact with any of your other medications.

Source: http://www.riversideonline.com/health_reference/Cholesterol/MY00205.cfm

Multiple sclerosis cases hit 2.3 million worldwide

The number of people living with multiple sclerosis around the world has increased by 10 percent in the past five years to 2.3 million, according to the most extensive survey of the disease to date.

The debilitating neurological condition, which affects twice as many women as men, is found in every region of the world, although prevalence rates vary widely.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is most common in North America and Europe, at 140 and 108 cases per 100,000 respectively, while in sub-Saharan Africa the rate is just 2.1 per 100,000, the Multiple Sclerosis International Federation’s Atlas of MS 2013 showed on Wednesday.

The atlas also confirmed that MS occurs significantly more in countries at high latitude, with Sweden having the highest rate in Europe and Argentina having more cases than countries further north in Latin America.

The reason for the link to high latitudes is unclear but some scientists have suggested that exposure to sunlight may reduce the incidence of the disease.

The survey found big increases in the number of medical experts trained to diagnose MS and help patients with treatment, while the number of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines available to carry out scans has doubled in emerging countries.

But huge disparities remain when it comes to access to modern disease-modifying drugs.

MS medicine has seen a number of advances in recent years, particularly with the introduction of a new generation of oral therapies such as Novartis’ Gilenya, Biogen Idec’s Tecfidera and Sanofi’s Aubagio.

These medicines offer an effective alternative to older disease-modifying treatments that are given by injection.

The survey found that injectable drugs like Biogen’s Avonex and Teva’s Copaxone were partly or fully funded in 96 percent of high-income countries, while Gilenya was available in 76 percent.

However, none of these drugs was available under government programs in low-income countries.

Source: www.foxnews.com

US man grows new finger after horse bite

A 33-year-old man in US has undergone a ‘miraculous’ medical procedure to grow back his index finger which was chomped down by an overzealous horse while he was feeding the animal.

Paul Halpern from Florida managed to save the severed digit and take it to the hospital, but doctors told him there was nothing they could do. Halpern then visited Dr Eugenio Rodriguez, a Deerfield Beach general surgeon who used an innovative procedure called xenograft implantation to regenerate the finger. Xenograft refers to transplantation of cells from one species to another.

Rodriguez created a scaffold of Halpern’s missing finger, using tissue from a pig bladder, and attached it to the severed portion. The finger grew into the mold, generating new bone and soft tissue and a new fingernail.

According to CBS Miami, Halpern had to apply pulverised pig bladder tissue to his wounded finger each day and cover it with a protective saline sheet. Rodriguez said the powder stimulates stem cells in the finger to regenerate, which causes the growth.

Source: Timesofindia.com

Foods To Consume Before Yoga Class

Most of us practice a common form of exercise to live healthy and that is yoga. Today, you see a lot of people who are practicing yoga to stay fit and to lead a healthy life.

 With this practice, comes along a wide range of foods you should eat too. Eating a healthy diet and following a fully fledged regime will only make you live longer.

If you are a believer in doing yoga to keep fit your mind and body, you need to follow certain food habits as well.

Experts say that before you go ahead with your yoga class, you need to eat a healthy and ‘light’ meal. The only reason is because yoga is a certain type of exercise where your body needs to be focused on your mind solely.

If you have a heavy meal before yoga exercise, you will want to throw up. One should keep their stomach light before a yoga exercise, so you can move your flexible body easily to perform the asanas. Some of the foods you should eat before yoga take a look at some of these healthy foods. These foods should be eaten half an hour before yoga class.

Oats

If you are hungry, grab a bowl of healthy oatmeal before a yoga class. This is a healthy food which you can consume. It is light and will boost your metabolism.

Pears

This is one of the best foods you can choose before you hit the yoga class. Consuming cut fresh pieces of pears is rich in fiber which will fill your tummy completely.

Raisins

If you consume a handful of raisins before your yoga class, you are pampering your body to a high content of natural sugar. This natural sugar will help to keep you active right through the class as you burn energy for weight loss.
Banana

There are a lot of people who refrain from eating a banana as they feel it adds to the extra pounds if you are on a weight loss program. If you are heading to yoga class, have a banana 15 minutes before as it is rich in sodium which will keep you hydrated.

Apricots

You need to stay light when you perform the asanas. Apricots are filling and a light food for you to consume before a yoga class. Dried apricots are the best opt.

Watermelon

If you want to stay light on your tummy, watermelon is the best food for you to consume before a yoga class. Watermelon helps to build your energy levels, so have a cup of fresh juice before you head out.

Yogurt

It is light and the best food to enjoy before yoga. A small cup of yogurt will help you stay fit and keep you mentally sound too.

Chocolate

Dark chocolate is much better when compared to normal chocolate. It is the dark chocolate which provides you with energy, and also helps to keep your heart healthy and active.

Prunes

It is a good food for you to consume before a yoga class. Prunes contain a high content of potassium which will keep you hydrated during the workout.

Almonds

Eating a handful of almonds will help boost your energy levels. Soaked almonds is however the best option for you to chose.

Read more at: www.inooz.com