medical news

White Tea Facts and health benefits

Many people who want to lose weight and improve their overall health in general have been turning to tea to help them be healthier and prevent many different types of diseases. The health benefits of tea have been proven time and time again, and people have used it for centuries to help them live longer and stay healthy.

There are many different types of tea, from white tea to black tea to green tea. One of the rarest types of tea is white tea, which is found only in China and is actually harvested from the same plants that green and black tea come from as well.

White tea is harvested from the leaves before the buds have completely blossomed; this makes it so the tea is as close to its natural state as possible and goes through less processing than other types of tea. Where black and green tea have both been cured and oxidized, white tea has not.

White tea provides the body and the mind with a number of benefits, many of which are more powerful than green or black teas. Some of the facts about white tea, especially in relation to green and black teas, are:

• Higher anti viral properties. White tea provides more antiviral properties than both green tea and black tea, as a result of its minimal processing.

• More amino acids. Because it is harvested from buds and leaves that are much younger than when black and green tea are harvested, it also has more amino acids.

• More antibacterial abilities. White tea also contains a stronger concentration of antibacterial qualities than do green or black tea. High levels of catechin and gallic acid are also beneficial to the body.

• Higher antioxidant capabilities. Most teas contain antioxidants that are good at cleansing the body of toxins that accumulate throughout the years as a result of pollutants in the air, undigested particles of food, and waste build up. The high levels of antioxidants found in white tea are better at flushing out these toxins, leaving you healthier and more energized.

• Greater cancer fighting abilities. Certain types of teas have been shown to help fight harmful cancer cells and build up cancer-fighting cells within the body. White tea contains the most properties of the various types of tea to help ward off certain types of cancer.

• Greater effect on stress levels. The higher levels of amino acids found in white tea have a better effect on stress levels than black and green teas as well. These acids contain more properties that enhance the mood and lower the stress levels.

Because it is rare, white tea is frequently more expensive than black, green, and other types of tea. However, the health benefits you will receive from drinking white tea are worth it!

One way to get enough white tea is to try White Tea with Acai, which combines the power of white tea with the super fruit Acai berry to give you even more powerful health benefits.

Source: Healthy lifestyle

Delhi dengue cases rise to 5,212

New Delhi: Dengue cases in the national capital have raised to 5,212, a municipal health official said Monday.

The number of dengue cases Nov 18 was 5,115.

This year, the vector-borne disease has killed six people in the capital.

In Delhi, most cases have occurred in the north corporation (2104) area, followed by the south (1,568), and the east (1,405) corporations.

An additional 67 cases have been reported from the National Capital Region, which includes parts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh adjoining Delhi.

Source: sify

Number of adolescents with HIV jumps by one-third: UN

Geneva:  The number of adolescents infected by the HIV virus has jumped by one third over the past decade, the United Nation’s health agency said on Monday, blaming gaps in care programs.

“More than 2 million adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years are living with HIV,” marking a 33 per cent rise since 2001, the World Health Organization said.

“Many do not receive the care and support that they need to stay in good health and prevent transmission. In addition, millions more adolescents are at risk of infection,” it warned.

In the world’s most AIDS-affected region, sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of adolescents with the virus are girls who have had unprotected sex, sometimes under duress.

In addition, many of those born with the virus or infected at birth in sub-Saharan Africa are becoming adolescents.

In Asia, meanwhile, young drug-users were the worst affected.

The WHO said that the failure to provide proper adolescent-focused programs had also resulted in a 50-per cent increase in reported AIDS-related deaths in the age group from 2005 to 2012.

In 2005, 70,000 adolescents died of AIDS. Seven years later, the figure was 104,000.

That contrasted starkly with the 30-per cent decline in the general population, the WHO underlined.

The year 2005 marked the high point of global AIDS deaths, which hit 2.3 million. Last year, the toll was 1.6 million.

“Adolescent girls, young men who have sex with men, those who inject drugs or are subject to sexual coercion and abuse are at highest risk,” said Craig McClure, head of HIV programs at UN children’s agency UNICEF.

“They face many barriers, including harsh laws, inequalities, stigma and discrimination which prevent them from accessing services that could test, prevent, and treat HIV,” McClure added.

“About one-seventh of all new HIV infections occur during adolescence. Unless the barriers are removed, the dream of an AIDS-free generation will never be realised,” he insisted.

The data was issued as the WHO released its first adolescent-specific care guidelines ahead of World AIDS Day on December 1.

“Adolescents face difficult and often confusing emotional and social pressures as they grow from children into adults,” said Gottfried Hirnschall, head of the WHO’s HIV/AIDS Department.

“Adolescents need health services and support, tailored to their needs. They are less likely than adults to be tested for HIV and often need more support than adults to help them maintain care and to stick to treatment,” he added.

Among the measures needed, the WHO said, is an end to the requirement for parental permission to have an HIV test.

In sub-Saharan Africa, it is estimated that in the 15-24 age bracket, only 10 percent of young men and 15 percent of young women know their HIV status.

In other regions, although data are scarce, access to HIV testing and counseling by vulnerable adolescents is consistently reported as being very low, the WHO said.

Source: NDTV

 

Malaria, jaundice claim 20 lives in Arunachal in a week

Diseases like malaria and jaundice have claimed 20 lives since last week in Longding district of Arunachal Pradesh, an official report said today.

“This is not the first time when such an epidemic has broken out in Wancho area. In the past, too many such epidemics have been reported.

The reason may be due to the unhygienic way of living and lack of proper health-care facilities,” the report said.

“Though medicines have been rushed they are hardly adequate,” it said. When contacted, Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Public Relation Department, Thangwang Wangham, said that the situation is alarming as every day new cases are being reported.

Wangham, who is the local MLA, said though health workers were in the field there was no tangible respite. The MLA, who is camping at Longding to monitor the situation, has appealed the state government to send relief and more medicines.
Source: one India News

South India’s first IVF baby in Kerala government hospital

State-owned S.A.T. Hospital here created a record of sorts when it became the first government sector hospital in south India to have test tube babies.

S.A.T. Hospital is the women’s and children’s wing of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital.

Head of the fertility clinic Sheela Balakrishnan told reporters the couple who underwent IVF treatment became proud parents of twins, a boy and a girl, at 5.30 a.m. Friday.

“We thus became the fifth government hospital in the country and the first one in south India to be successful. We are expecting another test tube baby next week and then there are five more in various stages,” said Balakrishnan.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a process by which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body.

IVF is a major treatment for infertility when other methods of assisted reproductive technology have failed.

The process involves monitoring and stimulating a woman’s ovulatory process, removing ovum or ova (egg or eggs) from the woman’s ovaries and letting sperm fertilize them in a fluid medium in a laboratory.

The fertilized egg (zygote) cultured for two-six days in a growth medium and is then transferred to the patient’s uterus with the intention of establishing a successful pregnancy.

Balakrishnan went on to add that since this form of medical procedure is an expensive one, “we operate on a no-profit no-loss basis and the entire cost for couples comes to around Rs.1 lakh”.

In the private sector, the total expense for IVF treatment can touch up to Rs.10 lakh.

The IVF third stage clinic has been in operation for nearly two years.

Source: the Indian Express

Children’s cardiovascular fitness declining worldwide

Many kids don’t run as far or fast as their parents did, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2013.

The decline in running fitness may indicate worse health in adulthood, the researchers said.

“If a young person is generally unfit now, then they are more likely to develop conditions like heart disease later in life,” said Grant Tomkinson, Ph.D., lead author of the study and senior lecturer in the University of South Australia’s School of Health Sciences.

“Young people can be fit in different ways. They can be strong like a weightlifter, or flexible like a gymnast, or skillful like a tennis player. But not all of these types of fitness relate well to health. The most important type of fitness for good health is cardiovascular fitness, which is the ability to exercise vigorously for a long time, like running multiple laps around an oval track.”

Researchers analyzed 50 studies on running fitness between 1964 and 2010 that involved more than 25 million kids, ages 9 to 17, in 28 countries. They gauged cardiovascular endurance by how far kids could run in a set time or how long it took to run a set distance. Tests typically lasted five to 15 minutes or covered a half-mile to two miles.

Cardiovascular endurance declined significantly within the 46 years, the researchers found. Average changes were similar between boys and girls, younger and older kids, and across different regions, although they varied country to country.

The study is the first to show that kids’ cardiovascular fitness has declined around the globe since about 1975:

In the United States, kids’ cardiovascular endurance fell an average 6 percent per decade between 1970 and 2000.

Across nations, endurance has declined consistently by about 5 percent every decade.

Kids today are roughly 15 percent less fit from a cardiovascular standpoint than their parents were as youngsters.

In a mile run, kids today are about a minute and a half slower than their peers 30 years ago.

Declines in cardiovascular endurance performance are probably caused by social, behavioral, physical, psychosocial and physiological factors, Tomkinson said.

Country-by-country fitness findings are mirrored in measurements of overweight/obesity and body fat, suggesting one factor may cause the other. “In fact, about 30 percent to 60 percent of the declines in endurance running performance can be explained by increases in fat mass,” Tomkinson said.

Kids should engage in at least 60 minutes of daily activities that use the body’s big muscles, such as running, swimming or cycling, he said.

“We need to help to inspire children and youth to develop fitness habits that will keep them healthy now and into the future,” Tomkinson said. “They need to choose a range of physical activities they like or think they might like to try, and they need to get moving.”

Source: American Heart Association

 

More walking tied to lower stroke risk among men

Older men who spend several hours walking each day are less likely to have a stroke than their peers who rarely walk, a new study suggests. And walking pace didn’t seem to matter.

Researchers said few studies have looked specifically at how both walking speed and walking time or distance is linked to stroke risk.

“Stroke is a major cause of death and disability and it is important to find ways to prevent it, especially in older people who are at high stroke risk,” Barbara J. Jefferis told Reuters Health in an email. She led the research at University College London in the UK.

“Our study suggests that maintaining an active lifestyle, specifically by spending more time on all forms of walking, could be an important part of stroke prevention strategies in older people,” Jefferis said.

She and her coauthors analyzed data from men enrolled in a long-term British heart study.

The men entered the study in 1978 to 1980. In 1998 to 2000, when they were in their 60s and 70s, they filled out surveys about how often they were physically active.

The new analysis includes 2,995 men who had not had a stroke or heart disease at the time of that survey. Researchers followed them for another 11 years.

More than half of the men walked an hour or less each day. About one in six reported walking more than two hours per day.

During the follow-up period, 195 of the men had a stroke. The researchers found that the more time men spent walking, the lower their risk of stroke.

Men who walked four to seven hours each week were 11 percent less likely to have a stroke than men who walked for three hours per week or less. But that difference could have been due to chance, Jefferis and her colleagues reported in the journal Stroke.

A stronger finding was that men who walked the most – for more than three hours each day – had a two-thirds lower risk of stroke than those who spent the least time walking.

Walking pace was also tied to stroke risk, such that average-pace or brisk walkers had a 38 percent lower risk of stroke than slow walkers. But distance walked explained that finding: men who walked at an average or brisk pace also walked further than their slower peers, according to the study.

The findings don’t prove walking prevents strokes. But they could not be explained by factors known to increase a person’s risk of stroke, like age, blood pressure and cholesterol. More recently identified markers of stroke, such as proteins associated with inflammation; blood clotting or heart muscle damage also weren’t behind the link.

“What we found was that all of these factors explained only a small amount of the relationship between time spent walking and onset of stroke,” Jefferis said. “This suggests that there may be other factors operating which explain why walking protects against stroke.”

Her team’s study was funded by the National Institute for Health Research and the British Heart Foundation.

Although it only included men, Jefferis said other research has suggested walking is good for women, too.

For instance, a team of Spanish researchers reported late last year that women who walked briskly for at least three and a half hours per week had a lower risk of stroke than inactive women

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), close to 800,000 people in the U.S. have a stroke every year, and strokes are the most common cause of serious long-term disability.

“Getting into the habit of walking every day for at least an hour could protect against stroke,” Jefferis said. That can include walking that is done while running errands, walking for leisure in a park or just walking around indoors.

Both the World Health Organization and CDC recommend adults get at least two and a half hours of moderate exercise each week.

Source: Reuters

 

Four tips to stay warm this winter

The chill of winters has set in and staying warm has become a priority. We have some pointers here to beat the cold and enjoy this season:

Dress smart

Wear multiple layers of light and warm clothes as it will keep your body heat insulated. Choose clothes made of wool, cotton or fleeced synthetic fibres.

Keep your extremities covered as they are the first parts of your body to lose circulation in cold temperatures. Wear a scarf, mitten and woollen cap when you are heading out.

Eat right

Eat at regular intervals as the burning of food will keep your body warm. Include lots of food items which are rich in protein.

Take hot drinks often to maintain your body temperature.

Move your body

Physical activity helps generate heat and fight cold. Engage in your daily exercise and chores to stimulate blood circulation and also prevent joints and muscles from stiffening.

Use hot water bottle

Stay warm with a hot water bottle. You will find hot water bottles in any department store or you can make one yourself by filling a glass bottle with hot water and wrapping it with a towel.

Source: inagist

 

Too much exposure to TV can stall preschoolers’ cognitive development

A new study has suggested that preschoolers who have a TV in their bedroom and are exposed to more background TV have a weaker understanding of other people’s beliefs and desires.

Amy Nathanson, Molly Sharp, Fashina Alade, Eric Rasmussen, and Katheryn Christy, all of The Ohio State University, interviewed and tested 107 children and their parents to determine the relationship between preschoolers’ television exposure and their understanding of mental states, such as beliefs, intentions, and feelings, known as theory of mind.

Parents were asked to report how many hours of TV their children were exposed to, including background TV. The children were then given tasks based on theory of mind. These tasks assessed whether the children could acknowledge that others can have different beliefs and desires, that beliefs can be wrong, and that behaviours stem from beliefs.

The researchers found that having a bedroom TV and being exposed to more background TV was related to a weaker understanding of mental states, even after accounting for differences in performance based on age and the socioeconomic status of the parent.

However, preschoolers whose parents talked with them about TV performed better on theory of mind assessments.

“When children achieve a theory of mind, they have reached a very important milestone in their social and cognitive development. Children with more developed theories of mind are better able to participate in social relationships. These children can engage in more sensitive, cooperative interactions with other children and are less likely to resort to aggression as a means of achieving goals,” lead researcher Nathanson said.

The study is published in the Journal of Communication.

Source: Deccan Chronicle

New technique to treat parasitic cystic tumour of kidney

Dr Santosh Kumar, assistant professor, department of urology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh, has developed an innovative surgical technique to treat parasitic cystic tumour of kidney, a rare disease that can lead to destruction of kidney.

In this Santosh PGI Technique, Dr Kumar operated a 22-year-old woman by single 2 cm incision through umbilicus, the natural scar given by god, using conventional port and instrument.

The innovative surgical technique is described in a paper published in the Asian Journal of Endoscopic Surgery, a journal of the Japan Society of Endoscopic Surgeons.

According to Dr Kumar, the new minimal invasive technique helped the patient recover fast and without scar. Her kidney was saved. “We believe it is the first case of this kind in this large hydatid parasitic tumour in which this technique was used,” he said.

Parasitic cystic tumour is common in canine, dogs, sheep etc. Humans get infected by eggs and embryo in contaminated vegetable and meat. The patient may not have any symptoms, can present with palpable tumour in abdomen, allergic reaction and obstruction of kidney, according to a statement by PGIMER.

Rupture of parasitic cystic tumour like mass can lead to shock and death. Removal of kidney by open surgery used to be traditional treatment, the statement said.

Treating a giant parasitic tumour kidney was earlier reported by Dr Kumar in the Journal of Endourology, an American Endourological Society journal. In this article he described how he performed treatment of various genitourinary hydatid cystic mass by laparoscopy by three small incisions.

Talking about his latest innovation, Dr Kumar said, “In our case the patient was newly married, who had been deserted by her husband because of unfortunate social condition and risk of morbidity of disease and surgery. Single hole surgery with this new technique through natural scar i.e. umbilicus guided by nephroscope, which is very common armamentarium of urologist, was an excellent advantageous condition for her.”

“It is interesting to say that after successful surgery the husband united with her wife happily,” he added.

Source: India Medical Times