First Ebola case in Mali Confirmed

According to BBC  report two-year-old girl had tested positive for the haemorrhagic virus. She recently returned from the neighbouring Guinea.

More than 4,800 people have died of Ebola - mainly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone - since March.

Meanwhile, an international team of scientists has been set up to determine the effectiveness of using the blood of Ebola survivors as a treatment.

It is hoped the antibodies used by the immune system to fight Ebola can be transferred from a survivor to a patient. The study will start in Guinea.

24 million pupils to be rolled into the National Health Insurance

Information which released by government on Thursday, 24 million pupils are expected to be rolled into the National Health Insurance Scheme by the end of the year.

Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS),  Dr Femi Thomas, said in Abuja Thursday  that the pupils’ enrollment would be implemented in full across states of the federation by December.

  

He said children coverage  children was part of decisions reached at the Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage for Nigerians which took place in Abuja in March this year.

  Thomas emphasized that for universal health coverage in country, package for the children was one of the strategies being developed which still remains at a digit percent of national coverage.

The plan projects that the in it first year Federal Government funds the programme alone, while state pay 60 per cent and the Federal Government pay the remaining 40 per cent.

Voters have clearly rejected single health insurance company

Single health insurance company  have clearly rejected by voters. For reforming Swiss healthcare insurance scheme it was the third unsuccessful attempt by the political left in ten years to reform.

According to official results which is 61.8% of voters throwing out the initiative by centre-left political parties, patients and consumer groups.

They wished to replace the more than 60 private company insurers with a single payer system offering mandatory basic health insurance coverage.

  Four of the country's 26 cantons - notably in western Switzerland - mustered a majority in favour of a single health insurer. 

Swiss Voting base on

1 .result was disappointing  According to Jacqueline Fehr, whose a leading promoter of the initiative, but think about the idea of the single payer principle.

   Fehr, a parliamentarian for the centre-left Social Democrats, said the number of citizens dissatisfied with the current health insurance system has increased since previous votes on a public single health insurance company in 2004 and 2007.

  The Green Party said the victory is a result of powerful insurance industry. The group announced it would push ahead with plans to allow regional single health insurance companies.

2 . Santésuisse, the Association of Health Insurance Companies, said the outcome at the ballot box was a vote of confidence for the insurance system. 

3.  Recent system is too costly and fails to provide for competition among insurers at the expense of consumers.
Critics also accused insurance companies of trying to attract young and healthy customers, undermining the principle of solidarity with the old and infirm.
Initiative promoters said up to CHF350 million ($372 million) could have been saved on administration, and total health expenditure could have been reduced by about 10% over the next few years.
However, most political parties, the government and the business community recommended rejection of the initiative. They say Switzerland has one of the most successful healthcare systems in the world.
Opponents warned of an inefficient bureaucratic organisation if citizens are no longer free to decide on the health insurer of their choice.

4. In 1994 health insurance coverage was made mandatory for Swiss residents.
As compare to past decade costs for individual health insurance premiums have been increasing gradually.

CHF68 billion is Total expenditure for healthcare.The interior ministry last week announced an average increase of 4% for the insurance premiums next year.

Swiss voters have had the final say on 191 initiatives in total. But only 20 of them have won a majority at the ballot box since 1891

Why you want lose your health insurance

"If you like your health insurance, you can keep it".it was  Barack Obama’s best promises ,but at the very same time the president was making that promise, lawmakers on Capitol Hill were drafting legislation that would make clear that promise could never be kept.

It is not only  problem is  that when the health reform law was passed, millions of people were unable to keep the plan they had in 2010, . They are not likely to be able to keep for long any plan they have selected this year on a health insurance exchange. As we move ahead, all health plans will be subjected to restrictions that are likely to change every year. So its mean this year plan to meets the Obamacare restriction, may not meet the restriction next year or the year after that.

So the idea of long-lasting portable insurance that allows long term relationship between you and your doctor awith medical providers  was completely squashed when Congress passed Obamacare.

Now look at the chart below. It shows that all commercial health insurance must fit within four metallic bands: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Each band is explained by its “actuarial value” percent represent benefits the plan which is expected to pay. For example, a Bronze plan represent expected to pay between 58% and 62% of health care costs for a representative enrollee. A Silver plan represent expected to pay between 68% and 72%. And so forth.

Lets Suppose if you are in a Bronze plan with an actuarial value of 58%. Then, so due to lot of changes like because of price changes, technology changes, or some other kind of change, your plan suddenly covers 60% of expected expenses. You think its good for you, right? Wrong. Because your plan no longer fits into one of the metallic corridors, it’s no longer a valid plan  despite the fact that it has become a better plan!

Now  suppose you fit  really good plan  that pays 98% of expected health care costs. There are large number of Democrat’s who think that every n each bill will pay by health insurance, you would think that the law passed by a Democratic Congress without a single Republican vote would strongly encourage such a plan.

Under Obamacare, 92% pay by any Any plan th more than  expected health care costs for the average enrollee is illegal

Healthcare will favour Google over Apple

This comparison of operating system  and even more specifically how these connect to enterprise healthcare.
It contain information about consumer health and fitness, enterprise healthcare applications are typically ones that are licensed (or owned) by the healthcare facility, provider or institution for managing healthcare data on

  Transfering of Apple’s enormous consumer brand popularity (and loyalty) to healthcare , I think it’s misguided for 3 important reasons.

1) Software v Hardware:

In 2007, Apple first launched the iPhone.  Marc Andreessen, says “software is eating the world” and mobile handsets are becoming commoditized. Shortly after Apple’s global event earlier this month.

According to suggestion of  Recent estimate that there are now over 1 million apps in Apple’s iStore and Google Play combined. That’s an impressive volume of apps, but on average, consumers use less than 30 each month and that number hasn’t changed dramatically for the last 3 years.

2 . Consumer v Enterprise:

Apple’s show low interest and focus on developing successful enterprise partnerships.

Second point is lack of exclusivity. During Apple’s HealthKit announcement at their Worldwide Developer Conference earlier this summer, Apple was eager to showcase the number of big healthcare institutions as “partners” for developing the consumer-facing healthcare apps for use with enterprise solutions. It’s an enviable list of large healthcare institutions some with global brand recognition.

Enterprise healthcare isn’t engage by the same requirements, restrictions or revenue models that direct-to-consumer apps are. Enterprise healthcare solutions looking to engage patients aren’t looking to generate revenue with mobile apps ‒ and similarly ‒ any app development they do is an enterprise cost associated with large IT budgets. This isn’t remotely comparable to an early stage software venture eager to impress venture capitalists with simple download and usage metrics.

3) Price

The price Apple’s latest model ‒ the iPhone 6 ‒ starts at $649 (contract free 16Gb model) and the 128Gb iPhone 6 is $849. cellular contracts as expensive and complicated for consumer .‒ Android also provides a significant advantage for the budget . Smartphones based on Android’s latest operating system (KitKat) are readily available (also unlocked) for less than $200 ‒ and some are even less than $100. Here’s one with some fairly impressive specs (and 4.3 stars out of 5) on Amazon for $148.

healthcare providers (or payers) want to get into the business of subsidizing the actual handset, they’re simply not in a position to dictate either Android or iOS as a patient platform.this wi definitely anxious to embrace Apple’s consumer brand loyalty and cache, they are far more likely to embrace a more agnostic technical view relative to the competing mobile platforms ‒ and given the enormous strengths of both Apple and Google

Is Human Brain alive during Sleep?

Scientists says The brain is still active while we are asleep,  who found people were able to classify words during their slumber. According to study The sleeping brain can perform complex tasks, particularly if the task is automated.

Researchers from Cambridge and Paris introduced participants to a word test while awake and found they continued to respond correctly while asleep.

During REM sleep, our brain waves the oscillating electromagnetic signals that result from large-scale brain activity look similar to those produced while we are awake. And in subsequent decades, the late Mircea Steriade of Laval University in Quebec and other neuroscientists discovered that individual collections of neurons were independently firing in between these REM phases, during periods known as slow-wave sleep, when large populations of brain cells fire synchronously in a steady rhythm of one to four beats each second. So it became clear that the sleeping brain was not merely “resting,” either in REM sleep or in slow-wave sleep. Sleep was doing something different. Something active

sleep play role in memory consolidation. Finally, the activation of areas such as the brainstem, usually associated with arousal and waking, might reveal these oscillations of non-REM sleep as ‘micro-wake’ periods allowing the brain to fulfil crucial and active functions, even during the deepest stages of sleep.

  The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.

Sleep Facts

- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply.

- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year

- One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.

- The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.

- REM sleep occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling asleep.

- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.

- Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film

- No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans.

- Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.

- Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others reckon we dream about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.

- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.

- REM sleep may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM sleep, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten puppy rat or hampster experiences only REM sleep, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM sleep at all.

- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.

- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without sleep for up to 36 hrs. Tiny optical fibres embedded in special spectacles project a ring of bright white light (with a spectrum identical to a sunrise) around the edge of soldiers' retinas, fooling them into thinking they have just woken up. The system was first used on US pilots during the bombing of Kosovo.

- Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

- The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, the Challenger space shuttle disaster and the Chernobyl nuclear accident have all been attributed to human errors in which sleep-deprivation played a role.

- The NRMA estimates fatigue is involved in one in 6 fatal road accidents.

- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.

- The "natural alarm clock" which enables some people to wake up more or less when they want to is caused by a burst of the stress hormone adrenocorticotropin. Researchers say this reflects an unconscious anticipation of the stress of waking up.

- Some sleeping tablets, such as barbiturates suppress REM sleep, which can be harmful over a long period.

- In insomnia following bereavement, sleeping pills can disrupt grieving.

- Tiny luminous rays from a digital alarm clock can be enough to disrupt the sleep cycle even if you do not fully wake. The light turns off a "neural switch" in the brain, causing levels of a key sleep chemical to decline within minutes.

- To drop off we must cool off; body temperature and the brain's sleep-wake cycle are closely linked. That's why hot summer nights can cause a restless sleep. The blood flow mechanism that transfers core body heat to the skin works best between 18 and 30 degrees. But later in life, the comfort zone shrinks to between 23 and 25 degrees - one reason why older people have more sleep disorders.

- A night on the grog will help you get to sleep but it will be a light slumber and you won't dream much.

- After five nights of partial sleep deprivation, three drinks will have the same effect on your body as six would when you've slept enough.

- Humans sleep on average around three hours less than other primates like chimps, rhesus monkeys, squirrel monkeys and baboons, all of whom sleep for 10 hours.

- Ducks at risk of attack by predators are able to balance the need for sleep and survival, keeping one half of the brain awake while the other slips into sleep mode.

- Ten per cent of snorers have sleep apnoea, a disorder which causes sufferers to stop breathing up to 300 times a night and significantly increases the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

- Snoring occurs only in non-REM sleep

- Teenagers need as much sleep as small children (about 10 hrs) while those over 65 need the least of all (about six hours). For the average adult aged 25-55, eight hours is considered optimal

- Some studies suggest women need up to an hour's extra sleep a night compared to men, and not getting it may be one reason women are much more susceptible to depression than men.

- Feeling tired can feel normal after a short time. Those deliberately deprived of sleep for research initially noticed greatly the effects on their alertness, mood and physical performance, but the awareness dropped off after the first few days.

- Diaries from the pre-electric-light-globe Victorian era show adults slept nine to 10 hours a night with periods of rest changing with the seasons in line with sunrise and sunsets.

- Most of what we know about sleep we've learned in the past 25 years.

- As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.

- Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet.

- The extra-hour of sleep received when clocks are put back at the start of daylight in Canada has been found to coincide with a fall in the number of road accidents.

How to glow your face

Here are some beauty n glowing face home made tips

1 .keep your face clean always.for this purpose, wash your face with a face wash suitable for your skin type and avoid soap on your face. Soap contains sodium carbonate which squeezes out the moisture of your face, thus keeping it dry.

2. Oatmeal and cinnamon face pack rich in anti oxident so promotes cell growth.
How to prepare facepack 
face pack making is very easy. Take 2 teaspoonful of oatmeal and half teaspoon of cinnamon powder. Now mix two teaspoon of milk to make a paste and then apply it all over your face gently in a circular motion. Keep it for about 15 minutes and then rinse it with plain water.

3. Tea leaves is very effective for skin glow.Tea contain  flavonoid content of tea leaves is anti aging and has the property of skin lightening.
Take tea leaves,Boil a spoon of tea leaves till it shows its colour. Then cool it and add brown sugar in it. Mix some cream in it and make a paste. Apply it over your face in a circular motion for about 10 minutes. Wash it off with plain water to get a softer and glowing skin.

4 . Sooji is also a great thing for clean and glowing skin. Add some milk in sooji and then scrub it over your skin. Leave it then till it dries. Wash it with warm water.

5 . Sugar and lemon scrub can also be used. Equal part of lemon juice can be mixed to make a paste. Scrub it over your face in circular motion and leave it for 15 minutes. Wash it off with warm water for glowing face.

6. Popayae mask provide skin glow
Face Mask Ingredients

   5tsp. of mashed papaya pulp
   1 tsp. of sandalwood powder
    3tsp. of milk powder

How to apply Face Mask

Add sandalwood powder and milk powder to the papaya paste and mix well with a spoon. Then wash face with normal water and apply mask all over the face. Wait for 10-15 min. Then wash it off using cold water.

It can be used in all skin types. But for extremely dry skin, apply your favorite oil or creme before applying this mask. Once in week is sufficient to give good result. If your skin allergic to any of the ingredients please do not use this mask.

Ebola decline economic growth in W.Africa

On Thursday IMF due to outbreak of ebola Economic growth decline in Liberia and Sierra Leone as much as 3.5 percentage , agriculture and services sectors in the two West African countries, the IMF said on Thursday.
 
The IMF said in this year economic growth in Sierra Leona is likely to fall to 8 percent from 11.3 percent , Liberia's growth may decline to 2.5 percent from 5.9 percent, and in Guinea, economic output could fall to 2.4 percent from 3.5 percent.

Bill Murray whose spokesman at the International Monetary Fund said Growth in Guinea, where industrial mining has been unaffected so far, could fall by about 1.5 percentage points.

If we focus  Sierra Leone and Liberia, the largest sectors of these already fragile economies ... are being affected," Murray said. "This is in turn engendering significant financing gaps for the fiscal and external accounts of these two countries, and triggering higher inflation."

He said in these three countries the crisis has exposed financing gaps totaling $100 million to $130 million , and that the IMF doing their work with authorities to figure out additional funding. All three countries are already getting IMF loans under programs that predate the Ebola outbreak.

Murray said
"Urgently need of large-scale and well-coordinated intervention by the international community is to  bring the epidemic under control," 

For Everyone Health Insurance May Not Be Affordable

 A new study suggest in United states the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, but it doesn't make health insurance affordable for everyone.

Researcher showed Older adults who earn just a little bit too much to qualify for federal premium subsidies are particularly vulnerable.

This group of adults faces "the biggest gap in affordability by far," said Ilana Graetz, assistant professor in the department of preventive medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis and the study's lead author.

Young adults face another quirk of the health-reform law, also known as Obamacare. Even after subsidies, young people often pay higher premiums than older adults, the study found.

Graetz said "The fact that they actually have to pay more with the subsidies is a little bit concerning and surprising,".

The study, published in the Sept. 9 online edition of Annals of Internal Medicine, after subside examines premium variations by age, income and region and the affordability of premiums .

Toronto pharmacist, cop save heart attack victim on trans-Pacific flight

An airline passenger is lucky to be alive after he suffered a mid-air heart attack during a long-haul flight and was saved by three fellow travellers.

The man was midway through a flight from Canada to Hong Kong when he complained of chest pains and his heart suddenly stopped beating.

Luckily, a doctor, a pharmacist and a policeman trained in first aid were all on board and, with the help of crew, kept him alive.

+3
He has now made a full recovery in a case which is being used as an example of why portable defibrillators should be carried on all flights.

The dramatic incident, which happened last month, came to light after the doctor involved reported it to the British Medical Journal, which called the episode 'a remarkable story of survival against all the odds'.

Dr Dave Monks, an anaesthesiologist who has worked at the Royal Free Hospital in London, said the man was taken ill hundreds of miles from the nearest airport in some of the most remote airspace on earth.

At Saidu Teaching Hospital on Saturday,6 cases of dangue in one Day

Roshan Ali, the focal person of the STH dengue unit, the six patients admitted to the hospital belong to Skha Cheena, Sethi Mills Mohallah and Faizabad. at Saidu Teaching Hospital on Saturday,As many as six new patients tested positive for the dengue virus.This is the huge number of patients recorded in just one day and spread a wave of fear among locals who saw a large-scale outbreak last year.


According to Roshan Ali, the focal person of the STH dengue unit, the six patients admitted to the hospital belong to Skha Cheena, Sethi Mills Mohallah and Faizabad.
Ali maintained the recovery rate of patients is swift because only nine are under treatment, while 53 have been discharged.
The dengue outbreak began in Swat in late June; a majority of infected patients belong to Skha Cheena. The district administration has been making efforts to keep the virus from spreading across the valley by conducting fumigation drives and creating awareness among residents.



However, the discovery of six new cases in one day has made locals doubt the administration’s efforts. 
Farooq Khan, a medical practitioner in Amankot, told.“We thought this year the dengue fever will not spread as widely as it did last year and the government would control it, but that does not seem to be the case,"

10 Foods to Help Prevent Clogged Arteries

Garlic

Since ancient times garlic has been used to treat heart disease and hypertension. According to a study published in preventive medicine, garlic inhibits coronary artery calcification which serves as a marker for plaque

formation.

• Grapes

Grapes are rich in flavonoids, quercetin, and resveratrol. These flavonoids have been found to prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol that leads to the formation of plaque in

artery walls. They also lower the risk of developing blood clots that can lead to heart attacks.

• Spinach

Spinach is rich in potassium and folic acids, both of which act as a defense against high blood pressure. Spinach is also rich in lutein, a plant carotenoid which not only protects against age related macular degeneration but also prevents heart attacks by keeping arteries free from

cholesterol build up.

• Fish

A study conducted by researchers at Southampton University found that Omega 3 oils, present in fishes like

tuna and salmon, stop the build up of fatty deposits in the arteries. These fatty acids prevent clots from forming and cholesterol from becoming oxidized.

• Olive oil

Only oxidized cholesterol is able to stick to your artery walls and form plaques. Monounsaturated fats present in olive oil when mixed with molecules of bad cholesterol

become less likely to be oxidized.

• Tomatoes

According to a study conducted by Korean researchers, lycopene, a compound present in tomatoes that gives them their color, helps in prevent hardening of the arteries. Researchers found that women with the highest lycopene levels in their blood had the least stiffness in their arteries.

• Pomegranates

Pomegranate juice not only appears to prevent hardening of the arteries by reducing blood vessel damage, but may also reverse the progression of this disease. Pomegranate fruit and its juice are high in antioxidant content, which may help fight hardening of the arteries.

• Kiwi and Cantaloupe

These antioxidant-rich foods work by reducing toxic LDL cholesterol, which is formed by a rusting process in your arteries. They can help stop the rust in its tracks and even prevent it from spreading. Eat one cup of cantaloupe or one kiwi per day to unclog your arteries.

• Cranberry juice

This juice strains the fat out of arteries. Instead of having fat build up in your blood vessels, this juice boosts your cell’s ability to absorb the fat and use it for production of

energy. Drink three glasses of this juice every week to unclog your arteries.

• Oats

Thanks to the soluble fiber in oats, cholesterol doesn’t stand a chance. This fiber attaches itself to cholesterol

and carries it right out of your system. Some studies have shown that eating just 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups of cooked oat- bran cereal daily can lower cholesterol levels by almost

20%.

You'll Never Guess What Doctors Found In This BABY'S BRAIN

A 4-month-old infant in Maryland may be the first person to have had teeth form in his brain as a result of a specific type of rare brain tumor, according to a new report of the case. The boy is doing well now that his tumor has been removed, and doctors say the case sheds light on how these rare tumors develop. Doctors first suspected something might be wrong when the child’s head appeared to be growing faster than is typical for children his age. A brain scan revealed a tumor containing structures that looked very similar to teeth normally found in the lower jaw. The child underwent brain surgery to have the tumor removed, during which doctors found that the tumor contained several fully formed teeth, according to the report.
 [14 Oddest Medical Cases] After an analysis of tumor tissue, doctors determined the child had acraniopharyngioma, a rare brain tumor that can grow to be larger than a golf ball, but does not spread. Researchers had always suspected that these tumors form from the same cells involved in making teeth, but until now, doctors had never seen actual teeth in these tumors, said Dr. Narlin Beaty, a neurosurgeon at the University of Maryland Medical Center, who performed the boy’s surgery along with his colleague, Dr. Edward Ahn, of Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. “It’s not every day you see teeth in any type of tumor in the brain. In a craniopharyngioma, it’s unheard of,” Beaty said. Craniopharyngiomas commonly contain calcium deposits, “but when we pulled out a full tooth…I think that’s something slightly different,” Beaty told Live Science. Teeth have been found in people’s brains before, but only in tumors known as teratomas, which are unique among tumors because they contain all three of the tissue types found in an early-stage human embryo, Beaty said. In contrast, craniopharyngiomas have only one layer of tissue. The boy’s case provides more evidence that craniopharyngiomas do indeed develop from the cells that make teeth, Beaty said. These tumors are most often diagnosed in children ages 5 to 14, and are rare in children younger than 2, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Top 10 Brain-Damaging Habits

We have such a lot of mannerisms and habits. we often think that doing them makes us feel relaxed. However, what we have a tendency to don’t recognize is that these habits may cause internal destruction like brain damage.

1. Skipping Breakfast or No Breakfast at all.

People who don't take breakfast usually got a lower blood sugar level. That’s bad. It ends up in an insufficient of nutrients to the brain causing brain degeneration.

2. Over eating.

Over eating causes the hardening of the brain arteries that results in a decrease in mental power. That’s why you might notice that you simply can’t concentrate well on a puzzle if you have eaten over limit.

3. Smoking

It does not only harm the lungs however also the brain. The nicotine in cigarettes also contain some substances that causes multiple brain shrinkage. If this may continue, you might even get an Alzheimer’s disease.

4.High sugar consumption

Too much of everything is unhealthy. Having a high sugar count interrupts the absorption of proteins and nutrients inflicting malnutrition. this could also interfere in the brain development. Thus, it's not advisable, particularly for children to indulge in sweets.

5. Exposure in air pollution

This is not actually a habit since we tend to are invariably exposed to pollution. Yet, it is listed here because it is one the most causes of brain damage. it is a incontrovertible fact that the brain is one of the main oxygen consumers in the body. Inhaling polluted air decreases the provision of oxygen, bringing about a decrease in brain potency.

6. Lack of sleep or Sleep deprivation

Sleep is extremely essential. it allows our brain to rest from all the hard work done in all day. long term deprivation from sleep accelerates the death of brain cells.

7. Head covered while sleeping

This is often unhealthy too. Sleeping together with your head covered increases the concentration of carbon dioxide and decreases the concentration of oxygen which ends up in brain damaging effects.

8. Working your brain during illness

This is quite common to students and professionals alike. progressing to college or workplace while sick and doing voluminous brain work.do you know that working hard or studying  while sick ends up in a decrease of brain effctiveness and conjointly brings brain damage? Well, currently you know 

9. Lacking in stimulating thoughts

Thinking is that the best way to train our brain. having sensible conversations or writing some essays is extremely healthy. Talking non-sense things is certainly not.it is best to invariably have brain stimulating thoughts to avoid brain shrinkage.

10. Talking Rarely

There’s nothing unhealthy in being talkative,it is actually healthy.Intellectual conversations promote the potency of the brain.

Less time sitting can add two healthy years to your life

Many people believe they must engage in strenuous physical activity to achieve optimal fitness and prevent illness. While exercise is certainly important to health, new research provides a different perspective about the negative effects of sitting for extended periods and how we can make small changes to potentially increase our natural lifespan.

Researchers gleaning data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) have published the result of a study in the journal BMJ Open, that explains how restricting the amount of time spent seated every day to fewer than three hours might boost the life expectancy of people by an extra two years. Additionally, they have found that cutting down TV or Computer viewing to fewer than two hours every day might extend life by almost 1.4 years.

In the past, studies have implicated sitting for extended periods and watching too much television with illnesses including diabetes, heart disease and stroke. This study is the first to directly link the sedentary lifestyle habits of more than 167,000 people with relative risk of developing or dying from a chronic illness. Researchers pooled data from five relevant studies to arrive at their startling conclusion.

Walking or standing a few minutes each hour may help extend lifespan in aging adults

The scientists pooled all relevant data to develop a statistical tool known as a population attributable fraction (PAF). The PAF is an estimate of the theoretical effects of a risk factor on a population, rather than an individual marker, necessary to calculate the number of deaths associated with time spent sitting down. The researchers determined the PAFs for deaths from all causes linked to sitting time and TV viewing were 27 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

By extrapolating the PAF statistics, the study team determined that cutting the amount of time spent sitting down every day to under three hours would add an extra two years to life expectancy. In a similar manner, restricting time spent watching TV to under two hours daily would extend life expectancy by an extra 1.38 years.

These results are significant because many aging adults spend extended periods of time sitting or lying down as they watch television. Standing or walking for several minutes each hour may provide protection against vascular and metabolic dysfunction, the underlying processes behind the explosion in new cases of cardiovascular disease, stroke and diabetes in our aging population.

Cancer fighting and immune boosting foods

The right food choices can greatly increase the odds of beating cancer. Fortunately, nature offers a multitude of foods which have great cancer fighting and immune boosting properties. Here are some of the very best:


Cancer fighting and immune boosting superstars ::
-------------------------------------------------------
Cruciferous Vegetables :: Cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower and kale are among the most powerful cancer fighting foods to be found. Cruciferous vegetables are high in fiber, vitamins and minerals and contain important antioxidants such as beta carotene and the compound sulforaphane. Cruciferous vegetables contain isothiocyanates, phytochemicals which help break down potential carcinogens. They also contain indole-3-carbidol (I3C), which helps prevent estrogen driven cancers. Other cruciferous vegetables are: arugula, bok choy, chard, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, daikon, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, rutabagas, turnips and watercress.

Curcumin (turmeric) :: Curcumin, the major ingredient of the spice turmeric, has been a rising star against cancer in recent years. Numerous studies have indicated curcumin's cancer fighting abilities as well as its abilities to help prevent cancer, including one study which found that curcumin helps prevent lung cancer for tobacco smokers.

Mushrooms :: There are a number of mushrooms known as "medicinal mushrooms" which can help the body fight cancer and build the immune system. These mushrooms contain a number of valuable cancer fighting and immune boosting compounds including polysaccharides such as lentinan, beta glucan, lectin and thioproline. These compounds attack cancerous cells, prevent them from multiplying, and boost immune activity - including stimulating the body's natural production of interferon.

Some of the very best cancer fighting and immune boosting mushrooms are: agaricus blazei murrill (ABM mushroom), coriolus versicolor (Asian turkey tail mushroom), shitake, reishi, maitake, cordyceps oglossoides and phellinus linteus.

Garlic :: Garlic, as well as onions, leeks and chives, has immune-enhancing allium compounds that increase the immune cell activity, help break down cancer causing substances and block carcinogens from entering cells . Studies have linked garlic to lower risk of stomach and colon cancer. Diallyl sulfide, a compound found in garlic oil, has also been shown to render carcinogens in the liver inactive.

Flax :: Flax contains lignans, compounds which block or suppress cancerous changes in cells. Flax is also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which protect against colon and other cancers. Notably, flax is part of the famous and highly successful Budwig Cancer Diet.

Hot Peppers :: Hot peppers such as cayenne (chili peppers) and jalapenos contain capsaicin, a chemical which fights cancer and helps neutralize certain cancer-causing nitrosamines. Hot peppers are especially valuable for helping prevent stomach cancers.

Dark Leafy Vegetables :: Spinach, turnip greens and other cancer fighting dark green leafy vegetables are rich in folic acid. Folic acid helps maintain the cell's genetic code and regulate normal cell division.

Dark Seeded Grapes :: Dark red grapes contain powerful bioflavonoid antioxidants that work as cancer preventives. Grapes are also a rich source of resveratrol and ellagic acid, a compound that slows the growth of tumors by blocking enzymes needed by cancer cells. Eat the entire grape, seeds and all.

Brown Seaweed :: Brown seaweeds such as kombu contain the polysaccharide compound fucoidan. Fucoidan has been found to kill cancer tumors including lymphoma, different kinds of leukemia, stomach cancer and colon cancer. Notably, the people of Okinawa, who consume the highest per capita amount of kombu, have some of the highest life expectancies in Japan as well as the lowest cancer death rate.

Other powerful cancer fighting foods are:

* Carrots
* Green and black tea
* Fermented organic soy
* Tomatoes
* Blueberries
* Raspberries
* Purple corn
* Extra virgin olive oil
* Avocados
* Nuts
* Sweet potatoes
* Apples

Source: naturalnews.com

Sprints can cut fat

One hour of sprinting per week can significantly cut the visceral fat in the abdomen.

Men can significantly cut the visceral fat in their abdomen with one hour of interval sprinting per week instead of relying on seven hours of jogging a week for a similar result, according to new Australian research.

Just 20-minutes of sprints on an exercise bike, three times a week, is all that’s required, the University of New South Wales researchers found.

“Sprints are a very time efficient form of exercise,” says Associate Professor Steve Boutcher, who led the UNSW Medicine research.

“The sprint program, LifeSprints, reduced visceral fat with seven times less exercise time and has a much greater impact on cardiovascular and metabolic health than reductions of subcutaneous fat stores in the legs and arms.”

Men who participated in the research lost two kilograms of body fat, 17 per cent of visceral fat, and put on 1.2 kilograms of muscle in their legs and trunk after the 12-week exercise bike sprints program.

“Other studies using aerobic exercise, such as continuous jogging, have found that the amount of exercise needed to produce a similar decrease in visceral fat was around seven hours per week for 14 weeks,” Professor Boutcher says.

The team of researchers has previously studied the impact of the sprinting program on women, which also showed a significant loss of body fat from stationary cycling for 20 minutes, three times a week.

LifeSprints were also good for those who wanted to boost muscle mass.

“Participation in regular aerobic exercise typically results in little or no gain in muscle mass, whereas moderately hard resistance exercise over months may increase muscle mass. The amount of LifeSprints exercise, however, needed to significantly increase muscle mass appears to be much less,” Professor Boutcher says.

The research was carried out by UNSW Medicine PhD candidate Mehrdad Heydari, with body composition assessment by Professor Judith Freund from St Vincent’s Hospital’s Nuclear Imaging Department.

The food myth disproven.

Food left on a surface can collect 150 to 8,000 bacteria. Image: Shutterstock

Everyone knows the drill: Your tasty treat falls to the floor, you quickly pick it up, pretending nothing happened, and continue eating. However, the idea that it takes less than five seconds to contaminate food couldn’t be more incorrect, according to food scientist Paul Dawson of Clemson University, US.
“In the case of the five-second rule we found that bacteria was transferred from tabletops and floors to the food within five seconds,” says Dawson in a statement, published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology. “That is, the five-second rule is not an accurate guide when it comes to eating food that has fallen on the floor.”
In his research he determined that salmonella and other bacteria can survive up to four weeks on dry surfaces and transfer to food immediately upon contact. In other words, if your food touches the ground, it should not then touch your tongue.
In conducting the experiment, Dawson’s food of choice was bologna sandwiches dropped on tile, wood and nylon carpet contaminated by salmonella. Sandwiches left on the surfaces collected 150 to 8,000 bacteria. If they were left for a full 60 seconds, ten times more bacteria were found.
However, Dr Paul Pottinger, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington, US, believes it’s not seconds that count, but the location of where you drop the food. “Brushing off a bagel you dropped on the sidewalk and eating it is probably safe because the pavement is cleaner than a kitchen floor in terms of the kinds of bacteria found there,” he explained in a press release. Likewise, bathrooms should also be considered zero-second zones.
Dawson concluded from additional experiments that repeated dunking into a dip or sauce using the same edible vehicle—the so-called double-dipping—is another routine practice that can spread bacteria. Although illness may not result, “It’s like you’re kissing someone,” he says, “and it’s not just a peck on the cheek.”

Dengue Virus Killer Found

The researchers identified a recombinant antibody that could attach itself strongly to a specific part of the dengue virus and inhibit it from attacking other cells.

A team of research scientists here have uncovered a human antibody that can neutralize and kill the dengue virus within two hours. A way to reproduce this antibody in large quantities has also been identified, potentially opening the door to a cure for dengue infected patients.

This discovery was made by a combined team from the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and the Defence Medical & Environmental Research Institute at DSO National Laboratories (DMERI@DSO) with funding from the Singapore National Research Foundation under its Singapore NRF Fellowship, National Medical Research Council and DR Tech.

By studying a group of cell lines from recovered dengue-infected patients over a period of two years, the team identified a recombinant antibody that could attach itself strongly to a specific part of the dengue virus and inhibit it from attacking other cells. The antibody ventually destroys the virus and at a much faster speed compared to existing anti-dengue compounds. It has been proven to increase the survival in a mouse model infected with the dengue virus.

The World Health Organization estimates there may be 50–100 million dengue infections worldwide every year. With no approved vaccines or specific treatment available and with vector control as the only method for prevention, dengue continues to be a public health concern.

To complicate matters, there are four dengue serotypes (DENV1 to DENV4), and infection with one dengue serotype means lifelong immunity to that type but only partial and temporary protection against the other three. Developing a vaccine against dengue has thus been challenging, made more so because of a global, urgent need for new treatment to manage this disease.

This newly discovered antibody specifically treats DENV1, which accounts for up to 50% of the dengue cases in Singapore and other Association of Southeast Asian Nation countries. To ensure its effectiveness, the team tested this new antibody with DENV1 types from these countries – with equally promising results, said Associate Professor Paul Macary of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine’s Department of Microbiology. He is the Principal Investigator who led the research team.

“We knew the antibody exists based on the fact that most patients recover naturally from dengue infection, but the chances of finding it would be like finding a needle in a haystack. We are very encouraged by this breakthrough. This represents the best candidate therapy that currently exists for dengue and thus is likely to be the first step in treating dengue infected patients who currently have no specific medicine or antibiotic to take and may take days to fully recover.”

Added Dr Brendon Hanson, Head, Bio-Defence Therapeutics Lab, DMERI@DSO, “Being a completely human antibody, it is likely to have no serious side effects and this makes not only this antibody, but the approach we took to isolate antibodies from recovered patients an attractive one.”

Said Assistant Professor Lok Shee-Mei of the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore, “The journey in finding this antibody that effectively treats dengue virus serotype 1 virus infection has been very fulfilling. Now we will be on our next quest to find other antibodies that treat Dengue serotypes 2, 3 and 4 infection. We hope to combine these antibodies into one concoction in the near future to treat each serotype and improve patient outcomes.”

Moving forward the team will be embarking on a clinical trial in the next 12 -16 months and expects a therapy to be available within the next 6 - 8 years. The team hopes to uncover antibodies for the other dengue types within the next two years.

Higher infection risk in cars

"Travelling in a car with a person infected with the flu can mean your chance of getting sick is up to 99.9%."

Travelling in a car with a person infected with the flu can mean your chance of getting sick is up to 99.9%, a study from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) shows.

Professor Lidia Morawska, director of QUT's International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, said the risk of transmitting influenza over a 90-minute car trip with someone ill could be higher than travelling on a Boeing 747 for 17 hours with an infected person.

The study, which compared 1989 and 2005 models of passenger cars, estimated the risk ranged from 59% to 99.9% for a 90-minute car trip when air was recirculated in newer, more air-tight vehicles.

"This area hadn't been studied before and the results have implications for preventing in-car transmission of other illnesses spread by airborne particles," Professor Morawska said.

"Airborne transmission is now strongly suspected of playing a significant role in the spread of influenza indoors under certain conditions including in newer cars and in other modes of transportation.

"There are a lot of unknowns associated with how infections spread through the air. For example, are you more likely to catch the flu at home or work?"

'Infection spread: will breathing kill you?' will be among issues debated at the 10th International Healthy Buildings Conference, from July 8 to 12, at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

QUT is hosting the four-day event which will bring world-leading experts from across Australia and internationally to examine major issues facing building, environmental and health professionals.

Two other symposiums at the conference are: 'Other balance of power: energy conservation versus indoor environmental quality'; and 'Race against time: population, urban growth and miracles of technology'.

Major keynote speakers include Professor Clive Beggs, leader of the Bradford Infection Group at the University of Bradford in the UK, who will chair a panel on controlling the transmission of emerging pathogens in hospitals, offices and in transport, as well as bio-terrorism.

Professor Morawska, who is also a member of QUT's Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, said poorly-designed buildings contributed to the spread of illnesses from the common cold to dangerous viruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

"There is still much work to be done to be able to quantify all of the factors that contribute to the spread of infection indoors," she said.

"If the design of buildings were modified to focus on reducing infection spread people would contract fewer colds and flu. This would have a huge impact on people's quality of life and benefit the economy as well.

"When it comes to emergency responses to exotic diseases, we need to look at the role of buildings in preventing or mitigating the spread of pathogens such as SARS or avian influenza."