Archive for January, 2007

Nitroglycerin helps pregnant women extend pregnancy and Improves Babies’ Health

Wednesday, January 31st, 2007

Nitroglycerin helps pregnant women extend pregnancy and Improves Babies' Health

News has found in which if nitroglycerin is given to women who are going to deliver premature baby, it will be beneficial for baby.

Led by Dr. Graeme Smith (Obstetrics and Gynaecology), the five-year, randomized controlled trial involved 153 women who were conscripted at the time they went into pre-term labour. The study was planned by the Queen’s Perinatal Research Unit at Kingston General Hospital, with data management by the Ottawa Maternal Neonatal Investigators at the Ottawa Health Research Institute.

According to the study nitroglycerin patches for pregnant women helps to extend pregnancy and — most prominently — improves babies’ outcome, with slight side effects than experienced through the use of other drugs.

Approximately 7.5 per cent of all babies born in Canada are born prematurely (before 37 weeks) and 1 to 2 per cent is born before 34 weeks. “It is this later group that is most concerning as these babies are at the highest risk of immediate and long-term medical complications,” says Dr. Smith, an expert in high-risk obstetrics.

“Dr. Smith’s trial results have provided us new information on one possible solution to reduce the adverse effects of pre-term labour,” said Dr. Michael Kramer, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health. “This result is very promising and it provides reassurance for expecting mothers and their families.”

The team’s findings are highlighted as an “Editor’s Choice” in the January issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. An editorial in the journal commends “the excellence of their clinical research” and “the study design, execution and report.”

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Affordable health care plans

Friday, January 26th, 2007

“People need to have access to their own records in a way that is convenient to them,” Leavitt said. “Once you have cost and quality, you’re now making decisions based on value.”Esmeralda Wergin, a waitress in Overland Park said “Some jobs offer health insurance plans that you’re not going to use,” and “You’re paying so much for this insurance policy but it really covers nothing.”

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Spain health ministry will change size of clothes to help women’s health

Friday, January 26th, 2007

Spain health ministry will change size of cloth to help women's health
Spanish government is going to pour health in fashion fundas. Government is announced to change the cloth size which could be fit for women health and fitness. Health minister Elena Salgado designed this program and will also put off those companies from using glass displays traiting clothes smaller than a European size 38 (10 in Britain, 8 in the US).
Spanish Health Minister Elena Salgado said “It is not reasonable for a modern and advanced society to establish stereotypes of beauty that are far removed from the social reality of a community. It is everyone’s commitment that beauty and health go hand in hand…”
…Designers should be expectant to “promote a healthy physical image that conforms to the reality of the Spanish population,” the Spanish health ministry said in a statement.
The new agenda will also “gauge 8,500 Spanish girls and women between the ages of 12 and 70 to determine the true shapes of Spanish women’s bodies.” Is that breathtaking or what?
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Active members of Health Service took action regarding hospital food

Wednesday, January 24th, 2007

Health service stands by patient food

Shoalhaven Memorial Hospital has been watched over by The South-East Sydney and Illawarra Health Service regarding the food which is supplied to the patients.

One elder patient complains about the food that the food was supplied was inedible, and The Member for South Coast, Shelley Hancock took action regard this.

But Shannon Chamberland from South-East Illawarra Health says the hospital food preparation was stirred to a central food service at Port Kembla Hospital six years before to recommend a larger variety of foods.

“We actually produce 9,000 meals per day from the central food service and we supply over 30 sites across New South Wales,” she says.

“With regards to the 9,000 meals per day that we’re producing for, the actual complaints are minimal - we actually conduct patient surveys and we’ve actually recently finished a group of them and the percentages were actually in the high 80s.”
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About Birth control pills…

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

New Rules for Birth Control Are ExaminedEarlier several women have fear in their mind in taking contraceptive pills for preventive pregnancy because a long time ago they can cause of blood clotting, cardiovascular problems and several other problems but now….government is taking action towards birth control drugs, saying new pills come out to be less helpful at preventing pregnancy than those agreed decades before.

Amy Allina, program director of the National Women’s Health Network said, “The very first pills were very high dose and carried risks of blood clots and cardiovascular problems that would be unacceptable to most women,” “Today, most birth control pills are very safe for the vast majority of women.”

The drug agency said, The contraceptive pills accepted in the 1960s acceptable on normal less than one pregnancy for every 100 women taking the tablet for as a minimum a year,. But the government has approved pills allowing more than two pregnancies for every 100 women.

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Antidepressants increase the risk of fractures

Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007

antidepressant tablets increase risk of factures

Antidepressant raises the risk of fractures, news reported. Prozac and several other antidepressants increase the risk double of fractures in the middle age. Those person who habitual of depression medicines, called SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors), have weaker bones rather than other people.

A study has found in McGill University that habitant of antidepressant has weaker bones and have fractures. The results recommend doctors require weighing the reimbursement of SSRIs for depression with the growing risk of fractures as they create treatment decisions, the study said.

People should be aware there is this amplified risk and should be encouraged to pursue a routine for osteoporosis.

David Goltzman, professor of medicine at McGill University said “we can say SSRIs are associated with risk over and above things like falls, physical activity and bone density,”.

The researchers wrote in the study “In light of the high rate of SSRI use among the general population, and among elderly persons in particular, further studies that include controlled prospective trials are needed to confirm our findings”.

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Having Dog is good for health

Sunday, January 21st, 2007

dog and owner
A Study has found in the British Psychological Society that Dog owners are healthier than other pet owners or don’t have.
Deborah wells, a lecturer at the Canine Behavior Center of Queens University in Belfast, studied and found there is less chance of diseases in dog owner rather than other pet or don’t.
According to Wells, “It is possible that dogs can directly promote our well being by buffering us from stress.”
As stress is the main cause of several diseases such as auto-immune diseases, heart disease, blood pressure etc. But dog ownership reduces all risk factors related to stress.

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Simple drugs can be cause of severe strokes…

Saturday, January 20th, 2007

cold remedies

According to Korean research on Cold Drugs with phenylpropanolamine (PPA) come into views to boost the risk of hemorrhagic stroke in young and middle-age women.

Woo Yoon of Seoul National University Hospital told Reuters Health that the “association between diet pills containing large doses of PPA and brain hemorrhage was already proven, our study reveals that even smaller doses of PPA in cold remedies can increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke.”

Studied has been done on 940 patients with hemorrhagic stroke, and reported “Overall, 1.7 percent of the women were exposed to PPA within 14 days of the stroke, compared with 0.7 percent of controls, in the 14 days prior to the index date. All of these exposures were due to cold remedies containing PPA. None of the subjects were using appetite suppressants.”

The ratio came of risks just double than normal, among the women, the stroke was augmented by 4-fold, but the risk is very less among men. But in recent studies the risk is also found in some men also.

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How much do you know about your heart?

Thursday, January 18th, 2007

quiz
Mayoclinic.com has launched quiz contest related to heart health. I only got 7 out of 8, I was a biological student and must know 8/8 but one has left, anyways, why do you not try out this? and let me know how much knowledge you have regarding your heart.

contest

Villages of China now turning into “Cancer Villages”

Wednesday, January 17th, 2007

Shangba village mask serious environmental problems

It feels good to hear about a hamlet if it is a messy compilation of abodes sitting in the abundant green paddy fields, a small village, Shangba, has all these quality in China, but all these terms are true…..?

Several peoples are dying here after drinking water and now, Shangba has counted in the number of “cancer villages”. Scientist Chen Nengchang has been studying the cause of this cancer and found a river which is rippling alongside with this village, and villagers are totally depending on this river whether drinking water or irrigation of the crops.

Shangba village mask serious environmental problems

He said that there are high levels poisonous heavy metals are present in the water; he also believes there is a direct link between prevalence of cancer and mining in the area.
“The mines are producing heavy metals which have polluted this area” he said. “Cleaning it up will take years and really we have a huge job on our hands. We have managed to get the authorities to supply clean drinking water, but there’s still a long way to go,” he said.

Not only Shangba but also several villages are facing same problem, approximately 320 million people drink dirty water every day.

The government has assured to do something and it promised to spend billions of dollars to transport clean water to 160 million farmers by 2010. I hope for fine……

Overall, several thousands villages are up and down the China, which are paying the worth.

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