Sure, your refined white sugars can spark an energy crash, and ice cream might be as addictive as crack. But the sweet stuff has some virtues—for your heart, diet goals, and even libido. Here are the top five ways eating dessert can actually do your body good.
It protects you from strokes.
A few bites of chocolate each day could decrease the risk of stroke down the line. In a study from Neurology, 37,000 Swedish men aged 45 to 79 recorded their diet over the course of 10 years. Those who ate the most chocolate (62.9 grams per week in this case) were 17 percent less likely to suffer from a stroke than those who nixed the treat entirely. "The key message to take away here is that these studies focus on the intake of dark chocolate," says Heather Calcote, a registered dietician and a program manager at Corporate Wellness Solutions. "Typically this is marked on the package by something containing 65 to 70% cocoa or more. Note that some brands that sell dark chocolate often include milk in their mix. Check ingredient lists and either stick with cocoa powder or selectively choose your dark chocolate."
It's healthy for breakfast (maybe).
Forget what mom always said about breakfast. Earlier this year, researchers at Tel Aviv University claimed that eating cookies and cake in the morning could actually help you lose weight. The study, published in Steroids, looked at about 200 adults on low-calorie diets. Some ate a large, 600-calorie breakfast topped off with a cookie, slice of cake, or doughnut. The others were stuck with a 300-calorie, protein-packed meal of tuna, egg whites, cheese, and milk. Those who lucked out with sweets said they were less hungry and had fewer cravings throughout the day. Moreover, they kept on losing weight in the second half of the study—the low-carb dieters gained back much of what they had shed. Calcote worries that adding a slice of cake or other refined sugars to breakfast could result in a crash a couple hours of later, so she suggests finding more natural ways to sweeten your morning meal. "Having something sweet for breakfast could be as simple as adding honey or agave to oatmeal, topping yogurt with granola or having a frozen berry smoothie," she says.
Pretoria — Claims for HIV, AIDS and TB-related conditions are among the top ten cost drivers for medical claims made annually, and employees are accessing disease management packages at an advanced stage of their HIV infection, usually with low CD4 counts, according to the annual key health trends reported by the Government Employee Medical Scheme (GEMS).
The report by the medical scheme for public service employees, noted that employees were being diagnosed late and this was having an impact on their chances of responding well to antiretroviral treatment.
The report further noted that the enrolment into the GEMS disease management programme had increased from the 2010 baseline by 65% (from 32 243 in 2009/10 to 53 495 in 2010/11) as measured by Aid for AIDS (AFA) registration data (GEMS'2010).
Whilst this is an encouraging milestone, the report, however, highlighted that this enrolment does not occur early enough in the course of the HIV disease progression before the CD4 count drops below 350.
The findings showed that 34% of beneficiaries are enrolled at the CD4 count of 200 and a further 22% at a moderately severe immune-suppression. The 2010 report showed that the majority (76%) of AFA registered beneficiaries were principal members of GEMS.
The proportion of employees tested for HIV through private health care service providers in the last year increased by 78%, from 9791 in April 2010 to 86 324 in June 2011.
In all the national and provincial reports reviewed there are three leading conditions, psychiatric illnesses such as depression and anxiety, respiratory illnesses and muscular-skeletal illnesses such as lower back, osteoarthritis and various orthopaedic conditions.
These statistics were released on Thursday by the Department of Public Service and Administration during the launch of Intensification of the HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign in the Public Service.
The campaign aims to get public servants to test, know their status and access treatment early before the current baseline of CD4 count of 200.
Speaking on behalf of the department, Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said that the findings demanded that the public service aggressively popularise regular HIV counselling and testing to increase the number of employees who know their HIV status so that they can access treatment, care and support in the very early stages of their infection. This would ensure favourable treatment outcomes.
"The HCT campaign should be linked to the empowerment of the vulnerable groups, like women, youth, low-income and non-professional groups, in line with the SADC initiative of Mainstreaming of HIV and AIDS into social and health issues.
"It should also be intensified for employees in the Departments of Health and Basic Education, where HIV prevalence has been confirmed to be higher," Dr Motsoaledi said.
During the event at the Union Buildings on Thursday, the Department of Public Service and Administration also launched three guidelines which should serve as entry points towards HIV and AIDS mainstreaming in the public service.
The guidelines, which will be implemented in the public service with effect from 1 April 2013, include:
- Guidelines on Gender Sensitive, Rights Based, HIV and AIDS Mainstreaming Guidelines into Public Service and Administration
- The Guidelines on management of Psychosocial Stressors in the Public Service (The SOLVE Guidelines)
- The Guidelines on Child care Facilities in the Public Service.
"This initiative is a first step to rally all government departments to integrate HCT into their annual operational plans and report on outputs and outcome indicators for their HCT Programme implementation to DPSA, which in turn will submit collated Government Sector report to SANAC," Dr Motsoaledi said.
He said that it was through a healthy, dedicated, productive and responsive workforce that one could collectively work towards the attainment of efficient and effective service delivery.
The intensification of the HCT campaign among government employees is expected to lead to an increased proportion of HIV-infected employees who are enrolled into disease management programme, early in their course of HIV infection before CD4 count drops below 350 to enable them to live longer healthy productive work-lives.
The campaign will also see an increase in the number of employees who know their HIV status, a reduction of the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV testing, and the increase the implementation of all prescribed HCT screening components, and not just HIV testing.
The intensification of the campaign will further lead to the intensified development of targeted prevention messages to promote healthy-lifestyle choices irrespective of one's HIV status as well as accurate monitoring of condoms (males and females) distributed in the Government Sector departments.
A target of achieving a 100% percent coverage of all 1.3 million public servants by 31 March 2016 has been set. This excludes employees of the state owned enterprises and dependents of public service employees.
On Thursday Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe announced that, more than 20 million South Africans have tested for HIV and other diseases since President Jacob Zuma launched the original HCT campaign in 2010.
He said that the intensification of the HCT campaign was a gateway to the implementation of the new guidelines and initiating a culture of taking responsibility for our health and wellness.
"The NSP [National Strategic Plan] for HIV, TB and STIs has defined this intervention as one of the priorities in our response. We want to encourage other sectors to follow this lead and extend services to their employees and the communities in which they work.
"From all these intervention, we are confident that a future of zero new infections, zero discrimination, zero Aids-related deaths and zero new infections due to vertical transmission is within reach," he said.
Title: Smoking Scenes on Rise in Top-Grossing Youth-Rated Movies: CDC Category: Health News Created: 9/27/2012 4:06:00 PM Last Editorial Review: 9/28/2012 12:00:00 AM
Background: In a longitudinal population-based study of the relationship between body mass index (BMI) in early adulthood and marital status at 40 years of age, obese men were half as likely to be married compared with men of normal weight. Significant associations between obesity and marital status among men in a longitudinal setting are novel findings. Methods: The study cohort comprised Swedish men born from 1951 to 1961. Height and weight at age 18 was gathered from the Military Service Conscription Register and information on marital status at 40 years of age was obtained from population registers by record-linkage using the unique personal identification number. The odds ratio (OR) for being married was calculated by polytomous logistic regression analysis adjusting for birth year, intellectual performance, education, country of birth, residential area, socioeconomic position in childhood and adulthood, parental education and muscle strength. Results: Our study included 486 599 Swedish men. Young men who were obese (BMI>=30.0) at 18 years of age had an OR of 0.49 (95% CI: 0.46--0.52) for being married at 40 years of age compared to normal weight men (BMI: 18.5--24.9). Underweight men (BMI<=18.5) had an OR of 0.84 (0.82--0.86) and overweight men (BMI: 25.0--29.9) had an OR of 0.83 (0.80--0.85) for being married at 40 years of age. Conclusion: Underweight, overweight and obese men were less likely to be married than their normal weight counterparts. Obese men had the lowest likelihood of being married. Stigmatization and discrimination may partly explain these findings, but further research is needed before firm conclusions can be drawn.
Sure, your refined white sugars can spark an energy crash, and ice cream might be as addictive as crack. But the sweet stuff has some virtues—for your heart, diet goals, and even libido. Here are the top five ways eating dessert can actually do your body good.
It protects you from strokes.
A few bites of chocolate each day could decrease the risk of stroke down the line. In a study from Neurology, 37,000 Swedish men aged 45 to 79 recorded their diet over the course of 10 years. Those who ate the most chocolate (62.9 grams per week in this case) were 17 percent less likely to suffer from a stroke than those who nixed the treat entirely. "The key message to take away here is that these studies focus on the intake of dark chocolate," says Heather Calcote, a registered dietician and a program manager at Corporate Wellness Solutions. "Typically this is marked on the package by something containing 65 to 70% cocoa or more. Note that some brands that sell dark chocolate often include milk in their mix. Check ingredient lists and either stick with cocoa powder or selectively choose your dark chocolate."
It's healthy for breakfast (maybe).
Forget what mom always said about breakfast. Earlier this year, researchers at Tel Aviv University claimed that eating cookies and cake in the morning could actually help you lose weight. The study, published in Steroids, looked at about 200 adults on low-calorie diets. Some ate a large, 600-calorie breakfast topped off with a cookie, slice of cake, or doughnut. The others were stuck with a 300-calorie, protein-packed meal of tuna, egg whites, cheese, and milk. Those who lucked out with sweets said they were less hungry and had fewer cravings throughout the day. Moreover, they kept on losing weight in the second half of the study—the low-carb dieters gained back much of what they had shed. Calcote worries that adding a slice of cake or other refined sugars to breakfast could result in a crash a couple hours of later, so she suggests finding more natural ways to sweeten your morning meal. "Having something sweet for breakfast could be as simple as adding honey or agave to oatmeal, topping yogurt with granola or having a frozen berry smoothie," she says.
Colon Cancer Gene Database May Assist Research Efforts
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A colorectal gene database will help further research into the disease, a new study suggests.
The CRCgene database gathers all genetic association studies on
colorectal cancer. It allows researchers to accurately interpret the risk factors of the disease and provides insight into the direction of further research, according to Julian Little, with the department of epidemiology and community medicine at the University of Ottawa, and colleagues.
To determine the genetic factors associated with colorectal cancer, they analyzed data from all published genetic association studies on colorectal cancer.
The researchers identified 16 independent gene variants with the strongest links to colorectal cancer, among 23 variants, a number lower than expected. Unfortunately, the researchers say, this reduces the feasibility of combining variants as a profile in a prediction tool to identity people who are at increased risk for colorectal cancer and who should be screened for the disease.
Even so, the analysis "provides a resource for mining available data and puts into context the sample sizes required for the identification of true associations," the researchers wrote in the Sept. 27 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
About 950,000 new cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed each year, according to a journal news release. Risk factors for the disease include age, diet, lifestyle and possibly genetics.
A foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds, but using condoms every time you have sex isn't foolish. It's the sensible thing to do. Inconsistent condom use simply isn't as effective at preventing STDs.
This issue was recently examined in a paper published in the September issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The scientists looked at the effect of serosorting on the likelihood of HIV seroconversion in men who have sex with men (MSM).
Serosorting is the practice of only practicing safe sex with people of a different serostatus. In other words, HIV negative MSM choose to only use condoms when they're having anal sex with men who are known to be infected. In theory, it sounds great. However, it relies on men accurately knowing their status, and far too many of them don't. Most men don't get checked all that regularly, and even those who do may be infected for some time before they test positive. Therefore, only practicing safe sex with men known to have HIV may reduce risk, but it is far from a guarantee.
Anyway, back to the research. The study found that serosorting did work somewhat well for White MSM in the study population. It dropped their HIV acquisition rate by half, although not to zero. However, serosorting didn't work at all in Black MSM. Scientists are not sure why, since overall the Black MSM had less risky behaviors than their White counterparts. It's possible that Black MSM might be more likely to encounter undiagnosed sex partners, or that their partners may be less willing to disclose a known infection, but there wasn't enough data to be sure.
Screening Tool Reveals Two Multiple Sclerosis Types
By Serena Gordon HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 26 (HealthDay News) -- An experimental screening technique finds that multiple sclerosis patients have two different molecular "signatures" that reflect disease severity.
This suggests that doctors might one day use this tool to help determine who has a more aggressive form of MS and might need earlier treatment with stronger medications, researchers report.
"This study shows there is evidence that we can begin to identify subsets of MS patients, and that we're moving ever-so-slowly to personalizing MS care," said study author Dr. Philip De Jager, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School and an associate neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
But this screening tool "is not ready for the clinic at this point. It needs to be validated in another trial," De Jager said. He envisions that this test would be one component of a number of tests doctors could use to generate risk estimates.
Results of the study are published in the Sept. 26 issue of Science Translational Medicine.
About 400,000 Americans have MS, a chronic, sometimes disabling disease that affects the central nervous system. The central nervous system includes the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves, according to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. MS symptoms may include fatigue, numbness in the limbs, balance and coordination problems, bladder or bowel dysfunction, vision problems, pain, and even paralysis.
A few treatment options exist for one type of the disease, but no single therapy helps everyone with MS, and there is no cure.
The four types of MS include relapsing-remitting, primary progressive, secondary progressive and progressive-relapsing, the MS society says. About 85 percent of people with MS have the relapsing-remitting form of the disease, and the available treatments are for this form of the disease.
It's often difficult to diagnose MS, and it can take even longer to figure out which type someone has. In addition, doctors have no way to predict which patients will respond to a particular drug.
"Right now, we typically start with first-line drugs that are moderately effective, but safe. If someone doesn't respond, we move on to stronger drugs that tend to be more effective, but have more adverse events," said De Jager. "If we knew that someone had an aggressive form of the disease, we'd know that they're less likely to derive benefit from first-line treatments."
The experimental screening test examines peripheral blood cells (blood obtained from locations away from the heart) on a molecular level. These blood cells are important because they contain immune cells that contribute to MS disease activity, De Jager said.
For the current study, the researchers analyzed blood from 363 people with relapsing-remitting MS who hadn't received treatment. The researchers didn't know ahead of time how aggressive their disease was.
They found two distinct subsets of MS, dubbed MSa and MSb. MSa appeared to be more aggressive, and these are the people who might benefit from earlier treatment with stronger drugs.
The researchers also performed the analysis on 94 people treated with glatiramer acetate and 128 people treated with interferon-B. Again, the researchers found the two subsets, and it didn't appear to make much difference which drug someone was taking.
Timothy Coetzee, chief research officer at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, said if this research is validated, he could envision it being used to help develop more targeted therapies. It could also be useful in clinical trials to help evaluate how well a drug is performing, he said.
"What we don't know and what we need to get better at is predicting the course of MS. We just don't have the equivalent of a cholesterol test for MS, and that's the kind of information patients want to know," Coetzee said. "They want to know what test can you give me that will help me understand what my future will look like."
De Jager said the next step is to confirm their findings with another trial, and that the next trial will test blood samples from multiple time points rather than a single time point. This is important because the nature of MS is that at some points it's inactive. So, the researchers have to be sure that they've captured two distinct subsets of people with MS, and not the disease at two different time points.
SOURCE: Philip De Jager, associate professor, neurology, Harvard Medical School, and associate neurologist, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Mass.; Timothy Coetzee, Ph.D., chief research officer, National Multiple Sclerosis Society; Sept. 26, 2012, Science Translational Medicine
Pretoria — More than 20 million South Africans have come forth to be screened and tested for various diseases, including HIV, since President Jacob Zuma launched the HIV, Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign in 2009.
The HCT campaign has been one of government's most important strategies to combat HIV and Aids and TB as it aims to ensure that people know their status so that they can receive early treatment.
"Since the President launched the national HIV Counselling and Testing campaign, over 20 million people have come forth to be screened and tested for various diseases. This campaign has indeed been a success," announced the Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
He was speaking during the launch of the Public Service HIV Testing and Counselling (HCT) Intensification Campaign at the Union Buildings on Thursday.
This campaign targets the public sector forms part of the Public Service Month programme of activities. It is aimed at improving the morale of public servants and also offers improved management of support services to employees in need of HIV and TB treatment, care and support.
The launch of the initiative on Thursday saw more than 900 public servants from all government departments getting the opportunity to test themselves for HIV and be screened for other diseases.
Motlanthe, addressing the event, highlighted that it was crucial for the public service to lead by example.
"It is important that we step up our campaigns and programmes within the public sector, ensuring that each employee is encouraged to know their status, to support their relatives to do the same and to promote a healthy life style overall. We must inculcate a healthy life style through the force of example," he said.
He added that the intensification of the HCT campaign was at once a gateway to the implementation of the new guidelines and initiating a culture of taking responsibility for our health and wellness.
"The NSP [National Strategic Plan] for HIV, TB and STIs has defined this intervention as one of the priorities in our response. We want to encourage other sectors to follow this lead and extend services to their employees and the communities in which they work.
"From all these intervention, we are confident that a future of zero new infections, zero discrimination, zero Aids-related deaths and zero new infections due to vertical transmission is within reach," he said.
Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said he was happy that a campaign had been launched to target the 1.3 million employees of government.
He challenged public servants to eat healthily, exercise and stop smoking and drinking. "It is very important for this country," he said.
Is the dreaded “Freshman 15” fact or fiction? A little bit of both, it turns out. According to new research, most students don’t actually gain 15 pounds during their first year—but 70 percent do pack on some pretty significant weight throughout their college career.
And guess what? While women often take the most heat for gaining those dreaded first-year pounds, the study found that men actually did more than their fair share of plumping up—putting on significantly more weight (an average of about 13 lbs.) and body fat than the ladies.
So what’s a guy to do? Here’s are some quick tips to help keep the pounds off during the college years:
Snack responsibly. Mindless eating can add hundreds of calories to your diet each day, especially when you're studying, so put snack foods in a small bowl instead of eating out of the bag. And of course, keep healthier snacks (like carrots or apples) within easy reach.
Drink appropriately. Sure, this means watching how many kegs you and your friends tap in a weekend, but you should also drink plenty of water throughout the day. (Believe it or not, it's the best energy drink.)
Move regularly. Set a workout schedule and make it happen. You can also squeeze more activity into your day by taking the stairs to class or walking the long way to the dining hall.
More often than not, our pets can experience some of the same problems that we do. One such example is that dogs can also suffer from allergies. Fortunately, there are numerous ways for dog allergies treatment so it is more of a matter of finding out exactly what the cause for the allergic reaction is.
Dogs, like people, show allergic symptoms when the immune system recognizes a certain substance as dangerous. These substances are present in everyday life and most dogs are not affected by them. However, a dog with allergies will have a reaction to the substance whenever it inhales, ingests or comes into contact with the substance. The manner in which it affects the dog depends on the allergen itself.
There are many things that a dog can have an allergic reaction to but a few examples are pollen, fleas, mold spores, dust, cleaning products, insecticidal shampoos, certain food ingredients, as well as many others.
Any dog can become susceptible to an allergen at any point of its life. There are, however, some specific breeds of dogs that are more likely to develop allergies such as terriers, setters, retrievers and flat-faced breeds.
Some ways that you can determine if your dog has allergies is if the dog has itchy skin (manifested by excessive scratching), excessive sneezing, runny eyes, diarrhea and vomiting. The dog should be taken to be checked by a veterinarian if any of these symptoms become present. The veterinarian will advise the best treatment once a series of tests have been performed to accurately determine what is causing the allergies.
Each allergen has its own specific type of treatment. Fleas are commonly a cause for allergies and can be remedied with flea control programs and products. Bathing the dog once a week relieves the itching sensation and also removes environmental allergens such as pollen. It is advised that you consult a veterinarian on what type of shampoo to use for bathing the dog as the wrong type of shampoo can possibly worsen the allergies. Cleaning the dog’s bedding and vacuuming areas of the house where dust accumulates is an effective way of treating dust allergies. A more difficult form of treatment is needed if the dog develops a food allergy. A veterinarian will put the dog on a special diet until the allergies have stopped manifesting. The allergen is identified when the dog is reintroduced to its old foods.
There are also a variety of allergy injections, medications and supplements that can either prevent or help treat allergies. These should only be administered to the dog with instructions by a veterinarian.
Most dog allergies treatments are simple and don’t require much more special attention to the dog. The only important step is determining with the help a veterinarian what the allergen is that is causing the reaction so a treatment can be advised.
Although online STD tests can seem easy and useful, consumers really need to exercise due diligence. If the website the product is offered on seems fishy, or offers fake cures along with testing, close the window and head somewhere else. The potential that tests could be useless or ineffective is a real one. For example, the Canadian health department recently issued a warning about sales of online test kits that aren't licensed in Canada. Furthermore, in addition to the possibility of ineffective tests, there's also the risk of outright fraud. If you send away for a test kit, you may not get anything at all.
If you're worried about wasting your money, you may be better off visiting a local free clinic, run by a health department or hospital, for testing. Reproductive health clinics like Planned Parenthood also usually offer sliding scale STD testing for both men and women. The truth is, in person testing may well be cheaper than ordering online, although it does require going to a doctor. On the other hand, so does a positive test.
Although online STD tests can seem easy and useful, consumers really need to exercise due diligence. If the website the product is offered on seems fishy, or offers fake cures along with testing, close the window and head somewhere else. The potential that tests could be useless or ineffective is a real one. For example, the Canadian health department recently issued a warning about sales of online test kits that aren't licensed in Canada. Furthermore, in addition to the possibility of ineffective tests, there's also the risk of outright fraud. If you send away for a test kit, you may not get anything at all.
If you're worried about wasting your money, you may be better off visiting a local free clinic, run by a health department or hospital, for testing. Reproductive health clinics like Planned Parenthood also usually offer sliding scale STD testing for both men and women. The truth is, in person testing may well be cheaper than ordering online, although it does require going to a doctor. On the other hand, so does a positive test.
Background: The North-east Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland consistently report relatively high HIV prevalence. The targeted HIV prevention interventions in these two states are mostly delivered by non-government organizations (NGOs), and prevention of HIV transmission by injecting drug use is their main focus. Most injecting drug users (IDUs) are male, and the services are primarily tailored to meet their needs, which are not necessarily the same as those for women. This qualitative study describes the health service needs of women who use drugs and alcohol in Manipur and Nagaland, with the goal of identifying strategies and activities that can be implemented by NGOs wanting to improve their reach among vulnerable women. Methods: In 2009-10, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 key informants and nine focus group discussions (FGDs) with women who use drugs and alcohol, and two FGDs with male IDUs. The thematic areas covered included: the context of female drug and alcohol use; drug and alcohol use patterns; HIV risk behaviours; barriers and facilitators of service use; perceived health needs; and expressed health service needs. The data were recorded, transcribed, translated and thematically analysed. Results: The most problematic substance for women from Nagaland was alcohol, and for women from Manipur it was heroin. The most commonly identified health problems were primarily related to the women's drug and alcohol use, reproductive health and mental health. Other problems of major concern included social exclusion, violence, children's welfare, and financial difficulties. The expressed service needs of these women were women-only integrated health services, women-only detoxification and rehabilitation services, mental health services, desensitization of mainstream health workers, free access to medicines, assistance to meet basic needs, and a safe place for engaging in sex work. Conclusion: The expressed health and other service needs of women who use drugs and alcohol in Manipur and Nagaland do not match the services currently provided by HIV prevention NGOs, and this may, in part, account for the relatively poor uptake of these services by women. Strategies and activities that can be implemented by NGOs to strengthen their reach to vulnerable women are identified. However, many of these women's needs are beyond the scope of services typically offered by HIV prevention NGOs, and require a coordinated multi-sectoral response.
Although online STD tests can seem easy and useful, consumers really need to exercise due diligence. If the website the product is offered on seems fishy, or offers fake cures along with testing, close the window and head somewhere else. The potential that tests could be useless or ineffective is a real one. For example, the Canadian health department recently issued a warning about sales of online test kits that aren't licensed in Canada. Furthermore, in addition to the possibility of ineffective tests, there's also the risk of outright fraud. If you send away for a test kit, you may not get anything at all.
If you're worried about wasting your money, you may be better off visiting a local free clinic, run by a health department or hospital, for testing. Reproductive health clinics like Planned Parenthood also usually offer sliding scale STD testing for both men and women. The truth is, in person testing may well be cheaper than ordering online, although it does require going to a doctor. On the other hand, so does a positive test.
Background: The North-east Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland consistently report relatively high HIV prevalence. The targeted HIV prevention interventions in these two states are mostly delivered by non-government organizations (NGOs), and prevention of HIV transmission by injecting drug use is their main focus. Most injecting drug users (IDUs) are male, and the services are primarily tailored to meet their needs, which are not necessarily the same as those for women. This qualitative study describes the health service needs of women who use drugs and alcohol in Manipur and Nagaland, with the goal of identifying strategies and activities that can be implemented by NGOs wanting to improve their reach among vulnerable women. Methods: In 2009-10, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 27 key informants and nine focus group discussions (FGDs) with women who use drugs and alcohol, and two FGDs with male IDUs. The thematic areas covered included: the context of female drug and alcohol use; drug and alcohol use patterns; HIV risk behaviours; barriers and facilitators of service use; perceived health needs; and expressed health service needs. The data were recorded, transcribed, translated and thematically analysed. Results: The most problematic substance for women from Nagaland was alcohol, and for women from Manipur it was heroin. The most commonly identified health problems were primarily related to the women's drug and alcohol use, reproductive health and mental health. Other problems of major concern included social exclusion, violence, children's welfare, and financial difficulties. The expressed service needs of these women were women-only integrated health services, women-only detoxification and rehabilitation services, mental health services, desensitization of mainstream health workers, free access to medicines, assistance to meet basic needs, and a safe place for engaging in sex work. Conclusion: The expressed health and other service needs of women who use drugs and alcohol in Manipur and Nagaland do not match the services currently provided by HIV prevention NGOs, and this may, in part, account for the relatively poor uptake of these services by women. Strategies and activities that can be implemented by NGOs to strengthen their reach to vulnerable women are identified. However, many of these women's needs are beyond the scope of services typically offered by HIV prevention NGOs, and require a coordinated multi-sectoral response.
Background: Since obesity in urban women is prevalent in Kenya the study aimed to determine predictors of overweight and obesity in urban Kenyan women. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in Nairobi Province. The province was purposively selected because it has the highest prevalence of overweight and obesity in Kenya.A total of 365 women aged 25--54 years old were randomly selected to participate in the study. Results: Higher age, higher socio-economic (SE) group, increased parity, greater number of rooms in the house, and increased expenditure showed greater mean body mass index (BMI),% body fat and waist circumference (WC) at highly significant levels (p <0.001). Most of the variance in BMI was explained by age, total physical activity, percentage of fat consumed, parity and SE group in that order, together accounting for 18% of the variance in BMI. The results suggest that age was the most significant predictor of all the dependent variables appearing first in all the models, while parity was a significant predictor of BMI and WC. The upper two SE groups had significantly higher mean protein (p <0.05), cholesterol (p <0.05) and alcohol (p <0.001) intakes than the lower SE groups; while the lower SE groups had significantly higher mean fibre (p <0.001) and carbohydrate (p <0.05) intakes. A fat intake greater than 100% of the DRI dietary reference intake (DRI) had a significantly greater mean BMI (p <0.05) than a fat intake less than the DRI. Conclusions: The predictors of overweight and obesity showed that urbanization and the nutrition transition were well established in the sample of women studied in the high SE groups. They exhibited a sedentary lifestyle and consumed a diet high in energy, protein, fat, cholesterol, and alcohol and lower in fibre and carbohydrate compared with those in the low SE groups.
Let’s be honest: Chips and guacamolemay be at the bottom of your list for that thing called “portion control”—but you can find relief in knowing you’re getting a load of nutrients and health benefits while you’re digging into that bowl of green deliciousness.
What, exactly, will this fleshy fruit do for you?
Avocados serve up a variety of vitamins—a whopping 20 to be exact.
They’re also an excellent source of healthy fats (monounsaturated and omega-3s), which help the body absorb fat-soluble vitamins (like A, D, E) and carotenoids, a type of antioxidant.
Avocados contain phytosterols too, which have anti-inflammatory properties and help keep cholesterol levels and heart disease risk in check.
One quarter of an avocado only has about 80 calories and 7 grams of fat, but very little saturated fat— so that fat’s wholly to your body’s benefit.
Your Sunday football snacking experience just got exponentially better, huh? Well, we’ve got some other ways to work avocado into your diet too. Warning: Delicious ideas ahead.
An international AIDS vaccine conference held in Boston, in America, discussed the importance of community participation in the search for a preventative AIDS vaccine. But how do people feel about participating in scientific clinical research? Ayanda Mkhwanazi, of Health-e News Service, sought their views.
"I wouldn't do it, no ways! I would be afraid to contract AIDS from it because, sometimes, they can give you a flu vaccine and you still get flu. So, if I accidentally contracted AIDS, then I wouldn't be too happy. It is a great thing, but personally, no", remarked one resident.
"I'm afraid I don't gamble very much, so I would have to decline. Also, I wonder what the answer to your question is, but around here, you would have to find willing people... maybe prison subjects that would be on death row or given a serious decline in their prison sentence if they participated. But the ordinary person here would say no", said another.
While it seems like community members in Boston may need a great deal of convincing to participate in clinical trials, Jim Maynard of the HIV Trials Network says the development of a vaccine will succeed or fail depending on the buy-in of community members in every society.
"I don't think the vaccine work can progress at all without the community. It's asking a huge sacrifice from any community, saying: 'We'd like to work with your people and try something that we hope will save millions of lives, but we don't know because it is experimental'. And, if you're going to ask something that big of them, the community can then say: 'How will this help our community? If you do succeed in this vaccine, will we get access to this vaccine?"
Despite facing rejection from communities, Maynard continues to devise innovative strategies to encourage community participation in the trials. He has turned to using the social media platform, particularly online dating sites.
"The most popular are the gay hook up sites, which are pretty much dating sites. Most of those sites have been helpful and responsive. Some have built research programmes in what they're doing. I appreciate facebook, but it can be more challenging that they do not allow advertisements that they would consider too edgy", says Maynard.
Community reluctance to participate in clinical trials is not isolated among residents of Boston. Miles away, in Uganda on the African continent, the same reluctance exists. Lilian Mutengu-Kasirye is from a research organisation, the Walter Reed Project, in Uganda and was one of the 1 000 delegates who attended the AIDS vaccine conference in Boston.
"One of our biggest challenges is: How do we get people to participate in our trials. In most cases, we have to invite them by giving them information of the study. But we still have lots of people who will talk ill about the product you are testing and tell us how we are infecting them. They are very suspicious. Sometimes, those who have joined the study end up quitting due to rumours they hear or misinformation".
Mutengu-Kasirye says the refusal of communities to participate in the clinical trials is counter-productive to the search for the HIV vaccine. She says it has the potential of reversing the recorded declines in new infections, particularly among married couples who are reluctant to participate in clinical trials in Uganda.
"Right now, according to our HIV sero survey, the married couples are the population with the highest prevalence of HIV, which is contradictory to the normal situation. These are people in stable relationships", she says.
While Maynard has resorted to surfing the net to draw communities in the United States to participate in the trials, his third world counterpart, Mutengu-Kasirye, says her desire and commitment to finding an HIV vaccine motivates her to educate, engage and urge her community to participate in clinical trials.
Results of the first-ever clinical drug trial for children with Progeria, a rare, fatal "rapid-aging" disease, demonstrate the efficacy of a farnesyltransferase inhibitor (FTI), a drug originally developed to treat cancer. The clinical trial results, completed only six years after scientists identified the cause of Progeria, included significant improvements in weight gain, bone structure and, most importantly, the cardiovascular system, according to The Progeria Research Foundation (PRF) and Boston Children's Hospital. The study results were published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Epub ahead of print).
Progeria, also known as Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome (HGPS), is a rare, fatal genetic disease characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children. All children with Progeria die of the same heart disease that affects millions of normal aging adults (atherosclerosis), but instead of occurring at 60 or 70 years of age, these children may suffer heart attacks and strokes as early as age 5 years, with the average age of death at 13 years.
"To discover that some aspects of damage to the blood vessels in Progeria can not only be slowed by the FTI called lonafarnib, but even partially reversed within just 2.5 years of treatment is a tremendous breakthrough, because cardiovascular disease is the ultimate cause of death in children with Progeria," said Leslie Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study, medical director for PRF, and mother of a child with Progeria. In addition, Dr. Gordon is a staff scientist at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and associate professor at Hasbro Children's Hospital and Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
Results Yield Improvements in One or More Study Measures for All Children
Twenty-eight children from sixteen countries participated in the two-and-a-half year drug trial, representing 75 percent of known Progeria cases worldwide at the time the trial began. Of those, 26 are children with the classic form of Progeria. The children traveled to Boston every four months to receive comprehensive medical testing through Boston Children's Hospital's Clinical and Translational Study Unit.
Treatment consisted of the FTI lonafarnib, supplied by Merck & Co., given to children orally, twice-a-day over the course of the study, under the supervision of principal investigator Mark Kieran, M.D., Ph.D., director of pediatric medical neuro-oncology at the Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center.
The research team, which included specialists at Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham & Women's Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, evaluated the children's rate of weight gain compared to their pre-therapy rate as the primary outcome because children with Progeria experience severe failure to thrive, and have a consistent, very slow linear rate of weight gain over time. Researchers also examined arterial stiffness (a predictor of heart attack and stroke in the general population), bone density and rigidity (indicators of osteoporosis). Every child completing the study showed improvement in an ability to gain additional weight, increased flexibility of blood vessels or improved bone structure.
Results included improvement in one or more of the following areas:
Weight: One in three children demonstrated a greater than 50 percent increase in annual rate of weight gain or switched from weight loss to weight gain, due to increased muscle and bone mass.
Bone Structure: On average, skeletal rigidity (which was highly abnormal at trial initiation) improved to normal levels after FTI treatment.
Cardiovascular: Arterial stiffness, strongly associated with atherosclerosis in the general aging population, decreased by 35 percent. Vessel wall density also improved with treatment.
Following the 2003 discovery of the gene that causes Progeria, researchers identified FTIs as a potential drug treatment for Progeria. Children with Progeria have a genetic mutation that leads to the production of the protein progerin, which is responsible for Progeria. Progerin blocks normal cell function and part of its toxic effect on the body is caused by a molecule called a "farnesyl group," which attaches to the progerin protein. FTIs act by blocking the attachment of the farnesyl group onto progerin.
"In the early stages of planning for this clinical trial, we realized that my team's experience using FTIs to treat children with brain cancer could bring together PRF's preclinical research efforts and the expertise we needed to study the drug in children with Progeria," said Kieran, the study's senior author and associate professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. "The premise behind studying this drug was that by stopping the attachment of the farnesyl group onto progerin in children with Progeria, progerin may be inactivated, reducing some effects of the disease."
"PRF provides a model for disease research organizations, and is a good example of successful translational research, moving from gene discovery to clinical treatment at an unprecedented pace," added Dr. Kieran.
Since PRF's founding in 1999, the organization and its scientific partners have identified the genetic mutation that causes the disease, funded preclinical research and funded clinical trials. A second clinical trial, funded by the National Institutes of Health and PRF, is currently underway and more trials are expected to follow.
"The partnership between The Progeria Research Foundation, the research team and these courageous families was essential for success," said Dr. Gordon. "It required identifying children and their home doctors from around the globe, obtaining the essential pre-trial clinical information, transporting families to and from Boston, supplying translators both inside and outside of the hospital setting, and putting together a multidisciplinary clinical team to assess treatment effects. But it was all worth it, and I believe we have set in motion a blueprint for successful treatment trials for children with Progeria and for other rare diseases."
"The results of this study provide our family with excitement and hope for Megan's future," said Sandy Nighbor, mother of Megan, a 12-year-old child who participated in the clinical trial. "We're grateful to The Progeria Research Foundation and all of the doctors for their commitment to helping my daughter and all children with Progeria."
Progeria Linked to Normal Aging Process
Previous research shows that progerin is also produced in the general population and increases in the body with age. A number of studies successfully linked progerin with normal aging, including a causal link between progerin and genetic instability, specifically telomere dysfunction in the aging process. Researchers plan to continue researching the effect of FTIs, which may help scientists learn more about cardiovascular disease that affects millions, as well as the normal aging process.
"One of the main reasons we achieved breakthrough results in this first trial is because of the tremendous supporters who provided funding, and helped get us one step closer to achieving our ultimate goal - a cure for Progeria," said Audrey Gordon, Executive Director of PRF. "Every donation makes a difference. With continued support, we will fund research that will not only allow children with Progeria around the world to live long and healthy lives, but may also advance our understanding of the normal aging process that affects us all."
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More often than not, our pets can experience some of the same problems that we do. One such example is that dogs can also suffer from allergies. Fortunately, there are numerous ways for dog allergies treatment so it is more of a matter of finding out exactly what the cause for the allergic reaction is.
Dogs, like people, show allergic symptoms when the immune system recognizes a certain substance as dangerous. These substances are present in everyday life and most dogs are not affected by them. However, a dog with allergies will have a reaction to the substance whenever it inhales, ingests or comes into contact with the substance. The manner in which it affects the dog depends on the allergen itself.
There are many things that a dog can have an allergic reaction to but a few examples are pollen, fleas, mold spores, dust, cleaning products, insecticidal shampoos, certain food ingredients, as well as many others.
Any dog can become susceptible to an allergen at any point of its life. There are, however, some specific breeds of dogs that are more likely to develop allergies such as terriers, setters, retrievers and flat-faced breeds.
Some ways that you can determine if your dog has allergies is if the dog has itchy skin (manifested by excessive scratching), excessive sneezing, runny eyes, diarrhea and vomiting. The dog should be taken to be checked by a veterinarian if any of these symptoms become present. The veterinarian will advise the best treatment once a series of tests have been performed to accurately determine what is causing the allergies.
Each allergen has its own specific type of treatment. Fleas are commonly a cause for allergies and can be remedied with flea control programs and products. Bathing the dog once a week relieves the itching sensation and also removes environmental allergens such as pollen. It is advised that you consult a veterinarian on what type of shampoo to use for bathing the dog as the wrong type of shampoo can possibly worsen the allergies. Cleaning the dog’s bedding and vacuuming areas of the house where dust accumulates is an effective way of treating dust allergies. A more difficult form of treatment is needed if the dog develops a food allergy. A veterinarian will put the dog on a special diet until the allergies have stopped manifesting. The allergen is identified when the dog is reintroduced to its old foods.
There are also a variety of allergy injections, medications and supplements that can either prevent or help treat allergies. These should only be administered to the dog with instructions by a veterinarian.
Most dog allergies treatments are simple and don’t require much more special attention to the dog. The only important step is determining with the help a veterinarian what the allergen is that is causing the reaction so a treatment can be advised.
Background: Environment, health behavior, and genetic background are important in the development of obesity. Adolescents spend substantial part of daily leisure time on cultural and social activities, but knowledge about the effects of participation in such activities on weight is limited. Methods: A number of 1450 adolescents from the Norwegian HUNT study (1995--97) were followed-up in 2006--08 as young adults. Phenotypic data on lifestyle and anthropometric measures were assessed using questionnaires and standardized clinical examinations. Genotypic information on 12 established obesity-susceptibility loci were available for analyses. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the associations between cultural and social activities in adolescence and adiposity measures in young adulthood. In addition, interaction effects of a genetic predisposition score by leisure time activities were tested. Results: In girls, participation in cultural activities was negatively associated with waist circumference (WC) (B = -0.04, 95% CI: -0.08 to -0.00) and with waist-hip ratio (WHR) (B = -0.058, 95%CI: -0.11 to -0.01). However, participation in social activities was positively associated with WC (B = 0.040, CI: 0.00 to 0.08) in girls and with BMI (B = 0.027, CI: 0.00 to 0.05) in boys. The effect of the obesity-susceptibility genetic variants on anthropometric measures was lower in adolescents with high participation in cultural activities compared to adolescents with low participation. Conclusion: This study suggests that the effects of cultural activities on body fat are different from the effects of participation in social activities. The protective influence of cultural activities in female adolescents against overweight in adulthood and their moderating effect on obesity-susceptibility genes suggest that even cultural activities may be useful in public health strategies against obesity.
President Yoweri Museveni has called on Ugandans to be more careful with their health saying most of the diseases in Uganda are preventable and can be managed if people were more sensitized.
"Am now 68 years and one of the things I don't have a budget for is sickness. This is because am a very determined person and I don't want a situation where I can't do anything because am sick," he said.
The President said unlike flue which is airborne, AIDS is a sickness people hunt for and spread to others.
"AIDS you already know where it is and alcohol. You wonder why people should drink until their cheeks are swollen. If I was drinking alcohol, I would not serve you for all this time. You may wonder why I don't shake hands but wave," Museveni said.
He explained that he no longer shook hands as a precaution against the deadly Ebola virus. The recent Ebola outbreak in Kibaale district in Western Uganda killed nineteen.
"When it appeared, I made broadcasts because I take sickness very seriously and told people to stop shaking hands. With Ebola you just shake hands and you get it. Fortunately this was managed and it stopped spreading, many people would have died. The last patient was discharged two weeks ago and the health workers are under quarantine until they are cleared. WHO sets these regulations to manage the disease. The Ministry of Health will announce the end of Ebola on October 4. I want people to learn the same. It is not bad manners if I wave," he said.
The President warned people living in disaster prone areas near Mount Elgon, saying they risked disasters such as landslides and floods.
"This mountain is a gift from God. If we play around with it, it will turn against us. Some of the cheap politicking by some leaders who tell people to go and get malewa (bamboo) because they have always done so is wrong. When people die those who misled them go into hiding. Let us stop these games. This is very serious. These mountains are very dangerous. They are a great gift to us, to Uganda and to Africa but can be dangerous," he said.
Museveni said while people need to use part of the mountain for agriculture they must know where to stop and if they don't God will stop them.
"It is like when you are shaving hair, you don't feel pain but when you cut deep into the skin you must stop. The wells and springs which come from the mountains are like your veins. The Bagisu circumcise but they know where to stop, they can't cut off everything, people will die," he said.
The President who was the chief guest at the groundbreaking ceremony and fundraising for Bulambuli district Headquarters administration offices, later launched the environmental restoration drive in Bulambuli and cautioned leaders against poor planning saying they can't do everything at a go.
The district received the mandatory sh100m from government for the district headquarters. The district also wants government to tarmac various roads in the region, provide electricity and build industries.
"The economy of Uganda had collapsed by 1986 and tax collection was very low. Now the economy has been revived and we are collecting more taxes. We started programmes like the UPE and USE which takes a lot of money - about one trillion. We will do infrastructure selectively. If we say that we do all at once, it's not possible, that is bad planning. Why don't you start with something small and work on the headquarters later," he said.
Museveni said with electricity now in Moroto, government is working on establishing a cement factory at Katikere in Moroto district where there is more limestone than in Tororo and Hima next year and are also planning for a tomato factory in Bulambuli.
He said in November, there will be a budget retreat for NRM Members of parliament so that principles of budgeting are clear to everybody to know why they budget for some things and not others.
This will later be followed by another retreat for District chairpersons and CAOs. He was happy to note that coffee seedlings have been planted widely in the region saying this is the real solution to household incomes. He urged leaders to sensitive the people about household incomes saying even without tarmac, families can still engage in income generating activities.
A foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of small minds, but using condoms every time you have sex isn't foolish. It's the sensible thing to do. Inconsistent condom use simply isn't as effective at preventing STDs.
This issue was recently examined in a paper published in the September issue of the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The scientists looked at the effect of serosorting on the likelihood of HIV seroconversion in men who have sex with men (MSM).
Serosorting is the practice of only practicing safe sex with people of a different serostatus. In other words, HIV negative MSM choose to only use condoms when they're having anal sex with men who are known to be infected. In theory, it sounds great. However, it relies on men accurately knowing their status, and far too many of them don't. Most men don't get checked all that regularly, and even those who do may be infected for some time before they test positive. Therefore, only practicing safe sex with men known to have HIV may reduce risk, but it is far from a guarantee.
Anyway, back to the research. The study found that serosorting did work somewhat well for White MSM in the study population. It dropped their HIV acquisition rate by half, although not to zero. However, serosorting didn't work at all in Black MSM. Scientists are not sure why, since overall the Black MSM had less risky behaviors than their White counterparts. It's possible that Black MSM might be more likely to encounter undiagnosed sex partners, or that their partners may be less willing to disclose a known infection, but there wasn't enough data to be sure.
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