Month: December 2005

Improve Your Memory By Exercising Your Mind And Body

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Memory problems are a rising dilemma in the recent era. The results of the research conducted showed that memory exercises and stress reduction when coupled with a healthy diet and regular physical workout improves memory in older adults.

The scientists have proved that memory can be improved with these important lifestyles and one can enhance the efficacy of brain in just a span of two weeks.

At the start of the study the researchers were not sure whether they would be able to get the desired results from their study, but to their surprise it was totally amazing that the volunteers who followed the lifestyle program not only noticed enhanced memory, but this was rather confirmed when they were being put through different memory tests to further back their statements and their memory did improve after following the lifestyles that were put down out for them.

This study was conducted on 34 adults, which was for a total of about 14 days. The plan that was set for the individuals is as follows: These individuals had to eat five small healthy meals per day, which were rich in omega-3 fats from fish and olive oil, healthy whole grain carbohydrates and antioxidants. The purpose of giving five meals instead of three meals was to prevent the decrease in the blood sugar level of blood, which is the main source of energy for the brain.

Then these individuals had to walk briskly along with physical conditioning to help brain circulation, as this is known to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. They were also asked to perform stretching and relaxation exercises, which decreases the body’s production of the stress hormone, cortisol. Cortisol can weaken the memory by decreasing the brain’s memory centers.

These candidates were also given memory training and crossword puzzles and the basic memory training regimen to improve everyday memory skills.

The researchers had taken the PET scans of these individuals right before and after the study to look for the activity of the brain.

The results after 14 days were that the PET scans showed a marked decrease in brain metabolism in an area of the brain directly linked to working memory and other cognitive functions, which suggested that were using their brains more efficiently.

So this study ultimately showed that with getting onto better lifestyles, we can definitely improve our memory as is being proved by seeing the individuals performing much better than before.

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!! May god bless you with optimum health this year 🙂


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Remarkable Breakthrough To Prevent Muscle Loss With Aging

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This recent research has brought about a big breakthrough in preventing muscle loss. It states that a diet rich in the amino acid, leucine, might help prevent the muscle loss that typically comes with aging.

The study was conducted on rats and it was found that a leucine supplemented diet reestablished a more young pattern of muscle protein breakdown and synthesis. The researchers also added that the rats had shown a propensity toward increased protein breakdown before going on the leucine rich diet, but they were amazed to see that the amino acid appeared to remove that imbalance.

Just to discuss a few basic facts about leucine; it is an essential amino acid and this cannot be manufactured by the body and must be ingested through dietary protein. Along with other essential amino acids, leucine helps maintain muscle mass and that has made leucine containing supplements a favorite food for bodybuilders and athletes.

This is a well known fact that after the age of 40 or so, people gradually lose muscle mass, and it is thought that this is caused by the imbalance in muscle-protein synthesis and breakdown.
On the other hand, in younger people, this process is typically in balance. The research shows that after a meal, muscle protein breakdown slows, whereas synthesis rises up in response to the influx of amino acids from food.

According to this new research, the older rats did not show any evidence of the decrease in the protein breakdown after a meal, but when they got a diet supplemented with leucine, it restored the pattern of protein breakdown in the elder rats, which was the same as in the younger ones.
The question is whether this will go the same for older adults. If this works the same in the older adults then there is a great chance that their quality of life will be greatly improved, as preventing muscle wasting is of great importance because it leads to physical disability.
The sources from where we can get leucine is particularly from animal foods, it can also be consumed through meat, dairy, soy, beans and other protein-rich sources. One can get leucine from dietary supplements as well.

The researchers are speculating that the use of leucine in the adults would bring pretty good results and if such happens then this will be a great breakthrough to help the older adults to live a better and healthy life.


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Chronic Reflux Treated Well With Drugs As Well As With Surgery

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According to the new research, it is estimated that about 60 million of Americans who are suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease can be effectively cured with drugs, which is as effective as being managed with surgery.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease occurs when the food contents along with the acid regurgitates back into the esophagus from the stomach thus causing heartburn and causing damage to the esophagus.

With gastroesophageal reflux disease, the main question that arises among most of the people suffering from this is problem is that whether they should take the pills to treat the gastroesophageal reflux disease or should they go for surgery.

The report on gastroesophageal reflux disease registers the various treatments available and the evidence for their safety and effectiveness. The main purpose of this report is to provide the people and the healthcare providers with the recent information as to the availability of the latest treatments for the condition.

The findings that were listed in the report regarding chronic gastroesophageal reflux disease were that over-the-counter H2 receptor antagonist medications are not as effective as proton pump inhibitors, although PPIs have more side effects. The brand names included in H2 receptor antagonists are Axid, Pepcid, Tagamet and Zantac. The brand names of the PPI drugs are as follows; Aciphex, Nexium, Prevacid, Prilosec OTC and Protonix.

When the PPIs are compared with surgery, PPIs appear to be similarly effective in relieving symptoms and improving quality of life.

The doctors say that in general, patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease do respond to both surgical and medical treatment, however, the basis of therapy, which is not addressed, is that we can alter our diet and eating and sleeping habits to prevent the gastroesophageal disease from occurring in the first place.

Another researcher added that without bringing about change in lifestyle, a large number of patients experience only limited improvement in signs and symptoms of gastroesophageal reflux disease despite aggressive medical and / or surgical intervention.

There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, but the guidelines that are already spanned out must be followed so that this problem can be prevented from occurring in the first place. The gastroesophageal reflux disease in the chronic forms can also cause the esophagus to have strictures and this might lead to deterioration of health of the person suffering from it. So we need to follow the guidelines to have an improved quality of life.

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Improve Your Lung Function With Vitamin D

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A recent study suggests that people who have higher vitamin D levels in their blood can breathe a bit easier than others.

The researchers gathered the data from the health surveys and they found that adults with the highest vitamin D levels generally had better lung function than those with the lowest blood levels of the vitamin D. It also showed to enhance the lung capacity former smokers with the high level of this vitamin in their blood.

The difference may not be significant in people who are healthy, but it is quite significant in people who are suffering from serious respiratory conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The main function of vitamin D that is known is that it works in conjunction with calcium to make the bones strong and it also supports a healthy immune system and promotes normal cell growth and maturation throughout the body.

When the vitamin D concentrations are low in blood, then this links to elevated risk of diseases, which are high blood pressure, heart disease and certain cancers, but the link that it causes the said problems is not yet fully established.

The findings are just on the basis of information collected through the data, thus it cannot be said for sure that vitamin D clearly improves the respiratory health.

But because of the fact that the study accounted for other factors in lung function such as age, exercise habits and blood levels of certain other nutrients, it seems probable that vitamin D has some direct benefit.

The researchers added that the only way of knowing that for sure is to conduct a clinical trial in which people are randomly assigned to take either vitamin D or a placebo and then conducting lung function studies over time.

The findings that the researchers collected from a country wide study in America on 14,901 individuals with an age range of 20 or older, were about diet and lifestyle habits, and then the participants underwent lung function tests and had their blood levels of vitamin D and other nutrients measured.

After dividing the men and women into five groups based on their vitamin D levels, the researchers found that those with the highest levels scored significantly better on lung function tests than those with the lowest concentrations of the vitamin.

It was suggested that since vitamin D influences the growth of a variety of cell types, it may play a role in this lung repair process and this might be the reason that it brings positive outcome in the lung functions.

The sources of vitamin D are as follows: Sun exposure, as sunlight triggers the synthesis of the vitamin in the skin, multivitamins, foods such as fortified milk and cereals etc.

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Fiber’s Benefits Questioned In Fight Against Colon Cancer

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There was a popular medical theory, which suggested that the high fiber diet is going to keep your colon healthy and will prevent any cancer from occurring of the colon. But a new research is denying this long believed therapy.

The researchers were unable to find the supportive evidence to suggest that risk of colorectal cancer is decreased by the regular use of fiber.

It is still being said by the researchers that there are many other beneficial reasons that one should eat the recommended five to ten servings per day of fruits, vegetables and plenty of whole grains, which have a lot of fiber in them.

The researchers said that in spite of the fact that they were unable to find any connection between fiber diet and prevention of colorectal cancer, they said that high fiber diets do reduce the risk of heart diseases and diabetes according to various studies conducted.

The European research added that people who eat high fiber diet are less likely to develop colorectal cancer in about 40% of the patients as compared to the people who do not consume fiber in their diets at all.

The things that contain fiber content in them are fruits, vegetables and cereals, but on the soluble form of fibers have the ability to give a stool bulking effect, which is a source of providing health benefits.

There was an estimate given by the Canadian Cancer Society that in 2005, about 19,600 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 8,400 will die of the disease. This disease is the second leading cancer, which kills both women and men.

In a recent study, there was a group of studies that was combined and it was found that in a population of about 725,000 there was a total of about 8,081 colorectal cancer cases identified.
On the basis of the data that was gathered from these people, it was found that the participants consumed an average of 13 to 28 grams of fiber daily. It was found that those who consumed most fiber were the ones who had a 16 percent lower rate of colorectal cancer than those who ate the least fiber rich foods. On the other hand when they adjusted for non-dietary risk factors such as exercise and for dietary factors such as red meat consumption, milk intake and alcohol, which believe to increase the risk of colorectal cancer, the benefits of fiber faded away.

The president of the Canadian Cancer Society said, “If we seriously want to reduce the risk of dying from colorectal cancer, we must immediately implement screening programs across the country.”

It is also recommended that all men and women with ages 50 to 74 must be screened for colorectal cancer with the help of a test known as fecal occult blood test, which is a laboratory test done on a stool sample. The doctors say that this test should be done every two years, and the positive tests must be followed up with a colonoscopy.

Check out our new guide to lung cancer.


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Green Tea Reduces Ovarian Cancer

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A new research has brought about a remarkable discovery in the world of oncology, which says that women who drink tea are less likely to develop ovarian cancer than those women who do not drink tea.

The researchers have stated that the women who drink tea regularly have lower risk of developing ovarian cancer. In other words, if we take statistics, women who take at least 2 cups of tea per day have a 46 percent lower risk of ovarian cancer compared with non-tea drinkers and an each additional cup of tea is associated with an 18 percent lower risk of developing ovarian cancer.

It is also stated that both the green and black tea may protect against other different cancers. For this, the researchers conducted a study, which is described as follows:

The study was based on consumption of tea and the risk of ovarian cancer in more than 60,000 women who were aged 40 to 76.

The women were given out questionnaires to fill out, which were related to what beverages they take regularly and they have been taking for the past 15 years. The statistics that were collected showed that about two-thirds of the women said they drank tea at least once a month.

During the follow-up period there were about 301 women who were established with ovarian cancer and researchers found the link that tea drinking was associated with lowered ovarian cancer risk.

So the researchers found that the women who drank at least two cups of tea per day were half as likely to develop ovarian cancer as women who did not take tea than those who took at least 1 cup of tea a day had a 24 percent lower risk.

The study also showed that the women who take an additional cup of tea apart from the two cups have an additional 18 percent more reduction in ovarian cancer risk.

The data also suggests that black as well as green tea contains potent anticancer compounds. There are still more studies that are needed to confirm the relationship between tea and cancer so revolutionary steps can be taken in the prevention of ovarian cancer.


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Chemotherapy Extends Life In Women Having Surgery For Endometrial Cancer

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A study had been conducted on women who had surgical procedures for endometrial cancer, were given chemotherapy after the surgery, and it showed to reduce the risk of recurrence of endometrial cancer in about 29 percent of the women and extended survival rate by 32 percent compared with radiation therapy.

The statistics show that endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in United States and the American Cancer Society estimates that in the year 2005, there will be about 40,900 women who will be diagnosed with this disease and about 7,310 women will die from this. This is something pretty challenging.
The study that has been conducted will prove benefit to about 15 to 20 percent of women with endometrial cancer who have advanced disease.

During this study the investigators compared the recurrence rates and overall survival between 194 women randomized to 5 months of chemotherapy with doxorubicin and cisplatin compared to that of 202 women randomized to about one and a half months of radiation to the abdomen. The women had stage III or IV endometrial carcinoma with residual disease after surgery.

After about 5 years of adjusting for disease stage, about 55 percent of patients receiving chemotherapy were predicted to be alive as compared to the 42 percent of whole-abdominal irradiation patients, and 50 percent and 38 percent respectively were predicted to be free of disease.

It is the first time that adjuvant chemotherapy has shown to extend survival rates in patients with advanced endometrial cancer.

This study has thus opened a new avenue for women who are suffering from endometrial cancer or even who are at high risk of developing this lethal disease.

There are other things that need to be discussed here, which are serious treatment-related adverse events, which are more common and more severe in the chemotherapy arm and treatment, which probably contributed to the deaths of eight patients, 4 percent, on the chemotherapy arm and five, 2 percent, on the radiation arm.

Thus the toxic effects of the chemotherapy are there and there is more research that is needed to know as if the two other chemotherapeutic drugs, which are carboplatin and paclitaxel will be as effective and with fewer side effects in women with advanced endometrial cancer.

I believe that constant search and the will to find a way will make its own path where researchers will find a better regimen for patients going through endometrial cancer.

Learn more about lung cancer here.


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Research Boosting Breast Cancer Survival

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The doctors have come across a new strategy in which they say that switching tamoxifen to a different drug after two or three years of its use can boost breast cancer survival rate.

In this research doctors are trying to get a grip on the duration of treatment.

Tamoxifen has been the drug of choice treating breast cancer throughout the decades. The course of regimen of tamoxifen is that it should be taken for five years after the surgery and it decreases the risk of recurrence of breast cancer in half of the patients and improves the survival rate. The way this drug works is that it dampens the effect of estrogen hormone that acts as a fuel for growth of most of the tumors that occur in women after menopause.

There is another class of drug, which is known as aromatase inhibitors, which keep estrogen from being made in the first place, and it also prevents the risk of blood clots, as well as endometrial cancer as tamoxifen does. The companies that make this drug are listed as follow: AstraZeneca PLC’s Arimidex, Pfizer Inc.’s Aromasin and Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ Femara.

Aromatase inhibitors work as does tamoxifen, but the main thing that needs the major consideration is to keep the patient alive and that is what the biggest challenge is that lies ahead and the main concern of the healthcare providers.

Thus the researchers have come to the conclusion by doing various studies that after two or three years of tamoxifen, the patient should be switched to aromatase inhibitors as the results indicate that women who were switched to Arimidex after being on tamoxifen for a few years had a 29 percent more likely survival rate to be alive 2½ years later. About 4.5 percent of the women who continued on tamoxifen died, as compared with only 3.3 percent of those who switched to Arimidex.

Women who switched drugs also had a 41 percent lower risk of having cancer again.

The other study was conducted on women was with the drug Femara, who had completed the initially recommended five years of tamoxifen.

The study showed that women taking Femara had significantly lower rates of cancer recurrence than those who received just tamoxifen. Though doctors do not know the optimal length of time Femara or any other aromatase inhibitor should be taken.

I believe that this research would bring hope to all the women who are going through this lethal disease.

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Sleep Apnea Linked With Stroke

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Researchers have conducted studies and they have found a link between sleep apnea and stroke. Stroke as already mentioned in my previous article is a condition, which results in either loss of speech or paralysis of the limbs and this just turns the life upside down.

According to this new research, sleep apnea is linked to stroke. Sleep apnea is a condition in which there is a period in which the respiration stops for a few seconds and then the individual starts breathing again. During sleep apnea, there are multiple times when there is stopped breathing and are called as apneic episodes in medical terms.

A link between sleep apnea, strokes and heart attacks have been established in the early 1970s, and it has been mentioned that they often happen together, but that does not mean that there is a cause and effect relationship.

A study was conducted to see whether sleep apnea potentiates the risk of stroke. In this study there were a total of 1475 participants. The results of this study showed that there were 22 people who had stroke and in them there were five individuals who had severe sleep apnea.
The researchers also mentioned that people having sleep apnea has a risk greater than four times of having a stroke even if the risk factors for stroke, which are high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes etc. are controlled.

Thus the study concluded that people who have sleep apnea have 3.5 to 4 times greater chances of having a stroke than people who do not have sleep apnea.

Thus the people who have been identified with sleep apneic episodes must be very diligent to follow the guidelines that are being explained to them to correct the sleep apnea in order to prevent stroke, as this can leave the person paralyzed for life and ultimately a pretty long-term rehab to learn to live with the disabilities and perform activities of daily living, but still this is a pretty long process that one has to go through.


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Helping Children With Behavioral Problems, Responsibility Of Parents & Schools

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Children are an asset of every nation. They grow and takeover the older generation and the next generation takes over them and so on this process goes. It is of real importance to see as to what values we are giving our children and what things they are learning from their parents and surroundings.

At this day and age, the most important thing that is being brought up throughout the world is children having an aggressive behavior. It is of great importance to understand as to what is causing them to be aggressive. Were they born with such a trait and they are showing that in their behavior as they are growing? Are they learning that from their environment? Someone has to take the responsibility of that. Nothing just happens on its own, there has to be a reason and cause of it.

Lets just open ourselves inside and see it. It is said that if children with behavioral problems are dealt with intelligence, they will not only overcome their behavioral problems but will prove themselves to be one of the best students and brilliant human beings.

Researchers have conducted studies on children going to school and found that children who had a close bond with school and enjoyed the environment were the ones getting good grades and calmer than other children.

Children who receive emotional support and constant encouragement on their good behaviors learn that those are the behaviors that are right and make their beliefs at a small age than the children who give a tough time to teachers and parents and in return get a severe reaction from them, which leads them to more deterioration and rebelliousness inside.

It is also pretty important to provide children with an environment where they can express themselves openly and share things with their teachers and parents rather than keeping them inside and having outbursts, which can potentially lead them to have behavioral problems and in turn will cause them to have troubled lives throughout.

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