Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

Take Pomegranate with your food

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Juice has a major contribution in the health region. Especially pomegranate juice has extreme curable capacity with all kind of diseases. Today ‘Pomegranate a day keeps your doctor away’ has also got tagged as famous quotes.

Pure pomegranate juice prevents diabetic’s patients from heart related disease. This will also add extra energy due to the sugar content present in it. Research is in progress on this juice reveals surprise results. Natural pomegranate juice will boost the sperm’s quality and quantity. Hence it will facilitate in having a good sexual relationship between the life partners. It will increase the hemoglobin content of the blood within our body which in turn gets reflected as stronger immunity system.

Antioxidant benefits can be obtained only through the consumption of pomegranate juice. It has the protective advantages from eight different beverages. The antioxidant property of the juice increases the ability to withstand the disease when it comes. Try to have this super fruit in the form of natural pomegranate juice, as it will provide immediate response to your body. All we need is to have disease free life, which can be achieved by the use of healthy foods. Thus have pure pomegranate juice as a part of your food every day.

How to Deal With Dangerous Dogs in California

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Every year, nearly 5 million people in the United States receive dog bites. Many of these happen in California. Dog bites can range from anything from small nips to death. A lot of the injuries caused by them are bad enough that the victims need hospital visits. Needless to say, medical costs can cause a lot of money, and dog bite attorneys in California have to fight for victims’ rights all the time.

Just as long as the victims aren’t trespassing on the dog’s property or doing something to provoke it, then fault is usually found in the owners. If you’ve recently been bitten by a dog, then you need call or pay a visit to a dog bite attorney. Los Angeles deals with countless dog bites everyday, most of which is due to negligent or abusive owners.

Sometimes, though, dogs can be unpredictable, and will attack for no reason. Well meaning dog owners sometimes with an unstable dog. In cases such as these, you may need a lot of help with receiving compensation. Dog bite attorneys in California will help you make your case. No matter how bad your injuries are, it’s in your best interest to contact a dog bite attorney in Los Angeles to help you understand your options.

Caring hospitals make for cheerful, upbeat patients

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

The hospital seems like a dour establishment with equally abrasive doctors, nurses and attendants, especially to patients who need immediate attention.

But can you imagine one where the morale is high, employee turnover is low and patients rarely go unanswered - and if they do, you can summon its CEO.

That’s exactly the type of culture and service that “delights” patients and makes for the most successful community hospitals in the country, as rated by caregivers and patients, said John Griffith, professor at University of Michigan School of Public Health.

Griffith’s findings suggest that the single-biggest factor in patient satisfaction is hospital employee morale, which starts with outside-the-box thinking at the very top management levels.

These community hospitals had the happiest patients and caregivers, but only because these hospitals departed radically from traditional hospital management, Griffith says.

For instance, at a Florida hospital where patients receive a welcome letter with the CEO’s signature and home phone number, they’re also paid a visit by their unit’s nurse manager, who also leaves cell and office phone numbers.

This personal service doesn’t come cheaply, yet the hospitals kept costs low enough to thrive financially on standard Medicare and insurance payments, despite paying employees “extremely well,” Griffith said.

Griffith examined the attributes of 34 community hospitals in nine states that have earned the Health Care Sector Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a nationally recognised quality benchmark for various industries.

Bronson Methodist Hospital of Kalamazoo is the Michigan recipient. Oakwood Healthcare System and Henry Ford Health System received the Michigan Governor’s Award for Excellence in 2008, a state-level competition based on similar criteria, said a Michigan release.

“The key issue for the patient is the answer to two questions, ‘Will you return and will you refer?’” he said. “A loyal patient will do both. These places got that in 90 percent of patients. The usual answer is a little better than half.”

The study appeared in the Journal of Healthcare Management.

What is a Personal Injury Claim?

Wednesday, February 4th, 2009

A personal injury claims is a claim of settlement related to a bodily injury caused by any type of accident or personal attack and/or mental injury from personal attack or defamation, medical malpractices. If you happen to be a victim of personal injury it is time that you seek professional help from an experienced personal injury lawyer. In Arizona, you need the help from one of Arizona personal injury lawyers.

This settlement may include any direct damages caused by the accident, medical bills, loss of wages and mental damages caused by the accident. If the personal injury is about car accident, you want to hire a car accident lawyer. If the personal injury is about dog bite, you want to hire a dog bite attorney. The laws of personal injury are very specific. Arizona personal injury attorneys would help you get the justice served and settle the case in your favor.

DNA vaccine to protect against more virulent ‘uncommon cold’

Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009

A DNA-based vaccine developed by US and Chinese researchers has proven effective in protecting mice models against the adenovirus infection that causes severe “uncommon cold.”

Adenovirus type-3 is known as the “uncommon cold” because its symptoms - runny nose, sore throat, cough and fever - are eerily similar to those of the common cold which is caused by the rhinovirus.

But unlike the common cold, its symptoms are typically much more severe and can even be fatal.

Adenovirus outbreaks are difficult to control because the virus can live for weeks on environmental surfaces and spreads quickly through direct contact, aerosols and contaminated drinking water.

Adenovirus-3 thrives in places with dense urban populations and has recently become prevalent in southern China and neighbouring countries. It may also affect other populated places like schools, health care facilities and military bases in the US.

Researchers from George Mason University (GMU) in the US, University of Hong Kong, Guangzhou Children’s Hospital, South China Institute of Technology and Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed the vaccine.

“Further study is required, but we hope that in the future, this simple, stable and inexpensive vaccine can be mass-produced and made available to susceptible populations,” a GMU release cited GMU associate professor Donald Seto, the only US-based researcher in the study, as saying.

Their findings will appear in the February 18 edition of the Vaccine.

Getting an Arizona Personal Injury Lawyer

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Hiring an Arizona personal injury lawyer is one of the best things you can do to protect your rights after an accident. They will be able to handle all of the problems that you’ll face and it’s just a good idea to have an experienced professional on your side. You might not know just how to find one though. Don’t worry. It’s easier than ever before to find a perfect person to take up your cause. You just need to know the right places to look.

The first place to look should be the plethora of online sources for Arizona personal injury lawyers. There are plenty or directories and listings available that detail the lawyers ready for your business. There are usually even notes about past cases and experience, so you can narrow it down to a field of lawyers who are just right for your case. This is at least a good place to start your search. It’s also fairly easy to manage if you are stressed and busy with the other problems of the crash. Checking online directories should be easy to squeeze in during a few spare minutes.

Once you have your list narrowed, just start asking around. You can usually call and set up a consultation to get more advice and see what they’d do for you. I don’t know a better way to sort through the list of Arizona personal injury attorneys. If are looking to hire one, then you should invest this time to find the one that’s just right.

Simple quiz may replace costly medical exams for jobs

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

For some undergoing a medical exam to qualify for a job can be daunting. Now, these unnecessary and uncomfortable tests can be replaced with a pencil and paper, thanks to the researchers from Tel Aviv University who have developed a questionnaire that can provide a much more accurate forecast.Dr Shlomo Moshe, an occupational physician from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine, said that medical exams were often not an accurate predictor of competency or job performance.

“A questionnaire can effectively rule out those who are not fit for white collar and non-hazardous blue collar positions and with our test, more people are actually found fit for work than those assessed by a medical exam,” Moshe said.

“It’s only natural that an employer wants to be sure he won’t be affected by an employee’s medical problems, and that a disability won’t affect job performance.

“He wants a certificate of health. Now we can give that without extracting a drop of blood or urine,” Moshe added.

The test is already used widely in Israel. It includes several dozen questions, including: Are you taking medications regularly? Have you ever filed a disability claim? Do you have allergies to any food and medications? Have you ever been injured in an accident? The study showed that 98 per cent of the people, who took the questionnaire, were correctly deemed suitable for employment.

Viagra May Shield Heart From Blood Pressure Damage

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Tests in mouse hearts show that sildenafil, the key ingredient in Viagra, may shield hearts from damage caused by high blood pressure, a new study suggests.

Investigators said that sildenafil appears to influence RGS2, a single protein essential in the reactions that initially protect the heart’s blood-pumping function from spiraling into heart failure. The findings, published online Monday in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, suggest that sildenafil may prove useful in the treatment or prevention of heart damage due to chronic high blood pressure.

Sildenafil clearly prolongs the protective effects of RGS2 in mouse hearts,” senior investigator Dr. David Kass, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart and Vascular Institute in Baltimore, said in a Hopkins news release.

After a week of inducing high blood pressure in the mice, the team found that the hearts engineered to lack RGS2, or regulator of G-protein signaling 2, expanded in weight by 90 percent, and almost half of the experiment animals died of heart failure. In the mice with RGS2, the dangerous muscle expansion, known as hypertrophy, was delayed, growing by only 30 percent, the researchers found, and none of those mice died.

Later testing showed that treating hypertensive mice that had RGS2 with sildenafil showed enhanced buffering, less hypertrophy, and stronger heart muscle contraction and relaxation. In addition, these mice showed as much as 10 times lower stress-related enzyme activity compared to their untreated counterparts. The study also found that sildenafil had no effect in mice lacking RGS2.

The study involved more than a half-dozen experiments, all performed within the last three years, designed to zero in on RGS2’s role in stalling hypertrophy.

“The evidence is piling up that unbridled Gq signaling is driving a central biological chain reaction in heart failure, and that by extending the protective effects of RGS2 or by developing a test for its presence, researchers can develop new therapies or improve existing ones, including ACE inhibitors and possibly sildenafil, for people with heart failure who will benefit most,” Kass said.

Doctors currently use so-called ACE inhibitor and ARB inhibitor drugs to block Gq signaling. These drugs are the most common treatment for heart failure, which afflicts more than 5 million Americans each year, killing more than a quarter million of them, according to the study.

Vitamins Ideal for Preventing Hair Loss

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

Age is an important factor which is responsible for hair loss. Most of the younger generations have less hair fall when compared to elder generations. This is because; young people generate more hair growing hormones in the body when compared to aged people. Though age can lead to hair loss, today, there are some treatments and medicines available in the market which shed the hair loss and increase the growth of hair.

Thinning Hair mainly occurs because of cell growth in the head. Hair generally starts growing in the hair root which is embedded in scalp. Hair root is the base for cell production, when this root is pushed out of scalp the hair starts coming on head. As age passes by the hair starts thinning because of weak cell generation. Some of the elements like sun, water, wind and bad hair care habits reduce hair and make it bald over time.

Hair loss treatment is possible with natural vitamins. These vitamins are available in the foods humans take. When the diet is maintained properly people will be able to overcome the hair loss problem in old age. Some of the special B-Complex vitamins increase the growth of new cells in the hair and make hair stand tall and thick. People find hair loss product in the form of medicine.

Fast Heart Rate Warns of Obesity, Diabetes

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

A too-fast heartbeat in early adulthood is a warning sign for increased risk of cardiovascular problems decades later on, a Japanese study suggests.

The study of 614 residents of a rural farming community in southwestern Japan found that a heart rate greater than 80 beats a minute during a first examination in 1979 predicted the development of obesity and diabetes, which contribute to heart problems.

The findings, from Kurume University School of Medicine, were published online Dec. 11 in the American Journal of Hypertension.

A fast heart rate is a signal from the sympathetic nervous system, a part of the autonomic nervous system, which is the body’s automatic pilot that governs instinctive responses, explained Mercedes Carnethon, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. She found the same rapid heartbeat association in a group of Americans she studied.

“If someone has a consistently fast heart rate, it is because of increased input from the sympathetic part of the nervous system because the body is preparing to respond to stress,” Carnethon said. “There is an increase in levels of blood glucose — essentially because the body is storing energy to prepare for fight or flight, so that predisposes to diabetes.”

Carnethon’s study followed Chicago residents even longer than the Japanese researchers. “Over a 33-year follow-up, we showed that people with a higher heart rate were more likely to have Medicare claims for diabetes-related conditions,” she said.

There’s a possible clinical use for the findings, Carnethon said, since doctors routinely listen to the heart rate.

“It is a very simple measure, regularly taken in clinical practice, that could be potentially useful because it suggests where there might be a higher incidence of heart risk and mortality,” she said. “It is a first stage to alert the clinician that there might be something worth investigating.”

The similar findings in the two studies half a world apart are noteworthy, Carnethon said. “We are always happy to see findings replicated by different investigators in different settings,” she said.

Meanwhile, researchers are reporting a different built-in mechanism that protects a lucky few individuals from heart disease — a genetic mutation that seems to reduce blood levels of the fats called triglycerides.

The mutation was found in members of the Old Order Amish community in Pennsylvania, said the lead investigator, Toni I. Pollin, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

Pollin and her colleagues looked through the complete genetic complement of more than 800 members of the Amish community. “We looked at genes involved in the response to dietary fat,” she said. “One region came up strong on chromosome 11. This genetic marker was not too far from a cluster of genes involved in lipid metabolism.”

The researchers closed in on one gene, designated APOC-3, according to a report in the Dec. 12 issue of the journal Science. That gene makes a protein that inhibits the breakdown of triglycerides. About 5 percent of the Amish in the study had a mutated form of the gene that limited production of the protein, and so they had low blood lipid levels.

“It is an apparent cardioprotective mechanism,” Pollin said. “It raises the hope that by decreasing production of APOC-3 it could potentially be therapeutic.”

It’s possible that a drug designed to target the gene could be used to reduce levels of blood fats and thus reduce coronary risk, Pollin said.

The mutation has not been found outside the Amish community, Pollin said. “We have looked at 200 healthy individuals and have not found it, she said.