Life During Pregnancy

Being pregnant is a blessing that most couple waited for. Babies are gift. We understand why Dads are usually happy when they know that their wife are pregnant. They will become a father and their life now will change. Yes, things are different now if there’s a baby coming aboard. The couple become responsible into their well-being.

But it’s not only about happy moments that will come along during pregnancy. Sometimes, there are unexpected things that comes along the way. Expected moms are tends to be more sensitive at this time. The husband should understand that. If the pregnant mom is stressed, it gives a bad effect to the baby. Stress can lower the rate of the baby’s heartbeat.Expected Dad should be more understanding and supportive at this time. The wife needs your support. There are lots of changes happens in pregnant woman’s body and also their emotions.

Eye Problems and Injuries

Every year more than one million people get eye injuries

, out of which ninety percent are preventable if safety eyewear is used. One hundred and twenty five thousand eye injury cases are caused by household products.

It is a good habit to wash hands regularly, especially after handling household chemicals. When using detergents and hazardous solvents, the handler must wear chemical safety goggles. Also, no children must be around while handling chemicals. While spraying, the nozzle must be turned away from the face. Fertilizers, pesticides and paints must be stored away from reach. While doing household activities proper protective gears such as goggles, gloves, boots and helmet should be worn, if required. The house must be illuminated adequately to avoid accidents in the dark. Stairs should also be illuminated and the rails must also be installed. The instructions for opening the tops of bottles must be read carefully to avoid them from popping and injuring other people. Children and adolescents should read instructions before handling operating equipment before playing games. All power equipment must be installed with guards. While playing outside, the eyes must be protected by UV protective goggles and it is a bad idea to look at the sun directly.

Precautions should not only be taken indoors, but outdoors too. This is because; more than forty thousand people get eye injuries outdoors. Ninety nine percent of the injuries are caused while playing sports. So it is necessary for the youngsters to wear protective eyewear while playing sports or when involved in outdoor recreational activities. A special helmet is designed with wire shield or polycarbonate face mask which is not only safe, but comfortable, too. Protective eyewear should also be worn while performing experiments in science lab. Fireworks must only be handled by adults.

Because of increasing use of computers, more and more youngsters are getting eye strains. The symptoms of eye strain caused by computer are red & watery eyes, focusing problems, aching & tired eyelids, eye muscle spasm, backache and headache. In such an environment, eye exercise must be done regularly. The eyes must be made to focus on distant objects and should be rotated from side to side. It is extremely important to give ample rest to the eyes. Glasses with UV shield must be worn when looking at the computer screen. Eye strain can be avoided by increasing the distance from the monitor.

Eye hazards are also caused when cosmetics are used improperly by contact lens wearers. Some of the adverse reactions are injury, eye irritation, allergy, dryness, infection, and lens deposition. That is the reason why adolescents must be made aware of the risk they will face when opting for contact lens. Girls should understand that they should buy hypoallergenic cosmetics and especially the non-scented variety, manufactured by big brand names. Cosmetics should not be shared with anything else. The applicator brushes must be washed regularly and old mascara must be disposed and not refilled. Eye shadows which are glittery, pearlized, frosted or iridescent contain ground tinsel or oyster shell, which should be always avoided. Eyeliner should not be applied in the inner lid edge. Loose powder should be avoided. Cream should not be applied near the eyes. The wearer should wash hands while handling contact lens. No crying, washing of face or bathing should be done with the contact lens on.

By Krishan Bakhru

Bigger waist may spell more success for women

Hormones that distribute fat around waist help combat stress, up stamina

An imperfect body might be just what the doctor ordered for women and key to their economic success, an anthropologist now says.
While pop culture seems to worship the hourglass figurefor females, with a tiny waist, big boobs and curvy hips à la Marilyn Monroe, this may not be optimal, says Elizabeth Cashdan of the University of Utah.
That's because the hormones that make women physically stronger, more competitive and better able to deal with stress also tend to redistribute fat from the hips to the waist.
So in societies and situations where women are under pressure to procure resources and otherwise bring home the bacon, they may be less likely to have the classic hourglass figure, Cashdan hypothesizes in the December issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
Curve crazy
Until now, scientists (and apparently Western society) thought a curvy figure trumped other body shapes. The idea was based on results from medical studies that suggested a curvy waist-to-hip ratio of 0.7 or lower (meaning the waist is significantly narrower than the hips) is associated with higher fertility and lower rates of chronic disease.
In addition, past research has revealed that men prefer a ratio of 0.7 or lower when looking for a mate. The preference makes perfect sense, according to evolutionary psychologists, because the low ratio is a reliable signal of a healthy, fertile woman. Along those lines, Playboy centerfolds tend to have a waist-to-hip ratio of 0.68, Cashdan found.
However, women around the world tend to have larger waist-to-hip ratios (more cylindrical than hourglass-shaped) than is considered optimal by these medical and social standards.
Specifically, Cashdan compiled data from 33 non-Western populations and four European populations, finding the average waist-to-hip ratio for women was above 0.8. So if 0.7 is the magic number both in terms of health and male mate choice, Cashdan wondered why most women exhibit a significantly higher ratio.
That's where the hormones come in.
A little testosterone
Androgens, a class of hormones that includes testosterone, increase waist-to-hip ratios in women by increasing visceral fat, which is carried around the waist. But on the upside, increased androgen levels are also associated with increased strength, stamina and competitiveness. Cortisol, a hormone that helps the body deal with stressful situations, also increases fat carried around the waist.
Hormone levels linked with a high waist-to-hip ratio could lead to such health benefits, which would be particularly useful during times of stress, Cashdan said. These benefits could outweigh those attained from having the tiny waist, hourglass figure, she said.
Perhaps the differences between predominant body shapes in some societies have to do with sexual equality, Cashdan said.In Japan, Greece and Portugal, where women tend to be less economically independent, men place a higher value on a mate's thin waist than men in Britain or Denmark, where there tends to be more sexual equality, Cashdan said. And in some non-Western societies where food is scarce and women bear the responsibility for finding it, men actually prefer larger waist-to-hip ratios.
"Waist-to-hip ratio may indeed be a useful signal to men, then, but whether men prefer a [waist-to-hip ratio] associated with lower or higher androgen/estrogen ratios (or value them equally) should depend on the degree to which they want their mates to be strong, tough, economically successful and politically competitive," Cashdan writes.
She added, "And from a woman's perspective, men's preferences are not the only thing that matters."

Read more...

Heart rhythm risk seen in women’s alcohol use

More than two drinks a day can increase chance of stroke, researchers say

WASHINGTON - Women who consume more than two alcoholic drinks a day have a higher risk of getting the most common type of heart rhythm disturbance, which can raise the chances of having a stroke, researchers said on Tuesday.
Previous research had shown that men who drink three or more alcoholic beverages daily have an elevated risk for atrial fibrillation, but the risk for women had not been clear.
Researchers in the United States and Switzerland tracked 34,715 middle-aged American women for more than 12 years who did not have atrial fibrillation at the outset of the study.
There was no increased risk for the vast majority who drank either no alcohol or up to two drinks daily. But those who drank more had a 60 percent increased risk for atrial fibrillation.
The condition occurs when the heart's two upper chambers beat quickly and irregularly. Because blood is not pumped completely from the heart's upper chambers, it can pool and clot. If a piece of one of these clots becomes lodged in an artery in the brain, a stroke occurs.
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who has a history of heart problems, was treated for atrial fibrillation in October.
"Small to moderate amounts of alcohol -- up to two drinks a day -- do not appear to be associated with an increased risk," said Dr. Christine Albert of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, one of the researchers in the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
"But if you do drink more than two drinks a day and you're looking for a way to decrease your risk of atrial fibrillation, it may be that reducing alcohol consumption may be helpful."
Only about 4 percent of the women in the study reported drinking that much.

Read more...

High Blood Pressure Diet

When you were diagnosed with high blood pressure, most likely the first suggestion made by your health care provider was to change your diet. High blood pressure can be eased and even cured by changing the foods you eat.

There are some basic rules to curing your high blood pressure using a nutritional approach. Firstly, you should consume unrefined, unprocessed and fresh foods such as fruits and vegetables, onions, garlic, soy, olive oil, nuts, beans, oily fish such as salmon, tuna or sardines.
Reducing sodium intake is an important component of any diet aimed to lower high blood pressure. Research has also shown that a reduction in sodium works even better if potassium intake is also raised. Sodium can be found in very high quantities in processed foods, which is why these types of foods should be avoided as much as possible. Make sure you check food labels to see the amount of salt and avoid those with high salt quantities.

Hydration is also important when it comes to lowering high blood pressure. It helps the entire system work efficiently. Guidelines state that you should be drinking fifty per cent of your body in ounces on a daily basis. So, if you weight 150 pounds, then you should be drinking 75 ounces of water daily.

Herbs and supplements should also be included to help lower your high blood pressure naturally. Herbs such as hawthorn, garlic and yarrow can be included. Supplements should include calcium supplements of at least 800-1500mg and should be taken daily. Vitamin C supplements should also be taken daily.

Fast food ad ban may cut obesity in kids

Experts: Nixing commercials may lower number of heavy kids by 18 percent

WASHINGTON - Banning fast-food advertising on television in the United States could reduce the number of overweight children by as much as 18 percent, researchers said on Wednesday.
But the team at the National Bureau of Economic Research questioned whether it would be practical to impose that kind of government regulation -- something only Sweden, Norway and Finland have done.
"We have known for some time that childhood obesity has gripped our culture, but little empirical research has been done that identifies television advertising as a possible cause," said economist Shin-Yi Chou of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.
"Hopefully, this line of research can lead to a serious discussion about the type of policies that can curb America's obesity epidemic."
For their study, funded in part by the federal government, Chou and colleagues used data on nearly 13,000 children from the 1979 Child-Young Adult National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, both issued by the U.S. Department of Labor.
"The advertising measure used is the number of hours of spot television fast-food restaurant advertising messages seen per week," they wrote in the Journal of Law and Economics.
"Our results indicate that a ban on these advertisements would reduce the number of overweight children ages 3-11 in a fixed population by 18 percent and would reduce the number of overweight adolescents ages 12-18 by 14 percent."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 13.9 percent of children aged 2 to 5 are overweight, 18.8 percent of those aged 6 to 11 are and more than 17 percent of those 12 to 19.
The percentages have been steadily rising.
Television watching is also known to raise obesity rates, both because children exercise less and because it can interfere with sleep.
The Institute of Medicine reported in 2006 that there was compelling evidence linking food advertising on television and increased childhood obesity.
One study suggested that children viewed an average of about 20,000 commercials aired on television per year in the late 1970s, rising to 30,000 per year in the late 1980s and more than 40,000 per year in the late 1990s.

Marrow Transplant May Have Cured AIDS

The Associated Press , Berlin

An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said.

While researchers - and the doctors themselves - caution that the case might be no more than a fluke, others say it may inspire a greater interest in gene therapy to fight the disease that claims 2 million lives each year. The virus has infected 33 million people worldwide.

Dr. Gero Huetter said Wedneday his 42-year-old patient, an American living in Berlin who was not identified, had been infected with the AIDS virus for more than a decade. But 20 months after undergoing a transplant of genetically selected bone marrow, he no longer shows signs of carrying the virus.

"We waited every day for a bad reading," Huetter said.

It has not come. Researchers at Berlin's Charite hospital and medical school say tests on his bone marrow, blood and other organ tissues have all been clean.

However, Dr. Andrew Badley, director of the HIV and immunology research lab at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., said those tests have probably not been extensive enough.

"A lot more scrutiny from a lot of different biological samples would be required to say it's not present," Badley said.

This isn't the first time marrow transplants have been attempted for treating AIDS or HIV infection. In 1999, an article in the journal Medical Hypotheses reviewed the results of 32 attempts reported between 1982 and 1996. In two cases, HIV was apparently eradicated, the review reported.

Huetter's patient was under treatment at Charite for both AIDS and leukemia, which developed unrelated to HIV.

As Huetter - who is a hematologist, not an HIV specialist - prepared to treat the patient's leukemia with a bone marrow transplant, he recalled that some people carry a genetic mutation that seems to make them resistant to HIV infection. If the mutation, called Delta 32, is inherited from both parents, it prevents HIV from attaching itself to cells by blocking CCR5, a receptor that acts as a kind of gateway.

"I read it in 1996, coincidentally," Huetter told reporters at the medical school. "I remembered it and thought it might work."

Roughly one in 1,000 Europeans and Americans have inherited the mutation from both parents, and Huetter set out to find one such person among donors that matched the patient's marrow type. Out of a pool of 80 suitable donors, the 61st person tested carried the proper mutation.

Before the transplant, the patient endured powerful drugs and radiation to kill off his own infected bone marrow cells and disable his immune system - a treatment fatal to between 20 and 30 percent of recipients.

He was also taken off the potent drugs used to treat his AIDS. Huetter's team feared that the drugs might interfere with the new marrow cells' survival. They risked lowering his defenses in the hopes that the new, mutated cells would reject the virus on their own.

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases in the U.S., said the procedure was too costly and too dangerous to employ as a firstline cure. But he said it could inspire researchers to pursue gene therapy as a means to block or suppress HIV.

"It helps prove the concept that if somehow you can block the expression of CCR5, maybe by gene therapy, you might be able to inhibit the ability of the virus to replicate," Fauci said.

David Roth, a professor of epidemiology and international public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said gene therapy as cheap and effective as current drug treatments is in very early stages of development.

"That's a long way down the line because there may be other negative things that go with that mutation that we don't know about."

Even for the patient in Berlin, the lack of a clear understanding of exactly why his AIDS has disappeared means his future is far from certain.

"The virus is wily," Huetter said. "There could always be a resurgence."