Health Jockey

The HIV/AIDS virus is known to eat away the CD4+T lymphocytes (also known as CD4 T cells) that co-ordinate with the body to fight against harmful attacks. The CD4 T cells have regarded as the ‘brains’ of the immune system.

The deadly virus weakens the immune system and conquers the human body and has currently devastated the lives of 40 million people around the world. However, along with the HIV/AIDS virus, what seems to diminish the health of the patients is stress. Stress can rapidly reduce the level of CD4 T cells confirms a study. One solution that has been discovered to reduce stress and decelerate the progression of the disease is ‘mindfulness meditation’.

“This study provides the first indication that mindfulness meditation stress-management training can have a direct impact on slowing HIV disease progression,” said lead study author David Creswell, a research scientist at the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology at UCLA. Read the rest of this story >>

Kids always have loved the yummy Gummy Bears, the confectioneries. Now there is one more reason that they ought to love it and the parents too would love to treat their kids with Gummy Bears. Researchers have found that new improved Gummy Bears consisting of sugar-substitute ‘Xylitol’ can serve the purpose of anti-plaque snacks.

The xylitol can virtually reduce tooth-decays and prevent dental problems revealed a study that was conducted by the researchers at University of Washington. Xylitol is a natural sweetener occurring as a sugar alcohol. It has been discovered that the sugar reduces the ‘mutans streptococci’ (MS) bacteria which is harmful for teeth health and causes tooth decay.

The study was conducted on children who were given four Gummy bears containing xylitol in different concentrations three times a day. After six weeks of giving them the sweets, the kids were examined and it was found that levels of harmful MS bacteria Read the rest of this story >>

A recent study conducted by Elizabeth Klerman of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard Medical School suggests that healthy elderly may be eluded from sound sleep due to their age. Though older adults are known to be lousy sleepers, it may not really be so as seniors lose their ability to sleep with age. The study reveals that other than fewer intakes of sugary and fatty foods, the elderly also need less sleep.

Elizabeth Klerman of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, commented, “The most parsimonious explanation for our results is that older people need less sleep. It’s also possible that they sleep less even when given the opportunity for more sleep because of age-related changes in the ability to fall asleep and remain asleep. While humans can sometimes override the homeostatic set point and not sleep when tired, there is no evidence that they can sleep when they are not tired. Read the rest of this story >>

While some people want to access a fountain of youth, some sing “18 till I die”, while some really look young when they are not. However here is how you can really keep yourself hale and hearty and have a young heart in the real sense of the term.

Washington University School of Medicine unveiled the secret of having an evergreen heart. A study conducted by the University in St. Louis revealed that endurance exercises can give one much younger hearts.

“We know that the heart deteriorates as people get older, and that’s largely because they don’t stay as active as they used to,” says first author Pablo F. Soto, M.D., instructor in medicine in the Cardiovascular Division. “Past research has suggested that exercise can reverse some effects of aging, and we wanted to see what effect it would have specifically on the heart.”

The endurance exercises seemed to have benefited women more than men. The heart Read the rest of this story >>

If some fragrances are making you go sick since quite sometime, then its time to check your air-fresheners and laundry products for the toxic chemicals. Yes, you read that right – toxic chemicals.

A study conducted by University of Washington researchers has proved that the top-selling brand which people trust the most also carry some very harmful chemicals that can make people suffer adverse health effects.

“I first got interested in this topic because people were telling me that the air fresheners in public restrooms and the scent from laundry products vented outdoors were making them sick,” said Anne Steinemann, a UW professor of civil and environmental engineering and of public affairs. “And I wanted to know, ‘What’s in these products that is causing these effects?’”

Steinemann analysed six-products – three common air fresheners (a solid deodorizer disk, a liquid spray and a plug-in Read the rest of this story >>

Lions and other felines are known to lick their wounds for them to heal. Apparently, it will be beneficial for humans with chronic wounds as well. According to a new research conducted by the scientists from Netherlands suggests that human saliva can help a rapid recovery of a wound.

The research promotes a great hope for people with chronic wounds like burns, traumatic injuries and wounds related to diabetes. The compounds contained in saliva if produced on large scale can be transformed into anti-biotic creams and rubbing alcohol.

“We hope our finding is ultimately beneficial for people who suffer from non-healing wounds, such as foot ulcers and diabetic ulcers, as well as for treatment of trauma-induced wounds like burns,” said first author of the report, Menno Oudhoff.

It has been discovered that human saliva consists of a protein called histatin which is believed to kill bacteria and hence heals the wounds. The scientists Read the rest of this story >>

Life during adolescence is full of rushing hormones, attraction to the opposite sex and adrenaline rushes, rebellions and many things synonymous with this stage of life. However, if some serious things go wrong it can lead to a really disturbed psychological health of the young teens; in adolescent girls especially.

According to what a latest research by University of Washington published in the Journal of Adolescent Health has to say, issues like school failure by 12th grade or suspension or dropping out can make the girls feel down in the dumps as compared to other girls and boys, by the age of 21.

“For girls there are broader implications of school failure,” said Carolyn McCarty, a UW research associate professor of pediatrics and lead author of the study. “We already know that it leads to more poverty, higher rates of being on public assistance and lower rates of job stability. And now this study shows it is Read the rest of this story >>

In certain issues, adults are more rebellious than children and turn defensive when their irrational behaviour is talked about. Like if someone is told that a certain of their behaviours is harmful to themselves or others, it will not be heeded by them.

A new experiment by Jennifer Crocker and Yu Niiya, from the University of Michigan and Dominik Mischkowski, from the University of Konstanz, shows that reflecting on values can encourage love and acceptance and reduce defensiveness. Making people reflect on their values can make them accept information that shows that certain behaviour of theirs is irrational, irresponsible, or unhealthy.

While previous research’s too proved the same thing, this experiment has a completely different story to tell! Initially, the studies in the past showed reflecting on values made people accept facts that they normally wouldn’t because they felt good about themselves.

How? – That was Read the rest of this story >>

The relevance between sun exposure and the more deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma is still indefinite. The dubious issue was the bone of contention for two experts Professor Scott Menzies, from the University of Sydney at the Sydney Melanoma Diagnostic Centre and Sam Shuster, a consultant dermatologist at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

As indicated by Sam Shuster, true, malignant melanoma may not be caused by too much exposure to sun; however it may be the cause of all other forms of skin cancer which are virtually benign.

According to Sam people who use protection and avoid the sun are less likely to suffer from common skin cancers as it affects those who have a pale skin exposed to the sun. Cases of melanoma on the other hand are 75% more common on relatively unexposed places on the body as it is communed to ethnicity instead of pigmentation like the feet of Africans.

Increased by sunscreens, the incidents of melanoma are Read the rest of this story >>

Every day researchers take a new step to explore the mechanism of immune system in maintaining our health. This time again researchers have discovered something really significant that will help understand the system much better. Scientists at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have found an association of the nervous system with immune system.

Mauricio Rosas-Ballina, MD, working with colleagues in the laboratory of Kevin J. Tracey, MD, has discovered that spleen, once thought to be a not-very-important organ, is in fact a very important tissue of the body that communicates with the brain. Spleen has been found to make tumour necrosis factor (TNF) which is a very powerful molecule that produces inflammation. When the vagus nerve (the long nerve going down from the base of the brain to the thoracic and abdomen body parts) is stimulated, then the TNF production in spleen reduces.

This finding can be now combined with previous studies that showed Read the rest of this story >>