Contrary to popular notion, taking care of the heart and preventing heart attacks is not just about special diets.Sure,cutting down on salt and fats help, but to ensure that your heart keeps ticking away without missing a beat, you need to change your lifestyle to include a wholesome diet and regular exercise.

The key is to keep the risk factors like cholesterol and blood pressure under control.To ensure that, change over to a heart-healthy diet, consisting of fruits and vegetables, whole grain high fibre foods, less salt and saturated fats,and more fish, especially oily fish.

The focus should be on eating to keep your body weight under control.This is where exercise comes in A regular exercise schedule is a must to keep one’s body weight within the ideal BMI and the heart in good shape.

And that’s not all,the big picture to heart care also includes quitting smoking, moderating alcohol consumption and reducing stress levels.

Drinking black or green tea is also a good idea.Cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center have concluded that drinking black or green tea (which contain antioxidants) may help reduce a potentially harmful constriction of blood vessels after a high-fat meal.

Despite all these measures there are genetic risk factors that may make one person more prone to heart disease than another.But taking holistic measures will ensure that your heart still goes on.

Via:UMMC

Image:Annerpino
istockphoto

The behavioral skills maintenance intervention was based on a cognitive behavioral approach, focusing on self-regulation and behavioral strategies to prevent relapse. In the social facilitation intervention, the focus was on the child’s developmental context. The parents were taught to support child peer networks that encourage healthy eating and physical activity.
During the initial 5 month treatment, all the children lost weight. Thereafter,of the three groups, it was found that those in the social facilitation maintenance group were better able to cope with teasing and to engender support from their friends for both healthy eating and physical activity. Long-term follow-up suggested that social facilitation maintenance was better than behavioral skills maintenance at preventing future weight gain.

Source

Obesity is turning out to be a weighty problem for the UK. Researchers predict that if the current obesity growth rates continue, some 60 percent of men, 50 percent of women and 25 percent of children in the country will be obese by 2050. In 2002, those who were overweight or obese cost nearly £7bn in treatment, state benefits and indirect costs such as loss of earnings and reduced productivity. This led the health department to commission the study involving some 250 experts.

The study pointed out that the government had taken steps to encourage a healthier lifestyle but more effort was required to counter the “obesogenic environment” by designing towns and cities to promote walking and cycling and encouraging people to buy healthier food. Sir David King, the government’s chief scientific adviser and head of the Foresight program says while personal responsibility is important, the study shows the problem is much more complicated and only change across many elements of society will help fight this menace.

Image: Healthinmotion

Via: BBC, News-Medical

Currently the problem with transplants of any sort is that the recipient must continue using expensive medication that could have various side effects. Dr. Siemionow’s work is significant in that it has reported success in transplanting hair from one animal to another using minimal quantities of immmunosuppressant drugs. Though Dr. Siemionow’s focus is on helping burn and trauma victims, her research has excited interests of a more cosmetic nature.
The hair restoration industry is a multi-million dollar business.Spending on hair-restoration surgeries in 2006 topped $1.2 billion worldwide. If further tests prove to be positive it may not be long before hair transplants become the No.1 option for those willing to go any length to keep a full head of hair.

Via:Forbes
USA Today

Image:Photoshopsupport

The Scandinavian countries top the list with Iceland, Norway and Sweden following close behind Finland. At the bottom of the list are the African countries, with Ethiopia ranked lowest. The statistical basis of the ranking is the UN’s Human Development Index and the Environmental Sustainability Index drawn up by Yale and Columbia universities and the World Economic Forum.

Finland, also known as “Land of a Thousand Lakes” for its many clear blue lakes, also scores high on the United Nations’ Human Development Index and ranked as the sixth happiest nation in the world. And no wonder, who wouldn’t be happy to live in the best place on earth?

Image: ICT-UC Europe

Via: Yahoo!, Shanghai Daily, Wikipedia

1.Try to reduce the inches, settle for a slightly lower heeled shoe.
2.When buying your heels, make sure they fit well. Ill-fitting heels cause your foot to slide forward and put pressure on your toes.
3.Go for heels that have gradual slopes and put less pressure on your arch.
4.Buy cushion inserts to make wearing heels a more comfortable experience.
5. Reduce the time you spend on your heels. For daily use shift to low heeled or flat shoes.
6.Open-toed shoes are kinder to your toes so the next time you buy a pair of heel lookfor an open-toed one.
Taking these precautions will help you stay fashionable without damaging your feet. After all, they are meant to last you a lifetime.

Via:ynhh.org, nwhealth.edu

Image:zedomax

Launched in 2006, in collaboration with UTV, ‘Fashion’ was scheduled to be released in the third quarter of 2007, but so far only the lead role has been cast, with Priyanka Chopra bagging the role of the main protagonist.

Bhandarkar’s earlier films, Chandni Bar, Corporate and Page Three won critical and commercial acclaim for their vivid portrayals of varied worlds. In ‘Fashion’, he will attempt to portray what lies beneath the glitz and glamour of the ramp.

The latest report is that the film revolves around the rivalry between two male fashion designers over a model, which Bhandarkar denies is the case. In an interview to IANS, Bhandarkar commented,

First of all, my protagonists are not male. Priyanka Chopra is the person from whose perspective the whole film unfolds. Her character is followed by Kangana Ranaut who also has a very powerful role. The rest of the characters are yet to be cast

Bhandarkar admits one of the sub-plots might go into the rivalry between two male fashion designers.But the film will not be a who’s who of the fashion world.

Via:IndiaFm, DNA
Image:Bollywoodpremiere

For those suffering from depression, antidepressants offer great respite, despite various possible side effects. Now a new study has indicated that Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), a class of drugs including Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, which are commonly used to treat depression could double the risk of stomach bleeding.

What’s worse, if mixed with over the counter painkillers like ibuprofen the risk could increase six fold, according to a study by Dr. Yoon Loke, a clinical pharmacologist at UEA’s School of Medicine, Health Policy and Practice, in collaboration with colleagues at North Carolina’s Wake Forest University.
The results are published in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. The findings are based on an analysis of four studies covering more than 153,000 patients, which estimate that over a period of one year, one in every 106 patients taking SSRIs together with painkillers will require hospital admission due to bleeding in the stomach.

Though SSRI use has been suspected to harm the stomach, this is the first time that the threat from combined SSRI and painkiller use has been established. Dr Loke’s advice for those with a history of stomach ulcers is to use other types of antidepressantswhich seem to be less harmful. He also advised patients on SSRIs that painkillers such as paracetamol may be a safer choice, rather than the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like ibuprofen.

Via:ScienceDaily

Image: MSNBC

Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, neurodegenerative disease that affects about 18 million people world wide(WHO figures). It is manifested as a gradual decline in memory, reasoning, and the ability to communicate. Alzheimer’s is very difficult to diagnose, as mild memory problems may also be a natural symptom of old age. Currently, doctors diagnose Alzheimer’s disease by excluding other potential causes of memory loss, such as stroke, tumors and heavy drinking. They can also administer simple paper-and-pencil tests. Brain scans are also used, but the only definitive diagnosis is post mortem.

If proven to be effective, this blood test would be a huge breakthrough. But first the study must be replicated by other labs and in larger studies. The study was part of collaboration between Satoris and several dementia centers in the United States and Europe. Patrick Lynn, president and chief executive officer of Satoris, said he hopes to develop a test that can be used in research centers by 2008.

Via:MSNBC
Image:csuci.edu

The commonly held belief that prolonged computer use leads to the nerve disorder known as carpal tunnel syndrome has been refuted in a new study at Harvard Medical School. Carpal tunnel syndrome is a painful condition in which there is numbness and tingling in the hands, sometimes even spreading up to the arms. It affects nearly twice as many women as men.

A procedure to ease this nerve disorder is one of the most common surgeries done in the United States, with more than 200,000 performed each year.

Computer use has long been thought to cause this painful condition. But according to the new study it is caused by the compression of the median nerve in the wrist. This compression may occur because of heredity, body weight, fracture, or even pregnancy-but not computer use.

Even upto seven hours of computer use do not increase risk of carpal tunnel syndrome.In fact it is more likely to occur in in those who do assembly-line work in industries such as manufacturing, sewing, cleaning, or meatpacking.

This however,does not mean that hours of tapping away at your keyboards does not pose any health risks.Improper computer use and other workplace conditions can contribute to a type of disorder known as repetitive stress injury.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is in fact not a repetitive stress injury, though it is often incorrectly described as one, says the Harvard report.

Via: Sciencedaily

Image: haquechiropractic