Tag Archives: disease

Diet, disease, Health

Drinking green leaf tea, instead of black, may help you live longer, new study implies

Leave a comment

Drinking tea a minimum of thrice every week could reduce the risk of dying from heart problems and is linked with a longer and healthier life, at least in China, new research suggests. Chinese researchers found the rewards associated with tea were more pronounced for drinkers of green, rather than black tea, and regarding those who had been drinking tea regularly over the longer period of time. The advantages were also clearer among men, the research indicated.

Photo by Thought Catalog on Pexels.com


Researchers checked out data from 100,902 Chinese people without cases of heart attack, stroke or cancer and divided them into two groups: habitual drinkers who drank tea three or more times every week, those who never drank tea, and those who drank it less regularly. They followed up with them following a seven-year period.


Their analysis found that regular tea drinkers had a 20% lower risk of having cardio disease and stroke, and a 22% lower likelihood of dying from heart disease and stroke. Specifically, they found that regular tea drinkers could expect to live 1.26 years longer at age 50 than individuals who didn’t regularly take part in cup of tea.

Reading the tea leaves about whether drinking green tea is good for you
“We came to find that the protective outcome of habitual tea consumption were very pronounced and robust across different outcomes for men, but only modest for women,” Dr. Dongfeng Gu from China’s National Center for Cardiovascular Disease, Peking Union Medical College and the Chinese Academy of Medical Science said via email. “One reason might be which the proportion of habitual tea consumers among men was approximately two and a half [times] as high as that among women,” Gu said. Some 48% of the men in the study were regular tea drinkers, compared with 20% of ladies.
Gu said Chinese women were very likely to drink herbal tea produced from rosebuds or lotus leaves however this information wasn’t included.


In their analysis, the researchers controlled for some factors like smoking, drinking, eating habits and physical activity that could have explained the link between tea drinking and driving longevity. However, as an observational study it can’t establish cause and effect, only association.
“Other things to consider that are not mentioned within the study are: Firstly, what individuals who weren’t drinking tea were drinking — was tea replaced by sugary drinks or caffeinated beverages … and started that what increased their risk…?” said Jodie Relf, a registered dietitian and spokesperson regarding the British Dietetic Association.

Black vs. green
The advantages linked to drinking black tea “were not much,” Gu said, but that could be since there were far fewer black tea drinkers present in the research — only about 8% of the habitual tea drinkers engaging in the study said they preferred black tea.

Gu also said that green tea is a richer supply of flavanoids, especially tea polyphenols, and these bioactive compounds could be protective against cardiovascular disease. While from the same plant and containing the same amount of caffeine, black tea is processed differently from green leaf tea after picking. “Black tea is fully fermented and tea polyphenols might be oxidized into pigments and inactivate during fermentation. Thus green tea ends up being more effective than black tea in anti-oxidation, improving blood lipid profile, and in turn, to become more effective in cardiovascular protection,” Gu said.

Can green leaf tea maximize your brainpower and treat disease?
Gunter Kuhnle, a professor of nutrition and food science, University of Reading in the UK, who was not engaged with the study but conducts research into the association between flavanoids and health, said it’s not currently known how tea — or even the compounds found in tea — affect health.

“The antioxidant effect of polyphenols found in tea has long been assumed to become responsible, however this has been resoundingly disproved in the last decade. Many of the compounds present in tea might have a brilliant effect, however this is at the moment still under investigation,” he told the Science Media Centre (SMC) in London.
As the world’s most popular drink after water, Gu said that tea-drinking habits varied from place to place and of course the findings will possibly not apply to Western countries, where black tea has been a more accepted choice — often taken with milk or sugar.

Drinking very hot tea almost doubles likelihood of cancer, new study says
“Tea consumption is part of a cultural heritage, along with its health effects might be confounded by other consuming patterns, for instance, intake of other flavanoid-rich food or beverages like coffee.”
The conclusions of previous research on the health advantages of tea has been inconsistent, Gu said, with the study noting that green leaf tea were linked to lower risk of cadiovascular disease in Japan however in the british isles no link was observed with black tea taken with milk.

“This study strengthens the body of evidence that habitual tea drinking is associated with lower chances of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, though it cannot give proof that it’s definitely the tea that’s responsible,” Dr. Jenna Macciochi, a lecturer in immunology at the University of Sussex, told the SMC. However, she noted that “a body of evidence in nutrition means that whole diet patterns are more informative of diet-disease relationships than any isolated food or nutrient.” Dr. Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School, Aston University, said that while green leaf tea is safe and may even have benefits, green leaf tea supplements “ought to be considered carefully as there has long been a number of cases of liver damage reported in individuals who have consumed these in large doses.”

Author Resource Box:

U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/08/794772148/alcohol-related-deaths-have-doubled-study-says

disease, Health

U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says

Leave a comment

More Americans are ordering more rounds, which is leading to more funerals, according to new research on alcohol-related deaths. Looking at data beginning with the National Center for Health Statistics, researchers estimate deaths from alcohol-related problems have more than doubled during the last nearly twenty years. Death certificates spanning 2017 indicate nearly 73,000 people died within the U.S because of liver disease along with other alcohol-related illnesses. That is up from slightly below 36,000 deaths in the year 1999. Some of the most significant increases were found among women and individuals who were middle-aged senior.

The study arises from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, which is a section of the NIH. It was published on Wednesday within the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research. Overall, researchers found men died at a higher rate than women. However, when analyzing annual increases in deaths, the most significant improvement was among white women. “Having the increases in alcohol use among women, there’s been increases in harms for women including ER visits, hospitalization, and deaths,” Aaron White, who authored the paper, told NPR. The studies suggest that in 2017, alcohol proven even more deadly than illicit drugs, including opioids. That year there were about 70,000 drug overdose deaths — about 2,300 fewer than those involving alcohol by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Alcohol: Maybe you have Thought About Reducing?
Only cigarettes are deadlier than alcohol: More than 480,000 people die each year in the U.S. because of smoking-related illnesses. However, alcohol-related overdoses — either alone or with drugs — rose between 1999 and 2017. Other alcohol-related causes included heart disease, cancer, and accidental injuries, for instance, falls. The total number of deaths attributable to drunken driving over the same two decades declined. Other findings, as quoted in the study:

  • 70.1% considering the population aged 18 and older. Consumed alcohol in 2017, averaging approximately 3.6 gallons of pure ethanol per drinker.
  • As the overall prevalence of drinking and binge drinking didn’t change for males, there arose a 10.1% rise in the incidence of alcohol and a 23.3% rise in drinking a lot among women.
  • Increases in consumption were more significant for people aged 50 senior relatives to younger age-groups.

Author Resource Box:
U.S. Alcohol-Related Deaths Have Doubled, Study Says. https://www.npr.org/2020/01/08/794772148/alcohol-related-deaths-have-doubled-study-says

Diet, disease, Health

Vitamin D alone does not prevent fractures, a new study finds!

Leave a comment

Taking calcium and vitamin D could help older adults curb the chance of a bone fracture, but vitamin D alone doesn’t finish the job, a brand new research review concludes.

The analysis of 28 past studies found that senior citizens with higher blood methods of vitamin D were reluctant to suffer a broken hip or other fracture over five to 15 years.

The picture was different in various research that tested the effects of using vitamin D supplements: They found no evidence that vitamin D alone reduced older adults’ chance of fractures.

In comparison, trials that tested mixed calcium and vitamin D showed modest protective effects.

“Combined treatment with both of your calcium and vitamin D reduced the potential risk of hip fracture by one-sixth, which resulted in being harmed more beneficial than taking standard doses of vitamin D alone,” said senior researcher Dr. Robert Clarke, a professor of epidemiology and public health medicine along at the University of Oxford in England.

The findings, published online Dec. 20 in JAMA Network Open, aren’t the last word on vitamin D and fractures. Some ongoing trials are testing high-dose vitamin D in people who are at increased danger of bone breaks.

But for now, there may be no proof that it works by Clarke.
In the United States alone, about 54 million people have deep bone tissue or outright osteoporosis—the brittle-bone disease that could bring about fractures, as per the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF). It’s estimated that after age 50, much fewer women and one-quarter of males will break a bone as a consequence of osteoporosis.

Calcium is essential to building and maintaining healthy bones, while vitamin D assists the body in absorbing calcium and supports the muscle function needed to avoid falls.

Though when looking at preventing fractures in people with osteoporosis, there’s only so much that supplements can do, said the NOF’s, Beth Kitchin. She wasn’t involved with the study.

“The expectation that vitamin D and calcium, alone, will prevent fractures is likely unrealistic,” said Kitchin, who’s also another person professor of nutrition sciences for the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

To assist preserve bone health go away with muscles strong; people need regular exercise by Kitchin. The activity that will make our bodies move against gravity while staying upright—like jogging, jumping rope, or dancing—can help support bone density. And use that builds muscle strength or improves balance can help lower the chance of falls.

Avoiding smoking and alcoholism is also critical to preventing bone loss, as stated by the NOF.

Once osteoporosis is diagnosed, medications—which either slow bone breakdown or boost bone formation—may be necessary, Kitchin said. “Fall-proofing” your room is another essential step. Meaning getting rid of tripping hazards in and out of the house; installing grab bars in bathrooms; maintaining stairways well lit, among other measures.

Of the studies, Clarke’s team analyzed, 11 were observational. They followed older adults among the “practical,” tracking fracture rates anywhere from five to fifteen years. Overall, the upper a person’s blood stages of vitamin D were at the outset, the lower the potential risk of fracture.

“But that doesn’t prove cause and effect,” Kitchin stressed. “High vitamin D levels are most certainly a marker of something else entirely.”

Few foods contain vitamin D, she noted. Instead, the human body synthesizes it whenever the skin is exposed to sunlight. So people with high vitamin D levels may spend a lot of time outdoors, for example.

The review included too 11 trials testing vitamin D alone, and six testing vitamin D and calcium. Study participants’ average age ranged from 62 to 85, and they were followed for as much as five years.

Overall, people gave calcium, and vitamin D had a 16% lower likelihood of hip fracture than those given placebos or no treatment. Their danger of any bone break was 6% lower.

So how should you know if it is recommended to take supplements? You can ask your doctor to measure your blood level of vitamin D, to detect any deficiency, Kitchin said. As regards to calcium, she added, “evaluate your diet plan.”

If you are genuinely avoiding food much dairy, green veggies, and foods fortified with calcium, you would possibly need to have a supplement.

According to the NOF, adults younger than 51 should strive for 1,000 mg of calcium a day; afterward, the advice surges to 1,200 mg. As for vitamin D, people newer 50 should force 400 to 800 international units (IU) daily, while mature workers need 800 to 1,000 IU.

The advice on vitamin D does vary, however, with some more groups recommending more. As per the Institute of Medicine, the safe upper limit of vitamin D is 4,000 IU daily for the majority of grown-ups.

Author Resource Box:
Vitamin D Alone Doesn’t Prevent Fractures, New Study Finds …. https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2019-12-20/vitamin-d-alone-doesnt-prevent-fractures-new-study-finds

6 Surprising Spirulina Benefits Your Doctor Doesn’t Know …. https://yurielkaim.com/6-surprising-spirulina-benefits/

Vitamin D alone doesn’t prevent fractures, new study finds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-12-vitamin-d-doesnt-fractures.html

disease, Health

Is the world ready for an HIV vaccine?

Leave a comment

Nearly four decades after HIV was discovered, scientists are cautiously optimistic; they are almost a vaccine effective enough to roll out on a fantastic scale. The end product from advanced vaccine trials is required inside the coming years.

But even when an efficient vaccine is present — would be the world in a position to roll it?

That is a question some researchers and advocates are asking, warning the fact that the global health community needs to lay the groundwork in expectation of good results, as a way to avoid delays of a vaccine rollout and consequently increased infections which could happen to prevent with a vaccine.

“Here is the epidemic of our time, and we will probably be meant how we handle this.”

— Dr. Larry Corey, principal investigator, HVTN

A beneficial, timely rollout considering the vaccine would require discussions and collaboration amongst the global health community and potential manufacturers of one’s vaccine, and also increased resources — starting now, researchers said this month with the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa in Rwanda.

“People are here, tangled with the science and daily grind, hoping for a safe and effective vaccine. Though it’s important to start thinking about: Supposing it works? Are we prepared to take it forward essentially?” said Dr. Simba Takuva, regional medical liaison for Sub-Saharan Africa for the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.

Should a successful vaccine can be found, it is going to be the foremost complicated vaccine life has ever seen, based on HIV vaccine researchers, clearly as the virus has high levels of mutations and different strains can be found globally.

While prospects of finding a cure for HIV are more elusive, some researchers also argue that the time has come even to start planning for getting a rollout.

“This is actually the epidemic of our own time, and then we will be defined by how we handle this,” said Dr. Larry Corey, principal investigator at HVTN.

Awaiting vaccine trial results

The HIV crisis, which began in the early 1980s, has claimed the lives of about 32 million people globally.

While there is a tool kit of prevention and treatment for your options HIV, life will likely not eradicate the virus without a vaccine, Corey said.

More on HIV/AIDS

► HIV treatment access isn’t rising fast adequate to reach 2020 targets, UNAIDS report shows

► Opinion: We cannot meet the 2020 AIDS targets. Now what?

► The impact of Mozambique’s cyclones on its HIV population

But the complexity of a given HIV has stumped scientists finishing up a vaccine over the years. There’s no natural immune response to model a vaccine, animal studies of one’s vaccine have failed, the HIV lacks an average responds to the vaccines, it features a high mutation rate, and different subtypes of HIV occur globally.

In 2009, the first time, researchers in Thailand published success with a trial whereby a vaccine showed protection against HIV. Yet the security wasn’t sufficient, and of course, the duration of the shield wasn’t for long, to bring it into the market. To respond, researchers embarked on new vaccine trials, working to build off these gains.

Now, there are three advanced vaccine trials. Results from two of the vaccine trials are required in 2022.

Any time a vaccine is located at least 50% efficient — the percent lowering of the contraction of the disease in vaccinated individuals compared to people not vaccinated — it could trigger efforts to license a vaccine and, after that, roll it outside.

If any of such vaccines show above 50% efficacy within the years to come, it would be on the market is slightly less than years, Corey said.

“It is inspiring times, so we need to be prepared for the outcome — be it failure or success,” said Roger Tatoud, deputy director of vaccines in HIV programs and advocacy with the International AIDS Society.

Amid a rollout, scientists go on to seek to improve levels and duration of protection against HIV for future system a vaccine, along with conduct “bridging” studies, for instance testing out the safety considering the vaccine when assigned to adolescents.

But rolling out vaccinations has historically been marred by delays in areas just like the regulatory process, community sensitization, and obtaining funds.

Rolling around the area of a malaria vaccine, for instance, experienced delays. After partial efficacy considering the vaccine was present in 2014, GlaxoSmithKline, along with its partners have “been navigating complex regulatory and implementation planning processes,” based on a recent article in The Lancet, which says the widespread rollout of the vaccine is years away and demands more funding.

“It is exhilarating times, and then we need to be aware of the outcome — such as failure or success.”

Laying the groundwork when it comes to the large-scale manufacturing of the vaccine is crucial; HIV vaccine researchers told Devex.

“Making a product consistently with countless doses along with excellent quality is not an excellent job,” Corey said.

Before the efficacy regarding a vaccine is considered, the worldwide health community can start conversations about how exactly many individuals to vaccinate and more to engage with potential manufacturers of what pricing could look like at different levels of efficacy, researchers said.

With the assistance of health economists and disease modelers, the worldwide health community can result in a business case to convince potential manufacturers that buying in the vaccine is smart financially, said Linda-Gail Bekker, deputy director considering the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre along at the University of Cape Town.

This may also include conversations around funding with organizations just like the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Conference call: So what happened for the Global Fund replenishment? (Pro)

After the flurry of last-minute commitments, the worldwide Fund narrowly surpassed its $14 billion targets. Devex journalists see how the replenishment conference in Lyon unfolded — as well as what it indicates for the future of world health financing.

“If you consider the malaria vaccine… this was not so that the European Medicines Agency approved it which the company came to us as funders, throughout at the Global Fund, and said we want $20 million to start out implementing research — We don’t just have $20 million available. You need to think for this, it’s important to have these items deemed and planned,” said Mark Dybul, former executive director considering the Global Fund, in a press conference this month in Kigali.

Get development’s biggest headlines in the inbox daily.

The Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise, currently housed at the International AIDS Society, is an efficient platform to help facilitate these conversations and produce stakeholders together, according to HIV vaccine researchers.

Challenges with distribution and stigma

Beyond arranging for manufacturing, you will find questions about the condition of the healthcare sector that would distribute a vaccine.

One of the many vaccines under trial includes six doses, repeated every several years. No other brand of vaccines on the earth requires that many treatments, based on HIV vaccine researchers. This concerns some in the global health community about whether communities would adhere to law enforcement, which works full-time path of doses.

“Even when we have met a 50% efficacy, could we go ahead with a vaccine that would involve six doses?” Bekker asked.

Researchers may need to improve the potency, to decrease the number of doses, Corey said.

The worldwide health community can get started discussing now which high-risk groups to focus on initially because blanket targeting could well be too costly, HIV vaccine researchers said.

“The shortage of existing healthcare programs that target lots of the populations that will very likely be prioritized to receive an HIV vaccine poses a considerable challenge,” based on a short article inside the Lancet.

Starting conversations on dealing with stigma may also be crucial per researcher.

“If you do, in fact, target higher-risk populations, it will stigmatize a vaccine that requires widespread distribution,” Bekker said.

Targeting adolescents may be challenging mainly because it involves conversations about sex, she confirmed.

The worldwide health community should make into mind lessons that are caused by the roll out from the HPV vaccine, which targets adolescents, based on researchers. In certain countries, the HPV vaccine was framed for being vaccine targeting a sexually transmitted infection as well as in other nations; the newcomer was framed for being vaccine prevents cervical cancer.

“Countries that deployed it as a cancer vaccine didn’t meet many of the resistance rather than other nations where they deployed is an STI vaccine,” Bekker said.

Getting ready for relief from

Prospects of a cure are less tangible than those to obtain the vaccine. However, that does not make it smart, so a growing number of researchers and advocates are likewise asking for conversations to start toward the rollout of the cure.

This can include engagement, particularly for the community-level, Dybul said, to visualize salespersons would reply to a cure and initiate implementing that feedback into its design.

An initial conversation was held in February in California, where about 30 members of the HIV scientific, pharmaceutical, funding, and NGO communities met to discuss the rollout associated with a potential cure sooner or later. Out from the meeting, a public-private partnership called the HIV Cure Acceleration for Africa was founded including representatives inside the fields of study and development, regulatory agencies, health care implementers, civil society, and potential funders that aim to hasten the creation of a cure similarly and confirm the broadest possible access.

A working group was also developed to create a “target product profile” to reflect what characteristics associated with a product would make it widely acceptable for communities to form. The functional group will examine areas such as which populations to focus on, the costs regarding a future cure, plus how it may be targeted at communities. The functional group includes representatives from the pharmaceutical industry, research institutions, advocacy groups, and potential funders.

“The aim is two-fold, so we can move as fast as is possible as products become available because everyone’s been engaged right from the start. But also, to make sure that there could be feedback, the population can modify their approach dictated by conversations,” Dybul said.

One reason behind these conversations would be to avoid community resistance during the roll from relief from, Dybul said. The web in the early days of antiretroviral therapy for HIV, there is protection from the pills for reasons including concerns that these pills were killing people instead of treating them, he explained. The reason being communities weren’t engaged with the early conversations.

Author Resource Box:

Is the world ready for an HIV vaccine? | Devex. https://www.devex.com/news/is-the-world-ready-for-an-hiv-vaccine-96186

Making History: Potter County’s First Female Judge. https://countyprogress.com/making-history-potter-countys-first-female-judge/

disease, Health

Learn how to wash your hands properly, per doctors

Leave a comment

Hopefully, washing your hands serves as a mechanical and frequent a part of your daily routine. Yet, it never ceases to amaze Dr. Robert Segal, MD, founder of Medical Offices of Manhattan, the actual number full-grown adults accomplish a less-than dream at hand-washing.

“As a medical doctor, I have to be careful about keeping my hands clean and avoid spreading viruses from patient to patient. Though when I’m out on a restaurant sometimes, I discover people either wash their hands prematurely, don’t use enough soap or worse, don’t wash at all,” says Segal. We’ve seen it too and, frankly, as hand-washing will be the most straightforward way to avoid the spread of illness and disease, we’d prefer to encourage the practice. With flu season in full swing, we thought it might be useful to ask Dr. Segal and Timothy Laird, MD, board-certified physician from Health First, for the healthy hand-washing tips.

Contrary to popular belief, there’s a right method to wash your hands. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) breaks it down into these five steps:

  • Wet your hands (to the wrist) with clean, running water (the temperature doesn’t matter). Shut down the tap, direct a great deal of soap.
  • Lather up the soap by rubbing your hands together. Don’t forget to spread that lather in the backs of a person’s hands up to your wrists, with the fingers, and below your nails.
  • Which is better, using soap and water or Scrub your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds. Both doctors recommend humming the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning-to-end twice to have the timing right. “Before surgery, surgeons need to stand with the scrub sink for five full minutes, and use an under-the-nail brush, along with a solid soap along with a scrub brush for each finger, the two sides of the hands, and scrub to their elbows. Not a single person expects other people to clean up equally as much, but this supplies you with a good idea of what’s necessary to kill most germs,” Laird says.
  • Rinse your hands thoroughly under clean, running water.
  • Dry your hands making use of a clean tissue (best bet), hand dryer (OK), or allow time for them to air dry (within a pinch).

As stated by both doctors and the CDC, it is best to wash your hands:

Before, during, and after preparing food. “Keeping clean hands and clean food prep surfaces, like counters and cutting boards, and washing raw produce will be methods of preventing diarrhea along with other illnesses,” says Laird.

Right before nourishing. Have in mind your hands as food utensils. “The main germ portals of entry to physique our mouths and nose, and our hands,” Laird explains. “Our hands inoculate germs into our body systems when they touch our face or food. Then we ingest the germs and get sick.”

Before and after caring for someone in your home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea. Viruses that cause vomiting and diarrhea, like norovirus, are super contagious and hand-washing have you noticed your best type of defense prevent going down yourself.

Before and as soon as you finish treating a cut or wound to stop the infection.

After using the potty, changing diapers, or filtering a baby that utilized the toilet — “even a microscopic quantity of droppings can contain millions of germs,” says the CDC.

After blowing onto your nose, coughing or sneezing. Deadly germs made from a sneeze can have a home in the air for long periods, many viruses might lead to colds, as well as having the influenza virus can survive a surface for minutes to hours after an infected one is subject to it, says Segal.

After touching a dangerous predator, animal feed treats, or animal waste. According to the FDA, toys might be contaminated with bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses, namely salmonellosis, and listeriosis.

Whenever you go out to take meals, you use your hands to place your garage door, get out the chair, and handle the menu. That’s the reason washing your hands sincerely before you eat daily can help keep germs from emerging — and keep you healthier, says Segal.

Be even more diligent government departments restrooms

“Your house to some public restroom — or most things in the different restroom — really are a hotbed of germs,” says Segal. “That’s why automatic sinks and tissue dispensers work well from the spread of the virus. You don’t have to touch them.” If those aren’t available, use everything that is there and be guaranteed to dry your hands thoroughly — germs cling to moisture, Segal explains. Hang onto your hand towel, or grab another and use it into paved the way to maintain your hands clean. Not everyone washes their hands after using the restroom.

Carry sanitizer

Hand-washing holds a slight edge over sanitizer concerning keeping your hands clean. However, a sanitizer that has at least 60 percent alcohol can assist stave off germs if there’s no sink or soap around. “Rub it around your hands for about 20 seconds, and till the hands are dry. It doesn’t work if hands are extremely stained or talked about oil, but it’s an excellent alternative if soap and water aren’t readily free,” says Laird. “There are also a few germs that might be better killed by the gel than soap and water. So, in healthcare settings, we try and do a bit of both. We utilize gel frequently and make use of soap and water hand scrubs to gel uses.”

Segal recommends bringing sanitizer wipes onto planes (very germy) and cleaning every surface that touches you, such as the airplane seats, multi-functional, belt, and tray — traveling across land? Use sanitizer using your hands after coping with car service belt buckles, train seats, and subway poles.

All told, hand-washing serves as a high-quality, well worth perfecting. “Hand-washing is amongst the proven ways of keeping both you and your loved ones healthy,” says Laird, who shared an anecdote in regards to the ‘father’ of hand-washing (yes, there is certainly this sort of person!), Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis, who studied the incidence of infections on the maternity wards in Vienna. “He discovered that the extent of that which was called ‘childbed fever’ could be dramatically reduced by way of hand-washing in obstetric clinics. However, his findings conflicted considering the established scientific and medical opinions of the moment and resulted in death were mocked and rejected via the medical community. Doctors were offended by the thought that they may turn out to be an explanation for the infections. He couldn’t provide scientific reasoning behind his findings, clearly as the discovery of germs as a cause was still years away. He suffered a nervous breakdown and commenced dedicated to an asylum where he surpassed. The wisdom of hand-washing was only embraced after some years when Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister discovered Semmelweis was right all along.”

Poor guy. But thanks to him, we probably can get to live a bit longer.

Author Resource Box:

How to wash your hands properly, according to doctors. https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/how-wash-your-hands-properly-according-doctors-ncna1102746

Which is better, using soap and water or … – Vital Record. https://vitalrecord.tamhsc.edu/which-is-better-using-soap-and-water-or-sanitizer/

disease, Health

Researchers support new strategies for HIV control

Leave a comment

The quest for an AIDS cure has partly centered on techniques to eradicate infected cells. Now, new research from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, as well as having the University of Pennsylvania among the U.S., indicates this process may not be crucial for an effective cure. Inside a study concentrating on a subset of HIV-positive folks who can accept the herpes virus without treatment, the researchers showed that these people’s lymphocytes suppress the virus but do not ruin infected cells.

AIDS is a persistent global health issue with no existing vaccine or cure. HIV infection typically results in a loss of CD4 T cells, a sort of white blood cell that, alongside the CD8 T cells, attacks and destroys viruses. The fewer CD4 T cells a person has, the more serious will be the symptoms. But fewer than 1 percent of HIV-positive individuals have stable CD4 T cell counts and undetectable HIV viremia, and therefore are thus in a position to live with herpes without therapy. This particular group, often known as elite controllers, has more beneficial CD8 T cells—the cells that ruin viruses—than most HIV-positive people.

Within this study, published in Science Translational Medicine, the researchers desired to find out nonetheless the CD8 T cells of elite controllers maintain HIV from replicating and getting ready for AIDS. They collected blood samples and lymph node tissue biopsies associated with a total of 51 HIV-positive individuals, including 12 elite controllers, from three sites inside the U.S. and Mexico.

Using single-cell RNA sequencing analyses, a way designed to study individual cells, the scientists revealed that elite controllers had more HIV-specific CD8 T cells in their lymphoid tissue when compared to the others, all that such technology was so-called non-cytolytic cells, meaning they didn’t kill off infected cells. Instead, these CD8 T cells of elite controllers managed to have a distinct transcriptional profile. They were able to suppress HIV replication through an enhanced ribosomal function, meaning they had been better at translating proteins from amino acids. This generated the production of more plus a more significant number of cytokines, small protein compounds that are important in cell communication, and boosted the cells’ polyfunctionality.

“The findings go against the paradigm of HIV control that focuses on destroying infected cells to identify a cure,” says Marcus Buggert, assistant professor along at the Department of drugs, Huddinge, at Karolinska Institutet. “While these strategies might still work, our research supports a model wherein viral suppression as an alternative to viral eradication can function as an effective cure.”

Author’s resource box:

Researchers support new strategies for HIV control, https://medicalxpress.com/news/2019-12-strategies-hiv.html

disease, Health

CDC Report: Drug Costs Linking to Nonadherence in People With HIV

Leave a comment

As stated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Americans pay 14% of their prescription drug costs away from pocket each year, as well as having the United States spends more per capita on pharmaceuticals compared to any high-income country in the world. High expenses help contribute to some magnitude of nonadherence among patients generally. Little information exists about the impact of financial barriers on adherence for those living with HIV specifically.

A study presented in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report indicates from 2016 to 17, 14% of individuals coping with HIV have used a drug-cost saving strategy, and 7% have found cost saving-related nonadherence.

The CDC’s Medical Monitoring Project analyzed national representative surveillance data on medical care, behaviors, and clinical outcomes among adults with HIV infection. Data were collected through medical record abstraction and also in-person and telephone interviews between June 2016-May 2017. Investigators weighted data for unequal selection probabilities and nonresponse.

Assembling data from 3948 people taking pharmaceuticals, the prevalence of prescription drug cost-saving strategies among those existing with HIV was estimated overall and with sociodemographic characteristics. Investigators also assessed differences in clinical outcomes between those that did and did not need cost-saving related nonadherence.

Questions pertained to 6 different kinds of cost-saving strategies. Patients reported whether they had asked a clinician for getting a lower-cost medication, used alternative therapies, bought over-the-counter drugs from another country, skipped doses, taken less medication, or delayed filling a prescription owing to cost. Those interviewed were asked concerning over-the-counter drugs, not solely antiretrovirals.

Cost-saving nonadherence was qualified by having used the cost-saving strategies of skipping doses, taking less medication, or delaying a prescription as a consequence of cost.

Care engagement and viral suppression were abstracted from medical records. Individuals interviewed were also asked if they needed but had not received medication beginning with the Ryan White AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) to enquire unmet needs.

Considering the approximately 14% of USA citizens with HIV who had used a medication cost-saving strategy, 4% had skipped doses, 4% took less medicine, and 6% had delayed a prescription. Within the categories found with him not considered directly nonadherent, 9% had asked clinicians for lower-cost medicine, 1% had bought medication from another country, and 2% used alternative medicine.

Household income above the poverty line was associated with nonadherence simply because of prescription drug costs, with 8.3% reporting nonadherence above the poverty line ($12,490 since 2019), concerning 5.3% below the poverty line.

“Persons with incomes above the poverty level might not apply for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program as well as assistance programs which can reduce medication costs,” the authors of one’s report wrote.

Those that reported unmet requirement for medication through ADAP were around five times in a better position to be nonadherent as a consequence of cost than individuals who received ADAP.

People existing with HIV who reported cost-saving related nonadherence were more unlikely to get virally suppressed over at their newest viral load test (64%) than individuals that didn’t report cost-saving related nonadherence (76%). Nonadherence related to drug cost was also associated with lower HIV care engagement rates and even more emergency department visits.

The more occurrence of costly hospitalizations and lower viral suppression rates (increasing likelihood of HIV transmission) among those who were nonadherent due to prescription drug costs demonstrate that cost-related nonadherence presents a broad social need with most stakeholders.

Inside a recent interview concerning upcoming long-acting antiretroviral therapies, Carlos del Rio, MD, FIDSA, Co-director for the Emory Center for AIDS research, claimed that clinicians must take cost seriously when treating HIV.

Author Resource Box:

CDC Report: Drug Costs Leading to Nonadherence in People …. https://www.contagionlive.com/news/cdc-report-drug-costs-leading-to-nonadherence-in-people-with-hiv

disease, Health

Did you know that research shows burning sage kills 94% of airborne bacteria?

Leave a comment
photo

The burning of sage is a spiritual ritual — but new research shows it could have more benefits than you might believe.


According to KAMR, the investigation shows burning sage, also referred to as smudging, within a room for your hour reduced airborne bacteria by 94 percent.

It may also show that the house stayed pretty much bacteria free for 24 hours. One could detect some strains of harmful bacteria  throughout thirty days.

Sage user Natalie Allery says she notices the difference when she burns sage. “If one of my children gets sick, we’re not all getting sick. It seems like not less than eliminate some of them after it is already in your house, and it also gets it lifts the actual energy,” Allery says. “You can feel inside us that there’s one thing that  we need to do and opening your windows isn’t enough.”

As stated by a holistic health website, other benefits to burning sage comprise repelling insects, improving mood and reducing stress and anxiety, and improving intuition. But also linked to helping with chronic diseases like diabetes, heart problems, and cancer.

Sanford Health Dietician Rachel Iverson adds that sage contains antioxidants which could support cancer prevention. She says sage also goes well using a Thanksgiving failure.

Author Resource Box:

Research shows burning sage kills 94% of airborne bacteria. https://www.wsls.com/news/2019/10/26/research-shows-burning-sage-kills-94-of-airborne-bacteria/

disease, Health

The Hidden Drug Epidemic Among Older People

Leave a comment

People in their 60s take an average of 15 pharmaceuticals a year. Coordinated with over-the-counter products, they seem to do more harm than good.

Photo by Tristan Le on Pexels.com

While news reports pay attention to an outburst of opioid abuse among young people, another legal and hidden drug epidemic is happening with the other end of the age spectrum: the fistfuls of remedies — both prescription and over-the-counter — taken by senior citizens.

As stated by the American Association of Consultant Pharmacists, people aged 65 to 69 need an average of 15 prescriptions per year, and such aged 80 to 84 take 18 medicines. And that’s and the myriad over-the-counter drugs, herbal solutions, vitamins and minerals they may take, any of which — alone and a combination — may cause more problems than they cure.

Among people over 65, 44 percent of men and 57 percent of girls take five or even more nonprescription and pharmaceuticals a week, and 12 percent take ten or more.

A large number of supposed remedies are unnecessary or used and might contribute to distressing and not to mention dangerous uncomfortable side effects. For example, taking aspirin or maybe a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) like ibuprofen could increase the danger of bleeding in patients on any prescribed anticoagulant like coumadin.

Join NYT ParentingFrom in any collaboration, and the team must appoint a team leader at NYT Parenting: Receive the latest news and guidance for parents. We’ll celebrate the tiny parenting moments that mean a great deal — and share stories that matter to families.

The problem of polypharmacy, just like plenty of drugs is known as, and having the unwanted side effects they cause is because of  fragmented medical treatment system, rushed doctor visits, and direct promotion of drugs to patients who are ill-equipped to make rational decisions about what taking, what you should not to take, and once.

This means it has often been as much as patients and caregivers to ensure that minimum risk accompanies whatever medications or remedies may be prescribed or taken on their very own. No matter if older patients are discharged from the hospital to the skilled nursing facility, one study found they have been prescribing 14 medications, one-third of which had side effects that could worsen underlying conditions common among the list of elderly.

The complexity related to the use of multiple medications ends in patients failing to follow medical instructions or do not take recommended drugs.

The elderly are liable to polypharmacy plus a too-frequent consequence referred to as a “prescribing cascade” — by which still further medications are prescribed to treat drug-related adverse effects mistaken for a new medical condition.

One typical example will be the utilization of anti-Parkinson therapy for symptoms caused by antipsychotic drugs, considering the anti-Parkinson drugs, causing new symptoms as a steep drop in arterial pressure or delirium resulting in just another prescription.

Consumers decide what supplements to take based on internet postings or advice from friends. Yet one evaluation 338 retail websites for the eight most desired herbal supplements revealed that have than half suggesting that the substance could treat, prevent, or perhaps even cure a specific condition.

Even doctors who will be well-informed can have difficulty determining the most beneficial or safest medications to prescribe for their elderly clients because most of the studies done to increase marketing approval exclude older people or those with an unrelated chronic health problem.

Thus, prescribing doctors mightnot know if the drug they order is safe for patients with kidney or liver impairment who may require a lower-than-usual dose or perhaps a different medication. A reliable drug that’s not prescribed just might be worse than no drug for patients.

Medical judgment will often be needed to enhance safety. To foster compliance with prescribed remedies and minimize the likelihood of adverse effects for older patients who require multiple medications, doctors may choose to “underprescribe” and prioritize treatments of severe conditions already diagnosed over preventive therapies for conditions by using a less immediate effect on patients’ standard of living.

Some drugs prescribed years earlier may not be necessary, which can be discontinued. The patient, for example, may now have a quick life span that renders pointless a preventive medication taken away to lower cholesterol or increase bone density. However, it is essential to taper many drugs to stay clear of dangerous symptoms caused by an abrupt withdrawal.

Affordability is yet another consideration. Despite the insurance plan for prescription drugs, many more new, more efficient medications involve co-payments that strain the budgets of the elderly. Patients may plan to skip doses or cut pills in two to make them go further, also in accomplishing the aim to render them less effective or ineffective.

Author Resource Box:

The Hidden Drug Epidemic Among Older People – The New York …. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/well/live/the-hidden-drug-epidemic-among-older-people.html

disease

Can you believe Facebook ads are misleading people about the outcome of a serious HIV prevention drug, putting real lives in imminent danger, health advocates say?

Leave a comment

For months, Facebook has faced continuous blowback because of its decision never to fact-check political ads.


However, this week, Facebook is facing a new critique of the ad policy: This challenge is “factually inaccurate advertisements which suggest negative health effects of Truvada PrEP,” according to the letter published Monday on GLAAD’s website.

 Over 50 groups signed the letter, which included in LGBTQ advocacy, health care, and HIV/AIDS prevention, including three groups that directly adviseFacebook on LGBTQ issues: your Rights Campaign, GLAAD, plus the Trevor Project.

At issue is various ads powered using law firms on Facebook the fact that the letter says contain false details about the HIV-prevention drug Truvada.

Truvada has been shown to be highly effective in the show and then in federal testing.

The ads that have lived viewed a lot of times intended to recruit gay and bisexual men who take Truvada. Overall the law and regulations firms running these ads claim the medication has harmful side effects and therefore are in search of Truvada users to join lawsuits from the drug’s maker, Gilead Sciences.

The ads are “deterring at-risk HIV negative people from the leading drug that blocks HIV infections,” the letter says.

Though GLAAD and other groups have pushed Facebook to remove the ads “for months,” according to The Washington Post, the social media giant has refused to do it. The letter is undoubtedly a work to bring public attention to the ads and also their probably dangerous impact.

It’s the most a direct call to action, with exact demands.

It demands that Facebook and Instagram “immediately remove the advertisements,” that Facebook’s advertising policy described around ads that incorporate propaganda, and that the company reviews its current ad policies.

A Facebook representative told Business Insider that it would be was “examining strategies to improve,” but persisted ads don’t violate the platforms’ ad policies, “nor have they been rated false by third-party fact-checkers.”

The corporation did reportedly call HIV patient advocate Peter Staley on Monday, according to a report inside the Washington Blade. Staley declared that Facebook’s director of external affairs, Lindsay Elin, contacted him to say the discussion was ongoing.

Author Resource Box:

Health advocates: Misleading Facebook ads put ‘real people …. https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/health-advocates-misleading-facebook-ads-put-real-peoples-lives-in-imminent-danger/ar-BBY2vrL