Young, women more likely to suffer from multiple sclerosis: Experts

New Delhi, (IANS) Young adults and women are more likely to suffer from multiple sclerosis, said experts on Saturday.Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex, chronic, autoimmune, and neurological disease that primarily affects the central nervous system, leading to a range of symptoms and health issues.Data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate that over 1.8 million people worldwide live with MS.The prevalence of MS in India ranges from 7 to 30 per 100,000 people, according to various studies.“MS can strike anyone at any age, however, persons between the ages of 20 and 40 are the ones who are diagnosed with it most frequently. Women are disproportionately affected since they are two to three times more likely than men to have the condition,” Dr. Himanshu Champaneri Senior Consultant- Department of Neurosciences and Neurosurgery, Marengo Asia Hospitals, Gurugram, told IANS.Common symptoms include numbness or sensory loss, paraesthesia in limbs or face, vision loss, weakness in one or more limbs, double vision, imbalance while walking, and bladder problems such as difficulty holding or passing urine.In addition, some patients experience a current-like sensation running down the spine with neck movements.These symptoms typically develop over a few days to weeks, differentiating them from stroke symptoms, which have a rapid...

Read More........→July 08, 2024

Why Should You Breastfeed Your Baby?

(Photo courtesy of Flushing Hospital Medical Center)Flushing Hospital Medical Center’s New Beginnings unit provides the women and their families with the ultimate birthing experience. Each month, we cover a new topic exploring an important aspect of health and well-being for expectant mothers. This month, we’ll cover the health benefits of exclusive breastfeeding for both mothers and their babies. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, exclusive breastfeeding involves only feeding breast milk to your baby and no other foods or liquids. It is the best source of nutrition for your infant’s first six months of life. Some of the benefits to babies and mothers include: Providing all necessary nutrients for the baby’s healthy physical development, including vitamin D, iron, and zincPreventing infections and serious health conditions, both during infancy and later in lifeReducing a mother’s risk of conditions such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressureBreastfeeding may become less frequent as your baby starts eating solid foods around six to 12 months of age. For guidance on how you should breastfeed your baby, talk to a lactation consultant or your baby’s doctor or nurse.Flushing Hospital’s New Beginnings unit offers spacious, modern delivery suites and advanced postpartum care, providing you with a safe...

Read More........→August 23, 2023

Mothers with depression take longer to respond to their child

Credit: University of MissouriNewswise — COLUMBIA, Mo. – A recent study at the University of Missouri found mothers who are struggling with depression tend to take longer to respond to their child during back-and-forth dialogue. The findings provide the basis for further research to determine if the slower response time has any long-term impacts on the children’s language development, vocabulary or academic outcomes.Nicholas Smith, an assistant professor in the MU School of Health Professions, and his team listened to audio recordings of more than 100 families who were involved in the Early Head Start program, a federal child development program for children whose family’s income is at or below the federal poverty line. Some of the moms involved were struggling with depression, and Smith’s team documented how much time passed in between responses for a mother and her child during back-and-forth dialogue.“We found that the time gap in between responses, in general, gets shorter between mother and child as the child ages, and we also found the mom’s timing tended to predict the child’s timing and vice versa,” Smith said. “Mothers and children are in sync. Children who were slower to respond to their mom often had moms who were slower to respond to the child, and children who were faster to respond to their mom had moms who were faster...

Read More........→February 20, 2023

Why Men Find Switching Tasks More Difficult Than Do Women

It has long been known to science that women find it easier than men to multitask and switch between tasks. But identifying exactly which areas of male and female brains respond differently and why has so far been unclear. According to researchers from the HSE Neurolinguistics Laboratory, men need to mobilise additional areas of their brain and use more energy than women when multitasking. Why Men Find Switching Tasks More Difficult Needing to switch attention between tasks causes stronger activation in certain brain regions in men compared to women. Although women find it easier than men to switch between tasks; how exactly their brains function differently in such situations has so far been unknown. Recent research reveals that male brains appear to consume more energy when they need to shift attention. In addition to this, in men there is greater activity in the dorsolateral prefrontal areas of the brain compared to women, as well as activation in some other areas which is not usually observed in women. Such differences are typical of younger men and women aged 20 to 45, according to findings from experiments conducted by researchers Svetlana Kuptsova and Maria Ivanova of the HSE Neurolinguistic Laboratory, radiologists Alexey Petrushevsky and Oksana Fedina of the Centre for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation,...

Read More........→November 22, 2016

Nasa-Inspired 'Miracle Suit' helping to save new mothers from death

@ https://pixabay.com/under Creative Commons CC0 Washington: Inspired by Nasa research on inflated anti-gravity suit or G-suit, "miracle suits" are helping new mothers survive blood loss after birth in developing countries, including India. California-based Zoex Corporation was the first company to develop commercially available pressure garment suitable for treating shock and blood loss in new mothers. Since the pressure does not need to be as strong as in military and aviation cases, the company scrapped the old-style G-suits for a non-pneumatic version using simple elastic compression. In a recent study by Nasa Ames Research Centre and other researchers, the garments saved 13 out of 14 patients in Pakistan who were in shock from extreme blood loss. In another study in Egypt and Nigeria, the garment reduced both blood loss and mortality from postpartum hemorrhage by 50 percent. "In the field of maternal health, we generally don't see that kind of a reduction, and even more so when it's the result of a single, simple intervention," said Suellen Miller, founder of the Safe Motherhood Programme which aims to reduce pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths and illnesses across the globe. By 2012, the World Health Organisation and the International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians both decided to officially recommend...

Read More........→June 09, 2016

Soon, your smartphone can tell if you are pregnant

Berlin, July 2Small add-on devices could allow your smartphone to take pregnancy tests or monitor diabetes, scientists say. Researchers at the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT), University of Hanover, Germany, have developed a self-contained fibre optic sensor for smartphones with the potential for use in a wide variety of biomolecular tests, including those for detecting pregnancy or monitoring diabetes. According to the researchers, the readings of the sensor can run through an application on a smartphone which provide real-time results. When properly provisioned, the smartphone user has the ability to monitor multiple types of body fluids, including blood, urine, saliva, sweat or breath. In case of medical applications, the sensor readings can be combined with the GPS signal of a smartphone and users can then be guided to the next drug store, hospital or the ambulance, the researchers said. The sensor uses the optical phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) - which occurs when light causes electrons on the surface of a thin film to jostle - to detect the composition of a liquid or the presence of particular biomolecules or trace gases. "We have the potential to develop small and robust lab-on-a-chip devices for smartphones. So, surface plasmon resonance sensors could become ubiquitous now," said Kort Bremer,...

Read More........→July 18, 2015

Women More Attracted To Men In Red

It's a symbol of courage and sacrifice, of sin and sexuality, of power and passion -- and now new research demonstrates that the color red makes men more alluring to women. In the United States, England, Germany and China, women found men more appealing when they were either pictured wearing red or framed in red, compared with other colors. The finding is reported in the August issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, published by the American Psychological Association. "Red is typically thought of as a sexy color for women only," said Andrew Elliot, PhD, of the University of Rochester and University of Munich. "Our findings suggest that the link between red and sex also applies to men." Twenty-five men and 32 women briefly viewed a black-and-white photo of a Caucasian man in a polo shirt, surrounded by a red or white matte. Using a nine-point scale, they answered three questions: "How attractive do you think this person is?" "How pleasant is this person to look at?" and "If I were to meet the person in this picture face to face, I would think he is attractive." Red warmed up women only. Women who looked at a man surrounded by red or white rated the man surrounded by red a little over one point higher on a nine-point scale of attractiveness, a statistically significant bump. Another experiment featured a man...

Read More........→July 15, 2015

World’s most lifelike bionic hand will transform the lives of amputees

. A congenital amputee from London has become the first user in the UK to be fitted with a new prosthetic hand that launches this week and sets a new benchmark in small myoelectric hands. Developed using Formula 1 technology and specifically in scale for women and teenagers, the bebionic small hand is built around an accurate skeletal structure with miniaturised components designed to provide the most true-to-life movements. The bebionic small hand, developed by prosthetic experts Steeper, will enable fundamental improvements in the lives of thousands of amputees across the world. The hand marks a turning point in the world of prosthetics as it perfectly mimics the functions of a real hand via 14 different precision grips. A bionic extension of the arm that enables the utmost dexterity will enable amputees to engage in a range of activities that would have previously been complex and unmanageable. Nicky Ashwell, 29, born without a right hand, received Steeper's latest innovation at a fitting by London Prosthetics Centre, a private facility providing expert services in cutting-edge prosthetics. Before being fitted with the bebionic small hand, Nicky would use a cosmetic hand without movement; as a result, Nicky learned to carry out tasks with one hand. The bebionic small hand has been a major improvement to Nicky's life,...

Read More........→July 15, 2015

Why do we cry?

Ad Vingerhoets is probably the only “crying professor” (from the University of Tilburg). Why do people cry? He says that crying is not so much about feeling sad, but about feeling hopeless and powerless or other feelings like altruism, self sacrifice etc. He says women and children mostly cry with someone else while men prefer to cry alone. In Northern, colder countries, people cry more because in warmer countries there are more social conventions. The less testosterone, the more easily men cry. Source: Article, Image: flickr.co...

Read More........→April 07, 2015

Lab engineered vaginas implanted in patients in US

Scientists reported today the first human recipients of laboratory-grown vaginal organs. A research team led by Anthony Atala, M.D., director of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Institute for Regenerative Medicine, describes in the Lancet long-term success in four teenage girls who received vaginal organs that were engineered with their own cells. “This pilot study is the first to demonstrate that vaginal organs can be constructed in the lab and used successfully in humans,” said Atala. “This may represent a new option for patients who require vaginal reconstructive surgeries. In addition, this study is one more example of how regenerative medicine strategies can be applied to a variety of tissues and organs.” The girls in the study were born with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) syndrome, a rare genetic condition in which the vagina and uterus are underdeveloped or absent. The treatment could also potentially be applied to patients with vaginal cancer or injuries, according to the researchers. The girls were between 13 and 18 years old at the time of the surgeries, which were performed between June 2005 and October 2008. Data from annual follow-up visits show that even up to eight years after the surgeries, the organs had normal function.  “Tissue biopsies, MRI scans and internal exams using magnification all showed...

Read More........→January 14, 2015

How to make goat milk lotion

BY THE GOAT CHEESE LADY: I tend to do things at the last minute — I believe they call it procrastination; I call it thriving under pressure. As you know, we had our farm for sale but what I haven't told you yet is that it SOLD! The packing, downsizing, sorting and cleaning all went well, and actually rather smoothly. We have five weeks in between moving out of our old place and moving to our new farm, which is why we are grateful that my parents offered for us to live with them during our stint with no permanent address. By the middle of the second week of staying with my parents, I began to get restless. No goats, no classes, no farm, no laundry or cooking. I love my mom; she’s fed us the entire time! But there was A LOT of goat milk lotion and soap sitting, unsupervised and un-income-producing, in the basement just waiting to take over their kitchen in anticipation of becoming someone's Christmas gift. Here comes the last-minute part; why not launch a two-day online goat milk soap and lotion sale in the midst of moving and right before traveling out of the country? We launched the sale on a Wednesday, and had it end Thursday at midnight. My husband partnered with me to pack and ship all of the orders on the following Friday — two days before we took a trip home to El Salvador. (Yikes — throw in a little excitement, will ya?)...

Read More........→December 29, 2014

The first baby born from a womb transplant

Doctors in Sweden have announced the first baby born to a mother with a womb transplant. This pioneering operation offers hope to thousands of couples who are unable to conceive children. In 2013, researchers at the University of Gothenburg completed a series of nine womb transplants on women in Sweden. Among the patients was an unnamed 36-year-old with Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser syndrome (MRKH), a rare condition that prevents the uterus from developing. Her ovaries were intact, however, so she could ovulate. This female became the recipient of a uterus donation from her 61-year-old family friend, the latter having gone through the menopause around seven years earlier. Drugs were needed to suppress the immune system, which otherwise would have resulted in the organ being rejected. Alongside this, IVF was used to produce 11 embryos, frozen and stored for later use. In January 2014, a year after the transplant, doctors successfully implanted one of these embryos into the patient, transferring it to her new womb. There were concerns over how well a transplanted uterus would Credit: The Lancet cope with the strains of pregnancy, during which it swells greatly in size. The procedure had been attempted by scientists in the past – but in each case, it led to either a miscarriage or organ failure caused by disease. On this occasion,...

Read More........→October 21, 2014

Brooklyn Bridge Abduction

. Linda Cortile was abducted around 3:00 A.M., on November 30, 1989. She was happily married and a mother of two children. On November 30, Linda was asleep when was suddenly awakened only to find several aliens standing beside her bed. They were little figures, a little more than four feet; their heads were out of proportion to their bodies and ?teetered there as if they might fall off under their own weight.? Linda remembered being transported out of her apartment building and into a UFO. She had no recollection of the events after that. The next morning, Linda contacted UFO investigator Budd Hopkins and told him what she remembered about the abduction. Linda revealed, through many hypnosis sessions, that while inside the craft the aliens had examined her nose. Linda said during hypnosis:? They?re feeling the contour of my nose and they?re looking in my nose on the left side. And then they go to the right side and they?re looking inside there. And I?m just saying to myself, ?I hope I sneeze. And I hope they get it right in the face.? They?re spending a lot of time on the right side of my nostril.? The alien also performed numerous tests on Linda?s body, from her feet to her chest. At first Budd thought it was another case of encounter that can be explained in a psychological way, but fifteen months later Budd received a letter...

Read More........→October 07, 2014

Russian female cosmonaut arrives on ISS after 17 years

. 26.09.2014 Russian manned spacecraft Soyuz TMA-14M successfully docked at the ISS on Friday, September 26. "The ship docked at the docking port of "Poisk" module in an automatic mode," ITAR-TASS reports from Baikonur. One of the solar panels did not open when required, although it did not prevent the docking. The panel opened several hours later, the head of Roscosmos, Oleg Ostapenko told reporters.  The Soyuz delivered the crew of the next long-term mission of ISS-41/42: Russian Space Agency cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova, as well as NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore. "All three of them are doing well," Roscosmos officials said. Thirty-eight-year-old Elena Serova of Russia has thus become the first woman to have arrived at the ISS after a long break in 17 years. Serova has also become the fourth Russian woman in space in history. She became a member of the group in 2006 and was preparing for the space flight for a long time. Prior to that, she worked as an engineer of the second category at Russian Space Corporation Energia. The decision to send Elena Serova into space was made in 2011. There is another Russian citizen - Anna Kikina - among the candidates. At the opening of the Olympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi, Elena Serova was in the group of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts, who raised the flag...

Read More........→October 04, 2014

India's Mars mission Q&A: what will Mangalyaan discover?

.. India becomes fourth nation to celebrate reaching Mars – and the first to manage it on first attempt India's Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft has shared its first images of Mars after entering the red planet's orbit on its very first attempt. The country's space agency became the fourth to successfully put a satellite in orbit around Mars – and the first to manage it on its first try. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a national day of celebration as it began circling Mars. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) later uploaded a picture (above) of the planet on its Mars Orbiter twitter account with the caption: "The view is nice up here." The image, which was taken from a height of 7,300km, was printed out and presented to Prime Minister Modi, who had previously joked that the mission's budget was lower than the sci-fi film Gravity, starring Sandra Bullock. The Mars Orbiter Mission – known as Mangalyaanor or Mom – has been lauded for its relatively low price tag – just £45m, less than the cost of a Premier League footballer. The satellite will study the Martian atmosphere from orbit and will not land on the surface of the planet, says the Daily Telegraph. The Mars Orbiter Mission joins the US's Maven satellite in orbit around Mars. Maven, which is also studying the atmosphere, reached the red planet...

Read More........→September 26, 2014

The science of love

Can love potions move from fairy tale to fact? Studies are showing the potential to chemically manipulate affection and social bonding. “A single molecule can have a profound effect on relationships,” said Emory neuroscience Larry Young, during his recent “Life of the Mind” talk. His research involves prairie voles, highly social animals that tend to form life-long bonds with their mates. An infusion of oxytocin, a hormone associated with neural rewards and addictions, can cause female prairie voles to become attached to the nearest male, while the hormone vasopressin spurs males’ interest in a female. Male prairie voles with a genetically limited response to vasopressin were less likely to bond to a mate. Other researchers have identified similar behavior in human males with this genetic trait. But what about plasticity of the brain, asked religion scholar Bobbi Patterson, who led a conversation with Young, following his lecture. Patterson studies how ancient contemplative communities practiced shaping their minds. Their ultimate goal was for love and compassion, minus the intense hormonal urges. “The biochemistry of the brain, they thought of that as the juices of human behavior, the passions – things that would get you in trouble by sexual behaviors or violence – they would try to block that by training...

Read More........→September 02, 2014

Woman has abortion, claims fetus is half alien - News - Society

© Screenshot: YouTube Giovanna, a 41-year-old Italian woman, had an abortion back in 2010 because she claims she was kidnapped and impregnated by an alien life form. She believes that this was not the first time she has become pregnant from aliens. It is suggested that the creatures take the fetus in just two months’ time. (VIDEO) Extraterrestrial beings have been visiting Giovanna since she was four-years-old, according to her story. They have told her telepathically that their mission is to create a hybrid race which is close to their genetic makeup. She states that the aliens believe there is a biological similarity between the human race and their species. When Giovanna went to the medical clinic to see about her pregnancy, doctors discovered a cardiac rhythm that was close to one of a baby’s. However, doctors could not find a baby and since Giovanna said she was having difficulties with the fetus, an abortion was conducted. The end result was a placenta and hybrid human. The entire abortion was filmed. Documentation of what the half-human half-alien looks like can be seen below at minute five of the video. Piles of other evidence have been collected by Giovanna over the years. She has taken videos and photos from her phone of the spacecraft. Additionally, unknown markings have surfaced on her body without any recollection...

Read More........→January 13, 2014

Gene of the week: internet addiction

Everybody is talking about internet addiction – many people spend hours online and immediately start feeling bad if they are unable to do so. Medically, this phenomenon has not been as clearly described as nicotine or alcohol dependency. But a German study in the Journal of Addiction Medicine suggests that there are molecular-genetic connections in internet addiction, too. "It was shown that Internet addiction is not a figment of our imagination," says the lead author, Dr. Christian Montag of the University of Bonn. "Researchers and therapists are increasingly closing in on it." He found that some people’s thoughts revolve around the internet during the day and that they feel their wellbeing is severely impacted if they have to go without it. The problem users seem to have a genetic variation that also plays a major role in nicotine addiction. "It seems that this connection is not only essential for nicotine addiction, but also for internet addiction," reports the Bonn psychologist. “The current data already shows that there are clear indications for genetic causes of Internet addiction." The actual mutation is on the CHRNA4 gene that changes the genetic make¬up for the Alpha 4 subunit on the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. "Within the group of subjects exhibiting problematic Internet behavior this variant occurs...

Read More........→December 19, 2013

Fertilization technique to create baby with DNA from 3 people found in UK

Britain is planning to become the first country in the world to offer controversial "three-parent" fertility treatments to families who want to avoid passing on cureless diseases to their children. The methods, today only at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, would for the first time include implanting genetically modified embryos into women. It involves intervening in the fertilization process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy. The methods are designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases - incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,500 children worldwide. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells. The potential treatment is known as three-parent in vitro fertilization (IVF) because the offspring would have genes from a mother, a father and from a female donor. Britain's fertility regulator says it has found broad public support for innovative in vitro fertilization techniques. It also found there was no evidence to suggest the techniques were unsafe, but said further research was still necessary. Critics, however, slammed the decision as a breach of ethics, saying there were already safe methods...

Read More........→December 04, 2013

The Human Body Handles 45 Dels (Units) Of Pain?

The Claim- "A Human body can bear only up to 45 del (units) of pain. Yet at time of giving birth, a mother feels up to 57 Del (units) of pain. This is similar to 20 bones getting fractured at the same time." This kid isn't even out yet, and he needs a haircut- The Verdict- False. If you read the description carefully, it doesn't even make much sense. If we can only handle 45 "Dels" of pain, then childbirth at 57 "Dels" would mean that people could not physically handle it. In other words, we would have been an extinct species long before doctors and medicine came along to help us out. While I cannot speak from personal experience on the subject, I am sure childbirth is less than pleasant. I have been there for both my daughters births and I have seen the obvious pain that their mother had to go through, and I have to admit it doesn't look like much fun. I have the utmost respect for those women that willingly go through with the experience, and they deserve that respect. However, that still doesn't excuse this claim that's been circulating around the internet from being horribly inaccurate and completely bunk. There is no such measurement in the scientific community as 'del" of pain, but there is however a "dol" (from the latin word for pain, dolor) which was a proposed name for a unit of measurement for pain from the...

Read More........→March 29, 2013