August 2019

More documents

Recommendations

Info

14 August 2019 HEALTH www.theasianindependent.co.uk Is your child’s sweet tooth making you anxious? Experts estimate that every second child in India has cavities, which, if not prevented, can lead to severe dental ailments and can even affect the overall development of the child. According to US National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, 42 per cent of children aged two to 11 develop a cavity in their primary teeth and nearly 28 per cent of children aged two to five develop at least one cavity. Cavities refer to tooth decay which happens when tooth enamel (outer layer of teeth) is destroyed. This happens when bacteria in the form of plaque reacts with sugary foods to form acids that attack the enamel and erode it. Dental plaque is the sticky, slimy substance made up mostly of the germs that cause tooth decay. It sticks to the teeth and can eat away the enamel. Cavities are more common among children. Due to poor eating and oral habits, dental plaque is developed frequently in kids’ teeth. If your child has toothache and holes/pits are visible, then it is surely a symptom of the cavity. Ignoring it can lead to tooth loss and the decaying of inside parts of the teeth. A recent study by University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, has found that environmental factors are also responsible for triggering risk for cavities. All this requires parents to be aware of the various dimensions of the problems, as well as of the fact that this is a common yet preventable disease. Cavities in baby and permanent teeth can cause pain and prevent children from eating, speaking, sleeping, and learning properly. It is important to protect both primary (baby) teeth and permanent teeth. Primary teeth can get cavities and permanent ones can develop dental infections. Tooth decay, especially of baby teeth is a serious, infectious and Cavities and the dangers they pose transmissible disease that can spread quickly and lead to infection without proper precautions. But the good news is that it is preventable and treatable. Cavities in children can be treated by different methods like dental sealant and fluoride varnishing, apart from dental filling. Dental sealant protects teeth especially when children are most susceptible to having decay. It is less expensive than filling. Fluoride varnish is a thick liquid painted on the teeth with a small disposable brush. It strengthens tooth enamel and can help prevent dental decay," says Dr Jayna Gandhi, Deputy Zonal Clinical Head at Clove Dental. Dental plaque and cavity is not a ‘Red wine can treat depression, anxiety’ Chennai New York : In a good news for wine lovers, researchers have found a compound present in red wine which can treat depression and anxiety. The plant compound resveratrol displays anti-stress effects by blocking the expression of an enzyme which controls stress in the brain. "Resveratrol may be an effective alternative to drugs for treating patients suffering from depression and anxiety disorders," said Ying Xu, Associate Professor, University at Buffalo in the US. The findings, published in the journal Neuropharmacolog, shed light onto how neurological processes are impacted by resveratrol -- a compound having numerous health benefits and found in the skin and seeds of grapes and berries. While research has identified resveratrol to have antidepressant effects, the compound's relationship to phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4), an enzyme influenced by the stress hormone corticosterone, was unknown. Corticosterone regulates the body's response to stress. Too much stress, however, can lead to excessive amounts of the hormone circulating in the brain and, ultimately, to depression or other mental disorders. The research also reveals that PDE4, induced by excessive amounts of corticosterone, causes depression- and anxiety-like behaviour. The enzyme lowers cyclic adenosine monophosphate -- a messenger molecule that signals physiological changes such as cell division, change, migration and death -- in the body, leading to physical alterations in the brain. Resveratrol displayed neuroprotective effects against corticosterone by inhibiting the expression of PDE4. The research lays the groundwork for the use of the compound in novel antidepressants. According to the researchers, although red wine contains resveratrol, consumption of alcohol has various health risks, including addiction. matter to ignore, especially in children as it increases with time and can make their oral health poorer. Along with teaching your child good oral habits like brushing teeth regularly, preventing them from eating loads of sweets and feeding them nutritious and balanced meals, it is vital to visit the dentist and get their cavity checked. Caries are more common among children. Ignoring them can lead to tooth loss, decaying of the inside parts of the teeth. HC orders relief to woman infected with HIV blood : The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday ordered the Tamil Nadu government to pay a compensation of Rs 25 lakh, provide a house and a job to a pregnant woman who was transfused with HIV-infected blood in a government hospital at Virudhunagar district. The court also ordered the government to provide free medical treatment for the woman hailing from Sattur while hearing a petition for ensuring safe blood transfusion and compensation for her. The pregnant woman was transfused with HIV-infected blood last year in December as she was anaemic at the government hospital in Sattur. She later delivered a baby in January this year who was not affected by HIV. Number of polio cases reaches 47 in Pakistan Islamabad : The National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) of Pakistan on Friday confirmed the registration of one new polio case each in Quetta and Banno provinces. With this, the number of polio cases has reached 47 this year, according to an official on Saturday. "The majority of cases, 36, have been reported in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and its tribal districts. In Punjab five and Baluchistan and Sindh three cases each have been reported," the official said. The official blamed the parents' refusal of to get their children immunized against polio for increase in polio cases.
www.theasianindependent.co.uk HEALTH Have 60gm nuts daily to boost sexual desire, ORGASM QUALITY Madrid : In a good news, researchers have found that consuming 60 grams of nuts daily improves sexual functions such as boosting desire and orgasm quality. The findings, published in the journal Nutrients, show that adding walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds to an unhealthy western diet can improve sexual desire and orgasm quality. For the study, researchers from Rovira i Virgili University and the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV) in Spain, conducted a nutritional intervention study with healthy participants of reproductive age in order to determine if regular consumption of nuts has any effect on sexual functions. The researchers analysed 83 individuals for 14 weeks who were following a western diet which is poor in fruits and vegetables and rich in animal fats. In a previous study, the same research group described how certain nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds improved sperm quality, although then they had not established positive effects of nuts on sexual function. According to the researchers, the prevalence of erectile and sexual dysfunction affects two per cent of men under the age of 40 years, around 52 per cent of men aged 40 to 70 years and more than 85 per cent of men aged over 80. The risk factors associated with sexual and erectile dysfunction are smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, a lack of physical exercise, stress and an unhealthy diet. August 2019 15 An apple carries about 100 million bacteria: Study Six new AES cases reported from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur Patna, A month after 153 children died of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur, six fresh cases were reported in the district on Saturday, leading to panic among health officials. According to District Health officials, two of the six children admitted at the Shri Krishna Memorial College Hospital (SKMCH) are critical. “Four children are undergoing treatment in the general ward, while two are in the Intensive Care Unit,” officials said. Cases of AES declined in Bihar since the arrival of monsoon last month. Till date, 132 children have died of AES at SKMCH and 21 at Kejriwal Hospital in Muzaffarpur. More than 650 cases of AES have been reported this year. Smoking can trigger severe leg pain, poor wound healing New York : Researchers have found a strong link between smoking and peripheral artery disease — a circulatory condition in which narrowed blood vessels reduce blood flow to the limbs — and this elevated risk can persist up to 30 years after quitting smoking. The study, led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health, also found that the link between smoking and peripheral artery disease was even stronger than that for coronary heart disease and stroke. “The study suggests that campaigns about smoking’s health risks should emphasize the elevated risk of peripheral artery disease, not just coronary heart disease and stroke,” said senior study author Kunihiro Matsushita. The study found that compared with never-smokers, those who smoked for more than 40 pack-years had roughly four times more risk for peripheral artery disease, versus 2.1 times and 1.8 times more risk for coronary heart disease and stroke, respectively. LONDON : Besides containing fibre and vitamins, an apple also carries about 100 million bacteria, and whether these microbes are good or bad for health may depend on how the fruit was grown, according to a study. The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, shows that organic apples harbour a more diverse and balanced bacterial community—which could make them healthier and tastier than conventional apples, as well as better for the environment. "The bacteria, fungi and viruses in our food transiently colonise our gut," said Professor Gabriele Berg, of Graz University of Technology, Austria. "Cooking kills most of these, so raw fruit and veg are particularly important sources of gut microbes," Berg said. To help us choose our colonic colonists wisely, the team analysed the microbiome of one of the world's favourite fruits: the apple. "83 million apples were grown in 2018, and production continues to rise. But while recent studies have mapped their fungal content, less is known about the bacteria in apples," said Berg. The researchers compared the bacteria in conventional store-bought apples with those in visually matched fresh organic ones. Stem, peel, flesh, seeds and calyx—the straggly bit at the bottom where the flower used to be—were analysed separately. Overall, the organic and conventional apples were occupied by similar numbers of bacteria. "Putting together the averages for each apple component, we estimate a typical 240 gramme apple contains roughly 100 million bacteria," said Berg. The majority of the bacteria are in the seeds, with the flesh accounting for most of the remainder. So, if the core is discarded, the intake falls to nearly 10 million, researchers said. "Freshly harvested, organically managed apples harbour a significantly more diverse, more even and distinct bacterial community, compared to conventional ones," said Berg. "This variety and balance would be expected to limit overgrowth of any one species, and previous studies have reported a negative correlation between human pathogen abundance and microbiome diversity of fresh produce," he said. Specific groups of bacteria known for health-affecting potential also weighed in favour of organic apples. "Escherichia-Shigella—a group of bacteria that includes known pathogens—was found in most of the conventional apple samples, but none from organic apples. For beneficial Lactobacilli—of probiotic fame—the reverse was true," Berg said. "Methylobacterium, known to enhance the biosynthesis of strawberry flavour compounds, was significantly more abundant in organic apples; here especially on peel and flesh samples, which in general had a more diverse microbiota than seeds, stem or calyx," he said. The results mirror findings on fungal communities in apples, researchers said. "Our results agree remarkably with a recent study on the apple fruit-associated fungal community, which revealed specificity of fungal varieties to different tissues and management practices," said Birgit Wasserman, lead author of the study. The studies show that across both bacteria and fungi, the apple microbiome is more diverse in organically grown fruits, researchers said.
Page 1 and 2: Email your CV to info@theasianindep
Page 3 and 4: www.theasianindependent.co.uk The s
Page 5 and 6: www.theasianindependent.co.uk ASIA
Page 11 and 12: www.theasianindependent.co.uk AZAM
Page 13: www.theasianindependent.co.uk HEALT
Page 17 and 18: www.theasianindependent.co.uk ENTER
Page 19 and 20: www.theasianindependent.co.uk TECH
Page 21 and 22: www.theasianindependent.co.uk NEWS
Page 23 and 24: www.theasianindependent.co.uk WORLD

August 2019

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?