iPods should carry health warnings

iPods and other portable music players might have to carry health warnings, with the European Commission coming up with new proposals.

The manufactures of such players will be asked either to display labels advising users of the damaging long-term effects of loud music on their hearing or to devise a system of on-screen alerts triggered by the prolonged use of headphones at high noise levels.

According to plans, portable music players will also be required to adopt a default volume setting of about 80 decibels-the level considered safe for 40 hours use a week.

However, users can override this and turn up the volume, but the European Commission wants them first to receive a warning from their music device and further reminders if they continue to blast their ears.

"Current safety settings are not good enough to protect people," the Times quoted a source in the European Commission's consumer affairs directorate as saying.

"There will be default volume settings so people can protect themselves and there will be new information requirements either on the screen or on the devices themselves.

"The aim is to make people aware that beyond certain noise levels you risk long-term damage to hearing, but users will be given a choice and have the option to override it if they want to," added the source.

They said that tough regulations are needed after a study showed that portable music devices were regularly being played too loud for too long because of technological advances.

Melanoma Skin Cancer

It’s not sunlight but moles that have the highest role in increasing the risk of skin cancer, say scientists who have claimed that the perils of sunbathing are grossly ‘overstated’.

Scientists have said that sunshine is not the main cause of melanoma, but the number of moles on your skin is the most important factor in the risk of getting this dangerous form of skin cancer.

The findings have re-ignited the debate over whether official health warnings about avoiding the sun are overstated.

The scientists involved in the study maintain that sunshine causes only a small proportion of melanoma cases, but in their opinion health warnings would be more useful if they focused on people who have more than 100 moles, and taught them to check regularly the moles for changes in shape, size or colour.

However, melanoma can be treated, for instance by the early removal of a suspicious mole, but it is the most serious type of skin cancer, as it can spread to other organs in the body.

The cancer can start in an existing mole or on normal-looking skin, and can occur in people who have no moles but have fair skin and freckles.

In a recent study, researchers from Queensland, Australia, Montreal, Canada and Philadelphia, America, led by King’s College London, identified two genes, which dictate how many moles someone will have, and their risk of getting skin cancer.

“The number of moles you have is one of the strongest risk factors for melanoma – stronger than sunshine. This paper shows that we found two important genes that control the number of moles you have. Those genes also give you an extra risk of melanoma,” Times Online quoted Tim Spector, professor of genetic epidemiology at King’s College London, as saying.

Dr Veronique Bataille, a researcher at King’s College, London, and dermatologist at West Hertfordshire NHS Trust, argues that we have overemphasised the risk of sun exposure.

She said: “Let’s keep sunshine in the picture because it does make you age and causes you wrinkles – we have never denied that. But let’s move away from scaring people by saying they are going to die because they go in the sun.”

The study has been published in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

Why Vegetables..?

Detoxifies: A veggie diet contains dietary fibre (bottle gourd, pumpkins, spinach, cabbages), which flushes toxins out of the body. A diet containing only eggs, fish and mutton is a poor source of fibre.
Stronger bones: Gorging on meat can lead to protein overload. This can tax our kidneys, interfere with the absorption of calcium and prompt the body to extract existing calcium from the bones. Such calcium excretion is rare amongst vegetarians.

Carb deficiencies: A non-vegetarian diet is a poor source of carbohydrates. Carb-deficiency can lead to ketosis – a condition where the body starts breaking down fat (instead of carbs) as a source of energy.
Easy digestion: Complex carbohydrates in vegetarian foods are digested gradually providing a steady source of glucose. Conversely, meats rich in fat and proteins are difficult to digest.

Healthy skin: Eating beetroot, tomato, pumpkin and bitter gourd can clear off blemishes. And guava, apples, pears and peaches, eaten along with their peel, promise a glowing complexion.

Weight management: Avoiding meat is the simplest way to reduce fat intake. Instead, eating whole grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, and fruits, lowers cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and obesity.

Easy on the teeth: Our molars are more suitable for grinding grains and vegetables than tearing flesh. Digestion begins with the saliva, which can only digest complex carbohydrates present in plant foods.

Phyto nutrients: Diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, stroke and bone loss are partially preventable with a good intake of phytonurtients. As these are present only in vegetarian diet, the non-vegetarians are at a loss.

Asthma

Asthmatics can improve their conditions by changing the way they breathe, say experts.

Thomas Ritz and Alicia Meuret, from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, have developed a four-week program to teach asthmatics how to better control their condition with the help of new breathing techniques.

During an attack, sufferers tend to hyperventilate, breathing fast and deep against constricted airways to fight an overwhelming feeling of oxygen deprivation.

Unfortunately, this makes the problem worse by lowering the body’s carbon dioxide levels, which restricts blood flow to the brain and can further irritate already hypersensitive bronchial passages.

Patients who "over breathe" on a sustained basis risk chronic CO2 deficiencies that make them even more vulnerable to future attacks. Rescue medications that relieve asthma symptoms do nothing to correct breathing difficulties associated with hyperventilation.

As part of a four week program, Ritz and Meuret use their biofeedback-based Capnometry-Assisted Respiratory Training (CART) to teach asthma patients to normalize and reverse chronic over breathing.

A hand-held device called a capnometer measures the amount of CO2 exhaled. Using this device, patients learn how to breathe more slowly, shallowly and regularly.

Ritz said that CART techniques could have a positive impact on quality of asthma treatment even as they reduce the need for acute care. "The research shows that this kind of respiratory therapy can limit both the severity and frequency of asthma attacks. That means fewer doctor visits and less frequent use of rescue medications, with the associated savings of both time and money," he said

"The training gives patients new ways to deal with acute symptoms, and that helps them to feel more in control," said Meuret

Mood disorders

Mood disorders are a group of illnesses that have as their distinguishing characteristic an experience of mood that is unusual for the circumstances. It is a very common cause of behavioural pattern in human beings.

Mood variations in accordance with the environment proportionally are normal but when behavioural patterns are disproportionate, they are called abnormal mood disorder.

“When a mood is too low, it is known as depression and when it is too high it is called mania. The fluctuation between too high and too low is called bipolar disorder. Exposure to exogenous individual factors such as negative stress, hostility, arrogance, vindictiveness, bigotry, anger, etc, may lead to exhaustion or low levels of serotonin, which is associated with depression. While the high levels of mood behaviour may lead to mania, a significant fluctuation in the level of serotonin may fluctuate the mood, depending on the chemical imbalance,” says Dr H K Chopra, senior consultant, medicine and cardiology, Moolchand Heart Hospital, New Delhi.

Types
Mood disorders can be classified into unipolar and bipolar disorders. Where the fluctuation between too high and too low, it is called bipolar disorder. Unipolar mood disorder can be divided into:

Major disorder: This type of disorder results in acute depression, which leads to lack on enthusiasm, sadness, feeling of self worthlessness and guilt, insomnia, fatigue, etc. In extreme cases, a tendency of committing suicide is seen.

Dysthymia: It is characterised by a constant depressed mood for about two years. It is accompanied by some other symptoms such as an increase or decrease in eating, low self-esteem, fatigue or low energy, insomnia or increase in sleeping, feeling hopeless and difficulty in making decisions or concentrating. These symptoms are persistent, but less severe.

Seasonal affective disorder (SAD): It is a type of mood disorder that is characterised by the episodes of major depression, occurring at a particular time of the year (winter).

Postpartum depression: It is a major depressive episode, which occurs after having a baby. The depressive symptoms generally start within four weeks after giving birth to a baby. Some of the common symptoms are headache, exhaustion, a sense of inadequacy and crying. These symptoms may be accompanied by a constant fatigue, less interest in sex, a lack of joy in the life, severe mood swings, withdrawal from family and friends, insomnia and impaired concentration or thinking. The symptoms can vary in duration and intensity.

Treatment
The balance in the behavioural pattern is possible by optimising of lifestyle with self-discipline, regulated daily routine such as exercise, daily walks, sports, meditation and practising of all eight limbs of yoga -- yama, niyama, asanas, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi -- meticulously may help in balancing the mood. Eating the right food at the right time and in right dosage and consumption of satvik food enhance mood balance. Tamsik food may distort the mood. Excessive smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse may also be responsible for mood disorders. Therefore, perfection in the mindset is the key to have perfection in the mood. Following a meticulous lifestyle may reduce the requirement for mood stabilisation medication.

(Inputs by Dr H K Chopra)

Swine flu

What is swine flu?

Swine flu is a respiratory disease that happens regularly in pigs and occasionally humans --most commonly, humans who are around pigs, but it's possible for the virus to spread from person to person. Symptoms are similar to regular flu: Fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue, body aches, headaches, chills, and these symptoms can vary from mild to severe. Like regular flu, swine flu can cause a worsening of underlying chronic conditions. This new strain also appears to cause more diarrhea and vomiting than normal flu.

Obviously, you can become ill from contact with an infected pig or environment but in human to human transmission, it happens from coming in contact with the coughing and sneezing of infected people, or physical contact, like shaking hands and then touching, say, your nose or mouth. There's no vaccine available for swine flu but generally, the same anti-viral drugs you'd use for the flu will help against swine flu and like the traditional flu, the drugs work best when taken sooner rather than later --specifically within two days of symptoms. You are contagious if you are symptomatic, and possibly for as much as seven days after the onset of such symptoms. Children might be contagious for longer periods.

Preventive measures and if you get sick:

--Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you sneeze

--Wash your hands often, especially after you cough or sneeze (alcohol based hand cleaners also work)

--If you live in an area where swine flu cases have been reported and you become ill with flu-like symptoms, contact your doctor or health care provider. They'll determine a treatment if necessary.

--If you get sick, stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to prevent further spread of the virus

More serious signs should be addressed immediately:

--In children: Fast breathing or troubled breathing, blue-ish skin color, not drinking enough fluids, not waking up or not interacting, being so irritable that the child doesn't wanna be held, or fever with a rash, or flu-like symptoms that improve and return with a fever and worse cough

--For adults: Difficulty breathing, pain in the chest or abdomen, sudden dizziness, confusion and severe or persistent vomiting.

Pig Fever

Kerala's Animal Husbandry Minister C. Divakaran Wednesday confirmed that pig fever had been diagnosed and was the cause of death of pigs at a private farminwayanad//.

This is believed to be the first reported case of the disease in the country.

"Pig fever was ascribed to the death of pigs by the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in Uttar Pradesh after samples were send to them," said Divakaran.

Reports indicate that initially the owner of the pig farm in Wayanad, about 600 km from here, kept silent about the sudden death of pigs at his farm. Later, after media reported on the possibility of the disease, samples were taken from the farm and sent to Bangalore followed by Uttar Pradesh.

"We have taken elaborate steps to see that vaccines are distributed to other pig farms in the state," said Divakaran.

Speaking to IANS, Kurian Thomas, who was instrumental in setting up the pig farm at the Mannuthy Veterinary College in Trissur, said there was no need for any panic.

"It would be foolish to start killing pigs on this count. There are vaccines that can contain the spread of the disease," he said.

According to reports, there are around 150 pig farms in Kerala with a total population of around 70,000 pigs.

(Source: IANS)

Coffee’s beauty secrets

Coffee’s good for a lot more than just that jolt of energy caffeine gives you. There are also the results of studies that come out ever so

Coffee's beauty secrets (Getty Images)

often.

They claim drinking coffee in moderate amounts (that’s four to five cups a day, according to the International Coffee Organisation) can reduce risks of Type 2 diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular diseases, colon cancer, liver cirrhosis, gallstones, skin cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

So now that you’ve switched to coffee - using real beans, not that instant powder - remember to save the grinds. They have more powers than actually advertised. All you need is a ready supply of freshly ground coffee beans.

Even celebrities believe in its powers. For proof, log on to Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow’s website, Goop. Click through her ‘Do’ list till you stumble upon her simple styling tips.
Dr Abhijit Desai, a dermatologist, says, “Coffee does have antioxidant properties. It’s also a vasoconstrictor as well as a diuretic (they cause a person to lose water) and is considered to be useful for reducing dark circles.”

Happy hair
Expensive bottles of shampoo and conditioner can do wonders for your hair. So can the coffee berry. Aleena Jetha, from a spa in Mumbai, offers hair protein treatments that are laced with coffee. “It has antioxidants and works against the chemicals that cause hair fall,” she says, but warns that coffee shouldn’t be applied to coloured or processed hair.
Astute recessionistas can even try some coffee therapy at home. Some experts suggest using espresso (add ground coffee to hot water and let it brew, apply the warm drink to hair and rinse out after 20 minutes). It leaves the hair looking softer and shinier.

Battle the puff
You’ve had a late night because you were out partying/were buried under a pile of work/were racing to meet a deadline. So the next day, you (naturally) have the biggest dark circles and the baddest case of puffy eyes. Here again, coffee comes to the rescue. “When
combined with Vitamin K, it’s the best cure for puffiness around the eyes,” says Dr Apratim Goel, a dermatologist. “It reduces blood supply to the area by shrinking the vessels and reduces puffiness by removing water content,” she adds.
But don’t rub ground coffee under your eyes, please. Dr Goel recommends that you use eye creams from reputed companies.

Happy skin
Instead of spending massive amounts of money on fancy exfoliating face or bodywash, use ground coffee.

Dermatologists attest to coffee’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. In fact, coffee prevents free radicals from doing the damage they do to the skin cells. “Coffee helps in the lightening and tightening of the skin,” says Goel.

It helps reduce pigmentation and is often used to brighten skin or reduce the tan in facial treatments and as part of beauty treatments.

Also, since ground coffee is coarse, it helps strip away dead cells to reveal the soft skin underneath. In fact, Paltrow says on her website that using coarsely ground coffee with Turbinado sugar and olive oil helps you cleanse your pores.

To make your own coffee-laced exfoliant, first consider your skin type. Girls with oily skin should mix ¼ cup coffee grinds with yogurt (dahi) or besan.

Fights odour
You’ve been cooking up an Italian or even Indian storm using lots of onion and garlic, and know that just soap and water will not get the smell off your fingers. So, rub some coffee - again, preferably ground - onto your hands. It’s rich, dark fragrance is more powerful than the stubborn garlic/onion stink.

Swine virus more lethal than seasonal flu

People who die after getting swine flu are up to 100 times more likely, compared to seasonal flu, to have been killed by the virus itself rather

Swine Flu (Getty Images)

than secondary causes, a top French researcher said Monday.

The findings -- published on a research-sharing platform, PLoS Currents: Influenza, vetted by flu experts -- could help health officials manage critical care resources if infection rates climb in the Northern Hemisphere's autumn and winter.

It could also provide important clues as to the new swine flu's potential virulence, said author Antoine Flahault, a leading epidemiologist and director of France's School for Advanced Studies in Public Health.

"The direct lethality due to viral pneumonia probably gives the best estimate of an influenza strain's virulence, since it may vary from strain to strain and is not due to a country's level of health development," he said.

With regular seasonal flu, which claims up to 500,000 lives each year worldwide, most deaths are attributed either to secondary bacterial infections such as pneumonia, or pre-existing chronic conditions that boost vulnerability.

Only about one-in-a-million infections result in death due to a rare condition known as acute respiratory disease syndrome (ARDS).

"ARDS is frighteningly lethal -- it is like drowning," Flahault told AFP by phone. The condition requires intensive-care treatment for an average of thee weeks. "Statistically, only one in two patients survive."

The risk factors for ADRS are poorly understood, though recent studies in the United States suggest that, among people infected with swine flu, pregnant women and the very obese are particularly at risk.

Both seasonal influenza and the new A(H1N1) virus that has swept the globe since May appear to have roughly the same mortality rate of one-to-five per 1,000 infections, though figures for the swine flu remain very sketchy.

Experts also caution that the pandemic flu could become more lethal as it continues to mutate.
But preliminary analysis of infection and mortality statistics from the French territory of New Caledonia and the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius suggest that the new A(H1N1) virus directly caused an ARDS fatality for every 10,000 cases, Flahault told AFP.

In New Caledonia, local health authorities have reported 30,000 infections and two deaths attributed directly to the pandemic virus.

Flahault said that some 70,000 persons have been infected in Mauritius, with seven reported deaths from ARDS, five of them confirmed.

"These surveillance data allow for a first estimate of direct lethality due to H1N1 of one-per-10,000 infections, about 100 times more than regular seasonal flu," he said.

Flahault cautioned that these are only "preliminary and rough estimates," and acknowledged that his findings -- based on a limited number of cases on two isolated islands -- may not extend to much larger, continental countries.

"But we have a terrible lack of data," he said.

"It may be useful to deliver such estimates ... as early as possible so health authorities can check availability of intensive care units and artificial ventilation devices in case of a wave of similar virulence this autumn in the northern hemisphere," he said.

Your carpet may cause cancer!

Your carpet might be putting you at a greater risk of developing cancer, warns a Respiratory

Carpet (Getty Images)

physician

Bill Musk has revealed that hessian bags used to transport deadly asbestos products were later reused as carpet underlay.

Anyone exposed to the underlay risk developing mesothelioma, an incurable cancer.

"So carpet underfelt from these bags is definitely potentially dangerous," News.com.au quoted Musk as having told ABC's 7.30 Report.

The program interviewed several people who believed some mesothelioma victims had been exposed to asbestos fibres from carpet.

A spokesman for Western Australia's Health Department has urged home renovators to take care with their carpet.

"The main thing is to not disturb it and try and get some advice as to whether there is any dust in their house," he said.

The spokesman also said that people should hire professionals to tear up carpet underlay, and thoroughly clean the house afterwards.

The program said the bags were used in carpet underlay until the 1970s, and while it was not known how many homes were affected, it could be in the tens of thousands.

Special News From Sreenilayam in

Prostate cancer patients, who also suffer from heart conditions, have increased death risk if they undergo hormone therapy, revealed a study led

Hormone therapy (Getty Images)

by an Indian-origin scientist.

Dr. Akash Nanda, from Boston, has found that when men with coronary artery disease-induced congestive heart failure or heart attack receive hormone therapy before or along with radiation therapy for treatment of prostate cancer, they have an associated increased risk of death.

His study report says that patients with localized prostate cancer have several options available for treatment, including the use of brachytherapy (treatment in which radioactive seeds are implanted in the prostate), both as monotherapy and in conjunction with external beam radiation therapy.

Neoadjuvant (treatment that is given before or with the primary treatment) hormonal therapy (HT) is used as a means for prostate gland cytoreduction (decrease in number of cells, as in a tumor) in order to eliminate pubic arch (an arch formed by the pubic bones) interference and improve the ability to perform brachytherapy.

Previous research has suggested that "hormonal therapy, when added to radiation therapy (RT) for treating unfavorable-risk prostate cancer, leads to an increase in survival except possibly in men with moderate to severe comorbidity [co-existing illnesses]. However, it is unknown which comorbid conditions eliminate this survival benefit," the authors write.

Dr. Nanda his colleagues assessed whether neoadjuvant HT use in men with prostate cancer treated with brachytherapy affects the risk of all-cause death of men with known coronary artery disease-induced conditions, including congestive heart failure and heart attack.

The researchers conducted the study on 5,077 men (median [midpoint] age, 69.5 years) with localized or locally advanced prostate cancer who were treated with or without a median of 4 months of neoadjuvant HT followed by RT between 1997 and 2006 and were followed up until July 2008.

They found that during the study period, 419 men died, out of which, 200 had no underlying comorbidity, 176 had one coronary artery disease risk factor, and 43 had a history of known coronary artery disease resulting in congestive heart failure or heart attack.

The researchers said that the analyses of the data indicated that "when considering comorbidity groups separately, neoadjuvant HT use was not associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality in men with no comorbidity or a single coronary artery disease risk factor after median follow-ups of 5.0 years and 4.4 years, respectively."

But, for men with coronary artery disease-induced congestive heart failure or heart attack, after a median follow-up of 5.1 years, neoadjuvant HT use was associated with nearly twice the risk of all-cause mortality.

"The clinical significance of this finding is that for men with favorable-risk prostate cancer and a history of congestive heart failure or myocardial infarction who require neoadjuvant HT solely to eliminate pubic arch interference, alternative strategies such as active surveillance or treatment with external beam radiation therapy or prostatectomy should be considered.

"However, for men with unfavourable-risk prostate cancer who require HT in addition to radiation therapy to take advantage of its survival benefit, appropriate medical evaluation prior to initiation should facilitate clinicians in balancing the relative risks against the benefits of HT use," said the researchers

The study has been published in the latest issue of JAMA.