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)