Public Health

Researchers have described a new selective target in muscle regeneration. This is the association of alpha-enolase protein and plasmin, findings which could be used to develop new treatments to regenerate muscular injuries or dystrophies.  Skeletal muscle has a great regeneration capacity after injury or genetic diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common neuromuscular disorder in children. This condition is due to a defect in the dystrophin gene, which absence causes instability of the membrane and leads to degeneration of muscle fibers. Regeneration involves the…

Ambulatory health care took off in the 1980s as the cost of health care rose, more people got health insurance, and both the government and health insurers sought to contain the runaway costs associated with hospital visits by keeping people out of hospitals. In the debate over the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) ambulatory health care was cited as an important factor in making sure people still got services in what could quickly become an overburdened health care system. But an analysis of nationally representative survey data found both improvement in the delivery of underused care and…

A study into newborn screening for fragile X syndrome (FXS) demonstrates that testing for mutations in the gene FMR1 can be done on a large scale, according to a paper published in Genome Medicine which shows that the number of carrier babies who carry the form of the gene known as the "premutation" is higher than previously estimated. Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability and autism, or autism spectrum disorder, and is caused by mutations in the gene FMR1. The mutation which causes FXS is not actually in the gene but is due to the addition of…

Celiac disease, defined as a 'chronic small intestinal immune-mediated enteropathy precipitated by exposure to dietary gluten in genetically predisposed individuals', affects about one percent of the population but occasional 'epidemics' have been noticed along with a seasonal variation in number of cases diagnosed.  Sweden has noticed an "epidemic" of celiac disease in children below two years of age but since celiac disease is considered multifactorial not much is known about potential risk- or protecting factors. But Swedish researchers now say repeated infections early in life…

When does a business that has carefully positioned itself as more natural and wholesome and healthy and not at all like Big Ag suddenly look a lot like Big Ag? When the FDA tells them they can only make people sick in their own state. Then the corporate lawyers come out in force. Organic Pastures, America’s largest raw milk dairy and cause of numerous recalls just in the last year, would like to be able to make children ill across state lines and so they have filed suit against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to force a change in the current law - which bans sales of raw milk across…

Sitopaladi churna is an ayurvedic medicine for cough and cold and sneezing nose. A little portion of it is mixed with honey in tea spoon and taken with milk . It is reported to cure cold. It contains Tavak 1 part, small cardamom two parts, Pippali 4 parts, Vansaha lochan 8 parts, Iksu sarkara 16 parts. Its is used as expoctorent. One  tea spoon full ( Take aprrox 1 to  2 gm of churna and fill the rest with honey in table spoon)   twice a day with honey followed by milk.  Now the question is to decipher the common names in to botanical names, identify the ingredients and…

A new study found significant correlation between excessive daytime sleepiness and vitamin D - in patients with normal vitamin D levels, progressively higher levels of daytime sleepiness were correlated inversely with progressively lower levels of vitamin D. But among patients with vitamin D deficiency, sleepiness and vitamin D levels were associated only among black patients.This correlation was observed in a direct relationship, with higher vitamin D levels associated with a higher level of sleepiness among black patients. The study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine involved…

Al exercise is good exercise and there is a 100 percent chance you will lose weight if you consume fewer calories than you burn, but if you are interested in optimizing fat and weight loss after the holidays, aerobic training is the best way to go, according to Duke researchers. They compared aerobic training, resistance training, and a combination of the two in what they say is the largest randomized trial to analyze changes in body composition from the three modes of exercise in overweight or obese adults without diabetes. Aerobic exercise – including walking, running, and swimming – has…

A recent Finnish analysis determined that approximately ten percent of 6-8 year olds have sleep-disordered breathing, increased among children with enlarged tonsils, crossbite and convex facial profile. Unlike in adults, excess body fat is not associated with sleep-disordered breathing in this age group. The study was part of the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) Study led by the Institute of Biomedicine at the University of Eastern Finland.  The symptoms of sleep-disordered breathing vary from mild snoring to obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. In addition to nocturnal…

Today it is common to refer to sugar and high-fructose corn syrup as "sugary ingredients." Sugar produced from sugar cane or sugar beets is called sucrose, which is a chemical compound in which glucose and fructose -- two different six-carbon, so-called simple sugars -- are chemically bound together. When one consumes food containing sucrose -- a disaccharide -- for the most part, the sucrose passes through the digestive system unchanged until it reaches the small intestine where it is broken down through glycolysis into glucose and fructose which are then available to enter the blood stream…