+ Health and Sciences +

Yusuf Hamied, Indian scientist and Chairman of Indian pharma major Cipla has been named by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to the United Nations Health and Technology panel to enhance inclusive access to treatments and medicines in the developing world. Yusuf Hamied will be part of the 16-member panel that will be co-chaired by former President of Switzerland Ruth Dreifuss among others. Ban appointed Botswana’s Festus Mogae and others for their knowledge of public health, commerce, legal issues and human rights. Yusuf Hamied has led led efforts to treat and eradicate AIDS and other diseases in the developing world, and to give patients life-saving medicines regardless of their ability to pay. He offered the world’s first affordable AIDS medicine at the unprecedented cost of $1 per day in 2001. Hamied has also been influential in pioneering the development of multi-drug combination pills, notably for HIV, tuberculosis, asthma and other ailments chiefly affecting developing c...

BCG vaccines are live vaccines derived from a strain of Mycobacterium bovis that was attenuated by Calmette and Guérin at the Pasteur Institute in Lille, France. BCG was first administered to humans in 1921. Every child born in the "third word" country (India, Africa, Burma, Nepal- Basically all poor nations) get vaccinated with BCG soon after birth. Did you ever think "Is it really needed?" "How does this vaccine work?" "Are the claims made by the government and the vaccine makers really true?" "Are there any side effects on the child in long term?" "What is the history of this vaccine story?" No. We never think so much. We just get our children get vaccinated like all "good parents" around us do. Its always good to follow the herd, Isn't it? you will never ask those questions for yourself until and unless its too late and your child starts getting autoimmune disorders and sometimes the effect may be se...

Those of you who are interested in photography and use Flickr, Pinterest etc might be familiar with this picture. This picture was taken by Harry Finder and the name given to this picture is " Silhouettes in the sky ". Looking at beautiful sceneries, landscapes and even pictures is good for health. There are published studies in journals about this. People admitted in hospital rooms that have windows that allow them to gaze at the hospital gardens or even open sky recover faster. People who have beautiful pictures in their rooms also recover faster. This observation has led the big reputable hospitals to maintain beautiful gardens in their hospitals, especially close to terminally sick patients like cancer patients. Probably intense feelings of satisfaction and amazement, releases enkephalins and endorphins in the brain which might explain why beautiful sceneries are good for health. More beautiful pictures will be posted with the tag Beautiful Pictures.

Several sources of information suggest that human beings evolved on a diet with a ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFA) of approximately 1 whereas in Western diets the ratio is 15/1-16.7/1. Western diets are deficient in omega-3 fatty acids, and have excessive amounts of omega-6 fatty acids compared with the diet on which human beings evolved and their genetic patterns were established. Excessive amounts of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and a very high omega-6/omega-3 ratio, as is found in today's Western diets, promote the pathogenesis of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, whereas increased levels of omega-3 PUFA (a low omega-6/omega-3 ratio) exert suppressive effects. In the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, a ratio of 4/1 was associated with a 70% decrease in total mortality. A ratio of 2.5/1 reduced rectal cell proliferation in patients with colorectal cancer, wherea...

Cooking with vegetable oils releases toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases, according to leading scientists, who are now recommending food be fried in olive oil, coconut oil, butter or even lard. The results of a series of experiments threaten to turn on its head official advice that oils rich in polyunsaturated fats – such as corn oil and sunflower oil – are better for the health than the saturated fats in animal products. Scientists found that heating up vegetable oils led to the release of high concentrations of chemicals called aldehydes, which have been linked to illnesses including cancer, heart disease and dementia. Martin Grootveld, a professor of bioanalytical chemistry and chemical pathology, said that his research showed “a typical meal of fish and chips”, fried in vegetable oil, contained as much as 100 to 200 times more toxic aldehydes than the safe daily limit set by the World Health Organisation. “The human brain is chan...

I have been asked by friends to do an article about Hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism means thyroid gland which is under functioning and therefore deficiency of Thyroid hormone is seen with resultant increased TSH. Here I am posting all the important information that I can get on this topic. Allopathic view of the reasons for thyroid disorders is "idiopathic" meaning- don't know. So lets look at what a naturopath or holopathic practitioner has to say about hypothyroidism. The causes of Thyroid disorder or of any endocrine disorder for that matter can vary over a wide range of issues. These can include: Imbalances of blood-sugar levels affecting energy metabolism.  Digestive disturbances, e.g., deficiency of enzymes, causing abdominal bloating and undigested food molecules leaking through the gut wall to trigger an inappropriate immune system response.  Imbalance of the detoxification functions of the liver resulting in an increase of toxic compounds which may irritat...

The most popular and loved Anti hyperlipidemics world wide are the Statins. Mechanism of Action:  They act by inhibiting HMG CoA Reductase enzyme. The results of Statin use over lipid profile may be listed as below- Decreased Liver Cholesterol levels. Decreased LDL. Decreased VLDL synthesis and Decreased Triglycerides. Increased HDL cholesterol to some extent. Increased LDL receptor expression. Since HMG CoA Reductase activity is at its peak at midnight, Statins are given at bed time. But Atorvastatin and Rosuvastatins have long half lives (t1/2), therefore they need not be timed at bed time specifically. Statins are most potent LDL lowering agents.  They are the number 1 drug of choice in case of Metabolic Syndrome (along with Metformin). Longest acting Statin is Rosuvastatin (14 hrs half life). The Statins also have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties (especially Atorvastatin), thereby making them good drugs to prevent atherosclerosis and giving ...

Camellia Sinensis is the botanical name given to what is popularly known as Green Tea. Basically we get a dry extract of this plant which is used as an decaffeinated tea. Green tea is a Chinese herb, known to the Chinese from hundreds of years. It is rich in Polyphenols (around 40 to 50% by weight) and Catechins . Brief Summary of actions and properties of Green Tea: Antioxidant activity and scavenging free radicals. Stimulation of detoxification centers and systems. Selective induction and modification of metabolic enzymes in such a way that greater amounts of metabolites are formed and excreted from the body. Inhibition of factors that activate and develop the tumor. Ability to induce severe apoptosis (cell death) of neoplastic cells alone. This has been proved in AML (a kind of blood cancer), Skin cancer cells and Prostate cancer cells. Ability to stop abnormal cell growth- acting at the level of growth receptors and factors. Inhibition of gelatinase which is respo...