Low Vitamin B12: A Hidden Cause of Diabetes Explosion in India?
Dr. Smile 16 August, 2008
(0) Comment Ask any pregnant woman and she will vouch for the Group B vitamin known as folic acid. Chances are that her doctor has explained to her how this is a proven cornerstone of good pregnancy nutrition.
But a new finding by a Pune-based diabetologist reveals that babies born to mothers with high folate levels and low vitamin B12 levels are more insulin resistant. Insulin resistance is the body’s inability to use the insulin it produces. It may be linked to obesity, hypertension and high levels of fat in the blood.
Result: A considerable contribution to the epidemic of adiposity and Type 2 diabetes in India, concludes Dr CS Yajnik, diabetologist and head of Pune KEM hospital’s diabetes unit, in a paper published in Diabetologia this January.
“We studied the association between the vitamin B12, folate and total homocysteine status during pregnancy and offspring adiposity and insulin resistance,” says Yagnik. What they found was that it led to low birthweight babies - a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes.
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Long Drives, Mobile Use Can Cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Dr. Smile 16 July, 2008
(6) Comment Researchers at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas have found that hours in the car can cause carpal tunnel syndrome and that the risk increases if the motorist talks on cell phone while driving.
“Repeated, prolonged gripping of anything-whether it’s a steering wheel or a tool-can contribute to carpal tunnel syndrome,” said Jennifer Valle, occupational therapist and certified hand therapist, Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.
“There are activities you can do and modifications you can make to help alleviate the risk of developing carpal tunnel,” she added.
Following are some tips to ease the problem:
- Switch the hand you drive with-periodically using your left, then your right.
- Keep your hand in line with your elbow and your wrist straight.
“If you imagine the steering wheel as a clock, the best position to put your wrist in would actually be at three o’clock and nine o’clock,” Valle said.
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Facts About Oral Cancer!
Dr. Smile 9 July, 2008
(4) Comment Oral cancer is one of the few forms of cancer that has not experienced a significantly deceased mortality rate in the last 30 years. Deaths from oral cancer are higher than from cervical, testicular or thyroid cancer. It is estimated that more than 340,000 Indians will develop oral cancer in 2009 and that one Indian dies of this disease every hour of the day. The five year survival rate for oral cancer is approximately 50 percent, but early detection can result in survival rates of 80 percent or higher. The ideal opportunity for early detection of cancerous or pre-cancerous growths is during the annual hygiene examination. Unfortunately, the cellular changes that lead to oral cancer start below the surface of the epithelium at the basement membrane, making them difficult to detect by conventional screening methods.
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What Everybody Ought to Know About Asthma
Dr. Smile 23 April, 2008
(7) Comment Asthma is the most common chronic disease among children. Asthma triggers include viral infections; environmental pollutants, such as tobacco smoke; certain medications, (aspirin, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), and sustained exercise, particularly in cold environments.
Diagnosis
History
Symptoms of asthma may include episodic complaints of breathing difficulties, seasonal or nighttime cough, prolonged shortness of breath after a respiratory infection, or difficulty sustaining exercise.
Wheezing does not always represent asthma. Wheezing may persist for weeks after an acute bronchitis episode. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease may have a reversible component superimposed on their fixed obstruction. Etiologic clues include a personal history of allergic disease, such as rhinitis or atopic dermatitis, and a family history of allergic disease.
The frequency of daytime and nighttime symptoms, duration of exacerbations and asthma triggers should be assessed.
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Sometimes the Greatest Journey is the Distance Between Two People
Dr. Smile 17 April, 2008
(6) Comment Sometimes the Greatest Journey is the Distance Between Two People!
Heard this before? Well its from the latest Bollywood flick ‘U, me aur Hum‘. Just finished watching it as i was bugged up with all the work, so thought would refresh a while and this movie really did refresh me.
I must say, its one of the few good movies made for a cause i have ever seen. Its about people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease; the trauma a family undergoes along with the patient. The first half seemed quite boring but the other was very well directed. I especially liked the interaction between the husband and wife every time she gets an attack. The aim of this movie projects towards love and the eternal relationship between a husband and wife, a little emotional; not a typical bollywood flick and not a type which youngsters prefer. But i may recommend this to everyone coz you never know what next in your life. So, go ahead and enjoy your life, be happy with what you posses and dream about things which challenge you!
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Chikungunya cases reported again from Kerala
Dr. Smile 10 April, 2008
(1) Comment Chikungunya, a viral disease that spreads through the bite of infected mosquitoes, has struck Kerala again. The first cases this year have been reported from Kozhikode district.The outbreak was reported Tuesday, following heavy and untimely rain. Last year, the disease had ravaged the southern and central districts of the state. Kozhikode is in Kerala’s north.
Chikungunya is characterised by severe, sometimes persistent, joint pain as well as fever and rash.
‘There are six confirmed cases in Vatakara and nine in Maruthonkara,’ A. Baburaj, district medical officer, told IANS.
He said the source of the outbreak was a person who had travelled to the area from Tamil Nadu.
Baburaj added that the places from where the disease was reported have a high density of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the carrier of Chickungunya virus.
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Live fast and die young – it’s all in the Teeth
Dr. Smile 8 April, 2008
(5) Comment A dental professor has discovered that tooth enamel indicates a biological clock linking tooth growth to other metabolic processes.
New York University dental professor Dr Timothy Bromage discovered the clock – or biological rhythm – while observing incremental growth lines in tooth enamel, which appear much like the annual rings on a tree.
It controls many metabolic functions and is based on the circadian rhythm – which is a roughly 24-hour cycle that determines sleep and feeding patterns, cell regeneration, and other biological processes in mammals.
The newly discovered rhythm originates in a region of the brain that functions as the main control center for the autonomic nervous system.
But unlike the circadian rhythm, this clock varies from one organism to another, operating on shorter time intervals for small mammals, and longer ones for larger animals – therefore rats have a one-day interval, chimpanzees six, and humans eight.
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