A Bangladeshi telemedicine company is set to provide healthcare services for more than five million South Asian workers in the Middle East and Malaysia in a couple of months.
Telemedicine Reference Centre Ltd (TRCL) has already signed agreements with around 25 Gulf and Malaysian companies that recruit workers from South Asia.
Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through the phone or the internet.
TRCL will launch the mobile phone-based service, said DrSikderMZakir, managing director of the company.
“Under the project, we will start providing medical call-centre services to two million Bangladeshi, 1.5 million Indian and two million Nepalese and Pakistani workers,” Zakir added.
Prime Bank and two investors from the US and India are funding the project, he said.
TRCL has also signed deals with seven mobile phone companies in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
The company is working to set up multilinguistic medical call centres in India, Pakistan and Nepal, from where dedicated physicians will provide healthcare advice to the expatriate workers.
All the workers under the 25 recruiting companies will be registered with TRCL to get the services free of cost. They will call a particular number and get advice in their own language.
The recruiting firms will pay the service charge to TRCL on behalf of the workers, which is no more than one US dollar a month for a person, Zakir said.
They will also be referred to hospitals if necessary.
Zakir said TRCL is now setting up branch offices in nine countries including Malaysia, UAE and Saudi Arabia to comply with those countries’ regulatory requirements.
“It’s a milestone for telemedicine service. The sector is getting institutional shape,” he added.
Established in 1999, TRCL is operating the first medical call centre or electronic referral centre manned by physicians for the largest cellphone operator in Bangladesh — Grameenphone. More than 10,000 people are using the service by dialling a hotline number (789) from their mobile phones every day.
NEW YORK - Scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City have found out why some women suffer relapses years after beating breast cancer.
Leading oncologist Dr. LarryNorton has revealed that breast cancer cells have the unique ability to lie dormant for years, even after the original tumor has been removed.
In a novel study, the researchers have found a genetic switch, called Src, that triggers dormant breast cancer cells.
“Wandering cells might relocate to the primary site just as they could - by using the same biological toolbox - locate to a distant site,” the Daily Express quoted Norton as saying.
“It’s just as a weed-bed overgrows and destroys a garden and then scatters its tiny seeds to invade neighboring gardens.
“Our results should encourage cancer specialists to think about further study of Src inhibitor drugs that attack reservoirs of these ‘wandering’ latent cancer cells and prevent spread of the disease in breast cancer patients after the tumour has been removed,” he added.
Dr. HelenGeorge, Cancer Research UK’s head of science information, said: “This research is important because it offers an explanation of why some breast cancers can spread and return.
NOTE: CANCER CANNOT SURVIVE IN AN OXYGENATED AND ALKALINE ENVIRONMENT. SEE POSTS FOR BI-CARBONATE AND L-ARGININE AND THE BUDWIG PROTOCOL
SYDNEY - An Australian Government funded research group has developed a potential new material that can make early diagnosis of malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer possible.
Writing about their work in the ACS’ Journal of the Medicinal Chemistry, the Cooperative Research Consortium for Biomedical Imaging Develop has revealed that the novel material is currently being tested in laboratory animals.
IvanGreguric, a group member, notes that about 130,000 new cases of malignant melanoma occur each year worldwide.
Although patients do best with early diagnosis and prompt treatment, according to the researcher, the positron emission tomography (PET) scans sometimes used for diagnosis sometimes miss small cancers, delaying diagnosis and treatment.
While searching for better ways of diagnosis, the researchers identified a new group of radioactive imaging agents, known as fluoronicotinamides.
Testing it on laboratory mice that had melanoma, the researchers observed that the novel substance revealed skin cancer cells with greater accuracy than imaging agents currently in use.
Consequently, note the researchers, this substance may become a “superior” PET imaging agent for improving the diagnosis and monitoring the effectiveness of treatment of melanoma.
They have revealed that clinical trials with this new agent are scheduled for 2010.
An occasional alcoholic drink is the starting point for alcoholism. Over a period of time, a person who drinks occasionally gets habituated and regular drinking becomes the norm. Quite a lot of people have to indulge in social drinking due to societal and group pressure, while others find an escape route through drinking to evade responsibilities. They are under the misconception that drinking is a form of stress relief.
Alcoholism treatment using Grapes
The restricted diet of grapes for about a month is a vital home remedy for alcoholism. As this fruit contains a very pure form of alcohol, it acts like a healthy alternative to alcohol. The ideal process is to take three meals a day of fresh grapes every five hours. To make this treatment successful, the alcohol should develop strong will power to stop drinking.
Alcoholism treatment using Apples
Apples when eaten regularly and liberally help in removing intoxication and reduce craving for wines or any other kind of liquor.
Alcoholism treatment using Dates
Dates are beneficial in treating alcoholism. Rub together 3-4 dates in half a glass of water and have the alcoholic drink this two times a day for a period of about a month.
Alcoholism treatment using Bitter Gourd
Juice extracted from bitter gourd leaves is the perfect remedy for alcohol intoxication. It is basically useful for the damaged liver. Mix three teaspoons of the juice with a glass of butter milk and consume every morning for a month.
Alcoholism treatment using Celery
The juice of raw celery creates a sobering effect on the alcoholic patient. In half a glass of water, an equal quantity of celery juice should be mixed and consumed once everyday for a month. This is a very successful home remedy to cure alcoholism.
Build up body’s nutritional integrity, juice fast
To prevent the patient from pining for stimulants like alcohol, it is most important to feed ample amounts of nutrients back in his body. To begin with, the patient should be put on purification juice-fast for at least ten days. As this fast will progress, the patient will steadily experience less craving. This will break his drinking pattern and preferably the patient should start on a diet of several small meals a day rather than three large ones.
The alcoholic needs to exercise regularly and include outdoor activities in his daily schedule.
Optimum diet and fresh fruit juice
Even after the successful completion of the juice fast, the patient should continue to have an intake of fresh fruit juices and plenty of water. He should eat a healthy diet of such essential nutrients like wholegrain cereals, seeds and sprouts, fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables. Although at the beginning of the treatment, the patient should be given an appropriate replacement to alleviate the craving if and when it occurs. A glass of fresh fruit juice and eating healthy snacks like candy or Soya beans etc will curb his cravings which might increase the urge for drinking in the stages immediately after the treatment.
Avoid refined food products such as white flour, white sugar, white rice, macaroni products. This can be substituted with brown rice, brown sugar, leafy vegetables and other whole grain products.
Firm willingness of alcoholic to stop drinking
The alcoholic should be motivated to break the ‘alcohol habit’ through a strong determination to do so and by being consistent in maintaining his food habits. To try to give up alcoholism at once is almost impossible, so the alcoholic should make a firm decision to make a clean break out of the habit of drinking.
Warm-water enema and physical exercises
Take a warm-water enema daily to rinse out the bowels during the first ten days of the ‘juice fast’. Plenty of rest and outdoor physical activities and exercises are recommended.
Avoid smoking as it increases the craving for alcohol.
British Jail Staff Red-Faced after Inmates Get Drunk on Anti-Swine Flu Gel
LONDON - Authorities at a British prison had to remove a hand gel meant to fight swine flu after inmates were found drunk on the alcoholic cleaner.
Recently, dispensers containing the liquid cleanser were installed to protect the prisoners at category C Verne Prison in Dorset against H1N1.
But instead of rubbing it into their hands, they started making illicit booze when they realised it contained alcohol, The Sun reports.
“The cleansers were to combat swine flu but as soon as they were put out the prisoners started taking the stuff. The canisters have now all been removed from the wings but I couldn’t quite believe it when they were put out in the first place,” a prison source said.
Prison staff got suspicious with a sudden rise in the number of tipsy convicts.
They got to know about the bizarre makeshift booze when one inmate became aggressive after downing the “hooch” and started a drunken fight with another.
“There was a fight after one of the prisoners got violent,” the paper quoted the source as saying.
The distilled gel was believed to have been mixed with fruit and water.
AndyFear, of the Prison Officer’s Association, said: “Inmates have been incorrectly using the dispensers, for want of a better phrase.”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “A prisoner at Her Majesty’s Prison The Verne showed signs of intoxication, the cause of which will be investigated. Antibacterial gel pumps have been removed.”
DES MOINES - Iowa State University has opened a Biofeedback Center for students to help them deal with stress.
Directed by Student Counseling Service staff psychologist ToddPietruszka, the center is free and open to all ISU students.
The university is first of the three Regents’ universities to offer a biofeedback service to address students’ emotional needs.
The center has adopted technologies like video games and guided meditations to teach relaxation techniques, concentration skills and healthy coping responses.
It also teaches people to become aware of their physiological responses, while providing techniques like deep breathing, visualization or mindfulness, to consciously reset the body’s conditioned responses.
Pietruszka said: “Biofeedback is a fancy name. It really means getting information about your physical responses and using that information to take action.
“For example, when you take your temperature and find you have a fever, you might call the doctor.”
The compact room of the center has three massage recliners, each facing its own wall-mounted computer monitor.
Students begin with an orientation session that explains how to check out and use the equipment, and how to navigate the computer programs.
During a biofeedback session, the room is quiet and darkened as the students sit in the recliners wearing noise-cancelling headphones and fingertip sensors, which measure skin conductance and heart rate.
Three choices of computer software offer a variety of self-guided, interactive programs.
As students practice the relaxation techniques presented, they can watch real-time graphs of their physiological responses.
This information helps them identify the activities that work best for them. Once mastered, they can use the techniques whenever needed-before taking a test or giving a class presentation, for example.
Sessions last from 15 minutes to an hour or more.
Pietruszka said: “The training module teaches how to become aware of your body, how to use breathing, how to become mindful of your thoughts.
“As you practice and use the tools and get feedback, you can see what works for you.
“Biofeedback is really a way to have a coach. It basically lets you know when relaxation techniques are working.”
Iowa State’s Information Technology Services’ Computation Advisory Committee’s fund of 4,654 dollars helped establish the center.
Excerpts from the citation awarding the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine to awarded to Americans Elizabeth Blackburn, CarolGreider and JackSzostak. The Karolinska Institute says the trio was honored for research that has implications for cancer and aging research.
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to three scientists who have solved a major problem in biology: how the chromosomes can be copied in a complete way during cell divisions and how they are protected against degradation. The Nobel Laureates have shown that the solution is to be found in the ends of the chromosomes the telomeres — and in an enzyme that forms them — telomerase.
The long, threadlike DNA molecules that carry our genes are packed into chromosomes, the telomeres being the caps on their ends. ElizabethBlackburn and JackSzostak discovered that a unique DNA sequence in the telomeres protects the chromosomes from degradation. CarolGreider and Blackburn identified telomerase, the enzyme that makes telomere DNA. These discoveries explained how the ends of the chromosomes are protected by the telomeres and that they are built by telomerase.
If the telomeres are shortened, cells age. Conversely, if telomerase activity is high, telomere length is maintained, and cellular senescence is delayed. This is the case in cancer cells, which can be considered to have eternal life. Certain inherited diseases, in contrast, are characterized by a defective telomerase, resulting in damaged cells. The award of the Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of a fundamental mechanism in the cell, a discovery that has stimulated the development of new therapeutic strategies.
In conclusion, the discoveries by Blackburn, Greider and Szostak have added a new dimension to our understanding of the cell, shed light on disease mechanisms, and stimulated the development of potential new therapies.
HEALTH CARE REFORM IS HERE. THIS MEDICAL CLINIC PAYS YOU CASH TO BE HEALTHYAND USE VITAMINS
Beverly Hills. CA – January 4, 2010 — People who use Alternative remedies and, products for a variety of ailments that range from weight loss to cancer to chronic pain, have been forced to pay out-of-pocket for the supplements, Vitamins and herbs they use.
Until now.
US Tele-Medicine, (USTM) in Beverly Hills, California, refunds and rewards users of Alternative products and other holistic modalities for their cost of the natural products. “We pay them to seek health,” said the Director of Patient Affairs Randy Ryder.
According to Ryder, members of the health e-care plan offered by USTM receive physician consultations by phone and over the Internet. The company offers the consultations, follow-up care, guidance, and actually pays back the money their e-Patients spend on natural remedies. “For the first time people are financially empowered to choose medicines and care which they determine as being most beneficial to them,” said Ryder. “People should know that new regulations allow us to offer this service for no cost to the patient.”
“The reason we are able to do this is that our Medical Staff do not deal with any prescriptions or drugs that could be life-threatening. We do not deal with any conditions that are life-threatening that need immediate physician or hospital care. We mostly deal with wellness and chronic issues, such as pain.” Ryder said.
USTM is a structured Tele-Medicine group with a primary specialty in Integrated Medicine and Pain Management. The credentialed group has a network of 72 major commercial insurance carriers and self-insured labor and trade unions in California. Their computer system is HIPAA compliant, encrypted, and secured through Electronic Medical Record registry. Tele-Medicine is coming more to the forefront in health care with its inherent ability to provide more primary medical care to rural communities and chronic care patients. USTM is recognized as a world leader in Tele-Medicine care operating in eight states in the USA.
“Health Care reform now allows us to do this and at these times, money back for what was always an out-of-pocket expense is really big,” Ryder said. “We are prepared to pay out millions.”
Some of the natural medicinals USTM reimburses patients for include nutritional blends, homeopathy, vitamins, minerals, botanicals, herbs, and more. Helping people to get reimbursement for these and other natural treatments has become a mission for the organization.
“Supplements, meal replacements, protein drinks, amino acids, all of these have legitimate medical purposes. More and more studies are showing that,” Ryder said. “It’s time that it is treated like any other pharmaceutical by insurance carriers,” she said.
Find hundreds of interesting lifestyle health stories from around the world.
CONTACT INFO:
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LUEBECK - A number of studies have linked chronic sleep deprivation to a heightened risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Now, a small study suggests that low levels of physical activity during the day may partly account for the connection.
In a study of 15 healthy men, researchers found that a couple nights of grabbing only four hours of sleep caused the men to curtail their physical activity compared with days where they had gotten the standard eight hours the night before.
In contrast, there was no evidence that sleep loss altered blood levels of appetite-regulating hormones or caused the men to eat more the next day — effects that have been seen in a number of previous studies.
The implication is that there may be a broader range of reasons for the link between sleep loss and weight and health, the researchers report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Practically speaking, the findings offer adults another reason to get enough sleep.
For healthy adults, that means regularly getting seven to eight hours per night, lead researcher Dr.SebastianM.Schmid, of the University of Luebeck in Germany, told Reuters Health in an email.
A number of large epidemiological studies have found associations between poor sleep and higher risks of obesity and other health problems. Since then, a few small studies done in the sleep lab have attempted to find the possible reasons for the connection.
In some, researchers have found evidence that sleep loss alters the regulation of the hunger hormones leptin and ghrelin, and may boost daytime appetite. Leptin, which helps regulate body weight, is secreted by fat cells; low blood levels of the hormone promote hunger, while increases tell the brain that the body is full and encourage calorie burning. Ghrelin is secreted by the stomach to boost appetite.
But another possibility is that sleep-deprived people are just too tired to be physically active during the day.
While that seems logical, apparently no human studies had examined the question before.
For the new study, Schmid and his colleagues had 15 healthy, normal-weight men go through two consecutive nights with four hours of sleep and two nights with eight hours of sleep.
After the first night, the men spent the day doing their normal activities, while wearing a wrist device that recorded their movements. After the second night, they came to the sleep lab, where they again wore the wrist devices and also had their levels of leptin and ghrelin measured and their calorie intake monitored.
The researchers found that, unexpectedly, the men showed no differences in their hormone levels, hunger or food intake after the four-hour night compared with the eight-hour night.
They were, however, less active after sleep-deprived nights — devoting both fewer minutes to physical activity and a smaller proportion of that time to more-intense exercise.
Last Updated: 2010-01-01 13:00:52 -0400 (Reuters Health)
When the men got eight hours of sleep, they spent an average of 25 percent of their active time performing higher-intensity exercise; that declined to about 22 percent with four hours of sleep.
Over time, such differences could affect a person’s weight and general health, according to Schmid’s team.
The findings do not mean that sleep loss has no effects on hunger hormones and appetite, as earlier studies have suggested that it does. However, Schmid said, the results do suggest that even modest sleep restriction — so common in today’s society — reduces physical activity, while hormones and appetite are “less affected.”
SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December 2009.
TROY - Teenagers’ morning drowsiness is often caused by out-of-tune body clocks, in a condition known as “delayed sleep phase syndrome.” Scientists now say that timing exposure to blue light — avoiding it during the first two hours of being wake, then getting a good dose of it — can help restore the sleep cycle, so teens feel sleepy earlier at night and are more awake in the morning.
Teenagers are notorious for staying up late, hitting the snooze button and always running late. Now, however, new research shows they can adjust to a schedule simply by sitting in front of a light.
ErinChesky knows just how hard it is to get up because she battled getting to sleep. “I would just stare at the ceiling, and then I would have to wake up at 5:30 or 5 o’clock to go to school, and I would be tired,” she says.
The 16-year-old was diagnosed with delayed sleep phase syndrome. That means Erin’s internal clock didn’t match what was her alarm clock was saying.
MarianaFigueiro, from the Lighting Research Center at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., says, “When your watch says it’s 7 o’clock in the morning, you want your internal clock to also say it is 7 o’clock in the morning.”
Lighting scientists have found a quick fix to the internal and external alarm clock miscommunication — a blue light. “If you apply the light after your minimum core body temperature, you’re going to advance the clock so you’re going to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier the next cycle,” Figueiro says. The minimum core body temperature is reached about two hours before a person naturally wakes up.
“When you get the teenager up, outdoors, waiting for the school bus at 7 o’clock in the morning, they may be getting light at the wrong phase,” Figueiro says. This exposes teens to natural blue light too early. By wearing the goggles when teens wake up, blue light is blocked out. Then, later in the morning — after their minimum core body temperature is reached — teens can reset their internal clocks by being out in the light.
Blue light exposure worked quickly for Erin. She’s now able to fall asleep by 10:30.
An easy way schools can help is by giving students a quick mid-morning break to go outside or put blue LEDs around computer screens in classrooms. By getting enough blue light at the right time, sleep patterns can not only be changed in teens, but also in the elderly and shift workers.
BACKGROUND: Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are studying how light — especially blue light — affects our body’s daily rhythms. By getting enough blue light at the right time and blocking it out at others, it is possible to correct distorted sleep patters for the elderly (who tend to wake up too early), teenagers (whose internal clock is usually set for late nights and sleep-in mornings), and shift workers.
HOW BODY RYHTHMS WORK: Circadian rhythms are biological cycles in the body that repeat approximately every 24 hours, including the sleep/wake cycle, along with body temperature, hormone levels, heart rate, blood pressure, and pain threshold. The brain has its own internal “pacemaker” that determines when nerve cells fire to set the body’s rhythms, although scientists can’t precisely explain how it does so.
The colors of the light spectrum can affect the body’s rhythm differently, particularly when it comes to sleep patterns. For instance, daylight is dominated by short, visible wavelengths of light that provides a blue visual sensation, like the blue sky. But l how bright the light is, how far away, how long you’re exposed and when you’re exposed to light also have to be considered. Also, we are more likely to sleep soundly in the wee hours of the morning, when our body temperature is lowest, and most likely to awaken when our body temperature starts to rise, usually between 6 AM and 8 AM. As we age, the brain’s “pacemaker” loses cells, changing circadian rhythms, especially sleep patterns. The elderly may nap more frequently, have disrupted sleep, or awaken earlier.
RESETTING THE CLOCK: The RPI researchers developed a method for resetting the internal “master clock” in studies of both teens and the elderly. The scheme removes blue light at certain times (depending on how one wants to “reset the clock”) by wearing orange glasses, followed by exposure to blue light and darkness at nighttime. The key is a distinct, repeated pattern of light and dark.
SLEEP STAGES: Stage 1: drowsiness. Stage 2: light sleep. Stages 3 and 4: deep sleep. Stage 5: Rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep. REM is when people dream, perhaps because the brain is more active and the muscles are relaxed. These five stages occur cyclically; a person may complete five cycles in a typical night’s sleep.
ROTTERDAM - Elderly women sleep better than elderly men even though women consistently report that their sleep is shorter and poorer, says a new study.
The study, published in the journal Sleep, found that women reported less and poorer sleep than men on all of the subjective measures, including a 13.2 minute shorter total sleep time (TST), 10.1 minute longer sleep onset latency (SOL), and a 4.2 percent lower sleep efficiency. When sleep was measured objectively, however, women slept 16 minutes longer than men, had a 1.2 percent higher sleep efficiency, and had less fragmented sleep.
Multivariate regression analysis showed that these discrepancies were partly explained by determinants of sleep duration such as sleep medication use and alcohol consumption.
Principal investigator HenningTiemeier, MD, PhD, associate professor of psychiatric epidemiology at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, said he was surprised that women slept longer and better, and reported their sleep duration more accurately, than men.
“The difference between subjective and objective sleep quality arise not because women are more likely to be complainers, but because men strongly overestimate their sleep duration,” said Tiemeier.
The study involved 956 participants between the ages of 59 and 79 years; 52.3 percent were women. Information was obtained from the Rotterdam Study, a population-based cohort study aimed at assessing the occurrence of and risk factors for chronic diseases in the elderly.
CHARLOTTE- A new study has revealed that regular exercise can help keep prostate cancer at bay.
According to researchers at Duke University Medical Centre, those who were moderately active - anything equivalent to walking at a moderate pace for several hours a week - were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.
They analysed 190 men who had a prostate biopsy and found that 58 percent of the men exercised less than the equivalent of one hour per week of easy walking, reports chinaview.cn
The study also showed that exercise was associated with less aggressive disease in men who did develop prostate cancer.
“As the amount of exercise increased, the risk of cancer decreased,” said lead author Dr.JodiAntonelli, a urology researcher at the centre.
Other names: All-heal, Amantilla, Setwall, Setewale, Capon’s Tail, Valeriana officinalis
Valerian is a plant native to Europe and Asia. It grows to up to four feet high and has trumpet-shaped flowers. The roots are used medicinally. Although the fresh root is relatively odorless, the dried root has a strong odor that many find unpleasant.
Valerian is believed to have been used since at least the time of ancient Greece and Rome. It was used as a folk remedy for a variety of conditions such as sleeping problems, digestive complaints, nervousness, trembling, tension headaches and heart palpitations. Valerian’s popularity waned with the introduction of prescription sleep medication.
There is no consensus on what the active constituents of valerian are. It’s possible that valerian’s activity may result from a combination of compounds rather than any one. Valerian appears to increase the body’s available supply of the neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), possibly by increasing its production, decreasing its absorption or slowing its breakdown.
Valerian can be found in capsule, tea, tablet or liquid extract forms in most health food stores, some drugstores and online.
Why Do People Use Valerian?
Insomnia
The use of valerian is supported by some evidence from clinical studies. The problem with many of the studies, however, is they’ve generally been small, used different amounts of valerian for varying lengths of time, or had problems with the study design, making it impossible to form a conclusion about the effectiveness of valerian.
Valerian appears to be less effective than prescription sleep medication. One possible advantage of valerian, however, is that it may not have as much of a “hangover” effect on mental or physical functioning the following day. Also, people taking sleeping pills sometimes have a temporary worsening of insomnia when they are discontinued, an effect that hasn’t been reported with valerian.
Anxiety
Valerian is also used for anxiety, although there’s insufficient evidence that it’s effective.
Side Effects and Safety Concerns
Pregnant or nursing women and children should not use valerian.
People taking medications for insomnia or anxiety, such as benzodiazepines, should not combine these medications with valerian.
Side effects of valerian may include headache, dizziness, itchiness, upset stomach, drowsiness during the daytime, dry mouth and vivid.dreams.
Rarely, liver damage has been associated with the use of valerian. It’s not certain whether the cause of the liver damage was due to valerian itself or to contaminants in the product. Until we know more, people should use valerian only under the supervision of a qualified health care practitioner and those with liver disease should avoid it. Although liver damage doesn’t always produce noticeable symptoms, if excessive tiredness, intense itching, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pain or discomfort in the upper right side of the abdomen, or a yellowing of the whites of the eyes or skin occurs, see your doctor immediately.
Possible Interactions
Valerian may cause excessive sleepiness or daytime drowsiness if combined with other drugs that cause drowsiness, such as the benzodiazepines Ativan (lorazepam) or Valium (diazepam), some antidepressants, narcotics such as codeine, and barbituates such as phenobarbitol, or with over-the-counter sleep and cold products containing diphenhydramine and doxylamine.
It may also cause excessive sleepiness if taken with herbs thought to have a sedative effect, such as hops, catnip and kava.
Valerian is broken down in the liver. Theoretically, it could interfere with the effectiveness of medications that are broken down by the same liver enzymes, such as:
allergy medications like Allegra (fexofenadine)
cholesterol medication such as Mevacor (lovastatin)
antifungal drugs such as Sporanox (itraconazole) and Nizoral (ketoconazole)
cancer medications such as Camptosar (irinotecan), Etopophos, Vepesid (etoposide), Gleevec (STI571), Taxol (paclitaxel), Velbe (vinblastine) or Oncovin (vincristine)
ST LOUIS - Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found a link between sleep loss and increase in Alzheimer’s plaques.
In the study, published in Science Express, researchers found that chronic sleep deprivation in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease makes Alzheimer’s brain plaques appear earlier and more often.
They also found that orexin, a protein that helps regulate the sleep cycle, appears to be directly involved in the increase.
Neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease often disrupt sleep.
“Orexin or compounds it interacts with may become new drug targets for treatment of Alzheimer’s disease,” says senior author DavidM.Holtzman, M.D., the Andrew and GretchenJones Professor and chair of the Department of Neurology at the School of Medicine and neurologist-in-chief at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
“The results also suggest that we may need to prioritize treating sleep disorders not only for their many acute effects but also for potential long-term impacts on brain health,” the expert added.
Holtzman’s laboratory uses a technique called in vivo microdialysis to monitor levels of amyloid beta in the brains of mice genetically engineered as a model of Alzheimer’s disease. Amyloid beta is a protein fragment that is the principal component of Alzheimer’s plaques.
Jae-EunKang, Ph.D., a post-doctoral fellow in Holtzman’s lab, noticed that brain amyloid beta levels in mice rose and fell in association with sleep and wakefulness, increasing in the night, when mice are mostly awake, and decreasing during the day, when they are mostly asleep.
A separate study of amyloid beta levels in human cerebrospinal fluid led by RandallBateman, M.D., assistant professor of neurology and a neurologist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, also showed that amyloid beta levels were generally higher when subjects were awake and lower when they slept.
To confirm the link, Kang learned to use electroencephalography (EEG) on the mice at the Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology Laboratory at Stanford University with researchers Seiji Nishino, M.D., Ph.D., and NobuhiroFujiki, M.D., Ph.D. The EEG readings let researchers more definitively determine when mice were asleep or awake and validated the connection: Mice that stayed awake longer had higher amyloid beta levels.
“This makes sense in light of an earlier study in our lab where JohnCirrito, Ph.D., showed that increases in synaptic activity resulted in increased levels of amyloid beta,” Holtzman notes.
“The brain’s synapses may generally be more active when we’re awake,” the expert added.
Depriving the mice of sleep caused a 25 percent increase in amyloid beta levels. Levels were lower when mice were allowed to sleep. Blocking a hormone previously linked to stress and amyloid beta production had no effect on these changes, suggesting that they weren’t caused by the stress of sleep deprivation, according to Holtzman.
When Holtzman’s group injected orexin into the brains of the mice, mice stayed awake longer, and amyloid beta levels increased. When researchers used a drug called almorexant to block both orexin receptors, amyloid beta levels were significantly lower and animals were awake less.
Miranda M. Lim, M.D., Ph.D., a neurology resident and post-doctoral researcher in Holtzman’s lab, performed long-term behavioral experiments with the mice. She found that three weeks of chronic sleep deprivation accelerated amyloid plaque deposition in the brain. In contrast, when mice were given almorexant for two months, plaque deposition significantly decreased, dropping by more than 80 percent in some brain regions.
“This suggests the possibility that a treatment like this could be tested to see if it could delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Holtzman.
TORONTO - Giving coffee to babies won’t keep them awake as in case of adults, in fact the hot beverage would have a long-lasting and detrimental effect on little ones’ sleep and breathing patterns in adulthood, says a new study.
Breathing problems are the leading causes of hospitalization and death in premature babies. These babies are therefore often given caffeine because of its qualities as a respiratory stimulant.
Up till now, the long-term effects of this treatment in humans have not been examined.
However, in the Journal of Physiology, GaspardMontandon and colleagues showed that the use of caffeine in neonates can cause serious alterations in the sleeping patterns of adult rats as a result of its effect on the developing respiratory system.
Sleep abnormality is a significant indicator for ill health and reduced life span.
When the caffeine-treated rats reached adulthood, their sleeping time was reduced, the length of time they took to reach the first stage of sleep was increased, and their non-REM sleep was fragmented. Breathing at rest was higher than in rats not treated with caffeine.
In his review of the study, F1000 Faculty Member James Duffin of the University of Toronto says the results “raise concerns about the long-term consequences of neonatal caffeine administration on brain development and behavior.”
SYDNEY - Long-term alcoholism affects sleep even after long periods of abstinence, impacting men and women similarly, says a new study.
The study indicates that in long-term alcoholics who had not had a drink for up to 719 days, the percentage of slow wave sleep or deep sleep was significantly lower.
Slow wave sleep and more light stage 1 sleep is reflective of poorer sleep quality, which could act as an exacerbating factor in alcoholics’ cognitive decline.
Although women had better sleep efficiency and fewer wake periods than men, no significant interactions between sex and alcoholism diagnosis were found for any measures.
This suggests that women show the same general pattern of alcoholism-related sleep changes as men.
Principal investigator IanColrain, psychologist at the University of Melbourne, was also surprised to find that a significant increase in the percentage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, usually associated with dreams, persisted in alcoholics who had abstained for an extended period.
The study involved 42 alcoholics who were recruited from an inpatient treatment program and 42 controls.
Estimated lifetime alcohol consumption was significantly higher in male alcoholics (1,607.2 kg) than female alcoholics (843.7 kg).
Many aspects of psychological functioning are affected by damage to the frontal cortex of the brain, including those that relate to judgment and risk taking, said Colrain.
White willow bark is a tree native to Europe and Asia. The name “white willow” comes from the color of the leaves, which are covered with fine white hairs.
The use of white willow bark medicinally goes far back. Ancient Egyptians used white willow for inflammation. The Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about white willow’s medicinal uses in 5th century B.C.
In 1829, scientists in Europe identified what was believed to be the active ingredient in white willow bark—a compound called salicin. Public demand grew rapidly.
Extracting salicin from herbs was considered to be expensive and time-consuming, so a synthetic salicylic acid version was developed in Germany in 1852 and quickly became the treatment of choice (salicin is converted in the body to salicylic acid).
The problem was that it was harder on the stomach. At therapeutic doses, people using the synthetic salicyclic acid developed stomach ulcers and bleeding.
The German company Bayer eventually created a synthetic, less harsh derivative of salicylic acid, called acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), and mass-produced it under the name aspirin. Despite this, aspirin is still known for irritating the stomach lining.
Why do people use white willow bark?
White willow bark is used for conditions that cause pain, inflammation, or fever, such as:
* Acute back pain
* Fever
* Flu
* Joint pain
* Osteoarthritis
* Pain
People take white willow bark instead of aspirin because it does not appear to be as irritating to the stomach lining. It may be because the salicin found naturally in white willow bark is only converted to the acid form after it is absorbed by the stomach.
Researchers have also suggested that white willow bark is more effective than aspirin because of other active compounds that are found in the bark but not the drug. Animal research at Cairo University compared a willow bark extract to ASA and found that a willow bark extract was as effective as aspirin in reducing inflammation, even though the salicin content was lower than an equivalent dose of ASA.
What research has been done on white willow bark?
* In a German study, the effectiveness of a willow bark extract providing 240 mg of salicin a day was compared to placebo in a 2-week randomized controlled trial in 78 people with osteoarthritis. After two weeks, the willow bark patients’ pain scores were reduced by 14% compared to the placebo group, which had a 2% increase in pain scores.
* A randomized controlled trial published in the American Journal of Medicine examined the use of 120 mg or 240 mg salicin or placebo in 210 patients with an low back pain. In the fourth and final week of the study, 39% of the group taking 240 mg salicin were pain-free for at least 5 days, compared to 21% in the 120 mg group and only 6% in the placebo group.
* Two randomized controlled 6-week trials investigated the effectiveness and safety of willow bark in 127 patients with hip and/or knee osteoarthritis and 26 patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In the osteoarthritis trial, patients received either willow bark providing 240 mg of salicin a day, 100 mg a day of the drug diclofenac, or a placebo. Patients in the rheumatoid arthritis trial received either willow bark or a placebo. The results found that the drug diclofenac was more effective than placebo in osteoarthritis patients but white willow bark was not. In rheumatoid arthritis patients, willow bark wasn’t found to be more effective than placebo.
Common Doses
Studies have used white willow bark extracts that provide 120 mg to 240 mg of salicin per day.
Safety
Because white willow bark contains salicylates, the same precautions as aspirin should be taken until research has shown otherwise. The following people should not take white willow bark:
* People with an aspirin allergy or sensitivity. There has been a published report of a 25 year old woman who was admitted to emergency with anaphylaxis after taking 2 capsules of a weight loss supplement that contained willow bark. The patient had a history of allergy to acetylsalicylic acid. No other possible causes for anaphylaxis were identified in that patient.
* People with peptic ulcer disease or kidney disease.
* The herbs ginkgo, vitamin E, and garlic may increase the risk of bleeding if combined with white willow.
* People with hyperuricemia, gout, and asthma.
* Children and teenagers, especially with flu-like symptoms, chicken pox, or Reye’s syndrome.
* Pregnant or nursing women.
White willow bark should be avoided two weeks before or after surgery.
Side effects
There have been few reported side effects. However, the same side effects as aspirin may theoretically occur, especially at higher doses: ringing in the ears, ulcers, stomach burning, pain, cramping, nausea, gastrointestinal bleeding and liver toxicity, rash, dizziness, and kidney impairment.
