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Archive for April, 2009

Time To Pull Up Our Socks – Swine Flu Is almost At Our Doorstep!

It has been in all the news headlines lately and as a result most people are now aware of it! Yes, I think you’ll have made the right guess – it is ‘Swine Flu.’ Never heard this before? Well, now that we are almost in the line of fire, most of us can be found asking questions like:

• What is Swine Flu?
• What are the symptoms of swine flu?
• How is swine flu caused?

These are of course just a few to start with; many of you must be abuzz with many more questions. In a crisis, the human mind, it is understood, does start to work in overdrive. But coming back to the point………

Swine Influenza or ‘swine flu,’ in short, is a respiratory disease found in pigs. It is caused by type A influenza that is often the source of outbreaks of influenza amongst pigs.

Normally swine flu viruses do not infect humans, but human infections of the disease can crop up in workers who are in direct contact with the infected pigs. As a result, it is acknowledged that swine flu virus can also spread with human-to-human contact.

Mentioned below are a few facts from the U.S. CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) which source all information on the spread of swine flue in humans. It says:

• The swine flu virus makes the pigs naturally sick but probably does affect the humans. It is however noted that, humans are mostly affected when they come in contact with infected pigs or when they move around in unhygienic conditions that are pre-infested with infected substances.

• It is natural that pigs are able to catch both the human and the avian bird flu viruses. When the flu viruses from the various species contaminate the pigs, it gives rise to a new mixed virus.

• These mutated viruses from pigs get back into the human body and can then easily be passed on from one human to another. Therefore, transmission of swine flu spreads in a similar method to the seasonal flu i.e. by unprotected sneezing and coughing.

• That the symptoms of swine flu are very similar to that of the seasonal flu – wherein one witnesses sudden fever, muscle pain, coughing, and a feeling of severe tiredness. With this new strain making an appearance in the human body, it leads to more vomiting and diarrhea than is seen in normal seasonal flu afflicted people.

• That in order to prevent swine influenza from spreading, vaccines must be made available so that the humans can be protected from catching the deadly swine flue from the pigs. However, at present there in no known vaccine available to protect humans from swine flu; CDC is trying to formulate one. Nonetheless, seasonal influenza prescription vaccines available in the market do provide protection against the H3N2 virus but only partially; these vaccines are ineffective against the new strain of H1N1 virus which is in circulation at present.

• By eating pork or pork products people have a negligible chance of catching the swine flu virus; however, it is important that pig meat be cooked at a temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit so that the swine flu virus is killed before being ingested by humans.

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It is common and even accepted for men to be bald. So even though it is a common occurrence, numerous men can still feel self conscious about being hairless. So taking this in mind, the way a woman must feel if she starts to lose her hair must be exceedingly disturbing, after all, hair is one of the main things a woman uses to make herself look appealing.

As a woman, if you are feeling you have a lot of hair that is coming out, look to see if there is another more plain cause as to why you may be losing hair, for instance do you frequently tie your hair back tightly? Are you undergoing a lot of stress in your private or work life at present?What is your diet like in the sense have you been eating poor food of late? While it may not look as if these details are relevant, but they can have an effect with what goes on in your scalp.

On the other hand, you may be going through none of these matters in your life, and you are in fact losing more hair than any of the previously mentioned things warrant for anyways, if that is the case there is a chance that there are hormonal shifts getting you to lose your hair. Here are some things that routinely happen to a woman than can adjust hormones and interfere with hair growing.

The change of life is an arena that quite often effects hair growth. Menopause can badly affect hormones and slow down their production. This is in all likelihood more common than you would think and can effect up to about two thirds of women and leave them with bald patches of some kind in their post menopausal stages. In All Probability one of the most everyday ways this is treated by the medical profession is with HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). Coming is an account of how the hormonal imbalance during change of life can cause hair loss:-

Plainly put, a woman will produce both testosterone and estrogen before menopause. And during this time the estrogen bars the testosterone from being changed and allowed to move around the body, a bit like a roadblock. When the change of life starts, the output of estrogen falls and this can let testosterone to have a bit more of a free reign. Consequently, it is considered this testosterone can turn into DHT which makes hair loss if the scalp is sensitive to it.

Sometimes a woman may have to receive a hysterectomy, and in a way, this is like going through the change of life too, as the end outcome is that there is no estrogen being released to counteract testosterone.

The final big upheaval in a woman which causes massive hormonal shift is maternity, and this can genuinely play tricks with the hair. When a woman gets pregnant there are great numbers of changes that start to take place within the body as you can probably well guess. Through the maternity thin hair can thicken and vice versa, and also hair that was straight can get curly and curly hair can go straight. This is down to the great hormone shifts which take place within a woman when they are pregnant, and for some women after having a baby, their hair is never the same again.

Trekking is one of the favorite outdoor activities. This challenging activity requires definite conditions to fulfill in order to avoid from any harmful effect to come. Everything needs to be set up before trekking journey. The unquestioned health body is a must before everything. Some safety equipments are necessary to enable prior to getting started with the activity. These equipments are usually provided for rent by some base camp trekking if they were not provided by the trekkers themselves.

As a matter of fact, storage and starting place prior to the challenging journey, the so-called base camp trekking, doesn’t only provide some places to put supplies. In terms of emergency, the trekkers can try t communicate and coordinate with the base camp officers to get some help if necessary. Given the sophisticated technology today, everything can be easily communicated to handle emergency situations. Furthermore, useful guidelines and precautious information about the trekking area are also provided by the base camp. This is to help prevent any danger and harmful condition to bother on the way of trekking journey at the site.

However, not all of the base camp trekking is fully equipped with technology and safety stuff required. Early reservation and information will help set up everything before trekking journey takes place. It is much more convenient to do for the sake the best challenging sport you are going to have forward.

It is essential that migraineurs do some kind of physical activity with regularity. By this, I mean concerted exertion for a specified duration of time. These physical activities and exercises help keep the migraines less intense and infrequent. Exercises include one of the many external dynamics, which is within our control. Other such efforts include diets etc. As far as pain control through physical activities for migraine is concerned, our aim should be to:

a. Increase levels of Serotonin
b. Increase levels of the pain-fighting Endorphin
c. Increase levels of Dopamine

All repetitive movements raise serotonin levels. This includes chewing, massages and the like, though the elevation in serotonin levels through such activities is marginal and ephemeral.

Significant increase in serotonin combined with endorphin and dopamine levels occur at the time of any activity that involves continuous or continual exertion for a certain period of time – a minimum of 20 minutes. If you can incorporate repetitive movements to such an exercise sessions, it would augment the effect of serotonin and endorphin. Let’s look at the activities that can give such benefits:

1. Brisk Walking
2. Jogging
3. Running
4. Weight training
5. Cycling – outdoors and stationary
6. Swimming
7. Dancing
8. Stretching
9. Yoga
10. Pilates
11. Aerobics – Step, Circuit training etc
12. Kickboxing
13. Any Sport
14. Gym activities – treadmills, elliptical, rowing machines, push-ups etc
15. Any other activity that causes you to exert for 20 minutes at one go (with possible rest periods built in)

If you have never done exertive physical activities before or have led a sedate life, it is advisable to keep your exercise routine to 30 minutes every other day. If you do not have the luxury of working out 30-minutes in a single go, break it up. You can fit in lots of 10 minutes thrice in a day. It all adds up.

Panic attacks are very sudden, discrete periods of intense anxiety, mounting physiological arousal, fear, stomach problems and discomfort that are associated with a variety of somatic and cognitive symptoms.

The onset of these episodes is typically abrupt, and may have no obvious triggers. Although these episodes may appear random, they are a subset of an evolutionary response commonly referred to as fight or flight that occur out of context.

This response floods the body with hormones, particularly epinephrine (adrenaline), that aid it in defending against harm. Experiencing a panic attack is said to be one of the most intensely frightening, upsetting and uncomfortable experiences of a person’s life. According to the American Psychological Association the symptoms of a panic attack commonly last approximately thirty minutes.

However, panic attacks can be as short as 15 seconds, while sometimes panic attacks may form a cyclic series of episodes, lasting for an extended period, sometimes hours. Often those afflicted will experience significant anticipatory anxiety and limited symptom attack in between attacks, in situations where attacks have previously occurred.

Panic attacks are commonly linked to agoraphobia and the fear of not being able to escape a bad situation. Many who experience panic attacks feel trapped and unable to free themselves. The effects of a panic attack vary from person to person. Some, notably first-time sufferers, may call for emergency services. Many who experience a panic attack, mostly for the first time, fear they are having a heart attack or a nervous breakdown.

A panic attack is a response of the sympathetic nervous system(SNS). The most common symptoms may include trembling, dyspnoea (shortness of breath) heart palpitations, chest pain (or chest tightness), hot flashes, cold flashes, burning sensations (particularly in the facial or neck area), sweating, nausea, dizziness (or slight vertigo) light-headedness, hyperventilation, sensations of choking, smothering and derealization. These physical symptoms are interpreted with alarm in people prone to panic attacks. This results in increased anxiety and forms a positive feedback loop.

Often the onset of shortness of breath and chest pain are the predominant symptoms, the sufferer incorrectly appraises this as a sign or symptom of a heart attack. This can result in the person experiencing a panic attack seeking treatment in emergency room.

Panic attacks are distinguished from other forms of anxiety by their intensity and their sudden, episodic nature. They are often experienced in conjunction with anxiety disorders and other psychological conditions, although panic attacks are not always indicative of a mental disorder.