by Editor | Dec 22, 2010 | Health
Popular indigestion pills such as Zantac and Losec have this week been pinpointed as a major cause of pneumonia, a disease that can be a killer in the elderly.
Acid suppressive drugs, as they’re known, are given to up to 70 per cent of elderly patients in hospital, and they are likely to be a major cause of pneumonia-related deaths, say researchers from Seoul National University Hospital in Korea.
The drugs increase the risk of respiratory tract infections and pneumonia, especially in close communities such as care homes and hospitals. The researchers reckon the drugs are responsible for one out of every 200 cases of pneumonia acquired in hospital.
However, young and old are equally susceptible, and everyone who takes the drugs increases their chances of developing pneumonia.
The drugs include proton pump inhibitors – such as Losec, Prilosec and Prevacid – and histamine2 receptor antagonists, including Zantac and Cimetidine. Indigestion drugs are the second leading medication in the world, with sales of around $26bn every year.
(Canadian Medical Association Journal, 2010; December 20; doi: 10.1053/cmaj.092129).
via Indigestion pills are a major cause of ‘killer’ pneumonia | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 22, 2010 | Health
The radiation from CT scans is so great that children who have them run a far higher risk of developing cancer for the remainder of their life.Researchers reckon the risk remains high for 58 years after having the scan, but they admit it could be for longer.Around 1 million CT scans are performed on children aged five years or younger every year in the US, often for diagnosing cancer.But the scans emit ionizing radiation, a known carcinogen. To see if the scans did cause cancer, researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Centre tracked 1,303 people who, as small children, had CT scans between 1953 and 1987. None of the children had cancer, but had the scan to check for an enlarged thymus that, at the time, was believed to be a health problem.Over the years, and up to 2008, 50 of the group developed thyroid cancer compared with just 13 of their siblings who had not been scanned.Source: Radiation Research, 2010; 174: 753-62.
via CT scans increase cancer risk for the rest of your life | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 18, 2010 | Health
It’s enough that we have to worry about the chemicals they put into our food – but the wrappers could be every bit as deadly. Food wrappers are coated with non-stick and greaseproof agents – and now researchers have discovered they also contain dangerously high levels of fire retardant, which gets into the food.
The wrappers on one out of 10 samples of butter contained very high levels of the flame retardant compound, PBDE, which had made its way into the product. One sample had 135 times higher levels of PBDE, and 900 times the level of PBDE’s main component, deca-BDE, than the others.
PBDEs have also been detected in other high-fat foods, including fish, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products.
The fire retardant is commonly found in electronics, textiles, wire and cable insulation, and automobile and airplane components.
Although the EU banned all uses of deca-BDE in 2008, and US authorities plan to follow suit by 2014, researchers from the University of Texas School of Public Health say chemicals are in the environment, and can continue to be in components and stock for years after a ban has been imposed.
(Source: Environmental Health Perspectives, 2010; doi: 10.1289/ehp.1002604).
via Food wrappers contain high levels of fire retardant chemical | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 18, 2010 | Health
Pregnant women who use a mobile (cell) phone are more likely to have a child who has behavioural problems. The risk increases if the child starts using a phone in its early developmental years.
Children who were exposed to mobile phones while they were in the womb, and who used one themselves, are 50 per cent more likely to have behavioural problems. The greatest harm is done when the mother uses a phone before the child is born, say researchers, which accounts for a 40 per cent increased risk.
The Danish National Birth Cohort study based their findings on a group of around 100,000 women who were pregnant between 1996 and 2002 and who were questioned again seven years later.
The researchers say the findings are in line with earlier research, and that they have taken into account other possible causes of behavioural problems.
(Source: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 2010; doi: 10.1136/jech.2010.115402).
via Children more likely to have behavioural problems if mum used a mobile phone when they were in the womb | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 18, 2010 | Health
Thalidomide is back, and this time it’s going to help you live longer. From being the world’s most feared drug – and which launched an industry of tighter regulation and safety controls – it is this week being heralded as a ‘fountain of youth’.
Revlimia (lenalidomide), a cancer drug that is a derivative of thalidomide, could restore key elements of the immune system that are associated with ill health as we age, say researchers from the University of California at San Francisco, led by allergist Edward Goetzl. “If you could take a low-dosage pill with no side effects, wouldn’t you do it?” Goetzl asks.
Possibly so, but Revlimia doesn’t fit the description. Designed to treat multiple myeloma, its availability is restricted in the UK, while the US’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has included it in its list of 20 drugs under investigation for potential safety problems. As a derivative of thalidomide, pregnant women must never take it as it interferes with the growth of the fetus. Other side effects include thrombosis and pulmonary embolism, both fatal conditions, hepatotoxicity – liver damage – and bone marrow toxicity.
Aside from those, it has no side effects.
(Source: Clinical Immunology, 2010; doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2010.11.002).
via Thalidomide is back – as a fountain of youth | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 18, 2010 | Health
Your diet could be one of the most important factors in determining whether you suffer from anxiety, autism and nervous and behavioural problems. The food you eat reverses some of the worst symptoms, and researchers have discovered this week that it can also be a key trigger.A diet that is high in sugar can cause abnormal behaviour such as hair-pulling, say researchers. The condition – trichotillomania – affects up to 4 per cent of the population, and happens more in women than men. The researchers, from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, think the diet could also cause other behavioural problems, such as autism, Tourette’s and skin picking.Source: Nutritional Neuroscience, 2010; 13: 256.
via Diet is a trigger for autism and nervous problems | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 18, 2010 | Health
Aspartame – the artificial sweetener found in more than 6,000 foods and dietary drinks – causes cancer.
The sweetener causes liver and lung cancers, and, not surprisingly, the risk increases with the amount of aspartame you consume, say researchers from the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Centre, in Bologna, Italy.
They made the discovery when they fed laboratory mice and rats with aspartame from pre-birth and until their death.
(Source: American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2010; 53: 1197-1206).
via Aspartame sweetener causes cancer, researchers confirm | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 9, 2010 | Health
Everyone knows that HRT for the menopause cause breast and ovarian cancers and heart problems – everyone that is except the doctors, who continue to prescribe the drugs at dangerously high doses.
Although the first major health alert about HRT was issued as long ago as 2001, and has been followed up since by studies that demonstrate other health risks, doctors have ignored the findings, say researchers from Stanford University.
Doctors weren’t even reverting to low-dose formulations, which offer many of the benefits but dramatically reduce the risks.
“It takes a huge event to change clinical practice, “said research team head Randall Stafford.
Clearly more than thousands of deaths.
(Source: Menopause, November 24, 2010. doi: 10.1097/gme.0b013e3181f43404).
via Doctors still prescribing high-dose HRT despite health alerts | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 9, 2010 | Health
Jet lag after a long-haul flight can affect us far longer than the first few days after we arrive – it can last for a whole month, researchers say.
Memory and learning problems can last for four weeks where the time difference is greater than five hours. This is not only significant for passengers on long-haul flights, it raises serious health concerns for crew, such as pilots and cabin staff, who could be regularly flying long-distance.
Researchers from the University of California at Berkeley say it could also have an unforeseen impact on the efficiency of workers in key professions such as medical staff.
(Source: PLoS ONE, December 1, 2010. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0015267).
via Jet lag can last four weeks after flight | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 9, 2010 | Health
It’s one of the greatest medical myths – that getting old is the cause of a range of illnesses, from dementia, arthritis, heart problems and the rest. In fact, age has nothing to do with it, researchers have discovered.
Older people who remain fit and well through good diet and exercise can expect to live longer than people 15 years younger – and they can remain sharper and fitter, too.
And it’s never too late to get into shape. Researchers found that a quarter of marathon and long-distance athletes aged up to 69 years had started running only five years previously, and they were already enjoying the benefits of exercise.
In a separate study, ‘senior moments’ of sudden memory loss and dementia have nothing to do with growing old, say researchers from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
Instead, dementia and memory loss are a sign of brain disease, and are not just one of those things that happen to us because we are old. The researchers based their findings on an on-going study of 350 Catholic nuns and priests who have been given memory tests every year for the past 13 years.
(Sources: Deutsches Arzteblatt International, 2010; 107: 809-16 – fitness study; Neurology, 2010; 75L 1070-8 – memory loss study).
via Getting old doesn’t mean getting sick | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 9, 2010 | Health
Parents worried about giving their children the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine can do one simple thing instead: just give them plenty of vitamin A.
Although the vitamin can’t stop children catching measles, it protects them against its worst effects.
Measles is often classified as a killer – usually by health agencies trying to scare parents into vaccinating their children – but it is a relatively benign disease in those who are not deficient in the vitamin.
Researchers at the Cochrane Institute, who studied 43 trials involving 215,633 children, discovered that vitamin A is a life-saver, as it prevents deaths in children who catch measles and suffer from diarrhea, which, on its own, is a major killer in developing countries.
Even giving the standard recommended dose of vitamin A reduced the risk of death by 24 per cent, the Cochrane researchers found, which equates to saving the lives of around 1 million children every year.
(Source: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2010, issue 12, doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD008524,pub2).
via Parents worried about the MMR could give vitamin A instead | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Dec 9, 2010 | Health
The Oxford University professor who made the headlines this week with his aspirin study – which demonstrated that the painkiller reduces the risk of cancer by 20 per cent – wasn’t telling the whole story. Just three years ago he discovered the drug was a major cause of stroke in the elderly.
His earlier findings may be the reason why Prof Peter Rothwell, at Oxford’s Department of Clinical Neurology, wasn’t as emphatic about taking aspirin as his cancer study warranted.
After announcing the findings, he cautioned: “I don’t think it’s necessarily right for the person who did the research to say what guidelines should be. We can’t say with absolute certainty that there won’t be some unknown harm in taking aspirin for 30 years…people have to accept there’s some uncertainty here.”
But there isn’t really any uncertainty. Prof Rothwell has already demonstrated that aspirin has caused a sevenfold increase in stroke over the past 25 years among elderly patients. At the time, he warned that aspirin could soon replace high blood pressure (hypertension) as the leading cause of stroke, especially among the over-75s.
He might also have had in mind a study from Eastern Virginia Medical School which discovered the drug is killing 20,000 Americans a year from gastro-intestinal bleeding – when the official records put the figure at just 59.
(Sources: Lancet, 2010; doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)62110-1 – cancer study; Lancet Neurology, 2007;6: 487-93 – stroke study; Proceedings of the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology, October 15, 2007 – GI deaths study).
via Aspirin reduces cancer risk, but raises chances of stroke, says same researcher | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Nov 28, 2010 | Health
The health benefits of pomegranate juice just get better and better. The juice lowers cholesterol levels and blood pressure, and researchers have discovered this week that it can help kidney patients on dialysis combat infections and heart problems.
The researchers, from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, tested it on a group of 101 dialysis patients, who were given the juice or a placebo drink three times a week for a year.
The pomegranate juice group suffered fewer inflammatory problems, and they were less likely to need hospital care for infections.
The juice is a powerful antioxidant and infection-fighter, say the researchers.
(Source: 43rd Annual Meeting, American Society of Nephrology, Denver, Colorado, November 19, 2010).
via Pomegranate juice helps kidney patients on dialysis | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Nov 28, 2010 | Health
Unconcerned by parents’ worries about overloading their children with too many vaccines, the UK’s health authorities are introducing a new ‘super shot’ which will be a six-in-one jab, including the controversial MMR.
The child will be given three separate injections in one surgery visit, which will purportedly offer protection against measles, mumps and rubella (the MMR shot), two forms of meningitis and PCV13, an infection that can cause pneumonia.
The new shot is expected to be introduced before the end of the year, although doctors have been told to use the new super-shot only on children aged one year or older.
The UK’s health agencies are confident the new super-shot will be well received by parents, and should increase the take-up of childhood vaccinations, a rate that fell dramatically after concerns that the MMR vaccine could cause autism.
However, nobody yet knows how the six vaccines will inter-react with each other, or how an immature immune system can cope.
(Source: Sunday Times, November 21, 2010).
via Children to get new six-in-one vaccine | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Nov 28, 2010 | Health
Added sugars in processed foods and cola drinks could be one of the primary causes of today’s epidemic of ‘lifestyle diseases’, such as high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity – and doctors don’t realise it.
Researchers at the University of Colorado, who have carried out an analysis of health effects of fructose in our food, say doctors do not suspect it could be one of the primary causes of a range of health conditions, collectively known as metabolic syndrome.
Not only are they causing hypertension, diabetes and obesity, they are also responsible for chronic kidney disease (CKD).
HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is one of the most common forms of dietary fructose, and is found in almost every type of processed food, from breakfast cereals, biscuits, cakes, and cola drinks.
(Source: Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, November 29, 2010; doi: 10.1681/ASN.2010050506).
via Sugars in processed food major cause of lifestyle diseases | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Nov 28, 2010 | Health
If you’ve developed a dry, itchy patch on the side of your face, your mobile (cell) phone is probably causing it.
The phone contains nickel, a common allergen, and prolonged use can cause an allergic skin reaction, say allergists. “Patients come in with dry, itchy patch on their cheeks, jaw lines and ears and have no idea what is causing their allergic reaction, “says allergist Luz Fonacier.
Nickel affects 17 per cent of women and 3 per cent of men, and is also found in keys, coins and paper clips.
Nickel allergy symptoms include redness, swelling, itching, eczema, skin lesions and sometimes oozing and scarring.
(Source: Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, Phoenix, November 11-16, 2010).
via Mobile phone users getting allergic skin reactions | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
by Editor | Nov 28, 2010 | Health
Eating fruits and vegetables – or taking vitamin A, C and E supplements – is the single most important thing to do if you want to live longer.
The key to a long life is down to the levels of the antioxidant alpha-carotene you have in your blood – and you get that from certain fruits and vegetables, or from vitamin supplements.
Researchers from the US’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have discovered that high levels of alpha-carotene mean you are 40 per cent more likely to be around in 14 years time compared to someone with low or zero levels, and it protects you against heart disease and cancer.
They tracked the lives of 15,318 adults aged from 20 years from 1988 to 2006. During that time, 3,810 participants died, and the single most important factor was serum (blood) levels of alpha-carotene, after taking into account demographics, lifestyles and health risks. Those with the highest levels improved their chances of being alive over the study period by 40 per cent.
Vegetables rich in alpha-carotene are the ‘yellow-orange’ varieties – carrots, sweet potatoes and pumpkin squashes – and the ‘dark greens’ – broccoli, green beans, green peas, spinach, turnips and leaf vegetables, such as cabbage.
(Source: Archives of Internal Medicine, 2010; doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2010.440).
via Alpha-carotene in vegetables increases life expectancy by 40 per cent | What Doctors Don’t Tell You.
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by Editor | Nov 27, 2010 | Promotions
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by Editor | Nov 21, 2010 | Articles
Bad Habits Resulting in Low Work Efficiency
By: erika
If you want to improve your work efficiency, you should not only find out the good habits which can improve your work efficiency but also find out the obstacles in the way of work. Those bad habits may have become part of your life, and you cannot even notice the existence of them. In this article, I will talk about some common bad habits in our daily work.
1. Absence
Woody Ellen once referred, “Success is from 80% of attendance…”Attendance is one the most major but easiest factors to success in your daily life, in your work and to your healthy. If you want to improve your health condition, you should attend the activities held in the gyms. Maybe the weather is so bad that you don’t want to go the gyms. But if you stick to taking exercises in such terrible days, you will definitely have a better figure than just coiled yourselves up in the sofa. This concept can also be extended to other fields of life. For instance, if you persist in writing or painting, your skills will be improved as soon as possible. If you attend more parties, you will make more friends or you may meet your sweethearts quickly. Instead, you are absent, you may lose lots of opportunities.
2. Dilatoriness
There are three ways to get rid of being dilatory in doing your work.
1) You can try to begin with the most complicated task or the most important work at the beginning of a new day. You will always be energetic and efficient while doing the work in the day.
2) You should divide your task into parts. Focus on the first part while dealing with the first part, then you may continue to do the next part.
3) Try to use psychology suggestive methods.
3. Unnecessary worries
People may take too much into account instead of take actions to do something to put it into practice. However, it is just a waste of time to consider too much. Obsession of thinking is just another expression of fiddling about. Instead, you should try to put the idea into practice before considering every factors related to it. There is no perfect time to do one task since the perfect time never comes. You will be deeply obsessed in your thoughts and find it difficult to take action. In fact, you should stop thinking and do what you should do now.
4. Negative attitudes
When you are filled with negative attitudes towards work and life, your enthusiasm will be extremely hit. You will find everything around is full of mistakes and problems. However, those so called problems do not exist at all. Facing this problem, you should train yourselves to do with the work with a postive attitude.
If you can get rid of those bad habits gradually, your work efficiency will be highly improved.
About the Author
(ArticlesBase SC #3682760)
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Bad Habits Resulting in Low Work Efficiency
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by Editor | Nov 21, 2010 | Articles
Getting the best job out there!
by Sheryl
Everyone these days is looking for that dream job and if you are also someone who wants to get well paid, then you will need to look into getting some Careers Advice.
The jobs and careers info that you will be in for will help you see the bigger picture and this can open the doors to many possible careers, so that the present situation that you may be dealing with now, possibly being unemployed and needing money, will be just a bad memory of the past.
You should know that there are a lot of places that you can consider if you are looking for good job advice. What you will actually need to find, is something called “Career development” and by looking into this, you will be able to make a plan which will in the end make sure that you will find the right job. This process involves getting as much employment information as you can, for you will be making use of it a lot in your attempt to get that job. Below, you will find some of the steps that you will need to take.
1. The first thing you will need to consider is getting a career assessment test, for this way, you will be able to see which job will fit you the best. There are many places that you could look into and have this test taken, so make sure that you do good research on the internet beforehand. There are many companies that you can find online to put out these tests for you and you will certainly need to look at the most popular ones and choose the one that suits you the best.
2. In step two, you will need to be patient and dedicate some time into exploring the best job openings that you can find. Choosing the one that fits you the best, usually means that you will do well in that job rather than taking a position unsuited to you. And everyone knows that if you choosing a job that will let you do what you love most, you will to love it even more and not get bored at work like many people get. 3. This is the final step and at this point, you will have had enough jobs and careers advice in order to assess what you will be good at. So just pick a career and stick to it, for you will certainly be successful with it!
