Stroke Hurts Brain Real Bad

Stroke is sudden loss of brain function, which is caused by either blockage or rupture of an artery. The scientists conducting a research on stroke found out that when a person suffers from stroke, there are about 2 million nerve cells that are dying every single minute, which results in loss of 14 billion synapses, and 8 miles of never fibers. The researchers also added that every hour that passes by under the effect of stroke, the brain ages 3.6 years. So this just makes stroke an emergency that needs immediate medical attention.

Brain is the most important organ of our body, as it controls and performs so many functions in our body. The damage that occurs from stroke to the brain is purely devastating. The symptoms and signs that occur after a stroke depend on the area of the brain that is affected. The symptoms that are most common are either weakness or paralysis of one side of the body with either partial or complete loss of voluntary function or either sensation of the limb or limbs.

The diagnosis of a stroke depends on clinical history and examination. Tests are performed on patients to know for sure as to what areas of brain are affected and how much area is involved that is damaged by stroke. An echocardiogram can be performed to look for blood clots in heart. Another important test, which is ultrasound of the carotid arteries, is done to look for stenosis that may be a cause of impaired blood circulation to the brain.

Just on the basis of the fact that a person has slurred speech, it should not be concluded that a person had stroke, because there are other brain disorders that mimic the same symptoms that are seen in stroke such as subdural hematoma, viral encephalitis, etc.

Stroke is a deadly thing that might lead one to lose speech, paralyzed on one or both sides, affect memory and leave individuals bedridden throughout their lives. It is always important to act as fast as you can. It is race against time to help the person who had stroke.

I hope that this article provides you with a good level of awareness about stroke. In my next coming articles, I will be discussing about how to act when you see a person suffering from stroke.

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Are Antidepressants Leading To Increased Suicidal Risk?

Many people die every year and everyone who dies has a cause of death. Every year about 32,000 people in US die because of suicide. The reasons that make basis of death are just tidal waves swallowing people up and suicide is one of that waves.

There is a newly conducted research that suggests that antidepressants lead to suicides, even though in very small numbers, but still is a reason for that.

The scientists conducted a study on a drug taken by children, named, Strattera, which is a treatment given for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and this drug is very much like the drug Effexor, which contains the warnings about suicide. The study was conducted on 1,357 children who were given Strattera, and 5 out of 1357 children said that they had suicidal thoughts and on the other hand there were about 857 children who were given placebo and they said that they had no suicidal ideation.

These were very concerning results as this has been proven through the study that though the number of children who have suicidal thoughts is very less, but still they make about five people who might lead to connect to the number of 32,000 people who commit suicide every year. This is a very alarming situation.

On the other hand it is very common in adults having suicidal thoughts, almost 20% of adults who are going to high school have suicidal thoughts.

The statistics that are pretty encouraging is that the rate of the suicide has dropped from 25% to about 19%.

Some of the researchers say that antidepressants are preventing the risk of suicidal rates, and they base their facts that they did autopsy on two youths who had committed suicide but they never found any trace of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in their body, which strongly suggests that antidepressants are not linked with suicides.

So it really depends on the effects of the drug on a person to make a decision as to whether or not these drugs should be taken or not because the study suggests that some children who take SSRIs do become hostile after taking these medicines.

So if you need to take these medicines, be in very close contact with your physician.

I hope you will make the right choice.

Related: Learn about Cymbalta – An antidepressant medication


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A New Era In The World Of Prosthetics

Researchers in the field of medicine have unearthed so many wonders and facts that helped millions of people all around the globe in so many different aspects such as discoveries of drugs, invention of surgical procedures and investigative methods etc.

Today my article is based on this new research, which is a remarkable and amazing research that scientists conducted on a group of mice.

The basic theme of the research was to develop prostheses, which would enable us to move them through our thoughts. Scientists selected a group of mice and they put them in a glass box. The mice were taught that when they needed food, they were to press a lever through which a robotic arm would move towards an opening of a box through which they can have their food. It took a little time to educate mice to learn that behavior. During that time the scientists analyzed as to which parts of the brain were sending these signals to the robotic arm to press the lever so they could have their food.

The scientists after discovering the areas of the brain, which send the signal to the mice’s arm to move the lever, they then placed electrodes in those areas of the brain and trained the mice to think that the robotic arm brings the food to them and they don’t need to press the lever, they just have to think. Out of the group of mice on which these experiments were conducted, about 80 percent of them were able to move the robotic arm with their thoughts and 20 percent were still hitting the lever so that robotic arm brings them food.

This amazing research has opened the doors to build prostheses where we would just have to think and the arms and legs would move through the signals from our brain. I believe this discovery would help so many people all around the world in having a healthy, wonderful and prosperous life.

I hope this article would serve all the people who are really looking forward for the emergence of new discoveries in the world of prostheses to benefit from.


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Iron In Low-Dose Best For Older Patients With Anemia

Iron therapy is used in elderly patients to treat anemia, and the research says that low doses of iron therapy can improve the hemoglobin levels just as well as the higher doses can, and the best part of this research is that there are less side effects from the iron in lower doses, which can greatly prevent the patients from going through those effects.

Hemoglobin is a protein in the red cells that carry the oxygen to all the organs of the body, but when the hemoglobin level is impaired, then the capacity of the blood cells to transport oxygen to different cells of the body is affected. This low level of oxygen in blood causes anemia to develop. Formation of hemoglobin requires adequate amounts of iron levels.

The researchers then conducted a study in which they selected about 90 hospitalized patients over 80 years of age and they were randomly selected and were put on different medication regimen of iron, which was 15 milligrams, 50 milligrams of a liquid iron compound and 150 milligrams of iron tablets as a treatment for iron-deficiency anemia. As a comparison group, 30 patients without anemia received 15 mg of iron for 60 days.

The levels of the hemoglobin were assessed on the day the therapy was initiated and after every 30 and 60 days of treatment.

It was just after 15 minutes of the first dose that was given that a rise in blood iron levels were noted in the anemic patients, but not in the group who were non-anemic.
In the three groups of elderly who were given different dose regimens of iron, their levels of iron were the same after 60 days of treatment.

Just to mention a few of the side effects of iron that the individuals taking iron are abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, change in bowel habits and black stools.

So the study suggests that even if iron is given in small doses up to one tenth of the recommended dose efficiently raises the hemoglobin levels and iron stores without giving substantial side effects.

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Diabetic Foot Ulcers Are Healed With Vitamins

A compound from vitamin A, which is used to treat acne is now being used to treat diabetic foot ulcers, which heals the ulcers, according to a recent research.

There have been studies that were conducted previously that suggested low incidence of topical Retin-A helping in wound healing in patients with diabetes.

There was a clinical trial that was conducted by researchers on about 24 volunteers who had diabetic foot ulcers with no evidence of infection, circulatory or neurological issues in the lower extremities. After that the patients were given treatment for four weeks with daily topical application of 0.05 percent tretinoin solution and the wound size was assessed every two weeks.

The patients then completed the study, and out of a total of about 24 ulcers, 10 ulcers got completely healed at the end of the therapy. To the researchers surprise there was essentially no side effects from the therapy, although some of the patients had mild discomfort at the site of the ulcer.

The researchers said that to their surprise the results were quite amazing because tretinoin is an irritating compound and they were not thinking that the patients would have been able to bear its effects, but to their surprise the patients tolerated it quite well and also had pretty good results from this intervention.

So the researchers are thinking that when other forms of therapies are not working for diabetic foot ulcers, they can use this approach to help heal the diabetic foot ulcers.

Related: Home remedies for Diabetes


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Don’t Spank Your Children

On the basis of data collected from the entire world, children are being spanked when they misbehave in order to teach them manners, but according to the research these kids are the ones who are more likely to be more anxious and aggressive than the children who are disciplined in nonphysical ways. We have to keep in mind that spanking is a norm in our cultures, throughout the world.

There are many theories that are being put as to whether the parents should use physical means to discipline their children or not is a lot controversial. Some say that children should not be spanked and there must be other ways that need to be explored according to the children’s psychology, which can help them grow in a more positive manner.

The other school of thought says that spanking and physical discipline depend on the traits of the child and the family and the circumstances in which it is used.
The researchers then collected the data through questionnaires from throughout the world including different countries and they found out that physical discipline was something that was used to discipline the children.

It was again brought up that the children who are being spanked are prone to be more anxious and aggressive than the children who are being managed other way around.
In Asia, people who are the followers of Buddhist teachings are less likely to spank their children or other forms of physical discipline. In Kenya where physical discipline is considered as norm and the kids there are reported to as pretty aggressive.

So the extract that comes out from this research is that we should learn ways where we do not use physical means to control children cause that leads to a lot many negative effects in their lives and damages the personality and causes them to go through a lot of deterioration that might take years to heal or might not heal at all.


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Millions Of Cancer Deaths Avoidable

More than a third of 7 million annual deaths each year can be prevented only if people prevented the major risk factors for cancer.

The major contributing factors to most of the cancers are as follows: Alcohol, obesity, poor diet, unsafe sex, and lack of exercise, which cause approximately 2.5 million deaths throughout the world in the year 2001.

All these deaths could have been avoided either the risks would have either be reduced or eliminated from the lives of those people.

Researchers say that the best game plan is to prevent the risk factors in order to reduce the high death rates that happen every year and this can be achieved solely by prevention.

Smoking is linked to multiple cancers, which include lung, mouth, stomach, bladder and pancreatic cancers and that can be avoided by quitting smoking and adopting healthy habits.

The total lung cancer deaths account to about 1.25 million, which is a pretty huge figure.

Obesity contributes to colorectal and breast cancer in countries with high-income.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) through unsafe sex causes cervical cancer in women, and this occurs mostly due to the lack of screening and clinical services.

Air pollution is a big threat and risk factor to cause cancer, especially in developing countries where they burn coal as a fuel.

Liver cancer is linked to hepatitis infection, which is caused by contaminated syringes in poor countries as well.

So from the above data we can clearly understand that there are a whole lot of causes that can be prevented from occurring and this mostly depends on the level of awareness that is being brought about in the communities where people know as to what are the factors that are causing them and how they can save themselves from having these catastrophic illnesses.

Here are a few types of cancers explained: Bladder Cancer, Brain Tumors, Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Multiple Myeloma, Lung Cancer, Leukemia, Laryngeal Tumor, Lymphomas and Hodgkin’s Disease, Head and Neck Cancer, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Cervical and Uterine Cancer.


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Eat Intuitively

At this day and age there are many diseases that are solely related to the way we eat. Many people go through dieting and eat less, some become very very selective in eating and they start eating less healthy foods in order to avoid a gain in weight. This new research tells us that we should eat intuitively, which would allow us to have a better way to maintain our weight and reduce the risk of heart and other diseases.

People who follow their intuition do not diet, they have learned to respond to the responses of their body such as eating when feeling hungry and taking the hands off of food when they feel that their desire to eat is fulfilled. This in turn helps them to respond to their body’s natural responses and staying healthy.

A doctor who was the part of the team conducting the research adopted intuitive eating and lost about 50 pounds in the process thus proving his stance on the research.

The basic theme of eating intuitively is that we know the demands of our body rather than we go for the number of calories that we need to eat, the kinds of food, counting carbs, proteins or fats etc. What we need to do is to understand our bodily requirements and eat according to it based on the level of hunger and satiety.

To support their research, the scientists called for volunteers who were intuitive eaters and who were not, and then performed several tests on them to identify who were healthier than the other group. The women who were eating intuitively scored higher and were healthier than the women who were not intuitive eaters and scored low, with the major difference standing out as the low levels of triglycerides in their body, as well as high HDL levels than the women who were not eating intuitively.

So it proved that the women who were eating intuitively had a good blood workup and better cardiovascular risk profile, hence proving their study.

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