Stroke Cases See a Surge in Bengaluru; Doctors Blame Stress, Sedentary Lifestyle

The IT city of Bengaluru has seen a 15-20 per cent rise in the number of stroke patients and doctors say this is all due to a variety of factors including sedentary lifestyle and eating junk food. Also, there is a significant rise in strokes in the young IT crowd. Every month, nearly 50-60 patients of acute strokes are admitted to city hospitals.

Nowadays, strokes in young people aged below 45 is on the rise, says Dr Praveen Kumar S, HoD, Neurology, Victoria Hospital. "This is due to stress, lifestyle and dietary habits which further leads to brain and heart diseases. So many modifiable, non-modifiable, genetic factors and blood-related disorders too are responsible for strokes."

Tests Suggest Scientists Achieved 1st ‘In Body’ Gene Editing

Scientists think they have achieved the first gene editing inside the body, altering DNA in adults to try to treat a disease, although it’s too soon to know if this will help.

Preliminary results suggest that two men with a rare disorder now have a corrective gene at very low levels, which may not be enough to make the therapy a success.

Still, it’s a scientific milestone toward one day doctoring DNA to treat many diseases caused by faulty genes.

“This is a first step,” said Dr. Joseph Muenzer of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who helped test the treatment. “It’s just not potent enough.”

He gave the results Thursday at a conference in Orlando, Florida, and has consulted for the therapy’s maker, California-based Sangamo Therapeutics. Researchers are working on a stronger version of the treatment.

Gene editing is intended as a more precise way to do gene therapy, to disable a bad gene or supply a good one that’s missing. Trying it in adults to treat diseases is not controversial and the DNA changes do not pass to future generations, unlike the recent case of a Chinese scientist who claims to have edited twin girls’ genes when they were embryos.

Keeping Active In Old Age Could Help Protect Brain From Dementia

New United States research has found that keeping active in old age, whether it’s by doing exercise or just doing the housework, could help maintain memory and thinking skills, even in those who have signs of dementia.

Carried out by researchers at Rush University Medical Center, the new study looked at 454 older adults, 191 of whom had dementia and 263 of whom did not.

Participants were given physical exams and asked to complete thinking and memory tests every year for 20 years. In addition, at an average of two years before death, the participants were also asked to wear an accelerometer to measure their physical activity for a period of seven days.

Heart Disease Greater In People Living Near Oil & Gas Wells

People living near areas with oil and gas exploration sites could be at more risk of developing cardiovascular disease, say researchers. The pilot study found that those who lived in these areas showed early signs of CVD, including higher blood pressure, changes in the stiffness of blood vessels, and markers of inflammation.

"We are not sure whether the responsible factor is noise or emissions from the well pads or something else, but we did observe that with more intense oil and gas activity around a person's home, cardiovascular disease indicator levels increased," said Lisa McKenzie, Assistant Research Professor from the University of Colorado in the US.

Here’s What a Single Workout Can Do for Your Metabolism

If you need workout inspiration, you'll love this: Going to the gym just once pays off in more ways—and for much longer—than anyone thought.

If losing weight, toning up, or just staying active is on your list of things to do, it may be easier than you think to get results. According to a new study by UT Southwestern Medical Center, it seems like just a single workout can boost your metabolism for up to two days.

In the study, researchers from UT Southwestern Medical Center studied the effect of exercise on the brain—specifically two types of neurons: One is the POMC neuron, which is linked to reduced appetite, lower blood glucose levels, and increased energy burn; the other is called NPY/AgRP, and it seems to increase appetite and slow down metabolism. Check out these 14 ways to jump-start your metabolism.

Vitamin C Benefits Infants’ Lungs Damaged By Smoking During Pregnancy

Vitamin C may reduce the harm done to lungs in infants born to mothers who smoke during their pregnancy. These are the results of a new study published in the American Thoracic Society’s ‘American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine’. To this end, a co-author of the study, Cindy T. McEvoy said that a relatively low dosage of vitamin C may be a safe intervention to help lung health of millions of infants worldwide, though, helping mothers quit smoking should remain the primary goal for health professionals and public health officials. According to the researchers, the study results support the hypothesis that oxidative stress caused by cigarette smoking reduces the amount of ascorbic acid, a component of vitamin C, available to the body. McEvoy and her co-authors reported that at three months of age, the infants whose mothers took 500 mg of vitamin C in addition to their prenatal vitamin had significantly better forced expiratory flows (FEFs).

When You Haven’t Got Time For The Pain

Nancy Baum Lipsitz remembers the night the pain began. She'd had a glass of white wine with a friend and went to bed with a terrible headache. The next day, she still felt horrible, the beginning of what she called a "rolling tide" of near constant migraines and lower level headaches.

For three years she dealt with the symptoms. Sometimes she got tunnel vision, or a visual aura, a warning that a big headache was on the way. Those felt like "someone taking a pick and jabbing it through my nose and eye," she said.

Then there was the vomiting, numbness and sensitivity to light and noise. Her speech slurred. Less severe headaches felt like a "hangover." She stopped exercising, socializing and overseeing her 15-year-old daughter's homework, relying instead on her daughter to take care of her, bringing an ice pack, medication or whatever else she needed when a migraine attacked.

Introvert or Shy? It Can Trigger Hangxiety The Day After Drinking

If you are a very shy kind of person, you are more likely to suffer from "hangxiety" - anxiety during a hangover - as compared to your extrovert friends, a new study suggests.

The study showed that, among the participants, drinking about six units of alcohol slightly decreased anxiety in highly shy people. But the next day, this slight relaxation was replaced by a significant increase in anxiety - a state of "hangxiety" among the shy drinkers.

The research team also found a strong link between this "hangxiety" and higher scores on the AUDIT test which is used to identify alcohol use disorder (AUD) in highly shy people.

Online Retailer Removes 'Obsessive Christmas Disorder' Pajamas Following Criticism For 'Trivializing' OCD

A U.K.-based clothing retailer has yanked one of its pajama sets from sale after complaints of the shirt’s message containing a message that some feel to be insensitive.

Boohoo.com was offering a Christmas-themed pajama set with the words “Obsessive Christmas Disorder” printed across the top, complete with the O, C and D highlighted in different lettering.

“As someone whose OCD ruins her f----- life on a daily basis, i can and will throw hands with anyone i see wearing an “obsessive christmas disorder” jumper,” one critic wrote on Twitter.

Woman Dies From Brain-Eating Amoeba After Using Neti Pot With Filtered Tap Water

A woman who was told by her doctor to rinse her sinuses twice daily to clear up a chronic sinus infection died from a brain-eating amoeba.

The woman, 69 from Seattle, was using tap water filtered using a Brita Water Purifier in a neti pot, according to a report published in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Infectious Diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that only distilled, sterile or cooled boiled water be used for sinus irrigation.

After a month of clearing her sinuses with the non-sterile water, a quarter-sized red rash appeared on the right side of her nose. Her doctor told her it was rosacea and prescribed an ointment, according to the report. The rash didn't clear and she saw a dermatologist several times seeking answers, but biopsies didn't result in any definitive diagnosis.

Irish Scientists Prove Vitamin D Levels Linked To Depression

New study finds vitamin D deficiency is associated with 75% increase in the risk of developing depression in older Irish adults.

A new study by researchers from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) at Trinity College Dublin has shown for the first time in Ireland that a deficiency in vitamin D was associated with a substantially increased risk of depression (+75%) over a four-year follow-up period. The findings form part of the largest representative study of its kind and have just been published in the prestigious journal, The Journal of Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine (JAMDA).

Scientists Discover How A Single Workout Can Activate Your Metabolism For Days

A fascinating new study from scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center could provide some motivation to get moving, even just occasionally. The research has revealed that a single workout can positively affect the activity of neurons in the brain that influence metabolism for up to two days.

The research focused on a subset of neurons in the brain referred to as the melanocortin brain circuit. Melanocortins are a collection of peptide hormones known to help regulate the body's food intake, and two types of neurons are seen to play a role in the release of melanocortins; POMC neurons and AgRP neurons.

Stimulating One Brain Area May Ease Tough-to-Treat Depression

Electrical stimulation of a certain part of the brain may offer a new option for "treatment-resistant" depression, a small new study suggests.

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, found that 25 patients with moderate-to-severe depression gained significant improvement in their mood after electrical stimulation of a brain region called the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC).

After just three minutes of electrical stimulation to the OFC, even on just one side of the brain, "patients said things like ‘Wow, I feel better,’ ‘I feel less anxious,’ ‘I feel calm, cool and collected,’" UCSF postdoctoral researcher Kristin Sellers said in a university news release.

Woman's Rare Auto-Immune Disorder Makes her Allergic to Winter

A Canadian woman is making headlines for an incredibly rare auto-immune disorder that makes her “allergic to winter.”

Arianna Kent was 14 when she first broke out into hives and experienced trouble breathing while shovelling snow in her hometown of Edmonton, in Alberta, where temperatures can drop as low as -40C.

Initially, she dismissed the reaction as a food allergy, but years of research finally lead to the answers she was looking for: Essential cold urticaria.

A rare autoimmune disease, essential cold urticaria is a chronic reactive skin disorder that occurs when exposed to cooler temperatures.

For Kent, normal everyday activities such as holding onto a cold can of soft drink or walking to her car on a cold day causes the now 21-year-old to break out into painful hives.

“It is a slow process, starting as small pin-sized hives on my arm that get bigger and begin to become raised,” she explains to the Daily Mail.

“At their largest my whole body can look like a whole swollen welt. It causes my skin to burn and itch, for my throat it’s like asthma where you are wheezing harder and find it difficult to breathe… It’s like something is sitting on your chest making it feel tighter and heavier.”

Kids With Concussions Can Phase In Exercise, Screen Time Sooner Than Before

A couple of weeks ago, eight-year-old Liam Ramsay-Leavitt of Martinez, Calif., was swinging on the monkey bars at school. "And then I just fell on my side," he says. "I was kind of dizzy and I had an achy head."

It turns out that he had a concussion.

The doctor said he had to miss school for a week — there'd be no homework (he didn't mind that too much) but also no reading, no recess, no video games, no chess club, no activity. "I would just say it's really boring," Ramsay-Leavitt says. "And disappointing."

"It was hard," attests his mom, Michelle Ramsay-Leavitt. "Especially with his energy level. After about three days, I did end up asking the doctor if he could go to school and just kind of sit."

Follow These Valuable Tips For Impeccable Skin And Hair Care This Winter

Winter demands extra care of skin and hair and hence it is important to take care of basic rituals like bathing in lukewarm water or minimising the use of shampoo.

Shikhee Agrawal, Head Training at The Body Shop India, and Neena Chopra, Director-Beauty and Technical, Just Herbs, shared skin and hair care tips to keep in mind during the cold season.

Tips for Skin

* Bath in lukewarm water: Hot showers and baths always feel good in the winter, but try to use lukewarm water when you can, particularly while washing your face or hands; it prevents the loss of oils from the skin and maintains the hydration levels of skin.

7 Warning Signs that Your Diet May Fail

When most people start a new diet they ask themselves, “will this diet help me lose weight?” they don’t bother to ask a more important question, “is this diet sustainable?”

Many dieters get very excited when they start a new diet and see the number on the scale dropping. They don’t realize that most diets are easy to stick to in the initial stages but as time goes by they become unbearable.

Instead of simply relying on the number on the scale, you need to know the signs of diets that fail. Below are warning signs your diet may fail.

FEEL THE BURN Global STD Crisis as ‘Incurable’ Super Gonorrhoea, Syphilis and Chlamydia ‘Hit Record High’

Millions of new infections have been recorded over the last four years alone in the US, health chiefs have said.

It comes after it emerged cases of syphilis reported in England have reached the highest level since 1949 — up almost 150 per cent in 10 years.

There has also been a worrying spike in gonorrhoea and the emergence of so-called super gonorrhoea — which is drug resistant.

And the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US suggests it is a worldwide trend.

Laser Eye Surgery 'Ruined' Canadian Man's Life And Led Him To Suicide

A Canadian man committed suicide after laser eye surgery side effects “ruined his life,” his family says.

Ontario resident Paul Fitzpatrick, 54, is believed to have suffered from a rare condition corneal neuralgia that can cause severe pain, CTV News reports.

He died on Oct. 6 and left a note for his family .

“I cannot experience any type of pleasure anymore,” Paul wrote in the note. “Just the pain of burning eyes inside my head and throughout myself … Since 1996 Pain, pain and more pain, please forgive me for not being strong enough to cope. The past few months have been unbearable.”

Researchers Regrow Hair on Wounded Skin

By stirring crosstalk among skin cells that form the roots of hair, researchers report they have regrown hair strands on damaged skin. The findings better explain why hair does not normally grow on wounded skin, and may help in the search for better drugs to restore hair growth, say the study's authors.

Led by researchers at NYU School of Medicine and published in November in the journal Nature Communications, the study examined the effect of distinct signaling pathways in damaged skin of laboratory mice. Experiments focused on cells called fibroblasts that secrete collagen, the structural protein most responsible for maintaining the shape and strength of skin and hair.