2014 A Healthy Resolution

Resolution for 2014 should be a healthy one.  It’s always a good idea to invest in improving one’s health. Following are the four health promises for the year 2014.

Lower the sodium consumption

Recommended sodium usage is only 6 grams i.e. a teaspoon. Sodium raises blood pressure and contributes to water retention. While lower sodium diets are helpful in decreasing the risk of heart diseases, but also lower hypertension and weight management. A mediocre approach of sodium consumption should be adopted in 2014.

Say no to Smoking already!

Quitting is probably the hardest thing to do for smokers, the most difficult challenge. Promise to quit it in 2014. Take advantage of the resources accessible and become a nonsmoker.

Increase Antioxidants

Free radicals are produced when the body breaks down food into molecules. Cigarette smoking and radiation can also produce free radicals. These free radicals damage our immune system causing conditions like cancer, infection, inflammation, and heart diseases. This is the point where antioxidants come to the forefront. You can prevent your body from such diseases by consuming foods that are rich in antioxidants for instance; chocolate, pomegranates, and coffee.

Flossing! Making it a habit

Bacteria in the mouth can lead to acute health issues if you neglect it. It’s surprising to learn that dentists can spot indication of diabetes andheart diseases. Make it a point to floss off the bacteria from your teeth and have a healthy year ahead. 

How psychiatry murdered Austin 'Gus' Deeds:

The horrifying tragedy of the family of Virginia State senator, Creigh Deeds, who was also a former Democratic candidate for attorney general in the year 2005 and subsequently for governor in 2009. He was reported to be in serious condition at the time he was stabbed by his 24 year old son; Austin Gus Deeds, several times on his head and shot himself dead. It was the morning of November 19^th, 2013; when the terrible attack took place 13 hours after Gus was released from an emergency detention centre. During the assessment, it was recommended that Austin Gus should get treatment in a psychiatric facility. But the (CSB) Rockbridge Area Community Services Board- a health authority that supervises the state’s psychological health systems – could not provide a place where Gus can get treatment.

Creigh Deeds survived the stabbing and told a local Virginia newspaper to bring reform in the local state mental health system in these words: “I am alive for a reason, and I will work for change, I owe that to my precious son, I have very strong opinions about the CSB, and feel like they are responsible.”

Creigh Deeds is recovering from the tragedy he had gone through but may never recuperate from the inestimable grief for his son.

A journal from the shelves of Bentham Science Publishers talks about the latest advances in clinical Psychiatry in the Journal; ‘Current Psychiatry Reviews’ that publishes  frontier review articles and guest edited issues dedicated to clinical research on all the latest advances on clinical psychiatry and its related areas e.g. pharmacology, epidemiology, clinical care and therapy. The journal is an essential reading for all clinicians, psychiatrists and researchers in psychiatry. 

What Happens When You Sleep?

A recent study suggests that, the brain cells get smaller in size up to 60% while you are asleep. The purpose of this decrease is to clean the cellular waste more proficiently. When the brain undergoes this cleaning process, it consumes more energy.

According to this new study, when an individual sleeps, the glymphatic system becomes more active in comparison to the time when the brain is awake. When a person sleeps, the activities of brain increases and helps the fluid to clean the brain passage. Moreover, the proteins that are responsible for Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders are kept aside of the system effectively when we sleep.

Bentham Science Publishers is one renowned STM publishers around the globe. It has online journals and eBooks in the fields of pharmaceutical, medical, social sciences, computer sciences, biomedical, and engineering, technology.“The Open Sleep Journal” is one of Bentham Science open access journals available. To read more articles and reviews on sleep, please visit the following link: http://www.benthamscience.com/open/toslpj/openaccess2.htm

Tuberculosis- Treatment And Prevention

Tuberculosis- often known as TB is a contagious infection which is caused by a pathogen called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis mostly affects the lungs of human body, but it can also affect various other organs in the lymphatic system, circulatory system and central nervous system.

When the person gets infected with tuberculosis, the bacteria within the lungs grow faster and cause Pneumonia along with prolonged cough, chest pain and coughing with blood. According to the medical dictionary of MediLexicon, TB is "A specific disease caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the tubercle bacillus, which can affect almost any tissue or organ of the body, the most common site of the disease being the lungs."

Medications are the keystone of Tuberculosis (TB) treatment. But the treatment for tuberculosis takes much longer time than any other bacterial virus. The patients of tuberculosis can take medications and antibiotics for at least a period of seven to nine months. The duration of treatment and drugs may vary depending on your overall health, drug resistance, age and the form of infection (active or latent TB).

The recent studies propose that a three months treatment schedule along with other medications can be effective instead of nine months treatment. With a shorter treatment course, people will possibly take all their prescribed medicines thus chances of getting side effects would automatically decrease. The most common drugs for TB include; Pyrazinamide, isoniazid and Ethambutol.

Bentham Science eBook, ‘Tuberculosis Treatment: The search for new drugs’ covers a wide range of topics that are related to TB drug discovery. The e-book begins with historical information about Tuberculosis discovery and treatment and explores modern treatment strategies, formulations (synthetic and natural) and class of compounds. The extraction of important drugs from various sources is also covered in separate chapters along with information about promising drugs undergoing clinical testing. For further Details, you can visit: http://www.benthamscience.com/ebooks/9781608057887/index.htm.

ADVERSE EFFECTS OF CELL PHONE USAGE:

It was announced by the World Health Organization on May 31, 2011 that cell phones can be a probable cause of cancer. They have marked cell phones as a “carcinogenic hazard.” Through thorough research and peer-review analysis, the scientists from different countries came to the conclusion that the mobile phones can lead to some brain cancers (glioma and acoustic neuronal). These types of cancers can take a little bit of time to develop and the long term usage of this electronic device could result into several severe complications.

The microwave spectrum technology has been used by the cell phones for communication. When the device is held close, the invisible stream of radio frequency signals penetrate our bodies which can be a potential cause of cancer and several issues related to memory loss, dizziness and disorientation.

Several safety measures should be taken in this case to minimize the hazards of these radio frequency radiations. You should limit the duration of your calls on the cell phone, use blue tooth devices or hands free devices or speaker phone to increase the distance between the phone and your head. Try to stay still while using the cell phone because more radiation is emitted while you are in motion as the cell phone needs to keep track of you with respect to the changes in position. Switch off mobile phones when not in use as the cell phone is still emitting radiation when not in use. Try to keep the cell phone in your bag rather than taking it with you close to your body. Use cell phone covers or protectors which act as a shield in this case.

Bentham Science Publishers’ journal “Recent Advances in Communications and Networking Technology” publishes review and research articles, and guest edited thematic issues on new advances in communications and networking technology. This Bentham Journal is a useful guide for all researchers involved in telecommunication and networking science and technology. For more information, you can check http://www.benthamscience.com/rptelc/index.htm

ADHD: A Modern Day Dilemma:

Many parents of this age are concerned about their children. Their main concern is that the children do not pay complete attention, whether it is in class or in other matters. This negative capability also affects the studies of the students. The common misconception is that the children are doing it on purpose, but that is not the case. This lack of attention may be due to ADHD, a neurological disorder. ADHD stands for ‘Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder’. This disease may be characterized by the child having hyperactivity, poor instinct control, and absentmindedness.

Parents all around the world are looking for a cure for this disorder. As a remedy, an IT-based training program has been introduced. It claims to facilitate children with ADHD in the classroom and building peer-relationships, while reducing hyperactivity and absentmindedness.

Recently, a study was carried out by the psychologists, cross-checking the particular IT program (for ADHD). The research was done on children under these cognitive training programs and concluded that working memory represents one of the most important fundamental discrepancies in children with ADHD. They were validated on its claim to produce significant and long-term improvements in children’s academic performance and intellectual abilities.

The research was able to prove that the claims of the IT program were false. These training exercises only affect short-term memory. Short term memory only uses tasks for a short interval, whereas working memory uses already stored for multi-tasking, reading or doing mental math.

These programs do have some validity but their effects on not helpful for ADHD children, but if the programs are developed focusing on working memory; children’s cognitive abilities and academic performances can be greatly facilitated.

For further investigation on neurological disorders and diseases like ADHD you can visit Bentham Science Publishers online journals, Current Pediatric Reviews and various topics can be found on Bentham Science Publishers official website. The name of Bentham Science Publishers is highly reputable within the publication industry. BSP has numerous journals, eBooks and articles uploaded for that purpose.