Significant Progress in AYUSH Sector

A Consultative Committee attached to the Ministry of Health and Family praised the progress made by the Department of AYUSH in the last sixteen years.
The meeting which was chaired by Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad noted that the Department of AYUSH has been making significant strides in providing an enabling environment to develop these systems with its infrastructure of national institutes, research councils, pharmacopoeial laboratories, the Indian Medicines Pharmaceutical Corporation Limited and also the National Medicinal Plants Board.
Azad highlighted the successful strategy of mainstreaming of AYUSH systems under the National Rural Health Mission. He also elaborated on the efforts made by the department towards ensuring quality control of drugs.
Azad, however pointed out the acute shortage of doctors in rural areas and sought the views of members in mitigating the situation by utilizing the AYUSH doctors to fill the felt need at grass root levels.
Secretary, Department of AYUSH, Anil Kumar, drew the attention of members to the new initiatives taken in the Eleventh Plan, particularly the scheme on acquisition cataloguing, digitization and publication of text book and manuscripts; projects on local health tradition; scheme on AYUSH clusters and public health initiatives.
Committee members shared the concern of the department over some key issues like low capacity reflected in vacancies; pending utilisation certificates from states; weak drug enforcement machinery; collaborative research and building quality - drugs, therapies, hospitals, laboratories, teaching colleges.
They requested Azad to ensure employment and utilization of trained manpower and suggested that AYUSH services should be more visible at the grass root level so that benefits of progress made by the department reach the people.
Source-ANI

 
 

India's First Homeopathy University will be opened in Rajasthan

 Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday inaugurated first homeopathy university at Saipura village in this district. This university is coming-up to popularise homeopathy treatment especially in the rural areas besides promoting research work in this field. "This university will produce medical officers who will join their counterparts in delivering quality medical service in the state," said Gehlot. He asked the National Homeopathic Council to affiliate six existing homeopathy colleges in this university. The state government has announced a grant of Rs 25 lakh for the university for developing infrastructure besides developing a public park along with a community centre in the village. This university was upgraded from the existing Dr MPK Homeopathy Medical College and Research Centre. It will start its maiden session from July with one academic and administrative block with two hostels --- one each for boys and girls with capacity of 90 students each. The university will hold its own admission test in June with 100 seats in undergraduate and 18 seats in post-graduate discipline. The admission would be done on the basis of merit. A 10+2 pass-out with PCB but not less than 17 years of age can apply for the bachelors' course. Eligibility for PG course will be a BHMS degree. Dr Ramjee Singh, president, Central Council of Homeopathy, said, "This university would offer two academic courses: Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery (BHMS) and Doctor of Medicine in Homeopathy. "This residential university will offer bright prospects for homeopathy graduates and post-graduates in the near future as medical officers, research officers and lecturers in colleges and employment in the government and private sectors,"added Singh. The university will cultivate all types of medicinal herbs in the campus. They'll be developing world class herbarium for research scholars. It has been established by the state government under the Homeopathy University Act 2010. 
Source:TNN

Research: Brain can Rotate Letters and Words Reflected in the Mirror

Human brain can mentally rotate words reflected in a mirror around and understand them automatically and unconsciously, at least for a few instants, a team of scientists from the Basque Centre on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) has shown.
The finding could pave way to better understand dyslexia."At a very early processing stage, between 150 and 250 milliseconds, the visual system completely rotates the words reflected in the mirror and recognises them, although the brain then immediately detects that this is not the correct order and 'remembers' that it should not process them in this way," said lead author Jon Andoni Dunabeitia.
Dunabeitia and his team used electrodes to monitor the brain activity of 27 participants while carrying out two experiments in front of a computer screen. In the first, the participants were shown words with some of the letters and other information rotated for 50 milliseconds (an imperceptible flash, which is processed by the brain); while in the second case the entire word in the mirror was rotated (for example HTUOM instead of MOUTH).
The results of the encephalogram showed in both cases that, at between 150 and 250 milliseconds, the brain's response upon seeing the words as reflected in the mirror was the same as when they are read normally.
"These results open a new avenue for studying the effects of involuntary rotation of letters and words in individuals with reading difficulties (dyslexia) and writing problems (dysgrafia)," said Dunabeitia.

 
 

Anesthesia is Dangerous for the Obese

Undergoing anesthesia is twice as dangerous for obese people compared to those who do not suffer from obesity, a new study published in the British Journal of Anesthesia reveals. The researchers also warned that the risk increased with increasing weight and said that the risk was four times higher for severely obese people.
 Such people who develop some serious airway complications when under anesthesia, the researchers added. The study is to be presented at the Royal College of Anesthetists (RCoA) on Wednesday. 
Lead researcher Dr. Nick Woodall said that the study was important for both the patients as well as the anesthetists. “We hope our findings will encourage anesthetists to recognize these risks and choose anesthetic techniques with a lower risk, such as regional anesthesia, where possible, and also prepare for airway difficulties when anesthetizing obese patients”, he added.
Source-Medindia

 

Are Attractive People Happier and More Successful?

Beautiful people do get more attention than their not-so-good-looking counterparts. They seem to make the initial good impression, but does beauty have a bearing on success in life or the capacity to make money, or simply the gift of happiness? The study conducted by University of Texas shows that good-looking people seem to be happier and financially better-off than their simple-looking counterparts.In the attractiveness scale, those that were present in the top 15 percent of beauty were found to be 10 percent happier than those who were at the bottom.
It could be confidence that give the beautiful people a good start to seek their goals. Armed with the early advantage, there seems to be no looking back in making a success of their lives. 
Source-Medindia

 

New Diet Plan Recommended for Weight Loss

Eating fewer, regular-sized meals with higher amounts of lean protein can make one feel more full than eating smaller, more frequent meals, new research suggests."We found that when eating high amounts of protein, men who were trying to lose weight felt fuller throughout the day; they also experienced a reduction in late-night desire to eat and had fewer thoughts of food," said Heather J. Leidy, an assistant professor of nutrition and exercise physiology at the University of Missouri who was a postdoctoral researcher at Purdue for this study. 

"We also found that despite the common trend of eating smaller, more frequent meals, eating frequency had relatively no beneficial impact on appetite control. The larger meals led to reductions in appetite, and people felt full. We want to emphasize though that these three larger meals were restricted in calories and reflected appropriate portion sizes to be effective in weight loss," he added.
"Our advice for people trying to lose weight is to add a moderate amount of protein at three regular meals a day to help appetite control and the feeling of fullness," said Wayne W. Campbell, Purdue professor of foods and nutrition.
"Egg and lean pork products are good sources for protein, and if they are incorporated at meals when people do not normally consume protein, such as at breakfast and lunch, they may prove to be a nice strategy to control weight; promote satiety, which is the feeling of being full; and retain lean tissue mass, which is essential for people as they age," he added. The findings are detailed in the current issue of Obesity.
Source-ANI

 

 

Running Away from Problems Could Be Good: It Helps Achieve Work-Life Balance

Having trouble achieving work-life balance? Worry not, for a new research has suggested that a little self-reflection could do us all a world of good.
The study was carried out by the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC)."People need to ask themselves, 'What roles do I play?' and 'Are these roles working for me?'" said Julie McCarthy, associate professor of organizational behaviour at UTSC.
"And if they're not working, we then need to ask, 'What are the strategies I'm using to make things better?'"
In her latest study, the UTSC associate professor of organizational behavior worked with Tracy Hecht of Concordia University to look at how undergraduate students attempted to achieve balance. All of the participants were UTSC students with jobs outside of school.
McCarthy and Hecht looked at three strategies often used to deal with opposing demands on time, attention and energy: solution-driven active engagement (problem-focused), venting to others (emotion-focused) or ignoring those problems altogether and distracting ourselves with other activities (avoidance-focused).
While the problem-focused approach is traditionally viewed as the best of the three, McCarthy and Hecht's research found that strategy could actually cause more problems as a result of stress, over-exhaustion and lack of recovery time.
"People need time to refocus in order to learn or study well," said McCarthy.
The most surprising conclusion had to do with the third coping mechanism: avoidance. When the student participants simply set aside some of their issues for a while, they actually experienced a reduction in conflict between life roles.
"This technique is traditionally seen as 'running away from your problems'," said McCarthy.
"But maybe by backing off and taking breaks, students are able to replenish their resources."
Feeling drained leads to lower levels of satisfaction with life and higher rates of burnout, depression and ill-health. And while playing multiple roles can be stimulating, interesting and lead to sense of accomplishment and achievement, McCarthy said there are real risks we need to be aware of.
"People need to assess which strategies they're using to cope with their problems and make sure they're making time for resource recovery," she said.
"Too many roles can be detrimental unless we begin asking ourselves honest, pointed questions," she added. 

Source-ANI