10 Most shocking medical treatments

If you are dreading to take the next dose of your prescribed bitter medicine or finding your regular yoga sessions to be weird, then think again. 
History is filled with amazing tales of bizarre medical cures and remedies that are not only strange but also shocking at times. Since ancient times, human beings have tried to find effective ways to cure ailments through the constant process of trial and error. Although modern medicine has evolved tremendously, some of these age-old practices are still in use. From laughter therapy to dolphin kiss and bee stings; here is our list of the top 10 weird medical treatments across the world. 

10. Accupuncture is one of the most widely used alternative medical practice that involves insertion of needles at various points in the body. This form of medical cures traditionally evolved from mainland China in theory and practice. It incorporates traditional Chinese medicine to improve conditions like infertility,pain and also for general health. 

9. Hijama is a traditional Islamic treatment method that involves creating a vacuum on the skin by placing inverted cups on parts of the body and drawing blood from an incision on the skin. Even today, this form of alternate medical cures and remedies is encouraged by many traditional doctors and practitioners in Arab nations. It can be performed anywhere on the body and is often done to ease or alleviate pain over a region. 

8. Many of these age-old practices have evolved as a result of superstitious beliefs and ideas. Villagers near the Kandal province of Cambodia strongly believe in the supernatural healing powers of a terrapin to cure rheumatism and other bodily ailments. 

7. You may get jittery even thinking about it but many villages in the Lopburi province near Bangkok use wine fermented with scorpions to cure conditions like sexual potency. People there believe that the insect helps in the treatment of a number of diseases and ailments. 

6. Apitherapy is the method of applying venom emitted by a bee sting to treat various diseases like hepatitis C, nerve inflammation and rheumatic pain. The method of alternate medical cures and remedies was developed as a form of folk remedy in ancient China. 

5. Imagine your disgust when you accidently tread on filthy, muddy waters. However, the therapeutic mud bath is completely different from regular mud with its distinct greenish shade. This type of medicinal bath is said to cure different ailments, from acne to rheumatism. 

4. We are all aware of the importance of laughter and humor to lead a healthy and stress-free life. Taking cue from this, researchers and doctors have development a therapeutic treatment of self-induced laughter that is stimulated as a body exercise in a group. This also involves deep breathing techniques to improve the circulation of oxygen to the cells. Today, many hospitals and yoga centers across the world are encouraging this form of holistic medical practice for patients with dementia, depression and even cancer. 

3. This form of treatment has made a come-back recently as doctors have re-discovered the beneficial properties of the chemical ejected by leeches at bite sites. Also called Hirudotherapy, the medical practice is found very effective for the treatment of arthritic conditions and certain other ailments. 

2. In certain parts of the world like Peru, it is believed that if a pregnant woman is touched by a dolphin, the fetus' neuronal development is improved. The dolphin therapy is said to stimulate the brains of the baby inside the mother's womb due to the dolphin's high frequency sounds which, in turn, develops the baby's neuronal abilities. 

1. When we think about beer, we often visualize our favorite variety of Lager beer or Pale Ace that soothes our senses. However, even beer buffs will be amazed to find that their favorite alcoholic beverage is also used as an exfoliating treatment for detoxifying and smoothening the skin. Many believe that such beer treatments help to open skin pores, draw out toxins and stimulate the circulatory process. 
Source:TNN

Shape of Human Jawbones Influenced by Diet and Genetics

Functions and not just genetics influence the structure of jawbones in human populations, scientists at Johns Hopkins have found.
The researchers say these findings may be used to predict the diet of an ancient population, even if little evidence exists in the fossil record.

 It can also make it easier for scientists to pinpoint the genetic relationship between fossils. 
"Our research aimed to see how much of the mandible's-or jaw bone's-shape is plastic, a response to environmental influences, such as diet, and how much is genetic," stated Megan Holmes, graduate student at the Johns Hopkins Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, and lead author of the study.
"The idea that function influences the shape of jaw bones is great for the archeological record in terms of discovering the diet of a population, and it's also really useful for reconstructing the fossil record-finding which fossils are related to which, and how," he said.
The group chose to study the Arikara and Point Hope American Indian populations, since they were genetically isolated from other groups and ate different diets.
"The jaw bones were similar in children before they were old enough to start chewing, but different in adulthood, which implies that this divergence is likely a functional result of their diet and the use of their jaw, rather than genetics," stated Holmes.
The team was able to investigate very specific parts of the jaw bones and relate them to specific dietary habits. In the Point Hope population, for example, they found round, wide jaw bones-a result of having to exert more force to chew a harder diet.
The Arikara, on the other hand, did not show this expansion, which they attributed to the lighter chewing requirement of a softer diet.
Their results were published online June 23 in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Source-ANI

 

Herbal Medicines and Safety Labels

The new rules kicked in earlier this year after it was found that some of the medicines were not safe for the consumers. For example taking Asian ginseng is not safe for people who have diabetes while some herbal medicines such as St John’s wort react unfavorably with conventional medicines. 
Researchers say that the consumers should be aware of the dangers of taking such herbal medicines and added that they should look for a THR logo on the products which would mean that they have traditional herbal registration. 
“The best advice is buyers beware. Many people believe herbal medicines are different because they are ‘natural’. However any substance that affects the body – no matter where it came from – has the potential to do harm if not taken correctly”, lead researcher Professor Theo Raynor said.
Source-Medindia

Curry As Cure For Tendonitis

Yet another virtue of India’s famous curry spice, curcumin, has been discovered. It is now shown as a cure for tendonitis.
In a paper due to be published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the researchers at The University of Nottingham and Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich have shown that curcumin, which also gives the spice turmeric its trademark bright yellow colouring, can be used to suppress biological mechanisms that spark inflammation in tendon diseases.Dr Ali Mobasheri of the University’s School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, who co-led the research, said: “Our research is not suggesting that curry, turmeric or curcumin are cures for inflammatory conditions such as tendinitis and arthritis. “However, we believe that it could offer scientists an important new lead in the treatment of these painful conditions through nutrition. Further research into curcumin, and chemically-modified versions of it, should be the subject of future investigations and complementary therapies aimed at reducing the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, the only drugs currently available for the treatment of tendinitis and various forms of arthritis.”
Tendons, the tough cords of fibrous connective tissue that join muscles to bones, are essential for movement because they transfer the force of muscle contraction to bones. However, they are prone to injury, particularly in athletes who may overstretch themselves and overuse their joints. Tendinitis (or tendonitis) is a form of tendon inflammation, which causes pain and tenderness near to joints and is particularly common in shoulders, elbows, knees, hips, heels or wrists. Other examples of common tendon disease include tennis and golfer’s elbow and Achilles tendinitis.

 

Cancer Patients Benefit From Music Therapy: Cochrane Review

Music and music therapy are used in a wide range of clinical settings. Treatments range from patients listening to pre-recorded music, to music therapists engaging patients in music experiences to improve psychological and physical well-being. In their review, researchers focused on trials with patients with any kind of cancer who were offered music or music therapy sessions. 

A new Cochrane systematic review led by Dr. Joke Bradt, an associate professor in Drexel University''s College of Nursing and Health Professions observes cancer patients may benefit from sessions with trained music therapists or from listening to music. Using music can reduce anxiety in cancer patients, and may also have positive effects on mood, pain and quality of life.

The researchers analyzed evidence from 1,891 patients taking part in 30 trials. Thirteen trials used trained music therapists, while in the remaining 17 trials, patients listened to pre-recorded music. How long and how often patients participated in music sessions varied greatly among trials.
The results show that, compared to standard treatments, music reduced anxiety considerably based on clinical anxiety scores. Some trials reported much larger beneficial effects than others. The results also suggest that music therapy may increase patients'' quality of life. There was some benefit in music for mood and pain, although not depression. Smaller beneficial effects were seen for heart rate, respiratory rate and blood pressure.
"The evidence suggests that music interventions may be useful as a complementary treatment to people with cancer," said Bradt, a board-certified music therapist with expertise in medical music therapy. "Music interventions provided by trained music therapists as well as listening to pre-recorded music both have shown positive outcomes in this review, but at this time there is not enough evidence to determine if one intervention is more effective than the other."

 
 

Spermless mosquitoes could halt malaria spread: study

 Malaria is spread to humans by female mosquitoes who suck blood in order to help their offspring grow, but British scientists said Monday that introducing spermless males could halt the deadly disease.Scientists at Imperial College London said that by genetically tweaking male mosquitoes to produce no sperm, females would still mate with them but would lay unfertilized eggs that would not hatch into mosquito larvae.Since the females of the species Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto, the main type responsible for spreading malaria in Africa, mate only once in their lives, the discovery could have broad implications for a disease that kills nearly 800,000 people per year."This study strongly suggests that they cannot tell the difference between a fertile and a spermless mate," said Flaminia Catteruccia, lead author of the study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.Scientists created 100 sterile males by injecting a protein into mosquito eggs that disrupted the development of the males' testes, but did not affect any of their other behaviors or sexual functions.Observing their mating processes in a lab, they found that the males still produced seminal fluid and the females mated with them as usual.The females acted just they way they do in normal circumstances, eating a blood meal after mating and laying a batch of eggs. They did not seek out a second mating attempt even though their eggs produced no offspring."This is an exciting time with modern genetics providing a series of new ideas about how to control the major insect vectors of human disease, including the mosquito Anopheles gambiae -- perhaps the single most dangerous insect species for mankind," said co-author Charles Godfray, from the University of Oxford."A number of these techniques involve disrupting natural mating patterns and to get these to work a really good understanding of mosquito mating and reproduction is essential."Malaria claimed 781,000 lives in 2009, according to the UN's World Health Organization (WHO), which is heading efforts to distribute insecticide-treated mosquito nets and to spray reproduction sites.About 90 percent of malaria deaths each year occur in Africa and 92 percent of those are children aged under five.
Source:AFP

WHO warns leprosy spreading in India

Six years after leprosy was declared officially eliminated in India, officials and doctors are warning that the disfiguring disease is spreading in poverty-stricken pockets of the country.The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) in India, Nata Menabde, told AFP in an interview that nearly a third of India's districts needed urgent attention to address the spread of new infections."There are about 209 out of 640 districts where the number of new cases exceeds the WHO target of less than 10 new cases per 100,000," she said."India is the biggest contributor to the global burden with 120,000 new cases per year," she added.Leprosy, an ancient disease which causes lesions on the skin and attacks nerves in the hands and feet, resulting in disability, was declared officially eliminated in India in 2005 according to WHO guidelines on prevalence rates.The WHO allows governments to declare that leprosy is no longer a public health risk if the prevalence rate falls below one case per 10,000 people.

Ten percent of the new cases occurring in India involve children, the WHO's Menabde said.

"The high incidence among children shows that the transmission rate is very high," she said, calling it an early warning for the government.

"It suggests that progress against leprosy can also reverse and it can grow and India can also lose its position as having eliminated the disease," she said.

Vivek Pai, director of the non-profit Bombay Leprosy Project, said a sense of complacency had crept into the government's policy towards leprosy after 2005."They changed tracks too soon, took their focus off and now we are seeing a rise in cases in certain pockets," he said, citing the case of Maharashtra, India's richest state and home to the national financial hub of Mumbai."Just a couple of months back, the central leprosy division found that the number of new cases in Maharashtra has gone up from 9-10 per 100,000 in 2006-07 to 13 per 100,000 now. It's very worrying," he told AFP.He said a decline in funding from state and private donors hurt efforts to fight the disease."Agencies which used to support us don't think it's important anymore. It's a huge problem. We don't turn away patients but we are forced to delay treatment because of funding constraints," he said.Pai said that leprosy's most common victims come from a low socio-economic background and fear that they will be stigmatised by their community if news of their illness becomes public."Many people who come to us with new infections live in congested localities like Dharavi, a huge slum in Mumbai. Sanitation, overcrowding, poverty, all contribute to the environment that allows leprosy to flourish," he said."Then there's the stigma surrounding the disease, which is one of the reasons people hesitate to come forward and report if they have symptoms."Yohei Sasakawa, the WHO goodwill ambassador for leprosy elimination since 2001, said India needed to do more to address the discrimination suffered by leprosy patients."What we must do now is raise awareness that it is a medical and a social challenge. There are many invisible customs we must fight against," he told AFP."The numerical target achieved in 2005 was a great success for India, but it is just a mid-term goal. We have not won the battle yet," he said.

Source:AFP