Health is Wealth & Fame!

Health is Wealth








Determination, Execution & Result oriented work makes you perfect!

Chikungunya

Chikungunya is a relatively rare form of viral fever caused by an alphavirus that is spread by mosquito bites from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, though recent research by the Pasteur Institute in Paris claims the virus has suffered a mutation that enables it to be transmitted by Aedes albopictus (Tiger mosquito). This was the cause of the plague in the Indian Ocean and a threat to the Mediterranean coast at present, requiring urgent meetings of health officials in the region.

Symptoms
The Aedes aegypti mosquitoThe symptoms of Chikungunya include fever which can reach 39°C, (102.2°F) a petechial or maculopapular rash usually involving the limbs and trunk, and arthralgia or arthritis affecting multiple joints which can be debilitating. The symptoms could also include headache, conjunctival injection, and slight photophobia. In the present epidemic in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, India, high fever and crippling joint pain are the prevalent complaint. The fever typically lasts for two days and abruptly comes down. However, other symptoms, namely joint pain, intense headache, insomnia and an extreme degree of prostration last for a variable period, usually for about 5 to 7 days.

• Maculopapular rash


• Nasal blotchy erythema


• Freckle-like pigmentation over centro-facial area


• Flagellate pigmentation on face and extremities


• Lichenoid eruption and hyperpigmentation in photodistributed areas


• Multiple aphthous-like ulcers over scrotum, crural areas and axilla.


• Lympoedema in acral distribution (bilateral/unilateral)


• Multiple ecchymotic spots (Children)


• Vesiculobullous lesions (infants)


• Subungual hemorrhage


• Photo Urticaria


• Acral Urticaria


• Cephalgia


• Lumbago


• Coffee Colored Vomiting


• Epistaxis

Histopathologically, pigmentary changes, maculopapular rash, lichenoid rash, aphthous-like ulcers show lymphocytic infiltration around dermal blood vessels (Inamadar et al). Pedal oedema (swelling of legs) is observed in many patients, the cause of which remains obscure as it is not related to any cardiovascular, renal or hepatic abnormalities.


Treatment
There is no specific treatment for Chikungunya. Vaccine trials were carried out in 2000, but funding for the project was discontinued and there is no vaccine currently available. A serological test for Chikungunya is available from the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Chloroquine is gaining ground as a possible treatment for the symptoms associated with Chikungunya and as an antiviral agent to combat the Chikungunya virus. According to the University of Malaya, "In unresolved arthritis refractory to aspirin and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, chloroquine phosphate (250 mg/day) has given promising results." [2] Research by Italian scientist, Andrea Savarino, and his colleagues in addition a French government press release in March 2006 [3] have added more credence to the claim that chloroquine may be effective in treating Chikungunya. The CDC fact sheet on Chikungunya advises against using Aspirin. Ibuprofen, Naproxen and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are recommended for arthritic pain and fever.

Infected persons should limit further exposure to mosquito bites, stay indoors and under a mosquito net. Further, "supportive care with rest is indicated during the acute joint symptoms. Movement and mild exercise tend to improve stiffness and morning arthralgia, but heavy exercise may exacerbate rheumatic symptoms." [4] Arthralgia remains troublesome even after 8 months

Preventive measures
The most effective means of prevention are those that protect against any contact with the disease-carrying mosquitos. These include using insect repellent containing NNDB or DEET or permethrin, wearing long sleeves and trousers (pants), and securing screens on windows and doors. It's also important to empty stagnant water where mosquitoes breed. [7].

It does help eradicting the larvae of mosquitos, by breeding dragonfly .

Scoliosis can be corrected by Excercises

You and I both know the negative side effects of having poor posture. You only have to watch the Disney classic Hunch Back Of Notre Dame" to see poor posture is seen as Unattractive .

On the other hand, good posture is seen as very attractive. This is evident by the fact woman often find men with straight posture more attractive. This may because erect posture portrays confidence.

Financially, posture can effect you chances of getting a job. Employers often see poor posture as signs of poor confidence and laziness.

But maybe the most serious aspect is health. Poor posture has been proven to lead to headaches, back pain, neck pain and fatigue. These effect every area of life. You ability to work, play with your kids or simply sleep at night.

If your sick and tired of the negative effects your poor posture is having on your life, I suggest you read each and every word that follows.

In this letter I'm going to explain how you can achieve "perfect" posture using an easy to follow and proven scientific approach.

"Stand up straight! - If
Only It Was That Easy..."

How many times are we told as children the cause of our poor posture was simply laziness and that we simply need to "Stand up straight!" and "Pull your shoulders back"?

Well, if only it was that easy. Walking around standing up straight with our head up may be a slightly effective way of covering up our poor posture, but it will not cure the underlying problem - and anyway, who can concentrate on maintaining this 24 hours a day?

"There Is Only 1 Way
To Improve Posture..."

No matter how much so called posture "experts" push the old fashioned idea that you can simply hold and maintain correct posture through changing your "habits" or walking around with a book on your head...

the truth still remains...

The only proven way to improve posture is by correcting genetic and environmental muscle imbalances .

You see, a correct and straight spine is kept in its correct anatomical position by the muscles surrounding it. They maintain a straight spine like supporting lines on a suspension bridge maintain a straight road. If any of these muscle are too weak or to strong your spinal column will be pulled out of line.

Using these proven principles, personal trainer Mark Sias has created a simple to follow and comprehensive guide to improving ones posture.

Using the principle of postural muscle equilibrium The Perfect Posture Program™ is able improve posture no matter what posture condition you suffer from.

Just take a look at the following examples that follow. You may notice one or more problems that you your self suffer from...

Lordosis “Sway Back”

Overweig ht

persons tend to favour this affliction usually from the need to counter-balance themselves resulting in tight, over developed spinal erectors, hamstrings, & posterior deltoid muscles. Also weak, underdeveloped gluteus, & rectus abdominals in both overweight & average people.

Easy Cure: Simple to follow and execute exercises found on page 4

Kyphosis "Hunch Back"
While there are extreme cases of this that are congenital, even they can be drastically improved with methods such as explained in the guide. Typical gym rats suffer because they favour vanity exercises like bench presses & crunches. These build shoulder, chest, & abdominals. Thus, resulting in overdevelopment of the anterior chain. While neglecting posterior chain muscles.

Easy Cure: Simple to follow and execute exercises found on page 6

Scoliosis
Most cases, the cause of scoliosis are deemed unknown, research seems to indicate a link between it & poor bone density as well as some other factors we’ll take a look at. If detected early enough it can be controlled w/ special orthotic type braces & yes, even exercises!

Easy Cure: Simple to follow and execute exercises found on page 8

Duck Feet
The usual cause of this is weak & tight hip rotator muscles like the Tensor Fascia Latae, Gluteus Minimus, & Gluteus Medius. Another likely culprit is the poorly developed ankle supinators like the tibialis anterior & posterior with tight peroneus longus muscle.

Ayurveda आयुर्वेद

Ayurveda (Devanagari: आयुर्वेद ) or Ayurvedic medicine is an ancient system of health care that is native to the Indian subcontinent. The word "Ayurveda" is a tatpurusha compound of the word āyus meaning "life" or "life principle", and the word veda, which refers to a system of "knowledge". Thus "Ayurveda" roughly translates as the "knowledge of life". According to Charaka, "life" itself is defined as the "combination of the body, sense organs, mind and soul, the factor responsible for preventing decay and death, which sustains the body over time, and guides the processes of rebirth" [1]. According to this perspective, Ayurveda is concerned with measures to protect "ayus", which includes healthy living along with therapeutic measures that relate to physical, mental, social and spiritual harmony. Ayurveda is also one among the few traditional systems of medicine to contain a sophisticated system of surgery (which is referred to as "salya-chikitsa").


According to the Ayurvedavatarana (the "descent of Ayurveda"), the origin of Ayurveda is stated to be a divine revelation of the ancient Indian creator Hindu God Lord Brahma.[2] as he awoke to recreate the universe. This knowledge was passed directly to Daksha Prajapati in the form of shloka sung by Lord Brahma.[3], and this was in turn passed down through a successive chain of deities to God Indra, the protector of dharma. According to this account, the first human exponent of Ayurveda was Bharadvaja, who learned it directly from Indra. Bharadvaja in turn taught Ayurveda to a group of assembled sages, who then passed down different aspects of this knowledge to their students. According to tradition, Ayurveda was first described in text form by Agnivesha, in his book the Agnivesh tantra. The book was later redacted by Charaka, and became known as the Charaka Samhitā.[4] Another early text of Ayurveda is the Sushruta Samhitā, which was compiled by Sushrut, the primary pupil of Dhanvantri, sometime around 1000 B.C.E.. Dhanvantri is known as the Father of Surgery, and in the Sushrut Samhita, the teachings and surgical techniques of Dhanvantri are compiled and complemented with additional findings and observations of Sushrut regarding topics ranging from obstetrics and orthopedics to ophthalmology. Sushrut Samhita together with Charaka Samhitā, served as the textual material within the ancient Universities of Takshashila and Nalanda.[5] These texts are believed to have been written around the beginning of the Common Era, and is based on a holistic approach rooted in the philosophy of the Vedas and Vedic culture.

Alzheimer Disease (AD)

Background: Alzheimer disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia, which is an acquired cognitive and behavioral impairment of sufficient severity to markedly interfere with social and occupational functioning.

Frequency:

* In the US: The lifetime risk of AD is estimated to be 1:4-1:2. More than 14% of individuals older than 65 years have AD, and the prevalence increases to at least 40% in individuals older than 80 years.

* Internationally: Prevalences similar to those in the United States have been reported in industrialized nations. Countries experiencing rapid increases in the elderly segments of their population have rates approaching those in the United States.

Mortality/Morbidity:

* Second to only certain cancers and cardiovascular disease, AD is frequently considered a leading cause of death in the United States.

* The primary cause of death is intercurrent illness, such as pneumonia, in a patient who has experienced the debilitating effects of AD for many years.

Race: Some claim that AD affects certain ethnic and racial groups more severely than others, but more study is needed before reliable statements about racial predilections can be made.

Sex: AD affects both men and women. Many studies indicate that the risk of AD is significantly higher in women than in men. Some authorities have postulated that this difference is due to the loss of the neurotrophic effect of estrogen in postmenopausal women. Other factors may also influence this relative difference.

Age: The prevalence of AD increases with age.

* AD is most prevalent in individuals older than 60 years. Some forms of familial early-onset AD can appear as early as the third decade, but this represents a subgroup of the less than 10% of all familial cases of AD.

* More than 90% of cases of AD are sporadic and occur in individuals older than 60 years.

* Of interest, results of some studies of nonagenarians and centenarians suggest that the risk decreases in individuals older than 80 or 90 years. If so, age is not an unqualified risk factor for the disease, but further study of this matter is needed.

Back Pain

Back pain affects 90% of world population at some time in their lives and is the leading cause of visits to the doctor. Low back pain is the most prevalent cause of disability in people under age 45, $100 billion is spent annually in the management
of low back pain, with more than half of that spent on surgical treatment.

The lower back is a well designed construction of bone, muscle and ligament. Your backbone (vertebral column) is actually a stack of more than 30 small bones called vertebrae. Together, they create a bony canal that surrounds and protects your spinal cord. Small nerves enter and exit the spinal canal through spaces in your vertebrae called the foramen.

These vertebrae are held together by muscles, tendons and ligaments. Between the vertebrae are discs, which act as "shock absorbers" and prevent the vertebrae from hitting one another when you walk, run or jump. They also allow your spine to twist, bend and extend. Since the lower back is the hinge between the upper and lower body and carries most of your weight, it is especially vulnerable to injury and is the site of most back pain. When low back pain strikes, we become acutely aware of just how much we rely on a flexible, strong back.

The Casues of Back Pain
The most common causes of low back pain are:

Pinched Nerves - Pressure or impingement on nerve roots in the spinal canal can be caused by:

Herniated Disc - A herniated disc, (also called bulging disc or slipped disc) is a rupture often brought on by repeated vibration or motion (as during machine use or sport activity, or when lifting improperly), or by a sudden heavy strain or increased pressure to the lower back. Back pain and leg pain can result when the herniated disc pinches one of the nerves. A herniated disc in the lumbar region can affect the nerves, which runs from your spinal cord to your leg. Compression or inflammation of this nerve causes sciatica - a sharp, shooting pain in your lower back, buttocks and leg.

Degenerative Disc Disease - As we age, the water and protein content of the body's cartilage changes. This change results in weaker, more fragile and thin cartilage. Because both the discs and the joints that stack the vertebrae (facet joints) are partly composed of cartilage, these areas are subject to wear and tear over time (degenerative changes). The gradual deterioration of the disc between the vertebrae is referred to as Degenerative Disc Disease.

Bone Spurs - also termed osteophytes (os-tee-o-fights). Osteophytes may be found in areas affected by arthritis such as the disc or joint spaces where cartilage has deteriorated. The body's production of osteophytes is a futile attempt to stop the motion of the arthritic joint and deal with the degenerative process. It never completely works. The evidence of bony deposits can be found on an x-ray or MRI. A bone spur may cause nerve impingement at the neuroforamen (nu-row for-a-men). The neuroforamen are passageways through which the nerve roots exit the spinal canal. Sensory symptoms include pain, numbness, burning and pins and needles in the extremities below the affected spinal nerve root. Motor symptoms include muscle spasm, cramping, weakness, or loss of muscular control in a part of the body.

Spinal Stenosis is the narrowing of the spinal canal by a piece of bone, ligamentus flavus thickening or disc material. This can cause weakness in your extremities and typically develops with age.

Osteoporosis, which means "porous bones," causes bones to become weak and brittle - so brittle that even mild stresses like bending over, lifting a vacuum cleaner or coughing can cause a fracture. In most cases, bones weaken when you have low levels of calcium, phosphorus and other minerals in your bones. The pain from an osteoporotic spinal fracture can last for several weeks as the bone heals, and then typically turns into more of a chronic, achy pain concentrated in the area of the back where the fracture occurred. This aching may be similar to the sensation reported by those with osteoarthritis. A bone density test, which measures bone mass, preferably taken of both a long bone and a vertebral body, is used to diagnose osteoporosis.

Osteoarthritis or Facet Disease is a degenerative joint condition that causes slow deterioration of cartilage. Osteoarthritis of the spine results in narrowed cartilage disks between the bones that make up your backbone. Without this cartilage cushioning, the joints (facets) between adjacent bones compress and become irregular, causing inflammation, pain, swelling and stiffness. Your body tries to compensate for this form of arthritis, but the repairs are often inadequate, resulting in little growths of additional bone called bone spurs.

Cervical spondylosis is a common condition that results from degeneration (osteoarthritis) of the bones of the neck (cervical vertebrae). This can lead to increasing pain in the neck and arm, weakness, and changes in sensation.

Spinal deformities such as scoliosis, which is an abnormal curvature of the spine. Most cases are mild, but severe cases may require treatment with braces or surgery.

Small injury to a muscle (strain) or a ligament (sprain) from improper lifting, excess body weight and poor posture. Strains and sprains can also develop from carrying heavy handbags or briefcases or sleeping in an awkward position.

Compression fractures, more common among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis, or after long-term corticosteroid use. In a person with osteoporosis, even a small amount of force put on the spine, as from a sneeze, may cause a compression fracture.

Fractures of the vertebrae caused by significant force (as from an auto or bicycle accident, a direct blow to the spine, or compressing the spine by falling onto the buttocks or head).

Most pain in the low back (lumbar region) is triggered by some combination of overuse, muscle strain, or injury to the muscles and ligaments that support the spine. Many experts believe that over time, chronic muscle strain can lead to an overall imbalance in the spinal structure. This leads to a constant tension on the muscles, ligaments, bones, and discs, making the back more prone to injury or re-injury.

The causes of low back pain tend to be interrelated. For example, after straining muscles, you are likely to use your back differently than usual. As other parts of your back work harder or move in unaccustomed ways to make up for the injured muscles, they also become more prone to injury.

The Symptoms of Back Pain
Back pain can be:

Acute, lasting less than 3 months. Most people gain relief after 4 to 6 weeks of home treatment.
Recurrent, a repeat episode of acute symptoms. Most people have at least one episode of recurrent low back pain.
Chronic, lasting longer than 3 months.
The term "low back pain" is used to describe a spectrum of symptoms. Depending on the cause, low back pain may be dull, burning, or sharp, covering a broad area or confined to a single point. It can come on gradually or suddenly and may or may not be accompanied by muscle spasms or stiffness.

Leg symptoms can be caused by lower spine problems that place pressure on a nerve to the leg; they can occur on their own or along with low back pain. Leg symptoms can include pain, numbness, or tingling, usually below the knee.

Weakness in both legs, along with loss of bladder and/or bowel control, are symptoms of cauda equine syndrome, which requires immediate medical attention.

Numbness and tingling are felt when nerve impulses aren't traveling properly from the skin to the brain. A patient with back problems may also experience numbness in other parts of the body, especially the legs and feet. This always indicates some kind of nerve damage in the peripheral nervous system or the central nervous system (i.e. the spine or the brain) and requires prompt and serious attention.

Common causes of numbness include the following:

Radiculopathy - A pinched nerve due to a herniated disc.
Stenosis - A narrowing of the spinal canal, which can compress sensory nerve fibers causing loss of sensation.
Multiple Sclerosis
Stroke, and
Diabetes
Treatment of Back Pain
Your health professional can assess acute low back pain by talking to you about your medical history and your work and physical activities, and doing a simple physical examination. For 95% of people with low back pain, this type of assessment is all that is necessary for a health professional to make treatment recommendations