Best natural Home treatment to hair fall control and regrowth tips for men

Having the healthy hair structure is one of the boons of present decades, As many of us are been in to the hair loss problem due to small or big reasons. Falling of hair to a certain level won’t made you cry but if the condition is moving towards the bald scalp you need to hitchhike. Concentrate on the lifestyle you are leading, attempt to increase the protein contained nutritional food, go natural for the hair packs and invent yourself with long and strong hair.

Find the home made easy tips to provide solution to your hair fall.

Regular scalp massage

Massage the scalp of frequently with warm oil as it energizes the hair follicles. The massage formula decrease the stress and relaxes the mind of the person. It wipes out the fungal infections like dandruff and other pollution based bacteria. Prefer massaging the scalp with coconut, almond and mustard oil for at least four times a week for the healthy hair. Don’t forgot to leave the scalp with oil for minimum six hours for the effective results.

Amla and coconut secret

Take the help of lemon extract, amla and coconut oils for the hair loss prevention and anti-dandruff treatment. Mix the four tablespoons amla oil and coconut oil with one tablespoon of lemon juice. After mixing them apply over the scalp massage for few minutes. It reacts with the dandruff causing agents and helps decrease the problem.

Aloe vera 

If the scalp is dry and infected then try applying a natural gel that seals the infection problems, aloe vera, remove the aloe vera gel from a tentacle and apply it to the scalp directly. If you want, you can add the warm coconut oil with aloe vera gel for the improved results. In place of aloe vera you can use the wheat grass also.

Fenugreek seeds hair oil

Try an another home made easy recipe for the anti hair fall- Take a half of fenugreek seeds and boil it along with coconut oil. Extract the oil from it and store it in a tight container. Start applying it from the roots to tips on every day if possible, make sure of using for at least three times a week.

Natural Neem

Losing the hair due to the infections! if you find yourself losing the excessive hair due to bacterial infections paste the neem leaves and apply over the scalp and rub it – to push the antibacterial properties into the scalp. This pack will balances the alkaline of the scalp and reduced the hair fall.

Remedy to follow before head bath

Squeeze the juice from coriander leaves and add it some amount of curd and chana dhal powder. Mix them up and apply the scalp, leave for minimum an hour and follow your head bath. It strengthens the hair roots and prevents the fall while washing.

What ever the preventive steps we do from external needs the foster of internal power too. So never neglect the diet that is mixed with leafy vegetables, fish, cereals, milk products, carrots, almonds, peanuts, sprouts, juicy fruits like watermelon, lemon and oranges. So, consume the iron, zinc, beta carotene’s, multivitamin contained food and follow the few of the recipes from above to find the good hair crop.

Manhealth

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Electronics Giant Panasonic Wants Singaporeans to Eat its Veg

An employee gives a briefing before a tour of Panasonic's first indoor vegetable farm at their factory in Singapore.

Singapore:

Japan's Panasonic Corp, best known for its television sets and home theatre systems, wants to feed Singaporeans its radishes and lettuce.

A unit of the electronics conglomerate last week started selling to a chain of Japanese restaurants in Singapore fresh produce grown in what it says is the first licensed indoor vegetable farm in the island state.

The move ties Panasonic's deeper push into farming technology with land-scarce Singapore's ambition to reduce its near-total reliance on food imports.

"We foresee agriculture to be a potential growth portfolio, given the global shortage of arable land, climate change and increasing demand for quality food as well as stable food supply," Hideki Baba, managing director of Panasonic Factory Solutions Asia Pacific, told reporters.

The facility, which presently has a small production capacity of 3.6 tonnes annually, produces 10 types of vegetables such as mini red radishes and baby spinach.

Indoor farming has found favour with other hi-tech Japanese companies as well. Fujitsu Ltd is growing lettuce at its Fukushima province plant, while Sharp Corp is testing growing strawberries indoors in Dubai.

In Singapore, Panasonic's 248 square metre farm is located inside a factory building on the outskirts of the city, where standard fluorescent lighting gives way to a pinkish-purple glow from LED lights brought in to nurture the plants. The company restricts visitors to maintain the controlled levels of temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide.

It aims to grow more than 30 crop varieties by March 2017 and account for around 5 percent of local vegetable production. It said the vegetables grown at its facility could be half the price of those flown in from Japan.

Panasonic said Singapore was ideal for its indoor farm due to the country's low food self-sufficiency and limited land.

Singapore, ranked by the World Bank as the second most densely populated country, imports more than 90 per cent of its food.

Singapore produced nearly 22,000 tonnes of vegetables in 2013, compared with a little more than 17,000 tonnes in 2004, according to the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority. Last year it imported 514,574 tonnes of vegetables.

While Singapore ranks fifth out of 109 countries in the Economist Intelligence Unit's global food security index, the government wants to diversify its food sources and become more self reliant in producing eggs, fish and leafy vegetables.

As part of its efforts, it has provided some funding and research support to local vertical farming company Sky Greens, which grows leafy vegetables at its farm in three-storey high frames inside greenhouses.

The farm currently has 600 such towers and intends to expand to 2,000 by next year. It can produce up to one tonne of vegetables a day, which it sells to local supermarket FairPrice. Some farms in Singapore are also using aeroponics or hydroponics - growing plants without soil.

Agro-technology expert Lee Sing Kong said Singapore can improve its food security for perishable items like vegetables, which cannot be stored for long periods unlike grains, by using new techniques of cultivation to increase productivity.

"We must grow some of our own in order to provide a kind of buffer during the period when supply has been disrupted," said Lee, a professor of biological sciences at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

Still, some locally grown produce comes at a premium. At FairPrice, Sky Greens' nai bai vegetable retails at more than double the price of an import from China.

(1 US dollar = 1.2470 Singapore dollar)

Copyright: Thomson Reuters 2014

Story first published on: August 04, 2014 09:00 (IST)

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HIV model can beat hepatitis

NEW DELHI: Eradication of polio and HIV/AIDS has been two major successes in health sector in India. On World Hepatitis Day on Monday, World Health Organization called for using similar strategies and infrastructure to check the spread of infection caused by Hepatitis viruses.

The issue was discussed at the first roundtable consultation on viral hepatitis organized by WHO at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences.

"The HIV/AIDS programme in India has been successful mainly because of its robust sentinel surveillance mechanism, involvement of community health workers and NGOs to spread awareness and availability of free drugs. These strategies and infrastructure can be used to spread awareness about Hepatitis B and C that follow similar modes of transmission," said Dr Nicole Seguy, technical advisor at the WHO country office.

There are five main hepatitis viruses, of which B and C cause the most fatalities as these can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer. Dr Seguy said preventive measures such as compulsory vaccination for Hepatitis B, promoting safe sex and screening of blood for infections at the time of transfusion can help check the spread of diseases.

"Though there is treatment available for Hepatitis C, few can afford it. The government should make efforts to subsidize or make drugs available for free to those infected," she added.

Dr S K Sarin, director of ILBS, said a key recommendation made by the experts group at the WHO meet was that the government should utilize services of 17,000 HIV surveillance centres for screening Hepatitis B and C patients. "If one person in the family has Hepatitis B, chances of others having it are high. It is important to screen them for the virus before vaccination because the vaccines can only protect uninfected patients," he said.

Nata Menabde, WHO representative to India, also stressed on the need for reliable information on viral hepatitis for building prevention and control measures. "WHO calls upon all partners and stakeholders to make the 'silent' epidemic of viral hepatitis more visible and more manageable," she said.

"We have had massive awareness campaigns for polio, HIV or tuberculosis in our country. Hepatitis is also one such disease which can be prevented to a large extent if people know about it," said Dr S K Acharya, HOD, gastroenterology, at AIIMS. According to him, patients get to know about the disease at a very late stage.

TOI

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IWGSC scientists unveiled genetic blueprint of bread wheat

The scientists at the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) on 17 July 2014 unveiled the genetic blueprint of bread wheat. The scientists at IWGSC, to which three research institutes from India are also a partner, published the first draft sequence of the wheat genome.

The importance of gene sequencing of wheat

• The unveiling of genome sequence of wheat will make possible the increase in wheat productivity and better resistance to climate change.
• It will facilitate mapping and cloning of genes of agronomic importance in much lesser time and at a cheaper cost due to recognition of many gene markers during the sequencing.
• Decoding the wheat genome would facilitate understanding of the gene function.
• It will ensure food security and the development of sustainable agriculture in the context of climate change and growing population.

The efforts to accomplish this task was first formulated in 2005 when an International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium was formed. There are 15 countries in the consortium including India.

The contribution of India

Three leading institutes — Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology, New Delhi; and South Campus Delhi University with the financial support from the department of biotechnology (DBT), were entrusted with the responsibility of decoding one chromosome designated as 2A.

The chromosome 2A is about 900 million bases in size and is about one-third the size of the human genome and 2.5 times the size of the rice genome.

jagranjosh

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40,855 HIV positive cases in Manipur

Imphal: The overall detection of HIV positive cases in Manipur rose from 25,919 in March 2007 to 40,855 in March 2012, indicating the serious magnitude in the state, according to a copy of the CAG report.

This was in spite of incurring an expenditure of Rs 43.39 crore for implementation of Targeted Intervention (TI) programme, thereby reflecting poor performance and unsatisfactory results in halting new infections in High-Risk groups, said the report which was placed in Manipur legislative assembly last evening.

The report which gave details about the problems said a doubt had arisen as to whether scaled up interventions were effectively undertaken in respect of the general population as required under National AIDS Control Programme-III (NACP-III).

Due to failure in tracking the number of patients who had expired due to infection of HIV and Tuberculosis, the overall goal in reducing the TB related morbidity in people living with HIV and AIDS remained unascertainable, the report for the year ending 31 March 2013 mentioned, adding the expenditure of Rs 3.25 crore for this could not be said fruitful.

The report said the performance of Manipur in sports was commendable but against the total drawal of Rs 122.33 crore, only Rs 103.87 crore was reflected in the cash book of Directorate of Youth Affairs and Sports, leading to the short-account of Rs 18.46 crore.

In nine sampled field offices, Rs 14.98 crore was not accounted in their cash books with possibility of misappropriation of the funds, the report said.

In state agriculture department, a bag of fertiliser was to be purchased at Rs 420 per bag as per rules of Fertilizer Control Order 1985, but it was purchased at Rs 1,760 per bag from two dealers identified as M/s Th Jeet Singh and M/s Farmer Development Society during 2011-2012 resulting in avoidable extra expenditure of Rs 96.28 lakhs, the report said.

Manipur's main economy is based on agricultural products.

The report gave complete details of all the state government departments showing poor performances and financial mismanagement and misappropriation.

PTI

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Toll in Suspected Encephalitis in Bengal Rises to 45

One more person in Siliguri has died of suspected encephalitis today, bringing up the death toll of the suspected vector-borne disease in the state of West Bengal to 45 over the past 17 days, according to officials.

The latest death has taken place in the district of Darjeeling, at the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital (NBMCH) on Friday night.

A delegation, among them two experts from Kolkata’s School of Tropical Medicine (STM) had on Friday visited NBMCH in order to ascertain facts regarding the deaths that have purportedly been caused due to encephalitis and Japanese encephalitis syndrome.

The team has also been scheduled to visit other affected areas like Maynaguri, Dhupguri and Malbazar in the neighbouring district of Jalpaiguri on Saturday.

Superintendent of NBMCH Amarendranath Sarkar has said that in the past 17 days, 45 people have died in the hospital as a result of acute encephalitis syndrome.

Five more people have been admitted to the hospital with high fever and encephalitis syndrome. At least another 36 people are presently undergoing treatment.

News Source: The Republic News Network

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Eating lean beef daily can help lower blood pressure

UMMARYEating lean beef can reduce risk factors for heart disease...

Eating lean beef can reduce risk factors for heart disease, a new study has claimed. Reuters

Eating lean beef can reduce risk factors for heart disease, a new study has claimed.

The study found that nutrient-rich lean beef can be included as part of a heart-healthy diet that reduces blood pressure, which can help lower the risk for cardiovascular disease, researchers said.

"This research adds to the significant evidence, including work previously done in our lab, that supports lean beef's role in a heart-healthy diet," said Penny M Kris-Etherton, Distinguished Professor of Nutrition, Penn State.

The DASH eating plan - Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension - is currently recommended by the American Heart Association to lower blood pressure and reduce risk of heart disease.

People following the DASH diet are encouraged to eat fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and protein predominantly from plant sources.

Lean beef can be enjoyed as the predominant protein source in a DASH-like diet, along with fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy, to effectively help lower blood pressure in healthy individuals, the researchers said in the Journal of Human Hypertension.

This DASH-like diet is also called the BOLD+ diet - Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet plus additional protein.

Kris-Etherton and colleagues tested four diets to find the effects on vascular health. The diets tested included the Healthy American Diet - which served as the control - the BOLD+ diet, the BOLD diet and the DASH diet.

The control diet consisted of 0.7 ounces of lean beef per day, while the DASH diet included 1.0 ounce. The BOLD diet had 4.0 ounces and the BOLD+ diet included 5.4 ounces of lean beef.

The researchers tested the four different diets with 36 participants, between the ages of 30 and 65.

All participants followed each diet at different times throughout the study period. Subjects were randomly assigned an order to follow each of the four diet plans for five weeks each, with a break of one week in between each new plan.

Blood pressure was taken at the beginning and end of each diet period.

The BOLD+ diet was more effective at reducing blood pressure when compared to the other diets tested.

"This evidence suggests that it is the total protein intake - not the type of protein - that is instrumental in reducing blood pressure, as part of a DASH-like dietary pattern," the researchers said.

financialexpress

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Over 46,000 Mumbaikars have succumbed to TB in the last 6 years: Report

As per RTI data compiled by an NGO, Praja Foundation, in the last one year itself 7,650 people across Mumbai succumbed to various diseases ranging from malaria, tuberculosis to typhoid. From this, the highest number of people (7075) succumbed to TB as per cause of death certificates issued by the BMC’s public health department. Furthermore, through this data, it was found that 46,606 people died due to TB in the last six years itself.

In Maharashtra, every month reports are received at the state office of the deputy chief registrar or birth and death at Pune where in the case of deaths that take place in various hospitals, the head of the institution is responsible for the submission of form no.4 to the local registrar. “Through this data that is being maintained since September 2004 under the Registration of Birth and Death (RBD) Act 1969, we have found major discrepancies in the reporting system of deaths caused by diseases like TB, malaria, dengue, among others,” said Milind Mhaske, project director at Praja Foundation.

The data was collected from civic-run hospitals/dispensaries, state-runs hospitals as well as privately-run ones across Mumbai. “According to data released by BMC in 2014, only 1393 people died due to TB and 30 due to malaria. While RTI data for the same period from cause of death certificates issued by the BMC themselves under RBD Act reveals that this year, 7127 already succumbed to TB and another 199 due to malaria. This is mainly because the BMC only compiles data from their own hospitals and not private or state-run hospitals,” he added.

Other than that, as per BMC records, only 30 patients succumbed to malaria while deaths due to the disease from death certificates stated that 199 citizens lost their lives because of it.

Diarrhoea was another cause of concern as a staggering 1,2 lakh residents were diagnosed with the water borne disease out of which 255 died between 2013-14. Other water borne diseases like cholera and typhoid resulted in seven and 10 deaths respectively. Dengue deaths have also risen from 52 to 74 in the last three years and in 2013, to 108.

The Other Side
When contacted, Dr Mangala Gomare, epidemiologist of the BMC said, “Basically the cause of death (COD) given in death certificates is based on the clinical impression of treating physician or general practitioner available at the time. At times, these doctors aren’t even qualified and the confirmation of the COD can be given only after a diagnostic test like ELISA for dengue. For malaria cases, the death review committee confirms whether the patient died due to the disease or not.”

“Other than that, many patients are shifted to Mumbai and aren’t residents here so their deaths aren’t included in our records,” she added.

mid-day

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Quota in Kufos Courses for Fishermen's Children: Babu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Children of fishermen would be given reservation in admission to courses in the Kerala University of  Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos). A subject committee has already made recommendations in this regard and a decision would be made by the University Governing Council which will meet on July 27, Fisheries Minister K Babu informed the Assembly on Monday.

Responding to a calling attention motion by Hibi Eden, the minister said that the university has plans to set up a Centre of Excellence for Marine Biotechnology and Marine Bioprocessing by spending Rs 20 crore. The Fisheries University is currently getting financial aid from ICAR and Ministry of Earth Sciences. Attempts are being made to create teachers’ posts for UGC notification, the minister said.

Earlier raising the issue, Hibi Eden  stressed the need for taking steps to enhance the infrastructure facilities of Kufos. It is essential for starting new courses and formulating comprehensive plans for employment training and socio-cultural progress, he opined.

The minister said the university has plans to start four PG degree courses and three PG diploma courses during the 2014-15 academic year. An amount of Rs 3.22 crore has been earmarked for the same. Also there are plans to set up a Post-Graduate Department under the School of Management Studies at a cost of `5.65 crore, for international research and studies.  A Rs 8.95-crore business school is on the cards in addition to starting a MTech course in Coastal and Offshore Engineering under the School of Ocean Engineering by spending Rs 20 lakh, he added.

The university has diverse plans in the research front too. A Rs 6.33 crore project has been finalised for ocean research activities. As part of this project, an Animal health Management laboratory would be established at a cost of `56 lakh in association with the National Fisheries Development Board.

The minister said setting up a climate change study centre in the university is also in the pipeline. “Research projects to the tune of `357 crore have been submitted to various agencies for financial aid from state-central agencies outside the university for 2014-15 financial year,” Babu said.

The Kufos has plans to set up a Marine Innovation Zone and Industry Incubation Centre along with Kerala Life Sciences Park, he said.

newindianexpress

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Cause of mysterious food allergy discovered: It is genes

Cause of mysterious food allergy has finally been discovered. Experts say it is genes that is to be blamed.

A new study claimed to have found the reason behind an inexplicable food allergy and claimed to have a new therapy that can cure it.

Eosinophillic esophagitis (EoE), a chronic inflammatory disorder of the esophagus which is prompted by allergic hypersensitivity to some foods and an over-accretion in the esophagus of white blood cells called eosinophils.

EoE is responsible for various gastrointestinal illness including reflux-like symptoms, vomiting, difficulty swallowing, tissue scarring, fibrosis, the formation of strictures and other medical problems.

Scientists at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center found that a molecular pathway explicit to epithelial tissue in the esophagus linking a gene called CAPN14, which becomes considerably up-regulated in the disease progression.

Researchers claimed that when the epithelial cells were exposed to Interleukin 13 (IL-13), an immune hormone and a prominent molecular activator of EoE, it led remarkable up-regulation of CAPN14. The scientists illustrated this as an epigenetic hotspot for EoE on the cells’ chromosomes.

“In a nutshell, we have used cutting edge genomic analysis of patient DNA as well as gene and protein analysis to explain why people develop EoE,” explained Marc E. Rothenberg, MD, senior investigator on the study and director of the Center for Eosinophilic Disorders at Cincinnati Children’s. “This is a major breakthrough for this condition and gives us a new way to develop therapeutic strategies by modifying the expression of caplain14 and its activity. Our results are immediately applicable to EoE and have broad implications for understanding eosinophilic disorders as well as allergies in general.”

CAPN14 encodes an enzyme in the esophagus which is an element of the disease process called calpain14. As this calpain14 can be regulated by drugs, scientists are looking forward to new therapeutic strategies in finding new treatment for this disorder.

“The current study links allergic responses mediated through IL-13 with an esophageal specific pathway, and answers a long-standing question in the allergy field of why people develop tissue specific disease manifestations,” Rothenberg said. “We have uncovered that this can be explained by the interplay of genetic susceptibility elements in allergic sensitization pathways with the newly discovered esophageal specific pathway. Thus, two steps are necessary, one dictated by allergy and one dictated by calpain14 in the esophagus.”

The details of the study have been published in the journal Nature Genetics.

nvonews

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India is the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics

India has emerged as the world’s largest consumer of antibiotics.

LONDON: India has emerged as the world's largest consumer of antibiotics, with a 62% increase in use over the past decade.

'Global Trends in Antibiotic Consumption, 2000-2010', a study by scientists from Princeton University, has found that worldwide antibiotic use has risen by 36% over those 10 years, with five countries — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) — responsible for more than three-quarters of that surge. Among the 16 groups of antibiotics studied, cephalosporins, broad-spectrum penicillins and fluoroquinolones accounted for more than half of that increase, with consumption rising 55% from 2000 to 2010.

During this period, India's antibiotic use went up from eight billion units (2001) to 12.9 billion units (2010).

The study quantifies the growing alarm surrounding antibiotic-resistant pathogens and a loss of efficacy among antibiotics used to combat the most common illnesses. It confirms an increasing resistance to carbapenems and polymixins, two classes of drugs long considered the last resort antibiotics for illnesses without any other known treatment.

"Indians consume around 11 antibiotic tablets per year," Ramanan Laxminarayan, one of the authors of the study, told TOI. "That's five days of antibiotics for every person in the country, which is more than the Chinese or Brazilians. An average Chinese popped seven antibiotic pills a year. However, both India and China's numbers are lesser than the Americans who on average pop 22 antibiotic pills a year. The paper confirms that global use of antibiotics is surging and specially in India."

Laxminarayan said that was both good news and bad news. "It means that more Indians are able to access antibiotics, which are particularly important for those who previously died of easily treatable infections," he said. "However, the massive increase in use, both appropriate and inappropriate, is leading to increases in drug resistance. Antibiotic use is the single most important reason for resistance. Also use of last resort drugs like carbapenems has gone up significantly in India, and it is difficult to justify why such powerful antibiotics are being use so much more frequently."


Laxminarayan said it had to be remembered that before we had antibiotics, it was pretty easy to die of a bacterial infection. "And we're choosing to go back into a world where you won't necessarily get better from a bacterial infection," he said. "It's not happening at a mass scale, but we're starting to see the beginning of when the antibiotics are not working as well."

Professor Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England and chief scientific adviser for the Department of Health, London, said: "This paper breaks new ground with the comparative antibiotic consumption data by country of the first decade of the 21st century. There is a direct relationship between consumption and development of antibiotic resistance, so the data is key for us all developing a 'National Action Plans Against Antimicrobial Resistance' as set out in the World Health Assembly Resolution in May."  The study noted that the use of antibiotics tended to peak at different times of the year, corresponding in almost every case with the onset of the flu season. In the northern hemisphere, for example, consumption peaked between January and March, while in the southern hemisphere it peaked between July and November. One notable exception was India, for which usage peaked between July and September, correlating with the end of the monsoon season. 

TOI

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Porn addiction affects brain-like drug addiction, reveals study

Porn addiction triggers same brain activity in people as if they are on drugs, significant research reveals.
People with compulsive sexual behaviour -- an obsession with sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour which they are unable to control -- behave in the same way as patients with drug addictions, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge in Britain.
"The patients in our trial were people who had substantial difficulties controlling their sexual behaviour and this was having significant consequences for them, affecting their lives and relationships," explained Valerie Voon from the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge.
In many ways, they show similarities in their behaviour to patients with drug addictions, he added.
During the study funded by the Wellcome Trust, 19 participants were shown a series of short videos featuring either sexually explicit content or sports while their brain activity was monitored.
The researchers found three brain regions -- ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate and amygdala -- were more active in the brains of the people with compulsive sexual behaviour.
These are the regions that are also particularly activated in drug addicts when shown drug stimuli.
Patients with compulsive sexual behaviour showed higher levels of desire towards the sexually explicit videos.
Excessive use of pornography is one of the main features identified in many people with compulsive sexual behaviour.
Voon and colleagues also found a correlation between brain activity and age -- the younger the patient, the greater the level of activity in the brain in response to pornography.
According to Voon: "It's important to note the findings could not be used to diagnose the condition or provide evidence that porn is inherently addictive."
The study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

indiatoday

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Anti-tobacco drive won’t affect farmers, Harsh Vardhan says

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan ha said anti-tobacco drive won’t impoverish farmers. 

NEW DELHI: Health minister Harsh Vardhan has said that getting people to quit smoking will not impoverish farmers in tobacco growing regions but will rather help them earn more and free themselves from the clutches of money lenders.

In a statement, Vardhan said the ministry is willing to share with the government and all concerned groups the findings of scientific research conducted by reputed institutions which unambiguously proves that viable alternatives to tobacco cultivation exist.

"We have carried out pilot projects on alternative cropping systems to tobacco which we are willing to share with tobacco growing states. It will be proved that farmers will get better incomes from cultivating sugarcane, a variety of vegetables, pepper, fruits and mustard on the lands presently taken up by tobacco," said Vardhan.

The minister also said that though the additional earning to the exchequer from tobacco is significant, the economic cost of smoking is far greater.

"There are people who argue that India earns more than $500 million per year through tobacco exports. To them I say, look at the net economic cost. The WHO has estimated that in India it amounts to $1.7 billion. This cannot be tolerated any longer," he added.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that the direct medical cost of treating tobacco related diseases in India amounts to $907 million for smoked tobacco and $285 million for smokeless tobacco, said the statement.

The minister said a multi-disciplinary drive against tobacco was being considered by his ministry because the overarching objective of saving thousands of lives may not be entirely achieved by simply taxing tobacco consumers.

Dailymail

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Easy to Have a Fab Waist Like Deepika's

Trainers to the stars share secrets of an A-list body, and how you can work towards getting there

A waist like Deepika Padukone's

The expert: Nutritionist and clinical dietician Pooja Makhija 

Deepika had a headstart. She had a great body anyway. What was needed was fine tuning. I suggested that she cut down on meal portions, and increase frequency of intake. This is a rule that works for everyone, actually. Instead of three hearty meals, divide your day with small portions. Eat eight to 10 times a day. For a surfboard tummy, you need to avoid high sugar and high fat foods, like she does. This means you have to stay away from sweets, fried foods and alcohol. Diet and exercise are equally important here. It's 50-50.

Working out is a must for a sexy waist since the abdominal muscles are like a cupboard. They are the fat storage area of the body. Pilates and an exercise ball work well to work on these muscles. You can even add resistance training and stretch bands to your routine. Lastly, you need determination and focus. Even if she has a 7 am shift, she'll make sure she works out prior. Nobody is born with a heavenly waist; you have to work towards it."

Alabaster skin like Jacqueline Fernandez

The expert: Macrobiotic nutritionist Shonali Sabherwal 

acqueline eats right, and oxygenates her skin by working out. Your physical health reflects on your skin. In her case, the focus was on keeping her blood condition alkaline. To achieve this, I advised her to stay away from dairy, sugar, white flour, refined or processed foods. Instead, she focussed on whole grains (brown rice, barley, millets and pseudo grains like quinoa and amaranth), lots of veggies, legumes, miso (a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soyabeans with salt with a fungus) and kefir (a fermented milk drink made with kefir grains). The idea was to get good bacteria to assimilate the food she ate and improve the blood condition. Sometimes, she does juice detoxes, which last from three to seven days.

I use a lot of super foods like spirulina and wheat grass. You can use a body scrub every day. It works like a lymphatic clean up. Use a cotton cloth dipped in hot water to scrub your entire body. If you follow this to the T, the results can be evident well within a week.

Goddess pins like Katrina Kaif's

The expert: Fitness trainer Yasmin Karachiwala 

Katrina began her exercise routine with basic strength training and cardiovascular exercises. As she got stronger, I added advanced training like TRX, Functional, Powerplate, Kettlebells and Pilates to her regimen. When she was working on Dhoom 3, she practised gymnastics, hence the focus was on pushups and pull ups for upper body strength, and lunges, squats, plyometrics for leg strength and shape. Pilates was an essential part of her training. It made sure that she didn't look bulky, and her limbs appeared long and toned. Her meals included adequate protein, carbs, fibre and good fat. Her diet plan includes oats for breakfast, a fruit mid-morning, fish and vegetables for lunch, a sandwich in the evening, soup and egg whites for dinner.

She turns to Lunges with a Medicine Ball, Plyometric Box Jumps (Katrina's favourite) and Ball Bridge Curl to tone her legs. She is focused, and prepared to do what it takes.

Fab abs like Hrithik Roshan's

The expert: Fitness coach Satyajit Chourasia 

I have been training Hrithik since 2001. Fitness is his passion. If he misses his workout, he gets upset. He works out 1.45 minutes at a stretch.

Everyone's body is built differently, and the lower abs are a challenging area to work on. Hanging legs raises are effective, as are crunches, leg raises, alternate leg raises, plank exercises and side planks. It's important that these are done accurately. You should feel the pressure on the muscle you are exercising. Don't expect miracles. It'll take three months to see results. Hrithik watches what he eats. His breakfast includes 4-6 egg whites and one slice of multigrain bread. Lunch is usually 200 gms of chicken (grilled or boiled), 200 gms veggies and 50 gms brown rice. Dinner includes 200 gm steamed fish, veggies and rice. For best results, eat dinner by 8.30 pm. Have small meals through the day. One apple is a meal, as are a handful of nuts.

This way, you will be eating snacking every three hours to improve your metabolism.

indiatimes

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Brain responds similarly to sex and drug addictions

In the UK one in 25 adults are affected by compulsive sexual behaviour, an obsession with sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour which they are unable to control. (Thinkstock photos/Getty Images)

LONDON: The first ever study to investigate brain activity in sex addicts has discovered a remarkable similarity with people addicted to drugs. 

University of Cambridge researchers said that pornography triggers brain activity in people with compulsive sexual behaviour — known commonly as sex addiction — similar to that triggered by drugs in the brains of drug addicts. 

But they added that this does not necessarily mean that pornography itself is addictive. 

In the UK one in 25 adults are affected by compulsive sexual behaviour, an obsession with sexual thoughts, feelings or behaviour which they are unable to control. 

Excessive use of pornography is one of the main features identified in many people with this compulsive sexual behaviour. But there is currently no formally accepted definition of diagnosing the condition. 

Researchers from the department of psychiatry at the University of Cambridge therefore looked at brain activity in 19 male patients affected by such compulsive sexual behaviour and compared them to the same number of healthy volunteers. 

"The patients started watching pornography at earlier ages and in higher proportions relative to the healthy volunteers. The patients in our trial were all people who had substantial difficulties controlling their sexual behaviour and this was having significant consequences for them, affecting their lives and relationships," said Valerie Voon from the department of psychiatry. 

"In many ways they showed similarities in their behaviour to patients with drug addiction. We wanted to see if these similarities were reflected in brain activity too," she added. 

During the study, participants were shown a series of short videos featuring either sexually explicit content or sports whilst their brain activity was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging which uses a blood oxygen level dependent signal to measure brain activity. 

The researchers found that three regions in particular - the ventral striatum, dorsal anterior cingulate and amygdala — were more active in the brains of the people with compulsive sexual behaviour compared with the healthy volunteers. These regions are also particularly active in drug addicts in stimuli response. The ventral striatum is involved in processing reward and motivation, whilst the dorsal anterior cingulate is implicated in anticipating rewards and drug craving. The amygdala is involved in processing the significance of events and emotions. 

"There are clear differences in brain activity between patients who have compulsive sexual behaviour and healthy volunteers. These differences mirror those of drug addicts," Voon added.
 

TOI

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World Cup 2014 : Goetze eclipses Messi, volleys Germany to 1-0 win over Argentina in extra-time and fourth title

Substitute Mario Goetze gave Germany a fourth World Cup with a 113th minute goal that was befitting the kind of football this tournament has produced.

Germany's Philipp Lahm holds up the World Cup trophy as the team celebrates its win over Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. (AP Photo)

Germany's forward Mario Goetze scores. AFP

It also took the 20th World Cup’s goal tally to 171, equalling the highest-ever tally ever to be recorded in the competition. That was in France 1998. This was the first goal by a substitute in a World Cup final since Rudi Voeller for West Germany in 1986.

Goetze goal showed why Germany coach Joaquim Loew said on Saturday that the future’s bright for the first European team to win a World Cup in South America.

A superb ball from Andre Schuerrle, 24, was chested, controlled and placed past Argentina goalkeeper Sergio Romero by a man who is 22.

At 6:40pm local time, the Germans ended a 24-year wait by getting Goetze into a scrum. The Argentines slumped to the ground.

A lively regulation time amazingly ended with no shot on target for Argentina and only three for Germany. The final touch of inspiration eluded both teams.

Argentina's Lionel Messi shoots as Germany's Benedikt Hoewedes tries to block. AP

With Gonzalo Higuain it definitely did. Toni Kroos --- he was a shadow of the midfield marshal Brazil faced in the semi-final --- headed a ball back to goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 20th minute, not noticing Higuain lurking.

With a clear look on goal, Higuain drove wide. When he did hit it on target, steered Ezequiel Lavezzi’s ball in, Higuain was marginally off-side.

Argentina were more lively in the second half which began with Lionel Messi driving just wide but ended on even terms. Once in each half, Messi was denied by Jerome Boateng with tackles that were game-changers.

Germany's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and Argentina's forward Gonzalo Higuain compete for the ball during the final. AFP

Finally, a defender put up a show that was worthy of the occasion.

Messi’s last chance to keep Argentina in the game was a free-kick that he shot over. It summed up the kind of night he had.    

Through the day chagrined, Brazilians had watched Argentina fans bouncing into the Maracana.

Argentina's forward Rodrigo Palacio (C) tries to score past Germany's goalkeeper Manuel Neuer. AFP


Security guards at metro stations, the huge posse of policepersons and others heard them chorus ‘Brasil, decime qué se siente, tener en casa tu papa’, a song that possibly needs no translation worldwide and ends with the assertion that Maradona is better than Pele.

It ended with Brazilians lustily cheering the team that spanked them so hard that it will hurt for a long, long time. Brazil’s worst nightmare - that of Argentina winning a World Cup in their backyard - didn’t come true and that sure call.

HT

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Mouse Study: Natural Birth May Strengthen the Immune System

Health researchers from the University of Copenhagen have uncovered new knowledge about the immune system in a mouse study, which indicates that natural birth improves the immune system of the pups.

A number of studies suggest that children delivered by Caesarean section have a different intestinal flora than children delivered by natural birth. But it is still unknown why this is the case and what it means for the immune system. Researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences therefore decided to scrutinize the impact of birth on the development of the immune system in a study of newborn mouse pups.

“The study shows that pups delivered by Caesarean section had developed a lower number of cells that strengthen the immune system,” says Camilla Hartmann Friis Hansen, Assistant Professor at the Department of Veterinary Disease Biology.

The findings have recently been published in Journal of Immunology.

Newborns delivered by natural birth are exposed to more bacteria from the mother than those delivered by Caesarean section. According to a research hypothesis called the hygiene hypothesis, the newborn baby’s immune system in this way learns to distinguish between its own harmless molecules and foreign molecules. In the experiment, pups delivered by Caesarean section showed a lower number of cells of a type that plays an important role in preventing reactive immune cells from responding to molecules from the body itself, from the diet and from harmless intestinal bacteria. Autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, Chrohn’s disease and allergy are precisely characterized by an over-reaction by the immune system.

The researchers then looked for signs of development of type 1 diabetes in pups delivered by Caesarean section, but found none. The next step is therefore to study whether the pups are predisposed to other autoimmune diseases and then to test the theses in clinical trials.

“The experiments on mice may give us an idea of what would be interesting to study in more detail in clinical trials, so that in the long term, we may be able to develop methods for strengthening the immune system in newborns who are predisposed to autoimmune diseases,” says Professor Axel Kornerup Hansen, Department of Veterinary Disease Biology.

Source: University of Copenhagen

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