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Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao Vepachedu,
PhD, LLM
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Associate Editors &
Contributers
Venkateswararao Karuparthy, MD, DABPM
Varaprasad Chamakura, PhD
Rajagopal Duddu, PhD
Ramarao Vepachedu, PhD
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Issue 74
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5105 Kali Era , Swabhanu
Year, Phalguna month
1925 Salivahana Era
, Swabhanu Year, Phalguna month
2061 Vikramarka Era, Swabhanu
Year, Phalguna
month
2004 AD, February
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Contents
ROLE OF
AYURVEDIC MASSAGE IN CHRONIC PAIN
Diet
and Exercise
Longevity
and Mother’s Nutrition
Breastfeeding
Cakes
and Cookies Cause Colorectal Cancer in Women
Colon Cancer
Warning Signs
Risk Factors for Kidney Disease
Antibiotics
and Breast Cancer
New Mad Cow Disease
Alcohol
and Fetal Brain damage
Mercury Poisoning
Genetic Engineering
Fruits and Grains
Women's Helath
Vaginal
Birth after C-section
Miscellaneous
TV and Children
Recipes
Butterscotch brownies
Berry
Tapioca Pudding
ROLE OF AYURVEDIC MASSAGE
IN CHRONIC PAIN
Unless a chronic pain patient actively strengthens the aching muscles
by stretching, s/he cannot get relief from the pain. Without pain relief
it is difficult to do exercises, resulting in a catch-22 situation.
Ayurvedic massage is a very good technique to fix the problem.
Ayurvedic massage, which is based on the principles of tridosha and marma
points, can be of immense help for a patient suffering from chronic pain.
In Ayurveda, massage has been used for headaches, insomnia, gout, polio,
obesity, arthritis, high blood pressure, asthma and even mental disorders.
It also helps immune system. Ayurvedic massage is known to yield many
benefits such as anti-aging, improving eye sight, strengthening the body,
improving longevity, soothing ailments caused by vata, pitta and
kapha, and toning the skin. It relaxes the whole
body, induces deep sleep, increases the appetite and balances the body and
mind. This balancing of the body and mind is very important in chronic
pain because both are interdependently involved in perpetuating the chronic
pain condition. Ayurvedic massage, when properly administered following
strict ayurvedic principles and tailored to the specific condition of a
patient, and specific characteristics of the patient can work wonders.
Vagbhata, in his treatise ashtanga hridaya, says that therapeutic
massage of the body prescribed according to the person’s doshas, gunas
and season is the key for health, happiness and longevity. According
to Sushruta Samhita, the massage should depend on the body type,
atmosphere, and season. Sushruta also says that for those suffering
from a vata disorder, massage is the only remedy.
In Ayurvedic oil massage, also known as Abhyanga, fragrant and
health giving organic oils are used. Oils should be applied warm.
Sesame oil is specific for lowering high vata and increasing ojas
(the primal vigor, one of the three vital essences of the body, the remaining
two being prana - the primal life-force, and tejas - the inner
radiance). Anti-vata herbs like ashvagandha, calamus, nirgundi,
fennel or ginger can be cooked in it to give it more strength.
For all people suffering from pain sesame oil massage is very helpful.
Coconut oil is specific for lowering high pitta. Anti-pitta
herbs like Brahmi (Gotu kola) can be added to the coconut oil.
Mustard oil is specific for lowering high kapha.
References: Ayurvedic Massage: Traditional Indian
Techniques for Balancing Body and Mind, Harish Johari, Healing Arts Press,
Rochester, Vermont; Ayurveda and the Mind, the healing of Consciousness,
David Frawley, Lotus Press, Twin lakes, WI.
S. Vepachedu and V. Karuparthy
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Diet and Exercise
Longevity and Mother’s Nutrition
Growth during prenatal life has a very powerful impact on longevity.
Experiments with mice suggest that life span may be related to what your
mother ate during pregnancy. A new study at Cambridge University in England
shows that pregnant mice fed a well-balanced diet had babies that lived
longer, healthier lives. Mice that were undernourished in the womb and ate
a poor diet as adults died prematurely. However, mother's diet is
likely to have very little effect on how long her offspring lives when compared
to known health risks in adulthood, such as cigarette smoking and alcoholism.
In the latest study published in Nature, mice that were nourished
properly in the womb lived on average two months longer than the control
group, the researchers reported. The mice that were undernourished in the
womb died six months earlier than the control group. Mice that had poor
maternal nutrition in the womb and weaned on the unhealthy diet survived
only a year, or about half as long as other mice in the study.
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Breastfeeding
There is a relationship between breastfeeding and overweight, according
to a study entitled, “Does Breastfeeding Protect Against Pediatric Overweight?
Analysis of Longitudinal Data from the CDC Pediatric Surveillance System."
The study found that breastfeeding's protective effects are found only
if it continues for at least 3 months. The rate of overweight at four years
of age was highest among children who were never breastfed or who were breastfed
for less than a month. In addition, authors found that overweight decreased
with increasing duration of breastfeeding. Breastfeeding longer than 6
months provided health benefits well beyond the period of breastfeeding,
according to American Academy of Pediatrics.
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Cakes and Cookies Cause Colorectal
Cancer in Women
Cakes, cookies and other quickly digested foods score high on the
"glycemic index," a measure of the rate at which carbohydrates are processed
into sugar. A sudden surge in blood sugar prompts the body to produce
a matching rush of insulin, which helps convert the sugar, or glucose, into
energy. Insulin stimulates cells to divide and keeps them alive longer than
normal. That could encourage the growth of tumors. Diets filled with
such high glycemic foods may increase the risk of colorectal cancer in
women, according to a study published on February 4th in the Journal of
the National Cancer Institute. Brown rice and whole wheat breads, in contrast,
contain carbohydrates that are absorbed more slowly by the body and hence
are healthy.
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Colon Cancer Warning Signs
Colon cancer will be diagnosed in more than 100,000 people this year,
according to the American Cancer Society. It is one of the most common
types of cancer in industrialized nations. High blood levels of a protein
linked to heart attacks might also be an early warning sign of colon cancer,
a study found. The substance is C-reactive protein, or CRP, which
is produced in the liver in response to infection or inflammation anywhere
in the body. In recent years, doctors have come to believe that high levels
of CRP in the bloodstream raise the risk of a heart attack by damaging blood
vessel walls. High CRP levels were strongly linked with colon cancer
even after other risk factors such as age, family history, being overweight
and smoking were taken into account. The study appeared in February
5th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Screening tests include colonoscopies, which allow doctors to examine the
entire colon through a narrow tube. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables,
avoiding smoking and fatty animal foods, and getting plenty of exercise
can lower the risk of colon cancer.
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Risk
Factors for Kidney Disease
Established cardiovascular disease risk factors, including high blood
pressure, smoking, diabetes, and obesity are associated with the development
of kidney disease, according to a study in the February 18 issue of The
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Hypertension
and diabetes are the leading causes of end-stage renal disease (ESRD).
Among individuals who develop ESRD, the risk of cardiovascular disease
is 10 to 20 times higher than the general population, and increased risks
are evident even in mild kidney disease.
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Antibiotics and Breast Cancer
Women who took the most antibiotics, who had more than 25 prescriptions,
or who took the drugs for at least 501 days, faced double the risk of developing
breast cancer over an average of about 17 years, compared with women who
didn't use the drugs, a study showed. The results appeared in
Journal of the American Medical Association, published
on February 18.
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New
Mad Cow Disease
Mad cow disease (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) and human Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Disease (CJD) are caused by different forms of mutant proteins called prions.
A number of people, mainly in England, have also suffered from a variant
CJD, a brain disease acquired by eating meat from infected cows. Now, a
team of Italian researchers reports a study of eight cows with mad cow disease
found that two of them had brain damage resembling the human victims of
CJD. They said the cows were infected with prions that resembled those involved
in the standard form of the human disease, called sporadic CJD, not the
variant caused by eating infected meat. Both the human and cattle diseases
cause holes in the brain. The report was published in the online edition
of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
Britain announced last December what it said could be the world's
first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) caused by transfusion,
following the death of an unidentified patient several years after receiving
blood from a donor later found to have had the illness. Two studies
published in The Lancet medical journal show infection through blood is
a possible route of transmission. The finding that vCJD can be transmitted
via blood transfusion is not surprising. Stringent studies in sheep show
that prion diseases, such as CJD, can be transmitted via blood, even if blood
is collected in preclinical stages of prion disease. All blood products
for use in operations in Britain are now based on plasma imported from the
United States, where there have been no cases of human mad cow disease blamed
on American beef. The human form of mad cow disease so far has claimed 143
victims in Britain and 10 elsewhere.
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Alcohol and Fetal Brain damage
Just two cocktails consumed by a pregnant woman may be enough to kill
some of the developing brain cells in the unborn child, leading to neurological
problems that can haunt a person for a lifetime, suggest new studies reported
at the national meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science.
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Mercury
Poisoning
A study, done by an international group led by researchers at the
Harvard School of Public Health, showed that children exposed to mercury
in the womb might suffer permanent damage to their heart function. Children
whose mothers eat seafood high in mercury while pregnant can suffer irreparable
brain damage, researchers reported in Journal of Pediatrics,
February 2004. The report comes the same week as the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency doubled its estimate of how many newborns had unsafe levels
of mercury in their blood. Non-fish sources of healthy omega-3 fatty
acids include walnuts, urad (black gram), and flaxseed oil, and some fortified
foods.
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Genetic
Engineering
Scientists have pulled off a feat of gene engineering that could lead,
in theory at least, not worry about walnuts and flaxseed. The scientists
inserted a worm gene into mice and made the rodents produce significant
amounts of omega-3 fatty acids, a heart-friendly substance normally found
in walnuts and flaxseed. Details of the mouse experiments appeared in February
5th issue of the journal Nature. Omega-3 fatty acids are thought to
prevent heart disease by helping to reduce the inflammation involved in
hardening of artery walls. They also may reduce blood pressure and chemically
regulate the electrical impulses of the heart's rhythm. Omega-3s also are
important to brain development and may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's disease.
The American Heart Association recommends two or more weekly servings of
foods, which are naturally high in omega-3s. The Food and Drug Administration
treats transgenic animals as medicine and requires extensive testing.
So far, the agency has not approved any gene-engineered animals for human
consumption.
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Fruits
and Grains
A study reported in Archives of Internal Medicine, February
23, 2004, found that for every increase in total fiber intake of 10 grams
per day, the risk of developing heart disease within the next six to ten
years fell by 14 percent. The same increment in fiber intake was associated
with 27 percent decrease in the risk of dying from heart-related illness.
However, only fiber from fruits and whole grains appeared to reduce the
risk of heart disease. People should still strive to eat at least five servings
of fruits and vegetables each day.
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Women's
Health
Vaginal Birth
after C-section
In the US about a quarter of all births are by C-section. Doctors
used to recommend repeat C-sections because of the possibility that labor
and a vaginal birth could rupture the scars and uterus. In the 1990s,
government experts concluded that many women could safely deliver vaginally.
The rate of vaginal births after C-sections increased from 3 percent in 1981
to about 31 percent in 1998. Mothers have a less than 1 percent chance
of having a uterine rupture if they deliver vaginally after a previous
Caesarian section, according to a study released at a meeting of the
Society of Maternal Fetal Medicine in New Orleans, in February.
The researchers found that of the 17,902 women who delivered vaginally after
a C-section, less then 1- percent, or 128 women, had a uterine rupture.
Their infants were also more likely to suffer a brain injury from lack
of oxygen during delivery. There were 13 cases of brain injury, eight occurring
after uterine rupture and two of the babies died. There were no cases of
brain injury involving the women who had repeat C-sections.
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Miscellaneous
TV and Children
Watching television has several adverse effects on children, including
poor behavior and school performance, and higher rates of violence and
childhood obesity. The Committee on Public Education of the American Academy
of Pediatrics suggests limiting children's television viewing time to a
maximum of two hours per day, and discourages television viewing altogether
for children younger than two years. Television watching patterns develop
during the preschool years, and although intervention programs exist to
reduce television viewing in older children, there are none for younger,
preschool children. As one would expect, preschool children, who participated
in an intervention program that encouraged reading and eating dinner together
as a family, watched less television than their peers who did not participate
in the program, according to an article in the February issue of The
Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
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Contents
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Recipes
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Butterscotch brownies
Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon
salt, 1 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar, 1 cup chopped walnuts, 1 stick
(1/2 cup) butter, melted, 2 eggs/egg substitute, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Procedure: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flour, baking powder
and salt in large bowl. Add brown sugar, walnuts, butter, egg-substitute
and vanilla, stirring just to combine. Transfer to greased and floured
13-by-9-inch baking pan. Cook until golden and firm, about 25 minutes.
Remove from oven; place pan on wire rack. Cool 45 minutes. Cut into squares.
Chicagotribune
Berry
Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons tapioca, 1/2 cup orange juice,
1-1/2 cup sweetened raspberries, mashed, reserving syrup, 2 cups strawberries,
sliced, 1 banana, sliced, 1/2 cup non/lowfat vanilla yogurt
Directions:
Combine sugar, tapioca, orange juice and reserved syrup from raspberries
in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Pour into a mixing bowl and set aside to allow pudding to cool. Stir in
berries and banana. Cover and refrigerate. Serve with a spoonful of yogurt.
Womenfitness.net
womenfitness.net
Back to Contents
Recipe
Book
A recipe book offered by NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute (NHLBI) attacks heart disease by serving up a collection
of recipes and tips based on years of research, clinical studies, and
educational programs.
Heart Healthy Recipes can be downloaded free of charge at
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/heart/other/ktb_recipebk/index.htm.
Printed copies are available for $4.00 through the Website or from
the NHLBI Information Center at P.O. Box 30105, Bethesda, MD 20824-0105,
301-592-8573 or 240-629-3255 (TTY).
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Source: The primary sources cited above,
New York Times (NYT), Washington Post (WP), Mercury
News, Bayarea.com, Intellihealthnews, Deccan
Chronicle (DC), the Hindu, Hindustan Times, Times
of India, AP, Reuters, AFP, womenfitness.net
etc.
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