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Chief Editor: Sreenivasarao
Vepachedu, PhD, JD, LLM
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Comments: Venkateswararao
Karuparthy, MBBS
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Issue 91
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5107 Kali Era , paardhiva Year, Ashadha
month
2063 Vikramarka Era, paardhiva Year, Ashadha
month
1927 Salivahana Era , paardhiva
Year, Ashadha month
2005 AD, July
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Contents
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Diet and Exercise
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Miscellaneous
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Recipes
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Financial Health
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Don't Wait Until Old
Plant Based Food
LDLs - New Study
Echinacea
Sedentary Desk Jobs Dangerous for Men
Genes and
You
August is World
Breastfeeding Month
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TV Kills Mind
Chinese Tradition Gets American Approval
CircumcisionCervical
Cancer
Map of Mexican Genes
Monkeys and Emerging Infectious Diseases
Smoking
Optimism
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Mashed
Potato Curry Puffs
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Interest
Only Loans
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Diet
and Exercise
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Don't Wait Until Old
People Bush's age can expect to live another 22 years or so. The goal
isn't just to get all those years but to make them quality ones, and
live independently as long as possible. That's important both for individuals
and for society, as next year the first of the 78 million American baby
boomers begin turning 60. This is the period when joints often start
to stiffen, and it can take a little longer to dredge up memories from
a brain overloaded with experiences. Simply getting older increases risk
of illness; 30 percent of people 65 and over have three or more chronic
diseases. But age doesn't dictate health, especially if you took care
in earlier decades. Cutting fat and eating more fruits and vegetables
counters aging-slowed metabolism that makes shedding pounds harder. Plus,
roughage prevents constipation, another hazard of aging. Strive for foods
high in brain- and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, such as flax, verdalaga and urad. Ask
your doctor if you need a vitamin, the only way many older women
get the daily 1,200 milligrams of calcium and 400-600 international units
of vitamin D needed for strong bones. This
advice is even for long-lived families, because lifestyle can trump good
genes.
Fitness levels decline dramatically as we
grow older, but exercise is the key to remaining independent in the golden
years. However, it should be noted that regular
exercise does not make you live for ever. A study published online in
the American Heart Association's journal Circulation finds that
elderly people who had exercised regularly experienced some rate of decline
in aerobic capacity. The researchers
found that regardless of how much they exercised, participants' aerobic
capacity declined 3% to 6% per decade in their 20s and 30s, and by the
time they were in their 70s, the decline was more than 20% every 10 years.
However, the researchers say that those who exercised more were more
likely to be able to maintain an independent lifestyle in old age than
those who didn't.
Japanese
women had a life expectancy of 85.59 years in 2004, making them the world's
longest living group for the 20th consecutive year.
Japanese men trailed with a life expectancy of 78.64 years, which
placed them second for longevity after Icelandic men, who live an average
of 78.8 years. Women in Hong
Kong were the second longest living group in the world,
according to Japanese government figures, followed by Swiss women. The Japanese
government attributes Japanese longevity to a range of factors, including
a healthy diet and improving medical care. The Japanese diet tends to
be rich in vegetable products and relatively low in animal fats.
Plant Based Food
Women who eat little or no meat are less likely to be overweight than
their more carnivorous peers, according to a study in American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition, June 2005. The findings, say researchers, suggest
that replacing meat and other animal products with plant-based fare may
help people control their weight. The study of more than 55,000 Swedish
women found that those who identified themselves as vegetarian or vegan
tended to weigh less than meat-eaters, and were less likely to be overweight
or obese. The vegetarian group included women who ate no meat, fish or
eggs but did consume dairy products (lactovegetarians),
as well as semivegetarians," who said they
sometimes ate fish or eggs. Vegans eat no animal products, including
dairy. In the study, vegans were two-thirds less likely than meat-eaters
to be overweight or obese, while the two vegetarian groups were about
half as likely as meat-eaters to be overweight, even with other factors,
such as age, exercise and total calorie intake, taken into account. The
findings do suggest that a plant-based diet may aid in weight control,
according to P. Kirstin Newby, a researcher at
Tufts University
in Boston. Overall, vegans
had the lowest average body mass index (BMI), a measure of weight in
relation to height, followed by vegetarians, then meat-eaters. While
40 percent of meat-eaters were overweight or obese, only 25 to 29 percent
of vegetarians and vegans were. That vegetarians are leaner than meat-eaters,
according to the researchers, highlights the fact that not all carbohydrates
are equal. A diet of fiber-rich carbs like
fruits, vegetables and whole grains differs from one loaded with refined
carbohydrates such as those in white bread and snack foods. Because these
nutrients may help ward off heart disease and cancer, there are "lots
of good reasons" besides weight control to eat a plant-based diet.
Different types of fat or various proportions
of fats may have different effects. For example, omega-3 fats, found
in
urad, verdolaga (purslane),
walnuts and flaxseed, may protect against breast cancer. The risk from
fat may also vary with a woman’s life stage. Other diet and lifestyle
choices could also override fat’s influence. One
major factor that could help explain the lower cancer risk of the low-fat
group is a higher consumption of vegetables and fruits. The Swedish study
found that people who had a low-fat diet ate more vegetables, fruits
and cereals. These foods have plenty of cancer-protective nutrients and
fiber. Low-fat diets may also cause weight loss, lowering cancer risk.
Studies repeatedly link both overweight and weight gain with a greater
risk of postmenopausal breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence. In
the Nurses’ Health Study, large weight gains after a diagnosis of breast
cancer correlated with a 64 percent greater risk of recurrence; smaller
weight gains led to smaller increases in risk. So
focus on eating low-fat foods that provide cancer-fighting nutrients
and phytochemicals – vegetables, fruits, whole
grains and beans – rather than low-fat or low-calorie foods that offer
no nutritional benefits. Because a low-fat, plant-based diet won’t lead
to weight control if portions are large, take portions appropriate for
your energy needs.
LDLs - New Study
Scientists have long suspected that one such factor might be oxidized
phospholipids, a type of fat that's a major component of low-density
lipoproteins (LDL). Research in animals has found that this fat, floating
in the bloodstream, contributes in many ways to blockage formation. The
new research, at the UCSD, is the first to show the same is true in people.
Echinacea
A study published in the New England
Journal of Medicine found that echinacea
at low levels does not prevent or treat colds.
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Echinacea is one of the most popular medicinal
herbs used by people to treat colds. Echinacea,
or purple coneflower, is sold over-the-counter in pills, drops and lozenges.
With reported annual sales of more than $300 million, echinacea is one of the most popular medicinal
herbs used by people to treat colds. Several
animal studies and small human trials have pointed to the possible benefit
of the herb in preventing respiratory infections. However, one of the
studies found that echinacea failed to alleviate
cold symptoms and even caused mild skin rashes in some cases. The extract
used in the latest study was prepared in the lab and not sold in stores.
Sedentary Desk Jobs Dangerous
for Men
Men whose jobs keep them behind a desk may
need to work harder to keep excess pounds at bay, new research suggests. In a study of nearly 1,600 Australian adults,
researchers found that men who spent most of the workday sitting were
almost twice as likely as those with active jobs to be overweight. What's
more, men with sedentary jobs tended to be heavier even if they got a
moderate amount of exercise outside of work. The same pattern was not,
however, seen among women, according to findings published in the August
issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
Genes and You
It's a well-known phenomenon
that some people can eat whatever they want yet stay thin and have normal
cholesterol levels, while others send up their cholesterol just by looking
at cheesecake. Likewise, some people with high cholesterol can manage
the problem by altering their eating habits, while others need medication. A study in the July issue of the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition found a high degree of similarity in how
twin brothers' LDL cholesterol responded to the switch from the
high-fat diet to the low-fat one. On average, the men's LDL declined
on the low-fat diet, but any individual's response seemed to depend largely
on genes. Scientists have identified a few genes
that appear to be at work, but these cannot explain the wide variance
seen in individuals' cholesterol responses to diet changes
August is World Breastfeeding
Month
Breast-feeding can help decrease the risk
of ear infections, respiratory illness, obesity and diarrhea. America
has one of the lowest breast-feeding rates in the developed world. There is a strange sentiment in the U.S.
that it should not be done in public and that it should not be done too
much or for too long. Ignoring their
intended purpose, breasts will always be equated with sex in American
culture, though nursing mothers are using their breasts precisely for their
intended purpose. The sight of a breast-feeding mother is so unsettling
to some Americans that Illinois
had to pass legislation last August, the Right to Breastfeed Act, which
allows mothers the right to breast-feed in public or private, regardless
if that offensive nipple is showing, to clarify that she is not committing
an act of public indecency. In America,
it is fine to wear skimpy skirts, bikinis and see-through shirts that
reveal far more than a breast-feeding mother would, just to show off
and to titillate strangers. Americans enjoy the breasts that are displayed
sexually by young and old women. Women have no problem with that. But if a nursing mother feeds her infant child
in public, many women get worked up. Women do not nurse in public to
show off or to titillate strangers, but because infants need to eat every
two hours, and working mothers are forced to venture into public.
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Miscellaneous
TV Kills Mind
Too much TV-watching can harm children's ability to learn and even reduce their chances of getting a college degree, three
new studies suggest in the latest effort to examine the effects of
television on kids. Experts said it bolsters advice that children shouldn't
have TVs in their rooms.
The separate findings were published in the July issue of Archives of
Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Children with TVs in their rooms
scored the lowest, while those with no bedroom TV but scored the highest.
While the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that youngsters under
age 2 not watch any television, that older children watch only limited
"quality" programming, and that televisions be kept out of children's
bedrooms. Unfortunately, recent data suggest that U.S.
youngsters from infancy to age 6 watch an
average of one hour of TV daily, and that 8-to-18-year-olds watch an
average of three hours daily.
Chinese Tradition Gets American Approval
Chinese people exercise and walk back and forth over traditional stone
paths in China.
People stand on them, and sometimes dance on them. They know that it
is healthy and hence the cobblestone walking paths are common in China,
where traditional medicine teaches that the uneven surface of the stones
stimulate "acupoints" on the soles of
the feet. The theory is much like acupuncture, suggesting that distant and
unrelated areas of the body are linked together at certain points and
can be stimulated to improve physical and mental health.
Behavioral researchers from the Oregon Research Institute after observing
it thought "if we could scientifically measure it, we could see if
there were any health benefits!" They investigated the health effects
of cobblestones. The results surprised the researchers, who expected to
see some general improvement in health, but also saw blood pressure drop
measurably among the volunteers during the 16-week study. The results
were published recently in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Although cobblestone walking is rooted in centuries of Chinese tradition,
no Western studies had been done to evaluate its potential benefits and
effectiveness until recently. Now we know that there is something real
about the Chinese myth of cobblestones walking and it is not only OK
to walk on cobblestones, but its healthy also!
May the world's path to better health and lower blood pressure be paved
with cobblestones!
If
you don’t have time or cobble stone path in your back yard, there are
acupoint pressure foot plates
on which you can rest your feet while you are at work in front of your
desk and computer. The manufacturer of the plates claims that these plates
also do the same, but there is no research evidence they work as cobble
stones except. KV
Circumcision
Circumcision is an Islamic and Jewish religious
ceremonial cutting off the skin at the end of the penis, the male sexual
organ, or cutting off the clitoris, part of a female outer sexual organ
responsible for sexual pleasure. The benefits
of male circumcision or genital mutilation, practiced in all Islamic
countries, the Indian Union and the United
States, is controversial and unclear. The prepuce (foreskin) that covers the penis
to protect its sensitivity may be more sensitive to infection than the
Glans of penis.
A study presented at an international
AIDS conference in Brazil
in July found that circumcision lowered men's risk of HIV infection during
heterosexual intercourse, in the very short term.
The researchers could not say whether circumcision
provides protection over the long term. The researchers
did not look at the effects of circumcision on male-to-female transmission. The findings don't mean men should substitute
circumcision for other precautions against infection such as washing
regularly, use of condoms and not having multiple partners - monogamy.
Female circumcision,
which is practiced in more than 30 countries and affects 2 million girls
each year, could cause infertility. Women,
who had undergone circumcision, or female genital mutilation, were five
to six times more likely to be infertile. Despite efforts to stop what
human rights campaigners have described as an atrocity against women,
female circumcision is practiced and is common in Africa and the Middle East. It involves the
removal of part or all of the female genitalia. An estimated 135 million
women and girls have been circumcised, according to the human rights
group Amnesty International. It is considered
part of the culture, a tradition or a rite of passage to adulthood. It
is viewed as a means of safeguarding female fertility and in most Islamic
cultures the population is still increasing indicating high female fertility.
The research, which is published in The Lancet medical journal in July,
is the first clinical study to show it has the opposite effect.
Cervical Cancer
People are dying who should not die, based on what we already
know. Virtually all deaths from cervical cancer
are preventable, yet the disease will kill almost 4,000 women in this
country this year, mostly black women in the South, Hispanics along the
Texas-Mexico border, white women in Appalachia and the rural Northeast,
Vietnamese immigrants. The same localities
also have too-high rates of breast and colorectal cancer, strokes and
infant mortality. Cervix is the narrow passage between vagina and
uterus. A test for cancer of cervix in woman
is called cervical smear or pap smear. Pap smears
are credited with slashing cervical cancer deaths by 75 percent in recent
decades. This simple $50 test can detect precancerous cells in time to
prevent cervical cancer from forming, or if it's already there, in time
to cure this usually slow-growing malignancy. But
most invasive cervical cancer is found in women who haven't had a Pap
in five years, or never. Poverty is one
culprit. Also, women with no regular doctor slip through the cracks. Older
women are less likely to get a Pap smear, as are recent immigrants, perhaps
because of language or cultural and modesty issues.
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Map of Mexican Genes
The Human Genome Project was a 13-year project, completed
in 2003, coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National
Institutes of Health to identify all the approximately 20,000-25,000
genes in human DNA. The Mexican government and
private companies launched a project to map the genes of Mexicans, in
hopes of developing treatments for health problems such as diabetes,
asthma and hypertension. Based on the Human
Genome Project, the effort is the largest study of Latin American genes
and could usher in a new medical era for the region.
Mexico's
National Institute of Genomic Medicine will work with California-based
Applied Biosystems Group, part of Applera Corp., and IBM's Healthcare and Life Sciences
division on the project to map the genes of Mexicans.
The research could lead to medications designed for
specific individuals and the health problems they face, said Mexican
Health Secretary Julio Frenk. Besides mapping
genes, the Genomic Medicine institute and Applied Biosystems
will launch a pilot project looking for genetically based drugs specific
to Latin Americans and those of Latin American descent.
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Monkeys and Emerging Infectious Diseases
Macaques that inhabit "monkey temples"
in Asia are a potential source of human infection
with simian foamy virus (SFV), a virus that normal affects monkeys. It has already been shown that SFV can be transmitted
to humans by exposure to captive primates in research settings, by hunting
and butchering bushmeat, and by cross-species
transplant of organs. The current article, in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, is the first report of
cross-species infection from a free-ranging population of nonhuman primates
in Asia, where monkeys often inhabit religious
sites. International tourists frequently
visit these temples and are sometimes bitten when they feed the monkeys. Although so far there have been no recorded cases
of disease linked to SFV among infected humans, Asia
and Indian continents are ripe for an outbreak of primate-borne human
disease, given the combination of large primate reservoirs, prevalent
human-primate contact, and a growing immunocompromised
population in Asia and India.
It is recommended that the animals be fed only by specially trained personnel
who minimize physical contact.
Smoking
Children's exposure to pre- and post-natal tobacco smoke carries a substantial
risk for them to develop asthma and respiratory symptoms as adults, according
to study results in July 2005 issue of American Journal of Respiratory
and Critical Care Medicine.
Optimism
Various researchers have found that people with the most positive outlook
about their futures tend to have better moods, fewer psychiatric symptoms
and better adjustment to pregnancy, heart surgery and other situations.
Research also suggests that optimism is linked to better physical health.
The varying effects of optimism may be partly explained by the "disappointment
hypothesis," the report indicates. This suggests that when a stressor,
such as a serious health problem or other circumstance, is prolonged, it
violates "optimists' positive expectations that they could terminate or
control the stressors." This leads to distress, which consequently lowers
immunity, Segerstrom writes in the current
issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. Another theory, the "engagement
hypothesis," suggests that optimistic people remain engaged in difficult
situations whereas pessimistic individuals disengage themselves. This can
be good or bad, depending on whether the situation can be resolved quickly or not. A rapid solution would
associate optimism with positive effect on immunity, whereas prolonged
involvement in a difficult stressful situation, leading to depressed immunity,
would show optimism is not protective.
The same
is true in chronic pain patients. Chronic pain
patients who are optimistic and have positive attitude have better outcomes
with interventions in chronic pain management. KV
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Recipes
Mashed
Potato Curry Puffs (Appetizer /Side dish)
(by Dr. Renukadevi
Vepachedu)
4 medium
size potatoes
1 pkg. Pepperidge
farm puff pastry sheet
1 tablespoon
ginger and Green chilies coarse paste
¼
Tbs. Turmeric powder (optional)
Salt to
taste
½
tsp. Lemon
¼
cup Parsley leaves finely chopped
1 or 2 tbs.
Cooking oil
Boil the
potatoes. Take off the skin and mash them. Heat the oil in the pan. Add
the mashed potatoes, ginger and green chilies paste, turmeric powder
and salt. Add parsley leaves and mix the potato mash well. Turn off the
heat and mix in the lemon juice. Allow the mash to cool. Cut the pastry
sheets into any shape, but large enough to allow a tablespoon of mash.
Place the mash onto the shapes, fold the shapes in half and seal the
edges. Bake them in the oven according to Pepperidge Farm pastry instructions.
Turn over the Curry puffs after some time for uniform baking. If there
is any leftover potato curry, then it can be spread onto sandwiches and
baked for some yummy potato curry sandwiches.
Your
Financial Health
The "Big Secret" in Interest-Only Loans
Buying a home will probably be the biggest investment in your life.
You may have heard a lot of chatter about the threat posed by these loans,
especially concerning the negative amortization inherent in them. There
are features of these loans that need to be better understood and one
big secret that Wall Street doesn't want you to know about. Mortgage
expert Tom McKnight says, " By mathematical
precision, every dollar you put into your mortgage "yields" your rate
of interest. The bonus? No commissions or fees to a securities' broker!
The Double Bonus? As you pay your principal into your mortgage, the interest
payments actually go down because your principal owed is being reduced.
Sure, you can beat it with a Ford or GM junk bond. But nothing will match
it with comparable safety. Wall Street doesn't like it when you have
better places to put your money."
This material contains only general descriptions and is not a
solicitation to sell any insurance product or security, nor is it intended
as any financial or tax advice. For information about specific insurance
needs or situations, contact your insurance agent or Rao at (847)883-0910.
Back to
the Top
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Source: The primary sources cited above,
New York Times (NYT), Washington Post (WP), Mercury News, Bayarea.com,
Chicago Tribune, USA Today, Intellihealthnews,
Deccan Chronicle (DC), the Hindu,
Hindustan Times, Times of India, AP, Reuters, AFP, womenfitness.net etc.
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