symptoms &signs of diabetes.

 

Knowing the signs of diabetes is extremely important since it can help people know if they have it at an early stage in order to undertake treatment before the disease gives complications to the body. Doctors recommend people who are 45 years old and above to go to the doctor regularly in order to know if they have the disease. Moreover, people who notice the signs of diabetes on their body should immediately consult the doctor in order to get immediate treatment. The tests to determine if you have diabetes are not expensive at all. In fact, the earlier you do the test if you have the disease, the more cash you will be able to save.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease that has been known for over hundreds of years.  People with diabetes cannot produce insulin or has the ability to produce insulin but cannot utilize it.  Insulin is the hormone responsible for the maintenance of blood sugar level. Without insulin, the cells all over the body will be unable to receive sugars to be converted into energy. Thus, the ells starve for energy. Without sugar, cells will eventually die.

Diabetes mellitus has three kinds namely type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and type 3 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is also known as insulin dependent diabetes wherein a person cannot produce insulin due to an autoimmune disorder. Type 2 diabetes is also known as non-insulin dependent diabetes wherein a person is able to produce insulin but cannot utilize it properly. Type 3 diabetes also known as gestational diabetes is diabetes that occurs during pregnancy which may put the baby at risk. All three types of diabetes are irreversible. However, people can do their best to reverse diabetes type 2 in order to prolong their lives and to avoid complications.

The signs of diabetes for both type 1 and type 2 are very similar. For instance, affected people of either type 1 or type 2 diabetes frequently get extreme thirsty. As a result of drinking water more frequently, they urinate more than usual. Moreover, their urination frequently occurs at night. People may also experience lethargy, stupor, fatigue, and loss of energy. In some cases, a diabetic coma may occur. It is a condition wherein a build-up of ketones occurs in the blood. Neurological signs may also be experienced by affected people including numbness, tingling, increased appetite, weight loss, and blurry vision. Sweet and fruity breath is also a sign of type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Similarly, when the urine becomes sweet due to sugars, like when ants go into your urine, then it is a sign that you have diabetes. People affected with diabetes will also find their wounds slow to heal.

Some women experience diabetes during pregnancy. This is called gestational diabetes. In order todiagnose their disease, a glucose test should be administered.

A blood test can also be used to determine if a person has diabetes. The doctor will determine the amount of sugar in your blood and will use the results as an indicator if you have diabetes or not.

Wrap of sixth South African Aids Conference - a cure for HIV.

South Africa is at the threshold of declaring victory against HIV, however, much more needs to be done. This is according to Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe in his closing address at the sixth South African Aids Conference that ended this week.

The conference was set on the backdrop of Building on Successes and Integrating Systems, a theme that resonated throughout all sessions. South Africa has learned of the progress that has been achieved with over 2 million people on antiretroviral treatment, although its healthcare system continues to face many challenges.

         At this stage, the National Department of Health is preparing to introduce new interventions that will be integrated into existing structures. Some of these resolutions include:

Strengthened health policies on contraception and reproductive services for young women and girls across the country. The Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi emphasised that these are also to be initiated in the school health programme.

·         The upscaling of behavioural programmes for age groups 15 to 29 is equally important. The 2012 Household Survey indicates a drop in condom use and an increase in the number of people with multiple sexual partners. Young people need to be better equipped regarding issues on their sexual behaviour.The Higher Education’s HIV/Aids programmes aim to bring ARV facilities into universities and FET colleges countrywide, as well as the training of teachers on how to provide on-site assistance to students living with HIV, particularly when dealing with stigma and discrimination.

·         The introduction of a new male circumcision device namely, the PrePex, to reduce the risk of HIV infection by 50 to 60% among South Africa’s young men. South Africa is in the process of preparing a roll-out the Tenofovir gel. A study that was conucted by researchers at the Centre for the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa in 2010 discovered that women who inserted tenofovir gel in their vaginas before and after sex reduced the risk of HIV infection by up to 39%. In addition to this, the gel also proved 51% effective in preventing genital herpes infections.The country has made great strides in the field of scientific research in quest to find an HIV vaccine.

          In conclusion to the conference, the Health Department, together with researchers, expressed a renewed commitment to confront the issues that pose challenges to the collective efforts in the fight against the HIV epidemic in South Africa. They wish to intensify HIV prevention and treatment for key populations such as people living with disabilities, sex workers, infants and children, women as well as the youth remain a priority. 

          The country has made great strides in the field of scientific research in quest to find an HIV vaccine. It has been difficult for scientific researchers across the globe to discover a cure for this disease, as the nature of the virus continues to evolve. South Africa made news headlines in 2012 when the Centre of the Aids Programme of Research in South Africa (Caprisa) consortium announced that it is one step closer to the development of an HIV vaccine.

           A five year-long study on two HIV positive women based in KwaZulu-Natal led to the discovery that certain HIV-infected people develop very powerful antibody responses. As a result, researchers can now make potent antibodies which are able to kill up to 88% of HIV types from around the world. This study is said to be a benchmark for further global studies.

The conference created a platform for experts to build on this success. “Over the next three years we predict that South African researchers will produce more major scientific breakthroughs on the path to a new approach for an HIV cure as well as in the treatment of HIV,” said Professor Salim Abdool Karim, Caprisa Director, in his final remarks at the conference.

         The National Institute of Health (NIH) is an agency of the US Department of Health and Human Services, and is now in partnership with the Medical Research Council. This new joint agreement will provide future HIV research aid worth R300 million.It is clear that the integration of new HIV interventions play a significant role in saving lives. The conference offered a clear indication of how South Africa can remain on course towards meeting the universal targets of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero Aids-related deaths.                     

                  

AIR POLLUTION IS THE HOST OF HEALTH DISEASE.

When it comes to air pollution, the big policy discussions seem to be stuck on whether or not it contributes to climate change. For some reason, we rarely hear politicians or pundits mention of the effect air pollution has on human health anymore. And that’s a problem.  

Because it turns out that not only is outdoor air pollution tied to a host of health problems, like heart disease, asthma, allergies, cancer, and even early death… But exposure to pollution during pregnancy may even double a child’s risk of autism. With the numbers now showing that autism affects as many as 1 in 50 US children, exposure to pollutants may well qualify as a public health crisis.The new findings come from a Harvard School of Public Health study. The researchers looked at an ongoing study of more than 116,000 women across the country, and compared the dates of the women’s pregnancies to their estimated level of exposure to various environmental pollutants based on their location. The environmental data comes from the EPA.What they found was shocking — children whose mothers lived in the 20% of locations with the highest levels of diesel particulates or mercury in the air had double the autism rate of those from the 20% least-polluted locations. For mothers living in areas with high levels of lead, manganese, and methlyene chloride the risk of autism jumped to 50%.While the researchers admit they can’t know for certain exactly which pollutants the mothers in the study were exposed to, the geographical variation in autism rates is startling. According to an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, even the study authors didn’t expect to see such clear results. When they first started the study, they weren’t weren’t sure if they’d find any significant correlation at all.It’s important to note that this study doesn’t prove that pollution causesautism — it’s likely there are a number of other contributing factors at play. In fact, since there’s little a woman can do to avoid air pollution, expert/www.google.com.pk/ss are recommending that mothers-to-be focus on the measures they can easily take to ensure a healthy pregnancy, like taking prenatal vitamins, avoiding cigarette smoke, and maintaining a healthy weight.

SOURCE :-  http://www.greenerideal.com/

Sibling bullying is linked to worse mental health for kid and teen victims.

Bullying and aggressive behavior by a sibling can be as damaging as bullying by a classmate, neighbor or other peer, finds a new study that links it to increased depression, anxiety and anger among victimized kids and teens.

And that association holds true for the various types of aggressive behavior studied, both mild and severe, from physical and psychological aggression to property victimization, researchers say.

Although peer bullying has increasingly become a recognized problem and the focus of preventive efforts, sibling bullying has historically been viewed as "benign and normal and even beneficial" for a child's social development and ability "to learn to handle aggression in other relationships," according to the study, in the July issue of the journal Pediatrics, published online today.

The study "shows that sibling aggression is linked to worse mental health (for the victim), and in some cases it's similar to what you find for peer aggression," says lead author Corinna Jenkins Tucker, an associate professor of family studies at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.

Tucker and colleagues analyzed data from The National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence, focusing on nearly 3,600 kids 17 and under with at least one sibling living in the household. Kids were interviewed by phone about victimization in the past year. A parent or other adult caregiver answered on behalf of children under age 9.

Measures of mental health and four different types of victimization were assessed:

• Mild physical assault (hit, beaten or kicked without an object/weapon or resulting injury);

• Severe physical assault (hit, beaten or kicked with an object/weapon or causing injury);

• Property aggression (forcible theft, taking and not returning property; breaking or ruining property on purpose);

• Psychological aggression (feeling bad or scared because a sibling said mean things, called them names or excluded them).

"For all types of sibling aggression, we found that being the victim was linked to lower well-being for both children and adolescents," Tucker says.

Mental health distress scores were greater for children than for adolescents who experienced mild physical assault, but kids and teens were similarly affected by the other forms of sibling aggression, she says. And even kids who reported just one type of sibling aggression in the past year had higher distress scores than kids who reported none.

Just as parental violence and marital violence occurs in families, "sibling violence happens, as well," says Nicole Campione-Barr, director of the Family Relationships and Adolescent Development Lab at the University of Missouri. "This is something we really need to be aware of." She was not involved in the new study.

One sign that a sibling relationship is troubled: When aggressive interactions are "repeatedly being done in one direction," where one sibling "is consistently the victim and the other is constantly the perpetrator," she says. "That is akin to what we see in bullying."

source : www.usatoday.com

Children’s starts hand transplant program

Boston Children’s Hospital is announcing Monday that it has started the world’s first hand transplant program for youngsters, with the goal of restoring limbs to victims of devastating infections, fires, or accidents.

A hospital ethics committee approved the program following a two-year review, and doctors said they will begin evaluating children immediately.

Initially, they will consider only children who are missing both hands and who are at least age 10, believed to be old enough to understand the operation. Doctors said they don’t know how many children would qualify, but believe the number is small.

Under guidelines established by the hospital ethics committee, doctors must obtain a child’s “assent’’ for the transplant, in addition to getting consent from parents.


Source: www.bostonglobe.com