Day: 12/29/2015

90 percent of people get damaged knee joints by 60-65 years

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Health organisations estimate that in 2014, a total of 50 million people across India are reported to be either osteoporotic or with low bone mass density. reuters file photo

Health organisations estimate that in 2014, a total of 50 million people across India are reported to be either osteoporotic or with low bone mass density. reuters file photo

Nearly 90 percent of people suffer from damaged knee joints by the age of 60-65 years, orthopedicians have said, adding that in majority of the cases the condition can be prevented by a proper lifestyle and food habits.

According to doctors, 80 percent of the people in urban India suffer from Vitamin D deficiency, which is the sole reason behind decreasing the bone mass density, leading to the increase of osteoporosis.

Health organisations estimate that in 2014, a total of 50 million people across India are reported to be either osteoporotic or with low bone mass density.

“In our country, joint and back pains are considered as part of the normal aging process. Therefore, instead of dealing with such problem seriously people prefer to go for quick fixes like analgesics or some pain relieving balms.

“Such temporary solutions just further worsen the bone and joint conditions,” L. Tomar, a senior orthopedic surgeon at city’s Max super specialty hospital said in a statement on Tuesday.

Though surgery and knee transplants can be a solution for the knee damages, a majority of the people delay their knee surgery till the last stage without knowing that it is actually deteriorating their spine further, doctors opined.

He said postponing the right treatment for the knee further worsens the condition and may lead to serious problems in the spine.

Rajeev Jain, orthopedic surgeon at Safdarjung hospital said: “To help people avail the benefit of advanced treatment options, it is important that they know about the safer technologies like minimally invasive joint replacement surgeries which offer better clinical outcomes along with ensuring a quicker recovery without much blood loss or a hospital stay.”

“…lack of awareness around right eating habits, healthy lifestyle, and available treatment options is further worsening the situation,” said Jain.

Targeting fat-tissue hormone may lead to type 2 diabetes treatment

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engorged cell and diabetes

The cells engorged with fats (blue) secrete aP2 at high levels resulting in development of diabetes. Photo: Ana Paula Arruda

For immediate release: December 23, 2015

A new study by researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and colleagues describes the pre-clinical development of a therapeutic that could potentially be used to treat type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and other metabolic diseases. The researchers developed an antibody that improves glucose regulation and reduces fatty liver in obese mice by targeting a hormone in adipose (fat) tissue called aP2 (also known as FABP4).

The study was published online December 23, 2015 in Science Translational Medicine.

“The importance of this study is two-fold: first, demonstrating the importance of aP2 as a critical hormone in abnormal glucose metabolism, and secondly, showing that aP2 can be effectively targeted to treat diabetes and potentially other immunometabolic diseases,” said Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, J.S. Simmons Professor of Genetics and Metabolism and chair of the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases and the Sabri Ülker Center at Harvard Chan School.

The work is the product of a collaboration on immunometabolism between the biopharmaceutical company UCB and a team of researchers led by Hotamisligil and lead author M. Furkan Burak, a former Hotamisligil lab member and currently a resident in internal medicine at Mount Auburn Hospital, Cambridge, MA. This partnership successfully twins UCB’s world-class expertise in monoclonal antibody discovery with Hotamisligil’s insight and experience in aP2 biology.

The increase in adipose tissue characteristic of obesity has long been linked to increased risk for metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Recently, it has become clear that the tissue itself plays an active role in metabolic disease, in part by releasing hormones which act in distant sites such as the liver, muscle, and brain that affect systemic metabolism. Work from the Hotamisligil lab previously identified the protein aP2 as a critical hormone mediating communication between adipose tissue and liver. Since aP2 levels are significantly increased in humans with obesity, diabetes, and atherosclerosis, and mutations that reduce aP2 result in significantly reduced risk of diabetes, dyslipidemia, and heart disease, strategies to modify aP2 function carry promise as new lines of therapeutic entities against these common and debilitating chronic diseases.

In the new study, Burak and colleagues describe the development and evaluation of novel monoclonal antibodies targeting aP2. The team found that one of these antibodies effectively improved glucose regulation in two independent models of obesity. Additionally, beneficial reductions in liver fat were observed.

These monoclonal antibodies have the potential to be transformative first-in-class therapeutics to fight obesity-related metabolic and immunometabolic disease, say the authors. This work is still at the preclinical stage and will require extensive evaluation for safety and effectiveness before being considered for use in humans.

Other Harvard Chan School authors included Karen Inouye, Ariel White, Alexandra Lee, Gurol Tuncman, Ediz Calay, Motohiro Sekiya, Amir Tirosh, and Kosei Eguchi.

The technology described in this study is licensed to UCB and is supported by a sponsored research grant from UCB to Hotamisligil.

“Development of a therapeutic monoclonal antibody that targets secreted fatty acid binding protein aP2 to treat type 2 diabetes,” M. Furkan Burak, Karen E. Inouye, Ariel White, Alexandra Lee, Gurol Tuncman, Ediz S. Calay, Motohiro Sekiya, Amir Tirosh, Kosei Eguchi, Gabriel Birrane, Daniel Lightwood, Louise Howells, Geofrey Odede, Hanna Hailu, Shauna West, Rachel Garlish, Helen Neale, Carl Doyle, Adrian Moore, Gökhan S. Hotamisligil, Science Translational Medicine, online December 23, 2015.

Men With Beards More Likely To Cheat

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Dating News: Men With Beards More Likely To Cheat

Long Story Short

A survey has found that bearded men are more likely to fight, cheat and steal than those who are clean-shaven. (But at least they look on-trendwhile they’re doing it.)

Long Story

Karl Marx? Kleptomaniac. Father Christmas? Fights with elves all the time. Hagrid from Harry Potter? The man’s got side chicks galore.

OK, so those aren’t exactly facts, but hear us out. A recent survey has revealed some damning stats about men with beards:

  • Bearded men are 27% more likely to cheat, with almost half (47%) admitting to have cheated in the past, compared to just 20% of clean-shaven men.
  • Men with beards are 16% more likely to get a kick out of a fight, with 45% of them saying that they’d enjoy it.
  • And 40% of men with facial hair have admitted to stealing things in the past, compared to 17% of smooth-faced men.

And if you’re sitting there stroking your whiskers and shaking your head in disappointment, the survey revealed even more facts that will kick you while you’re down: women don’t like beards either. 65% of them said that it wasn’t a good look for a modern man, half of them would never date a man with a full-beard, and 39% are worried that they might find food in it (legit concern).

Basically the research, commissioned by video social network eva, seems to say that men with beards are generally terrible human beings. Which we’re sure is not an accusation that either Rick Ross or Jesus is going to take lying down.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Is there really a difference between bearded and non-bearded human beings?

Do you always throw away silica pouches Here s why shouldn t

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MOST of us find those little packets of silica gel that come in purses, handbags and shoes you buy pointless – but they are actually more useful than you think.

In fact, you should hold on to them as some of their uses might surprise you.

Silica gel is full of tiny pores made from silicon dioxide and is a desiccant, which means it absorbs moisture from the air.

 Silica_gel_bag_open_with_beads copy

An ordinary 10g bag can absorb up to four grams of water – 20 to 40 per cent of its own weight.

Although the warning signs such as “do not eat” and “keep way from babies” is enough to put us off and chuck them out, we really should be paying attention to these helpful little bags.

Here’s how you can put them to good use:

Rescue your drowned phone

Whether it’s a swimming pool, a puddle, even the loo, dropping your phone in water usually spells certain death for the device

But you can save your phone from drowning by leaving it in a bowl of silica bags – and apparently it’s 10 times more effective than leaving it in a bowl of rice.

-640x365 copy taken from nexusconsultancy.co.uk
Save your phone from drowning by putting it in a bowl of silica packets instead of rice

Preserving your photos and books

Cherish your memories by putting those silica bags in your box of old photos so that you can always look back at those happy times.

Some people love the smell of a dusty old book – but not everyone. Put those offending book in a bag with a few packets of silica gel and the smell will disappear

Now’s your last chance to see Comet Catalina in your lifetime

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New Year’s Day brings a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic event.

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Over the next few weeks, one of the most beautiful comets we’ve ever discovered, Comet Catalina, will pass by Earth in what’s expected to be its first and only visit to the inner Solar System.

And while its closest flyby for those in the Northern Hemisphere will be on 17 January 2016, you might want to stash some binoculars in your bag on New Year’s Day – on 1 January, Comet Catalina is expected to move within 0.4 degrees (less than the apparent width of the Moon) of Arcturus – one of the brightest stars in the sky. If ever there were a ridiculous space photography moment, this is it.

Whenever you choose to look up, just make sure you’ve got some help. Comet Catalina should be pretty bright, and against really dark skies you might be able to spot it with the naked eye, but it’s best to be prepared and take some binoculars or a little telescope with you on your skywatching trip.

The best time to spot it will be late at night on 17 January, when it’ll be about 100,000,000 kilometres away. That sounds like a whole lot, but that’s actually pretty close for a comet. Once it hits its closest point, it’ll draw away from Earth, becoming increasingly hard to see, so make that your deadline!

Oh and bad news for our Southern Hemisphere readers – if you haven’t seen Comet Catalina this year already, it’s too late now. Better hop on a plane quick-smart!

The Sky and Telescope website has a map of the sky that’ll help those of you in the Northern Hemisphere find it.

As astronomer Phil Plait says over at Slate, what makes this comet so special is that because of a trick of perspective, Comet Catalina looks like it’s got two tails pointing in different directions.

One’s made from gas and the other from dust, and because of the angle from which those in the Northern Hemisphere will be viewing it, it looks like tail is shooting out in front of it and one behind. Have your cameras ready!

The other really cool thing is where Catalina has been for the past several million years. Plait explains:

“Catalina is coming from very deep space, probably out in the Oort cloud – the vast repository of icy bodies far, far beyond the orbit of Neptune. Its orbit may have originally been millions of years long!

But something gave it a kick – perhaps a star that passed a couple of light years away a million years ago, or the tides from the galaxy itself – and dropped it toward the Sun. This kick also gave it a teeny bit more energy, just enough added speed that it achieved escape velocity. That means it has enough energy to escape from the Sun altogether, and is on its way out of the Solar System forever (this is technically called a hyperbolic orbit).”

So don’t let this one go – you’ve got one shot this month, and then it’s gone forever. Get your cameras, binoculars, and telescopes ready, and if New Year’s Day is becoming all too stressful because you don’t know what to do when with whom, just tell everyone you’re spending it with Comet Catalina.

FDA expediting approval for deadly flu shot linked to autoimmune disorders, paralysis and death

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Last week, Vaccines.news published a snippet about the FDA fast tracking an incredibly dangerous flu vaccine called FLUAD. The piece generated a lot of buzz, prompting us to provide our readers with the full scoop.

Prepare to share this news with all of your friends and family, because, after reading this, you really wouldn’t want your loved ones to have this vaccine, which is scheduled to be rolled out for the 2015/2016 flu season.

Officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have decided to accelerate the license of a flu vaccine geared for use in seniors over the age of 65, and also one that has been linked to at least 13 deaths last year, prompting several countries to temporarily suspend vaccine lots containing the drug.

The fact that the FDA is fast tracking this vaccine is a mystery, as that approval process is typically reserved for emergencies during vaccine shortages.

Developed by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, FLUAD, also known as MF59, contains a squalene-based adjuvant that’s added to enhance the body’s immune system response. Adjuvants, many of which are toxic, are added to vaccines as a cost-effective way to increase antibody titers using fewer antigens.

Squalene adjuvant vaccines create an extremely strong antibody response that may cause death in some people

While squalene occurs naturally in the human body in small amounts to assist with vitamin D production, administering synthetic squalene is much different, particularly when it’s injected via a vaccine.

When the body’s immune system is exposed to a vaccine, it induces cytokine storms, a potentially fatal reaction involving your red blood cells. When squalene adjuvants are introduced to the body via vaccines, the body’s immune system invokes a furious attack against its naturally produced squalene, leading to a number of autoimmune disorders including partial or complete paralysis, rheumatism and even death, according to Sott.net.

“This outcome was common during the 1976 national fake swine flu epidemic that spawned a very strong vaccination push,” subsequently generating numerous lawsuits due to the number of deaths it caused, leading to the eventual creation of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVIP).

Vaccine injuries and deaths led to the creation of vaccine compensation program

NVIP was established in 1988 supposedly “to compensate vaccine-related injury or death claims,” but in reality, it was just there to protect vaccine makers from being held liable for harm caused by their products. According to Health Impact News:

“The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was established by Congress because the drug manufacturers threatened to stop manufacturing vaccines if they were not granted legal immunity from damages due to vaccines. It was no longer profitable for them to continue manufacturing vaccines in a free market, because of the large amount of lawsuits for injuries and deaths due to vaccines. So instead of requiring the drug companies to produce safer vaccines, Congress granted them total immunity from civil litigation due to injuries or deaths resulting from vaccines.

“Today, one cannot sue drug companies for damages or deaths due to vaccines. You have to sue the Federal Government and try to get some of the funds ‘set aside’ from this Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund that your tax dollars paid for to begin with.”

Vaccines containing squalene adjuvants have a pretty frightening track record. For one, these vaccines were prohibited for quite some time, thus adding less credibility to its effectiveness, and more to its risk.

Secondly, three people died within 48 hours of being vaccinated with MF59 on November 28, 2014, which was reportedby the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP).

On November 29, 2014, that number rose to 11.

Controversy encircled Novartis flu vaccines even before those deaths. In 2012, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Spain and France suspended deliveries of four flu vaccines produced by Novartis after testing identified possible side effects.

Italy eventually lifted their ban, and unfortunately, 13 people paid the price with their lives.

Thirdly, squalene adjuvants used in experimental anthrax vaccines were strongly linked to Gulf War Syndrome (GWS), also known as Desert Storm Disease, which killed more soldiers than combat. GWS symptoms include fatigue, persistent headaches, neurological symptoms (tingling/numbness in limbs), chemical sensitivities, heart problems, respiratory complications and many more.

Squalene adjuvants allow toxins to cross blood-brain barrier

Author and retired neurosurgeon Dr. Russell Blaylock warns:

“No one should take the swine flu vaccine — it is one of the most dangerous vaccines ever devised. It contains an immune adjuvant called squalene (MF-59) which has been shown to cause severe autoimmune disorders such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus. This is the vaccine adjuvant that is strongly linked to the Gulf War syndrome, which killed over 10,000 soldiers and caused a 200% increase in the fatal disease ALS (Lou Gehreg disease),” reports Sott.net.

FLUAD consists of a combination of squalene and Polysorbate 80, a common surfactant used in vaccines, which literally blows up the blood brain barrier allowing aluminum, Thimerasol (a mercury derivative) and other vaccine toxicants to enter the brain, creating dementia and other debilitating neurological disease, Scott.net reports.

In addition to FLUAD, Novartis manufactures two other flu vaccines that are currently used in the U.S., Flucelvax and Fluvirin.