Around 25 years ago, doctors in the U.S discovered the first cases of Acquired immune deficiency syndrome, generally known as “AIDS” in San Francisco and New York. Now, 42 million people are suffering from AIDS globally, according to estimation, and the mortality rate is almost 3 million, each year, due to AIDS-related diseases.

AIDS is mainly caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This virus destroys CD4 lymphocyte, which acts as defense cell in the human body. These cells are very essential part of immunity system that wrestles infectious diseases. People infected with this virus become immune deficient and start to get serious infections that they normally wouldn’t.

In such a huge population it is essential to have a HIV test that is quite common now a day. Even you can test your blood for HIV infection via home HIV test kit that is cost effective too.

There are some misconceptions about the spreading of HIV, even in social setup most of us used to keep away the HIV infected human beings as they thought, that the virus can spread through air or touch. It’s totally wrong; HIV requires aqueous media to transmit from one person to another.

Read the rest of this entry »

According to U.K researchers, aerobic exercise can prove more helpful to suppress appetite than some non-aerobic activity.

In this study, 11 university students (male) were involved who took part in three kinds of sessions. In the first session, they were asked to run on a treadmill for 60min, and then took rest for seven hrs. In the other session, the participants were asked to do weight training for 90min and then took rest for 6.5 hrs. In the last session, the participants didn’t perform any exercise.

In every session, these students got two meals and they were also asked to report hunger levels at different points in every session. Then the researchers noted the levels of ghrelin and peptide YY—two basic appetite hormones—among the participants.

Read the rest of this entry »

A review suggests that fish oil may help to decrease the number of heart diseases’ related deaths, but it appears to have no help for patients with heart beat problems.

The review has been based on the results of various fish oil related studies in which nearly 30,000 patients were involved. The researchers from the University of Alberta conducted the study and it has been published in the journal BMJ online edition.

The researchers found that it was reported in almost 11 studies that fish oil helped to decrease heart problem 20%. But no study could determine the most favorable formulation or recommended dose for fish oil.

Read the rest of this entry »

As men get older, they often have to suffer from enlarged prostate, as the gland often swells with age. This enlarged prostrate becomes the cause of many painful symptoms and it is essential for men with enlarged prostate to get medical treatment promptly.

According to a study, nearly 52% of men with an enlarged gland do not have any symptoms, but if they have to suffer from the following, they must reckon them as warning signs.

1. Slow start of urination and with a weaker stream.
2. To face difficulty when passing urine or even in some cases it becomes almost impossible to urinate. Read the rest of this entry »

A new study finds that nearly 75% type1 diabetic kids and teens have vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D deficiency often becomes the cause of osteoporosis and other bone diseases particularly those who suffer from type1 diabetes. Though our skin can produce vitamin D in sunlight and many diets are replete with this vitamin, scientists say that vitamin D supplements are quite essential to get its balance levels.

Dr. Britta Svoren, who led the study, says: “Our study finds that kids with type1 diabetes had quite lower levels of vitamin D, so much lower as we were not expecting.”

“Mineral density of bones is linked with type1 diabetes and it often becomes the cause of fractures and different bone diseases like osteoporosis. It is also possible that vitamin D may play an important role in developing diabetes,” she added.

Read the rest of this entry »

As you start your journey towards motherhood, first time, it might be possible that you have vast sum of preparation, anxiety, fear or misinformation.

Feeling good about your own is the only key to making the most of the successful childbearing year. Women, who accept the changes gleefully, celebrate the variation that occur to her during pregnancy, face the challenge of delivery, and freely manage the pregnancy stages, hormonal and emotional changes of the postnatal period.

Division of expecting mothersk

Unfortunately, Majority of women don’t step into pregnancy with healthy self-images. Feeling good about themselves could get extremely difficult, as their bodies experience pregnancy signs. At that time they need a high level of motivation from friends and family in the first challenging year of their lives.

Read the rest of this entry »

Food and drug Administration have granted approval to two new zero-calorie sweeteners made by the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, opening the channel for new products.

Cargill, already marketing the low calorie sweetener Truvia from the Coca-Cola Company, said that, legal notification of approval had been delivered to the company from F.D.A. with no objection certificate to the product, calling it “generally recognized as safe.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Three newly conducted studies strengthen the evidence that a minor procedure of circumcision protects men against deadly AIDS virus and the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer in women.

Dr. Bertran Auvert and his colleagues examined more than 1,200 men visiting a clinic in South Africa.

They found that, less than 15 percent of circumcised males and 22 percent of uncircumcised men were infected and the carrier of HPV, which is the main cause of cervical cancer and genital warts in females.

Read the rest of this entry »

Unsafe sex sets women at higher HIV risk than men, as the results of a study show that the virus can penetrate even safe vaginal tissue.

Previously, it was believed that just damaged vaginal tissue could pave a way for the virus. But now the current findings suggest that HIV can breach the healthy tissue as well.

Different HIV charities in UK urged women to avoid unsafe sex without knowing about the health of their partner.

Squamous epithelium, the vaginal lining was believed to keep the infection at bay, but the study says that the Virus can penetrate it as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

Six new mutant genes have identified in connection with obesity, which alter nervous system control over eating and metabolic rate, researchers reported.

Joel Hirschhorn in collaboration with Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits (GIANT) analyzes 15 different studies conducted on entire human genetic map and isolates six new genetic variations.

“These findings are a big achievement in better comprehension of the way, human body regulates weight,” Dr. Alan Guttmacher, said in a statement.

“This study really doubles in one fell swoop the number of genetic factors contributing to obesity as a public health problem,” added Dr. Kari Stefansson.

Read the rest of this entry »

All of us know, smoking is injurious to health. Smoking not only harms lungs but nearly all vital organs of the body. According to estimation, cigarette smoking contributes up to 87 percent of lung cancer deaths. In real smoking facts, it is also responsible for many other types of cancers and health abnormalities such as Respiratory track disease, cardiovascular diseases, stroke, cataracts etc.

Female smokers have an elevated risk of certain complications during pregnancy or having a baby die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Not only for you, cigarette smoke is also harmful for other people in your surrounding, they breathe in your exhaled smoke, known as secondhand smoke, and can catch up in many of the same problems as smokers do. Quit tobacco smoking can reduce your risk of such deadly diseases. The earlier you quit, the greater the health benefit you shall enjoy.

Read the rest of this entry »

With the decrease of marijuana and alcohol use, the abuse of painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin has increased in teens, according to a new report.

In U.S. improvement has been seen in many drug uses since late ’90s, but from last two years the down ward trend has stopped.

“In this need of the hour we have to put our maximum efforts, because although there have been improvements, but still the rates are higher with respect to international standards, and it’s the matter of the prime concern in terms of the risk to the health of our community in the long run,” Dr Wilson M. Compton said.

Report mentioned the use of prescription painkillers among adolescence remains high, with some 10 percent of seniors saying they used Vicodin and 4.7 percent said they used Oxycontin in the past year.

Read the rest of this entry »