Saturday 29 October, 2011

Tips for smooth and sexy skin - The Times of India

Tips for smooth and sexy skin - The Times of India

Thursday 27 October, 2011

Some Help To Prevent/Treat BACK PAIN..

Back pain can occur due to various factors such as muscle strain, sprain or slipped disc. Being overweight can make back pain worse. One of the most common causes of back pain is doing work that you are not used to, such as carrying heavy objects or engaging in strenuous physical work.

What is a slipped disc?
The bones that make up your spine contain disc-like structures between them. When a disc gets swollen and presses against the nerves, the condition is called slipped disc. It can be extremely painful and can affect the quality of your life.
The condition is usually caused while trying to lift heavy objects. Sometimes you may not be aware of the cause of your slipped disc. The good news is that slipped disc and other forms of back pain can be relieved by doing some simple exercises and/or medications. Getting your muscles in better shape and improving your posture when you are sitting, standing and sleeping can also help in preventing back ache.



Back pain relief

If you have hurt your back or are suffering from a backache, follow these steps to get some quick relief:
  • Lie on your back on the floor with pillows under your knees as shown in the picture.
  • You may also keep your feet on a chair with your hips and knees bent as depicted in the picture.
  • Do this simple procedure for 1–2 days.
  • Do not employ this procedure for long as it can weaken your muscles and delay pain relief.
  • Walk for 5–10 minutes once in a while, even if you have pain, as physical movement aids in faster recovery.
  • Other procedures such as using heating pads, ice packs and body massages can also provide relief. But it is best to consult your doctor before using any of these procedures.



Seeking medical help
If you experience one or more of the following symptoms, get in touch with your doctor immediately:
  • Your back pain spreads down up to your knees.
  • You feel numb in your groin, rectal area, legs and foot.
  • You have fever, weakness and sweating.
  • The pain is so unbearable that you are not able to move.
  • The pain does not go away even after 2 or 3 weeks.

Preventing back pain

The following tips will help you guard yourself from hurting your back:
  • When you lift heavy objects, keep your knees bent and squat while lifting the object. Do not bend to lift it.
  • While carrying the object hold it close to your chest, keep your spine erect and straight.
  • When you are lifting the object, do not twist your body.
  • When you move heavy objects, push it instead of pulling it.
  • Do not remain seated for long hours. Get up once in a while and stretch your body.
  • Do not wear high heeled footwear.
  • Exercise regularly. Lack of exercise can cause backache.






While standing
When you stand for long hours, shift your body weight from one foot to the other. You can also keep one foot in an elevated position by placing it on a stone, stool or raised platform. Stand straight and maintain a good posture.

While sitting
Use chairs with straight backs which provide adequate support to your lower back. When you want to turn, do so by moving your entire body. Do not twist your body at the waist. This can cause back strain. While driving, sit straight with your seat forward within easy reach of the controls.

While sleeping
Sleep on your side with your knees bent. Put a pillow under your head to support your neck. If you sleep on your back, put pillows under your knees and a small pillow under your lower back.

Finally…
Certain exercises can help you strengthen your back. However, consult your doctor before doing these exercises; your doctor knows what is best for you.

Wednesday 26 October, 2011

Power Yoga For Weight Loss

Power Yoga is a derivative of Ashthanga Yoga to make Yoga more accessible to the Western audience and to make it easier to adapt. Ashthanga Yoga involves synchronizing the breath with a progressive series of postures—a process producing intense internal heat and a profuse, purifying sweat that detoxifies muscles and organs. The result is improved circulation, a light and strong body, and a calm mind.

Power Yoga on the other hand is more of a general term to describe a vigorous, fitness-based approach to Vinyasa- style yoga. Therefore, any power yoga class can vary widely from the next.

Power yoga has gained popularity around the world because it gives you a whole body workout, with flexibility, toning, strength building, and functional movements and also elicits properties of what a good aerobics or cardio session can do. Power yoga is one of the most modern forms of yoga as it has adapted to taking all the learnings of yoga and uniting them with today’s more urgent need of weight loss and fitness, by making yoga upbeat and current. The fast pace of power yoga is what makes it popular, as today most people do not feel they have had a good workout unless they have profusely sweated or had a high heart rate.

Benefits of Power Yoga

1. Burns calories
2. Increases stamina, strength, flexibility and tones our body and core.
3. Increases metabolism
4. Alleviates stress and tension and improves focus.
5. Increases flexibility and strength in glutes and other inactive muscles.

Power Yoga vs. a Good Cardio Session

While an hour of a good all out cardio session may burn twice as many calories, power yoga feeds your muscles as it works on your core and helps tone and streamline your body, and builds lean muscle. Since power yoga not only burns calories, but also builds lean muscle it is very effective for weight loss, as building lean muscle means it increases metabolism thus being more effective in burning fat.

A cardio session may burn more calories but it does not necessarily burn fat, and doing more and more cardio may even deplete your muscle reserves, which is not a good idea for long-term weight loss.

What should you do?

If your aim is weight loss and fat burn
, 2 sessions of power yoga a week is a good addition to any routine. If you do more of cardio and haven’t started lifting weights, power yoga will strengthen your body and prepare your muscles to start lifting weights. A good mix of power yoga and cardio is also a good sustainable weight loss plan. 

If you are a runner or if you lift very heavy weights
, in both cases your muscles get contracted because of these workouts, and power yoga helps lengthen your muscles through stretches, again a welcome addition to your routine if you are already at a place where you do not need to lose weight but just add flexibility and leanness.

Saturday 10 September, 2011

5 Best positions to get pregnant fast.

Getting pregnant maybe the easiest of all things, however, some couples do find it hard to conceive for several reasons, including weak or insufficient sperm count. 
In some cases, as when nature needs a boost, a little push from you and your partner can go a long way in getting pregnant. When it comes to the best position to get pregnant, the general rule is that the male sperm must be deposited as near to the female cervix as possible. 
This has something to do with the life spans of the female egg and the male sperm. Once an egg is released from the ovary - a stage also known as ovulation - it begins its path down the fallopian tube to the uterus. A released egg typically survives for only 24 hours, while a sperm can last anywhere from three to five days in the female body. As such, the egg has to be as close to the egg as possible so they can meet and join before the egg dies. 


While not a lot of people will agree that the sexual positions have anything to do with getting pregnant, the logical inference is that it makes sense to assume the position that can help the sperm meet the egg in the shortest possible time. 


This is especially true when for couples who have problems or difficulty conceiving. Having said this, the first "best position to get pregnant" tip is to avoid positions that least expose the cervix to the male sperm, and that generally defy gravity such as sex while standing up, sitting down, or with the woman on top. When trying to conceive, it is best to limit the amount of sperm that flows back out of the vagina. 
The woman's hips should also be positioned in such a way that the sperm released is kept inside, giving it enough time to swim up to the female cervix. 


Consider the following positions instead: 


1. The missionary position. Or man-on-top is said to be the position that's best for getting pregnant. This is because this particular position allows for the deepest possible penetration, making it possible for the sperm to get deposited closest to the cervix. 


2. Raise the hips. Elevating the hips, which can be done by placing a pillow behind her, can also be helpful because this exposes the female cervix to as much semen as the male can release. 


3. Doggy-style. The rear-entry position where the man enters the woman from behind is also a recommended position. In this position, sperm is also deposited closest to the cervix, thereby helping increase the chances of conception. 


4. Side-by-side. You can also try having intercourse while lying side by side. This position likewise causes the most exposure of the cervix to the male sperm. 


5. Orgasms. Finally, while this has nothing to do with sexual positions, there are also researches that suggest the importance of the female orgasm in conceiving. According to studies, female orgasm leads to contractions that could push sperm up into the cervix. The lesson: have fun while trying to conceive.

Saturday 16 July, 2011

Have a lot of sex to bust stress

According to a survey more and more couples are turning away from sex simply because they are too tired after work. 

This is especially true of young couples in metros who are too busy running the rat race to devote time in the bedroom. The keeping up with the Joneses syndrome has overtaken all desire for physical intimacy. 

So, is it time to push the alarm button? Yes, say experts who feel that physical intimacy between couples is the key to a happy and stress-free relationship. Sex is much more than just a physical act and is very important for one's physical and emotional health. Some recent studies claim that sex practiced in a cozy atmosphere works as an effective stress buster. 

Because of deep breathing and touching involved in sexual activities, our body produces hormones called 'endorphins'. These hormones are also known as 'feel-good' hormones, because of the moment of pleasure they bring along. Therefore, sex does not only bring in a feeling of well-being but a calming effect too. 

Shriya Gupta, a homemaker opines, "Though it's only for a short period but sex actually relives you from all your worries and you feel much better. Not only intercourse but foreplay also helps in decreasing the stress level to a certain extent. Sex is a way of expressing your feelings with your physical self involved in it. I think it is a very romantic way of relaxing with your spouse. Above all, it really helps you in burning so many calories." 

Many individuals believe that because of their healthy sex life, they feel more emotionally involved with their partner. However, we cannot forget that only pleasurable sex can increase the sense of attachment between couples. 

Noted psychiatrist Dr Sameer Parikh says, "There is a very scientific way to look at it as merely sex will not help much. If you consider sex as one of the daily chores then you will not get any satisfaction out of it. Sex demands your physical as well as mental involvement. I think it is an extension of a relationship which strengthens the bond between two individuals." 

Model Amanpreet Wahi shares, "I know a lot of couples who have a healthy sex life and it does translates into great chemistry between them. It is a beautiful thing that binds two people together. Sex is also one of the ways of loving each other as saying 'I love you' is not enough sometimes. I know a couple, both of them are approaching 50 but they still have sex regularly as they think it enhances their bond." 

Unfortunately, in the quest of attaining a stress-free life, sex is taking a back seat. The desire for material pleasures is killing the basic desire of pleasuring each other. 

Kunal Sharma, software professional admits, "After a close encounter with my wife I feel relieved and sleep well at night. However, many a times, my mind is so occupied with several other things that I can't concentrate on sex. If I push myself for sex, I don't enjoy it and it becomes tough to keep myself involved." 

Sex is a dimension of love and experts believe that ignoring yours and your partners' sexual desires can be hazardous for a relationship. 

Dr Rachna Singh, holistic medicine and lifestyle management expert says, "With today's fast paced life, pressure on relationships has increased. With demanding professional lives, most of us end up ignoring our personal needs. Not having a good sex life can result into dissatisfaction between couples. " 

Priyanka Tiwari says, "My husband and I work with a BPO. Our timings are completely different and we hardly get time for each other. Most of the time, we end up fighting or yelling at each other over petty issues. We hardly have any sex life now. Whenever I want to make love, he says he is too tired and when he pursues me, I think of my early morning shift and prefer to sleep. " 

The fast pace of life today is leaving us with no time for basic and simple pleasures. With our busy schedules, it is quite easy to forget about your partner's needs. Experts feel that couples should set themselves extra time for those special moments – after all, there is no simpler and effective stress buster than some action between the sheets. 

Ramneek Pantal, model thinks, "If you don't get time on weekdays you can always plan out something special for weekends like a small vacation, a long drive or simply a romantic dinner. Sometimes you have to go out of your way to please your partner but it's worth it." 

Monday 11 July, 2011

10 Steps to a More Kissable Lips and Mouth



10: Brush Your Teeth
at least twice a day, in the morning and at night. And don't just focus on your teeth; you should spend 2 to 3 minutes each session brushing all surfaces of the teeth, your tongue and your palate

9: Floss Every Day
To keep your mouth thoroughly kissable, you'll need to do more than just brush. Floss at least once a day. It's good for removing plaque and food particles between teeth and between teeth and gums. Use a long piece of floss: 18 to 24 inches (45 to 60 centimeters). 

8: Prevent Bad Breath

If you're cozying up for a kiss, you'll want to avoid bad breath. Easier said than done? Not if you understand what causes it. The sweetness of your breath is affected by your diet, your brushing and flossing routine, tobacco use and your health status. Strong foods such as onions and garlic are digested and carried through the bloodstream to the lungs; their scents are noticed when you exhale. In addition, if you don't floss and brush regularly, food stays in your mouth, decomposing and harboring bacteria.

7: Minimize Sugar Consumption

What's worse for a kiss (and your health) than a mouthful of decaying teeth? Every time you eat, you're providing fuel to the bacteria that attack your tooth enamel. Try to minimize the foods that are primary contributors -- added, refined and natural sugars.

6: Visit Your Dentist
See your dentist regularly; every six months is the usual recommendation. 

5: Avoid Tobacco
Smoking or chewing tobacco products can ruin the kissability of your mouth, leading to stained teeth, bad breath and receding gums. So if you want a healthy mouth, don't use tobacco.

4: Prevent Stains
Keeping your teeth healthy is great, but, to enhance kissability, teeth should be as white as possible. There are several ways to reduce stains. Going to the dentist twice a year can help enormously.

3: Use Fluoride
This next tip may be as easy as drinking a glass of water: Use fluoride to reduce cavities. Fluoride is often found in municipal drinking water. If you don't drink fluoridated water because you have a well or use bottled water, you may want to speak to your dentist about supplements.

2: Avoid Gingivitis
Who wants to kiss a mouth full of bloody gums? Gingivitis, the first stage of gum disease, is characterized by swollen and bleeding gums. It is uncomfortable and can be the first step toward tooth loss. Gingivitis is caused by plaque irritating the gums.Regular brushing, flossing and professional cleaning can prevent gingivitis.

1: Use a Mouth Rinse
Now that you've done everything else on the list to make your mouth truly kissable, there's one last, quick refresher. In addition to brushing and flossing, your dentist may recommend a therapeutic mouth rinse. Such rinses have been judged to be safe for consumers and effective for specific uses, such as controlling gingivitis, delivering fluoride and controlling bad breath.


Monday 4 July, 2011

Yoga can Tackle Mental Disorders!!

Yoga is no longer a traditional fitness workout. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans) not only has a 45-minute yoga package to treat psychiatric disorders like depression and schizophrenia, but has started comparing its curative effects with general medicine.

Doctors at Nimhans say their studies reveal evidence of biological changes in the body brought about by yoga. They prescribe yoga therapy along with medication in major ailments, while using yoga therapy alone for less serious disorders.

Nimhans is currently doing rigorous clinical trials on the impact of yoga in treatment. Doctors are also measuring biological parameters in patients after yoga therapy. This project has been taken up as the scientific community has still not accepted the role of yoga despite even mainstream doctors prescribing it with allopathic treatment.

"In all our investigations, there is a high degree of evidence that yoga in different forms does have a curative effect in diseases like depression, memory loss in elderly persons, schizophrenia and others. We worked out specific protocols for yoga for specific neurological problems. The degree of improvement is comparable to that of medicine," said Dr BN Gangadhar, programme director,Advanced Centre for Yoga, Nimhans.

"We found that chanting of 'Om' reduces activity of sensors which have become hyperactive in patients suffering from depression," Gangadhar added.

Friday 1 July, 2011

Latest Guidelines for Malaria-treatment and diagnosis.

CLICK HERE for entire .pdf documentation regarding guidelines for malaria treatment and diagnosis in india.
http://www.mrcindia.org/Guidelines_for_Diagnosis2010.pdf


WHO Guidelines-
http://www.who.int/malaria/publications/atoz/mal_treatchild_revised.pdf




About 3.3 billion people - half of the world's population - are at risk of malaria. Every year, this leads to about 250 million malaria cases and nearly one million deaths. People living in the poorest countries are the most vulnerable.
Malaria is especially a serious problem in Africa, where one in every five (20%) childhood deaths is due to the effects of the disease. An African child has on average between 1.6 and 5.4 episodes of malaria fever each year. And every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria.
Malaria is caused by a parasite called Plasmodium, which is transmitted via the bites of infected mosquitoes. In the human body, the parasites multiply in the liver, and then infect red blood cells.
Symptoms of malaria include fever, headache, and vomiting, and usually appear between 10 and 15 days after the mosquito bite. If not treated, malaria can quickly become life-threatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs. In many parts of the world, the parasites have developed resistance to a number of malaria medicines.

Sunday 26 June, 2011

US Soldier's Leg Re-Grown With Extraction from Pig's Bladder


An American soldier, who damaged his leg muscle in an explosion in Afghanistan, is seeing his leg re-grow after he was injected with a growth promoting substance extracted from pigs' bladder.

Marine Isaias Hernandez lost 70 percent of his right thigh muscles when an enemy mortar exploded when he was carrying out repairs to a truck.

Just 19-years-old when he was wounded, the soldier would have had to get his leg amputated, had he not chanced upon this miraculous treatment.

"It was a remarkable recovery," the Daily Mail quoted Stephen Badylak, the tissue engineering director at the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh as saying.

Since the experimental growth hormone was used, Hernandez has regained most of the strength in his right thigh.

The pioneering new treatment allows for a revolution in how potential amputee victims are treated. It also offers hope to the hundreds of maimed veterans returning from conflicts with severe limb trauma.

Source-ANI


Monday 6 June, 2011

Why we KISS: The Science of Sex


Pecking, smooching, Frenching, and playing tonsil-hockey—there are as many names for kissing as there are ways to do it. Whether we use it as an informal greeting or an intensely romantic gesture, kissing is one of those ingrained human behaviors that seems to defy explanation. Its many purposes—a blow and peck for good luck on dice, lips to ground after a rocky boat ride, kisses in the air to an acquaintance, and the long slow smooches of Hollywood—have different meanings yet are similar in nature. So why is it that we love to pucker up?
A Kiss Isn’t Just a Kiss
Philematologists, the scientists who study kissing, aren’t exactly sure why humans started locking lips in the first place. The most likely theory is that it stems from primate mothers passing along chewed food to their toothless babies. The lip-to-lip contact may have been passed on through evolution, not only as a necessary means of survival, but also as a general way to promote social bonding and as an expression of love.
But something’s obviously happened to kissing since the time of the chewed-food pass. Now, it’s believed that kissing helps transfer critical information, rather than just meat bits. The kissing we associate with romantic courtship may help us to choose a good mate, send chemical signals, and foster long-term relationships. All of this is important in evolution’s ultimate goal—successful procreation. 
Kissing allows us to get close enough to a mate to assess essential characteristics about them, none of which we’re consciously processing. Part of this information exchange is most likely facilitated by pheromones, chemical signals that are passed between animals to help send messages. We know that animals use pheromones to alert their peers of things like mating, food sources, and danger, and researchers hypothesize that pheromones can play a role in human behavior as well. Although the vomeronasal organs, which are responsible for pheromone detection and brain function in animals, are thought to be vestigial and inactive in humans, research indicates we do communicate with chemicals.
The first study to indicate that chemical signals play a role in attraction was conducted by Claud Wedekind over a decade ago. Women sniffed the worn t-shirts of men and indicated which shirts smelled best to them. By comparing the DNA of the women and the men, researchers found that women didn’t just chose their favorite scent randomly. They preferred the scent of man whose major histocompatibility complex (MHC)—a series of genes involved in our immune system—was different from their own. Having a different MHC means less immune overlap and a better chance of healthy, robust offspring. Kissing may be a subtle way for women to assess the immune compatibility of a mate, before she invests too much time and energy in him. Perhaps a bad first kiss means more than first date jitters—it could also mean a real lack of chemistry.
Men Sloppy, Women Choosy
Behavioral research supports this biological reasoning. In 2007, researchers at University of Albany studied 1,041 college student and found significant differences in how males and females perceived kissing. Although common in courtship, females put more importance on kissing, and most would never have sex without kissing first. Men, on the other hand, would have sex without kissing beforehand; they would also have sex with someone who wasn’t a good kisser. Since females across species are often the choosier ones when it comes to mate selection, these differences in kissing behavior make sense.
Men are also more likely to initiate French kissing and researchers hypothesize that this is because saliva contains testosterone, which can increase libido. Researchers also think that men might be able to pick up on a woman’s level of estrogen, which is a predictor of fertility.
Crazy for Canoodling
But kissing isn’t all mating practicality; it also feels good. That’s because kissing unleashes a host of feel-good chemicals, helping to reduce stress and increase social bonding. Researcher Wendy Hill and colleagues at Lafayette College looked at how oxytocin, which is involved in pair bonding and attachment, and cortisol, a stress hormone, changed after people kissed. Using a small sample of college couples that were in long-term relationships, they found cortisol levels decreased after kissing. The longer the couples had been in a relationship, the farther their levels dropped. Cortisol levels also decreased for the control group—couples that just held hands—indicating that social attachment in general can decrease stress levels, not just kissing.
http://doctorajsean.blogspot.com/

Looking at oxytocin levels, the researchers found that they increased only in the males, whereas the researchers thought it would increase in both sexes. They hypothesized that it could be that women need more than a kiss to stimulate attachment and bonding, or that the sterile environment of the research lab wasn’t conducive to creating a feeling of attachment.
Kissing, therefore, plays a role not only in mate selection, but also in bonding. At an Association for the Advancement of Science meeting on the science of kissing, Helen Fischer, an evolutionary biologist, posits multiple reasons for lip locking. She believes that kissing is involved in the three main types of attraction humans have: sex drive, which is ruled by testosterone; romantic love, which is ruled by dopamine and other feel-good hormones; and attachment, which involves bonding chemicals like oxytocin. Kissing, she postulates, evolved to help on all three fronts. Saliva, swapped during romantic kisses, has testosterone in it; feel-good chemicals are distributed when we kiss that help fuel romance; and kissing also helps unleash chemicals that promote bonding, which provides for long term attachment, necessary for raising offspring.  
Sniff, Snuggle, and Turn Right
Yet, not all cultures or mammals kiss. Some mammals have close contact with each others’ faces via licking, grooming, and sniffing, which may transmit the necessary information. And although chimps may pass food from mother to child, the notoriously promiscuous bonobos are apparently the only primates that truly kiss. And while it’s thought that 90 percent of the human population kisses, there’s still the 10 percent that doesn’t. So it seems that as much as we use kissing to gather genetic and compatibility information, our penchant for kissing also has to do with our cultural beliefs surrounding it.
Whether we live in a place where kissing is reserved for close acquaintances, or somewhere where a casual greeting means a one, two, or three cheeker, one thing does remain highly consistent: the side to which people turn while kissing. It’s almost always to the right. A 2003 study published in Nature found that twice as many adults turn their heads to the right rather than the left when kissing. This behavioral asymmetry is thought to stem from the same preference for head turning during the final weeks of gestation and during infancy.

One of the best things about kissing, however, is that we don’t have to think about any of this. Just close eyes, pucker up, and let nature takes its course.



http://doctorajsean.blogspot.com/

Darkest lunar eclipse on June 15 - The Times of India

Darkest lunar eclipse on June 15 - The Times of India

Friday 3 June, 2011

High Mobile use can cause Brain Cancer : WHO

NEW DELHI: Talking on the cellphone may possibly lead to a malignant form of brain cancer, the World Health Organization has said. A study done by an arm of the world body has classified radiation coming out of cellphones alongside gasoline engine exhaust, lead and DDT as "possibly carcinogenic to humans".

The International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is under WHO, however, said there wasn't enough evidence yet to conclusively link mobile phone use with cancer.

"The WHO/IARC has classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans (group 2B), based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use," it said.

"This does not mean the link has been firmly established," said IARC's chief of the monograph programme, Dr Kurt Straif, speaking to TOI from Lyon, France. "But there is reason for concern."
The group, consisting of 31 scientists from 14 countries, examined "hundreds of epidemiological studies" on cellphone use to see what the long-term health effects might be after exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic fields.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer's monograph programme, which consists of 31 scientists, said that they reviewed the data from hundreds of studies on effects of cellphone radiation, and believe mobile phone usage is limited to a risk of glioma and acoustis neuroma (a benign but life-threatening tumor).

They did not have enough data to conclude that it could cause any other forms of cancer.

"After going through hundreds of studies, we concluded that there is just a possibility of a link between high cellphone use and brain cancer, not a certainty. We also don't know how much radiation exposure can be termed harmful," Straif said. One of the studies the researchers looked at said that those who had spent 1,600 hours of active call time over 10 years — around 30 minutes a day — could be at highest risk.

"But, what was considered a long talk time a few years back is considered low usage now. So there is no clear picture," he added. According to Dr Straif, it is now left to governments and organizations like WHO to come out with recommendations based on evidence provided by IARC.

"There are some easy ways to reduce exposure, one of them being encouraging emailing or texting, rather than talking on the cell phone, which emanates the high risk. However recommendations have to be made by governments, not IARC which is a research organisation," Dr Straif said. In 2000, IARC had put "extremely low frequency magnetic field radiation" emanating from overhead power lines in the 2B category.


What led IARC to work on cellphones was the increasing number of people using the device. With an estimated five billion cellphone subscriptions worldwide, concerns have been growing regarding the possible health hazards posed by radiofrequency electromagnetic fields.

IARC working group chairman Dr Jonathan Samet said, "The evidence, while still accumulating, is strong enough to support a 2B classification. The conclusion means that there could be some risk, and therefore we need to keep a close watch for a link between cellphones and cancer risk."

Christopher Wild, ARC director, said, "It is important that additional research be conducted into the long term use of mobile phones. Pending such information, it is important to take pragmatic measures to reduce exposure such as hands free devices or texting." The assessment on cellphones comes after similar work was done on solar radiation and ionizing radiation (X-rays and gamma rays). The report summarizing the main conclusions of the IARC working group's work on radio frequency electromagnetic fields (RFD) will be published in the July 1 issue of the British medical journal, Lancet Oncology.

India, meanwhile, is also embarking on its very own largescale cellphone study. To be spearheaded by the Indian Council of Medical Research, the five-year-long study is to be conducted by JNU's School of Environmental Sciences and the departments of obstetrics and gynecology, neurology and biochemistry of AIIMS.

Thursday 2 June, 2011

Study of Sex, Gender, And Reproduction.

A study by researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University finds that men report a variety of different experiences involving sexual desire and arousal.

Men participating in focus groups expressed a range of experiences and feelings relating to such matters as the relationship between erections and desire, the importance of scent and relationships, and a woman's intelligence. The Kinsey Institute study, appearing in the April issue of the journalArchives of Sexual Behavior,is unique because few studies so far have examined how closely the findings of decades of laboratory studies on sex actually reflect the experiences of men.

"We have a lot of assumptions about how men think and feel and behave sexually," said Erick Janssen, associate scientist at the Kinsey Institute. "We use all kinds of methods to measure men's sexual responses; in addition, we use questionnaires and surveys to ask about sexual behaviors. It's less common to sit down with men and ask them to talk about their experiences."

The focus groups involved 50 men divided into three groups based on their age (18-24 years, 25-45 years and 46 and older). Below are some examples of the different experiences reported by the men:

  • Some factors, such as depression or a risk of being caught having sex, were reported by some men as inhibiting sex, while other men found that they can enhance their desire and arousal.
  • An erection is not the main cue for men to know they are sexually aroused. Most of the men responded that they can experience erections without feeling aroused or interested, leading researchers to suggest that erections are not good criteria for determining sexual arousal in men.
  • Many men found it difficult to distinguish between sexual desire and sexual arousal, a distinction prominent in most sexual response models used by researchers and clinicians.
  • The changes in the quality of older men's erections had a direct effect on their sexual encounters, including, for some, a shifting focus to the partner and her sexual enjoyment. Older men also consistently mentioned that as they aged, they became more careful and particular in choosing sexual partners.
  • The sexual history of women also mattered to the men -- but differently for different age groups. Sexually experienced women were considered more threatening by younger men, who had concerns about "measuring up," but such women were considered more arousing for older men.
Janssen and his colleagues at the Kinsey Institute have been working for more than 10 years on a theoretical model that focuses on sexual excitation and sexual inhibition. They refer to this as the dual control model of sexual response. It holds that separate and relatively independent activating and suppressing sexual systems exist within the central nervous system and that the balance between these two systems determines a person's sexual response in any particular situation. Janssen relates this to the gas and break pedals in a vehicle -- both can influence a car's behavior (you can slow down by letting go of the gas or by pressing the brake) but they do so in different ways.

This model is used around the world by sex researchers in studies on topics as varied as sexual dysfunction and sexual risk taking. To measure the propensity for sexual excitation and inhibition, the researchers designed a questionnaire.

The original questionnaire was developed for men, leading researchers at the Kinsey Institute to conduct focus groups with women in an effort to create a similar questionnaire that would be more relevant for women. Janssen said the success of women's focus groups led him and his colleagues to conduct the focus groups with men.

The findings of this latest study ultimately could lead to a more effective questionnaire for the dual control model but also can inform research efforts to better understand the variability in sexual behavior.

"One of the main conclusions of the focus group study is that, just like women, men are different," Janssen said. "Sex researchers tend to focus a lot on differences between men and women, while not giving as much attention to the differences that exist among men, and women. This research is part of a larger agenda at the Kinsey Institute of looking at individual differences. This dates back to Alfred Kinsey's original research, but in our current research we not only try to capture the variations in men and women's sexual experiences -- we also try to understand better what explains variations in those experiences."

Co-authors of the study are Kimberly R. McBride, IU School of Medicine; William Yarber, Department of Applied Health Science; Brandon J. Hill, Department of Gender Studies; and Scott M. Butler, Georgia College and State University.

One step closer to understanding the causes of sexual difficulties in women

Researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction are shedding light on why some women experience sexual problems and others do not.

A study published in the April issue of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior found connections between personality traits such as sexual inhibition and sexual problems.

While previous studies have explored the role demographics such as age, education and socio-economic status play in sexual functioning among women, few have explored the role differences in personality play in predicting current and lifetime sexual problems. In this study, women's sexual inhibition tendencies were more important than other factors in predicting sexual problems.

"Although further research is needed to confirm these findings with other samples, particularly clinical samples of women seeking help for sexual problems, these findings suggest that high scores on sexual inhibition may help predict which women are vulnerable to experience sexual problems," said Cynthia Graham, research fellow at the Kinsey Institute and co-author of the paper. "They may also be used as prognostic factors in treatment studies."

Researchers studied the responses of 540 women on the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women that rated current and sexual problems, lifetime arousal difficulty and lifetime problems with low sexual interest. The strongest predictors of reports of sexual problems were women's sexual inhibition scores. Below are some of the findings:
  • Sexual inhibition scores were the strongest predictor of current and past sexual problems including lifetime arousal difficulty and low sexual interest. They were better predictors than demographic and background factors such as age, socio-economic status, and whether or not women were in a sexual relationship.
  • "Arousal Contingency" or the ease with which arousal can be disrupted by situational factors, and "Concerns about Sexual Function" were the two most predictive of women's sexual problems.
The Kinsey Institute has been developing, testing and fine-tuning the dual control model of sexual response, which is the basis for the Sexual Excitation/Sexual Inhibition Inventory for Women used in this study. This theoretical model reflects the idea that sexual response in individuals is the product of a balance between excitatory and inhibitory processes. Researchers believe these two systems operate somewhat independent of each other and are different in each person.

Researchers are using the dual control model to better understand such complex issues as sexual difficulties, sexual compulsivity and high-risk sexual behaviors. Prior studies have found that while sexual inhibition plays an important protective role in restraining sexual responses, individuals who score highly in inhibition might be more likely to experience sexual problems.

This particular study aimed to gain insight into the role of inhibition and excitation proneness in predicting sexual problems in a non-clinical sample of women. 







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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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"Factors that Influence Sexual Arousal in Men: A Focus Group Study, Archives of Sexual Behavior, April. Vol. 37, No. 2. 

Monday 16 May, 2011

Do Animals and Birds Recognize Humans?????

Most people who have had the experience of having pet animals in their houses have the gut feeling that the animals can "recognize" us. They seem to recognize our faces, our voices and our smell. One way or another, they respond to us differently from other people. 

Actually, this is not just a gut feeling. Numerous studies have shown that domesticated animals, such as honey bees, chickens, pigeons, sheep, dogs, llamas, penguins, seals, rabbits, horses, lizards and octopuses, can recognize humans individually. The common thing among these animals is that they are exposed to an environment where they see humans and interact with humans every day. Then the question is, can the wild animals recognize people too? 

Although there are many anecdotes that wild animals do so, experimental evidence is surprisingly scant. Only very recently, Northern mockingbirds and American crows have been shown to recognize humans who threatened their nests or captured them.

Well, one more species is added on the list: the Black-billed Magpie. Every spring, researchers from Seoul National University (SNU) and Ewha Womans University are conducting a routine, annual survey of the breeding success of a magpie population within the SNU campus. But something was weird in 2009. One of the crew, Mr. Won Young Lee, a PhD student who was always climbing up to the nests and taking out the eggs or chicks for the survey, and also the first author of the paper being printed in the journal Animal Cognition, started to be followed and scolded by the owners of the nests. "I remember", Mr. Lee says, "when a magpie came down from a nest tree scolding at me. I was with a second researcher at that time, and I tried to fool the magpie by giving my cap to the other person. But this did not work! When I moved away the bird followed me rather than the fellow observer wearing my cap". The owners of the nests that were not accessed by him did not show any response to his presence. Based on this "accidental" finding, the researchers quickly designed a field experiment. A pair of humans, a climber and one non-climber, wearing the same clothing, was presented to magpies to see whether magpies show selective responses to climbers. The result was that all the tested magpies showed aggressive responses to the climbers only. 

"It was very unusual thing," says Dr. Sang-im Lee, the leader of the magpie survey team at Seoul National University. "We've been doing exactly the same survey every year for more than 15 years but nobody was followed by birds." Then, what was so special about this one, unfortunate, crew member? "Usually we take turns when we climb up the nests. But in 2009, Mr. Lee always climbed to the nests because he was putting cameras into the nests." So, repeated presentation of the same human as a threat to the nests could have facilitated the learning process of magpies, and could have led to the recognition of this crew member. 

Since birds, such as magpies, are not very sensitive to smell, and the distance between the experimenters and the magpies was more than 10 meters, it is not likely that the birds recognize the smell of a person. It is more likely that they use vision. And because the climber and the non-climber wore the same clothing and walked similarly in the experiment, what remains the most different between the two humans is the face. Dr. Piotr Jablonski, who designed the experiment in this study, says "it is amazing that magpies can recognize one individual human out of twenty thousand people present in the campus." As a foreigner living in Korea, he confessed that he has had difficulties discriminating between people, especially during the first year or two. "All Asian looked similar to me but probably not to the magpies." 

Just as Dr. Jablonski's discriminatory skills get better with time and being exposed to more Korean people, the magpies in the university campus could have been able to recognize humans who pose a threat to their nests by having a great deal of exposure to people. This process, hypothesized by the researchers, does not require high levels of cognitive skills, which is indicated by a long list of domesticated animals (some of which do not seem to be really smart) to recognize an individual human. 

Researchers call for more species to be tested and for future studies with species of clearly different cognitive abilities to be tested in a standard manner in two types of habitats: heavily human-populated urban areas and wild natural habitats where exposure to human presence is minimal. If the researchers are right, then the animals living in urban areas would show a higher level of discriminatory skills to humans than those living in rural areas. How many different animals can recognize us individually and exactly how they recognize us will be revealed after more data is collected. 

Source:
SangJin Lee
Laboratory of Behavioral Ecology and Evolution at Seoul National University

One Life..

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Dr.Aj 's to-read book montage

The Secret
Angels & Demons
Romeo and Juliet
Girl with a Pearl Earring
The Virgin's Lover
The Alienist
The Time Machine
2001: A Space Odyssey
Mein Kampf
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany
A History of God: The 4,000-Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Schindler's List
The Discoverers
Sex with Kings: 500 Years of Adultery, Power, Rivalry, and Revenge
The First World War
Sex with the Queen: 900 Years of Vile Kings, Virile Lovers, and Passionate Politics
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Tales From Malgudi.
The Bhagavad Gita


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