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September 18, 2013

How to conceive quickly

how to conceive quickly
Many people see to be very easy to get pregnant, as easy as dreaming it. But for other couples, it feels so long, because what we are waiting for is uncertainty. As we know, ages plays a big role. A research said that approximately one third of women ages 35-39 and half of women more than 40 have trouble getting pregnant (infertility = inability to conceive for 12 months). For men, age starts to be a fertility factor in the late 30s. One study found that in men ages 35-40, the percentage who don't conceive is about 18-28%.
There are many factors: controllable and uncontrollable. What parts of fertility we can control? What do many studies say about how your environment and lifestyle habbits play a role in the complex process of baby making?
DIET
One of the biggest research to examine the role of diet in fertility was done by the researchers of Harvard University in 2007. After observing 18,000 women and their dietary, the researchers found a pattern of eating that seemed to boost baby-making potential. Women with few risk of infertility ate fewer sugars and trans fat, more fiber and iron, more proteins from veggies instead of animals, and more high-fat dairy products than low-fat ones. These patterns are independent of age.
SMOKING
Smoking lowers a woman's chance of getting pregnant both naturally and when using fertility treatments like invitro fertilization (IVF). How about passive smokers? Studies said that women who were exposed to second-hand smoke as children have been shown to have a harder time getting and staying pregnant (with 68% higher chance of miscarriage or difficulty to conceive). So for you who are smoking, quitting smoking before trying isn’t just a good idea for your own healthy pregnancy, it helps ensure that, down the line, your baby will have a healthy pregnancy too. And for men, do not smoke since smoking has been shown to lower healthy sperm counts.
BODY WEIGHT
Body weight influences the reproductive cycle. An excess or deficit of fat cells seems to upset the delicate cascade of chemical events that are needed to make a baby. Being obese can exacerbate polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). But even for women who ovulate, weight has been shown to play into fertility. There’s a strong association between having a BMI over 30 or under 20 and delayed conception. One research found that for every BMI interval over 29, chances of pregnancy went down by five percent. Roughly one in four U.S. women of childbearing age is obese.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICALS
A handful of chemicals are suspect when it comes to getting pregnant – for example, phthalates (used in plastics, food packaging, toys, and more), pesticides, bisphenol A (BPA), air pollutants, as well as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Last year, for example, a study of Chinese factory workers found that those with higher levels of BPA exposure had lower semen quality. PCBs, which were banned decades ago but still linger in the environment, seem to clearly affect sperm motility and damage sperm DNA.
It’s not a bad idea to find ways to limit exposure to the dubious chemicals (buy organic “dirty dozen” fruits and veggies, use BPA-free products when possible, consider not living near a highway, eat less processed and packaged food, check your cosmetics with the Environmental Working Group’s database, and so forth).
But there are a few reasons not to head for full-blown panic over chemicals in the environment. For one, it’s very hard for scientists to accurately pinpoint how and in what quantity one particular chemical affects something like sperm health because controlled studies are near impossible. Consider also that we bump into hundreds of environmental chemicals every day through no choice of our own – to a large extent it’s all out of our control.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST: KNOW YOURS, BUT NO OVERTHINK
It’s tempting with information like this to go overboard, especially when something as precious as your fertility is seemingly at stake. That said, just as with age and fertility statistics, lifestyle and fertility stats are just that – averages and trends across large samples of women. Plenty of moms get pregnant without a hitch on a steady diet of hamburgers, just as plenty who have impeccable diet and exercise habits struggle with infertility. Your best plan for getting pregnant? Stay informed, but don’t make yourself crazy with the details.

Source: BabyHopes
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May 13, 2013

Seizure Medications

seizure-medications
The term "seizure" is often used interchangeably with "convulsion." Convulsions are when a person's body shakes rapidly and uncontrollably. During convulsions, the person's muscles contract and relax repeatedly. There are many different types of seizures. Some have mild symptoms and no body shaking. By definition, a convulsion or seizure is the physical findings or changes in behavior that occur after an episode of abnormal electrical activity in the brain.

Causes of Seizure
  • Abnormal levels of sodium or glucose in the blood
  • Brain infection, including meningitis
  • Brain injury that occurs to the baby during labor or childbirth
  • Brain problems that occur before birth (congenital brain defects)
  • Brain tumor
  • Head injury
  • Fever (febrile convulsion)
  • Choking
  • Electric shock
  • Drug abuse
  • Epilepsy
  • Heart disease
  • Heat illness
  • High fever
  • Illicit drugs, such as angel dust (PCP), cocaine, amphetamines
  • Kidney or liver failure
  • Hypoglycemia
  • Phenylketonuria (PKU), which can cause seizures in infants
  • Poisoning
  • Stroke
  • Pregnancy
  • Uremia on kidney failure
  • Severe hypertension
  • Venomous bites and stings (snake bite) 
  • Withdrawal from alcohol after drinking a lot on most days
  • Withdrawal from certain drugs, including some painkillers and sleeping pills
  • Withdrawal from benzodiazepines (such as Valium)
Seizure Medications

Medications for epilepsy are mainstays in controlling epileptic seizures. But surgical procedures are another dimension in treatment. Learn about your options.
Most people with epilepsy can become seizure-free by using a single anti-epileptic drug. Others can decrease the frequency and intensity of their seizures. More than half the children with medication-controlled epilepsy can eventually stop medications and live a seizure-free life. Many adults also can discontinue medication after two or more years without seizures.
Finding the right medication and dosage can be complex. Your doctor likely will first prescribe a single drug at a relatively low dosage and may increase the dosage gradually until your seizures are well controlled.
The type of treatment prescribed will depend on several factors, including the frequency and severity of the seizures and the person's age, overall health, and medical history.

This is one of the oldest treatments for epilepsy, and helps lessen seizures.
Biofeedback, melatonin, and large vitamin doses can help. Read on.
Learn the risks and benefits of this epilepsy surgery.
There is no cure for epilepsy, but medications may help keep symptoms under control.
Treatments for epilepsy have come a long way in the last decade. Doctors have more than twice as many epilepsy medications to choose from than they did 10 years ago.
There are a wide number of medications available for treating epilepsy in children, and advances in the past years have made a difference.
Sometimes, brain seizures begin in a vital area of the brain -- for example, in areas that control movement, feeling, language, or memory.
A temporal lobe resection is a surgery performed on the brain to control seizures. In this procedure, brain tissue in the temporal lobe is resected, or cut away, to remove the seizure focus.
Lesionectomy may be an option for people whose epilepsy is linked to a defined lesion and whose seizures are not controlled by medication.
This procedure generally is used only for people with epilepsy who do not experience improvement in their condition after taking many different medications and who have severe, uncontrollable seizures.
A corpus callosotomy, sometimes called split-brain surgery, may be performed in people with the most extreme and uncontrollable forms of epilepsy, when frequent seizures affect both sides of the brain.
An extratemporal cortical resection is an operation to resect, or cut away, brain tissue that contains a seizure focus.
With the use of medication, people with essential tremor may see improvement in their ability to control their tremor and improvement in activities such as drinking from a cup or using food utensils.
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May 11, 2013

Obesity increases the risk of migraine

obesity increases the risk of migraine
Migraine is more likely in women than in men and occurs most commonly in those of younger adult age.  In addition, more women are obese than men. Obesity people ages 20 to 55, either by a measure of belly fat or using the standard BMI (body mass index) are more likely to have migraines and other severe headaches.

Migraines are severe headache that also may include nausea, vomiting and light sensitivity. They are likely to happen in women and often hereditary. According to National Headache Foundation, migraines affect about 30 million people in USA, approximately 10% of the population. Migraines occur most frequent on ages 20 to 45. The study concluded that after age 55, the increased risk of migraines for obese people was no longer present.

Relationship between Migraine and Obesity
The researchers look hard to clarift the link between migraines and obesity after previous studies had produced conflicting conclusions. Obesity can also increases the risk of metabolic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, sleep apnea, arthritis, cancer, etc.

How episodic and chronic daily headache links to obesity is not known. It is likely that pathways which overlap and regulate feeding and migraine play a role.  One region of the brain involved in this pathway is the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus participates in the regulation of feeding and becomes activated during acute migraine attacks. Serotonin and orexin are hypothalamic brain nerve chemicals known to regulate food intake. They appear to have a role in migraine or chronic daily headache.  Adiponectin and leptin are predominantly fat cell produced hormones which have receptors in the brain. They have a role in inflammation and also appear to play a role in migraine or chronic daily headache. Further research into the role of these and other obesity-related proteins and chemicals may help us to understand migraine and lead to new treatment strategies.

Limited data exists on the role of weight loss and exercise in the reduction of migraine frequency.  However one small pilot study suggests that aerobic exercise may decrease headache frequency, while another small study suggests weight loss with a low fat diet could help decrease headache frequency and intensity. Taken together, this data suggests that those who are obese and have episodic headaches or chronic daily headaches should avoid weight gain. Additionally, the provider and obese patient should consider options for migraine prevention that are not associated with weight gain. Also, the obese patient who suffers with headaches should attempt weight loss. Following these ideas will decrease the risk of obesity related disorders, (such as elevated cholesterol and heart disease,) and could help reduce headache frequency.

Sources:

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April 28, 2013

Hepatitis vaccine booster

hepatitis vaccine booster
In 2009, 3,374 cases of acute Hepatitis B in the United States were reported to CDC; the overall incidence of reported acute Hepatitis B was 1.5 per 100,000 population, the lowest ever recorded. However, because many HBV infections are either asymptomatic or never reported, the actual number of new infections is estimated to be approximately tenfold higher. In 2009, an estimated 38,000 persons in the United States were newly infected with HBV. Rates are highest among adults, particularly males aged 25–44 years.
An estimated 800,000–1.4 million persons in the United States have chronic HBV infection. Chronic infection is an even greater problem globally, affecting approximately 350 million persons. An estimated 620,000 persons worldwide die from HBV-related liver disease each year.

Transmission of Hepatitis B

HBV is transmitted through activities that involve percutaneous (i.e., puncture through the skin) or mucosal contact with infectious blood or body fluids (e.g., semen, saliva), including

  • Sex with an infected partner
  • Injection drug use that involves sharing needles, syringes, or drug-preparation equipment
  • Birth to an infected mother
  • Contact with blood or open sores of an infected person
  • Needle sticks or sharp instrument exposures
  • Sharing items such as razors or toothbrushes with an infected person

HBV is not spread through food or water, sharing eating utensils, breastfeeding, hugging, kissing, hand holding, coughing, or sneezing
The Need for a Booster Dose
After several decades of vaccination against hepatitis B virus in newborns, infants, adolescents, and adults, the question remains whether a booster dose is ever needed. Long-term protection is most commonly measured through 4 methods: the anamnestic response after administration of a booster dose, infection rate in vaccinated populations, in vitro B and T cell activity testing, and seroepidemiological studies. Long-term protection is present despite a decrease in anti-hepatitis B surface antibodies over time. The exact mechanism of long-term protection, however, is not yet fully understood. There is no need for boosters in immunologically potent persons as long as a full course was adequately administered that respected the recommended timelines, as evidenced by studies conducted up to 20 years after the original immunization course. However, a booster dose should be planned for immunocompromised patients, based on serological monitoring.
The question that remains to be answered is how long immune memory will last. Early evidence suggests that the answer will come from the power of the initial immune response and from the time since primary vaccination. Long-term follow-up studies during the third decade after vaccination administration are needed to confirm the duration and persistence of immune memory. In addition, studies that follow-up birth cohorts vaccinated >20 years ago are needed as those individuals become sexually active and potentially exposed to HBV infection.

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February 13, 2013

Candida Yeast Infection Treatment

candida yeast infection treatment

What is candida yeast infection?

Candidiasis is a fungal infection that can affect areas such as the:
  • Skin
  • Genitals
  • Throat
  • Mouth
  • Blood
It is caused by the overgrowth of a type of yeast called Candida, usually Candida albicans. This yeast is normally found in small amounts in the human body. But certain medicines and health problems can cause more yeast to grow, particularly in warm, moist body areas. This can cause uncomfortable and sometimes dangerous symptoms.


Candida yeast infection symptoms
Symptoms and treatment depend on which part of the body is infected. 

  • If it is in the mouth or throat, it is called oral candidiasis, oropharyngeal candidiasis, or thrush.
  • If it affects the genital area, it is called a yeast infection. In women, it may be called a vulvovaginal yeast infection.
  • If yeast infects the skin on a baby's bottom area, it causes a diaper rash.
  • If the infection enters your bloodstream, it is called invasive candidiasis or candidemia.
Candida yeast infection treatment
Candidiasis is commonly treated with antimycotics; such as:

Source:
http://www.webmd.com
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