Category: Health

How much do you think you know about the human brain?

Below are 14 facts about the human brain that will amaze you

1. Every time you learn something new, the structure of the brain changes, forming new connections.

2. The brain has between 80 and 100 billion nerve cells.

3. Sleep is important for the brain because sleep deprivation affects the brain by slowing your reactions and hampering your sense of judgment.

4. Ever wonder why your 20-year-old friend acts immature? Neuroscientists claim the brain isn’t mature until age 25.

5. Fat may be bad for the heart but it’s actually good for the brain. Approximately 60% of the brain is just fat.

6. The human brain has an astonishing amount of energy. The average human brain can produce enough electricity to light up a bulb.

7. If you feel tired, you can go ahead and yawn. Yawning cools down the brain according to research.

8. The brain makes up just 2-3% of the body’s mass but consumes 20% of the body’s oxygen and between 15%-20% of the body’s glucose.

9. Babies sleep a lot because the brain of babies use up to 50% of the glucose made in a baby’s body.

10. According to research, using a smartphone for long hours can increase the chances of brain tumor.

11. According to a 2014 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the female brain has more gray matter than the male brain.

12. According to research, exercising regularly can increase the amount of gray matter in the brain.

13. The human brain doesn’t feel pain because the brain doesn’t have pain receptors.

14. The brain cells take only 6 minutes to react to alcohol.

{Most of the research to understand the consequences of Zika virus infection has focused on how the virus affects pregnant women and causes severe birth defects in their developing fetuses.}

But a new study in mice suggests that Zika infection also may have worrisome consequences for men that interfere with their ability to have children. The research indicates that the virus targets the male reproductive system. Three weeks after male mice were infected with Zika, their testicles had shrunk, levels of their sex hormones had dropped and their fertility was reduced. Overall, these mice were less likely to impregnate female mice.

The study is published Oct. 31 in Nature.

“We undertook this study to understand the consequences of Zika virus infection in males,” said Michael Diamond, MD, PhD, a co-senior author on the study and the Herbert S. Gasser Professor of Medicine. “While our study was in mice — and with the caveat that we don’t yet know whether Zika has the same effect in men — it does suggest that men might face low testosterone levels and low sperm counts after Zika infection, affecting their fertility.”

The virus is known to persist in men’s semen for months. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that men who have traveled to a Zika-endemic region use condoms for six months, regardless of whether they have had symptoms of Zika infection. It is not known, however, what impact this lingering virus can have on men’s reproductive systems.

To find out how the Zika virus affects males, Diamond, co-senior author Kelle Moley, MD, the James P. Crane Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and colleagues injected male mice with the Zika virus. After one week, the virus had migrated to the testes, which bore microscopic signs of inflammation. After two weeks, the testicles were significantly smaller, their internal structure was collapsing, and many cells were dead or dying.

After three weeks, the mice’s testicles had shrunk to one-tenth their normal size and the internal structure was completely destroyed. The mice were monitored until six weeks, and in that time their testicles did not heal, even after the mice had cleared the virus from their bloodstreams.

“We don’t know for certain if the damage is irreversible, but I expect so, because the cells that hold the internal structure in place have been infected and destroyed,” said Diamond, who is also a professor of pathology and immunology, and of molecular microbiology.

The structure of the testes depends on a type of cell called Sertoli cells, which maintain the barrier between the bloodstream and the testes and nourish developing sperm cells. Zika infects and kills Sertoli cells, the researchers found, and Sertoli cells don’t regenerate.

The testes normally produce sperm and testosterone, and as the mice’s testes sustained increasing levels of damage, their sperm counts and testosterone levels plummeted. By six weeks after infection, the number of motile sperm was down tenfold, and testosterone levels were similarly low.

When healthy females were mated with infected and uninfected male mice, the females paired with infected males were about four times less likely to become pregnant as those paired with uninfected males.

“This is the only virus I know of that causes such severe symptoms of infertility,” said Moley, a fertility specialist and director of the university’s Center for Reproductive Health Sciences. “There are very few microbes that can cross the barrier that separates the testes from the bloodstream to infect the testes directly.”

No reports have been published linking infertility in men to Zika infection, but, Moley said, infertility can be a difficult symptom to pick up in epidemiologic surveys.

“People often don’t find out that they’re infertile until they try to have children, and that could be years or decades after infection,” Moley said. “I think it is more likely doctors will start seeing men with symptoms of low testosterone, and they will work backward to make the connection to Zika.”

Men with low testosterone may experience a low sex drive, erectile dysfunction, fatigue and loss of body hair and muscle mass. Low testosterone can be diagnosed with a simple blood test.

“If testosterone levels drop in men like they did in the mice, I think we’ll start to see men coming forward saying, ‘I don’t feel like myself,’ and we’ll find out about it that way,” Moley said. “You might also ask, ‘Wouldn’t a man notice if his testicles shrank?’ Well, probably. But we don’t really know how the severity in men might compare with the severity in mice. I assume that something is happening to the testes of men, but whether it’s as dramatic as in the mice is hard to say.”

Diamond and Moley said human studies in areas with high rates of Zika infection are needed to determine the impact of the virus on men’s reproductive health.

“Now that we know what can happen in a mouse, the question is, what happens in men and at what frequency?” Diamond said. “We don’t know what proportion of infected men get persistently infected, or whether shorter-term infections also can have consequences for sperm count and fertility. These are things we need to know.”

{Vaccinating against dengue fever could increase outbreaks of Zika, suggests new research out of York University and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China.}

The research identifies a potentially serious public health concern. More than a third of the world’s population lives in areas where dengue is endemic and cases of co-infection with Zika have already been reported.

Conducted at York University’s Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics using mathematical modelling, the research was led by Biao Tang, an exchange PhD student from Xi’an Jiaotong University, in collaboration with York Professor Jianhong Wu and Tang’s supervisor, Professor Yanni Xiao at Xi’an Jiaotong University. As dengue and Zika are both part of the Flaviviridae family transmitted through a common mosquito host, the researchers wanted to know how vaccinating for one would affect the incidence of the other.

“Vaccinating against one virus could not only affect the control of another virus, it could in fact make it easier for the other to spread,” says Wu. “Recent evidence suggests that dengue virus antibodies can enhance the Zika virus infection. For that reason, we developed a new math model to investigate the effect of dengue vaccination on Zika outbreaks.”

The paper, “Implication of vaccination against dengue for Zika outbreak,” was published in Scientific Reports.

The team’s model shows that vaccinations for dengue increase the number of people contracting Zika. It also shows that the more people in a particular population that are vaccinated against dengue, the earlier and larger the Zika outbreak. The research also found that the most effective way to minimize the unintended effect of dengue vaccinations on Zika outbreaks is through an integrated strategy that includes mosquito control.

“We concluded that vaccination against dengue among humans can significantly boost Zika transmission among the population and hence call for further study on integrated control measures on controlling dengue and Zika outbreak,” says Xiao.

The researchers note their findings do not discourage the development and promotion of dengue vaccine products, however, more work needs to be done to understand how to optimize dengue vaccination programs and minimize the risk of Zika outbreaks.

According to the World Health Organization, the global incidence of dengue has grown dramatically in recent decades, with about half of the world’s population now at risk. In some Asian and Latin American countries, severe dengue is a leading cause of serious illness and death among children. Whereas the outbreaks of Zika have occurred in Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, and has been linked to microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Although vaccines for dengue have been developed and are in use, there is no vaccine for Zika.

{The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends providing interventions during pregnancy and after birth to support breastfeeding. The report appears in the October 25 issue of JAMA.}

This is a B recommendation, indicating that there is high certainty that the net benefit is moderate, or there is moderate certainty that the net benefit is moderate to substantial.

There is convincing evidence that breastfeeding provides substantial health benefits for children and adequate evidence that breastfeeding provides moderate health benefits for women. However, nearly half of all mothers in the United States who initially breastfeed stop doing so by 6 months, and there are significant disparities in breastfeeding rates among younger mothers and in disadvantaged communities. To update its 2008 recommendation, the USPSTF reviewed the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to support breastfeeding on breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity. The USPSTF also briefly reviewed the literature on the effects of these interventions on child and maternal health outcomes.

The USPSTF is an independent, volunteer panel of experts that makes recommendations about the effectiveness of specific preventive care services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications.

{{Interventions}}

Primary care clinicians can support women before and after childbirth by providing interventions directly or by referral to help them make an informed choice about how to feed their infants and to be successful in their choice. Interventions include promoting the benefits of breastfeeding, providing practical advice and direct support on how to breastfeed, and providing psychological support. Interventions can be categorized as professional support, peer support, and formal education, although none of these categories are mutually exclusive, and interventions may be combined within and between categories. Interventions may also involve a woman’s partner, other family members, and friends.

{{Effectiveness of Interventions to Change Behavior}}

Adequate evidence indicates that interventions to support breastfeeding increase the duration and rates of breastfeeding, including exclusive breastfeeding.

{{Harms of Interventions to Change Behavior}}

There is adequate evidence to bound the potential harms of interventions to support breastfeeding as no greater than small, based on the nature of the intervention, the low likelihood of serious harms, and the available information from studies reporting few harms.

{{Implementation}}

Not all women choose to or are able to breastfeed. Clinicians should, as with any preventive service, respect the autonomy of women and their families to make decisions that fit their specific situation, values, and preferences.

{{Summary}}

The USPSTF found adequate evidence that interventions to support breastfeeding, including professional support, peer support, and formal education, change behavior and that the harms of these interventions are no greater than small. The USPSTF concludes with moderate certainty that interventions to support breastfeeding have a moderate net benefit for women and their children.

{Your diet before an interview is very important. What you eat before an interview can go a long way in making your interview great or terrible. A good diet can make you feel focused and sharpen your memory and even help boost your mood. A poor diet can cause you discomfort or make you sloppy during the interview.
}
See the foods you should eat and avoid below:

Foods to eat

{{1. Whole grains }}

A huge benefit derived from eating whole grain food is that it increases concentration and focus. They release glucose into the bloodstream which helps the brain stay mentally alert. Rice, oatmeal and cereals are examples of whole grains.

{{2. Omega 3 fatty acids }}

Some benefits of consuming foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids include improved memory and mood. They build brain cell membranes and promote new cell formulation. Fish oil supplements and nuts are good sources of omega 3.

{{3. Vitamin B}}

Foods rich in vitamin B boost serotonin and dopamine production which helps balance your brain chemicals and help alleviate anxiety. Vegetables and eggs are good sources of vitamin B.

{{4. Water }}

It’s important to drink water before an interview so you can stay hydrated. But be careful not to drink so much, else you’ll be forced to use the bathroom only too often.

{{ Foods to avoid }}

{{1. Smelly foods }}

Smelly foods like garlic and onions should be avoided. Not only will they give you bad breath, they can also cause you to become smelly, as they can be secreted from your sweat glands.

{{2. Carbohydrates }}

Avoid eating too many of carbohydrate before an interview; they can reduce your alertness level and even make you feel sleepy.

It’s very important to watch what you eat and how you eat it before an interview. Also, remember to eat a decent amount of food rather than stack your tummy up with food.

{Statistics have indicated that more than 4,000 men across the country have applied the birth control method known as vasectomy since 2010 up to date. }

It has been revealed today during the World Contraception Day (WCD) celebrated in Muhanga district, Southern Province.

Statistics from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) indicate that 0,2% of men are active in birth control program.

Their number has been increasing since 2010.

In 2014-2015, 53% participated in controlling births among whom 48% use tablets and syringes while 6% use abstinence.

The family of Basabose Protégéne and Mujawamariya Florence with three children applied permanent birth control methods seven years ago. It has witnessed how it benefited from the preferred method of controlling births.

“It had no negative consequences on our health. Indeed, we make love in bed without worries of unwanted births,” he said.

The representative of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to Rwanda, Jozef Maerien has said that the participation of men in birth control is very crucial.

“We are committed to mobilizing men to be prepared for births since it has a role in family development and provides enough time for a woman to care for herself.It is vital that men use birth control methods to alleviate sufferings of their wives receiving syringes and tables to control births,” he said.

{Butaro hospital located in Burera district of Northern Province has received two cancer diagnosing machines valued at $700,000, capable of carrying out 1500 tests per day. }

The machines are an addition to an existing one which could only make 150 tests on monthly basis.

The machines were availed yesterday under a partnership of American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) and the Ministry of Health.

The director of Butaro hospital, Dr. Tharcisse Mpunga says the machines come at a time when they needed for diagnosing the many patients yet the only one machine they had was not enough to carry all examinations.

“These are specialized modern machines are particular and modern equipped with modern technology, performing different tasks,” he said.

He explained that the machines will see Butaro hospital increasing cancer tests capacity as they will have 1500 tests daily and improve service delivery.

ASCP representative, Irmen Werkhoven has told IGIHE the machines were donated to increase the number of diagnosed and treated patients.

“This machine has enough capacity of testing cancer. This launch makes this day great for Rwanda’s health care and in the region, “he said.

Butaro tests and treats cancer. It receives patients from different corners of the country and abroad.

Butaro hospital had a small cancer testing machine and required sending test samples to America thus delaying diagnosis and treatment. With the introductions of more modern cancer testing machines, explained Dr. Mpunga, patients will receive results of tests within three days.

The donated machines cost USD 700,000.

{Researchers call for further study to reduce risk of depression, side effects.}

Men can take birth control shots to prevent pregnancy in their female partners, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Researchers are still working to perfect the combination of hormonal contraceptives to reduce the risk of mild to moderate side effects, including depression and other mood disorders.

While women can choose from a number of birth control methods, men have few options to control their own fertility. Available methods for men include condoms, vasectomies and withdrawal.

Better birth control options are needed for men. In 2012, 40 percent of all pregnancies worldwide were unintended, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

“The study found it is possible to have a hormonal contraceptive for men that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies in the partners of men who use it,” said one of the study’s authors, Mario Philip Reyes Festin, MD, of the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. “Our findings confirmed the efficacy of this contraceptive method previously seen in small studies.”

The prospective Phase II single arm, multi-center study tested the safety and effectiveness of injectable contraceptives in 320 healthy men ages 18 to 45. The participants had all been in monogamous relationships with female partners between the ages of 18 and 38 for at least a year. The men underwent testing to ensure they had a normal sperm count at the start of the study.

The men received injections of 200 milligrams of a long-acting progestogen called norethisterone enanthate (NET-EN) and 1,000 milligrams of a long-acting androgen called testosterone undecanoate (TU) for up to 26 weeks to suppress their sperm counts. Healthcare professionals gave the men two injections every eight weeks. Participants initially provided semen samples after eight and 12 weeks in the suppression phase and then every 2 weeks until they met the criteria for the next phase. During this time, the couples were instructed to use other non-hormonal birth control methods.

Once a participant’s sperm count was lowered to less than 1 million/ml in two consecutive tests, the couple was asked to rely on the injections for birth control. During this period known as the efficacy phase of the study, the men continued to receive injections every eight weeks for up to 56 weeks. Participants provided semen samples every eight weeks to ensure their sperm counts stayed low. Once the participants stopped receiving the injections, they were monitored to see how quickly their sperm counts recovered.

The hormones were effective in reducing the sperm count to 1 million/ml or less within 24 weeks in 274 of the participants. The contraceptive method was effective in nearly 96 percent of continuing users. Only four pregnancies occurred among the men’s partners during the efficacy phase of the study.

Researchers stopped enrolling new participants in the study in 2011 due to the rate of adverse events, particularly depression and other mood disorders, reported by the participants. The men reported side effects including injection site pain, muscle pain, increased libido and acne. Twenty men dropped out of the study due to side effects.

Despite the adverse effects, more than 75 percent of participants reported being willing to use this method of contraception at the conclusion of the trial.

Of the 1,491 reported adverse events, nearly 39 percent were found to be unrelated to the contraceptive injections. These included one death by suicide which was assessed not to be related to the use of the drug. Serious adverse events that were assessed as probably or possibly related to the study included one case of depression, one intentional overdose of acetaminophen, and a man who experienced an abnormally fast and irregular heartbeat after he stopped receiving the injections.

“More research is needed to advance this concept to the point that it can be made widely available to men as a method of contraception,” Festin said. “Although the injections were effective in reducing the rate of pregnancy, the combination of hormones needs to be studied more to consider a good balance between efficacy and safety.”

The study, “Efficacy and Safety of an Injectable Combination Hormonal Contraceptive for Men,” will be published online, ahead of print.

Other authors of the study include: Hermann M. Behre of Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Halle, Germany; Michael Zitzmann of the University of Münster in Münster, Germany; Richard A. Anderson of The University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, United Kingdom; David J. Handelsman of the University of Sydney and Concord Hospital in Sydney, Australia; Silvia W. Lestari of the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia; Robert I. McLachlan of Monash Medical Centre in Melbourne, Australia; M. Cristina Meriggiola of the University of Bologna in Bologna, Italy; Man Mohan Misro of the National Institute of Health & Family Welfare in New Dehli, India; Gabriela Noe of the Instituto Chileno de Medicina Reproductiva in Santiago, Chile; Frederick C. W. Wu of Manchester Royal Infirmary in Manchester, U.K.; Ndema A. Habib and Kirsten M. Vogelsong of the World Health Organization of Geneva, Switzerland; and Marianne M. Callahan, Kim A. Linton and Doug S. Colvard of CONRAD, East Virginia Medical School, a reproductive health organization based in Arlington, VA.

The research was co-sponsored and funded by UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Program of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction in Geneva, Switzerland, and CONRAD (using funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. Agency for International Development). The injectable hormones were provided by Schering AG, which has since merged with Bayer Pharma AG.

{Screening young children for high cholesterol at the same time as they receive routine vaccinations could prevent hundreds of heart attacks in young adults each year, researchers in Britain said Wednesday.}

Their study in the New England Journal of Medicine aimed to uncover a silent killer in young adults known as familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), a genetic disorder that often leads to early heart disease.

FH runs in families, and if left untreated can raise the risk of heart disease at a young age as much as 100 times, according to the article.

In the largest screening study to date, more than 10,000 children around one year old were tested for high cholesterol and genetic mutations known to be associated with FH at 92 facilities across England.

Fourty children tested positive for FH at a rate of about one in 270 children.

PARENTS CONTACTED FOR SCREENING

Their parents were then contacted for screening, revealing an additional FH-positive parent, the report said.

“Overall, one person at high risk of early heart attack was identified for every 125 people tested,” it said.

Such screening throughout Britain could prevent about 600 heart attacks in people under the age of 40, according to the researchers from Queen Mary University of London’s Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine.

“This is the first demonstration that child-parent screening works on a large scale,” lead researcher David Wald said.

“It’s the only screening method that stands a reasonable chance of covering the whole population and identifying those at highest risk of an early heart attack.”

Once high-risk children are identified, they can take steps to lower cholesterol, including exercise, avoiding smoking, maintaining a heathy diet, and — when older — taking statin medication.

“Now that we’ve demonstrated this as being effective across England, the next step is for public health agencies to consider offering this routinely at the time of childhood vaccination to test all children aged 1-2 years,” Wald said.

“No extra clinic visits are needed and uptake is high because parents are already focused on the future health of their children and the family as a whole.”