World of Health

The local origin or gnashing of teeth is due to periodontal disease and periodontal pockets and occlusal disharmony: with the teeth worn away by contact and the damaging “knocks” which are repeated tooth contacts being made on surfaces of the teeth.

Emotional strain is the most common cause of bruxism, stress, in a child and adult, or states of anxiety attacks and deep rooted stress. The bruxism is often not noticed by patients and the dentist is the first to detect it and observe the excessive wear on the teeth (facets) in functional areas and moderate erosion in areas that are not functional, widening areas and occlusal reduction the vertical dimension of the face, sometimes family members are put on alert because of the patient becomes quiet and the grinding noise becomes a nuisance.

Initially the patients “play” with the tooth contact without force or contraction, but under a state of emotional stress produces a greater pressure surpassing the threshold of the periodontal receptors of pressure and the patient is no longer conscious and muscles and not relaxed.

It is difficult to obtain a diagnosis without questioning a witness if the patient is unaware of the problem and seeking help from relatives to verify the situation, they are required to sleep during the helper’s attempt to open his mouth taking the index finger and thumb and try to separate the teeth, in normal resting mouth they will open successfully, in the opposite case, a state of tension, it will become difficult to separate them.

According to their aggressiveness and the establishment in the patient, better diagnosis and treatment can be classified as habits (bruxism in any form, finger sucking, lip or cheek and onicofagia) as follows:

* Grade I The presentation is not aggressive, their reproduction is for a short period of time, sometimes an occasional, though the patient may be unconscious, is reversible and that appears and disappears by itself, can disappear when the subject makes it conscious, may be subject to local factors within the mouth, which when detected and removed promptly allow the prevention and elimination of it. Anxiety may be absent in the patient.

Grade II *  The anxiety level is already present, the reproduction is subject to the enabling factors, presentation to the patient is unconscious and disappears when the subject becomes aware, at this stage lesions may be present dento-facial structures in which requires a comprehensive treatment to ensure their elimination. The habit may be reversible grade II, if not treated it can develop into a habit Grade III.

* Grade III The reproduction is constant within the family environment and social inclusion of the patient. The presentation is well established and strengthened, is too irresistible for the subject that suffers from even being aware. Lesions in the dentofacial structures are of considerable magnitude and in some cases the injuries are permanent. The habit is mighty difficult to use and results of treatment are unsatisfactory, they require more attention and dedication in developing techniques for the dental implements.

The bricomania or bruxism affects children and adults and both sexes equally although the most common age of onset is between 17 and 20 years, and spontaneous remission is often produced at the age of 40 years in cases of chronic bruxism, although it may disappear by itself at any time of life, this is attributed to the fact that bruxism was not well established.

The gender distribution appears to be similar. The diurnal bruxism often gnashed that tight, the night bruxism can be both ways: at any time of day, whether for work or any other cause, has taken the habit of squeezing with the teeth at the same time.

A sperm less mosquito has been created by scientists in the latest effort to control the spread of malaria. This mosquito should be able to reduce populations in the wild, and is the second recent attempt to modify the mosquito to prevent the spread of malaria.

In April scientists announced that they had modified a mosquito so that it can kill the malaria parasite. The research was announced in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Reports on the research have said, “This is not a new idea, scientists have previously rendered creatures sterile in order to stop the spread of disease. Before however this was always done using radiation. The problem with this was that once irradiated the male mosquitos were too weak to mate with the females.”

Scientist Flamina Catteruccia has taken a different approach and has developed a way to disable the gene that allows for male mosquitoes to produce fertile sperm. She has done this by injecting RNA into the mosquitoes designed to alter the reproductive genes.

The resulting sperm less males were then allowed to breed with the females and had no problem doing this, unlike the radiated mosquitoes. This method is particularly effective as the female mosquito only ever mates once, if she does this with an infertile male, she will lay infertile eggs for the rest of her life.

Some people have raised concerns over the elimination of mosquitoes as they are an important food source to other animals and this may have a negative effect on an ecosystem. Catteruccia has said this is not currently a concern as the methods for producing the sperm less mosquitoes are far too inefficient; it took her team months to create only a hundred sperm less males.

She said, “Releasing these mosquitoes into the wild would do very little, they could easily be squashed, eaten or just die before they had a chance to mate. Right now it is far too expensive to create an amount of mosquitoes that would have any significant effect on the environment.”

Current methods of controlling mosquitoes, such as insecticides can also harm other species in the environment, including humans. Also, as time goes by, more mosquitoes are becoming resistant to the types of insecticides being used. Developing potential ways to keep mosquitoes under control in the future is important to develop now as there may come a time when chemical control won’t work.

In the present however, it is important that the battle against malarial is continued. Mosquitoes can be prevented by clearing away standing water – where they breed. People in malarial areas must use mosquito nets at night to prevent bites. Finally, good health care in regions of malarial outbreaks is essential.

Synexus, the largest multinational company in the world that is solely dedicated to successfully recruiting and running clinical studies are now recruiting patients to take part in a study that will assess a brand new treatment aimed at bringing relief to those who suffer from an overactive bladder. The clinical research centres involved in the study are located in Merseyside, Thames Valley and Lancashire.

1 in 6 UK adults suffer from overactive bladder syndrome, and if you are one of them you will know exactly how overwhelming the symptoms are. Typically, they are sudden and uncontrollable urges to go to the loo, frequent visits through day and even waking in the night to go. It is debilitating, inconvenient and disruptive, but the good news is that an overactive bladder is very common, and can potentially be treated.

The new study which Synexus is running currently assesses a new treatment than can help to give suffers real relief from their overactive bladder problem.

o       Have been diagnosed with overactive bladder or are displaying symptoms

o       Have been suffering with overactive bladder for at least 3 months

Synexus is currently recruiting patients for this study at its Dedicated Clinical Research Centres in Lancashire, Merseyside and Thames Valley.

Those who would like to find out more or are interested in participating in this study should contact:

o       Lancashire Clinical Research Centre - 01772 344620 (quote reference 2363)

o       Merseyside Clinical Research Centre - 0151 5509951 (quote reference 2364)

o       Thames Valley Clinical Research Centre - 0118 3789923 (quote reference 2365)

And quote your name, address, phone number and reference code.

There is no obligation for people to participate and if they do decide to take part, their GP will be kept fully informed of their involvement.

Synexus has many years experience in conducting a wide range of clinical studies. The purpose of a clinical research study is to answer important questions about a new medicine, for example: does it improve a person’s health and which dose of the medicine works best?

Each year, thousands of patients take part in clinical studies at Synexus’ Dedicated Clinical Research Centres. There are many different studies running at each of the Centres throughout the year including potential treatments for conditions such as osteoporosis, smoking cessation, high-cholesterol, insomnia, vaccines, asthma and childhood eczema.

Not all studies are paid, but some do reimburse the patients for their time and all reimburse patients for out of pocket travelling expenses. Participating in a Synexus clinical study means patients receive increased medical attention and may benefit from medications that aren’t yet available to other sufferers of their condition, while making a positive contribution to the health of future generations.

For more information about Synexus and the other studies that it is currently conducting visit www.improvinghealth.com

Researchers have warned that for parents who already have a child with Autism, there is a risk of almost 1/5 that their next child could also develop the disorder. This risk is higher than the previous estimates, and it is even higher if the next child is male. In families where more than one child suffers from Autism, the risk rises to 1/3 than any subsequent children will be affected.

The International study has been published in online in the Pediatrics Journal, and researchers studied 664 children in Israel, Canada and the US, is the largest study every into the risks of Autism recurring amongst siblings. This debilitating disorder affects a sufferer’s ability to socially interact and also communicate.

Previous estimates had the risk of a younger sibling developing the disorder as between 3-5%, but this new study has shown that the risk is substantially higher at around 18.7%. If the second child is a boy, that risk rises to over 26%, this is due to more boys than girls suffering from Autism; and if there are two older siblings with the disorder, the risk over 32%.

Sally Ozonoff, a professor at the MIND Institute at the California-Davis University in Sacramento led the study said that this had been the biggest study into sibling autism ever held, and none of the previous studies had ever identified that the risk of recurrence in siblings was so high.

Autism, which is also known as Autistic Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is an umbrella term which covers many conditions such as Asperger’s Syndrome. These are all classed as developmental disorders and the ability to socially interact and communicate can be affected through the entire life of the sufferer. Around 1/100 children have some kinds of diagnosed Autism, and 80% of these are boys.

The average age of the 664 children that the researchers in Israel, Canada and the US studied was 8 months at the beginning, and they were tested for Autism once they reached 3 years. 132 of these met the criteria, and overall 26% of boys were diagnosed with ASD as opposed to 9% of girls, and the overall rate of ASD amongst those who were studied was 18.7%.

Those families who had one older child with Autism, or Simplex families, the rate of incidence rose to 20.1%. In those families where more than one child had Autism, the recurrence rate at 32.2%. Dr Ozonoff stressed that these were estimates that had been averaged across the families in the study, some families would have a risk factor of less that 18%, but some would invariable have more.

The house dust mite triggers a number of allergic reactions like asthma (breathing difficulties, wheezing), hay fever (sneezing, teary eyes), and childhood eczema. The house dust mite is very tiny at only 200 to 300 micron long. The creature has eight legs and is related to the spider and is found in all places that humans life. There are two species of dust mites that are very common. The American (Dermatophagoides farinae) and the European dust mite species (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus).

The allergen is not the dust mite itself but it is what is contained in their droppings – digestive enzymes (proteins). The droppings are particles the size of between 4 and 20 microns and may even break into even smaller bits as small as 0.5 microns.

How to kill dust mite?

Know your enemy! Here are some important facts about house dust mites which you can use to help rid your home of this pest.

• The fight is ongoing – dust mites are everywhere and they keep being carried into your home on people’s clothing, for instance. So look for long-term solutions which will reduce your dust mite burden.
• Dust mites are to be found mainly in bedding, soft furnishings and carpets. It is easy to disturb them – getting into and out of bed, for example – and throw up a large cloud of dust mite allergens.
• House dust mites feed on the skin scales in dust.
• Mites prefer humid conditions. To survive they absorb water from the air and when humidity is less than 50% they tend to dry out

Allergy Cosmos, good tips for keeping house dust mites under control:

• If you are thinking of serious home improvements, think about replacing upholstered sofas and armchairs with leather or vinyl covered furniture, which house dust mites cannot penetrate. Consider replacing carpets with hard flooring. This will create an entirely new environment which will help to reduce the dust mite burden in your home.
• Tackle dust mites in bedding – Washing bedding regularly with allergy friendly laundry detergent such as Allergen Wash from Allersearch, available at www.AllergyCosmos.co.uk.
• Damp dust everywhere regularly to get rid of the house dust mite source of food. Use an effective allergy dust spray such as ADS or ADMS from Allersearch, it will destroy the allergy symptom causing protein on contact. Get rid of any clutter where more dust can build up.
• It is crucial to get rid of dampness in your home. Ventilate by opening windows, and check for condensation in the kitchen and bathroom.
• Last but not least is using an effective air purifier. A good air purifier has a HEPA or HEPA-like filter, a high filtration efficiency and is strong enough to clean the area in question. Allergy Cosmos offers free expert consultations

How to get rid of dust mite allergens?

Killing dust mites by lowering humidity and removing dust will help to remove dust mite allergens in your home. However, allergen will still persist in bedding, soft furnishings and so on. Vacuum (we recommend Miele), use a good air purifier (ideally IQAir from Allergy Cosmos), dust with an allergy friendly cleaning product, and wash laundry with Allergen Wash from Allersearch to remove as much allergens as possible.

www.AllergyCosmos.co.uk

New book gives groundbreaking look at health and longevity

It is not those that are happy go lucky that always thrive it is the persistent and prudent that flourish over time. A new book has groundbreaking findings challenging all there is to know about having a long life.

Many have told us that the key to a long life is obsessing about what we eat, how fast we run and how much we stress. The Longevity Project, based the longest ever study of longevity ever, exposes what it is that really impacts the length of our lifespan – including family, friends, work and personality.

For the first time the general public has been shown these findings of this incredible decades long study that started early in the 1920s.

THE LONGEVITY PROJECT
Surprising Discoveries for Health and Long Life from the Landmark Eight Decade Study

By Howard S. Friedman, PhD and Leslie R. Martin, PhD

Published by Hay House, 4th July 2011, £10.99 pb

Gathering new information and using modern statistics to study participants across eight decades, Dr Howard Friedman and Dr Leslie Martin bust myths about achieving health and long life. For example:
- People do not die from working long hours at a challenging job – many who worked the hardest lived the longest
- Getting and staying married is not the magic ticket to long life, especially if you’re a woman
- It’s not the happy-go-lucky ones who thrive – it’s the prudent and persistent who flourish through the years.

With questionnaires that help you determine where you are heading on the longevity spectrum and advice about how to stay healthy, this book changes the conversation about living a long, healthy life.

Howard S. Friedman is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of California in Riverside, California. For three decades, Professor Friedman has studied personality predictors of longevity, developing a scientific understanding of the ‘disease-prone personality’ and the ‘self-healing personality.’ Leslie R. Martin is Professor of Psychology at La Sierra University in California.

Eva Ottosson has agreed to participate in a groundbreaking new medical procedure. If successful it could mean that she donates her uterus to her 25 year old daughter Sara. Doctors hope that if there is a successful transplant that Sara who was born without reproductive organs could get pregnant, carry the child in the same womb from which she was carried in by her mom and born.

The complex transplant it is hoped will take place as early as the spring in Sweden where the Gothenburg doctors have been doing assessments on suitable patients for the new revolutionary procedure.

Mrs. Ottosson runs a lighting business in Nottingham and she says she and her daughter are very rational and they both believe all it is, is just a womb. My daughter is in need of one and if I am the best donor so be it let’s do it. She said her daughter needed it more than her since she has had two daughters and has served her well.

In 2000 the only previous womb transplant took place when a woman who had lost hers due to a haemorrhage was donated one from the womb of a 46 year old. Nevertheless the recipient developed infections and had the womb removes after only three months.

Since that time knowledge of the procedure has improved and a team in Gothenburg believe they are now at the stage to they can perform the transplant successfully. Sara has a condition called Mayer Rokitansky Kuster Hauser syndrome where she was born without a uterus and only some parts of the vagina. It affects one in 5,000 people.

“MR. SMITH? DOCTOR WIKIPEDIA WILL SEE YOU NOW…”
NEW REPORT SHOWS 60% OF EUROPEAN DOCTORS ARE USING WIKIPEDIA PROFESSIONALLY

A startling new report that has been released by Insight Research Group reveals that as many as 60% doctors in Europe are using Wikipedia in a professional capacity. The global market research company interviewed 300 GP’s across Europe for the new report, that looks a how regularly doctors access the Internet for personal and professional reasons.

The statistics this has revealed has caused a great deal of surprise, especially when it jumps up to 69% when analysing how many GP’s use social media sites for professional reasons, such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. The Wikipedia site is honest about the fact that anonymous contributors who receive no reward write everything on their site. This is effect means that everything on there in unsubstantiated.

“The issue that needs debate here is whether this is a surprise to patients and doctors alike, as it is clearly a forum that GPs do refer to,” said Damian Eade, Director at Insight Research Group, who spearheaded the research. “The report is certainly not saying Wikipedia, and other social platforms, are not exceptional fonts of knowledge for the public. But should it be a sensible and reliable place for medical professionals to turn to?”

The report highlighted that across Europe the social web is not just a method embraced by young doctors either. Across all markets a surprising 75% of doctors in the 51-60 age groups stated that they regularly used Wikipedia for professional use.”

And it seems the web has now become integral to the whole experience of visiting your doctor. Half of those doctors interviewed (50%) are also recommending specific websites for patients to visit, following their consultations. 87% are advising certain sites for further background or education on their condition, 70% for additional support and advice and 69% for more information regarding treatment and medication.

The report has further reinforced the view of many that we are now living in the era of the ‘ePatient’ – where the web has become a trusted tool for not only daily tasks, but also health-related matters.

“The ePatient is here to stay. But we have to investigate whether patients are accessing the right type of websites when it comes to health issues they, or their loved ones, are facing,” continued Damian Eade. “Whether it’s researching illnesses, sharing experiences, making recommendations or providing moral support for other patients around the world, the social web has reinvented health advice, and we need to make sure the right advice is on hand for people.”

According to the Office for national statistics, 42% of Britons have sought health-related information online within the past three months, and nearly a fifth of web users use the web as their first port of call when investigating a health concern. Whether the news today of doctors using sites like Wikipedia for their own professional use is going to help the situation, or not, remains to be seen.

To keep tabs on your specific aging process it will soon cost only 435 quid. There has been a blood test developed by scientists that can indicate the speed of your aging and give an estimate as to that person’s life expectancy. These test results could one day be vital to companies in the life insurance business that offer medical cover.

Later this year the blood test, that is still very controversial, will go on sale in Britain to the general public. The test measures vital structures located on the tips of the chromosomes called telomeres. Many believe these are the most accurate of all indicators as to the speed that a person is aging.

These tests scientists say can tell whether, measured by their telomeres, an individual’s biological age is older or younger than their chronological age. They know that people that are born with shorter telomeres than what is normal will have a shorter life. But what they do not know is if the ones with longer than normal are going to give that individual a longer lifespan.

They hope that the test will prove to be breakthrough in filling the curiosity of people with regards to their mortality thus allowing them to plan their lives accordingly, however they do not think predictions can be calculated to months or years someone still has left to live.

Some people manage to do it quickly and painlessly, but it would seem these are in the minority. Giving up smoking is often a real struggle – and can take several attempts. Even so, if you’re looking to give up, the end results should be more than worth it.

Research conducted by Lancaster University said that quitters typically took at least seven attempts – and five years – to stop smoking. Professor Cary Cooper said giving up cigarettes was “a very difficult and stressful time” and that the first week was often the hardest. He recommended having a “stop smoking buddy” to provide support and encouragement.

While some may simply go cold turkey and stop, there are many different techniques which smokers can try. These range from hypnotherapy to joining a local stop smoking group, in addition to a wide range of nicotine replacements.

The NHS provides support to help give up, and there are also going to be fewer temptations on display, as the latest government move is a plan to remove cigarettes from point of sale locations (i.e. behind the till) in shops. This might be a good time to kick the habit – fewer people smoke now and some smokers may feel marginalised, as they are likely to have to smoke outside at work and possibly at home as well.

We all know that becoming a non-smoker can have its benefits – including possible improved health and a boost to your finances – but a less well known benefit is that you might also be able to reduce your life insurance policy premiums.

Research from Sainsbury’s Finance has shown that around 3.3 million ex-smokers in the UK are collectively paying £316 million more a year for life insurance premiums than they need to. This is because they have failed to tell their insurer. However, simply having given up last week is not enough – an insurer will generally expect you to have been smoke-free for a full 12 months in order to qualify for a discount.

You will also need to have dropped any props you used to help give up – such as nicotine gum or patches – for at least a year. The research showed that the average smoker’s yearly life insurance premium is £209.75, compared to around £95 less for a non-smoker’s. Therefore, it is possible you could make a pretty impressive saving by making your new status known to your insurer.

To qualify, it is important to check out the life insurer’s terms specifically – and if you don’t meet these, then be honest when you apply – if not, your life insurance cover could be invalidated.

Of course, stopping smoking is not the only way to obtain a better deal – life insurers are also likely to offer more attractive terms if you are a healthy weight and avoid excessive alcohol consumption. No one is pretending that giving up smoking is easy or can be achieved overnight – but with the benefits that it could bring, it’s certainly giving more people a reason to try.

Article Courtesy of Sainsbury’s Finance