Tag Archives: Health Awareness

Education, News, Research Paper

World Hepatitis Day

On World Hepatitis Day, let us put an end to all forms of discrimination that is meted out to people suffering from hepatitis.

World Hepatitis Day, observed on July 28 every year, aims to raise global awareness of hepatitis — a group of infectious diseases known as Hepatitis A, B, C, D, and E — and encourage prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Hepatitis affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide, causing acute and chronic disease and killing close to 1.34 million people every year. Hepatitis causes liver diseases and can also kill a person. World Hepatitis Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).

WHO keeps this year’s theme is “Hepatitis-free future,” with a strong focus on preventing hepatitis B among mothers and newborns. On 28 July, WHO will publish new recommendations on the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the virus. HBV can be prevented among newborns through the use of a safe and effective vaccine. WHO is calling on all countries to work together to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030.

Significance of the theme

WHO says, “A hepatitis-free future is achievable with a united effort.”

With 2020’s theme for World Hepatitis Day being “Hepatitis-free future”, it becomes all the more crucial to know about the nature, prevention, and treatment of these viral illnesses. Hepatitis A and E are usually self-limited infections and comparatively not as severe as the other types. Hepatitis B and C are the leading causes of hepatitis-related deaths and can lead to serious conditions and cause long-term liver damage like liver cirrhosis, acute on chronic liver failure, liver cancer, or even death. Hepatitis D usually occurs in conjunction with Hepatitis B. Hepatitis B and C especially pose a serious threat to India as suggested by the numbers.

Once diagnosed, the course of treatment is based on whether the infection is acute or chronic. In the current scenario, it is vital to get a test and have the medications started, as those with pre-existing health conditions are at a higher risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Increased awareness through campaigns, initiatives, and discussions will help spread information as well as reduce the stigma about the disease. Awareness will also enable access to testing, ultimately resulting in early diagnosis.

WHO mentions the following points in dealing with the situation:

  1. PREVENT infection among newborns.  All newborns should be vaccinated against hepatitis B at birth, followed by at least 2 additional doses.
  2. STOP TRANSMISSION from MOTHER to CHILD. All pregnant women should be routinely tested for hepatitis B, HIV, and syphilis and receive treatment if needed.
  3. LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND. Everyone should have access to hepatitis prevention, testing, and treatment services, including people who inject drugs, people in prisons, migrants, and other highly-affected populations.
  4. EXPAND access to testing and treatment. Timely testing and treatment of viral hepatitis can prevent liver cancer and other severe liver diseases.
  5. MAINTAIN essential hepatitis services during COVID-19. Prevention and care services for hepatitis – such as infant immunization, harm reduction services, and continuous treatment of chronic hepatitis B – are essential even during the pandemic.

Education of the masses is the way forward to find these missing millions and ensuring that they receive proper treatment and care. Only then, it is possible to drastically reduce the number of patients who would suffer from these diseases and eliminate the risk of the virus and achieve the dream of “Hepatitis-free” India.

Let us learn to protect ourselves from Hepatitis diseases on World Hepatitis Day.

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Education, Science and Technology

Teflon is toxic

Teflon and health

Teflon-coated cookware is the ultimate in cookware convenience. It keeps food from sticking to the pan, allows the diet conscious to use less fat while cooking, and makes washing up easier. Teflon, known chemically as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), is a plastic-like substance made up of a complex mixture of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs). All good non-stick coatings intended for use in cooking are made with PTFE. The difference between brands lies in the proportion in which PTFE is blended with other materials.

Teflon is composed of several toxic chemicals that can be released from heated pans into the air and into food. The more often you use your pans at high temperatures, the quicker the coating will break down and emit tiny particles and gases into the air. As this happens (usually within about two years of continual use), washing Teflon-coated pans by hand or in a dishwasher with harsh detergents may accelerate the process further.

The chemicals emitted by Teflon are harmful to humans and deadly, even in minute amounts, to pet birds. Even if you’ve never used a Teflon-coated pan, there’s a good chance that you are carrying some of Teflon’s breakdown products in your body because the substance has a wide range of uses outside the home. PFCs have been shown to accumulate in human organs like the liver, gall bladder and thyroid gland. In other primates, exposure to one of Teflon’s breakdown products, PFOA, has led to hypothyroidism (the condition of having an underactive thyroid). This effect is also apparent in human studies. A prolonged state of hypothyroidism is a risk for obesity, insulin resistance and thyroid cancer.

Teflon may reduce the amount of fat we cook with, make washing up easier and clothes and carpets last longer; but it is a frivolous and unnecessary substance the benefits of which pale beside the possibility of killing beloved pets and raising your risk of heart disease, diabetes, birth defects and cancer.

Culture and History, Education

Increasing Relevance of Yoga in Modern Times

Yoga is one of the most ancient Indian Philosophical and Practical system propounded by sage Patanjali (150BCE). Yoga enhances the potentialities of the people. One should control the mind and practice the moral and ethical disciplines before attempting serious Yoga. Yoga should become lifestyle and people should control their food habits, entertainment, trade and commerce in order to be good citizens of the country. Ever since UNO declared June 21st as International Day of Yoga, celebration of this event has become a good phenomenon. Yoga is not about stretching of the body, it is about the self realization.

Yoga-Indian Ethos

Yoga should become a part of our everyday life. Yoga is an ancient Indian science having a scientific background which has an antiquity of 11,500 years. Practice of Yoga can enhance physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual powers of people. Sage Patanjali says: ‘Yoga can control the modification of our mind-stuff’. Sage Vashisth says in Yoga Vashista treatise that ‘The means for calming mind is called Yoga. India is in the frontline of information technology, biotechnology, nano-science and other types of research. The internal and external stresses of people in these fields can be relieved by practicing Yoga and also for attaining peace and comfort. Various Yoga organization and NGOs and several central universities have popularized Yoga worldwide with efforts.

Yoga and Health

The systems of Ayurveda, Veda and Yoga have enhanced the health and longevity of Indians since time immemorial. Chakara while elaborating on the issue of health of an individual says that complete health means the totality of health body, sense organs and pleasant mind which has been incorporated in the motto of World Health Organisation. In this context, the great contributions of ancient Indian medical doctors like Chakras, Nagarjuna and other Vedic sages merit our attention.

Yoga and Youth:

Yoga should be imparted to children from very young age and it should become their lifestyle. Yoga would become a powerful means for promoting ageless Indian culture and tradition. The practice and perfect understanding of four streams of Yoga such as knowledge ( Jnana Yoga), action (Karma Yoga), devotion (Bhakti Yoga) and meditation (Raja Yoga) would calm down body, mind and release stress. Indian youth who form more than 50% of total population should practice Yoga for the overall development of their personalities. One can learn good habits, become model citizens on the country by practicing Yoga ethics and this alone can bring holistic health for people. Yoga lore are the principles and techniques that are practically applied in the SMET (Self-Management Excessive Tension) program, which has received global popularity for its effectiveness in the stress reduction. Especially the super-busy Executive world has finding great value in regular SMET practice; as it brings about the ‘expansion of awareness’ and ‘depth of perception’ through cyclic pattern of stimulation and relaxation. Yoga could promote the concept of ‘Earth is but one family’ (Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam). India can emerge in yogic and spiritual planes and earn the encomium of Yoga Vishwa Guru among the comity of nations in the coming years.

Education

How to Control Your Brain to Stay Positive

Positivity is very important for everyone. It is the way through which you can make life worthy. Positivity is important for an individual’s personality development. It makes you attractive and more confident lifestyle.

Now the question arises, how to stay positive throughout life. So the answer is here, stay in positivity is not a big task. It is all about our thought. What are we thinking? What are the thoughts going into your mind? How do you imagine the world? How you tolerate with any types of situation? How and what we command to our senses?
Our mind is a factory where thoughts are manufacture every time every moment. And our Positive and Negative thoughts are two employees. They manufacture two thoughts. First one is positive thoughts and the second one is negative thoughts. Our mind works on the principle of GIGO, garbage in garbage out, if we put positive garbage inside our brain then our mental appearance should be positive but if we put negative thoughts into our mind then our mental appearance should be negative. Positive employee command to manufacture positive thought whereas negative employee command to manufacture negative thought.

So here we all get how our mind works!! Now next step is that how would you allow your employee to work more effectively. If you want that Positive works more effectively than Negative then you should motivate him to do so. You have to focus more attentively. It is just like the corporate field. If you want to more profit, you need more attention to your weak bone. Positive and Negative employees both work based on our five senses that are eyes, nose, ear, tongue and skin. You need to control all these senses. Because you know that our mind works over the principle of GIGO. You have to manufacture only positive thought only. To manufacture positive thought, you have to command all senses smartly. You should not allow them to watch, hear, speak, smell or touch negative things, not allow to do negative work.

It is all tends to the development of negative thoughts. This is the only way through which you can stop manufacturing of negative thought.

Now we discuss how to control our senses to do so. This can be done through mental treatment. Yoga and meditation are the most famous and it is the only way through which you can avoid and control your senses to do any worst or negative work. Our mind and body both depend on each other. Life is all about balance. Therefore, you have to keep an essential balance for their endorsement. If you do not focus over your body including your senses then negative work will be there which tends to again production of negative thought. And if you will not focus on your brain then again it is similar to active work of negativity and again which tends to the production of negative thought.

The balance between mind and body is most important to keep your personality positive. Manufacturing of thoughts depends on our activity which is commanded by our employee. Your focus will decide activeness of your employee and your employee will decide the growth of factory in the negative or positive side.