Allergic reactions:

medicoSA: Patient Care Ecosystem

You know that your immune system helps your body to fight against bacteria and viruses. In some cases, your immune system defends against substances that do not pose any threat to the human body. And these substances are refered to as allergens, and these allergens cause allergic reactions when they react with your body. These allergic reactions occur when the allergens come in direct contact with your skin, be eaten or be inhaled. Allergens can also be used to diagnose the allergies or can be used in the treatment as well.

Causes of allergic reactions:

Allergies are inherited from the ancestors, and even doctors don’t know why people experience allergies.

Some of the substances that cause allergic reaction are as follows:

• Pet dander
• Bee stings or bites from other insects
• Certain foods, including nuts or shellfish
• Certain medications such as penicillin or aspirin
• Certain plants
• Pollen

Symptoms of allergic reactions:

Symptoms of allergic reactions are vary according to the exposure to an allergen such as if you are exposed to an allergen for the first time then the symptoms that show are mild but if your exposer increase repeatedly then it become worse.

Symptoms of mild allergic reactions are:

• Hives (itchy red spots on the skin)
• Itching
• Nasal congestion (rhinitis)
• Rash
• Watery or itchy eyes

Severe allergic reactions are:

• Abdominal cramping or pain
• Pain or tightness in the chest
• Diarrhea
• Difficulty swallowing
• Dizziness (vertigo)
• Fear or anxiety
• Flushing of the face
• Nausea or vomiting
• Heart palpitations
• Swelling of the face, eyes, or tongue
• Weakness
• Wheezing
• Difficulty breathing
• Unconsciousness

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Strange types of allergic source:

medicoSA: Medical Collaborated Ecosystem

Hypersensitivity disorders of the Immune system is called Allergy. Allergy symptoms include watery eyes, itchiness, running nose, red eyes or an asthma attack.A substance that causes a reaction is called an allergen. Some of the strange allegens are given below:

Spices

About 2-3 percent of people living with this spice allergies, because spices are the part of almost all the foods. Spices are also used in dental, perfumes and cosmetics products such as toothpaste. The common type of allergic sources are cinnamon & garlic.

Water

Water, strange but true is also an allergic source and the allergy to water is known as aquagenic urticaria. Aquagenic urticaria causes white lumps or itchy red on the skin when direct contact of water is occur. This allergy is common in women and starts around puberty.

Cell phones

Nickel also triggers the allergy and present in the common things such as coins, costume jewellery, belt buckels, and many other everyday items. Sometimes the nickel allergy also called cell phone allergy. This allergy is not rare and in fact after poison ivy it is the second most common source of contact dermatitis.

Raw fruit and vegetables

Oral allergy syndrome, caused to the person who have hay fever and if the person bites raw fruits or vegetables and develops an itchy mouth. Some of the common foods that causes this type of allergies are apples, carrots, bananas, peaches and tomatoes.

Being touched

When the skin of the person is extremely sensitive to touch & pressure it causes Dermatographism, or Dermatographic urticaria.

Itchy, reddish rash appears on the skin when the skin is touched or scratched. The condition is also known as skin writing.

Laser Device For Diabetes

medicoSA: Enable Healthcare Omnipresent

Researchers at Princeton Universitry have used a specialised laser for the measurement of blood sugar for the diabetic patients. So that the diabetic patients can measure their blood sugar level without pricking themselves to draw blood.

In this the laser passes through the skin cells of the patient without causing any damage and is partially absorbed by the sugar molecules. This amount of absorption is used by the researchers to measure the level of blood sugar of the diabetic patient.

The Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and the project’s senior researcher, Claire Gmachl said “ We are workintg hard to turn engineering solutions into useful tools to use them in our daily lives.” He also said “ With this work we hope to improve the lives of many diabetes sufferers who depend on frequent blood glucose monitoring.”

The paper’s lead author and a graduate student in electrical engineering, Sabbir Liakat said the team was surprised by the accurate result of the method.

Liakat also said that glucose monitors are required to produce a blood- sugar reading within 20 percent’s actual level, earlier version of the system met with that standard but the accuracy of the current version is 84 percent.

To conduct the experiment, researchers measure the blood sugar level of three healthy people by the help of cascade laser, before and after they ate 20 jellybeans, which increase the level of blood sugar in the body.

Researchers also checked the measurement of sugar level with a finger-prick test. This measurement conducted repeatedly over several weeks.

This research results that the reading measurement of laser produced average errors somewhat larger than the standard blood sugar monitors, but remained within the clinical requirement for accuracy.

“Because the quantum cascade laser can be designed to emit light across a very wide wavelength range, its usability is not just for glucose detection, but could conceivably be used for other medical sensing and monitoring applications,” Gmachl said.

Source: 1

Is breakfast really an important meal?

medicoSA: Healthcare Ecosystem on Cloud

We always heard that breakfast is the most important meal for the day. But scientists do not think so, and a spate of new research at several universities have published in different articles in August issues of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that could change the thinking of early hours eating.

The main focus of the studies is on whether breakfast plays any role in weight loss or not. Researchers at University of Alabama at Birmingham and other institutions recruited about 300 volunteers who all want to lose weight and trying for it. The volunteers has regularly assigned the task to either skip the breakfast or always eat meal with their currently dietary habits.

After the sixteen weeks, all the volunteers returned for the measurement of their weight. It results that no one had lost much and only a pound or so per person, with weight in all the groups unaffected by whether someone ate breakfast or not.

In a new study– this one of lean volunteers– researchers at University of Bath determined the cholestrol levels, resting metabolic rates and blood-sugar profiles of 33 participants and assigned them randomly to eat or skip breakfast and also provided activity monitors to the Volunteers.

Six weeks later, the measurement of their weight, resting metabolic rates, cholestrol and most measures of blood sugar were occur which results the same as they had been at the start, whether they ate breakfast or skip the breakfast. Only one difference shows which was that the breakfast eaters seems to move around more during the morning, their activities which was monitored showed that volunteers in the group burned almost 500 calories more in light intensity movement. But by the help of breakfast they can consumed about 500 calories more in each day. Contrary to popular belief, skipping breakfast had not driven volunteers to wolf down enormous lunches and dinners – but it had made them somewhat more sluggish first thing in the morning.

This research suggets that skipping breakfast did not fatten the people. Assistant professor at the University of Alabama, Emily Dhurandhar said that “breakfast may be just another meal” and breakfast did not effect on the weight loss.

medicoSA: Healthcare Collaboration Platform

Dr. Ajay Rastogi, MBBS, MD, CCEBDM(Diabetes), is welcomed to medicoSA— Networked Healthcare Ecosystem

http://medicosa.com/dr/ajayrastogi.html

Ebola: Could be a result of biological warfare

medicoSA: Networked Healthcare Ecosystem

M.Durgprasad, Scientists from DRDO feels that Ebola outbreaks could be a part of biological warfare unleashed on the world.

He was speaking, ‘ Defence Technology Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow’ during an innovation programme which was organized by Mysore Science Foundation & Regional Museum of Natural History at Regional Museum Natural History premises.

According to the scientists, biological warfare is resulting in the outbreak of several diseases which don’t have a known cause.

At the time of his interaction with students, he explain the destructive techniques used in wars. He said “Science has to be used carefully, for the welfare of the mankind. A powerful missile can destroy an imposing building in 30 seconds.”

He expresses his views on the ever expanding software sector, the scientist said, “Software is not a science. It is a highly paid casual labour. Here there is no challenge in work. The younger generations should focus on basic science where there is scope for challenges and creativity.”

Source: 1

Type 2 Diabetes in Kids:

medicoSA: Healthcare Ecosystem on Cloud

Type 2 diabetes is a chronic disease. It is used to say only adults got type2 diabetes but now type 2 diseases also affect kids and teens who are not active and are obese.

In diabetes blood sugar level get increased. When you eat food, that food converts into glucose which is used for energy. At the time of diabetes your body cannot use glucose properly with which the level of glucose rises. With type 2 diabetes people may need to take pills or insulin which helps the body to use the glucose in blood for energy. If the glucose level of blood is stay too high for long period of time, it can cause damage to many parts of the body like kidneys, heart, eyes, and nerves.

Some of the signs and symptoms are of diabetes include, frequent urination, felling thirsty, have thick dark skin under the arms and on the neck.

Risk on kids increase if they:
• Not physically active
• Are American, Indian, Alaska Native, African American, Asian American, Hispanic/Latino, or Pacific Islander.
• Have high weight.
• Have a mother, father, brother, or other close relatives who has type 2 diabetes.

How to be stay active?
• You can be active by a lot of ways such as go for a walk, take the stairs, ride a bike, dance, jump rope, play games, do the things which you like  the most.
• Keep track the number of steps you take in a day and try to increase the number every day.
• Increase to activity each week and don’t be upset if you can’t do lot of activities just start slowly.

What should kids do to keep healthy?
• Stay healthy
• Be physically active
• Eat healthy food
• Limit your time with computers, video and TV.

Benefits of physical activity:
• Help in controlling your weight.
• Increase the flexibility
• Help in growing your bones and make them strong.
• Increase the focus in school activities
• You will feel good and sleep better
• Reduce body fat and build the muscles.

Healthy snacks, that you can make yourself:
• Fruits and vegetables salad
• A bowl of Cereals with low or no fat milk
• One serving plain popcorn
• Slice of toast with less amount of peanut butter

Tips to get healthy diet:
• Eat healthy food which is rich in fibers like oatmeal, lentils, whole grain breads, dried peas, vegetables and fruits.
• Eat foods which have low quantity of salt.
• Instead of soda drink you can drink water.
• Lot of salad and vegetable are good for diabetic patients.
• Eat 3 meals per day.
• Eat baked, boiled or grilled foods instead of fried food.
• Eat slowly. Do not take second helpings. If you are still hungry after meal, fill up on vegetables or a piece of fruits.

Doctors create a pair of ears from earless boy’s ribs

medicoSA: Advanced Clinical Process

A Nine year old British boy Kieran Sorkin, who was born deaf (without ears) with small lobes around the part of his ears now able to hear properly, British doctors from London’s great Ormond Street Hospital not only created a pair of his ears but also allowed him to hear with implanted aid.

In U.K. about 100 children a year are born without one or two ears, that condition is known as microtia. But Kieran, from Hertfordshire, was born with bilateral microtia which affects one baby in 100,000 babies.

In the begging of the procedure doctors harvesting rib cartilage from both the sides of Kieran’s chest, doctors carefully carved and shaped into framework accordingly.

For the designing of Kieran’s ears doctors used an outline of Kieran’s mother ears so as a “family template”, so that they make the ear as close as possible to the ear of his family members.

After that team of Doctors grafted the ear frameworks onto the either side of Kieran’s head, which is placing under the pockets of skin that were then sucked down with a vacuum so that the skin conformed to the contours of each new ear.

Neil Bulstode, GOSH plastic and reconstructive surgeon carried out the operation of six hour on Kieran and is one of only a handful of clinicians worldwide to carry out double ear reconstructions.

“Sometimes bilateral reconstructions are done one at a time, but for Kieran we have created both the ears at the same time,” said Bulstrode “this allows us to ensure that the ears are balanced and best achieve the new result.”

For the improvement of his hearing Kieran undergone a series of operations and while the reconstruction of ear is primarily a cosmetic procedure, Bulstrode said it stood to bring enormous benefits to Kieran.

He also said, “It is a major operation but it brings a significant improvement in the quality of life for the children with microtia.”

Now within the time of six months Kieran has to follow-up an operation which will involve placing a small skin graft behind each ear to help push it out slightly further from Kieran’s head.

Source: 1

Scientists generate electricity from silk worm cocoons:

medicoSA: Electronic Medical Record System

With the help of silk worm cocoons Indian scientists have successfully generated the electricity, which can help in running the low power electronic devices.

Research study which is related to this titled “Electricity from silk cocoon membranes” was published recently in scientific reports of Natural journal.

One of the lead researchers, Sushil Kumar Singh said “Our system could produce the electricity which generated sufficient power from which a small LED bulb operated easily and we have given the proof of it.

Singh also said “This can be work as a battery, a charging device or a capacitor.”

With the help of silk cocoons researchers made a bio-hybrid device which behaved like a capacitor or an energy converter. Humidity and temperature helps in charging the device. The researchers infused water vapor inside the silk cocoons. Two cocoons were used and made their membrane humid.

Another lead researcher from IIT Kanpur, Mainak Das said, “This is just a small step and when perfected further this could be an answer to waste heat management.”

According to Das, if these findings perfected and blended into technological endeavors, could offer a greener route for synthesizing a self-operating bio-hybrid solid-state device.

Important points related to Ebola:

medicoSA: Medical Collaboration Platform 

7 important things related to Ebola from World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control.

1) Ebola virus causes Ebola Hemorrhagic Fever Disease:

Symptoms of Ebola appear from 2 to 21 days, after the exposure to Ebola virus most common time is 8 to 10 days. Symptoms of Ebola include:

• Headache
• Joint & muscle aches
• Weakness
• Diarrhea
• Vomiting
• Lack of appetite
• Stomach ache
• Abnormal bleeding

2) Outbreak of West Africa is largest in history:

The current outbreak in the neighboring countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed hundreds since March. West Africa outbreak is unusual as the disease found in the center and east of the continent.

3) Some people have survived Ebola

The death rate of Ebola can be as high as about 90 percent, health officials of the three countries say people who are infected have recovered from the viral infection and now the death rate is about 60 percent. Those who fared best sought immediate medical attention and got supportive care to prevent dehydration even though there is no specific treatment for Ebola itself.

4) Early symptoms of Ebola are like other diseases:

Early symptoms of Ebola virus infection is just like other diseases such as headache, stomach pain, sore throat and joint aches. It is not easy to differentiate among the Ebola infection or malaria, typhoid or cholera. Only in the later stage of Ebola symptoms show internal and external bleeding through their nose and ears.

5) Ebola spread through the direct contact with the infected person.

Ebola virus spread through the direct contact with the body fluid of the infected person such as saliva, sweat, blood or semen.

6) Ebola is not spread through air, water and food:

Ebola is not an air borne, water borne or food borne illness. So it is not spread through air, water or food.

7) Fear & Misinformation:

In the three countries, clinics and the healthcare workers who mistakenly blame foreign doctors and nurses for bringing the virus to remote communities, have come under attack from the panicked residents. Family members also removed sick patients from hospitals and the officials of government also provide their efforts to isolate the patients, provide education to the public, check the travelers and tighten borders so that they can prevent the spreading of the Ebola disease.

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