Warning: living in a city could seriously damage your health | Florence Williams

I recently spent some time walking around Washington DC, where I live, with an aethalometer sticking out of my shirt collar. I carried the device, which measures air pollution, around with me like a pet monkey as I walked in a city park, drove on the city’s circular beltway and picked up my kids from school. It was sadly eye-opening because it confirmed what I have long suspected: my city is a polluted place.

The monitor, borrowed from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, measures black carbon, a byproduct of car engines and other fuel- burning processes. Its name comes from the Greek word meaning “to blacken with soot”. And that’s exactly what happened.

The spindly machine measured high readings of 6,000 nanograms per cubic meter while I drove around, even during off-peak hours. More shockingly, I recorded equally high values just outside my daughter’s school, where cars and buses idle, waiting to pick up students. Much of the pollution there is generated by diesel fuel, which has been shown to shorten life spans around the world by causing cardiovascular and pulmonary problems. Worldwide, fine particulate matter, of which black carbon is a component, is blamed for 2.1 million premature deaths annually.

Scientists have long considered the lungs as vulnerable to air pollution. Only recently have they come to realise the role of the nose as a pathway to the brain; the extent of the nose-brain connection was only illuminated in 2003, when researchers in smog-choked Mexico City found brain lesions on stray dogs.

Unfortunately for city dwellers, the closer we live to these roads, the higher our risk of autism, stroke and cognitive decline in ageing, although the exact reasons haven’t been teased out. Scientists suspect it has something to do with fine particles causing tissue inflammation and altering gene expression in the brain’s immune cells.

“I hold my breath when I’m behind a diesel bus,” Michelle Block, a neurobiologist who studies pollution’s effects on microglial cells at Virginia Commonwealth University, told me.

Regardless of whether people know about pollution, its effects are being felt in other ways too. In one 2008 survey of 400 Londoners by economists George MacKerron and Susana Mourato at the London School of Economics, “life satisfaction” fell significantly – half a point on an 11-point scale – for each additional 10 micrograms per cubic metre of nitrogen dioxide pollution, also a common byproduct of diesel engines.

Because I am strangely driven to probe the unhealthy aspects of my life, I also walked around my city wearing a portable electroencephalogram (EEG) device on my head. I wanted to know how easily I could attain “alpha” brain waves (indicating a calm, focused state of mind) by walking in various parts of the city, including a park.

Research has shown that people who live in cities may suffer more psychological stress than people who live in rural areas. For a study published in Nature in 2011, Jens Pruessner and colleagues at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim found a 21% increase in anxiety disorders, a 39% increase in mood disorders and a doubled risk of schizophrenia in city dwellers. Urban living was linked to increased activity in the brain’s amygdala – the fear centre – and in the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, a key region for regulating fear and stress.

Meanwhile, a 2011 study from Portugal found that people living near industrial “grey areas” reported less optimism. This may sound trivial, but optimism is associated with healthier behaviours (such as a willingness to exercise), lower levels of fat in the blood and mental resilience, or the ability to recover from stress.

I uploaded the data from my EEG to a California-based website that read it, fed it into an algorithm, and sent me back this dejected message about my lack of alphas: “This indicates that in this state you were actively processing information and, perhaps, that you should relax more often!”

Both my local park and my house sit under the flightpath of a busy airport, and noise pollution is yet another well-proven source of stress. I decided to measure the noise. This I did in my very own backyard, using an iPhone app. I found out that the jets flying overhead every two minutes cranked out average decibel levels between 55 and 60 but sometimes spiking much higher (60 decibels is high enough to drown out normal speech). These are the same levels linked to stress-related disease and increased use of anti-anxiety medication in European studies. I bought noise-cancelling headphones. And I thought seriously about moving to the Rocky Mountains.

But before we all ditch our cities to camp out in a hay bale, it’s worth remembering that there are some excellent ways to counter the ill effects of crowded, Euclidean, monochromatic, loud modern life. Because, let’s face it, there are still some rather nice things about living in cities. And the fact is, more and more of us live in them. Globally, as of 2008, more people live in cities than outside them. By 2050, another two billion people will pile in, leading one US anthropologist, Jason Vargo, to suggest a new name for our species: Metro sapiens. Learning to make cities livable will be one of the greatest public health challenges of this century.

One clear step is the need to tackle air pollution. Health experts in the UK recently suggested parents cover their babies’ prams during morning rush hour. A better solution would be to regulate the polluters. Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City plan to ban diesel vehicles from city centres within the next 10 years.

Another antidote to noise, particulates and greyness is both delightful and affordable: trees. For humans, urban trees provide not just aesthetic pleasure but health benefits. Trees soak up air pollution, create cooling and provide a brain-tingling array of colours, textures and scents. The birds they shelter provide us with birdsong, which in turn is linked to feelings of wellbeing.

Consider the example of Toronto, Canada. The city values its 10m trees at C$ 7bn (£4.3bn). A 2015 study there showed the higher a neighbourhood’s tree density, the lower the incidence of heart and metabolic disease, and estimated that the health boost to those living on blocks with 11 more trees than average was equivalent to a C$ 20,000 gain in median income.

I hope to become so lucky, since Washington DC and partner nonprofits have been trying to plant at least 8,600 trees per year in an effort to increase the street canopy to 40% in the next two decades. New York City recently completed a campaign to plant a million trees, and Los Angeles, Shanghai, Denver and Dubai are in the middle of similar projects.

I envision soon nestling under a sprawling oak and removing all of my monitoring devices. It will just be me and the tree, and I won’t need a machine to tell me I feel better.

Warning: living in a city could seriously damage your health | Florence Williams

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Serious Dangers of Synthetic Scents Include Asthma, Cancer and Kidney Damage

Serious Dangers of Synthetic Scents Include Asthma, Cancer and Kidney Damage

How Crime Can Damage Your Health – And What You Can Do About It

It’s a given that crime can adversely affect your health. Violent crimes such as assaults can obviously directly affect an individual’s physical health – but what about the ‘invisible,’ mental effects of crime?

Crime and the subsequent fear of it can have stark consequences for both mental health and personal and social well-being, and the damage done can be far more catastrophic than one might think. The Chair of Surgery at Cardiff University, Professor Shepherd, has spent years researching the effects of crime on people he has treated in hospital.

“Having treated people injured by violence for many years, I’m convinced that the mental health problems that are inflicted are often more serious and long-lasting than their physical injuries,” he said. According to his department’s research, of around 300,000 victims of violent crime treated in hospitals, about 40% will develop problems with their mental health and wellbeing. Professor Shepherd added that while the “mental health impacts of violence are common,” they are also “often neglected.”

The Violent Effects of Non-Violent Crime

But crime doesn’t have to be violent for a victim’s well-being to be irrevocably damaged. A recent study analyzed the non-physical effects of non-violent burglaries and found that 60% of burglary victims felt emotionally affected and experienced a range of responses including anger, shock, worry and fear. Other common responses experienced were “depression and anxiety” (35%) and “feeling tearful” (26%). Over half of the victims (57%) said that they experienced difficulty sleeping after they were burglarized.

The damage to children’s wellbeing is significant too. Children were often not affected so much by the loss of possessions, but the fact that someone has been in their home. Burglaries can be very traumatic for children, often resulting in nightmares, bed wetting, wanting to sleep in their parents’ bed, not wishing to go to school or leave their parents’ side.

These are troubling statistics. Large amounts of time, effort and money are pumped into strategies to reduce crime in the US, but dealing with the psychological impact of it also should not be minimized. It is normal to feel stress, anxiety, fear and shock after being subjected to a crime, even for non-violent crimes like burglaries or thefts: our sense of safety has been shattered, so feeling insecure, vulnerable and on edge is entirely natural.

In some cases, these reactions are prolonged and can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is defined by symptoms such as hypervigilance, being easily startled, anxiety, irritability, cognitive dysfunction, anger, mood changes, fearfulness, numbness, inability to experience joy or pleasure, loss of memory and avoiding areas associated with the trauma.

Natural Remedies to Treat Symptoms Relating to PTSD

In chronic cases, professional help should be sought, but there are also natural remedies that can help ease symptoms and support an individual through their healing process to recovery. In most cases, the effect of crime on health and well-being does not lead to PTSD, so it’s worth using some of these remedies for more general symptoms of unease most people feel after being the victim of a crime.

According to Dr. Edward Shalts, the former vice president of the National Center for Homeopathy, homeopathic remedies have been shown to have a profound effect on people suffering from PTSD. To counter some of the most common psychological effects of a crime, consider the following:

For nightmares: For children, stramonium is effective for both nightmares and night terrors, particularly when a child becomes afraid of the dark, and also is good for general anxiety, anguish, and sleeplessness; for adults, Staphysagria can help deal with nightmares.

For hypervigilance or hypersensitivity: Chamomilla can help bring a sense of calmness.

For stress and nervousness: Hops eases stress and restlessness, and is often used to treat anxiety disorders, insomnia, and pain. Valerian promotes calmness and relaxation. Holy basil supports the adrenal glands, protecting them from stress, and stinging nettle inhibits the production of adrenalin, which is released when an individual is under stress.

For illness caused through stress: Green tea strengthens the immune system helping those suffering from PTSD to resist acute illnesses; Rhodiola provides antioxidant support.

How Crime Can Damage Your Health – And What You Can Do About It

Study- Synthetic Fragrance Linked to Cancer, Brain & Kidney Damage, Asthma, Headaches & More

What is Fragrance?

Fragrance also called a perfume is a key ingredient in perfumes and colognes. It is also called “the new second-hand smoke.” Like cigarettes, fragrance is harmful to the health of users and bystanders, its toxic effect lingering for hours after initial use. The late 70s and early 80s perfumes used to be made from natural ingredients like flowers and herbs. Today, they are approximately 95-100% synthetic (man-made).

Do you know your shampoo, perfumes, air fresheners, candles, and dryer sheets are killing you slowly? The term “fragrance” on a cosmetic ingredients list usually represents a complex mixture of dozens of chemicals. According to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, there are over 5,000 chemical fragrances being used in some combination by today’s consumers. (1) (2)

Fragrances are Synthetic and Artificial

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports that more than 95 percent of the chemicals in synthetic fragrances are derived from petrochemicals. These chemicals include benzene derivatives, aldehydes, phthalates, and a few of other known toxins that are capable of causing cancer, birth defects, nervous-system disorders and allergies. A survey of asthmatics found that perfume and colognes triggered attacks in nearly three out of four individuals.

Environmental Working Group (EWG) researchers found more than 75 percent of products listing the ingredient “fragrance” contained phthalates (THAL-ates) which have been shown to disrupt hormone activity, reduce sperm counts, and cause reproductive malformation, and have been linked to liver and breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity. There is also evidence suggesting that exposure to perfume can exacerbate asthma, and perhaps even contribute to its development in children. (3) (4) (5)

Homemade Herbal Perfume Recipe

Ingredients:

Approximately 12-20 drops of Essential Oils like: Cedarwood, Vanilla, Vetiver, Ylang Ylang, Sandalwood, etc
1 tsp of vanilla extract (optional)
25-30 drops of middle tone oil like Rose, Lavender, Chamomile or Geranium
12-15 drops of top note oil like Bergamot, Wild Orange or Neroli
4 ounces of alcohol to preserve and meld scents

Directions:

Mix all oils together in an opaque bottle to get a scent you like.
Let this mixture stay in the bottle alone for a few days to let scents meld.
Add the alcohol and cap tightly.
Shake and put in a cool, dark place for at least a month (preferably).
This is optional but helps the alcohol scent fade and the scents of the oils intensify.

Additional Sources:

–http://wellnessmama.com/26194/diy-herbal-perfume-recipe/

–http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-rodale/five-mustknows-on-the-dan_b_4737654.html

Read:

Study- Synthetic Fragrance Linked to Cancer, Brain & Kidney Damage, Asthma, Headaches & More

DNA study lays bare devastating damage caused by smoking

The devastating impact of cigarette smoke on the body’s DNA has been laid bare by the first comprehensive study into the damage tobacco inflicts on human cells.

People who smoke a pack of cigarettes each day for a year develop on average 150 extra mutations in every lung cell, and nearly 100 more mutations than usual in each cell of the voice box, researchers found. More still build up in the mouth, bladder, liver and other organs.

While chemicals in tobacco smoke have long been known to raise the risk of at least 17 forms of cancer, the precise molecular mechanisms through which they mutate DNA and give rise to tumours in different tissues have never been clear.

“This is about running down the root cause of cancers,” said David Phillips, a professor of environmental carcinogenesis at King’s College London and a co-author on the study. “By identifying the root causes, we gain the sort of knowledge we need to think more seriously about cancer prevention.”

More than 70 of the 7,000 chemicals found in tobacco smoke are known to cause cancer. Some damage DNA directly, but others ramp up mutations in more subtle ways, often by disrupting the way cells function. The more mutations a cell acquires, the more likely it is to turn cancerous.

The reason why some people can smoke for years without getting cancer, while others develop the disease, is down to the way mutations arise. When a person smokes, the chemicals they inhale create mutations at random points in the genome. Many of these changes will be harmless, but others not so benign. The more smoke a person is exposed to, the greater the chance that the accumulating mutations will hit specific spots in the DNA that turn cells cancerous.

“You can really think of it as playing Russian roulette,” said Ludmil Alexandrov, a theoretical biologist at Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico and the first author of the study. “You can miss the right genes. But if you smoke you still play the game. It’s a very strong message for people not to start smoking. If you smoke even a little bit you’ll erode the genetic material of most of the cells in your body.” Smoking is the most preventable cause of cancer in the world and accounts for more than 1 in 4 UK cancer deaths.

With researchers at the Wellcome Trust’s Sanger Institute near Cambridge and others, Alexandrov analysed the DNA of more than 5,000 cancers. The team then turned to pattern recognition software to tease apart the various mutational signatures found in tumours from smokers versus non-smokers. To find the signatures – the patterns of mutations present in cancer cells – researchers performed the genetic equivalent of recording the chatter at a party and then extracting individual conversations from the hubbub.

The scientists spotted more than 20 mutational signatures in 13 types of cancer linked to tobacco smoking. But only five of these were more common in smokers’ tumours. One pattern of mutations, dubbed signature four, was found to be a major driver for lung cancer. It is thought to be caused by benzopyrene, a chemical found in tobacco smoke.

More intriguing was how tobacco caused mutations in tissues that are not directly exposed to smoke, such as the bladder, kidneys and pancreas. The study found that chemicals from tobacco smoke found their way to different organs and tissues and then sped up the molecular clocks in the cells. This ramped up the natural rate at which mutations built up in the tissues.

“We knew there was direct damage from smoking in the lungs. What we didn’t expect was to see smoking speed up the molecular clocks inside cells,” said Alexandrov, whose study appears in the journal Science. “In bladder cancer, the only thing that causes the extra mutations in smokers is the speeding up of the clock, and that will be very dependent on the intensity of smoking. For every pack of cigarettes you smoke per year, you accumulate 18 mutations in all of your bladder cells,” he added.

Scientists hope that by understanding how the individual ingredients of tobacco smoke raise the risk of various cancers, they can develop new ways to prevent the disease. The same techniques used in the latest study will now be used to tease apart how alcohol, obesity and other factors also increase a person’s cancer risk.

“There is a message here for people who are occasional or social smokers who think it doesn’t do anything,” said Alexandrov. “If you smoke four to five packs of cigarettes in your lifetime it doesn’t sound that much, but you still get several mutations in every cell in your lungs and these are permanent, they do not go away. There are a lot of things that do revert back when you stop smoking, and this shouldn’t discourage people from giving up, but the specific mutations in the lung cells are like scars. If you stop smoking, they’ll still be there.”

DNA study lays bare devastating damage caused by smoking

How does your body sustain damage from a crash even when your car doesn’t?

Is it possible for a person to get injured in a car crash even when the vehicle doesn’t sustain any damage? Even if the answer is yes, auto insurance providers, for the benefit of the shareholders, do not agree with the fact. Most of them argue that as the body of the car is visibly intact, there is no way you could have been injured. This is just a generalization, but most people who’ve been involved in an accident agree that auto insurers often come up with ‘weird’ reasons just to avoid paying a claim. Such cases are tough to fight, and unfortunately, leave many victims high and dry to deal with the suffering of permanent injuries. According to car accident doctors, more than 300,000 people suffer from debilitating pain owing to auto accident injuries. Such injuries may lead to disability and prolonged pain if you do not receive the right sort of care after a car crash.

Putting Theory into Practice

TJ Szabo and JB Welcher conducted a study titled “Human Subject Kinematics and Electromyographic Activity During Low Speed Rear Impacts” to investigate the effects of a car crash on the human frame. They used live test volunteers who were subjected to a series of 10 mph crashes. The test vehicles did not suffer any structural damage. High-speed sensors and cameras were used to record the entire incident and acceleration of the cervical and lumbar spine. Owing to variations regarding gender, weight, size, height, and build, the outcomes of the research showed how the cervical spine accelerated dramatically and experienced forces ranging from 6.6g to 17.2g through the neck. On the lumbar region, the acceleration force was anywhere between 3.9g to 7.5g.  They also collected data regarding the production of acceleration before any muscle activity occurred, thereby proving that the motion was complete even before the protective muscles around the spinal cord and the spine could react and protect the body from harm.

What Does This Mean?

If a person happens to be aware of the accident beforehand, they might try to guard themselves and prepare for the impending impact, considerably decreasing the extent of the injury. However, during a real car crash, when a person gets rear-ended without any prior knowledge, the collision tends to cause a lot more damage. The muscles in the body are not strong enough to hold the head in position, thus leading to a whipping motion of the head. Such a powerful and sudden motion has the potential to cause tremendous damage to the ligaments, tendons, and muscles. Thus, in the aftermath of the crash, it is common to experience problems like neck and shoulder pain, jaw pain, and headaches. A victim sustains all these problems whereas the actual vehicle involved in the crash remains unharmed.

Extent of the Damage

Have you ever wondered why someone who’s drunk and behind the wheel often escapes mostly unhurt after a crash? The reason behind this is simple – more often than not, they’re the ones causing the accident. The entire trauma of the crash is absorbed by the car being hit. Car accident doctors who’ve been in business for years mention how they’ve seen drivers suffer unnecessarily from whiplash type injuries that have led to severe brain damage. Not many are aware of the fact that the average human head has the potential to accelerate more than 17 times the force of gravity, resulting in widespread permanent health problems.

When someone is involved in a serious accident, the force of the crash occurs within mere seconds, which is time enough to create a harsh brain injury and cause extreme damage to the essential organs of the body.

Detection of Injury

Brain injuries sustained from a vehicle collision can range from mild to severe in intensities. The less critical ones are not always evident and can escape detection by even the most trained doctors. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of brain injuries occurring due to auto accidents is close to almost 7 million annually. Thus, one out of every 40 citizens is susceptible to traumatic brain injury. However, many such injuries are often hard to diagnose which is why these are considered to be silent killers.

A rear-end collision is not very uncommon. The victims of such accidents mostly sustain minor to moderate physical damage and then experiencing various symptoms such as back pain, headaches, and neck pain. The only way to find out if a car crash victim has suffered more complex but apparently unnoticeable injuries is to visit car accident doctors immediately after the accident. These doctors are trained to handle the problem of auto injuries and are capable of spotting any traumatic injuries to your brain – whether mild or severe.

When a person receives a brain injury from a car accident, it is rather easy to understand. The human brain is soft, while the skull is extremely tough which makes the brain a lot more susceptible to damage. The brain basically sloshes around within the confines of the skull, and so when the head experiences a sudden, forceful impact, some axons end up getting sheared, which ultimately is responsible for brain damage. People who’ve received traumatic brain injuries tend to experience a loss of consciousness during the time of the car crash. They might even feel groggy or nauseous when they attempt to remember the details about the accident. No matter how minor an injury to the brain is, timely and proper treatment is necessary to prevent any permanent damage and long-term symptoms.

If you have been involved in an automobile crash, it is imperative that you care for your wellbeing and get in touch with a car accident doctor who is specially trained and experienced to detect this silent epidemic. If you receive proper care on time, it might prevent the health situation from deteriorating and help save your life in the long run.

How does your body sustain damage from a crash even when your car doesn’t?

Top 8 Bad Habits That Damage Your Hair You Should Avoid Right Now

Both men and women love to have shiny, strong and healthy hair that helps reflect one’s personality. People have looked for centuries for ways to maintain their hair healthily. Many people have naturally luxurious locks whereas a few people complain of hair troubles such as hair loss, brittle, and dull hair, as well as lifeless hair. Basically, health problems and genetics have a huge impact on your hair’s health. Apart from that, there are many habits you are doing daily that can damage your hair. To know what they are, continue reading my article. Let’s check out!

1. Have A Poor Diet

Your diet not only has a direct impact on the skin health but also on the hair health. To keep healthy, hair requires various minerals, vitamins, and proteins. Therefore, it is important to take a healthy diet to keep healthy hair. According to a study published in 2002 in Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, it has a relation between hair loss and nutritional factors. The study indicates the role of protein, essential amino acids, serum zinc and iron for hair growth. Thus, it is vital to add protein, iron, and vitamin E –rich foods to your daily diet to have healthy hair. In addition, you need to include some types of food containing trace minerals such as copper and zinc.  Keep in mind to avoid following a severely restrictive fad or crash diet, because it can cause nutrient deficiencies that can lead to thinning, hair loss, and brittle and dull hair.

2. Avoid Stress

Stress is also one of the top bad habits that can damage your hair. Stress affects both one’s physical and mental health. It can even lead to hair loss. According to a study published in 2007 in the American Academy of Dermatology, stress can lead to dermatologic problems, such as brittle nails, acne, or even hair loss. During stress, the effect of neuropeptides, neurohormones, and neurotransmitters may influence the hair follicles’ cyclic activity significantly. Therefore, to prevent hair loss and combat stress, it’s advisable to do a few simple stress-buster exercises, practice deep breathing, and meditate.

3. Wash Too Much

Over washing is also one of the top bad habits that can damage your hair.  If you use too much shampooing on the hair, it can remove the natural moisture from the hair and dry it out, leading to breakage. It is advised to wash your hair thrice a week. Wash your hair every 2 days if you are sweating or using many products. Remember to use the proper shampoo for your hair texture and type as well when washing because this will help add body, moisture, and beauty to the hair. Besides, people often mishandle the wet hair. After you wash, the protective cuticle is raised slightly, leaving your strands more vulnerable to breakage and fragile. Thus, you must stay away from aggressive towel drying.

4. Take Hot Showers

Another bad habit that can damage your hair is taking hot showers. Everyone should take a shower daily to keep good hygiene. But taking long, hot showers can cause huge damage to the hair because the heat can strip away the natural oil (serum) of your hair, leaving the hair become brittle and dry. This can make the hair more likely to falling out and breakage as well. To enjoy healthy hair, you need to take a shower with lukewarm water for 10 minutes, twice or thrice a week only. Then, you use cold water to lock in moisture for a final rinse because this will make the hair appear healthy and shiny. After showering, with the help of a soft towel, pat dry your skin and avoid rubbing the hair rigorously. Finally, let the hair dry on its own and don’t use a blow dryer.

5. Infuse Hair With Chemical Products

Nowadays, many people depend on commercial shampoos, serums, gels as well as other hair styling products to keep their hair healthy. But many products with harmful chemicals can cause great damage to the hair and are not good for your hair. For example, hair dye has chemicals like ammonia and hydrogen peroxide, which can cause hair loss and thinning hair. Shampoos contain DHT (dihydrotestosterone) is another harmful chemical that can cause hair loss. Hair relaxers have sodium hydroxide, which can cause a scalp infection and weaken the hair at the same time. In fact, avoid applying harsh chemical-based products on your hair. Instead, you should use herbal products and natural homemade hair dyes and hair masks. They are not only inexpensive but also safe for your hair care.

6. Tight Hairstyles

Tight hairstyles can cause hair breakage and hair loss because they put excessive tension on your hair follicles and weaken the roots. Wearing extensions and weaves also have the same effect. Director of Cosmetic and Clinical Research in Dermatology at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NY City, Dr. Joshua Zeichner describes that traction for a long time may cause inflammation at your hair roots and cause hair loss as well. It is advisable to follow a looser hairstyle, which is healthy and comfortable for your hair.

7. Lack Of Sleep

When you have a good night’s sleep, it will leave your mind fresh after getting up. An enough sleep is also necessary to keep your scalp and hair healthy. Otherwise, lack of sleep results in unhealthy damaged hair leading to hair loss. Also, this helps keep you stress-free, which in turn helps keep your hair healthy.

8. Swim In Chlorinated Water

A great activity to help you stay healthy and fit is swimming. It isn’t good for the hair if you swim in a chlorinated pool. In pools, there are more than one hundred chemical byproducts using chlorine as a disinfectant. The byproducts aren’t good for your health and hair as well. In fact, the buildup of chlorine in the hair can cause it to become fragile and frizzy. Chlorine can also fade away the natural oil covering hair shafts, which lead to loss of flexibility and shine, and making the hair more prone to breakage. Thus, to enjoy healthy hair, you should avoid this bad habit.

In fact, keep yourself a little careful and enjoy beautiful hair.

Guest Post by Hang Pham

Author Bio:

This guest post is by Hang Pham, a blogger with over 10 years of experience on searching the best natural home remedies for problems related to health and beauty.

Top 8 Bad Habits That Damage Your Hair You Should Avoid Right Now

Could bad buildings damage your mental health?

Screaming sirens, overcrowding, traffic; life in the city isn’t always relaxing.

These stressors aren’t simply inconvenient or irritating, though; research has suggested that urban living has a significant impact on mental health. One meta-analysis found that those living in cities were 21% more likely to experience an anxiety disorder – mood disorders were even higher, at 39%. People who grew up in a city are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as those who grew up in the countryside, with a 2005 study suggesting this link may even be causal.

Urban stressors appear to have a biological impact, too. A 2011 study from the Central Institute of Mental Health at the University of Heidelberg found that city living was associated with greater stress responses in both the amygdala and the cingulate cortex – areas linked to emotional regulation, depression and anxiety. This increased activation, the research team said, could have a “lasting effect”, both on the brain’s development and its ongoing susceptibility to mental illness.

The studies are part of a wider field of environmental psychology that seeks to understand how individuals interact with their environments, and how those environments can affect our social lives, relationships and even our mental health.

The issue is hotly debated. For example, it’s often believed that open plan offices promote pro-social working and avoid the drab monotony of cubicle working, but other studies claim that it can instead be bad for productivity and wellbeing.

Co-housing is often promoted as a way of encouraging community spirit. Many people who live in these communities – usually private bedrooms with communal kitchens or social areas and shared maintenance responsibility – have reported increased happiness and connection with other residents. But other studies have stressed that tenants can lose their sense of individualism and privacy.

Lilac Grove in Leeds, a co-housing project built on the site of a former school. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

Layla McCay, director of the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, says these debates are complex and dependent on a number of nuanced factors. The think tank was set up to encourage more rigorous evaluation on the way we design our cities, and what impact it can have on mental wellbeing. She isolates several elements that she believes have a positive influence: access to nature or green spaces, the design of public spaces that facilitate physical activity and encourage social interaction, and living and working in spaces that feel safe.

But what about particular kinds of buildings? Brutalist structures like the Barbican estate in London are not always considered to be so positive for mental health, with many condemning brutalism’s depressing aesthetic. Yet despite some calling it London’s “ugliest building”, the Barbican is a perfect example of the positive attributes outlined by McCay. Full of greenery, lakes and balconies, the estate also gives pedestrians priority over cars and features mini town squares where residents can socialise, work and relax.

The estate is well lit and designed with good sight lines, meaning residents feel safe – a huge factor in their mental wellbeing. But this can be a difficult line to tread. Though well-lit areas are generally considered to reduce stress by increasing feelings of safety, it has been argued that darkness is a luxury not afforded to those living in council housing. If you live in an estate where bright lights shine in your window, you may lose sleep or feel exposed and surveilled; darkness, on the other hand, can be more subtly landscaped to provide a sense of value, safety and beauty.

It has been suggested that abandoned shops can make people more anxious. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

But if a so-called ugly building can still be positive for mental health, what role does beauty and aesthetic have to play? Despite beauty being a subjective term, recent research has found that “inhabitants of more scenic environments report better health”, but again this often comes back to the presence of nature. Indeed, neglected environments can contribute to mental ill-health – dilapidated neighbourhoods and abandoned shops or houses can make us feel unsafe, with run-down environments found to contribute to anxiety and persistent low mood.

Though high-rise housing was initially commended for its views, larger rooms, sense of “urban privacy” and efficient use of concrete, it was later suggested that the designs gave rise to various social and mental ills: increased crime, suicide rates and behavioural problems. High-floor dwellers were most at risk when it came to the negative impacts of such living environments because they were apparently most likely to isolate themselves. Such buildings were roundly condemned by JG Ballard, who felt that the “rapid turnover of acquaintances, the lack of involvement with others, and the total self-sufficiency of lives” he saw in high-rises would allow “the psychotics” to take over.

Though Ballard’s doom-laden vision of high-rise living may seem compelling – especially considering the anti-social reputation of such estates – more recent research suggests that the buildings are not as intrinsically flawed as we might first imagine. Rather, the social ills found in such environments may be more closely related to poor maintenance than anything innate. Reports have found that “risky” facilities such as broken lights and windows, litter, graffiti and non-functioning CCTV may have more to do with increased crime rates – and anxiety-inducing fear of crime – than the physical environment itself. So mental ill-health may increase once the physical environment has deteriorated.

If shopping malls are well maintained and safe, they could have a positive impact on mental health. Photograph: Felipe Trueba/EPA

Southwark’s Heygate Estate had a reputation for crime, despite crime rates that were half the average for the borough. Southwark council’s director of regeneration claimed in 1999 that “social housing generates people on low incomes coming in, which generates poor school performances, and middle class people stay away”. With attitudes like this, is it any surprise that tenants felt isolated and abandoned?

Shopping centres also appear to refute the physical determinism of much environmental psychology. Often considered to be vast, unhealthy behemoths designed to disorient and dazzle us into spending money we don’t have, shopping malls could, in fact, be beneficial to individual and societal wellbeing. One team of researchers argues shopping centres may possess “mentally restorative qualities” that could rival even natural settings. Again it suggests that healthy factors – greenery, a focus on safety, good maintenance, a sense of openness – could significantly reduce stress, no matter how buildings themselves are designed or interpreted.

This isn’t always the case; privatised public spaces like shopping malls often limit activity and use design to control behaviour. Though these spaces may feel and seem as if they are public, they are privately owned, meaning that our rights and behaviours are constricted and controlled. This in turn can contribute to a sense of anxiety.

Would living ‘Sky City’ in Changsha feel claustrophobic? Photograph: Feature China/Barcroft Media

What about buildings that claim to be cities in themselves? In China, the proposed development of a “Sky City” – which was supposed to combine natural green spaces with homes, hotels, offices, shops, schools and a hospital in one building –was an attempt to create a living environment that both encourages tenant wellbeing as well as improving sustainability and providing efficient use of space. Gensler’s Shanghai Tower, which is set to open to the public soon, has incorporated restaurants, shops, homes, offices and even parks inside a consciously pro-social spiral glass shell. Visiting a park two floors down from your flat might sound convenient, but can it really replace the health benefits of a stroll in a natural green space? Going to school in the same building you live in could save time, but it also sounds like a limiting, claustrophobic and homogenous experience.

In terms of workspaces, McCay describes Coca Cola’s new Tokyo headquarters, designed by Japanese architectural firm JMA, as an impressive example of design that combines good architecture with mindfully positive environmental features. The company has established bike parking so that employees cycle rather than drive to work, the building is full of natural light, and co-working spaces have replaced traditional cube-style office working spaces.

Ongoing debates aside, physical environment can only determine so much. Biological and social factors are still major drivers of mental ill-health, whether clinical or not.

“Genetics, early experiences, family relationships and social settings can’t be addressed through urban design,” McCay explains. “But urban design can and should play a role, just as it does for physical disorders, which have equally complex causes.”

Increasingly, buildings and public spaces are being designed – or at the very least, critically analysed – with mental wellbeing in mind. A small number of collectives and centres have been established to examine the ways urban spaces intersect with mental health, and architects and policymakers are slowly becoming more mindful of the ways their projects impact on the health and happiness of city-dwellers.

With anti-stigma campaigns and increased media visibility bringing mental health to the forefront of the cultural landscape, there’s a clear case for policymakers to take it into consideration when designing public spaces. But experts believe guidelines for healthy urban environments are currently failing to take this growing awareness into consideration. Alan Penn, dean of the Bartlett faculty of the built environment at University College London, believes that policymakers and architects are not dealing with mental health sufficiently because “understanding of these issues is not yet mainstream” in the architectural community.

McCay is optimistic, and believes that opportunities to improve mental health will become “business as usual”, and “an expected component of the value of any design for buildings and public spaces”.

“Designing spaces to promote good mental health – and to support people with mental health problems – is an integral part of building a sustainable city,” she says.

“Good mental health can improve our enjoyment of life, our coping skills and relationships, our educational achievement, employment, housing and economic potential, help reduce physical health problems, ease the demand for healthcare and social care, build social capital, decrease suicides; and help people to live together in a positive, productive, cost-effective and ultimately happy way. That benefits everyone.”

How do different spaces and buildings in your city make you feel? Share your thoughts in the comments below or join the discussion on Twitter and Facebook

Could bad buildings damage your mental health?

Urgent Require To Protect HS Football Players From Brain Damage!

Following holding six conferences with Hall of Fame Quarterback Warren Moon on athletic concussions from 1995 to 2008 I have named athletic concussions a ticking time bomb and undiagnosed health epidemic. I had a crisis of conscience in representing hundreds of NFL players who repeatedly were hit in the head in games and practice. I now believe that each time an offensive lineman hits a defensive lineman at the inception of each play it produces a low degree sub-concussive hit. A lineman who plays in higher college, university, and the pros may possibly retire with 10,0000 sub-concussive hits, none of which were diagnosed, none of which he is mindful of. The aggregate of these hits make brain injury significantly more serious than being knocked out three occasions. Prominent neurologists and researchers like Robert Cantu, Julian Bailes, Kevin Guskiewicz, Kristen Willeumier, and David Hovda report that three or much more concussions might lead to exponentially increased rates of Alzheimer’s, ALS, dementia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy and depression. This is diverse from other injuries. Brain function offers memory, judgment, and persona – what it signifies to be a sentient human being. That is why we are forming a new foundation, “Athletes Speak,” with players advocating awareness and prevention.

“I now think that every single time an offensive lineman hits a defensive lineman at the inception of every play it generates a reduced degree sub-concussive hit. A lineman who plays in substantial college, college, and the pros may retire with 10,0000 sub-concussive hits, none of which had been diagnosed, none of which he is conscious of. The aggregate of these hits produce brain harm a lot much more significant than getting knocked out three instances.” – Leigh Steinberg

The adolescent brain is at significantly increased chance than that of older players . The brain is nonetheless in the formative phases throughout the teenage many years. It will take an estimated 3 occasions longer for consequences from concussions to clear in this group. Actual brain advancement can be retarded. These youthful individuals are students who are nevertheless in the midst of their training. Gear at this degree can be much less than stellar. This is a group that needs specific protection.

A movement is growing across the country to safeguard youthful football gamers. Football is not the only make contact with sport and other athletes need to have protection also. Visionary California State Assemblyman, Ken Cooley, just proposed a law which passed the two houses limiting substantial college and middle school football practices. No complete speak to drills are permitted in the off-season and are  limited throughout the season. Nineteen states have passed equivalent legislation and much more are pending. SMU Head Football Coach June Jones has a range of educating tactics that limit practice make contact with without impairing group achievement. He has not permitted tackling throughout pre-season for in excess of twenty many years, commencing with the Atlanta Falcons. The Sports Legacy Institute estimates that in higher school football, 60-75% of head trauma occurs in practice, not in video games. This contrasts with a lower charge in the NFL.

Former New Orleans Saints front office executive Terry O’Neil has founded a new movement, “Practice Like the Pros,” created to restrict get in touch with on large school practice fields. He has assembled a prestigious board with co-chairs, Ronnie Lott and John Madden, and has the assistance of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to actively push the initiative. There is even a LinkedIn LinkedIn Group, Mothers Against Concussions, raising awareness.

Terry O’Neil, founder, speaks at “Practice Like the Pros” 1st seminar in August 2013 (T&ampG Personnel/PAUL KAPTEYN)

Meanwhile the search for far more protective helmetry continues. Jenny Morgan, CEO of Tate Technology, has a promising coil and compression helmet style to attenuate the vitality force. A new head cap made by Noggin Sports activities can be worn under helmets to give much more safety. A selection of sideline units have been developed that can detect a sub-concussive hit in real time so an impacted player doesn’t return to perform. Medical professionals and researchers across the nation are racing for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical options to one) prophylactically help the brain be significantly less at-chance for concussion, two) stop the swelling at time of influence, and three) actually heal a brain which has been impaired. Dr. Jacob Vanlandingham has produced one particular novel answer. Dr. Daniel Amen and his associate Dr. Kristen Willeumier have had promising benefits for several retired gamers with the use of a  hyperbaric chamber. Dr. Robert Stern, Ann McKee, and pioneering former football player Chris Nowinski have a promising examine at Boston University. There are a lot of heroes in this movement.

I adore football and consider it teaches life lessons and values. Self-discipline, teamwork, genuine time application of complicated plays, courage under pressure, resilience, and amazing camaraderie are all positive aspects. But if 50% of the mothers in this country understand the danger and forbid their teenage sons from playing, it poses an existential threat to football. The game won’t die, but the socio-economics of the players will change. The identical athletes who use a sport like boxing to escape financial situations, even being aware of the threat, will compose the majority of players. Football will never be damage cost-free, but we can act now to make it safer. Parenting is our most essential position on this earth – we need to have to safeguard the most vulnerable youth.

Twitter: @leighsteinberg
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SteinbergSports
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/leigh-steinberg/5b/188/647
Internet site: www.steinbergsports.com

Urgent Require To Protect HS Football Players From Brain Damage!

Urgent Need To Safeguard HS Football Gamers From Brain Damage!

Soon after holding 6 conferences with Hall of Fame Quarterback Warren Moon on athletic concussions from 1995 to 2008 I have known as athletic concussions a ticking time bomb and undiagnosed wellness epidemic. I had a crisis of conscience in representing hundreds of NFL players who repeatedly have been hit in the head in video games and practice. I now think that every single time an offensive lineman hits a defensive lineman at the inception of every play it produces a minimal degree sub-concussive hit. A lineman who plays in high college, university, and the pros may possibly retire with 10,0000 sub-concussive hits, none of which were diagnosed, none of which he is conscious of. The aggregate of these hits make brain harm significantly far more significant than currently being knocked out three occasions. Prominent neurologists and researchers like Robert Cantu, Julian Bailes, Kevin Guskiewicz, Kristen Willeumier, and David Hovda report that 3 or much more concussions may lead to exponentially larger charges of Alzheimer’s, ALS, dementia, continual traumatic encephalopathy and depression. This is diverse from other injuries. Brain perform gives memory, judgment, and personality – what it indicates to be a sentient human becoming. That is why we are forming a new basis, “Athletes Talk,” with players advocating awareness and prevention.

“I now feel that each and every time an offensive lineman hits a defensive lineman at the inception of each play it generates a lower level sub-concussive hit. A lineman who plays in high college, university, and the pros may retire with 10,0000 sub-concussive hits, none of which were diagnosed, none of which he is aware of. The aggregate of these hits generate brain damage much far more significant than being knocked out three occasions.” – Leigh Steinberg

The adolescent brain is at significantly greater danger than that of older players . The brain is nonetheless in the formative phases during the teenage many years. It takes an estimated 3 times longer for consequences from concussions to clear in this group. Real brain growth can be retarded. These youthful individuals are students who are nevertheless in the midst of their education. Products at this degree can be significantly less than stellar. This is a group that needs particular protection.

A motion is growing across the country to protect youthful football gamers. Football is not the only contact sport and other athletes want protection as well. Visionary California State Assemblyman, Ken Cooley, just proposed a law which passed each houses limiting higher college and middle school football practices. No total speak to drills are permitted in the off-season and are  limited throughout the season. Nineteen states have passed comparable legislation and much more are pending. SMU Head Football Coach June Jones has a selection of teaching strategies that limit practice make contact with without impairing staff achievement. He has not permitted tackling for the duration of pre-season for in excess of twenty many years, starting with the Atlanta Falcons. The Sports activities Legacy Institute estimates that in higher school football, 60-75% of head trauma happens in practice, not in video games. This contrasts with a minimal rate in the NFL.

Former New Orleans Saints front workplace executive Terry O’Neil has founded a new movement, “Practice Like the Pros,” developed to limit contact on high college practice fields. He has assembled a prestigious board with co-chairs, Ronnie Lott and John Madden, and has the support of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to actively push the initiative. There is even a LinkedIn LinkedIn Group, Mothers Towards Concussions, raising awareness.

Terry O’Neil, founder, speaks at “Practice Like the Pros” initial seminar in August 2013 (T&ampG Workers/PAUL KAPTEYN)

Meanwhile the search for much more protective helmetry continues. Jenny Morgan, CEO of Tate Technological innovation, has a promising coil and compression helmet style to attenuate the vitality force. A new head cap made by Noggin Sports activities can be worn under helmets to provide more protection. A selection of sideline products have been produced that can detect a sub-concussive hit in real time so an impacted player does not return to perform. Doctors and researchers across the country are racing for nutraceutical and pharmaceutical options to 1) prophylactically assist the brain be much less at-danger for concussion, two) stop the swelling at time of effect, and 3) truly heal a brain which has been impaired. Dr. Jacob Vanlandingham has created a single novel solution. Dr. Daniel Amen and his associate Dr. Kristen Willeumier have had promising results for several retired players with the use of a  hyperbaric chamber. Dr. Robert Stern, Ann McKee, and pioneering former football player Chris Nowinski have a promising research at Boston University. There are numerous heroes in this motion.

I love football and think it teaches daily life lessons and values. Self-discipline, teamwork, actual time application of complicated plays, courage underneath strain, resilience, and extraordinary camaraderie are all positive aspects. But if 50% of the mothers in this country understand the danger and forbid their teenage sons from taking part in, it poses an existential threat to football. The game won’t die, but the socio-economics of the players will adjust. The same athletes who use a sport like boxing to escape economic conditions, even knowing the risk, will compose the vast majority of gamers. Football will never be damage totally free, but we can act now to make it safer. Parenting is our most essential position on this earth – we need to have to protect the most vulnerable youth.

Twitter: @leighsteinberg
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SteinbergSports
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/pub/leigh-steinberg/5b/188/647
Website: www.steinbergsports.com

Urgent Need To Safeguard HS Football Gamers From Brain Damage!

Scottish independence would damage cancer analysis, Nobel scientist says

“My concern is that it will be challenging to justify employing their cash for research in an independent Scotland.

“This will be a significant difficulty for Scotland and with progress in biomedical analysis, like the remedy of illnesses such as cancer.”

Formerly a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, Sir Paul specialised in the review of cell development and division, and recognized key molecules which management the cycle of cells, possibly paving the way for new cancer therapy.

The discovery led to him currently being named joint winner of the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medication in 2001. He was knighted in 1999 for providers to cell biology and cancer research.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has invited the scientist to provide a speech about research funding in Scotland subsequent month.

He yesterday welcomed Sir Paul’s comments on the independence debate and pointed to figures which he explained show Scotland attracts a disproportionate degree of funding, with £12.forty per head in 2011 against a Uk common of £8.25.

“Scotland could discover itself outdoors the loop, minimize off not just from Uk funding of Scottish study but from Uk-wide collaborative projects and consequently far significantly less able to play what most Scottish individuals will want: the fullest portion feasible in the greatest push Europe has yet noticed to discover greater techniques of treating and curing diseases such as cancer,” Mr Brown said.

But the Scottish Government said current links over research would proceed underneath independence.

A spokesman said: “Scotland has globe class universities producing ground-breaking study, and that will continue in an independent Scotland.

“The Uk at the moment operates as a ‘common study location.’ It is plainly in the curiosity of each Scotland and the rest of the Uk to preserve this with independence – something in line with existing worldwide practice which sees in depth cross-border co-operation on investigation funding.”

Scottish independence would damage cancer analysis, Nobel scientist says

PET scans could predict extent of recovery from brain damage, trials exhibits

Medical doctors feel they might have found a reliable way to assess whether individuals in a vegetative state soon after a significant brain damage are most likely to wake up, raising ethical inquiries about the best treatment method for individuals in an unresponsive state.

In a hospital trial, brain scans making use of PET engineering – positron emission tomography – recognized hidden ranges of consciousness in a third of patients who had been unresponsive and diagnosed as in a vegetative state for far more than a year. Most of these “woke up” or moved to a more responsive state within 12 months.

The outcomes of the 4-year trial – which took area in a professional hospital in Belgium, on patients from all above Europe, which includes the United kingdom – increase ethical queries and could adjust clinical practice.

If the testing proves to be as correct as it appears, there may be an argument for such sufferers to be treated differently – medical doctors might want to reconsider their want for painkillers, for instance. But there could also be a strengthened case for switching off existence help for those in whom no consciousness is detected.

The physicians at the University of Liège carried out the trial to set up whether PET scans or another form of brain scan using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) had been more reputable predictors of recovery than the assessments by medical doctors using standardised bedside exams. People end result in up to 40% of patients currently being misdiagnosed.

In the most current trial, involving 126 individuals, the final results of which have been published in the Lancet healthcare journal, 41 had been in a persistent vegetative state, 81 were in a minimally aware state and four had locked-in syndrome. PET appropriately predicted the extent of recovery in the following yr in 74% of patients and fMRI in 56%.

Prof Steven Laureys from the University of Liège, who led the research, explained a third of the patients referred to them by medical professionals elsewhere had been misdiagnosed. Of 41 sufferers whose doctors had diagnosed a vegetative state, 13 have been discovered by a PET scan to have some degree of consciousness. Of the 13, nine had regained consciousness inside of the year, three had died of other causes such as pneumonia and just one particular was still in a vegetative state.

Doctors did not always carry out the bedside diagnostic check that they ought to, said Laureys. “We are doing work very hard to make all centres seeing these individuals use that inexpensive behavioural test,” he mentioned. “If not, you miss about a third of the patients with indicators of consciousness. Then, in addition, there is about a third of the sufferers who will present indicators using functional imaging.”

It was surprising that the basic assessments have been not effectively carried out, he explained. “Unfortunately these individuals are sort of neglected by medicine and society as a entire. He [the patient] frequently has not witnessed a medical medical doctor or professional for years.”

PET scans had been utilized for cancer individuals but had not been employed to detect consciousness in brain-injured sufferers due to the fact of the cost, stated Laureys. But he hoped, if other study supported their findings, that PET and other tests which includes fMRI would turn out to be the norm.

In a commentary in the journal, two professionals, Jamie Sleigh from the University of Auckland and Catherine Warnaby from the University of Oxford, mentioned much more correct diagnosis and prognosis were essential – “for example, intensive care doctors caring for former racing driver Michael Schumacher following his latest serious brain damage refused to offer you any firm prognosis to the world’s media,” they wrote.

The work by the team at Liège is a signpost for potential studies, they mentioned. “Practical brain imaging is costly and technically difficult, but it will virtually undoubtedly grow to be less costly and less difficult. In the long term, we will almost certainly search back in amazement at how we were ever ready to practice with no it.”

Other scientists were enthusiastic about the results. “This actually interesting research suggests for the initial time that a brain scanning strategy called PET could be utilised in the long term to predict the probability that a patient may wake-up a long time following a extreme brain injury,” explained Dr Michael Bloomfield, clinical research fellow at the Health care Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre in London.

“If the benefits of this examine are confirmed in future study, this could have far-reaching clinical, ethical and legal implications, including whether or not to provide an apparently unconscious patient soreness relief and, in the long run, regardless of whether treatments that may be trying to keep a person alive should be continued or not.”

Prof Martin Monti from the departments of psychology and neurosurgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, stated: “This new report marks a lengthy-awaited very first stage in the direction of translating cutting-edge science into clinical practice.”

A Belgian guy, Rom Houben, who was presumed in a vegetative state for 23 many years following a near-fatal visitors accident, was in truth misdiagnosed and had been paralysed. A neurologist spotted this in 2009 making use of state-of-the-artwork technological innovation and Houben was given intensive physiotherapy. He can now communicate utilizing 1 finger with a touchscreen, and utilizes a wheelchair.

Terry Wallis of the US was severely injured right after his pickup truck went off the road in 1984. He was declared to be in a persistent vegetative state, but in the years following the accident his situation enhanced and he was deemed to be in a minimally conscious state. In 2003 he spoke to his mom right after currently being mute for 19 years, and study identified that his brain had managed to grow new connections to restore itself.

Amy Pickard, 17, was declared in a vegetative state after taking heroin in Hastings and collapsing in 2001. Her baby was delivered by doctors but did not survive. She was offered a sleeping pill in 2007 and this allowed her to breathe unaided, start to formulate phrases and even stand. Regardless of this progress she died in 2009.

British guy Mark Newton resurfaced too rapidly while diving and fell into a coma in 1996. Medical doctors declared him brain dead and recommended switching off his daily life assistance, but six months later he woke up, saying that he had been conscious of what was going on around him but could not communicate.

Andrew Devine, who suffered severe injuries at the 1989 Hillsborough disaster right after his chest being crushed and his brain deprived of oxygen, was diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state and his loved ones were told he would almost certainly be dead inside of six months. eight years later he began to communicate with his family members and can now eat pureed foods, though he is confined to a wheelchair. He attended his 1st Hillsborough memorial support yesterday this week.

New Yorker Carrie Coons was declared to be in an irreversible vegetative state following a stroke in 1989. 6 months soon after falling into the coma a judge gave permission for her feeding tube to be eliminated, but just a couple of days later on she started talking and eating on her personal.

- Right after an accident at function in 1988, Polish man Jan Grzebski fell into a persistent vegetative state. He appeared to wake up 19 many years later on but told newspapers that he was only in a coma for the very first four years. He was paralysed afterwards and this was not detected by physicians.

PET scans could predict extent of recovery from brain damage, trials exhibits

Soldiers Exposed To Blasts At Elevated Chance Of PTSD, Brain Damage

The Institute of Medication released a complete report last week on the extended-phrase risks of blast exposure for support members.

The bulk of these blasts are caused by improvised explosive devices (IED). A lot more than 33,000 veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been wounded by an IED, but according to the IOM report, that figure most likely underestimates the prevalence of blast-connected injuries. Soldiers who really do not sustain noticeable or catastrophic wounds may not understand that the entire body absorbs a blast shock wave, sometimes leading to nervous system or tissue damage that’s not obvious in the aftermath.

The report’s authors, a panel of a lot more than a dozen scientists and doctors, identified that blast exposure put veterans at lengthy-term heightened danger for post-traumatic anxiety disorder, specified varieties of traumatic brain injury, development hormone deficiency, and reoccurring signs and symptoms, which includes cognitive impairment and headaches. Regardless of many years of

Relevant Story: Morale, Mental Wellness Improve For U.S. Troops In Afghanistan

There is restricted evidence, the report explained, that encountering numerous blasts prospects to a degenerative brain situation acknowledged as continual traumatic encephalopathy, which gradually erodes a patient’s cognitive and emotional faculties. Although this situation has been seen in a modest number of football gamers and veterans, there are not however adequate instances to generalize the findings.

The report stressed the need for effectively-made scientific studies to assess how blasts result in complex injuries to diverse components of the entire body. The authors urged both the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to build robust programs for identifying blast injuries and tracking outcomes. The panel’s recommendations integrated producing a registry of veterans exposed to blasts producing a database that backlinks DoD and VA health care records to coordinate extended-term overall health care wants and conducting investigation on both the instant and chronic consequences of blast injuries amongst active-duty service members and veterans.

To study the report, click here.

Soldiers Exposed To Blasts At Elevated Chance Of PTSD, Brain Damage

A day in the daily life of … a services manager at the Brain Damage Rehabilitation Trust

Kerri Tunstall performs for a charity that offers rehabilitation, care and assistance for people with an acquired brain damage. Photograph: Birt

I get up at 6am most mornings, observe the news and have breakfast before the rest of the loved ones start off stirring. It’s great to begin the day with some quiet time. I typically get the train into operate and catch up on some emails on my BlackBerry, or read a guide on the commute.

I generally arrive at our professional residential centre at Redford Court, Liverpool among 8 and eight.15am. The centre offers rehabilitation, care and assistance for folks with an acquired brain damage, and forms element of the nationwide network of rehabilitation support services supplied by the Brain Damage Rehabilitation Believe in (Birt).

I get started by catching up with employees, checking the message book and completing other administrative duties. But the work day officially begins at 9am with a crew handover.

On some days I attend and joint chair the clinical meeting. It is developed to discuss the clinical needs and programs for people sufferers at the moment undergoing brain damage rehabilitation. We use Birt’s neurobehavioral model which assures that every person, from our in-house clinical teams, by way of to our rehabilitation help workers, know the person ambitions and aspirations of every person in our care and are capable to accessibility the assistance they need to fulfil them.

I’ll frequently invest time producing reviews and information for monitoring services users and measuring our functionality. My position also requires workers supervision, acquiring feedback from these in the service and following up any incidents or investigations.

One of my principal tasks is auditing and checking that the systems we have in place are doing work and are up to date. I also chase workers if we believe there may be a gap in meeting the standard needs set by our regulatory bodies – the Care Top quality Commission and the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Some days I’ll consume lunch with the service users in the dining room, other times I do functioning lunches. But I am extremely guilty of frequently eating lunch at my desk!

I have been here for doing work for Birt for twelve and a half years, but I have usually had an awareness of disability. My cousin has cerebral palsy and, when I was expanding up, my very best friend’s brother had muscular dystrophy.

My interest in the caring and nursing occupation started out when I was invited, one particular summertime, to turn out to be a teenage volunteer for a local group who worked with children with finding out disabilities.

I then moved on to function complete-time in care for these with studying disabilities, and discovered Birt and their operate as the charity top brain injury rehabilitation in the Uk.

In the afternoon, I will spend time liaising with external parties, locating out what the new NHS commissioners and funders are searching for. There is always a focus on conferences and seminars. We organize our personal locally for professionals functioning in the discipline of brain injury. We organise speakers on a range of topics affecting us and we also attend other organisations’ occasions.

There are problems to my function. Each and every support user has unique requirements. The essential is finding a stability between how we meet all our demands whilst maintaining an individualised technique. We work with human beings, not numbers or files, and we treat absolutely everyone uniquely.

There are demanding troubles facing service end users, their loved ones, families and pals and also our personnel. It really is a juggling act to keep it operating smoothly and productively.

I will tidy my desk and then catch the train house, finishing electronic mail correspondence on the commute. It truly is essential to me to total every thing before I get house, to permit me household time. It doesn’t always operate like that but I try out!

Being a full-time, working mum means you can miss numerous issues, so this is genuinely essential for us as a household. My parents gather the little ones from school so I pay a visit to my dad and mom day-to-day. They are excellent at acquiring almost everything back into standpoint.

These days I nonetheless uncover time to volunteer. We as a household are component of the Never ever Observe Alone venture – in which we support a man with learning disabilities to attend the rugby matches. We have been performing it for four seasons now and it is not a position to us any longer, we have just acquired a pal.

Right after the kids are in bed I view Tv with my husband and switch off. Hardly ever do I worry about perform, but it really is always at the back of my thoughts just like any job. I’ll be thinking of various approaches to do things or just conversations I’ve had that day with service users that made me giggle or inspired me.

If you would like to feature in our Day in the Life series, or know an individual who would, electronic mail healthcare@theguardian.com

This report is published by Guardian Skilled. Join the Healthcare Professionals Network to receive normal emails and exclusive delivers.

A day in the daily life of … a services manager at the Brain Damage Rehabilitation Trust

FDA Warns High Doses of Acetaminophen Can Lead To Liver Damage

(Photograph credit score: Wikipedia)

The FDA has just issued a statement urging medical doctors not to prescribe acetaminophen in doses greater than 325 mg. Liver injury has been a known risk of the drug for many years, with even low doses posing serious dangers in excess of the prolonged-term. One more issue, however, is substantial doses in the quick-term, which can be a distinct danger if men and women aren’t mindful that they’re taking numerous acetaminophen-containing medicines. For illustration, prescription drugs, like oxycodone (Percocet), codeine, and hydrocodone (Vicodin) all include acetaminophen, so folks might unwittingly give themselves a double-dose by popping a Tylenol while already one of these prescription meds. And this, the FDA says, has to quit.

“Many customers are usually unaware that many goods (each prescription and OTC) contain acetaminophen, creating it straightforward to accidentally take also much,” mentioned the FDA.

Acetaminophen poisoning is one of the most widespread types of drug toxicity in the world, according to the NIH.

Acetaminophen can cause liver injury since the organ processes any compound that passes by means of. In the case of acetaminophen, a byproduct of its breakdown, NAPQI, can create up and significantly damage the liver’s own cells.

Because of these hazards, which far overshadow the positive aspects of the drug, the FDA says it is time to limit the dosage in prescriptions. “There are no available data to present that taking much more than 325 mg of acetaminophen per dosage unit supplies further advantage that outweighs the additional dangers for liver injury.”

In accordance to the FDA, folks at risk of liver damage consist of people who:

• “took much more than the prescribed dose of an acetaminophen-containing product in a 24-hour period”


•  “took a lot more than one acetaminophen-containing item at the identical time”


• “drank alcohol even though taking acetaminophen products.”

The early symptoms of liver damage are typically vague and include loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting, and can initially mistaken for other ailments, like the flu. More severe signs and symptoms incorporate stomach discomfort, convulsions, diarrhea, irritability, jaundice, and coma. “Liver harm can produce into liver failure or death above a number of days,” says the FDA.

The suggested optimum everyday limit is 4,000 mg, which is the sum in just four Additional Strength Tylenol. Over seven,000 mg/day is sufficient to result in serious overdose, according to the NIH.

To decrease the threat of liver injury, the FDA advises individuals to:

• Usually comply with dosing instructions and by no means get much more than indicated, since “even a modest sum far more than directed can lead to liver damage.”


• Don’t get acetaminophen for longer than directed.


• Don’t get a lot more than one acetaminophen-containing medication at a time.

For example, “your danger of liver harm goes up if you consider a medicine that contains acetaminophen to treat a headache, and while that medication is still operating in your physique, you take yet another medicine that includes acetaminophen to treat a cold,” according to the FDA.

The FDA will handle over-the-counter (OTC) acetaminophen in a separate statement. Once more, because cold and flu prescription drugs frequently have acetaminophen, it is exceptionally essential to examine the ingredients in any OTC medicine you consider, so that you really do not unwittingly double up. And often keep away from alcohol whilst you’re taking items containing acetaminophen, considering that the mixture of alcohol and acetaminophen can place your liver at especially substantial danger.

For much more information, please see the FDA’s web site on acetaminophen toxicity.

FDA Warns High Doses of Acetaminophen Can Lead To Liver Damage