The blog is about health and gives useful information on health and disease.

While it works for rats, researchers can’t say for certain that dietary supplements of the metal chromium can extend a human life span. But, according to the researchers from Bemidji State University in Minnesota, the findings are promising.

During the study, researchers gave a special chromium supplement to ten rats and compared them to 20 rats that received chromium in a form less readily absorbed. After almost 3 1/2 years, the researchers reported that 80 percent of the rats that received chromium picolinate. Were still alive, while all the other rats were dead. The results show that the rats that received the supplements lived an average of one year longer than the others.

Until now, research had uncovered only one factor which could produce substantial increases in life span in animals— a significant reduction in caloric intake. The new information about chromium supplements changes all of that because the supplements can produce an equally large increase in life span without any dietary restrictions.

According to one expert, more than 90 percent of adult Americans have a chromium deficiency, mostly because it is not readily absorbed from many foods. Recently, researchers from the USDA developed and patented a form of chromium, called chromium picolinate that is easily absorbed. That’s the form the researchers used in the 3 1/2 year study.

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Frostbite can affect any part of the body that is exposed to extremely cold temperatures, but it most commonly “gets” the nose, ears, fingers, and toes. If only the skin and underlying tissues are damaged, complete recovery is possible. If, however, blood vessels are affected, the damage is permanent.

Relatively mild forms of frostbite can occur suddenly in very cold weather when you are shoveling snow or taking a walk. It is important that you know not only how to treat frost bite, but how to avoid it altogether. Here are several tips from some medical experts.

1) Know the symptoms— the first symptoms usually include a pins-and-needles sensation followed by complete numbness. The skin will most likely appear white, cold and hard, and then become red and swollen. Following warming of the tissue, peeling and blistering may occur.

2) Stay out of the wind— your exposure to extreme cold is made worse if it is also windy. Wind-chill factors play an important role in contributing to frostbite.

3) Take advantage of your own body heat— you can warm your fingers and hands by placing them under your armpits. This is a measure you can use if you can’t get indoors right away.

4) Don’t warm the affected area with dry, radiant heat— frostbitten skin is easily burned and you should be properly warmed by immersion in lukewarm water— 104 to 110 degrees F.

5) Avoid alcohol and smoking— in the case of frostbite, instead of making you warm, alcohol actually causes you to lose more heat. Smoking only makes your extremities more vulnerable to the cold by reducing circulation.

6) Don’t rub frostbite with snow or ice.

7) Don’t touch metal— if you touch freezing metal with your bare hand your skin may freeze to the metal and tear badly when you pull it away.

Dress for the cold— wear several layers of light clothing rather than one bulky or heavy garment.

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1) Choking (obstruction to the airway)

If the victim cannot breathe and is unable to speak, there is most likely a complete blockage of the airway that must be removed quickly to prevent suffocation. You should have someone else (if you are not alone with the victim) call for an ambulance while you perform the Heimlich maneuver on the victim. The Heimlich maneuver produces an artificial cough to help an individual who is choking force the obstructing object out of the trachea. Here are the steps involved in the Heimlich maneuver:

Conscious choking victim

A) Stand behind the victim, putting your arms around his or her waist. Place your fist with the thumb side against the victim’s stomach just above the navel and below the ribs and breastbone.

B) Hold your fist with your other hand and give several quick, forceful, upward and inward thrusts into the abdomen until the obstruction is expelled. Dn not squeeze the victim’s ribs with your arms— be sure to use only your fist.

C) You may have to do six to ten thrusts before the victim coughs up the object or becomes unconscious.

D) If you are home alone and you are choking, give yourself abdominal thrusts by pressing your abdomen onto the back of a chair or some other solid object.

Unconscious choking victim

A) If the person who is choking is or becomes unconscious, you should place the heel of one hand on the victim’s stomach, just above the navel and below the ribs. Place your free hand on top of your other hand. Keeping your elbows straight, give several quick, forceful, downward and forward thrusts toward the head.

B) If the above maneuver fails, you should attempt to remove the obstruction with your index finger. Hold the victim’s lower jaw and tongue between the thumb and fingers of one hand and lift up the jaw. Look for anything that may be obstructing the airway. With the victim’s face up, insert your index finger down inside the cheek toward the base of the tongue. Using a “sweeping” motion, move your finger across the back of the victim’s throat to dislodge any obstruction. Be careful you do not push the obstruction further down the victim’s throat.

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1) Goldenseal

This herbal tea fights germs and infections, It also stimulates the immune system. Some recent studies indicate that goldenseal may also help to combat tumors. To make goldenseal herbal tea, use one-half to one full teaspoon of powdered goldenseal root in one cup of boiling water and allow the mixture to steep for ten minutes. For best results, you should drink about 2 cups a day. To improve the flavor, you can add lemon or honey to the tea.

2) Alfalfa

Studies suggest that alfalfa can help reduce cholesterol and reverse the accumulation of plaque depsits on artery walls. Alfalfa tea can be made by using one or two teaspoons of dried alfalfa leaves per cup of boiling water. Let this brew steep for ten to twenty minutes.

3) Celery seed

Often used as an aid to weight loss, controlling blood pressure, and by diabetics, celery seed tea contains one to two teaspoons of crushed celery seeds per cup of boiling water. Allow this tea to steep for ten to twenty minutes and drink at least two cups a day.

4) Black Haw

Studies show that the chemical salicin—an aspirin-like substance—found in black haw helps ease the pain of arthritis, headaches, and may be effective in lowering fevers. You can make black haw tea by boiling two teaspoons of dried bark per cup of water. Allow the brew to boil for ten minutes. Add lemon or honey to improve the taste and drink two to three cups a day.

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Women who experience it might not think so, but morning sickness may be a sign that the pregnancy is going well. In fact, some studies have shown that women who vomit during pregnancy are less likely to miscarry or deliver prematurely than women who do not. However, doctors caution that while typical morning sickness—usually limited to the first two or three months of pregnancy—is reasonably beneficial, women who have an excessive amount of morning sickness may be at high risk for small babies. If your morning sickness goes on and on after the first two or three months, make sure you tell your doctor.

Even though typical morning sickness is a good sign, it is still something most expectant mothers would rather do without. While that may be out of the question, there are some simple tricks you can employ to make morning sickness less discomforting.

1) Eat several small meals throughout the day instead of two or three large meals. Eat your largest meal of the day at noon rather than in the evening.

2) Don’t eat fried, fatty foods. It takes the body a long time to digest fried foods, meaning that they sit in the stomach longer.

3) Drink plenty of fluids.

4) Eat a dry saltine cracker in bed before you get up in the morning. You should try to keep a carbohydrate in your stomach at all times.

5) Eating a snack at bedtime may also help alleviate early morning sickness.

6) Consult your doctor about taking large doses of vitamin B6. A recent study at the University of Iowa indicates that women with severe morning sickness experience much less nausea and vomiting when taking up to 76 mg of vitamin B6 every day.

Researchers say that even though B6 is found in many foods, getting 75 mg a day would almost certainly mean taking supplements. Medical experts caution pregnant women not to exceed the RDA for vitamin B6 (2.6 mg a day) without first consulting their doctors.

7) Ask your doctor if you can quit taking iron tablets. The tablets can cause nausea.

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Many psychopharmacologists suggest that Prozac (or any other antidepressant) be continued for three or four months after a single initial episode of depression has been alleviated. A smaller number of expert psychopharmacologists believe that the medicine should be continued as long as six to eight months.

In the case of recurrent unipolar depression, Prozac should be continued indefinitely to prevent future depressive episodes, if episodes occur yearly.

Similarly, patients who have suffered from bipolar manic depression (lithium treated) must be continued on Prozac for longer periods of time. In these instances, Prozac plus lithium may be used in the acute depressive phase, in the subsequent continuation phase for several months, and finally in the maintenance or prophylactic phase, often for years or a lifetime, to prevent future depressions from breaking through, if lithium alone does not prevent future depressions as well as future manic episodes.

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The modern theory of depression hypothesizes that mood disorders are caused by imbalance in the number of small amino acid molecules, called neurotransmitters, that travel between nerves across the so-called synapses in the brain. Synapses are the spaces between two successive nerve fibers.

According to this theory, known as the biogenic amine hypothesis, the three major neurotransmitters located in brain synapses are: norepinephrine (NE), serotonin (SE), and dopamine (DA). The regulating mechanism is a complex one. It includes a process called uptake, whereby some of the neurotransmitter molecules in the synapse are absorbed back into the original nerve endings, where they either degenerate or are repackaged and sent back out again. Sometimes, as a result of genetic and environmental factors, this process produces imbalances in the amount of neurotransmitters in the synapses. An excess of one or more of the neurotransmitters is thought to lead to mania. A deficiency is thought to result in depression.

Most of the scientific investigations of Prozac have focused on depression, with the result that Prozac has received FDA approval for use in major depression. It has not been approved for anxiety disorders because enough data haven’t been accumulated from scientifically conducted trials. Furthermore, from the data so far, the trend may not support using Prozac for primary anxiety disorders.

Nevertheless, when patients suffering from major depression and the milder form dysthymia are treated with Prozac, symptoms of anxiety typically lift along with the other symptoms of depression. To date, a limited number of studies indicate that

Prozac does not seem to be useful for General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) but it is therapeutic for panic attacks and the secondary anxiety seen in major depressive disorders and dysthymia. Once the depression is relieved, the secondary disorder tends to disappear as well.

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Masked depression refers to depression that is hidden behind physical complaints for which no organic cause can be found. The physician’s tendency is usually to dismiss these patients as hypochondriacs or to label them as anxious and prescribe minor tranquilizers to calm them down or stimulants to pep them up and get them out of the office as quickly as possible. Masked depression (also known as depressive equivalent, latent depression, hidden depression, overlooked depression, or disguised depression) is potentially one of the most frustrating and therefore serious of mental disorders for the patient, since if not diagnosed correctly and treated properly, the patient is likely to “doctor hop” for years, trying the patience of one physician after another. As Freud himself noted, physical complaints can dominate the clinical picture and lead one to believe that the disorder is strictly physical rather than emotional. In these instances, a succession of M.D.s may never address the patient’s despair. In the worst case, the patient will give up and commit suicide.

Since the underlying illness is depression, Prozac, like other antidepressants, can often be used effectively, although little research has been done on Prozac’s effect on masked depression per se. Because the new antidepressants (of which Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Effexor are examples) have fewer side effects, it is most likely that patients with masked depression will be responsive to these drugs as they have been to the older antidepressants. The critical issue is to make the correct diagnosis of depression, since it is hidden to the patient and often the doctor fails to detect it as well and attempts to treat it as a medical condition.

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About 3% to 4% of the population experiences major depression. Manic depression occurs in another 1% or 2%, and another 5% of the population suffers from one of the other forms of depression, including dysthymia, chronic treatment-resistant depression, and depression secondary to medical or other psychiatric disorders. All told, about 10% of the population is afflicted by depression in one form or another, with women about two to five times more likely than men to be affected. Manic depression, however, afflicts men and women equally.

In a usual depression, most people tend to lose weight and have difficulty sleeping, whereas the distinctive feature of atypical depression is that patients tend to gain weight and to sleep more than is normal. They also tend to be extremely anxious, histrionic, sensitive to rejection, and strongly reactive to environmental factors. Major depression typically does not have these latter symptoms.

The symptoms of atypical depression have traditionally responded best to Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors, but studies now suggest that Prozac and probably other SSRIs may also be effective in treating this disorder.

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The difference is basically one of degree. The DSM-IV defines hypomania as “a distinct period of

sustained elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting throughout four days.” Mania is a longer, more intense version of the same thing. The manic mood is not just elevated but “abnormally and persistently elevated,” and it lasts at least one week—twice as long as a hypomanic episode.

In addition, a person in a manic or hypomanic state would be expected to have at least three of the following symptoms:

o excessive self-esteem or grandiosity

o reduced need for sleep

o excessive talkativeness, telephoning, spending

o extremely rapid flight of thoughts along with the feeling that the mind is racing

o inability to concentrate, easily distracted

o increase in social or work-oriented activities, often with a sixty- to eighty-hour work week

o poor judgment, as indicated by misguided business decisions, sprees of uncontrolled spending, or an increase in sexual indiscretions.

Again, the difference between mania and hypomania is one of degree. While both states might be described using terms such as those listed, hypomania can simply seem like a more productive, active period, whereas a full-blown manic attack seriously impairs functioning and often requires hospitalization. Manic people are out of control: they can hurt themselves and others. But those who are hypomanic can also exercise poor judgment. Some patients make excursions from a pleasurable (or sometimes irritable) hypomania to a shockingly destructive mania, affecting everyone and everything around them.

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