Fifa officials believe the World Anti-Doping Agency should address concerns that World Cup players may try to gain an unfair advantage by using traditional African herbal medicines that are not currently banned. The medical committee of football's governing body want WADA to look at claims that some African plants that could give athletes an unfair advantage. The matter was discussed during a pre-World Cup Team Workshop at Sun City in South Africa, a conference attended by national coaches and medical staff. Professor Jiri Dvorak, FIFA's chief medical officer, said: "We had an interesting presentation about African plants and herbs and learned that some of them have diuretic properties and some can be stimulants. "That is an issue for WADA, but I am really not worried about (new) people using them at the World Cup. Do you think that the 32 medical chiefs who have signed up to our anti-doping declaration will be using products that they don't even know?" Dvorak revealed that countries at the World Cup will each have eight players randomly dope tested during unannounced visits at some stage after March 22 and before the tournament. He added: "We are all fighting together against the threat of cheating by doping. We have asked the medical chiefs of all 32 competing teams to fight with us and to sign a joint declaration. This they have done. "I remind you that the last incident we had of a failed dope test at a World Cup was in 1994"

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Homeopathic treatments are nothing more than glorified placebos, and the British government needs to stop spending public tax dollars to fund them, a committee reported. The Science and Technology Committee, a panel of British MPs established to evaluate the merits of homeopathic remedies, released its report today. While Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has been paying for homeopathic treatments since 1948, the committee wants that public money pulled from the procedures. Committee chairman Phil Willis expressed concern that serious illnesses would go undiagnosed, all while patients were being prescribed remedies that "are basically no better than sugar pills or Smarties." The committee added that the government should impose tighter regulations on homeopathic medicine, to prevent manufacturers from making unsubstantiated claims on product labels. The new stance on homeopathic procedures comes as the British government is trying to curb the country's surging deficit. Even if homeopathy is nixed from health spending, the NHS shells out only 152,000 pounds -- out of an annual 100 billion pound budget -- on homeopathy. Still, they'd likely spend less on placebos, which is exactly what the committee compared homeopathic cures to. "Explanations for why homeopathy would work are scientifically implausible," the committee report states. "To maintain patient trust, choice and safety, the government should not endorse the use of placebo treatments, including homeopathy." The report is based on a review of dozens of studies, all of which establish that homeopathic practices simply don't work. But the UK Society of Homeopaths doesn't buy it. Chief executive Paula Ross said she'd prefer to see the government invest in more research. "We would have preferred to see the government put money into much-needed research into how actually homeopathy works," she said in a statement. According to Dr. Sara Eames, the president of the UK Faculty of Homeopathy, the report disregarded thousands of success stories. In fact, she anticipates the NHS will spend more to treat patients who would have been better served by inexpensive homeopathic treatments. "Far from saving the NHS money by stopping the funding of the hospitals, it is very likely that expenditure will be increased," she told the Daily Mail. "If homeopathic patients are pushed to other more expensive services, how will it help the NHS funding crisis?" Angry homeopathic advocates may want to team up with the royal family on this one. In 2008, health experts derided Prince Charles for commissioning reports that promoted homeopathy, accusing the work of making "misleading and inaccurate claims about its benefits."

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Arogya-2010, the annual health fair organised by the Department of Ayush, will be held in India from February 23 to 26. The fair will have a display of panels, books, research papers and other papers on the outcome of years of research by council of ayurveda, siddha, unani and homoeopathy systems of medicine and yoga and naturopathy. It will have live yoga demonstrations besides informing the people about home remedies based on medicinal plants. Exhibitions, sale of drug manufacturing equipment and allied plant and machinery will be organised. Ayush clinics will run simultaneously in separate chambers. Lectures and panel discussions on concept of siddha system and its specialities, management of skin diseases through unani system of medicine, geriatric health care through ayurvedic approach, yoga for healthy living, lifestyle disorders and their management through naturopathy and mother and childcare through homoeopathy will be organised.

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A new pathological research has demonstrated that herbal medicine can lead to unwanted deaths, especially in people who consume too much of their natural remedies, or who combine such substances with prescription medication.  University of Adelaide forensic pathologist Professor Roger Byard underlines the fact that many herbal chemicals have very toxic compounds inside, which can kill an adult on their own when taken in excessive quantities, or when combined with other chemicals from other drugs.

Naturopaths agree that there are dangers in herbal medicines for people who self-diagnose and then ''treat'' themselves with off-the-shelf products. However, they say the industry is generally well regulated.

The problem is compounded when herbs are contaminated, poorly processed or replaced with a cheaper alternative.

"These substances may cause serious illnesses, exacerbate pre-existing health problems or result in death, particularly if taken in excess or injected rather than ingested."
"Herbal medicines are frequently mixed with standard drugs, presumably to make them more effective. This can also have devastating results," Byard says.

Many common herbs could cause severe side effects when used with conventional medicine, such as negating the effect of blood-thinning agent warfarin or making epileptic seizures more frequent.

Ginkgo and garlic also increase the risk of bleeding with anticoagulants and certain herbal remedies such as Borage Oil and Evening Primrose Oil lower the seizure threshold in epileptics, said a university release.

 ''I'm not saying don't take them - herbal medicine is a time-honoured practice with real benefits,'' Professor Byard said. ''But you should talk to your doctor and work it out together.''

On a newly done research, Dr Shyam Mani Adhikari pointed out that there is no laboratory facility or well established mechanism for standardization and monitoring so far in Nepal  to assure and control the quality of such medicines, many questions are raised regarding the quality, safety and efficacy of these medicines. Hence, substandard Ayurvedic medicines also might have been brought to the market which not only defames Ayurvedic physicians and decreases faith to the Ayurveda but also creates a risk of public health hazards.

He recommended that it requires very urgent and serious multi-dimensional attempts by concerned authorities and other stakeholders to manage and regulate this situation.

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The first genetic map of the world’s most important medicinal plant, Artemisia annua, was published on Thursday in the journal Science. Artemisia is the source of artemisinin, a key ingredient in antimalarial drugs.

Plant scientists at York University, who prepared the genetic map, are already using the map to breed higher-yielding strains of Artemisia. Existing wild plants produce only small amounts of artemisinin, which is therefore too scarce and too expensive to meet the huge requirement for malaria drugs in the developing world.“We intend to get high-yielding seed to farmers in the next two to three years in order to supply soaring demand for malaria treatments,” said York Professor Dianna Bowles. “This is a really tight deadline and we can only do it with the benefit of the new knowledge provided by the map.”

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The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.The findings, published in the current issue of the journal Current Alzheimer Research, could lower expectations about the benefits of medical marijuana in combating various cognitive diseases and help redirect future research to more promising therapeutics.

Previous studies using animal models showed that HU210, a synthetic form of the compounds found in marijuana, reduced the toxicity of plaques and promoted the growth of new neurons. Those studies used rats carrying amyloid protein, the toxin that forms plaques in the brains of Alzheimer's victims.

The new study, led by Dr. Weihong Song, Canada Research Chair in Alzheimer's Disease and a professor of psychiatry in the UBC Faculty of Medicine, was the first to test those findings using mice carrying human genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer's disease -- widely considered to be a more accurate model for the disease in humans.

"As scientists, we begin every study hoping to be able to confirm beneficial effects of potential therapies, and we hoped to confirm this for the use of medical marijuana in treating Alzheimer's disease," says Song, a member of the Brain Research Centre at UBC and VCH Research Institute and Director of Townsend Family Laboratories at UBC.

"But we didn't see any benefit at all. Instead, our study pointed to some detrimental effects."

Over a period of several weeks, some of the Alzheimer's-afflicted mice were given varying doses of HU210 -- also known as cannabinoids -- which is 100 to 800 times more potent than the marijuana compounds. Their memory was then tested.

The mice treated with HU210 did no better than untreated mice, with those given low doses of HU210 performing the worst. The researchers also found that HU210-treated mice had just as much plaque formation and the same density of neurons as the control group. The group given higher doses actually had fewer brain cells.

"Our study shows that HU210 has no biological or behavioural effect on the established Alzheimer's disease model," says Song, the Jack Brown and Family Professor and Chair in Alzheimer's Disease. "More studies should be done before we place much hope in marijuana's benefits for Alzheimer's patients."

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100208091926.htm

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Acne is mainly related to the activity of sebaceous glands of dermis that responsible for the production of sebum. Sebum helps in carrying the dead cells and other waste products to the outer skin surface.

So acne is an inflammatory disorder of the skin resulting from an overactive sebaceous gland (which secrets sebum) that blocks the hair follicle, the passage that leads from the sebaceous gland to the surface of the skin. Thereby the blocked substances, with sebum, bacteria and other substances form plugs in the follicle and the infection is manifested, first as white head, latter black head. It is marked by the eruption of pimples or pustules especially on the face.

What are the causes of acne?
1. External Factors: pollution, direct exposure to sun over longer duration etc.
2. Internal Factors: heredity, hormonal imbalances, stress, constipation etc.


How to prevent acne?
1. Do Pranayama (It is a breathing exercise for purifying the blood and vitalizing the inner organs), Khumbhaka(In yoga it is a breathing exercise in which the breath is retained in a state of suspense when the mind is relaxed).
2. Drink enough water.
3. Do not wash your face more with soap.
4. Try to avoid the causes.

Simple Home remedies:

Take  3 tablespoons of honey and 1 teaspoon of cinnamom powder. Make it paste and apply on affected area. or

Take  1 tablespoons of Lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of cinnamom powder. Make it paste and apply on affected area. or
Cinnamon has the antibacterial and antifungal properties; whereas lemon can remove dead skin cells.

-You can also rub fresh garlic on and around affected area.
Garlic has antibiotic properties that help destroying the bacteria thus containing the growth of acne.

 -Make a paste of neem leaves with turmeric powder. Apply this paste on the affected area.
Neem has got antibacterial properties making it effective in controlling epidermal dysfunctions such as acne.

- Apply fresh tomato pulp on the face.
Tomato is known to have anti-oxidants and contains vitamins A & C. Vitamin C in tomatoes can rejuvenate the dull skin and vitamin A is involved in formation of healthy skin.

Apply a paste of orange peel powder with water on affected area. Wash it off after 30 minutes with lukewarm water.
The citric acid in orange soothes and softens skin removing pore-clogging impurities.

-Apply cucumber juice on the face.
Cucumber has hydrating and astringent properties.

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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 1, 2010
An abstinence-only program without a moralistic tone can delay teenagers from having sex, researchers say. The study, in The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, differed from traditional programs that have lost federal and state support in recent years. The classes did not preach saving sex until marriage or disparage condom use. Instead, they involved assignments aimed at helping sixth and seventh graders see the drawbacks to sexual activity at their age.

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SEOUL, South Korean scientists have developed an herbal medicine for treatment of the A/H1N1 flu, a state-run research institute announced Monday, reported Yonhap news agency.

The Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine (KIOM) said it successfully extracted materials commonly used in traditional herbal remedies that showed immediate results of recovery when injected to mice infected with the disease.

The medicine, known by its scientific name KIOM-C, has been developed by combining such extracted materials from a dozen of common herbal substances, according to KIOM.

"Laboratory tests conducted at the local company BioLeaders Corp. revealed the strong anti-viral qualities of the drug made from a substance found in oriental medicine," Yonhap cited Ma Jin-yeul, head of KIOM's Center for Herbal Medicine Improvement Research, as saying here.

Ma said that more detailed tests would have to follow to corroborate his recent findings.

He added the medicine in a tablet form would be available in about three years, much like the Tamiflu anti-viral drug, which is currently in the market.

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A new  survey done in US finds that most medical students think that knowledge of complementary and alternative medicine could help Western doctors do a better job.

Complementary and alternative medicine, or CAM, includes such therapies as acupuncture, yoga, massage and herbal treatments.

"Even with the high prevalence of CAM use today, most physicians still know little about nonconventional forms of medicine," Michael S. Goldstein, senior research scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles, and senior author of the study, said in a university news release. "Investigating medical students' attitudes and knowledge will help us assess whether this may change in the future."

The findings were published online Jan. 20 in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Researchers from UCLA and the University of California, San Diego, sent a 30-question survey to 126 medical schools. They received 1,770 completed responses, representing about 3 percent of a pool of about 68,000 medical school students.

Of the respondents, 77 percent said that patients would benefit more if their doctors knew about CAM in addition to Western medicine. And 74 percent thought that a blend of Western medicine and CAM is better than either by itself. n. Her white garland resembles the icy dew drops. She is decked in pure white attire. A white lotus serves as the throne of Maa Saraswati, on whose arm rests Veena. We pray Maha Saraswati, who is surrounded and respected by the Gods to bestow her blessings on us. May the goddess remove our lethargy and brighten our life with light of knowledge.

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