Healthy Life Blog

Archive for September, 2009

The first vaccine to show any sign of preventing the spread of HIV has provided the most encouragement since the 1990s in the three-decades quest to stem the global AIDS epidemic.

Results of a trial involving more than 16,000 adults in Thailand indicate the vaccine regimen was safe and reduced by 31% the chance of infection with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the study.

Though that 31% is modest, it has heartened public-health experts and scientists. It is the first time a vaccine has been shown to confer any HIV protection at all. Should this prove to be a forerunner to a usable vaccine, it would be the second big game-changer in AIDS research since the mid-1990s, when potent new “drug cocktails” — a mix of protease inhibitors and other anti-retrovirals — turned AIDS from a virtual death sentence into a chronic but manageable disease for many patients. – click here to read more from WSJ|Health

HGH is the acronym for Human Growth Hormone. It was remained mystery in the medical world until in the 1970s researchers discovered the functions of HGH in human body.

HGH is made from protein compound and released by the pituitary glance in our body. It functions as an agent related to human growth. Children that face unconventional growth is normally caused by of abnormalities HGH in body.

In early days, scientists and researchers found hard to duplicate HGH. It is only possible to extract HGH from the pituitary glance of a cadaver. Only then the HGH can be injected to the patient. Because of that, treatments to public also impossible due to the high cost, time exhausting and limitations of trained medical personnels during that particular of time.

High level of HGH can be found in early stage of human development. As we grow the HGH level also decrease. Other hormones such as estrogen, progesterone and testosterone also decreasing. These hormones kept us active and healthy during our youth stage.

HGH introduce to adults mainly for anti aging purposes and also for other adult issues such as for increasing energy and stamina.

As an expert on the growth hormone as well as being a skilled webmaster and blogger, Kylie Robinson, supplies informative articles regarding the growth hormone to her readers. Along with providing the readers with information on the human growth hormone, Kylie also ensures his visitors learn how to buy HGH, how to find the best HGH, and facts regarding HGH.

Epidemiologists love to crunch numbers — and Americans, on the whole, love to ignore them. Even the most health-conscious among us soon grow numb to the storm of statistics warning us about rising levels of obesity or falling levels of exercise or all the other numerical indicators that tell us how unwell we’re getting. But on Sept. 14, a team of researchers released a new finding that should cause even the most data-weary folks alarm.

According to a paper published Monday in Circulation,a journal of the American Heart Association, fewer than 8% of all Americans can now be considered at low risk for heart disease. No one needs a statistician’s help to know that that means more than 92% of us are not as healthy as we could be, and that’s worth paying attention to.

The study was actually the latest in a series of studies, all of which have been part of a program known as the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). Administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the program is a four-decade attempt to evaluate the country’s health by conducting surveys and physical exams with a rotating sample group of about 10,000 Americans. The first NHANES study was conducted from 1971 to 1975, the second from 1976 to 1980, the next from 1988 to 1994, and the most recent — from which the heart-disease findings are only now being released — from 1999 to 2004.

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read more from time.com

Are you a victim of back hair? Does your wife or girlfriend cringe when you take off your shirt? There may be help for you with laser back hair removal.

Laser hair removal is a trend that is sweeping the country. With improvements in laser technology, these procedures are safer and less expensive than ever, and the results are longlasting. Most treatments use a very low level laser that is targets the affected area. The energy of the laser enters the pigment in the hair and causes the shaft to heat up, killing the hair. The follicle is also rendered ineffective, stunting new hair growth. Although the hair follicle deactivated, the surrounding skin is unharmed by the procedure.

Of course, this treatment has many applications for men and women, but one of the most popular is back hair laser removal. Previously, men had to undergo painful waxing, smelly dilapitory chemicals or shaving their backs to eliminate the hair that so many women find distasteful.

Of course, the type and amount of hair will determine how much your procedure costs. Darker or olive skinned patients will require more treatments than natural blondes, and hair thickness and density varies widely. Different lasers are even used to treat different skin color groups, so be sure to ask if your treatment center can handle your needs. Prices typically start at about $200-225, but back hair laser removal can run much higher, due to the larger area being treated. You should also expect to return for several treatments, as hair is removed in certain parts of the growth cycle only.

Although it may seem initially expensive, back hair removal using laser treatments is actually cost effective in the long run. Typically the hair does not regrow, and most centers offer touch ups for the few that do, as part of the package. If your back hair is an embarrassing problem, invest in yourself and try hair laser removal for your back!

The antioxidant vitamins found in fruits, vegetables, teas and supplements are proving to be powerful agents in the fight against disease causing free radicals.

The original concept was to take recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamins to a level that would prevent acute deficiency diseases like the Sailor’s disease scurvy. These are the standards by which RDA’s were created.

However, in recent years, research has shown that Vitamins taken in higher doses can prevent sever chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease. A debate still rages, but there is a plethora of research being done on Vitamin A, C, E, the antioxidant vitamins.

A National Institute of Health clinical trial involving people at high risk of developing advanced stages of Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), showed that patients’ risk decreased by 25 percent when treated with high doses of antioxidant vitamins and zinc.

Another study at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta showed that taking Vitamin E along with multivitamins reduced risk from stroke and heart illness. Among patients who took the combination, mortality risk decreased by 15 percent for these two diseases.

This September, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded a study investigating the relationship between Vitamin C and cancer, suggesting that Vitamin C may fight cancer. They found, in a laboratory setting, that high doses of Vitamin C injected directly into the bloodstream killed cancer cells.

Though the current RDA for Vitamin C is stuck at 60 mg, many researchers suggest that raising the RDA to between 100 and 200 mg would be a great way for people to get the antioxidants that they need to maintain overall well being.

Be careful when purchasing vitamins and supplements though. Research has shown that whole food vitamins, or vitamins with their co-factors, are much more effective than isolated nutrients. Nutrition is a complex process of thousands of chemical reactions within our bodies. Vitamins are always better in their natural state – in the foods we eat. Supplements should never be used in place of a poor diet.

The smart choice is to look for whole food vitamins to supplement an already good diet for the times you can’t get everything you need at meal time.