Health Issue: Power From Boiled Potato

Power from boiled potato An electric batterybased on boiled potatoes could provide a cheap source of electricity in the developing world, according to the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.      The treated potato battery generates energy tht is five to 50 times cheaper then commercially available batteries, Yissum Research Development Co said, A light powered by the battery is at least six times more economical than herosencelamps often used in the developing world.      "The ability to provide electrical power with such simple and natural means could benefit millions of people in the developing word, Literally bringing light and telecommunication to their life in areas currently lacking electrical infrastructure," Yaacov Michlin, chief executive of Yissum, said in a statement. The findings were published in the June issue of the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.       Haim Rabinowitch and research student Alex Golberg at Israel's Hebrew University jointly with Boris Rubinsky at the University of California at Berkeley discovered a new way to construct an efficient battery using zinc and copper electrodes and a slice of an ordinary potato.       They found that boiling the potato prior to use in electrolysis-in-creased electric power up to 10-fold over the untreated potato and enabled the battery to work for days and even weeks.       Potatoes are produced in 130 countries over a wide range of climates and thus available year round. It is the world's number one non-grain starch food commodity.

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HEalth Issue: Vitramin 'D' for Good Health

Dial D for good health        Vitamin D intake during pregnancy is not only safe for the mother and the baby, but it can also prevent pre-term labour, births and infections, says a new study, The results of the randomised controlled study have been presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.       In the 1950s and 60s, people were concerned that vitamin D could cause birth defects, says Carol L Wagner, MD, lead author of the study and a pediatric researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina. But it is now known that vitamin D is important for maternal and infant health, including bone health and immune function. And recent studies have shown that vitamin D difeciency during pregnancy is a serious public  health issue. "Diet doesn't provide enough vitamin D, and we don't go in the sun as much as we need to," Dr Wagner says.        Therefore, she and her colleagues, including Bruce W Hollis, PhD, who has worked in the field of vitamin D research for the last 30 years, set out to determine the optimal dose of vitamin D supplements for pregnant women without doing harm.        Researchers randomised 494 pregnant women, at 12-16 weeks gestation, into three treatment groups. Group one received 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin D a day until delivery; group two received 2,000 IU. The women were evaluated monthly to ensure safety. "No adverse events related to vitamin D dosing were found in any of the three arms of the study," says Dr Wagner. Investigators also looked at the effects of vitamin D Suplementation on complications during pregnancy, including pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, infections. and pre-term labour and birth. "The spectacular part of the study was that it showed that women replete with vitamin D had lower rates of pre-term labour and pre-term birth, and lower rates of infection," the investigators added.

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Health Issue: Importent notes for First Aid

CAN YOU SAVE A LIFE? ...you could, if you honed your first ad skills CT gives you a few suggestions More than half of us don't have a clue as to what to do in an emergency - even if simple first aid skills are all that are neede, says a survey. This is worrying, as we should all have a basic understanding of what to do in potentially life-threatening situation.     In an emergency, the most important thing is to stay calm. There's no excuse for not being prepared. After all, you'd never forgive yourself if you ended up in a situation where you could have saved a life if only you'd known what to do.  KNOW YOUR ABCS IF SOMEONE LOSES CONSCIOUSNESS, YOU SHOULD CHECK...  AIRWAYS: Ensure there's nothing in the person's mouth. Then, open the airway by laying him/her on the back and tilting the bead backwards. BREATHING: Listen for breaths and look to see if the chest is moving. If not, you should begin rescue breaths. Pinch his/her nose. Take a big breath. cover the mouth with yours and breathe out. When the person's chest rises, remove your lips, Repeat for five breths one every three seconds. CIRCULATION: Use your first two fingers to check the wrist or neck for a pulse. If there is no pulse, begin chest compressions push on the centre of the person's chest with the heel of your hand then release. Repeat 30 times, at the rate of 100 compresions a minute. Continue giving two rescue breaths followed by 30 compressions until he/she start breathing or help arrives. THE RECOVERY POSITION: If someone is breathing, place him/her in the recovery position. Lay the person on his/her side, with one leg higher than the other so that the person can't roll back or forward. Then tilt the chin up to keep the airway open. SIX EMERGENCIES THAT TEST YOUR FIRST AID SKILLS  Yor're out for a meal with a friend when she starts choking... How serious is it? If she can't breathe, speak or is going blue, it's very serious as she is being deprived of oxygen. What to do: Bend her over a chair and slap her sharply between the shoulder blades five times. If that doesn't work, ask someone else to call for help, while you try abdominal thrusts. Stand behind her and place your fist between her naval and the bottom of her rib cage. Grasp your fist with your other hand and forcefully press inward and upward. Repeat five times. You cut your finger deep while cooking What to do: Raise your arm above your heart and press on either side of the finger to block the areries that run down the sides of each finger. How serious is it? after 45 seconds. check if the bleeding has stopped. If it's slowed to a gentle ooze, keep applying pressure until the blood clots. Ifblood is still spurting out and the cut is very deep. you may have hit an artery. Continue to apply pressure and get a friend or family member to drive you to your nearest casualty department. Your teen comes home drunk and vomiting... How serious is it? Ask him/her if he/she knows what day itis. If he/she can answer while standing unaided, it's probably not too bad. But if there's no answer or he/she has passed out, it's more serious. What to do: Make your ward sit up. Don't force him/her to drink water or to get into the shower. If the teen has passed out, lay him/her in the recovery position and watch over to ensure he/she doesn't roll over.  Your husband pours scalding water on his hand... How serious it it? Minor burns heal quickly. But if he's in severe pain, develops blisters or the burn is large, seek medical help.What to do? Cool the burn with cold tap water or milk for at least 10 minutes. Remove his clothing before any swelling starts, but don't remove clothing stuck to the burn. Be careful not to touch the burnt area. Once cooled, cover with a sterile dressing to prevent infection. Any clean, non-fluffy material will do - such as a tea towel or freezer bag. A colleague has an epileptic seizure... How serious is it? Seizures have the potential to be fatal. So, you must act quickly. What to do: Don't touch or restrain bim/her and never put anything in the person's mouth. Remove all dangerous objects from the surrounding area so that the person does not hurt his/her self. and call for help. If you're on your own, stay with the person and keep reassuring them that things will be okay. Once the seizure is over, put him/her in the recovery position and wait for paramedics.

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Health issue: SHORT CUTS

SHORT CUTS Olive leaf extract can help fight obesity, says study    A new researche has revealed that a cup of coffee prepared with olive leaf extract may help in combating obesity. The study involved feeding rats a high carbohydrate, high fat diet for eight weeks until they developed signs of metabolic syndrome. The rats given coffee fortified with olive leaf extract for a further eight weeks showd improved cardiovascular, liver and metabolic signs compared with rats given normal coffee. Lindsay Brown of University of Southern Queensland's said the olive leaf extract led to weight loss because of its anti-inflammatory properties, reports the Sydney Morning Heraid. Tea tree oil may combat skin cancer:     Tea tree oil, widely used for removing spots and insect bites,may offer a cheap and effective treatment for some skin cancers, scientists claim. Researchers at the University of Western Australia found the oil can shrink non-melanoma skin cancers in mice in just one day and cured them within three days. Non-melanoma skin cancer is one of the most common types of cancer that affect thousands across the world every year. The activating body's immune response, the Daily Mail reported. 'Minute particles' found in asteroid pod:          Japan's space agency said it has found "minute particles" of what it hopes is asteroid dust in the capsule of the space probe Hayabusa which returned to Earth last month. Scientists hope any dust samples from the asteroid itokawa could help reveal secrets about the origins of solar system. But the agency says it is still unclear whether the particles are contaminants from Earth of come from itokawa which the space probe landed on.

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Health Issue: Brain chip to help paralysed patients

Brain chip to help paralysed patients move bionic limbs London: Scientists have developed a brain chip that will help paralysed patients operate their bionic limbs.       The techology emplys tiny microchips to sense nerve messages, decode the signals, and turn thought into movement. The scientists hope that with in five years they will be able to offer patients with damaged spinal cords robotic devices that will enable them to move their arms or legs at will.       Rodrigo Quian Quioga heading a University of Leicester team working onthe project, said such patients retain the ability to "think" commands from the brain, reoprts telegraph.co.uk.        "The guy can see the object he wants to reach, the guy can have the intention to reach to the object, the brain can send a command to the arm - 'reach for this cup of tea' - but the signal gets broken at the level of the spinal cord," he said.         "If we can get the signals from these neurons and interpret them with what is called decoding algorithms, then we can move a robot device placed on the paralysed arm," he added.          The more ambitious idea is not touse robotic devices but to replace the broken connection to the limb with an artificial link. The brain chip would then send signals to an implanted stimulator in the spinal cord. This would generate electrical impulses to make muscles contract and move parlysed limbs.          For those who rely on binic arms, the process of muscle reinnervation is what makes them functional. First developed by Dr Todd Kuiken, director of neuroengineering at the Center for Artificial Limbs at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, the procedure involves grafting shoulder nerves to the pectoral muscle.           The grafts receive thought generated impulses, and the activity is sensed by electrodes within the muscle. The electrodes relay the signals to the arm's computer, which causes motors to move the elbow and hand. Hence, when amputee Jesse Sullivan thinks. "Close hand," electrical signals sent through surgically re-routed nerves make it happen. Moreover, unlike typical artificial arms, there is no perceivable delay in motion.           Gregory Clark, assoicate professor of bioengineering and a prosthetics researcher at the University Utah, says that convertional prosthetic limbs are problematic because they "can do only one movement at any particular moment". However, Sullivan says his bionic arm allows him to rotate his upper arm, bend his elbow, rotate his wrist, and open and close his hand - in some instances simultaneously.

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Health Isue: Risk of Mental illness

'Risk of mental illness may be predicted from brain patterns' London: British scientists believe they have found specific patterns of brain activity in children and young people which could be signs or "markiers" of those who will later go on to develop mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.       Experts from Nottingham University, who presented their study at Forum for Europian Neuroscience in Amsterdam, said the patterns suggest it may be possible in future to identify those at risk of becoming ill before they develop symptoms.         "If we can identify people who are at particularly high risk of developing schizophrenia, perhaps using neurocognitive brain markers, said Maddie Groom, who worked on the study and gave a briefing to reporters in London. "If we give them a better start, they may encounter the illness in a more positive way not get quite so all.

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Health Issue: Hemopressin can also be used to treat alcohol

Key to overeating found, may lead to new diet drug Raising Hemopressin May Curb Food-For-Pleasure Craving London: Scientists have found an appetite suppressant tha can curb the desire for "pleasure eating" ,a discovery that could lead to a new class of dieting drugs.        Researchers at Manchester University found that the substance called hemopressin, which occurs naturally in the bocy, affects the reward centres of the brain that light up when someone enjoys a comforting snack or cigarette. It was found to be blocking these areas of the brain, reducing the craving for post-pub kebabs and calorific late-night snacks.        Garron Dodd, who led the research, said the finding could lead to drugs that can stimulate the brain to produce more hemopressing, which will prevent people from eating purely for pleasure instead of from hunger, "The discovery offers new insights into how the brain controls appetite and opens new avenues by which to manipulate this brain circuitry and aid the development of anti obesity treatment," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.          The chemical can also be used to treat alcohol and drug abuse, the researchers said. About six years ago, a synthetic product called Rimoubant, which acted on the brain to reduce hunger, was developed and marketed as an anti-obesity treatment. But it appeared to increase the risk of depression and suicidal thoughts ans was withdrawn from the market. Dodd believes naturally occurring hemopressin can suppress hunger without the side effects.]          For their study, experts fed hemopressin to mice and found they ate less food. It was also found the chemical had no other impact on their behaviour. an identical group of mice given a synthetic form of the chemical also ate less, but suffered side effects such as increased grooming and scratching.

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