Pada Bulan Januari manusia lebih banyak berbohong?

Ilustrasi Pembohong

  Bulan Januari menurut sebuah penelitian merupakan bulan dimana orang meningkatkan perkataan bohong lebih banyak dari semua bulan yang ada pada satu tahun.

Mereka itu berbohong mengenai resolusi tahun baru, seperti membesar-besarkan seberapa baik mereka melakukan diet dan berapa banyak kado natal yang mereka terima, Semuanya meningkatkan rata-rata kebohongan 217.

Peningkatan akan asupan minuman saat pesta juga masuk dalam daftar, seperti dikutip dari Daily Express.

Bulan ini juga banyak dari kita menggunakan pagi di musim dingin sebagai alasan meragukan untuk berpura-pura sakit dan membolos kerja dan hampir setengah dari kita juga membuat alasan untuk menghindar bersosialisasi, berdasarkan polling yang dilakukan untuk menandakan peluncuran musim ketiga dari seri televisi Lie To Me' dalam bentuk DVD.

Hal itu diperkirakan bahwa kita mengungkapkan tujuh kebohongan sehari di bulan Januari, dibandingkan dengan rata-rata dari empat kali per hari dalam setahun.

Tetapi setengah dari 2.000 orang dewasa yang dipoling mengatakan bahwa mereka secara reguler tertangkap basah berbohong di bulan Januari.

Uang merupakan satu dari hal-hal teratas yang berkaitan dengan kebohongan orang, dengan banyak orang menyembunyikan pengeluaran natalnya dan seberapa besar mereka berhutang menggunakan kartu kredit dan debit.

Seperempatnya mengungkapkan kebohongan besar mengenai bagaimana mereka menghabiskan uang dalam diskon belanja. Kebohongan kelima adalah mengenai dimana mereka mengadakan pesta tahun baru, yang berpura-pura seolah mereka berada dalam pesta meriah dimana padahal mereka sebenarnya hanya menonton TV di rumah.

Alasan lain yang diberikan untuk berbohong adalah melindungi perasaan seseorang atau tak menginginkan orang bersedih.

"Kebanyakan orang berpikir mereka pandai mendeteksi kebohongan, tetapi kenyataannya adalah mereka cenderung memandang pada tempat yang salah untuk "tanda" vital itu," ungkap pakar bahasa tubuh James Borg.(yud)

Kehidupan asmara dipengaruhi pengalaman selagi bayi

Kemampuan untuk percaya, mencintai dan menyelesaikan konflik dengan orang yang dicintai ternyata dibangun sejak orang selagi masih kanak-kanak.

Ini adalah pesan dari literatur terbaru yang diterbitkan jurnal Current Directions in Psychological Science.

"Hubungan interpersonal dengan ibu Anda selama 12 bulan pertama dari 18 bulan kehidupan Anda, memetakan prilaku Anda dalam kehidupan asmara Anda 20 tahun kemudian," kata psikolog Jeffry A. Simpson yang bersama dua koleganya --Andrew Collins dan Jessica E. Salvatore dari Universitas Minnesota-- menyusun makalah ilmiah itu.

"Sebelum Anda bisa mengingat, sebelum Anda mengenal bahasa untuk menggambarkan sesuatu, dan melalui cara yang tidak Anda duga, prilaku-prilaku implisit telah tertanam dalam pikiran, mengenai bagaimana Anda memperlakukan cinta atau seberapa penting cinta dan kasih sayang bagi Anda."

Manakala prilaku-prilaku itu berubah seiring pasang surut hubungan, introspeksi dan terapi, ketika stres melanda Anda, pola-pola lama acap muncul kembali.

Bayi yang salah asuh akan menjadi seorang yang defensif di kala tua. Bayi yang memiliki ibu yang perhatian dan penyokong akan bisa mengatasi masalah-masalah di kala tua, dan berasa aman karena perlakuan baik dari orang lain.

Simpson berkata, "Orang memperoleh cara yang utuh dan adaptif dalam merespons lingkungannya sekarang, berdasarkan apa yang dialaminya di masa lalu."

Hipotesinya adalah "Apa yang dialami Anda semasa bayi, mempengaruhi cara Anda menjadi dewasa".

Simpson, Collins, dan Salvatore menyampaikan bukti-bukti untuk hipotesis mereka itu dengan meneliti hubungan ibu-bayi dan kemudian hubungan cinta seseorang di masa dewasa.

Subyek penelitian mereka adalah 75 anak kecil yang ibu mereka berpenghasilan kurang.  Bayi-bayi ini diteliti sejak lahir, sampai usia mereka berada di awal 30-an, termasuk hubungannya dengan teman baik dan pasangan cinta mereka.

Selagi bayi, anak-anak itu ditempatkan pada situasi-situasi aneh dan penuh stres bersama ibu mereka untuk menguji seberapa aman ikatan hubungan mereka.

Kemudian, anak-anak yang kini sudah dewasa secara reguler dinilai perkembangan emosi dan sosialnya.

Para peneliti memusatkan perhatian pada kemampuan dan ketahanan mereka dalam melalui konflik dengan teman-teman sekolahnya, sahabat semasa remaja, dan akhirnya dengan pasangan cintanya.

Berdasarkan beragam analisis, penelitian ini mendapatkan bukti adanya penyandian awal yang membenarkan teori-teori psikolog sebelumnya. Namun temuan-temuan mereka juga berangkat dari ide para pendahulu mereka.

"Ada banyak kontinuitas dalam sifat dan prilaku orang dari waktu ke waktu," kata Simpson. "Kami menemukan benang merah yang lemah namun penting antara bayi dengan pelukan ibunya dan antara dia ketika berumur 20 tahun dengan kekasihnya.

"Jika Anda bisa menjabarkan apa model-model lama itu dan memverbalisasinya, dan jika Anda terlibat dengan pasangan berkomitmen dan terpercaya Anda, maka Anda mungkin bisa menyesuaikan lagi prilaku Anda," kata Simpsons.

Oleh karena itu, pola lama bisa menjadi bahan pelajaran untuk kehidupan berikutnya.  Misalnya, bayi yang tercampakkan bisa menjadi seorang yang setia di kemudian hari, atau bayi yang kehilangan cinta bisa belajar untuk mencintai di masa kemudian.

Survei membuktikan perempuan enggan pacari pria miskin

 Anggapan bahwa "cinta tidak bersyarat" dibuktikan salah dalam survei di dalam jaringan mengenai perilaku warga China terhadap cinta dan pernikahan.

Hampir 80 persen responden perempuan setuju lelaki dengan penghasilan perbulan kurang dari 4 ribu yuan atau setara dengan 635 dolar AS tidak seharusnya memulai hubungan dengan perempuan.

Lebih dari seperempat jumlah perempuan yang mengikuti survei mengharapkan mengencani lelaki dengan pendapatan perbulan 10 ribu yuan atau lebih.

Lu Xiongyu, lelaki yang bekerja di perusahaan ekspor dan impor di Beijing mengatakan seorang perempuan wajar jika ingin berkencan dengan pria yang berpenghasilan 4 ribu yuan atau lebih perbulan.

"Biaya hidup di perkotaan tinggi dan cinta tidak bertahan tanpa ada makanan yang cukup," kata Lu yang berusia 27 tahun itu dikutip Kantor Berita Xinhua.

Namun tidak semua perempuan memiliki patokan tinggi terhadap status ekonomi lelaki, ada juga yang mencari keromantisan.

"Cinta bukan dagangan dan banyak perempuan tidak bergantung secara ekonomi kepada pria untuk kebutuhan hidup," kata Hu Heng (25), perempuan yang belum menikah di Guangzhou, provinsi Guangdong.

Survei yang mengikutsertakan lebih dari 50 ribu warga di seluruh wilayah negara itu, yang berumur dari 20-60 tahun dilakukan secara gabungan oleh Asosiasi Pekerja Sosial China dan laman Baihe.com yang menjadi situs kencan dan perjodohan besar di China.

Sejumlah responden perempuan menganggap pendapatan yang cukup, tabungan serta tempat tinggal sebagai kebutuhan ekonomi yang penting bagi pria yang dipertimbangkan untuk menikah dengannya.

Kurang dari enam persen perempuan mengatakan mereka tidak peduli tentang status keuangan calon pasangannya.

Survei membuktikan perempuan dan lelaki memiliki perbedaan alasan untuk tetap tidak menikah.

Lebih dari setengah jumlah perempuan yang disurvei mengatakan mereka tidak menikah karena takut gagal akibat rata-rata tingkat perceraian meninggi.

Sekitar 42 persen perempuan tidak ingin mengemban resiko dalam pernikahan.

Sedangkan sejumlah pria mengatakan tidak memiliki rumah dan takut kehilangan kebebasan setelah menikah menjadi alasan kuat untuk tetap tidak menikah.

Menurut peraturan baru yang berlaku pada Agustus, harta pranikah dipandang sebagai harta milik pribadi dari pemilik yang terdaftar, bukan harta milik pasangan yang menikah.

Berdasarkan peraturan ini sekitar 40 persen responden perempuan mengatakan mereka akan memasukkan nama mereka ke dalam sertifikat kepemilikan rumah jika rumah itu dibeli oleh pasangan pria mereka sebelum menikah.

Sekitar 40 persen pria yang mengisi survei mengatakan "tidak" terhadap permintaan tersebut.

Lu mengatakan dia tidak setuju untuk membagi kepemilikan harta dengan pasangannya sebelum menikah.

"Bagaimana jika dia tidak ingin menikahi saya setelah saya menulis namanya pada sertifikat kepemilikan rumah?" tanya Lu.

Zhang Jiayang (23) yang tinggal di Shanghai sebagaimana dikutip harian China Daily mengatakan orang tuanya membelikan apartemen bagi dia karena berencana menikah pada 2012.

"Tunangan saya tidak mempermasalahkan jika rumah tersebut secara sah dimiliki oleh saya dan orang tua, karena kami percaya pernikahan kami tidak akan berakhir dengan perceraian," kata Zhang.

Baik lelaki dan perempuan yang mengikuti survei setuju bahwa saling mencintai menjadi faktor utama dalam pernikahan.

Menurut survei tersebut, pria lebih memilih penampilan pasangannya sementara kaum hawa menginginkan pria yang sukses dalam pekerjaannya.

Survei tersebut menyimpulkan bahwa usia cinta pertama semakin muda bagi para warga China.

Sekitar sepertiga responden yang lahir setelah 1990 mengatakan mereka jatuh cinta untuk pertama kali sewaktu berada di Sekolah Dasar atau Sekolah Menengah Pertama dimana sekitar 24 persen lebih banyak dari pada mereka yang lahir pada 40 tahun lalu.

Profesor spesialis kewanitaan di Universitas Perempuan China, Sun Xiaomei percaya bahwa survei tersebut hanya mencerminkan perilaku kaum muda terhadap cinta dan pernikahan.

Hal itu menurut dia membuktikan bahwa dalam jejaring (daring) tidak populer di antara masyarakat, khususnya di antara mereka yang berusia lebih dari 50 tahun.

Hal yang merangsang nafsu makan pada anak

- Banyak orang yang memiliki anak mungkin mengalami kesulitan terkait nafsu makan anak mereka. Ya, banyak dari anak mereka yang tak mau makan.

Jika Anda termasuk salah satu dari orang tua yang mengalami masalah ini, Anda dapat mencoba beberapa hal yang dipercaya bisa meningkatkan nafsu makan anak.

Satu trik yang bisa dicoba adalah dengan menyajikan makanan yang secara visual terlihat menarik bagi anak. Coba untuk menyajikan makanan dengan keseimbangan nutrisi yang memiliki banyak variasi warna dan bentuk.

Anak-anak tentu saja lebih tertarik pada makanan yang memiliki banyak warna dibandingkan dengan tidak. Sebuah panjangan menarik dari makanan tentunya bisa meningkatkan nafsu makan anak.

Anak-anak dan orang dewasa tentu saja berbeda, mereka memiliki rasa yang berbeda dan tentu saja perbedaan selera akan keindahan. Hal yang secara visual menarik bagi anak-anak dan apa yang secara visual menarik bagi orang dewasa juga sangat berbeda.

"Sayangnya, banyak orang tua memberikan penyajian makanan yang sama seperti yang mereka suka, untuk anak mereka," Ujar Brian Wansink, pimpinan penelitian dari Cornell university,New York AS seperti dikutip dari Daily Mail.

Wansink melakukan penelitian fokus pada apa yang membuat anak tertarik pada makanan, dan dari penilitiannya itu, ia mengungkapkan pentingnya penyajian makanan terkait nafsu makan anak. Cara tepat untuk menyajikan makanan adalah sangat penting karena hal itu dapat membuat makanan terlihat lebih lezat di mata anak-anak.

Penelitian Wansink melibatkan baik itu anak dan orang tua. Penelitian itu dilakukan dengan menunjukan 48 gambar makanan kepada 23 anak dan 46 orang tua.

Hasil dari penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa anak lebih memilih makanan yang memiliki variasi warna dan pilihan bentuknya. Hal ini tentu saja sangat berbeda dari orang tua mereka yang kebanyakan lebih memilih makanan yang biasa.

Hasil dari penelititan itu menunjukan bahwa anak cenderung memilih makanan dengan enam warna, sementara orang tua cenderung hanya memilih tiga warna. Disamping warna, penempatan dari makanan juga penting bagi anak-anak. Mereka cenderung memilih menu utama seperti daging yang ditempatkan di depan piring. Dan, lebih tertarik makan ketika menu makanan itu di rangkai dengan cara seperti itu.

Professor Wansink dan rekan-rekan penelitinya dari London Metropolitan University menyarankan orang tua untuk memberikan perhatian lebih pada sentuhan sederhana ini, mereka harus lebih peduli untuk mempersiapkan daging dalam sebuah bentuk seperti senyuman wajah datu bentuk hati.

"Dibandingkan dengan orang tua, anak-anak tak hanya memilih sebuah hidangan yang mengandung beragam warna, tetapi juga memilih menu utama di depan piring dengan desain yang figuratif," ujarnya.

Sementara orang dewasa cenderung tertarik pada bentuk, ukuran, dan penampilan dari makanan yang disajikan.

"Jadi, kita tak seharusnya menyamakan pandangan orang dewasa dengan anak-anak, ujar rekan peneliti Kevin Kniffin.

Hasil peneltian ini dipublikasikan dalam jurnal the Acta Paediatrica. Penelitian ini diselesaikan utamanya guna mendukung program diversifikasi dari nutrisi anak

Kemampuan otak menurun pada usia 45?

Ilustrasi Otak Manusia (Istimewa)

Kami semua sudah tahu bahwa kemampuan otak berkurang seiring usia. Orang yang lebih muda memang memiliki fungsi otak yang lebih baik ketimbang mereka yang sudah tua.

Penyakit terkait otak dan kemampuan ingatan terjadi lebih parah pada aorang yang sudah tua. Jadi, tidaklah mengejutkan melihat orang yang lebih tua mengalami hilang ingatan atau demensia.

Baru-baru ini, para peneliti dari University College London melakukan sebuah penelitian mengenai kemampuan otak dan fungsi otak. Dari penelitian hal itu dipandang bahwa berkurangnya kemampuan fungsi otak sekitar 3.6 persen pada orang yang berusia 45-49 tahun. Temuan ini bahkan lebih awal ketimbang penelitian sebelumnya yang menunjukan pengurangan fungsi otak pada usia 60 tahun.

Dengan melibatkan sekitar 7.000 pria dan wanita berusia 45-70 tahun, penelitian itu dilakukan dengan serangkaian pengujian ingatan otak selama 10 tahun. Mulai dari tes kemampuan untuk mengingat kosakata dan kemampuan memahami melalui adio visual.

Peringkat penurunan terbanyak ditemukan pada pria berusia 65-70 tahun, sekitar 9.6 persen, Sementara pada wanita dengan usia yang sama, penurunan kemampuan otak berkisar 7.4 persen.

Proffesor Archana Singh-Manoux dari pusat penelitian Epidemologi dan kesehatan Prancis, yang memimpin penelitian itu mengatakan bahwa hasil penelitian itu membuktikan penurunan kognitif selama 20-30 tahun yang mengantarkan pada demensia.

Alzheimer Society mengatakan penelitian itu penting untuk diketahui mengenai bagaimana perubahan pada fungsi otak bisa membantu diagnosis terhadap demensia.

"Hal itu penting untuk mengenali faktor resiko awal," Kata Dr Anne Corbett dari Alzheimer Society seperti dikutip dari Daily mail.

"Selain itu, penelitian lebih lanjut dibutuhkan guna membantu memahami perubahan yang terukur dalam otak yang dapat membantu kita memperbaiki diagnosis dari demensia,

Lack of sleep to skipping breakfast: The less-known factors that can give you diabetes

More than a million people are affected by type 2 diabetes and don’t even know it.

And the risks they face are high: left untreated, the condition can raise the risk of heart attacks, blindness and amputation.

Shocking new figures suggest 24,000 people die every year in England because of poorly managed diabetes.

if you regularly get less than five hours' sleep, your risk of getting diabetes is double that of someone who gets seven to eight hours

Yet if doctors catch the condition, it can be controlled with diet and medication.

Type 2 is the most common form of diabetes, accounting for 90 per cent of cases.

Diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin — the hormone that converts glucose into energy — or the body stops responding to insulin, triggering high levels of glucose in the blood.

 

More...

• Two-day hangover becomes the norm as stressed workers are going on marathon drinking binges

This causes symptoms such as fatigue, thirst, frequent urination, recurrent thrush and wounds that are slow to heal.

Most people associate type 2 diabetes with being overweight, eating junk food or a couch-potato existence.

Diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the body stops responding to insulin, triggering high levels of glucose in the blood

Yet research suggests that modest weight gain, or even relatively minor disruptions to normal dietary patterns, could be enough to cause it.

So how do you know if you are at risk? Here, we reveal the less well-known factors that can increase your chances of developing this serious condition.

HAVING AN APPLE SHAPED BODY

You don’t have to be obese to be at risk. Just carrying a few extra pounds around the waistline can be enough to cause the condition. Diabetes UK says a woman is at risk if her waist reaches 31.5in (80cm).
For a white or black man it’s 37in (94cm), and 35in (90cm) for South Asian men.
This means people who may appear relatively slim but have a ‘pot belly’ or apple shape could be more at risk than someone who looks larger but deposits fat around their upper body, buttocks or thighs.
This is because visceral fat, the type of fat that lies around the organs in the abdomen, is thought to pump out molecules that disrupt the normal balance of glucose and insulin, and also leads to damaging inflammation in blood vessels.

BURNING THE MIDNIGHT OIL

if you regularly get less than five hours’ sleep, your risk of getting diabetes is double that of someone who gets seven to eight hours.
Scientists at Boston University in the U.S. studied 1,500 volunteers aged over 50, recording their sleep patterns and testing their levels of glucose.
Five hours or less a night more than doubled the risks, while six hours was linked with a 60 per cent rise in risk.
It’s thought the danger arises because lack of rest upsets the body’s circadian rhythm, the internal clock that regulates natural sleep and wake cycles.
‘Being awake when we should be asleep increases the release of the stress hormone cortisol, which promotes the generation of glucose (to provide energy to the body to keep it going),’ says Julian Halcox, professor of cardiology at Cardiff University.

OVARIAN CYSTS

Up to 15 per cent of women in the UK suffer with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a condition where tiny cysts grow on the ovaries, preventing them from working properly.
But many do not realise the condition can also lead to type 2 diabetes — at least ten per cent of sufferers develop it. This is because, like diabetes, PCOS is linked to an insulin imbalance.
As well as controlling blood sugar, insulin also stimulates the ovaries to make the hormone testosterone in women.
If there is too much insulin in the blood, the ovaries produce excess testosterone, resulting in symptoms such as excess hair growth, acne, weight gain and depression.
Once insulin levels begin to rise, damaging both the ovaries and the pancreas, a woman is well on her way to diabetes.

SNORING

Research showed the more severe the snoring problem, the greater the chance of high blood sugar levels. Men were more affected than women

Heavy snorers are up to 50 per cent more likely to develop diabetes.
Scientists at Yale University studied 1,200 patients with sleep apnoea, the snoring condition in which night-time breathing is interrupted by the airways temporarily closing.
Each patient underwent tests to measure blood sugar levels for signs of diabetes. The results showed the more severe the snoring problem, the greater the chance of high blood sugar levels. Men were more affected than women.
One of the main risk factors for sleep apnoea is being overweight, which is also a marker for type 2 diabetes.
But scientists think the closing of the airways may cause a rise in cortisol levels, driving glucose levels up.

PREGNANCY

Scientists are not sure if gestational diabetes causes changes in the body, or whether it just acts a marker for those already at risk

Around one in 20 pregnant women develops temporary gestational diabetes.
Here, the body produces extra sugar to help the foetus grow, upsetting the normal insulin-glucose balance, and usually results in a large baby.
Although the diabetes normally resolves itself after the birth, experts fear affected women are unaware they are at a much higher risk of developing it again when they are older: statistics from the U.S. show that such women are seven times more likely to develop the type 2 form later in life.
Scientists are not sure if gestational diabetes causes changes in the body, or whether it just acts a marker for those already at risk.
Dr David Haslam, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, says: ‘We have no system in the NHS for following up women who’ve had gestational diabetes.
'They should have annual blood tests to check their glucose and insulin levels, and be given advice on diet and  lifestyle,’ he says.

SKIPPING BREAKFAST

Recent Australian research found those who skip breakfast are likely to experience a sudden drop in blood sugar levels in the late morning, making them crave a sugary treat.
This leads to a sudden surge in blood sugar and, in time, the over-stimulation of insulin.
This increases the likelihood of the body’s cells becoming resistant to the effects of the hormone, allowing diabetes to set in, possibly at an early age. The excess insulin is also thought to boost the storage of visceral fat, the dangerous kind which gathers around the organs in the abdomen.

WORKING SHIFTS

Around 3.6 million Britons work shifts. Evidence is emerging that regularly changing shifts over long periods can increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by up to 50 per cent.
A recent study at Harvard University found workers who mix day and night shifts are most at risk.
As with sleep loss, the reason is thought to be the effect that disrupted lifestyles have on circadian rhythms.

DRINKING FRUIT JUICE

A study of 70,000 women found those drinking about 180ml of fruit juice a day were 18 per cent more at risk of diabetes. In contrast, eating whole fruits instead reduced the risk.
Natural sugars in fruit are absorbed very quickly through the stomach, causing a surge in blood sugar levels.
But by eating the fruit itself, the absorption is slowed down by the fibres that take longer to digest.

How century-old brains in jars could help researchers treat mental illness

• Scientists hope specimens will reveal mental disorder 'markers' to improve diagnosis for psychological illnesses

A museum housing 19th century brains may seem like a strange place to find a breakthrough, but one scientist says they could provide the key to new treatments for mental illness.
Dr George Sandusky, from Indiana University, has developed a technique to extract usable DNA from the collection of preserved brains despite their extreme age.

Dr George Sandusky with brain samples on display at the Indiana Medical History Museum. He has developed a technique that could help find 'markers' to diagnose mental disorders in the future

The brains came from patients who suffered from mental disorders who  died at Central State Hospital - an asylum established in the mid-1800s.
The goal is to use the specimens to improve diagnosis and treatment for psychological illnesses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder using a simple blood test.
Dr Sandusky said: 'This work could make an impact on patient care - a huge impact.
'It's going to help diagnose patients with mental disorders quicker and faster.'
Using brain donors from traditional sources to advance this goal only brings in about 12 new subjects per year.

Brain power: Specimens that are more than a century old could be used to help patients with mental disorders today

The museum collection, which includes over 400 specimens, could speed the arrival of new diagnoses and treatments for the mentally ill by decades.
Dr Sandusky said of the collection: 'They preserved the brains with the best science of their time.
'The preservation techniques from the era were almost as good as ours from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. I was shocked by the quality.'
Earlier tests conducted in 2010 yielded unusable results, but new technology - as well as experienced lab workers and cutting-edge test methods - ultimately 'cracked the code.'
The lab facilities used to achieve this breakthrough are managed by the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute.
The results support work by Dr Alexander Niculescu, associate professor of psychiatry at the IU School of Medicine, who is seeking to advance personalised medicine in the treatment of mental illness using biomarkers for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and PTSD.
A biomarker is a specific region on a gene that suggests susceptibility to a certain illness. They are an increasingly common tool in the fight against cancer and other diseases, but no reliable test exists for psychiatric disorders.
Dr Niculescu is making significant advances in pinpointing potential biomarkers for mental illness. The samples from the Indiana Medical History Museum are being tested for the same telltale signs.
The goal is to use data from both studies to assist future doctors in creating a personal genetic profile for people suffering from psychiatric illnesses to ensure they are diagnosed quickly and accurately.
The search for identifiable biomarkers will pioneer new, innovative treatments in clinical practice by eliminating the current system of diagnosis, which requires significant trial and error.
'If you come in with a psychiatric illness today, you can’t really separate different mental disorders,' Dr Sandusky said.
'You have to try several drugs before finding one that even works - and that may take months.'

Nicotine patches branded a waste of time as study finds they don't help smokers quit long-term

• Former smokers just as likely to relapse if they used nicotine replacement therapies to help them quit

Unsuccessful? Nicotine replacement therapy was found to have no impact on quitting success in the latest study

Nicotine patches are no  better than willpower at  helping smokers to quit, research shows.
Earlier clinical trials had suggested nicotine replacement therapy could double a smoker’s chances of giving up the habit.
But a new study of 800 patients found patches made no difference to long-term quitting rates.
Researchers said the earlier trials had failed to replicate ‘real-life’ situations. They said success and relapse rates were similar whatever method smokers adopted.
The NHS spends an estimated £84million a year on stop smoking   programmes. A week’s supply of patches, which can be obtained on prescription, cost £10 to £14.
The latest study – by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts, Boston – investigated patients who gave up smoking between 2001 and 2006.
It concluded: ‘The main finding is that persons who quit relapsed at equivalent rates, whether or not they used nicotine replacement therapy to help them in their quit attempts, in clear distinction to the results o

Former smokers just as likely to relapse if they used nicotine replacement therapies to help them quit

Unsuccessful? Nicotine replacement therapy was found to have no impact on quitting success in the latest study

Nicotine patches are no  better than willpower at  helping smokers to quit, research shows.
Earlier clinical trials had suggested nicotine replacement therapy could double a smoker’s chances of giving up the habit.
But a new study of 800 patients found patches made no difference to long-term quitting rates.
Researchers said the earlier trials had failed to replicate ‘real-life’ situations. They said success and relapse rates were similar whatever method smokers adopted.
The NHS spends an estimated £84million a year on stop smoking   programmes. A week’s supply of patches, which can be obtained on prescription, cost £10 to £14.
The latest study – by the Harvard School of Public Health and the University of Massachusetts, Boston – investigated patients who gave up smoking between 2001 and 2006.
It concluded: ‘The main finding is that persons who quit relapsed at equivalent rates, whether or not they used nicotine replacement therapy to help them in their quit attempts, in clear distinction to the results of randomised clinical trials.’

 

The results were the same for heavy and lighter smokers and whether counselling was or was not given.
Harvard’s Hillel Alpert said: ‘This study shows that using NRT is no more effective in helping people stop smoking cigarettes in the long term than trying to quit on one’s own.’

The cost of quitting: People can spend up to £14 a week on patches

In an online report in the journal Tobacco Control, fellow author Lois Biener said the funding for NRT might be better spent on other interventions. In replacement therapy, patches, gum, nasal sprays or inhalers are used to supply nicotine to the bloodstream.
NHS figures show that quit rates – giving up for at least four weeks – are slightly better for patients using willpower than patches.
However, a Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Other studies have shown that NRT is safe and effective, and can double a person’s chances of successfully quitting.’
Further American research released yesterday suggests that nicotine patches can help improve memory loss among older people.
Non-smokers with failing brainpower who used patches for six months had a 46 per cent improvement in their memory skills, according to a report in the journal Neurology about the study at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville.
Previous research has suggested nicotine helps brainpower among Alzheimer’s sufferers.

Faulty implants, dodgy drugs and a toothless watchdog that's failing patients

Just over two years ago consultant plastic surgeon Azhar Aslam became deeply worried — he’d had to remove eight silicone breast implants from women within a few months of each other because they had ruptured prematurely.
It struck him as highly unusual.
‘If implants do rupture, it is normally after seven to ten years, and it is usually caused by an impact, such as the wearer falling over or having a car accident,’ he says.

Last week, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) admitted the safety of breast implants was actually impossible for it to judge

‘But these implants had failed after only two to three years, and the patients had not been involved in any impact.’
All the implants were made by the French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP).
Mr Aslam, previously an adviser to the European Academy for Cosmetic Surgery, sent some of the ruptured implants back to the manufacturer but was not satisfied with their explanation.
So on July 9, 2010, he wrote to Britain’s medical safety watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) which regulates and had approved the use of PIP implants.

  

More...

• Cosmetic surgery firms refuse to take out 'toxic' implants as they are accused of putting profits before patient safety

He alerted Dr Susanne Ludgate, the medical director of devices, to the problem, offering to supply samples of the faulty implants.
Five days later, he received an email saying she’d passed his warning to the agency’s Adverse Incident Centre and they would be in touch.
But he heard not a squeak. ‘No one from the Adverse Incident Centre has ever contacted me. Perhaps they were busy or something,’ he says.
Or perhaps the watchdog was asleep.
For as we now know, more than 40,000 British women have been given these faulty implants.
Behind the furore over whether they should now have their implants removed — and who should pay for it — there is disquiet about the MHRA’s role.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley criticised clinics for providing 'poor quality' data

Officially the agency is ‘responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work, and are acceptably safe’. It not only approves these devices and drugs, but regulates them.
The agency’s initial response to fears over the implants was to say the failure rate was only 1 per cent.
Then, last week, the MHRA admitted the safety of breast implants was actually impossible for it to judge, because an accurate record of the number of procedures has not been kept.
Clinics were blamed for this failing, with Health Secretary Andrew Lansley criticising them for providing ‘poor quality’ data.
Mr Aslam lays the blame elsewhere.
‘We rely on the regulatory authorities to ensure our implants are OK,’ he says.
‘And when we try to tell them that something is wrong with the safety-approved implants, these authorities do not seem to take any proper notice. It leaves me asking, “Who can I trust?” ’
Sadly, this is not the first time the agency has been criticised for acting slowly and ineffectually.
In September 2010, for instance, the diabetes drug Avandia was finally banned in Britain after the European Medicines Agency ruled there was a serious risk it could lead to heart attacks or stroke.
Evidence against Avandia had been building since 2007.
And, while denying it had failed to reveal the risks when they showed up, in July 2010 the drug’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline, reportedly paid out £304 million in damages to settle about 10,000 patient lawsuits in the U.S.
However, in the same month an advisory body to the MHRA warned it that the ‘risks (of Avandia) outweigh its benefits, that it no longer has a place on the UK market’ and called for prompt action.
The MHRA did not reveal this warning to the public; it simply passed its information on to European authorities.
A few years earlier, media pressure was required to force the MHRA to act over another prescribed-drug danger. Again, it was a GlaxoSmithKline medicine — the antidepressant Seroxat.
Specialists had been warning for years of the raised risk of suicide in children. But the MHRA, relying on evidence from the manufacturer, issued assurances that there was no suicide link.

Vioxx was withdrawn from the market in the UK four years ago, but only after a 2004 U.S. study found it doubled the risk of heart disease

Then, in 2003, following two BBC Panorama programmes, the drug watchdog mounted its own investigation and discovered the manufacturer had hidden information about the suicide link.
After this, the MHRA said it wanted to require drug makers to share more information about clinical trials — but admitted that, without stronger legislation in place, there was no chance of prosecuting the company for what it called an ‘ethical lapse’.
The watchdog was not only asleep, it was toothless.
Similar problems arose with the arthritis painkiller Vioxx. This was withdrawn from the market in the UK four years ago, but only after a 2004 U.S. study found it doubled the risk of heart disease. Leading cardiologists had been flagging up the risks for years.
After Vioxx’s withdrawal it emerged that data from clinical trials had been ‘fudged’.
The MHRA launched an investigation into whether its maker, Merck, had correctly reported the side-effects of Vioxx to the authorities.
But government prosecutors decided that there was no realistic prospect of a conviction in this case.
The MHRA says the UK laws requiring disclosure of negative drug trial results have since been tightened. No companies have been prosecuted since then.
Yet it’s not just the agency’s supervision of drugs that raises concerns, but medical devices, too.
These include crucial items such as heart pacemakers.
Last May, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said not enough was being done to check the safety of medical implants.
It says that in 2009 the MHRA received more than 9,000 reports of ‘adverse incidents’ involving medical devices.
More than 1,880 of these involved serious injury and 202 resulted in death. In one case, a patient’s combined pacemaker/defibrillator misfired more than 30 times in one day, delivering huge jolts of 750 volts direct to his heart.
The BMJ has said our regulators are not ‘fit for purpose’ because of their failure to act in patients’ interests.
It is these sorts of problems that have led experts such as Andrew Herxheimer to call for the MHRA to be subjected to ‘root and branch reform’.
Dr Herxheimer is an emeritus fellow of the UK Cochrane Centre and a world leader in examining clinical trials to see how well therapies work.
One problem, says Herxheimer, is that the agency’s role is shrouded in confusion.
‘Its job description has not been defined,’ he says.
‘In fact, it seems to be acting as a rather secretive negotiating agency between the government and the pharmaceutical industry.
‘It is certainly too close to the pharmaceutical industry,’ adds Herxheimer.
‘There appears to be a revolving door with people who have previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry coming to work inside the MHRA. ’
Accusations have long been made that the watchdog is too close to industrial interests, notably when Ian Hudson, who was worldwide safety director of GlaxoSmithKline until 2001, became director of licensing at the MHRA.
Nor have the agency’s actions helped assuage these kinds of concerns.
Six years ago it had to apologise for misleading the public over the results of a consultation exercise with the medical royal colleges.
It claimed they were in favour of letting a powerful heart drug be sold by High Street chemists without a prescription.
In fact, an investigation by medical journal Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin found the drug, a statin which can help lower cholesterol, had effectively been rejected by two-thirds of the expert bodies consulted because of fears over side-effects. 
The MHRA apologised and said it had made an ‘administrative error’.
‘This has got to be the killer argument for a massive overhaul of the MHRA,’ said Dr Ike Iheanacho, the journal’s editor.
‘This latest episode totally undermines faith in their decision-making process.’
MPs have also been worried by the agency’s behaviour. In 2005, a highly critical report by the Commons health select committee objected to a lack of openness and the MHRA’s closeness to the pharmaceutical industry.
It warned that scandals on the scale of Vioxx would happen again because the regulators were not sufficiently independent.
In response, the agency said: ‘Since November 2005 all staff and immediate members of their families are not allowed to have any financial or other interests in the pharmaceutical industry.’
But for Paul Flynn, Labour MP for Newport West, this does not go far enough. The problem, he suggests, is that the MHRA is ‘an organisation whose activities are entirely financed by a levy from the pharmaceutical industry’.
A key figure on the health select committee, he remains adamant the MHRA must be reformed or replaced with a more robust body.
As the arguments rage over this issue, breast implant surgeons such as Azhar Aslam and their patients are left stuck in the middle — unsure of who to trust for independent advice.
‘I would like to see the regulations tightened up,’ he says. ‘Otherwise how can I guarantee to women that the implants I am giving them are safe?’
The MHRA says it did respond to Mr Aslam. Mr Aslam and his clinic, the Linia Cosmetic Surgery in London, are adamant that they never received any such response.

Indera Penglihatan Tajam Berkat Coklat

• Indera Penglihatan Tajam Berkat Coklat

Ghiboo.com - Bila sebagian orang beranggapan coklat menyebabkan gigi keropos dan kegemukan, Anda salah. Coklat hitam tak hanya baik bagi kesehatan jantung, namun ternyata juga membantu indera penglihatan Anda semakin tajam.

Para peneliti di Reading University meminta 30 partisipan untuk membaca angka berwarna yang menjadi semakin mirip dengan warna latar belakang sampai mereka menghilang.

Ketika para peserta makan 35 g cokelat hitam (sepertiga dari bar besar), kinerja mata mereka meningkat hingga 17 persen. Efeknya sangat cepat, dan peningkatan penglihatann tersebut bertahan selama lebih dari dua setengah jam.

Flavonol -antioksidan yang ditemukan dalam coklat- diyakini mampu memperbaiki penglihatan karena flovanol meningkatkan produksi oksida nitrat dalam tubuh, yang membantu melebarkan pembuluh darah, yang memungkinkan lebih banyak darah mengalir ke retina.

Peneliti juga mengingatkan bahwa coklat hitam lebih baik dibandingkan dengan coklat putih karena kadar flavonol yang lebih tinggi. Bahkan khasiat coklat hitam disebut-sebut lebih baik dibandingkan dengan wortel yang selama ini terkenal berkhasiat untuk kesehatan mata.

Khasiat Lidah buaya untuk kanker?

Ada yg tahu tidak lidah buaya bisa menymbuhkn kanker? Soalnya baru saya coba buat mama yg lagi kanker stadium lanjut..trus aman tidak dikonsumsi tiap hari..pliz infonya ya..thx

• 2 tahun lalu

kombes baru

Jawaban Terbaik - Dipilih oleh Suara Terbanyak

menurut saya lidah buaya hanya untuk menyuburkan rambut dan obat panas dalam, kalo untuk kanker biasanya air rebusan daun sirsak caranya : 12 lembar daun sirsak yang sudah tua direbus dalam 2 gelas air sampai air tersisa 1 gelas, air rebusan tsb diminumkan ke penderita setiap 2 kali sehari. selama 2 minggu

Setelah minum, efeknya badan terasa panas, mirip dengan efek kemoterapi. Dalam waktu 2 minggu, hasilnya bisa dicek ke dokter

Obat tradisional untuk kencing manis

kata dokter kencing manis belum ada obatnya,tapi obat tradisionalnya aga gak sih?
tolong beri contohnya!!!

• 2 tahun lalu

siti

Jawaban Terbaik - Dipilih oleh Suara Terbanyak

Memang sampai saat ini ilmu kedokteran belum menemukan obat untuk mengobati kencing manis,obat yang ada sekarang hanyala untuk menstabilkan gula darah saja.
Tapi percayalah,bahwa semua penyakit itu ada obatnya.
coba deh biji rambutan,caranya:
Gongseng biji rambutan (lima biji), lalu giling sampai menjadi serbuk. Seduh dengan satu cangkir air panas. Setelah dingin, minum airnya sekaligus. Lakukan 1–2 kali sehari

selamat mencoba ya..

Scots woman gives birth to UK's biggest baby girl

Petite mum is just 5ft 2in

© SWNS

A Scots woman has given birth to what is thought to be the UK's biggest ever baby girl.
Farrah Gallagher weighed 12lb 9oz when she was born - nearly twice the average weight of newborn girls in the UK.
Proud parents Karen and Robert Gallagher said their daughter's size had been something of a surprise to them, particularly as Mrs Gallagher is just 5ft 2in tall.
Mrs Gallagher, 36, said she had a normal pregnancy, without any cravings for unusual foods.
Mr Gallagher, 48, told the Daily Record newspaper: "We knew it was going to be a big baby but were told to expect something around the 9lb mark. When she eventually arrived we knew it was something else altogether.
"The midwife would normally lift the baby over the curtain to hand to us. Instead, she had to carry her round.
"I just thought, 'Wow.' I was very, very shocked. She had a full head of hair and was one really sturdy girl."
Baby Farrah, who was delivered by Caesarean at the Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on August 8, is now five weeks old and wearing clothes designed for three month old infants.
Farrah is the first child for the Gallaghers who have been together for 18 years. Mr Gallagher also said the couple were "ecstatic" and "over-the-moon" with joy at the birth of their daughter.
Raigmore Hospital already had experience in delivering larger than usual babies. Hugh Evans, weighed in at 13lb 10oz when he was born at the hospital in June.
Guy Carr is thought to be the UK's heaviest newborn baby. He was delivered in Cumbria in 1992 weighing 15lb 8oz.

Don't ignore the warning signs of stress

It can lead to other health problems

  

Stressed? Aren't we all.
Between work, family obligations and money worries, it may all feel too overwhelming sometimes.
Of course, there is good stress and bad stress. The first one can motivate you to become more productive. The second kind, the type that makes you lose sleep, can actually be bad for your mental and physical health.
Here's a handy guide to help you assess whether you're stressed, how serious your stress is, and how to deal with it.

Stress warning signs

Of course, different people deal with stress in different ways, but here is a list of mental and physical symptoms to help you understand if you're stressed.
The mental symptoms may involve you being:

• Angry
• Depressed
• Anxious
• Always hungry, or having no appetite
• Crying often
• Have trouble sleeping and feel tired
• Have trouble concentrating

The physical symptoms may involve:

• Chest pains
• Constipation, or diarrhoea
• Cramps, or muscle aches
• Feeling dizzy, or fainting
• Engaging in nervous behavior like biting your nails
• Twitches, or experiencing pins and needles
• Feeling restless
• Having sexual problems, from erectile dysfunction to lowered sex drive
• Feeling breathless
• Can't sleep

Having just a few of these symptoms may indicate that you are stressed, and you should address the issue.

How stress works

When you are in a stressful situation, your body releases the hormones cortisol, adrenaline, and noradrenaline, and these go on to cause the physical symptoms of stress.
You may start sweating, and your blood pressure and heart rate may rise.
This, in turn, may undermine your immune system, making you more susceptible to illness, as well as lead your body to release fat and sugar into your blood stream, which may lead you to gain weight.
As stress raises your blood pressure, if you are stressed in the long term, you can develop high blood pressure, which in turn can increase your risk of having a heart attack or a stroke.
If you feel that you are suffering from stress, see you GP, but do not accept long term tranquilliser prescriptions.
Ask for help from a psychologist, stress counsellor, relaxation therapist, qualified hypnotherapist or even alternative therapist. If these do not work, you must go back to your GP for professional guidance.

Woman with world's largest natural breasts

Highlights their psychological and physical cost

© Steve Meddle/Rex Features

The appearance on UK television of the woman with the world's largest natural breasts has highlighted the psychological and physical consequences of this condition.
Annie Hawkins-Turner's Guinness World Record breasts are size 102ZZZ and weigh eight stone.
Appearing on ITV's This Morning programme, Ms Hawkins-Turner said her breasts started growing at the age of nine, and had caused her considerable emotional distress growing up.
It was not until later in life, when her husband encouraged her to showcase her bosom on adult websites, that she embraced her curves.
Mr Hawkins-Turner said she has learned to cope with weight of her breasts.
"Every time I get a new doctor they offer me surgery but I don't need surgery. I've got a strong back and have never had back ache. I've had therapy on how to hold myself so I won't hurt myself," she told the TV audience.
"Sometimes it irritates me when people ask 'how do you walk?' I'm not handicapped. I've just got very large boobs which I've learned to take and just do marvellous things with," she added.
Most women whose large breasts are out of proportion with their body complain of discomfort, backache, neck pain and skin irritation, as well as excessive attention from men, the difficulty of finding clothes that fit, and an inability to exercise.
Indeed, breast reduction surgery is the 4th most popular form of cosmetic intervention in women in the UK, with 4,218 operations performed in 2010.
The NHS will not pay for surgery for cosmetic reasons alone. There need to be sufficient physical and psychological benefits to the patient for the treatment to be authorized after a review process involving a GP, plastic surgeon and psychiatrist.

Link between coffee drinking and reduced fertility explained

Not recommended as a contraceptive

© Radu Razvan - Fotolia.com

Women with high caffeine consumption often take longer to conceive than other women.
Now a new study appears to have found an explanation for this connection - and the findings may help to play a part in treating infertility.
In order for a woman to get pregnant her eggs must travel to the womb through the Fallopian tubes. The mechanisms that allow her microscopically small eggs to move through the tubes are not well understood, but scientists have long suspected that tiny hair-like features in the walls of the tubes, called cilia, somehow help the eggs to waft along. Muscle contractions in the Fallopian tubes also appear to aid this process.
By studying this process in mice, scientists at the University of Nevada School of Medicine discovered that caffeine stops the actions of specialised pacemaker cells in the wall of the tubes. The cells' function is to coordinate the contractions in the tubes, so when these are stopped the eggs can't move to the womb, as the contractions are more important to the eggs' movements than the cilia.
Commenting on these results, study leader Professor Sean Ward said: "This provides an intriguing explanation as to why women with high caffeine consumption often take longer to conceive than women who do not consume caffeine."
While this effect can be reversed by reducing coffee consumption, the insights revealed by the study could contribute to developing new treatments for infertility and other conditions, "as well as potentially helping women who are finding it difficult to get pregnant, a better understanding of the way Fallopian tubes work will help doctors treat pelvic inflammation and sexually-transmitted disease more successfully" Dr Ward said.
The results of the study are published in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

The pill 50 years on

How it's changed...

© catherina holder - Fotolia.com

It's been variously blamed for sparking the sexual revolution of the 60s, loosening society’s morals and encouraging teenage promiscuity.
And that’s when the Pill is not being attacked for changing women’s taste in men, making them fat and even – honest! - altering the sex of fish.
But as we mark 50 years since the oral contraceptive became available on the NHS, it’s time to consider the impact for the better that the drug has had on women’s health worldwide.
Invented by an American-Austrian chemist, funded by New York women’s campaigner Margaret Sanger and first used in Puerto Rico in 1956, the Pill finally arrived for use on UK shores on 4 December 1961.
Today, it’s taken by around 3.5 million British women – roughly one in three females of reproductive age - and 100 million globally.
Despite the controversy that has surrounded the drug since its introduction, it remains one of the most popular and effective forms of contraception to this day.
So what is it and how has it changed over the past 50 years?
In simple terms, the Pill is a tablet containing two female hormones, an oestrogen and a progestogen, which is why it is often known as the ‘combined pill’.
The hormones stop women from ovulating and also thicken the secretions around the cervix, making it more difficult for sperm to get through. Its effectiveness is almost 100 per cent, compared to 98 per cent for condoms and around 94 per cent for the diaphragm or cap.
Its formulation now is actually quite different from its original make-up, with the hormone doses being much lower, radically reducing the likelihood of side effects.
There can, of course, occasionally be complications but recent studies have suggested fears about the damage the Pill may do to women’s health have been overstated: A 2010 report from The Royal College of General Practitioners revealed that Pill-users have a 12 per cent reduction in the risk of developing cancer and are also less likely to die of heart disease or stroke.
There remains a small proportion of women advised not to take the Pill because of pre-existing medical conditions, such as blood clotting abnormalities, and those who smoke and/or are overweight are warned that they have an increased risk of Deep Vein Thrombosis.
For the vast majority, however, its benefits far outweigh the potential risks. And those benefits, say supporters, are widespread.
The Pill didn’t cause the sexual revolution – studies showed half of all women were having premarital sex as early as 1953, while in Britain only married couples were permitted to have the Pill. But for American feminist Gloria Steinem the contraceptive’s advent “really changed the image of women and of women’s lives”, ensuring that expressing their sexuality was no longer coupled with a fear of society’s backlash.
With the Pill, women were able to become “mistresses of their own bodies”: they could choose whether or when to have children and were freed of the worry surrounding unwanted pregnancy and abortion.
It may be difficult for us to contemplate now, but 50 years ago maternal health in the West was as much of an issue as it is today in the developing world: unplanned and unavoidable pregnancies were forcing women out of higher education and the job market, trapping them in a cycle of poverty and contributing to ill health. If you were an unmarried women, add being socially ostracised to that list.
Margaret Sanger saw that without control over their reproductive lives women could never have full equality; for her, birth control also gave a means for women to escape poverty.
In fact, her own mother died at 50 after 18 pregnancies – she reportedly blamed her father for the tragedy, saying: “Mother is dead from having too many children."
As Sanger’s grandson has said: “She came out of that world where women were having more children than they could support or care for. They were dying young, and their children were dying young."
Jennifer Worth, a midwife in London’s East End between 1953 and 1973, has recalled the Pill’s impact as “drastic and almost immediate”:
“Families were huge, six children was average. Diaphragms didn’t really work and men poured scorn on contraception, calling them ‘sissy’. Unmarried mothers were usually disowned by their families, backstreet abortionists were thriving, and orphanages were full of illegitimate children.”
But within a few years of the Pill arriving “deliveries on our ward went down from about 100 a month to five”.
The oral contraceptive was also a leap away from the previous messy, unsexy barrier methods, allowing women to actually have sex for pleasure as well as avoid getting pregnant.
Novelist Margaret Drabble said: "The other methods were quite remarkably unreliable and fairly repulsive, and the people who worked in the clinics fitting them were rather unfriendly and punitive. So, yes, it made a very considerable difference to one's life.”
Meanwhile, early concerns about the risks of the initial, high dose Pill galvanised women to campaign for safer options, giving rise to the consumer movement in medicine.
Reproductive health aside, the Pill has many other medical benefits, too. "It has so many… from protecting against ovarian cancer to helping to alleviate painful periods," said Peter Bowen-Simpkins of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. "In developing countries, where anaemia is a huge problem, the pill can even help to reduce blood loss."
World renowned sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer is in no doubt of the Pill’s positive impact: “How wonderful that a woman doesn't have to worry all the time. [It] shouldn't be taken for granted by young people because it was such a big fight and such a revolutionary event that all of us have to be grateful.
"Young people today can't even imagine that there was a world without it.”

Support for HIV home-test kit regulation

Could reduce cases of undiagnosed HIV

© © design56 - Fotolia.com

Almost two-thirds of people would consider using HIV home testing kits if they were legally available and regulated in the UK, a survey found.
The sale of home testing kits for HIV is currently illegal in the UK. Although they can be bought over the internet, they are unregulated.
The HIV and sexual health charity, the Terence Higgins Trust (THT), said the kits are often of very poor quality and lack important information on HIV transmission and where users can go for support.
Figures from 2009 estimate that as many as 22,200 people in the UK have HIV but don't know it.
THT is now calling on the Government to legalise and regulate home testing kits so that more cases of undiagnosed HIV can be detected.
Of 490 people surveyed that had not tested HIV-positive, 63 per cent said they would consider using HIV testing kits if they were legalised and 51 per cent thought legalisation would make them test more often.
Among gay men, one of the groups most at risk of HIV in the UK, 60 per cent thought legalisation would make them test more often.
Lisa Power, policy director for THT said: "Reducing undiagnosed HIV is a major challenge. A quarter of those with HIV in the UK remain undiagnosed, and so are more likely to pass the virus on. One way to bring this number down is by increasing the opportunities for people to test outside of traditional settings.
"This research shows a clear bedrock of support for the legalisation of HIV home testing kits, particularly among gay men. We know some people will always be reluctant to visit traditional clinics; this legislation would give them the option to test for HIV in their own home.
"We urge the Government to repeal the ban and ensure HIV home testing kits are properly regulated in the UK."

Experts call for cervical cancer vaccine change

Other vaccine also prevents against genital warts

© Leah-Anne Thompson - Fotolia.com

Changing the cervical cancer vaccine used in the UK would save the NHS millions of pounds and reduce the number of people who get genital warts, experts have said.
Genital warts are the most common viral sexually transmitted infection in the UK. Treatment for people with genital warts costs the NHS in England around £17 million a year, experts at the Health Protection Agency said.
However, they suggest that a large number of cases and costs could be avoided if the NHS switched to using a quadrivalent cervical cancer vaccine (Gardasil) instead of the trivalent one (Cervarix A), which is already in use in vaccination programmes in the UK.
The trivalent vaccine used in the UK immunisation programme protects against human papillomaviruses HPV 16 and 18, which cause over 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
The vaccine has been routinely offered to 12 to 13 year old girls in the UK since 2008. Coverage among 12-13 year olds is over 80 per cent, and 50 per cent in those who missed the vaccine the first time.
But the more costly quadrivalent vaccine, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, gives protection against human papilloma viruses HPV 6 and 11, which cause most cases of genital warts, as well as against cervical cancer.
Writing in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections, the researchers argue that it would be more cost effective for the UK to adopt the quadrivalent vaccine. The contract for the trivalent vaccine is due for renewal this year.
A recent survey carried out by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASSH) found that nine out of ten its members supported using Gardasil instead of Cervarix A.