During the 2008 National STD Prevention Conference in Chicago , the researchers at ‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’ presented a paper pointing out to an alarming increase in large number of cases of teenaged girls and adolescent women being infected by sexually transmitted infections. It also stressed upon on addressing the prevention of these diseases as an important public health goal.

The paper was based on an investigation of data reported in the ‘2003-04 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey’ done among a sample of 14- to 19-year-old girl participants. It was found that approximately one-fourth of this population sample was infected by at least one of the sexually transmitted infections, the maximum number of instances reported in the case of human papillomavirus. Other major infections were reported for the infections like ‘Chlamydia Trachomatis’ and ‘Trichomonas Vaginalis’. A small chunk of this group was also had herpes simplex virus type II and the one infected by STD had more than one infections. It reported about 1 in 4 female adolescents being infected by at least one sexually transmitted infection.

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Zion health introduced the “Alozin Pain Relief Spray”, a topical spray to treatment pain. This has been considered as a revolutionary product as it claims to turn off the pain at the targeted area. Zion Health announced the release of this spray in San Francisco, California today.

It has been made out of a unique combination of minerals and potent herbs. This spray especially aids the people who have been suffering from any kind of pain either in their joints, or it may be a muscular pain and pain observed by arthritis. It provides a perfect solution for people who want to quit the pain reliving medicines and are looking for an alternative.

This topical spray when applied on the targeted areas. Simply penetrates the skin and distresses the nerves and the inflammation and thus relieves from the pain.

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A new study is on the way which would try to find out whether the standard approach to send a patient for “Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) only after the failure of clog-busting drugs after an hour or so or it should be observed on the routine basis to send the patients treated with the clog-busting drugs to a cardiac catheterization laboratory for follow-up PCI.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is considered to be the best treatment for heart attack. It works on a combination of catheter-mounted balloons and stents to restore blood flow to the heart after unblocking the coronary artery. However the requisite is that PCI has to be performed rapidly which only few hospitals can achieve. Only the hospitals with a cardiac catheterization laboratory on site meet the 90-minute treatment goal.

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David Kirby, an investigative journalist has recently posted an article bringing up an eye catching relationship between “Mitochondrial Dysfunction”, “Vaccines” and “Autism”. This was based on the minutes of the conference call held in the beginning of March, where all the federal vaccine safety officials were brought together to deal with all the apprehensions related to the above association between vaccines and autism.

Hannah, a nine year boy in Atlanta was reported to develop regressive autism after being administered with the vaccine. Doubts are rising regarding the vaccines now which in Hannah’s case worsened the conditions.

This has led to hope in parents of children who lost headway into autism after receiving vaccines that this report may help in creating an alert among the government health officials to seriously consider and act upon the link between vaccines and autism.

Kirby in his article defined ‘Mitochondria’ as the little powerhouses within each cell that convert food and oxygen into energy. It was one of the main topics discussed in the conference call held among the health officials.

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In one of the recent studies, “Puroast Low Acid Coffee” had claimed for carrying a great taste and also for providing relief from stomach problems caused by the morning brew. Further chemistry and consumer research were conducted to confirm its claims. “Puroast” has these relieving effects without being any extractions, substitutes or additives being mixed and moreover it utilizes a natural process to ensure the full-bodied taste.The chemistry research conducted at the ‘University of California’ found “Puroast” to contain less than half the acid as compared to all other commercial coffees. The survey conducted among the consumers show that nearly 90% of those tested experienced symptom relief after consuming “Puroast Low Acid Coffee”.

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Under the drive to address the wrong beliefs about “Emergency Contraception”, OBG Management has teamed up with” The Journal of Family” to publish “Emergency Contraception: When and how to use it”. This would be distributed as a supplementary copy to the February 2008 issues of journals like “OBG Management” and “The Journal of Family Practice”.The purpose of issuing this supplement is to increase awareness among the patients about emergency contraception. This would decrease the incidence of unintended pregnancy.

The supplement has been distributed among the clinicians. This would enable them to tackle the subject of emergency contraception more intelligently. They would be able to create awareness as most of the people are misinformed or uninformed about it. So this supplement would also serve as an excellent guide for clinicians to explain about its usage, when to take it and how it works.

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The “Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program (AFEP)” is a community based exercise program which is more for recreation. Being non clinical in nature, it has been designed with activities focused at bring an improvement in the stamina as well as the health of the joints.

The experts in the field of physical therapy assert that the notion that people suffering from arthritis cannot exercise should be dealt more as a falsehood. A right exercise program can help in reducing pain in the joints, increases flexibility and encourages general wellbeing.

AFEP keeping these factors like pain, weariness and restricted activity among the patients of arthritis, designed this special exercise program for them.

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Ted Skup defines good health as “having a sense of well-being” in his recent book “Death, Taxes & Push-Ups”.  He claims that this book would act as a perfect guide to reach that goal.Ted Skup says that push-ups are emerging as a main choice among those who want to workout to achieve perfect harmony of mind, body, and spirit. He has termed his push-up routine “Horizontal Jogging” and wrote his book, “Death, Taxes, and Push-ups” after officially completing ten million push-ups himself.

“Push-up Revolution” has been initiated with this new book by Skup published by Abox Publishing. He says, “As a revolutionist, my nature draws me to challenge everything the fitness industry dishes out.”

Skup, an authority on push ups calls it to be the most explosive exercise on the earth. However, till now it has been perceived as a warm exercise.

Push ups are not only an exercise, but can also be adopted as complete exercise regime. It works well for all without any difference based on gender or age. Men, women and children can easily take up this exercise at any fitness level. Best part of this exercise is its simplicity and space freeness which everyone can adapt easily.

Fitness industry is slowly acknowledging the importance of push-ups. The claims and quick solutions offered by the fitness industry are failing slowly. Health experts across the world have now acknowledged that exercise and being physically active cannot be replaced by any short term or quick approach.

The best part is that unlike other exercise regimes, it doesn’t need any equipment or money. They are free and convenient. Push-ups fit well for people with tight budgets as well those who have busy schedules like executives.

Push-ups provide great upper body, low-cost exercise. They are a good exercise for those who want to tone up or gain strength but not too much mass. The best thing is that one is not required to go to gym to do them; it can be easily done at home. Space is not a problem with exercise regime.

Ted Skup hopes that the ‘push-ups revolutions’ will spread across the borders and will help everyone in the same way as it has helped him. Its inexpensive advantages would certainly attract every common person in order to maintain good health, he expects.

“Aurium Pharma” has introduced “RepHresh Vaginal Gel” in Canada.  It has been made to fight the vaginal odor, a subject often considered to be embarrassing.”Aurium Pharma” already enjoys reputation for outspokenness and an underlying aim to spread awareness among women about their feminine health in the US. It has been able to create a dialogue between women, the doctors and the media. This would help in bringing awareness and ease among the women who had been suffering from the embarrassing problem of vaginal odor.

The response RepHresh has been receiving clearly indicates that women are left with few options due to reluctance which women feel while discussing a sensitive subject like vaginal odor. Aurium Pharma has provided with an open public forum to discuss. Jenny says that if such forums are not available, women suffering from odor would keep thinking that there is something abnormal with them which are not true.

Nearly all the women had been found more prone to develop odor as compared to yeast infection. Sometimes it might occur seldom, however if it turns chronic, it can be a cause of deep concern.  It may disturb their marital lives.

Products introduced on similar line till now are more like for covering the odor, they do not last however RepHresh has been formulated in a way that it can combat the odor at the source. Moreover it helps to fight the odor for 3 days once it is applied. This magic product has already won hearts of thousands of women.

The effect of RepHresh lasts three days per application and the major advantage is that it acts very fast, doesn’t carry strong fragrance, and is nongreasy

As reported by most of the women in the letters written to RepHresh, they shared that feminine odor occurs mostly after the period, after douching or right after the intercourse. This cause’s hard time to a woman, so using a product like RepHresh, which can fight feminine odor, is a boon.

One of the users, Cindy shared “The first time using RepHresh, I could instantly tell my odor was gone … I feel great. Something this amazing … is a gift for all Women.”

Rest most of the users admired the product. They agreed that after the first time use during the week, odor was found to be gone. They say that RepHresh has honestly changed their lives. They found the product to be amazing.

Fiorini said that talking about such a subject like vagfinal odor needed lot of guts as most of the women felt uncomfortable till now. However they had already decided to devise the solution.

Lil’ Drug Store Products, Inc. which is a major distributing company of innovative consumer healthcare products worldwide is responsible for the production and sales. It is working in alliance with Aurium Pharma which is one of the major health solution providers making RepHresh branded products now available to women in Canada.

Charles Ross and Jeffery Dattilo, two Vanderbilt vascular surgeons, are studying the “Embolic Protection with Flow Reversal”, a new technique for carotid artery stenting. This new technique reverses blood flow to ease the risk of stroke during the minimally invasive procedure.Dattilo and Ross, both assistant professors of Surgery, are leading this clinical study as the principal investigator and co-investigator, respectively. This study is specifically focused on testing the safety and efficiency of the “GORE Neuro Protection System”.

It has been conducted in selected centers in the United States and ‘Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI)’ is one of those 30 sites which would be providing the patients, this new technique while undergoing the surgery with minimal invasive procedure.

During the first case study patients underwent the surgery for a block in carotid artery, the artery which supplies blood to the brain. The situation was grave as the block in the artery was located at the side of the neck, placing the patient at high risk for stroke. Blocks in the carotid artery are major cause of strokes. About 30% of strokes happen due to them.

Ross explained the significance of correction of carotid blockage as the risk of first-time and recurrent strokes could be reduced to a considerable extent.

The procedure involved insertion of a sheath or balloon system from the patient’s femoral artery in the groin into his carotid artery in the neck. After joining the system to the patient’s femoral vein, which contains a filter, the carotid balloons were inflated. This helped in reversing the flow of the blood naturally from the carotid artery to the low-pressure venous system, keeping it away from the blocked internal carotid artery and the brain. Blockage was treated then with balloon angioplasty and stenting.

Dattilo said that reversing the flow of the blood helps in filtering out of the system, all of the debris or fragments which have broken loose. This can be done with utmost safety by not letting it go towards the brain.  This system works well due to the physiology and hemodynamics of most people.

This technique can be seen as a major step in improving the safety of carotid artery stenting. It provides a major edge over the popular techniques like use of a miniscule basket above the blockage to function as a filter. Unlike these methods, this new system involves less changes of clogging of blood and can easily handle large volumes of plaque and debris, thereby reducing the risk of stroke to a minimum.

Besides this, surgeons are also testing the efficacy of other procedures like Carotid endarterectomy, second most commonly used procedure in removal of block. It is an open procedure in which the surgeon removes the plaque surgically.

Surgeons are evolving better ways to use these procedures most efficiently for the patients who are at high risk for complications.

“MedSurge Advances” has announced the availability of “Debut LipoFirm”, soon going to be displayed at the ASLMS Annual Conference in Kissimmee, FL. This can be simply seen as a breakthrough in the field of aesthetic medicine practice. This is a new ‘Laser Lipolysis Technology (LLT)’ designed for reducing fat selectively and tightening the skin.

“MedSurge Advances” is one of the top companies in health, providing aesthetic medicine products and services to physicians and it is one of the fastest growing private companies in America.

“LipoFirm” which is a newly distributed and marketed by MedSurge Advances makes use of ‘semi-conductor (diode) laser system’. It is manufactured by Osyris of Lille, France at the Lille University Hospital. A unique mathematical modeling approach has been utilized to develop this.

LipoFirm 980nm is a laser lipolysis device exclusively designed to disrupt adipocytes. It utilizes a controlled thermal effect for producing this disorder effect. This laser effect not only results in turning the fat into liquid but also causes skin retraction or tightening. So, this procedure emerges as an ideal method for administering treatment focused on the localized areas of fat. It can be easily used in combination with the conventional liposuction treatment under the circumstances of skin laxity being a challenge.

It can be effectively used to reduce fat deposits in the chin area, calf, knees, ankle, lower back and lower abdomen and back of arms.

Among the various benefits, one is that the patented 1 mm cannula brings out perfectly uniform results and requires the patients to go through only local tumescent anesthesia. Since it is a completely non surgical treatment which requires no incision and delivers results without bringing any discomfort to the patients, it can be simply seen as a perfect match to traditional liposuction. The best part is that it involves very less downtime.

The LipoFirm laser brings in use a 600 micron fiber. Since it is a thicker fiber, it results in reducing the danger of breakage to a considerable extent and consequentally physicians come across fewer procedural interruptions. In addition to this, the procedure also uses an integrated thermal imaging system. This imaging system provides an improved image of the tissue to the physicians during the course of performing procedures.

It has also integrated an auto-regulation temperature control which helps in preventing overheating of patient tissue during the treatment.

‘Smart Card Technology’ is an intrinsic part of this procedure. Physicians can switch over to additional procedures by simply changing the smart card and handpiece which provides a platform to physicians to upgrade easily. For an instance, during the procedure is on, the same laser system can easily switch from laser lipolysis to exovenous and endovenous treatments which are used to remove blue leg veins and great saphenous veins respectively.

The whole system can be easily transported as the 980 nm semi-conductor (diode) laser weighs only 15 kg and has a ten-year lifetime.

 Iomai Corporation strives to discover and develop vaccines and immune system stimulants which could be administered through a novel, needle-free technology called ‘Transcutaneous Immunization (TCI)’.It tried to establish that a single dose of pandemic influenza vaccine may meet the protection level. FDA recommends a pandemic vaccine which can achieve immune response levels considered protective in 70 percent or more of vaccine recipients.

It has recently announced its positive interim results of the trial among 500 subjects with the use of its immunostimulant adjuvant patch with an injected vaccine for H5N1 influenza.

The trial demonstrated a significant influence of lomai patch when it was used with a single dose of the 45-microgram H5N1 vaccine. It proved that this combination was sufficient to provide an immune response considered protective in 73 percent of those tested. This could be counted as a statistically significant improvement over those who received the H5N1 Influenza vaccine alone.

The trial tested three different dose levels of Solvay Biologicals, B.V. (Netherlands) egg-derived H5N1 influenza vaccine, the adjuvant patch and placebo. It attempted to resolve which combinations could be most effective in a two-immunization regimen, administered 21 days apart.

Data showed that majority of the subjects who were administered vaccination of 45-microgram dose in combination with the Iomai patch had been able to achieve substantial level of protection. After every dose, the subjects demonstrated significant improvement in immune response. During the trial no treatment related serious undesirable events were reported.

Out of the 500 subjects, 73% were able to achieve an HI titer of greater than 40. This level has recognized as protective and rules out the need of second vaccination. About 49 percent received the vaccine alone without a patch had an immune response which could be considered protective after the first dose and the 24 percentage point difference between the patch and no-patch groups can be taken as statistically significant.

It further saw that a second dose of both vaccine and patch further was able to significantly add to the immunogenicity; 100 % of subjects who received two 45-microgram doses of vaccine and two Iomai patches had a measurable immune response, and 94 % of subjects had immune responses considered protective.

Stanley C. Erck, President and Chief Executive Officer of Iomai proudly states that a single dose of vaccine in combination with an Iomai patches could provide a significant level of protection. The protective levels are achieved rapidly and comply with the standards.

So it can be taken as a major breakthrough for controlling an influenza pandemic as two major hindrances faced by public health officials is limited vaccine stocks and logistic difficulty of administering two vaccinations over a period of several weeks to all individuals in the face of a pandemic.

Lomai plans to test the use of patch in conjunction with other injected pandemic influenza vaccines. Patch has already been proven to be suitable for ambient temperature shipping and handling and has at least a 2-year storage shelf life. This makes it ideal for storing it in bulk and rapid distribution. The patch can be easily applied like an adhesive bandage placed at the site of the injection.

Gregory Glenn, Iomai’s Chief Scientific Officer shares that the data has clearly confirmed approach of using an adjuvant patch to improve the immune response to injected vaccines and the ability to establish strong immune systems with the help of these vaccines administered through skin. “We continue to explore ways to bring this approach to other applications in the high-value field of vaccine adjuvants,” he says.

“Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)” and “Fibromyalgia (FM)” are two disorders which share common symptoms like extreme fatigue, ache, sleep disorder, and chronic disorders. These are the two serious and devastating problems however they do not have any confirmed causative factors so very limited treatment options are available. They interfere with the day to day activities and affect women mostly in 30s and 40s.CFS and FM cause a kind of tired feeling which doesn’t go with bed rest and might last for years. Information about their causes is very confined so diagnostic tests and treatment is not available. Both of these are usually confused with each other as their symptoms are quite common.

However, Dr. Kent Holtorf, M.D., Medical Director of the ‘Holtorf Medical Group Center for Endocrine’ in Torrance, California, conducted an in-depth analysis of 50 published studies related to these syndromes. He found that these disorders interfere with the functioning of hypothalamic-pituitary and thus resulting in abnormal adrenal function. The review also showed that treatment could be administered for this adrenal dysfunction. This analysis has been recently published in the “Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”. It also verified that ‘cortisol’ as part of a multi-system treatment brought noteworthy improvement in the symptoms.

Dr. Holtorf says that a well defined treatment protocol of early administration of cortisol could be of much help to “improve and reduce the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.”

The ‘Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’ shared its results that millions of Americans suffer from these disorders however there are no accurate tests devised to detect them. It adds to the plight of the patients as there could be no clear path designed for the treatment. 

A further study has been conducted which confirms Dr. Holtorf’s research. The conditions of 500 patients from his clinic were followed up, where ‘cortisol’ was administered as a part of the treatment. It was observed that after the fourth visit sizeable portion of patients displayed improvement in the symptoms. It also boosted energy levels and a general sense of well-being among the patients.

It has been recommended in the journal that the patients can take dose of 5 to 15 mg of ‘cortisol’ in a day. There have been no proven associated risks with this medication. “Cortisol treatment carries significantly less risk and a greater potential for benefit than treatments considered to be the standard of care for both conditions,” Dr. Holtorf explains.