The researchers said, “The exercise pills could enhance stamina”.

The journal Cell news US scientists have two pills which could build muscle, promote stamina and burn the calories.

In the research, mice were capable of running 44 % recommending human beings might be able to perform the same devoid of earlier training. …Click here to read more

Scientists have been conducting researches for a long time and now they have come up with sound evidences that the paternal exposure could be making serious impacts on the fetal and post-natal development of the offspring. It is more likely that such imprints will also be reflected in subsequent future generations as well.Until now the maternal exposure to several of the dangerous toxic agents during the period of pregnancy were the prime concerns for experts, scientists, and society at large.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science’ sponsored a multidisciplinary symposium recently. This symposium was focused on the concept of “Father and Fetus”. Scientists in this symposium presented many evidences that the reproductive success and post-natal development processes could be severely affected by the male-mediated influences and this may continue from one generation to another.

Evidences supported by the results obtained from certain specific animal and epidemiological studies demonstrate that paternal exposure to the various types of potentially harmful and hazardous toxins can severely affect the development process of fetus. Such negative impacts could also bring selected but wide spectrum defects and deficits in the offspring’s and there is a strong possibility that such impacts would also be reflected in the future generations as well.

Dr. Gladys Friedler, an emeritus Professor of Psychology at the Boston University School of Medicine highlighted the issue with much concern for all. Organizing a session in the symposium, he specified an urgent need of increasing the awareness levels of everyone about the “significant effect of the male parent in reproductive success and postnatal developments as well as to stimulate research on male-mediated effects”, he says.

Dr. Gladys Friedler, a pioneer researcher, presented a complete review of the researches and studies conducted in this regard and highlighted that all of them indicate clearly that the exposure to the toxins in the form of both the recreational and therapeutic drugs is equally dangerous for a male. Similarly, the exposures at the workplaces and other types of exposure are equally risky in case males as all this could potentially affect and alter the reproductive outcomes.

There are certain impacts on the offspring outcome that have been very specifically reported. Such instances include problems like low birth weight. Growth in childhood cancer cases, Problems related to overall development, behavioral disorders, typical endocrine abnormalities, and some specific cross- generational impacts. Dr. Gladys Friedler is quite hopeful that further research would help in solving these puzzled and complex issues that are directly related to the future generations.

It is normal to have a “Post-Natal Depression (PND)” after a child’s birth and the quality of life usually gets reduced. This commonly occurring problem poses threat to mental and physical health of a mother if not diagnosed and taken seriously.

A new study led by Professor Claude de Tychey, from ‘Universite Nancy 2′, France came out with striking results showing that the birth to a boy can lead to higher levels of PND and the quality of life worsens as compared in the case of birth of a girl child.

In a research published in the February issue of “Journal of Clinical Nursing”, it was found that just under a third of the 181 women, they studied four to eight weeks after delivery had PND. Nine percent of these women belonged to a French community where they faced no cultural pressures in terms of the gender of the baby. Three quarters of these women suffering from severe cases of PND had given birth to boys.

They found that the gender of the baby not only determines the severity of PND but also plays an important role in affecting the quality of life. The women who gave birth to boys were found enjoying a reduced quality of life even when there were no signs of post natal depression among them. This was lesser when they delivered girls.

A questionnaire was used to carry out this comparison. There were 36 questions in it asking the women to score eight important parameters of their health like proper functioning of the body, physical role, physical pains, mental health and few questions related to emotional and social health. The researchers provided a 100- point scale to women to measure themselves up on the above dimensions. The results were then further categorized on the basis of male and female births to evaluate their effects on PND and overall physical and mental health among the women. This provided 60 separate quality of life scores.

The overall results depicted clear differences in the overall quality of life and PND in case of birth of a girl and a boy. In 70% cases of women giving birth to a boy reported lower level of quality of life even when PND was absent among them. They showed higher cores of quality of life when the 10 quality of life scores were added together.

Among the women suffering from PND, the researchers found better scores of quality of life among those who had given birth to girls as compared to those who delivered boys.

Gender differences were also counted among the women with no, mild or severe PND symptoms. The gender differences were found to be greatest in women who had no PND. In 90% cases of women who delivered boys enjoyed lower quality of life than those who had delivered girls. Even the women with PND also had more instances of lower quality of life in the case of a boy comparatively. The results varied with the degree of PND of course.

Professor de Tychey concluded that these figures clearly show that having a boy resulted in lower score in relation to the quality of life. These scores were not much affected by the fact of giving birth to the first child or the second one.

Developing severe cases of PND in societies and cultures is natural where more preference to boys are given however this study was carried out in a French community where women were devoid of al the cultural pressures. 

Severe PND and reduced quality of life was reported among them when they gave birth to a boy. Better psychotherapeutic programs should be devised for such women at the earliest stage. Public health should be focused on early diagnosis and prevention of these cases.

Here is an exciting news for women who are willing to adopt a natural way of family planning method. ‘Georgetown University Medical Center’s Institute for Reproductive Health’ claims that more than half a million women around the world, including an estimated 50,000 in the United States, use natural family planning methods developed by them. They have developed “CycleBeads”, a visual aid to help women manage their fertility to plan or prevent pregnancy.

The company “Cycle Technologies” has introduced “CycleBeads”, available in a deluxe man-made cats-eye version in three colours. Victoria Jennings, Director of the ‘Institute for Reproductive Health’ and co-developer of ‘CycleBeads’ says that there is a growing interest in the United States in effective, easy-to-use natural family planning. It is a string of 32 colour-coded beads, a reddish bead representing the first day of a woman’s cycle, the coloured beads stand for the days when the pregnancy is unlikely and the while beads for the days when unprotected sex could lead to pregnancy.

“CycleBeads” is a method of moving a black ring over a series of colour-coded beads that represent her fertile and low fertility days. The method is simple. Women with regular menstrual cycles lasting 26-32 days can prevent pregnancy by avoiding unprotected intercourse on days eight through 19.

This provides an excellent mechanism to women understand how their bodies work and their fertility cycle well. The chance of failure gets lesser as the women start understanding the cycle well. The health hazards associated with this are also low as the user never puts anything foreign into her body.

To avoid pregnancy, women can either go for protected sex or avoid on the fertile days. On the other hand, if a woman does want to get pregnant, these are the days when chances of her conceiving are the largest. So this method also provides an easy way of family planning. Evidence suggests that 20% of women are unsuccessful in conceiving simply because they do not know when during their fertility period, chances of pregnancy is most likely.

Owing to its easy use and lack of side effects, this may appeal to couples who haven’t been able to adopt any method till now or rely more on a traditional method and those who are reluctant to adopt any method due to past experiences and discomforts associated with all the popular methods.  It can come up as real alternative to the existing methods, in terms of safety, cost-effectiveness and accessibility.