New AntiGravity Yoga

There is a new style of personal workout that is becoming very popular called AntiGravity Yoga. The technique uses hammocks to suspend the body. As you turn upside down, while supported by the hammock, joint tension is released. The hammock is like a soft trapeze that supports you as you do simple techniques that lead to more advanced poses. The workout increases blood flow and upper body strength.

New Fat Tax on Sodas

Leaders in New York are proposing a new fat tax on the soft drink industry, claiming that sodas are to blame for obesity in the United States. Public officials in New York and other states see the tax as an opportunity to have an affect on the diets of the general population and cut health costs due to obesity.

It is estimated that almost 20 percent of children in the United States between 6 and 19 years old are obese, which increases the risks of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and premature death. Health experts say that insufficient exercise, fast food, and sugary sodas are to blame.

Beverage companies says that they have reduced calories in schools by removing full-calorie soft drinks and offering lower-calorie, more nutritious, and smaller-portion options. Leading beverage companies, including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo say that 88 percent less calories are now sold in their drinks when compared to 2004.

HIV Causes Premature Brain Aging

A new research is showing that people infected with the HIV virus have premature aging of the brain. The research has shown that blood flow in HIV patients is the same as uninfected people who are 15 to 20 years older. In the study, researchers used MRI scans to study blood flow in the brains of 26 people infected with HIV and 25 people who were not infected. The ages and the educational levels all of the individuals were similar. Researchers found reduced blood flow in the brains of younger people infected with HIV recently infected with HIV as well as the older patients. It is unclear whether this is caused by the virus, the medication to treat the disease, or both. Currently, 14 to 18 percent of all AIDS patients in the United States are over 50 years old and older generations have an increasing high rate of new infections. By 2015, more than half of all AIDS patients may be over 50 years old.

A New Better Botox

This a new product called Dysport that is suppose to be better than Botox. It has been FDA approved to treat facial lines and cervical dystonia. It temporarily restricts the muscle actions that cause creasing and frown lines. It suppose to be better than Botox because it lasts approximately 4 months instead of 3 days and works faster. Dysport is made from the same active ingredient as Botox, called Clostridium botulinim toxin type A. It is also similar to Botox in that it is injected into the skin at the site of forehead wrinkles. There are side effects, such as nose and throat irritation, headache, pain and skin reaction at the injection site, upper respiratory tract infection, eyelid swelling and drooping, sinus inflammation, and nausea.

The Facts of Therapeutic Substitution

There currently are pharmacies that are practicing therapeutic substitution when it comes to filling prescription medications. Therapeutic substitution happens when a drug that is considered to be therapeutically equivalent to a second drug, even though it might not be chemically equivalent to the prescribed drug, is given to the person filling the prescription without their permission or acknowledgment. That means that a pharmacy can change your prescribed medication to a different one without asking for your permission or letting you know beforehand. It can happen due to costs to the insurer, changes in insurance coverage, new drugs on the market that can treat the same condition, a medication is no longer covered by the insurance company, when your doctor wants you to switch to a drug that might be more effective, and when another drug is available at a lower cost. Pharmacies can also do a substitution if the drug you are prescribed is not on the pre-approved list that insurance will cover.

There are negative sides to therapeutic substitution because the new drug might not work as well or might differently that the one originally prescribed. It could have side effects that you are not aware of or might have a negative interaction with other prescriptions that you make take. The new drug might have a dosing schedule that could be inconvenient for you.

It is recommended to check the label of your medication after it is filled to make sure that it is the one that was originally prescribed. If you have questions or feel unsure about something, don't feel afraid to talk to your pharmacist.

First Face Transplant Done in America

In Cleveland, reconstructive surgeon Dr. Maria Siemionow and a team of specialists performed the first face face transplant done in America by replacing 80 percent of a disfigured woman's face by using the face of a female cadaver. Many details of the surgery have not been released but surgeons that do this usually transplant skin, facial nerves, muscles, and other deep tissue.

Skin is considered an organ and it still runs the risk of the body rejecting it, as with other organ transplants. Recipients of transplants have the risk of deadly complications, such as the new facial tissue attacking the recipient's body and the recipient's body attacking the bone marrow or the transplanted face to cause inflammation at the area of the new tissue. They also have to take immune-suppressing drugs for the rest of their lives to prevent the body rejecting the organ. This raises the risk of cancer and other diseases.

This is the fourth one done worldwide. Two have been done in France and one was done in China. The first one was a partial face transplant done in France in 2005 on a woman who had been mauled by her dog and received a new nose, chin, and lips from a brain-dead donor. Another was done in France on man disfigured by a genetic disease. One was done in China on a farmer that had been disfigured by being mauled by a bear.

New Pill for Lung Cancer Patients

There is a new pill called Iressa for advanced lung cancer patients that can be a replacement for chemotherapy. The drug has less negative side effects even though it is more expensive. It works by attacking specific growth receptors on cancer cells and is less harmful. The drug costs thousands of dollars each month.

Iressa is currently available in the United States, but it is not licensed in Europe. It is also approved for use in patients that failed chemotherapy. The common side effects are rash, acne, and diarrhea. Cancer patients have shown to live nearly as long on the drug as with chemotherapy.

New Botox Alternative for Frown Lines

There is a new Botox injection alternative that is made for vertical frown lines that are between the eyebrows called Glabellar furrow relaxation. Its effects supposedly last longer than Botox and works by directing radio-frequency energy at the nerves that are connected to the forehead muscles to keep the muscles and skin from creasing. After the doctor injects local anesthesia, they would insert a pen like device under the skin and around the temple. The procedure would relax the frown muscles immediately.

The cost of Glabellar furrow relaxation costs more than Botox injections. Glabellar furrow relaxation costs $1,000 to $3,000 per treatment and Botox injections can cost between $400 and $800 per treatment.

New Ways to Treat Asthma Symptoms

Soon, people that suffer from asthma can be able to wear sensors in their pockets that monitor the quality of the air and finds environmental causes of their attacks. The sensor’s tests will be used by researchers to find common things that trigger asthma problems.

Scientists have also found that proteins in air passages might indicate different asthma subtypes. This could possibly lead to more targeted therapies.

There is a new drug called Pitrakinra that blocks the body’s response to allergens and does a good job at reducing asthma symptoms. Clinical trials are currently being done on the drug.

New Wrinkle Fighting Pill

There is a new supplement called L-Skin Care, currently only available in Korea, which has a special formulation that has proved to drastically reduce the effects of wrinkles and crow’s feet on the skin. It also blocks collagen-destroying proteins and increases collagen production.

Get Rid of Dandruff

Hair dandruff is a condition that is caused by fungus that lives on the scalp and eats oil from the scalp. It releases by-products that irritate the skin and causes flaking on the scalp of some people. Most dandruff remedies work by decreasing the number of fungi on the scalp but there are new products available on the market that control the behavior of the fungus to give better and quicker results.

New Spray to Help Sleeping Problems

A new nasal spray is currently being developed that reverses the mental effects of sleeping deprivation. The drug would eliminate detrimental changes in brain activity that results from lack of sleep. Clinical trials will be required before the drug can receive FDA approval.

Why to Avoid Retail Therapy

A new study has found that people that are feeling down or gloomy are more likely to make big purchase decisions that they will later regret. These people are willing to pay up to 300 percent more for an item. Researchers say that sadness causes people to feel worthless and they often overspend as a way to feel better about themselves. The high that the person feels from overspending is short and they feel sorry about the purchase later, also known as buyer’s remorse. It is good advice not to go shopping while feeling down.

New Study Says Antidepressants Don’t Work

A new study says that antidepressants are as effective as placebos when it comes to relieving a person’s depression. This was found by British researchers that went through data from 47 published and unpublished clinical trials of drugs, such as Prozac and Paxil. They found that drug companies were being selective in reporting the results of their studies and the drugs only showed significant mood improvements in the most severely depressed people. For most people, antidepressants are no more effective than taking a sugar pill.

It is suggested that antidepressants work because people expect them to and not because they change the chemistry of the brain. Studies have found that talk therapy and regular exercise are just as effective as the drugs in relieving mild depression.

New Device Helps Stroke Victims

There are some stroke victims and people that have neurological impairments that have to wear a leg brace due to having a condition where they can’t step heel first and have trouble walking without stumbling. A new system called the NESS L300 uses a sensor in the shoe to tell a wireless device, which is worn below the knee, when the heel is on or off the ground. The device would send electrical pulses to the leg nerve that controls lifting the foot so that some people could walk more naturally.

New Medical Treatment for Heart Attacks

It is assumed that if a person is not revived 5 minutes after having cardiac arrest that they are basically dead. Researchers have found that if the body of a person that had cardiac arrest is cooled by several degrees after the heart has stopped beating, the person could survive for up to 15 minutes instead of 5 minutes. Doctors are starting to use cooling blankets that circulate icy water to reduce brain damage and revive people that didn’t have a heart beat for up to 15 minutes. Researchers are trying to develop icy injectable slurry that lowers body temperature within seconds and emergency workers can use it on the spot.

Study Says Social People Get Fat and Worriers Lose Weight

A new study from Japan finds that outgoing people are more at risk for being overweight and there is a link between weight, body mass index, and personality. The study is based on more than 30,000 people in northeastern Japan who were between the ages of 40 and 64. They were quizzed on their height and weight and given a personality test. The test concluded that outgoing men were 1.73 times more likely to be obese and outgoing women were 1.53 times more likely to be obese than people that were worriers.

Read More: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23092710-1702,00.html