homeopathy

March 24, 2010 -- The 2009 H1N1 "swine flu" virus shares remarkable similarities with strains that were rampant early in the 20th century, two teams of scientists report.These structural similarities help explain why older people seemed to be less affected by H1N1 during the latest pandemic, researchers say, and they also point the way to better vaccines against the strain.

The India Post reports that both Homeopathic and Ayurvedic Medicine have gained tremendous growth in India. They also say that the World Health Organization states that over one billion people world wide use herbal medicines and alternatives. Many of those are in India which has a population of about 1.17 billion people.

There are over 400,000 registered homeopaths in the country currently, with approximately 13,000 more being added every year. 

When it comes to dietary fat, what matters most is the type of fat you eat. Contrary to past dietary advice promoting low-fat diets, newer research shows that healthy fats are necessary and beneficial for health. Rather than adopting a low-fat diet, it’s more important to focus on eating beneficial “good” fats and avoiding harmful “bad” fats.

Fat is an important part of a healthy diet. Choose foods with “good” unsaturated fats, limit foods high in saturated fat, and avoid “bad” trans fat.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a form of TB caused by bacteria that do not respond to isoniazid and rifampicin, the 2 most effective first-line anti-TB drugs.

MDR-TB is treatable and curable by using second-line drugs. However, second-line treatment options are limited and require extensive chemotherapy (up to 2 years of treatment) with medicines that are expensive and toxic. In some cases, more severe drug resistance can develop.

Nearly 12 percent of children and teens in the United States are using unconventional healing therapies — from echinacea and fish oil, to herbs and yoga — to treat a variety of ailments, according to a first-of-its kind government survey.

Through interviews conducted in more than 30,000 households, researchers found that families were more likely to turn to these alternative approaches when they couldn't afford traditional care. Parents typically sought these unconventional remedies for chronic or hard-to-treat illnesses in children, such as back or neck pain, colds, anxiety or stress and attention deficit disorders. 

Weight loss surgery can be especially helpful to patients with diabetes and can even help them reverse the disease, Australian researchers reported.

They found that obese patients with diabetes who had weight loss surgery were five times more likely to get their disease under control than those who dieted -- probably because they lost more weight.

In the United States, where two-thirds of the population is either overweight or obese, weight-loss surgeries have increased in recent years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While the surgeries are successful at helping people lose weight and reduce their risk for hypertension, diabetes and other chronic illnesses -- patients have to carefully weigh the benefits of the procedure with the serious risks, side effects and even death in some cases.