To treat chronic pain, tune brain to a certain frequency

To treat chronic pain, tune brain to a certain frequency ( Tom Merton/Getty Images) Scientists have shown for the first time that “tuning in” the brain to a particular frequency can alleviate chronic pain. Chronic pain is often a mixture of recurrent acute pains and chronic persistent pain. About 20-50% of the general population suffers from chronic pain, which lasts for six months. Nerve cells on the brain surface are coordinated with each other at a particular frequency depending on the state of the brain. Alpha waves tuned at 9-12…

Read More

Health Weekly Roundup: Diwali air over north India world’s worst, air pollution behind 1 in 10 under-5 deaths, new breast cancer cases to rise to 3.2 mn a year by 2030

This week was filled with important medical discoveries, researches and health news. To ensure that you don’t miss any, we bring you a weekly roundup. Here is this week’s aggregation of the latest news stories on health, fitness and diet. Delhi chokes on worst Nov smog in many years The air quality index for 4 pm on November 2 was 432, in the “severe” category, while the index on October 31 (post Diwali) was 445. At 14 times the safe limit, Ggn breathes fire Concentration of PM 2.5 touched the…

Read More

ToxiCity: Gurgaon air more foul than Delhi

ToxiCity: Gurgaon air more foul than capital’s (Photo credit: PTI) The air you breathed in Gurgaon on Thursday was the foulest in the country as an overcast sky and absence of strong winds ensured thick smog continued to hang over the city. Gurgaon’s AQI was at a ‘severe’ 454, higher than Delhi (432) and Faridabad (427), which were the country’s three most polluted cities on Thursday, data released by the Central Pollution Control Board on Thursday showed. Another set of data released by Safar, though, showed Delhi’s AQI on Thursday…

Read More

Smoking cigarettes may change your DNA permanently

Smoking cigarettes may change your DNA permanently (Picture Courtesy-Shutterstock Images) Smoking is one of the biggest culprits causing fatal diseases such as cancer and heart disease. But what most of us don’t know is that smoking has the capability to change our genes. Not only that, it is said to have a lasting impact on our DNA. This also goes on to explain why it is held responsible for a host of serious health issues. Researchers at the US National Institute of Environmental Health evaluated test results of approximately 16,000…

Read More

Delhi smog thickens, 2nd worst in 10 years for Nov

Delhi smog thickens, 2nd worst in 10 years for Nov (Photo credit: AFP) The toxic smog choking the capital for the past four days worsened early Thursday morning, with visibility reducing to the second lowest recorded in at least 10 years for November and one monitoring agency showing that the city’s air quality index had again gone off the scale at 500+, a level it had reached a day after Diwali. While calls by experts for emergency measures went unheeded by the government, several schools suspended outdoor activities and urged…

Read More

Smoking may harm HIV patients more than the virus itself

Smoking may harm HIV patients more than the virus itself ( Ineke Kamps/Getty Images) Among people living with HIV who smoke cigarettes, smoking may shorten their lifespan more than HIV itself, warns a study by an Indian-origin researcher. “A person with HIV who consistently takes HIV medicines but smokes is much more likely to die of a smoking-related disease than of HIV itself,” explained study author Krishna P. Reddy of the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. The study suggests that making smoking cessation a priority and finding effective…

Read More