ΥΓΕΙΑ health

Maria Dalamagka  Women who have diabetes and depression have a significantly higher risk for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD), new research suggests. In a cohort study of more than 78,000 women older than 54 years, investigators found a 35% increased risk for any death for those with diabetes only, a 44% increased risk for those with depression only, and twice the risk for those with both compared with their counterparts with neither condition. When considering only deaths from CVD, women with diabetes had a 67% increased mortality risk, women with depression had a 37% increased risk, and women with both had more than 2.7 times the increased risk. "Our findings suggest that these 2 conditions of depression and diabetes, which often go hand in hand, create a vicious cycle or what I call 'a double whammy' in terms of health outcomes," investigative team member Frank Hu, MD, PhD, professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard School of Pub...

Maria Dalamagka  Despite what anesthesiologists may tell surgery patients, the brain under general anesthesia is not "asleep," it is placed in a reversible drug-induced coma, according to 3 neuroscientists who reviewed and synthesized the latest research in general anesthesia, sleep, and coma. Their review, 3 years in the making, appears in the December 30 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. "Anesthesiologists use the term 'sleep' so as not to scare patients with the word 'coma,' " Emery N. Brown, MD, PhD, from the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care, and Pain Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, pointed out in correspondence with Medscape Medical News. In reality, however, general anesthesia is a type of coma. Dr. Brown's coauthors on the review are Ralph Lydic, PhD, from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, whose expertise is sleep medicine, and Nicholas D. Schiff, MD, from Weill Cor...

Maria Dalamagka  Infants fed cow milk formula (CMF) have accelerated weight gain, whereas infants fed protein hydrolysate formula (PHF) have normative weight gain, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial reported in the January 2011 issue of Pediatrics. "Infant formulas differ considerably in composition and sensory profiles," write Julie A. Mennella, PhD, from the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and colleagues. "In this randomized study, we examined whether healthy infants fed an extensively ...PHF would differ in feeding behavior and growth from those fed ...CMF." Infants were randomly selected to feeding with CMF (n = 35) or PHF (n = 29) from ages 0.5 to 7.5 months. Infants were weighed, measured, and then videotaped while being fed their assigned formula monthly during the 7-month study period. Using World Health Organization growth standards, the investigators calculated anthropometric z scores, and they compare...

Maria Dalamagka Tough economic times are the perfect setting to begin using positive psychology to your advantage, says a new report from Harvard Medical School. Positive Psychology: Harnessing the power of happiness, personal strength, and mindfulness is a guide to the concepts that have made "Positive Psychology" the most popular course at Harvard University, and teaches how to put positive emotion to work in your life. Positive emotions have been linked with better health, longer life, and greater well being in numerous scientific studies. On the other hand, chronic anger, worry, and hostility increase the risk of developing heart disease, as people react to these feelings with raised blood pressure and stiffening blood vessels. A Harvard School of Public Health study found that people who are generally hopeful were less likely to develop hypertension, diabetes, or respiratory tract infection than those who were less hopeful. From this report you'll learn the follow...

M Dalamagka and D Kimoglou Self-Hypnosis and Pain. Res Inves Sports Med 4(1). RISM.000577.2018.  DOI: 10.31031/RISM.2018.04.000577 Maria Dalamagka https://www.researchgate.net/publication/382428764_ebookpdf Οι δυνατότητες της αυτοϋπνωσης μπορούν να γίνουν ιδιαίτερα χρήσιμες στην διαχείριση του πόνου. Είναι δυνατόν να τροποποιήσεις την εμπειρία του πόνου.Το μόνο εμπόδιο είναι τα όρια της φαντασίας , αλλά όπως σίγουρα ξέρεις η φαντασία γνωρίζει ελάχιστα όρια. Μερικές φορές μπορεί να βοηθήσει η βαθιά χαλάρωση, πριν δώσεις στον εαυτό σου τις υποβολές που χρειάζεσαι.΄Αλλες φορές , απλά άφησε τον εαυτό σου να ταξιδέψει και να γίνει ένα με αυτές τις υποβολές και έτσι μπορεί να οδηγηθείς σε μια trance κατάσταση , χωρίς βαθιά χαλάρωση. Τι είναι trance ; Trance δεν είναι μια μυστικιστική εμπειρία που μόνο οι εκπαιδευμένοι υπνωτιστές μπορούν να επάγουν. Είναι μέρος της καθημερινής μας ζωής.Αν ποτέ οδηγώντας ένα αυτοκίνητο , ξαφνικά ανακάλυψες ότι οδηγούσες για μίλια χωρίς να το συνειδητο...

Maria Dalamagka  According to recent research published in the journal Pain , "Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is an inflammatory cytokine known to modulate muscle pain. However, the mechanisms underlying this effect still remain unclear." "Here we show that the injection of IL-6 into mice gastrocnemius muscle evoked a time-and dose-dependent mechanical hyperalgesia. This effect is in part dependent on the presence of gp130 expression in inflammatory cells in the gastrocnemius muscle as well as in DRG neurons. We also demonstrated an increased inflammatory cell recruitment and cytokines levels, namely TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and KC. TNFR1(-/-) mice or mice pre-treated with the selective CXCR2 antagonist, SB225002, with the anti-macrophage, anti-TNF-alpha or anti-KC antibodies or with IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) showed decreased IL-6-mediated mechanical hyperalgesia. Furthermore, systemic pre-treatment with the classically used drugs indomethacin, celecoxib, guanetidine, mor...

Dalamagka Maria  Most of us have already heard the loose rumor that "classical music is good for your brain", whether as brain-booster while working or as something that mothers should be doing for their developing children or even "sound as audio therapy" unto itself. For many , it may feel intuitive that listening to complex classical music pieces must somehow be better for one's brain than listening to, say, a simplistic three-chord rock anthem or a Rap track featuring a single looping drum beat with repetitive vocal (or many other genres of current pop/rock/rap music).  Or does that truly depend on the song in question, or one's world view, or one's attention to complex subtle nuances that may lie just below the surface of a seemingly trite piece of Pop? The truth is that the potential for brain-boosting benefits from listening to music (or sound content of any type, for that matter) is a largely unstudied area, ripe for much deeper research ...