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Obesity epidemic of India

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Obesity in India is on the rise. It has reached enormous proportions. As I sit and count at airports, the number of women who look obviously overweight and obese, the figures I get is 8 out of 10. And this is around same in children of all sexes and around 6 in 10 men show clearcut overweight and obesity that is obvious even to naked eye. Anthropometric measurements might reveal more of them.  What are the likely causes? I have a theory that starts analysing these cases right from the 2000s or previous century. Junk food eating and sedantry lifestyle had already given an upward push to obesity in last century. And this also gave rise to diabetes mellitus in both men and women. Hence, such mothers also had diabetes in pregnancy. Some who did not have diabetes otherwise had gestational diabetes. From 2000 to 2026 prevalence of gestational diabetes has risen in india. It has even spread to rural areas and recent national data gives a figure of 22.4% which is almost 1 in 4 pregnant mot...

Types of breads available in the world based on ingredients

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Bread is made of wheat. There are different types of reads available in the market. The goodness of these varies. Let us have a look at the types of breads available in the world markets. These types are based on the ingredients used in making bread  1. Regular white bread-This is made of refined wheat flour. The flour is made of wheat that is stripped of its nutrients and fiber. Some of these breads are fortified with vitamins A and D in line with national food product fortification programs.  Read here:  How to tackle insomnia?  2. Whole wheat bread-In this, the flour used is made from whole wheat. The bran, germ, and endosperm all three parts of the whole wheat grain are present in the flour used to make this type of bread. Hence it is healthy and nutritious. Its fiber content is more and so are the vitamins and minerals. It is wholesome.  3. Brown bread- Brown bread is a general term used for brown colored bread. But if need not necessarily be made of whole ...

Galapagos islands giant tortoises and the bacterial resistance in them!!!

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 Worldwide antibiotic resistance has shown a tremendous surge. The covid pandemic has led to more of this due to irrational use of antibiotics for this new and unknown viral disease. At the same time, scientists have found that it is spreading also to wildlife. The Galapagos tortoises who are in close contact with human settlements on the islands have also demonstrated a rise in antibiotics resistant bacteria in their body.  The study on Galapagos tortoises Researchers attached to Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), the Saint Louis Zoo Institute for Conservation Medicine (ICM), the Animal Health Research Center (INIA-CISA), the Complutense University, and the European University of Madrid, with the staff from the Galapagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) conducted a study on the giant tortoises of the Galapagos islands. It was part of the Galapagos Tortoise Movement Ecology Program (GTMEP).  They analyzed fecal samples of 270 tortoises from the famous islands. They were bas...

What is immune age? How to determine it? What is the benefit of knowing it?

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 We usually talk about chronological age. But there is another new type of age that doctors on Stanford 1000 Immunomes Project are able to determine. It is called immune age and it has fairly good predictive capacity of aging. The study Researchers on Stanford 1000 Immunomes Project assessed 50 inflammatory markers called cytokines in blood of volunteers and linked it with aging, inflammation, body fraility, and chronic illnesses. Gene activation and immune responses were also carried out in the collected cells.  They also estimated these in adults over 60 years, over 65 years, and in centenarians. They used artificial intelligence (AI) called deep neural network to estimate the immune age or iAge. Immune age metric (Source: Live Science)  How to tackle insomnia naturally?  Findings They found that the most important cytokine was CXCL9. This cytokine level predicts body and cardiovascular health and was also a strong predictor of immune age. When genes for CXCL9 was ...

Natural ways to tackle insomnia

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 Almost all of us have experienced inability to sleep or insomnia at some time in our life. There are multiple reasons for it. It may occur for a short while due to some problems of life or become chronic if problem persists or treatment is not taken for it.  Doctors prescribe drugs for insomnia. It helps but as long as the drug is taken. If the root cause is not rectified, the insomnia could do a comeback once the medicines are stopped. Additionally, drugs also have their own issues of mild to severe side effects. Hence it is best and in the interest of the patient over the lo g term to try ways to tackle insomnia with our resort to medications.  The best way to deal with insomnia is to weed out the root cause of it. The reason of worry, tension, or anxiety should be removed in order to get a sound sleep. But this is not always possible. So the next step is to try out natural ways to get an adequate amount of proper sleep.  1. Some people are unable to get sleep in ...

Global peace index 2020!

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Global peacefulness has been showing a decline in the last decade. This is not a good sign. There are intercountry and intercountry conflicts and frictions. And if this continues, it would have a bad impact on world living, economy, and people's well-being.  Global peace (Source: Vector Stock)  Global peace indices Global peace index chart reveals that global peace is at risk due to various race and religious conflicts. For calculating peace index of a nation, 23 quantitative and qualitative indicators are taken and each is weighted on a scale of 1-5. The lower the score of GPI, the more peaceful is the country.  Why is vaccination rate low in USA?  In 2020, countries have shown an average of 0.34 percentage decline in GPI scores. The covid crisis added to the already prevailing regional tensions in the world.  Countries and their GPI scores Iceland tops the list with a score of 1.078. It is the most peaceful country and holds this first position since 2008. New...

Why is vaccination rate in population and health care workers in the USA still below 70%?

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USA has set a vaccination rate of 70% to be achieved in order to get the pandemic under control. But this rate has not reached in the population as well as the health care workers. A significant number have refused the vaccine. Though the vaccination is voluntary, people who refuse it are losing their jobs in hospitals? Is this move justified?  Vaccination rate and health care workers   Health care workers and frontline workers who came in direct contact with patients were high risk and first to be vaccinated in the USA. But a recent survey showed that a significant number of the staffs have refused vaccination. A survey conducted by USA Today in 276 hospitals (4.5% of the country's hospitals) showed that the fully vaccinated rate was 53 to 72% in hospital networks and 51 to 91% in 15 public hospitals of the US. Rural hospitals have even lesser vaccination rates. Covid vaccine (Source: Pinterest)  The target of 70% of Joe Biden by 4 July seems to have become impossible. S...

Sex behavior: the status of being asexual or minimally sexually active rising! Why?

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Social barriers of coupling and having sex are fewer for the newer generation. Sex is equally enjoyable and means to enhance the pleasures are also available. Yet this generation youth is having sex less frequently.  Stats on sex behavior CDC keeps a survey analysis of teen sex and it found that sex in this age group is declining since 1985. National Opinion Research Council at the University of Chicago since 1972 is doing the regular General Social Survey of American behavior. The findings show that doing sex once a week was 45% in 2000 and it declined to 36% in 2016. And the number of young millennials who are inactive on the sexual front s twice the number seen in the previous generation. This decline was steep from 2014 to 2016.   In 2016, 4% fewer condom sales occurred than in the year 2015. Anda drop further of 3% was noticed in 2017.  The fertility rate has also fallen. Thus people are into less sexual drive. Is it normal? What are the reasons? Is less sexual ...