Pregnancy: Red Wine Can Boost Female Fertility

A glass of red wine a day could help women who are struggling to get pregnant, experts claim.A chemical compound found in the popular tipple can combat a major cause of female infertility, a new research has revealed.Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is estimated to affect one in five women, but that number could be much higher as almost half of sufferers show no symptoms of the condition.
It causes a hormone imbalance, with the body producing too much testosterone – the male sex hormone which can prevent pregnancy.
But now, researchers in the United States and Poland believe resveratrol – a natural compound in the skin of grapes used to make red wine – can reverse the damaging hormone imbalance.
It adds to past studies that show the compound can help ward off heart disease and some cancers.
Dr Antoni Duleba, lead researcher from the University of California, San Diego, said: “Our study is the first clinical trial to find resveratrol significantly lowers PCOS patients’ levels of testosterone.
“This nutritional supplement can help moderate the hormone imbalance that is one of the central features of PCOS.”

What is Polycystic Ovary Syndrome?
Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is a common condition – a leading cause of infertility in women.
The three main features of the condition are:

1. Irregular periods – which means your ovaries do not regularly release eggs
2. Excess androgen – high levels of “male” hormones in the body, which can cause physical symptoms such as excess facial or body hair
3. Polycystic ovaries – enlarged ovaries that contain fluid-filled sacs around the eggs

If you have at least two of these features, it is likely you will be diagnosed with PCOS.
Signs and symptoms include:

• irregular or no periods at all
• difficulty getting pregnant
• excessive hair growth, often on the face, chest and back
• weight gain
• oily skin or acne
• hair loss or thinning hair on the head

Across the world, PCOS is one of the most common causes of infertility in women, the report, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, noted.
Women suffering PCOS can also suffer irregular periods, weight gain, acne and excess hair growth on the face and body, as well as chronic conditions including diabetes.
Researchers believe it is resveratrol’s anti-inflammatory properties that help tilt the hormone imbalance back to optimum levels for conception.
They tested 30 women with PCOS – giving half a placebo, while the other half took a resveratrol compound once a day for three months.
Blood samples were examined at regular intervals to monitor each woman’s hormone levels.
The researchers noted those women taking resveratrol showed falling levels of testosterone over the course of the trial.
On average testosterone levels in this group of women fell by 23.1 per cent.
That is compared to a 2.9 per cent fall in testosterone among those women taking the placebo.
Dr Duleba said: “The findings suggest resveratrol can improve the body’s ability to use insulin and potentially lower the risk of developing diabetes.
“The supplement may be able to help reduce the risk of metabolic problems common in women with PCOS.”
He said his team also noted added benefits in the fall of other harmful hormones, and the body’s ability to control insulin in the resveratrol group, that was not seen in the women taking placebo.

Read More

High-Stress Jobs Lead To Early Death

Researchers have raised the alarm over the danger posed to employees engaged in high-stress jobs, saying the job might be killing them. A new study has found evidence to back up what many disgruntled employees have been saying all along – your job just might be killing you.
Stress is defined as an organism’s total response to environmental demands or pressures. Stress in humans results from interactions between persons and their environment that are perceived as straining or exceeding their adaptive capacities and threatening their well-being.
Analyzing more than 2,300 people during a seven-year period, the researchers found that employees in high-stress positions who have little decision-making freedom at work were more likely to die young.
Along with this, they said these people often have a higher body mass index, BMI, than employees who have more control at work, as they may eat more, smoke, or engage in other behaviours to cope with the demands of the job.
T he findings suggest that having a higher degree of discretion in your job could help to manage work-related stress, contributing to a longer and healthier life. In the study from Indiana University Kelley School of Business, researchers sampled 2,363 Wisconsin residents in their 60s over a seven-year period. Data were derived from the Wisconsin Longitudinal study, in which more than 10,000 people were interviewed at various intervals over the course of their lives, from 1957 to 2011.
The researchers found troubling trends among employees in stressful jobs: 26 per cent of deaths occurred in people with front line service jobs, while 32 per cent of deaths were among people in manufacturing jobs, who reported high demands and low control at work.
Overall, people in lowcontrol, high-demand jobs showed a 15.4 per cent increase in the likelihood of death compared with those in low demand jobs. But, those with highcontrol at work were linked to a 34 per cent decrease in the likelihood of death, compared with.

Read More

Antibiotics Linked To Hospital Bed Infection

Scientists have raised the alarm over the spread of hospital bed infection, saying when a hospital patient is taking antibiotics, the next person to use the same bed may face an elevated risk of infection with the dangerous germ Clostridium difficile.
To this end, doctors have suggested the need to improve sterilisation procedures in hospitals, a measure to reduce the spread of infections in hospital environment.
This is the finding of a new report published in the journal ‘JAMA Internal Medicine’.
According to a Professor of Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, Dr. Marc Siegel, “This underscores the idea that hospitals are not being sanitised enough or they can’t be sanitised enough.
There is an increased need for increased sterilisation procedures between patients.”  C. difficile, a bacterium that causes inflammation of the colon and causes life-threatening diarrhoea, is found in some hospitals around the world.
Scientists have known that antibiotic use can contribute to the germ’s spread, but a new report has shown that it is not just the patient taking the medication who’s at risk. According to findings in the study, because the germ spores can persist, patients later assigned to the same hospital bed may have increased risk of getting C. difficile.
Lead Researcher, Dr. Daniel Freedberg, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York City, said: “This study provides evidence that there is a herd effect with antibiotics. “In other words, antibiotics have the potential to affect the health of people who don’t themselves receive antibiotics.”
According to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, C. difficile causes nearly half a million infections a year in the United States and 29,000 deaths. Older adults are most at risk. In this study, researchers found that if the previous patient in the hospital bed was given antibiotics (not for C. difficile), the odds of C. difficile infection in the next patient were nearly one per cent, compared with less than half of one per cent if no antibiotics were given, the webMD reported.
“Antibiotics encourage the spread of C. difficile from patients who asymptomatically carry C. difficile to patients who are C. difficile-free, even if the C. difficile-free patients do not receive any antibiotics,” Freedberg said.

Read More

Herbal Remedies For Premature Ejaculation

Premature ejaculation is uncontrolled ejaculation either before or shortly after sexual penetration. It happens with minimal sexual stimulation and before the person wishes. It may result in unsatisfactory sex for both partners. This can increase the anxiety that may add to the problem. It is one of the most common forms of male sexual dysfunction. It has probably affected every man at some point in his life.

Most cases of premature ejaculation do not have a clear cause. With sexual experience and age, men often learn to delay orgasm. Premature ejaculation may occur with a new partner. It may happen only in certain sexual situations or if it has been a long time since the last ejaculation. Psychological factors such as anxiety, guilt, or depression can also cause it. In some cases, it may be related to a medical cause such as hormonal problems, injury, or a side effect of certain medicines.

The main symptom is an uncontrolled ejaculation either before or shortly after intercourse begins. Ejaculation occurs before the person wishes it, with minimal sexual stimulation.

Treating premature ejaculation with chemical based, orthodox drugs does not yield results because the chemicals in the drugs in most cases contribute to the hormonal influence of the situation. In contrast most people who suffer from premature ejaculation have been able to solve the problem with natural/herbal medicine, especially when the premature ejaculation is not cost by psychological issues.

The reasons for this is obvious. Herbal medicine is organic in nature and is easily absorbed into the various body systems to cure any ailments that might be there.

The herbal remedy for premature ejaculation ranges from the raw leaves themselves to herbal formulations made into liquid, powder, tablets and capsule forms.However, most people always opt for liquid herbal formulations.

To get tested and proven herbal medications for premature ejaculation, call +2347031040178.

Read More

GMO Foods: Federal Government Threatens To Shut Down Shoprite, Others

The Federal Government of Nigeria, through its National Biosafety Management Agency, has issued a seven-day ultimatum to retail store giants, Shoprite and Next Cash ‘N’ Carry to withdraw any product that contains Genetically Modified Organisms from their shelves or risk a total shutdown.

The warning was handed out to representatives of the two superstores at a briefing in Abuja on Friday.

The Director-General, NBMA, Dr. Rufus Ebegba, said the agency had received complaints from members of the public about the sale of GMO foods in the two stores.

He stated, “Recently, we carried out a survey of likely GMO products and we have been able to have some collections, some materials that we call GMO suspects. We call them GMO suspects because we have not been able to ascertain their status.

“Why we have invited the superstores basically is for them to understand that some of their products need to be properly ascertained before they are brought in, especially the imported ones that may contain genetically modified materials, so that they will not run afoul of the law.

“There is a law in place. We will not want any segment of the society out of ignorance to act in manners that will infringe on the law. The Biosafety Management Act empowers the NBMA to regulate the activities of modern biotechnology and the use of genetically modified organisms.”

According to him, the agency will not hesitate to shut down any of the stores found selling unregistered GMO products in the country.

Edegba called on representatives of the superstores to ensure that all GMO products on their shelves were duly registered by the agency by obtaining permits.

He said, “If they have any GMO food in their stores, they should withdraw them from their shelves within seven days. The NBMA will not hesitate to shut down those stores found selling GMO products. We will not want to see any GMO food in your stores. We urge you to comply with this Act.

“We have taken samples, which we are analysing. This information is not peculiar to only the superstores. We are not threatening anybody, we are just telling you the consequences of dealing in GMO products if found in these stores. Within the next seven days, we believe you will withdraw from your shelves all foods that are derived from genetically modified organisms.”

The NBMA boss added, “Please, it is an advice and this advice is not without a legal backing. So we urge you to withdraw all GMO foods from your shelves and formalise your dealings by obtaining permits.

Read More

Why Hormonal Contraceptives May Cause Depression

A new study has revealed that hormonal contraceptives are associated with an increased risk of depression. According to the findings of this study published in ‘JAMA Psychiatry,’ Danish researchers studied more than a million women aged between 15 and 34, tracking their contraceptive and antidepressant use from 2000 to 2013.
While depression is a common but serious mood disorder that causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working, hormonal contraception refers to birth control methods that act on the endocrine system.
This pill works by preventing the ovary from releasing an egg, thickening the cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to reach the egg and changing the lining of the uterus making implantation difficult.
This pill works by preventing the ovary from releasing an egg, thickening the cervical mucus, making it difficult for the sperm to reach the egg and changing the lining of the uterus making implantation difficult.
The study linking contraceptives to depression excluded women who before 2,000 had used antidepressants or had another psychiatric diagnosis.
The New York Times reported that over all, compared with non-users, users of hormonal contraception had an 80 per cent increased risk of depression. Some types of contraceptives carried even greater risk.
Women who used progestin-only pills more than doubled their risk, for example, while those who use the levonorgestrel IUD (brand name Mirena) tripled their risk.
The risk persisted after adjusting for age, age of first intercourse, educational level and other factors.
The JAMA Psychiatry study also found that the risk was greater in adolescent girls, but this may be because adolescent girls are especially susceptible to depression.
Reacting to the development, Dr. Oejvind Lidegaard, senior author and a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Copenhagen said: “Even though the risk of depression increases substantially with these drugs – an 80 per cent increase is not trivial – most women who use them will not get depressed.
“Still, it is important that we tell women that there is this possibility and that there are effective non-hormonal methods of birth control.”

Read More