A REVIEW ON ANALYSIS OF THERAPEUTIC PROCEDURE OF SHIRODHARA AND ITS PROBABLE MODE OF ACTION

Shirodhara is one of the four types of Murdha Taila, which involves a continuous impact of medicated oil due to gravity flow from a dhara pot at the height of 4 angulas through a wick on the forehead of the subject at a controlled temperature for a prolonged duration (approx. 30-45 min.). In today’s era, unhealthy lifestyle, stress, and anxiety lead to many problems like insomnia, headache, facial paralysis, scalp psoriasis, hair fall etc. There is a need for time to find out the safe and effective treatment modalities to combat these challenges from the treasures of Ayurveda. In Ayurveda, many Samhitas have mentioned procedural outcomes, but their mode of action is not mentioned anywhere. So a review study was conducted, and various Samhitas, Nighantus, research papers, scientific journals, and modern books were considered.

Preventive and Promotional Effort for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus based on Local Resources

The people of Gendang Rejeng are potentially at a higher risk of type 2 diabetes due to their unhealthy lifestyle and eating habits linked to their traditional practices. There are efforts to identify the potential risk of type 2 diabetes and carry out preventive and promotive measures based on local potentials. The efforts include: 1) health check-ups; 2) diabetes screening; 3) health education; and 4) discussion with community leaders on adapting traditional practices to be more health-friendly. Through the study we discovered that out of 29 people of Gendang Rejeng that had been screened for diabetes, 62.1% had a low risk, 13.8% had a higher risk, and the remaining 24.1% had a moderate risk of diabetes. There is a need to study local potentials and traditional elements which can be incorporated into the efforts to reduce the risk of diabetes and prevent other health complication. Ginger is an example of one of the local potentials that can be utilized for consumption to improve the health of the people of Rejeng

Prospective Association of Maternal Educational Level with Child’s Physical Activity, Screen Time, and Diet Quality

Evidence has identified unhealthy lifestyle behaviors as the main contributors to obesity in children, so it is essential to identify factors that could influence children’s lifestyles. The objective of the present study was to analyze the association of baseline maternal educational level with child’s physical activity, screen time, and dietary habits at follow-up. This community-based cohort study was carried out between 2012 and 2014 and included 1405 children aged 8 to 10 years old. Maternal educational level was used as an indicator of child’s socioeconomic status. Physical activity, screen time, and dietary habits were assessed by validated questionnaires. The odds of having commercially baked goods for breakfast [OR 1.47 (95% CI 1.03 to 2.10)], going more than once a week to a fast-food restaurant [OR 1.64 (95% CI 1.20 to 2.26)], and taking sweets and candys several times a day [OR 3.23 (95% CI 2.14 to 4.87) were significantly higher among children whose mothers had a lower educational level compared to their peers whose mothers had a higher level. These associations held for taking sweets and candy several times a day after additional adjustment for the corresponding dietary behavior at baseline. Maternal educational level was inversely associated (p < 0.001) with child’s screen time at follow up and being in the lowest maternal educational category was associated with an increased odds of surpassing the maximum recommended time of screen time of 120 min per day (OR (95% CI) 1.43 (1.07 to 1.90), p = 0.016). Maternal education is a predictor for unhealthy dietary habits and high screen time in children.

Environmental Contaminants Acting as Endocrine Disruptors Modulate Atherogenic Processes: New Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Diseases in Women?

The number of aged individuals is increasing worldwide, rendering essential the comprehension of pathophysiological mechanisms of age-related alterations, which could facilitate the development of interventions contributing to “successful aging” and improving quality of life. Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) include pathologies affecting the heart or blood vessels, such as hypertension, peripheral artery disease and coronary heart disease. Indeed, age-associated modifications in body composition, hormonal, nutritional and metabolic factors, as well as a decline in physical activity are all involved in the increased risk of developing atherogenic alterations that raise the risk of CVD development. Several factors have been reported to play a role in the alterations observed in muscle and endothelial cells and that lead to increased CVD, such as genetic pattern, smoking and unhealthy lifestyle. Moreover, a difference in the risk of these diseases in women and men has been reported. Interestingly, in the past decades attention has been focused on a potential role of several pollutants that disrupt human health by interfering with hormonal pathways, and more specifically in non-communicable diseases such as obesity, diabetes and CVD. This review will focus on the potential alteration induced by Endocrine Disruptors (Eds) in the attempt to characterize a potential role in the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in the atheromatous degeneration process and CVD progression.

The association between an energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index and inflammation in rural and urban Black South Africans

Objective: To quantify the inflammatory potential of the diet of rural and urban Black South Africans using an adapted energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (AE-DII) and to investigate its relationship with inflammatory and cardio-metabolic disease risk markers. Dietary inflammatory potential has not been investigated in African populations. Design: Cross-sectional investigation. Setting: Rural and urban sites in the North West province of South Africa. Participants: 1,885 randomly selected, apparently healthy Black South Africans older than 30 years. Results: AE-DII scores ranged from –3.71 to +5.08 with a mean of +0.37. AE-DII scores were significantly higher in men (0.47±1.19) than in women (0.32±1.29), and in rural (0.55±1.29) than urban participants (0.21±1.19). Apart from its dietary constituents, AE-DII scores primarily associated with age, rural-urban status and education. Contrary to the literature, alcohol consumption was positively associated with AE-DII scores. Of the four tested inflammatory and 13 cardio-metabolic biomarkers, the AE-DII was only significantly negatively associated with albumin and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and positively with waist circumference and fasting glucose, upon full adjustment. Conclusion: Rural men consumed the most pro-inflammatory diet, and urban women the least pro-inflammatory diet. The diet of the participants was not overtly pro- or anti-inflammatory and was not associated with measured inflammatory markers. The inflammatory potential of alcohol at different levels of intake requires further research. Understanding dietary inflammatory potential in the context of food insecurity, unhealthy lifestyle practices and lack of dietary variety remains limited.

Lifestyle behaviour of future medical professionals in a tertiary care institute in north-eastern India: a cross-sectional descriptive study

Background: The incidences of some non communicable diseases like diabetes mellitus, obesity, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases have been rising in the country since last few decades due to the unhealthy lifestyle of the people. Researches conducted among medical and nursing students shown that even though they are aware about the consequences of practicing unhealthy lifestyle but still they do not follow the suggested guidelines for healthy lifestyle. To assess lifestyle behaviour related to dietary pattern, physical activity, substance use, sleep, stress management, among MBBS and nursing students. NEIGRIHMS, a tertiary care institute in the capital city of the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, Shillong.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 313 participants by using a pre-tested self-administered questionnaire. The data was analyzed using the software Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) 21 version.Results: In this study, 189 (60.4%) students reported sedentary activity of spending ≥2 hours per day on phone, tablets, laptops, television, computers, etc and majority of them (59.7% and 57.2%) use the gadgets for social and whatsapp messaging respectively. Only 18 (5.8%) participants had reported regular physical activity (5 times a week) when asked about the previous month.Conclusions: Sedentary lifestyle, lack of any physical activity, use of gadgets like mobiles, laptops, etc for activities like social media, Whatsapp, unhealthy eating habits were found to be prevalent among the medical students.

Stimulus from the activator agent Solanum melongena L. on sperm quality through the lipid profile of Rattus norvegicus with hyperlipid induction

Introduction: A high-fat diet and obesity, promoted by an unhealthy lifestyle, affect the structure of spermatozoa. The study aims to determine the effect of using purple eggplant on improving lipid profile and sperm quality as an alternative to traditional medicine of Rattus norvegicus.

Digital Nudging for Online Food Choices

When people search for what to cook for the day, they increasingly use online recipe sites to find inspiration. Such recipe sites often show popular recipes to make it easier to find a suitable choice. However, these popular recipes are not always the healthiest options and can promote an unhealthy lifestyle. Our goal is to understand to what extent it is possible to steer the food selection of people through digital nudging. While nudges have been shown to affect humans' behavior regarding food choices in the physical world, there is little research on the impact of nudges on online food choices. Specifically, it is unclear how different nudges impact (i) the behavior of people, (ii) the time they need to make a decision, and (iii) their satisfaction and confidence with their selection. We investigate the effects of highlighting, defaults, social information, and warnings on the decision-making of online users through two consecutive user studies. Our results show that a hybrid nudge, which both involves setting a default and adding social information, significantly increases the likelihood that a nudged item is selected. Moreover, it may help decreasing the required decision time for participants while having no negative effects on the participant's satisfaction and confidence. Overall, our work provides evidence that nudges can be effective in this domain, but also that the type of a digital nudge matters. Therefore, different nudges should be evaluated in practical applications.