You wouldn't want to be suffering from embarrassment caused by having bad breath, right? Well, we all do. And that's why we always want to make sure that our breath is fresh and our mouth is always clean. Yeah, proper oral hygiene is the key to keeping bad breath at bay. But, guess what? Just merely having an oral regimen is not enough to fight off anaerobic bacteria. You need to have proper knowledge of this condition so you'll know exactly what to do whenever bad breath strikes. Yes, bad breath disease can strike from time to time. And it's what you should be prepared for.

The first thing that you need is know what bad breath disease really is. There are lots of resources out there where you can find complete information about halitosis, or what commonly known as bad breath. You can search the internet, read some books and magazines about oral health or you can go directly to your dentist and ask about it. And along with finding information about bad breath, you will also learn about the different things that may cause bad breath.

So what are the culprits? Here are some:

• Tooth Decay – if one or two of your teeth have decay, you can expect to have unpleasant breath odor.

• Periodontal Disease – also known as gum disease; if you have any problem with your gums, you are most likely to have bad breath

• Plaque – when you have plaque or even some food particles between your teeth, there is a high risk that you will have bad breath

• Dry Mouth – we need saliva to wash out the foods in our mouth but if you have dry mouth, these food particles will remain there and cause unpleasant odor

• Tonsil or Throat Infection – some problems in the throat are also known to cause bad breath

If you are already suspecting that you have bad breath, it is better that you really consult a dentist. Your dentist will know what steps to take to solve your problem. Usually, a prophylaxis will be performed to see if dental plaque or food stagnation is the cause of bad breath. Now, in case there is no oral cause identified, you may need to visit other clinics that specialize in breath odor problems. Or maybe, you are just being too conscious about your breath and the problem is psychological.

But, you know what? Having a fresher breath actually depends on your oral hygiene and how you take care of yourself. The following are some of the things that you can do to keep your breath always smelling good;

• Don't just brush – plain brushing is not enough to clean the teeth and mouth; in addition, you need to floss or other special brushes as per your dentist's recommendation to make sure that hard-to-reach areas in the mouth are also cleaned thoroughly.

• Clean the tongue – dental experts recommend that you use tongue cleaners to clean your tongue up to the back areas since this is where odor-causing bacteria live.

• Mouthwash it – before sleeping or each time you can't brush after meal, it is advisable to use mouthwash.

• Proper diet – eating fresh and fibrous vegetables will help you maintain clean mouth all the time. Avoiding too much coffee will also help.

• Drink more water – drinking lots of water will help your body produce more saliva which is needed to flush the food particles in the mouth.

Source : worldmedicalguide.com

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Higher-protein meals may help overweight and obese people burn more fat, the results of a small study suggest.

Research has shown that overweight people are less efficient at burning fat after a meal than thinner people are. In the new study, Australian researchers looked at whether the protein composition of a meal affects that weight-related gap.

They found that overweight men and women burned more post-meal fat when they ate a high-protein breakfast and lunch than when they had lower-protein meals. That is, the added protein seemed to modify the fat-burning deficit seen in heavy individuals.

"Our research suggests that people with higher body fat burn fat better after a high-protein meal than people with lower levels of body fat," lead researcher Dr. Marijka Batterham, of the University of Wollongong in New South Wales told Reuters Health.

A number of studies have suggested that high-protein diets may help people shed weight more easily -- possibly, in part, because protein suppresses appetite better than fat or carbohydrates do.

The current study did not look at weight loss, so it's not possible to tell whether the increased fat-burning seen in overweight participants would translate into fewer pounds over time, Batterham said.

But answering that question, she said, will be the next step.

The findings, published in the journal Nutrition & Dietetics, are based on 18 adults whose post-meal metabolism was tested on 3 separate days. The average age was 40 years, eight subjects were overweight, six subjects had a normal weight, and four were obese.

More : uk.reuters.com

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What is it like to be sick outside of the United States?

Well, if you are among the 47 million uninsured or 25 million underinsured in America, health care in capitalist democracies such as Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Great Britain or Taiwan is decidedly better than the broken system we have here.

Switzerland requires all its citizens to have coverage.

In Germany, co-payments are only $15 every three months. In Japan, health insurance is private and patients can see a specialist whenever they like.

In Great Britain, doctors get bonuses for improving their patients' health. Taiwan stores its citizens' medical histories on electronic cards, which slashes administrative costs.

And in none of these countries do people go bankrupt because of unpaid medical bills.

How do I know this? Because I was at the state's first house party for the Frontline documentary "Sick Around The World," a screening organized by the Tennessee Health Care Campaign and the Tennessee Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program. Retired doctor Art Sutherland is the president of the latter group, and Wednesday night he brought about 30 people into his East Memphis home.

These were people who, for the most part, have health insurance. For them, a lack of health care does not -- at least not today -- force them to choose between medicine or food.

But they realize that for too many Tennesseans, including the estimated 14 percent who are uninsured, the lack of health care is a matter of life and death.

There is no perfect system -- not in any of the countries featured in the documentary, nor in any country in the world. In fact, the documentary made clear that most of the foreign systems don't bring in enough money to cover the costs.

Unlike Michael Moore's "Sicko," this documentary isn't a politically charged indictment against America as much as it is a call to glean universal health care lessons from our global neighbors.

After all, if Taiwan can insure all its citizens, why can't we?

Why don't we?

"It's a really hard sell that health care is a right," said Charlotte Borst, a Rhodes College history professor on sabbatical this year. "To me, that's the biggest issue."

Once we agree that health care is a right, everything else, Borst believes, is just a matter of figuring out the details of a universal health care system.

One of those who viewed the hourlong documentary was Sandy Arnold, a pediatrician at Le Bonheur Children's Medical Center and formerly a doctor in Canada.

"It's part of the Canadian national identity," Arnold said, that health care for all is a right, and one of the values that distinguishes them from their neighbor to the south.

And therein lies America's rub. We believe the government is responsible for providing every child an education, and everyone police protection, even that an ambulance should attend to your emergent medical needs.

But the right to health care? In America? It's not yet part of our national identity.

Shifting that tide -- and winning the inevitable fight with the health care and pharmaceutical industries -- could take years.

But in the meantime, Sutherland and Emily Snyder, West Tennessee coordinator for the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, hope that voters educate themselves on Sens. John McCain's and Barack Obama's health care proposals before heading to the polls. (Get a side-by-side comparison of the presidential candidates' ideas at health08.org.)

"The United States needs to use its American ingenuity and use the sense of fairness I think we still have to solve this," Sutherland said.

To get involved

The local organizing group of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign meets next at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Memphis Center for Independent Living, 1633 Madison. The group meets on the third Thursday of each month, same time and place.

For more information about the organization or hosting your own house party to screen "Sick Around The World," contact Emily Snyder, the West Tennessee coordinator for the Tennessee Health Care Campaign (thcc2.org), at esnyder@thcc2.org or 590-4873.

We believe the government is responsible for providing every child an education ... But the right to health care? In America? It's not yet part of our national identity.

source : commercialappeal.com

 

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There’s a reason I’m starting this article with the mitochondria.They’re the part of the cell that creates energy, the very foundation of cellular rejuvenation. A young cell is characterized by optimal energy production.

Slow down that production, and you begin the aging process. The goal, therefore, is to rev up your cellular metabolism—the chemical and physiological processes by which the body builds and maintains itself and by which it breaks down food and nutrients to produce energy.

To understand the concepts of cellular metabolism and rejuvenation, we need to understand the inner workings of the cell—in particular, the mitochondria, sometimes called the “cellular power plants” because they metabolize food-derived chemicals to produce energy.

Mitochondria are responsible for converting nutrients and oxygen into the energy-yielding molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to fuel the cell’s activities.Without energy, the cell can no longer repair itself, resulting in cellular breakdown.

One of the things that makes the mitochondria unique is that they have their own set of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) molecules.We are all familiar with DNA, which is the material inside the nucleus of cells that carries genetic information.

But what many people are not aware of is that the mitochondria also contain DNA, above and beyond the DNA found in the nucleus of the cell. Unfortunately, the primary site of damage to the cell is in the DNA found in the mitochondria. The DNA in the mitochondria is at exceptional risk because of the free radicals produced in this tiny furnace during energy production. The cell automatically fixes much of the damage done to nuclear DNA; however, the DNA in the mitochondria cannot be as readily fixed. Therefore, extensive DNA damage accumulates over time and shuts down the mitochondria, causing the cells to die
and the organism to age.

There have been many theories of aging; one of the most significant is the free-radical theory proposed by Denham Harman, M.D., Ph.D.A free radical is a molecule that is missing an electron in its outer orbit. Dr. Harman first suggested that free radicals alter the molecular structure of the cell, causing damage to the cell. They do this by stealing their missing electron from other molecules to complete their outer orbit. In other words, free radicals are molecules that want to join with other molecules, and by doing so they cause cellular damage.

As is often the case with pioneering work in the scientific worlds, Dr. Harman’s theories were essentially ignored for decades. However, scientists now recognize and acknowledge the importance of free radicals in the aging process. It is also well established that free radicals play an active role in very diverse, age-related diseases.

 

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Massachusetts health insurance coverage is available and affordable to 95 percent of the state's taxpayers. Only 5 percent of the taxpayers don't have health insurance in Massachusetts. Perhaps a good path for other states to follow when doing health insurance reforms.

About 95 percent of adults filing health care information with tax returns have health insurance coverage; majority of filers complying with health reform filing requirements, show the numbers provided by Massachusetts Department of Revenues.

Figures released today by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue show that an overwhelming majority of adult tax filers are covered by health insurance.

A DOR analysis concludes that 95 percent of 3.34 million adults filing health insurance information with their tax returns for tax year 2007 have health coverage, reinforcing demonstrated progress toward the goal of enrolling all state residents in health insurance.

Under the health care reform legislation passed in 2006, most tax filers are required to indicate to revenue officials through their tax filings whether or not they have health insurance coverage. Tax year 2007 was the first year for DOR to enforce the individual mandate through the collection of personal income taxes, for which a new state form, Schedule HC, was developed.

For the first year of implementation, taxpayers overwhelmingly complied with the health insurance tax filing requirement. Only 1.4% of tax filers required to file health insurance information with their tax returns failed to comply.

While 95% of filers have health coverage, just over 2.5 percent (about 86,000 tax filers) indicated they could have afforded coverage but chose not to obtain it, resulting in a loss of their personal exemption ($219 for an individual).

Slightly less than 2 percent (about 62,000 tax filers) said they could not afford health insurance based on affordability schedules established by the Connector and were not subject to the penalty.

The numbers reported today are based on a review of the data from 86 percent of expected total tax filings for tax year 2007. More than 200,000 taxpayers have filed for extensions and will not have their returns processed until after the October filing deadline. The figures released today do not include children or those who do not file tax returns and is subject to subsequent verification.

Penalties for those who can afford health insurance but choose not to obtain it accrue monthly in 2008, and can tally as much $912 for a full year without coverage. DOR is currently mailing individuals who lacked health insurance in 2007 but could have afforded coverage to highlight the higher penalties and provide information on opportunities for finding affordable coverage.

 

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Twice a day, 7-year-old Hannah Austin exhales all the air from her lungs. She then takes a puff of a low-dose steroid from a purple inhaler, holds her breath for a few seconds and exhales.

Like nearly 7 million other children in the United States, Hannah, a second-grader from Smyrna, Georgia, has asthma. This simple exercise with the inhaler allows her to breathe easier.

But on a day when the air quality is poor, she often struggles to catch her breath. "We know that environmental pollutants have a very significant impact on children with asthma," said Dr. Avril Beckford, a pediatrician in Austell, Georgia. Children are more vulnerable to the effects of air pollution because their lungs don't fully form until they are adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics noted.

The leading pediatricians group added that "because children spend more time outdoors than do adults, they have increased exposure to outdoor air pollution." "If you live near a polluted area of a city, it's like the child is smoking," said best-selling author and pediatrician Bill Sears. "We all know what smoking does for the lungs."

Sears called the long-term effect of air pollution on a developing child devastating. "Children do not grow as well because they do not breathe as well. The brain really needs a lot of oxygen. They don't think as well. They don't learn as well."

Hannah's asthma was diagnosed last summer. Her mother, Drew Austin, became alarmed when she noticed that Hannah was short of breath while swimming. "When her asthma is really bad, she just gets lethargic and starts coughing," Austin said.

Coughing, wheezing or whistling when exhaling, and shortness of breath are some of the most common symptoms of asthma in children.

Sears warned that the symptoms can lead to poor sleep habits. "When the child wakes up in the morning with a runny nose and baggy eyes, you can tell they didn't sleep well because they were coughing in the night," he said.

Proper diagnosis and treatment can help manage asthma symptoms. Experts also recommend that people with asthma avoid indoor and outdoor allergens and irritants.

Indoor triggers include dust mites, mold, furry pets, tobacco smoke and certain chemicals.

Outdoor irritants range from pollen to cold air to air pollution.

Michael Chang, an atmospheric research scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, estimated that 50 percent of air pollutants are created by cars and trucks.

He explained many parts of the U.S. are now transitioning to higher temperatures and more humid summers.

"We don't have the winds that blow things out of the air," Chang said. "The stuff we put into the atmosphere lingers longer."

He compared the air quality in many big cities to a chemical soup of thousands of compounds, including ground-level ozone and fine particulate matter. The Environmental Protection Agency describes ground-level ozone as the primary component of smog. It includes motor vehicle exhaust, industrial emissions, gasoline vapors and chemical solvents.

Chang's office is responsible for monitoring air quality and issuing smog alerts in Atlanta. He also tries to educate residents by telling them to pay attention to the warnings.

"Jogging late in the afternoon during the summer is not the best time," Chang said. "Ground-level ozone is at its worst at that time of day."

Beckford goes one step further, warning parents to not choose a house, school or playground that is close to a busy road or a highway.

source : cnn.com

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Vitamin supplements taken by millions of people do not increase life expectancy and may raise the risk of a premature death , according to a review of 67 studies with more than 230,000 subjects.

The review, by the Cochrane Collaboration which regularly pools data from trials to evaluate drugs and treatments, found supplements vitamin A, vitamin E and beta-carotene are detrimental to health. In 47 trials with 180,938 people and a low risk of bias, the "antioxidant supplements significantly increased mortality", the authors wrote. When the antioxidants were assessed separately and low risk of bias trials were included and selenium excluded, vitamin A was linked to a 16% increased risk of dying, beta-carotene to a 7% increased risk and vitamin E to a 4% increased risk.

Evidence for vitamin C and selenium was more equivocal, suggesting there was no benefit to taking these pills compared with a placebo.

"The bottom line is current evidence does not support the use of antioxidant supplements in the general healthy population or in patients with certain diseases," said Goran Bjelakovic, who performed the review at Copenhagen Universityhospital in Denmark. "There was no indication that vitamin C and selenium may have positive or negative effects. So regarding these we need more data from randomised trials."

All the supplements are categorised as antioxidants; research has suggested these chemicals underlie some of the beneficial effects of eating fruit and vegetables because they soak up harmful byproducts of metabolism which can damage cells and cause aging.

While the evidence of a beneficial effect of a diet rich in fruit and veg is solid, the Cochrane data suggest antioxidant supplements are either useless or detrimental.

Bjelakovic's team evaluated 67 randomised clinical trials with 232,550 subjects; 21 of the trials were on healthy subjects, while the rest tested patients with a range of diseases. The evidence suggests it would be safer to obtain the chemicals not as supplements but by eating plenty of fruit and vegetables.

source : guardian.co.uk

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