The Dangers In Wearing Contact Lenses By Ladies

Contact lenses are corrective plastic discs that are inserted on the eye’s cornea to correct the wearer’s vision. They have the same function as eye-glasses. Unlike eyeglasses, however, they are worn directly on the eye, are light-weight and almost invisible. Contact lenses are mostly used to correct blurry vision caused by far-sightedness, etc. These are conditions in which images are not focused properly on the retina, therefore cannot be relayed clearly to the brain.

 These lenses stick to the tear film that covers the front of the eye, so that each time the eyelid blinks, it passes over the lens and causes it to move slightly. This motion allows fresh tears to flow under the lenses providing necessary lubrication and oxygen to the underlying cornea.

 In Nigeria today, people put on contact lens for a variety of reasons. Some wear it to correct their vision as well as to ease the burdensome nature of wearing glasses all the time, which some say alters the way they look and affects the way people address them. In some other instances, contact lenses are not worn for vision correction at all, but for special effects or fashion.

 People use it for cosmetic pur-poses, such as changing their eye colour, for example, from black to gray or blue to suit their fashionable look. This is mostly seen on ladies at parties and high society events. While contact lenses are safely used by millions of people every day, they do carry a risk of eye infection. Speaking with Sunday Mirror on this issue, an Optometrist with Clear Vision Clinic in Lagos, Dr Clara Ochigbo, explained the various problems that can occur while wearing contact lenses. 

“Because contact lenses are worn directly on the eye, they can potentially cause side effects. The lenses, roughly the same diameter as a person’s iris, float on a layer of tears right in front of the cornea. When they are prescribed and fitted properly, contact lenses provide great vision, including peripheral vision, and they are hardly noticeable; but when they are not prescribed, they pose a great threat to the vision of the wearer,” she said.

 It is important to note that the lens are not “one size fits all,” as some people erroneously believe. In fact it must be carefully prescribed to match not only the person’s prescription, but his eye size and shape. Dr Ochigbo condemns the wrong use of contact lenses in Nigeria especially by young ladies.

 “This is the mistake we see in Nigeria today. People just go to the market to buy various colours of contact lenses for cosmetic purposes without proper prescription from an eye doctor. We see this trend especially in the young ladies in the university who do so mostly for fashion purposes. They only come to us when they begin to experience the side effects associated with wearing the wrong size of contact lens without prescription,” she decries.

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Posted in: latest health news

The New Killer Drug Every Parent Should Know About:2C-I or 'Smiles'

 Witnesses described the 17-year-old boy as "shaking, growling, foaming at the mouth." According to police reports, Elijah Stai was at a McDonald's with his friend when he began to feel ill. Soon after, he "started to smash his head against the ground" and began acting "possessed," according to a witness. Two hours later, he had stopped breathing.

The Grand Forks, North Dakota teenager's fatal overdose has been blamed on a drug called 2C-I. The night before Stai's overdose, another area teen, Christian Bjerk, 18, was found face down on a sidewalk. His death was also linked to the drug.

2C-I--known by its eerie street name "Smiles"--has become a serious problem in the Grand Forks area, according to local police. Overdoses of the drug have also be reported in Indiana and Minnesota. But if the internet is any indication, Smiles is surfacing in many parts of the country.

"At the moment I am completely and fully submerged, if you can't tell by my eyes, in a psychedelic world known as 2C-I," says a man who appears to be in his late teens or early 20s on a YouTube video posted back in October. His pupils are dilated. He struggles to formulate a description of what he's feeling--it's hard to tell if its because his experience is profound or if his speech skills are simply blunted. He's one of dozens of users providing Youtube "reports" of their experiences on the synthetic drug.

Smile's effects have been called a combination of MDMA and LSD, only far more potent. Users have reported a speedy charge along with intense visual and aural hallucinations that can last anywhere from hours to days.
 "At first I'd think something was extremely beautiful and then it look really strange," another user says in a recorded online account."I looked at my girlfriend's face for a minute and it was pitch black…the black started dripping out of her eye."

Because the drug is relatively new--it first surfaced around 2003 in European party scenes and only recently made its way to the states--the most readily accessible information about 2C-I comes from user accounts, many of which detail frightening experiences.

On an internet forum one user describes the high as a "roller coaster ride through hell," while another warns "do not drive on this drug," after recounting his own failed attempt on the roadway.


 Over the past few years, synthetic drugs like K-2, Spice and Bath Salts, have become increasing popular with teenagers and young adults. Their ingredients are relatively easy to obtain and until recently, they weren't classified as illegal substances. But as they come under legal scrutiny, one by one, they've triggered a domino effect of newer, altered, and more potent versions.


 "I think [the drugs] just keep changing to try to circumvent the law," Lindsay Wold, a detective with the Grand Forks police department, told Yahoo Shine. "Anytime we try to figure something out, it changes." Since July, her department has launched an awareness campaign in an effort to crack down on 2C-I's growing popularity with teens and young adults in the area. While reports of overdoses have increased, Wold says it's difficult to measure it's growth in numbers.


According data obtained by the American Association of Poison Control half of those exposed to 2C-I in 2011 were teenagers. That statistic was before two fatalities and multiple overdoses were linked to the drug in North Dakota.

 "The unfortunate thing is if kids who are overdosing on 2C-I go in to the hospital with a physical problem, a lot of times they can't test for it so it doesn't show up as a drug overdose," says Wold.


 The fact that 2C-I is new and untraceable in standard drug tests makes it more of a challenge for doctors to treat. It also contributes to drug's growing popularity among high school and college-age kids.


 "Synthetic drugs don't generally show up on drug tests and that's made it popular with young adults, as well as people entering the military, college athletes, or anyone who gets tested for drugs," Barbara Carreno, a spokesperson for the Drug Enforcement Agency, tells Shine.


 2C-I may be undetected in drug tests, but it's effects are evident in emergency rooms.


 According to James Mowry, the director of Indiana's Poison Control Center, 2-CI overdoses have been known to cause seizures, kidney failure, and fatally high blood pressure.


 "They do something that is called 'uncoupling." Mowry told an Indianapolis news station this month. "Basically, their muscles get to the point they cannot uncontract, so they sort of get rigid and then your temperature goes up really high and if you don't treat them really aggressively, those people usually end up dying."


 In July, the DEA announced Operation Log Jam, the first nationwide coordinated US Law enforcement strike specifically targeting designer synthetic drugs. That same month, 2C-I was classified as a Schedule 1 subtance, making possession and distribution of the drug illegal. Those caught distributing even a small amount are facing serious criminal charges. Stai's friend, who allegedly obtained the drug that caused his overdose, has been charged with third degree murder.


 While the drug's potential for overdose is apparent, the specific cases of fatalities are confounding. According to one site designed as a "fact sheet" for users, the dosage of the drug, which also comes as a liquid or a pill, is difficult to measure in powder form. When users snort the drug they could end up taking more than they realize, prompting an overdose. But in the case of Stai, the powder wasn't snorted, but melted into a chocolate bar and eaten.


 Some speculate those "hobby chemists"--making the drug using powders shipped from China, acetone and plant-based materials--are to blame for concocting particularly strong or toxic batches.

 "Anybody with a little money to front can import chemicals, mix, and sell it," says Carreno. "Many of these types of drugs were originally designed for research to be used on animals, not people." In fact, 2C-I was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin, a psychopharmacologist and scientific researcher. He's responsible for identifying the chemical make-up of the so-called "2C" family, a group of hyper-potent psychedelic synthetics. In 2011, 2C-E, a sister drug to 2C-I, was blamed for the death of a Minnesota teenager and the overdose of 11 others.

 Because of his research, Shulgin has become an unintentional icon of the synthetic drug movement, and his formulas have been reprinted, and reduced to plain language, on drug-related web forums.

 "Drugs used to take longer to get around but now with the internet they can spread by word of mouth online," says Carreno. If drugs like Smiles can be as viral as an internet meme, they have a similarly brief life-span. Already, a newer, re-booted version of the drug is cropping up on the other side of the planet, and by early accounts it's terrifying.

 The new drug called 25b-Nbome, is a derivative of 2C-I, that's sold in tab form. This past month, the drug has been linked to the non-fatal overdoses of two young adults in Perth, Australia. It's also been blamed for the death of a young man in the same area, who died after repeatedly slamming his body into trees and power line poles while high on the drug.


 "Overdose on these drugs is a reality... and can obviously result in dire consequences," a Perth police department official warned.


 It isn't obvious to everyone. "I can't recommend for anyone to go out and use this legally," says one alleged 2C-I user in a Youtube video with 12,000 views, "but why not?"

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Posted in: 2C-1 or smiles usage,killer drugs

How To Boost Your S**xual Prowess

What on earth is so extraordinary about the ‘G’ spot area? A lot! Do all women have this spot? Yes, every woman has one. To achieve the ‘G’-spot paradise, all you need is information. And today, I am going to give you the details of how you can utilise the stimulating power of ‘G’-spot to boost your s**x life as a couple.

Even if you have not explored its exclusive power, you must have heard about the ‘G’-spot and all its intricacies. The ‘G’-spot is an erogenous zone located inside the vagina that produces some pretty intense sensations.

At the same time, it can also produce some extreme frustrations and dissatisfaction because it is, for many women, elusive and mysterious. Although the whole notion of the ‘G’-spot is hardly new, s**x researchers and therapists have been flaunting it for years in the medical field, though skeptical about whether it really exists. The ‘G’-spot is a very real part of the female anatomy; this fact is newly documented by medical doctors. Thanks to this new research, one can now realise that every woman is capable of experiencing more concentrated sexual pleasure and powerful orgasm.

What is G-spot precisely?
There are disagreements about the actual size of the ‘G’-spot. It ranges from a quarter of an inch to a couple of inches in the upper wall of the vagina, about an inch or two past the vagina opening. Underneath are highly sensitive tissues that, when touched the right way, triggers feelings of s**xual happiness and contentment.

The ‘G’-spot sensation, as described by most women, is more intense than those sensations they feel via clitoral stimulation. According to most of these women, there is more of a warm flushing feeling that resonates deeply through and throughout their entire body. Even experts who always believed in the ‘G’-spot were not sure whether it was a distinct gland or merely a collection of nerve endings extending from the underside of the clitoris.

Here is what researchers are sure of: They believe the ‘G’-spot is its own entity and is actually equivalent to an organ in the male body.

This is known as female prostrate because their tissues surround an area that produces chemicals similar to that of male prostate, a gland that creates fluid to nourish the sperm. Another similarity between the male prostate gland and the ‘G’-spot is that when the ‘G’-spot is aroused, women experience wetness more than they do during other types of stimulation. Some women disclosed that they produce some clean, clear colourless fluid when they reach orgasm.

Where and how do couples locate the G spot? First, all you need to do as a couple is for the wife to lie back and just relax. Embarking on the first G-spot mission location by couples can really be wearisome and it will definitely take a lot of patience and persistence. However, locating the G-spot can be done in two ways.

The first is the wife locating it by herself, or with the assistance of her husband.

However, while counselling couples in my office, I always encourage the second way, that is, the husband helping out in the location of the ‘G’- spot. If you, as a wife, want to do it yourself, start by spreading your legs and bending your knees, so that your vagina is open and will be easily accessible. With your palm facing up, insert two fingers inside pressing your fingertips against the centre of the upper v**g*na wall. 

By so doing, you are actually seeking a spongy puckered or slightly ridged area, like the roof of your mouth. If after several minutes you are still coming up empty handed, this is the time to call for your husband’s assistance. Tell him to caress you the more, because when you are aroused, the ‘G’-spot is filled with fluid and it becomes larger because you have an easy time locating it, if you are turned on by your husband. One sort of strange tipoff is that you will experience a sudden need to urinate. Because the ‘G’-spot is so close to the urethra, touching it often triggers the urge to urinate.

However, there is no need to run to the rest room because this is just a false alarm. The urge will go after some seconds. Now, locating the ‘G’-spot by yourself is just to let you know you have one and nothing more.

But I am always of the opinion that the best way out is to engage your husband in locating this mystery spot to take you to this paradise of serial orgasm.

Most times, many wives shy away from the fact that they should guide their husbands to locate and stimulate their ‘G’- area. There is no reason to shy away from things that will encourage oneness and intimacy between husband and wife. And from experience and counseling, I am yet to see a man refusing the offer of s**x from his wife, all things being equal.

To guide your husband to your ‘G’-spot, here is the easiest way to start off. Have him gently-slip a finger or two inside your vagina, then softly feel along your upper vagina wall. If he is having trouble finding the right spot, encourage him to kiss you (the slightest erotic kiss, when administered well, sets a wife off in a jiffy).

The husband can increase this by touching his wife’s n*ppl*s or the outer v**lva area of her v**g**na in a feather-touch manner.

Remember, the more aroused your wife is, the more her ‘G’-spot area will stand out, making it easier to locate and caress. Also, consider placing a few pillows under your wife’s butt**cks and gently open her legs, to give you greater access. Once he hits the spot, just massage it slowly and slowly in a gentle circular manner. To prevent boredom and dryness, do your best by trying different types of caressing, such as ‘figure eight’ or a rapid sequence of pulses or a ‘push me’ around type of caressing.

The ‘G’- spot can take a lot of pressure, so your wife may want or require you to press harder. As a matter of fact, this is where you may not be able to predict your wife’s s**xual desire exclamations because you will be surprised by her moves and request.

One ‘G’-spot touch technique the husband definitely should treat his wife to is light tapping. Use the tip of your finger to tap firmly and repeatedly on the ‘G’-spot. I am sure you are enjoying this piece I will bring you the concluding part next week. Until then, I remain your loyal bedroom instructor.

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Posted in: latest health news,sex news

Better to Floss Before or After Brushing?

Did you know that taking good care of your teeth and gums can not only add years to your life, but also lowers risk for heart disease, stroke, diabetes—and even memory-robbing disorders like Alzheimer’s disease? 

 A new study of nearly 5,000 older adults found that those who brushed their teeth less than once a day were up to 65 percent more likely to develop dementia than those who brushed daily. 

 And here’s even more motivation to brush and floss: A new CDC study reports that nearly 65 million Americans—one out every two adults ages 30 and older—have gum disease, a far higher rate than has previously been reported. 

That’s dangerous, since a 2012 American Heart Association scientific statement reports that periodontal (gum) disease is a strong, independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and stroke).

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Posted in: latest health news

Latest Discovery: How Eating Banana Can Prevent HIV Infection

Your favorite oblong fruit might be even healthier than you realized. According to The Gazette (Montreal) newspaper, a new study has found that chemicals commonly found in bananas are as potent in preventing HIV as two synthetic anti-HIV drugs. 

 Researchers say the findings could lead to a cheap new component for applied microbicides that prevent intimate transmission of HIV. The miracle substance in bananas is called BanLec, a type of lectin, which are the sugar-binding proteins found in a variety of plants. 

Scientists have long been interested in lectins because of their ability to halt the chain reaction that leads to certain viral infections. In the case of BanLec, it works by binding naturally to the sugar-rich envelope that encases the HIV virus, thus blocking its entry into the body.

 "The problem with some HIV drugs is that the virus can mutate and become resistant, but that's much harder to do in the presence of lectins," said lead author Michael D. Swanson. "Lectins can bind to the sugars found on different spots of the HIV-1 envelope, and presumably it will take multiple mutations for the virus to get around them."

 Swanson and his colleagues noted that even modest success in developing BanLec into a womanly or BehindBased microbicide could save millions of lives. In fact, 20 percent coverage with a microbicide that is only 60 percent effective against HIV may prevent up to 2.5 million HIV infections in three years. 

 Furthermore, a BanLec ointment would be much cheaper to produce and distribute than most current anti-retroviral medications that require the production of synthetic components. One thing's for sure: new ways of stopping the transmission of HIV are desperately needed. 

Condoms are effective, but they are often used incorrectly or inconsistently, and in many cultures and developing countries women are not always in control of their intimate encounters. The introduction of a cheap, long-lasting, self-applied ointment derived naturally from bananas could change all of that.

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Posted in: latest health news

Possible Key to Slow Progression Toward AIDS Found

Although the average time between HIV infection and AIDS in the absence of antiretroviral treatment is about 10 years, some individuals succumb within two years, while so-called slow progressors can stay healthy for 20 years or longer. Researchers already know that many slow progressors carry a gene called HLA-B*57 (B57), an immune gene variant that is found in less than 5 percent of the general population but in 40 to 85 percent of slow progressors. 

Yet even among those with the B57 gene, the speed of disease progression can vary considerably. Now, a group of investigators from the Multi-Center AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), housed within the UCLA AIDS Institute, may have uncovered the key to this variation. It is a killer T-cell immune response that occurs early on in HIV infection and targets a section -- or epitope -- of the HIV protein called IW9. The novel findings are featured on the cover of the October issue of the Journal of Virology.

 "Since the hope for a vaccine is that it would elicit immune control, the thought has been that understanding how B57 protection works would yield helpful lessons and principles for vaccine design," said Catherine Brennan, an assistant research scientist in the department of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study's lead author. 

"There have been a lot of efforts to understand how the immune response to HIV in B57 carriers is superior to the response in non-B57 carriers, but it has been hard to nail anything down conclusively." HLA-B genes are known to work by activating killer T cells that recognize unique sections of proteins, or epitopes, but it has been a mystery which section or sections of HIV protein HLA-B57 and the killer T cells work through. Previous research had largely focused on the killer T-cell response after several years of infection. However, Beth D. 

Jamieson, a professor of medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine and the study's principal investigator, believes that the most critical responses are likely to occur early during infection, when the T cells are still strong and can reduce the number of places where HIV hides out in the human body. Researchers have studied the immune response in the early months of infection, but since it is not easy to predict at early stages which people will ultimately become slow progressors, correlating early immune responses with long-term outcomes has been difficult. 

"What made this kind of study possible for us is the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study, which is an incredible longitudinal study," Brennan said. The MACS has been freezing blood samples every six months since 1984 from thousands of men either at risk of HIV infection or already infected.

 "The size and duration of the study, along with the careful documentation of participant health and stewardship of frozen samples, allowed us to recover blood samples taken shortly after HIV infection from 14 HLA-B57 carriers with known infection dates and known long-term outcomes," Brennan said.

 "This allowed us to correlate early immune responses with long-term outcomes." It was important to the researchers to compare only the killer T-cell responses among those with the B57 gene variant, instead of comparing the responses of those with and without B57.

 Although B57 carriers have, on average, much better prognoses than non-carriers, there is tremendous variability among the population, and not all do well, Jamieson said. "Since possession of the B57 variant is not sufficient, we wanted to determine what specific immune events in B57 carriers are associated with immune control of the virus," she said.

 "We found that those who targeted the IW9 epitope early in infection had significantly longer times until onset of AIDS than those who did not. The finding that targeting of IW9 seems to be important is novel, as this epitope had been overlooked in many earlier studies of B57 and HIV."

 The researchers cautioned that the study was based on a small sample of only 14 individuals and that a wider pool of subjects is needed to replicate their findings. Also, their results point to a correlation with -- not causation of -- slower disease progression among B57 carriers who target the IW9 epitope soon after HIV infection.

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Posted in: latest health news

Yogurt Consumption, Blood Pressure, and Incident Hypertension

A recent study found long-term yogurt-eaters were less likely to develop high blood pressure and on average had lower systolic blood pressure than those who didn't eat yogurt. Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading.

 It measures the force of blood against the walls of your arteries when your heart is beating. 

During the 15 year study, researchers followed more than 2,000 volunteers who did not have high blood pressure at the start of the study. 

Yogurt consumption was measured by questionnaires filled out by the volunteers at three intervals over the study period. 

Study participants were 31 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure if at least 2 percent of their daily calories came from yogurt, which would be like eating at least one six-ounce cup of low-fat yogurt every three days.

 In addition, their systolic blood pressure increased less than that of people who didn't eat yogurt.

 The study was funded by the Framingham Heart Study of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and by a research grant from

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Posted in: latest health news

Childhood S**xual Abuse Linked to Later Heart Attacks in Men

In a paper published online this week in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect, investigators examined gender-specific differences in a representative sample of 5095 men and 7768 women aged 18 and over, drawn from the Center for Disease Control's 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey. 

A total of 57 men and 154 women reported being s**xually abused by someone close to them before they turned 18 and 377 men and 285 women said that a doctor, nurse or other health professional had diagnosed them with a heart attack or myocardial infarction. 

The study was co-authored by four graduate students at the University of Toronto, Raluca Bejan, John Hunter, Tamara Grundland and Sarah Brennenstuhl. "Men who reported they were s**xually abused during childhood were particularly vulnerable to having a heart attack later in life," says lead author Esme Fuller-Thomson, Professor and Sandra Rotman Chair at University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. 

"We had expected that the abuse-heart attack link would be due to unhealthy behaviors in s**xual abuse survivors, such as higher rates of alcohol use or smoking, or increased levels of general stress and poverty in adulthood when compared to non-abused males. However, we adjusted statistically for 15 potential risk factors for heart attack, including age, race, obesity, smoking, physical inactivity, diabetes mellitus, education level and household income, and still found a three-fold risk of heart attack."

 Co-author and PhD candidate Sarah Brennenstuhl notes that, "It is unclear why sexually abused men, but not women, experienced higher odds of heart attack; however, the results suggest that the pathways linking childhood s**xual abuse to physical health outcomes in later life may be gender-specific. 

For example, it is possible that females adopt different coping strategies than males as women are more likely to get the support and counselling needed to deal with their s**xual abuse." "These findings need to be replicated in future scientific studies before we can say anything definitive about this link," cautions Fuller-Thomson.

 "But if other researchers find a similar association, one possible explanation is that adverse child experiences become biologically embedded in the way individuals react to stress throughout their life, particularly with respect to the production of cortisol, the hormone associated with the "fight-or-flight" response. Cortisol is also implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases.

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Posted in: heart attack news,latest health news

Swine flu outbreak 15 times deadlier than thought, study finds

The number of people who died of swine flu during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic may be about 15 times higher than originally calculated, according to a new study. Researchers now estimate that 284,500 people worldwide died of infection from the H1N1 virus, commonly called the swine flu, between April 2009 and August 2010. At the time, 18,500 deaths had been laboratory-confirmed as being due to swine flu, according to the study from researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

 It was expected that the original number would be revised upward, the researchers said. In estimating the true number of deaths, the researchers gave a range of 151,700 to 575,400. Of the global swine flu deaths, the researchers estimated that 59 percent occurred in southeast Asia and in Africa, which together hold 38 percent of the world’s population. 

The new numbers could be used “to improve the public health response during future pandemics in parts of the world that suffer more deaths, and to increase the public's awareness of the importance of influenza prevention,” said lead author Fatimah Dawood, a CDC epidemiologist. Additionally, the researchers confirmed that swine flu killed an unusually high number of young people compared with seasonal flu viruses — 80 percent of those who died were under 65 years old, they said. 

The study is published online today (June 25) in the journal the Lancet. The researchers used data on H1N1 deaths from 12 countries of differing national income levels in making their global estimates. They included data on lower respiratory tract infection mortality rates from the World Health Organization to assess health differences across countries. 

The data included medical information on people who experienced flu symptoms, as well as those who died from the flu. In general, the numbers from higher income countries were more accurate; the lack of accuracy in the data from low- and medium-income countries accounts for some of the wide variation in the estimate, according to the report.

 For example, the estimated number of swine flu deaths in Mexico may be far too low, according to a comment by Dr. Cecile Viboud of the National Institutes of Health and Lone Simonsen of George Washington University, which was published along with the study in the journal. 

"These results are likely to be refined as more studies from low-income and middle-income regions become available, particularly from China and India, where about a third of the world's population live but where little information is available about the burden of influenza,” Viboud said.

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Posted in: latest health news,swine flu news

Your Memory Is Like the Telephone Game

Turns out your memory is a lot like the telephone game, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study. Every time you remember an event from the past, your brain networks change in ways that can alter the later recall of the event. Thus, the next time you remember it, you might recall not the original event but what you remembered the previous time. The Northwestern study is the first to show this.

 "A memory is not simply an image produced by time traveling back to the original event -- it can be an image that is somewhat distorted because of the prior times you remembered it," said Donna Bridge, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the paper on the study recently published in the Journal of Neuroscience. "Your memory of an event can grow less precise even to the point of being totally false with each retrieval."

 Bridge did the research while she was a doctoral student in lab of Ken Paller, a professor of psychology at Northwestern in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. The findings have implications for witnesses giving testimony in criminal trials, Bridge noted. "Maybe a witness remembers something fairly accurately the first time because his memories aren't that distorted," she said. 

"After that it keeps going downhill." The published study reports on Bridge's work with 12 participants, but she has run several variations of the study with a total of 70 people. "Every single person has shown this effect," she said. "It's really huge." "When someone tells me they are sure they remember exactly the way something happened, I just laugh," Bridge said. The reason for the distortion, Bridge said, is the fact that human memories are always adapting. 

"Memories aren't static," she noted. "If you remember something in the context of a new environment and time, or if you are even in a different mood, your memories might integrate the new information." For the study, people were asked to recall the location of objects on a grid in three sessions over three consecutive days. 

On the first day during a two-hour session, participants learned a series of 180 unique object-location associations on a computer screen. The next day in session two, participants were given a recall test in which they viewed a subset of those objects individually in a central location on the grid and were asked to move them to their original location. 

Then the following day in session three, participants returned for a final recall test. The results showed improved recall accuracy on the final test for objects that were tested on day two compared to those not tested on day two. However, people never recalled exactly the right location. 

Most importantly, in session three they tended to place the object closer to the incorrect location they recalled during day two rather than the correct location from day one. "Our findings show that incorrect recollection of the object's location on day two influenced how people remembered the object's location on day three," Bridge explained. 

"Retrieving the memory didn't simply reinforce the original association. Rather, it altered memory storage to reinforce the location that was recalled at session two." Bridge's findings also were supported when she measured participants' neural signals --the electrical activity of the brain -- during session two.

 She wanted to see if the neural signals during session two predicted anything about how people remembered the object's location during session three. The results revealed a particular electrical signal when people were recalling an object location during session two. 

This signal was greater when -- the next day -- the object was placed close to that location recalled during session two. When the electrical signal was weaker, recall of the object location was likely to be less distorted. "The strong signal seems to indicate that a new memory was being laid down," Bridge said, "and the new memory caused a bias to make the same mistake again."

 "This study shows how memories normally change over time, sometimes becoming distorted," Paller noted. "When you think back to an event that happened to you long ago -- say your first day at school -- you actually may be recalling information you retrieved about that event at some later time, not the original event."

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Posted in: latest health news,memory news

Ajegunle Primary Healthcare Centre operates without doctors, nurses, water, toilets

The Primary Healthcare Centre, PHC, in Ward G, Ojokoro Local Council Development Area, Ajegunle – Alakuko, Ilo, in Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area of Lagos State, is an eyesore.

 Since 2001, when it was constructed by the Federal Government and opened for public use alongside five others, the Ajegunle PHC has not undergone any form of infrastructural rehabilitation, staff rationalisation or refurbishment of equipment. The Centre which was meant to care for child delivery and management of other health complications and primarily paediatric related issues, is today a shadow of its self.

 Facts show that the Federal government aimed to utilise the facility to bring primary health services closer to the grassroots, as mooted and championed by former Minister for Health, Late Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti. But, 12 years down the line, the dream of that goal has been truncated.

Good Health Weekly investigations revealed that although the Centre was built by the Federal government, it was handed over to the Lagos state government several years ago, before the State, in turn, passed it to the local government and then down to the community.

 It was gathered that previous administrations did not make adequate effort to intercede on behalf of the ailing Centre,and it is now grossly under-utilised and currently bogged down by plethora of administrative and infrastructural problems and is constituting serious threat to the wellbeing of residents of the area. More findings show that there are just four bonafide staff at the Centre who habitually report late for work or fail to show up at all.

 Patients at the Centre confirm there is usually no doctor on call at any time of the day, and the only qualified and experienced staff is the Head of the nursing unit. Other staff are ad-hoc staff, privately recruited or hospital-trained nurses and’ health workers. Good Health Weekly discovered that in view of the chronic shortage of qualified medical staff, it is not uncommon for cleaners and sweepers to take up the task of administering drugs and even injections to children. 

The Centre, which, normally, should run 24 hours daily, remains open for just a few hours and is idle most of the day. As a result, patients who turn up for treatment and other services wait endlessly for attention. Findings showed that it is at least a decade ago that the delivery of any baby was recorded there.

 No drugs or medical consumables of any sort are being provided. Everything is bought or brought by the patient A visit to the Centre on one of the two weekly post-antenatal clinic days, reveals a structure wearing a forlorn look of dilapidation, decrepitation, and desolation. There is dirt and unkempt everywhere. 

The surroundings, including the road leading up to the premises is overgrown with weeds. Signs of farming are obvious within the open vast of land but a collapsed long section of the perimeter wall remains unfixed. The building itself, which at inception, was adequately equipped with modem hospital equipment, is now an empty carcass – its valuable stock of equipment either looted, damaged or obsolete. 

 The reception is in shambles, the waiting room in disarray and unbefitting of a health institution. There are huge cracks on the walls, rodents run about freely, and the electrical fittings a potential hazard. There is no running water. Taps are dry because the only borehole on the premises has long stopped functioning. 

With no reliable source of water, patients resort to purchasing and utilising packaged water (pure water) sachets. On such day, it is commonplace to observe mothers improvising with packaged water sachets to step down their children’s high body temperatures before injections can be administered. Expectedly, the premises is littered with empty packaged water sachets. 

 The septic tank (soak-away) is collapsed and toilet facilities are severly deplorable. In so many other ways is the degree of rot phenomenal. Patients confirm that drugs are never available because there is no straight forward and committed administrative mechanism for purchasing and distributing drugs at the Centre. It was gathered that nurses ont only dispense, but also sell drugs. 

 They complain of an arrangement through which the nurses, cleaners and other staff including members of a caretaker committee monitorng the Centre, take advantage of these lapses, to purchase drugs on private basis and resell to patients. Efforts to get the Chairman, Ifako-Ijaiye Local Government Area to comment on the issue were unfruitful as he could not be reached. 

Good Health Weekly also attempted to speak to the Chairman, Ojokoro LCDA, Alhaji Amusat Azeez but he was said to have travelled abroad. However, in a reaction to the development, the 2nd Vice Chairman, Ojokoro Joint CDA, Chief Olufemi Olusola Davies, gave a graphic picture of the challenge faced by the Centre.

 Davies, who is also Chairman, Ward G, under which the PHC is domiciled, acknowleged that the LGA is labelling the PHC a Federal institution. “The Local Government has abandoned the PHC, and pushed its problems to Ojokoro CDC to cope with,” he remarked in a telephone interview. 

 “When I came on as the 2nd Vice Chairman of the LCDA, the PHC being in my Ward, I organised people from different CDAs to join me to ensure that we bring the PHC back on track. I organised and reconstituted another committee to take charge but since that was done , we have not really started, mainly because we need funds to go on. “We are not getting these funds from the LGA. I asked the entire CDC including the 92 CDAs to help out, we are trying to bring the attention of the state government.

 In his narration, Davies recalled that in January 2012, when Governor Babatunde Fashola visited the LGA, during the cross-border campaign against polio between Lagos and Ogun state, he was there andI mentioned the condition of the PHC to the Governor. “The Governor replied just once. I was expecting something would have been done but nothing has been done . 

As Chairman, if I can get support from the state government, I will put things right,” he attested. Also in a chat, Omo-Oba Ademola Odusote, a concerned member of the committee, lamented the development. “We have this edifice that has been lying fallow since 2003. 

We were elected by the commubity to look after the Centre. “We went there and found that the place was rotten. We wrote to the Local Government Council. We went around, identified the problems and made recommendations on what is to be done, but till today, no response on the request about the state of the PHC has been obtained.” 

 Also speaking, another concerned party, Mr. Adeyemi Adesina, Chairman, Akinde/Karan, CDA, observes that “there only appears to be a semblance of activity there because of the two days of post-natal care clinics held weekly. “The place is in shambles, without water or toilets. devoid of alll structure of a PHC of that standard.We are calling attention of those in charge to come to the rescue of the people, he remarked.”

 Residents of Ward G, Ojokoro LCDA, are still baffled by the deplorable condition of their PHC. Already, there are doubts about the safety and reliability of diagnoses and treatments carried out at the Centre owing to the aforementioned issues. 

 Even as they now depend on primary health facilities at Oke-Odo, and private hospitals in adjoining communities in neighbouring Ogun State their hope and expectation is for the authorities to step in and take urgent and decisve action to turn its fortunes around for the better. 

 They want the state and Federal governments to come to terms over the Centre, for the sake of the people. Even as a big question mark lies over an annual allocation of N2 million that is accruable to the PHC since 2003 and no one appears to be in the know the status of the allocation.

 Part of their expectation is that the LGA should repair the road to the health Centre and provide adequate and qualified staff such as Youth Corper doctors in order to give the community something to show for its travails. It was gathered that trouble began after the creation of Ojokoro LCDA,when some miscreants vandalised the facilities. 

 They also want the Federal Ministry of Health to come up with clear-cut and straight forward guideline for the running and maintenance of the Centre, urgently rehabilitate it supply with modern-day equipment and hand it over to a new management committee. 

 The Federal Ministry of Health should also investigate the allegations of sharp practices with a view to prosecuting those found culpable mismanagement of funds meant for the Centre and ensure that in future, funds are disbursed regularly to the Centre and effectively utilised and closely monitored.

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Posted in: latest health news

Intake of bitter kola makes medication ineffective – experts

Medical experts in Lagos say that regular intake of bitter kola (Garcinia) has little or no side effect on human health.

The experts in Lagos said  that bitter kola was a potent antibiotic, which could be effective in the treatment of many ailments and infections.

Dr Bartholomew Brai, Nutritional Biochemist at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research, Yaba, Lagos, said that bitter kola was used in the preparation of herbal drugs either as nourishment, supplement or herbal remedy.

Brai said, “If a patient on medication chews bitter kola, it will make the drugs ineffective. Aside this, I do not think bitter kola has any other side effect.

“Bitter kola has lots of health benefits, like the treatment of cough, sneezing, cold, diarrhoeas, tuberculosis, bacterial infection and fever.

“It improves lungs function by expanding the alveolar ducts and sac in the lungs thereby improving and strengthening the fibres in the lung tissue.”

He said that there was no recorded side effect to the regular intake of bitter kola, adding that it was all round medicinal.

Also speaking, Dr Emeka Amaechi, a general physician, said that bitter kola had chemical compounds that could help the breakdown of glycogen in the liver.

“Bitter kola has antioxidant properties used as tonic for the liver and the gall bladder, which helps detoxifies the body system.

“It clears the voice by stimulating the production of mucus along the lining of the vocal tube which softens the dry throat,” Amaechi said.

He also said that bitter kola was anti-poison.

According to him, when food is suspected to be contaminated by bacteria, chewing of bitter kola will prevent the development of any infection or poison.

“It also reduces eye pressure and relieves arthritis by reducing swelling, pain and increase joint movement,” the doctor said.

Amaechi, however, said that the likely side effect of eating bitter kola could be incurred by any patient on drugs or medication.

The on line publication, “The amazing powers of bitter kola” said, “One general remark is that bitter kola is an anti-biotic.

“It can be eaten at any time and again no side effects under normal condition. It is one of those medicines that have no over dose.”

The bitter kola is another type of kola found in parts of Nigeria. Its biological name is “Garcinia kola” and it belongs to the family of “Guittiferal”.

It is a wonderful agricultural product with a wide range of applications in natural and orthodox medicine. (NAN)

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Posted in: bitter kola,traditional herbs and roots

The effect s*x has on women

S**x can trigger 'remarkable' responses in women - including altered fertility, immunity, libido, eating and sleep patterns - by the activation of diverse sets of genes, according to a study. 

Researchers investigated fruit flies, but say their findings could in principle be akin to responses in many animals - including humans - where sperm and semen is released inside the female’s body during s**x. Scientists from the University of East Anglia (UEA) studied how female Drosophila melanogaster - or fruit flies - respond to mating. 

 They discovered that a single protein found in semen generates a wide range of responses in many genes in females, which become apparent at different times and in different parts of the female’s body following mating. 

Lead researcher Prof Tracey Chapman, of UEA’s school of Biological Sciences, said: 'It’s already known that seminal fluid proteins transferred from males during mating cause remarkable effects in females - including altered egg laying, feeding, immunity, sleep patterns, water balance and s**xual receptivity. 

 We tested here the effects of one enigmatic seminal fluid protein - known as the "s**x peptide" - and found it to change the expression of a remarkable array of many genes in females - both across time and in different parts of the body. 

'There were significant alterations to genes linked to egg development, early embryogenesis, immunity, nutrient sensing, behaviour and, unexpectedly, phototransduction - or the pathways by which they see.

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Posted in: latest health news,sex news

Halving red meat consumption would slash heart disease and bowel cancer

Cutting back on the amount of red meat people eat would reduce the risk of chronic disease and also slash Britain’s carbon footprint, according to a study.

 Reducing red and processed meat consumption would not only prompt a fall in chronic disease incidence of between three per cent and 12 per cent in the UK, but our carbon footprint would shrink by 28 million tonnes a year, researchers said. 

Food and drink account for a third of all greenhouse gas emissions attributable to British consumers, with livestock farming accounting for around half of the proportion, owing to the large quantity of cereals and soy imported for animal feed.

 Even when imported foods are taken out of the equation, the Government’s 2050 target for an 80 per cent cut in the UK’s carbon footprint will be 'unattainable' without a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from livestock farming, say the researchers, citing the Committee on Climate Change. 

Previously published evidence shows that the risks of coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and bowel cancer rise by 42 per cent, 19 per cent, and 18 per cent respectively, with every additional 50 grams of red and processed meat eaten daily.

 The researchers used responses to the 2000-2001 British National Diet and Nutrition Survey to estimate red and processed meat intake across the UK population and published data from life cycle analyses to quantify average greenhouse gas emissions for 45 different food categories. 

They then devised a feasible 'counter-factual' alternative, based on a doubling of the proportion of survey respondents who said they were vegetarian - to 4.7 per cent of men and 12.3 per cent of women - and the remainder adopting the same diet as those in the bottom fifth of red and processed meat consumption. Those in the top fifth of consumption ate 2.5 times as much as those in the bottom fifth, the survey responses showed.

 Therefore, adopting the diet of those eating the least red and processed meat would mean cutting average consumption from 91g to 53g a day for men, and from 54g to 30g for women. The calculations showed that this would significantly cut the risk of coronary artery disease, diabetes, and bowel cancer by between three per cent and 12 per cent across the population as a whole.

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Posted in: latest health news,red meat gist

Medical miracle? Father 'wakes up' from seven-year coma

A South African man who had been in a coma for seven years was 'woken up' after being given a sleeping pill. Ayanda Nqinana, from Johannseburg, was left with severe brain injuries after his car crashed along an Eastern Cape road in 2005. His doctors said the father-of-one would most likely never recover.

 But his wife Nomfundo recently read a newspaper article about other long-term coma patients who had woken up after being fed sleeping pill Stilnox. She insisted her husband be given the tablets and, just five days later, Mr Nqinana was awake and able to talk. 

He even recognised relatives, including his son Ayavuya, and could recall conversations from before his crash. Mrs Nqinana told TimesLive.co.za: 'Ayavuya was so excited that he kept running to me saying: "Mum! Daddy knows my name." 

'I will never forget the day Ayanda woke up; it was the happiest day of my life. 'The very first request he made was to see his son, and that moved me.' Although Mr Nqinana is unable to hold a proper conversation, he can say the odd word and respond using sign language such as a thumbs-up gesture. 

But his doctor, Siyabulela Bungana, remains unconvinced about Stilnox's ability to rouse patients out of a coma. He said: 'He has not spoken to me. I have not seen any evidence of improvement.' The case is not the first time that Stilnox has woken up somebody in a coma.

 Last December, it is believed to have roused Sam Goddard, 23, after he suffered a series of strokes that left him in a coma. Mr Goddard, from Brisbane, Australia, was playing football in February 2010 when his head began to pound so severely he screamed for an ambulance.

 Doctors told his fiancée Sally Jane Nielson that he had suffered a staggering eight strokes, leaving him with permanent brain damage, and would never be able to walk, talk or recognise his loved ones, and would likely be blind. But after 45 days in a co

ma in the Intensive Care Unit at Royal Brisbane Hospital – where he also contracted pneumonia – Mr Goddard woke up and began making slow progress after he was given Stilnox.

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Posted in: latest health news

All you need to wash your v*g*n* is clean hands & water(A MUST READ FOR LADIES)

This is according to a todaysgist  reader who says she's a gynaecologist. 

 Hello todaysgist,

 I am a gynaecologist and I need you to pass a message to your female readers.

 Warning Ladies! Do not use soap to wash your v*g*n*. Don't use anything at all. It's self-cleaning. 

The discharge you get through out the day? That's how the vagina cleans itself. 

Using soap will only put you at higher risk of developing irritation or infection. 

Using warn water and clean had is enough. Discharge cleans out dirt and dead cells. 

The v*g*n* is also acidic so kills off harmful bacteria while allowing healthy bacteria to thrive.

 You don't need to clean your v*g*n*, just your vulva but you do this with water only!

 Soaps, washes, wipes are potentially harmfully and may k*ll off healthy bacteria! 

Bear in mind that your v*g*n*/v*lva is made up of mucosa - like skin but without the top protective layer. 

Mucosa is sensitive so more prone to irritation from chemicals in soaps &washes. All you to wash your v*g*n* is clean hands &soap!

 How can you not wash your vagina with soap,

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Posted in: latest health news