NewsUpdatesDot.info

Cat Toxoplasmosis: Prevention for Cats and Humans

Prevention of toxoplasmosis involves some simple precautionary steps for both you and your cat. Taking these steps won’t guarantee that you won’t get it, but every effort you make may help.

Toxoplasmosis is a disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) - a parasitic protozoan (single-celled organism). Both humans and cats may be infected by coming in contact with it. Wild and domestic cats are the definitive hosts for Toxoplasma, which means that the cat is the only animal in which T. gondii reaches sexual maturity.

The Centers for Disease Control reports that the Toxoplasma parasite may infect as many as 60 million people in the United States. Worldwide estimates are that up to 80 percent of some areas of the world may have it. Toxoplasmosis symptoms, however, are relatively rare, causing few people to seek treatment. Cats that are infected may or may not show signs of the disease.

The primary risk of exposure is from undercooked or raw meat, but there are other risk factors as well. In underdeveloped countries, infected soil is a factor.

Below are a few of the things you can do to prevent contracting toxoplasmosis yourself.

Do not eat raw or undercooked meat. If you touch raw meat, do not touch your face.

Wash your hands, cutting boards, utensils, and sink with soap and warm water.

Make sure you wash all raw fruits and vegetables thoroughly.

Turn over litter box duties to another person if you’re pregnant.

Have the litter box cleaned every day or more than once per day and get rid of cat feces before it becomes infective.

If you clean the cat box yourself, wear a mask and disposable rubber gloves and avoid breathing the dust. Wash your hands after cleaning the box.

While outdoors, avoid sandboxes as cats may use them as litter boxes.

Wear gloves when gardening. Keep your hands away from your eyes, mouth, and nose. Wash your hands when finished.

Do not drink unpasteurized dairy products, especially goat’s milk.

Here are some things you can do to help prevent your cat from contracting the disease.

Never feed undercooked or raw meat to your cat.

Make your cat an indoor cat to prevent her from hunting birds or rodents that might be carrying the disease.

Keep your cat indoors in order to keep her away from contaminated soil, plants, or insects.

July 29th, 2008 Posted by Kurt Schmitt | Health & Fitness | no comments

Diabetes - Treatment Methods for Diabetes

Exactly how diabetes is treated depends on a number of factors: which type the patient has, how severe it is, the age of the patient and others.

Gestational diabetes, for example, that sometimes afflicts pregnant women at around 6-7 months into the pregnancy, may disappear after birth. Treatment may be as mild as doing nothing to additional diet management. Type 1 diabetes, on the other hand, is currently incurable and typically requires lifelong insulin shots.

There are many other forms of treatment, most of them based on self-care.

More extensive treatments may involve drugs other than insulin.

Sulfonylureas, for example (such as Glucotrol and Micronase) help the body make insulin. That’s helpful for Type 1 diabetes patients who produce too little. Biguanides, on the other hand (such as Glucophage), aid in using insulin more efficiently, the common characteristic of Type 2 diabetes. Thiazolidinediones (like Avandia) help make cells more sensitive to insulin, again useful in treating Type 2.

Other drugs work on glucose levels. Meglitinides (such as Prandin) help control the blood sugar level after eating. Alpha-glucosidase inhibitors (like Precose) slow down the absorption of sugars in the digestive tract.

Every treatment option must be accompanied by careful monitoring of the blood glucose levels. This is important so that the patient and his or her health care provider can concentrate on finding the right treatment regimen.

Sometimes diet and exercise alone are sufficient to control diabetes; this more frequent in the case of Type 2 diabetics. Pre-diabetic cases are most amenable to this kind of treatment. Pre-diabetes means the patient’s glucose levels are elevated, but on not at the diabetic level.

The importance of diet can be deduced by the strong connection between Type 2 diabetes and obesity. If you carry most of your weight around the waist you are especially at risk. In such cases, losing sufficient weight may bring the blood glucose levels back to normal so that no medications are needed.

Many factors play into such a lifestyle adjustment and they tend to have other beneficial effects. Careful control of the amount and type of carbohydrates, adjustment of alcohol intake and other dietary changes aid in reducing cardiovascular problems of many types, including heart attack and stroke.

The blood glucose level is directly lowered by regular physical activity. Exercise improves immunity and brings other benefits. One important benefit is stress reduction. Stress can make diabetes worse, by affecting the hormones that regulate insulin, yet people are often stressed by worrying over their diabetes. By improving overall health, exercise along with an attitude adjustment, can reduce stress.

If insulin becomes necessary, there are other forms apart from traditional injections. Oral insulin is now in widespread use. Insulin inhalers have recently been approved by the FDA for treatment of diabetes. An insulin pump, which injects the appropriate amount automatically as needed, may be appropriate for some patients.

Testing and diagnosis by a doctor are the only way to decide which treatments are appropriate. If you think you might have diabetes, get a professional diagnosis as soon as possible. Early treatment of diabetes prevents many problems and more extensive treatments in the future.

July 29th, 2008 Posted by Julia Hanf | Health & Fitness | no comments

How Coral Calcium Products Are Made

You’ve probably seen many coral calcium products and, perhaps, you even take one for your own health but did you ever wonder just how the coral calcium itself is harvested?

Coral calcium is taken straight from the land, it’s natural - not man made and the two sources of coral calcium are the reefs off of the Brazilian coastline and those of Okinawa. These two places are rich in coral reefs and the land and the ocean bed at the baseline of the coral reefs are the spots where the coral is taken from.

Several coral reefs of the islands of Okinawa grow sideways and are of volcanic origin. Uniquely, coral reefs near underwater volcanoes grow sideways to cover the pits made by volcanoes in the seabed. The marine coral calcium droppings that are found piled around the reefs are cleared so the new growth of the reef has room to grow.

Marine coral sand or calcium is produced through disintegration and erosion of the reefs over many years. The coral calcium products are made with this sand. This is a natural process which can be caused by the movement of the waves over the reefs; by certain types of fish that like to munch on the coral; or even by droppings and breakage from the natural aging of the coral.

Okinawa is a group of very shallow islands so the coral sands accumulate almost to the point of choking the coral reefs. The harvesting of the coral calcium, which can be compared to pruning a rose bush, is, therefore, very important. The process is strictly regulated and closely supervised by the Okinawan government and only three Work Cooperatives have been granted the authority to gather the sands in that area.

In this process, the coral reef isn’t harmed at all; in fact, the process can improve and revive dying sections of reef. The devices that harvest coral, called suction dredges, work by a gentle suction on the sand at the ocean floor. Coral reefs are actually a few miles away from the place where the harvesting is taking place. In the interests of protecting the environment, the deep trenches dug for harvesting are fenced off.

So, you can take your coral calcium product in peace knowing that it is all natural and that the manner in which coral calcium is extracted from the ocean floors is not threatening to the ecosystem of the coral reefs, in fact, the clearing of the excess debris is actually helpful to the growth and health of the reef itself.

July 29th, 2008 Posted by Lee Dobbins | Health & Fitness | no comments

Men Will Definitely Do Anything To Go Away With Their Man Boobs

Other friends often bully men who have boobs their age. At a very young age, they will now tend to be very ashamed on their man boobs, leading them to decide that they will do anything just to get rid of man boobs. Though there are several ways to do it, people are still confused on what method they are going to use, the natural way or the surgical way. By getting it off their system, they will feel a lot manlier than they have ever been before.

The most common effect of having gynecomastia is backs pain and shoulder pains. Through this, it will hinder a man from doing his activities of daily living due to compromise in comfort of his own self. Commonly, this is one of the major reasons that you have to consider on why man want to get rid of their man boobs. Because, many people may think that they have actually done some interventions, just to look manlier. That is why; none of them are athletic because others leave most of them alone.

Another reason why men desperately want to get rid of their man boobs is to attract the opposite sex and start building personal relationships. Men with boobs are generally shy and don’t have the courage to ask the girl of their dreams for a date because they are extremely afraid of being laughed at and rejected. In this society where lean body and defined muscles play crucial roles in the dating scene, it is no wonder why men who are obese and have enlarged breasts remain dateless for years.

In this world, physical appearance plays an important role, with which it usually is the determinant factor to the person’s self esteem and self worth. These persons with man boobs will love to be accepted in the society as that of often rejected by most of the people their age. Also, it is considered to be beyond measure because people will not be able to freely wear what clothes they wanted to put on because they might just end up to be laughed at. Another reasons that when they are now entering into intimate relationships, they are often rejected for having their man boobs at that.

Indeed, your man boobs will speak your personality. And the greater it looks, the better it will be for the individual. With just basic exercises in your own home, you can definitely get rid of those unwanted man boobs. But, whatever method you may use, it does not matter now, for as long as you will be blessed enough to look manlier than ever, you cannot help but be thankful to the event that had transpired.

July 29th, 2008 Posted by Derek Silverman | Health & Fitness | no comments

Excessive Armpit Sweating

Armpits are arguably one of the least appealing parts of our anatomy. Sweaty ones can actually be quite gross in appearance. Women invariably rid their armpits of hair, a practice far lesser in men but keeping Armpit Sweat in check appears to be just as prevalent in either gender. The subject begs to be understood because it’s basically wrong to just Stop Armpit Sweat.

Under the right conditions, we need to sweat, armpits included. If not, our body will overheat from action or stimuli such as sports, work, tension, stress or just surrounding temperature. We’ll go sore or even blistered from rubbing when we work our arms against our body in physical movement as a result of lack of lubrication. We’ll also deprive ourselves of the fluid balance mechanism endowed upon us by Nature.

Our SNS (Sympathetic Nervous System) regulates and primes the body into involuntary action and Armpit Sweating is one of its best-serving channels. It is only when the SNS goes haywire that the sweating becomes a problem. This can happen in two ways: excessively or deficiently, termed medically as Axillary Hyperhidrosis and Axillary Anhydrosis respectively.

Unlike its opposite number, Excessive Armpit Sweating is rarely fatal or life-threatening. There are two types namely Primary and Secondary Axillary Hyperhidrosis. Also known as Primary ESD (Excessive Sweat Disorder), its causes are difficult to ascertain or pinpoint. Possible contributing factors are diet, hygiene, physical fitness, emotion, environment and heredity. Secondary ESD is nastier but clear-cut in its cause and treatment. It’s simply a direct effect of another underlying medical problem such as diabetes, thyroid and the likes, the cure of which will duly eradicate the Sweating Problem at hand.

Millions of Americans have Excessive Armpit Sweating in varying degree with some on the mild end of the scale not even aware of their ailment. On the other hand, those who are affected severely experience all kinds of struggle ranging from physical handicap, discomfort and burden to emotional torment and distraction and other psychological setbacks.

There are various ways to Stop Armpit Sweat, in part or in entirety. Although it can be tackled medically, the issues of cost, risk, side-effects, scars and reversibility are staked. To circumvent that, natural methods are a viable alternative worth considering. It is also known that simply adopting sound hygiene practice, healthy lifestyle habits, regular exercise and balanced diet goes a long way in alleviating Excessive Armpit Sweating.

July 29th, 2008 Posted by Jed Elaine | Health & Fitness | no comments