Does going out with wet hair give you a cold? Do toads really give warts? Does shaving really make your beard grow faster? Our childhood is peppered with anecdotes that our grandparents give to us, which they might have got from their own grandparents. But beyond all the tips to lose weight, tips to conceive, hygiene tips and what not, there really is no proof that these 'Old Wives' Tales' actually work. The intentions behind them might be for the best, but when it comes to health, you can't leave it to the imagination. That's what you have science for. Back your tips for a healthy life with facts, as we debunk some Old Wives' tales for you:
1) Cracking knuckles leads to arthritis
While cracking your knuckles may not exactly be beneficial, they are not harmful too. When you crack your knuckles, you're merely creating air cavities in your joint due to elongation of muscles. The popping sound is of the gas escaping. So the next time you have the urge to crack your knuckles, do so without the fear of getting arthritis.
2) Chocolate helps with pre-menstrual cramps
If you believed what everyone said, chocolate would be the cure for every disease in the world. But truth be told, while chocolate might help you with your cravings, but it sure doesn't help with the pre-menstrual cramps. What works for pre-menstrual cramps is exercise for pregnant women. Sorry, chocolate lovers.
3) Carrots improve your vision
What started off as rumor during the second world war, has manifested as one of Grandma's favorite dinner time myth. While carrots might certainly be one of the healthiest food for kids to eat, it won't do anything to improve your eyesight. It however certainly provides Vitamin A that helps prevent night blindness.
4) Spicy food causes ulcers
If the spicy food was the main reason behind ulcers, then the Mexicans would be the first one to complain. But fortunately, it's not the reason. Spicy foods may aggravate the discomfort from existing ulcers, but the main reason is excessive use of anti-inflammatory drugs.
5) Exercise is a strict no-no after heart attack
Of all the myths about heart diseases, this one is the most dangerous of them all. A heart attack survivor's first step of rehabilitation is to get active. Indulging in exercises prescribed by your heart specialist is a must for preventing any recurrence.
There's nothing wrong in heeding the advice of your parents and grandparents. After all, they only have the best of intentions. It gets wrong when we stop fact-checking them. Instead, educate your loved ones about the correct reasoning behind them. For when it comes to health, it pays to be smart.
A new method to examine potential antimalarial drugs and vaccines possessing the potential to treat the liver stage of malaria infection has been engineered by a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) using human liver cells, derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. Malarial infection caused approximately 500,000 deaths globally every year. This innovative methodology could possibly present fresh prospects for customized antimalarial drug testing and the progress of tailor made medication to fight the condition.
Published in Stem Cell Reports, senior study author Sangeeta Bhatia, MD, PhD, the director of MIT's Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies and a biomedical engineer at Brigham and Women's Hospital says, "Our platform can be used for testing candidate drugs that act against the parasite in the early liver stages, before it causes disease in the blood and spreads back to the mosquito vector. This is especially important given the increasing occurrence of drug-resistant strains of malaria in the field."
Bites by infected mosquitoes are the reason behind the spread of malarial infection amongst humans where it finds a hospitable host for the growth of the parasites initially in the liver cells followed by the red blood cells. This is the stage where physical symptoms of the disease come forward. It has been a challenge to completely wipe out malarial infection as the parasites can stay alive in the liver and could potentially trigger a relapse by attacking the bloodstream possibly in the future. One way towards eradication of the disease would be if there are medicines or vaccines that could target the liver stage in turn blocking the parasites penetration into the bloodstream thus preventing a relapse.
Due to the limited access to the pool of liver cells and the lack of genetic variety of these human donor cells, the existing processes for demonstrating liver-stage malaria in a dish are constrained. Hence, it has been quiet difficult to investigate and develop custom designed drugs for individual patients as it is hard to ascertain the levels of genetic influences respond to antimalarial medicines.
Working towards triumphing over these obstacles, Bhatia and her team reconstructed human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)--embryonic-like stem cells skilled at transforming into additional distinctive cell types significant for investigating a specific infection. iPSCs are, theoretically, a renewable supplier of liver cells that preserves the donor's genetic makeup and can be produced from any human donor. These characteristics apportion a wide-ranging gamut of the human population to be a symbol of in drug screens and offer the prospect to examine individualized reactions to antimalarial drugs as well as genetic influences that control vulnerability to contamination.
The researchers contaminated iPSC-derived liver cells with numerous malaria parasites to create prototypical liver-stage malaria in the laboratory. These cells were susceptible to an antimalarial drug known as atovaquone; chemical maturation through contact with tiny molecules also made the cells susceptible to one more antimalarial drug called primaquine, exhibiting the importance of this methodology for assessing modern antimalarial drugs.
"Moving forward, we hope to adapt the iPSC-derived liver cells to scalable, high-throughput culture formats to support fast, efficient antimalarial drug screens," says lead study author Shengyong Ng, a postdoctoral researcher in Bhatia's lab. "The use of iPSC-derived liver cells to model liver-stage malaria in a dish opens the door to study the influence of host genetics on antimalarial drug efficacy and lays the foundation for their use in antimalarial drug discovery."
Our physical well-being goes way beyond just working out and eating right. Temperament is another major factor that has a great impact on a person's physical health.
Garnering negative emotions like envy and malice, make you a subject of a bad behavioral phenomenon. This not only isolates you from the social circle but it takes a huge toll on your physical health as well.
When your heart is filled with peace, it enriches your body. But contradictory to this, envy is so poisonous that it could even rot your bones.
How is this possible?
Though the fact that envy can be so lethal sounds puzzling, it is true. When you give room for negative thoughts like envy, the first target is your body language that is affected. Now speaking of body language, you feel tensed physically and emotionally, which in turn is reflected through the way you present yourself. As goes the saying that your face is the index of your mind, your body reacts each time you feel loaded with envy and bad thoughts of that sorts. This eventually causes pain, muscle spasms, and early wear and tear of the joints.
All of this starts when you compare yourself to others and judge yourself in various categories that are important according to you. If you win, you feel superior or else you feel dejected and inferior to others. This makes you insecure, stressed out and anxious, which in turn affects your posture.
In a study, computer-generated mannequin figures were used to assess the potency of body posture. This was to discern the real attention people place on posture when they experience negative emotions. The neutral posture was created by placing the arms straight down to the sides with an upright stance. The happy posture depicted the mannequin as having the arms stretched up toward the sky, the torso arched backward, and the knees bent. The angry posture was depicted as having taken one stride forward, the chin jutted forward and the arms thrust backward as if charging. The portrayed emotions by the posture that they settled on were rated by participants at over 90% accuracy. In other words, most people agreed that the models accurately depicted the emotions they were meant to.
If humorous emoticons are capable of speaking for your feelings, imagine the way your body language can change instantly when you feel high or low.
In addition to affecting your posture, negative thoughts like envy and malice cause chemical stress in your body by increasing the levels of stress hormones namely adrenaline and cortisol. This drastically affects your nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems, which could drastically reduce your normal life expectancy if left untreated.
The remedy
The best way to overcome envy and malice is to get down to the root cause of these traits. The causes could be anything like discontent, comparison to others, pride, low self-esteem, or a desire for worldly gain.
If any of these conditions persist in your mind, then they are more likely to be manifested through the way you treat yourself and others. It could be expressions like being highly self-critical and judgmental of others, competition in relationships, idolizing others, and lack of contentment.
1) Cracking knuckles leads to arthritis
While cracking your knuckles may not exactly be beneficial, they are not harmful too. When you crack your knuckles, you're merely creating air cavities in your joint due to elongation of muscles. The popping sound is of the gas escaping. So the next time you have the urge to crack your knuckles, do so without the fear of getting arthritis.
2) Chocolate helps with pre-menstrual cramps
If you believed what everyone said, chocolate would be the cure for every disease in the world. But truth be told, while chocolate might help you with your cravings, but it sure doesn't help with the pre-menstrual cramps. What works for pre-menstrual cramps is exercise for pregnant women. Sorry, chocolate lovers.
3) Carrots improve your vision
What started off as rumor during the second world war, has manifested as one of Grandma's favorite dinner time myth. While carrots might certainly be one of the healthiest food for kids to eat, it won't do anything to improve your eyesight. It however certainly provides Vitamin A that helps prevent night blindness.
4) Spicy food causes ulcers
If the spicy food was the main reason behind ulcers, then the Mexicans would be the first one to complain. But fortunately, it's not the reason. Spicy foods may aggravate the discomfort from existing ulcers, but the main reason is excessive use of anti-inflammatory drugs.
5) Exercise is a strict no-no after heart attack
Of all the myths about heart diseases, this one is the most dangerous of them all. A heart attack survivor's first step of rehabilitation is to get active. Indulging in exercises prescribed by your heart specialist is a must for preventing any recurrence.
There's nothing wrong in heeding the advice of your parents and grandparents. After all, they only have the best of intentions. It gets wrong when we stop fact-checking them. Instead, educate your loved ones about the correct reasoning behind them. For when it comes to health, it pays to be smart.
A new method to examine potential antimalarial drugs and vaccines possessing the potential to treat the liver stage of malaria infection has been engineered by a team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) using human liver cells, derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. Malarial infection caused approximately 500,000 deaths globally every year. This innovative methodology could possibly present fresh prospects for customized antimalarial drug testing and the progress of tailor made medication to fight the condition.
Published in Stem Cell Reports, senior study author Sangeeta Bhatia, MD, PhD, the director of MIT's Laboratory for Multiscale Regenerative Technologies and a biomedical engineer at Brigham and Women's Hospital says, "Our platform can be used for testing candidate drugs that act against the parasite in the early liver stages, before it causes disease in the blood and spreads back to the mosquito vector. This is especially important given the increasing occurrence of drug-resistant strains of malaria in the field."
Bites by infected mosquitoes are the reason behind the spread of malarial infection amongst humans where it finds a hospitable host for the growth of the parasites initially in the liver cells followed by the red blood cells. This is the stage where physical symptoms of the disease come forward. It has been a challenge to completely wipe out malarial infection as the parasites can stay alive in the liver and could potentially trigger a relapse by attacking the bloodstream possibly in the future. One way towards eradication of the disease would be if there are medicines or vaccines that could target the liver stage in turn blocking the parasites penetration into the bloodstream thus preventing a relapse.
Due to the limited access to the pool of liver cells and the lack of genetic variety of these human donor cells, the existing processes for demonstrating liver-stage malaria in a dish are constrained. Hence, it has been quiet difficult to investigate and develop custom designed drugs for individual patients as it is hard to ascertain the levels of genetic influences respond to antimalarial medicines.
Working towards triumphing over these obstacles, Bhatia and her team reconstructed human skin cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)--embryonic-like stem cells skilled at transforming into additional distinctive cell types significant for investigating a specific infection. iPSCs are, theoretically, a renewable supplier of liver cells that preserves the donor's genetic makeup and can be produced from any human donor. These characteristics apportion a wide-ranging gamut of the human population to be a symbol of in drug screens and offer the prospect to examine individualized reactions to antimalarial drugs as well as genetic influences that control vulnerability to contamination.
The researchers contaminated iPSC-derived liver cells with numerous malaria parasites to create prototypical liver-stage malaria in the laboratory. These cells were susceptible to an antimalarial drug known as atovaquone; chemical maturation through contact with tiny molecules also made the cells susceptible to one more antimalarial drug called primaquine, exhibiting the importance of this methodology for assessing modern antimalarial drugs.
"Moving forward, we hope to adapt the iPSC-derived liver cells to scalable, high-throughput culture formats to support fast, efficient antimalarial drug screens," says lead study author Shengyong Ng, a postdoctoral researcher in Bhatia's lab. "The use of iPSC-derived liver cells to model liver-stage malaria in a dish opens the door to study the influence of host genetics on antimalarial drug efficacy and lays the foundation for their use in antimalarial drug discovery."
Our physical well-being goes way beyond just working out and eating right. Temperament is another major factor that has a great impact on a person's physical health.
Garnering negative emotions like envy and malice, make you a subject of a bad behavioral phenomenon. This not only isolates you from the social circle but it takes a huge toll on your physical health as well.
When your heart is filled with peace, it enriches your body. But contradictory to this, envy is so poisonous that it could even rot your bones.
How is this possible?
Though the fact that envy can be so lethal sounds puzzling, it is true. When you give room for negative thoughts like envy, the first target is your body language that is affected. Now speaking of body language, you feel tensed physically and emotionally, which in turn is reflected through the way you present yourself. As goes the saying that your face is the index of your mind, your body reacts each time you feel loaded with envy and bad thoughts of that sorts. This eventually causes pain, muscle spasms, and early wear and tear of the joints.
All of this starts when you compare yourself to others and judge yourself in various categories that are important according to you. If you win, you feel superior or else you feel dejected and inferior to others. This makes you insecure, stressed out and anxious, which in turn affects your posture.
In a study, computer-generated mannequin figures were used to assess the potency of body posture. This was to discern the real attention people place on posture when they experience negative emotions. The neutral posture was created by placing the arms straight down to the sides with an upright stance. The happy posture depicted the mannequin as having the arms stretched up toward the sky, the torso arched backward, and the knees bent. The angry posture was depicted as having taken one stride forward, the chin jutted forward and the arms thrust backward as if charging. The portrayed emotions by the posture that they settled on were rated by participants at over 90% accuracy. In other words, most people agreed that the models accurately depicted the emotions they were meant to.
If humorous emoticons are capable of speaking for your feelings, imagine the way your body language can change instantly when you feel high or low.
In addition to affecting your posture, negative thoughts like envy and malice cause chemical stress in your body by increasing the levels of stress hormones namely adrenaline and cortisol. This drastically affects your nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular and digestive systems, which could drastically reduce your normal life expectancy if left untreated.
The remedy
The best way to overcome envy and malice is to get down to the root cause of these traits. The causes could be anything like discontent, comparison to others, pride, low self-esteem, or a desire for worldly gain.
If any of these conditions persist in your mind, then they are more likely to be manifested through the way you treat yourself and others. It could be expressions like being highly self-critical and judgmental of others, competition in relationships, idolizing others, and lack of contentment.
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