Health Information

Medical Uses of Botox

Botox or botulinum toxin is a lethal naturally occurring toxin, but can be used as powerful and highly effective medication for various medical conditions and for cosmetic purpose. The usefulness of Botox was discovered after 1950s, when scientists discovered that, injection of minute quantity of botulinum toxin type-A to muscles (especially in overactive muscles) results in decrease muscle activity and weakness, which (muscle weakness) can last up to 3-4 months.

Botulinum toxin blocks release of acetylcholine which is the neurotransmitter responsible for muscle contraction, from its stores in neurons and cause muscle weakness.

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Know About Botox

Botox (brand name) is botulinum toxin A (protein in nature), which is made from bacteria (clostridium botulinum, C. butyricum, C. baratii and C. argentinense) that are responsible for botulism, a serious disease. Botulinum toxin has several therapeutic used such as in treatment of muscle spasm, cervical dystonia, overactive bladder and urinary incontinence, migraine headaches as well as for cosmetic purpose (which is most commonly known by non medical persons) to reduce or lessen wrinkles in face, which is a normal process of aging.

Most of the individuals who are not associated with medical profession know that Botox is used for cosmetic purpose, i.e. as anti aging or anti wrinkle medication to reduce facial wrinkles. There are other medical uses of Botox which most people not aware of.

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What Are The Health Risk of Being Left Handed?

There are certain health risks associated with left handed people, i.e. certain diseases are more common among left handed people than right handed people. Left handed people are more prone to suffer from dyslexia, schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); all of these disorders are due to defect in brain development. Recent researches suggest that handedness (right or left) is only partly due to genetical reason. This is clear from the fact that identical twins (who share 100% of same genes) may not have same dominant hand. Environmental factors may play a role in becoming left handed or right handed.

Approximately 10% of people are left handed and approximately 1% has no dominant hand (mixed handed) and use both hands with equal ease and the remaining are right handed. Left handed people are subjected to stigma and curiosity even these days in many cultures. Using left hand (such as offering something to somebody with left hand) is considered taboo or uncultured in many cultures.

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Few Important Points About Generic Drugs

There are many people who think generic drugs are not good. Before we decide if generic drugs are good or not, it is important for us to learn and know what generic drugs are. According to WHO (World Health Organization) “A generic drug is a pharmaceutical product, usually intended to be interchangeable with an innovator product, that is manufactured without a license from the innovator company and marketed after the expiry date of the patent or other exclusive rights” (quote from WHO official site http://www.who.int/trade/glossary/story034/en/index.html). In simple term a generic drug is the drug that can be manufactured and marketed by any pharmaceutical company without any license from the company which discovered the drug molecule, because the patent right for the particular drug (i.e. generic drug) has expired. USFDA also accept generic drugs as identical with the brand name counterpart or at least have comparable bioequvalance in terms of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics properties of that particular drugs.

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What is Super ORS?

ORS (oral rehydration salt or solution) is commonly used in treatment of mild (fluid loss of 5% to 7% of body weight) to moderate diarrhea (fluid loss of 7% to 10% of body weight). If mild and moderate diarrhea (which cause mild to moderate dehydration) is not treated adequately and early in the disease, it may lead to severe dehydration, which may ultimately cause death. Initiate treatment (replacement of lost fluid) of diarrhea as early as possible with ORS to reduce morbidity and mortality. There is no alternative to starting treatment early in diarrhea cases.

What is super ORS?

Super ORS is made by adding certain amino acids (such as alanine, glycine etc. which are actively transported or absorbed amino acids lumen of gastrointestinal tract and transport sodium along with them) which have some advantages over commonly used WHO-ORS (as recommended by World Health Organization). The advantages of super ORS (by adding amino acids) is said to be marginal and generally do not benefit much in non-cholera diarrhea.

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Few Important Aspects About ORS

Discovery of ORS (oral rehydration salt or solution) is one of the greatest discoveries in the field of medical science in recent time. It has saved (still saving and will continue to save) more lives than any other medicine (e.g. penicillin). Discovery of penicillin is considered one of the greatest discoveries of medical science, but simple ORS has saved more lives than penicillin. Every year ORS is saving millions of lives (infants, children and adults alike) around the world, especially in developing countries.

Diarrhea is responsible for mortality, morbidity, social inconvenience, loss of work productivity, and consumption of medical resources of all nations. More than one billion individuals are affected by one or more episodes of diarrhea worldwide every year. It is estimated that globally (mostly in developing countries) approximately 3 million deaths occur due to diarrhea every year, mostly children and infants. But a greater (>3 million) number of deaths are averted by use of ORS in developing countries, which is cheap, easily available and can even be made at home with available ingredients (homemade ORS).

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