That-bloated-belly-feeling

When most people reach middle age, it starts that bloated abdomen feeling. As a doctor and radiologist a good number of my patients especially women complain of a bloated belly.
This article explains the causes of this problem:
https://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/ss/slideshow-bloating-reasons

MR-elastography

More recently functional MRI imaging of the brain is being replaced by MR elastography or MRE imaging to study changes in brain to thought.

https://speciality.medicaldialogues.in/new-mri-technique-can-capture-images-of-thinking-brain/

Google-artificial-intelligence-in-medicine

Google's masters are betting big
on making significant inroads into medical diagnosis and management.
https://www.firstpost.com/tech/science/googles-artificial-intelligence-in-hospitals-can-predict-patients-outcomes-stay-and-even-death-4539441.html

Plastic use and health issues- a good article

The use of plastic as a container for food and drink is said to be one of the causes of excess hair fall, hypothyroidism and obesity among some of the many illnesses that are caused by plastic in daily life. Interesting read:
http://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/health/Purge-the-Plague-of-Plastic/2015/10/31/article3103822.ece

The bionic eye- an implant that can treat some forms of blindness

This may be the next big thing in the correction of certain forms of retinal diseases.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-33612558

Curd can do wonders for the skin and hair

https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/did-know-curd-could-hair-150000119.html

Yahoo health article about the benefits of applying curd to the hair and skin. I think most Indian wives already know this fact, but do they know about the precise benefits and details of how to do it? Read on.

3 parent babies- is this the next leap forward

Britain is in the process of legalizing 3 parent babies in a novel form of embryo transfer to counter the effect of genetic abnormalities involving the mitochondria of the actual mother. The egg (ovum) of the mother has the nucleus removed from the ovum and transferred to another ovum from a healthy woman and which has normal mitochondria which later is used for fertilization from the father to produce what is called a 3 parent baby.
There are a few such children who are healthy thanks to the 3 parent conception method.
Read more at: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30510647
Also: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28986843

tips to boost male fertility

This interesting snippet says quite a few things about male infertility and in particular about improving sperm count and motility; some of these we knew, and some we didn't. Read on:
Health tips to improve male fertility (again, this one is good and I round it on yahoo health)
Of course, we all knew that drinks (alcohol) and smoking adversely affected sperm count and male fertility, but so do (as research suggests), prolonged use of cell phones and long hours of Television viewing.

Tips on burning fat via fat reducing drinks

Another nice set of dietary ideas from yahoo health. This time it mentions a few drinks that can actually reduce body fat. These include: coconut water, drinking plenty of water (advisable to to have more than 5 to 8 glasses per day), vegetable juices, green tea (3 to 4 cups per day), drinking skimmed milk etc.
This link has it all:
drinks to reduce body fat

Tips and home remedies to clear that nasty sinus problem

Yahoo posted this nice link on helpful foods that can treat or control sinusitis.
see: https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/the-best-foods-to-fight-sinus-congestion-slideshow/the-best-foods-to-fight-sinus-congestion-photo-1414474865972.html

Among the foods mentioned in this article are- peppers, chilly and garlic. Also helpful are grapes, lemon and oranges, food loaded with Vitamin C.
Caffeine containing tea and coffee are best avoided. Also sugar rich foods like pastries and ice-cream and fried foods are not advisable. 

What all of us need to know about sweets, sugar and diet

This article in the Indian Express casts a lot of light on many dark secrets and bitter truths about all things that taste sweet, yes the arch culprit sugar:
http://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/Sweet-Poison/2014/10/18/article2482427.ece
It has a good bit about the statistics that make India the diabetes capital of the world. And yes, a good warning for Kerala too, where pastry shops and bakeries crowd every nook and corner of our cities.

3D printed body parts- artificial vertebra

In the world's first use of 3D printing to create an artificial vertebra, doctors and scientists in China have used this technology to replace a young boy's 2nd cervical (neck) vertebra which was diseased due to a tumor.
This allows quicker recovery according to the surgeons and allows greater mobility.
Read this:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/3d-printed-vertebra-used-in-spine-surgery/

Also:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/08/25/3d-printed-vertebra-implant/

This is interesting as it was made with titanium powder and could be the next major leap forward in synthetic body parts. Obviously, sophisticated 3D CT and MR imaging techniques must have been used to aid in making the 3D printer data.

More on the ebola outbreak

This article on the BBC website suggests that unlike reports from many health agencies, there is a good chance that ebola can indeed be spread via the air i.e: airborne droplets from infected ebola patients can spread the disease. However, the study done by scientists on animals, in Canada, is still not conclusive enough.
See: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-20341423

Ebola outbreak in West Africa

Just a very graphic video on the ebola outbreak in Africa. It shows and describes the signs and symptoms in brief:

tomatoes and health

Again yahoo health has a great article on the beneficial effects of tomatoes as an aid in prevention of certain cancers and heart diseases (read cholesterol reducer). The presence of certain antioxidants in tomatoes is said to be crucial in prevention of these diseases.
See: https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/diet-tip-3-eat-tomatoes-111525501.html 

Cumin seeds or jeera and cold

Thought this link I picked up on yahoo health will be useful to some readers:
https://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/instant-relief-cold-jeera-071220284.html
Indian spices like jeera or black cumin have a tradition as one of the common home remedies for minor diseases and as a health food. Jeera is said to help in cure of common colds.
The age old Indian tradition of having boiled water with jeera (during meals) is now catching the attention of mainstream Western media. 

A good video on healthy foods

Breast cancer in men

Does breast cancer occur in men also? The question may seem weird- but yes, it can and does occur in men also. In fact statistics show that almost 1 per cent of all new breast cancer cases involve the male breast. The reason is that the male breast also contains breast parenchyma, although in a small amount.
However the real danger lies in the fact that breast cancer in men is pretty lethal, the tumor being generally more aggressive (highly malignant) with rapid spread to other organs of the body (called metastasis in the medical world).
Reference: Male breast cancer

Vitamin D- there's more to it than rickets:

There is more to vitamin D than rickets and osteoporosis. I had been found to have extremely low blood vitamin D levels. Ever since, I have talked to a lot many docs, endocrinologists, naturopaths, general physicians and done quite a bit of research on this topic.
The results of this quest for the true story of this wonder vitamin have left me stunned. Modern medical thinking (mainstream medicine) now says that vitamin D has a spectrum of positive effects on the human body from bone health (we already know that), cell membrane integrity, autoimmune diseases, flu, heart disease, liver disorders, and more. In fact, diseases like diabetes are also strongly linked to vitamin D deficiency. One leading authority (in Cochin) on the subject went so far as to say that deficiency of this vitamin (cholecalciferol-D3) can be linked to almost 80 % of known human diseases, pathology. These 2 you tube videos spells out just that. Many modern medical experts now believe that even most forms of cancer from breast, prostate and the colon can be prevented (to a large extent) by a daily dose of this vitamin. See this short video by John Cannell, MD.
(Also see this link for some basics of Vitamin D metabolism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D )
Other links that might be useful:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18541590
         http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/researchRequirements.shtml
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-05-21-doctors-sunshine-good_x.htm
Joe.

Pancreatic cancer linked to drinking soda

A new study shows that there may be a risk between drinking sodas and cancer of the pancreas.
See this link: http://www.webmd.com/cancer/pancreatic-cancer/news/20100208/pancreatic-cancer-linked-sodas
The study states that the incidence of pancreatic cancer went up nearly twice on consumption of as less as 2 bottles of soda or soft drinks per week. The study states the possible reason for this could be the sugar content in soft drinks.
Makes me wonder- where will all this end...the next research could well end up saying that sugar in any form is bad for health.