Coffee could help cure baldness

Tobias Fischer of the University of Jena in Germany took scalp biopsies from 14 men in the early stages of hair loss. He extracted hair follicles and placed them in test tubes with solutions containing different levels of caffeine.The samples were left in the laboratory for up to eight days to monitor growth, reported the online edition of Daily Mail. At the end of the experiment, it was found that caffeine had boosted the length of the hairs by 33-40 percent. Other test tubes containing hair follicles mixed with testosterone showed that they grew at a much slower rate.The scientists believe caffeine affects hair cells in such a way that they are able to resist the damaging effects of dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a chemical that contributes to baldness. Most baldness is caused when hair follicles are exposed to too much DHT, the researchers said. "Hair follicles treated with caffeine showed a highly significant growth rate at 24 hours, and still showed further significant growth at eight days," said Fischer.

Now Vedic mantras to cure diseases

A state-of-the-art astrological lab costing Rs.8 million ($1.5 million) will be set up in India.The lab would involve modern scientific gadgets and instruments like high-capacity binoculars, telescope, cameras etc to enable scholars to observe the planetary and other solar activities. Different teams would be constituted on the basis of the ancient Indian science of Ayurveda, the Vedas and astrology to diagnose about 100 general and incurable diseases and their treatment. In a two-year period, the scholars would analyse and study the impact of rays of various planets and other celestial bodies through various perspectives, bringing into practice traditional Indian treatment and therapies mentioned in Vedic literature. Experts claim that solar therapy, radiotherapy and several other present-day treatments are actually based on Ayurveda. They also said that if the research proves to be successful, the treatment would be cheaper."If the project is successful then people would certainly get a better and cheaper treatment facility without any side-effects. "Each letter of Vedic mantra has immense power. After knowing the symptoms, diseases can be treated effectively through a combination herbs and mantras," said an eminent astrologer.

Procrastinating can be an illness

You’re at work, sitting in front of the computer screen and you know you’ve got important work to finish. You have known for a few days now that this work has to be done and you assure yourself it’ll be done today... but alas, at the end of the day, the work remains untouched. This could be the story of many professionals. Procrastination is a personality trait common to many of us, but sometimes these acts of procrastination can grow into a problem that is referred to in clinical terms as chronic procrastination.

Procrastination can be caused by several factors — desire for perfection at work, laziness or lack of motivation. Perfectionists often are so obsessed with completing every job perfectly that they make a small task seem like a huge responsibility. In their quest for perfection they are unable to finish the work assigned to them. On the other hand there are those who are simply lazy and keep delaying work or are just caught in the wrong job and prefer finishing the interesting work first. Procrastination may not be a problem as long as you eventually manage your work, but once it starts becoming a part of your personality, it can start harming your physical and mental health. If work is left pending and this starts affecting other areas of your work and personal life, stress starts building up. Chronic procrastination can lead to high stress levels, low self-esteem and a feeling of helplessness. Sometimes procrastination is lablled as a clinical problem if it occurs along with an anxiety disorder like depression, phobia or obsessive compulsive disorder. Though it mostly happens if you keep thinking about the task at hand instead of doing it. A lot of people keep evaluating and worrying over the work they have to do and never get down to doing it. Procrastination can be tackled only when they first admit they have a problem and make a conscious effort to complete their work. They need to realise that their current strategy of addressing work is not working and needs to be changed.” Chronic procrastinators also need to differentiate between work that is urgent and work that is essential. Often, all work is urgent but not necessarily essential. The trick is to set priorities and identify tasks that are central to the organisation and complete them first. You need to set realistic goals for yourself. It isn’t a very good idea to be a perfectionist in procrastination.

BS

Parasite can turn women into sex kittens

According to researchers the parasite can increase a women's attractiveness to the opposite sex but also make men more stupid, an Australian researcher says.About 40 per cent of the world's population is infected with Toxoplasma gondii. Human infection generally occurs when people eat raw or undercooked meat that has cysts containing the parasite, or accidentally ingest some of the parasite's eggs excreted by an infected cat. The parasite is known to be dangerous to pregnant women as it can cause disability or abortion of the unborn child, and can also kill people whose immune systems are weakened. Until recently it was thought to be an insignificant disease in healthy people, Sydney University of Technology infectious disease researcher Nicky Boulter said, but new research has revealed its mind-altering properties. "Interestingly, the effect of infection is different between men and women,'' Dr Boulter writes in the latest issue of Australasian Science magazine. "Infected men have lower IQs, achieve a lower level of education and have shorter attention spans. They are also more likely to break rules and take risks, be more independent, more anti-social, suspicious, jealous and morose, and are deemed less attractive to women."On the other hand, infected women tend to be more outgoing, friendly, more promiscuous, and are considered more attractive to men compared with non-infected controls."In short, it can make men behave like alley cats and women behave like sex kittens''. Dr Boulter said the recent Czech Republic research was not conclusive, but was backed up by animal studies that found infection also changes the behaviour of mice.Another study showed people who were infected but not showing symptoms were 2.7 times more likely than uninfected people to be involved in a car accident as a driver or pedestrian, while other research has linked the parasite to higher incidences of schizophrenia. "The increasing body of evidence connecting Toxoplasma infection with changes in personality and mental state, combined with the extremely high incidence of human infection in both developing and developed countries, warrants increased government funding and research, in particular to find safe and effective treatments or vaccines,'' Dr Boulter said. (TOI)

A drink a day could cut heart attack risk!

Traditionally, doctors advice people with high blood pressure to increase their activity levels, cut salt consumption and eat fewer high fat foods to reduce the likelihood of suffering a heart attack, stroke or kidney damage.Researchers led by Joline Beulens of Wageningen University in the Netherlands studied 11,711 men with high blood pressure and suggested that doctors recommend patients to have a daily drink, according to the online edition of Daily Mail. Participants filled out a questionnaire every four years including details of how often they drank beer, red wine, white wine and spirits. The research team also looked at how many suffered heart attacks, heart disease and strokes between 1986 and 2002.During this time, a total of 653 suffered heart attacks of which 279 were fatal. When the scientists linked alcohol use and heart problems, they found that the chances of suffering a heart attack were lower among men who consumed one or two drinks a day.A drink was defined as being a glass of wine or a single shot of spirits. Beulens said: "This was the first study to our knowledge that examined the risk of heart attacks among men with high blood pressure who drank moderately. "Men diagnosed with hypertension probably get a lot of advice on how to change their lifestyle, physical activity and diet. This study indicates that if they drink alcohol in moderation they may not need to change their drinking habits." However, she urged men not to have three drinks a day, as this increases their blood pressure and risk of an attack."Our findings are not a license for men with hypertension to overindulge," she said. The researchers said it was not possible to say whether the findings applied to women as their study only looked at men.