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Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Marilia Queiroz Machado, Blogger
Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
Zara Lyla Pedram, Blogger
Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
Acupuncture May Help Ease Hay Fever
By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Feb. 18 (HealthDay News) -- Hay fever sufferers may find some relief with acupuncture, a new study suggests, though the therapy's appeal in the "real world" is yet to be seen.
The study, of 422 people with grass and pollen allergies, found that those randomly assigned to a dozen acupuncture sessions fared better than patients who did not receive the procedure.
On average, they reported greater symptom improvements and were able to use less antihistamine medication over eight weeks. The advantage, however, was gone after another eight weeks, according to findings reported in the Feb. 19 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Still, that doesn't necessarily mean that acupuncture's benefits fade, said lead researcher Dr. Benno Brinkhaus, of Charite-University Medical Center in Berlin.
Hay fever symptoms were much better in all three study groups by week 16, and Brinkhaus said that's probably because pollen season was dying down at that point.
The study was well done and "positive," because acupuncture seemed helpful, said Dr. Harold Nelson, an allergist at National Jewish Health, a Denver hospital that specializes in respiratory diseases.
But Nelson doubted whether the time, inconvenience and expense of acupuncture sessions would seem worthwhile to many hay fever sufferers -- especially because there are simpler ways to manage the condition.
"I don't know how many people will want to wait in an acupuncturist's office, then sit with 16 needles in them for 20 minutes, and do that 12 times, when they could use a nasal spray," Nelson said.
Specifically, Nelson pointed to prescription nasal sprays that contain anti-inflammatory corticosteroids. The sprays -- which include brand names like Flonase and Nasonex -- are taken daily to help prevent hay fever symptoms.
Patients in this study were not using nasal steroids. They were taking antihistamines as needed -- which, Nelson said, is not the most effective way to manage hay fever.
Still, Nelson added, there are people who want to avoid medication, and they may be interested in acupuncture as an option.
Many studies have suggested that acupuncture helps ease various types of pain, such as migraines and backaches, as well as treat nausea and vomiting related to surgery or chemotherapy. According to traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works by stimulating certain points on the skin believed to affect the flow of energy, or "qi" (pronounced "chee"), through the body.
But some recent research suggests that the needle stimulation also triggers the release of pain- and inflammation-fighting chemicals in the body. No one is sure why acupuncture would help with hay fever, but there is evidence that it curbs inflammatory immune-system substances involved in allergic reactions.
For the new study, Brinkhaus and colleagues recruited 422 adults with hay fever. They randomly assigned the patients to one of three groups: one that received 12 acupuncture sessions over eight weeks; one that received a "sham" version of acupuncture; and one that received no acupuncture.
Tiany Kiriloff, Blogger
Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
Lucy February, Designer
Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
Early Exposure to Gluten May Help Babies Avoid Celiac Risk: Study
By Kathleen Doheny
HealthDay ReporterTUESDAY, Feb. 19 (HealthDay News) -- Modifying an infant's diet to include the protein gluten while the mother is still breast-feeding could lower the risk of celiac disease, a common intestinal disorder, according to a new Swedish study.
That finding may sound counterintuitive, because celiac disease is a condition in which the lining of the small intestine is damaged by gluten-containing foods.
However, the researchers who conducted the study speculate that there may be a window of opportunity in which an infant can develop tolerance to the protein to possibly escape getting the disease.
"We now have proven this way of introducing gluten reduces the risk of getting celiac disease," said Dr. Anneli Ivarsson, a pediatrician at Umea University in Umea, and lead author of the study published online Feb. 18 and in the March print issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Gluten refers to proteins found in specific grains, including all forms of wheat and related grains such as barley and rye, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation.
Celiac disease affects about 1 percent of the population, according to Ivarsson. Genetic susceptibility plays a role. For those affected, a life-long gluten-free diet is advised.
Ivarsson and her team compared two groups of Swedish children: one born in 1993, during a time when the diagnosis of celiac disease increased four-fold, and the other group born in 1997, when it declined about the same amount. The children born later had a 25 percent lower risk of having celiac disease than those born earlier, they found.
"That's quite a lot," Ivarsson said.
While 2.9 percent of those in the earlier born group had the disease, 2.2 percent of those in the later-born group did.
The beginning and the end of the period in which the celiac disease diagnoses rose were both marked by changes in recommended feeding of infants, including the best age to introduce gluten-containing foods, the researchers noted.
In 1982, experts recommended that gluten-containing foods not be given until an infant was 6 months old. In 1996, the experts recommended that gluten be introduced from 4 months on.
Experts know that a baby develops what they call oral tolerance to an antigen (a substance that produces protective antibodies) early in life. Celiac disease ''can be viewed as a failure to develop oral tolerance to gluten, or a later loss of this tolerance," Ivarsson wrote in her report.
In her study, babies born in the later group, who were introduced to gluten-containing foods at 4 months on, were less likely to develop celiac disease.
"We can't prove there is a window of opportunity" for developing tolerance, Ivarsson said, but that is one speculation.
The findings suggest -- but don't prove -- that gradually introducing gluten-containing foods in small amounts from 4 months of age, ideally while breast-feeding is ongoing, may protect against celiac disease.
Dana Karlson, Fashion Editor Glamour.com
Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
Tallia Storm, Singer & Blogger
Browse through the street style and fashion photoblog from London Fashion Week AW 2013 online at Glamour.com. Check out the latest fashion, as worn by you!Continue reading...
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