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Category Archives: Mind Building
Health24.com | Handle DIY cleaning products with care during coronavirus pandemic
If you’re one of the many people making your own cleaning products at home because you can’t find them in stores, you need to be sure what you make is safe and effective, an environmental medicine expert says.
Do-it-yourself (DIY) cleaning products made from ingredients such as vinegar, essential oils and baking soda are safe, but they haven’t been shown to kill viruses or bacteria, said Robert Laumbach. He’s an associate professor at the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute at Rutgers University, in New Jersey.
“It is essential to make a distinction between cleaning and disinfecting products. Cleaners remove dirt and some, but not all, germs. Disinfectants kill germs, including bacteria and viruses,” he said in a university news release.
“The effectiveness of cleaners is usually readily apparent to the user. In contrast, verification of the ability of disinfectants to kill particular viruses and bacteria depends on laboratory tests such as those conducted by commercial product manufacturers,” said Laumbach.
New toxic chemicals
The only DIY disinfectant that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for killing the new coronavirus on frequently contacted surfaces is “a dilute solution of 1/3 cup [about 5 tablespoons] of bleach per gallon of water,” he noted.
The coronavirus is more easily killed by disinfectants, so common US Environmental Protection Agency-registered household disinfectants should be effective against the virus, according to the CDC.
Laumbach also warned that you can put your health at risk by creating your own cleaners or disinfectants.
“First, mixing some chemicals may create new toxic chemicals. For example, bleach should not be combined with other chemicals, especially ammonia, which can be found in glass, window and toilet bowl cleaners, and can produce toxic chlorine gases. Second, a commercial disinfectant may lose its effectiveness when mixed with other products, including DIY cleaning products,” he said.
When handling and using DIY or commercial cleaning and disinfectant products, wear gloves and avoid breathing vapours, Laumbach advised.
“Some individuals, such as those with asthma or other respiratory conditions, may be especially affected by irritating vapours from cleaners and disinfectants, whether DIY or commercial products. Individuals with such conditions must be extra careful if they attempt to make and use their cleaning products,” he said.
READ | The most effective ways to kill coronavirus in your home
READ | Skin conditions and frequent hand-washing because of coronavirus – what you should know
READ | Can you catch the new coronavirus from your clothes?
Image credit: Jeshoots.com, Unsplash
Boost Your Happiness in 2 Minutes
A fellow Conscious Growth Club member connected me with the simple practice of doing an easy pose for two minutes as an effective mood booster. I’ve noticed that when I do this pose now and then, it really does make me feel noticeably happier.
The pose is very simple. Stand up straight and tall, pull your shoulders back, and rotate your arms so that your palms face forward.
Here’s a short video from a chiropractor showing how to do it:
This TED Talk video also shares more depth about the benefits of certain poses as well as which poses weaken you. I think it’s worth a watch.
Try the power pose from the first video for two minutes, and see how it affects you. It’s an easy thing to forget though – I remembered to do it this morning because I added it to my Daily Reminders list.
It’s easy to lose sight of the body-mind connection, and it’s wise to remember that how you use one affects your range of expression with the other.
Coronavirus: Concerns over reuse of protective medical kit
One union official says a change in guidance could see front-line medics withdraw from duties.
Coronavirus: Double warning over antibody tests
Experts say screening may not prove immunity from coronavirus, and Britons are warned over unproven tests.
Health24.com | Coronavirus morning update: No to alcohol sales, what’s next for schools, and the countries with no cases
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN SA
Cases update:
The latest number of confirmed cases is 2 783.
Gauteng is the first province to breach the 1 000-case mark.
According to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, 50 people have now died.
More than 100 000 tests have been conducted so far.
READ MORE |All the confirmed cases of coronavirus in SA
Latest news:
Alcohol traders will have to wait until the end of the nationwide lockdown to resume trade like most other businesses, the office of the state attorney has said in response to the Gauteng Liquor Forum.
The state attorney, acting for President Cyril Ramaphosa, emphasised on Friday that the sale of alcohol is “not an essential service” and could derail government’s efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
The president said consumption of liquor has proven to increase crimes that land people in hospitals and South Africa could ill afford to have its emergency rooms filled up when it has to deal with Covid-19 cases.
“As we have previously noted, the decision to impose a lockdown on South Africans was not taken lightly and was only taken after full consideration of all relevant factors and expert advice,” read the letter sent to the forum on Friday.
The forum, which represents more than 20 000 taverns and shebeens in Gauteng, wrote to the president on Saturday threatening to take its fight to the Constitutional Court if the president did not lift the ban on alcohol sales during the lockdown.
READ MORE | Lockdown: Alcohol sales will have to wait till end of lockdown, Presidency confirms
The Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) draft framework for a curriculum recovery plan – post the Covid-19 lockdown – has revealed scenarios with recommendations which include scrapping the June examinations in order to save the schooling year.
Cancelling the June examinations would allow enough time for teaching and learning once the lockdown in the country is lifted. This is outlined in a lengthy draft document and a summary PowerPoint presentation, which News24 has seen.
The documents show that, while the consequences of the cancellation were not expected to be significant, it would also require the department to engage with relevant stakeholders, including higher education institutions which may require June results from Grade 12 pupils for the processing of applications for admission for 2021.
Another recommendation in the draft is that June examinations and school-based assessments be either postponed or brought forward in order to maintain their integrity. Another option is to modify their format.
READ MORE | Scrap June exams, extend school hours – inside the Education Dept’s draft recovery plan
A 69-year-old man, the first person to die of Covid-19 in Limpopo, was a retired lawyer and never travelled outside his village in the Capricorn district in the past several months.
News24 was reliably told that the man had in the past been visited by people from outside the province. His wife, who is 65, has also tested positive for Covid-19, but she is still asymptomatic.
The Department of Health has refused to divulge the name of the village for fear of causing panic in the area and a “media frenzy”.
The man was admitted to the privately-run Netcare Pholoso Hospital in Polokwane on 7 April after experiencing diabetic complications.
READ MORE | Man who was Limpopo’s first Covid-19 death ‘initially tested negative’
Amid the threat of an “inevitable” exponential rise in Covid-19 cases, government is trying to keep one step ahead of the virus by using data strategies to record hotspots around the country.
During a Data@Breakfast seminar on Friday, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, an internationally-recognised epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist who is working as the chairperson of the government advisory committee on Covid-19, explained that cellphones will be used to track the movements of health workers.
This approach is in preparation for an expected exponential rise in cases once South Africa’s lockdown ends.
The strategy is community based and aims to identify hotspots using the cellphones of community health workers who are going out to actively find Covid-19 cases.
READ MORE | Govt to tackle Covid-19 using data and healthcare workers, says Prof Karim
WHAT’S HAPPENING IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
Cases update:
For the latest global data, follow this interactive map from Johns Hopkins University & Medicine.
Early on Saturday morning, positive cases worldwide are now more than 2 240 000, while deaths were nearly 154 000.
The United States had nearly 700 000 cases, with close to 37 000 deaths.
READ MORE | All the confirmed cases worldwide
Latest news:
Lesotho, Samoa and North Korea. What do these countries have in common with 13 other nations?
Until 17 April, they had no reported cases of the coronavirus, Al Jazeera reports.
The Johns Hopkins University shows on its website that 185 countries have infections, with Yemen having the lowest number of cases – only one.
Sixteen countries have no reported cases of the coronavirus.
READ MORE | Lesotho one of 16 countries with no Covid-19 cases – report
Italian health officials cheered on Friday after the number of people currently being treated for Covid-19 rose by only a few hundred for the first time since the outbreak began.
Figures from the civil protection service showed the number of those receiving hospital care or recovering at home under medical supervision rising by 355 to 106 962 on Friday.
But the figure outside the outbreak’s Italian epicentre in Milan’s norther region of Lombardy went up by just 11 cases
READ MORE | Italy cheers as virus cases level off
Nestled in the hilly outskirts of the city at the heart of the coronavirus crisis, a Chinese high-security biosafety laboratory is now the subject of US claims it may be the cradle of the pandemic.
Chinese scientists have said the virus likely jumped from an animal to humans in a market that sold wildlife in Wuhan, but the existence of the lab has fuelled conspiracy theories that the germ spread from the facility.
The United States has now brought the allegations into the mainstream, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying officials were doing a “full investigation” into how the virus “got out into the world”.
Here are some key questions about the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
READ MORE | The Wuhan lab at the core of a virus controversy
LATEST RESEARCH
Months into the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) has published a list of 70 vaccine candidates, with three of those already in the first phases of clinical evaluation.
In one of these efforts, France’s Pasteur Institute is working on making use of a modified measles vaccine to trick the body into producing antibodies against the new coronavirus, according to a report.
The Pasteur Institute is renowned for their fight against infectious diseases, having come up with remedies against a number of diseases, including typhoid fever, tuberculosis, yellow fever and HIV.
According to virologist Frédéric Tangy, nearly all 133 research departments of the institute are actively involved in Covid-19 related research.
READ MORE | Could a measles vaccine help in the fight against Covid-19?
HEALTH TIPS (as recommended by the NICD and WHO)
• Maintain physical distancing – stay at least one metre away from somebody who is coughing or sneezing
• Practise frequent hand-washing, especially after direct contact with ill people or their environment
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth, as your hands touch many surfaces and could potentially transfer the virus
• Practise respiratory hygiene – cover your mouth with your bent elbow or tissue when you cough or sneeze. Remember to dispose the tissue immediately after use.
READ MORE: Coronavirus 101
Image credit: Getty Images
Health24.com | WATCH | SA doctors design a virus ‘box’ to protect healthcare workers against infection
Eyes narrowed in focus behind her face shield, doctor Jana Du Plessis kept a steady hand as she inserted a tube down the throat of a dummy, working through the lid of a plexiglass box.
Du Plessis, a doctor at Johannesburg’s Charlotte Maxeke public hospital, practised moving around a newly-designed isolation device to protect healthcare workers from coronavirus patients.
The “intubox” is the brainchild of four local doctors inspired by a similar “aerosol box” used in Taiwan for sedated and intubated patients.
The South Africans added holes to the original design as well as covers for the openings, creating a protective, transparent but accessible box intended to shield workers from dangerous respiratory droplets.
“This box will create a seal around the patient so that whatever further procedures are needed will happen inside the box,” she explained, manoeuvering tubes and drips through circular side flaps.
Doctors across South Africa are bracing for a potential surge in critically-ill patients as the number of infections continues to rise.
Nearly 2 800 cases have been detected, the highest in Africa, including 50 fatalities.
“At the moment we don’t have a lot of serious cases,” said ICU specialist Abdullah Laher. “But we don’t know what’s going to happen in the future.”
The predominance of milder COVID-19 infections has provided some time for hospitals to prepare and distribute protective equipment to staff, particularly those working in intensive care units.
“Sicker patients are potentially more virulent,” Laher explained. “If they cough or splutter they are likely to exude more virus into the atmosphere.”
The box covers only the top part of the body, from the shoulders upwards.
South African companies have sponsored a first batch of 500 “intuboxes” for public and private facilities in Gauteng, the most populous and worst-hit province so far.
The devices costing around R3 700 each. There are plans to manufacture another 1 000 such boxes for distribution around the country.
Dr Feroza Motara, who heads the emergency department, said there had been huge interest from abroad and the “intubox” patent will be open to international manufacturers.
“I have had people from America enquiring, from Dubai and from the rest of Africa,” said Motara.
But she also cautioned against using the box as a replacement for personal protective equipment, which is in dire shortage in most countries.
“The box doesn’t mean that you forget everything else.”
Like most public hospitals, Charlotte Maxeke teaching hospital has relied heavily on donations to pull together a small stock of face masks, goggles and plastic aprons.
Staff had been concerned about running out and eventually catching the respiratory disease.
Novel technology aims to improve treatment of neurological diseases
A recently developed system for switching on the activity of genes could improve treatments for a broad range of neurological diseases. Esteban Engel, a researcher in viral neuroengineering in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, and his team have developed new gene promoters — which act like switches to turn on gene expression — that promise to broaden the ability to deliver large genes and keep them active for long periods of time.
The research was published online this week in the journal Molecular Therapy: Methods & Clinical Development.
The team is developing these genetic switches for use in gene therapy, the practice of delivering new genes to replace or assist ones that are faulty. Gene therapy is a promising strategy for many diseases, including disorders that involve the brain, such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
To carry genes into cells, scientists take advantage of the fact that viruses come equipped with the machinery to gain entry to cells. Over the years, scientists have engineered viruses to deliver genes in ways that are safe and don’t cause disease. One of the viruses commonly used for this is the relatively harmless adeno-associated virus (AAV).
Engel and his team created new gene promoters that turn on genes after they have been transported into neurons — the cells of the brain and nervous system. The team designed their promoters by adopting attributes of promoters found in another class of viruses, the herpes viruses, which persist for years in the body by establishing a chronic infection in the nervous system.
The team’s engineered promoters occupy far less space than existing promoters used in gene therapy, allowing the transport of larger genes or multiple genes. The new promoters are also long-lasting, being less prone to repression or inactivation than most common promoters, so the therapeutic genes are active for long periods of time. These new promoters work with AAV as well as other viral and non-viral gene-delivery systems.
“These new promoters will allow us to deliver larger genes or multiple small genes,” Engel said, “and the genes can remain active for as long as they are needed.”
Story Source:
Materials provided by Princeton University. Original written by Catherine Zandonella. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Researchers achieve remote control of hormone release
Abnormal levels of stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol are linked to a variety of mental health disorders, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MIT researchers have now devised a way to remotely control the release of these hormones from the adrenal gland, using magnetic nanoparticles.
This approach could help scientists to learn more about how hormone release influences mental health, and could eventually offer a new way to treat hormone-linked disorders, the researchers say.
“We’re looking how can we study and eventually treat stress disorders by modulating peripheral organ function, rather than doing something highly invasive in the central nervous system,” says Polina Anikeeva, an MIT professor of materials science and engineering and of brain and cognitive sciences.
To achieve control over hormone release, Dekel Rosenfeld, an MIT-Technion postdoc in Anikeeva’s group, has developed specialized magnetic nanoparticles that can be injected into the adrenal gland. When exposed to a weak magnetic field, the particles heat up slightly, activating heat-responsive channels that trigger hormone release. This technique can be used to stimulate an organ deep in the body with minimal invasiveness.
Anikeeva and Alik Widge, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota and a former research fellow at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, are the senior authors of the study. Rosenfeld is the lead author of the paper, which appears today in Science Advances.
Controlling hormones
Anikeeva’s lab has previously devised several novel magnetic nanomaterials, including particles that can release drugs at precise times in specific locations in the body.
In the new study, the research team wanted to explore the idea of treating disorders of the brain by manipulating organs that are outside the central nervous system but influence it through hormone release. One well-known example is the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates stress response in mammals. Hormones secreted by the adrenal gland, including cortisol and adrenaline, play important roles in depression, stress, and anxiety.
“Some disorders that we consider neurological may be treatable from the periphery, if we can learn to modulate those local circuits rather than going back to the global circuits in the central nervous system,” says Anikeeva, who is a member of MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics and McGovern Institute for Brain Research.
As a target to stimulate hormone release, the researchers decided on ion channels that control the flow of calcium into adrenal cells. Those ion channels can be activated by a variety of stimuli, including heat. When calcium flows through the open channels into adrenal cells, the cells begin pumping out hormones. “If we want to modulate the release of those hormones, we need to be able to essentially modulate the influx of calcium into adrenal cells,” Rosenfeld says.
Unlike previous research in Anikeeva’s group, in this study magnetothermal stimulation was applied to modulate the function of cells without artificially introducing any genes.
To stimulate these heat-sensitive channels, which naturally occur in adrenal cells, the researchers designed nanoparticles made of magnetite, a type of iron oxide that forms tiny magnetic crystals about 1/5000 the thickness of a human hair. In rats, they found these particles could be injected directly into the adrenal glands and remain there for at least six months. When the rats were exposed to a weak magnetic field — about 50 millitesla, 100 times weaker than the fields used for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) — the particles heated up by about 6 degrees Celsius, enough to trigger the calcium channels to open without damaging any surrounding tissue.
The heat-sensitive channel that they targeted, known as TRPV1, is found in many sensory neurons throughout the body, including pain receptors. TRPV1 channels can be activated by capsaicin, the organic compound that gives chili peppers their heat, as well as by temperature. They are found across mammalian species, and belong to a family of many other channels that are also sensitive to heat.
This stimulation triggered a hormone rush — doubling cortisol production and boosting noradrenaline by about 25 percent. That led to a measurable increase in the animals’ heart rates.
Treating stress and pain
The researchers now plan to use this approach to study how hormone release affects PTSD and other disorders, and they say that eventually it could be adapted for treating such disorders. This method would offer a much less invasive alternative to potential treatments that involve implanting a medical device to electrically stimulate hormone release, which is not feasible in organs such as the adrenal glands that are soft and highly vascularized, the researchers say.
Another area where this strategy could hold promise is in the treatment of pain, because heat-sensitive ion channels are often found in pain receptors.
“Being able to modulate pain receptors with this technique potentially will allow us to study pain, control pain, and have some clinical applications in the future, which hopefully may offer an alternative to medications or implants for chronic pain,” Anikeeva says. With further investigation of the existence of TRPV1 in other organs, the technique can potentially be extended to other peripheral organs such as the digestive system and the pancreas.
From watching reruns to relationships, there are many ways of feeling connected
New research from the University at Buffalo suggests that non-traditional social strategies, which can include so-called “guilty pleasures,” are just as effective at fulfilling critical social needs as family connections, romantic relationships or strong social support systems.
The findings are particularly relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic as people struggle with direct social connections stunted by social distancing and other necessary precautions, according to Shira Gabriel, a professor of psychology in UB’s College of Arts and Sciences and one of the paper’s co-authors.
“I don’t think people realize that these non-traditional connections are as beneficial as we found in our research,” says Gabriel, an expert in social psychology. “Don’t feel guilty, because we found that these strategies are fine as long as they work for you.”
And these non-traditional strategies all predict positive outcomes, according to Elaine Paravati, a UB graduate and co-author of the paper.
“People can feel connected through all sorts of means. We found that more traditional strategies, like spending time with a friend in person, doesn’t necessarily work better for people than non-traditional strategies, like listening to a favorite musician,” says Paravati. “In fact, using a combination of both of these types of strategies predicted the best outcomes, so it might be especially helpful to have a variety of things you do in your life to help you feel connected to others.”
For over a decade, Gabriel has studied in her lab the importance of non-traditional social strategies. These include everything from getting lost in pulp fiction page-turners to preparing and enjoying comfort foods. Volumes of research also exist on the importance of traditional social strategies, like interpersonal relationships or group memberships.
But no one had ever empirically combined the traditional and non-traditional for comparative purposes to simultaneously test their relative effectiveness.
The results published in the journal Self and Identity represent the first evidence that not only reinforces the utility of non-traditional social strategies, but also suggest that doing something like binge watching a favorite television drama is as useful as other traditional means of fulfillment.
The research team, which also included graduate student Esha Naidu, recruited 173 participants who were asked questions about their well-being and their social connections. Their responses provided a measurement inspired by previous research, which the team calls the “social fuel tank.”
“There’s a basic need for social connections, just as we have a basic need for food,” says Gabriel. “The longer you go without those sorts of connections, the lower the fuel tank, and that’s when people start to get anxious, nervous or depressed, because they lack needed resources.
“What’s important is not how you’re filling the social fuel tank, but that your social fuel tank is getting filled.”
Participants filled their tanks as many as 17 different ways (with a median of seven), using a variety of strategies in their lives to fill their social needs, with a majority of participants reporting both traditional and non-traditional social strategies.
“This is especially relevant now, with social distancing guidelines changing the ways people connect with others,” says Paravati. “We can utilize these non-traditional strategies to help us feel connected, fulfilled, and find more meaning in our lives, even as we safely practice social distancing.”
At a time when pandemic-related restrictions have motivated questions about how to be social, Gabriel notes how these findings differ from cultural perceptions regarding the unwritten rules for what’s appropriate for creating a sense of belonging.
“We live in a society where people are questioned if they’re not in a romantic relationship, if they decide not to have children, or they don’t like attending parties,” says Gabriel. “There are implicit messages that these people are doing something wrong. That can be detrimental to them.
“The message we want to give to people, and that our data suggest, is that that’s just not true.”
And even before Gabriel had data to support these conclusions, her previous research had raised the very questions addressed in the current study.
“People had assumed these non-traditional connections weren’t valuable. In fact, we used to call them ‘social surrogates,’ as if they were a surrogate for a real social connection,” says Gabriel. “But after researching these connections for so long, we never found evidence that they weren’t valuable. Nothing suggested that people using non-traditional strategies were lonelier, or less happy, less socially skilled, or feeling any less fulfilled.
“These aren’t surrogates for real social connections; these are real ways of feeling connected that are very important to people.”
“Symbolic social bonds don’t function as a second-place option to traditional means.They are an effective way of reaping positive mental benefits,” says Paravati. “It’s not about only using them when you can’t access ‘better’ options- these options are helpful to use any time.”
So listen to music, follow the gossip column, pet the dog, or play a game.
“We have evidence that as long as you feel like you’re fulfilling your belongingness needs, it doesn’t really matter how you’re doing it,” says Paravati.
