Menstrual Problems- Causes and Ayurvedic Treatment

Women often experience menstrual problems due to various reasons. These include, stress, unhealthy lifestyle and incorrect food habits. Menstrual pain is sometimes referred to as Dysmenorrhoea /Amenorrhoea. This is again sub categorized into Primary dysmenorrhea and Secondary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea is the result of uterine contractions stimulated by increased production of the hormone prostaglandin. Other causes include anxiety and stress, and displaced uterus. The causes of secondary dysmenorrhea include pelvic inflammatory disease, uterine fibroids, abnormal pregnancy, infection, tumors, or polyps in the pelvic cavity.

Read more about symptoms and treatment of Dysmenorrhoea /Amenorrhoea

Reduce Weight- Organize Your Day Carefully!

Do you feel that you are gradually gaining weight? Or you are already overweight and are trying hard to reduce weight? Does your motivation goes down often because of your not being able to achieve set targets? If your answer is yes then this article is for you. It will tell you how to reduce weight by natural ways. And you need not to worry about setting any targets- short term or long term. You just need to organize your day- your food habits and your work habits- in the correct way. And that's all! Know what is your ideal body weight. Now plan your day and calculate your body weight after 30 days (don't be tempted by the weighing machine every second day). Read the following tips to get an idea about how to plan your day so that your weight gets reduced gradually and permanently.

• After getting up in the morning, have a glass full of plain water. Increase the number to three glasses gradually ( increase one-fourth or half a glass every day). After having water, don't take anything for half an hour. After half an hour, have some warm water mixed with some lemon juice and honey.
• Cut your intake of caffeine (tea or coffee). Caffeine increases insulin in your body, which slows down the burning process of your stored fat. Take some alternative like green tea, herbal tea or lemon tea. If you can't have them, switch over to some fruit juice instead (no banana shake or mango juice!)
• Do some light exercise in the morning- some simple “yoga asanas” or stretching exercises will do. Walking is the best and the simplest exercise to do. Walk for at least 30 minutes. If you don't find time in the morning, walk in the evening and even in the lunch hour- walk any time but do walk!
• Take spicy foods (not fried food), particularly that which contains black pepper. It increases your metabolism by as much as 40%.
• Eat lesser amount of food for at least five times a day instead of three big meals. Take fiber rich food so that you don't feel hungry soon.
• Increase your fruit intake. Take them between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner. This way you will also avoid eating more at meal times. And remember never to skip a meal!
• Don't go for fried and high calorie snacks and packaged food. If going out for lunch and dinner, go for light menus (something baked or steamed instead of fried). Cut back on sweets- sugar and carbohydrates increase weight alarmingly. Keep some roasted snacks in your office drawer to munch on when you experience those hunger pangs ( don't just run to the canteen and grab that samosa, pastry or patties)
• Pursue some active hobby in the evening- swimming, playing badminton, cycling, dance classes- anything that will burn your calories.
• Drink lots of water during the day- at least 8 to 10 glasses.
• Don't deprive yourself of your favorite food items ( chocolates, sweets etc.) for very long. Take them, in small quantities, after gap of some days (say 15 or 20 days) otherwise your body will not remain used to these foods. Eat less, eat right.

Don't get demoralized when after a month you don't reduce much weight. It takes some time to set the things off and reduction of fat gets faster as days go by. Just don't leave organizing your days in proper way- in healthy way.

Pharmaceutical Finished Formulations- An Overview

Pharmacy deals with all the aspects of turning chemicals into medications that can be safely used by patients. Raw chemicals, although having medicinal properties are of no use to a patient. Thus, the chemical substances are combined to produce a final medicinal product. This process of combining different chemical substances along with the active drug is called pharmaceutical formulation. The final medicinal products are known as pharmaceutical finished formulations. Pharmaceutical finished formulations, simply called drugs or medicines, are prepared in many forms.

Oral Formulations

They are the drugs that are consumed by patients and can be in the form of tablets or capsules.

Tablets: Tablets are made by mixing active substances with excipients. An excipient is an inactive substance which is used as a carrier for the active ingredients of a medication. The mixture is normally in powder form which is pressed or compacted to give solid composition to the tablets. The excipients include binders, glidants (flow aids) and lubricants to ensure effective tableting.

Capsules: When medicines are enclosed in a stable shell, they are known as a capsules. They can be hard-shelled capsules, which are generally used for dry, powdered ingredients, or they can be soft-shelled capsules, which are used for oils and other active ingredients that are dissolved or suspended in oil.

Topical Formulations

These medicines are applied externally to a particular part of the body. They can be in the form of cream, gel, ointment or powder.

Creams: Creams are semi-solid liquid preparation, which are mixtures of oil and water. They can be of two types - oil-in-water (O/W) creams and water-in-oil (W/O) creams. Although Oil-in-water creams are more comfortable and acceptable, most of the drugs are Water-in-oil creams as they can be released more readily in such a form.

Ointments: Ointments are viscous semisolid preparation used locally on many body surfaces. They can be applied on skin and mucus membranes of the eye, vagina, anus, and nose.

Gels: Gels are solid, jelly-like material which can have properties that range from soft and weak to hard and tough. They are also locally applied on various parts of body.

Powders: Powders are also one of the pharmaceutical finished formulations that are applied either internally or externally. They consist of one or many crushed substances.

Injections

Injections, sometimes also called “shots” are medicinal liquids that are infused into the patient's body with the help of a hollow needle and a syringe. Injections are administered through parenteral route, which means that they are administered other than through the digestive tract.

US Medical Equipment Industry Overview

There were about 8,000 medical device companies in the United States around 2004. While the number of large and mid-sized medical device companies was less, over 80 percent of firms employed no more than 50 people. The world's medical equipment and supplies industry was worth $80 billion in 2005, with the United States being the the largest consumer country of medical and dental equipment.

Read More at: TheMedica

UK Alternative Medicine Market Overview

Complementary and alternative medicine is increasingly becoming popular in many developed countries including the UK. The UK market value estimates for complementary therapies in 1996 stood at $106.4 million, while the sales of herbal remedies totaled $56 million. Homeopathy, chiropractic, acupuncture, medical herbalism, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, aromatherapy are some popular CAM therapies.

Read More at: TheMedica

Alternative Medicines Industry Profile

Alternative medicines are also known as complementary and alternative Medicine (CAM) or traditional medicines. In some African and Asian nations about 80 percent of the population gets its primary health care via Alternative medicines. About 12 percent children use CAM in the US such as homeopathic medicines, herbs and yoga for addressing a number ailments. However, CAM usage has decreased for head or chest colds from 2002 to 2007 in the US.

Read More at: TheMedica

3 Burning Issues for Hospitals Today

This recession has had quite an impact on hospitals, causing 45% of hospitals to postpone capital projects and 13% to cease any expansion in process, as an American Hospital Association report revealed. But despite the new challenges posed by financial crisis for the medical industry, hospitals have their own health care delivery issues to tackle.

Many hospitals have been purchasing refurbished hospital furniture such as hospital chairs or beds to cut costs. However, in addition, addressing the following issues can lead to long term cost-savings.

1. Hospital Deaths due to Medical Errors

Preventable medical errors caused an average of 195,000 individuals to lose their lives in the USA. This was the finding of a HealthGrades study that assessed 37 million patient records for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The associated health care cost of these medical errors is estimated to be over $6 billion per year. Following the study, analysts suggested that just by improving upon four key areas, namely, failure to rescue, bed sores, postoperative sepsis, and postoperative pulmonary embolism. And if their occurrence could be reduced by just 20 percent, 39,000 lives can be saved each year. Whether medical error rates have dropped since the study remains to be seen.

2. Hospitals' Efficiency

The hospitals in the US can significantly improve patient care and also save a minimum of about $4 billion annually, only if they became more efficient. These conclusions follow from an analysis by Thomson Reuters. Key suggestions from the company to save costs include reducing hospital-acquired infections and slashing hospital readmissions. While the minimum savings are to the tune of $4 billion, with some really effective measures in place hospitals could save up to $20 billion over a span of three years. That's about $7 billion a year in savings.

3. Electronic Health Records

The present state of affairs seems pretty dismal as only 1.5 percent of U.S. hospitals have implemented facility-wide comprehensive health care information technology systems. Further, just about 8 – 11 percent hospitals have at least a single unit with installed with basic health care IT systems. (New England Journal of Medicine, NEJM, Mar 2009).

While smaller budgets, maintenance costs, hesitation among health care professional are said to be the primary reasons preventing the widespread use of IT systems, the long-term effects of installing them need to be taken into account. At the same time, it's hardly any use having IT systems in place when their power isn't leveraged via effective use.

The UK Diet Supplements Market Overview

A general sentiment to maintain health, protect against illness, tackle specific health problems, up vitality levels and live healthier are driving up the demand for vitamins, minerals and supplements within the United Kingdom. By the year 2006, the UK VMS market was valued at $827 million. The six major players who held a major share (approx. 78 percent) within the vitamins, minerals, and supplements (VMS) market are Holland & Barrett, Bayer, Seven Seas, Boots Healthcare, SuperDrug, and Tesco. By 2011, the UK market for diet supplements is expected to be valued at $868 million.

Read More at: Themedica

Industry Overview: US Home Healthcare Services

About 20,000 home healthcare service organizations across the nation deliver healthcare to 8 million individuals with an acute illness, a long-term medical condition, a permanent disability, or a terminal illness. For the top performing companies, the average revenue in 2007 was $17,340,702. In the coming thirty years, the American population over 65 years of age will double to 70 million. Ageing population coupled with several other make the market for home healthcare service promising.

Read More at: Themedica

The Vaccine Market Overview

Till now, vaccines were largely associated with inoculation of infants and kids, but now the market for adult vaccines is growing fast. The global vaccine market stood at US$ 11.42 billion in 2006, growing at a rate of 16.52%, it is said to touch US$ 21.05 billion by 2010, and up to $23.8 billion by 2012. As competition within the industry increases, the vaccine market will resemble the conventional market for pharmaceutical products. Amongst many trends seen within the are that vaccines aimed at anthrax, plague, and smallpox, are being designed to defend against bioterrorist attacks. Also, vaccines to stimulate innate immune responses as well as adaptive are being developed, and more.

Read More at: Themedica

The US Biotech Industry Snapshot

The US biotechnology industry is a vibrant component of the country's economy. Since, the early 1990s the industry has registered a fast growth, with the revenues increasing from $8 billion in 1992 to $39.2 billion in 2003. Further, it is large and complex and is engaged in about 38 areas of sub‐sector elements, from plant and animal life sciences to drug discovery and information technology. The job market forecast of biological technicians, is expected to grow by 28.2 percent between 2004 and 2014.

Read More at: TheMedica

Are Pharma Workers Feeling More Insecure Now?

Pharma staffers, despite working long hours in the wake of the shaky economy are beginning to express insecurity about their careers as a recent survey by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturing magazine found.

The press release reports that of the 400 readers worldwide who participated in the survey, 64% feared job security. While in 2008 this figure was 55.8%, and 42.7% in 2007.

It's a progressive trend that with each passing year the percentage of those expressing insecurity within the pharma drug industry has increased. And that experts think that the dwindling economy isn't the sole reason. In fact, the expression of job insecurity by pharma staffers is a result of dwindling product pipelines, blockbuster drug patent expirations, and the buzz created by the recent culminated & speculated mergers and acquisitions.

Further, pharma companies aren't laying off more now than a few years ago. However, new hiring has certainly taken a hit, and as is the case for most industries, a “wait-and-see attitude” is being adapted by pharma companies too.

Despite the prevailing insecurity, industry employees still find “Improving patients’ lives” as something that motivates and find meaning in their jobs. But they are also turned off by uncertainties about the future, job cuts and the fact that they're maintaining more than they're innovating.

Decreasing salaries too appear to be a concern to the workers from this domain of the medical industry. Because the numbers reveal that in response to this year's study just 40.2% said they were drawing an annual pay package of $100,000 as against 47.3% in 2008. The biotech industry seems to be doing better, as biotech's turning out profits.

Nevertheless, Keeping up the spirits of the workforce has always been essential for running a company well, and it seem even truer during tough times. Perhaps the responsibility to keep staffers in good spirits lies on the shoulders of both the companies and the employees themselves – perhaps by maintaining a positive outlook, enhancing skills, or whatever works.

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The US Waste Management Industry Snapshot

Put together, the industry and households in the US produce over 200 million tons of solid waste, that translates into generation of about 4.4 pounds of waste per person every single day. The waste management industry, traditionally engaged in the collection, transport, and disposal of wastes is now faced with meeting the raised expectations of the populace, owing to increasing environmental concerns. The three major players in the waste management business are Allied Waste Industries, Waste Management, and Republic Services, and together with 10,000 private sector firms in the business, generate annual revenues to the tune of $50 billion.

Read More at: Themedica

Pharma Fighting Hard – But will it win?

Hit by the tsunami of recessionary economy causing sales to dip and growth rates forecasted to fall below historic levels, pharma drug companies have hit the panic button and are trying out different ways in their quest to survive.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Pfizer's acquisition of Wyeth for US$68 Billion is a striking example. The company has acted to safeguard itself, owing to the plummeting revenues from it's popular drug “Lipitor” and several other products, which would soon be faced with expired patent protection.

But this is being seen as just the beginning of a whole wave of mergers to come by. Some other expected acquisitions are being speculated such as Roche buying out the remaining share of Genentech, Merck merging with Schering-Plough, a merger between Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and more pharma industry mergers.

In fact the general expectation the big pharma companies are all set to taking over smaller player raised the hopes among small biotechnology companies worrying about their own survival soon a bigger firm would approach them with a buy out offer. However, recently panelists attending the BioPartnering North America conference, warned of harboring such an unrealistic expectation that all biotech companies in distress will be rescued. At present pharma firms have their eyes set on other pharma firms rather than biotech product companies.

Job Cuts

Pharma companies are fast reducing their workforce. The Pfizer-Wyeth deal itself if expected lead to a 15 percent reduction of staff for both the firms combined, which translates in to about 130,000 job cuts.

Other recent layoffs include King Pharmaceuticals (KG), (22%, or 760 jobs), KV Pharmaceutical Co (700 job cuts expected), GlaxoSmithKline (10,000 job cuts predicted), and more.

Skepticism

At the same time analysts are skeptical about some aspects of these deals. For example there's apparently no solution to declining sales outlook, as projections about Pfizer-Wyeth will have a combined 2013 total company sales below the 2008 figure of $70 billion. Some suggest that while large-scale mergers between will create cost savings and give these companies time, that won't be sufficient to reinvent pharma.

Medical Device Industry Overview

The US industry with its high investments in Research and Development is regarded worldwide for making sophisticated and high quality devices incorporating advanced technologies. The country's market was valued at nearly $80 billion in 2005. In addition the U.S. medical technology companies are leaders in the world's medical device production. Further, to facilitate expansion, medical device companies are increasingly looking at developing economies as an opportunity to drive future growth.

Read More at: Themedica

Survey: Biotechnology Industry will Bounce Back

The biotechnology industry is expected to rebound and outperform healthcare industry and the rest of the market this year, according to findings from an investor perception study released by Thomson Reuters and the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) at the 11th Annual BIO CEO & Investor Conference in New York.

Findings

• Investors have stated that a company’s cash position is now more important.

• More than two-thirds in the study expect greater M&A volume in 2009, with major pharmaceutical companies buying biotech of all sizes, and large biotechs buying smaller biotech companies.

• The study found that most investors are neutral to positive about the policies likely to be pursued by the Obama administration.

• Investors are particularly hoping for greater consistency and predictability from the FDA where higher safety barriers and insufficient resources are cited as primary reasons for limited drug approvals.

• Most investors pay little attention to activism in the biotech sector

• Meeting with management is the most important factor when researching investments, followed by conferences and sell-side research, which is still considered important.

Investors are optimistic about biotech stock performance

• 70% expect biotech to outperform the rest of the market this year.

• 59% consider biotech undervalued, while only 4% say the sector is overvalued.

• 57% expect biotech to rebound during this year; another 30% expect a rebound in 2010.

Investors are less optimistic about research and development

• 60% state overall productivity in 2009-2011 will be the same as in 2006-2008.

• Investors see the best opportunities in mid-cap companies with late-stage pipelines

• 37% of polled investors see opportunity in micro-and small-cap companies, but only 16% favor early stage pipelines over late stage pipelines.

• 67% of investors state the best investment opportunities lie in oncology while 37% see promise in immunology.

Source: Biotechnology Industry Organization

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Birth Control Pill Adverts - Is Bayer Ethically Challenged?

Recently, the German drugmaker Bayer settled the incident over advertising of its blockbuster birth control pharma drug Yaz with a corrective $20 million national advertising. As the news made waves many opined that the episode only cements the reputation of the drugmaker as being the most ethically challenged pharma company around.

But is a single bad ad campaign enough to brand a manufacturer as ethically challenged?

The drug in question is in fact approved by the FDA as a birth control pill with a side benefit in treating premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and improving moderate acne. The problem lies not with the approved effects but with advertising, which has been considered in the FDAs warning letter as broadening the drugs indication, overstating its efficacy, while minimizing serious risks associated with the use of the drug.

The settlement aside, the question is whether the drugmaker is the only entity to run into problems because of advertising. Many advertisements day in and day out are questioned for making misleading claims for all sorts of products and services.

Also, just because an advertisement has been caught violating laws doesn't mean that those others who've violated but haven't been caught are angels. And this may be quite true within the medical industry, because critics suggest that the F.D.A. division that oversees drug promotion has a staff of only 52 people, who can't be expected to keep a tab on thousands of ad campaigns run by drug makers the year over.

While not being an advocate for any particular drug maker, I'd like to point out a just a few of the “ethical initiatives” by the so termed “ethically challenged” company.

Science and Education

Set up "BayLabs" as they're called at various sites in Germany. These laboratories allow schoolchildren to learn about chemistry and biology with carefully prepared experiments and learning programs.

Environment and Nature

In 2004 Bayer became the first private-sector company start a partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for involving the youth in caring for the environment. It's run over a dozen projects around the globe since then.

Health and Social Needs

As an aid to Asian tsunami victims the company provided both money and donations in kind with a total value of EUR 13 million (approx US$ 16.8 million).

You can find out more about the company from the Sustainability & Commitment section on their website.

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Tips To Promote Yourself at Trade Shows

Participating in medical trade shows can produce immediate results in the form of “at-the-show” sales, or generate low-cost, high-quality sales inquiries. In addition, businesses get the opportunity to showcase and demonstrate their latest products, assess the activities of rivals and examine recent trends and opportunities. However, successfully participating at a trade show and deriving all the benefits requires a well-planned approach, or else the participant's cost might turn out to be higher than any benefits. Read on to know the essential tips for make your participation at trade shows a success.

Read More at: Themedica

The Stem Cell Debate - Is It Settled?

The wait for those in support of embryonic-stem-cell research funding seems to be over, as the President Obama is expected to sign an executive order overriding the federal funding limits put on by the former administration. And leading to the rebirth of stem cell research.

Those against stem cell research contend that stem cells research amounts to abortion, because it moves forward at the expense of destroying human embryos, which are fertilized eggs and in early stages of becoming a baby. And abortion is murder, so stem cells research amounts to killing. So when the Bush administration put a cap on funding it was believed that religious convictions had won over science.

But was it really a victory, especially if you consider that stem cells have the potential to be grown into any type of cell the human body has, and thus making them an excellent resource to treat and manage debilitating diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, paralysis, diabetes and more.

Who gets to win or lose?

It seems that despite the convincing power of immorality aspect ascribed to stem cell research, many opinion polls have indicated that a majority of Americans think that stem cell research holds a lot of promise to eventually bring down human suffering than cause it. Perhaps, there would have been some breakthroughs in treatments already, if the big biotechnology product companies hadn't shied away from stem-cell research due to the politics involved.

What's more unpleasant is that a political football match is being played with something as noble as scientific research and which has the potential to save so many lives.

The debate probably isn't settled in the minds of those with the opposing views, and it may never be. But if biotechnology isn't given the respect it deserves, it would choose to grow in a place where it gets the freedom to. For instance, The Shandong Stem Cell Engineering Research Center in China reports, via UPI, that they've successfully cloned five human embryos for medical research!

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Economic Recession - Hospitals aren't Spared

In its most recent update published on January 28, the IMF announced that world growth is forecast to fall to its lowest level since World War II. And with the US being one of the worst hit, the hospital business, an integral part of the medical marketplace, and often regarded as recession proof is beginning to feel the heat.

Despite the fact that hospitals aren't hit the way the way the automotive sector or the retail has been, and that people will continue to fall sick irrespective of the economy, it seems that the number of people seeking medical care and the profitability of hospitals don’t walk hand-in-hand.

Growth stunted & patients decreasing

A recent report by the American Hospital Association (AHA) finds that the sputtering economy has already led to 45% of hospitals to postpone forthcoming capital projects, with about 13% being forced to completely stall any expansion projects already underway. The AHA report included 639 hospitals in the study.

Further, experts believe that even though people continue to fall sick they're postponing, most treatments if not all, which can be classified as elective. The credit for the prevailing scenario goes to all the layoffs and the slowing economy. As per the Bureau of Labor Statistics the month of December saw some of the worst layoff figures, as there were 2,275 mass layoff actions, involving 226,117 workers.

What seems worse is that aside from foregoing elective treatments, patients seem to be avoiding essential drugs, with many actually abusing prescription drugs, such as narcotic painkillers , sedatives and tranquilizers and stimulants.

As a consequence, hospitals are reeling under delayed hospital equipment and supply purchases, declining patient visits, reduced staff with no fresh hiring, unpaid medical bills, in addition to ceasing any construction projects. The AHA survey, released in November last year found that patient visits were static or had decreased during the third quarter of 2008, and the cases of unpaid medical bills for hospitals registered a hike of 8%.

The government's role in uplifting the spirit of hospitals is being thought to be instrumental as Medicare and Medicaid account for about half of the hospital business industry.

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