Though the course of Multiple Sclerosis cannot be accurately predicted, early treatment has substantial benefits for the patient.

No permanent cure: Often patients with MS lose control over their limbs.
MEENAKSHI BHUJWALA
Group Captain Prabal Malaker (Retd.) is a 53-year-old retired officer of the Indian Air Force. Prabal was commissioned as a fighter pilot in 1977.
As a qualified […]

Push yourself beyond your comfort zone every few minutes while exercising and see the difference it makes to your body.

Reach for the stars: Urge your body to higher limits.
DR. SHEELA NAMBIAR M.D
You’ve been instructed to walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes every day. So you saunter along listening to your iPod, wondering what to […]

DR MARLYIN GEORGE
Oral health plays a critical role in the growth and development of a child. Ironically the single most common chronic disease of childhood is dental caries, which is both preventable and reversible. This also affects the adult population and is equal ly preventable there too.
In that case why are we not preventing dental […]

We may not have the vocabulary to deal with ‘depression’ but it’s a very real affliction, says psychiatrist and writer DR. VIJAY NAGASWAMI

Feeling down? No harm seeking help…Photo: K.K. Mustafah
I have lost count of the number of people who tell me that depression is a “weakness of modern times” and all you need to be […]

Depression remains under-detected and under-treated because of the stigma…
ARUNA CHANDARAJU
In Delhi, 35-year-old Sujata Juneja’s family is distressed at their daughter’s behaviour. She sits alone, mostly silent and motionless, most of the day, has spells of weeping, refuses to come out of her room and join the family for anything. It takes much persuasion to get […]

It is reassuring to believe that no national strategy will be needed — even if one could be implemented — against swine flu. 
J. Gowrishankar
It was the evening of Saturday June 27, and I felt the prodromal symptoms of an incipient viral upper respiratory infection (“the common cold”) coming on. By Sunday, the infection […]

A recenty study has shown what was always known. Elderly people who are active show better cerebral health than those who are inactive, says the latest study.
Researchers led by Elizabeth Bullitt, neurosurgeon at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, used non-invasive magnetic resonance (MR) angiography to examine brain blood vessels in the […]

Our Bureau
Tuberculosis (TB) experts at Johns Hopkins have evidence from a four-year series of experiments in mice that anti-inflammatory drugs could eventually prove effective in treating the highly contagious lung disease, adding to current antibiotic therapies.
The scientists are planning further experiments in animals infected with TB to find out if any of the already-approved […]

Keeping obesity under check helps you deal with Polycystic Ovaries.  

Keep fit. PHOTO: S.S. KUMAR
DR. SHEELA NAMBIAR
Anxious mothers with their young daughters and young women wanting to conceive often approach the Gynaecologist with an ultrasound report that says she has something that sounds quite ominous – Polycystic Ovaries.
“Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome” (PCOS) is really a […]

Blocked nose can lead to chronic problems if not treated separately and immediately. 
DR. GIRISH RAI AND DR. USHA CHENNURU
A blocked nose is a common symptom faced by many people who have a cold. It makes breathing difficult and interferes with one’s daily routine. If this happens during sleep, it is far more distressing. […]