Physical Fitness For Womens

Women to Women: A Handbook for Active Aging by Catharine Stewart-Roache and Barbara Yarnell advises women on how to sustain physical fitness DENVER (MMD Newswire) September 15, 2010                                      

                                       

A Handbook for Active Aging by Catharine Stewart-Roache and Barbara Yarnell is a guidebook to women's health and fitness after the age of 50.Stewart-Roache and Yarnell were frustrated that the majority of women's health and fitness books on the market only targeted women up to age 45 or were written from a much younger point of view. Women to Women is written for mature women by mature women. Stewart-Roache and Yarnell take years of personal experience combined with scientific research to offer women tips on setting fitness and nutrition goals as they age. According to Stewart-Roache and Yarnell, maintaining or beginning an active lifestyle while aging can reduce the effects of many diseases common among women such as high blood pressure, osteoporosis and depression. Women to Women aims to demonstrate how participating in cardiovascular fitness, flexibility training, and strength training will greatly enhance mental, physical and emotional well-being. Within Women to Women, readers are given detailed advice on how to begin walking, running, swimming, strength training and flexibility training with a comprehensive appendix. Kirkus Discoveries Reviews says, "Stewart-Roache and Yarnell's refreshing, no-nonsense attitude toward aging can be summed up by their brusque, introductory statement that 'old can be active old or rocking chair old.' The book continues in a similarly conversational tone, with the first half consisting of a quick introduction to nutrition and aerobic exercise, interspersed with notes of friendly encouragement." With Women to Women, the authors hope to make physical fitness accessible and inspiring to women over 50.

       

One way to stop HIV in India

India has the world's fourth largest population suffering from AIDS. However, the estimated number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections in India has declined drastically in recent years — from 5.5 million in 2005 to below 2.5 million in 2007. These new figures are supported by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS.                         

                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Despite being home to the world's fourth largest population suffering from AIDS, the AIDS prevalence rate in India is relatively lower. In 2007 India's AIDS prevalence rate stood at approximately 0.30% — the 89th highest in the world. The spread of HIV in India is primarily restricted to the southern and north-eastern regions of the country and India has also been praised for its extensive anti-AIDS campaign. The US$2.5 billion National AIDS Control Plan III was set up by India in 2007 and received support from UNAIDS.

The main factors which have contributed to India's large HIV-infected population are extensive labor migration, low literacy level in certain rural areas resulting in lack of awareness and gender disparity. The Government of India has also raised concerns about the role of intravenous drug use and prostitution in spreading AIDS, especially in north-east India and certain urban pockets. A recent study published in the British medical journal "The Lancet" in (2006) reported an approximately 30% decline in HIV infections among young women aged 15 to 24 years attending prenatal clinics in selected southern states of India from 2000 to 2004 where the epidemic is thought to be concentrated.

The authors cautiously attribute observed declines to increased condom use by men who visit commercial sex workers and cite several pieces of corroborating evidence. Some efforts have been made to tailor educational literature to those with low literacy levels, mainly through local libraries as this is the most readily accessible locus of information for interested parties. Increased awareness regarding the disease and citizen's related rights is in line with the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.

                                              

Mental Illness - History

History of Mental Illness

According to one of the earliest beliefs (espoused by the ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Hebrews), a person with a mental disorder was possessed by evil spirits. These demons were exorcised by such techniques as prayer, incantation, magic, and the use of purgatives concocted from herbs.

If these treatments were unsuccessful, more extreme measures were taken to ensure that the body would be an unpleasant dwelling place for the evil spirit. Flogging, starving, burning, and even stoning to death were not infrequent forms of treatment.


Content Source: Bukisa - History of Mental Illness

Claudio Soares rewarded for research in Mental Health

Dr. Claudio Soares, director of the women's health concerns clinic at St. Joseph's Healthcare, has been recognized as a breakthrough researcher by a leading American foundation dedicated to mental health research.

For six years, Soares has been studying the effects of depression in pregnant women and the impact on their children. He is the first Canadian acknowledged by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) for breakthrough research on work it has funded.

"I think it's a nice acknowledgement of the research we do in Canada," said Soares. "It brings attention to what we do here."

Soares is also in the midst of a large long-term study researching maternal adversity, vulnerability and neurodevelopment (MAVAN). The study is being jointly conducted by McMaster University, where Soares is an associate professor, and by McGill University and University of Toronto researchers.

The study's clinical operation is in Hamilton, where 250 pregnant women -- half of them well and the other half depressed -- have been monitored.

Soares, with the help of a two-year NARSAD grant, is now going back to the MAVAN data to see how allergies in the study's children correlate with their mothers' mental health during pregnancy.

"We are looking at the transgenerational impact (of depression)," Soares said.

In previous segments of the study, researchers found stress, depression and anxiety during pregnancy causes low birth weights.

Soares has received several NARSAD grants totalling $250,000 to date. The aim of his studies is to understand the impact of depression during pregnancy and to develop treatment strategies.

Source:
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/794462

Suicide Rivals The Battlefield In Toll On U.S. Military

Nearly as many American troops at home and abroad have committed suicide this year as have been killed in combat in Afghanistan. Alarmed at the growing rate of soldiers taking their own lives, the Army has begun investigating its mental health and suicide prevention programs.

But the tougher challenge is changing a culture that is very much about "manning up" when things get difficult.

This is the first in an occasional series of stories on the problem of suicides in the military.

Suicide Rates Rise Over Decade

There were 197 Army suicides in 2008, according to the Army's numbers. The total includes active- and non-active-duty soldiers.

Last year, the number was 245. This year, through May, it's already 163.

The Army has instituted many programs to counsel and train soldiers. Stephen Colley had undergone suicide prevention training.

The suicides continue even as America's war in Iraq is winding down and multiple deployments are past.

What is causing these men, and some women, to kill themselves?

For more information please visit:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127860466

Schizophrenia is hereditary, may appear early in life

From now through the end of May, NARSAD, a brain and behavior research fund, is hosting free public forums around the country to showcase mental health research. On Saturday, local researchers will convene at the Indiana University School of Medicine for a "Healthy Minds Across America" gathering.

Among those speaking will be Dr. Alan Breier, chief of the psychotic disorders program at the medical school, who specializes in schizophrenia.

For more information or to register, call (800) 829-8289. In advance of the event, Breier discussed schizophrenia, a mental disorder in which a person may have delusions, hallucinations, or other forms of impaired thinking.

Question: How has our understanding of schizophrenia changed in recent years?

Answer: There have been substantial advances in the neuroscience. We're getting a better handle on the brain processes that have gone awry to cause this devastating illness.

Q: What do we know?

A: The basic problem with schizophrenia involves the wiring in the cortex of the brain. Schizophrenia is hereditary. We reason that some genetic abnormality affects the genes that form the cortex, early in fetal development. But the illness manifests in the teens and early 20s.

Q: Why does it take so long?

A: When you look carefully, you may find hints of problems as early as the grade school years -- school performance complications or not being as social. We're trying to identify people who are at early risk to develop novel treatments that could hopefully change the course of illness. Our Prevention and Recovery from Early Psychosis Center is focused on detection, training and research.

Q: What is the center's approach to treatment?

A: Our approach is, let's start early. We know that people who are at this early phase rarely get to treatment promptly.

The symptoms emerge and this adds to the downward course -- unemployment, dropping out of school, substance abuse problems, incarceration, social isolation. People with schizophrenia frequently die 10 to 15 years earlier. They have high rates of smoking, metabolic disease, high rates of suicide.

Q: Does a person need both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments?

A: Both. We need the introduction of pharmacological treatments as early as possible in the illness. The longer you wait, the poorer the outcome.

There are some interesting behavioral treatments; one is called cognitive remediation, where you're basically exercising the cortex. It's done with a computer program where the individual basically interacts with a computer program that is creating a variety of tasks that are exercising the brain. After a 10-week course, cognitive function improves.

Q: What more can we do?

A: The most important thing we can do in schizophrenia is develop a new group of pharmacological treatments. The treatments we have today are effective in quelling the voices, in quelling the delusional beliefs. The treatments we have right now, I'd rate as a "B".

We need treatments we could rate as an "A" that would change the long-term nature of the illness.

Source: http://www.indystar.com/article/20100429/LIVING25/4290309/1300/LIVING25/Schizophrenia-is-hereditary-may-appear-early-in-life

Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal among winners of Prism Awards

Six weeks after winning an Oscar, Jeff Bridges picked up another accolade for "Crazy Heart" on Thursday night as he and costar Maggie Gyllenhaal were bestowed Prism Awards, which honor actors, movies and TV shows that "accurately depict and bring attention to substance abuse and mental health issues."

"Crazy Heart," the story of an alcoholic singer, also won the award in the substance use category for feature films, while " The Soloist," in which Jamie Foxx portrayed a street musician battling paranoid schizophrenia, was honored for its depiction of mental health issues.

Television series winners included NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," NBC's "Law & Order," AMC's " Breaking Bad" and CBS' "How I Met Your Mother."

Two TV movies on Lifetime, "Natalee Holloway" and "Prayers for Bobby," also collected awards, and a third Lifetime movie, "America," earned performance honors for Rosie O'Donnell.

Among other programs picking up awards were Nickelodeon's "Nick News With Linda Ellerbee" for an installment called "Kids in Rehab," PBS' " Betty Ford: The Real Deal" and HBO's "The Alzheimer's Project."

The Prisms, established in 1997, were presented at the Beverly Hills Hotel by the Entertainment Industries Council in association with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the FX network, which will televise the ceremony in the fall.

"Through accurate character portrayals and inspired storytelling, our industry reinforces the importance of those individuals within the care-giving and health fields," said Brian Dyak, president of the Entertainment Industries Council.

Source: http://theenvelope.latimes.com/la-et-prism-awards-20100422,0,1089670.story