The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mobiles linked to disturbed sleep

Professor Dr. M. Alamgir Chowdhury

Using a mobile phone before going to bed could stop you getting a quality sleep, research suggests. The study, funded by mobile phone companies, suggests radiation from the handset can cause insomnia, headache and confusion.

It may also cut our amount of deep sleep-interfering with the body's ability to refresh itself. The study was carried out by Sweden's Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in the US.

Funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45. Some were exposed to radiation equivalent to that received when using a mobile phone, other were placed in the same conditions, but given only "sham" exposure.

Those exposed to radiation took longer to enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep, and spent less time in the deepest one.

The scientists concluded: "The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected".

Researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz said: "The study strongly suggests that mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system".

Another theory is that radiation may disrupt production of the hormone melatonin, which controls the body's internal rhythms.

Electro sensitivity: About half the people in the study believed themselves to be "electro sensitive", reporting symptoms such as headache and impaired cognitive function from mobile phone use. But they proved to be unable to tell if they had been exposed to the radiation in the test.

Alasdair Philips is director of Powerwatch, which researches the effects of electromagnetic fields on health.

He said: "The evidence is getting stronger that we should treat these things in a precautionary way.

"This research suggests that if you need to make a phone call in the evening it is much better to use a land line, and don't have your mobile by your bedside table." Mike Dolan, executive director of the Mobile Operators Association, said the study was inconsistent with other research.

He said: "It is really one small piece in a very large scientific jigsaw. It is a very small effect, one researcher likened it to less than the effect you would see from a cup of coffee."

Last September a major six-year study by the UK Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme (MTHRP) concluded that mobile phone use posed no short-term risk to the brain.

However, the researchers said they could not rule out the possibility that long-term use may raise the risk of cancer.

In the UK, mobile services operate within the frequency ranges 872 to 960 MHz, 1710 to 1875 MHz and 1920 to 2170 MHz.

Sinus surgery clears up fatigue

Sinusitis is a very common disease. Many people have been suffering from sinusitis. People who suffer from sinusitis list chronic fatigue as one of their most troubling symptoms, equal to facial pain and a blocked nose. Sometimes their exhaustion is explained as sick building syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome or multiple chemical sensitivity.

But an analysis led by a group including a Boston researcher shows that surgery to clear clogged sinuses appears to substantially improve their energy too.

Senior author Dr. Neil Bhattacharyya of Brigham and Women's Hospital, along with researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center, St. Louis University School of Medicine, and Oregon Health and Science University, looked at 28 studies of 3,427 patients who reported fatigue before surgery said their energy had returned to normal levels an average of one year later, the authors report today in Laryngoscope.

"Finally we have good, scientifically consistent evidence that fatigue will very often improve significantly after surgery, "Bhattacharyya said in a statement released with the study.

There are many treatment modalities of sinus infection. Modern treatment is Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS). It is less invasive, safe and also helps to regain the normal functions of the sinuses. In Bangladesh, endoscopic sinus surgery facilities are available in all big hospitals.

Medicine at our doorsteps: Chalta and Latkan

Jamayet Ali

Chalta is a large handsome evergreen tree, 30-80 ft. in height and six ft. in girth, with a dense rounded leathery crown leaf and fleshy and juicy persisting sepal forming the edible part of the fruits, flower large, 5-8 inches diam, white, fragrant and solitary. The fruit is large, about 3 inches in diameter, and is surrounded by fleshy accrescent calyces, which, when the fruit is full grown on February, have an agreeably acid taste, and are eaten by the people, either raw or cooked - chiefly cooked in curries. They are also made into a pleasant jelly. The acid juice sweetened with sugar forms a cooling drink. It is grown in garden for its handsome foliage and attractive flower. The plant is a shade bearer and vigorous saplings are found under dense shade. It thrives best in damp situations in deep fertile soil. The tree reproduces satisfactorily from coppice shoots. Seed dispersal under natural conditions is brought about by wild elephants which eat the fruits and eject the seeds or by forest streams which carry down until stranded, the buoyant fruits which fall into them. On reaching the ground, the fruits dry up and decay, the fleshy portions are eaten away by white ants and the seeds, which remain unaffected, germinate at the commencement of rains. The seedlings are washed away by rains and take root wherever they gain a footing.

For artificial reproduction, the seeds are sown about May in boxes or nursery beds, or seedlings which develop from fruits falling to the ground are collected and planted in nursery beds. Seedlings are transplanted at the commencement of first rains when they are one year old or 3-4 in high. Growth is moderately fast. The tree flowers during May-August and fruits ripen during September-February. The timber is used in the form of planks and rafters for internal work. It is used also for making tool handles, gun-stocks and bottoms of boats. It may be used for oars and telegraph posts. Botanical name of Chalta is Dillenia indica Linn. The tree is planted in most areas of Bangladesh. It is also planted in India, Srilanka, Malay Peninsula and Indo-China.

Medicinal Properties: The raw fruit is sour, bitter, pungent. The ripe fruit sweet, sour, tasty, removes 'vata' and 'kapha', dispels fatigue; stops abdominal pains (Ayurveda). The juice of the fruit mixed with sugar and water is used as a cooling beverage in fevers, and as a cough mixtute. The fruit is slightly laxative, and is apt to induce diarrhoea if too freely indulged in. The bark and the leaves are astringent (Indian Medicinal Plants, K.R.Kirtikar & B.D.Basu, Vol. 1,54)

Medicine: Fruit juice is used as expectorant in cough mixtures, as laxative, and tonic. Fruit is also used for additional pains and as a cooling beverage in fevers. Leaves and barks are astringent. Ethanolic extract of leaves possesses anti-amphetamine activity. Seed extract shows anti fungal activities (Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, George Watt, Vol. III, 113)

Latkan

Latkan is a medium sized evergreen tree with large leaves, pink or white flowers and red fruit capsules containing red seeds, occasionally planted in the forests of Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet. Each capsule contains about fifty small seeds, the pulpy outer covering of which contains pigments. The plant is a native of Central America and is cultivated in Brazil, Guiana, Mexico and India. The plant is propagated either from seeds or from stem-cuttings. Fruits are produced from about the third year after planting, and are collected when nearly ripe. The pulp gives a beautiful flesh colour, largely used in dyeing silks. It is altered by certain combinations into orange, deep orange, or red and brighter orange. For extracting the dye, the seeds are bruised and the pulp macerated with hot water, in wooden vessels, and soaked in it for several days till the colouring matter forms a fine suspension. The seeds are then removed, and the brei, which contains the pigment, is about to forment for about a week. The dye, annatto, that settles at the bottom is separated and dried into cakes. Latkan (Annatta) was once used for colouring silk and cotton, but it is not a fast dye and has now been replaced by coal-tar dyes. On account of its non-toxic nature, it is now mainly used for colouring edible materials like butter, ghee, margarine, cheese, chocolate, etc.

Medicinal Properties: The plant is bitter and sharply acrid; alexipharmic; cures "kapha" and "vata", headache, leprosy, blood diseases, biliousness, vomiting; allays thirst (Ayurveda). Astringent and slightly purgative, also a good remedy for dysentery and kidney diseases. The root-bark is antiperiodic and antipyretic, of great use in uncomplicated intermittent, remittent, and continued fevers. The seeds are cordial, astringent and febrifuge and a very good remedy for gonorrhoea. They possess the antiperiodic and antipyretic properties of the root-bark, but to a smaller extent.

The leaves are a popular febrifuge in Cambodia. the pulp (a well-known colouring matter) surrounding the seeds is astringent. The seed pulp is used by the American Indians to paint their body all over for full dress and this use of it is said also to prevent mosquito bites. In French Guiana the leaves are considered detergent; an infusion is prescribed as a purgative in dysentery. The root in combination with other drugs has been recommended for internal use in snake bite (Bapat) ; but it is not an antidote to snake venom (Mhaskar and Caius) (Indian Medicinal Plants, K.R.Kirtikar & B.D.Basu, Vol. I, 217)

Medicine: Astringent and slightly purgative, also a good remedy for dysentery and kidney diseases. The pulp (a well-known colouring matter) surrounding the seeds is astringent. The seeds are cordial, astringent, and febrifuge (Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, vol. I, Watt, 455)

Medicinal Values: Aqueous extract of root is spasmogenic, antispasmodic and hypotensive, and is also used in jaundice and fever. Root bark and seeds are a good remedy for gonorrhoea. Seed is astringent, antidysenteric and diuretic and the pulp is haemostatic, antidysenteric, diuretic, laxative, febrifuge, digestive and prescribed in epilepsy and skin disease. Infusion of the leaves and roots is used in fever, epilepsy, dysentery and jaundice, and the seed pulp reduces blistering when applied immediately to burns (Medicinal Plants Of Bangladesh, Abdul Ghani, Second Edition, 117)

Risky behaviour: The ultimate cause of AIDS

S.M Shahrear Akhlaque

Women are considering as 'vulnerable class' in the third world. In fact, among the entire marginal group, women position is most horrible as they are the most inferior in the belonging society. Over the past one decade the number of women and girls infected with HIV has increased in every region of the world, with rates rising rapidly in Asia, Eastern Europe even in America. Hence, in the above social context (Asia, Africa) without getting any other suitable option, a huge number of women bound to enter in such kind of profession (Prostitution) which is neglected in the society. Their huge portions are now suffering in AIDS, where they are extremely victim. Several times, they asked the partner (men) to use different types of contraception but they ignore to use. Truly, their limited autonomy and external factors, including social and economic inequities beyond their control. As a result, the victim prostitutes suffering in varieties of diseases where AIDS is the most dangerous one. They are always in high risk of HIV/AIDS.

These prostitutes are ignored, negatively behaved by the rest of the society. Commonly, they come from very poor family background; even their education status is very poor, where most of these women come from under primary school back ground. Hence, lack of strong family, economy or educational back ground, they bound to belong in such a group where they are inferior, marginal and vulnerable.

But those who are in top position; they exploited them in all sorts (economically, physically mentally). So abuse, by the verities classes of people, including social leader, police, criminal, local terrorist, very common experience of this victim class of women (prostitute). These women can't to face the society even their next generation (children) comes from the same experience of social exploitation.

At a glance, generation by generation they can't to control over their money, self body, and choice. But they have to exploit by the ruling class. So, very clearly, they have no decision making power of their own.

Perhaps more so than any other part of the world, Asian countries are experiencing highly assorted HIV epidemics, which are due to a number of factors comprising differential levels of risk behaviors such as multiple sexual partners, commercial sex industries and injecting/ intravenous drug user (IDDs). Also Asia consists of both developing and developed countries with a different of religious and different of cultural backgrounds.

Bangladesh is still a low prevalence country (HIV-infection rate is less than 1 %), it does not mean that we should relax about it; the prerequisites are there for an explosion. The increase of HIV/AIDS within the country is as diverse as the societal patterns between its different groups and areas. In fact, Bangladesh is going on make up of a number of concentrated epidemics, and in some vulnerable groups, such as injecting drug use is the main route of HIV transmission. Commercial sex and tracking would also play an effective role to this increasing.

Further elevating adolescents vulnerability, the level of underage involvement in sexual activity is mounting. Women in Bangladesh are largely getting sexual experience through marriage and for the most part, premarital sexual contact is mostly confmed to their future-husband or lovers.

"Rainbow Nari 0 Shishu Kallyan Foundation" found, sexual behaviour among Bangladeshi women is changing. Adolescent girls may not remain in the traditional sexual confmement of the previous generations and casual sex among them is on the rise. This may encourage AIDS to acquire alarming proportions in Bangladesh.

With the above authenticity, some devoted NGOs comes forward with supporting from international donor agencies, they are now actively working with the victim class- 'prostitute' for creating a social awareness regarding their social, cultural, economical, mental liberty. So, creating new arena with self awareness program, now major issues for NationaV International NGOs.

However, supporting these classes of women, Government have to come forward rather, only NGO's or individual level people can't to take any effective steps for get rid of these people and their up coming generation from HIV/AIDS. Finally, change is possible if sufficient attention, commitment and resources are invested from both public and private sector.