Online Medicine

Many new moms tell me they feel they have lost themselves and are no longer pursing their passion or fulfilling their own dreams.  My advice is to be kind to yourself.  It takes a while to adjust to being a mother, and it can be very overwhelming.  The first step to “finding” yourself is to write down what you miss doing, and/or what you would like to do.  Once you understand what it is you want to do, take baby steps towards reaching your goal.  For example, if your goal is to have your own business, your first baby step would be to research online possible business opportunities, or to call a friend who has her own business.  Breaking down your big goal into smaller pieces makes it do-able!  Every baby step you take builds momentum towards your larger goal.

Life insurance major Reliance Life Insurance has launched the first-of-its-kind Reliance Wealth + Health Plan, a unit linked plan coupled with health benefits. The launch was announced by Mr. P. Nandagopal, CEO, Reliance Life Insurance. The Reliance Wealth + Health Plan is the first wealth creation product that also offers comprehensive health coverage as a key differentiator in the domestic insurance market. "The unique proposition of this plan is that it offers complete investment flexibility to grow wealth by investing in different plans and funds and also provides the financial support for managing health expenses. It is in line with our strategy to offer best-in-class products to our customers" said Nandagopal while launching the product. The plan offers the convenience of cashless payments, cover for the entire family under one plan and the option to increase life cover to provide additional security. "With annual premium as low as Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 per annum, the insured can get health and saving benefits and protect himself/herself against high or unexpected medical bills. The plan provides lumpsum benefit to take care of hospitalization expenses, which include daily hospitalization expenditure, intensive care unit expenses and post-hospitalization spending in the form of recuperation benefits", he said. The plan offers enhanced health coverage against life threatening illnesses and major surgeries, with all insured having an option to cover themselves against untoward incidents as well. Likewise that the amount towards medical expenses can be availed a number of times in a year and up to 95 per cent of the fund value can be withdrawn during the policy period. "The policyholder can avail all the benefits with all features of ULIP for maximum flexibility and liquidity, minimizing risk, maximizing returns and averaging cost of units. The plan also contains coverage's with a bouquet of riders available for all lives under the policy and has significantly lower charges and free switches for best risk appetite fund. This is the only plan that provides such additional value with a maturity benefit at the end of the policy term" said Mr Nandagopal. The product is expected to contribute 35-40% of the total sales of the January-March quarter, 2008. ''We expect a significant business growth on the back of this product, as so far people have not been provided with adequate choice of quality insurance products,'' he added.

MUMBAI: Government on Friday extended a five-year tax holiday, currently given only to hospitals in the rural areas, to those across the country, sending the shares of healthcare providers higher.

The Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, in his budget for 2008/09, also proposed an excise duty of 8 per cent for all goods produced in the pharmaceutical sector, down from 16 per cent.

He also proposed to reduce by half the customs duty on certain specified life saving drugs, and its bulk drug ingredients, to 5 per cent. These drugs would also be exempted from excise or countervailing duties.

Hospital stocks such as Apollo Hospitals, Fortis Healthcare and Malar Hospitals were up between 2-6 per cent after the finance minister proposed the tax holiday.

The other drug stocks, which rose immediately after the excise and customs duty cuts, have since fallen or are trading flat.

Aurobindo Pharma was up 1.3 per cent, Cadila rose 2.7 per cent, Dishman was 3.6 per cent higher while Wockhardt was up 1.1 per cent.

HOUSTON -- (February 29, 2008) -- High levels of the enzyme atypical protein kinase C (aPKC) increases the activity of the cancer-associated protein steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3) in cancer cells that depend on estrogen to promote their growth, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Molecular Cell.

"This finding has implications for better understanding diseases such as breast cancer," said Dr. Bert O'Malley, chair of molecular and cellular biology at BCM and senior author of the report that investigated the relationship between SRC-3 and the enzyme.

Results link aPKC with cancer

Atypical protein kinase C is frequently found at high levels in tumors as is SRC-3. In this study by BCM researchers, experiments demonstrated that the enzyme activates and stabilizes (through adding a phosphate molecule) the coactivator SRC-3 in a way that makes it dependent on the presence of a cellular receptor for the hormone estrogen.

"These results link the aPKC with cancer initiation and growth that is dependent on estrogen," said O'Malley, also associate director of basic science research in the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center at BCM.

Kinases

This activity takes place in an acidic area of the SRC-3 molecule and prevents the coactivator from being degraded, said O'Malley. This is important because SRC-3 is known to induce cancer and to promote its growth. Other studies had already demonstrated that other kinds of kinases could degrade SRC-3.

"Kinases that stabilize SR-3 in cancer cells have not previously been reported," said O'Malley.

"We propose that when aPKC is overexpressed in cancer cells, the consequence is increased SRC-3 function and powerful enhancement of estrogen-receptor target gene transcription and promotion of estrogen-dependent cell growth in cancer cells such as breast," he said.

Others who took part in the study include Ping Yi, Qin Feng, Larbi Amazit David M. Lonard, Sophia Y. Tsai and Ming-Jer Tsai, all of BCM.

Funding for this work came from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the U.S. Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program.

The article is available at http://www.molecule.org/

Many pregnant women approach me with concerns about their body fat.  They say they had weight to lose prior to getting pregnant and now they’re pregnant and afraid they’ll get even “fatter”.  My advice is, It’s not to late to start exercising!  As long as your doctor gives you the “ok”, start exercising.  Take up walking.  Walking is something you can do from the beginning of your pregnancy all the way to the end.  Also, try prenatal yoga.  Don’t use the excuse, “but I’m not flexible” because that’s how you get flexible!  The key is to start doing something now!  The sooner you get started, the quicker you’ll tone up.  It IS possible to lose body fat through eating healthy and exercising even while pregnant.  So don’t delay…start today!