Encephalitis

Encephalitis

Encephalitis is an acute inflammation of the brain. The majority of cases are caused by either a viral infection or the immune system mistakenly attacking brain tissue.

In the United States, encephalitis is responsible for an estimated 19,000 hospitalizations, 230,000 hospital days, and $650 million in hospitalization costs.

Around 15 percent of encephalitis cases occur in the HIV-infected population.

In this article, we will look at the symptoms, causes, treatments, and complications of encephalitis.

What is encephalitis?

Encephalitis is an acute inflammation (swelling) of the brain usually resulting from either a viral infection or due to the body's own immune system mistakenly attacking brain tissue.

In medicine, "acute" means it comes on abruptly and develops rapidly; it usually requires urgent care.

The most common cause is a viral infection. The brain becomes inflamed as a result of the body's attempt to fight off the virus. 

Encephalitis occurs in 1 in every 1,000 cases of measles.

Encephalitis generally begins with fever and headache. The symptoms rapidly worsen, and there may be seizures (fits), confusion, drowsiness, and loss of consciousness, and even coma. 

Encephalitis can be life-threatening, but this is rare. Mortality depends on a number of factors, including the severity of the disease and age.

Younger patients tend to recover without many ongoing health issues, whereas older patients are at higher risk for complications and mortality.

When there is direct viral infection of the brain or spinal cord, it is called primary encephalitis. Secondary encephalitis refers to an infection which started off elsewhere in the body and then spread to the brain.

Symptoms of encephalitis

The patient typically has a fever, headache, and photophobia (excessive sensitivity to light). There may also be general weakness and seizures. 

Less common symptoms

The individual may also experience nuchal rigidity (neck stiffness), which can lead to a misdiagnosis of meningitis. There may be stiffness of the limbs, slow movements, and clumsiness. The patient may also be drowsy and have a cough. 

More serious cases

In more serious cases, the person may experience very severe headaches, nausea, vomiting, confusion, disorientation, memory loss, speech problems, hearing problems, hallucinations, as well as seizures and possibly coma. In some cases, the patient can become aggressive. 

Signs and symptoms in infants

Initially, encephalitis is harder to detect in young children and babies. Parents or guardians should look out for vomiting, a bulging fontanel (the soft area on the top center of the head), incessant crying that does not get better when the baby is picked up and comforted, and body stiffness.

Causes of encephalitis

Encephalitis can develop as a result of a direct infection to the brain by a virus, bacterium, or fungus (infectious encephalitis, or primary encephalitis), or when the immune system responds to a previous infection; the immune system mistakenly attacks brain tissue (secondary encephalitis, or post-infectious encephalitis).

Primary (infectious) encephalitis can be split into three main categories of viruses:

§ Common viruses - including HSV (herpes simplex virus) and EBV (Epstein-Barr virus)

§ Childhood viruses - including measles and mumps

§ Arboviruses (spread by mosquitoes, ticks, and other insects) - including Japanese encephalitis, West Nile encephalitis, and tick-borne encephalitis

Secondary (post-infectious) encephalitis: could be caused by a complication of a viral infection. Symptoms start to appear days or even weeks after the initial infection. The patient's immune system treats healthy brain cells as foreign organisms and attacks them. We still do not know why the immune system malfunctions in this way. 

In more than 50 percent of encephalitis cases, the exact cause of the illness is not tracked down.

Encephalitis is more likely to affect children, older adults, individuals with weakened immune systems, and people who live in areas where mosquitoes and ticks that spread specific viruses are common. 

Tests and diagnosis of encephalitis

Doctors who identify the classic symptoms in adults - fever, headache, confusion, and occasionally seizures, or irritability, poor appetite, and fever in young children - may order further diagnostic tests. 

A neurological examination generally finds that the patient is confused and drowsy. 

If the neck is stiff, caused by irritation of the meninges (membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord), the doctor may consider a diagnosis of meningitis or meningoencephalitis. 

A lumbar puncture, which takes a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from the spine, might reveal higher-than-normal levels of protein and white blood cells.

However, this test is not always conclusive, in some cases, the results may come back normal even though the patient has encephalitis. 

A CT scan may be useful in detecting changes in brain structure. It can also rule out other causes, such as stroke, an aneurysm, or a tumor. However, an MRI is the best imaging option for encephalitis; it can identify the classic brain changes that suggest encephalitis.

An EEG (electroencephalograph) that monitors the electrical activity of the brain may show sharp waves in one or both of the temporal lobes in patients with encephalitis. 

The doctor might order a blood test if a West Nile virus infection is thought to be the cause.

Treatments for encephalitis

Treatment for encephalitis focuses on alleviating symptoms. There are only a limited number of reliably tested specific antiviral agents that can help, one of which is acyclovir; success is limited for most infections except when the condition is due to herpes simplex. 

Corticosteroids may be administered to reduce the brain's inflammation, especially in cases of post-infectious (secondary) encephalitis. If the patient has severe symptoms, they may need mechanical ventilation to help them breathe and other supportive treatment. 

Anticonvulsants are sometimes given to patients who have seizures. Sedatives can be effective for seizures, restlessness, and irritability. For patients with mild symptoms, the best treatment is rest, plenty of fluids, and Tylenol (paracetamol) for fever and headaches.

Complications of encephalitis

The majority of patients who have encephalitis go on to have at least one complication, especially elderly patients, those who had symptoms of coma, and individuals who did not receive treatment at an early stage.

Complications may include:

§  Loss of memory - especially among those who had herpes simplex virus encephalitis

§  Behavioral or personality changes - such as mood swings, bouts of frustration and anger, and anxiety

§  Epilepsy

§  Aphasia - language and speech problems

Prevention of encephalitis

Vaccines - keeping up-to-date with vaccines is the most effective way of reducing the risk of developing encephalitis. These include vaccines for measles, mumps, rubella, and if the virus exists in those areas, Japanese encephalitis and tick-borne encephalitis. 

In areas known to have mosquitoes that carry encephalitis-causing viruses, individuals should take measures to reduce the risk of being bitten. This may include wearing appropriate clothing, avoiding mosquito-infested areas, avoiding going outside at specific times during the day when there are large numbers of mosquitoes about, keeping the home mosquito-free, using mosquito repellent, and making sure there is no stagnant water around the home.

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EasilyDo's Email App With Built-in Intelligent Assistant Now Available for Android

EasilyDo's Email App With Built-in Intelligent 

Assistant Now Available for Android

EasilyDo's Email app, which was launched for iOS last year, has now been made available by the company for Android. Just like its iOS counterpart, the Android app comes with a built-in Intelligent Assistant to keep your important information organised for you. The productivity app essentially helps users in organising their inbox using machine intelligence.

The EasilyDo Email app on Android currently supports Gmail, Hotmail, iCloud, Yahoo, Outlook, Office/Outlook 365, and AOL, IMAP mail accounts but the company says that the support for Exchange will be coming soon as well. EasilyDo claims that its app is the fastest mail app available on Android and that unlike other clients, users will not have to wait for their mail messages to load up.

The app offers some interesting features like undo send, which allows users to recall messages even after they are sent. Other features include interactive push notification, customisable swipes and notifications, bulk editing, and responding to calendar events with just a tap.

EasilyDo's Email app also provides "proactive notifications" for flight delays and package tracking codes to help users stay up-to-date. Notably, the Email app messages are only stored on the phone, unlike some other clients that store the emails on cloud, to ensure privacy for the users.

"Search by keyword, name, and phrase, or access categories that automatically house your expenses, shopping, and travel information. For the mail you don't want to find anymore, unsubscribe in just one tap," the company says in the app description on Google Play.

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Moong Dal Papad Maing at Home

Moong Dal Papad Maing at Home

PREPARATION METHOD:

1. Mix and dry grind the cleaned dals to flour. To it, add pepper and asafoetida. Keep aside.
2. Boil water in a big pan. To boiling hot water, add saji khar and salt. Let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Switch off the flame. Allow the water to cool completely.
3. Take the top water and strain it. Use this water as needed, to bind a stiff dough.
4. Pound the dough with a pestle till the dough is soft and pliable. Keep applying little oil to the dough. It should be smooth and of rolling consistency.
5. Divide the dough into 3 portions.
6. Make each portion into a long cylindrical roll.
7. Cut each roll into equal sized slices with a thread. (As sketch).
8. Lightly rub oil on the dough portions to avoid stickiness. Roll thin papads of equal size and thickness.
9. Semi dry the rolled papads on big mats in the shade. Next day, dry them on both the sides under direct sunlight. Remove them immediately when dry, else they will break. Cool and wipe them with a soft cloth.
10. Store in an airtight container.
11. To preserve, sprinkle fenugreek seeds in between the papads.

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Top 10 Viral Infections

Top 10 Viral Infections

1. Flue: 

Flue is caused by a virus transmitted through air. The incubation lasts 1-2 days. The symptoms include fever, cough, loss of appetite, headaches. Ordinary flue can be treated by resting and liquid warm food. The problem that preoccupies the mankind is the possible cross between the virus of ordinary flue and avian flue, which is more deadly, but transmits with higher difficulty. Spanish flu hit the world in 1918-1919 and killed over 30 million persons, soon after the First World War.

2. Measles:

Measles too is caused by a virus transmitted through air. The incubation lasts 10-14 days, and the virus causes fever, tearing, nose running, throat ache, white dots in the mouth, reddening of the face and trunk. The treatment includes resting, warm liquid, no water, and antibiotics against secondary bacterial infections. Vaccination or experiencing this disease in the childhood ensures immunity for life.

3. Chicken pox :

Chicken pox (varicella) virus is transmitted via air. The incubation lasts 10-20 days and the disease manifests through fever and the emergence of red dots, accompanied by itching and swelling. The treatment consists in resting, proper diet, and avoiding scratching. Experiencing the disease during the childhood ensures immunity for life.

4. Poliomyelitis: 

The virus causing poliomyelitis is ingested from infested feces. The disease has an incubation period of 1-3 weeks. It causes fever, throat ache and, in severe cases, partial paralysis caused by the killing of nerve cells. The patients must rest in bed and be isolated. The oral vaccine ensures complete immunity.

5. Yellow fever:

Yellow fever is transmitted through the bite of the Aedes mosquito. The incubation lasts 3-10 days. The virus causes fever, weakening of the liver, jaundice, and kidney failure. The patient must rest in bed; there is no specific treatment. The vaccine ensures a 10-year immunity.

6. Rabies:

Rabies is transmitted through the bite of an infected animal (usually a dog). The incubation period varies, and the viral infection causes muscular spasms, fits, delirium, breathing difficulties and the refuse of drinking liquids. Immediate vaccination is required in case of biting. Quarantine must be installed in the area, and all infected animals must be killed. Anti-rabies vaccine must be administered in the areas of high risk.

7. SmallPox:

Americas escaped the Black Death because of the isolation. But when discovered, the smallpox struck. In 1518, an outbreak of smallpox in the Haiti island left just 1,000 of the Native Indians alive. 100 years after the discovery of America by Columbus, 90 % of its native population died of smallpox. Mexico passed from 30 million to 3 million inhabitants, Peru from 8 million to 1 million. Around the year 1,600, when the first European colonists reached Massachusetts, found it practically uninhabited, as smallpox had killed almost all local Indians. It is believed that, along the history, smallpox has killed more humans than all the wars of the 20th century together. Since 1914 to 1977 smallpox killed 300 to 500 million people. By 1970, smallpox still killed 2 million people annually, but OMS managed to eradicate the diseases through vaccination and the last case was found in Somalia, in 1977. This was possible because smallpox transmits only from human to human. At the time of eradication, no effective cure was known against smallpox. The first vaccine ever was created in 1798 by Edward Jenner and worked against smallpox.

8. Pneumonia: 

Pneumonia affects 1 % of the planet's population and can be produced by viruses or bacteria. It produces fever, shiver, sweating, cough with expectoration, muscle, head and thoracic pain, appetite loss, weakness. This is the main cause of mortality in the world: it kills 3.5 million people each year. It attacks especially patients with severe immunodepression, those that follow chemotherapy, people who are older than 75, asthmatics, smokers, alcoholics, those with renal insufficiency and children under 2 years of age. It affects especially the populations of the poor countries. Therapy includes oxygen, liquids, and physiotherapy. Patients with a simple pneumonia can cure in 2-3 weeks, but elders or those with debilitating diseases can die of respiratory or cardiorespiratory failure. The vaccine trimetropin sulfamethoxazole is effective against the most frequent complications.

9. AIDS:

AIDS is estimated to be found in 46-60 million people and it's produced by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), spread through blood, semen, and vaginal fluids. Some say the virus is still in an early stage. The symptoms come rather late and start with exhaustion and fever. After that, ganglion inflammation appears along with persistent diarrhea, pneumonia and weight loss. In the final stage, the patient's general state is profoundly altered. Each minute, five new persons get infected with HIV, and the virus kills young people, found in their productive period. It has killed 25 million people since 1981 and about 3.3 million people with HIV die annually. 68 million people could die between 2000-2020. Africa has lost 20 % of its labor power. Lifespan in Sub-Saharian Africa is now of 47 years; without AIDS, it would have been 62. In developed world, 58% of the new cases are drug addicts who share syringes, and 33% are infected through unprotected sexual contacts, but in undeveloped countries, it is mainly transmitted through unprotected sex and blood transfusions. 28 million of the HIV infected are found in Africa, and 0.5 million in Western Europe; 300,000 in Eastern Europe, 600,000 in Eastern Asia and Oceania; 2.6 million in America (mostly South America). Antiretrovirals can improve the immunity but its price is too costly for about 95 % of the infected. Only 4 % of the patients in the developing countries receive treatments. This treatment can cost 6-18,000 Euros ($ 8-25,000) and the virus will get resistance to drugs if the treatment is interrupted. In pregnant women, antiretrovirals during the second and third trimesters of the pregnancy can avoid the child's infection. There is no vaccine, and the combination of up to four different drugs is the main principle in stopping the disease. These drugs keep the blood lymphocytes at normal levels, maintaining the virus latent but without its deadly ability.

10. The human papilloma virus:

The human papilloma virus (HPV) is more connected to genital warts. It can be transmitted through vaginal, anal and oral sex, but many strains, besides warts, cause uterine, tongue, mouth, anal, penile, vaginal, and throat cancers. In fact, it has turned into the main cause of uterine cancer in most countries. About 25 million women got an infection with a strain of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). Over 3 million have one of the four strains provoking cervical cancer and genital warts. There is a vaccine developed against the strains causing uterine cancer, which seems to protect against other types of these cancers, too.

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Healthy Summer Foods to Add to Your Diet

 Healthy Summer Foods to Add to Your Diet

Find out which healthy foods to add to your diet this summer.

It’s summer—that amazing time of year when fresh produce abounds. As a dietitian and nutrition editor I love that there’s an abundance of fresh, delicious and healthy choices. Better yet: many of summer’s fruits and vegetables are brimming with secret health benefits. Here are some of my favorites and why they’re a particularly good choice in the summer

1. Corn: 

Nothing says summer like fresh sweet corn. And did you know that two antioxidants—lutein and zeaxanthin—in corn may act like natural sunglasses, helping to form macular pigment that filters out some of the sun’s damaging rays? It’s true. The same antioxidants may also help lower your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration—the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 60 (though much of the damage occurs decades earlier).

2. Iced Coffee: 

An iced pick-me-up is a great way to start your summer mornings. Better yet: drinking a single cup of coffee daily may lower your risk of developing skin cancer. In one study of more than 93,000 women, published in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention, those who drank one cup of caffeinated coffee a day reduced their risk of developing nonmelanoma skin cancer by about 10 percent. And the more they drank—up to about 6 cups or so per day—the lower their risk. Decaf didn’t seem to offer the same protection.

3. Tart Cherries:

They deliver a host of health benefits. You may have heard that drinking tart cherry juice can help you get a better night’s sleep and quell post-workout pain (read more about that here). But did you know that compounds in tart cherries may also help you slim down and get leaner? When scientists at the University of Michigan Health System put rats on a high-fat diet supplemented with either a tart-cherry powder (equal to 1% of the weight of their total diet) or the same number of calories from carbohydrate, those that got the cherry powder gained less weight and body fat. Why? The anthocyanins in tart cherries activate a molecule that helps rev up fat burning and decrease fat storage.

4. Tomatoes:

There’s no question that sunscreen should be your first line of defense against the blazing summer sun. But eating tomatoes could give you a little extra protection: consuming more lycopene—the carotenoid that makes tomatoes red—may protect your skin from sunburn. In one study, participants who were exposed to UV light had almost 50 percent less skin reddening after they ate 2 1/2 tablespoons of tomato paste (or drank about 1 2/3 cups of carrot juice daily), in addition to their regular diet, for 10 to 12 weeks. Supplements, however, weren’t as effective: in the same study, those who received a lycopene supplement or synthetic lycopene weren’t significantly protected against sunburn.

5. Watermelon:

Staying hydrated keeps your memory sharp and your mood stable. It also helps keep your body cool (by sweating) during hot summer months. The good news is that you don’t just have to drink water. You can eat it, too: in addition to delivering skin-protecting lycopene, watermelon is 92 percent water (hence the name). Another boon? Research shows that eating foods that are full of water helps keep you satisfied on fewer calories. (Interestingly enough, drinking water alongside foods doesn’t have the same effect.)

6. Raspberries:

Raspberries are a great source of fiber—some of it soluble in the form of pectin, which helps lower cholesterol. One cup of raspberries has 8 grams of fiber—and a study in the Journal of Nutrition suggests that eating more fiber may help prevent weight gain or even promote weight loss. Over the course of a two-year study, researchers found that when study participants boosted their fiber by 8 grams for every 1,000 calories, they lost about 4 1/2 pounds. Try it for yourself. If you’re consuming 2,000 calories per day, aim to increase your fiber by 16 grams

7. Iced Tea:

Sure, a tall glass of iced tea on a hot day is refreshing, but did you know it might also do your body good? Studies show if you drink tea regularly, you may lower your risk of Alzheimer’s and diabetes, plus have healthier teeth and gums and stronger bones. How? Tea is rich in a class of antioxidants called flavonoids. Regardless of the variety—black, green, oolong, white or herbal—maximize the power of tea’s flavonoids by drinking it freshly brewed. If you want to keep a batch of cold tea in your refrigerator, “add a little lemon juice,” recommends Jeffrey Blumberg, Ph.D., director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston. The citric acid and vitamin C in that squeeze of lemon—or lime, or orange—help preserve the flavonoids.

8. Blueberries:

Fresh blueberries straight from the berry patch are a special treat! Turns out the antioxidants in them may help ward off muscle fatigue by mopping up the additional free radicals that muscles produce during exercise, according to recent research out of New Zealand.

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