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Resolutions recorded on liquid surfaces! Having made an ardent promise to myself and my readers that I would henceforth cease to be a drop out and would spend time writing a blog a day, I have failed to keep my word.  It seems these resolutions...

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What is so addictive about blogging? I never did think that I would drop out of blogging.  Yet I have been so tardy with my posts that I am nearly a drop out! So, it is clearly a time to examine why did I start this blog in the first place...

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Laser Hair removal When cutting, waxing, and shaving is no longer desirable or feasible, some patients seek laser hair removal.  Most people have hair covering their bodies that is lightly colored and fine and therefore,...

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Gardenia If you receive a bouquet of Gardenias you can be sure that the sender thinks you symbolize purity and sweetness and they are telling you of their secret love for you. Since a gardenia plant or bouquet...

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Freelancer alert: Not an export code-A purpose code! While we have been busy speculating on what is an export code and what it takes to get one issued from DGFT, paypal has issued a clarification that it is not an "export code" but a purpose code which needs...

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Balding? Hair restoration options

Category : Health and Exercise, Medical content, News and society

Men and women concerned about thinning hair may explore and choose the option of hair restoration by transplant.  Some may recall obsolete methods that looked unnatural, but may be comfortable with modern improvements that are basically undetectable to others.  A dermatologist is to be consulted in  the first place. The patient should provide him with his medical history and also details about expectations from the treatment.  The dermatologist must be informed of all medications the patient takes, including prescription, over the counter, and herbal supplements.  Blood tests may be suggested . This consultation will help establish candidacy for the procedure.

Certain medications may have to be stopped and antibiotics begun before the  commencement of the procedure. Patients will also be asked to avoid alcohol during the course of treatment.

Patients will be required to shampoo the night before the hair transplant  is performed in the dermatologist’s office or a hair transplant center.  The dermatologist will remove a strip of scalp from the back of the head that has good growth under local anesthesia. This is called a “prep strip”.  The prepped strip will  be divided into sections for suturing onto thinning or bald areas of the head.  Prepped slivers are carefully divided by technicians into grafts containing up to three hair follicles.  The procedure itself may last from 5 to 10 hours depending on the level of hair loss and transplant.  For optimum results, other restorative procedures such as scalp reduction or expansion may be combined with the transplant.  Often only one restoration treatment is required to produce satisfactory results.  If patients require additional restoration, it will be scheduled 6 to 12 months later.

Patients must take care to follow instructions for post-restoration recovery.  Instructions are normally given to prevent infection and minimize soreness that is inherent in the procedure.  Since it takes about five days for the hair to attach to the new area, patients must apply medication  carefully as directed.  Rubbing can cause the restored hair to fall out.  If scabs develop post restoration,  they must be left alone.  They generally heal in two weeks or less. Patients must wait a week to ten days to resume normal activities such as exercise to help prevent restored hair from falling out.

Though hair transplant is relatively safe and effective, it is not completely without risk of complication.  Follicle damage or other factors may produce poor or slow growth to the affected area.  Infection, scarring, or hyperpigmentation may occur.  Patients must keep their hair covered and protected from the sun for at least one month following the transplant to encourage ideal healing.

Meditation: Active or passive state?

Category : General, Health and Exercise, Medical content, News and society

Is Meditation an active or passive state? Anyone who observes the meditator would say “passive”. All the meditator seems to do is sit still, doing nothing.

There are many arguments in support of meditation being an active state!  They would point out that you can actually burn calories by doing meditation. Visit http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/fitness/exercise/meditating/ and you will be told that meditation helps you burn 66 calories per hour for an average person–average being a person who weight 145 pounds.  http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-burned-light-meditating-a148 says that you can burn 70 calories  per hour if you weigh 150 pounds by doing light meditation.

You may then,  turn round to argue that even people who are sleeping burn calories. Of course, you do that in the assumption that sleep is not an active state! Well, it must again be pointed out that the active or passive state of sleep is itself in question.  However, studies show that you burn 60-72 calories an hour(per 150 lbs weight) during sleep. So sleep too is an active state for the purposes of our thesis.

Of course, we do not have to believe all this. We can look to scientific proof. Siebert, Gessner and Klasser who studied the energy consumed by the central nervous system when a person sits down to do some deep thinking reveals that the brain burns 230-270 calories an hour. {Energy supply of the central nervous system.PMID: 3516137 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Bibl Nutr Dieta. 1986;(38):1-26.].

While this is not much when compared to calorie loss during exercise, it is certainly a large amount for a small organ accounts for such a small part of the body weight! Also, it is a clear indication that “thinking” is activity that burns calories. It follows, that meditation which is a kind of focused and concentrated thinking, is an active physical state and not a passive one.

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1000-calorie diets

Category : Health and Exercise, Medical content, News and society

1000 calorie diets are recommended for those who want to lose weight.  This diet drastically reduces the calorie intake, but does not insist on any additional exercise or physical activity.  The logic is that a person who wants to reduce weight can continue doing the same level of activity with lower levels of calorie intake and the normal calorie burn up would take care of the excess weight over a period of time. 1000 calorie diets are short term diets that are to be undertaken for a period of ten days at a time under medical supervision. .

1000 calorie diets do not take into account the body weight, or calorie requirements of the individual.  A person who requires 1200 calories and a person who requires 2200 calories for his daily activity are treated on par. Both individuals are to consume only 1000 calories per day for the duration of the diet.

An average person loses around one pound for every three thousand five hundred calories cut down.  If you are cutting down the calories at the rate of 1200 calories a day, you will lose one pound in three days.

This diet also implies that you need to drastically change your eating habits for the duration of the diet. The diet recommends smaller meals that are eaten more frequently.  It cuts down on fats, sugar and lowers the consumption of carbohydrates.  Alcohol is to be avoided and diet soda and black coffee can be taken with limitations.

The calorie focus can rob the diet of interest.  If you are foodie, it is very easy to give up counting calories and abandoning the diet in frustration.  If you are an active person, you will find that the low calorie diet is depriving you energy.

Moreover, after the diet is complete, it is difficult to maintain the calorie levels at the 1000 calories.   The tendency is to revert back to the original levels. This will bring the weight back to the original level.

While there are many disadvantages of a low calorie diet, it is an effective way of kick starting a long term diet plan.

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