Monday, August 18, 2014
No snooping allowed!
Please check this document out if you are worried about snooping by the powers be. It has some connection to Simon Black, of SovereinMan.com
Friday, August 15, 2014
Revisiting "controlled rest" for pilots
Jet pilot dozes off, co-pilot busy on iPad as Mumbai flight to Brussels plunges 5000 feet over Turkish airspace
In a major scare, a Jet Airways flight from Mumbai to Brussels, carrying around 280 passengers, plunged 5,000 feet while overflying Turkish airspace last week as the commander was asleep and the co- pilot busy with the iPad containing flight information.
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Clearly, the above story is quite scary. Indian regulations seem to allow taking a nap ("controlled rest") upto 40 mins on certain flights over 3 hours.
I write below to share an efficient yoga technique that I use for rapid recharging myself when I am absolutely terrible --- either at work, or while driving a car on highway. Half an hour of practicing this technique gives me the rest I get from 1.5 to 2 hours of sleep.
It is called Pranayama: essentially deep breathing. There are various versions of it. In a certain variety, you take slow deep breaths, retain breath and release maintaining a ratio of times of 1:4:2 for these. Sometimes, when I am not upto it, I just watch my breath. I play a music tune (sometimes mantra tunes) for 30 mins to time it. In addition to being efficient, it also has the other advantages that you retain your consciousness during the process.
For example, today, I was conscious for the first ten minutes, and then unconsciousness (sleeping) for next ten minutes and then consciousness after that. So I got the benefit of 1.5 hours of sleep from just 10 minutes of sleep.
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A large number of people operate in misson-critical situations; e.g. surgeons, business leaders, programmers, soldiers, pilots etc. They could try these out these methods for efficient resting.
Lots of books discuss Pranayama and Yoga. I have found the book Uddavgita to be the best in this context ("perfection").
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Catch 22 in cancer treatment
The current cancer treatments, that is to say, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, try to eliminate the symptom, which is the cellular proliferation, but do not stop the disease, because they do not get to the root cause. By damaging the DNA, they generate very deep cellular lesions which in many cases are permanent and cannot be regenerated. It is difficult to understand how, if you believe that cancer is caused by genetic alterations, you use the same agents which provoke such alterations as a treatment for it.
It does not mean that medical drugs are bad. But those which are aggressive are bad, because they cause more damage than benefits. For example, anti-inflammatory, corticosteroids and some immunomodulators can be useful at certain times. Pharmacology, used correctly, can help both to recover health life, and is therefore curable, and to alleviate the symptoms and improve the quality of life in the diseases which cannot be cured.
What I am suggesting that more research be done in the intersection of alternative therapies (Ayurveda) and modern medicine. These alternative therapies focus more on restoring the work-life balance so that the causes of the disease can be eliminated. To that effect, I am helping setup a 12-bed Ayurveda hospital in Ujjain. Please contact me if you are interested.
You can read a few thoughts on Aurveda in these articles:
My review of Vaidyagrama
Reviews of other people on Vaidyagrama
Profile of a person cured of extreme allergy
Vaidyagramahttp://yogascientist.blogspot.com/2014/06/ayurveda-hospital-review-vaidyagrama.html
It does not mean that medical drugs are bad. But those which are aggressive are bad, because they cause more damage than benefits. For example, anti-inflammatory, corticosteroids and some immunomodulators can be useful at certain times. Pharmacology, used correctly, can help both to recover health life, and is therefore curable, and to alleviate the symptoms and improve the quality of life in the diseases which cannot be cured.
What I am suggesting that more research be done in the intersection of alternative therapies (Ayurveda) and modern medicine. These alternative therapies focus more on restoring the work-life balance so that the causes of the disease can be eliminated. To that effect, I am helping setup a 12-bed Ayurveda hospital in Ujjain. Please contact me if you are interested.
You can read a few thoughts on Aurveda in these articles:
My review of Vaidyagrama
Reviews of other people on Vaidyagrama
Profile of a person cured of extreme allergy
Vaidyagramahttp://yogascientist.blogspot.com/2014/06/ayurveda-hospital-review-vaidyagrama.html
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Dealing with adversity in marriage
A woman who feels jealous because her mate tends occasionally to browse into the pastures of others' affections should give a hint of warning. If her husband doesn't listen, she should not say anything further. If that wife still thinks that her husband is a worthy peg on which to hang her life she should not be jealous or demanding, but rather put on the best clothes of sweet behavuor. She should be extra nice, extra cheerful, extra forgiving, extra lenient, extra magnetic towards him. She should express the peaceful attitude brought from meditation. She should not use physical force to draw the straying attention of her mate, but raher the superior spiritual force of offering more love.
Even if that love is rejected, she should not be unladylike. It is better to kill such a man with kindnes; let him leave (if it must come to that) in kindness, ever regretting that he left, rather than force him to jump out of one's nagging, jealous presence as if from a person stricked with a moral plague. Couples who once thought that they loved each other should never mock their feeling by allowing jealousy to instigate in them a feeling of hatred. Those whose love-experiment in matrimony is unsuccessful in spite of continual, sincere effort to make it a harmonious marriage should bid farewell to each other in a kindly, gentle way, as befits the true children of God.
When jealousy in married life is incurable by gentlemanly and ladylike behavior, by the offering of more courtesy, more trust, more kindness, and more love, couples should part in friendliness and mutual understanding, saying to each other: "we tried our utmost, but as we did not succeed, let us part.
Jealousy never cures jealousy. Love is the best panacea for this malevolent, ugly, psychological trait. If jealousy's devastating effects on th lives o others are abhorrent to us, then by all means we should refrain from contaminating ourselves with this psycholgical virus.
*** the above post in an excerpt from a top class yoga guru of the 20th century.
Friday, August 1, 2014
How Antibiotic-Fed Chicken May be Harming You
I came across this article in NDTV.com
If you are a chicken lover, this is something you should definitely be aware of. While food adulteration and pesticide use are nothing new, a recent lab study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE) Pollution Monitoring Lab, shows how antibiotic-fed poultry is harming the consumers.
The study shockingly reveals that large scale and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the poultry industry has led to antibiotic resistance in Indians who are falling prey to many ailments that are otherwise curable.
The study -
For the study, 70 chicken samples from the Delhi-NCR region were tested for six commonly used antibiotics - oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, doxycycline, enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and neomycin. The lab tested three tissues of chicken - the muscle, liver and kidney. About 40% of the chicken samples contained residues of these antibiotics. Besides this, residues of more than one antibiotic were found in 17 percent of the samples. The study notes, "Thirty six chicken samples were from Delhi, 12 from Noida, 8 from Gurgaon and 7 each from Ghaziabad and Faridabad."
Why are antibiotics used?
Poultry is fed with antibiotics to promote their growth and make them fat without actually feeding them much. The poultry industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. The reports points out that it has been growing at around 8 to 10 percent annually and poultry constitutes of more than 50% of all the meat consumed in India. In order to meet with the growing demand and competition, breeders resort to the use of antibiotics to make chickens plump quicker and ensure a steady supply. (More: All About Different Chicken Labels)
Since there are no restrictions or limits on the use of antibiotics, the poultry industry has been rampantly using them as growth promoters. The residues of these antibiotics are being transmitted to humans on consumption.
Th use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry industry is completely unregulated. Unlike Europe, India has adopted the US model of self-regulation where it has no control over the sale of antibiotics for non-medical purposes to the poultry industry. In fact, there are no safe-limits set for feeding antibiotics to chickens, which gives the breeders easy access to go all out.
How does consumption of antibiotic-fed poultry affect humans?
The study explains that these antibiotics are pumped into chicken to treat infections or mixed with feed to promote growth. But, in most cases this is done for several days even when there is no sign of infection.
Prolonged use of antibiotics leads to the development of resistant bacteria in chickens. This can be easily transmitted to humans through 'food, environment and direct contact' with such meat and lead instances of antibiotic-resistant.
According to the report, "Antibiotic resistance (ABR) refers to the resistance to antibiotics that occurs in bacteria that cause infections. The resistant bacteria can withstand the effect of the antibacterial drug (antibiotic) to make it ineffective." This has become a global concern as it makes it difficult to treat various diseases that are otherwise curable.
"Many essential and important antibiotics for humans are being used by the poultry industry. In India, there is growing evidence that resistance to fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin is rapidly increasing," says Sunita Narain, Director General of CSE.
Treating fatal diseases like sepsis, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB) with fluoroquinolones is becoming tough because microbes that cause these diseases are increasingly becoming resistant to fluoroquinolones, says the report.
"Common infections are becoming more difficult to treat and antibiotics are becoming ineffective due to increased resistance," she added.
The study also warns that it is not the amount of chicken consumed that matters. Less consumption and even small bites can put people at the risk of developing drug-resistance.
What is to be done?
CSE's Deputy Director General Chandra Bhushan said that the findings were only the tip of the iceberg. "Public health experts have long suspected that such rampant use of antibiotics in animals could be a reason for increasing antibiotic resistance in India. But, the government has no data on the use of antibiotics in the country, let alone on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance," he said.
CSE has called upon the government to implement a comprehensive set of regulations including banning use of antibiotics as growth promoters in the poultry industry.
As far as the consumers are concerned Sunita Narain tells NDTV Cooks, "Ask the sellers and suppliers when you buy whether there are antibiotics in the chicken and ask repeatedly."
If you are a chicken lover, this is something you should definitely be aware of. While food adulteration and pesticide use are nothing new, a recent lab study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment's (CSE) Pollution Monitoring Lab, shows how antibiotic-fed poultry is harming the consumers.
The study shockingly reveals that large scale and indiscriminate use of antibiotics in the poultry industry has led to antibiotic resistance in Indians who are falling prey to many ailments that are otherwise curable.
The study -
For the study, 70 chicken samples from the Delhi-NCR region were tested for six commonly used antibiotics - oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline, doxycycline, enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and neomycin. The lab tested three tissues of chicken - the muscle, liver and kidney. About 40% of the chicken samples contained residues of these antibiotics. Besides this, residues of more than one antibiotic were found in 17 percent of the samples. The study notes, "Thirty six chicken samples were from Delhi, 12 from Noida, 8 from Gurgaon and 7 each from Ghaziabad and Faridabad."
Why are antibiotics used?
Poultry is fed with antibiotics to promote their growth and make them fat without actually feeding them much. The poultry industry is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. The reports points out that it has been growing at around 8 to 10 percent annually and poultry constitutes of more than 50% of all the meat consumed in India. In order to meet with the growing demand and competition, breeders resort to the use of antibiotics to make chickens plump quicker and ensure a steady supply. (More: All About Different Chicken Labels)
Since there are no restrictions or limits on the use of antibiotics, the poultry industry has been rampantly using them as growth promoters. The residues of these antibiotics are being transmitted to humans on consumption.
Th use of antibiotics in the meat and poultry industry is completely unregulated. Unlike Europe, India has adopted the US model of self-regulation where it has no control over the sale of antibiotics for non-medical purposes to the poultry industry. In fact, there are no safe-limits set for feeding antibiotics to chickens, which gives the breeders easy access to go all out.
How does consumption of antibiotic-fed poultry affect humans?
The study explains that these antibiotics are pumped into chicken to treat infections or mixed with feed to promote growth. But, in most cases this is done for several days even when there is no sign of infection.
Prolonged use of antibiotics leads to the development of resistant bacteria in chickens. This can be easily transmitted to humans through 'food, environment and direct contact' with such meat and lead instances of antibiotic-resistant.
According to the report, "Antibiotic resistance (ABR) refers to the resistance to antibiotics that occurs in bacteria that cause infections. The resistant bacteria can withstand the effect of the antibacterial drug (antibiotic) to make it ineffective." This has become a global concern as it makes it difficult to treat various diseases that are otherwise curable.
"Many essential and important antibiotics for humans are being used by the poultry industry. In India, there is growing evidence that resistance to fluoroquinolones such as ciprofloxacin is rapidly increasing," says Sunita Narain, Director General of CSE.
Treating fatal diseases like sepsis, pneumonia and tuberculosis (TB) with fluoroquinolones is becoming tough because microbes that cause these diseases are increasingly becoming resistant to fluoroquinolones, says the report.
"Common infections are becoming more difficult to treat and antibiotics are becoming ineffective due to increased resistance," she added.
The study also warns that it is not the amount of chicken consumed that matters. Less consumption and even small bites can put people at the risk of developing drug-resistance.
What is to be done?
CSE's Deputy Director General Chandra Bhushan said that the findings were only the tip of the iceberg. "Public health experts have long suspected that such rampant use of antibiotics in animals could be a reason for increasing antibiotic resistance in India. But, the government has no data on the use of antibiotics in the country, let alone on the prevalence of antibiotic resistance," he said.
CSE has called upon the government to implement a comprehensive set of regulations including banning use of antibiotics as growth promoters in the poultry industry.
As far as the consumers are concerned Sunita Narain tells NDTV Cooks, "Ask the sellers and suppliers when you buy whether there are antibiotics in the chicken and ask repeatedly."
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