Rheumatoid Arthritis: What to Avoid and What to Pursue

 

X-ray Forearm With Arthritis At Wrist And Elbow (rheumatoid, gout)

 
Today I was conversing with a friend potentially suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), that wanted to know ways of relieving his pain. I tried to give all the best advise, that did not involve taking medication, for treating this dreadful disease.

Little did I know that an informative article in Tech Times was released earlier in the day, that sheds a little bit extra light into the factors that may aggravate RA.

"A team of researchers from All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) looked into 500 patients with RA who lived in New Delhi, India, in the past 10 years. They found that the symptoms worsened in the months of November and December. This two-month period is characterized by high levels of suspended particulate matter (SPM) 2.5 in the atmosphere."

Earlier this day I commented on a coral colony being bleached by CO2 emissions. Now apparently urban life during early winter aggravates RA. It doesn't seem we have been kind to our environment lately and this is increasingly worrying.

But first of all what is RA? It is an autoimmune disease that mainly affects the joints and causes chronic inflammation. And by autoimmune disease I mean when the immune system mistakenly attacks the body's tissues. As of yet RA has no cure.

So air pollution seems to worsen the pain on people suffering with this disease, but what can be done to alleviate this? A few things really. First and foremost you must have in mind to try keep calm and not stress. That is the best advise not only for this but for most of the problems that appear in front of you.

Second is a good diet and trying to keep fit. Exercise is something that may prove miraculous for people suffering with RA. It is however something that must be used with caution as to not make the symptoms more severe and after consulting with your doctor or physiotherapist for the correct set of exercises.

All I can say to the people suffering from RA is I am really sorry that you have to go through this pain every day and I hope you can find ways to alleviate your pain. Let's hope that medical research will once again find ways to battle this as it has done many times before.

Original story source: Air Pollution Can Aggravate Rheumatoid Arthritis But Exercise, Lifestyle Changes Can Relieve Symptoms

Additional information: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) - MedicineNet.com

Image provided by: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/

Photo of the Day: CO2 Emissions Endanger Fish!

"A world-first global analysis of marine responses to climbing human CO₂ emissions has painted a grim picture of future fisheries and ocean ecosystems."

 Bleached Coral Colony

Image credit: © ead72 / Fotolia

Journal article: 

Ivan Nagelkerken and Sean D. Connell. Global alteration of ocean ecosystem functioning due to increasing human CO2 emissions. PNAS, October 12, 2015 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1510856112

Story source: 

University of Adelaide. "Global marine analysis suggests food chain collapse." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 October 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151012181037.htm>. 

Photo of the Day: Engineering a Mini-Brain!

"A bioengineering team at Brown University can grow “mini-brains” of neurons and supporting cells that form networks and are electrically active."

A bundle of neurons

Image credit: Hoffman-Kim lab/Brown University

Original source: An accessible approach to making a mini-brain

Motivational Quotes by Scientists

Not every day has to be serious and nerdy. Here are ten motivational quotes by famous scientists to get your Monday going:

"Progress is made by trial and failure; the failures are generally a hundred times more numerous than the successes ; yet they are usually left unchronicled."

William Ramsay, 1852 to 1916 - Chemist

"Science is vastly more stimulating to the imagination than the classics."

J. B. S. Haldane, 1892 to 1964 - Biologist

"Valid criticism does you a favor."
 Carl Sagan, 1934 to 1996 - Astronomer

We are storytelling animals, and cannot bear to acknowledge the ordinariness of our daily lives.

Stephen Jay Gould, 1941 to 2002 - Paleontologist

"Things are as they are because they were as they were."

Thomas Gold, 1920 to present - Astrophysicist

"Science is the acceptance of what works and the rejection of what does not. That needs more courage than we might think"

Jacob Bronowski, 1908 to 1974 - Mathematician, Biologist

"Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my greatest friend is truth."

Sir Isaac Newton, 1642 to 1727 - Physicist, Mathematician

"I think one’s feelings waste themselves in words; they ought all to be distilled into actions, and into actions which bring results."

Florence Nightingale, 1820 to 1910 - Nurse, Statistician

"Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality."

Albert Einstein, 1859 to 1955 - Phycisist

"Wit is the best safety valve modern man has evolved; the more civilization, the more repression, the more the need there is for wit"

Sigmund Freud, 1856 to 1939 - Psychiatrist, Psychologist

And a website you may love browsing through: Explore 100 Famous Scientist Quotes Pages

Photo of the Day: Pluto's Blue Sky

This may look like a simple circle with a blue glow around it, but it is not. This is an image of the planet Pluto with an amazing blue haze around it, formed by tiny particles called Tholins that scatter sunlight to give this amazing blue glow.

Image credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

Original source and more information: New Horizons Finds Blue Skies and Water Ice on Pluto