MEDICAL CHOICES: January 2014

Monday, January 13, 2014

27 Unspoken Suit Rules Every Man Should Know

Source: buzzfeed.com

The width of the tie should match the width of the lapel. It’s all about BALANCE.
In general, thin lapels are more modern. Wide lapels are more old-school, Mad Men style. So choose your look accordingly.
A pocket square adds an extra level of polish, but make sure it doesn’t match your tie in either pattern or fabric choice. Before you go totally conservative, remember that the pocket square is where you get the most freedom and the one place you get to add a little pizzazz to your suit.
When buying an off-the-rack suit, the number one thing to check is how the shoulders fit. Shoulder pads should end at the shoulders. The shoulders are the hardest to tailor, so make sure they don’t stick out or stick up.
A collar gap between your jacket’s lapels and your shirt’s collar can signify an ill-fitting jacket.
Opt for a charcoal or gray suit over black, unless you’re attending a funeral. Dark gray is more versatile and goes with more colours.
Your belt should be fairly thin and the same colour as your shoes. Union Made makes really great belts in a variety of leather and metal finishes.
You should match your shoes to the colour of your suit using this guide:
Double vents in the back are more modern and fashionable.
For a more casual, trendy look, opt for a single-button peak-lapel jacket.
If you’re going for more formal business attire, opt for a double-button, notched lapel jacket.
The Savile Row Fold keeps your dress pants from falling off the hanger.
You should be able to slip your hand between your chest and your buttoned jacket such that it feels snug, but with room to move.
Always unbutton your suit before sitting down, or you risk ruining it.
The top button of a two-button (or the middle button of a three-button) should fall at or above the navel.
Always go with the classic windsor knot for your tie, but use the size of your head to determine whether you should go half or full windsor.
If you’re wearing a vest, always keep the bottom button unbuttoned. But plenty of men break this rule and are still able to pull off the three-piece beautifully.
There are practical reasons for vests beyond just how they look. A vest is best worn with single-breasted suits (so it’s actually visible). if you’re going to be wearing your suit in a cold climate, a vest can add a lot of warmth. It also adds a formal touch to your suit.
Sleeve cuffs should be exposed about half an inch. For a harmonious look, try to match the visible cuff length to the amount of collar that is visible at the back of the neck.
When you get your suit home, you’ll need a seam ripper or a small, sharp pair of scissors. Unstitch the jacket’s pockets, remove the tack stitches from the jacket’s vents, and remove the little embroidered label from the jacket’s left sleeve. Do this very carefully to ensure you don’t actually rip the fabric or neighboring threads.
Make sure that your socks are long enough that there’s no exposed leg when sitting down.
Your tie should always be darker than your dress shirt.
The suit jacket should be just long enough to cover your pants zipper and butt.
Your tie should JUST reach the waistband of your trousers, or be slightly shorter.
For a more fashion-forward look, the trouser hem should hit right at the top of your shoe.
If you sweat a lot, wear an undershirt. Preferably one with a deep neck so it doesn’t peek through. Nothing will cheapen the appearance of a suit more than a glimpse of undershirt.
Finally, go for the dimple. The dimple is the little hollow beneath the knot of your tie, and it gives a slightly disheveled yet polished appearance to your finished look.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Pervez Musharaf's Medical Report

According to the former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s medical report, Musharraf has nine medical conditions, Express News reported on Tuesday.

The report states that one of Musharraf’s arteries is blocked and one of his shoulders is not working properly.

The former president has problems in his left knee and spinal cord, and he also suffers from hyper tension, the report further stated.

Earlier today, the medical report was presented to the special court in a sealed envelope by the registrar of the court Abdul Ghani Soomro.

The former president was also given two days of exemption from appearing before the court.

The court had issued an order on January 6 demanding the medical certificate of Musharraf and had also exempted him from appearing before it in person yesterday as he had failed to appear due to ill health.

“Lawyers will also be allowed to see the report,” stated Justice Faisal Arab of the Sindh High Court (SHC), who is heading the special court.

The former military ruler faces treason charges under Article 6 for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.

“The court has directed that the respondents should be given copies of the medical report,” stated Musharraf’s lawyer Ahmed Raza Kasuri, while talking to the media in Islamabad.

Musharraf’s medical records were also sent to expert’s in Britain who will decide whether he requires treatment abroad or not.

Musharaf’s medical report:

Monday, January 6, 2014

Insulin Pill Will Soon Be a Reality

Daily jabs of insulin are a painful reality for many with diabetes. That may change if researchers who have successfully tested oral insulin in rats are able to replicate those results in humans.

Nearly 350 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes, and that number is predicted to grow to more than 500 million by 2030. While the more common form, type-2 diabetes, does not always need insulin treatment, nearly a quarter of all diabetes patients depend on insulin injections. Estimated annual sales of oral insulin could be as high as $17 billion.

The benefits of an insulin pill include more than just ease of taking the drug. A pill would mean patients can start taking insulin earlier in the disease's development, which could reduce some of diabetes' secondary complications like blindness and the impaired healing that leads to amputations.

The idea of oral insulin has been around since the 1930s, but the difficulties of making it have previously seemed too large to overcome. First, insulin is a protein—when it comes in contact with stomach enzymes, it is quickly destroyed. Second, if insulin can pass through the stomach safely, it is too big a molecule (about 30 times the size of aspirin) to be absorbed into the bloodstream, where it needs to be in order to regulate blood-sugar levels.

In spite of the difficulties, Sanyog Jain at India’s National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research and his colleagues have been working on delivering insulin in the oral form for many years. Their first fully successful attempt came in 2012, when they developed a formulation that successfully controlled blood-sugar levels in rats. But the materials used were too expensive to consider commercializing the technology.

Now, in a paper published in the journal Biomacromolecules, they have found a cheaper and more reliable way of delivering insulin. They overcome the two main hurdles by first packing insulin into tiny sacs made of lipids (fats) and then attaching to it folic acid (vitamin B9) to help improve its absorption into the bloodstream.

The lipids they use are cheap and have, in the past, been successfully employed to deliver other drugs. They help to protect insulin from being digested by stomach enzymes, which gets it to the small intestine. When the lipid-covered sacs enter the small intestine, special cells on its lining, called microfold cells, are attracted to the folic acid. The folic acid helps activate a transport mechanism that can let big molecules pass through into the blood. The amount of folic acid used in the formulation also appears to be in the safe region.

In rats, Jain’s formulation was as effective as injected insulin, although the relative amounts that entered the blood stream differed. However, it exceeded injected insulin in one key aspect: whereas the effects of an injection subside in 6 to 8 hours, Jain’s formulation helped control blood-sugar levels for more than 18 hours.

The most important part of the research comes after successful testing in animals—the formulation needs to be given to human volunteers. But, Jain said, “at a government institute like ours, we don’t have the sort of money needed for clinical trials.”

He may not have to wait for long, as big pharma companies have been searching for an insulin pill formulation for decades. Two of them, Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk and Israeli upstart Oramed are in a race to come up with a solution. Google’s venture capital arm, Google Ventures, recently invested $10m in Rani Therapeutics with the hope it will help develop an oral insulin product. Indian firm Biocon also does oral insulin research, and it recently signed an agreement with pharma giant Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Oramed is ahead of Novo Nordisk, with its oral insulin product soon to enter phase-II clinical trials, which is the most advanced stage any oral insulin formulation has ever reached. Oramed chief scientist Miriam Kidron said of Jain’s research: “Most people have the same basic idea to develop an insulin pill, but it's the little differences that will determine ultimate success.”

While Kidron did not reveal Oramed’s formulation, she said, “we attempted liposomal delivery before, just like Jain’s work, but we weren’t successful.” She warned that translating success from rats to humans is very difficult. And she is right—most drugs have a high cull-rate at each stage of their development. Even so, research like Jain’s gives hope that an insulin pill may not remain a dream for long.The Conversation