Stayfree’s healthy periods campaign
Stayfree®, one of India’s leading menstrual hygiene brands, launched its latest digital campaign on International Daughters Day (September 22) 2024, to highlight the importance of ‘healthy period’ conversations within families that help girl children to become comfortable about menstrual periods. Stayfree’s multimedia campaign encourages parents to talk to male children about periods from young age.
“In the new campaign, Stayfree has collaborated with popular national and regional influencers to highlight the importance of healthy period conversations within families sharing personal experiences of how they have normalised period conversations with their sons. The digital campaign will be seen across Youtube, Meta and leading OTT channels,” said Rahul Mathew, Chief Creative Officer, DDB Mudra Group, which conceptualized the campaign.
Babies born via IVF have higher risk of heart defects
The risk of being born with a major heart defect is 36 percent higher in babies conceived after assisted reproductive technology such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), according to results of a very large study published in the European Heart Journal (September) Researchers from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden say the study also indicates that heart defect risk is greater in common cases of multiple births.
The research studied all children born in Denmark between 1994-2014; children born in Finland between 1990-2014, those born in Norway between 1984-2015 and children born in Sweden from 1987-2015 — aggregating 7.7 million. Researchers compared data on babies born following assisted reproduction, including IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection and embryo freezing, with data on naturally conceived infants, taking into account child’s year of birth, country of birth, mother’s age, whether the mother smoked during pregnancy, or if the mother had diabetes or heart defects
“Previous research indicated that babies born after assisted reproductive technology have a higher risk of birth defects in general. However, we have found a higher risk also in congenital heart disease,” says Prof. Ulla-Britt Wennerholm of Gothenburg University, Sweden, who led the study.
Yoga Nidra prompts deep relaxation-cum-awareness
A functional MRI study on Yoga Nidra practitioners by researchers of IIT Delhi, AIIMS Delhi and Mahajan Imaging & Labs has revealed that experienced practitioners exhibit a unique neural mechanism during the ancient yogic practice which enables deep relaxation concurrently with awareness,
According to the study published in Scientific Reports journal (September), researchers explained that daydreaming, thinking about ourselves, and mind relaxation occur against the brain’s “background mode”. Moreover while listening to guided instructions during the practice, experienced meditators and novices showed activity in several parts of their brains involved in processing language and movements as expected.
“According to yogic texts, Yoga Nidra bring samskaras (subtle mental impressions caused by thoughts, intention and action) buried in deep subconscious minds to the surface and eventually releases them, thereby promoting health and controlling anxiety in some cases,” explains Prof. Rahul Garg of IIT Delhi, co-principal investigator of the study.
New blood test identifies obese children infirmities
A new blood test that analyses lipids will make it easier to identify obese children at risk of complications including type II diabetes, liver and heart disease, say scientists from King’s College London. In a study published in Nature Medicine (September), the researchers dispute the common assumption that cholesterol is a leading cause of obese children suffering health complications.
The team assessed lipids of 1.300 obese children of whom 200 of them were put on the HOLBAEK-model — a lifestyle intervention for obese people popular in Denmark — for one year. Subsequent readings showed that in the intervention group, counts of lipids tied to diabetes risk, insulin resistance and blood pressure decreased, simultaneously with limited improvements in some children’s BMI. “With a simple blood test, we can now assess a much broader range of lipid molecules that could serve as vital early warning signs of illness,” says Dr. Cristina Legido-Quigley, a group leader in Systems Medicine at King’s College London, Head of Systems Medicine at the Steno Diabetes Centre, Copenhagen and principal author of the study.
