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Genetics or heredity is one of the powerful factors that increase a person’s chance of getting diabetes. Diabetes is a disorder in blood sugar control due to insufficient production of insulin or the cells have developed insulin resistance. Ineffective diabetic management can lead to fatal complications affecting the kidneys, liver, heart, eyes, and the nerves. Diabetes is of two types, Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes. And it turns out that this incurable disease, regardless of what type, runs in families. According to scientists, there are numerous genes affecting your predisposition to Diabetes.

The most associated genes for Type 1 diabetes are the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) region and the insulin gene.

The HLA region is composed of a number of genes involved in immune system functions. These genes work by creating proteins for the immune cells. The proteins are used by the immune system cells to identify invaders like bacteria and viruses and the body’s own cells. If this process fails, the immune cells attack the cells in the body like those from the pancreas, called an autoimmune reaction. There are two genes from the HLA region that increases an individual’s risk of acquiring Type 1 diabetes from his parents, these genes are the DR and DQ genes. The DR gene accounts for 40-50% chance of inheriting diabetes.

The insulin gene is the part of the DNA that regulates insulin. Any change around the insulin gene influences a person’s predisposition to Type 1 diabetes.

For type 2 diabetes, researchers are studying the Beta3-adrenergic receptor gene to be a strong influence. This gene is responsible for identifying how many calories your body is burning while resting. Changes or mutations in this gene can slow down the burning of fats and calories, increasing the person’s susceptibility to obesity. There are many other genes responsible involved in Type 2 diabetes. However, researchers find it very challenging to identify the specific gene mutations which have direct effects on diabetes.

It’s true that genetic predisposition to diabetes is very strong. However, this doesn’t mean that diabetes is already inevitable. More often, individuals end up with diabetes because they also have poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyle that further aggravates their genetic risk factor. Knowing that you have a family member with diabetes puts you at risk, but healthy lifestyle changes for blood sugar control can reduce that risk and increases your chances of being totally healthy.

Alcohol abuse is one of the most common problems prevalent in the present society. It is the major cause for many fatal incidents like injuries, road accidents, and severe negative effects on health. Implementing strict rules at workplace/home helps in curbing alcohol intoxication, use or abuse. Identifying alcohol consumption is the first step to create an alcohol free workplace/home. There are many tools available to detect alcohol abuse such as alcohol breathalyzers, urine test kits, hair test kits, etc. In this article, we will discuss about saliva alcohol test kits, commonly used at offices/homes.

Saliva alcohol test kit is a device specially designed to detect the presence of alcohol in saliva and provides an approximation of blood alcohol concentration. Professional expertise is not required to use this test as it is intended to use at various places like schools, offices, homes, roads, traffic check points, etc. Instant and accurate detection of alcohol use is an attractive feature of saliva drug test kits.

Using saliva drug test kit is a simple and non-invasive process. The test kit contains a swab to collect the specimen (saliva) and a thermometer-like tester to interpret the results. The testing procedure includes collecting saliva using the swab from different areas of the mouth like cheeks, gums, and tongue and then inserting the collector into the entry port of the tester. After two minutes if there is a color change in the result region, it indicates a positive result. The same color forms a bar within the measurement scale representing the percentage of alcohol concentration. However, the procedure varies from device to device.

Benefits:
•Self-monitoring: Anyone can test themselves

•Easy to use: The simplicity in the design and the easy process of conducting the test avoids expert supervision

•Instant and accurate results: There is no need to wait hours and hours for the results. It takes around 2-5 minutes to get the results.

•Test can be conducted at any place: The simple design of these kits enables the users to conduct the test at any location. May it be on road, in-house or at workplace, you can undoubtedly use these kits for screening the alcohol use.

•Cost effective: If you are looking for an inexpensive solution to conduct alcohol test on huge number of people, then saliva alcohol test kits are better options. When compared to the other methods, they cost much lower and hence are an affordable option

•Longer shelf-life: Unless the seal is broken, the kits have a minimum shelf life of 11-12 months. So, you can buy them in bulk for regular use.

Most importantly, as alcohol is consumed through mouth, saliva is considered as best sample for identifying immediate or short-term alcohol abuse as well as for providing accurate readings.

These test kits are of much help for primary screening. Frequent testing enables you to get informed about an individual’s alcohol abusing habits.

When a pregnant woman is suffering from drug addiction, the situation is more serious because the effects of drug use not only applies to her, but her fetus is facing danger as well. It’s quite likely that when the child is born, it will suffer from bad health from day one.

Illegal drug taking can cause many health problems for pregnant women, such as hepatitis, anemia, sexually transmitted diseases, skin, hard and blood infections etc. Because the baby gets access to those illegal drugs indirectly, it’s quite possible that the baby will be born with illness as well. For example, research has shown that if a mother use heroin during her pregnancy, her baby might suffer from low birth weight. If children are exposed to marijuana or cocaine, they might suffer from attention deficiency, slowness in learning and behavioral problems. When exposed to methamphetamine, babies can suffer from poor quality of movement, fetal growth restriction and decreased arousal.

Another bad effect of drug addiction is the psychosocial effect. Pregnant women using illicit drugs often feel guilty, shame, denial, loneliness and embarrassment. The fear of being found and arrested can make them anxious and even depressed.

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 4.3% of pregnant women recently used illicit drugs. Also according to that survey, those in the 15 to 25 age group are more prone to illicit drug use and cigarettes smoking than those in the 26 to 44 age group.

Fortunately, there are some treatment options for pregnant women with drug addiction and one can find many addiction treatment centers that can help pregnant women as well. The main treatment methods include:
1) Medications: For example, methadone maintenance combined with prenatal care and a comprehensive drug treatment program is an effective treatment method.
2) Behavioral Treatments: For example, motivational incentive approaches appear to be effective in treating pregnant women with nicotine, cocaine, opiate dependence.
3) Comorbidity: Study has shown that pregnant women with psychological problems are more prone to substance abuse, and vice-versa. Therefore, treatment focusing on this co-occurring pattern can be effective.

Drug addiction is a serious problem. It’s more serious for pregnant women. Fighting drug addiction requires determination, discipline and hard work, but it’s worth the effort. If a pregnant woman is struggling with addiction, she should take it really seriously and seek help and treatment as soon as possible. This is not only for herself, but for the good of her unborn child as well.

If you’ve reached a point where you realise that smoking weed is taking over your life and changing you as a person and you just seem to not be getting much done in life, you’ve probably thought about how to quit smoking weed.

Let’s be honest, when you start smoking weed, everyone loves the stoned feeling it gives you and can’t see much wrong in getting high.

But like most drugs, it feels really good at first and also smoking marijuana is seen as being more socially acceptable than other drugs, so you tend to smoke on a more regular basis and before you know it, it can easily become a part of your daily routine and slowly take over your life. You might realise that you just not getting anything done anymore, your memory might not also be as good as it used to be or you just have a general lack of motivation to do anything.

If that’s you then the biggest obstacle to overcome in your aim to stop smoking weed is to realise and accept that smoking weed is having a negative impact on your life. The acceptance of the fact that you have a problem is the first step in overcoming any addiction. Like an alcoholic, if you don’t realise you have a problem you not going to look for a solution. So once you’ve done that, half the battles done.

Next, you need to decide whether you going or able to stop smoking weed cold turkey or whether you going to do it in stages. There are lots of different opinions out there on which method is best but it just depends on YOU as an individual as everyone is different, do what works for you. Although weed is not as physically addictive as nicotine, some people can become addicted to it, like people addicted to gambling for instance. If you are able to go ‘cold turkey’ then that’s great, if not then don’t beat yourself up about it, do it in stages. Remember you’ve already overcome the biggest obstacle and that was admitting to yourself a problem existed.

Also mentally prepare yourself to go through possible withdrawal symptoms, which could include becoming more anxious, so you might notice being a bit on edge and also irritable. You might notice this especially in the first week after quitting and you may also experience insomnia. Now, like many people you may not experience any withdrawal symptoms, but its best to prepare yourself just in case you do.

Try and set some new goals and do activities that will occupy the time that you used to spend getting stoned. Great way to do this is to join a gym or if not just go for a thirty minute jog every other day. Not only will you feel physically much better, but the combined effects of not smoking weed and then doing exercise will really have a positive mental effect and also just increase your overall wellbeing.