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If you have asthma or allergies, being stuck indoors can make you sick if you're not careful.

If cold, wintry weather is keeping you indoors, remember: Year-round, that's home to many of the peskiest allergy and asthma triggers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. So if you have allergies or asthma, it's a good idea to ensure that your home is as free of triggers as possible—or at least find ways to reduce your exposure. Your doctor can help you develop a plan, but here is some advice to get you started

1. Dust mites

Microscopic insects called dust mites are the most common allergy and asthma symptom trigger, according to the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. They feed on human skin flakes and tend to thrive when rooms are above 40 percent humidity and at temperatures above 70 degrees. And while they like bedding and soft furnishings the most, they can be found anywhere in the house. To ward off dust mites, allergists recommend purchasing allergenproof encasings for pillows, mattresses, and box springs, and washing linens in 130-degree temperatures every seven to 10 days. "Any place you find people where it's not supercold or really dry, you can have dust mites," White says. Unlike bedbugs, dust mites don't bite, so you won't wake up with puncture marks on your skin. "It's largely a respiratory phenomenon," says Clifford Bassett, chair of the AAAAI's Public Education Committee.

When it comes to cleaning, have someone else handle the vacuuming, or wear a mask. And use a vacuum that contains a HEPA filter or double-layered bag. Since stuffed animals collect dust mites, too, you'll need a simple way to keep your child's favorites trouble free. "Take the stuffed toy, put it in a freezer bag, and then put it in the freezer for three to five hours per week," Bassett says. Freezing the toy kills the dust mites. When purchasing other types of toys, stick with products that are washable or easy to wipe off.

2. Pets

The dander shed by furry friends can cause symptoms in susceptible people. But for reasons not completely understood, some allergic people are OK around certain breeds. While there is no such thing as a hypoallergenic dog, some breeds, such as poodles and Portuguese water dogs (the breed President Obama's family chose because of daughter Malia's allergies), produce less dander. To test how you or your child fare around a particular breed, visit a friend or family member who has a pet to see how you feel, suggests Martha White, an AAAAI fellow and research director at the Institute for Asthma & Allergy, a private practice in Maryland with offices in Wheaton and Chevy Chase. Spend 30 minutes or more around the pet, then watch for allergy symptoms for the next day or so. Some allergic people can't be around any pets without getting sick.

3. Mold

Indoor mold tends to grow in damp, dark environments, such as basements or showers and bathtubs, says Robert Fisher, the medical director at a Wisconsin-based practice called Allergy Research & Care. Because basements are so often affected, people with mold allergies should keep this in mind when choosing where to live, White says. "Don't rent in the basement, and don't put a bedroom in the basement," she says. Also, think about putting tile down as basement flooring rather than carpet. "If there's going to be water leakage," White says, "then carpet gets wet and moldy, so you want a floor that will dry easily."

Mold growth should be cleaned thoroughly using water, detergent, and 5 percent bleach, if needed. If mold spreads over an area larger than 10 square feet, the help of an indoor environmental professional may be needed, the AAAAI says.

4. Cockroaches

Cockroaches, an issue mostly in cities and the southern United States, are believed to play a large role in asthma in inner-city populations, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The allergens are found in the saliva and feces of cockroaches. Don't think that because you saw one roach in your home and killed it that your problem is solved. "If you see evidence of a roach, that usually means there's a lot in the house," White says. If you live in an apartment or condo, call your landlord or condo association to arrange extermination of your entire building, she advises. Sometimes people with allergies are hesitant to have extermination done because they're worried about the impact of chemicals on their health. "But if they're allergic [to roaches], they should get it done," she says—while family and pets are out.

Other steps to take, advises the AAAAI: Block off cracks and crevices in the wall or windows. Keep food in containers with lids, put away your pet's dishes, clean up after meals, take garbage out promptly, and fix leaky faucets or pipes because roaches need water to survive. Wash dishes soon after eating, and clean under toasters, refrigerators, and stoves to get rid of crumbs.

5. Pollen

Many people don't think of pollen as having an impact indoors. But "if you're outdoors during nice weather, you can bring it in on your clothes or shoes," Fisher says. Pets can bring pollen into the home, too, leading some people to assume they're allergic to their pets when in fact they're actually allergic to ragweed or another type of pollen. To combat this problem, consider wiping pets down when they return from outdoors, keep windows closed in the home and run air conditioning during warmer weather, and change clothes and shoes immediately after returning from outdoors. Also, an air purifier with a HEPA filter can clean the air and keep about 80 percent of pollen out of the home, Fisher says.

6. Cigarettes

While not a traditional allergen, cigarette smoke is often an irritant for people with asthma and allergies. Secondhand smoke, which irritates the already inflamed bronchial passages in asthmatics, can cause asthma attacks and worsen the severity of the attacks, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Moreover, studies have shown that "exposure to tobacco smoke has incredible impact on increasing risk of asthma in kids," Basset says. So allergists recommend that parents avoid smoking around children altogether, both at home and in the car. It's thought that because kids are still developing, they're more susceptible to the effects of smoke, and they may breathe more rapidly, causing them to take in more smoke than adults.

Spring is the time of year when many people complain about seasonal allergy symptoms such as runny noses, congestion, rashes, itchy and watery eyes, sneezing, coughing—and just generally feeling miserable. About 16.9 million Americans had allergies in 2007, and there were 12.2 million doctor's office visits for allergies in 2006, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

Allergies occur when the immune system overreacts to a substance that doesn't bother most people. In the spring, pollen is what gets to some people. But indoor allergies—to dust mites, dust, or pet dander, for instance—can cause problems all year round. If your allergy symptoms have you feeling lousy, this list of six allergy treatments and prevention strategies may help you find some relief.

1. Clean out your nose. Using a saltwater nose rinse is a natural option that can help clear out pollen and other irritants in the nose, says Jeremy S. Melker, an ear, nose, and throat doctor in Gainesville, Fla., who specializes in allergies. A 2007 study found that irrigating your nose works better than using commercial saline nasal sprays.

2. Try an over-the-counter allergy medicine. In recent years, two oral antihistamines that were previously available only by prescription became available over the counter. That means you can pick up Claritin (loratadine) or Zyrtec (cetirizine) without a visit to a doctor. These medications are "good for blocking [a substance called] histamine, which causes sneezing, itching, runny nose, and watery eyes," says Robert Fisher, the medical director at a Wisconsin-based practice called Allergy Research & Care. These medications are less likely to make you sleepy than older antihistamines like Benadryl.

If OTC antihistamines don't work for you—or your favorite allergy medication disappears from store shelves, as Drixoral has—seeing a doctor may help. Many people assume that there are no other options available, but an evaluation by a doctor can start patients on the path toward relief, Fisher says. For example, a prescription antihistamine, such as Allegra or Xyzal, is an option if Claritin or Zyrtec don't help you.

3. Consider a prescription nasal spray or eye drops. Prescription steroid nose sprays, such as Flonase and Nasonex, work by reducing swelling in the nose, which can provide relief from nasal allergy symptoms. Antihistamine nasal sprays, on the other hand, work by blocking histamine. They're like oral antihistamines, except the active ingredient is delivered directly into the nose, straight to the site of some people's most bothersome allergy symptoms. Some allergists prescribe them to patients who can't find symptom relief from oral antihistamines. Nasal-spray options include Astelin, which has been available by prescription since 1996, and Patanase and Astepro, both approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year.

Eyedrops, such as Patanol, Optivar, and Pataday, can help soothe the itchy, watery eyes that come with allergic conjunctivitis, also known as eye allergies. All require a doctor's prescription.

4. Decongestants may also help relieve nasal congestion. A variety of decongestant medications are available without a prescription. Even if it is OTC, though, you may have to ask for your favorite medicine at the pharmacy counter if it contains pseudoephedrine, which can be used to make methamphetamine. A law that took effect in 2006 requires anyone buying a medication containing pseudoephedrine to show ID when making the purchase. An ingredient called phenylephrine has replaced pseudoephedrine in many OTC medicines, but some say they don't think it works as well at clearing congestion.

Decongestant nasal sprays are another OTC option, but don't use them for longer than three days. Overuse can create a rebound effect of narrowing and constricting the blood vessels of your nose.

5. Close your windows, and turn on the air conditioning. Sure, with the recession, keeping the A/C off and just opening your windows might be a tempting move for cost-conscious people. But if you're allergic to outdoor allergens, it's best to keep the windows shut for the sake of your health. "If you know that the live oaks are blooming and you're sitting there all night long breathing in the live oak pollen, you're just worsening the problem," Melker says. "You're letting the fundamental [allergic] reaction occur, and then you're just trying to mask the symptoms" with medications.

6. If things get bad, try allergy shots, also known as allergy immunotherapy. There is no reason anyone should have to suffer from allergies in silence, experts say. "Allergy shots can help a lot of the symptoms, especially when people have tried all the other stuff and are still having problems," Fisher says. These shots involve being regularly injected with a small amount of the substance you're allergic to. The idea is to stimulate your immune system and help your body become desensitized to the allergens, according to the Mayo Clinic. A Cochrane Collaboration review updated in 2003 found that allergy shots help to improve symptoms of asthma, reduce the need for medications, and lessen the risk of severe asthma attacks when patients are exposed to allergens in the future.

Eventually, the hope is that you'll build up a tolerance and your allergic reactions won't be so severe. But keep in mind that allergy shots require a time commitment—typically several years of weekly to monthly shots to completely finish the entire course of treatment. And because patients are injected with substances that they're allergic to, there is a risk of allergic reactions after the injections. For this reason, doctors typically require patients to remain in their offices for a few minutes after each session of immunotherapy.

Another option is immunotherapy delivered orally via drops or tablets, which was found in a 2008 study to be effective in kids with allergic asthma. A review of earlier evidence, published in 2003 by the Cochrane Collaboration, found that this type of immunotherapy, delivered under the tongue, helps to relieve allergic rhinitis. It's unclear, however, whether it's as effective as allergy shots. The availability of this type of therapy is limited because it has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and research is ongoing.

Medical detectives National Institutes of Health have just cracked their first case wide open, a result they hope to repeat with a slew of other uncharacterized illnesses and conditions. The Undiagnosed Diseases Program (UDP), a sleuthing agency set up within the NIH in 2008 to connect the dots between cases of undiagnosable illnesses, has traced the source of an extremely rare vascular disorder back to its genetic roots, notching the first closed case for the UDP and another victory for diagnosis genomics.



The case: a rare and debilitating buildup of calcium in the below-the-waist arteries and joints of a small sample of individuals; only nine individuals from three different are known to have the disorder. The likely culprit: a faulty gene, particularly one that may involve recessive inheritance, in which offspring receive copies of a gene variant from each parent that only cause disease when combined (this is why the parents don’t suffer from the disease but, in the case of one family, all five offspring do).

So the UDP got down to some genetic gumshoeing, analyzing DNA from the entire family and zeroing in on those places where the sibling had two copies of a particular DNA segment but the parents had only one. They isolated one such region, then cross referenced that against 200 genomes not afflicted with the condition. Doing so allowed them to find the common thread among the siblings: a variant in a gene known as NT5E. Sure enough, the other few reported cases of the condition reported the same variant at NT5E.

THANE: "Modern lifestyle has lost the harmony in mind-body relationship which has caused several stress based diseases such as hypertension, coronary heart diseases and cancer. The attempt to prevent and treat these diseases triggered a search for better lifestyles and better strategies that converged on the rediscovery of ancient disciplines such as Yoga combined lifestyles with potent infallible prescriptions for lasting mental peace which confirmed by clinical studies.

Yoga has become a valid tool in modern medicine," averred Dr Ramesh Bijlani in his speech about Mind Body Medicine and& Beyond' that was organised by Ghantali Mitra Mandal (GMM) at Sahayog Mandir on January 30.

The special session was organised for medical and health professionals and dedicated yoga teachers which received wonderful response. Dr Bharti Amte was the honourable guest of this meeting. "The purpose of this venture is to initiate people towards Yoga," claimed Yogacharya Shrikrushna Vyavahare, founder of GMM.

Dr Bijlani has worked at AIMS New Delhi for 28 years, studied Yoga therapy orientation training, Nutritional Bio chemistry and also penned 12 books based on his observations. On this platform Dr Bijlani explained how our lifestyle has changed with time. He said, "In recent years modern medicine has made spectacular advances in the prevention and management of infectious diseases, endocrine disorders and nutritional deficiencies. Surgery has become more safe and painless. Hence doctors rely on the investigating tests done by modern devices before prescribing medicines for his disease. But yet, people are not getting completely cured. The reason is that the love and faith bond between the doctor and patient is missing somewhere. For good results patient's positive response is equally important. Our body is blessed with the best natural system that generates useful fluid in our endocrine glands and it controls the digestion of food and balances the thoughts. Medicines and pills work temporarily. For permanent results one has to do regular yoga and eat natural food. It also controls depression."

Now doctors have realised the importance of the love and affection bond between a doctor and his patient that brings good response to the treatment. Dr Bijlani said, "It's observed that too many medicines can cause new diseases. To prevent illness one must take minimum medicines and should adopt a lifestyle that would balance one's eating habits, activities and rest. How you live is more important than how much you lived. One should prefer spiritual pleasures to material happiness as they are everlasting and yoga is the medium that provides positive attitude towards life."