Fertility Apps

London, April 25 (IANS) Want to find an ideal partner on dating apps? First get vaccinated against Covid. According to a media report, many dating apps are allowing users to determine potential partners based on their vaccine status.An increasing number of people on dating apps like Tinder, OK Cupid, Bumble and Coffee Meets Bagel are divulging information on whether they are vaccinated or are planning to take the jab against Covid-19, the Guardian reported.Research by London-based Elate Date showed that more than 60 per cent of people on its platform did not want to date anti-vaxxers, the report said."It's becoming a bit of a flex to say you've been vaccinated. Our research finds that over 60 per cent of people wouldn't consider dating someone who was against having the vaccination and that it's become a trend to include 'vaccination', 'antibodies' and 'shots' in dating bios in the same way people would their height, job or interests," Sanjay Panchal, founder of dating app Elate was quoted as saying to the Guardian.In the US, the syringe emoji has become the new winky face, while a double-dosed selfie on your profile will, it's claimed, bring you double the number of dates, the report said.Users who claimed to have already received the Covid vaccine were being "liked" at twice the rate of users who said they weren't interested, The Guardian cited Michael Kaye, OKCupid spokesperson as saying to the New York Times."Basically, getting the vaccine is the hottest thing you could be doing on a dating app right now," Kaye said.Tinder, had in January, found a 238 per cent spike in vaccine mentions in user bios, while Bumble reported "a steady increase" in the number of people including "vaccine" or "vaccinated" in their profiles, the report said.--IANSrvt/pgh

Toronto- A lifestyle intervention targeting women with obesity and infertility is more effective in increasing the pregnancy rate compared with fertility treatments, a new study suggests. The study, presented virtually at ENDO 2021, showed that the lifestyle intervention, called the Fit-For-Fertility (FFF) programme, is a cost-effective alternative to the usual standard of care for women with obesity seeking fertility treatments. "Our study shows that the FFF programme can significantly improve the pregnancy rate, especially the spontaneous pregnancy rate when no fertility treatments are required, as well as the live-birth rate," said lead researcher Matea Belan from the University of Sherbrooke in Canada. Lifestyle changes and a moderate weight loss of 5 per cent to 10 per cent of a woman's initial weight have been shown to improve the odds of a pregnancy in women with obesity and infertility, the researcher said. For the study, the researchers recruited 130 women receiving treatment at a fertility clinic, and randomly divided them into two groups. The first group had access to the Fit-For-Fertility programme alone for the first six months of their participation, and in combination with fertility treatments if no pregnancy occurred after six months. The programme included individual sessions with a nutritionist and a kinesiologist every six weeks. Women in the FFF group were also asked to follow at least once each one of the 12 group sessions, which included a 45-minute workshop on topics regarding nutrition, lifestyle changes and lifestyle habits, followed by a 45-minute session of initiation to different types of physical activity, including walking, circuit training, step workout and others. In the second group, the control group, women had access to the fertility treatments from the outset but did not take part in the FFF programme. Of the 108 women who completed at least six months of the study, or became pregnant during the first six months, the FFF programme generated a difference of 14.2 per cent points in the live-birth rate (51 per cent for the FFF group and 36.8 per cent for the control group). The spontaneous pregnancy rate (pregnancy without any fertility treatments) was 33.3 per cent in the treatment group, compared with 12.3 per cent in the control group. (IANS)

Are you dealing with the stressful symptoms of PCOS? Be it missed periods, excessive hair growth on the face or body, weight gain, acne, and fertility issues. The pandemic made it all the more difficult to consult our doctor face-to-face to deal with these problems, but digital healthcare platforms have made it easier for women dealing with such queries to consult the right doctor. The Covid-19 pandemic may have accelerated the shift towards digital healthcare practices in India, but its adoption among women in 2020- especially in non-metro cities- has been significant. Registering an overall growth of more than 212 per cent from the previous year, online consultations emerged as one of the preferred modes of consulting doctors by women in India, according to data from Practo. According to Practo, more women in non-metro cities opted for online consultations in 2020- growing at an average rate of 550 per cent, compared with 400 per cent recorded among women in metro cities. This means that even as the majority (65 per cent) of the total number of online consultations done by women in 2020 were from metro cities, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of women from non-metro cities adopting telemedicine. In fact, this trend has been developing over the past three years. PCOS, skin allergy, weight loss, thyroid, depression, hair fall, and UTI were some of the most discussed queries by women from non-metro cities last year, says the health platform. Women with PCOS have numerous cysts in their ovaries, caused by an overproduction of hormones called androgens. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a condition that prevents the ovaries from functioning properly. PCOS is also a red flag for the inception of type 2 diabetes, explains Prabha Acharya, Homeopath, who also consults on Practo. For few women, gaining weight can influence their hormones. If you're obese or overweight, this might help get your hormones back to normal. Losing 10 per cent of your body weight may help your menstrual cycle become more predictable. This should help you get pregnant. Therefore, weight loss prior to conception helps improve the live birth rate in obese women with or without PCOS. In simple words, living a healthy lifestyle and following the diet, with regular exercise, no smoking, less stress, and control of diabetes and other medical conditions prescribed by your doctor should improve your fertility odds. To lose weight on a PCOS diet, re-frame your thinking to eating to live, not living to eat. Quick tips from the doctor: 1. Drink a lot of water and keep yourself well hydrated. 2. Eat foods low on the glycemic index. Low glycemic index foods are carbohydrates that break down slowly in the body, not causing a dramatic spike and then drop in insulin levels. Eat oats, brans, whole grains, broccoli, apples, etc. Avoid foods that are sugary and starchy such as syrups, sugar, jams, scones, white bread products, etc. 3. Eat more fruits and vegetables for good fiber intake. Fiber helps promote healthy estrogen metabolism which aids in the reduction of elevated levels of androgens. E.g. whole grains, apples (with skin), green leafy vegetables, etc. 4. Eat small frequent meals in a day and avoid skipping any meal and especially the first meal of the day i.e. breakfast. 5. Include lean protein in your diet. E.g. lean chicken, fish, egg, nuts, legumes, pulses, low-fat dairy products, skimmed milk, etc. 6. Eat healthy Omega-3 fats in your diet. Sources: fatty fish, olive oil, walnuts, flax seeds, etc. And avoid foods that are high in saturated fat, such as meats, cheeses, and fried foods. 7. Get some sun rays for 10-15 mins for your Vitamin D requirement. Great food sources of vitamin D are cod liver oil, eggs, salmon, etc. 8. Exercise daily. Exercise plays a huge role by keeping weight in check, this helps regulate the hormones and increases chances of ovulation. 9. Distress yourself. Try yoga. 10. Avoid drinking aerated drinks. Avoid processed, junk food. Quit smoking and alcohol. A regular visit to the doctor for follow-up. Follow your plan and most importantly believe in yourself, because only you have the potential to change your circumstances! (Siddhi Jain) Read More► How Single Thought or Argument Can Turn Into Disease

London- A team of researchers has developed a tool to identify security and privacy risks associated with Covid-19 contact tracing apps. "COVIDGuardian", the first automated security and privacy assessment tool, tests contact tracing apps for potential threats such as malware, embedded trackers and private information leakage. Using the "COVIDGuardian" tool, cybersecurity experts from Queen Mary University of London assessed 40 Covid-19 contact tracing apps that have been employed worldwide for potential privacy and security threats. They found that 72.5 per cent of the apps use at least one insecure cryptographic algorithm. "Three quarters of apps contained at least one tracker that reports information to third parties such as Facebook Analytics or Google Firebase. While most apps were free of malware, the Kyrgyzstan app ‘Stop Covid-19 KG' was discovered to have malware," the researchers said in a paper scheduled to be presented at the virtual International Conference on Software Engineering in May. "With the pandemic there was a rapid need for contact tracing apps to support efforts to control the spread of Covid-19. Unsurprisingly we found that this had resulted in some relatively mainstream security bugs being introduced worldwide," said Dr Gareth Tyson, Senior Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London. Some of the most common risks relate to the use of out-of-date cryptographic algorithms and the storage of sensitive information in plain text formats that could be read by potential attackers. "Through COVIDGuardian we've produced a tool that can be used by developers to discover and fix potential weaknesses in their apps and share guidelines that will help to ensure user privacy and security is maintained," Tyson said. To support this work the researchers also performed a survey involving over 370 individuals to understand the likelihood that they would use a contact tracing app and highlight concerns around their use. The results suggested that the privacy and accuracy of contact tracing apps had the biggest impact on whether individuals would use the app. (IANS)