Needs in blood products are in constant increase while the number of donors stagnates. And every event which prevents the donor from going to the actual generates a risk of shortage. At present, such events accrue: Christmas, big cold, epidemics of gastroenteritis then of influenza. An alert is thrown: give now!

The supply of blood products passed under the threshold of alert. Traditionally, the period which follows holidays year end is difficult for the Establishment Frenchman of the blood (the donors, occupied by the preparations of Christmas and of the New Year are fewer in number), while needs during January are generally more important in the hospital establishments.

And this year, situation is particularly worrying. Indeed, the intense cold which clamped down at the beginning of January limited displacements of the habitual donors and did not encourage the new donors to go to the actual. At the same time, the epidemic of gastroenteritis and now the arrival of influenza are so much events compromising donations of blood …

Who can give? Indications and contraindications in the donation of blood

The site of the French Establishment of the blood (EFS) shows apparently the list of contraindications in the donation of blood. It is necessary to weigh for example the very least 50 kg. After an influenza or a gastroenteritis it is necessary to wait two weeks before being able to give his blood. Of even if you followed a treatment antibiotic. EFS also specifies delays after a visit at the dentist according to the type of intervention (descaling, decay).

11 million accidents, 4,5 million injured men and 19.000 dead: such is the annual balance sheet, in France, of accidents of the common life. To struggle against this blight, authorities put online a site entirely dedicated to the prevention of these accidents.

Prevention of accidents of the common life

Accidents of the common life (AcVC) are well known to hospital emergency services, which receive several hundred every day. One hospitalisation of eight would be so due to this type of accidents, which cause three times more decease than road accidents, however much more mediatized.

Expression ” common life “ recuperates a big number of scenarioes. It can be so about school accidents, about sports, about leisure, about fixing things or linked to the life of the home (kitchen, for example). The most serious accidents touch particularly the young children and the old persons.

An Internet site at disposition of the parents

Called “Stop in daily accidents“, the site put online by authorities and accomplished by the Consumer’s Association (FRENCH NATIONAL CONSUMER COUNCIL) brings a big number of practical information to tell ACVC.

A powerful search engine allows so to find desired information by type of population (child, teenager and grown-up young person, old person), by risk (burn, fall, intoxication, drowning, electrical risk, burns down) or by product and activity (fixing things, gardening, chemicals, toys, sports and leisures, public areas), with possibility to combine three criteria. A research by key words is also offered. The site mutualise so contents accomplished by the FRENCH NATIONAL CONSUMER COUNCIL or by other public or associative actors: ministries, national Institute of prevention and of education for health (Inpes), Committee of security of the consumers, general management of competition, of consumption and of fraud prevention, Health institute…

Another rubric gives access to many teaching tools in unrestricted access or paid - booklets, brochures, guides, exhibitions - as well as in different reference documents. From his part, rubric “prevention in graphics” allows to view videos of information and reports on different risks and means to tell them, having notably drawn of the magazine “Conso Mag” accomplished by the FRENCH NATIONAL CONSUMER COUNCIL. Thanks to an online form, it is also possible to signal oneself a problem to the Committee of security of the consumers.

The home introduces big danger, particularly for the young children. According to the inquiry 2007 led by INPES, the parents have some more lacunas in realisation of danger and therefore in prevention of risks.

Accidents in the home: parental lacunas…

According to the inquiry 2007 led by the national Institute of prevention and of education for health (Inpes):

- 66 % parents only fear that their children make a fall. However, it is about the most frequent accident (inquiry 2007 of the Health institute);

- for only 6 % parents, suffocation is a real threat at home, while they represent the first reason of accidental decease at the children of less than a year;

- finally, 15 % name spontaneously drownings and 53 % burns as being of danger at home. And drownings and burns are part of main reasons of decease at the children from 1 to 4 years old.

They note here that knowledge of the parents is deficient. It is probably why they are vague in preventive behaviours (gestures and equipment of the home):

- 15 % questioned parents name no precautinary measure of accidents;

- 12 % recall only the constant surveillance of the children by way of prevention of accidents;

- the only 9 % name gestures allowing to tell suffocation;

- 24 % those who tell falls;

- 23 % the preventive gestures of drownings.

To be more definite, 56 % parents 17 % know mask-catch, 47 % guardrails for staircases, 21 % block them doors, block them cupboards and 14 % the corners of protection for tables.

How to avoid accidents in the home?

Paradoxically, they are 97 % to think that a big number of accidents in the domicile could be avoided. Parents, you must therefore enquire more!

To help you to identify domestic risks and to adopt good preventive gestures, the Ministry of Health and Inpes combined in a national campaign. Further to, an Internet site is offered to you: www.stopauxaccidentsquotidiens.fr. Graphics, videos, teaching tools and practical questions, this portal also invites you to achieve information with the aid of a search engine including multicriteria: key words, populations (children, teenagers, old persons), risks (burn, cut, intoxication, bite, electrocution, etc.) and products / activities (furniture, heating, gardening, beauty products, sports, transport, produced by protection, etc.).

An acne? Nothing more ordinary! But the mechanism which creates it is also very complex. These imperfections of the skin indeed put into play numerous reactions of the skin. Among them, the inflammation.

What is seen of the button, it is the inflammation

The external signs of the acne, the way we admit them, are in reality the signs of an inflammation which takes place in our skin: redness, heat, pain, edema (retention of water in the zone). If the signs of the inflammation are unpleasant, it is necessary to admit that it is in itself essentials: it is the mechanism of defence of our body, which is set in motion as soon as we are attacked. Of course, those who find themselves regularly collapsed in front of their mirror because of the appearance of a badly put problem will have tendency to see the button itself as an attack But from the point of view of our skin, it is self-defence.

The inflammation counters a plague

The skin defends itself first of all against a bacterium, called propionibacterium acnes. This bacterium feeds on lipids and wants to be between 30°C and 37°C? she lived therefore on our skin, and develops particularly in comedoes, which are pockets of sebum kept inside the skin by its thickening in surface. At the end of some time, the wall of the comedo can give in, in a natural way or because it is manipulated. Consequently spread in the skin bacteria, but also of lipids and enzymes which were indoors. It is there that the skin spots an attack, and that she throws her immune system in the attack, launching unpleasant signs.

The origins of the acne

The pilo-sebaceous follicles are at the origin of hair and of sebaceous glands. The function of these last is to secrete some sebum (protective fluid of the skin) under the influence of masculine hormones . But it happens that the sebaceous glands overreact in hormones and produce too much sebum. Result, the skin is too fatty, particularly at the level of the nose, of the forehead and of the scalp.

At the same time, the cells of the pilo-sebaceous follicle (normally renewed and eliminated in the surface of the skin) start to proliferate, to the point of obstructing the opening of the follicle and the channel of the sebaceous gland. The sebum, already produced excess and which cannot evacuate any more, forms then what closed comedo or microcyst are called the black button (opened comedo) or the white point ().

What is the role of feeding in the acne?

At a time when fruits and vegetables are in honour because they promise longevity and good health, a research team had the idea of studying the influence of the consumption of this food on this affection of the skin which touches predominantly the teenagers but also the young adults.

About fifty old persons from 10 to 54 years old were recruited. The half of them suffered from acne, other one was unharmed there.

All filled a questionnaire concerning their feeding: number of meals a day, nibbling between meals, types of consummate food, quantities, drinks, etc.

The official report is the following: the subjects which introduce the acne are those who eat least fruits and vegetables (1,9 unit against 3,4).

They point out besides that all subjects are well underneath official recommendation recommending to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. The average for the totality of the participants  is 2,68 a day, with 5 persons who have never used (either fruits or vegetables) and 13 who have never eaten fruits.

To come back to comparison between persons there suffering from acne and unharmed subjects, the researchers disclosed another difference.

Balanced feeding, rich in fruits and vegetables

In conclusion the persons who introduce the acne have a feeding more unbalanced than others. The fact that fruits and vegetables are strongly involved in relation feeding and acne suggests that the mechanism passes by the inflammation. Indeed, the acne is an inflammatory local phenomenon. At the same time, fruits and vegetables are known to diminish inflammatory reactions.

In practice, it is recommended to the young people to adopt a balanced feeding. It can be about a very valid argument to encourage the teenagers to eat more fruits and vegetables, and to limit nibblings …

Isn’t the fourth age of the parents the instant to return to the parents all that they gave us?

Claudine Badey-Rodriguez: The way relations parents / children in the great age are going to live depends all family history, including since childhood a lot. In certain cases, the children have feeling to have accepted a tremendous number of their parents and feel indebted or have, simply, desire to give so much that they accepted, by thankfulness. But, in other families, the children could suffer of the physical maltreatment or psychological maltreatment as humiliation, humiliations, punishments, negligence: they can not have set attachment up, or accepted little demonstrations of love. And they cannot give what they did not accept. They are not capable of it. There is a very strong social pressure in sense: ‘It is necessary to love his parents, it is necessary to take care of them’, independently of the type of relations which the parents established with their children. This social pressure procreates an important guilt, including at the persons who lived on difficult things with their parents, and who can then intend say: ‘They are old now, the time crossed, you can excuse them, and they are nevertheless your parents’ so, in therapy, I hear grown-up children to begin their explanation by saying to me: ‘You are going to think that I am a bad son or a bad daughter, but …’

Is it still frequent that children take their parent at home?

Claudine Badey-Rodriguez: Often, they are lone women, widows, single men or divorcees who take a parent at home. Counterpart, more or less unconscious, can be less to feel loneliness. Problem, it is that often, they do not measure difficulty that it can put down once the physical and psychological load which it is going to represent.

There are also children who take their parent at home because of guilt that they feel, because of also the bad picture of retirement homes. And then, there are financial reasons. It is sometimes easier financially to take them at home than to pay for a retirement home. But welcome a parent at home when they are in couple, in family, it is possible to drive to unbearable tensions and to conflicts with his fellows; I met number of persons who ’sacrificed ‘ their own family life and of couple for their parent, or who employed their health leaving up to exhaustion.

Also, I can give an advice which seems to me important:

When one of his parents at home is taken, it would be necessary to be clear on the fact that it is not willy-nilly final. It is necessary to explain: ‘At the moment, it is possible for me, but if it is too difficult, too painful, too heavy, perhaps it will be necessary to envisage other solutions’ it is essential to say it from the beginning, otherwise, it is possible to feel taken in a trap. And it would be damage to end up detesting somebody who is loved.

When they lived in couple or in family, the decision to welcome a parent at home should be carefully reflected and taken by common consent between all protagonists.

On the cape of about fifty, it is a new stage of life that opens. More leisure, less stress, but also a body which asks to be treated with more as ménagement. How to stay in form across all these changes?

In form after 50 years: sleep

A good sleep is key for your quality of life, and will always have a good influence on the functioning of your body. Noise, temperature and light have a big influence on sleep, for the adults as for the small children. A more striking evolution is the advance of stages: the more ripe persons feel sleepy earlier, and wake up earlier. To sleep well, it is important to adopt and to support a rhythm of life which corresponds to you. On the other hand, do not hesitate to have social activities and life outside during day; sunlight has an important influence on our biological clock.

In form after 50 years: feeding

With age, the metabolism has tendency to decelerate, and appetite to be diminished. The oldest persons have less appetite, their taste and their smell are less whet. It is however important to continue eating balanced, various and of quality. The seniors need very much proteins for example. They allow to construct muscles and contribute to the struggle against infections. You will find in poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, but also nuts and leguminous plants.

As regards fats, choose them of plant origin. They help to tell cardiovascualaires diseases. Products based on complete cereals, as for them, give you various carbohydrates. They are to recommend to the mature persons because they help to tell constipation thanks to their strong content of fibre, but also because they give many vitamins and minerals.

The vitamin D is also an essential element because she helps in the assimilation of the calcium, very important for the prevention of the ostéoporose. You will find it in the fatty fish, but your body can also fabricate it if you run the risk enough of sun’s rays.

In form after 50 years: physical activity

To stay active and to move enough is perhaps still the most efficient method against ageing. By using your muscles, you safeguard the suppleness of your pronunciations and the solidity of your bones. To move also stimulates appetite, digestion, and diminishes stress. Thanks to sports, you better feel and you are better.

Physical activity is essential for the heart and to tell cardiovascular diseases. It is also advantageous for the brain and participates in the prevention of the illness of Alzheimer. Finally, sports practice is recommended in the struggle against cancers, notably in prevention of breast cancer and of cancer of the colon.

Therefore to do some sports, for the seniors, is even more important than during the rest of life; but it does not go without saying any more. Pay attention to warm you up very well, and diminish the intensity of effort. During financial year, pay, please, attention to your breathing and to support a good technology. Effort is important, of course, but do not do the same there very too much, and do not accept pain as normal part of sports. It is not perhaps a bad idea of beginning by asking for advice to a doctor before to put you in it. And at any rate, a light and regular practice is much better than of exercises intense, but sporadic.

The ageing of the skin is not perhaps a “true” problem of health, but it is indeed a worry mattering for most the women who exceed quarantine. Without pretending to look younger, there are solutions however not to make his age.

Advice 1: Use care anti-age before age

The products of beauty intended to fight the first signs of age can be used from about twenty. It is the best way to postpone the ageing of the skin. Active principles contained in these creams are not however your only allies. Interest to set a routine up beauty when they are young, it is that habit to look after the skin (cleaning and careful make-up removal, very regular moisturising, rubbing-out from time to time) will be anchored well. What does not mean that if you have not set such routine up yet, he is too much late to put you in it!

Advice 2: Protect your skin of the sun

Sun’s rays on the skin try unsuccessfully to be very nice, they are in fact a permanent attack. UV indeed diminishes quantity and quality of the fibres which will be produced by your skin. And it is these fibres which give him his elasticity and his suppleness, therefore his youth. Morality: it is really important that you protect your skin against the sun, throughout the year and not only during holiday. Of course, if it is about an itinerary of ten minutes, not need to take too much precautions - the sun also has an advantageous influence, mainly in the manufacture of the vitamin D? but if you spend your hour of table outside, think of putting your cream.

Advice 3: make a life of beauty

The lifestyle is also an element mattering in the ageing of the skin. If you give up smoking, that you drink enough water, that your feeding is high-fibre and in vitamins, and that your hours of sleep are sufficient, you will see results in terms of years earned on your visible age, probably quicklier than you think of it! Then when you make the good choices for your health, know that they are also the good choices for your beauty.

Facing the epidemic of obesity which threatens Frenchmen seriously, the industrialists follow the governmental campaign and work at lightening their products in sugar, in fat and in salt. A job which is not made in one day… Meeting with Nestlé and Mark Landmark.

As part of the National Programme Nutrition Health 2 (PNNS2), the French government asked the agroindustrial industrialists to see again the nutritional composition of their products while conjugating health and pleasure of eating. Some industrialists had already worked on the improvement of their products. ‘A firm as Nestlé whose nutritional requirement is in the middle of development for a long time gave, from 2000, a touch on the accelerator on the reductions of sugar, of fats and of salt and on increase in fruits and vegetables’, explains Brigitte Laurent-Langevin, head of the nutrition Nestlé France. To act on the prevention of obesity, Nestlé works on all products although the type of optimisation is not the same.

Diminish gently

For nine years, the content of salt in soups Maggi was diminished by 25 % on all the products between 2000 and 2008. It is necessary to revise on recipes, to play on spices. It is a true formulation. A hard job because if it is easier to intervene when a product is new, to change a habitual product is more delicate. The consumer does not like to change. ‘We reduced the salt progressively because it is necessary to make sure that the product continues being accepted by the consumer’, specifies Brigitte Laurent-Langevin. The security aspect also is to take into account notably for meat products. To diminish the salt too much in bacon cubes (-25 %) or ham (-10 %) should not prevent from continuing assuring the health quality of products without conservatives and additional additives since fall also concerns them, the will of the consumers being to go towards more of naturality.

Initiative Landmark

‘In 2008, Mark Landmark launched into a large programme: improve the nutritional quality of its 3 500 products, diminish the content of sugar, in fat and salt. A job envisaged over three years which asks for validation inside, for a dialogue with the suppliers, of sensory tests. It is not a question of replacing the sugar with the fat and the product must remain allowable and give pleasure to the consumer. Considering the serious problems of infantile obesity, priority was put on the products which are intended for them’, explains Josée Coutier, nutritionist. Fall concerns brioches therefore (Bite of Day), cereals (-15 %), dairy products and notably yoghurts to drink Delisse (-10 %), drinks were sweetened in the tea, very appreciated by the children. ‘They are particularly to watch because they do not answer the same signals of satiety as a food. With them, it is possible to ingest a big number of calories. ‘Their content of sugar was reduced from 15 to 20 %. Stewed fruits should be, they too seen again in fall side sweetens. Some products made the object of a reduction of sugar, but the packing still does not point it out for the very good reason that, in an environmental worry, it is necessary to sell the supplies of packing. Many sweet products should be reviewed ongoing on 2009, but cooked dishes are also part of the list of priorities.