my dada (grand dad)  sent his views about pranayam, and here is a part of the reply i sent back

hi daddam,

It is actually amazing to see the results… it is the hard work of the ppl. In the Himalayas who had devised these simple exercises a thousand years ago…. those were the days when there were no BP machines … and the cause of the illness were seldom known and a few symptoms like ‘stress or pain’ the only ways to diagnose the illness of problems inside inside the body.

I wonder pulse rate or BP might have still been able to judge but how the hell can you know sugar levels..?????…

Thus were established the techniques of yoga

1. Which maintain your general health

2. Prevent stress

3 Give work to essential muscles, because many of the sadhus were believed to meditate for long—- so to prevent muscle Sagging…

And now remarkably WE the modern ppl sitting in front of the PC whole day long don’t give exercise our essential muscles… (lungs heart etc…)

Therefore, when after a long time when we do these excercises, we get remarkable results….

(Read more…)

PROVIDENCE, RI, United States (UPI) — A drug given orally to treat HIV is also safe if used as vaginal gel and could prevent the sexual transmission of HIV, says a U.S. study.

Researchers at the Miriam Hospital and Brown Medical School found the microbicide vaginal gel tenofovir produced mild or no side effects in both HIV positive and HIV negative women. Tenofovir is the active ingredient in the anti-retroviral drug Viread.

The microbicides are designed to prevent the sexual transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and may be formulated as vaginal gels, foams, creams or suppositories.

‘The results of this study may change the way the research community looks at developing safe and effective microbicides,’ said lead author Dr. Kenneth H. Mayer, of Miriam Hospital in Providence. ‘Analyzing the compounds that already have been shown to be successful HIV treatment drugs, and evaluating them for their potential to prevent transmission of infection is an innovative approach that shows great promise.’

The findings are published in the Feb. 28 issue of the journal AIDS, currently available online.