Children born from mothers who suffer from obesity of any grade are at a higher risk of developing asthma.

"Obesity is not a neutral state at all, the fat tissue produces in an active way inflammatory cytokines, inhibiting the action of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the same time", Jet Smith from the National Institute of Health Security in Netherlands comments. When people suffer from obesity, they shouldn't pay attention only to the cosmetic problem of fat, but also to the problem of systemic inflammation. Fat can upset the immunological and the pulmonary development of the fetus and, most probably, it can lead to the apparition of asthma symptoms in a new-born.

Scientists gathered the data of 4,000 children from the day they were born till they turned 8. The group of children with asthma was formed by revealing an episode of rhonchus, shortness of breath or corticosteroids administration during a year. Mothers with a body mass index of more than 25 were referred to the group of obesity.

Every fifth woman (20.9 per cent) in this experiment weighed more than the norm. In families where one of the parents was diagnosed with asthma, the risk of transmitting hereditarily the disease was 65 percent higher if the mother had extraweight.

Thus, children of obese mothers are submitted to the influence of inflammatory elements in their mother's uterus, that's why the risk of developing asthma is increased in them, researchers claim.

The study shows again that weight control is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of health.

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Brazilian scientists discovered the genetic mechanisms of a partner's selection. According to Professor Maria da Graca Bicalho, from the Laboratory of Immunogenetics and Histocompatibility in the University of Parana (Brazil), people with different Major Complexes of Histocompatibility (MCH) get along more often than people with similar MCH.

The Brazilian staff of researchers has worked in this domain since 1998 and discovered a similar mechanism of selection in many vertebrates, relating it to the smell of the body.

They have gathered the data from 90 couples and compared them with the data of 152 couples from the control group, in order to count the number of differences in MCH.

It is the hereditary dissemblance of the partner that forms the couples, because it lowers the risk of endogamy (marriages between relatives) and increases the genetic variability of the next generations.

Genetic variability is an advantage for the generations to come, since it increases the effectiveness of the immune system.

According to the researchers, MCH is a massive genetic area, situated on the sixth chromosome of the majority of vertebrates, which is important for the reproductive function and for the immune system.

More than that, the study revealed that, in couples with similar MCH, the probability of having problems with baby conception is higher.

Thus, scientists confirmed the role of genetics in the attraction of opposite genders, which is vital for the birth of healthy generations.

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Canadian scientists established that the human brain determines the gender of other persons by the the shape and colour of skin areas on the face, and it seems that the most important areas are the ones around the eyes and the mouth.

During the research, Nicolas Dupuis-Roy with his colleagues from the University of Montreal have showed to 30 volunteers pictures with 300 faces of white people. These pictures have been processed through a technology called Bubbles, which hides separate parts of the image. During the demonstration, the participants in the experiment were proposed to determine the gender of the people on the pictures in case.

It turned out that the main role in the identification of the gender belongs to subtile gradations and intensity of colour of the skin surrounding the eyes and the mouth. In contrast to the previous studies, which have attributed this role to the space between the eyebrows and the upper eyelid, Canadian scientists have proved that the tints of the red and green colours of skin in the mentioned areas allow determining the gender faster.

According to Dupuis-Roy, in a quick analysis of the face with illegible gender differences, the brain determines a more intense green colour of the skin and a more intense red colour of the mouth as a sign of feminine gender, and, on the contrary, a redder tint of the skin and a greener tint of mouth's colour as a man's. "A man's face usually reflects less light in the area of the eyebrows, because they are, as a rule, thicker than in women. The same thing goes for areas of the skin above the upper lip and on the chin, which are covered by hair in men", the researcher reported.

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In order to improve the way we feel, it is very important to lower the general level of stress, since the results of many researches show directly that people with a constant high level of stress are submitted more often to the risk of getting sick than those whose level of stress is not so high.

American scientists consider that the best method of fighting stress at work, (and it is known that most of stressing situations take place in the office), is to turn off the computer for a while and go for a walk. There also are some special products which are necessary to include in our daily meals, because they help us fight stress.

Scientists say that a warm oat porridge causes the secretion of serotonin, a hormone which has a calming influence on the organism, and the products with a lot of fat acids omega-3 will also help maintain a normal quantity the hormones of stress – adrenaline and cortisol.

According to scientists, in order to lower the level of stress, the following products will help too:

1) A glass of warm fat-free milk before sleep - it will help lower the level of anxiety and tension.
2) Oranges, which are rich in vitamin C, consolidate the immune system and lower the level of stress hormones.

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A British woman has lost circa 25 kg after being insufflated under hypnosis that she was subdued to a surgical operation for reducing her stomach. Before the treatment she weighed 98 kg.

The 35-years-old Marionne Corns had tried to fight her extraweight with the help of medicines, diets and physical exercises, but she couldn't reach the result she wanted. Last August, the woman decided to pay a visit to Elite Clinic in Marbelle, Spain, a clinic advised to her by a friend who had quit drinking with the help of specialists from the clinic.

After having been consulted by the therapeutist, the woman was booked for 5 sessions of hypnosis. Before the insufflation, she was showed a model of the stomach and a bandage for reducing the size of the organ. All the process and the effects of the operation that "was to come" were also explained to her. During the sessions, special devices were reproducing the sounds and the smells of the surgery room.

After 5 sessions of hypnosis which were reproducing all the stages of the surgical operation, the woman felt that she wasn't able to consume usual quantities of food – she couldn't even swallow the excessive pieces of food. As a result, she started losing weight, as after a real operation, and has lost 25 kg to this moment. There weren't any side-effects observed as a consequence of the treatment.

As the woman reports in an interview given to the British magazine "The Sun", she perfectly remembers the process of the "operation".

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Researchers from Cambridge University in Great Britain have determined the relationship between the structure of certain areas of the human brain and friendliness towards other people. The results of the study were published in the European Journal of Neuroscience.

Mael Lebreton and his colleagues from Psychiatry Department of Cambridge University have studied the relationship between specific personality traits and brain structure in 41 volunteers. Besides the Magnetic Resonance scanning of the brain, the participants in the research were proposed to answer questions, with the help of which scientists could appreciate their emotional level and communicative character.

According to the results, scientists have established the following dependence: the higher the concentration of the grey substance in the orbitofrontal cortex and in the striated body of the human brain is, the more emotional is the person in case.

The role of the orbitofrontal cortex and of the striated body in developing a more simple behavior (searching for food or sexual attraction) was previosuly proved to be a scientific fact. According to the researchers, the discoveries will help in the future studies on psychic diseases, manifested as disturbances of social behaviour, such as autism or schizophrenia.

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Consumption of drinks from plastic bottles increases by more than two thirds the level of a chemical substance contained in the organism, known to have an influence on the sexual hormones, Daily Mail reports.

Bisfenol A, its structure reminding the feminine sexual hormone estrogen, is used for the production of packages and bottles for different food products and drinks, and also for the production of baby bottles.

The study made by scientists from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) showed that the level of bisfenol A in the urine of the participants in the experiment, all of them having consumed drinks from plastic bottles during one week, had increased by 69 percent.

Warming up baby bottles, which usually happens when parents want to warm up milk for their children, leads to the dangerous increase of this chemical substance in the blood.

"This causes anxiety, since children can turn out to be quite vulnerable to the influence of bisfenol A, which is capable of bringing about the disturbance of hormonal glands' activity", declared the professor Karin H. Mitchels, from the Department of Epidemiology of HSPH and of the Medical School of Harvard.

Previous studies showed that a high level of bisfenol A consumption leads to congenital defects, growth problems and to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, reports Jenny Hope.

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American researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say that people with dark-coloured skin and hair have higher tendency towards nicotine dependency than blonde people. Thus, there are more likely to suffer from diseases related to smoking.

Doctors consider that the pigment melanin, which is responsible for the dark colour of our hair, has a direct influence on our will too. It can be secreted in our organism or it can appear in a tanned skin. A high level of this substance causes human dependency towards nicotine.

According to the author of the research, Harry King, they determined that the concentration of melanin is directly related to the quantity of cigarettes smoked by a person per day, to the level of nicotine dependency and to the influence of nicotine on our organism, Medlinks reports.
According to one of the versions, the biochemical structure of melanin is similar to that of nicotine. According to another version, this pigment can bond to nicotine, that's why the latter is accumulated faster in the organism and is longer preserved in the body tissues. This leads to a stronger and more progressive dependency. If a blonde person has to smoke regularly for a long time in order to become dependent to nicotine, then a person of a dark complexion needs just a few times to earn a strong dependence.

During their research, scientists gathered information about 150 dark-haired smokers. The participants were indicating their norm of cigarettes per day and were answering questions about their level of nicotine dependency. During the second stage of the experiment, scientists measured the level of cotinine in the organism of the participants. This substance represents a product of nicotine's metabolism in the organism, its presence and quantity determining nicotine dependency. Finally, these indices have been compared to the level of melanin in the participants.

However, scientists are very careful with making any direct conclusions. They still ahve to provide strong evidence and make certain corrections.

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Scientists from the University of British Columbia have determined that dreaming stimulates the activeness of the brain more than thinking.

The areas of the brain related to solving complicated problems start functioning when imagination is fully activated.

"Dreaming is usually associated with inattentiveness and laziness. But this research has proved that the human brain is more active when fancying compared to solving common problems", says Kalina Kristoff, a psychologist.

Being situated in the area of magnetic resonance visualization, volunteers performed a simple test: they were asked to press a button which corresponded to a number on the screen. Scientists studied the attentiveness of the patients and the processes taking place in their brains.

The discovery shows that dreaming, which occupies a third part of our thoughts, is an important cognitive state that unconsciously turns our attention towards solving daily problems.

It was considered until now that the medium part of the prefrontal cortex, the posterior lateral cortex and the temporal area are the only areas of the brain related to dreaming and fancying.

However, the research has showed that the "performing area" of the brain, related to the intense solving of the problems, including the lateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior area of the anterior lateral cortex, are also active when fancying.

Quantitative and qualitative indices of the brain's activity show the capability of people to turn from solving complicated problems to dreaming.

"By dreaming you can't reach in a direct way the goal you've proposed yourselves, however, when reading, the brain is capable of turning the attention towards solving personal problems, related to career", scientists say.

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Chinese doctors removed a bullet out of a woman's head, 42 years after she was shot.

During the surgical operation, doctors removed a bullet of 2.5 centimeters in diameter from the right temple of the 65-years-old He Wenying. The operation was carried out by surgeons from a hospital in the Chinese town Chongqing.

According to the patient, she was shot during one of the armed manifestations, which took place in China during the Culture Revolution that took place in the period between 1966 and 1976.

The woman added that, at first, doctors have determined a superficial character of lesions. However, constant headaches and difficulties the patient felt at opening her mouth made her pass an X-ray study in 1978. The results of the study established that there was a bullet in the area of the woman's right ear.

The patient refused to be operated for a long time because of the unsatisfactory state of the medical institutes in Chongqing. However, according to He Wenying, lately her headaches became unbearable, which convinced her to undergo a surgical operation for the removal of the heterogeneous body.

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Scientists from the University of Temple claim that a good self-understanding of a woman's body has its influence on her health.

They analyzed the opinions of 81 women who were asked to characterize what they think of their body. Participants included women with a low body mass, a normal weight and obesity. It turned out that even when the Body Mass Index (BMI) was increased, women still thought their weight was perfect.

"How can we treat with efficiency patients with obesity if they don't feel any harm from their extraweight?", asks the researcher Marisa, an expert in the domain of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences.

Scientists have measured the height and the weight of the participants, and have also asked them to fulfill the inquiries referring to their bodies. Every woman was shown photographs in order to determine which was the perfect weight in her opinion.

The majority of women have chosen normal shapes as perfect ones and 20 percent of women suffering from obesity have called perfect a figure similar to their own. Approximately 68 percent or 1,522 overweight women, and 84 percent or 26 out of 31 women with obesity have underestimated their BMI.

Scientists are going to find out whether the tendency of having an incorrect opinion of their own body is spread among other women suffering from obesity.

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American scientists, by the means of numerous trials on rats, proved that a patient's entourage seriously influences their recovery after traumas.

The experiments showed that rats who were staying alone in empty cages were recovering worse than those who were surrounded by other rats or those who had material for building their nests. Besides, biologists were able to accelerate the process of recovery by administering the hormone oxytocin.

The group of 11 scientists (the majority of them being psychiatrists from the Central Hospital of Massachusetts and doctors from the Center of Combustions of Massachusetts) had studied the influence of different factors on the speed of healing of burns in rats. They observed that the recovery with the presence of neighbours in the same cage is related to the possibility of building nests and with the quantity of oxytocin in the organism. This hormone is described as the substance necessary for sexual behaviour and social interaction, and it wasn't chosen accidentally.

The researchers expected to see oxytocin (which is able to increase the level of trust in humans) to have an influence on the animals left alone by accelerating their recovery.

Scientists have separated the rats with burns on the back in some groups. Some were put in empty cages and left alone, and the burns of these animals were healed worst of all. The animals of the second group were also left alone, but they had special material for building nests in their cages. The third group of animals was left in empty cages, but was administered oxytocin, and, finally, the animals of the fourth group shared their cages with other rats.

Doctors discovered that the animals of the last group had recovered from their burns faster than the others. A smaller effect was obtained by giving rats the possibility of building nests (a rat's nest usually represents a cluster of soft material with a deepening in the middle), and one of the main discoveries was the confirmation of the scientists' hypothesis about the role of oxytocin. The rats who were administered this hormone were recovering slower than those who lived with other rats in their cages, but faster than those who were living in empty cages.

Magazine PLoS One writes that the similarity between oxytocin's effect and the effect of improvement of living conditions can be important for understanding the way the brain and the psychic state of the patient influence his recovery after complicated traumas.

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According to Professor Susan Greenfield, the leading researcher of the Royal Institute of Great Britain, who has studied the dependence between work in front of the computer and autism, computer games and Internet communication make human brain degrade. Excessive communication with virtual reality rebuilds our conscience, by inhibiting social and cognitive customs and reflexes. As a result, one practically falls into childhood – he learns and memorizes slowly, loses the ability of analyzing his own experience, repeats the same mistakes again and again, and cannot react quickly when the situation changes.

Greenfield also describes the following situation with an example: if a child falls down from the tree and gets hurt badly, the next time he'll be afraid of climbing the tree again. When an adult plays a computer game and loses the game, he simply continues playing. In the end, getting used to virtual life leads to permanent changes in the brain – one cannot react appropriately to stress or critical situations, he thinks slowly and practically doesn't do anything.

This can also explain the fact that general computerization had worsened the epidemic of obesity all over the world. Spoiled by Internet and computer games, people eat a lot of food and do it incorrectly, without even thinking about the consequences.

"All normal people understand the consequences of overeating, but some are stopped by it, others are not", Greenfield says. She say this thing happens because of a wrong activity of the brain.

The cause is that a frequent usage of the computer lowers the level of attentiveness, suppresses the imagination and the feeling of compassion. In consequence, prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for these functions, begins working improperly, this being the cause of the described difficulties.

"The specific property of this area is that, if it isn't used, it simply stops working, and if it stops working, consider your brain has approached the state of childhood", declared Greenfield at a seminar.

More than that, the studies of other scientists showed that the lesions of the prefrontal cortex make people more intemperate and prepared to risk, it means that computers indeed make us appreciate reality in an inadequate way. Another scientific research says that in people suffering from obesity the activeness in the prefrontal cortex is in average lower than in others. The conclusion is that computers are related to obesity.

Nowadays, children aged 10 and 11 spend with their families approximately 1,300 hours per year, while in front of their computers they spend almost 2,000 hours yearly – these are scary, but real facts.

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Bad dreams are not harmful for the emotional state of people, but, on the contrary, they have a positive effect on human psychology. American scientists have come to this surprising conclusion and published their study on the scientific website, Health24.

They say that bad dreams are usually caused by a load of emotions gathered during the day. Dreams bring these emotions in order during sleep.

Scary, unexplained and strange dreams allow people get over their fears and negative feelings. Frequently, unpleasant dreams are seen in the morning during the so-called phase of "rapid sleep".

At the same time, scientists separate bad dreams from nightmares which make one wake up at night with a feeling of panic and fear. Many people cannot differentiate nightmares from reality in the beginning and the feeling of the existing danger remains even after they wake up.

According to scientists, 85 percent of people see nightmares once a year.

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According to the statistics received by European scientists, beginning with 1998, the number of women who had been regularly drinking increased twice. If in 1998 only 7 percent of the European women drank alcohol each week, then at the present this figure is 15 percent.

The most interesting fact is that factors that are usually related to alcoholism are not the ones to play a role here. Not poverty or bad life conditions make a woman drink more alcohol, but, on the contrary, a good financial state, scientists consider. They say that during the last 10 years ladies have become more independent, both from the material, and from the spiritual point of view. They have greater successes in their careers, have higher professional positions, earn more money and many of them can handle their lives without men. Fewer women nowadays create a family or make children, most of them are occupied with their careers and have fun in bars and clubs.

Besides, market strategies of alcohol producers also have an important role. Researchers underline that alcohol sale has greatly increased as well. Wine culture is now extended all over Europe and in many families a bottle of wine is considered an obligatory attribute of dinner.

According to Daily Mail, overall women drink more wine than men. More than that, fashion magazines and even movies make alcohol drinks an element of one's "glamorous" image. Take for example the popular series of "Sex and the City" – the main actress drinks her favorite cocktail in almost every third episode.

Age tendencies related to alcohol consumption are also worth mentioning. Scientists say that alcohol consumption increased among pensioners. Traditionally, old people are considered the smallest group among those who enjoy drinking alcohol, but, over the last years, the situation has changed. It is possibly related to their small life quality improvement – mostly, now they have got the financial possibility of buying alcohol.

From another point of view, teenagers from 11 to 13 years old also began drinking more and parents are to blame, since their influence on children's life is well-known – if adults start drinking more, their children usually start repeating their actions. Besides, alcohol is more available now.

It is also interesting to mention that the majority of women prefer drinking alcohol at home and not in bars or other public places.

A good education is one of the factors that increase the risk of alcoholism development in women.

Unmarried or divorced women are more likely to consume alcohol in large quantities.

Surprisingly, the main part of women who drink alcohol lead an active lifestyle and take more care of their health than the others.

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Scientists from the University of Rochester discovered the role of the hormone estrogen in the process of transformation of auditory signals in the brain.

This hormone can disturb the function of hearing, as well as influence other sense organs. Estrogen changes the reactions of the brain on sounds, that's why the authors of the research are considering elaborating a new method of treating deafness.

According to Rafael Pino, one of the researchers in this domain, previous studies have indicated the relation between estrogen and hearing in women, which is often lowered after menopause. It is clear now that a correct balance of hormones in men and women is important not only for their sexual system's activity.

Researchers found that the increase of estrogen levels in brain areas that process auditory information, also increased, in its turn, the sensibility of neurons that catch sounds codified under more discreet audio impulses. It is possible that blocking estrogen's action or its penetration into the hearing centers of the brain can stop the transmission of signals needed for the processing of sound. The hormone also activates the genes that program the brain on remembering the heard information, this means that it influences auditory memory.

According to the scientists, estrogen can help change the circuit of neurons, responsible for the formation of memory about the way a melody sounds. It activates the intracellular processes related to memorizing.

Now scientists are going to study the cellular processes, related to auditory memory and the role of estrogen in this mechanism.

At the same time, they consider that estrogen is the key-molecule in processing of the information from all sense organs.

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Scientists from the University of Bonn in Germany came to the conclusion that anger and irritability are brought about not only by one's personality, but also by a person's genes, which means that they are hereditarily transmitted.

As it turned out, the feeling of anger appears every time there's an increased level of a special chemical substance, called dopamine in the brain. Its secretion is influenced by the gene called DARPP-32.

However, German scientists have established that this gene exists in 3 versions. Two of them have a bigger level of activeness, which leads at first to the increase of the dopamine secreted into the brain, and then to crises of uncontrolled anger.

"As a result of a special genetic and chemical mechanism people simply can't retain from irritability and anger", said the lead researcher, professor Martin Reuter.

He also added that the biggest concentration of "anger genes" was found in European people. According to Reuter, this thing helped the human being survive in complicated and competitive conditions.

German scientists consider that people can handle anger accesses if they learn how to control themselves better. Emotional regulation can be as effective as the genetic one, they say.

It is worth reminding that anger and irritability accesses are dangerous for health. People who frequently feel such stress suffer two times more often from cardiovascular diseases than people with a calm character or than those who try to control their emotions.

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For some years Dennita Sierra from USA, has been trying in vain to lose weight. After she was submitted to a study of Computer Tomography, she was found to have a tumor of the ovary, as big as a basketball ball.

The patient was hospitalized into the medical center Rush University, situated in Chicago (Illinois, USA). The surgical operation for the removal of the tumor was performed by a staff of surgeons under led by Dr. Jacob Rotmensch.

According to the surgeon, the tumor was weighing almost 20 kg. Dr. Rotmensch also added that the tumor had signs of tending to malignancy, but, fortunately, it was growing rather slowly. The biggest part of the tumor was situated in the patient's left side. Besides, all her inner organs were compressed and moved from their places by the tumor.

According to the doctor, in order to diagnose ovary tumors nowadays one needs to pass through yearly gynecological check-ups. After the operation, Dennita Sierra told the media that she's feeling alright and that she hasn't been to a gynecologist since 2006.

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Women who became mothers at their 40-50's, as a rule, live longer – this is the most recent conclusion made by American demographists from the University of Utah. Besides, their brothers also have a longer life. According to the leading author of the study, Professor Ken R. Smith, the presence in one's family of women who have given birth to their first baby after they were 45 has genetic advantages for all its members, since longevity can be hereditarily transmitted. Scientists consider that in order to determine the exact chances for one's longevity, one should find out how many women in his family generations have given birth when they were older.

Doctors have analyzed demographical and medical facts about 1.6 million people, and historical documents from the universities of Montreal and West Ontario (Canada) about 400 thousand people from Quebec between 1608 and 1850. They made the conclusion that late maternity lowers the risk of death after the age of 50 by 14-17 percent. More than that, the brothers of the "late mothers" were also protected from premature death by 20-22 percent. Late menopause was also associated with longevity and delivery in a mature age.

Scientists cannot explain yet how comes that late delivery influences the length of life: be that caused by genetic factors or social and ecological factors, such as a health lifestyle and good nourishment. Presumably, genes are responsible for 25 percent of differences in life length.

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A young mother from Great Britain suffers from a very rare disease, which affects one person out of 230 million – allergy on water. The disease, the causes of which are unknown yet, is manifested by some small red spots on the skin in the place of contact with water of any temperature. They appear approximately 30 minutes later after the contact and cause unbearable itching.

The state of the English woman Michaela Dutton is so serious that she can't hold her own baby in her arms more than a few seconds, and she does that only completely protected by clothes. She can wash herself once a week for not more than 10 seconds, she can't drink water and she mustn't walk under the rain. Michaela says that all this began after she took a shower, a week after she gave birth to her son. It was then that she saw that all her body was covered with red spots. The woman also mustn't drink water and juice, since it causes the oedema of the larynx. The only liquid that doesn't cause allergy to her is Diet Coke.

Doctors don't have a clue about what causes this disease, known in Medicine as Aquagenic Urticaria. Probably, it must be caused by hormonal misbalances, related to pregnancy and delivery. There are only 30 people who suffer from this allergy all over the world, they say.

"I feel as if I were in a jail in my own body, this disease doesn't let me live", the young woman says. Even her friends stopped meeting her, because they are afraid of catching the disease. Michaela hopes that her story will help people understand that her state isn't dangerous for others, and also that some day scientists will create a medicine to treat it. At present, she lives with her parents, who help her take care of the child.

According to Dr. Nina Goad from the British Association of Dermatologists, there's yet no information about the mechanisms that lead to this allergy's appearance. Scientists also do not know what causes such reactions, but they encourage every person who suffers from such a disease to address to the dermatologist.

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