Tea tree oil: Cures warts
Health stories from around the world this week include a 12-year-old Irish girl whose warts disappeared after 12 days of using tea tree oil. Also, tests show shockwave therapy could cut the risk of heart attacks by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels and a U.S. study reports the benefits of couples massaging each other for 90 minutes a week, resulting in reduced stress levels
Tea tree oil is a warts-and-all cure
Tea tree oil may be an effective remedy for warts, according to a report published in the Complementary Therapies In Clinical Practice journal.
Doctors at Belfast City Hospital have reported the case of a girl whose hand warts disappeared after 12 days of daily treatment with the oil, which is rubbed into the skin.
Tea tree oil comes from the leaves of the melaleuca alternifolia tree, which is native to Australia. It has already been shown to have antiseptic benefits.
Now the oil is thought to have anti-viral effects as well.
Warts are caused by infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes a hard material called keratin, found in the top layer of the skin, to grow too much - producing the classic hard texture of a wart.
Can shockwaves unblock arteries?
Firing shockwaves into the body may be a radical new alternative to open heart surgery.
Tests show shockwave therapy could cut the risk of heart attacks by stimulating the growth of new blood vessels - blood would flow through these new vessels, so avoiding the blocked arteries.
Results from trials suggest the treatment could help patients too ill to have coronary artery bypass surgery or an angioplasty. The new therapy does away with the need for needles or anaesthetics.
Instead, the patient simply lies on a bed while doctors hold a machine against the chest and fire a series of shockwaves towards the blocked area.
Regular massage has been found to reduce stress
Massage cuts blood pressure
Regular massages can lower your blood pressure, a U.S. study has found.
Researchers looked at a group of married couples, who were given portable blood-pressure monitors.
Half the couples were told to massage their partners for 30 minutes three times a week, while the other half went about their lives as normal.
At the end of the four-week experiment, both men and women in the massage group had significantly higher levels of oxytocin, a hormone that counteracts stress.
The husbands in the group also had lower blood-pressure readings than at the start of the study (the non-massage group saw no change).
The benefits appeared to be much greater in the massaged men than women, but it is not known why.
source: dailymail
Tea tree oil: Cures warts 
Regular massage has been found to reduce stress
