An unnamed disease recently made headlines in the UK after a five-year-old girl was diagnosed with it. The disease is nothing short of riddle for the doctors and scientists, and symptoms are so overlapping with other common health conditions that it has not been universally named.
Some call it DiGeorge syndrome or alternatively Shprintzen syndrome but there is no all-accepted name.
It is associated with what is called 22q syndrome. The full name of the syndrome is 22q11.2, where “22” reflects the chromosome number. Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes in every cell of their bodies. So, 22q11.2 is comparable to an IP address on internet with only difference that it indicates a location on a chromosome.
The syndrome is caused by deletion of a portion of chromosome. It occurs near the middle of 22nd chromosome at a location designated as q11.2.
Some news reports published in the UK quoted the mother of the recently diagnosed girl as saying that there were only four patients with 22q syndrome – one each in the UK, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Kids below five have been found to be the most affected by 22q syndrome.
However, medical journals report that 22q syndrome is grossly underreported as each of the patient may show 180-200 related conditions. It is often confused with other diseases. Some have estimated the frequency of the occurrence of 22q syndrome to be as common as one in every 3,000 live births.
Patients with 22q syndrome show delayed physical development, including underdeveloped jaw, learning disability, very weak immunity, speech impairment, flaccid muscles, congenital heart defect, various kinds of allergies, cleft lip and cleft palate.
Symptoms associated with 22q syndrome are similar to autism but the patients are not medically autistic.
There’s no cure for 22q syndrome. Treatments are provided to address critical health concerns. Plastic surgery can be done to repair cleft palate.
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-20 12:37:112020-07-20 12:37:11Mystery disease that has no name and no cure
One of the most prolific and beloved political figures of India, Sushma Swaraj suffered a massive cardiac on Tuesday night and left the whole country in grief. The untimely death of the former foreign minister has triggered a wave of shock and disbelief with emotional tributes pouring in from all the sects of the society.
The BJP leader, 67, was taken to Delhi’s AIIMS hospital and rushed straight away to the emergency ward in an extremely critical condition. While we come in terms with the sudden demise of the popular people’s leader, here is detailed break-down of the difference between heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest. A lot of media outlets are using the terms heart attack and cardiac arrest interchangeably, mistaking it to be the same disease, but they are not. To understand the difference between the two, it is important to know what exactly happens in the body during both heart attack and cardiac arrest. What is a heart attack? A heart attack happens when there is a blockage in the coronary arteries. They are the blood vessels which supply blood to the cardiac muscle. Since the heart is a muscle, it requires oxygen-rich blood to function. A blockage in the coronary arteries causes a heart attack as the blood flow to the cardiac muscle is stopped. If the blocked coronary arteries are not opened quickly, the heart muscles may start dying.
What is cardiac arrest? A cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops beating altogether. It is triggered by an electric malfunction in the heart, which further results in an irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia). This is the primary difference between the two, as in case of heart attack, the heart still keeps beating even if the blood supply is blocked to the cardiac muscle. What happens after a cardiac arrest? Since the heart stops beating, it may result in unconsciousness, no breathing and no pulse. Death due to cardiac arrest may occur within just a few minutes if prompt treatment is not provided.
Risk factor for heart attack Those at the most risk for a heart attack are: 1. Overweight or obese people 2. A family history of heart diseases 3. High blood pressure 4. Diabetes 5. Lack of physical exercise 6. A sedentary lifestyle
Risk factors for cardiac arrest 1. Usage of recreational drugs 2. Heart medications 3. Damage to the heart muscle 4. Heart rhythm abnormalities
The bottom line To reduce the risk of cardiac arrest, it is crucial that you get routine checkups and heart screenings done. In case of a cardiac arrest, it is extremely important to act as soon as possible as prompt action can actually save a life. Start doing CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation) right away till the time emergency services do not arrive.
In the case of a heart attack, call an ambulance straight away and begin CPR if the patient has become unconscious. You may give the person an aspirin tablet (unless the doctor has prescribed otherwise).
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-20 12:34:492020-07-20 12:34:49What is the difference between heart attack and cardiac arrest?
Drinking an extra cup of coffee — or other caffeinated beverage — could up the odds of a migraine among those prone to getting them, a new study suggests.
Harvard researchers found that having a third cup of coffee, for example, if you regularly drink one to two, might trigger an extreme headache, according to the study published Thursday in The American Journal of Medicine.
“In patients with episodic migraine, one to two caffeinated drinks were not associated with getting a migraine on the same day,” said the study’s lead author, Elizabeth Mostofsky, a postdoctoral fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an instructor of epidemiology at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Three drinks, however, were linked to a greater risk of having a migraine that day, she said.
“These findings would suggest that you limit yourself to no more than two servings a day of caffeinated beverages,” Mostofsky told NBC News.
To look at the impact of caffeine on migraines, Mostofsky and her colleagues recruited 98 volunteers, the majority of whom were women, who experienced two to 15 headaches per month. The volunteers were asked to keep diaries that tracked lifestyle factors, such as caffeine and alcohol consumption, physical activity and stress levels, for at least six weeks.
The majority of the participants — 66 percent — reported consuming one to two caffeinated beverages a day, while 20 percent said they typically did not drink any caffeinated beverages. Twelve percent reported drinking three to four servings a day. In all, participants reported 825 migraines during the 4,467 days of the study.
For most, there didn’t seem to be an association between one or two caffeinated drinks and migraines, but among those who rarely consumed caffeine, just one or two servings could increase headache risk.
For those who normally had one or two servings a day, three or more caffeinated drinks were linked to an increased risk of headaches. And the risk rose as the number of servings increased: The people who consumed three or more servings had 1.4 times higher odds of a migraine on the same day, while those who consumed five or more servings had 2.61 times higher odds of headache on the same day.
The new findings back up what migraine experts have long suspected, said Dr. Laurie Knepper, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Pittsburgh and the UPMC Headache Center.
“We certainly counsel our patients to limit their intake of coffee to 8 to 12 ounces a day,” Knepper said. “It’s a good study and I’m not surprised to see that three or more servings set off migraines.”
In other coffee news, another study published this week found that caffeinated drinks consumed within four hours of bedtime were not associated with shorter or disrupted sleep.
That study, published Monday in the journal Sleep, followed 785 African Americans who wore motion sensors while asleep and kept diaries detailing consumption of alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. Unlike caffeine, alcohol and nicotine within four hours of bedtime did affect how well people slept.
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-20 12:30:542020-07-20 12:30:54An extra cup of coffee could up the odds of a migraine
Washington D.C: Consuming flavonoid-rich items such as apples and tea protects against cancer and heart disease, particularly for smokers and heavy drinkers, suggests a recent research.
Researchers from Edith Cowan Universit’s School of Medical and Health Sciences analysed data from the Danish Diet, Cancer and Health cohort that assessed the diets of 53,048 Danes over 23 years.
According to the study published in the journal — Nature Communications — researchers found that people, who habitually consumed moderate to high amounts of foods rich in flavonoids, compounds found in plant-based foods and drinks, were less likely to die from cancer or heart disease.
Lead researcher Dr Nicola Bondonno said while the study found a lower risk of death in those who ate flavonoid-rich foods, the protective effect appeared to be strongest for those at high risk of chronic diseases due to cigarette smoking and those who drank more than two standard alcoholic drinks a day.
“These findings are important as they highlight the potential to prevent cancer and heart disease by encouraging the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods, particularly in people at high risk of these chronic diseases. But it’s also important to note that flavonoid consumption does not counteract all of the increased risks of death caused by smoking and high alcohol consumption. By far the best thing to do for your health is to quit smoking and cut down on alcohol,” she said.
“We know these kinds of lifestyle changes can be very challenging. So encouraging flavonoid consumption might be a novel way to alleviate the increased risk, while also encouraging people to quit smoking and reduce their alcohol intake,” she added.
It is important to consume a variety of different flavonoid compounds found in different plant-based food and drink. This is easily achievable through the diet: one cup of tea, one apple, one orange, 100g of blueberries, and 100g of broccoli would provide a wide range of flavonoid compounds and over 500mg of total flavonoids.
Dr Bondonno said while the research had established an association between flavonoid consumption and lower risk of death, the exact nature of the protective effect was unclear but likely to be multifaceted.
“Alcohol consumption and smoking both increase inflammation and damage blood vessels, which can increase the risk of a range of diseases. Flavonoids have been shown to be anti-inflammatory and improve blood vessel function, which may explain why they are associated with a lower risk of death from heart disease and cancer,” she said.
Dr Bondonno said the next step for the research was to look more closely at which types of heart disease cancers were most protected by flavonoids.
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-20 12:26:512020-07-20 12:26:51Flavonoid-rich diet protects against cancer, heart disease: Study
Cervical cancer could be eliminated as a public health problem in India within the next 60 years by making existing prevention programmes such as the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine and cervical screening more accessible, according to a Lancet study published Wednesday.
The study, led by researchers at the Cancer Council New South Wales in Australia, showed that cervical cancer could potentially be eliminated as a major public health problem in 149 out of 181 countries by 2100.
Will India be cervical cancer free? The estimates, which are the first of their kind at a global-scale, indicate that up to 13.4 million cases of cervical cancer could be prevented within 50 years if intervention strategies are scaled-up by 2020.
The average rate of annual cases across all countries could fall to less than four cases per 100,000 women by the end of the century — which is a potential threshold for considering cervical cancer to be eliminated as a major public health problem.
For countries with medium levels of development, including India, Vietnam, and the Philippines, this could be achieved by 2070-79, according to the study published in the Lancet Oncology journal.
In high-income countries including the US, Finland, the UK, and Canada, cervical cancer is predicted to be eliminated as a public health problem within 25-40 years.
Does this mean cases of cervical cancer will drop? No, this does not mean cervical cancer cases will decrease.
Without expanding current prevention programmes, however, the study predicts that 44.4 million cervical cancer cases would be diagnosed over the next 50 years — rising from 600,000 in 2020 to 1.3 million in 2069 due to population growth and aging.
“More than two-thirds of cases prevented would be in countries with low and medium levels of human development like India, Nigeria, and Malawi, where there has so far been limited access to HPV vaccination or cervical screening,” Canfell said.
However, rates of less than 4 cases per 100,000 would not be achieved by the end of the century in all individual countries in Africa (eg, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda) even if high coverage vaccination and twice lifetime cervical screening could be achieved by 2020.
What actions have been taken to eliminate this highly preventable cancer? In May 2018, the Director General of WHO called for coordinated action globally to eliminate this highly preventable cancer.
WHO called for urgent action to scale up implementation of proven measures towards achieving the elimination of cervical cancer as a global public health problem.
These include vaccination against HPV, screening, and treatment of pre-cancer, early detection and prompt treatment of early invasive cancers and palliative care.
A draft global strategy to accelerate cervical cancer elimination, with goals and targets for the period 2020-2030, will be considered at the World Health Assembly in 2020.
“The WHO call-to-action provides an enormous opportunity to increase the level of investment in proven cervical cancer interventions in the world’s poorest countries. Failure to adopt these interventions will lead to millions of avoidable premature deaths,” said Canfell.
Deadly facts on cervical cancer 1. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer in women, with an estimated 570,000 new cases diagnosed worldwide in 2018, of which around 85 per cent occur in less developed regions.
2. HPV, a group of more than 150 viruses, is responsible for the majority of cervical cancers. HPV types (16 and 18) cause 70 per cent of cervical cancers and precancerous cervical lesions worldwide.
3. More women in India die from cervical cancer than in any other country. Rural women are at higher risk of developing cervical cancer as compared to their urban counterparts.
4. The highest estimated incidence rates for cervical cancer are in sub-Saharan Africa, Melanesia, Latin America and the Caribbean, south-central Asia and south-east Asia.
5. Other epidemiological risk factors for cervical cancer are early age at marriage, multiple sexual partners, multiple pregnancies, poor genital hygiene, malnutrition, use of oral contraceptives, and lack of awareness.
How HPV infection leads to cervical cancer Although most HPV infections clear up on their own and most pre-cancerous lesions resolve spontaneously, there is a risk for all women that HPV infection may become chronic and pre-cancerous lesions progress to invasive cervical cancer.
It takes 15 to 20 years for cervical cancer to develop in women with normal immune systems. It can take only five to 10 years in women with weakened immune systems, such as those with untreated HIV infection.
HPV vaccines can prevent cervical cancer Proven methods are available to screen for and treat cervical pre-cancers, and broad-spectrum HPV vaccines can potentially prevent up to 84-90 per cent of cervical cancers.
Results showed that rapid vaccination scale-up to 80-100 per cent coverage globally by 2020 using a broad-spectrum HPV vaccine could prevent 6.7-7.7 million cases–but more than half of these would be averted after 2060.
If, in addition, cervical screening were scaled-up to high coverage by 2020, an additional 5.7-5.8 million cases of cervical cancer may be prevented globally in the next 50 years, and substantially speed up elimination.
How can cervical cancer be diagnosed? If any of your screening tests (Pap test, VIA, HPV test) are found to be positive, further testing may be necessary to determine whether the changes in the cervix are cancerous.
A colposcopy may be performed and/or a small sample of tissue (biopsy) will be obtained from the cervix.
Colposcopy: A procedure in which a colposcope (a lighted, magnifying instrument) is used to check the vagina and cervix for abnormal areas.
Biopsy: If abnormal cells are found in a Pap test, the doctor may do a biopsy. A sample of tissue is cut from the cervix and viewed under a microscope by a pathologist to check for signs of cancer.
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-20 12:23:052020-07-20 12:23:05Cervical cancer may get completely eliminated by 2079, claims Lancet study
A pulse indicates life. The pulse, the breath and the pumping of the heart is the center of one’s existence And so it goes without saying that monitoring the pressure with which the blood comes through your veins is of utmost importance .Hypertension is a condition that sees a higher pressure in the blood that circulates through the body as the heart pumps and also is the pressure when the heart rests between two beats.
Over a period of time , a higher than usual pressure can damage arterial walls making it prone to fat deposits. This causes thickening of the vessels that carry blood which if unattended to could manifest as heart and brain damage.
Not just this, hypertension could be the cause of erectile dysfunction, poor memory, dementia, kidney damage, and osteoporosis and this long list can be alarming . I don’t mean to build up your pressure but you must also know that 1/3 Indians embody this horrific disease. Hence it is an urgent need to build awareness of how to control blood pressure, better still adapt life style steps to reduce its potential risk. To know is one and to apply is another. Just like a brilliant idea holds little credibility without application. So while I take the first step, I will hope with positivity that you’ll take the next next most important steps.
Learn to recognize the possible symptoms -Severe head aches -Fatigue -Chest pain -Difficulty breathing -Irregular heartbeat -Pounding in the neck, chest or ears -Awareness is essential to recognize that something may be a miss with your body . Develop body awareness and you may be able to percent 70% of the compromising body conditions that you face potential risk of.
Life style changes to rule over hypertension 1. Salt doesn’t help, Sodium intake needs to come down to not more than ½ tsp. per day which is equivalent of 1500mg sodium/day which is great control for the hypertensive ones. 2. Minimize /Avoid intake of processed food which inevitably contains copious amount of sodium. 3. Lose your belly circumference .Men that have waists above 40 and women above 15 are at risk of increased blood pressure. 4. Reduce alcohol to not more than 3-4 servings /week .Alcohol could reduce even the effectiveness of medicine.
5.”Don’t increase my blood pressure or I’ll burst “ is a common statement in heated arguments. There couldn’t be more truth in this idiom. Chronic stress can raise your blood pressure frequently and keep it elevated producing a surge of hormones that raise your blood pressure. Recurring episodes will keep the BP elevated, finally inducing classic hypertension.
Get help and support from your environment. Love and care help like nothing else, like no medicine can.
Foods: -Pomegranate juice, berries, red beet, dairy, salmon, oatmeal and dark chocolate are precious foods that can help regulate blood pressure. Use these in your salad or as snacks regularly and alternatively to gain better control over your BP. -Judiciously use potassium rich foods like bananas, avocado, cantaloupe, mushrooms, tomatoes, tuna and beans to help puncture your raising blood pressure. -Vit C rich foods like oranges, kiwi, guava, lemon can significantly reduce blood pressure with constant use.
-Garlic, dark green leafy veggies, beets, nuts and seeds can boost the production of nitric oxide which dilates and relaxes the blood vessels which turns magic on in the regulation of blood pressure!! -Certain supplements like hawthorn berry and celery extracts can clearly help regulate blood pressure but like with all supplements, speak to your medical practitioner before using any of these. -Fermented foods help replenish the wealth of beneficial bacteria in your gut which improves digestion and thus helps control your blood pressure. But be aware that certain fermented veggies may have far too much salt that could be counterproductive. So stick to ferments that are lower in salt, better still make your own ferment, it requires little skill but some patience.
Invest in your health and your heart. Controlling your blood pressure is the primary step in keeping your heart beating strong and your brain protected. Simple lifestyle rules that are reinforced time and again are worth your while, use these to keep you happy, healthy and wise!
Next time when you eat an apple for extra fibre, flavonoids and flavour, remember that you are also gulping down about 100 million bacteria, and whether these are good or bad microbes may depend on how the apples were grown.
Most microbes are inside the apple but the strains depend on which bits you eat, and whether you go organic, say researchers, adding that organically-grown apples harbour more diverse and balanced bacteria which make them healthier and tastier than conventional apples.
“The bacteria, fungi and viruses in our food transiently colonise our gut. Cooking kills most of these, so raw fruit and vegetable are particularly important sources of gut microbes,” said Professor Gabriele Berg from Graz University of Technology in Austria.
The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, compared the bacteria in conventional store-bought apples with those in visually-matched fresh organic ones.
Stem, peel, flesh, seeds and calyx — the straggly bit at the bottom where the flower used to be — were analyzed separately. Overall, the organic and conventional apples were occupied by similar numbers of bacteria.
“Putting together the average for each apple component, we estimate a typical 240-gram apple contains roughly 100 million bacteria,” Berg informed.
The majority of the bacteria are in the seeds, with the flesh accounting for most of the remainder.
So, if you discard the core, your intake falls to nearer 10 million.
The question is: Are these bacteria good for you?
“Freshly harvested, organically-managed apples harbour a significantly more diverse, more even and distinct bacterial community, compared to conventional ones,” explained Berg.
Specific groups of bacteria known for health-affecting potential also weighed in favour of organic apples.
“Escherichia-Shigella — a group of bacteria that includes known pathogens — was found in most of the conventional apple samples, but none from organic apples. For beneficial Lactobacilli — of probiotic fame — the reverse was true,” said the researchers.
Methylobacterium, known to enhance the biosynthesis of strawberry flavour compounds, was significantly more abundant in organic apples, “especially on peel and flesh samples, which in general had a more diverse microbiota than seeds, stem or calyx”, said the researchers.
The results also mirrored findings on fungal communities in apples. “Our results agree remarkably with a recent study on the apple fruit associated fungal community, which revealed specificity of fungal varieties to different tissues and management practices,” said Birgit Wasserman, lead author of the study.
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-20 12:13:312020-07-20 12:13:31An apple a day is 100 million bacteria for your gut. But it is not all bad news
You’d possibly like to answer this in the affirmative and one guess as to how you would arrive at that answer is by thinking about how many times you have visited the doctor. Correct? So, if you think you are a healthy individual, then congratulations, that’s what most people want. But, let’s pause for a moment and ask: are you really as healthy as you think you are? If you want to determine the absolute right answer to this question, then only a doctor can help you, but even without going that distance, here are a few situations for you to determine the state of your digestive system’s health. Let’s see what your answers to the following questions are.
1. You are at a party. All the chicken/fancy stuff calling out to you at the buffet seem to put you off at the very thought of consuming them? Why? Do you have a burning sensation in your food pipe?
2. You are getting late for work, but your bowels just don’t seem to be in a mood to cooperate with you. Do you try, but ditch the exercise?
3. Let’s see. Your bowels do cooperate, but the aftermath leaves a stinging sensation in your rear-side. Does this happen often?
4. Does your shirt come around a bit too tight near your belly? You’ve not gained weight, but it’s a feeling of being bloated, isn’t it?
5. You’ve just finished eating. Does it feel like a thousand pins are pricking you on the inside?
There are several more situations that can become an infinite list, but, if you have nodded your head silently to even one, then you must know that your digestive system is not too happy with you, which in turn means you are not actually as healthy as you believe you are.
Why is a healthy digestive system so important?
Your food is the fuel to your body and digestive problems bring associated risks. Just like a cycle, problems in digestion prevent you from eating well, further aggravating the problem you began with. Therefore, to avoid several gastrointestinal issues leading to further problems like fatigue, it’s essential that you keep your digestive system happy. If you are wondering how that can be achieved, worry not, here’s a crisp guide for you that will keep your GI tract happy.
1. Eat Healthy
At the risk of sounding like a grandmother, this is most essential. If you are someone who likes to think that fries are awesome and even better when washed down with insane amounts of aerated drinks, then well, you are in for some trouble, Not just do these drinks make you feel like your nose is going to blow up every time you burp, they also mess around with your digestive system like it’s nobody’s business. So, what do you do? Listen to your mother and grandmother and stick to more of ghar ka khana than ordering poison from all the online apps occupying your smartphone’s memory. Also, more greens and stuff rich in proteins, please!
2. Clock It Up
Listen up. The clock is your best friend. Not just does it get you to your meetings in time, it also prevents you from all those annoying digestive system problems. Imagine letting out a nasty burp when you are just about to get your client sign the deal. Doesn’t sound comfortable at all, right? So, if you want to avoid any of the uncomfortable perils of GI problems, eat in time. Breakfast, lunch and dinner – please plan your meals well and be punctual. Also, by meals, we don’t mean that the combo that your favourite burger joint is dishing out. We mean a proper meal at a decent time.
3. Stay Hydrated
This is absolutely necessary. Water intake is critical to your overall health, but it impacts your digestive system in particular. So, do yourself a favour and stop imagining that you are in a desert that has no water. Water conservation is an important cause, but you might want to save water by not washing your car with four buckets of them, but not drinking enough water isn’t the right way to do it, just so you know. However, while we are at it, it’s important you understand that you shouldn’t be gulping too much water while you are eating. Let your digestion do its job.
4. Drink Water, Not Other Stuff
While it’s important to stay hydrated, please use the right liquids to do so. Alcohol and aerated drinks are not the way anyone wants you to ‘stay hydrated’. The impacts of aerated drinks have already been mentioned in the first point and the only thing to keep in mind is the fact that not does just alcohol make you do some questionable things, it also harms your digestion. It really does. It’s not good for anything in your body, including your wallet. So, stay smart, stay rich and stay healthy by avoiding getting tipsy!
5. Get Your Beauty Sleep
If this point misleads you into believing that sleep is only important for your looks, then, sure enough, you know better than that. Your sleep cycles determine the state of your health to a great extent. They also decide the cycle of your day. This means that if you sleep late, you also wake up late, tossing your routine diet out of the window. Not getting enough sleep is also known to have an impact on your appetite, sometimes making you binge eat and sometimes, killing your hunger completely. So, tuck yourself into your bed in time and save yourself a couple of trips to the doctor.
6. Be Up And Running
How many times has your dad asked you to stop being a couch potato and get things done? Many times, right? Turns out, he’s been right all along. Sitting in the same place even if it’s in office, puts you at the risk of obesity among many other things. It might also be the right time to mention that physical activity is the best way to kick up a good appetite and also burn some calories for all the cheat snacks that you have been munching on. Plus, like dad says, it’s actually the best way to get things done. So, if you are able to kill three birds in one stone, that doesn’t sound like too shabby a plan now, does it?
7. Kick The Stress Away
If you think stress doesn’t play a part in influencing your digestive system, think again. Your state of mind can force you into making some unfortunate dietary and lifestyle decisions. From indulging in unhealthy eating to not eating at all, from deprived sleep to just being holed up in a place, stress can be counter to all the tips mentioned above. A happy person has a happy gut, so find ways to relax and don’t let it get the better of your digestive system, ok?
With these oh-so-easy tips to have a happy digestive system, do you think there’s anything that stops you from being healthy? Not really. An occasional visit to the doctor won’t hurt though!
Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), which claims the lives of both men & women, is a disease in which cholesterol deposits on the inner wall of heart blood vessels. These blood vessels carry oxygen to heart. When plaque builds up, the oxygen does notreach heart in adequate amount resulting in chest pain & heart attack. CAD can also cause heart failure, arrhythmia (electrical abnormality) and sudden death (SCD).
Women tend to have CAD 10 years later than men but it remains as number 1 killer in women, next only to malignancy. Women are more prone to small disease where in tiny vessels of the heart are diseased or damaged without major cholesterol deposits.
It is thought that fall in oestrogen levels during menopause along with conventional risk factors like hypertension, diabetes, hiugh cholesterol and strong family history of heart disease cause microvascular disease in women.
Ways To Healthy Heart
– Follow a healthy lifestyle
– Exercise regularly and include 30 minutes of walk for atleast 5 days a week
– Maintain a healthy weight: Height in cms minus 100 will give a person’s ideal weight
– Quit smoking and cut down on alcohol consumption
– Go for regular health checkup after 30 years of age
CHICAGO: Many patients with severe but stable heart disease who routinely undergo invasive procedures to clear and prop open clogged arteries would do as well by just taking medications and making lifestyle changes, reported U.S. researchers.
If adopted into practice, the findings could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year in healthcare costs, researchers said.
The $100 million government-backed study, presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) meeting in Philadelphia, is the largest yet to look at whether procedures to restore normal blood flow in patients with stable heart disease offers an added benefit over more conservative treatment with aspirin, cholesterol-lowering drugs and other measures.
At least two prior studies determined that artery-clearing and stenting or bypass surgery in addition to medical treatment does not significantly lower the risk of heart attacks or death compared with non-invasive medical approaches alone.
Many cardiologists are reluctant to change practice in part because patients who get stents to keep the artery open report feeling better right away, experts said.
NYU Langone cardiologist Dr. Judith Hochman, who chaired the study, estimated that some 500,000 new patients a year are diagnosed with stable coronary artery disease, in which heart arteries narrowed by fatty deposits cause periodic angina, or chest pain, typically after exercising or emotional distress.
Current guidelines recommend patients with severe narrowing of their arteries have heart bypass surgery or a stent implanted to restore blood flow. Stents are tiny tubes that keep the artery open after blockage-clearing angioplasty.
“There’s always been a fear that if you don’t do something quickly, they will have a heart attack or drop dead,” Hochman said.
The 7-year, 5,179-patient ISCHEMIA study did not show a significant benefit from that course of action.
“For those with mild or no chest pain, there’s really not a role for immediately stenting,” Hochman said.
Just eliminating unnecessary stenting procedures could save the U.S. healthcare system $570 million annually, said Stanford University School of Medicine cardiologist and study co-chair Dr. David Maron. He estimates the cost per stenting procedure at about $25,000 and bypass surgery at $45,000.
“I would hope this would change practice,” said Dr. William Boden of the VA New England Healthcare System, another study author. “We are wasting a lot of money.”
The main goal of the trial was an overall reduction in deaths, heart attacks, hospitalization for unstable chest pain or heart failure and resuscitation after cardiac arrest.
On these measures, the addition of stenting or bypass surgery to reroute blood flow around the arterial blockage was no better at reducing the adverse events than medical therapy alone. The invasive treatments did result in better symptom relief and quality of life in those who had frequent chest pain.
The trial, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, involved patients with moderate to severe but stable ischemia – a condition in which clogged arteries are not able to supply the heart with enough oxygen-rich blood.
Everyone received medicines and lifestyle advice, while half also had one of the invasive procedures.
Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Steven Nissen was convinced. “We can reserve these interventions for people who truly fail medical therapy,” he said.
Experts said the study was well done, and its findings will be hard to ignore. But it may take several years for the changes to filter into practice, especially in community settings, said Dr. Ashish Pershad, an interventional cardiologist at Banner – University Medicine Heart Institute in Phoenix.
The findings do not apply to all heart patients, including those with blockages in the left main coronary artery, Hochman said. And, she added, “if you’re having a heart attack, stents save lives.”
00seshunarayanahttps://imedworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/MedWorks-Logo-02-300x300.pngseshunarayana2020-07-14 14:57:392020-07-14 14:57:39Stents no better than drugs for many heart patients: U.S. study!!
