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| HEALTH TRIBUNE | Wednesday, July 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India |
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Healthy mind for healthy ageing Lab test to predict stroke and heart attack soon For
limitless life-span New cancer-detecting scanner |
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Beware of dengue, it’s preventable
DENGUE had struck the City Beautiful in a big way last year, with hundreds of people being hospitalised. Caught unawares, the health authorities had a tough time handling the situation. The majority of the patients were from the slum and rehabilitation colonies, known for the unhygienic conditions. As a preventive measure this year, the authorities have launched a cleanliness drive in the vulnerable areas and have been educating the public about the precautions one needs to take against dengue. Dengue fever mostly affects infants, young children and also adults, but seldom causes death. "Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) is a more critical condition when, apart from the normal dengue symptoms, there is a bleeding tendency from various parts of the body and the patients need immediate hospitalisation," explained Dr J.S. Thakur, Assistant Professor in the Community Medicine Department at the PGI. Not only has there been a phenomenal increase in the number of dengue cases, but it has also spread to new areas, with frequent explosive outbreaks. "In 1996, there was a major dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) outbreak in Delhi, as 10,252 people were taken ill and 423 died due to the disease," informed Dr Thakur. Between 1956 to 1996 there have been more than 50 dengue outbreaks in India. Mosquitoes which cause dengue, generally acquire the virus while feeding on the blood of an infected person. After virus incubation for eight to 10 days, an infected mosquito is capable of transmitting the virus. The virus circulates in the blood of the infected person for two to seven days, approximately the period they have fever. According to health surveys, 2500 million people, almost two-fifths of the world population, are at risk from dengue. The dengue virus is transmitted to human beings through the bites of infective female aedes egypti mosquitoes. The initial symptoms are high fever, severe headache, pain behind the eyes and in the joints and muscles. "Interestingly, the aedes mosquito breeds in fresh water and can be easily identified as it has white stripes on its body," said Dr Thakur. It is for this very reason that it is commonly called tiger mosquito. At present, the only method of controlling or preventing dengue and DHF is to combat the vector mosquitoes. "The aedes egypti mosquito primarily breeds in man made containers like earthenware, metal drums, concrete cisterns, discarded plastic containers and automobile tyres", Says Dr Thakur. One of the most ideal mosquito breeding places is the water in the coolers which must be changed every week. In Africa, however, it breeds extensively in natural habitats such as tree holes and leaf axils. There is no specific treatment for dengue fever, but careful clinical management by experienced physicians and nurses is required, especially in case the patient has DHF. "Fever treatment and maintenance of circulating fluid volume in the body is the central feature, with constant monitoring of the platelet count in the blood being a must," points out Dr G.S.Sandhu, Medical Officer at General Hospital, Sector 16, Chandigarh. In case the platelet count falls, the person has to be given blood.
Vaccine development for dengue and DHF
is difficult because of the four different viruses which cause the
disease. All the same, efforts are on to develop a vaccine. |
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Healthy mind for healthy ageing NEW DELHI: Over 10 per cent of India’s fast graying population suffers from depression and 40-50 per cent of the elderly require psychiatric or psychological intervention at some point in their twilight years, experts say. "Anxiety disorders, including panic attacks, phobias and chronic anxiety states are prevalent in almost about 10 per cent of the elderly, specially women," says Nimesh Desai, Head of the Psychiatry Department, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences. "Apart from these major psychiatric disorders in the older people, various psychological traumas and setbacks affect them behaviourally and emotionally. This causes many stress-related syndromes that affect their physical health and mental state and increases their vulnerability to disease." Many psychosomatic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, stomach problems and hypertension are examples of such stress-related disorders that may affect the aged, Desai says. "A positive attitude is very important to lead a healthy life in old age," according to Inderjit Singh Dhillon, Director-General HelpAge India. Relationships form an important part of this process of healthy ageing, says Desai, adding that emphasis is needed on caring and getting along with others. "One should take care of preventive, curative, emotional and financial security in old age," Dhillon says. Dementia, another frequently encountered neuropsychiatric disease in the ageing population, which leads to a progressive loss of brain functions, reducing a capable person to total dependence, is a direct result of those problem relationships where equations which were once relevant change with the passage of time. "We always bother about our health regarding the physical point of view and tend to neglect the mental aspect. Most people believe that mental faculty declines with age, but it is only so if the person is suffering from disease or there is a lack of utilisation of mental skills and the brain is inactive," says Sujatha Sharma, a psychologist. Illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis and hypertension are examples of stress-caused disorders. Heart disease, cancer and stroke also require intervention by mental health professionals to deal with these life-threatening illnesses, she adds.
The process of ageing actually starts at
the middle age, says Dhillon adding that it is during this period that
people should start planning their life keeping in view financial
security, etc. — PTI |
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Lab test to predict stroke and heart attack soon WASHINGTON: Heart failure and stroke are responsible for the maximum number of deaths the world over. The medical community has been fighting for years to find the cause of these unpredictable and unexpected killers and now they claim to have achieved some success. A laboratory test that could identify biological markers that could indicate the onset of either attack, and yet allow emergency medical intervention that would save a life or full mental capacity may be only a few short years away. The tests have been developed by Robert H. Christenson, PhD, Professor of Pathology, University of Maryland Medical School, Baltimore. There is presently no diagnostic test to predict the onset of a stroke or heart failure. But Dr. Christenson and others believe that a blood test could identify a panel of markers, stringing together a series of proteins that could lead to the development of strategies for preventing strokes and heart attacks, reports Newswise.
This potentially invaluable diagnostic
tool will have a profound impact on efforts to treat heart disease and
cerebral circulation disorders. — ANI |
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For limitless life-span SAN FRANCISCO: Fancy living another 100 years or more? Some experts said that scientific advances will one day enable humans to last decades beyond what is now seen as the natural limit of the human life-span. "I think we are knocking at the door of immortality,’’ said Michael Zey, a Montclair State University business professor and author of two books on the future. "I think by 2075 we will see it and that’s a conservative estimate.’’ In a presentation at the meeting in San Francisco, Donald Louria, a professor at New Jersey Medical School in Newark said advances in manipulating cells and genes as well as nanotechnology make it likely humans will live in the future beyond what has been possible in the past. "What was science fiction a decade ago is no longer science fiction,’’ he said.
"There is a dramatic and intensive
push so that people can live from 120 to 180 years,’’ he said.
"Some have suggested that there is no limit and that people could
live to 200 or 300 or 500 years.’’ Outside the conference, many
scientists who specialise in aging are skeptical of such claims and
say the human body is just not designed to last past about 120 years.
— Reuters |
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New cancer-detecting scanner Singapore: A new cancer-detecting scanner that pinpoints the presence of the disease is now available in Singapore, making the city-state one of the few centres in the world with cutting-edge diagnostic equipment. The precision of the scanner, called PET/CT for positron emission tomography/computer tomography, can spot cancers even in the early stages when they tend to be invisible to other diagnostic imaging, The Straits Times reports. The scanners superimpose the PET image, which shows changes at the cellular level, onto the CT image, which is a detailed map of the body, to allow doctors to pinpoint the growth, said Dr Wong Chiang, chief operating officer at Singapore General Hospital.
This information, when transferred to
the radiotherapy machine, allows doctors "to fire guided bombs
instead of carpet bombing the body, so there is less collateral damage’’,
he was quoted as saying. The scans are 98 per cent accurate, doctors
said. — DPA |
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