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| HEALTH & FITNESS |
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Quit smoking, boost your heart health
Surgeons keep human heart beating outside the body
Mom’s diet linked to foetus obesity
Shin pain — overuse injury HEALTH NOTES
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Quit smoking, boost your heart health
Smoking cigarettes is correctly perceived by most people to be the main cause for lung cancer. The truth that smoking is also one of the most powerful causes for cardiac disease is generally less known. Investigators from Boston and Australia reported in the reputed medical journal Lancet that among smokers, cardiovascular disease (and not cancer) is the leading cause of death worldwide. They report that worldwide there were 1,690,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular disease among smokers in 2000. In contrast, there were “only” 850,000 lung cancer deaths from smoking in the same year. (This grim statistic does, however, enable tobacco companies to offer a reassuring tongue-in-cheek “No absolutely not,” when asked the perennial question by their customers, “If I continue to smoke am I destined to suffer a painful death from cancer?” Smoking kills. Every cigarette takes away five minutes of one’s life. One in 10 persons addicted to smoking dies from it. By 2030 this ratio is likely to be one in six. Every day 2,500 people in India die of smoking-related diseases — one death every 40 seconds. Statistics from the WHO proves that smoking is the single largest preventable cause of death worldwide. The startling fact is that of everyone alive today 5,00,000,000 will eventually be killed by
tobacco use. Tobacco smoke contains 4,000 chemicals, 60 of which, including arsenic (used in pest-control poisons), methanol (used in rocket fuel) and DDT (an insecticide), are known carcinogens. Other harmful ingredients are nicotine and carbon monoxide. Smoking is the prime cause of heart disease, stroke and chronic lung problem. It also makes the lungs more prone to tuberculosis. In fact, two lakhs smokers in India contract TB per year. Blockage of the heart arteries is 3-5 times more common in smokers. The risk is increased in female smokers taking birth control pills. Nicotine and other toxins in tobacco are absorbed into the blood and injure the lining of the coronary arteries. Nicotine also causes the coronary arteries to constrict and blood clots to form and lodge in the coronary arteries. Smoking decreases endothelium-derived relaxing factor (EDRF) which is essential for the normal working of the arteries of the heart. The good news
Smokers who quit or even just cut down on cigarettes can begin to reap the health benefits within a few months. Individuals who gradually quit smoking get
improvements in risk factors for heart disease, including lower cholesterol and carbon monoxide levels. It is never too late to stop smoking. The benefits begin as soon as you stop.
The writer, who was earlier associated with Fortis, Mohali, is Director and Chairman, Cardiac Sciences, Ludhiana
Mediciti, Ludhiana.
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Surgeons keep human heart
Transplant surgeons have successfully kept a human heart alive and beating outside the body, in an advance that may upset the squeamish but could extend the life-saving operation to scores more patients.
In the first successful beating heart transplant performed in the UK, surgeons at Papworth hospital in Cambridgeshire kept the organ pumping blood for five hours after removing it from the donor. The heart was taken from Addenbrookes hospital, where the donor died, to Papworth where it was transplanted into a 58-year-old man who was close to death. The operation, carried out a week ago, had been a success and the patient, who has not been named, was “doing extremely well” on a normal ward, Professor Bruce Rosenguard, who led the research team, said. “We are extremely excited by the possibilities this offers us. Papworth is one of only four hospitals in Europe taking part in this trial and if the system continues to prove successful, it could significantly increase the number of donor hearts available.” The donor heart was kept in a specially designed Organ Care System, about the size of a tea trolley, while it was transported between the two hospitals. Once attached to the system, made by Transmedics, with plastic tubes inserted into its vessels, the heart was revived to a beating state and perfused with oxygen and nutrient-rich blood. Five hours later, when it was transplanted into the recipient at Papworth hospital, it was still as fresh as if it had just been removed. Keeping hearts alive and beating after they are removed has been a goal of heart surgeons for years. Organs quickly deteriorate after being taken from the body and hospitals operate a limit of around four hours on using a non-beating donor heart. This restricts the distance the organ can be transported and the time available to assemble a surgical team to carry out the transplant, which often happens in the middle of the night. By extending the period during which the heart can be used, through keeping it alive and beating, the number of organs available for transplant and the number of potential recipients could be broadened. At the same time, surgeons will have the opportunity to assess the heart and test it for existing diseases. More extensive tissue matching may reduce the risk of rejection. John Wallwork, transplant surgeon at Papworth, said: “The potential for this device is enormous, but we have to prove it. Not only will we be able to transport hearts over longer distances, going into Europe, but we can make heart transplants a daytime activity and we can assess the hearts before we transplant them. We may even be able to take sub-standard hearts and make them better.” “It is a very clever piece of kit with lots of clever chemicals and clever nutrients. It keeps the heart warm and measures the coronary flow and lots of other things. In this case we kept the heart on the rig for five hours just to show it worked, not to extend the time. Potentially, using this kit we could store a heart for up to 12 hours. Without it, if you take a heart out of a body it begins to rot after about four hours.” According to UK Transplant, 6.735 people are currently waiting for an organ transplant in the UK. Fewer than 3,000 are carried out and around 400 die waiting for a suitable organ to become available There are 104 people, including nine children, currently registered for a heart transplant in the UK and a further 43 waiting for a heart-lung transplant. Last year (05-06) 146 people received a heart or heart-lung transplant, down from 170 the previous year. The number of heart transplants has been declining for a decade. Professor Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: “This is a promising breakthrough for transplant surgery. For many very ill heart disease patients transplant is still the best option. We hope that this new technique will prove successful in more patients, so transplant teams can look further afield than they currently do for suitable hearts.” — The Independent
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Mom’s diet linked to foetus obesity
WASHINGTON: A study on mice that questions whether or not pregnant women should increase their dietary intake of folic acid, a common supplement used to help lower the incidence of spina bifida, has found that a simple vitamin supplement can affect the offspring and make it fatter.
The effect is thought to be due to chemical changes made to the mother’s DNA, which can be passed down the generations. The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Rob Waterland at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. As a part of the research the team studied the effects of certain compounds in food, including folic acid and vitamin B12, compounds that are known to add chemical constituents called methyl groups to DNA, which affects the activity of genes: part of a phenomenon called “epigenetics”.
— ANI
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Shin pain — overuse injury
Leg pain or shin pain is more prevalent in modern times due to increasing fitness awareness and gymnasium culture. Over-enthusiastic individuals, especially youngsters in order to become fit in a short span of time start exercising too much too fast. Certain repetitive weight-bearing exercises like running on the treadmill for long hours result in shin pain — the region between knee and ankle.
“Shin splints” is a nonspecific term, which is associated with exercise-induced leg injuries. This injury could be in the form of muscle fibre damage, micro tears in tendons, inflammation of the membrane surrounding the bone or incomplete crack in the shinbone (tibia). The usual presentation is that an individual starts running/training and all goes on smoothly for several weeks. Suddenly pain is felt in the lower portion of the shin on initiation of a work-out. The discomfort disappears after warming up, but the pain reappears the next day. The intensity of pain goes on increasing as the days go by. This is a classic presentation of shin’s splint and is called the medial tibial stress syndrome. In a few cases the patient may suffer from chronic compartment syndrome, a condition in which leg muscles suffer due to lack of blood circulation during exercise. Generally, during exercise due to the increased demand of oxygen the blood flow to leg muscles increases. In cases where calf muscles are not strong or flexible the blood flow to the muscles is hampered. Muscles thus starved of oxygen produce cramps. Pain usually occurs during weight-bearing (particularly running). There may be swelling, redness, warmth and tenderness on palpation. Commonly afflicted by pain is the front of the leg, besides the shinbone and its lower-inner border. Stress fracture occurs at the distal part of the shinbone or below the knee. Predisposing factors leading to shin pain are:
Prevention:
Treatment
New York: Offspring of parents who suffered from depression face an increased risk themselves for depression, anxiety and drug dependence that extends well into adulthood, a new study shows. While children of depressed parents are known to be at greater risk of depression and anxiety early on, there has been little research on how they fare as adults, according to Dr Myrna M. Weissman of Columbia University in New York City and colleagues. They report in the American Journal of Psychiatry on a 20-year follow-up study comparing 101 people who had at least one parent with major depressive disorder and 50 whose parents were free of major depression. Participants were 35 years old, on average, at the time of follow-up. Offspring of a depressed parent were three times as likely to have anxiety disorder, major depression or substance dependence, the researchers found, and they were also at greater risk of social impairment on the job or in family A cervical cancer
vaccine Atlanta (Georgia): Glaxo SmithKline has developed an experimental vaccine against cervical cancer that triggered a strong immune response in women 15 to 55 years old in a clinical study, the British drugmaker said here. The study on the vaccine, called Cervarix, showed that women over the age of 25 can also be protected from cancer-causing HPV viruses, the company said at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday. “For the first time, we see that a vaccine against cervical cancer is highly immunogenic in women over 25 years of age,” said Tino Schwarz, the lead study investigator and professor at Stiftung Juliusspital Wuerzburg, Germany.
— AFP Biological clocks
San Francisco: Men have biological clocks that cause their ability to father healthy children to ebb with time, according to study findings released by US researchers. DNA in sperm fragments as men age, increasing the risk of infertility or of babies being born with anomalies such as dwarfism, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory concluded. “We know that women have a biological time clock,” said study co-author Brenda Eskenazi of the university’s School of Public Health. “Our research suggests that men, too, have a biological time clock, only it is different. Men seem to have a gradual rather than an abrupt change in fertility and in the potential ability to produce viable healthy offspring.” Earlier research by the same team indicated that sperm counts decline and sperm loses its ability to move spontaneously and in straight lines as men age. The current study focused on genetic damage or mutations in semen from men of varying ages.
— AFP Cancer: yoga for better
Washington: An American study has revealed that women who take yoga classes during radiation treatment for breast cancer may function better physically and feel better about their overall health. Lorenzo Cohen is the psychologist who lead the small study which he says is the first to measure the benefits of yoga. “Cancer and its treatments are associated with considerable distress, impaired quality of life and reduced physical function. This is particularly true for women with breast cancer who receive multi-modality treatment over an extended period of time,” Cohen says. “With our studies, we think that we could help ameliorate the treatment-related side-effects that accumulate in cancer patients over time,” he adds. “The main objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of integrating a daily yoga program into the treatment care plan for women with breast cancer undergoing radiation treatment, and determine if this is something the patients found useful and enjoyable, as well as assessing aspects of their quality of life,” he continued.
— ANI
The following stretching exercises are beneficial: Towel stretch: while sitting, loop a towel around the ball of foot. Pull the towel toward body while keeping the knee straight. Hold this position for a count of 15 to 20 then relax. Repeat five times. Standing calf stretch: Facing a wall put both hands against the wall. Keep the injured leg back, the other leg forward. Slowly lean onto the wall until you feel a stretch in the back of your calf. Hold for a count of 15 to 20. Repeat it three-five times. Resisted dorsiflexion. In the sitting position, loop the stretchband around the forefoot and hold the ends in both hands. Pull the foot towards the body with the band returning slowly to the starting position. Repeat it 10 times. One can say exercise is absolutely essential to remain fit, but the following rules are also equally important. Initiate exercises and increase them slowly. Do not hurry to get fit. Remember, this is a life-long activity and should become a way of life. Success has no short-cuts, also in achieving body fitness.
The writer is a former doctor/ physiotherapist, Indian |
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Health Notes New York: Offspring of parents who suffered from depression face an increased risk themselves for depression, anxiety and drug dependence that extends well into adulthood, a new study shows. While children of depressed parents are known to be at greater risk of depression and anxiety early on, there has been little research on how they fare as adults, according to Dr Myrna M. Weissman of Columbia University in New York City and colleagues. They report in the American Journal of Psychiatry on a 20-year follow-up study comparing 101 people who had at least one parent with major depressive disorder and 50 whose parents were free of major depression. Participants were 35 years old, on average, at the time of follow-up. Offspring of a depressed parent were three times as likely to have anxiety disorder, major depression or substance dependence, the researchers found, and they were also at greater risk of social impairment on the job or in family A cervical cancer vaccine Atlanta (Georgia): Glaxo SmithKline has developed an experimental vaccine against cervical cancer that triggered a strong immune response in women 15 to 55 years old in a clinical study, the British drugmaker said here. The study on the vaccine, called Cervarix, showed that women over the age of 25 can also be protected from cancer-causing HPV viruses, the company said at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta, Georgia on Monday. “For the first time, we see that a vaccine against cervical cancer is highly immunogenic in women over 25 years of age,” said Tino Schwarz, the lead study investigator and professor at Stiftung Juliusspital Wuerzburg, Germany. — AFP Biological clocks for fatherhood San Francisco: Men have biological clocks that cause their ability to father healthy children to ebb with time, according to study findings released by US researchers. DNA in sperm fragments as men age, increasing the risk of infertility or of babies being born with anomalies such as dwarfism, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory concluded. “We know that women have a biological time clock,” said study co-author Brenda Eskenazi of the university’s School of Public Health. “Our research suggests that men, too, have a biological time clock, only it is different. Men seem to have a gradual rather than an abrupt change in fertility and in the potential ability to produce viable healthy offspring.” Earlier research by the same team indicated that sperm counts decline and sperm loses its ability to move spontaneously and in straight lines as men age. The current study focused on genetic damage or mutations in semen from men of varying ages. — AFP Cancer: yoga for better quality of life Washington: An American study has revealed that women who take yoga classes during radiation treatment for breast cancer may function better physically and feel better about their overall health. Lorenzo Cohen is the psychologist who lead the small study which he says is the first to measure the benefits of yoga. “Cancer and its treatments are associated with considerable distress, impaired quality of life and reduced physical function. This is particularly true for women with breast cancer who receive multi-modality treatment over an extended period of time,” Cohen says. “With our studies, we think that we could help ameliorate the treatment-related side-effects that accumulate in cancer patients over time,” he adds. “The main objective of this study was to examine the feasibility of integrating a daily yoga program into the treatment care plan for women with breast cancer undergoing radiation treatment, and determine if this is something the patients found useful and enjoyable, as well as assessing aspects of their quality of life,” he continued. — ANI
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Most people associate cigarette smoking with breathing problems and lung cancer. But did you know that smoking is also a major cause of heart disease for men and women?