Manto wishes to thank the Johannesburg Transplant Unit for her new liver. She's sorry little Johnny didn't get the liver instead. And would like to make a toast to all those out there who supported her cause. Cheers! Glug.
Kamis, 31 Januari 2008
Manto's Liver to Little Johnny: Thank You!
Manto wishes to thank the Johannesburg Transplant Unit for her new liver. She's sorry little Johnny didn't get the liver instead. And would like to make a toast to all those out there who supported her cause. Cheers! Glug.
Rabu, 30 Januari 2008
STRESS WATCHING SOCCER GAMES AND PROBABLY FOOTBALL OTHER SPORTS INCREASES HEART ATTACKS IN SPORTS FANS SIGNS OF HEART ATTACK AND EVALUATING CHEST PAIN
STRESS WATCHING SOCCER GAMES AND PROBABLY FOOTBALL OTHER SPORTS INCREASES HEART ATTACKS IN SPORTS FANS SIGNS OF HEART ATTACK AND EVALUATING CHEST PAIN
You can get a heart attack playing sports, right? But did you know you can have a heart attack watching sports? It's just a game.Yeah right. Tell that to a Chicago Cubs or Yankee fan. "Viewing a stressful soccer match more than doubles the risk of an acute cardiovascular event (such as a heart attack). In view of this excess risk, particularly in men with known coronary heart disease, preventive measures are urgently needed". Cardiologists (doctors specializing in heart problems) published a study of heart attacks and sports fans.
The cardiologists studied medical records from the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament in Germany. "During the two most nerve-racking games for Germany a match against Argentina that was won on penalty kicks and one against Italy that knocked Germany out of the final, the heart problems spiked to four to five times the normal rate, said Dr. Gerhard Steinbeck, professor of internal medicine and cardiology at the University of Munich and the senior author of the study".
This is another sobering reminder of the importance of health and constant vigilance and how important it is that even the young and athletic not automatically discount chest pains. And certainly the not so young and not so athletic really need to watch out. If you have chest pain, how can you tell if you have a heart attack. The answer is you can't tell if chest pain is a heart attack. You need to get any chest pain checked out immediately. As in call emergency 911.
There are many causes of chest pain. Each year, millions of people seek emergency medical care because of chest pain,(and foolishly many people ignore chest pain when they ought to call 911) the most common symptom of heart attack. For many, heart attack is the clear diagnosis, but annually more than 6 million people are admitted to the hospital because the answer isn’t clear. Besides a heart attack other cardiac causes include angina. Even a normal EKG is not necessarily enough to rule out a heart related condition.
Many times just the story, the history, is enough to convince the doctor to hospitalize a patient.If the electrocardiogram (EKG) is normal and initial blood tests for "heart enzymes" such as CPK and troponin don’t show signs of dying heart muscle, patients are usually admitted for observation, repeat EKGs, blood tests and other tests to rule out heart problems. Many cases of chest pain are not heart related. Even so, it's pretty obvious that the heart is right up there on the list of causes that the doctor has to think about and identify ASAP. So the doctor starts pointed questions about the chest pain. Questions like
As she enters the room, Joe Johnson's doctor can't help but notice the look of trepidation on Joe's face. She's seen him many times before but this time something is clearly bothering him. As she says hello and asks Joe how he's doing, the reason for Joe's distess is soon apparent. It turns out that he has been experiencing chest pains for the past month that are alarming him.
Many Causes of Chest Pain
In Joe's case, he's been under a lot of stress, sometimes waking up at night with a "feeling" in his chest and it seems to occur also when he's lifting or exerting himself.
The EKG, the Stress Echo, the Stress Myocardial Perfusion Imaging
This certainly sounds like it could be cardiac so the doctor orders an electrocardiogram (EKG) in the office. The EKG is where they attach the wires with little sticky things to the chest and see the wavy lines drawn on graph paper by the machine. Both the doctor and Joe are relieved to see that the EKG as well a chest x ray are both "within normal limits".
But the problem is that a person's EKG can look "normal" and yet the person may still have some blockage of the coronary arteries, the arteries that feed the heart muscle itself.
So what next? Well, the doctor could order a coronary angiogram to look for blockage. In a coronary angiogram, they insert a catheter into a blood vessel in the groin and thread it up to the heart and inject a dye. The dye helps to make the blood vessels of the heart visible on x ray. Using a series of pictures it's possible to see narrowing and blockages of the coronary heart blood vessels. But this is often not the first test that will be ordered.
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Instead there are a group of "noninvasive" tests that can be used to gauge how the blood supply of the heart is doing.
Non Invasive Tests of Heart Blockage
Many of the non invasive tests involve exercise and then seeing how the heart responds to it. In some cases the patient may not be capable of doing the sort of aerobic exercising needed. In that case, there are ways to "chemically stress" the heart. Among the tests are
Here they have you run in a treadmill while they see how your heart responds on an EKG
Here you are exercising again but now they are looking at your heart with an ulrasound, like using ultrasound to see a baby in a pregnant woman. The ultrasound is valuable because they can see how your heart is beating, how the walls are moving. When the heart walls don't move properly it can indicate that a part of the heart is functiong incorrectly due to inadequate blood flow.
Watch the Video Classic Symptoms of Heart Disease Click the Arrow to Start
Here again you are exercising. This is probably one of the more informative "non invasive" tests. Here they inject of a small amount of radioactive material which circulates in the bloodstream. The radioactive material accumulates in the heart tissue according to the degree of good blood supply in the heart. If they see that when you exercise there is decreased blood supply compared to resting it indicates ischemia.
The PET Scan can see the blood flow of the heart. PET stands for positron emission tomgraphy. The PET scan is a relatively high tech scan that is not yet widely used. For one thing, it's very expensive. But it works well .
See what the Heart Association Says About Imaging the Heart
You've probably heard this advertised. You don't need to exercise for this test. The special CT scanner looks for the presence of calcium deposits in the arteries.High calcium deposits have been associated with blockage of the arteries.
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Selasa, 29 Januari 2008
NATURAL WAY TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL FOOD CONTAINING PLANT STEROLS PHYTOSTEROLS LOWER LDL CHOLESTEROL BUT WHICH ARE THEY
NATURAL WAY TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL FOOD CONTAINING PLANT STEROLS PHYTOSTEROLS LOWER LDL CHOLESTEROL BUT WHICH ARE THEY
Many people would like to use food and natural ways to lower cholesterol. People would prefer to use natural ways to lower cholesterol. That was obvious from the response to my post about foods that lower LDL bad cholesterol. Another "natural" approach to cholesterol lowering involves foods containing plant stanol or sterol esters. So called phytosterols lower serum cholesterol levels. Plant sterols or phytosterols are plant substances whose chemical structure is similar to cholesterol but differ in such a way that they don't have the negative impact on the human body that regular cholesterol does. Plant stanol esters actively work by helping to block cholesterol from being absorbed into the digestive system, reducing "bad" LDL cholesterol levels while maintaining "good" HDL cholesterol levels.
How do you get these plant cholesterol blockers? There are many plant sources of phytosterols such as wheat germ. But now food manufacturers, addressing the mass appeal of cholesterol lowering are adding plant sterols into their food products to produce a cholesterol lowering effect. For example there are margarine like spreads such as Benecol and Take Control. I have seen and tried a mayonnaise called Smart Balance Omega Plus which combines omega 3 and plant sterols.
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There are drinks such as Promise Supershots. A company called Corazonas Foods (corazon is Spanish for the heart, get it?) has a line of snack foods including potato chips that contain cholesterol lowering plant sterols. Note I have no connection to any of these products but I think they sound like reasonable ideas. It certainly beats eating high cholesterol high saturated fat products.
GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY PROS AND CONS VERSUS DIETING:IN WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY EXPERIENCE COUNTS
GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY PROS AND CONS VERSUS DIETING:IN WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY EXPERIENCE COUNTS
Often a topic for comedians, weight is not so funny when you are fighting a long battle, dieting with little to show to control excess weight that colors every part of your existence from your health to your social life. Many people have chosen gastric bypass surgery.
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A New England Journal of Medicine research article found that gastric bypass surgery is beneficial. "In fact, the benefit is quite dramatic. The authors studied 9,949 patients who had undergone weight loss surgery, and compared them to a control group of 9,628 severely obese individuals who did not have the surgery".
They wrote an article about weight loss, diets and gastric bypass surgery. One is an economist and the other a writer but as they discussed the pros and cons of weight loss surgery and dieting in their New York Times column "The Stomach Surgery Conundrum", the authors of Freakonomics totally neglected to mention this article,one of the most important New England Journal research paper about weight loss surgery and it's consequences.
As the Freakonomics boys do point out when it comes to doing surgery experience counts. You want a doctor who does many bariatric weight loss procedures. "Technological innovations, especially the use of laparoscopic procedures (using a tube that is inserted through an incision in the abdominal wall so it's less invasive) have made for considerable gains in safety and efficacy. While the operation is still dangerous in some circumstances — one study found that for a surgeon’s first 19 bariatric operations, patients were nearly five times as likely to die than patients that the surgeon later operated on — the overall mortality rate is now in the neighborhood of 1 percent.
The editorial in the New England Journal also points out that the lowest surgical mortality is seen among surgeons who have performed more than 50 operations and preferably more than 100 operations.
After gastric bypass surgery there was a significant reduction particularly from diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. However, the rate from causes other than disease was higher in the surgery group than in the control group".
Dubner and Levitt also say that "a significant fraction of postbariatric patients acquire new addictions like gambling, smoking, compulsive shopping or alcoholism once they are no longer addicted to eating". In fact, the New England article does say that "Despite reductions in disease-related deaths after gastric bypass surgery, the risk of non–disease-related death, such as accidents and suicides, increased by a factor of 1.58, as compared with that in the control group. Reports reveal that a substantial number of severely obese persons have unrecognized presurgical mood disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder or have been victims of childhood sexual abuse".
"Not only do most patients keep off a significant amount of weight but the other medical problems that accompany obesity are also often assuaged. One recent analysis found that 77 percent of bariatric-surgery patients with Type 2 diabetes experienced “complete resolution” of their diabetes after the procedure; the surgery also helps eliminate hypertension and sleep apnea. From an economic standpoint, research suggests that the operation can pay for itself within a few years because a postbariatric patient now requires less medical care and fewer prescriptions. That’s why some insurance companies cover bariatric surgery — as more do, it will likely lead to a further spike in the volume of operations".
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Senin, 28 Januari 2008
NIACIN VITAMIN INCREASES HDL GOOD CHOLESTEROL BETTER THAN OTHER CHOLESTEROL DRUGS BUT NIACIN SIDE EFFECTS BOTHER SOME
NIACIN VITAMIN INCREASES HDL GOOD CHOLESTEROL BETTER THAN OTHER CHOLESTEROL DRUGS BUT NIACIN SIDE EFFECTS BOTHER SOME
The B vitamin niacin is also a cholesterol medicine that can do some things better than the more famous cholesterol pills. You don't hear that much about niacin. It seems you always read about the powerful cholesterol lowering drugs like Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor and Mevacor. They are the statins the most powerful of the cholesterol lowering drugs. But there are other drugs that work on cholesterol and can do some things better than the statins. Take for example, niacin. Niacin also called nicotinic acid, can raise HDL the "good" cholesterol by 15 percent to 35 percent. This makes niacin the most effective drug available for raising HDL cholesterol.
Remember doctors want you to lower your bad cholesterol, the LDL and raise your good cholesterol, the HDL. HDL cholesterol particles remove cholesterol from plaque, the deposits in arterial linings and are transported to the liver for excretion, helping reverse the heart's coronary artery disease.
Having a high HDL seems to protect the heart. Niacin can lower LDL but it really excels at raising HDL. So you ask why isn't every body and his brother using Niacin for their cholesterol. Because like many things in life you have to read the fine print. For niacin, the fine print has to do with side effects.
You need fairly high doses for niacin to work and common and troublesome side effect of niacin is hot flashes, which are the result of blood vessels opening wide from niacin stimulating chemicals in the body called prostaglandins. The extended release form may cause less flushing than the other forms. There are three types of Niacin, immediate release, timed release, and extended release. Some people develop a tolerance to the flushing and sometimes it can be decreased by taking the Niacin during or after meals or by the use of aspirin. But the fact is that some people just can't tolerate the side effects of Niacin and will stop it. Other problems with niacin are itchiness,high blood sugar, insulin resistance, liver problems and gout. The effect of high blood pressure medicines may also be increased while on Niacin.
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NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL AND LDL STUDY SAYS EATING CERTAIN NATURAL FOODS SUCH AS SOY OATS AND NUTS
NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL AND LDL STUDY SAYS EATING CERTAIN NATURAL FOODS MIGHT RESULT IN CHOLESTEROL DROP COMPARABLE TO LOW DOSE STATIN DRUG
Is there a natural way to lower cholesterol? Many people would love to find a natural way to lower cholesterol possibly by eating or taking something other than drugs for cholesterol. One possible way to lower cholesterol "naturally" is called the Portfolio Eating Plan. It involves eating certain natural foods including nuts, soy and oats and plant sterols, molecules in plants that resemble cholesterol.
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A number of avenues have been suggested to lower cholesterol besides drugs. The most popular drugs to lower cholesterol, the statins, such as Lipitor or Zocor or Crestor work great. But many people can't tolerate the statins or are afraid of side effects.
Dr. David Jenkins who authored the studies, one of which appeared in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition "found that the people who stuck to the diet reduced their 'bad' LDL cholesterol by 20 per cent after a year, a result comparable to taking a low dose statin, a drug that lowers cholesterol". "The diet lowered serum cholesterol levels as effectively as a low dose statin, blood sugars were regulated because of the high fiber content of the foods. The level of C-reactive protein, which is linked to the inflammation of arteries, was reduced".
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Minggu, 27 Januari 2008
FORMER HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE RUNS MEDICAL PLAN HMO IN CAMBODIA WINNER HARVARD PUBLIC HEALTH Q PRIZE TRADING GOOD LIFE FOR DOING GOOD
FORMER HOLLYWOOD EXECUTIVE RUNS MEDICAL PLAN HMO IN CAMBODIA WINNER HARVARD PUBLIC HEALTH Q PRIZE TRADING GOOD LIFE FOR DOING GOOD
It is hard to characterize this story for the medical blog. Scott Neeson, a former Hollywood movie executive has established a medical plan, a sort of HMO for poor families in Cambodia. He did win a prize from the Harvard School of Public Health. But really that doesn't begin to tell the story. I guess you could say this is a medical story because it makes you feel good, about yourself and about humanity.
He used to own a five bedroom mansion in Hollywood and pilot a sports car thru the Hollywood hills. He never did go to college. Today you'll find him in a garbage dump. This is not a story of a Hollywood life gone wrong. Rather it is a story of a Hollywood life gone right. Very very right. In 2007, Scott Neeson was awarded the inaugural Harvard School of Public Health "Q Prize" in recognition of his extraordinary leadership."Neeson, executive director of the Cambodian Children's Fund, a safe house for Cambodia's orphaned, abandoned, and abused children. Created by Neeson in 2003, the CCF serves 240 children from amongst the most impoverished and uneducated of Cambodia's population, those at greatest risk of child trafficking. Most of CCF's children were rescued from Stoeng Meanchey, Phnom Penh's notorious rubbish dump".
Amazing if you think about it. Neeson never went to college." But Neeson was a wildly successful film executive who gave it all up to help children he had seen while backpacking in Cambodia. "Neeson grew up in Adelaide, South Australia and started what was to be a long, successful career in the film business when he joined a company that operated local and rural drive-in theaters".
"By 1993, he had relocated to Los Angeles to join 20th Century Fox as head of international marketing. In 2000, Neeson became President of 20th Century Fox International, overseeing the release and marketing of several of the top films of all time – including 'Braveheart,' 'Titanic,' 'Star Wars' and 'X-men' – and managing gross revenues in excess of $1.5 billion dollars. In 2003, Neeson left Fox to head Sony Pictures International marketing operations".
Everyone at one time or another wonders about what they are doing with their life and the direction it is going and in Neeson's case his course veered unbelievably. Neeson first came to Cambodia in 2003 on a backpacking trip. He couldn't get over all the homeless kids, begging for a handout. "Neeson says he found himself moved by the horrific circumstances of the young kids. It was an extremely different world for him. He had just left his position as president of 20th Century Fox International and accepted a top job at Sony Pictures".It changed the direction of his life and those he met.
EXERCISE WALKING INCREASES WEIGHT LOSS AND KNOWING HOW FAR YOU WALK HELPS DIETING AND INCREASES WEIGHT LOSS STUDIES SAY
EXERCISE WALKING INCREASES WEIGHT LOSS AND KNOWING HOW FAR YOU WALK HELPS DIETING AND INCREASES WEIGHT LOSS STUDIES SAY
You exercise for weight loss, you walk miles daily to lose weight. Just dieting without exercise can be a recipe for frustration. Adding an exercise regimen seems to speed the metabolism and energize your weight loss. Walking helps, especially vigorous walking. I have seen two articles in medical journals claiming that just measuring the walking distance by wearing a pedometer when you walk will increase your weight loss. Using a pedometer by itself will not be sufficient but is one technique to increase the weight loss. "Overweight or obese "couch potatoes" who start a daily walking regimen can expect to lose at least a modest amount of weight even in the absence of any special diet", new research reveals.
"The review of data from nine studies found that people who used a pedometer to track and motivate their walking achieved a loss of about a pound every 10 weeks". A pedometer is a machine you wear while you walk. It counts the steps and how much distance you have walked. Knowing how far you walk contributes to weight loss possibly by improving motivation. "Just by strapping on a step-counting pedometer, overweight or obese "couch potatoes" who start a daily walking regimen can expect to lose at least a modest amount of weight even in the absence of any special diet".
"The main point is that pedometer-based walking programs are effective at getting people to walk more, and they do result in a modest amount of weight loss," said study lead author Dr. Caroline R. Richardson, an assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School". Richardson's team did a meta analysis on 9 previous studies of exercise walking and pedometers. Meta analysis is a mathematical technique to pool together and analyze data from a number of studies. They analyzed walking studies conducted between 1995 and 2006.
Watch Video About Exercise Walking and Pedometers Click the Arrow
The ethics of liver transplants for alcoholics...
Read an article on the front page of the Citizen, about Discovery Health (Bongi's favourite) refusing to fund a liver transplant on what seems like suspicion of alcohol abuse.So I want to debate transplants. And the ethical eligibility to receive one. Liver transplants spring to mind.
Many conditions cause end-stage liver disease that would then require a liver transplant for survival. Livers are a scarce resource that do not become available everyday. For instance, in the UK, 17000 people are waiting for a liver transplant. If you're lucky, between 50 and 200 become available every year.
So, how do you allocate organs appropriately and fairly?
Do you want to give a liver to a person, who through large consumption of alcohol caused cirrhosis? Or do you want to give it to a child, who through no fault of their own, has biliary atresia. Or to a woman who developed auto immune hepatitis?
Most international guidelines say that for a person who has alcohol-induced liver failure to become eligible for a transplant, they need to have shown a period of abstinence and/or a period of rehabilitation. Usually 6 months.
After this period - does that make them deserving of a liver transplant? Should the guidelines be abolished as people who are alcoholics have a disease "that they are not in control of"? Even if you will continue to drink and destroy your new liver?
Should self-induced liver disease be deserving at all (taking into account the more deserving children and adults out there, who have had no control of the cause of their liver failure)?
What do you think?
Personally, I will tell the Organ Donation Society NOT to give my liver / organs to anybody who has not been substance abuse rehabilitated. Full stop.
Sabtu, 26 Januari 2008
WHAT ARE RECOMMENDED VACCINATIONS AND IMMUNIZATIONS FOR CHILDREN AND WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU MISS IMMUNIZATIONS
WHAT ARE RECOMMENDED VACCINATIONS AND IMMUNIZATIONS FOR CHILDREN AND WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU MISS IMMUNIZATIONS
There are seemingly so many immunizations and vaccinations recommended for infants, children and adults. And it seems like the recommendations for immunizations and vaccinations change every year. Did you know, for example, that it is now recommended to give the chicken pox varicella vaccine twice and not just once as before? How are you to know which shots and vaccinations are recommended for your children, yourself and your family? The definitive immunization recommendations have been published for the United States.
For example, here is a chart of the vaccination schedule for children age 0-6 years.
There are also recommendations for "catch up" when people miss immunizations. How and when do you make up the missing shots?
A VIDEO ABOUT THE ROTATOR CUFF WHAT CAUSES SHOULDER PAIN IN GOLF AND SPORTS AND TENDINITIS IN THE SHOULDER JOINT
A VIDEO ABOUT THE ROTATOR CUFF WHAT CAUSES SHOULDER PAIN IN GOLF AND SPORTS AND TENDINITIS IN THE SHOULDER JOINT
This video has a good discussion of the causes of shoulder pain and how the shoulder joint works. What is a rotator cuff anyway? The shoulder is composed of an assemblage of muscles and tendons that form a flexible but not too stable joint, the rotator cuff. Golfers as well as athletes and weekend athletes and those in sports can put extra pressure on the rotator cuff. The shoulder joint and the rotator cuff can be hard to understand. One topic the doctor discusses in this video about the shoulder is tendinitis in a golfer's shoulder. The rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder and their tendons are very active throughout the golf swing. Shoulder problems in golf are commonly overuse injuries. Strains occur when the muscle or tendon is pulled but does not completely tear. Inflammation of the rotator cuff tendons, or tendinitis, and even tears of the rotator cuff can occur with overuse or poor swing mechanics. The doctor also discusses tears of the tendons in the rotator cuff and dislocation of the shoulder. He talks about separation of the shoulder in biking and skiing.
A Doctor Talks About the Rotator Cuff and the Shoulder Click the Arrow to Start
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If an engineer were to try to improve the architecture of the human shoulder, they would probably design something more solid to support the upper shoulder. As it is, the upper shoulder depends for stability largely on 4 muscles and their tendons which together form the "rotator cuff". A tendon is a length of tissue that anchors the muscle to a bony support. The rotator cuff helps to lift and rotate the arm.
Jumat, 25 Januari 2008
DIET EXERCISE DETERMINATION A WOMAN LOSES WEIGHT AND GAINS A BETTER LIFE WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS
DIET EXERCISE DETERMINATION A WOMAN LOSES WEIGHT AND GAINS A BETTER LIFE WEIGHT LOSS SUCCESS
If you are interested in weight loss and diet you should read this story about a woman named Heather Davis who dieted and used exercise to lose over 100 pounds. She used her own ideas about diet and exercise and successfully transformed her lifestyle, appearance and her life. "By the time she was 22 and attending graduate school, Davis' weight had ballooned to 250 pounds. Davis says her weight gain was caused by major life transitions,triggered by emotional eating, a junk-food diet and lack of exercise".
"Davis says there wasn't any defining experience or "light bulb" moment that forced her to make a change. It was the realization that after years of failed diets and the physical toll of obesity, she'd had enough..She did cardio exercise for two weeks and began modifying her diet by cutting out starches, ice cream and pizza. Within the first two weeks, she had lost 8 pounds. She was motivated by the positive results and gradually increased her cardio, incorporated weight training and continued to change her diet".
"Davis remained determined, and over the next 12 months, with the support of her family and regular check-ins with a gym trainer, she lost 110 pounds.She went from wearing a plus-size 22 to wearing a size 4 or 6. The weight loss and healthier lifestyle boosted the 31-year-old's self-confidence and gave her access to a richer, fuller life".
Heather Davis' Tips on Weight Loss Exercise Diet and Life:
OVER THE COUNTER AND PRESCRIPTION ACNE MEDICINE TOPICAL AND ORAL DRUGS FOR ACNE
OVER THE COUNTER AND PRESCRIPTION ACNE MEDICINE TOPICAL AND ORAL DRUGS FOR ACNE
Topical acne medicine comes as cream, gel, lotion or solution. Which one to use can depend on the person's skin type.
One of the most used acne medicines is benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide can be obtained in various concentrations (2.5 to 10 percent. Benzoyl peroxide comes in water-based or alcohol-based gels. The water-based formulations are less drying than the alcohol-based preparations. Benzoyl peroxide gels are applied once or twice daily.
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The most common side effect of benzoyl peroxide is skin irriation. This effect occurs more often at higher concentrations and tends to decrease with continued use.Since some people get contact allergy to benzoyl peroxide ,it's a good idea to test for allergic dermatitis by applying a small amount first and not on the face. Benzoyl peorxide can bleach clothing.
Topical Antibiotics. Antibiotics are a mainstay of acne treatment. Topical antibiotics commonly are used in conjunction with retinoids or benzoyl peroxide. The most frequently used topical antibiotics are clindamycin and erythromycin.
Oral Antibiotics and Oral Contraceptive Pills. Oral antibiotics such as erythromycin may be prescribed and even oral contraceptives which can affect the hormone levels.
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Kamis, 24 Januari 2008
OMEGA 3 BENEFITS OF OILY FISH AS SALMON TUNA AND SARDINES AND THE RECENT WARNING ON MERCURY IN TUNA SUSHI
OMEGA 3 BENEFITS OF OILY FISH AS SALMON TUNA AND SARDINES AND THE RECENT WARNING ON MERCURY IN TUNA SUSHI
Adding to a previous discussion about Omega 3 and the benefits of eating certain kinds of fatty fish such as tuna, salmon and sardines I noticed an interview about the benefits of eating fish and tuna. The interview was prompted amid concerns about reports of high mercury found in sushi tuna. Mercury in fish is definitely a concern since mercury can accumulate and cause neurological problems especially in children. From Inuit eating fish oil rich with Omega 3 to the American Heart Association recommendation on Omega 3 fish oil to the Institute of Medicine findings on seafood and fish oil and the heart,a litany of reports have implicated oily fish and omega 3 oils in health benefits for everything from the heart to the head. Omega 3 benefits, for the heart at least, seem to be accepted by mainstream medicine. For example, "fish and omega-3 fatty acids in fish are good for your heart. A Mayo Clinic specialist tells how the heart-health benefits of eating fish usually outweigh any risks".
"What is a tuna-lover to do ( in light of recent reports in the NY Times about high mercury content in some tuna?) TIME asked the opinion of Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, and co-author of one of the most comprehensive studies to date on the impact of fish consumption on human health".
"Should we stop eating tuna? No. Overall, the dangers of not eating fish [including tuna] outweigh the small possible dangers from mercury. The recommended amount for adults is to eat one or two servings of fish per week — but probably only 10% to 20% of the population in the U.S. eats sufficient fish. The real danger in this country, the real concern, is that we're not eating enough fish. That is very likely increasing our rates of death from heart disease".
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LIPS AND THE MOUTH WHO KNEW THERE WAS SO MUCH TO LIPS
LIPS AND THE MOUTH WHO KNEW THERE WAS SO MUCH TO LIPS
Lip augmentation and surgery. Who knew there was so much to lips? Lips are important even if you are not Angelina Jolie. You won't believe how intricate lip and mouth movement and appearance is until you read the article at the Suture for a Living blog. "Our lips are very important in many ways:
"The Upper lip extends from the base of the nose superiorly, to the nasolabial folds laterally, and to the free edge of the vermilion border inferiorly.The lower lip (Labium inferioris) extends from the superior free vermilion edge superiorly, to the commissures laterally, and to the mandible inferiorly. The lower lip is usually somewhat larger (for youthful lips approximately twice as full as the upper)".
"The vermilion is the "colored" portion of the lips. The skin here is very thin. In light-skin people, the underlying blood vessels appear more readily through the skin which leads to their notable red coloring. With darker skin color, this effect is less prominent".
TOPICAL AND ORAL DRUGS FOR ACNE OVER THE COUNTER AND PRESCRIPTION ACNE MEDICINE
TOPICAL AND ORAL DRUGS FOR ACNE OVER THE COUNTER AND PRESCRIPTION ACNE MEDICINE
Topical acne medicine comes as cream, gel, lotion or solution. Which one to use can depend on the person's skin type.
One of the most used acne medicines is benzoyl peroxide. Benzoyl peroxide can be obtained in various concentrations (2.5 to 10 percent. Benzoyl peroxide comes in water-based or alcohol-based gels. The water-based formulations are less drying than the alcohol-based preparations. Benzoyl peroxide gels are applied once or twice daily.
The most common side effect of benzoyl peroxide is skin irriation. This effect occurs more often at higher concentrations and tends to decrease with continued use.Since some people get contact allergy to benzoyl peroxide ,it's a good idea to test for allergic dermatitis by applying a small amount first and not on the face. Benzoyl peorxide can bleach clothing.
Topical Antibiotics. Antibiotics are a mainstay of acne treatment. Topical antibiotics commonly are used in conjunction with retinoids or benzoyl peroxide. The most frequently used topical antibiotics are clindamycin and erythromycin.
Oral Antibiotics and Oral Contraceptive Pills. Oral antibiotics such as erythromycin may be prescribed and even oral contraceptives which can affect the hormone levels.
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ACNE WHAT MEDICINE IS USED TO TREAT ACNE WHAT CAUSES ACNE SKIN PROBLEMS
WHAT CAUSES ACNE AND MEDICINES USED TO TREAT ACNE SKIN PROBLEMS
Skin acne is the scourge of teenagers everywhere. Acne can be confusing. So many acne medicines. Do you use a topical acne cream or gel or do you need an antibiotic pill for the acne? What is Accutane and why do people taking Accutane enroll in a special drug registry? Skin acne happens when the hair follicle, the tube in the skin that contains the hair shaft gets plugged by oil.
Acne is most common on skin with the highest concentration of oil glands, the face, neck, chest, upper arms, and back. Acne happens as the skin cells in the follicle stick together. Acne pimples, blackheads or whiteheads grow on the skin. Bacteria grow in the acne pimples and the body releases inflammation chemicals.Most acne medicines either stop plugs from forming in hair follicles, attack the bacteria or reduce skin inflammation.
Degrees of Acne:
Acne treatment tries to:
Acne treatments include:
such as benzoyls peroxide,vitamin A derivatives.
You put topical medicines on the areas where you have acne.Some are over the counter some by prescription only. Oral acne medicines come in pill or capsule form.
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SHOULDER PAIN: DOES YOUR SHOULDER HURT MAYBE IT'S YOUR ROTATOR CUFF
SHOULDER PAIN: DOES YOUR SHOULDER HURT? MAYBE IT'S YOUR ROTATOR CUFF
What Do Car Mechanics, Symphony Conductors and Tennis Players Have in Common
James Levine is the leader of the Metropolitan Opera. He may not play much baseball but he has a problem that is the nemesis of many a pitcher. Just ask Kerry Wood, the sometime Chicago Cubs pitcher. They both have been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff.
Does It Hurt When You Reach for Your Wallet
Does it hurt to lift your arm or reach for your wallet,literally? What is a rotator cuff anyway? If an engineer were to try to improve the architecture of the human shoulder, they would probably design something more solid to support the upper shoulder. As it is, the upper shoulder depends for stabilty largely on 4 muscles and their tendons which together form the "rotator cuff". A tendon is a length of tissue that anchors the muscle to a bony support. The rotator cuff helps to lift and rotate the arm.
In Levine's case he fell on stage in Boston tearing his rotator cuff. Most likely his arm was extended as he fell, a classic pattern for people with torn rotator cuffs. Wood also fits a pattern. Pitchers, swimmers and tennis players all have a propensity for rotator cuff injuries as do people who do repetitive lifting and who lift their arm high up in the air. What they have in common is repetitive stress on the shoulder..
Shoulder Pain: Diagnosis and Treatment of a Rotator Cuff Injury
Since it is an injury to a muscle or related tendon, x rays generally don't reveal much about the rotator cuff. More useful is an MRI or an ultrasound.
Treatment depends on the nature of the injury. Sometimes exercise and physical therapy are prescribed for strengthening and sometimes surgery is needed.
Look at
Rabu, 23 Januari 2008
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO BOTOX TECHNIQUE TO SMOOTH FACIAL WRINKLES USING RADIO WAVES GFX RADIO FREQUENCY ABLATION ON FACIAL NERVES TO SMOOTH WRINKLES
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO BOTOX TECHNIQUE TO SMOOTH FACIAL WRINKLES USING RADIO WAVES GFX RADIO FREQUENCY ABLATION ON FACIAL NERVES TO SMOOTH WRINKLES
A "new wrinkle" in cosmetic dermatology. There is a new method to try and smooth wrinkles on the face using radio frequency energy. Radio wave energy has been used in various medical procedures previously. Botox is a well known chemical method to temporarily smooth wrinkles on the face by carefully calibrated injections of Botox botulinum toxin that paralyze the muscles in the face. Now a procedure has been approved by the FDA to smooth wrinkles using radio waves called GFX. The radio waves target the nerves attached to muscles associated with facial expression wrinkling. The process is called Percutaneous Selective Radiofrequency Neuroablation (PSRN). Radio waves have been used in other medical procedures, for example in the heart but this is the first I have heard of them being used to smooth wrinkles."GFX is FDA cleared as a subcutaneous lesion generation system utilizing bipolar radio frequency technology to target motor nerves".
GFX for wrinkles,is a new procedure.One advantage touted is that the effects of GFX may last one or two years rather than several months as is the case with Botox. The GFX pen is held by the treating doctor and placed under the skin through a single puncture site. The doctor then delivers the energy selectively resulting in an immediate relaxation of the tense frowning muscles of the forehead. It would probably be difficult to find many dermatologists or plastic surgeons who practice it currently since it is so new. The manufacturer is Advanced Cosmetic Intervention, Inc.
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Live Surgery #1 - Open Heart Surgery
Who would've thunk it? The world's video viewing spot of choice, YouTube, has live surgery.
Lock away the kids!
Lock away the kids!
Selasa, 22 Januari 2008
GASTRIC BAND WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY FOR OBESE DIABETES STUDY SAYS DIABETICS DID BETTER WITH GASTRIC BAND WEIGHT LOSS THAN WITH CONVENTIONAL THERAPY
GASTRIC BAND WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY FOR OBESE DIABETES STUDY SAYS DIABETICS DID BETTER WITH GASTRIC BAND WEIGHT LOSS THAN WITH CONVENTIONAL THERAPY
In a study called Adjustable Gastric Banding and Conventional Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes researchers divided obese people with Type 2 diabetes into two groups. One group of obese diabetics got weight loss surgery, laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding and the other group of diabetics got conventional diabetes therapy with a focus on weight loss by lifestyle change. The researchers found that "participants randomized to surgical therapy were more likely to achieve remission of type 2 diabetes through greater weight loss. These results need to be confirmed in a larger, more diverse population and have long-term efficacy assessed".
"The study, of 60 patients, showed that 73 percent of those who had the gastric banding surgery had complete remissions of diabetes, meaning all signs of the disease went away. By contrast, the remission rate was only 13 percent in those given conventional treatment, which included intensive counseling on diet and exercise for weight loss, and, when needed, diabetes medicines like insulin, metformin and other drugs". Type 2 diabetes is the more common form of diabetes. Doctors have known for some time that weight loss tends to improve Type 2 diabetes. It tends to appear in older people and can be due to a lack of sensitivity of the insulin receptors in the body. Type 2 diabetes is more likely to be treated with pills than insulin shots.
"The operation used in the study, adjustable gastric banding, is performed through small slits and loops a band around the top of the stomach to cinch it into a small pouch so that people eat less and yet feel full".
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HEIMLICH MANEUVER DESPITE CONTROVERSY YOU READ STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE SAVING CHOKING DINERS WITH HEIMLICH MANEUVER
HEIMLICH MANEUVER DESPITE CONTROVERSY YOU READ STORIES ABOUT PEOPLE SAVING CHOKING DINERS WITH HEIMLICH MANEUVER
The Heimlich Maneuver has had some controversy in recent years. But it seems that every day you read about someone saving a choking friend by performing the Heimlich maneuver. Stories like this "When a piece of chicken got stuck in journalist Al Hunt's windpipe Friday night, Sen. John Sununu came to the rescue. "John was terrific," said Hunt, 65, executive editor for Washington at Bloomberg News. "He quickly jumped up, put his arms around me, did the Heimlich Maneuver. Within about two seconds, it came out."
There has been controversy in recent years about abdominal thrusts and in what situations to use the Heimlich Maneuver. But it seems that every day you read stories like the one about the senator saving a choking victim or a child saving a friend or sibling who is choking on a piece of a toy or food. It would probably be a good idea to familiarize yourself with how to do the Heimlich Maneuver as well as visit the web site of the Red Cross.
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IMPROVING BRAIN POWER AND BRAIN POWER GAMES PLAY GAMES TO IMPROVE WORKING MEMORY
IMPROVING BRAIN POWER AND BRAIN POWER GAMES PLAY GAMES TO IMPROVE WORKING MEMORY
Brain power involves the ability to remember information and memorize facts among others things. Recall is central to the ability to think and brain function. Adding to the previous post about brain power games and improving working memory. A website about remembering information and improving the ability to remember lists three fundamental principles, imagination, association and location.
"Imagination,If you think about the sort of things that you can remember easily, what is common about them? The answer is that they are interesting in some way. Your brain is very good at remembering things that it finds interesting.This leads to a memory principle. Make the things that you want to remember interesting. Things that move, explode, flash and so on are more memorable".
"Association. One idea naturally leads to another. When things are connected, then we can move from one image to another with ease. This can be used in remembering lists (connect each item to the previous), or can be used to connect ideas to a way of remembering them".
"Location. This principle is derived from the ancient prescription given by Cicero and others, that memory images should be placed in locations that are familiar to you. This in a sense automatically ASSOCIATES your images with something that you have already memorized perfectly (the locations)".
Many games to improve brain power includes games to improve working memory. Working memory is one of the most important components of brain power. Some games to improve brain power work specifically on working memory. Working memory can be thought of as the ability to hold and use pieces of information in our heads for a short amount of time while working on a task or solving a problem like using a phone number or following a set of directions. In many games you have to remember information like positions of game pieces. However the amount of information we can hold is limited and the information itself is very unstable - a sudden distraction and the information is lost and you have to start again from scratch.
For an example of working memory brain power. Imagine you ask a policeman how to get to city hall. The policeman says "Go three blocks until you see a stop sign and make a left turn onto Green Street. Then look for the Calories R US supermarket about three blocks down Green Street.You go past 2 gas stations until you see the large white building next to the drive in restaurant.The type of memory needed to hold information in your mind while working on a problem or task is called working memory.
Here is a brainpower game to test your working memory. The game is called BumperCows.
"We use working memory for understanding language, solving problems, memorizing information, developing new ideas, in fact pretty much everything that is not automatic. So something completely automated like walking does not use working memory, but learning something new like a dance move would.
If cognitive processing ended at attention, you would conduct your life strictly from information received at the present instant, without any internal state of the mind or abstract thought. The words of this sentence would dart ephemerally in and out of your brain, becoming wholly devoid of perceptible meaning...
Instead of this mercifully unlikely scenario, however, your attention grants the words access to your brain’s working memory, which briefly holds and evaluates them for the duration of their relevance (i.e. until you have finished the sentence or idea).
Working memory, though operating over a timescale of mere seconds, is central to human thought processes. It allows you to temporarily hold and evaluate information in your mind, whether from the environment, stored memories, or internal state, thus allowing you to process the world within your personal context. Thus, working memory not only allows you to remember a phone number and find your way home, but is also central to language, reasoning, and most of the mental functions associated with human intelligence".
The above graphic about brain power working memory using remembering a telephone number is from
Minggu, 20 Januari 2008
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO BOTOX TECHNIQUE TO SMOOTH FACIAL WRINKLES USING RADIO WAVES GFX RADIO FREQUENCY ABLATION ON FACIAL NERVES TO SMOOTH WRINKLES
POSSIBLE ALTERNATIVE TO BOTOX TECHNIQUE TO SMOOTH FACIAL WRINKLES USING RADIO WAVES GFX RADIO FREQUENCY ABLATION ON FACIAL NERVES TO SMOOTH WRINKLES
A "new wrinkle" in cosmetic dermatology. There is a new method to try and smooth wrinkles on the face using radio frequency energy. Radio wave energy has been used in various medical procedures previously. Botox is a well known chemical method to temporarily smooth wrinkles on the face by carefully calibrated injections of Botox botulinum toxin that paralyze the muscles in the face. Now a procedure has been approved by the FDA to smooth wrinkles using radio waves called GFX. The radio waves target the nerves attached to muscles associated with facial expression wrinkling. The process is called Percutaneous Selective Radiofrequency Neuroablation (PSRN). Radio waves have been used in other medical procedures, for example in the heart but this is the first I have heard of them being used to smooth wrinkles."GFX is FDA cleared as a subcutaneous lesion generation system utilizing bipolar radio frequency technology to target motor nerves".
GFX for wrinkles,is a new procedure.One advantage touted is that the effects of GFX may last one or two years rather than several months as is the case with Botox. The GFX pen is held by the treating doctor and placed under the skin through a single puncture site. The doctor then delivers the energy selectively resulting in an immediate relaxation of the tense frowning muscles of the forehead. It would probably be difficult to find many dermatologists or plastic surgeons who practice it currently since it is so new. The manufacturer is Advanced Cosmetic Intervention, Inc.
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TREATMENT FOR PANCREATIC CANCER WITH SURGERY AND VACCINE ENCOURAGING FOR OPERA GREAT MARILYN HORNE GETS PANCREATIC CANCER VACCINE AT JOHNS HOPKINS
TREATMENT FOR PANCREATIC CANCER WITH SURGERY AND VACCINE ENCOURAGING FOR OPERA GREAT MARILYN HORNE GETS PANCREATIC CANCER VACCINE AT JOHNS HOPKINS
A pancreatic cancer vaccine designed to enlist the immune system in the fight against pancreatic cancer has a celebrity recipient. Besides surgery for her cancer, Marilyn Horne, the renowned opera diva has received a pancreatic cancer vaccine at John Hopkins Medical Center. The results of the pancreas ca vaccine and surgery together are encouraging. By the way "smoking cigarettes is known to double the risk of pancreatic cancer, and cigarette smoking is believed to account for 20% to 25% of pancreatic cancers. The recent sequencing of the pancreatic cancer genome provided the team at Johns Hopkins a unique opportunity to discover the DNA changes (mutations) caused by cigarette smoking.Scientists at the Sol Goldman Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins report in the April 15th issue of Cancer Research (Cancer Research volume 69, pages 3681-3688, 2009) that up to 25% of the genetic mutations found in pancreatic cancers from cigarette smokers are caused by cigarette smoking."
This vaccine is designed for people who already have pancreatic cancer. Usually most vaccines are designed as prophylaxis but this one is to help the body attack the disease."Now declared free of pancreatic cancer two years after diagnosis, Marilyn Horne adds another milestone to her long list of accolades: "Prima donna and survivor." Horne,who has never discussed her experimental cancer treatment publicly said she wanted to talk about it to help others facing the same illness".
"Horne began receiving the injections of lab-grown pancreatic cancer cells in early 2007, after surgery to remove the tumor. The vaccine has been genetically modified with an immune-boosting gene to tackle any lingering malignant cells. "Essentially, the vaccine teaches the immune system to recognize those pancreas cancer cells as being foreign and attack them specifically," says Dr. Daniel Laheru, a Johns Hopkins oncologist leading the study. "Her most important treatment was the surgery, but we hope the vaccine is additional insurance against recurrence."
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Sabtu, 19 Januari 2008
NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL AND LDL STUDY SAYS EATING CERTAIN NATURAL FOODS MIGHT RESULT IN CHOLESTEROL DROP COMPARABLE TO LOW DOSE STATIN DRUG
NATURAL WAYS TO LOWER CHOLESTEROL AND LDL STUDY SAYS EATING CERTAIN NATURAL FOODS MIGHT RESULT IN CHOLESTEROL DROP COMPARABLE TO LOW DOSE STATIN DRUG
Is there a natural way to lower cholesterol? Many people would love to find a natural way to lower cholesterol possibly by eating or taking something other than drugs for cholesterol. One possible way to lower cholesterol "naturally" is called the Portfolio Eating Plan. It involves eating certain natural foods including nuts, soy and oats and plant sterols, molecules in plants that resemble cholesterol. A number of avenues have been suggested to lower cholesterol besides drugs. The most popular drugs to lower cholesterol, the statins, such as Lipitor or Zocor or Crestor work great. But many people can't tolerate the statins or are afraid of side effects.
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Dr. David Jenkins who authored the studies, one of which appeared in 2006 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition "found that the people who stuck to the diet reduced their 'bad' LDL cholesterol by 20 per cent after a year, a result comparable to taking a low dose statin, a drug that lowers cholesterol". "The diet lowered serum cholesterol levels as effectively as a low dose statin, blood sugars were regulated because of the high fibre content of the foods. The level of C-reactive protein, which is linked to the inflammation of arteries, was reduced".
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