BiTherapca Health

Striking the Right Balance

2012-01-08T12:27:00.000-08:00

The importance of staying healthy has never been contested. By staying in good health, we preempt taxing our body, and our systems function at their optimum. Enzymes and chaperones, which depend on energy resources, work best when these resources are not stretched thin.

Our cells are saved from toxins that stress them to damage and inflammation. Regulatory processes set in and keep the body healthy by slowing cell division, thus allowing for repairs or allow for the death of severely damaged cells. Too much need for repairs stops cell division altogether. This stoppage results in a failure to replace naturally dying cells. Functional tissue is replaced by scar. The regulatory processes that control the cell division to allow for repairs to take place can be further stressed. This leads to further damage to cells, which now lose self-control and divide uncontrollably. This way cancer is produced.

Damage can be prevented, in the first place, by avoiding the insult, which could be physical (toxins) or psychological (stress).

One way to combat damage is to assist our body get rid of the toxins by eating food substances that help detoxify our systems and by carrying out regular physical exercise. Another is good stress management.

Exercise and good nutrition have a therapeutic effect on both the mind and the body cells as they assist in the repair process, making the time put in get this done to be shorter and alleviating the burden on regulatory(control) processes, which processes are energy-intensive and highly demanding(taxing) to the body, a source of stress and hence damage. Indulgence in taking pain killers may only serve to mask the damage and make it insidious. Eating the wrong foods, high in fats suppresses the innate immune system(inflammation) and gives a false impression that the insult has gone.

One insult, once in a while, may not be so bad as the body's detoxification, repairs and regulatory processes set in, in time to arrest any permanent negative imprint. But several insults over a length of time act together to cause more severe, irreparable damage to our body.

Our brain cells control our body cells and vice-versa. When one group suffers, the other, inevitably, does as well. So both mental and physical healths are intrinsically tied together. Keeping the one upbeat, inevitably, revives the other. The whole body works in unison and not in parts. The best treatment is, therefore, one that targets the affected part, which should be taking much of the whole body's resources, which may be meager, while keeping all other parts in good balance, through proper nutrition and exercise. Damage to one cell type will spill toxic substances not only to neighboring cells but also to distant cells, through circulation.

The watch word is to strike the right balance between overindulgence and inactivity. If you don't use your muscle, muscle cells die because they lack the stimulus to grow; if you overuse them, they die through stress, but if you use them moderately you build them up by not only strengthening them but also by recruiting new cells to join the fold. When you eat a lot, you create more fat cells and lose muscle cells; when you don't eat, you lose both, but when you eat moderately, you have more muscle than fat, which is good for the heart and the brain; the kidney and the liver; the lungs and the skin.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso, MD

Eat and Drink wisely over the Festive Season

2011-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

When you eat, food is either burnt down, or is stored as fat, if in excess. If our metabolism is high, we burn food faster. High metabolism can be due to properly functioning thyroid, good immune system, properly functioning brain or physical activity.

When we continue to eat more, we store excess food as fat and this storage is promoted by insulin. Fat, especially cholesterol, lodges in blood vessels, causing them to narrow down and this leads to hypertension, setting the stage for stroke and heart attack.

Pretty soon fat cells become saturated with fat and, because of this, insulin no longer promotes glucose uptake into cells and its subsequent conversion into fat, as these cells run out of storage space. This is called insulin resistance. Exercise will will burn down fat and create more storage space for glucose uptake.

Excess fat also impairs protein, and hence insulin, synthesis. Eventually, excess glucose damages insulin secreting cells in the pancreas and this further reduces the quantity and quality of insulin being produced.

The three factors, of insulin resistance, due to ineffectiveness of insulin, seen as its failure to cause the removal glucose from blood into tissue, and decreased synthesis of quality insulin, from damage to insulin cells, lead to type II diabetes mellitus. Hence, in obesity, both the quantity and quality of insulin are reduced.

Fat cells also secrete substances that cause direct damage to body tissues, especially seen in the liver, and this is a factor in cancer.

These series of conditions which result in excessive fat accumulation are referred to as metabolic syndrome.
If caught early and appropriate measures like exercise and reduced calorie intake are taken, we can succeed to adequately reverse the trend and prevent the development of full-blown type II diabetes mellitus, which is irreversible.

Whether we are still in the pre-diabetic, metabolic syndrome, stage or are already diabetic, exercise is still very useful to us as it does not only help burn down fat and create more storage space, but it also reduces further damage of insulin cells, due to excess glucose, as well as increases non-insulin dependent glucose uptake into the muscle to be burnt to feed the rising metabolism in activity.

It has been shown that people eat superfluously over this festive season and gain weight and then struggle, without any success, to shed it. Obese people, who do not have well controlled blood sugar, may run into severe diabetic crises, glucose intolerance, that does not respond to any therapy, for want of fat storage space, and succumb to it.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso, MD

In sleep we repair and refresh: Why we need natural sleep

2011-12-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

People have witnessed extreme irritability, anxiety, depression, deterioration of mental acuteness(sharpness), as well as a general decline in their physical well-being, with long term sleep deprivation.

The biological clock in sleep is well regulated by the body, but sometimes things go awry, for some reasons, not only limited to health but also to factors such as the nature of our jobs.

The human catabolism, which is the wear and tear of tissue, and the digestion and breakdown of assimilated food to supply energy, takes place mainly during the day, when the body cells are more active as we eat, work through thinking and moving our body parts, walk, play and as our body organs toil against all adversity.

Catabolic activity peaks in the late afternoon; this is when we have maximum food breakdown and enzymatic processing of cellular debris to be later cleared by phagocytes. Immune activity sets in, as physical and mental activities wane, and incrementally progresses into the night, when the other body cells are practically resting.

In the night, the immune system, which will have been deprived of energy resources, from keen competition from other metabolically active cells like the brain and muscles cells, during the day, become more active, as they clear away debris, left behind from damaged cells, paving the way for more efficient repair to take place in the tissues. Damaged tissue is being repaired, through anabolism, which is the building up activity. After, our organs go to rest.

Without sleep which provides adequate rest, the clearing of debris and repair of tissue become inadequate. The result is: general health suffers. Cancers and infections thrive.

Natural sleep is regulated by our biological clock. As we move into the day, our wakefulness and catabolism are ramped up following a turn-on of the genetic switch, which is sensitive to light and activity that deplete the sleep hormone called melatonin, a potent anti-oxidant and a strong immune stimulant. Melatonin levels build up from the evening and remain high in the night, in response to darkness and inactivity, and induce and sustain sleep.

In the morning, the levels of this hormone, melatonin, run low, in response to cortisol, an activity and stress hormone and to light. This switches off the sleep gene and switches on the wakefulness gene. Activity is initiated by the rapid eye movement sleep; the dreaming phase of sleep that precedes the morning wakening, characterized by increased oxygen uptake but loss of muscle tone.

The more we exercise or work-out in the late afternoon and produce cortisol, the more we shall produce the opposing melatonin in response to darkness, later in the night and this helps us fall asleep readily. The Sleep gene activity is, therefore, increased(up-regulated), in response to a high day's activity.

Sleep has a 90 minutes cycle of four stages or thereabout, beginning with light sleep through deepest sleep.

Finally, we reach the point when we dream, called the rapid eye movement sleep, due to brain's activity that is characteristic of eye movements. The sleep's brain pattern here is similar to the pattern in the state of wakefulness. The brain is very active, busy synthesizing the day's activities and putting them into logical clusters or files in a store-- from working memory to long term memory-- for subsequent recollection or retrieval. The muscle tone is lost.

People who do not have enough sleep are, usually, anxious, depressed, easily get irritated, are forgetful, do not learn well and are often hypertensive.

This information transfer part of sleep is the stage that makes natural sleep so refreshing, as it decongests our short term memory store, creates more room and prepares us for the next day's activities, on a clean slate, as it were. Learning is most productive and, therefore, best done at the early hours of the day.

Sleeping pills do not produce this part of information documentation sleep, since they suppress the brain's ability to transfer information, as it were, from the front to the back of the mind. They can even lead to amnesia and loss of information, the reason why these pills may be good for worries and nightmares(night terrors) safe for dependence but bad for learning. They provide rest but do not refresh the mind. They produce, more or less, induced or artificial coma, only slightly short of general anesthesia you receive on the doctor's operation bed.(Alcohol can be conveniently added to this list).

Good sleep should last for between six to eight hours. Light and noise should be minimal.

We need sleep not only to repair damaged tissue but also for good memory and to refresh the brain for optimal mental and physical activities the following day.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

Fighting Cancer

2011-12-10T11:43:00.000-08:00

Cancer cells have altered genetic material and sometimes associated proteins called histones and have lost control of cell division. The telomeres have shortened in length through damage. Genes for repairs, found in telomeres, have been damaged. Repair does not match the damage because stress is too metabolically demanding to the cell.

Telomeres grow back by some repair mechanism that could not take place during the metabolically demanding damage to the cell. The regrowth in telomeres means that the change in the cell has been consolidated and so can be perpetuated as cancer cells multiply uncontrollably.

Treatment with cytotoxic drugs and radiation further damage the cancer cells, shorten their telomeres and lead to cell death. Other treatments attempt to put a brake on excessive cell division. Still others target hormones that promote cell growth(division) via cell receptors (transcription factors).

Continuous cell, and hence DNA, damage, indirectly from excessive cell stimulation(from e.g. irritation or other environmental factors which 'force' replication and cause damage to DNA on replication) or directly on pro-oncogenes or tumor suppressors, leads to cancer.

It is now known that some nutrients that produce their benefits on cellular damage, including cysteine and indeed all anti-oxidants, do so more by supplying molecular oxygen to tissue rather than by depriving the cell of reactive oxygen free radicals(which are naturally taken care of by our enzyme systems).

This brings us to the importance of aerobic respiration in the prevention of cancer and all cell damage, for that matter, and the accompanying aging of the cell, with the shortening of telomeres. No doubt, exercise has been shown to reverse this shortening of telomeres. This proves that exercise, through oxygen supplies, repairs telomeres and cells and prevents most diseases, by efficient energy output and input.

On the other hand, insulin signaling, which leads to uncontrolled cell growth, predisposes cells to damage from 'forced' replication, cancer, and in fact, many diseases, thus reducing lifespan. This again underscores the importance of exercise, which reduces the need for insulin, in health.

Metformin, a hypoglycemic(ant-diabetic) drug, which reduces the need for insulin, has been shown to be effective in the treatment of cancer. So, although having normal weight is very important for good health, the good effects of exercise outweigh the benefits of weight loss without exercise.

Normal growth hormone is stimulated by fasting, which prompts glucagon secretion that supports normal growth and repair and this has been shown to slow aging. This occurs more in sleep and rest.

There has been a long-held view that cancer cells do not carry out aerobic respiration. Evidence is coming up that they do not only use oxygen but that such usage in aerobic respiration is increased above that of normal cells. To do so, cancer cells send signals that make it difficult for surrounding normal cells to use oxygen, in an attempt to effectively compete for energy resources, needed for cancer growth. Hence, immune cells that will normally fight cancer, become weak, being deprived not only of food but more importantly of oxygen. Inflammation sets in, in the normal tissue.

Blood vessels leading to cancer tissue become leaky. This is an attempt to further deprive normal cells of oxygen. Being inflamed, these normal cells cannot take up oxygen very well. Cancer cells, on the other, hand are well equipped genetically to take up oxygen, in a carefully controlled manner to grow and survive. Dopamine has been shown to re-establish the endothelial integrity and lead to normal tissue oxygenation, which has been viewed as a strategy to defeat cancer

Of course, having enough rest, promotes cell repair and produces less cellular damage. In stress, physical and psychological, which are both cellular stimulants and insults, our cells with their DNA are more open to damage.

These logical scientific explanations have been advanced in an attempt to show how our lifestyles shape our health and longevity. From stress through nutrition to exercise, we have a say.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

Is it all in the Genes?

2011-11-19T12:14:00.000-08:00

People are genetically more identical than different. The genetic variations(mutations) caused mainly by 'junk DNA' also known as jumping genes or transposons, thought to have had parasitic infection origin, that we individually have, are phenotypically insignificant, being largely repressed, except, of course, when they cause occasional diseases. Thus, phenotypically we have even much closer resemblances than dissimilarities and that explains why we, as humans, have the same basic needs.

There, however, is one thing we all differ in; and that is, our thinking. We choose what we want to do with our lives, except, of course, in situations when we have mental health issues (most of us do, in the course of our lifespan). Our experiences and individual life paths are all different and they help shape both intra-personal(varies with age) and inter-personal(between persons) differences, which are observed even in identical twins, individuals with the closest genotypic and phenotypic similarities.

Before birth and at old age we have very similar genetic expressions. These are times when cell replication is more profound, organogenesis in the fetus and degenerative changes and cancer in the old age and hence more genes are open to expression. In-between, however, most genes are silenced, by epigenetic mechanisms, since they are not often in demand.

The gene expression of the brain of people will differ depending on their attitude and hence motivation and on their personality; which have genetic and environmental components to it.

It is now known that brain cell simulation keeps genes turned on, to keep up the desired function and so our life intentions, motivations and loves drive themselves through epigenetic mechanisms and these traits are known to pass not only from mother to child but equally from father to offspring(thereby excluding an in-utero -only-transmission mechanism), even if they have never been seen or expressed in grandparents. Unused for a while, these epigenetic changes revert to the native form.

It is on the basis of this concept of cell plasticity that the expression, 'What doesn't kill you strengthens you', is often made allusion to. Genes are up- or down-regulated to meet our adaptative needs; to compensate for some deficits. By the time this somehow lost function returns, we will have acquired an additional new target of function and a way of doing things or coping, which now become a desired bonus on function; which function was originally and solely executed by the primary tissue or target of this function. This can now result in the rebirth of a talent, long buried with the gene in the histone, as it were.

Creating new genes for completely new needs may be an evolutionally slow process(transposons are unstable regulatory DNA segments, most likely, of parasitic infectious origin) but plasticity is a rapid adaptation, necessary for human survival. In fact, some of our human genes must have been lost in the course of evolution for want of conferring any survival advantage or for lack of use.

Each cell can be made(trained) to perform the function of another, since genetically our cells are basically the same and , in fact, differentiated cells are known to de-differentiate to stem cells in tissue damage, if there are not enough of these stem cells and then to divide and replace dead cells.

The question of whether we can overcome our genes pops up very too frequently, and never mind the cliche: 'It is all in the genes'. Many genes, apart from, those implicated in inborn errors of metabolism that code for enzymes and which are autosomal recessive, can only act together to have a significant effect on the outcome(polygenic effect). Hence, many people carry schizophrenia, diabetes, obesity, cancer, genes but will never develop the diseases or conditions. There are inactivation by repressor gene, microRNA silencing, transposon interference, and epigenetic methylation, phosphorylation and acetylation of genes and histones which result in the binding of these genes to histones to become silenced.

It is now known that exercise and good nutrition are the single most important mitigating factors to developing diseases.

Come to think of it, nutrition and exercise provide metabolites, and energy resources generated with oxygen that help our genes to properly regulate our body and make us stay in good health. These are needed by all cells to function properly, repair or renew themselves and retard cellular senescence. These healthful lifestyle activities have, in fact, been documented to actually reverse cell senescence by lengthening age-related shortened telomeres. Telomeres are repetitive sequences at chromosomes' terminals, rich in enzymes of DNA repair. Repair is more profound during sleep, when further damage from catabolic activities including eating, and nutrient competition from these would be least likely.

It is good that we start exercise while still young so as to strengthen the muscles and bones and maintain these as we age and be able to continuously exercise throughout lifespan.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

What is Disease?

2011-10-29T18:27:00.000-07:00

'Deficiency in the normal functioning of the body', would be the most obvious answer.

By and large, chronic diseases are due to inefficiency in the in-built compensation mechanisms in the body, homeostasis, that is; not the lack of it. In most cases, the body overcompensates and this leads to further damage to the body or limit to function.

There is, first, deficiency or, occasionally, over-activity, usually inefficient and prone to errors, which causes damage. Compensation then sets in. Overcompensation is usually due to deficiency in the output from the nutrients; that is, the amount of ATP and intermediate metabolites, with the initiating oxygen, that are available for the body to perform its functions, with optimal(not maximum)output, are inadequate. There is, usually, maximum activity with limited output, since stress, in itself, is an inefficient process, which accounts for errors in the execution of functions in this yearning to re-establish constancy in the internal milieu(environment).

An overcompensated body is a pathological one, hence the heart becomes enlarged in hypertension, which defeats the whole purpose to increase the supply of oxygen-laden blood; there is increase in white blood cells in infections, which leads to inflammation and further damage to the body and this, in itself, defeats the whole purpose, which is, to prevent infectious damage; the motor end-plate or post-synaptic receptors increase in number, following lesion of nerve supplies to the area; trauma leads to replacement of functional tissue with support but 'non-functional' connective tissue and this accounts for degenerative diseases and aging; over-activity of the brain, through dopamine(which interestingly suppresses impulsivity and anxiety), imposes on GABA, which self-destructs in excess, to put a brake on this function and prevent schizophrenia; damage to the DNA creates oncogenes which are counteracted by tumor suppressors, whose over-activity prevents cell growth and leads to death.

On the other hand, acute diseases, from under-activity or over-activity, are due lack of compensation and occur when the damaging insult overrides the residual compensation, there is. The acute manifestations lead to total collapse of the functional body, by distorting the internal milieu; hence electrolyte imbalance prevents the proper functioning of all cells and can lead to death; trauma leads to cells detaching from their organs and to functional deficit; lack of oxygen, caused by heart arrest, respiratory collapse or severe brain depression, leads to cell death. These are emergency situations that, usually, call for the use of life-support machine, while the cause is sought and corrected or compensation spontaneously sets in.

It is becoming apparent that most diseases are never wholly corrected or cured, apparently because some insidious sequelae lurk, long after the obvious signs and symptoms have gone, as no fix can compare equitably with the original self. Most fixes are only partial, for lack of tools to eliminate the causes. Fixes yield better results when done sooner than later but above all 'Prevention is better than cure'.

While in health, before any disease ever strikes, maintaining a good functional body, through regular exercise, good nutrition and healthy habits(mental, physical and spiritual), offers better protection and produces better outcomes, if and when disease comes.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

Why We Need Sufficient Oxygen

2011-09-24T15:07:00.000-07:00

Good oxygenation leads to good heat shock proteins performance that prevents damage to tissue components and cell death after injury, including stroke and infections. It promotes tissue repair even if damage has already occurred.

Severe immune response(autoimmunity) produces acute inflammation with fever and aches, promotes apoptotic cell death from mitochondria dysfunction, and regeneration follows. Moderate immunity leads to chronic inflammation, little regeneration but rather degeneration through mesenchymal tissue replacement of functional parenchymal tissue. Little immunity leads to a carrier state with usually neither disease signs nor pain, if there is limited microbe invasiveness.

Good oxygenation leads to good tissue repair, decreased inflammation and decreased cell damage and death. Immune cells are more effective, much stronger and alert.

Oxygen, therefore, encourages repair, cell rejuvenation and, in less frequent situations of irreversible damage like in trauma, to programmed cell death and replacement. This alleviates inflammation and slows down aging, which are accompanied by massive cell injury and necrosis with some loss of cell quality and function.

These oxygen functions, from optimal ATP output, which favor cell growth, repair and replacement, lead to better gene expression, enzyme function, good immunity, metabolic balance and overall good organ function.

Oxygen free radicals result from high metabolic cellular activity, as collaterals, mirrored by aerobic respiration. High food(glucose) supply, therefore, has as a consequence, the production of superoxide anion, with the electron coming from the electron transport chain. Dying tissue, on the other hand, can cause excess unused oxygen to combine with water, to form hydrogen peroxide.

Incidentally, the oxygen superoxide, converts to the more potent hydroxyl radical by combining with hydrogen peroxide. Phagocytes synthesize hydrogen peroxide and use it, as defense, to kill microbes that invade the body. There are enzyme systems in the body which have evolved to protect the body from the harm of oxygen free radicals.

Anti-oxidants have a dual function in the body: They rid the body of toxic reactive oxygen radicals by combing irreversibly with them. They also reversibly bind with molecular oxygen, get it transported to tissues, that would otherwise have insufficient oxygen tension, due to poor blood supply, for activity. There they readily give up the molecular oxygen to the cells that need them for metabolic activity and this boosts their energy production and function. Hence, vitamin A, which is lipid soluble, will increase collagen synthesis in the skin.

In severe stress, metabolic function will be compromised as excess glucose, generated from body stores, will block the electron chain. This will promote anaerobic, as opposed to way much efficient aerobic, respiration. The meager energy resources, which would be used to support the body's defense, physical and mental functions, cell repair and renewal, are zapped away, instead, to fuel the coping or compensation mechanisms in stress. Lactic acid accumulation, from anaerobic respiration, will promote the breeding of microbes, in addition to feeding many other debilitating events.

Exercise and increased oxygen tension in tissues, by boosting metabolic function, increase mitochondria quantity and quality, which, in turn, boosts oxygen use. These activities raise endorphin levels in the brain and produce a calming effect on the mind, while boosting the immune cell and other cells' functions. Stress is reduced and this, again,helps in oxygen utilization for optimum energy resource output.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

Brain Signals and Stress

2011-09-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

High frequency transmission from the rapid firing of our brain nerve cells is the order of the day for 'live' signals that come from our sensory perceptions and thoughts.

Stored past activities, reactivated through memory recall or our normal imaginations, are not usually so vivid and therefore are handled and transmitted differently as low frequency signals. They, usually, are faint, due to the low energy that they carry; exceptions, of course, are high frequency signals, derived from recall of past experiences or from our mere imaginations and manifested as dreams, delusions and hallucinations, mistaken for reality or current happenings(because the signals are fast), variably by either the healthy or the deranged mind.

We constantly tune in or synchronize our mind, to varying signals of the same frequencies, to experience the present, relish or dread the past or imagine the future. We cannot, therefore, do more than one of these at a time. We are forced to constantly switch our brain from low to high frequency signals, back and forth, time and again, when we multi-task, plan, recall events, explore our environment, and execute acquired skills.

When we tune in to the present, we are alert and vigilant, more especially so in distress and eustress. These are high frequency activities, which occur when our nerves fire, at a much higher rate, to handle threats to our lives and to entertain our emotions.

In distressful situations, glutamate, which is known to be released in response to inflammation and pain, is implicated; and in pleasure(eustress), dopamine is the mediator, released(usually in response to a stimulus of mild glutamate, released after some form of exertion, to satisfy our desires, and for reward) and causes the release of endorphins that, in turn, reduce pain, cause pleasure with 'reckless abandon'.

We learn from good and bad experiences, through the activities of these respective high frequency signal pathways, which imprint and seal memory into synaptic connections between brain nerve cells.

The brain, through thoughts, is known to magnify incoming somatic sensory signals, which also affect the way we think. Both activities, in turn, are modulated, through controlled inhibition by GABA, to prevent over-stimulation, which does not only lead to transient signal interruption, confusion and lack of concentration but will cause cell damage, in the long run.

Much higher, destructive nerve firing occurs in distress, when glutamate-mediated excitation, coupled to calcium influx into cells, occurs. It is more taxing, in energy terms. It leads to damage of nerve cells, due to massive calcium influx into cells, collateral oxidative events and depletion of energy resources that would normally be used to repair damaged cells. This usually leads to anxiety and depression.

In eustress, rather, dopamine is implicated in increased firing because glutamate input is limited, if at all, but since this is dampened by the pleasurable and soothing effects of endorphins, this high frequency signaling pathway is put in check and leads to relaxation, unlike the glutamate pathway, which is tension-driven and cell-destructive. But this means that dopamine-mediated excitation is cell-constructive more persistent, self-perpetuating, and can lead to schizophrenia.

Both pathways are, normally, modulated by the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA, which, in some situations, like a strong competition from nicotine, which excites the brain, will prove to be inadequate.

Usually, activation of the glutamate distress pathway is counterbalanced, by calling dopamine signal pathway of eustress to bear. When GABA nerve cell fails, as, for example, when it is damaged as a result of overuse and overtaxing, as would every cell, the combined glutamate and dopamine excitation signals become excessive and the brain becomes exceptionally hyperactive.

The resultant out-of-control pathological high signals result in inability to differentiate the present from the past, reality from a dream or imagination, as is seen in hallucinations and delusions, experienced by the schizophrenic.

Another adaptive response, to brain hyperactivity, is the formation of tangles and amyloid, within and between nerve cells, to slow down signal transmission. This may, in fact, over-slow things and lead to Alzheimer disease, with its hallmark of forgetfulness.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso, MD

Brain Trauma and Behavioral Aberration

2011-08-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

I have just read an article in the August edition of Denver Voice, on brain trauma. Denver Voice is committed to empowering homeless, impoverished and transient individuals by creating job opportunities through their Vendor Program. Vendors buy Denver Voice for 25 cents, which pays for part of production cost and sell the paper to the public for a one dollar donation. 75 cents is theirs to keep.

Homelessness is common in the developed economies and occurs when one cannot afford for housing and so lives in public places or wherever they find convenient to them. Organizations like the Council, religious bodies and NGO's have come up with programs to provide shelter to those who cannot afford it. The problem of homelessness is the more acute now because of the bad economy.

Studies have invariably shown that most homeless people in North America(both USA and Canada) have had brain trauma of one form or another. The symptoms of brain trauma mirror very closely those of schizophrenia. In developing countries, most mad(schizophrenic) people live out of homes.

Trauma patients and schizophrenic patients may have similar symptoms like tantrum(excessive anger), noisiness and violence. These make them anti-social and because of that they are generally ostracized by the society. They lose their jobs because of forgetfulness and inability to accomplish the required job tasks. Since they may not afford it or do not feel like it, they typically lose or leave behind the privilege of a home. And as they are anti-social, no one would be willing to let them in, in their own homes, to stay with them. They therefore roam the streets, withdrawn from the mainstream, and feeling that their predicament is being poorly understood by the society.

Although the causes are quite different, symptoms in traumatic brain injury patients and schizophrenic(mad) people are very similar. While schizophrenic patients have over-activity of the brain, due to raised brain amines levels that lead to hallucinations(e.g hearing voices) and delusions and making the sufferers to lose touch with reality, these same symptoms in brain trauma patients are due to increased firing of the brain cell because of the damage caused to the brain tissue.

Brain trauma patients who have been misdiagnosed and treated as if they were schizophrenic, by being given drugs that block the over-activity of brain amines, do not get any better. When brain trauma is correctly diagnosed and the patients are given drugs that stop the spontaneous firing of nerve cells in the brain, the same drugs used to treat epilepsy, their symptoms get better and the sufferers can resume normal function, take up routine daily activities and their behavior invariably improves .

Brain trauma patients usually have slurred speech, are forgetful, disinterested in life and may walk crookedly as if drugged. Brain trauma symptoms result from longstanding trauma, due to repetitive blows or a severe trauma, to the head.

Other forms of brain injury which may show similar symptoms, more or less, include stroke, longstanding infectious disease like syphilis or chronic intake of some drugs like alcohol and cocaine that cause anatomically identifiable damage to the brain cell.

Acute drug intoxication or inflammation from an acute infection, can also lead to over-firing of the brain cells, which will lead to the confusion and instability that is characteristic in these disorders but, unlike chronic disorders, there may be no obvious lesion in the brain cell that can be held accountable for the symptoms.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

Eat Variety to Stay in Good Health

2011-08-13T19:42:00.000-07:00

There is no single food that will provide all the nutrients that your body needs. The solution to getting the best out of food is to eat variety. Even nutrients with anti-oxidant properties are varied. Different fruits and vegetables, coffee, beans, all, have anti-oxidants but although, as anti-oxidants, they perform the same function, boosting the immune system and preventing damage to the body, they are chemically different. When you eat only one type of food, considerd to be high in an anti-oxidant, you easily reach an accumulative saturation point of the particular anti-oxidant in the body and as this quota is attained, eating more will only lead to increased elimination of the particular nutrient out of the body. Mind you that any substance taken in too high an amount, additionally and inevitably, becomes toxic.

Sticking to a staple diet, even if it contains all the conventional classes of food, may not be such a good an idea, since you will not get all the nutrients in the right proportions, which only varieties can and will provide. You gain more from eating oranges, carrots and tomatoes in one serving than just carrots alone. Oranges are rich in the anti-oxidant, vitamin C; carrots contain the A vitamin, still an anti-oxidant and tomatoes are rich in lycopene, yet another potent anti-oxidant.

The so called nutritional supplements(vitamins, trace elements and now fiber ) are no more than just that; supplements. It is becoming more evident that whole foods may well be containing some unknown substances that are beneficial to our health. Not so long ago fiber was not considered to offer significant health benefits and was sieved out of most whole foods through the process of grain polishing; the motive being mainly esthetic and, possibly, to appeal to acquired human flavor preference.

Eating nuts is the best way to get the most out of whole foods in their native form. They are raw, contain all the conventional classes of food(carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, trace elements and fiber) and have not suffered the harm and damage of excessive temperatures that occur in the process of cooking. Fruits provide additional benefits. Vegetables eaten in salads are much better than when cooked. Plant protein food like beans does not only provide fiber and carbohydrate but it is also a good source of anti-oxidants.

The key to eating right is to know all the classes of food, choose your menu to reflect these classes and then to vary the food types while keeping your diet balanced.

How do you know when you eat right? You see it in your renewed mental and physical vitality, good hair and nails, radiant skin and perceived energy reserves. Pain is better managed and you do not fall ill all too often.

Balancing diet and exercise are the best measures to promote health. They nourish cells, make them function optimally and ward off disease. Like with everything else, in health, a combination of good habits is additive, if not synergistic.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso,MD

Good News for Coffee Drinkers

2011-08-06T15:39:00.001-07:00

Drinkers of coffee and tea, you have good news: You can be spared of the burden of multi-drug resistant bacteria, that have emerged from widespread use of anti-biotics. These bacteria are usually found in biofilm, the slime, which as a barrier makes treatment even more difficult. These bacteria are resistant to almost all anti-biotics in current use.

Biofilms are formed when these resistant bacteria multiply and attain a large population in their colony. This growth is promoted by inadequate nutrition, which suppresses the immune system or a diet high in sugar and in micronutrients that favor bacteria growth. Coffee both regulates body sugar and boosts the immune system, thus permitting the body to both limit the growth of recalcitrant infections and to get rid of them.

Coffee and tea contain lignans and phytoestrogens, anti-oxidants which counteract pain, in one way, by their ability to scavenge highly reactive oxygen species, generated from metabolic challenges, tissue damage, and which further damage the tissue. By scavenging reactive oxygen species, these anti-oxidants also protect immune cells from being damaged by these free radicals and so boost the efficiency of the defense cells to protect the body.

The resulting competent immune cells are then able to eliminate multi-drug resistant bacteria.They do so with so much efficiency that the normal body tissue is spared of mistaken 'friendly fire' and by preventing collateral damage to our tissue, this is another way anti-oxidants suppress pain.

Coffee also contains chlorogenic acids, which prevent the absorption of glucose and alter gut hormone levels that regulate insulin secretion. Availability of glucose assists cancer and bacteria to grow. So by regulating sugar, coffee takes care of infections and cancer.

Coffee increases sex hormone binding lobulin and increases testosterone secretion. Raised testosterone levels, which though initially may increase growth hormone and initiate prostate cancer, helps prevent cancer progression. This explains why prostate cancer occurs later in life when testosterone levels are low.

Caffeinated and non-caffeinated coffees are equally effective since it is not caffeine that is responsible for these health benefits.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso, MD

Alcohol...Should I or Should I Not? Getting the Facts.

2011-07-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

Alcohol is produced regularly, in small quantities, in our body, through fermentation by micro-organisms in our intestines. It is an alternative source of energy but it lacks vitamins and trace metals(micro-nutrients), found in whole foods. It gives energy but unlike glucose which is stored as glycogen in the liver, there are no such stores for alcohol, that can be called upon, when needed, on quick demand. That is why people talk of 'clearance', which is, in a way, the need to continuously drink to have constant energy supply.

It damages the liver and kidney where it is broken down to a more potent toxin, acetaldehyde, which produces reactive oxygen whose effects can be counteracted with vitamin C. Exercise promotes elimination of alcohol through the lungs and sweat. It also promotes alcohol breakdown and detoxification by stimulating metabolism. Food, especially high fiber food like beans, also slows absorption of alcohol, reducing its toxic effects. Eating high fiber foods speeds up metabolism as the body tries to break down the difficult-to-digest fiber, thereby using much of calories. Eating pepper (capsaicin), speeds up metabolism and helps detoxify alcohol. Omega-3 found in fish also promotes alcohol metabolism. Good health is necessary for good alcohol breakdown.

So it pays to eat these substances and take fruits, rich in vitamin C, alongside alcohol consumption. These will prevent hangover and mitigate the toxic effects of alcohol.

Due to the fast breakdown of alcohol, because it is rapidly absorbed and has high calorific value, alcohol prevents glucose from being broken down to provide energy as alcohol takes over as the primary source of energy supply. It does this by inhibiting pyruvate dehydrogenase that handles glucose breakdown. New glucose stops being generated from glycogen and proteins. This explains why alcohol causes low blood sugar(hypoglycemia) which can lead to death and this justifies why food should be eaten, alongsie alcohol intake, to keep up blood glucose levels, which support the brain. Fats stop being generated from stores and from being passed into the Krebs cycle, as alcohol takes over as the primary feeder of this cycle. Instead new fats are built up from the breakdown products of alcohol and stored.

So, alcohol drinkers who additionally eat a lot, are obese. This will cause heart problems because of the increase in fats in blood vessels..

Alcohol blocks aspartate receptors in the brain, which are required for making nerve connections, necessary for learning, memory and reasoning. In so doing it reduces brain useful activity but by preserving those amines, which normally are used in these brain cognitive activity(memory and thinking), the amines will now be used to block our natural or learned inhibitions, instead. As such imbibers(drinkers) open up, become loquacious(talkative), arrogant, excited; which can be described as unleashing the animal instincts in us.

The pleasure center is stimulated and the need to reward oneself of long-suppressed desires is heightened. One's 'true self' comes out and secrets pour out of the mouth, lies become entertained, false hopes are built and spending becomes superfluous. Prolonged alcohol use leads to addiction because of the constant stimulation of the pleasure center. However in high concentration, alcohol has an anesthetizing effect since the conscious self, mediated by the aspartate receptors, becomes completely shut down. This will then cause coma and possibly death.

In small amounts, alcohol dilates blood vessels and this is good for cardiovascular health. Cognition and blood pressure improve. It increases metabolism. Mild depression is alleviated. It increases elimination of toxins from the body, through increased metabolism(detoxification) and vasodilation, which increases blood flow to the kidney that aids excretion. Alcohol equally improves blood sugar control in diabetics.

More accidents are caused by alcohol intake than by the use of any other drug. It greatly increases reaction time, impairs vision, worsens motor coordination and judgment, through its effects in the brain. Hallucinations and delusions may become apparent. In fact, it produces a psychotic state, as one loses touch with reality.

The recommended daily limit in the US is two drinks for men and one drink for women. Studies may show that those who drink mildly tend to fare better in longevity than non-drinkers but the problem is that, for many, crossing the line is very easy. Most heavy drinkers started off as mild drinkers, developed tolerance, drank more, became addicted and suffered from liver cirrhosis or kidney failures. These effects are made worse by detected or undetected, underlying liver and kidney problems.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso, MD

Malaria: Kidney, Liver Failures, and Spleen Rupture

2011-06-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

Malaria can cause your kidneys or liver to fail, or your spleen to rupture.

Malaria parasites have a love for red blood cells and the liver cells because they feed on these cells. In addition, they break down red blood cells, releasing hemoglobin products that damage the kidney. The spleen, which filters blood, attempts to trap and destroy the parasites and these hemoglobin products, as a defense. In the process, the spleen swells and you feel pains in the the upper left part of your abdomen, just beneath the ribs(where the spleen is located), especially when you breathe in, as the diaphragm massages it when contracting and pushing on this organ.

When out of a malaria endemic zone for a long time, one is more susceptible to a severe attack of malaria, which can result in fatal complications.

The key to preventing malaria complications is to treat malaria early enough, before the damage is done. Better still, one should begin to take prophylaxis immediately, on entry into a malaria endemic area, until such a time that this immunity has developed.

Dr Oliver V Birnso

Comment on the UN Report on the State of World Health

2011-06-29T18:43:00.000-07:00

According to UN report, Cancer, diabetes kill millions, cost trillions globally. Nearly two-thirds of deaths are caused by noncommunicable diseases such as cancer, diabetes and heart and lung disease, according to U.N. estimates and preliminary results of a new study.

I agree with the report and advance that chronic non-communicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart and lung diseases are being driven mainly by sedentary lifestyle, poor eating habits and consumption of toxins.

An aspect, which seems to disappear from the radar, is the presence of chronic infections and the resulting damaging inflammation, which is contributing to cancers, diabetes, heart and lung diseases. we should not lose sight of the fact that most of these factors, infections and lifestyles, work in combination

Resistance by microbes to drugs which set out to target them, is making treatment to be palliative rather than curative. Hence, although acute manifestations of some of the communicable infectious diseases are disappearing from our hospital and community settings, a wave of chronicity is being seen in these very settings, which is leaving many people morbid for a very long while.

Taking for, example, HIV/AIDS: People infected with HIV do not only suffer from cancers, heart diseases due to HIV itself but some of the antiretroviral drugs themselves are causing weight gain problems and cardiovascular diseases, in their own right, in patients.

Patients with chronic diseases, who do not suffer and die from cardiovascular accidents, live poorly with co-morbidities, from the combination of unhealthy lifestyle practices that they have lived and chronic infections that they have harbored for a long time.

The simple truth is that some chronic infections are simply too sly and difficult to eliminate with current therapies, which are only helping to send them to sleep for a little while.

Luckily a new line of anti-infective drugs is being developed from peptides, which would mimic or re-enforce our immune system, in the way they work. Resistance might be better overcome this way and chronic infections which are compounding cardiovascular diseases, cancers, lung diseases and diabetes will be better managed. Unsuccessful chemical antibiotic therapy and cancer chemotherapy are converting acute diseases into chronic ones.

Disease prevention is through sane lifestyle, infection prevention and early treatment. The widespread use of dietary supplements may be feeding and fanning these chronic infections since these nutrients are used by infections to grow and this is bad for the patient.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso

The Natural Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off

2011-04-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Most people express the frustration of straining to lose weight only to gain it back in a twinkle of an eye. This is because most weight loss programs are strenuous and not natural. Going to the gym is not always much fun and although you may enjoy playing tennis everyday this may not always be a practical way to lose weight, given that you may have to work on a daily basis to earn a living.

If your job involves standing and talking then you may not only have the benefit of earning an income but also an opportunity to lose weight, for close to eight hours. You are more than twice able to spend calories standing than sitting. You are even luckier if your job involves body movement, since physical exercise is the best way to lose weight.

If you are overweight, it is advisable to begin any exercise program slowly and build up with time. Although endurance exercise like jogging, may help you lose weight fastest, you will only keep it off if you refrain from lavishly rewarding yourself with a high calorie meal soon after such an activity, as your body craves to replenish(replace) the heavily used-up food stores in your body. Of course, resistance exercise like weight lifting in the gym, will burn up fat but also increase muscle mass and this is good for your body function.

Since most people may not be so fortunate to exercise sufficiently on a daily basis as they work, it is but obvious that a carefully thought out diet together with a simple daily exercise like brisk walking, incorporated into lifestyle, will provide a more natural way to keep an ideal body weight.

An approach that involves daily exercise, like a 30 minutes walk, and eating the right food like vegetables, fruits, whole grains and proteins as in beans, is a practical and natural way to prevent regaining weight after losing it through exercise. Including pectin-containing foods in your diet will permit you to eat a lot of it and still not gain weight, since blood glucose will not rise and reach a level at which the body will be required to store it as fat.

After a starchy meal a high amount of insulin is secreted by the body to lower blood sugar. Most of the glucose will be stored and some will be used up by the cells for energy. Pretty soon the blood sugar level falls and we begin to feel hungry. If we could spread the food absorption over a longer time period with a meal high in vegetables and fruits that contain fiber such as pectin, we will not feel hungry soon afterward. Pectin is found abundantly in fruits such as lemon, guavas, oranges, apples, mostly in the peels; in vegetables like carrots and in beans and peanuts.

Managing stress should form part of a successful weight loss program. Fun exercise itself reduces stress, by the pleasure it gives. Psychological stress makes it difficult to maintain a good body weight because it causes the release of sugar from the liver stores and some of it will be stored as fat in the trunk and face, where blood flow increases during such stress. Fat deposition during this stress is worse for the heart and the brain and gives the moon-face and hunch-back appearance. Anxieties, worries and anger not only show in the shift in pattern of fat lay down but also can lead to binge eating(overeating) behavior to replenish calories used up in stress.

As stress progresses, exhaustion sets in and then depression. Depression makes it difficult to shed extra kilos because it pushes the sufferer to seek some relief in food, usually sugary food which is very addictive. It also leads the victim to social isolation, which means less moving about and exercising.

Sleeping well is important in losing weight. For most people who sleep less than six hours a day it is more difficult to lose weight. This is due to the fact that lack of sleep leads to sleepiness the following day and therefore low physical and mental activities.

On a psychosocial note, people will eat more of unhealthy diet if they find themselves among fat people. There are many reasons for this, one of which is to blend(fit) well in the company of those around, as the saying goes: 'Birds of the same feather flock together'.

Equally, people who have high hopes for the future make healthier choices than those with no/negative expectations or those who are happy with what they have already got and are proud of their achievements. A hopeful person has better plans for the future and will want to stay healthier to see them materialize. So, if we focus our minds on the future positives we are more likely to make a commitment to stay healthier and live much longer.

Dr Oliver V Birnso

Controlling Type 2 Diabetes

2011-04-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

Type 2 diabetes occurs when insulin secreted by the pancreas is deficient. The insulin cannot, therefore, adequately carry or escort sugar from blood into body cells, where it normally combines with oxygen to provide energy that keeps the body alive and makes it function properly. Without sugar inside the cells, the body turns to fat for energy, as an alternative. As fat burns to provide energy, you begin to lose weight. The energy from fat is, however, not enough to satisfy your body needs and so you feel weak. You feel hungry most of the time but if you eat starchy food because you are hungry and starved, you end up increasing your blood sugar while not getting the needed strength, since glucose from starch is not being taken up into your cells. Rather, it will be lost in urine.

Since sugar remains in blood, it fails to perform its cellular functions and ends up damaging blood vessels, instead, and plaque begins to build up. This will raise blood pressure and increase your chances of a heart attack and stroke. The eyes, nerves and and kidney may become damaged. You urinate more frequently to try to eliminate sugar from your blood. This makes you lose water and become dehydrated. You become thirsty and drink water, all too often.

As your body breaks down fat, in the place of sugar, to provide energy for your cells, a lot of acid is produced in your body. Some of it goes into blood and gets carried into the brain and this can lead to a diabetic coma, as your brain fails to function. This is a medical emergency, which is treated by neutralizing the acid with sodium bicarbonate so that the brain can function well, again. This coma is different and managed differently from another one which results from a rapid drop in blood sugar that occasionally occurs when a diabetic drug, which helps to drive sugar from blood into cells, is administered to a patient. The hypoglycemic shock, as this one is commonly called, is treated by administering sugar and thiamine(vitamin B) to raise the brain sugar levels and stimulate the breakdown of the sugar for energy so that brain cells can regain function, once again.

Increased body weight increases fatty acids in blood and this is the cause of type 2 diabetes. To prevent type 2 diabetes, it is, therefore, prudent to keep an ideal body weight by exercising and eating right.

Maintaining the right blood sugar levels is the way to manage diabetes and prevent its complications. One proven way of achieving this is through the consumption of vegetables and fruits such as carrots, oranges and apples. They contain pectin, which is a soluble fiber, that is absorbed into blood just like the food we eat. During absorption, pectin competes and slows down the absorption of sugar. So, although fruits contain sugar, they will not raise blood sugar because pectin spreads out sugar absorption over a longer period of time and when much the same quantity of food is eaten it does not result in high blood sugar and you retain your energy level, since sugar will not be lost in urine. Although insulin still remains deficient it will be able to transfer low but prolonged blood sugar much better than high overshoot after an ordinary meal without pectin. You will have succeeded to not only regain your energy level but you are able to prevent diabetic coma as fat ceases being your energy source. Fruits and vegetables also have high amounts of anti-oxidants, like vitamin C, which stimulate cells to function properly. Beans and groundnuts(peanuts) are rich in fiber, including pectin, which slows down the absorption of sugar and prevents blood sugar overshoot and urine loss.

Exercise in a diabetic must be moderate, such as walking. Well tailored exercise increases blood circulation, promotes the burning of glucose and reduces blood sugar by sucking up sugar from blood into cells to support exercise needs. However stressful exercise should be avoided because it increases blood sugar through the release of sugar from body stores, an attempt by the body to meet its increased energy needs in times of stress. Worries and anxieties should, therefore, be well controlled to prevent overshoot of blood sugar. Most diabetic comas occur during stressful periods such as following an attack of malaria or during sudden outbursts of anxiety, worries and anger.

There are drugs which help to release insulin from the pancreas and others which improve on the transfer of glucose from blood into the cells. These help provide enough energy for the body and stabilize blood sugar levels within the acceptable limits(range), preventing the complications of diabetes.

Dr Oliver V Birnso

On Stress Control

2011-04-14T11:00:00.000-07:00

Obese or heavy people, middle age to elderly people are prone to stroke and heart attack because their arteries have built up a lot of plaque and have narrowed down. This means that the blood vessels cannot dilate(expand or open up) to accommodate blood flow which supplies tissues and takes care of increased metabolic demands in stress. The heart, therefore, has to work extra hard to try and force blood round the body. In doing so it damages blood vessels and this forms clot which limits blood flow to the brain or heart tissue, leading to stroke or heart attack. Oxygen is very important for the vitality of tissue. Without it tissue begins to die.

Sudden distress such as excitement or an unwelcome news or event can easily trigger the above outcomes in susceptible individuals. To avoid being victims of such events, we should try and reduce our vulnerability factors by exercising regularly and keeping down our weight.. A dose of sunshine is good, for vitamin D prevents the hardening of our arteries.

Another measure is stress prevention. The first psychosocial measure to prevent stress is to avoid handling what one cannot take. An old man should not climb steep mountains or a young man should not take tasks he is not trained for. Small constant anxieties and worries in the long term amount to huge amount of stress and are unhelpful. It is better to solve problems if you can, talk them over or put them at the back of your mind if they are beyond your control.

To manage stress physiologically, you can do breathing exercises, which help open up blood vessels and reduce the need for the heart to pump much harder. Psycho-socially:Be yourself. Do not seek approval of others to make you look good in their eyes or feel good about yourself. Do what you know you can do, and do not be apologetic about it, if you cannot. Feel good about yourself--you don't need others to dictate to you how you should feel. Do not feel that you owe anyone anymore than you owe yourself. Give freely and generously, when you can. Avoid making stress worse by unnecessary excitement or anger. Meditation makes you overcome difficulties and gives you better control over events. Additionally, it gives you the leverage to lean on and accept that, after all, this is not the end of life.

Psychosomatically, biofeedback is a very helpful technique. It helps you concentrate on what makes you feel bad or angry and you watch this through a monitor to see how it is being destructive to your body and life. It could be, for example, you watching how your heart is racing as you get angry. Make a commitment to let your brain control your feelings and your response to them.

Medically, you can control your blood pressure with drugs. Medical emergency comes when you have a crisis and its proper management could prove to be a life saver.

Dr Oliver V Birnso

Daily Dose of Exercise

2011-02-02T11:28:00.000-08:00

Daily exercise is necessary for good health. It reduces obesity, improves blood circulation and oxygen supply as well as stimulates metabolism. This prevents diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack and diabetes. It also boosts the immune system and prevents infections taking hold in our bodies.

The recommended daily dose of exercise is thirty minutes for adults and forty five minutes for kids; moderate exertion such as brisk walking is the minimum required.

Young people more than adults have high basal metabolic rate, which is the burning of calories at rest through such processes as heart beat, breathing and tissue respiration to stay alive. [What is not used is stored as glycogen and fats]. It is higher for young people because they need to grow. Growth requires the breakdown of fats, conversion of glycogen to glucose and breakdown of glucose to provide energy in the form of ATP. These processes are gluconeogenesis, glycogenolysis and glycolysis. The ATP is then used to lay down structures(synthesize mainly proteins from amino acids and some fats from respiratory intermediates). Growth hormone activates the thyroid hormone which speeds metabolism, itself activated by testosterone, which decreases with age. It should be noted that when we eat a lot, more insulin is released. It mimics the growth hormone only in as much as it stimulates structure lay down and glucose breakdown. It, however, leads to excess fat storage if glucose breakdown is not commensurate with supply and this in turn promotes insulin resistance and diabetes, in the long run, when fats from glucose can no longer be stored.

Apart from growth which it stimulates, exercise also uses up energy resources, for the movement of body parts and this reduces body weight, mainly fat. In excess, however, protein breakdown becomes apparent with exercise as it is in disorders with excess secretion of growth or thyroid hormone. As we age our tissue breaks down more. We need both tailored dose of exercise and good diet with micronutients to try to balance this up, especially, since growth hormone synthesis and release decrease with age.

Stress such as in an infection or psychological trauma leads to release of stress hormones, namely adrenaline and corticosteroids, which cause mobilization of glucose from stores through glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis and lead to weight loss, but since there is no corresponding breakdown of glucose through glycolysis, this leads to increase in blood sugar or diabetes with its complications.

Dr Oliver V. Birnso

Health is Wealth

2010-12-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Whatever the case, good health is, first and foremost, through disease prevention and early detection/treatment of disease.

Infectious diseases, chronic ones for that matter, are sometimes very difficult to treat. The chronic inflammation they cause cannot be treated with 'body's detoxifiers', good nutrition, exercise alone, although these measures may help to reduce the disease burden. Chronic infections, which present in biofilms and give flu-like symptoms, are a barrier to both antibiotics and the body's immune system.

Most of these chronic infections have acquired multi-drug resistance and thus cannot be treated with currently available antibiotics.

Aging is promoted by pro-inflammatory damage. The body's fat(white fat), toxins such as alcohol and smoke, lack of exercise, poor nutrition and stress, which jeopardize the body's detoxfying system and defence, make matters worse in chronic infections. The immune system itself can cause pro-inflammatory damage, in its own right, when it goes wild by some trigger.

Treatment of chronic infections is expensive, time-consuming and even in the best of hands, there is no guarantee that 100% removal of the cause is either possible or feasible.

Prevention is the key. Early treatment should be sought, once an abnormal sign develops, even if it looks, for a while, benign. Most of these, apparently harmless signs go on to become the deadliest there are in medical pathology.

If you have ever known how it feels to be in top health, then you can imagine how productive and wealthy you can be. Walking, running, lifting with no pain in the chest, heart, abdomen, lungs, legs, head, waist, neck or back are signs of good organ function. Good health shows outwardly in your eyes, face, gait, and skin.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso

High Protein and Low Carb is the Way to Go

2010-11-26T13:36:00.000-08:00

It is becoming more and more clear that obesity is responsible for high morbidity and mortality in our societies. From cancer, through cardiovascular diseases like stroke and heart attacks, to diabetes and pneumonia, obesity has been implicated.

The constant given in all this is that we gain weight when we eat more than we expend, in energy terms.

It is also evident that exposure to toxins such as alcohol, smoking, food additives and environmental pollutants may be contributing to slowing our metabolism, making it difficult for us to shed the extra weight.

Sedentary lifestyle, from the nature of our jobs and our modes of transport, is a major contributory factor in the upsurge of obesity that we are currently experiencing in our modern world. This is further compounded by the fact that we are equally eating more.

The answer to this puzzle lies in both exercising regularly and eating wisely. A diet rich in proteins, especially plant proteins like beans, and low in refined carbohydrates should help us maintain a good trim which does not only help in promoting our health but also helps in our physical appearance, boosting our self-confidence. Studies show that a high protein and low carbohydrate diet permits already trim people to eat without gaining weight, this, because the mix helps us feel full sooner and limits our food intake. The satiety center of the brain is very sensitive to a high protein meal.

For a person who is already obese, the objective is to first lose weight through exercise and then to indulge in the healthy diet. A thirty minute moderate exercise is the minimum recommended daily dose, until ideal weight is achieved.

Dr.Oliver V Birnso

Stress-Related Deaths

2010-11-18T15:57:00.000-08:00

It happens, every now and then, that after being involved in or watched an exciting event or even received good news, someone collapses and dies in the euphoria of it or sometime later. The same goes for frightful events and sad news.

In superstitious societies, in the case of good news or excitement, it is easy to point an accusing finger on X or Y for being responsible for the unfortunate outcome.

But studies are constantly showing that stressful events, delightful or frightful, are responsible for most sudden deaths. It is common to hear of a coach dying after his team wins a major game or a candidate dying after winning an enviable scholarship.

Stress raises stress hormones levels that in turn raise arterial blood pressure which may disembark plaques in blood vessels that move and lodge in the coronary artery in the heart, leading to heart attack, settle in the brain arteries, leading to stroke or in the renal artery, leading to kidney failure.

Stress hormones also lead to diabetic syndrome and the raised blood sugar can lead to hyperglycemic coma. Under stressful situation, the immune system is highly impaired, making infections to easily take hold in our bodies.

Other conditions which raise stress hormone levels are anger, hate, jealousy and curiosity to know what is in another person's basket. Doing what you don't like and having to deal with someone or a situation you don't like is recipe for stress. We can employ emotional cognition technique, temporally, to weather the storm in stress but, sooner or later, the stress gets the better of us and we succumb. Vengeful thoughts are good bedfellows with stress.

Excess euphoria, contrary to what many think, is equally bad for health as it triggers a coping mechanism that may, unfortunately, compromise our very survival.

It would be fallacious and unwise to use superstitious justifications for what is of our own making. Our health lies in our own hands.

Living a restrained lifestyle is the best way to avoid stress and its ill effects.

Dr. Oliver V Birnso

Obesity; Sedentary Lifestyle, Binge Eating and Lifespan

2010-10-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Lack of physical activity and binge eating, in my opinion, are the biggest culprits to be linked with the insurgence of obesity-related illnesses of our time. Diabetes, arteriosclerosis, hypertension and related stroke, heart-attack, kidney failure are causes of sudden deaths. Cancer and inflammatory disorders are direcly linked to obesity. Infections are secondarily associated with weight gain, which modifies the anatomy or biochemistry of the living system. Obesity,without doubt, makes the body to be less resistant to infections. Oxygen circulation is made worse.

By my own estimation, obesity is linked, directly or indirectly, to more than half of deaths in our hospitals, today. It compromises organs that are failing from other causes and, more so, fats accumulate when many organs fail and this, itself, accelerates the failure. Not to mention, many surgical procedures are riskier with obese individuals than with, otherwise, lean counterparts.

Obesity occurs when one eats more than his/her energy requirements to sustain vital function and do work.

Physical exercise, more than anything else, is the best way to burn excess calories because muscular exertion is not a very efficient way to use up energy. Most of the energy is lost as heat from friction on the sliding filaments in the muscle fiber.

People tend to eat a lot due to social demands. How many of us go to a function event and eat not because we are hungry but because it is socially right to do so. How many of us have the will power to say 'No' to an appetizing dish when we know, fully well, that we do not need it at that moment? Different people have different motivations and will powers to control impulsive or obsessional urge. The same as we can train ourselves to control our emotions(emotional cognition) so too can we train ourselves to resist impulsive or obsessional urges, burning deep down in us.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso

How fast we Age

2010-09-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Medical science is advancing at an amazing pace. Think of genetic engineering and its impact on drug discovery; stem cell technology/genetic engineering on organ transplant and management of diseases like HIV/AIDS. All sorts of imaging techniques make for easy disease diagnosis and telemedicine makes it possible for experts to diagnose diseases and interprete results thousands of miles away.

Of particular interest is the way medical scientists and practitioners now think of how we age from diseases.

Aging is believed to be harvested from childhood or early adult life from infectious diseases and environmental pollutants that we had come in contact with or the lifestyle we had lived. We age faster than we are genetically predestined to. Most chronic diseases like diabetes mellitus, Alzheimer's disease, heart failure, arthritis, Parkinson's disease, emphysema are results of these early life harvests. Most of these diseases currently are managed but not cured because although microbes may have been controlled, lifestyle improved upon at adulthood or environment cleaned, the damage is not only no longer reversible but is continuous.

Inflammation usually accompanies aging and this is a signal of things having gone wayward. The damage is usually continuous and many of these diseases have been linked with immunological reactions to continuous tissue damage. Amyloid is a fibrillar hyaline that our body produces and is implicated in most chronic inlammations that we harbor at all ages. It causes physical damage to our body, being insoluble and being indigestible, it defies the body's phagocytic machinery. We practically carry it from young age through old age in chronic inflammations and it is the cause of many deaths from heart failure, liver failure, kidney failure, stroke and dementia. It causes plaques, bumps and pricks in practically all of our body tissues, incapacitating our vital organs. We then age externally, internally, mentally and painfully so.

Dr Oliver V. Birnso

2010-09-10T14:53:00.001-07:00

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The current Psychopharmcologic treatment of Mental Illness alone is not Ideal

2010-08-19T10:37:00.000-07:00

Mental illnesses are currently classified using a series of common symptoms. Hence, strictly speaking they are, in a sense, 'conditions'.

The biological causes are still elusive but the belief is that, though not obvious, they actually do exist. There is no doubt that stress may trigger symptoms or even cause lesions that may be responsible for the manifestations of mental illnesses. Mitigating the predisposing psycho-social insults may effect cure in some instances and this is not surprising because spontaneous remissions do occur with mental illnesses.

Psychopharmacotherapy, the use of drugs to treat mental symptoms, is only as useful as it enables the sufferer to become 'normal', which state is necessary in obtaining meaningful insight from the sufferer into the triggering or causal factors in the individual case, which can then be mitigated through psychotherapy or treated otherwise medically.

There is no doubt that mental sanity, good nutrition and good physical health are necessary to maintain good mental health.

Dr Oliver Verbe Birnso