purple medical blog

Vitamin D Already Known Role in Liver Disease and May Have Treatment Role in Hepatitis Says Israelis

2012-01-17T00:55:00.000-06:00

Does Vitamin D Have a Role To Improve Viral Response in Liver Disease

Latest Israeli Report Suggests that Vitamin D Might Have a Place

Should patients with liver disease be monitored for vitamin D deficiency? The answer is yes."All hepatologists (liver specialists) should monitor vitamin D levels and treat deficient patients". The role of Vitamin D in prevention and treatment of liver disease has been and continues to be a topic of speculation and investigation.

Taking "the promising results of vitamin D administration in experimental autoimmune animal models into account, it's intriguing to speculate that vitamin D may also have potential beneficial effects in autoimmune liver disease in man".

Several forms of vitamin D exist. The two major forms are vitamin D2 or ergocalciferol, and vitamin D3 or cholecalciferol, vitamin D without a subscript refers to either D2 or D3 or both. These are known collectively as calciferol.

"Prof. Ran Tur-Kaspa, from the Rabin Medical Center- Beilinson Campus in Israel and his team worked on hepatitis C, the major factor in chronic liver disease that can lead to cirrhosis. It is also the main cause in the Western world of organ failure requiring a liver transplant and is one of the causes of primary liver cancer".

"He and his team investigated ordinary vitamin D, which is already taken by many people as prevention for numerous diseases, to see whether it had any effect on hepatitis C and on liver cells that host it. They discovered and published in Hepatology, a peer-reviewed medical journal, that vitamin D directly halts the activity of viruses in general and hepatitis C in particular. They also found that a system for actively producing vitamin D is found in liver cells and can activate the immune system and repress the virus".

Israelis find vitamin D helps against liver diseases

Autoimmune Liver Disease: Vitamin D Receptor Polymorphisms

Vitamin D Deficiency and Liver Disease

Taste Good but Bad? Too Much Bacon, Sausage,Processed Meats Again Implicated in Cancer; Is It the Nitrites: This Time Pancreatic Cancer

2012-01-13T18:44:00.004-06:00

Taste Good but Bad? Processed Meats Again Implicated in Cancer; Is It the Nitrites: This Time Pancreatic Cancer

It Looks Like Too Much Bacon, Sausage ,Processed Meats Just Can't Get a Break As Yet Another Study Points the Finger

Is eating processed meat that contains nitrite and nitrates bad? Can something that tastes so good be bad? The latest salvo in the battle against "processed meats" came in a metanalysis study (a statistical exam of other studies)in the British Journal of Cancer by Larsson etal. They saw an association between processed meats (using nitrites) to pancreatic cancer. Larsson had previously written of an association with stomach cancer.

A news story about the report said "Eating two rashers (slices) of bacon a day can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer by 19% and the risk goes up if a person eats more, experts have said.Eating 50g of processed meat every day – the equivalent to one sausage or two rashers of bacon – increases the risk by 19%, compared to people who do not eat processed meat at all".

In the article, Red and processed meat consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer: meta-analysis of prospective studies they write "a positive association between processed meat consumption and risk of pancreatic cancer is biologically plausible. Processed meats are usually preserved with nitrite and may also contain N-nitroso compounds. N-nitroso compounds can further be formed endogenously in the stomach from nitrite and ingested amides in foods of animal origin (Sen et al, 2000). N-nitroso compounds reach the pancreas via the bloodstream and are potent carcinogens that have been shown to induce pancreatic cancer in animal models (Risch, 2003). A population-based case–control study observed that intake of dietary nitrite from animal sources was statistically significantly positively associated with risk of pancreatic cancer in both men and women".

Does Vitamin C Prevent Nitrosamine Formation What are Nitrites and Why are they in Hot dogs and What is the Connection to Cancer?

What do they mean by "processed". I didn't see the definition in the article but a definition elsewhere:The term processed meat refers to meats preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or by the addition of preservatives. Examples include ham, bacon, pastrami and salami, as well as hot dogs and sausages.

Diet is thought to influence the incidence of several cancers but it's hard to unravel which aspects of diet are important. PLOS Medicine in the past had reported on a study of a link between processed and red meats and cancer. "Nearly half a million US men and women aged 50–71 years old joined the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study. The participants none of whom had had cancer previously, completed a questionnaire about their dietary habits over the previous year and provided other personal information such as their age, weight, and smoking history". The study used these data and information from state cancer registries to look for associations between the intake of red and processed meat and the incidence of various cancers".

The prospective study( i.e a study in which people are identified and then followed forward in time) provided "strong evidence that people who eat a lot of red and processed meats have greater risk of developing colorectal and lung cancer than do people who eat small quantities". When meat is preserved by smoking, curing or salting, or by the addition of preservatives, cancer-causing substances (carcinogens) can be formed. These substances can damage cells in the body, leading to the development of cancer.

"Red meat intake was calculated from the frequency of consumption and portion size information of all types of beef, pork, and lamb; this included bacon, beef, cold cuts, ham, hamburger, hot dogs, liver, pork, sausage, and steak. The processed meat variable included bacon, red meat sausage, poultry sausage, luncheon meats (red and white meat), cold cuts (red and white meat), ham,regular hot dogs,and low fat hot dogs made from poultry.

"Although the researchers allowed for factors such as smoking history that might have affected cancer incidences, some of the effects they ascribe to meat intake might be caused by other lifestyle factors. Furthermore, because the study's definitions of red meat and processed meat overlapped—bacon and ham, for example, were included in both categories—exactly which type of meat is related to cancer remains unclear".

"Most of the study participants were non-Hispanic white, so these findings may not apply to people with different genetic backgrounds. Nevertheless, they add to the evidence that suggests that decreased consumption of red and processed meats could reduce the incidence of several types of cancer".

A Prospective Study of Red and Processed Meat Intake in Relation to Cancer Risk

Bacon linked to higher risk of pancreatic cancer, says report

PDF of Prospective Study of Red and Processed Meat Intake in Relation to Cancer Risk

What's Inside the Bun? "But many scientists say the evidence of health risks remains persuasive. While the occasional hot dog or piece of bacon is probably O.K., they point out that high levels of salt and saturated fat in processed meats also contribute to health problems.What’s very clear is that consuming processed meats is related to higher risk of diabetes, heart attacks and colon cancer,” said Dr. Walter C. Willet, chairman of the nutrition department of the Harvard School of Public Health".

Put down the Bacon! Report Emphasizes Cancer-fat Links

A Global Expert Panel "The report was compiled by 21 of the world's top researchers in this area, with the support of independent observers. Each scientist brought a special area of expertise to the Report".

A STUDY OF RED AND PROCESSED MEAT INTAKE IN RELATION TO CANCER RISK AMPLIFIES CONCERNS

Food Nutrition and the Prevention of Cancer The Full Report Online

They Need It But Don't Know What It Is: What are Proteins? Complete Proteins?What are Essential Amino Acids? What Good Are They?

2012-01-10T21:35:00.002-06:00

They Need It But Don't Know What It Is: What are Proteins? Who Needs Proteins? What Are Complete Proteins?

Did You Know That Bacteria Can Be Made to Manufacture Some Human Proteins As For Example Insulin

Here are examples of amounts of protein in food: Click on the letter

Is this fun or what? How much protein in these foods?

A Cup of milk has which? 4 grams, 6 grams or 12 grams of protein

3 ounces of meat have 41 grams, 31 grams, 21 grams or 15 grams of protein

1 cup of dry beans has about how many grams of protein

When people talk about food having protein do they know what they are talking about? Do you know what protein is? Did you know insulin is a protein? Bacteria have been engineered to make insulin. You may be wondering why would you engineer bacteria to make insulin when you can get it from animals? Well, that is what they used to do but people would get allergic reactions since their human bodies would react to the animal insulin.

Most people know in a general sort of way, what contains protein.They know that meat like steak, hamburger and chicken and fish have protein. That's because meat products consist of muscles and other tissue that is constructed out of biological material generically know as protein. Protein is a vital building block of all biological organisms. But there are many thousands, in fact hundreds of thousands of proteins throughout nature. What do they have in common? Proteins are made of chemicals called amino acids. So by eating protein, your body can deconstruct the proteins and get a source of amino acids to use for building.

What are Essential Amino Acids?

Proteins are made up of amino acids. There are 20 different amino acids that join together to make all types of protein. Some of these amino acids can't be made by our bodies, so these are known as essential amino acids. It's essential that our diet provide these. A complete protein source is one that provides all of the essential amino acids. You may also hear these sources called high quality proteins. Animal-based foods; for example, meat, poultry, fish, milk, eggs, and cheese are considered complete protein sources.

An incomplete protein source is one that is low in one or more of the essential amino acids. Complementary proteins are two or more incomplete protein sources that together provide adequate amounts of all the essential amino acids. For example, rice contains low amounts of certain essential amino acids; however, these same essential amino acids are found in greater amounts in dry beans. Similarly, dry beans contain lower amounts of other essential amino acids that can be found in larger amounts in rice. Together, these two foods can provide adequate amounts of all the essential amino acids the body needs.

Protein is found in the following foods: meats, poultry, and fish legumes (dry beans and peas) tofu eggs nuts and seeds milk and milk products grains, some vegetables, and some fruits (provide only small amounts of protein relative to other sources)

WHY DO VEGETARIANS HAVE TO WORK HARDER TO GET PROTEIN?

Because many non meat proteins may not have all the amino acids the body needs. Therefore, vegetarians need to insure that they are getting a variety of protein sources that have the adequate amino acids. See the famous book Diet for A Small Planet by Francis Moore Lappe.

WHAT DO PROTEINS DO IN THE BODY?

What don't proteins do in the body? Besides being structural parts, proteins are involved as enzymes that make chemical reactions possible. Insulin, for example, is a protein( it's a hormone) made in the pancreas and released into the blood stream to push the glucose in the blood into the cells of the body. Although the human body has hundreds of thousands of proteins and proteins are made by following the instructions of genes, the body is estimated to have 25,000 or 30,000 genes. So the manufacture of a protein is not just a one to one correspondence with a gene. In fact, it's turning out that the old idea of genes as long strands of dna is just a part of the whole genetic story.

Discussions and Videos Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery IS It Risky? Yes It Can Be. What are Benefits? Does It Work? For Some People Definitely

2012-01-08T22:01:00.000-06:00

Definitely there are Risks but Rewards Can Be Great:The PROS and CONS of Weight Loss BARIATRIC SURGERY Experiences and Stories

Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery IS It Risky? There is a Definite Risk. What are Rewards?Can Be Numerous. Does It Work? For Some People Definitely

A Canadian Study Pointed to a Possible Reduction in Some Cancer with Bariatric Surgery

An abundance of words here on Purple Medical Blog about the pros and cons of gastric bypass weight loss surgery. It's not something to be taken lightly as the risks are real and people sometimes have bad complications. Yet, the number of Americans having weight loss surgery more than quadrupled between 1998 and 2002 from 13,386 to 71,733. There may be as many as 16 million Americans who are candidates for weight loss or bariatric surgery such as gastric bypass surgery. Extreme overweight or obesity can impact the social, psychological and health aspects of a person's life. Mark Twain's comment about smoking, "it's easy to quit, I've done it a hundred times" could easily apply to the roller coaster of dieting. Dieting to lose weight can be effective but for many very heavy people gastric bypass or gastric band surgery is a good alternative.

Here's another intriguing article about the real life experience of a person working hard to lose weight, The NY Times had a exemplary article about the ramifications of bariatric weight loss surgery for a lovely young woman, Young Obese and in Surgery. Weight loss surgery is a topic that Purple Medical Blog has examined at length. Click these links to articles examining the various aspects and some success stories of Bariatric Weight Loss Surgery.

Young Obese and in Surgery

A FASCINATING EXPERT VIDEO about the PROS AND CONS OF GASTRIC BYPASS WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY How They Do Bariatric Surgery and What to Expect

Another Weight Loss Surgery Benefit? GASTRIC BYPASS GASTRIC BANDING May LOWER Some Types of Cancer Per Canadian Study Researchers found that patients who had the weight-loss operation reduced their cancer risk by 80 per cent, compared to patients who did not have the surgery.The study, which analyzed data from nearly 6,800 patients, was conducted by researchers from Montreal's McGill University.

A SURGEON Tells of His OWN Gsstric Bypass SUCCESS Story

RISKS REWARDS OF GASTRIC BYPASS Surgery Versus Dieting: In Weight Loss Surgery EXPERIENCE COUNTS.

VIDEO OF A WOMANS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE with Gastric Weight Loss Surgery

Tremendous Techsite Touts Tiny Transformative Technology 720p Video Camera

2012-01-08T15:39:00.001-06:00

That's Amazing! Tiny Transformative Technology 720p Video Camera

An Interesting Website Demonstrates an Elusive Camera

And now for something completely different. Well actually, not completely as this is a website about TECHNOLOGY as well as MEDICINE. Here's a wonderful video at a website about video, cameras and electronics ( Gadgets Tech Cheap Spy Gadgets Demonstrations and HD video reviews.). The website is called Techmoan and I first encountered it with this you tube video review of the incredible Y3000 which is a 720p camera that has got to be the tiniest smallest camera or near to it that is availble commercially. Yeah, good luck with that...Actually it doesn't seem available. I haven't found it for sale anywhere except possibly China. The video also mentions another competitor camera called the Chobi One.

FIBROUS CAP AND HEART ATTACK: CORONARY ARTERY: A BLOCKED ARTERY IN THE HEART RESEMBLES CLOGGED PIPE IN YOUR PLUMBING BUT THERE IS MORE

2012-01-03T19:41:00.000-06:00

FIBROUS CAP AND HEART ATTACK: CORONARY ARTERY: MORE THAN A PLUMBING PROBLEM

WHAT DOES PLAQUE RUPTURE HAVE To DO WITH A HEART ATTACK?

A clogged artery is and is not like a clogged pipe, You go to the doctor and they explain why it is important to avoid trans fats and cholesterol to prevent blocked arteries. The heart depends on it's own blood supply, the coronary arteries to feed the heart muscle itself with oxygen rich blood. The impression is that the arteries which feed the heart become clogged with cholesterol like debris. Lowering cholesterol and trans fats definitely helps your heart but the picture is more complicated than the doctor may tell you.

WHAT CAUSES A BLOCKED ARTERY IN THE HEART?

As Jane Brody pointed out in a NY Times column "Most heart attacks do not occur because an artery is closed by a large plaque. Rather, a relatively small, unstable plaque ruptures( something called a fibrous cap breaks off) and attracts inflammatory cells and coagulating(clotting) agents,leading to an artery blocking clot."

WHAT IS A PLAQUE IN A HEART ARTERY?

A plaque in the blood vessel is a complex of cholesterol and various cells and other chemicals that builds up in the wall of the blood vessel. As Brody pointed out "most Americans of middle age and older have small plaques ubiquitous in coronary arteries." Actually evidence has been accumulating for years that the reason for many blockages is that cholesterol is deposited in the lining of the artery and triggers an inflammatory cascade in the lining of the artery. That inflammation builds up in the lining and is covered by a cap. When that cap breaks, the contents beneath the cap, cause a blood clot to form in the blood that is passing by in the lumen of the artery and voila it's a blockage.

WHY DO DOCTORS RECOMMEND ASPIRIN TO PREVENT A HEART ATTACK? HOW DOES ASPIRIN WORK?

Most doctors recommend aspirin to lower the chance of a heart attack. Thus, you see the so called low dose 81mg aspirin sold at drug stores "for the heart." How does aspirin work to lower the risk of a heart attack? They don't know but it may be because aspirin interferes with the formation of blood clots or because it an an anti inflammatory agent and lowers inflammation.

As Dr. Peter Libby has pointed out "sometimes a plaque grows so large that it virtually halts the blood flow in an artery and generates a heart attack or stroke. (he means a stroke caused by a blockage, a thrombotic stroke, but there's also another kind called a hemorrhagic stroke which is due to bleeding) Yet only 15% of heart attacks happen in this way. By carefully examining vessel walls of people who died from heart attacks, pathologists have demonstrated that most attacks occur after a plaque's fibrous cap breaks open" attracting a blood clot that leads to the blockage of the artery. See the fascinating and instructive article by Dr. Libby Atherosclerosis The New View.

Aspirin in Heart Attack Prevention

Brody Coronary Care

Spacing Chunking and Other Great Concepts: A Video to Remember at Work and School

2012-01-02T16:54:00.001-06:00

Tips to Improve Memorization and Remembering and Memory at Work and School

Who was Ebbinghaus and What is Chunking and Spacing

I suggest watching this short but surprisingly useful and engaging video about things you can do to remember things better as for example for a test or work.

Key to Longevity? Searching for Drugs that Mimic Laron Syndome Effect to Prevent Cancer and Diabetes

2012-01-01T15:39:00.008-06:00

Searching for Drugs that Mimic Laron Syndome Effect to Prevent Cancer and Diabetes

What Protects Laron Dwarfs Against Cancer?

A riddle wrapped inside an enigma, that's what cancer seems like sometimes but perhaps there is a key. Maybe that key is to be found among people living in remote villages in Ecuador. "The Laron Dwarfs have a mutation that some biologists say may throw light on human longevity and ways to increase it. The villagers are very small, generally less than three and a half feet tall, and have a rare condition known as Laron syndrome or Laron-type dwarfism. They are probably the descendants of conversos, Sephardic Jews from Spain and Portugal who were forced to convert to Christianity in the 1490s but were nonetheless persecuted in the Inquisition. They are also almost completely free of two age-related diseases, cancer and diabetes". That's what a NY Times article said about these remarkable people.

What Does the Doctor Studying Them Think?

The doctor following them noticed that this group of dwarfs in Ecuador, Laron dwarfs didn't seem to get cancer or diabetes mellitus....The doctor, Dr.Guevara believes that the gene that stunts their growth also helps to prevent cancer and diabetes mellitus. Researchers are trying to illuminate the biological pathway and find drugs to mimic Laron Effect.

link to

Ecuadorean Villagers May Hold Secret to Longevity

link to

'Immune' to cancer: The astonishing dwarf community in Ecuador who could hold the key to a cure

Got to be One of World's Smallest Cameras Available for Sale

2011-12-31T22:24:00.004-06:00

This Has Got to be One of World's Smallest Cameras Available for Sale The ChobiCam and the Y3000

"This has got to be ,one of the world's smallest commercially available cameras. Hard to say exactly how small but look at the picture for comparison. It's the JTT CHOBi Cam One HD 8 Megapixel Ultra-Mini Digital Camera. Front to back is supposed to be diameter of a Quarter coin.

Also look at the video below of a camera called the Y300 ( From an interesting website called Techmoan)

Per a gadget store that sells it "This tiny camera is actually an 8 mega pixel camera that shoots both stills and videos, as well as sound. It has a unique LOMO retro image quality and with its incredibly small size, it's the ultimate spy camera.."

"Unlike its predecessor, which can only take pictures at 1600 x 1200 and videos at 640 x 480, this upgraded version is 8 Mega pixel and snaps photos at 3264 x 2448 resolution and records 1280 x 720 videos at 30fps. The increase in size between the predecessor to the current HD model is only about 0.1 to 0.3 inches on each side". Can be seen at AC Gears in New York.

Don't Judge Me! A Gym Where Overweight People Can Feel Comfortable

2011-12-31T18:19:00.002-06:00

Gym Where Fat People Can Be Comfortable

"Sounds logical. Overweight people especially very overweight and fat people are NOT COMFORTABLE in gyms because they feel people are ogling them and making judgements. Therefore, A gym especially for overweight people!!. A guy had the idea to open a gym especially tailored to overweight people.

"Once in the program, clients are expected to come in five days a week; they may attend the classes or do cardio on their own, though members are monitored by personal trainers. Unlike regular health clubs, the equipment, including the elliptical machine and self-propelled treadmill, is built specifically for large bodies". If you don't show up they call you on the phone and ask where you are.

A rare health club beckons the obese

Adults Should Keep Cat Out Of Bedroom Study Finds Increased Allergic Reaction

2011-12-30T15:48:00.001-06:00

Adults Should Keep Cat Out Of Bedroom Study Finds Increased Allergic Reaction

"If you are an adult just getting a cat for the first time you are more likely to get an allergic reaction. It's especially true if you let the cat into your bedroom. A study called Risk factors for New-Onset Cat Sensitization among Adults, concludes...

"Our data support that acquiring a cat in adulthood nearly doubles the risk of developing cat sensitization. Hence, cat avoidance should be considered in adults, especially in those sensitized to other allergens and reporting a history of allergic diseases. ""If you are an adult with asthma and/or allergies, you should think twice about getting a cat and particularly, if you do so, letting it into your bedroom," said Dr. Andy Nish of the Allergy and Asthma Care Center in Gainesville, Georgia, who wasn't involved in the new work.""

Risk factors for new-onset cat sensitization among adults:

Man Who Showed What You Think Can Affect Body's Immune Response to Disease

2011-12-29T22:54:00.002-06:00

What You Think Can Make You Sick: Dr. Robert Ader Who Showed That The Brain Affects The Body's Immune Response How We React to Disease

"The man who helped discover that what's in your mind can literally make you sick has passed away. His study, clearly demonstrated that immune responses (such as antibody production) could be modified by classical conditioning, showing that there were connections between the brain and the immune system (the immune system protects the body against infection with antibodies among other defenses) and that the mind could have profound effects on the body’s functions that were thought to be independent.

In the early 1970s, in what would become one of his most distinctive experiments, Dr. Ader was studying taste aversion conditioning in rats. In the experiment, rats drank different volumes of a saccharin solution and also were injected with a dose of Cytoxan, an immunosuppressive drug that induces gastrointestinal upset. The rats “learned” or were conditioned to avoid consuming the solution.

When he stopped giving the rats the drug but continued to give them the saccharin solution, not only did the rats avoid drinking the solution, some of the animals died.

link to Robert Ader, Founder of Psychoneuroimmunology

Real Life Stories Prove With Focus People Can Lose Weight and Keep It Off

2011-12-28T20:58:00.001-06:00

Overweight People Do Have To Work Harder and Focus to Keep Weight from Returning But There are Many Real Life Stories that Prove You Can Diet and Lose Fat

"Ok, even I got depressed reading the article The Fat Trap, mentioned in the previous post. It alluded to studies that indicate that some people especially previously fat ones have some sort of mechanisms that seem to push the person back towards gaining weight. But as the people who are being followed by the National Weight Control Registry prove MANY FAT PEOPLE CAN AND DO LOSE WEIGHT AND THEY DO KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF albeit with EFFORT and FOCUS.

link to It's Not Your Imagination People Who Diet Really Do Work Harder to Keep the Weight Off Proof of Success

Look at some REAL LIFE STORIES of people who have LOST WEIGHT and KEPT IT OFF. Look at the web sites of two people who have lost hundreds of pounds by low carbohydrate diet and kept them off.

Look at website of George Stella, who together with is family lost several hundred pounds using low carb.

link to website of George Stella

Look at Doug Varrieur who lost 100 pounds on low carb diet and has kept it off for years. link to FattoSkinny Of course, he also has a book for sale but It seems interesting. In general the people followed in the the National Weight Loss Registry, have succeeded by a variety of methods. One who has successfully maintained a 135-pound weight loss for about five years said. “It’s one of the hardest things there is,” she says. “It’s something that has to be focused on every minute. I’m not always thinking about food, but I am always aware of food.”

It's Not Your Imagination People Who Diet Really Do Work Harder to Keep the Weight Off Proof of Success

2011-12-28T11:58:00.004-06:00

The Proof: How Women and Men Who Lose Weight Really Do Work Harder to Stay Slim Keep the Fat Off But It CAN Be Done

"The National Weight Control Registry tracks 10,000 people who have lost weight and have kept it off. “We set it up in response to comments that nobody ever succeeds at weight loss.” “We had two goals: to prove there were people who did, and to try to learn from them about what they do to achieve this long-term weight loss.” Anyone who has lost 30 pounds and kept it off for at least a year is eligible to join the study, though the average member has lost 70 pounds and remained at that weight for six years.

The NY Times has a fascinating article with the unfortunate title The Fat Trap. "There is no consistent pattern to how people in the registry lost weight — some did it on Weight Watchers, others with Jenny Craig, some by cutting carbs on the Atkins diet and a very small number lost weight through surgery. But their eating and exercise habits appear to reflect what researchers find in the lab: to lose weight and keep it off, a person must eat fewer calories and exercise far more than a person who maintains the same weight naturally".

Link to The Fat Trap

"A registry member who has successfully maintained a 135-pound weight loss for about five years, is a perfect example. “It’s one of the hardest things there is,” she says. “It’s something that has to be focused on every minute. I’m not always thinking about food, but I am always aware of food.”

Does Yoga Help Women Get Pregnant and Boost Infertility

2011-12-27T21:01:00.002-06:00

Yoga and Mind Body Intervention Does It Help Women Get Pregnant Boost Fertility

" A reproductive endocrinologist said "If somebody would have told me 3 to 4 years ago that I would be encouraging patients to go for yoga, acupuncture ( to promote reproductive fertility i.e increase chances of having a baby) or any other integrative treatment, they would say my head would need to be examined," ......
I remembered this quote from a former article I wrote about in Purple Medical Blog when I read a NY Times article titled Yoga’s Stress Relief: An Aid for Infertility?

Intuitively it seems right that anything that reduces stress ought to help fertility. So it seems like yoga could conceivably help...even acupuncture has been put forward as a way to help infertility..see Purple Medical Blog see Can Acupuncture Help You Get Pregnant?

see

Yoga's Stress Relief Aid for Infertility? A Video about Mind Body and Infetility

see

Treating Infertility
see also Psychological Support Boost Fertility

See also

Cycle of stress:Getting pregnant, having monster PMS - how the S factor may play a part

How to Be a Great Leader: Best Presidents and Prime Ministers Had Mood Disorders...Depression and Mood Swings Part of the Tools That Enabled Churchill and Lincoln to Overcome Adversity

2011-12-25T18:55:00.002-06:00

Psychological Mood Disorders and Greatness...Depression and Mood Swings Part of the Tools That Enabled Churchill and Lincoln to Overcome Adversity

Mood disorders actually helped the greatest world leaders in their greatness, providing some of the tools they needed to withstand and conquer the awesome challenges they faced.

Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood Disorders program at Tufts University Medical Center contends that without the cyclical troubles of mood disorders, one may not be equipped to endure dire straits .Dr. Ghaemi suggests that successful leaders like Civil War General Sherman, Lincoln, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. all had mood disorders which enhanced their ability to lead.

Men Who Were Good in A Crisis Because of Mental Illness

Link to Radio Broadcast Linking Mental Illness and Leadership

More on Lowering Blood Pressure With Coordinated Breathing

2011-12-20T22:28:00.001-06:00

Can the Way You Breathe Lower Your High Blood Pressure

Could you lower your high blood pressure by changing the way you breathe? So previously I had mentioned Maybe Lowering BP with Breathing that there seemed to be an association between how you breathe and your blood pressure. An article that appeared several years ago in the medical journal, Hypertension, was called Slow Breathing Improves Arterial Baroreflex Sensitivity and Decreases Blood Pressure in Essential Hypertension.

Researchers said in the article that they were able to demonstrate that slower breathing did result in lower blood pressures in people with high blood pressure (i.e. hypertension) and postulated that some people with high blood pressure have a problem with their barorelfex.

The baroreflex or baroreceptor reflex is one of the body's mechanisms for maintaining blood pressure. It provides a negative feedback loop in which an elevated blood pressure reflexively causes heart rate to decrease therefore causing blood pressure to decrease; likewise, decreased blood pressure activates the baroreflex, causing heart rate to increase thus causing an increase in blood pressure. The researchers suggest that slower breathing is somehow resetting the maladjusted baroreflex.

Here is another video about a biofeedback device that is supposed to help train you to breathe more slowly and lower the blood pressure.

Can You Lower Your Blood Pressure by How You Breathe? Maybe

2011-12-19T21:30:00.001-06:00

Can the Way You Breathe Lower Your High Blood Pressure

Could you lower your high blood pressure by changing the way you breathe? There have been some medical reports and studies that say that people who learn to breathe in certain rhythm at a pace below about 10 breaths per minute can lower their high blood pressure.

There DOES seem to be something to these reports of lowering blood pressure by breathing "correctly" and there is at least one company that markets a kind of biofeedback device to train you in how to breathe to lower your blood pressure.( Search on Amazon, for example).(There is also at least one "breathing app" for ios and Android). Of course, some of the studies that tout the breathing effect on blood pressure are by the doctors who started the company. Still there are studies from other sources that seem to corroborate the effect on blood pressure.

What are the Mechanisms of High Blood Pressure?

The mechanisms of high blood pressure remain somewhat unknown but the medicines that have been developed to lower high blood pressure work by methods such as lowering the heart rate and widening the diameter of arteries. Lowering sodium seems to help and one of the most common blood pressure meds is a diuretic that expels water from the body.

Next time we'll look at some of the medical reports of the effect of breathing on lowering high blood pressure.

Twelve (12) Percent of Americans older than 12 Take Antidepressant Medicine and Women Are 250% More Likely To Take Them then Men

2011-10-20T16:31:00.000-05:00

Millions of Americans Take Anti Depression Medicine

Antidepressants were the third most common prescription drug taken by Americans of all ages in 2005–2008 and the most frequently used by persons aged 18–44 years . From 1988–1994 through 2005–2008, the rate of antidepressant use in the United States among all ages increased nearly 400% . The CDC released a NCHC data brief about the pattern of how Americans take anti-depression medication. The brief discusses all antidepressants taken, regardless of the reason for use. While the majority of antidepressants are taken to treat depression, antidepressants also can be taken to treat anxiety disorders, for example. The report describes antidepressant use among Americans aged 12 and over, including prevalence of use by age, sex, race and ethnicity, income, depression severity, and length of use.

Antidepressant Use in Persons Aged 12 and Over: United States, 2005–2008

The Facets of Neuroblastoma : A Lump in the Abdomen Suddenly Throws Open the Door to a Childhood Cancer

2011-10-03T16:10:00.011-05:00

The Facets of Neuroblastoma : A Lump in the Abdomen Suddenly Throws Open the Door to a Childhood Cancer

Signs and symptoms of neuroblastoma in children vary with site of presentation. Generally, symptoms include abdominal pain, vomiting, weight loss, anorexia, fatigue, and bone pain.

A lump felt by her 4 year old daughter's pediatrician introduced the girtl's mother to the complex and multifaced puzzle that is neuroblastoma. When she took her young daughter in for a routine flu shot, she was shocked when her doctor palpated a lump in her daughter's abdomen. The story illustrates how one cancer, neuroblastoma, a cancer of children can have different outcomes even in young children of different ages.

Today She is a Healthy 13 Year Old

Ironically, she was told that her child might be too old to save even though she was just 4. Subsequently her daughter was saved and today is she is a healthy 13 year old. Why was she told the 4 year old child with neuroblastoma might be too old to save?

According to an expert on neuroblastoma quoted in the story, "infants are more likely to survive the disease than children older than 18 months, even if the cancer has metastasized".

A Disease That is Biologically Different in Older Children

"For some reason, once children are toddlers or older they have a disease that's biologically different from what we see in infants and much less responsive to chemotherapy and other treatments."

"Signs and symptoms of neuroblastoma vary with site of presentation. Generally, symptoms include abdominal pain, emesis, weight loss, anorexia, fatigue, and bone pain. Hypertension is an uncommon sign of the disease and is generally caused by renal artery compression, not catecholamine excess. Chronic diarrhea is a rare presenting symptom secondary to tumor secretion of vasoactive intestinal peptide secretion".

"Because more than 50% of patients present with advanced stage disease, usually to the bone and bone marrow, the most common presentation includes bone pain and a limp. However, patients may also present with unexplained fever, weight loss, irritability, and periorbital ecchymosis (bruis like appearance)secondary to metastatic disease to the orbits. The presence of bone metastases can lead to pathologic fractures".

"Approximately two thirds of patients with neuroblastoma have abdominal primaries. In these circumstances, patients can present with an asymptomatic abdominal mass that usually is discovered by the parents or a caregiver. Symptoms produced by the presence of the mass depend on its proximity to vital structures and usually progress over time".

Neuroblastoma often begins in the nerve tissue of the adrenal glands. There are two adrenal glands, one on top of each kidney in the back of the upper abdomen. The adrenal glands produce important hormones that help control heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar, and the way the body reacts to stress. Neuroblastoma may also begin in the abdomen, in the chest, in nerve tissue near the spine in the neck, or in the spinal cord. The pressure of the growing lump may cause the symptom such as trouble breathing and weakness.

Read Daniel's Story at Sloan Kettering

Her Daughter Recovered from a Neuroblastoma Diagnosis 8 years Ago

Children's Hospital Philadelphia and New Neuroblastoma Treatment

Report on Neuroblastoma

Wilson Greatbach:INVENTOR WHOSE INGENUITY SAVED MILLIONS OF LIVES AND CHANGED THE COURSE OF MEDICAL HISTORY

2011-09-28T19:42:00.008-05:00

Wilson Greatbach:INVENTOR WHOSE INGENUITY SAVED MILLIONS OF LIVES AND CHANGED THE COURSE OF MEDICAL HISTORY

Wilson Greatbatch was not a doctor. Yet his ingenuity changed the course of medical history. "This is the story of how a very average person developed into one of the country's greatest inventors with more than 140 patents. His most famous invention, called the cardiac pacemaker, keeps the rhythm of millions of heartbeats and helps people live longer and better."

Pacemakers Were as Big as Television Sets While Greatbach Designed a Small Implantable Pacemaker

He was best known for his small portable pacemaker breakthrough, an example of Pasteur’s observation that “chance favors the prepared mind..... The first pacemakers had been very large making them useless for mobility. Some early designs were the size of a television and needed to be plugged into a wall socket.

"Mr. Greatbatch’s crucial insight came in 1956, when he was an assistant professor in electrical engineering at the University of Buffalo. While building a heart rhythm recording device for the Chronic Disease Research Institute there, he reached into a box of parts for a resistor to complete the circuitry. The one he pulled out was the wrong size, and when he installed it, the circuit it produced emitted intermittent electrical pulses".

According to another source "Then, quite by accident, Greatbatch's "eureka moment" happened in 1958. Transistors had recently become available, and Greatbatch was building an oscillator with one transistor to record heartbeat sounds. He incorporated the wrong transistor, which produced a pulse that mimicked the rhythm of a heart. "I stared at the thing in disbelief, thinking this was exactly the properties of a pacemaker," said Greatbatch".

"Mr. Greatbatch immediately associated the timing and rhythm of the pulses with a human heartbeat, he wrote in a memoir, “The Making of the Pacemaker,” published in 2000. That brought to mind lunchtime chats he had had with researchers about the electrical activity of the heart while he was working at an animal behavior laboratory as an undergraduate at Cornell in 1951".

Wilson Greatbatch, Inventor of Implantable Pacemaker, Dies at 92

Greatbach Inventor Award

Greatbach Technologies

What Kills Breast Cancer Cells? It Could Be This Non Lethal to Healthy Cells Virus Say Scientists at Penn State University In Vitro Vs In Vivo

2011-09-24T19:39:00.003-05:00

What Kills Breast Cancer Cells? It Could Be This Non Lethal to Healthy Cells Virus Say Scientists at Penn State University and What is In Vitro Vs In Vivo

Could Virus Be Cancer Killer? Maybe:

Non Disease Causing Virus Kills Breast Cancer Cells ( In Laboratory, see below)
Penn State Researchers Tested the Virus on 3 Different Breast Cancer Types
Used Adeno-associated virus type 2 (AAV2) a virus that regularly infects humans but causes no disease.
AAV2 does not affect healthy cells

It sounds like a miracle and maybe it is but like everything in science and medicine it comes with a lot of caveats. Firstly, things that work in the lab (in vitro) frequently are a wash in the body (in vivo).

"Craig Meyers, professor of microbiology and immunology, said breast cancer is problematic to treat because of its multiple stages. "Because it has multiple stages, you can't treat all the women the same. Currently, treatment of breast cancer is dependent on multiple factors such as hormone-dependency, invasiveness and metastases, drug resistance and potential toxicities. Our study shows that AAV2, as a single entity, targets all different grades of breast cancer."

"Cells have multiple ways of dying. If damage occurs in a healthy cell, the cell turns on production and activation of specific proteins that allow the cell to commit suicide. However, in cancer cells these death pathways often are turned off, while the proteins that allow the cell to divide and multiply are stuck in the "on" position. One way to fight cancer is to find ways to turn on these death pathways, which is what researchers believe is happening with the AAV2 virus".

According to the Wikipedia, Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a small virus which infects humans and some other primate species. AAV is not currently known to cause disease and consequently the virus causes a very mild immune response. AAV can infect both dividing and non-dividing cells and may incorporate its genome into that of the host cell. These features make AAV a very attractive candidate for creating viral vectors for gene therapy, and for the creation of isogenic human disease models. Recent human clinical trials using AAV for gene therapy in the retina have shown promise.

Virus kills breast cancer cells in laboratory

Meyers and colleagues have been working on this for a while since here is an article from 2005.

AAV2 Has Great Potential as Anti-Cancer Agent

Adeno-associated virus type 2 infection activates caspase dependent and independent apoptosis in multiple breast cancer lines but not in normal mammary epithelial cells

The Most Dangerous Game: Dying to Win the Triathlon

2011-09-17T10:00:00.004-05:00

The Most Dangerous Game: What is More Dangerous than a Marathon? A Triathlon. Swimming in Open Waters Riskiest Part of Triathlon

Video Depicting V Tachycardia

Could Over Exertion Caused BY Swimming in Open Water Cause V Tach? Ventricular Tachycardia

Athletes or weekend athletes who die in a triathlon generally have it happen in the swim section. Triathlon swimming is harder than just swimming in a pool. You are out in the open water with waves and turbulence. It can be cold and dark and you can be and probably are stressed out. The crowding and the other factors plus the difficulty of stopping in the open deep water ( that is without drowning) are likely explanations for why people have trouble in triathlons.

Why is the swim part of a triathlon so dangerous? Possible reasons why people in triathlons have more trouble in the swim section:

Swimming in open water much harder than in a pool
No where to stop immediately in the deep water
cold and dark
crowded
Added stress may uncover heart defects

"An overwhelming majority of deaths in triathlons occur during the swim, where circumstances can conspire to create particularly stressful, even deadly conditions".

"According to a study of triathlons from 2006 to 2008 conducted by the American College of Cardiology, the risk of sudden death in a triathlon is about twice that of a marathon — 1.5 deaths per 100,000 triathlon participants compared with 0.8 deaths per 100,000 marathon participants".

In an article in JAMA about a medical study that looked at 950,000 people who partcipated on triathlons they said "Fourteen participants died during 14 triathlons (rate, 1.5 per 100 000 participants; 95% CI, 0.9-2.5), including 13 while swimming and 1 biking. Athletes who died were 28 to 65 years old (mean [SD] age, 44 [10] years). Triathlons with deaths included more participants (n = 1319; 95% CI, 1084-1584) than races without deaths (n = 318; 95% CI, 302-334). Of the swimming deaths, 11 were men and 2 were women.

Six deaths occurred in short, 4 in intermediate, and 3 in long races (2 in an Ironman triathlon). Eight swimmers were in distress and called for assistance, and 5 were found motionless on the water. Deaths occurred in the open ocean (n = 6), lakes (n = 4), reservoirs (n = 2), or a river (n = 1). The bicycle fatality resulted from a fall causing cervical injuries.

Drowning was the declared cause of each swimming death, but 7 of 9 athletes with autopsy had cardiovascular abnormalities identified. Six had mild left ventricular hypertrophy with maximum wall thickness of 15 to 17 mm and mean (SD) heart weight of 403 (77) g, including 1 with a clinical history of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. One other athlete had a congenital coronary arterial anomaly, and 2 had structurally normal hearts.

Sudden Death During Triathlon

And then there is this from the NY Times: "A second competitor died Monday after apparently having had a heart attack during Sunday’s New York City Triathlon. "Two triathlon swimmers, a woman of 40 and a man of 64, were pulled from the Hudson river and subsequently passed away.

“When you’re part of a community, it’s a tragedy when a member of your community passes,” said John Korff, the owner and organizer of the New York City Triathlon. “Our hearts go out to the families of these athletes.”

"Korff and other triathlon officials said Monday that they would review procedures for the race, especially those pertaining to the swim leg, which precedes the cycling and running phases".

"According to studies, those stresses can aggravate previously undetected heart abnormalities, leading to cardiac arrest. “So many things can go wrong in an open-water swim — it can add up to a perfect storm,” said Dr. Stuart Weiss, the triathlon’s medical director. “There’s some combination of water, adrenaline, pushing yourself hard, and all these things somehow work together to put people into an abnormal heart rhythm.” The deaths of Kudryk and Martich were the second and third in the 11-year history of the New York City Triathlon, after the 2008 death of Esteban Neira, a 32-year-old Argentine. Neira died in the Hudson from a condition linked to high blood pressure.Kudryk and Martich were among 28 people pulled from the water Sunday. There were 3,000 competitors in the triathlon, though some competed as part of relay teams and did not swim".

“This is tragic and very, very sad,” said Bill Burke, the race director for the New York triathlon and several others around the country. “We will be working hard on the registration process and see if we can take it a step further.” "According to a study of triathlons from 2006 to 2008 conducted by the American College of Cardiology, the risk of sudden death in a triathlon is about twice that of a marathon — 1.5 deaths per 100,000 triathlon participants compared with 0.8 deaths per 100,000 marathon participants".

"A 2010 study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association showed that of 14 deaths that occurred in triathlons between 2006 and 2008, 13 took place during the swimming portion. The study found that a majority of those who died had pre-existing heart abnormalities".

“I don’t know where we are right now with triathlons,” said Dr. Kevin Harris of the Minneapolis Heart Institute, an author of both studies. “Marathons became safer over time as we learned how to identify people in trouble and got more defibrillators on the course, and as people learned more about how to train.”

Second Triathlon Swimmer Dies, Prompting Review of Race Protocol

In an article about Athletes, Triathlons and Ventricular Tachycardia the author writes "Ventricular tachycardia can trigger skyrocketing heart rates, blackouts and even sudden death. While racing in the 2009 Ironman World Championship 70.3, the author, a former Ultraman and DecaIronman world champion, got a close-up look at “V-tach,” a condition that has put a halt to more than one world-class triathlon career".

Triathlon's Danger Sign Ventricular Tachycardia

Technology to New Heights Watch Video Architect of World Tallest Building Tells How and Why

2011-08-07T16:25:00.029-05:00

Technology to New Heights :Watch Video Architect of World Tallest Building Tells How and Why

Technology to New Heights: He designed the Burj Khalifah and Now He Has Designed The Kingdom Tower

This is a medical AND technology blog. More than twice as tall as the Empire State Building!! Score one for technology with the designer of the world's (soon to be ) tallest building talks in this video about the how and why.

Will be at least 3280 feet tall, probably more
Designed primarily by Chicago-based architect Adrian Smith of Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture the same architect who designed the Burj Khalifa while he was working for Skidmore, Owings & Merill
Will have some double deck elevators

What Barks Like a Seal and Has Trouble Breathing? It Could be Your Child with Croup: The Symptoms and Treatment of Croup

2011-08-01T18:48:00.002-05:00

What Barks Like a Seal and Has Trouble Breathing? It Could be Your Child with Croup: The Symptoms and Treatment of Croup

What is Croup? It can have any and all of:

Barking Cough (may Sound Like a Seal}
Cold like Symptoms
Noisy Breathing
Difficulty Breathing

Croup is a common, mostly childhood syndrome. It can have a sudden onset and a barking cough,"a cough that sounds like a seal barking".

Most children have what appears to be a mild cold for several days before the barking cough becomes evident. As the cough gets more frequent, the child may have labored breathing or STRIDOR (a harsh, crowing noise made during inspiration)". This often frightens parents and sends them running to the emergency room. At MINIMUM YOU NEED TO CALL THE DOCTOR EVEN AT NIGHT.

Croup can sometimes be severe. Most times croup is treated and the child goes home. In a small fraction of cases the child has to be hospitalized. Doctors use corticosteroids to treat the croup. The idea is that steroids reduce inflammation and swelling. Croup has a so called BARKING COUGH along with symptoms that seem like a cold. The BARKING COUGH and TROUBLE BREATHING is what really scares the heck out of people (justifiably). Croup can cause various degrees of trouble breathing.

Croup, can cause swelling around the vocal cords, is common in infants and children and can have a variety of causes. Doctors need to do a differential diagnosis which means to find out if it is croup or a problem that looks similar like epiglottitis or maybe swallowing a foreign object like a coin or toy part. Epiglottitis is very dangerous and needs immediate diagnosis and treatment since it can close off the wind pipe. Immunization against certain bacteria has helped to decrease (but not eliminate) the number of cases of epigolottitis.

Most croup is caused by viruses. As you know viruses are another kind of germ. Bacteria have a different structure than viruses. Antibiotics work against bacteria. Other kinds of treatment are needed for viruses.

What is Epiglottits?

Epiglottitis is an inflammation and swelling of the epiglottis - the flap that sits at the base of the tongue, which keeps food from going into the trachea (windpipe). Due to its place in the airway, swelling of this structure can interfere with breathing and constitutes a medical emergency. Infection can cause the epiglottis to either obstruct or completely close off the windpipe.

What is Croup