health tips

New York facility is ‘last hope’ for girl declared brain dead, family say

The family of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old girl declared brain dead after complications from routine tonsil surgery, said Saturday a hospital in New York may be able to accept her and keep her on life support.

The girl’s uncle and lawyer wouldn’t provide the hospital’s name, saying they don’t want media attention to hurt her chance of being accepted and transferred there.

“It’s an organization that believes in life,” attorney Chris Dolan told the Associated Press.
“It’s our last, last hope,” he said after two facilities in California that agreed to accept Jahi decided to back out.

A nursing home in the San Francisco Bay Area that had been willing to care for the girl if she had two tubes inserted changed its mind. Dolan said a facility in the Los Angeles area also withdrew its offer because it didn’t want media attention or to jeopardize its relationship with its doctors, who refused to treat someone who’s been declared brain dead.

Time is short for the family, as Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo on Tuesday ruled that the Children’s Hospital Oakland may remove Jahi from a ventilator at 5 p.m. Monday unless an appeal is filed.

Jahi underwent a tonsillectomy at the hospital on Dec. 9 to treat sleep apnea. After she awoke from the operation, her family said, she started bleeding heavily from her mouth and went into cardiac arrest. Doctors at Children’s Hospital concluded the girl was brain dead on Dec. 12 and wanted to remove her from life support. The family said they believe she is still alive.

Before Jahi can be transferred, she must undergo two more medical procedures — the insertion of a breathing tube and a feeding tube.

“Children’s Hospital Oakland does not believe that performing surgical procedures on the body of a deceased person is an appropriate medical practice,” David Durand, its chief of pediatrics, said in a statement Thursday.

Douglas Straus, a lawyer for the hospital, said in a letter made public Friday that before the hospital would comply with the family’s request to move Jahi, it would need to speak directly with officials at any nursing home to make sure they understand her condition, “including the fact that Jahi is brain dead” — and to discuss needed preparations, including transportation.

“Children’s Hospital will of course continue to do everything legally and ethically permissible to support the family of Jahi McMath. In that regard, Children’s will allow a lawful transfer of Jahi’s body in its current state to another location if the family can arrange such a transfer and Children’s can legally do so,” Straus wrote in the letter.

He also said the Alameda County coroner needed to sign off on the move “since we are dealing with the body of a person who has been declared legally dead.”

Dolan said he had already obtained signed consent from the coroner for Jahi’s transfer. The Alameda County Coroner’s Bureau said it had no comment.

He said Saturday he was waiting to hear from the New York hospital after its facility director and medical director speak.

Hospital spokeswoman Cynthia Chiarappa said the hospital has not heard from any facility to discuss how it can accommodate “a deceased body on a ventilator.”

source: Nbc news

Is your yogurt actually healthy?

If there’s ever news in the yogurt world, this is it: Whole Foods Market plans to stop selling Chobani Greek yogurt in 2014 because the product contains genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

GMOs are a result of a crop’s DNA being altered by scientists to protect it from various environmental threats, according to the National Institutes of Health. They get a bad rap because these combinations of genes can’t occur in nature, and they contain compounds not yet tested for human consumption

While Chobani markets its products as containing only natural ingredients, the company’s use of milk comes from dairy cows fed GMO animal feed.

Whole Foods says they’re making way for more exclusive, local brands, especially those that are organic, according to the announcement.

It’s difficult to say definitively that you should avoid GMOs, Alan Aragon, Men’s Health’s nutrition advisor, said. There is some research that demonstrates their downsides, though: The latest animal studies indicate that genetically modified foods have toxic effects on the digestive and reproductive systems.

They have also been linked to many food allergies, according to the University of Medical Sciences in Poland. However, “for anything to be reasonably deemed dangerous, you’d need abundant and consistent evidence in both animal and human trials,” Aragon said. “In this case, the findings just aren’t there.”

If you want to avoid them, you’re likely safe with organic products—which are not allowed to contain GMOs. But when it comes to your yogurt, stick with your Chobani if you like it, Aragon said. If you want to try something GMO-free, go for it, he adds. Brown Cow Greek Yogurt and Straus Organic Yogurts are both organic and non-GMO verified.

Source: Topix

Patient doing well with French company’s artificial heart: report

A 75-year-old Frenchman was feeding himself and chatting to his family, more than a week after becoming the first person to be fitted with an artificial heart made by French biomedical company Carmat, one of his surgeons said.

“He is awake, feeding himself and talking with his family. We are thinking of getting him up on his feet soon, probably as early as this weekend,” Professor Daniel Duveau, who saw the patient on Thursday, told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

A more detailed account of the patient’s health would be made public on Monday, the paper wrote.

Heart-assistance devices have been used for decades as a temporary solution for patients awaiting transplants, but Carmat’s bioprosthetic product is designed to replace the real heart over the long run, mimicking nature using biological materials and sensors.

It aims to extend life for patients suffering from terminal heart failure who cannot hope for a heart transplant, often because they are too old and donors too scarce.

 

The artificial heart, which can beat up to five years, has been successfully tested on animals but the December 18 implant in a Paris hospital was the first in a human patient.

Three more patients in France are due to be fitted with the device. The next operation is scheduled for the first weeks of January, the newspaper reported.

In this first range of clinical trials, the success of the device will be judged on whether patients survive with the implant for at least a month.

The patients selected suffer from terminal heart failure – when the sick heart can no longer pump enough blood to sustain the body – and would otherwise have only a few days or weeks to live.

Artificial hearts thus fuel huge hope amongst patients, their families, and investors. Shares in Carmat have risen more than five-fold since floating on the Paris exchange in 2010.

Duveau told the JDD that Carmat’s first patient was very combative and confident with his new prosthetic heart.

“When his wife and his daughter leave him, he tells them: ‘See you tomorrow!’ All he wants is to enjoy life. He can’t wait to get out of the intensive care unit, out of his room, and out of uncertainty.”

Source: Fresh News

Multiple vaccines associated with increased infant mortality

As pentavalent vaccine has already created widespread controversy with reports linking increased morbidity and mortality to multiple vaccines in low-income countries, including Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and India, a new study published in the journal Vaccine has diametrically opposed to the extensively held conviction that more vaccines administered to infants the better.

The new observational study titled, ‘Co-administration of live measles and yellow fever vaccines and inactivated pentavalent vaccines is associated with increased mortality compared with measles and yellow fever vaccines only’ is a result of randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted during 2007-2011 in the West African country Guinea-Bissau. The study has questioned the belief that vaccination is always a life-saving intervention.

Sayer Ji, “My personal belief about the expanding vaccination schedule, as well as increasing the number of vaccine antigens per vaccine, is we are engaging in unprecedented mass experimentation on our children, as there are simply far too many variables to control and understand now in order to make the determination that they are effective, much less safe. It is likely — and research bears this out — that the ultimate result of employing so vaccines, along with the known dangers of excipients and adjuvants, is increased morbidity and mortality in exposed populations.”

As the finding hold importance when one considers that pentavalent vaccines, with the efforts of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), aims to reach millions of children in several developing countries, he said, “Global vaccination campaigns are based upon a fundamental error in thinking. You can’t vaccinate away undernourishment, poor living conditions, or lack of water sanitation. Let these charitable programmes and the wealthy nations and corporations put their money where their mouths are and provide ‘first world’ solutions for third world problems.”

“India stands today as the mother to one of the most advanced, while also ancient, medical systems in the world, Ayurveda, and must consider the implications of casting its inheritance to the wind in favour of strictly Western medical interventions, many of which are being aggressively championed for reasons that are as much political and economic as they are humanitarian in nature,” he said.

“The primary suggestion I would give is to not ignore the significant body of peer-reviewed research that now exists showing the unintended, adverse health effects of vaccination which may in some cases far outweigh their purported benefit. Also, these are not strictly academic matters but the lives of our children and future generations are on the line,” Sayer Ji opined.

In the light of the study, Dr Jacob Puliyel, head of paediatrics at St Stephen’s Hospital, New Delhi, told , “I do not think international agencies will do anything till we highlight every death as unacceptable.”

Source; Green med info

Diabetes risk gene may be inherited from Neanderthals

 

A gene variant that increases the risk of diabetes in Latin Americans may have been inherited from Neanderthals, a new study has found.

The gene variant was detected in a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) of more than 8,000 Mexicans and other Latin Americans.

People who carry the higher risk version of the gene are 25 per cent more likely to have diabetes than those who do not, and people who inherited copies from both parents are 50 per cent more likely to have diabetes, researchers found.

The higher risk form of the gene – named SLC16A11 – has been found in up to half of people with recent Native American ancestry, including Latin Americans, ‘BBC News’ reported.

The variant is found in about 20 per cent of East Asians and is rare in populations from Europe and Africa.

The elevated frequency of this risk gene in Latin Americans could account for as much as 20 per cent of the populations’ increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes – the origins of which are not well understood.

“To date, genetic studies have largely used samples from people of European or Asian ancestry, which makes it possible to miss culprit genes that are altered at different frequencies in other populations,” said co-corresponding author Jose Florez, a Broad associate member, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Assistant Physician in the Diabetes Unit and the Center for Human Genetic Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital.

“By expanding our search to include samples from Mexico and Latin America, we’ve found one of the strongest genetic risk factors discovered to date, which could illuminate new pathways to target with drugs and a deeper understanding of the disease,” Florez said.

In the study published in the journal Nature, researchers conducted genomic analyses, in collaboration with Svante Paabo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and discovered that the SLC16A11 sequence associated with risk of type 2 diabetes is found in a newly sequenced Neanderthal genome.

Source: Indian Express

Low Vitamin B-12 Levels Tied to Bone Fractures in Older Men

Older men with low levels of vitamin B-12 are at increased risk for bone fractures, a new study suggests.

Researchers measured the levels of vitamin B-12 in 1,000 Swedish men with an average age of 75. They found that participants with low levels of the vitamin were more likely than those with normal levels to have suffered a fracture.

Men in the group with the lowest B-12 levels were about 70 percent more likely to have suffered a fracture than others in the study. This increased risk was primarily due to fractures in the lumbar spine, where there was an up to 120 percent greater chance of fractures.

“The higher risk also remains when we take other risk factors for fractures into consideration, such as age, smoking, [weight], bone-mineral density, previous fractures, physical activity, the vitamin D content in the blood and calcium intake,” study author Catharina Lewerin, a researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, in Sweden, said in a university news release.

It is not known, however, if consuming more vitamin B-12 — which is found in eggs, fish, poultry and other meats — can reduce the risk of fractures in older men.

“Right now, there is no reason to eat more vitamin B-12, but rather treatment shall only be applied in confirmed cases of deficiencies and in some cases to prevent deficiencies,” Lewerin said. “For anyone who wants to strengthen their bones and prevent fractures, physical activity 30 minutes a day and quitting smoking is good self care.”

Although the study tied lower vitamin B-12 levels to a higher risk of fracture in older men, it did not establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

This study — published online in the journal Osteoporosis International — is a part of an international research project initiated by the U.S. National Institutes of Health that includes 11,000 men.

Source: Health

Hand, face transplants regulated like other organs

Sure your liver or kidney could save someone’s life. But would you donate your hands, or your face? Signing up to become an organ donor may get more complicated than just checking a box on your driver’s license.

The government is preparing to regulate the new field of hand and face transplants like it does standard organ transplants, giving more Americans who are disabled or disfigured by injury, illness or combat a chance at this radical kind of reconstruction.

Among the first challenges is deciding how people should consent to donate these very visible body parts that could improve someone’s quality of life — without deterring them from traditional donation of hearts, lungs and other internal organs needed to save lives.

”Joe Blow is not going to know that now an organ is defined as also including a hand or a face,” said Dr. Suzanne McDiarmid, who chairs the committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, that will develop the new policies over the next few months.

Making that clear to potential donors and their families is critical — ”otherwise we could undermine public trust,” said McDiarmid, a transplant specialist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

”The consent process for the life-saving organs should not, must not, be derailed by a consent process for a different kind of organ, that the public might think of as being very different from donating a kidney or a heart or a liver,” she added.

These so-called ”reconstructive transplants” are experimental, and rare. The best estimates are that 27 hand transplants have been performed in the U.S. since 1999, and about seven partial or full face transplants since 2008, said Dr. Vijay Gorantla, of the University of Pittsburgh reconstructive transplant program.

But they’re gradually increasing as more U.S. hospitals offer the complex surgeries, the Defense Department funds research into the approach for wounded veterans — and as transplant recipients go public to say how the surgeries have improved their lives.

”These hands are blessed hands to me,” said Lindsay Aronson Ess, 30, of Richmond, Va., who received a double hand transplant in 2011. She had lost her hands and feet to a life-threatening infection in 2007.

Until now, deciding who qualifies for a hand or face transplant, and how to find a match and approach a potential donor’s family all have been done on an informal, case-by-case basis.

There has been no way to tell which hospitals’ techniques work best and how patients ultimately fare.

There have been reports of two deaths related to face transplants in other countries, and some transplanted hands have had to be amputated.

Source: Teleram news

Inexpensive hearing devices bring gift of sound to less fortunate

It’s said the clacking of dominoes is the music of the Dominican Republic, but it’s been years since the game sounded so good to retiree Fernando Velverde Baez, who lost his hearing because of old age.

“The difference is that you hear the sound even of the air, and the breeze,” said Baez. “I hear a little bird, that little bird, that just chirped.”

Baez can hear the birds again because of Stavros Basseas, and a remarkable device from his company Sound World Solutions.

Basseas used two technologies, common even in the poorest countries, a smartphone that works with a personal sound amplifier in the ear, connected by Bluetooth. An app lets users raise or lower the volume, and adjust treble and bass.

If you are someplace that doesn’t even have cell phone service, you don’t need it, according to Basseas.

At up to $4,000, the tiny, high-tech hearing aids Americans can buy are too expensive for most of the estimated 365 million people worldwide with severe hearing loss.

Only seven million hearing aids were sold last year, and 85 percent of them ended up in American and European ears.

Basseas said his goal has been to “give people solutions in developing countries that don’t exist.”
And give them a price low enough that people can afford it — between $100 and $300.

The company plans to introduce the device in Africa and South America in the coming months. There may be profits down the road, but the goal for the moment is about helping.

Baez doesn’t care if his hearing aid is a little bulky or looks unfashionable, as long as he can now hear his wife say one thing. He said, “She would say, ‘I love you,’ and I wouldn’t be able to hear well. Now she can whisper it to me, and I’ll hear her.”

Source: one news page

17 holiday health tips

Follow this advice to enjoy a little holiday indulgence without sacrificing your health goals.

Indulging Without Overindulging
Relax. You won’t gain 10 pounds. It’s a misconception that you’ll need to go up a pant size in January. The average person gains only about a pound during the weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. That’s no excuse to eat with abandon, though. (After all, gaining one pound every year can add up in the long run.)

But a study published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology notes that people who had an attitude of forgiveness and self-compassion after one high-calorie setback were less likely to give up and keep bingeing. So if you lose control with a dish of chocolate truffles, don’t think, I’ve blown it. Might as well move on to the eggnog. Just forgive yourself for the truffles.

Don’t skip meals.
It seems logical: Forgo lunch; leave more room for pigs in blankets later. But arriving starved may result in overeating, and drinking on an empty stomach will give you a quicker buzz, which is more likely to lead to mindless munching. Eat normally during the day, and be strategic at the buffet. Don’t bother with things you don’t absolutely love. Splurge on something special (hint: It’s not those cubes of Cheddar), then stop.

Count your bites.
“A lot of appetizers are about 60 calories a bite,” said Karen Diaz, a registered dietitian in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Just five bites is around 300 calories. “That’s about half of what you might eat for dinner,” said Diaz. Keep a mental tab—or fill a small plate, once—so you don’t go overboard.

Turn down Aunt Jan’s pie.
“It’s better to sit with a little guilt than to overeat just to please loved ones,” Diaz said. If you can’t say no to Jan’s face, try “Maybe later,” then hope she forgets.
Give yourself a break from the gym.
According to a Gallup poll, the percentage of people who exercise regularly is lower in December than at any other time of the year. So don’t beat yourself up—you’re not the only one who’s too busy for Spinning class.

But try to stay active in other ways. Speed-walking with shopping bags counts. So does cleaning, said Mark Macdonald, the author of Body Confidence. Add some toning by tightening your core muscles as you vacuum or reach for scattered toys (imagine trying to get your belly button to touch your spine). And most important: Get back into your regular exercise routine once the holidays end.

Weigh yourself every day.
Or try on a pair of snug-fitting jeans to gauge those subtle ups and…OK, just ups. The point isn’t to get obsessive and berate yourself over every ounce gained; it’s to prevent yourself from completely letting go of good habits.

“Breaking the rhythm of healthy behaviors that you’ve built up is the real danger. You don’t want to have to start from scratch on January 1,” Macdonald said.

Drinking Responsibly
Practice moderation (really). Drinking too much may not just mean a terrible hangover. Around this time of year, doctors report seeing a spike in erratic heartbeats—dubbed “holiday heart syndrome.” It is more common among people who usually aren’t heavy drinkers but drink in excess for a short time.

“Alcohol may be toxic to enough cardiac cells that it disrupts the coordination required to maintain a normal heart rate,” said Kenneth Mukamal, an internist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in Boston.

“Women should have no more than three drinks on any occasion and seven per week,” said Michael Weaver, an associate professor of internal medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, in Richmond. “So a woman can have up to three drinks in a night and go out two nights, but that’s it for the week—or else the chances of problems go way up.”
Keep it on the rocks.
Melting ice dilutes a cocktail and creates more liquid. So order your drink on the rocks to try to avoid a quick buzz—and to sip longer before a refill. Use soda water as a mixer for liquor (a cocktail with liquor and club soda is only about 100 calories), and don’t be ashamed to add ice cubes to bubbly. In France, it’s called a piscine. Très chic.

Put a cork in it early.
Alcohol may help you to conk out quickly; the problem comes when it starts to wear off. The period in which your body is metabolizing the alcohol is when sleep is disrupted. You may wake up frequently in the middle of the night (even if you don’t remember doing so) and miss out on restorative rest. The best strategy is to allow time for the alcohol levels in your body to drop before going to sleep; at the very least, retire your flute several hours before bedtime.

Don’t let late nights make you fat.
“People who sleep less over time tend to be heavier,” said Lawrence Epstein, the chief medical officer of the Sleep Health Centers, in Brighton, Massachusetts. But it doesn’t take long for the cycle to start. “If you pull one all-nighter or miss a few hours each night over a week, your body releases hormones that prompt eating and weight gain,” Epstein said.

Use the weekend to catch up.
Most of us have sleep debt: the difference between the number of hours we need every night (which varies per person) and how many we get. If you feel best after seven hours a night and you get five for three nights in a row during a busy week, you have a sleep debt of six hours (two missing hours for three nights). Erasing that debt requires you to get six extra hours over the course of a few days, but they don’t have to be consecutive, Epstein said.

David F. Dinges, the chief of the division of sleep and chronobiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, conducted a study in which participants were restricted to about four hours of sleep for five consecutive nights, then allowed to sleep for 10 hours or more on the sixth night. The researchers found that after the recovery night, participants regained some of their previous levels of alertness and ability to concentrate.

So while you should focus on eliminating your sleep debt completely, just one good snooze (a few hours more than you normally need) can give you a fresher start.

Watch out for hidden caffeine.
Think hot cocoa is a soothing way to end a winter’s night? Hold on to your marshmallows. Chocolate, even the powdered kind, contains caffeine, as do many over-the-counter pain medicines that you might pop at night to get a head start on a hangover. Excedrin Extra-Strength Caplets, for example, contain 65 milligrams of caffeine; by comparison, the average cup of coffee contains 50 to 100.

Skip the sliders.
Foods that are high in fat or protein require your body to work harder at digestion. When your body is busy breaking down mini hamburgers, your sleep is more likely to be hampered. Watch the clock; an early cocktail party is the perfect time to snack on something more substantial. As the night wears on, taper off. Or, if you’re still hungry, have some complex carbohydrates, like whole-wheat crackers or a handful of crudités.

Don’t assume that this is the most depressing time of the year.
Contrary to popular belief, depression isn’t more common during the holidays. In fact, suicide rates in the United States are actually lowest in December, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“This may be a result of more social interaction, which has been found to enhance happiness,” said Caroline Adams Miller, the author of Creating Your Best Life. But that doesn’t mean that you’re immune to the holiday blues, especially when you’re missing a family member or stressed-out by the in-laws. Make plans with friends if your family is far away—or, on the flip side, opt out of events if your schedule is overwhelming.

“You don’t have to be a type E personality—everything to everyone,” said Ronald Nathan, a psychologist in Albany.

Consider a supplement.
Is there a magic pill that will cure the blues? Of course not. But some research shows that omega-3 fatty acids may relieve depression; other research has found that vitamin D may improve mood. Add a daily supplement of omega-3 or vitamin D to your diet. Or increase your intake of vitamin D–fortified milk or foods rich in omega-3s, such as fish, flaxseed, and walnuts.

Take Facebook with a grain of salt.
You’ve seen the status updates: “Hope Santa can find us in ARUBA!” or “Mmm, homemade cider, kids making cookies, life is good.” And you know what? Those people have bad days, too. Remember: Most people put their best self forward on Facebook and Twitter. Don’t compare your life with those dreamy-sounding posts.

Make plans for January.
“If you have social events coming up with people you like, you’ll be upbeat about what’s to come,” said Alison Ratner, a clinical social worker in Atlanta. Plan a weekend getaway or an Oscar-nominated–movie marathon. Or, ahem, if you did gain that holiday pound, might we suggest a jogging club?

Source: fox news

New method to keep track of heart risks

A new method to calculate the risk of heart diseases has been provided by the a study conducted by the National Heart Institute.

The Framingham Heart Study was started in 1948 to learn more about heart diseases and strokes and determine the common risk factors for cardiovascular disease, Fox News reported.

The long-term study has determined key risk factors that can increase a person’s chance of experiencing heart disease or a heart attack over their lifetime, which will help people in adopting lifestyle changes and treatments.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death in both men and women and nearly 800,000 Americans experiencing a heart attack every year.

Source: DNA India