Saturday, March 1, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Heart risk link to eye condition
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AMD is the leading cause of sight loss in the |
Age-related macular degeneration, a common cause of blindness, has been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke.
Researchers found the risk of dying from the cardiovascular conditions was at least doubled in people with AMD.
The study raises the possibility - disputed by
The
|
| AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION There are two forms - wet and dry - with the dry form being far more common The wet type is the most aggressive and accounts for around 90% of blindness caused by the condition More than 20,000 people in the |
AMD affects the centre of the retina (macula) at the back of the eye, which is used for fine central vision tasks, such as reading and driving.
It is most common in the elderly, among whom it is a major cause of untreatable blindness in developed countries. It is estimated to affect 500,000 people in the
The
Of these 2,335 people were re-examined five years later, and 1,952 were examined again 10 years later.
Among people under the age of 75 at the start of the study, early AMD was associated with a doubling in the risks of dying from a heart attack or stroke within the next decade.
Those with late stage disease at the start of the study had five times the risk of dying from a heart attack, and 10 times the risk of dying from a stroke.
Possible reasons
The researchers admitted that more work was needed to confirm their work, as the numbers in their study were relatively small.
They said the reason for a link between AMD and cardiovascular disease was unclear.
|
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Mr Winfried Amoaku |
It could simply be that AMD is a sign that the body is ageing, and vulnerable to all sorts of disease.
Alternatively, it may be that AMD and cardiovascular disease are caused by the same problems, such as inflammation, thickening of the arteries or general tissue damage caused by unstable particles called free radicals.
Another possibility is that anti-VEGF drug treatments for AMD may raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.
Anti-VEGF drugs work by inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels.
This is an effective strategy for AMD because the condition is caused by unstable new blood vessels in the eye, which leak fluid and blood under the retina and cause scarring, which in turn leads to irreversible sight loss.
However, there is concern that inhibiting blood vessel growth may have a wider impact on the cardiovascular system.
Monitoring
The researchers said: "Our results suggest that individuals with a high cardiovascular risk profile may potentially need to be monitored closely if receiving anti-VEGF therapy."
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) eased restrictions on NHS use of one of the anti-VEGF drugs, Lucentis last year, following a campaign to make it more widely available to AMD patients.
Mr Winfried Amoaku, of the Royal College of Ophthalmologists, said other research had also suggested a link between AMD and cardiovascular disease.
But he said anti-VEGF drugs approved for
He said: "The likely reason for the link is vascular degeneration. This is a systemic failure that can affect several parts of the body in relatively quick succession."
The RNIB said the study had not established that the drugs raised the risk of cardiovascular disease, and urged patients not to be put off seeking treatment.
Novartis, the makers of Lucentis, said the drug was very effective, and had proved safe in major clinical trials.
Inflammation genes
A second study in the same journal highlights variations in genes that control the production of chemicals involved in inflammation as a possible key to AMD.
A team from the
They compared DNA samples from people with AMD to those who showed no signs of the disease.
One particular gene variant was significantly more common in the people with AMD.
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Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Recipe column- pazham pori
Cut bananas into thin slices length wise preferably neantheran pazham. Mix a thick batter with 1 cup of maida flour, 1/2 teaspoon of chily powder, 2 teaspoon of sugar,cardomom powder for flavour, salt and a pinch of ajwan for a new taste. Dip the fruit slices in the batter and dep fry in hot oil. When it turns light brown remove it from the kadai.
A nice crispy snack ready to eat with hot tea or coffee.
A nice crispy snack ready to eat with hot tea or coffee.
Monday, February 25, 2008
'Depression makes you stronger'
LONDON: Depression is common but it's not a sign of weakness. In fact, experiencing the condition for a brief period can actually benefit you.
A leading psychiatrist has claimed that a bout of depression could be good for the soul — it may bring misery to its sufferers, but it can also leave them tougher and more resilient, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
"We see it as a defect — often patients see themselves as broken in some way — whereas I think of it as a defence mechanism. It has simply adapted in the human species to give us long term benefits," Dr Paul Keedwell of Institute of Psychiatry in London was quoted as saying.
According to him, depression, which has played a key role in evolution, can also spark creativity. However, Keedwell had warned that the condition in severe form can be terrible and life threatening, unless treated. "But for many it is a short term painful episode," he explained.
Estimates suggest that as many as one in four people will suffer from depression at some stage in their lives, and that 5% of the population is currently living with it.
Keedwell's book How Sadness Survived , published last month, comes as a growing number of experts question whether doctors and drug companies are too keen to treat the condition with powerful and harmful drugs.
Keedwell, said, "We see it as a defect. Often patients see themselves as broken in some way, whereas I think of it as a defence mechanism."
A leading psychiatrist has claimed that a bout of depression could be good for the soul — it may bring misery to its sufferers, but it can also leave them tougher and more resilient, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.
"We see it as a defect — often patients see themselves as broken in some way — whereas I think of it as a defence mechanism. It has simply adapted in the human species to give us long term benefits," Dr Paul Keedwell of Institute of Psychiatry in London was quoted as saying.
According to him, depression, which has played a key role in evolution, can also spark creativity. However, Keedwell had warned that the condition in severe form can be terrible and life threatening, unless treated. "But for many it is a short term painful episode," he explained.
Estimates suggest that as many as one in four people will suffer from depression at some stage in their lives, and that 5% of the population is currently living with it.
Keedwell's book How Sadness Survived , published last month, comes as a growing number of experts question whether doctors and drug companies are too keen to treat the condition with powerful and harmful drugs.
Keedwell, said, "We see it as a defect. Often patients see themselves as broken in some way, whereas I think of it as a defence mechanism."
Recipe column- mor kulambu
Method 1:
Roast 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek/methi seeds, 1 teaspoon of corriender seeds, 1 teaspoon of toor dal. Add 1 teaspoon of cummin and 2 tablespoon of coconuts. Grind it to a smooth paste.Cook the vegetable and add the paste. Allow it to boil for 2 minutes and add 1 cup of curd beaten to a smooth texture. Heat up a kadai, add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil allow the mustard seeds to splitter and 5 curry leaves.
Pour it into the kulambu and garnish with corriender leaves.
Method 2:
Soak 1 teaspoon of corriender seeds, 1 teaspoon of toor dal and 1 teaspoon of cummin for 20 minutes. Roast 1/4 teaspoon of fenugreek/methi seeds and 2 tablespoon of coconuts. Grind it to a smooth paste.Cook the vegetable and add the paste. Allow it to boil for 2 minutes and add 1 cup of curd beaten to a smooth texture. Heat up a kadai, add 1 teaspoon of coconut oil allow the mustard seeds to splitter and 5 curry leaves.Pour it into the kulambu and garnish with corriender leaves.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
High-fibre diet is heart-healthy
Here’s how you can keep strokes at bay
Fish oil won’t help prevent a stroke, but a highfibre diet might make a difference, say two new studies designed to assess the impact of nutrition on stroke. “Fish oils are not as good as people claim them to be,” said Dr Craig Anderson, lead author of the fish oil study and director of the neurological and mental health division at the George Institute for International Health at the
The fibre study, which Besanger said is the first of its kind, included 50 people who’d just had a stroke. The researchers asked them to recall everything they’d eaten within 24 hours of having a stroke and compared that information to their disability level and general health at six months. They found that those with the highest levels of fibre intake had better outcomes, but study co-author Dr Karen Furie, director of the stroke service at Massachusetts General, pointed out that “this wasn’t a clinical trial. We didn’t give people fibre. The association was pretty dramatic, but this was a small sample size, and it’s only observational data. These findings need to be replicated in a larger study.” However, Furie also noted that a recommendation to increase the amount of fibre in your diet is “a recommendation that’s pretty easy to endorse. There are no downsides to increasing fibre intake.”
FOOD FOR HEART: Eating 20 to 35 grams of fibre per day may reduce stroke risk
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Top 10 detox foods
There's no better time to give your body a healthy, fresh start than now! Plus if you're thinking about lowering your weight - and your RealAge "eating clean" is a great first step. Add these 10 foods to your grocery cart and you'll get three terrific benefits:
1. Lots of super-healthy liquids to flush out the body while pouring in nutrients.
2. Fiber to keep your GI tract fit.
3. Foods that energize cleansing enzymes in the liver, your body's built-in detox center.
The top 10:
1. Green leafy vegetables. Eat them raw, throw them into a broth, add them to juices. Their chlorophyll helps swab out environmental toxins (heavy metals, pesticides) and is an all-round liver protector.
2. Lemons. You need to keep the fluids flowing to wash out the body and fresh lemonade is ideal. Its vitamin C - considered the detox vitamin - helps convert toxins into a water - soluble form that's easily flushed away.
3. Watercress. Put a handful into salads, soups, and sandwiches. The peppery little green leaves have a diuretic effect that helps move things through your system. And cress is rich in minerals too.
4. Garlic. Add it to everything - salads, sauces, spreads. In addition to the bulb's cardio benefits, it activates liver enzymes that help filter out junk.
5. Green tea. This antioxidant-
6. Broccoli sprouts. Get 'em at your health-food store. They pack 20 to 50 times more cancer-fighting, enzyme-stimulating activity into each bite than the grown-up vegetable.
7. Sesame seeds. They're credited with protecting liver cells from the damaging effects of alcohol and other chemicals. For a concentrated form, try tahini, the yummy sesame seed paste that's a staple of Asian cooking.
8. Cabbage. There are two main types of detoxifying enzymes in the liver; this potent veggie helps activate both of them. Coleslaw, anyone?
9. Psyllium. A plant that's rich in soluble fiber, like oat bran, but more versatile. It mops up toxins (cholesterol too) and helps clear them out. Stir powdered psyllium into juice to help cleanse your colon, or have psyllium-fortified Bran Buds for breakfast.
10. Fruits, fruits, fruits. They're full of almost all the good things above - vitamin C, fiber, nutritious fluids, and all kinds of antioxidants. Besides, nothing tastes better than a ripe mango, fresh berries, or a perfect pear.
Ultimate Detox Recipe
Easy Wilted Garlic-Sesame Salad
Toss dark, leafy greens in hot, garlicky oil for a cleansing-and delicious - dish
4 servings, about 65 calories each
1 Tsp. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lb. spinach, stemmed,
or 1 lb. Swiss chard, stems sliced, leaves torn
or 1 lb. mixture of spinach and watercress
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 Tsp. sesame seeds for garnish
Warm oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and stir until lightly browned, about 45 seconds. Add greens (do in two batches, if necessary) and toss until just wilted, 2 to 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
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Tuesday, February 19, 2008
BREATH TEST FOR CANCER
Scientists show that a person’s breath can be used to detect various diseases including asthma and diabetes
Scientists in the UK and US – in two separate studies – have shown that various diseases such as diabetes, asthma and cancer can be detected by merely checking a person’s breath.
The researchers at UK’s Swansea University – for their part – are using “GCMS-TD” (gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal desorption) technology to analyse the concentrations of “Volatile Organic Compounds” (VOCs) in breath.
Whereas the team of US scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU), have shown that by sampling a person’s breath using “optical frequency comb spectroscopy” they can detect molecules in the breath that may be markers for diseases.
HOW THE TECHNOLOGY WORKS
Every time we breathe in, we inhale a mixture of gasses – mostly nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour, but also traces of other gasses, such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, etc.
Each time we exhale, we blow out a slightly different mixture with less oxygen, more carbon dioxide, and a rich collection of more than a thousand types of other molecules – most of which are present only in trace amounts.
Some of these tracer breath molecules are biomarkers of disease. Just as bad breath may indicate dental problems, excess methylamine can be used to detect liver and kidney disease, ammonia on the breath may be a sign of renal failure or hepatitis, elevated acetone levels in the breath can indicate diabetes, dimethyl sulphide is linked to cirrhosis, and nitric oxide levels can be used to diagnose asthma.
When many breath molecules are detected simultaneously, highly reliable and diseasespecific information can be collected.
RESEARCH IN THE UNITED KINGDOM…
“Studies have shown that high concentrations of certain VOCs in breath can correlate with disease,” said Dr Masood Yousef, a senior research assistant at Swansea. “If unique markers for diseases can be recognised earlier than traditional techniques, then there is a potential to diagnose disease before any symptoms have developed, and without the need for invasive procedures.”
The GCMS-TD system works by analysing all the chemicals and compounds that make up a patient’s breath. It creates a breath profile, which allows scientists to identify VOCs that may signify the presence of disease.
Dr Yousef believes that the breath test will provide a more convenient method for diagnosing serious diseases than blood or urine analysis.
It is hoped that the research in Swansea will lead to the development of diagnostic tools such as test strips that give positive results for specific illness markers.
... AND IN THE UNITED STATES
While many studies have been done to showcase the potential of optical technologies for breath analysis, the JILA approach takes an important step toward demonstrating the full power of optics for this prospective medical application.
“Our technique – called cavity-enhanced direct optical frequency comb spectroscopy – can give a broad picture of many different molecules in the breath all at once,” said research leader Jun Ye, a fellow of JILA, NIST and a professor at Colorado University’s Department of Physics.
“Optical comb spectroscopy is powerful enough to sort through all the molecules in human breath,” Ye said, “but it is also sensitive enough to find those rarest molecules that may be markers of specific diseases.”
In the experiments performed by Ye and his colleagues, the technique was used to analyse the breath of several student volunteers.
The researchers had the students breathe into an optical cavity – a space between two standing mirrors. The optical cavity was designed so that when they aimed a pulsed laser light into it, the light bounced back and forth so many times that it covered a distance of several kilometres by the time it exited the cavity. This essentially allowed the light to sample the entire volume of the cavity, striking all the molecules therein.
In addition, this lengthens the light-molecule interaction time thereby increasing the sensitivity.
By comparing the light coming out of the cavity to the light that went in, Ye and his colleagues could determine which frequencies of light were absorbed and by how much. This information allows them to sensitively identify many different molecules.
FROM LABS TO DISPENSARIES
While the efficacy of these techniques has yet to be evaluated in clinical trials, monitoring the breath for such biomarkers is an attractive approach to medicine because breath analysis is the ultimate non-invasive and low-cost procedure.
“Breath samples are much easier to collect than blood and urine,” Dr Yousef said. “They can be collected anywhere by people with no medical training, and there are no associated biohazard risks.”
Scientists in the UK and US – in two separate studies – have shown that various diseases such as diabetes, asthma and cancer can be detected by merely checking a person’s breath.
The researchers at UK’s Swansea University – for their part – are using “GCMS-TD” (gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal desorption) technology to analyse the concentrations of “Volatile Organic Compounds” (VOCs) in breath.
Whereas the team of US scientists at JILA, a joint institute of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado (CU), have shown that by sampling a person’s breath using “optical frequency comb spectroscopy” they can detect molecules in the breath that may be markers for diseases.
HOW THE TECHNOLOGY WORKS
Every time we breathe in, we inhale a mixture of gasses – mostly nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water vapour, but also traces of other gasses, such as carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, etc.
Each time we exhale, we blow out a slightly different mixture with less oxygen, more carbon dioxide, and a rich collection of more than a thousand types of other molecules – most of which are present only in trace amounts.
Some of these tracer breath molecules are biomarkers of disease. Just as bad breath may indicate dental problems, excess methylamine can be used to detect liver and kidney disease, ammonia on the breath may be a sign of renal failure or hepatitis, elevated acetone levels in the breath can indicate diabetes, dimethyl sulphide is linked to cirrhosis, and nitric oxide levels can be used to diagnose asthma.
When many breath molecules are detected simultaneously, highly reliable and diseasespecific information can be collected.
RESEARCH IN THE UNITED KINGDOM…
“Studies have shown that high concentrations of certain VOCs in breath can correlate with disease,” said Dr Masood Yousef, a senior research assistant at Swansea. “If unique markers for diseases can be recognised earlier than traditional techniques, then there is a potential to diagnose disease before any symptoms have developed, and without the need for invasive procedures.”
The GCMS-TD system works by analysing all the chemicals and compounds that make up a patient’s breath. It creates a breath profile, which allows scientists to identify VOCs that may signify the presence of disease.
Dr Yousef believes that the breath test will provide a more convenient method for diagnosing serious diseases than blood or urine analysis.
It is hoped that the research in Swansea will lead to the development of diagnostic tools such as test strips that give positive results for specific illness markers.
... AND IN THE UNITED STATES
While many studies have been done to showcase the potential of optical technologies for breath analysis, the JILA approach takes an important step toward demonstrating the full power of optics for this prospective medical application.
“Our technique – called cavity-enhanced direct optical frequency comb spectroscopy – can give a broad picture of many different molecules in the breath all at once,” said research leader Jun Ye, a fellow of JILA, NIST and a professor at Colorado University’s Department of Physics.
“Optical comb spectroscopy is powerful enough to sort through all the molecules in human breath,” Ye said, “but it is also sensitive enough to find those rarest molecules that may be markers of specific diseases.”
In the experiments performed by Ye and his colleagues, the technique was used to analyse the breath of several student volunteers.
The researchers had the students breathe into an optical cavity – a space between two standing mirrors. The optical cavity was designed so that when they aimed a pulsed laser light into it, the light bounced back and forth so many times that it covered a distance of several kilometres by the time it exited the cavity. This essentially allowed the light to sample the entire volume of the cavity, striking all the molecules therein.
In addition, this lengthens the light-molecule interaction time thereby increasing the sensitivity.
By comparing the light coming out of the cavity to the light that went in, Ye and his colleagues could determine which frequencies of light were absorbed and by how much. This information allows them to sensitively identify many different molecules.
FROM LABS TO DISPENSARIES
While the efficacy of these techniques has yet to be evaluated in clinical trials, monitoring the breath for such biomarkers is an attractive approach to medicine because breath analysis is the ultimate non-invasive and low-cost procedure.
“Breath samples are much easier to collect than blood and urine,” Dr Yousef said. “They can be collected anywhere by people with no medical training, and there are no associated biohazard risks.”
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