Archive for September, 2007

Today is world heart day. It is celebrated annually on the last Sunday of September. World heart day encourages awareness of healthy heart. Heart disease and stroke are the world’s largest causes, claiming millions of lives every year.

World heart day began in 1999 in an effort to create awareness and educate risk factors for heart disease and stroke in the public to promote preventive measures. World heart day activities include public talks, free screenings, walks, runs, fitness events, scientific forums and exhibitions.

The theme of the world heart day is to “Team Up For Healthy Hearts”. The aim of this day is to encourage people to join together and create heart-healthy communities.

Role of heart in daily life is: physically it beats 70 times per minute and plays an important role in body functions and mentally, it shows kindness, generosity and sympathy in nature.

The causes of heart diseases and stroke in people include obesity, cigarette smoking and food habits. Lack of physical activity and improper diet can lead to obesity and it in turn increases the chances of heart disease. Intake of fatty and junk foods in large quantities also increases the risk of heart failures.

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Heart attack is the leading cause of death of men and women in United States. Heart attack is a permanent damage to the heart muscle. There are many risk factors associated with heart attack. Know and identify the risk factors associated with heart attacks to prevent before you become a victim [Prevent heart disease risk factors].

Risk factors associated with heart attack:

Smoking and heart attack:

Smoking is a major cause of heart attack. Smoking damages heart and blood vessels.

Most heart attacks are caused by atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is a condition in which the arteries become hard and clogged.

Clogged arteries prevent in getting enough blood and oxygen to the heart and can cause chest pain or angina.

When a blood clot is formed, it cuts off the blood flow suddenly in the artery and cause heart attack.

Smoking speeds up the process of atherosclerosis by damaging the cells lining the blood vessels and heart. Smoking increases the risk of blood clots because of atherosclerosis and it also causes the blood platelets to clump together.

Heart stopping news for women:

Estrogen hormone provides some protection in women from heart disease. Therefore, most women have heart attacks after menopause, especially ten years after menopause due to the decrease of estrogen in their body.

As many as 50 percent of overweight men and women with high blood pressure may have hypertension as a result of being overweight, researchers reported today at the American Heart Association’s 61st Annual Fall Conference of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research.Researchers in Italy found that about 50 percent of overweight, hypertensive adults, ranging in age from 29 to 65 years, achieved normal body weight and blood pressure after six months of treatment with a reduced-calorie diet.

For related information on high blood pressure and over weight, visit:

http://www.eurekalert.org

Over weight adults have high blood pressure than normal weight people. With high blood pressure and obesity, cardiovascular risk increases by increasing LDL cholesterol. According to the research, obesity increased cardiac output and blood volume and arterial resistance.

Obesity leads to high secretion of insulin in trying to reduce the concentration of excess sugar in blood. The secretion of this insulin is high compared to non-obese people. The insulin secreted by pancreas is responsible for many modifications in your body [Gastric bypass surgery to reduce obesity].

The secreted insulin leads to thickening of vessels which is responsible for increase in rigidity, thus increasing your hypertension. Because of the increase in secretion of adrenalin, cardiac output is increased.

Three out of four children suffer from ear infections before the age of three. The occurrence of ear infection is due to viruses or bacteria that get inside the ear with cold or other illnesses. Fluids and mucus trap deep inside the ear.

Children suffering with ear infection are given antibiotics to combat the infection. Antibiotics work only against bacterial infections, though some bacteria that cause ear infections have grown resistant to certain antibiotics.

Antibiotics will not help an infection caused by virus. They cannot eliminate the fluid from middle ear. They can even cause side effects. Antibiotics cannot give relief in the first 24 hours and have minimal effect on the pain.

You may be surprised by hearing the fact that an estimate of 1.5 billion people expected to have high blood pressure by 2025.

This condition is normally uncontrollable. High blood pressure risk is greater in developed countries than under developed or developing countries.

The people in developed countries have 90% chance of getting the risk associated with high blood pressure.

If your blood pressure range exceeds 140/90 mm Hg when compared to normal level of about 120/80 mm Hg then you will have high blood pressure.

The first reading is the systolic pressure that occurs with each heartbeat and the second is the diastolic pressure, this is the pressure during resting stage between beats. Diastolic pressure is the most important one to consider for healthy body.

High blood pressure is most common in adults and 30 percent of Americans and 5 percent of children and adolescents have this problem. One in every four adults is already having the condition of hypertension. It is the silent killer because it shows fewer symptoms and is often undiagnosed.

Healthy men who smoke are at risk developing erectile dysfunction — and the more cigarettes they smoke, the greater the risk of erectile dysfunction, according to a new study.In a study of 4,763 Chinese men aged 35 to 74 years who were free of blood vessel disease and who reported that they had been sexually active within the last 6 months, the researchers found a significant statistical link between the number of cigarettes smoked and the likelihood of erectile dysfunction.For related information on erectile dysfunction and smoking, visit:

http://www.reuters.com

Erectile dysfunction or impotence is twice likely to occur in people who smoke than in people who do not smoke. The important factor in becoming impotent is exposure to second smoke. Erectile dysfunction is the inability in men to maintain erection for sexual purposes.

Coordination of several functions in the body is required for sexual functioning. This involves the nervous system working in coordination with hormones and the vascular system that pumps blood into the tissues of muscles that maintain erection. Smoking affects all these systems, thereby causing erectile dysfunction.

Gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disorder is caused by a bacterium called neisseria gonorrhoeae.

This bacterium can develop and multiply easily in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract.

A woman is more prone to develop this in the areas like cervix, uterus, and fallopian tubes, and both men and women can get at urethra.

There is also a chance to grow this bacterium in anus, eyes, and throat.

Gonorrhea is near as serious as HIV transmission, but is a reflection of sorts. Usually gonorrhea occurs in between the age of 20-29 years in men and 15-24 years between women. It is the second most commonly reported infectious disease in the United States.

Every year, about 700,000 people in US get gonorrhea and it is the second most commonly reported infectious disease after Chlamydia. Gonorrhea is one of those diseases for which treatment options are fewer.

The bacterium which causes gonorrhea cannot live outside of the human body for more than a few seconds. It lives only on moist surfaces. So, this disease can be termed as contagious disease.

Gonorrhea in women:

Gonorrhea symptoms are not seen particularly at the starting stages. Some of the symptoms include:

For older adults, increased urinary frequency is fairly common. “As people age, in general, the bladder does lose some of its capacity. The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that the condition affects about 200 million people worldwide.At least one out of every 10 people over the age of 65 experiences UI. Despite its prevalence, the stigma surrounding UI causes many people to hide the fact that they have the problem, even though it can significantly affect their quality of life.For related information on treatment options of urinary incontinence, visit:

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Urinary incontinence is common in elderly people. Urinary incontinence is caused by many factors. Stress, medications, urge and overflow can cause urinary incontinence.

Stress incontinence:

It is caused due to the increase in pressure from within the abdomen such as when sneezing, laughing, coughing and lifting heavy weights. This can happen when pelvic muscles are weakened.

Medications:

Some medications such as high blood pressure drugs such as doxazosin and prazosin and muscle relaxants can cause urinary incontinence.

Urge incontinence:

In this type, you feel strong urge to pass urine in small amounts. This occurs due to the bladder wall muscle called as detrusor muscle, which will be overactive. It contracts to squeeze out urine before bladder is full.

Today most of the people are suffering with the problem called astigmatism.

It is the most common vision difficulty. Most of you are not aware of this condition.

Sometimes it can accompany with nearsightedness or farsightedness.

The most general cause for this is due to irregularly shaped cornea.

Occasionally, it is also due to irregularly shaped lenses which are found behind the cornea. This condition is called as lenticular astigmatism.

Usually any kind of astigmatism can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or refractive surgery. You cannot notice small amount of astigmatism, but you only experience slightly blurred vision. If you can’t correct your condition, it will cause severe headaches or eyestrains, and distort or blur your vision at all distances.

Not only adults can get astigmatism, but children will also be affected from this condition. Most of the children cannot recognize the condition than adults and they are doubtful to complain their condition of blurred vision.

There will be a separation of 180 degrees between the two curves of the meridians in regular astigmatism. If you are affected with irregular astigmatism this separation is something other than 180 degrees apart.

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), also known as congenital heart defects, is a type of heart disease that occurs in newborns.

This condition results from the structural defects of the heart or the major blood vessels close to the heart during the pregnancy, before the baby’s birth.

Heart, an essential part of the body, is a hollow muscular organ that is responsible for the blood circulation throughout the body.

The blood is circulated all over the body through tubes called blood vessels.

Congenital heart disease is also known as cyanotic heart disease or congenital cardiovascular malformations. It is one of the most common types of birth defects in infants. It is found that eight out of every thousand newborns, in the United States, are affecting with CHD. Yearly, over thirty-five thousand babies are born with congenital heart disease.

The congenital heart disease or defects of the heart takes place during the first eight weeks of the pregnancy. This condition is usually recognized within one week from the childbirth.

Congenital heart diseases are of several types. The types range from trouble-free defects with no signs to very complex defects with severe and life-threatening signs. Most of these types block the blood circulation in the heart or the vessels near the heart, or allow an unusual flow of blood through the heart.