Encouraging Health

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Dengue

Health Minister Graciela Ocana said Wednesday that a dengue outbreak in the country has worsened to an epidemic, as nearly 8,000 people are officially reported to be infected with the disease.

“Dengue is here to stay,” Ocana said.

Ocana had previously insisted that there was no epidemic. But local news media and political leaders in towns and cities affected by the mosquito-borne disease claimed the national government was underreporting the numbers to calm fears and avoid blame for not addressing the problem sooner.

While the Health Ministry says the northern province of Chaco — one of the worst hit — has registered 3,590 cases, Amalsi Ruiz, a spokesman for the provincial town of Charata, said nearly four times as many people are infected, based on house-to-house surveys and hospital visits.

The Ministry said there are 7,869 cases throughout the country — up from around 5,800 on Friday.

Dengue can incapacitate patients with severe headaches, joint pains, high fever and nausea. There is no specific medication to treat it, but authorities recommend consulting a doctor and drinking plenty of fluids.

Six people have died, including three infected with the severe hemorrhagic variant, which accounts for a fraction of dengue cases.

The Health Ministry has launched a national campaign to educate people on dengue prevention, including wearing insect repellant and covering exposed body parts with thick clothing.

Authorities say Argentina’s worst outbreak since the disease reappeared in the country in 1997 is linked to an epidemic in neighboring Bolivia, which has registered 51,000 cases.

tennis shoes

From webmd health: Belly fat may make heart failure more likely, and exercise may help heart failure patients.

That’s the bottom line from three new studies on heart failure. Heart failure does not mean that the heart has stopped working; it means the heart is unable to pump enough blood to meet the body’s needs.

The belly fat study is based on data from Sweden, where researchers followed more than 80,000 men and women for up to seven years to see who developed heart failure.

Participants reported their height, weight, and waist circumference at the study’s start.

People with extra weight, especially around the waist, were more likely to develop heart failure during the study.

Bigger waistlines were linked to greater risk of heart failure for women, regardless of whether their BMI ( body mass index) was normal, overweight, or obese. BMI and waist circumference both predicted heart failure risk in men.

The belly fat findings appear in the advance online edition of Circulation: Heart Failure.

Meanwhile, other researchers report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that exercise can be safe and effective for heart failure patients.

Their evidence comes from the largest study to date of exercise for heart failure patients.

Exercise also had a “modest” effect on lowering the likelihood of death or hospitalization.

After screening out certain high-risk patients, exercisers were 11% less likely to die of any cause or be hospitalized for any cause during the study and 13% less likely to die of cardiovascular causes or be hospitalized because of heart failure, heart transplantation, or needing a heart pump implanted.

Quality of life was higher and disability was lower for the exercisers, according to surveys they completed.

Cup of Coffee

Actually, going back for a refill might not be a bad move. A few recent large-scale studies have uncovered some new by-the-cup health benefits of coffee. Check ‘em out:

1 cup . . . may lower your risk of cancer. A 13-year Japanese study revealed that men and women who drank a cup or more a day were half as likely to develop cancer of the mouth, pharynx, and esophagus compared with people who didn’t drink coffee.

2 cups . . . may fend off strokes. In a 24-year study, women who drank 2-3 cups a day were 19 percent less likely to have a stroke compared with women who drank less than a cup a month. One caveat: The benefit applied only to nonsmoking women with no history of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes.

3 cups . . . may safeguard your neurons. Middle-aged adults who reported drinking at least 3 cups of coffee a day were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia or Alzheimer’s by the time most of the group had reached their mid-sixties to seventies. Now, that’s a lotta coffee. But not for everyone.

What’s in Those Magic Beans?
Although it’s not clear how coffee does all of these wonderful, protective things, researchers suspect that the coffee bean’s high level of inflammation-fighting antioxidants (called polyphenols) may have something to do with it. But is instant coffee as healthful as brewed?

Go enjoy some coffee!

Heart

From Leslie Goldman: Lovey-dovey language — even your own — can be so corny it makes you want to puke. But researchers have found that it might actually serve a purpose: Pet names and code phrases pave the way to a playful, resilient, and satisfying relationship. One study on couples’ “insider language” published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships reported that the more goofy names, made-up terms, and covert requests for nooky a couple used, the higher their relationship satisfaction tended to be.

The meaning behind a moniker
Pet names also create a boundary, says Pat Love, co-author of “How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It.” “It’s a way to identify the relationship as exclusive,” she says. “It’s like an auditory marker.” When people around you overhear your cutesy conversation, they know you’re committed to each other.

Cementing memories
It’s no coincidence that new couples give each other nicknames that are sugary and food-related. Cupcake. Honeybun. Peaches. “Sweet is an unequivocally positive descriptor,” Glass says. “You’re comparing the other person with a treat — something special that you look forward to every time.” As a relationship matures and trust builds, you may develop pet names that refer to a feature or personality trait of your partner (like calling your boyfriend Leo when his beard grows shaggy and out of control). That kind of “just between us” language drives home how well you know each other.

tennis shoes

From Webmd;When your gym teacher told you to run a mile, you wondered whether it was better to go fast and get it over with or go slow and try to conserve energy. Which approach would make you more tired?

The answer to this riddle, according to a new study, is that each person has an optimal pace in which they can cover the greatest distance using the least amount of energy. This information, interesting to runners and trainers, also offers clues about evolution.

For the study, nine participants ran on a treadmill at six different speeds. Researchers measured each participant’s metabolic rate at every speed, using a device that provided a breath-by-breath analysis of oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide produced. Participants ran at all six speeds on five different days during a three-week period.

The optimal speed for women was typically slower than for men. The women averaged an optimal speed of 6.5 miles per hour (about a 9-minute mile), and males averaged an optimal speed of about 8.3 miles per hour (about a 7-minute mile). Researchers said the difference likely had to do with height and weight — the men were typically taller with longer legs — than with other gender differences.

The slowest speeds, about 4.5 miles per hour (a 13-minute mile), were the least metabolically efficient. This could be because walking very fast and running very slow can be physically awkward.

Researchers view this research as important to understanding evolution. As humans have become taller and longer limbed, they have become more efficient runners and walkers. When they had shorter legs and less defined waists, more like apes, their bodies may not have been as suited for hunting.

Lupus

When I was an undergraduate with various symptoms (pre-kidney failure) the dr’s didn’t know what was wrong with me, and had thought I was developing Lupus. Here is what it is.

Chronic means that the signs and symptoms tend to last longer than six weeks and often for many years. In lupus, something goes wrong with your immune system, which is the part of the body that fights off viruses, bacteria, and germs (”foreign invaders,” like the flu). Normally our immune system produces proteins called antibodies that protect the body from these invaders. Autoimmune means your immune system cannot tell the difference between these foreign invaders and your body’s healthy tissues (”auto” means “self”) and creates autoantibodies that attack and destroy healthy tissue. These autoantibodies cause inflammation, pain, and damage in various parts of the body.

Lupus is also a disease of flares (the symptoms worsen and you feel ill) and remissions (the symptoms improve and you feel better). Lupus can range from mild to life-threatening and should always be treated by a doctor. With good medical care, most people with lupus can lead a full life.
Lupus is not contagious, not even through sexual contact. You cannot “catch” lupus from someone or “give” lupus to someone.
Lupus is not like or related to cancer. Cancer is a condition of malignant, abnormal tissues that grow rapidly and spread into surrounding tissues. Lupus is an autoimmune disease, as described above.
Lupus is not like or related to HIV (Human Immune Deficiency Virus) or AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). In HIV or AIDS the immune system is underactive; in lupus, the immune system is overactive.
Our research estimates that at least 1.5 million Americans have lupus. The actual number may be higher; however, there have been no large-scale studies to show the actual number of people in the U.S. living with lupus.
It is believed that 5 million people throughout the world have a form of lupus.
Lupus strikes mostly women of childbearing age (15-44). However, men, children, and teenagers develop lupus, too.

heart

From webmd: We know you’ve heard that exercise is important, but during a recession, your health may depend on it. This is particularly true if you’ve been laid off, doctors say. The tendency may be to pull the covers over your head and stay in bed — or sit in front of the TV. Don’t. Get your day started with a brisk walk, says Winston Gandy, MD, co-director of cardiac ultrasound at Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta.

Hazen recommends, “Do jumping jacks, take a milk crate and turn it upside down and step on it — do something.”

Repeated studies have shown the benefits of exercise to heart health, with as much as a 15% decrease in mortality rates with relatively minor changes in one’s exercise routine.

Eat healthful foods and limit fatty, processed foods. Fresh vegetables, fruit, and lean meats should top your grocery list. Skip desserts and fried foods — and save money, too.

If you’ve been laid off, it’s especially important to watch your weight, Gandy says. “Suddenly people begin to see 5 pounds around their middle, and they don’t know where it came from,” he says.

Often, it comes from mindless nibbling and snacking throughout the day. That extra weight, particularly around the middle, can increase a person’s risk of heart disease.

5. Watch out for recession depression
Even if you have not previously been vulnerable to depression, watch for its symptoms during these trying times. Depression affects not only your outlook but also your heart health.

“Depression is a marker that the brain and the body have gone into a state that increases your risk of disease,” says Emory’s Raison.

It’s only natural that bad news gets us agitated and anxious, causing our blood pressure to rise and our arteries to “clamp,” Raison says. “You have a fight with your wife, this happens. You lose your job, this happens.”

These times that try men’s and women’s pocketbooks are much like that, Raison explains.

“We’re all affected to some degree, and it emotionally brings it closer to (each of) us,” he says.

Thus, it’s important to keep a watchful eye for signs of depression, not only in yourself but in family members and significant others.

Because men are often reluctant to seek help for depression, men who have been laid off should pay special attention to signs of depression.

pills

Taking the blood thinner Plavix along with aspirin helped prevent strokes and heart attacks in people with a common heartbeat abnormality that puts them at high risk of these problems, doctors reported Tuesday.

The treatment is for atrial fibrillation, a rhythm disorder that 2.2 million Americans have. It occurs when the upper parts of the heart quiver instead of beating properly. This allows blood to pool and form clots that can travel to the brain, causing a stroke.

The usual treatment is the blood thinner warfarin, sold as Coumadin and in generic form. But finding the right dose is tricky — too little and patients can have a stroke; too much and they can have life-threatening bleeding. Patients on the drug must go to the doctor often for blood tests to monitor their dose.

For these reasons, as many as half of patients take aspirin instead of warfarin, even though aspirin is much less effective at preventing strokes.

Dr. Stuart Connolly of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, led a study testing whether adding clopidogrel, sold as Plavix by French-based Sanofi-Aventis SA, could help.

The study involved 7,554 patients in the United States and 32 other countries who were not able or chose not to take warfarin. All were treated with aspirin; half also were given Plavix.

After nearly four years of followup, the dual drug treatment lowered a combined measure — heart attacks, heart-related deaths, strokes and blood clots — by 11 percent. There were 924 of these problems in patients on aspirin alone but only 832 in those also getting Plavix.

Heart

From MSNBC health: Statin drugs, taken by millions of Americans to lower cholesterol and prevent heart disease, also can cut the risk of developing dangerous blood clots that can lodge in the legs or lungs, a major study suggests.

The results provide a new reason for many people with normal cholesterol to consider taking these medicines, sold as Crestor, Lipitor, Zocor and in generic form, doctors say.

In the study, Crestor cut in half the risk of blood clots in people with low cholesterol but high scores on a test for inflammation, which plays a role in many diseases. This same big study last fall showed that Crestor dramatically lowered rates of heart attacks, death and stroke in these people, who are not usually given statins now.

100,000 die a year of blood clots
For the study, researchers in the U.S. and two dozen other countries randomly assigned 17,802 people with high CRP and low levels of LDL, or bad cholesterol (below 130), to take dummy pills or Crestor, a statin made by British-based AstraZeneca PLC.

With an average of two years of followup, 34 of those on Crestor and 60 of the others developed venous thromboembolism — a blood clot in the leg that can travel to the lungs. Several hundred thousand Americans develop such clots each year, leading to about 100,000 deaths.

Many doctors remain reluctant to expand CRP testing or use of statins. A survey by the New England journal found them evenly divided on the questions. Others questioned why so few people in the study were getting other treatments to prevent heart problems.