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Dr K K Aggarwal

May 13

19

Excess Fat around the Waist May Increase Death Risk for Women

By Dr KK
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There is increasing evidence that excess abdominal fat is a risk factor for long–term conditions like diabetes and heart disease. However, a recent study from Harvard and the National Institutes of Health published in the journal Circulation links abdominal obesity and women’s risk of premature death.

As per the study, women who carry excess fat around their waists are at greater risk of dying early from cancer or heart disease than women with smaller waistlines, even if they were of normal weight.

In the study researchers followed more than 44,000 nurses over the course of 16 years to track their medical history and lifestyle. At the beginning of the study the women were asked to measure their waists and hips. Every two years, the women completed questionnaires about their health, providing information about their age, activity level, smoking status, diet, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

They examined the cause of death for all women who died over the course of the study. In total, 3,507 deaths occurred. Of these, 1,748 were due to cancer and 751 were due to heart disease. They discovered that women with greater waist circumferences were more likely to die prematurely, particularly from heart disease, when compared to women with smaller waists. For example, women with waist size equal to or greater than 35 inches were approximately twice as likely to die of heart disease as were women with a waist size less than 28 inches, regardless of their body mass index.

Similarly, women with a waist size equal to or greater than 35 inches also were twice as likely to die of cancer as were women with a waist size less than 28 inches. Women who had a greater waist circumference and were also obese were at the greatest risk of premature death. Greater waist circumference is a sign of collecting excess fat around one’s midsection, called abdominal obesity. A healthy waist limit for women is 80 cm and for men is 85 cm. Waist circumference is determined by measuring around the waist at the navel line.

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May 13

18

Exercise reduces Depression

By Dr KK
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A British study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology said those who get regular vigorous exercise are less likely to develop depression or an anxiety disorder over time.

In general, men who reported regular vigorous exercise — such as running or playing soccer — were about one-quarter less likely than their less active peers to develop depression or anxiety over the next 5 years.

Even Small Amounts of Exercise Are Beneficial

In a study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, by Dr Timothy Church of Louisiana State University System it has been shown that even small amounts of physical activity–approximately 75 minutes a week–can improve cardiorespiratory fitness levels of sedentary overweight individuals.

Commenting on the study Dr K K Aggarwal said that while this level of exercise is lower than that currently recommended to produce weight loss, the current findings may be used to encourage those people who don’t exercise at present to start some form of physical activity.

Improvements in fitness are associated with a reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Panel recommends at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most days of the week, the reports suggest that 60 minutes of exercise each day may be necessary to prevent weight gain.

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May 13

17

Porcine Whipworm Ova Safe for Treatment of IBD

By Dr KK
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Orally ingested ova of Trichuris suis, the porcine whipworm, has been found to be active in an open-label study of Crohn’s disease, and in a small scale, placebo-controlled trial in patients with ulcerative colitis.

Inflammatory bowel diseases are diseases of the affluent society. Many trials have shown that infection with parasitic worms is protective. Intestinal helminths induce Th2 cytokine release and specifically down regulate Th1 responsiveness

Administering eggs from the porcine whipworm T. suis to patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis is a safe and possibly effective treatment for inflammatory bowel disease according to a report published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. In the open-label trial, 29 patients with refractory disease, and a Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI) of 220 to 450, ingested 2,500 T. suis ova in a beverage every three weeks for 24 weeks. By week 12, 22 patients (75.9%) experienced a decrease in CDAI of more than 100 points, or had a CDAI of less than 150. Another 18 patients (62.1%) were in remission. (Four patients withdrew early because of disease activity or pregnancy.) They observed no adverse effects or complications. In the treatment a single dose of 2500 live T. suis eggs are given orally.

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May 13

16

India unveils rota virus vaccine

By Dr KK
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Indian scientists unveiled an affordable vaccine (a dollar a vaccine) against a deadly diarrhea-causing virus, Rota virus that kills some 100,000 children in India every year. Rotavirus is globally responsible for some 453,000 deaths annually. Rota virus is blamed for causing up to 884,000 hospitalizations a year in India, at a cost to the country of 3.4 billion rupees.

K Vijayaraghavan, Secretary ofIndia’s Department of Biotechnology said it was a product of international cooperation. For the first time Indian scientists have taken a vaccine from the earliest discovery to every stage of development.

The vaccine named Rotavac will be manufactured by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech. Each vaccination consists of three doses.

Each dose of licenced vaccines from GlaxoSmithKline and Merck costs around 1,000 rupees.

Dr M K Bhan pioneered the project after local scientists discovered a localized rotavirus 23 years ago in aNew Delhihospital.

This vaccine would prevent 25 percent of all diarrheal admissions. More than 300,000 babies die within 24 hours of being born inIndiaeach year from infections and other preventable causes.

NIH has also congratulated the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Bharat Biotech International, Ltd., and the scientists, government and people ofIndiaon the important results from the ROTAVAC rotavirus vaccine study.

An oral vaccine, Rotavac will be administered to infants in three dose course at the age of  6, 10 and 14 weeks. It will be given along with routine immunizations recommended at these ages.

Why a Rota vaccine?

  1.  Rotavirus is the single most important viral cause of severe gastroenteritis in children.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), theAmericanAcademy of Pediatrics (AAP), theAmericanAcademy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases, and the European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, recommend universal immunization of infants against rotavirus disease.
  3. The two currently available oral vaccines for the prevention of rotavirus disease are pentavalent human-bovine reassortant rotavirus vaccine (RV5, PRV, RotaTeq) and attenuated human rotavirus vaccine (RV1, HRV, Rotarix). These vaccines have different doses and schedules for administration.
  4. Whenever possible, the rotavirus vaccine series should be completed with the same vaccine product, but vaccination should not be deferred if the product used for previous doses is not known. This problem will not come once the Indian vaccine is available.
  5. Rotavirus vaccine is contraindicated in infants who are allergic to any of the ingredients of the vaccine, those who had an allergic reaction after a previous dose and those with a history of intussusception.
  6. The vaccine should not be administered to infants with immunodeficiency.
  7. RV1 is contraindicated in infants with a history of severe hypersensitivity reaction to latex, but RV5 may be administered to such infants.

Conditions that are precautions for administration of rotavirus vaccine include acute moderate or severe illness, preexisting chronic gastrointestinal disorder, and receipt of blood products.

What is the rotavirus?

  1. When a virus infects the intestines and causes diarrhea and vomiting it is called “viral gastroenteritis.”
  2. Rotavirus is a virus that can infect the intestines and cause diarrhea and vomiting.
  3. In children, rotavirus is the most common cause of viral gastroenteritis.
  4. Children can get a rotavirus infection if they touch an infected person or a surface with the virus on it, and then do not wash their hands or when they eat foods or drink liquids with the virus in them.
  5. If people with a rotavirus infection don’t wash their hands, they can spread it to food or liquid they touch.
  6. Adults can also be infected, but rotavirus infection is much more common in children.
  7. A rotavirus infection commonly causes vomiting, diarrhea that is watery (but not bloody) and fever.
  8. If the child has vomiting or diarrhea, his or her body can lose too much water leading to dehydration.
  9. Symptoms of dehydration can include fewer wet diapers, or dark yellow or brown urine; no tears when a child cries; a dry mouth or cracked lips; eyes that look sunken in the face and a sunken fontanel (a fontanel is a gap between the bones in a baby’s skull).
  10. When babies are dehydrated, the fontanel on the top of their head can look or feel caved in.
  11.  Call your child’s doctor or nurse if your child has any symptoms of dehydration; has diarrhea or vomiting that lasts longer than a few days; vomits up blood, has bloody diarrhea, or has severe belly pain; is passing urine much more than usual; hasn’t had anything to drink in a few hours, or can’t keep fluids down; hasn’t needed to urinate in the past 6 to 8 hours (in older children), or hasn’t had a wet diaper for 4 to 6 hours (in babies and young children)
  12. Most children do not need any treatment, because their symptoms will get better on their own.
  13. It is important to make the child drink enough fluids so that he or she does not get dehydrated. You will know that you are giving your child enough fluids when his or her urine looks pale yellow or clear, or when the baby has a normal amount of wet diapers.

To prevent dehydration

  1. Give your baby or young child an “oral rehydration solution (ORS). You can buy this in a grocery store or pharmacy. If your child is vomiting, you can try to give him or her a few teaspoons of fluid every few minutes. Oral rehydration solution works better than juice, because juice sometimes makes diarrhea worse.
  2. Continue to breastfeed your baby, if he or she is still breastfed.
  3.  Do not give your child medicines to stop diarrhea (anti-diarrhea medicines). These medicines can make the infection last longer.
  4. If the child has a severe infection and gets dehydrated, he or she might need to be treated in the hospital.

Rotavirus infection be prevented

  1. All babies are given a vaccine to prevent the rotavirus infection.
  2.  If your child has a rotavirus infection, you can prevent spreading the infection by: washing your hands with soap after you change your child’s diaper; not changing your child’s diaper near where you prepare food; putting diapers in a sealed bag before you throw them out and cleaning the diaper changing area with alcohol or with a bleach and water mixture.
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May 13

15

Edible insects

By Dr KK
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  1. As per UN, edible insects fight hunger, boost nutrition and reduce pollution.
  2. Entomophagy is the consumption of insects as food. Insects are eaten by many animals, but the term is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; animals that eat insects are known as insectivores. There are also some species of carnivorous plants that derive nutrients from insects.  Over 1,000 species of insects are known to be eaten in 80% of the world’s nations.
  3. Some of the more popular insects and arachnids eaten around the world include crickets, cicadas, grasshoppers, ants, various beetle grubs (such as meal worms), the larvae of the darkling beetle or rhinoceros beetle, various species of caterpillar (such as bamboo worms, mopani worms, silkworms and waxworms), scorpions and tarantulas. Entomophagy is sometimes defined broadly to include the practice of eating arthropods that are not insects, such as arachnids (tarantulas mainly) and myriapods (centipedes mainly). There are 1,417 known species of arthropods, including arachnids that are edible to humans. The term is not used for the consumption of other arthropods, specifically crustaceans like crabs, lobsters and shrimps
  4. In practice, it is not possible to eliminate pest insects from the human food chain. Insects are present in many foods, especially grains. Food laws in many countries do not prohibit insect parts in food, but rather, they limit the quantity. People in rice-eating regions, for example, typically ingest significant numbers of rice weevil (Sitophilus oryzae) larvae, and this has been suggested as an important source of vitamins. The Food and Agricultural Organisation specifies in the Codex Alimentarius standard for wheat (Codex Standard 152-1985 : Codex Standard for Wheat Flour) that : wheat flour shall be free from filth (impurities of animal origin, including dead insects) in amounts which may represent a hazard to human health. Contamination on the average of less than 150 insect fragments per 100 grams of wheat flour poses no health hazard.
  5. As per US FDA likes of grasshoppers, ants and other members of the insect world are an underutilized food for people, livestock and pets.
  6. About 2 billion people worldwide already have supplemented their diets with insects, which are high in protein and minerals, and have environmental benefits.
  7. Insects are ‘extremely efficient’ in converting feed into edible meat. On average, they can convert 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of feed into 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of insect mass. In comparison, cattle require 8 kilograms (17.6 pounds) of feed to produce a kilo of meat.
  8. Most insects are likely to produce fewer environmentally harmful greenhouse gases, and also feed on human and food waste, compost and animal slurry, with the products being used for agricultural feed.
  9. Currently, most edible insects are gathered in forests and what insect farming does take place is often family-run and serves niche markets.
  10. Insects are everywhere and they reproduce quickly.
  11. They provide high-quality protein and nutrients when compared with meat and fish.
  12. Insects can also be rich in copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, selenium and zinc, and are a source of fiber.
  13. The Edible Insect Program is also examining the potential of arachnids, such as spiders and scorpions, although they are not strictly speaking insects.
  14. Some of them, such as certain beetles, ants, crickets and grasshoppers, come close to lean red meat or broiled fish in terms of protein per gram (ounce).
  15. Some caterpillars in southern Africa and weaver ant eggs in South east Asia are considered delicacies and command high prices. (Source: TOI)

 

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May 13

14

Can a person be revived even after ten minutes?

By Dr KK
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Uptil now we used to think that death means “Your heart stops beating, your brain shuts down” or the moment of cardiac arrest. Until fifty years ago, when CPR was developed, when you reached this point, you couldn’t come back. That led to the perception that death is completely irreversible.

But remember if I were to die this instant, the cells inside my body wouldn’t have died yet. It takes time for cells to die after they’re deprived of oxygen. It doesn’t happen instantly.

We have a longer period of time than people perceive.

When you become a corpse, when the doctor declares you dead, there’s still a possibility, from a biological and medical perspective, of death being reversed.

If left alone the cells become damaged. There’s going to be a time when you can’t bring them back. But nobody knows exactly when that moment is.

It might not just be in tens of minutes, but in over an hour. Death is really a process.

Death is, essentially, the same as a brain stroke. In stroke, blood flow stops from getting into the brain. Whether it’s because the heart stopped pumping, or there was a clot that stopped blood flow, the cells don’t care.

Brain cells can be viable for up to eight hours after blood flow stops.

If we can learn to manipulate processes going on in cells, and slow down the rate at which cells die, we could go back and fix the problem that caused a person to die, then re-start the heart and bring them back. In a sense, death could become reversible for conditions for which treatments become available.

If someone dies of a heart attack, for example, and it can be fixed, then in principle we can protect the brain, make sure it doesn’t experience permanent cellular death, and re-start the heart. If someone dies of cancer, though, and that particular cancer is untreatable, then it’s futile.

When you die, most of your cell death occurs through apoptosis, or programmed cell death. If your body is cold, the chemical reactions underlying apoptosis are slower. Making the body cold slows the rate at which cells decay.

But we’re talking about chilling, not freezing. The process of freezing will damage cells.

(Source: Erasing Death:The Science That Is Rewriting the Boundaries Between Life and Death.)

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May 13

13

Top 10 Ways to Keep the Kidneys Healthy

By Dr KK
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We all want our kidneys to last for a lifetime. We all should show our love for kidneys by adopting 10-step program for protecting kidney health.

One should begin with monitoring blood pressure and controlling weight and then move on to the rest of the kidney-healthy tips.

  1. Monitor blood pressure and cholesterol.
  2. Control weight.
  3. Don’t overuse over-the-counter painkillers.
  4. Monitor blood glucose.
  5. Get an annual physical exam.
  6. Know if chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes or heart disease runs in your family. If so, you may be at risk.
  7. Don’t smoke.
  8. Exercise regularly.
  9. Follow a healthy diet.

Get tested for chronic kidney disease if you’re at risk

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May 13

12

Binge Eating: New Epidemic of the Society

By Dr KK
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Binge eating disorder is a newly recognized condition. People with binge eating disorder frequently eat large amounts of food while feeling a loss of control over their eating.

This disorder is different from binge-purge syndrome (bulimia nervosa) because people with binge eating disorder usually do not purge afterward by vomiting or using laxatives. But most people with serious binge eating problems have:

  • Frequent episodes of eating what others would consider an abnormally large amount of food.
  • Frequent feelings of being unable to control what or how much is being eaten.
  • Several of these behaviors or feelings:

 Eating much more rapidly than usual.

  • Eating until uncomfortably full.
  • Eating large amounts of food, even when not physically hungry.
  • Eating alone out of embarrassment at the quantity of food being eaten.
  • Feelings of disgust, depression, or guilt after overeating.
  • The binges occur at least twice a week for 6 months.

The major complications of binge eating disorder are the diseases that accompany obesity. These include diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, gall bladder disease, heart disease and certain types of cancer.

Out-of-control binge eating is the biggest eating disorder of today more common than anorexia and bulimia combined and contributing to a rise in obesity. Binge eating afflicts 3.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men at some point in their lives.

Binge eating disorder is a little more common in women than in men; three women for every two men have it.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy teaches people how to keep track of their eating and change their unhealthy eating habits. It also teaches them how to change the way they act in tough situations. Interpersonal psychotherapy helps people look at their relationships with friends and family and make changes in problem areas. Drug therapy, such as antidepressants, may be helpful for some people.

Large amounts of food high in carbohydrates and sugars are rapidly consumed in a short period of time. The binge itself may only last fifteen to twenty minutes. Proper levels of serotonin and dopamine aid in impulse. Proteins supplement may reduce the craving.

Binge eating differs from compulsive overeating in that the binge eater enjoys the rush and stimulation of planning the binge.  Compulsive overeaters tend to crave foods high in carbohydrates, sugars, and salt.

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