Tag: Myocardial infarction

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Chocolet is Good for Heart

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Had a heart attack? Eating chocolate twice a week could save your life
Eat up: But only dark chocolate, not high-fat high-sugar milk chocolate, showed tangible benefits.

………………EATING BLACK CHOCOLATE
Heart attack survivors who snack on chocolate at least twice a week could slash their risk of dying from heart disease.
New research shows chocolate-loving victims are nearly 70 per cent less likely to die from cardiac problems than those who rarely eat the confectionery.
Even a weekly chocolate treat can help, almost halving the risk of death from heart problems, researchers found.
The latest findings, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, are the latest in a long line of studies highlighting the health benefits of chocolate, especially dark chocolate.
Previous investigations have found dark chocolate, which is rich in disease-busting antioxidants called flavonoids, can lower the risk of blood clots, protect against bowel cancer and even help prevent premature births.
Antioxidants are compounds that protect against so-called free radicals, molecules which accumulate in the body and damage cells.
Every year, around 270,000 people in Britain suffer a heart attack, and coronary disease remains Britain’s biggest killer.
About a third die before reaching hospital, often because they have delayed seeking help.
If someone is lucky enough to survive a heart attack, they can still be left with severe damage that drastically increases their risk of dying from cardiac problems in the future.
But the latest research, by experts at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden,  indicates snacking on chocolate could be the perfect remedy.
They tracked 1,169 patients aged between 45 and 70 who had been admitted to hospital with a heart attack between 1992 and 1994.
Each one was quizzed on dietary habits, including how much chocolate they ate.
All the patients were then followed up for the best part of a decade.
The results showed those eating a few chunks of chocolate twice a week or more were 66 per cent less likely to die from cardiac disease than non-eaters.
Chocolate once a week reduced the risk by almost half and even an occasional treat – once a month or less – had a small benefit, cutting the risk by 27 per cent.
But other sweets were no help at all.
In a report on their findings, the researchers said: ‘The health effects of chocolate have been of great interest in recent years. But we know of no other studies assessing the possible effects of chocolate on post-heart attack prognosis.
‘We found it had a strong inverse association with subsequent cardiac mortality.’

owever, it’s unlikely that indulging in high-fat milk chocolate – the most popular type in the UK – will have the same advantages.
Ellen Mason, senior cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘We need to interpret this study with caution as it’s based on decade old events, and our diagnosis and treatment of heart attacks have moved on considerably since that time.
‘Being high in sugar and saturated fat, chocolate is unlikely to prove a miracle solution for heart disease.

‘Dark chocolate does contain anti-oxidants, but we can all get the beneficial effects of anti-oxidants by eating plenty of fruit and vegetables and should keep chocolate as an occasional treat in a healthy, balanced diet.’

Source: Mail OnLine. 14th. Aug.2009

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Herbs & Plants

Digitalis Lanata

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Botanical Name:Grecian Foxglove
Family: Plantaginaceae
Genus: Digitalis
Species: D. lanata
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Lamiales
 Kingdom: Plantae

Synonym:Digitalis lamarckii auct. balcan.
Common Name:Woolly Foxglove, Grecian Foxglove
Other Common Names:Ari Quwani [E], Degitalis [E], Grecian Foxglove [H,P,B], Ke-Zigitarisu [E], Sahr Al Kishteban [E],

Habitat:Woodland, Dappled Shade, Shady Edge. Native to Eastern Europe.One of the biggest populations can be found near Bácsalmás in Hungary.
It grows on woods and scrub

Description:
An evergreen biennial/Perennial growing to 0.6m by 0.3m or about 13 to 26 inches. . It is in leaf all year, in flower from June to July, and the seeds ripen in September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.
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The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It requires dry or moist soil.

Digitalus lanata, like some other foxglove species, is highly toxic in all parts of the plant.

Grecian Foxglove produces spikes of white flowers each of which has purple veins. The flower spikes give the plant its height. Flowering occurs in early  summer. Volunteer plants will grow if the plant is allowed to form seed.

Cultivation:
An easily grown plant, succeeding in ordinary garden soil, especially if it is rich in organic matter. It prefers a neutral to acid soil and also succeeds in dry soils and, once established, is drought tolerant. It prefers semi-shade but succeeds in full sun if the soil is moist.

The Grecian foxglove is cultivated for the medicinally active glycosides that are contained in the leaves. This species is preferred over D. purpurea as a source of glycosides for the pharmaceutical industry.

Plants are either biennial or short-lived perennials.

Members of this genus are rarely if ever troubled by browsing deer or rabbits.

This species can develop crown rot and root rot when growing in damp conditions.

Propagation: Grow new plants from seed.

Medicinal Uses:
The Grecian foxglove is a widely used herbal medicine with a recognised stimulatory effect upon the heart. It is also used in allopathic medicine as the main source of the cardiac glycosides that are used in the treatment of heart complaints. It has a profound tonic effect upon a diseased heart, enabling the heart to beat more slowly, powerfully and regularly without requiring more oxygen. At the same time it stimulates the flow of urine which lowers the volume of the blood and lessens the load on the heart. The plant contains cardiac glycosides (including digoxin, digitoxin and lanatosides). Digitoxin rapidly strengthens the heartbeat but is excreted very slowly. Digoxin is therefore preferred as a long-term medication.

The leaves are cardiac, diuretic, stimulant and tonic. The leaves should only be harvested from plants in their second year of growth, picked when the flowering spike has grown and about two thirds of the flowers have opened. Harvested at other times, there is less of the medically active alkaloid present. The seed has also been used in the past. The leaves also have a very beneficial effect on the kidneys, they are strongly diuretic and are used with benefit in the treatment of dropsy. Great care should be exercised in the use of this plant, the therapeutic dose is very close to the lethal dose. Their use should always be supervised by a qualified practitioner since in excess they cause nausea, vomiting, slow pulse, visual disturbance, anorexia and fainting.

A homeopathic remedy is made from the leaves[9]. It is used in the treatment of cardiac disorders

In 1775 Dr. William Withering, an English physician, discovered the efficacy of Digitalis purpurea in the treatment of severe congestive heart failure. He attributed its efficacy to a diuretic effect and published his findings based on clinical observations in 1785. The pharmacological properties of regulating the heart rate and rhythm and strengthening of the heart muscle were discovered later.
The German ophthalmologist and botanist Ernst Fuchs is responsible for giving foxglove its Latin name in the Linneal binomial system of the naming of plants. To him and others before him, each blossom resembled a thimble, so he arrived at digitalis from the Latin digitus, finger and alis, suffix meaning pertaining to the qualities or characteristics of a finger.
The thimble resemblance of the blossoms is also responsible for the English common name foxglove: “gloves for little folks”, and the common German name der Fingerhut which translates as the finger hat (a thimble).
Digitalis lamarckii auct. balcan. is a, it is still used by some for plants available in horticulture.

Commercial uses:
Digoxin, a drug which is used to treat some heart conditions, is extracted from the leaves of Digitalis lanata.

Known Hazards : All parts of the plant are poisonous.  Unsafe for self-medication. Monitoring by a physician to determine correct dose recommended. For overdose give activated charcoal. Can be fatal especially to children.

Disclaimer:The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digitalis_lanata
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/imp/modzz/00002107.html
http://www.piam.com/mms_garden/plants.html
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Digitalis+lanata

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News on Health & Science

Quick Surgery Not Helpful After Mild Heart Attack

Does rushing a patient to hospital after a mild heart attack improve his or her chances of survival? It doesn’t help much, says a new  Canadian study led by Indian-origin professor Shamir Mehta at McMaster University in Hamilton near Toronto.
…………………..
The study found that rushing patients with a mild heart attack into bypass surgery or angioplasty did not improve their chances of survival, than waiting a few days. Led by Mehta, the researchers found similar rates of death or recurrence of heart attack in patients who underwent surgery quickly after a mild stroke and those who had to wait for a day and longer.

However, patients at high risk of having another stroke or heart attack needed quick surgery, the researchers said. Calling their findings “good news for patients and physicians”, Mehta said: “While we have known for a long time that patients with a full blown heart attack benefit from receiving angioplasty as early as possible, we did not know the optimal timing of angioplasty in patients with threatened or smaller heart attacks.”

“These second group of patients represent a large burden to the health care system and outnumber patients with full blown heart attacks by about 2:1. They often respond well to initial therapy with aspirin and other anti-clotting medications.”

As part of their multi-country study, the researchers picked up 3,031 patients – from 17 countries – who underwent angiography within 24 hours of being admitted to hospital or within 50 hours of admission.

Six months after the surgery, 9.6% of patients who received early treatment suffered another heart attack or died as compared to 11.3% who received delayed surgical intervention.

The study said: “Early intervention did not differ greatly from delayed intervention in preventing the primary outcome, but it did reduce the rate of the composite secondary outcome of death, myocardial infarction, or refractory aeschemia and was superior to delayed intervention in high-risk patients.”

Mehta said: “Patients coming to hospital with small or threatened heart attacks can be treated with aspirin and other anti-clotting medications and be transferred to a catheterisation laboratory a few days later, without undue harm.

“For patients with smaller or threatened heart attacks, only those who are at high risk need to have angioplasty early. The majority can be safely treated a few days later.”

Sources:The Times Of India

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Featured

Negative Thoughts ‘Can Induce Sickness’

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If you feel ill just looking at the side effects of the medicine that’s supposed to cure you, it might be best not to bother.

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Noto w it’s time ignore the warnings: Even just reading the side-effects listed on a pill bottle can increase your risk of experiencing them

The warnings themselves might actually be making you sick, scientists say.

A series of studies from around the world has shown that if you believe something could make you ill, it might well do just that.

Simply reading the side-effects on a bottle of tablets raises your risk of experiencing them.
And, taken to its extreme, patients who believe they will not survive surgery, are more likely to die on the operating table.
Just as positive thinking can be good for your health, negative thoughts can be bad for well-being.

‘The idea that believing you are ill can make you ill sounds far-fetched, yet rigorous trials have established beyond a doubt that the converse is true  –  the power of suggestion can improve health,’ reports New Scientist magazine

‘The placebo effect has an evil twin: the nocebo effect, in which dummy pills and negative expectations can produce harmful effects.’ Examples included clinical trials for new drugs, in which up to a quarter of patients given dummy versions experienced the side-effects associated with the real thing.

In trials for blood pressure-lowering beta blockers, tiredness and loss of libido were just as common in those given dummy versions.

And more than half of chemotherapy patients start experiencing the nausea ‘A self-fulfilling prophecy‘ associated with the cancer treatment days before it started. The phenomenon raises the prospect that just telling a patient about the side effects associated with their pills, could make their health worse.

Hull University psychologist Professor Giuliana Mazzoni said: ‘On the one hand, people have the right to be informed about what to expect but this makes it more likely they will experience side-effects.’
Research has shown that women who believe they are particularly prone to heart attack are nearly four times as likely to die from coronary conditions than other women.

The power of suggestion can also be responsible for mass outbreaks of ‘ disease‘. In 1988, a high school teacher, in Tennessee in the U.S, noticed a petrollike smell and began to complain of headache, nausea, shortness of breath and dizziness.

The school was evacuated and over the next week, more than 100 staff and students were admitted to casualty complaining of similar symptoms.

Extensive tests could find no medical explanation for their problems.
Dr Clifton Meador, of Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville in the U.S, said fear can turn into self-fulfilling prophecy.

‘Bad news promotes bad physiology. I think that you can persuade people that they’re going to die and have it happen. I don’t think there is anything mystical about it. We’re uncomfortable with the idea that words or symbolic actions can cause death because it changes our biomolecular model of the world.’

Sources:Mail Online. 14th.May,’09

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Diagnonistic Test

Holter Monitor

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Alternative Names : Ambulatory electrocardiography; Electrocardiography – ambulatory

Definition
A Holter monitor is a machine that continuously records the heart’s rhythms. The monitor is usually worn for 24 – 48 hours during normal activity.It is a portable EKG device that records your heart rhythm over time, outside the hospital or doctor’s office.Whereas a regular EKG examines your heart’s electrical activity for a few minutes, the Holter monitor examines changes over a sustained period of time-usually a 24- to 48-hour period-while you go about your daily activities and even while you sleep. Doctors use it to evaluate symptoms that come and go and that might be related to heart-rhythm changes.

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How the Test is Performed ?
Electrodes (small conducting patches) are stuck onto your chest and attached to a small recording monitor. You carry the Holter monitor in a pocket or small pouch worn around your neck or waist. The monitor is battery operated.

While you wear the monitor, it records your heart’s electrical activity. You should keep a diary of what activities you do while wearing the monitor. After 24 – 48 hours, you return the monitor to your doctor’s office. The doctor will look at the records and see if there have been any irregular heart rhythms.

It is very important that you accurately record your symptoms and activities so that the doctor can match them with your Holter monitor findings.
Why the Test is Performed ?
Holter monitoring is used to determine how the heart responds to normal activity. The monitor may also be used:

*After a heart attack
*To diagnose heart rhythm problems
*When starting a new heart medicine

It may be used to diagnose:
*Atrial fibrillation/flutter
*Multifocal atrial tachycardia
*Palpitations
*Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia
*Reasons for fainting
*Slow heart rate (bradycardia)
*Ventricular tachycardia

What happens when the test is performed?
A technician in your doctor’s office or a diagnostic lab fits you with a Holter monitor and explains how to use it. Five stickers are attached to your chest.Wires snap onto each of these stickers and connect them to the monitor. The wires detect your heart’s electrical pattern throughout the day, while the monitor records and stores the data for doctors to interpret later. You can fit the monitor into a purse or jacket pocket or wear it over your shoulder by its strap.

You can go about your normal activities with two exceptions. First, you can’t take a shower or bath during the period that you’re wearing the monitor. Second, you are given a small diary in which to note any worrisome symptoms you feel and record the time when they occur. The doctor will later review both your diary and the data about your heart’s activity from the monitor, to see if any symptoms you experienced were caused by some underlying heart problem. There are no side effects from the testing.
How to Prepare for the Test ?
There is no special preparation for the test. Your doctor will start the monitor. You’ll be told how to replace the electrodes should they fall off or become loose.

Tell your doctor if you are allergic to any tape or other adhesives. Make sure you shower or bathe before you start the test. You will not be able to do so while you are wearing a Holter monitor

Men with a lot of hair on their chest will probably have to shave it.

How the Test Will Feel?
This is a painless test. However, some people may need to have their chest shaved so the electrodes can stick.

You must keep the monitor close to your body. This may make sleeping difficult for some people.

You should continue your normal activities while wearing the monitor.

Risk Factors:
There are no risks.However, you should be sure not to let the monitor get wet.

Must  you do anything special after the test is over?
You need only return the Holter monitor.

Normal Results:-
Normal variations in heart rate occur with activities. A normal result is no significant changes in heart rhythms or pattern.

What Abnormal Results Mean?
Abnormal results may include various arrhythmias. Changes may mean that the heart is not getting enough oxygen.

The monitor may also detect conduction block, a condition in which the atrial electrical activity is either delayed or does not continue into the ventricles of the heart.

How long is it before the result of the test is known?
It usually takes a few days for your recording to be printed out and examined.

Considerations :-
Electrodes must be firmly attached to the chest so the machine gets an accurate recording of the heart’s activity.

While wearing the device, avoid:
*Electric blankets
*High-voltage areas
*Magnets
*Metal detectors

It is very important for you to keep a diary of symptoms. The diary should include the date, time of day, type, and duration of symptoms.

Resources:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/diagnostics/holter-monitor.shtml
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/imagepages/8810.htm
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/003877.htm

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