Neck Circumference Associated With Heart Disease Risk

He noted that if the results of the preliminary research hold up after further study, it could provide a novel approach in determining a patient’s risk. “We normally end up struggling with trying to find out what are the best measures of obesity and fat?” said Nambi. Since this is the first presentation of the data, Sarah Rosner Preis, a postdoctoral fellow with NHLBI and the study’s lead author, noted that the findings are preliminary. Her findings were that a wider neck was associated with riskier levels of other measurements for heart disease — such as higher systolic blood pressure and lower “good” HDL cholesterol — but not heart disease itself.

Still, the connection could be an important one if the finding is borne out in future research. And if true, heart disease would join a list of other diseases linked to a thicker neck. “To our knowledge, there has been no study that has specifically examined the association between neck circumference and risk of heart disease,” she said. “Prior studies have suggested that neck circumference may be associated with diabetes, insulin resistance and hypertension.”

‘Superpill’ – To Reduce Heart Disease By 60 % & Stroke By 50 %

The study involved 2,053 patients, recruited from heart centers around India between March 2007 and August 2008. The polypill contains low doses of three medications against high blood pressure; simvastatin, which lowers LDL or bad cholesterol and aspirin, a known blood-thinner. “Before this study, there were no data about whether it was even possible to put five active ingredients into a single pill,” the study said. “We found that it works,” the researchers said. Participants in the study were divided into groups and given either the polypill or aspirin, the cholesterol-lowering medication, or one of the three blood pressure medications on their own; different combinations of blood pressure medications, or all three blood pressure treatments with or without aspirin. The researchers found that blood pressure in participants in the polypill group was lowered as much as in the group taking the three blood pressure medications together, with or without aspirin.

Those blood pressure reductions “could theoretically lead to about a 24-percent risk reduction in congestive heart disease and 33 percent risk reduction in strokes in those with average blood pressure levels,” the study said. The polypill reduced LDL cholesterol significantly more than in all other groups except the one in which simvastatin was taken alone. The simvastatin group’s LDL levels fell only slightly more than the polypill group, the study found. Heart rates in the polypill group and the group taking one of the blood-pressure medications, atenolol, fell by seven beats a minute — significantly more than in the other study groups. Side-effects in patients taking the polypill were the same as when taking one or two medications, the study found. The study was “a critical first step to inform the design of larger, more definitive studies, as well as further development of appropriate combinations of blood-pressure lowering drugs with statins and aspirin,” said Yusuf.

Dr Christopher Cannon, a cardiologist from Harvard University, said the polypill took the medical world a step closer to beating heart disease, a leading cause of death worldwide. Some 80 percent of heart disease cases are thought to occur in developing countries. “The concept is simple. Several different drugs are available (generically and thus inexpensively) to treat many of the cardiac risk factors. So, combining them in one pill could reduce heart disease by 80 percent,” Cannon said in a comment piece in The Lancet, in which the results of the study were published. “This approach has obvious appeal and vast implications for global health, because heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide,” he wrote. Still, some said the pill was unlikely to provide panacea for all heart patients.

Dr. Robert Bonow, a former president of the American Heart Association and co-director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at NorthwesternUniversity in Chicago, told ABC News that while the pill might be better than nothing for many who would otherwise receive no care, a one-size-fits-all approach makes individualized treatment difficult. “This is not a tailored treatment, and it’s low doses,” he told the television network. “So maybe in people with high blood pressure, it is not enough to lower their blood pressure. Or in people with high cholesterol, it is not enough to get them to the target cholesterol levels that their physicians would like to see.”

Chickenpox: Rising Seasonal Illnesses

Assistant CMO Dr VK Srivastava provided the numbers of cases of chicken pox reported in the past few years. The previous year 2008 witnessed 142 cases and one case of death. Year 2007 saw 137 cases and no death. “This year, we have recorded six cases and one death so far. The numbers increase drastically during the months from May to October,” he said. Sources claim that these figures are abysmally low and rather incorrect as the rural populace usually does not come to the hospitals for diagnosis and treatment of chicken pox and on the other hand comprehensive figures are not available in urban scenario. The symptoms of chicken pox include mild fever, itching in eyes, pain in body, cough, running nose, headache, nausea and red spots with fluid secretions. The number of spots increase from the third day to eighth day and then start drying. From the 10th day the disease starts declining, taking about 15 days in all to subside completely.

The infected child should be kept in isolation in a room with fresh air. He should not be allowed to go out. His clothes, handkerchief, towel and bed sheet should be changed regularly and washed separately using an antiseptic. It is beneficial to place neem leaves around the bed. It is very normal for the child to scratch the spots. But this should not be allowed as it leads to scarring. ‘Iske liye neem ke patto se un dano ko sehla de’ (use neem leaves to touch those spots gently). “Any soothing lotion like calamine lotion or coconut oil can be applied on these spots for further relief,” said Dr Deepak Aggarwal, a paediatrician here. The infected child should be encouraged to drink plenty of water and fresh juices. Fried and chilly foods should be avoided. Fast food too is a big no-no as these increase itching. “Instead take nutritious food such as green vegetables and seasonal fruits like pomegranate, oranges, grapes. As the child suffers from loss of appetite, he has to be prodded lovingly to eat after definite intervals. Also keep the other children of the house away from the infected child,” said the doctor.

Also known as rubella, though inoculation is provided at young age with MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella), Dr Srivastava explained that the efficacy was limited to 85 per cent of the total children inoculated; 15 per cent remained susceptible even after inoculation. “Also with age, immunity to a disease decreases as the production of antibodies (responsible for fighting the disease) reduces drastically. Hence we witness certain cases of chickenpox in adults too,” he said. If a young girl is infected with chicken pox, her body undergoes tartogenic changes which means that her uterus and ovary would undergo changes. These changes would adversely affect her ability to conceive a child. Conception of a child can be delayed by about five years or even more. If a pregnant lady gets infected then the child faces a high probability of being born with congenital defects. Hence in case of an infection in the family, other children as also the adults should follow the advised precautions, added Dr Singh.

A Slow & Painful Death From Cancer

Turning now to the tangible – civilian aid – Obama has talked about there being ‘no blank cheque’ for Pakistan which implies a process of accountability. As every donor nation that has ever given a rupee to Pakistan has discovered, this is a vast black hole into which money may be poured for eons without having any discernible effect. It is corrupt at every level and those who stand to gain from the latest windfall of ready cash will already be devising ways in which it can be diverted to their personal use. This is an entirely different form of cancer, more akin to leukaemia than a localized tumour. This is the cancer in the blood of the nation that has never been susceptible to treatment and which has always debilitated us. We will be delighted to have your money Mr Obama but if it is going to do what you want it to do – strengthen civil institutions and parliamentary democracy – then it needs to come hedged about with the most stringent of safeguards. We are entering a period of transactional relationship with which the bureaucratic establishment is unlikely to be cooperative, particularly if oversight is part of the transaction.

The third cancerous element that the Af-Pak strategy seeks to address is that of the polity of both nations. One is a narco-state nominally ruled by the mayor of Kabul and the other is a feudal autocracy with a cosmetic parliament attached for reasons of modesty. Neither is exactly healthy ground for the regeneration of civil institutions. As consolation, the Af-Pak strategy has moved on from the fruitless quest for the Holy Grail of democracy in AfghanistanPakistan does at least have some semblance of civil institutions that could, with a fair wind and the development of a new cadre of younger politicals not tied to the feudal tradition; begin to push back the cancer that currently eats away at it. Prime Minister Gilani has recently acknowledged the problems we face because successive governments had concentrated on combating external threats at the cost of ignoring the internal threat – the cancer – that was spreading meanwhile inside. President Obama has talked of one cancer where there are many. Everybody is agreed in recognizing the disease and its symptoms, but treatment is going to have to be multi-disciplinary and may require what doctors call ‘heroic’ surgery. In general terms we can but welcome the Obama plans. It really is a way of ‘doing it differently’, it really is the ‘change’ that he spoke of during his campaign for the worlds top job. For it to work we have to do it differently as well. Not something we have ever excelled at in the past. For Obama constant change is here to stay, whereas for us real change, the change that leads to growth and maturity, has always been avoided – a consequence of which may be a slow and painful death from cancer. and recognized it for what it is – eternally quarrelsome with itself and unimpressed with western democratic models that get in the way of time-honoured traditions such as the blood feud and wholesale brigandry.

North Korea Readies Missile For April Lunch

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs on Thursday reiterated comments made a day earlier by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that any rocket launch would be “provocative” and violate Security Council resolutions. Clinton warned that the launch could jeopardize the stalled talks on supplying North Korea with aid and other concessions in exchange for dismantling its nuclear program. South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities have not yet determined whether the rocket is intended to carry a satellite or a missile because the top is concealed with a cover, the Yonhap news agency said.

The U.N. Security Council in 2006 banned North Korea from any ballistic activity. The diplomatic tussle puts North Korea right where it wants to be: at the center of Washington’s attention, analysts said. “This action is something that cannot be ignored. . . . This is a way to get attention from the U.S. and the Obama administration,” said Daniel Pinkston, a Seoul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group think tank. “The North Korean leadership probably believes this will help achieve their objective of engaging the U.S.” Analysts say Pyongyang is angling to establish direct relations with President Barack Obama’s White House in hopes of circumventing the international disarmament talks that require the North to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for much needed aid.

Complicating the diplomacy is the detention of two American journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of former Vice President Al Gore’s online media venture Current TV, for allegedly crossing into North KoreaChina last week. North Korea could use the Americans as bargaining chips, said North Korea expert Koh Yu-Hwan of Dongguk University. He called their detention an “unexpected gift” for Pyongyang, giving the regime added leverage in its push for direct talks with Washington.

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