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Treating Gastroesophageal Reflux Helps Asthmatic KidsAsthma in children can be associated with allergies, but as Dr. Aaron K. Kobernick reported recently, other health conditions can also contribute to childhood asthma. He found that approximately two thirds of children with persistent asthma who had no allergic symptoms had another health condition, namely gastro esophageal reflux disease. The condition of acid reflux aggravates asthma. A prospective study examined children with moderate persistent asthma over a 2 year period. Initially the children underwent spirometry testing to assess their lung function. Another test involved monitoring of the acidity (ph values) in the esophagus of those children. The latter test demonstrated that the majority of the asthmatic kids also had GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease). Those children who were free of acid reflux received asthma medication only, but the patients with acid reflux and asthma received medication to treat the reflux. In some cases surgical intervention was necessary. It became apparent that the children whose reflux was treated either surgically or with medication had an improvement of asthma symptoms of 22 to 25 %, whereas asthma medication alone contributed only to an improvement of 11%. Dr. Kobernick concluded that the large airway can react to the exposure of stomach acid, which results in an aggravation of asthma symptoms. Treating the acid reflux condition will result in less asthma in young patients with GERD. Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, November 6 - 11, 2008, Seattle, Washington Disease Of Peripheral Blood Vessels Occurs With Metabolic ChangesMetabolic syndrome has serious health consequences: diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease are just a few conditions that are associated with it. It is also known that diabetic patients are prone to pressure sores and ulcers of their feet and if the leg became gangrenous the patient would lose it due to the need to amputate. Peripheral artery disease or PAD has recently been studied by Dr. Aruna D. Pradhan, and the prospective study involved 27,000 women. At the beginning of the study the middle aged women were free of cardiovascular disease, but a quarter of them had the hallmarks of metabolic syndrome. Twenty five percent of those with the condition also were diabetic. During the 13 years of follow-up 114 women developed peripheral artery disease and those patients with metabolic syndrome were 62% more likely to develop the disease. The individuals with metabolic syndrome had other features: they were less likely to exercise, more likely to smoke and their weight was higher. But 7,000 women with metabolic syndrome had another important feature in their lab tests: they had markedly higher levels of biomarkers of systemic inflammation, which was manifested in higher levels of C-reactive protein. Once all the criteria are stacked up against each other, it becomes obvious that the presence of metabolic syndrome alone is not responsible for the most significant increase in peripheral artery disease. It is not the high cholesterol levels or the high triglyceride readings that are the villains in this condition. The driving force is systemic inflammation, as documented by the high C-reactive protein levels in blood tests. American Heart Association, New Orleans, Nov. 8 to 12, 2008 Fifty Percent of US Population Do Not Take Enough CalciumEven though supermarket shelves are stocked to the hilt with a wide assortment of groceries, not all is well in The USA. At the annual meeting of the American College of Nutrition Theresa A. Nicklas, D.P.H. summed up the current situation in the following statement: “The American population is overweight but undernourished.” Results from a study of more than 25,000 people showed, that half the population does not get enough calcium, magnesium and potassium. Many people consume more calories that they need, but nutrients like the ones mentioned before and which are essential for functions such as immunity, bone health and blood pressure are falling short of the recommended amounts. The only age group in which the recommendations for calcium intake were met was the age group up to 8 years. In adults the needs were not met, and more females than males were deficient in all of the three nutrients. The situation could be corrected by consuming 3 to 4 equivalents in the dairy group. It should be added that not only dairy foods are rich in calcium. For individuals who do not consume dairy foods, soy products are rich in calcium, as are almonds, almond butter and nuts. Legumes (beans) as well as green vegetables (bok choi, collard greens, turnip greens) are calcium sources that should be incorporated in a nutrient rich diet. Annual Meeting of the American College of Nutrition Home Monitoring Works For Patients On Blood ThinnerThe standard treatment
for patients with risks for blood clots is a prescription for the medication called
warfarin. Patients who suffered a stroke or who have atrial fibrillation will
receive this drug, as do individuals who have a mechanical heart valve. Even though
warfarin is a medication that has been in use for several decades, there are important
guidelines. Warfarin is a blood thinner, and it is imperative that the blood values
of the patients are closely monitored. Too much warfarin could lead to disastrous
bleeding, whereas too little medication can lead to blood clots. Both conditions
can be life threatening. As a result, patients who are taking warfarin have to
present for blood tests on a weekly basis at a lab. Managing proper coagulation
may become less cumbersome in future, as a trial that was run at 28 Veteran Affairs
medical centers has shown. Tests enrolled 3,644 patients who required warfarin,
and they received training in using a home monitor, which took about 30 minutes.
They used the home monitoring device for 2 to 3 weeks, after which they returned
to their local center for assessment, how successfully they had monitored their
INR level. The results were encouraging: 2,922 patients-80% of the original group
showed that they could successfully handle home monitoring, either by themselves
or with the help of a caregiver. They would phone in their test results on a weekly
basis and would receive instructions by phone for dosage adjustment. The advantage
for the patient is the fact, that they become more involved and empowered in their
own care and show more engagement towards their health.
Climb Stairs And Stay HealthyEverybody knows that walking from the TV to the fridge does not qualify as exercise, and those few steps to the mailbox don’t do the trick either, when it comes to staying fit. But by the same token it is also a fallacy to believe that only the work-out in the gym will reap benefits and improve aerobic capacity. According to Dr. Philippe Meyer and colleagues at Geneva University Hospital in Switzerland, the mundane task of taking the stairs can show statistically significant changes in aerobic capacity, decrease in body weight, decrease in fat mass, waist circumference, decrease in diastolic blood pressure and increase in hear healthy HDL cholesterol. Dr. Meyer asked 77 healthy hospital workers including 20 physicians to exclusively use the stairs at the 12-storey hospital. During this 12 week quest for more fitness promotional signs encouraged stair climbing. All of those 77 participants were a sedentary group of individuals. Nevertheless they had to walk…the cafeteria was on the twelfth floor! At the baseline the participants walked up and down an average of 4.5 storeys per day, and at the end of the twelve weeks they were walking about 20.6 storeys per day. The tangible results showed that aerobic capacity and fat mass remained significantly improved, even though the participants walked less storeys after 12 weeks. It seems that initial change of habits-walking instead of taking the elevator- had made the difference in the transformation from couch potato to more active individual. Stair climbing is an excellent exercise for healthy individuals in the general population. This high intensity exercise cannot be recommended to heart patients that are not entirely stable or to a patient who has angina. In these cases caution and a supervised exercise program is needed. The
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