Category Archives: Health

Tobacco Smoking is single largest cause of many diseases

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Smoking is the single largest cause of many diseases.

This was stated by eminent cardiologist and Medical Superintendent Red Crescent Hospital Latifabad, Dr Fazal-ur-Rehman, here on Wednesday.

He said that smoking causes many of diseases including cancer of different kinds, cardiac, tuberculosis, asthma, shrinking of mouth tissues and arteries and foot infections.

Dr Fazal said that smoking is not only injurious for the users but passive smoking is also a threat to the passive smokers.

He said that tobacco chewing, Gutka, leaf with chewing tobacco are also harmful.

He said that despite promulgation of Anti-Smoking Ordinance, smoking is prevalent in public places.

Dr Fazal-ur-Rehman was also critical of advertisement of cigarette companies on media.

He also emphasized the need of effective implementation of Anti-Smoking Ordinance.

Dr Fazal emphasized the need of community-based efforts for fostering awareness about the hazards of the smoking.

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World Mental Health Day to be observed today

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The World Health Organisation estimates that 1 in 4 people will need mental health care at some point in their lives.

WMHD is observed globally on October 10 every year under different theses. The WMHD theme this year is “Building Resilience Together”.

Mental Health Week raises community awareness about mental health issues and is held every October to coincide with WMHD.

This year, Mental Health Week runs from October 9 to 15. On the WMHD and during the Mental Health Week, healthcare organisations, NGOs, medical universities and colleges across the country including Lahore will organise seminars, walks and lectures to highlight the problems relating to mental sickness and responsibilities of public, especially the relatives of mentally retarded people.

According to an estimation, around 450 million people worldwide have a mental health problem. By the year 2020, the WHO has projected that depression will be the second leading cause of disability in the world.

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UNICEF launches Mother, Child Week in Pakistan

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Each year Pakistan witness preventable deaths of 432,000 children under-five years of age and 20,000 mothers due to causes related to pregnancy and child birth.

Among the under-five deaths, two-thirds are in the newborn period (first 28 days of life) and the remaining is largely due to pneumonia (13%) and diarrhea (11%).

In FATA 104 of every 1000 children born did not reach their fifth birthday. Of these, the majority (86) die in the first year of life due to preventable diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia. Diarrhea and pneumonia are seasonal calamities and preventable. Most of these precious lives can be saved by simple knowledge about prevention and promotion of some key measures at home and healthcare seeking practices relating to these diseases.

Pakistan has committed to a Millennium Development Goal of reducing under-five deaths to 52 per 1,000 births, and under-one deaths to 40 per 1,000 by 2015. In an effort to achieve this goal, Mother and Child weeks are held twice a year with focused messages on pneumonia or diarrhea according to the seasonality of these diseases.
National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care, Ministry of Health in collaboration of UNICEF is launching the Mother & Child Week, from 10th to 15th October in all the Agencies, FRs and IDP camps of FATA.

The partners include National Programmes on EPI, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and UNICEF, Population Welfare Department and non-governmental organizations. This is one of the key initiatives by the Department of Health FATA.
As winter season is approaching the upcoming Mother and Child Week is focused on prevention and management of acute respiratory tract infections with an intensive awareness rising on best care practices at the household level if a child suffers from the disease.
The week-long campaign supported by UNICEF provides a model for improving health and nutrition and consequently child survival and development in Pakistan.
The series of activities during the week includes public awareness activities at village supplemented by immunization and de worming for children, tetanus toxoid vaccination for pregnant mothers, refresher trainings for health workers, and strengthened public health systems to ensure that Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) and other essential supplies are available and correctly used.
Each pregnant woman will also receive counseling on recognition of danger signs among mothers and newborns, the importance of at least four ANC visits, delivery by a skilled birth attendant, post natal care, early initiation of breast feeding, exclusive breast feeding, immunization of the child
and optimal birth spacing.
The formal launching ceremony of the Mother Child Health Week was held in Peshawar on 10th October (Monday) at LHWs programme office. Dr Fawad Khan Director Health Services FATA was the Chief Guest on the occasion.
Dr Muhammad Rafiq, Program Specialist, UNICEF FATA and Dr Pervaiz Kamal Project Coordinator MNCH program, were present on the occasion and briefed the media.
This week will be focused on nationwide awareness campaign with focused service delivery in seven agencies and Frontier Region of FATA and IDP camps reaching around 1.0 million population including 174,000  under-five children and 33,080  pregnant women. Around 1,442 Lady Health Workers will be involved in the activity together with vaccinators and healthcare providers.

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Workshop on expert’s guideline for dengue treatment

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A consultative workshop with joint collaboration of Punjab Health department and University of Health Sciences Lahore will be held here on Tuesday (Sept 27).

Guideline and protocol prepared by Srilankan and local health experts for treatment and case management of dengue patients would be highlighted on the occasion, stated Health department spokesperson Monday.

Principal Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Prof. Faisal Masood, senior medical teachers and Srilankan experts would deliver lectures for doctors of public sector hospitals as well as general practitioners during the workshop.

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Power of suggestion affects heart arteries

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Simply suggesting that a treatment will ease chest pain may not only dampen the pain, but directly alter heart arteries, a small study concludes.

Among 30 patients having a procedure to evaluate their chest pain, researchers found that those who were told they were being given an infusion of a pain-relieving drug did, on average, report a decrease in pain.

But the participants also showed a measurable change in their heart arteries: a slight but distinct narrowing of the vessels.

Exactly what the findings mean, and whether they have implications for heart disease patients, is not clear.

None of the chest-pain patients actually had heart disease; they were told about the “drug” (which was actually harmless saline) only after testing had shown no blockages in their heart arteries.

The key point is that the power of suggestion created an objective change in the blood vessels, according to Drs. Karin Meissner and Joram Ronel of Technical University Munich in Germany.

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Obesity costs set to surge, with US in lead

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One in every two American adults will be obese by 2030, adding hugely to the country’s health costs, according to studies published on Friday that highlight the growing burden of the world’s obesity pandemic.

On present trends, 50-51 percent of American men and 45-52 percent of American women will by 2030 have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, adding as many as 65 million to the country’s population of obese adults, says one of the papers.

Twenty-four million of these 65 million will be older than 60.

The calculation extrapolates national estimates for 2007-08, the latest years for which data were available, when about 32 percent of American adults were obese.

Britain, too, will see a surge in obesity prevalence, from 26 percent to 41-48 percent in men, and in women from 26 percent to 35-43 percent.

By 2030, as many as 11 million more British adults will be obese, 3.3 million of them aged more than 60.

The study, led by Claire Wang of Columbia University in New York and Klim McPherson of Oxford University, says that medical costs will surge, given obesity’s links with diabetes, cancer, heart disease and stroke.

“The combined medical costs associated with treatment of these preventable diseases are estimated to increase by $48-66 billion (33-46 billion euros) per year in the USA and by 1.9-2 billion pounds ($3-3.3 billion, 2.2-2.3 billion euros) per year in the UK by 2030,” it says.

“Effective policies to promote healthier weight also have economic benefits.”

Today, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and a further 0.5 billion obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese.

Tackling obesity accounts for between two and six percent of health-care costs in many countries and for some regions has even eclipsed tobacco as the biggest preventable cause of disease, according to the studies published in The Lancet.

They trace the pandemic to the 1970s and 80s, when a rise in food consumption per capita became coupled to a more sedentary lifestyle.

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Scientists a step closer to Hepatitis C vaccine

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European scientists have successfully tested in animals a vaccine for Hepatitis C, a debilitating viral disease that can cause liver failure and cancer, according to a study released this week.

Currently, there is no human vaccine for Hepatitis C, which is spread through contaminated blood and kills some 350,000 people worldwide each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

Between 130 and 170 million people are thought to be infected with chronic forms of the disease.

A team led by French researcher David Klatzmann of the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris used so-called “virus-like particles” to create the vaccine, which was tested on mice and monkeys.

Virus-like particles provoke an immune reaction, helping the body to develop resistance, but do not contain any genetic material that would allow a “virus” to multiply.

This technique has already been used in other vaccines, notably for the human papillomavirus, another cancer-causing agent.

The new vaccine, developed in partnership with French start-up Epixis, worked against several different variants of the Hepatitis C virus, offering hope that it would also beat back mutations as they occurred.

The next step will be to conduct human trials. The study was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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Exercising with Migraine

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According to Alan M. Rapoport, M.D., director of The New England Center for Headache in Stamford, Conn., migraine sufferers who exercise regularly report fewer and less severe headaches. But how they approach exercise can make a critical difference in whether they experience relief or risk triggering an attack.

Common psychological triggers include stress, depression and anger. Altitude, humidity and sun exposure are common environmental triggers. Physical triggers can range from lack of sleep to premenstrual hormonal fluctuations to certain foods, such as red wines, hot dogs, citrus fruits, cheeses and foods containing caffeine.

When started too quickly, exercise can be another physical trigger. Portuguese researchers discovered that sudden heavy physical exertion releases high levels of nitric oxide into the bloodstream of migraine-prone individuals, prompting the dilation of blood vessels and the onset of a migraine headache within the next several hours.

Most experts agree that an adequate warm up can prevent such episodes and that exercise can be a helpful tool for decreasing the severity and frequency of migraine headaches.
The key is to perform a slow and thorough warm up each and every time and if you’re new to exercise, build your program slowly.

The following head isolation is a great way to relax the neck muscles. It can be performed during a warm up, cool-down, or throughout the day whenever you need to release some tension. Stand or sit tall.

Place your hands on your hips and relax your shoulders. Slowly tilt your head to the right, and hold the position for 10 to 15 seconds as you breathe naturally. Slowly tilt your head to the left, and hold for another 10 to 15 seconds. Continue by alternating sides for a total of 5 to 6 repetitions on each side.

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Exercise protects brain from silent strokes

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Jogging, swimming, biking or other moderate to intense physical activity protects the brain from silent strokes that can lead to mental decline.

These silent strokes are more significant because they have been associated with high risk of falls and impaired mobility, memory problems and even dementia, as well as stroke, BBC Website reported.

Encouraging older people to take part in moderate to intense exercise may be an important strategy for keeping their brains healthy.

Researchers from Melbourne University, Australia compiled information on the exercise habits of 1,238 people who had never had a stroke. About 43 per cent said they did no regular exercise, 36 per cent did light physical activity, such as playing golf or walking, and 21 percent said they did moderate to intense exercise, such as playing tennis, swimming, racquetball, hiking or jogging on a regular basis.

About six years later, researchers scanned the brains of the participants, who by then averaged 70 years old. The scans revealed that 16 per cent had experienced silent strokes.

It was found that those who reported engaging in moderate to intense activity were 40 per cent less likely to have developed these small brain lesions than their sedentary counterparts.

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Stress worsens lung function in children

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Children who live in stress-filled homes experienced more air pollution-related lung damage than those in less stressful environments.

Recent studies indicate that psychosocial stress enhances the effect of traffic exposure on the development of asthma,a private news channel reported.

The researchers from Cambrige University, UK looked at the effects of traffic-related pollution and parental stress on 1,399 children, aged 10 to 12 years.

There were no significant links noted between parental stress alone and lung function levels in the children. But as exposure to traffic pollution increased, lung function decreased among children in high-stress homes.

This did not occur among children in low-stress homes.

Certain factors associated with low socioeconomic levels were also linked with high stress, such as a low annual income and education levels of parents, as well as lack of health insurance and air conditioning at home.

The findings could be due to the fact that like air pollution, stress has been linked to both inflammation and oxidative damage at the cellular level.

The findings suggest that by regulating traffic-related pollution levels around residential areas and schools, the adverse effect of traffic-related pollution on lung function among vulnerable children could be reduced.

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