Tag: Health and Fitness News

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Survey Suggests Many People Call an Ambulance for Minor Medical Emergencies

Feb. 22, 2011 — One in three people don’t understand when an ambulance is not necessary to deal with common medical situations, a survey indicates.

The survey shows most people know when to call an ambulance for life-threatening medical emergencies like a heart attack, but many don’t understand when an ambulance is not needed for less urgent situations like a woman going into the early stages of labor.

Here’s a quick look at this week’s selection of grains:

LUNDBERG WEHANI This reddish-brown whole-grain rice has a slightly chewy texture and a nutty, savory flavor. To cook, combine 1 part rice with 2 parts water and salt to taste ( ½ to ¾ teaspoon per cup of rice). Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 50 to 60 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the water. Turn off the heat, remove the lid, place a towel over the pot and return the lid to the pot. Let sit 10 minutes, and then serve.

For a nuttier taste, before adding the water sauté the rice in 1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil until the rice smells toasty. A cup of raw rice yields about 3 1/3 cups of cooked rice.

LUNDBERG BLACK JAPONICA RICE A combination of medium-grain mahogany rice and short-grain black rice. Cook it like Wehani rice, above. A cup of raw rice yields about 3 ¾ cups cooked rice.

RUBY RED JASMINE RICE This red long-grain rice is distributed by a company that specializes in fair-trade products. The package says to cook 1 part rice in 2 ½ parts water, but I found a ratio of 1 to 2 worked better. Cook like the Wehani rice, above. A cup of raw rice yields about 3 cups of cooked rice.

PURPLE PRAIRIE BARLEY This hearty dark purple barley originated in Tibet. It takes 1 ½ hours to cook – 1 hour if you soak it overnight, which I recommend. Cook 1 part grain in 2 ½ parts water with salt to taste. Place a strainer over a bowl, and drain the soaked rice. Combine the soaking water (you don’t want to lose the pigment in it) with more water to make 2 ½ parts. Add salt to taste ( ½ to ¾ teaspoon per cup of grain), and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer 1 hour or until the barley is tender and beginning to splay. A cup of cup raw rice yields just under 4 cups of cooked rice.

AMARANTH Amaranth is the tiny seed of a green native to the Americas. In Mexico, both the seeds and the greens are eaten. It’s very nutritious: high in protein, and very rich in the amino acid lysine, which most grains lack. Cook 1 part amaranth in 3 parts water, and stir often.

This is a series of diaries focused on the World Health Organization Neglected Tropical Diseases Program. I initially wrote a diary about Dengue Fever that had hospitalized Salon columnist and constitutional lawyer, Glenn Greenwald. The second diary briefly introduced the other diseases on the WHO list.

This diary will focus in Human African trypanosomiasis HAT, or sleeping sickness, parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of the ‘Glossina’ insect, commonly known as the tsetse fly infected with a protozoa of the species Trypanosoma brucei. The flagellate protozoan Trypanosoma brucei exists in 2 morphologically identical subspecies: Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense (East African or Rhodesian African trypanosomiasis) and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense (West African or Gambian African trypanosomiasis).

Tsetse flies are found in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, putting 60 million people at risk. The disease affects mostly poor populations living in remote rural areas of Africa. Untreated, it is usually fatal. Travelers also risk becoming infected if they venture through regions where the insect is common. Generally, the disease is not found in urban areas.

Sleeping Sickness is the deadliest disease in the world. Without treatment, the parasites kill.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

This is a series of diaries focused on the World Health Organization Neglected Tropical Diseases Program. I initially wrote a diary about Dengue Fever that had hospitalized Salon columnist and constitutional lawyer, Glenn Greenwald. The second diary briefly introduced the other diseases on the WHO list.

This week will focus on Guinea-worm disease (GWD), or Dracunculiasis, which is a debilitating and painful parasitic infection caused by a large nematode (roundworm), Dracunculus medinensis. The guinea worm is one of the best historically documented human parasites, with tales of its behaviour reaching as far back as the 2nd century BC in accounts penned by Greek chroniclers. It is also mentioned in the Egyptian scrolls, dating from 1550 BC. An Old Testament description of “fiery serpents” may have been referring to Guinea Worm: “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” (Numbers 21:4-9). The name dracunculiasis is derived from the Latin “affliction with little dragons” while the common name “guinea worm” appeared after Europeans saw the disease on the Guinea coast of West Africa in the 17th century.

It a water born disease and is contracted by drinking stagnant water that has been contaminated with the worm and copepods infested by the larvae. Copepods are tiny crustaceans found in sea and nearly every freshwater habitat. The disease manifests itself about a year after infection, usually as a large blister on the leg, that burns and itches and the mature worm, 1m long, tries to emerge. The infected person tries to relieve the pain by immersing the infected part in water, usually open water sources such as ponds and shallow wells. This stimulates the worm to emerge and release thousands of larvae into the water, thus perpetuating the cycle.

For persons living in remote areas with no access to medical care, healing of the ulcers can take several weeks. People in endemic villages are incapacitated during peak agricultural activities. This can seriously affect their agricultural production and the availability of food in the household, and consequently the nutritional status of their family members, particularly young children. Outbreaks can cause serious disruption to local food supplies and school attendance.

The good news is that the end of GWD is currently in sight. Thanks to President Jimmy Carter and the his Center’s initiative to eradicate this disease there are currently only four countries in the world where GWD is endemic, Sudan, Ghana, Mali and Ethiopia. The major focus is on Sudan where 84% of the 3,190 infections reported in 2009 occurred. WHO predicted it will be “a few years yet” before eradication is achieved, on the basis that it took 6-12 years for the countries that have so far eliminated Guinea worm transmission. Endemic countries must report to the International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication and document the absence of indigenous cases of GWD for at least three consecutive years to be certified as Guinea worm-free. Guinea worm disease will be only the second human disease, after smallpox, to be eradicated globally.

Prevention

Guinea worm disease can only be transmitted by drinking contaminated water, and can be completely prevented through relatively simple measures that could result in the disease being eradicated:

   * Drinking solely water drawn from underground sources free from contamination, such as a borehole or hand-dug wells.

   * Filtering drinking water, using a fine-mesh cloth filter like nylon, to remove the guinea worm-containing crustaceans.

   * Preventing people with emerging guinea worms from entering ponds and wells used for drinking water.

   * Developing new sources of drinking water that lack the parasites, or repairing dysfunctional ones.

Water sources can also be treated with larvicides to kill worm-carrying crustaceans.

Further discussion is below the fold, since the brief description of treatment and video are graphic and not for the squeamish.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

At the recent Worlds of Healthy Flavors conference, sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Culinary Institute of America, two prominent researchers called for an end to the use of the term “low-fat.”

Dr. Ronald Krauss, director of atherosclerosis research at Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute, and Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, have been involved in numerous studies measuring the effects of dietary habits on health. Few of those studies, they noted, have turned up reliable associations between one’s total intake of dietary fat and such diseases as cancer and heart disease. Nor have they turned up meaningful associations between total fat intake and obesity.

As most of us now know, it is the type of fat that matters most to health. A diet in which saturated fats are replaced by polyunsaturated fats, found mostly in plants, nuts and seafood, and monounsaturated fats, present in olive oil, may help protect against heart disease.

On the other hand, trans fats, created during the hydrogenation process, seem to increase heart disease risk. And saturated fats – found mostly in meat and dairy products, and in coconut and palm oils – raise blood levels of L.D.L., or “bad” cholesterol, also a risk factor for heart disease.

Recently I wrote a diary about Dengue Fever, a tropical disease that is caused by a mosquito transmitted virus, I mentioned that it was classed as a “neglected disease” by the World Health Organization. I’d like to talk about some of the other neglected diseases, what causes them, how they are spread and, most importantly, who they affect and how they impact on the rest of the world. In up coming diaries, I will focus on each one as I did with Dengue.

First, why are these diseases neglected? It is mostly because they are diseases of of poverty. Until these diseases impact on the wealthy in some way, treatment and prevention will remain a struggle for the countries and people where they are endemic. The lives of over one billion people are impacted in developing regions of Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Some of these diseases have known preventive measures or acute medical treatments which are available in the developed world but which are not universally available in poorer areas. In some cases, the treatments are relatively inexpensive. For example, the treatment for schistosomiasis is $0.20 per child per year. In the last few years, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and The Carter Center have brought attention to the diseases caused by flavivirus, trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) and parasitic worms.

These are the diseases classified as neglected by WHO:

   * Buruli Ulcer

   * Chagas disease(American trypanosomiasis)

   * Cysticercosis

   * Dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever

   * Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease)

   * Echinococcosis

   * Fascioliasis

   * Human African trypanosomiasis

   * Leishmaniasis

   * Leprosy

   * Lymphatic filariasis

   * Onchocerciasis

   * Rabies

   * Schistosomiasis

   * Soil transmitted helminthiasis

   * Trachoma

   * Yaws

I’m fairly certain most of you have never heard of most of them and might be a bit surprised by one that is on that list, Rabies, which is a virus spread by wild and domestic animal bites. It is endemic on every continent except Antarctica and is easily treatable and can be controlled and prevented. Yet, here it is on a list of neglected diseases.

I look forward to your comments and questions which I will try to answer as best I can.

The next diary will focus on Dracunculiasis (guinea-worm disease) and its eradication.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

This week’s gratins are made with a couple of pounds of a cooked vegetable, seasoned and bound with eggs, milk and a small amount of cheese. (In Provence, rice is also used to help bind the mixture.) Gratins are a great way to use both fresh and leftover cooked vegetables. . . .

Casseroles need not contain eggs or dairy products. And baked beans, exceptionally creamy after their long simmer in the oven, can be made into perfect vegan fare. Add vegetables of your choice and you’ll have a perfect one-dish meal.

Just recently, Salon columnist and constitutional lawyer, Glenn Greenwald was hospitalized with what he thought was the “flu”. It wasn’t. Mr,. Greenwald found that he was infected with the most common mosquito-born virus in the world, dengue, (pronounced DENgee), which yearly infects 50 to 100 million people causing about 24,000 deaths, primarily children. It is endemic in more than 110 countries with 2.5 billion people living in areas where it is prevalent.

The disease is caused by four closely related viruses, or serotypes, that can manifest in a couple of different ways. The most common is dengue fever, or illness, which presents with high fever, joint pain, severe headache and a a petechial rash (fine, red rash). The severity of the joint pain has given dengue the name “breakbone fever.” Dengue can progress to dengue hemorrhagic fever, which may lead to severe hemorrhage or dengue shock syndrome, where a very low blood pressure can cause organ dysfunction. Both can be fatal but with good medical management mortality can be less than 1%.

While dengue is very similar to other viruses transmitted by mosquitoes like West Nile and malaria, it is classified as a “Neglected Tropical Diseases” by the World Health Organization, meaning it is prevalent in tropics, yet has not received attention commensurate with its burden like other diseases such as malaria. There is no vaccine for prevention. However, an attack of dengue produces immunity for a lifetime to that particular serotype to which the patient was exposed.

What are the symptoms?

From the CDC:

The principal symptoms of dengue are:

   * High fever and at least two of the following:

         o Severe headache

         o Severe eye pain (behind eyes)

         o Joint pain

         o Muscle and/or bone pain

         o Rash

         o Mild bleeding manifestation (e.g., nose or gum bleed, petechiae, or easy bruising)

         o Low white cell count

Generally, younger children and those with their first dengue infection have a milder illness than older children and adults.

Watch for warning signs as temperature declines 3 to 7 days after symptoms began.

Go IMMEDIATELY to an emergency room or the closest health care provider if any of the following warning signs appear:

   * Severe abdominal pain or persistent vomiting

   * Red spots or patches on the skin

   * Bleeding from nose or gums

   * Vomiting blood

   * Black, tarry stools (feces, excrement)

   * Drowsiness or irritability

   * Pale, cold, or clammy skin

   * Difficulty breathing

How is it treated?

Since dengue is caused by a virus, there is no effective antibiotic treatment. For typical dengue, the treatment is the relief of symptoms, rest and hydration. Aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are used cautiously under a doctor’s supervision because of the possibility of worsening hemorrhagic complications. Acetaminophen and codeine may be given for severe headache and for the joint and muscle pain. It may or may not require hospitalization dependent on whether the patient can remain hydrated as other symptoms, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, can increase fluid loss. The more severe manifestations, require hospitalization and may require oxygen and blood transfusions. Most deaths occur in children. Infants under a year of age are especially at risk of dying from the hemorrhagic form.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

By sweet potatoes, I mean the orange-fleshed tubers with brownish skin that growers and supermarkets often mislabel as “yams.” The two varieties at my local farmers’ market are jewel yams and the darker-skinned garnet yams, both sweet and moist.

   In fact, actual yams have starchier, light yellow flesh and a rough, brown skin; they are native to Africa and Asia, and an important staple in the Caribbean and in parts of Africa. But they don’t have the impressive nutritional profile of real sweet potatoes.

Welcome to the Stars Hollow Health and Fitness weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

Root vegetables in the brassica family – like turnips, kohlrabi and rutabaga – contain many of the same antioxidants as cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale. Kohlrabi and rutabaga also are excellent sources of potassium and good sources of vitamin C. Parsnips provide folate, calcium, potassium and fiber, while carrots offer beta carotene. All of these vegetables are high in fiber.

Root vegetables can seem daunting. I had not worked with kohlrabi until putting together these recipes, but I found it enjoyable raw as well as cooked. Remember that for many of this week’s dishes, especially those calling for turnips, kohlrabi or rutabagas, the vegetables are interchangeable.