World of Health

In the last two decades mouth cancer has risen by 50%, which is accredited to the increase in the spread of HPV (human papilloma virus).  HPV is already responsible for around 80% of all cervical cancer cases, which has prompted the new vaccine that is administered as young as 12 to females to prevent infection later in life by the disease.

The study claims that the reason that mouth cancer may be on the rise is because HPV is transmitted via oral sex.  Consideration should thus be given to extending the vaccination program against HPV to include boys as well as girls.

Lead author of the study from the Coventry University Hospital, Hisham Mehanna, stated that HPV related mouth cancer is a new disease in terms of other cancers that are caused in the mouth.

For the most part, throat and mouth cancers are associated with excessive drinking and smoking and usually only affect older people out of which a third usually die within two years.

On the other hand, mouth cancers caused by HPV have a larger survival rate with about 80% of those diagnosed still living two years later dependent on which stage the cancer was in when discovered.

The type of cancer caused by HPV is oropharyngeal, which is a tumour that develops near the rear of the mouth at the connection with the throat.

The research found that those who had a past of six or more different sexual partners had a 25% higher risk of developing cancer in their mouth.

If you’re detoxing and thinking of dieting in time for summer, you’re probably moping around with unbearable cravings after cutting out everything remotely tasty from your diet. Just because you’re on a health kick, that doesn’t mean you have to ditch your daily caffeine fix. Beat your detox blues with a cup of coffee. It’s low in calories and rich in antioxidants – so will actually help your detox!

Coffee beans naturally contain antioxidants and drinking one or two cups of coffee every day contributes substantially to your intake. Antioxidants are substances that play a crucial role in protecting your body from the effects of free radicals and reducing damage caused to cells. Free radicals are naturally occurring particles in the body associated with accelerated ageing and an increased risk of major diseases. Not only is coffee is packed full with antioxidants it’s also delicious and 100% natural.

Douwe Egberts have an unrivalled heritage in the coffee world and boast over 250 years of experience in making truly exceptional coffee. Blending smooth, delicious coffee is an art they have been perfecting since 1753.

If you’re on the go choose Douwe Egberts Pure Gold Instant coffee for a medium and well-balanced flavour. Made from a blend of the finest beans that have been roasted and freeze-dried using craftsmanship and expertise, this coffee is suitable for drinking at any time of the day. Or there’s Douwe Egberts Decaffeinated Instant coffee, if you want to enjoy the same satisfying taste without the caffeine.

If you have more time to relax whilst boosting your antioxidant intake why not get your natural refreshment from a tasty cup of Roast and Ground coffee.

Douwe Egberts Cafetiere and Filter Blends are medium roasted for a full flavour and smooth taste. For a darker flavour Douwe Egberts Intense is blended to give an exquisite, rich aroma and a full-bodied taste. Douwe Egberts Decaffeinated brings you a rich, velvety taste, so you can savour the same great quality coffee – just without the caffeine, so it’s perfect for drinking any time of the day or night. This blend is suitable for use in all types of coffee makers.

Your cup of coffee contains as many antioxidants as an apple and is a good addition to a well-balanced diet that is rich in fruit and vegetables, so you don’t have to miss out on your favourtie cuppa!

Monday at 8:15 an international group of surgeons started an operation that is the first of its kind at Great Ormond Street Hospital on a ten year old boy.

The boy required a windpipe transplant from a donor to replace the artificial one that was in place in his body, because it had caused his throat to massively bleed three times in a row.

However, the twist of the surgery was that instead of getting a normal donor organ, he became the first child to receive an organ transplant that was created with stem cell advances and made from his own stem cells.

When the boy was born, his windpipe had only grown about one millimetre in width making it impossible for the boy to breathe forcing doctors to replace it with a metal implant.  However, over time the metal device pushed against his blood vessels threatening to cause him to bleed to near death multiple times.

The process of creating his donor organ actually started six weeks ago in Italy when a windpipe was taken from a 30 year old donor and stripped of its tissue.

Afterwards, the donor trachea was flown to London and the team of surgeons took 60ml of bone marrow from the boy’s pelvis so that stem cells could be extracted and injected into the donor organ.

Professor Paolo Macchiarini from the Florence, Italy hospital where the organ was treated, stated that the team accomplished what had taken six months in the past to finish in only four hours which is a landmark in stem cell advances.

A new study published in the Lancet medical journal on the treatment of high blood pressure and the drugs used to control it indicates that physicians may need to change their approach.

Currently, the accepted practice in determining a patient’s risk of stroke or heart attack is to take the average of several pressure readings over a period of time.  Thus, if the results of several tests include one high and the rest low or normal, drug treatment would probably not be recommended.

The new studies concluded that people whose blood pressure varied the most, with spikes of high pressure and other periods of low or normal pressure were most likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke, six times more likely than those with relatively stable pressure.  Those with the highest spikes appeared to be at greatest risk overall.

The findings of this study need further research and clarification, however.  Though the study was comprehensive and reliable, it was not specifically designed to measure the extent of blood pressure variations in individuals, or how much that variation might affect their risk of heart attack.  In addition, the two drugs most commonly used, beta-blockers and calcium-channel blockers, work on different aspects of the condition.

In general terms, beta-blockers serve to lower blood pressure by blocking reception of stimuli to the heart and blood vessels so the heartbeat becomes stronger and slower.

Calcium-channel blockers help prevent the constriction of blood vessels, thereby improving blood flow to the heart.  Both drugs are effective in combating high blood pressure, but one may work better than the other to prevent strokes and heart attacks.

The news media in general is guilty of pouncing on anything that is startling and unusual as opposed to that which may be construed as “old news”.

Case in point,  during a period in 2002, the BBC ran one story on people who died from smoking (8,571) and three stories on a single death from vCJD.   From this we might conclude that both the public and the media are rather blasé about old news, whatever it may be.

That’s not all, though; we also often fail to consider the source.  News stories are generated by reports from agencies and individuals, sometimes those with a vested interest in the public’s reaction to the report.  For a frightening example of this scenario, take the review published recently by Janine Caltado and her colleagues at the Centre for Tobacco Control Research and Education in San Francisco.

They examined every paper ever published on the relationship of smoking to Alzheimer’s, including some claiming that smoking may help prevent this disease.

In all they found 43 published reports, eleven of them written by people affiliated with the tobacco industry.

On average, those eleven papers showed the risks of Alzheimer’s related to smoking less than a third of that presented by the other reports.  Going to greater depths, the reviewers discovered some of the tobacco industry’s marketing strategies, including those intended to recruit young people based on studies showing that the large majority of smokers form the habit before the age of 24.

So check the facts with every resource available, and don’t let preconceived ideas (or wishful thinking) influence your judgment.

The UK smoking ban was introduced four years ago, with the aim of making life so difficult for smokers to encourage them to quit. As we approach this year’s “No Smoking Day’, what is evidence to suggest whether this has really worked.

The rate if giving up seems to have fallen. Statistics from the NHS Information Centre show that 19,473 fewer smokers had managed to kick the habit in the latest year compared with 2007/08. The number of pregnant women who successfully stopped smoking also dropped, falling 12% to 8,641. However, compared with the year the smoking ban was introduced in 2006/07, the latest data still shows 71,000 more people tried to quit over the past year and 17,000 more people were successful.

This year’s ‘No Smoking Day’ campaign theme, Break free, helps, acknowledges that No Smoking Day is the time for smokers to break free from their smoking habit and escape their chains of addiction. The following video provides some useful assistance with some top tips on stopping smoking.

A routine blood test can reveal a blood cholesterol that is too high even if the individual is mostly in good shape, and is without pain.

However, hygienodietetiques rules should be applied in order to minimise any risk of cardiovascular incident.

What is the role of cholesterol?

This molecule composed of 27 carbon atoms is one of the elements, which form the membranes of our cells. Indeed, it fits between certain molecules ensuring membrane permeability of the cell and exchanges outwards.

Cholesterol also allows the development of hormones (especially sex hormones).
His latest role is to facilitate digestion because it is processed by the liver bile acids.

What are the consequences of excessive cholesterol?

The risk of cardiovascular disease increases in proportion to the increase in blood cholesterol.

When fats circulating in too large quantities in the blood, they are deposited on the walls of arteries and ultimately develop deposits of fat. The plates of fat will begin to thicken gradually the bloodstream.

What are the symptoms?

Only the blood test can detect an excess of cholesterol. However, if no action is taken in cases of coronary problems, chest pain may occur after several years: the pain of angina.

The blood circulating evil, the heart is deprived of oxygen, which causes pain first effort and then pain at rest.

How to detect cholesterol?
Cholesterol is largely manufactured by the body, only one third comes from food.

What are LADLE and HAL?

The cholesterol, belonging to the family of fats, is totally insoluble in the blood. He therefore needs to move carriers: these lipoproteins. The latter are classified according to their density:

– HAL (high density lipoprotein) with a protective role because it contributes to the elimination of cholesterol. It is better known as the “good cholesterol”.

– LDL (low density lipoprotein) or “bad cholesterol” is deposited on the walls of arteries and can lead to atherosclerosis.

How to decipher the blood test?

An increase in LDL and a decrease in HDL are related to a significant risk of cardiovascular disease.
Below are the values of desirable fats in the blood:

– Total cholesterol <2 g / l
– LDL <1.3 g / l — HDL (male)> 0.45 g / l
– HDL (Female)> 0.55 g / l

To fight against excessive cholesterol, dietary measures will be applied first and then, if they prove insufficient after 2 months, drug treatment will be prescribed.

Some kidney diseases are the result of hereditary factors. For example, polycystic kidney is a genetic disorder in which many cysts form in the kidneys.

The cysts formed in this disease can slowly replace much of the tissue mass of the kidneys, reducing kidney function and lead to kidney failure.

Some kidney problems may arise when the child is still in the womb of the mother. They are examples of autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease, a rare form of polycystic kidney problem and other problems that hinder development of normal formation of the nephron. The signs of kidney disease in children vary.

A child may have an abnormally slow growth, often vomit or have back pain or pains in the side. Some kidney diseases may be “silent” for months or even years.

It is possible that some hereditary diseases of the kidneys are not detected until adulthood. The most common form of polycystic kidney was once called “adult polycystic kidney disease” because the symptoms of high blood pressure and kidney failure can not occur until patients are 20 or 30 years old.

But with advances in imaging technology, doctors have found cysts in children and adolescents before they present symptoms

In order to prevent disasters such as the death of David Gray from an overdose of meds given by a doctor, the General Medical Council (GMC) has proposed that doctors be subject to a five year check-up so that regulators can find poor performers before major medical problems occur.

Chief executive of the GMC, Niall Dickson, stated at the launch of a consultation document that European doctors currently can practice in the UK without a language or skills test, which is something that the GMC would like to see changed.

Dickson continued to say that the GMC understands that this poses a great problem to the healthcare system since they are not able to look into the competency of the doctors and are working hard with European and UK governments to change the current stipulations.

Although the proposals for checkups on a physician’s license would not have saved David Gray, they would provide useful information and be a step forward for the healthcare system in the UK.

Dickson stated that revalidation would not only help plug the gap, but also help the organization know more about the EU doctors in the UK who are thought to number around 20,000.

The new proposal was released today for consultation to all medical directors and chief executives of each primary care trust that is found within England.  Contained in the writing is a warning that at the moment only ‘limited assurance’ is available in regards to a doctor’s proficiency.

From the simplest chicken recipes to mushroom stroganoffs and complicated duck dishes, learning to prepare and cook professional style cuisine can be very daunting. Luckily the growth of free online content has led to the rise of recipe videos, which trump old style recipe books in their ability to show, as well as explain, what needs to be done to cook a great meal.

The Schwartz website, for example, can help you utilise the tools at your disposal and help you know the difference between basil and parsley and you will be confidently using different herbs in your cooking in no time at all. If you feel that you already know your way around the kitchen then there is also cooking assistance available for you as well, as there is information on hand to make sure that you are making the most of the seasonal ingredients at a particular time in the year and make you think again about certain dishes.

So whether you’re a first time cook or someone who can handle cooking with several saucepans at once, there is something for everyone on the site. The vast selection of recipes available cover every course and every taste, so whether you have a sweet tooth or would always plump for a starter rather than a dessert, there are recipes that are ideal for you. So don’t worry about having to find a cookbook and manually search for the recipe yourself, let the Schwartz website handle the hard work for you and all you have to do is decide what you want to cook. You can easily search for the recipe you are after from the comfort of your own home and if you have some time on your hands then you can browse through the online recipes until you find exactly what you are after.

If you do have some ingredients in your stock cupboard that need to be eaten up then you can search online for recipes including that ingredient, so you won’t have to worry about throwing anything out when it goes out of date. And those dried herbs won’t be sitting at the back of your cupboard for much longer once who have found a selection of recipes that utilise them and make the dish even more flavoursome. You might find a the perfect recipe for a tomato based pasta sauce in which the addition of the herb oregano gives the sauce a much deeper flavour and soon you’ll never make a sauce without it again.

Once you have found the online recipes that you are after you can save them to your recipe folder so you can easily find them again, or you can print them off so that you have the instructions by your side whilst you are cooking the dish.

You then have a bank of recipes at your fingertips that you can go back and refer to if you have a special dinner coming up that you feel needs a certain dish, or just feel like spoiling you loved ones and cooking a meal that will bring a smile to their faces as well as yours. And your spice rack will have pride of place in the kitchen and will even need to be restocked once you have become a keen chef.