20, January 2015

26% of 30-70 year-olds dying from four main non-communicable diseases: WHO

The probability of an Indian between the ages of 30-70 years dying from the four main non-communicable diseases – diabetes, cancer, stroke and respiratory diseases – was 26 percent at present, the World Health Organization said Monday. According to the Global Status Report on Noncommunicable diseases, NCDs would claim nearly 52 million lives globally by the year 2030. Nearly 8.5 million people died of NCDs diseases in the WHO’s South-East Asia Region in 2012. ‘This number is expected to grow larger if we do not act now to arrest this epidemic’, it said.

In India, NCDs are estimated to have accounted for 60 percent of all deaths in 2014, while 26 percent between the ages of 30-70 years had a probability of succumbing to the four diseases. The report highlights the need to act immediately. It said that all governments must commit and set national NCD targets this year and implement policy and cost-effective interventions for prevention and control of major non-communicable diseases.

High rates of death and disease, particularly in low and middle income countries, is a reflection of inadequate investment in cost-effective NCD interventions. It said that while non-communicable diseases are a global public health challenge, nearly three quarters of the deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries. The problem is growing, particularly in the South-East Asia Region, where two out of three deaths are caused by non-communicable diseases, it said. WHO regional director for South-East Asia region Poonam Khetrapal Singh said nearly half of the deaths due to non-communicable diseases occur in the 30 to 70 years age group.  

She said most of the premature NCD deaths are preventable. Promoting simple lifestyle changes and diet modifications can prevent non-communicable diseases, she said. The WHO recommended that all countries implement the “best buys” interventions. The recommendations include “best buys” or cost-effective, high-impact interventions such as banning all forms of tobacco and alcohol advertising, reducing salt consumption, replacing trans fats with polyunsaturated fats, promoting and protecting breastfeeding, early detection and treatment of high blood pressure and preventing cervical cancer through periodic screening. Among the targets set by the WHO are a 30 percent relative reduction in mean population intake of salt/sodium, a 30 percent relative reduction in prevalence of current tobacco use in persons aged more than 15 years and a 25 percent relative reduction in the prevalence of raised blood pressure or contain the prevalence of raised blood pressure.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.01.2015

Surgery cannot completely undo long-term blindness: Study0 Comments

Surgery cannot completely undo the brain rewiring caused by long-term blindness, finds a study. Scientists at the University of Montreal and the University of Trento have discovered that the rewiring of the senses that occurs in the brains of the long-term blind means that visual restoration may never be complete. ‘We had the opportunity to study the rare case of a woman with very low vision since birth and whose vision was suddenly restored in adulthood following the implantation of a ‘Boston Keratoprosthesis’ in her right eye,’ explained lead researcher Giulia Dormal from the University of Montreal.

On the one hand, the findings reveal that the visual cortex maintains a certain degree of plasticity – that is the capacity to change as a function of experience – in an adult person with low vision since early life. ‘On the other, we discovered that several months after the surgery, the visual cortex had not regained full normal functioning,’ Dormal noted. The visual cortex is the part of the brain that processes information from our eyes.

The researchers worked with the patient, a 50-year-old Quebec woman in Canada. The study suggests that eye surgery can lead to a positive outcome even when performed in adulthood after a life time of profound blindness. There is, however, an important caveat. ‘The recovery observed in the visual cortex is not total,’ Dormal added. “The findings open the door to the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging before surgery as a prognostic tool for visual outcome and pave the way for the development of adapted rehabilitation programs following visual restoration,’ the authors concluded.

The study was published in the Journal of Neurophysiology. 

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.01.2015

If there is no struggle, there is no progress

Frederick Douglass