March 2nd, 2012 Clippings

Donating Kidney Does Not Raise Heart Disease Risk

A study published in the BMJ has said that donating kidney does not raise heart disease risk. The study thus alleviates fear and offer important safety reassurances to living kidney donors, their recipients and transplant professionals.

The results provide important safety reassurances to donors, their recipients and transplant professionals.

In the general population, there is a strong link between reduced kidney function and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Given that people who donate a kidney lose half their kidney mass, doctors need to know whether this risk extends to them.

Previous studies have suggested no increase in risk but a consensus has not yet been reached. So researchers based in Canada, Australia and the USA set out to determine whether people who donate a kidney have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study involved 2,028 people in Ontario, Canada who donated a kidney between 1992 and 2009 and 20,280 healthy non-donors for comparison. The research team reviewed the medical records of each donor and linked them to national healthcare databases to monitor major cardiovascular events over an average of 6.5 years.

Further analysis according to year of donation was carried out to identify any trends in risk over a longer time period.

Despite reduced kidney function in the donors, they found a lower risk of death or first major cardiovascular event in donors compared with non-donors (2.8 versus 4.1 events per 1,000 person years).  There was also no significant difference in the risk of major cardiovascular events between donors and non-donors (1.7 versus 2 events per 1,000 person years).

There was no increased risk among earlier donors or those who donated at an older age. The authors say this is likely to be because only healthy people are considered for living kidney donation and, in our region, they receive regular medical follow up after donating.

The risk of major cardiovascular events in people who donate a kidney is no higher in the first decade after transplantation than in matched non-donors, say the authors.

Source-www.medindia.net

02.03.2012

Sleep, diet important during exams

Yogita Shinde suffers from burning in the stomach every day, with her Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examination round the corner. Her mother said it was examination phobia and gave her a glass of milk.

According to doctors, students like Yogita suffer from acidity because they study till late night and avoid taking meals on time. This is precisely what doctors say should be avoided.
Students must sleep before midnight during the examination, said Dr Mandar Akalkotkar.

He added, “The metabolism of the body works best during and before sunrise. If the students stay awake till late night, they will get up late in the morning. This will imbalance their body cycle
leading to health issues like acidity, headache and memory loss. It is necessary that children sleep at least seven hours.”

The diet during the examination should be light so that problems like upset stomach don’t crop up, he said. Students also take excess tea or coffee to stay awake, but they should avoid it and instead drink milk.

Doctors also advise getting up early during the examinations. Dr Shirish Shepal said, “Students should study for two hours after dinner and get up early in the morning. Avoid a heavy diet especially non-vegetarian food as it takes long to get digested.”
He said, “The students many a times avoid meals especially dinner to stay awake till late night, but this should not be done. Avoiding food saps your energy leaving you exhausted instead of alert.”

“Early morning memory is at its high and so is the grasping power. So take advantage of it to a great extent. Basically, students should resort to memory techniques like taking up a subject or a topic, reading it after seven days, again after a fortnight and then a month.

“Thus, they will have to just revise it during the examination instead of studying it,” he added.

Source: www.dnaindia.com

02.03.2012

A dream is only a dream until you make it a reality