1 September, 2016

Withings launches wireless BP monitor in India

New Delhi: Taking home health monitoring to a whole new level, French consumer electronics company Withings has announced the launch of a wireless blood pressure monitor for the Indian market.

Sleek in design, the device features Bluetooth connectivity and Android compatibility, the company said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Our device is a medical device, but we've made it cool and fashionable! Patients don't feel the need to hide it away and, yet, they get to share highly accurate results with their physician," said Cedric Hutchings, Co-founder of Withings.

"Designing attractive and simple to use devices is the only way the connected health revolution can become a reality," Hutchings noted.

With the new device, users simply wrap the cuff around their arm and turn it on. 

It automatically connects with a smartphone via Bluetooth and instantly opens the Withings Health Mate application. 

By tapping the start button, the cuff inflates and commences taking the users' systolic, diastolic blood pressure as well as heart rate. 

Results are automatically shown on the screen, saved and compared to standards for better understanding. 

The application automatically graphs and plots curves to easily detect trends over time. It also allows users to set reminders and send readings to a physician.

Available on Amazon, the wireless blood pressure monitor is priced at Rs 11,999, the statement added.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

01.09.2016

Don’t make a permanent decision on temporary feelings

31 August, 2016

Patients operated on at night twice more likely to die?

Patients who have surgery during the night are twice as likely to die compared to patients who are operated on during the day, a study has found.

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between postoperative mortalityand the time of the day of surgery. The researchers evaluated all surgical procedures for five years and a retrospective review of 30 days postoperative in hospital mortality was carried out at the hospital.

A database was constructed collecting variables about surgical interventions and the working day was divided into three time blocks -- daytime, evening and night.

There were 41,716 elective and emergency surgeries performed on 33,942 patients in 40,044 hospitals. The researchers found that those operated on at night were 2.17 times more likely to die than those during regular daytime working hours, while patients operated on in the afternoon were 1.43 times more likely to die.

"This study demonstrates that late day and night emergency surgeries are associated with higher mortality when factoring in American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score and patient age," said Michael Tessler, Associate Professor at McGill University Health Centre.

"Postoperative 30-day in-hospital mortality rate should include start time of anaesthesia, along with other known variables, as a risk factor," said Tessler. The study was presented at the World Congress of Anaesthesiologists (WCA) and published in the journal World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

31.08.2019

Being honest may not get you a lot of friends but it’ll always get you the right ones

30 August, 2016

Wanting another cup of coffee may be in the genes

             A gene that appears to limit the amount of coffee we want to drink has been identified by scientists.

The study published in the journal Scientific Reports found that people with a variation in their DNA known as PDSS2 tend to drink fewer cups of coffee than those without the variant.

An easier caffeine hit

They say that the gene may reduce the ability of cells to breakdown caffeine, causing it to linger in the body longer, reducing the amount of coffee needed to get a 'caffeine hit'.

The research was carried out by a team from the University of Edinburgh and colleagues in Italy and the Netherlands.

First, they analysed the genes of 370 people living in a small village in southern Italy and 843 people from 6 villages in the north of the country.

The participants filled out a questionnaire detailing their coffee drinking habits.

Saying no to that extra cup

The team found that those with the PDSS2 variant drank on average about one less cup of coffee a day than those without the variant.

The researchers then tested their findings on 1,731 people in the Netherlands. The result reflected the Italian findings, but the effect of the gene variant was less pronounced. The scientists say this may reflect different coffee drinking habits in the two countries. For instance, people in the Netherlands favour larger cups of filter coffee, while in Italy, coffee is usually drunk as espresso or moka in smaller cups.

Lead author Nicola Pirastu, from the University of Edinburgh's Usher Institute, comments in a statement: "The results of our study add to existing research suggesting that our drive to drink coffee may be embedded in our genes.

"We need to do larger studies to confirm the discovery and also to clarify the biological link between PDSS2 and coffee consumption."

Source: www.webmed.com

30.08.2016

Past is the lesson, present is the gift & future is the motivation

29 August, 2016

Heart failure among aged to triple by 2060

Heart failure among people who are aged above 60 is set to triple by 2060, a new study has found. “Heart failure is a common condition worldwide and increases with age. Various disorders can cause heart failure, such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, obesity anddiabetes. As these are more prevalent with age, the consequence is an increased population of elderly who may develop heart failure,” said Ragnar Danielsan, Cardiologist at Landspitali University Hospital, in Iceland. According to the study published in the journal European Society of Cardiology, the researchers randomly selected 5,706 elderly participants and analysed data on the current size, sex and age distribution. Combining these data, the study assessed the prevalence of heart failure in the elderly population and sought to predict the number of elderly people likely to have heart failure in the future.

The participants’ age ranged from 66 to 98 years, the average age being 77 years where 58 per cent were men. The prevalence of heart failure was 3.7 per cent in the sexes combined, but it was higher in men (4.8 per cent), compared to women (2.8 per cent). The prevalence of heart failure increased with age, from 1.9 per cent in those 69 years of age or younger, to 6 per cent in those 80 years of age and older. The number of elderly people was estimated for the coming decades in both men and women, until 2060. The largest increases will be in the age groups 70 to 79 years and 80 years and older and predominantly in women. The study demonstrated that patients with heart failure will have increased 2.3 fold by the year 2040 and 2.9 times by the year 2060. “This study predicts that heart failure in the elderly will more than double by 2040 and triple by 2060. In the coming decades the majority of heart failure patients will be elderly individuals and this will have major health-economical consequences,” added Danielsen.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

29.08.2016

Kill tension before tension kills you & live life before life leaves you

27 August, 2016

Using Facebook, Twitter may cut BP, diabetes in elderly

Surprised to see your grandparents making friends on Facebook, chatting online or using instant messaging services on smartphones? If yes, take heart, as indulging insocial media could reduce loneliness as well as chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes in older adults.

It is because, social media technology like emails, Twitter, Skype has the potential to cultivate successful relationships among older adults, the reseachers said. "Each of the links between social technology use and physical and psychological health was mediated by reduced loneliness," said William Chopik, Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, in the US.

The study also found that participants active on social media platforms were generally more satisfied with life and had fewer depressive symptoms as well as chronic conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes. More than 95 per cent of the elderly participants in the study, said they were either "somewhat" or "very" satisfied with technology, while 72 per cent said they were not opposed to learning new technologies. "Older adults think the benefits of social technology greatly outweigh the costs and challenges of technology," Chopik added.

Previous research on technology use across the life span had focused on the digital divide -- or the disparities between younger and older adults -- painting a rather bleak picture of seniors' ability and motivation to adapt to a changing technological landscape.

However, the new study challenge this interpretation.

"Despite the attention that the digital divide has garnered in recent years, a large proportion of older adults use technology to maintain their social networks and make their lives easier," Chopik said, adding, "in fact, there may be portions of the older population that use technology as often as younger adults." For the study, the team examined the benefits of using technology for social connection among older adults in 591 participants with an average age of 68.

The findings are published online in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

27.08.2016

We should not give up and we should not allow the problem to defeat us

Abdul Kalam

26 August, 2016

India needs quality healthcare to meet the rising demands of consumers

Emphasising that India needs to transform its healthcare sector as it loses huge ammount of money due to premature deaths and preventable illnesses every year, experts say that providing access to quality healthcare for 1.25 crore people was a huge challenge that the country must meet. ‘We house 16 per cent of world’s population and 21 per cent of world’s disease burden equalling loss of 6 per cent of India’s GDP due to premature deaths and preventable illnesses. It is estimated that the increasing Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) burden will cost India $4.58 trillion due to loss of productivity,’ said Nandakumar Jairam, chairman, Ficci Health Services Committee, according to a release. At the same time, he said, India’s total health spend is only 4.7 per cent of GDP and out of pocket expenditure (OOP) is 62 per cent of the total health spend. ‘This is very high when compared to other countries such as Brazil (25 per cent), China (32 per cent, South Africa (6 per cent), the US (11 per cent) and the UK (9 per cent),’ he added. Vishal Bali, co-chairman, Ficci Health Services Committee and chairman, Medwell Ventures, said that unprecedented demand due to demographic changes and shifting disease patterns, coupled with rising costs and the proliferation of technology, has led to demand for efficiency, transparency in care delivery.

‘This has paved the way for innovation of processes and products and new business models in the healthcare sector to cater to the rising demand of the consumers. In view of the new era, it is time that we look at the Indian healthcare with a different lens keeping patient needs at the core and re-engineer the entire value chain of healthcare delivery,’ he said. Ashok Kakkar, who is also associated with the Ficci Health Services, said that India will have to bring in a complete paradigm shift in its healthcare system to provide good health services to its people. The 10th edition of Ficci’s annual healthcare conference – ‘FICCI HEAL’ – will be organised here on August 31 and September 1, the release said.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

26.08.2016

You can never make the same mistake twice because the second time you make it, it’s not a mistake it’s a choice

25 August, 2016

Average Lifespan Longer for Twins

Twins live longer than other people, and their close social connection may be a major reason why, a new study says.

Researchers reviewed data from more than 2,900 same-sex twins. They were born in Denmark between 1870 and 1900. The study only included data from twins who lived past age 10. The researchers compared the twins to the general Danish population.

At every age, identical twins had higher survival rates than fraternal twins. And, fraternal twins had higher survival rates than people in the general population.

For men, the peak survival benefit of being a twin was at age 45. Male twins' survival rate at that age was 90 percent, compared with 84 percent in the general population. For women, the peak survival benefit of being a twin occurred in their early 60s. About 10 percent more female twins made it to their early 60s than in the general population.

The findings, published recently in the journal PLoS One, reflect the health benefits of the close social ties between twins.

"There is benefit to having someone who is socially close to you who is looking out for you. They may provide material or emotional support that lead to better longevity outcomes," study author David Sharrow, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, said in a university news release.

For example, a close companion can discourage bad habits and encourage healthy behaviors, act as a caregiver during an illness, and provide emotional support.

If the findings are confirmed in other sets of data, they would have implications beyond twins.

"Research shows that these kinds of social interactions, or social bonds, are important in lots of settings," Sharrow said. "Most people may not have a twin, but as a society we may choose to invest in social bonds as a way to promote health and longevity."

Source: www.webmed.com

25.08.2016

Two things define you, your patience when you have nothing and your attitude when you have everything

24 August, 2016

New global migration map may help fight malaria

Researchers have developed a map based on the census data of 40 different countries that can track the flow of internal human migration in low- and middle-income countries as well as help in the global fight against infectious diseases like malaria.

The map shows webs of connectivity within countries across three continents -- Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean -- and indicates the high and low flows of people moving between different locations.

"Understanding how people are moving around within countries is vital in combating infectious diseases like malaria," said Andy Tatem, Professor and Director of WorldPop project at the University of Southampton.  "The parasite which causes the disease can be quickly reintroduced to a malaria-free area by highly mobile populations," Tatem added.

The map will greatly aid disease control and elimination planning on global and regional scales, the study noted. Human mobility may continue to rise and thus create a range of impacts, such as invasive species, drug resistance spread and disease pandemics.

Thus, having an accurate overview of how different regions of countries are connected by human movement aids effective disease control planning and helps target resources, such as treated bed nets or community health workers, in the right places, the researchers said.

The data could also be used to support regional control and elimination strategies for other infectious diseases, for example, Schistosomiasis (snail fever), River Blindness, HIV, Dengue and Yellow Fever, said the paper published in he journal Scientific Data.

"It's crucial we understand human mobility, so we can quantify the effect it has on our societies and the environment and provide strong evidence to support the development of policies to address issues, such as public health problems," said lead author Alessandro Sorichetta from the University of Southampton in Britain.

For the study, the team sourced the census data from around 40 different countries and have produced detailed population migration maps on a scale not seen before. 

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

24.08.2016

To remember who you are, you need to forget what they told you to be..

23 August, 2016

Doctor develops app to help ICU patients communicate

In the third-floor ICU of SL Raheja Hospital in Mahim, 15-year old Sagar (name changed) wants to play on his mobile phone, but is unable to speak because a cancerous growth was removed from his lower jaw recently. So, he uses a special app on iPad to ping the nurse station: "I want to meet my mother." When his mother is called in, he pings again: "I need my mobile phone." A few minutes later, he gets a mobile phone without a SIM card to play.

Simple tech solutions that are now making ICUs friendlier places--and helping patients communicate with their families as well as the medical staff--worldwide have just reached the city's shores.

The Vocalizer for Patients app that Sagar uses is the brainchild of cancer surgeon Dr P Jagannath. It has visuals with voiceovers for around 60 situations in ICU. "Many patients here have an endotracheal tube that takes away their ability to speak even though they are conscious. Many surgery patients too cannot talk on the first day after surgery," said Dr Jagannath.

"Some patients feel very cold but are unable to indicate so. Some others want to turned over or their back is itchy,'' he said. It is to help these patients that Dr Jagannath's NGO, Crusade Against Cancer Foundation, funded the project.

It is well-established that ICU patients suffer from ICU psychosis, said intensivist Dr Khusrav Bajan from Hinduja Hospital, Mahim. "Every effort must be made to help them communicate," he said, adding that many hospitals have devised methods such as pre-written notes to help patients.

Dr Sanjith Saseedharan, who heads the ICU at SL Raheja Hospital and has worked on the Vocaliser for Patients app with Dr Jagannath, said he plans to use four more iPads in his unit soon. "We began our trials six months ago with a 21-year-old patient, Sunil (name changed), who was diagnosed with Guillain Barre syndrome," said Dr Saseedharan.

Sunil, who was studying for his MPSC exams, suffered such an intense attack that he couldn't talk or walk. "I was in hospital for 75 days, of which 45 days was in the ICU with ventilator support. I could only move my fingers and my eyes,'' he told TOI. He became the first to use the app, communicating with his parents on the need to change sides or feeling cold.

"As the app is available for free download, families can use it on their own tablets (both iOS and Android) to communicate with their ICU patient,'' said Dr Jagannath.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

23.08.2016

You are strong when you know your weaknesses, you are wise when you learn from your mistakes

22 August, 2016

D.A. Henderson, doctor who eradicated smallpox, dies

Washington (AFP) - Donald Henderson, an American doctor and public health official who led the successful global drive to wipe out smallpox in the 1960s and '70s, credited with saving tens of millions of lives, has died. He was 87. Known as D.A., Henderson was a "giant" in public health, said Michael Klag, dean of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a position Henderson previously held.

Henderson "led the World Health Organization’s successful 10-year effort to eradicate smallpox, one of the greatest public health achievements in history," Klag said in a statement announcing his death on Friday. "Smallpox is the only human disease ever to have been eradicated." Henderson died Friday in Baltimore of complications from a broken hip, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center -- where he was serving as a scholar -- said in a statement.

An official at the Communicable Disease Center, which later became the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he was selected in 1966 to lead the then seemingly futile effort to eradicate smallpox. First known as the "pox," the disease was one of the deadliest in history, killing an estimated 300 million to 500 million people in the 20th century alone.

Caused by the variola major virus, smallpox inflicted great pain on victims, beginning with fever, nausea and other flu-like symptoms before leading to lesions on the face and body. A third of victims died. Survivors suffered disfigurement and occasionally blindness.

Heading an army of field workers around the world under an initiative of the World Health Organization, Henderson oversaw the implementation of a systematic vaccination program that focused on isolating outbreaks instead of attempting mass vaccinations.

Throughout the relentless effort, he often relied on his personal charm to urge leading officials to ensure their countries kept the drive going. The campaign was declared a success in 1980.

His many international honors included the US National Medal of Science in 1986 and Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, in 2002.

Source: www.yahoo.com

22.08.2016

Learn to appreciate what you have before time makes you appreciate what you had

20 August, 2016

Cell phone overdose makes you feel less socially connected

If you think that access to constant communication keeps you closer to your family, you might have the wrong impression as a new study has shown that cell phone use might actually lead to feeling less socially connected.

The study suggested that the cell phone may have more social value for women compared to men and women may be better at using it to augment or complement existing social relationships.

Andrew Lepp, researcher at the Kent State University and his colleagues surveyed 493 students, ranging in age from 18-29, to see whether cell phone use, including texting and talking, was associated with feeling socially connected to their parents and peers. The results show a significant difference between men and women.

Female students reported spending an average of 365 minutes per day using their cell phones, sending and receiving an average of 265 texts per day, and making and receiving six calls per day.

Male students reported spending less time on their phone (287 minutes), sending and receiving fewer texts (190), and making and receiving the same amount of calls as the female students.

For the women, the study found that talking on the phone was associated with feeling emotionally close with their parents. However, when it came to relationships with friends, texting was associated with feeling emotionally close.

For the men, the opposite holds true – daily calling and texting were not related in any way to feelings of emotional closeness with either parents or with peers.

Researchers also looked at problematic use, which is a recurrent craving to use a cell phone during inappropriate times – such asdriving a car, or at night when you should be sleeping.

For both the men and women, the study found that problematic cell phone use was negatively related to feelings of emotional closeness with parents and peers.

“In other words, the students in the study who tended to use their cell phones compulsively and at inappropriate times felt less socially connected to parents and peers than other students,” Lepp said in a statement.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

20.08.2016

Life is the best school, hardship is our best teacher, problem is the best assignment and failure is the best revision

19 August, 2016

Who Drinks More -- Couples or Singles?

People who are married or live together drink less than single people, according to a new study.

The findings show that "once you're in a committed relationship, your drinking frequency declines permanently, whereas quantity goes back up if you exit that relationship," said lead author Diana Dinescu, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Virginia.

The researchers looked at more than 2,400 twin pairs (about 1,600 female pairs and more than 800 male pairs). They found that those who were married drank less alcohol and drank less often than those who were single or divorced.

This isn't the first study to show that married adults drink less than their peers without partners. But by focusing on twins, the authors said genetic predispositions and differences in upbringing would be less likely to affect the results.

"It seems that intimate relationships may provide a real benefit in terms of drinking behavior, maybe through mechanisms such as a monitoring effect that partners have on each other," Dinescu said in a university news release.

The researchers found that twins who lived with a partner drank more often than married twins, but consumed lower amounts of alcohol than those who were single, divorced or widowed.

While men in common-law relationships drank less per occasion than married men, women in common-law relationships drank about the same amount per occasion as those who were married, according to the study.

The results were published recently in the Journal of Family Psychology.

Source: www.webmd.com

19.08.2016

Don’t blame people for disappointing you blame yourself for expecting too much

18 August, 2016

Study says that tall people prefer conservative political parties

Want to know which political party an individual will support? Then take note of the person’s height. The taller a person is, the more likely he or she is to support candidates from a conservative political party and actually vote for them, says a new study. The study, conducted by Sara Watson, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University, along with Raj Arunachalam, senior economist at Bates White LLC economic consulting firm, found that a one-inch increase in height raised support for the Conservative Party by 0.6 per cent and the likelihood of voting for the party by 0.5 per cent. The authors discovered that the link between height and political views occurred in both men and women, but was roughly twice as strong for men. For men, each additional inch of height generates a 0.8 per cent increase in the likelihood of Conservative support, whereas for women the effect is 0.4 per cent.  

The researchers used data from the 2006 British Household Panel Study, a survey which includes self-reported height, detailed income data and a number of questions about political beliefs for just over 9,700 adults. ‘The results aren’t as strange as they might appear. Many studies have found that taller people generally earn more income than do shorter people and researchers have thought income could be linked to voting,’ said Watson in the study published in theBritish Journal of Political Science. The findings stood up even after the researchers performed more detailed analyses to investigate whether the effect of height on political beliefs could be explained through other channels, including race, years of schooling, marital status and religion.

  

‘It was important to us to figure out if the effect of height on voting could be explained by factors that have nothing to do with income,’ Watson added. In a second part of the study, the researchers used height as an ‘instrumental variable’ strategy to assess the relationship between income and voting. ‘Height is useful in this context because it predicts income well. Because we only expect height to affect political behaviour through income, we can use it to investigate the effect of income on voting,’ Watson said.  

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

18.08.2016

Difficult dosent mean impossible,        it simply means that you have to work hard

17 August, 2016

Only 0.08 per cent of Indians donate their organs

Only 0.08 per cent of Indians donate their organs to the needy as compared to 70-80 per cent of Spaniards and Belgians, health experts said on Saturday. Every year 200,000 people in India need a new kidney and 100,000 need a new liver, but only two to three per cent of the demand for new organs is met, they said on the occasion of Organ Donation Day on August 13.

The low proportion of organ donors in Indian population can largely be attributed to ignorance, superstition and an absence of conducive regulatory framework, said the experts.

"It's tragic that even after so much promotion of the idea, India lags so much in organ donation. There has been almost no improvement in the situation in the last couple of years," said Ravinder Malhotra, Director of the Centre for Liver Transplant and Gastrosciences at the Saroj Super Speciality Hospital.  "Children can also be made organ donors after parental consent. There is a need to explain and promote the entire concept of organ donation more," he said.

Malhotra said the laws need to be changed to make them more facilitative of organ donation. 

In some Western countries, the body of a citizen who has died goes into the custody of the state which can then take decisions regarding organ procurement and donation, some doctors said.

In India, on the contrary, the consent of the close relatives of the deceased who pledged their organs is important, which is negative in most cases, said P.K. Bhardwaj, a Delhi-based doctor.

"More people die waiting for a transplant as availability and suitability is less. Anybody can be a donor; depending on the medical condition, organs and tissues can be donated for transplant," said Bhardwaj. According to the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation of AIIMS-New Delhi, over 22,500 people across the country have registered since 2010 to donate their organs after their death. The health experts said religious leaders should endorse organ donation programmes as a high percentage of people avoid organ donation on religious grounds.

Bhavadee Sharma, a senior doctor with AIIMS, said: "People have to accept organ donation just like the way they have accepted blood donation. It will take time but will certainly happen in the near future."

Along with change in laws for organ donation, there is a need for convincing people about brain death, which a large number of people do not consider death, Sharma said.

Source: www.zeenews.india.com

17.08.2016

If we don’t learn to control our thoughts, we will never learn to control our behavior

16 August, 2016

New technology to improve language disorder after stroke

People suffering from Aphasiacan improve their communication with the use of a virtual reality world -- EVA Park -- developed by researchers from the City University London. Aphasia is a language disorder affecting about one-third of stroke survivors and can virtually eliminate speech.

EVA Park is a multi-user virtual world which enables people with aphasia to engage in conversation with each other, or with therapists and support workers. It contains a variety of virtual locations, including a town square and attractive green spaces.

Users are represented by personalised avatars and the virtual EVA Park island gives them the opportunity to practise functional and social conversations and gain confidence in an interactive space. Examples include everyday conversations such as ordering food in a restaurant, requesting a haircut or calling the police in an emergency.

For the study, the EVA Park team took 20 participants with aphasia having an average age was 57.8 and gave them five weeks intervention. During this time participants received 25 daily language stimulation sessions in EVA Park lasting around an hour. Sessions were led by support workers, most of whom were qualified speech and language therapists. Participants spent an average of 40 hours in EVA Park showing that they were very accepting of the space and even used it outside their scheduled sessions with the support worker.

"Our results show how technology can benefit people with speech and language disorders such as aphasia. Virtual reality may help to reduce feelings of embarrassment that can accompany real world communication failure, so encourage the practice of difficult communication exchanges," said Jane Marshall, Professor at the City University London.

The study, which is published in the journal PLOS ONE, is the first exploration of multi-user virtual reality in aphasia therapy and shows the potential for technology to play an important role in improving the everyday lives of people with the condition.

Source: www.timesofindia.com

16.08.2016

My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me

Henry Ford

13 August, 2016

Excess 'good cholesterol' may shorten your life

Too much of a good thing may not always be better for your health. Researchers have shown that high levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol - commonly touted as "good cholesterol" for helping to reduce risk of stroke and heart attack - may increase a person's risk of premature death as much as its low levels.

The research suggests that intermediate levels of HDL cholesterol may increase longevity.

"The findings surprised us," said the study's senior author Ziyad Al-Aly, Assistant Professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

"Previously it was thought that raised levels of the good cholesterol were beneficial. The relationship between increased levels of HDL cholesterol and early death is unexpected," Al-Aly said.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in blood that can narrow and block heart vessels, causing cardiovascular disease and stroke.

For years, HDL cholesterol has been credited with helping to remove plaque-building "bad cholesterol" from arteries.

For this study, researchers studied kidney function and HDL cholesterol levels in more than 1.7 million male veterans from October 2003 through September 2004.

Researchers then followed participants until September 2013.

In the study, published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the researchers showed that both high and low HDL cholesterol levels were associated with an increased risk of dying among study participants with all levels of kidney function.

"Too low and too high are both associated with higher risk of death," Al-Aly said.

Whether maintaining intermediate HDL cholesterol levels may increase longevity will need to be explored in future studies, Al-Aly said.

Source: www.thehealthsite.com

13.08.2016

Great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave and impossible to forget

Walt Whitman