An overview of heart disease

Heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in most developed countries around the world, and the number of cases is rising constantly as a result of both modern lifestyles and increased overall longevity. While developing the condition can have a devastating impact on the sufferer's life, modern medicine has developed several effective treatments for heart disease, ranging from drugs and lifestyle improvements right through to surgery. Of course, prevention is always better than cure, so before we look at some of the symptoms of cardiac disease we'll look at some of the ways you can help your body ward off the risks. Living a healthy lifestyle can go a long way to reducing the chances of developing cardiac problems, but there is unfortunately an element of inherited risk, so even those with excellent overall health may find that they're genetically programmed towards heart disease in later life. Thankfully, the greatest influence genetics has on heart disease is that of making us more susceptible to certain causes, and with careful adjustments of our lifestyles we can greatly improve our prospects of avoiding it. The two most deadly contributors to cardiac problems are smoking and obesity. Both of these can raise blood pressure to dangerous levels, putting extra strain on the heart. Smoking causes the build up of fatty deposits within the arteries, also causing circulation problems. Being overweight also tends to mean that a healthy diet is not being followed, and so the body may well be short of essential minerals and nutriments that the heart needs to keep on functioning healthily. Stopping smoking and other unhealthy practices such as excessive drinking, along with improving diet and taking up exercise to reduce weight can go a long way towards averting problems. The symptoms of a developing heart problem can be both subtle and dramatic. Unfortunately, many of the symptoms can also signify other less dangerous conditions, and so a diagnosis of heart disease is often made later than it could have been. If you come across more than one of the symptoms below, then a trip to your doctor is highly advisable. Breathlessness when engaged in physical exercise is normal to some extent for almost everyone, but if you find you're becoming breathless more and more easily then this is a clear sign that your general fitness levels aren't all they could be, and that your heart may be struggling under the pressure. Palpitations, that is a heavily or unevenly beating heart, can be a sign of anxiety or can come on after extreme exercise, but if neither of these situations apply then heart problems could well be the culprit. A tingling feeling in bodily extremities such as fingers, toes or lips is often a sign that your cirulation system isn't delivering enough oxygen, again a sign of possible heart problems. Should your extremeities go on to develop a blueish colour then this is certainly not a good sign, and medical attention should be sought at once. The final and most obvious sign of cardiac problems is a feeling of tightness or pain in the chest, a condition known as angina. If you feel chest pain with any regularity, even if not particularly severely, a medical check up is advisable to make sure you catch any problems as early as possible. Angina can be controlled very well by medication in many cases, and doesn't necessarily have to develop into full-blown heart disease. In summary, living a healthy lifestyle while keeping an eye out for the symptoms will greatly reduce the risk of your life being devastated by heart disease.

How to prevent coronary heart disease and heart attack

Coronary heart disease and heart attack like heart infarction can in great extend be prevented by lifestyle measures. THE DIRECT CAUSES OF HEART DISEASE The direct causes of coronary heart disease and heart attack are factors like these: - Narrowing of blood vessels in the heart and the rest of the body by arteriosclerosis. - High blood cholesterol level. - High blood pressure. - Over-weight. - Diabetes. - High level of the amino acid homocystein in the blood. - High content of low density lipoprotein (LDL) and low content of high density lipoprotein (HDL) in the blood. Lipoprotein is a combination of protein and fatty substances bound together. - Inflammation in the circulatory system. - High age. - Inherited tendencies for high cholesterol levels and heart disease. - Men have somewhat greater chance of getting heart disease than women. These factors are interrelated in complicated ways, and are causing or amplifying each other. For example, arteriosclerosis will cause higher blood pressure, and high blood pressure will cause even more arteriosclerosis. Many of these factors are ultimately caused or aggravated by these lifestyle factors: -A too high consume of fat, cholesterol and sugar. -Consuming the wrong fat types. -Lack of fibre, vitamins, minerals and other diet deficiencies. -Stress at work and in the daily life. -Smoking. -Lack of exercise. Lifestyle adjustments will therefore be the main methods of preventing heart failure. GENERAL DIET ADVICES A diet with the aim of preventing heart disease is generally the same as a diet to prevent cancer and other diseases. Here are the general diet advices - Avoid or reduce the amount of food that are industrially processed, artificially made or heavily fried. - Eat fish at least every second day. Also eat seafood and fouls. - Do not eat very much red meat. - Eat 5 fruits or vegetables each day. Each piece should be of the size of an apple or carrot. They should be raw or carefully boiled so that the nutrients are not washed out. - Eat full corn bread, full corn cereals, peas, beans and potatoes. - Eat just a moderate amount of fat. - Consume cholesterol rich foods like egg, spawn or liver in just moderate amounts. - Ideally most fat you eat, should be of the type mono-unsaturated. You also need some poly-unsaturated fat of the types omega-3, and omega 6, but not too much of omega-6. The consumption of saturated fat should be moderate. - In order to achieve right fat balance, much of the fat supply should come from a blending of sources like olive, olive oil, canola oil, nuts, nut oil, sunflower, sunflower oil, linseed oil (flax oil), fish and fish oil. - Use only a moderate amount of soy oil and corn oil in the diet. Only using such oil types will give you too much poly-unsaturated fat of the omega-6-type. - Use just a very moderate amount of fat sources like butter, coconut oil and palm oil. A high consumption of these fat sources gives you too much saturated fat. - Avoid altogether fat that has been chemically altered, giving so-called trans-fat. This type of fat is often found in margarine, cookies, snacks, fast food and other pre-made food. - Consume just a very moderate amount of sugar, refined flour or refined cereals. - Consume just a moderate amount of tranquilizers and stimulants like alcohol and caffeine. - Use just a moderate amount of salt in the food. However, in warm weather and by hard physical work, you will need more salt. DIET SUPPLEMENTS THAT HELP PREVENT HEART DISEASE Evidence suggests that it will be helpful to take some supplements of natural substances to prevent heart disease and help to ameliorate already manifest heart problems. These supplements are: - Omega-3-fatty acids derived from fish and other marine sources, especially the fatty acids EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and alfa-linolaeic acid. 1 gram a day of each of these substances may be taken as a supplement. Higher amounts should only be taken under medical supervision, since higher amount of these substances may cause bleeding tendencies, and may suppress the immune system. - Supplement of vitamin C has been thought to help prevent heart disease, but newer findings cast doubt upon this. - Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine), folic acid / folate, vitamin b12 and riboflavin seem to prevent the building up of the substance homocystein in the blood and thereby help prevent heart disease, according to results from research projects. GET RID OF OVER-WEIGHT The lifestyle measures listed in this article will also help you loose weight. If these measures are not enough, you should consider engaging in a more specific weight reduction program. You should choose a program that has a moderate fat content philosophy. Some weight reduction programs have a higher fat and low carbohydrate consume philosophy, and those are probably not the best ones to reduce the chance of getting heart disease. EXERCISE You should do some exercise of at least half an hour at least every second day. Condition training as vigorous walking, jogging, cycling or swimming is best for reducing the heart attack probability. Muscular building exercises are also of value, especially exercises building leg muscles STOP SMOKING If you smoke, stopping or reducing this habit radically will decrease the chance of getting heart problems. CONTROL DIABETES If you suffer from diabetes type 1, a good control of the disease by insulin medication and by diet adjustments will help to prevent heart disease. Many people over the age of 50, and an increasing number of young people suffer from diabetes type 2 because of bad lifestyle. This disease does not necessarily give dramatic symptoms, but the disease increases the chance of getting serious heart problems, and many have the disease without knowing it. This disease can be prevented by the same lifestyle measures depicted above. If you already have got the disease, a more rigorous control of carbohydrate intake is necessary. And sometimes also medication must be used. People over the age of 50 and younger people that do not feel well should find out if they suffer from this condition. TAKING ASPIRIN Low doses of acetyl salicylic acid or aspirin prevent heart disease by persons bearing a high risk for heart disease. However, this medication increases the risk of bleeding and should not be used without constant medical supervision. For persons with a low risk of heart disease, the dangers of aspirin will be greater than the benefits.

Blood cord bank an introduction to cord blood stem cells

Finding a source of primitive stem cells. There are news reports about the positive impact that research on cord blood stem cells is having on the possible cure for numerous life threatening diseases. But with so many varying reports about it or even factions it is impossible to keep track of all its useful facts. Stem cells show a great level of plasticity which means they can generate and regenerate into many different types of cells and even organs within in our body. Potentially, if they can be removed from the donor and transfused into the patient then in the future, stem cells could be used to cure virtually any illness. Stem cells are more frequently found in babies or even in embryos although it has been discovered that adult stem cells do exist. To date these have mostly been found in the brain but are dispersed freely amongst millions of other cells making the extraction incredibly difficult. Cord blood stem cells, on the other hand, are very easy to remove. Because the process is completed after the child has been born and the umbilical cord cut and clamped there is no effect whatsoever on the baby, the parent or the birth itself. How stem cells become T cells. T cells are the cells that are responsible for fighting infection in children and are created when stem cells pass through the thymus gland. If the patient does not have an adequate number of effective stem cells in their blood then they will not be able to create the T cells. And subsequently they are much more likely to suffer serious infections. This, in turn, means that cord blood stem cells can be used to recreate T cells as well as other vital cells within the body of your child. The stem cells will then create an army of T cells to fight off infection and leave the body to function in a normal manner. As with a blood transfusion it is imperative to the operation's success that the stem cells transfused are of the same type as the patient's own blood. Using cord blood stem cells belonging to the patient themselves all but guarantees that this will be the case. Stem cell testing. The umbilical cord stem cell matrix is called Wharton's jelly and is rich in primitive stem cells. These cells are one that has yet to progress, transform or produce other cells. Primitive stem cells are the most effective type of stem cells that can be used in a transfusion on any patient. Typically a lot of testing has been done on animals to prove the viability of using stem cells taken from cord blood of newborn babies and amongst the most prominent of these tests, according to the online journal "stem cells", have been tests carried out on pigs. In a human blood cord, similar to a pig umbilical cord, two arteries & vein are found and tests have shown positive results concerned with the storage and potency of the blood. The journal "stem cells" contains a lot of data relating to stem cells and articles on various related topics. At present leukemia and anemia are the two most common diseases treated with stem cell transfusions although since stem cell research has grown in volume and results diseases such as Parkinson's, Multiple Sclerosis and many different forms of cancer are also showing positive results.