Do not take arthritis lightly

by Nilma DOLE

As Sri Lanka's life expectancy rate improves considerably much attention has to be paid for the infirmities associated with old age.

The Sunday Observer spoke to consultant Rheumatologist of the Colombo National Hospital, Dr. Lilani Weerasekera about one of the major diseases in old age, arthritis. There are over 100 different forms of arthritis but the most common, osteoarthritis (degenerative joint disease) is a result of trauma to the joint, infection of the joint, or age. Dr. Weerasekera said, "Arthritis doesn't only affect the older population but also the younger in which rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and autoimmune diseases develop, causing a condition in which the body attacks itself.

Septic arthritis is caused by joint infection". There are even conditions that can affect younger children called juvenile idiopathic arthritis and Still's disease.

Speaking more about arthritis, Dr. Weerasekera said, "Arthritis is a group of conditions that can affect any muscular joint, the synovial fluid in the joint most commonly present in the hands and knees." The doctor said, "The most common type of arthritis is osteoarthritis which is a group of diseases and mechanical abnormalities involving degeneration of the joints," she added, "The main symptoms of the disease are pain and swelling of the joints, inability to handle body weight, stiffness and prevention of positions like squatting, sitting and exercising. "Rheumatoid arthritis occurs with signs of inflammation, with the affected joints being swollen, temperature rise, painful and stiff, particularly early in the morning on waking or following prolonged inactivity. Increased stiffness early in the morning is often reported in such patients and is likely to last for more than an hour. Gentle movements may relieve symptoms in the early stages of the disease but can be treated with proper medication. "Advice given to arthritis patients is to control their weight by eating a balanced diet and taking medication on time. There are plenty of arthritis patients who lead normal lives taking the right tablets given by a qualified doctor" said Dr.Weerasekera.

Symptoms often occur such as pain, in joints tenderness, stiffness, creaking, locking of joints, and sometimes local inflammation. This condition is linked with hereditary, developmental, metabolic, and mechanical traits which may initiate processes leading to loss of cartilage.

Dr. Weerasekera said, "Arthritis can't be completely cured so that it is important to take medication on time and stick to the routine. Be disciplined and make sure you keep to the time-table or else controlling the condition will be difficult." The rheumatology department works with qualified physiotherapists to give arthritis patients regular exercises to ease the burden and pressures of those suffering from arthritis."

Every person over 50 years should go to a Rheumatologist for a routine check-up just to be on the safe side" said Dr.Weerasekera. "The earlier you detect arthritis, the better because we can use drugs to control the disease." "From my experience, I don't think the cause of arthritis has anything to do with location of rural areas or urban, it is just a condition that has to be carefully controlled in old age," said Dr. Weerasekera

"I would advise those over 50 to do simple exercises like walking which cause less strain on the body but not heavy manual labour which might put unnecessary weight on the body." So be cautious of arthritis because if you neglect the disease, it is bound to worsen as time goes on making it difficult to control the pain.

She said, "The family should collectively help the arthritis patient because they should understand that a patient needs to take medication on time and also be concerned about their lifestyles if they have to do hard work like labour or carrying objects that they shouldn't." Arthritis shouldn't be taken lightly as a disease in old age where nothing can be done to stop the pain.

With the right treatment and the right expertise, an arthritis patient can have a long life with minimum pain," she said.

Common symptoms of arthritis: Inability to use the hand or walk, lethargy, Fever, Weight loss, Poor sleep, Muscle aches and pains, and tenderness difficulty in moving the joints.

Childhood obesity linked to premature death

by Drucilla DYESS

Obese children have double the risk for premature death compared to that of children having a normal weight, and children with pre-diabetes also face twice the risk of an early demise. In addition, children who have high blood pressure are at an increased risk of dying young.

A recent study of about 4,857 non-diabetic American Indian children born between 1945 and 1984 found that childhood obesity was linked to the occurrence of an early death. At the average age of 11 years, factors such as body mass index (BMI), glucose tolerance, blood pressure, and cholesterol levels of each child were assessed in predicting the likelihood of premature death. Findings revealed that obese children had a much greater likelihood of dying prior to reaching the age of 55, due to illness or self-inflicted injury. The results of the study indicate that childhood obesity can cause grave long-term effects on health.

A total of 559 of the study participants were deceased by 2003. Among these deaths, 166 were due to causes other than accidents and homicides including infections, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, alcohol poisoning, and drug overdose. In addition, a high number of the deaths were caused by alcoholic liver disease that may have been exacerbated by diabetes. Adult subjects having the highest BMI scores as children were found to be 2.3 times more likely to have died prematurely as those having the lowest BMI scores. In addition, those having the highest glucose levels were 73 percent more likely to have died early.

The study, recently published in The New England Journal of Medicine, is one of the largest to have followed children well into adulthood, over a period spanning several decades, after having gathered detailed information on weight along with other risk factors. The study used data gathered from Pima and Tohono O'odham Indians, among whom rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes began to climb alarmingly many years prior to the rise of weight problems among other Americans.

According to Helen C. Looker, assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, and senior author of the study report, "This suggests that obesity in children, even prepubescent children, may have very serious long-term health effects through midlife - that there is something serious being set in motion by obesity at early ages." She then pointedly added, "We all expect to get beyond 55 these days."

According to lead researcher Paul William Franks, an associate professor of experimental medicine and head of the genetic epidemiology and clinical research group at Umea University Hospital in Umea, Sweden, "The results of this study suggest that obesity prevention should begin in early childhood. This will involve ensuring our children eat healthy, well-balanced diets and maintain physically active lifestyles."

Almost 33 percent of American children are either overweight or obese.

Franks noted that parents should be role models for their children in regards to healthy eating and exercise. According to Frank, the simplest formula for warding off obesity is to eat less and reduce portion size, while becoming more physically active.

Choosing to eat a healthy diet is also important for maintaining health and weight. Your guide to eating healthy can be found in the Health News diet plan section.

Health News

Dolphins offer new hope for diabetics

by Mark Henderson, Science editor, in San Diego

Dolphins have been revealed as the only animals apart from humans to develop a natural form of type 2 diabetes, in research that offers important new insights to a disease that is linked to one in 20 deaths.

American scientists have discovered that bottle-nosed dolphins show a form of insulin resistance very similar to that seen in human diabetes. Unlike patients with the condition, however, the marine mammals can turn this state on and off when appropriate so it is not normally harmful.

The findings indicate that dolphins could provide a valuable animal model for investigating type 2 diabetes, which promise to advance research into new therapies. If researchers can learn how the animals switch off their insulin resistance before it becomes damaging, it could even be possible to develop a cure.

Stephanie Venn-Watson, a veterinary epidemiologist at the US National Marine Mammal Foundation, who led the research, said it could have profound implications for a disease that affects an estimated 2.75 million adults in Britain.

It suggests the bottle-nosed dolphin is "an important, natural and long-lived model for insulin resistance and diabetes, a disease that accounts for 5 per cent of human deaths globally," she told the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in San Diego. "It is our hope that this discovery can lead to novel ways to prevent, treat and even cure diabetes in humans while also benefiting dolphin health.

She emphasised that the research does not mean that dolphins should be used as laboratory animals, as their large brains and high intelligence would make this unethical. Studies of their genetic code and physiology, revealed by blood and urine samples, could nevertheless provide important clues to the biology of diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body acquires resistance to insulin - a hormone produced by the pancreas which controls blood sugar. It is often triggered by obesity, though genetic factors are also involved, and generally occurs in adults over the age of 40.

The disease causes blood sugar levels to become constantly elevated, resulting in progressive damage to blood vessels and nerves.

Complications include cardiovascular disease - it raises fivefold the risk of heart attacks and strokes - poor circulation that requires amputation of limbs, blindness and impotence.

Type 2 diabetes has been diagnosed in about two million people in the UK, and it is thought to be undiagnosed in about 750,000 more. Rates are forecast to increase dramatically because of the growing prevalence of obesity. There is no cure for the condition, though it can be controlled by diet, exercise, weight loss and drugs.

The unexpected discovery that dolphins experience a similar condition has emerged from a study of more than 1,000 blood samples collected from 52 dolphins. When the animals had fasted overnight, their blood sugar remained high and their blood chemistry changed in ways similar to diabetic patients. Unlike people with diabetes, the dolphins' blood reverted to normal once they had been fed.

She said that such controlled diabetes may be beneficial to dolphins.

Their diet of fish is high in protein and low in sugar, and they often go long periods without eating, yet they have large brains with high energy demands.

By making their bodies resistant to insulin while fasting, they may be able to keep their brains well-supplied with sugar. Once they have eaten, the insulin-resistance stops to prevent damage to their health.

"We propose that, while some people may eat high-protein diets to help control diabetes, dolphins appear to have developed a diabetes-like state to support a high-protein diet," she said. "It works to their advantage to have a condition that keeps blood sugar in the body,"

"If dolphins indeed have a genetic fasting switch that can turn diabetes on and off, then finding and controlling such a switch could lead to the control of insulin resistance and possibly the cure to type 2 diabetes in humans."

Dr Venn-Watson's team has also found that dolphins with excessive iron levels, or haemocrhomatosis, have high insulin levels that suggest a more harmful form of diabetes similar to the human disease. High iron is also associated with insulin resistance in humans.

Further evidence for the cetacean diabetic effect emerged when the researchers examined records from a US Navy study in the 1970s in which dolphins were fed high amounts of sugar. The animals' blood glucose soared and remained high for 10 hours, much like that of diabetic patients.Dr Venn-Watson said it was likely that if dolphins were fed a typical high-sugar, high-fat Western diet, their insulin-resistance would be more damaging. "The assumption is that if dolphins started eating Twinkies [an American cake], they would have diabetes."

The findings are particularly significant because there is no ideal animal model of type 2 diabetes. While rodents, cats, pigs and some primates display some aspects of diabetes, none mimics the disease as closely as dolphins.Mark Simmonds, international head of science at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, said there were ethical objections to using dolphins to study human disease, and that dolphins were too distantly related from humans to be useful.

He said: "The idea that dolphins would generally be a good model for the study of human disease seems unlikely and needs to be subject to independent scientific evaluation. It is a grave concern that dolphins might be used in biomedical research. Dolphins are intelligent and sophisticated animals which are vulnerable to stress and suffering when confined and removed from their natural environment and societies. The fact that dolphins in captivity experience ongoing stress adds to questions about the validity of studies of physiological processes that are intimately connected with the animals' well-being."

-Times.co.uk

Saliva DNA test could determine future health

Quick, low-cost test being developed at Edinburgh University could determine whether a person is prone to disease Buzz up! Digg it (33) Press Association The Guardian, Tuesday 16 February 2010 Article history

A new DNA test uses saliva to determine whether someone is prone to developing a life-threatening illness

A fast, low-cost DNA test which can determine a person's chances of developing certain inherited diseases could soon be a reality, scientists said today.

A drop of saliva will be enough to allow medics to pinpoint variations in patients' genetic code in a test being formulated by scientists at Edinburgh University.

Tiny differences or omissions at critical points in the DNA chain can determine whether a person is healthy, prone to disease, or has a life-threatening condition such as cystic fibrosis.

The method, based on chemical analysis, is cheaper and promises prompter results than conventional DNA testing because it does away with the need for expensive enzymes, researchers said. Dr Juan Diaz-Mochon, of the University's School of Chemistry, said: "This technology offers a speedy, cost-efficient alternative to existing methods of DNA analysis.

"The market for DNA testing is quickly expanding as it becomes more affordable.

Our method could help reach the goal of complete genome analysis in a few hours for less than $1,000 (£637)."

Professor Mark Bradley, who also took part in the study, added: "We plan to test the technology further, extend our collaborations with leading researchers and companies in the DNA sequencing field and establish our first commercial operations within the next six months."

The study, published in the journal Angewandte Chemie, was funded by Scottish Enterprise.