Beat Obesity To Beat Cancer

Extra fat gets stored in the fat cells of the body known as adipose tissue. Fat cells are active cells of the body that produce hormones and protein. These are chemical messengers, they affect the way cells work. This can raise the risk of many chronic diseases including several types of cancers.

Research has shown high prevalence of certain cancers in overweight or obese individuals. Obesity increases levels of hormones like estrogen and insulin, which have been linked to increased cancer risk. Moreover, excess fat seems to cause chronic inflammation that is known to cause cancer development. The various cancers due to obesity include:

1. Breast cancer: Excess fat alters the levels of sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone due to cellular resistance. This increases risk of breast cancer, especially in postmenopausal women.

2. Bowel cancer: Studies have found a strong association between waist circumference and colorectal/bowel cancers. High insulin levels are hypothesized to promote colon cancer development in both men and women, but predominantly in men.

3. Uterine cancer: Obese women have two to four times higher risk of developing endometrial carcinoma. It is more commonly found in women who have never used hormonal therapy. High estrogen levels is one of the major cause.

4. Esophageal cancer: Obese people are at a greater risk of gastro esophageal reflux disease or Barrett’s esophagus. This has a high chance of progressing into esophageal carcinomas, later in life.

5. Gastric cancer: Hypergastrenemia or increased acid production can damage the mucosal lining of the stomach. This causes gastric ulcers, which if left unattended can slowly progress to full-blown gastric carcinomas.

6. Pancreatic and hepatocellular cancer: Increasing incidence of high waist circumference has been shown to increase prevalence of pancreatic and liver cancers in men. It is hypothesized, to be due to increased insulin levels.

7. Kidney cancer: A global study proved that women, whose weight fluctuated by more than 4.5 kg, more than 10 times in an 8 year period, were almost at a two times higher risk of developing kidney cancer.

How does losing weight help?

Losing weight helps to increase cellular insulin sensitivity. This brings down the risk of cancers like pancreatic, liver and colorectal cancers in men. It also reduces estrogen and progesterone levels in females, which is the harbinger of many cancers of the female body. When the tissue resistance drops, in the absence of excess fat, the hormonal levels drop naturally. Losing weight helps to cease ongoing inflammation in the body that promotes cancer development. Physical workout releases several protective factors into the bloodstream that actually prevent cancers and help in healing.

Cancer care is now focused more towards cancer prevention than cure. Cancer care is largely related to shedding off obesity. A number of studies have shown that avoiding a weight gain or losing extra weight reduces the risk of developing chronic diseases like cancer. Lifestyle interventions to reduce weight have a positive impact on cancer incidence and numbers.

When you link obesity to cancer, it provides a different perspective to being overweight. So, instead of merely promoting on aesthetics, weight loss can be a means to revolutionize one’s health. It may help to combat cancers in individuals with strong family histories. After all, if weight loss is done for health reasons, it can offer empowerment rather than being a mere obligation. It can become a huge part of cancer care treatment in the near future. So get moving, workout and fight the disease.

Early Signs To Detect Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition, where the brain functions associated with memory, cognition, language and speech deteriorate progressively. The symptoms progress gradually over a long period of time. There is a disruption of neuronal connections. A state of irreversible damage completely deteriorates the ability of patients to function normally. There are certain early warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease that help in early diagnosis.

10 early signs of Alzheimer’s are:

1. Memory loss disrupting life: When people start forgetting small details or information that is just learnt, it should ring warning bells. They start losing track of names, events or important dates, relying heavily on memory aids like post it notes or smartphones. Unaware of this condition, the patient may ask for the same information over and over again.

2. Planning and problem solving become a hard nut to crack: Planning and sticking to those plans seem a daunting task. They find it difficult to follow details and plans, especially those with numbers involved. Patients find it harder to concentrate and take a long time to do tasks that they generally did faster. Following recipes or keeping themselves updated about checkbooks and bills become hard.

3. Trouble doing daily tasks: Doing familiar things becomes really hard. Even driving to nearby places or frequently visited places is no longer an easy task. Completing easy tasks at work becomes progressively difficult and the patients tend to forget daily chores.

4. Time and place confusion? Grasping the realities of the present situation gets difficult. Patients commonly tend to get disoriented with respect to time and place. They might end up somewhere, but not remember how or why the went there.

5. Changes in vision and spatial relationships: It gets harder to read books and papers. Color and contrast blur as the disease progresses and judging distances can become hard. Such patients are advised to avoid driving.

6. Conversation is frustrating: Vocabulary becomes harder to access and the patients may often find themselves at a loss for words. They often name things wrong despite knowing what they are. Conversation is hard to keep up for them. They often get stuck in the middle or repeat themselves.

7. Misplacing things is common: Affected individuals keep losing things from time to time. It is basically difficult for them to retrace their steps back to something or someplace. Such people end up putting their things at weird places and accuse others of stealing them.

8. Judgment lapses: Patients start making poor judgments like handing over large sums of money. They may forget to shower or take care of themselves. Dressing is difficult and they may dress for the wrong weather.

9. Social withdrawal: Patients often lose interest in daily activities or their favorite hobbies. They become progressively withdrawn from the society and demotivated. You’ll find them spending more time in front of the TV or sleeping.

10. Changes in mood and behavior: Alzheimer’s patients are easy to upset. They get depressed quickly and feel scared and anxious more easily. Suspicious nature develops and may precede delusions.

If you notice these signs in those around you, it is time to consult your neurologist. They will evaluate the mental faculties of the affected individuals. This includes checking memory, ability to solve problems and thinking and processing skills. Brain imaging investigations may be required to confirm the diagnosis. Though the signs are often subtle and need to be distinguished from normal aging. Earlier diagnosis followed by mental and physical exercise can help slow the disease progression.

Importance Of Blood Donation

Every year our nation requires about 5 Crore units of blood, out of which only a meager 2.5 Crore units of blood are available.

Adults have around 10 pints of blood in their body. 1 pint is given during a donation. 1 pint of blood can save up to 3 lives.

The procedure involved:

Blood donation centers or donation camps are organized to get blood for community use. Donation can be of the whole blood or certain components of blood called apheresis. These centers known as blood banks not just collect blood but also participate in procedures that follow donation like processing, screening and storing. Potential blood donors are screened for blood borne diseases like HIV and Viral Hepatitis. They have to undergo a short physical examination to rule out any health issues to the donor. Blood donation is an absolutely safe process. Depending on the quantity and components of blood drawn, a donor can donate blood again within 8 weeks. Most of the blood components have an extremely short shelf life and maintaining a constant supply is challenging.

In general, each unit of blood drawn contains 450 ml of blood, which the body replaces within 24 hours. So, giving blood is not harmful for the body. There are innumerable benefits of blood donation, for both the community and the donor.

Some of the key benefits are:

1. One donation i.e. 450 ml of whole blood can be centrifuged to separate its components. Each donation can help save up to three lives! Millions of individuals require blood donations daily to save their lives.

2. It is important to know that human blood cannot be manufactured. Humans are the only source of blood. More than 1 million new people are diagnosed with cancer each year. Many of them will need blood, sometimes daily, during their chemotherapy treatment.
3. Certain blood groups like O- are extremely rare. Arranging them in emergency can be a difficult task. Timely donation and preservation of blood of these blood groups can help save many lives. This blood group is also needed for emergency transfusions when the blood group is not known or for neonatal transfusions. Since, it has no antigen of its own, it can be safely transfused to any recipient.
4. In patients prone to iron overload, blood donation can help preventing accumulation of iron in toxic quantities. Thus, it helps to control hemochromatosis and reduce the risk of damage to liver and kidneys.
5. A broad study conducted in 2012, proved that regular blood donation helps in reducing blood pressure, serum glucose, glycosylated Haemoglobin and heart rate in metabolic syndrome patients. It also helps in improving lipid profile.
6. Many countries like USA pay their donors for blood donation and plasmaphoresis. It provides an added source of income for those who can donate blood. In other countries, donors are given certain incentives like paid working days off. These incentives often help to maintain a steady stream of donors.
7. Lower cancer risk: By donating blood you are reducing your iron excess stores. In the process you lower your risk of cancer development.
8. Weight loss: Regular blood donation can help donors to lose weight. It might come as a boon to obese individuals who are at a higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and other health disorders.
9. Promotes good health: Post blood donation, the body works vigorously to replenish the lost blood. It stimulates formation of new blood cells to replace the older ones. This turnover then helps in maintaining a good health.

Blood donation has many health benefits apart from the psychological satisfaction of saving lives. It is always good to plan out your donation well in advance after consulting your physician about any health issues. Keep yourself hydrated on the day of donation and make sure to inform the blood banks about any medications you are taking.

Do you recognize the symptoms of Spinal fracture?

Spinal fractures basically occur on a slight breakage of your spinal cord bones called as vertebrae. The collapse of the same are implicated towards risks as high as spinal tumors to risks as low as trauma or injury on account of an accident or just a bad fall.

Statistics suggest that around a million people suffer from spinal fracture conditions due to the various factors accordingly.Listed below are a few symptoms which may be highly accountable to a spinal fracture and it is advisable to visit your nearest spine care hospital for better consultation with the doctor.

• Instances of sudden and severe chronic back pain conditions
• Unable to withstand pain especially during actions like bending
• Loss of height is also one of the symptoms
• The pain worsens when you stand for a long time or even walk for a particular distance.
• You back tends to form a hunched shape- this may be especially due to deformity of the spinal cord.
• Loss of balance while walking.
• Your appetite starts decreasing unexpectedly
• The quality of your life starts to decrease and you may want to spend most of your time in isolation and solitude.
• You may also experience a lack of natural sleep abilities at large
• You experience fatigue in each and every activities you try to do.

If you have prolonged back pain and encounter much difficulty while carrying out basic regular activities of your daily life like lifting something, bending down, lying down, there is a high chance of you being subjected to a spinal fracture and the best option is to have a spine injury treatment as early as possible.

There may be instances of spinal compression fracture pains and the corresponding instances may be multiple in nature. The pain may be of varying intensities, a part of it may subside during the healing process of the bone while a part of it may be heightened and can extend to time duration of around 3 to 4 months accordingly. In few cases, there may be no pain involved that is, the pain may be so mild that it actually goes unobserved and unfelt for the same. The pain however may arise chronically around the injured portion of the back or may just evolve into the deformation of the spine accordingly. Thus the hunchback symptom is noticed.

At times, a spinal cord surgery is advisable so as to get it treated and avoid any more complications of physical health deterioration of the same. The best you can do is to visit a spine care hospital and get your fracture treated by professionals before the conditions get deteriorated or should any side effects start to occur. Always remember, there is nothing more important than one’s health, not even money!

How to avoid cervical cancer

Cervical cancer can be described as a tumor (malignant) of the cervix. Nearly nine thousand women in the US develop cervical cancer every year.  It  is one of the most preventable forms of cancer. Prevention techniques like Pap smear and cervical screenings, are responsible for the drop in the number of cases of Cervical cancer in the past twenty years. Usually cervical cancer starts with the pre-cancerous changes and there are ways to inhibit the disease from developing:

• Treating pre-cancer symptoms.
• Preventing pre cancers.

Preventing pre cancers can be done with these 5 easy steps:

1. Practice safe sex

Cervical cancer is linked to an infection with types of HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) which can be spread by practicing unprotected sex.  Condoms should be used while having sexual intercourse with a new or unknown partner as it helps in reducing the risk of contracting the virus by a huge percentage.

However this virus can be spread through sexual contact like usage of sex toys or contact between the exposed skins of genital areas.

The risk of being infected by HPV increases if one engages in sex with multiple partners.  Though in certain cases women with only one sexual partner may also develop the infection.

2. Get a regular pap smear

This works as one of the best ways to prevent cervical cancer as it can detect changes early on before the infection has a chance to turn into cancer.

3. Cervical screening

Identifying abnormal changes in the cervix can be done at an early stage with regular cervical screenings. Women belonging to the age group of 25-49 are recommended a screening once in every 3 years and those in the age group of 50-64 are recommended a screening once in every 5 years. Women above 65 are recommended a screening only if they haven’t done it on  turning 50 or if they’ve had recent abnormalities in their tests.

Those who have been vaccinated for HPV also have to attend the screening tests because even the vaccination doesn’t  guarantee  protecting the individual from cervical cancer.

Also cervical screenings aren’t 100% accurate but can identify most abnormal activity in the cervix. But it is best to report symptoms like vaginal bleeding to the doctor even if the individual has been recently tested.

4. Cervical cancer vaccination

The vaccination/ childhood immunization program can be administered to girls aged 12 and above and it includes 3 doses administered over a period of 6 months.

The HPV vaccine protects against 4 types of HPV including the 2 strains that are known to be the cause of genital warts and of 70% of cervical cancers.

But it must be noted that though the vaccine reduces the risk of cervical cancer, it doesn’t  guarantee 100%  protection.

5. Avoid smoking

The chances of being infected by cervical cancer increases with smoking. Individuals who smoke are less capable of getting rid of the HPV infection from their bodies which later develops into cancer. If quitting smoking is a difficult task, there are several medications available (with prescription) and a therapy to help  smokers kick the habit forever.

Cardiac Advance Package

A person can have cardiac disease and still feel fine. It is so because sometimes the first symptom of a heart disease can be death. This is the main reason why heart diseases are also known as silent killer. Hence it is very important to keep an update of the cardiac health time-to-time. With the help of an advanced cardiac health checkup, one can prevent heart disease by discovering and managing the risk factors.

Benefits of the Package:

 • Early detection and management of risk factors

 • 16 tests specially customized to analyze the heart and other body parts which can be affected due to heart disease

 • Consultations with our high-class cardiologist and physician

INVESTIGATIONS

 • Complete Blood Counts (Automated)

 • Blood Grouping & Rh Typing, ESR ( Automated )

 • Glucose - Fasting

 •Glucose - Post  Prandial (Ppbs)

 • Glycated Hemoglobin ( Hba1C )

 • Urine Routine and Microscopy ( Qualitative Method)

Lipid Profile

 • Homo crystine (Plasma)

 • Appli protein

 • Lipoprotein (A)

 • Fibrinogen Level ( Automated / Clotting Assay )

 • C-Reactive Protein

 • Thyroid Profile (T3 T4 Tsh)

Cardiac Evaluation

 • X-ray chest PA (CXR)

 • ECG

 • Echo-Cardiogram

 •Tread Mill Test

Skin Care

Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It helps protect your inside with the rest of the world, regulate body temperature and acts as a filter. However, it can get affected by everything you do in your daily routine; from what you eat to where you live. Skin care is important as healthy skin heals much faster, fights signs of aging and many other things.

Small breaks in dry skin are entry points through which viruses and bacteria can easily enter inside your body and cause infections. Unhealthy skin is also associated with microangiopathy, a skin condition which impairs skin hydration and prolongs the healing process. Healthy skin is your body’s best defence against infections as it is a natural barrier that keeps moisture in and other harmful elements out.

Proper skin care is important not just for good health, but also physical appearance. Healthy skin makes you look confident and vibrant. Improper skin care can lead to sores, acne, wrinkles and rashes.

How to keep your skin healthy?

Few things that you can do to protect your skin health are:

·         Protection from the sun

Sun exposure can cause age spots, wrinkles, skin cancer and other skin conditions. Hence it is necessary to protect your skin from sun exposure.

·         Quit smoking

Smoking can damage collagen and elastic – the fibres that give your skin elasticity and strength. In addition to that, smoking can also decrease blood flow by narrowing the tiny blood vessels present in the outermost part of the skin.

·         Eat healthy diet

Eat fruit, vegetables and lean proteins that are good for your skin. A diet rich in vitamin c and low in fats can promote healthy skin

·         Manage stress

Stress can make your skin sensitive and trigger many skin conditions such as acne. Try to manage your stress and keep your skin healthy.

Acute skin problems

There are many skin conditions that are temporary and can be treated with proper medications or simply with time such as;

·         Sunburn

·         Corn and calluses

·         Blisters

·         Cold sores

·         Rashes

·         Dermatitis

·         Bedbugs

·         Itching

·         Hives

·         Vitiligo

·         Alopecia Areata

·         Poison Ivy

·         Bruises

Chronic skin problems

Chronic skin conditions are incurable, but they can me managed with proper skin treatment or skin surgery such as:

·         Eczema

A condition that cause the skin to become irritated and inflamed.

·         Psoriasis

A condition that produces thick red plaques on the skin.

·         Acne

A condition that causes red pimples on the skin, especially on the face.

·         Rosacea

A condition that causes redness on the nose, cheeks, chin, and forehead.

If you notice any kind of abnormal change in your skin, then immediately consult a skin specialist or a skin doctor.

8 Cosmetic Surgery Tips That You Should Follow

With the advancement of medical science, more and more people are taking interest in skin surgeries. The innovations in the skin care domain have aroused the interest in many to try out plastic surgeries. The latest trends of changing the body features and sculpting a desirable shape to garner a more aesthetic look is gaining prominence in society. But cosmetic surgery comes with intense adverse effects. One should be well aware of the process and should consult a good plastic surgeon before proceeding with the procedure. Qualified and good plastic surgeons recommend strict regulations for the cosmetic surgery industry. In the points below are few tips suggested by the surgeons before going under the scalpel –

1. Know the surgeon first- The foremost thing that should be taken care of is to choose an accomplished and good plastic surgeon after being fully aware of the practitioner’s expertise. An individual should enquire and collect information about the career span of the surgeon, area of specialisation and other necessary details. These will help in choosing the perfect skin care surgeon for the person.
2. Meeting the doctor in person- It is very essential to meet the plastic surgeon before starting the skin care. Any good plastic surgeon will demand meeting the patient before progressing with the treatment. It also aids in making the person comfortable around the doctor and also helps the patient to trust the practitioner.
3. Researching the process- Internet has provided mankind an opportunity to access an enormous wealth of knowledge. Before undergoing the surgery it is very important to gather knowledge about the process and procedures. One can watch videos on plastic surgery, read articles or can engage in ongoing conversations in reputed medical forums. Gathering information will help in taking the right decision and to choose the appropriate procedure. But it should be kept in mind that with some great information about a particular topic, internet also provides some false or contradictory information. So a proper discussion with a good plastic surgeon is recommended.
4. Understanding the risks- There are many threats or risks related to the cosmetic surgery A good surgeon will always make his patients fully aware of the potentials threats or risks. It is always recommended to ask the questions that bother you and not to hold back any query while consulting the surgeon. Any good plastic surgeon will never deny the potent risks and will be honest & forthcoming about both the positives and potential negatives.
5. Gloss through visual data of the doctor’s previous procedures- Seeing the photographic evidences of the surgeon’s works aids in understanding the capabilities of the doctor, efficacy of the process and to make a real life connection with imaginary expectations. But it has to be verified first whether the photographs are real or computer generated artworks.
6. Maintaining individuality- This is very essential advice for those who are considering to undergo skin surgery The key is to be proud of one’s own looks and not have unfair and unreachable expectations. One should always understand that the plastic surgery is a complicated process and it should not be taken as a farce.
7. Consulting with family or loved ones- This is very essential before starting the skin care treatment as it helps in raising many points which were not considered before.  Otherwise, one should always look out for the advice and support of their loved ones as it eases any complicated situation.
8. Recovery process- To inform the patients about the recovery process before undergoing the plastic surgery is considered as the duty of a good plastic surgeon. To be aware of the full recovery process will help the patients to take care of the post operation constraints and other needs.

The above advises are aimed at informing people about the cosmetic surgery process and also to solve their dilemma for taking the right step. Skin Care  is an important aspect of human life and no compromises should ever be made with it .