Waist Circumference Is A Risk Factor For Mortality In Older Adults

Waist circumference is a risk factor for mortality in older adults and this risk is not affected by body mass index (BMI). This has been revealed by a large cohort study reported in the August issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The study included 48,500 men and 56,343 women, aged at least 50 years.

Risk for mortality was more than doubled for very high levels of WC after adjustment for BMI and other risk factors. [Read more...]

Can I Ask A Medical Question Here

After reading my yesterday’s post, Naina from Jagadhari, Haryana, India asked a question to me

” Can I ask a medical question here?”. While I replied to Naina sparately, I decided to take this issue and clarify it to all of you.

This website is meant for answering your queries.

Yes! You can ask any medicine and health related question.

I am in process of  forming a panel of health experts which would help us to solve user’s problems.

Each of your question is first reviewed by me and if I could answer, I do.

If I think an expert opinnion is required, I would  forward that medical question to the respective expert.

I usually answer within few to 72 hours. Experts may take more time.

The process would be streamlined once we start rolling.

I look forward to your queries.

MedCare Is Changing

…………

For Good.

Hi! I am Dr Arun Pal Singh. I am an orthpaedic surgeon and owner of this domain name.

In 2008, I started this website in order to provide answers to the common problems that patients and health care workers face everyday.

Most of the problems start with ‘ What is…..?”

My main purpose was to address these queries.

I started well but then I found myself short of time. And therefore I decided to delegate the job to few trusted friends.

They ran it well and added beautiful content.

But the site became more like my other project Disease And Diagnosis.

I tried to pass my vision but I think I failed in that.

Therefore, finally I decided to handle everything myself.

You would see changes in the type of content here.

I welcome your comments and feedback.

Common Clinical Problems During Treatment of Tuberculosis

Most patient complete treatment uneventfully. However, some patients do have problems during treatment.

In a few patients, haemoptysis may continue during the early part of treatment.

The sight of blood alarms the patient and creates doubts in his mind about his treatment. Prompt treatment, an explanation and reassurance go a long way in gaining the confidence of the patient.

It is important to explain the symptoms of common side effects to the patient. [Read more...]

List of Causes of Splenomegaly

Splenomegaly is an enlargement of the spleen. The spleen has to be two and a half times its normal size to become palpable, therefore an enlarged spleen is not always palpable. In ptosis of spleen, it is palpable, though not enlarged.

Signs Suggestive of Enlarged  Spleen

  • Predominant left sided abdominal distension
  • Splenic mass moves downwards on inspiration
  • A notch is felt on the anterior border of spleen
  • Left abdominal pain if massive splenomegaly

Causes

Infective:

1. Bacterial: Septicemia, SBE, typhoid, syphilis
2. Viral: Infective hepatitis, infectious mononucleosis
3. Protozoal: Malaria, kala azar, trypanosomiasis
4. Fungal: Histoplasmosis

Congestive

A. Suprahepatic:

1. Congestive cardiac failure
2. Constructive pericarditis
3. Budd Chiari syndrome

B. Hepatic:

1. Cirrhosis
2. Schistosomiasis
3. Sarcoidosis
4. Congenital hepatic fibrosis

C. Intrahepatic: Portal vein thrombosis

Blood Diseases:

1. Polycythemia rubra vera
2. Hemolytic anemia-Thalassemia
3. Leukemias
4. Lymphoma
5. Myelofibrosis

Infiltrative and degenerative disorders

1. Gaucher’s disease
2. Niemann Picks disease

3. Amyloidosis

Neoplastic: Hemangiomas, sarcomas, cysts, metastasis

Miscellaneous:

1. Connective tissue disorders.
2. Rupture of spleen and hematoma.

Scientists Find New Way To Track Cancer In Blood

Tiny sacs released from tumor cells and circulating in the blood carry genetic information about the tumor, offering a new way to track and treat the cancer, US researchers said on Sunday. “They contain a little piece of the tumor cell in the blood stream.

If you just look at these packets, you basically know what kind of mutations are in the tumor cell,” said Xandra Breakefield of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, whose study appears in the Journal Nature Cell Biology.

These membrane covered packets, called exosomes, represent a new way of getting information about a cancer, offering a means of choosing the best therapy, seeing how a patient responds to treatment, and possibly offering a way to deliver therapies back to the tumor, Breakefield said.

Source: TOI

Additives Processed Food May Lead To Lung Cancer

Research on mice has shown that common food additives known as phosphates may help lung cancer tumors grow faster, at least in mice. The research has been conducted in South Korea. Phosphates are additives-found in many soft drinks, baked goods, processed meats and cheese.

A diet that is high in phosphates  significantly increased the lung surface tumor lesions as well as the size.

The research suggests that cutting back on inorganic phosphates “may be critical for lung cancer treatment as well as prevention”.

Phosphates are critical to human nutrition and can be used in compounds that enrich calcium and iron content and prevent food from drying out. But Cho said it is possible that some people get too much. [Read more...]

Migraine Reduces Breast Cancer Risk

In a recent study and puzzling revealation, women who have a history of migraine headaches are far less likely to develop breast cancer than other women.

The study is the first to look at the relationship between breast cancer and migraine and its findings may point to new ways of reducing a woman’s breast cancer risk, they said.

“We found that, overall, women who had a history of migraine had a 30 percent lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who did not have a history of such headaches,” said Christopher Li of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Li said the reduction in risk was for the most common types of breast cancers those driven by hormones. Hormones also play a role in migraine.

Source: TOI

You Might Be Programmed To Be Fat

You might have been programmed to become obese  before you were born. A new research has suggested thatt eating a high-fat diet in pregnancy may cause changes in the fetal brain that lead to obesity early in life.

Rat mothers who were fed a high-fat diet had many more brain cells specialized to produce appetite-stimulating proteins, a finding that may help explain why obesity rates have soared in recent years. [Read more...]

MK-677 – The Drug That Could Retain Youth In Elderly

A drug that restores mucle mass in elderly has been found. Scientists claim that with this they have come closer to the fountain of youth

Experts at the University of Virginia Health System said that a daily dose of an investigational medication has been found to restore muscle mass in the arms and legs of older adults and improve some of their biochemistry to levels found in healthy young adults. [Read more...]

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