Health related information and news from around the world.

The patient-controlled treatment prescribed for clogged arteries includes regular checkups, a low-fat diet, exercise, relaxation, and no smoking. Success depends on the patients’ willingness and determination to trade in their harmful old habits for healthful new ones that will enable them to enjoy longer lives. The heart transplant – the most dramatic surgery of all-probably pays off best in the number of years of life gained.A transplant replaces the failed heart that, weakened by heart attack or infection, produces a blood flow that has declined to a trickle. While anywhere from 11,000 to 20,000 patients are eligible for heart transplants, on average, only about 2,000 hearts are available yearly in the United States. It becomes a waiting game.To maximize the survival chances of those who wait for a heart transplant, these choices are offered:• The use of new mechanical hearts to sustain the patient waiting for a donor heart. These machines, intended for temporary use, are working increasingly well and may prove equal to or better than transplants, which have a 5-year survival rate of 50 percent.• The use of animal hearts with medications to prevent rejection. This technique has been tried four times, but the recipients rejected the organs and died.• Heart-strengthening medications to help transplant candidates’ survive while on the waiting list for a new heartBut a crisis is emerging.”If we continue to list so many [non-critical] patients for transplantation as we now do,” says Dr. Stevenson, “in 4 years’ time we will reach a point where none of the unhospitalized patients will have a chance for a transplant. People have to wait too long. They deteriorate, making their chance for survival poor.”One heart transplant recipient, Brenda Butler Hamiett, then 48, of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, says, “Before my transplant, I was too tired to blink.” Now, Mrs. Hamiett reports, she happily exercises, watches her diet, and keeps track of her blood pressure.Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, professor of surgery at Wayne State University College of Medicine in Detroit, was the first to implant a human heart in the United States, at Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, 3 days after the world’s first human heart transplant by Dr. Barnard in 1967. Dr. Kantrowitz cites good results from heart surgeries for infants, too.”We repair congenital defects extremely well,” says Dr. Kantrowitz, “and we successfully operate on infants born with impaired connections between the heart arteries.” He places the mortality rate for that surgery at less than a tenth of 1 percent. For valve replacement surgery, when using plastic or stainless-steel devices or valves taken from pigs, the rate is 2 percent, he says.The final verdict on the effectiveness of these procedures is not yet in, but all heart disease must be treated-by you as well as your doctor.*16/266/5*

Before leaving the subject of sleep apnea, I want to discuss briefly the problem of sudden infant death syndrome—SIDS, also known as crib death. Each year this tragic affliction strikes as many as 10,000 to 18,000 babies between the ages of one and seven months. The exact cause of SIDS, unfortunately, is not yet known. Many experts believe it is a form of sleep apnea during which the re not yet fully developed, may stop breathing long whose central nervous system and respiratory drive enough to result in death. In some cases the infant is found to have a mild case of upper respiratory tract infection, or some mucus plugging the nose—seemingly a minor problem, until you realize that babies don’t learn to breathe through their mouths until the age of four months. Yet most normal infants commonly experience short spells of apnea; we don’t yet know how to identify those who may be at greater risk of SIDS so as to intervene and prevent its occurrence.If you are concerned about your child, some approaches to SIDS management are available: monitors attached to the crib may detect a breathing stoppage; alarms will wake the baby, causing it to begin breathing normally, and will alert others in the house as well. One psychologist reports some success in training infants to react vigorously to a breathing obstruction, such as a light cloth placed over the mouth for a short time.*149\226\8*

Although all recommendations for cooking sounds very simple I am always amazed how many men ask me how to throw together a protein and vegetable meal without much cooking.I would advise keeping pasta and noodles to a minimum. So many men eat pasta with a tomato sauce, which only sustains energy for a short time. If you feel like this once a week, then have it, but eat a healthy salad with tuna or eggs on the side for more nutrition.Some schools of thought advocate no protein foods in the evenings. It is true that red meat is very heavy, so I would suggest you try to have white meats, fish and vegetarian proteins such as legumes more often in the evenings as they are easier to digest.If you have eaten protein for breakfast and lunch and are not exercising greatly, then a plate of steamed vegetables in the evening is better. The only problem with this sort of evening meal is that you may be hungry within a few hours. Then there is a temptation to eat a lot of chocolate or ice-cream to satisfy your hunger. This is okay occasionally, but if you eat like this regularly then you will overload your system with sugar before bed and have restless sleep and an acid stomach.*101\28\8*