Thomas Technique’ to cure breast cancer

Posted on June 17, 2008 Updated on June 6, 2015

Thomas Technique’ to cure breast cancer
Tuesday June 17 2008 14:17 IST Sudha Nambudiri EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOCHI

KOCHI: Those suffering from early or curable stages of breast cancer need not despair. You need not undergo a breast removal or reconstruction.

You can undergo a surgery for removal of the cancerous part and get discharged from the hospital on the third day, according to Dr Thomas Varughese, who has come up with a pioneering surgical technique.

Thomas Varughese is the Head of the Department of cancer surgery and reconstructive surgery division, Lakeshore Hospital.

“Normally in this kind of surgery, we remove the tumour and also the lymph nodes in the armpit (axilla). While the removal of the lymph nodes is the standard procedure, lymphorea or constant collection of fluid in the armpit needs repeated aspirations or suctioning out of the fluid for several weeks,” he explains.

Thomas has devised a method which he has patented as `Thomas Technique’ using saline which will prevent the collection of fluid at the lymph nodes, thus enabling the patient to get back to routine work in a couple of weeks.

“After this procedure, the patient begins rigorous physiotherapy on day two and is advised to do household work rather than take rest.”

Thomas won the international award for the best scientific paper based on this surgical technique at the International Cancer Congress held at Krasnodar, Russia, under the aegis of the World Federation of Surgical Oncology, the apex body of all surgical cancer societies across the globe.

Thomas, who did a randomised control study for 12 years on 700 patients, said that after a conventional breast surgery with drains, the patient remains in hospital till the drains are removed which may be 7 to 15 days depending on the extent of fluid collection.

Even after the removal of drains, seroma can persist for months, he said.

He showed a video recording of the whole treatment at the conference.

“I received a standing ovation because all over the world doctors have been trying out different techniques but nobody has found a cost-effective technique that could help the patient. I will be presenting papers at two other world conferences next month before publishing in a medical journal,” he said.

However, he warns that the new technique can work only if the patient comes to the doctor in an early stage or curable stage.

No tears, only smiles

Posted on June 17, 2008

No tears, only smiles
Monday June 16 2008 16:45 IST Manu Vipin EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE KOCHI

‘PLEASE remove your footwear, kids at play’ is what catches your attention the moment you step into All For Kids. It’s not a playschool or a kindergarten, but a paediatric clinic which was opened recently in Tripunithura. It’s a cheery place where kids can play, read stories and have fun apart from meeting the doctor.

Dr Joys Clinic at Toll Junction, Edappally, is a haven for kids. They have designed the interiors such a way that kids feel at home with lots of books and stuff. They can even watch a movie at the clinic and after the check-up each kid can return home not only with a beautiful smile but also with gift packs and other goodies.

Paediatricians are going that extra mile to ensure that a child is not scared while meeting the doctor. “Diya was once scared of hospital visits, but not any more. The colourfully done walls, toys and books make her visits happy experience,” says her mother.

And that is exactly what Dr M Vijayalakshmi had in mind while setting up All For Kids- to make kids comfortable at the clinic. Dr Joy Kurien, professor in paediatric dentistry, also voices the same views.

“We want children to feel secure and comfortable in our clinic,” says Dr Joy. Dr Vijayalakshmi wanted to bring the American kind of care to the Indian experience.

“Kids don’t like to see just white coats. They like to see some colour on the walls,” believes the doctor who did her MBBS from Coimbatore Medical College and MD in Paediatrics from BJ Medical College, Pune, before moving to the United States where she did her MD in Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

She has ensured that even the nursing staff are not in white but in blue coats. The walls have been given a soothing green colour with Disney characters drawn on them. At All For Kids the waiting room has a corner dedicated as a play area complete with a tent, small chairs and a table. Even the equipment used by the doctor like nebuliser and BP apparatus has pictures of teddy bears on it.

“In fact Diya had come for a wellness check-up and I could talk to her parents for half an hour while Diya played happily,” says Dr Vijayalakshmi. The functioning of these clinics is also different. It is appointment-based care and hence parents need not wait for a long time with a sick child.

“When there is a sick child others are at risk,” reasons Dr Vijayalakshmi. The other highlights are personal follow up by the doctor, vaccination reminders and electronic medical records with full patient history.

“So the parents need not remember what medicines the child took previously,” says Dr Vijayalakshmi whose focus is on preventive care based on a strong partnership between the parents and the doctor through patient education and patient participation.

‘Raise a healthy child’ is their aim and they are putting a lot of stress on preventive care. Dr Joy had organised a wellness dental check-up for kids till June 15. “Before school reopens it is better to have a dental check-up done,” he says.

According to Dr Vijayalakshmi, before the school reopens parents should revaluate their kids’ health. “That should be the future of paediatric care. When it comes to wellness check-ups and food habits parents are not taking much care. Elders go for annual check-ups. Parents should start taking children for annual check ups to ensure that they are growing healthy,” she says.

The squeezies and stuffed dolls along with their child-friendly approach have removed the stuffiness usually associated with these places. For parents who struggled to keep grumpy children entertained during the wait to see a doctor, these clinics are a great relief. Dr Vijayalakshmi can be contacted at 6452772. For dental check up, call 3245753.

Vitamin D keeps heart in shape

Posted on June 16, 2008

WASHINGTON: The list of benefits conferred by Vitamin D has just got longer. It also keeps the heart fit as a fiddle, besides developing strong bones, healthy immune system and protection against cancer, according to new research.

In studies on rats, Robert U Simpson and his team at the University of Michigan have reported the first concrete evidence that treatment with activated vitamin D can protect against heart failure.

Treatment with activated vitamin D prevented heart muscle cells from growing bigger – called hypertrophy – in which the heart becomes enlarged and overworked, sometimes leading to heart failure.

They also prevented heart muscle cells from the over-stimulation and increased contractions associated with the progression of heart failure.

Heart failure is a progressive, disabling condition in which the heart becomes enlarged as it is forced to work harder and harder, even for routine daily activities.

Many heart patients or those with poorly controlled high blood pressure go on to experience a form of heart failure called congestive heart failure, in which the heart’s inability to pump blood around the body causes weakness and fluid build-up in lungs and limbs.

Vitamin D keeps heart in shape
14 Jun 2008, 2004 hrs IST,IANS

Many people with heart failure, who tend to be older, have been found to be deficient in vitamin D.

“Heart failure will progress despite the best medications,” said Simpson. “We think vitamin D retards that progression and protects the heart.”

Simpson and colleagues have explored vitamin D’s effects on heart muscle and the cardiovascular system for more than 20 years.

Way back in 1987, when Simpson showed the link between vitamin D and heart health, the idea seemed far-fetched and research funding was scarce. Now, a number of studies worldwide attest to the vitamin D-heart health link.

The findings of the study are being published in the forthcoming issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology.

Top 10 Fun Ways to Live Longer

Posted on June 15, 2008

Top 10 Fun Ways to Live Longer

By Mark Stibich, Ph.D.

A healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean treadmills and salads everyday. Many activities that are fun and pleasurable are also good for you. By understanding how these activities can help you live longer and what to do to get the most benefits, you’ll be putting some fun into healthy living.

1. Drink Red Wine

Red wine is packed with resveratrol, an antioxidant. These work to protect your body against the effects of aging. One or 2 glasses of red wine a day can help keep your body young.

2. Eat Dark Chocolate

Dark chocolate is a wonderful food that contains a large amount of antioxidants that protect your body from aging. Find good quality dark chocolate, learn to appreciate it, and have a bit of it each day. Eating chocolate may lower your blood pressure and cholesterol while providing an energy boost.

3. Smile

Smiling is a great way to change your attitude, connect with people and give benefit to your body. Like relaxation, smiling can work to counteract the effects of stress. By forcing ourselves to smile, we “trick” our body into believing that everything is good, thereby reducing stress. Like a switch, smiling can actually change your mood. So put a smile on, even if you don’t feel like it, and pretty soon you’ll be smiling for real.

4. Have More Sex

Sex and touching are thought to be essential parts of health. Sex releases an assortment of beneficial chemicals in the body. Sex and touching help us bond with others, strengthens relationships, and increases our own self-worth. Frequent sex may even extend your life by years.

5. Relax

Relaxation is the opposite of stress. While stress brings harmful health effects, relaxation helps our bodies to rest, heal and function better. By practicing daily relaxation techniques, you can train yourself to turn off your stress and replace it with calm energy. This will improve your blood pressure, heart rate and ability to cope with life’s challenges.

6. Make Exercise Play

Physical games and sports are a great way to keep both your body and mind healthy. Simple exercise routines are great for maintaining balance, flexibility, endurance and strength. Group games and sports can give your mind a workout as well, as you anticipate other people’s actions and how to work together. Find a game and activity that suits your level of physical ability and play often.

7. Sleep

Sleep is an essential body function. Most Americans do not get enough sleep. Medications, stress, illness and poor sleep habits all can prevent you from getting between 7 and 9 hours a night. The health benefits of sleep include more energy, better immune function, and more.

8. Spend Time With Loved Ones

Relationships are an important part of health. Not only do strong bonds with other people mean you will have help when you need it, being connected also means protection from loneliness, depression, and mental illness. Spend time cultivating your relationships with friends and family to improve your health and your life.

9. Solve Puzzles and Play Brain Games

Mind games are a great way to stay involved and engaged in the world. Games can exercise different parts of your mind and entice your curiosity. If possible, choose social games like chess or bridge that exercise your brain while keeping you connected with others.

10. Be Positive

Having a positive attitude about aging can add more than seven years to your life, according to researchers. Avoid the cultural push to glorify youth and regret each passing year. Find ways to to pleasure in your increasing age and enjoy greater learning, experience, and control in your life.

Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men?

Posted on June 15, 2008

Why Do Women Live Longer Than Men?
By Mark Stibich, Ph.D.,

It’s a phenomena seen in every population and every country: women live longer than men by 4 to 5 years everywhere. At first people tried to explain this fact by saying that men did more dangerous things and therefore died younger. Men ride motorcycles, don’t go see the doctor and just take more risks. When the statisticians got done with the data, though, these explanations didn’t really explain much. It seems women just live longer. In fact, men are around five times more likely to die from cardiovascular problems than women. Why could this be happening?

Women, Life Expectancy and the Female Body

Researchers in the Netherlands think they may have an answer: menstruation. It seems that when women menstruate, they release a hormone called “estradiol.” This hormone basically gives the heart a workout. During the second half of a menstrual cycle (and during pregnancy), the female cardiac output increases around 20%. This increase is equivalent to what happens when someone exercises. So basically the female heart gets a sustained workout for a few days every month. The result? Less cardiac problems than men (at least that is what these researchers are suggesting).

Is That the Whole Story?

No. The female body also has some genetic differences that may protect against aging, but the estradiol-heart health link may form an important part of the life-expectancy equation.

‘Smoking cuts life span by 5 years’

Posted on June 11, 2008

‘Smoking cuts life span by 5 years’
11 Jun 2008, 1212 hrs IST

WASHINGTON: Several studies have time and again stuck a warning chord for the smokers worldwide and here comes another. According to a mortality risk chart released Tuesday in the US Journal of the National Cancer Institute, smoking cigarettes has the same effect as cutting the life span by close to five years.

“The effect of smoking on the chance of dying is similar to the effect of adding five to 10 years of age,” the study said.

“For both men and women, smoking increases the risk of death by nearly the same magnitude as adding five years to a person’s age.”

The figures were derived by compiling death and health risk statistics from various agencies such as the American Cancer Society and National Center for Health Statistics, and were arranged into 10-year risk charts.

“For example, a 55-year-old man who smokes has about the same 10-year risk of death from all causes as a 65-year-old man who never smoked,” it said.

Among women who never smoked, the 10-year risk rates of dying from breast cancer and heart disease were similar until age 60, after which heart disease was the biggest killer.

“For women who currently smoke, the chance of dying from heart disease or lung cancer exceeds the chance of dying from breast cancer from age 40 on.”

The study, which aimed to help doctors convey the risks of smoking, was led by Lisa Schwartz of the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Vermont.

“We hope that the availability of these simple charts will facilitate physician-patient discussion about disease risk and help people understand where to focus risk reduction efforts,” the authors wrote.

Mr Muscle’s Adonis Complex

Posted on June 10, 2008 Updated on June 6, 2015

Mr Muscle’s Adonis Complex

By Hina Navin, Freelance Writer for GULF NEWSPublished: June 06, 2008, 00:12

Mirror, mirror on the wall once worried women, but today it has become everyone’s call… including men.

If the extra centimetres around your belly keep you up at night, if you devote two hours a day to toning your biceps and you’re desperately unhappy because your six-pack is not an eight-pack, then you may be part of a fraternity of men that suffers from muscle dysmorphia – an obsession with what men perceive (often inaccurately) as the underdevelopment of their bodies.

Understanding muscle dysmorphia

“Adonis Complex, technically known as muscle dysmorphia, is not a formal diagnosis. It is a type of body dysmorphic disorder, or a preoccupation of thought with a slight or imagined defect in appearance,” says Maya Fleifel Sidani, clinical psychologist at Dubai’s Human Relations Institute.

“There is another and equally interesting side to muscle dysmorphia. It refers to all types of body image preoccupation in boys and men. Some boys and men worry that they are not muscular enough; others worry that they are not lean enough and still others worry that they have some unattractive feature, like their hair or facial features. All of these worries represent different forms of the Adonis Complex.”

How severe can it get?

“Men’s body image concerns range from minor annoyances to serious and sometimes life-threatening obsessions. They can present manageable dissatisfaction at one end of the spectrum to extreme psychiatric body image disorders.

Men who find themselves caught up in these obsessions may find life spiralling out of control. Their lives are often dramatically affected, jeopardising careers as well as relationships with friends and loved ones,” she explains.

In a drive to achieve their goals, some men compulsively pump iron and monitor minute changes in their body composition. Other men may take steroids or muscle-building drugs, despite a catalogue of potential health risks.

Media as an influence

“Adonis was a figure of Greek mythology. He was said to be half man and half deity, and was considered the ultimate in masculine beauty. An Adonis body, according to 16th-century perspectives, was representative of the ultimate in male physique.

The myth goes that Adonis was so beautiful in physique that he won the love of Aphrodite, queen of all deities,” says Maya.

The media has a strong hold on people’s lives. The modern Adonis – extremely fit, muscled men with washboard abs, silky skin and rippling biceps and triceps – can sell everything from branded perfume to accessories.

These muscled hunks can be seen around the city on billboards, on television and in magazines.

Like women, men are driven by the same insecurities when faced with media portrayals of the handsome hunks, and the changed attitude of women adds to their anxiety. “The development of the Adonis Complex shows that men are being targeted as vigorously as women have been for decades,” says Maya.

“The image of the ‘good man’ is related to the protector and the breadwinner. Muscles are a sign of his strength. In addition, the media associates beauty in men with muscularity, and it is a natural phenomenon to like what is beautiful. Therefore muscularity is associated with masculinity.”

Recognise your obsession

Harrison Pope, Katharine Phillips and Roberto Olivardia reveal the hidden signs and symptoms of the male obsession in their book The Adonis Complex.

According to the three American experts, men struggle with the same enormous pressure to achieve physical perfection that women have dealt with for centuries.

From compulsive weightlifting to steroid use and hair plugs to cosmetic surgery, growing numbers of men are taking the quest for perfect muscles, skin, and hair too far – crossing the line from normal interest to pathological obsession.

The new obsession with appearance can afflict men of all ages and all occupations, and in more severe forms it poses a health threat that is as deadly as eating disorders are for women.

“If your self-esteem depends entirely on your appearance, and your exercise regime disrupts your social and working life, then you may be suffering from a body image disorder. Engaging in dangerous practices like fasting, dehydration and steroid use are red flags that the pursuit of muscularity has become excessive.

At its most extreme, this is known as muscle dysmorphia or bigorexia,” Maya explains.

Dangers of this obsession

Men are under pressure: both the pressure they impose on themselves, and the pressure exerted on them by their peers or partner. This makes them set unrealistic goals for themselves and they end up doing more harm to themselves than good.

Some men even lie to their partners about their fitness routine or exaggerate the weightlifting capacity and their actual weight in order to impress their mates. Their obsession becomes their compulsive routine, which they follow without understanding the side effects they may be facing on their mental and physical health.

Health advice

“Each person has a different capacity for exercise that depends on his fitness level. Too much exercise leads to muscle fatigue, injuries to muscles and joints, stagnation of performance, a lack of sleep and other health problems. My advice to everyone is that pre-screening tests be done before starting a new exercise regime so that you are aware of the results of overdoing either cardio or body building workouts,” says Dr Deepa Dhavjekar, spa and recreation manager at the Taj Palace Dubai.

“Remember, you should set realistic goals. In my experience, people join the gym and say ‘I want to lose 10 kg in one month’. Weight reduction takes place gradually through a systematic plan,” she explains.

“Men are actively working harder to look good. They are more conscious about their looks and trying to keep fit. They yearn to have a good physique that will improve their personality and give them self-confidence,” she adds.

“But as many women can tell you after years of striving for perfection, a good physique doesn’t equal a better personality or self-confidence. That’s something you’ll have to work on from the inside.”

Toenails indicate women’s cardio risk

Posted on June 7, 2008

Toenails indicate women’s cardio risk
7 Jun 2008, 1309 hrs IST,ANI

LONDON: Assessing the nicotine content in toenail clippings may help predict a woman’s risk of developing heart disease, says a new study.

The US study on nurses suggests that measuring the nicotine content in toenail clippings can help in calculating the risk.

The researchers analysed the toenails of more than 62,500 women, who showed double the level of nicotine in those with heart disease than those without the condition.

The team believes that the test can bring out more accurate results than simply asking a person about their smoking history.

It is well established that smokers have a higher risk of heart disease.

There are existing tests for the presence of nicotine in the body, for example testing the amount of nicotine breakdown products in saliva or urine, but they only reflect recent exposure to cigarette smoke.

Lead researcher Dr Wael Al-Delaimy from University of California, San Diego said because toenails grow slowly – at a rate of around 1cm a year – they may offer a longer-term estimate of a person’s total exposure to tobacco smoke, whether active or passive.

“The use of toenail nicotine is a novel way to objectively measure exposure to tobacco smoke and could become a useful test to identify high-risk individuals in the future,” BBC quoted him, as saying.

During the study 900 women were diagnosed with heart disease. The women in the top fifth for toenail nicotine content were thinner, less active, heavier drinkers, and more likely to have high blood pressure or diabetes, as well as a family history of heart attack, compared to those with less nicotine in their toenails.

Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said the study emphasised that smokers are storing up health problems for the future.

“Men and women who smoke are around twice as likely to suffer a heart attack in their life time as those who don’t, and quitting smoking is one of the most effective ways to reduce this risk,” she said.