Globe Health Tours News

Feb 29: According to the new statistics released by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. the organ transplant market is expected to reach 115,000 procedures by the year 2012. Most accepted form of organ transplants are heart, kidney, pancreas, liver and lungs. The market is encouraged by the increasing number of adult population and the surge in the number of organ failure due to serious ailments.

The success rate of the organ transplants encouraged by the modern technology also promotes the market of organ transplant. Awareness programmes that are aimed to remove misconception and fear linked with organ donations. Voluntary participation of organ donors who are willing for after-life organ donation has also encouraged the market and it is considered as a social responsibility.

Kidney transplant heads the list of organ transplants and it is expected to reach 78.8 thousand transplants by the year 2012. Liver transplants are expected to reach 1,290 by 2010 in Latin America. Tissue transplantation market that include cornea, skin grafts and heart valves are expected to fetch $5.25 billion by 2012.

The organs like liver and kidney are largely donated by living donors and it has seen a steep rise. The number of stranger donor is higher than those of family donors. Even though the number of organ donation is increasing, demand for organs is far beyond that and it fails to cater the needs of all the patients. One-third of the patients are getting the organs what they are looking for. Finding suitable donor, preventing infections or block in blood vessels are the major hurdles for organ transplantation.

The report is released by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. and it is titled as “Organ and Tissue Transplantation: A Global Strategic Business Report”. The study also includes market data and statistics of transplant procedures in US, Canada, Europe, Japan, Asia, Latin America to name a few.

Feb 28: Plastic surgeries will try to enhance the personality of an individual to a great deal. Plastic surgery is gaining wide appreciation and the surge in the number of surgeries in recent years is the perfect example for this. It is estimated that about 11.7 million cosmetic procedures were carried out in the US in 2007.

There are pros and cons linked with plastic surgery and doctors suggest the patients to consider all that before preparing for a surgery. Based on the purpose plastic surgery is classified into several types and the cosmetic surgery is the most preferred one among them. According to a statistics 11 million cosmetic surgeries were performed in the year 2006 in US alone.

Women are more attracted towards cosmetic surgery and it is estimated as 91 percent. Cosmetic surgery among men has witnessed a 17 percent increase in 2007 as against 2006. While the number of surgeries in women has experienced only 1 percent increase during the same period.

The high priority cosmetic surgeries are listed as follows.

• Tummy Tuck or Abdominoplastry
• Reshaping eyelids, brow lift and forehead lift
• Breast reduction, Augmentation surgery, breast lift or Mastopexy and breast reconstruction.
• Buttock Augmentation
• Liposuction
• Injection of dermal fillers etc.

Before giving nod for a surgery it is better for the patients to gain knowledge about particular surgery. Getting a clear idea about the pre and post surgery care is also essential.

Feb 27: A new study revealed that the British people are underestimating their waist size. They consider themselves slimmer than what they really are. Because of their inability to identify their oversized waist line they are deny the opportunity to understand the symptoms of type 2diabetes. According to the study conducted by the University of Leicester the men under-estimates their waist size by a margin of 3.1 inches (7.9cm) and women by an average of 2.2 inches (5.5cm).

It is estimated that in the UK alone there are 750,000 people who are affected by type 2 diabetes but they are not aware of it. Diabetes UK recommends the risk level of waist lines that put people at risk they are: Women: 31.5 inches (80 cm), White men and black men: 37 inches (94cm) and South Asian men: 35 inches (90cm).

Type 2 diabetes will lead to distressing problems such as blindness, heart ailments, stoke, amputation and kidney disease. Eight out of ten people diagnosed for Type 2 diabetes were identified as being overweight. The study includes 502 people to measure their waist size. People from European background are more affected and they have 2.9inches (7.4cm) out as against their South Asian counterparts who have an average of 1.6 inches (4.1cm).

While commenting on this the lead researcher Professor Kamlesh Khunti opined that: “People with type 2 diabetes could remain undiagnosed for up to 12 years. The government is planning to take initiative to float a screening programme to identify the early signs of heart ailments, kidney related problems, amputation and diabetes. But self assessment is the effective way to tackle the issue. The research is an eye opener and it stresses the need for creating awareness in people about the risk of developing type 2diabetes by measuring their waist circumference.”

Underestimating the waist line is like turning a blind eye towards the risk of diabetes. The clear symptom of diabetes will take years to emerge; waistline is the clear indication of the type 2 diabetes.

Feb 26: The traditional medical treatments such as ayurvedic and homeopathic are gaining importance in India as more advertisement and marketing techniques are promoting these medical practices. More and more patients prefer to get traditional treatments to get relief from chronic and lifestyle induced ailments.

While commenting on this Anoop Misra, Department of Diabetes and Metabolism, Fortis Group of Hospitals said: “Ayuveda is the most preferred traditional medical treatment and the demand is rapidly increasing in the last five years to more than 3,000 crores due to the effective marketing of their products supported by scientific proof of its capability to cure some diseases. At the same time these treatments are unable to handle emergency and cardiac treatments.”

According to a survey conducted by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), out of 400 Indian CEOs surveyed as part of this survey, over 40 per cent of the CEOs prefer ayurvedic treatment to minimise stress like naturopathy, massage, acupuncture and acupressure. It also predicted that within 5-6 years the metros and towns will witness many ayurvedic centres that focus on treatment related to stress that is part of the fast paced lifestyle existing in the metros today.

Amrit Kalsi, Senior Medical officer of Delhi Government opined that in the past few years more and more people are choosing homeopathic and ayurvedic treatments instead of allopathic as a remedy to their chronic ailments like respiratory problems, skin diseases, fevers, viral infections, allergic disorders and asthma. This tendency is expected to increase in the coming years.”

This is a clear evidence of the growing appreciation of the traditional ayurvedic and homeopathy medicine in India along with most popular allopathy treatment.

Feb 25: Dentist’s advice to stay away from sweets as precaution against tooth decay will no longer deserves any bearing, as the new study conducted by the researchers at University of California, Los Angels (UCLA) is expected to pave way for tooth-friendly lollipops.

Wenyuan Shi, the dentistry professor and microbiologist has extracted an element from licorice root that has the ability to resist a main bacterium that causes tooth decay. This extract is successfully infused in lollipops that have the ability to resist Streptococcus mutans, a common bacterium that could release harmful cavity-causing acids.

While commenting on this Wenyuan Shi said: “Only 15 milligrams of licorice powder per lollipop eliminates 99.9 per cent of these bacteria in the mouth within five to 10 minutes. The holes in the cavities on the outermost layer of the teeth are due to the acids produced by the bacteria in the mouth. This lollipop is considered as an effective remedy against cavity formation.”

Right from the beginning of the project the expectations are high and the researchers focussed on medical practices rather than surgical approaches to tackle tooth decay. Other hurdles faced by the researchers are that the lollipops have to please consumers along with attracting positive feedbacks.

The lollipop form is considered more effective than the candy or gum form. And for candy and gum the ingredient could only be used in limited quantity that makes it less effective than the longer-lasting lollipop. Young children and the elderly are more vulnerable to cavities as according to a statistics released by the US Centres for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.

The lollipops are part of the emerging trend of medicined dentistry, which tries to find remedy for dental problems using medicines rather than surgical procedures. The lollipop is made available online at www.c3-jian.com. It is expected to be available in the medical stores next year onwards.

Feb 23: As a proof to the increasing popularity of cosmetic surgery in the UK, a survey has revealed that about half of the adults are eager to undergo cosmetic surgery. Tummy tuck heads the priority list. Three among five mothers with young children are interested in tummy tuck and nearly half of them would like to have liposuction.

While commenting on this Alexandra Richmond, senior consumer analyst at Mintel said: “After giving birth to children women’s fitness level experience a terrible change and many of them are worried about their post-pregnancy figure. This is the main reason behind their desire to participate in cosmetic surgery.”

Considering both sexes two among five are eager in tummy tuck and 36 per cent would have liposuction. About 19 per cent of them are interested in breast enlargements.

“Those who expressed eagerness might not actually go through with it. But it is surprising that almost half the nation entertain the idea of cosmetic surgery. There is a changing mindset towards cosmetic surgery and they consider this as an effective way of improving their body shape without a long term commitment of dieting and regular exercise,” said Ms Richmond.

About £148 million was spent by the people last year for body reshaping operations including tummy tucks and liposuction. Between the years 2006 and 2007 the number of cosmetic surgeries has seen a steep increase of 29 per cent with 20,300 surgeries conducted last year as compared to 15, 800 conducted in the year 2006.

Feb 22: A recent study conducted by the US researchers shed light on to the link between day time dozing and its influence in promoting stroke in elderly people. Regular unintentional daytime dozing is considered as the early symptom of stroke in elderly people. The risk of stroke is two to four times higher among those who feel sleepy during day time as compared to those who doesn’t have any day time dozing tendency, as according to the study.

The expert team revealed this while addressing at the International Stroke Conference. The study included 2000 people and studied their sleeping patterns such as while watching TV, sitting and talking to someone, sitting quiet after a lunch without alcohol and stopping briefly in traffic while driving.

According to the findings of the research the risk of stroke over the next two years is 2.6 times greater among people who reported dozing as compared to those without day time dozing. Among those with significant dozing the risk is 4.5 times higher. The risk of heart attack or death from vascular disease is 1.6% higher for moderate dozers and 2.6% higher for significant dozers. These are significant numbers; the impact will be higher over a short period of time.

While commenting on this Dr Bernadette Boden-Albala said: “Given a wider perspective it is worth assessing patients for their day time sleeping habits. The moderate and significant dozing among the elderly people should have to be considered as the symptoms of further complication.”

Dr Heinrich Audebert, consultant stroke physician at Guy’s and St Thomas Hospital, London opined that: “We strongly recommend the physicians to conduct sleep apnoea screening in patients who shows symptoms of sleeping break in the night. Other probable reasons are the earlier unidentified minor stroke of the brain and it also paves the way for the sleepiness during daytime.”

According to another statistics about 150,000 people in the UK are experiencing stroke every year.

Feb 20: Some among the patients are hesitant to consult doctors because of their fear to face the ambiance of the hospital and complication in the treatment procedure. As an attempt to minimise the fear of those patients, dentists are considering additional measures to give a clear picture about the dental treatment procedures by remoulding the hospital background as more patient friendly one. Entertainment facilities and spa-type refreshment are the options that are under consideration.

According to a study conducted among dental patients in the US shows that about one quarter of the adults are experiencing fear to visit dentist. The advancement in technology which includes numbing gels, anaesthetics and sedatives has the capability to minimise pain to a great deal, all these development has failed to alleviate the fear of these patients. The procedure of dentistry has also been made comfortable than before.

Some dentists provide facilities to make the patients enjoy music and watch television as an attempt to make them feel relaxed and to keep their nerves off the dentist’s chair. One dentist opined that he is thinking about including spa services at his dental clinic as he himself had fear to visit dentist during his childhood. The Sheboygan Smile Centre in Wisconsin includes aromatherapy and music in all rooms and the patients are allowed to customise as according to their taste.

Spa trend in dentist office is gaining prominence in the US and the rate will vary as according to the added facilities included in it. In the year 2003 the American Dental Association (ADA) in its report expressed that more than half of the 427 dentists surveyed at the annual meeting provided spa services in one form or other to impress their patients. ADA also stressed on the point that proper treatment of the patients is the main priority other than the added features. Gaining trust of the patients and maintaining good patient/dentist relationship is the core value of dentistry.

Professor Philip James who is chairman of the International Obesity Task Force labelled our built enviroment as “obesogenic” saying it was designed to encourage car use and discourage walking and other physical forms of transport. As the public health authrorities struggle to combat the “obesity epidemic” (for example 30% of UK children are defined as obese) they are looking beyond a purely “carbohydrate” view which simply views obesity as being what you eat to a more holistic approach that recognises that physical activity has to be built into life rather than tacked on like a gym. Whilst Globe Health Tours helps patients seeking Obesity surgery such as lap band or gastric bypass, we are also exploring other approaches to weight loss such as ayurveda and yoga which seek to retrain people away from habits that sedentary and aphysical and move them away from eating habits that may reflect psychopathologies much more than they represent genuine hunger.

What is clear is that over the next 10 years we are going to have to investigate a portfolio of approaches to our modern life of which obesity is a symptom and not the cause. We are going to have to establish the connection between diet and mental health and finally we are going to have to retrain people away from our seated culture - sitting in front of TV, computers, in cars and in bars!

Feb 18: In a bid to remove the pain of numerous patients who are affected by bone fracture, a new study conducted by the UK based researchers enables using patients own stem cells to merge shattered bones and cartilages. The research team of the Edinburgh University are giving shape to a “bioactive scaffold” to shield stem cells from blood and bone marrow thereby allows them to grow into bone and cartilage when placed in the body.

This innovative technique makes use of the stem cells that are extracted from blood and bone marrow will be available on a wide scale within two years time. Stem cells extracted from bone marrow are used for the research and the expert team is working hand in hand with the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service to develop bone forming cells from blood. This allows the patients to get relief from surgery.

Dr Brendon Noble, working with the MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine said that they will focus their research on mending cartilage injuries caused due to the fatal road accidents that demands prolonged treatment and end up in partial cure. Elderly patients who sustain fracture also tend to heal slowly.

He further added that: “Half of us will have orthopaedic surgery in our lifetime. To remain active in later part of your life these kinds of problems should have to be alleviated and the new study will have a far reaching impact in this regard.”

“This research will simplify the treatment of the severe trauma injuries that are unable to cure using the current techniques and it will help in replacing bones that are lost to cancer. To enable this technology to reach the numerous needy patients spread all over the world the scaffold should have to be compatible with the human and resist rejection,” said Professor Chris Moran, member of the British Orthopaedic Association and expert in trauma surgery at the University of Nottingham.

Surgeons believe that this technique when applied will turn as a rescue for those suffering from trauma injuries that are too severe to heal. The project estimated at £1.4m will also have a wide impact on the treatments like osteoarthritis.