Globe Health Tours News

Mar 20: In what could be considered as a significant research, Annals of Neurology has conducted a study that tries to find out the link between the tiredness and sleepwalking. As part of the research the scientists considered 40 sleepwalkers and researched on their sleep pattern in the lab condition. It is estimated that sleepwalking is affecting nearly 4 per cent of the people.

More and more people especially adults are getting affected by the sleepwalking disease. The reason behind this is the increased rate of tiredness that arises due to lack of sleep as part of our busy lifestyle. This new study focussed on patients who are referred to sleep disorder clinic on the background of the grounds of their sleepwalking nature during the period of August 2003 and March 2007.

As part of the research the somnambulist patients are asked to sleep in the lab condition and their sleep patter was analysed. This was repeated after allowing them to take sufficient sleep and without that. The sleep patterns of all the patients were recorded in the video and was analysed carefully.

During normal sleep nearly half of the patients showed signs of disturbance that reaches 32 per cent and while during ‘recovery’ sleep the disturbance rate rose to 92 per cent. Insomnia will also increase the proportion of sleepwalkers who are experiencing least complex episodes; somnambulism will happen when the patient is in deep sleep.

While commenting on this the sleep expert at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, Dr Neil Stanley said: “Even though many people give less importance to sleep related problems it will have a far reaching impact in the sufferers. There are several cases in which the somnambulists were affected by injuries and even they attempt for murder. Adults are mainly affected by sleep walking it is because of their stressful lifestyle that didn’t allow them to have enough sleep.”

Now-a-days organ transplant is gaining prominence as it offers new lease of life to several people who are struggling for life with organ related disorders. There are certain guidelines to be followed to make the efforts of organ donation fruitful. The list of basic guidelines is as given below.

Procedures to become an organ donor

* Inform your family and doctor about your wishes.
* Get a donor card and add the details on the back of your driving license.
* Take 5 copies and give one each to your doctor, lawyer, family, keep one safe in your house and one in your wallet.
* Give power of attorney to someone, who might be your doctor, friend, or family members. They will be allowed to take medical decisions when you become incapable.
* Make a living will and also an advance care directive. The legal documents will register your wishes if you cannot able to communicate.

Guidelines

* Special care with all the precautionary measures will be taken to ensure safety of the donor.
* Organ donated will serve the need of those people who are severely affected by organ related disorder and priority will be given as according to the waiting list. No consideration will be shown on the basis of money value of the patients.

Jan 31: An interesting study has revealed that the blazing row with the spouse will help to enhance the lifetime. A good fight among the partners will help them to live longer. As according to the research the husbands and wives who suppress their emotions are likely to die earlier than those who speak out their emotions.

Suppressing the emotions will lead to much health related disorders that will end up in death. If the couple express their anger by shouting out their emotions to solve their conflict, they are expected to live longer than one or both of the couple who used to suppress their emotions.

This unique study was conducted by the researchers at the University of Michigan. The study includes 192 couples who were married more than 17 years ago and they were categorised into four. The categories includes both partners communicate their anger, either male or female express while the other suppress as the second and third category and both the partners suppress their anger and disappointment.

While commenting on this the lead writer and Professor emeritus of the University Of Michigan School Of Public Health, Ernest Harburg said: “When couples get together, reconciliation about the conflict will be their main agenda. If they fail to take initiative to resolve their differences and keep on burying their anger and disappointment, then those couples will land up in real trouble.”

Out of the 192 couples considered for the research, 26 of them suppressed their emotions and there were 13 deaths in that group. 41 deaths added from the remaining 166 pairs affix more proof to the findings of the study.

In a nutshell the study gives green signal for couples to indulge in conflict, as it will allow them to live longer!

Jan 9: A new vaccine that could help to get rid of meningitis was successfully tested by the teams in the UK and US. The vaccine helps to gain immunity against the meningitis strains A, C, W135 and Y right from the young age of two months old.

Meningitis is the kind of disorder that leads to an inflammation of the protective membrane layering the central nervous system. The main reason attributed to this disorder is physical injury, infectious agents, cancer or certain drugs. Some kinds of meningitis are mild and will go off on their own.

While in serious condition might be due to inflammation to the spinal cord and brain. In severe condition it will leads to neurological damage or in some cases leads to even the death of the patient. Timely diagnosis and treatment is what needed and the infectious meningitis the most common form of this disease is cured using antibiotics and needs close observation.

The successful testing of the meningitis vaccine will help in eradicating this disease right from the childhood. While the campaigners appreciated the research but they raised their concern that the most of the meningitis were caused by the group B strains. The vaccine didn’t have the capability to raise the immunity against the group B strain.

Jan 4: A recent study conducted by the researches at the University of Chicago has shed light on the influence of sleep on diabetes. According to the research three nights of bad sleep will reduce the body’s ability to process glucose and will pave way for rise in the glucose level. Three consecutive days of less sleep will minimise the glucose tolerance level of young healthy adults this will be greater than the effect created by gaining 20 to 30 pounds.

Ability of our body to process glucose will vary according to the chronic sleep deprivation. The poor sleeping habits in the elderly and obese play a vital role in the progress of diabetes. Deep sleep or slow wave sleep is considered as the most effective form of relaxing and is necessary for retaining mental clarity. This is the first study of its kind that connected the significance of sleep and physical well being.

While commenting on the results Eve Van Cauter the author of the study opined that: “Previous studies from our lab have demonstrated many link between chronic or partial sleep deprivations, changes in appetite, metabolic abnormalities, obesity, and diabetes risk. The new study adds more value to the previous studies and it also hint that the poor sleep is strongly associated with the aging.”

As part of the research nine lean and healthy people were included as the samples. They are aged between 20 and 31 and are subjected to spend five nights in the laboratory condition. They were allowed to sleep at 11pm and are awakened at 7.30am. After two nights of undisturbed sleep, on the third day speakers fitted near the bed emitted low level sound whenever the brain patterns of the samples indicate they are drifting to deep sleep. But the sound is not loud enough to wake them up it just attempted to reduce deep sleep to 90 per cent and bring them back to lighter sleep.

The attempt tried to imitate the sleeping pattern of people over the age of 60 who normally get only 20 minutes of deep sleep as against 80 to 100 minutes for young adults. After subjecting the sample to nine days of sleep interruption they were thoroughly tested. The insulin sensitivity of the samples had decreased by 25 percent that implied that they need more insulin to dispose the same amount of glucose. At the same time insulin secretion had not raised in eight members of the sample as a result their blood glucose level showed a 23 percent increase.

So enough sleep is needed to stay healthy both physically and mentally. Don’t avoid sleep at any cost that is the hint we get from the study conducted by the researches at the University of Chicago.

Whenever two people meet together and discuss body mass index, there is a disagreement of what the correct number should be. The table below lists the commonly accepted values for western people:

Although BMI is broadly accepted as a shorthand indicator for general health, it is also criticised for giving an often inaccurate view of weight and for over-emphasizing weight over other health factors. Indeed the focus on unhealthy diets above being healthy is an obvious manifestation of this trend.

Nothwithstanding these criticisms, people with high BMIs are unquestionably risking their health and statistics clearly show a correlation between obesity and poor health.

GHT offers obesity surgery in a number of destinations around the world.

According to the US Census Bureau, by 2010 sub Saharan Africa will have suffered 71mn deaths due to AIDS. By comparison, the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages killed some 30mn people. These are staggering figures, particularly if one considers that deaths from AIDS are only part of the problems affecting African women and children.

Experts at the UN warn that most of the sub-Saharan countries will be unable to reach the Millennium goals related to health for 2015, particularly those related to improving the health of mothers and children. In fact, many diseases affecting children and adults can be addressed with minimum resources —if they are used strategically.

Childhood malnutrition is a critical issue. Almost 60% of deaths of children under five in developing countries are due to malnutrition and its effects –such as greater mortality from infectious diseases. It is estimated that African women are 10 to 100 times more likely to die during pregnancy and childbirth than women in the industrialised countries. Most of these deaths and disabilities are caused by delays in recognizing complications, difficulties in reaching a medical facility and lack of adequate medical care. Skilled health workers are vital in addressing these challenges but their numbers are pitifully low.

Malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis continue to be major threats facing both children and adults. Recent studies have shown that HIV treatment is “failing” in many African countries. The rates of failure vary depending on the programme and the country under consideration. Treatment failure in many patients is due to their starting to take medication too late in the course of the infection. Other patients have problems in accessing the drugs, either because they are too poor or live too far away from the health center providing the medication. Throughout Africa, the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS is one of the main barriers in dealing successfully with that infection, both in terms of prevention and treatment. Education, public health campaigns and the active participation of members of the clergy have contributed in many areas to overcoming the stigma but much remains to be done and progress is slow.

Solving the problem of poverty and the resulting malnutrition and disease it engenders requires three distinct steps: first, the development of efficient and effective healthcare systems; second, increasing access of the poor to adequate healthcare; and third, redirecting resources from acute care hospitals using high-tech equipment to investment in low-tech, but effective, community-based primary and preventive care.

Health problems in Africa cannot be considered in isolation — and are not only the responsibility of Africans themselves. Foreign technical and financial assistance is required. Aid can strengthen civil society and community-based organisations which are the basis of a democratic society. To bring hope to a continent ravaged by poverty and disease, effective and urgent action is required. It is available and it can be done.

With the advancement in science and technology, a leading hospital in Chennai,India is treating strokes,tumours, and fibroids through Pinhole surgeries. Through a puncture of size of a pinhole and with the help of a catheter as thin as a hair,the pinhole surgeon gains access to the different body parts through the arteries and delivers the treatment directly at the site.
The greatest advantage of this is that there is no bleeding,no cuts,very less pain,no surgical scars,speedy recovery and most imporatantly the infection rate is very less as the internal body parts are not exposed to the environment.

We at Globe Health Tours help people gain the best service at the best hospitals and make sure they are treated with the latest techniques in the industry.

while the press reminds us all of the risks, Michael Owen’s choice to travel to Germany for treatment is another example of how medical tourism is driven by a wide range of reasons, not always associated with cost and price.

Simply, Owen thought that treatment at a specialist clinic in Germany was better than anything offered in the UK! I wonder whether his doctors in the UK will still continue to treat him!! Treatment Abroad has a good article on it.

while the press reminds us all of the risks, Michael Owen’s choice to travel to Germany for treatment is another example of how medical tourism is driven by a wide range of reasons, not always associated with cost and price.

Simply, Owen thought that treatment at a specialist clinic in Germany was better than anything offered in the UK! I wonder whether his doctors in the UK will still continue to treat him!! Treatment Abroad has a good article on it.