Therapist Unlimited Blog

 

Parents who have children suffering from celiac disease could now smile a little bit despite the medical condition of their beloved angels.
Based on medical facts, a Celiac disease (CD) is an inherited intestinal disorder characterized by life-long intolerance to the ingestion of gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Although CD can be diagnosed at any age, it commonly occurs during early childhood (between 9 and 24 months). Reduced bone mineral density is often found in individuals with CD.
Metabolic bone disease remains a significant and common complication of CD. Reduced bone mineral density can lead to the inability to develop optimal bone mass in children and the loss of bone in adults, both of which increase the risk of osteoporosis.   There also exists an additional risk of fracture in people with CD.

 

 

 

Those children suffering from celiac disease should engage in a gluten-free diet to be cured of their medical problem.

 

 

A recent medical study has shown that a gluten-free diet (GFD) promotes a rapid increase in bone mineral density that leads to complete recovery of bone
mineralization in children. A GFD improves, although rarely normalizes, bone mineral density in adults. Children may attain normal peak bone mass if the
diagnosis is made and treatment is given before puberty, thereby preventing osteoporosis in later life.
Also, nutritional supplements consisting of calcium and vitamin D seem to increase the bone mineral density of children and adolescents with CD.
"Our findings reinforce the importance of a strict gluten-free diet, which remains the only scientific proven treatment for celiac disease to date," the
researchers conclude. "Early diagnosis and therapy are critical in preventing celiac disease complications, like reduced bone mineral density", they added.

 

Those frequent users of acetaminophen, a known pail reliever should avoid getting hooked with the medicine.
A new study has shown that acetaminophen may be associated with an increased risk of asthma and wheezing in both children and adults exposed to the drug.
The data was taken from a recent study made by researchers from the  University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, who conducted a systematic review and metaanalysis of 19 clinical studies (total subjects=425,140) that compared the risk of asthma or wheezing with acetaminophen exposure.

Based on the study, the pooled odds ratio (odds ratio for all studies combined) for asthma among users of acetaminophen was 1.63.
The risk of asthma in children who used acetaminophen in the year prior to asthma diagnosis or in the first year of life was elevated to 1.60 and 1.47, respectively.
Moreover, the study revealed a slight increase in the risk of asthma and wheezing with prenatal use of acetaminophen by mothers.
With the relevant data they gathered, the researchers speculate that acetaminophen’s lack of inhibition of cyclooxygenase, the key enzyme involved in the inflammatory response of asthma, may be one explanation for the potential link between acetaminophen use and asthma.

 

A recent study has shown that a healthy body and lifestyles keep professional athletes notably football players and even ordinary men free from heart disease after their retirement from the game or work.
Based on the research, compared to other men in a similar age range, retired National Football League players had a significantly lower prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, sedentary lifestyles and metabolic syndrome.
"Despite their large body size, retired NFL players do not have a greater prevalence of heart disease risk factors when compared to the general population,"
said Dr. Alice Chang, assistant professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern and the study’s lead author. "In fact, other factors such as age and high
cholesterol levels were better predictors for heart disease than the body size of the former athletes in our study."
When body mass index (BMI) standards are applied, more than half of all professional football players are considered overweight or obese, which is
considered an indicator for heart disease risk. Dr. Chang said although a majority of these players are not as fit and active after retirement, they still
had fewer risk factors for heart disease than men of the same age and body size from the Dallas Heart Study, a groundbreaking investigation of
cardiovascular disease that involves thousands of Dallas County residents.
 

 

 

Retirees who wish to be free from heart disease should keep their body healthy through exercise and a healthy lifestyle.

 

Staying physically fit earlier in life might have offset the risks associated with a large body size, said the study’s senior author, Dr. Benjamin Levine,
a professor of internal medicine at UT Southwestern, and director of the Institute for Exercise and Environmental Medicine a joint program of UT
Southwestern and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.
The study examined 150 former pro athletes and 150 normal counterparts from the Dallas Heart Study with an average age of 55. The median BMI for both
groups was higher than 31, which is considered to be in the obese range.
Retired NFL players didn’t get a totally clean bill of health, however. As a group they were found to have developed similar amounts of coronary
atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) as the group of non athletes. Although they were less likely to have diabetes, they had higher rates of
pre-diabetes, high fasting blood-sugar numbers that increase their risk for developing diabetes in the future.
The study authors’ scientific investigation with a high-profile group could have far-reaching implications. More than 60 percent of offensive and defensive
linemen at the high-school level, they note, also can be characterized through BMI as overweight or obese.
"The good news is that as long as you remain active and fit, even with a larger body, you can lower your risk for heart disease," Dr. Chang said. "The bad
news is that being a professional athlete doesn’t eliminate your risk for developing heart disease later in life. Even professional athletes may be at risk
for developing heart disease as they age."
Professional athletes should continue exercise regimens after their professional careers are over, Dr. Chang said. For the public at large, the study
reaffirms that exercise is an important way to decrease the risk for heart disease, Dr. Chang said.
Other UT Southwestern researchers who contributed to the study include Dr. Song Zhang, assistant professor of clinical sciences; and Amit Patel,
fourth-year medical student. Researchers from the Cooper Clinic in Dallas, the University of Washington, Emory University School of Medicine, the Baptist Cardiac and Vascular Institute, and the Living Heart Foundation also contributed to the study.

 

According to a recent study, individuals living in neighborhoods conducive to physical activity and providing access to healthy foods may have a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes in a five-year period.
"The worldwide epidemic of type 2 diabetes mellitus is largely driven by the combined rise in obesity, intake of energy-dense or nutrient-poor foods and physical inactivity," the authors write as background information in the article. Interventions to reduce risk on the individual level including surgery, medication and behavior change - have had mixed results. Large-scale behavior change may be necessary to reverse the diabetes epidemic, but such a change is difficult to achieve and may be unsustainable if the surrounding environment is not supportive.
Amy H. Auchincloss, Ph.D., M.P.H., of Drexel University School of Public Health, Philadelphia, and colleagues studied 2,285 adults age 45 to 84 who were initially examined between 2000 and 2002. Study participants were from three of the sites in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) for which neighborhood level data were obtained: Baltimore; Forsyth County, N.C.; and New York City/Bronx. Blood glucose levels were obtained from study participants at baseline and at three follow-up examinations, during which other individual characteristics also were assessed (including diet, body mass index [BMI] and physical activity levels).

 

 

 

Residents of a peaceful nighborhood has lesser chances of getting inflicted with diabetes.
 

 

Measures of neighborhood resources were obtained from a separate assessment, the Community Survey, in which other residents of the same neighborhoods (defined as the area within a 20-minute walk or a mile from their homes) rated the suitability of their environment for physical activity and access to healthy foods. For instance, they were asked if it was pleasant or easy to walk in their neighborhood, and whether a large, high-quality selection of fruits, vegetables and other low-fat foods was available. Scores for physical activity and healthy foods were calculated for each neighborhood on scales of one to five (with five representing the healthiest areas).
Over a median (midpoint) of five years of follow-up, 233 of the 2,285 participants (10.2 percent) developed diabetes. Average neighborhood scores were 3.68 for physical activity and 3.36 for healthy foods.
"Better neighborhood resources, determined by a combined score for physical activity and healthy foods, were associated with a 38 percent lower incidence of type 2 diabetes," the authors revealed. This was similar to the reduction in risk observed among individuals whose BMI was five points lower. "The association remained statistically significant after further adjustment for individual dietary factors, physical activity level and body mass index."
The increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes in the past 30 years makes it urgent to identify environmental features that may mitigate risk, the authors conclude. "Current efforts to foster health-promoting environments include designing and modifying physical environments, such as zoning residential neighborhoods to require safe sidewalks, creating parks and attractive public green spaces and improving public transportation so that residents rely less on their cars; supporting fresh-food farmers’ markets in low-income, urban neighborhoods; and assisting stores in those neighborhoods in improving their selection of healthy foods," they write.
"There is unlikely to be a panacea for the obesity epidemic and rising epidemic of type 2 diabetes. However, altering our environments so that healthier behaviors and lifestyles can be easily chosen may be one of the key steps in arresting and reversing these epidemics."

 

The Academy for Eating Disorders

 

Well designed site with membersip’s and conferences to help professional’s understand the problems of Eating Disorders.

 

Mission Statment

"The Academy for Eating Disorders is a global professional association committed to leadership in eating disorders research, education, treatment, and prevention."

The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED) is a global, multidisciplinary professional organization that provides cutting-edge professional training and education, inspires new developments in eating disorders research, prevention, and clinical treatments, and is the international source for state-of-the-art information in the field of eating disorders.

http://www.aedweb.org/

Are you a frequent user of amphetamine in your adolescence?
Well it is time for you to stop such addiction since too much intake of amphetamine could result in memory loss upon reaching adulthood.
The findings was taken on a study conducted by medical experts on a group of rats exposed to high doses of amphetamine.
Based on the study, the experts discovered that The declines in short-term or "working" memory are most pronounced when the rats are exposed during adolescence, rather than as adults.
"Animals that were given the amphetamine during the adolescent time period were worse at tasks requiring working memory than adult animals that were given the same amount of amphetamine as adults," said psychology professor Joshua Gulley, who led the study with graduate student Jessica Stanis. "This tells us that their working memory capacity has been significantly altered by that pre-exposure to amphetamine."
Gulley and his colleagues presented their findings at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago.
The researchers tested two types of amphetamine exposure: intermittent (a steady dose every other day) and "binge-escalation," in which increasing amounts of the drug were given over a period of four days, followed by a simulated binge a high dose every two hours for eight hours on the fifth day.
 

 

 

Too much intake of amphetamine should be avoided since it could lead to memory loss upon reaching adulthood.
 

 

 

The findings reveal some of the potential long-term consequences of amphetamine abuse by adolescents and also may be relevant to those taking amphetamines for therapeutic purposes, such as for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Gulley cautions that the doses given to the rats are on the high end of what an older, larger adolescent might receive as a therapeutic dose, and that further study is needed to tease out the implications for human health.
The concerns are most robust for adolescents who abuse amphetamines, Gulley said, as they may use much higher doses than those who are prescribed drugs that contain amphetamines.
"Adolescence is a time when the brain is continuing to develop into its mature form, so drug exposure during this critical period could have long-lasting, negative consequences," he said. "Our findings reveal that adolescents are particularly sensitive to the adverse effects of amphetamine on cognitive function and that these effects can persist well after drug use is discontinued."

 

 

It is time to cheer up for parents of preterm infants.
A recent medical study has shown that preterm infants who receive leg movement training display feet-reaching behaviors similar to that of full-term infants, according to a randomized controlled trial.
This finding supports feet-reaching play as an early intervention strategy to encourage interaction with physical objects in preterm infants who have movement problems within the first months of postnatal life.
Previous studies have shown that full-term infants make contact with toys using their feet before reaching with their hands. Studies also have shown that movement training advances feet reaching in full-term infants. Certain populations of preterm infants are known to be delayed in hand reaching; however, no studies have looked at feet-reaching in preterm infants.
"The presence of feet reaching and a positive training effect in this population would suggest a novel and easily implemented intervention strategy to encourage early object interaction in infants with special needs," said Jill C. Heathcock, PT, PhD, assistant professor in the Division of Physical Therapy at Ohio State University, and lead author of the study.
In this study, 27 preterm infants who were born at less than 33 weeks of gestational age and weighed less than 5 lbs 8 oz received either movement training or social training by their caregivers 5 days a week for 8 weeks. Movement training consisted of three feet games: general leg movement, moving the leg across the midline of the body, and distinct leg movements, such as holding an infant’s hip at 90 degrees and encouraging knee motion to contact the toy with the foot. Caregivers of infants in the social training group positioned their infant supine on the floor and sat near the infant’s feet. The caregiver interacted with their infant visually and verbally, but did not touch or present objects to their infant.

During the 8-week training period, all infants were tested and videotaped for a total of five sessions. Infants were seated in a custom-made chair with a strap placed around the chest, allowing for free movement of the arms and legs. A toy was presented to the infant at his or her midline at hip height for 30 seconds. After each trial, the toy was removed from the infant’s view and then repositioned in the midline for the next trial.
Both groups of infants showed an equal number of foot-toy contacts over each session. However, infants in the movement training group out-performed infants in the social training group over time and during the last session.
"Our results suggest that preterm infants display a new and potentially important ability to contact objects with their feet before their hands," said Heathcock. "This finding, coupled with a positive effect of training, provides clinicians with a new intervention strategy for encouraging object interaction within the first months of life in infants at risk for long-term motor impairments."
 

If they can avoid it, women should refrain from using high-heels shoes since it could lead to pain in the later part of their lives.
The researchers found that the types of shoes women wear, specifically high-heels, pumps and sandals, may cause future hind-foot (heel and ankle) pain. Nearly 64 percent of women who reported hind-foot pain regularly wore these types of shoes at some point in their life.
We found an increased risk of hind-foot pain among women who wore shoes, such as high-heels or pumps, that lack support and sound structure," says lead author Alyssa B. Dufour, a graduate student in the Institute’s Musculoskeletal Research Program.
Published in the October issue of the journal Arthritis Care & Research, the study is one of the first to examine the association between shoe wear beyond just high-heel use and foot pain. The researchers, who analyzed foot-examination data from more than 3,300 men and women in The Framingham Study, say past shoe wear among women is a key factor for hind-foot pain. They found no significant link between foot pain and the types of shoes men wear.

 

 

High-heels shoes could result in pain in later life for women.
 

While foot pain is a common complaint in the U.S. adult population foot and toe symptoms are among the top 20 reasons for physician visits
among those 65 to 74 years of age relatively little is known about the causes of foot pain in older adults. Women are more likely than men to have foot pain; however, it is not known if this is due to a higher prevalence of foot deformities, underlying disease, shoe wear, or other lifestyle choices.
From a list of 11 shoe types, study participants were asked about the one style of shoe they currently wear on a regular basis, what they regularly wore during five age periods in the past, and if they experience pain, aching or stiffness in either foot on most days.
Nearly 30 percent of women and 20 percent of men reported generalized foot pain, which is in line with other foot-pain studies.
Ms. Dufour’s team, however, found a significant association in women who reported hind-foot pain and past shoe wear that included high-heels and pumps.
The shoe types were classified as "poor" (high-heels, pumps, sandals and slippers), "average" (hard- or rubber-soled shoes and work boots), and "good" (athletic and casual sneakers). More than 60 percent of women reported wearing "poor" shoes in the past, compared to only 2 percent of men (13 percent of women said they currently wear "poor" shoes).
When we walk, a significant biomechanical shock is delivered to the foot each time our heel strikes the ground. "Good" shoes, such as sneakers and other athletic footwear, often have soles and other features that soften this shock and protect the foot. The heel and ankle take the brunt of this shock, which may be why women who wear high-heeled shoes often report pain in this part of the foot.
"Young women," says Ms. Dufour, "should make careful choices regarding their shoe types in order to potentially avoid hind-foot pain later in life."

 

 

 

Who says drinking too much coffee is bad for the health?
A recent medical study has shown that patients with chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drink three or more cups of coffee per day have a 53% lower risk of liver disease progression than non-coffee drinkers.
Based on the research made by Neal Freedman, Ph.D., MPH, from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) it was discovered that that patients with hepatitis C-related bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis who did not respond to standard disease treatment benefited from increased coffee intake.
Freedman explained an effect on liver disease was not observed in patients who drank black or green tea.
It is said that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects approximately 2.2% of the world’s population with more than 3 million Americans infected. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cites HCV as the leading cause of liver transplantation in the U.S. and accounts for 8,000 to 10,000 deaths in the country annually. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 3 to 4 million persons contract HCV each year with 70% becoming chronic cases that can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer.
This study included 766 participants enrolled in the Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment against Cirrhosis (HALT-C) trial who had hepatitis C-related bridging fibrosis or cirrhosis and failed to respond to standard treatment of the anti-viral drugs peginterferon and ribavirin.

 

 

 

It is time to drink coffee for chronic hepatitis C patients.

 

 

 

At the onset of the study, HALT-C patients were asked to report their typical frequency of coffee intake and portion size over the past year, using 9 frequency categories ranging from ‘never’ to ‘every day’ and 4 categories of portion size (1 cup, 2 cups, 3-4 cups, and 5+ cups). A similar question was asked for black and green tea intake. "This study is the first to address the association between liver disease progression related to hepatitis C and coffee intake," stated Freedman.
Participants were seen every 3 months during the 3.8-year study period to assess clinical outcomes which included: ascites (abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdomen), prognosis of chronic liver disease, death related to liver disease, hepatic encephalopathy (brain and nervous system damage), hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer), spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, variceal hemorrhage, or increase in fibrosis. Liver biopsies were also taken at 1.5 and 3.5 five years to determine the progression of liver disease.
Results showed that participants who drank 3 or more cups of coffee per day had a relative risk of .47 for reaching one of the clinical outcomes. Researchers did not observe any association between tea intake and liver disease progression, though tea consumption was low in the study. "Given the large number of people affected by HCV it is important to identify modifiable risk factors associated with the progression of liver disease," said Freedman. "Although we cannot rule out a possible role for other factors that go along with drinking coffee, results from our study suggest that patients with high coffee intake had a lower risk of disease progression."

 

 

 

 

 

According to a recent study one of the best steps to have a good result on examination day is to eat the rights foods.
The experts explained having a balance diet promote better concentration for the one taking the examination.
The experts revealed eating energy bars, lollies and chocolates will only give short-term energy for students which is not that beneficial for them during examination day.
 

 

To have great result during examination students need to eat well for them to have a long lasting energy to answer all the questions correctly.
Here are other practical steps students could use to have a great result while taking their examination.

 

A. Breakfast that rocks
 

 

Eat traditional breakfast foods that has carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
Try:
- A bowl of cereal with reduced-fat milk, topped with chopped fruit and a sprinkle of almonds
- Wholegrain or wholemeal toast with reduced-fat cheese and tomato, and a small fruit juice.
 

B. Eat regularly throughout the day - Eating energy-sustaining foods at meals and snacks will help to fuel the brain, maintain energy levels, and avoid dips in concentration.

Try:
- Sandwich, roll or wrap filled with salad vegetables, reduced-fat cheese, lean meat or tinned tuna
- Fruit smoothies made with reduced-fat milk and/or yoghurt
- Fruit (fresh, tinned or dried) or fruit and nut snack packs
- Crackers with tomato and reduced-fat cheese, toast and spreads, fruit bread, cereal with reduced-fat milk.

 

 

C. Drink plenty of water– This will hydrate your body, help reduce fatigue and help your brain work. If possible, take a water bottle in to the exam with you.

 

 

D. Limit excess caffeine— Limit coffee, caffeinated soft drinks or guarana-containing drinks. Caffeine can act as a mild stimulant, boosting alertness and staving off fatigue, but too much can make you feel nervous and restless, and may affect how well you sleep.

 

 

E. Exercise - Schedule in some physical activity before or in between exams. Exercise can help reduce stress, clear your mind and improve sleep patterns.