An estimated seven million people in the UK have early warning signs of diabetes, researchers warned today.

The condition – called prediabetes – means their blood sugar is higher than normal and makes them up to 15 times more likely to develop full blown Type 2 diabetes, charity Diabetes UK said.

Many of those at risk are overweight or obese, have a family history of prediabetes or have high blood pressure and cholesterol.

The charity said prediabetes could be countered by losing weight, upping physical activity levels and adopting a healthier diet. This in turn reduces the risk of developing the full-blown version by 60%.

Recent figures show that more than 145,000 new cases of mainly Type 2 diabetes were diagnosed in the past year, bringing the total number of people with diabetes in the UK to 2.6 million.

Diabetes UK chief executive Douglas Smallwood is calling on people to be more aware of their health.

He said: “It’s staggering that seven million people in the UK have prediabetes, which is often a precursor to Type 2 diabetes, a serious condition which can lead to long term complications such as heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputation and blindness.

“Identifying and educating people with prediabetes is vital as it’s not too late for many to make healthy lifestyle changes, reverse the condition completely and reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”

Diabetes is where the body produces too much blood sugar.

Type 1 usually develops in childhood and sees sufferers requiring insulin injections as soon as they are diagnosed.

Type 2 is linked to obesity and inactive lifestyles and managed by diet, drugs or insulin injections.

if you want to know more head to http://www.diabetes.co.uk/

Tomorrow i’ll follow up with some more articles on Diabetes..

The news
Scientists have grown a piece of heart muscle — and then watched it beat — by using stem cells from a mouse embryo.
This is a big step toward repairing damage from heart attacks .
Dr. Kenneth Chien and his team from the Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital researchers said “We’re making a heart part and (eventually) we’re going to put the part in”.
Lots of work remains before trying that experiment in people but regenerating damaged heart muscle is a holy grail in cardiac care.

Why is this important?
Doctors today have lots of treatments to prevent a heart attack. But once it strikes, there’s no way to restore the heart muscle it kills. Gradually the weakened heart quits pumping properly, leading to deadly heart failure .
Hence the focus on embryonic stem cells, master cells that can give rise to any tissue in the body. Until now, scientists haven’t known how to turn master cells into producing pure cardiac muscle .

Previous attempts were a failure
Up to now, researchers have tried injecting heart attack survivors with mixes of different kinds of stem cells, next-generation types like those found in bone marrow. The idea was that perhaps once those cells were inside a damaged heart, ones capable of growing cardiac muscle would receive a “get to work” signal and take root. But that was not successful.
The new research , published in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, is a more targeted approach.

How did they do it
The team genetically engineered mice so that certain cells in the embryos’ developing hearts would light either fluorescent red or green. As they watched the embryos grow, an overlapping of colors signaled developing heart muscle. When the team plucked out those cells, they were pure ventricle generators, which is not enough.
Next the team cultivated the stem cells and a thin strip of mouse heart muscle grew on the top of the cell. What happened next is that the muscle started to beat by itself. The best thing about this is “This looks like the kind of work a normal heart tissue strip would do,” said Dr Chien “We went from embryonic stem cells to an organ.”

Is it portable to humans?
Yes because what the team has done is to use a mice stem cell that is present in both human and mouse embryos.

What’s next
This was not a fully developed piece of heart muscle but only a thin strip.
To be usable, it would have to be thicker, more three-dimensional, for more beating strength. It also needs a nourishing blood supply. So a next big challenge is pinpoint which one of those master heart stem cells can grow into blood vessels.

Opportunities
The experiment offers a possible new opportunity for cell therapy.
The team will now develop two approaches. Either they can try and develop cells outside of a body to a full heart and them implement that in a human body or they can try to inject the cells onto the heart once a muscle has developed and see if that helps.

There are two types of pain: acute and chronic. We have no control over acute pain, which is evoked from acute injury or illness. Chronic pain, however, is under our own control, but is not understood by modern medicine. It is believed that chronic pain is a complex mixture of emotions, culture, experience, spirit and sensation. Scientists on the forefront of pain management are delving into the possibly that chronic pain is a function of the brain’s memory of damaged nerves rather than the original injury

Try yoga
Practice yoga to manage chronic pain. Yoga is believed to be effective in the management of chronic pain. Studies have shown that persons who practice yoga use analgesics less frequently and have fewer mental symptoms, such as anxiety and depression, than those who do not participate in yoga as a therapy.

Use Local Analgesics
Apply natural, topical analgesics. Topical medications are ointments that are applied to the skin, such as creams or gels or oils. They can reduce pain that is just below the surface of the skin. Ointments containing lidocaine and prilocaine are particularly effective in numbing pain on the surface of the body, such as neuralgia, shingles and joint pain.

Try Hypnosis
Consider hypnosis. Increasingly, it is suspected that chronic pain can be attributed to brain malfunction, or the memory of pain that no longer exists. Scientists are studying the fact that the brain may even cause pain by sending pain signals to nerve endings where no injury exists. Hypnosis is being investigated as a cure for this type of malfunction and curing the pain that goes along with it.

Apply Heat
Applying heat can reduce pain specially when it is muscle pain

Apply cold
If you can’t bear the heat, try applying ice or a cold compress, it will reduce the sensation of pain.

Try Massage
Massaging the area can take most of the pain away

Try some rest
Getting sufficient rest can heal muscle and joint pain. Specially works for back pain.

Use biofeedback
Biofeedback teaches you how to gain partial control over certain physiological processes.
Biofeedback is a non-medical process that involves measuring a subject’s specific and quantifiable bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, skin temperature, sweat gland activity, and muscle tension, conveying the information to the patient in real-time. This raises the patient’s awareness and therefore the possibility of conscious control of those functions.

Give me your own techniques to lesser pain in the comments !

Heart diseases & benefits of fitness

Heart Disease is the number one killer in the UK today, and I believe we should all do our bit to reduce the risks and help those who are doing their best to help us.

As medical technology and awareness improves, there is more we can do to reduce the incidence of cardiac events.

Here is a list of Holistic approach to prevent diseases
* Exercise Programming
* Nutritional Counselling
* Occupational Therapy
* Medication
* Psychosocial Counselling
* Stress Management
* Cardiac Education Topics
* Life style management workshops

Here are some beneficial Exercise Tips

1.Have you exercised before?

If you haven’t, you should certainly discuss this with your physician and seek the appropriate exercise counseling or consult certified fitness specialist. A graded exercise test will inform you of your limits by establishing an appropriate/healthy level of physical activity. (working with an appropriate target heart rate).

2.What type of exercise is the most beneficial?

A combination of aerobic exercise (4-5 times per week for a duration of 30-40 minutes) combined with resistance exercises (2-3 times per week) is the most beneficial for overall cardiovascular health. Aerobic exercises are repetitive in nature such as walking, biking, rowing, swimming, etc… Resistance exercise are exercises that strive to improve overall muscular strength such as weight lifting, rubber bands, and other resistance exercises.

3.What if you do a lot of house work, or gardening or rushing around the office? Is this adequate daily exercise?

No! This increased activity may tire you out and be somewhat beneficial to your health, but it cannot replace regular aerobic exercise. What we want to train is the heart.

4.What makes exercise a better activity for heart health?

During aerobic exercise, your heart rate (pulse) increases for the duration of the activity thus training your heart and increasing cardiovascular benefits. During safe exercise it is recommended to monitor your heart rate and work consistently around your target heart rate (based on your stress test).

The benefits of regular exercise are as follows:

* Cholesterol control (lowers total and LDL and raises HDL, triglyceride level decreases)
* Blood pressure control
* Blood sugar control in persons with diabetes
* Increased energy levels
* Decreased body fat (weight loss)
* Increases functional capacity for daily activities
* Lower incidence of injury

Where should you exercise?

You can go out for a walk (or inside a Gym on extreme hot or cold days), home exercise equipment such as a treadmill or stationary cycle, or at a community based fitness program. If at any point you feel that you are unsure if you are exercising correctly, please seek the advice of your physician/ Fitness specialist.

Stress Management

Stress can be both positive and negative in our lives. Positive stress allows us to maintain motivation in achieving certain tasks. Negative stress creates a pressure where you cannot feel relaxed and always think about the stress. It is the negative stress that is associated with medical ailments ranging from headaches to heart attacks.

Often stresses are more of a perception than anything else. Stress can cause an increase in blood pressure and heart rate. Stress is and of itself a major risk factor in the development of coronary artery disease. The biochemical effects of stress on the body can also be responsible for the breakdown of the inner lining of the arterial walls.

It is impossible to control every stressful situation you find yourself facing, however, you can learn how to successfully manage them. The first tip in stress management is to be aware of what triggers the response (the stressor), and try to be proactive in the management of these situations. Often times it is more likely the perception of the situation that creates real stress than the situation itself.

A positive attitude is a key factor in the management of stressful situations. Try to maintain a balanced outlook. Do the things that you personally enjoy doing. Depending on your stressor you may find relaxation techniques helpful (including listening to music, meditating, exercise, etc…). Give yourself personal time and space to gather your thoughts and feelings so that you can more effectively deal with day to day stressors. Lastly, manage your time by doing one thing at a time. Many professionals and organizations help to guide people in stress management

Good luck and give me your tips about keeping a healthy heart in comments.