We have all beleived that aspirin use will lower the risk of heart attack, mostly becuase it thins the blood. The problem I have always foudn though is that too much aspirin will stop the blood from clotting quickly and this in itslef almost led to a quick trip to the hospital for my wife last year.

This new study below though seems to show that it is not so obvious as to wether Aspirin really helps to prevent heart attacks but in itslef it is a good read with lots of findings

Long-term, low-dose aspirin provides no clear net value for primary prevention of cardiovascular events in apparently healthy adults, according to a meta-analysis of patient-level data.

In people not known to have cardiovascular disease, aspirin reduced composite MI, stroke, and vascular death rates to 0.51% per year compared with 0.57% among controls for a relative 12% reduction, according to Colin Baigent, B.M.B.Ch., of the University of Oxford, England, and colleagues in the Antithrombotic Trialists’ Collaboration. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Tags: American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease, Colin Baigent, coronary heart disease, diabetes, heart attack, heart attacks, heart disease, high blood pressure, Michigan, stroke, U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, United Kingdom, University of Oxford

The Archives of Neurology is reporting in researching being published this month that there is some evidence of microbleeding in people that are taking aspirin on a regular basis. As we all know many people are taking a small dosage of aspirin to guard against heart problems and this research is something to be aware of although only you and your doctor can make an informed decision as to whether you should continue with that course of prevention

Aspirin and other platelet aggregation inhibitors may increase the likelihood of asymptomatic cerebral microbleeds among older adults, researchers said.

Past microbleeding — indicated by small deposits of the iron-storing protein hemosiderin on brain scans — was 71% more common with use of platelet aggregation inhibitors than without antithrombotic drugs, Monique Breteler, M.D., Ph.D., of Erasmus M.C. University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and colleagues found.

Aspirin users in the population-based study were also more likely to show microbleeding limited to lobular areas of the brain, the researchers reported online in the Archives of Neurology. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: cerebral amyloid angiopathy, dementia, Erasmus M.C. University Medical Center, intracerebral hemorrhage, Michigan, Monique Breteler, MRI, Rotterdam, small-vessel disease, stroke, The Archives of Neurology, The Netherlands

The Center for Disease Control is reporting that Measles Cases are at the highest rate in over 10 years. Most of the reason for the really high rate of Measles outbreaks is because of the fear of Autism from kids getting the

More measles cases have been reported in the United States since Jan. 1, 2008 than during the same period in any year since 1996, according to a report released today in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Measles Results for 2008

Between January 1 and July 31, 2008, 131 cases were reported to CDC′s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). At least fifteen patients, including four children younger than 15 months of age, were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Academy of Pediatrics, Anne Schuchat, Arizona, Arkansas, Austria, Autism, Belgium, California, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, China, D.C., director, encephalitis, Europe, Georgia, Germany, hawaii, Illinois, immunization, India, Israel, Italy, Louisiana, measles, Michigan, Missouri, mmr vaccine, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Mumps, National Center for Immunization, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, New Mexico, New York, Pakistan, Pennsylvania, preventing infections, Respiratory Diseases, rubella, Russian Federation, Switzerland, the Philippines, United Kingdom, United States, vaccination, vaccination program, vaccination status, vaccines, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

Obesity is bad enough, but teenage obesity is worse. If kids and teenagers start getting overweight, it only goes on to show how bad our lifestyle habits have become and how little concern we have for our health. Today, almost fifteen per cent of teenagers are obese, that too just in America (I am not even counting the world figure, which would obviously be higher), and if we don’t take the right measures to curb it, it would only get worse with time.

Now why should we be so concerned about obesity? Obesity is a cause of concern because it not only makes a person look fat and ugly but also inflicts him with several killer diseases such as diabetes, sleep apnea, heart problems, kidney troubles, high blood pressure, etc.. Just imagine your teen as a diabetic. Obesity in itself is fatal as well; recent studies point out that people who suffer from teenage obesity are more likely to die prematurely than others.

Don’t believe me? Actually many people used to think that the concept of ‘obesity related death’ is a joke or rumor, that is, until in 1989 the National Institute for Health decided to sponsor a study designed to monitor the health of about one million women over an extended period of time.

During the study, the lifestyle habits of these women, including diet, level of activity, etc. were monitored. The study continued over a period of 12 years, and most of the women who volunteered to participate in it were nurses employed in state-run hospitals located in various parts in USA, including New York, Kentucky, Michigan, Texas, etc. All of them were aged between 22-44 years.

The participants were asked to answer a series of questions pertaining to their health, including the lifestyle habits they followed during their adolescence, their entire medical history, etc. Midway during the study, as many as 710 participants died.

The researchers conducting the study found out that the reason behind their premature deaths was that almost all of them were obese in their teens. It is then that these researchers concluded that people, in this case women, who suffer from teenage obesity are three times more likely to die prematurely than those who are of normal weight.

As you can see, teenage obesity influences the future of your kid in a big way. If you don’t want your children to die prematurely like those nurses, it is time that you start monitoring the lifestyle habits of your teenage daughters and sons. There are too many fad diets and diet pills out there, all claiming to help you with weight loss but I would rather recommend healthy eating and an active lifestyle for your teenage kids. Keep in mind that if you wish your kids to live a long life, preventing teenage obesity is the only way to ensure that.

Tags: America, diabetes, high blood pressure, Kentucky, Michigan, National Institute for Health, New York, obesity, sleep apnea, Texas, United States

My wife has been taking high dosages of aspirin tow or three times a day for the last few months as she had some clots show up on her legs and the doctor, after having me give her injections to thin her blood, gave her this prescrition for a generic type of aspirin derivative that she is taking. As always I scoured the internet to find more information on taking aspirin and I have copied the following info from both Wikipedia and the FDA in case you have a simeilar interest. The wiki info is an outline on aspirin itself and the FDA info is a bunch of questions and answers about aspirin.

Aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid (acetosal) is a drug in the family of salicylates, often used as an analgesic (against minor pains and aches), antipyretic (against fever), and anti-inflammatory. It has also an anticoagulant (”blood-thinning”) effect and is used in long-term low-doses to prevent heart attacks.

Low-dose long-term aspirin irreversibly blocks the formation of thromboxane A2 in platelets, producing an inhibitory effect on platelet aggregation, and this blood-thinning property makes it useful for reducing the incidence of heart attacks. Aspirin produced for this purpose often comes in 75 or 81 mg dispersible tablets and is sometimes called “Junior aspirin”. High doses of aspirin are also given immediately after an acute heart attack. These doses may also inhibit the synthesis of prothrombin and may therefore produce a second and different anticoagulant effect.

Several hundred fatal overdoses of aspirin occur annually, but the vast majority of its uses are beneficial. Its primary undesirable side effects, especially in stronger doses, are gastrointestinal distress (including ulcers and stomach bleeding) and tinnitus. Another side effect, due to its anticoagulant properties, is increased bleeding in menstruating women. Because there appears to be a connection between aspirin and Reye’s syndrome, aspirin is no longer used to control flu-like symptoms in minors.[1]

Aspirin was the first discovered member of the class of drugs known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), not all of which are salicylates, though they all have similar effects and a similar action mechanism.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: A. Consumers, A. Patients, acetyl group, aches, allergy, angina pectoris, angioplasty, arthritis, Arthur Eichengr, Arthur Eichengrun, aspirin, aspirin products, Asthma, Bayer, body systems, British Columbia, bypass, Cerebral Ischemia, Charles Frederic Gerhardt, chemical, chemical structure, chemist, chest pain, chills, coronary artery disease, Cox, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Derek W. Gilroy, diarrhea, Egypt, fda, fever, first discovered member, Friedrich Bayer & Co., Gerhardt, Germany, Glasgow, headaches, hearing loss, heart attack, heart attacks, Henri Leroux, Heyden Company, high blood pressure, Hoffmann, hydroxyl functional groups, ibuprofen, ISIS, John Robert Vane, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, ketoprofen, kidney disease, London, Michigan, myocardial infarctions, osteoarthritis, pain, pains, pharmaceuticals industry, pharmacist, physician, pleurisy, Raffaele Piria, research assistant, researcher, Reye's syndrome, rheumatism, rheumatoid arthritis, Royal College of Surgeons in London, selective inhibitors, spondylarthropathies, stroke, Stroke Prevention, strokes, Sumeria, systemic lupus erythematosus, thrombus, tinnitus, transient ischemic attack, treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, United Kingdom, United States, University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, unstable angina, Walter Sneader

From the LA Daily News. I jumped up when I saw this article as it hits all the important points to look for in a personal trainer:

Working with a personal trainer can help you reach your fitness goals safely and effectively. Before you hire one, keep the following tips in mind:

Looking for a trainer? Ask around. “We’re the ones in the gym all the time,’ says fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins, who keeps a personal database of local trainers. “Trainers are going to know who is good because we’re all colleagues.’

Consider hiring a fitness trainer at your gym. They will be familiar with your facility, and you can always seek redress from management should a problem arise. “There’s absolutely a bonus to hiring someone at your facility,’ says personal trainer Kathy Kaehler. “It helps you move along and helps you change your workout.’
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Allen Saltzman, American Council of Exercise, co-owner, Hope College in Michigan, Jeanette Jenkins, Kathy Kaehler, Michigan, National Academy of Sports Medicine, personal trainer, reputable agency, Sports Medicine, Topanga, Woodland Hills