Archive for August, 2008
Heart-friendly events in September
In this one of the last posts of August, I am summarizing heart-related events worldwide scheduled for September.
Walks and runs
Cardiac death and heart transplant - the ethical and clinical questions
In the recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, several articles discuss different aspects of heart transplantation. One interesting aspect is about reversing the irreversible - donating hearts after cardiac death.
It used to be that organ donation can only occur after cardiac death, e.g. after a donor’s heart has completely stopped. Organs such as kidneys can then be transplanted from the donor to the recipient. However, this posed a challenge for heart transplant since the donor’s heart is dead and has irreversibly stopped, and is therefore not viable for transplantation anymore.
Lifestyle changes in many populations may be changing cardiovascular health – for the worse
When I was growing up in an Asian country in the Pacific, the daily fare was rice, fresh fish, vegetables, and fruit. That was before the fast food invasion. Several decades, the daily diet has drastically changed - burgers, pizza, fries galore.
This is happening all over as globalization proceeds in a very fast pace. With lifestyle changes come changes in diet and physical exercise with consequences on our health. Below are some examples of how lifestyle changes are adversely affecting the cardiovascular health of once primarily healthy populations. More →
Childhood stroke - yes, there is such a thing
Stroke in babies? No. that can’t be. When we think of stroke, we know the risk factors involved: excess weight, bad nutrition, excessive alcohol consumption, lack of exercise, and cigarette smoking. So how can babies suffer from stroke?
Apparently, stroke in children is not that common but not that rare, either. The risk of stroke from birth till the18th year of life is 10.7 per 100,000 children per year.
July Resource Post: The Athlete’s Heart
The heart and physical exercise
What happens to the heart during exercise? A lot of things go faster - breathing rate, heart rate, blood flow. Now, imagine an endurance athlete such as a marathon runner, a Tour de France cyclist, an Iron Man triathelete. Their body and their heart perform faster - for hours and hours almost non-stop.
The Olympic diet: what do athletes eat?
We all know that our diet is a key factor to being and keeping healthy. It is the food we eat that provides us the energy to perform our daily activities - it is what keeps our heart pumping. Now, we get to wonder, what do high performance athletes eat? What gives them the energy, the power to run, swim, jump or lift weights faster and better than non-athletic people like you and me?
Here are some examples of what Olympic athletes eat on a normal day. More →
Birth weight and cardiovascular health - where is the connection?
How much did you weigh at birth? Your baby/babies? Does it matter?
A new study by British researchers published in the European Heart Journal shows that there is a link between low birth weight and predisposition to hypertension later in life. More →
Commotio cordis – a chest blow to athletes that can be fatal
When I and my family went mountain walking last weekend, I observed a young man donning on protective gear as he gear as he prepared for his downhill bicycle ride down from the 1400-meter mountain we were on. Helmet, elbow pads, knee pads - and pads around the torso. I’m not a mountain cyclist myself so I’d only imagine the dangers of such a sport. And I wondered - can his protective gear protect him if he falls?
Raquel Billiones has a PhD in Biology and has over 15 years experience as a researcher, scientific English teacher, and medical writer. Since 2006, she has been a freelance WAHM specializing in medical writing and scientific documentation. 
