Antibiotics Could Raise Heart Disease Problems - Experts

The United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said the antibiotic clarithromycin (brand name: Biaxin) may increase the long-term risk of heart problems and death in patients with heart diseases.
These are contained in a press release issued by the FDA last Thursday, which urged medical doctors recommending the medication to carefully weigh the benefits and risks of the drug before prescribing it to patients with heart problems.
There’s no clear explanation for how clarithromycin would increase heart disease patients’ risk of death, the FDA stated. Antibiotics, also known as antibacterials, are medications that destroy or slow down the growth of bacteria.

They include a range of powerful drugs and are used to treat diseases caused by bacteria. However, in recent time, antibiotics are reported to be failing, making scientists to return to laboratories to find solutions to the problem.
The FDA, in the release, stated that its warning was based on a 10-year follow-up study of patients with coronary heart disease. The study found an unexpected and unexplained increase in deaths among heart disease patients who took clarithromycin for two weeks and were followed for one year or longer. One heart specialist said this type of alert is worth heeding, however.

The FDA said it has added a new warning about this increased risk for heart patients, and was advising doctors to consider prescribing other antibiotics to these patients. The agency added that it would continue to monitor safety reports in patients taking clarithromycin.
The antibiotic is used to treat many types of infections affecting the skin, ears, sinuses, lungs and other parts of the body. Doctors should talk to their heart patients about the risks and benefits of clarithromycin and alternative treatments.

If doctors prescribe clarithromycin to patients with heart disease, they should inform those patients about the signs and symptoms of cardiovascular problems, the FDA said. Similarly, the FDA advised patients taking the antibiotic to seek immediate medical attention if they experience symptoms of a heart attack or stroke, such as chest pain, shortness of breath or trouble breathing, pain or weakness in one part or side of the body, or slurred speech.

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Bed Sharing Could Lead To Baby's Death

Scientists have raised the alarm over the number of babies dying of suffocation, occasioned by an increase in the number of parents sharing beds with their infants.

According to the findings of a report published in ‘Paediatrics,’ babies are safest sleeping on their backs in their own cribs without any pillows, toys, blankets or other loose bedding. From 1999 to 2015, the suffocation death rate for babies younger than one year climbed from 12.4 to 28.3 fatalities for every 1,000 United States (US) infants.

Similarly, the study shows that in 2015 alone, this translated into 1,100 infant deaths that were entirely preventable.

The majority of these suffocation fatalities occurred while babies were in bed. Although, there is lack of data to show the trend of these activities in Nigeria where bed sharing between mothers and newborn is very common among low income and the poor, it is believed that this practice might also be impacting negatively in the country.

However, going by the guidelines from the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP), if babies do sleep in parents’ beds, parents should have a firm mattress, remove soft objects such as pillows, and move the bed away from the wall, as part of measures to ensure the safety of the babies.

Similarly, the AAP said parents should also be aware that bed sharing is most dangerous for newborns, less than four months old, premature babies and underweight infants, or if babies were exposed to tobacco during or after pregnancy.

Study co-author, David Schwebel, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said: “It may be that parents are not following `safe sleep’ recommendations to place infants in beds without stuffed animals, soft blankets, pillows, and other items that could cause suffocation.

Suffocation and strangulation deaths increased across the board for boys and girls, regardless of race, ethnicity or whether they lived in urban or rural communities, the study found. At least some of the increase in suffocation deaths might be due to a change in how these fatalities are categorised, researchers note.

Some fatalities that were attributed to sleep-related causes like sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) at the start of the study might have been categorised as accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed by the end of the study period.

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Junk Food Alters The Immune System

German Scientists have found that fastfood diets boost inflammation in the body and over time, change genes and the immune system while boosting the risk of diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions.

According to a study published in the journal ‘Cell’, the impact of fast food diets are long lasting, such that even switching to a healthy diet afterwards may not fully reverse the damage once initially triggered.

The University of Bonn research conducted by scientists from Germany, the Netherlands, the United States (U.S), and Norway, found that the same process is triggered by an unhealthy diet, unleashing a cascade of biological effects that lead to chronic disease.

Similarly, they found that the immune system responds to a fast food-style Western diet the same way as it would react to a bacterial or viral infection, the ‘newsmaxHealth’ reported. In addition, the study suggests that fast foods stimulate an acute inflammatory response and alter genes responsible for the proliferation of immune cells in the body that have been found to have a sort of memory. Fast food is a mass-produced food that is prepared and served very quickly.

The food is typically less nutritionally valuable, compared to other foods and dishes. While any meal with low preparation time can be considered fast food, typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away.

Researcher Dr. Eicke Latz, director of the Institute for Innate Immunity of the University of Bonn, said that the foundations of a healthy diet needed to become a much more prominent part of education than they are at present.

He added:“Only in this way can we immunise children at an early stage against the temptations of the food industry. “Children have a choice of what they eat every day.

We should enable them to make conscious decisions regarding their dietary habits.” The researchers tracked mice fed an unhealthy diet — high in saturated fats, sugar and salt, while mostly devoid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and fibre.

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200,000 Living With HIV in Oyo State, nigeria

Dr Sani Aliyu, Director-General, National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) says an estimated 200,000 people are living with HIV in Oyo State.
He made the disclosure on Tuesday in Ibadan during a courtesy call on Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State at the executive council chamber of the governor’s office.
The delegation was led by Aliyu, included representatives of World Health Organisation, other international donor and funding agencies.
Aliyu stated that only 16,000 out of the estimated 200, 000

persons living with HIV in the state are currently recieving treatment.

''We have a gap between the number of infected persons and those on treatment. We have a gap between infected pregnant women and those receiving treatment.
“We also have issues with the number of new infections recorded,’’ he said.
The NACA boss stated that 10, 000 pregnant women in Oyo State are living with HIV, adding that about 50 people contact HIV in the state on a daily basis.
He stated that the state has a considerable figure in terms of new infections, commending the state government for running one of the best programmes on HIV/AIDS.
Aliyu said that there are 1,060,000 people living with HIV in Nigeria, out of which only five percent were currently on treatment courtesy of the Nigerian government.
The NACA boss stated that about one million Nigerians are currently on treatment on the bills of the international donor agencies.

He said that NACA had proposed to the state government to contribute 0.5 or One percent of their federal allocation towards HIV/AIDS.
Aliyu stated that such contribution by state governments would allow the states to put another 50 per cent of infected persons on treatment.
“For instance, we have 16,000 already on treatment. If the state can put 0.5 percent of the allocation, the state will be able to put 8,000 on treatment,’’ he said.
He assured the governor that they are willing to work with his government to ensure that people living with HIV across the state have access to quality and affordable treatment.
In his response, Gov. Ajimobi assured the delegation of his administration’s readiness to partner with them to bring the figure of infected people to a barest minimum if not totally eradicated.
Ajimobi, who was represented by his deputy, Chief Moses Adeyemo said his administration would support the donor agencies with funds and human capital towards the eradication in the state.(NAN)

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Diabetes is on the Rise, WHO Warns

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that the number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 as the world marks this year’s World Diabetes Day (WDD).
WHO lamented that the global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years of age has increased from 4.7 per cent in 1980 to 8.5 per cent in 2014.
Experts are canvassing for routine diabetes screening in hospitals across the country.
Diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces.
Tnsulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. Hyperglycaemia or raised blood sugar is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes and it overtime leads to serious damage to many of the body’s systems, especially the nerves and blood vessels.
This year’s theme is: ‘Women and diabetes – our right to a healthy future’. It is a campaign to promote the importance of affordable and equitable access for women at risk or those living with diabetes to receive the essential diabetes medicines and technologies, self-management education and information they require in achieving optimal diabetes outcomes and strengthening their capacity to prevent type 2 diabetes.
According to WHO, diabetes prevalence has been rising more rapidly in middle- and low-income countries, including Nigeria.
It added that diabetes is a major cause of blindness, kidney failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.
In 2015, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes. Another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose in 2012. Almost half of all deaths attributable to high blood glucose occur before the age of 70 years. WHO projects that diabetes will be the seventh leading cause of death in 2030.
A healthy diet, regular physical activity, maintaining a normal body weight and avoiding tobacco use are ways to prevent or delay the onset of type 2-diabetes. Diabetes can be treated and its consequences avoided or delayed with diet, physical activity, medication and regular screening and treatment for complications.

A Senior Lecturer/Honorary Consultant Endocrinologist of the Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Lagos/Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Ifedayo Odeniyi, said it had become expedient that persons living with diabetes know their status in order to seek treatment promptly. He spoke at a capacity-building workshop on diabetes organised by Sanofi Aventis Pharma Nigeria to mark this year’s WDD.
Odeniyi said there was need for the introduction of routine diabetes screening in public hospitals in the country.
And having diabetes is not a death sentence, and those living with the condition can live normal life and not subject to a diabetes diet, he said.
“The idea of a diabetes diet was a myth. We have often heard that the diet of diabetics should be beans and unripe plantain, but that is not correct. There is no special diet for diabetes, and there is nothing like diabetes diet. A diabetic can eat everything. Diabetes is not a death sentence and not as deadly as it is often being portrayed. A lot of people have been put in bondage and sentenced to a life of beans and unripe plantain.
According to WHO, simple lifestyle measures have been shown to be effective in preventing or delaying the onset of type 2 diabetes.
“To help prevent type 2 diabetes and its complications, the global body said people should achieve and maintain healthy body weight; be physically active – at least 30 minutes of regular, moderate-intensity activity on most days. More activity is required for weight control; eat a healthy diet, avoiding sugar and saturated fats intake; and avoid tobacco use – smoking increases the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Early diagnosis can be accomplished through relatively inexpensive testing of blood sugar,” it said.
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Why Watching TV for Long May Couse Blood Clot

It has long been established by experts that watching television (TV) for several hours is harmful to health. Now, a new research shows that the risk of blood clots increases with the amount of time spent watching TV. According to preliminary research presented last Sunday at the 2017 Scientific Sessions of the American Heart Association (AHA) in California, United States (US), when researchers compared people who reported watching TV more often to those who seldom or never watched TV, the risk of a venous thromboembolism (VTE) jumped by 70 per cent.
A VTE is a type of blood clot that can block blood flow in a vein, according to the AHA. A blood clot is a clump of blood that has changed from a liquid to a gel-like or semisolid state. Clotting is a necessary process that can prevent people from losing too much blood in certain instances, such as when one is injured or cut. When a clot however forms inside a human vein, it always won’t dissolve on its own. This can be very dangerous and even a life-threatening situation.
Study co-author, Dr. Mary Cushman and professor of medicine at the University of Vermont’s Larner Medical College, said, “Watching TV itself isn’t likely bad but we tend to snack and sit still for prolonged periods while watching.” In previous studies, prolonged TV viewing has already been associated with heart disease involving blocked arteries.

But according to researchers, this is the first study in a western population to look at blood clots in veins of the legs, arms, pelvis and lungs. Among those that participated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, were 15,158 middle-aged, ranging between 45 to 64 years. “You could put a treadmill or stationary bike in front of your TV and move while watching. Or you can delay watching TV by 30 minutes while you take a walk.If you must see your favourite show, tape it while you are out walking so you can watch it later, skipping the ads,” said Cushman, who is also the director of the Thrombosis and Hemostasis Programme at the University of Vermont Medical Centre.

Besides avoiding prolonged TV watching, the researchers also advised that people can lower their risk of venous thromboembolism by maintaining a healthy weight and staying physically active. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 900,000 people could be affected (one to two per 1,000) by this condition each year in the United States (US). AHA’s Scientific Sessions, a premier global exchange of the latest advances in cardiovascular science for researchers and clinicians, attracts nearly 18,000 attendees

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