Why induced comas help injured brains

To promote healing after Sunday's accident, doctors are keeping the German driver in a medically induced coma and lowered his body temperature, said Dr. Jean-Francois Payen, chief anesthesiologist at University Hospital Center of Grenoble, France, where the driver is being treated.

Traumatic brain injury causes the brain to swell, just like the inflammation that happens when you injure an elbow or knee. But because the brain is trapped inside your skull, pressure on the brain increases and restricts a lot of critical functions, such as blood supply, said Dr. David Wright, director of emergency neurosciences in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Emory University School of Medicine.

Heart attack pattern shifted after Katrina

 Heart attacks are usually most common on weekdays and mornings, especially Mondays, but new data analysis shows that pattern reversed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"The fact that it's such a polar opposite shift is really surprising," lead author Dr. Matthew Peters of Tulane University told Reuters Health.

After the storm the overall number of attacks tripled, likely due to an increased number of smokers. They were more likely on weekday evenings and weekends, according to data published in The American Journal of Cardiology.

Before the hurricane, 23 percent of heart attacks happened on Mondays, in line with national averages. After, 10 percent happened on Mondays, less than any other day of the week.

Previous research has attributed the usual excess of Monday and morning heart attacks to work stress, which also peaks on Mondays and in the morning. Researchers were puzzled to find the pattern reversed after the hurricane.

πωλειται το θρυλικο σπιτι ΘΗΣΑΥΡΟΣ ΚΑΤΩ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΟΙΚΙΑ ΚΟΚΟΒΙΚΟΥ...

http://fimotro.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-post_8443.html?m=1

Hormone disorder and the Pill tied to blood clots

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who have a hormone disorder called polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and who take the birth control pill have twice the risk of blood clots than do other women on the Pill, according to a new study.

"For many women with PCOS, (the risks) will be small," said Dr. Christopher McCartney, an associate professor at the University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, who was not involved in the new work. "For some women, they might be high enough to say we really shouldn't use the Pill, such as for women over 35 who smoke."

The three to five percent of women in the U.S. with PCOS have a hormone imbalance, which can lead to irregular periods, extra hair growth and higher risks for being overweight and developing hypertension and diabetes.

Coffee after eating

Coffee is a beverage that is consumed throughout the day . However , it is common , especially after the festive feasting , and drinking a coffee . This is a habit that helps in digestion and " wakes up " the body from the lethargy of food, especially if you are someone who just ate is going to lead .

This is firstly because caffeine stimulates the central nervous system , increasing attention capacity , the other with regard to the stomach and the intestine , increases gastrointestinal motility .

New genetic clues for rheumatoid arthritis 'cure'

A British man has entered the record books as the world's longest-surviving heart transplant patient.

John McCafferty, 71, has surpassed the previous Guinness World Record of 30 years, 11 months and 10 days set by an American man who died in 2009.

Mr McCafferty was told he had five years to live when he underwent the life-saving operation at Harefield Hospital in Middlesex 31 years ago.

He says his record should give hope to others awaiting transplants.

Mr McCafferty, from Newport Pagnell in Buckinghamshire, said: "I want this world record to be an inspiration to anyone awaiting a heart transplant and to those who, like me, have been fortunate enough to have had one.

"My advice is always to be hopeful, to look ahead with a positive mind, and, of course, to follow the expert medical advice."

Mr McCafferty received his new heart on 20 October 1982 in a procedure carried out by world-renowned surgeon Sir Magdi Yacoub.

He had been diagnosed, aged 39, with dilated cardiomyopathy - one of the most common causes of heart failure. It leads to scarring of the heart wall and damage to the muscle, which causes the heart to become weakened and enlarged, preventing it from pumping efficiently.

The first ever successful heart transplant operation was performed in South Africa in 1967 by Prof Christiaan Neethling Barnard and a team of 30 physicians at the Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town. The patient, Louis Washkansky, survived for 18 days with the new heart.

Leaf vegetables

Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, greens, or leafy greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots.

Although they come from a very wide variety of plants, most share a great deal with other leaf vegetables in nutrition and cooking methods. Nearly one thousand species of plants with edible leaves are known.

Leaf vegetables most often come from short-lived herbaceous plants such as lettuce and spinach.

Woody plants whose leaves can be eaten as leaf vegetables include Adansonia, Aralia, Moringa, Morus, and Toona species. The leaves of many fodder crops are also edible by humans, but usually only eaten under famine conditions.

Examples include alfalfa, clover, and most grasses, including wheat and barley.

These plants are often much more prolific than more traditional leaf vegetables, but exploitation of their rich nutrition is difficult, primarily because of their high fiber content.