Black Men more Suscetible to Prostate Cancer!

The British Journal of Cancer reports that black men living in England have a three times higher risk of prostate cancer than white men.

Prostate cancer is the second commonest cancer in men.

They also tend to be diagnosed five years younger, a study of all cases in London and Bristol found.

The results which cannot be explained by access to diagnostic tests, awareness of the condition or screening. Studies done in the US had already reported a higher rate of prostate cancer in black men in their country.

The researchers said prostate cancer at a younger age was more likely to be due to greater biological susceptibility to the disease.

The researchers are now doing further work to see if there are any differences in survival between the two groups.

Studies looking at whether PSA ( Prostate Specific Antigen) should be used as a routine screening test are also being done and it may be that it is recommended for some high risk groups but not everyone.

The study indicates that there is a true biological difference between ethnic groups ( whites and blacks) and this knowledge could potentially lead to improved care for men at higher risk of developing prostate cancer.

What that means is that further research investigating whether there are any differences in access to treatment or care for prostate cancer between black and white men to help us understand how we can meet the needs of those most at risk from the disease.

Another Great Video from Cycle India

Another Great Video from Cycle India

This video shows the type of things that you can expect on the Cycle India 2010. So what are you all waiting for - Sign Up now!




You can read the post from Cycle India here

Kick The Butt or Pay Up! India's tough stance!

Indian Government announced that smoking would be banned in all public places from October 2nd,2008.

The ban would include hotels, restaurants and offices, Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said in Delhi on Tuesday.

If someone is caught smoking in any public place, then a fine of Rs 200 or USD 5/- or GBP 3/- would be imposed on that person in accordance with the National Tobacco Control Act.

Facts about Tobacco Use in India

* In India, 900,000 people die due to tobacco related diseases per year

* In India The tobacco contributes to 56.4% and 44.9% of cancers in men and women, respectively

* India has the largest number of oral cancer cases in the world which is due to tobacco.

* Tobacco smoking accounts for 82% of Chronic obstructive lung disease in India

* Tobacco indirectly causes lung tuberculosis. Prevalence of TB is about 3 times as great among the ever-smokers as among the never-smokers. The heavier the smoking, either cigarettes or bidis, the greater the prevalence of TB among smokers. Mortality from TB is 3 to 4 times as great in ever-smokers as in never-smokers.

* Tobacco has been linked to cancer of the lungs, mouth, pharynx, larynx, stomach, urinary bladder, gall Bladder, penis (and possibly others). In India, total number of tobacco related deaths are likely to be between 800,000 to 900,000 per year.

* Tobacco leads to heart and blood vessel disease, myocardial Infraction (Heart Attack), Angina (Chest Pain), sudden Cardiac Death (Unheralded sudden death), stroke (Brain Attack), peripheral Vascular Disease (Gangrene of legs)

* There is 'one' tobacco related death every 8 seconds.

* Pregnant women, who smoke, have a greater chance of losing the baby, or having a baby with a low birth weight, or babies with developmental problems, or sudden infant deaths (sudden unexplained cot deaths)

* Smoking / tobacco consumption is a cause of impotence in men

* Smoking / tobacco suddenly raises the blood pressure and reduces the blood flow to the heart.

See the following video to see what goes into your lung with Just one Cigarette


Do You Smoke? U Got To Watch This...

See my previous Post on Smoking Kills Video.

It is wonderful news for all of us who have to inhale the smoke of others passively.
Hopefully this will be the end of the "Wicked Weed".

CycleIndia.org

Cycle India is a Charity which raises money for Heal, which is a UK based charity for indian Children.


Cycle India is looking for around 40 cyclists to take part in our sponsored bike ride in India. The event takes place in January 2010 so there’s still plenty of time for people to sign up, raise the required amount and get fit enough to take part.

They are looking for 50 people in total from the UK to join up with people from the US and India to cycle around 200 miles over 4 days through Southern India. All the money raised by the cyclists will go to Heal, a small charity dedicated to providing education to children from extremely under privilieged backgrounds in India. We want to remove as many children as possible from the cycle of Poverty.

See the Video below to experinence the 2008 Cycle trip to India




The Purpose behind it

Heal is keen to build another Heal Village in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. We have been donated some land which will provide enough space to build a residential school and health centre which will provide education for over 1000 underprivileged children.


Are you up for It!

To take part you need to pay a £250 registration fee and then raise a minimum £2500 for Heal. If you raise £2500 (or pay the figure partly yourself) then all your main costs for the trip are covered, including flights, bikes, food, accommodation etc. As the overall costs will be around £1000 per person, thus a profit of at least £1750 per person goes to the charity.

As Heal has very small administration costs and all administration staff are volunteers, then the money you raise will go a long way. Cycle India 2008 raised over £100,000 after costs, which was an amazing effort. For Cycle India 2010 we are trying to beat that total by including more cyclists this time.

See the Video below about Heal




All you have to do is to sign up for the trip by contacting Mathew Glover, Head of Fundraising - Heal UK, matthew@heal.co.uk

Climb Stairs for a Healthy Life!

Taking the stairs instead of the lift at work could save your life, claim Swiss researchers.

Banning the use of lifts and escalators led to better fitness, less body fat, trimmer waistlines and a drop in blood pressure, a study of 69 people found.

This translates to a 15% cut in the risk of dying prematurely from any cause, calculate the University of Geneva team, which presented the paper.

The results were revealed at a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology.

The team recruited 69 participants having a sedentary lifestyle, meaning they did less than two hours of exercise or sport each week and climbed fewer than 10 flights of stairs each day.

Over the 12 weeks of the study, the volunteers, who were hospital employees at the university, were asked to use the stairs exclusively at work instead of taking the lift.

On average, the number of flights of stairs - classed as climbing up or down one storey - rose from five per day to 23.

After the three months of the trial, tests showed they had better lung capacity, blood pressure and cholesterol measurements.

Their weight, body fat and waist measurements also dropped, and their capacity for doing aerobic exercise improved.

Taken together, this equates to a 15% reduction in the chances of dying young, which in my opinion is a huge difference.

This study was done over a 12 week period and there was a 15% reduction in their chances of dying young.

What would happen if someone were to make a life style change and take stairs instead of lifts or escalators for ever.

This goes on to prove again and again that exercise is good for the human body and we should make time to exercise on a regular basis.

I have highlighted the same on my numerous previous posts

1. Alzheimer's Dementia slowed by exercise

2. Cycling your way to health

3. Target Heart Rate

Ibuprofen Better for Childhood Fevers!

Ibuprofen is better at alleviating childhood fever than paracetamol and should be the drug of first choice, say researchers from University of Bristol.

The reserach paper published by Dr Alastair D Hay and team, called the PITCH trial - Paracetamol plus ibuprofen for the treatment of fever in children (PITCH), in the BMJ suggests using Ibuprofen first and then paracetamol plus Ibuprofen.

This is what they have to say :-

"Parents, nurses, pharmacists, and doctors wanting to use medicines to supplement physical measures to maximise the time that children spend without fever should use ibuprofen first and consider the relative benefits and risks of using paracetamol plus ibuprofen over 24 hours."

Guidelines published last year by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) say either ibuprofen or paracetamol can be used for children unwell or distressed with fever.

But they say that, due to the lack of evidence, the two drugs should not be given together or alternated.

This paper adds to what is currently being practised. Currently parents are advised to use simple options for treating fever like physical measures (taking cool fluids and dressing lightly) and the antipyretic (fever) drugs like paracetamol (acetaminophen) and ibuprofen.

Evidence for physical measures is now redundant as it mostly pertains to tepid sponging, which is no longer recommended.


What this paper adds is that to use :-

1. Ibuprofen first when a child is having fever
2. To start/ add paracetamol if the child is not responding to ibuprofen

It goes without saying that physical measures should be practised (for example taking cool fluids and dressing lightly) before going in for the pharmacological intervention.