What is Kawasaki disease? The rare child syndrome might have link to Covid-19

UK paediatrics specialists have warned that a small but rising number of children are becoming ill with a rare syndrome that could be linked to coronavirus.

On Sunday the Paediatric Intensive Care Society UK (PICS) warned about a small rise in the number of cases of critically ill children, some who had tested positive for Covid-19, presenting "overlapping features of toxic shock syndrome and atypical Kawasaki disease with blood parameters."

In a statement sent over the weekend to medical professionals who look after critically ill children, PICS said "abdominal pain and gastrointestinal symptoms have been a common feature as has cardiac inflammation."

So what is Kawasaki disease and how worried should parents and carers be?

What is Kawasaki disease?

Kawasaki disease, also known as Kawasaki syndrome, is a rare childhood illness that causes the walls of the blood vessels in the body to become inflamed.

According to the UK's National Health Service (NHS), the condition -- also known as mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome -- mainly affects children under the age of 5, although it can affect children of any age. 

Symptoms include a high temperature lasting for five days or longer, alongside a rash, swollen glands in the neck, dry cracked lips, red fingers or toes and red eyes, according to the healthcare provider.
If treated, the symptoms usually become less severe, the NHS said, adding that the disease is not contagious.

"Thankfully Kawasaki-like diseases are very rare, as currently are serious complications in children related to Covid-19, but it is important that clinicians are made aware of any potential emerging links so that they are able to give children and young people the right care fast," Professor Simon Kenny, NHS national clinical director for children and young people said in a statement sent to CNN on Monday.

A condition that can lead to heart complications

Kawasaki disease is a leading cause of acquired heart disease in the United States, and serious complications can include aneurysms and coronary artery dilations, according to US healthcare company the Mayo Clinic.

Standard treatment, which involves intravenous immunoglobulin and aspirin, can substantially decrease the development of coronary artery abnormalities, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says.

According to the NHS, around 25% of children with the disease who do not receive treatment go on to experience heart complications, which can include conditions such as heart attacks and heart disease.

However, the health care provider says that most children with Kawasaki disease make a full recovery if they receive prompt treatment.

What causes Kawasaki disease?
Experts admit that the causes of Kawasaki disease are not fully understood, but think that children who develop it could be genetically predisposed to it, having inherited certain genes from their parents.

The disease itself is not contagious, according to the NHS, meaning that it is unlikely to be caused by a virus alone.

The disease is more common in children from Northeast Asia, especially Japan and Korea, the NHS said.

What is the link to Covid-19?
The link between Kawasaki disease and Covid-19 is unclear, but health care professionals have reassured parents that the risk of children becoming severely ill with the virus remains low.
In a report released in April, the CDC said that children diagnosed with coronavirus in the US typically have mild cases of the virus.

The number of Covid-19 cases among children remains small and while some children and infants have been sick with Covid-19, adults make up most of the known cases to date, according to the CDC.

Professor Rosalind Smyth, director and professor of child health, UCL Great Ormond St Institute of Child Health, said current evidence suggests that most children with Covid-19 who receive medical attention have mild symptoms, with about half having a fever, around 40% having a cough and less than 10% of reported cases having gastrointestinal symptoms.

"However, our understanding of this condition in children is limited. Covid-19 does present, in adults, as an inflammatory disease affecting a number of organs. We should investigate fully these children, with SARS-CoV-2, who present with a multi-system inflammatory disease to assess whether this is a presentation of Covid-19," Smyth said in a statement Monday.

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Team Identifies Path to Blood Test for Artery Disorder

A Mount Sinai team has gained valuable insights into fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD), a disorder of the arteries that is typically diagnosed in otherwise healthy women at midlife and sometimes causes aneurysms or serious heart disease. The findings could open the door to new strategies for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of FMD, including a blood test that could lead to earlier diagnosis.

“A lot of work remains, but we have proved that a reliable, blood-based test for this disease is eminently possible,” says Jason C. Kovacic, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and corresponding author of a study published in August 2019 in Cardiovascular Research. “Such a test could have an enormous impact on the management of FMD. It could pave the way for screening and counseling of family members, and for tailoring clinical care to patients who, in many cases, remain undiagnosed until they suffer a major event.”

The team compared blood samples from 90 women with FMD and 100 women without it, evaluating nearly 1,000 proteins and 31 lipid subclasses. Eventually, researchers identified and validated 37 proteins and 10 lipid sub-classes that make up a unique FMD disease signature. Then, machine learning was used to develop a prototype blood test for FMD.

This is preliminary, but it is the first meaningful, mechanistic research that has been done in this disease,” says Jeffrey W. Olin, DO, Professor of Medicine (Cardiology), Icahn School of Medicine, and a co-author of the study. Developing an accurate test is crucial, says Dr. Olin, a leader in the treatment of FMD. “It’s not uncommon for a patient to have high blood pressure related to FMD that started when she was 30, and not have FMD diagnosed until she is 50,” he says.

FMD is a genetic disease that predominantly affects women and can strike at any age, although the average age of patients at diagnosis is 52. Abnormal cells form in the arteries, which take on a characteristic “string of beads” appearance, causing narrowing, tearing, or bulging of the vessels.

“FMD can affect the arteries of the kidney, causing high blood pressure. It can affect the arteries to the brain, which can cause stroke, or it can affect the arteries in the heart, in which you can develop a heart attack,” Dr. Olin explains. The prevalence of the disease is hard to gauge, because most patients with FMD have no symptoms for many years, and it is often found in a scan for another clinical purpose. For example, “FMD is discovered in approximately 4 percent of potential kidney donors, but this may be a serious underestimation of its prevalence,” he says.

Mount Sinai is in the forefront of efforts to unravel the genetics of FMD, due to the work of Dr. Kovacic and Dr. Olin, who is principal investigator for the United States Registry for Fibromuscular Dysplasia, and Director of the Mount Sinai Heart Center for Fibromuscular Dysplasia Care and Research. The team also includes Daniella Kadian-Dodov, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine (Cardiology); Valentina d’Escamard, PhD, a senior scientist in the Kovacic Lab; and Annette King, NP, study coordinator.

“We are looking for a genetic profile of this disease, and we do have some promising preliminary results,” Dr. Olin says. “But ultimately, we want to find the gene or genes that cause this disease, and develop a treatment that blocks the effects of those genes.”

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Women who quit alcohol improve mental health ‘within four years’

LIFETIME non-drinkers are less likely to experience mental health problems, according to a study which also found that women benefit more than men from quitting alcohol. 

Researchers found that within four years of giving up alcohol, women had had experienced an improvement in their mental well-being that put them on a par with people who had always abstained. 

They said their findings “suggest caution in recommending that moderate drinking could improve health-related quality of life”. 

They add: “Instead, quitting drinking may be associated with a more favourable change in mental well-being, approaching the level of lifetime abstainers.

“This may be analogous to smoking cessation, which results in the recovery of health outcomes to the level of lifetime non-smokers.” 

Surge in Buckfast sales blamed on minimum pricing ‘trade-off’
 
The study, compared teetotalers with moderate consumers of alcohol in both US and Hong Kong populations. 

Moderate drinking was considered 14 drinks or fewer per week for men, and seven drinks or fewer per week for women. 

Heavy drinkers and binge drinkers were excluded from the study. 

It comes at a time when more adults in Scotland are giving up alcohol, and the overall intake of alcohol in 2018 was at a record low – coinciding with the introduction of Scotland’s minimum pricing law. 

Similarly, alcohol consumption among teenagers is at an all-time low. 

However, among adults in Scotland who do drink, the majority are still exceeding recommended guidelines – averaging 19 units per week, compared to the 14 unit maximum advised by Government. 

Alcohol sales in Scotland ‘lowest since records began’ as minimum pricing introduced
The sample size for the study was just under 41,500 participants – around 10,400 from Hong Kong and 31,000 from the US. 

Those who had never consumed alcohol scored the highest level of mental well-being at the start of the five-year analysis. 

For female drinkers, quitting was linked to a favourable change in mental health in both the Hong Kong and US populations. 

The authors state: “We found that lifetime alcohol abstainers reported the highest level of mental well-being. 

“Women who quit drinking were found to have a greater improvement in mental well-being than lifetime abstainers. This association was found in a Hong Kong cohort as well as in a US cohort. 

“On average, the mental well-being of female quitters approached the level of lifetime abstainers within a four-year period in both cohorts. 

“In contrast, initiation and persistent moderate drinking for four years were not associated with better mental or physical well-being.” 

Three bottles of wine ‘like 23 cigarettes’ by cancer risk
The results remained consistent even after the researchers adjusted for differences in socio-demographic characteristics, BMI, smoking status, self-reported diseases and physical activity.
However they added that it was unclear whether the change experienced by women actually has a physiological basis. 

They added: “The explanation for our findings and the underlying mechanism are not clear. It is possible that alcohol-related neurotoxicity reverses following abstinence. 

“Alcohol cessation may also reduce stressful life events, such as conflict within family, difficulties in employment and legal troubles, resulting in improved mental well-being. 

“It is also possible that improved mental well-being may result from the psychological benefits of ‘giving up’ per se rather than an effect of alcohol, as most Chinese women in Hong Kong use alcohol fewer than four times per month, which may not have a physiologic effect.” 

The findings will raise further questions over what is a safe and sensible amount to drink.
Another study last year said regularly drinking more than recommended limits is as bad for health as smoking. 

They estimated a 40-year-old drinking two pints or glasses of wine a day above guidelines can expect to die two years early and was associated with a higher risk of stroke, fatal aneurysm and heart failure. 

A brain scientist and co-author of the study, said: “Global alcohol consumption is expected to continue to increase unless effective strategies are employed. Our findings suggest caution in recommendations that moderate drinking could improve health-related quality of life. 

“Instead, quitting drinking may be associated with a more favourable change in mental well-being, approaching the level of lifetime abstainers.” 

Another person said: “We know that regularly drinking above the Chief Medical Officer’s low-risk guidelines can lead to mental health problems like anxiety and depression. Many people also use alcohol to relax and combat the feelings of stress, but the negative effects of alcohol are actually likely to make stress worse. 

“By cutting down on how much we drink we can reduce the risk of developing mental health problems as well as around 60 other diseases including liver disease, heart disease and alcohol-related cancers. 

“However, it can be difficult to always make the healthy choice when alcohol is available anytime, anywhere and we’re encouraged to drink in every social situation. Action on the price, availability and marketing of alcohol can help reduce consumption and protect health.” 

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Hina by: Hina Zahid Exercise decreases inflammation and prevents cartilage damage in osteoarthritis

The researchers have shown for the first time how mechanical forces experienced by cells in joints during exercise prevent cartilage degradation by suppressing the action of inflammatory molecules which cause osteoarthritis.

The study has demonstrated the benefits of exercise on the tissues that form our joints and how this is down to tiny hair-like structures, called primary cilia, found on living cells. 

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease and a leading cause of adult disability. The etiology of OA is not clear, but common risk factors for developing OA include age, joint injury, mechanical and obesity.

Exercise is the most common non-pharmacologic therapy prescribed to patients with osteoarthritis. It can help improve health and fitness without hurting the joints.

During exercise the cartilage in joints such as the hip and knee is squashed. This mechanical distortion is detected by the living cells in the cartilage which then block the action of inflammatory molecules associated with conditions such as arthritis.

The researchers show that this anti-inflammatory effect of physical activity is caused by the activation of a particular protein, called HDAC6, which triggers changes in the proteins that form primary cilia.

Pharmaceutical drugs that blocked HDAC6 activation prevented the anti-inflammatory effects of physical activity, whilst other drug treatments were able to mimic the benefits of exercise.

Changes in length of the primary cilia, which are only a few 1000th of  millimetre, provided a biomarker of the level of inflammation. Cilia got longer during inflammation, but treatments that prevented this elongation successfully prevented inflammation.

One of the researcher said, " We have known for some time that healthy exercises is good for you-- now we know the process through which exercises prevents cartilage degradation."

Prof. and a lead researcher of the study added, " These findings may also explain the anti-inflammatory effects of normal blood flow in arteries which is important for preventing arterial disease such as atherosclerosis and aneurysm".

The researchers hope that these findings will help in the search for treatments for arthritis which affects over 3 million people in the U.K causing stiff and painful joints.

The researchers suggest the results may lead to a whole new therapeutic approach known as mechano-medicine in which drugs simulate the effect of mechanical forces to prevent the damaging effects of inflammation and treat conditions such as arthritis.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                    PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                         FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                  https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/           

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Read more at Speciality Medical Dialogues: Exercise decreases inflammation and prevents cartilage damage in osteoarthritis https://speciality.medicaldialogues.in/exercise-decreases-inflammation-and-prevents-cartilage-damage-in-osteoarthritis/

Read more at Speciality Medical Dialogues: Exercise decreases inflammation and prevents cartilage damage in osteoarthritis https://speciality.medicaldialogues.in/exercise-decreases-inflammation-and-prevents-cartilage-damage-in-osteoarthritis/

Brain Damage - Types, Causes and Symptoms

Regardless of whether the cause is a tumor, trauma, stroke or any other illness, any injury which inflicts damage on your brain cells is considered to be a brain damage. 
There are two types of brain damage, both of which interfere with the standard functioning of the brain.
They are:

1. Acquired brain injury (ABI): Either resulting from a tumor or a neurological illness, for instance a stroke, this type of brain injury originates from the cellular level and is commonly linked with brain pressure.
2. Traumatic brain injury (TBI): It results from any damage imparted to the skull usually from an external and physical force like a blow to the head or a head accident, which in turn damages the brain.

How severe the brain damage is depends largely on the type of brain injury. Mild brain injuries are temporary, causing headaches, memory lapses, nausea and confusion. On the other hand, severe brain injuries cause cognitive, physical and behavioral impairments which are often life-changing and permanent.
Causes:
Acquired brain injuries may be caused by:

1. Poisoning
2. Being exposed to toxic substances
3. Choking, strangulation or drowning
4. Heart attacks
5. Infections
6. Stroke
7. Tumours
8. Neurological illnesses
9. Aneurysms
10. Illegal drug abuse

Traumatic brain injuries are usually caused by:

1. Car accidents
2. Sports Injuries
3. Physical violence
4. Head blows
5. Falls and other mishaps

Symptoms:
Whether acquired or traumatic, symptoms of brain damage can be classified under four major groups:
1.  Cognitive symptoms generally include

• Having a hard time processing information or expressing thoughts
• Difficulty in understanding others or abstract concepts
• Indecisiveness
• Memory Loss
• Short attention spans

2.  Physical symptoms generally include

• Excessive physical fatigue
• Extreme mental fatigue
• Persistent and frequent migraines or headaches
• Paralysis
• Seizures
• Tremors
• Sleep disorders
• Light sensitivity
• Loss of consciousness
• Slurred speech

3.  Perceptual symptoms generally include

• Spatial disorientation
• Smell and taste disorders
• Heightened pain sensitivity
• Changes in hearing, seeing, or touch sensations
• Unable to perceive time
• Balance problems

4.  Emotional or behavioral symptoms generally include

• Decreased stress tolerance
• Heightened or flattened reactions or emotions
• Aggressiveness
• Sluggishness
• Impatience and irritability
• Self-denial If you have any specific problem, you please consult a neurosurgeon.
  
  
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