Avoid the kidney busters

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a “silent killer” which could be as fatal as diabetes and hypertension, but carries a much lower profile, with less awareness about it in society. It is, however, important to recognise the growing epidemic of CKD in young adults in our country. In a study in Chennai, 6 per cent prevalence of urinary protein leakage was noted in a sample population of young adults.

Young people often ignore warning signs about their health such as odd readings of high blood pressure, headaches, frothy urine, leg swelling and fatigue, etc.

The genesis of kidney disease can usually start early in youth and largely with the onset of modifiable risk factors.

Risk factors for CKD in young adults:

1. Low birth weight (28 per cent of children are < 2.5 kg at birth ).

2. Hypo-vitaminosis (condition of abnormally high storage levels of vitamins like A or D, which can lead to toxic symptoms) and under-nutrition of the pregnant mother may lead to smaller kidney volume at birth, hence lower eGFR (filtration efficiency).

3. Co-sanguinity and genetic inbreeding can lead to greater risk of congenital anomalies of the renal tract at birth.

4. Kidney filter diseases may result from the impact of poverty, poor sanitation, pollutants, water contamination, overcrowding, exposure to unknown nephrotoxins (heavy metals, plant toxins, indigenous remedies) and lack of access to affordable health care.

5. Growing burden of hypertension and diabetes in India. 

6. Scarcity of nephrologists. 

7. Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

8. Consumption of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory pain medicines, use of steroids and excesses of whey protein / muscle gain products in an attempt to build muscle bulk and enhance body image. It can cause severe kidney filter damage, proteinuria and increased risk of stone formation. 

Prevention of kidney disease in young age: 

Early screening to identify risk factors, combined with education on ways to keep the kidneys healthy, could provide great opportunity to prevent or abate kidney disease before it becomes a problem. The youth must be made aware of:

1. Avoidance of extreme physical exercise.

2. Avoidance of extremes of heat to prevent heat stroke and dehydration.

3. Drinking good volume of water and fluids to prevent renal stone disease, especially in hot climates.

4. Avoidance of whey protein. 

5. Avoidance of smoking & alcohol.

6. Avoidance of creatine tablets.

7. Reduction of weight in obese youth.

8. Monitoring BP and controlling it. 

9. Avoidance of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Short education sessions/ videos ought to be shown to the millennial generation to create awareness about kidney disease and how to avoid it. With advancing technology and social networking, this could be spread “virally” not only among younger adults but also possibly later via secondary mechanisms (e.g., verbal) to older family members as well.

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Swallowing and Nursing Problems in Children

Does your baby have trouble nursing? Are feeding sessions lasting longer than half an hour? Do they choke when nursing or eating? Do they spit up frequently? Cry at mealtime? Seem uncomfortable? Are they not gaining enough weight or maybe suffering from failure to thrive (FIT)? Does your baby or child refuse to eat? The following article is for those who have to deal with these problems.
When a baby is born, the concern for its proper eating is central to its care and constitutes an important element in the relationship between the mother and the newborn. Sucking, nursing, and swallowing are an important part of the baby's development and experience in life. With that being said, swallowing disorders are most common in newborns and infants. Sometimes they continue until the age of two and then they decrease considerably. As adults, their frequency rises again.

What characterizes breastfeeding and feeding a newborn and infant?

The struggle for optimal feeding and proper swallowing begins with birth and the subject is highly complex and requires special expertise. At the beginning of life, the baby does not eat but is fed. Try to imagine someone feeding you and not taking your organizational abilities into consideration. In addition, at this early stage of life, there is no dialogue, meaning that the baby can only cry but cannot explain their distress in words.
Infant swallowing disorders are characterized by the fact that a baby cannot describe their difficulty in swallowing, and cannot make any changes in the swallowing process on demand. The baby has difficulty timing their breathing and swallowing if anything goes wrong, therefore a swallowing disorder can be seen as a breathing disorder due to inhalation of food into the respiratory tract where choking and other breathing problems such as tightness in the chest can be experienced and also seen as a swallowing disorder.
In infants, difficulty in swallowing can cause energy loss with relative ease and disrupt life-threatening failure to thrive. In addition, infants and young children can develop an eating disorder and during this period of life, an eating disorder can simulate swallowing disorder and vice versa. Swallowing disorders are becoming more and more common because today, with the advancement of medicine, newborns who would not have survived in the past now do, such as premature babies, babies with congenital malformations, cerebral palsy, and more.

What happens today when there is difficulty in breastfeeding and feeding?

When there is difficulty in feeding a baby or small child, many are the counselors and plentiful are the pieces of advice. In practice, these consultations are not given out of knowledge and the ability to specifically diagnose the individual baby, but out of beliefs, despite the ignorance in this field. Too often the problem is explained by a milk allergy, tongue tie, or "reflux," which means that food goes back in the opposite direction from the stomach to the esophagus, and sometimes even to the pharynx.
Primary reflux may be due to a gastric esophageal disorder but in many cases secondary reflux, for example, improper ingestion can cause the baby to take in air while swallowing. Air pressure in the stomach can cause reflux and more. Unfortunately, the term "reflux" is constantly heard by non-professionals, as any problems swallowing or constant spit up is mistakenly diagnosed as a reflux. Many infants and babies who have been mistakenly diagnosed with reflux may have a different problem that can be properly resolved.

What are the common causes of swallowing difficulties in infants?

Common causes of swallowing difficulties are immaturity of the swallowing mechanism and anatomical variation that can lead to different ratios of tongue, jaw, and lips. For example, the way a child’s mouth is built may not fit the structure of the mother's nipples or of common bottle nipples. The synchronization between breathing and eating is more problematic, as a baby can have problems breathing through their nose, or finds it difficult to synchronize their breathing with their swallowing, and therefore, finds it difficult to compensate for the swallowing difficulties by changing the way they swallow as an adult would.
In many cases, there may be no visual evidence of congenital malformations or any other cause, but there is difficulty in swallowing and the baby spits up or refuses to eat. However, there are hidden defects that those who are not experts will not be able to see. In other cases, there are known problems such as neurological disorders including cerebral palsy, congenital malformations, some of which are known as cleft lip or open cleft palate. Often the solution given is changing nipples to one that fits better or diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders such as refusal to eat. The rate of newborns and infants suffering from swallowing disorders of varying degrees of severity is quite high and its implications for parents and babies’ health are very significant.

Who do you need to see to diagnose and treat babies and infants who suffer from swallowing problems?

Diagnosis of swallowing disorders requires specific knowledge and expertise in this field. Non-diagnosis can cause great frustration to the parents, unnecessary hospitalization, tube feeding, severe morbidity and even feeding through an opening in the abdominal wall directly to the stomach (enteral feeding or gastronomy feeding). Every year in all parts of the world, children are unnecessarily fed through gastrostomy, and only because of a lack of a professional body to diagnose a swallowing disorder and offer a correct solution. Swallowing and drinking properly requires coordination of the lips, tongue, mouth, palate, throat, upper esophagus, and neck. It should be remembered that swallowing disorders can be a symptom of serious and sometimes dangerous diseases of which early diagnosis is essential.

How are swallowing disorders diagnosed?

A trained ear, nose and throat doctor may examine the functions of the mouth while drinking and eating, as well as the pharynx and throat through professional observation and endoscopic video testing, i.e., fiber-optic inserted through the nose. Indeed, in many cases, this is sufficient to diagnose the problem and offer an effective solution. An ear, nose and throat doctor is assisted by a trained speech therapist, whose role is very important.

When the clinical examination and the endoscopic examination are not sufficient, it is necessary to examine the swallowing mechanism, and then a video-fluoroscopic test should be performed. This test is a radiographic test and is the only one that can demonstrate the structure and operation of the swallowing mechanism. This dynamic test enables the completion of the clarification and thus a dynamic three-dimensional imaging of the swallowing mechanism, which is highly recommended by swallowing specialists, is conducted using a radiographic scanning machine, during which the baby breastfeeds, drinks and eats calmly.

This test allows for different feeding methods, including various bottles and nipples in order to see which one is best for baby in terms of swallowing and prevention of inhaling food or drink into the respiratory tract. In babies and infants, breathing and swallowing are more closely related to each other than in adults, and the assessment of feeding in children is different than in adults. 

Every year babies who are fed artificially or need frequent hospitalization are diagnosed and an immediate solution is reached in many cases. Babies from the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) fed through tubes are often seen by ENT’s and leave in their happy mother’s arms when the problem is diagnosed correctly, a solution to the problem is found, and a new, healthy and happy life can begin for parents and baby.

To conclude

Infantile and neonatal swallowing disorders are a first-rate medical problem and require a specific professional medical evaluation. Only in this way can a baby be correctly diagnosed and offered a real solution.

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/  

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Antioxidants found in red wine could treat heart disease

The antioxidants found in red wine could be used to treat people with heart disease, a professor has claimed. 

Cardiovascular disease affects around seven million people in a country, causing over a quarter of deaths every year according to the researchers.

Cardiovascular disease refers to coronary heart disease, angina, heart attacks, congenital disease and strokes, all of which can be managed with treatment.

A Prof. , believes she may have found a way to use the antioxidant found in red wine to help people who are suffering from heart disease. 

This isn’t the only recent instance of scientists lauding the benefits of alcohol.

A new study states that drinking small amounts of alcohol can boost the brain's ability to remove waste, thus providing it with an efficient clean.

Contrarily, the Prof. isn’t advising that people drink more red wine in order to treat heart disease, but rather that incorporating the antioxidants found in red wine into a coronary angioplasty procedure could prove beneficial for heart disease sufferers. 

A coronary angioplasty is a procedure in which blocked or narrowed coronary arteries are widened.
Surgeons do this by inserting and inflating a small balloon into the artery, which frequently involves inserting a stent into the blood vessel.

The Prof. noted that commercial stents can often cause the artery to narrow again afterwards, which is why she’s working on a new type of stent that doesn’t prove harmful in the long run.

The advantages of the antioxidant in red wine  have been noted previously. However, the Prof. has discovered a new way to utilise them.  

The Prof. is currently in the process of developing a new stent that releases two antioxidant compounds that are found in red wine into the blood: resveratrol and quercetin.  

Doing so will promote healing, prevent further blood clotting and reduce inflammation.

“By delivering red wine antioxidants during conventional angioplasty, it may be possible to prevent excess tissue from building up and the blood vessel from narrowing again as it heals,” the Prof. explained

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.    

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Landmark Vitamin Discovery Could Prevent Miscarriages And Birth Defects

A simple vitamin supplement could have the potential to prevent miscarriages and birth defects, according to a 12-year study by scientists.

Researchers have identified a deficiency in a developmental molecule called NAD that can keep a baby's organs from forming properly in the womb – but the shortfall could be addressed by pregnant women taking Vitamin B 3, which may prevent a range of birth defects.

It's the first time that NAD (aka nicotinamideadenine dinucleotide) has been linked to congenital abnormalities, identifying a previously unknown cause of birth defects – along with the supplement that might treat the problem.

"The ramifications are likely to be huge," says developmental geneticist.

"This has the potential to significantly reduce the number of miscarriages and birth defects around the world, and I do not use those words lightly."

The team began their research back in 2005, when they came across the case of a baby with major defects in the heart, backbone, and ribs.
A genomic analysis revealed that both parents carried a mutation in a gene involved in the production of NAD – a vital molecule that contributes to energy production, DNA repair, and cell communication.
Several years later, the researchers found a similar mutation affecting NAD production in the family of another baby born with congenital problems.

 That was our Eureka moment," the scientist told.

In all, the team examined genetic data from 14 families whose children bore congenital birth defects, and found the NAD mutations present in four of them.

To test possible treatment mechanisms, the team engineered mice with the same deficiency, using the  CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique.

When female mice with the mutation gave birth, many of their pups died or were born with significant defects – but counterparts fed diets including B3 supplements gave birth to healthier offspring.

Diets with small amounts of vitamin B3 produced baby mice with fewer abnormalities, and feed rich in the supplement fostered a healthy litter of animals.

As far as a proof of concept goes, we've only seen this result in animals – and the principal deficiency has only been studied in four human families – so we shouldn't get too carried away with the findings just yet.

But it's a very promising start down a new avenue in developmental research, and one with the potential to produce life-changing results for thousands of families.

"Arguably, it's the most important discovery for pregnant women since folate," the scientist told in reference to the research that showed folic acid could reduce the incidence of spina bifida and other neural tube defects.

Vitamin B3, also known as niacin, is usually found in meats and green vegetables, along with condiment.

But while many pregnant women take dietary supplements, research has shown that up to third of women have low levels of vitamin B3 during their pregnancy.

The team behind the new study hope that's something their findings can turn around, although the research is at too early a stage for scientists to recommend any kind of specific dosage.

"At the moment, the recommendation is to take a standard multivitamin, but we're all different and that will not prevent all women from having babies with birth defects," 

"We need to identify those women at risk and identify a safe level of niacin for them to take to prevent miscarriages and birth defects."

To that end, the researchers say the next step will be developing a diagnostic test akin to a pregnancy test, sampling either urine or blood, which could easily show which women could be low in NAD.

Nobody knows when this kind of check-up will become available, but we can't wait to see where this research leads – because it's something that could have a huge impact on the health and happiness of too many lives to count.

The findings were reported in a medical journal.

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Antidepressants in pregnancy may up birth defects, stillbirths

Mothers-to-be, take note! Taking a specific type of antidepressant in early pregnancy may increase the risk of having babies with birth defects or stillbirths, scientists have warned.

Researchers at Swansea University in the UK analysed data from more than 500,000 infants in Wales, Norway and Denmark.

They found that women who had been prescribed selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), in the first trimester of pregnancy were at a small but significantly greater risk of having infants with congenital anomalies, particularly severe heart defects or stillbirths compared with those who did not take SSRIs.

The study found that where SSRIs were not prescribed, six in 200 pregnancies had an adverse outcome of stillbirth or a baby with a major congenital anomaly, but when SSRIs were prescribed this rose to seven in 200.

SSRIs are prescribed to 5.5 per cent of pregnant women in Wales, 2.1 per cent in  Denmark and 1.6 per cent in Norway, researchers said.

"To our knowledge, this is the first dose-response analysis that shows the link between SSRI doses and congenital anomalies and stillbirths. While this extra risk may seem small, in my view, the outcomes are as serious as they can be, said Sue Jordan, of the College of Human and Health Sciences.

"Women should not stop taking SSRIs without consulting their doctors, and we are not saying stop all medicines, but our message is that we want our health care professionals to be very mindful of this link and to take the appropriate action to ensure that women are given the right type of care before, during and after pregnancy to minimise the risks of congenital anomalies and stillbirths linked to SSRIs," said Jordan, who led the study.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

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