Autism spectrum disorder and diet

Every year, April 2 is observed as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD), an event to raise public awareness about autism as well as highlight the needs to help and improve the lives of those affected by the developmental disorder. This year’s WAAD is focusing on leveraging the use of assistive technologies for persons with autism.

First discovered in the 1940s, autism is a serious disorder wherein a child has difficulty in communicating and his social skills are impaired. It is called Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as the signs can be varied based on the severity of the condition. Indicators may appear by age of 2-3 years.
Experts say that early intervention can help improve communication skills and help in brain development so that the child can have a near-normal life later as an adult. Perhaps, there is convincing empirical evidence that dietary intervention can help many with autism.

Symptoms and causes of autism spectrum disorder

Few signs that a child might be autistic are - lack of eye contact, poor facial expressions, resists cuddling or holding, shows repetitive behaviour, doesn’t respond when his name is called out, is not able to express his feelings or understand other persons feeling, etc.

The exact cause of autism is not very clear as it may be associated with environmental and genetic factors - ranging from exposure to few drugs during pregnancy to genetic mutation.

Diet and Autism: What parents need to know

Children with autism may have a sensitive gut, inflammation, poor digestion, malabsorption, etc. It has been observed that children with autism have high peptide levels in the blood as compared to children without the disorder.

Generally, a gluten- and casein-free diet (GFCF) is highly recommended for people with autism, said a Nutritionist- Lifestyle and Weight Management Expert. Gluten-free means avoiding grains like wheat, oats, barley and their products in the diet. Instead, parents can give quinoa, rye, potato flour, rice, tapioca, etc. One can also make paratha, chelas, pancakes, porridge, pulav, dosa, etc out of these flours. You may also use them as a binding agent to make a patty out of vegetables.

A casein-free diet is a diet free of dairy products like milk, curd, cheese, drinks which are milk-based or supplements which have milk powder in them. The advice here is to read the label before giving anything to the child or better still cook and prepare food from scratch at home.

Another option is to substitute milk with almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk, etc. Packed milk contains carrageenans which can lead to inflammation, hence, one should try to prepare at home. There is clear advice of not using soya milk or products as soya is genetically modified and commonly have cross contamination. Also, parents need to avoid saturated fats and sugars as well apart from gluten and casein. Here are a few important diet tips for parents to follow.

1. Be careful about cross contamination - e.g. using the same knife or spoon between GFCF and normal diet.
2. Do not stock your kitchen with gluten-free products as most of them will be high in sugar. Honey can be a good substitute but that too in limited quantities.
3. Let the child have as much as he wants to eat as long as it is within the allowed category.
4. If possible, the whole family should turn to the same diet as it is easier to follow and avoid contamination.
5. Avoid additives, colour, preservatives, hormones, etc in food.
6. Food should be nutrient-dense as the child’s nutritive needs are higher than the counterpart.

It has been seen that if we eliminate grains and milk, there will be obvious nutritional deficiencies in children who are already poor eaters. So here the task is to give enough options and variety to the child with the main focus on fresh fruits and vegetables.

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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Tablet devices may curb agitation in dementia patients

Using tablet devices to employ music or art therapies may be a safe and a potentially effective approach to manage agitation among patients with dementia, according to a new study led by a scientist of Indian origin.

"Tablet use as a nonpharmacologic intervention for agitation in older adults, including those with severe dementia, appears to be feasible, safe, and of potential utility," said Ipsit Vahia, from McLean Hospital in the US.

"Our preliminary results are a first step in developing much-needed empirical data for clinicians and caregivers on how to use technology such as tablets as tools to enhance care and also for app developers working to serve the technologic needs of this population," said Vahia, who led the study.

The research builds upon previous studies demonstrating that art, music, and other similar therapies can effectively reduce symptoms of dementia without medication.

By using tablet devices to employ these therapies, however, patients and providers also benefit from a computer's inherent flexibility.

"We know that art therapy can work, music therapy can work. The tablet, however, gives you the option of switching from one app to another easily, modifying the therapy seamlessly to suit the individual," he said.

Researchers loaded a menu of 70 apps onto the tablets for the study. The apps varied greatly in their cognitive complexity -from an app that displayed puppy photos to one that featured Sudoku puzzles.

The researchers found that tablet use was safe for every patient, regardless of the severity of their dementia, and that with proper supervision and training, the engagement rate with the devices was nearly 100 per cent.

The study also found that the tablets demonstrated significant effectiveness in reducing symptoms of agitation, particularly - but not exclusively - among patients with milder forms of dementia.

Vahia cited several examples of the tablet's potential to improve a patient's condition.

One particular patient, who only spoke Romanian, was very withdrawn and irritable, and medications were ineffective in controlling his symptoms.

"We started showing him Romanian video clips on YouTube, and his behaviour changed dramatically and instantaneously," said Vahia.

"His mood improved. He became more interactive. He and his medical support team also started using a translation app so that staff could ask him simple questions in Romanian, facilitating increased interaction," he said.

"These significant improvements are a clear testament of the tablet's potential as a clinical tool," he added.

The research was published in The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.

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Using tablet devices to employ music or art therapies may be a safe and a potentially effective approach to manage agitation among patients with dementia, according to a new study led by a scientist of Indian origin.

"Tablet use as a nonpharmacologic intervention for agitation in older adults, including those with severe dementia, appears to be feasible, safe, and of potential utility," said Ipsit Vahia, from McLean Hospital in the US.

"Our preliminary results are a fir ..

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http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/56403586.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation ( AFib) is a condition that disrupts your heartbeat. A glitch in the heart’s electrical system makes its upper chambers (the atria) beat so fast they quiver, or fibrillate. This causes the lower chambers (the ventricles) to beat out of sync.
AFib can be dangerous because it raises your risk of stroke and heart failure.
 Usually the atria and ventricles work together so the heart pumps blood in steady rhythm. But in AFib, they don't. The irregular beats can cause a fast, fluttering heart rate -- 100-175 beats per minute -- instead of the normal 60-100 beats per minute.

Some warning signs 
many people may not have any symptom, but some may feel these following signs-
 An uneven pulse 
A racing or pounding heart 
A feeling that your heart is fluttering 
Chest pain
Feeling short of breath
Those who have AFib their blood doesn't move well throughout your body. One may feel:
Dizzy or faint
Breathless
Weak and fatigued

 When It's an Emergency
AFib isn't always a cause for alarm. But you should call your hospital if you've any of these following signs-Severe chest pain
Uneven pulse and feel faint
Signs of a stroke, such as numbness or slurred speech
And let your doctor know whenever something doesn't feel right

 Risk of Stroke
When your heart isn't pumping like it should, the slow-moving blood can pool inside, which makes it easier for clots to form. If that happens, and a clot travels through the bloodstream to your brain and gets stuck, you could have a stroke. People with AFib are five times more likely to have one.

Common causes of AFib 
High blood pressure
Coronary artery disease and heart attacks
Heart failure
Problems with heart valves
Sometimes, AFib may be set off by thyroid disorders or serious infections like pneumonia.

Things that you can control- 
if obese, lose weight 
quit smoking
reduce alcohol intake
certain prescription drugs, such as albuterol- then ask your Dr. to change the medication
don't take stimulants and illegal drugs

Lone AFib

When it happens without an obvious trigger, it's called lone AFib. This is more common in people younger than 65.
You'll need treatment if a rapid heartbeat causes troubling symptoms. Doctors may also recommend treating it to lower the chances of stroke for people already at risk.

Diagnosis of AFib
 The way to confirm AFib is with an electrocardiogram (EKG). The machine detects and records the electrical activity of your heart, so your doctor can see problems with its rhythm. You can do it in the doctor's office, or you may need to wear a device that keeps track of your heart's activity for a longer time to catch an episode.

If an EKG shows AFib, your doctor may want to learn more about your heart. An echocardiogram or ultrasound can show valve damage or signs of heart failure. A stress test can reveal how well your heart does when it's working hard.
Your doctor may also want tests to look for conditions that could have triggered your AFib.

Treatment
 Your doctor may try to restore a normal heart rhythm with electric shock or medication. But if you've been having AFib for more than 48 hours, the procedure could increase your chance of a stroke. You may need to take a medicine called a blood thinner for several weeks before your doctor tries cardioversion, as well as afterward.

If your symptoms are mild, or if AFib comes back after cardioversion, you may be able to control it with medicine. Rhythm-control drugs help keep the pattern of your heartbeat steady. Rate-control medications keep your heart from beating too fast.
Daily aspirin or drugs called anticoagulents or blood thinners can help prevent clots and lower some people's chances of having a stroke.
 

Intervention

A doctor feeds a small probe through a blood vessel to your heart and uses radiofrequency energy, a laser, or intense cold to zap the tissue that sends out the bad signals. Although you won't need open heart surgery, the procedure has some risks. It's only for people who have serious symptoms that cardioversion and medications haven't helped.

Surgery

In the maze procedure, the doctor makes a pattern of small cuts on your heart to create scar tissue. These scars can't pass electrical signals, so they stop AFib. Usually you'd have this done during open heart surgery, but some medical centers can do it with smaller openings that cause less stress on your body. You may need a pacemaker after ablation, depending where the tissue was.Getting a pacemaker put in your chest is considered minor surgery, and it usually takes about an hour.

Effects
 Many people find that AFib has no impact on their daily lives. But some have to manage troubling symptoms like weakness, shortness of breath, or fainting.

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Tooth loss linked to cognitive impairment, dementia

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

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We are often ignorant about loss of teeth but preserving oral health can benefit you in a longer run. According to researchers, loss of teeth is linked to increased risk for cognitive impairment and dementia in adults.
The findings showed that individuals with less than 20 teeth were at a 20 percent higher risk for developing cognitive decline and dementia than those with greater than or equal to 20 teeth.

The increase of cognitive impairment and its pathologic correlates, such as dementia and Alzheimer's disease, is increasing in aging populations and creating a significant burden on health systems.

The study, published in the journal JDR Clinical & Translational Research, shows an association between tooth loss and reduced cognitive function in adults was conducted by the International and American Associations for Dental Research.

Better insight into the nature and extent of the association between oral health and cognitive function is of great importance since it could lead to preventive interventions for cognitive performance.

This information suggests that oral health strategies aimed to preserve teeth may be important in reducing risk of systemic disease.

Setting clocks ahead may advance heart attack

Do you advance your clock to deal with the Monday morning blues? How you set your clock affects not only your work schedule, but also that of heart attack, in case you were to get one, says a study led by an Indian-origin scientist.

Moving the clock forward or backward may alter the timing of when heart attacks occur in the week following these time changes, the study said.

"Perhaps the reason we see more heart attacks on Monday mornings is a combination of factors, including the stress of starting a new work week and inherent changes in our sleep-wake cycle," said Amneet Sandhu, cardiology fellow at University of Colorado in Denver.

"With daylight saving time, all of this is compounded by one less hour of sleep," he said.

Daylight saving time or summer time is the practice of advancing clocks by an hour near the start of spring so that evenings have more daylight and mornings have less.

The researchers used Michigan's BMC2 (a collaborative consortium of health care providers in the State of Michigan) database, which collects data from all non-federal hospitals across the state, to identify admissions for heart attacks requiring percutaneous coronary intervention from Jan 1, 2010 through Sep 15, 2013.

Data from this largest study of its kind in the US revealed a 25 percent jump in the number of heart attacks occurring the Monday after we "spring forward" compared to other Mondays during the year - a trend that remained even after accounting for seasonal variations in these events.

But the study showed the opposite effect was also true.

Researchers found a 21 percent drop in the number of heart attacks on the Tuesday after returning to standard time in the autumn.

The study is to appear in the journal Open Heart.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

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Cheap drug named metoprolol, a boon for treating heart attack patients

This is one of the first studies to reveal extraordinary benefits from very early intervention.

• The proportion of patients with a severely deteriorated heart contractile function is much less (60%) in the group that received the cheap drug named metoprolol. RNA Research & Archives

An early treatment of heart-attack patients with a cheap drug holds promise to reduce health care expenditure to a great extent, researchers hope.

A six-month follow-up data of a trial showed that patients who received this treatment during emergency transit to hospital had much smaller amounts of dead heart muscle than those randomly assigned to receive no treatment.

The proportion of patients with a severely deteriorated heart contractile function is much less (60%) in the group that received the cheap drug named metoprolol.

"Early treatment with metoprolol also significantly reduced the rate of hospital readmission for chronic heart failure, and massively reduced the need to implant a cardioverter-defibrillator," said lead investigator Borja Ibanez, a cardiologist at the Hospital Clinico San Carlos in Spain.

The possibility to reduce so dramatically the number of cases of chronic heart failure with such a cheap procedure could generate enormous savings for health services, Ibanez from CNIC (Spanish national cardiovascular research centre) noted.

This is one of the first studies to reveal extraordinary benefits from very early intervention -in this case with metoprolol - during the first contact with the emergency medical services.

An initial estimate indicates that if half the heart-attack patients in Europe received early treatment with this cheap drug, the savings in treatment for heart failure alone could exceed €10 billion a year.

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

ps- 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-

http://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/

for info about knee replacement, you can view my blog-

http://Knee replacement-stick club.blogspot.com/

for crochet designs

http://My Crochet Creations.blogspot.com