Hypertension is known as the “silent killer”. Hypertension is divided into two main categories:

1. Essential/primary hypertension : Lack of identifiable causative factors for elevated blood pressure is known as essential or primary hypertension.
2. Secondary hypertension : Secondary hypertension, for which there is an identifiable cause.

GUIDELINES FOR THE DENTAL PRACTIONER

1. Reduction of stress and anxiety
2. Effective control of operative and postoperative pain after can minimize blood pressure elevation in the patient with hypertension.
3. Very anxious patients can be given a small dose of diazepam (5 mg) or shorter-acting benzodiazepines, such as oxazepam (30 mg) the night before and 1 hour before the dental appoint
ment.
4. The appointments can be minimized and preferably planned in the morning. Blood pressure should be monitored before and after the administration of local anaesthesia.
5. It is widely recommended that epinephrine containing local anesthetics should be limited to one to three cartridges of 2 % lidocaine with 1:100,000 epinephrine, safely administered to hypertensive patients.
6. Modifications include increased physical activity, reduced salt intake to less than 6 g per day, and limited alcohol intake reduce the chances of hypertension.

Strokes are the leading cause of adult disability in the United States and the third leading cause of death. A stroke can be the result of a lack of blood flow caused by a blood clot or a hemorrhage. Without oxygen, brain cells become damaged or die so the affected area of the brain becomes unable to function. Risk factors for stroke include: high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, and atrial fibrillation (heart abnormality). High blood pressure is by far the biggest risk factor for stroke.

The Path To Stroke Recovery

Strokes can affect patients physically, mentally, and/or emotionally. Disability corresponds to the areas of the brain that have been damaged. For most stroke patients, recovery involves a combination of physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology, and it’s important to take advantage of all of these services.

Medical care is often focused on preventing another stroke and most often utilizes anti-coagulant therapy with warfarin (Coumadin) or anti-platelet therapy with aspirin, ticlopidine (Ticlid) or clopidogrel (Plavix). These drugs are designed to prevent blood clots from forming and lodging in the brain, which could produce another stroke. These drugs are not, of course, used in cases where the stroke are caused by a hemorrhage.

Precautions with Coumadin

Coumadin works by blocking the action of vitamin K. Since green leafy vegetables and green tea contain high levels of vitamin K, you should avoid these foods while taking Coumadin, or at least don’t increase your consumption of them. Physicians monitor the effects of Coumadin using a test known as the International Normalized Ratio (INR) and will adjust the dosage up or down as needed. In addition to foods that are high in vitamin K, other natural substances that may interact with Coumadin include:

.Coenzyme Q10 and St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum), which may reduce Coumadin’s efficacy.

.Proteolytic enzymes, such as nattokinase and bromelain, and several herbs, including Panax ginseng, devil’s claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), and dong quai (Angelica sinensis), can increase Coumadin’s effects. It’s likely that you can continue using these products, but don’t change the dosage from what your body is accustomed to.

.Garlic (Allium sativum) and ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) may reduce the ability of platelets to stick together, increasing the likelihood of bleeding. Generally, people on Coumadin should avoid high dosages of these products (more than the equivalent of one clove of garlic per day or 240 mg daily of ginkgo extract).

.Iron, magnesium, and zinc may bind with Coumadin, decreasing its absorption and activity. Take Coumadin and products that contain iron, magnesium, or zinc at least two hours apart.

.To reduce the likelihood of bleeding and easy bruising with Coumadin, try 150—300 mg of either grape seed or pine bark extract daily.

Natural Remedies For Stroke Recovery

From a natural perspective, Ginkgo biloba extract is key to stroke recovery. It increases blood flow to the brain, boosts energy within nerve cells, and favorably affects blood thickness. The recommended dosage is 240—320 mg daily (less if you take Coumadin).

Several supplements can help prevent blood clots, including omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, flavonoids, grape seed and pine bark extracts, and garlic. Fish oil (up to 3,000 mg per day EPA + DHA) and flavonoid-rich extracts appear to be able to be used safely in combination with aspirin and other platelet inhibitors. However, using multiple natural antiplatelet agents at the same time may increase bleeding tendencies when combined with antiplatelet drugs (including Plavix and Ticlid).

Two forms of choline have shown promise in aiding stroke recovery: citicoline (CDP-choline) and glycerophosphocholine (GPC). In one six-month trial that followed 2,044 stroke patients, GPC was found to significantly help the recovery more than 95 percent of participants—without side effects. Choose one of the following: citicoline: 1,000—2,000 mg daily or GPC 600—1,200 mg daily. There are no known interactions between citicoline or GPC and Coumadin or anti-platelet drugs.

Lastly, there’s nattokinase, a protein-digesting enzyme that has potent “clot busting” properties. It has shown significant potential in improving stroke recovery. Typical dosage is 100—200 mg daily. Nattokinase should be used with caution for those taking Coumadin or antiplatelet drugs.

How did a health worker in Dallas wearing full protective gear catch Ebola if the virus “does not spread easily”?  Just last week, Barack Obama declared to the public that you cannot get Ebola “sitting next to someone on a bus”, and yet a nurse in protective gear that was taking extreme precautions to avoid being exposed to the disease has just caught it.

A health worker who cared for Ebola “patient zero” Thomas Duncan at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is now confirmed to have been infected with Ebola.

The worker, whose name has not yet been released, “had been wearing protective gear during treatment of the patient” reports Reuters.

As Natural News has been reporting since day one, CDC protective gear recommendations are wholly inadequate to protect workers from Ebola, a level-4 biohazard virus with no known treatment or cure.

This infection is the second high-profile Ebola transmission among health care workers in first-world hospitals who were wearing CDC-recommended protective gear. The other case involved a nurse in Spain. What these two cases clearly indicate is that the protective gear being worn by these health workers is insufficient to protect them from Ebola. Many infectious disease experts, along with Natural News, have been recommending full face respirators at a minimum, with positive-pressure “space suits” being a better choice.

In the U.S. Army, virologists wear positive pressure “space suits” when interacting with level-4 biohazards such as Ebola and Marburg.

The following photo shows a typical level-4 biohazard “space suit.” Note the puffy, inflated look of the suit which comes from the positive pressure air source that keeps the suit at a higher pressure than the surrounding room:

CDC BLAMES THE VICTIM

The CDC, which has remained in a state of dangerous denial about Ebola transmission vectors from the very start, is now blaming the health care worker for the infection.

Without even conducting any investigation of the matter, CDC director Tom Frieden leaped to the conclusion that “a breach in protocol resulted in the second Ebola infection in the U.S.” according to KPTV.

But the press is also reporting that “she was in full protective gear while caring for Duncan.” So instead of admitting that the gear is inadequate for dealing with a level-4 biohazard, the CDC is blaming the victims and implying that they somehow made a mistake.

The CDC remains utterly unable to admit that Ebola requires a level-4 biohazard gear response, which includes full face respirators and positive pressure suits.

EBOLA IS CLEARLY NOT “UNDER CONTROL”

If it were under control, it wouldn’t be spreading, obviously. CDC director Tom Friedan even admitted more cases may soon be confirmed in Dallas, saying “Unfortunately it is possible in the coming days we will see additional cases of Ebola…”

Some in the media have also claimed that Ebola is “difficult to catch” and no one should be concerned about it. But if it’s difficult to catch, then how did a fully-trained health care worker wearing CDC-recommended protective gear catch it? If it’s difficult to catch, then how did thousands of West Africans catch it accidentally? And why are the number of Ebola infections currently doubling about every 3 – 4 weeks?

What’s clear from this latest news is that Ebola is very easy to catch. And even though the CDC told us that Ebola would never spread in the United States because we have the most advanced hospitals in the world, this outbreak of Ebola just happened under the roof of one of those “advanced” hospitals in Dallas.

Clearly, the Ebola virus doesn’t care how expensive your nation’s health care system is. It’s going to spread at every opportunity for the simple reason that it can


This outbreak of Ebola in Dallas also demonstrates that far from the claims of the CDC at the White House, the U.S. government does not have the Ebola outbreak “under control.”

1. Practice good posture by standing, walking, sitting, lifting and lying in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments.
2. Maintain a weight that is appropriate for your height and frame.
3. Take part in strength, stretch and aerobic programs to improve your fitness level, make you more resistant to injury, and speed recovery if you are injured.
4. Wear shoes that are well balanced, flexible and comfortable.
5. Stop smoking, as smokers experience more spine pain and heal more slowly.

New research from Africa suggests that basic multivitamin and selenium supplements might greatly lower the risk that untreated people with the AIDS virus will get sicker over a two-year period.

It's not clear how patients who take the vitamins and mineral might fare over longer periods. And the impact of the study in the United States will be limited because many Americans diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, immediately begin treatment with powerful medications known as anti-retroviral drugs. Those in the African study hadn't yet begun taking drugs to keep the virus at bay.

Still, "it is incredibly useful to find new strategies to delay the progression of HIV disease," said Dr. Jared Baeten, an associate professor of global health at the University of Washington in Seattle who's familiar with the findings. "Not every HIV-infected person is immediately willing, or able, to initiate anti-retroviral therapy. Inexpensive, proven treatments ahead of starting anti-retroviral therapy can fill an important role."

At issue: Do HIV-infected people benefit from nutritional supplements? Previous research has suggested that even well-fed people infected with HIV may not properly process nutrients in food, said study author Marianna Baum, a professor of dietetics and nutrition at Florida International University's Stempel School of Public Health.

The researchers wondered whether the immune system would get a boost if patients who hadn't yet begun anti-retroviral treatment took nutritional supplements. No study had looked at this before, Baum noted.

For the study, published in the Nov. 27 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association, the researchers divided nearly 900 HIV-infected patients in the African country of Botswana into several groups. Some took a placebo, a sugar pill with no active ingredients. Others took a multivitamin including B, C and E vitamins. Another group took the multivitamin along with supplements of the mineral selenium, and still others took only selenium.

None of the treatments had a noticeable effect except the combination of multivitamin and selenium. After adjusting their statistics so they wouldn't be thrown off by various factors, the researchers reported that those who took the combination were about half as likely to show signs over two years that their infection had progressed toward AIDS as those who took the placebo.

Overall, the risk that the disease would progress over the two years of the study was fairly low: 32 of the 217 who took the placebo suffered progression of the disease, she said, compared to 17 of the 220 who took the vitamin/mineral combination.

Baum didn't have information about the costs of the supplements, but she said they are low. In the United States, supplements that contain many vitamins and minerals can cost just pennies a day.

The supplements appeared to have no side effects, said Baum, who recommends that people newly diagnosed with HIV begin taking multivitamins. They seem to boost the immune system, she said. The selenium supplements, in particular, may provide enough of the mineral that the virus isn't able to hog it, she said.

Baeten cautioned that not just any multivitamin will do. "The results of this study appear to illustrate that it is not just any supplement," he said.

"Only the combination of vitamins plus selenium was effective," Baeten said. "For U.S. patients, this latter point is relevant, as there's a huge variety of supplements available. I would suggest talking with a doctor before taking any supplements."

He added that the study doesn't detract from the crucial importance of anti-retroviral drug treatment.

Researchers next want to see if the supplements help patients already taking anti-retroviral medications, study author Baum said.

A vaginal yeast infection is mostly caused bij a yeast called Candida albicans. This animation explains what a vaginal yeast infection is.

What causes a vaginal yeast infection, which symptoms can occur, and what can you do to prevent it? Finally, treatment options are discussed.

1. Stop smoking. If you smoke, quit. If you don't smoke, don't start. Smoking is linked to several types of cancer — not just lung cancer. Stopping now will reduce your risk of cancer in the future.

2. Avoid excessive sun exposure. Harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun can increase your risk of skin cancer. Limit your sun exposure by staying in the shade, wearing protective clothing or applying sunscreen.

3. Eat a healthy diet. Choose a diet rich in fruits and vegetables. Select whole grains and lean proteins.

4. Exercise most days of the week. Regular exercise is linked to a lower risk of cancer.

5. Aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week. If you haven't been exercising regularly, start out slowly and work your way up to 30 minutes or longer.

6. Maintain a healthy weight. Being overweight or obese may increase your risk of cancer. Work to achieve and maintain a healthy weight through a combination of a healthy diet and regular exercise.

7. Drink alcohol in moderation, if you choose to drink. If you choose to drink alcohol, limit yourself to one drink a day if you're a woman or two drinks a day if you're a man.

8. Schedule cancer screening exams. Talk to your doctor about what types of cancer screening exams are best for you based on your risk factors.

9. Ask your doctor about immunizations. Certain viruses increase your risk of cancer. Immunizations may help prevent those viruses, including hepatitis B, which increases the risk of liver cancer, and human papillomavirus (HPV), which increases the risk of cervical cancer and other cancers. Ask your doctor whether immunization against these viruses is appropriate for you.

US scientists seeking to unravel the mysteries of HIV have made an important breakthrough after capturing the clearest image yet of a protein which allows the deadly virus to attack human immune cells, new research showed Tuesday.

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and Weill Cornell Medical College have managed to obtain a detailed view of the atomic structure of the protein which envelops HIV, the virus which causes AIDS.

The development could potentially pave the way for a vaccine, according to the findings published in the US journal Science.

"In order to develop a vaccine, you have to understand what bits on that very important trimeric protein can be recognizes by broadly neutralizing antibodies," said Scripps Institute cell biologist Bridget Carragher.

"And in order to understand that, you need to understand what the structure of the thing looks like.

"Then once you do, you can start designing a vaccine that will mimic that thing and elicit an antibody response and get the human being to fight the real virus when it comes along."

Although sophisticated antiviral drugs have been used to manage HIV infections in many developed countries, a vaccine against infection has proved elusive.

The failure to find a vaccine is often attributed to the complex nature of HIV's envelope protein, known as Env.

The delicate structure of Env has hampered efforts to obtain the protein in a form that allows for the atomic-resolution imaging necessary to fully understand it.

"It tends to fall apart, for example, even when it's on the surface of the virus, so to study it we have to engineer it to be more stable," said TSRI biologist Andrew Ward.

However the researchers were able to engineer a version of the Env trimer, or three-component structure, that has the stability required for atomic-resolution imaging.

The scientists were then able to study the Env trimer using cutting-edge imaging and electron microscopy.

The use of X-ray crystallography allowed researchers to examine the Env trimer in more detail than previous attempts.

The data also shed light on the process by which Env assembles and later shifts shape during infection, and also allowed researchers to make comparisons with protein envelopes from other deadly viruses such as flu and Ebola.

In medical parlance a stroke is also referred to as cerebrovascular accident or CVA. A stroke occurs
due to a dysfunction or disturbance in the flow of blood to the brain. When this happens
the brain cells are starved of oxygen and as a result get damaged or die. This in turn
causes havoc to the blood flow making it ripe for a stroke. Causes of a stroke

• Lack of blood supply or Ischemic stroke
• Hemorrhagic stroke

Ischemic stroke

Most of the strokes that occur are ischemic strokes. And these occur when the blood
carrying veins /arteries to the brain are narrowed or blocked, causing totally reduced or
no blood flow at all. The common ischemic strokes that occur are:

Thrombotic stroke- When a blood clot or thrombus forms in one of the arteries that
supplies blood to the brain, the stroke that follows this blockage is called thrombotic
stroke. This cause for the clot in the arteries may be due to fat deposits that build up in
the arteries causing strain in flow of blood called atherosclerosis or due to other
debilitating conditions.

Embolic stroke- Another kind of ischemic stroke is an embolic stroke. This occurs when a
blood clot or blockages or debris forms elsewhere in the body, away from the brain, but
gets carried to the brain through the bloodstream and lodges in the brain’s arteries. The
stroke that occurs is called embolic in nature.
Hemorrhagic stroke

This occurs when a blood vessel in the brain leaks or ruptures. Brain haemorrhages
occur as a result of many conditions such as high blood pressure and presence of weak
spots in the vessel walls or aneurysms as they are called. Another less common cause of
haemorrhage could be due to the rupture of blood veins that have got entangled. This is
mainly seen in very rare cases among babies at birth and called arteriovenous
malformation (AVM).

Hemorrhagic stroke in turn could include intracerebral haemorrhage, when the blood
vessel in the brain bursts and spills into the surrounding brain tissue and subarachnoid
haemorrhage that occurs due to the rupture of a small sack-shaped or berry-shaped
pouch on an artery in the brain.

Risk Factors of a Stroke

Many factors increase the chances of a stroke and these include-

High Blood Pressure
Smoking
High Cholesterol
Diabetes
Obesity
Physical inactivity
Sleep apnea
Cardiovascular diseases
Usage of some birth control pills
Addiction to drinking
Severe drug abuse
Personal or family history
Old age
Gender and
Racial factors

Management of Stroke

The goal for emergency medicine physicians, neurologists and other physicians is to
provide stroke care within the first 24 to 48 hours of hospitalization. It is imperative that
people who are having symptoms of a stroke are rushed to a hospital or seek urgent
medical care at its first signs.

At the hospital physicians and emergency medicine specialists need to address the
diagnosis and emergent treatment of an acute ischemic stroke in addition to the
management of its acute and sub-acute medical complications arsing thereof.
The steps to management include-

1. Evaluation and affirmation to confirm that the patient’s impairments are due to
ischemic stroke
2. If the stroke is due to a blood clot a clot busting drug to be administered
3. Medicine to control the symptoms of high blood pressure
4. Special surgery to prevent the occurrence of further strokes
5. Nutrients and fluids
6. The evaluation in turn would help in determining the next steps of treatment
7. Diagnostic studies to screen out neurological complications of stroke
8. Lastly historical data to assess or provide clues regarding the pathopysiological and
etiological implications of the stroke.

Prevention of Stroke

Patients who have had previous experience of stroke are at a greater risk of a
recurrence. Preventive measures are essential to reduce the risk. These include-
1. Quit smoking
2. Healthy eating
3. At least 30 minutes of exercise daily
4. Maintenance of healthy weight
5. Limited consumption of alcohol and
6. Regular health checkups

Smoke emitted from one mosquito repellent coil is equivalent to those of 100 cigarettes, thus causing harm to a large number of people in India, an expert said on Wednesday.

"Not many people know about it, but the damage done to your lungs by one mosquito coil is equivalent to the damage done by 100 cigarettes. This was according to a recent study conducted in Malyasia," said Chest Research Foundation director Sandeep Salvi.

He was speaking at the conference 'Air Pollution and Our Health', organised by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) along with the Indian Council for Medical Research and the Indian Medical Association.

Mr Salvi said there is a lack of awareness about the impact of air pollution on human health.

Pointing out the "lack of research culture" among Indian doctors, Salvi said that indoor air pollution too is a health risk factor.

Participants at the event, which included doctors and health researchers, also spoke about vehicular air pollution in the capital.

According to estimates, about 55 per cent of Delhi's population lives within 500 metres from main roads - and is, therefore, prone to a variety of physical disorders.

"The vehicular pollution is a major concern for the environment. The rising incidents of genetic disorder have a lot to do with air pollution. India loses one million children under five because of respiratory problems every year," said Sanjeev Bagai, the chief executive officer of Batra Hospitals.

He said industries also contribute to the air pollution and these need to be shifted out of the capital.