Heart needs exercise not rest after heart attack, claims study

A new study has found that early exercise as well as prolonged exercise is the best remedy for patients who have suffered a heart attack.
Researchers at the University of Alberta reviewed more than 20 years of trials.
They found that stable patients who have suffered heart attacks get more benefits for heart performance when starting an exercise program one week after the heart attack, than waiting a month or longer to begin rehabilitation.
"While it''s been shown that exercise has a favourable effect on heart function, it''s also important to dispel the idea that what the heart needs is rest," study co-author Mark Haykowsky, researcher in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine, said.
The study shows that, in fact, the heart will become better with exercise sooner and with continued exercise over a longer period of time.
"In the past, patients in Canada and the US have been told to wait for one month before beginning their exercise treatment and this treatment typically only goes on for about three months," Alex Clark, researcher in the Faculty of Nursing, said.
Patients who begin an exercise program one week after their heart attack were found to have the best heart performance.
For those who waited to begin their exercise rehabilitation program, the results showed that for every week that a patient delayed his or her exercise treatment, he or she would have to train for the equivalent of one month longer to get similar benefits.
"Our findings suggest that at least six months of exercise is the most beneficial," Clark said.
Exercise in this study is defined as aerobic exercise in a group setting to build up exercise capacity. The researchers reviewed both benefits and harms of exercise.
The authors said there was no evidence in the study to suggest that beginning an exercise program earlier that the typical waiting period had any detrimental effects.
"In the 70''s, health-care professionals were telling patients not to move for three months after a heart attack. Our findings suggest that stable patients need not wait a month to start exercising in a cardiac-rehabilitation setting," Clark said.
Given that, in Canada, only one third of patients are referred to rehabilitation after a heart attack and then only 20 percent attend.
Haykowsky said the key to the best outcome is for patients to not only get referred to rehabilitation, but to be referred early, participate and stick with it.

Protein linked with heart failure discovered

Researchers have discovered a protein switch which can trigger conditions culminating in heart failure, potentially opening the way for improved treatment.
A study shows that the absence of protein PINK1 causes heart cells to produce less energy, reports the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
This lack of energy causes some heart cells to die, forcing the remaining cells to work harder to keep the heart going. Consequently, the heart muscle cells thicken, a condition known as hypertrophy.
"Our research suggests that PINK1 is an important switch that sets off a cascade of events affecting heart cell metabolism," says Phyllis Billia, principal author, clinician-scientist and heart failure specialist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre, Canada.
Heart failure is the most common cause of hospitalization in the US and over 50,000 people are treated for advanced heart failure annually, according to the Cardiac Centre statement.
Transplantation is the only long-term treatment for end-stage heart failure patients, but the long waiting period for a matching donor organ makes it necessary to find other alternatives.
"Heart failure remains a silent epidemic in North America... current therapies, while effective, only target the symptoms of heart failure," study co-author Vivek Rao said.
"The discovery of PINK1's role in the development of heart failure may lead to novel treatment to prevent heart failure in those at risk. This discovery represents a novel and as yet, untapped mechanism to fight the battle against heart failure," Rao added.(IANS)

Almonds ‘could help prevent diabetes, heart disease’

A new study - conducted at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey - has suggested that eating almonds could help prevent diabetes and heart disease.
Scientists discovered that including the nuts into our diets could help treat type 2 diabetes. As well as combating the condition, linked to obesity and physical inactivity, it could tackle cardiovascular disease, they said.
Diabetics have a shortage of insulin or a decreased ability to use the hormone that allows glucose to enter cells and be converted to energy.
When diabetes is not controlled, glucose and fats remain in the blood and over time, damage vital organs.
The latest study showed that a diet rich in almonds may help improve insulin sensitivity and decrease LDL-cholesterol levels in those with pre-diabetes, a condition in which people have blood glucose levels higher than normal but not high enough to be classified as diabetes.
The study looked at the effects of consuming an almond-enriched diet on 65 adults with pre-diabetes.
The group on the almond-enriched diet showed greater improvements in insulin sensitivity and significant reductions in LDL-cholesterol compared with the nut-free group.
"It is promising for those with risk factors for chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease that dietary changes may help to improve factors that play a potential role in the disease development," the Daily Mail quoted lead researcher Dr Michelle Wien as saying.

Diabetes'' link to viral infection confirmed

An Australian study has suggested that kids with Type 1 diabetes are nearly 10 times more likely to have a viral infection as compared to healthy children.
Childhood diabetes has been linked to enteroviruses, which can lead to cold, flu and even meningitis. But the researchers have disapproved that the virus causes diabetes.
Researchers at the University of New South Wales and the Institute of Endocrinology and Diabetes in Sydney combined the research of several groups to reach to some definitive answers.
They reviewed 26 sets of research involving 4,448 patients and concluded, "The association between enterovirus infection, detected with molecular methods, and diabetes was strong, with almost 10 times the odds of enterovirus infection in children at diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes," reports the BBC.
One of the issues with this type of research is that it is hard to prove what causes what.
Enterovirus could cause diabetes, or diabetes could make you more susceptible to enterovirus - or something else, such as genetic makeup, could make you more likely to get both.

Gene variations linked to type 2 diabetes

A new study has found that certain variations of the gene HMGA1 are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus for individuals of white European descent.
Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common metabolic disorder that is associated with major diabetes-related complications, including retinopathy, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease.
Insulin resistance in muscle, liver, and fat tissue is a major feature of most patients with type 2 DM.
And it is considered that heredity is a major contributor to the insulin resistance of type 2 DM, according to the study.
Antonio Brunetti of the University of Catanzaro, Italy and colleagues conducted a study to examine the association of HMGA1 gene variants with type 2 DM.
The study included patients with type 2 DM and controls from 3 populations of white European ancestry in three countries Italy, U. S. and France.
The researchers found that the most frequent functional HMGA1 variant, IVS5-13insC, was present in 7 percent to 8 percent of patients with type 2 DM in all 3 populations.
The prevalence of this variant was higher among patients with type 2 DM (nearly 16 times higher odds of having this variant) than among controls in the Italian population (7.23 percent vs. 0.43 percent in one control group; and 7.23 percent vs. 3.32 percent in the other control group).
In the U. S. population, the prevalence of IVS5-13insC variant was 7.7 percent among patients with type 2 DM vs. 4.7 percent among controls; in the French population, the prevalence of this variant was 7.6 percent among patients with type 2 DM and 0 percent among controls.
In the Italian population, 3 other functional variants were observed. When all 4 variants were analyzed, HMGA1 defects were present in 9.8 percent of Italian patients with type 2 DM and 0.6 percent of controls.

Artificial pancreas can ‘effectively’ improve diabetes control in adults

Researchers have suggested that closed loop insulin delivery (also known as an artificial pancreas) may improve overnight blood glucose control and reduce the risk of nocturnal hypoglycaemia (a sudden drop in blood glucose levels during the night) in adults with type 1 diabetes.
Lifelong insulin therapy is needed to control blood glucose levels, but the risk of hypoglycaemia remains a major challenge, especially during the night.
Recent advances have led to the development of a closed loop insulin delivery system that automatically computes insulin dose according to glucose levels detected by a sensor. Previous studies have shown that this system is effective in children and adolescents, but its effectiveness in adults is unknown.
So a team of researchers, led by Roman Hovorka from the University of Cambridge, carried out two studies to compare the safety and efficacy of overnight closed loop insulin delivery with conventional insulin pump therapy in adults with type 1 diabetes.
These findings provide further evidence that overnight closed loop delivery can operate safely, effectively, and consistently across different age groups, insulin sensitivities, and lifestyle conditions, concluded the authors.
They added that the closed loop system "may in future allow more flexible lifestyles in conjunction with improved glycaemic control for people with type 1 diabetes."

Mobile phones can help underdeveloped nations to check diabetes: Study

"Telehealth programs" could help low-income patients across the globe manage diabetes and other chronic diseases, a new study by the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System and University of Michigan has revealed.
"Telehealth programs have been shown to be very helpful in a variety of contexts, but one of the main limitations for delivering these services in the developing world has been a lack of infrastructure," author John D. Piette, a senior research scientist with the VA and professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School, has said.
Taking advantage of the broad connectivity in Latin America, researchers linked cell phones with low-cost internet-based phone calls to conduct the survey. The service used a cloud computing approach so that the program can be provided from a central location to low income countries across the world that lack a strong technological infrastructure.
Researchers connected to the enrolled diabetic patients from a clinic in a semi-rural area of Honduras, on a weekly basis, and helped them to improve their diabetes management skills and general health.
Researchers reportedly noticed improvement in patients' hemoglobin A1C, a measure of blood sugar control, during the sixth week of their study.
"We wanted to demonstrate that it was possible to deliver a high-tech program from U-M to very vulnerable patients with diabetes in Honduras who only have local cell phone service," Piette says.
The study said the developing world faces a cardiovascular disease crisis because of its dependence of fast food, and the number of people with diabetes across the world is expected grow from 285 million to 439 million by 2030.
Piette's study has been applauded by many veterans.
"We believe the work of Dr. Piette and his colleagues represents an important and sustainable milestone in innovative global health strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and management of non-communicable diseases. This work truly stands the chance to improve the health of millions of people in a relatively short time," U-M Global Health Director Sofia D. Merajver, said. (ANI)