COVID-19 IN NIGERIA: WE SAY NO TO CHINA INTERVENTION

Can the world ever trust China again? Would Nigeria romance with the prime suspect of the current global crisis (COVID-19)? How can we? In 2012 China handed over a fully funded and built headquarters building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to the African Union (AU). A great gesture of friendship and solidarity, perhaps. But not long after, it was alleged to have been bugged, leaking vital, confidential information of the Union to China in faraway Shanghai! True or false, the Union had to change its computer servers to check the alleged mischief. But issues of health are different. Misfiring means losing a life, or even lives. On a national scale, that can amount to thousands. Painful loss. Avoidable loss. The authorities must tread with caution here. Face masks, test kits, ventilators, vaccine and doctors - all from or of China. Hmmmm, caution we must exercise. Until now we have been using our indigenous doctors, and they have been doing well. WHY CHANGE THE WINNING TEAM? Please let us DISCARD this idea of Chinese intervention. WE DON'T NEED IT. Let us stay safe Stay indigenous. Stay Nigerian We shall overcome

Sunday, 19 June 2016

Obesity and heart complications

 




A research group from the UK found that an increase in body mass may result in changes in heart shape, specifically the shape of the heart’s left ventricle, with differences in between gender. Tis article is written by Fanni  R. Eros  

Obesity affects more than a third of the adult population and it is a leading cause of preventable death. Obesity can cause adiposity that may, in the long run, lead to cellular injury in the heart, left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (increased volume) and heart dysfunction. A wide variation in structural heart adaptations has been observed in obesity, and gender-differences have also been recognized. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) offers accurate quantitative assessment of heart geometry and of the structural changes caused by obesity.

A research group from the UK recently published their findings in the BMC Journal of Cardiovascular Resonance. They investigated the relationship between fat mass and left ventricle geometry. They assessed the structural features of the left ventricle of the heart in 1530 adults between 2011 and 2015 with CMR and 3D analysis. The volunteers did not have any known cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes or hypercholesterolemia. They found that LV mass was weakly associated with fat mass in women, but not in men. There was a relationship between fat mass and wall thickness (WT) in the whole left ventricle in both sexes, however the relationship was stronger in men, and women showed greater asymmetry. In addition, in men, increasing fat mass was associated with reduction in endocardial volume (inner layer of the heart), predominantly affecting the septal wall, while in women it was associated with an increase in endocardial volume in basal and mid-ventricular levels.
Female fat mass increase was also associated with a mild expansion of the epicardial surface (the outer surface of the heart), which was confined to the septum and lateral walls in males. Researchers found concentric hypertrophic pattern of the left ventricle in men, while the hypertrophy was more asymmetric in women. Furthermore, lean mass (that usually also increases in obesity) showed a strong positive association with LV mass and WT for both genders, however, the association was strongest in the cardiac septum area.

The study demonstrated that an increase in body mass may result in changes in heart shape. These changes may lead to the development of heart diseases later on, which could be prevented by reducing body mass.
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