Erectile dysfunction predicts heart problems: study May 31, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Drugs, Fitness, Home Health, Society, Survival, Wellness, environment, medicine.Tags: cialis, diabetes, ed, erection, health, heart, heart disease, Life, news, sexual health, viagra, Wellness
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Erectile dysfunction predicts heart problems: study
By Amy Norton
Problems with maintaining an erection may foretell heart trouble ahead for men with type 2 diabetes, two new studies show.
A number of past studies have found a connection between erectile dysfunction (ED) and heart disease. But the new findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, confirm that ED often precedes and predicts heart trouble.
This, say researchers, suggests that men with ED should be especially vigilant about controlling heart disease risk factors.
In one study, Italian researchers found that among 291 men with type 2 diabetes, those who also had ED had twice the risk of suffering a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular complication over the next four years.
At the start of the study, all of the men had had evidence of “silent” heart disease — meaning they had plaque buildup in their arteries on imaging tests, but no heart disease symptoms, such as chest pain. Having ED seemed to pinpoint those men who were at particular risk of a complication.
There was some good news as well, however: Taking cholesterol-lowering statins appeared to reduce the risks associated with ED, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Carmine Gazzaruso of the Clinical Institute “Beato Matteo” in Vigevano, Italy.
In the second study, Hong Kong researchers found that among diabetic men with no indications of heart disease at the outset, those with ED were 58 percent more likely to die of heart disease, or have a heart attack or other non-fatal cardiac “event.”
“Erectile dysfunction is an important warning sign of future adverse heart events or even death,” study chief Dr. Peter Chun-Yip Tong, of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Reuters Health.
The main reason, he explained, is that ED is an early manifestation of the blood vessel damage caused by diabetes and other risk factors for heart disease, such as high blood pressure.
Tong recommended that all men with diabetes tell their doctor if they begin to have problems getting or maintaining an erection. They can then have a comprehensive assessment of their cardiovascular risk factors — such as measurements of their blood pressure, cholesterol, waist size and kidney function — and work on getting those under control.
Indeed, the Italian study suggests that diabetic men with ED can cut some of their heart risks by using a statin. Gazzaruso’s team found that among patients with ED, those who were on a statin had a one-third lower chance of suffering a heart attack or other complication during the study.
There was also evidence that men taking a class of ED drugs called PDE-5 inhibitors, which includes Viagra, had lower heart risks. According to the researchers, this may reflect the fact that the drugs improve the function of the inner lining of artery walls.
The bottom line, according to Tong, is that men with diabetes and ED should have all of their modifiable heart risk factors “identified early and treated aggressively.”
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, May 27, 2008.
The Energy Non-Crisis May 27, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Society, Survival.Tags: gas, oil, energy, finance, alaska, lindsey williams
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Rev. Lindsey Williams claims that Alaska has enough oil to give the US 200 years of energy . He claims there is no energy crisis but that our leaders, who are in business with the Saudis, refuse to drill US oil. Why would drilling US oil cause our economy to collapse?
Gas prices are not really higher- May 27, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Society.Tags: Life, money, news, economy, dollar, currency, family, gas, energy, finance, automobiles, gold, silver, lindsey williams
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A quick google search for “gas prices in 2004″ yielded a CNN article where gas prices hit a record high of 1.75 per gallon nationwide in March 2004. Today, I paid $4. Are gas prices really higher or has our dollar just been devalued?
A similar search shows that gold price was $400 per ounce during the same period. Today, gold closed at $908/oz after recently reaching a high of $1000/oz a few months ago. In essence, the price of gold is a reflection of the stength of the dollar. When the dollar becomes weaker, the price of gold and other precious metals increase.
Actually, you can buy almost the same amount of gas today with 1 oz of gold [$908 (1 oz. of gold) / $4 per gallon = 227 gallons of gas] as you could 4 years ago [$400 (1 oz. of gold) /$1.75 per gallon = 228 gallons]. In otherwords, 1 oz. of gold in 2004 and 2008 would have bought you the same amount of gas.
So I guess you can say the price of gas has not really increased. Basically, the value of the dollar has diminished by over 50%. Also, I highly recommend you watch the Lindsey Williams video on who controls oil and where its headed. It is not what you think.
**Please note that I am not a economist.
Taser may have regulated man’s heart rhythm May 27, 2008
Posted by healthandsurvival in Alternative, Diseases, Survival, health.Tags: atrial fib, health, heart disease, medicine, taser
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WASHINGTON – A quick shock from a Taser may have zapped a man’s fluttering heart back into a healthy rhythm, doctors reported on Tuesday.
They cited the incident as evidence that the devices, which are used by police who want to use less-than-deadly force to incapacitate people but are condemned by some civil rights groups as dangerous, may affect the heart as critics allege.
In this case, the outcome was a happy one, the doctors reported in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Several lawsuits in the United States and Canada contend the devices, which use an electric charge to subdue an attacker, can stop the heart.
The 28-year-old patient was fleeing police and jumped into a lake in April, when the water was still very cold.
“I don’t know exactly what he had done but he fled capture from them and he hid in a lake,” said Dr. Kyle Richards, a cardiologist at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, who treated the man when he was taken to an emergency room.
Richards said the patient was experiencing an irregular heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation, possibly as a result of the cold and shock.
After treatment, the patient was eager to leave. “He got very combative and started yelling in my face and that’s when I left the room and got security,” Richards said.
Police and security used a Taser stun gun, which shoots out a lead connected to two barbs that can deliver up to 50,000 volts. They used a low-voltage charge meant to cause pain rather than a longer, higher-voltage jolt meant to incapacitate.
The patient calmed down and another electrocardiogram showed his heart rhythm was normal.
“This is the first report of a patient receiving a shock of this kind and having a positive outcome,” Richards said.
Amnesty International says that since 2001 more than 290 people have died in North America in incidents involving the weapon. Taser International says there is no evidence the gun directly caused the deaths.
Richards said studies done in pigs show the weapon can affect the heart muscle.
This case provided a controlled situation, with almost continuous monitoring of the patient’s heart.
Richards noted that the patient was not hooked up to the electrocardiogram at the precise moment of being shocked.
“People can spontaneously go from atrial fibrillation into a normal rhythm without any intervention at all. You cannot conclusively say that the Taser did it,” he said. But he said he believed it did.
“It’s just one more thing that says, hey, Tasers can actually affect the heart.”
