Towards a Heathier Future...

Hello All,

*Whew*...We made it! What a year! 2009 will definitely be one for the history books in many ways. Let's make 2010 a better one! Here's how:

1. Let's take care of our Spiritual Health. Do what it takes to ensure that our belief systems are intact and nurtured in 2010. It's been proven that how we view the world and what we believe can significantly influence what we think about ourselves, our material possessions, and those around us. So, enjoy the "Spirit of the Season" but take it with you the rest of the year. The best gift we could give ourselves is to be 'resolute' to respect our God-given bodies and blessings by making the right decisions that lead to a good active lifespan filled with more happiness than sorrow and pain.

2. Let's develop our Emotional Health. Oxymoronic but true, it's important to take each opportunity to laugh seriously! Laughter really is the best medicine...look it up! Key word: serotonin. And...let's kindly banish road rage (smile). Yes, 'tis true, he/she can't drive...that's why it's our responsibility to drive defensively.

3. Let's ring in the New Year with strong Social Health. At the stroke of midnight tonight or shortly thereafter...will you be with those individuals in your life that you care about and who care about you? Remember it's been proven: We are social beings. But always remember to drink responsibly, use a designated driver, or use any free transit services if available. We know too much about the dangers of excessive alcohol and brain-altering drugs to have any excuse these days.

4. Let's care about our Environmental Health. 'Twas a big deal in 2009: From the Copenhagen Summit, to the Global Warming email scandal, to MJ's plea in "This is it!"...we must take care of our environment because, well, we sort of need it to survive on this planet (smile). We can start small by recycling or go big by getting involved politically.

5. Let's protect our Mental Health. It is vital to nurture our sanity. Let's do what we love to do so long as it doesn't adversely affect ourselves or others in the process. Sing, draw, garden, try new foods, travel. And if there are genetic considerations (what scientists call "nature"), i.e., if you are predisposed to mental imbalances owing to genes inherited from family members, please seek help (eg. see a genetic counselor and/or mental health professional). If your environment is the issue (what we call "nurture"), then wisely do whatever you can to improve it this year. In this economy, it just isn't wise to quit your job if that's the culprit...how about making a new friend maybe in a different department? And if you are between jobs, connect with others in your situation, prioritize your time and keep busy...never give up.

6. Let's boost our Intellectual Health. Sudoku, Cross words, Magic tricks, Brain Teaser games, Jeopardy, Family Feud, Cranium, Chess, using the calculator less, learning a new language, reading more/better TV programs, articles, books, and...ummm...blogs (smile)...I'm sure we can all find fun and diverse ways to 'get smarter'. It turns out that the human brain is 'plastic'...it can actually transform itself by creating new connections (synapses) and pathways which in turn makes the brain less susceptible to debilitating disorders like Alzheimer's later on in life. And believe me folks, learning can be fun! (Subscribe to my Youtube Channel and I'll prove it to you).

7. Let's respect our Physical Health. It's actually very simple. The best way to ensure long-term health physically, let's make sure that our bodies are provided with good nutrients and building blocks that keep them strong and intact (think of providing your car with premium engine oil/lead-free, high-quality gas, etc.). This will ensure that our bodies are powerful and contain enough energy (ATP) to get through our days. Meanwhile, 'balance' dictates that we exercise. Our bodies are built to move so we must strive to burn as much energy as we take in. It's hard to do so sitting around writing blogs (*ouch*...that one hit close to home...smile). Because most of our ATP is burned by moving our muscles, and, keeping in mind that our heart is a muscle, just 30 mins of cardio/weight training, 3 days a week will do.

8. And let's maintain good Endocrine Health. Our hormones control and regulate a myriad of systems and activities in our bodies. I can go on and on here, but will stick to two important endocrine functions that are often in the news: Stress and Sleep. If we don't eat breakfast, Cortisol, our stress hormone, rises in our blood in the morning...why? Because glucose -- our fuel used to create energy (ATP) so we could start our busy day -- is low in the morning since we generally haven't eaten for ~10-12 hours. So, cortisol steps up in this time of stress to create the glucose we need 'by any means necessary' (a process called gluconeogenesis). This includes breaking down fats and proteins to internally create new glucose. And don't get fooled, we need fat (for insulation/cell membranes/brain health/certain hormones eg. steroids) and proteins are basically everything you can readily see on your body (in the long run: hair is lost or goes gray, skin gets wrinkled, muscles get weak (think constipation/incontinence), etc.). So, no wonder breakfast is the most important meal of the day! And our sleep cycle is controlled by Melatonin, secreted from the brain's epithalamus (aka our pineal gland or 'third eye' that 'sees' the loss of sunlight as night approaches and increase in sunlight as morning dawns). Melatonin is actually used as a drug to help teenagers get to bed (there is often a melatonin imbalance during this time of development, hence the all-night videogames/parties and all-day snooze-fests). Briefly folks, if we don't get our minimum of 6-8 hours of sleep, we throw our melatonin secretion cycles out of whack. And believe it or not, there's no such thing as 'catching up' on sleep. The good news: 30 min. naps can help, but be aware that we must enter REM (Rapid Eye Movement) or deep sleep to get any real, effective, restfully slumber.

For more info, feel free to click on the associated Google Ads.

So, here's to good health in the New Year.

Cheers, Salut, and Chin-Chin,

Sheldon

Health and Wellness, Tenth EditionHealth and Wellness: A Holistic Approach (The Jones and Bartlett Series in Health Sciences)Health and Wellness, Student EditionSource Naturals Wellness Formula, Herbal Defense Complex, Capsules, 240 capsulesNatural Health, Natural Medicine: The Complete Guide to Wellness and Self-Care for Optimum HealthWellness Book: The Comprehensive Guide to Maintaining Health and Treating Stress-Related Illnes

Cells Gone Wild

Greetings all,

Today's topic is quite personal – cancers.  Many of my family members, including my dad, have succumbed to this scourge on society.  It is my disdain for these diseases that has driven my zeal to pursue my post-doctoral studies at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Center for Excellence some years ago.  I dedicate this blog to my dad:  a pastor, my mentor, and my friend, who passed away on December 12, 2000 due to complications of prostate cancer.

1.  Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells that are individually ‘alive’ since they can all do what we do.  They can breathe (cellular respiration), they can eat and drink (endocytosis), they can secrete and excrete (exocytosis), etc.  Most importantly for this blog though … cells can grow and reproduce – processes collectively known as the Cell Cycle.

2.  Normally, the Cell Cycle consists of 1. Synthesis Phase:  The DNA content doubles in the cell by replication of fresh DNA; 2. Mitosis:  The DNA becomes condensed and the two pools separate as chromosomes, then the entire parent cell eventually divides into two identical daughter cells; 3.  Growth Phase:  The daughter cells relax, get bigger, stronger, more efficient and ready to undergo the high-energy Synthesis and Mitosis processes once again … thus completing the cycle.

3.  Come to think of it … isn’t that our Life Cycle too?  We grow big enough to reproduce … then we reproduce … then our children rest (don’t toddlers have nap-time, don't teenagers love to sleep?), then they grow, develop, and mature enough to reproduce … and so the cycle continues.

4.  But that’s where the analogy between the Cell Cycle and our Life Cycle must end.  In our Life Cycle, children cannot bear children … they would have to be ‘mutants’ to do so, correct?  However, cancers are the general loss of control of the Cell Cycle such that the Growth Phase is significantly shortened.  So, before the cell can rest and complete a proper ‘growth spurt’, they reproduce.  Children bearing children?  Yes ... “Cells gone wild”.

5.  Abnormal cells with mutant DNA (and proteins) that was either inherited or was caused by aging or external carcinogens (eg. cancer-causing agents in tobacco smoke and UV rays), now divide relentlessly, becoming ‘self-parasites’.  These abnormal, mutant cells now re-direct vast amounts of energy toward the Synthesis and Mitosis phases.  They are “cells gone wild” because they don’t seem to relax, grow, and mature at all … they look strange and just keep reproducing … repeatedly dividing … eventually forming a tumor (neoplasm) – an accumulation of abnormal-looking cells … that are tiny because they effective never really grow.  This is how oncologists ‘grade’ tumor biopsies, by the appearance and the size of the individual cancer cells.

6.  The high rate of energy consumption drives the mutants to either steal energy and nutrients from neighboring cells and systems or to selfishly create their own fresh, new blood vessels (neovascularization).  No wonder cancer patients rapidly decline in health and weight.  And, since any of our 200 different cell types can become cancerous, “cancers” are actually a myriad of diverse diseases (eg. lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and so on) all caused by a myriad of malfunctions.  This makes an overall cure very difficult to find.  And to top it all off, encapsulated, benign tumors that have not spread to other parts of the body and so can easily be removed, can, if not caught early enough, eventually rupture so that cancer cells can move and spread (by metastasis) to other parts of body becoming deadly malignant tumors as ‘satellites’ of new tumor colonies are set up and grow in various vital body systems like the blood cell-producing bone marrow (the favorite site for malignant, migrating prostate cancer cells … the cause of my dad’s passing).

7.  The Good News?  Taking into account that, as you are reading this blog, many of your trillions of cells are actively dividing and that so many things can and do go wrong, it actually surprises scientists like myself that more cancers do not exist.  Why don’t they?  Because, amazingly, our Immune System kills cancers!  Via antibodies, our defensive immune system ‘sees’ the abnormal cells as a ‘new foreign enemy’ like any other bug and the system then kicks into gear to destroy out-of-control cells before we are even aware that they exist!  We also naturally possess Tumor Necrosis Factors (TNFs) – proteins that destroy tumors!  Even our cells have been ‘fitted’ with DNA Repair Machinery – a system of quality control enzymes and proteins that travel along freshly replicated DNA during the Synthesis phase, actually removing altered DNA sequences that can lead to cancerous mutations, and simultaneously replacing them with correct sequences based on the Genetic Code!  And, believe it or not, many cancerous cells undergo Apoptosis – a kind of ‘sacrificial cell suicide’ that abnormal cells commit so that they do not become a detriment to our bodies!  I’m glad there’s no ‘Apoptosis Hotline’ in our bodies, aren’t you?

8.  Want some more Good News?  So far I’ve discussed our bodies’ internal quality control mechanisms to beat cancers.  I haven’t even started to discuss the multitude of noble and creative political, entrepreneurial, medical, nutraceutical, and scientific efforts to end these diseases, from preventing carcinogens from causing danger (eg. quit smoking campaigns and products … [Get this, RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. just bought a ‘quit smoking’ company!  Sweet Irony?]; as well as the various drives to improve and increase use of sun block products); to chemotherapies and radiation to kill cells, including tumors; to cancer-preventive nutrition, to drugs that prevent neovascularization to 'starve' the tumors out of existence; to targeted ‘magic bullet’-type treatments, radiation, and (gene and antibody) therapies, as well as novel devices that can seed or directly target and destroy tumors within the body; to preventive genetic counseling, as well as cutting-edge bioinformatics and diagnostics to prevent the onset/prevalence of the diseases in the first place.  Case in point:  Many women now have the choice of getting live-saving prophylactic mastectomies, based on family history and the amazing accuracy of genetic and diagnostic tests for mutant BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BReast CAncer) genes which predict the occurrence of the disease.  And many cancers are being ‘cured’ by catching the tumors early via direct screenings.  For example, colorectal cancers are ~90% curable when found early enough during colonoscopies!  Scientists, including yours truly, are working hard to defeat these evil diseases from all sides:  before, during, and after they rear their ugly heads and steal our loved ones away too soon.

So, the take home message?  Let’s maintain and boost our healthy immune system!  That is, eat well (take our cancer-fighting vitamins and antioxidants), exercise (30 mins a day, 3 days a week), and decrease stress (do what you love and be at peace as often as possible).  These are the ‘not-so-secret’ secrets to a long active lifespan as suggested by The WHO – World Health Organization, not the band … smile).  Stop smoking and avoid excessive contact with (second- and third-hand) smoke.  Use sunblock during prolonged exposure to the sun.  And financially support the many cancer foundations which in turn support the many scientists who are hard at work searching for a cure or cures. 

To learn more, feel free to click on Google Ads attached to this blog and follow me on twitter (@DrNventr) as I develop my own foundation and research efforts in the future.

Thanks for reading.  Here’s to a world without cancers.  I love you Dad.

Dr. Sheldon

Anticancer, A New Way of Life, New EditionCancer: 50 Essential Things to Do: Third EditionCancer: Step Outside the BoxBeating Cancer with Nutrition, book with CDWhat to Eat if You Have Cancer (revised): Healing Foods that Boost Your Immune SystemWholesale 12 Pc Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Awareness LanyardsThe Biology of CancerWhen Someone You Love Has Cancer: A Guide to Help Kids Cope (Elf-Help Books for Kids)Butterfly Kisses and Wishes on Wings: When someone you love has cancer...a hopeful, helpful book for kidsCancer-Free: Your Guide to Gentle, Non-toxic Healing (Third Edition)When God & Cancer MeetWrangler Women's Tough Enough To Wear Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Jacket,Pink,XX-LargeHelp Me Live: 20 Things People with Cancer Want You to KnowFoods to Fight Cancer: Essential foods to help prevent cancerThere's No Place Like Hope: A Guide to Beating Cancer in Mind-sized BitesLife Over Cancer: The Block Center Program for Integrative Cancer TreatmentMolecular Biology of Cancer: Mechanisms, Targets, and TherapeuticsThe Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and RecoveryHOPE COURAGE STRENGTH Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Awareness Expressively Yours Bracelet

A 'Heart-felt' Plea...

Hi again everyone,

This health blog summarizes one of my many pet peeves in health and wellness ... i.e: How easy it is send the world's number one serial killer "Atherosclerosis" to jail for life!  The stats are scary: Each year, atherosclerosis and its downstream effects prematurely kills ~70% of people on the planet.  And to prevent it?  Just get a blood test!  So ... why not learn the following and do the following?

1. Atherosclerosis literally means 'hardening of the arteries' because of the deposition of a hard, inflexible plaque-like substance called an atheroma.  This atheroma is composed of cholesterol and fats, as well as calcium, bicarbonate, and blood clot materials. It has the consistency of plaque on our teeth which is so hard that we can't brush it away.  The dentist must scrape it off manually (getting my cleaning done today! ... smile).  But, no "cardio-dental scraping device" exists, so, unless we are willing to undergo dangerous surgery to install a 'stent', we must understand how to prevent the atherosclerotic plaque from forming in the first place ...

2. Our arteries are meant to dilate and constrict automatically to provide vital blood to various parts of our bodies with the right amount of blood flow when needed.

3. This amazing process is called "Autoregulation".  Think of what happens to your face when you blush!  Your many smiling muscles are contracting, creating an immediate need for energy (from blood-born glucose and oxygen).  So, the tiny arteries in your face dilate (expand) and your capillaries become engorged with life-giving blood.  And the opposite is true during hypothermia, eg. constriction of blood vessels in the face/skin during the winter.

4. So, autoregulation helps our bodies maintain both blood flow and blood pressure.  No wonder alterations in this important process can lead to diseases like cell death (from a localized lack of nutrients) and high blood pressure (hypertension).  And here is where atherosclerosis rears its ugly head.

5. The bad news?  Atheromas grow within the lining of our blood vessels so that our blood does not have direct access to it to 'flush/brush' the deposits away.  Think of a 'pimple' slowly growing within the layers of the arteries.  The larger the plaque, the harder it is for the blood vessel to dilate and contract, and smaller the space through which blood flows.  Think of your finger slowly closing over the opening of a water hose.  Doesn't the water pressure gradually increase so you could spray water further?  The physics is simple: The smaller the diameter of a tube, the greater the resistance to flow, leading the an increase in pressure. In the same way, plaque-laden blood vessels cause an increase in blood pressure.  Since our circulatory system is a "closed hose system", pressurized blood cannot escape through an opening (thank goodness...that's called 'bleeding to death').  The result is chronic hypertension which can lead to a myriad of malfunctions like bursting, 'leaky' vessels, leading to chronic edema (swelling) and so on.

6. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whether we get our blood tested in time, our amazing bodies adapt to the presence of these plaques (autoregulation, remember?) such that atherosclerosis is often called "The Silent Killer".  In fact, a blood vessel must be 60-70% blocked for us to even feel the effects of the plaque buildup.  But, once the plaque size goes past the 70% point of no return, our bodies can no longer respond and, just like a pimple, the growing plaque can burst, causing a wound within the blood vessel, leading to a blood clot (thrombus), which now blocks blood flow altogether. If this happens in blood vessels serving the heart (the coronaries) ... result = A Heart Attack (Myocardial Infarction, MI).  If vessels serving the brain are blocked ... A Stroke.  In the arms/legs?  Peripheral Artery Disease (P.A.D. or Restless Leg Syndrome).  And, if pieces of the clot breaks off and travels to other parts of the body (eg. lungs) ... Embolism.  That is, atherosclerosis is an underlying cause of the most common, deadliest diseases on the planet, bar none ... aka The Cardiovascular Diseases.

7. The GOOD -*no*- GREAT news!?  This 'pimple' takes ~40 years to grow! Imagine what would happen if atheromas were to develop in your arteries as fast as a pimple in your skin (am I the only one who has gone to bed with smooth, clear skin and woken up the next morning with a huge pimple like a second head, staring back at me in the mirror?)  So, we have 40 years to get our blood cholesterol (ie: ratio of bad LDLs to good HDLs), blood fats (triglycerides), and blood pressure checked!  If hypercholesterolemia (high cholesterol levels in the blood) is found, there are a vast array of things we could do!  From improving of diet (eg. less cholesterol and (trans/saturated) fats; more phytosterols), to expanding our exercise regimen (only 30 min a day, 3 days a week according to the World Health Organization, WHO) to checking our family history (DNA) via genetic counseling, to using statin drugs (Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor...) to halt and reduce the rate of buildup of plaque!

8. And get this...right now, in a pharma lab somewhere tests are being done to prove that statins plus phytosterols (natural plant-derived cholesterols that do what cholesterol can do (emulsify fats) without causing plaques) leads to a reduction plaques by greater than 20%!  Hmmm...from 70% blockage down to 50% or less?  That's at least 10 years more life right there!  Talk about great news!  And these plant sterols are now everywhere! ... From yogurts, to cereals, to certain juices and chocolates, to Bayer's one-a-day aspirin!

Folks, let's work hard to get that *darn* stat down from 70% mortality for cardiovascular diseases to, well, much less than 70%!...Let's put this serial killer behind bars and keep ourselves and our loved ones around for longer...And it all starts with a simple blood test!

See www.heartandstroke.ca, click the Google Ads on this blog, and see your cardiologist to learn more!

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Sheldon

 

Dyslipidemia and Atherosclerosis Essentials 2009Journal of Atherosclerosis and ThrombosisUnclog Your Arteries : How I Beat AtherosclerosisTranseophageal Echo Aorta with Heavy Atherosclerosis Photographic Poster Print, 12x16Biochemistry of Atherosclerosis (Advances in Biochemistry in Health and Disease)Women, Stroke and the Red Dress: Cerebrovascular Disease in WomenMolecular Mechanisms of AtherosclerosisDomyaku Koka = Journal of Japan Atherosclerosis SocietyAtherosclerosis: Molecular and Cellular MechanismsAtlas of Atherosclerosis : Risk Factors and TreatmentBiology Concepts: Cardiovascular DiseaseArtery Model Progressive Set Cholesterol AtherosclerosisAtlas of Atherosclerosis Progression and Regression, Second Edition (Encyclopedia of Visual Medicine Series)The Nutritional Bypass : Reverse Atherosclerosis Without SurgeryCardiac Stress Test: Medical test, Artery, Blood flow, Heart, Physical exercise, Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, Atheroma, Atherosclerosis, Cardiac arrhythmia, ... Cardiology diagnostic tests and proceduresAtherosclerosis and Heart DiseaseAtherosclerosis: Pathology of the Vasculature in Live PatientsReversing Atherosclerosis (American lecture series ; publication no. 1031)Atherosclerosis Medical GuideAtherosclerosis: Diet and Drugs (Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology) (Volume 170)

How do you solve a problem like Malaria?

The Sound of Music Stage Performance is about to close here in Toronto, so today's blog title is in honour of them!  It was a great show ... 'twill be missed ... but I digress ...

1. Malaria is caused by single-celled, nucleated protists (not bacteria), genus Plasmodium, that first target our red blood cells then our livers.

2. These protists are carried from one human body to another via mosquitoes, hence these insects are called 'vectors' for malaria.

3. Interestingly, only female mosquitoes bite humans and their saliva contains anti-coagulants so that our blood does not clot while they are feasting on us ... that's why we end up with redness at the site of a bite.

4. Like all infectious diseases, to stop the spread of the disease one must either become Immune to it, or The Cycle of Infection must be broken.

5. Immunity to malaria can happen in two ways: 1. Via an effective vaccine (not yet in existence) or 2. By being born with the Sickle Cell Trait.

6. Since malaria is endemic (always around) in certain African countries, the disease acts as a 'natural selection pressure' for the sickle cell trait there.

7. That is, persons born with a certain percentage of their red blood in a mutant sickle shape (a sickle is the C-shaped machete used to harvest wheat in Russia, for example) are less likely to be seriously affected or killed by malaria because Plasmodium cannot invade sickled cells.  So, persons with the trait live longer to make more malaria-resistant offspring.  No wonder the 'favourable' sickle cell trait still exists in many people of African descendent!

8. No vaccine?  You don't have the sickle cell trait?  Then ... just break the cycle of infection: 1. Use mosquito nets; 2. Use mosquito repellents; 3. Clear away any pools of standing water (breeding grounds for mosquito larvae); 4. Zap the bugs out of the air with a laser (yup ... courtesy of the NASA scientists who invented the Star Wars Laser Satellite Program ... look it up!)

Till next time and remember: Feel free to ask me anything on health and wellness and I will endeavour to answer in my blogs.  Look out for my upcoming Christmas/New Year health and wellness blogs.  In the meantime, for more information, feel free to click on the Google Ads associated with this blog and see www.mosquitocontrol.ca. 

Thanks for reading,

Dr. Sheldon

The Making of a Tropical Disease: A Short History of Malaria (Johns Hopkins Biographies of Disease)The Malaria Capers : More Tales of Parasites and People, Research and RealityMalaria: Fever WarsHumanity's Burden: A Global History of Malaria (Studies in Environment and History)GIANT Microbes - Malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) Plush ToyParasites! - The Malaria ParasiteMolecular Approaches to MalariaQuinine: Malaria and the Quest for a Cure That Changed the WorldThe Elusive Malaria Vaccine: Miracle or Mirage?Malaria - a Handbook for Health ProfessionalsMalaria Protection KitMalaria: Poverty, Race, and Public Health in the United States