lundi 15 septembre 2014

A MORNING IN THE LIFE OF A PHYSICIAN ANTHROPOLOGIST

SPEND A MORNING WITH AN AUSTRALIAN/CUBAN/JEWISH ANTHROPOLOGIST ENDOCRINOLOGIST IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
The morning was welcomingly fresh; the temperature was a mild 57 F/11 C with no sign of rain. The quiet European Quartier has not begun stirring at this hour. A Bus no 63 veers past the big glass window, carrying some early workers to their destination in the city.

It was 7 am. I decided to go for a walk; within blocks is the gorgeous Cinquantenaire Park. Walking in this park, with its greenery and solitude at any time of the day is good for the mind, and I could think aloud about the external and internal stimuli for emotions. 
Rue Archimede with cafes and restaurants lining up both sides had not woken up yet, the imposing European Building strangely quiet as if drawing our attention to the reminder painted on one side of the Great War, with red poppies signifying the sacrifice of that Great War. I thought of various American Indian soldiers who had spoken to me about the Red Poppy and always asked me for one from this part of the world.

I collected my ipad, a book to take notes and a copy of Marc Auge’s book, The World of the Anthropologist and walked towards the Spanish/Italian owned café where I spend a hour or so enjoying their coffee, pain au chocolat and hospitality and also read or write dictated by the prevalent mood!
TEDMED 2014 just finished in Washington and SF and I have a chance to view all the presentations on line until they are released for all to see. I decided to begin the café morning with a TEDMED talk. It turned to be the superb concert pianist Szold Bognar, an American from Illinois. He played a piece by Franz Schubert with whom he shares a birthday and history of Depression. Beautifully played, it was therapeutic this morning in Brussels.
As an Anthropologist I couldn't help wondering, Why does Zsolt Bognar look the way he does? The name is so definitely Hungarian, but he has a certain South East Asian look to him. Was he adopted or he is showing the genetic strains left behind by the Genghis Khan’s foray into Europe?
Time to read a little bit of recent knowledge in Medicine, while savouring the organic Pain au Chocolat.
Recently a good friend of mine had gone to see his General Practitioner and said he was feeling a little bit more tired than normal. The GP does an ECG and compares with an old ECG and orders a consultation with a Cardiologist who orders a Stress Thallium Test.
STRESS TESTS ARE NOT INDICATED IN PEOPLE WITHOUT SYMPTOMS OF CARDIAC DISEASE.
In a study of 523 people with no symptoms of cardiac disease, who underwent Thallium Stress Test, only one had any suggestion of Cardiac Disease.
(No wonder the medical care in the USA is so expensive, unnecessary tests, medications with little efficacy, fraudulent medical administrators and collaborators. Cuba enjoys the same standards of health as the USA, if not better, while spending 1/20 of the amount with greater availability and less disparity than the USA!)
BELLY DANCING ASSOCIATED WITH A POSITIVE BODY IMAGE
They concentrate on the ACTIVITY rather than their LOOKS.

EXERCISE FOR THE HEART MAY ALSO PROTECT THE MIND
Older adults who exercised had better cognic capacity (greater awareness and did better at tests)

WALKING BOOSTS CREATIVE THINKING

PARENTAL ATTENTIVENESS TO INFANTS BABBLING “SPEEDS UP LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT”

The next article would be of great interest to many, especially knowing that an average American adult sits for 8 hours per day on the average.
This information is also good for transcontinental air passengers who have to sit for long periods without moving. (Please pay attention to the videos shown or read in their magazines about stagnant blood circulation)
When you sit, the dilatation and expansion of the arteries are impaired up to 50% after just one hour.
No changes or decrease was found in the arterial function among participants who walked for 5 minutes each hour!
So get out of your economy class seats and walk up and down the aisle when the flight attendants are playing their Sudoku on long distance flights!
It is thought to be due to the muscle activities that aid the blood flow.
Learners of Yoga and Stretching Exercises know this very well.
Less Sitting the better!
There is even evidence that less sitting would protect the DNA and may even prolong your lifespan, by increasing the telomere length!

PARENTAL LIFESTYLE AFFECTS OFFSPRING’S HEALTH, EVEN BEFORE CONCEPTION
Obese parents tend to have children with Metabolic Syndrome
Anxiety and Immune factors before conception may be passed on to the child
Children born to Obese Fathers are more likely to develop cancer.

TO PREVENT CHILDHOOD OBESITY, EFFECTIVE POLICIES WOULD BE
1.  After school physical activity programmes
2.   A 1 cent per ounce excise tax on sugar sweetened beverages
3.   A ban on child directed fast food TV advertising
1 reduced the childhood obesity by 1.8%, 3 reduced it by 0.9% but 2, the tax on soft drinks, reduced it by 2.4%

THERE IS EVIDENCE THAT ANTIOBIOTIC EXPOSURE EARLY IN LIFE MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF LATER LIFE OBESITY AND METABOLIC ABNORMALITIES
Thought to be due to changes in the Gut.
Increases Eczema by 40%
Increases risk of Asthma
All thought to be interference with Gut Bacteria.
Mice given antibiotics early in life had altered gut bacteria, which reprogrammed their metabolism and made them prone to gain weight.
(Half the antibiotics in the USA are used to FATTEN up the Cattle, now do you see the connection? And where do those antibiotics or altered bacteria end up? On your plate, mate!)
4 potential probiotic organisms that could be given after the antibiotic treatment.
{at the cafe for my morning coffee and pain au chocolate}
Comment:
A century ago, Obesity or metabolic Syndrome or Diabetes or Cardiovascular diseases were not that much of a public nuisance as they are now. (Infectious diseases were). So a lot of research is being done on the end products of what had gone wrong. e.g.: Obesity leads to Cancer.
Obesity is not a natural state of affairs, until recently for a majority of the people on this earth. Research affirms the outcome of natural becoming unnatural.
But why are people Obese/ (not the activity, fat mantra!)
Gut Bacteria may provide a good answer; after all they have been around a while! Long before Antacids, H1blockers, Antibiotics and Analgaesics.

It was 11 am, I had already walked 3 miles, about 5 km.
It would be 5 am in Miami/Havana and 5 pm in Bogor, Indonesia.
(commentary of the times, 3 to 4 out of five teenage girls attending a public school nearby, wear hijab to school!}

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