Hundreds of thousands of veterans of the Persian Gulf War returned home with puzzling health issues that doctors couldn’t explain. Now, 25 years later, Gulf War Illness (GWI) continues to affect 25-32 percent of the 700,000 U.S. veterans who served in the 1990-1991 war.
The condition is characterized by symptoms such as chronic headache, cognitive difficulties, debilitating fatigue, widespread pain, respiratory problems, sleep problems, gastrointestinal problems, and other unexplained medical abnormalities.
Twenty years of scientific research has traced these symptoms to Gulf War chemical exposures and the drugs taken during deployment that were meant to prevent or counteract these exposures. However, the vast majority of these studies have focused on neurological effects, but none have fully explained the body’s pathways GWI uses to affect the brain.
Now, a study from the University of South Carolina has found a gastrointestinal link that could not only help explain the health issues facing veterans, but may also point to new treatment options.
Researchers found that the chemicals, etc. that veterans were exposed to altered the microbiome — the bacteria that inhabit the gut. The affected microbiota then produce endotoxins, which pass through a thinned lining of the gut (called a leaky gut) and into the blood where they circulate throughout the body.
These compounds trigger an inflammatory response that, in turn, initiates several neurological abnormalities commonly observed in GWI.
“Humans and animals have specific types of bacteria that help aid various physiological processes, including digestion, absorption, immunity and gut integrity, and when external factors change the bacterial composition in our digestive systems, we have problems,” says researcher Saurabh Chatterjee. “Obesity, metabolic syndrome, inflammatory bowel syndrome, and liver disease have already been linked with changes in bacterial composition of the gut.”
The study showed that not only did exposures to the suspected causes of GWI lead to inflammation in the intestines, they also lead to inflammation in the brain.
“Usually, the gut is very selective about letting only certain elements from what we eat and drink into our blood — thanks to good bacteria,” Chatterjee explained. “But when the composition changes due to an increase in certain bad bacteria, this causes disruption to the mucosal lining of the intestinal walls — leading more intestinal contents to leak into the blood.”
Once in the blood, the toxins travel throughout the body and affect different organs, including the brain. Once in the brain, the toxins cause the inflammation and neurological symptoms that previous studies have extensively linked to GWI.
“We know that many diseases like obesity, liver disease, and inflammatory bowel syndrome can be cured or at least decreased by consuming good bacteria, like probiotics,” Chatterjee said. “Now that this connection has been established, it opens the door to new studies where GWI patients take probiotics for a longer period of time and, hopefully, see improvement in symptoms connected with metabolic syndrome, gastrointestinal disturbances, and maybe even neuroinflammation.”
Recent studies have indicated that gut bacteria have an impact on a wide range of health issues. UCLA researchers found that mice fed beneficial bacteria produced microbes known to prevent cancer. Researchers suggested ingesting probiotics like yogurt or probiotic supplements could help prevent cancer from developing.
Surgery is a common approach to treat carpal tunnel syndrome. But, physical therapy may work just as well, a new study indicates.
Researchers found that physical therapy — particularly so-called manual therapy — improved hand and wrist function and reduced pain as effectively as a standard operation for the condition.
Moreover, after one month, physical therapy patients reported better results than those who underwent surgery.
“We believe that physical therapy should be the first therapeutic option for almost all patients with this condition,” said lead study author Cesar Fernandez de las Penas.
“If conservative treatment fails, then surgery would be the next option,” said de las Penas, a professor of physical therapy at King Juan Carlos University in Alcorcon, Spain.
Also, one extra benefit of therapy over surgery may be cost savings, he noted.
Carpal tunnel syndrome occurs when the median nerve, which runs from the forearm into the palm of the hand, becomes squeezed at the wrist. It often arises from repetitive motions required for work, such as computer use or assembly line work.
Symptoms usually start gradually, with patients noticing numbness and weakness in the hand and wrist.
Surgery for the condition generally involves cutting a ligament around the wrist to reduce pressure on the median nerve, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
For this study, de las Penas and his colleagues followed 100 women from Madrid who had carpal tunnel syndrome. Half were treated with physical therapy and half underwent surgery.
For three weeks, the therapy patients received weekly half-hour manual therapy sessions — meaning therapists only used their hands. The therapists focused on the neck and the median nerve. They also applied manual physical therapy to the shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist and fingers. On their own, patients performed neck-stretching exercises at home.
After one month, the therapy group reported greater daily function and greater “pinch strength” between the thumb and forefinger compared to the surgery patients. After three, six and 12 months, however, improvements were similar in both groups. All participants experienced similar reductions in pain.
Study co-author Joshua Cleland is a professor with the physical therapy program at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, N.H. “Manual physical therapy may be just as beneficial in improving function and symptom severity as surgery despite the severity of their condition,” he said, noting that 38 percent of those in the therapy group had “severe” carpal tunnel syndrome.
“These manual physical therapy techniques are commonly used here in the United States as well and should become a standard of practice for physical therapists working with patients who have carpal tunnel syndrome,” Cleland said.
Dr. Daniel Polatsch is co-director of the New York Hand and Wrist Center at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He treats several hundred cases of carpal tunnel syndrome each year, of which 15 to 20 percent require surgery.
Treatment should be decided on a case-by-case basis, Polatsch said. Mild cases may be treated with conservative approaches that can include splinting, injections, therapy and activity modification, he added.
“Surgery is necessary when there is muscle weakness or atrophy from the nerve being compressed at the wrist,” he said.
Polatsch added that this type of surgery is generally safe and effective.
Still, operations can have complications, said Cleland. He cited a previous research finding that “approximately 25 percent of individuals undergoing surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome experience treatment failure with half of those requiring an additional surgical procedure.”
According to the researchers, almost half of all work-related injuries are linked to carpal tunnel syndrome. And, more than one-third who undergo surgery for the condition are not back at work eight weeks later.
Because this was a small study focusing only on women, the study authors said that future studies need to examine men.
The study results were published in the March issue of the Journal of Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy.
You could do cartwheels down the centre of a bus or train in peak hour and no one would notice, thanks to our latest modern addiction that has us all continually looking down.
And apparently, because of this need to be glued to our smartphone screens, a new survey by the Chiropractors’ Association of Texas�suggests that it has created a brand new health disorder and, with no clear policy to help curb the issue, it threatens to put a strain on medical services.
According to Chiropractors, thousands across patients�are apparently lining up in droves out their doors complaining of chronic neck pain, headaches, poor posture and repetitive strain injuries in the wrist and hands � all blamed on the use of mobile technology.
Worryingly, according to their survey, 45 per cent of patients who visit chiropractic clinics on a weekly basis are teenagers. These bad habits are setting them up for a lifetime of complex back and neck issues.
President of El Paso Injury Medical Clinic points out, “These are patients who are constantly looking at their phone in a bent-forward position. Postural bad habits over time can develop into more serious health conditions such as spinal degenerative disease, osteoarthritis, hunchback and reduced mobility.”
But they aren�t the only ones suffering. The expectation from employers to be constantly contactable is also to blame. Dr Alex Jimenez, “It’s often the 25-45 age group I’m seeing now who have grown up using technology.
“I have one patient in his mid-40s who is experiencing onset of hand and arm pain and discomfort, he uses his mobile for work and regularly checks emails… Another patient who works in the finance industry experienced similar symptoms of chest and arm pain. Further investigation and x-rays revealed moderate degeneration of the lower cervical spine.”
Dr Jimenez hopes these findings will encourage policy makers to address the issue; “It’s estimated that by 2025, more than 5 billion people worldwide will be using smartphones. Already� 81% of smartphone users have their mobile phone switched on all of the time even when they are in bed or in bathrooms.
“We see smartphone addiction and text neck as a serious health risk and something that needs to be addressed.”
There is some advice you can follow to help avoid these issues:
1. Straighten your posture. Use a mirror to help align your neck and spine. The correct posture means your ear and shoulders should line-up.
2. Gentle exercises. If you struggle maintaining correct posture, do some exercises to help alleviate muscle stress and pain. Gently arch your neck and upper back backward, pulling your shoulders into alignment under your ears.
3. Look ahead. Instead of looking down, try raising your device to eye-level.
The types of cooking oils you eat may be sabotaging your health, making you lazy and setting you up to develop Type 2 diabetes, says a Canadian researcher.
Consuming high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) but not monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), can make you lazy and fat, especially if you’re a woman, says Sanjoy Ghosh, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus
For decades, heart disease was linked to saturated fats, which are found in meats and in full-fat products such as whole milk and butter. That belief caused the deliberate removal of saturated fatty acids from our diets, replacing them with MUFAs, found in avocado, nuts, seeds, and olives, and PUFAs, found in commonly used oils such as corn, sunflower, cottonseed, soybean, and canola. PUFAs are found in almost all convenience foods, including potato chips, cookies, cakes, and crackers.
Ghosh and his collaborator, UBC biologist and data analyst Jason Pither, examined data from 21 European countries. First, they studied pre-teen girls. Second, they examined the blood glucose levels of adult women. They also included other details such as the amount of time they spent watching television.
They concluded that there was a clear connection between the consumption of polyunsaturated fats and an increase in sedentary behavior, especially in the pre-teens, and an increase in diabetes among women.
“This data is extremely significant,” says Ghosh. “Nobody has made this connection and it’s time for an intervention. And if someone is beginning an exercise program without taking a close look at the fats, especially PUFA they are consuming, or changing what they’re eating, then it might be doomed to failure.”
The study was published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.
Recent studies have found that switching saturated fats for polyunsaturated fats didn’t lower the risk of heart disease — in fact, it may have raised it. A 2016 study examined the records of more than 9,400 people and found that while swapping saturated fats for vegetable fats like corn oil reduced cholesterol levels by 14 percent, it didn’t improve survival. In fact, those whose cholesterol was reduced the most had the highest risk of dying when compared to a control group that ate a diet high in saturated fats.
Being physically inactive raises the risk of losing the ability to perform activities of daily living – both before and after a stroke – according to results from a long-term U.S. study.
“Physical activity reduced the risk of dependence in both basic activities of daily living (for example, dressing and getting across a room) as well as instrumental activities of daily living (for example, managing money or grocery shopping), which are considered to be more cognitively demanding,” said lead author Dr. Pamela M. Rist from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
“These instrumental activities of daily living can be important determinants of quality of life among stroke patients, so it is important to find factors which reduce the risk of dependence in these activities as well as in basic activities of daily living,” she told Reuters Health by email.
Rist’s team studied 18,117 individuals participating in the national Health and Retirement Study in an effort to find out whether physical activity and body mass index (BMI), a common measure of overweight and obesity, could predict disability.
During 12 years of follow-up, the amount of physical activity people did was not associated with the risk of stroke, but it was associated with the likelihood of being independent three years after a stroke.
Those who were physically inactive at baseline were significantly less likely to be independent at that point, compared with those who were physically active at baseline.
Somewhat surprisingly, this difference between inactive and active stroke survivors was also evident three years before their strokes, researchers report in the journal Neurology.
Obesity, in contrast, was associated with an increased risk of stroke, but it was not associated with loss of independence during the follow-up period, regardless of whether an individual suffered a stroke.
“Individuals can reduce their risk of dependence before and after stroke events by being physically active, which in our study was defined as participating in vigorous physical activity at least three times per week,” Rist said.
The researchers recommend further study to clarify whether increases in physical activity might also improve outcomes after a stroke.
El Paso County Sheriff�s Office Detention (EPCSO) Officer Luis Trevino, along with WarriorsEdge Boxing are hosting a Boxing Skills Seminar Saturday, April 15th, and Sunday, April 16th, 2017.
Detention Officer Trevino and the staff at WarriorsEdge have turned boxing into an outlet to help and mentor children and teens. They use boxing to introduce children and teens to structure and discipline, not only inside the boxing ring, but in their daily lives as well.
The seminar will focus on footwork, defense, offense, speed, agility, strength, and discipline. The seminar will be open to all boys and girls from ages 7 and up.
The seminar will also feature the opportunity to train and meet WBO Super Bantamweight and WBC Featherweight, 2-time World Champion Daniel �Tarahumara� Ponce De Leon. Attendees will learn about Ponce De Leon�s struggles and climb to boxing success.
Proceeds will go to the Mentorship- At risk youth program for the purchase of uniforms, bags and pay for other seminars in the future.
To register for the seminar or for more information contact WarriorsEdge Boxing Gym at 915-740-4744.
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