Dr. Missaghi’s Newsletter for the month of October

Dr. Missaghi’s Newsletter for the month of October

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Dr. Bahareh Missaghi, DC

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Obesity: Tough on Hips, Tougher on Knees

Text Box: Obesity can lead to a wide range of health problems in adults, one of which is osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis is one of the leading reasons for people to have hip- or knee-replacement surgery. It doesn't take much, then, to assume that obesity contributes to having to have a joint replaced. Researchers in this study attempted to determine exactly what role obesity plays in joint replacement, and whether obese patients are more likely to need their hip joints or knee joints replaced.

In this study, the authors looked at the health records of more than 17,000 people undergoing hip or knee replacement surgery. The patients were then grouped into one of four categories - obese, overweight, acceptable weight, or underweight - based on their body mass index, or BMI.

Results: Eighty-one percent of joint replacement patients with BMI measurements were classified as obese or overweight. Only 18 percent had an "acceptable" weight, with a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9. After adjusting for age and gender, obese patients were three times as likely to have a joint replaced compared to acceptable weight patients; overweight patients were twice as likely to have joint replacement surgery.

The authors concluded that being overweight or obese "not only increases the likelihood of needing a joint replacement, but it also has a negative impact on how well a patient recovers and how long a patient remains in hospital following surgery." They added that being obese or overweight could cause other complications, such as repeat surgeries, because the extra weight could lead to more wear and tear on an artificial joint.

Republished with permission from

ChiroWeb.com

Students Should Wash Hands in School

With 54 million U.S. children back in school and concentrating on classes, some might forget about hand washing. Dr. Alan Greene of Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital says having children wash their hands before eating and after using the bathroom and sneezing would help keep children healthy.

"Children are naturally curious and they're constantly touching things," said Greene. The most important thing parents can do to keep their children from getting sick in school is to teach them to wash their hands effectively." Often children might not have time or access to go to the bathroom to wash their hands, but using a waterless hand cleaner also works. "It kills germs quickly without forcing kids to interrupt their learning by running to the bathroom," said Greene.

Children Follow Parent's Smoking Habits

A Seattle study finds one of the best things smokers can do for their children is quit. A team from the University of Washington who tracked children and teens in a Seattle neighborhood found 12yo with smoking parents were more than twice as likely as other children to start smoking between ages 13-21. Karl Hill, director of the university's Seattle Social Development Project, said whether or not parents smoke is by far the most important factor in family behavior. Children with strong family ties, consistent monitoring and rules and parents who did not involve them in smoking by asking them to light cigarettes or fetch them were also less likely to smoke.
The study also found men were somewhat more likely than women to start smoking by 21.

eContent Matters.com

MRI Could Detect Liars

Text Box: A Medical University of South Carolina study says with the right software an MRI machine could one day be used as a lie detector.

MRI’s, which help discover tumors and spinal-cord injuries, can map blood flow in the brain during moments of deception, the study says. The findings could transform the court system as much as DNA testing has, experts say, reports the Charleston Post and Courier. They are published this week in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The results were drawn from detailed images produced by functional MRI machines. The study said using the new software, expected to be on the market by next year, detecting a liar would be as quick and easy as matching a suspect's fingerprints. The study found functional MRI machines to be more than 90 percent accurate at detecting deception, compared to polygraphs, which range from 80 percent to "no better than chance" at finding the truth, the researchers said.

Mom Advocates Very Early Toilet Training

A New York mother says children can be toilet-trained long before they’re old enough to walk or talk. Christine Gross-Loh told the British newspaper The Mirror that she got the idea from watching mothers in Africa and Asia who carry their children around all day. She decided that all it takes is good communication between parents and baby, with mothers and fathers learning the signals a child uses to show it needs to eliminate. "Just as babies fuss because they are hungry or tired, they also indicate when they need to go to the bathroom," she said.

Gross-Loh stopped using disposable diapers when her son, Daniel, was only 3 weeks old. Instead, she held him over a toilet or potty when she sensed he needed to go. She said that babies also learn to associate certain words or positions with relieving their bowels. Doing without diapers can save parents hundreds of dollars and save landfills from thousands of pounds of dirty disposables.

Smoking Linked to Diabetes Risk

A new study says smoking may increase the risk of developing diabetes. The finding emerged when researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine examined the relationship between smoking and diabetes among participants in a major national study, the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis Study.

They compared the incidence of diabetes after five years among smokers and those who had never smoked. 25% of the participants who smoked and did not have diabetes when the study began had developed diabetes by the five-year follow-up, compared to 14 percent of the participants who had never smoked, said Capri G. Foy, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the national IRAS coordinating center at the School of Medicine.

Reporting in the journal Diabetes Care, the researchers found that when the analyses were adjusted to account for other diabetes risk factors, "smokers still exhibited significantly increased incidence of diabetes compared to people who had never smoked," Foy said. "These findings suggest another poor health outcome associated with cigarettes, supporting current surgeon general's warnings against cigarette smoking."

Exercise Reduces Pain in Elderly

A California study finds that older people who exercise regularly experience 25 percent less muscle and joint pain than those who do not.

Bonnie Bruce of Stanford University tracked a group of runners and non-runners for 14 years. The subjects, 492 members of the Runners' Association, and 374 controls, were on average in their 60s when the study began. Bruce and her colleagues had the subjects fill out detailed questionnaires every year. She found that the physically active participants put in 355 to 2,119 minutes of exercise every week.

She found that members of the Runners' Association experienced significantly lower amounts of pain even though they suffered slightly more fractures than the control group. The study was published in Arthritis Research & Therapy.

eContent Matters.com

Raking Without Warm-Up Can Cause Injury

Chiropractors warn that leaf raking by U.S. home owners can cause lower back strain and neck and shoulder pain.

Raking may seem like a simple outdoor chore, but raking improperly could cause upper or lower back strain and neck and shoulder pain. Like any athletic endeavor, raking can cause injury if you don't warm up or if you use improper body mechanics. If not properly warmed up, muscles can be injured by the twisting, turning, bending and reaching required while raking. When raking, legs, buttocks, stomach, arms, shoulders, neck and back all get a workout and like any exercise, raking requires stretching as a warm-up and the use of proper form.

Before raking, take a short walk to stimulate circulation, remain in an upright posture while raking, bend at the knees -- not the waist and alternate hand positions to not over-work one side.

Warm Parents Have Well-Adjusted Children

Arizona State University scientists say research suggests warm, nurturing parents have well-adjusted adolescents. Although children might believe their parents have no control over them, just the opposite is true: early parenting style makes a big difference in a child's character.

Researchers evaluated 186 adolescents three times during a six-year period, once every two years from the time the children were about 9 to about age 13. The scientists used parent and teacher reports to evaluate how well adjusted the children were in terms of aggressive, antisocial and delinquent behaviors. They also evaluated how well the children were able to "self-regulate" -- control their behavior and emotions when necessary. The researchers found parenting, as well as youths' self-regulation and adjustment, were generally related to each other within and across time.

Additionally, they found evidence that parents who interacted warmly and positively with their children at the youngest age had children who were relatively self-regulated two years later, and, in turn, exhibited fewer problem behaviors at the final assessment. The study appears in the September-October issue of the journal Child Development.

Young Drivers Urged to Put Down Cell Phone

Text Box:
Federal highway safety regulators said they want to restrict young drivers from using cell phones while behind the wheel. The National Transportation Safety Board is urging states to beef up their motor vehicle laws in an effort to protect young drivers and those sharing the road with them.

Acting NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said deaths of young drivers in car crashes top 120 per week in the United States. Rosenker said banning use of cell phones while driving for motorists between 15 and 20 years old would significantly reduce the death rate. The NTSB has a series of recommendations urging states to consider revisiting issues like seat belt enforcement and drunken driving.

Knowing Pant Size Could Save a Life

Knowing your pants size could help save your life, but only 40 percent of U.S. adults know an oversized waistline is associated with heart disease.

The "Shape of the Nations" survey by the World Heart Federation for World Heart Day -- Sunday -- found that many U.S. residents did not know that a man with more than a 40-inch waist and a woman with more than a 35-inch waist is at higher risk for heart disease and stroke.

"Sixty-five percent of adults are overweight, and almost 1/3 are obese. This puts them at an increased risk for heart disease and stroke -- two of the leading causes of death among Americans," said Dr. Robert Eckel, president of the American Heart Association and professor of medicine in endocrinology, metabolism and diabetes at the Univ. of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver.

"The American Heart Association, as a global member of the World Heart Federation, supports World Heart Day and to make people aware what their waist size means for their overall heart health."

More People Call in Sick on Mondays

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A group that tracks workplace safe ty and employee health says it wants to put an end to unnecessary Monday absenteeism. ArboNed, the second largest health and safety group in the Netherlands, hopes it can put an end to unnecessary Monday absenteeism by starting a debate on the underlying problems, Expatica/ANP reported.

Businesses in the Netherlands must notify a registered health adviser, such as ArboNed, when a company employee calls in sick. ArboNed said it receives an average of 9,000 notifications of sick employees on Mondays. The number of reports falls to 5,000 on Tuesday. ArboNed spokeswoman Inge Weel told the newspaper AD/Haagsche Courant that there were several reasons for the higher number of reports on Monday.

She said many people fall ill at the weekend and Monday is the first opportunity to call in sick. Others stay home an extra day to recover from a busy weekend. Weel said a third group consists of people who are unhappy at their jobs and can't face another five days of work before the next weekend break.

Minor Exercise Helps Weight Loss

A study by Duke University researchers found frequent exercise will help people lose weight and keep away dangerous fat. The study found the frequency of exercise is more important than the intensity of the exercise.

Researchers studied 175 overweight people who were randomly assigned to four groups, from no exercise to the equivalent of jogging 20 miles a week. It showed even limited exercise helped fend off visceral fat, which collects around organs in the belly. Doctors say this leads the body to develop problems like resisting insulin and cardiovascular disease. The 6-month study found an 8.6-percent increase in visceral fat for the subjects who did not exercise, prevention of the fat in those who did minimal exercise and a visceral fat loss in those who did above that amount of exercise.

Exercise Urged for Pregnant Women

A St. Louis University obstetrician and nationally known exercise expert says exercise during pregnancy should be recommended. Dr. Raul Artal says not enough obstetricians are encouraging their pregnant patients to exercise, a reluctance he finds to be old fashioned.

"With ample evidence to show that regular, moderate exercise in women with healthy pregnancies results in no adverse maternal or fetal effects, obstetricians should make exercise recommendations a top priority," he says. Artal says pregnancy is a perfect time for women to begin exercising because they stick with the habits they adopt during pregnancy after their babies are born.

Artal recommends that pregnant women engage in moderate exercise -- such as brisk walking, which allows them to carry a normal conversation -- for about 30 minutes a day. They can combine aerobic and resistance training, but should avoid contact sports or activities that carry a high risk of falling or trauma to the abdomen.

eContent Matters.com

Study Finds Appetite Regulating Neurons

Evidence suggests two parts of the neuronal system are critical in regulating eating and body weight.

The study, performed by researchers at Yale School of Medicine and published in the online issue of Nature Neuroscience, says that agouti-related peptide-expressing (AgRP) neurons are responsible for the urge to eat, and stop eating. Previously it was believed the brain regulated eating, but there was no evidence that AgRP neurons were responsible for it.

The experiment showed that without the neurons, mice suffered acute anorexia. They also had a reduction in blood glucose, plasma insulin and Leptin concentrations. Tamas Horvath, chair and associate professor in the Section of Comparative Medicine, said this would help the academic and pharmaceutical approach to eating disorders lean in the right direction. He also said it could lead to the destruction of cells in other kinds of diseases.

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