Hello! My school is holding its annual Jump Rope For Heart event. My
classmates and I will jump rope to raise money for the American Heart
Association.The American Heart Association uses the money to fight
heart diseases and stroke through research and education.Will you
please help me by being one of my sponsors? Thank you very much.
http://www.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=123115&sup…

Wrong newsgroup.  You want alt.am.i.irritating.or.what?

–
Wes Groleau

It seems a pity that psychology should have
destroyed all our knowledge of human nature.
                     – G. K. Chesterton

- — -

Bill wrote:
> http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/519642_print

> Bill

> The Evolving Role of High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein in Cardiovascular
> Health: An Expert Interview With Paul M. Ridker, MD

> Medscape Family Medicine/Primary Care.  2006;8(1) ©2006 Medscape
> Posted 01/03/2006

> Editor’s Note:
> High-sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hs-CRP, has been increasingly
> highlighted as a risk marker for various forms of cardiovascular disease.
> David Danar, MD, Medscape Internal Medicine, interviewed Dr. Paul M. Ridker of
> Harvard Medical School for an update on the evolving role of hs-CRP.

> Medscape: What is the possible relationship of high-sensitivity CRP to the
> risk for cardiovascular disease?

> Dr. Ridker: The crucial issue in understanding the role of high-sensitivity
> C-reactive protein, or hs-CRP, in cardiovascular disease is really to take a
> step backward and first understand the role of inflammation in
> atherosclerosis. (Highly sensitive assays for CRP are necessary to detect
> clinically meaningful levels. CRP determined using a highly sensitive assay is
> often referred to as hs-CRP.) Most of us were taught that atherosclerosis is a
> lipid disorder, and that’s true. We want to very much lower our LDL
> cholesterol levels, and having excess cholesterol in the plasma clearly
> increases the amount of atherosclerosis we have. But the reality of the last
> 30-40 years has been that half of all heart attacks and half of all strokes
> that will occur in the United States actually occur among people who have
> normal cholesterol levels. We now understand that there is more to
> atherosclerosis and plaque rupture than cholesterol alone.

> Over the past 15-20 years, there has been an explosion of the biologic
> understanding of heart disease, which has led to the general hypothesis that
> atherosclerosis is as much an inflammatory disease as it is a disorder of
> lipids, and that both hyperlipidemia and innate immunity are equally involved
> in the process of who develops this disease and why. So, what C-reactive
> protein, or as measured clinically by the high-sensitivity hs-CRP test,
> provides the primary care practitioner is a window into this inflammatory
> process. We now know that increased levels of hs-CRP in otherwise healthy
> individuals are very predictive of the future risk of a heart attack, stroke,
> sudden cardiac death, and peripheral arterial disease, even when the
> cholesterol levels are low. And that’s really been the eye opener for
> practitioners — the idea that we have a better way of figuring out who truly
> is our high-risk patient and by extension how we can do a better job reducing
> that particular patient’s risk.

> Medscape: What is the possible relationship of hs-CRP to hypertension and
> heart failure?

> Dr. Ridker: There are many applications of hs-CRP to cardiovascular disease,
> of which heart failure and hypertension are 2. But, some of them are also more
> basic. We know, for example, that plasma levels of hs-CRP add to the
> Framingham Risk Score in terms of risk prediction for first vascular
> events.[1-3] They add to our ability to understand what metabolic syndrome is,
> in terms of high-risk patients. Remember, metabolic syndrome is a process that
> we’ve defined as having low HDL levels, high triglycerides, glucose
> abnormalities and obesity, really to find out what risk is in the absence of
> high LDL cholesterol. It turns out, however, that elevated hs-CRP levels add
> prognostic information at all levels of metabolic syndrome and, in fact, also
> are associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.[4,5]
> That’s all very interesting when you step back and recognize that we have an
> epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, which, for many of us at a
> research level, represents the evolutionary biology of this process. We now
> suspect that the genes that control much of the metabolic process and diabetes
> also seem to be very important in controlling this inflammatory process.

Far wiser to address the obesity and cure the metabolic syndrome
(MetS).  Thankfully, we now have the 2PD-OMER Approach:

http://www.HeartMDPhD.com/wtloss.asp

Now this is about the works of the four horsemen from the 6th chapter
of the Book of Revelation (we are now in the 6th year into the third
millenium after the birth of the Son of Man):

(1) Crowned rider wielding a bow and riding a white horse:

"See you on the other side.  It’s not bad.  We are just going to
sleep." – missive (missile) from one of 12 born-again Christian miners
who gave up their lives to save the youngest among them after being
trapped by an explosion in a W.Va mine.

(2) Rider wielding a sword and riding a fiery red horse:

Ariel Sharon, the world’s hope for lasting peace in the middle east,
suffers a massive bleeding stroke.  Violence and bloodshed in Iraq
escalates. U.S. now less likely to pull out of Iraq anytime soon.

(3) Rider wielding a set of food scales and riding a black horse:

The rate of increase of the number of people worldwide using the
2PD-OMER Approach (which advocates the use of food scales) accelerates
with growing worldwide concerns about the obesity epidemic:

http://www.HeartMDPhD.com/wtloss.asp

Meanwhile, folks like Bob Pastorio who refuse to use this Approach are
heard muttering that an omer is not a weight measure but a volume
measure somewhere between one and three quarts depending on what the
food is and that liquid foods like milk (emulsified oil) and wine
should not be counted toward daily intake.

(4) Rider on a pale horse given the authority to kill a fourth of the
world’s population "by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts
of the earth":

The H5N1 Avian Flu Pandemic seems to be starting in Turkey:

http://tinyurl.com/amj4a

Yes, the migratory birds spreading H5N1 virus are wild beasts of the
earth.

When will the sun "turn black like sackcloth made of goat hair"
(Revelation 6:12b) ?

It will turn black during the total solar eclipse that will happen
**also** in Turkey on Wednesday 03/29/2006 at around 14:00 hrs LT.

http://tinyurl.com/dcj7w

The order of darkening of the following ancient cities in Turkey:

(1) Ephesus
(2) Smyrna
(3) Pergamum
(4) Thyatira
(5) Sardis
(6) Philadelphia
(7) Laodicea

Will be the same order that Christ Jesus used to address the seven
churches:

"Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyratira, Sardis, Philadelphia and
Laodicea." (Revelation 1:11)

Would be more than happy to "glow" and chat about this and other things
like cardiology, diabetes, cooking and nutrition that interest those
following this thread here during the next on-line chat (01/19/06) from
6 to 7 pm EST:

http://tinyurl.com/cpayh

For those who are put off by the signature, my advance apologies for
how the LORD has reshaped me:

http://tinyurl.com/bgfqt

Prayerfully in Christ’s love,

Andrew
http://tinyurl.com/b6xwk

Dutch clinics under strain from obese patients
Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:11 PM GMT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch hospital beds and operating tables could buckle
under the strain of obese patients, doctors have complained, adding some
patients barely fit into scanning machines.

The Dutch are one of the tallest nations in the world and obesity rates in
the country are rising.

"Recently I had to shove two operating tables together in order to operate
on one heavy patient," surgeon Herman Mencke told the Algemeen Dagblad
newspaper on Wednesday.

New operating tables can support a patient of up to 360 kgs (790 lbs), but
older tables show strain if weight exceeds 150 kgs (330 lbs), the newspaper
reported.

A group of doctors first raised their concerns in Dutch medical journal
Medisch Contact, noting care workers faced particular difficulties in
lifting and manoeuvring heavy patients.

The Dutch obesity association has responded to the complaints, by urging
hospitals to invest in more appropriate equipment, rather than arouse
misplaced feelings of guilt in obese people.

Compound In Cocoa Responsible For Improving Blood Flow
Category: Nutrition/Agriculture News
Article Date: 19 Jan 2006 – 0am (UK)

While a growing number of studies has shown a link between
flavanol-rich cocoa and cardiovascular health, scientists have now
substantiated a causal relationship between specific compounds present
in cocoa and cardiovascular health. Published today in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(PNAS) , this new study identifies the flavanol, (-)epicatechin, as one
of the bioactive nutrients in cocoa that can improve the ability of
blood vessels to relax.

An international team of scientists from the University of Dusseldorf,
Germany; the University of California, Davis; Mars, Incorporated; and
Harvard Medical School conducted a series of studies examining the role
of specific cocoa flavanols in cardiovascular health.

"Applying accepted causality criteria and gold standard methodologies,
we have been able to advance our understanding of the relationship
between the intake of certain flavanols present in cocoa, their
absorption into the circulation, and their effects on cardiovascular
function," said lead author Hagen Schroeter, PhD, faculty member at the
University of California, Davis. "This study established direct
evidence for the effect of the flavanol(-)epicatechin as a mediator of
blood vessel relaxation."

In a randomized, double-blind, cross-over investigation, the
researchers provided healthy male participants with a specially
prepared cocoa drink that was either high or low in certain cocoa
flavanols. Only the group consuming the flavanol-rich cocoa experienced
increased blood vessel relaxation. The researchers demonstrated that
the relaxation response mediated by cocoa flavanols is dependent on
nitric oxide, a key signal released by the inner lining of blood
vessels (the endothelium) essential for normal blood vessel function
and healthy blood flow.

To provide direct evidence for the specific flavanol in cocoa that is
partly responsible for the circulatory benefits, the research team
conducted a "proof-of-concept" study. During this part of the
investigation, participants drank either a placebo or a beverage
containing isolated, cocoa-derived (-)epicatechin. The researchers
demonstrated that the group of participants receiving the
(-)epicatechin had vessel relaxation and nitric oxide responses similar
to those experienced following the consumption of the flavanol-rich
cocoa drink. Based on these findings, the investigators concluded that
(-)epicatechin is one of the active nutrients in certain cocoas
exerting the observed vascular benefits.

"Pinpointing specific nutrients responsible for the observed
cardiovascular effects, as we are seeing here with (-)epicatechin,
opens up new possibilities for the development of dietary or
therapeutic interventions for cardiovascular disease," said co-author
Norman Hollenberg, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical
School.

(-)Epicatechin, a nutrient that may be found in certain fruit and
vegetables, green teas, red wine and purple grape juice, is especially
abundant in certain cocoas. "This new insight into the bioactivity of
flavanol nutrients is an important piece of information that will help
us understand why diets rich in fruits and vegetables promote
cardiovascular health," said co-author Carl L. Keen, PhD, professor of
nutrition and internal medicine at the University of California, Davis.

To assess the potential long-term benefits of a flavanol-rich diet, the
researchers studied two populations of Kuna Indians of Panama. Previous
work by Dr. Norman Hollenberg has shown that hypertension is rare among
the indigenous Kuna Indians living on the islands as compared to those
living on the mainland. The island-dwelling Kuna Indians traditionally
consume large quantities of flavanol-rich cocoa (an average of 3-4 cups
daily), while those who live in the suburbs of Panama City consume very
little cocoa, supporting the idea that cocoa flavanols may be
responsible for the lower blood pressure in the island dwellers.
Linking Dr. Hollenberg’s observations to their own findings, Schroeter
and colleagues found that the Kuna Indians on the island who regularly
consume flavanol-rich cocoa had higher levels of flavanols, as well as
higher levels of nitric oxide metabolites in their circulation compared
to the mainland Indians who consume little cocoa. "These findings
suggest that frequent intake of cocoa flavanols can have biological
effects with important implications for long-term cardiovascular
health," said Dr. Hollenberg.

In addition to collaborating on this research, Mars, Incorporated
financially supported it and provided the flavanol-rich cocoa (Cocoapro
cocoa powder) that was used throughout these ivestigations. "After more
than 15 years of commitment to cocoa science research, we are excited
to see such great progress in uncovering the link between cocoa
flavanols and heart health," said Harold Schmitz, PhD, chief science
officer of Mars, Incorporated and co-author of the study. "Traditional
cocoa processing often destroys the flavanols, but Mars technology
helps to retain these naturally occurring nutrients from cocoa. This
new research emphasizes the importance of understanding the potential
public health applications of emerging cocoa science, which is a
challenge we take very seriously at Mars."

Cocoapro cocoa powder is used in Dove Dark Chocolate, as well as in the
new heart-healthy snack CocoaViaTM.

For more information on the science of flavanols, visit
http://www.chocolateinfo.com or http://www.cocoapro.com. The flavanol
identified in this study, (-)epicatechin, is technically referred to as
(minus) epicatechin, which is one of the stereoisomers of epicatechin.

Mars, Incorporated is one of the world’s top producers of chocolate,
and with a strong commitment to health research, is the leader in the
science of cocoa, chocolate and health. Mars uses patented and
proprietary methods of processing cocoa beans to retain as much of
their naturally occurring flavanols as possible, marking these products
with the Cocoapro seal, a hand holding a cocoa bean to signify the
careful handling. For more information please visit
http://www.chocolateinfo.com or http://www.cocoapro.com.

Mars Nutrition for Health & Well-Being, a new division of Mars North
America, will develop and launch new foods, snacks, beverages and
lifestyle support to better serve the nutritional and well-being needs
of the consumer. The mission of the division is to be a trusted partner
in healthy lifestyles, enabling consumers to look, perform and feel
their best every day. Mars Nutrition for Health & Well-Being, launched
in June 2004, is based in Hackettstown, NJ.

Schroeter H, Heiss C, Balzer J, Kleinbongard P, Keen CL, Hollenberg NK,
Sies H, Kwik-Uribe C., Schmitz HH, Kelm M. (-)Epicatechin mediates
beneficial effects of flavanol-rich cocoa on vascular function in
humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America. 2006; 108:1024-1029. Online publication:
www.pnas.org/papbyrecent.shtml

——————————————————————————–
Who loves ya.
Tom

Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com

Man Is A Herbivore!
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/manisaherbivore

DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://pages.ivillage.com/ironjustice/deadpeoplewalking

Hi,

It seems odd to dismiss any post as "semantics" since most of us communicate on the ‘Net with words.

Because semantics is about the use and meaning of language.
As Lewis Carroll well knew, the Humpty-Dumpty approach to language won’t work.

The readme of alt.support.diabetes contains a lie.

I doubt I’m the only one to notice it and I don’t criticise the fact that the group is fully unmoderated.
But I think that readme should be amended to reflect the truth because if "semi un-moderated" doesn’t mean partially unmoderated but fully unmoderated then a cake is an ocean.

But please feel free to disagree.
Just don’t expect to be understood if you post using language confusingly or contradictively.

Take care,
Phil.

"A spade is a spade and a shovel a bluddy shovel;
and ne’er the twain shall meet."

http://www.aypee.me.uk/index.html

I have been on Novolin 70/30 for a couple of years with reasonable control.
About six months ago my morning glucose was 524 and since I had been in
reasoable control I suspected the meter. I tested and the control solution
read 250. it was only later that I found out my A1c was 14.90. Which landed me
in the hospital for iv fluids. My diabetes care person said that the 70/30 is
probably not working and is changing me to novolog mix. Any comments about
this new regimine? there were no symptoms that my glucose was so high.

Harold

Hi all, I have just had my visit to the opthalmologist, he says I have fluid behind both eyes. Anyone else ever been told this ?

–
G R Blyth
gbl…@bigpond.net.au

Hi,

I wonder if anyone could give me their advice?

I’ve had type 1 diabetes for 20 years and (through my own choice) I’m on
twice-daily injections of insulin which I mix myself. In the morning (before
breakfast) I mix Novorapid+Insulatard. In the evening (before dinner) I
previously took Novorapid+Ultratard but Ultratard has now been discontinued,
so I’m currently using Novorapid+Insulatard. The latter isn’t particularly
satisfactory, largely because I need the flat ongoing provision of the
evening Ultratard during the following day (I have had to increase my AM
Insulatard to make up for it, but it’s creating hypos in the afternoon).

I am considering whether I should give Novo Levemir a go, but because I
don’t want to change my regime, I want to be able to mix NovoRapid and Novo
Levemir in the same syringe. I know the formal answer is "don’t mix them"…
BUT my question is: has anyone tried this, and did it work / were there any
problems? If so, what were the problems (eg did it give you painful
injection site or did it just change the resulting insulin profile somewhat
unexpectedly?)

I know that this would not work for Novorapid+Lantus/Glargine, because
Aventis Lantus is acidic (and hence turns into a salt when mixed)… but I
have heard that Levemir is not acidic. So I am curious to give it a try, but
want to hear if any others have tried it first.

Thanks for any comments.

– Dan Evans. dd_dd75 at hotmail.com

http://www.danevans.co.uk/insulin/

13 burgers a day, the daily diet of obese Britain

By SEAN POULTER, Daily Mail  12:26pm 14th September 2004

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/dietfitness.htm

Britons are eating themselves into an early grave, with overweight men
gorging on the equivalent of almost 13 hamburgers a day.  For
overweight women, the number is similarly shocking – more than ten
burgers each day.

The figures, revealed yesterday, were based on a study of thousands of
dieters across the country.

The findings paint a picture of a nation fighting a losing battle
against obesity, with serious long-term implications for health.

The DailyDietTracker website monitors the weight and height of its
30,000 members, who are trying to slim down, and keeps an online diary
of everything they eat, plus details of activity. It found the average
overweight male eats 3,235 calories a day, which equates to 12.85
regular McDonald’s hamburgers (in a bun), which are 253 calories each.

The average overweight woman eats 2,612 calories, which is the same
count as in 10.3 burgers.

Based on these figures, these overweight men are consuming 25 per cent
too many calories – against the recommended level of 2,550 – every day.

The women are eating 34 per cent more calories than the recommended
1,940.

Catherine Brough, of DailyDietTracker, said: "These amounts are way
over the recommended daily intake. It would take eight hours of
cycling, travelling at 17mph in a day, to burn off 3,235 calories."
Levels of obesity have tripled in Britain since 1980.

Currently, over half of women and about two-thirds of men are either
overweight or obese. This increases the risk of heart disease, Type 2
diabetes, high blood pressure, certain cancers and osteoarthritis. The
diet tracker website calculates the Body Mass Index (BMI) of its
members, which is based on a ratio of height versus weight.

The normal and healthy BMI rating should range from 18.5 to 24.9.
Anything higher than 25 is considered overweight, with 30 and above
equating to obese.

The average BMI of women signing up to the service was put at 27.9. The
average for men was 30.3. In a regional breakdown, the heaviest men
were in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, with an average BMI of 35.63. That
equates to a weight of more than 17 stone for someone of the average
height of 5ft 9in.

Among women, those in Scotland were the most overweight, registering an
average BMI of 28.96, which equates to almost 12 stone for someone of
average height – 5ft 4in. Miss Brough added: "The key to a healthy
lifestyle is simply a balanced diet and exercise, but few of us put it
into practice."