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Breaking News
Acid reflux? Beat the Heartburn with few lifestyle changes
Source - healthnews18.com
The acid reflux medication only minimizes the symptoms of heartburn, but doesn’t cure it completely. The doctors suggest some changes in the lifestyle such as dietary and exercise habits can help minimizing the acid reflux symptoms such as sour burps and chest pain.
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Heartburn reflux damages teeth
Source - health24
If you have chronic heartburn, it's not only your oesophagus that you should be worried about. New research reveals how the condition known as gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD, can severely damage your teeth thanks to an influx of acid into the mouth.
The study, which followed patients over six months, found that almost half of those with the condition suffered much worse tooth wear and erosion than healthy people. The disease can ultimately lead to thin, sharp and pitted teeth.
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Diagnostic tests to detect gallbladder disease
Source - Gallbladder Symptoms
A large number of people all over the world are affected by gallbladder disease. Among them, many require Cholecystectomy or the removal of gall bladder as a treatment. Hence several diagnostic methods have been created that diagnose various gallbladder problems but with varying degrees of success. Given below are the types of gallbladder diseases and the methods used to diagnose them.
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Pain and gallbladder disease
Source - Focus on Health
Gallbladder pain has become a very common condition nowadays, mainly due to unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy eating habits. The gallbladder is an organ that is directly under the liver. It is connected to the liver, and upper portions of the small intestine via a duct system of the gallbladder bile stores, which is produced by the liver. Bile is a fluid that helps digest fats and lipids, gallbladder can store about 50 milliliters of bile. Pain in the gall bladder is usually caused due to the presence of gallstones, which are cholesterol deposits. When excess cholesterol in the body, it causes these calculations must be formed. The stones are not always formed because of cholesterol, they may be due to calcium and bile salts. These stones block the flow of bile from the gallbladder Rather, causing excruciating pain that ends up.
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Hernias difficult to diagnose in women
Source: Jewish Journal.com
Hernias, which occur when part of an internal organ or fatty tissue pushes through a hole in a muscle, are far more common in men than in women. As a result, many doctors don’t consider a hernia diagnosis when faced with a female patient.
Adding to the problem, the most common type of hernia is in the groin area, and their symptoms mirror other pelvic problems that tend to plague women.
Adding to the difficulty of diagnosing hernias in women, Towfigh says, is that they are often smaller than those seen in men. When a man with a hernia lies down, for instance, the hernia can generally be seen in the form of a bulge. But because of the differences in women’s bodies, a hernia may not be as prominent or even visible at all.
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Bilateral hernias should be repaired simultaneously, data indicate
Source: General Surgery News
A large Swiss study has shown that bilateral total extraperitoneal (TEP) inguinal hernia repair has a risk profile comparable with that of unilateral hernia repair, a finding that suggests there is no value in delaying the second repair
Overall, the evidence shows that “for patients with bilateral inguinal hernia, a simultaneous endoscopic approach represents an .excellent therapeutic option,” the authors wrote.
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An easier way to remove gallstones
Source: ScienceDaily
For more than 100 years, the traditional treatment for the painful growths called gallstones has been removal of the gallbladder, or cholecystectomy. But a new device, patented in China, promises to make removing the entire organ unnecessary. A group of scientists from the Second People's Hospital of Panyu District and Central South University in China have developed an endoscope specially designed for locating and clearing out gallstones and other gallbladder lesions.
A tiny ultrasonic probe at the tip of the endoscope locates gallstones, even small ones embedded in the organ's lining.
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Stress and weight gain - a vicious circle
Source: Medical News Today
Stress can make you fat - and being obese can create stress. A new hypothesis seeks to explain how.
Diet and lack of exercise are not sufficient to explain the worldwide rise in obesity. Stress is one of many other factors which could contribute, according to human biologist Brynjar Foss from the University of Stavanger.
The researchers review a number of studies, which show that weight gain and cortisol (the stress hormone) levels are noticeably higher in people who became fatter because of stress.
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A new study published this month finally answers the question of how best to treat people with cancer of the oesophagus. Australian researchers found that there is a better chance of survival if patients have chemotherapy and radiation therapy given together just before surgery, than surgery alone.
The analysis, carried out by the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG), Sydney, was published in the prestigious medical journal Lancet Oncology earlier this month. It analysed data from many clinical trials and its findings are set to finally establish the standard treatment approach to localised oesophageal cancer, around the world.
"Cancer of the oesophagus is a difficult disease with poor long-term survival rates. At present only 20 percent of people who have surgery survive to five years," Associate Professor Mark Smithers, lead AGITG surgical author and Brisbane based oesophageal surgeon explained. "It was clear that although surgical practices have improved over the years, we had to do more to improve the odds
for our patients."
A recent poll of Australian hospitals showed that patients have been treated with a variety of regimens including: surgery alone, chemotherapy before surgery or a combination of chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery. "Doctors just simply weren’t certain which treatment regimen was best for their patients," A/Prof. Smithers said.
"The AGITG analysis is the first to conclusively show that there is a 14 percent improvement in survival if patients receive concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery to help prevent the spread of cancerous tumours in their oesophagus, compared to surgery alone," A/Prof. Smithers said. "If they are unfit for radiation therapy, chemotherapy alone before surgery also gives a lower but improved survival rate than surgery alone."
Internationally there have been seven research groups, in addition to the AGITG, who have conducted clinical studies to answer the question of the role of concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy before surgery in localised oesophageal cancer without any conclusive results. Associate Professor Val Gebski, lead author of this analysis and AGITG Group Statistician, explained that "over the last 25 years there have been many small clinical trials, including our own, trying to answer the question of what is the best treatment standard for oesophageal cancer, but each was too small to reach any definitive conclusions."
"We gathered and combined all the available data from eighteen of these small clinical comparisons and analysed them to find that there were real benefits from administering chemotherapy and concurrent radiation therapy just before surgery.
Chemotherapy sensitised the cancer cells and together with the radiation therapy produces a more effective way to kill them. This resulted in shrinkage of the tumour, making surgery more successful and thus leading to a longer life expectancy for the patient. This finding, from the detailed data analysis, is a truly significant break-through in our understanding of the optimal treatment of patients with oesophageal cancer," A/Prof. Gebski said.
The AGITG will continue to explore key unanswered questions to develop improved treatment practices by trialling new and more targeted chemotherapy agents to further improve treatment results in patients with oesophageal cancer. Please visit www.gicancer.org.au
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