Health | Read Write Collect

Liked The silent danger of deep gum disease (bbc.com)

For many of these conditions, it is a two-way relationship. For instance, periodontitis may worsen conditions such as atherosclerosis, the hardening of the artery walls, and the presence of atherosclerosis also predisposes patients to periodontitis. There have been no randomised controlled trials (RCT), considered the gold standard of medical investigation, delving into this relationship (these would be hard to carry out ethically, denying one group treatment of their periodontitis for a prolonged period to see how it affected their atherosclerosis). However, periodontitis-causing bacteria usually found only in the mouth have been discovered embedded in atherosclerotic plaques.

Of all these chronic health conditions, diabetes has the strongest two-way link with periodontitis. People with type 2 diabetes have a three-fold greater risk of developing periodontitis than people without. For people who have type 2 diabetes and periodontitis, the infection worsens their body’s ability to control blood sugar levels.

Bookmarked Why the parkrun practice initiative will encourage more GPs to engage in social prescription by Kate O’Halloran (ABC News)

Steve Connelly experienced debilitating depression and anxiety after his battle with heart disease, but a visit to his GP — and a left-field script — changed his life. Now Australian GPs are looking to increase “social prescriptions” with a breakthrough partnership.

Kate O’Halloran explores the parkrun phenomon and the way in which it is uelping change people’s lives. I have heard of people basing holidays around attending different parkrun events, something discussed in the article. What I had never quite fathomed was the place and power of community in driving people. Personally, my doctor told me to get off a station earlier and walk to the next station, not much community in that.

Bookmarked Why food allergies are on the rise (bbc.com)

Food allergies can be extremely risky, even fatal – and they’re on the rise around the world. Why are they increasingly common, and what can we do to prevent them?

Ralph Jones explains that introducing children is sometimes allergens is often better than avoiding them.

Bookmarked How the coronavirus started in China — and why that’s actually a saving grace (ABC News)

Despite the risk of “super-spreaders”, the emergence of new diseases in places like China is actually a saving grace.

China has an excellent system and massive capacity to investigate and control diseases, and the country’s response to recent disease emergences has been highly transparent, competent and effective.

Simon Reid discusses the coronavirus and why it is so significant.

It wasn’t that long ago that we had our last pandemic (the H1N1 virus in 2009, also known as “swine flu”) and less than 20 years since the 2003 emergence of SARS, another coronavirus that was highly lethal to humans.

The emergence of the “new” disease requires the virus to spill over or “jump species” from its reservoir into people. This event is complex and needs close contact, as well as a virus that can infect humans (not many animal viruses can).

To truly emerge, the virus then has to possess the ability to infect other humans (even fewer can do this).

This has me thinking about the 90’s film Outbreak.

Liked Virginia Woolf on Being Ill and the Strange Transcendence Accessible Amid the Terrors of the Ailing Body (Brain Pickings)

“Considering how common illness is, how tremendous the spiritual change that it brings, how astonishing, when the lights of health go down, the undiscovered countries that are then disclosed&…

Replied to Eyed Out of The U.K. (CogDogBlog)

My eye will clear, and like Arnold, I’ll be back.

I hope you are on the mend soon Alan. We can so easily take things like health for granted.

Australia has a decent health system for all too. Just thought I’d say.