Cut salt intake, exercise to avoid high Blood Pressure

Shruti Jain was a busy working mother juggling children, work and household chores with aplomb, until she suddenly collapsed in office one day. Diagnosed with a stroke, she had to undergo a six-month recuperation and paid a hefty fee at a private hospital.

04/11/13
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Swine flu: Avoid crowded places

New Delhi, Feb 14 -- With reports of nearly 500 cases of swine flu from across the country this season, doctors and experts say the viral disease sees an upswing during winters but there is no need to panic. Closed and crowded spaces such as offices and air-conditioned homes aided the spread of the disease, say doctors.

02/14/13
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India needs more infectious disease experts, says APXA founder Shah

New Delhi -- Despite infectious diseases claiming over 20 million lives a year, India has just a handful of specialists in the field for its 1.2 billion population, says an Indian American expert pushing for this country to set up a specialist training programme to tackle this grave issue.

12/17/12
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Henna (Mehndi) may cause serious side effects, say doctors

New Delhi, Nov 11 -- Applying chemical-laced 'mehndi' (henna) on the hands can cause serious side effects including skin infection, doctors said, cautioning girls and women against using it.

11/11/12
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Not just flu, beware of cardiac problems too this winter

New Delhi, Nov 5 -- There is a nip in the air, and as you welcome the change with light woollens, you also have unwelcome visitors such as flu, cough and fever.

11/05/12
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Sleep and Health: an update

By Narayan Krishnamurthy, MD

The Institute of Medicine estimates that 50 to 70 million adult Americans have a chronic sleep disorder that contributes to poor health. Approximately 1 in 3 adult Americans are sleeping less than recommended 7 hours per night. This manifests with physiological and neurobehavioral deficits leading to chronic medical and psychiatric disorders.  

07/22/12
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Why Asian Indians are more prone to developing coronary artery disease than other groups?

By Navin Nanda, M.D.

Professor of Medicine and Director, Heart Station/Echocardiography Laboratories, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama. Although Dr. Navin Nanda is internationally famous as an expert and innovator in echocardiography, he has also done pioneering studies in coronary artery disease in Asian Indians right from the time he was a Medical Resident at Seth G.S. Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, India. He is the Founding President of the American Association of Cardiologists of Indian Origin and Past President of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin. He is currently the President of the International Society of Cardiovascular Ultrasound.

* Two facts stand out: 1) The incidence of coronary artery disease in Asian Indians is 2 to 5 times higher at all ages than Whites, African-Americans, Hispanics and other Asians. 2) It is 5 to 10 times higher in those younger than 40 years. This is not new. For example, my MD thesis from Bombay University prepared 44 years ago in 1966 was on heart attacks in patients under the age of 40 years.

03/19/11
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Heart disease more deadly for women than men

February 3, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, and each year more women than men die from heart and cardiovascular disease without ever realizing they are at risk.

"After having a heart attack, a woman's chance of not surviving the first year or having another heart attack is greater than a man's," says University of Alabama at Birmingham cardiologist Alan Gertler, M.D. Preventing a heart attack, he says, is a critical objective.

Gertler says all women are at risk for heart disease, and the risk rises substantially as they age. "The incidence of heart disease among women overtakes men when they reach their late 50s, usually about five to 10 years after menopause," he says.

02/13/11
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Processed food diet in early childhood may lower IQ

A diet, high in fats, sugars, and processed foods in early childhood may lower IQ, while a diet packed full of vitamins and nutrients may do the opposite, suggests research just published online in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

The authors base their findings on participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (also known as Children of the 90s), which tracks the long term health and wellbeing of around 14,000 children born in 1991 and 1992.

Parents completed questionnaires, detailing the types and frequency of the foods and drinks their children consumed when they were 3, 4, 7 and 8.5 years old.

02/09/11
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Understanding Cancer

Dr. Khaleel Ashraf is a practicing Oncologist in Birmingham, AL and is associated with Hematology and Oncology Associates of Alabama, LLC located in Brookwood Medical Plaza.

01/04/11
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