Quite a number of remarkable things happened in the month of February, and these are some health bits for February 2018 Health News Round up.

INDIAN SURGEONS SUCCESSFULLY REMOVES WORLD LARGEST BRAIN TUMOR

The tumor weighing nearly 4 ibs [1.8 kg] had been in Santal Pal’s head for 3 years prior to the surgery. He had already lost his eye sight to the tumor which was way bigger than his head, and risked paralysis if the tumor was not removed.

Previously, three hospitals had previously told pal that the tumor was inoperable. The 6 hours long operation was carried out by some of India’s surgical specialist.

‘His total recovery totally depends on the nature of the tumor. If it is cancerous, we may need further treatment such as radiation and chemotherapy.’ Nadkarmi said

www.livescience.com/61841-largest-brain-tumor-removed.html

A TEAM OF BOMB SPECIALISTS ASSISTS DOCTORS IN REMOVING ‘POSSIBLE EXPLOSIVE’ FIREWORK FROM A MAN’S THIGH

This didn’t happen in one of the episodes of grey’s anatomy, nor in any fictional series. It happened live in Texas at the San Atonio military medical center, where a 44 years old man was brought in, who told doctors that he was attempting to set off a mortar based firework when the device suddenly exploded and part of it got lodged in his leg. He said he didn’t know which part entered his thigh, so it might still have the possibility of exploding.

The doctors immediately called in Explosive Ordinance Disposal [EOD] technicians, along with the local fire department.

During the operation, the surgeons were advised to irritate the wound with water in order to wet the fuse and prevent it from going off.

After successfully removing the firework, a metal rod was inserted into the patient’s thigh to treat the fracture.

Talk of the weird things Doctors have to handle sometimes.

BACTERIA ON OUR BODIES MAY BE PROTECTING US FROM SKIN CANCER

The human body is a host to millions of bacteria. Both harmful and harmless.

Recent studies by Teruaki Nakatsuji and his colleagues at the University of California, San Diego has shown that some of these bacteria were able to produce anti-bacterial proteins when they were introduced to harmful bacteria.

A strain of one species, Staphylococcus epidermidis, also made a molecule that has a similar structure to a drug that is used to treat blood cancer. When the team applied this chemical – called 6-HAP – to a range of cancer cells it killed them.

The team want to develop a skin probiotic that contains the strain to help treat or protect against skin cancer. It could potentially be incorporated into sunscreen, Nakatsuji says. In the meantime, he recommends avoiding harsh anti-microbial hand soaps. “You need to let the beneficial bacteria grow,” he says.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2162507-bacteria-on-our-bodies-may-be-protecting-us-from-skin-cancer

NUT CONSUMPTION MAY AID COLON CANCER SURVIVAL

For those of you who may have never heard of colon cancer, Colon cancer is simply a cancer of the colon or rectum, located at the digestive tract’s lower end.

Recent findings has shown that people with stage III colon cancer who regularly eats nuts are at significantly lower risk of cancer recurrence and mortality than those who don’t, according to a new, large study led by researchers at Yale cancer center.

The study followed 826 participants in a clinical trial for a median of 6.5 years after they were treated with surgery and chemotherapy. Those who regularly consumed at least two, one-ounce servings of nuts each week demonstrated a 42% improvement in disease-free survival and a 57% improvement in overall survival.

You may be wondering what kind of nut this could be, as we have several kinds of nuts. Well, tree nuts include almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews, and pecans, among others. In contrast, peanuts are actually in the legumes family of foods. Therefore, peanuts are not included.

ASPIRIN LOWERS THE RISK OF DEATH FOR PATIENTS WITH DIABETES, HEART FAILURE.

Aspirin, also known as acetylsalicylic acid, is a medication used to treat pain, fever, or inflammation. Specific inflammatory conditions in which aspirin is used include Kawasaki disease, pericarditis, and rheumatic fever.

Recent study has shown that for people living with both Type 2 diabetes and heart failure, taking an aspirin each day appears to lower the risk of dying or being hospitalized for heart failure, according to new research. But the data also reveals aspirin use may increase the risk of nonfatal heart attack or stroke, a somewhat contradictory finding that surprised researchers.

"After our research,we were surprised to see a paradoxical increase in nonfatal heart attacks and nonfatal stroke, parallel to the decrease in mortality," said Charbel Abi Khalil, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar and the study's lead author. "This finding might be due to the fact that those patients lived longer; given their mean age of 70 years, perhaps these patients were predisposed to more cardiac events."

"Both heart failure and diabetes are associated with increased blood clotting activity," Abi Khalil said. "Because it decreases platelet aggregation, aspirin is thought to lower the likelihood of forming harmful blood clots like those responsible for heart attacks and strokes."

Could this be another use for aspirin? We await more findings.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180228085414.htm

Do share February 2018 health news round up with your friends and family and remember to have the right health attitude.

www.yourhealthattitude.com