The holidays are notorious for unhealthy (albeit tasty) food and overeating…especially at the annual get-togethers. If you are hosting a holiday soiree, consider these healthy yet yummy holiday food tips I’ve gathered from various Utah catering companies.

Just 30 minutes of exercise a day is enough to rev your engine and work up a sweat. Aerobic training in intervals is one of the best ways since it really works your body in short bursts which enables you to reach higher levels of aerobic intensity in less time.  For cardio trying running (either outside or on a treadmill), jumping rope, cycling, kickboxing, step aerobics, or even fast-paced dancing.

Another way to get the heart pumping is caffeine. It stimulates the cardiovascular system, which in turn can increase alertness and improve your mood. Furthermore, caffeine can improve physical performance (which is why a little caffeine before the gym can really amplify your workout) and stimulate respiration. Try taking an energy supplement that has caffeine, an energy sports drink (though be aware that many are loaded with sugar and calories), or drink some coffee in the morning to get your day started off on the right foot.
Since hip-hop is so widely varied, it can provide a myriad of benefits including the strengthen and lengthening of muscles, making you leaner and keeping your heart in shape given the amount of cardio it requires.

waht causes the unstable Angina?
Coronary artery disease due to atherosclerosis is by far the most common cause of unstable angina. Atherosclerosis is the build up of fatty material called plaque along the walls of the arteries. This causes arteries to become less flexible and narrow, which interrupts blood flow to the heart, causing chest pain.

At first, angina may be considered stable — that is, the chest pain only occurs with activity or stress. Unstable angina is chest pain that is sudden and gets increasingly worse.

The chest pain:

Occurs without cause (for example, it wakes you up from sleep)
Lasts longer than 15 – 20 minutes
Responds poorly to a medicine called nitroglycerine
May occur along with a drop in blood pressure or significant shortness of breath
A coronary artery spasm is a rare cause of angina.

Risk factors for unstable angina are similar to those for stable angina and coronary artery disease. They include:

Being male
Diabetes
Getting older
Family history of coronary heart disease before age 50
High blood pressure
High LDL cholesterol
Low HDL cholesterol
Not getting enough exercise
Smoking
Obesity
Tests & diagnosis
The doctor will perform a physical examination and check your blood pressure. The doctor may hear abnormal sounds, such as a heart murmur or irregular heart beat, when listening to your chest with a stethoscope.

Tests to diagnose angina include:

Blood tests to check the levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK), myoglobin, and troponin I and T
Coronary angiography
ECG
Echocardiography
Stress tests
Prognosis
How well you do depends on many different things, including:

The severity of coronary artery disease
The severity of the most current unstable angina attack
Whether you’ve ever had a heart attack
The medicines you were taking when the angina attack started
Arrhythmias and heart attacks can cause sudden death.

Preventions to unstable Angina
Lifestyle changes can help preventing some angina attacks. Your doctor may tell you to:

Stop smoking
Lose weight if you are overweight
You should also keep strict control of your blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol levels. Some studies have shown that making a few lifestyle changes can prevent blockages from getting worse and may actually improve them.

If you have one or more risk factors for heart disease, talk to your doctor about possibly taking aspirin or other medicines to help prevent a heart attack. Aspirin therapy (75 – 325 mg a day) or a drug called clopidogrel may help prevent heart attacks in some people. Aspirin therapy is recommended if the benefit is likely to outweigh the risk of gastrointestinal side effects.

How to tests and diagnosis Allergic vasculitis?

The diagnosis is primarily based on your sysmptoms and how the skin looks after you take a certain medicine or are exposed to a foreign substance (antigen).

Results from an ESR (sed rate) test may be high. Skin biopsy shows inflammation of the blood vessels.

Prognosis

Allergic vasculitis usually goes away over time.

What is the prevention for allergic vasculitis?

Avoid exposure to medications to which there are known allergies.

Complications

• Permanent damage to the blood vessels or skin with scarring
• Inflammation of the blood vessels affects the internal organs

Pay attentions, Call for an appointment with your health care provider if you have symptoms of allergic vasculitis.

From Health-VIP

What is body lice? Body lice are tiny parasitic insects (Pediculus humanus corporis) that spread through close contact with other people.

Its symptoms:

• Intense itching
• Red bumps on the skin
• Lice on clothing (look in the seams)

What cause this?

There are three types of lice:

• Head lice
• Body lice
• Pubic lice

Pubic and head lice are much smaller than body lice. This article focuses on body lice.

Lice feed on human blood, and they lay their eggs and deposit waste matter on the skin and clothing. A body lice infection causes intense itching. When body lice are not feeding on blood, they live in the seams and folds of clothing. Body lice are transmitted by contact with infected clothing and bedding as well as by direct contact with an infected person.

Risk factors include close (overcrowded) living conditions and poor hygiene.

Tests & diagnosis

Examination of the skin and clothing is usually sufficient to determine the presence of lice. The lice infestation may be confined to the body. However, people with body lice should be checked for lice on the scalp and lice on the groin area.

Prognosis

With effective treatment, the lice can be completely eliminated.

Prevention

Good personal hygiene and effective treatment of infected persons will prevent lice from spreading to others.

Complications

• Secondary skin infection from scratching
• Spread of lice to others

Rarely, body lice may be carriers of uncommon disease such as relapsing fever or trench fever.

What cause the Ataxia-telangiectasia?

Ataxia-telangiectasia is inherited, which means it is passed down through families. It is an autosomal recessive trait.

The disease results from defects in the ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM) gene. Defects in this gene can lead to abnormal cell death in various places of the body, including the part of the brain that helps coordinate movement.

Males and females are equally affected. Ataxia-telangiectasia affects approximately 1 in 40,000 to 100,000 people worldwide.

Tests & diagnosis

The doctor will perform a physical exam. Examination may show signs of the following:

• Below normal sized tonsils, lymph nodes, and spleen
• Decreased-to-absent deep tendon reflexes
• Delayed or absent physical and sexual development
• Growth failure
• Mask-like face
• Multiple skin coloring and texture changes

Possible tests include:

• Serum immunoglobulin levels (IgE, IgA)
• B and T cell screen
• Alpha fetoprotein
• Carcinoembryonic antigen
• Genetic testing to look for mutations in the ATM gene
• X-rays to look at the size of the thymus gland
• Glucose tolerance test

FROM:Health-VIP

Prognosis:

Prognosis depends on the severity of infection and the type of avian influenza virus that caused it. The current death rate for patients with confirmed H5N1 infection is more than 50%. The H7N7 avian flu outbreak in the Netherlands resulted in 89 confirmed human cases but only one death. An avian flu virus designates H9N2 infected 3 children in Asia; all three recovered.

Prevention:

Travelers should avoid visits to live-bird markets in areas with an avian flu outbreak. People who work with birds who might be infected should use protective clothing and special breathing masks. Avoiding undercooked or uncooked meat reduces the risk of exposure to avian flu and other food borne diseases.

From: Health-vip

If you think you have been exposed to avian influenza, call your health care provider before your visit. This will give the staff a chance to take proper precautions that will protect them and other patients.

In February 2006, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved a new, faster test for diagnosing strains of bird flu in people suspected of having the virus. The test is called the Influenza A/H5 (Asian lineage) Virus Real-time RT-PCR Primer and Probe Set. The test gives preliminary results within 4 hours. Older tests required 2 to 3 days.

Your doctor might also perform the following tests:

• Chest x-ray  
• Nasopharyngeal culture  
• Blood differential
• Auscultation (to detect abnormal breath sounds)

Other tests may be done to look at the functions of your heart, kidneys, and liver.

Historically, avian influenza viruses infected pigs and mixed with pig influenza viruses. The viruses exchanged genetic information, which led to the formation of a new virus. This new virus could then infect humans and easily spread from person to person. Previous flu pandemics (worldwide epidemics) have started this way.

The first avian influenza virus to infect humans directly occurred in Hong Kong in 1997, during an avian flu epidemic on the island. This outbreak was linked to chickens and classified as avian influenza A (H5N1).

Since the Hong Kong outbreak, the bird flu virus has spread across Asia, and in October 2005 was discovered in poultry in Turkey and Romania. So far, hundreds of people have been infected by H5N1. Many people have died.

The wider the area over which the avian flu virus spreads, the greater the chances of a worldwide outbreak. There is tremendous concern that H5N1 poses an enormous pandemic threat.

Farmers and other people working with poultry, as well as travelers visiting affected countries, have a higher risk for getting the bird flu. Handling an infected bird can cause infection. People who eat raw or undercooked poultry meat are also at an increased risk for avian influenza. Highly infective avian flu viruses, such as H5N1, have been shown to survive in the environment for long periods of time, and infection may be spread simply by touching contaminated surfaces. Birds who recover from the flu can continue to shed the virus in their feces and saliva for as long as 10 days.

Health care workers and household contacts of patients with avian influenza may also be at an increased risk of the bird flu.