My Family And Lunchtime Naps
Consider.
- My father was a great one for a lunchtime nap of perhaps thirty minutes after his sandwiches and a cup of tea in his print works in Wood Green.
- I can still see him sitting there on a wartime Utility dining-chair fast asleep.
- As my paternal grandfather was a professional alcoholic, I suspect he slept a lot. But whether he took naps, I do not know.
- I’ve always been prone to fall asleep, but as I’ve got older, I seem to do it more often.
- My middle son, also had a nap after Christmas Lunch last year. But was that just coincidence.
These are questions, that I’ve asked Google AI.
Are There Any Medical Benefits Of The Spanish Siesta?
Google AI said.
Yes, there are potential medical benefits associated with the Spanish siesta, which is a short afternoon nap. Studies suggest that siestas can improve cognitive function, mood, and cardiovascular health. A well-timed and appropriately short siesta can help reduce stress, improve memory consolidation, and even lower blood pressure.
That seems fairly positive.
Will A Spanish Siesta Help Atrial Fibrillation?
I ask this question, as I have atrial fibrillation and I was told, it caused my stroke.
Google AI said.
Spanish siesta, or daytime napping, is not a guaranteed or recommended treatment for atrial fibrillation (AFib). While some studies suggest a link between napping and AFib risk, the relationship is complex and depends on nap duration and individual factors. Short naps (15-30 minutes) may be associated with a lower risk, while longer naps could potentially increase the risk, especially in those with hypertension.
As I don’t have hypertension, it could be positive for me!
Does Atrial Fibrilation Run In Families?
Google AI said.
Yes, atrial fibrillation (AFib) can run in families, meaning it can be inherited. While many cases of AFib are linked to lifestyle factors, age, and other medical conditions, a significant portion of individuals with AFib, especially those with no clear cause, have a family history of the condition. Studies suggest that up to 30% of people with AFib of unknown cause have a family history of the condition.
As my father’s medical history seems fairly similar to mine, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had had it.
Is there A Connection Between Atrial Fibrilation And Coeliac Disease?
Google AI said.
Yes, there is an association between atrial fibrillation (AF) and celiac disease (CD), with studies indicating an increased risk of AF in individuals with CD. This connection is thought to be linked to the inflammatory nature of both conditions.
I have both and I suspect my father did too. We both had a serious stroke at around sixty.
My father had a second, which killed him a few years later. Modern pharmaceuticals have probably kept me alive.
Is There A Link Between Coeliac Disease And Microcondrial DNA Problems?
I asked Google AI, the question in the title of this post.
This was the answer I got.
Yes, there is a link between celiac disease and mitochondrial DNA problems. Studies have shown that individuals with celiac disease exhibit higher levels of lymphocyte mtDNA content, suggesting mitochondrial biogenesis as a compensatory response to the disease-related oxidative stress. Additionally, sera from celiac patients, especially those with neurological symptoms, can induce apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway in vitro.
When I clicked the Show More link, I got a lot more information, that needs a widely-educated medic to understand.
Conclusion
Coeliac disease is a Many-headed hydra.
But it does appear, that if you don’t feed it gluten, it will behave itself and even help you live a healthy life.
There are a lot more worse diseases that you can have.
Out of curiosity, I asked Google AI, if any other animals can get coeliac disease.
This was the answer I got.
While coeliac disease is a human-specific condition, some animals, particularly dogs and rhesus macaques, can experience gluten-related disorders that share similarities with coeliac disease. These animals can exhibit symptoms like digestive issues and villous atrophy when exposed to gluten, though the condition is not exactly the same as human coeliac disease.
Were the dogs on a vegetarian diet containing gluten? Monkeys are also prone to stealing anything they can eat. I’ve heard a story about baboons stealing baguettes, from peoples’ mouths, as they were eating them.
Google also points to this paper on the National Library of Medicine, which is entitled Important Lessons Derived From Animal Models of Celiac Disease.
The Miracle Of Newcastle
This article in The Times is entitled ‘Three-parent’ babies are born in UK via pioneering IVF treatment.
This is the sub-heading.
Four girls and four boys — including one set of identical twins — were born to seven women at a high risk of transmitting mutations, according to the research
These are the first two paragraphs.
Eight healthy “three-parent” babies have been born via a “pioneering” IVF technique, British scientists have said.
The world-first research reported that four girls and four boys — including one set of identical twins — were born to seven women at a high risk of transmitting mutations causing mitochondrial disease. One further woman is pregnant.
This could give the females of my family hope. of successfully raising a child.
When my wife and our youngest son died of aggressive cancers in the early years of this century, Addenbrooke’s advised that I had my family professionally traced, in case there was an aggressive gene tic trait somewhere.
I am coeliac and we felt that came from my paternal Jewish great-great-great grandfather from Konigsberg, who probably arrived in the UK around 1800.
Sadly, we found, that no female born into this Jewish male line had ever successfully produced a child. Even my sister, who was born in 1950, didn’t have a child.
My late wife and myself had three sons and they have produced two grandsons and a granddaughter.
The granddaughter was born with a congenital hernia of the diaphragm and I’ve since found out, was given little chance of survival by the Royal London Hospital.
But due to heroic surgery at a few days old, by the incomparable Dr. Vanessa Wright and her team, she is now in her twenties and holding down a full time job.
I shall be following this Miracle of Newcastle with interest, as I believe it could be part of the saviour for the female of my family and those that will surely follow her in the future.
Deadly ‘Climate Change’ Fungus Targeted In Drug Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Dundee University team leading fight against Candida auris, a type of yeast that causes severe illness and spreads easily among hospital and care home patients.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A rapidly growing deadly fungus, thought to have emerged in humans due to climate change, is one of the targets of a £17.9 million drug project.
Candida auris is a type of yeast that can cause severe illness and spreads easily among patients in healthcare facilities. It was first seen in Japan in 2009 and has spread worldwide, with outbreaks in hospitals in the UK, South Africa, India and parts of North and South America.
These are points from the rest of a must-read article.
- The first cases in the UK were recorded in 2014 and numbers have been rising yearly since 2020.
- Found particularly in hospitals and care homes.
- Many infections occur when medical devices such as catheters or ventilators are fitted to patients.
- I’ve had my fill of catheters, when I had my stroke in Hong Kong.
- Immunocompromised people are most at risk.
I may be coeliac, but I tend to believe my immune system is like a platoon of SAS soldiers on steroids. It certainly gave the AstraZeneca viral vector Covid-19 vaccine a good kicking. But it welcomed the second dose, like a long-lost friend.
I asked Google if there was any interaction and got this reply.
While Candida auris is a serious fungal infection, it is not directly linked to celiac disease. However, Candida albicans, another type of yeast, has been implicated in the development or exacerbation of celiac disease through mechanisms like cross-reactivity and molecular mimicry.
I shall act responsibly and hope for the best.
But.
- Research at the University of Padua has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs sticking to their gluten-free diet, don’t get serious doses of Covid-19.
- Research at the University of Nottingham has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs sticking to their gluten-free diet, have a lower cancer rate, than the general population.
- I’ve very rarely had colds, flu and other infection, since my diagnosis as a coeliac and going gluten-free in 1997.
- I’ve never had Covid-19.
A Floridian restauranteur once called me one of the Devil’s children, as I was a coeliac. If that is true, she certainly looks after her own!
Death Of A Dog
I vividly remember the end of the life of our first English Setter ; Charlotte.
Charlotte and Daisy
She was in a bad state and wasn’t getting up from in front of AGA.
After a phone call to our vet, who knew her well, he said he’d come round at the end of the day on his way home and assess the situation.
He turned up after midnight and after a quick assessment, he felt that she wouldn’t last the night. So he gave her an injection whilst I stroked her.
Afterwards, I had an unopened bottle of Paddy in the cupboard, so we drank well for about an hour to Charlotte.
He took Charlotte away afterwards.
I do sometimes think, that dogs get better end-of-life care than humans do!
Can You Measure Blood Pressure At The Ankle?
Consider.
- As long, as I can remember my left foot has always been larger than my right.
- Over the last few years increasingly, my left foot has often been a stronger shade of red, than my right.
- I also know, that after my stroke a specialist physiotherapist found that my left leg was stronger than my right.
I also know that I have a strange leaky skin.
- I had my stroke in 2010 in Hong Kong and was looked after in a private Chinese hospital.
- They were very strict and measured all the bodily fluids, that I passed.
- They didn’t collect any urine, so they accused me of throwing all my water away.
- I was not guilty, as I was drinking it all.
So they fitted me with a catheter and guess what? They still didn’t collect anything.
It was evidence that my skin is not good at holding water.
So why do I want to measure the blood pressure at my ankle? Or in fact both ankles.
In my ICI days in the 1960s and 1970s, I was helping chemical engineers to understand chemical plants and reactions, by looking at flows and pressures in the various pipes of the plant or experimental rig.
But I do wonder, if the red nature of my left foot, is due to some sort of irregularity in the blood flow to my left leg.
Do Animals Lose Water In Low Pressure Weather?
I feel I do and I wrote a post called My Strange Skin, which is explained by water being driven out of my body.
So I asked Dr. Google, the question in the title of this post and got this answer.
Yes, animals can lose more water in low-pressure weather conditions. Lower atmospheric pressure, often associated with unstable weather, can increase water loss through evaporation and other physiological processes.
Here’s why:
Low pressure often means lower relative humidity, which increases the vapor pressure deficit between the animal’s body and the environment. This difference in water vapor concentration drives more water to evaporate from the animal’s body, particularly through the skin.
That’s all very sound physics.
Last night, I was woken by an intense strange itch in the sole of my right foot.
- As I often do, I rubbed the itch on the a genuine Indian rug I have on the floor by my bed, but it didn’t work.
- So I had to get up and apply a dollop of Udrate cream and rub it in.
About, half-an-hour later I got back to sleep.
Today, I got a similar intense itch in the sole of my left foot. Again it was stopped by a dollop of cream rubbed in. But this time it was Body Shop’s Hemp Foot Protector.
Does water find it easier to get out through the soles of my feet?
Exercise ‘Better Than Drugs’ To Stop Colon Cancer Returning
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
First study of its kind finds that an ‘exercise prescription’ can reduce the chances of colon cancer patients dying from a relapse by a third
These first two paragraphs add more detail.
Exercise can be “better than a drug” for reducing the risk of cancer returning, a study has found.
Patients with advanced colon cancer who received an “exercise prescription” after finishing their cancer treatment were found to be a third less likely to die from the disease.
I find these findings from the The CO21 Challenge trial, partially funded by Cancer Research UK’s Stand Up To Cancer fund, rather remarkable.
The research was led by Christian Booth, of Queen’s University in Canada, which illustrates the international nature of medical research.
On a third reading of the article, I noticed the full implications of this paragraph.
Alongside benefits for colon cancer, Booth said that fewer patients in the active group went on to develop breast cancer, suggesting that there may be an effect on other cancer types too. Of those who received an exercise prescription, only two went on to develop breast cancer, compared with 12 in the control group.
This could be a very significant study, that changes the treatment of cancer.
British Soldiers Make Everest History Using New Method
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
It is also a follow-up of Briton Attempts ‘Fastest Ever’ Everest Mission, Using Xenon Gas on this blog.
This is the sub-heading.
Four British former special forces soldiers have set a record by climbing Mount Everest in under five days without acclimatising on the mountain, as part of a high-speed expedition controversially aided by xenon gas.
These two introductory paragraphs add more detail.
The team, which included a UK government minister, summited the world’s highest peak early on Wednesday.
Xenon was used to help them pre-acclimatise to low oxygen at high altitudes. Climbers usually spend between six to eight weeks on Everest before summiting.
I still feel, that getting to the bottom of why xenon improves performance may have a medical application.
Exceptionally Low River Levels Raise Fears Over Water Supplies
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
Many of the UK’s rivers have hit exceptionally low levels and that could worsen in the next three months, according to the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), raising questions over supplies to households, farmers and businesses.
These three introductory paragraphs add more details.
The warning comes after the driest spring in England since 1961, with northern regions experiencing the driest start to the year in nearly a century.
Almost all of the UK is expected to have below normal or low river levels in May, apart from the south-west of England.
The Environment Agency has said that the UK is at medium risk of drought and warned households of the risk of water restrictions.
In the 1970s, I was involved in a marginal way, in the planning of the water supply network in the UK, by the then Water Resources Board. My software called SPEED was used to solve the hundreds of differential equations involved.
Since the 1970s, I have felt, that as water supply in the UK has been fairly good, that the engineers, planners and mathematicians of the Water Resources Board didn’t do a bad job.
I don’t think, I can remember a period as long as this without rain.
I am drinking heavily to keep hydrated and I’m already today on my second bottle of Adnams Ghost Ship 0.5 % Beer.
But it just seems to go straight out through my skin, which I talked about in My Strange Skin.
I am Jewish in my father’s male line and Huguenot in my mother’s, so I have lots of ancestors, who lived in poor living conditions. So did Darwinian selection produce my leaky skin, that also heals itself quickly, in the harsh living conditions.
But on the other hand does it make me dehydrated all the time? And also create lots of red spots all over my body?
It’s not something new, as I can remember feeling this this as a child and helping my mother to count all the spots.
I hope that I will be fine, when we get some rain.
The Anonymous Widower 