Change of blog hosting
Thursday, October 13, 2005
I'm avaliable at http://aquazero.weblogs.us
See you there
posted by AquaZeRo @ 12:45 AM,
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Angina Pectoris
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
What is angina pectoris?
Angina pectoris is the medical term for chest pain or discomfort due to coronary heart disease. Angina is a symptom of a condition called myocardial ischemia. It occurs when the heart muscle (myocardium) doesn't get as much blood (hence as much oxygen) as it needs. This usually happens because one or more of the heart's arteries (blood vessels that supply blood to the heart muscle) is narrowed or blocked. Insufficient blood supply is called ischemia.
Typical angina is uncomfortable pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the center of the chest. The discomfort also may be felt in the neck, jaw, shoulder, back or arm. Many types of chest discomfort aren't related to angina. Acid reflux (heartburn) and lung infection or inflammations are examples.
When does angina pectoris occur?
Angina often occurs when the heart needs more blood. For example, running to catch a bus could trigger an attack of angina while walking might not. Angina may happen during exercise, strong emotions or extreme temperatures. Some people, such as those with a coronary artery spasm, may have angina when they're resting.
Angina is a sign that someone is at increased risk of heart attack, cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death.
Several factors may contribute to it.
• Heredity.
• Race.
• Male sex.
• Increasing age.
• Sodium (salt) sensitivity.
• Obesity and overweight.
• Sedentary or inactive lifestyle.
• Heavy alcohol consumption
• Diabetes mellitus, gout and kidney disease.
• Pregnancy.
• Use of some oral contraceptives.
• Some other medications. e.g. - steroids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, nasal decongestants and other cold remedies, diet pills, cyclosporine, erythropoietin, tricyclic antidepressants, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors.
What is stable angina?
People with stable angina (or chronic stable angina) have episodes of chest discomfort that are usually predictable. They occur on exertion (such as running to catch a bus) or under mental or emotional stress. Normally the chest discomfort is relieved with rest, nitroglycerin or both.
People with episodes of chest discomfort should see their physician for an evaluation. The doctor will evaluate the person's medical history and risk factors, conduct a physical exam, order a chest X-ray and take an electrocardiogram (ECG). Some people will also need an exercise ECG (stress test), an echocardiogram or other tests to complete the diagnosis.
What is unstable angina?
In people with unstable angina, the chest pain is unexpected and usually occurs while at rest. The discomfort may be more severe and prolonged than typical angina or be the first time a person has angina. The most common cause is reduced blood flow to the heart muscle because the coronary arteries are narrowed by fatty buildups (atherosclerosis). An artery may be abnormally constricted or partially blocked by a blood clot. Inflammation, infection and secondary causes also can lead to unstable angina. In a form of unstable angina called variant or Prinzmetal's angina, the cause is coronary artery spasm.
Unstable angina is an acute coronary syndrome and should be treated as an emergency. People with new, worsening or persistent chest discomfort should be evaluated in a hospital emergency department or "chest pain unit" and monitored carefully. They're at increased risk for
• acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).
• severe cardiac arrhythmias. These may include ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation.
• cardiac arrest leading to sudden death.
What is variant angina pectoris (Prinzmetal's angina)?
Variant angina pectoris is also called Prinzmetal's angina. Unlike typical angina, it nearly always occurs when a person is at rest. It doesn't follow physical exertion or emotional stress, either. Attacks can be very painful and usually occur between midnight and 8 a.m.
Variant angina is due to coronary artery spasm. About two-thirds of people with it have severe coronary atherosclerosis in at least one major vessel. The spasm usually occurs very close to the blockage.
Angina also can occur in people with valvular heart disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (this is an enlarged heart due to disease) or uncontrolled high blood pressure. These cases are rare, though.
Angina Pectoris Treatments
What drugs are used to treat angina pectoris?
Angina pectoris can be treated with drugs that affect the blood supply to the heart muscle or the heart's demand for oxygen or both. Drugs that affect the blood supply are coronary vasodilators; they cause blood vessels to relax. When this happens, the opening inside the vessels (the lumen) gets bigger. Then blood flow improves, letting more oxygen and nutrients reach the heart muscle.
Nitroglycerin is the drug most often used. It mainly relaxes the veins and relaxes the coronary arteries a little. By relaxing the veins, it reduces the amount of blood that returns to the heart and eases the heart's workload. By relaxing the coronary arteries, it increases the heart's blood supply.
The heart's demand for oxygen also can be modified with drugs that reduce blood pressure. This reduces the heart's workload and need for oxygen. Drugs that slow the heart rate have a similar effect. Drugs called beta-blockers and calcium antagonists are used for these effects. There are many different beta-blockers and calcium antagonists, and the specific ones used are selected depending on the individual characteristics of each patient.
What procedures are used to treat angina?
Invasive techniques that improve the heart and the heart's blood supply also may be used. One of these is percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. It's also known as PTCA, angioplasty, balloon dilation or balloon angioplasty. In it, a thin, flexible plastic tube (catheter) with a balloon is inserted into an artery and advanced to the blockage. Then the balloon is inflated, squeezing open the fatty plaque deposit. Then the balloon is deflated and the catheter is withdrawn. Often a stent is also placed to hold the artery open.
Two additional techniques used to reduce coronary blockages are laser angioplasty and atherectomy. In laser angioplasty, a catheter with a laser on its tip is used to open the blockage. In atherectomy, a catheter has a rotating shaver on its tip to cut away the plaque. These techniques also may be accompanied by stent placement.
Coronary artery bypass graft surgery is also used. In it, a blood vessel is used to route blood around the blocked part of the artery, forming a kind of detour.
Before performing any of these procedures, a doctor must find the blocked part(s) of the coronary arteries. This requires coronary arteriography, which is done during cardiac catheterization. In this procedure a doctor guides a catheter through an artery in the arm or leg and into the coronary arteries. Then the doctor injects a liquid dye through the catheter. High-speed X-ray movies record the course of the dye as it flows through the arteries. Doctors can identify blockages by tracing the flow. An evaluation of how the heart works also can be done during cardiac catheterization.
Other tests can be used to evaluate how well the heart works, and may be done before or after a heart attack.
How is variant angina or Prinzmetal's angina treated?
Calcium antagonists are extremely effective in preventing the coronary spasm of variant or Prinzmetal's angina. These drugs, along with nitrates, are the mainstays of treatment. Prinzmetal's angina tends to be cyclic, appearing for a time, then going away. Because of this, after six to 12 months of treatment, the calcium antagonists may be gradually reduced. In some cases PTCA or surgery are used when blockages exist along with spasm.
For more infomation....
Heart facts By American Heart Association
posted by AquaZeRo @ 4:53 AM,
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Google-X
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
The fun way of accessing google.....
P.S: Not hosted on goggle
Test it out
Additional reading
Google goes X
posted by AquaZeRo @ 3:29 AM,
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Too many messenger?
Thursday, March 24, 2005
If you have too much messenger account to login, i believe this could help you. Trillian is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. It provides capabilities not possible with original network clients, while supporting standard features such as audio chat, file transfers, group chats, chat rooms, buddy icons, multiple simultaneous connections to the same network, server-side contact importing, typing notification, direct connection (AIM), proxy support, encrypted messaging (AIM/ICQ), SMS support, and privacy settings.
Without stealing your home page and with no other included software, pop-ups, or spyware, Trillian provides unique functionality such as contact message history, a powerful skinning language, tabbed messaging, global status changes (set all networks away at once), Instant Lookup (automatic Wikipedia integration), contact alerts, an advanced automation system to trigger events based on anything happening in the client, docking, hundreds of emoticons, emotisounds, shell extensions for file transfers, and systray notifications.
http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/learn/
posted by AquaZeRo @ 3:06 AM,
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W3C validator
Friday, March 18, 2005
Hi it's me again.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
If you have notice, i've put up a new template for my site.
However it still some error in the coding.
I'm try to get the blog to me w3c compliant.
Go to this url if you wanna just how "bad" your coding is..
W3C validator
**aquazero sighs and leaves his blog.....**
posted by AquaZeRo @ 1:34 AM,
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Blogstipation
Monday, March 14, 2005
I'm having blogstipation for the past few day. I don't know what I should post here.
should i continue to write about tech stuff cos i'm really not an expert on it. "Yes" i am admitting it. I'll sleep on it tonight.
posted by AquaZeRo @ 3:48 AM,
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Featured blogger...
Thursday, March 03, 2005
Wendy Cheng
Never fail to crack me up. Been a fan of her blog ever since i saw it. Xiaxue keep up the good work.
posted by AquaZeRo @ 11:16 PM,
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Firefox
Additional tweaks to make your Firefox Faster...
Enter in your address bar "about:config" and then do the following:
Scroll to "network.dns.disableIPv6" and switch the value to "true"
Scroll to "network.http.pipelining" and switch the value to "true"
Scroll to "network.http.pipelining.maxrequests" and just make the value larger than it already is. (20 is good)
Scroll to "network.http.proxy.pipelining" and switch the value to "true"
posted by AquaZeRo @ 10:12 PM,
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Pictures of Tsunami
posted by AquaZeRo @ 12:38 AM,
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