Article content
Ontario is reporting 119 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases and three related deaths Monday.
Health
Study finds connection between cardiac blood test before surgery and adverse outcomes – EurekAlert
IMAGE: PJ Devereaux is a professor of medicine at McMaster University and a cardiologist of Hamilton Health Sciences.
view more
Credit: Hamilton Health Sceinces
HAMILTON, ON (December 23, 2019) – A common cardiac blood test done before surgery can predict who will experience adverse outcomes after most types of surgery, says an international study led by Hamilton researchers.
Globally, of the 200 million adults who undergo major surgery, 18 percent will experience serious cardiac and vascular complications including death within 30 days following their intervention, such as hip and knee replacements, bowel resections and abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.
“Any type of surgery has the potential to cause damage to heart tissue, through blood clot formation, long periods of inflammation, or bleeding,” said study lead, Dr. PJ Deveraux, professor of medicine, cardiologist at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) and scientific lead for perioperative research at McMaster University and HHS’ Population Health Research Institute (PHRI).
The VISION study looked at whether levels of a cardiac blood test, NT-proBNP, measured before surgery can predict cardiac and vascular complications. Higher levels of NT-proBNP, which can be caused by various anomalies in the cardiac muscle, such as stress, inflammation or overstretch, can help identify which patients are at greatest risk of cardiac complications after surgery.
The study included 10,402 patients aged 45 years or older having non-cardiac surgery with overnight stay from 16 hospitals in nine countries.
“As a result of these findings, doctors can predict who is at greater risk of heart attacks and other negative vascular events after surgery,” said Dr. Devereaux.
This phase of the VISION study builds upon six years of research studies to understand pre- and post-operative factors that lead to cardiac complications.
“This simple blood test can be done quickly and easily as part of patient’s pre-operative evaluation and can help patients better understand their risk of post-operative complications and make informed decisions about their surgery,” said first author of the publication, Dr. Emmanuelle Duceppe, internist and researcher at the Centre Hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal (CHUM), PhD candidate in clinical epidemiology at McMaster University, and associate researcher at PHRI. “This blood test is twenty times cheaper than more time-consuming tests such as cardiac stress tests and diagnostic imaging.”
Results of this simple blood test may inform the type of surgery the patient will undergo, such as laparoscopic or open surgery, the type of anesthesia used during surgery and who will require more intense monitoring post-operatively.
Blood test results can also reduce the need for pre-surgical medical consultations for patients that show no risk for cardiac complications.
“Heart injury after non-cardiac surgery is emerging as an important health issue requiring attention. Using CIHR funding, the research group led by PHRI and Dr. Devereaux, has clarified the association between an elevation of a common biomarker and the risk of per-operative morbidity and mortality,” said Dr. Brian H. Rowe, Scientific Director, Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health, Canadian Institutes for Health Research.
Study data was published today in Annals of Internal Medicine.
###
Photo caption: PJ Devereaux is a professor of medicine at McMaster University and a cardiologist of Hamilton Health Sciences. Photo courtesy of Hamilton Health Sciences.
For more information or to arrange an interview with Dr. Devereaux, please contact:
Veronica McGuire
Media Relations
McMaster University
vmcguir@mcmaster.ca
905-525-9140, ext. 22169
Roxanne Torbiak
Public Relations
Hamilton Health Sciences
torbiakr@HHSC.CA
289-795-8604
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
Continue Reading
Health
COVID-19: Ontario reports 119 new cases, 7 in Ottawa; Premier Ford set to make announcement at Ottawa hospital – Ottawa Citizen
Ontario’s vaccination rollout has now reached 80.4 per cent of eligible (12-plus) residents with one dose, and 66.7 per cent have received both vaccine doses.
Advertisement
Article content
The province has now seen 549,447 total cases since the beginning of the pandemic and 9,316 people have died.
There are currently 96 patients in Ontario hospitals, with an additional 131 in intensive care units, and of those, 79 require a ventilator. (Ontario Public Health statistics of ICU hospitalizations and ventilator cases contain some patients who no longer test positive for COVID-19 but who are being treated for conditions caused by the virus. As such, occasionally, the number of patients in ICUs or that require a ventilator may exceed the number of patients in hospitals with COVID-19.)
Another 137 cases were resolved in the past 24 hours and of Ontario’s total case count, 538,702 are now considered resolved.
Advertisement
Article content
There were 11,930 tests conducted in the province Sunday with a 1.0 per cent positivity rate.
There were 22 cases identified in Toronto, 15 in Hamilton, 14 in Waterloo, and 13 in Peel region.
Officials in Ontario are also continuing to track the spread of variants of concern in the province.
There were 19 new confirmed cases of the Alpha variant, and there have now been 145,405 confirmed cases of that strain in Ontario.
Three new cases of the Delta variant were confirmed Monday, and there have now been 3,916 total cases of that variant in Ontario.
No new cases of the Beta or Gamma variant were identified in the province, according to Monday’s data.
Ontario’s vaccination rollout has now reached 80.4 per cent of eligible (12-plus) residents with one dose, and 66.7 per cent of residents have received both vaccine doses.
Advertisement
Article content
Another 65,920 vaccine doses were administered across the province on Sunday. As of 8 p.m. Sunday, 19,018,393 doses had been administered and 8,625,932 Ontarians had been fully immunized with both doses, according to the latest provincial data.
COVID-19 in Ottawa
Ottawa Public Health is reporting seven new cases in the city and no new deaths.
There have now been 27,782 total cases in Ottawa and of those, 27,147 are resolved. There have been 593 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the city.
There are now 42 active cases in Ottawa, two fewer than Sunday, and there remains one patient in hospital, with none in ICU.
There have been 40 total cases of the Delta variant in Ottawa, according to provincial data.
There have also been 1,416,743 total vaccine doses administered in Ottawa.
Advertisement
Article content
According to OPH, 768,001 eligible residents (age 12-plus) have received one dose, and 638,520 are full vaccinated.
That represents 83 per cent of the eligible population with one dose and 69 per cent of the eligible population with both doses.
There was one new local case reported Sunday, and Ottawa has seen 27,775 total cases and 593 deaths, according to Sunday’s data.
Only one other case was identified Monday in the East region of the province, with one confirmed case in the Hatings region.
No new cases were identified in the Eastern Ontario public health unit, Kingston, Renfrew County or in Leeds, Grenville and Lanark.
Premier Doug Ford is in Ottawa Monday to make an announcement at the Ottawa Hospital’s General campus, where will be joined by Ottawa West-Nepean MPP Jeremy Roberts, Mayor Jim Watson, and Ottawa Hospital president and CEO Cameron Love.
Advertisement
Article content
The announcement is set for 1:15 p.m.
COVID-19 in Quebec
There have been 298 new cases in Quebec since the last provincial update on Friday, including 223 new cases over the weekend and 75 new cases confirmed Monday.
There have been 376,828 total cases in Quebec and 11,240 deaths. One new death was reported in Monday’s data.
Of those total cases, 364,774 people have recovered in Quebec and those cases are now considered resolved.
There are 67 patients in hospital in Quebec, which remains stable for the previous day’s figures, and there are 20 people in intensive care. That is one fewer than recent days.
Another 55,188 vaccine doses have been administered in the province, including 54,106 doses in the past 24 hours.
There have been 12,228,529 total vaccine doses administered in the province.
Repeated studies have linked higher whole grain intakes to protection against heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity.
nehopelon/iStockPhoto / Getty Images
Sign up for the weekly Health & Wellness newsletter for the latest news and advice.
If you don’t eat whole grain foods on a daily basis, consider rethinking your menu.
According to researchers from Tufts University in Boston, doing so can help you manage your waist size, blood sugar (glucose) and blood pressure as you age. And it doesn’t take a lot. The sweet spot, it seems, is three whole grain servings each day.
Repeated studies have linked higher whole grain intakes to protection against heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The latest findings, published earlier this month in the Journal of Nutrition, suggest that whole grains guard against chronic disease by reducing increases in risk factors that occur over time.
What are whole grains?
All grains – such as wheat, rye, barley, spelt, oats – start out as whole grain kernels made up of three layers: The outer bran layer, which contains nearly all the fibre; the inner germ layer, which is rich in nutrients, antioxidants and healthy fats; and the starchy endosperm.
Eating whole grains and 100-per-cent whole grain foods means that you’re getting all parts of the grain kernel.
When whole grains are processed into refined flour, the bran and germ layers are removed, resulting in a loss of most of the fibre, one-quarter of the grain’s protein and a substantial amount of at least 17 nutrients.
About the new study
The researchers compared how whole grain and refined grain intake affected changes in five risk factors for heart disease and stroke: waist circumference, fasting blood glucose, blood pressure, blood triglycerides (fats) and HDL (“good”) blood cholesterol.
They did so by assessing the diets and health of 3,121 middle-aged and older adults, every four years, over a span of 18 years. Participants were, on average, 55 years old at the start of data collection.
People who ate at least three daily servings of whole grains (versus one-half or less) experienced smaller increases in waist circumference. Over each four-year period, waist circumference increased one inch among those who ate few whole grains compared to one-half inch among those who ate more whole grains. The protective effect of whole grains on waist size was strongest in women.
Whole grain eaters also had smaller increases in fasting blood glucose and blood pressure over time.
With respect to refined grains (such as white bread, white pasta and white rice), the results revealed that people who ate four or more servings per day (versus fewer than two) experienced greater increases in waist circumference and smaller declines in blood triglycerides over the study period.
Benefits of whole grains
Eating fibre-rich whole grains can help you feel satiated and prevent overeating. The soluble fibre in whole grains can also help prevent spikes in blood sugar and insulin after eating. This may, in turn, favour fat-burning rather than fat storage.
Whole grains are also good sources of magnesium and potassium, minerals used to regulate blood sugar and blood pressure. And many whole grains contain prebiotic carbohydrates, which fuel beneficial gut microbes.
How to increase your whole-grain intake
One serving of whole grain is equivalent to one slice of 100-per-cent whole grain bread or one-half cup of cooked whole grain pasta or cooked whole grain (including oats, brown rice, farro, millet and hulled barley).
Read labels on packages of whole grain breads, crackers and breakfast cereals. If you don’t see “100-per-cent whole grain” listed, scan the ingredient list to make sure the product doesn’t contain refined grains (for example, wheat flour).
When buying rye bread look for ingredients that indicate whole grain such as whole rye flour, rye meal, rye kernels and rye flakes.
Don’t be fooled by claims of added fibre. Wonder White + Fibre bread, for example, isn’t a whole grain bread. Nor is Catelli’s Smart Pasta. Both are refined grain products with added oat hull fibre (and inulin in the pasta).
If you avoid wheat, rye and barley because they contain gluten, include gluten-free whole grains in your daily diet such as brown rice, quinoa, millet, teff, sorghum, buckwheat, amaranth and gluten-free oats.
Batch cook whole grains so that you have them ready to add to meals. Toss cooked quinoa, bulgur or farro into green salads; add barley, red rice or spelt berries to soups, stews and chilis; or make whole grain bowls with freekeh or brown rice.
Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based private practice dietitian, is director of food and nutrition at Medcan. Follow her on Twitter @LeslieBeckRD
you’ve reached a subscriber-only article.
Sign up now and access the full breadth of The Daily Star content in minutes.
Advertisement
Science5 mins ago
Hubble Space Telescope Sees Interacting Galaxy Triplet | Astronomy – Sci-News.com
Investment6 mins ago
Investment fund charges should be included in fee summaries: report – Investment Executive
Economy9 mins ago
Myanmar Economy Expected to Contract by 18 percent in FY2021: Report – World Bank Group
-
Science23 hours agoRumbling meteor lights up Norway, a bit possibly landing near Oslo – Euronews
-
Business9 hours ago
Quebecers can get a 3rd COVID vaccine ‘at their own risk’ to travel to a country that requires it – Global News
-
Health3 hours ago
COVID-19: Ontario reports 119 new cases, 7 in Ottawa; Premier Ford set to make announcement at Ottawa hospital – Ottawa Citizen
-
Health24 hours ago
Jordan to vaccinate children aged 12 years and older against COVID-19 – Egypt Independent
-
Health23 hours ago
COVID spread continues to slow in Waterloo Region – TheRecord.com
-
Health21 hours ago
Jordan to vaccinate children aged 12 years and older against COVID-19 – WNWN-FM
-
Sports17 hours ago
Canada at the Tokyo Olympics: Here’s who’s competing Sunday night, Monday morning – Global News
-
Economy24 hours ago
Tunisians protest as COVID surges, economy suffers | Coronavirus pandemic News – Al Jazeera English
