Health Check: Heart failure

 cheap abercrombie outlet ukHeart failure - where the heart struggles to pump enough blood around the body - affects millions of people every year.There is a wide range of symptoms - from struggling to perform everyday tasks like getting dressed or gardening, to breathlessness whilst simply sitting still. Some patients experience chest pain. Fitting a pacemaker can help to resynchronise the heart. But checking whether the pacemaker is working efficiently can be tricky. The ultrasound echo machine - which scans the chest - can only be used 6 weeks after the operation to implant the pacemaker, because of scarring and tenderness.At London's Heart Hospital consultant cardiologist Dr Martin Thomas is pioneering the use of a new device called a Finometer. It detects fluctuations in blood pressure and cardiac output per heartbeat via a probe attached to the patient's finger. This information can be used to tailor the pacemaker for each patient. One patient, Reuben Naidu, had his first heart attack when he was just 33. Now in his 50s, his new pacemaker is adjusted by using the Finometer. He's grateful that with Dr Thomas' team's help he can once again start to enjoy some of the pleasures of life - like good food and trips out.The Latvian capital Riga is rapidly becoming a popular destination for medical tourism. Flights are relatively cheap, as is the cost of living, which makes treatment more affordable.One clinic in Riga is offering a mini-break for people with alcohol dependence problems, aimed at helping them kick their addiction. Upon arrival at the clinic patients undergo a detoxification period, 'drying out' under sedation for three to four days. On the fourth day they receive a surgical implant, fitted under the lower abdomen, which slowly dissolves to release the drug Disulfiram.

abercrombie uk outletDisulfiram works by blocking the body's ability to break down alcohol. If the patient starts drinking alcohol again, they may experience intense discomfort and sickness within ten minutes.These implants are common in former Soviet countries, but are not readily available in many others, including the UK, where it is only offered as a private treatment. Four out of five people in industrialised countries will experience back pain at some stage in their lives.Smoking and being overweight increase the risk of developing back pain - as well as heavy lifting, frequent bending and twisting. Most people will get better within 6 weeks. But for a few people, relief doesn't come - they suffer from chronic pain. The garden at London's Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital might sound like an unusual place for therapy - but here the Horticultural Therapist Viv Williamson helps patients to learn to pace themselves, to avoid a flare-up of their pain. She uses a timer to remind the patients to change position and start a new task. Good posture and special lightweight tools also help to make gardening easier. Dr Jan Gawronski, who's a consultant in rehabilitation medicine understands how chronic pain can lead people into a downward spiral, so they struggle to cope with normal life. He hopes to restore their confidence and teach them that they can still enjoy life. They also learn about the Pain Gate theory - where distractions can help to stop pain "messages" getting through, hopefully reducing the need for high doses of painkilling drugs. New research has found that babies born early appear to have a heightened response to pain, when compared with healthy, full-term newborns. Could it have something to do with the invasive tests that they experience in hospital?

abercrombie and fitch ukDr Rebeccah Slater from University College London has been measuring babies' brain activity at the same time they experience a painful stimulus. She and her colleagues use a small cap fitted with electrodes to measure brain activity - with an electroencephalogram or EEG. To keep premature babies as stable as possible it's essential to monitor them with blood tests - and a heel-prick test is used to collect a small sample of their blood. The study - published in the journal NeuroImage - found a marked difference in the group of babies who were born early, who had been in hospital for at least 40 days. Celia Richardson's son Huck was born 13 weeks early, weighing just 2.5 pounds. He spent 15 weeks in hospital. His mother Celia was worried about him feeling pain, and calmed him by placing him skin-to-skin as often as she could. She hopes that the research will help doctors to give the best type of pain relief to premature babies. Lamb of God singer Randy Blythe remains in custody in Prague over the death of a fan, despite reports he had been released on bail.The 44-year-old was arrested and charged with manslaughter last week over an incident in 2010, when he allegedly pushed a fan from a stage.A spokesman for Prague 8 Court told the BBC that Mr Blythe had posted bail of four million Czech koruna (￡126,000).But the bail system in the Czech Republic is not as rapid as in the UK.Although bail has been posted, the decision to release the US singer is still subject to appeal and so it will take some time for the state prosecutor's office to give approval.There may also be certain conditions placed upon the singer's release, including forcing him to remain in the country if he is considered to be a flight risk.As a result, the singer, from Virginia in the US, is still being held at Prague's Pankrac prison.

 abercrombie and fitch outletThe court spokesman told he BBC he believed the decision on whether to release him would take "several days". Mr Blythe's arrest stems back to the death of a fan during a concert at Prague's club Abaton on 24 May 2010.According to reports, the 19-year-old had repeatedly tried to climb onto the stage before allegedly being pushed by Mr Blythe.He hit his head when he fell to the concrete floor and died 14 days later of his injuries.Randy Blythe, singer with US metal band Lamb of God has been arrested in Prague over the death of a fan at a gig in the Czech Republic two years ago.It is understood that Mr Blythe, 44, was detained at Prague airport on Wednesday, forcing the band to cancel a live appearance the following night.The 19-year-old fan died 14 days after allegedly being pushed from the stage by Mr Blythe at a gig in 2010.It has been reported that the singer has now been released from custody.Writing on the band's Mr Blythe's bandmate, guitarist Mark Morton said: "Finally HOME! 4/5 of us anyway... Thanx for all the support yall!"Lamb of God's record label are understood to be releasing a statement on Monday.Mr Blythe's arrest stems back to the death of a fan who attempted to climb on stage during a concert at Prague's club Abaton on 24 May 2010.According to reports, the fan had repeatedly tried to climb onto the stage before allegedly being pushed by Mr Blythe and hitting the concrete floor.He died 14 days later of his injuries, said Czech TV station TV Nova.A post-mortem examination reportedly found that he had not been drunk or under the influence of drugs.Lamb of God formed in Virginia in 1990 and, in 2007, received a Grammy nomination for their album Sacrament. Last month, they played at the Download festival at Donington Park in the UK. The ghost towns of China, Ireland and Spain - full of large empty house estates - may be a phenomenon that is on its way to Africa.

 abercrombie outlet Built for people who never move in, they leave those who did with a worthless property they cannot sell.Perched in an isolated spot some 30km (18 miles) outside Angola's capital, Luanda, Nova Cidade de Kilamba is a brand-new mixed residential development of 750 eight-storey apartment buildings, a dozen schools and more than 100 retail units.Designed to house up to half a million people when complete, Kilamba has been built by the state-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC) in under three years at a reported cost of $3.5bn (￡2.2bn).Spanning 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres), the development is the largest of several new "satellite cities" being constructed by Chinese firms around Angola, and it is believed to be one of the largest new-build projects on the continent.The jewel in Angola's post-war reconstruction crown, Kilamba is the star of glossy government promotional videos which show smiling families enjoying a new style of living away from the dust and confusion of central Luanda where millions live in sprawling slums.But the people in these films are only actors, and despite all the hype, nearly a year since the first batch of 2,800 apartments went on sale, only 220 have been sold.Eerily quiet When you visit Kilamba, you cannot help but wonder if even a third of those buyers have moved in yet.The place is eerily quiet, voices bouncing off all the fresh concrete and wide-open tarred roads.There are hardly any cars and even fewer people, just dozens of repetitive rows of multi-coloured apartment buildings, their shutters sealed and their balconies empty.Only a handful of the commercial units are occupied, mostly by utility companies, but there are no actual shops on site, and so - with the exception of a new hypermarket located at one entrance - there is nowhere to buy food.After driving around for nearly 15 minutes and seeing no-one apart from Chinese labourers, many of whom appear to live in containers next to the site, I came across a tiny pocket of life at a school.