This is a good app for android Smoking And Pregnancy 

(Scan the QR code to download Free Smoking And Pregnancy App)

To help mom to be with smoking problem. Understand how smoking can affect your health and unborn baby.
Good collected information text , video and help link to be share in the app.
-Smoking Cessation
-Maternal health
-Women and smoking
-May cause Breastfeeding Difficulties
-Smoking Causes Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema
-The effects of smoking on pre-natal development
-Quit Smoking Tips
-EFFECTS OF SMOKING
-Puzzle games to relax
"GET YOUR LIFE BACK!!!"

Smoking And Pregnancy

Tobacco smoking and pregnancy is related to many effects on health and reproduction, in addition to the general health effects of tobacco. A number of studies have shown that tobacco use is a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant smokers, and that it contributes to a number of other threats to the health of the fetus.
Ideally, women should not smoke before, during or after pregnancy. If this is not the case, however, the daily number of cigarettes can be reduced to minimize the risks for both the mother and child. This is particularly important for women in undeveloped countries where breastfeeding is essential for the child’s overall nutritional status.
 

Smoking Before Pregnancy:

It is important to examine these effects because smoking before, during and after pregnancy is not an unusual behaviour among the general population and can have detrimental health impacts, especially among both mother and child as a result. It is reported that roughly 20% of pregnant women smoke at some point during the three months.

Smoking during pregnancy:

In the United States today, approximately 10% of women smoke during pregnancy (March of Dimes. 2010. Smoking During Pregnancy.) Of women who smoked during the last 3 months of pregnancy, 52% reported smoking 5 or less cigarettes per day, 27% reported smoking 6 to 10 cigarettes per day, and 21% reported smoking 11 or more cigarettes per day.
In the United States, women whose pregnancies were unintended are 30% more likely to smoke during pregnancy than those whose pregnancies were intended.
 
Down load the free app to learn more.....
Cheers 

There has been a lot of talk recently about informed consent regarding surgical procedures. Most of this talk has been centered around the spate of cases involving unnecessary stent placement. While informed consent is a wonderful thing especially when the patient has time to digest what information they have been given, it can work against the patient as well when time is of the essence. Unfortunately when the patient is in an emergency situation such as having a heart attack, informed consent falls by the wayside.

When I had my heart attack back in 2009 everything seemed to happen so fast as soon as I entered the emergency room. As soon as I told the admitting nurse what was going on with me, IE chest discomfort and a shooting pain in my jaw, I was immediately taken to a room where my shirt was taken off and an EKG started. No less than 2 doctors were present and while one was administering the EKG another was taking blood. The EKG showed a minor anomaly but before they could re-administer the test the other doctor returned with the news that there were enzymes in my blood, I had had a heart attack.

The doctor informed me that an ambulance was waiting and I would be taken to the hospital down the street because they had a cardiac catheterization lab ( cath lab ) where I would receive the care that I needed. I was confused and very scared at this point and all the previous actions happened in the span of just 15 minutes.

When I reached the new hospital I was taken from the ambulance and rolled no more than 50 feet into the hospitals cath lab, which was already full of people waiting for me. As soon as I was in the lab IV’s were started and the operating doctor was standing over me. He quickly explained the catheterization process. An incision would be made on my inner thigh and a catheter with a small camera would be threaded through my femoral artery up to my heart, where they would begin the process of searching for the blockage.

While all the doctors in my case were very good at informing me of what was going on and what they were doing to help me there wasn’t time for them to explain every nuance of the procedures or give me an extensive history of the drug eluting stents they placed in my artery , not to mention the fact that I had never heard of a stent before and would have gone with the doctors decision anyway as he knows best, right?

Here’s the real problem when it comes to informed consent in an emergency, I was alone, scared and my mind was racing a million miles hour, even if there was time for the doctors to explain the pro’s and con’s of stenting and drug eluting stents I wouldn’t have digested that information in a rational way…I was having a heart attack! I knew nothing about the catheterization procedure or the stents used and as far as anyone knew time was ticking and I could have another heart attack at any second.

In cases such as this informed consent is almost meaningless but the after care is of paramount importance. After the emergency is over the doctor needs to sit with you and explain in detail what took place, what procedures were used, what devices were used or implanted and the significance of this is on your health and life.All your questions need to be answered in a setting where you are ready to digest all the information.

Because the recent problems concerning what some believe as unnecessary stenting in several states there is now a call for better informed consent before beginning these procedures. While I agree that informed consent is a good thing in most cases, in an emergency such as a heart attack there just isn’t time and the patient would unlikely understand what was being said even if they knew beforehand about stents and catheterizations.

I believe the majority of medical professionals have your best interest at heart and they also have the knowledge that we as laypeople don’t. If you are having a kidney stone removed then by all means informed consent is a blessing, when you are having a heart attack informed consent could kill you.

There are a number of myths about heart care and more specifically about heart attack that really need to be dispelled once and for all. We obviously want to stay clear of heart ailments so we carry with us a number of beliefs about things that we consider will either keep us safe from or make us more prone to a heart attack.  But many of these may be misguiding or downright wrong. So let us do away with the unnecessary fears and learn what will actually help our hearts.

Below are some common misconceptions about heart attacks:

Most of doctors these days in the heightened reality of nutrition and well being stress the fact that those who are overweight, eat out a lot, or do not exercise and lead a sedentary lifestyle are more susceptible to heart attacks. While they are not wrong, those who are thin, do regular exercise and eat a proper healthy diet are not safe from heart attacks either.  This is because cholesterol deposits which are the most common cause of clogging of arteries can be present in thin people too.  Physical appearance can many times mask an underlying health problem.

Moreover heart problems and heart attacks are also genetic. So if you have a history of heart issues in your family you are more likely to have a hereditary link. There are also factors like diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure that put you at a risk, no matter your weight. Gender and age also matter. So in spite of how healthy you look or feel, get a check up to ascertain your heart’s health!

While we are pretty used to watching men, in the typical hollywood movies, clutching their chests and falling down from what is apparently a heart attack, it usually isn’t so obvious in real life. The classic symptoms of a heart attack include a heavy feeling in the chest that may be painful. But the heaviness or pain may spread to the left arm, neck, or jaw. Another often ignored symptom is indigestion or heart burn, it may just be something you ate or it could be a heart attack.

Symptoms include:

Chest painPressure, heaviness or tightness in the chestPain or pressure in the neck or jawPain or pressure in one or both arms (especially the left)Shortness of breathSweatingNauseaPain or throbbing between the shoulder blades

Many people suffer from heart attacks but assume it is only heartburn or fatigue. When it comes to your heart, it’s important to consult a doctor rather than to self diagnose!

Most of us believe that if we were having a heart attack, it would involve having chest pain. But as mentioned above recognizing a heart attack isn’t that easy. The classic signs include chest pain but it needn’t really cause chest pain. According to CNN, 40 to 60 percent of all heart attacks are unrecognized by their victims. If you’re having some sort of unusual discomfort in your back, chest or upper arms, whether or not it is in the middle of your back or the middle of your chest, don’t wait until your heart stops, call an ambulance. Never drive yourself to the hospital if you think you are having a heart attack as you might kill yourself and others doing so.

Since women in movies do not clutch at their hearts and collapse to the floor it is assumed that women do not suffer from heart attacks. True, women are less prone to heart attacks before menopause due to the presence of estrogen, which protects them from heart attacks, but post menopause women are just as prone to heart attacks as men are.  In fact, probably moreso.

According to statistics: [courtesy Women's Heart Foundation]

Worldwide, 8.6 million women die from heart diseases each year (including heart attacks), accounting for a third of all deaths in women.Women are twice as likely as men to die within the first few weeks after suffering a heart attack.38% of women and 25% of men die within one year of a first recognized heart attack.

Women do not usually experience the commonly expected chest pain as men do when they suffer from heart attacks. 71% of women experience early warning signs of heart attack with sudden onset of extreme weakness that feels like the flu – often with no chest pain at all. Nearly two-thirds of the deaths from heart attacks in women occur among those who have no history of chest pain at all. Even if they do experience mild chest discomfort they simply do not perceive it to be a heart attack like men do. So they must get any abnormal pain checked out.

Here are some of the symptoms of female heart attack:

Shortness of breathWeaknessUnusual fatigueNauseaDizzinessAbdominal discomfort that may seem like indigestion

Medical professionals are challenged to respond to women’s milder symptoms, due to insufficient information and often times when women present in the emergency room with a heart attack they are initially misdiagnosed.

If you have a pain in your chest, you  must not sit around and wait to see if it goes away. If you’re having significant chest discomfort, shortness of breath, or any other symptoms that suggest a heart attack, call a 911 or any clinic’s emergency number. If you delay treatment when you are having a heart attack you could cause irreparable damage to your heart and it could also prove to be fatal.

It is possible to die of fright, or for that matter grief, anger, joy, or just about any other intense emotion. Though usually victims are older and likely to be in unstable health conditions, even younger people could be so affected. It is possible for a terrifying event to trigger a fatal heart attack.

Multiple scientific studies show that important mind and body connections exist for health in general and cardiovascular health in particular. Your levels of stress and wellbeing are extremely important for your cardiovascular health. Higher stress levels or negative emotions like anger or depression could burden your heart pumping due to release of certain hormones in our blood stream like adrenalin. You should therefore look for ways and means to reduce stress and negative emotions in your lives.

Though predominantly those who are older are more prone to having a heart attack, it is possible to start developing coronary artery disease as a teenager especially these days with fast food and junk food being a primary source of nutrition for many young people. People in their 20s and 30s have suffered from heart attacks. A heart-healthy lifestyle needs to begin in the childhood, so that kids don’t develop bad habits that they carry to adulthood. Parents should encourage their kids to exercise, limit time spent in front of the television or computer screen, and partake healthy, well-balanced meals.

Children, who are obese, have high blood pressure or a family history of heart disease are at a higher risk. Also, although rare, some children (usually due to genetic differences) can have unusually high cholesterol and thus an increased risk for heart disease.

Another problem today is the kind of lifestyle that we live. Especially the young working population today lives an unbalanced life with no exercise, a lot of junk food and high stress levels. Not to mention overexposure to technology and the sedentary lifestyle it promotes that is proving to harm our lives. For the young it is especially necessary to have regular checkups and a conscious effort to maintain a well balanced life.

An ECG (electrocardiogram) is a graphic which shows the electrical activity of the heart. The heart muscles create electrical waves by working. These waves can be measured by electrodes that are in contact with the human body.

Accurate ECG interpretation is dependent on recognition and analysis of each of the components of the tracing. In this article, the wave forms which contribute to the ECG are reviewed briefly.

When analyzing any ECG deflection, it is important to point out that the size and configuration of the deflection are affected by the direction from which the electrical events are viewed. Accordingly, points of observation along the electrical axis of a deflection will yield waves which are larger (in either a positive or negative direction) than deflections viewed from observation points more nearly perpendicular to the axis of the wave form.

Some leads are more useful than others for the diagnosis of atrial enlargement and ventricular hypertrophy. It also makes it essential that more than one lead be viewed in the analysis of cardiac arrhythmias, as wave form patterns that are obvious in one lead may be obscure, absent, or uninterpretable in other leads.

The ECG tracing is recorded usually at a rate of 25 mm/sec. Occasionally 50 mm/sec is used to facilitate interval measurement or wave form interpretation.

The P Wave (Atrial Depolarization)

The P wave originates normally from the sinus node, which lies at the junction of the superior vena cava and the right atrium, and proceeds from right to left across the atria. In the coronal plane, right atrial forces are directed anteriorly and left atrial forces both posteriorly and to the left. The P wave is a “composite” wave form, consisting of components originating from both the right and left atria.

The right atrial deflection precedes the left, as one would expect from the discussion above. The P wave, then, is the electrical summation of these two component parts.

The QRS Complex (Ventricular Depolarization)

The QRS complex reflects depolarization of the interventricular septum and both ventricles. Normally, the electrical activation of this portion of the heart proceeds from the AV node to the inferior and left side of the interventricular septum. The septal depolarization from left to right, in a superior direction, is the first (earliest) event in the QRS complex; it represents the Q wave seen in the left precordial (chest) leads of the normal ECG. The remainder of the QRS deflection reflects depolarization of the right and left ventricles.

The nomenclature of this wave form can be confusing:

A Q wave refers to an initial negative deflection.

An R wave is the first positive deflection.

An S wave is a negative deflection following a positive deflection.

The size, axis, and configuration of the QRS complex are useful for the diagnosis of ventricular hypertrophy.

The T Wave (Ventricular Repolarization)

Normally, the T wave axis is similar to the QRS axis because of two cellular electrical factors: cellular repolarization causes a deflection opposite in direction to cellular depolarization, but ventricular repolarization occurs in a sequence opposite to that of depolarization. Therefore, although the direction of repolarization is opposite to that of depolarization, the cellular (and, therefore, ECG) electrical forces are reversed, resulting in a T wave axis similar to that of the QRS complex.

The PR Interval

The interval in time between the onset of the P wave and the onset of the QRS complex is termed the PR interval.

The PR interval varies with both age and heart rate. The higher the heart rate, the shorter the PR interval; for a given rate, the younger the age, the shorter the PR interval. A short PR interval suggests aberrant atrial to ventricular conduction.

The QT Interval

The interval between the onset of the QRS complex and the end of the T wave is referred to as the QT interval.

The QT interval is affected by heart rate, shortening normally at more rapid rates and lengthening at slower rates. For this reason, the QT interval is best “corrected” for rate, by referencing it to a rate of 60 bpm. This is done by dividing the absolute QT interval by the square root of the interval in seconds between R waves (that is, the cycle length).

The QT interval is modulated by the autonomic nervous system, and affected by a variety of electrolyte, mineral, and acid-base disorders.

Heart disease is the #1 cause of death in developed countries, leading to heart attacks and strokes. Even if most of us know that the main factor influencing the development of heart disease is the presence of a high level of fats in our blood, chronic inflammation has proven itself to go hand-in-hand with heart disease and it is a condition that raises many concerns among both doctors and patients.

A healthy person has a  defense mechanism called the immune system, which triggers a series of chemical reactions, in order to neutralize and eventually destroy pathogenic agents, which are foreign elements to the body. If, for a number of reasons, the inflammatory process becomes permanent, these actions of our immune system, which are strong enough to kill pathogenic agents, can start damaging the organs, leading to multiple conditions.

In the case of the cardiovascular system, the inflammatory process is usually located in the blood vessels. Since they suffer constant physical aggression due to high blood
pressure and other factors, the immune response is meant to repair the arterial wall and prevent it from rupturing. However, if the artery is constantly inflamed, there is a high risk of thrombus formation. These are blood clots that are formed as a result of blood coagulation as an immune reaction.

If the clots are dislodged, they start traveling through our cardiovascular system, causing a possible blockage of major blood vessels, such as the coronary arteries, which deliver blood to the heart muscle. In this case, the heart cannot receive the proper amount of oxygen and nutrients and, therefore, a heart attack can occur, with devastating effects on the patient’s health. At the same time, if the thrombus reaches a blood vessel in the brain, the result can be a stroke, leading to impaired movement, speaking deficiencies or even death of the patient.

Acute inflammation is obvious through a series of symptoms, such as redness and swelling around the injury. Chronic inflammatory condition is invisible and it has no symptoms except for pain and discomfort, but even this appears only in some cases. Blood tests are needed in order to diagnose this problem correctly. The most relevant blood test for determining a chronic inflammatory condition is the tese for the C-reactive protein, abbreviated CRP in the medical field. This protein is produced by the liver and its levels dramatically rise when there is an inflammatory response somewhere in your arteries. If your C-reactive protein test shows high levels of this protein, you should find ways to lower the amount of inflammation in your body in order to reduce the risk of heart disease.

If you want to know what your doctor could prescribe, you should be aware of the fact that most of the drugs used in the treatment of such conditions are highly aggressive, possibly leading to the damage of your stomach, intestine and liver. COX-inhibitors are a relevant example of drugs which are highly contested by many physicians for their strong adverse effects. However, there are some things that you can do in order to prevent or even reduce already installed conditions.

First of all, exercise, weight loss and diet are very important for improving your overall health. Giving up excess fat and sugar and getting rid of a few pounds will reduce your blood pressure and relieve some stress on your arteries, therefore reducing the level of inflammation in your blood vessels and possibly reducing your risk of heat disease.

Blair, the 6-foot-8, 575-pound representative for the heart attack Grill, died at the age of 29 from pneumonia.

A former Arizona State high school wrestling champion and College football player, Blair was the star of many heart attack Grill commercials. make fun at his weight.

The heart attack Grill, based in Phoenix, Arizona, serving burgers, such as four-Marin "quadruple bypass Burger and French fries," snails in lard called "flatliner Fries."

Blair may have contracted pneumonia after a Bout of flu. While not part of any official cause of death,--research has linked obesity to poor immune system function. the reduction of the Agency's ability to fight the infections.

Founder Jon Basso has expressed remorse and sorrow during Blair's passing, to call a "creative genius", which was set to star in "the heart attack Grill: the music," another commercial for the restaurant.

Other heart attack Grill menu options include shake butterfat-touted as "the world's content"-candy, soda, beer, cigarettes and the "smaller" Single, double, and triple bypass hamburgers.