My Nicaragua diary is now on sale, but only as an e-book. A good English friend got me to consider the idea of writing a diary and although it is above suspicion of winning the Nobel price for literature, I really enjoyed doing it. Sue Brewer helped me in translating the diary, but to be fair to her, I did not always follow her suggestions.
Health
Health concerns
Nanny Versus Nano
by Wolfgang K Piller MD •
Medicine has advanced since and quietly keeps advancing. And maybe, we will witness the moment when not the nanny but the nano makes us help the medicine go down.
An exciting technology is emerging, offering possibilities as diverse as radiation does and medicine has discovered it, too. Nanotechnology works in dimensions which are hardly imaginable for us – matter no bigger than the size of 400 hydrogen atoms (the smallest atom).
Residential Home & Care Questionaire
by Vivienne Hughes •
Many expats along the coast feel obliged to return to their own countries when they can no longer live independently, as they often think there are no proper services in place for them here and they are left with little option other than leaving behind what has now become their home.
Horrible Helicobacter
by Wolfgang K Piller MD •
With the discovery of antibiotics we seem to have declared war on bugs and by eradicating them shouldn’t we have solved the problem?
Eco Lifesyle’s New Shop
by Louise Powell •
This natural-food stall in the Almuñécar municipal market has become very, very popular, so they have expanded.
Beauty Doesn’t Have to Rhyme
by David Darby •
Neil Hilborn recites a poem about his one true love. It’s heartbreaking but beautiful.
Philippines… Forgotten People, Forgotten Illnesses.
by Wolfgang K Piller MD •
Philippines… forgotten people, forgotten illnesses. Support “German Doctors”
High Blood Pressure
by Axel E. Thieke G.P. •
Many things have changed once one is 85 years old (I guess). As a matter of fact there seem to be more things changed than unchanged – even on a behavioral and personal level as behavioral psychologists tell us.
The same is true for physical conditions such as Blood Pressure (BP). In a recent study systolic hypertension (that’s the first figure) was not associated with higher mortality in over 85-year-olds. This has been checked out by the incredulous Dutch and more than 500 85-year-old residents in the Netherlands were followed up until the age of 90.
Like a Thriller
by Wolfgang K Piller MD •
Like a thriller… that is the study of the “European Society of Hypertension recommendations for conventional, ambulatory and home blood pressure measurement.” Over 28 densely packed pages you get comprehensive information about the pros, cons, pitfalls and considerations of when, how to take and how to interpret blood pressure (BP). And the DIY chartrooms are like a horror story concerning health (here blood pressure) issues; they truly are the stronghold of incompetence and a malicious endangerment of the help seeker´s health.
Mother Nature Is Good!
by Axel E. Thieke G.P. •
Everybody is afraid of Cholesterol. This fear is fuelled by recommendations of professional, medical associations to consume less than 300mg daily. Because chicken eggs are high in cholesterol, about 200mg each, patients with high cholesterol are commonly advised to avoid eating them. However, the association between egg consumption and cardiovascular disease is unclear. A meta-analysis of 17 good quality prospective studies with up to 20 years of duration assessed this association.