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UK is 'ticking heart disease timebomb'
Britain is a heart disease time bomb waiting to go off, researchers have
told a medical conference.
The comments followed the release of a survey of patients with high blood
pressure in Sheffield.
Of 60 people randomly selected 43% were found to be at high risk, the
British Pharmaceutical Conference in Harrogate was told.
Francois Joubert, from Moss Pharmacy, which conducted the research, said:
"As this research shows, most people have no idea that they are at risk of
coronary heart disease and are unlikely to volunteer to be tested.
"Furthermore, they have no idea what the risk factors of heart disease are.
The fact that so many people are living in ignorance means that Britain may
be unwittingly sitting on a heart disease time bomb."
This year's conference, organised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain, was examining the development and delivery of breakthroughs
in treatment and diagnosis by pharmacists.
Delegates also heard that a variety of sea creatures could offer a new
source of drugs for treating cancer.
Pharmacists claimed that marine organisms, including sea urchins, clams,
algae, snails and sea cucumbers, found off the Venezuelan coast contained
properties which inhibited the growth of human cancer cells.
Ysabel Campos-Santaella, from Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela, said: "This
might provide lead molecules for the development of synthetic drugs with
anti-cancer properties and could also identify new mechanisms of action in
cancer chemotherapy."
The conference was also told that plants used by an ethnic group in Ghana
had wound-healing properties.
Researchers from King's College London and Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology, Ghana, investigated the properties of two plants
used by traditional Ashanti healers.
They claimed that the stembark of Spathodea campanulata (African tulip tree)
and the shoot of Secamone afzelii helped protect against infection and
tissue damage when applied to wounds as a paste.
Story filed: 12:39 Monday 15th September 2003
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_819484.html
Britain is a heart disease time bomb waiting to go off, researchers have
told a medical conference.
The comments followed the release of a survey of patients with high blood
pressure in Sheffield.
Of 60 people randomly selected 43% were found to be at high risk, the
British Pharmaceutical Conference in Harrogate was told.
Francois Joubert, from Moss Pharmacy, which conducted the research, said:
"As this research shows, most people have no idea that they are at risk of
coronary heart disease and are unlikely to volunteer to be tested.
"Furthermore, they have no idea what the risk factors of heart disease are.
The fact that so many people are living in ignorance means that Britain may
be unwittingly sitting on a heart disease time bomb."
This year's conference, organised by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of
Great Britain, was examining the development and delivery of breakthroughs
in treatment and diagnosis by pharmacists.
Delegates also heard that a variety of sea creatures could offer a new
source of drugs for treating cancer.
Pharmacists claimed that marine organisms, including sea urchins, clams,
algae, snails and sea cucumbers, found off the Venezuelan coast contained
properties which inhibited the growth of human cancer cells.
Ysabel Campos-Santaella, from Universidad de Oriente, Venezuela, said: "This
might provide lead molecules for the development of synthetic drugs with
anti-cancer properties and could also identify new mechanisms of action in
cancer chemotherapy."
The conference was also told that plants used by an ethnic group in Ghana
had wound-healing properties.
Researchers from King's College London and Kwame Nkrumah University of
Science and Technology, Ghana, investigated the properties of two plants
used by traditional Ashanti healers.
They claimed that the stembark of Spathodea campanulata (African tulip tree)
and the shoot of Secamone afzelii helped protect against infection and
tissue damage when applied to wounds as a paste.
Story filed: 12:39 Monday 15th September 2003
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_819484.html