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00:00:34the heart muscle 60% of
00:00:56We continue with more information through First Glance.
00:01:00According to experts, maintaining
00:01:03exercise at least three times a week would help
00:01:07a person have excellent health, not
00:01:10only physical health, but also mental health. Today in
00:01:14First Glance we talk about your health, so take
00:01:16care of it.
00:01:24A study published in Biology magazine revealed that
00:01:28three hours a week of weight training
00:01:31serves as the best anti-aging for the
00:01:34body because it acts
00:01:36the Mini Mega and with the Mega directly as a brake on cell aging.
00:01:39And of the ones who are eligible for coronary bypass 500 people were followed and blood markers called
00:01:42telomeres were studied, and these telomeres, telomeres as
00:01:46such, are like a cap that is on the chromosome of
00:01:49DNA, and that cap is like, let's
00:01:53imagine, the shoelaces that have a plastic
00:01:57cap, and that cap can wear out, and it wears out
00:02:00with age, that's the telomere, and that's an indicator of
00:02:04cell aging. It was noted that through weight
00:02:07lifting, consistently
00:02:11it can be stopped and the function of the
00:02:14telomere can be restored, therefore you are protecting the
00:02:18DNA and the chromosome and that is like
00:02:22a rejuvenation of
00:02:25the cells. The researchers observed that performing exercises with
00:02:28weights or bands allowed the telomeres to lengthen their
00:02:32life, reducing that biological aging,
00:02:35because a decrease in telomeres means
00:02:38disease, a decrease in telomeres is also
00:02:42a promoter of chronic diseases,
00:02:46or unfortunately end of therefore it is extremely important the vision now that
00:02:48we have of exercise, how exercise affects the
00:02:52cells and protects them and creates
00:02:55like a shield, 8 years ago and that has a scientific
00:02:58basis, they start and they talk about
00:03:0210 minutes, that with 10 minutes you already start to
00:03:05have significant changes, it can be
00:03:08increased up to 180 minutes,
00:03:11so that resistance and strength activity protects the cells, the
00:03:15muscle mass, helps the metabolism burn fat
00:03:18for cardiovascular health.
00:03:21In our viral
00:03:28section, we show these images in which a dolphin and its
00:03:31unfortunately deceased calf are seen
00:03:35on its back, traveling several kilometers.
00:03:38A scene recorded off the
00:03:41coast of Australia once again brought into focus the study of marine
00:03:44animals' grief. A video there, an organization dedicated
00:03:48to conservation showed a mother dolphin
00:03:51carrying the body of her dead calf while swimming alongside
00:03:55a group there in southern Perth, according to the publication. The
00:03:58entity dedicated to the research and conservation of whales and
00:04:02dolphins, identified the mother as Frakley, an
00:04:05individual they had been following for some time and who, according
00:04:08to their observations, had previously lost three
00:04:12other calves. The organization explained that the birth of a new
00:04:15specimen during the southern hemisphere winter implied
00:04:19an additional difficulty for its
00:04:22survival. In a social media post, the group
00:04:25stated that they still maintained expectations that this dolphin
00:04:29would be able to raise its calf. They then suggested
00:04:32that the animal may have died from pneumonia.
00:04:36Specialists consulted indicated that this type of behavior has been
00:04:39documented in different species of dolphins. There,
00:04:42a neuroscientist indicated a sanctuary for
00:04:46whales that this scene constitutes a mother grieving
00:04:50for her child. In her opinion, one of the most
00:04:53relevant aspects of the video lies in the presence of the rest of the herd
00:04:57that remains with the female during the transfer of the
00:05:00body. In other news, see these sad
00:05:04images of some fishermen who were
00:05:08kayaking and realized that there was a dog
00:05:11apparently tied to the side of a cliff. This apparently happened
00:05:15in Argentina.
00:05:17A group of fishermen sailing in a boat on the Paraná
00:05:21River found a dog tied with a rope on a
00:05:24cliff in what one of the men described as clear
00:05:27animal abuse. The rescue was
00:05:30recorded on video and shared by the YouTube channel, where
00:05:33it quickly garnered praise in the comments section. The
00:05:37images show the moment when the boat's crew
00:05:41stopped after spotting the animal immobilized on the shore. One of
00:05:44the men disembarked, cut the rope that kept the dog tied,
00:05:48and took him onto the boat. He wagged his tail, according to what he said. Once
00:05:52on board, the dog received caresses and, given the possibility that he had not
00:05:56eaten for a long time, they offered him half
00:06:00a milanesa. "It seems to me that they abandoned him," said one of the men in the
00:06:02video, observing the isolated place where the dog was.
00:06:06The channel creator went further and said: "I suspect they threw him there,
00:06:10not abandoned him. If anyone knows
00:06:12this dog and knows who owned him, they know he's not good,
00:06:16he's not a good person." The rescuers named him
00:06:20Pellegrini and he then continued his journey through
00:06:23part of the province of Buenos Aires.
00:06:26At this time, our recommended
00:06:32item of the day arrives, and it comes from Loto, the Aruba
00:06:36Lottery. The jackpot keeps growing.
00:06:38Loto, the Aruba Lottery, arrives with its tremendous jackpot for
00:06:42tomorrow, Tuesday, August 11,
00:07:13was recorded as it climbed onto a fishing
00:07:17vessel there, in the cabin as if
00:07:19nothing.
00:07:21A video recorded in the Mar del Plata area showed a sea
00:07:25lion entering a resting cabin of a fishing vessel, a scene that
00:07:29went viral in recent hours due to the animal's behavior inside the
00:07:33vessel. Far from being agitated by the presence of the
00:07:36crew, the mammal settled on a bunk and
00:07:40remained lying down in a relaxed posture. The sequence there
00:07:43began circulating on social media after the sailors themselves shared the
00:07:47images of the episode. The recording shows the animal
00:07:51inside the ship's resting area, resting on one of the
00:07:54crew's beds.
00:07:57This concludes our broadcast for today, from all our team that makes
00:08:01Primera Plana possible, we want to thank you for your loyal viewership,
00:08:05remember to stay connected to our social media, Facebook
00:08:08of Primera Plana also of TeleAruba to know everything
00:08:12unfortunate earthquake and the
00:08:16aftershocks that have occurred in Colombia. Continue with the good
00:08:19programming and see you tomorrow.
00:10:07welcome to another episode of Caribbean Medical
00:10:09TV. Today we're getting to the very core of your
00:10:13physical health, the very essence that guides you through
00:10:16life, the heart. While the
00:10:19Caribbean is unique in many ways, we unite with the
00:10:22rest of the world in the rise of one of the most common chronic health
00:10:26conditions, heart disease. Many of our
00:10:29Caribbean people, some unknowingly, are living with
00:10:32heart disease or know someone with this ailment.
00:10:36Unsurprisingly, this condition can influence our
00:10:39peace, our professions, our families, in short, our
00:10:43entire lives. Heart have three arteries
00:10:47and two arteries in the left side, that is what you call left main
00:10:50coronary artery. It divides into two. One is left
00:10:54anterior descending artery which supplies the blood supplies to
00:10:59the heart muscle and then the left circumflex
00:11:03artery which supplies to the 20% of the left side of the
00:11:06artery. And then right side, right coronary artery, we call it
00:11:10as it supplies to the 20% of the heart muscle. So
00:11:14in total, three arteries supply 100% of the
00:11:17heart muscle. So the main one is LAD, that is left anterior descending
00:11:21artery, left circumflex, right coronary artery supplies to 20%.
00:11:25The heart is the main one, pump the blood to different parts of the body,
00:11:29so the artery is supposed to be healthy and nice. The
00:11:33causes of heart disease are no mystery.
00:11:36Unfortunately, the risk factors are very common in our
00:11:39communities. There has been a decline in
00:11:42mortality, but that decline plateaued around
00:11:462019-2020 and in fact has started to increase
00:11:50again. Some of that was due to the excess mortality due
00:11:53to the COVID pandemic. But on top of that, there's been the
00:11:57epidemic of obesity and diabetes that
00:12:01is an added risk factor, thus cardiovascular disease has
00:12:04trended up over the last few years and cardiovascular disease
00:12:08mortality. So we still have a lot of work to do here in the
00:12:11Caribbean and around the world. Heart
00:12:14failure and cardiovascular disease are related.
00:12:17This is like a journey in the illness of the
00:12:21patient. The patient is starting point to have
00:12:25something that we call risk factors. For
00:12:28example, elevated high blood pressure that we call
00:12:32hypertension or high cholesterol or
00:12:35diabetes that leads to changes
00:12:39in the heart and the arteries. A concept
00:12:42for example, that our artery is getting older,
00:12:45stiff and good
00:12:48atherosclerosis.
00:12:50Finally, complications arise, for
00:12:53example, cerebrovascular disease,
00:12:56stroke, heart failure
00:13:00or kidney problems. If they are
00:13:03not addressed in the right manner, the patient can lead
00:13:07to very limited quality of life
00:13:11life. Every person is an
00:13:15individual, but definitely
00:13:18having risk factors, high blood
00:13:21pressure, high cholesterol, smoking
00:13:24and diabetes are the person that can lead to heart
00:13:28failure. If heart failure is not addressed or
00:13:32treated, the person, 50% of the
00:13:35persons die in the
00:13:38five years after the diagnosis
00:13:41because there are sometimes no warning symptoms. Many people are
00:13:45unaware they are at risk for heart problems. The key to
00:13:49prevention is being prepared. We had a 25
00:13:52year old young man recently who
00:13:55had no clue that he had anything. And when I
00:13:58listened, I heard the murmur of mitral stenosis, meaning that his mitral valve,
00:14:02the one on the left side between the top and bottom wasn't opening. And when we
00:14:05did the echo, it showed that he had severe stenosis, and he's 25
00:14:09and never had a clue that he had this disease. So we can go on forever with these
00:14:13stories, but what we're saying is if you identify, if you keep doing
00:14:16well-person checks, something will tip somebody off that something is
00:14:20wrong.
00:14:23Children have to be seen by a pediatrician or a GP
00:14:27or somebody who is listening for
00:14:29abnormalities, not just you getting vaccines and done, but
00:14:33listening for a murmur.
00:14:35Alert to the fact that a rash could mean be more than a rash,
00:14:39right? Just thinking of the diagnostic, because we say what you don't think of you will miss
00:14:42in terms of diagnosing. So if you
00:14:45do that, then there's a possibility.
00:14:48Unfortunately, I am seeing the
00:14:51incidence going up and I'm seeing it in younger patients. For
00:14:55example, I trained in the University of Calgary in Canada
00:14:59and in my training when I did these procedures, I did it in
00:15:03patients who were 60s, 70s. But in
00:15:06Guyana, I am doing procedures or stents on
00:15:10patients as young as 30s and in their 40s.
00:15:13And we did a study in between 2022 to
00:15:162023 where we looked at about 230
00:15:20patients who presented with this type of heart attack. We found that the
00:15:24average age was in the 50s. We found that they were
00:15:27predominantly male patients and a significant
00:15:31portion, almost 70%, were South Asians or East
00:15:34Indians. A lot of patients had diabetes,
00:15:37hypertension, and 80% of the patients
00:15:40presented late and did not receive the therapy within the 12
00:15:44hour period. The good news is that detection and
00:15:47treatment have been increasing in the Caribbean. The heart
00:15:51patient of today has more options than the heart patient of
00:15:55decades ago. I think as a whole, that the Caribbean is actually
00:15:59quite good at healthcare. So certain territories may be better
00:16:02at certain things, but we haven't had to send patients away for a
00:16:06long time actually. In terms of cardiovascular care
00:16:08specifically, we probably only sent pediatric
00:16:12cases for surgery. A lot of the pediatric cases are done by something called
00:16:16interventional procedures as well, and those patients do not have to go away.
00:16:19Adult cardiology patients do not go away for anything. So
00:16:22angioplasty, stents, surgical procedures
00:16:25including valve replacement and valve procedures. And this is within the Caribbean as a
00:16:29whole. And Trinidad specifically,
00:16:31quite in a good way, has the highest per capita of
00:16:35cardiologists in the Caribbean. So we have essentially all the
00:16:38cardiology specialties locally. A lot of people in their
00:16:4230s and their 40s and their 50s don't think of healthcare as being part of a proactive
00:16:45thing. So waiting for something to happen, then go to the doctor. So we see
00:16:49both in men and women that, you know, the suddenness of cardiovascular
00:16:53disease, and it's one of those weird things that you have to look for. You can't just say, "I'm
00:16:57waiting for a symptom then to do a test." So it does mean going to your doctor, having a frank
00:17:01discussion. Again, it makes a difference what we're looking for. So if
00:17:05somebody has heart disease in the family, we might look a certain way. If it's a general checkup, it might
00:17:09be just a different way of testing. But we have the
00:17:11technology. This is not that is unique to some parts of the world.
00:17:15We have different ways of evaluation. We have CT scans, MRI machines, echo
00:17:19machines. So technology is available in the Caribbean. It is not unique to
00:17:23some other part of the world. We can do it. People just need to access
00:17:26it and again have that discussion with the healthcare provider wherever you are
00:17:30and see what is the best tool for you to come up with that information. In the
00:17:34Caribbean, we do have different levels of
00:17:37availability and access in different territories, right? So part of what
00:17:41the Caribbean Cardiac Society does is brings
00:17:44together the um that
00:17:47network, kind of strengthens that network, establish that network.
00:17:50There's some areas that they
00:17:54may not require setting up of a special area each
00:17:58country. So by meeting together, the team might
00:18:01say, "Listen, we are setting up this center for maybe PET
00:18:05scanning and we would encourage from all the other
00:18:08islands that you could come here." Another center might decide, "Well, look, we
00:18:12are going to do a lot of coronary intervention, and
00:18:15you difficult cases, you could bring them here." So you could have centers
00:18:19of excellence in different fields around the
00:18:22Caribbean. Relatively recently in St. Lucia, St. Lucia established this cardiac
00:18:26catheterization laboratory. And what we did is that we had, you know,
00:18:30persons coming from Martinique, persons coming from Jamaica, and it would have been
00:18:33cardiologists, cardiovascular nurses, cardiovascular technicians,
00:18:37traveling to help establish that cardiac catheterization
00:18:41center in St. Lucia. And that's what we like to do. We like
00:18:44to build capacity in the different regions. And yes, there is human resource capacity.
00:18:48We know that the equipment and the availability of disposables and so on are also very
00:18:51important. In the last years, we have faced the
00:18:55appearance of diverse drugs for treating common
00:18:59diseases, diabetes, hypertension, obesity.
00:19:02When we take a look at those patients, patients with
00:19:05obesity, hypertension, diabetes usually suffers not only from that
00:19:09condition but also affects heart,
00:19:11kidneys, liver and other organs. And that's
00:19:15the point when we, the different specialists, get together to
00:19:18treat the same patients. And in the last year, all of these
00:19:22medications usually work
00:19:25not in only one organ. Let me give
00:19:29you an example: we have some molecules that can
00:19:32protect the heart, at the same time that they protect the kidney,
00:19:36and at the same time that they protect the liver. So it is important
00:19:40to have the different specialist perspective
00:19:43of using this medication and the management of this problem.
00:19:47Beyond those traditional drugs that
00:19:50have been the cornerstone, there are new technologies that
00:19:54have to do with genetically
00:19:57manufactured or genetic alterations
00:20:00or new medicines that are based on gene
00:20:04technology. And the fact that the human genome
00:20:08has been identified and we can now have the technology to know
00:20:11the genes responsible. Scientists are now making
00:20:15gene therapies, antibodies
00:20:18that can target certain molecules in a body
00:20:22to bring down the cholesterol. It's quite
00:20:25amazing, and it resembles in many ways some of the
00:20:28advanced drug technologies that are used in cancer therapy, where you
00:20:32can target the focus. This is now being applied
00:20:35in cardiology. What
00:20:39presented was the work that we are
00:20:42doing in managing heart attacks, and there's one particular heart
00:20:44attack called STEMI, ST
00:20:48elevation myocardial infarction. What happens in in that
00:20:51case is that the artery becomes blocked
00:20:54100%. So when that happens,
00:20:58patients will obviously get significant chest pains. Is that
00:21:01you have to open that artery as soon as
00:21:05possible, and the earlier you open that artery, the better the
00:21:09outcomes. So if you open that artery within the
00:21:12hours, you have a better chance, but there are certain
00:21:16therapies that you can give that would have to be given within
00:21:2012 hours. In addition to that, the gold standard is actually taking the
00:21:24patient to the cath lab and trying to open that artery with
00:21:27a balloon that is called PCI. So
00:21:31my presentation was based on the work
00:21:34we're doing in trying to have this therapy available in
00:21:38all the 10 regions of Guyana. My area
00:21:41of focus is minimal invasive heart procedures, really percutaneous heart
00:21:45procedures, meaning doing heart valves or closing holes in the heart by just
00:21:49going through either an artery or the vein in the leg. These
00:21:53procedures are much safer than open-heart surgery. They require
00:21:56lower hospital time, lower hospital stay. They don't
00:22:00require ICU admission. So they of course save money and they
00:22:04save lives. My area of expertise is coronaries and
00:22:07blocked coronary arteries. So this is without question the most cutting-edge
00:22:11thing you can do for coronaries right now. The other thing that's
00:22:14been around and is emerging and evolving is stenting. We still
00:22:18stent more than half the patients who are eligible for
00:22:21stents. Those that are not eligible for stents are eligible for
00:22:25coronary bypass surgery.
00:22:29surgery right now, I'm doing about 99% of them are being done minimally
00:22:32invasive. So that's kind of the good news. The
00:22:36advances that we make are not in the technology, but in the amount of
00:22:39patients we can apply that technology. When I first started doing
00:22:42minimally invasive coronary bypass surgery, I did about 10% of my patients
00:22:46that way. Now, the equipment and the techniques and the
00:22:50and the devices have gotten so good that I can apply that
00:22:53technology to almost 100% of my
00:22:55patients. We're now on the cusp of
00:22:58learning how AI is
00:23:01interacting with the tools that we have been
00:23:04using. So now increasingly we're using
00:23:08AI to fine
00:23:11tune both the treatments that we're giving
00:23:14and also to help us with the complex decision making.
00:23:18We can now also ask AI, "AI, what do you think?"
00:23:22And and AI will promote, "Well, that's
00:23:25what it will suggest," and will suggest the strategy. Now, it's not that
00:23:29he's committed to doing that, but it's like having an experienced
00:23:33partner that can give you some advice, and you can think about
00:23:36it. And so that that's fantastic, especially
00:23:39for areas like in most Caribbean islands
00:23:43where you have few specialists or few
00:23:47super specialists who don't have an even your
00:23:50colleague always to bounce ideas off of. Now you can talk
00:23:54to AI and collaborate and
00:23:57disagree, and and at the end of the
00:24:00day, the doctor remains the one who makes the decision, but he
00:24:03always feels as if he's surrounded by colleagues who can
00:24:07give him another opinion. As with many chronic
00:24:10non-communicable diseases, healthy changes in lifestyle can
00:24:14go a long way toward keeping your heart healthy. It is all
00:24:18about prevention and the risk factor. We've gotten very good at treating
00:24:21heart attacks, at treating heart failure, at treating the
00:24:25end stages of the disease, but we're
00:24:28still behind in terms of preventing disease. The number
00:24:31one risk factor in the Caribbean and around the world remains
00:24:35and will remain up to the year 2050 is
00:24:38hypertension. The problem with hypertension is that people
00:24:41either don't get it measured, don't know they have it. Even if they have it,
00:24:45they feel okay. They don't feel it. And so they don't get it
00:24:49treated. So the number one
00:24:52modifiable risk factor right now. We're doing pretty well with
00:24:55cholesterol. People know their cholesterol. The statin
00:24:59drugs are ubiquitous to use and almost free of side
00:25:02effects. And so a lot more people are getting their cholesterol
00:25:06lowered. But as I mentioned, there's this rise in obesity and
00:25:10diabetes as the third risk factor by 2050. So we have
00:25:12to get our handle on that. And uh, so
00:25:16hypertension, obesity, diabetes are the areas that
00:25:19really need a lot to work over the next 20 years. The only way you
00:25:23know or you have information as to
00:25:26what your blood pressure is is if you are, if you are checking it. So you
00:25:29must know your numbers. You must check your blood pressure, okay?
00:25:33And for those who have got high blood pressure, then whatever is between
00:25:37yourself and your physician, your doctor, whatever
00:25:40decision has been made, then you want to adhere to those principles,
00:25:44because there are very good treatment
00:25:47methods that would control the blood pressure and therefore
00:25:50remove that risk or decrease that risk of
00:25:54complications such as aortic disease, aortic aneurysms,
00:25:57aortic dissection. Sometimes you see it in young pregnant women as well
00:26:01during pregnancy. The person because, you know, the blood pressure changes
00:26:04during pregnancy, sometimes you have women experiencing complications during
00:26:08their pregnancy where they've got high blood pressure, high blood pressure
00:26:12sometimes can occur in pregnancy, and if it's not well
00:26:15managed, you can also develop aortic dissections and complications
00:26:19of aortic rupture. Exercise is
00:26:21really the best medicine, it's better than any medication that I can
00:26:25prescribe, or any cardiologist can
00:26:27prescribe. Getting just simple walking, 7 or
00:26:318,000 steps a day should be the goal. There are very good
00:26:35studies now showing that's the level of exercise that reduces your
00:26:38cardiovascular risk. So, if you can get a smartwatch or
00:26:41smartphone or some Fit Bit, some way to count the number of
00:26:45steps you're doing a day and get really aim for that 7 or 8,000
00:26:49steps a day, that can control your weight, control your blood
00:26:52pressure, improve your overall cardiovascular risk profile.
00:26:56It's shown to reduce cancer rates as well. So,
00:26:59exercise is really the best medicine we have. One other
00:27:03aspect that's rising is the need to get good
00:27:06sleep. The condition of obstructive sleep apnea
00:27:10is there on the horizon and rising, and we realize a great
00:27:13contributor. So that's the other
00:27:17aspect that I think we need to clearly understand, that's creeping in
00:27:20as one of the things we need to pay attention to, not only diet and
00:27:24exercise, but good restorative
00:27:27sleep.
00:27:33There are two systems in the body, the sympathetic
00:27:36nervous system that is related to stress, and the
00:27:40parasympathetic nervous system that is related to
00:27:43relaxation. And every time we take a deep breath
00:27:47in and out, we're actually
00:27:49activating the vagus nerve, which
00:27:53in turn would cause relaxation
00:27:57after a small number of breaths. So,
00:28:00that this is why..." things like
00:28:03meditation and yoga are helpful because
00:28:06they actually help the physiology of the
00:28:09body. We are now realizing
00:28:13that what is really good are the good fats. Not
00:28:17all fats are good, the saturated fats for
00:28:20instance, but if you were to eat diets that
00:28:23are high in like avocado, which was one time thought
00:28:27to be something bad, olive oil, which is one of the best
00:28:31oils, and the good fats that come from
00:28:34nuts. In places like Cuba
00:28:38and a lot of the other places, Puerto Rico, because they eat so much
00:28:41rice and peas, they have found that there is less
00:28:45in the way of atherosclerosis.
00:28:48That too, with some meat and fish, will be a
00:28:51good diet. Of course, green
00:28:55leafy vegetables and foods, you know,
00:28:58which are around and in abundance, just to take a bit
00:29:02more effort to get them on the table. But if you
00:29:06use this, this will be one of the most helpful
00:29:10things in achieving a long life. Thank you, Dr.
00:29:14Tilacdarry. Good heart health is the key to quality of
00:29:17life. Do take all the precautions necessary to keep
00:29:21your body's engine working its best. And do be sure to
00:29:24subscribe to our YouTube channel to learn more about caring for your
00:29:28heart and to educate yourself on other medical conditions that affect
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00:29:37Down Syndrome Family Network of Trinidad and Tobago and their
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00:29:49Republic Bank is more than just a financial
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00:29:59our Power to Make a Difference program for more than
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00:30:23strength of our communities. That's why
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00:30:44non-governmental partners,
00:30:46empowering them to achieve the United Nations.