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Show CI Expressions Basin Life Community Wednesday, March 21. 2007 By Janine Shannon Express Writer The human heart beats 100,000 times a day, pumping six quarts of blood through 60,000 miles of vessels and giving life to the rest of the body including the brain, nose, fingers and toes. Nobody thinks much about this amazing muscle until it stops working. Without warning, blood ceases to flow to the heart and it dies. This is the number one killer in America for both men and women. "There's usually a final event that brings attention to the heart,'' said Dr. Imran Zubair, a cardiologist at Salt Lake Regional Region-al Medical Center, who also travels trav-els to Vernal once a month to treat patients. This final event, like a heart attack or heart failure, fail-ure, is often fatal. Paying attention atten-tion to the heart before there is a problem can avoid such a catastrophic cata-strophic end. The most obvious ways to ' improve heart health are to quit smoking, exercise, and eat healthy. These three simple lifestyle changes, Zubair says, will take care of about 80 to 90 percent of the risk factors. It doesn't take a lot, either. He suggests sug-gests limiting the intake of fatty "junk" foods and walking daily. There are risk factors that cannot be controlled, however. Genetics play a significant role in the probability of developing a heart disease. While there is currently no way to test if someone some-one has "bad genes," people can still have a good idea based on their family history. With this knowledge a person prone to heart problems can take extra The heart muscle pumps blood through thousands of miles of vessels and arteries every day. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons would,' 1 "IIMW 1 It; if i:.- ! Illllllllllllli 11 mi a,,. A'Ji' I 1 1 1 1 1 1 M 1 1 1 i I ! 71 1 it f This ultrasound image shows the inside of a coronary artery. Plaque right image. Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons 1820West , i Vernal, Utah Hwy.40,SteF J 435-781-2500 Outstanding Agents. Outstanding Results precautions in the form of medications medi-cations or lifestyle changes. Cardiovascular, or heart, diseases dis-eases can take many forms. Generally, the most common is coronary artery disease, a condition where plaque builds up in the arteries and blocks blood flow to and from the heart. Plaque is made up of cholesterol that sticks to the walls of coronary coro-nary arteries and catches other substances flowing in the blood. Over time the plaque builds up, narrowing passages and restricting re-stricting blood flow. A person may feel tightness or pain in the chest when blood does not flow freely, and severe chest pain during dur-ing a heart attack when blood flow is blocked completely. Zubair explains the disease in terms of a clogged sink. Brand new drain pipes flow freely, but over time grease and other things dumped down the drain start to collect on the pipe walls and in vulnerable areas where the pipe twists. As the buildup catches other bits that come down the drain, the flow through the pipe slows. Rather than fix the growing clog, people tend to continue to use the sink until it is completely backed up. A sink overflowing is just the kind of "final event", that calls attention to the problem. By this time with the heart, however, it is often too late. For this reason, preventative measures to take care of the heart are incredibly important. Exercise, for example, forces blood through arteries to keep them clean, and a diet low in cholesterol helps prevent buildup build-up in the first place. Nicotine and other drugs like cocaine cause the arteries and vessels in 1 ".ill Mi j 'A A well cared for condo with 2 bedrooms, and 112 baths. Call Karen Laub at 828-0204. Dr. Imran Zubair, cardiologist at treat patients. the body to constrict, so quitting these habits immediately lowers a person's risk. Also, prescription prescrip-tion medications and vitamins like fish oil can also help lower cholesterol levels in the body. All these methods help stop heart problems before they start, but if problems already exist, they can sometimes be detected through testing. For example, stress tests show how the heart reacts when "stressed" by exercise; exer-cise; radioactive dyes injected into the body show where blood flow is restricted; and echocardiograms echocar-diograms use ultrasound technology tech-nology to view the heart, heart valves, and major vessels. All these tests and others are helpful, help-ful, but because the heart beats so fast, tiny arteries appear as a blur. If doctors are unable to view these arteries, problems can sometimes go undetected. A new test available in some areas, however, called the 64-slice 64-slice CT scan. Computed Tomography Tomog-raphy (CT) scans, often called CAT scans, have been used for years to view the heart and connecting con-necting arteries. This new scan, however, takes multiple pictures in succession somewhat like a movie. In this way, the motion of the tiny pulsing smaller arteries can be frozen in one frame and seen with clarity. Zubair predicts pre-dicts the test will be available at the Salt Lake Regional Medical Medi-cal Center within the next year and at most hospitals across the country within the next five years. Right now the new CT scan is very expensive and is hot covered cov-ered by most insurance policies. Zubair said he would recommend recom-mend the test for young people with low probability for heart buildup is highlighted in green In the 7. 2 CmS Jlls(2. i u. .Hi iiuj l n iim 1 II I .i JUMJl 1 i c the Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, diseases who have unusual chest pains. The 64-slice CT scan would either confirm or eliminate elimi-nate heart troubles as the origin of the chest pain. This new test is just another tool doctors will be able to use to help patients and is a less invasive way to assess as-sess the cardiovascular system. If plaque is detected in arteries, cardiologists like Zubair can surgically remove the plaque in a procedure call angioplasty. Stents, tiny mesh tubes, may Physical exercise, like running and healthy heart. : A J) 1 3 Bedroom, 2 bath house on large lot with outbuildings. Call Mary Lou Dixon at 790-0529. travels to Vernal once a month to also be inserted after this procedure proce-dure to keep the arteries open. Just as no one thinks to use Draino when a sink appears to be working properly, many do not worry about their own cardiovascular car-diovascular pipes as long as the blood keeps flowing. Taking care of the heart all of the time, however, how-ever, helps ensure that a clog is not forming under the surface unseen. ' . - . janine.shannonhotmail.com as even walking, is necessary for a 753-2:32 1" 1 t Calendar Don't face cancer alone. Call 800-ACS-2345 or log on to www.cancer.org 247 for information or to find free services available in the Uintah Basin. January through August The Utah Field House of Natural History is hosting the Range Creek Archaeological Exhibit from now through August Please call the museum muse-um for more information at 435-789-3799 or stop by 496 East Main, Vernal. March 2 - March 30 "They Dared to Dream" art show opened on March 2 at the Western Heritage Museum and will be on display dis-play through March 30. Western Heritage Museum is located at 328 East 200 South, Vernal 789-7399. The museum is open Mon. - Fri. 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed for lunch from noon to 1 p.m.) and Sat 10 a.m.to2p.m. March-April The Heat offices in Roosevelt Roos-evelt and Vernal will be open Tuesday through Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is still money available for those who have not yet applied. The program will end on Friday, April 27. Please call 722-5218 in Roosevelt or 781-2021 in Vernal for information or to make an appointment. March 21 Lila Caldwell continues the series on 'Creating a Family History in Passage Express-Part Express-Part 6' at 7 p.m. You must have taken parts 1-5. Sign-up is mandatory. March 22 Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the new Mountain America Branch, across from Wal-Mart, will be held at 10 a.m. March 23 Community dance at the Golden Age Center, 155 South 100, West, from 8 to 10 p.m. every Friday night Kay's Band provides the-mtfslcr March 25 Break the Fast Potluck for all Uintah Basin Singles 30 will be held at 5 p.m. at the 2nd and 4th Ward Cultural Hall, 2235 East 600 South. Note the date change because of April Conference. March 26 Uintah County . Library Popcorn and the Movie Cinderella DX Showing at 3:00 and 6:30 p.m. V March 27 The Rising Star, Riders Saddle Club will have a meeting meet-ing at 7 p.m. at the Vernal City Office (447 E. Main). For more information on this meeting, call 789-3696. ' I "Love and Logic j Parenting" at Uintah; County Library, 7:00 p.m. ! March 28 Friends of the Utah Fieid House regular monthly meet-, ing will be held at 7 p.m. in i the Field House multi-purpose room. Contact Linda West j 789-4313 or llwesteasilink. com for more information. Mini-Conference will be held at the Golden Age Center in Vernal. For questions and to RSVP for lunch, call the Golden Age Center at 789-2169. 789-2169. March 29 "Richest Man in Babylon," begins its final six-weeks session at the Uintah County Library, with succeeding meetings on April 5, 12, 19, 26 and May 3. The financial workshop begins each of those evenings at 7:00 p.m. Call the Library at 7894091 for more information. To place Kerns of public interest inter-est In the Community Calendar, call 789-3511 or email them to edKorvernal.com 4 Bedrooms, 2 12 bath, corner let, sprinkling system, fenced backyard. Call Charity Scott at 790-2032. |