Patients who suffer from chronic chest pain may benefit from an injection of stem cells into the heart, according to a new study.

Currently 850,000 Americans have chest pains that do not subside even with medicine, angioplasty or surgery, researchers say.

However, results from an experimental treatment indicate that stem cell injections can reduce the number of chest pain episodes by half, as well as improve exercise capability in those patients.

The study was the first randomized, controlled trial of stem-cell therapy to show significant improvements in both chest pain and exercise tolerance – which are both affected negatively by refractory angina, or chronic chest pain.

“One exciting potential of this procedure is that it will offer these folks an opportunity to get part of their lives back,” said Douglas Losordo, M.D., lead researcher and professor of medicine and director of the Feinberg Cardiovascular Research Institute at Northwestern University in Chicago.

Researchers used patients’ CD34+ stem cells, which circulate through the blood and play a role in forming new blood vessels.

In the study, 167 patients at 26 U.S. medical centers were randomized to one of three injection groups: low dose (100,000 CD34+ cells/kg body weight); high dose (500,000 CD34+ cells/kg body weight); or a placebo.

Using a catheter threaded into the heart, the researchers then injected the cells into muscle identified as receiving insufficient blood.  The injection was meant to create new vessels in the diseased heart muscle to improve blood flow to the area and reduce pain.

They found that a year after treatment, the low-dose group had about half as many episodes of chest pain as the placebo group.  They were also able to tolerate double the amount of exercise.

“It translates as going from being able to watch television to being able to walk at a normal pace or going from being able to walk slowly to being able to ride a bike,” Losordo said.

The study was published in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

For the first time, scientists have identified the point in development at which infants appear to be able to differentiate between pain and basic touch.

British researchers report that infants can distinguish painful stimuli from general touch at 35 to 37 weeks of gestation, just before birth.

Because infants cannot report whether they feel pain or not, the researchers based their findings on recordings of brain activity by electroencepholograpy (EEG).

The EEG recordings, taken between 28 to 45 weeks of gestation, showed that infant brains began to produce distinct responses to pain – in the form of a clinically essential heel lance – and general touch around the time the pregnancy reached full-term at 37 weeks.

Due dates, in turn, are based on 40 weeks of pregnancy.

The results may have implications for the treatment, care and development of premature newborns, according to the researchers.

They also added that, interestingly, these children often grow up to be either more or less sensitive to pain than usual.

The study was published in the journal Current Biology.

Migraines are considered an adult problem, but sometimes, unfortunately, they do affect young children.  One worried mother is wondering how she can help her 8 year-old child deal with debilitating migraines.  Read on for my advice.

I have an 8 year old son who is suffering from migraines. One time, his migraine was so intense, he cried all the way to the ER, after we tried unsuccessfully to treat it at home. I have been told that there are adult medications for migraines that can be used on children in a smaller dosage. However, according to my pediatrician, they have not been tested on children and because such a small percentage of children get migraines, they will probably never be tested on children. My son has a migraine at least once a week, sometimes more. Is it worth putting him on one of these medications, and if not, what can I do to ease the discomfort without ending up at the local emergency room? – Carla

Carla, I sympathize. It is difficult to know what to do or where to turn when a young child suffers from an ‘adult’ problem. To begin with, there are so many factors that could trigger a migraine, it can be impossible to pin down the actual root of the problem.

If you haven’t done so already, take your child to a board certified pediatric neurologist who for a proper diagnosis, and to rule any other possibilities out.  There are many conditions that could mimic a migraine in a child, such as sinusistis or dental problems.

If migraine is  the actual diagnosis, then you can move forward with a multi-faceted treatment.  Make sure your child is getting enough rest and sleep, and utilize the over-the-counter medications that your physician recommends. Likely, it will be non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug such as Tylenol.

Also, keep in mind that prevention is even more effective than treatment.

There usually tend to be two culprits in pediatric migraines. One is nitrates, which is found in many foods that kids eat such as packaged foods, processed lunch meats, and hot dogs.

The other culprit is monosodium glutamate, or MSG. MSG is a flavor enhancer that is found in baking mixtures, chips and gelatins, among other products. It is highly toxic for many people that suffer from migraines.

So while working with your physician, it is key that you also focus on nutritional aspect of children’s health. In doing so, your child may suffer from fewer migraines and require less drugs, which, as you state in question, have not been clinically tested in children.

Email me your health questions at askdrmanny@gmail.com.

Next time your mother tells you to stop slouching, you better listen.

Not only does poor posture make a bad impression, it can also make you physically weaker.

According to a new study, adopting a dominant (sitting up straight) versus submissive (slouching) posture actually decreases you sensitivity to pain.

Researchers found that the effects of sitting up straight were significant in terms of confidence and strength.  Simply by sitting up straighter, people felt more powerful, in control and were able to tolerate more pain.

In contrast, people who slouched showed a much lower pain threshold.

So what does this mean?  Well, if you’ve ever skinned a knee or experienced something similar, then you know the instinctive reaction is the curl up into a ball.

However, according to this research, you should do the opposite.  It may actually be that curling into a ball makes the experience more painful because it may make you feel like you have no control over the situation, which would in turn amplify your anticipation of pain.

Instead, try sitting or standing up straight, pushing your chest out and expanding your body, and you may be able to make the pain more tolerable.

Previous research has also suggested the straighter postures increase testosterone which is associated with increased pain tolerance and decreased cortisol, which may make the experience less stressful.

.Other research suggests the strategy may even work with emotions.  Remembering a painful break up?  Keep your chin up, and it may not hurt your heart so bad.

The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

A new peptide may offer relief for people who suffer from chronic pain, according to a new study.

And unlike current treatments, the peptide does not appear to have adverse side effects such as reduced motor coordination, memory loss or depression.

Indiana University School of Medicine researchers discovered the peptide, CBD3, which has been shown in mice to interfered with signals that navigate calcium channels to produce pain.

Most current treatments to block pain signals inhibit the influx of calcium, which is responsible for regulating heart rhythm and vital functions in other organs.  CBD3 instead binds to the calcium channel to reduce pain signals without interrupting calcium flow.

This makes CBD3 a potentially safer treatment than addictive opioids or an analgesic called Prialt that is injected into the spinal column, according to researchers.  Both opioids and Prialt can cause respiratory distress, cardiac irregularities and other problems.

The researchers hope their finding will herald a new gold standard for the control of chronic pain, which affects over 76 million Americans a year, according to the National Centers for Health Statistics.

The study was published in Nature Medicine.

I think Americans generally pay more attention to the gasoline they put in their cars than to the food they put in their mouths. We are a society of excess, and one of our more impressive excesses is the way in which we eat and what we choose to put in our mouths.

We are the leading country in the world in almost everything, yet our mortality rates, our cancer rates, and our neonatal death rates don’t rank among the best in the world. We lead in research, we lead in academic training, we lead in freedom of information, yet we don’t lead in taking care of our health.

We have all the knowledge in the world about everything in life, but that has made no impact on our health. Why? I think nutrition is part of the reason, and I think I know why.

No one is ever taught about nutrition. We certainly don’t teach the subject in grammar school, and it’s rarely taught in high school. Some colleges may offer it as an elective. But our parents certainly don’t talk to us about carbohydrates and proteins the way they do about the birds and the bees. If you combine this lack of knowledge with our appetite for diversity, taste, and presentation, what you have is a lot of people who know nothing about the food on their plate.

It’s never too late to learn about nutrition. The fundamental issue with nutrition is learning how to balance your caloric intake with the number of calories you burn. Everything we eat has a caloric value. If you take in more nutrients that contain a lot of calories and you don’t burn them up, the excess caloric energy is going to be stored as fat, and you’re going to gain weight. That weight and that fat will then interfere with all the normal functions of your body.

On the other hand, if you consume too few calories, say fewer than 1,200 calories a day, then your body doesn’t have sufficient energy to maintain adequate functioning. The caloric intake for a normal adult should range between 1,500 and 2,000 calories a day.

The body requires certain nutrients in order to work properly. Nutrients are the chemicals our body gets from food. These nutrients are used to build muscles, improve cell-to-cell transmission, and manufacture hormones. In describing nutrients, the word “essential” means that the body must consume them; it cannot produce them on its own. The nutrients we need include:

Essential amino acids.
The body requires amino acids to produce new body proteins and replace damaged proteins to build and maintain the body.

Vitamins and minerals.
These are recognized as essential nutrients that are specifically linked to the functionality of cells. If we’re deficient in vitamins and minerals, we develop a weak immune system, cell metabolism disorders, premature aging, scurvy, goiters, and bone loss.

Fatty acids.
Also essential, fatty acids are crucial for maintaining the body’s normal health. They are responsible for the normal formation of hormones and creation of some of the biological pathways responsible for dealing with inflammation and cell repair.

Sugars.
They are essential because they provide the fuel our cells need to function adequately, which allows the other nutrients to be utilized properly. If cells don’t have the sugar molecule necessary to generate the energy required for repairing, functioning, transmitting, and utilizing nutrients, then cellular damage and disease will result.

Each nutrient carries out one or more unique tasks your body needs to function. And because you need many nutrients to stay healthy—protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals—you have to eat a wide variety of foods to get them all.

It’s when we don’t recognize the necessity of all those elements that we begin getting into trouble. It’s like filling your gas tank with gasoline and forgetting to change the oil every 3,500 miles, or forgetting to put water in the radiator. The car needs the gasoline, the oil and the water, all in the proper proportions, in order to function properly. The same is true of the human body.

The problem, as I’ve mentioned before, is that about one-third of all American meals are prepared foods. And the problem with prepared foods is that their contents are not nutritionally balanced.

Our lack of knowledge of nutrition, combined with our obsession with processed foods, is really damaging our health. So we have to get back to fundamentals, a good example of which is the diet of people who live in the Mediterranean. Their diet is well balanced with vegetables and fruit, fish and lean meat, and the good unsaturated fats like olive oil.

Today, many people think that if they stick to low-fat or nonfat foods, they won’t gain weight. That’s a myth, because gaining weight has to do with calorie intake. If you take a salad and you add cheese and eggs and everything else in the book, even if you select low-fat ingredients, you’re still consuming a tremendous load of calories. And size matters, too; the size of your portions does make a difference in terms of the total amount of calories consumed. It’s just a plain mathematical calculation.

There are no magical foods that are going to help you burn calories or increase your cell metabolism either. There is no such a thing as a food that is more active in the body than others. People think that eating a grapefruit each day or having cabbage soup for lunch is going to burn off their fat. But that’s a myth. There is only one way to burn off those extra calories: exercise, any exercise at all.

How to Eat
It’s not just what or how much we are eating that’s the problem these days, it’s the way most of us eat. Many people skip breakfast, gulp down a quick lunch at noon, and then consume a large meal at seven o’clock at night.

Trouble is, they don’t need all that fuel at night. They need a little bit throughout the day when they are active—either moving, thinking, or both.

So what happens in the middle of the day if this is the way we eat? Without a supply of energy, our metabolism gets altered. Our blood sugar level is erratic. Our hormones go haywire trying to figure out where to obtain the fuel we need. People are always telling me, “I don’t eat, so how come I’m not losing weight?”

That’s the answer. Their metabolism is out of whack, and they need to get it back in order.

Supplements
If you eat a balanced diet with fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, and all the rest, you don’t need to take supplements. But how many of us really eat such a balanced diet?

And even if we do, because we are all predisposed for certain diseases and the aging processes, being proactive and adding certain supplements to our diet may be a good idea. But before popping supplements like candies from a bag of M&M’s, check with your doctor about what’s best for you. Some supplements can be toxic. Others may cause allergies or cross reactions with medications you may be taking. But there is no doubt that certain supplements can have specific health benefits and can lower the cost of health care at the same time.

An Important Word About Supplements
Many supplements contain active ingredients that can have strong effects on your body, and some supplements can interfere with prescription medicines. Always consult with your doctor or pharmacist before taking supplements.

I am particularly bullish on five supplements that have been well studied and are proven to support optimal health.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids
I love the omega-3 fatty acids. They are an important contributor to the improvement of human health. Some studies have shown that omega 3s are good for the prevention of heart disease, as well as for depression, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma. You can get omega 3s by eating leafy greens and fish or by taking a fish oil tablet. Omega 3s assist with fat metabolism and help maintain a balance of good and bad cholesterol.

Calcium
Calcium is another very good supplement, specifically calcium with vitamin D. Calcium intake is an important factor in bone health and may play a role in the prevention of colon cancer, though it doesn’t appear to be the silver bullet that everyone hoped it would be. Research has shown that calcium supplements can significantly lower the occurrence of hip fractures among those aged 65 and older.

Folic Acid
Folic acid and folate are forms of a water-soluble vitamin B that occur naturally in leafy vegetables such as spinach and turnip greens, dry beans and peas, fortified cereal products, and some other fruits and vegetables. Folic acid supplements have been a lifesaver in the prevention of neural tube defects in children. They are also very beneficial for cell function and the prevention of heart disease.

Glucosamine
I also like glucosamine. It has good anti-inflammatory effects, especially for individuals with arthritis. It doesn’t prevent arthritis, and it doesn’t repair or rejuvenate cartilage, but I think it’s a very good supplement because it helps promote joint function and relieves the symptoms of inflammation and pain.

Other supplements that are thought to make a positive contribution to health include saw palmetto, the fruit of the fan palm, for men. Native Americans consumed it as food and used it to treat urinary and genital problems. Some research has shown that it could be effective for the treatment of an enlarged prostate in men. It increases urinary flow and has no known safety hazards.