…my cuppa iced coffee…

This is an article by Professor Roswitha Wolfram from the Medical University of Vienna (although she is currently attached to a private hospital here in Malaysia), published in the New Sunday Times on 20/07/2008.

It’s a bit lengthy but I find it a very interesting read. Definitely worth taking note of especially if you’re one of those people who walk around a lot. And not just for those who like to shop.

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The Window-Shopping Disease
An innocent name for a serious condition

Oxygen is transported in the bloodstream to our body’s tissues and organs; therefore a healthy blood flow or circulation is essential for adequate oxygen supply. The blood vessels responsible for the transportation of oxygen-rich blood to the organs are called arteries.

When a person experiences recurrent pain in the legs while walking, forcing them to stop and stand still frequently, we call this the “window-shopping disease”. This condition, despite its innocent name, is caused by impaired blood circulation in the arteries of the legs. Its medical term is peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).

This disease is very serious with a prevalence of about 20% in the population aged 65 years and above. PAOD is a chronic but progressive disease which is often associated with other conditions such as a circulatory disorder of the arteries of the heart and the brain.

In fact, up to 90% of patients with advanced stage PAOD also have problems with their heart vessels and in up to 70%, the major artery supplying the brain with oxygen, their carotid artery is involved. This indicates that patients suffering from PAOD also have an increased risk for a heart attack and stroke. The earlier this disease is diagnosed and related risk factors are modified, the better the progression of the disease can be prevented.

Risk Factors

1. Smoking

If it is true that people are as old as their blood vessels, then smokers age much faster than non-smokers. Smokers will usually develop PAOD about ten years earlier in comparison to non-smokers. Cigarette smoke is poisonous for your vessels. Quitting pays off: after you stop smoking, the risk for PAOD will decrease and return to the levels of that of a non-smoker within only a short period of time.

2. Diabetes

High blood sugar and insulin levels facilitate the development of atherosclerosis (calcification of the arteries). Diabetics have a 3 to 5 fold increased risk of suffering from PAOD. A tight control of blood sugar levels in diabetic individuals is therefore very important to ensure healthy blood vessels. If a family history for diabetes (genetic disposition) is known, regular testing of blood sugar levels should be performed to allow for the early detection of diabetes.

3. Hypertension

Constantly elevated blood pressure exerts mechanical stress to the arteries, which the arteries cannot cope with in the long run. High blood pressure or hypertension is currently known to be one of the leading risk factors for the development of atherosclerosis and therefore PAOD.

4. Elevated cholesterol level

Cholesterol is a natural and important compound of the human body. However, excessive intake of cholesterol from unhealthy food such as butter, lard or fat meats contain high cholesterol hence saturated fat, especially fat derived from animal products, should generally be avoided. In many cases, elevated cholesterol levels can be sufficiently reduced by just modifying what and how much we eat.

5. Being overweight

Being overweight is often associated with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and also diabetes. Watching your weight will pay off.

6. Stress

When we experience stress, we pump a lot of adrenaline into our system. Nature has provided a method for us to get rid of all the excess adrenaline - physical activity. Consequently, the build-up of stress in our body can encourage the development of atherosclerosis and PAOD. Try to avoid stress as much as possible, and when stress is unavoidable, apply the right techniques to help you relax.

The next part of the article is on the stages of the window-shopping disease. Stay tuned.

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Related posts:

• The Window-Shopping Disease - Part 2
• The Window-Shopping Disease - Part 3

The “sirih junjung” for a friend’s engagement today. The theme was purple and finding purple flowers? Not easy, I tell you. Admittedly, it looked more like a normal flower arrangement than a “sirih junjung” since the betel leaves could hardly be seen.

Ah well.. I suppose I’ll do better next time. It was only my third attempt after all.

For the second time this year, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has organised another netball tournament, open to men and women, this time in conjunction with the 51st National Day celebration end of this month. Termed the “Karnival Santai d’Merdeka 2008″, the tournament was held at the “Dataran Merdeka” (Independence Square) on 9 and 10 August 2008.

Besides netball, there were also other games such as go-kart and street soccer, and some traditional games from the Malay and Indian communities such as “kavadi” and “congkak”. Quite a noisy 2 days affair, it was.. with singing and dancing and people screaming.. Too bad the carnival was not promoted more. Otherwise it’d be even noisier.

Back to netball… 12 teams participated for each of the men’s and women’s categories. The men were divided into 2 groups while the women into 3. It was quite heartening to see new faces in men’s netball. There were 2 teams from Sekolah Teknik Kuala Lumpur - all form four students, and 1 team from Putrajaya (they actually played in MBPJ Open last month but I was not around, so they were new to me). Let’s hope that there will be more teams in the next tournaments.

Preliminary rounds

Group level matches were played on Saturday and early Sunday morning. Predictably, the new teams were thrashed pretty badly by the more senior teams. Hopefully that won’t discourage them from continue playing.

Here are the results for preliminary rounds:

Quarter & Semi-finals

Top 4 teams from men’s category and top 3 from women’s qualified for the quarter finals. The games got tougher as only the stronger teams were left in the tournament. The girls had to play an extra game each to determine the top 4 for the semi-finals.

Putra Ria, Legend, DBKL and UMW qualified for the semi-finals, where Putra Ria soundly beat DBKL 20-7 and UMW beat Legend 21-12. The final between Putra Ria and UMW certainly promised to be very exciting and entertaining as both teams were strong and had equal chance of winning the tournament.

As for the guys, the results of the quarter final matches were pretty much as expected. The only exception was team GM who pleasantly surprised me when they comfortably won their quarter final match against Royale B. They certainly have improved a lot. Well done!

Third & Fourth

Third and fourth placings match for men’s category was played between Royale A and GM. The winner was Royale A with a score of 25-17. For women’s category, it was between DBKL and Legend where DBKL won by a small margin of 3 points (21-19).

Finals

Team Legend qualified for the final after beating Cobra A in the quarter final and Royale A in the semi-final, while Sonique got through after beating Meridien and GM in the quarter final and semi-final respectively. This was the second time Legend met Sonique in a final. The first was in the NPNG Open last year, which was won by Legend.

The final game for men’s category commenced at 4 pm with the sun blazing directly into our eyes. Played 15 minutes per quarter, it was a really gruelling match. And despite the hot weather, players from both teams strove mightily to outmanoeuvre each other. Alas.. the match finally belonged to Legend, defeating Sonique 19-13.

Congratulations to Legend. They won tokens from the City Council, cash RM 1,500 and a trophy.

The final for women’s category started around 5 pm and it was indeed a very entertaining game to watch. I must say that they played better than the guys, which of course was not really that surprising considering a number of them were ex-national or state players. The guys were only estate players.

Despite strong defences and attacks, Putra Ria was beaten in the end by UMW with a final score of 21-26. Congratulations to UMW. They won tokens, cash RM 2,000 and a trophy.

Kejohanan Bola Jaring Piala FiGOS 2008
(FiGOS Cup Netball Championship 2008)
Stadium Juara Bukit Kiara
Kuala Lumpur
16 Ogos 2008

Untuk sebarang pertanyaan dan borang penyertaan, sila hubungi:
(For inquiry and entry form, please contact:)

Dyan Adyanti 012-299.4886
Fazlina Rauf 017-634.6688
Fax: 03-7846.2520
Email: cemerlangevents@gmail.com

Anda juga boleh muat-turun borang penyertaan di sini:
(You can also download the entry form here:)

Borang Penyertaan Kejohanan (444 Kb)

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Syarat-syarat am kejohanan (General rules of championship):

1. Yuran penyertaan hendaklah dibuat melalui bank draf/cek atas nama CEMERLANG EVENTS atau secara tunai. Penyertaan tanpa yuran tidak akan dilayan. Yuran penyertaan tidak akan dikembalikan.
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   (Entry fee must be paid by cash or via bank draft/cheque payable to CEMERLANG EVENTS. Participation without entry fee will not be entertained. Entry fee is not refundable.)
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2. Pendaftaran pemain 10 orang: 7 orang pemain dan 3 orang pemain simpanan. Hanya 2 orang pemain negeri atau negara (SUKMA / Kejohanan Remaja Kebangsaan Bawah 21 / Terbuka Kebangsaan / MAKSAK dari tahun 2005 hingga 2008) dibenarkan didaftarkan dan bermain untuk setiap pasukan.
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   (Registration of 10 players: 7 main players and 3 substitutes. Only 2 state or national players (SUKMA / National Youth Championship Under 21 / National Open / MAKSAK from 2005 to 2008) are allowed to be registered and to play for each team.)
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3. Sistem pertandingan: Pusingan pertama adalah berbentuk liga kumpulan. Pusingan kedua dan seterusnya berbentuk sistem kalah mati. Hanya Johan dan Naib Johan kumpulan layak ke pusingan kedua.
   _
   (Game format: First round will follow league format. Second and subsequent rounds will be played in sudden death format. Only the top 2 teams from each group will qualify for the second round.)
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4. Tarikh tutup penyertaan: 13 Ogos 2008.
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   (Closing date: 13 August 2008)
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To be honest, I am not who you’d call a donut lover, although I wouldn’t say no if you put some donuts in front of me. After watching The Mummy 3 and then lunch at The Pavilion Bukit Bintang, I finally got myself to join the queue at J.Co Donuts & Coffee and grab some of the much touted holey bread.

Yup, J.Co’s round bread with holes in the middle and toppings of various colours and flavours (they even have cheese) are really the talk of the town. The queue in the photo was actually quite modest. You should see when it’s peak hours.

So what peaked this sudden interest in donuts?

A group of us went to Bagan Lalang yesterday to play beach volleyball. It’s a beach near Sepang, around 1 ½ hours drive from the city. Nice enough place, with really really fine white sand. Anyway, on the way there, we stopped at Shell near Sungai Besi toll and bought some donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. A dozen, actually.

So.. I now got the opportunity to do some scientific comparison based solely on my highly developed taste buds and let you know which donuts are better. What, you think I cannot tell good food from bad?

After a half dozen of J.Co’s samples (I simply couldn’t continue with the other 6), and also the 6 specimens from Dunkin’ Donuts (I only ate 6), I can tell you these:

1. J.Co’s donuts are softer (except for the right top and bottom 2).
2. Taste: I have to say J.Co’s donuts taste better. Not really by much, though. I mean, after the huge dosage of sugar in the toppings, all you can taste in the end is just sweet.
3. Price: They’re about the same. You save by buying more, of course.
4. Variety: About the same as well. Although I noticed that Dunkin’ Donuts has more fruit flavours.
5. It’s easier to buy donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts since they have more shops than J.Co.

So.. the conclusion? I’ll eat any donut put in front of me, doesn’t matter from which shop they’re from. And just to let you know, I’m not done with this self-styled scientific comparison yet since there’s 6 more donuts in the fridge waiting to be devoured. Yum yum!!