AN EMERGENCY AT THE MAGNET

Two heroic Magnet Leisure Centre employees saved a 15-year-old boy's life recently after he collapsed on a treadmill and his heart stopped beating. Teenager Stephen Proffitt has suffered from a serious heart condition since birth and had a cardiac arrest while exercising at the Magnet in Holmanleaze. Deputy manager Daniel Houston and senior recreation assistant Phil Starr raced to his side and used their first aid training and the centre's £1,500 defibrillator machine purchased by THROB to bring him back to life. Paramedic's said the men's quick thinking saved him. The boy's father, David, has personally thanked them and branded them 'heroes' but they have both said they were just doing their job.

Stephen, of Shirley Road Maidenhead, was born with a rare heart condition called Truncus Arteriosus in which one of the two main arteries in his heart failed to develop. After the incident he was taken to Wexham Park Hospital and later transferred to Great Ormond Street where doctors implanted a permanent defibrillator into his chest.

Kevin Johnson

A HOLIDAY IN SOUTHERN IRELAND

Why Ireland? Well, for a start, it is so quiet, so empty and so green. I have spent all my life in cities. This new found love of Ireland is all the fault of Jane, a very dear old friend of ours. Six years ago she asked us if we would go with her on her annual trip to her Godson's cottage in Cork, as she was beginning to feel her age and couldn't really cope anymore with the hassle at the airport. She was 90 years old at the time. We have been going with her ever since!

My duties, apart from trying to behave myself, are fetching, carrying, cooking and general handyman. Mary does the driving now as, after 60 years of driving, the pleasure for me seems to have disappeared. The obvious advantage for us is that after so many trips, we know the area well and therefore know where to go, but nowadays we are more content to stay where we are and truly relax. But for anyone going for the first time the pleasures are there to be discovered. The first point to bear in mind is the Weather. It rains in Ireland, that is why it is so lush, green and famed for its dairy products. Yes, it does rain occasionally, giving one the perfect excuse to stay where you are. The next pleasure is that the pace of life is so much slower and it is contagious. Then there is the traffic or rather the lack of it, in spite of all the money poured into the country from Europe. In this part of Ireland you can drive for miles and see probably five cars full of fellow tourists and three tractors, in other words, you have the place to yourself. Where we stay is, as I've said, a family place but there are plenty of holiday 'Lets' and small hotels.

This recent holiday, much as most of the others, consisted of the odd stroll or a trip to the nearest coastal village. You are never far from the sea and the variation of light and the tides make for a constant change to the landscape. I do quite a lot of drawing and take the odd stab at a water-colour. If it does rain or turn overcast for a few hours, you have a grand opportunity to get stuck into all those books that you always promised yourself that you would read, such as 'War and peace' or those Thomas Mann novels that are usually used to prop up the piano leg.

The cottage is at the end of a road that runs down to a small pier about a mile from the nearest village. This village has a 'vast' supermarket of a few hundred square feet,(about the size of Waitrose's wine department). It is just the right one-stop shopping experience.

Jane's Godson is also an architect and has made an enormous improvement in the use of the space, and best of all, has cut and carved into the hillside to form three levels of garden and terraces, using local dry stone walling and new semi-tropical planting, as the climate is very mild because of the effect of the Gulf Stream. From the large bay window one overlooks the pier and can see all the movements of the boats. These inlets are full of expensive sailing boats, which as far as I can see never leave their mooring buoys. They go up and down of course and turn one way and then another as the tide comes in and out. At this particular time there was a 4m tide, something to do with the moon apparently. This particular inlet is, from the sea to the end, about six miles long and one can see the sea about three miles away. The width of the inlet by the cottage is about half a mile and there is a large village on the other side. Castletownsend I believe it is called. You must have a boat, however, if you want to nip over for a drink or go to a concert in the Church, or such like. The boat trip probably takes about ten minutes. If you go by road however it will take a least 25 minutes as the lanes up and over the hills are tortuous. You can well imagine therefore that with the weather, the light, the sky and water changing every few hours the place is a delight to be experienced. Admittedly, after six years we are quite content to just stay put, and the stillness and the silence are therapeutic. I can thoroughly recommend the Emerald Isle. There is, of course, another Ireland which I did with my children 40 years ago. A 14 day hire of a motor boat on the Shannon. Or you can visit Dublin or Cork with all their attractions - but at this stage in the game rural Ireland is the ideal spot for us.

Another indicator that I'm right in my assumptions is that a number of wealthy retired Germans have bought up some of the hillside farms and converted them into very nice residences, usually with a view of the sea. Also, there are Carol Vordermann and Graham Norton who have their little hideaways in the district(name dropper!).

If this little travelogue doesn't convince you, just go there and see how much trouble they take in the local pubs to draw a pint of Draught Guinness. It is a labour of love. And what is more, it is a delight to drink it just as slowly.

Godfrey Fergusson

HEART MUSCLE REGENERATION

Most of us will realise that, following a serious heart attack where a blood clot blocks one of the heart's arteries, the heart muscle can be permanently damaged by the lack of blood. Whatever is done through angioplasty or by-pass to reinstate the blood flow, there is currently no way to regenerate the muscle which has died. Recently, however, there have been two developments which might, in time, enable heart muscle to be regenerated.

Scientists at the University of Bristol have discovered a chemical called NGF which may help heart muscle to recover from a heart attack. Mice have been given copies of the NGF gene and it has been found that the death rate from heart attack was halved in the mice that received the treatment. The Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation was enthusiastic about the potential for this procedure, but did caution that "more research is needed before we can translate this success into a safe and practical treatment for humans".

The other technique which has potential to regenerate heart muscle is the use of stem cells. Stem cells exist in our bodies to help us repair damage and replace dead tissue. The body currently produces stem cells to replace skin and blood cells, but, unfortunately, not all organs have stem cells that can repair tissue as the skin and blood do. However, stem cells in the embryo are unique in that they have the ability to make every kind of cell in the body. The trick will be to learn the signals which make stem cells turn into heart cells and to learn how these cells co-ordinate with others to arrange themselves into a functioning heart. Once this can be done, it should be possible to work out how to rekindle this ability in a human heart. A research team at Imperial College is already able to make embryonic stem cells grow into heart cells and watch them beat in a dish. Stem cell biologists believe that scientists are on the cusp of a major advance in the treatment of heart failure and that the dream of mending broken hearts could turn from science fiction into science fact.

Most of us are the beneficiaries of advances in by-pass surgery and angiography which have enabled us to live normal and, hopefully, productive lives after a heart attack. These new techniques are unlikely to be available in time for us to benefit, but there is serious hope that future generations will be able to benefit in ways which will make our treatments look distinctly old-fashioned.

Roger Mills (Based on an article from Heart Health)

A DAY OUT ON THE RIVER

For some summers now we have been taking a part of our holiday on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. My husband has a cousin in mainland Vancouver and another in Victoria on Vancouver Island so there has always been a convenient chance to pass by and say 'hello'. We have been able to do a lot of exploring and have visited most of the island except the extreme southwest and northwest corners mainly because the few roads there are just tracks or trails and not advised for use by 'pristine' hire cars.

One of our favourite tours is to leave from Parksville at the crack of dawn (this is our temporary base, situated on the Inside Passage, passed by the cruise ships making passage to Alaska) and drive the 80 kilometres to Port Alberni, a small town at the end of a large inlet where there is an interesting historic forestry logging mill, now a tourist attraction, still using the old locomotive and railway used in past times to shift the logs. At Port Alberni we get on a very small working cargo vessel (with space for about 50 passengers), the motor vessel Francis Berkeley which cruises daily down the Port Alberni inlet passing through a landscape of smaller inlets and fir covered mountains.

As we leave the jetty at Port Alberni and set off down river there are many small private boats fishing in the middle of the waterway and the frequency of the salmon being hauled out is so plentiful, one has to believe the water is alive with them. Saltwater charters with guides can be arranged if required. All the waters surrounding Vancouver Island are teeming with fish, and in fact, Port Alberni calls itself the 'salmon capital' of the world! Of course, there are a few other places, even on the Island, that also claim to be the 'salmon capital' of the world !

The Francis Berkeley stops frequently at various settlements en route delivering mail, groceries, working tools for the salmon farms, and timber of various sizes and amounts. The arrival of the vessel brings welcoming barks from the local dogs with much tail wagging and provides cabaret for the passengers as we watch the hotchpotch of packets, canisters, and all the paraphernalia needed for daily living being unloaded. We stop for five to ten minutes, just long enough to unload and load and then we are on our way again to the next little community.

Sometimes black bears can be seen on the bank right at the waters edge looking for a nice fishy breakfast. Bald eagles, with their white heads, making them easily spotted at their nests in the trees, are visible in many places and occasionally descending to the water to snatch a fish for the growing family back in the nest.

After about four hours the turn around point is reached at a settlement named Bamfield. A stay of a couple of hours there enables us to land and look around to see the daily lives of this remote community. There is just one shop, a sort of trading store, owned by an Indian family, which sells most everything that the community requires - no boutiques here of course !

There is a coastguard and lifeboat station at Bamfield. The waters at the mouth of the inlet are an ideal spot for those Canadians - and there are many - who love the outdoor life holidays. Just beyond Bamfield is a small group of islands known as the Broken Group Islands which provide a perfect area for canoeing, fishing and camping.

The west coast trail of the Pacific Rim National Park starts at Bamfield but this is an adventure only for the keen and hardy, necessitating official permission to pass through Indian reservation land and the ability to carry sufficient supplies of food and water, as on this wildlife trail there are no settlements or shops - you are on your own, it's a 3 to 4 day trip - you carry your rubbish with you!

Bamfield is as far as we go on our day trip, which is just as well, because looking westwards, out over the Pacific Ocean, the next piece of land is northern Japan!

Pauline Hulett

WARFARIN TESTING

Roche Diagnostics are launching a campaign for patients on long-term anticoagulants. The aim is to inform patients of the benefits of Patient Self-testing (PST) and of Patient Self-Managing (PSM). Many patients are unaware that this can be done at home. PST means that a patient may test a prick of blood with a self-testing kit to give their International Normalised Ratio (INR), which is a measure of possible clotting. Roche claim that the self-testing kits are as accurate as laboratory results and results can be reported to their GP or clinic for advice on the dose of warfarin needed. PSM adds to this by understanding how the dose depends on the INR result and how the patient may manage their condition and reduce visits to the clinic. If anyone is interested in following this up information can be found on www.coaguchek.co.uk or by phoning 01444 256888.

Roger Mills

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY …..

ASPIRIN

Lots of people take a low dose of Aspirin daily as it is known to reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke in people who have already suffered one. Hailed as a "wonder" drug it has also been useful in preventing some cancers and slowing down the development of dementia. As a result it has become a "just in case" self medication for millions. However, Aspirin increases the likelihood of major bleeding in the brain, stomach and elsewhere in the body. Experts now warn that the beneficial effects must now be weighed against the risk of harm. A recent study showed that people with no outward symptoms of heart disease did not reduce the risk of heart attack compared to those on a dummy pill, yet those on the Aspirin were twice as likely to suffer a bleed.

EXERCISE v OBESITY

A lack of exercise is worse for people's health than simply being obese according to an expert. Dr. Richard Weiler, a specialist registrar in sport medicine at Imperial College Healthcare Trust, said that a lack of fitness was the root cause of more illness than body fat. These problems include heart disease, type 2 diabetes, mental health problems and high blood pressure, he said. Writing in the British Medical Journal, he called for public health policies to focus more on increasing physical activity, and added that spending huge amounts of money on treating obesity was the wrong way forward. More than nine out of ten people in Britain do not take the recommended 30 minutes of moderate exercise five days a week.

However, writing in the same journal, Prof. Louise Baur and colleagues from the University of Sydney, said that while physical inactivity was a "contributor" to disease it would be wrong to focus on exercise and ignore obesity. Well, as we all know, things are the other way up in Australia, but at least THROB members are getting it right!

OMEGA-3 FOREVER

Fish oil may really be an "elixir of youth" because of its effects on biological ageing, according to a new study. Fatty acids found in fish such as salmon, mackerel and sardines are known to protect against conditions such as heart disease, indeed, official guidelines recommend eating at least two portions of oily fish a week. Now scientists believe they have uncovered the reason why fish oil is so beneficial. The discovery, made in a group of heart patients, could help confirm many of the claims about the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids. Researchers found that they helped guard a protective cap within cells, which shields DNA and helps to determine how long the cells will live. Previous studies had suggested that fatty acids could increase the chances of survival after a heart attack, reduce the mental decline associated with old age and help prevent changes in the eye that could lead to blindness. The latest study of 608 patients, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the acids slowed, by almost a third, the rate at which the cell caps, called telomeres, shorten. Caps that are too short can eventually cause the cell to die. Patients with high levels of omega-3 in their diets over five years had longer caps than those with low levels. So now you know - stop moaning about getting old and eat your oily fish!

WATCH IT!

Here's a headline to rock you back on your heels: "Every hour of TV watching increases the risk of fatal heart disease". British researchers from the Medical Research Council have found that if the average of four hours of television were reduced to one hour, then the deaths due to heart disease would be reduced by 8 per cent. The link between TV watching and heart disease was still strong even when lack of exercise, obesity, diet and smoking was taken into account. This suggests that watching TV is independently linked to heart disease and the effect is not simply due to inactivity whilst watching. The results come after a major study of 13,000 people over a ten year period. The good news is that when you are aged over 75 you get a free TV Licence!